Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. IX.—February, 1851.—Vol. II.

"Did he eat the pudding?"

"No, mum – he was afraid of it: and he was so cross!"

"Cross! I was going to ask him to join us: do you think he would, Mary?"

"Bless you, no, mum! He jine! I think I see him a-jining! Nothing pleases him. He's too high for any body. I never see the likes of him!"

The feet then ascended the stairs, and after another pause of a few moments, the din of merriment was resumed. I was furious at the sympathy which my loneliness created. I could bear the laughter and shouting of the Christmas party no longer, and once, more with a determination of having my revenge, I went to bed. I lay there for several hours; and did not close my eyes before I had vowed solemnly that I would not pass another Christmas Day in solitude, and in lodgings – and I didn't.

In the course of the following year, I married the lovely daughter of Mr. Sergeant Shuttleface. My angel was a most astonishing piano-forte performer, and copied high art pictures in Berlin wool with marvelous skill, but was curiously ignorant of housekeeping; so, we spent the beginning of our wedded bliss in furnished apartments in order that she might gain experience gradually.

On one point, however, I was resolute; I would not spend a second Christmas Day in lodgings. I took a house, therefore, toward the close of the year, and repeatedly urged my wife to vacate our apartments that we might set up for ourselves. This responsibility she shrunk from with unremitting reluctance. There were besides innumerable delays. Carpets wouldn't fit; painters wouldn't work above one day a week: paper-hangers hung fire; and blacksmiths, charging by the day, did no more than one day's work in six. Time wore on. December came, advanced, and it seemed to be my fate to undergo another Christmas torment. However, to my inexpressible joy, every thing was announced to be in readiness on the twenty-fourth. My sposa had by this time learned enough of housekeeping to feel strong enough for its duties, and on Christmas Eve we left our rooms in Bedford-square, and took our Christmas pudding, in a cab, to my suburban villa near Fulham. And a merry Christmas we made of it! I don't think I ever ate a better pudding, though I have eaten a good many since then.

CRAZED

BY SYDNEY YENDYS"The Spring again hath started on the courseWherein she seeketh Summer thro' the earth.I will arise and go upon my way.It may be that the leaves of Autumn hidHis footsteps from me; it may be the snows."He is not dead. There was no funeral;I wore no weeds. He must be in the Earth,Oh where is he, that I may come to himAnd he may charm the fever of my brain."Oh, Spring, I hope that thou wilt be my friend.Thro' the long weary summer I toiled sore;Having much sorrow of the envious woodsAnd groves that burgeoned round me where I came,And when I would have seen him, shut him in."Also the Honeysuckle and wild bineBeing in love did hide him from my sight;The Ash-tree bent above him; vicious weedsWithheld me; Willows in the River-windHissed at me, by the twilight, waving wands."Also, for I have told thee, oh dear Spring,Thou knowest after I had sunk outwornIn the late summer gloom till Autumn came,I looked up in the light of burning WoodsAnd entered on my wayfare when I sawGold on the ground and glory in the trees."And all my further journey thou dost knowMy toils and outcries as the lusty worldGrew thin to winter; and my ceaseless feetIn Vales, and on stark Hills, till the first snowFell, and the large rain of the latter leaves."I hope that thou wilt be my friend, oh Spring,And give me service of thy winds and streams.It needs must be that he will hear thy voiceFor thou art much as I was when he woo'dAnd won me long ago beside the Dee."If he should bend above you, oh ye streamsAnd any where you look up into eyesAnd think the star of love hath found her mateAnd know, because of day, they are not stars;Oh streams, they are the eyes of my beloved!Oh murmur as I murmured once of oldAnd he will stay beside you, oh ye streams,And I shall clasp him when my day is come."Likewise I charge thee, west wind, zephyr wind,If thou shalt hear a voice more sweet than thineAbout a sunset rose-tree deep in June,Sweeter than thine, oh wind, when thou dost leapInto the tree with passion, putting byThe maiden leaves that ruffle round their dame,And singest and art silent – having droptIn pleasure on the bosom of the rose —Oh wind, it is the voice of my beloved.Wake, wake, and bear me to the voice, oh wind!"Moreover I do think that the spring birdsWill be my willing servants. Wheresoe'erThere mourns a hen-bird that hath lost her mateHer will I tell my sorrow – weeping hers."And if it be a Lark whereto I speakShe shall be ware of how my Love went upSole singing to the cloud; and evermoreI hear his song, but him I can not see."And if it be a female NightingaleThat pineth in the depth of silent woods,I also will complain to her that nightIs still. And of the creeping of the winds,And of the sullen trees, and of the loneDumb Dark. And of the listening of the Stars.What have we done, what have we done, oh Night!"Therefore, oh Love, the summer trees shall beMy watch-towers. Wheresoe'er thou liest boundI will be there. For ere the Spring be pastI will have preached my dolor through the Land,And not a bird but shall have all my woe.– And whatsoever hath my woe hath me."I charge you, oh ye flowers fresh from the dead,Declare if ye have seen him. You pale flowersWhy do you quake and hang the head like me?"You pallid flowers, why do ye watch the dustAnd tremble? Ah, you met him in your cavesAnd shrank out shuddering on the wintry air."Snowdrops, you need not gaze upon the ground,Fear not. He will not follow ye; for thenI should be happy who am doomed to woe."Only I bid ye say that he is there,That I may know my grief is to be borneAnd all my fate is but the common lot."She sat down on a bank of PrimrosesSwayed to and fro, as in a wind of ThoughtThat moaned about her, murmuring alow,"The common lot, oh for the common lot."Thus spoke she, and behold a gust of griefSmote her. As when at night the dreaming windStarts up enraged, and shakes the Trees and sleeps."Oh, early Rain, oh passion of strong crying,Say dost thou weep, oh Rain, for him or me?Alas, thou also goest to the EarthAnd enterest as one brought home by fear."Rude with much woe, with expectation wild,So dashest thou the doors and art not seen.Whose burial did they speak of in the skies?"I would that there were any grass-green graveWhere I might stand and say, 'Here lies my Love.'And sigh, and look down to him, thro' the Earth,And look up thro' the clearing skies, and smile."Then the day passed from bearing up the HeavensThe sky descended on the Mountain-topsUnclouded; and the stars embower'd the Night.Darkness did flood the Valley; flooding her.And when the face of her great grief was hidHer callow heart, that like a nestling birdClamored, sank down with plaintive pipe and slowHer cry was like a strange fowl in the dark;"Alas, Night," said she; then like a faint ghost,As tho' the owl did hoot upon the hills,"Alas, Night." On the murky silence cameHer voice like a white sea-mew on the wasteOf the dark deep a-sudden seen and lostUpon the barren expanse of mid-seasBlack with the Thunder. "Alas, Night," said she,"Alas, Night." Then the stagnant season layFrom hill to hill. But when the waning MoonRose, she began with hasty step to runThe wintry mead; a wounded bird that seeksTo hide its head when all the trees are bare.Silent – for all her strength did bear her dread —Silent, save when with bursting heart she cried,Like one who wrestles in the dark with fiends."Alas, Night." With a dim, wild voice of fearAs tho' she saw her sorrow by the moon.The morning dawns; and earlier than the LarkShe murmureth, sadder than the Nightingale."I would I could believe me in that sleepWhen on our bridal morn I thought him dead,And dreamed and shrieked and woke upon his breast."Oh God I can not think that I am blind.I think I see the beauty of the world.Perchance but I am blind, and he is near."Even as I felt his arm before I woke,And clinging to his bosom called on him,And wept, and knew, and knew not it was he."I do thank God I think that I am blind.There is a darkness thick about my heartAnd all I seem to see is as a dream.My lids have closed, and have shut in the world."Oh Love, I pray thee take me by the hand;I stretch my hand, oh Love, and quake with dreadI thrust it, and I know not where. Ah me,What shall not seize the dark hand of the blind?"How know I, being blind, I am on Earth?I am in Hell, in Hell, oh Love! I feelThere is a burning gulf before my feet!I dare not stir and at my back the fiends!I wind my arms, my arms that demons scorch,Round this poor breast and all that thou shouldst save,From rapine. Husband, I cry out from Hell;There is a gulf. They seize my flesh. (She shrieked.)"I will sink down here where I stand. All roundHow know I but the burning pit doth yawn?Here will I shrink and shrink to no more spaceThan my feet cover. (She wept.) So much upMy mortal touch makes honest. Oh my Life,My Lord, my Husband! Fool, that cryest in vain!Ah, Angel! What hast thou to do with Hell?"And yet I do not ask thee, oh my Love,To lead me to thee where thou art in HeavenOnly I would that thou shouldst be my star,And whatsoever Fate thy beams dispenseI am content. It shall be good to me."But tho' I may not see thee, oh my Love,Yea tho' mine eyes return and miss thee still,And thou shouldst take another shape than thine,Have pity on my lot, and lead me henceWhere I may think of thee. To the old fieldsAnd wonted valleys where we once were blest.Oh Love all day I hear them, out of sight,This far Home where the Past abideth yetBeside the stream that prates of other days."My punishment is more than I can bear.My sorrow groweth big unto my time.Oh Love, I would that I were mad. Oh Love,I do not ask that thou shouldst change my Fate,I will endure; but oh my Life, my Lord,Being as thou art a throned saint in Heaven,If thou wouldst touch me and enchant my sense,And daze the anguish of my heart with dreams,And change the stop of grief; and turn my soulA little devious from the daily marchOf Reason, and the path of conscious woeAnd all the truth of Life! Better, oh Love,In fond delusion to be twice betrayed,Than know so well and bitterly as I.Let me be mad. (She wept upon her knees.)"I will arise and seek thee. This is Heaven.I sat upon a cloud. It bore me in.It is not so, you heavens! I am not dead.Alas! There have been pangs as strong as Death.It would be sweet to know that I am dead."Even now I feel I am not of this worldWhich sayeth day and night, 'For all but thee,'And poureth its abundance night and day,And will not feed the hunger in my heart."I tread upon a dream, myself a dream,I can not write my Being on the world,The moss grows unrespective where I tread."I can not lift mine eyes to the sunshine,Night is not for my slumber. Not for meSink down the dark inexorable hours."I would not keep or change the weary day;I have no pleasure in the needless nightAnd toss and wail that other lids may sleep."I am a very Leper in the Earth.Her functions cast me out; her golden wheelsThat harmless roll about unconscious BabesDo crush me. My place knoweth me no more."I think that I have died, oh you sweet Heavens.I did not see the closing of the eyes.Perchance there is one death for all of usWhereof we can not see the eyelids close."Dear Love, I do beseech thee answer me.Dear Love, I think men's eyes behold me not.The air is heavy on these lips that strainTo cry; I do not warm the thing I touch;The Lake gives back no image unto me."I see the Heavens as one who wakes at noonFrom a deep sleep. Now shall we meet again!The Country of the blest is hid from meLike Morn behind the Hills. The Angel smiles.I breathe thy name. He hurleth me from Heaven."Now of a truth I know thou art on Earth.Break, break the chains that hold me back from thee.I see the race of mortal men pass by;The great wind of their going waves my hair;I stretch my hands, I lay my cheek to them,In love; they stir the down upon my cheek;I can not touch them, and they know not me."Oh God! I ask to live the saddest life!I care not for it if I may but live!I would not be among the dead, oh God!I am not dead! oh God, I will not die!"So throbbed the trouble of this crazed heart.So on the broken mirror of her mindIn bright disorder shone the shatter'd World.So, out of tune, in sympathetic chords,Her soul is musical to brooks and birdsWinds, seasons, sunshine, flowers, and maundering trees.Hear gently all the tale of her distress.The heart that loved her loves not now, yet lives.What the eye sees and the ear hears – the handThat wooing led her thro' the rosy pathsOf girlhood, and the lenten lanes of Love,The brow whereon she trembled her first kiss,The lips that had sole privilege of hers,The eyes wherein she saw the Universe,The bosom where she slept the sleep of joy,The voice that made it sacred to her sleepWith lustral vows; that which doth walk the WorldMan among Men, is near her now. But HeWho wandered with her thro' the ways of Youth,Who won the tender freedom of the lip,Who took her to the bosom dedicateAnd chaste with vows, who in the perfect wholeOf gracious Manhood, was the god that stoodIn her young Heaven, round whom the subject starsCircled; in whose dear train, where'er he passedThronged charmèd powers; at whose advancing feetUpspringing happy seasons and sweet timesMade fond court caroling; who but moved to stirAll things submissive, which did magnifyAnd wane as ever with his changing willShe changed the centre of her infinite; HeIn whom she worshiped Truth, and did obeyGoodness; in whose sufficient love she felt,Fond Dreamer! the eternal smile of allAngels and men; round whom, upon his neck,Her thoughts did hang; whom lacking they fell downDistract to the earth; He whom she loved and whoLoved her of old – in the long days beforeChaos, the empyrean days! – (Poor heartShe phrased it so) is no more: and oh, God!Thorough all Time and that transfigured TimeWe call Eternity, will be no more.[From the Dublin University Magazine.]

ACTORS AND THEIR SALARIES

In all ages successful actors have been an uncommonly well paid community. This is a substantial fact, which no one will deny, however opinions may differ as to the comparative value of the histrionic art, when ranked with poetry, painting, and sculpture. The actor complains of the peculiar condition attached to his most brilliant triumphs – that they fade with the decay of his own physical powers, and are only perpetuated for a doubtful interval through the medium of imperfect imitation – very often a bad copy of an original which no longer exists to disprove the libel. In the actor's case, then, something must certainly be deducted from posthumous renown; but this is amply balanced by living estimation and a realized fortune. There are many instances of great painters, poets, and sculptors (ay, and philosophers, too), who could scarcely gain a livelihood; but we should be puzzled to name a great actor without an enormous salary. I don't include managers in this category. They are unlucky exceptions, and very frequently lose in sovereignty what they had gained by service. An income of three or four thousand per annum, argent comptant, carries along with it many solid enjoyments. The actor who can command this, by laboring in his vocation, and whose ears are continually tingling with the nightly applause of his admirers, has no reason to consider his lot a hard one, because posterity may assign to him in the Temple of Fame a less prominent niche than is occupied by Milton, who, when alive, sold "Paradise Lost" for fifteen pounds, or by Rembrandt, who was obliged to feign his own death, before his pictures would provide him a dinner. If these instances fail to content him, he should recollect what is recorded of "Blind Mæonides:

"Seven Grecian cities claim'd great Homer dead,Through which the living Homer begg'd his bread."

No doubt it is a grand affair to figure in the page of history, and be recorded among the "shining lights" of our generation. But there is good practical philosophy in the homely proverb which says, "Solid pudding is better than empty praise: " the reputation which wins current value during life is more useful to the possessor than the honor which comes after death; and which comes, as David says, in the Rivals, "exactly where we can make a shift to do without it." To have our merits appreciated two or three centuries hence, by generations yet unborn, and to have our works, whether with the pen or pencil, admired long after what was once our mortal substance is "stopping a beer-barrel," are very pleasing, poetical hallucinations for all who like to indulge in them; but the chances are, we shall know nothing of the matter, while it is quite certain that if we do, we shall set no value on it. Posterity, then, will be the chief gainers, and of all concerned the only party to whom we owe no obligations. The posterity, too, which emanates from the nineteenth century is much more likely to partake of the commercial than the romantic character, and to hold in higher reverence the memory of an ancestor who has left behind him £30,000 in bank stock or consols, than of one who has only bequeathed a marble monument in "Westminster's Old Abbey," a flourishing memoir in the "Lives of Illustrious Englishmen," or an epic poem in twenty-four cantos. I would not have it supposed that I depreciate the love of posthumous fame, or those "longings after immortality," which are powerful incentives to much that is good and great; but I am led into this train of reasoning, by hearing it so constantly objected as a misfortune to the actor, that his best efforts are but fleeting shadows, and can not survive him. This, being interpreted fairly, means that he can not gain all that genius toils for, but he has won the lion's share, and ought to be satisfied.

Formerly the actor had to contend with prejudices which stripped him of his place in society, and degraded his profession. This was assuredly a worse evil than perishable fame; but all this has happily passed away. The taboo is removed, and he takes his legitimate place with kindred artists according to his pretension. His large salary excites much wonder and more jealousy, but he is no longer exposed to the insult which Le Kain, the Roscius of France, once received, and was obliged to swallow as he might. Dining one day at a restaurateur's, he was accosted by an old general officer near him. "Ah! Monsieur Le Kain, is that you! Where have you been for some weeks – we have lost you from Paris?" "I have been acting in the south, may it please your excellency," replied Le Kain! "Eh bien! and how much have you earned?" "In six weeks, sir, I have received 4000 crowns." "Diable!" exclaimed the general, twirling his mustache with a truculent frown, "What's this I hear? A miserable mimic, such as thou, can gain in six weeks double the sum that I, a nobleman of twenty descents, and a Knight of St. Louis, am paid in twelve months. Voila une vraie infamie!" "And at what sum, sir," replied Le Kain, placidly, "do you estimate the privilege of thus addressing me?" In those days, in France, an actor was denied Christian burial, and would have been roué vif if he had presumed to put himself on an equality with a gentleman, or dared to resent an unprovoked outrage.

The large salaries of recent days were even surpassed among the ancients. In Rome, Roscius, and Æsopus, his contemporary, amassed prodigious fortunes by their professional labors. Roscius was paid at the rate of £45 a day, amounting to more than £15,000 per annum of our currency. He became so rich that at last he declined receiving any salary, and acted gratuitously for several years. A modern manager would give something to stumble on such a Roscius. No wonder he was fond of his art, and unwilling to relinquish its exercise. Æsopus at an entertainment produced a single dish, stuffed with singing birds, which, according to Dr. Arbuthnot's computation, must have cost about £4883 sterling. He left his son a fortune amounting to £200,000 British money. It did not remain long in the family, as, by the evidence of Horace and Pliny, he was a notorious spendthrift, and rapidly dissipated the honest earnings of his father.

Decimus Laberius, a Roman knight, was induced, or, as some say, compelled, by Julius Cæsar, to appear in one of his own mimes, an inferior kind of dramatic composition, very popular among the Romans, and in which he was unrivaled, until supplanted by Publius Syrus. The said Laberius was consoled for the degradation by a good round sum, as Cæsar gave him 20,000 crowns and a gold ring, for this his first and only appearance on any stage. Neither was he "alone in his glory," being countenanced by Furius Leptinus and Quintus Calpenus, men of senatorial rank, who, on the authority of Suetonius, fought in the ring for a prize. I can't help thinking the money had its due weight with Laberius. He was evidently vain, and in his prologue, preserved by Macrobius, and translated by Goldsmith, he laments his age and unfitness quite as pathetically as the disgrace he was subjected to. "Why did you not ask me to do this," says he, "when I was young and supple, and could have acquitted myself with credit?" But, according to Macrobius, the whole business was a regular contract, with the terms settled beforehand. "Laberium asperæ libertatis equitem Romanum, Cæsar quingentis millibus invitavit, ut prodiret in scenam." Good encouragement for a single amateur performance!

Garrick retired at the age of 60, having been 35 years connected with the stage. He left behind him above £100,000 in money, besides considerable property in houses, furniture, and articles of vertû. He lived in the best society, and entertained liberally. But he had no family to bring up or provide for, and was systematically prudent in expenditure, although charitable, to the extreme of liberality, when occasion required. Edmund Kean might have realized a larger fortune than Garrick, had his habits been equally regular. George Frederick Cooke, in many respects a kindred genius to Kean, threw away a golden harvest in vulgar dissipation. The sums he received in America alone would have made him independent. John Kemble and Mrs. Siddons both retired rich, though less so than might have been expected. She had through life heavy demands on her earnings, and he, in evil hour, invested much of his property in Covent-garden Theatre. Young left the stage in the full zenith of his reputation, with undiminished powers and a handsome independence. Macready is about doing the same, under similar circumstances. Liston and Munden were always accounted two of the richest actors of their day, and William Farren, almost "the last of the Romans," is generally reputed to be "a warm man." Long may he continue so! Miss Stephens, both the Keans, father and son, Macready, Braham, and others, have frequently received £50 a night for a long series of performances. Tyrone Power would probably have gone beyond them all, such was his increasing popularity and attraction, when the untimely catastrophe occurred which ended his career, and produced a vacancy we are not likely to see filled up.

John Bull has ever been remarkable for his admiration of foreign artists. The largest sums bestowed on native talent bear no comparison with the salaries given to French and Italian singers, dancers, and musicians. An importation from "beyond seas" will command its weight in gold. This love of exotic prodigies is no recent passion, but older than the days of Shakspeare. Trinculo, in the Tempest, thus apostrophizes the recumbent monster, Caliban, whom he takes for a fish: "Were I in England now (as I was once), and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man – any strange beast there makes a man."

Catalani, Pasta, Sontag, Malibran, Grisi, Taglioni, Rubini, Mario, Tamburini, Lablache, cum multis aliis, have received their thousands, and tens of thousands; but, until the Jenny Lind mania left every thing else at an immeasurable distance, Paganini obtained larger sums than had ever before been received in modern times. He came with a prodigious flourish of trumpets, a vast continental reputation, and a few personal legends of the most exciting character. It was said that he had killed his wife in a fit of jealousy, and made fiddle-strings of her intestines; and that the devil had composed a sonata for him in a dream, as he formerly did for Tartini. When you looked at him, you thought all this, and more, very likely to be true. His talent was almost supernatural; while his "get up" and "mise en scene" were original and unearthly, such as those who saw him will never forget, and those who did not can with difficulty conceive. The individual and his performance were equally unlike any thing that had ever been exhibited before. No picture or description can convey an adequate idea of his entrance and his exit. To walk simply on and off the stage appears a commonplace operation enough, but Paganini did this in a manner peculiar to himself, which baffled all imitation. While I am writing of it, his first appearance in Dublin, at the great Musical Festival of 1830, presents itself to "my mind's eye," as an event of yesterday. When he placed himself in position to commence, the crowded audience were hushed into a death-like silence. His black habiliments, his pale, attenuated visage, powerfully expressive; his long, silky, raven tresses, and the flash of his dark eye, as he shook them back over his shoulders; his thin, transparent fingers, unusually long, the mode in which he grasped his bow, and the tremendous length to which he drew it; and, climax of all, his sudden manner of placing both bow and instrument under his arm, while he threw his hands behind him, elevated his head, his features almost distorted with a smile of ecstasy, and his very hair instinct with life, at the conclusion of an unparalleled fantasia! And there he stood immovable and triumphant, while the theatre rang again with peals on peals of applause, and shouts of the wildest enthusiasm! None who witnessed this will ever forget it, nor are they likely again to see the same effect produced by mere mortal agency.