"Come! come! I know that you have been in a rage for thirty years, and that you have not laughed once since the triumvirate ceased to be; but here is my news: the Memoirs of Augustus have just appeared.” "Since when have murderers taken to writing books?" "Since honest men have taken to making emperors." "Alas!" "You will not read these memoirs, then, dear Titus ?" "I shall read them: I shall read them, Gallionus, with tears of shame.” "And you will reply to them, criticise them, write an anti-Cæsar, as Cæsar has written an anti-Cato." "No, Gallionus, I shall publish nothing on this subject. I do not discuss with him who has thirty legions. In a country which is not free, one should not allow oneself to touch upon contemporary history; and criticism, in such a case, is impossible." "You do not wish to enlighten the public, then?" "I do not wish to aid in deceiving them; for, in these times, on such subjects, nothing that appears can be good, nothing that is good can appear. I shall continue my secret history, the manuscript of which I shall send to Severius, in a safe place: I will save truth by exiling it." voked laws as if there were laws. The principality to him was but a parenthesis in history, a shameful page in the annals of Rome. He would have made haste to turn the leaf over or tear it out: he always said that it would end, and he thought so. People thought him mad, and he was so, as you see. As for everything else, he was a good sort of man, incapable of hurting a fly, or wishing the least harm to any one, unless it was Augustus, and hardly that. He was so mild, that he was merely for sending him to the galleys, to work the treadmill, contrary to the more prevalent opinion of those who would have had him crucified. He thought besides, with the stoics, that punishment is good for the guilty; it is therefore true to say that he wished Augustus the only happiness that could be his expiation. One day he was walking under Agrippa's portico, and met Gallionus (23). Junius Gallionus was a young sage, even as Labienus was an old madman. He was a mild, serious young man, learned and elegant, polite, circumspect, and prudent, a moderate stoic; Spanish and Roman at once, a citizen and a subject, a man of two epochs and two countries, with mixed blood and piebald opinions, a little this and a little that; sometimes, like Horace, turning his saddened glances towards the tomb of liberty, and letting them fall again, no less sad, upon the cradle of the empire; giving a tear to Cato, a smile to Cæsar: with a benevolent disposition, liking everybody a little, even Labienus. He was Seneca's brother, who had not dared to live, and uncle to Lucanus, who knew not how to die. There were no longer any but half-way heroes, and stumps of grandeur; a nation in ruins before its temples were built; here and there were still some half Romans. Gallionus made verses for the favourite Mæcenus; the critics called him the ingenious Gallionus. In fine, he must have had talent, for he was a proconsul. It was after him that those who were indifferent in religious matters were called Gallionists: he might have been somewhat of a patron in the same way, in political matters. This is what Labienus accused him of. I think the sombre promenader was about passing him by, without caring to recog-will praise it from other motives. It is then as nize him, for Labienus wss not amiable; he was not any more affable than those famous senators who, proudly seated in the forum one day, received the Gauls so haughtily; indeed, Gallionus would not have ventured to stroke his beard but the young man was so happy, so pleased, and had such urgent need to tell some one the great news he had just learned: he was so curious to see what effect it would have on Labienus, that he accosted hin. 66 "But it is promised that criticism is to be free; tyranny is to give literature a week's freedom." "They can give but a false liberty, a liberty of December (24), that is to say, a carnival-like liberty, libertas decembris, as Horace says: I will not profit by it. I will not, by writing against the book, place myself between the vengeance of Octavius and the clemency of Augustus (25), without even having free choice. I will not, like Cinna, give the fellow a chance to play the magnanimous with me, and be dispatched, as it were, by a pardon. As for praising the book, I could only do so if it is good, in which case I should fear to be confounded with those who impossible for me to praise as to blame. Besides, the book is not good and could not be When a man is so guilty as to have made himself king, and so imbecile as to make himself a god, I think that he cannot have all the qualities requisite for writing history. "You know already that he has neither good sense, nor good faith: what then remains to him? He can neither know the truth, nor tell it, if he knew it; what does this sceptre-bearer Good day, Titus! quid agis, dulcissime meddle with, then? Why does he take it into rerum, how do you do?" "I am ill, if the empire is well." "Well! everyone knows that you are always in a bad humour; but I have news for you." "There is nothing that can be news to me if Augustus still reigns.” (24). An allusion to the coup d'état of the 2nd December, and to the promises of liberty as held out by Napoleon III. as the crowning of the edifice. (25). An allusion to the words of Octavius, so foolishly glorified by history: "Augustus no longer re (23). Probably Edmond About, or Provost Paradol. members the injuries done to Octavius." his head to write history? A historian-king should begin by abdicating. He has not done so; it is a bad sign! I have read passages of it. He justifies outlawry and apologizes for usurpation. It must be so. And you, Gallionus, wish me to criticize this work of falsehood and ignorance, clad in the approbation of two thousand centurions, and recommended to the reader, by veterans. Criticism! It is siege you would have. You do not see, my good Gallionus, that this is one of the best tricks that the son of the banker (26) has played the sons of the she-wolf, who, alas! unlike their ancestress, do not know how to bite. Ah! Gallionus, we are degenerate, we are Romans of the decline, fallen from Cæsar to Augustus, thrown from Charybdis against Scylla; from strength to trickery, from the uncle to the nephew! Pah! No, I will not fall in this literary trap, nor be caught in the hole; nor will I cause others to fall into it; no, I will not write on the Memoirs of Augustus. The silence of the people is the lesson of kings. Labienus will teach it to Augustus. and orders three luxuriously-bound copies, for the three public libraries which he has just organized; Fenestella will add a volume to his literary history; Metullus, who writes the prince's speeches so beautifully, will enumerate the oratorical beauties of his book; and Verruis, the gramma. rian, will name over its grainmatical beauties; Marathus, the historiographer, will give an analysis in the court-journal, and Athenadorus, the protégé of Octavius, will draw up a paraphrase for the use of ladies, and little explanatory notes suited to princesses. I have mentioned ten men, but I know a thousand; all these people will defile before the Emperor, shouting aloud, like knights at parade: he, however, will assume an attitude full of modesty and majesty; his gesture will say: Enough! his smile will say: Once more! and the crowd will split its throat anew. As he had the populace of the Seven Hills to applaud his acts, so he will have to praise his book, the populace of authors; applause is certain, but it can only come from one side; it is even rather a funny consequence of his unique literary situation. "Be at ease, too; if you want criticism on The unfortunate man did not perhaps forsee it, this little morsel of imperial literature, if you but what do I care? he will succeed by order; want cunning appreciation, you will have it; if that is hard, but I cannot help it. All-powerfulyou want learned dissertation, it will rain down; ness is inconvenient to an author; the wreath of if you want ingenious and frequent observations, the crowned writer is not all roses. The situa reviews full of novelty, elegant and courteous tion is hard to bear, and Virgil would have lost discussion sustained in an exquisite strain by his Latin in such a quandary. But a man must men belonging to the best society, you will have bear the laws he makes, and when shame is it; if you want controversy on its knees and poured out, it must be quaffed down. Pay atrhetoric flat on its stomach, and epigrams tention, my dear Gallionus; the holiday is about thrown off, the point of which tickles instead of to commence, it will be noisy and crowded; the wounding, and bites which are caresses, and musicians are already in their places, tuning bitter reproaches which are pleasing, and adora- their instruments and playing the prelude to the bly-graceful little lines slipped in under the concert; listen and look, if it suits your taste; guise of severe judgment, and pretty little words I confess that the spectacle will be very enterof the most charming description, delicately en-taining to those who are still able to laugh. veloped in the garb of a ferocious and warlike sentence, and bouquets of flowers of rhetoric, and waves of mellifluous eloquence, and arguments offered up on cushions, and objections presented on a silver waiter, like a letter brought by a servant; nothing of all this will be want ing, my gay Gallionus. We shall see the muses of the state go through a dance, and Mæcenus will lead the ballet. The chaste sisters have quitted Pindus for Mount Palatine, and Apollo belongs to the police. So Augustus is certain of his public, readers, judges, critics, imitators and commentators; he will find people for this work. Those who have made Virgil great, can make Aristarchus so; he needs them, he will have them! (27) "All literature is merry-making ready. Varius is weeping with joy, Flavius is happy, Rabirius is preparing his tablets; Haterius will lecture, and Tarpar will declaim. Pompeius Macer declares that it is a glad day for morality, (26). This may be an allusion to the real father of Napoleon III. (27). An allusion to men of letters only known in Paris. (28). "I know that the work will comprise the last civil war, and even the last year of the reign of Julius Cæsar. In good faith, my dear Gallionus, can you look at such a thing as serious? Augustus publishing (29) a book upon the revolution he caused! What ought to be said, think you, of a criminal who would publish an apology for his crime? To my mind, he commits a second outrage, more difficult, it is true, than the first (for it is easier to commit a crime than to justify it); but this second crime, if more difficult to accomplish, is as guilty and more hurtful, for the victims are more numerous, and the consequences more enduring. The first attacks the life of men, the other their conscience; the one kills the body, the other the mind; the one oppresses the present, the other the future. It is the coup d'état of morality, the creation of disorder, systematized injustice, the organization (28). An allusion to the later days of the Empire, and the revolution of forty-eight. (29). It is known that the aim of Napoleon, in writing the life of Caesar, was to personify his uncle in Cæsar, and himself in Augustus, and to prove that both have been the personification of the interests of their epoch. of evil, the promulgation of no rights, the outlawry of truth, the definitive defeat of public reason, the general rout of ideas, an intellectual battle of Actium. It is the true capping of an edifice of rascality and infamy, and the only one possible. The book of Augustus is his life raised up as an example, his ambition made innocent, his will made into formula as law; it is the code of malefactors, the bible of reprobates; and it is this book that you would attempt to criticise publicly, under the régime of his good pleasure! youwould make literary opposition to Augustus? What folly! Criticism of Octavius? What a sorry joke! He made no criticism of Cato; he killed him! What! the miserable wretch who assassinates you, preaches a sermon to you upon assassination! and, before despatching you, asks your opinion as to his little composition, your sincere opinion, as to its matter and form; your political and literary opinion; for he is an artist and a good fellow, and he wishes your opinion of his works; and you give it him, and, with a knife across your throat, you will confabulate with the executioner! Gallionus, my friend, you cannot mean it! "What could you say of Verras (30) writing a book upon property? Would you discuss with him? Are the Memoirs of Octavius anything better? Are they not the theory of usurpation, written by an usurper? They are a school for conspiracy, opened by an unpunished conspirator. (31) "The author can, after all, only tell what he knows! he knows how to pillage a city, how to cut the throats of the senate, how to break open a treasure in a temple and rob Jupiter; he knows how to make false keys, false oaths, and false wills; he knows how to lie in the Forum and at the Curia, how to corrupt the electors, or do without them; how to kill his wounded colleagues, as at Modena; how to outlaw a mass of men at once, and how to play other princely games; he knows how, according to the method of the first Cæsar, to borrow from some to lend to others, and make himself friends on both sides; he knows how, with a vigorous bound, to cross all barriers and all Rubicons; then, with a last leap, raising himself above divine and human laws, make the supreme effort, and, cutting a caper, come down a king. He knows how to do all this, but he does not know a word of history, nor of politics, nor morals, unless it is great morality, that is to say, the morals of the great, such as were taught in his family. There is nothing then in his book that one needs to know, and a profusion of what it is dangerous to learn. He is fond of old (30). A celebrated Roman extortioner. (31). An allusion to the excesses committed by the soldiers, on the 2nd December, in Paris, and to the arrest and expatriation of the deputies, as well as to the stealing the funds in the bank of France, of those of the Caisse d'Epargne, and of the Hospices, to electoral corruption, to the assassination of General Cornemuse in the Emperor's Cabinet, &c. | sayings, old coins and old armour, but not the olden morals. Would you discuss with him on points of grammar, archæology or numismatics? Fool! would you do him that honour? You see that would be falling into his trap, and playing his game. People like him feel themselves to be, do what they may, under the ban of society; they have left it violently through a crime, they wish to regain it stealthily by trickery (32). They have but one ambition, to insinuate themselves among decent people. To do this, they assume every disguise; they go about everywhere, seeking for their poor lost honour; they are seen crowned beggars, asking for esteem from door to door; it is the only alms that cannot be given them. Augustus is at this pass; this quaffer of blood has but one thirst, that for praise; this thief of the empire of the world can steal but one thing more: his rehabilitation. But he attempts what is impossible. The powerless and desperate effort which he makes to save the payments of his wrecked reputation, the supreme effort to hang his honour to a last bough about to break -these last struggles of Cæsar against opinions which crush him-have I know not what about them, that is lugubrious yet comical, like the smile of the gladiator who would die gracefully. The book of Cæsar is like the toilet of the condemned, like the bow which the man about to be hanged makes to the crowd, as he goes to punishment. It is the coquettish display of his last day. Cæsar was so filthy, that the executioner would not have touched him; he has washed himself off a little, to embrace death. And he asks for readers! Readers of Cæsar! to what end? He dares, in a preface, to put questions to his reader; it is the lictor who will reply (33).” "While awaiting that reply, I will read the Memoirs of Augustus." "And I," replied Labienus, "will read over again the Libels of Cassius." stormy weather, will make these boats the harbingers of life to many a despairing fellow creature, who, but for them, must (seeing that heaven helps us through ourselves) have cried in vain-" Lord, help; or we perish!" Donations and subscriptions thankfully received by all Bankers in the United Kingdom, and by the Secretary, Richard Lewis, Esq., at the Office of the Institution, 14, John Street, Adelphi. C. A. W. boats of larger size, and of improved construction have replaced the boats hitherto in use at these stations. The expenses of these latter alteratious have in each instance, save that of the Tramore boat (collected amongst the members of the Cambridge University Boat Club, (all honour to them for their humane generosity! and of the Sunderland life-boat from a fund collected for the purpose) been borne by benevolent individuals. Besides an article on the necessity of life-belts for merchantseamen, and a short but comprehensive memoir of the late Admiral Fitzroy, F.R.S.; the usual special notices of the services of life-boats, and a summary of the meeting of the Committee appear. The first is replete as ever with tragic interest, and heroic deeds. It is all very well in the glorious open of a summer's night, or by the ale-house fire at midwinter, when the winds blow high, for roystering landsmen to sing "Rule | CREATION, A TRADITION OF THE INDIANS IN Britannia, Britannia rules the waves," but national egotism never inspired a falser notion. BRITISH COLUMBIA.-Captain C. E. Barrett Lennard, in Far from ruling the waves, more British heads his "Travels in British Columbia," gives the following have succumbed to their power, more bones of account of the opinion of the ludians in Columbia on British seamen strew the bottom of the " briny creation: "The belief among the Northern Indians is deep," than those of any other nation; and first, that Yale (crow) made everything; that men neither improved charts, better ships, a more possess a never-dying soul. The brave, who fall in extensive acquaintance of navigation on the battle, and those who are murdered, enjoy everlasting part of their commanders, nor our growing knowledge of the law of storms, appear to have happiness in heaven; while those that die a natural death reduced the numbers of shipwrecks in British are condemned to dwell for ages among the branches of waters, nor the dreadful loss of life entailed by tall trees. The world was originally dark, shapeless, them, Year after year the awful catalogue of chaotic; the only living thing being Yale. For a long disasters at sea rather increase than fall off, and time he flew round and round the watery waste, until at the cry for more help, to aid in saving the perish-length, growing weary of the intolerable solitude, he, ing crews of storm-struck vessels driven on the dangerous rocks, and treacherous sands of the channel and seaboard, grows more importunate from the experienced benefit of such aid. Let us thank God that the benevolent and the wealthy are yearly becoming better acquainted with the great merits of this grand National Institution, and eager in assisting its means of help. Every report of the committee proves the growing interest taken by all classes of the community in the work the Institution is charged with. Quite a long list of Life-boats, the individual gifts of living men and women, to whom heaven has returned their charity a thousand fold, in the knowledge that their gifts have been the human means of saving many lives, and of preventing the sufferings of many households. Many others have remembered in their Wills the constant outgoings of the society's funds, and have left large sums of money, or special bequests of boats to be built for the Institution; but the hold, this grandly conducted and noble scheme of relief has taken on the people's hearts, is best seen from the fact that the Societies of Odd Fellows and Foresters have each subscribed amongst them selves, the cost of a Life-boat-and that the men employed at more than one factory have collected large sums for the same purpose. The time is at hand when dark winter nights, and determined to people the universe. He bade the waters recede, and the sun shine forth and dry the earth. The effect of this was to cause a dense mist to arise: out of this mist he created salmon, and put them into the lakes and rivers. Birds and beasts were afterwards created on land. After Yale had finished his work of creation, he made a survey of it, and found all creatures were satisfied with the universe in which they had been placed, with the exception of the lizard, who, having a stock of provisions laid up for winter use, and being moreover a great sleeper, preferred a request to be allowed five months' winter. Not so,' replied Yale, for the sake of the other animals there shall be but four snowy months.' The lizard insisted on five, stretching forth at the same time his five digits; for in those days he had a hand like a man. The crow seized his hand, and, cutting off one finger, gave him to understand that the remaining number should indicate the months of the seasons, four rainy, four snowy, and four summer. The crow finding, as winter came on, that he had no house to shelter him, or to store the salmon he had prepared for winter use, made two men build houses. He then taught them how to make ropes out of the bark of trees, and to dry salmon. After a time, feeling the want of a helpmate, the crow began to look out for a wife. His first choice fell upon a salmon." THE LADIES' PAGE. TREFOIL D'OYLEY IN CROCHET. MATERIALS.-Boar's Head crochet cotton of Messrs. Walter Evans and Co., Derby, No. 18. Trefoil Pattern.-7 c join in a round, x 2 d in the round; 7 c, 1 s in the 5th from the hook; turn (5c, 1d, 6c, 1 d, 5c 1 d) all in theloop; turn (4 d, 2 c, 4 d,) in each of the 3 loops; 3's down the stem; d in the round; repeat from the X times more, joining the 2 c of the 1st division of the leaf you are making, to the 2 c of the 3rd division of the last leaf, and the 2 c of the 3rd division of the 4th leaf to the 2 c of the 1st division of the 1st leaf, and joining the first and last d in the round; fasten off. Diamond Pattern.-First diamond. 9 c join in a round. First round. 16 d, join the first and last d. Second round. X 4d on 4 d of the last round; 10 c, 1 d on the same d as the 4th d; repeat 3 times more from the X; join the first and last d. Third round. x 2 d on the 3rd and 4th of the 5 d's of last round; miss 1 (7 d, 2 c, 7d,) in the loop of 10 c; miss 1; 1 d on the 2nd of the next 5 d's of last round; repeat three times more from the X; join the first and last d. Fourth round. × 1s on the 2nd of 3 d'e of last round, 2 c; miss 2; 1s on the 3rd; 3 c; miss 1; 1 s on the 2nd; 3 c; miss 1; 1 s on the 2nd; 3 c; miss 1; 1 s in the 2 c at the point, 4 c; 1 s in the same 2 c; X X, 3 c, miss 1; 1 8 on the 2nd; repeat twice more from the XX, 2 c; miss 2; repeat 3 times more from the x; fasten off with 1's on the 1s at the beginning of the round. Work the second diamond like the first, joining the 2nd point to the 4th point of the first, and to the centre of one of the trefoils join the 3rd point to the centre of the 2nd trefoil; and to the centre of one of a 2nd set of trefoils, join the 4th point to the centre of the 2nd trefoil of the 2nd set. Join the third diamond in the same manner, using a 3rd set of trefoils. Join the 3rd point of the fourth diamond to 4th point of the 3rd, and the 4th point to the centre of the 3rd trefoil of the 3rd set. Join the 2nd point of the first diamond of the 2nd row to the 4th point of the 4th diamond of the 1st row. . Join the 3rd point to the centre of the 4th trefoil of the 3rd set, and to the centre of a trefoil of the 4th set. Join the 1st point of the next diamond to the 3rd of last; and the 2nd point to the centre of the 1st trefoil of the 3rd set; and the 3rd point to the centre of the 4th trefoil of the 2nd set; and to the centre of the 1st of the 5th set; and the 4th point to the centre of the 4th trefoil of the 4th set. Join the 3rd diamond in the same manner, using a 6th set of trefoils. Join the 2nd point of the 4th diamond to the 2nd trefoil of the 6th set; the 3rd point to the centre of the 1st trefoil of the same set. Join the 3rd row of diamonds in the same manner as the 2nd row, and make the 4th row correspond with the first. Begin joining the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rows at the top of the D'Oyley. If preferred, the patterns may be worked separately, and joined afterwards with a needle and thread. INVISIBLE HAIR-NETS. As there are still many ladies who value the comfort and convenience of the hair-net, and who are desirous of retaining it as long as fashion permits, we are very happy to comply with the wish of a subscriber, and give instructions for making the newest that has appeared, which is the one that bears the name of the "Invisible Hair-Net." As its title implies, this net is scarcely distinguishable when worn upon the hair, as it matches it in colour, and is also remarkably fine and clear, the meshes being open. The silk used is much finer than the finest netting silk, and is strong, being a sort of raw silk. Commence by making twenty loops on a mesh one-third of an inch wide, and net as many rows, thus forming a perfect square, then gather up a little portion of the centre of this square, tie it round and attach it to the string of the netting stirrup, and then continue to net all round the edge of the square until the desired size has been reached. This size must be regulated according to the convenience of the proposed wearer, and this must depend upon the quantity of hair which it is intended to confine. When completed, an elastic must be passed through the last row of loops; the net must be moistened with a little weak gumwater, stretched over a dinner-plate, and left to dry. These invisible hair-nets are the best that have been introduced, and are, in fact, the only kind now worn. |