211 bees that make boney, not wasps that no stranger had a right to interrupt. only hum, devour and sting. Yet the confusion of unintentional guilt "Thou shalt not sleep upon a grave." induced him to cover the body with Whatever might be the intrinsic value some straw which had been left in the of these precepts, young Clarendon forsaken barn, and secrete himself in thought his uncle had left a more sub- its darkness, while the door opened stantial legacy to those be called residu- slowly, and a man entered carrying a ary legatees. And the last sentence dark lantern, which presently discoverseemed a pointed and bitter rebuke to ed that the bearer was his uncle's anthe folly of dependence on heritable cient servant. This old man looked wealth. With no friendly feelings to- round, secured the door as if fearful of wards those laws which have established intruders, and ascending the ladder, bethe best rights of succession in the eld- gan, by the aid of the twilight which est son, John accompanied his broth- gleamed through the rafters, to examine er Christopher to the lonely grange his late master's last repository. He chosen by their uncle for his place of had brought a mallet, a chizzel, and rest. His remains had been deposited several vigorous tools, which he seemed there before the arrival of the younger preparing to employ in unclosing the nephew, whose ill-humour suggested oaken chest ; but the eager gaspings of some peevish remarks on the lunacy in young Clarendon, as he stood tremdicated by his last requests. Not bling, and conscious that while he lurkabsolute lunacy," said the elder, merrily ed as a spy he might be arrested as a -"for I have found an unsigned codi- murderer, appeared to disturb the work. cil, in which he desires us to convert Old John started guiltily, descended the Brother's House into an inn, and the ladder a few steps, and at the same to provide accommodation gratis for instant the oak chest or coffin, shaken one guest every night, but that guest from its balance by his labours, fell over must neither be a beggar nor a lawyer." the beams on which it had been deposJohn, whose only possession was his ited. At the sight and sound of its knowledge of the law, retorted with hideous fall near his brother's body, great bitterness, "And if the superstition Clarendon uttered a faint shriek, but of ancient lawyers had not made heirs recollected his presence of mind enough of elder sons, there would have been to remain concealed. The conscious only a beggar and a lawyer in it to-day." servant heard the cry, and snatching up A blow answered this sarcasm, and the his lantern to look round, discovered younger made a bold attempt to repay the mangled countenance of his young it, but the unfortunate Christopher has- master. He threw himself on the body tily stepping back, fell from the height with cries of despair, wringing his hands on which they were standing to survey and rending his white hair, till a sudden their uncle's coffin, and lay motionless thought seemed to calm his distraction. at the foot of the ladder. John leaped He looked eagerly at the chest, which down in an agony of remorse and ter- remained unbroken by its descent, careror to succour the sufferer, whose head fully examined the sufferer to discover had received a mortal blow. He made that no life remained, and gathering his two faint attempts to speak, and resting tools into his wallet, with his crushed his cheek on his brother's feet, expired. lantern, departed. Strange and mysteThat unhappy brother remained several rious as this man's visit appeared, Clamoments stupid with dismay, before he rendon deemed it a providential incident fully felt all the horror of his situation. in his favour; but to render it availaThe heir of his uncle's wealth lay dead ble, it was necessary for him to return beside him-who would believe that home unsuspected. He stole from the avarice and envy had not instigated his fatal place with the pangs and fears of a fate? While this frightful recollection criminal, skulking through the most unfroze up bis faculties, a confused noise frequented paths, and had nearly reachat the door increased his alarm. It ed the Brother's House, before he perwas a desolate hour, and a place which ceived that he still held in his hand the 212 The Brother's House. [VOL 4 chissel dropped by his uncle's servant severe study for which he had been edin the barn. He had taken it up with ucated. He laboured zealously to a confused intention of keeping it as an realize a reputation which might raise evidence against the owner, but now him above vague suspicions, and remeperceiving red stains on its handle, he dy the ill cousequence of that momenthrew it hastily among the bushes near tary absence of reason and courage his feet, and redoubled his pace home- which had involved him in mystery, wards. Once he looked back, and saw, and perhaps in dependence on a stranor thought he saw, an eye and part of ger's mercy. With such a motive, and a yellow hand among those bushes. It with a profession affording such ample was a dark eye shadowed by a shaggy scope to every kind of genius, his emieye-brow resembling Old John's; and nent success is not surprising. His he started as from a spectre when that learning, zeal, and industry, gained suspected man met him on the threshold. him friends in all his clients; and at With a tremulous voice, and a face the bar, as Junius would have said, he which betrayed no consciousness of had the three great requisites of a pleadyoung Clarendon's share in the transac- er, a tongue to persuade, an eye to tion, he announced that a fatal accident penetrate, and a gesture to command.' had befallen his brother. Forced to Twenty years passed after his brother's complete the part he had unwarily be- death, and the singular event which had gun, Clarendon accompanied a groupe given him affluence was less rememberof labourers and neighbours to the dis- ed than the honour he had added to it, astrous place, and heard their exclama- though he still knew secretly how tions of superstitious wonder at the impossible it is for a homicide to "sleep strange coincidence which had con- upon a grave." About this period an nected the fall of their late master's bier extraordinary case was put into his with the death of his young heir. One hands. The youngest of four brothers of the spectators said shrewdly, as he (three by a former marriage, and one looked at Clarendon. "It was by rare by a latter) had purchased land, and good luck our other master escaped, for died without offspring. The chief lawhe was there too." The conscious yers of Scotland declared that the next brother cast down his eyes, and perceiv- elder brother had the right of succesed two or three barn-straws entangled sion, but Clarendon advocated the in his shoe. No ear but his heard the cause of the eldest." Because," said comment, and the speaker seemed an he, " among brothers of different marinconsequent and heedless boy, yet he riages, the first idea that presents itself felt all the force of the circumstantial is opposition rather than union, and evidence which might rise against him. when we examine the relationship we Still no suspicion circulated: Christo- must begin with the parent, who is the pher was interred in peace, and his connecting principle; and as from him successor took his large inheritance the first step is to the eldest son, we without interruption or inquiry, but conceive this son to be one step nearer with a bitter remembrance of his uncle's than the second, and two steps nearer prophetic maxim-" Thou shalt not than the third."-On a point so subtile, sleep upon a grave." much eloquence and science were exIt would be well if the ingenious in- pected to appear, and the Court was ventors of the present age could devise singularly thronged on the day of trial. some "anti-attrition" compound for Clarendon, as I have already said, was the mind to remedy the decay caused eminent in personal grace, and his rich by one idea in perpetual motion, as vein of wit gave attraction to the tedious successfully as they prevent the wearing subject of his harangue. He traced the out of axle-trees in constant use. But earliest rules of succession, or the Clarendon could find no relief from in- transmission of estates from the dead to cessant regret and apprehension till he the living, and proved how arbitrary plunged resolutely into the world, and and various they had ever been in difbound all his thoughts to that deep and ferent ages and countries, as all customs VOL. 4.] The Brother's House. 213 must be that spring from remote feel- voked his brother's fate, and had proings, or mere imagination. He insisted bably determined his own; but his on the right of primogeniture as strong- courage did not forsake him, and he ly fixed in Scotland by its peculiar feu- resolved to owe no second fall to the dal laws, in which, as military service timid caution he had erred in once. It is the tenure of the land, the eldest male is either great policy or great rashness is always the favourite in succession. to trust an enemy the moment after he Clarendon's opponent entered into a has been offended, because his pride nice and difficult labyrinth to prove the will be exasperated if it is subdued by property in question was a new, not an the aggressor's boldness. Yet it is alold feu; and amused his auditors with ways a noble experiment, and Clarenthe distinctions between an heir of con- don perceived no other remained for quest, as the old Scotch law calls him him. Though the evening was advanwho inherits purchased lands, and an ced, he set out instantly for the counheir of line, in other words one who try-house occupied by the advocate takes an estate acquired by succession. M⚫Evil, and found him alone. Having Unhappily in this part of the pleadings, briefly and calmly stated that no persoClarendon forgot his uncle's inaxim, nal insult was designed by any words "If thou hast wit or learning, get wis- used in his professional harangue, he dom and modesty to it."-He only re- continued, in the same firm tone, “You membered how much a jest's prosperity have seen me before, I think, in doubtsometimes surpasses an argument's, and ful circumstances, and I do not fear to replied "We have allowed no heirs recal them to your memory, because I by conquest in England since William expect from you the same candour and the Norman, and such left-handed sons confidence I possess myself." Then, are out of any line."-His adversary, neither attempting disguise nor circumwhose obscure birth rendered him pe- locution, he related all the occurrences culiarly quick in appropriating a sar- of that unhappy period with a clear, casm, answered instantly, and with very forcible emphasis, "I cannot dispute the knowledge of an advocate who has been himself so prosperously an heir at law, or perhaps I should say, by blood."—It is not difficult to guess but I can truly lay my hand on my the frightful association of ideas raised by these last words in Clarendon, whose countenance became pale as death, tho' conscious innocence enabled him to look stedfastly at the speaker. He was a dwarfish mis-shapen man, with shaggy brows, a long, lean, yellow band, and a raven-black eye, whose sinister expression suddenly reminded Clarendon of that which had gazed on him among the shrubs where he had deposited a guilty token on the night of his brother's death. Neither the eye nor the hand could ever be forgotten, and he now M'Evil heard his former adversary in saw them both! The brief fell from silence, but tears ran down his cheeks. his hand, and he fainted. All the Presently recollecting himself, he said, crowd, ascribing his indisposition to "Command me if ever you require an exhausted strength, made way for his advocate, but I have no right to be removal to his home, where he soon your judge, and I can neither acquit recovered enough to feel and measure nor condemn you. I must keep you his danger. Most bitterly he again re- as my prisoner to-night, unless you gretted the ill-managed wit which pro- allow me to call you my voluntary full, and convincing force which usually distinguished his eloquence. When the narrative was complete, he added, "Woe to the man who is taught to build his hopes of fortune on a grave ! heart, and swear I never framed even a wish to see my brother's; and unless my grave should be as sleepless as my bed has been for many years, I have no reason to fear death. I could bear it better than suspected or disgraced life, therefore I surrender myself into your custody. Deliver me up to justice if you think me deserving the rigour of an investigation: I have resolved never to disgrace our tribunals, by appearing as an advocate, while any man exists who believes me a criminal." 214 Contemporary Poets. [VOL. 4 guest. This house belongs to the Clan- reason to suppose him your enemy. I gregors, who never betrayed an enemy have put on his apparel, to convince if he trusted them, and a lawyer shall you that I am neither ashamed of the not be worse than outlaws."-The ad- father I resemble so strongly, nor forgetvocate conducted Clarendon to his ful of the benefits he owed to his mastable, where he entertained him sump- ter. It is true that I witnessed your tuously, but with a lurking smile about concealment of the chissel among the his lip which tempted his guest to doubt shrubs: but I now believe it had never his purpose and half regret his own rash been used for any criminal purpose. appeal. These doubts and regrets My honest father's visit to his benefachaunted Clarendon as he entered the tor's coffin was only in obedience to the bed-chamber prepared for him. Was deceased's whimsical command that he it some optical illusion, some contrived should examine it thrice every year. mockery, or the force of his tortured Do not fear that I will ever betray the imagination, that created what he be- secret of a man who deemed me worheld there? A man was seated beside thy of trust even when he thought he the hearth with his lank hair scattered had offended me. Had you recollected over his shaggy eye-brows, his broad my person, or known my assumed mishapen feet covered with the same name, you would not have aimed an rude wooden shoes, and his whole ap- undeserved insult at one who owed to parel consisting of the coarse fantastic your uncle's bounty the education livery given by his uncle to his ancient which has enabled him to offer you his servant John, whose funeral he had friendship as an equal, and his advice seen many years before. This unex- as a lawyer. Let the past be remempected apparition remained silent only bered only when you bequeath legacies, a moment-" Forgive me, Clarendon and let them be such as shall not invite -forgive the son of your kind old un- guilt and misery into a Brother's cle's servant if his petulance gave you House." CONTEMPORARY POETS. From the Gentleman's Magazine. V. CHILDE HAROLD'S MONITOR : OR LINES OCCASIONED BY THE LAST CANTO OF CHILDE HAROLD, INCLUDING HINTS TO OTHER CONTEMPORARIES. 8vo. pp. 97. PPLYING to the Noble Bard an and in the other A appropriate quotation from Virgil, Drive the fix'd nonsense of a new-born tongue, -Crudelis! tu quoque falsis Ludis imaginibus ? this Veteran Writer and highly ac- Recall the Muse to Learning's noble aim, Where verse should ape the vulgar and the young, he thus reverts to the immediate sub- So, matchless Harold! to thyself returns From Gothic Wildness, lov'd by times like these, That gross compeers have stain'd thee, Harold Cowper's false light, and Wordsworth's weaker ray; Thy native tongue to Sloth's unmeaning sway; which in the form Could make a Jew's-harp of a Grecian lyre*: That the Author of the Task should have translated Homer as he has, done, adds one other melancholy example to the list of human inconsis To broken sense, low phrase, and rugged verse, tencies. But it is not only by his Homer that this VOL. 4.] Childe Harold's Monitor, &c. Where antient Pistol strives with modern Scott,† The following allusions to the earlier productions of Lord Byron are strikingly impressive : Gods! can the breast that glows o'er Virgil's urn When on her son pale Learning dealt the blow, And his own feather laid that eagle low. We must give another extract: Hark! 'twas a later, and a loftier strain-Rome, Rome, arises at his voice again ; 112 Fresh, as in youth, she wakes from Slavery's night Long martial pomps the capitol ascend, From smoke, and wealth, and splendid noise of Dwells in fond languor o'er the yellow stream Rome The breast that feels fair Italy its home Can such a breast each heaven-born throb forego, Rough as Scott's hymns, and dull as Wordsworth's groans? Not this thy note, in youth's aspiring day, A nightingale of sadness, breath'd the strain Nor-when thy reckless foes essay'd to crush The rose just springing from its vigorous bush ; And, grasping hard with cold unalter'd mien, Found England's thorns as Scotia's thistles keen— Thus did thy generous vengeance wake in song; But roll'd in angry harmony along; And, like thine own Apollo," watch'd the dart + Once for all, let this page bear witness, in prose, as well as in verse, to the great and acknowledged genius of this incorrect poet; whose novels, by the way, will in all probability outlive his productions in rhyme; whatever may have been their popularity. This opinion is founded not only on the greater interest, and the more curious fidelity of description, whether in human manners or in external scenes; but also on the greater correctness, as compositions, which Waverley, in a large portion of it, and Old Mortality perhaps throughout, seem to exhibit, when they are compared with any of their tunefui brethren ;-for that they are all children of one family, there can be no reasonable doubt. The beautiful description of the Apollo Belvidere in the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold. The passage upon Henry Kirk White, in the English Bards, does equal honour to the feeling and poetical taste of the author. The idea, indeed, The deathke marble city dimly shows Hear then, ye docile and ye calm, attend! Crabbe by great Johnson and by Burke approv❜d(Such the dire tamt of toleration, lent To each spoil'd child of song, whose good intent originally of Eastern origin, has travelled through all the poets of Europe, from Euripides to Waller; but is no where better preserved than in the ⚫ English Bards. The chef d'ouvre of Harold is, perhaps, the passage upon Rome, in the 4th canto. That Harold's occa sincere ¡over of poetry, than the over-clouding of a Whoever has read (and who has not?) the exquisitely finished productions, in the early volume of Crabbe's Poems, and perhaps above them all, that porn entitled 'Reflections,' must lament indeed to should be lowered down to the familiarity and the observe, that such power and precision of language, ficentiousness of style that pervade 'The borough,' |