Читать книгу: «International Weekly Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science - Volume 1, No. 5, July 29, 1850», страница 4
Recent Deaths
SARGENT S. PRENTISS, one of the most distinguished popular orators of the age, died at Natchez, Mississippi, on the 3d inst. He was a native of Maine, and after being admitted to the bar he emigrated to the Southwest, where his great natural genius, with his energy and perseverance, soon gained for him a well-deserved reputation as one of the most successful advocates at the bar, and as one of the most brilliant and effective speakers in all that part of the country, where "stumping" is the almost universal practice among political aspirants.
He was once elected to the House of Representatives from his adopted State, and was excluded from his seat by the casting vote of James K. Polk, at that time Speaker of the House. The facts in regard to the affair, according to the Tribune, are substantially as follows: In 1837, the President, Mr. Van Buren, called an Extra Session of Congress to assemble in September of that year. The laws of Mississippi required that the election for Congressmen for that State for the twenty-fifth Congress should be held in November, and in order that the State should be represented in the Extra Session, the Governor ordered an election to be held in July for the choice of two Congressmen "to fill the vacancy until superseded by the members to be elected at the next regular election, on the first Monday, and the day following, in November next." The election was held under the authority of the Governor's proclamation, and the Democratic candidates, Claiborne and Gholson, were elected by default. They took their seats in the House, in which there was a decided Democratic majority, and immediately applied themselves to the task of inducing the House to declare that they had been duly elected not only for the Extra Session, but for the full term of two fears following. Of course they accomplished their object. The November Election arrived and the Whigs nominated Prentiss and Word. The Democrats brought out Claiborne and Gholson again, and the result was that the Whig candidates were chosen by a triumphant majority. They received their certificates of election from the proper authority and presented themselves at the regular session of Congress in December, and found their seats occupied by the brace of Democrats whom the people of Mississippi had elected to stay at home, and after a most severe and memorable contest, the new members presented themselves for admission at the bar of the House, which decided readily that Claiborne and Gholson were not entitled to their places, but instead of admitting Prentiss and Word, by Mr. Polk's casting vote declared the seats vacant, and referred the whole subject back to the people. During the discussion of the question Mr. Prentiss made a speech which will be remembered and admired as long as genius and true manly eloquence are appreciated. Another election was held in the following month of March, and Prentiss and Word were again returned, and this time they were admitted to their seats. The remaining session of the twenty-fifth Congress, Prentiss served with distinguished ability. We believe this closed his career as a statesman. He recently removed to New Orleans, where he continued the practice of the law, standing always at the head of his profession.
THE LATE HON. NATHANIEL SILSBEE, according to the Salem, Mass. Gazette, of the 16th inst., began his career soon after the breaking out of the French revolution, and the general warfare in which all Europe became embroiled. At this favorable point of time, Mr. S. having finished his term of service at one of our best private schools of instruction, under the Rev. Dr. Cutler, of Hamilton, and having abandoned the collegiate course for which he had been prepared, and been initiated into the forms of business and knowledge of the counting-room, he engaged in the employ of one of our most enterprising merchants, Hasket Derby, Esq., the leader of the vanguard of India adventures. At the age of 18, he embarked on the sea of fortune as clerk of a merchant vessel. On his next voyage he took the command of a vessel, and before he arrived at the age of 21, he sailed for the East Indies in a vessel, which, at this day, would scarcely be deemed suitable for a coasting craft, uncoppered, without the improved nautical instruments and science which now universally prevail, trusting only to his dead reckoning, his eyes, and his head, not one on board having attained to the age of his majority. He served successively as representative in our State Legislature, as member of Congress for six years, as State Senator, over which body he presided, and as Senator in Congress, for nine years, with honor to himself, and satisfaction to his constituents. In all commercial questions which presented themselves to the consideration of Congress, while a member of both houses, no man's opinion was more sought for and more justly respected.
SEVERAL FAMOUS FRENCHMEN have left the world within a few weeks. Quatremere de Quincy, who was in the first rank of archæology and æsthetics, died at the age of ninety-five; Count Mollien, the famous financier—often a minister—at eighty-seven; Baron Meneval, so long the private, confidential, all-trusted private secretary of Napoleon, between seventy and eighty; Count Berenger, one of the Emperor's Councillors and Peers, conspicuous for the independence of his spirit, as well as administrative qualifications, was four-score and upward. The obsequies of these personages were grand ceremonials. President Napoleon sent his carriages and orderly officers to honor the remains of the old servants of his uncle. This class might be thought to have found an elixir of life, in their devotion to the Emperor or his memory. A few of them survive, like Marshal Soult, wonders of comfortable longevity.
REMARKABLE WORK BY A CHINESE
To the man of science, the philanthropist and the Christian, it will prove a stirring incident that a work on Geography has just been issued by a native Chinese, embracing the history and condition of other nations. Here is a stroke, such as has never yet been dealt against the ignorance and prejudice which has erected such a wall of exclusiveness around three hundred millions of people. A Lieutenant Governor is the author, and, by a commendatory preface, it is pressed upon the notice of his countrymen by a Governor General—both of these men high in office in the Chinese Government.
In reference to his map of the world, the writer remarks: "We knew in respect to a Northern frozen ocean, but in respect to a Southern frozen ocean we had not heard. So that, when Western men produced maps having a frozen ocean at the extreme South, we supposed that they had made a mistake in not understanding the Chinese language, and had placed that in the South which should have been placed only in the North. But on inquiring of an American, one Abeel, (the Missionary,) he said this doctrine was verily true, and should not be doubted."
It is a fact full of interest that the chronology adopted in this work is that usually received by European writers. The more prominent facts of sacred history subsequent to the Deluge, are either alluded to, or stated at length, much as they occur in the Scriptures.
It is interesting to us, too, that this work presents to the Chinese a more definite and discriminating view of the different religions of the world, than has yet appeared in the Chinese language.
Speaking of different countries of India under European sway, where Buddhism or Paganism and Protestantism exist together, the author does not hesitate to say that the latter is gradually overcoming the former, "whose light is becoming more and more dim." This is a very remarkable concession, when we consider that the individual who makes it is probably a Buddhist himself, and represents the religion of China as Buddhism.
It is a remarkable fact, that this work contains a more extensive and correct account of the history and institution of Christian nations than has ever been published before by any heathen writer in any age of the world.
This remarkable work will introduce the "Celestials" to such an acquaintance with "the outside barbarians" as cannot fail to give them new ideas, remove something at least of the insane prejudice against, and contempt of, all other nations, which has so long prevailed. We regard it as a very important agency in preparing the way for that Christianity which the friends of the perishing are seeking to introduce into that benighted empire. A book by a native Chinaman, himself high in office, and recommended by a still higher officer of the government, the author still himself a Pagan, yet reasoning upon the great facts of the Bible, and opening the hitherto unknown civilized and Christian world to his countrymen—such a book cannot but become an important pioneer in the work of pouring the light of truth upon that dark land.—Boston Traveler.
[From Sartain's Magazine, for August.]
REQUIEM
UPON THE DEATH OF FRANCES SARGENT ASGOOD.
BY ANNE C. LYNCH
To what bright world afar dost thou belong
Thou whose pure soul seemed not of mortal birth?
From what fair realm of flowers, and love, and song,
Cam'st thou a star-beam to our shadowed earth?
What hadst thou done, sweet spirit! in that sphere,
That thou wert banished here?
Here, where our blossoms early fade and die,
Where autumn frosts despoil our loveliest bowers;
Where song goes up to heaven, an anguished cry
From wounded hearts, like perfume from crushed flowers;
Where Love despairing waits, and weeps in vain
His Psyche to regain.
Thou cam'st not unattended on thy way;
Spirits of beauty, grace, and joy, and love
Were with thee, ever bearing each some ray
Of the far home that thou hadst left above,
And ever at thy side, upon our sight
Gleamed forth their wings of light.
We heard their voices in the gushing song
That rose like incense from thy burning heart;
We saw the footsteps of the shining throng
Glancing upon thy pathway high, apart,
When in thy radiance thou didst walk the earth,
Thou child of glorious birth.
But the way lengthened, and the song grew sad,
Breathing such tones as find no echo here;
Aspiring, soaring, but no longer glad,
Its mournful music fell upon the ear;
'Twas the home-sickness of a soul that sighs
For its own native skies.
Then he that to earth's children comes at last,
The angel-messenger, white-robed and pale,
Upon thy soul his sweet oblivion cast,
And bore thee gently through the shadowy vale,—
The fleeting years of thy brief exile o'er,—
Home to the blissful shore.
MR. HEALEY is in Paris, engaged busily on his Webster and Hayne picture, of which at the time of its projection, so much was said. The canvas is some twenty feet by fourteen, and all the heads will be portraits. It will be valuable, and must command a ready sale. Will Massachusetts buy it for her State House, or South Carolina for her Capitol? It would be a splendid ornament for Fanueil Hall, and not be misplaced on the walls of the Charleston Court House.
MANUEL GODOY, the famous "Prince of Peace," it is mentioned in recent foreign journals, has left Paris for Spain. The Government at Madrid has restored a considerable part of his large confiscated estates, and he probably has returned to enjoy a golden setting sun. He must be at least eighty years of age.
MONS. LIBRI, a well known savant, member of the Institute, and a professor of the College of France, has been charged, in Paris, with having committed extensive thefts of valuable MSS. and broken in the public libraries. He has persisted in proclaiming his innocence, and is warmly defended by certain papers. An indictment was found, he did not appear; he was tried, in his absence, for contumacy. He was found guilty of the most extensive depredations in this way. Abstracting the most valuable books, effacing identifying marks, sending them out of the country to be rebound, and then selling them at costly rates. He was sentenced to imprisonment for ten years at hard labor.
SKETCH OF A STREET CHARACTER OF CAIRO.—The Caireen donkey-boy is quite a character, and mine in particular was a perfect original. He was small and square of frame, his rich brown face relieved by the whitewash of teeth and the most brilliant black eyes, and his face beamed with a merry, yet roguish expression, like that of the Spanish, or rather Moorish, boy, in Murillo's well known masterpiece, with whom he was probably of cognate blood. Living in the streets from infancy, and familiar with the chances of out-door life, and with every description of character; waiting at the door of a mosque or a cafe, or crouching in a corner of a bazaar, he had acquired a thorough acquaintance with Caireen life; and his intellect, and, I fear, his vices, had become somewhat prematurely developed. But the finishing touch to his education was undoubtedly given by the European travelers whom he had served, and of whom he had, with the imitativeness of his age, picked up a variety of little accomplishments, particularly the oaths of different languages. His audacity had thus become consummate, and I have heard him send his fellows to —— as coolly, and in as good English, as any prototype of our own metropolis. His mussulman prejudices sat very loosely upon him, and in the midst of religious observances he grew up indifferent and prayerless. With this inevitable laxity of faith and morals, contracted by his early vagabondage, he at least acquired an emancipation from prejudice, and displayed a craving after miscellaneous information, to which his European masters were often tasked to contribute. Thrown almost in childhood upon their resources, the energy and perseverance of these boys is remarkable. My little lad had, for instance, been up the country with some English travelers, in whose service he had saved four or five hundred piastres, (four or five pounds), with which he bought the animal which I bestrode, on whose sprightliness and good qualities he was never tired of expatiating, and with the proceeds of whose labor he supported his mother and himself. He had but one habitual subject of discontent, the heavy tax imposed upon his donkey by Mehemet Ali, upon whom he invoked the curse of God; a curse, it is to be feared, uttered, not loud but deep, by all classes save the employés of government. His wind and endurance were surprising. He would trot after his donkey by the hour together, urging and prodding along with a pointed stick, as readily in the burning sandy environs, and under the noonday sun, as in the cool and shady alleys of the crowded capital; running, dodging, striking, and shouting with all the strength of his lungs, through the midst of its labyrinthine obstructions.—The Nile Boat.
MENDELSSOHN'S SKILL AS A CONDUCTOR.—In the spring of 1835. Mendelssohn was invited to come to Cologne, in order to direct the festival. Here we met again, and thanks to his kindness, I had the pleasure of being present at one of the general rehearsals, where he conducted Beethoven's Eighth Symphony. It would be a matter of difficulty to decide in which quality Mendelssohn excelled the most—whether as composer, pianist, organist, or conductor of the orchestra. Nobody ever knew better how to communicate, as if by an electric fluid, his own conceptions of a work, to a large body of performers. It was highly interesting on this occasion to contemplate the anxious attention manifested by a body of more than five hundred singers and performers, watching every glance of Mendelssohn's eye, and following, like obedient spirits, the magic wand of this musical Prospero. The admirable allegretto in B flat, of Beethoven's Symphony, not going at first to his liking, he remarked, smilingly, that he knew every one of the gentlemen engaged was capable of performing and even composing a scherzo of his own; but that just now he wanted to hear Beethoven's, which he thought had some merit. It was cheerfully repeated. "Beautiful! charming!" cried Mendelssohn, "but still too loud in two or three instances. Let us take it again, from the middle." "No, no," was the general reply of the band; "the whole movement over again for our own satisfaction;" and then they played it with the utmost delicacy and finish, Mendelssohn laying aside his baton, and listening with evident delight to the more perfect execution. "What would I have given," exclaimed he, "if Beethoven could have heard his own composition so well understood and so magnificently performed!" By thus giving alternately praise and blame, as required, spurring the slow, checking the too ardent, he obtained orchestral effects seldom equaled in our days. Need I add, that he was able to detect at once, even among a phalanx of performers, the slightest error, either of note or accent.—Life of Mendelssohn.
There is a mutual hate between the virtuous and the vicious, the spiritual and the sensual: but the pure abhor understandingly, knowing the nature of their antagonists, while the vile nurse an ignorant malignity, pained with an unacknowledged ache of envy.
Superstition In France.—The Courrier de la Meuse says: "Witchcraft is still an object of belief in our provinces. On Sunday last, in a village belonging to the arrondissement of Verdun, the keeper of the parish bull forgot to lay before the poor animal at the usual hour its accustomed allowance of provender. The bull, impatient at the delay, made a variety of efforts to regain his liberty, and at last succeeded. The first use he made of his freedom was to demolish a rabbit-hutch which was in the stable. The keeper's wife, hearing a noise, ran to the place, and as soon as she saw the bull treading mercilessly upon the rabbits with his large hoofs, seized a cudgel and showered down a volley of blows on the crupper of the devastator. But not being accustomed to this rough treatment, the bull grew angry, and fell upon his neighbors the oxen, and what with horns and hoofs, turned the stable into a scene of terror and confusion. The woman began to cry for help. Her cries were heard, and with some trouble the bull was ousted from the stable, and forthwith began to butt at everything in his path. The mayor and the adjoint of the commune were attracted to the scene of this riot, and on witnessing the animal's violence, declared, after a short deliberation, that the bull was a sorcerer, or at any rate that he was possessed with a devil, and that he ought to be conducted to the presbytery in order to be exorcised. The authorities were accordingly obeyed, and the bull was dragged or driven into the presence of the curate, who was requested to subject him to the formalities prescribed in the ritual. The good priest found no little difficulty in escaping the pressing solicitations of his parishioners. At last, however, he succeeded; but though the bull escaped exorcism, he could not elude the shambles. Condemned to death by the mayor as a sorcerer, his sentence was immediately executed."
The Libraries At Cambridge.—There are now belonging to the various libraries connected with the University, about 86,000 volumes beside pamphlets, maps and prints. The Public Library contains over 57,000 volumes. The Law Library, 13,000; Divinity School, 3000; Medical School, 1,200; Society Libraries for the Students, 10,000. There have been added during the past year 1,751 volumes, and 2,219 pamphlets.
The Birmingham Mercury thinks some of Lord Brougham's late proceedings may be accounted for in part by natural vexation at Cottenham being made an earl. "Cottenham is several years younger than Brougham, and was his successor in the chancellorship, and yet he gets an earldom, while Brougham, who was known all over the world before Cottenham was ever heard of out of the Equity Courts, still remains and is likely to remain a simple baron."
Romantic History of two English Lovers.—In the reign of Edward III., Robert Machim, an accomplished gentleman, of the second degree of nobility, loved and was beloved by the beautiful Anna d'Arfet, the daughter of a noble of the first class. By virtue of a royal warrant Machim was incarcerated for his presumption; and, on his release, endured the bitter mortification of learning that Anna had been forcibly married to a noble, who carried her to his castle, near Bristol. A friend of Machim's had the address to introduce himself to the family, and became the groom of broken-hearted Anna, who was thus persuaded and enabled to escape on board a vessel with her lover, with the view of ending her days with him in France. In their hurry and alarm they embarked without the pilot, and the season of the year being the most unfavorable, were soon at the mercy of a dreadful storm. The desired port was missed during the night, and the vessel driven out to sea. After twelve days of suffering they discovered faint traces of land in the horizon, and succeeded in making the spot still called Machico. The exhausted Anna was conveyed on shore, and Machim had spent three days in exploring in the neighborhood with his friends, when the vessel, which they had left in charge of the mariners, broke from her moorings in a storm and was wrecked on the coast of Morocco, where the crew were made slaves. Anna became dumb with sorrow, and expired three days after. Machim survived her but five days, enjoining his companions to bury him in the same grave, under the venerable cedar, where they had a few days before erected a cross in acknowledgment of their happy deliverance. An inscription, composed by Machim, was carved on the cross, with the request that the next Christian who might chance to visit the spot would erect a church there. Having performed this last sad duty, the survivors fitted out the boat, which they had drawn ashore on their landing, and putting to sea in the hope of reaching some part of Europe, were also driven on the coast of Morocco, and rejoined their companions, but in slavery. Zargo, during an expedition of discovery to the coast of Africa, took a Spanish vessel with redeemed captives, amongst whom was an experienced pilot, named Morales, who entered into the service of Zargo, and gave him an account of the adventures of Machim, as communicated to him by the English captives, and of the landmarks and situations of the newly-discovered island.—Madeira, by Dr. Mason.
Centenary Performances in commemoration of the death-day of John Sebastian Bach—the 28th of July—are this week to be held at Leipsic, (where an assemblage of two thousand executants is to be convened for the display of some of the masters greatest works,) at Berlin, at Magdeburg, at Hamburg, and at other towns in North Germany.
