Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub
[merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small][subsumed]

Family affairs obliged me to undertake a journey to the mountainous region of Bohemia, and I arrived, without the slightest accident, at the estate of my uncle in that kingdom. There I used generally to spend the evening in walking. In one of these perambulations night overtook me in a wood bordering on my uncle's domain, and extending on the contrary side to a chain of mountains. My imagination was so Occupied with the idea of my native land, and the dear objects I had left behind, that I wandered unconsciously from the path. On awaking from this delicious dream, I found that I had to

[ocr errors]

tally lost my way; all my endeavours to regain the right track were unavailing, and such was my situation, when I heard a sudden rustling near me in the thicket. On raising my eyes, a man stood by my side, and inquired whither I was going? I replied that I had lost my way, and at the same time mentioned the name of my uncle's mansion, requesting him to conduct me the nearest road to it. He paused for a few seconds, and then answered:-'Tis a great way, and I cannot possibly conduct you now; but if you will accept of a night's lodging in my house, follow me.' I hesitated not a moment to accept this proposal. He

walked along by my side in profound silence, answered none of my questions, and appeared, to be quite absorbed in thought. At length, he said :- You have not been long in this kingdom.''No,' replied I, but who made you acquainted with my situation?' Your

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

self.' I stood still, and looked at him with the utmost astonishment. Myself,' cried I, in amaze. 'Yes, yourself; this wood is frequented by robbers, and you seem not to be afraid." Why should I be afraid? I have nothing about me that He can be of any value to robbers?' now grasped my hand with eagerness. 'Young man,' said he, "you have nothing to fear; the robbers in this wood never commit murder.'

Amidst this conversation we arrived at the door of a habitation, concealed in a deep recess of the wood. My companion knocked three times; a rough voice cried from within- Who is there?" A son of night,' was the reply of my conductor.

[ocr errors]

The door opened; I saw myself, by the light of a lamp, in a spacious apartment, painted black; the walls were decorated with arms; a few chairs, and two tables, composed the whole of the furniture. One of them stood beneath a looking-glass,, was covered with a white cloth, and upon it lay a human skull.

Jacob,' said my companion, to a man with a frightful physiognomy,,' make a fire in the chimney, and bring provision for my guest.'

I

In a few minutes a fire blazed on the hearth; he took me by the hand, and we seated ourselves before it. I had now, for the first time, an opportunity of examining this extraordinary mạn. must candidly confess that I never beheld a more perfect model of manly beauty; but never were the characters of the most profound sorrow and affliction so legibly inscribed on any brow.

No sooner did our conversation commence, than esteem and astonishment took possession of my soul. Meanwhile a clock that stood in the next room struck twelve, and at the same time I heard the report of a gun from without. I started. That is the signal for dinner,' said my host; we turn day into night, and night into day. You will sit down with the refuse of mankind, with a band of robbers, but you have nothing to fear.' He took me by the hand; a

[ocr errors]

table was spread beneath a moss-grey oak in the front of the hut. I seated myself beside my host; eighteen other persons partook of the simple repast, seasoned only by the narratives of the leader.

[ocr errors]

The repast being finished, I returned with my former companion alone to the apartment we had quitted. I was struck with the unusual colour of his room, and at length asked:- Why did you choose black? that colour makes one sad, and it is our duty to be cheerful.' 'You are right if you speak of yourself, but as for me, I know joy only by name; to me that sensation has long been a stranger. You look at those walls; their black colour excites your surprise. It is the colour of my fate, and Oh! that it were also the colour of my heart!' 'An extraordinary wish! It only appears so to you. With a black heart I had perhaps been happy; now I am wretched, inexpressibly wretched! All my riches consist in yonder skull (at the same time pointing to it with a terrific look and distorted features.) It is my all, continued he; when in the hours of serious meditation I stand before it, and the thought that I too shall cease to exist arises in my soul, then alone am I rich, richer than your princes, or the greatest of fortune's favourites. They lose, I gain; to them death is terrible, to me it is a blessing. Oh, there are moments in which it would be happiness to be deprived of reason, a fearful truth, which in the days of prosperity I could not have believed.' The clock now struck two. My host shuddered. Already so late?' said he, and added, in a milder tone:- Pardon me, stranger, for having so long deprived you of your rest; in that room my bed is prepared for you; sleep and be not afraid.' I cordially grasped his right hand. You have told me too much,' said I; you have excited my curiosity; may I intreat you to communicate to me your history.'

6

6

My history,' replied he, with a ghastly smile, would make the hair of your head stand on end, and will perhaps cause you to repent your request; but you shall know the history of my life. I am the only son of a man of high rank in this kingdom; my father, who was very rich, expended large sums on my education, and I flatter myself that

they were not thrown away. I shall pass over the early years of my life, which cannot have any interest for you, and shall begin my narrative with my leaving the academy. On my return I received promotion, and in a few years had the fairest prospect of being called to conduct the helm of the state. Insatiable pride swayed the bosom of my father; he loved me only because my progressive elevation was flattering to' that passion. Such was my situation; rounded with brilliant prospects, I, arrogant boy, imagined that I could read the book of futurity, forgetful that the wisest of men cannot predict with certainty the events of the next minute. I saw a young female belonging to the lower class of the people. That inexplicable passion which has precipitated many an useful statesman, many a vali ant warrior, from the pinnacle of glory, took entire possession of my heart.

sur

At

first I employed every possible expedient to subdue her virtue. She repulsed me with contempt, and the fire burned still more fiercely. I threw myself at the feet of my father, and implored his consent to our union. 'Are you mad?' thundered he, spurning me from him:

[ocr errors]

a drab from the scum of the people, my daughter-in-law! rather could I see you and her on the gallows than at the altar.' What room had I now for hope? Half a year passed away; I saw her seldom, but my passion daily increased in violence. In more tranquil hours, I certainly advanced every possible objection that could be made against such an union; but what influence has cold reason over a heart replete with glowing passions? Vanquished at length in this conflict, I fled with her to one of the remotest provinces of the kingdom, where the hand of the priest united us. With the little money I had taken with me I purchased a small farm. Here Rosalia and myself lived by the labour of our hands. These, these were the halcyon days of my life! Beneath the lowly roof of my cottage I enjoyed greater happiness than the prince with his diadem, or the hero crowned with laurels.

But let us hasten over these scenes. At the expiration of a year I pressed a pledge of our love to my bosom, and for two more blissful years continued to taste the delights of conjugal and paternal love, out of the cup of human felicity. One evening, on my return from

the chace, I found my father at home with my wife. This spectacle excited sensations which it is impossible to express. Rosalia, penetrated with gratitude, was embracing his knees, my little boy was bathing his hand with tears of infantine love. Joy threw me senseless on his bosom, for his consent was alone wanting to complete the measure of my happiness. In a word, it was the greatest festival that filial love and gratitude ever celebrated. But pardon me, stranger, I scarcely know how to pro ceed. In three days my wife and child died of poison, given them by my father; and on the fourth died that father by the dagger of his son! Adieu, stranger."

He pressed my hand at parting; the copious tears trickled from his large blue eyes, and attested the truth of his narrative. Adieu that was the skull of my wife.'

I left him, and, accompanied by his servant, arrived at the skirt of the wood, whence I easily found my way back to the mansion of my uncle.

[blocks in formation]

That the times degenerate,' is a frequent complaint with elderly people, who cannot any longer look on the passing scene with the joyous eye of youth; it is a complaint, however, the truth of which we mean in toto to deny and we appeal, as a reason for our incredulity. and obstinacy, to the wonderful improve ment which, even in our own limited recollection, has taken place in the class of people that we have chosen as the subject of our present sketch. mean not that they are more virtuously disposed, or that their worldly circum-, stances are more inviting than they were when, first to the sound of the catgut's tremor we bent: the listening, ear; but we allude (and can vouch for the crorectness of the fact, as we go no farther than our own experience) to

We;

the superiority of ne narp, the flute, and the clarionet, which now send forth their thrilling sounds in harmony divine,' compared with the noise which once annoyed us, when the mirth-making violin and the sonorous bass were tortured into a combination of groaning and squealing discord, sufficient to have brought down even Cecilia's self, to punish the profanation of her rites, by the attempt of such unhallowed hands to intrude their imperfect performances on the sound-bearing winds.

But there is an itinerant musician of 'the old school' still in existence. Let any of our readers, who may have sufficient curiosity, take a walk down Loth. bury, and turn up Princes Street: there, sitting upon one of the stone steps which lead up to a door, or the resemblance of one (never having seen it open, we cannot undertake to say which) on the side of the Bank of England, is an old man ; we mean a very old man-whose few grey locks, and whose many-furrowed cheeks, tell you he has been as a football to fortune: his dress would have been considered old-fashioned by any of the exquisites who flourished at the accession of George the Third: it is extremely old-older than the man; we dare to say as much as this, upon the authority of the cut,' and the shape of the button-holes; we cannot be mistaken, or, if we are, we are certain that it was made in the fashion of sixty years since,' long before the nineteenth century threw its first ray of light upon the world. There he sits, with a something upon his knees, to which, out of courtesy, we suppose we must give the name of a violin: the date of its manufacture is far beyond calculation: were we allowed to guess, we should think first of the days of Henry the Eighth his bony fingers grasp that magic wand of music,

the bow,' which we beg leave to say is somewhat more modern in its appearance. We think, now, that we hear our readers exclaiming against this rambling into the days of Henry the Eighth after a violin, and the useless introduction of a dissertation upon the antiquity of a coat, into a Sketch of an Itinerant Musician. Our fuir readers, too, are wondering at the impertinence we have displayed in meddling with their affairs, and asking themselves, what we have to do with the fashions. Fair and softly, ladies and gentlemen, if you

please; we are endeavouring to establish the proposition we set out with; viz. that there has been a visible improvement in the subjects of this article for many years back, and we have a r'g't to produce evidence to prove our case; so let us return, for a moment, to the old man, with an old violin, sitting in an oldfashioned dress on the steps of the Bank. We have described his appearance as an old man, and we may now suppose it may have been guessed that he is an old Itinerant Musician. Where there's smoke there must be fire,' is an old proverb, and where there's a violin there must be music,' seems deducible from it; but Heaven defend us from the music of the old violin, when acted upon, not played on. No, it is past play, by the old man on the steps of the Bank! The grinding organ, or the pandean pipes, when pouring forth their most excruciating tones, are delightful music to it it is the very caricature of melody -it is past description. Such is the only remaining specimen we are acquainted with of the old style' of streetperformers; and haunted, as we con tinually are, by the remembrance of his most awful scraping, we gladly leave him to introduce his more successful suc

cessors.

[ocr errors]

As a description of the different costumes, styles of playing, &c. of the various groups which now enliven our streets with their harmonious strains," would occupy a great deal more space than can be allotted to such a purpose, we must content ourselves with giving a kind of catalogue of the most distinguished that have come under our notice.

And first a frio, consisting of a clarionet, bass-viol, and flute, performed on, with considerable taste: this is a sort of moving orchestra, stopping at intervals to play two or three tunes; and then, after collecting the contributions of listeners, moving away in careless

silence

Next a qua tette, composed of blind men in the Highland costume; two of whom play on flutes, one on a violin, and the other on a bass: they play mostly Scotch airs, and, owing either to their skill in playing, or the affliction with which they are visited, seem to be pretty successful in their collections; if this were not the case, so numerous a firm' must inevitably dissolve part

nership. Your trifle' is solicited by a woman with a tamboureen, who, as she is the only one of the party whose eyes are open, cannot be considered as a sleeping partner.

But the most esteemed set of itenerant musicians' that London can boast ef, is a band which is frequently engaged on board the steam-packets. One has a harp (rather an expensive instrument by-the-bye for a street-player); his companions have clarionets, flutes, and French horns. This band frequents 'the city,' and may most generally be seen in the courts leading to the different avenues of the Stock Exchange,What a glorious opportunity for an essay upon the effects of music on those unruly animals, bulls and beurs! but space will not allow it, and we must return to our subject.

There is a man whose countenance proclaims him to be either a Jew or a foreigner; who, with a barrel-organ slung in front of him, and a set of pandean pipes held to his mouth by one hand, as with the other he turns the winch, which makes the machine he carries pour forth its variety of sounds, will bear comparison with any in his department of the profession, and appear by the comparison only more su→ perior. He is the very paragon of organ grinders, and draws forth the shrill treble from his 'pipes' with true musical correctness.

Then there is blind Jemmy.' as he is called! he is a professor of the flute, whose softest notes he can elicit in the most melodious style; his appearance is so far from being cleanly, that few would venture within a yard of him. His flute is of the same cast; it was once of a light colour, but it now approaches very nearly to black: the

wax-end' which is twisted round the numerous fissures which time has made in the wood, contributes no contempti ble share to this alteration.

But yet another itinerant player, and we are done. This is a stout man, with features inclining to the Hebrew; his instrument is a violin, and he can play on it.

With him there is no sawing, no groaning all is melody and music. He has a bad habit of shaking his head ahout, but that matters not; his playing is good. Reader, do you think the times degenerate ?-Compare him with the old man on the Bank steps, and your opinion will be altered.

R. J.

CHRISTMAS AS IT WAS TWO HUNDRED
YEARS AGO.

Christmas, as it was two hundred years ago, is faithfully depicted in the following merry Carol by George Wi. ther; in which it will be seen, the same complaints prevailed then as of late, in regard to the decay of hospitality, the hardship of the times, and the extravagancies practised in the upper classes of life:

So now is come our joyfulst feast,
Let every man be jolly;
Each room with ivy leaves is drest,
And every post with holly.
Though some churls at our mirth repine,
Round your foreheads garlands twine;
Drown sorrow in a cup of wine,

And let us all be merry.

Now all our neighbours' chimneys smoke And Christmas blocks are burning ; Their ovens they with baked meat choke,

And all their spits are turning. Without the door let Sorrow lie, And if for cold it hap to die, We'll bury't in a Christmas pie,

And evermore be merry.

Now every lad is wond'rous trim,

And no man minds his labour;
Our lasses have provided them
A bagpipe and a tabor;
Young men and maids, and girls and
boys,

Give life to one another's joys;
And you anon shall by their noise

Perceive that they are merry.
Rank misers now do sparing shun;
Their hall of music soundeth;
And dogs thence with whole shoulders
run,

So all things there aboundeth. The country folks themselves advance, With crowdy-muttons out of France; And Jack shall pipe, and Jyll shall dance, And all the town be merry.

Ned Squash hath fetcht his bands from
pawn,

And all his best apparel;
Brisk Nell hath bought a ruff of lawn,

With dropping of the barrel.
And those that hardly all the year,
Had bread to eat, or rags to wear,
Will have both clothes and dainty fare,
And all the day be merry.

Now poor men to the Justices

With capons make their errands; And if they hap to fail of these,

They plague them with their warrants;

« AnteriorContinuar »