" THE STOKY OF ODR LIVES FROM TEAR TO YEAR."—SHAKESPEARE. ALL THE TEAR ROUND. A WEEKLY JOURNAL. CONDUCTED BY CHARLES DICKENS. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED HOUSEHOLD WORDS.
N"- 407.] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1867. [PaiCE 2d,
temperature of Mr. Carruthers's shaving-water, BLACK SHEEP! and the punctuality with which Mr. Carruthers's Br THB AUTHOE OF "LASD XT LA8I," "KlSGlSG THE Ron,' breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served. It £c. &c. had never occurred to his loving and dutiful wife that any alteration in this principle of life BOOK III. at Poynings conld possibly be effected, and thus CHAPTER rX. MOVING ON. the more superficial faults of the character of a UNCONSCIOUS of the inquietude of her genuinely worthy man had been strengthened brother and of her son, happy in a reunion by the irresponsibihty of his position until they which she had never ventured to hope for, still bade fair to overpower its genuine worth. But sufficiently weakened by her illness to be pre all this has changed now, changed In a fashion served from any mental investigation of "how against which there was no appeal. Mi-. Carru things had come abont," acquiescent and tran thers was no longer the first. His hours, his quil, Mrs. Carruthers was rapidly getting well. habits, his occupations, had to give way to the The hidehble alteration which her beauty had exigencies of a misfortune which struck him on sustained—for it was beauty still—tbe beauty of the most sensitive pomt, and which invested him a decade later than when George bad seen his with a responsibihty not to be trifled with or motlier through the ball-room window at Poy shared. It was characteristic of hira that he nings—had touched her morally as well as physi became excessively proud of his care of his wife. cally ; and a great calm had come upon her with The pomposity aud importance with wliich he the'silver streaks in lier rich dark hair, and the had been wont to *' transact his pubhc busi fading of the colour in her cheek. ness" was now transferred to his supermten- dence of his patient; and the survelhance and The relation beiween George's motiier and fusslness which had made hfe rather a burden her busband had undergone an entire change. some possession to the household and retainers Mr. Carruthers had been excessively alarmed of Poynings impressed themselves upon the when he first realised the nature of his wife's physicians and attendants promoted to the ilhiess. He had never come in contact with honour of serving Mrs. Carruthers. As they anything of the kind, and novelty of any were, in the nature of things, ouly temporary description had a tendency to alarm and discon inflictions, and were, besides, accompanied by cert Mr. Carruthers of Poynings. But he was remarkably Hberal remuneration, the sufferers not in the least likely to leave any manifest duty supported them imeomplainingly. undone, and he had devoted himself, with all the intelligence he possessed (which was not much), It was also characteristic of Mr. Carruthers and all the heart (which was a great deal more that, havm^ made up his mind to receive George than he, or anybody else, suspected), to the care, Dallas well, he had received him very well, and attention, and " humouring" which the patient speedily became convinced that the young man's required. From the first, Mrs. Carruthers had reformation was genuine, and would belastinf^. been able to recognise this without trying to Also, he had not the least suspicion how largely account for it, and she unconsciously adopted he was influenced in this direction by Mark the best possible method of dealmg with a dis Pehon's estimate of the youn^ man—an esti position like that of her husband. She evinced mate not due to ignorance either, for George the most absolute dependence on him, an almost had hidden nothing in his past career from his fretful eagerness for nis presence, an entire for- uncle, except his acquaintance with Clare Carru getfulness of the former supposed immutable thers, and the strange coincidence which con law which had decreed that the convenience nected him with the mysterious murder of the and the pleasure of Mr. Carruthers of Poynings 17th of April. Mr. Carruthers, like aU men who were to take precedence, as a matter of course, are both weak and obstinate, was largely in of all other sublunary thmgs. Indeed, it was fluenced by the opinions of others, provided they merely in a technical sense that, as regarded the were not forced upon him or too plainly sug little world of Poynings, these had oeen con gested to him, but that he was cmTcntly sup sidered sublunary. Its population concerned posed to partake or even to originate them. themselves infinitely less with the " prmcipalities He had no: said much to his wife about her son; and powers" than with the accuracy of the he had not referred to the past at all.
irnT. •vvT^w 407 y^ lit) [February a, 18(17.] ALL THE YEAR KOUND. [Conducted by
It was in his honourable, if narrow, nature to To a person of quicker perception than lb IcU her frankly that he had recognised his error, Carruthers, the fact that the invahd never spoki that he knew now that all his generosity, all of her faithful old servant would have had raucl the other gifts he had given her, bad not availed, signilicance. It would have impUed that sh{ and could not have availed, while George's so had more entirely lost her memory than othei ciety had been denied; but 1 lie cousigne was, features and circumstances of her condition in- "Mrs. Carrnthers must not be agitated," and dicated, or that she had regamed sufficient the gi-eat i-ule of Mr. Carruthers's life at present mental firmness aud self-control to avoid any was," that the conslgne was not to be violated. thing leading directly or indirectlv to the origm Hence, nothhig had been said upon the subject, aud source of a state of mental weakness of and al'icr the subsidence of her first agitation, which she was distressingly conscious. Bat Mrs. Carruthers had appcai-cd to take George's Mr. Carruthers lacked quickness and experience, presence very quietly, as she took all other and he did not notice this. He had pondered, things. in his stalely way, over Dr. Merle's words, md The alteration which had taken place in his he had become convinced that he must have beea wife had tended to allay that unacknowledged right. There had been a " shock." Bnt of what ill which had troubled Mr. Carruthers' peace, nature ? How, when, had it occurred ? Cleark, and exacerbated his teraj)er. The old feeling of these questions could uot now, probably coja jealousy died completely out. The pale, deUcate, not ever be, referred to Mrs. Carruthers. Who fragde woman, whose mind held by the past could tell him ? Clare P Had anytliing occurred now with so very famt a grasp, whose peaceful while he had been absent during the days hn- thoughts were ol' the present, whose quiet hopes mediately preceding his wife's illness ? He set were of the future, had nothing in common with himself now, seriously, to the task of recaUing the beautiful young girl whom another than he the cu*cumstauccs of ms return. had wooed and won. As slie was now, ris alone He bad been met by ^lare, who told fahi she wished to be, he was first and chief in her Mrs. Carruthers was not quite well. He had life, and there was uot a little exaction or gone with her to his wife's room. She wis temporary frctfulness, a single little symptom of lying in her bed. He remembered that she illness aud dependence, which had not hi it looked pale and ill. She was in her dressing- infinitely more reassuring evidence for Mr. gown, but otherwise dressed. Then, she hu CaiTuthers than all the obscn'ance of his not been so ill that morning as to have bea wishes, aud submission to his domestic laws, unable to leave her bed. If anything had which had formerly made it, plainer to Mr. occurred, it must have taken place after sliehftd CaiTuthers of Poyuhigs that his wife feared thau risen as usual. Besides, she nad not been seri^ vbat she loved him. ously ill until a day or two later—stay, untfl And, if it be accounted strange and bordering how many days ? It was on the morning after on the ludicrous that, at Mr. Carruthers's re Mr. Dalryniple's visit that he had been sum spectable a^e, he should still have bccu subject moned to his wife's room; he and Clare were at to the fecmigs tauntingly mentioned as the breakfast together. Yes, to be sure, he remem " vagaries " of love, it must be remembered that bered it all distinctly. Was the "shock" to be George's mother was the only woman he had ever referred to thai morning, then ? Had it only come cared for, and that he had only of late achieved in aid of previously threatening indispositioa? the loftier ideals of love. It was of recent date These points Mr. Carruthers could uot solve. that he learned to hold his wife more dear and He would question Clare on his return, anil precious than Mr. Carruthers of Poynings. find out what she knew, or if she knew any Ilewas notin the least jealous of George. He thing. In the mean tune, he would not mention hked him, He was clever, Mr. Carruthers the matter at all, not even to his wife's brother knew; and he rather disapproved of clevcrpcojile or her son. Mr. CaiTuthers of Povuings had in tlie abstract. He had heard, and had no reason the "defects of his qualities," aud the qiuhties to doubt—certainly noncalForded by hisst-cp-son's of his defects, so that his pride, leading toarro^ previous career—tliat literary people were a bad gance in one direction, involved much dehcaoy lot. He supposed, innocent llr. Carruthers, 1,hat, in another, and this sorrow, this fear, this eouroe to ho hterary, peojile must be clever. The in- of his wile's suffering, whatever ic might be, fercnec was indi.simtable. But George did not was a sacred thmg for him, so fai- as its conceal bore him with his cleverness. He never talked ment i'roni all hitherto unacquainted with it was about The Piccadilly or The Mercury, re concerned. Clare might help him to find it out, serving bis confidences on these points for his aud then, if the evU was one within his jwwerto mother and his uncle. The family party paired remedy, it should be remedied; but, hi the off a good deal. Mr. Carruthers aud his wife, mean time, it should not be made the subject of ilark Pelton and his nephew. Aud then ilr. discussion or speculation. Her brother could Carruthers had an opportunity of becomhig con not possibly throw any light on the cause of his vinced that the doubts he had allowed to trouble wife's trouble; he was ou the other side of the him had all been groundless, and to learn by Atlantic when the blow, let it have come from experience thai, hajipy in her son's socicly,trulv whatever unknown quarter, had struck her. trratcl'iil to hiiu for the kindness with which Her son ! Where had he been ? And asking he A\atched George, she washap])Icr still in his himself this qtiestioii, Mr. Carruthers began to com]iany. feel rather uncomfortably hot about theeare and _
<;harleB Diokens.] ALL THE TEAR ROUND. [Februory 9,18G7.] 147 went creaking up the stairs to his wife*s sitting- judge of the effect produced upon her by the room, in order to divert his thoughts as soon as words of her husband. She had turned away possible. He saw things by a clearer light now, her head as he began to speak. and the recollection of his former conduct to " I was just going to tell Laura what I Geoi^e troubled him. thought of dping, if you and she approve," Ee found his step-sou and Mark Pelton in Mr. Pelton hastened to say. " You see, I am Mrs. Carruthers's room. The day waa chilly getting more and more anxious about Arthur, and gloomy, and eminently suggestive of the and 1 don't tbink he will turn up here. I advantages possessed by an Enghsh country thought if George and I were to go on to Paris mansion over the most commodious and expen and make some mquiiies there—I know pretty sive of foreign lodging-houses. George nad well where he weut to there, and what he did. just placed a shawl round his mother's shoulders, We need not make more thau a few days' delay, and was improving the fastenings of the win and then go ou to London, and join you and dows, which were in their normal condition in Laura there. What do you say?" foreim parts. " I think it would do nicely," said Mr. Car "Mark has been talking about Poynings," ruthers. " You and George would hardly like said Mrs. Carruthers, turning to her nusband our rate of travehin^ under anv circumstances." with a smile, " and says he never saw a It would have aiforded any individual endowed place he admired more, though he had only a with good humour and a sense of the ludicrous passing glimpse of it." great amusement to observe the pleasure and Mr. Carruthers was pleased, though of course importance with which Mr. Carruthers imphed it was only natural that Mr. Pelton should the seriousness of his charge, and the immense never have seen any place more to be admired signification of a journey undertaken by Mrs. by persons of well-regulated taste than Poy Curruthers of Poynings. " We shall stay some nings. time in town," he continued, " for additional " Of course," he said, with modest admission, medical advice ; and then, I ho|)e, we shall all "if you come to talk about the Dukeries, and go down to Poynings together." that kind of thing, there's nothing to be said " I have secured rooms for George and my for Poynings. But it is a nice place, and I am self In Piccadilly," said Mark Pelton, iu a skd- very fond of it, and so is Laura." . fnlly off-hand manner. " It would never do for He was rather alarmed, when he had said this, two jolly young bachelors like him and me to to observe his wife's eyes full of tears. Tears invade Sir Thomas Boldero's bouse. Even"— indicated recollection, and of a painful kmd, he and here Mr. Pelton's countenance clouded thoijght, being but little acquainted with the over, and he continued, absently—" even if intricate symptoms of feminine human nature, Arthur did not join us; but I hope he will—I which recollection must be avoided, or turnecl hope he will." aside, in a pleasurable durection. Mr. Carruthers was singularly unfortunate in Kow George's cleverness was a direction of auy attempt to combine politeness with insin the required kind, and Mr. Carruthers pro cerity. He had a distinct conviction that his ceeded to remark that George must make wife's nephew was a " good-for-nothmg," of a drawings for his mother of all the favourite different and more despicable order of good-for- points of view at Poyuings. nothhignessto Ihat which he had imputed to his " There's the terrace, George," he said," and step-son in his worst days; and though 4ie would the * Tangle,' where yonr mother loves to spend have been imfeignedly pleased had Mr. Felton's the summer afternoons, and there's the beech- inquietude been set at rest by the receipt of a wood, from the hill beliiud tbe garden, and the letter from his son, he was candidly of opinion long avenue. There are several spots you will that the longer that young gentleman abstained like, George, and—and," said Mr, Carruthers, from joining the family party, the more peaceful magnanimously, and blushing all over his not and happy that fundly party would continue to much withered face, like a woman, " I'm only be. soriy you are to make acquaintance with them However, he endeavoured to rise to the so late in the day." occasion, and said he hoped "Mr. Arthur" He put out his hand, with true British awk would accompany his father to Poynings, \nth wardness, as ho spoke, and the young man took not so very bad a grace consldermg. it respectfully, and with an atoning pang of The divei-sion had enabled George to recover shame and sed'-reproach. But for his mother's himself, and he now drew a chair over beside presence, and the imperative necessity of self- his mother's, aud began to discuss the times and restraint imposed by the consideration of her distances of their respectivcjouriieys, and other health and the danger of agitation to her, cognate topics tjf conversation. Mr. Carruthers George would have inevitably have told his step liked everything in the plannmg and settling father the truth. He felt all the accumulated line, and it was quite a spectacle to behold him meanness of an implied falsehood most deeply over tbe incomprehensible pages of Bradsliaw, and bitterly, and might have been capable of emphasising his helplessness with his gold spec forgetting even his mother, but for a thnely tacles. warning co&veyed to him by the compressed " I supposeten days will see us all iuLondon," hps and frowning brows of his uncle. As for he said to Mr. Fehon, "If you leave this with his mother, neither be nor Mr. Pelton could George to-morrow, and we leave on Monday. y 148 [Feljniary 9, ISCL] ALL THE TEAR ROUND. [Conducted by I have written to my niece. Sir Thomas and thers's emotion, that when they both approached Lady Boldero never come to town at this season, her eagerly, George did not attempt to do so. so I have asked Clare to come up and see that He rose, indeed, but it was to push back hia the house is all comfortable for Laura. Clare chair and get out of their way. Mr. Carru- can stay at her cousm's till we arrive." thers asked hpr tenderly what was the matter, "Iler cousin's?" asked Mark Pelton ; and but she replied only by laying her head upon George blessed him for the question, for he did his breast in a passion of tears. not know who was meant, and had never yet In the evening, when Dr. Merle had seen brought himself to make an inquiry in which Mrs. Carruthers, had said a great deal about Clare Carruthers was concerned, even by im absolute quiet, but had not interdicted the plication. purposed return to England, when it had been' " Mrs. Stanhope, Sir Thomas's daughter," decided that there was to be no leave-taldng said Mr. Carruthers; "she was married just between her and her brother and son, who ' after we left Poynings." were to commence their journey on the morrow, "The young lady of whom Captain Marsl Mr. Carruthers, sitting by his wife's bed, where made such appropriate mention," thought she then lay quietly asleep, arrived at the con Georce. clusion that the old nurse was connected with "I have no town-house," continued Mr. the "shock." The idea gave him acute pain. Carruthers, with more of the old pompous It must have been, then, something which had manner thau Mr. Felton had yet remarked in some reference to his wife's past life, eome- him. "Laura prefers Poynings, so do I; aud thing in which he and the present had no share. as my niece came down only this spring, and Very old, and worn, and troubled Mr. Carra- has been detained in the coimtry oy several thers looked as the darkness came on and causes, we have not thought it necessary to filled the room, and once more the night wind have one." arose, and whistled and shrieked over Taunas. " I should think you wouhl find a town- He began to wish ardently, earnestly, to get house a decided nuisance," said Mr. Felton, home. It was very strange to look at his wife, frankly; "and if Miss Carruthers has Sir Thomas always before his eyes, and know she had a ter Boldero's aud Mrs. Stanhope's to go to, I don't rible secret grief, which had thus powerfully see that she wants anything more." affected her, and not to dare to question her " You forget," said Mr. Carruthers, in a quiet about it. This fresh confirmation of the fact, tone, which, nevertheless, conveyed to Mr. this new manifestation of her sufleroigs, after Felton's quick apprehension that he had made a so peaceful an interval, had in it something grave mistake, and imphed to perfection the awful to the mind of Mr. Carruthers, loftmess of rebuke—"you forget that Miss The brother and the son, in their different Carruthers is the heiress of Poynings 1" ways, were equally disturbed by the occurrence— "Ah, to be sure, so I do," sain Mark Felton, Mark Felton in his ignorance and conjecture, heartily, " and I beg her pardon and yours ; but George in the painful fulness of his knowledge at least I shall never forget that she 'is the most and his self-reproach. charming girl I ever saw in my hfe." And then, And as Mark Felton's look had alone ar as if a secret inspiration led him to put the ques rested George's impulsive desire to reveal Ms tion which George longed to hear and dared not knowledge of Poynings to Mr. Carruthers, so ask, he said: the remembrance of all Routh and Harriet had " AVlien is Miss Carruthers to arrive in Lon said to ilim of the difficulty, the embarrassment, don r" the probable danger of an acknowledgment, " Only three or four days before we shall get alone arrested his desire to inform his uncle of there, I fancy. My love," turnmg abruptly to the dreadful error which had caused his motiier's Mrs. CaiTuthers, as a happy idea struck him, illness. by which her additional comfort might be se Mark Fclton aud George Dallas left Horn- cured, " what woidd you think of my desiring burg for Paris on the following day. They had Clare to bring Brookes up with her ?" Should separated for the night earUer than usual, and you like to have her with you when you are in George had employed himself for some hours town ?" in writing a long and confidential letter to hia Mrs. CaiTuthers turned a faee full of distress friend Cuimingham. It was addressed to that upon her husband in reply to his kiud question. gentleman at The Mercury office, and it con It was deeply fiushed for a moment, then it tained full details of every particular which he grew deadly pale; her eyes rolled towards had been able to learn connected with his miss George with an expression of doubt, of search ing cousin. The purpose of the letter was an ing, of misty anguish, which filled hhn with urgent request that Cunningham would at onoe alarm, and she put out her hands with a ges communicate with the police on this matter, ture of avoidance. and it concluded with these words: "Oh no, no," she said, "I cannot sec her ' I camiot conquer my apprehensions, and I yet—I am not able—I don't know—there's will not yet communicate them to my uncle. something, there's somethinc:." But, mark this, I am convinced we shall leam It might have struck jTr. Carruthers and nothing good at Paris; and we have done very Mark Felton too, had they not been too much wrong m not jmtting the police to work long alarmed to think of auything but Mrs. Carru-1 ago. Don't laugh at me, and call mca novdist .V
Charles Dickens.] ALL THE TEAR ROUND. [Febmary ?, 1SC7,] 149
in action. I never felt so sure of auything I of the two-shilling gallery was eighty-six feet had not seen as I am of Arthur Felton's having from the stage door; in the upper gallery the come to serious sn-ief." spectator was one hundred and four feet distant. The house was lit by glass chandeliers in front of each circle, two huudred and seventy wax- candles a night being consumed, while the OLD STORIES RE-TOLD. stage and scenery bad their three hundred THE 0. P. RIOTS. patent lamps. Ine prevailing colour of the THEATRICAL riots have not been unfrequent house was white; the ornaments gold on a in English theatres. light pink ground. So far so good, but no There was a great riot at the Portugal-street further. • Theatre hi 1721, in Rich's time, when Quin and The season of 1S08 had been a specially In his brother-actors flashed out their swords and teresting oue. Miss Pope, " the chambermaid" drove out the wild young rakes who had par excellence for fifty years, had retired. In threatened to pink the manager. There was a the same month, Maaame Storace, the unap great scuffle before this at the same house when, proachable bufFa of English opera and musical wishing to insult the brazen Duchess of Ports farce, had also taken her leave; and soon mouth, some tipsy gentlemen drew their blades after, Mrs. Mattocks, for nearly sixty years in the pit, and flung blazing flambeaux among the gayest of stage widows, and the most the actors on the stage. inimitable of M'Tabs, had made her finalcurtsey . There was the Footman's Riot in 1737, and In the mean time, the management had not the prodigious mutiny, too, in Garrick's Drnry been idle. .They had got Liston, that fiue Lane, in 1754, about those foreign dancers. The farceur, as a comic dancer, and Young for pit thrashed the boxes, jumped on the harpsi nervous tragedy; Incledon for noble sea songs; chord, broke up benches, slashed the scenery, Munden for extravagant drollery ; and Fawcett and pelted poor Davy's windows in Southamp for harsh comic force. The other bouse, burnt ton-street. And that terrible evening, also, at down in 1808, had no one but Mrs. Jordan on the Haymarket, when thousands of enraged whom to rely. Mrs. Dickons was also a tailors threatened to surge into the theatre to favourite with the Covent Garden public for revent old Dowton playing " I'he Tailors, or a good sound acting; and, above all, not to men P'ragedy for Warm Weather." One of them was tion the grace and majesty of Mrs. SIddons, actually bold enough, without even the help of there was that cheval de batallle, that beautlfnt bis eight partners, to fling a pair of heavy shears Roman lady, Madame Catalani, with a voice that at the great comedian. But as the minnow Is eould follow a flute through all its rippllngs, and to the whale, so were all these popular eflerves- a violm through all its windings. cences compared with those tremendous yet John Philip Kemble, the son of a Stafford ludicrous disturbances in 1809, which, for no shire manager, was born in 1757, aud had made less than sixty-one nights, under the name of his first appearance on the London boards as the O. P. Riots, agitated London, divided Hamlet, in 1783. He had been the sovereign society, and convulsed Covent Garden. idol of the public, and hitherto had reigned The old Covent Garden Theatre had been burnt supreme in their favour. Age had not yet made down September 20, 1803, it was supposed by him hard, dry, cold, nor pedantic, as that fine' the wadding of the musket of one of the critic, Hazlitt, afterwards tnought liim. Kean's Spanish soldiers in Pizarro, Twenty persons thunder-storm of passionate genius had not yet perished in trying to save the building. Han shaken old Drury to Its centre. del's organ, the wines of the Beef-Steak The town was menacinglv silent. The young 'Club, Munden's wardrobe, and Miss Bolton's men in the pubhc offices fgreat theatre-goers) jewels, were all consumed. The new build alone openly denounced the new prices, the ing cost flfty thousand pounds, besides the boxes being raised from six shiUings to seven forty-four thousand five hundred pounds in shillings, the pit from three shillings and sixpence surance. The Duke of Northumberland gene to four shillings, the galleries alone being left at rously lent Kemble ten thousand pounds, and their former rates of two shillings and one sent him the receipt to burn on the day the shilling. The extension of aristocratic and ex first stone was laid oy the Prince of Wales and clusive privileges, _the new ante-rooms where the Freemasons, of whom the " ne'er-do-weel" the Phrynes, Chloes, and Aspasias of the day was grand master, Mr. Robert Smirke, jun., would flaunt their newly acquired finery, built the new theatre to resemble the great especially irritated the virtuous town. The Doric temple of Minerva on the Acropolis. Tory papers advocateil the new prices, the The roof was one hundred feet long and one Whig papers, without exception, the old. Ad hundred and thirty feet wide. The pit had vertisements, letters, and paragraphs, urging its old twenty benches. The chief obnoxious combination and resistance, had appeared long novelty was that the third tier of boxes, letting before the fatal day of opening, London was for twelve thousand pounds a year, had small ripe for a theatrical mutiny. ante-rooms opening into a saloonreserved at three hundred pounds a year each for annual renters Mr. Kemble, proud as Coriolanus, aud con only. This especially exasperated the demo scious of the enormous outlay of the proprietors cratic town. A person seated in the back row that had compeUed the temporary high ]irices, was defiant and confident. On the morning of the 150 [Febroary 0,1SC7.] ALL THE YEAR BOUND. [Conducted by
opening, he was seen walking hke a Ccesar down money, was denounced by St. Paul. They showed Bow-street, on his way to the newspaper hi lact, violently and loudly, what absence oflices with paragraphs aud letters to Inflncnce from the theatre would better have shown, and direct the piiblic mind in the way It should their dislike to the uew prices and the new con go, and to assure theatre-goers that it was not stitution of the house. There is no gratitude by any means the engagement of Madame Cata in the populace. The public has many pockets, lan! that had induced the obnoxious alteration. but no heart. It was Monday, thelSth of September, ISOO. Those strong bhack brows of Kemble's com The new theatre, which had been built In nine pressed, those dark luminous eyes clouded; but months, opened wilh Macbeth—not one of Kem- the proud actor, valuing the "sweet voicra" ble's finest performances—and the musical farce no more than the "reck of the fen," went ou of the Quaker. The house was crowded, and a reciting, iu his thoughtful deliberate way, a pro great and suspiciously expectant crowd col saic address that claimed the credit of illustrating lected also round the street doors. The people Shakespeare better than of old, by finer scenery: In the pit shook down into their places, but Thus Shakespeare's fire bums brighter than of yore, were wrangling, argumentative, jostUng, and And may the stage that boasts him bum no more! restless. The pretty bnt rather high-coloured faces In the obnoxious upper tiers looked down The dull and lifeless verses ended by allusions to anxious and alarmed; and among the rust the sohdity and expense of the uew tlieatre; ling silks and glossy satins there were rough expressing a hope that the attempt to raise angry-looking men, detcrmhiately buttoned-up national taste would be repaid by naticaial in great uncouth box-coats. Still, quite uncon liberahty. scious of their doom, the little victims played. The play went on in dumb show; the witches' The apparitions behind the curtain took tlieir thimder was drowned by John Bull's. Bat pot of beer cheerfully with the army in Mac whether Macbeth ])lanned Banqno's murder, duff. Every oue In the pit seemed to carry blud presided at the banquet, hstened to the knock geons, and the turbulent democracy in the ing at the south entry, put harness on his back, galleries complained bitterly that the " rake " of slashed desperately at the pertinacious Mao- thfeir seats was so steep that of the actors at the duff, or fell dead on his face, no one listened, back of the stage they could see only the legs. no one cared. Wheu Mrs, SIddons exulted Meanwhile, the court physician and the two mur ci'uelly in the proposed murder of the royal derers sat at the banquet-fable discussing a re- guest, or ghded on In bcr ghastly sleep-wfdk, fi'eshing quart of half-and-half. Liston joked; the malcontents hooted and clamoured buder Munden twisted his mouth In extravagant than before ; nothing could pacify them. drollery; and " black Jack," as the greatest In vain, too, Munden distorted his irresistible Roman of them all was irreverently called in face in the afterpiece; the cat-calls grew the green-room, remained imperturbable, statu shriller, the yeUs for old prices still fiercer. esque, and imperial. When the dark cui'tain fell, two magistrates The bell rang—"Hear it not, Duncan, for it from Bow-street came forward to the foothghts is a kneU." The musicians advanced to the as if they had been engaged for a lecture, and attack iu their unmoved mechanical way, aud tried to catch the ear of the house. One of them the music began. The flute warbled, the drum drew out a paper supposed to be the Riot Act; vibrated, the trombone was projected into space, but retired betore the threatening hisses of tJie the viohns cut capers, the horns blared. The enraged hydra. Once or twice the police made audience rose and took ofl" their hats, as the whole raids into the upper gaUery, aud took up out vocal power of the house appeared and sang rageous democrats, who were held to bail for " God save the King." All went well. Kemble appearance at the next sessions. Hours after was right—there was nothhig In it after aU. the curtain fell, the rioters continued in tbe The music ceased, and Mr. Kemble, with house, calling In vain on the obdurate manager his fine heroic face, strode forward in that to return to old prices. In vain fifty soldiers, strange Macbeth attire of his to speak the on duty at the doors or in the lobby, stormed oetical address for the re-opening. Then violently into the upper gallery to capture the Eroke forth the storm — chaos had come humbler aud more demonstrative rioters; bat agam, chaos aud old night, It was like Pros- the " gods" foiled Mars by clambering down liero's island, when Ariel's "iiack came hurry into the lower gallery, where they were cordially ing to chase, hi theu" wild hunt, Trinculo, received by friends liiad aa bulls at the sight of Caliban, and Stephano. It was like the House the scarlet cloth. of Commons when it wants to divide, and will The Times, the next naoraing, was patriotic uot be bored any more. The men in the drab and indignant. " It was a uoble sight," it said, coats turned their broad backs to the stage, " to see so much just indignation iu the pubhc or jammed on their hats and leaped upon mind," and it derided the idea that prices were seats. They barked hke dngs at the full of the to be raised to swell the vanity of Mrs. SIddons moon; tliey groaned, they shouted, they screeched and John Kemble, who must, lorsooth, swagger through excruciating cat-calls; they roared, and strut on the boards " with clothes on then: "Off, ofl"—old prices." They yelled execrations: backs worth five hundred pounds." The club they foamed like the people of Ephcsus when critics, the men about town, the idle quid the worship of Diana, that brought them all their nuncs of all ranks, followed suit. Cruel Cata- Charles Diokens.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [February 9,18C7.] 151 logues of the great actor's faults were bandied Johnny, leave tiie pit alone, from mouth to mouth, and one or two really Let 'em craeli their wit alone, clever men barbed the arrows that were shot Can't you let 'em sit .ilone, at the proud and inftexible manager. Any Let 'cm sing 0. 1*. ? fool can shoot the arrow, but it takes clever 0. P. AND M. T. malice to shape the arrow-head and to poison Submit, stubborn Kemble, submit, do, I praj-, the barb. Kemble was no genius, the mgrates Tliy int'rost alone sure miglit tempC lliee ; shouted over their wine aud grog; he was arti For know, if for ever 0. P.'s done away, ficial, formal, slow, self-conscious, self-approv Tliy playhouse will always be .)/. T. ing. He was always throwing himself into Some of the wittiest and readiest men of the Roman statues,. There was no spontaneity, day wasted their time in fabricating these sting ardour, or generous impulse. His Sir Giles ing crackers. Busv in ridicule of poor Kemble's Overreach was tame and insipid, his King li;u)itual cough and small voice, the town even John studied, Ids Hamlet severe and inllexible, forgot for a time the gallant retreat from his Macbeth iron-bound, his Richard the Thh*d Gorunna, and the miserable and disastrous dehberate, his Brutus dry. Faithless herd, Walchercn expedition. they chose to forget the grand dignity of his Cato, the dark rancour of his Pierre, the The third night the riot grew more systematic ; intense despair of his Stranger, the dignified the rioters had now organised themselves. The melancholy of bis Penruddock, the heroic moment the curtain rose outhc witches aud the fervour of his Rolla, the inspired energy of his foul night, the hisshig, whittling, and cat-catliiig Coriolanus—in a word, his eiiergelic aud elabo broke out iu a perfect hiu'ricane. People hi rate art, his unrivalled concentration and in the boxes screamed In trumpets and roared tensity. Actors arc often vain. Kemble was through bugles. The performers took It calmly, proucl as Coriolanus. Surely no proud man feeling the storm must rage Itself out. "They was ever so cruelly tortured by butterfly wits did not," says a contemporary newspaper, and mosquito critics. For once industrious, " seem to feel in the slightest degree cllscoii- these satirists, with the mahce of Red Indians, certed or offended, hut rather, indeed, relieved, collected into one bantering dialogue all John as there was no necessity for speaking. Oc Philip's oddities and obstinacies of pronuncia casioually different persons among the audience tion. The terrible hst included the following addressed them, with the assurance that there eccentricities, acquired from superficial studies was no intention to offer them any olfencc; in old books, cognate languages, and etymology. and this we were happy to hear, particularly with respect to the ladies, some of whom, First and foremost, ailclies for aches, marchant upon their entrance, eyhibitcd signs of timidity. for merchant, iimocint for innocent, comcZ/iw^i? So little did the performers feel it neces for conscience, varchue for virtue, furse for sary to attend to dialogue or ordinary forms, fierce, bird for beard, the for thy, qjus for odious, that the whole of the performance, both kijus for hideous, perfijua for perfidious, maeVey play and farce, had terminated by half-after for mercy, airth for earth, quellity for quahty, nine o'clock. Throughout the night every box sen\^^7lini for sentiment, etaimvSls for eternally. on the first and second tier presented placards of The conspiracy grew so fast that Kemble's friends began to Delieve that Sheridan and the " ' Old prices.' ' Opposition—persevere and rival house (three himdred thousand pounds and you must succeed.' 'John Bull against John more in debt) were at the bottom of it. The kemble.' ' Ko foreigners to tax us; we have fanatics had been accused of burning down the taxes enough already,'" &c. &c. theatre. The Jacobins were now supposed to be urging forward the attack on aristocratic Soon after the farce concluded, Mr. Kemble, rights and proprietors' privileges. " A plague m consequence of reiterated calls for the on both your houses," thought the quiet play manager, made his appearance upon the stage, goers, who only wanted to be allowed to tran and, after some uproar, obtained a hearmg. He quilly enjoy Fawcett's chatter, Listpn's wonder- said that he came forwai'd to assure the audience f inunctuous face, Munden's inimitable grimaces, of the anxious solicitude of the proprietors to and Dowton's full-blown irritability. Hot and accommodate themselves to their wishes, which fast as the hiva on Pompen fell showers of declaration was received with applause; hut- epigrams, such as the following: when he added the following sentence, " Ladies aud gentlemen, 1 wait here to know what you KEMBLE, LEAVE THE PIT ALOKB. want," the hissing was universal, mixed with Air—'-'- Polly put tbe Kettle on." cries of " What ridiculous aud insulling affecta Johnny, leave the pit alone, tion." The house, indeed, became stormily ui- Let 'em crack their wit alone, dignant, aud Air, Kemble felt it convenient to Can't you let 'em sit alone. retire. The audience was then addressed by two Let 'em sinfj O. P. ? gentlemen—a Mr. Leigh and a Mr. Smyth, a Why, with lawyers lagging 'em, barrister—then Mr. ,K^emblc again appeared, Up to Bow-street dragging 'em, and attempted to justify the new orices. He Brandon* aims at gagging 'em, retired amidst hissing and some slight applause. More the blockhead he I The latter, however, soon subsided, and after about an hour spent in venthig their discontent, *, The box-keoper. ^^ 152 [February 9, IS67.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND, [Conductntl by
the audience gradually dispersed. The managers loudly that that night they were not insulted by of Covent Garden Tlieatre asserted that the constables, riot acts, or threats of the Bastille, average profits for the last ten years had not and that they had obtained an apology at the exceeded six per cent on the whole capital bottom of the bills the night before. This an employed. It would be candid in them to state nouncement was succeeded by the usual eon- the whole tiuth. Did they separate the actual cord of sweet sounds proceeding from shrill expenses from the annuities and other pay- penny whistles, squeaking trumpets, raving mcnfs for ineumbranccs laid at different times watchmen's rattles, &c., interrupted by fregnent on the cslabUshment ? calls for " Managers! managers 1" and " Kem All was in vain. Nothing moved the man ble! Kemble! come forth." whom friends called " firm," and enemie3"obsli- Several placards were, as usual, suspended natc." Cains Mareius all over, he remained from the boxes and held up in the pit. One " whole as the marble, founded as the rock." of them had inscribed on it, in large charac Better to die, better to starve, than beg Hob ters : with the cat-call, and Dick with the horrible "Old prices, witiiout any further insult or watchman's rattle, for their "sweet voices." evasion." " No Catalani. Native talents,"&c. " The ni^ht is long that never Cuds the day," he said to himself, and thought, Another was inscribed: Kemble here, John Bull advises, I am half through. The one part auEFer'd, the other I will do, To raise your fame and sink your prices. quite forgetting, on the other hand, that After a considerable Interval Mr. Kemble came forward. A great tumult then took place. Things bad begun make themselves strong by ill. The placards were more conspicuously waved (Are there not aphorisms hi Shakespeare for and shaken, and some time elapsed, before every moment of Ufe and for all possible con silence^ could be obtained. Mr. Kemble was ditions of events?) The Coriolanus of Drury Lane still stifl"-neeked, and his speech was drowned was not entirely on the defensive; he seut orders hi fresh surges of noise. He had hoped to all his partisans and friends, and they bled previous explanations would have satisfied the freely at the nose for him ; he hired tough-armed public. fightuig watermen to repress the pit; lie made In the Morning Chronicle (September 22nd, the stage machhiery rumble to frighten the 1809) appeared the following squib: bugle-players, aud, as a fine theatrical coup THE HOUSE THAT JACIC BUILT, d'etat, he opened all the trap-doors on the stage This is the house that Jack built. suddenly wheu the pittites seemed prepared to These are the boxes let to the great, that visit the storm it aud tear the scenery iuto shreds. bouse that Jack built. On the fourth uight, a gentleman, after the These are the pigeon-holes over the boxes let to the close of the farce, observed, from one of the great, that visit the house that Jack built. boxes, " That this was the fourth night ou which This is the cat engaged to squall to the poor in the the most obstinate perseverance was made in jiigeoii-holes over the boxes let to the great, that these most obnoxious charges; yet neither the visit the house that Jack built. slaves of constables, the arms of fighting water This is John Bull with a bugle-horn, that hissed the men, the riot act, the presence of magistrates, c«/engaged to pquall to the;joor in \.\i&pigeon-hoks the menacing noise of engines, nor the odious over the boxes let to the great, that visit the house exposure of secret trap-doors, could uitimidate that Jack built. the audience to comply with the manager's xm- This is the Ibiuf-taker, all shaven and shorn, that took up John Bull wilh liis bugle-horn, who justifiable demand. One proprietor, who was also hissed the cat engaged to squall to the poor ia an actor, had passed by the voice of the audience the pigeon-holes over the boxes let to the great, with more insult aud more contumacy than that visit the house that Jack built. was ever shown by a minister to the voice of the This is the mannger, full of scorn, who raised the people. Wilh all his boa-t of tlie liberahty of price to the people forlorn, and directed the thief- the managers, and the necessity of the increase of taker, shaven and shorn, to lake up John Bull prices, he had refused to an old Enghsh club, i\ith his bugle-born, who hissed the cat engaged who drank port wine and ate beefsteaks, a room to squall to the poor in the jngeon-holes over the whieh they had always enjoyed, in order to make boxes let to the great, that visit the house that Jack built. a dressing-room for a foreign singer. Respect able men were dragged to Bow-street for mani On ihe 23nd, the audience were more nume festing what Lord Mansllcld had stated was their rous and, if possible, more clamorous than on inahenabic right." any preceding night. In addition to the usual This gentleman, who addressed his 0. P. con placards, were the following: stituents from ihc boxes, referred to a decision " Let the first causers of disturbance he sent of the great Lord Mansfield, May 11, 1775, to Bow-street. Those are the managers." "The King versus Leigh," in which thut cele " Let the managers play to empty benches, aud brated judge laid It down that any visitor to the they will come to their senses.' playhouse has an unalterable right to express '' Support Kmg George, but resist King John! his instantaneous approbation or dIsap|)roba1ion The former gives us through his minister of the piece or the actors. The rioters boasted some statement of the causes which render in-
^ ^ kx:
Charles Dickens.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [February 9,186".] 153
creased taxation necessary, and the objects to This speech was received with general ap flhich its production is to be applied; the plause. latter deals only in the loose and general ph-a On the 23rd, Mr. Kemble came forward and of necessity, and scorns to ,enter hito explana &ta,ted that a committee of gentlemen was ap tions." pointed to inspect the aecouufs, and to deciae " Don't contaminate the British stage with if the old or the new prices were the most fit Italiau duphcity or French trickery." and reasonable, aud that, till that report was Several other appropriate aud pungent placards sent. In, the theatre would be closed. Tbe whole were exhibited, which, joined with tbe martial audience rose at this triumph, aud shouted and tempestuous music of trumpets and bugle-horns, hurraed for Mr. Kemble. He aunounced that aud the frequently repeated challenge of the Madame Catalani had relinquished her cusrago- great belligerent power, rendered it at last nieut, aud retired amid counter-storms of ap necessary, ou the part of their opponents, to plause and disapprobation. make an overture of negotiation. The new sensational jilacard that night was Mr. Kemble appeared upon the stage : there one with a coffin and cioss-bones on ir, and was^ Instant silence. He proposed that the the words, "Here lies ihe body of New Prices, affairs of the theatre should be submitted to a wlio died 23rd September, 18U9, aged Gdays." committee of gentlemen; and ihls proposition, The folluwiug epigram app'jared a few 'days which appeared to the audience to have the after: complexion of a trick, was very ill received by them. John Bull has gained one point, that's flat; For Kembln has xchipt out the CAT,— A leading feature of the proceedings on this Shut up liis house and gone to bed, evening was a very generous aud chival Witli _/e?PerAiTCHES in bis head. rous speech made to the a'j.':v:iice by a Mr. O'ReiQy, who, after severely censuring tin; The enraged aud stubborn Enghsh pubhc had manager, said, in common justice to Catalani, no mercy for its dogged oppomiuts. They for '•' Some artful people avail themselves of your got that Lord Mansfield's right of expressing honest indignation agaiust the manager lo pro dislike to piece and actor did uot also include mote their interests, to gratify their prejudices, the privilege of stopping the whole performance, by exciting you to abuse au unoB'ending indi- of ruining the jiroprletors, scaring away quiet vldual. How can you be so imposed upon ? people, aud destroying the property of tbe house. How can you be so inconsbtent ? How can you They would not listen to the fact that wbde the be so unmanly as to abuse a woman ? What property of Covent Garden Theatre was divided has Catalani done to offend you ? (Applause into twelve shares, Mr. Harris had seven; and liisics.) I see the placards of 'No Ca Messrs. Martindale aud White, who married the talani !' with disgust, but I see those of daughter of Mr. Powell, tbe celebrated actor, * Dickons and no Catalani!' with disgust and as and who became a purchaser at the same time tonishment. For what a contrast!—let me with Mr. Harris, three; aud Kemble only appeal to yonr common sense. This Catalani, two. whom 1 never saw or heard but on the stage, The committee consisted of tbe following is capable of affording the most exqulsile plea gentlemen : —Alderman Sir Charles Price, sure to all who have any taste for vocal power. Bart., M.P.; Sir Thomas Plumer, Kt., the soh- She stands confessedly unrivalled. Then, if cltor-general ; John Sylvester, Esq., the re you desire the pleasure of hearing her, is it corder of the city of London; John Whit- not more for tbe interest of you, the people, to more, Esq., governor of tbe Bank of Enghmd; have her here, where you can hear her for one and John Julius Angerstein, Esq. The report or two shillings, than to have her at the Opera of this committee was : " That the rate of profit House, where you cannot euter without paying actually received upon an average of the last five shillings or half a guinea, whieh many can six years, commencing m 1803 (the period of not afford. Will you, to gratify others' pre the then co-partnership in the theatre), uj)on judices, deny yoiu'selves pleasure? I have the capital embarked therein, amounted to six heard it whispered that a great many insidious three-eighths per aimum, charging the concern mancenvres are going forward against this with oruy the sum actually paid for Insurance woman, and therefore 1 am interested for her. upon such part of the capital as was insured; I have even been told that it is not improbable that if the whole capital had been insured the the managers would have no objection to au profit would have been reduced to httle more apology for rescinding their agreement with her. than five per cent, though for want of this full . It may be calculated that as Madame Catabmi insurance the proprietors, being m part their has been detached from the Opera House, that ow^n insurers, sustained a loss by the late fire, there is now no danger of her beiug able to for which no coinpensatlou lias been made, to procure an engagement elsewhere which can the amount of their whole prolits for the above produce any of that counter-attraction to this period of six years." The report further stated theatre, to guard agaiust which was probably a that the committee was fully satisfied that the main cause of lier original engagement here. future profits of the new theatre at the pro This calculation I state as merely possible—but posed advance iu the prices of admission would will you second it ? Will you promote the un amount to no more than three and a half per worthy speculations of selfishness ?" cent per annum upon the capital expended upon ^ y 154 fFobniary 9.1867.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Conducted by
the tlieatre, if the same were insured ; and that men's horns, iiiss, and clack watchmen's rsft- uyioiithc supposition of insurance, at the former tles. The mob had grown stark staring mad prices of admission, the proprietors would, iu upon the O. P. question. All the herds of the judgment of the committee, annually sus- Circe were let loose, and tbe mob ran riot lain a loss of three-quarters per cent per in their partisanship with the "RTiigs and annum on their capital. Upon this report the Reformers. The O. P. rioters laughed, being made public, the ([ucstion arose whether sang, groaned, and wore the letters 0. P. in their the common interest of five per cent was or hats and on their waistcoats. They formed was uot included in tbe estimate of profits, rings and got up mock fights in the pit, which which called forth the further declaration, that, terminated in roars and shouts of laughter. after deducting the legal interest of five per The special moment of the evening was when cent on the capital, no more than one Ihrcc- a simultaneous inish was made from the back cighlhs per cent remained to the proprietors ("or of the pit down upon ihe orchestra. Pigeons their whole profits. were let loose from the boxes to show that John The recci])ts of six years had amounted to Bull was not to be "pigeoned." "Artillery three hundred and sixty-five thousand nine hun M'hii^tles" screeched m the air. The placards dred and eighty-three pounds ; tbe highest, the and banners (a hint from pantomimes) broke ilaster Betty year (18U-1), being seventy thou out agam a hundred strong and turned the sand seven hundred and twenty-seven pounds. boxes into booths. The inscriptions now were: The average was three hundred pounds a nlgiit; there being two huudred acting nights in the iMountain and Dickons, No cat, no kittens. year. The expenses hi six years had been three hundred and scveu thousand nine hundred " Britons who have humbled a prince, wUl aud twelve ponds. not be conqnercu, ^y a manager," Notwithstanthng, liowever, the commis sioners were meu of business, used to accounts, Tiie 0. P. dance, the rioters'favourite nightly and hence uot likely lo be deceived tliemselves, diversion, was a perfonnance as noisy anil and of a respectability which seemed to pre almost as demoniacal as tbe Carmagnole of the clude the presumption of their deceiving others, French revolutionists. It consisted of an their report was very far from proving satisfac alternate stamping of tbe feet, accompanied with tory to the public. On re-opening the theatre the cry of " 0. P." in regular and monot
to the late decision of the jury, showed the pro Lane company removed to the Opera House, the prietors the necessity of an Immediate coinpro- boxes were raised to six shillings, and the pit to misc. Mr. Kemble requested admission to the three shiUings and sixpence," meeting, and striduig in, hke Coriolanus into Lookmg calmlv back, there cau be no doubt the house of Anfidins, the following resolutions that Kemble, alt'hough stiff-necked, arrogant, were amicably agreed upon: "That the boxes and imprudent in his way of treating the should continue at seven shillings; that the pit rioters, was in the main right. If the pubhc should be lowered to the old price, three shil objected to the new prices, they had thei lings aud sixpence; that the tier of private remedy in their owu hands; they could have boxes, in the front of the house, should be stopped away. According to tbe opinion laid thrown open and restnrcd to the public at the down by Lord Mansfield, the riot was a distinct end of the season ; and that all prosecutions on conspiracy, and should have been puuished as both sides should be stopped." such, Tbe night of the StraiiLl dinner they performed Cau we doubt that Kemble went home from nt Covcut Garden the Provoked Husband and the reconciliation dinner stUt, in his inner soul, Tom Thumb. At half-price, as usual, the 0. P.s Iiifiexible as Corlolauus, and muttering in his iiourcd in, with bugles, hells, aud rattans, and grand academic manner, and iu his asthmatic l)cgan their charivari as usual, till Mr. Kemble voice, those bitter words of Caius Mareius : appeared In his walkhig-dress, half-boots, great It is a purposed thing, and grows by plot. coat, round hat, and cane, just as he had come To curlj tlie will of the nobility ; from the tavern. After half au hour's endea Suffer it, and live with such as cannot rule, vours to obtain silence, he acquainted the house Nor ever will be ruled. with the treaty he had just signed. He retired amid incessant cries of "Dismiss Brandon!" " ]Vo private boxes." THE CATHEDRAL LIBRARY AT In vahi Mr. Munden, as the King, bowed COLOGNE, andscraped, made the most conciliatory grimaces, and talked confidentially to tbe nearest rows of IN the year 17 9 i, wlien the French revolu the pit. The rioters called out, " It Is from tionary army advanced to the Rhine, the valu your master we want an answer." At last some able hbrary attached to the Cologne Cathedral one llnug a paper on the stage, Munden took was conveyed for safety to Darmstadt. Amongst it up, read it, bowed, and retired. He re its treasures are oue hundred and ninety volumes, turned, leading in the abashed, humbled, and chiefiy in manuscript. A careful catalo^e v^ penitent Brandon, who tried to read an apology; them was made so far back as 1752, by Haii- but the storm grew to a whirlwind, and helm, a learned Jesuit, under the title of " An oranges and sticks were thrown at the over- Historical and Critical Catalogue of the Manu zealous box-keeper till he withdrew, disconsolate scripts of the Library of the Metropolitaa enough. It was in vain that Mr, Harris came Church of Cologne." forward, scratching his crop uneasily, and This valuable collection dates as far back as pleaded for his faithful servant. The howl still Charlemagne. It was commenced by HUde- was, "He must be dismissed. It's a sine qua bold, Arclibisho]) of Cologne, and Archchan- non." ceUor of that monarch, in the year 783. It waa Ou the following night, Kemble, as Penrud considerably increased by gifts from Pope Leo dock, surrendered, and poor Braudon retired the Third to the Emperor Charles, in 804, from office. He also apologised for the intro The Archbishops Heribertus, Evergerus, duction of the fighting men. He was sorry Haimo, and their successors, continued the col fur what had passed. It would be his first lection by the purchase of rare manuscripts and pride to prevent anything of the kind occurriug copies of ancient parchments. In the year 1568, agaui. Then broke forth a thunder-burst of Hittorp, in the preface of liis work " On Divine cheers, and the 0. P.s in the pit hoisted tlieir Ofiices," dedicated to Archbishop Salentin, final placard three times. It i;\as mscribed: aUudes more than once to this rare coUection. " We are satisfied." Wc might quote many other authorities to au The Rev. Mr. Geneste, an authority on these thenticate the manuscripts. Jacob PameHus, matters, thouglit the new prices were unbear In a work published at Cologne in 1571, en able. He says: "It must be allowed that titled "The Liturcy of the Latin Church" seven shillings is a very high price for an even- (who is quoted by Harzheim In his book, " The - lug's amusement. In the time of Cbarics the old Codcxcs of (Jologne"), distinctly gives then" Second the boxes were four shillings, and the date and origin. pit two shillings aud sixpence. This had pro The collection consists of eight parts, viz.: bably bei'u the price from the Restoration, On 1. Bibles; 2, The Fathers; 3. Ecclesiastical jiarticular occasions, the boxes were raised to Law; 4. Writers on Sacrifices, Sacraments, five ahilliugs, and the pit to three shillmgs.. It Offices of the Church, and Liturgies; 5. His docs not aj)pear that any other advance took tories; 6. Ascetics; 7. Seliolastics; 8. Philo place kn- about seventy years. At last the sophical, Rhetorical, aud Grammatical writers. raised prices gradually became the regular Some of these manuscripts are richly illumi prices. Thus the matter rested for about fifty nated, and some set with precious stones. The or sixty years. In l/t) 1-1792, when the Drury fii-st codex dates from the ninth ccutuiT, if not CbArlaa Dlckcus.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [February 9.1S67.] 157 earlier, which is indicated by the capital letters, WUl not the people, in a burst sublime. which are iu gold. The seventh codex con Break through these chains? Can no release be tains the GaUic, Roman, Hebrew, and Greek wrought Psalmody, as edited by St. Jeronimus—"a most Till they are rusted by corroding time? rare and valuable codex," Forbid it, Heaven! 1 cannot bear the thought; Then do my songs burst forth in shame and ire. Tlie twelfth codex, in elegant foglio, adorned Like lightning's fire! with many iUuminations and annotations of the eighth century, comprises the four Gospels. Codex one hundred and forty-tliree deseiwes OX THE WALLABY. particular mention. As frontispiece, there is a portrait of Archbishop Evei^erus in his epis I FOUND myself one morning on a certain copal robes. It is ricnly Uluminated, and set diggings In New South Wales, with five vrith jewels. pouuds in my pocket, and no horse. My mind The above quotations, which we have trans was soou made up, loafins not being in my lated from tbe Latin, In which language the creed. I bought a pair of blankets, a blue serge catalogue is written, wiU suffice to give such of shirt, moleskin trousers, and a biUycock hat, our readers as are bibhophiles some idea of a aud thus arrayed in the unaccustomed but or treasure which wUl shortly be restored to the thodox costume, I bade a long farewell to swell shelves of the hbrary attached to the Cologne dom, and started ou the Wallaby in search of Cathedral. auy kind of cm])loyment, which, as Mr. Micaw- We may mention another restoration which ber has It, might turn up. is on the eve of accomplishment. The cele Birds of a feather, &c. On my first night brated coUeetion of pictures, known as the out, I feU In with an unfortunate individual Diisseldorf coUection, wiU shortly be returned who, like myself, had "seen better days," and to Prussia, negotiations having already com we chummed. Yery useful poor Sam proved to menced for that purpose. The coUection, which mc, for he had had a previous experience of comprises some of the finest speclmeus of the " travelling." German and Dutch schools, is at present at As long as my remaining few slulUngs lasted, Munich. we did uot ask a squatter for food; but after walking about five hundred miles my stock came to an end, aud afterwards we were obliged to IVIY SONGS. cadge hke the rest. For thirteen weeks I prowled about the TRANSLATED FKOM PETiiFI. country, asking at every station for employment, Vu lost in thought, I cannot understand and during that time I was offered but one job, What's passing round me. On swift wings I fly, and that was to make bricks. This, in couse- Perplexed and restless, o'er the fatherland, quenee of a practical knowledge of the art of Through the wide world and the o'erhanging sky, brickmaking not having been considered neces And then strange dreary dreams inspire my lays, sary as a part of my education, I was most Lilte lunar rays I reluctantly forced to decline. And until eveu- tually, after walking over fourteen hundred Bat why should vain chimeras fill ray mind ? miles, I got a job " rolling fieeces," I had to A brighter future I'll anticipate; continue my vagrant existence. "Misfortune Why to hope's promises should I be blind ? makes us acquainted with strange bedfellows," God rules above us, and our God is great; and truly this proverb is fully exempUfied " on And then my songs up to Heaven's portals rise the Wallaby." I have met men from almost Gay butterflies! every quarter of the globe, and almost every grade m society supphes its representative— And when a lovely maid I chance to meet, litcraUy from the peer to the peasant. A noble 0 how I revel in her smiles of grace ! viscount, whom I have met "bullock-driving," O how I look into those eyes so sweet, was, upon his coming to the title, discovered, As looks a star upon the lake's calm face! after some difficulty, hut-keeping for two shep And then my song with rapturous fragrance glows herds, at a sheep station on the Bun-owa River, Like a wild rose! New South Wales. He is uow, I beheve, living on his estate in the old country. Lawyers And am I loved? I feel ajoy divine— and " old lags," doctors and " Pent on vi I les," 1 dwell enraptured on a thought like this ; B.A.s and agricultural labourers, counter- Come! fill my glass with rosy sparkling wine, jumpers, mechanics, and indeed "all sorts of And celebrate with me the mighty bliss 1 men," are to be seen " on the Wallabv." Worn- Then are my songs inspired by hope and love, out old men, who are only fit for the Benevolent Kainbows above I Asylum, and " cranky men" form by no means a smaU quota of the whole. There is an in credible number of the latter constantly going But while I hold the glass I look around, And see the manacles my country wears, the rounds; pitied and fed by the settlers, and Then, not the clinking glasses' music-sound, unmercifully chaffed by their "fellow-travehers." But the harsh clang of fetters shocks my ears. I have met these unfortunates in the depth of What is the song which then I sing aloud? winter, wet and miserable, with scarcely a rag A misty cloud! 15S [February 9,1867.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Oondaetea bj to cover them, and sometuncs carrying the most rations, and let them cook it themselves as they incongi-nons materials to represent a " swag." best can. The sleeping apartment is in almost One 1 saw, not loug since, with a piece of old every case the shcaring-shed, which is gener^v woolpack, iu which he had roUed some empty a Large rambling structure of slabs, througt bottles, and this comprised the whole of his winch the wind can blow in ah direction. bedding. When they have supped, the "apecimetiB" I am not aware thai the sad state of these retire to their dormitory, where they scramble men has attracted the attention of the authori for any old sheepskins they may be fortunate ties sufQcIeutly for inquiry to be made as to the enough to find, which they use as " hippers" cause of their mental aberration, but this I do to ward off the hardness of the boards from their know, that they are supposed to have been bones. The bhmkets are thrown over oneor "hocussed" at bush public-houses where they two of these, and the bed is made. Like the have spent their money, and the landlords of amateur casual, I canuot give you anything ap- which have resorted to this means of saving preaching to a description of tbe orgies uauaDy their grog, and getting possession of the cheque. held in these seances. Eyes polite would be Whether the landlords really commit this crime scathed were I to write a tithe of the blasphemy ; or uot I cannot say; at any rate, they have the and oaths which as a rule garnish the conversa- i credit of it, and I cau vouch for tbe fact that I tion. Ttie characters ct the squatters and have lately seen men with a "loose shingle," their private and domestic concerns, the «. who, a few mouths since, were in perfect pos pabilities of various shearers, the chances ftir session of their senses. It is a well-kuown fact, or against getting a job, aild the best feeding about which there is no sort of secrcsy, that a track, are the never-failing subjects of discussim. bushman wIU go to one of these houses, and Sometimes an old " toother sider " wIU tell tbe handing his cheque over the bar, request to be assembled crowd how he got lagged, the lan told when it is finished. For a cheque of three guage used being of course more forcible than or four pounds he may get two days' drinking, classic. Or another wiU favour the company and for anything under Ibuiy pounds about a with a song, freely interspersed with thefiowery week, and so on. 1 have heard of instances rhetoric usuaUy adopted by the Tasmanian iu which men with two or three years' earnings bard. Let the foUowmg serve as a sample of of upwards of one hundred pounds have been a chorus: brought in debt after three days. For they chained us toe the plough, my boys, These men are gencraUy safe from " hocuss- Hand they tied us 'and to 'and, iug," and it is those w^ho change their cheques Oh! thej- yoked us up like 'or-'orses and keep the money in their pockets, paying as To plough Van Diemen's Land. they go, who are generaUy supposed to be the The advisability of burning the fences of ob victims. However shocking tliese facts may noxious squatters is another favourite theme, appear, they'are nevertheless far from beiug aud this Is a punishment which, accordh^ to overdrawn. thefr own boasts, they would mete out to all It is this sad T)ractice of " knockmg down" settlers who would not feed them; for they con their money whicli causes the vagrancy—a cure ceive they have a perfect right to their night's for which the squatters seek in vain. accommodation, and bitterly blame the squatters Men who have no real hking for drink will, as the cause of their misfortunes, through their after they have been for mouths at work in the encouragement of immigration. Some of these bush, go down towards town, and as a rule the worthies make a profession of the " Wallaby," first " pubhc " puUs them up. They take two aud, except at very rare intervals, never take em or three nobblers, and it is aU up with them. ployment wheu oA'ered. Such as these make a They become, in fact, after a lengthened resi practice of " sllngmg the probe," which means dence iu the interior, " dipso-maniaes," and it is stealing bread and meat for the next day's much to be feared that the disease is more likely dinner, and which they secrete in handy pockets to increase than the reverse. whUe they are at supper. There are also a great To continue, however, my picture of the many meu who come out of the larger towns Wallaby tract. It Is the custom of a traveUer during the dull season to sponge upon the to make a homestead every evening at sundown, sheep-farmers, and it is not to be wondered at and, if possible, never to pass one during the that the squatters should grudge these loafers day. To effect this, if the stations are near the rations which they consume. together, he " colls " in the bush, out of sight 1 believe that aU settlers are willing to grant of the road, until it is time to go up, wheu the hospitaUty to the bona fide station-hantb, and following short colloquy takes place between they can tt-U at a glance the real from the coun him aud the squatter, or his overseer: "Do terfeit. The old lag, too, is-picked out at once you want any ands, sir?" "No!" "Caul by a ]-)ractised eve; the " model," or Penton- stop to-night, sir ?" " Yes." And this formula villc, is easily distinguished from hira again; is repeated nightly until he is fortunate enough and the free immigrant, or square-head, is equally to receive an affirmative answer to his first wcU spotted. question. Few squatters are called upon to feed less The travellers usually get their meals in the than ten or a dozen of these gentry, on an hut occupied by the working hands on the average, every night, the numbers sometimes station, though some few squatters SCITC out swellmg to twenty or thirty. The Messrs, Wil* Cb&rles Dick«Qs.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Fehmary 9, 18C7.] 159 SOU Brothers, whose stations are situated on between the two, however, would be, it is evi the Wimmera River, are the gentlemen most dent, next to impossible ; so that, in order that liberaUy patronised, and, incredible as it may the industrious may not sufier, all must be fed. seem, the average number of travellers accom The arrangements at the bush pubUc-houses modated at each homestead every night durhig may be pointed to as the leading cause of the the off season is jiearer sixty than fifty, and as labouring classes being so improvident. In many as ninety-tico have been counted on a ahnost every case, the taproom Is the only apart single night at Longernong, the station of Mr. ment set aside for their accommodation. No Jomi Wilson. comfort of any description is provided for them; There is no doubt that in mauy cases these their meals, of the coarsest, are generally served recipients of charity coidd, with common care, to tbem in the kit clien ; and any hole is supposed always be in a position to purchase food while to be good enough for them to sleep in, the out of employment. A good bushman can earn room set apart fur a dormitory being su])(dled at piece-work from two pouuds to three pounds with a few stretchers and blankets, and going per week, clear of rations; and although the by the name of " the lushington's crib," or work is not continuous, he can save enough for " the dead-house." his purpose. Some do so and maiTy, pni-chase Every inducement is held out to them to a few acres of ground, and start as " cockatoos," drink; none whatever to keep sober and re or carriers. Fanuing on a small scale, however, spectable. Few resist the temptation; and does uot appear to be very profitable, for many when once they reach the proper stage of bi- of the farmers are to be seen " ou the WaUaby" toxlcation, as long as the money lasts they arc looking for shearing at the proper time of year. kept drunk. The station hands, men who are employed by So much is this habit of "knocking down" the week to do what is called " knock-about the hard-earned cheque the rule and uot the work," usuaUy receive fifteen shiUings a week exception, that I once heard a wealthy sf|natter, and their board. Out of this a man can save himseU a justice of the peace, say that It was a but very Uttle, buying as he does his clothes, pity there was no pubhe-house in the neighbour tobacco, &c., from the hawkers w^ho traverse hood, and that oue must be started as soon as the country, and who charge somewhere about possible to keep tbe labour hi the (hstrict. cent per cent on town prices. The goods which they usuaUy carry are so inferior that the un This was in a newly occupied part of the in fortunate labourer in reaUty pays two huudred terior, where men were scarce aud wages high, per cent, as they so constantly require re the nearest inu being about throe hundred miles newing. distant. To sum the matter up, there are hundreds of From whatever cause, however, tlie impecu men " on tbe Wallaby" during several months nious state of the traveUer may arise, whether of the year for wliom there is no employment, from improvidence or from misfortmie, the facts and they are whoUy dependent upon the remain the. same. There is a large number of "grazier" for food and shelter. men constantly "on the WaUaby," and food and The practice is as unpleasant to the " travel shelter they must have; whether the squatter ler" as it is unprofitable for the " squatter." is morally obliged to supply the w«nt is a ques Can any oue suggest a remedy ? tion which I wiU not enter iuto. He does it; but, I am bound to admit, he does it uuder pro test. Meetings have been held, at which the ROMANCE OF THE DIAMOND subject has been freely discussed; and proposals NECKLACE. have been made to discontinue the practice alto gether, or to charge so much for the night's CUAPXER I. aocommodatioD. THE story of the Diamond Necklace, or the Few squatters are willing to adopt the former "Affaire du Collier," as it is termed in tbe course, and tiie latter would, in most cases, be jurisprudence of the time, has been told scores unable to enforce their demands, for not oue in of times by historians, biographers, meuiolr- ten could produce the money. Some few settlers wiiters, novehsts, dramatists, and essayists, in expect the "caUers" to chop a certahi quantity almost every European language. We propose of wood, others to cut chaff; but these are ex to bring forward some new passages i\\ this pedients adopted more for the purpose of seeing singular history, aud to interweave them with the men, in order to guard against thefr comhig the facts already known. too often, than for auything else. About a century ago, the Marchioness de A few, of tJiese extra hands are at times BonlainvUlIers, a beauty of the court of Louis absorbed in government contracts, but the num ihe Fli'teentb, aud who married the gi-andson of ber majces uo sensible diminution in the inflic Simon Bernard, tbe famous Hebrew banker, tion. was driving one afternoou over to Passy, when Now, there is uot a doubt that there are a ragged httle girl, with a younger giri many loafers among tliese travelling bands who strapped Uke a buudle of rags to her back, and will not work; but there are also many deserv with a ragged Uttle urchin trotting by her side, ing men who are willhig and anxious to work, ran after the carriage, and appealed for charity and the squatters do not object to provide food in this strange language : aud shelter for the ktter class. To draw a line " Kind lady, pray take pity on three poor ,(iC- 160 [February 9,1867.] ALL THE YEAE KOUND. [Conducted b;
orphans descended from Henry the Second- of debt, and remove into Lun^vllle, where De la Valois, King of France." Motte's regiment is quartered. The countess The marchioness stopped the carriage, ques has numbers of admirers, including the Marquis tioned tlic chUd, made Inquiries, and finding that d'Autlchamp, commandant of the corps. Hear the children were really of royal descent—through ing that the Marchioness de Boulainvilliers is an illegitimate channel—caused tlicra to be pre at Strasburg, slie sets off in search for her, and sented to the king, who conferred on them three at last meets with her at Saverne, at the palace trifling pensions of thirty-1wo pounds, and gave of Prince Cardinal de Rohan, Grand Almoner of the boy a commission in the navy. Jeanne, the France, to whom she is introduced by the mar- eldest, aud her sister, with the approval of the chioness as a dcseiwlng object for his eminence's marchioness, entered a convent near Paris. aud tlie nation's bounty. Convents in those days were merely boarding- Difficulties increase. They return to Bar- schools, with little restraint upon the boarders. sur-Aube. The countess persuades the elder Nevertheless, this restraint was too much for the Beugnot to lend her one thousand francs, that Mademoiselles de St. Remi, wlio absconded one she may try her fortune in Paris to endeavour fine morning with some thirty francs in pocket, to procure the restitution of the St. Remi and took their passage on board one of the river domains. She divides the one thousand francs barges to Bar-sur-Aube, a small town about one with her husband, who goes over to Foulett«, huudred aud forty miles from Paris, near the the ancestral seat of the St. Remis, proclaims village where they were born, aud where their his alliance with a daughter of the house, has a ancestors once possessed considerable estates. Te Deum chanted in tbe church, scatters his The family of St. Remi had gradually fallen five-frauc pieces about as long as they last to off from Its position as an ofi'shoot of the tbe gaping crowd, aud is hailed as their lord blood royal, until it had finally sunk to the level and lord of Foulette. When his five hundred of the peasant class. Jeanne- de Sr. Remi, the francs are exhausted, he seeks an asylum in the heroine of this story, entertained high notions house of his married sister. of her lofty descent, and determined to recover Tlie countess is not idle in Paris; she memo- the family estates. Her father, Jacques de St. rialises ministers and petitions the king to Remi, had married the daughter of his con restore her the estates of her ancestors, and to cierge, and had gradually fallen into poverty. grant her some immediate pecuniary relief for The two girls, on reaching Bar-sur-Aube, took her pressing necessities. About this time the up their abode at La Tete Rouge, the smallest Marchioness de Boulainvilliers falls seriously inu in the [ilace, their scanty funds being nearly ill, aud Madame de la Motte tends her untd exhausted. They gave out that they were of she dies, wheu the old marquis makes overtures royal blood, aud the rightful owners of several Im to her, whicb she rejects with disdain. We portant estates in the neighbourhood, which they nest find her with her husband In a miserable Lad come to reclaim. Curiosity was excited. apartment on the fifth floor of a dingy hotel A benevolent old lady took them to her house mcuble in tbe back-slums of Paris. A squabble to stay with her. Jeanne, though not strikingly about payment leads to their ejection, aud they handsome, was far from plain. She had a secure an apartment in the Rue Neuve St. complexion of dazzling whiteness, beautiful Gilles, which they succeed in getting furnished blue eyes full of expression, fine teeth, and was ou the security of a Jew. To save themselTes soon flirting with all the young fellows iu the from starvation, the countess sells her own and neighbourhood. Two suitors stood out in her brother's pension outright to a money-lender advance of the rest—oue, the nephew of the named Grenier for the sum of nine thousand lady with whom the Mademoiselles de St. Remi francs. She sends a memorial to Cardinal de Valois were staying, a tall and somewhat de Rohan, the grand almoner, who consents ungainly gendarme; the other, the son of a to accord her an audience, and she finds out landed proprietor, named Beugnot. The father her old flame, young Beuguot, now a rising of the latter, not liking tbe prospect of having advocate, keeping his carriage and livery ser Jeanne de St. Remi for a daughter-in-law, packed vant. She asks him to escort her to the his son off to Paris to study law, poUtics, and Palace of the Cardinal. "I want of yoa three human nature: which he did to such good pur things," says she; "your carriage, your ser pose as to become, in after years, Mniister of vant to foUow me, and, lastly, yourself to Pohce and Postmaster-General under Louis the accompany me; all of which are indispensable, Eighteenth, by whom he was created count. since there are only two good ways of asking It is from the Interesting memoirs which he alms—at the church door, and iu a carriage. lelt behind him in MS. that many of the new Beugnot granted ber two lirst requests, bul re passages in the Necklace romance are derived. solutely refused the third; and, unattended save De la Motte—the tall young gendarme— by a servant in livery, to the Palace of the Cardi carries off the prize. To provide herself with a nal she went, decke'd ont in her finest feathers, suitable trousseau, Jeanne de St. Remi pledges redolent with perfumes, and intent upon making Iier pension for the next two years, whilst young an impression. She succeeded, and became a re Dc la Motte sells his horse and cabriolet to gular recipient of De Rohan's bounty. defray the wedding expenses. After the mar She wheedles his secrets out of him, and learns riage, they assume the title of count and that Ills life is rendered miserable by a burning countess. Without resoui-ces, they get into yet hopeless ])assion for the queen. Here is a Charles DIcketu.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [February 9,1867.] 161
trumn card to play. After a sufficient in- assuring Monsieur the Baron de Breteuil, minis terval, and after duly preparing her dupe for ter of the king's househohl, that she had the intelligence, she tells him that the queen yesterday only a single franc left, and may con has deigned to peruse one of her memorials, has sequently well hope to improve ber fortune. It bestowed her bounty upon her, has promised to is not my intention," she continues, " to offer a interest herself to procure the restitution of the menace to any one in declaring that I shall end St. Remi estates, has received her privately at by throwing myself at the feet of the kiug, and Versailles and Litlle Trianon,and, having heard acquainting him with all my misfortunes. . . . from herself of the cardinal's goodness towards God has not yet determined my fate; and If her, has spoken to her respecting him, though In Providence docs not show pity on me, people terms of suppressed indignation. Through the will have to reproach themselves at seeing me countess's pretended mediation, the cardinal's come to a most miserable end. I am not complete forgiveness is procured, aud he Is en ashamed to tell you, sir, that I am going out trapped into a supposed correspondence with his sovereign. A lazy ne'er-do-well companion Into the world to beg People may do of the count, and^ ^Ike him, lale of the gendar as they please wit h me; nevert heless, I say it is merie, who is hanging about Versailles to see frightful to abandon a relation of a king, whom what Providence in its goodness will be pleased he has himself recognised, aud who is in a most to send him—a somewhat skilful fellow with lamentable position I am no longer his pen—is employed by Madame de la Motte surprised that so many people are driven into to write "billets-doux" to the cardinal in crime; and I can say, moreover, that it Is the queen's name. His "cabinet du travail" religion alone which keeps me from doing was the countess's bedchamber, and he worked wrong." The best commentary on the fore by a little table at the bedside, on which was a going, is the fact that at the time It was written writing-desk with astockof note-paper, bordered the Countess de la Motte kept a pair-horse with blue vignettes such as Marie Antoinette carriage. was known to be in the habit of using. Retaux While these begging letters are being penned, de Villette—for that was our ex-gendarme's "billets-doux," each more impassioned than the name—after a time, resided regularly under the last, are passing between the cardinal and a De la Motte roof; for Jeanne de St. Remi, phantom queen. At length the grand almoner Countess de la Motte de Valois, having now pleads hard for an interview, at which, pros considerable traffic In forgery, found it necessary trated at his sovereign's feet, he may pour out to keep a forger on the premises, much as other his gratitude and lovc; eventually this Is pro people find it necessary to keep a secretary or mised him; but it must be a secret interview, at a clerk. midnight, in tbe bosky recesses of the gardens of Versailles. Count de la Muttc picks up a All the while the countess and Villette are Palais Royal courtesan bearing a striking re concocting letters that inflame and cool the semblance to Marie Antoinette, and, with bis passion of the grand almoner by turns, an deliberate way of doing things, occupies a idea is germinating in this woman's brain whole fortnight in bringing about the introduc which she is only waiting au opportuuity to tion of this woman to his wife. Far different convert into an accomplished fact. The crown is it with the countess; she arranges everything jewellers have a gorgeous Diamond Necklace at a single interview, then carefully instructs ordered by Louis the Fifteenth for the no her protegee in the part she is to play, tricks her torious Countess Dubarry, but which the un out in au appropriate disguise, conducts her expected death of the " well-beloved" has left on to the place of rendezvous, and retires a few their bauds. Marie Antoinette will not accept paces off to watch the scene. The cardinal it, though it has been twice offered to her by the approaches, kneels at the feet of the counterfeit king; and, tbough it lias been exhibited at every queen, excuses his past faults, promises future court in Europe, and has become an object of amendment, and gives passionate expression to envy among queens and women, a purchaser for his present gratitude and his undying love. it cannot be found. Madame de la Motte has He receives from the object of his adoration a heard aU about it, has seen it flash forth its few words of encouragement aud the present myriad rainbow-coloured rays in the atelier of a rose; when Madame de la Motte, fearful, If of the crown jewellers at the sign of the the couversation be'prolonged, that the trick Grand Balcon in the Rue Vendome, has will be discovered, rushes forward and an heard its value estimated at one million eight nounces that tbe queen's sisters-in-law, the hundred thousand francs, and has set her mind Countesses of Provence and Artois,are approach on becoming possessor of it. ing, and so brings the interview to a sudden close. Daring and rapid as the countess was through life, she bides her time, sends out For the next few days the cardinal is in the fresh begging letters aud petitions to every seventh heaven. Madame de la Motte perceives one she fancies she can move by her appeals, in it, and determlues to profit by it, and forthwith the hope of replenishing her empty exchequer. causes a letter to be written to him In the queen's She meets with a certain amount of suc name, asking for a temporary loan of fifty thou cess. In au autograph letter of hers now sand francs for charltaole purposes. The fifty before us, and which has never been made thousand francs are instantly sent to Madame de public, we find her "having the honour of la Motte, and witli these she and her husband pro- 162 [FobraaiT 9,1867.] ALL THE YEAR EGUND. [Conducted by cced to make a grand display in the Rue Neuve tive tone, * Hold your tongue! M. Beugnot is St. Gilles. The " lady," who played the part of too upright a man for your confidence.' I give queen in the travestie got up for the Prince dc her words without changing a syUable. The Rohan's benefit, had been promised fifteen thou compliment would have been a flattering one if sand francs (six hundred pounds)—handsome the countess had not been ordinarily m the enough terms for one night's performance in a Imbit of using the words 'upright man' and single scene, had they been adhered to. She ' fool' as though they were synonymous, received, however, no more than four thousand "When the supper had come to an end, I francs. asked Madame de la Motte to lend me her The evening foUowing that on which the car- horses to take me home. She raised only a dhaal was so cleverly duped, young Beugnot, who slight difficulty; it was necessary that she was strolling idly about the " quartier" of the should send home the 'unknown,' and eveutu- Marals, near to where Madame de la Motte re aUy decided that the one Uving the furthest off sided, looked iu at the Rue Neuve St, Gilles, on should put down the other on the way. I ob the chance of finding her at home. He was jected to this arrangement, and asked permis told that all the family wore out, with the excep sion of the lady to conduct her to whatever tion of Mademoiselle Colson, a lively spinster, quarter she lived in; expressing my regret that, and madame's "damede compagnle:" a womau however distant this might be, it would still be wanting neither in wit nor malice, and who pro too near. This woman's countenance had, at ceeded to iufoi-m Beugnot that "their royal the first glance, caused me that kind of uneasi highnesses the count and countess were just ness which one feels when one is conscious of then occupied with some grand project. ' They having seen a person before, but caunot re pass thefr time,' said she, 'in secret councUs, collect when or where. I addressed aevenfl. to which the first secretary, Villette, is alone questions to her on our way, but was unable to admitted. His reverence the second secretary draw anything out of her; either Madame (a certain Father Loth, who was madame's de la Motte, who had spoken to her in private spiritual confessor and mau-of-all-work) is before she left, had recommended her to be dis consequently reduced to listening at the door. creet with me; or, what seemed more probable, He makes three journeys a day to the Palais she had naturally more inclination for holdmg Cardinal without guessing a single word of the her tongue than for talking, I set down my treacherous messages they confide to him. Tbe silent companion in the Rue de Cl^ry. Tne monk is inconsolable at this, since he is as cu uneasiness I felt in her presence was, I rious as au old devotee.' Two hours were thus afterwards called to mind, due to her striking passed," says Beugnot, " in thus slandering our resemblance to the queen. The lady proved to neliihbours, and in making guesses and pro be no other thau Mademoiselle d'Ohva, and the phesying, until at last we heard the sound of a mirth of my companions was occasioned by the caiTiage entering the court, and saw descend complete success of the knavish trick they had from it M. aud Madame de la Motte, Villette, played off, only the night before, in tbe park of aud a womau of about twenty-five years of age : VersaUles upon the Cardinal de Rohan." a blonde, very pretty, and a remarkably fine figure. The two women were dressed with CHAPTEH II. elegance, but with shuplicity; the men wore TIIE sudden possession of a large sum of dress-coats, and had the air of having just money produced in Madame de la Motto a returned from some country party. They strong desire to display herself at Bar-snr-, talked plenty of nonsense together, laughed, Aulje. A couple of years before, the De la hummed, and seemed as if they could not Mottea had left the place with borrowed money; keep their legs still. The 'unknown' shared now they returned m their own carriage, with the common mirth, but restrained herself within steward, couriers, and saddle-horses, and ac due bounds, and displayed a certain timidity. tually required a waggon to convey their ward They took their seats at table, the merrimeut robe. The count and countess spent several continued, it increased, and finally became weeks at Bar-sur-Aube, gave grand dinner and noisy. MademoiseUe Colson and I wore dull supper parties, and discharged aU then: debts— aud astonished looks, such as one is forced to with the cardinal's money. M. de la Tour, who put on In tbe presence of very gay people when had married De la Motte's sister, at^once saw one is ignorant of what they are laughing at. that there was something wrong, and the coun Meanwhile, the party indulging ui this excess tess quailed beneath hia cutting sarcasms. of hilarity seemed inconvenieuced by our pre " 1 chanced to be alone," says Beugnot, sence, as it prevented them from speaking "with M. dc la Tour ou the day of Madame de openly of the subject of their mirth. M. de la la Motte's arrival. 'Am I not right a thou Motte consulted Villette as to whether there sand times,' said he to me, * when I assert that would be any risk hi speaking ? Villette re Paris contauis some of tbe verr worst people plied that he 'did not admit the truth of the in the world ? In what other place, I ask von, adage that one is betrayed only by one's own would this little vixen and her big lanky nus people—in fact,' said he,' anybody and every band have been able to obtain by swindling, the body were ready to betray you, and discre things which they are now displaying before our tion ' Here Madame de la Motte, by whose astonished eyes? Your good father excepted* side the first secretary was sitting, suddenly put —Beugnot's father, it will be remembered, had her hand on his mouth, and said, in an impera lent the De la Mottes a thousand francs a few Ohaxlea DlckenB.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Febnmry 9, 18G7.] 163 yjears previously—'whom would they have found enigma was not exactly what he had hoped for: m this place wiUiiig to lend them a crown ? And still, bis vanity was gratified when he learned yet iu half an hour they have unpacked more thai the queeu had a secret desure to possess silver plate tlian is to be found In the whole the world-renowucd Diamond Necklace, and town besides, not even excepting the chalices had selected him to arrange with the crown and ornaments of the altar.' . . . ' Do you not jcweUcrs the terms of purchase. To the Grand know,' remarked I, ' that Madame de la Motte Balcon he hies, and opens negotlatloiis with is protected by the queen?' ' I'U say nothing Bohiner and Bassenge, which cud In the Neck as to the queen's protection,' replied La Tour; lace bemg purchased in the queen's name for ' but, between you and me, the wife of our lord the sum of one million six hundred thousand the king ia not the most prudent person in the francs, payable in lour instalments of equal world; stUl she is not such a fool as to have amount at intervals of sis months' date. A anything to do with people of thefr stamp, I written contract is drawn up by the cardlual warrant.'" and sent to Madame dc la Motte for her to ob tain the queen's signature to it. After some The countess aud her husband, the steward litlle delay. It is returned appronve, and signed and the four taU footmen, the led horses and " ilarie Antoinette of France." Singularly the traveUing-van, and the outriders and the enough, the charlatan. Count CagUostro, who elegant berline, returned to Paris at the close possessed enormous infiuence over the cardhial, of the autumn of 1784, when the De la Mottes having cheated him iuto the beUef that lie could proceeded—after aU thefr desperate struggles not only make gold, but diamonds too, and towards this end—to enter at last into the who was regarded by the cardlmd as some demi coveted gmeties of the rank and fashion of the god, arrived in Pans just at the moment the most bruliant capital in Europe. Suddenly tinal arrangements were being made with the grown rich in the queen's name, after having crown jeweUers. Whether or not he was sum estabUshed a very general beUef iu her pre moned thither by the cai'dinal hiniseU', is tended inthnacy with royalty, the countess's unknown, but the vicar-general of the latter extravagance became consequently one of the says that he was consulted prior to the negotia chief elements in her system of deceit. tions being concluded. "This Python," ob MeanwhUe, fresh funds have to be procured serves he, "mounted his tripod. The Egyptiau to keep up her now expensive establishment, mvocatlons were made at night in the_ saloon of for by this time every sou of the cardinal's the Palais Cardmal, which was iUmninated for fifty thousand francs was spent. She therefore the occasion b/ au immense nmnber of wax- causes another letter to be written to the car- candles. The oracle, under the hispiratiou of (Knal in the queen's name, asking for a further its familiar demon, pronounced the negotiation loan for charitable purposes—this time of the to be worthy of the prince, that it would be amount of one hundrea thousand francs. The crowned with success, that it would raise the infatuated old mau again sends the sum asked goodness of the queen to its height, and bruig for, to the countess, who, now that her mhid is to light that happy day which would unfold the at rest as to pecuniary matters, prepares to put rare talents of tlie cardinal (who was ambi her design with reference to the femons Dia tions of the post of prune minister) for the mond Necklace in executiou. benefit of France and of the human race." It is winter. The Cardinal de Rohan is mopmg in. his grand palace at Saverne. He has named The Necklace is deUvered by the iewellei-s a walk in the episcopal pleasure-grounds, which early on the mommg of the lat of I'ebruary, used to be called " The Road of Happiness," 17S5. Ou the same day the cardinal receives a " The Promenade de la Rose," in honour of the letter commaudmg him to bring the jewel to gracious gift of counterfeit royalty at the mid I VersidUes that very evening, and to wait at night meeting in the Gardens of Versailles, and I Madame de la Motte's lodgings there, untU the up and down this walk he daUy paces, dream '' queen signifies that s\}\ is prepared to receive ing wUd dreams of love aud ambition, and hhn. Thither tlie cardinal goes, disguised hi a nervously awaiting the arri\;al of a courier from long great-coat and slouced bat, bearer of the Paris to summon him to another interview with casket containing the matchless gem. The his soverei^iu. At length the wished-for mes countess is on the watch for him, and hardly has senger arrives, the bearer of a biUet-doux, he entered her apartment when there comes a boSered with blue vi^ettes, which informs the knock at the door, aud the cardinal has barely cardinal that " the wished-for moment has not time to conceal himself in an alcove, when a mcs yet arrived, but I desfre to hasten your return seuger, in the queen's livery, enters, and hands on account of a secret negotiation which inte a note to Madame de la Motte. The countess rests me personaUy, and which 1 am unwilling signals the man to retire, then reads the note, to confide to any oue\ but yourself. The and hands it to tlie cardmal. This note com Countess de la Motte wiU exolaiii the meaning mands the cardinal to dcUver the casket to the of this enigma." After reading this note the bearer, and to wait where he is, as the queen cardmal longed for wings, but was obliged to does not desjiau- of seeing him, later in the put up with ordinary post-horses, and, wrapped eveuing. up m furs, for it was a hard frost, was soon roll ing over tbe hundred and fifty miles of road, Credulous Cardinal Prmce Louis de Rohan shppery aa glass, that uitervened between does as he is bid, deUvers up the Necklace, and Saverne and the capital. The solutlou of the waits—-ttraits, but to no iinrpose. The countess comforts hhn as best she cau: "the king Is N
164 [February O, 1867.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND, [Condacted by doubtless with her majesty, who has a difficulty (tho same who engaged Jacques Laffitte, from in getting rid of hira." Rid of him, it seems, seeing him pick up and carefuUy preserve a she camiot get. The cardinal, with his high- common pin), and is engaged in disposing of a soaring hopes dashed to the ground, has to re further quantity of diamonds to a goldsmith turn io his hotel at VersaiUes, there fo meditate and jeweller named. Regnler, of whom the on the fickleness of fortune. countess bad been ui the habit of purchasmg Success is achieved at last. The great fraud both jewellery and plate; so that altogether the is consummated. The crown jewellers, de count and countess receive in money and value lighted at having got rid of this matchless somethiug like fourteen thousand pounds for article, which had been a source of anxiety to three huudred out of the five hnndred and them for years, give a ^rand dinner to the coun forty-OHC stones of which the Necklace was tess, and ofl'er ber a handsome commission on composed. There is joy for a time m the Rue llie sale. She politely declines it. What does Neuve St. Gilles, where grand dinuer-pMl:ie8 she want with a commission ? She has got the arc given, at which people of some condition Necklace itself. are present, such as the Marquis de Saisseval, very wealthy, and pushing his way at court; CHAPTER III. the Count d'Estaing, one of the heroes of iho TiiE Countess de la Motte had succeeded American war, and who, ui subsequent years, In obtaining the Necklace, but how was she to commanded the National Guards of Versailles turn it into cash? Every workman in France when the chateau was stormed by the mob; the knew this famed piece of bijouterie. The only Baron LUlerov, an officer of the King's body ]dan was to remove the diamonds from thefr guard ; the Afcbe de Cabres, a counciUor in the settings and to dispose of them piecemeal. Paris parliament; the receiver-general, Dorey; Iu this she partly succeeds. Having already and Rouelle d'OrfenU, intendant of Champagne. spent the whole of the hundred thousand fraucs Besides her grand dinner-parties, the countess received from the cardinal a few months pre gives once or t\vice a week little suppers to viously, she contrives, by means of some of her her more intimate friends, such as Beugnot, Bar-sur-Aubc connexions, to sell a few of the CagUostro, and others. It was at one of these diamonds to a Paris jeweller, and with the that Beugnot and CagUostro were first intro proceeds packs her husband off to England to duced to each other, after the former had been dispose of the remainder. warned by the counters that she would be Arrived iu London, the count caUs upon two obliged to disarm the inquietude of CagUostro; of the best-known jewellers of the period— who invariably refused to sit down to table if Jeffreys, of PiccadlUy, and Gray, of New Bond- he thought any one had been speciaUy mvited street. Gray buys one hundred and eighty- to meet him. She begged Beu^ot to ask him three of the five hundred and forty-one stones of uo qiiestions, not to Interrupt him when he was which the Necklace was composed, or about onc- spejiking, and to answer with readmess any m- ihird of the entire number. For these the quiries he miglit address to hira. "I sub count receives In cash and value, ten thousand scribed," remarks Beugnot, "tothese conditions, three hundred and seventy-one pounds six shil and would have accepted even harder ones to hngs. Six thousand aud nuicty pounds of this gratify my curiosity. sum is paid in cash, and the remainder hi articles "At half past ten o'clock the folding-doors of jewellery aud sundry knick-knacks, including were thrown open, aud the Count de CagUostro upwards of two thousand pounds' worth of was aimouncea. Madame de la Motte precipi pearls, rnth which to embroider a coverlid for tately quitted her arm-chair, rushed up to hiin, the countess's bed; a pair of diamond earrings, and drew him into a corner of the salon, valued at six hnndred pounds; a diamond star, where, I presume, she begged of him to pardon valued at four hundred pounds; a medallion set my presence. CagUostro advanced towards me, with diamonds, two huuthed and thirty pounds ; and bowed without appearing at all embarrassed a pearl necklace, two hundred pounds; besides at perceiving a stranger. He was of medium a diamond suuff-box, several diamond rings, aud height, rather stout: had a very short neck, and a tUamond aigrcltc with which to loop up the a ronud face ornamented with two large eyes couut's three-cornered bat; a handsome steel sunken in his head, and a broad turn-up nose. sword, one hundred pounds; and numerous other His complexion was of au olive tinge; ,his articles of jeweUery. He directs Gray to mount coUVure \ias new In France, his hair being him sixty-one additional stones: some, as drop divided Into several little tresses, wliich, united pairings, and others as a necklace, for the coun at the back of the head, were tied up in the tess. While all this bargaining is going on, the form known as the club. He wore a French count finds time to run dowu to Newmarket, coat of iron grey embroidered with gold lace, where he backs certain horses, and wins a and carried his sword stuck in the skirts, a thousand pounds. On his return fo Lond JT' IGS ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [February 9,1867.] ranee of the sentences passed upon them (save executed, she was thrown half dead into a and except the sentence of death) untU the fiacre, and driven at full gaUop to the Sal- same were on the eve of being put into petriere, the prison where abandoned women execution. Consequently, Madame de la were confined, and where at this dajy visitors Motte did not know the nature of the sen lo the female paupers uow housed tliere have tence pronounced against her untU early one Madame de la Motte's apartments pointed out morning some three weeks afterwards, when to them. One of the doors of the vehiclp'having she was prev^ed upon by a ruse to leave her fiown open on the road, the officers in charge ceU, and, bemg conducted to the registry of of the countess were only just iu time to save the Palais de Justice, was there forced to her from springing out and throwmg herself kneel whUe her sentence was read over, she under the wheels. When she arrived at tke struggling and screaming with aU her might. SalpStriere, she made a further attempt to de " Overpowered bv superior strength, my resist stroy herself by forcing the coverlid of her ance," she records, " became more feeble, and miserable tmckle-bed into her mouth. I was dragged to the place where the sacrifice After undergoing upwards of a year's confine- was to be completed. Weary and faint, ex meut in the sSpetriere, the countess succeeded hausted by my cries and the ineffectual struggles —it is believed with tbe connivance of the I had afready made, entreatmg those around me autliorities—in effecting her escape, and made to avenge the innocent, and the blood of their her way in different disguises through France good King Henry the Second, I at length lost all to Luxembourg, takmg Bar-sur-Aube by the sense of reason; I could see nothing, could feel way. She did not, however, dare to enter the nothing, which could serve to show me what town, but lay concealed at night iu the stone they intended to do." "Madame de la Motte," quarries in the neighbourhood, where one or two writes at this time the Hon. Wm. Eden to Mr. of her old friends came to visit her, and gave Pitt, "was caUed up at five, and informed that her money to assist her on her way. Eventualhf the court wished to see her. She went in an she proceeded to Ostend and crossed to Eng undress, without stays, which proved conve land, where she rejoined her husband, and where nient. Upon the registrar reading the sen the pair Uved for several years on the proceeds tence, her surprise, rage, and shrieks, were be of certain lying memoirs, confessedly written by yond description. The executioner and his as the countess to extort money from the French sistants inst'jitly seized her and carried her Into court. She succeeded in her object, sold the an outer ccort, where she was fastened to a cart manuscript for large sums, and then published with a halter round her neck. The executioner the memofrs from duplicates she had retained. talked to her Uke a tooth-drawer, and assured She was always in debt and difficulties, her most politely that It would soou be over. eventually had her furniture swept away by an The whipphig was sUght aud pro forma, but execution, and whUe her husband was abroad- the branding was done with some severity." trying to extort m6re money from fhe French Louis Blanc, in his History of the French Re government—was arrested on a capias, and, in volution, quoting from contemporary memoir- seekmg to escape from the bailiffs, dropped out writers, the Baron de Besenval and the Abbe ofa two-pair stairs window and severely maimed Georgel, says: " Tied with cords and dragged herself. But her captors refused to surrender into the court of the Palais de Justice, she up her bleeding, mangled, and almost lifeless, commenced to utter cries, not of terror but of body untU they had security for the debt. The fury. Addressing herself to the people, she ex wretched woman lingered for a few weeks, claimed, ' If they treat thus the blood of the tended by strangers, her husband characteris Valois, what is reserved for the blood of the tically preferring the excitement aud gaieties Bourbons I' And in the midst of the groans of the French capital to a dying wife's "bedside, which indignation drew from the crowd, these untU death came to her relief, and she plotted characteristic words were heard : * It is my Ued, and was treacherous, uo more. own fault that I suffer this ignominy; I had only to say one word and I should have been SUtclied in a cover, price Fourpence, huug.' (She uot only said this word, but launched forth a succession of Impure and ca- MUGBY JUNCTION. lumniouscharges agamstthe queen, couclied,too, in the foulest language.) Ihey then placed a THE EXTRA NUIVIBER FOR CHRISTMAS, gag iu her mouth, and as she was struggling in the hands of the executioner, the red-hot iron MR. CHARLES DICKENS'S READINGS. which ought to have marked her on the shoulder MR. CnARLES DirKEKS -will r.->a(l at Bivih on SaHirday fhs tlth instflnt: nt Rt James's HriU. London, on Tuesday glanced off and scored her on the breast." iho 12tJi; ftt Birminpham on Wednesday tho IStli, and at Villette, iu that almost unknown work of his Mancheater on Saturday the 16th. to which we have afready alluded, asserts that people were posted in the court of the jialace Now ready, to make a great noise, so that none of the public who chanced to be present might hear THE SIXTEENTH VOLUME. what Madaine de la Motte said. The scutcucc Price C9. Cd., bound In cloth. The Right of Translating Articles from ALL TBE YEAE ROUKD is reserved by ihe Aiithors. Published nt the ODlcc, No ;i;, WcUiuBton Street Sip.iod. Prhitel by C. WH1I1.SC, lietufort liouae, Suand. >V