fashions, still struggled on, even against fate, in their high ambition (like Bon Pere Adam) to make decent the human form divine. Coats, which that scientific artist, Mr. Allen, had turned out perfect from the then classic region of Bond Street, carried hearts on the elbows, or had (me pudet) received a good turn from the regimental tailor. Burghardt's trowsers had nearly veiled their original hues under curiously Vandyked patches and straps of brown tan; Cordovan Hoby's Hessians had dwindled down to Wellingtons; and the superb cocked-hat had hidden its faded and embrowned felt under a lustrous cover of black velvet: whilst the shako, which rivalled in beauty the recent invention of an illustrious field-marshal, was carried by its lighter proxy a pasteboard cap of the same shape, but covered with black oil-silk. A dash of puppyism is, after all and everywhere, a good quality in a soldier, whose character, like iced punch, should have its coolness and spirit nicely and happily blended with more pungent ingredients; and it may be permitted to me, who can boast of long and attached acquaintance with both articles, to declare selon moi, that, when they are of the right sort, there is nothing like them. I would not be understood to undervalue the mysteries of the parade or drill: I delight as much as may be in the smart soldier, and the sharp drill-serjeant; but from the commanding officer, whose whole military philosophy consists in the tormenting process of converting into a machine, well polished up and screwed together, one of our matchless regiments, may heaven deliver us! I am no advocate for "ragged rascals," but only venture to shew, that even they, being of the right metal, and well commanded (for "there's the rub") will earn their pay and “medals” too, when they can get them. I had once the lot to serve under a commanding officer, whose intellect was so offuscated by "pipe-clay," that he would, in the blazing summer of Portugal, parade his men after their dinner in the afternoon; heats pouring down upon their devoted heads rays of 125° Fah., and insist upon their semi-suffocation by tight stocks, and coats closely buttoned to the throat. In such guise and circumstance would he drill and manœuvre with pitiless pertinacity in utter defiance of probable fevers, dysenteries, or coups de soleil. This gentleman was in all other respects a most amiable man; but he had within him the leaven of over much zeal, a species of monomania, which now and then will seize upon the heads of regiments and brigades; for which I have never heard of a remedy, and which do not, unluckily, furnish cases for commissions "de lunatico inquirendo." SHE SANG SO VERY SWEETLY. SHE sang so very sweetly, that I wist In ecstasy her upturn'd face I kiss'd, And to mine own her lips I prest, From which the breath of song had scarcely flown, A TRAY OF FOSSILS. BY ROBERT POSTANS. LOITERING one hot summer's day beneath the cliffs, near one of those sequestered old fishing-villages which dot the margin of the Sussex coast, it so happened that I stumbled on a sandy nook close by the wayside. Seated therein, upon a mossy bank, was a withered old man, whose looks betokened one that had been palsied. Every action of his trembling limbs was a pattern of infirmity, with which he purchased charity from the casual pedestrian. "Noting his penury," I questioned him, and found it was his custom to sit there hour after hour, day after day, like a perpetual sentinel on the watch against the incessant assaults of want. Before him, on the earth, was placed an iron tray which, like himself, was nearly devoured by the rusty tooth of time. Its contents appeared as heterogeneous as those of the witches' cauldron in Macbeth. There were dogfish, bones of gigantic lizards, sea urchins, corals, and ammonites, "teeth of the salt-sea ravening shark," thunderbolts, crabs, mares'-tails, and mollusca; fragments of rock, with odd-shaped bones embedded therein, marvellous-looking skeletons of antediluvian monsters, mixed higgledy-piggledy in a setting of blue clay, which, like "baboons' blood," served to make the medley "slab and good." In short, it was a tray of fossils, and the collection exhibited at a glance a fair specimen of the discovered geology of the neighbourhood. It was amusing to note the value which the old man had fixed to the different articles. Lumps of glittering rock might be had for a penny. Several vertebræ of an ichthyosaur strung upon a seaweed, were marked sixpence. Long metallic substances, which the old man assured me were "real thunderbolts," were considered cheap at a groat a-piece, and as for mares' tails, crabs, and sharks' teeth, they were sold at sixpence a dozen. In perfect good faith, therefore, the simple folk in the neighbourhood looked upon the old man's sandy nook, and the contents of his rusty tray, as a roadside shop and merchandize, in which he had the cunning to exchange the "stones" of a past age for the "bread" of the present, as a means of getting food; and, doubtless, that was the old man's sole intention. But somehow I can never view these primitive museums with indifference. I always linger about them, however humble they may be, and try to decipher the mysteries of nature's hieroglyphics. The subject, however, is generally beyond my grasp, and I am content to fall into a half dreamy mood of mind, in which I enjoy that luxury of wandering thought, too often dignified with the name of reflection. In this happy state I am sure to ramble in meditation, "fancy free," over the fields, lakes, valleys, and mountains of the pre-human world; and should friends laugh or foes jeer at me for indulging in these excursive flights, I console myself with the knowledge that the electric spark will not pass through all substances alike—and the law holds in mind as well as matter-in both it requires a kindred spirit to feel a profound emotion. True to my habit, I soon began to indulge in these rambling fancies; and, to give my mind unfettered scope, I relieved it of all cares about my body by depositing myself upon a shelf of rock which jutted out of a neighbouring cliff. In a short time, whether it was owing to the low, monotonous sounds of the gently-falling waves upon the sea-beach, or the lassitude arising from the heat of the day, or to my usual habit of napping whenever I attempt to reflect, I cannot pretend to say, but so it was, I fell into a doze. Still, however, though my judgment was asleep, my imagination continued busy, for the old man and his tray of fossils remained before my mind's eye, and occupied my thoughts. Thus, no sooner had the human world, with its corroding influences, faded away from my vision, before the gentle but irresistible power of sleep, than the pre-human world passed before me, in some of the most wondrous phases of its history. Even the old man was not exempt from this singular change. It seemed that he had assumed a glorious form, and a bright intelligence, like a halo, encircled him about. Some time elapsed before I could withdraw my gaze from the rare beauty of his person, but when I did I found his occupation in his new character was much the same as before his transformation. He was still busy about his tray of fossils; but being influenced by a superior wisdom, he was able to arrange the confused mass of plants and animals in their proper order of creation. It was astonishing how prolific, under his scrutinizing energy, the contents of the iron tray became. They might be compared to an epitome of our planet's history; for it seemed to me, under the magic influence of my dream, that the fossil shells were again peopled with their slimy tenants, and the petrified starfish, softening into their original substance, extended their prickly arms as though awakening out of a sleep of ages, and gasped themselves into existence. Pliant lizards crawled and swam, dogfish, nautili, and sea-urchins, gambolled about instinct with life, and from each glittering bit of rock there issued forth the estranged and divided ashes of divers marvellous-looking animals, each taking its proper shape and form. I beheld, methought, a resurrection and revivification of myriads of wonderful things, which, after having been buried for ages, and mortified into a thousand shapes, assumed each one again its own, and returned into its numerical self. Plants and trees, ferns and tender grasses, after many pilgrimages and transformations, united as if by magic, and made a leafy wilderness. The wrecks of the ancient world, mineral, vegetable, and animal, as they lay involved in each chaotic mass of rock, the wizard power of the old man separated, and, out of the united multitude, formed each into its distinct species. My amazement was extreme when he had finished his task. I saw that out of the confused mass of rubbish on the iron tray, not a grain could be found which had not passed through the wonderful laboratory of life. The law of the great system forbad the waste of an atom. The entombed skeletons, which teemed in myriads, proclaimed aloud that death had also been busy in the world for count less ages. But now a change came o'er the spirit of my dream." Away, away, o'er countless ages flies the unshackled mind. Methought that time had rolled back thousands of centuries. And I beheld a land of vast extent, clothed in a dark and sombre foliage. Clumps of ferns shot up in the air like tall spires, and groves of stately palms, crowned with tufts of feathery foliage, like the crest of a warrior's plume, nodded tremulously to the passing breeze. A fiery sun brandished his flaming sceptre high over head, and spread a blaze of heated light on the scorched and rugged ground on which I stood, and sent forth from each crag and hollow every variety of shadow. A range of mountains, like a vast curtain, was drawn around the extreme distance, and a yellow sluggish river, like a huge serpent, was lazily worming itself through the smoking plains. The atmosphere was oppressive and stifling, and was loaded with hazy gaseous vapours, which added to the mysterious terrors of the place. For a time I gazed on the scene before me, and wondered who were the beings that dwelt in that strange land. At length, urged by an irresistible curiosity, I moved on towards the river, when, on nearing its sedgy banks, an unspeakable horror crept over me. I saw at some distance, gradually shaping itself more and more distinctly, grim monster forms, like colossal water dragons, crawling about in the early stratum of the world. How they coiled themselves in the oozing matter, and bathed themselves in the meteorous vapours! Basking in the sun, on the bank of the river, one huge monster lay distended "belching raw gobbets from his horrid maw," as he chewed the cud of some revolting meal. At the sight of these animals I became panic-stricken and was about to fly, but swarms of gigantic reptiles issued from the forests, and I stood riveted to the soil by fear. In vain I looked about for help, everwhere I saw the same fierce-looking dragon forms-the land teemed with them-the waters teemed with them-even flying lizards shared with birds the dominion of the air; above, below, and round about I was surrounded by "creeping things," that fought and chased each other with ungoverned fury, and filled the earth with violence. It seemed to be the age of reptiles, and, though I looked about for man, I found no evidence that he had set his foot upon that wondrous soil. As in a dream of a moment ages may appear to pass,so it appeared to me that the whole land, with its dragon formed inhabitants, its tropical plants and trees, smoking plains, and sluggish river, faded away as in a mist. And the sun arose and drank up the mist, and then I saw that an ocean was before me. Again, a change came o'er the spirit of my dream," and lo! the ocean was gone, and in its place dry land again appeared, hill and dale, grove and fertile plain in pleasing variety, was before me. And I wondered who were the inhabitants of that fair land, for the sun was less fierce, the grass was greener, and the air less oppressive than before. After awhile, I discovered that another race of monsters had supplied the place of the great water-dragons of the previous age. Troops of mastodons and elephants of enormous bulk were quietly browsing in the plains. The hippopotamus, the tapir, and rhinoceros were wallowing in the deep pools and marshes; and in the forest, the yell of the hyena, the growl of the bear, and the roar of the lion and the tiger, smote the ear. It seemed to be the age of the great mammalia, and again I looked for some vestige of man, but he was not there. Another epoch passed away, and the face of another country appeared before me. The labouring planet had given birth to new wonders. Mighty forces had broken up the continents into islands. The bottom of ancient seas had become dry land, and what before had been dry land had sunk beneath the waves. The scene before me was cheering and filled the heart with gladness. There was a softened grandeur in the distant mountains, and stately oaks, ash, and beech-trees covered the land with verdure. A crystal clearness was in the running streams as they wandered through the velvet turf of the rich alluvial plains, while the blandness of the temperature, the purity of the atmosphere, and the fragrance of the air, filled the earth with "dew and sweetness." The dragon-forms of a former age had disappeared, and the mastodon and the other huge fourfooted beasts had also been swept away. And again I wondered who were the inhabitants of that fair land. And, presently, I beheld herds of deer and swine, oxen and horses, roaming about, and I felt glad, for their forms were familiar to my eyes; and, thinking that the country before me was adapted for the abode of MAN, I looked again, and behold HE was there! What further visions would have appeared unto me I cannot say, had not my dream abruptly ended. This sudden termination was caused by the cold damp air of the night wind, as it swept over the sea, the chill of which woke me up! NINIAN LINDSAY. OH! tell me of the cottage where your mother used to dwell, Remember, too, the Persian cat, so sleek and soft she lay, Dear Ninian Lindsay! And don't forget the village church, to which you asked to go, Ah! whisper of the evening walks, adown that winding lane, You spake, too, of a grassy mound, beneath the churchyard yew, There are many furrows on your cheeks, and tears in your dim eyes; C. A. M. W. |