"I did not hope that he might," replied Sophie, "it is happiness enough only to have seen him; something at my heart tells me we shall never meet again. George, my beloved child, farewell. Inform your father that to-day, for the first time, I prayed for him." tall, stately-looking man, the young prince's gov- that thawed the well of affection, so long frozen ernor. "I am sorry, madam," added he, "that within. She felt that she was beloved; and for this painful duty should devolve upon me, but his the sake of that sweet child, she forgave the world serene highness must not remain here." and all its injuries. Mimi came, and brought with her all the genial feelings of youth-all its warm and kindly current of affection, old remembrances of nature, and its changeful loveliness; she brought the world of the past to the ill fated prisoner. Think what it is to waste a whole life in captivity to look on no faces but those of your guards-to be shut out from society-to know that you are forgotten, that the green grass and the crowded streets are alike forbidden things; to know that life goes on with its usual round of hopes, pleasures, and objects, in which you have no part; to feel that your faculties are stifling within you, that your mind, your heart, are dead before their time. This is the lot of a prisoner 'Madam," exclaimed the baron, " my mission is not one all of bitterness. With some concession, I am commissioned to offer your husband's pardon, and even a hope that your return to the court will be permitted." "Never!" answered the electress; "I accept no pardon-I will make no concessions-I demand to have my innocence fully recognized-I return to that court its injured and acknowledged mis--this had the Princess of Zell endured for tress, or I return no more." The baron withdrew in silence, and the young prince clung to his mother's side. It was a bitter struggle-but she herself unclasped his arms. "God bless you!" exclaimed she, and led him beyond the portal. Slowly he mounted his horse -heavily were the iron gates closed after him. "Once more," said the princess, "I am alone." "Not alone, my beloved mistress," replied a female kneeling at her feet. "For years I have watched beside these gates, which to-day I have obtained permission to enter." Scarcely, in the pale and time-worn woman, could even Sophie recognize the once girlish and lovely Mimi. PART IV. years sake. and this, too, had Mimi endured for her But the devoted peasant knew not what endurance meant that is not endurance which is undergone for one we love. Mimi's whole world was the gloomy chamber of her first, her dearest friend-she desired another only for her sake. But the prison scene was closing; Sophie lay, supported by cushions, with life fast ebbing away; her hair was still long, but of a darker color, yet more conspicuous from its being blended witn gray. She was thin even to emaciation, but the fine features retained traces of their former beauty, and the large blue eyes were soft as a dove's, and clear as those of a spirit. But the dying lady was restless and anxious, she looked faintly round for one who was not there. In consideration of the princess' danger, Mimi had been allowed to leave the castle; she was the bearer of a letter from Sophie to her husband, who was now King of England. He had just arrived in his electoral dominions, and would have to pass near the castle. At an inn where he was to change horses, Mimi awaited him. The purple shadows of twilight were on the sky when he arrived. You heard the galloping of the guards, the rolling of the carriage wheels, and, amid dust and shouts, the royal The last crimson lights of a summer sunset illumined the depths of that ancient and gloomy chamber; a golden haze seemed to float on the dusky air, and poured in through the open curtains of the green velvet bed. The embroidery had long since faded, and the black plumes that waved at each cornice, grew yet more hearse-like with every succeeding year. But now the rich hues and the soft rays gave a mocking cheerfulness to the bed of death—and yet not mocking-cavalcade stopped at the inn door. The monarch it was the type of that diviner light which cheered the last hour of the dying. Sophie's head was laid on that last pillow, whence it was never raised again. When the electress first rested on that pillow, her temples were feverish, and her heart beat even to pain; she slept only the restless sleep of exhaustion, and she waked in the midnight, the shriek on her lips, and the damp on her brow, one fearful sound forever in her ears, and one fearful sight forever before her eyes. Night after night had been conscious of her tears, and morning after morning had she loathed the sight of another day that brought the same monotony of sorrow. Anger, too, had hardened round her heart; undervalued and ill-used, she grew embittered by injustice. Her son's visit was the first softening influence that had touched her for many years; but CCLXXVI. LIVING AGE. VOL. XXII. 27 She called for a light, which, for a gold piece, the The confusion attendant upon his illness enabled Mimi to glide away unnoticed, but she saw that in the king's face there was death. The white moon, that had been pale in the sky as a crescent of snow, had cleared into light, when Mimi entered the chamber of her dying mistress. The warm crimson, and the golden haze of sunset, had faded into deep obscurity, scarcely broken by the far dim lamps that swung from the roof; but the face of the princess was distinctly visible, for the moon shone directly upon it. Faintly she raised her head to welcome her faithful attendant, and her lips moved, but the words were lost in a faint rattling in the throat. "I gave your letter to the king," whispered Mimi. Sophie sat erect on the bed, a wild and supernatural gleam kindled her eyes with a fearful lustre-she raised her hand-so white, so spectral, that it scarcely cast a shadow in the moonlight. "I summon him before a higher tribunal than his own, to meet me." The effort was too much, and she sank on Mimi's shoulder; a spasm wrung her features, and they set in the marble calmness of a corpse. The king, her husband, died at the same hour; and, within a week, Mimi was laid at the feet of her mistress. [The following remarks are copied from the Coloniza- | occasions will be comparatively rare, and they can tion Herald, and are no doubt written by Dr. John Bell, be ascertained only by an experienced and cautious of Philadelphia, who is high authority on any subject physician. Our protest, at this time, is more parwhich he treats.] ticularly against the use of this or any other distilled or fermented liquor, as a means of warding off an attack of cholera. So far from its having this effect, it is one of the most certain means of inviting the disease. CHOLERA. We regret to learn that what we had supposed to be an old, vulgar, and entirely exploded notion, viz., the property of ardent spirits, as a drink, to prevent disease, is again revived in the case of the cholera, now epidemic in so many parts of the United States. The history of all fevers and epidemic visitations shows conclusively, that drunkards have been the chief and earliest victims; and that they who have enjoyed the greatest exemption have been either entirely abstinent or very moderate, in the use of strong drinks of any description. They who habitually drink brandy or any other analogous liquor, enough to produce unaccustomed excitement, or to increase the number of the beats of their pulse, the heat of their skin, or their thirst-especially they who have been previously abstinent from such liquor, or only drank it occasionally-are, in an especial manner, prone to die on exposure to the cholera atmosphere, or to any of the common causes of disease at this time. Their bodies are in the same state of predisposition to be affected by an epidemic atmosphere, as a man of a full and gross habit, and past his prime, is to be poisoned, as it were, with a slight wound or scratch of his skin. There is to him danger of mortification ensuing, or erysipelas at the best, from such an accident. Of all the different remedies and modes of treatment adopted in cholera, the administering of brandy as a means of cure in the disease, has proved to be the least satisfactory, or we might say, and we speak with a knowledge of the circumstances, the most destructive. We regret, also, to read or hear of the silly, not to say mischievous statements which run the rounds of the papers, of exemption from cholera being enjoyed by the use of some wonderful tincture, essence, or compound, or living in a tobacco or a mercurial or sulphurous atmosphere, &c. There is nothing which makes any pretensions to a specific character, either in the way of prevention or cure, so much as the free but still judicious use of water, for a drink and for bathing. No kind of liquor, distilled or fermented, can compare for a moment with pure water, either as a prophylactic or a remedy. We do not mean to deny the propriety, on occasions, of resorting to brandy and other diffusible stimulants in the treatment of cholera; but these The true means of prevention consist in regular living, keeping in all things somewhat within the line of customary usage and enjoyment. This implies of course, an avoidance, if possible, of extremes of temperature-a hot sun by day and a cool air by night-also of strong mental emotion, particularly of cowardly fear. To be usefully occupied, and to trust with calmness in an all-wise Providence, puts one in the best frame of mind to resist the invasion of cholera or of any other epidemic disease. So soon as a person feels the influence of the epidemic condition of atmosphere, in derangement of his digestion, whether it be disordered stomach, or disordered bowels, with or without pain, he ought, forthwith, to abstain from all labor and bodily exercise, and keep his room and still better his bed, or recline on a sofa-keeping his skin warm, and using some simple drink, herb tea, rice water, &c., and taking only the simplest food in small quantity. The safe plan will be, if there is much irritation of the stomach and disorder of the bowels, to abstain entirely from all solid and stimulating food. There is more safety by far in this course, than in a resort to the use of a cholera mixture, which often though meant to be anti-choleric, is really a cholera mixture, and an invitation to the disease to go on with its dread work. Persistence in going about as usual, after the premonitions furnished by disordered digestion, is a fruitful cause of death to thousands and tens of thousands. Rest, and in a recumbent posture, with a suitably simple regimen, are often all that is necessary to remove this first stage of the disease; and even if it become more troublesome, so as to require medical intervention, it is, if these conditions are adhered to, eminently curable. But if this first period be suffered to pass without due care in the premises, in the manner just described, there is imminent danger of the next more violent and dangerous, and in large numbers, fatal stage of cholera supervening. Of the treatment of confirmed cholera, it is not our purpose to speak here. We would only remark, that our medical friends who allow themselves to advocate an exclusive mode of treatment, or express their reliance on any one remedy, are open to the charge of empiricism. He who asserts | often, but freely, and now his voice entirely failed, his unlimited confidence in blood-letting, or in cal- his eyes began to glaze, and it was evident that the omel, or in opium, or in sugar of lead, justifies the pains and toils, the doubts and disappointments of many quack speculators on public credulity in ad- living, for him were nearly over. vertising and vending their various nostrums and specifics, of camphorated spirits, tincture of capsicum, cujeput oil, and the like, with laudanum, or sulphur and charcoal pills, &c. From the Journal of Commerce. THERE are many occurrences and incidents in connection with the cholera pestilence, which, if they could be gathered, would form pages of thrilling and terrible interest. The plans frustrated, the affections sundered, the hopes crushed, the hearts broken, would, altogether, make volumes in the strange history of the life and death of man. It is not as if men died of the fever, which warns them at least, by days of burning heat and parching thirst, and mad pulsations. It is not as when men die by the slow gnawing of consumption, wasting gradually away into the dust whereof they came originally. But the warning is often brief, the pain slight; the heart grows feeble, and the pulse slow and heavy. The coldness which announces the approach of death, is felt at the seat of life, and before they can have time to bid the living good-bye, they are of the dead. Says a correspondent: There was no convulsion, no agony, but at length a long gasp, and all was still. "He is dead," said the bystanders. The dying man started, and half raising himself from the floor, gazed with a wild, earnest, even longing gaze on those around-a gaze that none but a dying man is capable of givingtaking in all the world in its swift sweep, and then fell back again. There was a long breath, a quiver of the thin nostrils, a faint clutching of the hand, and he was gone. Nothing remained to be done for him but to bury him, and before noon, in the midst of a heavy storm of rain, unattended by clergy or by friends, in a lonesome spot of never consecrated ground, the poor Irishman was laid to await the final summons. At sunset of one evening he was strong and ardent and happy, surrounded by those he loved; at by all affection, six feet of earth shut out the sunsunset of the next evening, deserted and abandoned light from him. [MARTYRDOM OF RABBI CHANINA.] "THE Romans having found Rabbi Chanina reading the Book of the Law to a congregation, carried him before the tribunal, when he was condemned to the flames. Accordingly they bound palm branches round him and the book, but put wet sponges, or woollen cloths about his body, that he might be the longer in dying. When his daughter saw him in this lamentable condition, she said to him, O father, Standing, some days since, in the depot of one how can I bear to see you thus? Rabbi Chanina of our principal railroads, (where the road connects replied, If I were to be burnt alone, my condition with the steamer,) we saw a man lying in the cor- might seem to be a hard one, but now, when I am ner. He had come off the boat a few hours previ- to endure the flames and the Book of the Law with ous, and passing towards the cars, was taken sud-me, certain I am that He who will most certainly denly ill with the symptoms of the prevailing disease. take vengeance for the injury offered to the Book, He was an Irishman, and had his family with him will also take vengeance for me. When he was --but they did not wait to see him die. The cars about to die, his disciples asked him if he saw anystarted, and the wife and children left the husband thing miraculous. He made answer, that he saw and father to battle alone with the coming terror. the skin indeed on which the Law was written It was midnight and later. Lying alone in the corner shrivel and consume, but the letters fled upward. of that large building, who can tell the visions that Then they advised him to open his mouth, that the haunted him. He was from a far land, dear to flames might go in, and he might die the sooner; him, doubtless, in the memories of boyhood. He but he made answer that he who infused the soul had not been long in this, and wherefore he came into man would separate it; it was not lawful for we knew not; certainly it was for another fate than man to expedite his own death. But when the exthis. To be abandoned thus, to meet death face to ecutioner demanded of him whether he would introface, alone! Was it not terrible! duce him into the kingdom of heaven, if he increased the flames, and took away the wet cloth from his heart, the Rabbi Chanina promised that he would: and confirmed the promise, at his desire, by an oath. The executioner then immediately increased the fire, and removed the wet woollen cloth, and incontinently the Rabbi Chanina gave up the ghost. And then the executioner threw himself into the flames and immediately a voice was heard saying that Rabbi Chanina, the son of Tardejon, and his executioner, were both reserved for the life of the world to come."-Avoda Sara, p. 143-4. Morning dawned grayly and mistily over him. It was yet early when we stood by him. He said he thought he should do well enough if he could lie still and rest; but there was even then on his features that indescribable expression which we have often noticed foretokening dissolution. It is not simple pallor, nor immobility of countenance, but it is as if the shadow of death was cast on the forehead and eyes, and lips, by the light of the world which lies on the other side of the grave, or as if men already began to hear new sounds and see new scenes, and thus be abstracted gradually from these. He was dying. It could not be doubted. Men spoke of moving him to the Lazaretto, but he begged to be allowed to rest-only to have rest. Poor fellow! Rest to his iron frame and sun-burnt arms and brawny hands, was ready; nearer at hand, and calmer rest, than he would have wished had he known it. : [ARIOSTO'S USE OF THE MARVELLOUS, VINDICATED BY SIR JOHN HARRINGTON.] SIR JOHN HARRINGTON, in his Apology of Poetry, says that "Ariosto neither in his enchantments exceedeth credit, (for who knows not how strong the illusions of the devil are?) neither in the miracles that Astolfo by the power of St. John is feigned to do, since the Church holdeth that prophets, both alive and dead, have done mighty great miracles." He was not in pain, but his breath grew heavy and difficult, and his broad chest heaved at intervals with the labor of his breathing. He had spoken-P. 140. From the Examiner. IMPROVEMENT OF THE MERCHANT NAVY. MR. LABOUCHERE has made a very able statement of the burdens and defects of the merchant navy, and the measures of relief and improvement he proposes. In the class of burdens are the light dues and pilotage. As to the first, Mr. Labouchere has effected an arrangement with the Trinity House which will reduce the charge for lights a full third, giving to coasters a reduction of fifty per cent., and to over-sea traders a reduction of sixteen per cent. The present system of pilotage is to make over-sea ships pay, whether they want pilotage or not; and the consequence is, that pilots who make enough in fine weather for their support, will not go knocking about in bad weather, when they are most wanted. They prefer sparing themselves the hardship; and their vessels, sails, and tackle, the wear and tear of rough weather, Mr. Labouchere proposes to empower the proper local authorities to license masters and mates of oversea ships to act as pilots upon proof of their qualification. We look upon this as more than a measure of relief from a burden; it is calculated to increase the efficiency of masters and mates, and to diminish the risks of shipwreck. Skill in pilotage has hitherto been generally neglected by seamen employed in the foreign and colonial trade, and the frequent consequence has been such wrecks as those of the Reliance and Conqueror, which would have been averted by a knowledge of the channel soundings. In a gale of wind from the west, the chances are a hundred to one against a homeward-bound ship's falling in with a pilot till she ceases to want one, especially if she makes the chops of the channel in the night. chant of losing his property. But weighing all things, we think Mr. Labouchere has taken the safer course in making the condition of examination prospective. While taking measures to raise the character and attainments of masters, Mr. Labouchere proposes also to strengthen their authority, providing at the same time the check of a record of every exertion of it in a regularly-kept log. He further proposes to give them a button or uniform to mark their rank, a point which we are not at all disposed to regard as trifling or immaterial in its bearing on demeanor and conduct; for many a long-shore escapade, or public-house indulgence, will be checked by the consideration that the button or uniform must not be so exposed. For the better treatment and comfort of the men, Mr. Labouchere has many important proposals. First, that all contracts shall be under the eye of a public functionary, called shipping officer, superseding the present licensed agents, and invested with large powers. He also takes measures to secure more wholesome berths for the seamen, allotting to each a space of not less than eight feet. At present the quarters of the men in the forecastle of merchantmen are often too dirty, unhealthy, and comfortless to a cruel degree. They lie packed like herrings in a barrel; in hot weather suffocating with heat, and in cold with no choice but the keen wind and spray from the open scuttle, or suffocation from the closing of it. The forecastle, too, is generally damp, it being the part of the ship most likely to leak. Tyrannical masters can always contrive to make the forecastle a place of chronic punishment. The Glasgow captain who provoked his crew to put him in confinement, for which they were tried and acquitted as justifiable under the circumstances. used to carry a press of sail, as proved in evidence, to bury the ship's head in the sea, and swamp the forecastle, so that the men could never have a dry Other arrangements Mr. Labouchere has in view as to provisions, pay, and other details, all conducing to the same end, the fair treatment and comfort of the men. The third part of the subject, the defects of the merchant navy, are divided into two branches, the qualifications of masters and the treatment of the men. We have so often adduced evidence of the gen-plank to lie upon or a dry thread to put on. eral inferiority of British masters in navigation, and in education and conduct, that it must be unnecessary for us to go over that ground again now; indeed, the defects of the merchant service in that respect are not disputed. To remedy this serious fault, Mr. Labouchere proposes to subject masters and mates prospectively to examinations test-relating to the qualifications of masters and the ing their competency. Those already employed are treatment of the men, is to stand over to next sesto be required simply to produce certificates of ser- sion, for the better consideration and arrangement vice. We feel the force of Mr. Labouchere's ar- of the details. To superintend all, a department gument for this prospective arrangement, that it is to be created in the board of trade; a board of would be a great hardship to throw men out of commercial marine, two members of which are to bread who were not prepared to undergo an ex-be retired masters. The relief of the light dues and pilotage is to take place shortly, the first in October; the plan but of course Mr. Gladstone had his cavil at it, turning on the continuance of the seamen's monopoly, and on the introduction of legislative interference, instead of trusting to competition in a freetrade system. amination. And many, we have no doubt, who The project has been well received in the house, are sufficiently skilled for this business, have not their knowledge so methodized as to meet a scientific examination. On the other hand, however, is to be considered the hazard of trusting life and property to the incompetent; and all will agree it would be better that an unfit man should lose his We have not a word to say in defence of the employment, than that a ship's crew should be ex-seamen's monopoly, except that, practically, it posed to the risk of losing their lives, or a mer- matters not a rush whether it exists or not, as no British shipowner would man a ship with foreign-improvident or reckless debtor, and the unlucky ers, and no British master would make shift to debtor; logically, however, it ought first to be handle a vessel with such a crew, or any con- shown, not only that such a discrimination is feasisiderable proportion of them. We repeat, too, that the British seaman, at his wages, and considering his aptitude, adroitness, and skill, is the cheapest in the world, and that there is no motive, no inducement, for resorting to the foreigner. ble, but that credit is a proper subject of legal recognition. The conclusion has been taken for granted; but it is by no means self-evident. Originally, credit is in its nature spontaneous; and the question is, whether it can be converted into a fixed entity without establishing some at enough. Credit is the trust reposed by a seller in the honest intention of the purchaser and his future ability to pay; and, primâ facie, to compel the debtor is only to enforce justice. But you cannot The fault of the British seaman is his conduct ashore; but that is very much referable to his tendant evil. Certain bad consequences are evident treatment at sea, often lodged worse than a pig, and vexatiously subjected to hardships and privations. When the man gets away from the ship, he is wild with joy; and riots in all indulgences after the want of all the comforts. To improve institute such compulsion by law without altering the seaman's condition will do much to correct his excesses out of it. Foreign seamen, Germans especially, have better berths and comfortable homes in their ships; and the change on getting ashore does not, therefore, turn their heads. the essential character of credit; and in doing so you are bound to show that the substitute is better than the original. The right to intervene is conceded in admitting the power of society to make general regulations; but then the breach of conAs to the proposed legislative interference to ventional regulations is not necessarily a moral secure the qualifications of masters, we look upon turpitude. There is no moral reason why a cabit as strictly analogous to the precautions for se-man should not ask you a sovereign for riding from curing the qualifications of surgeons and medical the bank to Charing Cross; but the regulation practitioners. Competition will not suffice in which fixes the fare of cabs is beneficial both to either case, because the parties giving the employ- the public and cabmen; so that the penalty necesment cannot be judges whether or not there is the sary for enforcement of the law is justified by exnecessary degree of skill. The public may be pediency. Another distinction between objects trusted with the choice between medical men duly ordinarily confounded should be noted. In the educated and passed, but it would suffer grievously case of "a fraudulent debtor," the gravamen of the if those securities against very wide errors in choice offence lies so completely in the fraud and not in were wanting. And so merchants and ship-owners the debt, that there is a very illogical bathos in would suffer now but for the marine insurance, the term; and the law should of course be directwhich compensates and makes them content with ed against the grave offence, not the debt. Contheir blunders. In the evidence before the ship- ceding, therefore, the right to regulate contracts, wreck committee, Mr. Soames admitted that he and to deal penally with fraud, let us remark one had appointed, and sent in command to the Bra- or two immediate consequences of converting a zils, a man who could not find his longitude, and spontaneous credit into a credit guaranteed by law. who was utterly ignorant of the working of the Were there no legal guarantee of credit, the chronometer. Mr. Soames explained that he had seller would look narrowly at the personal chartrusted to recommendation and been deceived; but acter of the purchaser, and would usually decline how often must landsmen, merchants, and ship-to deal except upon some knowledge of the purowners have to trust to such fallible recommend- chaser's future means of payment. That would ations, in default of the security of a certificate of probably limit the extent of dealings; but it is not qualification. to be supposed that the limitation would be altoThere is hardly a measure of our time which gether a loss. The trader would escape so many we rate of more importance than Mr. Labouchere's bad debts; the purchaser would be less tempted to plan for the improvement of the merchant navy, exceed his means. It is to be observed, in passand we shall watch the shaping of it to its pur-ing, that the conduct of the improvident debtor poses with the deepest interest. The service at- does not always turn upon his want of honesty. tempted is entirely spontaneous; no "pressure In our complicated social relations, many circumfrom without" extorted it; the honest conviction of the necessity has solely prompted this important reformation. From the Spectator. A QUERY RESPECTING CREDIT. stances may induce the debtor, both in and out of trade, to attempt more than he can accomplish; the policy of "keeping up appearances," with a view to profit-the claims of needy relatives--the difficulty of calculating the ratio of income and outlay, even when the income is nominally "fixed," A SERIOUS doubt hangs over all attempts to for prices seldom are so-these are circumstances amend the law of debtor and creditor-the doubt that render many a man of honest intentions unwhether our code on that subject is not based upon able to "make both ends meet." Establish a a fallacy; and the professed object of the amend- legal guarantee, and you impart to these doubtful ments brings that doubt more actively in question. circumstances an appearance of certainty; the selLord Brougham desires to establish the means of ler, relying on the compulsion of the law, fancies discriminating between the fraudulent debtor, the that his discretion is superseded and he is more |