Chapter XVII (5)

Among the list of passengers who perished by fire on board the Amazon steamer, we find the name of Mr. ELIOT WARBURTON, the author of “The Crescent and the Cross,” a book of Eastern travel—“Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers”—and the novels “Reginald Hastings” and “Darien.” Mr. Warburton, says a correspondent of the _Times_, had been deputed by the Atlantic and Pacific Junction Company to come to a friendly understanding with the tribes of Indians who inhabit the Isthmus of Darien: it was also his intention to make himself perfectly acquainted with every part of those districts, and with whatever referred to their topography, climate, and resources. “To _Darien_, with the date of 1852 upon its title-page,” says the _London Examiner_, “the fate of its author will communicate a melancholy interest. The theme of the book is a fine one. Its fault consists chiefly in the fact that the writer was not born to be a novelist. Yet, full as it is of eloquent writing, and enlivened as it is with that light of true genius, which raises even the waste work of a good writer above the common twaddle of a circulating library, _Darien_ may, for its own sake, and apart from all external interest, claim many readers. External interest, however, attaches to the book in a most peculiar manner. Superstitious men—perhaps also some men not superstitious—might say that there was a strange shadow of the future cast upon its writer’s mind. It did not fall strictly within the limits of a tale of the Scotch colonization of Darien, to relate perils by sea; yet again and again are such perils recurred to in these volumes, and the terrible imagination of a _ship on fire_ is twice repeated in them.”

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M. THIERS, ALEXANDRE DUMAS, VICTOR HUGO, several newspaper editors, and other literary men of France, are now at Brussels. Thiers is said to be working hard at his _History of the Consulate and of the Empire_, and Hugo is represented to entertain the intention of again seriously returning to literary pursuits, in which, one would think, he must find more pleasure, as well as more fame and profit, than in the stormy arena of politics. Dumas, who works like a cart-horse, and who, as ever, is in want of money, has, in addition to his numerous pending engagements at Paris, undertaken to revise, for a Belgian publishing firm, the _Memoirs of his Life_, now in course of publication in the Paris _Presse_; and he is to add to them all the passages suppressed by Louis Bonaparte’s censors. Another new work is announced by Dumas, called _Byron_, in which we are promised the biography, love adventures, journeys, and anecdotic history of the great poet.

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M. DE LAMARTINE has resigned the editorship, or, as he called it, the directorship, of the daily newspaper on which he was engaged at a large salary, and in which he published his opinions on political events. He has also put an end to his monthly literary periodical, called _Les Foyers du Peuple_; no great loss, by the way, seeing that it was only a jumble of quotations from his unpublished works, placed together without rhyme or reason; and, finally, he has dropped the bi-monthly magazine, in which he figured as the _Counsellor of the People_. But he promises, notwithstanding the sickness under which he is laboring, to bring out a serious literary periodical, as soon as the laws on the press shall be promulgated.

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Among the novelties that are forthcoming, there is one which promises to be very important, called _Lord Palmerston—L’Angleterre et le Continent_, by Count FICQUELMONT, formerly Austrian Ambassador at Constantinople and St. Petersburg, where he had occasion to experience something of Lord PALMERSTON’S diplomacy. It is, we are told, a vigorous attack on English policy.

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_La Vérité_, a pamphlet containing the true history of the _coup d’état_, is announced in London, with the production of authentic documents which could not get printed in France. This _coup d’état_ has set all servile pens at work. MAYER announces a _Histoire du 2 Decembre_; CESENA, a _Histoire d’un Coup d’État_; and ROMIEU, the famous trumpeter of the Cæsars—Romieu, who in his _Spectre Rouge_ exclaimed, “I shall not regret having lived in these wretched times if I can only see a good castigation inflicted on _the mob_, that stupid and corrupt beast which I have always held in horror.” Romieu has had his prediction fulfilled, and he, too, announces a History of the event.

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No ruler of France, in modern times, has shown such disregard to literary men as Louis Napoleon. King Louis XVIII. patronized them royally; Charles X. pensioned them liberally; Louis Philippe gave them titles and decorations freely, and was glad to have them at his receptions; the princes, his sons, showed them all possible attention; but during the whole time Louis Bonaparte has been in power he has not only taken no official notice of them, but has not even had the decent civility to send them invitations to his _soirées_. By this conduct, as much, perhaps, as by his political proceedings, he has made nearly the whole literary body hostile to him: and, singular to state, the most eminent writers of the country—Lamartine, Lamennais, Beranger, Hugo, Janin, Sue, Dumas, Thiers—are personally and politically among his bitterest adversaries.

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Madame GEORGE SAND is in retirement in the province of Berry, and is at present engaged in preparing “Memoirs of her Life,” for publication.

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The second division of the third volume of Alexander VON HUMBOLDT’S _Cosmos_ has just issued from the German press. The new chapters treat of the circuits of the sun, planets, and comets, of the zodiacal lights, meteors, and meteoric stones. The uranological portion of the physical description of the universe is now completed. The veteran philosopher has already made good way into the fourth volume of his great work.

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HERR STARGARDT, a bookseller at Stuttgardt, has lately made a valuable acquisition by purchasing the whole of Schiller’s library, with his autograph notes to the various books.

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The _Icelandic-English Dictionary_ of the late distinguished philologist, Mr. CLEASBY, is now nearly ready for the press; Mr. Cleasby’s MS. collections having been arranged and copied for this purpose by another distinguished Icelandic scholar, Hector Konrad Gislason, author of the “Danish-Icelandic Lexicon.”

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The Swedish Academy has elected Professor HAGBERG, the translator of Shakspeare, in place of the deceased Bishop Kullberg. The great prize of the academy has this year been conferred on a poem entitled “Regnar Lodbrok,” written by Thekla Knös, a daughter of the late Professor Knös.

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Attention is beginning to be paid in Spain to the popular literature of England, and it is not improbable that it may get into as high favor as that of France. Already Dickens’s “David Copperfield” and Lady Fullerton’s “Grantley Manor” have been translated, and are being published in the _folletinos_ of two of the newspapers.

A LEAF FROM PUNCH.

France Is Tranquil.

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Signs Of The Times.

When a young lady “has a very bad cold, or else she’d be delighted,” &c., it is rather a dangerous sign that, when once she sits down to the piano, she will probably not leave it for the remainder of the evening.

When a gentleman loses his temper in talking, it is a tolerably correct sign that he is getting “the worst of the argument.”

When you see the servant carrying under her apron a bottle of soda-water into a house, you may at once seize it as a sure sign that some one has been drinking over-night.

When the children are always up in the nursery, you may construe it into a sure sign that the mother does not care much about them.

When a young couple are seen visiting a “Cheap Furniture Mart,” you may interpret it into a pretty fair sign that the “happy day” is not far distant.

When the boys begin to tear up their books, it is a sign the holidays are about to commence.

The Road To Ruin.

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The accompanying is a good sketch of the PATENT STREET-SWEEPING MACHINE lately introduced in Paris. The sketch was taken on the spot (represented at A). The want of firmness in the lines of the drawing would seem to indicate some tremor in the nerves of the artist. The invention is not entirely new, having been used in the same city by the uncle of the present owner. The result of the late experiment is represented to have been quite satisfactory. The Constitution, which it was feared would interfere with its operation, was removed by it without any difficulty, so that no traces of it were left.

FASHIONS FOR MARCH.

Figure 1.—Full Dress for Ball or Evening Party.

Figure 1.—Hair in puffed bands, raised, ornamented with bunches of wild poppies, with silver foliage—coral necklace and waistcoat buttons—waistcoat open, of white satin, embroidered in front with silver and white jet. Pardessus of white gauze, bordered with a silver band, and embroidered with silver spots. This pardessus fits quite close, being hollowed out at the seam under the arm. Back flat; great round skirt without plaits, sitting well over the hips. Sleeves short, and turned up _à la Mousquetaire_: the silver band is about a quarter of an inch from the edge, and is itself an inch wide. The skirt is white gauze, and very ample; its only ornaments are three silver bands starting from the middle and diverging toward the bottom. The space between them is covered with silver spots. Pantaloons of plain white gauze, not very full, are fastened round the ankle with a silver band. The foot is shod with a small white silk _bottine_, laced up at the instep, from the top almost to the toe. The lacing is crossed.

Figure 2.—Young Lady’s Toilet.

Fig. 2.—Bonnet of plain silk or satin, with a fringe at the edge of the brim. A broad plaid ribbon is laid like a _fanchon_ over the brim and crown. Curtain plaid cross-wise; plaid strings; the brim is forward at the top, and falls off very much at the sides; no trimming inside. Waistcoat of white quilting, open at the top, with small enamel buttons; two small gussets at the waist; lappets rounded; a double row of stitches all around. The muslin chemisette is composed of two rows, raised at the neck, of a front piece in small plaits, and two lapels, embroidered and festooned, which turn back on the waistcoat and vest. The sleeves are plaited small, with embroidered wristbands and cuffs. The vest is velvet; it is high, and opens straight down, but is not tight in the foreparts: it is hollowed out at the seams of the side and back, so as to sit close behind and on the hips. The foreparts form a hollow point at the side. The sleeves, half-large, are cut in a point. A broad _galloon_ edges the vest and the ends of sleeves. The lining is white satin. Skirt of Scotch poplin. Narrow plaid cravat.

Figure 3.—Morning Toilet.

FIG. 3.—Drawn bonnet, satin and crape; the edge crape for a width of three inches. The crape is doubled over a wire covered with satin, which is seen through the crape. The rest of the brim is formed of five drawings of satin. The crown, satin, is round, and divided into four parts separated by three small _bouillonnés_; one, starting from the middle, goes over the head to the curtain; the two others are at the sides. The curtain is satin at top, and crape at bottom. Inside the brim, at the lower edges, are bunches of ribbon from which hang loops of jet.

Dress of gros d’Ecosse. Body with round lappet Sleeves tight at top, open at bottom. Skirt with flat plaits on the hips, so as not to spoil the sit of the lappet. The body all round, and the front of the skirt are ornamented with crape _bouillonnés_ sprinkled with jet beads. Each of the beads seems to fasten the gathers of the _bouillonné_. Collar and under-sleeves of white muslin festooned.

The waistcoat is in higher favor than ever. There are morning waistcoats, visiting waistcoats, walking waistcoats. The first are made of white quilting, simply, their only richness being in the trimming; nothing can be prettier than the malachite buttons hanging at the end of a small chain. There are some waistcoats of white or pink watered silk, ornamented with a very small lace ruff, which is continued down the front as a frill; there are others of silk, with needlework embroidery round the edges, and sprinkled with flowers; others again of white satin with gold figures. As a great novelty, we may mention the _Molière_ waistcoats, buttoning up to the neck without collars, provided with little pockets, coming down low and ending square below the waist, where the two sides begin to part. In order to give the _Molière_ waistcoat the really fashionable stamp, it must have a _godrooned_ collar, made of several rows of lace, a frill of the same, and ruffles reaching to the knuckles. The buttons are cornelian, agate, turquoise, or merely gold, bell-shaped. It is not uncommon in toilets for places of public amusement to see the waistcoat fastened with buttons mounted with brilliants. It is unnecessary to say that every waistcoat has a little watch-pocket out of which hangs a chain of gold and precious stones, the end of which is hooked in a button-hole and bears a number of costly trinkets. We may here remark that they are made very simple or very richly ornamented; for instance, those of the most simple description are made either of black velvet, embroidered with braid, and fastened with black jet buttons, or of cachmere.

Materials for this month vary very little from those of the winter months, as we seldom have really fine spring weather during March. The fashionable colors which prevail for the present month for out-door costume are violet, maroon, green, blue, and gray of different shades; while those intended for evening are of very light colors, such as white, maize, blue, and pink, the latter being extremely fashionable, relieved with bright colors.

HEAD-DRESSES.—Petit dress-hats are now greatly in request, made in the following manner:—It is formed of black lace, and inlet formed of a jet-black net-work, placed alternately, and ornamented with a _panache_, each slip of feather being finished with a small jet-bead, which falls in a glittering shower upon the side of the head. Then, again, we see those _petit bords_ of black velvet; the crown being open, shows the beauty of the hair; having also, upon one side of the front, which is slightly turned back, a _nœud_ of black satin ribbon broché gold very wide and the ends descending nearly to the waist.

FOOTNOTES

1 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by Harper
and Brothers, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the
Southern District of New York.

2 From “Recollections of a Literary Life, or Books, Places, and
People.” By Mary Russell Mitford. In press by Harper and Brothers.

3 This picture is believed to be no longer in existence. I have found
its description in the work of the historian Decamps.

4 Continued from the February Number

5 As there have been so many revolutions in France, it may be
convenient to suggest that, according to the dates of this story,
Harley, no doubt, alludes to that revolution which exiled Charles X.
and placed Louis Philippe on the throne.

6 Have you fifty friends?—it is not enough. Have you one enemy?—it is
too much.

7 At home—

“In the serene regions
Where dwell the pure forms.”

8 As the heaviest portion of this great influx of immigration took
place in the latter half of the decade, it will probably be fair to
estimate the natural increase during the term, at twelve per cent.,
being about one-third of that of the white population at its
commencement.

9 Alexandria &c. ceded back to Virginia since 1840.

10 When _x_ = 10, then _x__x_ = 10,000,000,000, or _ten thousand
million_. When _x_ = 100, the value of the function passes beyond
all bounds capable of being expressed by any known numerical names.
If we might manufacture a term for the occasion, it would be
somewhere in the neighborhood of a _quadragintillion_.