146 Sketches of Manners-The Hermit in London, No. 5. [VOL. 4 band, her brother, or her lover, it is a found that I never could esteem one of strong emblem of assuming the mastery. them. A certain titled lady, who shall If she have no courage, no muscular be nameless, since she is no more, used strength, and no attention to the domin- to excel in driving four milk-white horation and guidance of her studs, she be- ses in hand. Her face was a perfect encomes no driver, no whip, and runs the amel, something like china, from the risk of breaking the neck of self and paint which she used; and to see the friends daily. If she do excel in this thong of her whip fly about the leaders, study, she becomes, immediately, mas- to behold her gather up her reins and culine and severe she punishes, when square her elbows, was the delight of occasion requires, the animals which the ostlers and backney-coachmen about come under her lash, assumes a grace- town, who nevertheless spoke very lightless attitude, heats her complexion by ly of her at the same time. I confess exertion, loses her softness by virtue of that she became a complete object of her office, runs the risk of hardening her disgust to myself, aud to many thinking hands, and may perchance harden her men of my acquaintance. She used heart at all events, she gains unfemi- frequently to drive out a male relation, nine habits, and such as are not easily got which made the picture still more prerid of. posterous in my eyes; whilst the very If she learn of the family coachman, praise of the lower classes alluded to, it must be allowed that it is not likely sunk her in my estimation. that he should give her any peculiar And why do coachmen and pugilists, grace, nor teach her any thing polite. grooms and jockeys, praise the superior The pleasure of his company, whilst ranks of society for excelling in driving, superintending her lesson, cannot much in boxing, in horse-racing, or in riding improve her mind; and the freedom of like post-boys? Because it reduces the these teachers of coachmanship may highest to the level of the lowest, be. prove offensive to her, which a gradual cause (to adopt their own expression, so loss of feeling, done away by the pride often made use of by the bargemen on of excelling as a Whip, can alone render palatable. the Thames, towards a certain Duke) he's not proud, he is just like one of us, When the accomplishment of driv- he can tug at his oar, smoke and drink ing is acquired, what does it tend to? beer "like a man," aye, and take bis A waste of time, a masculine enjoyment, own part. That such qualities may,. and loss of (I will not say moral, but) upon an emergency, prove useful, I adfeminine character-of that sweet, soft, mit, but His Grace, as well as all female and overpowering submission to and charioteers, must excuse me from condependance on man, which whilst it sidering them as any way ornamental. claims our protection and awakens our To return to my female driving dearest sympathies, our tenderest inter- friends. A certain fair daughter of ests, enchants, attaches and subdues us. green Erin used formerly to drive me I have known ladies so affected by an out in her curricle: She is a perfect inordinate love for charioteering, that it whip; and has, from conversing so bas completely altered them, and they much on the subject, and from seeing so at last became more at home in the sta- much stable company, assumed a tone, ble than in the drawing-room. The an attitude, and a language, most forvery lady in question is so different eign to her sex. Driving one day in when dressed for dinner, that her driv- the Circular Road, near Dublin, her ing-dress is a complete masquerade dis- horses pulled very hard, and would guise, which I should never wish to see have blistered common fingers, but, proher in, and which certainly is not calcu- tected by the stiff York tap, and hardenlated to captivate a lover, nor to gain a ed by the management of the whip, she husband, unless the latter be a slave, stood up and punished them, crying, who gives the whip-hand to his lady. I'll take the shine out of you before I I now began to recollect the female have done with you!" then "keeping Whips of my acquaintance; and I them up to their work," as she called it, VOL. 4.] Hodgson's New Poem The Friends.' and fanning furiously along, she exultingly exclaimed, all in a heat and flurry herself, "There, and be (I look ed thunder-struck)-be hanged to you!" concluded she, smiling at me, and resuming her sang froid. 147 seemly, when clad in its rough coat of earth, and of uncouthness: 'tis the high polish which it receives, which displays its hidden lustre, and which, reflecting its real worth, makes it so brilliant, and so eminently valuable. ACommoner's lady was my third driv- Thus it is with woman: every thing ing acquaintance: She was very bold; which tends to divest her of the asperity given to the joys of the table; got light- and ruggedness of the inferior part of ly spoken of as to reputation; and, af- our sex, augments her attractions: every ter all, overturned herself once, and thing which can assimilate her to the broke her arm. My inquiries as to the harshness of man, despoils her of her character of the other celebrated female richest ornaments, and lowers her in our Whips, have not obtained any informa- estimation. I remember once passing tion which could change my opinion as a lady in the King's Road, one of whose to the advantages of a lady's becoming outriders had dismounted, and was ada good Whip. It militates against the justing something about the reins, whilst softness, the delicacy, the beauty, and the other was holding his horse behind. attractions, of the sex. I would ask The Lady, and the Groom, who appearany amateur, the greatest possible ad- ed to be her instructor in the art of coachmirer of lovely woman, whether, her manship, had much conversation rescomplexion being heated, her lips dry, pecting the cattle. The latter said, and her features covered with dust, as "Give him his hiding, my Lady, and she returns from a horse-race or from a don't spare him." To which, she elemorning drive, are circumstances of im- gantly replied, D-n the little horse.' provement to her in any way? This gave the finishing confirmation to my former opinion. I doubt if our forefather Adam could have been captivated with Eve, had she appeared to him either in a dream, or in coarse reality, with a masculine expression of countenance, and with a fourhorse whip in her hand; nor was it ever intended that "those limbs, formed for the gentler offices of love," should be displayed behind prancing coach-hor ses, with an unwieldy whip in one hand, and a gross mass of leather in the other. The very diamond itself is scarcely I know that it will be objected to me, that these vulgarities are not general in high coachwomen, and that they are not necessary; but to this I beg leave to answer, that their very existence is prepos terous, and that if on the one hand these vices are not absolutely a part of coach. manship, coachmanship or charioteering is not at all necessary to a woman's accomplishments, nor even to her amusement. THE FRIENDS. THE HERMIT IN LONDON. WE From the Literary Gazette, Aug. 1818. VERE we called on to divine the the Muse in her wilder moods and source of this production, we sublimer phantasies. It is then that should trace it to private feeling rather the soul plunges into a creation of its than to poetical inspiration. There is own, the images of which, though a locality about its scenes, a verisimili- formed after the model of natural retude about its incidents, and a sincerity collections, are far more ethereal and about its sentiments, which do not vivid: that "the voice is Jacob's voice, seem to belong to imagination, and, but the hands are the hands of Esau ;" perhaps, the truth with which both the semblance belongs to the earth, scenes and incidents are painted, pre- but the lineaments are divine. vents either that soul-subduing pathos or loftiness of flight which pertain to The era of this production is from the middle till towards the close of the last 118 The Friends, by Francis Hodgson. century. "By Dee's wild stream," Theodore the son, and Ferdinand the ward of Ulric, are reared under the affectionate eye of their common father, Their early friendship is cemented by a similarity of habits, pursuits, studies, and amusements. Much of the beginning of the poem is occupied with descriptions of their rambles through the romantic scenery of Wales, and though there is a good deal of spirit in these landscapes, they are too much of an itinerary in verse not to become rather tedious on repetition. Egbert from "fields of war" visits the abode of the youthful friends, and his presence developes their different characters: Theodore, unambitious, fond of retirement, meek, and placid, pants for only peaceful joys: while Ferdinand, aspiring, active, bold, and enterprising, longs for the laurels of the warrior's brow. Theodore embraces the clerical, Ferdinand the military profession; and as the former cultivates his mind in academic bowers, the latter seeks "the bubble reputation" in the blood-stained forests of America. Theodore forms an attachment to an Bright upon Snowdon's double peak Yon Ocean's azure breast. Loud rung the glen with horn and hound, As up the steep defile they wound, Far in the midst the Chieftain moved And oft he called the dog he loved- O'er moorland, heath, and hill, The keen hounds foilow still. Along the narrow dale, Or crosses swift the mountain tides, In vain with eager glance around In vain his voice, with gentle sound, The chase is done-the quarry's won- They tell it o'er again. Alone, regardless of their mirth, [VOL. 4 The Prince rides down the dell : Hangs heavy at his heart; His sylvan towers appear- And, rushing through the unguarded door, He The death, descending from his sword, Repays thy guardian care!" And clasps him to his breast. Though memory o'er his Gelert's grave The departure of Theodore to rescue his friend, and his parting with Ellen, are equally touching pictures; but as they occupy several pages (125, 6, 7, 8, and 9) they are too long for us to * This is a bad line for a simple ballad-" coming to go" is very quaint; and the concluding line is a little absurd. VOL. 4.] The Friends, a Poem; by Francis Hodgson. transcribe. The mention of the writings of ancient genius 149 a blessing or a curse to humanity. We quit the theme willingly for a fine train of reflections on viewing the starry fir mament: Ye clustered glories of Night's awful reign, Each in your round of rolling planets set, And warm their moving crowds of animated things Say, will ye rush together from the skies, And sink at once in fearful night obscure? To prove the race ye hoid, awhile endure; Oh! many are the mansions to receive The emancipated crowds of every globe- Shall wear at length their amaranthine robe, There is a pretty little allegory, with which we shall close our extracts: Placed in an Island on the main, Where rolling waves for ever swell; With many a pensive sigh and tear- The other to the future still Casts an assured, a sanguine eye- And careless of the griefs gone by. Life is the speck that marks the void; Space is the sea of boundless scope: This denunciation is becoming and just against that portion of the new school, which, from the Charles de Moor of Schiller to the latest products of (we are sorry to say) the British Muse, After these quotations, it is not whether seen in the incestuous Rimini, agreeable to us to say any thing deterthe ruthless and bloody Corsair, the iorating of a poem presenting such Bertrams, Bertrands, or other human beauties, and altogether so admirable demons of our day, the favourite heroes in the principles it maintains. In jusof the drama and verse, is sure to enno- tice, however, we must state, that we ble the most atrocious villains with frequently encounter passages many of the purest virtues, and so con- the sense is obscure, and find few of in which found the evil with the good, that the the delineations, whether of animate or bewildered mind of the reader is una- inanimate nature, more than mere ble to distinguish if the cut-throat be a sketches, not finished with the care of sound moralist or not, the infidel a perfect pictures. Christian, and the crime-covered ruffian and desperado an honour or a disgrace, 150 Colonel Ponsonby. BATTLE OF WATERLOO. Among the examples of intense suffering, and miraculous escape, which the eventful history of this day disclosed, there is not one more calculated to of his family, taken almost literally from his own words; an account equally remarkable for its affecting simplicity and moral reflection. DEAR LADY B-----, You [VOL. 4 "But we had no sooner passed through them, than we were attacked in exeite our sympathy, than the case of the Hon. Our turn before we could form, by about Colonel Ponsonby, of the 12th dragoons. The 300 Polish lancers, who had come following account was drawn up by a friend of down to their relief. The French arthat gallant officer, to satisfy the painful curiosity tillery pouring in among us a heavy fire of grape-shot, which, however, for one of our men killed three of their own : in the melée, I was disabled almost inOU have often wished for some stantly in both of my arms, and followwritten account of the adventures ed by a few of my men, who were and sufferings of your son, Colonel presently cut down, (no quarter being Ponsonby, in the Field of Waterloo asked or given,) I was carried on by the modesty of his nature is, however, my horse, till receiving a blow on my no small obstacle in the way. Will the head from a sabre, I was thrown sensefollowing imperfect sketch supply its less on my face to the ground. Recovplace until it comes? The battle was ering, I raised myself a little to look alluded to one morning in the library at round, (being, I believe, at that time, A, and his answers to many of the in a condition to get up and run away,) questions which were put to him are when a lancer passing by, exclaimed, here thrown together, as nearly as ITu n'es pas mort, coquin,' and struck could remember in his own words: his lance through my back; my head dropped, the blood gushed into my mouth, a difficulty of breathing came on, and I thought all was over. "The weather cleared up at noon, and the sun shone out a little just as the battle began. The armies were within eight hundred yards of each other, the "Not long afterwards, (it was then videttes, before they were withdrawn, impossible to measure time, but I must being so near as to be able to converse. have fallen in less than ten minutes after At one moment I imagined that I saw the charge,) a tirailleur came up to Buonaparte,and a considerable staff mo- plunder me, threatening to take away ving rapidly along the front of our line. my life. I told him that he might "I was stationed with my regiment search me, directing him to a small (about 300 strong,) at the extremity of side-pocket, in which he found three the left wing, and directed to act dis- dollars, being all I had; he unloosed cretionally each of the armies was my stock and tore open my waistcoat, drawn up on a gentle declivity, a small then leaving me in a very uneasy posvalley lying between them. ture; and was no sooner gone, than "At one o'clock, observing, as I another came up for the same purpose, thought, unsteadiness in a column of but assuring him that I had been plunFrench infantry, (50 by 20, (1000,) or dered already, he left me; when an thereabouts,) which were advancing with officer, bringing on some troops, (to an irregular fire, I resolved to charge which probably the tirailleurs belongthem. As we were descending in a ed,) and halting where I lay, stooped gallop, we received from our own troops down and addressed me, saying, he on the right, a fire much more destruc- feared I was badly wounded: I replitive than theirs, they having began ed that I was, and expressed a wish to long before it could take effect, and be removed into the rear: he said it slackening as we drew nearer when was against orders to remove even we were within fifty paces of them, they their own men, but that if they gained turned, and much execution was done the day, as they probably would, (for among them, as we were followed by he understood the Duke of Wellington some Belgians, who had remarked our was killed, and that six of our battallions had surrendered,) every attention success. |