The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II by Various
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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.guten- berg.org/license Title: The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II Author: Various Release Date: December 13, 2006 [Ebook 20102] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE - VOLUME V - NO II*** [145] THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE Of Literature, Art, and Science. Vol. V. NEW-YORK, FEBRUARY 1, 1852. No. II. iv The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II THE LATE MARSHAL SOULT, DUKE OF DALMATIA. Contents MARSHAL SOULT, DUKE OF DALMATIA. 1 THE HOMES OF COWLEY AND FOX. 2 CHERTSEY AND ITS FAMOUS CHARACTERS. 3 TRAUGOTT BROMME ON THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, TEXAS AND THE COLONIES. 30 A VISIT TO THE FIRE WORSHIPPERS' TEMPLE AT BAKU. 42 A NEW PORTRAIT OF CICERO. 48 LORD MAHON'S HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 54 FAUST OF WITTENBERG AND FUST OF MENTZ. 79 SOME SMALL POEMS. 86 MR. JUSTICE STORY, WITH SOME REMINISCENT REFLECTIONS. 91 COLUMBUS AT THE GATES OF GENOA. 112 FEATHERTOP: A MORALIZED LEGEND. 116 SMILES AND TEARS. 126 FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND THE LATEST MIRA- CLES. 129 THE SONG QUEEN. 135 LOVE SONG. 136 AUTUMN LINES. 137 THE PUNISHMENT OF GINA MONTANI. 140 III. 151 IV............................. 156 V. ............................ 158 VI............................. 161 VII. 162 VISION OF CHARLES XI. 164 vi The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II DIVINATION, WITCHCRAFT, AND MESMERISM. 169 A CHAPTER OF EPITAPHS. 212 THE GOOD OLD TIMES IN PARIS. 225 THE LEGEND OF THE WEEPING CHAMBER. 233 THE BULL FIGHT OF MADRID. 242 THE LADY AND THE FLOWER. 256 AN OLD MAID'S FIRST LOVE. 263 MADEMOISELLE DE CAMARGO. 275 MY NOVEL: . 295 BOOK IX. - INITIAL CHAPTER. 295 CHAPTER II. 297 CHAPTER III. 303 CHAPTER IV. 315 CHAPTER V. 320 CHAPTER VI. 323 CHAPTER VII. 327 CHAPTER VIII. 331 REMINISCENCES OF PRINTERS, AUTHORS, AND BOOKSELLERS IN NEW-YORK. 337 Noctes Amicæ. 373 Authors and Books . 381 THE FINE ARTS . 411 Historical Review of the Month . 415 Scientific Discoveries and Proceedings of Learned Societies.425 Recent Deaths. 427 Ladies' Fashions for February. 449 [146] MARSHAL SOULT, DUKE OF DALMATIA. On the preceding page is a portrait, and under the head of Recent Deaths, in another part of this magazine, is a sketch of the history of NICHOLAS JEAN-DE-DIEU SOULT, the last of the great Mar- shals created by the Emperor Napoleon. He was unquestionably possessed of extraordinary abilities, fitting him for eminence in many and diverse capacities, but it cannot be said that he was of the first rank of illustrious generals, as the world has been led to suppose, chiefly by the masterly but partial delineations of his ca- reer in the Peninsula by General Napier. He had a genius for war which qualified him for every position in connection with it but that of leader in the field. The subtle and irreversible decisions of Napoleon followed his astonishingly quick apprehensions of facts, as suddenly as the thunderbolt follows lightning; but Soult, profoundly familiar with all the arts of war, and surpassing any of the great commanders with whom he was associated except only his chief, in the wisdom of his judgments, was yet so slow in his intellectual operations, so destitute of the enthusiasm, passion, and fire, which in high circumstance give an almost miraculous activity to the minds of the first order of men, that he could never have entitled himself to all the precedences he has received in history. Napoleon understood him, and in a few pregnant words addressed to O'Meara, gave that measure of his character which will be adopted as the final opinion of the world. "He is," said Napoleon, "an excellent minister at war, or major-general of an 2 The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II army, one who knows much better how to manage an army than to command in chief." The course of Soult as a citizen, a legislator, and a minister, was not one upon which his best biographers will linger with much satisfaction. The glory he had achieved as one of the lieu- tenants of Napoleon, in that turbulent and grand career which has no parallel for interest or importance in human history, was his only claim to distinction in politics. His master had an ambition as fair in its proportions as it was vast in its extent, and brought to every purpose the same forces of character and preternatural energy of intelligence; but Soult had no love for civil duties, but little capacity for them, and he accepted place as a gratification of vanity or a means of success in mercenary aims. We see in all his private and political life "the soilure of his revolutionary origin,"—proofs that he loved money and power far more than he loved honor, and himself far more than his country or mankind. The last of the imperial marshals, the last of that gigantic race who filled the world with a red glory like the gloom which will precede the judgment, closed his stormy life peacefully in the place where he was born, and thence was borne to the Invalides, to "sleep well" with his old companions." THE HOMES OF COWLEY AND FOX. We have in the last Art Journal another of the pleasant gossipping Pilgrimages to English Shrines, by Mrs. S. C. HALL, and the CHERTSEY AND ITS FAMOUS CHARACTERS. 3 following abridgement of it will please all who have perused the previous papers of the series. In Chertsey and its neighborhood are memorials of some of the noblest men of England. ABRAHAM COWLEY. 4 The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II CHERTSEY AND ITS FAMOUS CHARACTERS. The county of Surrey is rich to overflowing in memories, both of persons and events, and the little quaint and quiet town of Chertsey could tell of the gorgeous and gloomy past as much as many of its ancient neighbors within a day's drive of the city. Had its old abbey stones but tongues, how they could discourse of years when a visit to Chertsey was an undertaking; though now the distance is but half an hour. Nowhere within twenty miles of London does the Thames appear more queenly, or sweep with greater grace through its fertile dominions, than it does at Chertsey. It is, indeed, delight- ful to stand on the bridge in the glowing sunset of a summer evening, and turning from the refreshing green of the Shepperton Range, look into the deep clear blue of the flowing river, while the murmur of the waters rushing through Laleham Lock give a sort of spirit music to the scene. On the right, as you leave Chertsey, the river bends gracefully towards the double bridge of Walton, and to the left, it undulates smoothly along, having passed Runnymede and Staines, while the almost conical hill of St. Anne's attracts attention by its abrupt and singular form when viewed from the vale of the Thames. About a mile, on the Walton side, from our favorite bridge (Old Camden tells us so), is the spot where Cæsar crossed the Thames. Were the peasantry as imaginative as their brethren of Killarney, what legends would have grown out of this tradition; how often would the "noblest Roman of them all" have been seen by the pale moonlight leading his steed over the waters of the rapid river—how many would have heard Cassivelaunus CHERTSEY AND ITS FAMOUS CHARACTERS. 5 himself during the stillness of some particular Midsummer night [147] working at the rude defence which can still be traced beneath the blue waters of the Thames. What hosts of pale and ghastly spectres would have risen from those tranquil banks, and from the deepest hollows of the rushing current, and—like the Huns, who almost live on the inspired canvas of Kaulbach,—fought their last earthly battle, again and again, in the spirit world, amid the stars! But ours is no region of romance; even remnants of history, which go beyond the commonest capacity, are rejected as dreams, or put aside as legends. But history has enough to tell to interest us all; and we may be satisfied with the abundant enjoyment we have in delicious rambles through the lanes and up the hills, along the fair river's banks, and among the many traditional ruins of ancient and beautiful Surrey. Never was desolation more complete than in the ruin of the Mitred Abbey of Chertsey; hardly one stone remains above an- other to tell where this stately edifice—since the far-away year 664—grew and flourished, lording it with imperial sway over, not only the surrounding villages, but extending its paternal wings into Middlesex and even as far as London. The abbey was of the Benedictine order, and founded, almost as soon as the Saxons were converted from Paganism; but it was finished and chiefly endowed by Frithwald, Earl of Surrey. The endowment prospered rarely; the establishment increased in the reputation of wealth and sanctity; that it was "thickly populated" is certain, for when the abbey was sacked and burnt by the Danes, in the ninth century, the abbot, and ninety monks, were barbarously murdered by the invaders. Standing upon the site of their now obliterated cloisters and towers, their aisles and dormitories, cells and confessionals, see- ing nothing but the dank, damp grass, and the tracings of the fish-ponds—stagnant pools in our day—it is almost impossible to realize the onslaught of these wild barbarians panting for plunder, the earnest defence of men who fought (the monks of 6 The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II old could wield either sword or crosier) for life or death, the ter- rible destruction, the treasures and relics, and painted glass, and monuments, the plunder of the secret almerys, the intoxicated triumph of those rude northern hordes let loose in our fair and lovely island; what scenes of savagery, where now the jackdaw builds, and the blackbird whistles, and the wild water-rat plays with her brood amongst the tangled weeds! The fierce sea-kings being driven back to their frozen land, King Edgar, willing to serve God after the fashion of his times, refounded the Abbey of Chertsey, dedicating it to St.