CHARLOTTE BRONTE. I read "Wuthering Heights," and I then formed the opinion which I still retain, that it displayed more dramatic power than Charlotte's novels. Charlotte had more of the analytic power which Mrs. Gaskell calls the "handmaid of genius;" but Emily, with a faculty of slower, less self-conscious, less amenable growth, held, it seems to me, a stronger pen than her sister. And, while she lived, the only recognition of anything of the kind was one discerning word in the Athenæum about her Poems! Mrs. Gaskell introduces, on page 97, of Vol. I., THE WOUNDED STAG. Of the wood's sombre heart, Last night I saw a wounded deer, Laid lonely and apart. Such light as pierced the crowded boughs, (Light scattered, scant, and dim,) Passed through the fern that formed his couch Pain trembled in his weary limbs, Pain filled his patient eye, Pain-crushed amid the shadowy fern, Where were his comrades ? where his mate? Did he feel what a man might feel, Friendless and sore distrest ? Did pain's keen dart, and grief's sharp sting, Did longing for affection lost No! leave to man his proper doom! Before I close the gossip in which I have indulged myself about Charlotte Brontë, I propose to supplement for my readers all the reviews they may have read of Mrs. Gaskell's book-most probably all, I mean. A fac-simile page is given in Vol. I, from "The Secret," one of Charlotte's very juvenile novels, written, says Mis. Gaskell, ii a hand which it is almost impossible to decipher without the aid of a magnifying glass." Well, I Jave interested myself in deciphering it, and present the result as a literary curiosity :-- -that-" THE SECRET. 205 At A DEAD silence had reigned in the Home Office of Verdo- * Wellington is Charlotte's piece de resistance in all her juvebeaters been sunerly uses him up. 296 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. said "Mr. Sydney! Marquis of Douro! come hither a mo- for wanting the earrings," these are quite different" ment." Both the gentlemen obeyed the summons-Arthur-precisely a lady's reason for buying what she does with alacrity, and Sydney with reluctance. "What are your commands, fair lady ?" said the former, bowing respectfully to the inmates of the carriage, who were Lady Julia Sydney, and Lady Maria Sneaky. "Our commands are principally for your companion, my lord, not for you," replied the daughter of Alexander the First. "Now, Mr. Sydney," she continued, smiling on the Senator, "you must promise not to be disobedient." "Let me know first what I am re quired to perform," was the cautious answer, accompanied by a fearful glance at the shops around. "Nothing of much consequence, Edward," said his wife," but I hope you'll not refuse to oblige me this once, love; I only want a few guineas to enable me to make out the price of a pair of earrings I have just seen in Mr. Lapis's shop." "Not a bit of it," answered he, "and not a farthing will I give you; it is scarce three weeks since you received your quarter's allowance, and if that is done (gone?) already, you may suffer for it." With this decisive reply, he instinctively thrust his hand into his breeches pockets and marched off with a hurried step. "Stingy little monkey!" exclaimed Lady Julia, sinking back on the carriage seat, while the bright flush of anger and disappointment crimsoned her fair cheek, "this is the way he always treats me; but I'll make him suffer for it." "Do not discompose yourself so much, my dear," said her companion-"my purse is at your service, if you will accept it." "I am sensible of your goodness, Maria, but, of course I shall not take advantage of it. No, no; I This is certainly very curious writing, and truly feminine, not only in the lack of punctuation (which I have supplied in copying), but in the tone and treatment; eg., in the contempt for stinginess, and in the reason put into Julia's mouth not necd. But I think, after a quiet smile at Ein wandernd Leben but partly weak health, and partly duty, narrowed I have not yet done with the author of "Jane Eyre." Meanwhile, Mrs. Gaskell's memoirs of her friend suggest two serious warnings. 1st. Let novel-readers see the risks they run in encouraging melodrama and splash; they nearly missed "Jane Eyre;" how many good books may they yet miss by forcing publishers to measure MSS. by a false standard? 2ndly. Let wrong-deers see the risks they run! There are two pilloried in Mrs. Gaskell's volumes, over and above those who, already esposed in "Jane Eyre," are now exposed afresha very bad woman and a selfish and negligent publisher. Everybody knows who the publisher is; the woman cannot long hide her shame. One word more :-the book, on the whole, shows literature and literary men and women in pleasing lights, and one trembles for its consequences, (in the shape of packets of MS.) to such generous publishers as Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co. TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF A COSMOPOLITE'S LIFE; BEING PAGES OF ADVENTURE AND TRAVEL. CHAPTER VIII. A DISASTER AND ITS RESULTS. BARELY Six months had elapsed from our taking possession of the house at Deramapatam before the north-east monsoon set in. I had witnessed the effects of their periodical rains and tempests in other parts of India; but never yet on the coast of Malabar; where, comparatively speaking, their force was as giant strength to pigmy play. For weeks before the first outburst, preparations had been going on on an extensive scale, both be low and aloft. Below, husbandmen laboured hard early and late, to warehouse their grain and straw before the damp should irretrievably ruin them; natives of all denominations and descriptions, assisted by other members of their families, were busily engaged fresh thatching their miserable huts, gathering in charcoal, firewood, and cowdung, for fuel; mats were spread on terrace tops and platforms, covered with pepper, chillies, the various gredients that constitute a curry, pickles, tamarinds, and many other odds and ends that required a good sunning and plenty of air before they were transferred to the earthenware vessels whence careful ant or bee, in laying up a substantial harvest against the day of need. Squirrels had lined their winter nests with the proceeds of manifold felonies, committed in doors and out of doors, even to the extent of rifling couch cushions, and bedding of cotton, for the better accommodation of the young sqirrels expectant. As for the generality of birds, sparrows excepted, they had all betaken themselves for the season to the milder and less boisterous temperature of Mysore, and other countries beyond the Ghauts. Only the swallows and the wild pigeons, of all the migratory birds, remained, and these found ample shelter and food amongst the roofs of the houses, or the deep caverns and recesses that literally dis sected the cliffs in all directions. Heavy, gloomy days and oppressive nights-the low growl of incessant distant thunder, and the occasional fiery streaks of forked lightning in the in-heavy black bank, which was increasing in bulk day by day. The sea looked calm, but sluggish and black; its surface like the face of some deep plotting villain, who strove, but strove vainly, to cast a superficial cloak of serenity over a turbid and restless storm of passion and evil, raging beneath. Mournful was it in the oppressive stillness of early morning, or late in the evening, to sit and listen to the low murmuring of the waves, as they washed against the sea sand and shingle of Then, as the sun sank, wan and pale, as though sick with emotion, behind the heavy pile that girt the ocean's horizon, the melancholy bleating of a few wretched goats, the distant whistle of their shepherd, the lark's evening hymn, gradually subsiding into and lost in the louder hoot of the screechowl: all these had a sombre, an overwhelming effect upon my young and solitary mind, and some. how or other, led to a vague and superstitious presentiment of pending evil. Doubtless, something heavy in the atmosphere tended to relax our nerves, but, more or less, every individual complained of the same lassitude, and all wished that the dreaded, and yet longed-for, monsoon would explode its first fury, and revive parched nature and our fevered frames by moistening the earth, and cooling the atmosphere around. the beach, far below our dwelling place. they would be removed only as the necessity of the household required. Teams of oxen, with dismally groaning yokes, whirled round ponderous stone wheels, between which round cocoa-nuts were crushed into anything but odoriferous oil, and whole parties of women and children were busy in sorting the husks from the newly collected paddy, and then washing and cleansing the rice from all stones and dirt. Huge jars of oil and arrack, festoons of onions, red chillies and garlic, strings of what to all appearance seemed to be the heels of old boots, but which in reality were buffalo meat dried in the sun; these and the other Indian dainties, together with a variety of infantine and shapeless rags were exposed out of doors, for sunning and airing. Fodder and grain were hoarded up for cattle, and water-tight sheds erected for their convenience. Old men, half-blind and decrepid, who occupied certain spots during given hours of the day, deserted these as the air became charged with vapid humours, and betook themselves to the miserable consolation of smoky wood fires, in huts that children could barely stand upright in. Crows, those plagues of India, grew more thievish and noisy than ever, fearful for the fate of their nests and young ones, which were perched upon the tallest cocoanut trees, yet so imbecile with all their rascality, as to prefer stealing silver tea-spoons and butter to imitating the A spirit extracted from the cocoa-nut tree. At last, one more than ordinarily sultry even ing, when the moon scarce dared peep forth from the misty veil of fog that enveloped the heavens, -of a sudden there burst upon us the roar as of many waters rushing from their bounds, and overwhelming the earth with the fury of their torrents. Scarcely had the servants and all the palanquin beaters been summoned to the succour, before the the wind had entirely abated, and the sea had calmed down again; but as for damp and gloomy weather, nothing can bear comparison to Tellicherry, during the prevalence of these monsoons. Many of the rooms were almost too dark to see to read in, all too damp to remain idly seated in with impunity. Like troubled spirits we wandered from wing to wing, still haunted by the dreary aspect around us, and by the incessant dismal pattering of the rain upon the tiled roofs. As for the state of affairs out of doors, nothing more wretched can be conceived. Every shrub was under water, and, as a natural result of this inundation, the house was besieged with vermin aud reptiles, driven from their haunts. Snakes, centipedes, rats, mongooses, even jackals penetrated into our lower floors, and met with a most inhospitable reception. Many birds also, some of the most timid, flew into our bedrooms, and condescended to feed off the floor, from crumbs and other substances thrown them for their sustenance. The old coachman and the horses were completely cut off from all communication with the house, and every one must have perished of starvation, had not ample stores of many of the necessaries of life been gathered in by the forethought of our butler, who had lived at Tellicherry before, and who happened to know what the monsoons in these parts were like. All communication with Tellicherry proper had been entirely cut off-not even the postman dared to venture across with the avant-courier of the tempest swept over the promontory where our house was situated. What shall I liken it to? The wind blew so hard that it seemed absolutely to prevent the heavy and incessant torrents of rain from touching the earth; but, lifting them up, bore them, as it were, on its wings till the waters rushed by, a perpetual and resistless stream. Then, as for the lightning, in all my subsequent experience and travel, I never witnessed anything more grand and impressive. The whole earth seemed flooded with light, whilst the very arches of the skies must have tottered beneath the frequent and sublimely awful thundering of Heaven's loud artillery. That night, none of us repaired to rest; many parts of the house leaked like a sieve; others admitted of the wind to such an extent that all our joint skill and strength could barely suffice to prevent entire windows and doors from being wrenched from their hinges, and hurled up into the air, none could tell where. In the midst of all this turmoil and uproar of the elements, when the miserable heat of a damp wood fire barely sufficed to keep the damp out of our only habitable room, and we were dependent for light upon the flickering and uncertain light of a wretched old horn lantern; in the midst of this, the old lady grew turbulent beyond passive endurance, persisting-poor old soul! that that inevitable rebellion was close at hand, and that our only chance of safety lay in immediate flight through the hideous tempest then raging around. Nor did she confine herself to sugges-ferry. tions, but availing herself of an opportunity afforded by the sudden bursting of one of the windows to the windward, she managed to escape the vigilance of my sisters, and instantly got out into the compound, bareheaded and exposed, till turning a sudden angle of the house brought her into full contact with the storm,, which literally lifted her up, and blew her back again as easily as a child might blow a feather. Her scream of pain and alarm was the first notification we had of her absence, and when C. had lifted her in and placed her on a temporary couch, she sank into a slumber under the influence of a mild narcotic nothing the worse for her tussle with the winds, if I may except the fright and nervous excitement of the moment. Next morning what a scene of desolation presented itself! How had the mighty fallen! The stately teak trees of a century's growth lay grovelling in mud and water, whilst cocoa-nut trees by scores had been torn up by the roots and prostrated. Nor was this all the damage entailed by the fury of the last night's gale. Many a gallant bark, caught unawares in the dangerous proximity of a sea shore, had been thrown headlong amongst the furious waves, now surgiug in upon the beach, and but few, very few, of their crews had survived to tell the tale of their sufferings and woes the preceding night. With little or no abatement the rain continued to pour down in torrents for the ensuing fortnight; At the expiration of this fortnight, however, the rains ceased, and the waters rapidly abated. One day's sunshine did wonders towards drying up humidity, and a week would doubiless have set us all to rights again. But such was not to be the case, and the result was, that after the lapse of so many years, my recollections of the last days spent in that princely mansion at Deramapatam are blended with a solemn indescribable sorrow, which seems to tinge the whole place with the sombre hue of mourning. Naturally of a restless and active disposition, nothing could have annoyed poor C. more griev- « ously than the constraint imposed upon him by the formidable inclemency of the weather. Nothing daunted, however, and despite the entreaties of my sisters, he would persist in suipe-shooting day after day, coming back chilled and wet through to the skin, besides having very little in the shape of game to recompense him for such labour and exposure. One morning, not feeling very well, he sent for a barber that lived close by, who bled him. Me dical men there were none within hail, save the Civil Surgeon, who lived ten miles away from us and who at that period was a sad invalid himself and indeed had been confined to his bed for several weeks past. After having been bled, C., who fel himself much better, made a hearty breakfast and then shouldering his gun, sallied forth in pu suit of the usual game. That day, snipe we more abundant than they had been previously REDUCTION OF ESTABLISHMENT. Elated with success, he prolonged the sport until perfectly saturated from head to foot. He then came back, weary aud footsore, took a glass of sherry, and dressed for dinner. Dinner was served at seven, and we had all partaken of soup, and were helped to roast fowl. Poor C. raised the first mouthful to his lips, and then suddenly, without groan or effort, fell back dead in his chair. Alas! woe is me! not all the love we nurtured for him, not all our prayers or care could awaken again one glad beam of affection from those eyes, one sound from that dearly loved, cherished voice. In an instant he had been taken from amongst ús; and as, with tearful eyes and aching heart, I watched his poor ashes lowered into their last receptacle, the hooting of an accursed owl from some nook in the ruined Protestant Church seemed distinctly to say-" With him lie buried your future hopes of happiness and success through life." CHAPTER IX. REDUCTION OF ESTABLISHMENT. 299 my dictum. I blushed to think that she had detected me in an error, and was yet simpleton enough not to confess myself in the wrong. A fortnight elapsed, and in that interval the greater part of poor C.'s establishment had been broken up and brought to the hammer. My sister, however, owned much of the household furniture, inclusive of the carriage and carriage horses, and doubtless, thinking the expense and trouble of another journey a thing not lightly to be undertaken, she rented a small but very comfortable little house in the centre of the town; which boasted of a pretty fair walled-in garden, was opposite the fort, the master attendant's, and the church-and close alongside of the sub-collector's house, and the quarters occupied by the officers commanding the detachment of native infantry. We retained all our old servants, and in the course of a few months settled down into a very comfortable, easy kind of life. My poor pony and gun were both gone, and although I missed them considerably at first, I formed acquaintance with several Portuguese youths of my own age, with whom I romped and played during the cooler hours of the day, whilst the remainder was devoted to my studies, to which I now settled down with more earnestness than I ever evinced before. One good arising from my mixing with Portuguese youth was the facility with which I acquired their language, which though only a patois of the pure mother tongue, rendered me much service in after years, during my long sojourn in India. I was also naturally anddoatingly fond of music, so it was not long before I could sing many a lively Portuguese air to the intense delight of my guardian with the few friends she occasionally assembled round her of an evening. THE sudden and melancholy end of poor C., who was taken from us apparently in robust health, and when only just entering upon the prime of life, created a profound sympathy amongst the few Europeans resident at Tellicherry, and we were perfectly besieged with offers of hospitality, until such time as we could look around and determine upon some spot for future residence. As I have already stated, my sister Ellen was the widow of a colonel, and she consequently enjoyed a pension adequate to the wants of the whole of us-more especially in so cheap and retired a part of India. After some little hesitation, therefore, we became Whilst living at Deramapatam the distance had the guests of Mr. and Mrs. V-n, who resided in almost entirely secluded us from mingling with Tellicherry proper. Mr. V-n was the second tho other European families; now we were right judge on circuit, and next in rank to the fiery old in the centre of them all, and very shortly became gentleman before alluded to. His wife was a intimately acquainted. Though few in number, most amiable and agreeable lady, and, what was a they were mostly oddities in their way. great thing for me, she kept an English nursemaid, was old Mr. N., the excellent-hearted third judge, very young and pretty, and who, boy as I was, must who was as eccentric as, and in many things have captured what little heart I then had to boast of. resembled, the character painted of George III. In a childish way, and vastly to the amusement of His visits were a visitation to me, for he invariably the ladies, who were eaves-droppers, I made fierce put me through a course of Latin Grammar, of love to her. Whenever she was engaged in iron-which I was egregiously ignorant, and asked so ing out the children's linen, I would sit by the hour hard by, and read from marvellous fairy tales, or equally marvellous books on natural history, which had been picked up from some itinerant book vendor, and were almost antediluvian as to date. On one of these occasions, in my great anxiety to show my learning to Mary, I quite astonished her weak mind by coolly assuring her that there was a large bird in Bengal, and which was known to naturalists as the quarter-master. 'Indeed," said Mary "I never heard of that before, sir, but I have heard of a bird called the adjutant." It was no use her trying to argue me out of There many and such rapid questions, without ever pausing for a reply, that I might well have exclaimed with the clodhopper May I be cust, If I knows which to answer fust. A more benevolent soul never stepped in shoeleather. He was perpetually seeking out and relieving objects of affliction, and yet, poor man, he had the misfortune, the unspeakable sorrow, of being a widower with one only daughter, and that girl a confirmed and furious lunatic. Doatingly fond of her, he was lavish in expense for her every comfort, and kept her confined, but without |