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elevated and refined, then the union is that the proceeding had been concerted the augmented flow of a bright and between her brother and herself; that tranquil stream. More happy still for her, if superior worth or social standing on their part affords a welcome influence to light her to their level. But often she becomes allied to those whose views and ways are quite diverse from hers. The two families, or races, have been trained on different systems, trained to different habits, prejudices, and aims. Then, supposing their standard to be inferior to hers, it will usually and almost necessarily happen, either that she will elevate them or they will depress her.

THE GIFT OF TONGUES.

There is no art or science that is too difficult for industry to attain to; it is the gift of tongues, and makes a man understood and valued in all countries, and by all nations. It is the philosopher's stone, that turns all metals, and even stones, into gold, and suffers no want to break into its dwelling. It is the north-west passage, that brings the merchant's ships

as soon to him as he can desire. In a
word, it conquers all enemies, and makes
fortune itself
pay contribution.

ORIGIN OF PENNY POSTAGE.

A traveler, sauntering through the Lake districts of England some years ago, arrived at a small public-house just as the postman stopped to deliver a letter. A young girl came out to receive it; she took it in her hand, turned it over and over, and asked the charge: it was a large sum-no less than a shilling. Sighing heavily, she observed that it came from her brother, but that she was too poor to take it in, and she returned it to the postman accordingly. The traveler was a man of kindness as well as of observation; he offered to pay the postage himself, and, in spite of more reluctance on the girl's part than he could well understand, he did pay it, and gave her the letter. No sooner, however, was the postman's back turned, than she confessed

the letter was empty; that certain signs on the direction conveyed all that she wanted to know; and that, as they could neither of them afford to pay postage, they had devised this method of franking the intelligence desired. The traveler pursued his journey, and as he plodded over the Cumberland Fells, he mused upon the badness of a system which drove people to such straits for means of correspondence, and defeated its own objects all the time. With most men such musings would have ended before. the close of the hour; but this man's name was Rowland Hill; and it was from this incident, and these reflections, that the whole scheme of penny-postage was derived.

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THE AMERICAN MERCHANT.

The American merchant is a type of restless, adventurous, onward-going race of people. He sends his merchandise all makes wants, that he may supply them; over the earth; stocks every market; covers the New-Zealander with southern cotton woven in northern looms; builds blocks of stores in the Sandwich Islands; swaps with the Feejee cannibal; sends the whale-ship among the icebergs of the poles, or to wander in solitary seas, till the log-book tells the tedious sameness of years, and boys become men; gives the ice of the Northern winter to the torrid zone; piles up Fresh Pond on the banks of the Hooghly; gladdens the sunny savannahs of the dreamy South, and makes life tolerable in the bungalow of an India jungle. The lakes of New-England awake to life by the rivers of the sultry East, and the antipodes of the earth come in contact at this "meeting of the waters." The white canvas of the American ship glances in every nook of every ocean. Scarcely has the slightest intimation come of some unknown, obscure corner of a remote sea, when the captain is consulting his charts, in full career for the terra incognita.

RECENT

From the Dublin University Magazine.

HISTORICAL

REVELATIONS.

whose diligent researches will enable him to discern truth in the midst of the sectarian, political, and egotistical clouds by which it may be enveloped. With these conditions, history becomes in reality what Schiller calls it "The Tribunal of the World." It may then be considered as the great earthly judge, generally, and often invisibly, reprobating the iniquities of the past, and regulating the movements of the human mind and of societies.

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Despite the difficulties of obtaining a strict accuracy of details, in the contentions of parties and factions in the motives of men in many of the secret springs that have led to revolutions, transformations, and calamitous events-history can not be divested of its dignity. It is the study of the advance of principles, affections, and intellectual powers; it marks out the mode in which individuals and nations shall unfold themselves, so that they may grow up what God designs them to be.

HISTORY, of all the productions of the intellect, is that which presents the most varied forms. Independently of the philosophies of history, whose object is to lead the reader to some arbitrary conclusion, we have chronicles, memoirs, narratives of battles, and the lives of kings, in which the personality of the narrator is more or less apparent. Then comes that numerous class of historians, whose long practical knowledge of men and human affairs induces them, irresistibly, to refer the effects to the causes, in connecting human events with the motives which explain them, and the consequences that have ensued. Those historians, therefore, . become judges upon the events which they relate; and, although they place themselves, as it were, in presence of the public and of posterity, they inevitably invest their productions with a portion of their convictions, of their sympathies and antipathies-often of their passions. Hence the incredulity sometimes professed about the reality and efficiency of The paramount usefulness of history, history. We conceive this incredulity to with all its ramifications, has, of late years, be only admissible and justifiable with been generally admitted; and the deplor reference to the details which, in the eyes able deficiency or total absence of historiof the superficial student, are the whole cal studies in British education is awakenof history. But the preeminent, vital ing the promoters of education and traits of nations, namely, the laws, litera- enlightenment to a sense of the existence ture, institutions, the economical state of of a chasm. Goethe says somewhere, that societies, or those changes which affect to write is an abuse of words that the the augmentation and distribution of impression of a solitary reading replaces wealth and property, all are glaring, irre- but sadly the vivid energy of spoken lanfragable facts which baffle the arguments guage that it is by his personality that of skeptics and opponents. It may be ob- man exercises an action upon man, whilst served, that such are more especially the thus, at the same time, the impressions domains of the generalizing historian. are the strongest and the purest. Goethe's Such generalizations, however, offer alone a idea is the clearest expression of tuition rich field for moral, political, and social rightly understood; and in history espe studies. cially the professorial duties and its advantages can not find an equivalent by mere reading, the latter being more especially an auxiliary to the former by judicious references. The conscientious professor of history, after seeking for truth in all parties and sects-after weighing testimonies- after having pondered documents

With reference to the details of history, although they certainly must be accepted with great caution-seldom, if ever, to be credited, if received from one channel only-accuracy, nevertheless, is to be obtained, if not by the generality of compilers, assuredly by the honest investigator,

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But the doubts and incredulity we have alluded to, respecting many historical facts and details will ere long be inadmissible. There is a tendency in our time, daily on the ascendant, to open to the public all original correspondences and documents on civil and military transactions. Such publications, which have already had an extensive development within these last ten years, will gradually become a necessity of civilized nations. They lay bare the sources of history; they are the lifeblood of historical science; they unravel the true nature of men and their deeds; they greatly facilitate the future labors of the historian, whilst they satisfy the doubts and hesitations of the public. Such productions have already revealed many truths respecting events and characters which had been hitherto misappreciated. The French historians and statesmen, for instance, never believed that William Pitt was sincere when treating with the French Republic, until his correspondence with Lord Malmesbury was given to the public. The lofty integrity of the Duke of Wellington, along with the incredible difficulties of every description he had to encounter, are indelibly portrayed in his Dispatches. If the whole mass of Napoleon's letters and orders amounting to something like thirty thousand, are published by the French Government, (as announced,) we will then behold the real Napoleon. The heartless, unscrupulous ferocity of the great man, is already abundantly displayed in the correspondence with his brother, Joseph, published by M. Du Casse. The recent publication of the original letters of Henry IV. of France, reveals the originality and powers of conception of the first Bourbon, whom Napoleon contemptuously and unjustly called, a captain of cavalry. They restore to the greatest of French monarchs all that had been traditionally attributed to Sully.

By the recent publication of original documents, several portions of the history

of the sixteenth century that had been obscure or misrepresented have received a new and purer light. The corresponddence of Granvelle, the letters of the French and Venetian ambassadors in the East, published by Charrière, explain the Eastern affairs during that period. With the correspondence of Charles V., edited by Lanz, and the publications of Gachard; with the ordinances of this Emperor, the trials given by Llorente, along with Granvelle's letters, the political Charles V. of Schiller, and other historians, vanishes. We no longer behold the prudent, profound statesman and warrior, so unjustifiably overrated even in our own time, but the crafty sovereign, the heartless fanatic. In the above documents, abundantly and skilfully exploited by Ranke, Prescott, and Mignet, the transformation of that celebrated character may be clearly followed. With reference to his retirement in the convent of Estramadure, the details of it, found in the inexhaustible Royal Archives of Simancas, have been rapidly popularized by MM. Stirling, Mignet, Gachard, and Pichot; and such a sudden popularity is explained by the romaticism of the Emperor's supposed seclusion from worldly affairs; by his ordering his own funerala faint but favorite speck of history in schools and drawing-rooms. To M. Gachard especially, Archivist-General of Belgium, the world is indebted for, perhaps, the largest amount of original documents recently published. His Correspondence of Philip II., of the Duke of Alva, of Alexander Farnese, is invaluable. In his four volumes of the Correspondence, etc., of Guillaume le Taciturne, may be contemplated that lofty figure, who was king of all the friends of toleration, the head of the party of humanity in an age of reckless cruelty-in short, the pure, gentle, impartial hero, many traits of whose character the English student finds inherited. by his descendant William III., and so graphically delineated by Lord Macaulay, and to which he beholds Miss Strickland's heart unfemininely callous.

Although nothing can be more satisfactory than original documents, still they require discernment. Great attention is demanded as to their origin and authors. They must be, in some instances, controlled by others for instance, whenever they consist of family chronicles, written by the servants of great princely houses, and exclusively in their praise. These are

influence, is the far-famed episode of the Sicilian Vespers.

not to be rejected, but must, of necessity, | occupy a secondary place. On the other hand, many characters branded, and justly Poor Italy has ever been a pendulum so, by history, offer at times redeeming betwixt slavery and anarchy. It has ever points-some acts decidedly meritorious. been prolific in conspiracies and ignoble The tragic muse has left a fearful cloud tyrants. It has ever been the classical over the memory of Richard III. of England of conspirators. In its medieval land, and several of his creditable acts are history alone we find Porcaro, the Pazzi, ignored. The figure of the French king, Olgiati, and others. It is undeniable that Philip, le Bel, the forgerer, is justly repul- the traditional episode of the Sicilian Vessive and odious; still, several of his enact-pers, preceded by a vast conspiracy, inocments and institutions were advantageous ulated in the vivid imaginations of the to the country. The domain of thought, Italians a taste for conspiracies; a tendenas well as the history of men, seems, at cy to secret, subterranean agitation, foltimes, to consist of reactions. An attempt lowed by a sudden dramatic explosion ; has even been made to rehabilitate the and it is evident that such a remedy as Borgias. Henry VIII. of England, in partial conspiracies has aggravated the skillful hands, may soon become the dar- odious and iniquitous tyrannies that tramling pet of English ladies. ple under foot the fair peninsula. The Sicilian Vespers have been for ages a favorite theme for enthusiastic commentaries. Sismondi, and all the Italian historians, have more or less dwelt on the conspiracy. It has been universally popularized, and has inflamed the imagination of all civilized nations through the dreams and embellishments of the novelist and the dramatist. Nothing could exceed the enthusiasm created by the tragedy of Casimir Delavigne. And now, after such an extraordinary influence; after the statements of historians; after such a fabulous prestige, it is positive that there has never been a conspiracy at all; that the Sicilian Vespers were the result of a sudden, unexpected popular explosion. The documents recently produced by M. Amari, the learned and skillful Sicilian historian, leave not a shadow of doubt on the subject. John of Procida is no longer the hero of the conspiracy, but a man who, like so many others in history, comes up when all is over, and makes the best of every thing.

There is a recent instance of that tendency to rehabilitate royal criminals which illustrates our observation on the necessity of great discernment, even with original documents. Who can be so ignorant of history as not to have read something about the dark deeds of Catherine of Medicis? In our time there has appeared most powerful evidence presenting this good queen to the public in her immaculate nature. No one could read her life, published at Florence by M. Alberj, without conceiving a most favorable opinion of this Florentine importation at the court of France-a life, it must not be omitted, written from the authentic acts and documents existing in the Tuscan archives. Nothing could be more unanswerable. But if you investigate the nature of those manuscripts and authentic documents, you find that they are nothing more than family documents, letters written from Paris by servants, menials, admirers of Catherine, and envoys of the Grand Duke. We believe that a more satisfactory document to be consulted on Catherine de Medicis is herself-namely, her own letters, which contradict, in every thing the Florentine historian. One volume only of these letters has yet been published, and it is hoped that what remains will also be given to the public. The originals and copies are at the French Archives and the Imperial Library.

Some of the most popular and dramatic events in the history of Italy have recently been restored to their true character. The first among them in point of date, and, perhaps, also in point of importance and

The conquest of Naples and Sicily by the Normans, far from having been followed by the same cruelty and rapacity which the same race of conquerors displayed in England, on the contrary, proved one of the happiest periods of that unfortunate country. Long after, when evil days had fallen on the Sicilians, they sighed after the times of the Norman king, William the Good-a very rare testimony paid to the memory of kings. Subsequently Sicily became annexed to the Germanic Empire, and the House of Hohenstauffen, by a matrimonial alliance,

of every day and every moment. The noblest of families were reduced to mendicity; their daughters a prey to the coarsest soldiery. All able-bodied men were pressed for the army and the fleet. If any fled, father, mother, and sisters met with certain death, after tortures and outrages. When these horrors became known at Rome, the Pontiff did not spare his remonstrances to Charles of Anjou. They were of no avail. The Sicilians then turned their hearts and hopes towards the Queen of Arragon, Constance, daughter of Manfred. Many refugees were kindly received by her; but the king, her husband's policy did not permit him to manifest any sympathy.

and thus became mixed up with all the sanguinary struggles of the House of Swabia. The Sicilians were fascinated by the hero-poet, Frederic II., and his oriental habits, and manifested afterwards a sincere attachment to his bastard, Manfred. The latter was reigning over the fair island but nominally, till the majority and arrival of the legitimate and sole heir of the Hohenstauffens, when Charles of Anjou, brother of St. Louis, armed with a Papal Bull, after the most extensive preparations, in his Provençal cities, bathed by the Mediterranean Sea, sailed, in 1267, at the head of a formidable armament for the conquest of Naples and Sicily. Charles of Anjou that tall stern man, always clothed in black, and who never smiled, As to Procida, who has so long been says Villani - was brooding over ambi- transformed into the hero of a supposed tious designs that extended to the sove- conspiracy, he was already in an advanced reignty of Constantinople, and, perhaps, age; he was not a Sicilian, and by his further. His army fell on Naples and conduct had become an object of distrust, Sicily like a destructive swarm. Manfred if not of hatred, to the oppressed people. being defeated and slain at the Battle of He certainly had been faithful to Manfred; Beneventum, Charles gave a free vent to but when the disaster was complete, his his vindictive, bloodthirsty nature and his property confiscated, and himself exiled, rapacity. All who were only suspected of he did not persevere in his fidelity to the adherence to the fallen dynasty were vanquished. There is a letter existing, butchered with their children, and their from Pope Clement IV., imploring, in his property confiscated. The little city of behalf, the pardon of the conqueror, in Agousto, having offered some resistance, terms damaging the dignity of the so every inhabitant, without regard to sex or long-supposed author of conspiracy. The age, was slaughtered in cold blood. Pa- popular imagination, and the historical lermo, the industrious, active, elegant novelists, so fatal at all times to a pure city of former days, soon fell into a death- notion of history, both have established like torpor. A most oppressive feudalism that Procida's wife, Landolfina, had fallen was organized among the dispossessed a victim to French violence, and that he nobility of the island. The rich Sici- had sworn to avenge her, and free his lian heiresses were forced to wed the country. Authentic documents now prove French courtiers, while marriage was in- that Landolfina possessed immense wealth, terdicted to the sons of the Sicilian vassals. which was restored to her, as she proved Charles' object was to extinguish the race that she had taken no share in what she of his enemies. The poor Sicilian peasant called the malice of her husband. It is became oppressed by his own Sicilian no- well ascertained, also, that she became bles, who had hitherto been paternal in notorious among the French for her galtheir relations with the people, but who lantry and prodigalities. There is no now, either to please the new king, or doubt, however, that Procida, whose satisfy the fiscal exigencies, became as great experience must have been valuable, reckless in their tyranny as the feudal became the confident of the ambitious nobles of the rest of Europe. Every ob- views of Don Pedro, the King of Arragon, ject of the first necessity and utility became and that he evidently undertook some disubject to heavy taxation. The Sicilians plomatic missions in his service, to secure, were cruelly obliged to exchange their if possible, the sympathies of Rome, and pure gold coins of the time of Frederic, the assistance of the Byzantine Emperor, for the new corrupt French money. Woe who dreaded the ambition of the formito those who dared to evade or resist the dable brother of Saint Louis. Perhaps decree! the rack awaited them! The Procida penetrated into the new dominSicilian chronicles of the period can alone ions of Charles of Anjou, but merely to give an idea of the abominable oppression | sustain the courage of some of the Sicilian

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