might, he was first in the field, and that THE GENIUS OF HUMBUG. A DREAM. an avowal of love from both Parkes and St. Albans. Unsolicited, unexpected, unhoped for, separate from every wish or fancy of Emily's, that avowal on the part of the young officer had been made in the verandah the night of the day this story opens. They -he and Emily were each leaning upon the balcony which fronted the full, wide view of the faintly lighted midaun, and the network of masts and rigging in the distant offing: above, a clear eastern starlit sky, while around and about the whole scene was the slumbering stillness of sleeping nature and of human-kind. A few lights passed and re-passed on the vast plain; a few dimly outlined palkees, a few groaning hackeries, a few myriads of starving jackals, a few scudding bats, and a few native notes of unnatural music from native pedestrians. To the right, the not ungracefully proportioned Ochterlony Monument -that impolitic medley of three nations' styles-pierced upwards into the bright blue sky; to the left, the huge and shapeless mass of the unornamented flank of Fort William, and the contrasted airiness of the Cathedral, in all its pride of false Gothic. These were the objects upon which Emily's brightened eyes unnoticingly fell, as her companion told her, in boldly-streaming towards a large building that timorous, sensible English, of the fulness and warmth of his love for her. She was born, and had been bred, in a military atmosphere; had met and mixed with the best men of half the best regiments; but until now she thought she had never seen one man who came so closely up to her ideal,- -so gentle, yet so earnest, so timorous, yet so bold, as was this young Lieutenant of her Majesty st, George Homer Parkes. "I am not an adventurer, Miss Raymond; I am not without present means and future prospects; I am not without some claim to that accident in our great human family called' birth,' which forms so gigantic a portion of your aunt's irrevocable creed of respectability. I shall, if I live, get my promotion this year; but the promotion dearer to me than all others is that which I have entreated you to confer upon me. If from our acquaintanceship -which I grant has been brief-you do not feel justified in judging of me in every respect, let me undergo a probationary ordeal for a week, a month, a year The speaker looked into Miss Raymond's face; the tears were dropping like a shower of pearls; and within a few yards of him were Lady Kean and Mr. St. Albans. He said no more, but, after a little while, ushered Emily into the drawing-room to fight the battle of chess, the issue of which has already been told. His heart was lighter, and that jealous envy which the heart of every lover knows, gave him to feel that, come what ONE night, before going to sleep, I had been reflecting a good deal on the present age, and its characteristics, and when at last overpowered by slumber, I had a strange dream, which was produced, I suppose, by the impressions my waking thoughts had left on my mind. Methought that I was in the midst of a large crowd of people, of every nation under the sun,——among whom I observed that the European nations, and their offshoots the Americans, were most fully represented,―all stood some distance off. On nearing this, I perceived it was built in several different styles, and over the porch was an inscription, in Gothic characters"Hall of Audience of the Great Genius of Humbug." Guided by the crowd, who were pouring in, I found myself in a lofty and spacious hall, large enough, it seemed to me, to contain a whole nation. Having with some difficulty extricated myself from the stream of human bodies, I proceeded at my leisure to examine the ornaments of the hall, which were very numerous. The first thing that struck me was a number of wooden clocks. On closer inspection, I found they had been made by an American, and would not figure. Underneath them were several baskets of nutmegs, manufactured by the same ingenious artist, of ligneous fabric. A number of fine statues next attracted my attention, which, to my astonishment, vanished when I attempted to look closely at them. These, I afterwards discovered, were composed of "such stuff as dreams are made of," and sculptured by famous artists of different nations. Among the subjects that struck me most, for the beautiful ideality of their expression, were,-Liberty, treated by a Frenchman; Patriotism, by a German ; Freedom of Opinion, by a Russian; and two exquisite figures of Toleration and Justice kissing each other, by a Roman artist. While, lost in astonishment, I wast surveying with admiration these chefsd'œuvre of art, a discordant blast of music roused me from my reverie. On looking up, I espied, at the other end of the hall, a most extraordinary figure, which immediately riveted my atten tion. It was a man with "fair round belly," and of jovial and rollicking aspect, though at times he turned up the whites of his eyes, as if in devotion; but even then an indescribable leer imparted a curious expression to his countenance. His dress was most peculiar, consisting of symbols of the different professions, put on indiscriminately. His head was covered with a solemn-looking judge's wig, which harmonised but little with the fool's cap that appeared above; his arms were decked with wide-spreading sleeves of a kind of fine muslin; and he folded round him, with an air of dignity, a black silk gown. In his hand he held a mace, such as is used by corporations and other public bodies, with which, having taken his seat with great stateliness on a large chair provided for him, he made a sign to a herald who was standing near. The latter immediately proclaimed, with stentorian voice "Oyes, oyes s! Know all men, that the mighty Genius of Humbug, the Patron of Poets, Philosophers, Lawyers, and Orators, &c. &c., has taken his seat, and is waiting to receive the homage of his devoted followers !" On hearing this proclamation, the crowd rushed forward with such eagerness, that his genius-ship would infallibly have been overturned, had it not been for the strenuous exertions of the surrounding officials, who with great difficulty kept off the multitude, and only allowed them to approach one by one. The first who came was an austerelooking individual, arrayed in a black silk gown. He knelt before the Genius, and, with a solemn look, handed him several volumes of the Annals, bound handsomely in leviathan skin; a number of sermons against the Whore of Babylon and Anti-Christ; copies of speeches advocating a law for the imprisonment of all men in a gloomy black dungeon on the first day of the week; and a petition demanding that the reign of Humbug, and his twinbrother Cant, should be proclaimed over all Asia. The Genius, having received from his hand these volumes and documents, handed them to an official who stood at his elbow, and winked several times at the donor. This I afterwards learnt was his usual mode of expressing approbation. Next advanced a portly person, clad in a long black coat, over which was a white garment, who scowled fiercely at the first individual, as he passed him. The new comer was staggering under a load of books, the titles of a few of which I caught a glimpse of. There were ten folio volumes on the Nagshead Controversy, eight on a Greek particle, together with a Life of St. Sordidus in two stout quarto volumes. While I was trying to make out the names of the other books, suddenly a burst of martial music, and the clash of presented arms, announced the approach of some person of importance. At the entrance of the hall, to which all eyes were turned, appeared a person, at the sight of whom the Genius indulged in such a paroxysm of winks, that fears were entertained for the safety of his sinister optic-the one used for winks of satisfaction. The individual whose entrance had caused such a sensation advanced with a firm, military step. He was clothed in modern uniform, and wore a beard and large moustachios. One part of his conduct appeared to me inexplicable: a female figure, with a helmet on her head, and a trident in her hand, walked near him. On her he was lavishing the greatest marks possible of affection and esteem; but every now and then, when her attention appeared to be directed from him, he took aim at her with a small pocketpistol, which he had concealed in his breast, but was, apparently, prevented from firing it by the vigilant watch she kept, even when seeming to attend to other things. Having reached the dais on which the chair of state was placed, he bowed majestically, and com menced a long harangue, in which the words "freedom," "universal philanthropy," and " my uncle" frequently occurred. During this speech, the Genius's eyes glistened, as if with extreme enjoyment; and when, at its close, he was presented with a number of small pieces of paper, bearing the words Cayenne, Algiers, guillotine, &c., he again gave vent to his usual expression of approbation; and the military figure, having respectfully kissed his hand, and expressed his entire devotion to him, retired as he came. 66 When he had gone, a man, strangely dressed, and of rather dirty appearance, rushed forward without the usual marks of respect, and began to speak in a nasal tone of voice. He informed the Genius that he belonged to the most go-ahead nation on earth, who had just 'etarnally whopped all creation"; that liberty and the almighty dollar were his gods; and that all the rest of the world were blockheads; with a great deal more to the same effect,-which | was spoken so rapidly that I could scarcely follow him. Far from being offended by the stranger's want of courtesy, the Genius winked approvingly on him, especially when a sudden movement caused a blood-stained whip and a pair of fetters to drop from his pocket; and, having risen from his chair, shook him warmly by the hand, and told him that he looked on him as the chief of his servants. Having said this with the usual concomitant leer, the Genius resumed his seat and beckoned to another vassal to approach. This was a person with wild dishevelled hair, and "eye in a fine frenzy rolling," who advanced by a series of spasmodic jerks, and with uncouth gestures tendered a volume, which was graciously received. He was succeeded by an individual adorned with a pair of powerful spectacles, and having in his hand a pen worn to the stump. He addressed the Genius, and said that his name was " Scrutator"; that he had convicted all the great poets of plagiarising from Homer, and was at present engaged on a work in which he was to prove that every line of the Iliad was copied from a still older poet than Homer. In the midst of this harangue, a train of portly, fur-clad individuals appeared, advancing up the hall, the foremost of whom bore in his hand a roll of paper labelled "address," which he began to read with pompous solemnity ;-but just at this moment I awoke, and found myself in my little attic, with the rushlight just burnt out! BEEJAPORE. NOWHERE do we know a more striking example of the instability of human greatness than is presented by the magnificent architectural remains of Beejapore. Everything there is on a grand scale. Cyclopean walls, superbly ornamented mosques, tombs,-one of which has a dome of larger span than that of St. Paul's Cathedral,-all seem to have been built with the expectation of lasting for ages; yet the dynasty under which these stupendous buildings were erected lasted but two hundred years, and then passed away, and their place knew them no more. Now, less than 10,000 poverty-stricken inhabitants form the population of a place whose army alone at one time far exceeded 200,000; and in the streets through which kings once passed, returning from victory or proceeding to conquest, a half-starved dog barks from a ruined window, or a solitary kite utters its plaintive cry from a heap of rubbish that was once a palace. Desolation reigns around, and the setting sun, as it lights into momentary brightness the tarnished crescent that surmounts the tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah, affords an emblem of the brief but brilliant career of the monarchs of Beejapore. Founded in the year 1489, by Yussuf, who was, according to some legends, a Turkish adventurer, the Adil Shahi Dynasty* rose to a pitch of greatness not surpassed by any of the other kingdoms of the Deccan. Its dominions * The names of the kings are as follows:Yussuf Adil Shah, A. D. 1489; Ismail Adil Shah, 1510; Ibrahim Adil Shah I., 1535; Ali Adil Shah I., 1557; Ibrahim Adil Shah II., 1579; Mahomed Adil Shah, 1626; Ali Adil Shah II., 1656; and Secunder Adil Shah, 1672. There was another king, Mallu Adil Shah, who succeeded Ismail, but as he only reigned about six months, he is not generally included. |