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out," said one of my informants, "where the I could fill a volume with the anecdotes my old 'coon stowed his money, for most of the shipmates told me of their experiences during planters have a confidential old negress; we the war, did space admit of my doing so, but I used to tie her hands behind her, and after a will conclude with one related to me by a prigood deal of pinching she would let the cat out vate of the 13th New York Cavalry. He, too, of the bag, and discover the hiding-place. Most had "jumped the bounty," and was now on of the ladies and gentlemen had made their his homeward voyage to Ireland "to enjoy escape before we arrived." the blessings of the land and the fruits of his labour," in the shape of 300 of Uncle Sam's dollars in his pocket. My old warrior had formerly served in Her Majesty's 10th Hussars, had been in China, India, and other distant regions, and was finally returning from the siege of Charleston. Observing him take a bottle of quinine from a small deal box, curiosity impelled me to inquire, "What do you do with that quinine?" The veteran was silent for a minute or two, then, seeing that the coast was clear of listeners, he answered, "It's of no use trying to pump me, as you have those young soldiers, but I don't mind telling you about it. Well, in one of the small towns down South, I and another boy of ours took to a druggist's shop to try our luck there, and we found about twenty pounds of quinine, all done up in bottles like this. Our plans were soon formed; he packed it all up except this one bottle, and we started back to picket duty. The Southern pickets were close in front, and I managed to attract the attention of our commanding officer, while Con Brady made a dash into the Confederate lines, waving a white pocket handkerchief as a flag of truce. We fired several shots after him, not too well aimed, and he reached the Secesh safely, sold his horse and accoutrements to the colonel of the regiment for one thousand dollars, went on to Richmond, and realised three thousand dollars or more by the quinine." The narrator concluded, "And this Con had only one eye, and had jumped the bounty four times before, by gob."

My fellow-passengers assured me that the subaltern officers, and even the captains, were often more ruthless pillagers than the men; and even where perhaps this was not the case, very few of the privates paid the slightest attention to their commanders' orders. In the regiments belonging to the State of Kansas the troops do not allow their officers to inflict any punishment. The man above referred to told me that while serving in North America he was once tied up with his hands behind him to a tree, to be left there for two hours, in consequence of some act of disobedience; but he was released by his infuriated comrades, who rushed to the rescue with drawn sabres, while the captain dared not utter a word. The punishments are various; that for drunkenness consists in putting an empty barrel, in which is bored a hole large enough to admit of the head passing through, over the delinquent, who is tantalised by an unattainable glass of whisky being placed on the top of the cask. Others are very cruel, such as suspending the unfortunate man by means of a rope attached to his hands (which have been previously tied together behind him) to the branch of a tree, his toes just touching the ground. When a culprit is sent to prison, a chain ten feet in length is riveted with a shackle to his ankle, and a thirty-two-pounder shot is attached to it; when he is walking he is obliged to carry the chain, but when wheeling earth he can partially relieve himself of the weight by depositing it in the barrow. There are other modes of punishment, some bordering far too closely on torture to be admitted into the code of a civilised nation.

I was told that the regiments from the State of Georgia give no quarter to the Secessionists; indeed, it would seem as if neither plunder, sacrilege, nor any similar crime was too bad to find perpetrators in the ranks of the Northern army; while, to the honour of the Southerners be it said, they have always respected private property, except in a few instances, when goaded to retaliation by the excesses of their enemies. I have never yet encountered a Federal soldier who would not acknowledge this to be the case. Not satisfied with destroying houses and robbing every unlucky being who crosses their path, the Northerners are too often not ashamed to descend to petty larceny and: teal pigs and poultry.

I have given these few episodes of one of the most disastrous civil wars, especially when its magnitude is taken into account, that the world has ever witnessed. Its horrors and miseries are certainly no fit theme for jesting, but viewed in its aspect of vulgar braggadocio, the Yankee character, as developed in the course of the struggle, would be ludicrous if it were not too contemptible. Of course there are many honourable exceptions, and the land which has brought forth sons distinguished for talent, for valour, and for virtue must be capable of better things. But the harsh and tyrannical spirit in which the Northerners have hitherto pursued this unnatural conflict for the purpose of subjugating their unwilling brethren reads as a strange satire upon the loud-sounding professions of liberty that meet us at every

for seeing near objects, and the small eyeball, with plane cornea, for seeing distant; so a cheerful, social disposition must, in the course of years, and of life, and of successive generations, produce large eye-balls; while an anxious, melancholy, and reserved disposition

turn. Wheu will it be apparent to them, as it has long been to us Europeans, that eight millions of men, fighting for all they hold most dear on earth, can never be conquered? There is certainly the alternative of extermination; but such a project, if one so horrible were ever seriously entertained by the Federals, is show-must, in the course of time, produce small ing itself daily more and more impossible of realisation. We can only trust that they may acknowledge before it is too late the injustice and hopelessness of this war-a war in which they have scarcely gained a single decided victory, notwithstanding the great superiority of their numbers and appliances, and which threatens at no distant period to be carried by their triumphant foes to the very gates of Baltimore, and even of Washington itself.

The latter part of our voyage was calm and uneventful, its monotony being only relieved by the experiences of my "skedaddling" acquaintances. We reached Liverpool in safety, and dispersed to our several homes.

HENRY CHESSHYRE.

THE WINDOWS OF THE SOUL.

LAVATER, in his work on Physiognomy, which created so great a sensation throughout Europe towards the end of last century, makes a remark regarding the hereditary brilliancy of eyes in certain families, which is partly true and partly false. "When any extraordinary vivacity appears in the eyes of the mother," says the Swiss mystic, "there is almost a certainty that these eyes will become hereditary; for the imagination of the mother is delighted with nothing so much as the beauty of her own eyes." With the first part of what Lavater says here I entirely agree; but the reason he assigns for the beautiful eyes of children will satisfy no one who has paid any attention to the marvellous phenomena connected with the transmission of physical and mental qualities through countless generations. The eye is "the window of the soul," as poets and philosophers unite in telling us, and the window may be made bright or dark by the good or evil temper of the spirit that looks through it, as well as by its mere physical condition. A modern writer on this interesting topic gives a much more rational explanation of the circumstances which produce and perpetuate brilliancy of eyes, as well as of those which diminish that quality, than the one furnished by Lavater. "As anxiety not only bedims, but also diminishes the eye-ball; indeed, bedims by so far diminishing; and as cheerfulness not only brightens, but also fills and enlarges the eye-ball; as, moreover, the large eye-ball, with convex cornea, is fitted

eye-balls."* Brilliant eyes, of the kind here described, when accompanied by corresponding culture of soul, constitute a valuable inheritance. Whether in man or woman, a natural tendency to look at the bright side of things is better than "houses and land," when the latter are accompanied by that inveterate disposition to look on the dark side which makes the unhappy patient see every thing, sublunary or celestial, through the gloomy medium of fear.

The "extraordinary vivacity," of which Lavater speaks, must proceed either from the hereditary qualities of the soul, or from the special culture it has received first in the ordinary world of sense and show, and then in the higher sphere of emotions and ideas. The mother who possesses true nobility of soul cannot fail to give her children a portion of the rich inheritance she has derived from her ancestors; and this, no doubt, determines that strong individuality of features and expression by which certain families are characterised. As a general rule, however, far more depends upon the culture which the soul receives from parents and teachers than upon the frame in which it is lodged; and if this may be said with regard to those habits of the soul which stamp an indelible expression upon the countenance, it applies with peculiar force to the character of the eye, in which the whole spiritual nature stands embodied so clearly in some persons as to convey more meaning by a single glance than any amount of mere oratory or eloquence can impart. "One might -one now and then can," says John Foster in his Diary, "throw one's whole soul through one's eyes in a single glance." Great men, especially great commanders, generally possess this remarkable power, which, like every other bodily or spiritual faculty, becomes all the stronger from its frequent use. "In the eyes

of certain persons there is something sublime, which beams and exacts reverence. This sublimity is the concealed power of raising themselves above others, which is not the wretched effect of constraint, but primitive essence. Each one finds himself obliged to submit to this secret power, without knowing why, as soon as he perceives that look, implanted by nature to inspire reverence, shining

*"An Attempt to Establish Physiognomy upon Scientific Principles." By John Cross, M.D. Glasgow. 1817.

SEPT. 17, 1861.]

in the eye.
Those who possess this natural
sovereign essence rule as lords or lions among
men by native privilege, with heart and tongue
conquering all."*

The great Chatham must have had this look
in an eminent degree. "The lightning of his
one of his
eye was not to be endured," as
biographers relates; and this was the case,
even to the latest hour of his life, when worn
Frederick the
down by sickness and age.
Great had the same commanding expression.
"His large eyes dart the most piercing look,"
says the poet Gleim, "but tempered with cle-
mency." Lavater, in speaking of Frederick,
quotes from a French writer a passage on the
"This mark,
peculiar look of great men.

which nature has imprinted on the face of
every great man, is superior to every advantage
of figure, and transforms a Socrates into a
handsome man. Whoever has received this
distinctive mark feels indeed that he is in-
vested with it; but is ignorant of its seat,
Upon the latter
which is infinitely various."
point, however, the Swiss physiognomist does
"I have
not agree with the Frenchman.
always found this mark," says Lavater, "in
the contour of the eyelid, between the eye-
It is
brows, or near the root of the nose.
in the last place that it distinctly appears
in our hero "-Frederick the Great. Judg-
ing from the best portraits of the Prussian
monarch, I think that the mark of greatness
was not confined to one feature, but was
visible in the firm expression of the mouth,
no less than in the penetrating glance of the

eyes.

Emerson makes some notable remarks, in his "Conduct of Life," on the marvellous phenomena of our spiritual being, as it shows itself at the "windows of the soul," which are well worthy of study, on account of the clear light they throw upon the impulsive, undisciplined character of the American people in general:

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Eyes are bold as lions-roving, running, They leaping here and there, far and near. speak all languages. They wait for no introduction; they are no Englishmen ; ask no leave of age or rank; they respect neither poverty nor riches, neither learning nor power, nor virtue, nor sex, but intrude, and come again, and go through and through you in a moment of time. The communication by the eye is, in the greater part, not subject to the control of the will. It is the bodily symbol of identity of nature. We look into the eyes to know if this other form is another self; and the eyes will not lie, but make a faithful confession what inhabitant is there.

Komp's Essay on Temperaments."

345

The

The revelations are sometimes terrific.
confession of a low, usurping devil is there
made; and the observer shall seem to feel
the stirring of owls and bats, and horned
hoofs, where he looked for innocence and sim-
plicity."

What the New England Transcendentalist
says here regarding the boldness of American
eyes, which "wait for no introduction," and
have no respect for anything, points to the
most salient feature in the national character
of our Transatlantic brethren—a total want of
reverence, arising from intense egotism, and
The
consequent impatience of all restraint.
greatest defect in the American people, says
General Scott, is their want of patience; and
this fatal want is clearly owing to that un-
bounded freedom from all restraint which they
have enjoyed since the declaration of American
Independence. Outward freedom is good for
a nation only in proportion to the amount of
Unless accom-
inward culture it has received.
panied by a strong sense of justice, or an
earnest conviction of duty, political freedom
becomes a curse rather than a blessing.
emancipation of the American people from
those restraints of law and conventionalism to
which their ancestors were subjected has not
been accompanied by a corresponding amount
of mental and moral culture, and the result
is painfully visible in that reckless expression
of the eyes to which Emerson refers.
communication by the glance," as he tells us,
This, of course, is a
"is, in the greatest part, not subject to the
control of the will.”

The

"The

ssion

question of degree; of more or less power over
the feelings. Eyes which respect neither
learning nor power, nor virtue, nor sex, are
not under the control of reason, but of
or impertinent curiosity, which is too much
the case with the sovereign people of America.
The right government of the eyes cannot be
achieved without the proper discipline of the
soul; and such regimen is not willingly sub-
mitted to by men who have been taught from
infancy that absolute freedom is the highest
earthly good.

"It is a point of cunning," says Lord Bacon, "to wait upon him with whom you speak with your eye, as the Jesuits give it in precept; for there be many wise men that have secret hearts and transparent countenances yet this would be done with a demure abasing of your eyes sometimes, as the Jesuits also do use." As the Jesuits are exceedingly cunning, they naturally adopt this demure aspect for the purpose of concealing their own thoughts as closely as possible, while they are all the while trying to read the inmost soul of the person to whom they are speaking. This

is quite as bad as the reckless, roving expression of the eye which marks the American. The right course is to look the person with whom you are conversing full in the face; showing neither unmanly timidity, nor undue boldness. That artificial and demure look which Lord Bacon calls "a point of cunning," is the usual mark of a Jesuit, but it is not confined to the disciples of Loyola. Now and then we encounter a face of this description, where the cunning expression has been produced by other causes. "The greatest hypocrite I ever knew," says Hlaizt,t <6 was a little demure, pretty, modest-looking girl, with eyes timidly cast upon the ground, and an air soft as enchantment. The only circumstance that could lead to a suspicion of her true character was a cold, sullen, watery, glazed look about the eyes, which she bent on vacancy, as if determined to avoid all explanation with yours. I might have spied in their glittering, motionless surface, the rocks and quicksands that awaited below." This, however, is only a one-sided view of the affair. What would the "little, demure, pretty, modest-looking girl" have said about the expression of Hazlitt's own eyes? Had she been able to express her feelings in as fine words as he used, we might have had as repulsive a picture of him as he has drawn of her. Patmore tells us that Hazlitt's eyes were neither fine nor brilliant; and as for expression, "there was a furtive and, at times, a sinister look about them, as they glanced suspiciously from under their overhanging brows, that conveyed a very unpleasant impression to those that did not know him.

And they were seldom directed frankly and fairly towards you, as if he were afraid that you might read in them what was passing in his mind concerning you." Who can wonder that the "modest-looking girl" should have felt afraid to look him frankly in the face?

Hazlitt ought to have remembered the fundamental law which reigns through all physiognomical relations, that like begets like. If your eyes wear a habitually suspicious or jealous expression, you may be sure that they will call forth a corresponding look in the eyes of most people with whom you come in contact. On the other hand, if your eyes have an open, frank, and cheerful expression, as if a good-natured soul were looking out of the window, you will find most people responding to your hearty greeting in the same pleasaut ocular dialect. Marvellous also is the power which one soul exercises over another through the eyes, in imparting whatever passion or feeling predominates at the moment. This is certainly one of the greatest mysteries of our

dual nature, but it is one to which we shall obtain the key when we have acquired that high degree in self-knowledge which enables us, really and truly, to "see oursel's as ithers see us."

Solomon warns us against familiarity with "him that hath an evil eye; for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." The doubleminded man cannot help showing his real nature in the language of his eye. "Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee." Singleness of heart is equally visible in frankness of ocular expression. "My eye no sooner fixed upon his," says John Dunton, "but through that perspective I could see the inward virtue of his soul, which immediately produced a veneration in my breast, and I soon found our hearts beat time to one another." How much of our enjoyment in social intercourse arises from such sympathy is well expressed by Emerson. "Vain and forgotten are all the fine offers and offices of hospitality, if there is no holiday in the eye. How many furtive inclinations are avowed by the eye, though dissembled by the lips. A man comes away from a company in which, it may easily happen, he has said nothing, and no important remark has been addressed to him, and yet, if in sympathy with the society, he shall not have a sense of this fact, such a stream of life has been flowing into him, and out from him, through the eyes.” Nor is this enjoyment altogether owing to the felicitous temper of the individual himself. The company of sympathetic souls has the effect of a powerful cordial upon a sinking heart. It soon raises it up to a higher level; and this all the more effectually from the unconscious nature of its operation. When we see "holiday in the eye, we do not need to care much about what the tongue says. T. BALLANTYNE.

SIR OLAF.

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(FROM THE GERMAN OF HEINRICH HEINE.)

I.

NIGH the church two men are standing, Each in scarlet mantle shrouded,— One the king, with brow o'erclouded, And the headsman is the other.

To the headsman speaks the monarch,
"When the priests have ceased their chanting,
Ceased the chant, the bridal ending,
Keep, oh keep thy good axe ready."

Bells ring out, deep swells the organ,

Out of church the throng is streaming, Bridal train of festive seemingIn the midst the bride and bridegroom.

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"I bless the land, and I bless the sea,
The flowers the earth entwining;
I bless the violets, sweet that be
As my wife's blue eyes so shining.

"Those eyes have cost my life to me,
Those violet eyes, love-lighted,
Yet I bless them, and the elder-tree
Where our rash love was plighted."
JULIA GODDARD.

A CHAPTER ON BIRDS. Nor the least interesting side of ornithology is a knowledge of the associations connected with birds. These, as a few specimens will show, are multitudinous, and range over many departments of learning. The classics, ancient history and mythology, mediæval manners and customs, sacred lore and modern æsthetics, have each of them a point where they come in contact with ornithology. Hardly a single bird that we see in our walks is without a relation to the past or some reference to the home life of our own days.

We will begin with our own British birds. Seldom as it is seen with us now, the eagle soaring amongst the clouds is still to the classical scholar Jove's bird that bore off Ganymede to Olympus. The peacock sunning its many-eyed tail on the terrace recalls the pomp and state of Juno. Minerva, goddess of the wisdom that loves silence and the night hours, has her noiseless winged owl, just as Venus delighted in her Paphian doves. Around the osprey (Pandion), the hoopoe, kingfisher (Halcyon), unhappy Philomela and the swallow (Procne), crystallises many a legend of the old mythology. The woodpecker (Picus), takes us back to the cradle of Romulus and Remus, while the vulture, of which two or three specimens have been taken in Great Britain, recalls the foundation of the Eternal City: geese are for ever associated with its capitol. How appropriately is the Orphean warbler named ! When spring brings back the cuckoo, and its attendant the cuckoo-maid (as country folks call the wryneck), who is not instantly transported to the sunny hills of Campania in Horace's time, and the vine-dresser vying with the passer-by in the rustic witticism of shouting "cuckoo" to each other? The cocks and hens in the farmyard tell us of the Indian jungles where their ancestors strutted ages ago, just as the very mention of a pheasant bears us off to Colchis, and shows us Medea brewing her unholy potions by the Phasis. Very suitably has the wren, with its small body and curious propensity for burrowing into hedge-bottoms, received the name of Troglodytes Europaus, carrying us away to Africa, the fairy-land of the old

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