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278

There must they stay and rest them for space of one whole day

And eke the night that followd. How fairly served were they!

To Rüdeger’s dominions thence had they to ride on.

To him the tidings also were very quickly known.

When now the wayworn riders had taken needful rest,

And nearer were approaching the country of their quest,

They found upon the marches a knight who sleeping lay,

From whom Hagen of Tronjé a stout sword took away.

Ay, Eckewart the name was of that same warrior good;

Much grief had he thereover, and sorry was his mood

That he had lost the weapon through heroes passing there.

Ill-watch’d found they the borders of margrave Rüdeger.

“Woe’s me for this dishonour,” thereon said Eckewart,

“This journey of Burgundians I rue with all my heart.

Since ever I lost Siegfried, my luck hath all been gone.

Alack, the day, Lord Rüdeger, what ill to thee I’ve done!”

Now Hagen heard right plainly the noble warrior’s woe.

His sword again he gave him and six red armlets, too.

“Take these as pledge, O hero, that thou my friend wilt be;

Good knight thou art, though lonely thou sleptst upon the lea.”

“God for thy rings requite thee,” said Eckewart thereto;

“Thy journey into Hunsland yet sorely do I rue.

Thou took’st the life of Siegfried; here art thou held in hate.

To guard thyself be careful: in good faith rede I that.”


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license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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XXVI.]

“Now God alone must keep us!” Hagen for answer gave.

“In truth no greater trouble these warriors now have

Than that, for kings and liegemen, on lodgings we may light,

Where we in this same country may lay our heads to-night.

“The horses have been ruin’d by roads so far about;”

Thus spake the warrior Hagen, “our stores are all run out;

None can be had for money; a worthy host we need,

Who ere this day is ended will kindly give us bread.”

Spake Eckewart in answer: “A host to you I’ll show:

And such a one ne’er bade you into his house to go,

In any land whatever, as ye may meet with here

If ye, good thanes are willing to visit Rüdeger.

“He dwells hard by the highway: of hosts he is the best

That ever had a rooftree. His heart is aye possest

Of kindness, as of flowers are meadows in sweet May;

If he can succour heroes, glad will he be the day.”

“Wilt thou then,” said King Gunther, “be now my messenger,

And see if for my pleasure, my kind friend Rüdeger

Shelter unto my kinsfolk and all our men will give?

So will Ido my utmost to serve him while I live.”

“I’ll gladly be the envoy,” then answer’d Eckewart.

With right good will so did he upon the errand start.

To Rüdeger declared he what he was bade to say,

Who no such joyful tidings had heard for many a day.


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280

Folk saw to Bechelaren a knight ride hastily.

Him Rüdeger himself saw: “On yonder road,” said he,

“Comes Eckewart fast riding, of Kriemhild’s lieges one.”

He fancied that the foemen some harm to him had done.

Then went he to the gateway where he the envoy found

Who laid aside his weapon from off his belt unbound.

The message that he carried he sought not to withhold

From host and friends about him; but straight his story told.

Unto the margrave spake he: “I come at the command

Of Gunther, king and ruler of the Burgundian land,

And Giselher his brother, and likewise Gernot, too;

Each of these warriors sendeth his greeting unto you.

“The like doth also Hagen, as Volker doth as well,

With true and ready service. And more I have to tell:

That—as the royal marshal sends word to you by me—

The good men much are needing your hospitality.”

With smiling lips unto him made Rüdeger reply:

“Glad am I at your tidings, that kings so great and high

Deign to bespeak my service: they shall not be denied.

If they will cross my threshold ’twill give me joy and pride.”

“Dankwart the marshal likewise begs you by me to tell

If you can furnish house-room for all the rest as well:

For sixty valiant warriors, a thousand knights right good,

And men-at-arms nine thousand?” Then joyful was his mood.


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XXVII.]

“Now be these guests right welcome,” made answer Rüdeger,

“And all these noble warriors, unto my dwelling here;

To them, as yet, at no time have I a service done.

So ride to meet them, kinsmen and lieges everyone.”

Then quickly to their horses hurried each squire and knight.

Whate’er their master bade them to all of them seem’d right;

And they in service hasted the readier for that.

Naught wist yet dame Gotlinda, who in her chamber sat.

Away then went the margrave to where the ladies were,

His wife and eke their daughter;— to them the tidings fair

That had but now been brought him he told right speedily:

That soon their lady’s brothers beneath their roof would be.

“My own and well-lov’d sweetheart,” so Rüdeger then spake,

“These noble kings and mighty we must right welcome make,

Since they and all their followers are on their way to court.

And Hagen, Gunther’s liegeman, thou must greet in good sort.

“With him there comes another, by name one Dankwart hight;

And yet a third call’d Volker, a well-bred, courtly knight.

These six must thou, Gotlinda, and thou, my daughter, kiss,

And let not any warrior a fitting welcome miss.


text: The Lay of the Nibelungs/Chapter 26

title: The Lay of the Nibelungs/Chapter 26


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 at length returned to his native country; and in the creation of Château Desir, endeavoured to find some consolation for the loss of his gay palazzo on the banks of the Adige.

Over the gateway there rose a turreted tower, the small square window of which, notwithstanding its stout stanchions, illumined the muniment room of the House of Carabas. In the spandrils of the gateway, and in many other parts of the building, might be seen the arms of the family; while the innumerable stacks of chimneys, which appeared to spring from all parts of the roof, were carved and built in such curious and quaint devices, that they were rather an ornament than an excrescence. When you entered the quadrangle, you found one side solely occupied by the old hall, the immense carved rafters of whose oaken roof rested on corbels of the family supporters, against the walls.

The walls of the hall were of stone, but these

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 were covered half way from the ground with a pannelling of curiously carved oak; whence were suspended the family portraits in massy frames, painted partly by Dutch, and partly by Italian artists. Near the Dais, or upper part of the Hall, there projected an oriel window, which, as you beheld, you scarcely knew what most to admire, the radiancy of its painted panes, or the fantastic richness of Gothic ornament, which was profusely lavished in every part of its masonry. Here too the Gothic pendent, and the Gothic fan-work, were intermingled with the Italian arabesques, which, at the time of the building of the Château, had been recently introduced into England by Hans Holbein and John of Padua.

How wild and fanciful are those ancient arabesques! Here at Château Desir, in the pannelling of the old hall, might you see fantastic scrolls, separated by bodies ending in termini, and whose heads supported the Ionic volute,

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282

This promised both the ladies and did themselves prepare,

And sought from out their coffers for raiment rich to wear,

That they to meet the warriors in fit attire might go.

Amidst the comely damsels there was a great to-do.

Of painted women’s faces one found there few enough.

They wore upon their foreheads bright bands of golden stuff,

Like costly chaplets fashion’d, that thus their lovely hair

The wind should not dishevel: ’tis truth that I declare.

Now let us leave the ladies in all this business.

Across the open country all eager was the press

Of Rüdeger’s retainers to where the princes stay’d;

Within the margrave’s county right welcome were they made.

As soon as towards him coming the margrave them espied,

How Rüdeger the valiant in words of gladness cried:

“Be ye, my lords, right welcome, and likewise all your men;

How glad am I to see you here in my own domain!”

In trust, with no misliking, the warriors to him bow’d;

That he all goodwill bore them to all he plainly show’d.

Apart he greeted Hagen, a friend of old was he;

And did the like to Volker, the knight of Burgundy.

Dankwart he also greeted; whereon that bold thane spake:

“Since thou wilt give us shelter, pray, who shall undertake

To cater for our people whom we have brought so far?”

Then answer’d him the margrave: “This night be free from care.


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 sic very naturally, and with a great deal of difficulty he was taken to the piano. My letter is getting long, and I have no time to describe his singing. It is well known, however, that its effect is only equalled by the beauty of his own words; and, for one, I could have taken him into my heart with my delight. He makes no attempt at music. It is a kind of admirable recitative, in which every shade of thought is syllabled and dwelt upon, and the sentiment of the song goes through your blood, warming you to the very eyelids, and starting your tears, if you have a soul or sense in you. I have heard of women's fainting at a song of Moore's; and if the burden of it answered by chance to a secret in the bosom of the listener, I should think, from its comparative effect upon so old a stager as myself, that the heart would break with it.

"We all sat around the piano, and after two or three songs of Lady Blessington's choice, he rambled over the keys a while, and sang 'When first I met thee' with a pathos that beggars description. When the last word had faltered out, he rose and took Lady Blessington's hand, said good-night, and was gone before a word was uttered."

But Lady Blessington aspired to be something more than merely their hostess. She had in 1822 published a couple of volumes of Sketches, and in 1832 she fairly entered upon her career of authorship by contributing to the "New Monthly Magazine" a journal of conversations with Lord Byron. She became acquainted with


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 while the arch, which appeared to spring from these capitals, had, for a keystone, heads more monstrous than those of the fabled animals of Ctesias; or so ludicrous, that you forgot the classic Griffin in the grotesque conception of the Italian artist. Here was a gibbering monkey, there a grinning Pulcinello; now you viewed a chattering devil, which might have figured in the Temptation of St. Anthony; and now a mournful, mystic, bearded countenance, which might have flitted in the back scene of a Witches' Sabbath.

A long Gallery wound through the upper story of two other sides of the quadrangle, and beneath were the show suite of apartments, with a sight of which the admiring eyes of curious tourists were occasionally delighted.

The grey stone walls of this antique edifice were, in many places, thickly covered with ivy, and other parasitical plants, the deep green of

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XXVII.]

“And as to all your people, and aught that in your band,

Horses be it, or raiment, hath come unto this land,

So safely will I guard them and all from loss insure,

That ye shall have no damage, nay, not by a single spur.

“So pitch your tents, ye yeomen, upon the open ground,

For any loss ye suffer I’m willing to be bound.

Take off the horses’ bridles and let them freely run.”

The like to them but seldom a host ere then had done.

Right glad of heart the guests were. When all had come to pass,

The lords rode off together. Then down upon the grass

On all sides lay the yeomen, and right good rest they had;

I ween in all the journey they ne’er so softly laid.

The noble margrave’s lady without the castle gate

Had gone with her fair daughter. One saw there with her wait

A crowd of lovely women, and many a maiden fair,

Who wore a store of armlets, and raiment rich and rare.

The precious gems glowed brightly, and might be seen afar

Upon their rich apparel; so finely clad they were.

And now the guests arriving dismounted speedily.

Ay me! what gallant breeding showed they of Burgundy!

Of maidens six-and-thirty and many another dame,

As ever eye could wish for so fair in form they came,

And went towards the strangers with many a gallant man.

Ah, then in sooth fair greetings of noble dames began!


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 whose verdure beautifully contrasted with the scarlet glories of the papyrus japonica, which gracefully clustered round the windows of the lower chambers. The mansion itself was immediately surrounded by numerous ancient forest trees. There was the elm, with its rich branches, bending down like clustering grapes; there was the wide-spreading oak, with its roots fantastically gnarled; there was the ash, with its smooth bark and elegant leaf; and the silver beech, and the gracile birch; and the dark fir, affording with its rough foliage, a contrast to the trunks of its more beautiful companions, or, shooting far above their branches, with the spirit of freedom worthy of a rough child of the mountains.

Around the Castle were extensive pleasure-grounds, which realized the romance of the Gardens of Verulam. And truly, as you wandered through their enchanting paths, there

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 Lord Byron when residing on the Continent, and as she repeated his remarks with little reserve, the 'journal' excited considerable interest and was soon republished in a separate form.

Dr. Madden, in his Life of Lady Blessington, thus narrates an account of her meeting with Lord Byron at Genoa.

The 1st of April, 1823, Lady Blessington's strong desire was gratified—she saw Byron. But the lady was disappointed, and there is reason to believe that the lord, always indisposed abroad to make new acquaintances with his countrymen or women, was on the occasion of this interview taken by surprise, and not so highly gratified by it as might have been expected, when the agrèmens and personal attractions of the lady are taken into consideration.

Lady Blessington's expression of disappointment has a tincture of asperity in it which is seldom, indeed, to be found in her observations. There are very evident appearances of annoyance of some kind or another in the account given by her of this interview, occasioned either by the reception given her by Byron, or at some eccentricity, or absence of mind, that was unexpected, or apparent want of homage on his part to her beauty or talents on this occasion, to which custom had habituated her.

It must also be observed, that the interview with her ladyship is described as having been sought by Lord Byron. It is more than probable, however, a little ruse was practised on his lordship to obtain it. It is stated by


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284

Then kiss’d the margrave’s daughter the three kings fittingly,

As also did her mother; Hagen was standing by,

Her father bade her kiss him; she cast a look at him,

And fain had she not done it— she thought he look’d so grim.

Yet straightway must she do it, since so the master said;

Her cheeks were changed in colour to mingled white and red.

Then Dankwart likewise kiss’d she, and then the Minstrel too;

By reason of his valour such greeting was his due.

The margrave’s youthful daughter took presently the hand

Of Giselher, the warrior from the Burgundian land:

Her mother, too, did likewise to Gunther, the brave king,

So went they with the heroes in gladness revelling.

The host along with Gernot went into a wide hall,

Where they were quickly seated, both knights and ladies all;

Good wine was call’d for straightway, which to the guests they gave.

Ay, surely never heroes could better treatment have.

With many an eager eye-glance the men look’d lovingly

On Rüdeger’s young daughter: she was so fair to see.

Ay, in his thoughts embraced her full many a warrior good,

And right well she deserved it; but she was proud of mood:

Think might they as it pleased them, such thing could not be done.

And to and fro men’s glances meanwhile oft lit upon

Right many a dame and maiden; plenty were seated there.

Goodwill the noble minstrel unto the host did bear.


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 seemed no end to their various beauties, and no exhaustion of their perpetual novelty. Green retreats succeeded to winding walks; from the shady berceau, you vaulted on the noble terrace; and if, for an instant, you felt wearied by treading the velvet lawn, you might rest in a mossy cell, while your mind was soothed by the soft music of falling waters. Now, your curious eyes were greeted by Oriental animals, basking in a sunny paddock; and when you turned from the white-footed antelope, and the dark-eyed gazelle, you viewed an aviary of such extent, that within its trelliced walls the imprisoned songsters could build, in the free branches of a tree, their natural nests.

"Oh, fair scene!" thought Vivian Grey, as he approached, on a fine summer's afternoon, the splendid Château. "Oh, fair scene! doubly fair to those who quit for you the thronged and agitated city. And can it be, that those who

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XXVII.]

According to the custom they sever’d then in two,

The warriors and the ladies to separate rooms withdrew.

In the wide hall the tables in order straight were set,

And soon the stranger guest-folk with royal service met.

To do her guests more honour the noble margravine

Sat down with them at table; her daughter was unseen,

Left with the younger children, where fittingly she sat;

The guests, who miss’d her presence, were sorely vext thereat.

When meat and drink abundant had been enjoy’d by all

The ladies fair were usher’d again into the hall.

There lack’d not mirthful story, nor jesting manifold:

Busy of tongue was Volker, a knight of mood right bold.

Thus spake the noble minstrel, aloud that all might heed:

“Most rich and noble margrave, God hath with you indeed

Dealt graciously, in granting so fair a dame for wife,

And likewise in bestowing on you a joyous life.

“If haply,” said the minstrel, “I were a prince of blood,

And wore the crown of kingship, surely for wife I would

Make choice of your fair daughter, for her my heart doth woo:

Lovesome she is to look on and good and noble too.”

Then said to him the margrave: “How could it ever be,

That any king should ask for my daughter dear of me?

We are but stranger-people, my wife as well as I:

What boots it that the damsel so fair is bodily?”


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 exist within this enchanted domain, can think of any thing but sweet air, and do aught but revel in the breath of perfumed flowers?" And here he gained the garden gate: so he stopped his soliloquy, and gave his horse to his groom.

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286

To him made answer Gernot, that man of breeding high:

“If I would have a sweetheart, my heart to satisfy,

So would I such a woman be ever glad to wed.”

Then Hagen put his word in, with kindly speech, and said:

“’Tis still to be remember’d Lord Giselher should wed:

Of ancestry so noble the margravine is bred,

That I and all his liegemen would serve her willingly,

If with a crown upon her she came to Burgundy.”

To Rüdeger this counsel in every way seem’d good,

As likewise to Gotlinda: ay, both were glad of mood.

And soon the chiefs so order’d that she was bride beloved

Of Giselher the noble, as well a king behoved.

When aught is bound to happen who may the same gainsay?

Forthwith they bade the damsel to court to take her way.

They took an oath to give him the winsome maid to wife,

And he, on his side, promised to love her as his life.

They gave the maiden warrant for castles and for land,

The noble king confirm’d it by oath and his right hand,

As likewise did Lord Gernot, that thus it should be done.

Then spake to them the margrave: “Though castles I have none,

“Yet you will I at all times in faithful friendship hold:

I give unto my daughter of silver and of gold

As much as five score horses may carry at their best,

That so well-pleased, in honour, the hero’s kin may rest.”


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 And right well Vivian did his duty. In a week's time it would have been hard to decide with whom of the family of the Courtowns Vivian was the greatest favourite. He rode with the Viscount, who was a good horseman, and was driven by his Lady, who was a good whip; and when he had sufficiently admired the tout ensemble of her Ladyship's pony phaeton, he entrusted her, "in confidence," with some ideas of his own about Martingales, a subject which he assured her Ladyship "had been the object of his mature consideration." The three honourable Misses were the most difficult part of the business; but he talked sentiment with the first, sketched with the second, and romped with the third.

Ere the Beaconsfields could be jealous of the influence of the Courtowns, Mr. Vivian Grey had promised his Lordship, who was a collector of medals, an unique, which had never yet been heard of; and her Ladyship, who was a

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 one who has a good knowledge of all the circumstances of this visit, that a rainy forenoon was selected for the drive to Byron's villa; that shelter was necessitated, and that necessity furnished a plea for a visit which would not have been without some awkwardness under other circumstances. Lord Blessington, having been admitted at once on presenting himself at Byron's door, was on the point of taking his departure, apologizing for the briefness of the visit on account of Lady Blessington being left in an open carriage in the court-yard, the rain then falling, when Byron immediately insisted on descending with Lord Blessington, and conducting her ladyship into his house.

"When we arrived," says Lady Blessington, "at the gate of the court-yard of the Casa Saluzzo, in the village of Albano, where he resides, Lord Blessington and a gentleman of our party left the carriage and sent in their names. They were admitted immediately, and experienced a very cordial reception from Lord Byron, who expressed himself delighted to see his old acquaintance. Byron requested to be presented to me, which led to Lord Blessington's avowing that I was in the carriage at the gate, with my sister. Byron immediately hurried out into the court, and I, who heard the sound of steps, looked through the gate, and beheld him approaching quickly toward the carriage without his hat, and considerably in advance of the other two gentlemen."


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 of autographs, the private letters of every man of genius who ever had been heard of. In this division of the Carabas guests, he was not bored with a family; for sons, he always made it a rule to cut dead; they are the members of a family who, on an average, are generally very uninfluential, for, on an average, they are fools enough to think it very knowing, to be very disagreeable. So the wise man but little loves them, but woe to the fool who neglects the daughters!

Sir Berdmore Scrope, Vivian found a more unmanageable personage; for the baronet was confoundedly shrewd, and without a particle of sentiment in his composition. It was a great thing, however, to gain him; for Sir Berdmore was a leading country gentleman, and having quarrelled with Ministers about the corn laws, had been accounted disaffected ever since. The baronet, however, although a bold man to the world, was luckily henpecked; so Vivan made love to the wife, and secured the husband.

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 She lifted herself on the bench so quickly, and flushed so rich with pleasure, that I was obliged to stare hard away, and make Betty look beyond us. Betty thought I had something hid in the closet beyond the clock-case, and she was the more convinced of it by reason of my denial. Not that Betty Muxworthy, or anyone else, for that matter, ever found me in a falsehood, because I never told one, not even to my mother,—or, which is still a stronger thing, not even to my sweetheart (when I grew up to have one)—but that Betty being wronged in the matter of marriage, a generation or two agone, by a man who came hedging and ditching, had now no mercy, except to believe that men from cradle to grave are liars, and women fools to look at them.

When Betty could find no crime of mine, she knocked me out of the way in a minute, as if I had been nobody; and then she began to coax "Mistress Annie," as she always called her, and draw the soft hair down her hands, and whisper into the little ears. Meanwhile, dear mother was falling asleep, having been troubled so much about me; and "Watch," my father's pet dog, was nodding closer and closer up into her lap.

"Now, Annie, will you come?" I said, for I wanted her to hold the ladle for melting of the lead; "will you come at once, Annie, or must I go for Lizzie, and let her see the whole of it?"

"Indeed, then, you won't do that," said Annie; "Lizzie to come before me, John; and she can't stir


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 a pot of brewis, and scarce knows a tongue from a ham, John, and says it makes no difference, because both are good to eat! Oh, Betty, what do you think of that to come of all her book-learning?"

"Thank God he can't say that of me," Betty answered shortly, for she never cared about argument, except on her own side; "Thank he, I says, every marnin a'most, never to lead me astray so. Men is desaving, and so is galanies; but the most desaving of all is books, with their heads and tails, and the speckots in 'em, lik a peg as have taken the maisles. Some folk purtends to laugh and cry over them. God forgive them for liars!"

It was part of Betty's obstinacy that she never would believe in reading or the possibility of it, but stoutly maintained to the very last that people first learned things by heart, and then pretended to make them out from patterns done upon paper, for the sake of astonishing honest folk, just as do the conjurors. And even to see the parson and clerk was not enough to convince her; all she said was, "it made no odds, they were all the same as the rest of us." And now that she had been on the farm nigh upon forty years, and had nursed my father, and made his clothes, and all that he had to eat, and then put him in his coffin, she was come to such authority, that it was not worth the wages of the best man on the place to say a word in answer to Betty, even if he would face the risk to have ten for one, or twenty.

Annie was her love and joy. For Annie she would


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 do anything, even so far as to try to smile, when the little maid laughed and danced to her. And in truth I know not how it was, but everyone was taken with Annie at the very first time of seeing her. She had such pretty ways and manners, and such a look of kindness, and a sweet soft light in her long blue eyes full of trustful gladness. Everybody who looked at her seemed to grow the better for it, because she knew no evil. And then the turn she had for cooking, you never would have expected it; and how it was her richest mirth to see that she had pleased you. I have been out on the world a vast deal, as you will own hereafter, and yet have I never seen Annie's equal for making a weary man comfortable.


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 call my resolution pride, caprice, or what ever you please, I cannot remain here any longer, and I am determined to depart this instant, farewell, live happy."

Having addressed us in so unexpected a manner, he hurried out of the room, taking no particular leave of me. Sympathizing with his feelings, I thought it proper not to pay him a parting visit, because I knew it would recall disagreeable recollections, and give him pain.

A parting look which he gave me, when he was leaving the room, told me more than words could have done. Mine eyes were bathed in tears. I have seen him no more, and shall never forget that unhappy night which has robbed me of such a valuable friend, and deprived me of the darling of my soul.

When the Austrian and the corporals had left us, the Necromancer was likewise going to leave the room: His appearance was sul-


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.3

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.3


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100 know how to furnish them. Still, it would not do to allow a little thing like a “reference” to stop me in my work, and I would not ask any friend to commit herself to further my efforts. Many girls must at one time be without references, I thought, and this encouraged me to make the risk.

On Monday afternoon a letter came to the World office from a lawyer, complaining of an agency where, he claimed, a client of his had paid for a servant, and the agent then refused to produce a girl. This shop I decided to make my first essay. Dressed to look the character I wanted to represent, I walked up Fourth Avenue until I found No. 69, the place I wanted. It was a low frame building which retained all the impressions of old age. The room on the first floor was filled with a conglomeration of articles which gave it the appearance of a second-hand store. By a side door, leaning against the wall, was a large sign which told the passing public that that was the entrance to the “Germania Servants’ Agency.” On a straight, blue board, fastened lengthwise to a second-story window, was, in large, encouraging white letters, the ominous word “Servants.”

I entered the side door, and as there was nothing before me but the dirty, uncarpeted hall and a narrow, rickety-looking staircase, I went on to my fate. I passed two closed doors on the first landing, and on the third I saw the word “Office.” I did not knock, but turned the knob of the door, and, as it stuck top and bottom, I pressed my shoulder against it. It gave way, so did I, and I entered on my career as a servant with a tumble. It was a small room, with a low ceiling, a dusty ingrain carpet and cheaply papered walls. A heavy railing and a high desk and counter which divided the room gave it the appearance of a police court. Around the walls were hung colored advertisements of steamship lines and maps. Above the mantel, which was decorated with two plaster-paris


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Rh busts, was a square sheet of white paper. I viewed the large black letters on this paper with a quaking heart. “References Investigated!!” with two exclamation points. Now, if it had only been put quietly and mildly, or even

with one exclamation point, but two—dreadful. It was a death-warrant to the idea I had of writing my own references if any were demanded.

A young woman who was standing with a downcast head by the window turned to look at the abrupt new-comer. A man who had apparently been conversing with her came hastily forward to the desk. He was a middle-sized man, with a sharp, gray eye, a bald head, and a black frock-coat buttoned up tightly, showing to disadvantage his rounded shoulders.

“Well?” he said to me, in a questioning manner, as he glanced quickly over my “get up.”

“Are you the man who gets places for girls?” I asked, as if there were but one such man.


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102 “Yes, I’m the man. Do you want a place?” he asked, with a decidedly German twang.

“Yes, I want a place,” I replied.

“What did you work at last?”

“Oh, I was a chambermaid. Can you get me a position, do you think?”

“Yes, I can do that,” he replied. “You’re a nice-looking girl and I can soon get you a place. Just the other day I got a girl a place for $20 a month, just because she was nice-looking. Many gentlemen, and ladies also, will pay more when girls are nice-looking. Where did you work last?”

“I worked in Atlantic City,” I replied, with a mental cry for forgiveness.

“Have you no city reference?”

“No, none whatever; but I want a job in this city, that’s why I came here.”

“Well, I can get you a position, never fear, only some people are mighty particular about references.”

“Have you no place you can send me to now?” I said, determined to get at my business as soon as possible.

“You have to pay to get your name entered on the book first,” he said, opening a large ledger as he asked, “What is your name?”

“How much do you charge?” I asked, in order to give me time to decide on a name.

“I charge you one dollar for the use of the bureau for a month, and if I get you a big salary you will have to pay more.”

“How much more?”

“That depends entirely on your salary,” he answered, non-committal. “Your name?”

“Now, if I give you a dollar you will assure me a situation?”

“Certainly; that’s what I’m here for.”


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Rh “And you guarantee me work in this city?” I urged.

“Oh, certainly, certainly; that’s what this agency is for. I’ll get you a place, sure enough.”

“All right, I’ll give you a collar, which is a great deal for a girl out of work. My name is Sally Lees.”

“What shall I put you down for?” he asked.

“Oh, anything,” I replied, with a generosity that surprised myself.

“Then I shall put it chambermaid, waitress, nurse or seamstress.” So my name, or the one assumed, was entered in the ledger, and as I paid my dollar I ventured the information that if he gave me a situation directly I should be pleased to give him more money. He warmed up at this and told me he should advertise me in the morning.

“Then you have no one in want of help now?”

“We have plenty of people, but not just now. They all come in the morning. This is too late in the day. Where are you boarding?”


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104 At this moment a woman clad in a blue dress, with a small, black shawl wrapped around her, entered from a room in the rear. She also looked me over sharply, as if I was an article for sale, as the man told her in German all that he knew about me.

“You can stay here,” she said, in broken, badly broken English, after she had learned that I was friendless in the city. “Where is your baggage?”

“I left my baggage where I paid for my lodging tonight,” I answered. They tried to induce me to stop at their house. Only $2.50 a week, with board, or 20 cents a night for a bed. They urged that it was immaterial to them, only I had a better chance to secure work if I was always there; it was only for my own good they suggested it. I had one glance of the adjoining bedroom, and that sight made me firm in my determination to sleep elsewhere.

As the evening drew on I felt they would have no more applications for servants that afternoon, and after asking the hour that I should return in the morning, I requested a receipt for my money. “You don’t need to be so particular,” he said, crossly, but I told him I was, and insisted until he was forced to comply. It was not much of a receipt. He wrote on the blank side of the agency’s advertising card:

“Sally Lees has paid $1. Good for one month use of bureau.69 4th ave.”

On the following morning, about 10:30, I made my appearance at the agency. Some eight or ten girls were in the room and the man who had pocketed my fee on the previous afternoon still adorned the throne back of the desk. No one said good-morning, or anything else for that matter, so I quietly slid onto a chair near the door. The girls were all comfortably dressed, and looked as if they had enjoyed hearty breakfasts. All sat silent, with a dreamy expression on their faces, except two who stood


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Rh by the window watching the passing throng and conversing in whispers with one another. I wanted to be with or near them, so that I might hear what was said. After waiting for some time I decided to awake the man to the fact that I wanted work, not a rest.

“Have you no place to send me this morning?”

“No; but I advertised you in the paper,” and he handed me the Tribune of October 25 and pointed out the following notice:

“, &c.—By excellent, very neat English girl as nurse and seamstress, chambermaid and waitress, or parlor maid. Call at 69 4th ave.; no cards answered.”

I choked down a laugh as I read myself advertised in this manner, and wondered what my role would be the next time. I began to hope some one would soon call for the excellent girl, but when an aged gentleman entered I wished just as fervently that he was not after me. I was enjoying my position too much, and I fear I could not restrain my gravity if any one began to question me. Poor old gentleman! He looked around helplessly, as if he was at a loss to know what to do. The agent did not leave him long in doubt. “You want a girl, sir?”

“Yes; my wife read an advertisement in the Tribune this morning, and she sent me here to see the girl.”

“Yes, yes, excellent girl, sir, come right back here,” opening the gates and giving the gentleman a chair behind the high counter. “You come here, Sally Lees,” indicating a chair beside the visitor for me. I sat down with an inward chuckle and the agent leaned over the back of a chair. The visitor eyed me nervously, and after clearing his throat several times and making vain attempts at a beginning, he said:

“You are the girl who wants work?” And after I answered in the affirmative, he said: “Of course you know


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106 how to do all these things—you know what is required of a girl?”

“Oh, yes, I know,” I answered confidently.

“Yes—well, how much do you want a month?”

“Oh, anything,” I answered, looking to the agent for aid. He understood the look, for he began hurriedly:

“Fourteen dollars a month, sir. She is an excellent girl, good, neat, quick and of an amiable disposition.”

I was astonished at his knowledge of my good qualities, but I maintained a lofty silence.

“Yes, yes,” the visitor said, musingly. “My wife only pays ten dollars a month, and then if the girl is all right she is willing to pay more, you know. I really couldn’t, you know”

“We have no ten-dollar-girls here, sir,” said the agent with dignity; “you can’t get an honest, neat, respectable girl for that amount.”

“H’m, yes; well, this girl has good references, I suppose?”

“Oh, yes; I know all about her,” said the agent, briskly and confidently. “She is an excellent girl, and I can give you the best personal reference—the best of references.”

Here I was, unknown to the agent. So far as he knew, I might be a confidence woman, a thief, or everything wicked, and yet the agent was vowing that he had good personal references.

“Well, I live in Bloomfield, N. J., and there are only four in the family. Of course you are a good washer and ironer?” he said, turning to me. Before I had time to assure him of my wonderful skill in that line the agent interposed: “This is not the girl you want. No, sir, this girl won’t do general housework. “This is the girl you are after,” bringing up another. “She does general housework,” and he went on with a long list of her virtues, which were similar to those he had professed to find


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Rh in me. The visitor got very nervous and began to insist that he could not take a girl unless his wife saw her first. Then the agent, when he found it impossible to make him take a girl, tried to induce the gentleman to join the bureau. “It will only cost you $2 for the use of the bureau for a month,” he urged, but the visitor began to get more nervous and to make his way to the door. I thought he was frightened because it was an agency, and it amused me to hear how earnestly he pleaded that really he dare not employ a girl without his wife’s consent.

After the escape of the visitor we all resumed our former positions and waited for another visitor. It came in the shape of a red-haired Irish girl.

“Well, you are back again?” was the greeting given her.

“Yes. That woman was horrible. She and her husband fought all the time, and the cook carried tales to the mistress. Sure and I wouldn’t live at such a place. A splendid laundress, with a good ‘karacter,’ don’t need to stay in such places, I told them. The lady of the house made me wash every other day; then she wanted me to be dressed like a lady, sure, and wear a cap while I was at work. Sure and it’s no good laundress who can be dressed up while at work, so I left her.”

The storm had scarcely passed when another girl with fiery locks entered. She had a good face and a bright one, and I watched her closely.

“So you are back, too. You are troublesome,” said the agent. Her eyes flashed as she replied:

“Oh, I’m troublesome, am I? Well, you can take a poor girl’s money, anyway, and then you tell her she’s troublesome. It wasn’t troublesome when you took my money; and where is the position? I have walked all over the city, wearing out my shoes and spending my money in car-fare. Now, is this how you treat poor girls?”


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108 “I did not mean anything by saying you were troublesome. That was only my fun,” the agent tried to explain; and after a while the girl quieted down.

Another girl came and was told that as she had not made her appearance the day previous she could not expect to obtain a situation. He refused to send her word if there was any chance. Then a messenger boy called and said that Mrs. Vanderpool, of No. 36 West Thirty-ninth Street, wanted the girl advertised in the morning paper. Irish girl No. 1 was sent, and she returned, after several hours’ absence, to say that Mrs. Vanderpool said, when she learned where the girl came from, that she knew all about agencies and their schemes, and she did not propose to have a girl from them. The girl buttoned Mrs. Vanderpool’s shoes, and returned to the agency to take her post of waiting.

I succeeded at last in drawing one of the girls, Winifred Friel, into conversation. She said she had been waiting for several days, and that she had no chance of a place yet. The agency had a place out of town to which they tried to force girls who declared they would not leave the city. Quite strange they never offered the place to girls who said they would work anywhere. Winifred Friel wanted it, but they would not allow her to go, yet they tried to insist on me accepting it.

“Well, now, if you won’t take that I would like to see you get a place this winter,” he said, angrily, when he found that I would not go out of the city.

“Why, you promised that you would find me a situation in the city.”

“That’s no difference; if you won’t take what I offer you can do without,” he said, indifferently.

“Then give me my money,” I said.

“No, you can’t have your money. “That goes into the bureau.” I urged and insisted, to no avail, and so I left the agency, to return no more.


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Rh My second day I decided to apply to another agency, so I went to Mrs. L. Seely’s, No. 68 Twenty-second Street. I paid my dollar fee and was taken to the third story and put in a small room which was packed as close with women as sardines in a box. After edging my way in I was unable to move, 80 packed were we. A woman came up, and, calling me “that tall girl,” told me roughly as I was new it was useless for me to wait there. Some of the girls said Mrs. Seely was always cross to them, and that I should not mind it. How horribly stifling those rooms were! There were fifty-two in the room with me, and the two other rooms I could look into were equally crowded, while groups stood on the stairs and in the hallway. It was a novel insight I got of life. Some girls laughed, some were sad, some slept, some ate, and others read, while all sat from morning till night waiting a chance to earn a living. They are long waits too. One girl had been there two months, others for days and weeks. It was good to see the glad look when called out to see a lady, and sad to see them return saying that they did not suit because they wore bangs, or their hair in the wrong style, or that they looked bilious, or that they were too tall, too short, too heavy, or too slender. One poor woman could not obtain a place because she wore mourning, and so the objections ran.

I got no chance the entire day, and I decided that I could not endure a second day in that human pack for two situations, so framing some sort of excuse I left the place, and gave up trying to be a servant.


text:
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XXVII.]

The pair were thereon bidden within a ring to stand,

According to the custom. Of many youths a band,

In mood for merry-making, stood opposite the twain,

And thought what they were minded, as youngsters still are fain.

When they began to question, and ask’d the winsome maid

If she would have the warrior, she was a whit dismay’d:

And yet she still was minded to take the goodly wight;

She blush’d but at the question, as any maiden might.

Then Rudeger her father bade her to answer “Yea!”

That she would gladly take him. Whereon, without delay,

His white hands stretch’d towards her to fold her lovingly,

Young Giselher came forward,— short though their joy must be!

“Ye noble kings and mighty,” thereon the margrave spake;

“When home again your journey to Burgundy ye take,

Then I (as is the custom) will give my child to you,

That ye may take her with you.” That they engaged to do.

Noisy as were the revels, at last they had an end.

The damsels to their chambers were bidden then to wend;

In sleep the guests, too, rested till daybreak did appear;

Then victuals were made ready; for all the host took care.

Wher they their fast had broken fain would they forward go

Towards the Hunnish country. “I pray you, do not so,”

Besought their host right noble; “awhile ye yet must stay;

Since I no guests so welcome have seen for many a day.”


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 len and gloomy, his looks cast down: My friends were also stirring and stopped him, forming a circle round him.

The landlord was still in a maze of silent wonder, not knowing what to think of what had happened. I was dejected and melancholy, and had banished from my soul every idea of vengeance; my companions, however, seemed not inclined to let him get off so cheaply, and insisted on his explaining how he had contrived to cheat us; but the inn-keeper interfered, imploring them not to ruin him entirely, by quarrelling in his house.

Lieutenant N threatened at last to give him up to the civil power, if he would not confess, which I at first likewise had determined to do, how he had deceived us; however, his stubborness could not be shaken, and he remained as silent as the grave.

Seeing that every farther means to break his obstinacy would prove fruitless, I inter-


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.4

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.4


text:
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 fered, advising my fellow adventurers to let him depart in peace.

"Upon the whole," added I, "it matters not how we have been deceived, our friend, the Austrian has set us an example, how one ought to behave on such an occasion: Let us, like him, forgive the wretch, he is below our resentment."

These words produced the desired effect on the minds of my fellow adventurers, who were stung with shame and remorse, but none of them more than Lieutenant N: He blushed at his idle fears and his credulity, leaving the room abruptly, accompanied by his friends and the landlord.

Being now left alone with the Necromancer, I flattered myself to succeed better than my companions, and to get informed of what I so eagerly wanted to know; but I was mistaken, his stubborn reserve baffled all my solicitations.


text:
Page:The Chronicle of Clemendy.pdf/270

IN THE time of Jehan de Hastings, third of that name, Baron of Burgavenny, and Earl of Pembroke, there came a young knight to the town of Abergavenny, having the style of Sir Philip Meyrick of Caerwent, and being on the whole rather a pleasant young gentleman. That is to say he was of moderate height, had yellow hair and blue eyes, and a cheerful grin, of the which commodity he was very liberal. You will know what I mean when I tell you that some ladies called him an impudent fellow, whilst others had nothing to say when Sir Philip's name was mentioned, but blushed and smiled a little to themselves, as people do when they have pleasant recollections. The knight was lodged, I believe, at the Priory, where he had an uncle, an old Canon of some eighty odd years, who had begun life by enjoying it, and still persisted in this course, only he had changed his methods; for a spark of twenty and a Canonicus of eighty go to work in different ways. On this good old ecclesiastic Sir Philip is supposed to have fastened, and at the Priory he lived some while snug and at his ease, though the Cellarius hinted once or twice to the Prior that all the casks in the cellar had sprung a leak of late, and that if things went on in this style much

title: Page:The Chronicle of Clemendy.pdf/270


text: Ten Days in a Mad-House/Trying to Be a Servant


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.17

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.17


text:
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 "Farewell, Lieutenant," said he, as he was going to leave the room, "I did not know you at first, and I am rejoiced that you have escaped your doom: I do not deserve your noble generous treatment: Farewell, and remember sometimes Volkert the Necromancer: If you could see my heart, you rather would pity than despise me; I may perhaps one time find an opportunity of being serviceable to you, and of proving my gratitude by deeds."

I went down stairs with him, and having seen him to the door he squeezed my hand and hurried away. I left the fatal house in a strange situation of mind, and it struck one o'clock when I came home. I went to bed, but not to rest, my fancy being haunted by gloomy ideas, which kept sleep and repose at a distance. Early in the morning my fellow adventurers came to see me, requesting me to unfold the mysteries of the preceding night.


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288

To this made Dankwart answer: “That surely will not do.

Whence will you get the victuals, the bread and wine thereto,

Which for so many warriors you needs must have this day?”

The host, on hearing, answer’d: “It boots no more to say;

“My well-lov’d lords, so please ye, I will not be denied;

Ay, for a fortnight will I the meat and drink provide

For you and all the people that hither you have brought;

For never hath King Etzel from me yet taken aught.”

Howe’er they sought to help it, needs must they there abide

Until the fourth day’s dawning: then did a thing betide,

Done of the master’s bounty, and noiséd far and near:

On every guest bestow’d he a horse and wearing gear.

This could not last much longer: thence must they forward fare.

But Rüdeger the valiant could naught withhold or spare

To testify his bounty: what any fain would take,

That was denied to no one; all happy would he make.

Then forth before the gateway their noble equerries

Led out the saddled horses. In readiness for these

The throng of foreign warriors came out; their shields in hand

They bore, for they were eager to ride to Etzel’s land.

Thereon the master offer’d his gifts to one and all,

Ere yet the royal strangers were come without the hall.

With bounty and great honour he knew the way to live;

And even his fair daughter to Giselher would give.


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ERY early the other morning I started out, not with the pleasure-seekers, but with those who toil the day long that they may live. Everybody was rushing—girls of all ages and appearances and hurrying men—and I went along, as one of the throng. I had often wondered at the tales of poor pay and cruel treatment that working girls tell. There was one way of getting at the truth, and I determined to try it. It was becoming myself a paper box factory girl. Accordingly, I started out in search of work without experience, reference, or aught to aid me.

It was a tiresome search, to say the least. Had my living depended on it, it would have been discouraging, almost maddening. I went to a great number of factories in and around Bleecker and Grand streets and Sixth Avenue, where the workers number up into the hundreds. “Do you know how to do “the work?” was the question asked by every one. When I replied that I did not, they gave me no further attention.

“I am willing to work for nothing until I learn,” I urged.

“Work for nothing! Why, if you paid us for coming we wouldn’t have you in our way,” said one.


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.5

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.5


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.6

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.6


text:
Page:The lay of the Nibelungs; (IA nibelungslay00hortrich).pdf/367

XXVII.]

Anon he gave to Gunther, that hero of great fame,

What he, the mighty monarch, might well wear without shame—

Though gifts he took but seldom— a coat of mail, to wit.

O’er Rüdeger’s hand did Gunther bow low in thanks for it.

Then gave he unto Gernot a sword, a good one too,

Which afterwards in battle right gallantly he drew:

That such a gift he gave him well pleased the margrave’s wife.

’Twas doom’d to cost, soon after, good Rüdeger his life.

Gotlinda offer’d Hagen, as courteous custom bade,

Some tokens of her kindness, since such the king had had,

Lest he without her aidance should on his road be sped

Unto the royal revels; but this he soon gainsaid.

“Of all the things that ever I saw,” so Hagen spake,

“Not one have I more envy hence as my own to take,

Than yonder shield that hanging upon the wall I see:

That would I gladly carry to Etzel’s land with me.”

The margravine no sooner had heard what Hagen said,

Than bygone woes were waken’d, and tears she needs must shed.

Upon the death of Nudung she sorrowfully thought,

How Witege had slain him: thus grief upon her wrought.

She spake unto the warrior: “I’ll give the shield to thee,

But would to God in Heaven that still alive were he

Who on his arm once bare it! In fight he was laid low,

And I must aye bewail him: hence comes, poor me, my woe!”


text:
Page:The Chronicle of Clemendy.pdf/271

 longer, they would infallibly run dry. But the Prior rebuked him for his want of faith and showed him plainly how the saints love monks and casks and take care of them, and even when hard put to it, have been known to work great miracles in their behalf. I suppose however you would be glad to hear some few particulars about Sir Philip, and how he came to test the barrels of Burgavenny and the faith of the monks. And if you have ever walked through Abergavenny with your heads on one side you will doubtless be inquisitive about that fine house a little way out of the town, that seems to have just stopped short of being a castle, and has an extensive and complicated coat of arms cut over the porch. But I am going to tell you about these matters, and you shall understand how this mansion was built, and what it had to do with Sir Philip Meyrick. Who, as I have said, was styled of Caerwent, and indeed he came from the neighbourhood of that town of an old Welsh family, whose pedigree kept getting longer and longer and their rent roll shorter and shorter as the Saxons followed the Romans, and the Danes the Saxons, and the Normans the Danes. Every century in fact added quarters to their shield, and subtracted carucates from their possessions, until uncivil people began to whisper that the Meyricks of Caerwent were decaying and would ere long be all uprooted from the soil or rooted under it; it did not matter which. But you may judge what a sound old family this was by the time it took them to fall to pieces, your modern houses gavegive [sic] a crack and

title: Page:The Chronicle of Clemendy.pdf/271


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.7

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.7


text: Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 2.djvu/169


text:
Page:The lay of the Nibelungs; (IA nibelungslay00hortrich).pdf/368

290

Then from her seat uprose she, the noble margravine;

And so, the buckler grasping her snow-white hands between,

The dame to Hagen bore it, and he thereof took hold:

It was a gift of honour unto that warrior bold.

A case of polish’d leather upon its surface lay,

A better shield and brighter ne’er shone in light of day,

With noble gems bestudded; had any wanted it

To buy, perchance its value a thousand marks had quit.

Then, by command of Hagen, they bore the shield away.

And now to court did Dankwart begin to wend his way.

On him the margrave’s daughter apparel rich bestow’d,

In which ere long in Hunsland right gloriously he rode.

Now all these friendly tokens they were endow’d withal,

Into the hands of any had never come at all,

Save by the master’s bounty, offer’d with such good will.

Such foes ere long became they that him they needs must kill!

Then did the ready Volker, his fiddle in his hand,

With courtly mien approaching before Gotlinda stand.

Sweet tunes for her he fiddled, and sang his roundelay,

Thus would he from Bechlaren take leave to ride away.

The margravine then bade men to her a chest to bear;

Of kindly gifts and bounty ye now again must hear.

Therefrom she took twelve armlets and put them o’er his hand:

“These must you carry with you away to Etzel’s land.


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.16

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.16


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.8

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.8


text:
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XXVII.]

“And for my sake must wear them whene’er you go to court;

That when you come back hither I may have good report

How you have done me service at that great festival.”

E’en as the lady bade him he well accomplish’d all.

The host said to the strangers: “Ye will the better fare

If I myself shall lead you, and bid you how beware

Lest anyone should do you a hurt upon the road.”

Then of his sumpter-horses each quickly had its load.

There stood the host all ready, and eke five hundred men

With horses and apparel. These led he with him then

Unto the royal wedding,— a joyous merry train;

Alive to Bechelaren not one came back again!

With many loving kisses the host his farewells said,

As Giselher did also, by honour ever led.

The women fair they fondled with arms around them thrown;

For which would many a damsel be weeping soon, alone.

On all sides were the windows thrown open to the air.

The host with his retainers to mount all eager were.

I ween their hearts foreboded the mighty ills to be;

For many dames were weeping and maidens fair to see.

For dear friends left behind them, plenty at heart were sore,

Whom they at Bechelaren would look on nevermore;

Yet gaily rode they onwards, and down across the sand

Along the Danube river, unto the Hunnish land.


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.9

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.9


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.10

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 1.10


text:
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc./Dissent Rehnquist

, with whom joins, dissenting.

The Court, apparently moved by concerns for intellectual tidiness, mistakenly decides that the “clear and convincing evidence” standard governing finders of fact in libel cases must be applied by trial courts in deciding a motion for summary judgment in such a case. The Court refers to this as a “substantive standard,” but I think is is actually a procedural requirement engrafted onto Rule 56, contrary to our statement in Calder v. Jones, 465 U. S. 783 (1984), that "“[w]e have already declined in other contexts to grant special procedural protections to defendants in libel and defamation actions in addition to the constitutional protections embodied in the substantive laws.” Id., at 790–791."

The Court, I believe, makes an even greater mistake in failing to apply its newly announced rule to the facts of this case. Instead of thus illustrating how the rule works, it contents itself with abstractions and paraphrases of abstractions, so that its opinion sounds much like a treatise about cooking by someone who has never cooked before and has no intention of starting now.

There is a large class of cases in which the higher standard imposed by the Court today would seem to have no effect at all. Suppose, for example, on motion for summary judgment in a hypothetical libel case, the plaintiff concedes that his only proof of malice is the testimony of witness A. Witness A testifies at his deposition that the reporter who wrote the story in question told him that she, the reporter, had done absolutely no checking on the story and had real doubts about whether or not it was correct as to the plaintiff. The defendant’s examination of witness A brings out that he has a prior conviction for perjury.

May the Court grant the defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the ground that the plaintiff has failed to produce sufficient proof of malice? Surely not, if the Court means what it says, when it states: “Credibility determinations … are jury functions, not those of a judge, whether he is ruling on a motion for summary judgment or for a directed verdict. The evidence of the nonmovant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his favor.” Ante, at 255.

The case proceeds to trial, and at the close of the plaintiff’s evidence the defendant moves for a directed verdict on the ground that the plaintiff has failed to produce sufficient evidence of malice. The only evidence of malice produced by the plaintiff is the same testimony of witness A, who is duly impeached by the defendant for the prior perjury conviction. In addition, the trial judge has now had an opportunity to observe the demeanor of witness A, and has noticed that he fidgets when answering critical questions, his eyes shift from the floor to the ceiling, and he manifests all other indicia traditionally attributed to perjurers.

May the trial court at this stage grant a directed verdict? Again, surely not; we are still dealing with “credibility determinations.”

The defendant now puts on its testimony, and produces three witnesses who were present at the time when witness A alleges that the reporter said she had not checked the story and had grave doubts about its accuracy as to plaintiff. Witness A concedes that these three people were present at the meeting, and that the statement of the reporter took place in the presence of all these witnesses. Each witness categorically denies that the reporter made the claimed statement to witness A.

May the trial court now grant a directed verdict at the close of all the evidence? Certainly the plaintiff’s case is appreciably weakened by the testimony of three disinterested witnesses, and one would hope that a properly charged jury would quickly return a verdict for the defendant. But as long as credibility is exclusively for the jury, it seems the Court’s analysis would still require this case to be decided by that body.

Thus, in the case that I have posed, it would seem to make no difference whether the standard of proof which the plaintiff had to meet in order to prevail was the preponderance of the evidence, clear and convincing evidence, or proof beyond a reasonable doubt. But if the application of the standards makes no difference in the case that I hypothesize, one may fairly ask in what sort of case does the difference in standards make a difference in outcome? Cases may be posed dealing with evidence that is essentially documentary, rather than testimonial; but the Court has held in a related context involving Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a) that inferences from documentary evidence are as much the prerogative of the finder of fact as inferences as to the credibility of witnesses. Anderson v. Bessemer City, 470 U. S. 564, 574 (1985). The Court affords the lower courts no guidance whatsoever as to what, if any, difference the abstract standards that it propounds would make in a particular case.

There may be more merit than the Court is willing to admit to Judge Learned Hand’s observation in United States v. Feinberg, 140 F. 2d 592, 594 (CA2), cert. denied, 322 U. S. 726 (1944), that “[w]hile at times it may be practicable” to “distinguish between the evidence which should satisfy reasonable men, and the evidence which should satisfy reasonable men beyond a reasonable doubt[,] … in the long run the line between them is too thin for day to day use.” The Court apparently approves the overruling of the Feinberg case in the Court of Appeals by Judge Friendly’s opinion in United States v. Taylor, 464 F. 2d 240 (1972). But even if the Court is entirely correct in its judgment on this point, Judge Hand’s statement seems applicable to this case because the criminal case differs from the libel case in that the standard in the former is proof “beyond a reasonable doubt,” which is presumably easier to distinguish from the normal “preponderance of the evidence” standard than is the intermediate standard of “clear and convincing evidence.”

More important for purposes of analyzing the present case, there is no exact analog in the criminal process to the motion for summary judgment in a civil case. Perhaps the closest comparable device for screening out unmeritorious cases in the criminal area is the grand jury proceeding, though the comparison is obviously not on all fours. The standard for allowing a criminal case to proceed to trial is not whether the government has produced prima facie evidence of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt for every element of the offense, but only whether it has established probable cause. See United States v. Mechanik, 475 U. S. 66, 70 (1986). Thus, in a criminal case the standard used prior to trial is much more lenient than the “clear beyond a reasonable doubt” standard which must be employed by the finder of fact.

The three differentiated burdens of proof in civil and criminal cases, vague and impressionistic though they necessarily are, probably do make some difference when considered by the finder of fact, whether it be a jury or a judge in a bench trial. Yet it is not a logical or analytical message that the terms convey, but instead almost a state of mind; we have previously said: "“Candor suggests that, to a degree, efforts to analyze what lay jurors understand concerning the differences among these three tests … may well be largely an academic exercise. … Indeed, the ultimate truth as to how the standards of proof affect decisionmaking may well be unknowable, given that factfinding is a process shared by countless thousands of individuals throughout the country. We probably can assume no more than that the difference between a preponderance of the evidence and proof beyond a reasonable doubt probably is better understood than either of them in relation to the intermediate standard of clear and convincing evidence.” Addington v. Texas, 441 U. S. 418, 424–425 (1979) (emphasis added)."

The Court’s decision to engraft the standard of proof applicable to a factfinder onto the law governing the procedural motion for a summary judgment (a motion that has always been regarded as raising a question of law rather than a question of fact, see, e. g., La Riviere v. EEOC, 682 F. 2d 1275, 1277–1278 (CA9 1982) (Wallace, J.)), will do great mischief with little corresponding benefit. The primary effect of the Court’s opinion today will likely be to cause the decisions of trial judges on summary judgment motions in libel cases to be more erratic and inconsistent than before. This is largely because the Court has created a standard that is different from the standard traditionally applied in summary judgment motions without even hinting as to how its new standard will be applied to particular cases.


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.1

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.1


text:
Page:The lay of the Nibelungs; (IA nibelungslay00hortrich).pdf/370

292

Then Rüdeger the noble, well versed in chivalry,

Spake unto the Burgundians: “We ought not, verily,

To hide that we are coming unto the Hunfolk near;

Such good news hath King Etzel ne’er had the chance to hear.

Down through the Austrian kingdom the messenger rode fast;

Soon to the folk on all sides from mouth to mouth it pass’d,

That coming were the heroes from Worms beyond the Rhine.

No tidings the king’s lieges could more to joy incline.

The messengers sped forwards and now the tidings bare

Of how the Niblung warriors within the Huns’ land were.

“Thou shouldst right well receive them, Kriemhilda, lady mine;

To thee come in great honour these brothers dear of thine.”

Meanwhile, as dame Kriemhilda beside a window-sill

Stood watching for her kinsmen,— as friends for others will,

Lo, from her father’s country there saw she many a man.

The king, who heard the tidings, to laugh for glee began.

“Now joy of all who love me be mine!” Kriemhilda said,

“For hither come my kinsmen with many a shield new-made,

And many a bright steel hauberk. Who would have gold of me

Let him my wrongs remember, my friend he e’er shall be!”


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.2

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.2


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.3

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.3


text: The Lay of the Nibelungs/Chapter 27

title: The Lay of the Nibelungs/Chapter 27


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.4

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.4


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.9

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.9


text:
Page:New Peterson magazine 1859 Vol. XXXV.pdf/42

MY LITTLE

SON.—-SONNET.

43

diately by Mr. Talbot. His face was full of stern resolution; but he seemed quite exhausted; and he turned eagerly to note how far he was from the shore.

My heart beat wild and fast. Oh! would no one go to their aid? Could he make any headway! Yes! he did. He struck boldly out; he rode that incoming wave triumphantly; he was already twenty feet nearer to the beach.

Alas! for human hope. At that moment, I saw three or four gigantic rollers rushing after him, their lofty fronts towering higher and higher as they approached. The foremost was close upon him. It paused ominously, piling itself up and up, away into the sky. Suddenly, a streak of foam shot along its crest; a sound like thunder followed, as the tons of water descended; and the brave face disappeared, and with it Rosalie. The succeeding waves rolled swiftly in, and broke over the boiling gulf; and everything swam around me. (To BE CONTINUED.)

ON MY LITTLE son, WHO DIED JUNE 29, 1857. BY

PARK BENJAMIN.  When June was beautiful with ﬂowers My darling passed away: Alas! I cannot count the hours From that unhappy day— It seems to me a life-time now, Since these and eyes surveyed

“My son! my son! I leave you not Alone,” my heart replied, “Yours is a happy, happy lot, Thus early to have died; You are not here, my gentle love— Not here, in this cold sod.

But borne on pinions like a dove, Dwell with our Father, God."

The marble silence of his brow,

Beneath death's solemn shade. I kissed it, and the icy touch Went freezing to my heart; And ah! I never knew how much I loved him, till, apart

From all the rest, I softly went And gazed upon him, dead; And held his little hand, and bent In voiceless woe. my head!

“Our Fathcr,"—this he strove to say, That long and and wretched night, When in my arms he, dying, lay; And when the morning light Shone dimly on his fading eyes, That oft repeated word “'ould to his pallitl lips arise, And “father,” still I heard.

And prayed such prayers as fathers pray, For solace from above— ‘Then He, who gave, has snatched away The very soul of love; And took one last, long, lingering look. That I might always trace, Like lettens graven in a book, That fair and tender face.

And now that voice I sometimes hear

A year. and more, has sadly ﬂown Since unto earth I gave

But he is vanished—nothing can Ills darling self restore-— To me. a sad. heart-broken man,

When I am all alone,

And sometimes on my dreaming ear Sounds its familiar tone: And sometimes his beloved smile Dawns sweetly through the gloom, And I expect to hear the while Ills footsteps through the room.

His precious form, and left alone

My treasure in the grave— Alonel and uh! I heard him say, As home I came, “My dear, Dear father, do not go away, And leave your Harry here!"

He will return no more; Yet, I shall go to him, and stand With him in light above, For God will lend my Harry’s hand To lead me to His love!

SONNET. BY

HATTIE H. CHILD.  Mystic and beautiful the tender light Yet lingering in that; soft and beaming eye; Over us both the free and Open sky In“ bu- browl wings to usher in the night, New, dawn the mountain side does yonder stream Bras-k, in it. waterfalls, each rising gleam, ing!!! to multiply the moonbeam bright,

"I‘is fair. ’tis holy; but you risen star Rules the hushed air, as it' with conscious might; Ohl let it witness what we dearly plight! That silver lamp lights happiness from far, Heaven looks to bless and sant'tify the sight; Men as the stream reﬂects the skies above Does each heart mirror back its heaven of love?


text: Page:New Peterson magazine 1859 Vol. XXXV.pdf/187


text: Page:New Peterson magazine 1859 Vol. XXXV.pdf/188


text:
Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/147

 fail in life to be sure, and after all, very little was done by the generality; but still all these failures, and all this inefficiency might be traced to a want of physical and mental courage. Some men were bold in their conceptions, and splendid heads at a grand system, but then, when the day of battle came, they turned out very cowards; while others, who had nerve enough to stand the brunt of the hottest fire, were utterly ignorant of military tactics, and fell before the destroyer, like the brave untutored Indians, before the civilized European. Now Vivian Grey was conscious, that there was at least one person in the world, who was no craven either in body or in mind, and so he had long come to the comfortable conclusion, that it was impossible that his career could be any thing, but the most brilliant. And truly, employed as he now was, with a peer of the realm, in a solemn consultation on that realm's most important interests, at a time when

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text:
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 of his age were moping in Halls and Colleges, is it to be wondered at, that he began to imagine that his theory was borne out by experience, and by fact? Not that it must be supposed, even for a moment, that Vivian Grey was, what the world calls, conceited.—Oh, no! he knew the measure of his own mind, and had fathomed the depth of his powers with equal skill and impartiality; but in the process he could not but feel, that he could conceive much, and dare do more.

I said the first week at Château Desir passed pleasantly enough; and so it did, for Vivian's soul revelled in the morning councils on his future fortunes, with as much eager joy, as a young courser trying the turf, preliminary to running for the plate. And then, in the evening, were moon-lit walks with Mrs. Felix Lorraine! and then the lady abused England so prettily, and initiated her companion in all the secrets of German Courts, and sang beautiful

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text:
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 French songs, and then she would take him beside the luminous lake in the park, and vow it looked just like the dark blue Rhine! and then she remembered Germany, and grew sad, and abused her husband; and then she taught Vivian the guitar, and—some other fooleries besides.

title: Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/149


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.8

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.8


text:
Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/128

 matters; but there are, we all know, a thousand little things that go wrong on the arrivals of even the best regulated families, and to mention no others, for any rational being voluntarily to encounter the awful gaping of an English family, who have travelled one hundred miles in ten successive hours, appears to me to be little short of madness.

"Grey, my boy, quite happy to see ye!—later than I expected; first bell rings in five minutes—Sadler will show you your room—Father, I hope quite well?"

Such was the salutation of the Marquess; and Vivian accordingly retired to arrange his toilet.

The first bell rang, and the second bell rang, and Vivian was seated at the dinner-table. He bowed to the Marchioness, and asked after her poodle, and gazed with some little curiosity at the vacant chair opposite him.

title: Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/128


text:
Page:Journal of Conversations with Lord Byron.pdf/34

 The visit was a long one; and many questions were asked about old friends and acquaintances. Lady Blessington says Byron expressed warmly, at their departure, the pleasure which the visit had afforded him—and she doubted not his sincerity; not that she would arrogate any merit in her party to account for his satisfaction, but simply because she could perceive that Byron liked to hear news of his old associates, and to pass them en revue, pronouncing sarcasms on each as he turned up in conversation.

In a previous notice of this interview, which bears some internal evidence of having been written long after the period it refers to, lamenting over the disappointment she felt at finding her beau ideal of a poet by no means realized, her ladyship observes: "Well, I never will allow myself to form an ideal of any person I desire to see, for disappointment never fails to ensue."

Byron, she admits, had more than usual personal attractions, "but his appearance nevertheless had fallen short of her expectations." There is no commendation, however, without a concomitant effort at depreciation. For example, her ladyship observes, "His laugh is musical, but he rarely indulged in it during our interview; and when he did, it was quickly followed by a graver aspect, as if he liked not this exhibition of hilarity. Were I asked to point out the prominent defect of Byron's manner, I should pronounce it to be a flippancy incompatible with the notion we attach to the author of Childe Harold and Manfred, and a want of self possession and dignity that ought to characterize a man of birth


text:
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 "Mrs. Felix Lorraine—Mr. Vivian Grey," said the Marquess, as a Lady entered the room.

Now, although I am one of those historians, who are of opinion that the nature of the personages they celebrate, should be developed rather by a recital of their conduct, than by a set character au commencement; I feel it, nevertheless, incumbent upon me to devote a few lines to the Lady that has just entered, which the reader will be so good as to get through, while she is accepting an offer of some white soup; by this means he will lose none of the conversation.

The Honourable Felix Lorraine, we have before laconically described as a Roué. To the initiated, I need say no more; they will all know what sort of a person a roué must be, who has the honour of being the son of an Enghsh Earl. To the uninitiated, I shall only observe, that after having passed through a career with

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 tolerable credit, which would have blasted the character of any common personage, Felix Lorraine ended by pigeoning a young nobleman, whom, for that purpose, he had made his intimate friend. The affair got wind. After due examination, was proclaimed "too bad," and the guilty personage was visited with the heaviest vengeance of modem society—he was expelled his club. By this unfortunate exposure, Mr. Felix Lorraine was obliged to give in a match, which was on the tapis, with the celebrated Miss Mexico, on whose million he had determined to set up a character and a chariot, and at the same time pension his mistress, and subscribe to the Society for the Suppression of Vice. Felix left for the Continent, and in due time was made drum-major at Barbadoes, or fiscal at Ceylon, or something of that kind; I forget which. While he loitered in Europe, he made a conquest of the heart of the daughter of some German baron,

title: Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/130


text:
Page:Journal of Conversations with Lord Byron.pdf/35

 and genius. Notwithstanding this defect, his manners are very fascinating—more so, perhaps, than if they were dignified; but he is too gay, too flippant for a poet."

Lady Blessington was accompanied on this occasion by her sister, Miss Mary Anne Power, now Comtesse de St. Marsault. Byron, in a letter to Moore, dated April 2, 1823, thus refers to this interview:—

"Your other allies, whom I have found very agreeable personages, are Milor Blessington and épouse, travelling with a very handsome companion in the shape of a 'French count,' (to use Farquhar's phrase in the Beaux Stratagem,) who has all the air of a Cupidon déchainé, and is one of the few specimens I have seen of our ideal of a Frenchman before the Revolution, an old friend with a new face, upon whose like I never thought that we should look again. Miladi seems highly literary, to which, and your honor's acquaintance with the family, I attribute the pleasure of having seen them. She is also very pretty, even in a morning—a species of beauty on which the sun of Italy does not shine so frequently as the chandelier. Certainly English women wear better than their Continental neighbors of the same sex. Mountjoy seems very good-natured, but is much tamed since I recollect him in all the glory of gems and snuff-boxes, and uniform, and theatricals, and speeches in our house—'I mean of Peers'—I must refer you to Pope, whom you don't read and won't appreciate, for that quotation (which you must allow to be poetical)—and sitting to Stroelling,


text:
Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/143

 at least for him: Mrs. Felix Lorraine was already there.

"I congratulate Mr. Grey," said the lady as she extended him a finger, "on being an early riser. Nothing is so vulgar as getting up late, Oh! what a pretty morning gown that is! and how nice your hair curls! and that velvet stock! why I declare you're quite a taste in costume? but it does not set quite right. There, that's better," said Mrs. Lorraine, adjusting the stock for him, "not much beard yet, I see; you must take care to have one before you're a—privy counsellor."

"I rejoice," said Vivian, "that I can in return sincerely compliment you on your own good taste in costume. That buckle is, of course, fresh from Berlin, or—Birmingham—it's all the same, you know, at least at Howell and James's; and of all things in the world, what I most admire, are your black velvet slippers! But, where s the Marquess?"

title: Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/143


text:
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 "Oh! we 're not very early honoured with the presence of the Marquess of Carabas in his own house."

"Why, what do you mean?"

"Oh! I mean nothing, except that the future minister never rises till noon—bad habits, Mr. Grey, for a man of business!"

"Bad habits, indeed! we must endeavour to cure him, now that he's going, as you say, to be a man of business."

"Oh, certainly! cure him by all means. He 'U give you, I don't doubt, plenty of occupation. I advise you regularly to reform the whole house. Your influence is so great, that you can do any thing with the Marquess.  Well, I hope he'll behave better in future, for the Castle will be full in a few days. There are the Courtowns coming, and Sir Berdmore and Lady Scrope, and the Beaconsfields—all next week; and crowds of all sorts of people, whose names I forget, pawns in the great game

title: Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/144


text:
Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/145

 of chess, which is to be played by Vivian Grey, Esq. and the most noble the Marquess of Carabas—against all England. There, there's the breakfast bell; I hope your appetite's good."

title: Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/145


text:
Page:Travels in West Africa, Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons (IA travelsinwestafr00kingrich).pdf/768

style=font-size: 90%;|hanging-indent=2em|

Mormyrus lepturus, Günth. P.Z.S. 1871, p. 670, pl. lxix, fig. B.

? Mormyrus granaisguamis, Peters, MB, Berl. Akad. 1876, p. 250.

I described this species from two young specimens 3 inches long. Miss Kingsley has rediscovered it at Talagouga, and collected specimens apparently adult and up to 190 millim. in length. Thus I am enabled to amend my original diagnosis in several] points.

Snout obtuse, with the mouth terminal and, with age, with the lower lip thickened into a short adipose protuberance. The upper profile is somewhat more curved than the lower. Eye small, shorter than (in adult specimens only half as long as) the snout, situated in the anterior half of the head. Teeth of moderate size, notched, few in number. The height of the body is two-sevenths of the total length (without caudal) the length of the head two-ninths. The caudal peduncle is slender, about as long as the head, its depth being one-third of its length. Origin of the dorsal fin a little behind that of the anal, midway between the root of the caudal and the head. Pectoral a little shorter than the head, extending to the middle of the ventral, which is only half as long and terminates a long way from the vent. The scales of the anterior part of the trunk are of moderate size; they gradually increase in size towards behind, and are largest on the hinder part of the tail and on the caudal peduncle, on the side of which they stand in three series. Brownish or silvery, darker on the head. Two black vertical bands descend from the anterior and hindmost dorsal rays to the anal, spreading more or less over that fin.

style=font-size: 90%;|hanging-indent=2em|

Mormyrops sphekodes, Sauvage, Bull. Soc. Philom. 1878, p. 101; Arch. Mus. iii, 1880, p. 55, pl. ii. fig. 4.

The teeth on the palate and tongue are well developed. Sauvage's description is fairly applicable to a specimen from Talagouga, 138 millim. long, but I count only 65 transverse series of scales, whilst Sauvage states 82. The diameter of the eye is only one-eighth of the length of the head in our


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.7

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.7


text:
Page:Journal of Conversations with Lord Byron.pdf/36

 the painter, (do you remember our visit, with Leckie, to the German?) to be depicted as one of the heroes of Agincourt, with his long sword, saddle, bridle, Whak fal de," &c. &c.

We thus find, from the letter of Byron to his friend Moore, that the Blessingtons were accompanied by the Count Alfred D'Orsay in their visit to his lordship, and that he was one of the party on their arrival and at their departure from Genoa.

It is probable that the arrangements for the count's journey to Italy with the Blessingtons had been made in Paris, though he did not accompany them from that city, but joined them first at Valence on the Rhone, and subsequently at Avignon.

D'Orsay, who had been attached to the French army of the pretended expedition against Spain, abandoned his profession in an evil hour for the career of a mere man of pleasure and of fashion.

Byron and the Blessingtons continued to live on the most intimate terms, we are told by Lady Blessington, during the stay of the latter at Genoa; and that intimacy had such a happy influence on the author of Childe Harold, that he began to abandon his misanthropy. On the other hand, I am assured by the Marquise de Boissy, formerly Countess of Guiccioli, that the number of visits of Byron to Lady Blessington during the entire period of her sojourn in Genoa, did not exceed five or six at the utmost, and that Byron was by no means disposed to afford the opportunities that he believed were sought, to enable a lady of a literary turn to write about him. But


text:
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 who was ambassador extraordinary from his Serene Highness the Palsgrave of * * * to his most Supreme Excellency the Landgrave of * * * and after six weeks passed in the most affectionate manner, each of the happy couple performing their respective duties with perfect propriety, Felix left for his colonial appointment, and also left—his lady behind him.

Mr. Lorraine had duly and dutifully informed his family of his marriage, and they, as amiably and affectionately, had never answered his letters, which he never expected they would. Profiting by their example, he never answered his wife's, who, in due time, to the horror of the Marquess, landed in England, and claimed the protection of her "beloved husband's family." The Marquess vowed he would never see her; the lady, however, one morning gained admittance, and from that moment she had never quitted her brother-in-law's roof, and not

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 only had never quitted it, but now made the greatest favour of her staying.

The extraordinary influence which Mrs. Felix Lorraine possessed, was certainly not owing to her beauty, for the lady opposite Vivian Grey had apparently no claims to admiration, on the score of her personal qualifications. Her complexion was bad, and her features were indifferent, and these characteristics were not rendered less uninterestingly conspicuous, by what makes an otherwise ugly woman, toute au contraire, namely, a pair of expressive eyes; for certainly this epithet could not be applied to those of Mrs. Felix Lorraine, which gazed in all the vacancy of German listlessness.

The lady did bow to Mr. Grey, and that was all; and then she negligently spooned her soup, and then, after much parade, sent it away untouched. As Vivian wined with the Marchioness, he was not under the necessity of paying any courtesy to his opposite neighbour, whose

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 silence, he plainly perceived, was for the nonce, and consequently for him. But the day was hot, and Vivian had been fatigued by his ride, and the Marquess's champagne was excellent; and so, at last, the floodgates of his speech burst, and talk he did. He complimented her Ladyship's poodle, quoted German to Mrs. Felix Lorraine, and taught the Marquess to eat cabinet pudding with curaçoâ sauce (a custom which, by the bye, I recommend to all); and then his stories, and his scandal, and his sentiment;—stories for the Marquess, scandal for the Marchioness, and sentiment for the Marquess's sister! That lady, who began to find out her man, had no mind to be longer silent, and although a perfect mistress of the English language, began to articulate a horrible patois, that she might not be mistaken for an English-woman, a thing which she particularly dreaded. But now came her punishment, for Vivian saw the effect which he had produced on Mrs. Felix

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 Lorraine, and that Mrs. Felix Lorraine now wished to produce a corresponding effect upon him, and this he was determined she should not do; so new stories followed, and new compliments ensued, and finally he anticipated her sentences, and sometimes her thoughts. The lady sat silent and admiring! At last the important meal was finished, and the time came when good dull English dames retire; but of this habit Mrs. Felix Lorraine did not approve; and, although she had not yet prevailed upon Lady Carabas to adopt her ideas on field days, still en domestique, the goodnatured Marchioness had given in, and to save herself from hearing the din of male voices at a time, at which during her whole life she had been unaccustomed to them, the Marchioness of Carabas—dozed. Her worthy spouse, who was prevented by the presence of Mrs. Felix Lorraine, from talking politics with Vivian, passed the bottle pretty briskly, and then conjecturing

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 D'Orsay, she adds, at the first interview, had struck Byron as a person of considerable talents and wonderful acquirements for a man of his age and former pursuits. "Byron from the first liked D'Orsay; he was clever, original, unpretending; he affected to be nothing that he was not."

Byron sat for his portrait to D'Orsay, that portrait which subsequently appeared in the "New Monthly Magazine," and afterward as a frontispiece of her ladyship's work, "Conversations with Lord Byron."

His lordship suffered Lady Blessington to lecture him in prose, and, what was worse, in verse. He endeavored to persuade Lord Blessington to prolong his stay in Genoa, and to take a residence adjoining his own named "Il Paradiso." And a rumor of his intention to take the place for himself, and some good-natured friend observing, "Il diavolo è ancora entrato in Paradiso," his lordship wrote the following lines:—

But the original conceit was not in poetry.

Lady Blessington informed me that, on the occasion of a masked ball to be given in Genoa, Byron stated his intention of going there, and asked her ladyship to accompany him: en badinant about the character she was to go in, some one had suggested that of Eve


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 that "from the sunset we should have a fine day to-morrow," fell back in his easy chair, and—snored.

Mrs. Felix Lorraine looked at her noble relatives, and shrugged up her shoulders with an air which baffleth all description. "Mr. Grey, I congratulate you on this hospitable reception; you see we treat you quite en famille. Come! 'tis a fine evening, you have seen, as yet, but little of Château Desir: we may as well enjoy the fine air on the Terrace."

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Rh stall the more drastic action of our political Apaches, incited by Envy, wrecker of empires and assassin of civilization. Meantime, let us put poppies in our hair and be Democrats and Republicans.

1910.


text: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.5

title: Vivian Grey/Volume 1/Chapter 2.5


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1820.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

1822.


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 were beginning to estimate the ancient pomp and circumstance of the military spirit at its true value:

Unfortunately, this note of melioristic optimism was proved to be based on fallacious foundations by the events that followed. It was, perhaps, the general feeling after a second-rate war, but it is a feeling that seems to wear off with extreme rapidity under the stress of the clash of dynasties. Hardy here unconsciously—and therefore, perhaps, most effectively—illustrated the irony of circumstance. The author of Men Who March Away must have realized what a scurvy trick Time had played upon him in making a "laughingstock" of The Sick God.

In the year before the outbreak of the Great War Hardy wrote the poem called His Country, expressing his transcendental view of the idea of patriotism. The synopses of all the stanzas running through marginal notes read as follows: "He travels southward and looks around; and cannot discover the boundary of his native country; or where his duties to his fellow-creatures end; nor where are his enemies." The last stanza reads:


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Thus runs the poem in its final state, as found in the Collected Poems. On its first appearance in Satires of Circumstance, however, it bore the note "Written before the War," possibly to defend the rather patent cynicism of the original final stanza, omitted in the definitive edition, in which "he is set right by a wise man who pities his blindness," and which reads:

It is futile to speculate on the reasons why a writer who had the courage to publish Jude, and, during the war, The Pity of It, should have seen fit to "censor" this original conclusion to the poem. So let us proceed to the blasts of the Hardyan bugle that accompanied the early stages of the greatest Historical Calamity, or Conflict of Peoples—to quote from the Preface of The Dynasts—"artificially brought about in our own times."

As might have been expected of a man of seventy-four, Hardy in this later group was no longer attracted by the merely picturesque aspects of war. His utter repugnance to the methods of modern warfare was strongly brought out in Then and Now (1915), which set in con-


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