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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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3 KBIB -SB 23 S 12 < D 2 ? %$ m& S 2 ?< 8 > SK £ a . August 31 , 1854 . I have , most dear Giorgio , just engaged to send Conway over to you , as the best regimen for his present frame of mind . I shall send him before I return myself . His chronic disease is strong upon him just now . I met him . this evening , as I was hastening to Harley-street ; he was walking up Eegent-street , looking as he does , with his slender figure all in "black , and his idealized countenance , like some studious yet not altogether recluse abbate of Rome . He surveyed the numbers that passed him with an air of
inelancholy indifference ; and talked of " solitude m the midst of crowds . " The fact is that , disgusted with the shams and hypocrisies of the world , he has drawn back from " society , " or enters it only as a stranger , taking no p _ art in its ways , and not penetrating through the false surface to get at the men and women really there . I rebuked iim vigorously for the arrogant common places about " solitude in the midst of crowds , "' for although he has " seen through" the shams of his own sacred and established craft , he Jbas really the heart as well as the head to "be still a labourer in tae Eternal Catholic Church . I doubt indeed whether it has not happened in his case , '^ 'it ' : 'S 0 ''' q ^ en ;^ 4 peB'i . n '^ 9 theTSy- ' that '' v . a' : ° m ^^ : . in . whbm the religious instinct is not pecuiiarly strong , has been led . " into the church" by alove of scholars ship and reflection . ;
r Xhe acutes form of his malady is a certain despairing disgust at the universal " unreality . ' ? " But the reality is tliere , Conway , " I said , "if ¦ will Pnlylook steadily' eiiough for it . " : " Oh ! no , " he cried , " it is all surface . ^ " You prove the weakness of your case , " ! answered , " l ) j clinging to metaphor . . & man who is strong ii conviction goes to facts . See hpw sinaphvtfoe predication : of ^ ^^ to the siinple , the bald statement of fact from lovers . " " Ah ! yes , " he exclaimed , with the bored air of a . man who knows all you would say , and . wonders that you do not save yourself the trouble of inviting a needless refutation ; - — " when you get among realities there are realities ; but herehere ! " He waved forth his hands' arid shrugged his shoulders like a Frenchman- —the most misanthropical of mankind . I laufrhed .
" Well , " he paid , as if that argument had some force ; ? ' see what is goinopn now , at this very day—papers reporting the ' movements , ' as they Call it , of thestate , of parties , or of distinguished persons : who would guess at the real life of these people ? It comes out sometimes . A man goes to the Baltic , bent on rendering the Gazette elcquent ; and he leaves behind him , among the rubbish at his lodgings , some broken heart of ware too common to be cai-ed for ; an injured husband' breaks open his wife ' s deskj like a , cowardly spy , and she is driven into the grave ; but there are some things m that desk -which constitute the real substance of the case , and they are folded up again and burned ; and other , injured wives never learn that which is so common to the case of so many , - ^ . distinguished person dies of cholera
suddenly , ana Jtiprrihea society sympathizes keenly , as well as deeply , with his bereft relations ; but those to whom the bereavement is absolute desolation—their fate only comes put as an amusing scandal , a sort of . joke spiced with pathos , and the subject is dismissed with the declaration , ' After all he was a good fellow . ' " ¦ ' " Perhaps ho was , Conway ?" "If he was , why not tell his actions ?" " I don't know of wliom your are speaking . "
" No , how should you ? I nm not speaking of one , but many . " He had been oppressed with stories just told to him , of people whom he partly knew—the small talk of " men about town . " I doubted whether the tales might not be untiuo 5 but lie knew soine of the facts himself , and , undoubtedly , the plain facts , without any addition from scandalous misto , are difficult enough . ° Do you remember dej Boisguilbcrt , whom we admired so much for his ingenuous intelligence ; a splendid fellow—the very beau ideal of an English sailor of th
e new pattern—one of the mounted marines , as Stanhope calls them , who can ride , tnlk , and write , as wqll as hand , reef , and stocr . Poor tellow ! ho is gone—cut ofTbv « -the prevailing epidemic , ' as the papers call it . lie had just got his appointment , and iyj < a counting ; upon enr » ravin « his name at the very top of those to be inscribed on the granite of Cronstadt fand then lus lovely wife had to exchange the manner of her farewell . Ho was to have set but to join his ship that day ; he was kept at home two hours louder t lan ho had counted , aincl was tlion sent on a longer jom-noy . His two dear children , his lovely wife , his relations bound to him by innumerable quavtermgs— -vhich , however , Knglish hornlds do not use ; his bright career , tuturo as yell as past ; mid above all , his own splendid character—his manly gay , and handsome person , his bold , kind , and generous heart , his skilful adroit , finished intellect , made him loved all round , and when one so ffood ana tiivouroiVwns stricken down , every man naturally fblt that ha mMit full
, y ell , l ) utt « , n , who liad tried to get a berth in the same ship with de indS iT ! fl i " » hlul rt > 8 t > lv « a t 0 *™ h »» oir « t Portsmouth , and voun ? caXnT ? " i nl i ' whoP 0 ho klMW » «»«« W « ntnlly , that the San 1 Sao nn X S 1 UV ' . - ° ( k ' acril > oa to llim «« waiting for her Ij uaUnnU , also on his wuy to join-a Mrs . Brown . She wuh prctty-perhai . a serious Zr 2 Ught V « rpHed to he , beauty , at all oUiV teokX boiutv t . Hi it Zlt « ° htiU T Um ! tor l lmvo otoorved " »* «> i genuine slXan caiinot roT « ? ? 1 d : i l , ° an act of 6 ™ co or kindnoai fiWovor S& talc 0 l > lca 8 ur « ™ it » Kke , even iu tho midst of
No de Boisguilbert of course that night j nor did Mr . Brovm arrive . Next morning , the little society of the little inn was full of surmises ; Mrs . " Brown , who looked pale and anxious * stopped on her way past Dutton ' s room , to ask if he knew any reason why orders for embarcation should have been countermanded . The bustling landlord brought , in the Times , holding out a particular passage as perhaps explaining the delay , and then drawing it back to read it himself . It " regretted to state that another victim had been added to the list of those officers who had fallen under the prevailing epidemic , in Captain de Boisguilbert , so recently appointed to the Glaucus . " Before Dutton could seize tho paper to look for himself , Mrs . Brown was on the iloor , as pale and as lifeless as the " husband " whose death was thus announced to her .
Dutton is a kind-hearted fellow . He brought her to town , and to Conway 5 and , as usual , that misanthropical sceptic in black cloth did his best to . see that the girl ' s grief should not be aggravated by destitution , that her despair should not lead her into the only " desperate courses" left open to her . He did more . He learned her story , which was common enough and simple enough . She was the daughter , unacknowledged , of some father or mother , she did not know which , who was able to bequeath her some thousands of pounds for her education ; but she received only such , an education as a very few hundreds might have paid for , and heard ho more of her money , You will learn by this that there was nobody to take care of her except herself ; and when she became acquainted with a fine , elderly , generous new friend , how should she be able to discriminate between the paternal semblance of the interest shown in her by a distinguished officer old enough to be de Boisguilbert ' s father , and the real object of the veteran ; how weigh all the cpinsequences of yielding to her ^ latitude when de Boishow weigh all the consequences of yielding to her gratitude when de Bois
- guilbert , who was really a fine fellow ,. " rescued ' her from the hypocritical solicitudes of the veteran . Yet the veteran wul stUl get his '' stepSj'' for he has a fety more ladders yet to climb ; and -when de Bpisguubertfs nearest friends came uppn the letters from this young ; lady , they burned them , and hushed up the disgraceful connexion . " In justice to his memory , ' * they consigned his weakniesLS to ohiivionj- ^ and her to starvation ; if it had not been for the humanity of the jrenrpbate Conway , whom those decorous 'people will never help to 4 hishopjic . ^ " Now , wiiy pretend , ' * said Conway , "that de Boisguilbert ' s life was what his friends recount with pride and satisfaction ; and leave Put this ? It was part of his life . If \ elever , honourablej and' generous men do these things , why ^ stigmatize the action ? If-tlie action is unwortliy , why pretend that the man who did it was admirable ? Either way there is a fratid ,- ^—and either way poor ; Lucy is the victim . " " You smile , " he added , " because" I am only repealing the very thing I heardyou say when I first saw you ; but- — - —'' ¦
"No , " I replied , M I smile because you repeat what everybody says ; and everybody joins in ^ he collusion . I smiled at the amount of factitious trouble vifhich nien make for themselves by these systems of pretences , and at the universality of the pretence . It is the same * or something like the same , everywhere . For all th ea * outspeaking , they have not escaped it in France ; they are fast coming to it in Anieraca . ¦ . * ¦ ' In America ?'' ' ¦ c *; Aye , at least I guess so ; for who can tell the future . But strange accidents are gathering in that \ yide land between the Pilgrim Fathers and the Mormons ^"
And it is soi Look at such cases as that of the Somerset fan * ly , in one , though not the newest of the western states ; a race like some of the patrjeiau families of ancient Home in its imperial decline , conceiving itself to be above the law . I remember an American travpUer who was journeying alone , and who , at the window of a friend in Paris , thinking perhaps of his family at home , in the window of an hotel opposite saw a dashing lady , whose hi h colour bad attracted his notice , for he disliked high colour . He had objected to it in his wife , since it was not given to her , or continued to her , perhaps , by nature ; and hence fierce displeasure . The brilliancy , therefore , in the window opposite caught his eye : it was his wife ! But she was a Somerset , and claimed to do as she pleased . The husband conceded her the right , for tho law of his state enabled hina to obtain a divorce . Another person also conceded the right of free-will in a more involuntary and tragic had been tutor in the famil
way . He y of the Somersets , and had subsequently sot up a school , at which a youth of the same race was a pupil . The boy committed some fault , was rebuked , and was punished . An elder brother , calling a third to accompany him , pa-ocured pistols , wont down to tho school , failed in niaking the audacious master submit , and shot the man . The proud Somerset was brought to trial , but family influence procured a virtual acquittal . However , they do things more openly in the Union , as yet , and the Somerset found his native plaice too hot to hold him . Ho removed to another state , but a deputation of the inhabitants waited upon him and told him that he could not Uvc there . Ho again removed ; and so , like Cain , he continues his unrest . He co-ntemplates coming to England , it is said ; and here , certainly , his wealth is sure to procure lam toleration , while his adventures may , for one London season , invest him with more than a Cliilde Harold interest .
In franco you are not so sure that you get to the reality . There is often a half penetration , and a conventional acquiescence in half knowledge , something like tho English . I have a case fresh in my observation . You see a charming matron , a grandmother , though still not without pretensions . She wns once , all the world knows it , admixed by a distinguished oflicer , who has sinco become vary distinguished . Ho became a widower , she wntf nlroiidy a widow ; but they wcro not united . There is " a history , " then -f and you are told , in explanation , that tho officer abstained from
offering lus hand because her own children , by 11 husband -whom she lont whon young , would be injured in thoir family prospects , The mystery soenis to bo Holved , tho well-informed look wisu , and nobody wonders at thu oiHcor ' e nfterwarda marrying a cluvrmi 1 ig lady of repute untouched , whoso Mingle lit ' o had been n mystery to all the world ; ho much Avas flho courted . Now , the dhtinguitihod ollicer had admired that charming matron , aund royal favour would have caabled him to redress any balance of family interests 5 but there was a reason below ( he second surface to which tho keen-sighted had VQftcUyd . Am X tolling you iv fftWo ? No \ 1 -will wot answer for nil
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Goethe .
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September 9 , 1854 . ] THE LE ADER , 861
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 9, 1854, page 861, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2055/page/21/
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