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These are some Boswelliana of Sydney; not very clerical, you will say,
but indescribably amusing to the hearers, whatever the readers may think
of them. Nothing can present a more striking contrast to his rapid,
loud, laughing utterance, and his rector-like amplitude and rubicundity,
than the low, slow, emphatic tone, ... |
There is a pretty allegory in Homer--I think in the last book, but I
forget precisely where--about two vessels, the one filled with blessings
and the other with sorrow, which stand, says the poet, on the right and
left hand of Jupiter's throne, and from which he dispenses good and evil
at his pleasure among men. What w... |
"There is another poem in the Times that I should like to know
the author of;--A Parson's Account of his Journey to the Cambridge
Election." I laid claim to that also. "That is curious," said Moore. "I
begged Barnes to tell me who wrote it. He said that he had received it
from Cambridge, and touched it up himself, and ... |
In the evening Lord John Russell came; and, soon after, old Talleyrand.
I had seen Talleyrand in very large parties, but had never been near
enough to hear a word that he said. I now had the pleasure of listening
for an hour and a half to his conversation. He is certainly the greatest
curiosity that I ever fell in with... |
"'Macaulay!' Who calls Macaulay? Sir James Graham. What can he have to
say to me? Take it dramatically:Sir J. G. Macaulay!Macaulay. What?Sir J. G. Whom are you writing to, that you laugh so much over your
letter?Macaulay. To my constituents at Caine, to be sure. They expect news of
the Reform Bill every day.Sir J. G. W... |
T. B. M.To Hannah M. Macaulay.London: August 29, 1831.My dear Sister,--Here I am again settled, sitting up in the House
of Commons till three o'clock five days in the week, and getting an
indigestion at great dinners the remaining two. I dined on Saturday with
Lord Althorp, and yesterday with Sir James Graham. Both of ... |
The Queen behaved admirably, with wonderful grace and dignity. The
King very awkwardly. The Duke of Devonshire looked as if he came to be
crowned instead of his master. I never saw so princely a manner and air.
The Chancellor looked like Mephistopheles behind Margaret in the church.
The ceremony was much too long, and ... |
Dear Napier,--I have been so much engaged by bankrupt business, as we
are winding up the affairs of many estates, that I shall not be able to
send off my article about Hampden till Thursday the 12th. It will be,
I fear, more than forty pages long. As Pascal said of his eighteenth
letter, I would have made it shorter if... |
But those very men were now binding themselves by a declaration that,
unless the Bill passed, they would pay no taxes, nor purchase property
distrained by the tax-gatherer. In thus renouncing the first obligation
of a citizen they did in effect draw the sword, and they would have been
cravens if they had left it in the... |
I dined yesterday at Holland House; all Lords except myself. Lord
Radnor, Lord Poltimore, Lord King, Lord Russell, and his uncle Lord
John. Lady Holland was very gracious, praised my article on Burleigh to
the skies, and told me, among other things, that she had talked on the
preceding day for two hours with Charles Gr... |
We gained a victory last night as great as e'er was known.
We beat the Opposition upon the Russian loan.
They hoped for a majority, and also for our places.
We won the day by seventy-nine. You should have seen their faces.
Old Croker, when the shout went down our rank, looked blue with rage.
You'd have said he had... |
My dear Sisters,--Our work is over at last; not, however, till it has
half killed us all.[On the 8th August, 1832, Macaulay writes to Lord
Mahon: "We are now strictly on duty. No furloughs even for a dinner
engagement, or a sight of Taglioni's legs, can be obtained. It is very
hard to keep forty members in the House. S... |
But I reserve the sermon on promises, which I had to preach, for another
occasion.Ever yoursT. B. M.To Hannah and Margaret MacaulayLondon: August 17, 1832.My dear Sisters,--I brought down my story of Holland House to dinnertime
on Saturday evening. To resume my narrative, I slept there on Sunday
night. On Monday mornin... |
News you have in the papers. Poor Scott is gone, and I cannot be sorry
for it. A powerful mind in ruins is the most heart-breaking thing which
it is possible to conceive. Ferdinand of Spain is gone too; and, I fear,
old Mr. Stephen is going fast. I am safe at Leeds. Poor Hyde Villiers is
very ill. I am seriously alarme... |
"I hope, and feel assured, that the sincerity with which I make this
explicit declaration, will, if it deprive me of the votes of my friends
at Leeds, secure to me what I value far more highly, their esteem."Believe me ever, my dear Sir,"Your most faithful Servant,"T. B. MACAULAY."This frank announcement, taken by many... |
The Tories of Leeds, as a last resource, fell to denouncing Macaulay as
a placeman; a stroke of superlative audacity in a party which, during
eight-and-forty years, had been out of office for only fourteen months.
It may well be imagined that he found plenty to say in his own defence.
"The only charge which malice can ... |
My dear Sister,--I am much obliged to you for your letter, and am
gratified by all its contents, except what you say about your own cough.
As soon as you come back, you shall see Dr. Chambers, if you are not
quite well. Do not oppose me in this; for I have set my heart on it.
I dined on Saturday at Lord Essex's in Belg... |
The machinery required for carrying into effect this gigantic
metamorphosis was embodied in a bill every one of whose provisions
breathed the broad, the fearless, and the tolerant spirit with which
Reform had inspired our counsels. The earlier Sections placed the whole
property of the Company in trust for the Crown, an... |
My Darling,--Why am I such a fool as to write to a gypsey at Liverpool,
who fancies that none is so good as she if she sends one letter for my
three? A lazy chit whose fingers tire with penning a page in reply to a
quire! There, Miss, you read all the first sentence of my epistle, and
never knew that you were reading v... |
The question must come to a decision, I think, within the fortnight. In
the meantime the funds are going down, the newspapers are storming, and
the faces of men on both sides are growing day by day more gloomy and
anxious. Even during the most violent part of the contest for the Reform
Bill I do not remember to have se... |
The pressure of pecuniary trouble was now beginning to make itself felt
even by the younger members of the family. About this time, or perhaps a
little earlier, Hannah Macaulay writes thus to one of her cousins:
"You say nothing about coming to us. You must come in good health and
spirits. Our trials ought not greatly ... |
The Slavery Bill is miserably bad. I am fully resolved not to be dragged
through the mire, but to oppose, by speaking and voting, the clauses
which I think objectionable. I have told Lord Althorp this, and have
again tendered my resignation. He hinted that he thought that the
Government would leave me at liberty to tak... |
My dear Sister,--Here I am, safe and well, at the end of one of the most
stormy weeks that the oldest man remembers in Parliamentary affairs.
I have resigned my office, and my resignation has been refused. I have
spoken and voted against the Ministry under which I hold my place. The
Ministry has been so hard run in the... |
There are not ten people in the world whose deaths would spoil my
dinner; but there are one or two whose deaths would break my heart. The
more I see of the world, and the more numerous my acquaintance becomes,
the narrower and more exclusive my affection grows, and the more I cling
to my sisters, and to one or two old ... |
If there were no way out of these difficulties, I would encounter them
with courage. A man can always act honourably and uprightly; and, if
I were in the Fleet Prison or the rules of the King's Bench, I believe
that I could find in my own mind resources which would preserve me from
being positively unhappy. But, if I c... |
I have also seen Kenny for an hour or two. I do not know that I ever
mentioned Kenny to you. When London is overflowing, I meet such numbers
of people that I cannot remember half their names. This is the time
at which every acquaintance, however slight, attracts some degree of
attention. In the desert island, even poor... |
You are in an error about Akenside, which I must clear up for his
credit, and for mine. You are confounding the Ode to Curio and the
Epistle to Curio. The latter is generally printed at the end of
Akenside's works, and is, I think, the best thing that he ever wrote.
The Ode is worthless. It is merely an abridgment of t... |
On the 11th of this month there is to be a dinner given to Lushington
by the electors of the Tower Hamlets. He has persecuted me with
importunities to attend, and make a speech for him; and my father has
joined in the request. It is enough, in these times, Heaven knows, for
a man who represents, as I do, a town of a hu... |
To find a man and wife, both of whom would suit us, would be very
difficult; and I think it right, also, to offer to my clerk to keep him
in my service. He is honest, intelligent, and respectful; and, as he is
rather inclined to consumption, the change of climate would probably be
useful to him. I cannot bear the thoug... |
I have lately met Sir James Graham at dinner. He took me aside, and
talked to me on my appointment with a warmth of kindness which, though
we have been always on good terms, surprised me. But the approach of
a long separation, like the approach of death, brings out all friendly
feelings with unusual strength. The Cabin... |
To-day I breakfasted with Sharp, whose kindness is as warm as possible.
Indeed, all my friends seen to be in the most amiable mood. I have twice
as many invitations as I can accept; and I have been frequently begged
to name my own party. Empty as London is, I never was so much beset with
invitations. Sharp asked me abo... |
On the 4th of February Macaulay bade farewell to his electors, in an
address which the Leeds Tories probably thought too high-flown for the
occasion. ["If, now that I have ceased to be your servant, and am only
your sincere and grateful friend, I may presume to offer you advice
which must, at least, be allowed to be di... |
The outward voyage--Arrival at Madras--Macaulay is summoned
to join Lord William Bentinck in the Neilgherries--His
journey up-country--His native servant--Arcot--Bangalore--
Seringapatam--Ascent of the Neilgherries--First sight of the
Governor-General--Letters to Mr. Ellis, and the Miss
Macaula... |
"In the afternoon of the 17th June I left Madras. My train consisted of
thirty-eight persons. I was in one palanquin, and my servant followed in
another. He is a half-caste. On the day on which we set out he told me
he was a Catholic; and added, crossing himself and turning up the whites
of his eyes, that he had recomm... |
During his stay at Mysore, Macaulay had an interview with the deposed
Rajah; whose appearance, conversation, palace, furniture, jewels,
soldiers, elephants, courtiers, and idols, he depicts in a letter,
intended for family perusal, with a minuteness that would qualify him
for an Anglo-Indian Richardson. By the evening ... |
As soon as I reach Calcutta I intend to read Herodotus again. By the
bye, why do not you translate him? You would do it excellently; and
a translation of Herodotus, well executed, would rank with original
compositions. A quarter of an hour a day would finish the work in five
years. The notes might be made the most amus... |
"Was there ever a more appropriate quotation? I believe that nobody on
either side of the controversy found out a text so much to the purpose
as one which I cited to the Council of India, when we were discussing
this business: 'If this be a question of words, and names, and of your
law, look ye to it; for I will be no ... |
"The husband would now gladly have taken the money which he refused the
day before; but I would not give him a farthing. The rascals who had
raised the disturbance were furious. My servant was to set out at eleven
in the morning, and I was to follow at two. He had scarcely left the
door when I heard a noise. I looked f... |
Dearest Margaret,--I rather suppose that some late letters from Nancy
may have prepared you to learn what I am now about to communicate. She
is going to be married, and with my fullest and warmest approbation. I
can truly say that, if I had to search India for a husband for her,
I could have found no man to whom I coul... |
A passage from a second letter to the same person deserves to be quoted,
as an instance of how a good man may be unable to read aright his own
nature, and a wise man to forecast his own future. "I feel a growing
tendency to cynicism and suspicion. My intellect remains; and is likely,
I sometimes think, to absorb the wh... |
The Editor of the Periodical which called itself, and had a right to
call itself, the "Friend of India," undertook to shame his brethren
by publishing a collection of their invectives; but it was very soon
evident that no decent journal could venture to foul its pages by
reprinting the epithets, and the anecdotes, whic... |
"In Calcutta the case has been somewhat different; and this is a
remarkable fact. The British inhabitants of Calcutta are the only
British-born subjects in Bengal who will not be affected by the proposed
Act; and they are the only British subjects in Bengal who have expressed
the smallest objection to it. The clamour, ... |
It is fortunate for India that a man with the tastes, and the training,
of Macaulay came to her shores as one vested with authority, and that
he came at the moment when he did; for that moment was the very
turning-point of her intellectual progress. All educational action had
been at a stand for some time back, on acco... |
The post was no sinecure. It was an arduous task to plan, found, and
construct, in all its grades, the education of such a country as
India. The means at Macaulay's disposal were utterly inadequate for the
undertaking on which he was engaged. Nothing resembling an organised
staff was as yet in existence. There were no ... |
Now and then a stroke, aimed at Hooghly College, hits nearer home. That
men of thirty should be bribed to continue their education into mature
life "seems very absurd. Moghal Jan has been paid to learn something
during twelve years. We are told that he is lazy and stupid; but there
are hopes that in four years more he ... |
It may add something to the merit of Macaulay's labours in the cause of
Education that those labours were voluntary and unpaid; and voluntary
and unpaid likewise was another service which he rendered to India, not
less durable than the first, and hardly less important. A clause in the
Act of 1833 gave rise to the appoi... |
"In order to appreciate the importance of the Penal Code, it must be
borne in mind what crime in India is. Here, in England, order is so
thoroughly well established that the crime of the country is hardly more
than an annoyance. In India, if crime is allowed to let to a head, it
is capable of destroying the peace and p... |
Here, book in hand, and in dressing-gown and slippers, he would spend
those two hours after sun-rise which Anglo-Indian gentlemen devote
to riding, and Anglo-Indian ladies to sleeping off the arrears of the
sultry night. Regularly, every morning, his studies were broken in upon
by the arrival of his baby niece, who cam... |
There are scattered passages in these letters which prove that
Macaulay's feelings, during his protracted absence from his native
country, were at times almost as keen as those which racked the breast
of Cicero, when he was forced to exchange the triumphs of the Forum,
and the cozy suppers with his brother augurs, for ... |
He and my sister will live with me during my stay here. I have a house
about as large as Lord Dudley's in Park Lane, or rather larger, so
that I shall accommodate them without the smallest difficulty. This
arrangement is acceptable to me, because it saves me from the misery of
parting with my sister in this strange lan... |
I have read Pindar,--with less pleasure than I feel in reading the great
Attic poets, but still with admiration. An idea occurred to me which may
very likely have been noticed by a hundred people before. I was always
puzzled to understand the reason for the extremely abrupt transitions
in those Odes of Horace which are... |
My time is divided between public business and books. I mix with society
as little as I can. My spirits have not yet recovered,--I sometimes
think that they will never wholly recover,--the shock which they
received five months ago. I find that nothing soothes them so much as
the contemplation of those miracles of art w... |
As to other Latin writers, Sallust has gone sadly down in my opinion.
Caesar has risen wonderfully. I think him fully entitled to Cicero's
praise. [In the dialogue "De Claris Oratoribus" Cicero makes Atticus say
that 'A consummate judge of style (who is evidently intended for Cicero
himself,) pronounces Caesar's Latin ... |
I had a long story to tell you about a classical examination here; but I
have not time. I can only say that some of the competitors tried to read
the Greek with the papers upside down; and that the great man of the
examination, the Thirlwall of Calcutta, a graduate of Trinity College,
Dublin, translated the words of Th... |
You take interest, I see, in my Greek and Latin studies. I continue to
pursue them steadily and actively. I am now reading Demosthenes with
interest and admiration indescribable. I am slowly, at odd minutes,
getting through the stupid trash of Diodorus. I have read through
Seneca, and an affected empty scribbler he is.... |
Dear Napier,--There is an oversight in the article on Bacon which I
shall be much obliged to you to correct. I have said that Bacon did not
deal at all in idle rants "like those in which Cicero and Mr. Shandy
sought consolation for the loss of Tullia and of Bobby." Nothing can, as
a general remark, be more true, but it... |
I am now busy with Quintilian and Lucan, both excellent writers. The
dream of Pompey in the seventh book of the Pharsalia is a very noble
piece of writing. I hardly know an instance in poetry of so great an
effect produced by means so simple. There is something irresistibly
pathetic in the lines"Qualis erat populi faci... |
Dear Napier,--Your letter about my review of Mackintosh miscarried,
vexatiously enough. I should have been glad to know what was thought of
my performance among friends and foes; for here we have no information
on such subjects. The literary correspondents of the Calcutta newspapers
seem to be penny-a-line risen, whose... |
Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram, Josephine
Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images
generously made available by The Internet Library of Early
Journals.)BLACKWOOD'SEDINBURGH MAGAZINE.No. CCCLXXX. JUNE, 1847. Vol. LXI.NORTH AMERICA, S... |
The road now passed through Vermont, the state of green mountains. The
country appeared striking; and Montpelier, where they breakfasted, seems
to be a very pretty place, looking more the residence of hereditary ease
and luxury, than the capital of a republic of thrifty graziers. It is,
in fact, an assemblage of villas... |
As the sun approached his setting, every eye in the canoes, as they
pulled along, was speculating on some dry and tolerably open spot on the
shore. _That_ once found, all were on shore in an instant. Then the axe
was heard ringing among the trees, to prepare for the fires, and make
room for the tents. In ten minutes, t... |
One of the especial hazards of the forest now encountered them. Passing
down a narrow creek near _Lac le Pluie_, fire suddenly burst forth in
the woods near them. The flames crackling and clambering up each tree,
quickly rose above the forest; within a few minutes more the dry grass
on the very margin of the waters, wa... |
On beholding the dismal scene, the triumphant warriors cast away their
spoils, arms, and clothing, and then putting on robes of leather, and
smearing their heads with mud, they betook themselves to the hills for
three days and nights, to howl and moan, and cut their flesh. It is
observed, that this mode of expressing p... |
The harbour displays a sheet of water of about thirty miles in length
by about twelve in breadth, sheltered from every wind by an amphitheatre
of green hills. But this sheet of water forms only a part in the inland
sea of San Francisco. Whaler's Harbour, at its own northern extremity,
communicates by a strait of about ... |
The power of France in the interior of America, which had extended from
Canada to Louisiana, and which formed a line of posts for its boundary
along this immense internal _frontier_, kept the British Colonies in a
state of constant alarm; and, by consequence, in a state of continual
dependence on England. But the Engli... |
That in the hands of any vigorous possessors this country would form a
most powerful kingdom, is beyond all question; and Sir George Simpson
evidently thinks that it might easily be acquired, and with a
legitimate claim too, by England. But the still higher question is the
policy of a perpetual increase of territory. E... |
We now come to the overland journey to Siberia. On the 23d of July, they
reached the port of Ochotsk, where, however, they were met by masses of
floating ice. Here Sir George had the first intelligence from England,
which brought to his English heart the glad tidings of the birth of a
Prince of Wales. They found this s... |
The materials of the Russian traffic are furs, woollens, cottons, linen,
&c., with articles in tin, copper, iron, &c.--the whole amounting to
about nineteen millions of rubles. The Chinese products are tea, silks,
sugar-candy, &c.--nominally to the amount of seven millions of rubles,
but probably rising to thrice the v... |
We have given an abstract of this work with the more satisfaction, that
it not merely supplies a certain knowledge of vast regions of which the
European world knows little; but that it gives a favourable view of the
condition, the habits, and the temper, of the multitudes of our fellow
men, spread over those immense sp... |
"'The rolling exercise consisted in being cast down in a violent manner,
doubled with the head and feet together, or stretched in a prostrate,
manner, turning swiftly over like a dog. Nothing in nature could better
represent the jerks, than for one to goad another alternately on every
side with a piece of red-hot iron.... |
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there prevailed in parts of
Europe a seizure, which was called the wolf-sickness. Those affected
with it held themselves to be wild beasts, and betook themselves to the
forests. One of these, who was brought before De Lancre, at Bordeaux, in
the beginning of the sixteenth centu... |
It was hard upon them, because they were innocent. But the regular
witches, as times went, hardly deserved any better fate--considering, I
mean, their honest and straight-forward intentions of doing that which
they believed to be the most desperate wrong achievable. Many there were
who sought to be initiated in the bla... |
Maria Renata took the veil at nineteen years of age, against her
inclination, having previously been initiated in the mysteries of
witchcraft, which she continued to practise for fifty years under the
cloak of punctual attendance to discipline and pretended piety. She was
long in the station of sub-prioress, and would,... |
His sacred form
Unscathed by worm,
And clear as the hour he died,
Lies at this day
Where good men pray
At morn and at eventide.
His nails and his hair
Are fresh and fair,
With his yellow locks still growing;
His cheek as red,
And his flesh not dead,
Though the b... |
Upon its arrival, the Scamandre was immediately surrounded by a
multitude of caicks filled with bearded Turks, veiled women, and various
coloured bales. Upon deck rose a deafening Babel of voices,--the sailors
swore, the women screamed, and the porters fought, until at length quiet
was restored, and one hundred and eig... |
The following morning I was early upon deck. The sun had not yet risen,
and the air was fresh and invigorating; while upon the white, heavy,
oily sea, was a slight fog, which the breeze was dispersing in flakes.
Around us a quantity of porpoises were either splashing in the midst of
the waves or floating like buoys upo... |
At ten o'clock, A.M., I was awakened by my fellow-travellers, and
accompanied them to the caravanserai of the Turning Dervishes. A
somewhat lengthened residence in the northern provinces of Persia, where
a Turkish idiom is spoken, had given me a tolerable fluency in that
language, and I was thus enabled to act as inter... |
The commerce of Constantinople is closely allied with that of Smyrna;
and many branches of trade, such as silk and opium, being required to
pay duties at the customhouse of the capital, the merchants buy them at
Constantinople merely in order to pass them over to Smyrna, where they
find a more advantageous market for t... |
In the midst of the crowds in the Turkish capital, the women present a
curious spectacle, wandering about as they do covered with white
dominos, or rather winding-sheets. The lot of this portion of the
Mussulman population is much less unhappy than one would be led to
expect. They certainly hold a secondary station in ... |
Not a parishioner but would have looked upon the patronage of Gratian to
the Curate as resulting from the weakness--those who meant to turn it to
compliment would say, the excessive kindness, of his nature. A little
malice interposing, they were by no means disposed, if they loved
Gratian, "to love his dog,"--in the li... |
The Curate, with the jealousy of a rival translator, objected to "suns
_die_," and thought "suns _set_" would be quite as well and a closer
translation. The Physician assented. The Bishop smiled, and said, "suns
_die_" was probably a professional lapsus. The Physician replied, that
such would be a very unprofessional l... |
Papyrus, to Caecilius tell
(A touching bard, my friend as well)
That to Verona he must come,
Where his Catullus is at home,
And new-built Comu's walls forsake,
And that sweet shore of Laris Lake.
A friend of mine and his has brought
To light some passages of thought,
Which he must hear. ... |
GRATIAN.--A charitable wish this of our good Catullus! But these
heathens knew little of "do as you would be done by." One of the neatest
wishes of this kind is in a Greek epigram. I can't remember word for
word the Greek, so I give the translation:--"Castor and Pollux, who
dwell in beauteous Lacedemon, by the sweet-fl... |
My dear Licinius, yesterday
We sported in our pleasant way;
Tablets in hand--and at our leisure,
In verse as various as the measure,
Scribbling between our wine and laughter.
But when we parted, mark the after
Vexation;--conquered, and hard hit
By your all-overpowering wit,
I could not e... |
The Trojan land on the Rhoetean shore
Hath hidden him for ever from these eyes,--
And I with glad surprise,
And brother's love, shall welcome thee no more.Loved more than life, dear brother! what can I
But love thee still, and mourn for thee full long
In a funereal song,
In secret to assuage... |
I here send you, Eusebius, the last of our Horae Catullianae, which has
been lying by a week or more. This little delay enables me to wind up
the Curate's affair to your satisfaction. Our friend Gratian gave
verbally the Bishop's reply to Mathew Miffins, who, seeing himself
deserted by his principal witness and informe... |
Educated for the bar, but not practising his profession, M. Merimee was
one of the rising men of talent whom the July revolution pushed forward.
After being _chef de cabinet_ of the Minister of the Interior, Count
d'Argout, he held several appointments under government, amongst others,
that of Inspector of Historical M... |
We turn to another of M. Merimee's books, in our opinion his best, an
historical romance, entitled 1572, a "Chronicle of the Reign of Charles
the Ninth." "In history," says the author in his preface, "I care only
for the anecdotes, and prefer those in which I fancy I discover a true
picture of the manners and character... |
I was indignant to see the Protestants summoning foreigners to their
assistance. But why disguise the real motive that actuated me? I
thirsted for revenge, and became a Catholic, in hopes of meeting the
Prince of Conde in fair fight, and killing him. A coward forestalled me,
and the manner of the prince's death almost ... |
"'The Countess de Turgis--how lovely she looks!' murmured the courtiers,
pressing forward to see her better. Mergy, close to whom she passed, was
so struck by her beauty, that he forgot to make way till her large
silken sleeves rustled against his doublet. She remarked his emotion
without displeasure, and for a moment ... |
"'You will require a rapier of the same length as mine,' resumed
Comminges; 'I can recommend you Laurent, at the Golden Sun, Rue de la
Feronnerie; he is the best armourer in Paris. Tell him you come from me,
and he will treat you well.' Having thus spoken, he turned upon his
heel, and rejoined the group he had lately l... |
"'Here is a letter for my mother,' said Mergy, his voice slightly
tremulous. George took it without a word, and approaching the table,
opened a small Bible, and seemed busy reading whilst his brother
completed his toilet. On the first page that offered itself to his eyes,
he read these words in his mother's handwriting... |
By his countrymen, M. Merimee's short tales are the most esteemed of his
writings. He produces them at intervals much too long to please the
editor and readers of the periodical in which they have for some time
appeared,--the able and excellent _Revue des Deux Mondes_. Once in
eighteen months, or two years, he throws a... |
"'I congratulate you,' said the captain, as I picked up my shako. 'You
are safe for to-day.' I knew the military superstition which holds the
maxim _Non bis in idem_ to be as applicable on a battle-field as in a
court of justice. I proudly replaced my shako on my head. 'An
unceremonious way of making people bow,' said ... |
Having disposed of two grand categories of mistakes and absurdities in
house-building, viz., lightness of structure and badness of material, we
shall now address ourselves more particularly to the defects of
Arrangement and Form, or, as an architect might term it, to the
discussion of Plan and Elevation. The former tas... |
First of all, then, with regard to the plans best suited for the country
residences of the nobility and gentry of England--of that high-minded
and highly gifted aristocracy, which is the peculiar ornament of this
island,--of that solid honest squirearchy, which shall be the
sheet-anchor of the nation, after all our com... |
In the first place, then, a gentleman's country house (we are adverting
here to country residences alone--to those in the metropolitan haunts of
men we shall return hereafter) should be thoroughly warm. Now, of course
a man may make a fire-place as big as Soyer's great range at
Crockford's--poor dear Crocky's, before i... |
Providing, however, that the worthy squire actually consents to pull out
a few more hundreds, for the sake of having walls of proper thickness
and roofs of right pitch, it does not quite follow that his ground-floor
rooms will be dry, unless the mansion is well vaulted underneath, and
well drained, to boot. We have kno... |
And now, dear sir, if you can but once remove this prejudice of cost
from your mind, you may set at defiance all those twaddling architects
who come to you with their theories of the "smallest spaces of support,"
and who would fain persuade you that, because it is scientific to build
many rooms with few materials, _the... |
Happy we Englishmen and Scotsmen, who know not what this _malaria_
means! The worst story on the subject that I remember was a personal
adventure of my friend Beard. The scene of this adventure is a little
out of the way of Adalia, but it may serve to illustrate the style of
thing prevailing generally in this direction... |
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