A NEW CANADIAN WORK 
 
 •EN PH()TO(;i!APHS 
 
 OF 
 
 CELEHRA'rEI) MEN AND NOTED I'LACES, 
 
 GHOSTS AND THEIR UKLAIMONS, 
 
 
 BY 
 
 MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL COUNCII- ETC.. ETC. 
 
 '■'Corde et nuvm." 
 
 ^' ^■-^■--.^■^ ■.-><>-/"\_ -^ » - 
 
 TORONTO. 
 FLINT, MORTON & CO., PUBM-SIl I"" ; 
 
 1873. 
 
" Entered according to act of Parliament of Canada in the year 
 A.D. 1873, by Daniel Clark, M.D., intheofficeot the Minister 
 of Agriculture." 
 
P II K F A C E . 
 
 An author is generally expected to give his reiisons for inflicting 
 upon a long-suffering pul)lic a new work. Ilis pleadings to be 
 heard in the noisy, restless conventions of the world may be ignored 
 or repudiated, unless the stamp of public approval is upon hi* 
 credentials. Should his piea for presenting his literary contribu- 
 tions to the common fund be of a financial nature, the well known 
 reticence of the scribe, would make the announcement of such a fact 
 one of great delic.icy. If his wishes and hopes ar^^ based upon the 
 conceit that his creations are children of immortality, then, are they 
 not presented, and .seldom rea'ized. If his presentations, however 
 worthy of acceptance, are prefaced with apologies for coming into 
 existence, and in a sort of abashed, reluctant, " by your leave" atti- 
 tude, step upon the stage, the reader is at once prejudiced against a 
 work, in which the originator hmis 'If has no confidence. The author 
 does not deem it necessary to give reasons, nor offer excuses, to an 
 intelligent people, in asking a persual of these results of hours of re- 
 creation enjoyed, free from the anxious, wearing and laborious 
 drudgery '^f professional life. Maturer years might have left much 
 unwritten of that herein recorded, and added much of more weighty 
 import, but to di'J.sect is to di.sfigure, and such as the.se photographs, 
 are, comely or distorted, they are presented to a Canadian public. 
 These sketches were the intermittent pen and ink dashes of several 
 years duration, and contributed from time to time, to magazines and 
 quarterlies of this, and other lands. Several of the characters por- 
 trayed have passed away since they were written. The kindly sup- 
 port already tendered to the author, before publication in book form 
 is appreciated by him and he hopes, that a persual of these humble 
 and varied efforts may uisliuci the reader.and beguile a leisure hour, 
 " requesting him if he should find here and there something to 
 please him, to rest assured that it wa; written, expressly for intelli- 
 gent readers like himself, but entreating, should he find anything to 
 dislike, to tolerate it as one of those articles, which the author has 
 been obliged to write for readers of less refined taste." 
 
 D. C. 
 
 Princeton Ont. 
 
PEN PHOTO GPvAJ>] IS. 
 
 C A I R D 
 
 IT will be remembered by many that Mr. Caird — 
 once of P'rrol, Scotland, now of Glasgow — 
 preached before the Royal Family at Craithic, Balmoral, 
 some seventeen years ago, and that his sermon, "The 
 Religion of common life," was published by the request 
 of the late Prince Consort, while at Balmoral in the 
 year 1857. where the writer had the pleasure of hear- 
 ing him [)reach the second time before Her Majesty. 
 Since then, he has acquired a world-wide reputation as 
 one of Scotland's most eloquent divines. He was at 
 that time spare in body and of medium height. His 
 liair was coal black and straight. His temperament is 
 what " bumpologists" would term nervobilious. A 
 narrow, long face with high cheek-bones — thin lips and 
 large sunken eyes, was nature's stamp of his Doric 
 Origin, His text was "All are yours, &c." WhenLe 
 rose to read the Psalm he was visibly agitated. His 
 voice trembled a little, but it was sufficiently firm to 
 
2 I' FN I'HorodKAI'HSjt , 
 
 give distinctness to his syllabic utterancen. His reatl- 
 ing was not good ; it partook too much of that nasal, 
 dolorous monotony - without emphasis, without vivac- 
 ity, and 77/// —so orthodox among a certain class of 
 psendo-puIi)it orators. It was plain that he read af- 
 ter the style of some anli(|uated, defective model, and 
 yet lacked not taste, nor had he any api)arent inii)ed"- 
 ment in the vocal organs. I le read the chapter more 
 like the semi-chant oi'a cloistered monk, than like the 
 clastic, and distinct reading models of to-day, and were 
 it not for the mournful cadences; of a tine tenor voice, 
 superlatively soft, tliough somewhat muffled, the so- 
 porific effects would have been overpowering. His 
 prayers were full of faithful extracts from the Episco. 
 pal prayer book. He stooped somewhat at first, but 
 as he warmed to the work, he unbent himself,and stood 
 straight as an arrow. The nervous, in weakness, was 
 fast disapi)earing before the nervous in strength. He 
 began to have confidence in himself and in his powers 
 of persuasion. No drawling and negligent accentua- 
 tion now, but the words came forth sharp, and distinct, 
 as the crack of rifled guns. The choice language — 
 the neat illustrations — the beautiful imagery, yet terse 
 and cogent reasoning of the orator, had a wonderful 
 mesmeric effect upon the congregation. A solemn 
 stillness prevaded the little parish church. The slight- 
 est rustle of silk, or satin, or movement of shoe, or el- 
 bow, was unbearable, and an outrage on the domain of 
 hearing. To listen, and catch every word, seemed to 
 be a fulnessof joy, and to lOse one syllable was todrop 
 a link from the chain of ineffable delight. Ever and 
 
L" A I R IJ. 3 
 
 jinon his fine dark eye flashed fire, and passion, not in 
 Affectation, and mere silly sentimcntalisni, but with gen- 
 uine earnestness, and evident forgetfulness of congrega- 
 tion, place, and occasion, in the delivery of his Mas- 
 ters message. His voice mellowed into tenderness, as 
 he described the struggle of life — its toils and pains — 
 its losses and gains — its defeats and victories — its hours 
 of despondency, and its hours of exultation, with all 
 the sunshine, and clouds of a checjuered life. He car. 
 ried us far into the regions of thcgreat Unknown. He 
 pointed out to us, panoramic views of the Future — 
 photographs of the sublime — indelibly written on the 
 page of Inspiration. The camera obscura was the dark 
 valley. Death, as drawn in profile by Caird, was hor- 
 rible. The word portraiture, was that of a master 
 mind, which was familiar with the fell-destroyer in all 
 his multifarious manifestations. The peroration was 
 fine, because effective. It v;as not mere verbal sym- 
 phony. The soul was there. It was not the lifeless 
 skeleton, beautiful even in li/elcssness^ but the living, 
 breathing and ecstatic joy, or hallowed sadness, of a 
 terrible earnestness. The hearers of Cicero always 
 said, ** How pleasantly he speaks!" His classic pro- 
 ductions were admired, but they excited no emotions, 
 and stirred up no latent passions. The audience of 
 Demosthenes, when be hurled his fierce phillipics 
 against the Macedonian King, had no thoughts of ad- 
 miration, as such, the Greeks (ried out " Let us go and 
 fight Philip." Caird is a minor Demosthenes. His 
 sermons, dwell not simply ui)on the ear as sweet and 
 plea.sant melodies, but rouse to acts of moral heroism 
 
4 PI'.N IMIOlCKiUAI'llS. 
 
 and Christian daring. Royalty and loyalty, (^ueonand 
 Trinccs, lord and subject, felt the Divine afllatiis, dur- 
 ing that sacred and j)recious hour. The blanched 
 face, the tearful eye, the eager gaze, and the quivering 
 lips were unc([uivocal homage, not only to the preacher, 
 but to the day of holy insjjirations, and sweet reminis- 
 cences. How such invective, satire, pathos, solemnity 
 and cogent reasoning, crush by one fell blow all the 
 sophistries of a well defended infidelity of the Colenso 
 school of sceptics ! and how true are the v;ords of Bry- 
 ant : — • 
 
 "Truth crushed to death shall rise again, 
 The eternal years of (lod are hers ; 
 
 But error, wounded, writhes in pain. 
 And dies among her worshippers," 
 
G U Tir R IE. 
 
 Thomas (iI'ihrik has all ihc elements in his com- 
 position, of a tragedian, or a comedian. A Kean, a 
 Macrcady, or a Forrest, with all their training in the 
 school of drama or elocution, could not portray in more 
 forcible delineations, the varied passions of the human 
 mind, by the muscular action of the countenance, than 
 the recent occupant of St. John's Church, Edinburgh. 
 Nature \\ is blessed him, with a most ungainly, and un- 
 couth baJy. JIc is long in visage, plus long arms 
 reaching down to his knees, with long legs to stand 
 upon and long grey hairs, to adorn a well developed 
 cranium. In short, the contour of the whole man may 
 be summed up in the word — elurigation. The unwash- 
 ed ^<^<?w///j' of I'klinburgh called him, in their patois and 
 sotlo voce^ "Lang Tarn." We heard him preach the 
 most of the sermons, now contained in a book called 
 the "Saint's Inheritance." His style of delivery is un- 
 i(iuc. He can have no successful imitator. We can- 
 not compare his preaching, and composition to any 
 one of the writings of the living or the dead. His ser- 
 mons abound in apt illustrations drawn from nature. 
 The composition is epigrammatic, and classic, with an 
 occasional Doric word thrown in, to give some strug- 
 gling idea point and unction. He docs not wade 
 through long and weary sentences, with relative clauses 
 in such redundancy, as to puzzle a Murray or a Bullion. 
 Short, simple and concise is his motto. We never 
 
6 , PKN I'HOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 heard from his lips such nauseating technicalities, as 
 " Hypostatical Union," the " tertium quid," the " ego 
 and nonego," the *' Hypothetical realism," and "Cos - 
 mothetic idealism" of philosophers. He eschews 
 such as he would Diabolus. His delight is in hoary 
 ruins — sad relics of the past, — in the sea and in all 
 that is beautiful in the external world. Illustration, 
 after illustration, is drav/n from the rolling billows — 
 the roaring breakers — the rugged rocks of the ocean — 
 the proud sliips, or the dismantled wrecks —the cry of 
 the wild seamen, or the 
 
 " Solitary shriek, the bubbling cry 
 Of some strong swimmer in his agony." 
 
 He carries you avv^iy among the ivy-covered relics of 
 by-gone glories — where temp^ists howl on cold hearth- 
 stones — where weird snowilikes dance a fairy reel 
 round dismantled towers — through sloping loop-holes, 
 in dark and winding passages, where weeped the soli- 
 tary prisoner, and where his moans echoed in unison 
 with the booming waves, of his sea-girt prison, or where 
 the banquet was spread for the mailed warrior grim, and 
 stern, or for the gay bridal cortege, gladsome in mel- 
 ody and song. "With the master hand, by word pic- 
 turing he takes you among the most sublime objects of 
 nature — by the roaring cataracts — on the rugged 
 mountains — into the wonders of the great extinct, stra- 
 tified, and petrified, in the rocks of the primal ages. 
 His magic wand, like Arabian wizard, transports you 
 to celestial scenes, and starry wonders, and through 
 sidereal zones, whose stars have never yet been numer- 
 
GUTHRIK. 7 
 
 ically distinguished. His power lies in pictorial par- 
 allel, which teaches truth and entrances at the same 
 time. Guthrie's style of delivery has more of the/rv- 
 titerin ;r than tlie suaviter in modo. It is true that a cur- 
 rent of pathos runs through tiie subject matter of dis- 
 course, but it is the thunderings, as well as the woo- 
 ings, which display the man. When he is roused, he 
 performs actions the most grotesque, awkward and 
 ludicrous of which the beholder is not cognisant until 
 the overpowering effect of the matchless oratory of the 
 "old man eloquent" has been mellowed by the hand 
 of time. 1 well renumber the bending, and bent form 
 becoming erect, as climax after climax was reached,— 
 the long hair smoothly parted on the brow, danced 
 about the eyes — tlie long arms swung in circles, and 
 5emi-circles round the tapering shoulders, like flails 
 thrashing out the stubborn grain. The short truncat- 
 ed swallow tails, of a dress coat, would occasionally 
 burst the barriers of a (ieneva gown, and perform 
 strange gja'ations in the air. The wide sleeves of the 
 cloak — hke bat's wings — would lly in never ceasing 
 voyages, now around the head, and anon around that 
 detestable conventional barrier called a pulpit. But 
 who could even smile ? Onward rushed the tumultu- 
 ous thoughts on the tiptoe of expectation, until the 
 finale brought us back to the world again. Caird drew 
 us after him by 2i puissant intellection, but Guthrie by 
 the cords of awe, or heaven-kindled sympathy and love. 
 He is one of the kindliest and best of men. There is 
 no cabin, lane, or alley, or street too mean or filthy 
 for him to visit. We have n?.et him, times without 
 
S PEN FHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 number, in the Grass Mjrket, Cowgate, St. Mary's 
 Wynd, Carruber's Close, where he was gathering into 
 his ragged schools, " ones /nore unfortunate," like a 
 guardian angel. How could the founder of such 
 schools be other than the first of philanthropists ! 
 Although now, by reason of ill health, his voice as a 
 preacher is seldom heard, yet, as the author of " The 
 Gospel in Ezekiel," ** The City: its Sins and Sor- 
 rows," "Seed Time and Harvest," and as the Editor 
 of the " Sunday Magazine," his name will live, and 
 the chaste religious literature, which lias flowed, and will 
 flow from his prolific pen can never die, as long as the 
 Anglo-Saxon tongue exists, and, as long as its vigor, 
 and beauty, are justly adrnired by the present, and 
 will be, by succeeding generations. 
 
SPUR G E ON. 
 
 London is full of good preachers ; I speak of 
 them in comparison to the ministers of the pro- 
 vincial, and rural districts. The metropolis gathers 
 into its omnivorous maw, the intellectually great of the 
 nation, (xreat minds, by a sort of centripetal power, 
 gravitate toward each other. It is in the Capital, where 
 the representative powers meet, and from thence pul- 
 sate in a never-ceasing stream the virus of scepticism, 
 the mockery of materialism, the vapid sentimentalism 
 of a depreciated Ciiristianity, or the high-toned spirit- 
 uality of a living gospel. Yet, in all these phases of 
 modes of thought, the lower stratum of mind was to 
 a great extent overlooked. The pulpit dissertations of 
 the London divines, were generally of a kind not to ex- 
 cite the interest of a degenerate, and ignorant popu- 
 lace ; I speak of the lower classes. The beautiful and 
 chaste style of a modern Blair, had no heart in it to 
 throb in unison with theirs. The abstractions of 
 Lynch, only delight the giant minds of the mammoth 
 city. The sermonizer who illustrates his dogmas by 
 geology, mineralogy, botany, and astronomy, unless he 
 has the descriptive, and analytical powers of Dick, the 
 philosopher, or good "Old Humphrey," will never 
 impress deeply the lethargic mind of the constant and 
 ever bowed down son of toil, who struggles fiercely 
 day ; y day for his daily bread. 
 
 Spurgeon filled the breach. I had read the first 
 
10 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 series of his sermons, and thought them hght ? but I 
 was anxious to hear him on account of his popularity. 
 I had landed from a Dutch steamer, at tlic St. 
 Catherine docks, on Sabbath morning, and hastening 
 through rain and fog to Surrey Music ]Iall, procured 
 a ticket for one shilling sterling, just as wc would have 
 ^done to attend a theatre. It admitted us before the 
 .throng, which, at half-past nine o'clock, was literally 
 <:rammed, before tiie iron gates of the garden. T\\c 
 ■ticket admitted us four Sabbaths, and " must be given 
 up on the last date." "Service to commence at a 
 quarter before eleven.'' The ticket \\as signed by 
 Thomas Olney. Olney cV Son, 139 High Street, 
 Borough, brought Spurgeon out — so to speak. They 
 spared no pains by the press, and their influence, and 
 mone}', to herald him as a counterpart of Whitfield. 
 Their early estimate of his powers was just, and true. 
 He fell like a living shell among the Londoners and 
 took them by storm. Wiien I entered the line hall, 
 the seats on the floor were crowded. The first gal- 
 lery was full, and I thought myself fortunate to find a 
 seat in the front of the second gallery. The platform, 
 or orchestra, was also occupied by hundreds. It is half 
 an hour ere the service begins, and the ticket holders 
 still pour in. Where will the masses, now surging to 
 and fro, in mud, and under a pelting rain, find room? 
 When the gates were opened by the police the rush was 
 as impetuous as the storming of a Bastile, or the tak- 
 ing of a Malakoff. A subdued hum of conversation 
 fills the building. On roy right, are two well-dressed 
 young men, discussing the politics of the day. On my 
 
SPUROEON. II 
 
 left, sits an old man, with sweat-bedewed bald head, 
 and spectacles on nose, intently reading the " Times." 
 Behind me are two ladies, apparently motlier and 
 daughter, in earnest criticism about the relative merits 
 of the pcrtormances of Madame Crrisi, Piccolomini and 
 Mons. julien, at the grand concert held in the Crystal 
 Palace at Sydenham, where had been recently sung, 
 the sublime oratorios of Handel, by 3,000 performers. 
 My heart beats "fast and furious" when memory, ever 
 dear, recalls the "I know that my Redeemer liveth" of 
 the Messiah, the war notes of " Judas Maccabeus," or 
 the soul-stirring variations of the " Creation." 'I'iie 
 dual behind me were evidently artists in the musical 
 sphere. The murmurs of debate, and conversation, 
 lilled the house with discordant notes. The whole 
 audience seemed to be straining propriety, in order 
 that it might cheat "father time." It shocked a stran- 
 ger, to observe the utter want of reverence, in a pro- 
 fessedly devout congregation, on a Sabbath morning- 
 My reflections were suddenly cut short by the mellow, 
 deep bass of some one filling to completeness the 
 large hall, with the words of the hymn beginning — 
 
 '• Stay, thou insulted Spirit, stay ! " 
 
 The slow, distinct pronunciation — clear as a silver bell 
 — struck my ear like a pleasant melody. At first, so 
 completely did the sound fill the house, I was not able 
 to trace the direction from whence it came. Intuit- 
 ively, I turned my face to the platform, and there on 
 the verge of it — in the midst of a sea of faces — stood 
 Spurgeon. He seemed to spring from the midst of the 
 
12 I'KN PHO'rO(,RAPHS. 
 
 crowd, as it by magic. Did you happen to meet him 
 in the country, dressed in hodden gny^ you would sup- 
 pose him to be a well-to-do Tarmer. He is si^uarebuilt 
 and muscular. Had he been a sparring, sturdy pugil- 
 ist of the "lancy," instead of being a r: 'tidier of the 
 church militant, woe betide the poor wight, who might 
 happen to get his head in "chancery" (under his arm). 
 His features are round, and his forehead medium 
 height, and full ; but, overshadowing the eyes greatly, 
 detracting very much from their prominency. The 
 eyes have that undefinable twinkle oifunniness about 
 them, which is a sure indication of the possessor hav- 
 ing a fimd of humour, and a keen sense of the ludic- 
 rous. The teeth are very large, white, regular, and 
 prominent : even when the lips are shut they cannot 
 be concealed. The head is set down closely upon the 
 shoulders, as if the isthmus of a neck had been con- 
 tracted by paralysis. His dress is plain, and fits him 
 badly. At first sight he is far from being prepossess- 
 ing ; but when he smiles, or speaks, the antipathy van- 
 ishes. When he speaks, the words have no serrated 
 edges, or burr about them ; they come forth *' fat, full, 
 round and free." It has been said that the secret of 
 his success lies in three things : ist, voice ; 2nd, the 
 sublime ; 3rd, the ridiculous. It is not the whole 
 truth, for many preachers in London command these 
 three marks, and yet are not popular. Spurgeon pos- 
 sesses, besides these, also, pungency ©f expression, cut- 
 ting irony, and burning satire, and these, too, in a very 
 few words, but they sear like a red hot iron. He was 
 asked to preach against the homoepathic bonnets, then 
 
in fashion ; but, said he, "the savage who told me to 
 do so, thought I could change the fa^shions : but, my . 
 dears, 1 see no bonnets to preach against." They were 
 then worn on tlic shculdcrs. No man could c0j)y him 
 in the grotesque, without being himself the butt of ridi- 
 cule ; and the solemnity with which he utters the most 
 ridiculous things, gives no encouragement for the time 
 being, to laughter or smiles. Spurgeon is like a; bee : 
 lie will draw sweet illustrations from the most poison- 
 ous sources. He will now and then cull them from 
 the BUUngsgate of the fish market, from the slang of 
 the fraternity, in the thief's kitchen, from the cabman's 
 patois^ from the green-grocer in Haymarket, and from 
 the nomenclature of the herbalist, the chemist,and the 
 apothecary. These quaint illustrations are seldom 
 published. Thus he catches the multitude by con- 
 summate strategy. He does not hesitate to take for 
 his text Uu Chaillu's " Gorrilla," if so be he can lure 
 the people to hear him. He has before him notes of 
 his sermons, which he fills up extempore as he preach- 
 es ; and a reporter, generally, sits by his side, who 
 writes down the words as they fall from his lips. His 
 gestures arc few. Occasionally he will raise his right 
 hand, and will toy with a white pocket handkerchief; 
 but there are no violent contortions of the face or 
 body. On Monday morning following his sermon can 
 be bought printed for two pence. Nearly a million of 
 them have been published, and some of them in the 
 pagan tongues of Asia. Doubtless he will wear well, 
 for there is too much originality in the composition of 
 his mind, to be ever exhausted. No one can tell the 
 
14 J'K.>f r'HOrOCRAFHS. 
 
 wonderful amount of good, such a man will do, until 
 the sum total is reached ; and when the sun of Spur- 
 geon sets in death, London will seldom " see his like 
 again." Human wisdom says, what a pity that thus: — 
 
 " Star after star declines. 
 Till all have pass'd away." 
 
C L M M I N a . 
 
 On ;i cold Sabbath atternoon, I was sauntering 
 about the sl:irts of St. James' Park, on my way 
 to Westminster Abbey — the mausoleum of IJritain's 
 ilhistrious dcnd. I said to myself, " this is my last 
 Sabbath in * old Kngland ; ' I will spend this day in 
 meditations among the tombs. It will be ample food 
 for reflection, in after years, when the days that are 
 past, will roll before me, with all their deeds, as I stroll 
 among the primal beauties of Canadian landscapes. A 
 thought strikes me ; why not go and hear Dr. Gum- 
 ming? Yes, let'the dead rot, and be forgotten, in the 
 rock-built sepulchres of the old sanctuary : I will go 
 and hear one of the living great. A few minutes 
 sharp walking brought me to Crown Court, Covent 
 Garden. In a street anent an arched gateway stands a 
 row of carriages. On the panels of a few, are emblazon- 
 ed the emblems of nobility. Postillions and footmen 
 are lounging on the pavement. They had no need of 
 ministrations, lor suc/iy 7vepresutne, have no soul^ To the 
 wheels,hung bundles of rags, thepithofwhich wereafew 
 anatomical structures called bones. These were covered 
 with wrinkled skin, and were samples of the scum of 
 I^ondon, or the gamins of Paris. To all appearance 
 these had no souls either, if neglect, obscene language, 
 aptitude for, and proficiency in, every species of wick- 
 edness, and no seeming moral sentiment, are evidences 
 of want of responsibility, and Christian charity. Much 
 
1 6 I'KN PHOTOfiRAPHS. 
 
 is being done by a tow d-jvotcd Christians for them ; 
 but, so far, it is like checking the Atlantic tide with a 
 broom. All honours, however, to the forlorn hope I 
 As the shark follows the boundin,:; ship, so do these 
 shivering atoms of unfortunate humanity cling to 
 the chariot-wheels of nobles. They are watching for 
 ])rey. I entered a dirty court-yard and found myself 
 ris-a-Tis with an ugly building, guarded by a stiff elder, 
 with sufficient white linen about his neck to make a 
 shirt for one of the dirty urchins outside. The interior 
 of this square building was comfortably filled with 
 pews, and I may add, with hearers, toe. It could lay 
 no claim, within, or without, to architectural beauty or 
 design. Dr. Gumming, when 1 entered, was "giving 
 out " the psalm with great unction. His accentua- 
 tion was good, and his voice a mellow falsetto. He 
 is tall and gaunt, with considerable firmness about the 
 lips, and a flash of conscious genius about the eye. 
 He is a clever controversalist, and well acquainted 
 with auglit appertaining to Romanism. His debate, 
 of many days' duration with an eminent London 
 lawyer, on Catholicism, at Hammersmith, is well 
 known to the literary and theological worlds. He is a 
 rabid mlllenarian. I heard him on his favourite sub- 
 ject,and it plainly demonstra,ted to me, that there is a 
 small spice of the monomaniac, or a good deal of 
 craftiness in seeking popularity in the mental compo- 
 sition of this intellectual giant. He insists on a literal 
 interpretation of the Scriptures, when it suits his pet 
 theories ; but he is not a severe hermeneutist when the 
 existence of some creation of his brain is in jeopardy. 
 
CUM. MI NO. 17 
 
 ,f lis works roil well, both on a(:,:oii:it of the chaste 
 stylo, l)eauty of e.\[)ro3sion, and elegance of diction, 
 and also l)ecaiise of unusual vivacity of thouglit. His 
 "(Ireat Tribulation " sold well, notwithstanding the 
 pun hurled at it by tho **jolly" and obese Pmuli who 
 mnounccd it as follows: "A new work, the (Ireat 
 'i'ribulation, is Cinnmiih'^ upon the earth."' In the 
 more recent works which have i:ome from his prolific 
 l>en, he has modified and changed his views ; still, at 
 the time, he insi:;ited that Scripture pointed to some 
 great change in the moral, physical, and political sta- 
 tus of the world. A.D. 1S67. That year was a focus 
 towards which all other events centred. Punch 
 slyly hinted that he had rented a house for twenty 
 years — that is, ho would be a lessee, nearly ten years, 
 after the " final consummation " of all things. Poor 
 Cumming j)leads guilty ; but with lawyer-like craftiness 
 says, that, by renting the house for twenty years, he ob- 
 tained it much cheaper than if he had rented it for ten 
 years ; thus, tiie transaction resolved itself into a mere 
 bargain of prudence an. I economy. When 1 heard 
 him, he contrived, by a series of comical deductions, 
 to mix up the scenes of the millenium with hoop skirts 
 and fashionable bonnets. His definition of a lady 
 dressed, a la mode, was, that "she was the centre of a 
 grand circumference ; " the dandy ^yas " the quintes- 
 sence of fashionable frivolity." The supreme present, 
 with its novelties, is mixed up in the phantasmagoria 
 ■of his brain, with the conditional, and absolute, of the 
 future, and the unrecalled past. The last outre fashion, 
 -or invention, from the infinitesimal bonnet, or the 
 
1 8 I'EN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 theory of perpetual motion, to the last patent churn- 
 |)crfottioni.sm, are all "signs of the year of jubilee." 
 He is often so logical, and literal, in all his intcrjireta- 
 tions of what is, and must remain, in time a mystery,. 
 as to set all practical deductions at defiance. Had he 
 the eloquence, earnestness, and devotednessof Kdward 
 Irving, I have no doubt we would have a class of fan- 
 atical reli,'/;ionists, called Cummingites, as well as Irv- 
 ingites. He no doubt exercises considerable inlluence, 
 for moral good, among the Scottish. Presbyterian 
 noi)ility of London. Many of the elite of the northern 
 aristocracy, are his ardent admircpi. He is intellectu- 
 ally great, but not greatly useful, among the classes 
 that need so much the counsel and advice of his kind. 
 He is a quaint curiosity, whose theses may excite to 
 curious and speculative eiKiiiiry as to the future of 
 this world and o-.ir race ; but when tiie abstractions of 
 his powerful and erratic mind shall have ploughed 
 their devious furrows over the sea of human thought, 
 the bubbling waves may hiss, and foam, and sparkle, for 
 a moment, from the momentum of the flashing thoughts. 
 but soon oblivion shall bury them in the fathornless 
 abyss of the past. The fleeting meteor is sending out 
 coruscations, which "lead to bewilder and dazzle — tO' 
 blind ;" but which will at last burst into fragments, 
 from its own repellent elements, and leave the foolish 
 midnightgazer, blinded wearied, and lost, amid the bogs 
 of faithless uncertainty. We love the bold and fearless 
 thinker, who follows no ignis fatuus, but, vv'hile the 
 many shrink, from launching into the magnum mare 
 of unexplored thought, will not fear obloquy, as he 
 
CUMMINIJ. 
 
 »9 
 
 casts aside the Mi is of worthless invcstigraion, and 
 pushes onward, without fear, and without reproach, 
 into the new sphere of glorious intellection, conscious 
 that there, to all humanity, 
 
 "No pent up Uti<!a contracts his power; 
 For the whole boundlef^s continent is ours." 
 
20 
 
 BALMORAL. 
 
 WE left Aberdeen far behind, and rushed with 
 raih-oad speed up the Dee, and past many a 
 'Cosy farmstead, and elegant country seat, to Aboyne, 
 then by coach througli Kincardine O'Neil to Ballater. 
 As we approached Ballater the mountains began to 
 assume respectable proportions to a habitant, but to 
 one who had climbed the Rocky mountains, and 
 Andes, and the Swiss Alps, they were not such as 
 would fill the mind of the traveller witli awe. They 
 were so bald, and grey, and misty, that no great 
 stretch of the imagination was reciuired; to conjure up 
 the phantoms of Ossian's heroes doing battle in the 
 clouds, or seeking fir-trees, and moons, for spears and 
 shields, under the ghostly leadership of a Fingal. Yet^ 
 we were on classic ground, and as we left the dreary 
 Moor of Dinnet behind, and were pressing forward 
 Into the mountain gorges near Lochnagar, we had on 
 our left the meandering Dee — very pacific in its voice 
 and in its motions — not thus far, and in warring Octo- 
 ber *' the billows of Dee's rushing tide." On the far 
 right, rose in graceful outlines, the smooth and round. 
 ed hill of Morven. The name will suggest to the 
 reader the graphic lines of Byron: 
 
 "When I roved a young Highlander o'er the dark 
 heath, 
 
 And climbed thy steep summit, O Morven, of s now 
 
 To gaze on the torrent that thundered beneath; 
 
 Or the mist of the tempest that gather'd below." 
 
 Before us opens out the mountain home of the Dee, 
 
 the river flowing in beautiful cascades, and murmuring 
 
BALMORAL. ' 21 
 
 ripples, from its mountain fastness. AVe gaze into this 
 rugged retreat through the chasm in a rocky spur of 
 the mountain, which cuts a large section of it away, 
 as if a Hercules had in rage cleft it asunder with a 
 huge claymore, shearing the top closely of its "haffets," 
 but bearing round its venerable crown the green and 
 stunted birch and the scraggy freeze bushes. To the 
 south, rear up the bald peaks of Craigendaroch, (Gaelic 
 for the rocky mountain of oaks) and away to the 
 the north-west shoots up ColLleen. 
 
 *' When I see some dark liill point its crest to the sky, 
 I think of the rocks that o'ershadow Colbleen." 
 
 Passing through this cleft in the rocks, and leav- 
 ing the village ot Ballater on the left, we follow on 
 the north side of the now "rushing Dee," the stage 
 road, leading to Castleton of Braemar. Abergeldie 
 Castle — once the summer retreat of Kent — can be 
 seen on the south side of the river close to the edge of 
 the water. At this point the river is spanned by a 
 rope, and crossed in a rude cradle, which slides along 
 the rope, on pulleys. The castle is small, but prides 
 itself in towers, turrets and miniature battlements. 
 Passing on about a mile, we come to a clump of trees 
 composed of birch, ash, and fir, and scrubby oaks, 
 embowered in which stands the Craithie parish church 
 and near by is the school-house. The church lays no 
 claim to architectural beauty, being only a plain, 
 square, stone building, with a belfry on the top ■ of 
 the east end, that seems to shelter birds' nests as well 
 as a small bell, whose tones on Sabbath morning 
 were none of the sweetest. In the inside it is equally 
 
2 2 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 plain, with the pulpit on the south .side, and octagon 
 in shape; on the sides runs a narrow gallery from 
 which are two passages leading, the one down into the 
 lobby at the main door, and the other leads to a pri- 
 vate door in the west side, used only by the 
 Queen and her household. To the left-front of the 
 preacher in the gallery, were the pews of the Royal 
 Family;immediately in front were those of the Duchess 
 of Kent, and those of the Executive that might be in 
 Council with her Majesty. Every part from the pre- 
 centors's desk upwards, is severely unadorned, old, and 
 dilapidated. In the valley below, is the Manse, sur- 
 rounded by several fertile fields, and near by a hand- ' 
 some suspension bridge, leading to the village of 
 Craithie, beyond which are dense fir woods, and the 
 Lochnagar distillery, in which is manufactured "Loch- 
 nagar whiskey," whose peculiar smoky flavour is obtain- 
 ed by the use of spring water^ which percolates through 
 a dense peat moss. About a mile farther on, as I 
 turn a sharp angle of the road, Balmoral bursts upon 
 my view rather suddenly. I'he royal banner flaunts 
 its silken folds from the tower : the Queen was there. 
 Was it possible that a Canadian back-woodsman was 
 now gazing upon the palace of the mightiest monarch, 
 that ever ruled since " the morning stars sang together," 
 and was it possible, that my eyes were to behold Her 
 whose name, and virtues, were honoured and revered, 
 from "the rising to the setting sun ?' * I think, and 
 gaze, and then gaze and think, until my soul is full 
 of delight, and until I am sure it is not'a dream, and 
 I have not lost my personal identity. The palace 
 
BAL^:ORAL. 23 
 
 sils in the niidsts of a beautiful \-alley, wliose margin, 
 ^and sides, are covered Avitli luxuriant birch trees; 
 .around it are the "everlasting hills," — the rugged, 
 bare, grey crags of auMScotin, ''stern andwild." 'J'his 
 valley is crescentic in shape. 'I'he river washes the 
 base of the northern hiils. The castle is on the south 
 side of the r-ver, but on the northern and convex side 
 of the valley. Craig-an-govvan, from the south, juts 
 out over the valley, somewhat like Arthur's seat, near 
 P^dinburgh. On all sides are mountain tops to be 
 seen, the one rising above the other in irregular suc- 
 cession. The contour of the whole is absolutely deso- 
 lation itself. Rocks and the dark heath everywhere. 
 They looked like thrones for the Titans in the grand 
 amphitheatre of judgment, from which they issued 
 unchanging edicts, or hurled, like Jupiter, thunder-bolts 
 of war. No wonder that mountaineers are brave, 
 bold, and poetic, the world over, for their modes of 
 thought must be a sort of transcript, of unyielding, 
 majestic nature around them. About seven miles away, 
 frowns that '''most sublime and picturesque of our 
 Caledonia Alps," dark Lochnagar. It is only a section 
 of a cone, for some convulsion of nature has rent it 
 almost in twain from top to bottom. A perpendicular 
 wall presents itself on one side for many hundreds of 
 feet, and at its base is a dark lake, fit for a syren to 
 sit by, and lure to destruction. It towers high above 
 its fellow, rejoicing in the solitary grandeur. 
 "Oh for the crags that are wild and majestic ! 
 The steep frowning glories of dark Lochnagar !" 
 The Farquharsons of Inverey, were the feudal pro- 
 
24 M:N PHUTC. (WRATHS. 
 
 prietors of the Jialinoral estate. About the beginning 
 of this century, the late Earl of Fife purchased it. 
 The trustees of the estate leased the lands, and ap- 
 purtenances, to Sir Robert Ciordon, tor the term of 
 38 years. He built a shooting lodge on the present 
 site of his palace. At his death, in 1847, the late 
 Prince Consort purchased a transfer of the lease, and 
 in 1852, bought the Ian Js for $t6o,ooo. The lodge 
 was torn down in 1854 and the new palace built. It 
 is unique in style, built in its principal features, after- 
 the castellated mode of architecture, perhaps the ])ro- 
 per term to use would be *' Baronial design." The 
 finish on 't is modern. It is as if we had clothed an. 
 uncouth, semi-civilized, athletic, and brave Gael, in 
 the drapery of modern civilization. The oudine is 
 pleasing, but the critic begins to dissect, and analyze, 
 and compare, one part with another, the incongruity^ 
 strikes the beholder very forcibly as Zifaitx pas in de- 
 sign. Whoever the architect might be, it is evident 
 he was endeavouring to serve two classes of masters ; 
 one of the old school, and one of the new ; and 
 shared the late of all such, by pleasing neither. The 
 outline of an ancient fastness, and of the ethereal 
 models of to-day, are so dissimilar that no combin- 
 ation of the two, can loom beautifully on the eye, no 
 such hybird can form a handsome creation. The 
 palace is built in the shape of a quadrangle, minus 
 the noth side, which is bounded by the Dee. The 
 south-west, and south east angles, are composed of 
 two large buildings. These are connected east, and 
 west, by two wings extending from each cor- 
 
\ 
 BA I.MORA [-. 25^ 
 
 ner, in the south-east corner there is a 
 tower 35 feet sc^uare and loo feet in height, sur- 
 mounted by four smaller towers. On the south side 
 the architecture is of the plainest kind, but on the 
 west, and north sides, the carvings and mouldings are 
 exceedingly rich', The stone was taken from a quarry 
 on the estate, and is grey granite, capable of beautiful 
 polish. It is smoothly dressed in ashler work, pre- 
 senting no seams, and consecjuently the whole castle, 
 at a distance, looks like a block of solid stone, unless 
 closely inspected. The riband, rope and corbelling 
 moulding are in keeping, to some extent, with the 
 Baronial style of architecture. The main entrance, at 
 the south-west angle, opens into a large room in which 
 is a fire place, and a mantle-piece, on which stands a 
 fancy clock. Around on the walls, are trophies of the 
 chase, such as the antlers of the roe, and the cornuted 
 heads of the red deer. From the hall runs a corridor 
 at right angles to it, on each side of which are the 
 dining-room, the library, the drawing-room, and the 
 billard room. From this passage, ascends the grand 
 stair-case to the first floor, on which are the private 
 apartments of royalty. The rooms of the Queen, frontr 
 ing the valley of the Dee, towards Braemar. From this 
 point of observation, the scenery is of the wildest 
 description, on all sides are the 
 
 " Grisly rocks that guard 
 
 The infant rills of Highland Dee." 
 
 The bed-room is over the main porch and hall, from 
 which a view south and west can be obtained far over 
 the deer forests of Ballochbowie. To the east of 
 
26 PAN I'HOTOOr.Al'Hs". 
 
 these rooms arc tiiose of t!ie children. Thousands 
 of houses in Canada are furnished far more richly 
 than this pretty retreat. The motto seems to be writ- 
 ten on everything, " plain, useful, and substantial. " 
 The carpets, the window curtain:,, and the upholstery 
 of the chairs and sofas, in many of the rooms, are 
 composed of clan tartan. When tb.ere are protuberan- 
 ces, or ungainly angles, or salient points, on roof or 
 v/alls, these are decorated with a carving of the Scottish 
 thistle. The chairs, in tiie drawing room, are fur- 
 nished with Victoria tartan of v/ool and silk. The 
 dining room has drapery of roynl Stuart plaid. The 
 wood-work of the furniture is an ash from Africa, being 
 in appearance very much like bird's-eye maple. The 
 curtains of the principal ])ed-rooms are of Victoria 
 print. The chairs and tables of the dining-room of 
 the Queen's retinue, and also those of the ball-room, 
 are made of highly polished oak. The bed-rooms 
 have furniture of American birch. To the rear of the 
 west side is situated the ball-room, sixty-nine feet by 
 twenty-six feet in area. A dais is erected for the Queen 
 on the side next the main buildmg, and at the opposite 
 end is an elevation for the musicians. The windows 
 and wall are richly festooned by a material very much 
 like damask, composed of wool and silk. Pure water 
 is supplied by pipes from a mountain spring. Sur- 
 ounding the palace are several small though beautiful 
 terraces, and on the lawn are cultivated in irregular 
 groups, flowers, mostly those indigenous to the coun- 
 try, except the cactus, the fuschia, &c., that were grow- 
 ing in large stone jars near the main entrance. 
 
DALMORM,. 27 
 
 The Queen is adored by the tenantry of Balmoral, 
 and were it not that it would be a species of breach 
 of trust, we mii^ht recite manv incidents of her Ma- 
 jesty's visits to the cabins of the poor, (never publish- 
 ed), as told by themselves, although with true Celtic 
 reticence this people tell of her goodness, and kind- 
 ness in a confidential way, as if they did not wish to 
 be classified amon.n: the gossips of the neighborhood, 
 or to be the media of, communication, to the outside 
 world, of aught said or done, within the precincts of 
 this rural retreat — the abode of happiness and peace,, 
 far from cankering care, state troubles and political 
 intrigue, for doubtless careworn is the brow, and 
 weary is the head, that wears a crown. We often met 
 Her, in her visits of mercy, and only attended by a 
 single female attendant. It is said that the Aberdonian 
 dialect puzzled Her Majesty not a little at first, but 
 that she is now well read in Highland classics. We 
 have no doubt, but the drilling any human tongue must 
 have to pronounce the German accurately, would be 
 sufficient to enable the Teutonic tongue to pronounce 
 the guttural Gaelic names of some of the mountains, 
 streams, and valleys around Balmoral. There is very 
 little Celtic spoken, on these estates, but in the neigh- 
 boring Straiths it is the mother tongue. 
 
 It is enough to paralyze an English tongue to pro- 
 nounce such names as Loch Muick, the Linn of Quoich, 
 Ben-muich-dhue, Brae-riach, ike, yet all, like Hebrew 
 words expressive of some local -circumstance, or ap- 
 pearance, although it is not lo be inferred from this 
 admission, that I wish to insinuate that Gaelic was 
 the language of Eden. 
 
28 1'1:N rilOTOGRAlHS. 
 
 The village of Craithie, when the Prince Consort 
 bought the estate, was only a collection of miserable 
 hamlets : not much better than the wigwams of the 
 Indian. By "Albert, the good," these have been 
 torn down, and neat substantial stone buildings erected 
 in their stead. Here in this sequestered glen resides 
 for weeks, and often months, our beloved Queen, and 
 the remnant of her interesting family. What a retreat 
 from the dii? of London and all the paraphernalia 
 of Court etiquette ! To feel that she can roam and 
 ride over hill and moor, by foaming cascade, and in 
 sylvan scenes, sans pair d sans reproc/ie, 
 
 " Where fairy haunted waters 
 In music gush along; 
 Where mountain rills are melody 
 And heathy hills are song,'' 
 
 must be the sweetest hours of a chequered life. 
 No costly retinue — no bristling bayonets — no shotted 
 cannon — no dragoon guards — and no consequential 
 officials, are needed at Balmoral. Her trust in the 
 faithful and loyal Highlanders is unbounded, and 
 were one hair of her head touched by recreant assassin, 
 there would be such a gathering of the clans, and such 
 vengeance meted out to the infamous wretch, as was 
 never heard of since the days of branded and murderous 
 Cain. Every Briton feels that come weal, come woe 
 — come victory, come disaster — come prosperity or ir- 
 retrievable ruin — come revolution, or thrice blessed 
 peace — come the halcyon days of our eventful history, 
 or the fiery trials that test men's souls, this much is 
 
BALMORAl,. 2g 
 
 as ccitainas the fixed laws that guide tlic universe of 
 •God, that the rich and priceless heritage of freedom, 
 which has been Ijcqueathed to us by a noble ancestry, 
 is safe in the custody of Victoria ; and her loyal 
 subjects who stand around her throne, as a sure de- 
 fence, are pledged to hand down to generations yet 
 unborn, the priceless legacy, or leave behnid them on 
 the sands of time, such foot-prints, as were left at 
 Thermopylae, wliere heroes died, not for themselves, 
 -but in obedience to the laws of Sparta, for 
 " Freedom's battle once begun. 
 Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, 
 "rhoutrh baffled oft is ever won." 
 
WATERLOO. 
 
 TREi^l) lightly, for beneath your feet is the dust of 
 heroes. Take up a handful of the earth, and ask 
 yourself how much of it once formed the body of a 
 veteran ; how many hearth-stones were made desolate 
 — how man|r chairs vacant — how many athletic forms 
 missing — how many cheery voices silent forever — how 
 many dreams of glory and renown were followed by a 
 dreadful awakening that knows no night ; and how 
 great was the sum of misery to those who perished on 
 the ensanguined plain, and to the bereaved fathers, 
 mothers, widows, and orphans, of friends and foes ! 
 Where are the ciphers of the sum total, and who must 
 bear the dreadful responsibility ? How reverently do 
 we approach a battle-field, where human blood has 
 flowed in torrents, where disembodied spirits sped 
 swiftly from the scene, and where " the bosom once 
 heaved and forever was still." 
 
 No struggle, in the history of the British nation, has 
 excited such interest in Christendom as the battle of 
 Waterloo. Two of the greatest generals of the age 
 were face to face, for the first and last time, the one to 
 lead a heterogeneous army of half the nationalities of 
 Europe, (somewhat like William, Prince of Orange, at 
 the battle of the Boyne,) to victory, and the other to 
 lead a solid phalanx of " never conquered heroes," — 
 the victors of a hundred battles — to hopeless defeat 
 and inglorious death. Not to speak of the military 
 
rr.N j'HOToi.k.MAs. 31 
 
 prestii:^e of each, the fate of Continental Kurope, and 
 especially of La Belle I'Vance, was quivering 
 in the balance on that eventful morn. O, the 
 pageantry of the dawn ! when grey morning displayed 
 ** the thin red line " of Albion, the plaided and kilted 
 chieftains, of the north, the Clerman legion, the IJruns- 
 wickers, Belgians, Hollanders and Hanoverians, on the 
 heights of Mont St. Jean ; and the chivalry of France 
 — the *' invincibles" of Napoleon — in battle's mag- 
 nificent array, on the gentle swellings of the farm of 
 Waterloo. The neighing of ten thousand steeds, the 
 strains of martial music, the waving of regimental ban- 
 ners, the glitter of bristling bayonets, the sharp ring- 
 ing words of command, as battalion after battalion, 
 and scjuadron after squadron, fell into line, can 
 never be forgotten by the surviving veterans of this 
 immortal strife. A fine morning on the sixth of June, 
 1S57, 1 paid a visit to the battle-field. Brussels, at 
 this time, was in political commotion, and I was 
 glad for a time to breathe the fresh country air, and at 
 the same time satisfy our desire to see the spot where 
 one of my kinsmen had fallen. Two young English- 
 men ran a very comfortable stage from the city to the 
 field, every morning during the summer months. Sergt. 
 Mundy (since deceased), who fought with the 13th 
 Lancers at the battle, was my guide. On the way 
 young girls, the children of the cottagers, whose hum- 
 ble dwellings stood thickly by the wayside, threw 
 bouquets of wild flowers into the chaise, and in return 
 begged for money. All the inhabitants of this beauti 
 ful, and well cultivated country, arc particularly dis- 
 
3* WATiiRLOO. 
 
 tinguislied by the fair hair and hhic eyes of t'nc KIcm 
 ish race. As we approaclied Watedoo, to i\ui left, slill, 
 stood a part of tlie forest of Soignies. The vvdods 
 on the right have been cleared up ; but a few stumps 
 slill remain, remindinj; one of a Canadian clearing. 
 With what i)alpitating hearts did gay officers ride along 
 this road before daylight, and debouch ujjon the field, 
 manyof wliom were i):irtially dressed in bali-room attire, 
 and fresh from the ball of the Duchefs nf Ricimiond at 
 Brussels, where through the long night •' there was 
 sound (;f revelry" ; till, in the midst of music and 
 dancing, burst the spurred, and mud-covered courier, 
 whispering to Wellington, with bated breath, " tiie foe! 
 they come, they come!" Many of those present parted 
 never to meet again, and "few [)arted where many met." 
 To the front, coming almost, heretofore, resistless as 
 an avalanche, was the hero of Marengo, Lodi and 
 Austerlitz — the victor of Blucher, and expectant con- 
 queror of Mrt/ " Iron Duke,'' who never lost a gun, 
 and who hurled back from Spain and Portugal the tide 
 of French invasion, before the heights of Torres V'edras. 
 Little did the man of destiny think, on that June 
 morning, that, ere the time of vespers, his marshalled 
 hosts would be fleeing in wild dismay, a disordered 
 rabble, along the Paris road, followed by the once 
 vancjuished heroes of Prussia, and in frantic tones 
 ■crying out sain'e qui pent. The sun of Napoleon's 
 glory set that day blood, never to rise again. 1 fel^ 
 as I drew near the sacred spot — hallowed by a conse- 
 crationof blood — that I was about to tread on holy 
 ground. In boyhood I had heard the survivors 
 
F'KN Piioro<.RAi'Hs. 33 
 
 of that day sing of " the immortal Wellington " in the 
 wildest ecstasy. 1 had seen the one armed, or one 
 legged veteran, tremble with excitement, as with flash- 
 ing eyes, and dilated chest, he told of deeds of 
 valour^ of hair-breadth escapes, and of the ebbing, and 
 flowing fortunes of the day. When at school I had 
 read of its glories, and its horrors, and trembled while 
 I read, and now my fondest wish was to be realized, 
 and I was about to view the Ciolgotha, and the 
 Aceldama of heroes. 1 enter the field. It is covered 
 with a luxuriant crop of barley, to my left, and, to the 
 right, are oats and wheat. With a solitary e-xception, 
 there are no hedges, nor stone walls, to obstruct the 
 view. The grassy margins of the fields are covered 
 with red poppies, as if mother earth refused, vol- 
 untarily, to bring forth aught but appropriate symbols, 
 from the ashes of the plain. Foot-paths intersect one 
 another, over the country, and through the standing 
 grain, evidently left thus for the accommodation of 
 tourists. The farms of AVaterloo, Mont Jean, and 
 La Belle Alliance, are composed of two ridges, of well 
 cultivated land. A small ravine intervenes. When 
 the two armies had taken their respective positions, the 
 allies occupied the south western, and the French the 
 north eastern swell of land. A small rivulet and a gentle 
 depression of about six hundred yards in width, sepa- 
 rated the combatants. The first object of interest 
 which we noticed was the chateau de Hougoumont — 
 the extreme right of Wellington's position — which had 
 been taken and retaken several times during the day 
 
 3 
 
34 WATERLOO. 
 
 It is a sort of castellated farm-house, surrounded by a 
 thick stone wall, about sixteen feet in height. There 
 is a court yard inside, in the centre of which is a deep 
 well, in and around which, the dead, and dying, friends 
 and foes, were piled three and four deep. There was 
 no outlet towards the British position, (a grave over- 
 sight,) and the consequence was, that whoever con 
 quered, for the time, put every one of their foes to 
 death, whether Highlanders, Guards, or Chasseurs. 
 Two heavy oak doors, facing the French, guard the 
 entrance. The cannon-ball indentations are still to be 
 seen on the walls ; and the gates are patched where 
 these unwelcon'e visitors tore their way through into 
 the enclosure. The gates were forced open at a criti- 
 cal period of the battle ; but a strong Highland officer 
 slew the front opponents, and shut them, in the faces 
 of the astonished French soldiers. There being no 
 ingress to the westward, reinforcements had to be 
 pushed in at these gates, in the face of the enemy. 
 This position had to be held at all hazards. The 
 famous orcliard of Hougoumont lies to the north of 
 the farm-house, and contains about four acres of 
 ground. The fruit trees still bear traces of wounds 
 and scars by cannon shot. The brick wall still sur- 
 rounds the orchard, with loop-holes yet unfilled ; a^.d 
 immediately above these embrasures bricks have been 
 taken out, to allow room for the timbers of a tempor- 
 ary scaffolding, upon which were placed sharp-shoot- 
 ers, to fire over the wall, a la barbette. Great gaps are 
 still in the walls, through which cannon balls had torn 
 
PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 35 
 
 their way. Near the centre of the British position, on 
 the spot where WelHngton stood, and where once a tree 
 grew, has been erected a mound, over a hundred feet 
 in height. It is sugar-loaf in shape, and composed ol 
 earth, handsomely sodded over, and having stone steps 
 from the base, to the truncated apex. On the summit, 
 has been built a pedestal of solid masonry, about ten 
 feet in height, which is surmounted by a lion of metal, 
 said to have been made from the cannon of the discom 
 I'ltedfoe. The lion overlooks the French position, and 
 his right paw rests upon a globe. The whole is very 
 suggestive of British power, and supremacy. From this 
 elevation a panoramic view of the whole scene of con- 
 flict is stretched before the eye. To the north, lies the 
 Paris and Brussels turnpike : to the rear of Welling- 
 ton's position, runs another road at right angles to the 
 former, along which any weak point could be reinforced. 
 There is a deep cut where these roads intersect, from 
 which the Guards sprang, when the Duke gave the 
 welcome command, " Guards, up, and at them !" and 
 so graphically described by Victor Hugo in " Les 
 Miserables " as the scene of plunder, and murder, by 
 Thenardier on the eve of the battle. Two other mon- 
 uments are the only ones on the field, both near the 
 Paris road : the one erected by the mother and sister 
 of aide-de-camp Gordon, sent to urge on Blucher, but 
 who was killed on this spot without fulfilling his mis- 
 sion ; and the other was erected by Germany, in 
 memory of the German legion, that was almost anni- 
 hilated near where this colossal stone memento stands. 
 
36 WATERLOO. 
 
 The field of conflict extended about two miles ; and 
 far beyond it can yet be seen an opening in the forest- 
 through which theI3uke cast longing eyes. Theday Avas 
 waning, and his troops were fast melting away. All 
 day he had stood on the defensive, waiting for help. 
 Dozens of times had his troops to form squares, to resist 
 cavaliy ; dozens of times had artil ^ /-men to seek shel- 
 ter in these phalanges, and leave th. 1 guns for a time 
 among the French. Times without number had the 
 Cuirassiers rode up to the serried lines endeavouring to 
 force an entrance, but all in vain. Yet were the lines 
 becoming fearfully thin. The gallant 42nd was almost 
 torn to pieces, and was once entirely surrounded, 
 until the Greys, coming to the rescue, and shouting 
 "Scotland for ever," trampled into the dust the enemy, 
 and saved a remnant of them. The Colonel asked 
 from Wellington a tempo"iry respite, but the char- 
 acteristic reply was, " I, and you, and every man must 
 stand our ground." The brave Colonel said, " Enough 
 my lord," and rode to the head of his devoted band, 
 who often after this did prodigies of valour. All had 
 wrought wonders, and all had shown Saxon, and Teu- 
 tonic stubbornness, so as to extort from Bonaparte the 
 remark that "he had beaten the British often that day, 
 but they did 7iot know it. ^^ The sun was setting, and 
 Napoleon was wondering what had become of Grouchy, 
 and Wellington was straining his eyes in the hope of 
 seeing the Prussian banners. At last the French 
 reserves are ordered to the front. The Imperial Guard 
 that never surrendered, are formed into two immense 
 
PEN PHOTOr.RAPHS. 37 
 
 columns for the final attav^r.. They aie told that all 
 depends upon them, and with the shouts of vive I 
 Empereur, they are led by Napoleon down the slopes, 
 and are hurled impetuously into the bowels of a vol- 
 cano. 
 
 " Cannon to right of them, 
 Cannon to left of them, 
 , Cannon in front of them, 
 
 Volley'd and thunder-^-'. ;" 
 
 but as frost-work disappears before the April sun, so 
 did those brave men dissolve, from the ranks, in this 
 harvest of death. On all sides they were harassed, yet, 
 often reforming, they returned to the charge led by the 
 gallant Ney, and the dauntless Rielle ; but as the ocean 
 waves dash impotently against the giant rocks, so did 
 this magnificent legion storm in hellish rage, in front 
 of those to whom was entrusted the honour of old Eng- 
 land. Jerome Bonaparte, who led six thousand men 
 against Hougoumont, and left 1,400 of them in the or- 
 chard, was ordered to come to the rescue of the Guards, 
 but before his column was put in motion, the cry was 
 hear^from all parts of the field, "The Ciuards recoil," 
 and simultaneously, with this paralyzing cry, came the 
 news that Blucher was at hand. During tins eventful 
 hour the British commander had his heart wrung by 
 the fearful slaughter, and no succour at hand. Night 
 would be a boon to his wearied army. ".Would God it 
 were night or Blucher," he said to the remnant of his 
 staff. The words were scarcely uttered ere the booming 
 •of cannon reverberated over the forest ofSoignies, tell" 
 
38 WATERLOO. 
 
 ing of succour or defeat. Both embattled hosts heard 
 it. The strife ceased for a moment, for the decisive 
 hour had come. Far to the left could be heard the 
 multitudinous voices of men, and piercing the smoke 
 of battle, came British cheers. Division after division 
 took up the gladsome shout. The Prussians were 
 rushing to the rescue, and Waterloo was won. " It 
 was a famous victory." A fugitive Emperor was terror- 
 stricken on the way to Paris, while behind him, on the 
 gory plain, were the Imperial Guards, with tens of thou- 
 sands of their companions in arms, stark corpses, or 
 mutilated masses of quivering and living flesh, on the 
 ensanguined plain. As we stood on the tumulus, the 
 whole scene seemed to be enacted over again, and the 
 ghostly legions of armed men came up before our 
 mind's eye as if it were yesterday, and the muffled tread 
 of spectral squadrons could almost still be heard 
 where " the angel of death spread his wings on the 
 blast." 
 
 Had Bonaparte conquered, Europe would have been 
 under the heel of a military despot, partitioned, to 
 some extent, it had been already, to his relatives and 
 friends, with himself, the Emperor autocrat of Cfirist- 
 endom. This was his day-dream, and the goal of his 
 ambition, until his right arm hung nerveless by his side 
 at Waterloo. England was victorious, and the enthrall- 
 ed nations of Europe were set free. Let panegyrists 
 of the Abbott school exalt the Corsican to the rank of a 
 military demigod; but to us,standing on this battle-field; 
 his character stood forth as a heartless, bloody, and 
 
PEN PnOT(iRArHS. 39 
 
 ambitious adventurer, whose inmost nature was filled 
 with the " Napoleonic" idea of vain and empty mili- 
 tary glory. He filled France with a mania for con- 
 quest. Every victory fed the morbid appetite to 
 Satiety for a time, but, only in a short period, to seek 
 again more bloody sacrifices to fill its omnivorous 
 man. Every defeat like that of Moscow, only woun- 
 ded the Gallic Pride, and stimulated it to seek other- 
 and various fields of conquest, until at last, the elas- 
 tic heart of evei> the French people was crushed al- 
 most to extinction. The descendants* of Poictiers, 
 Cressy, and Agincourt, were styled the sons of " per- 
 fidious Albion," and vengeance was on Frencli lips 
 and rancour in the heart at Waterloo. Napoleon III, 
 in his "Life of Caisar" styles Csesar, Charlemagne, and 
 Napoleon I, the only three guiding stars of history 
 yet in following the example of this triumverate, he 
 lost his all at Sedan. To fight for freedom is glorious ;. 
 but how often do nations draw the sword wantonly^ 
 through a pure love of conquest ; then 
 
 '' O war what art thou ? • 
 
 After the brightest conquests, what remains. 
 Of allthe glories? For the vanquished chains, 
 But for the proud victor — what .'* 
 
THE KNIGHT OF THE AWL. 
 
 MRS, Hemans, in the critique on the "Tasso" of 
 Goethe, says truthtully that "some masterminds, 
 indeed, winged their way through the tumult of crowded 
 hfe, like the sea-bird cleaving the storm, from which its 
 pinions come forth unstained ; but there needs a cel- 
 estial panoply, with which few indeed are gifted, to 
 bear the heirs of genius, not only unwounded but un- 
 soiled, through the batde and too frequently the result 
 of the poet's lingering afar from his better home has 
 been mental and moral degradation and untimely 
 death." This sentiment is applicable to tlie unfortu- 
 nate subject of this sketch. William Knight, of Keith 
 was a shoemaker by trade. He was the illegitimate 
 son of a "laird" in Baniffshire. His mother, a servant 
 of his father, was ruthlessly turned away from his fa- 
 ther's door, with AV'illie in her arms, to battle with life, 
 as best slic could, for the long gaunt finger of scorn 
 had been pointed at her. Willie had received a good 
 training at the parish school, thanks to his mothers 
 frugality and industry, who had a strong attach- 
 ment to the son of her shame. His progress, for 
 his age, was very rapid. He greedily devoured 
 every literary and scientific work, Avhich came in his 
 way. He was familiar with such classic works as 
 Virgil, Horace, Xenophon, and Homer. Resolved 
 to still further improve his mind, he trudged on foot — 
 carrying a small bundle, containing his all on his back 
 
THE KNIGHT OF THE AWL. 4 I 
 
 — all the way to St. Andrew's University, and atten- 
 ded two winter sessions, in the meantime carrying oft 
 several prizes, and the chief bursary for Latin. He 
 then returned to his mother at Aberdeen, hired an 
 attic at the farthest end of Love Lane, and became a 
 copyist in a lawyer's office : still pursuing his studies 
 and writing poetry, for which his love was intense 
 Herein was genius. He could recite from memory, 
 stanza after stanza, in the original, of the Illiad, and 
 me odes of Horace. He was familiar with all the 
 Scoitish poets from " Blind Harry" to ]3urns and 
 Scott ; and all the English poets, from the days of 
 Chaucer to those of Tennyson. But his genial spirit, 
 conversational powers, and conviviality led him into 
 intemperate habits, and so besotted did he become, 
 that as an intermittently drivelling idiot, he was shun- 
 ned by his boon companions, and driven by starvation 
 to seek employment as an apprentice shoemaker. 
 Necessity forced him to occasional sobriety, and then 
 his feelings of remorse were most poignant. He would 
 shed tears of bitter repentance, and vow reform, 
 but only to sin again, when money came in his way. 
 His experience was that of many unfortunate sons of 
 genius who are caught in the snare of the fell destroyer. 
 His aptitude to learn soon enabled him to earn a liv- 
 ing by his trade, but in the meantime hismother died, 
 and from that day, he lost all self-respect, and strayed 
 like a wandering Arab, from place to place, until his 
 constitution gave way, from exposure to the storms of 
 winter and summer. He would beg from door to door, 
 
4a ri.N PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 and be only too glad to seek shelter by the side of a 
 hay-stack, in theleeside of a hedge, or on the hard floor 
 of a friendly " bothy." Nature at last could hold out 
 no longer, and he was conveyed into one of the wards 
 of the Dundee Infirmary, in the month of June i86;. 
 Here in a dark come* he suffered severely, with no 
 tender hand to smooth his pillow, and close his eyes, 
 as he passed into the land of spirits. During the last 
 hours of his earthly existence, he occasionally would 
 utter snatches of poetry, and sometimes give expression 
 to words of penitence, and remorse, so heart-rending 
 as to bring tears to the eyes of his fellow surferers ; 
 but at last incoherent sentences feebly expressed that 
 the sands of life were fast running out, and as the steel 
 grey dawn appeared, as the harbinger of approaching 
 day, he took his everlasting flight away from what had 
 been to him truly "a vale of tears." His poems are 
 in plot, style, and beauty of execution, not inferior to 
 any Scotch poetry, we have had the pleasure to 
 read ; not even excepting that of Burns. One of them, 
 "Twanichtsat Yule," will compare favourably with 
 " Tam O'Shanter." Notwithstanding the rugged road 
 he had travelled, and the coldness and ill usage he re- 
 ceived from the world, he maintained his geniality to 
 the end, and showed a heart welling over with the 
 sweetness of a soul-flooded kindness, which no acidity 
 could sour. How many of such men have flashed 
 athwart the shining firmament of literature — effulgent 
 and beautiful — but whose brightness has never been 
 photographed, by some kindly pen dippedinto the sun- 
 
THE KNIGHT OF THE AWI . 43 
 
 shine of immortality ! What a pity it is that some one 
 competent for the task does not collect and publish in 
 the more durable form of a book, all such waifs of 
 poetry which float on the sea of newspaper, and maga- 
 zine literature, and which would thus be a precious 
 souvenir of many a true nobleman, whose sterling 
 thoughts are now, or will be, lost in oblivion. Some 
 of Knight's songs should never die, and as very few 
 have ever seen the following, we insert them in this 
 work as specimens of his style. The writer of this 
 sketch hopes that the reader will notice particularly the 
 master touches of tenderness in " Via Vitai." Does 
 the exquisite and justly popular ballad of " John 
 Anderson my Joe" excel it ? It was the last song 
 Willie ever wrote. It has a ring of true metal in its 
 composition. The " more unfortunate" son of genius, 
 in h\s Journey of life f often " stauchered into holes' 
 and " lownered deep in glaur," but in charity we hope 
 that he has now " sunny glints" of " mony a gowden 
 scene." These extracts will show how much he knew 
 of the evils of intemperance, and how, in his sober 
 moments, he detested the cause of his ruin, and un- 
 told misery : 
 
 My cronies, we've sitten owre lang at the yill. 
 The nicht's weerin' late, and the niune's in the hill, 
 And our ain folks at hame will be thinkin* fu' lang, 
 That we're no comin' to them — let's taddle alang. 
 
 , Yestreen I was dreamin' that Peggy and I 
 Cam' in by the loanin frae milkin the kye ; 
 
44 I'l'-N ph(jt<)(;rai>ks. 
 
 I thouj^lu that she gr.it, as she lookit at luc, 
 Wi' a face fu' o' sadness richt wearisome to sec— 
 
 " Oh I Johnny," said she, and her voice sounded 
 
 drear. 
 Like the wind's hollow moan in the fa' o' t'.ie year 
 " When ye bide frae hame we've a sair lot to dree— 
 There's a wraith that iskillin your bairnies and me. 
 
 " It rugs at my heart as 'twad rive it in twa, 
 It llcgs me wi gruesomc-1'ke shapes on the wa' — 
 It tooms cot their parritch, it rives a' their claes 
 They darna e'en budge for't sic cantrips it plays. 
 
 I thought that I grippit my mucklc aik rung 
 To gird at the goblin, and forrit I sprung — 
 My bluid boilin' thro' me, to win to my hame - 
 When I waukcned and told to my Teggy my dream. 
 
 » 
 
 *' Its nac dream," said she, " for there's mair 
 
 wraiths than anc 
 That glamp through the house, and rampage but 
 
 and ben ; , 
 While ye're sittin drinkin', out-bye late and air, 
 They're nogrowin' fewer, but aye growin mair." 
 
 " Grim hunger glowers 'oot at the edge o' the press, 
 Andnakeducss glints, thro' our thread-bare distress ; 
 Dour grief wounds the heart, sair, and fear strangles 
 
 sleep, 
 And Pourtith has threatened the fireside to keep." 
 
 Na mair sp:d my Peggy, but drappit a tear, 
 
 And I've made her a promise, I'll keep ever dear, 
 That henceforth I'll hame, and drink na yill ava, 
 
 But lounder the wraiths oot, and keep them awa." 
 
Tin- KNTCHT OK THE AWI,. 
 
 45 
 
 SONG. 
 
 O weary fa', that wacfu' drink, 
 
 O'er a' the ills we hae, 
 
 Jt mak's us scarce o' clacs and chink, 
 
 And steeps the saul in wae ; 
 
 It dings the elbows ootour coats, 
 
 And clours our heids fell sair ; 
 
 It turns the brightest chicis to sots. 
 
 And dottles wit and Icar. 
 
 But warst ava, out ow'er our eon, 
 It draps its glamour screen— 
 We dinna see how crined and sma' 
 We're in the warld's gleg e'en. 
 The angel lace of youth it blurs, 
 Gaes stalwart manhood shak ; 
 Sends Eild a-hirplin thro, the dubs, 
 Wi' death upon his back. 
 
 It beets the icy norland win', 
 
 That drives wi' keenest birr, 
 
 Maks holes, and bores to let him in. 
 
 And CO sy riggins stir. 
 
 Puts out the fire upon the hearth, 
 
 Ca's wives, and weans a-jee ; 
 
 Gars lairds, as beggars trudge the earth, 
 
 And dings the warld aglee. 
 
PKN I'H(310»;RAPIIS. 46 
 
 VIAVIT.K. 
 
 Link yc to mc my auld gude man, 
 And dinna hiirryin;,' g^^ng- 
 Ye're nae doot tired as wed a-» I, 
 But we'll win hamc ere lang. 
 
 The snaws of cild arc on our pows, 
 And hard we find the grun'. 
 But vvc are in the lithe, gudc man, 
 And carena, for the wun'. 
 
 'Twas morn, gudc wife, when we set out, 
 Baith laughin' brisk and gay ; 
 Sometimes we ran, sometimes we gaed ; 
 Whiles dackled on the way. 
 
 Our limbs are nae sae souple now. 
 We e'en maun creep's we may 
 We've louped mony a burn, gude wife, 
 And breistit mony a brae. 
 
 And strappin' lads I wat, gude man, 
 And mony a sonsy quean, 
 We've left upon the road behind, 
 And never mair hae seen. 
 
 For some hae wandered aff the way, , 
 And gane they kentna where ; 
 And some have stachered into holes, 
 Or ta'en to bogs to lair. 
 
 Like mony mair were we, gude wife, 
 
 We didna' hain our strength. 
 
 But caed the road from side to side,^ ; 
 
 Nor countit on its length ; 
 
THK KNIGHT OF THK AWI,. 
 
 Fell tired [ grew 'gin uftcinooti, 
 Wi' yon lon„r dreary Iiowc. 
 And thankfu' w.i3 I when I f.md 
 The sma'est wee bit knowc. 
 
 Troth, lang has been the road, j,nide man, 
 Sair niddered have we been ; 
 But we've had sunny glints I wat,— 
 Viewed mony a gowden scene. 
 
 And though we've had out share o' wcel, 
 And lowndered deep in glaur, 
 We've seen as foul feet as our ain— 
 And scores a hantle waur. 
 
 Aweel, my ain gude wife, this road, 
 Had it no been for you — 
 Whase hopefu' word aye cezed my heart— 
 I ne'er had warstled thro'. 
 
 But now we'er near our journey's end, 
 The nicht begins to fa', 
 The starns are gathcrin' in the lift -- 
 We'se ithly stoit awa'. 
 
 Link close to me, my ain gude man ; 
 I whiles might tak' the gee, 
 And fash ye wi'my tantrum trips, 
 But only for a wee, 
 
 Now that's a' owre, and we'll jog on 
 The gither a' the same, 
 And lang afore the dawn o' day 
 We'll baith get rest at hame. 
 
 47 
 
DR. DICK, IiIE PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 C CHILDHOOD and Credulity go hand in hand. 
 ^ There ^3 no ogre so hideous that children will 
 not believe in as a reality, and no fairy so spectral, 
 whether dancingto sweet music in the moon beams, on 
 some grassy hillock, or playing fantastic tricks on hu- 
 manity, or gathered in joyous groups around Queen 
 Mab, to plot new raids, and celebrate recent exploits 
 and triumphs — that juveniles will not acknowledge 
 within the sphere of their magic circle. The monstros- 
 ites, and extravaganza of the imagination of some 
 kindly intended soul have been given to the youth 
 of all countries to amuse, terrify or to instruct, and 
 to such they are for the time being, positive and 
 tangible entities. Mother Hubbard and her intelli- 
 gent dog, which canine-like had no objection to pick 
 a bone — Whittington and his precocious Cat — Jack 
 the Giant Killer, and the luxuriant Bean Stalk, — Blue 
 Beard, the worst of Mormons, and the wonderful do- 
 ings of the heroes of Hans Anderson, are even yet the 
 staple commodities, and material for building up inci- 
 pient hrainhood. Too often are put into the hands of 
 youth, fearful accounts of ghosts, hobgoblins, "dead 
 candles," witches, and " banshees," until every hil- 
 lock, or stump, becomes at the gloamins; a supernatural 
 object, and the screech of the night owl, or the wail 
 of the wind, or the grating sound of swaying and 
 rusty hinges of some way-side gate, are supposed to 
 
DR. DICK, THE PHIL030PHKR. 49 
 
 be the wail of some lost spirit asking for sympathy 
 or seeking relief. At one time or another we were all 
 firm believers in the exploits of those heroes of antiq- 
 uity, or in the existence of those weird-like beings 
 who haunt persistently the scenes where murder had 
 been committed, or hover reluctantly near the cities 
 of the dead ; we have heard them spoken of as reali- 
 ties by those in whose judgment and veracity we had 
 implicit confidence. Our venerable granny, or hoary- 
 headed grand-father, has often gathered us around 
 the roaring winter fire, and in graphic, earnest, and 
 awe-inspiring words, recited experiences, and sights, on 
 land, and by sea, and flood, of those beings, which seem- 
 ed to have a mission to frighten youngsters, and the 
 subjects of superstition. I remember sitting hour after 
 hour listening to these witch, fairy, and ghost stories, 
 until my hair felt as if growing erect on the top of my 
 head, and the chirp of a cricket, or the squeal of a 
 mouse, or the howl of the wind as it whirled round the 
 house, or the chimney top, would cause a shrinking and 
 creeping sensation more potent than pleasant. As rea- 
 son begins to open its eyelids, and looks around, it 
 sees much to believe in, but begins to doubt. It is 
 not sufficiently sceptical to reject all, and therefore 
 budding manhood and womanhood greedily devour 
 such works as "The Arabian Nights," the wonders 
 recorded by " Baron Munchausen," " Robinson Cru- 
 soe" and his irrepressible man Friday, " Don Quixote" 
 and genial and credulous Sancho Panza. But it is 
 not long before the realities of life shake us into 
 absolute infidelity. We perceive the mythical nature of 
 
50 
 
 PEN PHO'IOGRAPI-JS. 
 
 our fireside friends, and cast them aside as the worth- 
 Jess debris of past investigation, and faith. At this 
 stage of mental development the mind is omnivorous. 
 It virtually cries '* I have no faith In the past, give me 
 a reahty or I die." The hungry prodigal begins to 
 eat husks, for they are plentiful, and present more in- 
 viting forms for the intellectual gourmand. One hun- 
 dred-paged novels, lascivious song books, prurient 
 medical works *' sent free of charge ;" and pretentious 
 books of history, and biography, which covertly pro- 
 pagate foulest dogmas on social evils, and dubious 
 ethics, and without you " whited sepulchres," filling to 
 plethora, the rapidly expanding, and absorbing, and di- 
 gesting, human mind, until it ruminates and feels all the 
 horrors ot mental dyspepsia. The well wishers of the 
 •world have seen this, and have endeavoured to create 
 a desire for more healthy pabulum. The Chambers' of 
 Edinburgh stand first among philanthrophists in this 
 field of labour. Their books, and periodicals, are inval- 
 uable to the young student, who wishes wholesome in- 
 formation, on the all absorbing topics of the day. In 
 our Index Expurgatarius of their works, we enter one 
 book, as unworthy of a place in the valuable list. We 
 refer to " The Vestiges of Creation" the arguments of 
 which have been demolished by the geological wand of 
 Hugh Miller. In the United States the people owe 
 much in the popular walks of science, to Carter & 
 Brother, Harper & Brother, and many such like. 
 These, however, except the last mentioned firm, were 
 simply publishers and laid no claim to being writers 
 and compilers as the Chambers were. But as a Saul, 
 
I>R. DICK, THL PHILOSOPHER. 5 I 
 
 head and shoulders above his fellows, in the field of 
 popular, useful, scientific, and christian literature, we 
 place foremost in the list, the name of Thomas Dick. 
 He saw that there were hiati between theological 
 works, the abstractions of philosophy, and the facts 
 of science. At the beginning of this centur)--, there was 
 a tendency among the master minds of the day to in- 
 dulge in abstractions, with regard to everything which 
 required the exercise of thought, whethc sacred, or 
 secular. Science, at the first time Dick attempted to 
 write, revelled in bare axioms, deductions, and " con- 
 fusion worse confounded." He was among the first 
 to popularize science, and elucidate and illuminate 
 Divine procedure, by that glorious lamp which shows 
 how coincident, and harmonious, are all God's works, 
 whether in nature or revelation. God's truth, and 
 these two sources of knowledge, and wisdom, are one 
 and indivisible. We often hear that truth needs sup- 
 porting, but the converse is true, for truth is our bul- 
 wark, and when truly read is its own interpreter. 
 Dick took modern science by the right hand, and in 
 troduced the stately dame to her colleague, beautiful 
 Revelation. So anxious was he to do this, as some- 
 times to become prolix, but never wearisome. His ar- 
 dour in this direction is sometimes so intense, as to 
 drive him to the verge of curious speculation, and hy- 
 pothesis. In his eyes war under all circumstances, is 
 legalized murder. He is in fact a Quaker in this parti- 
 cular, and does not seem to recognize the moral right 
 of self defence, and that the same obligation which is 
 binding on us to defend our persons from assault, 
 
52 PEN PHOTOC.RAl'HS. 
 
 or our houses from the depredations of burglars, is also 
 binding on communities, and nations as regards a for- 
 eign foe. We visited him, a few months before his 
 death, at Broughty Ferry, a small town, a few miles 
 seaward, from Dundee, Scotland. The house was 
 a story and a half in height, nearly square with a piaz- 
 za, partly around it. In front of it, is the shingled 
 beach where the sea and the river Tay meet, west- 
 ward could be seen smoky Dundee, and a conical 
 hill of about 400 feet in height, towering behind it. 
 Over the broad River, lay in domestic serenity, and 
 beauty, eastern Fifeshire, and at the furthest range of 
 vision, on a clear day, could be seen the Towers of St. 
 Andrews. Behind the house a hill rises somewhat ab- 
 ruptly, and obscures the view in that direction. We 
 found the philosopher immersed in his studies. He 
 was of medium height and spare in body. His hair 
 was white, and the forehead broad, but not very high. 
 The eyes were grey, and the nose large and aquiline. 
 His voice was soft, and of that persuasive tone, that 
 takes the heart by storm. His hand shook consider- 
 ably — not from that nervousness which afflicts some 
 people in the presence of strangers — but from the mus- 
 cular weakness, which inexorable time carries in his 
 train. It was ev'ident, to an observant eye, that his 
 days were short, although he put on a great deal of 
 cheerfulness, and became quite loquacious after we 
 received a formal introduction through a mutual friend. 
 He took us with him to inspect his observatory on the 
 top of the house. It was erected on a flat roof, with 
 two sliding windows facing respectively north, and 
 
DR. DICK, THE PHILOSOPHER. ., ,-; JJ 
 
 south. There was a telescope of medium size placed 
 opposite each window, which included in their range 
 the whole celestial hemisphere, except what was 
 hidden by the hill in the rear of the house. On fine 
 starlit nights, he often made the top of this hill his 
 tower of observation. A sort of stone parapet sur- 
 mounted the top of the walls of the house. I remarked, 
 in a jocular tone, that he could mount barbette guns 
 on this minature fort, that might command the River 
 Tay. His face instantly assumed an expression of pain, 
 and he said with deep emotion, ** my soul loathes war* 
 and my inmost nature sickens at the mere mention of 
 aught pertaining to the dread machinery of modern 
 warfare." His finer feelings had the mastery, and 
 through all his writings there stand out prominently, 
 benevolence, affection, and love. His works are like 
 household words, well known by all classes of society, 
 and are a standard not only on both sides of the At- 
 lantic, but also throughout Christendom, and it afford- 
 ed him great pleasure, to hear, that his writings were 
 greatfully appreciated and read, not only in the man- 
 sions but also in the log cabins of Canada. He said 
 that the finest editions of his works were those pub- 
 lished in the United States, and specimen copies of 
 which had been sent to him by his American friends. 
 He showed me two superb copies. The British Govern- 
 ment was petitioned to grant him an annuity, and it 
 actually gave him ten pounds annually, out of its abun- 
 dance. Had he been the son of somebody^ who had 
 served his country, and had been " born with a silver 
 spoon in his mouth instead of a wooden ladle " — as 
 
54 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 some quaint writer says, — I have no doubt his annuity- 
 would have been thousands of pounds, instead of tens 
 of pounds. He did more honour, and granted a more 
 lasting legacy of good to his country, than even those 
 medalled warriors — to whom all honor should be given, 
 — who receive large bonuses for doing their duty, and 
 whose largesses extends to remotest generations, but he 
 had no aristocratic friends to plead his cause, and no 
 escutcheon, save that of an unsullied reputation. The 
 publisher of his works fleeced him, and his country's 
 legislators ''knew him not." During the summer months, 
 he rented one half of his small house to lodgers, that 
 he might have food, and in the winter months, as his 
 health permitted, he took up his pen and wrote for the 
 religious press almost until his earthly day had closed 
 for erer, but the sun of his deathless fame shall shine 
 with unclouded splendour co-equal with our history. 
 Penury was the lot of both himself, and his partner, and 
 the voluntary contributions of his admirers, and friends, 
 kept famine away from the door. How often is the 
 same story, the history of genius ! Had he been a de- 
 bauchee, like erratic and gifted Byron, or a drunkard 
 like immortal Burns, or a spendthrift like Goldsmith, 
 then could we not complain if the world did forget ; 
 biA of sterling piety — of famous talents — unobtrusive 
 in manners, and toiling as a galley slave for the public 
 weal, in inciting far and near love of mature, its laws and 
 its Infinite Author, who could have reproached " the 
 old man eloquent," if he had died a misanthropist ? 
 We asked him if he did not think himself neglected by 
 the world. His answer was " I am thankful for all 
 
DR. DICK, THE PHILOSOPHER. 55 
 
 mercies ; I receive all I deserve." The star of true 
 nobility shone in his breast, planted there by no earthly 
 monarch ; and now he is gazing with unclouded vision 
 on the glories he loved to portray. His writings will 
 have lasting renown, not because of great profundity 
 of thought, but because of chasteness of style, elegance 
 of diction, and endeavours to convey useful knowledge 
 to all minds in such a way, as will lead the reader to 
 contemplate the Fountain of all wisdom in his works. 
 What a contrast do the productions of his pen present 
 to those prurient, and sensational works, of even clever 
 writers, who write immediately for gain, and who are 
 not conductors, but mirrors of public opinion ! Such as 
 the former, are benefactors and the latter, a " delusion 
 and a snare." Those leave us a priceless legacy — and 
 these a fatal moral miasma, which engenders a disease 
 worse than death. The canker worm of this day is that 
 which feeds on these hot-house plants of ideality, de- 
 generated into exaggerated fiction, which is eating 
 away at the heart of pure literature and morality. All 
 honour to those who are stemming the tide. 
 
P UNSHON, 
 
 ONE of the wonders of nature is, that of all the 
 forms of the material world, whether the grains 
 of sand on the sea shore, — the crystals of minerals, — 
 the blades of grass, — the drops of dew, — the leaves of 
 the forest, and stranger still, the multitudinous faces of 
 humanity, no two are precisely alike. The same can 
 be said of men's temperaments. Some are so phlegmatic 
 that a bombshell might burst at their ears, and yet 
 they would scarcely wink. Others are almost examples 
 of perpetual motion. They are on the move constantly. 
 To be still would be fatal to their longevity. Some are 
 on the move intermittently. Their actions are spas- 
 modic. They are all fuss, and fury to-day, and all 
 inertia to-morrow. At one time you would think them 
 the lever, which moves the world of society, and at 
 another they are so bluggish that spiders could almost 
 make cobwebs between them and their work. The 
 machine is good in its component parts, but it lacks a 
 balance-wheel to regulate the power, and moderate the 
 jerkiness. Others are slow, regular, and sure. They 
 have a certain jog-trot out of which the crash of the 
 universe, and the general mixing up of all things, could 
 not spur them lorward or backward. All these are 
 representative men, and seen every day in the walks of 
 life. There is the same dissimilarity in mind. Many 
 are planning, but never executing. Some are born to 
 execute what others devise. Many draw conclusions 
 rapidly from fallacious premises, and are thus constantly 
 
ruNsHoN. 57- 
 
 in trouble through ill-devised s<-hemes, or ])y being the 
 dupes of cunning cupidity, or of their short-sightedness. 
 Some sec glory, and renown, in the merest delusions, 
 and follow the glimmering of every \vill-o'-thi.--wisp, 
 which blinks over treacherous bogs, and through the 
 murky darkness. Many love reflection, not only on 
 the stories of memorial incidents, but, also, on the rich 
 fields of imagination, or in abstraction, and the phenom- 
 ena of the mind, chew the cud of sweet content. Others 
 revel in the beauties of external nature. They live in 
 the world of sensation, and perception, 'j'hey see love- 
 liness in every dew-drop, and the meandering and singing 
 rivulet — in the humming-bird drinking ambrosia from 
 every opening flower, and in every lark, with bui ..Led 
 wings, singing its matin song over the fiowery lea ; — in 
 every insect which builds its cozy '* biggin " constructs 
 its battlements, parapets, minarets, halls and thorough- 
 fares, on the sunny side of some miniature hillock, or in 
 the folds of a tropical jjlant — in every diamond which 
 sparkles on the brow of beauty, and in every planet 
 which adorns the face of night, resplendent in glory, 
 and marching in starry paths to " the music of the 
 spheres," — in the outlines of animal, and vegetable life, 
 fossilized in the petrified sands of time, and in the living 
 form and face divine of humanity ; and hear not only 
 music in the choristers of the grove, but also in the 
 glorious strains of anthems, and oratorios, and chants, 
 and hymnal m.elodies. These see with ecstasy the paint- 
 er's cunning on the canvass, or the sculptor's genius on 
 the block of marble. They live, they do not vegetate. 
 They read the book of nature, startling, voluminous,. 
 
38 TKN IMiOlOC.RAPHS. 
 
 and beatific in every page, with quickening pulse, bcam- 
 ming eye, and gladdcn'^d heart. The more perfect man 
 is he, who grasps in intellection both the subjective, and 
 objective, — the substantive in soul, and tlie material in 
 external nature, and who travels in wonder, and delight* 
 subdued and sanctified, through tlie labyrinths of na- 
 ture's great metropolis. Many have minds so consti- 
 tuted as to be incapable to analyze subjects of thought. 
 They never use the scalpel, to probe and cut into mys- 
 tery. They fear to 'Iraw aside the veil, which hides the 
 known from the unknown. They climb the tree of 
 knowledge, as tar as others have climbed it, and they 
 only scan the landscape, which others had explored 
 before them. They push their shallops from the shore, 
 and follow in the wake of more daring explorers. They 
 step upon the continent of partially explored human 
 thought, but they have no inspiration, to them there is 
 " a pent up Utica :" but the ardent lover after truth, — 
 the impetuous adventurer in quest of unknown regions 
 — the fiery soldier on the advanced skirmish-line of 
 those who do, and dare, and die, in the battles of 
 science, and truth, knows no fear, and is never dis- 
 couraged by disaster. What a theme is that of human- 
 ity I What a strange creation is man ! 
 
 " Ah ! what a motly multitude, 
 Magnanimous and mean." 
 
 From this it might be inferred that different minds 
 looking upon nature, would naturally, by their idiosyn- 
 crasies, have multifarious ways in communicating their 
 thoughts to others, by words, and gesture, and expres- 
 sion. The voluble tongue, or the ready pen, in every 
 
PUNSHON. 59 
 
 accent, and in every word, photographs the orator, or 
 the litterateur. These are the exuvup, which show tl\e 
 outlines of the modes of thought. Many writers and 
 speakers deUght in giving expressions to bare facts, and 
 abstract tliought, witliout adornment. Metaphor, simile^ 
 and rich imagery, are to such " love's labor lost." Such 
 appeal only to the intellectual in our being. The most 
 powerful writer, or speaker, is he who plays skilfully 
 on the strings of the harp of our nature. 
 
 The word picturing has a response in the soul, as 
 well as the severe logic. The embellishment of the 
 oration, is the setting of the jewel. The verbal coloring 
 of passions, emotions, desires, and sensations, is as 
 necessary to fill the void of the insatiable mind, as the 
 rigid investigation of metaphysics. To this class be- 
 longs Punshon. He is not an extraordinary man, but 
 he is remarkable. He is not as an oratw, imr excellence, 
 nor as a composer, unrivalled, but, he is far above 
 mediocrity. He is not unique in his superiority, but, 
 he has peculiarities not found among his compeers, 
 and which command attention He has husbanded his 
 resources, and used them well, and be they many, or 
 be they few, the talents have not been buried, and 
 certainly have yielded abundant returns. He seems to 
 hare felt the force of the poet's song : 
 
 " I gave thee of my seed to sow ; 
 Returns thou me an hundred fold ; 
 Can I look up with face aglow ; 
 And answer Father here is gold." 
 
 Punshon is above medium height, and of full habits. 
 He is broad-shouldered, and has a short neck, with 
 
Co pi.N p}I(jT(;raihs. 
 
 well-developed muscles, and might be taken by a. 
 stranger for a well-to-do, healthy, prosperous, and happy 
 farmer. His face is lull and Horid, yet, the facial an- 
 gularities, are well defined, and althou^^h rounded ofif, 
 they are still prominent. The nose is thin throughout 
 its whole extent. The nostrils are large, and expansive- 
 The eyes are small and twinkling, with an undcfmnble 
 /unniness, and a sly roguish sparkle about them, which 
 indicate a measure of humour, running over. The brows 
 overhang them considerably, and hvave appended to 
 their lower margin, eyelids thick and large. The mouth 
 is large, but not expressive, as the manner of some 
 mouths are by nature, and the teeth — well, the day is 
 past to characterize their beauty in any one. The fore- 
 head is retiring from bef(>re backwards, and it also re- 
 cedes rapidly laterally towards the crown, but, it is wide 
 at its base, and there is a considerable space from the 
 ear to the front of it, indicating a brain above the ave- 
 rage, in the intellectual part, if bnnifwhgists are to be 
 believed. The hair js slightly curly and may have been 
 auburn in earlier days. The temperament seems to be 
 nervo-sanguine. He stoops slightly, as too many clergy, 
 men, and liter.iry men do, from the execrable habit of 
 crouching, or stooping in writing, which many of them 
 indulge in, and thus contract the lungs, and squeeze life 
 out in the desperate struggle to keep it in. There is 
 nothing striking about Punshon as a whole, and yet if 
 we met him in the street, he would catch the eye by 
 means of the faculty, which I may be allowed to call 
 intuitive selection. His gestures in speaking are few ; 
 consisting principally of a sudden stretching out of the 
 
PUNSHON. 6 1 
 
 right-arm, or occasionally a sudden elevation of both 
 hands simultaneously, during the delivery of the pathetic, 
 and devotional passages of a lecture. He indulges in 
 no violent gesticulation, nor in contortions of the face. 
 He seems to eschew the power of action, and trusts to 
 the inherent work of his composition, rather than to an 
 animated delivery. I must not l)C understood as insin- 
 uating that he is destitute of vivacity in speech, or llexi- 
 bility of voice in speaking, or that he is a stoic, and dis- 
 ])lays no more emotion than a statue, for that is not my 
 meaning. He has those positive qualities of speech, and 
 voice, and expression, so necessary to orators, but not 
 in a superlative degree. His enunciation is distinct. 
 Kvery syllable is pronounced, and every word and sen- 
 tence is kept apart from its fellows. The fulcrum 
 words of clauses and sentences are slightly emphasized, 
 as those which give momentum to the whole. He does 
 not confine himself to simple Anglo-Saxon words, but 
 seems to have a fondness for classical terms, or at least 
 for those which are Anglicised. I do not say there is a 
 rcdundency of such, but they are frequently used. His 
 style is climacteric, and in this respect Guthrie and he 
 are alike. Spurgeon's force, and Beecher's also, are of 
 the epigrammatic kind. They will give a few words or 
 sentences hissing hot. incisive, and i)ierceing as a rifle- 
 bullet. They go directly to the mark without circum- 
 locution, and without verbal profusion. Punshon has 
 a style which is cumulative, and abounds in' figurative 
 language. He seems to delight in an intensity of color- 
 ing, in the grand personages of his tableaux. Like the 
 .snow-ball which begins its motion no larger than a boy's 
 
62 ITN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 marble, on the top of the Alps, and gathers size, and 
 power, as it goes, until ihe avalanche becomes irresist- 
 ible, so he goes from one word picturing to another* 
 dashing the colors on with a lavish brush, here, there, 
 and yonder, until the portraiture is complete. He 
 climbs the hill of antithesis, step by step, until one of 
 the peaks are gained, higher by far than its fellow-crags, 
 and from its brow ot eternal sunshine a glorious pro- 
 spect opens to the view. Herein is Punshon's foriey 
 coupled with elegant language, neatly fitted together. 
 The voice is husky and far from pleasant in its tones, 
 but that is soon forgotten in the surging tidal waves of 
 beautiful rhetoric. His eloquence is that of a minor 
 Cicero, not so much stirring as pleasing, not the heroic, 
 but the charming, not the rousing, but musical, and 
 not the thrilling, and soul-harrowing, but the soothing 
 anodyne, which does not so much stimulate to acts of 
 noble daring, as allay the maddening and guilty fears of 
 awakened consciences, by pointing out a way of escape. 
 The outpourings of eloquence are like the murmuring 
 and rippling stream, flowing in silvered beauty through 
 domestic scenery, sylvan shades, dreamy dales, and 
 misty plains. There are a few majestic cataracts, im- 
 petuous cascades, overtopped by grand old grey crags, 
 the eyrie jof the eagle, or dark green pines .noaning the 
 requiem of departing time in the birthplace of the tem- 
 pest. The smooth flowing notes of a rhythmal chorus 
 are there, but seldom or ever the battle scenes of a grand 
 Oratorio. When Cicero delivered his orations, the 
 Roman people cried out smilingly, " What a beautitul 
 speaker." When Demosthenes uttered, in irony most 
 
^ PUNSHON. 65: 
 
 bitter, in sarcasm the most catting, and in invective- 
 thrice heated in patriotic ardour, and hostility, his Phil- 
 ippics against the Macedonian king, the Greeks forgot 
 their heart-burnings, jealousies, and minor dissensions, 
 under the scathing words of the impetuous orator, and 
 raised to the highest point of daring, the sound of 
 multitudinous voices rent the air, and above the loudest 
 plaudits, rose the battle cry " Let us go and fight Philip.'' 
 The two orators were lypes of two classes of men, 
 different in temperament, education, and high resolve, 
 but, each had a vocation to fill in this respect. Punshorb 
 has doubtless taken great pains to perfect his lectures, 
 especially, those delivered in Canada, and which were 
 originally spoken in Exeter Hall, London. As the 
 painter or sculptor perfects his work by degrees, and by 
 great pains-taking, and skill, makes the figures almost 
 instinct with life in appearance, so has he amended, re- 
 vised, and corrected his creations, until they become 
 models of good taste, and faultless execution. We 
 are surprised, however, how one of so much versatility 
 in style, is satisfied with the iteration, and reiteration of 
 the same lectures. Ordinary mortals would find them 
 wearisome at least, and to avoid the cloying taste, would 
 seek in new explorations of thought, a field of excite- 
 ment, of expansion, and investigation. An old story 
 loses to the reciter its novelty and power in much re- 
 petition, and thus blunted in pungency, and force, and 
 pathos. Not so with Punshon, he tells the oft-told 
 truths, with the same earnestness and beauty, as when 
 first penned, and it matters not to him if his lecture is 
 forestalled by the enterprising printer, and tlie audience 
 
^4 ^'^^ PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 in possession of the whole discourse in pau'iphlct form, 
 he delivers his address with the same unction, unabashed 
 and undismayed. I do not think that his mind is en- 
 .dowed with the analytical in an eminent degree. His 
 lectures and sermons do not show it. He possibly will 
 never excel in dissecting concrete truths, and in unravel- 
 ling mystery, but, he will build a goodly structure on a 
 foundation, which others have laid, with material of his 
 own devising, like Le Place on the substratum laid down 
 by Newton in his Principia^ or like the busy bee, he 
 gathers honey from the flowers everywhere, and gives 
 to the world a rich verbiage, pleasant to the taste, if not 
 nnique to the understanding. Such men belong to no 
 one church in reality, but, to humanity at large. They 
 are not perfect in style, composition, or delivery. Who 
 is ? Their sphere of usefulness is contracted by no 
 walls of sectional partition, and although they do not 
 reach the height of elocutionary transcendentaHsm, nor 
 the depth of a cold and logical materialism, nor the 
 pseudo-profound lore of rationalism, nor the circumfer- 
 ence of brilliant talent, and striking genius, yet, in all 
 enobling quaUties, they stand Sauls, head and shoulders 
 above their fellows, in the entirety of manhood, and 
 stride with gigantic steps, in the van of rhetorical influ- 
 ence. What a contrast such men are to the vast 
 majority of public speakers! This age is one marked 
 for its much speaking, from after dinner rhapsodies over 
 the "flowing bowl " to the trashy political effort in the 
 forum, and from the "them is my sentiments" of the 
 stump orator, delivered to gaping rustics, to the classic 
 and icebergian frigidity of the polished monitor, whose 
 
PUNSHON. 
 
 65 
 
 predilections may be clear as a winter's sky, and 
 studded as with planetary splendour, but, cold as that 
 of a northern clime. We are glad when the Almighty 
 in his beneficence gives to the world, men, whose words 
 warm human hearts, and whose thoughts embodied 
 in choicest phrases, stir profoundly the " better angels 
 of our nature." 
 
 S 
 
VIRGINIA AND ITS BATTLE FIELDS 
 
 IN 1864. 
 
 DURING the Campaign of 1864, the principal 
 armies of the North and South were in a life 
 anddeath struggle, between Washington and Richmond. 
 The head and front of the rebellion were there, and all 
 knew, if they were crushed, the body must fall into decay. 
 The army of the Potomac, and the army of Virginia, 
 had been for three years watching each other, with 
 lynx-eyes, like skilful pugilists, no\/ and then giving a 
 blow, in order to ascertain the weak, and strong points 
 of one another. With the exception of the first battle 
 of Bull's Run, the Southern army of Virginia had only 
 one general, but not so with the army of the Potomac, 
 it had been commanded by general after general, ap- 
 pointed primarily through the ill-advised importunities of 
 the press, or the frenzied clamour of the mob, or ignorant 
 public opinion, such being unable to judge as to the cap- 
 abilities of the army, on the the one hand, and of the 
 difficulties to contend with, in the face of a wily foe, oa 
 the other. The American people expected more from 
 this army than any other in the field, yet, strange to 
 say, it had ruined the reputation of nearly every general 
 who commanded it, and who had been victorious every- 
 where else. It had fought the foe, on maiy a well con" 
 tested field, and had thundered twice at the portals of 
 Richmond, butthe goal seemed as faroff as ever. Braver 
 men never lived, and died, as the graves behind them 
 testify, yet a strange fatality dogged their footsteps,. 
 
VIRGINIA AND ITS BATTLEFIELDS. 67 
 
 leaving on all sides a trail of blood. This army knew, 
 and the whole world knew, that on it chiefly depended 
 the success of the union cause. In the Spring of 1864, 
 there was a final gathering of the soldiery for a deter- 
 mined march to Richmond, or rather to annihilate Lee's 
 army, and scatter its remnants to the four winds of 
 heaven. Meade had been partially successful at Get- 
 tysburg, and to him was entrusted the army of the 
 Potomac proper, consisting of the 2nd, 5th, 6th and 
 9th corps : the ist and 3rd being merged into the 2nd 
 and 5th corps. On the ist of May the 9th corps* 
 commanded by Gen. Burnside, lay at Annapolis as if 
 ready to embark for distant service, the remaining three 
 were camped in front of Lee, between the Rapidan and 
 Rappahannock. At this time there was concentration 
 everywhere. Butler, who failed in the South, was re- 
 called to occupy Bermuda-Hundreds, at the confluence 
 of the James and Appomattox rivers, in the rear of 
 Richmond. Gen. Gilhnore was recalled from before 
 Charleston, to harass the enemy, on the Peninsula, and 
 at Suffolk. Gens. Crook, and Averell, and Sigel, were 
 to occupy with a firm hand Western Virginia, while 
 Sherman and Thomas were to harass the enemy in the 
 south-west, assisted by Banks at Mobile. The plan 
 was good, but was badly spoiled in the execution. 
 Banks suddenly left Mobile intact, and went on a wild- 
 goose chase, up Red River, and was badly beaten, leav- 
 ing Sherman tb meet a concentrated enemy single- 
 handed. Sigel, who was expected to clear the Shen. 
 andoah Valley of the enemy, and knock at the western 
 gates of Richmond, was himself sent pellmell down the 
 
68 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 valky of hu:::iliation into Harper's Ferry, and such im- 
 petus had he gathered in his downward, and b^ ck-ward 
 course, that Maryland had to receive in dismay, his 
 body guard, and the disjecta membra of his army. The 
 failure of these armies loosed Lee's hands in the South, 
 and enabled him to concentrate in front of Washing- 
 ton. Breckenridge was recalled from the Shenandoah, 
 Finnegan from Florida, Beauregard from Charleston, 
 Pickett from North Carolina, and Buckner from West- 
 ern Virginia. The destination of Burnside was a puzzle 
 to all but those in high command. When he broke up 
 his camp, some thought he was on the way to Washing- 
 ton — others that he would sail up the Rappahannock, 
 or the James, or the York, to unite with the forces 
 under Butler ; but after the review of his troops by 
 Lincoln, — especially the negro division of the 9th corps, 
 which was going to certain victory, or to sure death, tor 
 after the cold-blooded butcheries of Fort Pillow, Ply- 
 mouth, and Milliken's Bend, no quarters were asked ^ 
 and none given — Burnside suddenly appeared widi 
 Meade on the Rapidan. At this time Gen. Grant was 
 made commander-in-chief, and took direct command of 
 the army of the Potomac. Speculation was rife as to 
 what he would do, to dislodge Lee, from his entrench- 
 ment. Would he walk, like Pope, into the very jaws 
 of the lion, and share the same fate? Would he move 
 by his right toward the mountains of Blue Ridge, and 
 force Lee to retreat, or give battle on the left of his 
 fortifications ? Or would he make a sudden dash on 
 < Fredericksburg, and cross the river there, bristling with 
 guns, and swarming with men ? None could tell, but 
 
VIRGINIA AND ITS BATTLEFIELDS. 69 
 
 all saw that the huge belligerent was drawing up slowly 
 its mammoth legs for a move, and consequently every 
 rumour was listened to, t\ try fa ma clamosa had believ- 
 ers, and every man, in the teeming camp, was on the qtdi 
 vive. The rebel army lay at Orange Court House, 
 nearly west of the wilderness, with Clark Mountain in 
 his rear, — a capital point for observation. At dawn, on 
 the 3rd of May, all hypothesis were put at rest, and the 
 first act in the bloody drama had commenced. On 
 the flanks, the Ely, and Germania fords were crossed 
 by Gregg's, and Wilson's cavalry, followed respectively 
 by the 2nd, 5th, and 6th corps. The roads were dry» 
 and clouds of dust obscured the light of the sun, that 
 looked of a blood-red colour. Grant's intention was 
 to slip suddenly round Lee's right, his stereotyped tac- 
 tics, and already part of Grant's army had passed him. 
 He had no wish to fight then, but Lee saw his oppor- 
 tunity, and putting his army in motion on the 4th, 
 stmck Grant's army about the centre. The time was 
 critical, Grant's reserve artillery, and 8,500 supply 
 waggons were partially exposed. Think of it : one 
 hundred waggons with four mules reach a mile, that 
 would make 85 miles of a train ! His lines were neces- 
 sarily' attenuated but fight he must, for he was marching 
 along one side of an isosceles triangle, and Lee along 
 the other, and at the apex a collision of contending 
 forces must take place. Were it not for his train Grant 
 could have passed the dangerous pcint, but now it was 
 too late. He wheels his forces towards the West, and 
 prepares for battle Burnside was left at the Rippa 
 hannock to cover the Capital until such time as Lee 
 
7© riiN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 was sufTicicntly employed, to attempt a diversion to- 
 ward Washington, on the evening of the 4th, however, 
 he was on the march to join the army. The wilderness 
 is not a barren, open waste, but is full of clumps of oaks, 
 cedars, and stunted pines, interspersed at long intervals, 
 by small farm-steads. Here the first blow was given. 
 At the 'Wilderness tavern, on the Stevensburg plank 
 road, the Northern army came in contact with Ewell's 
 brigade, and soon Hill's, and Longstreet's corps joined 
 in the issue. The woods, and stream and ravines per- 
 vented both armies from making simultaneous advan- 
 ces, but still there was cpntinucis fighting of the most 
 desperate character. The fusilade rattled along the 
 front, as if a monster piano, sadly out of tune, was 
 being played by unskilful hands, and in the interludes 
 of piping bullets, roared and bellowed, the still more 
 discordant cannon. In clumps of bushes, by the run- 
 ning brooks, in sequestered dales, the struggle went on 
 intermittingly, and spasmodically. There were no 
 general advances, in lines or by columns, in battle's 
 magnificent array, but a sort of indecisive attempt on 
 either side, to gain time, and to feel each other's 
 strength. 
 
 Thus Thursday passed away. On Friday Lee felt 
 he had before him a serious work, and he knew that 
 Grant, by tactics not often resorted to in the face of an 
 enemy, was attempting to make an advance by cutting 
 loose his connections from Washington, and withdraw- 
 ing corps after corps, from his right, and placing them 
 on his left, thus making an advance laterally. Lee 
 attempted to spoil this game by making a formidable 
 
VIRGINIA AND 1 IS BA TTJ.KKIKI.DS. 7 I 
 
 advance on Grant's right as this movement wae in 
 Iransitu. He fell, like a thunderbolt, upon Rickett's 
 division of the 6th corps, and captured Gen. Seymour, 
 and a portion of his brigade. The reverse however 
 Avas only temporary, for the marching troops turned to 
 the rescue of their comrades and drove back the enemy. 
 All Friday, and Saturday mornings, the fighting was 
 very severe ; 260,000 men were struggling for the 
 mastery. From morning dawn, to morning dawn, 
 with the exception of a few hours at midnight, blood 
 flowed like water. The outline of six miles of conflict- 
 ing men could be seen from almost any elevation, by 
 the dense clouds of gun-powder smoke, at one time 
 settling down sulkily upon the tree tops, and at another 
 driven up into the blue expanse by the passing breeze 
 — and also from the cheers and counter-cheers heard 
 now, far in advance, and anon very near, as the bloody 
 tide ebbed and flowed, leaving behind it the usual 
 debris of human misery, laceration, woe, and death, 
 On Saturday morning five miles of wheeled ambu. 
 lances wended along, a melancholy train, to Fredericks- 
 burg. About II o'clock, a.m., Lee began to retreat 
 and in so doing threw himself squarely in front of 
 Grant, therefore. Grant had the disadvantage of being 
 compelled to take circuitous marches, while Lee had a 
 direct road. The one had to make arcs of circles, in 
 every advance, while the other retreated on the chords 
 of these arcs. At Spottsylvania, Lee offered partial 
 battle, on the banks of the Po, and the Ny. On Satur- 
 day, the 7th, Gen. Gregg, and Gen. Fitz Hugh Lee 
 had met, and had a short, but sharp cavalry contest. 
 
72 • PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 On the 9th the 5th corps were in hot pursuit, when it 
 was suddenly checked by Ewell, and Longstreet, and 
 thrown back in considerable confusion on the 6th 
 corps. It rallied however, and the two corps chagrined 
 at this reverse, drove the enemy, with considerable 
 vim, to his original position. Next morning, Tuesday 
 the loth, Grant advanced, determined to force the 
 enemy from his strong position, and from morning to 
 noon, the whole of both armies were engaged in mortal 
 combat. This country is marshy and more open, and 
 consequently, artillery was oftener brought into requis- 
 ition. Here columns advancing to the attack with fixed 
 bayonets, in open fields, or in treacherous morass, were 
 unexpectedly met by grape, and canister ; there dense 
 bodies of men were nearlydeciminate by explodingshells, 
 coming down in sixes, and sevens at a time, and hurtling 
 solid, serrated fragments in perfect showers, whistling, 
 and singing, and howling, like fiends, a weird requiem 
 song over the living, and the dead. Still no ground was 
 gained, by eithei army. The rebel outer works were 
 carried, by a division of the 6th corps, about 2 o' clockv 
 p.m., but the place was made too hot for them m con- 
 sequence of an enfilading fire by the rebels. There was 
 very little fighting on the 11 th, but on the 12th hostil- 
 ities commenced, and just at the break of day, Birney's 
 and Barlow's divisions, silently and stealthily like a 
 beast of prey, bore down on the enemy, gathered up 
 as if it were a gossamer, the enemy's picket line, and 
 on the run, plunged into the enemy's encampment, 
 capturing Gens. Stewart and Johnston, at breakfast,, 
 three thousand men, twenty cannon, and ten standards. 
 
VIRGINIA AKD ITS BA'ITLETIELDS. yj 
 
 In a few minutes this coup d ctat was completed, amid 
 cheers and defiant yells. This unexpected assault, was 
 the prelude to a general battle. The 9th corps ad- 
 vanced to profit by the capture. Longstreet was brought 
 forward to recover lost ground. From these sections 
 of the army the strife spread, until by 9 o'clock a.m., 
 the fighting was general, and for fifteen hours it con. 
 tinued without intermission. The pertinacity, obstinacy 
 and valor, of both sides, had no e(iual in any battle of 
 the war. There were charges and counter charges, 
 sudden assaults and ambuscades ; a perpetual belching 
 of hundreds of cannon, and an unceasing din of fire- 
 arms, voices, shouts, shrieking, wailing, moaning, mut- 
 tering delirium, curses the most bitter, aud laconic im- 
 precations more pointed than polite. This medley made 
 from day break, to late in the evening, an uproar indes.. 
 cribable. The combatants heard it, and fs^lt it, and 
 despatches, the symbols of human sorrow, were sent 
 * trom out the field of blood, to all tl e Republic every 
 day, as sad messages, that v.-ere telling the widow, and 
 the fatherless, and the fair maiden, that a vast holocaust 
 had numbered their loved ones among the victims of a 
 bloody oblation. " The flowers of the forest were a' 
 wede away." " 
 
 At night Grant had only advanced 1,200 yards, in 
 spite of the most persistent efforts ; but the position 
 was so advantageous to the Union troops, that Lee 
 deemed it prudent to withdraw his army during the 
 darkness. It had tought bravely, but was fast be- 
 coming decimated. For the first time it assumed the 
 form of a semi-circle, with its convexity to the foe ; 
 
74 PfciN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 somewhat liku Meade's army on Cemetery Hill, Get 
 tysburg. From the 12th to the i8th there was only 
 skirmishing, but sometimes so heavy as topartake of 
 the nature of miniature battles. On the 19th, Ewell 
 made a sudden attack on the rear-right of Grant's 
 army, and gained sorr e advantage, but it was only a 
 feint to cover Lee's retreat to the North Anna. Grant 
 followed sharply, driving the enemy from a strong po- 
 sition on the banks of the Mattapony, and then made 
 another attempt to swing round Lee's right. This 
 brought about a heavy artillery fire, and a severe 
 cavalry engagement at Bethesda Church, the Shelton 
 House, and Coal Harbour, within about 18 miles of 
 Richmond. Cannon opened upon cannon, only 
 about 200 feet apart. In the charges of cavalry, friends 
 and foes became commingled in the whirlwind of strife, 
 and then hand to hand encounters took place without 
 order and without discipline, but Lee held his ground, 
 for he knew that another move towards the Capital 
 would be demoralizing to his troops, and would put 
 Richmond in jeopardy. He was reinforced at this 
 time by South Carolina troops, as was also Grant, by 
 the 1 8th Corps under General Smith. Still, notwith- 
 standing these additions, of about 20,000 men each, both 
 armies were weaker than they were on the Rapidan. 
 The losses could not be far from 60,000 men, killed 
 and wounded, since the beginning of the Campaign. 
 Grant made another flank movement, but, this time 
 backward along the road that McClellan took near by 
 Malvern Hill, thence to Bermuda-Hundred, cossing 
 the James river, at City Point, and, by rapid marches, 
 
VIRGINIA AND ITS UATTLE KIKLDS. 75 
 
 attempted to capture Petersburg, in the rear of Rich- ' 
 mond — break up tlie railroads — stop the supplies — 
 and adopt precisely the same tactics which secured to 
 him Vicksburg. A blundering cavalry general failed 
 to throw himself between Petersburg, and Richmond, 
 and cut the railroad. Butler, with characteristic ob- 
 stinacy, ignorance, and jealousy, maintained that most 
 disastrous of all positions for that army, in the field, — 
 a "masterly inactivity" — and while Grant was trans- 
 porting his army across the James River, Butler al- 
 lowed the golden hours to slip away, and the conse- 
 quence was, Lee stood face to face, with Grant, on the 
 new field of operations. Both armies, completely 
 exhausted, commenced a species of siege operations. 
 The Union army stretched from near Chapin's blufJ 
 on the right, to Norfolk and Petersburg railroad on the 
 left, a distance of about twelve miles. The shovel, 
 and spade, and pick, now were plied busily, in 
 making redoubts, ritie-pits, fosses, parallels, and exca- 
 vations. Butler, in order to avoid Howlett's battery 
 on a bluff, and at a bend of the James' river, com- 
 menced to dig the well-known Dutch Gap Canal, a 
 monument of folly, and the grave of many a negro. 
 He kept hundreds of men to work at it for ten months, 
 and yet no monitor ever sailed through it, for it was 
 never completed, and is a memento of the burrowing 
 propensities of the one-eyed ogre, whose cruelty and 
 brutality have become a by-word, and a reproach. 
 When Grant was securely entrenched, he began his for- 
 mer strategy by extending his left. After a severe » 
 struggle, he seized the Weldon railroad, the fortified 
 
76 PEN I'HOTGRAPHS. 
 
 works, beyond the railroad at Poplar church, the Pee- 
 bles house and the Heights on the Pegrara estate. 
 Gen. Pegram came into notice at the beginning of the 
 war, by being defeated horse, foot> and artillery, by 
 McClellan, in Western Virginia. This fight brought 
 '• Mac " into notice also. What a pity ! The Pe- 
 gram and Peebles mansions had still left them some 
 furniture badly used. The damask curtains did very 
 well for blankets. The sofas, minus legs, were a treat 
 after sleeping on the ground. The doors and windows 
 had been perforated by shells and round shot ; but 
 rags (of which we had an abundant supply) stopped 
 up the crevices, and the medical department took 
 thankful possession in cold October, the envy of out- 
 siders, whom fortune had not favoured. On the 25th 
 October it was evident to the medical staff that another 
 step was to be made to the left. The south side 
 railroad, only ten r les distant, was a great thor- 
 oughfare from the south-east to Richmond, and it was. 
 important to lay an embargo on the supplies of the 
 enemy. The front was well fortified and all available 
 troops were withdrawn from it, and formed at right 
 angles to the front, and made to swing, as if upon a 
 pivot, from the Pegram House, in a south-easterly dir- 
 ection, for about six miles. The field hospitals were 
 emptied. The military railroad company brought to 
 the extreme left trains of cars filled with straw. 
 Four days' rations (already cooked) were in every 
 man's haversack. Supernumeraries, sutlers, baggage, 
 &€., were sent to the rear. All night long there was 
 a steady stream of soldiers marching to the left, 
 
VIRGINIA AND ITS BATTLE FIELDS. 77 
 
 through pine woods, and over ruined plantations, and 
 as we lay sleeping in the shelter of a dwarfed rose 
 tree, our naps were often disturbed by the rattling 
 scabbards of cavalry, or the voices of officers of infan- 
 try, in sotto voce tones, j^iving command to passing col- 
 umns. As the 27th October dawned a regular ad- 
 vance was made along the whole line. The excite- 
 ment was intense, for if Lee was caught napping, and 
 we could take possession of the railroads, the beleag- 
 uered city was doomed, and that too, in 48 hours. 
 As mile after mile was marched over, and not a 
 solitary shot fired, we bes:an to think that we would 
 find deserted camps. Congratulations were being ex- 
 changed on the probability, after six miles of a hitherto 
 terra incoijiiita had been left behind, and the south- 
 side railway and itn extemporaneous branches almost 
 in sight ; but we were too ha-^ty in our conclusions, 
 for at half-past ten o'clock, a. m., far to the left was 
 heard a hea/y fusilade accompanied by the occa- 
 sional boom of ordnance. The firing became heav- 
 ier and nearer, until immediately in our front and 
 out of the bowels of a marsh, belched forth a furious 
 sheet of flame, and sung in close proximity, the rifle 
 bullet as if the air was pregnant with death, and un- 
 earthly sounds. We soon realized the fact that we 
 had not stiuck a thin skirmish line, but rather the 
 well-posted army of Lee waiting oar approach. The 
 day was spent in vain attempts to pierce that line, 
 and although wc were at times partially successful, yet 
 the battle of Hatcher's Run was fought with a loss of 
 4,000 men, and ** Richmond was not taken." We 
 
78 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 retreated to the old camp. The wounded suffered 
 severely during the night. A cold rain commenced to 
 pelt unpiteously, in the early part of the evening, and 
 continued all night. The dripping forest, the sighing 
 of the wind through the pines, the inky darkness, and 
 the moans of the wounded, lying on the ground, or 
 being carried by on stretches, were enough to make 
 humanity shudder, and curse that exciting cause which 
 loaded the air with groans, and the earth with corpses, 
 and hung a pall of mourning, over many a disconsolate 
 household for those that were "never more" on earth. 
 Many a Rachel, during those few months, had been 
 weeping for her children, who have left not even a 
 record behind, 
 
 " Their memory and their name are gone ; 
 Alike unknowing and unkown." 
 
 The newspapers told us of brilliant charges — of in- 
 domitable courage — ot j^lorious deeds — of our names 
 being inscribed on the scroll of fame, and of being 
 held in a grateful remembrance by a loving country. 
 With the words ringing in our ears, and home and 
 dear ones cosily kept in some " nook or cranny " of 
 our hearts, we jump into the breach and are Samsons 
 among heroes. Well, take up that lantern from the 
 operating table, — don't stumble over those arms and 
 legs yet "warm and quivering — nor slide and fall in 
 those slippery pools of gore, nor mutilate with your 
 heels those bodies which breathed their last in the 
 surgeon's hands ; come out into the darkness and the 
 forest. To the right are other lights flickering, and 
 
VIRGINIA AND ITS BATTLE FIELDS. 79 
 
 fatigue parties are on the search. "'Will you please come 
 here," we hear a voice feebly cry ; a gray-haired man 
 of nearly 60 years of age is lying by a tree wounded. 
 His right foot has been torn away by a piece of shell, 
 and he has tied up the stump with the lining of his 
 coat. Fifty yards farther on is a group of wounded 
 and dead — about ten. A shell had burst in the mids 
 of a company, and this was the result: three died; 
 one dying ; one with his jaw broken, and one of his 
 thighs torn ; one with his chest torn, gasping for 
 breath ; another lying, with concussion of the brain, 
 by a blow from a partially spent fragment oi a shell, and 
 two others disabled from sundry wounds, and all this 
 misery from one exploded missile. 
 
 The ambulances are brought, and these are tenderly 
 cared for by mem.bers of the Christian and Sanitary 
 Commissions. We plunge farther into the forest, and 
 hear through the storm some one singing a ribald song. 
 Strange sound and surely a strange place for such 
 hilarity. Let us go and rebuke him for his profanity. 
 Here he lies by a decayed log, with his face to the 
 heavens, gazing intently on the tree tops, nor does he 
 heed our approach. Fair hair clotted with blood is 
 hanging over his forehead. The skull is fractured and 
 the torn brain is slowly oozing out on his temple. 
 
 " He knows not, hears not, cares not what he does." 
 
 Yonder are two soldiers of the 2nd corps carrying a 
 wounded sergeant on a stretcher. He is also delirious 
 and singing in low plaintive tones, ** Rally round the 
 flag, boys," A wail comes from a thicket down a deep 
 
-8o PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 ravine, and there lies the living among the dead. A 
 wounded man, makes a pillow of a dead companion, 
 and at his feet are remains of another body. A vacant 
 stare — a gasping cry tor water, — a twitching of the 
 muscles^ and all is over. A tree is turned up by the 
 roots, and in its sheltering cavity lies a Frenchman, 
 raving like a madman, with the loss of both legs. He 
 jerks out, snatches of the Marsaillese Hymn, inter- 
 mingled with quotations from Corneille, and those of 
 street doggerel ballads. Reason is dethroned, and 
 death has marked its victim. Over the marsh, are 
 found commingled both friends and foes. The brother- 
 hood of a common misery binds the wounded together 
 now. No reproaches, no taunts, and no invectives, 
 break in upon the groans, yells and meanings, which 
 fill, with expressive discord, the midnight air. The 
 knees, arms, feet and faces of hastily buried dead, of 
 past struggles had been, by the recent rains, washed 
 into sight, ghastly evidences of mortality; and " This 
 is glory, this is fame." But why need we give details 
 of such common scenes. " The night after the battle," 
 when the sum total is reached, and all gathered into 
 one hospital, then we have some idea of the untold 
 horrors of such mutilated men, being nights and days 
 uncared for, thirsty, hungry and faint, yet it is wonder- 
 ful how indifferent men become to danger. We visited 
 the trenches many a time on duty, and were often 
 astonished at the reckless exposuie of those on guard. 
 Behind earthworks only three teet in height, were 
 posted a continuous line ot men about six feet apart, 
 some were firr>g a sort of /^// de Joie, at an imaginary 
 
VIRGINIA AND ITS BATTLE FIELDS. 8l 
 
 enemy — if no real foe appeared — while others were 
 killing time, by playing cards, and improvised chequers, 
 " fox and geese " &c., for a change, and crouching in 
 all imaginable postures. This outpost was only about 
 two hundred feet from similar works by the Souihrofis. 
 We never did as much crawling on all fours since we 
 were born, and never produced as much abrasion of the 
 cuticle of our knees, and elbows, since the days of 
 hunting eggs under the barr , or climbing the trees after 
 birds' nests, as we did in the neighbourhood of Forts 
 Stedman, Sedgwick, and " The Sisters." If a man 
 wishes to have peculiar sensations running like currents 
 of electricity along the spine, let him creep, turtle like, 
 along these parallels, with his back on a level with the 
 top of these defences, and whether he be a coward or 
 not, his ears will be peculiarly sharp when extra bullets 
 are humming over-head, and we predict that he will 
 embrace more fondly than ever his mother earth. When 
 the blood is hot, even a weak-kneed man will perform 
 feats that will astonish himself, but in cold and wet 
 trenches, it needs bull-dog pertinacity, and great endur- 
 ance to finally conquer. The fiery French were une- 
 qualled in an assault, or in the tidal waves of conflict, 
 if not continued until the hot fire burned out ; but in 
 long marches, sickness, a continuous struggle, the Anglo- 
 Saxon race has no ecjual. In the army of the Potomac 
 the generals knew what to expect from each corps, and 
 division, and brigade,and regiment, by the predominant 
 nationality in these sections of an army. " Birds of a 
 feather", in the long run, manage to g'^t together, and 
 thus takinp; advantage of peculiar national idiosyncra- 
 
 6 
 
9^ PEN PHOTOGRAPHS, 
 
 cies, the successful commander knew where was dash 
 or doggedness, or obstinacy, or perseverance, and laid 
 his plans accordingly. The army was a sandwich, com- 
 posed of the different strata of bread and meat, and 
 butter, and mustard. Will the reader be please, to draw 
 the inference, and say, to which of these ingredients he 
 would refer the down-east Yankee, the " bruisers " and 
 " Hammerites " of New York, the *' plug uglies " ot 
 Baltimore, the Dutch of Pennsylvania, the nou-descript, 
 of the border states, or the American. French, aud 
 French Canadians of Illinois? These and a dozen other 
 equally distinct classes of citizens, including 20,000 
 Canadians, made up the armies ot the great Republic. 
 And while, at first, these foreigners had no particular 
 interest, as a whole, in the war and its results, yet, the 
 army of the Potomac had suffered so many reverses, 
 while all its companions in arms were everywhere else 
 victorious, that at last personal chagrin, and repeated 
 disappointment, had given it a sort of desperate courage 
 which at last begot mobilized valour, and finally victor}'. 
 In 1865, the Hatcher's Run battle was fought over 
 again, and the same movements," over the left," were 
 made, which culminated in the capture of Lee's forces, 
 and that of the long sought for city — the first reduced 
 to 30,000 men, and the other almost a second Moscow, 
 in partial ruins. With the capitulation of the army of 
 Virginia, the war ended. The head was crushed, and 
 the convulsive movements of the body, were only the 
 throes of dissolution. The curtain fell, for the last act 
 in the tragedy was ended. The loss of human life was 
 immense, and from the bombardment of Sumpter, 
 
VIRGINIA AND ITS hAlTLE FIELDS. 83 
 
 during which "nobody was hurt/' to the surrender at 
 Five Forks, a magnificent army of stalwart, healthy and 
 vigorous men had been swept away, and we venture to 
 predict that the sensible men of the United States, will 
 seriously consider,knowing the severe trials of the past, 
 before they will consent to plunge their country into 
 another war. Power, greed of possessions, lust after 
 conquest, national pride, and envy, may sway and urge 
 to violence, the masses who have nothing to lose, and 
 plunder of booty in prospect, but those, whose homes 
 have been made desolate, or whose possessions have 
 been swept away — or who have to meet by their taxes, 
 the public creditors, with a still more depreciated cur- 
 rency, will be a huge balance-wheel to regulate the 
 spasmodic motive power of the political machine. Like 
 the pommelled and bruised Scotch boys, whose bloody 
 noses and black eyes told of sharp practice in the 
 school ring, and who cried out simultaneously " Gin 
 ye let me alane, I'll let you alane," so may the same 
 wise course be pursued by the late belligerents, and let 
 the dead past bury its dead. 
 
 Not a spot of ground of the same area as that of 
 Central Virginia, and the environs of Washington has 
 ever been saturated, to the same extent, with human 
 blood, in the same period of time. Not a day dawned 
 for four long years but during its twenty-four hours, 
 life was violently taken in the rifle pits, on the vidette 
 lines, in the skirmish, or in the whirlwind of battle, and 
 scarcely a hill or valley, from Fortress Monroe to the 
 Shenandoah valley, and from Harrisburgh to the South- 
 side Railroad, where there is not now some evidence of 
 
84 I'^N I'llOTOGRAIMIS. 
 
 vandalism, rapine, cruelty, and of war-worn tracks of 
 malice, and fiendish destruction to property and life. 
 This was to be expected in a country that had become the 
 theatre of war, but we know ot no land where the besom 
 of vengeance had been so vigorously wielded, and so 
 ruthlessly unsparingasin proud and aristocratic Virginia, 
 the supposed home of American chivalry. In 1864 the 
 country was one vast scene of ruin. The fences were 
 gone and the landmarks removed. Where forests once 
 stood in primal grandeur are even now forsaken camps. 
 Where crops luxuriated, and which were never reaped 
 are now myriads of graves, whose inmates are the stal- 
 wart sons of the North, or of ihe Sunny South, but now 
 festering, rotting, and bleach.ing in the wind, the rain? 
 anil the sun of heaven, far awi^y from home, in, and on 
 the clay of the " Old Dominion " The evil -omened 
 raven and buzzanJ were the only living permanent 
 occupants of the harvest- field. The plough could be 
 seen half way stopped in its furrow from which the af- 
 frighted husbandman, bond or free,hadfled in terror to 
 gather (it might be) his wdfe and little ones into a place 
 of shelter. Behind him boomed hostile cannon — bray- 
 ed the hoarse bugle to the charge — clanked the rusty 
 and empty scabbard of the fierce dragoons — ratded the 
 ironed hoof of the war-horse — rolled and vibrated mufti- 
 ed sound of the distant, but ever approaching drums — 
 shrieked the demon shells in their fierce pathway 
 through the heavens — glittered the accoutrements, and 
 bayonets,and shotted guns,ofsMrging masses of humanity, 
 murmured the multitudinous voices of legions of warri- 
 ors " as the sound of many waters"panting fof the excite- 
 
VIRGINIA AND ITS HATTLE FIKr»DS. 8$ 
 
 nient and empty honors of battle. Here the poor son 
 ot toil,or servitude had ploughed, or sowed, for himself 
 or for his proud and hard taskmaster, but the Destroyer 
 was mercilessly at his heels. The place that knew him 
 once shall know him no more forever. The verdure ot 
 his honjestead is turned into dust. The rural retreat 
 has been despoiled and ravaged of its beauty, and the 
 beautiful gardens, and fields, and magnolia groves are 
 one vast city of the dead — a necropolis — where vorac- 
 ious Mars has burned incense on his gory, reeking and 
 dripping altars. AV'here love, and youth, and beauty 
 met at trysting hours, then met the bearded heroes of 
 many battles, and the scarred veterans of many a bloody 
 fray. Where once rattled the phoeton of luxury, laden 
 with the flower ot a proud aristocracy, rolled the pond- 
 erous wheels of cannon, or reeking ambulances. Where 
 once rode the gay bridal cortege making hills and val- 
 lies vocal with song, and melody, and glee, charged tie- 
 rce and cruel troopers — who like Attalus left desolation 
 in their train. ^V''here hearthstones once shone in the 
 ruddy light of home, with no bloodstains on the domes- 
 tic hearth, and no ruthless invader to darken its door- 
 lintels ; nor to sit unbidden by its hospitable tire, and 
 unwelcome at its table, were blackened ruins, the 
 monuments of cruelty, sitting solitary in the midst of 
 desolation. FrieYids and foes alike had disembowelled 
 the proud State, with the long gaunt tingers of rapine, 
 and swept it of every trace of civilization save that of 
 modern warfare. The remorseless and vengeful waves 
 of pitiless conflict had met ; and surged, and dashed, 
 and foamed, in wild fury over its fair landscape, until 
 
86 PEN PHOTOdRAPHS 
 
 the spectator was almost compelled to believe that he 
 was the victim of a hideous nightmare or some strange 
 phantasm of the brain which time would dispel, and 
 
 " Like the baseless fabric of a vision 
 Leave not a wreck behind." 
 
 We are told in classic history that the venerable and 
 noble Trojan, ^I'^nens, stood in the naidst of carnage on 
 the way to Mount Ida, as grey dawn began to herald 
 in the day, and saw beneath him Troy in flames, and in 
 the fulness of his heart cried out " lUium fuit'' The 
 proud and noble city has been but shall be no more foi- 
 ever. Virginia was the home of a proud, exclusive and 
 haughty race that scorned the Northern men, and wo- 
 men because of their so-called plebeian extraction, and 
 treated the iar South with wonderous condescension 
 because of the admixture " of the poor white trash.'' 
 "Virginianus sum" was to them the same as " P.omanus 
 sum" to the Romans, a passport of unusual significance, 
 being an undisputed testimony of tiuble lineage and 
 '* blood." They forgot that the pilgrims of Plymouth 
 rock were puritans, and that the far South was settled 
 by worthy Englishmen, and French Huguenots ; but 
 Virginia was at one time a penal colony and their blood 
 had diffused in it the blood of convicts. In all the fear. 
 ful struggle through which they have passed " They 
 have sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind," for the 
 exclusiveness, and hauteur, of the Virginian patrician 
 have like his ephemeral glory passed pnantom-like 
 away. The sword has cut the Gordian knot. This im- 
 perfect glimpse of Virginia in 1864, is not written for 
 effect, nor is it an idle chimera conjured up by a busy 
 
VIKGINIA AND ITS PATTI.E FIKIDS. 87 
 
 brain to fill to plethora the pen of fiction, for our hear^ 
 was sad as the dreadful panorama passed day after day 
 before our vision, and as we contemplated whatiuightbe 
 the probable ftite of the tens of thousands of young and 
 old, male and female, who were not to be found near 
 their bleak and barren homes, and who were either in 
 theirgraves,or standing within the rebel lines, or within 
 the walls of some beleaguered city, we felt that eve:y 
 Bueh liousehold would have had a history, sad, pitiful, 
 and inevitable, the recital of whose woes would wring the 
 most obdurate heart. Comfortable, happy, prosperous, 
 peaceful Canada, does not know but very imperfectly 
 what are the horrors of war at home. Glory, like a snow 
 ball, gathors greatness the farther it rolls. The soldier's 
 fame is a guerdon that needs to be at our doors in order 
 to know how hollow is the empty bauble, 
 
 " Religion, freedom, vengeance, what you will, 
 
 A word's enough, to raise mankind to kill ; 
 
 Some factious phrase by cunning caught and spread, 
 
 That guilt may reign, and wolves and worms arc fed." 
 
 We often grumble because of hard times, and failing 
 banks, and fluctuating markets, and commercial pan- 
 ics, and deficient harvests ; such make many men 
 misanthropists, and miserable, drivelling, imbecile 
 grumblers ; but let war ensue, and let the invader 
 cross our borders, and let him for even one short 
 month, burn, plunder, murder, and destroy, with only 
 100,000 men, and we would think such times as 
 these, halcyon days, and earnestly pray for their 
 return. Not that our sons, and our daughters, would 
 bow the knee to the oppressor, or be recreant to their 
 
88 PEN PHOTGRAPHS. 
 
 trust, or tread their mother earth, a race of cowards, 
 no, perish the thought, far better that Canada should 
 be one scene of of utter ruin, than that we should not 
 defend our freedom, our constitution, our laws, our 
 country, and our flag, against any foes ; for lost man- 
 hood, national decay, effeminacy,and tottering decrep- 
 itude, would be an irreparable, and more to be lamen- 
 ted, ten-fold, than all our riches, still let us be thank- 
 ful for peace. We sit down " under our own vine, 
 and fig-tree, none daring to make us afraid." We 
 hear at morning dawn, noon, and eventide, the voices 
 of affection, and friendship, mellowed, in being the 
 out-gushing of hearts leal and true. We see on the 
 right hand, and on the left, luxuriant fields filled to 
 plentitude with a bounteous harvest, or barns burst- 
 out with fulness, year after year, and a country dotted 
 all over with rural retreats, beautiful villages, prospe- 
 rous towns, and populous cities, covered and sur- 
 rounded not by the dread paraphernalia of war, but 
 by the emblems of peace and plenty. We see from 
 day to day, faces not begrimmed by the smoke of 
 battle, not scarred in the mortal combat, not fierce 
 with hellish passions, nor contorted in the agonies of 
 death ; but those bearing on every lineament " peace, 
 good-will towards men." We lay our heads on our 
 pillow at night, and are wooed to sleep by the quie- 
 tude of nature, and are not disturbed by the boom of 
 cannon, the roll of musketry, the yelling of human 
 demons, and the cries of infuriated men. War does 
 not break up our family circles, and does not snatch a 
 link from the chain, a twig from the filial tree, a stone 
 
VIRGINIA AND ITS BATTLE FIELDS. 89 
 
 from the perfect arch, and a gem from the sparkling 
 coronet. It makes no empty seat at the family board, 
 where now sits the hope, pride, and joy, of the family. 
 To gaze upon all these happy scenes and not upon 
 a worse than sterile desert, should fill our souls with 
 profound thankfulness to Him who holds the destiny 
 of this mighty Empire, in the hollow of His hand. 
 We never miss the spring till it is dry. We know not 
 what hunger is, till the cupboard is empty, and gaunt 
 famine is stalking through the land. We never appre- 
 ciate health, until disease has commenced to prey 
 upon the vitals, and the fell-destroyer, like a vampire, 
 is tearing our heart-strings asunder, and we will not 
 know of, and feel the blessing of peace, until relentless 
 war has withered, and blighted, our beautiful Canada, 
 as the Sirocco, with its hot breath, does the verdure of 
 the East. But, even, in such an hour, although it might 
 be, that our nation would be in the agonies of death, 
 who would " turn and flee ?" 
 
CANADIAN POETRY, 
 
 IT is to be regretted that the reading Canadian 
 public has not given that encouragement to 
 Canadian authorship to which it is entitled ; it is not 
 because ^e are illiterate, for no people on the face of 
 the earth has better educational advantages, than we 
 have, and few countries can boast of a greater number 
 of readers. The politics of the country, the denomin- 
 ational peculiarities, the news of the world, and the 
 resources of this country are well understood, but the 
 literature of Canada is comparatively unknown to the 
 masses. This is an unknown region to them. The 
 sensational and amatory fervor of a Byron — the social 
 and patriotic songs of a Burns — the tame and quite 
 Tersification of a Cowper — the smooth and flowing 
 rhyme of a Wordsworth^ a Tennyson, or a Longfellow 
 — the pathos and clarion notes of a Whittier — the 
 humor of a Holmes or a Saxe, and the stilted and 
 ambiguity of a so-called philosophic Tupper, are as 
 familiar as nursery rhymes, but our poets have made 
 sweetest melody, sung in fervid poetry, and depicted 
 our matchl'^ss scenery in blank verse,and Runic rhyme 
 and heroic stanzas ; but ** but charm they ever so 
 wisely," we have turned a deaf ear to their sweetest 
 strains, and shut our eyes to tb'^ brilliant Scintillations 
 of gerJus, and intellection, which have illumined our 
 histoi'ic page, so that foreign sages have wondered and 
 admired. McLachlan has sung as sweet and noble 
 
CANADIAN POETRY. 9 1 
 
 Strains as ever were penned by the Ayrshire bard, or 
 Motherwell ; Charles Sangster has depicted with a 
 pencil of poetic light our noble lakes, the St. Law- 
 rence, the Thousand Isles, the Saguenay, and the St. 
 Clair. Heavysege has in "Saul" and "Jephthah's 
 Daughter " produced tragedies that remind one of 
 Sophocles, or Thespis, yet our patriotic countrymen 
 and women purchase by nsillions, yellow covered liter- 
 ature from our neighours that in every page is a sink 
 of iniquity, and neglect home genius. 
 
 The productions of prurient writers are eagerly 
 sought for, in the newspapers and periodicals oi 
 Leslie, Bonner, or Ballou, but our writers have found 
 no appreciation of their work, and often have been 
 overwhelmed with financial ruin, in giving their pro- 
 ductions to the world. These are plain facts, and 
 tell a severe lesson to us as regards our aesthetic 
 tastes. It is true the Canadian public miy plead in 
 extenuation, that so far it has had a protracted 
 struggle, with stubborn torests, commercial depressions, 
 and all the discomforts of a new country ; but genius 
 is not a crei.tion of luxury, but is innate. Its work- 
 ings have oftcner been seen in the hovels of de- 
 pendency, and even penury, than in the gilded halls 
 of affluence and independence, and it is something 
 akin to this genius that appreciates its productions, 
 and no toil, or hardships, or poverty can crush out of 
 man's soul the aspirations of poetry, and the nobility 
 of literature. What man or woman is there who can 
 read "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled," or Tenny- 
 son's " Charge of the Six Hundred," or " The 
 
92 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 Marseillaise Hymn," or " Rule Britannia" and not feel 
 the blood flow quicker, and the nerves strung to a 
 greater tension when these accents catch the eye or 
 fall upon the ear? Well, let our readers recite McLach- 
 lan's "Sir Colin Campbell at Ballaclava" or " Garibal- 
 di," orSangster's " Battle of the Alma," or Heavysege's 
 description of the battle of Gilboa, and not say truth- 
 fully that our bards have been crowned on Parnassus, 
 with the poet's immortal wreath. 
 
 The reader should keep in mind the fact that 
 mind and matter have this peculiarity in common, viz : 
 a generic similarity, yet a specific difference. There 
 is a similitude in the forest leaves, but no two leaves 
 are alike ; every grain of sand seems like its fellow, 
 but not one particle is exactly like another ; each 
 star differs in glory and appearance from its lambent 
 companion, yet to the naked eye these twinkling 
 sentinels sgem almost one in outline and colour. 
 Of all the myriads of the sons of Adam who have 
 lived, moved, and had their being, no two are exactly 
 alike physically, or mentally, and when the son of 
 genius commits his thoughts to paper, these have 
 stamped upon them the natural bias, and individuality, 
 of the author. The writer cannot divest himself of 
 • this peculiarity, any more than he can rob himself of 
 his personal identity, and therefore a poet shows to 
 vulgar gaze photographs of his inner life. 
 
 The most exalted kind of poetry embraces all the 
 range of human thought in heaven, or earth, or hell ; 
 it scans with an eagle eye the modes of human 
 intelligence, in consciousness, reflection, judgment, 
 
CANADIAN rOKTRY. 93- 
 
 and all the multifarious forms of reasoning. It depicts 
 as with a pencil of light all the sensations, passions, 
 and emotions of the human soul, grasping in its right • 
 hand, and exposing to view that which Heavysege calls 
 
 " The motley multitude 
 Magnanimous and mean." 
 
 Much has been done by our sweet singers, to 
 immortalize our country but who seem to be doomed 
 to die " unwept, unhonoured and unsung." We do 
 well to erect monuments over a Wolf, a Montcalm, a 
 Brock, and over the Lime-ridge heroes, but our litera- 
 ture, if found worthy, will survive marble, or stone, 
 and when these tangible monuments of a nation's 
 gratitude have been forgotten, our Anglo Saxon 
 worthies will only be adding fresh lustre to their 
 names, and to the memory of those of " whom the 
 world was not worthy." 
 
 We appeal to our young men and women to 
 encourage in all possible ways, native talent. Give it 
 the right hand of fellowship ; buy and read even 
 works of mediocre pretentions, lest you turn away 
 unawares an angel of light from your doors, and 
 (juench by your coldness the first appearance of 
 intellectual gems. You pride yourselves in showing at 
 your exhibitions the domestic animals that dot your 
 fields, and the cereals that press out in plentitude your 
 granaries, and the fine arts that are budding in our 
 midst 3 then let the same commendable emulation be 
 evinced in offering a generous support to ov^ poets, who 
 are now springing up on all hands, and some of whom 
 will give to our country more than ephem^al renown. 
 
-§4 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 Let US encourage home productions, and native 
 talent, in preference to even higher genius from abroad. 
 It is worthy of censure that our best authors and our 
 sweetest poets are comparatively unknown to Cana- 
 dian people, although they have commanded attention 
 and respect from the master minds of Britain, and the 
 literati of the American Republic. What encourage, 
 .-nent have we given to McLachlan, Heavysege, Sang- 
 ster, and a dozen such ? How many of the masses 
 have read the sweet lyrics of the first — the classic 
 '' Saul " of the second — the stirring strains of the 
 third — and the various and pleasant melodies of the 
 last ? We can go in raptures over the lays of a 
 Wordsworth, or a Poe, or a Dante, and often read the 
 silliest effusions of those poets with unction, and 
 ecstacy ? But however gifted, '* a prophet has no 
 honour in his own country." The poet may throw 
 out corruscations of genius that may be seen in un- 
 usual splendor " afar off," by the generations following • 
 but interest, or " malice aforethought," or culpable 
 forgetfulness, will crush the most brilliant scintillations 
 of undoubted literary power, if they spring from the 
 log cabin, or the work-bench. He, the poor son of toil, 
 may ask for bread while he lives, and our children 
 will give him a stone monument when he dies. He 
 may sing sweetly of us, " our woods and lakes," and by 
 inspiration utter wise sayings that "on the outstretched 
 finger of all time sparkle forever," but Canada gives 
 no willing ear. Our population is as great as Scotland 
 — our youth are as well educated — we have as much 
 brain power. Why then do we not produce such men 
 f 
 
CANADIAN POETRY. 95 
 
 as Allan Ramsay, Scott, Alison, Burns, Jeffry, Dick, 
 Reid, Sir W. Hamilton, and Napier ? Shall this gen- 
 eration of Canadians pass away and add no rill, how- 
 ever small, to the overflowing stream of Anglo Saxon 
 literature ? Shall the master-minds of four millions of 
 people never soar above the rise and fall of stocks — the 
 profits and losses of commerce — the trickery of political 
 warfare — and the terrible, earnest, but ever necessary 
 toils, and anxieties of our common humanity ? We 
 have an earnest of better things to come, and it is our 
 duty to encourage *' home productions," be they mind 
 or matter. Let Canadian genius be our first care, and 
 let us extend to Canadian literature the right hand of 
 fellowship, even if it is "homespan," and has not the 
 fine " nap " upon it of the gorgeous periodicals of 
 Britain and the United States. The mental and mora 
 power are in our midst — " Let there be light." 
 
JOTTINGS BY THE WAY. 
 
 A FEW days have only elapsed since a magnificent 
 Pullman Palace car passed on the Groat Western 
 Railway, and within two hundred yards of where I 
 now write, filled with passengers who never changed 
 cars since they left San Francisco, only seven days 
 before. I contrasted their journey and one I made 
 in 1850 to this El Dorado of the West. The gold 
 mania was then at its height. Thousands, and tens of 
 thousands were crowding all the thorough-fares on 
 the way to the golden sands of California. Some 
 risked the dangers of the stormy Cape ; others went 
 through northern Mexico or over the United States 
 territory, but by far the greater number went by the 
 Isthmus of Panama. To-day we have splendid 
 saloon cars furnished with all the luxuries of an 
 eastern palace, from ice-creams, pine-apples, old port, 
 roast beef, ai^ pumpkin pies, to beds of down, 
 silken curtains, golden tassels, Brussels carpets, 
 marble wash-stands and dressing-tables, and all these 
 comforts while whirling along over hill and dale ; 
 through luxuriant forests and tangled weed-bound 
 swamps — over undulating prairies like the rolling 
 sea — alkali plains, arid as the Sahara desert — through 
 mountain gorges and over hilly spurs, and deep defiles, 
 and yawning canyons, and placid rivers, and roar- 
 ing cataracts, until the same passengers, and the same 
 car that left New York, are landed on San Francisco 
 
JOTTIN(;s r.Y THK WAY. 97 
 
 wharf, within thirty feet of the Pacific, and in one 
 short week. Now, look at the other side of the pic- 
 ture. I need not tell of the horrors of the " middle 
 passage" across the plains — of tlie thousands of lives 
 that were lost by fiimine, disease, and the tomaliawk — 
 nor of the discomforts and tediousness of a voyage 
 around the Terra del Fuego, but 1 romember well, 
 as if it were yesterday, the miseries of the way by 
 Chagres. I was tlien in my teens, and like other 
 young men, hopeful and ardent. I also plunged into 
 the mighty torrent of emigration "to the West ;" 
 The old Crescent City steamship took out with us 
 nine hundred souls of all nationalities, and tongues ; 
 there was scarcely standing room, and the " spoon 
 fashion" mode of packing had to be adopted, net 
 only between decks, but also on the deck and in the 
 open air. Grumbling, oaths, and fpiarrels, were the 
 order of the day. The deep guttural of the German 
 — the sharp, accented tones of the Frenchman — the 
 mellifluous notes of the Spaniard, Portugese, and Itali- 
 an — the patois of the French Canadian, and the 
 Hebrew of the Jew, were at that time Sancrit to me, 
 swore they ever so roundly, but I have no doubt 
 Pandemonium was a respectable place to the hold 
 and deck of this ship. After ten days of sea-sickness, 
 and disgusting scenes, a home-sick swain might have 
 been seen in the miserable village of Chagres — 
 standing, the picture of despair, in the midst of mud 
 the most tenacious, and rain the most pitiless, and 
 lightning and thundei he most intense — and native 
 women, and men, and children, the most nude, and 
 
 7 
 
98 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 barbarou.s, and ugly, and shameless, as ever the sun 
 shone on. The natives are a mongrel raceof Indians» 
 and Negroes, and Spaniards, and possessing cunning 
 and rascality in a superlative degree. The houses of 
 these villages are comi)osed of bamboo for walls, and 
 rushes for roofs'. Windows and chimneys are almost 
 unknown, and dirt the most filtb.y was in abundance 
 on all hands. The river Chagres empties into the 
 Caribbean Sea at this point, and on a bold rocky 
 promontory, overlooking the surrounding country, 
 was built several centuries ago, by the Spaniards, a 
 formidable fortress called San Lorenzo. Beautiful 
 cannon made of silver, and a brass amalgam, still 
 overtop the parapets, but some of them, in mere 
 wantonness, have been cast over the precipice, and 
 are sticking in crevices ot the rocks. The place was 
 several times, in its history, taken by the buccaneers, 
 whose resort was the Isle of Pines, but now, battle- 
 ments, casements, magazines, foss.T, and salient 
 angles, are one mass of ruins. 
 
 With ihe exception of small patches of rice and 
 sugar-cane, the luxuriant and boundless forest was 
 everywhere. The air was loaded with the most de- 
 licious perfume from orange groves, pine-apple plants, 
 and the laden lemon, and lime trees. I left Canada 
 frost-bouud, and snow-covered in April, and in twelve 
 days after, was revelling in the bounties of the tropics, 
 " where the leaves never fade and the skies seldom 
 weep." In spite of the poet's assertion the sky seems 
 to find no trouble in procuring the tears. At this 
 time there was no railroad, and no river-boats built, 
 
JOTTINGS I!V TMF, WAV. 99 
 
 but canoes of the rudest construction were in abund- 
 ance. The stern end was covered with pahn leaves 
 or thatched with rushes, and so low was this rude 
 cabin that a " six footer," like myself, for conveni- 
 ence sake, should have been constructed after the 
 model of a telescope, and " thusly" draw myself 
 within myselt ; but, as it was, my knees and chin 
 were in close relationship, for four long days, during 
 which it rained incessantly. The river was much 
 swollen, and our propulsive power was three naked 
 savages, either pushing with poles, or paddling, or 
 towing our canoe. The banks of the river were 
 ])eautiful, overhung with trees, and climbing plants, 
 and blossoming shrubs ; and were it not for the in- 
 cessantly discordant notes of paroquets, — the chat- 
 ter of monkeys — the screech of birds of prey — the 
 sound of the alligator as he glided into the water, 
 from some cosy nook, and the thought of boa- 
 constrictors and anacondas, all nature would have 
 seemed a perfect Paradise. At last we were landed 
 at a small village called Gorgona, from which we had 
 to travel to Panama, a distance of about twenty j-p.iles, 
 over the Andes. Here my troubles began in earnest. 
 I had my few things packed into a small trunk, and 
 as no mules could be hired, I was obliged to stow away 
 my all, into an india-rubber bag, and strap it on the 
 back of a negro, to whom I paid $8.00 to carry it to 
 Panama. I tied a pair of shoes to the outside of the 
 bag, as there was no room inside, and, by the light 
 of the moon, I indulged in a bath in the river before 
 lying down for the night ; but when I began to dress, 
 
lOO PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 I missed my boots, and to this day, they arc to me 
 non est, I went to the darkey's hut for my shoes, but 
 lie was in blissful ignorance of their whereabouts, 
 and thus I stood barefooted, where shoemakers were 
 curiosities, and no comrade with any shoes, or boots 
 to fit. To go into a rage would not mend matters, 
 and to swear would not conjure up the lost property ; 
 so, when the morning came, I rolled up my '* un- 
 mentionables" to my knees, and marched toward the 
 Pacific, whistling to keep my courage up. There is a 
 small insect called the " jigger," which burrows in the 
 •sand on the Isthmu'v, and when it finds its way under 
 the toe-nail, or under the skin ot the human foot, lays 
 thousands of eggs, Avhich bring forth larva:% and these 
 excite such an amount of irritation and inflammation 
 as to produce death. Death from this cause is a 
 common occurrence among the natives. With these 
 facts before my mind's eye, every time I ])lanted 
 my "understandings" into the mud I had my hopes 
 and fears about these gentry. I was every litde 
 while examining with a critic's eye, my pedal ex- 
 tremities. If Bolivar's army crossed through those 
 valleys, and mountain gorges, and waded through 
 those rapid mountain streams, barefooted, then 1 
 say they deserved all the booty in a thousand Mon- 
 tezumas. The road was strewn with the carcasses of 
 mules, and numerous mounds were silent witnesses of 
 human mortality, the victims being far from home, 
 and kindred. The thick jungle and the boundless 
 forests were said to be the secret haunts of native 
 robbers, who pounced upon the sick, and weary,. 
 
JOTTINGS BY THE WAY. lOI 
 
 robbing and putting them to death, with none to 
 defend them, or to enquire as to their f^ite. In the 
 valleys was interminable mud, and on tlie mountain 
 tops were bare rocks, into which mules and ponies 
 had worn deep circular holes, with their feet, and 
 these were from eight to twelve inches in depth. 
 This attrition of the rocks had been going on for 
 centuries. During our first day's journey it rained 
 incessantly, and every few hours heaven's artillery 
 would roar and bellow up and down the deep gorges, 
 vibrating and reverberating until the earth felt as 
 tremulous as the air. As night closed in, part of our 
 company sought shelter in a solitary ranche ; but we 
 were told of a large hotel, kept by an American, about 
 two miles farther on, and although weary and foot- 
 sore, a comrade and myself pushed for more con- 
 genial shelter, but the heavy timber, thick foliage, 
 and deep valleys were — in the tropics — soon shrouded 
 in almost palpable darkness. It could almost be folt. 
 The thick under-wood, on both sides of the narrow 
 pathway, was so filled with creeping plants, and the 
 cactus of all kinds that it was impossible to lose the 
 way. But what with pulling cactus' thorns out of my 
 feet, " stubbing " my toes against obtrusive boulders 
 — the howls of distant beasts — the panic-stricken 
 condition of my comrade, and the hunger that was 
 giving our stomachs sharp monitions, we were in no 
 amiable mofd. We hid so far carried a bowie- 
 knife in one hand, and an Allan's " pepper-box " 
 revolver in the other ; but my knife had dozens of 
 times come in contact with the rocks, and my re- 
 
102 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 volver had been freely baptized in the flowirg streams, 
 until no human force could cut with the one, nor 
 could ingenuity explode the other. In daylight their 
 appearance might be formidable against a bandit, 
 but in Cimmerian darkness they were like the caudal 
 extremity of " grumphie," more ornamental, than 
 useful. However, our prowess was not tested, for 
 about midnight we hailed a camp fire, far down in the 
 valley, and when we reached it, we found the " Wash- 
 ington " Hotel consisting of a large, patched mainsail 
 of a ship stretched between four trees, with a perpen- 
 dicular pole hoisted in the centre a la circus. Our 
 beds consisted of the damp ground, or the flat side of 
 a slab, without beds or bedding. We made a supper 
 out of "hard tack" and cold boiled beans, and after 
 curling up dog-style, were soon in the land of Mor- 
 pheus. After being overtaken by our comrades in 
 the morning, we pursued the uneven tenor of our 
 way through a country less mountainous and more 
 thickly settled. The rivers were occasionally spanned 
 by old store bridges, and sometimes the road was 
 paved for hundreds of yards with boulders. These 
 bridges and highways were said to have been built 
 by the Spaniards to enable them to connect, by land 
 communication, the two seas. Towards sun-down the 
 Pacific burst upon our view,lying as quietly, as a sleeping 
 infant, and studded as far as the eye could reach with 
 beautiful islands, rejoicing in perpetual verdure. The 
 city of Panama lay at our feet, and with its turrets, and 
 steeples, and battlements, looked somewhat like civiliz- 
 ation, after being a week in the wilderness, among. 
 
JOTTINGS BY THE WAY. 1 03' 
 
 semi-barbarous natives, and even satiate'] vritli the 
 grandeur of the lofty Andes. But a^ter passing the 
 walls of the city the delusion vanished; we might 
 sum up a description of the wliole city by saying that 
 walls — once formidable — were crumbling to decay. 
 The casements were the habitations of the owls and 
 buzzards, — the southern scavengers. The parapets 
 were lying in the ditch outside. Splendid cannon 
 were dismounted on the ra.m]>arts,niinus carriages, and 
 having emblazoned upon them tlie coat of arms of 
 imperial Spain. The sentry soldiery were barefooted, 
 and rejoiced in shouldering Queen P.ess flintlocks, 
 surmounted by bayonets, which, in anti'juc beauty, 
 were in keeping with the muskets. The uniform 
 seemed to be an " omnium gatheruin " of several 
 nationalities, but these Sons of Mars felt the dignity 
 of their position, and strutted in concious pride, on 
 the crumbling ruins of former greatness, almost like 
 Marius amia the ruins of Carthage. The streets of 
 Panama are lil:e the streets of all Spanish cities, 
 very narrow and dirty. No sanitary regulations <irc 
 observed, and the garbage, and filth, which the rains 
 do not wash into the bay, are eaten up by thebuzzards, 
 which are to be seen in large flocks perched upon the 
 house-tops, and we believe the law protects them from 
 molestation or injury. The Plaza is a large square 
 in the centre of the city, and is used for a market, 
 parade ground, etc. There is a very ancient and im- 
 posing cathedral facing this square. It is Gothic iu 
 design, andean lay claim to architectural beauty. The 
 niches are still fdled with respectable images of the 
 
I04 PKN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 Apostles, and the Madonna. It is true the intrepid 
 Paul, by some misfortune liad lost his arm, and 
 Peter had a dilapidated nose, and several of the 
 images were badly defaced, but what remained of 
 these venerable fothers showed, that when young, the 
 artist, or rather sculptor, liad done his duty. A 
 truncated steeple, witli roof and sides exposed, re- 
 joiced in the possession of a tongueless bell. A 
 darkey, sitting straddle of a cross beam, with a bar oi 
 iron in his liand, did duty as bellman, and the matin 
 and vesper bells were intoned by this sable musician, 
 whose zeal exceeded his knowledge of euphony. 
 
 The city was filled to suffocation by people of all 
 nationalities, waiting for a passage to the land of gold. 
 Some had througli tickets by certain steamers, and 
 had been waiting for weeks, and even months, for the 
 ship to which they were assigned. We were obliged 
 to take a passage in a small French barque, of about 
 400 tons burden. It hailed from ]\Iarseilles, and neither 
 captain nor crew coukl speak English. The vessel 
 was an old fishery vessel, having high bulwarks for- 
 ward, and it was said had weathered many a storm on 
 the banl^ of Newfoundland. Between decks was 
 very low, not exceeding 53.4 feet, and yet in this small 
 craft were stow^ed away one hundred and twenty-two 
 souls, to be, to do, and to suffer, during a two months' 
 voyage on the treacherous deep. We were a motley 
 crew, and when assembled on deck, a more grotesque 
 picture Hogarth never painted. The jabbering Chil- 
 ian, and Peruvian — the swarthy Spaniard, and Portu- 
 guese-'the poor German and the everlasting meer- 
 
JOTTINGS BY THE WAY, 1^5 
 
 schaiim — tne fiery Southerner, with tho bovvie knife in 
 his boot, and a Colt's revolver at his waist — rubicund 
 John Bulls and lank Scots — shrewd Yankees and 
 homesick Canadians — volatile Frenchmen, and mer- 
 cenary Jews — lawyers, doctors, teachers, clergymen, 
 fanners, mechanics, etc., were all represented on the 
 deck of the old ** Ocean " barque. After watering 
 at the small island of Taboga, about six miles from 
 Panama, we set sail south-west towards the Gallipagoes 
 Islands, to catch the trade winds. But scarcely had 
 we left landi about one hundred miles astern, than Wv^ 
 were becalmed, and for twenty-one days we did not 
 make twenty miles headway. It was wearisome to lie 
 down night after night, with the sails flapping against 
 the mast, and to wake up, morning after morning, to 
 find the sea calm as a mill-pond, and our vessel lying 
 
 '' Like a painted ship 
 Upon a painted ocean." 
 
 After a time intermittent breezes permitted us to 
 creep along southerly until the trade winds were 
 reached off the coast of Peru. It is true tliese winds 
 were blowing from the north-west, but by long tacks 
 progress was made towards our goal. We crossed 
 the line by a few degrees to the south, and, as usual, 
 old Neptune paid us a visit. He shaved a few of the 
 passengers, with a rusty hoop, not failing to insure 
 these blind-folded victims, a cold douche in a deep 
 meat tub. It was a source of mirth to all but the 
 unfortunate recipients of these high honors from the 
 god of the sea. The fourth of July was celebrated 
 
106 .• PEN PHOTOr.RAPHS. 
 
 
 
 on board by the usual spe<jch making, singing of 
 patriotic songs, denunciations of Great Britain, and 
 the red flag, which " was a nt emblem of tyranny and 
 oppression." The captain sang in good style the Mar- 
 seillaise Hymn, in hDnour of the French Hepublic, 
 and put upon one of the two ladies, on board, a red 
 night-cap, to personify the goddess of Liberty. He also 
 dealt out a copious supply of brandy, and, as might 
 be expected, the half-starved crowd got hilarious, and 
 some became" gloriously drunk."' As evening drew on, 
 the noise from a sort of maudlin revelry was indescrib- 
 able. The shouts and yells — the muttering and drivel- 
 ling idiocy of the sot — the obscene song and jest in 
 half a dozen languages — the oaths of those who were 
 sufficiently intoxicate to be madmen, and the quarrels, 
 about trifles, of those who had been boon compan- 
 ions, were disgusting and alarming. Two of the 
 sailors had quarrelled over a game of dice, and in 
 fury they vainly attempted to throw one another 
 overboard. A German had insulted a little Vermon- 
 ter, and was chased up stairs and down stairs — fore 
 and aft — by him, armed with a huge knife. The Ger- 
 man at last took shelter in the cabin. An Alabam- 
 ian quarrelled with a John Bull about John Calhoun, 
 and on the Slavery question, and were it not for the 
 interposition of friends, blood would have been spilled. 
 A Jew had his extraction cast in his teeth, by an Hi- 
 bernian, and although after a time both parties were 
 apparently reconciled, yet, strange to say, after sealing 
 their bonds of amity, with free libations from the 
 bottle, next morning the Irishman was in the jaws of 
 
JOTTINGS liV THE WAY. , 107 
 
 death, and the day following he was consigned to 
 the deep. Wliispers of foul play where heard, and 
 the Jew was henceforth ostracized, which, however 
 he bore with perfect nonchalance and defiance. 
 Imagine such a motley crowd on a small vessel, over 
 a thousand miles from land, and holding such high re- 
 velry during the honrs of darkness, with no lights to be 
 seen except the flickering lamp suspended over the 
 compass ; and a lunatic asylum would be a Paradise 
 to it. The captain tried to lay the devil he had 
 raised, but his efforts were in vain, for the more he 
 attempted to exercise authority, the more uproarious 
 the revellers became, including even the sailors ; and 
 had a squall visited us any time during that long 
 night, it is doubtful if sufficient, sober sailors could 
 have been secured, to reef a sail, or pull a rope. I did 
 not feel safe between decks, and so sought an empty 
 place on the quarter deck, near the helmsman, where 
 I caught " cat naps " of sleep, until at gray dawn the 
 cry of fire echoed through the ship, and paralyzed for 
 a time every man who heard it. The confusion of the 
 previous evening was intensified tenfold, and as I cast 
 my eyes forward I perceived the galley was in flames. 
 The cooking apparatus was of the most primitive kind 
 and improvised at Panama. Two large tin boilers 
 were inserted into a brick structure, with arches under- 
 neath. A crack had been made in the bottom of these 
 arches in some way, and the fire had communica'ed 
 with the deck, and from there had spread to the 
 wooden part of the cook-house. The sober men on 
 board went to work, and with axes tore down and com- 
 
loS PKN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 mitted to the deep the Imrniii;^ fragments, and 
 thus extinguished the flames. In the midst of the up- 
 roar, and confusion, there were numbers who had 
 f^illen into such a lethargy from beastly intoxication, 
 that no trampling upon, or hauling by the legs, or re- 
 minders from clenched fists, in the ribs, elicited more 
 than a grunt, or a half uttered oath, and who — if the 
 fire had got the mastery — would have perished, with- 
 out waking from their sleep. This misfortune to the 
 ** caboose " put an end to culinary operations, and 
 although our provisions, so far, had consisted of fat 
 pork, beans, biscuit and rice, half cooked, yet these 
 had " smelt " fire, but, viis>'rable diciu ! we were 
 forced to eat raw pork. Where were the trichince 
 spirales ? What a feast these burrowers would have 
 had in the muscles of such a woe begone company ! 
 A few nights afterwards, while the drowsy watch was 
 enjoying quiet snoozes, a scpall rose suddenly, and 
 while all their efforts were employed in reefing sails, 
 the fore and main hatches" were left open — several 
 heavy seas were shipped, which went bowling down 
 into the hold among the provisions, «S<:c. This reduced 
 our fare to raw pork, and mouldy, and wormy biscuit. 
 About meal time we might be seen employed in the 
 delightful occupation of picking to pieces the green 
 " hard tack," and culling out carefully, worms from 
 the pulpy mass. Dyspepsia at these times was un- 
 known, and these " titbits " were relished beyond all 
 expectation. The quality was not objected to, but 
 the quantity had become deficient. The continued 
 .theme was about something good to eat. Farmers 
 
J0TT1K(;S MY 'IHE WAV. IO9 
 
 would discuss with watering mouths, all the bounties 
 of the dairy, and the home kitchen, and often longed 
 for a good drink, from the richness of the *' swill pail." 
 The fat Dutchman began to thin in flesh, and the raw 
 bones were merging fast towards transparency. My 
 day-dreams were of home, and its plentiful larder, 
 and my night visions were made up of " castles in 
 the air," composed of pies, cakes, custards, beef, 
 potatoes, «S:c. O for a '* square meal !" O for the 
 hot biscuits, fresh butter, strawberries and cream, 
 plum pudding, and ham and eggs, of distant and wel- 
 come boards ! Ye gods what is your ambrosia or 
 nectar in comparison to these substantials to starving 
 men ! Well, these miseries had an end, and after 
 doing penance for a life-time by involuntary abstemi- 
 ousness, we hailed land on the third of August, after 
 being sixty-three days on the Pacific, and sixty days 
 without seeing land or even a solitary vessel 
 
 I left home on the 25th of April, 1850, and on the 
 4th of August was landed on the sands of San Fran- 
 cisco. We were a seedy looking crowd, but misery 
 is said to like company, and we congratulated our- 
 selves in being no worse than our neighbours, for 
 hundreds were landing daily in as miserable a plight 
 as ourselves. Our ship, in fact, was a representative 
 one, and thousands of immigrants had much more 
 doleful tales to tell than those I have endeavoured to 
 sketch. 'J^he miseries of the overland route — the hor- 
 rors of doubling the stormy cape in wretched hulks, 
 which the cupidity of their owners sent to that far 
 distant land from the eastern ports of the United 
 
110 I'KN PHOTOC'.KAIMIS. 
 
 'States, and from all the maritime cities of Clui.stendom, 
 laden with human freight, from tender youth to dc- 
 crepid old age — the untold wretchedness of those 
 who were deluded by speculators to cross the con- 
 tinent through Mexico, such as those who went under 
 the leadership of that Trince of scoundrels, Col. 
 French, would require volumes to adeijuately portray 
 it, and such an exodus never took place before, since 
 the Israelites left Egypt. The bay of San Francisco, 
 by the way, one of the finest on the Pacific coast, if we 
 except that of Acapulco, was, at the time I i efer to, 
 studded with the ships of all nations. The sea of masts 
 reminded one of a Canadian pinery, which had been 
 robbed of its foliage. Three-fourths of these ships 
 were forsaken, and at that time it was estimated that 
 nearly two thousand vessels, of all sizes, were lying 
 in the harbour. The crew of our ship liad desertjd 
 the first night after casting anchor, with the exception 
 of the cook, and cabin boy, and nearly a year after- 
 wards the ship was said to be still lying at anchor. 
 These vessels looked like '' pliantom ships " with no 
 living soul aboard. The starved rats were running 
 riot in the rigging, and the sea-gulls, and other marine 
 birds could be seen perching on the yards. A large 
 vessel had been driven ashore near the city, and two 
 doors were cut into the bows. It was fitted up into a 
 boarding house, and designated " Noah's Ark." 
 
 The city of San Francisco (called after Sir Francis 
 Drake) was at this time only a small place in com- 
 parison to what it is now. The Spanish town was a 
 few small houses made of unburnt brick, and the re- 
 
JOITINGS HV THK WAY. Hi 
 
 maindcr of the pince was conij)o.scd of temporary 
 wooden buildings, and an army of tents perched on 
 the sand hills in the rear of the town. A Plaza was 
 in the centre, round which were built hotels, grog- 
 geries, and gambling saloons. Here was congregated 
 the scum of all nations, in representation. After 
 night-flill bands of music played operatic airs to the 
 masses that thronged these houses. Mexican women 
 of easy virtue, with segarettes in their mouths, but 
 possessed of considerable beauty, sat at the monte 
 tables, with gold dust or gold coin before them, and 
 by winning smiles and allurements, such as a Syren 
 might employ, lured many silly moths to the bright 
 blaze, and left them with singed wings. All the arts 
 of such a profession were employed to victimize the 
 returning miner, and to entice him to these dens 
 The usual decoys were sent out — some dressed in 
 the rough costume of a miner — others with solemn 
 countenances, fine bl.ick clothes, unexceptional white 
 neckties, and smooth and mellow tongues — and others 
 like accomplished gentlemen, whose appearance dis- 
 armed suspicion, and with plenty of money, which 
 they spent freely — such fished tor a specific class of 
 victims. The first of these classes ingratiated them- 
 selves into the affections, and confidence, of their 
 fellow miners, and were to be found at the beach and 
 piers, where river boats brought down loads ot miners 
 from the interior. The genteel cla<?ses frequented 
 those steamers, and ships, which brought their living 
 freight from all parts of the world. They would 
 tender advice and give gratuitous council to those 
 
1 12 PEN PHOTOt'.KAPHS; 
 
 *• grecii " ones who had not yet cut tlicir wisdom 
 teeth, and who were about " to see the elephant.'' 
 Murders were of daily occurrence, but no law con- 
 victed, and no oflicers executed. Lawlessness ran riot, 
 and villains of the deepest dye filled nearly all the 
 municipal oflices. To such an extent was brutality, 
 robbery, and murder winked at, that honest men at 
 last banded themselves together for mutual protec- 
 tion, and took the law into their own hands. For a 
 short time a reign of terror ensued, and it was well- 
 doers who were affrighted ; but after a number of 
 scoundrels were lynched, by the Vigilance Committee, 
 their comrades in crime began to dread this inipcrium 
 in imperii), and, treading softly, began to skulk out of 
 broad daylight into the dark recesses of the dens of 
 infamy ; for these committees, like those who recently 
 hung the Pero gang in Illinois, or like the Carbineri 
 of Italy, were unknown to these desperadoes. We 
 well remember one of those executions in Sacramento. 
 The 'ty in 1850 was only a collection of temporary 
 buildin^^s, impervious to robbers and burglars. There 
 was no building in the whole city sufiiciently substan- 
 tial to serve the purposes of a prison. An old hulk 
 was towed up from Benecia and anchored in the 
 middle of the Sacramento river, and here criminals 
 were confined. For months, most daring robberies 
 and murders had been committed, not only in the 
 city, but in the surrounding country ; and although 
 time after time the guilty parties were caught and 
 and their crime proven, yet they managed to escape, 
 on account ot the connivance of the authorities. The 
 
JOTTINOS IIV THK WAV. II3 
 
 Vigilance Committee at last took the matter in hand. 
 The ringleader of a lawless band, if I remember 
 rightly, known by the name of Robinson, had been 
 tried by the city authorities and ac(iuitted. To avoid 
 popular indignation, he was re-committed to the 
 hulk ; but at the hour of midnight the hulk was sur- 
 rounded, the jailers pinioned, and the prisoner landed 
 on the levee, under a guard of several hundreds of 
 determined men. He was taken to a place called, at 
 that time, the horse market, in which grew a scrubby 
 oak tree. A cart was used for a platform, and a pro- 
 jecting branch for the suspension of the fatal noose. 
 By this time thousands of people were congregated. 
 Tar barrels were set on fire, and as these cast a 
 ruddy glow over the upturned faces of the multitude, 
 as it surged to and Iro, with the dark outline of the 
 doomed man, coming out in boldness, with droop- 
 ing head, and pinioned arms, standing on the cart, 
 and the spectral appearance of his executioners 
 moving to and fro with determined gait and action, 
 arid the voices of the vast throng at one time uproar- 
 ious, and at another dying away into a death-like sil- 
 ence, the scene was sufticient to chill to the marrow 
 any sensitive umian being. " Hang tlie rascal at 
 once," cry some, "shoot him," cry others. " Give 
 him a chance to speak," cry out a third group. 
 " Don't be all night about it," cries out an impatient 
 crowd. These and such like exclamations came up 
 intermittently from this volcano of passion, like red 
 hot lava, spewing over the edge of the serrated moun- 
 tain. At last the victim raised his head, and with 
 
 8 
 
114 P'^^N PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 uplifted hands beseechingly signified his desire for 
 silence. He acknowledged all that had been charged 
 against him to be true, but in extenuation pleaded his 
 extreme youth, (nineteen years). He was only the 
 instrument used by others to commit their crimes. He 
 was the only son of a widowed mother, who warned 
 him of his fate if he continued in evil-doing, and 
 became the companion of evil associates. She was in 
 England, and although he had been deaf to the 
 entreaties of others, who were his victims, yet he 
 sent her money to support her. She would not 
 know of his tragic end, or of his sad career in crime, 
 un*il the newspapers told the tale. His masters in 
 crime were, many of them, in public offices, and 
 among others he named the mayor ot the city. This 
 villain was standing in the crowd, and no doubt 
 trembled where he stood, as this confession was being 
 made. The appeal made strong men weep, and was 
 sufficiently pathetic to soften the most obdurate, but 
 an example had to be made, and this poor fellow 
 must be the first to appease popular indignation. The 
 noose was adjusted — the cart was pulled away from 
 under his feet — a heavy thud was heard — the convul- 
 sive body, quivering in every limb, and being most 
 horribly contorted in every musple of the uncovered 
 face, and eyes protruding as if about to leap from 
 their sockets, whirled about in circles andsemi-circies, 
 until vitality gave way to the gravitation of useless 
 clay, and by the expiring embers of watch-fires a 
 corpse was seen swinging hither and thither in the 
 night breeze, with not a solitary friend to watch, in 
 
JOTTINGS BY THK WAV. II5 
 
 aiJection the gyrating body. We need scarcely add 
 that the mayor and others accused by this murderer 
 were searched for, but the)- had ''fled from the wrath 
 to come." It is said that the Englishman's house is 
 his castle, but in this land of gold every man was a 
 walking fort of bristling munitions of war, and every 
 person was on the qui vivCy whether at work, or repos- 
 ing from the labours of the day. Relationship and 
 affection seemed to be forgotten in the struggle for 
 gold. The motto of everyone seemed to be " Deil 
 take the hinmost." 
 
 It is not my intention to enter into details as 
 to the resources, and climate, and industries of 
 California, at the time I refer to. The auriferoun 
 deposits were everywhere — in the beds of rivers — on 
 the bars composed of sand, gravel, and boulders, 
 cast up or deposited by the swollen streams ; nor 
 need I describe the gold sweating quartz in its 
 stratified croppings out ot the slate formation — of 
 the deep diggings in the beds of ancient rivers, far 
 away from the recert river beds, and even penetrating 
 the bases of mountains, and of the volanic agency 
 of the primal ages, seen ever}'where, not only in the 
 irregular and grotesque appearance of the gold, but 
 also in the physical changes, and transformations, 
 not only of the aqueous, but also of some igneous 
 rocks. Nor is it our intention to dilate on those 
 isothermal changes continually brought about by the 
 sea-breezes by day, and the chilling night winds from 
 the snow-clad mountains, — nor of the reason why 
 flowers bloom in January.and crops ripen in April,in a 
 
Il6 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 / 
 
 country only a few degrees of latitude south of 
 Toronto. Books might be written on these themes^ 
 and also on the different implements, and machines 
 used for separating the gold from th^ dross — from 
 the pick and battered tin-pan — the old-fashioned 
 rocker, with its cross bars, up-right handle, iron sieve, 
 and its twin, the long-handled dipper — from the 
 quick-silver machine, with its many compartments, 
 hose, and pumps, to the "long Tom" or the more 
 powerful hydraulic agency, that by means of the active 
 force of running water, can literally level mountains, 
 and wash the precious metal from the deepest bowels 
 of the earth, or the quartz machine that crushes to 
 the fineness of flour the hard rock, and by steam, 
 and fire makes the reluctant gold come forth, from it.'i 
 rocky sepulchre. All these appliances are wonders, 
 and curiosities in themselves, to those who have never 
 been initiated into their mysteries. The greatest 
 difficulty I had to encounter in the mines, after pro- 
 curing food to eat, was to cook it. The meat was 
 burned to a crisp. The coffee was weak as an homoeo- 
 pathic dose, or strong as a good old fashioned dose of 
 senna. The bread was made from some dough, and 
 carbonate of soda, but I did not know the principle 
 of "rising" bread, and after it had been kneaded, 
 so that there were not more than forty dry lumps in 
 the loaf, I applied heat vigorously to the top and 
 bottom of an old bake kettle, and afterwards found a 
 shrivelled up piece of composition, which was out- 
 side a blackened crisp, and inside so doughy that 
 if chewed by anyone rejoicing in loose grinders, the 
 
JOTTINGS BV THE WAY. n7 
 
 adhesive quality of my bread would be warranted to 
 produce complete and satisfactory extraction. Ex- 
 perience, and the assistance of an old sea captain 
 made me a tolerable baker. The trowsers of miners 
 often needed patches on the knees, and mine were no 
 exception to the general rule ; but, never being called 
 on in Canada to exert my skill in that way, I failed 
 to remember whether the patch ought to be placed 
 outside or inside, but I attempted the former with a 
 piece of an old flour bag, the mterstices of which were 
 filled with hardened flour. Forgetting to fasten on 
 the four corners temporarily, and thus keep it /;/ sitii.^ I 
 sewed away "on the loose " until I found, when half 
 done, that I had worked it so much to one side as to 
 nearly miss the round edvjes of " the trousorial aper- 
 ture ;" but practice makes perfect, and although this 
 patch, after being securely sewed, and well wetted in 
 -the American river, by means of the flour, stuck closer " 
 than a brother, yet it did uncommonly well, and 
 gave me courage to tailor other essential garments of 
 a miner's outfit. Like other mortals we had our 
 troubles, and our enjoyments, but on the whole the 
 life of the gold hunter was enjoyable. The lawyer* 
 it is true, had to leave his gown, and black bag behind 
 — the doctor torgot his scalpel, lances, blisters, and 
 blue pills, — the merchant took no interest in the rise 
 and fall of cottons, or silks, and the dandy with 
 ^* plug "hat, kid gloves, and unexceptional necktie, 
 was at first the butt of ridicule, and afterwards the 
 object of pity. I was one morning somewhat 
 amused with a gentleman of this kind, who came to 
 
Il8 TEN PHOTOGRArHS. 
 
 make his fortune by digging. His clothes were of 
 the latest fashion, and his boots well brushed, and 
 red topped. Theblack kids were a perfect fit, and 
 a chain of dazzling yellow hung from his fob. His 
 pick, and shovel, and "prosj^ecting" pan were elegant 
 in structure, and " bran " new. He first took a 
 shovel full of sand from the edge of a sand-bank, 
 where mica shone resplendently. Carrying this 
 daintly down to the river he tried it, and found that 
 " all is not gold that glitters." He next filled his pan- 
 from a heap of "tailings," which had already been run 
 through our quicksilver machine. He walked with 
 this refuse earth down to the brink of the river, but 
 as he neared the water, he found his footing treacher- 
 ous, and suddenly disappeared up to his neck in the 
 river. Roars, of laughter greeted him as he crawled 
 out from his morning's bath, leaving his tools to be 
 found, it may be, by some geologist in future ages, 
 and our " iron age " determined thereby ; as for the 
 dripping dandy he " vamosed " to parts unknown^ 
 That essential ornament and glory of society — a 
 woman — was never seen by us except once, and the 
 boys declared that she left an old bonnet behind, 
 which they affixed to a pole, and — if they did not 
 bow down and worship — danced around it all night, 
 in perfect ecstacy. 'D.ey thought it was, as if an- 
 angel had left a pinion of its wing behind. The 
 scenery around where we camped was beautiful, 
 especially in winter, when thousands of variegated 
 flowers sent forth their sweetness and dazzled the eye 
 by their gorgeousness. What a contrast to our ice- 
 
JOTTINGS h\ THE WAY. II9 
 
 bound shore ! yet our winters, though cold, are brac- 
 ing, and enjoyable, when we hear the "tintinnabulation 
 of the bells," and feel the hoary north wind coming in 
 his strength. That climate has its beauties, this one 
 its usefulness and that too, in spite of the long dreary 
 hours of winter. 
 
 I stood, one beautiful Sabbath morning, on one of 
 the peaks of the Sierra Nevada, mountains. It was in 
 the month of August, 1851. Far to the westward 
 stretched the Sacramento plains, and the river mean- 
 dering coyly along, and seeming like a silver thread 
 on a back-ground of green, whose undulating sur- 
 face eemed like the ocean swell. To the northward, 
 and eastward, rose in succession, one after another, 
 snowy peaks, crystalized by nature's matchless chemist, 
 — being the accumulations of ages, in His wonder- 
 ful laboratory. I was, as yet, at my elevation, only in 
 the dim, grey dawn ; but these rugged pinnacles 
 were already bathed in a glorious light. Here, fairy, 
 like, the solar rays danced in deepest green — there 
 they reflected the dark blue of the ocean — here were 
 all the tints of the rainbow — there was whiteness 
 itself intensified. Farther up, the mountains appear- 
 ed as if enveloped in one vast conflagration. The 
 red glow, like flames, could be seen with fiery tongues 
 licking up crags of adamant, and at the summit the 
 pure white snow, and glittering ice, were being appar- 
 ently naoulded, by the shooting pencils of light, into 
 the most fantastic shapes. Towers and bulwarks, 
 walls and parapets, domes and minarets, mosques 
 and monuments, could be seen for a moment, but the 
 next glance at its dazzling splendour was. 
 
120 TEN rHOTOGRAPllS. 
 
 " I^ike the snowfall in the river, 
 
 A moment white, then melts forever." 
 
 The turning of a Kaleidoscope produced no greater 
 transformation of colours, than did the sudden changes 
 of light, before the radiating morning light. I had 
 vainly imagined tliat no white man had ever scaled 
 the heights where I then stood, but what was my 
 surprise, when turning from gazing on such incompar- 
 able grandeur, and looking on the green-sward beneath 
 my feet, to find that others had scaled the giddy cliflFs 
 before me. Not ten yards from where I stood was a 
 grave — not that of an Indian — but the last resting- 
 place of one of our Circassian race. 'J here was the 
 mound, with a rude head-stone of slate, and the name 
 which had been scratched upon it, nearly eflaced. 
 What a lonely death-bed ! Who were his pall-bear- 
 ers ? Did he die *' unwept, unhonored and unsung ?" 
 Did any one whisper into his ear aflfection's latest 
 tribute, or the conforting words of Inspiration ? 
 What brought him up to the top of this mount to 
 die ? Had he seen the glories of a rising sun on the 
 distant mountain tops and did they symbolize to him 
 the gates and streets and walls of the New Jerusalem? 
 Were his last thoughts those which cheer many in the 
 (jark hour — mother, home and Heaven ? I sat with 
 wet eyes and in almost unconscious reverie near this 
 isolated grave-yard, and unburdened my teelings in 
 the following rhyme, when about to leave for ever. 
 
 This simple monument of death, 
 Far, far, away from haunts of men, 
 
JOTTINGS UY THK WAY. 121 
 
 Proclaims that mortals' fleeting breath, 
 Exhales on mountain, lake or plain. 
 
 Can no one tell whom thou has been ? 
 Nor miss thee on a distant hearth ? 
 Have wild flowers clothed thy grave so green, 
 Yet none remember thee on earth ? 
 
 Perhaps the tearless stranger stood, 
 To see the last convulsive throe ; 
 And then with hand and heart as rude, 
 Consigned him to the dust below. 
 
 Or Indian fierce with fiendish smile, 
 Up-raised his hand, and laid him low, 
 Then savage-like he seized the spoil. 
 And heeded not the tale of woe. 
 
 Conflicting waniors may stain 
 With gore the gieen sod o'er his head, 
 Exulting yells may fill the plain — 
 Insatiate rapine rob the dead. 
 
 Rude storms may shake Nevada's top. 
 And lightnings flash in vales below, 
 Earthquakes may rend the granite rock, 
 Hid far beneath eternal snow. 
 
 But 'tis no matter, he will lie. 
 As quietly in that mountain bed. 
 Where sturdy pines a requiem sigh, 
 As if among his kindred dead. 
 
 The mountains are covered far up with dwarf 
 •oaks, and pines. On the coast range of mountains, and 
 between them, and the sea is a peculiar wood, called 
 from its colour, redwood. In its general appearance 
 
122 P£N PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 it closely resembles cedar. It is durable and UglUv 
 and grows not only to an immense size, but also to a 
 fabulous height. It is said often to be in length 300 
 feet. It is generally found growing in clumps, as if 
 the tree were gregarious. During the winter, there 
 are often months of rain, not continuously, but inter- 
 mittently, the sun like a shy maiden often slyly show- 
 ing its face, and as often hiding it behind the clouds, 
 keeping the labourer, like a lover, between hopes, 
 and fears. During the summer months there is no rain, 
 and no dew, and although the heavens seem iron, and 
 the earth brass, yet, the valleys do not lose their ver- 
 dure, nor even the ever-green oaks their summer garb, 
 yet the hills looked parched, and were it not for a 
 slender grass that grows under difficulties, the rising 
 ground would appear very barren indeed. Cattle and 
 horses prefer this pin grass, to grain, and fatten well on 
 its nutritious fibres, and, what is remarkable about it 
 is, that the first showers in autumn kill it. It has 
 fulfilled its destiny, by the law of compensation, and 
 gives way to more luxuriant foliage, but its seeds have 
 been sown to produce, from the vital germ, the neces- 
 sary grasses for the ensuing year. The birds in this 
 country never migrate from these semi-tropics. The 
 groves are made vocal all the year round, with the 
 notes of the curlew, the piping quail, the coquettish 
 robin, and the plaintive cooing of the mourning 
 doves. The ubiquitous blackbird revels in fields of 
 wild oats, or native rice, and refuses to expatriate him- 
 self, sensible bird that he is, from the extensive plains 
 to the south of the mines, especially the Yulare plains. 
 
JOTTINGS BY THE WAY. 1 25 
 
 and those on the banks of the San Joaquin. Mus- 
 tang ponies roamed at large over almost boundless 
 plains. Here they have been indisputed masters 
 for centuries. When they stampede they form into 
 lines, and are as resistless as the charge of a squadron- 
 of cavalry. 
 
 " With flowing tail, and flying mane, 
 With nostrils never stretched by pain, 
 Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein ; 
 And feet that iron never shod ; 
 And flanks unscarred by spur or rod, 
 A thousand horses — the wild, the free — 
 Like waves that follow o'er the sea — 
 Came thickly thundering on." 
 
 Now^ I am told where wild beasts, or desolatiorv 
 reigned, are teeming thousands tilling the soil ; where 
 the wild horse, and the grizzly bear, and cayote wolf, 
 revelled in the luxuries of nature's bountiful table,, 
 the inexorable march of civilization has caused them 
 to suddenly forsake their old haunts, and retire to 
 mountain fastnesses, far irom the busy haunts ot men ; 
 where the rude wooden plough, the clumsy cart, and 
 adobe huts, and wigwams were the order of the day, 
 now crash through the virgin soil, the glittering plough- 
 share of New England — now roll over the plains, 
 and mountains, the symmetrical and iron girt wheels, 
 and to the right and left are seen the cosy dwellings 
 of an affluent, tasteful, and contented yeomanry. 
 The thrashing machines, reapers, and mowers, and' 
 manufactories, resound through the length and breadth 
 of this favoured land, where the clang of the shoveli 
 
124 'PEN PHOIOGRAl'HS. 
 
 and the pick, swung by miners's brawny arms, were tho 
 only sound of human industry, and where theii shining 
 tents showed them to be only the i)ilgrims of a day. 
 Gold has often been the curse of individuals, and of 
 nations, but California, Australia, and British Columbia, 
 by the impetus given to immigration thither, on 
 account ot these auriferous deposits have become 
 wealthy, and densely settled countries, which might 
 have remained for many long years in primal gran- ' 
 deur, in partial obscurity, and in comparative in- 
 eignificance. All hail ! ever resistless Anglo-Saxon ! 
 
THE ANGLO-SAXON IN THE ENGLISH 
 LANGUAGE. 
 
 1'r was said by Cxsar " that he couM conquer 
 nations, but he could not conquer tongues.'' 
 This statement was true, as it regarded the language 
 of the Ancient Britons. Our brave forefathers des- 
 pised the Koman Conquerors, and spurned their 
 classic language. The British chiefs sent their sons 
 to Gaul, to be instructed by the orators, and law- 
 givers among the Teutons. Tacitus tells us " that 
 the Britons were instructed by wise Gauls, although en- 
 couraged to study Latin by the Conquerors ;" but 
 Juvenal, in one of his satires, declares that they re- 
 fused to do so. After a time, however, the Latin was 
 used as an auxiliary to the Gothic, and this innova- 
 tion was adopted in succession by the Saxons, Nor- 
 mans, French, and Ancient Greeks. The sum total 
 of this influx of words, idioms, and expressions, in- 
 cluding the ancient Gothic, is the English language. 
 No Briton, or British American, can, in the present 
 day, lay claim to being an accomplished English 
 scholar, who does not understand thoroughly his 
 mother tongue, and,to some extent, the different roots 
 from whence it sprung. The English language is now 
 spoken in all the habitable globe, and is spreading 
 rapidly among nationalities, that owe no allegiance 
 to the British crown, but who feel the mighty in- 
 
126 PKN PHOTOdRAPHS. 
 
 fluence of that power extending " from sea to sea — 
 from the rising to the setting sun, and from the river 
 to the ends of the earth." We wili endeavour briefly 
 to show how much of our language is Anglo-Saxon, 
 and to how great an extent its beauty and force de- 
 pend upon the primary elements of the language. 
 We have not space to notice those classes of words 
 which have sprung trom the Anglo Saxon, but have 
 passed through numerous mutations, until their 
 orginality is to a great extent lost, but we will notice 
 those P'.nglish words only,Mrhich are themselves Saxon, 
 pure and simple, or are immediately derived from 
 the Anglo-Saxon. Tliose foreign words which enter 
 into the formation of our language, add very much to 
 its beauty, bat, as yet, they do not hold a foremost 
 place, They are the frescoes, capitals, cornices 
 and general decorations of the majestic temple, but 
 the substratum, walls, and pillars, are the staple 
 products of native ingenuity, wants, and industry. 
 
 Sir James Mcintosh tells us that he has analyzed a 
 number of Englisli passages, from the Bible, and 
 standard authors, and he has found in five verses 
 from denesis, containing 130 words, only five, not 
 Saxon. In so many verses out of St. John, containing 
 74 words, there were only two words, not Saxon. 
 In a passage from Shakspeare, containing 81 words, 
 there were only thirteen words, not Saxon. In a 
 passage from Milton containing 90 words, only 16, 
 were not Saxon ; also from Cowley 76 words, not 
 Saxon ten; from Thomson's Seasons 78 words, not 
 Saxon 14; from Addison, 79 words, not Saxo 
 
THE ANGLO-SAXON IN THE ENGMSH LANGUAGE. I 27 
 
 from Spenser 72 words, not Saxon 14; from Locke 
 94 words, not Saxon 9 ; from Hume loi, not Saxon 
 38 ; from (Gibbon 80, not Saxon 3 r ; and from 
 Johnson 87, not Saxon 21 wo; ds. The average 
 would be in such passages as tl\ose quoted about 
 3i-4oths Anglo-Saxon. But the number of words 
 may be said to be no fair criterion of the influence 
 of such words in a language, for a few words may , 
 have a potency, not at all commensurate with their 
 plurality. To this we reply, in the Jirit/ place, that the 
 skeleton of our language is Saxon. It is the frame- 
 work, which gives stability to the structure, although 
 foreign words may add to its grace and beauty. In 
 the second place, the English Grammar is almost ex- 
 clusively occupied with Anglo-Saxon words, not only 
 in the roots, but also in the inflections and auxiliaries. 
 The cases of nouns are. determined by particles, in- 
 stead of being noted, as in the Latin, Greek and 
 Hebrew, by the terminations of the words. It is the 
 same in the coiriparison of adjectives, for er and est 
 are Saxon. Many adverbs end in the Saxon /y. The 
 articles, and personal pronouns, including the relative 
 and interrogative pronouns', also the most of the 
 irregular verbs, and conjunctions, are all, with few 
 exceptions, Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 The objects of perception are principally named by 
 Anglo-Saxon words, such as sun, moon, stars, sky, water, 
 sea, dc, and although the very nice and affected 
 orator may talk of " vigorous Sol or " argentine 
 Luna," or " the azure zenith," or the " effulgent con- 
 stellation," yet the mother tongue excels, if not in 
 
128 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 euphony, at least in force, pointedness and precision,, 
 in all that appertains to the external world, or to the 
 varied wants of humanity. 
 
 Three of the elements are named in Anglo-Saxon 
 phrases, viz., earth, fire, water ; also, three out of the 
 four seasons are of the same parentage, that is, spring, 
 summer and wintef. The same may be said of all the 
 divisions of time, such as day, night, morning, even- 
 ing, twilight, noon, mid-day, mid-night, sunrise, sunset, 
 including all the mysterious, beautiful and grand in 
 universal, prodigal, and exuberant nature, as light, 
 heat, cold, frost, rain, snovv, hail, sleet, tnunder, 
 lightning, sea, hill, dale, wood, stream, &c., which are 
 Saxon. Why need we enumerate all the expressive 
 and terse words of our ancestral language ? Those 
 words which the poet loves to use — which the orator 
 trusts to, for forcible expressions — which the historian 
 lays under tribute with the greatest freedom, and which 
 as the terms of every-day life, are derived from the 
 mother tongue. What words more expressive of the 
 strongest emotions, of the tenderest feeling, or of the 
 more abiding sensations, than those of father, mother, 
 husband, ii'ife, brother, sister, son, dan<jhter, child, home, 
 kindred, friends, love, hope, fear, sorrow, shame, tear, 
 smile, blush, laugh, weep, siyh, tjroan 1 7 he lullaby over 
 our cradle-bed — the first, taint, stutteiing accents, at a 
 mother's knee— the simple and confiding prayers of 
 happy childhood — the volubility of the tongue of 
 boyhood, and girlhood, in the sportive games of the 
 playground — the earnest accents of the alternately- 
 hoping and despairing lover, and the last, sad utterance 
 
THE ANGLO-SAXON IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. I 29 
 
 # 
 
 of the dying, are generally spoken in unsophisticated 
 Anglo-Saxon. Does a writer or a speaker wish to 
 teach lessons of wisdom, or indulge in witty sayings, 
 in sober proverbs, or in pungent irony, invective,satire, 
 liumor, or pleasantry ? Then to be effective he 
 must use the mother tongue in its many torms. Does 
 he wish to pour vials of wrath, in words, upon the 
 heads of his enemies ? He does not cull out classic 
 terms for his purpose, for they are the quintessence 
 of politeness, but he falls back upon the " rough and 
 ready " terms of every day life. 
 
 The vocabulary of abuse is rather voluminous in 
 our tongue, and if we wish to be pointed and un- 
 mistakeably expressive, and impressive, we are 
 generally very idiomatic,and vernacular,in oui expres- 
 sions- Were we to scold in a classic language there 
 would be less quarrelling, fewer duels, a small list on 
 the docket of cases of assault, and foul libel, and many- 
 tongued, and malicious slander, would become almost 
 as mythical,as an ancient oracle. The verbal quarrels 
 of a Greek, or a Roman, were like a gentle breeze, in 
 comparison to a tornado, as regards his language, 
 and ours. Is not our energetic Saxon to blame ? 
 The hoary worthies of other days have left behind 
 literary monuments of ill nature, but their languages 
 are capable of meaning many bitter things, by a sort 
 of insinuation, and sly interpretation, which the stern 
 and outspoken English seems to scorn. What would 
 our political writers, and such as dip their pens in gall, 
 and wormwood, do, without a copious supply of 
 vituperative words, which, like Canada thistles are 
 
 9 
 
130 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 not only indigenous, thrilty, and aggressive, but alsa 
 difficult of extirpation ? How emphatic are such 
 words as sciim'M^y, scum, filth, o^scourhigs, dregs, 
 dirt, mean, loathsome, trash, dc. 
 
 It is to be observed, also, that while classic terms 
 are used in a generic sense, and abstractly, yet special 
 terms, indicating particular objects, qualities, and 
 modes of action, are either Saxon, or derivatives from 
 it ; for example, the movements of the body, such at 
 jump, twist, hop, ship, are Saxon ; but move is Latin, 
 colour is Latin, but the different colours are Saxon. 
 Crime is Latin, but robbery, th^ft, murder, are Saxon. 
 Organ is Greek, and member is Latin ; but all the 
 organs of sense, including our limbs, are Saxon. 
 Atiivial is Latin, but vian, cow, sheep, calf, cat, dog^ 
 &c., are Saxon. Number is both French, and Latin, 
 but the cardinal and ordinal terms, up to one million, 
 are Anglo-Saxon. Scientific terms are now generally 
 either classic, pure and simple, or Anglicized, or form 
 a union with the Saxon, in compound words. This 
 wedding of the past, and present, is often very un. 
 couth. The German language is much more con- 
 servative than ours, and, even in the arts, and 
 sciences, it expresses nearly all technical terms in 
 those words which are " to the manor born." 
 
 The invaders are repelled, and it is a question with 
 us, whethei the foreign lan£;uages, which have added 
 so many words, and made such structural changes, 
 have improved greatly the parent tongue. Philoso- 
 phers, are ofteii hobby-ridden mortals, and dogmati- 
 cally furnish us a nomenclature, that is more pedantic 
 
THE ANGLO-SAXON IN THK ENGLISH LANGUAGE. I3I 
 
 than useful, and which could be as forcibly, and cor- 
 rectly formed from home productions, as from the 
 arbitrary terms of a foreign people. This is an inva- 
 sion, which has not only been successful, but promises 
 to continue its inroads, to the final and complete 
 overthrow of the natives. TJt^ Anglo-Saxon was not 
 only copious in words, in rf.L >n to the wants of 
 those who used it, but poi^sessed in its system of 
 inflections,and terminal syllables, and in the ease with 
 which it formed new compounds, from its then homo- 
 geneous elements, and power of expansion and self- 
 development, but fully equal to all the demands of ad- 
 vanced knowledge, and science, and in losing its 
 inflection and terminations, it has lost, to a great 
 degree, its plastic power ot moulding its elements 
 into new combinations. We must not be understood, 
 as wishing to depreciate altogether, the use of foreign 
 words, for they have their benefits, but we should not 
 be prepared, for the sake of pedantry,or novelty, to in- 
 troduce terms, which arc neither needful, nor useful, 
 and would, i( passing current extirpate English words 
 sufficiently expressive and pointed. The philosophers 
 of this century are running into this extreme. Sir 
 William Hamilton, Cousin and Morell,in metaphysics, 
 Lyell, and Agassiz in geology, and others whose 
 names are well known, seem to ride a hobby, in 
 newly coined words, of classical extraction, so that 
 novices would need a glossary to interpret, not only 
 new terms, but old ones, to which they often attach 
 new meanings in almost every chapter, we are well 
 aware that in science it is oftenjdifficultjo procure a 
 
132 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 Saxon, Norman,or English word,that can always com- 
 municate that fine shade of meaning necessary, especi- 
 ally in the exact sciences, and metaphysics, and often 
 an Anglicized, Latin, or Greek word will meet the 
 case. Take, for example, the words '* induction " 
 and " deduction " " talent " and "genius " " science'* 
 and "art" "human" and "humane" "judg- 
 ment" and " understanding." Then if we take the 
 words " apt" and "fit," although at first glance they 
 seem to have the same significance, yet the former 
 is a Latin derivative, and the latter Saxon. The first 
 has an active sense, and the latter is passive, in its 
 meaning. In Hamlet we have "hands apt, drugs fit,*' 
 and then Wordsworth says — 
 
 " Our hearts more a/>t to sympathize 
 With heaven, our souls more^^ for future glory." 
 
 and " feelings" and " sentiment" are often used as 
 synonymous terms, hut the former is Saxon, and 
 the latter is Norman, or, properly speaking, Latin. 
 Then we are very apt to show our little learning by 
 usin^ pretentious words, when simple ones would 
 suffice. " Man" and "Woman" are expressive, and 
 terse words, " lady" and " gentleman" amhiguous, 
 and "individual" is too generic hy far. " Commence- 
 ment" is now like Grecian bends, and infinitesimal 
 bonnets, very fashionable ; but good, old, staid 
 "beginning" has still a true ring about it. How 
 would it sound to read " In the cofmnmcewmt God 
 created the heavens, and the earth," " In the com^ 
 mencement was the word," &c. " That which was in 
 the commencement, is now, and ever shall be?" Milton 
 
THE ANGLO-SAXON IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 1 33 
 
 does not use ''commencement " in all liis poems, and 
 it is seldom to be found in Sliakspeare. Let these 
 foreigners be welcome to our hearths, but l-.^*^ them 
 not cast out the legitimate members of the family. 
 Let them serve a long apprenticeship, before they 
 are wedded to our loved ones. Hume scolded Gibbon 
 because he wrote in French : " Why do jou com- 
 pose in French, and thus carry faggots to the wood, 
 as Horace says to those Romans who wrote in 
 Greek." The history of literature teaches this fact, 
 that those prose, or poetic writers, who used their 
 native language, and were men of genius, immortal- 
 ized themselves, and their works, while their com- 
 peers, equally intellectual, and gifted, have been for- 
 gotten, because they employed a fashionable and 
 foreign language "that perished in the using." Phi- 
 losophers may ignore, in their nomenclature, the 
 Saxon, and Norman, and simple English, but the 
 dramatist, poet, orator, and literary writer must 
 principally study, digest, and use, that language 
 which lingered on the lips of Chaucer, and dropped 
 in sweetness from his pen, and which was the life 
 blood,in the writings of Spenser, Shakspeare, Milton, 
 and Wordsworth. Is it not strange that so much of 
 the i^nglo-Saxon has been preserved when we con- 
 flider the assaults which have been made upon 
 its integrity? "Look at the English," says Dr. 
 Bosworth in his " Prolegomena ;" " polluted by 
 Danish, and Norman conquests, distorted in its 
 genuine and noble features, by old and recent en- 
 deavours, to mould it after the French fashion, in- 
 
134 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 vaded by a hostile force of Greek, and Latin words, 
 threatened by increasing hosts to overwhelm the 
 indigenous terms. In these long contests against the 
 combined might of so many forcible enen^ies, the 
 language, it is true, has lost some of its power of 
 inversion, in the structure of sentences, the means of 
 denoting the dififerenco of genders, and the nice 
 distinctions by inflection and termination ; almost 
 everyword is attacked by the spasm of the accent, 
 and the drawing of consonants to wrong positions, 
 yet the old English principle is not overpowered. 
 Trampled down by the ignoble feet of strangers, its 
 spring still retains force enough to restore itself ; it 
 lives and plays through all the veins of the language ; 
 it impregnates the innumerable strangers entering 
 is domirious, vv^ith its temper and stains them with 
 is colour ; not unlike the Greek, which, in taking up 
 Oriental words stripped them of their foreign costume 
 and bid them appear as native Greeks." 
 
 However much we may love our native tongue, it 
 'would not be wise for the mere love of it, to adopt and 
 perpetuate those words in it, which have not only lost 
 their primitive meaning, but often have now an ob- 
 jectionable signification. Our modesty, however, 
 does not yet compel us to say " limb" for " leg " " de- 
 composition" for rottenness " " ranger of the forest*' 
 for " bull " *' disagreeable effluvia" for " stench," " per- 
 spiration " for *' sweat " " in a state of inebriety " for 
 "drunk," "obliquity of vision" for cross-eyed" and non 
 compos mentis" for " crazy," but these are words of 
 Anglo-Saxon parentage, which by the inexorable law 
 
THE ANGLO SAXON IN THK ENGLISH LANGUAGE. I35 
 
 of custom, and fashion, are no longer polite in some 
 circles. These to a great extent have been sup 
 planted by the genteel French, or the chaste Latin, 
 and thus lose their so-called grossness, and pointed 
 significance. Medical students have lectures deliver- 
 ed to them,on the most delicate subjects in Anatomy, 
 physiology, and medical jurisprudence, yet, by the 
 use of classical terms, nothing is said or written to 
 shock the most sensitive taste. On the other hand, 
 we have no sympathy with those fastidious and affect- 
 ed individuals, who substitute silly slang phrases, in 
 terminable Latin, French, or Greek words, for honest 
 English, because these may conventionally have a 
 double meaning — the one polite and the other ob- 
 scene, — for the very fact of their avoiding these ex- 
 pressions indicate that they are versed in the meanings 
 which they seem to eschew. Such are apparently as 
 sensitive, as the young lady, who could not bear to 
 have the legs of her piano exposed to vulgar gaze, 
 and consequently had them decently covered with 
 nicely frilled pantalettes. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon has a sufficient number of synony- 
 mous terms to choose from, for pU practical purposes, 
 and classical words, and quotations, require great taste 
 and judgment to introduce them efficiently into our 
 language, and even in such instances, the body can 
 be transferred, but the spirit never. " There are men 
 so perversely constituted in mind, so predestinated 
 to be pedants, and slavish copyfsts, that nothing can 
 cure them. Such men will traverse the whole circle 
 of Greek and Ro nan Literature, and acquire nothing 
 
136 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 thereby but the faculty of spoiling English. Upon 
 such, the ^race and beauty which prevade the remains 
 of classical antiquity are utterly lost ; they must 
 transfer them bodily, and in their actual forms, or not 
 at all. And this, they foolishly think they have done, 
 when they have violently torn away some few tatter 
 of phraseology, — some fragments of the language of 
 their admired models, and grotesquely stuck them on 
 their own pages; totally unconscious that their beauties 
 like that of the flower plucked from its stem, wither 
 at once by the very violence, which tears it from its 
 place, and that there is no moie resemblance between 
 classical compositions, and such imitations, than be- 
 tween the wild hedge-rows, and the ?wxtus siccus of the 
 botanist." 
 
 There is a number of " slang" phrases being con- 
 tinually used by the common people,and which become 
 after a time necessarily incorporated,into ihe vernacu- 
 lar. For example, an orator who has redundancy 
 of language, and is itching for an opportunity to "hold 
 forth" is said, like a full pail carried by an unsteady 
 arm, to be "slopping over:" A newly married couple 
 are like a team " hitched up." A rascal who has- by 
 a species of acting, on his circumscribed stage, de- 
 ceived, and has ai last been unmasked, is said to be 
 "played out." The fellows who fled across the lines 
 ^o us during the American war, after being paid 
 large sums for their services, had applied to them the 
 laconic term "bounty jumpers." See that fellovr 
 puffed out with his own importance, without brains to 
 qualify him for aught, but bedecking his person, if'ith 
 
THE ANGLO SAXON IN THE ENGLISH LAVGUAGa. I37 
 
 gaudy trimmings,and whose swagger, and dignity, and 
 noise are like "a heavy swell" of the sea, is not the 
 term expressive ? Do we value our truthfulness, and 
 do not wish to confirm it by an oath, than we can 
 say it is true " y u may bet." During the American 
 war a term was introduced, as applying to those who 
 fled from their duty. They were said to " skedaddle.'' 
 Did some classic wag Anglicize the Greek verb 
 skedaunumi, skedadzo, I scatter ; put to flight. The 
 poor unfortunate, who staggers home from the tavern, 
 and as he makes zigzag lines, grumbling at the narrow 
 highway, is said to be overdosed with '* Tangleleg." 
 Not only has the Anglo-Saxon been able to hold its 
 own against all intruders, with regard to common 
 words, but the proper names ot that tongue are still 
 retained with slight, and almost, unavoidable changes, 
 in central England, where the Saxons had their strong- 
 est hold. Take, for their example,many of the suffixes 
 to local names, horroio,hrough, bunj/i, bury, fold, worth* 
 ham, toil, park ; all of these terminations suggest to 
 the reader many of the most noted places in England, 
 and south Scotland, and all of which mean an enclos- 
 ure, wall, or hedge. Ton is from the Anglo-Saxon 
 verb tinan, to hedge about, ivorth is from iveorthingy 
 to encircle — Boswortb is an enclosed jmrk. Ton also 
 means a walled town, as Kensingston, the city of 
 the Kensings, and Sandgate, or a sea barrier — a town 
 in Kent — which has opposite to it in France SangiUCy 
 showing a common origin. The Saxon wick is attached 
 to many towns in England, such as Warwick, Norwich^ 
 1?V ickham and Nantwick. Wick means a creek or 
 
138 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 small stream, and sometimes a hamlet. Hursts holt^ 
 <hart, wo/d, and such like refer to a wooded country* 
 So that really from these names, a good insight can be 
 obtained of the physical aspects of Central Britain, 
 during the days of the Saxon Heptarchy,when streams, 
 and woods, and outlets, and bays, and mountains, and 
 promontories were, and wherein they have changed 
 since then. All such words are enduring monuments, 
 erected by our ancestors for practical purposes, and 
 are still extant, almost in forms that were used twelve 
 centuries ago, and which bid fair to be co-equal in 
 time, with the history of the English-speaking race 
 of whatever nationality. The English language has 
 been a wonderful vehicle, of wonderful thought for 
 many cycles of years, and is now in the ascendant, 
 and destined to be the universal language of exalted 
 human thought. To what shall compare it ? It is a 
 telescope which brings nearer to us not only the great 
 central suns, that have shone with undying radiance 
 thoughout the ever-revolving years of history, throw- 
 ing out corruscations, that have even illumined the 
 darkest " nooks and crannies" of the murky ages, 
 and have shed light in unusual and brilliant scin- 
 tillations of poetic glory, snd intellection, upon the 
 advancing wave of civilization, but also those lesser 
 lights, whose glimmering have done much to add to 
 the beauty of the firmamen t of literature, and are 
 ** forever singing as they shine." 
 
 It is a telegraph which has sent the electricity of 
 
 kindred minds, in continually-augmented currents, 
 
 ' down through succeeding generations, ending, but 
 
THE ANGLO-SAXON IN THE ENIXJISH LANCUAGE. 139 
 
 not expiring, in the brilliant blaze of the 19th cen- 
 tury. No7v thundering in its course, like the Alpine 
 tempest, as it pours its vengeance upon glaciers, grey 
 crags, and stunted pines ; then murmuring with the 
 solemn intonation of an ^^^olian harp ; now flash- 
 ing a lurid flame across the darkened and darkening 
 wave of social, political, and martial revolution ; then 
 emitting a solitary «park of power, as if the *' vital 
 flame", were about to expire ; now clicking intelligence 
 along the nerves of " Father Time" ; thm incoherently 
 vibrating mere vitality, throughout the long years of 
 the dark ages. Our literature is, and has been, music, 
 which, in the thrilling strains of inspiration, or tower- 
 ing genius, comes down in mournful cadences, along 
 the majestic corridors of ages, or echoing in triumphant 
 strains, through the vista of myriad years, taking up 
 in gleefulness,the grand oratorios,and sublhne antheips 
 of universal jubilee, filling, from time to time, inter- 
 mittently, the whole earth with the rhythm, and 
 melody, of expressed human freedom, sympathy, and 
 love. Our language, in conjunction with its kindred 
 tongues, has been a heart which has beat unceasingly 
 since the time it was born in the dawn of historic day, 
 and cradled in Grecian liberty ; now throbbing in the 
 ■whirlwind of political changes, and at every stroke of 
 its ne»'vOus and palpitating walls, a vital stream of 
 religious, and civil freedom has poured onwards in 
 resistless eddies ; then beating in universal sym- 
 pathy with the oppressed, and sending forth, in match- 
 less eloquence, its philippics against the despot, and 
 fi blaiik verse, and heroic stanzas, and Runic rhymes, 
 
140 PEIf FHOTOOUAl'HS. 
 
 comedy, irony, satire, and fierce invective, making 
 kings tremble, and "divinely appointed" emperors, 
 shiver in terror, and scttmg by its ceaseless strokes the 
 manacled, and the imprisoned free,who were pavilion- 
 ed in the shadow ol mental and spiritual bondage. 
 
 If it be true that the falling of a dew-drop, as well 
 ai'. the vibrations of an earthquake, and even thought, 
 affect, by the la*v of action and reaction, not only 
 earth, but the universe of substance, and matter, and 
 that from the whisper of a lover, to the roar of the 
 loudest thunder, there is an echo iu nature's vast 
 sounding-gallery, and that all are indelibly stamped 
 upon the mysterious whole, and can be read by glori- 
 fied spirits, and angelic hosts, as histories, and biogra- 
 phies of inanimate nature, how incalculably great 
 must have been the impressions, and the mental modes, 
 and the verbal expressions of tliose giant minds of 
 whom the earth was not worthy, and whose ideas 
 have been preserved in classic lore, leavening the 
 whole lump of human ideality, and carrying those 
 influence8,in ever-widening circles into the spirit land ! 
 It is true, words are only arbitrary symbols of human 
 thought, yet, every good thought has connected with 
 it a sound that carries in its utterance, significance to 
 others, and every evil thought has also a representa- 
 tive word, which, like a plague-spot, tells of corruption 
 within. Language becomes signs, and symptoms, of 
 the progress, or decay, of a nation. In short, experi- 
 ence and history teach, that a nation and its language 
 are a duality, which stand or fall together, and if the 
 language survives the people, and their immediate 
 
THK AN(^.LO-SAXON IN THl". PyCF.ISH LANGUAGE. 141 
 
 descendants, it is only a tiead language. How jealous- 
 ly and zealously should we guard the noble English 
 language, from aught that would pollute it, or tend to 
 destroy its integrity ! If we have a love of country, let 
 us indentify with it a love of our mother tongue, for let 
 us be assured that the complete history of our race,and 
 the entire records of our living literature, will be co- 
 equal and co-extensive. The one may only be able 
 to sing a recpiicm over the other. What does history- 
 say ? Where is glorious Pcrscpolis, and what has be- 
 come of its euphonious and pure Persian ? 
 
 Who can point out the ruins, or the site of regal 
 Troy, and tell us of even the ulialect of the brave 
 F'riam, and his devoted followers ? Where are the 
 languages, or dialects of Carthage and Baalbec? Even 
 
 •'' Babylon, 
 
 Learned and wise, hath perished utterly, 
 
 Nor leaves her Speech one word to aid the sigh 
 
 That would lament her." 
 
 The Sphinx and the Pyramids stand almost as im 
 perishable as the Nile, but what was the language of 
 those who carved the one, and rolled the huge stones 
 of the other together ? Not a vestige remains. 
 
 " Ancient Thebes ; Tyre by the margin of the \yavcs ; 
 Palmyra, central in the desert fell," 
 
 but there cometh no response from their desert 
 habitations. Athens no longer sends forth a flowing 
 stream of pure and euphonius Greek, in her works of 
 philosophic research, and in her poetry, rich as that 
 which " Burning Sappho loved and sung," not only to 
 Asia Minor and the thousand classic isles of the 
 
142 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 Archipelago, but also " fulmin'd over Greece," with 
 her resistless eloquence ;" and even proud Corinth has 
 no memento save that which is on the page of history. 
 The speech of the stately, prosaic,and stoical Roman, 
 is now only known in its literary relics, yet at one 
 time it was the language of Empire, and law, spread 
 by Emperor, Consul, Pro-Consul, and sturdy warriovs, 
 wherever rose the Roman eagle, and wherever w^ved 
 their victorious banner. The lanejuage of the painted 
 savages of Britain, long before the days of heroic 
 Boadicea, is now almost a myth. The stone, iron, 
 and bronze periods of American history, were cycles 
 of prosperity for a mighty race : rising from barbar- 
 ism to civilization, and the splendid monuments — 
 whether the mounds of Ohio, or the wonderful 
 structures of Central America now in ruins — are 
 evidences of intellectual culture, not far behind that 
 of the boasted 19th century ; but where is the language 
 of this race — their books and their written literature ? 
 Is the savage red man their descendant, or is he their 
 victor ? Who can now furl up the dark veil, and 
 give us a glimpse into the past history of this conti- 
 nent ? A Canadian poet has well s ang : 
 
 " On on to the regions lone 
 
 The generations go ; 
 They march along to.the mingled song 
 
 Of hope and joy and woe. 
 
 "On, on to the regions lone. 
 
 For there's no tarrying here, 
 And the hoary past is joined at last 
 
 By all it held so dear." 
 
THK ANGLO-.SAXON IN J'HE KNGI.ISH LANCUAGE. 14J. 
 
 The skeleton of the Mastodon or the Megatheri- 
 um — the foot-prifits of mammoth birds upon the petri- 
 fied sands of tim.i — the fossilized giants of the fen,or of 
 the forest — tlv horrid reptiles in their rocky sepul- 
 chres, and all the remains of the untold, and half- 
 discovered wonders of ages, and epochs, and gener- 
 ations, and floods, and fiery trials, which strike the 
 thoughtful luiman mind with amazement, are dead 
 tongues, and expressive and unutterable languages of 
 what has been, lut will be no more forever. In like 
 manner shall the English language perish ? Shall the 
 rich, expressive, glowing tongue of a Chaucer, Spenser, 
 Pope, Shakespeare, Milton, Scott, Wordsworth, Long- 
 fellow, and Tennyson, become only a sad memorial of 
 the past ? It is a language, which, in its tones, speaks 
 freedom. It knows no bounds, and is circumscribed 
 by no barricades. It follows the footsteps of our 
 restless race throughout the whole of the vast heritage 
 of the Anglo-Saxon, and by incisive power,penetrates 
 among foreign tongues, in the remotest parts of the 
 earth. It echoes in the hills, and valleys, of the 
 Australasian continent, trembling in the torrid breezes 
 of Africa, and India, and in the howling tempests of 
 polar seas — vibrating on the air of the American 
 continent, in every city, througliout every forest, over 
 every prairie, on every lake, in the happy^homes and 
 thoroughfares of forty millions, of our thrice-blessed 
 and happy race. It is shouted from half the islands 
 that beautify the face of every sea, and from half the 
 decks of men-of-war, and merchantmen that float 
 upon the billows. It shakes the Anglo-Saxon banner 
 
144 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 of many hues, and of divers nationalities to the 
 winds of heaven, " from the rising to the setting sun," 
 and beneath its ample folds cluster that sturdy race 
 of Norsemen,who mould public opinion, at home, and 
 abroad, by free sentiment, free speech, free pens, free 
 presses, indomitable energy, unbending will, love of 
 -conquest, and stubborn resistance to civil and religi- 
 ous wrong. 
 
A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SOUL. 
 
 T T TE are to some extent the creatures ot circum- 
 Y Y stance, and are influenced more or less by 
 the objects of perception, because they continually 
 obtrude themsekes upon our senses, and because it 
 requires very little effort of mind to partially under- 
 stand all, that is necessary for our comforts and 
 wants. Yet if one man more than another happens 
 to extend his sphere of knowledge, beyond that of 
 his fellow mortals, he has additional happiness in 
 himself, and it is his duty and privilege, to com- 
 municate his discoveries to others. All mankind 
 has a community of interests. Bonds, and scourg- 
 ings, and imprisonments, might force from the lips of 
 Galileo a retraction of his belief in the Copemi- 
 can system of astronomy, yet, in spite of all oppos- 
 ition, the old man had a mental reservation of the 
 truth which no ignominy could eradicate. Colum- 
 bus would not have deserved our gratitude, it he and 
 his crew had concealed from mortal ken their dis- 
 covery. Harvey, in the midst of much opposition, 
 declared to the world his discovery of the circulation 
 
 10 
 
146 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 •f the blood. Newton had "atheist" hurled spitefully 
 at him, because he enunciated the laws of gravitation. 
 His enemies declared he put laws, in theplace of God. 
 He conquered, and they were confounded. Franklin 
 caught hold of the forked lightning, which flashed 
 athwart the darkened cloud, and said to heaven's 
 artillery " go," and it obeyed his mandate, " come," 
 and it carried his messages from pole to pole. Yet, 
 he told the truth to a wondering world. Simpson re- 
 vealed the glad tidings, in regard to chloroform, and 
 suffering humanity rejoiced. Although there is so 
 much true nobility in scientific men, and so much 
 pleasure, in exploring new fields of investigation, yet 
 *' there is only here and there a traveller." The 
 would-be-fashionable tourist will go in raptures, yawn- 
 ingly — as a matter ot course — over the grandeur of 
 the Falls of Niagara, or the Yosemite. He will des- 
 cant, in a stereotyped way, onthe romantic and stem 
 sublimity of Loch Lomond, the Alps, the Rhine, or 
 the Andes, but there is no vibration of soul in the con- 
 templation. The dandy, who struts the evanescent day 
 in fashionable frivolity — in striking costume — ia 
 baubles, which " elude the grasp and vanish into air," 
 or the young lady whose stretch of thought only com- 
 passes the latest fashions — the newest novelettes — 
 the striking attitude, the latest schottische, or waltz^ 
 are gorgeous butterflies that dazzle in the sunshine, 
 but cower, and disappear, in the fierce storms of life, 
 or in the dark days, which try men's souls. I'he 
 farmer, or mechanic, or merchant, whose aspirations 
 rise no higher than the plough, the work -bench, or 
 
A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SOUL. I47 
 
 the counter, is living in vain, and is only in a small 
 degree exalted above the vegetable, or the beasts of 
 the field, instead of being only "a little lower than 
 the angels, and crowned with glory and honor." In 
 our multifarious studies, and amid the harassing duties 
 of life, comparatively few of us turn our thoughts 
 upon ourselves "fearfully and wonderfully made.' 
 The body, the great workshop of the soul, and the 
 soul, the immortal essence, which gives it vitality, 
 are to many as if they were not. How we long, 
 instinctively, to catch a glimpse of the far beyond ? 
 Won't some indulgent spirit " blab it cut ? " We are 
 fettered by a gross materialism, and are wedded to 
 a clog, which nothing but death will sever from us. 
 We almost envy the position of a gas})ing victim, 
 in the throes of dissolution, whose face is flattened 
 against the window panes, on the outskirts of a 
 future eternity, as he gazes into its labyrnths in 
 wonder, whose hands are toying with the curtains 
 which hide the mystery of mysteries, and whose 
 spirit is pluming its wings, for a flight into the dark 
 unknown. What an enigma in spite of all reason, 
 and all Revelation ! We often ask ourselves puzzl- 
 ing questions, on the great problem of life. Has 
 the soul no knowledge of the external world, except 
 through the senses ? We can hear without the ear. 
 We can see without the eyes. We can taste inde- 
 pendently of the mouth. When these organs of 
 special sense are not used, the capabilities of the 
 eenses are enlarged. The soul takes loftier flights, 
 in these so-called abnormal conditions. There is a 
 
148 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 sense which I have never seen mentioned, but I have 
 often felt its influence. Others assert that they hav6 
 felt the same, when their attention has been directed 
 to it. I shall call it the sensfi oi presence. You are 
 in a room as far as you know alone. No sound 
 breaks the silence. No sense receives the sHghtest 
 impression, and yet you feel the presence of some 
 one. You are not even greatly surprised when a 
 friend, in sport, springs suddenly into your presence, 
 from some hidden nook. What is the medium by 
 which you become cognizant of the fact ? Does the 
 soul ever act independently ot the body, and become 
 cognizant of external things, without the aid of sen- 
 sation ? Is animal lite a distinct thing from the soul, 
 and may be called spirit, and only a medium — a iertt- 
 um quid between soul and body, which keeps sentinel 
 watch in the body,when the soul is indulging in flights 
 of exploration beyond its temporary habitation ? Docs 
 the soul enlarge at times its faculties, and capacities, 
 in spite of materialism ? I have not space to quote 
 remarkable instances in proof of the truth of one 
 of these views, yet, few but must have seen, the won- 
 ders of somnambulism. In sleep, consciousness is 
 inert. Attention is lost. We have sensation, but 
 not reflection. A sleeping man will wink at a candle, 
 placed near his eyelids, and still sleep on. He will 
 throw up his hand to defend his ear from the irritation 
 of a tickling straw, and knows it not. He can be 
 gently jostled in bed, until he rolls in uneasiness, but 
 he may slumber on. He dreams in a half-awakened 
 state,and sees,and hears,in phantasy,the most outrage- 
 
A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SOUL. I49 
 
 ous things, and to him they are a reality, for judgraeut 
 is in chains and imagination is running riot. These 
 ^im vagaries of the brain 
 
 " Ne'er can fold their wandering wings 
 The wild unfathomable things." 
 
 In somnambulism, however, we have attention in 
 vigorous exercise. So intensely is it exercised on 
 one particular object, that it will rouse the will, to 
 accomplish marvels. Here arc the will, attention, 
 memory, and sensation,in full play, and yet conscious- 
 ness dormant. The eyes may be wide open, and 
 light may fall upon the living, and sensitive retina. 
 The image of external objects may be formed on it, 
 but the subject sees not. The ear may still be *• a 
 sounding gallery," and the auditory nerve in tone, 
 and vigour,but he hears not. He may be a gourmand, 
 and an epicure, but even bitter aloes may be placed 
 on his tongue. He will walk on housetops, on the 
 edge of precipices, and fearlessly in places, which 
 would make a waking man tremble. He will sing 
 loudly, songs, and play on instruments, difficult 
 pieces of music far beyond his powers when waking, 
 and neither his own voice, nor the sound of the instru- 
 ment, will rouse him. Why is the person thus 
 affected, not cognizant of surrounding objects? Has. 
 the soul withdrawn from the windows? Is not the 
 spul using the body, independently of the senses ? 
 
 Many persons hold, that the somnambulistic state is 
 controlled by a second intelligence ; that is, that 
 Buch lead double lives. The Archbishop of Bordeaux 
 relates the following, concerning a young priest, which 
 
ISO PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 bears out the idea : He was in the habit of writing 
 sermons, when asleep ; although a card was placed 
 between his eyes and the note book, he continued to 
 write vigorously. Did the history stop here,we should 
 have a well authenticated case of vision without the 
 aid of eyes. But the collateral circumstances show, 
 that his writing was accomplished, not by sight, but by 
 a most accurate representation of the object to be ob- 
 tained, as will be further illustrated in our next case ; 
 for, after he had written a page requiring correction, a 
 piece of blank paper of the exact size was substituted 
 for his own manuscript, rvnd on that he made the cor- 
 rections, in the precise situation which they would have 
 occupied on the original page. A very astonishing 
 part of this is, that, which relates to his writing music 
 in his sleeping state, which it is said he did w^ith per- 
 fect precision. He asked for certain things, and saw 
 and heard such things, but only such as bore directly 
 upon the subject of his thoughts. He detected the 
 deceit, when water was given to him in the place 
 of brandy, which he had asked for. Finally, he knew 
 nothing of all that had transpired when he awoke, 
 but in his next paroxysm he remembered all accurately 
 — and so lived a sort of double life, a phenomenon 
 which we believe to be universal, in all the 'cases ot 
 somnambulism. 
 
 In Catalepsy, or Trance-waking, we have a peculiar 
 state of mind, in which the relations of mind and body- 
 are changed. The person, externally, may appear the 
 same, except that the faculties, and capacities, are in a 
 more exalted state — the former more active, and the 
 
A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SOUL. 151 
 
 latter, more receptive. The subject of it speaks more 
 fluently, sings more sweetly, steps with more elasticity, 
 and has a keener sense of the ludicrous, or pathetic. 
 He may feel naught, but slight spasms of the body, 
 but he loses a consciousness of past existence, in a 
 normal condition. He remembers nothing, but what 
 happens in this peculiar state. When he awakens he 
 remembers nothing of what occurred when he was in 
 this relation, and when he returns to that cataleptic 
 state again, memory only returns to the facts relating 
 to the last condition of trance. In fact there would 
 seem to be two intermittent phases of consciousness, 
 entirely distinct from one another. Some call this 
 **two lives," which is a term scarcely correct. This 
 state is most remarkable, and has been closely in- 
 v:'Stigated for ages by intelligent, and scientific men. 
 The ears may not hear, but the tips of the fingers may. 
 The eyes cannot see, but the back of the head can. 
 The mouth has no taste, but if bitter or sweet ingredi- 
 ents are put on the pit of the stomach, jhe different 
 tastes are at once known, by the patient, although 
 ignorant of their nature before. The perceptive 
 powers are marvellous. Such discern objects, through 
 mountains, walls, houses ; and distance, however far, 
 is no impediment to their visiona Their own bodies 
 are to them transparent as crystal, and so are the 
 bodies of others. They can read the thoughts ot 
 others without a blunder. It matters not whether these 
 are near, or far away. Matter, however dense, is no 
 obstacle. Space, however boundless, has no distance. 
 Time, far in the future, is to them an eternal now. 
 
152 JEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 They have a sort of prescience, and can foretell to sti 
 certainty future events. It would seem as if the 
 body was a telegraph office, and the clerk in charge 
 
 * of it, merely, animal life, and the soul was taking aerial 
 flights, laying its telegraph lines as it went, and, quick 
 as human thought, sending luck to its head-quarters, 
 accounts of its explorations. This is mere hypothesis, 
 which inductive philosophy may yet substantiate. I 
 am aware that Mesmer, Hon. Robert Boyle, and others 
 who flourished at the beginning of this century, held 
 
 - to the opinion that there was a subtle fluid, analogous 
 to electricity, or magnetism, or perhaps a modification 
 of these, or one of them, which, in its manifestations, 
 they called Od force. This they divided into two 
 kinds, negative and positive ; we presume to corres 
 pond with electrical conditions. This force, they 
 held, produced all the manifestations of mesmerism. 
 Those under its influence, in a superabundant degree, 
 were subject to the will of the operator. His will was 
 theirs. His emotions influenced them. His sensa- 
 tions, and theirs, were merged in one. In short, the 
 duality became a unity, by a blending of this subtle 
 power. At the same time, if the patient was more 
 than ordinarily effected, a trance state ensued, and 
 feeling was lost. Cloquet, the justly celebrated French 
 surgeon, has left on record, a case of a woman who 
 had cancer in the breast, and who, by mesmeric in- 
 fluence brought to bear on her, lor several days suc- 
 cessively, fell into a death-like trance, and, had the 
 diseased breast removed, without the least conscious- 
 ness of pain, although the operation lasted twelve 
 
A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SOUL. 153 
 
 t 
 
 minutes. The prejudice in Paris was bo strong against 
 Cloquotjthat he had to discontinue such practices. The 
 stupidity of iii;norance prevailed. Since that time 
 (1829) ^'^^ operations of this subtle force have been 
 manifested in tens of thousands, and have been taken 
 advantage of by ti\e devotees of humbug, to accom- 
 plish sinister purposes, and have consequently been 
 •wilfully despised by men of research, and science, al- 
 though it may yet be the vestibule to an arcana of 
 untold blessings to mankind This Od force seems 
 to be governed by some of the laws which operate in 
 magnetism. Mons. Petetin caused seven persons to 
 form a circle. Two of these held the hands of a cata- 
 leptic person, who could hear nothing, but, by the tips 
 of the lingers. Wiien Dr. Petetin whispered to the 
 fingers of the most remote person, the patient heard 
 the words, and sentences, distinctly. When a stick 
 was made part of the circle, it was the same in results. 
 If a glius rod^ or a xiik iflove intervened, the einn/nunica- 
 tion was destroyed. This mysterious agency is not 
 discommoded by dislanee, for as far as the patient is 
 concerned, it isanui'nilated,and mind is read in all its 
 wonderful phenomena as if it were a book printed in 
 the largest characters. Dr. Mayo, in his work on 
 ''Popular Superstitions," tells of being at Boppard, in 
 Prussia, as an invalid. He wrote to a friend in Paris* 
 This friend put the letter in the hands of Alexis, a 
 trance patient in the city, who knew nothing of Dr* 
 Mayo, and asked him to tell what he knew about him. 
 He told at once Dr. Mayo's age, stature, disposition, 
 and illness. He said he was crippled, and at that 
 
154 'EN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 time ot the day, half-past eleven, a.m., in bed. 
 said that Dr. Mayo was living on the sea-shore. Thig 
 was not correct, but the doctor delighted to go down 
 to the banks of the Rhine, and listen to the surge of 
 waves made by the wheels of passing steamers, as the 
 noise reminded him forcibly of the sea waves beating 
 on the shore. The friend told Alexis this was not 
 true, and the patient, after a few minutes' reflection, 
 corrected himself,and said, "I was wrong, he does not 
 live on the sea-coast, but on the Rhine, twenty leagues 
 from Frankfort." This influence, through some 
 medium, call it what you will, Ciin be exercised at 
 great distances. In other words, two persons can 
 have an influence potently exercised upon one another, 
 although many miles distant. There is a current of 
 something passing between them, so that the thoughts, 
 feelings, or sensations of the weaker party, become 
 temporarily subservient to the stronger. Dr. Foissac, 
 in his able work on " Animal Magnetism," among 
 other cases, gives the following : He was in the habit 
 of mesmerising one Paul Villagrand, in Paris. This 
 subject desired to return to Magnac-javal, Haute 
 Vienne, his native place. This place was about 300 
 miles distant. After he left, the Dr. wrote to the 
 young man'e* father, a letter, saying, " I am magnetis- 
 ing you, on the 2nd of July, at 5^ o'clock, p.m. I 
 will awake you, when you have had a quarter of an 
 hour's sleep." The fiither was directed to give the 
 letter to his son. He, however, neither gave, nor did 
 he inform him of its contents, being somewhat oppos- 
 ed to this — to him — sort of legerdemain. Neverthc- 
 
A PHOTOGRAPH OF TUE SOUL. 155 
 
 less, at ten rainiites before six, Paul being in the 
 midst ot his family, experienced a sensation of heat, 
 and considerable uneasiness. His shirt was wet 
 through, with perspiration. He wished to retire to his 
 room ; but they detained him. In a few minutes he 
 was entranced. In this state, he astonished the per- 
 sons present, by reading, with his eyes shut, several 
 lines of a book taken at hazard from the library, and 
 by telling the hour, and minute, indicated by a watch, 
 the face of which he did not see. 
 
 Dr. Mayo, while residing temporarily at Boppard, in 
 the winter of 1846, sent a lock of hair, of one of hi.s 
 patients, to an American gentleman residing m Paris. 
 The patient was unknown to anyone in the city. He 
 took this lock to a man who was under the influence 
 of Od force. The somnambulist said, that the hair 
 belonged to a person, who had partial palsy of the 
 hips, and legs, and that for another complaint he was 
 in the habit of using a catheter. This statement was 
 strictly true. The volume could be filled with 
 illustrations of this kind. The prescience of such is 
 remarkable. The extended powers of discerning 
 occurrences, at great distances is strangely true. Mr. 
 Williamson, who investigated these things with acu- 
 men, asked one of his patients to tell him about the 
 moon, but the answer was, that as he approached it, 
 the light was too bright to be tolerated. Alexis, men- 
 tioned before, was asked about the condition of the 
 planets. He said they were inhabited, with the ex- 
 ception of those, which are either too near to, or too 
 remote from, the sun. He said that the inhabitants 
 
156 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 of the different planets are very diverse ; that the earth 
 is best off, for that man has double the intelHgence ot 
 the ruling animals, in the other planets. This may be 
 a shrewd guess, but it may be the truth. Of all the 
 inhabitants of this solar system, man may be the high- 
 est intelligence. Analogy, and inductive philosophy 
 do not lay any stumbling-blocks in the way. The 
 forme'- does not veto a possibility, and the latter 
 throws no doubts in the way of inferential probabili- 
 ties. Sir Wm. Hamilton says, in his lectures on 
 Metaphysics and Logic, of Waking Trance, especially 
 of somnambulism, " that it is a phenomenon still 
 more astonishing (tlian dreaming). In this singular 
 state a person performs a series of rational actions, 
 and those frequently of the most difficult and delicate 
 nature, and, what is still more marvellous, with a 
 talent to which he could make no pretensions wh(;n 
 awake. (Ancillon, Esaias Philos. II. 161.) His mem- 
 ory, and reminiscences supply him with recollections 
 of words,and things,which, perhaps, never were at his 
 disposal in the ordinary state — he speaks more fluently 
 a more refined language. And if we are to credit, 
 what the evidence, on which it resti, hardly allows us 
 to disbelieve, he has not only perception of things 
 through other channels than the common organs of 
 sense, but the pphere of his cognition is amplified to 
 an extent far beyond the limits to which sensible per- 
 ception is confined. This subject is one of the most 
 perplexing in the whole compass of philosophy ; for, 
 on the one hand, the phenomena are so remarkable, 
 hat they cannot be believed, and yet, on the other, 
 
A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SOUL. 1 57 
 
 they are of so unambiguous and palpable a character, 
 and the witnesses to their reality are so numerous, so 
 intelligent, and so high above every suspicion of deceit, 
 that it is equally impossible to deny credit to what is 
 attested to such ample and unexceptionable evidence.'* 
 Muller, the distinguished physiologist, strongly dis- 
 believed because he could not understand, and yet, 
 in the " Physiology of the Senses," he says, " that the 
 mental principle, or cause of the mental phenomena, 
 cannot be confined to the brain, but that it exists in a 
 latent state in every part of the organism." That ac- 
 cepts all that is necessary to establish the abnormal 
 (if it can be called such) state of mind, and body, in 
 the state referred to. 
 
 The most remarkable of all these wondrous states, 
 is that of complete insensibility to all external im- 
 pressions, however potent. The windows of the body 
 are darkened. The curtains are drawn down, and 
 the shutters are closed, and inertia of the material 
 tabernacle is the result. The a^o, however, is in full 
 activity, and all the more so, by being partially free 
 from the incubus of mortality. No stimulant can 
 rouse the patient. No electric shock can stir the 
 physical frame. The charge of the fluid may, by its in- 
 fluence on the nerves, produce violent muscular act- 
 ion, enough in the waking moments, to produce acute 
 pain, and even imperil life, but, in this state, the soul 
 defies the subtle aura, A limb may be amputated, 
 an eye extracted, but there is no response of consci- 
 ousness. There is no inhalation, nor exhalation, of air 
 in connection with the lungs. The body, if not dis- 
 
* 
 
 158^ PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 turbed, is motionless as a corpse. The heat of the 
 body falls many degrees. Commonly the muscles are 
 relaxed, as in the recently dead, and occasionally there 
 is rigidity, as of a dead]body. In epidemics, such, 
 are often buried alive, as all physical signs indicate 
 death. Physicians, qualified to judge, say " that this 
 state is mc^e frequently produced by spasmodic, and 
 nervous illness, than by mental causes. It has fol- 
 lowed fever, and has frequently attended parturition.' 
 The patient remembers all his ideal life, and knows 
 that it differs from that of dreaming, in being con- 
 sistent, and in never indulging in the wildest extrava- 
 ganzas. The judgment, and attention are ^'n active 
 exercise, and the imagination,by these balance wheels 
 is kept in reasonable subjection. So real are the im- 
 pressions, subjectively considered, that fanatics, under 
 all circumstances^ believe them to be direct, positive, 
 and admonitory revelations from God. There is intense 
 light within, but the world without is shut off in dark- 
 ness. The soul is so intent upon itself, that it has 
 no opportunity for explorations beyond itself. 
 
 There is a modification of this state. The affect- 
 ed person seems in a profound sleep. The breathing 
 and the heart's action are regular. The temperature 
 of the body is normal, but the pupils ot the eyes are 
 insensible to light, and are distended to their ut- 
 most size, and fixed, in that position, in spite of the 
 most intense stimulation, by means of light. I have 
 seen numbers of such cases, especially hysterical 
 patients. It often follows fever,and would seem as a 
 rest for nature, and as an alternative to death. In- 
 
A PHOROGRAPH OF THE SOUL. 1 59 
 
 tense excitement will cause it. The actings of a 
 tragedy, whether real or histrionic, the mental tension 
 of religious excitement, and the sudden alarms of 
 impending danger, will produce trance coma, all of 
 which arc purely physical impressions, acting upon 
 the brain, and being excited, secondarily, by reflex 
 action of the mind, thus operating, mutually, on the 
 three-fold nature of man — body, mind, and spirit. 
 Rev. George Sanby, in his work on Mesmerism, tells 
 that "George ¥0%, the celebrated father of Quaker- 
 ism, at one period lay in a trance for fourteen days, 
 and the people came to stare, and wonder at him. 
 He had the appearance of a dead man ; but his sleep 
 was full of divine visions of beauty, and glory." There 
 is a story told of Socrates, the philosopher, to the 
 same effect. Being in military service in the expedit- 
 ion to Potidea, he is reported to have stood for twenty 
 four hours, before the camp, rooted to the same spot, 
 and absorbed in deep thought, his arms folded, and 
 his eyes fixed upon one object, as if his soul werfr 
 absent from the body. The newspapers of to-day 
 give us information of such cases every few months, 
 and evidenced by unimpeachable testimony of medi- 
 cal men. Need I say, that in the dark ages, these 
 manifestations were supposed to be demoniacal, and 
 witches, and wizards, were roasted forthwith. The 
 poor unfortunates, themselves, not being able to ex- 
 plain the physical, and pschycological phenomena, 
 thought themselves possessed of devils, and even ac- 
 knowledged to their latest hour that such was the 
 case. In the present day,the other extreme is reached 
 
l6o PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 l3y many otherwise intelligent persons, and all such 
 unusual manifestations, during religious excitement, 
 have been traced directly to divine and spiritual in 
 fluences. The affected believe, that it is such, and 
 often become changed in life, and practice, for the 
 better : but a student of nature sees in it all, a 
 species of waking trance, brought about by intense 
 attention, to fervid eloquence, or, in nervous persons, 
 to fear for themselves, or sympathy for others. 
 
 Rev. Le Roi Sunderland, in Zioti^s Watchman, N. 
 Y., Oct. 2nd, 1842, says : — 
 
 " I have seen persons often * lose their strength,' as 
 it is called, at Camp meetings, and other places of 
 great religions excitement ; and not pious people 
 alone, but those also who were not professors of re- 
 ligion. I saw more than twenty affected in this way, 
 in Ennis, Mass. Two young men, by the name of 
 Crowell, came one day to a prayer meeting. They 
 were quite indifferent. I conversed with them freely 
 but they showed no signs of penitence. From the 
 meeting they went to their shoe shops, to finish some 
 work, before going to the meeting in the evening. On 
 seating themselves, they were both struck perfectly 
 stiff, I was immediately sent for, and found them sit- 
 ting paralysed (that is, they were in a cataleptic, or 
 trance state) on their benches, with their work in 
 their hands, unable to get up, or to move at all. I 
 have seen scores of persons, affected the same way. 
 I have seen persons lie in this state forty-eight hours. 
 At such times they are unable to converse, and are 
 sometimes unconscious of what is passing around 
 
A PHOTOGBAPH OF THE SOUL. l6l 
 
 them. At the same time, they say they are in a 
 "happy state of mind." Others jerk around like a 
 fish out of water, or, as if, they were kept in lively ex- 
 ercise by, impinging pins, cr goaded to activity by the 
 application of hot irons. These seizures happened 
 in Kentucky and Tennessee years ago, in New York 
 at the revivals of 1852, and in Ireland about ten 
 years ago. So spasmodic were the actions of the 
 affected, that in common language they were called 
 the "jerks." The eccentric Loronzo Dow, in his 
 journal, tells, that when he' was preaching at one time 
 in Knoxville, Tennessee, before the governor, and a 
 large audience, these seizures commenced. " I have 
 seen," said he, "all denominations of religion (in- 
 cluding Quakers) exercised by * jerks ' — gentleman 
 and lady, black and white, young and old, without 
 exception. I passed a meetinghouse, where I ob- 
 served the undergrowth had been cut down for camp 
 meetings, and from fifty, toj^a hundred saplings were 
 left for the people, who were jerked to hold by. I ob- 
 served where they had held on, they had kicked up 
 the earth, as a horse stamping flies." The Earl of 
 Shrewsbury, in 1841, saw two rdigieuses in Italy, 
 who lay in a cataleptic state, and were believed by 
 the people to be lying in a sovt of divine beati- 
 tude. Their devotional posture, the clasped hands, 
 the upturned eyes, the wonderful intuitions, and the 
 quietude, were to the ignorant, signs'of heavenly illu- 
 mination. Science tells another story. Others thus 
 afflicted have paroxysms of excitement, and honestly 
 
 believe themselves possessed of evil sph its. An epi- 
 
 II 
 
l62 PEN I'HO'IOGRAPHS. 
 
 demic of this kind swept over large districts of Europe, 
 in the i6th century. It was called the "wolf sick- 
 ness," for those ir.fluenced, thought themselves wolves, 
 and were owned by an invisibh master. Some 
 thought themselves dogs, others fiends incarnate. 
 Some believed their shoulders were adorned with 
 wings, and that on broomsticks, or wooden horses 
 they navigated the air, quickly, as thought, and thus 
 the furore raged for centuries, from Druidessess to 
 witches, and from fanatics to enthusiasts. Even 
 good and conscientious men have been led away 
 by these appearances of " something uncanny," for 
 only in 1743 an associate Presbytery in Scotland 
 was for renewing the fires of persecution, and moved 
 for '*the repeal of the penal statutes against witchcraft, 
 contrary to the express laws of God, and for which a 
 holy God may be provoked, in a way of righteous 
 judgment, to leave those who are already ensnared 
 to be hardened more and more, and to permit Satan 
 to temp. j,nd seduce others to the same wicked and 
 dangerous snare." ("Edinburgh Review," Jan. 1847.) 
 Mesmeric influences were brought about by these, so 
 called witches, by friction, by induced excitement on 
 hysterical women, (wizards were tew), and by narcotics, 
 and thus illusions, and hallucinations were produced, 
 and at last became realities to the consciousness of 
 the victims. Sir Walter Scott, Draper, Carpenter, 
 De Boismont, Langlois, and others, give numerous 
 examples of individuals, who, by a mere act of the 
 will, could conjure in the imagination spectra as real 
 to them as any tangible object, in the external world, 
 
A PIIOROGRAPH OF THE SOUL. 1 63 
 
 did not judgment, and experience, tell them of the 
 nature of the p/ianfasma'a. 
 
 These are some of the phases of the human soul, 
 spirit, and body. I may revert to the subject in a 
 future number. We conjecture much, but we are 
 sure of more. Mystery is enshrouding this field of 
 exploration, but glints of light is being cast athwart 
 the gloom. The soul is giving us evidences of its ca- 
 pabilities, for nobler flights, even when fettered by 
 mortality. What will it do when emancipated from 
 thraldom ! Now, we see as " through a glass, darkly," 
 but the effulgency of eternal day will give to the truly 
 emancipated, the universe for a heritage, and the 
 smiles of our Creator as the benisons, for true no- 
 bility of soul. " It doth not yet appear what we 
 «hall be," but '' there shall be no night there." 
 
UNDER A CALIFORNIA TREE. 
 
 ■ <— 1> I 
 
 IN I851, 1 started for a tramp through one of the 
 most unfrequented parts in California, on an 
 exploring expedition. My kit consisted of a few lbs. 
 of flour, a piece of pork, a short-handled frying-pan, 
 a revolver, a rifle, and a pick, shovel, and hatchet. 
 On all sides, throughout the weary miles, were grey 
 rocks, beautiful water-falls, myriads of flowers, strewn 
 thickly around, as if nature had sown profusely the 
 seeds of the flowers of all colours, and all climes. 
 This was in January, when we have Jack Frost bind- 
 ing everything in Limbo, with his icy hand, j^s the 
 sun set in glory, behind the Pacific range of mountains, 
 I thought it time to look out for a camping place. 
 A cosy nook, beside a purling brook, caught my 
 eye, and my fancy. I gathered a few dry pine branch es» 
 and was about to apply a match to them, when I 
 heard the bark of a dog. This excited my curiosity, 
 and surprise, in that lonely place, and joyful at the 
 prospect of meeting white faces, and findinga comfort- 
 able resting place, I threw down my ignited match, and 
 started for the top of the hill. By the time 1 reached 
 it, the night had become quite dark, and as I looked 
 down into a deep valley, I saw a large Indian camp, 
 In the centre of it was a large fire, round which about 
 
I 
 
 UNDER A CALIFORNIA TREE. 165 
 
 fifly warriors were dancing a war dance. I could 
 iec the faces of those turned towards me, and 
 observed them covered, in strips, witii war paint. They 
 had been for several months previously troublesome 
 to the miners, who had penetrated the furthest into 
 the mountains in search of gold, and many of them 
 were known never to return to their comrades. Here 
 I was, a lone man, peering into the very nest of sav- 
 ages, on the war-path. I feared, that the dogs, which 
 were now barking furiously, might scent an intruder, 
 and thought it would be a sort of discretionary valour 
 to beat a retreat. I crept back to my prospective 
 camp, and shouldered my "traps," making tracks 
 backward as fast as the gullies, precipices, and dark- 
 ness would permit, imagining that every rock might 
 hide a dusky scout, and every bush might cover a 
 sanguinary savage. At last, tired out, and feeling 
 that I had put many miles between me and the red- 
 skins, I threw my pack down, and cutting and eating 
 a piece of raw pork for supper, for I feared to 
 light a fire, I stretched out my weary limbs for a rest, 
 determined not to sleep ; but " the first thing I knew, 
 I did'nt know anything," and fell into the arms of 
 the drowsy god. Sometime in the night, I was awak- 
 ened, by a tugging at my hair. In a moment, I was 
 on my feet, and my situation coming vividly to my 
 recollection, I felt my scalp move on the top of my 
 head, as if it had an intelligent presentment of its fall. 
 With pistol in hand, I examined carefully every rock 
 clump of bushes, and tree in my neighbourhood, 
 ^or the moon was shining brightly at the time, but I 
 
l66 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 found no enemy. Pshaw ! said I, to myself, it is only 
 imagination, and with feelings of satisfaction and 
 half annoyance, I lay down, determined to keep 
 awake until morning, but poor, weak, tired, human 
 nature got the mastery, and I was soon asleep. It 
 might be I slept ten minutes, or one hour, or two 
 hours, for sleep has no hour glass, ere I awoke, and 
 relieved myself from the horrors of a dream, in whick 
 was mingled m one phantasmagoria, Indians, whoops, 
 yells, gory scalps, gleaming tomahawks, blood-shot 
 eyes, and vain efforts to escape a terrible doom, but 
 my ease of mind was of momentary duration, for with 
 my right hand, I grasped a human hand, cold as 
 death, I need not say I clung to it with a death grip, 
 and jumped savagely at my foe, determined to keep 
 one arm from mischief at anv rate. I was in that 
 peculiar state, of part terror, part desperation, and 
 part savageness, which men often feel when conscious 
 of being in a dangerous position, and only partially 
 awakened to a true sense of it. As I stumbled for- 
 ward, I fell down into a crevice about five feet in 
 depth, and lost my hold of the unknown hand. I 
 was sure the enemy was about to spring upon me in 
 my defenceless condition, and in my desperation, I 
 made one bound to the surface, which I no sooner 
 reached than I received a severe blow in the chest, 
 which almost felled me. I, however, sprang for- 
 ward, and was struck again ; I threw my arms in 
 front of me to grapple with my opponent, but felt 
 nought but air, and, strange to say, I was incapable of 
 moving a step in advance. I had never been a believer 
 
UNDER A C.AMFORNIA IK! K. 167 
 
 in ghosts, since the boyish dnys I had heard the 
 wierd stories, from the mouth of a grandfiither, beside 
 the roaring fire of a highland home, but a strange 
 feeling came over me, that, after all, the supernatural 
 visitations might be true,and I was about to be 
 immolated in a lonely spot, at wizard hours, for a life- 
 time of infidehty. In this state, I sat down, exhausted, 
 and " came to myself." In doing so, I solved the 
 enigma, removed my doubts, and allayed my fears, by 
 finding out that in sleeping under a pine tree, which 
 was full of pitch, and surrounded by himps of it, 
 my hair became entangled in it, for the legs of my 
 boots were my pillow, and, when I turned my 
 head, it pulled my locks. Proof: there was an ounce 
 of it sticking in my hain. I found the cold hand again 
 in my lap, for I had rested my head on my arm, 
 in my sleep, and thus stopped the circulation of the 
 blood, and consequently sensation. In my furious 
 exit from the pit, I had struck my breast against a 
 sapling stump, about four feet high, and feeling be- 
 yond it, in my excitement, it barred my advance, and 
 yet I encountered no tangible opposition, as I threw 
 my arms in the air beyond the barricade. I need 
 scarcely say that I patiently waited with open eyes 
 for daylight, giving the Indians a wide berth, and 
 chuckling inteimittently over the night's adventures. 
 Many a " spook" story, originates from terrors un- 
 unexplained, and such imaginary fears, never ration- 
 ally accounted for, and thus a morbid nourishment is 
 provided for young, tender,and susceptible brainhood. 
 
THOMAS CARLYLE, 
 
 CARLYLE is no copyist. He seems to write as if 
 determined to stamp his individuality not only 
 on his ideas, but also on his words. Some of his newly- 
 coined terras .[^are passably euphonious ; but, many 
 of them are as stiff and bristly as the hair on his head, 
 or the bristles on his chin, and as difficult of manipu- 
 lation by any hand but his own. Hence his method 
 is'called " Carlylese." I do not think that this style 
 is his hobby, and that he prides himself in being odd 
 in it, but its uniqueness had been forced by torrents 
 of ideas crowding upon him for utterance, or expres- 
 sion, and finding no words to express fine shades 
 of meaning he invented of necessity, a vocabulary 
 of his own. His intimate knowledge of foreign 
 literature, especially German, gave' him a facility in 
 this respect, not often seen in English authors, and 
 when paucity of words threatened to check the on- 
 ward flow ot ih.Q facile pen, his ingenuity came to the 
 rescue, in some barbarism, which his paternity has 
 stamped with transitory acceptation. Sir William 
 Hamilton, Kant, or Cartes, and such like metaphysic- 
 ians, had to resort to a nomenclature of their own, 
 but their studies required words to express the finest 
 shades of thought, and to prevent their followers 
 
THOMAS CARLYLE. 1 69 
 
 Irom pursuing a will o' the wisp, in fierce logomachy, 
 they provided this antidote, m reducing to strict 
 forraulai of thought, systems in which certain words 
 had definite and unchangeable significance. Carlyle 
 had this dogma of the schools partly in view, but, 
 often in perfect abandon, he sported with phrases of 
 his own creation, in playfulness, and wilfulness, and 
 threw them off from the mental reel, as threads of 
 discourse, most easy to spin. Pa'?.doxes do not stag- 
 ger him any more than his style, and notwithstanding 
 these, he has rviceivcd an amount of approbation which 
 no other man of to-day would command, let his senti- 
 iT.ents be ever so high. His defiant tone, his kick- 
 over, without ** by your leave " all conventionalities 
 in styles, — his vigorous thrusts at " castles in the air " 
 of moralists, philosophers, historians, and essayists, — 
 his unsparing dissection of all humbug, — and his 
 mixture of queer theories, startling truths, and mental 
 oddities, command attention, from friends, onslaughts 
 from enemies, and consequently gave followers, who 
 swear by him, and who defend him with a vigour 
 and heat, not at all commensurate with the struggle, 
 nor necessary to the issue at stake. He *' pitches 
 into " Luther, Knox, and Cromwell, as vigorously and 
 unsparingly as he would into Pio Nono, or Henry 
 VIII. or ''Napoleon the Less." Systems of religion, 
 as such, he has no veneration for, and his love of 
 the antique is summed up, in its usefulness to conduce 
 to historical knowledge, or to contibute a factor in the 
 aesthetic cultivation of man. " Truth " he puts into 
 his crucible, and if it contains " earnestness '' — ail is 
 
170 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 well. Moral superiority only requires in its composi- 
 tion "sincerity " to pass the coin as genuine. Sincerity 
 is the soul of ethics. Zeal is his greatest test for 
 work. " The gospel of labour " and " the sacredness 
 of work," are to him phases of religion. The man, 
 who in propei time and place, is industrious, is so far 
 religious. This view has been called " ravings of a 
 self-deluded prophet." I am not sure of that, for 
 amotion or sensation is not religion, neither is it 
 mere sentiment, for if so, Robespierre, the monster, 
 was u good man, because he could applaud the trage- 
 dies of CorneiDc, and be melted by the pathos and 
 eloquence of Racine, and so cooly, and with a vamp- 
 irish zest cause the guillotine to clank ominously over 
 human heads, and decapitated bodies, and make the 
 gutters of Paris run to overflowing with human blood. 
 There was no active principle of good in his heart. 
 Intelligence alone is not the shortest highway to 
 heaven. Physical suffering, or effort, is not a passport 
 to the skies. The unity of man in its highest de- 
 velopment, morally, and in all its fractions, towards a 
 vicarious sacrifice, is the keystone ot the bridge 
 which spans the fearful abyss, between God and 
 man — the foundation stone 01 the temple "beautiful 
 on the mountains," as far as divinely supported man 
 is concerned. Work then, is one of man's duties, 
 as much as singing nallelujahs. " Diligent in 
 business" is, in a certain sense, worship, and not pro- 
 • 'ding for the household, is not only a denial of 
 e faith, but is worse than infidelity. In other words 
 there is no such individual as a lazy christian, pray, 
 
THOMAS CARLVLE. 17I 
 
 sing, and worship he ever so much. Carlyle, how- 
 ever, gave work too much prominence, when he said 
 in his inaugural, on being installed Lord Rector of 
 the University of Edinburgh, "work is the grand 
 cure of all maladies, and miseries, that ever beset 
 mankind." He is doubtless erratic in his view« 
 in ethics, but always practically right, so that I am 
 not inclined to quarrel with him theoretically. His 
 advice to students, he has carried out himself. 
 '* Pursue your studies in the way your conscience 
 calls honest. Count a thing known only when it is 
 stamped on your mind, so that you may survey it on 
 all sides with inte'ligence. Morality as regards study 
 is, as in all other things, the primary consideration, 
 and overrides all others. A dishonest man cannot do 
 anything real : and it would be greatly better, if he 
 were tied up fi'om doing any such thing." lie gives 
 a severe fling at the tendency of the English, and 
 American, an( let me add Canadian, ** going all 
 away into wind and tongi'e." He tried oratory on 
 several occasions. In 1837 he gave a course of lec- 
 tures on German literature in Willis' Rooms, Lon- 
 don. His audiences were not large, as the subject 
 was not then as inviting as nov;^, since the Germanic 
 Empire has strode into the first rank of nations. He 
 followed those, by a course of lectures in the Maryle- 
 bone Institution " on the history of European litera- 
 ture," and promised well as a speaker. In 1859 he 
 gave a course of lectures on the •* Revolutions of 
 Modern Europe," a subject with which lie was con- 
 versant. On the following year he delivered several 
 
172 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 lectures on '' Hero Worship." They had a pungency 
 about them, not distasteful, and an irony and sarcasm, 
 which were not the best certificat ;s, to the world of 
 poor humanity, although in them the scalpel was 
 applied with an unsparing hand, to the body politic ; 
 they were well received, and he was urged by some 
 of the best societies, and institutions of Britain to 
 repeat them, but, he seemed, suddenly, to become 
 disgusted with this method of reaching the public 
 mind, and made his final exit from the public stage. 
 He plunged con amore into literature. He was a per- 
 fect book gourmand from his earliest years. I am 
 not sure, but occasionally, he felt all the horrors of 
 mental dyspepsia from engorgement. He says in his 
 address to students " you cannot, it you are going to 
 do any decisive intellectual operation — if you are 
 going to write a book — at least I never could — 
 without getting decidedly made ill by it, and really 
 you must if it is your business — and you must follow 
 out what you are at — and it sometimes is at the ex- 
 pense of your health." The meaning of the sentence 
 is plain, but its construction is CarJylian, In order 
 that he might follow his literary employment with as 
 little interruption as possible, he retired, for a time, 
 to Craigenputtoch, a place fifteen miles north-west of 
 Dumfries, among " granite hills and black morasses," 
 In the preface to his translation of Goethe's " Lif.e 
 of Schiller," he naively tells about this retreat " In this 
 .wilderness of heath and rock," he says, " our estate 
 stands forth, a green oasis, a tract of ploughed, partly 
 • enclosed and planted ground, where corn ripens, 
 
THOMAS CARLYLE. I 73 
 
 and trees afford a shade, although surrounded by sea- 
 mews and rough-woolled sheep. Here, with no 
 small effort, have we built and furnished a neat sub- 
 stantial dwelling; here, in the absence of a professional 
 or other office, we live to cultivate literature according 
 to our strength, and in our own peculiar way. We 
 wish a joyful growth to the roses and flowers of our 
 garden ; we hope for health and peaceful thoughts to 
 further our aims. The roses, indeed, are still in part 
 to be planted, but they blossom already in anticipation. 
 Two ponies which carry us everywhere, and in the 
 mountain air, are the best medicines for weak nerves. 
 This daily exercise, to which I am much devoted, is 
 my only recreation, for this nook of ours is the 
 loveliest in Britain— six miles removed from any one^^ 
 likely to visit me. Here Rousseau would have been 
 as happy as on his island of Saint Pierre. My town 
 friends, indeed, ascribe my journey here to a similar 
 disposition, and forbode me no good results. But I 
 came here solely with the design to simplify my way 
 of life, and to secure the independence through which 
 I could be enabled to remain true to myself This bit 
 of ground is our own ; here wo can live, write, and 
 think, as best pleases us, even though Zoilus himself 
 were to be crowned monarch of literature. Nor is 
 the solitude of such great importance, for a stage- 
 coach takes us speedily to Edinburgh, which we look 
 upon as our Biitish Weimar.. And have I not, too, 
 at this moment, piled upon the table of my little 
 library a whole cart-load of French, German, Ameri- 
 can and English Journals and periodicals, w hatever 
 
174 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 may be their worth? Of antiquarian studies, too, 
 there is no lack. From some of our heights I can 
 descry, ^bout a day's journey to the West, the hill 
 where Agricola, and his Romans left a camp behind 
 them. At the foot of it, I was born, and there both 
 father and mother still live to love me. And so 
 one must let time work. But whither am I wan- 
 dering ? Let me confess to you, I am uncertain about 
 my future literary activity, and would gladly learn 
 your opinion respecting it ; at least, write to me 
 again, and speedily, that I may ever feel myself united 
 to you." Many years have passed away since such 
 warm outgushings were poured out : and Carlyle has 
 more than realized his fondest hopes in regard to 
 literature, and stands i)re-cminently uniqne in terse, 
 vigorous, and quaint writing. He wrote the above to 
 his German friend, and co-labourer before the era of 
 railroads, and before his geniub became victorious; 
 but *• coming events were casting their shadows be- 
 fore." Like De Quincey, he never "cribbed and 
 cabined " his ideas by scarcity of words. If the 
 orthodox word did not trot out at the point of his pen, 
 he coined one and stamped it as current gold. Such 
 showed his idiosyncracies, and inventive faculty. All 
 is instinct with life, breathed into the nostrils of his 
 creation, by a master-spirit. In his life of Frederick 
 the Great, we might quote from every page to prove 
 this. Take, for example, such a sentence as this 
 of the great Emperor at the battle of Leuthen : — 
 " Indeed, there is in him, in those grim days, a tone 
 as of trust in the Eternal, as of real religious piety 
 
THOMAS CARLYLK. I 75 
 
 and faith, scarcely noticeable elsewhere in his his- 
 tory. His religion, and he had, in withered forms, 
 a good deal of it, if we look well, being almost al- 
 ways in a strictly voiceless state -nay, ultra voiceless 
 or voiced the wrong way, as is too well known." At 
 the beige of Al.T.utz, a convoy train of Prussians is 
 attacked by Austrians in a rocky defile, and ''among 
 the tragic wrecks of this convoy there is one that 
 still goes to our heart. A longish almost straight row 
 of Prussian recruits stretched among the slain : what 
 are these ? These were seven hundred recruits coming 
 up from their cantons to the wars. See how they 
 have fought to the death, poor lads, and have honor- 
 ably, on the sudden, got manumitted from the toils 
 of life. Sjven hundred ot them stood to arms this 
 morning ; some sixty-five will get back to Troppau. 
 That is the invoice account. There they may lie, 
 with their blonde young cheeks, beautiful in death." 
 At the battle ot Zorndoft" both Russians and Prussians 
 had exhausted their ammunition, and " then began a 
 tug of deadly massacring and wrestling, man to man, 
 with bayonets, with butts of muskets, with hands, even 
 with teeth, such as was never seen before. The 
 shore of Wertzel is thick with men and horses who 
 have tried to cross, and lie swallowed in the ooze." 
 Frederick laid siege to Dresden all winter, and here is 
 a picture in a few words : — " It was one of the 
 grimmest camps in nature ; the canvas roofs mere ice- 
 plates, the tents mere banctuaries of frost. Never 
 did poor young Archenholtz see such industry in 
 dragging wood-fuel, such boiliag of biscuits in bro- 
 
176 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 ken ice, such crowding round the embers to roast one 
 
 side of you while the other was freezing." Here is a 
 
 character of Frederick the Great in a few sentences, 
 
 in speaking ol his letters written to Voltaire, and 
 
 others of his friends : — " The symptoms we decipher 
 
 in these letters, and olherwise, are those of a man 
 
 drenched in misery ; but, used to his black element, 
 
 unaffectedly defiant of it, or not at the pains to defy 
 
 it ; occupied only to do his very utmost in it, with or 
 
 without success, till the end come." A sudden assault 
 
 is made on the Austrians at Siptitz, and here are hor. 
 
 rors photographed: — "It was a thing surpassed only 
 
 by Dooms-day ; dangerous rage of noise risen to the 
 
 infinite ; the boughs of the trees raining down upon 
 
 you with horrid crash ; the forest, with its echoes, 
 
 bellowing far and near, and reverberating in universal 
 
 death-peal, — comparable to the trump of dooni." At 
 
 this time three historic women were supposed — and 
 
 rightly, too — to hold in their hands the destinies of 
 
 Europe. The one was Maria Theresa of Austria, 
 
 whom Frederick was robbing of her possessions ; the 
 
 second was the Duchess of Pompadour, the mistress 
 
 of Louis XV., of France, who hated Frederick with a 
 
 perfect hatred, on account of a former insult, and was 
 
 thus an implacable enemy : the third was Catherine II. 
 
 of Russia, a sort of syren fiend, who lured to destroy, 
 
 and, like her namesake, Catherine de Medicis, had no 
 
 conscience, whom Carlyle calls in sarcasm "a s/ie-Lou'is 
 
 XIV.," and which was decidedly complimentary to 
 
 Aer. These three women, Carlyle thinks, were the 
 
 prime movers in those wars, and kept Europe in 
 
THOMAS CARLYLt:. , 177 
 
 turmoil — in fact, in a perfect maelstrom of agitation 
 and blood." Numbers of such quotations might be 
 given; but inall, /xru/mr//)', idiocyncrasy stand forth 
 prominently. He gathers stores of words of the 
 most suggestive kind, and throws them together 
 with a prodigality which would have excited, to envy, 
 amiable and kind Dr. Johnson. At the same tune, 
 there is perfect method in this torrent of verbiage, 
 which shows systematic writing, and his extensive 
 erudition. " No pent up Utica contracts his powers," 
 and no orthodoxy of style cramps his energies. In 
 this latitude of thouglTt does he show himself a true 
 son of genius. No creeds terrify him; no threatened 
 ostracism, from pseudo-critics, appal him; no shib> 
 boleth can attach him to party in church or state. 
 
 As a lover of literature he ranges its wide domains, 
 and seeks sweet council in its sequestered nooks, 
 as well as on the altitude of its hiujhest mountains, 
 hymning in rude,but sterling stanzas, songs of nature, 
 not circumscribed by the garden-plot of a bigt>ted 
 sectary, nor hedged in, by almost omnipotent public 
 opinion. He fdls, to some extent, Pascal's idea: "You 
 tell me that such a person is a good mathematician, 
 but I have nothing to do with mathematics ; you 
 assert of another that he understands the art of 
 •war, but I have no wish to make war u[)on any- 
 body. The world is full of wants, and loves only 
 those who can satisfy them. It is false praise to 
 say of anyone that he is skilled in poetry, and a bad 
 flign when he is consulted solely about verses." 
 Carlyle was teo ardent a believer in the potency of 
 
 12 
 
178 PEK PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 books. They were to him, par cxceUence, the 
 principal vehicle for human thought, to pernieate,and 
 influence, and mould the masses. All other motive 
 powers were subordinate, and secondary. Hence 
 his statement that "the writer of a book is he not a 
 preacher, preacliing not in this parish, or that, but 
 to all men, at all times and places ? He that can 
 write a true book, to j)ersuade England, is not he 
 the bisho]) and archbishop, the priniate of England, 
 and of all England ? I many a time say, the writers 
 of newspapers, pamphlets, poems, books — these are 
 the real working, effective church of a modern 
 country." Such utterances drew down on his head 
 severe animadversions, and were styled rank hetero- 
 doxy. Are they true ? Let the moralist or the 
 christian say, (if he thinks the matter over,) which 
 would be txie worst alternative for Christendom, to 
 have all literature •' wiped out," and to trust only 
 to 7>iva voce instruction, or to kee|> the mighty 
 presses only, going on *' true books," pamphlets and 
 tracts, and Hood the world with them ? Let some 
 country debatin<:^ school decide the question. Both 
 are mighty to influence public opinion, and both 
 will exist in all civilized countries — co-workers in a 
 mighty struggle of riglit ngainst wrong. Yet, has 
 not the immortal work of the mighty dreamer done 
 more cumulative good, and will do so to latest gene- 
 rations, than all his preaching ? The congregations of 
 such, as he, augment, as ages roll on, through magic 
 words, and through the witchery of the potent story. 
 It keeps, and shall keep, young and old, rich and 
 
THOMAS CARLVI.F.. I 79 
 
 poor, wiso and ignorant, spell-boiuul by tlio simple 
 atul bewitchiiiu; portraiture ot Christian, anil liis 
 famil}'. ('arlylo was not far wroni^, after all, in 
 saying " tho i)rio.stliood of the writers of such books 
 is above otiier priest-hoods," it' inlluonco for good 
 is any test of Divine approval. Ho throws no dis- 
 credit upon the sacred ministry, in its hi<;li vocation, 
 nor inider-estimatus its work, and jjowcr ; but its in- 
 llucnco i;j augmented a thousand-fold, by the riixht 
 arm of literature. The orator has slain his thous- 
 ands, but tho author !us tens ot" thousands. The 
 orator strikes tlic i)opular heart, but once in a while, 
 and, with ebbing pulsations, the intluence soon die; ; 
 but tlie vmter, in his published eflorts, returns to 
 the assault, and if genius and mental power com- 
 mand tho mighty i^halan?:, ho moulds ami subdues 
 by reiteration. Carlyie believed this, and aUhough 
 his ])arents were anxious for him to study for the 
 chm-ch (;ind wliat numbers of Scottish parents do 
 feel the samo way in regard to their sons ?) yet, 
 theological tomes, catechisms, creeds, ^Ecumenical 
 councils, and hermeneutics had no cliarms, as such, 
 for him. General literature delighted him ; and to 
 satisfy his insatiate greed, he eagerly studied tho 
 ancient classics, and several of the modern languages, 
 especially the German. It is g^-nei-ally believed 
 that Herr Teufelsdrockh, the character in his '• Sar- 
 tor Eesartus," had his own experiences, only in 
 romance, and that the honest Dutchman is Carlyie 
 sub rosa ; and in his college days he tells — " by in- 
 stinct and happy accident, I took less to rioting^ 
 
l8o I'F.X I'lfOrOGRAPHS. 
 
 tlinn thiiikinjr, and ro-idiDp:, wlii(ili latter also I was 
 free to do. Nay, from tlio clm.os of ili;it library 
 (Etlinburijli), I Kiurcociled in fishing uj) more books 
 than had Vieen knov.n to tlio very kooperK thereof. 
 The foundation of a literary life was hereby laid. I 
 loaned, on my own ntrengtli, to read fluently in al- 
 most all cultivated hiiuruaL^cs, on ahno.st all subiVcts 
 find sciences." Such being the case, he kne\v that 
 his dibcursive tastes in roadin;^ would make him 
 an indifTerent divinity student, and with honest 
 intent he followed the bias of his mind, and entered 
 the more congenial walks of liti-rature. His ''Life 
 of Schiller " was very popular in Germany, and not 
 only received the hii):]iest encomiums from Goethe, 
 but Avaa translated by liim, and in his preface lie 
 did the author full justice. " It is pleasant to see," 
 said Goethe to a friend, " that the Scotcli are giv- 
 ing up their early pedantry, and are now more in 
 earnest and more profound. In Carlyle, I vene- 
 rate most of .'ill the spirit, and character, wiiich lie 
 at the foundations of his tendencies. He looks to the 
 culture of bis ov,-n nation, and, in the literary pro- 
 duction of other countries, which he wished to 
 make known to his eoutemporaries, pays less at 
 tentiou to art, and genius, than to the moral eleva- 
 tions, which can bo attained through such works. 
 Yes, the temper in which he works is always ad- 
 mirable. What an earnest man he is, and how he 
 studied our German ! He is alraont more at home in 
 cur literature than wo ourselves are." Both the 
 Tvorks referred to, had at first to go a-begging for 
 
THOMAS CARIALK. t8i 
 
 publislicrs, and " Sartor IJosartiiB " was at last jmb- 
 lislicd in *' Frasur's }il vgazinc " in 18;M, by instal- 
 ments ; and so obtue;o was tbo British j)ul)lic at 
 this time, that it ivU dead — so to «poak — upon the 
 market, II was not approciated ; but our iiniericau 
 cousins saw its merits, and printed it in book-form. 
 It immediately took its j)!acc v/ith the permanent 
 literature of the dav. Tiiree vears il'ter this he 
 ])ublisliL>d " TIio French Eovolution," and append- 
 ed to the title his real name. This book had a moder- 
 ate sale. Ho then sent out rapidly books, and 
 pampldetB, on social questions, such as his *' Shoot- 
 ing Niagara," " Past and Present," " Laterday 
 Pamphlets." These commanded a great amount 
 of notice. They arc pointed, racy, sharp, and some- 
 times savage. They show no pity to shams, hum- 
 bugs, and impostures. lie probes to the bottom 
 all ''guano-mountains of cant and rubbish," and 
 shows no mercy to the hypocrite, be he pseudo-samt, 
 reformer-crier, or citizen-parasite. In 1819 he pub- 
 lished *' OUver Cromwell's letters and speeches, with 
 elucidations." This sti'ucl: a key in the English 
 heart ; and although the author was born north of 
 the Tweed, he sprang into more thin passing notice, 
 south of it, and was stamped, as a somebody, 
 above mediocrity, by his countrymen, long after 
 foreigners knew and appreciated the canny Scot. 
 Other works of a minor nature he wrote, but his 
 crowning labour is doubtless "The History of Frede- 
 rick the Groat." He trod ground, every foot of which 
 he knew. The Teutons were national models ; and 
 
l82 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 it must be acknowledgecl in the light of the events 
 of 1870, that they have striking and distinctive ch.ir- 
 acteristics. It Heems to me that the great blemish 
 of this liistory is, his "hero-worship" of Frede- 
 rick. Historians are not romancers ; and if the 
 truth must be told, the warrior Fritz was devoid 
 of moral principle. He was treacherous to the last 
 degree. Diplomacy, in his eyes, had no ethics, and 
 had no virtues, except iu success. His creed was 
 that of the father to the son, — '* Get potatoes 
 honestly, if you can ; but if not, at any cost ^jei 
 potatoes ! " Sucli men as Abbot make dcnii-gods of 
 such as I7apoleon, or Headly will make a ripe saint 
 of Cromwell ; but we expect such abortions from 
 "small fry." Cavlyle could not possibly ; in his re- 
 searches, find auiijht but love of conquest, military 
 jjjlory, and the restlessness of a perturbed spirit, 
 ill at e!ise with itself, the mainsi)rings of action in a 
 man whose indomitable energy covered a multitude 
 of sins. Carlyle's history shows that portraiture, and 
 should make Fritz )<o/ahero, but only aconqueror,by 
 chance, by energy, by cunning, and by deceit. This 
 history shows, however, wonderful research, and is 
 written in a trenchanr, quaint, and epigrammatic 
 style. 
 
 It seems so difficult for historians to avoid a 
 bias for some one or more of the characters, about 
 whom they write. They seem to forget, that thoy sit 
 as judges on the past, maintain a strict neutrality, 
 sifting all evidence, and pronouncini^ sentence ac- 
 cording to the evidence, be it, for the weal or woe 
 
THOMAS CARLYLE. 1 83 
 
 of frieuils or foes. Even genial Sir Walter Scott in 
 histories, and romances founded thereon, must show 
 his political proclivities, and, indeed, they crop out 
 on every page. Frederick may liave been a groat 
 military general, but, many of his most important 
 battles were won, according to his own account, by 
 the blundeiing of the enemy. He tried to rob 
 poor Maria Theresa of her possessions, and while 
 in close alliance witli France, (two robbers eager 
 for the spoils,) coquetted, unknown, to ally, with 
 Austria, against his best friend, and thus was always 
 found " faithless and faithful," for his troops en- 
 dured toils, and fatigues untold, and performed 
 prodigies of valour, to the very last, and asked no 
 questions, as to the reason why. Carlyle's history, 
 however, in spite of its faults, is unique. It has 
 marvellous force, originality, and untrammelled 
 " thought, and such works of his have found, in style, 
 manv copyists, as the classic purity of the writings of 
 Steele, Addison, Johnson, or Blair, fiu'nished for 
 many long years, the models of successive scribes. 
 Carlyle has doubtless passed by his best days for lui 
 is now (Dec. -1th, 1871,) in his seventy-sixth birth- 
 day, and,for the last few years, he has seldom appear- 
 ed in public, or in print. His remarkable inaugural 
 address, at Edinburgh, will probably be his last, 
 and as far as I know, his letter last year on German 
 matters, has closed his career as a writer on politics. 
 He is, however, " a worthy Scot " of whom his 
 country may be proud, and who has entered the 
 lists successfully, in an age, remarkable for powerful 
 
184 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 pens, and in a country where giants in intellect 
 have to be, to snccced, not simply chiefs, but chief- 
 est among the sons of Anal:. I regret that I have 
 never cast my eyes on Carlyle, so as to be able to 
 give of Inm a personal notice, but if his picture does 
 not belie him, he is small of stature, wiry in body, 
 with a good deal of the nervous in his constitution. 
 His nostrils arc well dilated as if he smelled battle 
 from al'tir. He has bushy eye-brows, and large 
 eyes, apparently grey, and keenly observant. His 
 face knows no razor, and his hair points " a' the 
 airts the wind can blaw," — beard and locks being as 
 bristly as a Scotch thistle. There is nothing re- 
 markable in his physique, except, that at a glance he 
 shows endurance, and at first his countenance would 
 appear as that of a " dour " man, but it is only an 
 appearance, for he ])ossesses a great fund of humour, 
 and is kindly wilhal, but has the reserve of his 
 countrymen, with strangers, that is, a sort of 
 " canniness." The followino-, going the rounds of 
 the jiapers is characteristic, whether true, or not : 
 
 A fresh and good thing of Carlyle's.— Travelling north 
 durinsj the past summer i i a cart, comfortably with aristo- 
 cratic travelling company, the conversation turned upon 
 Darwin and his theory. The ladies argued the "pros" and 
 "cons" in a womanly manner, looking to Mr. Carlyle 
 for approval. He gave every " fairc ladye" the same 
 kindly nod and smile, no doubt remembering Josh. 
 Billing's saying, " Wooman's inflooence is powerful — 
 espechila when she wants enny thing." One cf the party^ 
 after she had given out, said : " What ao you think, 
 Mr. Carlyle .''" His cool reply was, '* Ladies yoi: have 
 left nothing to be said." Oh, yes ; but what is your 
 opinion .-* You have not given us that." Carlyle was 
 
THOMAS CARLYLE. I 85 
 
 too far north to be sold. His witty reply v.r.s, '* For- 
 myself I am disposed to take the words of the h'ialmist, 
 * Man was made a little lower than the angels."' 
 
 So is the letter to Thomas Hughes, M.P., on beiug 
 requested to contribute a copy of his works to a 
 library, forming in Chicago since the fire : 
 
 No. 5 Chkvknk Row, Chehea, 
 
 Nov. 12, 1071, 
 
 Dear Huc.kes :-— 
 
 Forgive me that I have not sooner answered your 
 friendly, cheery, and altogether pleasant iiitlc note. I 
 suppose Burgess would have told you my object ioiis to 
 the project ; that it seemed to me superilucjus, not 
 practicably by the methods he proposed (for the gifts of 
 all the books of living authors will go for very lUi le in 
 such an enterprise) and, third and worst, that it wore on 
 the face of it a visible pick-thank kind of character- a 
 thing gi'eatly to be avoided, both in Chicago and h.cre ! 
 
 These objections do not vanish on reflection, but on 
 the contrary gather weight. Nevertheless, if you and the 
 literary world feel nothins^of the like and the project does 
 take tire and go on, it continues certain that my poor 
 contribution of a copy of my books shall not by any 
 means be wanting. 
 
 Believe me alway, yours, with many regards 
 
 T. CAKLYLE. 
 
WHA 7 WAS IT? 
 
 IT was a terrible night of storm, that 17th of 
 November, 1857, as I was toasting my toes, be- 
 fore a peat fire in the parish of Cabrach, Scotland. 
 The Deveron was pouring down dark floods of 
 seething waters from tlie mountains. The wind rattled 
 at the windows as if it v/ould be in, and sang as it 
 eddied round the corners, and down the wide "lum," 
 a dirge over the departed glories of summer. A 
 ''dour" night had settled down on the hills, and there 
 seemed a sullen determination, in the storm, to hold 
 — for one night at least — high revelry. Peal after 
 peal of thunder ever and anon reverberated down the 
 valley, and over the mountains, with an intensity of 
 sound, I had not heard excelled,except on the Andes, 
 in Central America. 
 
 McPhail, an oVl man of seventy years sat on the 
 •other side of the ''ingle," awe struck and pale. As 
 the tempest moderated, he said: "This fearful storm 
 reminds me of the night of 'Black McPherson,' in 
 1812." 
 
 I urged him to give me the particulars to which he 
 referred, and they were as (ollows : — 
 
 "During the latter part of the Napoleonic wars, 
 men were scarce for soldiers in Britain. The Ameri- 
 
WHAT WAS IT? 187 
 
 can war of 1S12, and the wars rnging on the Continent 
 of Europe, in which Britain was embroiled, drained 
 the surplus male population of the British Isles. 
 The press-gang was brought into rtHjuisition. Those 
 who were not found with some implement of industry 
 in their hands, belonging to their masters, or to them- 
 selves, were seized, and forced into the army or navy. 
 Oftentimes an ambush was laid at church doors, and 
 as the congregation filed out from the house of God, 
 all the able-bodied men were suddenly, and ruth- 
 lessly,dragged away from their families, probably never 
 to see them more. A reign of terror prevailed every- 
 wheie ; and servants, fearing every bush, and dyke, 
 and ditch, lest it hid a soldier, carried implements of 
 labor in their hands, to tlieir meals, and even to their 
 'beds, fearing to be taken unawares. 
 
 To the Highlands of Banffshire and Inverness, a 
 'Captain McPherson was sent, by Government, to re 
 cruit the Highland regiments abroad, by fair or foul 
 means. He was nicknamed " Black McPherson ;" 
 but, whether this name was given to him, from being 
 of a dark and forbidding appearance, or from his 
 cruelty and ferocity in the unpopular work in which 
 lie was engaged, it is impossible at present to tell. 
 Although he was a native of Strathspey, and a brave 
 man withal, yet he was followed everywhere by execra- 
 tions from old and young. The remaining ^^o.ss^ of 
 men, he brought with him, was composed of kindred 
 spirits, and spared no fit man, upon whom their 
 hands fell. They knew nothing but military obedi- 
 ence, and duty, in all their inflexible exactitude. 
 
 s 
 
1 88 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 A widow with an only son, her sole sui)port in 
 her declining years, resided at this time in the 
 parish of Knockando, near the well-known ferry 
 on the river Spey, which crosses over to Inveravon. 
 He was at work in the latter parish, but stealthily 
 went over on Sabbath evenings to visit his aged 
 mother. On one of tliese evenings as he was returning 
 home to Jiis work, his mother accompanied him to 
 the ferry, and saw him safely across the river 'I o her 
 horror, no sooner had he step])ed on land than four 
 men, heiuled by the JJiack Captain, sprang from 
 behind the boat-house, and commenced dragging 
 David St?achan away. The widow fell upon her 
 knees, and, in heart-rending cries, implored the Captain 
 to release her only stay, and support, in her declining 
 yearii. She was only answered with curses. Frantic 
 with the commingled passions of rage, and grief, and 
 seeing thai, the stern man was inexorable and deaf 
 to all entreaty, and dead to all the redeeming feel- 
 ings of our common humanity, the widow became be- 
 side herself in agony, and with uplifted hands, to high 
 heaven, poured forJi fearful imprecations and male- 
 dictions on the head of the offending man. 
 
 "May a blessed ray of happiness or hope never 
 dispel the darkness from your perjured soul," said 
 she. ''May the bitter pangs of a guilty conscience 
 be yours through life, in death, and during eternity. 
 May a curse blacker than that branded on the brow 
 of Cain, and more hopeless than that burned by 
 God's avenging finger on the faces of the fallen angels, 
 fall upon you, and to your lot, ceaselessly and unre- 
 
WHAT V/AS IT ? 189 
 
 mittlngly. May the Prince of Darkness, of whom you 
 are a faithful transcript, claim this base part of his 
 heritage, in this world, and doom you unshriven to 
 black despair, and endless tormcni. Amen, and 
 amen." 
 
 Alarmed at her own vehemence, and at tlie fearful 
 utterances, which seemed like prophecy, she fell 
 powerless and grief-stricken to the ground ; while 
 a cry of bitter irony, from the lips of the hard- 
 hearted man, w-as the only reply 
 
 Years passed away, and in the excitement of the 
 times the scene of that Sabbath evening was almost 
 forgotten. The son's bones festered, whitened, and 
 rotted on the field of Waterloo; while "The Im- 
 mortal'' was a putrescent corpse, in all earthly, on 
 Rocky St. Helena. The widow died broken-hearted, 
 and was buried by the parish. McPherson returned 
 to his native glen — not now dreaded as of yore, with 
 his trained bands, but wealthy from, it was said, not 
 only foreign booty, but also from the bounties paid 
 for the capture of his countrymen, as recruits, for the 
 consumption of the battle-field. He had money, 
 drove fast horses, kept hounds, boasted of numer- 
 ous retainers, and held high revelry with his friends, 
 in whose eyes riches covered a multitude of sins. 
 
 The second year of his retirement from the army he 
 was out with a few friends hunting in the forest of 
 'Olenfiddich. A " bothy" had been erected in a se- 
 questered glen, for the shelter of his company, dur- 
 ing the sojourn on the hills. One ot his trusty serv- 
 ants was sent forward, as night began to fall, to pre- 
 
IQO I'KN PHOmnRAPHS. 
 
 pare supper for the hunters. He related afterwards, 
 that, as he was thus engaged, strange noises were 
 heard in, and around the house. He was so frightened 
 that he went several times to the door to effect his 
 escape, but a large black hound barred hh exit. 
 At last, the arrival of the party allayed his fears ; after 
 in(juiry from his fellow-servant:;, he found out that 
 they had neither seen nor heard anything unusual, 
 and he at last supposed himself the subject of a strong 
 imagination. 
 
 While at supper, a sharp and powerful knock was 
 heard at the door, so imperative in its reiteration, 
 in that lone place, and at that unusual hour, as to 
 startle the stoutest of the i)aity. Another servant 
 was sent by the captain to the door, to answer the 
 noisy summons. He soon returned, with a message 
 from the visitor tor the attendance of McPherson 
 at the door. With a growl of dissatisfaction, the 
 captain obeyed ; and after a (cw words had "passed 
 between the parties, they withdrew from the door, 
 closing it after them. The supper was ended ; but 
 yet the murmur of voices could be heard, as if the 
 parties were in earnest conversation. This strange 
 acting renewed the curiosity of the first servant, and 
 on a frivolous excuse, he went into a small entrance, 
 into which the outer door could swing. In peeping 
 through the key-hole, he saw, in the dim moonlight, 
 a tall man in dark clothing, and at his heels two 
 black hounds. The stranger was laying down, in a per- 
 emptory manner, some rule o. action, in regard to 
 which the captain expostulated. The stranger was 
 
, WHAT WAS IT ? 191 
 
 # 
 
 inuxoraljle ; but the only words the servant could un- 
 derstand were, 'Til be here this day twelve-months 
 with them, for vic,'^ said the capta'n ; and with that 
 the man and his dogs disappeared in the darkness, 
 down in the glen. 
 
 The servant had no sooner resumed his seat in the 
 corner, by the peat fire, than McPherson entered 
 pale, but calm. He put on an air of jollity, and 
 seemed to out do himselt' with convivialty. The 
 usqncluiui^h, which ^vas passed freely round, had doubt- 
 less a good deal to do with his hilarity. 
 
 "A friend of mine, on urgent business, was forced 
 to drive to the hills to see me to-night, and was com- 
 pelled to return immediately," said he. 
 
 This satisfied all but Davie, whose fears and sus- 
 {cions were now fully roused, but who wa^ determined 
 
 keep his own council, \ 
 
 The night passed away, with drinking and speeches? 
 toasts and songs, until the near approach of a Scottish 
 morning, and then the weary bacchanals sought re- 
 pose.The hunt was renewed next d:iy with addition- 
 al zest, and next night found them all at their "ain 
 firesides." 
 
 Another year had almost rolled round, when a grand 
 hunt was proposed by McPherson. The preparations 
 weie extensive, and invitations were sent, so numerous, 
 as to excite wonder in the whole country side. David 
 was the only man, except the captain, who felt uneasy 
 as the day drew near. He got nervous, and he saw 
 his master was no better in that respect. 
 
 The morning arrived — hot, and sultry, and fair, and 
 
192 PKN rilOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 with it crowds of horsesmen, hounds and gillies. 
 Loud lauj^'hter, jests, snatches of song, and shrill 
 whistles filled tiie hills and valleys with echoes far 
 and near. 
 
 Away tlie gay cavalcade rode until the sun had 
 climbed high in the heavens, when a dark and porten- 
 tious cloud ajjpeareu in the horizon. A number of 
 the more nervous turned back to the nearest dwellings, 
 and Davie, 'vith shaking knees, told his master, that 
 one of the best hunting hounds had inadvertently been 
 locked up in the kennel. His master sent him back 
 for it, while the remainder of the party made rapid 
 strides for the *' bothy " of last year. Davie loosened 
 the hound, on his return, from a bondage he had ac- 
 complished intentionally, so as to have a valid excuse 
 to return, and fled the neighborhood. 
 
 Such a niglit of storm, of lightning, and of thunder 
 was never known in that country. The heavens 
 and the earth seemed to be rending asunder, and 
 all things being hurled into primal chaos. The 
 harvests were spoiled, and the tempest hurled into the 
 red earth all standing grain. It seemed as if a 
 second deluge was coming, from the opened windows 
 of heaven, upon the stricken earth. 
 
 The morning opened cheerfully and serenely, — but 
 not one of that devoted band ever returned alive. 
 The people were alarmed, and gathered in large 
 numbers m the mountains, and the site of the cabin 
 was found, — but not one stone of it was left upon 
 another. The bodies of mutilated men, and dogs 
 >7ere found near it, in the most grotesque and horrible 
 
WHAT WAS rT? 193 
 
 shapes ; but the men could not have been known 
 except for the clothing. 
 
 McPherson was found about fifty yards away from 
 the foundation, stripped of all clothing, but that on 
 one leg. The ilesh seemed scorched upon his bones, 
 and in the shrivelled flice, and obliterated eyes, and 
 singed locks, none could see a vestige of " Black Mc- 
 Pherson." 
 
 What was it ? Was the widow's pra\er answered ? 
 Did Satan come to claim his own, and was the "for 
 me" a peace offering to the Prince of Darkness, in 
 the oblation ot the Jlower of the country's side ? Or 
 is it explained from natural causes, and all the eftcct 
 of a terrific thunderstorm, whose electric power was 
 seen in the destruction of the cabin, and all living in 
 its embrace ? My nirrator believed strongly in the 
 former explanation, and as I knew it would be "'love's 
 labour lost," to try to convince him to the contrary, 
 I sought my bed, and dreamed of horrible things 
 happening to me, by the hands of Diabolus, or his 
 imps, and awoke glad that his Satanic majesty was 
 not thus employed on my corpus, nor toying ad 
 libitum with my immortal essence. 
 
 IS 
 
A NIGH 2 01^ TERRORS. 
 
 IT was customary, about twenty years ago, in 
 Highland districts, to carry the bodies of deceased 
 persons on bearers of wood, instead of on wheeled 
 vehicles. This was necessary in many places on ac- 
 count of the rocky and precipious character of the 
 roads. The bearers were usually kept in the church 
 or vestry for convenience. 
 
 It was a clear frosty October day, in the year 1839, 
 when John McLcod, the parish school master of 
 Tomintoul, died. He had taught, and flogged, and 
 scolded the growing urchins of that locality for nearly 
 half a century, and many of his early pupils had 
 distinguished themselves in the navy, and on bloody 
 battle-fields, in the forum, and among the literati 
 of their country. Would that I could wax eloquent 
 on their behalf ! His dominical sway was benignant 
 and patriarchal, and there was always ;x radiancy of 
 graciousness about his countenance which cheered 
 the falterer toiling up the hill of science, but as yet, 
 not far from its foot. Well, his race was run, and his 
 coffined body must be hid from sight. James Mur- 
 dock, his assistant and successor, was deputed to go 
 over to the " Auld Kirk " for the bearers. His 
 eagerness to go was explained by the gossips at the 
 
A NIGHT OP TERRORS. 1 95 
 
 wake, who stoutly asserted he was sure to pay a visit 
 to the manse near by, and have a short tetc a tcte with 
 Flora, the minister's daughter. He sped on his way 
 and mission with all the alacrity of one whose breast 
 was filled with 'love's young hopes.' Night over- 
 took him on the hills, but the full moon was high in 
 the heavens, and benignantly shed silvery pencils 
 of glory over the heathy slopes of the looming moun- 
 tains, and along the scarcely beaten track on which 
 he trod. When he reached the minister's house, he 
 saw a light shining through the sitting-room win- 
 dow, and curiosity getting the better of his sense of 
 propriety, he peeped through the lattice, and saw 
 Flora stitching swiftly one of the white collars which 
 he so often admired upon lier snowy neck. A gentle 
 tap brought her to the door. It is rot our intention 
 to chronicle the sayings of the lovers, for who wishes 
 such love scenes depicted to the vjuobile vulgus ? The 
 hours of night were fast wearing away, and the 
 " wee short 'oor ayont the twal," — which some body 
 sings about — was numbered with the past, when he 
 was found scrambling over the stone wall, which 
 separated the garden of the manse from the grave- 
 yard, in which stood a spectre white. (These gentry 
 never appear in any other color, for some good 
 reason of their own.) It appeared to him of monstr- 
 ous dimensions and of uncouth appearance. It mov- 
 ed and moaned and sighed in apparent unquiet, so 
 that it could not be a white monument made gro- 
 tesque by the light of the moon. Superstitious 
 by inheritance, his blood froze within him at the 
 
196 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 sight, for all the ghosts, wraiths, dead-candles, and 
 horrid apparitions, nestling in some nook or cranny 
 of his brain, came vividly to his remembrance ; and 
 here was a living -evidence of their existence, for what 
 else could it be? Sliding back over the wall, he 
 hastened to Flora, and told the wonderful tale, 
 with shaking knees, dilated eyes, and fierce gesticu- 
 lation. 
 
 " Now, Murdock," said the tidy maid "what a silly 
 * gouk ' you are, to be sure, it is only my father's 
 white horse, which has jumped the sliles to feed 
 in the yard." 
 
 Murdock, ashamed of his cowardice, especially 
 at such a time, mustered courage to march with iirm 
 steps towards the author of his fears, yet, he had been 
 startled, and his nerves had not fully received their 
 quietus. He was now among the dead, and with 
 the living — horse. It was haunted ground. Here 
 was the mound of McTavish, the miser, who drove 
 his only daughter from his door, because he begrudged 
 her the food she ate and the room she occupied, 
 and afterwards froze himself to death, for want of 
 fuel to warm his shrivelled limbs. There lay the 
 bones of Urquehart, of violent temper, who, in blind 
 frenzy, plunged a dirk into the side of his best friend, 
 and then capped the climax by hanging himself. 
 Here reposed poor Nellie, who died ruined, forsaken, 
 and broken-hearted, because of the ruthlessness of 
 a perjured villain. There slept — it is presumed 
 — Baillie Ruthven, who treasured up riches by extor- 
 tion and deceit, but now his children have squandered 
 
A NIGHT OF TERRORS. 1 97 
 
 them, and all that remains of him on earth are a few 
 pounds of unctuous earth ; — Enough ! — but over him 
 stands a splendid monument of Peterhead granite, as 
 hard as had been his own heart, and on it a lie 
 for an epitaph. Here lies saintly Munro, or -rather 
 his remains, but his hymnal chorus of adoration is 
 now echoing in celestial courts. Each green mound 
 had a history, either real or mythical, and Murdock had 
 heard of the tortured spirits of those departed, 
 periodically haunting the scenes of their earthly sepul- 
 ture. He believed that such was the case, and while 
 he cogitated, his fears increased. Diabolus was always 
 supposed to be lurking near churches and impreg- 
 nating the air with satanic influences. He made his 
 way to the church door, and finding it open, he 
 entered. The bearers had been left near the pulpit, 
 and Murdock determined to make a rush for the 
 spot, and retreat as quickly as possible. He gathered 
 up one coat tail under each arm, and fixed his blue 
 bonnet firmly upon the top of his head, and then 
 made the grand charge along one of the aisles. 
 But alas ! for all nis plans and hopes, the enemy 
 had him in his clutches, and apparently his hour of 
 doom had come. He felt a painful constriction 
 round the throat, which was fast suffocating him, 
 but he was determined not to fall into the hands 
 of the Evil One without a struggle ; yet, like the 
 bewildered traveller in a morass, the more he strug- 
 gled the more hi^. difficulties increased, and the tighter 
 the grip beca le. He beat the air with his hands, 
 and stamped the floor with his feet. He gurgled 
 
198 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 forth short prayers with gasping emphasis, inter- 
 mingled with the creed,and snatches from the shorter 
 catechism, with now and then ejaculations, which 
 seemed gecond cousins to profanation. His objura- 
 tions seemed of no avail, for strangulation by the 
 relentless and untiring fingers of his adversary was 
 increasing in intensity every moment. He made 
 a rush for the door, as he supposed, but blind with 
 terror he had lost his longitude and latitude. No 
 matter, any way out of the church, by window, 
 vestry, or door 'vould be acceptable. Over the pews 
 and seats he went — now Houndering on the floor 
 between them, and, anon perched on the top of them 
 in vain attempts to gain his equilibrium, for his un- 
 seen enemy had entangled his legs and arms in the 
 meshes of this terribly mysterious agency. He was 
 partially bound hand and foot. Wherever he plunged 
 a bloody trail was left behind. The bonnet was gone, 
 the coat and nether garments, 
 
 ''Like tattered sail * 
 
 Flung their fragments to the gale." 
 » 
 
 He attempted to scream but fatigue and a tighten- 
 ed throat forbade it. To add to his terror, his 
 adversary leaped upon his head, and scourged his face 
 and body with merciless blows. These fell fast 
 and furious, accompanied by unearthly screams, appall- 
 ing enough to awaken the seven, or seventy and 
 seven sleepers. The thought came up to his mind, 
 whether it would not be better to come to terms and 
 capitulate on conditions to the Enemy of souls, by 
 
A NIGHT OF TERRORS. 199 
 
 the barter of his body and soul, for his release from 
 thralqom, rather than be immolated at once, and 
 never sec Flora, again. He called upon tho Prince of 
 Darkness to release him and he would be his abject 
 slave forever. He would seal such a contract with 
 his blood, only liberate him now ; but no response 
 except blows without stint, came from his Satanic 
 Highness. The battle of life and death continued foul 
 and fierce, and yet no truce was sounded by the 
 enemy. In sheer desperation, Murdock made for 
 a small glimmer of light, which met his eye, and 
 which happened to be a gothic window. He plunged 
 at it, and through it, on to the green sward outside, as 
 a storm-tossed mariner steers for the streaming light 
 from afar, which to him is a beacon of hope. A woe- 
 begone creature told his " horrible tale " to an awe- 
 stricken assembly, at the house of the dead, and a 
 'posse comifatHs was formed of all the '' braves " of the 
 vicinity to ' beard the lion in his den ' and exorcise 
 him with cudgels, instead of with " book and candle." 
 With slow steps, and bated breath, and dilated eyes, 
 the crowd surrounded the church, and as the day 
 dawned a goose, with broken legs, and a cord f^isten- 
 ed to one of them, was found dangling from tho win- 
 dow. The minister's wife had tethered the fowl in 
 the church-)Mrd, and as the door had b^en left open 
 it had found its way into the church, and sitting on 
 one of the pews its cord had become entangled 
 about Aturdock's neck, and in the struggle he had 
 wound it round his legs and arms, until the poor 
 animal was dragged upon the top of his head, and 
 
20O 
 
 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 in its fight for liberty, had beat hirn with its wings. 
 Murdock fled the country for Canada, in vtry shame, 
 and saw Flora no more. If this true tale meets his 
 eye, we expect to be " called out," but we have pro- 
 vided pistols for tiro and wine for oni'. As poor 
 Artemus would say " let him appoint the day for his 
 funeral, and the corpse shall be ready." 
 
''AULD LANG SYNE^ 
 
 WE often hear the Pilgrim Fathers extolled, 
 and relic worshippers go into ecstacy over a 
 bit of prominent stone, on an iron-bound coast, called 
 Plymouth Rock. The fact is, these wanderers had 
 nowhere else to lay their heads, and, therefore, a virtue 
 was made of a necessity. The poor pilgrims had 
 the choice of being persecuted, hung, gibbeted, or 
 burned, as an alternative to coming to America, and 
 I think the choice could soon be made. But when 
 they landed, and went to work, — not in enacting 
 " Blue " Laws, which smelt brimstone, nor in burn- 
 ing trance-wakers, or hysterical women for witches, — 
 then heroism had its more perfect exploits. The stroke 
 of the first axe, made by unskilful but willing arms, 
 was the aggressive effort of a coming conqueror, 
 and the clearing of tlie way for Westward Empire. 
 It was the knell of the bell of civilization over a 
 doomed barbarism ; and to this day the soimd of 
 the woodman's axe, in the tangled forest, speaks 
 of victory, and aggression continuously persistent, on 
 the skiniii.sh line of an advancing mighty host. We 
 have often odd ceremonies at the laying of the 
 foundation stone of some stately edifice, or some 
 public work ; but no imposing ritual (except the 
 
202 PEN PHOTOGRAPHf;. 
 
 dignity of honest labor and earnest enrleavour can 
 be called such,) gave the initiatory impulse towards 
 laying the deep andbroad foundations,of Anglo-Saxon 
 dominion, in America. The old lo^^-houses, fast pass- 
 ing away, have a charm for me. The sight of them 
 conjure up in my mind myriad memories of the 
 past. There is the commanding knoll, with splendid 
 beechvjs and maples, the work of centuries, adorning 
 the highest point of the undulating prominence. As 
 the rustling leaves, in autumn, glided obliquely down- 
 ward, and performed strange gyrations in the air, as 
 the gusty winds ho-.vled in savagery the requiem o^ 
 the departing year, I gathered the p}Tamidal beech" 
 nuts — it might be — in nooks or crannies of the ground, 
 or being rocked gently in the curled-up corners of 
 Sere-leated cradles, or partially buried in the clefts 
 of dead trees, or having refuge in the mould of 
 decomposing vegetation. The merciless axe, like an 
 invading foe, swept over the hill, and the fire 
 finished the work of ages, leaving nought behind but 
 smoking ruins and smouldering ashes. The Nor'land 
 wind, so often heard in the tree-tops, but never felt, 
 now remorselessly blew over the denuded hill, and 
 rage at the cruel spoiler filled my juvenile bosom. 
 Groups of men came, one bright spring morning, 
 and stood, and looked, and studied, and measured, 
 as if a second Rome was to be laid out. Logs accumu- 
 lated round this focus of coming greatness; and on^a 
 Friday morning the foundations of the representative 
 log-house were laid in the midst of shouts, oxen, 
 dogs, and christenings, with deep libations of whiskey. 
 
"AULD LANG SYNE." 205, 
 
 A jacketed urchin sat, on a peeled bass-wood log, 
 gazing in wonderment, as notched ends were joined, 
 and the fabric grew up to the rafters, and roof of 
 hollow logs, having the chinked holes plastered with 
 primitive mortar, made from the red clay in the bank 
 down by the brook. For chairs, logs were ST)lit in 
 two, placed with the flat sides upwards, and the legs 
 protruding from one to four inches upwards, to keep 
 us from sliding off. There were no backs to these- 
 seats, and strange to say, no permanent curvatures of 
 the spines of the occupants followed. The stick 
 lire-place, wuh its alternate layers of mud andtiniber — 
 the buck-skiti dooi-opener with its huge cross-bar — 
 the rude windows, rejoicing in four liglits, fastened 
 with shingle nails — the floor, with its huge rents, the 
 sad traps for many bare and pattering feet, the cob- 
 webbed rafters, smoky, sooty, and festooned with 
 gossamer adornments of sable hue, and the merry, 
 riotous mice gambolling on roof, raUers, and logs, 
 holding high revelry over stray crumbs of mince- 
 pie, Johnny-cake, and dai»ty biscuits, perched on 
 primitive sh-^^lves along the walls. And then, such a, 
 capacious fire-place, — none of your " cabined and 
 cribbed " dainty "ingles," but wide eaiough to roast an 
 ox. The stove abominations were as rare as the plague. 
 Whoever thinks of calling a stove " our ain fire- 
 side ? " Black, ugly, sickening, sultry, and head 
 achatiir is its history. A cold blast of the breath o^ 
 sullen Boreas in our faces, drives us to it, but we can 
 be cheery near it. The rollicking, jolly company 
 the ruddy cheeks, the brimful of fun, the shining 
 
204 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 faces have no abiding place around a stove. The 
 " pale faces " are its presiding deities, and its victims 
 can be counted by tens of thousands ; but the 
 heat of a fire-place is wholesome. We feel its ex- 
 hilarating effects in every inhalation. It is fresh and 
 spiritual, for it is a diffusible stimulant. The room 
 where the wide and deep chimney stands has no foul, 
 pestiferous vapors lingering within its precincts, and 
 no '' blues " afflicting humanity, near its cleanly swept 
 hearth. The stove in its heated blackness, produces 
 sleepiness, fretfulness, and hence domestic scenes of 
 hot strife ; and the sable, uncouth fire-fiend is, if 
 not the cause, the occasion of it. I believe such 
 changes of domestic arrangement affect the patriot- 
 ism of a people. The thoughts of a cheery home 
 brace up the heart, and nerve the arm. We are 
 ready to fight for our " altars and hearths,'' but 
 stoves have no hearths worth fighting for, and it takes 
 the poetry out of the thing to speak of *' getting our 
 backs up " about our altars and our stoves. The as- 
 sociations of a family circle gathered around a roaring 
 fire, in winter, are potent for good. The harmless 
 jests of the teened youngsters — the tales of scenes, 
 on ilood and field, of the white-haired sire or matron, 
 so intensely real, as to make the listeners cower in 
 mortal terror, even at the chirp of a mouse — the 
 popping of nuts, and their sudden collisions, or di- 
 vorces, suggestive of life's episodes — the dreamy 
 gaze into glowing coals, and the "bigging castles in 
 the air/' seeing towers, minarets, gorgeous halls peopled 
 with soldiers in scarlet, or v/eird beings in gossamer 
 
" AULD LANCx SYNE." 205 
 
 garments, with ** world's wombling up and down, 
 bleezlng in a flare," and then being brought back to 
 the real, by a punch in the ribs, of the most vigorous 
 kind, from a fun-loving member of the group, are 
 panoramas not to be forgotten A cheering sight it is 
 to peer through the window of an old-fashioned 
 log cabin, in a wintry night, on such a circle, near 
 Christmas time. It may be a re-union of the family. 
 The big black-log lies like a sleeping giant in the 
 back-ground, with a fiery, red abdomen, prominent 
 and rotund. The forcstick crackles, sputters, and 
 shoots in sportive glee, its scintillations up the wide- 
 mouthed chimney, or impudently on the laps of the 
 watchers. The well-polished and brass-headed and- 
 irons patiently suffer, year after year, their hot and 
 hissing loads. The tongues of flame, like coy maidens, 
 come up intermittently and bashfully retire ; each 
 lambent spire becoming more daring than its pre- 
 decessor, always hungry and devouring as a Theban 
 sphinx, first licking up the palatable combustibles of 
 the centre, and then'feavagely attacking, with a wither- 
 ing fire, the enemy in front and rear. Like a victori- 
 ous army, they march triumphantly onward, bringing 
 up reserves, until sparks, smoke, fuel, and laughing 
 groups disappear in the darkness. I used to watch, 
 with great interest an " auld Auntie Kate," in an old 
 arm chair, smoking a short clay pipe, black and 
 strong. Its receptacle when not in use, was a worn 
 out cavity in the wall of the chimney. She would 
 put her right elbow on the arm of the chair, and 
 seize, daintily, the " nib" of the bowl between the 
 
206 PEN I'HO'l'OGRAPH.S. 
 
 forefinger and tJiumb. I see her yet, in memory, as 
 the eyes are dreamily j^azing, as if they gazed not, into 
 the fiery embers. Puff, puff, mechanically goes the 
 white curling smoke over her clean and weli-starched 
 " mutch," in fantastic columns, pyramids, and cano- 
 pies ; but other scenes, other days, and other figures? 
 than those I conjured up, were in her day dreamS' 
 Nothing but a fireside could be an appropriate back" 
 ground to the picture, which would have but a Wilki® 
 or a Hogarth, full of thoughts of domestic and street 
 scenes, into ecstacy. The walls were adorned with 
 the trophies of the chase, and with well-burnished 
 implements of culinary use. 'J'he bedsteads knew not 
 the turners' nor carvers' art. Tlie wind, in dancing 
 weird reels down the yawning moutli of the chimney, 
 made as doleful music as the wizard's dying song. But 
 no happier days could be seen in lordly halls, or courtly 
 palaces, than in the cabin, and its blazing ruddy light 
 of home. Uncle John never could argue on points of 
 theology unless he had the giant tongs in his hand, 
 wheeling them in the ashes, first on one leg and then 
 on another ; and as each section made its circle, you 
 would almost see the arguments laid down one by one, 
 in the furrow ; but when he nailed his antagonist 
 with some potent argument, down came the biped 
 instrument with a thud on the forestick, which made 
 the sparks fly in all directions, like routed enemies- 
 Women (forgive the good old English word) may 
 show off their figures and graceful steps in the mazes 
 of the giddy dance ; but the good old fireplace was 
 an excellent training school for those ot " thirty years 
 
" AULl) LANG SYNE." 207 
 
 ago." Mow nice the foot and ancle were set off near 
 it,say,cookinp; a dinner ! (Of course, tliat is not now-a- 
 days the work oi Au/Us.) What ingenuity was neces- 
 sary to take from the pendant cliain, or swinging 
 crane, the boiling potatoes, lauglung all over, or tho 
 bubbling soup, with savory smell, or the singing and 
 sputtering mush or porridge I AVliat dexterity was 
 needed, in handling the rotund " spider" or the 
 long stemmed frying-pan, with its striated sections of 
 pork, lying in military order, or with venison, which 
 some juvenile Nimrod had shot in the woods, as the 
 fruits of such future exploits, and which fdled " l^id 
 and /x'u" with its inviting perfume — I had almost wrote 
 aroma ! How deftly was the knife wielded to turn 
 the browned morsels, and not even a slight of hand 
 actor could turn such a complete somersault of pan- 
 cakes, by edging them skilfully upon the rim ot the 
 pan; and then by a throw — a lorward jerk, and a back- 
 ward catch — presto ! the feat is done. It looked so 
 easily accomplished, I challenged a trial — result ; 
 a flabby, sticky pancake, seeking a north-west pass- 
 age in an angle of the chimney, and by sheer gravi- 
 tation burying itself in the hot ashes, a sad warning 
 to confident amateurs. The stove has economic ad- 
 vantages, but cheerfulness and health are not ingredi- 
 ents in the sum total. No one, unless running over 
 with music, feels full of song over a stove. We may 
 have exuberance from a reservoir of joy filled else- 
 where. Go from its sable sides, in an autumn morn- 
 ing, and sniff the fresh air, and listen to the song of 
 iiniversal nature, and you feel intuitively like joining 
 
208 PIN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 the chorus. Go from a hot andt sickening room 
 where no firelight is seen, and where the air is sur- 
 charged with thrice-heated air, into the cheering pres- 
 ence of a roaring fire, and no thermometer could rise 
 quicker than do your spirits under its genial influ- 
 ence. These veteran houses never were cursed with 
 modern bedrooms. They might be small, but that 
 was compensated for, by their breezy character. A 
 stray snowflake might court destruction by sailing 
 through a chmk, or the spray from the rain-drop 
 might dash upon the unturned faces of sleepers, but 
 no pent up " dust and disease" could loiter long 
 with "malice aforethought" in such an atmosphere. 
 In well settled parts of Canada what a contrast ! Sep- 
 timus Jinks, Esq. is wealthy, and rejoices in a fine 
 mansion. It is full of bedrooms cfthe seven feet 
 by eight feet style. The bed is in one corner, the 
 wash-stand occupies another, and a solitary chair is 
 perched in another of the angles, with a dressing-table 
 in the residue nook. The light is blown out, and 
 you creep round the foot of the bed, lest the half' 
 opened door slyly edges itself between your outstretch- 
 ed arms, and impinges unceremoniously on the end o^ 
 your nose. You rnake a flank movement by th^ 
 side of the bed, but if you are out of Scylla, you 
 are stranded high on Charybdis, with abraded shins 
 or bruised toes, or cracked knuckles. A b(-autiful 
 dungeon it is. The window — a solitary sentinel of 
 light — is, in the first' place, covered with paper blinds 
 adorned with paintings of a high style of art, in the 
 centre. One may be some lonely castle about to 
 
"AULD LANG SYNE." 209 
 
 fall to pieces into a placid lake, covered wilh mon- 
 strous fowls, second cousins to those which left the 
 imprint of mammoth feet upon the petrified sands of 
 time, and surrounded by rocks of approved pattern. 
 Another is often a lonely milk-maid and a tender 
 lamb ; the former not at all fashionable in dress, and 
 seems to be seeking a lover, or a " babbling brook." 
 Often she appears as one, 
 
 " Who sets her pitcher underneath t'le spring, 
 Musing on him, that used to fi.'l it for her 
 Hears, and hears not, and lets it overflow." 
 
 These, and sundries like these, seemed to my youth- 
 ful fancy wonderful works of art. After the paper 
 blinds, those models ot perspective skill, come the 
 cloth ones, then damask on the one side, and lace on 
 the other, or both in duplicate. On the outside are 
 green Venetian blinds, and all, to ornament or keep 
 the blessed light out, and the dampness in. The bed 
 is unique, so high, so new, so white, so soft, so clean, 
 so downy, so mountainous, so needle-worked, and 
 so musty. It may be the best furnished room in the 
 house, but the doors of this miniature Bastile are kept 
 constantly closed, except on state occasions. Then 
 bonnets, and gloves, and muffs, and spare babies are 
 deposited //v; fem,on this decayed and decaying moun- 
 tain of feathers. It may have had no other occupant for 
 weeks. The walls ooze moisture. The windows 
 condense watery" tears. The bed-clothes imbibe the 
 general contagion — dampness. No such pest-room 
 could be found in the cabins and log-houses of the 
 first settlers, but advancing civili2:ation contmues to 
 
 14 
 
2IO PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 keep, in fine houses, deadly miasma, and keep out 
 the air, heat, and light of heaven. Can the elderly 
 reader think of an old-fashioned log-house, and by the 
 law of association, not conjure up in the imagination 
 the two oxen, Buck and Bright, also pioneers, in the 
 dense wilderness ? They were a queer representative 
 couple, and seemed to appreciate each other's good 
 qualities, and were well acquainted with each other's 
 habits. Buck was of a metaphysicial turn of mind. 
 In chewing his cud, with his nose over the gate, he 
 was always in a contemplative mood, and the dreamy 
 eye showed a reverie, if not consecutive, at least pro- 
 found. He had not a " crumbled horn," but m a 
 Waterloo ot former days, he had been disarmed of 
 part of the left one, and the other had been twisted 
 in a fantastic way, on the field of Mars, until its point 
 was in close proximity to an eye always watery, and 
 seemingly in deep grief because of some bereavement. 
 The other eye was bright in comjparison, and had a 
 roguish wink and twinkle about it, as if, it had in its 
 counterpart — its mind's eye — some practical joke in 
 store. He was no believer in the conduct of an his- 
 toric namesake, who was said to have starved to death 
 between two bundles of hay of equal size r id appear- 
 ance, because, being guided solely by motives, and 
 these being equally and exactly powerful, he could 
 not move towards either, and heroically died. Buck, 
 under such circumstances, would -have showed a 
 creditable spontaneousness of will, and could have 
 made decisions at once. It was only on such occas- 
 ions, he showed unusual activity. About noon, or 
 
" AULD LANG SYXE.'' _ .211 
 
 evening, he seeired to cast a leer up from the watery 
 eye to" old Sol," as if taking the sun, and wondering 
 at the tardiness of his chariot wheels. When the 
 dinner-horn blew, he was impatient, and shook his 
 ears and huge wooden yoke, fitfully and savagely, and 
 at the word of command, went at the " double quick" 
 for home, drr gging his comrade almost at his heels, an 
 equally willing, but less swift captive. A knowing ox 
 was he. Bright was not so phlegmatic and stubborn. 
 Such, when once aroused, perform prodigies of valor. 
 He was nervous and irritable ; always on tlie qui vive. 
 The least thing tickled his hide —from a dragon-fly 
 to a thistle down ; and the least thing seemed to 
 excite his fancy — from a tuft of grass in Bob's hand 
 to a pinch of salt, in prospect, half a mile away. How 
 similar in all these respects are man and beasl ! 
 Bright had method in all he did. He knew how to 
 open the rustic garden-gate, and the exact spot be- 
 tween the bars to introduce his horn. No fence could 
 withstand his attacks. The philosophic Buck would 
 go at the fence with genius, but not with tact, and vi 
 et armis attempt its overthrow, and find it as diffi- 
 cult to storm, as did the " red coats " at Badajos — 
 sometimes being caught by the ' crooked horn, and 
 sometimes by a sudden recoil, finding himself, to his 
 amazement, on his haunches, contemplating the stars 
 with one, from the blow, in his eye. Bright knew 
 better than use " brute force." He would commence 
 systematically, at the first rail, and send it flying over 
 his back, then away went the stakes in utter discom- 
 fiture, and these followed by each rail, in succession, 
 
212 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 to the ground. He knew the salient angles of the 
 fence, and never advanced upon them. He had 
 strategy enough in his mind to know that the con- 
 cavity was much easier to drive in, than a convexity 
 and always " went for" the retiring recesses, coming 
 out on the other side victorious. For him there waS 
 no "pent up Utica,', if left to his own devices. His 
 comrade soon learned this, and became a spectator 
 of the various assaults, until a breach had been made, 
 and in he came for a share of the plunder, without a 
 struggle. He did not seem to have in his code of 
 ethics, the rule, that ''to the victors belong the spoils." 
 The sly rogue might be four hundred yards away 
 from his comrade, but no sooner did the noise of 
 falling rails reach his ears, than he rushed to the 
 spot, as if, his motto was, " Deil tak' the hindmost." 
 In the days we " went a gipsying," horses were not 
 as plentiful as now. These bovine gentry were oft 
 times " hitched up " to a sleigh to take a jolly load 
 of jolly youths to a singing-school. The sleigh was 
 none of your tricky bob-sleighs, which seem to seek 
 out, in fiendish glee, all the irregularities of the roadp 
 and dive nose first, into all the valleys, and snappishly 
 ride over the miniature mountains, as if bent on pro- 
 ducing a catastrophe. Not so the old-fashioned long 
 sleighs. There is grace in their movements. When 
 they mount a hillock, they seem, at the top, to hesi- 
 tate for a moment whether to retreat or advance, and 
 then, with a parabolic curature forward, like a gallant 
 ship over a mountain wave, they plunge bow first 
 into the yielding snow. Their movements are n^ver 
 
"AULD LANG SYNE." 213 
 
 done by halves ; nor is there a needless bracing of 
 
 the riders to prepare for plunges leeway and forward, 
 
 which never come ; for with them " coming events 
 
 cast their shadows before." See that old sleigh, 
 
 which has almost " braved a thousand years " the 
 
 battles of snow and storms, drawn by oxen friends, 
 
 loaded with a merry group of juveniles, on the rampage. 
 
 Clean straw is on the bottom for seats. No box is 
 
 there to keep the fidgety cargo from spilling out. The 
 
 four iron-wood stakes rise up above the heads of the 
 
 passengers,like jury-masts, on a cast-away raft, over the 
 
 bleak sea ; but no shipwrecked crew are they, for 
 
 young and old, male and female, poor and rich, are 
 
 making hills and valleys, woods and fields, vocal 
 
 with melody and song. The oxen have an episode in 
 store for the happy company. They seem to grin with 
 
 satisfaction at the prospect. The road has a sharp 
 turn in it, and, as if with common consent, and by 
 one impulse, they " take to their heels," and crowding 
 into one track, run the sleigh on a stump, and deposit 
 the merry load in a mixed condition in the snow. 
 After the debris has been collected, and an '^ omni- 
 um gatherum" has taken place, there were beautiful 
 casts of limbs, arms, and bodies in the snow. The 
 imprint of John's gigantic paws yonder — thumbs, 
 fingers and wrists. Ned's outline from occiput to 
 heels — not in bold relief, but in concave beauty, true 
 as life. Joe's impression was a sort of medley : it was 
 evident he fell in a heap, and then gathered up his 
 legs, as if giving up the ghost. Women were there, with 
 expansive hoops, the centres of great circles, and left 
 no foot-prints, or any other prints, upon the snows of 
 
214 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 time (forgive the parody), except a good mother's 
 scoop-shoveled bonnet had, in its posterior part, left 
 an indentation like that of a quart bowl in the snow. 
 Abrasions of the cuticle, from noses, shins and elbows, 
 by too close contact with somebody's heels — all for- 
 given trespasses — made the sum total of casualties ; 
 and none were put hors de combat in those blessed 
 days of yore, when "telescoping," explosions, and such 
 like evidences of progress, were for the coming race. 
 Thus 1 wander on, with these retrospects, and find an 
 echo of approval in some readei's breast. He and I 
 passed the spot, only the other day, where the log 
 house stood, and it was a ploughed field, with not a 
 vestige of it remaining. The crooked primitive wood- 
 side road has been obliterated, and Buck and Bright, 
 by Darwin's law of selection, have given way to the 
 noble horse. The joyous group is scattered "far and 
 wide," from the quiet graveyard to the unknown sepul- 
 ture of the distant battle-field — from the billowy wind- 
 ing sheet to the monumental tomb — and from the 
 haunts of infamy to the pinnacles of fame. 
 
 The days which are past come before me with all their deeds." 
 
5 y M E. 
 
 AT the little wicket-gate of the Royal Infirmary* 
 Edinburgh, stood a grey-haired sentinel, as I 
 entered for the first time. On the black-board in 
 the entry was written by this cerberus, ** Sectio 
 Cadaveris,*' "■ Dr. Balfour" and ''Mr. Syme," not Dr. — 
 (in Britain the surgeon and the physician do not always 
 merge their professions). Jolly, rollicking students 
 are pouring in, — some to the ??ost mortem — some to 
 the wards — but the greatest number to the theatre, 
 where Syme was to operate. He, for the first time, in 
 the history of the hospital, and the second in the 
 annals of surgery, was to excise the tongue of a man, 
 for cancer. The theatre — small, dingy, badly lighted 
 from the north, and with break-neck seats towering 
 with Alpine steepness above one another — was crowded 
 to Its utmost capacity, by a tumultuous throng. Eound 
 the table were about a dozen surgeons cnatting and 
 discussing, but when the patient walked in, and laid 
 himself down upon the operating table, a thin, dark- 
 featured, withered up, and unostentatious man rose up, 
 and took his coat ofi". There was no fuss about him, 
 but in all his movements, there was an air of determi- 
 nation, or let me rather say of resolution. That man 
 
2l6 PKN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 could not be indecisive if he tried, for the thin and 
 compressed lips, and the po.sitivrncss of manner, and 
 firmness of speech, as he explained the case, declared 
 that the mind was "made up," without fail, to accom- 
 plish a certain work, and it was done in all its terrible 
 details, and although death was the result, in this case, 
 he succeeded afterwards. When Syme lectured he had 
 poor utterace, — a nasal twang, and a faltering of voice, 
 
 — not agreeable to listen to, until the ear became 
 tutored to the discordant sounds. He was epigram- 
 matic in his lectures, and although he indulged in no 
 useless verbiage, yet there was a completeness in every 
 sentence, which made his lectures a model for students 
 to copy from, and made it important to catch every 
 word which fell from his hps. He had not the elegance 
 of diction of Simpson, or the flowery language of 
 Bennett, or the smooth-flowing eloquence of a Hender- 
 son. His aim was to speak to the point, with the fewest 
 words possible to elucidate his subject. Hence his 
 great popularity among those of his students who 
 were of an analytical turn of mind, such always hate 
 circumlocution, or even redundancy. Syme, like 
 Simpson, was a son of the people. He came of an 
 old and respectable family in Kinrosshire. and had 
 an early training at the High School, Edinburgh. He 
 was always reserved unless engaged in some of his 
 favourite pursuits, and then he was voluble in the ex- 
 treme. One of his pastimes, when quite a lad, was ex- 
 periments in chemistry, and to such an extent did his 
 passion for it lead him, that he was forsaken by his 
 classmates for fear of explosions from his odd mixtures. 
 
SYME. 217 
 
 His pocket money went for chemicals and apparatus. 
 His ingenuity was often tasked to compensate for an 
 empty purse, by the invention of needful a])pliances. 
 He did not merely experiment as laid down in works 
 written on the Sv^ience, but he was perpetually forming 
 new compounds, and testing their affinities, and rela- 
 tions to the danger of his life and limb, and yet he 
 was only sixteen years of age. At this time he made 
 a discovery for which he never received due credit, 
 viz., he was the first to show how to apply practical/yf 
 India rubber to its many uses. He entered tlie Uni- 
 versity at ^he age of eighteen, and while attending the 
 non-professional classes was articled as a student of 
 Barclay and Knox — the most skilful anatomists of 
 that city. They will be remembered as the surgeons, 
 (especially Knox) who got into bad repute as the 
 recipients of the bodies of the murdered furnished by 
 Burke and Hare, who, as murderers, are remembered 
 with horror to the present day. The surgeons fled to 
 England to evade condign punishment from the en- 
 raged populace, who accused them of being accessory 
 to the crimes of the procurers. Knox died in Brighton, 
 Eng., a few years ago. This flisjht compelled Syme to 
 seek a new connection. He became acquainted with 
 Liston, at that time attracting notice as a man of dis- 
 tinction as a surgeon. They were distantly related, 
 and both having a common object in view, soon be- 
 came warm friends. Syme made gigantic strides for- 
 ward, under Liston,and when the latter commenced to 
 lecture in a private capacity, Syme was made demon- 
 strator of anatomy, in his dissecting room. So popu- 
 lar was Liston, and so well qualified was Syme, that 
 
2l8 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 during the first winter of this novel attempt to start 
 a class in the shadow of the great schools, seventy 
 students responded to the call. About two years after 
 this, he was offered the office of Medical Superintend- 
 ent of the Fever Hospital. This was a post of 
 danger, from whicli even medical men mii'ht shrink. A 
 large percentage of the medical supcri tcndents are 
 carried off, sooner or later, by one or other of the 
 malignant fevers, which, like a destroying angel, hang 
 ominously over such a lazar house ; Syme did not 
 hesitate to slep into tlie deadly breach, and was 
 gladly accepted. He had only held the appointment 
 four months, before he was stricken clown, and for 
 six long weeks his life like Damocles' sword hung by 
 a hair. His health for several years after this narrow 
 escape, was not good, aud as he felt unable to dis- 
 charge his duty to his own satisfaction, he reluctantly 
 resigned his position. A few months after, he was 
 urged to accept the position of House Surgeon to 
 the Royal Infirmai}''. In this position he began to 
 develope his talents as a surgeon. Cool, daring and 
 yet conservative, he attracted the attention of the 
 visiting doctors, and was often requested to operate in 
 their stead, and sought in council by those who a 
 few short months before looked down upon the boy 
 of 2 2 years of age. His honours now came fast. 
 Liston turned over to him his class on anatomy, and 
 added to his course surgery. In the same year he 
 was made a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, 
 England, and a Fellow of the College of Surgeons, 
 Edinburgh. At the close of 1822 he gave up his 
 
SVME. 219 
 
 . position in the Infirmarv , as lecturer, and went to 
 Dublin, for a time, to 8tud\ under a distinguished pro- 
 fessor of that city. When he came back he started a 
 class in surgery, on his own responsibility. His suc- 
 cess may be imagined, when we say, that inside of two 
 years his class rose from fourteen to 271, and that, 
 too, with his old friends. Listen, Ferguson and Lizars, 
 lecturing in the same city, in regularly organized in- 
 stitutions. The triumvirate took up the cudgels against 
 him, and were so bitter against their successful rival, 
 that when an opening occurred in the surgical statif 
 of the Infirmary, they "lobbied" the managers to 
 reject his application. This enraged Syme, and the 
 consequence was, that he went and rented a large and 
 commodious mansion known as "The Minto House," 
 and established an Infirmary of his own, and so de- 
 termined were he, and his friends, that the course of 
 lectures delivered should be recognized at the "Royal 
 College of Surgeons, Edinburgh," that the clique gave 
 ■way, simply stipulating that the fees should be at a 
 rate not to militate against themselves, and that bis 
 class should never exceed 45 students. Their oppos- 
 ition went still further, for when one of the surgeons 
 of" The College of Surgeons " was appointed pro- 
 fessor in the University, Syme applied for an appoint- 
 ment to the vacant chair, but the triumvirate were 
 still against him, and seeing they could not well keep 
 him out of it, made a desperate effort to abolish the 
 professorship altogether. They obtained a majority, 
 but, as the scheme needed a two-third vote, they 
 were foiled in this. They next brought their forces to 
 
220 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 bear or the candidates, and after a sharp struggle 
 Syme was rejected, but next year he was elected v ith" 
 out opposition, as Professor of CHnical Surgery in the 
 University. At the same time Liston received an 
 appointment as Surgeon to the University College 
 Hospital, London, and strange to say, after Liston'* 
 death, which occurred in 1847, Syme was strongly 
 urged to fill his chair. Liston had, by his boldneis 
 and success in operations, become famous through- 
 out Christendom, and to step into his shoes was no 
 easy task, yet, Syme undertook it. He gave up a po- 
 sition which brought him in about $3,500 and took 
 one which had attached to it, only $750, but a glamour 
 seemed to come over him in this respect, and the 
 fascination of introducing his method of teaching) 
 and his principles and practice, into one of the largest 
 Hospitals of the metropolis, blinded him to the diffi- 
 culties of the situation. A current of ill feeling had 
 set in against "Provincials." The medical journals 
 encored the philippics of the envious. The Scottish 
 invasion of distinguished medical men could be 
 borne no longer, and the hue and cry grew in volume, 
 and reached its climax when Syme settled in London. 
 The "canny" Scot was determined not to put his hand 
 to the plough, and look back. His first lecture showed 
 the man. The students under his easy going prede- 
 cessors ran riot. They did mostly as they liked, and 
 were it not that Liston's enthusiasm in his work created 
 a sort of cftprit de corps in the class, a reign of wildest 
 disorder would have been the result. Syme had not 
 his brilliancy, but he had great force of character, and 
 
SYME. 231 
 
 at once by a direct appeal to their better nature, got 
 hold of the hehn, and steered the bark safely and 
 quietly. Not so with a majority of the native medical 
 men of the city, and from the day he set his foot in the 
 college to the day he left it, a continual hostile strategy 
 was brought to bear upon him, of the most offensive 
 kind. Two noble exceptions were the distinguished 
 anatomists Sharpeyand Quain,with Surgeon Wormald 
 of St. Bartholomew lIosi)ital. These stood by him 
 through thick and thin, and all his students were 
 united to a man in his behalf. They knew his worth 
 and felt that, beneath a somewhat reserved manner^ 
 lay a warm nature, and that in the man was a mine of 
 medical lore. At last he felt th:it he was about to 
 compromise his friends in this "unholy war," and gave 
 up his chair after an occupancy of about eighteen 
 months. He returned to Edinburgh at once and 
 applied for his former chair in the University. It wa 
 still vacant, but a fight had to be made for it. Th^ 
 disruption of the Free Chu.ch had taken place, an^ 
 all the bitterness of a religious controversy was evident 
 on every hand. The test of religion for all public 
 tochers was being hotly discussed, and although it 
 was not finally carried, yet, the discussion did much 
 stir up animosity against those who did not happen 
 to be of the same religious faith, ^s those who were 
 the principal agitators. Syme, however, triumphed 
 and entered a career of professional fame, unrivalled 
 at the time. 
 
 His students hailed from all parts of the world. 
 On the same benches sat Egyptians and Asiatics, 
 
222 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 Russians and Americans, Frenchmen and Italians, 
 and numbers of his students, now scattered all over 
 the habitable globe, still feel the afflatus of the master 
 teacher. In his operations he was always cautious, 
 more than briUiant, and delighted in being successful, 
 more than in being flashy, and wanting success in the 
 end.] He took as much care of his patients afterwards, 
 as during the operations, and he always impressed 
 upon his students the importance of careful watching 
 of cases after the knife had done its work. He used 
 to say, the French were good opcratorSjbut with a grim 
 smile he would add, " I have been in France often, 
 but I never saw a man with a wooden leg !" "When 
 in the Fever Hospital he carried out the "good old 
 plan" of bUstering, salivating and bleeding, for every 
 disease, from nose-ache to toe-ache, but became so 
 satisfied with this irrational mode of combating dis- 
 ease,in all its manifestations, that he entered the battle- 
 field against it, and has been ably followed by Dr. 
 John H. Bennett. 7 he practice got into disrepute, 
 but the fag end of the long file of converts cried out 
 that disease changed in its type, and necessitated a 
 change of treatment. "Ah," said Syme, "but if yc|ir 
 theory be true, how does it happen that we perform 
 more bloody surgical operations, than of yore, and 
 notwithstanding that, and the great loss of blood, 
 under conservative treatment, more recover ?" That 
 was a Gordian-knot which his opponents had no 
 sword to cut. At the urgent request of his students 
 and admirers,he wrote several works of acknowledged 
 ability, and in these he showed his common sense, 
 
SYME. 223 
 
 erudition and perspicuity. He showed in a mono- 
 graph on "diseased joints," that a joint diseased 
 could have its atitccted part cut out and thus save 
 valuable limbs. This was a gigantic stride forwards. 
 Many a poor unfortunate blessed him for Uiis discovery. 
 The practice and theory has been carried farther in 
 the excision of joints, than he thought possible, but 
 to him the initial honour belongs, and in 1816 he 
 performed the operation, for the first time, and success- 
 fully. He went farther still in his practice, and cut 
 out the whole shoulder-blade, in disease, and yet left 
 a serviceable arm, not to speak, of the preservation of 
 life. Nor did he stop here, for he often cut out part 
 and even the whole of the lower jaw in disease, and 
 he followed up this, by excising the whole of the 
 upper jaw, which even the boldest surgeons declared 
 to be impossible, and preserve life. He proved the 
 practicability of it, by numerous examples. In the 
 spring of 1847, a man came to him with a very large 
 bony tumour on the collar bone. It was so large as io 
 impinge on the vessels and nerves of the neck, but 
 Syme effected a radical cure, by unjointing the entire 
 bone, and in ten days the man went on his way re- 
 joicing. In 1832 Syme published a work on surgery. 
 There were few medical works in those days, and the 
 most of them were valuable for their antiquity more 
 than for their usefulness. Syme's book was a god- 
 send to the surgical students of Britain, and even 
 America. It was the quintessence of wisdom, and 
 contained, in a few words, lessons of instruction, 
 which were not a mere jumble of words, but almost 
 
2 24 PKN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 proverbs on surgery. I remember how delighted I was, 
 only a lew years ago, to re-peruse his book, notwith- 
 standing I had Miller, Pirie, Druitt and Gross at my 
 elbow. He was a bane to quacks, and when he came 
 across patients, who had been their dupes, his ex- 
 pressions to the victims, and of the imposters. were 
 more pointed than graceful. Great operations atuact 
 those who are seeking after pelf and fame, for their 
 own sakes, but the ardent lover ot suffering humanity 
 is as delighted at the extraction of an ulcerated tooth, 
 as at the successful issue of a heroic surgical task. 
 Syme impressed this upon his students and carried it 
 out in his practice. He often took, for an example, 
 that of ulceration of the legs, or that more commonly 
 known as "fever sores." They were a perfect harvest 
 or quacks, and with liniments, irritating and foul 
 salves, the small pimple become a running sore, 
 which extended and deepened until life became in- 
 tolerable. He discarded all these appliances and 
 trusting to the powers of nature, applied to these 
 cold water and supported the surrounding parts with 
 adhesive straps, and the result was a great improve- 
 ment. It mattered not whether the ulcers were languid 
 or active, nature put forth strenuous efforts to fill the 
 breach, and often succeeded unless medical officious- 
 ness frustrated its benevolent designs. The only 
 deviation from this course was in regard to what might 
 be called the poor man's ulcers. These afflicted 
 those, "who had an impoverished system, from ritiated 
 air in close alleys, and from poor and insufficient food. 
 These ulcers were surrounded by a hard, stift and ex- 
 
SYME. 225 
 
 ceedingly tender border,and were considerea incurable. 
 This circle of morbid flesh completely cut off all 
 healthy parts from effecting a cure. He applied a 
 blister to the enemy and thus destroyed the virulence 
 of its action, lliis was a great boon to poor men who 
 were often permanently disabled from work on ac- 
 count of them. When these extended downwards to 
 the bone,and old surgeons recommended scraping the 
 bone, or cutting out the bone, as a dtrnier ressou he 
 often brought about a cure by internal remedies which 
 improved the quality of the blood. He also opposed 
 the closing up of a clean cut at its edffc, and leaving 
 clots of blood in the wound, internally, to act as a 
 foreign body and showed that unless there was com- 
 plete adaption of the severed parts, it was better not 
 to interfere, — until bleeding ceased, for the idea that 
 effused clot was necessary to healing had been proved 
 to be wrong in principle and practice. He opposed 
 the amputation of a leg, because the foot or ankle 
 might be only injured, and was the first to amputate 
 it at the ankle. He was among the first to amputate, 
 successfully, at the hip, and in several cases of other- 
 wise inevitable death, saved the patients. But one of 
 his greatest discoveries was in regard to the formation 
 of bone. He showed conclusively by a series of ex- 
 periments that bone was formed Iromits external cover- 
 ing, and not from the centre,and thus opened the way 
 for practice in regard to the union of the bone, es- 
 pecially, in deformities of the bones of the face, by 
 adapting to each other the parts of bone which sup- 
 plied means of growth. It can at once be conceiyed 
 
226 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 how dozens of hitherto incurable cases of deformity 
 and disease could by this knowledge be remedied and 
 cured. Then, he condemned the usual practice in 
 cases of the death of parts of the body, especially in 
 old people, and I find in my memoranda book that 
 his theory consisted in using mild treatment instead 
 of the stimulating treatment of the Coopers, Hunters, 
 Brodie and Liston, Tliey held that low vitality, and 
 death took place by means of a vitiated state of the 
 circulation in the parts, and thus destruction by cor- 
 ruption. Syme held, and showed by examples, that 
 this state was caused through an obliteration of the 
 passages through blood-vessels, on accjunt of their 
 turning into a bony substance, and finally closing up, 
 as if tied with a string. This view was the means of 
 changing the treatment, and, we need scarcely say, 
 of saving many a life. He cured wry-neck by 
 cutting the culprit muscle, and we remember how 
 astonished the patients were at the smallness of the 
 wound, the httle pain, and the wonderful change in 
 their appearance. He was the first surgeon who ever 
 executed this satisfactory work. He boldly tied both 
 ends of an artery in dangerous places, when it was 
 diseased by cin enlargement called aneurism. He 
 brought to a great degree of perfection the cure Of 
 hair-lip and split-palate. He had an ingenious way 
 of restoring the nose, and in amputation of part of 
 the foot, (leaving the heel-bones for future usefulness,) 
 "where," as he used to say, "you put on the straps of 
 your spurs." Thus I might go on, without stint, to 
 relate hie contributions to operative surgery. I fail 
 
SYME. 227 / 
 
 to recollect one other surgeon whose genius has 
 done so much. Simpson justly immortalized himself 
 in the practical use of chloroform. Syme has a cata- 
 logue of inventions, and applications, and theories 
 attached to his name and memory, either of which 
 would be a great memorial of which any surgeon 
 might be proud. I can scarcely realize the fact that 
 three such men as Syme, Simpson, and Sir James 
 Clark, have passed away within a few months of 
 one another; but, they fought with death many a 
 severe battle in the bodies of others, and now the fell- 
 destroyer has his revenge. Syme was a severe op- 
 ponent, and showed little mercy to his antagonists, 
 but he scorned to take an undue advantage, yet he 
 held his ground with great tenacity, and no foe ever 
 found his theories wrong in practice. He scorned 
 superficial investigation, and had no patience with 
 pretenders. I remember how he fought, as late as 
 1857, against the **blood letters." The battle had 
 been going on, for over 30 years, and Syme's army 
 of progressive medical thinkers was daily increasing, 
 while the " fogies " were fast passing away. He 
 told his students how he was ordered by his superiors 
 to go to the Infirmary, regularly, every evening to 
 bleed his patients. It mattered not if the diseases 
 were as wide as the poles apart, the panacea was 
 bleeding. One patient in one of the wards was bled 
 one evening to the extent of five pounds, and next 
 morning as the untortunate did not seem much 
 better he was bled two pounds more. In low fevers 
 as well as in severe injuries the same course of treat- 
 
228 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 ment was pursued, and he did not wonder at the great 
 mortality. He said often, in substance, if you have 
 a diseased fruit tree, in the garden, you do not cut a 
 gash in it, and let the sap run out, to restore it to the 
 healthy action. In bodily disease, a vein is opened in 
 he arm, to reduce inflammation, and because in acute 
 disease the pain is allayed,it is supposed to be subdued. 
 The iusceptibility to realize pain is deadened by the re- 
 duction of blood in the system, as a string tied round 
 the arm benumbs it, because of impeded circulation. 
 At the same time, nature has to make a draft upon 
 the system to repair the mischief done. The master 
 builders have no material to work with, and the 
 encroachments of the enemy go on apace. The words 
 are mine, but the argument contained is his, and the 
 world at the present time endorses,the sagacious view. 
 Who can calculate the good such a man does to human- 
 ity? The circle of his influence ever widens, and 
 deepens, and long after his name has been forgotten, 
 his practical discoveries will still bless frail mortals, in 
 the hands of a cloud of noble workers, who will 
 doubtless rear a goodly superstructure, on the solid 
 foundation laid, with sagacity and skill, by such as 
 honest and indefatigable Syme. Let me say in con- 
 clusion, that Syme, Liston, Miller, and Simpson for- 
 gave one another long before the grave closed over 
 their remains, and left behind them only a sweet re- 
 membrance. 
 
GHOSTS AND THEIR RELATIONS. 
 
 THE Greeks and Romans, including their philoso- 
 phers, were superstitious, and believed in omens, 
 apparitions, and delusions in their multifarious forms. 
 They had lucky and unlucky days, as some of us ac- 
 count Friday to be one. To sneeze in a certain di- 
 rection, at certain hours of the day, was a bad, or 
 good sign, to the sneezer, according to certain inevit- 
 able rules. The entrails of sacrificed victims gave 
 prognostics. The spittle rubbed on certain parts 
 cuied disease, or shielded from harm. The direction 
 of the flight ot birds had in it, interpretations of weal 
 or woe ro humanity. The rolling thunder, or the 
 flashing lightning, in its peals, or lurid intensity of 
 light, was prophecy, portentous of "coming events." 
 
 The ravings and drivelling idiocy of maniacs were 
 construed into omens. Doubtless, the Jewish Rabbins 
 of the middle ages were guilty of propagating these 
 absurdities, as well as many others found in their 
 traditions. The Druids were equally ignorant, and 
 imaginative, in regard to the phenomena of nature. 
 They had a superstitious veneration for the misletoe 
 {viscum album) a parasitical vine, which takes root, so 
 to speak, in the bark of the oak tree, and the oak 
 was sacred to them, as their distinctive name of Druid 
 
230 FKN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 indicates. It was cut with a golden knife, and only 
 by a priest clad in white. The leaves and berries 
 grew in groups of threes, and this odd number was 
 mystical, as was considered the three leaved sham- 
 rock. A solemn and impressive rite was performed 
 when it was cut from the tree. The priests gathered 
 round it, when the moon was six days old. The cut 
 part could not be touched by a human hand, but 
 was dropped into a white handlcerchief, and was 
 thought to be one of the plants of Eden, and a specific 
 for certain diseases. 
 
 Nor were the fierce Saxon invaders, of the British 
 isles, lest given up to a belief in these absurdities. 
 The falling of salt meant financial ruin. The cross- 
 ing of the traveller's pathway by a particular bird, a 
 squirrel, or a hare, when the sun was at its meridian, 
 or the moon at its full, were signs of the triumphs 
 of enemies. To put the foot accidentally into the 
 wrong shoe, was indicative of some fatal blunder. To 
 wash hands in water used by another, was to make 
 him, or her, your mortal enemy. To break a mirror 
 was the beginning of troubles to you and yours. 
 The seeing of a pair of magpies over the left shoulder 
 foretold a double trouble.' The ticking, at dead of 
 night, of the scarabseus, or deaih-ivatch^ was a sure sign 
 of death coming into the family. 
 
 Later in the centuries, parents were wont to ask 
 
 their half-waked children, on St. George's " day in 
 
 the morning," whether they loved their books, or not. 
 
 If so, they were made professionals ; if not, craftsmen. 
 
 Beat a child with an alder stick, and you checked its 
 growth. 
 
GHOSTS. 23/ 
 
 Why did somebody know that Charles I. would 
 come to a bad end ? Because the crowu tottered on 
 his head at his coronation, and at the same time his 
 royal flag was rent in twain as it fluttered over the 
 White I'ower of l^ondon. Every cavalier and round" 
 head knew that Cromwell could not die happy, in 
 spite of his successes, for a great whale cam*^ up to 
 Greenwich outlet, on the day of liis installation, and 
 snorted defiance in the face of the Rump Parlia- 
 ment. Then, if number tliree was a lucky number, » 
 number two was not. The rending of the cloth of 
 gold, upon which James II, trod at his inauguration, 
 was ominous of his unenviable fate. A crop of mis- 
 fortunes followed William II., Henry II,, and 
 Charles II. 
 
 Sir Thomas Browne, a celebrated physician of the 
 17th century, in a book of " Enquiries into Errors," 
 attempts to refute, with great erudition and gravity, the 
 popular errors, that crystal is congealed ice, placed 
 by close chemical affinity, beyond the possibility of 
 thawing out ; that an elephant has no joints ; that a 
 diamond is dissolved by the blood of a goat ; that 
 a corpse weighs heavier than the living man ; that 
 a king-fisher hungup by the bill shows the direction of 
 the soft zephyrs ; that old Sol always has a dancing 
 mania, on Easter day ; that certain herbs laid under 
 the pillow were potent against dreams and visions 
 of the night ; that a nail, from an old coffin laid at our 
 bedroom door, drove away apparitions, and that the 
 rue herb was an abomination to witches, and gave 
 them hysterics if they came near it. 
 
232 PEN PHOTOOKAI'HS. 
 
 The 25th day of January (St. Paul's day) decided 
 the weather for a year, hence the old rhyme : 
 
 " If St. Pauls day be fine and clear, 
 Tt does betide a happy year ; 
 _ But if it chance to snow or r.iin, 
 
 Then will be dear all kinds of Rrain. 
 If clouds or mists do dark the sky, 
 Great store of birds and beasts shall die ; 
 And if the clouds do fly aloft, 
 Then wars shall vex the kingdom oft." 
 
 Swithin, a Danish Bishop, of Winchester, wished 
 to be buried in the churchyard in a democratic way. 
 The monks, however, buried him in the Chancel ; 
 but on July 15th, when this was done (St. Swithin's 
 day) the dead Saint taught them a lesson, for he poured 
 down on them, and the neighborhood, forty days' rain. 
 They hastened to conciliate the obstinate and irate 
 monk, by removing his body to the grave-yard, and 
 built over it a chapel, giving him his way dcjure^ but 
 in fact they conquered in the end. One notable miracle 
 is recorded of him : 
 
 " A woman having broke her eggs, 
 By stumbling at another's legs, 
 For which she made a woeful cry. 
 St. Swithin chanced for to come I)y, 
 Who made them all as sound, or more, 
 Than ever that they were before." 
 
 We laugh at these absurdities now. 
 
 " We think our fathe'-s wroni?, so wise we grow, 
 ^ Our wiser sons, no uoubt, will think us so." 
 
 The sailor still whistles for wind to fill his sails — 
 sees omens in a "horned moon" — keeps witches away 
 by nailing to the rudder, or capstan, or foremast, 
 a worn horse-shoe. 
 
c; HOSTS. 233 
 
 Not long since, in a rural part of Britain, says the 
 London Times^ it was thought necessary, to insure 
 peace to the departed and "lay his ghost," to turn 
 the bee-hives round as the corpse left the house. The 
 person who did it, thought it was necessary to upset all 
 the hives near by. A general stampede was the 
 result, and the corpus was XtiX. pro tern, to attend to its 
 own obsequies. Our fathers gave or applied certain 
 remedies, thrccy seven or 7iine times. We have the 
 principle in the old song : 
 
 " There'sluck in odd numbers, says RoryO'More." 
 
 A royal salute is composed of firing 3 x 7, or 21 guns, 
 or shots. A company of thirteen was always counted 
 unlucky, for one of them was sure to die within the 
 year. The average of human life was not taken into 
 account. The seventh son of a seventh son is counted 
 a genius in this age, and like kings and queens, was 
 supposed by laying on of hands, to cure scrofulous 
 diseases. The hand of a dead malefactor was called 
 preeminently " the hand of glory," for the person 
 touched by it could prevent pursuit, by temporarily 
 paralyzing the pursuer. The Pagan believes in the 
 malign influences of the moon, and its control over 
 lunatics, and the notion is not yet extinct. There 
 is still " a wet moon," or **a dry moon." — " If the 
 Indian can hang his powder horn " on a new moon, or 
 ''if it will slide off," those positions wall show »vhat the 
 meteorological condition of the lunar month will be. 
 Pigs must be killed, sheep shorn, and trees cut down, 
 at the full moon. Tusser's husbandry says "we should 
 not commit seed to the earth when the soil, but when 
 
234 I'KN PHOTOORAPUki. 
 
 the moon requires it. Our hair sliould be cut when 
 the moon is either in Leo, that our locks may stare 
 like the lion's shag, or in Aries, th;U they may curl 
 like a ram's horn. Whatever he would ha>cgrovv, 
 he sets about when she is in her increase, but for 
 what he would have made less, he chooses her wane." 
 Eminent surgeons of the i6th century held that 
 spots on the finger-nails were fit premonitions of 
 coming evil events. Burton, in his anatomy , lield 
 that a black s])ot on the nail is ominous of coming 
 evil. As a general rule, it is a sure sign oi past injury. 
 From the earliest ages, until to-day, the wedding ring 
 is worn upon the fourth finger of the right hand, 
 because it is believed the artery comes to it, from the 
 heart more directly than to any of the other digitals. 
 If a candle has a blue llame a spirit is hovering 
 round, and a knot of tallow near the flame presaged 
 that death will soon be in the family. If crickets 
 left the house a calamity was at hand, just " as rats 
 leave a sinking ship." To move on Friday, or leave 
 port on Friday, is bad luck, because it was the day of 
 the week of the crucifixion, and many, at the present 
 time will not move a cat on that day as if poor 
 pussy held in her claws the destiny of humanity. The 
 class of plants called " Cryptogamia," eg-, the 
 fern, have hidden seeds under the leaves. For a 
 long time it was supposed that any one who found the 
 invisible seed, and ate it, had the. power of becoming 
 themselves invisible. The deadly nightshade {Atropa 
 Belladonna) was supposed to feed only on corruption 
 and decay, and hence had great medical properties 
 
GH0ST8. 235 
 
 and virtues. The mandrake {atro/xi manihat^'^ra) was 
 held in great repute, us the wise said it grcv only 
 under the gallows, and fed from the corrupt drippings 
 of executed malefactors, and so sensitive was it, that 
 when pulled up, it shrieked. It was said to be pesti- 
 lential to gather it, and so bunches of it were tied 
 to dogs' t:iiis,an{l the canines were suddenly frightened 
 away, carrying it with them. Its root cut in a certain 
 way resembles a human form. The Glastonbury thorn 
 is said to blossom only ou Christmas day — to bud in 
 the morning, flower at noon, and decay at the apj)roach 
 of night. , 
 
 Joseph, of Arimathea, was said to have been the 
 founder of Christianity in England, and on first 
 landing stuck his staff into the ground, and it budded, 
 and grew, at that place, into a thorn. James I. and 
 Queen Anno visited it, and took away cuttings of it 
 for good luck. The fact seems to be, that in thai- 
 vicinity grows black hellebore {Hdlcborus nigcr), or 
 Christmas rose, which blossoms early in the year, 
 hence the legend. A silver bullet fired from a gun, 
 if aimed in a straight line towards a witch, or a wizard, 
 was sure death ; lead had no terrors for the possess- 
 ed, but silver was potent to do mischief to these un- 
 fortunates. To eat the lungs of a greyhound was good 
 for consumption, for good lungs begot good lungs. To 
 hang up a red cloth in a room in which lay a jierson 
 ill with scarlet fever, brought the eruption out im- 
 mediately. The Trojan priests cured by prayers. The 
 Romans and Orientals by charms. Cato proposed 
 as a cure for a fractured limb that tlio following 
 
236 PEN PHOTOGBAPHS. 
 
 charm should be sung : ^^Jfuat^ luciat, isM, pista^fisia, 
 domifiabo damntistra et luxatay The Druids gave 
 medicines, but accompaniec) them by religious cere- 
 monials. This was an iruprovement on incantations, 
 a sort of Cromwellian common sense, that believed in 
 trusting in God and keeping the powder dry. A 
 monkish legend says, King John of England was 
 poisoned, by a reptile, being in his drink. A friar 
 cured him by taking a toad, and putting it in ale, 
 then pricked it all over, until the venom ran out, 
 then presented this ambrosial dose to the king, on 
 bended knees, saying, ''"^ir, wassail, for never in your 
 life drank ye of such a cup.'' "Begin, monk," said 
 the king. He drank and died, but it must have been 
 from fright, the story should have run, /or toada are not 
 poisonous. Certain saints seemed to have the control 
 of certain diseases. The good men must have made 
 certain diseases specialities. St. Appolonia (whoever 
 he might be) controlled toothache. What a roaring 
 trade he could have enjoyed in our day, and among 
 this generation of rotting fangs, could he have charmed 
 away that '' hell o' a' diseases !" St. Anthony "stamp- 
 ed out " inflamations. St. Osillia cured, by magical 
 efforts, sore eyes. St. Wolfgung made the lame walk 
 by his potent piety. St. Ruffin made the mad sane 
 by word of mouth. He must have studied the power 
 of David's lyre over demoniac Saul. These, and 
 other saints, possessing medical powers, were believed 
 in, to the death. Bacon tells us, a wounded snake 
 will drag itself to a medicinal plant and attempt a 
 •cure by rubbing itself against it ; and that the flesh 
 
GHOSTS. 237 
 
 of dragons, severely hunted, will if eaten prolong 
 life. Scott, in his " Discovery of Witchcraft," says 
 that in early times if a perbon was bitten by a 
 scorpion, this was a sure cure, "say to an ass secretly, 
 (we would say in soliloquy), and as it were, whisper- 
 ing in his ear, *I am bitten with a serpent.'" '■^Eureka,'* 
 the remedy is potent. Find an elder tree on which 
 the sun has never sent its rays, and apply its leaves 
 to St. Anthony's fire, and no fire company could 
 quench a flame sooner. To cure consumption tie a 
 rag to the finger, and toe-nail of a sick person, then 
 take it off, and wave it three times round your head, 
 and bury it privately, and that fell destroyer is master- 
 ed. Ricketty children were drawn through the rent 
 in a green tree ; the tree was then bound up, and 
 when it healed, the child got better. Mount a patient, 
 who had whooping-cough, on a black ass (all depended 
 on the color), then trot the animal nine times round 
 the oak tree, and repeat this valuable journey every 
 day at noon, until a cure is eff"ected; or, if that did not 
 do, make a dog swallow a hair, from the sick person's 
 head, rolled in butter. It is believed yet by many, that 
 a ring made out of Communion money is a cure om- 
 nipotent, for convulsions. Lord Bacon, in his "Sylva 
 Sylvarum," gives great prominence to gold as a 
 remedial agent, and par excell^ice, it was called au- 
 rum potabilc. Charles II. swallowed all sorts of abomi- 
 nations on his death-bed, and had prescribed to him, 
 at last, "the treacle of mummy," viz.^ ground Egyp- 
 tian munimy, and molasses. We are not informed 
 whether it was important as to the sex of the mummy; 
 
238 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 but the svilphur and treacle to which the juveniles 
 of Dotheboy's Hall, were doomed would have been 
 nectar, in comparison to that villainous compound. 
 
 It may be said that all these superstitions were of 
 the past, and that the Common Schools have (driven 
 them away, into oblivion. Not at all. The astrologer 
 who pretends to read our future destiny flourishes 
 A. D,, 1873, in large cities and is sought for, far and 
 near. The " bumpologist" whose fingers seek ele- 
 vations-, numerous, prominent, and rotund, on the 
 skull, and who can by these manipulations "read 
 you like a book," ''drives a roaring trade." 
 
 The Spiritualists seeks information from the Spirit 
 land, of a loved or hated one, wishing the former 
 ambrosial fruit, and the latter a hot gridiron, and 
 sends a lock of the hair, a paring of a toe-nail, or an 
 excised cuticle, to a medium, in order to make that 
 iertium quid, en rapporf with a vagabond Spirit, and 
 it two or more call for the disembodied essence at 
 once, the rule is ''first come fiist served." He, she, 
 or it, comes at once from the utmost bounds of 
 the universe to the elect, and lucky go-between, and 
 launches out into biography, history, poetry or cook- 
 ing, the first complete, of many non-corporeal egos 
 and the last personal, and far from satisfactory, and the 
 middle two consisting of a fnisei-ae. This burlesque, on 
 a grand truth, is the religion of tens of thousands. In 
 the Province of Ontario, at this hour, woollen threads 
 are tied round thumbs and toes, to stop divers bleed- 
 ings. The skin of a black cat with a white tip to its 
 tail, in its application, cures inflammation. Spiders 
 
GHOSTS. ' 239 
 
 webs rolled into pills cure agues. Table salt put 
 into a plate, and over the mouth of the dead, pre- 
 vents putrefaction. All our dead are buried with 
 their feet to the east, because the centre of attraction 
 at the resurrection, it is supposed, will be in that 
 direction. 
 
 The dismal howl of a dog forebodes death close 
 at hand, in the direction the cur barks. The large 
 end of a pig's '•melt" in proportion to a small end, 
 tells whether the first end of the winter will be severe, 
 or the last, or both ends, for "coming events, thus, cast 
 their shadows before." 
 
 All these absurdities, and a thousand others, are 
 of to-day, in Awjlo-Saxendom, so enlightened, so sharp- 
 witted, and so wise. There is a mote, or a beam some- 
 where else, than in a brother's eye. Intelligent 
 people believe such nonsense, and while they laugh 
 at the fancies, will perform some of those acts, say- 
 ing, "they will do no harm, and may be true." 
 Need we wonder, then, that a belief in ghosts took 
 possession of a people whose mentality had been 
 educated to accept, as true as Holy writ, these signs, 
 omens, charms, and superstitions. 
 
 Ghosts ! What crowds of unpleasant memories troop 
 forward from the cloudy past, at the mere utterance 
 of the word ! How the juvenile days of such in- 
 quisitorial torture come up in horrid retrospects, 
 and reminiscences of the past ! The old and dripping 
 cave by the sea shore is conjured up, as with wizard 
 wand ; and the stalactites, and stalagmites of gro- 
 tesque form, stand out in bold relief, as if sheeted 
 
240 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 dead, and every cold, damp nook seemed a fit home 
 for witches or hobgoblins. We see the weird sisters 
 dancing round the livid flames, as tempest, and 
 thunder, and lightning hold high revelry without. 
 *'The secret, dark, and midnight hags," who ride 
 mid-air on broom-sticks, on the wings ot the hurri- 
 cane, or sail over dark pools, of Stygian mirkiness, in 
 creels, seem to be there, invisible, deep in the mys- 
 tery of foulest deeds. The caverns of old ocean 
 left gaping wide, by the receding billows, were, in 
 youthful and exuberant fancy, the palaces of mermaids 
 — half fish — half woman — with flowing hair, blue eyes 
 of sad and ocean-like prcfuuility, and well-developed 
 busts, singing a syren song to, lure helpless and 
 hapless mariners to destruction. Yonder, was the 
 phantom ship, crowded with ghostly sailors, and 
 
 " Her sails that glance in the sun, 
 
 Like restless gossamers, 
 
 Her ribs, through which the sun 
 
 Did peer as through a grate 
 
 The sun's rim dips, th^ stars rush out, 
 At one stride comes the dark, 
 With far-heard whisper o'er the sea, 
 Off shot the spectre bark,'' 
 
 but, after such a sight, to the terror-stricken tars, can 
 be no harbour, no home, no kindred on earth. Yon- 
 der is the dreary vale where " Mungo's mither hanged 
 hersel," or where foul and secret murder was com- 
 mitted unatoned for. and because of which, the 
 troubled spirit, in unrest, walks its weary rounds, 
 uttering doleful lamentations, as if afflicted with a 
 grievous tooth-ache, or cramped stomach, until it 
 unburdens its woe to some startled midnight traveller, 
 
GHOSTS. 24X 
 
 who interrogates it, on its eccentricities,, and then it 
 "finds rest for the weary," for we have the authority 
 of Mihon in his "Ode on the Nativity," in positively 
 asserting that : — 
 
 "When the sun in bed, 
 Curtained with cloudy red, 
 Pi'lows his chin upon the orient wave, 
 The flociiing shadows pale 
 Troop to the iniernal jail, 
 Each lettered ghost slips to his several grave ; 
 And the yellow skirted rays 
 Fly after the night steeds, leiuing their moon-loved maze."' 
 
 The graveyard seems to be a grand rendezvous 
 for ghosts. They seem to have a hankering after the 
 casket of mortality, even if it is a festering, loath- 
 some corpse, fashionably wrapped in muslin, cotton, 
 fine linen, ribbons, broadcloth, timber, shavings, 
 varnish, and tinsel, for the furniture of its dwelling 
 place, or a few pounds of unctuous, clammy earth, 
 in which lies a porous skeleton, with grinning jaws, 
 and hollow sockets, and empty ribs, yet all ♦' midst 
 skulls and coffins, epitaphs and worms." The young 
 are there, plucked in their bloom j those who were 
 
 " Young loves, young hopes, 
 Dancing on morning's cheek ; 
 Gems leaping in the coronet of love ; 
 Gay, guileless, sportive little things, 
 Dancing around the den of sorrows ; 
 Clad in smiles." 
 
 The maiden fair, on whom nature has laid a master 
 hand, is also a tenant. The stalwart athlete, the 
 brave heart, the wise head, filled with a motley 
 multitude of passions ''magnanimous and mean," 
 lie quietly in the narrow house •• appointed lor all 
 
 x6 
 
242 PEN PIIO'IOGKAI'IIS. 
 
 living.'' The grey head, the beuded form, the 
 aching frame, and the weary brain seek repose 
 amid the clods of the valley, 
 
 " Strange medley here ! 
 Here garrulous old age, winds up its tale, 
 And jovial youth, ot lightsome vacant heart, 
 Whose every day was made of melody. 
 Hears not the voice of mirth ; the shrill-tongued shrew 
 Meek as the turtle-dove, forgets hercliiding, 
 . Here are the wise, the generous and the brave, 
 The just, the good, the worthless and profane, 
 The downright clown, and perf^ectly well-bred ; 
 The fool, the churl, the scoimdrel, and the mean, 
 The supple statesman, and the patriot stern. 
 The wreck of nations, and the spoils of time, 
 With all the lumber of six thousand years." ( 
 
 No wonder that the "cities of the dead," " Clod's 
 acres," should be thought haunted ground. Here 
 " dead candles, tlit over graves, with lurid flame, 
 noiselessly undoing gates, ringing church bells, and as 
 forerunners, floating in tlie way of future funeral 
 processions. Here the " sheeted dead" take walks 
 for exercise, and always at the midnight hour. To 
 their credit be it spoken, they eschew the fashions, 
 and sport no waterfalls — no hoops or crinoline — 
 no Dolly Vardens — no dromedary humps — no chig- 
 nons — no spaviny limbs -no stove-pipe hats — no 
 pants of restricted area — no swallow-tailed coats — 
 and no exalted heels, on the " cribbing and cabin- 
 ed'' boots. White is the standard colour, and the 
 garments flow in graceful outline, and artistic folds 
 to the ground. They are not gregarious in their 
 habits, and seem to enter into no companionship with 
 a brother or sister ghost ; but are ever found as 
 lonely sentinels, as if ostracised from the spectral 
 
GHOSTS. 243 
 
 camp, or as being on the vidette line of the mighty 
 army of unsubstantial entities. They seek companion- 
 ship with humanity ; but the poor things are too 
 often rebuffed, with a «' not at home " falsehood, or 
 with a clean pair of heels, in active exercise, seeking 
 refuge by ignominious flight. These phantoms 
 are accused of deriving pleasure by striking terror into 
 the hearts of the beholder, and that such disreputable 
 motives make them missionaries to earth. This 
 charge may be a bearing of false witness against our 
 neighbours, and may lay us open, at some future 
 time, to a prosecution for defamation of character, 
 where nolle prosi' qui cannot be entered. The liorrible 
 idea is not conducive to the peace of mind especially 
 of rebellious youths, or belated truants from home, 
 for, 
 
 " Oft in the lone churchyard at night I've seen 
 By glimpses of moonsliine, chequered throiigh the trees. 
 I he school-boy, with his satchel in his hand, 
 WhiBthng aloud to keep his courage up. 
 And lightly tripping o'er the long flat stones, 
 (Wiih nettles skirted and white moss o'ergrown,) 
 That tell in homely phrase who lies below, 
 Sudden he starts ! and hears, or thinks he hears, 
 The sound of something purring at his heels, 
 Full fast he flies, and dares not look behind him, 
 Till out ot breath he overtakes his fellows ; 
 Who gather round and wonder at the tale 
 Of horrid apparition, tall and gh«stly. 
 That walks at dead of night, or takes his stand 
 O'er some new opened grave ; and, strange to tell 
 Jb. vanishes at crowing of the cock." 
 
 His Satanic Majesty seems to have a love for 
 graveyards and churches. Whether it is because he 
 has chattel mortgages on certain property in the one, 
 and finds his strongest opposition in the other, it is 
 
244 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 hard to tell. It may be that he permeates the atmos- 
 phere of the sacred edifice, with a demoniac influ- 
 ence, which makes sermons dull, speakers stupid, 
 and hearers sleepy, or tfiat he is on the hunt for some 
 *' wandering refugee" ghost, which does not return 
 to its virtuous couch at seasonable hours. That he 
 finds these places, citadels of opposition, and com- 
 petition is evident, and, therefore, having regard to 
 the integrity of his kingdom, in this mundane sphere^ 
 it is not to be wondered at, that his anxiety should 
 be great in regard to these places, when every seventh 
 day, organized attempts, at the overthrow of his 
 sovereignty, are systeniatically carried on with vigor, 
 and with partial success. We have all felt his potent 
 clairvoyance, at such times, by a sense of the ludi- 
 crous predominating, where no fun or humour should 
 be — by a ledger or day book, or bank note rising 
 up before the mind's eye, as from devilish incantations 
 — by John having photographs of Maggie standing 
 out in clear relief, on the back of a front pew, on a 
 panel of the pulpit, or on the white wall — by Maggie 
 pondering on the last words uttered at the garden 
 gate, where only two were good company — by far- 
 mer Jacobus wondering when the drought will end ; 
 when the " epizoo" will cease tormenting his horses ; 
 and why such myriad pests affect direfuUy his crops 
 — by Jerusha wondermg how Sally Jones could afford 
 to wear such nice things — by Ebenezer Perkins 
 studying out how much he will give in a horse trade, 
 to morrow, and how he can cheat a neighbour out 
 of his honest dues next court — by Dolorous Punjaub, 
 
GHOSTS. 24< 
 
 who has cast-iron features, studying a pose which 
 will affect stunningly a congregation, by the solemn 
 attitude. The Spirit will watch the spiders and count 
 the cobwebs ; it will draw lakes, rivers, continents 
 and islands, from the black spots on the wall ; it 
 sees a butter-fly, roving, how sober it is, by walking 
 up and down, on the bridge of some body's nose, 
 without a stagger, and dab.bing at imaginary moisture ; 
 it does chuckle at a philosophic grasshopper's clumsy 
 attempts to produce friction on its spine by means of 
 legs, which seem too long for successful applica- 
 tion ; and on the top of .the pew, the observed of 
 all observers ; it will, by a sort of inference, draw 
 conclusions as to the probable length of the sermon, 
 the state of the road home, the time of arrival, and 
 the probabilities as to the dinner hour. The dody 
 is no better, for it must intermittently seek temporary 
 comfort, on one hemisphere at a time ; the head will 
 insist on exciting disagreeable sensations, positive 
 and local, which, in the interest of peace, must have 
 vigorous manual treatment, in spite of the critical ob- 
 servations of church going comrades, in the rear 
 ranks ; the probocis is profuse in its libations to an 
 unknown frigid deity, and the cotton, linen, or silk 
 receptacle, for its generous offerings, has been left 
 at home ; the grinding, stinging, throbbing corn, 
 imprisoned in a number six, is rebellious at its cap. 
 tivity, and is, in feeling tones, crying out for a /labeas 
 corpus. We set the toes up, but no relief. We raise 
 the heels, but there is no peace, " in the north-west 
 angle of said lot, number eight ;" we turtle-like with- 
 
246 ' PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 draw the rebellious domain, by muscular contrartion, 
 from the undue pressure of the enemy, and find a 
 truce of temporary duration, from the fangs of the 
 relentless foe. " A kingdom for an old shoe I" A 
 " dickie " is pinned carefully to hide, hypocritically, 
 a manly bosom, and all which lies between, but pins 
 come out, starch is obstinate, and a smootii surface 
 becomes corrugated into hills and valleys, with peeps 
 behind the scenes. We send i*" /// situ, with a savage 
 push, but it will not stay put, and grins, nods, winks 
 show that ''the murder is out." I occupied a pew 
 once with a friend in a cer.tain church, who had a 
 bunch of matches in a linen coat pocket. He sat 
 on them, and by the friction of contract, they took 
 lire, and with them the coat. The fumes showed 
 the seat of trouble, and forgetting time and place, 
 he ejaculated " the d — 1 !" just as " Brethren, the 
 scriptures moveth us in sundry places, isic," floated 
 on the air, and then he described the hypothenuse of a 
 right-angled triangle, towards the door, leaving 
 sulphurous fumes in the rear, with an incense suggestive 
 of another locality. This catalogue of Satanic 
 influence is far trom complete, and in the midst of it 
 all, we are expected to " inwardly digest" all which 
 father Comfort has said. 
 
 Vampyres were graveyard frequenters of a sanguin. 
 ary kind. They must have been a sort of ghostly 
 weasels, and loved to suck human blood. The learned 
 Horst says " A vampyre is a dead body, which con 
 tinues to live in the grave ; which it leaves, however^ 
 by night, for the purpose of sucking the blood of 
 
GHOSTS. 147 
 
 the living, and thus it keeps in good condition, <•.//.' 
 You lie, powerless at night, in bed, and this pale 
 spectre of the grave approaches you. His face is 
 felt by you, fresh with the corrupt odours of the 
 ^harncl-house. He seizes you by the jugular vein 
 and pierces it with his poisonous fangs, then, takes 
 his supper from t'.e fiowuig crimson stream — simple 
 but nutritious food — and leaves no wound behind. 
 
 We are told the wound is fatal, unless the victim 
 eats earth from the grave of the vampyre, and smears 
 hmiself with his blood. At last, the bitten becomes 
 himself a vampyre, in time, and thus the monstrosity 
 is perpetuated. This belief is no tale of fiction, for it 
 has been believed in by good Pkitains, and to this 
 day the delusion is potent in Servia and Wallachia, 
 and in the Levant, being sworn to by wise surgeons, 
 and learned savans. To utter the word " Var- 
 donlacha" to a modern Greek (if Byron or Southey 
 is to be believed,) is to shock him wiHi horror. 
 Byron's poetic power is seen in the Tartar's curse 
 against a father : 
 
 " But first on earth as Vampyre sent, 
 Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent ; 
 Then ghastly haunt thy native place, 
 And suck the blood of all thy race, 
 There from thy daughter, sister, wife, 
 At midnight drain the stream of life, 
 Yet loathe the banquet, which perforce 
 Must feed thy living, livid corse. 
 Wet with tl ine own best blood shall dip 
 Thy gnashing tooth, and haggard lip. 
 Then stalking to thy sullen grave, 
 Go, and with ghouls and Afrits rave ; 
 Till these in horror shrink away 
 From spectre more accursed than they t 
 
248 FEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 , Dickens, in •' All the Year Round," says that : In 
 the year 1625, on the borders of Hungary and Tran- 
 sylvania, a vampyrish story arose, which "was renewed 
 afterward in a noteworthy way. A peasant of 
 Madveiga, named Arnold Paul, was crushed to death by 
 the fall of a wagon-load of hay. Thirty days afterwards 
 our persons died with all the symptoms (according 
 to popular belief) of their blood having been sucked 
 by vampyres. Some of the neighbors remembered 
 having heard Arnold say that he hau often been tor- 
 mented by a vampyre ; and they jumped to the con- 
 clusion that the passive vampyre had now become 
 active. This was in accordance with a kind of formula 
 or theorem on the subject: that a man who, when 
 alive, has had his blood sucked by a vampyre, will, 
 after his denth, deal with other persons in like man- 
 ner. The neighbours exhumed Arnojd Paul, drove a 
 stake through the heart, cut ofif the head, and burned 
 the body. The bodies of the four persons who had 
 recently died, were treated in a similar way, to make 
 surety doubly sure. Nevertheless, even this did not 
 suffice. In 1 73 1, seven years after these events, 
 seventeen persons died in the village near about one 
 time. The memory of the unlucky Arnold recurred 
 to the vir igers ; th3 vampyre theory was again ap- 
 pealed tc ; be was believed to have dealt with the 
 seventeen as he had previously dealt with the four; 
 and they were therefore disinterred, the heads cut of!, 
 the hearts staked, the bodies burned, and the ashes 
 dispersed. One supposition was that Arnold had 
 vampyrised some cattle, that the seventeen villagers 
 
GHOSTS. 249 
 
 had eaten of the beef, and had fiillen victims in con- 
 sequence. This affair attracted much attention at 
 the time. Louis the XV. directed the Aml)assa- 
 dor at Vienna to make inquiries in the matter. Many 
 of the witnesses attested on oath that the disinterred 
 bodies were full of blood, and exhibited few of the 
 usual symptoms of death — indications which the be- 
 lievers in vampyres stoutly maintained to be always 
 present in such cases. This has induced many phy- 
 sicians to think that real cases of catalepsy or trance 
 were mixed up with the popular beli^.f, and were 
 supplemented by a large allowance of epidemic fana- 
 ticism. Mr. Pashley, in his "Travels in Crete," stales 
 that when he was at the town of Askylo, he asked 
 about the vampyres, or katakhanadhes, as the Cretans 
 called them, of whose existence and doings he had 
 heard many recitals, stoutly corroborated by the 
 peasantry. Many of the stories converged towards 
 one central fact, which Mr. Pashley believed had 
 given origin to them all. On one occasion a man of 
 some note was buried afc St. George's Church, at Kali- 
 krati, in the island of Crete. An arch or canopy was 
 built over his grave. But he soon afterwards made 
 his appearance as a vampyre, haunting the village, 
 and destroying men and children. A shepherd was 
 one day tending his sheep and goats near the church, 
 and on being caught in a shower, went under the 
 arch to seek shelter from the rain. He determined 
 to pass the night there, laid aside his arms, and 
 stretched himself on a stone to sleep. In placing his 
 firearms down (gentle shepherds of pastoral poemi 
 
250 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 do not want firearms, but the Cretans are not gentle 
 shepherds), he happened to cross them. Now this 
 crossing was always believed to have the eftect of pre- 
 venting a vampyre from emerging ^rom the spot where 
 the emblem was found. Thereupon occurred a singu- 
 lar debate. The vampyre rose in the night, and re- 
 quested the shepherd to remove the firearms in order 
 that he might pass, as he had some important business 
 to transact. The shepherd, inferring frpni this re- 
 quest that the corpse was the identical vampyre which 
 had been doing so much mischief, at first refused his 
 assent ; but on obtaining from the vampyre a promise 
 on oath that he would not hurt him, the shepherd 
 moved the crossed arms. The vampyre, thus enabled 
 to rise, went to a distance of two miles, and killed 
 two persons, a man and a woman. On 1ms return, 
 the shepherdsaw some indication of v/hat had occurred, 
 which caused the vampyre to threaten him with a 
 similar fate if he divulged what he had seen. He 
 courageously told all, however. The priests and 
 other persons came to the spot next morning, took 
 up the corpse (which in day-time was as lifeless as any 
 other), and burnt it. While burning, a little spot of 
 blood spurted on tlie sheplierd's foot, which instantly 
 withered away; but otherwise no evil resulted, and the 
 vampyre was effectually destroyed. This was certain- 
 ly a very peculiar vampyre story ; for the coolness 
 with which the corpse, and the shepherd carried on 
 their conversation under the arch was unique enough. 
 Nevertheless, the persons who narrated the affair to 
 Ml". Pashley firmly believed in its truth, although 
 slightly differing in their versions of it. 
 
GHOSTS. 251 
 
 This superstition doubtless arose from the fact 
 that many persons were buried alive. In many epi- 
 demics thousands are hurried to the grave, who are 
 only in a death-trance. The suspension of the heart's 
 action — of respiration — of voluntary motion — of nor- 
 mal bodily warmth — of all the phenomena of animal 
 life maybe absent, and, yet, the person may be alive, 
 and in many cases conscious of the coming doom of 
 permature interment. This suspended animation may 
 be brought about by nervousness, disease, poisoning, 
 suffocation, cold, or any exciting cause. - The German 
 name of this condition is better than our English word 
 "trance." They call it ** Scheintod," or apparent 
 death. Negative signs of absence of life are no criteria 
 of real death. Surgeons, "yho have studied this state 
 have seen the glassy eye — muscular relaxation — no 
 pulse, no blood from an opened vein, and perceived ;i 
 smell of mortification from the body and still lite exist- 
 ing. At these times, nothing short of the usual signs 
 of mortification and decomposition could be relied on. 
 Bulwer, who died a few weeVs ago, and who wrote " A 
 Strange Story," treating of such subjects, made a pro- 
 vision in his will, that he should not, under any cir- 
 cumstances, be buried hastily, and that every precau- 
 tion should be taken that he mii2;ht not be interred alive. 
 Bodies thus buried, if disinterred, would preserve their 
 freshness, in the cold grave, not evidenced in those in 
 whom corruption had commenced, before being buried. 
 Hence, no stretch of imagination is needed to con- 
 ceive how ignorance could conjure up all sorts of absur- 
 dities, in regard to vampyrism and its accompanying 
 
252 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 atrocities. Like the optical delusions of the Hartz 
 Mountains, a small man can produce, by the refracting 
 
 or reflecting laws of light, a giant of the Brocken,much 
 more formidable than the original,and yet any airy de- 
 lusion of th , clouds or mist. 
 
 Some Irish families are blessed with thecons^^ant 
 attendance of a Banshee. This ghost is aristocratic, 
 and only attaches itself to families of patrician blood. 
 It appears, generally, like a small, wiry, wrinkled, 
 withered up old woman, with red hood, and red 
 cloak. Before death takes place in the family, of its 
 attachment, it fills the neighbourhood with wild 
 screeches of unearthly intensity, and with heart-rend- 
 ing lamentations most dolorous and pathetic. I do 
 not know its genealogy,but would infer trom its unrest, 
 that it is far from being happy, at intermittent seasons, 
 and that death is an unpleasant visitant to its 
 favorite haunts, and to its friends. 
 
 In years gone by these families, which had the 
 repute, of having an attendant Banshee, were proud 
 of the spectral visitant, not because of its wailings 
 and prophecies, but, because of its presence being 
 prima facie evidence of aristocratic descent, in spite 
 of " Burke's Peerage," or the local ostracism of "blue- 
 blooded" nabobs, who ''came in with the Normans," 
 forgetting, as many such do, that : 
 
 ' ' 'Tls only noble to be good ; 
 Kind he-irts are more than coronets, 
 And simple faith than Norman blood." 
 
 The Banshee race is, however, becoming extinct, 
 and I am willing to leav-e it to Darwin to decide, what 
 link in the chain of being, it supplies, above or be- 
 
GHOSTS. 253 
 
 low humanity, and whether its fossil remains are to 
 be found "in the sands of time," or is it "a trifle light 
 as air." Chambers in his '* Popular Rhymes of 
 Scotland " gives an account of another race of 
 bemgs, having attachment also to families, and if 
 they will not be offended, I might say, that I feel 
 sure the Banshee is aunt to them, and this fact gives 
 them a respectable ancestry. The brownie was a 
 household spirit of a useful and familiar character. 
 
 In former times, almost every farm-house in the 
 South of Scotland was supposed to be haunted by 
 one. He was understood to be a spirit of a some- 
 what grotesque figure, dwarfish in stature, but en- 
 dowed with great personal strength. It was his humor 
 to be unseen and idle during the day, or while the 
 people of the house were astir, and only to exert 
 himself while all the rest were asleep, It was cus- 
 tomary for the mistress of the house to leave out 
 work for him — such as the supper dishes to be washed, 
 or the churn to be prepared — and he never failed to 
 have the whole done in the morning. This drudg- 
 ery he performed gratuitously. He was a most 
 disinterested spirit. To have offered him wages, or 
 even to present him with an occasional boon, would 
 have insured his anger, and perhaps caused him to 
 abandon the establishment. 
 
 Numerous stories are told of his resentment in 
 cases of his being thus affronted. For instance, the 
 goodman of a farm-house, in the parish of Glen- 
 devon, left out some clothes one night for the brownie, 
 
254 ^'^'^ PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 who was heard during the night to depart, saying 
 in a highly offended tone — 
 
 " Gie brownic! coat, gie brownie sark, 
 Ye'seget nae mair o' brownie's wark !" 
 
 The Brownie of the farnj-house of Bods-beck, in 
 Moffatdale, left his employment upwards of a cen- 
 tury ago, on a similar account. He had exerted 
 himself so much in the farm labor, both in and out 
 of doors, that Bodsbeck became the most prosperous 
 farm in the district. He always took his meat as it 
 pleased himself, usually in very moderate quantities, 
 and of the most humble description. During the 
 time of very hard labor, perhaps harvest, when a little 
 better fare than ordinary might have been judged ac- 
 ceptable, the goodman took the liberty of leaving out 
 a mess of bread and milk, thinking it but fair that 
 at a time when some improvement, both in quantity 
 and quality, was made upon the fare of the human 
 servants, the useful brownie should obtain a share in 
 the blessing. He, however, found his error, for the 
 result war diat the brownie left the house for ever, 
 exclaiming — 
 
 ' ' Ca', brownie, ca' 
 A' the luck o' Bodsbeck away to Leithenha." 
 
 The luck of Bodsbeck accordingly departed with 
 its brownie, and settled in the neighboring fnrm- 
 •house, called Leithenhall, whither the brownie trans- 
 ferred his f iendship and services. One of the 
 principal characteristics of the brownie was his 
 anxiety about the moral conduct of the household 
 
GHOSTS. 155 
 
 to which he was attached. He was a spirit very much 
 inclined to prick up his ears at the first appearance of 
 any impropriety in the manners of his fellow-servants. 
 The least delinquency committed either in barn, or 
 cow-house, or larder, he was sure to report to his 
 master, whose interests he seemed to consider para- 
 mount to every other thing in this world, and from 
 whom no bribe could induce him to conceal the 
 offences which fell under his notice. The men, there- 
 tore, and not less the maids, of the establishment re- 
 garded him with a mixture of fear, hatred and respect • 
 and though he might not often find occasion to do 
 his duty as a spy, yet the firm belief that he would 
 be relentless iu doing so, provided that he did find 
 occasion, had a salutary effect. A ludicrous instance 
 of his zeal as guardian of the household morals is 
 told in Peebleshire. Two dairymaids, who were 
 stinted in their food by a too frugal mistress, found 
 themselves one day compelled by hunger to have re- 
 course to the highly improper expedient of stealing 
 a bowl of milk and a bannock, which the}'' proceeded 
 to devour, as they thought, in secret. They sat 
 upon a form, with a space between, whereon they 
 placed the bowl and the bread, and they took bite 
 and sip alternately, each putting down the bowl 
 upon the seat for a moment's space after taking a 
 draughty and the other then taking it up in her hands, 
 and treating herself in the same way. They had no 
 sooner commenced their mess, than the brownie came 
 between the two, invisible, and whenever the bow 
 was set down upon the seat, also took a draught, by 
 
256 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 which means, as ht devoured fully as much as both 
 put together, the milk was speedily exhausted. The 
 surprise of the famished girls at finding the bowl so 
 soon empty was extreme, and they began to ques- 
 tion each other very sharply upon the subject, with 
 mutual suspicion of unfair play, when the brownie un- 
 deceived them, exclaiming, with malicious glee — 
 
 "Ha! ha ! ha ! 
 Brownie has't a'." 
 
 The witches, poor creatures, had hard times of it. 
 
 They were accused of selling themselves for some con- 
 sideration, to the Evil One, aud in consequence of this 
 
 quidpro quo, were supposed to be his abject slaves in 
 
 this world, and that which is to come. With a more 
 
 sudden and hideous metamorphosis than Ovid ever 
 fancied, they changed themselves, at will, into all 
 
 sorts of animals. In crossing rivers,they sailed m 
 creels, and dare not, when crossing the ferry, utter 
 the name of Deity,nor any of his attributes, lest the 
 crazy vessel would at once sink, and they perish. 
 They rode in the air, uncomfortably, on brooms ticks, 
 making good time, and expjpring the earth, for congen. 
 ial work to do. They were burned at the stake, and died 
 martyrs to the sceptical faith, yet, these poor crea- 
 tures, real objects of pity, were the subjects of mon 
 omania, hallucination, trance-waking, or self-delusion, 
 and belied themselves as being possessed of the 
 devil. Shakespeare takes advantage of this proof of 
 superstition, 10 give us the horrible picture of the 
 wierd sisters, holding hi^h revelry, round a lurid fire, 
 and in dance and song, and culinary art, making wit 
 
GHOSTS. 257 
 
 ches' broth. The food is not of such a paLitable nature 
 as would tempt an epicure,or cure a dyspepiic, 
 
 " Round about the chaldron go : 
 In the poisoned entrails throw — 
 Food that under coldest stone, 
 Days and nights hast thirty-one ; 
 Sweltered venom, sleeping got, 
 Boil thou first in the charming pot, 
 Fillet of a fenny snake, 
 In a chaldron boil and bake, 
 Fye of newt, and loe of frog, 
 \Vool of hat, and tongue of dog, 
 Adder's fork, and l)lind worm's sting, 
 Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. 
 For a charm of powerful trouble, 
 Like a hell broth, boil and bubble, 
 Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, 
 "V/itches' mummy, maw and gulf, 
 Of the ravined salt-sea shark, 
 Root of hemlock, digged in the dark, 
 l^iver of blaspheming Jew ; 
 Gall of goat, and slips of yew, 
 Shiveredin the moon's eclipse ; 
 Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips, 
 Cool it with a baboon's blood- 
 Then the charm is firm and good, 
 
 Black spirits and white. 
 
 Red spirits and grey : 
 
 Mingle, mingle, mingle, 
 
 You that mingle may." 
 
 I confess the broth might be excellent, but it would 
 need a ravenous appetite, and a blunted imagination to 
 make it palatable. These witches foretold events. 
 They brought, or drove away, at pleasure, the murrain 
 or rot, among catMe. They sowed discord on do mes- 
 tic hearths. They influenced minds for evil, and set 
 nations, communities, and families, into fiercest, 
 conflicts, feuds, and quarrels. Thunders and light- 
 nings obeyed them, for all the ix)tency reposing in 
 the right arm of ''the Prince of the power of the air," 
 was at the command cf these seful auxiliaries. In 
 
 ^7 
 
258 PKN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 Burns' '''Tarn o' Shunter," we learn that they enjoy 
 themselves, by dancing, with ghastly surroundings, in 
 dubious company — and with a sable fiddler, whose 
 reputation has never been of the best, and to whom no 
 respectable person could give a certificate of charac- 
 ter. He is the chieftain of a motley throng, and 
 witches seem to be the feminine gender of bis vast 
 heritage, being possessed of blatant tongues, great 
 cunning, busy-bodies, mischief-makers, and irrepress- 
 ibles. The most of them have been hanged, or burned, 
 or drowned, so that the race has become extinct, and, 
 more subtle agencies have been found in this specula- 
 tive age, to do their work. Let a sigh of sorrow be 
 given to the memory of poor wretches, who perished, 
 the victims of ignorance, superstition, and fanaticism. 
 The fairies were diminutive, but active creatures* 
 dressed neatly, bat fantastically,and were not so mali- 
 cious as fond of practical jokes. They delighted in 
 grassy hillocks, and babbling brooks, and sometimes 
 indulged in petty larceny. Young babes were their 
 delight, and it is said by one, who ought to know, that 
 their ranks were recruited from those of infants. If a 
 door was left open at night, and a beautiful intant 
 should happen to be in the house, the fairies gave 
 to the sleeping mother beautiful dreams of " a happy 
 land," and v^hile the visions of the night held tlie 
 sleeper spell-bound, stole the nursling away. I do 
 not know what their code of ethics may be, but this* 
 looks like abduction, of a disreputable kind, but seeing 
 that they have no children of their own, and that 
 "self-preservation is the first law of nature," perhaps 
 
GHOSTS. 259 
 
 "the end sanctifies the means." The fairies believe 
 in a monarchy, if Shelley is to be credited. In his 
 ^'Queen Mab," he says, they dwelt in a gorgeous world 
 of clouds, beyond the confines of the material uni- 
 verse of worlds. When they leaned over the battle, 
 ments of their aerial palace and castle, to fairy eyes 
 
 " Earth's distant orb appeared 
 The smallest light that twinkles 
 
 In the heavens. 
 
 While above, below, around 
 The circling systems formed 
 A wilderness of harmony." 
 
 Queen Mab, their sovereign, rode in a magic car 
 
 of gorgeous colors, drawn by phantom coursers of 
 
 the air, covered with azure pennons, and driven with 
 
 reins of sunbeams. These pigmy creatures are said 
 
 to be fond of music, and charm the human ear with 
 
 heavenly melodies. They are excellent dancers, but 
 •woe betide the poor wight who joins them in their 
 
 reels. I saw the hillock, where Hector Mc Alister 
 sat down to rest himself, with a sack of oatmeal on 
 his back. A door opened in the green sward at his 
 side, and he saw, in a beautifully furnished grotto, 
 myriads of fairies dancing to music which " put met- 
 tle in his heels." He joined the merry throng, 
 and as time sped on, 
 
 " The pipers loud andt louder blew, 
 The dancers quick and quicker flew.'' 
 
 until, after what appeared to him a short time of ex- 
 quisite pleasure, he found himself on the bleak moor, 
 .at midnight's darkest hour, but half a century had 
 
rCo PEN PHOTOGKAPlIS;. 
 
 flown, in the mean time. Like the seven sleepy- 
 headed youths of Ephesus, or jolly old Rip Van 
 Winkle, he found his kindred had departed, his place 
 was filled, and his memory like "the baseless fabric 
 of a vision." History and tradition tell not, whether 
 or not, like a sensible man, he made his meal into 
 "guid kail brose," and then gave up the ghost. My 
 grandfather oiten saw them, and heard their music, 
 but warily fled from their allurements. I dared not 
 doubt such testimony, and call all such sensorial illus- 
 ions, for he would have "brained" the sceptic in his 
 evil, and left me a warning, like Lot's wife. 
 
 A soul disenthralled from its earthly tenement may 
 travel as quickly as thought, and by subtle influence, 
 stir up clouds of ideas from the nest of latent recol- 
 lections, or be the occasion of generating new thought 
 in kindred spirits. These mental photographs are real 
 to the possessor, and are often erroneously supposed 
 to be material objects when they are purely subjective, 
 hence, the deep-rooted belief in ghosts, as " some- 
 things " unearthly, superhuman, intangible, yet visi- 
 ble individuals, outs'de of the startled observers. 
 Satan, and all his emissaries have not the divine attri- 
 bute of omnipresence, yet, their influence is ubiqui- 
 tous. Their powers must extend far beyond the indi- 
 vidual presence. A general law of spiritual life, 
 doubtless, exists, through which the " afar "' beconies 
 "near,^' and the "here'' is co-extensive v»ith thought. 
 Time and distance are reduced to the infinitesimal, 
 and the wings of Ariel are slow in comparison to 
 the fleet and flashing intelligences, unburdened by 
 
GHOSTS. 261 
 
 mortality. The wonderful powers of a human soul 
 in the so-called abnormal states of clairvoyance, 
 mesmerism, trance-waking, trance-sleeping, and som 
 nambulance show, by analogy, the extreme probability 
 of the existence of such laws in the spirit-land. At 
 the same time it does not follow that a human hand, 
 or an earthly body, must be the only medium through 
 which our departed friends can communicate with 
 us, if we except their wilful propensities to play 
 pianos — to cause chains to dance reels, to give mys- 
 terious knocks on table legs, to write hieroglyphics, and 
 "other fantastic tricks as would make angels weep." 
 That cunning strategy of the so-called spiritualist, in 
 thus pretending to unfathom, in this grotesque way 
 ''this mystery of mysteries," reduces a grand and 
 solemn truth to an absurdity. At the same time, 
 we have those positive announcements of Holy Writ 
 which say there are "ministering spirits sent forth 
 to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." 
 "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them 
 that fear him." "He maketh his messengers spirits.'* 
 " I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the 
 prophets." 
 
 If such like texts do not mean visitations from 
 the spirit land, then are such wonderful scenes as 
 those at the dark hour of the crucifixion, and on the 
 Mount of Transfiguration, myths, fables, and fictions, 
 and we are not among those " ot whom the whole 
 family in heaven and earth is named." But the in- 
 tuitions of all kmdreds, and peoples, and nations,give 
 no uncertain sound in regard to a close connection 
 
262 PKN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 between the two worlds of spirits, or rather the' same 
 world in two states of transition, but both " one and 
 indivisible." Mythology, which gave individuality 
 to all the passions, desires, and emotions of humanity, 
 which had deities for every Sylvan grove, every bab- 
 bling brook ; every valley and every mountain pro- 
 claim this truth ; nor can keen irony, cutting sarcasm, 
 intellectual acumen, or logical effort eradicate the idea 
 
 from the human mind. It is woven in the warp and 
 woof of our three fold natures. We instinctively long 
 tor a gaze into these wondrous scenes, which lie 
 before every son and daughter of Adam's race. 
 
 " Tell us, ye iead ! will none of you, in pity 
 ' To those you left behind, disclose the secret? 
 
 O I that some courteous ghost would blab it 
 
 out, 
 What 'tis you are, and we must shortly be. 
 
 Well, 'tis no matter : 
 A very little time will clear up all. 
 And make us learned as you are, and as close." 
 
 A remarkable case is that of Samuel and Saul men- 
 tioned in the Old Testament. Here was a king in 
 distress. The Philistines were in the vale of Shunem, 
 
 numerous, well-equipped, and thoroughly organized. 
 Samuel was dead, and Abiathar, the high priest, was 
 
 with David. "The fool hath said in his heart, there 
 is no God," but now he fears, for in frenzy, he had 
 killed all the priests but one, and he had fled with 
 the Ephod. Saul had been a terror to witches, but 
 a reputed one still dwelt at Endor. At night, and in 
 disguise, he goes to her. She is wary, and fears ex- 
 posure ; he swears by the Hying God no evil shall 
 
r. HOSTS. 263 
 
 befall her, if she will only give him a glimpse of the 
 future. In response to her interrogat'on ot "IVhom 
 do*you want?" the stricken king says "Samuel." The 
 piophet appears and startles tiie hag herself. He 
 came "without incantations, for she had not even called 
 for him. It was Saul only, who had disquieted the 
 risen prophet, to bring him up. She knew that a 
 prophet could come only at the command of an 
 anointed king, and at once rliargcd the king with 
 deception. She gave a description of the risen dead, 
 so indefinite, that it might be applied to any other 
 individual — **an old man covered with a mantle," 
 and up before him came gods, (lords). This whole 
 scene was evidently an optical illusion, to the woman, 
 for she alone saw it. God did not need to use the 
 craft of "a mistress of Ob," (a false prophetess j to do 
 his work, and as I have already shown the deception 
 is often as startling in hearing words, as in seeing 
 visions. " Ah ! says an objector, " but Samuel fore- 
 told all the tragic disasters of next day, to a certainty." 
 True, but it is not said that any one but an afTrighted 
 Saul heard the prophecy, and it must be remembered 
 that (i) Saul was in great terror, and had been the 
 subject of "a troubling, or terrifying spirit," in other 
 words, he had often been attacked wiih paroxysms of 
 fury bordering on mania or extreme nervous sensibil- 
 ity, in which the imagination was a Mazeppa, without 
 a bridle, and the luckless victim bound helplessly to it. 
 To such an one, ideal voices arc, as if they fell upon 
 the ear. (2) He longed and hoped for comfort, by 
 means of Samuel, although departed from this life. 
 
2b4 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 (3) The woman saw the appa-ition but the king per- 
 ceived nothing but the voice. (4) Both were in a 
 high degree of excitement and fear. (5) The whole 
 scene took plac t at night. Y^as Saul illuminated ? (6) 
 This morbid and nervous state has, in thousands of 
 other cases, brought about a brainal view of a pano- 
 rama ot dreaded, or wished for things. (7) The king 
 knew his case was hopeless, hence his mind prog- 
 nosticated defeat. He determined on suicide if d^/eat- 
 ed, and thus foresaw the result. He knew his sons 
 were brave, and in all probability would share his 
 fate, either by their own hands, or those of the 
 enemy. The spectre of tlie mind told all these things, 
 in thunder tones, to the king, as did the sensitive 
 organization of the woman " with a familiar spirit,' 
 detect the ghost of Samuel. Natural law explains 
 the whole scene, then why resort to miracle ? Saui 
 sought not God in his distrer.s, and he was given 
 over to delusion. The prophet spoke not God's 
 words, for there was an error ii the prophecy. Samuel 
 is reporied to have said, " To-morrow s\alt thou and 
 thy Jons be with me." Now all Saul's sons did not 
 perish, for Isbosheth survived "the fell havoc of the 
 day," and reigned over Israel two years. I am not 
 sure about the orthodoxy, by creed, of the above inter- 
 pretation, but I am convinced it is a rational and 
 consistent view of the sacred version. Many of the 
 earthly fathers give us numerous instances of their 
 physical conflicts with Satan and his imps, sometimes 
 coming off victorious, and sometimes put hon de 
 combat. The fathers of the later reformations from 
 
GHOSTS. 265 
 
 VVicklifte and Luther, down to Wesley, tell of similar 
 experiences. There is no dcubt of the honesty 
 of the victims, in giving evidence, but our scepticism 
 lies in believing such conflicts to have taken place, 
 vf ith bo» a Jide and substantial ghosts. The brains of 
 these active and earnest men were in a continual 
 state of tension. The great foe of the human race 
 was constantly in their thoughts, as an implacable 
 enemy. They lived in an age of superstitious absur- 
 dities,and were necessarily tinged with its beliefs ii the 
 supernatural. It is not to be wondered at, that in 
 hours of morbid sensibility and depression, a phan- 
 tasmagoi-ia of "those things which run most in their 
 heads" should take captive, at times, their better judg- 
 ment. Such were mental facts, and confined to the 
 boundaries of conceptive cognitions. They saw and 
 heard the promptings of the Efjo. and trusting to the 
 treacherous senses, believed themselves in actual 
 bodily conflict with the " Prince of the power of the 
 air," or his emissaries. Sir Walter Scott relates the 
 following circumstance, which, doubtless, refers to 
 Byron and himself. "Not long after the death of a 
 certain illustrious poet, who had filled, when living^ 
 a great station in the eye of the public, a literary 
 friend, to whom the deceased had been well-known, 
 was engaged during the darkening twilight of an au- 
 tumn evening, in peiusing one of the publications 
 which professed to detail the habits and opinions of 
 the distinguished individual who was now no more. A 
 visitor was sitting in the apartment who was engaged 
 in reading. The sitting-room opened into an entrance 
 
266 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 hall, rather fantastically fitted up with articles of 
 armour, wild animals and the like. It was when 
 laying down his book and passing into the hall,through 
 which the moon was beginning to shine, that the indi- 
 vidual of whom I speak, saw right before him and 
 in a standing posture, the exact representation of his 
 departed friend, whose recollection had been so 
 strongly brought to his imagination. He stopped for 
 a single moment, so as to notice the wonderful ac- 
 curacy with which fancy had impressed on his bodily 
 eye, the peculiarities of dress, and posture of the 
 illustrious poet." It resolved itself into a screen, 
 great coat, shawls, and plaids. Had there been no ex- 
 amination, it would have been a veritable ghost of a 
 hapless poet. A club in the town of Plymouth 
 used to nieet in a summer-house. One evening the 
 president was dangerously ill, but out of respect, 
 his chair v/as left vacant. In the midst of a discuss- 
 ion the figure of the chairman entered, pale, haggard, 
 and ghastly. It took the vacant chair, lifted an 
 empty glass, pretended to drink the health of the 
 goodly company, in dead silence, and then glided 
 away. The members were horror-struck. They sent 
 a deputation to the house, and found him dead. The 
 visitation was unaccounted for, and was received as a 
 veritable ghost story, until it afterwards came out, 
 that while the nurse fell asleep, the sick man, in the 
 delirium of death, did visit the club, then went horn® 
 and died. 
 
 James IV. was at Linlithgow, just before the fatal 
 battle of Flodden Field. He was visited by a. 
 
GHOSTS. 267- 
 
 Stranger, whom Pitscottie says, " was clad in a blue 
 gown, in at the kirk door, and belted about him a 
 roll of linen cloth, a pair of buskins on his feet, to 
 the great of his legs, with all other hose and cloth 'con- 
 form thereto ; but he had nothing on his head but 
 long yellow hair behind and on his cheeks, but his 
 forehead was bald and bare." He admonished the 
 king not to hazard a battle, and in parting said, " Sir 
 king, my mother has sent me to you, desiring you not 
 to pass at this time where you are purposed, for if 
 thou doestjthou wilt not fare well on thy journey, nor 
 none that passeth witli thee." St. John was the adopt- 
 ed son of the Virgin Mary, and seems to have been 
 sent on a pacific en and. Readers of history will 
 remember that the Scottish queen was opposed to 
 ihe war, and this Avas a scheme to deter the king from 
 waging war against the Southerns. 
 
 Sir David Brewster, in his "Letters of Natural 
 Magic," tells of a lady who once went into her 
 drawing-room, and saw the im.age of her husband — 
 then absent — standing by the fire, looking at her 
 "seriously and fixedly." So sure was she of his identity, 
 that she said, "Why don't you speak." He gave no 
 response, but moved towards the window and dis- 
 appeared. The whole was an optical delusion. She 
 often saw a black cat whose existence was a myth. 
 An apparition dressed in a shroud was a constant- 
 visitant, yet all unreal outside of the mind. I have a 
 relative, a man of candor and truth, who, about' 
 thirty years ago, was travelling in Lincolnshire, at 
 night, on the king's high way, and was accompanied for 
 
268 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 miles by a blue light, which he was sure was "a dead 
 candle." It did not seem to have legs, but his imagi- 
 nation detected a pale face of ghastly hue in the 
 midsb, and swinging arms at its sides. I found out 
 that he was travelling over a swampy country, and 
 that "Mr. William O' Wisp" had been playing off a 
 joke on the belated traveller, or kindly seeing him on 
 the way home. On another occasion he was returning 
 home, near midnight, when ho heard a crackling 
 sound behind him. Turning round to ascertain the 
 cause of it, he saw a sight so fearful that he could 
 never be induced to describe it. He could not turn 
 again towards home, and beat a retreat crab-like, 
 for nearly three miles, until he knocked for admit- 
 tance at his own door, when it suddenly vanished, and 
 he was able to face around. A sort of inferential ex- 
 planation may be found in the fact that he had been 
 at a jollification, and possibly had been indulging in 
 deep potations of usquebaugh, although he" wasna fou, 
 but just had plenty." His sights were not those of 
 Tam O' Shanter, in Alloway kirk, but the diffusible 
 stimulant was the same, and with analogous results. 
 Another time, under similar circumstances he was 
 passing over the crown of a hill, late at night, near a 
 farm-yard. The public road lay in the valley below, 
 and along it a glimmering light was travelling. He 
 knew that a "dead candle" was taking a walk, and he 
 had often heard that if the spectator at such a time, 
 would only put his foot on a stone which had never 
 been moved, the light would not only arrest him, 
 but it would pass in and out of his mouth, until the 
 
GHOSTS. "69 
 
 "rooster" chanted his morning composition, as that 
 gentleman is wont to do. In a spirit of bravado, 
 the traveller did so, and instantly he was that sedent- 
 ary thing, " a fixed fact," and a lurid flame exer- 
 cised itself between his pharynx and dentals, occas- 
 ionally going outside to get fresh air. When day 
 broke, and the cock crew, it uttered a solemn state- 
 ment of warning to him — refused him a certificate of 
 character — and left him in a willy, dishcloth-like 
 condition, with no hartshorn at hand to titillate his 
 distended '-lostrils. 'J his solemn glimpse into the 
 odd things of Lhose fellows, who seem to burn their 
 own coal-oil, as related to me when a child, on a 
 wintry night, made my hair creep, and the "sheeting" 
 of my "dome of thought"' move, as if it wanted to be 
 scalped. Since then I have no doubt but he was 
 not as sober as a good christian should have been, 
 and the panorama was ^enacted in his brain, with no 
 charge for admission to the show. Were I within 
 reach of his arm I dare not write the above. 
 
 An uncle of mine used to tell me what trouble he 
 and his neighbors had with a friend, who, on the 
 night following New-Year's Day, old style, always 
 had a terrible time with the devil. No doors, or bars, 
 or bolts, or locks would keep him in, when three dis- 
 tinct knocks came to the door at midnight. (These 
 spectral marauders will insist on liaving three dis- 
 tinct hours of call, viz : at the gloaming, midnight, 
 and dawn). When the dread signal came, he tore 
 around lively, and in a paroxysm of mingled terror 
 and fury, went in a dog-trot to the hills, preceded 
 
270 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 by a hare. None dare follow him, but when morning 
 came he returned with his clothes torn to shreds, 
 bleeding from scratches, and the picture of an "used 
 up" individual. All believed the hare was a transform- 
 ed witch, sent by his Satanic majesty, (I like to be 
 polite, knowing his potency) on this errand, as an 
 avant courier, to bring ''poor old Joe" to yearly pen- 
 ances. My exegesis of the matter was, that Joe 
 *'spreed" it 365 days in the year, •• be the same, 
 more or less," but on New- Year he had an extra 
 maceration, and ''blue devils" took possession of him. 
 As regards the knocks I kindly suggested that they 
 were introduced into the narrative, by a poetic imagi- 
 nation, by way of embellishment, and always made 
 this statement, by a sort of hypothesis, to my uncle, 
 with the back-door open, and my toes protruding 
 therefrom, for, immediately afterward I was savage, 
 ly followed by a miscellaneous collection of chat- 
 tels, making parabolic curvatures in the air, and 
 which were never comfortable in immediate relation 
 to the personal 7ion-ego, especially that part generally 
 appealed to, in juvenile corrections. A host of such 
 ideal spectres, fill the mind of humanity. Terror 
 magnifies the moving horns of a ruminating ox, be- 
 hind a black stump, into a hideous ogre. A loose 
 board on the side of a house, vibrating in the storm, 
 in pulsating knocks — the branch of a tree, by friction 
 on the walls, screeching out, flesh-creeping inter- 
 ludes, in the night-breeze — the rusty gate hinges 
 giving dolorous notes, with their echoes, to the fiends 
 of the night. The splintered rail whirring like an 
 
GHOSTS. 271 
 
 imp's wing, all putting "mettle in the heels" of the 
 midnight traveller — the phosphorescence of a de- 
 cayed log, in the sombre woods, sends dismay into 
 the heart of a truant from home — the hooting night- 
 owl, and the flickering night-fly, make phantasy 
 All the air and earth with hobgoblins, and all the 
 brood of unearthly spectra. In spite of education, 
 and moral enlightenment, tens of tliousands, to-day, 
 in Christendom, cannot shake themselves free from 
 those fears of the machinations of the supernatural 
 and intangible. The hermit Druid's experience is 
 theirs : — 
 
 "The deserts gave him visions wild, 
 Such as might suit the spectre's child. 
 Where with black cliffs the torrents toil, 
 He watched the wheeling eddies boil. 
 Till, from their foam, his dazzling eyes 
 Beheld the river demon rise ; 
 The mountain mist took form and limb 
 Of noontide hag or goblin grim ; 
 The midnight dark came wild and dread ; 
 Swelled with the voices of the dead ; 
 Thus the lone seer from mankind hurled, 
 Shaped forth a disembodied world." 
 
 The alchemists and magicians used their know- 
 ledge of chemistry and optics to deceive. The most 
 abominable mixtures were used, from ground human 
 skulls, to boiled human blood, but those were only 
 blinds to hide the skill which lay behind. Anyone 
 who has seen, or read of the jugglery of the Hindoos 
 and Chinese, not to speak of the slight of hand, of 
 such as "The Wizard of the North," or the apparent 
 reality of ''.Professor Pepper's Ghost," need not be 
 
272 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 told, how such Bcenes would affect an ignorant 
 people, to wonder, amazement, and awe. The be- 
 lief is real, even if ideal, and as far as the effect is 
 concerned, might as well oe flesh and blood or 
 any other substance equally perceptible. 
 
 The specimen ghosts' history given above were 
 sem. Another species of these genera are never 
 seen but lieard. Sometimes they occupy a quiet 
 nook in some lonely valley. Oftimes they take 
 possession of the deep hold of a sea-going ship, or the 
 dark labyrinths of a mine, or the subterranean pass- 
 ages of decayed castles, and ruined abbeys. They 
 are fond of stately and forsaken mansions, and with 
 considerable selfishness, and refinement of taste, 
 occupy the best room in the house. They scarcely 
 ever reside in cottages or huts, and show in this 
 considerable aristocratic feeling. Their shrieks have 
 been heard in fearful crescendo and dimenwido tones, 
 in the darkest hours before the dawn. Their dirges 
 have been carried on the wings of the wind, and 
 their doleful lamentations have pierced the wrack ot 
 the tempest. They have filled "the grand old solemn 
 woods," with their demoniac laughter, doubtless 
 occasioned by the side-splitting jokes of facetious 
 fellow-phantoms. Fantastic tricks with individuals, 
 and furniture, have been their delight, and in many 
 cases, they should have been tried for "assault and 
 battery.'' What was fun for them, was almost death 
 to many. Even good John Wesley's father had a taste 
 of their pranks in his parsonage at Epworth. This 
 ghost groaned as if in pain. It made the dishes dance 
 
GHOSTS. 273 
 
 reels on the table. It gobbled liko a Uirkey, and 
 danced immoderately without music. At first the 
 noises were thought to be those of rats, and as blowing 
 a dinner-horn was said to drive away all such vermin, 
 terrible sounds were made by the horn for half a day, 
 in all parts of the house. This enraged the goblin so 
 much that he "kicked up rov/s" in the day-timo, as 
 well as at night. I have no information how, or when 
 the poor feilow rested. When being rebuked by 
 Samuel Wesley as ''a deaf and dumb devil," and 
 asked as to his intentions,he was invited into the study, 
 if he had any complaint to make. This nickname 
 and suggestion, only roused the ire of his ghostship^ 
 for immediately afterwards, Mr. W — . "was twice 
 pushed by it with considerable force." He made all 
 brass, iron, and windows rattle when he came into a 
 room, and after he left the wind rose, and roared 
 around the house. Tliis faculty "of raising the wind,'' 
 would have put envy into the airy noddle of /Eolus 
 himself, if that blustering individual is still alive, and 
 well. It occasionally took a turn at the hand-mill, 
 but roguishly ground when it was empty. The family at 
 last became so familiar with hi^ pranks that they christen- 
 ed him "Old Jeffery." This "spook" was a staunch 
 Jacobite. He was possibly the disturbed spirit of 
 such a malicious and devil-possessed scape-grace 
 cavalier, as "Bonnie Dundee," for when Wesley 
 prayed for the King and Prince of Wales, "Old Jeffery" 
 became furious. The spirit of Claverhouse, in unrest 
 would have had congenial employment in perse- 
 cuting Samuel Wesley. Senr., as Avell as his diatin- 
 
 18 
 
274 f^^ I'HorodUAi'Hs. 
 
 guishcd sons, and tliiis contributed his mite to nip in 
 the bud the English Covenanters, as he had en- 
 deavoured to (io the Scottish lieroes. by fire and 
 sword. John ^Vesley drew up and published an ac- 
 count of the whole case, " after carefully inquiring into 
 the particulars," but "without note or comment.'* 
 Soutbcy in his "Life of Wesley" gives us many move 
 facts than I have summarized. Samuel, brother of John, 
 seemed puzzled about the matter, and concluded that 
 **the end of spirit's actions is yet more hidden than 
 that of men, and even this latter puzzles the most 
 subtle politicians." His mother writes "I am not one 
 T)f those that will believe nothing supernatural, but 
 am rather inclined to think there would be frequent 
 intercourse between good spirits and us, did not our 
 deep lapse into sensuality prevent it." Southey ex- 
 amined the circumstances and found no solution. 
 .The celebrated Dr. Priestly calls it "perhaps the best 
 authenticated, and best told story of the kind that is 
 any where extant." 
 
 No legerdemain, ventriloquism, or tiicky acoustics 
 can explain it. 'i'he statements are truthful. The 
 parties had no faar or credulity, except a belief in 
 the supernatural. It was heard intermittently, for 
 years by dozens of persons. The causes were search- 
 ed for, by day and night, yet, never found. I am not 
 inclined to think disembodied spirits indulge in 
 childish, and aimless frivolities, and that a solution 
 -could have been found in natural causes connected 
 with the premises. All these freaks were neither 
 miraculous, preternatural, nor ghostly notwithstanding 
 
GHOSTS. 275 
 
 •*'thero are more things in heaven and earth than are 
 dreamt of, in our philosophy." At the same time, 
 there is a good deal of truth in Dr. Johnson's remark 
 "that it is wonderful that 5000 years have now elapsed 
 since the creation of the world, and still it is unde- 
 cided whether or not there has ever been an instance 
 of the spirit of any person appearing after death. All 
 argument is against it, but all belief is for it. 
 
 The Drummer of Ted worth was a troublesome ghost. 
 A Wiltshire Magistrate had fined a drummer for a 
 public nuisance, and confiscated his drum. After 
 this he had no peace in his house. The drum bea^ at 
 all hours, and persecuted men, women, and child, 
 ren in their beds. Chairs and tables danced "French 
 fours," in broad daylight, and in the presence of a 
 crowd. A minister held divine service at the house 
 every night about the time this ghost beat a tattoo • 
 but at such times the drummer behaved himself like 
 a Christian, until prayers were ended, and then his 
 gymnastics would begin by hurling all kinds of 
 household stuff in perfect abandon, at the minister. 
 It was musically inclined, and seemed from its sing- 
 ing to have a fair knowledge of music. In the pre- 
 sence of Sir Thomas Cliamberlain, and others, after it 
 beat the drum for three hours, a gentleman said 
 "Satan, if the drummer set thee to work, give three 
 knocks and'no more." This it candidly and honestly 
 did. At last a witch seemed to trouble the demon, 
 for the sounds indicated that he was pursued by a hag. 
 He made the house vocal with the cries of "a witch ! 
 a witch 1" He had not lost his mother tongue. The 
 
276 PKN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 law holds L'ood that all creatures from man down- 
 wards have enemies to prey upon them, and ghosts 
 seems to be no exception to this rule. 
 
 " Jjig fleas have little fleas on theii backs to bite 'em, 
 Little fleas have less tlf^as, and so on injia/ium." 
 
 The consolation lies in knowing that if poor hu- 
 manity cannot c<(pias these disturbers of the peace. 
 an unearthly bailift*"goes for them with a sharp stick." 
 It is but just to add that when the real drummer was 
 baJiished for crime, the alter ego also took its depart- 
 ure, no doubt to vex some poor body in Botany Bay. 
 Both Addison and Steele, Editors ot the ''Spectator" 
 knew the circu.nstances to be true, but did not at. 
 tempt to solve the enigma. It was not far to seek, 
 if proper eniqury had been made. It is amusing to 
 read volumes of such accounts, all of which might 
 be traceable to natural laws, even were the evidence 
 more explicit than it is. It should be remembered 
 that not anytliing can be called supernatural simply 
 because it may remain unexplained. What is a mystery 
 to us may prove in the end, easy of solution, and in 
 strict accordance with the laws of nature, operating 
 before our eyes. The wonderful discoveries in regard 
 to electricity, steam, light, spectroscopy, and the cor- 
 relation of forces, are only as yet, twinkling stars, in 
 the firmament of knowledge. Blazing suns of dazzl- 
 ing intensity, will ''in the good time coming," throw 
 out corruscations, athwart the dark abyss ot spiritual 
 ignorance, so effulgent as to search every nook and 
 cranny of that world to which we all are fast hasten- 
 
GHOSTS. 277 
 
 ing'. THl' earnest contact of soul to soul, for weal or 
 woe, whether in this world, or the one beyond, does 
 not resolve itself into the ridiculous, the flintastic, 
 or the grotesque, because ''life is earnest."' 
 
 Life is a strange riddle of puzzling profundity, and 
 a belief in unaccountable sights, as partaking of the 
 *' uncanny." is not to be v/ondered at, in spite of all 
 which is said about their absurdity. We perceive 
 this in the plienomena of dreams, and in our visions 
 of the night have faith in unearthly visitants. Some 
 dreams arc, to us, so real as to become visions, and 
 carrv with them strong convictions when we awake, 
 notwithstanding all the reasonings of a subtle philo- 
 sophy, in regard to their unsubstantial character. 
 As a rule the reason is temporarily dethroned in sleep- 
 ing dreams, as it is often in day reveries, and imagi- 
 nation runs riot. Often, judgment, and common 
 sense, however, predominate, and the mental powers 
 are exalted in intensity, and vigor, far above the 
 usual state in dreams, obeying all the moral laws of 
 thought, and violating no rules of prudence or dis- 
 cretion. Usually we have sensation in sleep, but 
 little reflection. A sleeping man will wink at a 
 lighted candle brought near his eyelids, and still sleep 
 on. He will throw up his hands to defend himself 
 from the irritation of a tickling straw, yet knows it 
 not. A gentle manipulation of the ribs will cause a 
 change of posture, but consciousness does not tell 
 the reason why. At the same time, seas are sailed 
 over, on phantom ships. Continents are crossed, as 
 if on angel's wings. " The spangled heavens, a 
 
278 I'EN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 shining frame," are traversed with a greater rapidity 
 than lightning. Untold dangers are avoided, how- 
 ever inevitable they may appear. Poignant agony is 
 felt for friends, it may be, slumbering in peace and 
 quietness by our side. We may have glirnpses of 
 beatific scenes, through the pearly gates, and up the 
 golden streets, and have wafted to our ears music 
 angelic, from harps of seraphin, or cherubim; or have 
 our souls harrowed by wailings and lamentations of 
 myriad souls rocked on cradles of misery, and in a 
 moment a rap on the side, or a pi.ll of the ear. brings 
 us, with a jolt back to earth again. A Canadian 
 poetess has tiulysung: — 
 
 " Dreams, mystic dreams, from whence do you come ? 
 In what far land is your fair home ? 
 I . From whence at night do you hither stray? 
 Where do you flee at the dawn of day ? 
 Ye ne'er can fold your wandering wings, 
 You wild, unfathomable things."' 
 
 A vexed question arises in regard to profound 
 sleep. Does the soul then think ? Dougald Stewart 
 holds that soul and body rest and sleep together. 
 Locke expresses^a like viewr, for he says in regard to 
 sleep, *'To think often, and never to retain it so much 
 as one moment, is a very useless sort of thinking ; 
 and the soul in such a state of thinking, does very 
 little, if at all, excel that of a looking-glass, which 
 constantly receives varieties of images or ideas but 
 retains none ; they dis^appear and vanish and there 
 remain no footsteps of them ; the looking glass is 
 never the better for such ideas, nor the soul for such 
 
<;h<)sts. 279 
 
 thoughts." At the sanie lime, it is dilficull to liolieve 
 that the soul can become tlormant, and still exist. ' 
 To think is necessary to its l>eing, and for it to be in 
 lethargy, is not to be. We may not be conscious at 
 all times of the workings of the active powers of the 
 mind, but a lack of knowledi^e in this resi)ect does- 
 not imply that such do not exist any more than do 
 the fleeting thoughts of our waking hours, which 
 come and go, and leave no remembrance. An old 
 writer tersely says, " The thoughts of worldly affairs, 
 and the intemperanv e most men commit in meats^ 
 drinks, labors, exercises and passions, enfeeble and 
 destroy the brisk, lively apprehensions, and stui)ify all 
 the laculties of nature ; and particularly the memory 
 and retaining power are so dulled and rendered fluid 
 and oblivious, as not to conserve any impressions 
 made thereon — as we see in drunken men, who, the 
 next day, remember none of those loud vociferations ' 
 and mad pranks they played over night. And you 
 may as well argue, that such lewd people did not 
 commit any such extravagances, because very often 
 they are not sensible of them, after they come to be 
 sober, as to think you do not dream, because some- 
 times you cannot remember it when you wake." 
 Addison, in the " Spectator/' pursues the same train 
 of thought when he says, " Our dreams are great in- 
 stances of that activity which is L.ttural to ^he human 
 soul, and which it is not in the power Oi sleep to 
 deaden or abate. When tlic man appears tired and 
 worn out with the labors ot the day, this active part 
 in his composition is still busied and unwearied. When 
 
2So PKN PHOTODRAI'HS. 
 
 the organs of sense want their (due repose and repara- 
 tion, and the body is no longer able to keep pace with 
 that spiritual substance to which it is united, the sou^ 
 exert3 herself in her several ficulties, and continue^ 
 in the action till she is again qualified to bear her com- 
 pany." The opponents to this view affirm that the 
 soul needs rest as well as the body. That is the point 
 at issue. Docs the soul ever weary except in con- 
 nection with the body ? Is it not probable that a dis- 
 enthralled soul finds all necessary cnperative vigour 
 in ceaseless activity ? Our internal organs have no rest 
 night nor day. Did they depend on consciousness, 
 for working orders, when we sleep, the heart would 
 cease to beat, the lungs to exhale and inhale, the kid- 
 neys to excrete, the stomach to digest, and the brain to 
 act, then must death ensue. They have no cessation 
 of labour, until the golden bowl is broken, or unii' the 
 cvenmg, life draws over us, its sable mantle, v. hen t!ie 
 last vesper bell chimes our requiem. 
 
 Francis Power Cobbe, in her "Dreams in Poetry," 
 shows the inventive genius of dreamers in unconscious 
 as well as conscious cerebration. A critic condenses 
 her ideas by saying : — 
 
 " She contends that there are dreams whose origin 
 is not in any past thought, but in some sentiment vivid 
 and pervading enough to make itself dumbly felt even 
 *n sleep, and that at the very least, one half the phe- 
 nomena of dreams are simply the results of a real law 
 of the human mind, which causes us constantly to 
 compose ingenious fables explanatory of the phenome- 
 na around us — a law which only sinks into abeyance, 
 
GHOSTS. 2S1 
 
 into the waking hours of persons in which the reason 
 has been highly cultivated, and which resumes its 
 sway even over their well-tutored brains when they 
 sleep. 
 
 Several curious and well-authenticated cases are 
 cited by Miss Cobbe in support of her theory. One 
 of these stories is the following ; — A lady who con- 
 fessed to have been pondering on the day before her 
 dream on the many duties which '* bound her to life" 
 — a phrase which to her became a visible allegory — 
 dreamed that life, a strong, calm, cru^l woman, was 
 binding her limbs with steel fetters, which she felt as 
 well as saw ; and death, au angel of mercy, hung hover- 
 ing in the distance, unable to approach or deliver her. 
 In this singular dream her feelings found expression 
 in the following verses, which she remembered on 
 waking, and which are quoted precisely in the frag- 
 mentary state in which they remained on her memory • 
 
 Then I cried with weary breath, 
 Oh be merciful, great Death ! 
 Take me to thy kingdom deep, 
 Where grief is stilled in sleep, 
 Where the \\eary hearts find rest. 
 
 # « it- a- Mf # 
 
 Ah ! kind Death, it cannot be 
 
 That there is no room for me 
 
 In all thy chambers vast 
 
 See, strong Life has bound me fast * 
 
 Break her chains and set me free. 
 
 But cold Death makes no reply, 
 . Will not hear my bitter cry ; ^ 
 
 Cruel Life still holds me fast ; 
 " Yet truje death must come at last, 
 "* Conquer Life and set me free. • , • 
 
282 PKK PHOTOCKAPIIS. 
 
 Here is another story, concerning a ilreani nhich 
 resulted in the discovery of a missing will. 
 
 "An instance of the renewal in sleep of an impress- 
 ion of memory calling up an apparition, not the ap- 
 parition to enforce it (it is the impression which causes 
 the apparition, not the apparition which conveys the 
 impression^ occurred near Bath half a century ago. 
 8ir John Miller, a very wealthy gentleman died leav- 
 ing no children, his widow had always understood 
 that she was to have the use of his house lor her life 
 with a very large jointure ; but no will making such 
 provision could be found ?fter his death. The heir- 
 at-law, a distant connection, natura\]y claimed his 
 rights, but kindly allowed Lady Miller to remain for 
 six months in the house to complete her search for the 
 missing papers. The six montlis drew at last to u 
 close, and the poor widow had spent fruitless days 
 and weeks in examining every possible place of deposit 
 for the lost document, till at last she came to the con- 
 clusion that her memorv must have deceived her, and 
 that her husband could have made no such promise 
 as she supposed, 01 had neglected to fulfil it had he 
 made one. The very last day of her tenure of the 
 house had dawned, when m the grey of the morning 
 Lady Miller drove up to the door of her man of busi- 
 ness in Bath, and rushed excitedly to his bed-room 
 door calling out, "Come to me ! I have seen Sir Jonn ! 
 There is a will !" The lawyer hastened to accom- 
 pany herback to her house. All she could tell him 
 was that her deceased husband had appeared to her 
 in the night, standing by her bedside, and had said 
 
GHOSTS. 2 8-^. 
 
 I 
 
 solemnly, ''I'here is a will !' Wliere it was, remained 
 as uncertain as before. Once more the house was 
 searched in vain from cellar to loft, till finally, wearied 
 and in despair, the lady and her friend found them- 
 selves in a garret at the top of the house. ' It's all 
 over,' Lady Miller said ; ' I give it up ; my liusband 
 has deceived me, and I am ruined !' At that moment 
 she looked at the lal>le over which slie was leaning 
 weeping. ' This table was in hir^ stuviy once ! Let ns- 
 examine it ! They looked, and the missing will, duly 
 signed and sealed, was within it, ;ind the widow was 
 rich to the end of her days. Tt needs no conjuror 
 to explain how her anxiety called up the myth of Sir 
 John Miller's apparition, and made him say precisely 
 what he had once before really said to her, but of 
 which the memory had waxed faint." 
 
 The only class of dream which escapes tlie mytlr 
 making faculty, is the purely intellectual dream, which 
 takes place when we have no sensation or sentiment 
 sufficiently vivid to make itself felt in sleep, and the 
 brain merely continues to work on, as some one of the 
 subjects suggested by the calm studies of the previous 
 hours. Such dreams, as Dr. Carpenter remarks, have 
 a more uniform and coherent order than is common 
 to others ; and it may even liappen in time that, in. 
 consequence of the fieedom from distraction result- 
 ing from the suspension of external influences, the 
 reasoning processes may be carried on with unusual 
 vigour and success, and the imagination may develop, 
 new and harmonious forms of beautv. Under this 
 head, then, come all the remarkable cases of dreams- 
 
 - 1 
 
284 TEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 of the problems solved by Condorcet, and many 
 others. Nearly every one who has been much inter- 
 ested in mathematical studies has done something of 
 the kind in his sleep, and the stories are numerous of 
 persons rising in sleep, and writing out lucid legal 
 opinions. 
 
 Beside the picturing of marvellous things, passively 
 beht;ld, it seems that narcotics can stimulate the un- 
 conscious brain to the production of poetic or musical 
 descriptions of them ; the two actions being simul- 
 taneous. On this point, Miss Cobbe enlarges as fol- 
 lows, with special reference to Coleridge's Dream 
 poem of Kubla-Khan ; — 
 
 *' Here we have surely the most astonishing of all 
 the feats of this mysterious power within us ; and 
 whether we choose to regard it as a part of our true 
 selves, or as the play of certain portion of nerve- 
 matter in either case the contemplation of it is truly 
 bewildering. AVhat truth there may be in the well- 
 known stories of ' Rosseau's Dream,' or of Tartini's 
 * Devil Sonata,' I cannot pretend to decide. In any 
 case very remarkable musical productions have been 
 composed in sleep. But take the poem of *' Kubla- 
 Khan." Remember that the man who wrote it, in 
 only a few of his multitudinous waking productions 
 rose into the regions of high poetical fancy or any- 
 thing like inspiration of verse. Then see him merely 
 reading, half-asleep, the tolerable prosaic sentence out 
 of Purchas' ' Pilgrimage ;' Here the Khan Kubla 
 commanded a palace to be built, and a stately garden 
 thereunto, and thus ten miles of fertile ground were 
 
GHOSTS. 28? 
 
 enclosed in a wall.' And dropping ins book from this 
 mere bit of green sod of thought he suddenly springs 
 up like a lark into the very heaven of fancy, with the 
 vision of a paradise of woods, and wateis, before his 
 eyes, and such a sweet singing breaking from his lips 
 
 as, — 
 
 " The slirulo-.v of the dome of pleasure 
 Floated iiiul'.vay o'er the waves.'' 
 
 mterspersed with wierd changes an J outbursts such 
 as only music knows : — 
 
 •'* It was an Abyssinian maid. 
 And on lier dulcimer she played, 
 Singing of Mount Abora ! " 
 
 Consider all this, and that the poem of which this is 
 the fragment reached at least the length of three hun- 
 dred lines, and then say what limits shall be placed 
 on the powers which lie hidden within our mortal coil ? 
 This poem of " Kubla-Khan " has long stood, though 
 not quite alone, as a dream poem, yet as for the largest 
 ar.d most singular piece so composed on record." 
 
 To conclude, Miss Cobbe says, "Take it how we 
 will, I think it remains evident that in dreams, except 
 those belonging to the class of nightmare, wherein 
 the will is partially awakened, we are in a condition 
 of entire passivity ; receiving impressions indeed 
 trom the work which is, going on in our bra'ns, but in. 
 curring no fatigue thereby, md exempted from all 
 sense of moral responsibility as regards it. The in- 
 strument on which we are wont to play has slipped 
 from our loosened grasp, and its secondary and al- 
 
286 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 most etiuiilly wondrous powers have become manifest. 
 It is not only a finger organ, but a self-acting one; 
 wliicli, while we lie still and listen, goes over, more or 
 less perfectly, and with many a quaint wrong note 
 •and variation, the airs which we i)erformecl on it yester- 
 day, or long ago." 
 
 We need not wonder then that dreamers often mis- 
 take the pha/itiismata of dreams for real ghosts, and 
 unearthly visitors. Tiie unreal seems as substantial 
 as the objects of the waking moments, and often re- 
 <iuire8 a process of reasonini; after we are awake to 
 convince us of their visionary n.iture. Associations 
 of all kinds and degrees come and go in panoramic 
 distinctness. Nightmare and its uninvited horrors, 
 transfix us with terror. All that is a necessary con^ 
 diiion, is a loaded stomach, or a troubled mind. Kven 
 Macbeth's unpleasant experience may be ours. 
 
 " Why do I yield to that suj^^estion, 
 
 Whose horrid ima^e does unfix my hair ; 
 And make my seated heart knock at my ribj, 
 Against the use of nature. 
 
 My thought, 
 Whose murder — yet is but fantastic, 
 Shakes so my single soul." 
 
 Although physical causes generally occasion all 
 sorts of dreams, and although dreams often are found 
 to "come true," it does not follow that there is a 
 necessary connection between all dreams, and subse- 
 <iuent events. At the same time, it is possible, that 
 often visions may be the operations of mind upon 
 mind, during those moments of life, in which the soul 
 
GHOSTS. 2H7 
 
 is most easily artected, and most impressible, to exter- 
 nal influences and causes, and thus dangers have often 
 been avoided, benefits secured, and good accomplished. 
 It will be observed that my belief is in favor of the 
 theory, that the spirit-world is in communication with 
 the immortal of earth ; and that mental picturings 
 can be produced by the excitations ot spiritual con- 
 tact, so real as to produce impressions of illusions, and 
 apparitions, and yet, such having no substantial revtlity 
 apartfrom the receptive and cognizant mind. Consider- 
 ing the intimacy of mind with its own phenomena, it 
 is marvellous how ignorant we are of its working and 
 laws. There is no branch ot human knowledge, 
 which Las made so little progress, as that of meta- 
 physics, and psychology. Old systems of mental 
 philosophy have been exploded in one age, ^v.it only 
 to be installed into favor the next. The v,ircle is 
 being perpetually traversed, but its area has not been 
 extended to an appreciable degree. Merciless critics, 
 with mental scalpels have cut and carved to pieces 
 old systems, and dissected to the death, the cherished 
 dogmas of the different schools. They have choked 
 out of existence many of the beloved creations of 
 fond masters, but these philosophic thugs have placed 
 no worthy, and substitutionary ideal existence, in their 
 room and stead. They demolish the edifices at whose 
 j>ure altar many giant-minds have worshipped, but no 
 other erection takes their places. The destructive 
 will is with these mental iconoelaets, or else they have 
 only ability to overthrow, but not to build up. They 
 know of, and analyze the errors of theorists, but 
 
28S PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 psychico-neology is the apex, base, and facets of the 
 jewels of their faith. Their Alpha and Omega of 
 research ends in rampart unbelief. Ihe old struggle 
 between realists and idealists, and the tio-betweens. is 
 still carried on, as was the case centuries ago, pnd no 
 new light has made a reft in the clouds of the logo- 
 machic battle. All other enquiries show in their 
 results, gigantic strides in advance, but the knowledge 
 of the mind, and of the external world in relation to 
 it, is as much a matter of speculation^ and hypothe- 
 sis, as it was in the dark ages. One philosopher raves 
 after Kant, and another swears by Locke. One ac- 
 cepts Berkely, and another attaches his faith to the 
 Hamitonian creed. One, like McCosh or Mansel, 
 
 plunges into intuitions, as into an iron-clad for protec- 
 tion, when no other explanations can conveniently be 
 
 found ; and another takes refuge in etherial transcend- 
 entalism too unreal to anchor any human faith. It 
 would be natural to suppose that some exact cognit- 
 ions of self, and its relations would have been found, 
 long ere this speculative age, by the myriads of think- 
 ing beings who have preceded us, from Moses to Her- 
 bert Spencer ; and that such groupings in the dark 
 would have been matters of ancient history. There 
 is still ignorance of a terra inco(jnita, whose confines 
 have not been explored. We have been cooped up 
 in a " pent up Utica," with the great ocean of entities 
 between tlie dual existences of mind and matter con- 
 sisting to us of imagmation, or faith. ^Notwithstanding, 
 it is a wondrous expanse, on which no mortal voijwjeur 
 has ever sailed, and into who^e profound depth no 
 
GHOSTS. 289 
 
 plummet has ever been dropped by human hands. 
 This consists of the connection between that mind, 
 which has no weight, measurement, or sensible pro- 
 perties, and that bodily creation, possessing all these 
 in common with all inanimate creation, plus the phe- 
 nomena of life, equal living humanity. What is this 
 unexplored something ? It holds the key that opens 
 the gates which admit into ghostland. It may be 
 called odic force, magnetism, electricity, or what we 
 will, for a name is naught. Without it, there is no 
 definite chemical groupings, neither vegetable nor 
 animal life, and where it is absent, power may be 
 present, in a restricted sense, but there is no construc- 
 tion. Cohesion, gravitation, crystalization, plant 
 selection, and brainal molecular activity, are only 
 manifest m its working presence. Worlds roll by its 
 might, and human thought is subservient to its behest. 
 Deprive the human body of it, and the spiritual 
 essence takes its flight. Yet, it is not soul. Is it 
 matter ? Does it partake of the nature of both, or is 
 it only the bond of union ? Is it the condition of all 
 life to possess it, or is it the occasion of vital manifes- 
 tations ? Up through the different gradations of so- 
 called homogenous to heterogenous matter — from 
 constructive plant groupings, to zoophytic propaga- 
 tion — and from this vegeto-animal production to ani- 
 mals, of which man is the highest earthly develope- 
 ment — all throb, and respond to this active and potent 
 agent, only subservient to the Highest will. Animal 
 life may be so low, as to have no known intelligence, 
 
2^)0 
 
 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 and so high az to endow a brute with reasoning 
 powers, far above instinct, enabling it to provide for 
 unfdrseen emergencies more promptly, and the appli- 
 ances being considered, as efficiently as dominant man, 
 yet this life is not soul. It cannot isolate abstractions, 
 and plume its pinions for flights into the far beyond. 
 Its actions show that it finds its mentality curbed in 
 the reflective, and its aspirations checked at the 
 threshold of the contemplation of infinite space, eter- 
 nity, creation, and being. Yet, the action of the brute 
 is not merely automatic, for it often shows high intelli- 
 gence, although not endowed with moral attributes. 
 Man has that life — that electrical action — that heat — 
 that light — that motion, which may be convertible 
 terms, in common with mineral, vegetable, and animal 
 life, and which assumes new forms in disintegration, 
 or decay, but is not lost forever. 
 
 This subtle existence is the connecting link between 
 the m<r and not me. In low forms of life it follows in- 
 variably, if undisturbed, consistent law. As it as- 
 cends the scale, powers of apprehension crop out. I 
 pervades all known space, and is no sluggard, for it 
 has no cessation of labour, and needs no Sabbath. It 
 pulls to pieces, and it builds up. It changes one form 
 of beauty to another, and out of the same material can 
 produce diametrically opposite qualities, as if by slight 
 of hand. It builds up monad after monad, molecule 
 after molecule of matter, into definite forms, each after 
 its kind, whether it be granite rocks, basaltic columns, 
 faceted4^artz and diamond, or stillated snow-flakes, 
 
GHOSTS. ' 291 
 
 nor does it cease here, for it makes cells, (eacli a 
 worker,)and with them builds up plants, and, with more 
 than a painter's skill, colors flowers, fashions trees full 
 of umbrageous glory, and if left undisturbed makes no 
 mistakes as to genera or species. From the j)roto- 
 plasm of the ovum springs generation, life, activity, 
 food, blood, bone, flesh, fats, glands, nerves in all 
 their variety, and completeness, but this somctldng is 
 the immediate instrument in its vital power, of the 
 great Original. It is not merely a mechanical cur- 
 rent, which flows throughout the universe, but, it 
 rises to an intelligent work, which asks no respite from 
 its labour. Light, heat, and sound, are only known to 
 our perceptive- consciousness by undulatory motion. 
 Magnetism or electricity is manifested in the same 
 way. It travels with great rapidity, through various 
 media, including the nerves, and brain of man. Is it 
 not life in the lowest form? It maybe the base 
 of the pyramid, and at its apex is animal vitality. 
 While man or animal is in the body, such cannot think 
 without its presence and aid, man cannot move a mus- 
 cle without invoking its power, and the automatic ac- 
 tion of the heart, lungs, and all the internal organs, 
 are subservient to its behest, and empire. 
 
 After the consciousness has fled forever, from our 
 earthly tabernacle, it asserts for a time its power, and 
 makes nerves, brain, and muscles act by its impulses. 
 It locks the doors, and fastens the windows, long after 
 the tenant has vacated the premises. The soul has 
 gone away without it, and the body soon ceases to 
 
292 FEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 possess it. It is not absolutely necessary to the for- 
 mer, and when it leaves the latter, as a /iving. acHntj 
 principle, decay and disintegration commence to de- 
 molish the clay tenement, yet, in spite of death, the 
 body will be a vwdinm through which the subtle aura 
 can permeate, even, after it has returned to its primi- 
 tive elements, and has becom.'^ " dust to dust." I 
 may startle the reader by suggesting that by it, animal 
 life is maintained, or that animal lift is only a more 
 exalted manifestation of the same power, in active 
 exercise. This view will account for many, if not all, 
 the phenomena of our " fearfully and wonderfully 
 made " organizations. This trinity of soul, spirit, and 
 body has a quorum in two out of the three constitu- 
 ents of man, for the transaction of business. The 
 soul, in certain states, may be temporarily absent 
 from the body, on a voyage of discovery, and explor- 
 ation, and yet vitality of body remain, or it may have 
 expansive power to search realms otherwise far be- 
 yond mortal ken, and animal life still be in full tonicity. 
 This third substance is " the keeper of the house," 
 and has a kinship to all life in the kingdom of law. I 
 have no sympathy with those philosophers who see 
 only force in these manifestations. I can have no 
 conception of force abstractly considered, and as 
 having no reference to substance. It is of little 
 importance whether this substance be atoms, ether, 
 or an undulatory nondescript. This motive power 
 Is conditioned, and universal, and in one of its multi- 
 form statical and dynanical conditions is called animal 
 
GHOSTS. 293 
 
 magnetism, or uerve force, and a tctiiinn quid be- 
 tween the .lormal thinking being, and the outer world. 
 This view explains the wonderful phenomena of som- 
 nambulism, clairvoyance, trance-waking, trance-sleep- 
 ing. These states of soul need no organs of percep- 
 tion to see, hear, taste, smell, or feel. No impediments 
 obstruct the vision. I^istance is ho hindrance. Space' 
 is annihilated, and all the particulars of locality are 
 in a moment of time, as well known to the sul)ject, as 
 if the soul stood looking at theni. P^ven the teelings 
 of strangers are ascertained, and temporary ailments, 
 described without an error of observation, or judg- 
 ment. In some states, the vital action of the body is 
 in full vigour — in others the busy workers seem to 
 have suspended their labors, but in all, the mind is 
 more active than ever, and its i)Owers expanded. It 
 seems ty live, not merely within the confines of a 
 circumscribed frail tenement, but embraces in its 
 cognitions the " telegraphic universe." These won- 
 derful phenoniena are beyond dispute, explain them 
 how we may, and with these states of mind there is 
 not only unusual talent displayed, but enlarged ca- 
 pacity, and powerful faculty, independent of bodily 
 restrictions. There must be a medium through which 
 this is done, above and beyond nerve constituents, and 
 nerve force, but possibly analogous to the latter, and 
 is the element in which the soul acts. Sensation, or 
 rather its occasion, is carried along the bodily nerves, 
 and its swiftness can be measured, and as these carriers 
 of molecular action can be excised without perma- 
 
294 ^EN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 ncntly r.fFecting the feeding being, and ar. galvanism 
 magnetism, or electricity, exist independently of nerve 
 matter, which transmits the excitant of sensation, or 
 volinon, yet this nerve substance is only a medium, 
 motor or sensorial, of not merely force, but its sub- 
 stratum, therefore analogy does not forbid us to sup- 
 pose that in certain states or conditions of the soul, 
 it can, by this means, explore fields of observation 
 far beyond its ken, in ordinary circumstances. This 
 theory would explain the perplexing question of 
 mediate and immediate perception. The I becomes 
 cognizant imincdiately of this essence, which, to some 
 extent partakes of its nature, in a low form. It is an 
 instrumentality, and connecting link between the im- 
 mortal soul, and its disintegrating receptacle, one of 
 its principal attributes being a capability of immediately 
 apprehending soul on the one hand, and gross substance 
 on the other. I am no believer in the so-called 
 ** physical basis of life," but on the contrary hold that 
 life is more than a condition of matter, or a f(jrce de- 
 pendent on it. It is not subservient to other forccB, 
 and is not merely co-relative with them. It is an 
 entity displaying a high power, oii a more elevated 
 plane of operation, and more extensive in its work- 
 ings. This all-pervading force is generic, of which 
 animal life is an exalted specific manifestation. The 
 monadic force in the minerals obeying the law of 
 never-failing forms, and types, each after its kind, just 
 as the vegetable and animal do in an ascending scale, 
 until we rise from physic force to psychic force — from 
 blind, undeviating law to unconscious cerebration, or 
 ** latent thought," where is the arcana of the spiritual, 
 conscious' and eternal, beyond mortal ken in " the 
 shadows of the dark mountains.'" 
 
,CA A' A DA. 
 
 THERE is no law more evident in its operations, 
 than that ofprogressionon the one hand and decay- 
 on the other. There is no resting place for the plant, 
 or animal, in this world of change, from the time it 
 becomes an existence, until it returns to its primal 
 elements. When it ceases to grow it commences to 
 decay. This law is also applicable to nations. They 
 do not normally spring into existence in a day. In 
 the dawn of government it is first manifest in the 
 family ruled by the venerable patriarch. Then follows 
 the more complicated rule of chiefs ; then of warriors, 
 lords, artd autocrats, whether manifested through 
 republics or despotisms, and that wonderful complete- 
 ness of executive and law-making power resident in, 
 and constituting a limited monarchy. Such growth, 
 liberal views, and consolidation of petty nationalities 
 are doubtless elements of popular strength. Rome 
 absorbed even the rude tribes in its vicinity, and 
 added daily to its greatness. Macedonia, under Philip 
 and Alexander, like a political gourmand, swallowed 
 up all the then civilized world, and became a mighty 
 empire. Russia emerged from the Scandinavian 
 forests, savage and untutored ; but since Peter the 
 Great, worked in Saardam, Holland, as a ship-builder, 
 like the " man devil" fish, so graphically described by 
 
296 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 Victor Hugo in his " Toilers of the Sea," it haf 
 thrown out its tentacles, seizing Finland, Poland, Cir- 
 cassia, Northern Asia, Independent Tartary, Khiva, 
 and would have grasped poor Turkey by the throat,with 
 its relentless claws, and choked it to death, were it 
 not for the British and the French gunpowder 
 scorching its outstretched arms, on the heights of 
 Sebastapol. The United States have shown the 
 game love of power, and conquest, down to the pur- 
 chase of ice-ribbed Walrussia, and longing after 
 quaking torrid St. Thomas. Britain has had an itch 
 for following out the same policy from the days 
 of the Saxon Heptarchy, until now its Colonies and de- 
 pendencies are found one unbroken glorious circle oj 
 representative institutions, and political freedom. We 
 believe this principle is being carried out in the con- 
 federation of these provinces, and that we as a people 
 have taken one step forward in the grand march of 
 nationalities. Our work of absorption has commenced, 
 and will doubtless be carried forward to its final issue 
 of increased power and influence in America. We 
 are now the second power on this Continent, and the 
 third in maritime wealth, upon the globe. It is true 
 we have not the population of Brazil or Mexico, but 
 numerical strength does not constitute true national 
 power. Of all the nations of Europe, Britain wields 
 the most influence, but France, Austria, Prussia and 
 Russia have each as great, or a greater population ; 
 yet , what Congress meets on Continental Europe at 
 which the British Plenipotentiary does not sit ? 
 
CANADA. 297 
 
 What war is waged, or what radical governmental 
 changes take place in any part of Christendom, but 
 the question is anxiously asked "What will they say 
 in England ?" You may twirl the globe to find them ; 
 these little specks, the British isles, are but "freckles," 
 yet what a power ! This is not from their area, nor 
 their position, but because of their advanced civiliza- 
 tion, their perfection in the arts and sciences, education, 
 and comparatively high-toned morality and earnest 
 Christianity. And so rruch respected and revered 
 are "our mother's soil, our father's glory," in all parts 
 of Britain's heritage, that like the human heart, 
 the ?ove for staunch Britannia, and her institutions, 
 pulsates as strongly, and supplies a living patriotism 
 as undying in Canada, and Australia, as within the 
 very shadow of St. James' palace. Four millions of 
 people such as we are, can and will be felt as a power 
 not to be despised. Our free schools cannot be 
 excelled, and our grammar schools and universities, 
 will practically compare favourably with those in 
 Europe, venerable with age, and from "whose walls 
 have issued those who have won undying renown. 
 Canadian youths have already made a mark for 
 themselves, not only on tented fields, but also in the 
 walks of science, abroad as well as at home, beneath 
 the flapping wings of the mighty eagle, whose omin- 
 ous shadow falls upon a great segment of this Con- 
 tinent, as well as beneath the shaggy mane of the 
 mighty lion, whose majestic tread shakes the nations 
 
298 VES PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 of the earth. In the respect due to sacred things 
 we excel our neighbors, and even England. Our 
 average of crime is comparatively low. We enjoy 
 an admirable municipal system, light taxation, res- 
 ponsible government, full representation, and that 
 liberty which is not inconsistent with the general 
 welfare of the subject; for unlimited freedom is license, 
 and that is the threshold to anarchy. When every 
 one can do as he pleases,'and there is no restraint 
 on mdividual action, then brute force is sure to 
 rule, and there is no law but the first instinct of 
 self-preservation. Our judges are not political trick- 
 sters, but men of honour and a terror to evil doers. 
 We hold the advisers of the viceroy responsible for 
 their acts, Victoria propounds no injudicious meas- 
 ures for our acceptance, and intermeddles with naught 
 that pertains to our internal affairs, except in regard 
 to any measures affecting the good of the Empire, 
 as well as our own. We are not intermittently ruled 
 by a despotic chief, nor equally by intelligent citizens 
 and lowest scum of society, that is by universal 
 suffrage. We feel and appreciate the great boon thus 
 conferred upon us, for our mutual advantage in the 
 bright future. We can look back upon the bitterness, 
 heartburnings, rancour, and jealousies of treacherous 
 nondescripts, which have disgraced us in the past, 
 irrespective of names, or invidious distinctions, as 
 a hideous nightmare, and gaze prophetically through 
 the dim vista of coming years, with brighter hopes 
 and more joyful anticipations. 
 
CANAPA. 299 
 
 *' Regions Caesar never knew, 
 
 Our posterity shall sway. 
 Where his Eaj;lcs never tlew, 
 
 None invincible as they." 
 
 It is evident that modes of thouglit, or in other 
 words education, aftects climate, and climate, tlie 
 physique of the inhabitants, either for good or evil. 
 P'.ducation aijd intelligence drain marshes, and choke 
 off miasma — clear forests and level mountains — drain 
 cesspools and ventilate by-lanes, and thus improve 
 health, and morals, and manliness. This to a certain 
 extent is true, but I have often thought that isother- 
 mal lines might indicate different conditions of 
 men, as well as different temperatures. The climatic 
 lines drawn by the thermometer are really boundar- 
 ies for differences in humanity, independent of 
 nationality. The temperate zone produces the more 
 perfect man, in all his parts ; and the farther north in 
 that zone, the higher is the mentality, the more 
 powerful is the physical frame, and the more endur- 
 ing is the nervous force. We do not lay out this zone 
 by distance from the equator, but by the degrees of 
 heat or cold ; for the mountains of A.ffghanistan, Upper 
 India, Circassia, and Switzerland, can be classified 
 to be in the sanie zone of latitude, as Wales, or the 
 Highlands of Scotland. All these cold countries, 
 wherever they may be, produce a hardy race ; and even 
 level countries, if they possess an invigorating climate 
 may be classified in the list. Hot climates enervate, 
 cold climates brace up. The Torrid Zone deprived 
 
300 PEN PHOTOGKAFHS. 
 
 the human system of tonicity, the moderate gives re- 
 cuperative power, and increased vitality. The former 
 gives flaccidity to the muscle, but the latter gives 
 cumulative strength. The former cripples sustained 
 efforts of the brain, but the latter is constantly bring- 
 ing to the rescue, on life's battle field, powerful re- 
 serves. Tlic former scarcely ever permits the mind 
 to rise above mediocrity, but the latter has produced 
 brain power whose manifestations in literature, art, 
 science, and on the gory field, as well as in the 
 political arena, are the heritage of immortality. As 
 conquerors, the northern nations have a wonderful 
 record. Greece might have its petty jealousies, 
 Athens might vex Sparta, and Bcotian Thebes look 
 in proud disdain on Corinth, and schisms, heartburn- 
 ings, and intestine wars might be the order of the 
 day, but all had one bond of union, and that was 
 being (Greeks. No sooner did the Southern Persians 
 display their glittering spears, and burnished shields 
 on the European side of the Hellespont, than minor 
 differences were forgotten ; and shoulder to shoulder, 
 and foot to foot, they showed a noble heroism : for 
 the bloody gates of Thermopylae, the gory plains of 
 Marathon, and the ensanguined waves of Salamis 
 told to the wondering nations, that Greece was living 
 Greece still. But, mark the sequel, victory made it 
 effeminate, and the hardy Northern Macedonians 
 swept it with the besom of destruction, until *' none so 
 poor as do it reverence." Rome, the home of the 
 stately, prosaic, and stern, rose by absorption, from a 
 
CANADA. 301 
 
 small city to be the mistress of the world. The 
 Southern Carthaginians almost knocked for admission 
 at its gates, with bloody swords, yet Roman hands 
 finally sowed over Southern Carthage, the salt of deso- 
 lation. But its day of doom came, and the Northern 
 Gauls, athletic, brave, "giants upon the earth" put 
 their heels upon the necks of the conquerors, whose 
 Empire stretched from Britannia to beyond the Gan- 
 ges, and from Mount Atlas to the walls of Antinous. 
 
 The Gauls had their conquerors in the still more 
 northern Scandinavians orSclavonians. The fiery Danes 
 carried fire, and sword, and victory, into England. The 
 Normans followed at their heels, and alter many a 
 bloody battle, Scotland, and Wales remained uncon. 
 quered. Bonaparte found his match in Moscow, and in 
 British troops at Waterloo. ; 
 
 In the recent struggle in the United States, the 
 •splendid muscle of the northern troops told against a 
 brave foe, and were it not for the strong right arm 
 of those southern sons of the mountains of Western 
 Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee and other 
 rugged districts, the struggle would have been of short 
 duration. Prussia has at the present time a race of 
 Teutons, who, with swift vengeance, conquered in the 
 «*nd, its more southern neighbour. Canadians are 
 the Norsemen of the continent, and have the men- 
 tal power, and muscle, and courage, that can con- 
 quer equality, and repel .superiority. The mighty 
 eagle of the South may flap one wing in the Atlantic, 
 and daintily dip the other in the Pacific, and open its 
 
302 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 * . ' ■ 
 
 capacious maw for southern prey, but if it spreads 
 the gorgeous plumage of its tail, north of its legiti- 
 mate domain, a truncated appendage may be the 
 result, which will detract from the beauty of the noble 
 bird. > 
 
 I Tell me of a country on the face of this earth that 
 can produce such a noble record ? — We do not except 
 the New England States, Prussia, and Scotland, either 
 as regards the ratio ot the population attending educa- 
 
 ' tional institutions — the expenditure of public monies — 
 and the high literary standing of our teachers and 
 professors. Need we wonder then that extensive 
 correspondence is carried on among ourselves, and 
 with foreign countries ? And here let me direct at- 
 tention to the best means, towards the encouragement 
 of emigration into British North America. L is 
 useless for us to expect immigrants to settle in great 
 numbers, within the boundaries of the old Dominion. 
 We have, it is true, large tracts of country to occupy ; 
 but how illiberal the policy adopted in comparison 
 to that of the neighboring Republic ! It will be found 
 
 . that the thrifty Germans — frugal Danes — and Nor- 
 wegians — and our energetic countrymen — who would 
 bring to us willing hearts, and strong arms, and often 
 plethoric purses, must of necessity seek homes in a 
 country, and under a government with which they 
 have no sympathy, because of "the penny wise and 
 pound foolish" policy of the responsible politicians 
 of the late Provinces, and of the "New Dominion." 
 A step has been taken, recently, in the right dir xtion, 
 
CANADA. 303 
 
 and it is to be hoped that no "fit" of retrogression will 
 throw a "glamour" over the eyes of the multifarious 
 executives, of our country, and urge them to pro- 
 vide for present exigencies, at the expense of future in- 
 calculable and lasting benefit, to ourselves, and our 
 countrymen. We, in Ontario and the Eastern 
 Provinces, at present, have only to offer (with nu- 
 merous restrictions), wooded and rocky sections 
 of country, which are dearly [bought as a free gift 
 "wiihout let or hinderance." The United States offer 
 freely rich prairie lands to those who come to them 
 from the loom, the work-shop,and the highly cultiyated 
 rural districts of Europe, and who are mere novices 
 with the axe, and to whom the forest offers no in 
 ducement. These men will not look forward with 
 complacency, to years of unremitting toil, penury, iso- 
 lation,broken down constitutions, and conditions of so 
 called " free grants," which " lead to bewilder and 
 dazzle to blind." 
 
 This drawback is neutralized by the great North- 
 West, rich in agricultural resources, and minerals. 
 This country has an area of about 127,000 square 
 miles of prairie, and wooded lands. It is somewhat 
 larger than Great Britain,''and capable of sustaining a 
 population as great. There is a sufficient quantity of 
 wood in the country for all the necessities of settle- 
 ment — some woody ridges being over 100 miles in 
 length, by 40 miles in breadth. The wood is larch, 
 spruct, oak, white pine, cypress, and*poplar. The 
 hill ranges known as Riding and Duck Mountains 
 
304 PEN PHOTOGRAPHS. . 
 
 rise i,ooo feet above Lake Winnipeg, and i,6oo feet 
 above the sea. Lake "W innipeg is 300 miles long by 
 50 broad. The most important rivers which flow into 
 it from the westward are Red River, Assiniboine 
 river, and the Saskatchewan river. By means of these, 
 and numerous other tributaries, Lake Winnipeg drains 
 an area of country considerably larger than all the eastern 
 Provinces (450,000 square miles). The Saskatchewan, 
 584 miles from its mouth, is 600 yards broad. The 
 rate of the current is 2^ miles per hour, and its 
 depth at the forks 10 feet. The country is intersected 
 by rivers of a magnitude to astonish those who have 
 never inquired into the resources of this magnificent 
 country. The geological foundations of the country 
 are the Laurentian, Silurian, Devonian, Cretaceous, 
 and Tertiary, in the order in which I have enumerated 
 them — of these the first Is the most important : i^ 
 traverses Canada from north-east to south-west. The 
 mountains are called the Laurentides. The name 
 is derived from the St. Lawrence, on account of their 
 proximity to it. ijhese series of rock are only found on 
 this Continent, elsewhere, in the Adirondack moun- 
 tains, a small portion in Arkansas, and near the 
 sources of the Mississippi — also found in Finland, 
 Scandinavia, and the north of Scotland. The rock 
 runs through our country — north of us — north of 
 Lakes Huron and Superior — east of Lake Winnipeg, 
 and north of the so called North West to the Arctic 
 Ocean, forming mountains from 2,000, to 3,000 feet 
 high. This rock is composed of crystaline schists 
 
 J 
 
PEN PHUTDGKAPHS, , 305 
 
 (Gneissoid and Homblendic) with large stratitiecl 
 masses of a crystaline lock comi3osed of Lime, 
 and Soda Felspar. The Devonian series are known 
 principally on account of the salt springs ; but the 
 other series are too well known to need description. 
 Coal, wood, salt, fertile soil, a genial climate, and 
 navigable rivers, and lakes, should surely be strong 
 inducements for settlement. Some may say, how can 
 the climate be genial when the country is situated so 
 much farther north than we are ? Our climate is 
 severely cold — can their mean annual temperature 
 be less so ? It should be remembered however, that 
 we cannot calculate the cUmate of a country from 
 lines of latitude alone, for surrounding circumstances 
 modify climate ; as for example, the proximity of moun- 
 tains, or the lakes, or the sea. The height above the 
 ocean may change the whole cHmate of a country. It 
 is well known to sea-faring persons that an iceberg of 
 only a tew acres in extent, will chill the atmosi)iiere 
 for many miles around ; so towards the end of May, 
 or during the first part of June, large floes of ice be- 
 come detached from the shores of the upper Lakes — 
 float down near our western frontier, and by the 
 absorption of, and rendering latent the solar rays, 
 frosts often cut down remorselessly the tender sliootst 
 of Lidian corn, potatoes, and barley. Now, beyond 
 these inland seas these influences are never felt, but 
 other and more favorable causes operate to modify 
 the climate — the comparatively low elevation of tlic 
 
3o6 CANADA. 
 
 North West above the soa level — the most of the 
 prairies arc not more that 730 feet above the ocean — 
 the influence of the warm westerly winds froni the 
 Pacific Ocean — and from the (Tiilf of Mexico, through 
 the Mississippi valley, all conduce to this end. The 
 Rockv Mountains, which have an altitude of 10,000 
 to 14,000 feet above the sea south of 49" north 
 latitude, suddenly fall to 2,500 feet north of that lati" 
 tude, and offer no serious obstacle to the passage over 
 them of clouds laden with moisture and warmth 
 from the evaporating and boiling caldron — the Pacific. 
 The mean summer temperature, based upon several 
 years observation, is at Toronto 64^^; while at Red 
 River it is 68° and to the westward several hun- 
 dreds of miles, although on an elevated plateau the 
 winters are so mild that buffaloes, mustang ponies^ 
 and cattle feed and keep fat during all the year. The 
 climatic line which passes through Ontario reaches 
 far north of us. Need anv more be sai 1 of this inter- 
 esting land? 
 
 Our defences will yet be to us a serious matter. 
 We have a subtle, crafty, active power near us, anxious 
 to annex us, and using all the pressure of hostile 
 tariffs to make us discontent with our relations. — 
 This state of things has been to our benefit, for we 
 have found other markets, and have become more self- 
 reliant, but, a crisis may come, and hostilities may 
 arise from Imperial or Colonial complications, that 
 will rnrapel us to draw the sword. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A Night of Terrors ^04 
 
 A Photograph of the Soul 14; 
 
 Auld Lang Syne .201 
 
 Balmoral ^ 
 
 Caird 
 
 Ciimming . . . . " 
 
 Canadian Poetry * 
 
 Canada 
 
 90 
 
 295 
 
 Dr. Dick the Philosopher .g 
 
 Guthrie 
 
 Ghosts and their Relations ' . 229 
 
 Jottings by the way ^ 
 
 Punshon . . . 
 
 ^ 5^ 
 
 Spurgeou 
 
 Syme .... ••••.' 
 ^ 215 
 
 The Anglo Saxon in the English La/iLniaL^e 12c 
 
 The Knight of the Awl .* ^^q 
 
 Thomas Carlyle -68 
 
 Under a California tree ^^ 
 
 Virginia and its Battle-fields in 1S64 .... 66 
 
 Waterloo 
 
 What was it ? . l^.