LOVE AND MARRIAGE. BY R. SHELTON MACKENZIE. LOVE's a young bachelor, One dashes on-like A flood from the mountain; As a fathomless fountain: Of glad hours departed; One seems all heart, But the other is hearted! Fervid is one, as The sun in his brightness; As the moon in her whiteness: One is all radiance, A heart-beam of gladness; The joy of the other Is chastened by sadness. Link them together! Make both of them ours, Of amaranth flowers! Wreathe it around them, THE EVERLASTING WOMAN. I AM a bachelor in easy circumstances, of easy temper, and have been hitherto much petted (the fashionables would say felé; but I am not a fashionable, and consider my own language amply sufficient for all purposes of expression) by all my affectionate relatives. My maiden aunts have for years knitted my lamb's-wool stockings and comforters; my married and matronly cousins have supplied me with preserves, pickles, and potted meats: and my nieces, one and all, with cut watchpapers, painted card-racks, and other ma terials of agreeable litter for my snug drawing-room. I am always warmly congratulated on my recovery from one of my frequent attacks of severe indisposition; and I understand from my apothecary that the whole of my relations are on such occasions unremittingly attentive in their inquiries whether each in succession is likely to carry me off. I am naturally of a grateful disposition, and accordingly I am fully sensible of all this kind interest, and love the entire family with my whole heart. On one occasion, as I was passing Hyde-park Corner, I saw, just in front of me, lady-like person in the act of tying the ribbon of her sandal which had, with the action of walking, become unfastened. There was nothing very particular either in the personal appearance of the lady, or in the nature of her occupation, but, just as I reached her, she had adjusted the ribbon; and, when she raised her head, our eyes met. I had occasion that day to pay a visit to my banker, who lives pretty far east; but as I was in no hurry to see him, I made a call or two by the way, and a few purchases to send down into the country to the young folks of a cousin of mine, who had lately presented me with a fresh assortment of mutilated card-paper, and a silk watch-guard. Accordingly it was some hours before I arrived at the worthy banker's, where I soon transacted the business on which I went, and took my leave; when, who should I meet at the very door, but the lady of the broken sandal, whom I had passed in the morning. I touched my hat to her, for I am one of the old school, and am never afraid of being too well bred: she bent courteously in acknowledgment of the civility; and I hastened home to a late dinner. On the following Sunday I went to hear Dr. Thorpe at the Lock Chapel, where I was shown into a seat already occupied by one person: I looked towards her, and could not avoid smiling as I recognised once more the lady of the sandal. When the service was concluded, I assisted in arranging on the shoulders of the wearer, one of those long, round, slippery tippets, which must have been invented expressly to afford occupation to the gentlemen; and once more we parted. By the eight o'clock post of the following morning I received a letter from a newly-married nephew, begging me to engage a lodging for his bride and himself, as he was coming up to town for a couple of months, to introduce his Louisa, who was the pretty, rustic, amiable daughter of a north-country clergyman, to the lions of the metropolis. 1 was delighted with the commission, and accordingly forth I sallied, with a handkerchief tied over my mouth-for there was an east wind blowing-and my umbrella under my arm. I should think I must have entered at least twenty houses; some of the apartments I looked at were every thing that could be wished both as to convenience and situation; but the terms were quite beyond the means of a young lawyer who was only just beginning to make his way in the world: others were more reasonable in price, but neither pleasant nor pretty enough for a bride. I was puzzled what to do, and eventually came to the conviction that there was but one way of executing my commission handsomely, which was to take an unexceptionable set of apartments, and to pay for them myself.— I could very well afford to do it, and consequently it was almost incumbent on me that it should be done. Having got over this difficulty in so satisfactory a way, the next thing was to make a selection out of the apartments I had seen without reference to their expense; and I eventually determined on engaging a very pleasant and commodious first floor in Clargesstreet, Piccadilly. I am always glad when my mind is made up on any subject; nothing worries me so much as a state of indecision. When I got back to Clargesstreet, I was in the very act of raising the knocker, when the door opened as if by inspiration, and forth came the unknown lady of the sandal, followed by the mistress of the house. “I suppose, madam, that I have decided too late on your apartments," I said, addressing the latter as soon as she had bowed out my incognita; "that lady has probably-" I soon learnt that my fears were vain; the lodgings had been declined as too expensive, and the field was open to me. I inquired of my companion who the gentlewoman was, who had just departed, but could gain no intelligence. I next endeavoured to prevail on the hostess to reduce the price of her apartments one guinea per week on the consideration of their being engaged for two months certain: it was not that I thought the terms extortionate, but all my country cousins had so often lamented over the infamous manner in which I was imposed upon in London, that I thought it behoved me to prove myself less easily cheated than they believed. My first effort at economy was, however, a very unfortunate one; for the lady of the house looked so indignant at the idea of my believing her capable of demanding more than she meant to take, and assured me so seriously that it was even highly inconvenient to receive inmates for so short a time as two months, that I felt perfectly convinced of the very affront ing and offensive nature of my request; and accordingly, after begging her pardon for my inconsiderate proposition, I paid her a week's rent in advance, and left the house. I never was more ashamed of myself in my life than I was that day, as I turned the corner into Piccadilly,-if I intended to pay for the lodgings of the young people, why did I not do it like a gentleman, without haggling with the landlady about the price! I almost wrought myself into a belief, that my manners and parsimony would be the means of depriving poor Louisa of many little attentions from the indignant mistress of the house. I was so angry with myself that the umbrella trembled in my hand. When I had succeeded in making myself as uncomfortable as I could possibly desire to be, I began to think of other things and again my mind rested on the unknown, who seemed to be continually crossing my path; as her image recurred to me, I chanced to look towards a hackney-coach which was drawing up beside the pavement, and when the steps were let down, out stepped the lady, sandals and all, and walked into Rivington's. This was too bad-from my boyhood up, I have always had a horror of being haunted! I was in a bad humour with myself moreover, and that always makes us angry with others; and by the time I got to the Regent's Circus, I was as spiteful against the calm, quiet, inoffensive-looking unknown, as though she had not the same right to walk the streets of London, as I had. I pride myself somewhat on not having changed house or servants for five-andtwenty years; but although this may be a long time to continue in one spot, I am not singular in my adhesiveness to street, for I have a neighbour who inhabited the next house to mine when I went into it, and there he lives still. I mention this fact merely for the purpose of remarking, that this neighbour has been a source of irritation and annoyance to me throughout the whole of those five-andtwenty years-not that I ever had any dispute with him, for I do not remember having quarrelled with a single individual in the course of my life.-No! that would have been bearable, for I could have apologized and we might have become as good friends as ever: but in the whole of that time, in spite of all my manoeuvring, my advances, and my anxiety, I have never been able to discover who he is, where he came from, or who he belongs to. He is a tall, thin, elderly, clerical-looking man with a hook nose, and wears powder-oh! if any polite reader should happen to know his history, I should be everlastingly grateful by their confiding it to me! On one occasion we were knocking at our respective doors at the very same instant -now or never! thought I—“We have a delightful morning, sir, for the time of year.' He bowed an affirmative, with a smile with which it was impossible to pick a quarrel, but not a word did he utter; and at the precise moment his man-servant opened the door, and he disappeared into the hall. It is not idle curiosity, but I really should like to know who he is! My niece and nephew arrived in town; and when I had dispelled an anxious and uneasy cloud from the brow of Charles, by taking him aside, and begging him to allow me to arrange all pecuniary matters connected with their lodgings, they were both quite delighted with them. I liked the young man all the better for his anxiety as to expense, it looked like prudence and principle; and as the pretty little bride was not at all fatigued by her journey, I proposed an early dinner, and an opera-box; her bright eyes sparkled with delight, and Charles wrung my hand till he brought the tears into mine. I left them for a while to engage the box, and then called a coach, and hurried home to dress; when my short toilet was completed, I sent my man for a cab to take me to my nephew's, and stood at the window watching for its arrival; but I had not been there five minutes when who should I see coming up the street but my incognita! I watched her with all my eyes-If she goes into Mrs. Baker's or Colonel Gardiner's, or Marmaduke Lexington's, thought I, I shall soon learn who she is; and so I mentally ran over a list of names, with the owners of each of which I was intimately acquainted. Yes, yes; now I shall find out who my phantom of the pavement can be-but I was deceived; for of all the houses in the street, which should she stop at but the one next door! Ay, there she was under my very nose; and I was just as unlikely to know any thing about her, as I had been the first time we met! It was really very provoking! and by the time the coach arrived I had worked myself up into a complete pet, and felt as snappish as a pampered pug labouring under indigestion." The sky soon cleared, however, when I arrived in Clarges-street, for Louisa looked so pretty in her bridal white, and thanked her" dear uncle" so sweetly with a blush and a smile, that I must have been a bear had I retained a tinge of ill-humour; but I do hate to be teazed with such trifles! I am going to leave my house, though I know that I shall never like another so well, or feel as if I had a home again. I must, and I will leave it, for the occupation, the association of the last three years, is utterly, irrevocably destroyed. Reader, I am five years older than I was when Charles brought his bride to London; and Charles himself is the father of two as fine boys, and as sweet a girl as any in England. And now I will tell you wherefore I am about to leave my house. During these last five years, I have not left home five times that I have not met the perplexing, the mystifying lady of the sandal, and always at such times, in such places, and with such persons that I have never had an opportunity of learning any thing respecting her. I may be laughed at for having wished it-I may be told that it did not concern me-I know it!I know it!-but nevertheless, the desire of doing so has grown into a disease-it is gnawing at my heart. I remember that one day, about three years ago, I determined to put an end to my torments by asking her the question boldly and at once; and, accordingly, as we were passing upon the pavement, I modulated my voice into the most respectful cadence of which it was susceptible, and murmured beneath my breath, "For heaven's sake, madam, do take pity and tell me who you are, and what your name is." I deserved to have learnt it, for it required a mighty effort on my part to address her thus; but I might have spared myself the pang; for after turning much such a look on me as she would on me, have done had I made a catch at her and I went home, and had a fit of illness. Two days ago, I saw the mutes standing on the steps of the next door; and a hearse stop before the house; I rang the bell, and inquired who was dead. It was "the lady," who so frequently visited Mr. Smith (I had learnt his name at least): she had burst a blood-vessel,and died suddenly; not another female but my lady ever entered his house-was it not enough to drive me mad? She was dead! buried! and I did not even know her name. I found out the churchyard in which she was interred; in a fortnight from her funeral, I walked there: I gave the sexton, who was digging a grave, half-a-crown to show me the headstone of a lady who was buried on the sixth of the month: he jumped out of the unmade grave: he shook the rich, dark, human-looking earth from his shoes, and hat in hand, he preceded me along a side-path. My heart beat, my eyes dilated, my breath came thick-he stopped. "That was a busy day with us, sir," he said with a quiet " but you smile; person you are looking for there, poor soul!" will be sure to find the He stretched forth his arm, and I moved forward in the direction which it indicated it had indeed been a busy day. Death himself had been in the conspiracy against me; doubtlessly I looked upon the grave which I sought, but there were THREE! they were all females-all of nearly the same age and all buried on the sixth! The physicians have decided that I am suffering from an attack of liver-pshaw ! [ am suffering from a worse, a more incurable evil; I am dying by inches-worn to the bone, by anxiety, and irritation, and the insolvable mystery of the Everlasting Woman! S. g. THE BARD'S APOLOGY. BY R. SHELTON MACKENZIE. ONCE and once only did a cloud seem to float across our confidings. She was singing for me, and into the air, which of itself was mournful, she had thrown such a flood of overpowering pathos, that my soul was carried away to the thoughts of other years-for music holds the silver key of memory-to the buried and the blest. The strain ceased, and, as my wonted tribute of thanks did not reward its merits, she feared that they delighted me no more. Tears filled her eyes and she was laying aside her harp when she breathed this fear. I could not speak cold words of explanation to her-and at such a moment. I seized the instrument, and, striking the chords, as in accompaniment, flung into rapid and voluntary song the feelings which overpowered me. My words were these: Still, still, fair minstrel! pour along While admiration-heart and ear, Even when 'tis past, he hears thee still! And thus, proud beauty! pour along Poor as the tribute was, unsuited to do honour or justice to her powers, it was received with joy, because it came from me, and the very rudeness of its language, she said, gave it merit in her eyes-because, unpolished by the rules of poetic art, it was a faithful transcript of my thoughts. And thus passed away the only shadow that dimmed-but for a moment-the sunshine of our love. AMERICAN POETRY.* THE SONG OF THE BEES. WE watch for the light of the morn to break And colour the eastern sky With its blended hue of saffron and lake, Then say to each other, "Awake! awake! For our winter's honey is all to make, And our bread for a long supply!" * From a volume of Poems, by Miss F. H. Gould, published in Boston; the only one of the last twenty or thirty worth notice. VOL. IV. H |