Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 1, 1874, Page 10

10 «TIIE: CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE: SUNDAY; FEBRUARY ‘1, 187 POLITICAL WOMEN. Their Influence in Various Nations and Ages. Aspasia, Cornelia, and the Mother of Abdaliah, Madame Recmaier, Madame De Stael, and the Princess De Lieven. Alice Perress, Eleanor Cobham, Mistress Blount, and Abigail Hill, From the London Atheneum. A biographical dictionary of political women would in extent equal an encyclopzdia, Politi- cal women are to be found even in pre-historic fimes. In Olympns they obstructed the plans of the father of the gods, whether those plans regarded hesven or esrth; and old mythology shows how the peace of mind of Pluto, Valean, wnl Neptune could be disturbed, and their realms rendered intolerable, by the sayings and doings of mischievons besuty. They arc numerous in history, sacred or pro- fane. Among the political women of Greeco there i8 none who bas left more tender mem- ories i{han the Aspasia at whose beautiful feet Pericles was content to sit. A far brighter ex- ample is furnished by the list of Roman political Women, namely ; that COBNELIA, who married & Roman citizen when she might have been the bride of aKing. Cornelia'smerit wae well recognized by her grateful country, by the erection of her ststue in her lifétime, with the inscription, *Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi.” ‘We do not see why we should disbelicve the oft-racorded saying of Cornelia that those Gracchi were her real and only jewels, any more than the equally well-known sasing of another political woman of hor dgy, the mother of the Iast Arab-)ohammedan King of Gransds, When Abdallah checked his horee to tako a farewell Took at the city from which he was expelled, and ‘burst into tears at the sight, the STRONGER-MINDED AND STOUTER-EEABTED OLD LADY, who had been s ort of Minister without port- folio, exclaimed, * You do wall to weep like a woman for what you couid not defend like a man!” If there had been many mon in the Hootish Kingdom in Spain with the definnt spirit of Al ah’s mother, history would have Liad other consequences to unfold. One cannob but feol indignant at the wrong that bas becn done to this political old lady. She hos been robbed of her famous eaying byono of ber own countrymen, who clhronicled the later, and those the little, deeds of her son. Abdallah, the ex-King, fell 'in battle, in the serviceof an African’ Prince. ** A, wretched man I” cries the plagiarizing historian, ** who could lose his life in snother's cause, though he did not dare to dio in his own !” This superfluous scorn is modified, however, by the comment that, after all, “Such was the immutable decree of dos- tiny!” And Abdalleh could not help himself. secret history of every country ADOUNDS WITH TRACES. more or less distinct, of the infinence—for good or for evil—of political women. The fabled potentate who, whether he heard of & revolution ora simple_catastrophe, always asked, * Who1s she?” implied that a woman wasthe prime mover of every event, When M. ~Guizot published his *Melanges Biographiques et Litteraires,” the pages that forded most plessure were those in which ho painted various portraits of women, Some of thom found love in marriage, like Lady Rus- sell ; others neither found nor sought it, like the widow of the celebrated Lavoisier, Whose death, resembling that of Lord William Bus- scll, was on the scaffold,—a politicl sacrifice. The widow of Lavoisier did not find solace in writing euch lotter as Lady Russell wrots to Halifax. She became Madawe la Comtesse de Bumfort; and she separated from her eecond husband becanse he would not allow her to con- tinue to bear the name of her first. AADAME RECAMIED, who was one of the political as well a& charm- ingly eocial women of lLer day, reigued sver French high life in Ler salons, while her husband lived under the same mof 8s a stranger-guest in his own house, 8ot Madame Recamier wes only an amateur diplomute. It has been boasted by some French writers that the Revolution which' began four- 3c0re years ago, and has not yet come to an end, atamped out the political woman. “Women,” says M. Cuvillier Flenry, “who could fight, like Foanne d'Arc ; or foment factions, like Madame do Longueviile; or iuierveno in Csbinet Coun- ils, like X o de Aaintenon; or govern the State from the side of her bed, like Madamo do Pompedour; orinflamea political party, like Madame Roland, are no longer possible, or are xcarcely possible, in the present epoch.” This conclusion, howorer, is jumped at & Little too tily. MADAME DE STAEL potseesed poliical intiuence enough to induce Napoleon to drive her from France; and the evemics of the Empress Edgenie alloge that sho bad & voico in_ meas- ures which lod to the destruction of au Empire. Tn' fact the ox-Empress is the Tast of & long lina of women who, through religion, have in- fluenced the political destinies of France. Tho principal sgents in that line havo been enumer- sted in a review of Alr. Jervis' * History of tho Church of France,” ina lute numberof the Quarterly. Theliné begina with Clotilda, for whoee sake, and for viciory's sake, Clovis and the Franks became *Christians.” Thers wag manifest.” wo are told, “in the fomale influence of Clotilds, the origin of tha LONG LINE OF ILLUSTRIOUS WOMEN who, for good or for evil, have swayed the re- ligious passions of France through Fredegonds, through Blanche, through Joan of Arc, through Chantal, aod Guyop, and Maintenon, down to the Empress Eugenie.” Dut the name of another political woman is omitted in this list, » name which is connectod with France, and, indeed, with England also, and the bearer of which was neither French nor English. Such & woman is not to ba passed aver. The ladyiu quostion was, by birth, Russian. 50 coudtry in tho world, has been mord despoti’ cally ruled by women than Russia, They have governed, somo within their boudoirs, others on the throna. There was one who ruled, or rather served, Russia in quite anothor faghion. This lady, MLLE. DE PENKENDOBEF, married, in 1800, the Prince do Lisven. Tho bride was only 15 years of age. The young couple began married life in the gayest manner, sud kept the maner up for tan years, in St. Petersburg. Eubaegluunfly. the Frince was_sent on & small lomatic mission to Berlin, and there the brilliant Princess dovoted lierself to the studs of diplomatic prin- ciples and practices. Later still in London, Fera sho is well remembered, tho Princess gave dovelopment of ber political principles, and be- - came bold, not to Esy sudacions, in_ political ractices. She was actually here what some ave called her jestingly,—the editor-in-chief of the dispatches which were issued from the Rus- sian Embassy. The Prince was a dignified, and sccomplished man ; but. “OoUR GENEBAL'S WIFE IS NOW THE GENERAL,” snd ho took circumstances as a man so sensible was likely to do. ‘Thst is to say, be accepted the gervices of his wife, and, with much tact, attrib- uted io himself tho importance which longed to her. The secret, however, could not be kopt loog. Poople Lave suggested that tho Princess do Lioven fil'ugnot wish thatitshould be. Atallevents, the Cazar soon knew the chare that the Princess had in the Ambasaador’a dispatches and correspond- ence, and, in consequence. she was directed to maintsin an intimate exchange of letters with the Minister, M. Nesselrode. At s later period, she received instructions from the Czar which he would communicate to no other person. She becane chief diplomstist, and the Prince, her busband, wos her faithfal secretary. It would lead us too far to say what the Princess subsequently became, and for what good offices M. Guizot himeelf was indebted to Rer. We have but scant space left to notice & few samples of the political women in our own country. They come to the front at a very early period, and with very strong qualifications. As for the Saxon mai ROWENA, y who eamo over with Hecgist and Horsa, quietly dealt out poisons to those who were disagreesbls 10 her, and succeeded in making Vortigern take herto wife, we fear that her story belonge to romsnce, yet it illustrates » typo of woman and the realities she dealt with. In ancient chron- icles m:honeensh:r{m'zn{ h!‘g‘hlyw prvn;:ed ‘Z’.?.‘i turned their palaces into family con! who apent, whole yearsin church. But tho sirong famalo politinian donstantiy asserted horself. In- deed, she oceasionally overdid the part, snd Dot without political conequences, a3 was the case with Queen Eadburgs, whose political, moral, and personsl acts were, it is eaid, 80 little to the taste of the'Saxons, that they (the West Saxons) passed 8 law which prohibited female succession to the Crown, and decreed that, henceforward, no distinetive honors should ever be rendered to the consorts of Kings. __Althongh we often come upon political women in, succudxng Teigns, it is not till the reign of Edward the Third that s woman of this class steps into voluntary and audacious prominence. The audacity of ALICE PERERS surpaseed anything of s similsr pature’ by which Enpglish people had hitherto been scan- dalized. - Her condnct in public testified to the gfivnge influence ehe exercised over the Royal ero in his dotage. She even dared to seat herself by the side of tlie Tudgos in both the civil and ecclesiastical conrts, ‘and whisper in tho ears of the administration of jnstice to give judg- ment, if need be, against their comscienco. Parliament, however, had power enough to sep~ arate this woman from the King. All civilized Europe spoka in scorn of such » fair pieco of sin standing between the English Government, Crown, and foreign Envoys. Parliament checked the ecandal; but Alico ‘was rather bought off than banished. She bound herself, indeed, by an oath, never again even to seo the King ; but, at the bolding up of Fdward's trembling finger, inviting her to return, she was, in a few months, arain in the royal chamber, moro Queen in En~ gland than Phillippa ever Lad been ; perhaps as much King a8 Edward had ever shown limself, at Jeast in his laler years. That Alice Percrs EAT IN THE KING'S COUNCIL is clear, from what befel that model of Speak- ers in Parliament, Peter dola Mare. Peter had spoken with honest boldness against Alice and her confederates. A charga was, consequaatly, bronght against Lim for having slandered ** Alica Perers and somo others of the Council of our Lord, the King Edward.” At this woman's sug- gestion, the Speaker was condemned to perpet~ ual imprisonment in Notunghaw Castle. = Aftor the Eing's death and Alice’s fall, Peter de Ia Mare was liberated in 1877, haviog suffered two years' rigorous confinement. THAT ‘‘ INFANDA MERETRIX,” a8 Walsingham ealls her, sat in the death-cham- ber of King Edward at Shene, like lus ovil geuiua, deluding him with Jromisos of renewed oalth and strength_and all accompanying Joys, and kee{mg from him all who cams on business of the kingdoms of this world or of the next. She hind got from him, living, eversthing her greed urged her to ask; And when she, alone in that chamber, ssw the old ox-hero specchless snd dying, the * inverecunda pellex ™ stripped the rings from the Royal fingers, and quietly de- parted with this her fast booty. As she glided out, in slipped a watchful priest, m time to ab- solve the King from all the sins he had commit- ted Guring his long life and relgn, Alice well understood that sha herself and hor affaws would certainly bo discussed in Parlia- ment. To obviate unpleasant consequences she bribed many of the Peers, and, it is 8aid, all the Judges. If this be true the money was thrown away. PADLIANENT DENOUNCED NER 28 one who had corrupted the old King for her own advantage. The¥ ordered the confiscation of all her property, “movable or immovable," and senfenced Ler to perpetun! banichment, Poter do 1a” Mars was present when &Zd;:manb was given ; and that Speaker of the * Good Par- liament " felt componsated for all_he hed en- dured through Alice in the Little Ease of Not- tingham Castle. Eleanor Cobham, the maid of bonor to Jacque- line of Holland, and whom Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (youngest son of Heary the Fourth), married while his first wifo, Jacqueline, was siill alive, is & fair sampla of the political women of her time. kspeare has not overloocked her, nor Elizabeth Waod- ville, nor Jane Shore. Tha references to the last two mischievons women, the Queen and tho concubine (1o Richard IIL.), reflect their charac- ters as they were estimated by a large portion of England. . 3 Some day, perhaps, we ehall know more than wa do at present of the influence exercised over Heary tho Eighth by MISTRESS BLOUNT. She had the grood fortune, if it be not wicked to 8ay 0, t0 bo Henry's mistross sud not his wifo. Henry Fitzroy, Henry's illogitimate son, wag the prido of his paternal heart. The King made the boy Duke of Richmond and Somersot, Admiral of England, Normandy, Gascony, znd Aquitaine ; and Mistress Blount's 8on is ranked among the “ Lientenants of Ire- land.” He would lhave been chronicled smong the Princes of Wales had he lived, perhapa among the wesrers of the Crown, for Henry, of his own impulées, less than through the moth- er's influence, was esgerly inclined to recognize their son for his lawful heir. But the son died while yet a boy, and his mother—in all things the opposite of Alice Perers—is best known to us, in family history, as Lady Taillehois, and lastly as wife of Robert, Baron de Clinton, who became Earl of Lincoln in 1572 Tndor and Stuart passed away, not without feminine influence bemg pretty constantly brought o bear on both political and religions affairs- There is, however, but the name of one English woman handed down to us, that of ABIGAIL HILL,— one of the cloverest women of Queen Anne's © time,—as being essentially s political woman, whem _she ~ wis really less that than anything else s woman could be. 3uchnonsense bias been writton about Mrs, Hiil (afterwards, by marriage with one of Queen Anne's pages, Mrs., aud at last Lady, Masham). She ws3 8 “poor relstion ™ of the Duchesa of Marlborough., Miss Strickland Epeaks with unpardonablo contempt of Abigail's father being in trade, at a time when gentlomen's younger sous were' often “put spprentices.” The lady says, too, with a lofty scorn, not at all warranted by the circamatances, that Abigail Hill bad once *sunk to the lagt wretchedness to which avirtuouaperson can fall, —that of common servitude.” Hovwever, servituda is not now, nor was it then, a condition of wretchedness at all. In Abigml Hills days, moreover, it was the commonest thing in the world fora * gentla woman" to be & 1ady’s maid, 83 Abigail was to Lady Rivers, Mrs. Hill owed her appointment as Ded- chamber Womaa to Queen Aune, to the Duclicss of Marlborongh's recommendation ; and 1t waa because she served her mistress with simple zeal, and with rare good sense, and pradence, and success, that tho jealous Duchess WOULD HAVE BUINED HER I¥ SLE COULD. ‘We know how her Grace calumnia‘cd her. Mrs. Hill, or Masham, was better cducated than sny woman, and than many men, about the Conrt,— a fact that proves rhe wos not below her posi— tion. She served tho Queen, not the State in- triguers. When it was proposed to make her & Poeress by the clevation of her hushand to a Deersge, Anne expressed a reluctenca to make anything like a political personsge of her. The lady only gmfl-infly became 8o when ghe was acting for her Royal mustress, or was drawn mto conversation by politicians. Meanager, the French Ambassador, says of her, in reference to interviews ho had with her by the Queen’s sanction, that he left her '* wondering much within myself that such a mean character should be attributed to this lady as some bave been made public, but I must add that she scemed to me as worthy of the favor of a Queen 88 any woman £ have ever conversed with in my life,”” Swuft sttributed to her more political power than she ever eimed at, becanse be recog- nized ber ability aod prudence; and, when Queen Anne was in sickness and distress, Abi- gail consulted Swift, because ehe rocognized, in ber turn, his energy and decision of character. A generation has passed away #ince s change of Ministry, in 1839, put TUE LADIES OF THE BEDCIAMDER on a Ievel with political women. In May of that year the Whig Cobinct resigned, but they loft about the Sovereign Iadies of their families, who wera, rightly or wrongly, supposed to pos- sess both personal and political influence, and were likely to exercise both for the advantage of the cx-Ministers, The Queen sent for the Duke of Wellington, who advised her to send for Sir Robert Peel. The usual arrangements and uunderstandings were soon accomplished. The Sovereign added an assurance of her unre- served support of the new Ministry, but the gratification caused by this assurance was some- what tempered by an_ expression of regret for the Ministers who had just resigned. The female friends of those Ministers still held important places In the Royal household, and those places conferred, it “was thought, im- portant powers. Perhaps the ladies talked a little too much of the power they, at least, pos- sessed, and might exercise, It was the Duke of Wellington who prompted Sir Robert Peel to do- mand the right of nnmmmn§ the holders of the various posts in the household; in other words, of turning out the Whig Iadies. They cried out sgainst the arrogance and injustice of the de- mand. To yield to it would be the concession of an exorbitant triumph to an enemy; and the al- leged factwas made the most of, namely s that Conservative ladies had bossted that, if they eversacceeded to the posts, the right of appoint- ing to which was claimed’ by Sir Robert, they would, as BL. Guizot bas shortly put it, *be bet- ter ablo to reatrain Her Majesty within constitu- tional limits than the Whiga had been.” . Then came the famous Royal nofo: “The Queen, hav- ing considered the proposal made to her yester- day by 8ir Robert Peel, to remove the Ladies of her Bedchamber, cannot consent to adopt 8 g course which she conceives to be contral usage, and which is i BEPUGNANT TO HER FEELINGS.” Sir Robert was, perhaps, constitutionslly Tight; but the national sympathy was not with him. One setof ladies was as charming aad mischievous as the other ; but thers was an un- chivalrous appearance of constraining the young mistress of the Ladies of the Bedchamber. There was excitement out of doors, much strong speaking in the Legislatare. The Whigs tool upon themaelves the responsibility of the Royal refusal; Peel was driven back to the cold shades of opposition,—and his adversarics again got into power by dint of holding on to the skirte of the tadies. o After all, the English political women whoso stories, at least the stories of their sayings and doings, would cause most amusement, sre the women who, IN THE OLD ELECTION TIMES, canvassed, intrigued, and went marvelous lengths, in order to secure the return of their favoritos, and also the advantages that might result to them, in their persons or in their family circles, if their favorites had voices in the Legislature. A book abont politi- cal women might, &8 wo have said, grow to the size of an encyclopredia, but it would bear com- pression, and every pago would be brilifant and startling, Tho days are bappily gone by when Countesses sat at tavern windows aud cajolod mobs. Inthose days Duchesses dropped jowels like benevolent fairies in the presence of elect- ors, and noughtily disowned thom when the wives picked themup. The iden of a Duchess offering to give or tako & kiss (or both)in re- torn for a vote seems now to belong to the same order of bListory as Gullivor does, Gallaut butchers and dustmen,—Cymons subdued by the Iphigenias of tho minute,—will never again flatter their Gracea and betray their country by asking permission to light thoir pipes at tho fire of thono lovely eyos. Tho hietory of petticoat influence at elociions bias yet to bo written. THYSELF. Sadly through Fancy’s mystical chambers, Memory's incense s wafted along ; Though we have met, and parted fhrover, Loved one, be merdiful ; fafut heart, Lo strong. 7Mid the drear sbadows of hopes that are blighted, ‘Where life'a swectest pleasures, love-born, now le, Far in the depth of those forests of heart-wreck, None yet have wandered 80 lonely as I. Though our two paths with that “Good-bye" must widen, Hope's stars grow dim in the gloom-dapths of woo, Still ali the love of a life-time I give thee,— ‘Alove whose deop yearning thou never shalt know, 80 ends the romance. *Tis & page in lifc's Mat'ry; A record whose ev'ry word whispers of (e ; A story that Mew'ry, ead epirit, will cheris Through tie dark present and the far * Yot ta Be,” OWEN ML Wirsox, Ji. Cuucavo. FASHION. From the New York Mail, Artificinl or natural flowors fastened to tho wuff carried by the fashionable demoisclic of the period is_quite the correct thing, providing, however, that the mufl is of cloth and velvet— not fur. —* Caudle parties™ are ono of the dissipations of the scason, and, sithough by no means novel entertainments, especially among married peovle, appesr to have lost none of their populatity among fashionables. . —Cut-glass chandeliers 1n the pyramid form ‘aro all the rage in the drawing-rooms of the would-bo fashionables. No globos aro used. but instend white china tinted sticks, in excellont imitstion of the genuine wax light 8o universally used abroad. —Camol's hair cloth is not ay much worn or as fashionable as it was a month ago. The material was gold too cheap to constitule an clegaut cos- tume, hence its rapid decline. The new French * Tafla cloth” will probably be the next *‘ rage.” ~—Worth's nowest froal is embroidery on strest costumes of the most elaborate and exquisite patterns. The black silk enits, recently im- ported from hig_establishment, are the perfoc- tion of taste. Tho embroidery is all done Ly band, and is mixed with fine biack jet beads in reckless profusion. —American ladies who have recently returned from Paris wear in their bonnets a long feather of four or five different and distinct colors. They say that this feather is all the rage in the French capital, and it is to b i in the hands of the housem: fastened wit] similar ones on a stick to dust with it. —As 2 rule, wine is not served at the fashion- able receptions this scason. Whother this is | due to hard times, or is tho initiation of an ers of reform, is not kmown, but it is nevertholess afact. Somo of tho hosts, however, conaider- ately provido mild puuch for the gontlemen, tho chicf Ingredient of which is a_huge lnmp of ica ! —The newest Parisian handkerchicf has a cafe au lait centre of linen, and is about twelvenchics square. In the four cornersis s simple tulip cmbroidered in white, sud the brown square is edged with the finest round point lace. The combination i8 very curions, but exceedingly bandsome and effective. Of course no one will De foolish enongh to apply these handkerchiofs to the nasal organ under any circumstances. —Fashion-books for dolls can nowbe bad, with all the intricate patterns and oftontimes unin- telligibl descriptions contained in books intond- ed for adults. The plates are very haudsomely drawn and colored, aud directions for moking Miss Dollie's wardrobe s Ia modo e given in detail. Theae books afford the owners of doils very many bappy hours, and have been tho means of quicting many 2 hursery in terribla up- roar and confusion. —Parisian bonnets are now ebown in very odd forma_and shapes, of velvet, and trimmed en- tirely with _ostrich feathors and tips, in shade corresponding with the material color of the bonnet itself. Thus a brown velvet bonnet is trimmed with four shades of brown feathers, gue festhor going ovor o top of tho head in front instead of the ordinery face-trimming; other colored bonnets in the same style. The shape of this new bonnot in difiicult to describe. Somo people eay it looka like & coal-acattlo with the sides kicked out. —e OBLATION. O heart ! dear heart! if you conld know - The powers of lova my eoul doth reach, The weight above, the depths belo, The realms beyond tho realms of spooch; £ you could know what tenderness ! ‘With every fibre s cuwrought, How pure, liow true, how passionful, 1s every pulse, is every thought ; If you could kmow, 1 say—what then 7 Your soul would drmk its happy 811, Aud great thauksgiving would ascend, Giving God praite that I sweet will Had crowned yon with such blesscdness, O Deart! such purple wine drink deop, Such royal germents proudly wear. Missing such love, might angels weep. SCOTT CAMPBELL, ‘WasRINGTON, D. €. Anchoring a Steamer Eight Days in M1d-Ocean A passenger by the Pecific Masil steamship Chins, which arrived ot San Francisco on the 15th inst., after a deluy which caused a great deal of anxioty, hus furnished tho following rfi“f“'i:" of the voyage to the Aorning Call of ab city : ' Tho steamship lett Hong Kong on the.27th of November last. She touched st Yokohama, Japan, and left there on the 8thof December, at noon.” She was very deeply Iaden, and procceded on safely until Dec. 19. At 50 minutcs past & the engine broke down, nnd was stopped, in latitude 80 degrees 14 minutes north, longitudo 175 degrees 50 minutes west ; the weather being neasly calm, the hip was for a whilo kept bew fore thoe wind and finally laid to. The wheels were lashed, the fires banked, steam was blown off, and the machinery allowed timo to cool, after which the cylinder-head was raised, and a thorongh examination was made by Mr. Ojeda, the chief enginecr, who reported tht tho tlivead of the screw by which the piston-rod was screwed vertically into tho piston bad boeu. torn avay, and the injury could only be repaired by drilling a hole through the piston-rod and that portion of tho nut next above the cylinder, and by mak-~ ing and inserting through it a large won key at Tight angles, thus firmiy seouring the rod to tha iston. The true condition of the damage aving been fully ascertained, the chief engineer drew lus working plans and figured tho amount of tima and labor necessary. Ho reported that eight days and nights would bo required to fully eflect the repairs, a8 many of tho tools nccessary ‘would have to be manufactured on board. Witk these, and the spare tools usually furnished to steamers for use afloat, 270 cabic inches of iron were to bo drillad out, and tho gigantic siza of the machinery rendered the task a formidable one to accomplish st cea. The fires in the main boilers were cxtinguished, and the vessel auchored to a patent drag, with a coupla of hundred fathoms of cable attached, in which condition she lsy-to nearly eight days, drifting sbout pearlyin a circle with variable winds, which at ono time blew quito fresh from the eastward, and forced the steamer within 120 miles of Brooks' Midway Island, where the Paci- fiic Mail Steamship Company bave erected build- ings and keep a supply of coal and provisions, placed there a8 a port of refuge, for use in case of necestity. On the 27th of 'December, just seven daysand {wenty-three hours, or one hour before ‘promised, the giant beam bowed towards tho east, the wheels turned over, and the China, then 78 miles northward of the position in which she broke down. movad on towarda California, - UNITED STATES ENGLISH, What a Briton Thinks of the Dialect Used in This “Biarsted” Country. Ridiculous Orthography---Slang-« barous and Unconth Effects- Yanton and Resaltless TInnovations. People Who Are Very Nice in Their Language, but Scarcely in Their ldeas. From Chambers’ Journal. Sometimes we have thought that the free piracy of Englieh works inthe United States might ot least serve one good purpose, namely : that of preserving the purity of our common tongue. Expectations in this respect do not seem likely to be realized. Thore has grown, and is still growing up, & process of adulteration of the languags among our American friends, against which no protest is apparently uttered. Without going into anything like a rogulsr la- mentation on the subject, we beg to offer a fow specimens of United States English. TO BEGIN WITIl SPELLINGS: The second ! in the middle of a word is gener- ally loft out; “leveled, levoling, traveled, travel- ing,” will serve as examples. An influence due, I fancy, to the Spanish leaven in the poople, for the Spaniards always make single letters servo instead of double, whore the sound of one would be Jost. It is not done on principle, becausa “glLillful” aud “instailment” are so speit, by oxactly reversing the process. Then, again, comes the s for the ¢ in *‘offonse, de- fense,” and so on; this latter is the mode of spelling everywhere, even in Huwrper's editions, which are otherwise admirably “gotten up.” In the populaz novel, the *‘ Maid of Sker,” mention is made of the Battle of the Nile, and, in the United States' odition, the Defence line-of-battle ship Is made to appear as tho Defense, which is ridiculous, and altogether bad, for s~ proper name should surely bo spelt as it was given, without respect to any improvements or phonetic principles. I oxpect to see Wolington and Nellson soon. “r1ER” FOR *“TRE" is another prominent example; every littlo pa- or tallosof *theaters " and' conters,” asif it wos determined to do its “lovel beat” to improve tho language of the Britishers. So, also, in tho great cities, where it is ai least curious to reo tho notices in the papers invariably referring to the performances at such and such a * theater,” while the posters aund bills of tho samo eatab- lishment will as regularly call it & ** thentra,” The readiness with which BLANG is adopted by the hizhest and gravest offi- cials is Teally astonnding. My roaders know thero is & miserablo joke extant about one who wished to say that an account was “all cor- reet,” but ho epelt it *“ ol krect ;" this was seized nupon as wit, and now, to my certain knowledge, 0. K." is used in large companies, as an Audit- or's or Saperintendent’s voucher to the accounts he passea. All throuch tha States, too, it is con- sidered a very emart thing to cpen a shop, and call it tho * 0. K." store: it is quite understood, and universally accapted as really clever and neat idea, to use these letters. Again, the coarse expreagion, ‘‘ Ross,” carries with it no disrespect in the States; I have seen well-printed forms, nicoly machine- ruled, and go forth, which wero nsed as a sched- ulo of expenses incurred in boarding the em- ployes of & certain Company; st the bottom was aline for tho siznature, aswae indicated by the words, * Boarding-houss Bosa” being printed at the commencement. There- fore, “Say! Boss,” however much it may jar upon a stranger's ear at first, is soon discovered to be meant for & proper mode of ad- dress, and is quite 83 respectful 23 any he is likely to get. So, too, they avoid saying or writing “addition, ‘*added up,” *‘total, and the like; but say ¢ footings,” *foots up,” snd “total footings;” and these will appear in printed official documonts. The commonest mode of all for filter- ing the pure well of English undefiled is, to mse a word which hog some affinity to that which we at home sbould employ, but ‘which, when twisted out of its place and mean- ing, has a most BABBAROUS AND UNCOUTI EFTECT. “Tho moon raises :late,” I guess he wonld raise before 10,” may be taken as fair illustra- tions. “ Quit” isused in all wortsof places where ‘‘dismiss,” **cease,” ‘‘discontinue,” or “quitted” would be employed. “I was ob?xgsd to quit him, 88 he got drunk,” ia tho specch of an omployer when ex- plaining why ko dischatged a man; although tho words, withont explanation, would never convoy this ‘mesning to an Englishman, “Quite” is employed in every scnse where greatncss or quantity has to be oxpressed, and soems to me to be moro injurious to tho efect of litorary composition than the misuse of any other gingle word. “The encmy was quite in forco,” **Wounded quite severaly,” * Quite s excitoment " () and eo on ' ad i Somewbhat i to this is word “picco” to express distanco; we sy “a picce of land,” or *s piece of wator;” butit is nothing less than s distortion of the word’a use to sy that “you should not shoot at a rattlesnake, unlesa you were off a piece,” or, “We are traveling znita a piece;” which latter I heard said by aJudge to & member of Congress, when we were crossing tho Missis- sippi, and, owing to the flosting ice, were com- palled torun a fittle way up the river. “sICK,” again, 38 a word which is oftcn employed at home to ecxpress being ill, and the servico for tho Visitation of the Bick shows what a geweral application it bas; butin the States this word is exclusively inuse. Inever heard any person speak of bo- ing ill or unwell ; thay were always * eick,” ana this when the word was especially inappropriate. T am sick; have hurt my hand;" *“My horse is wick ; ho has got a_soro back,” are examples of what I mean; while, if the illness or injury was likely to be dangerous or fatal, you would b told that so-and-s0 was * badly off.” ANOTHER PECULIARITY which strikes an Englishman is, that he does not bear the weather praised in the various terms employed at homo. Here we ring the changes on loveiy, delightful, charming, 2nd besutiful ; bat iu the Grest Republic praise is exhausted when they say : This is a pretty day,” or * What a pretty morniug.” Tho word *elegant” hag to do atrange duty, being applied as I never thought to héar it; the joint at your dinper, the rclish st 'teatims (alwavs “ supper " rthe-bye), being usually described a8 “elegant.” THE TEA IN USE is nearly always wiolly green, the consumption of green tea being fur in sdvance of that of black; directly opposite to the practice in En- gland; indeed, if you require anything different at the hotels, you should order “English break-, fast-tea,” which is commonly ono of the items in the bill of faro. My own house was prob- ably the only ome, for a vast distance, where mixed tea was drunk, and was the only one wheras, also, to my London taste, a’cup of good tea was ever to b obtained at all; the wholo o:m{“.cqmmnnca. native and foraign, confirmed this, yet no one would imitate us.” I recollect advocating, st a certain house where I Doarded before my family joined me, the use of mised tea in lien of ‘the decoction, almost corrosive in ita stroogth, which they givo you of green tea; and also tle derision with which the ides was received. It was pronomnnced to be utterly imposei- ble, because “you ouly soaked green tea, while blgcs tos sou vero obliged to stew.” Some of the variations introduced in speech aro . 50 ODD AND 50 MEANINGLESS, that one is eomxloiu!y at a loss to guess why thoy were introduced at all, or who introduced them, If you speak toa United States mav, and Lo docs not catch your words, he will ask 4 How ?" or “Which?” Ifho says somo one is Tyery clever,” he meaus to convey that he or she is “vory bencvolent;” while he capriciously gives mow ‘termina- tions to words, or invents mew words altogether. and presents us with ** dancist, sing- ist, walkist, orchardist” (') aud the like, Iy the same rule of thumb we have * burglar- ized,” “guicided,” and 2 host of others; and by the same rule, sgsin, or by the same want of arale, all children are taught to call the last letter in the nlphabet ‘“Zee” in place of “Zed;" surely a most ‘WANTON AND BESULTLESS INNOVATION, There is somewhat more excuse for culling a deaf man “*deef ;" the words selected for reform sre, however, chosen in & most arbitrary manner for, although *‘deaf " has been forced into linn‘ wat no ona hag the courage to call * heard' I “ heerd,” as Dr. Johnson pointed ont long ago shiould be done. **Fusg,” too, is used in a more general manner than one expecta to find ; it means to quarrel, or & quarrel itself. A man who was shot on lesviog o ball- room told me that he could not guese who was his asssilant, “28 he had had no fuss with any one;” adding that tho remainder of his purty were just in frout, or, a8 he described them, ard as they would commonly be described, “the balance of tha boys." The word also means ‘ to be noisy.” I won’t fuss around,” says the beroine of & novel ; and, by the way, “around " i draggod in continually. Wasting timois * fooling around;” waiting is *laying sround—standing around.” L FDss” AND *aross ¥ spppear to be nearly identical. Muss is a word which, aa the gentleman in** Martin Chuzzlewit " averred of ‘‘start,”-we do not use in the old country. I presumeit is o fanciful change of the word “ mess.” * Won't there boa muss!” alludes to confusion and quarreling ; and 8o, to the best of my understanding, Mrs. Beecher Stowe uses it in her books, and so it seems to be used colloguially. Even standard school- books recognize sud teach the using ** throngh for * finished " or * completed.” “Wait till T am through with my play.” People who call & cock-fight & * chicken con- teet,” and deecribe the birds as ** roosters”—a ridiculons word, which is universally employed in the United States, as if hens did not roost!— who talk of & *‘ gentleman cow.” call trousers i pants.” and the like, may be vory nice in their language, but SCARCELY IN THRIR IDEAS. 1 do not dispute the fact, that sometimes a Teally uscful word moy be coined, or that, on rare occasions. we may find & change beneficial ; for if & man were to shut his oyes, and keep ou firing, he could not bLelp Lut to hit the target once in 2 way; but it may safely bo said that these in- stances are like Gratiauo's reasons, which, * aro as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chafl; you shall seck all day ere you find them, and whén _you have them, they are nol worth the sesrch.” If you wish to siy a man ig Drave, you will be botter undorstood if you aver, with the utmost gravity, that he has *‘PLENTY OF BAND.” 1t 7oz, spenk of recciviug suything, you must call it ““lifting.” The Postmaster at Washiug- ton, in a printed form, advised me that the per- son to whom they were directed would not “fift” my nowspapers; and & pass over the Denver & Rio Grande Railway being lost, & notice of the same was wsued to all conductors, with instructions that, if it wero offercd by any ooe, they wore to ‘lift it.” Neither should vou say: *It is s stormy day,” or, *“There ia & storm in the moun- taing ;" in such cases you must say, “It is storming,” if you wish to conform to accopted usages. Tha editor of the “Biglow Papers”—if Iam not mistulen—spesks of the invariable sccuraey with which THE 1 i8 used 1 the States, aud tho reluctanco the peo- ple there have even to joke upon mistakes with that often misplaced letzer. It may bo #0; and, at any rate, I have often beou taken to i an individual, ond as & ropresentative English- man, for my shortcomings and excesses in that way. As s Pennsylvanian once said to me: ‘*Bome of you British people don’t usemo X's. How is that? Now, you say ‘og’' aud wo al- Waya say ‘org.’ How do you account for the differonce " ~Why, I could not account forit ; Ibad intended o say *hog,” aud so, I sup: poso, had Le. Tho mewspaners adverlise a hotel” for sale, which 18 a lit:le trying;, even to a Londouer. And, in speaking of ‘my Penusgl- vanian friond, I am reminded of what is cor- tainly TILE FAVORITE ERROR on the western s:le of tie water—that is, ifany- thing is in error there. 'L'his error, I am inclined to think, 15 partly due, at any rate, to tho Span- inh leaven spoken of ; in that tongue, two nega- tives do not mske an aflirmative ; they strength- en each other. * Not got nothing” is quite cor- rect ; and su it would be, I faucy, *out West.” “ i’y got no,” “ Didn't gee no,” indred chance or opportanity ; “ I ain't got no show to do it ;" any one who did not 8o epeak would dopart from the standard. As to whether they are moro ‘;uu'licu- lar in the uso of 4 in the States than iu Iingland Ican hardly say; I certainly never heard the native-borns there tall of their huncles and baunts as I bave often heard English do ; but, then, when the Now York papers, as I have just said, regularly advertiso **a hotel to lot," ona secs that wo cannot both ba working by tha same rules. The introdnction of & . AUULTIIGDE OF GERMAN WORDS, or worda which are in imitation of Garman, is hardly to be discussed here; it will ba suflicient to suy that one i3 ofien puzzled by their appear- anco in reading or conversation. Here ia one: + A house witl: 3 stoop;” which means, I think, » house the front door of which is approached by slops, with a very broad one, or landing- place, at tho top. ‘Thia last is frequently found in ad¥ertisements ; while a threat, very common in England, is invarisbly ehanged, 8o far as my experience’ goes, to giving “a punch on the snoot ;" and this shows that the influcnce has soaked a long way down. Nearly all my examples confirm what I bave already said =a to the use of words in the States in meaning BESEMDLING, BT NOT IDENTIOAL with those 1 which they are employed at home. I never heard any speak of *pulling down” a house ; tlio operation 18 always called *taring down.” Tearing down is, of course, meant, bt is always pronoanced, aud, as often as I have seen it, written as above. Stones are “rocks;” and oven pobbles are so called. “ They began rocking him;" I got some rocks, and threw at them,” do not read quite so well, it seoms to me, 8 the English imode of expression. The people in the United States never speak of their greatest aonual holiday—greatest afior Tude- pendence Day—as New Year's Day, but always 28 “ New Year's.” * We'll have a danco at Now Year's ;" * Was np there about last New Years;” **\¥ag born on New Year's;” theso things give very odd and foreign sound to the conversa- tion o English ears. arr."” which is U. 8. for ““got,” is much in vogue, and tho drivers from East to West say to their horsea “Git!" in lieu of “Goe up,” and so forth; but tho word is in use also among “humaos.” * You've got to git,” moans * You must go from hers," and generally includes making haste. “ Right away,” too, is_used for Iistily or immediately, and thoro is a_degreo of propricty in tho expression, but it is twisted and stretched beyond its legitimato meaning. They soem to have no othor word or phrase to oxpross “directly” but this: and I heve read in the chief evangelical paper of the States, the New York Obscrrer, of an swakened sioner who & wanted salvation right away.” Tuthe beginning of the present year, a girl died, presumably {rom starvation, ata towu in Minnesota; _she had lodzed for somo weeks at a houso named, and sfter her decease her body ‘was opened to discover tho cause of death. Thia is all straightforward enough, and does not seem to leave much room for obscurity, yet tha chances are that an ordinary resder would have been puz- zlod if he had come upon the account of it in the American langusge. The statement ran that “gho had been rooming for three weeks at A, —s,” and that, “when her trunk wes opened,” nothing was found therein. 1 confess thas I at first thought this trunk meant au ordinary chest, and not that of & human being. At LOVE'S LAND. In tho South is Love's land, Where te roses blow, ‘Weere the Summer lingers, Fearless of the snow. Thero no Winter chills it, S0 its life is long— Geutle breczes fau it, Ago but makes it strong. Nay; froh roses wither Whiere the eun i hot— Not fu torrid regions ‘Blooms forget-me-not, Love's a tender blossom, Which the Winter chills, But t00 eager Summer ¥ With its kisses kills. —Louise Chanaler Moulion in Scribner’s for February, Alligator Steaks. Neww York Sun Florida Letter, ‘While the boys wera cating the Captain espied an enormous alligator. There was a rush to the pilot-house. Tho Colonel was ahead with his Chicago shot-gun. He implored the Captain to stop the boat while he peppered the old fellow with No. 6 ahot. The alligator shed the shot as a duck sheds water. He did not even wink. Another monster was sighted. The three ritle- men_sprinkled his side with buollets, and he crawled from tho bank into the water. As he made his way along the bottom of the river he sent to the surface a row of bubbles a8 large as soup-plates. Nineteen alligators were shot before night. One waa skinned, and 1ts oil used for greaving the machinery of the boat. At my request the cook cut some nice steaks from its body, and thay were served for dinver. Tho meat Wis s white as chicken. The Chicago Colonel ate some under the supposition that it was black bass. Ho took but one mouthful, and said there was something wrong about that fish. The steak tasted like halibut, but, though the alligator was young, it was verv tough. BLONDES. The Fair Ones with Golden Locks. Sunny Trésses in Times Ancient and Modern, Prospect that = Brunettes Will Again Regain the Ascendency. John E. Russell in the Springjield (3ass.) Republican. The causes of vast changes are often trivial. A word or touch may sway the destiny of thousands yet unborn. In 1853, the world had been for more than a century firmly governed by the spell of *!DARE WOMEN." The most philosophical and critical observer would have faildd to detect any symptom of re- volt from the established authority. But the bour of change was marked on the dial of time, and the rulera of the world were about to resign their power, in obedience to the irresistible de- cree of overruling Fashion. The late Louis Napolcon,—the saltimbanque who tbrew a lncky summersaalt into the Imperi- al chair of Gallic state, and reigned a charlatan Emperor until the rough German hand seized bim by the tawdry collar and tossed him into broken ecxile,—bad, in this year, married the ambitious Spanish COUNTESS DE TETA. The fair Spaniard bad uot the unmixed blood of the Peninsula. A cold strain of the Northern race had mingled in hor veins. The Scotland of the last century was miserably poor, her gloomy hills assailed by wintry tempests, and her cold and lonely hearths, thongh they made ber “‘meet nurse” for pocsy and legend, afforded but seanty support for he sturdysons. It was nataral that they should have been found fortune-hunting wherever ‘“sillor " was to be had, the jest of the better endowed, in every part of the world. A rod-haired clansman found his opportunity in tho romantic Jand of Spain, marrving abovo his station, and becoming the progenitor of the Em- press of Franco, who, by grace of position, is also arbiter of the world of fashion. The raw carrot style of the Tweed bleaded well with the olivo of Seville, and producod TIHE BLONDE COMPLEXION, to which all besnty for twenty vears has been forced to_approximate. Upon' the accession of the pew Empress, loug-time neglected blondes awoke to (ind thomaelves beuties. and their va- rious grades of tawny, yellow, golden, and red at onco commanded the bomage of mankind. The deposed brunettes, harled from power, thouzh acquicscent outwardly, conld not be contcnt to snffer neglect, and. finding their opportunity in the fact that the blonde market was unprepared for the sudden demsnd and the article scarce, took extraordinary measnres and produced an artificial supply by drawing blondo wigs over dark hair, or by blanching dark hair to the de- sired shade. This method of obtaining blondes. and the vulzarities of the English “ burleaque troupes,” had cansed a rapid reaction in taste on this side of the Atlantic, oven before the exile of the Empress had made her anthority doubtful, and thero is a prospect that brunoties will, in spite of their greater abundance, REGAIN TIE SUPREMACY for a time, again to bo dispossesscd by a whim of fashion ; for the fashion of complexien, like all other human vagaries, is subject to change. The passion for blondes, among the dark-haired race, ebbg and flows ; itis s faver that inter- mits, & fantasy that burna and cools azain. Among the Grocks and Rtomans light com- plexions were very rare, and for that reason highly prized; blondes wero considerad to bo tho real beauties, tho true types of loveliness. These opinions powerfnlly swaved the sozl of art, and wove goldon threads into all the warp and woof of ancient song and story. To meet the capricious taste of the time, the female Ppagans made up their deficiency in part by the art, recently revived, of changing BLACK HAIR TO YELLOW OR RED. This custom is repeatedly referrod toby the poots and satirista. In Ovid's fourteenth elegy he roproaches his mistress with her folly in pouring caustic poisons on her head to blanch the coler. The practice of shaving the bead 2nd wearing wigs made of the yellow hair of German slayes was very common. The modern witticism which regularly makes its appesrance at stated intervals nmong the venerable *Joes,” in tho variety column of the conntry nowspaper, upon tho girl that wore her own hair, because she paid for it, is from Martial’s epigram on Galls's golden Lair., Sacred bistory contains little notice of female complexion having to do with Hebrews, Exyp- tians, and otber brown races, althongh we know from Isaiah that there was a strong inclination w0 TIPROVE UPON NATTRE among the Jowish dames, The Egrptians were exceedingly clean, and among the many advan- tages of the captivity of the Jews among them was tha acquiring of scrupalously cleanly abits, though, liko all Eastern people, thoy made great uso of perfumes and unguents. They were fond also of *changesblo suits of apparcl, and the ‘mantles, and the wimples, and the crispimg pins;” tho *‘round tires like the moon,” thoy got from the Babylonian worship of Astarte, who had the crescent moon upon her head, but it is not re- corded that they dyed their bisck hair yellow. Josephus, whose dainty volumes made the New England light reading in tho time of the elder Beecher, records that King Solomon, when thoy had high jinks a Jerusalem, was preceded by Torty pages, wearing their hair TOWDERED WITH GOLD-DUST glittering in tne sun. The late Empress of TFrance, no doubt, imagined she was the first to invent this delicato method of adornment; but, 28 Solomon himself informs us that thers is nothing now under the san, he probably took it from tho cxampla of some preceding monarch, and played it off on the Qaeen of Sheba as anew thing in hair. Mose3 does not condescend to give us a description of Evo's style of beauty. It would have added transcendont interest fo ‘his narrative if he had done 80, and been an ad- vantago in giving it a circumstantisl sir. ' No doubt EVE WAS ILL-LOOKING, 28 nothing was _ecreated in vamn, and beanty in her case, she being the only woman her husband over saw, would have beon 8 wastefnl superfini- ty. We only know that the woman was created duriug Adam's first sleep, which, in consequence, Dbécama his lnst repose, and that ehe immedinto. Iy began to instruct him 28 to what he had bet- ter do. Alilton, conscious of the deficiency in the sacred narrative, undertakes to give ns tho facts. He says: She, axa veil, down to her slender walat Her unadorncd golden tresees wors Disheval’d, but in wanton ringlels waved As the vine curls her tendrils. i Bishop Newton thinks Milton was influenced in his description by his sabscrvience to the tastes of the ancients, but it was no donbt owing to the presonco of hia third wife, who was yellow- huired, and who possibly described herself to tho blind poot, in langusgo he has made poetic. If the sacred poots were quiet as to their pref- erencos, the profane ones wore not; they wera WILD ABOUT BLONDES. Hesiod and Homer, who hag the facts relating to the pagan divinitios, are brilliant with bright Bair. . Nob Suding thom on earth, they spurned tho bounds of existence snd imagined new worlds radiant with fair women. The rosy- fingered Aurora, leaping from the arms of Tithonus to scatter the blossoms of the duwn, showed eyes of azuro and locks of waving sun- beams. The sea-born Goddess of Love and the ‘fire-oyed Maid of War” had fl;lden hair, and tho Virgin Huntress, she who kissed the sleep- ing Endymion on Mount Latmos, covered bis face with gleaming tresses. Koats says of this goddess: Speak, stubborn Earth, snd tell ma where, O whers Hast thou a symbol of her golden hair? Not oat sheaves drooping in the western sun, The nymphs born of Doris and Norens, the at- tendants of old shell-winding Triton, and all the merry rout that around florid young Bacchus, wreathed with vine-leaves, held eternal revel, 'WENE ALL BRIGHT-TIATRED. 8o als> were Apollo and love-xought Adonis. But the eternnl fitnees of things demanded con- trasts, 80 the ox-cyed Juno was & brunette. Sho wonld have becu s good womay, like many others. if she had been married to an exemplary man; but there is no denying that Jupiter * ear- ried on awful,” and set her & bad example. She naturally became censorious and illiberal. The faitofal sisters who spin and cut the thread of morta) existence are dark and sombre, being the daughters of Night. Those excecdingly un- pleasant females, tho Furies, who, having 10 oc- cupation, such a8 lecturing and going to * con- ventione,” Lectored people indiscriminately, wers decided brunettes. Among mortals, the fairest 8ho f all the breathiug world, gift of the grate- fal goddess to Paris, was Helen, whose beanty summored Greece 40 3 And drew s thousand ships to Terodez, At Ath B " nisiorye ens, far down into the time of BUthentja FAIR HAIR HAD THE C! 3 brunottes made s virtue of necasfi?y’; like ot uatempted peoplo, they died poor bus houes’ though Lais was oge that did bk, Tay Lae™l Atheaian blondes 300 long £ rosmis: of stretches to the crack of Greewn deo they invade tho pootry of Romo and haupg } starry, foir-aifed pagan_ghosis. Tn Vi song Dido is aubarn, and Venus wears h.‘:m : 0, and Ovid likes hi ids rat derdose, e redder the Saicior, " her e After the fall of the Homan Empi ¢ thisa and Lesbias, the Chloes and Lydies, 1% onsuared tho bearts of Latin poels, wer} Lo with art_and litoratare, but the our ing back again in tho revival of tagts and finst _timidly eeping. fron o page of illuminatod missals, then in tha' jouglour and tlonbadons. e Poois a8 thoy camo on csught up tho g strain ; Petrarch, Tasso, and Artosto, end allthp smaller mngers echoed it. The painters had thg £ame Carer, and nearly all tho Madounss oy Mogdalzud of Tislian sud Spanish art e came trop. Tho tast " IIEHXLLL\}'T BLONDES. 1o taste of Franco was for * troas fetios™ aud blondes chorens,” and fhg onc: women whio led statesmeu abont and wasted thy Tovennos of kingdoms or st armies in motiog uatil the desth of Louis Quatorze, curled glesg. ing treases. Among thess, uad bost known of. all, was tho beagtiful, infamons Lucrotia Borgt 1hé rarest bosaty, an Tralisn blonda, This 1ory poet’s assertion, no painter's whim, bat a mat. tor of proof. Tt tha Ambrasian Library at Mieg there is a lock of the Borgia's hair. Dyron hag 2 siuglo haie from it Leigls Huat descrives i; aud Landor writes of it: * Calm hai : ing with pellucid gold.” halt, meandere _The dawn of English literatnro renews alle. giance to fair women. Chaucer’s heroines have 2 ‘! GOLDEN HLERES," Emgl S}gcnslur m“bh no other, e calls iy *beauty's loveiy bait,” when Drifomart reye iy ly Drit t reveals About her backe and all her bodis round ; Like aa tho shinhug sk in sot night I croasted Wik A Hugs of Bezioligh. The Elizabethan poets mado it not ouly the golden uga of literaturo, but of hir also, They were of ‘one mird about ir. Besnmont ang Flotchor, Marlow. Middleton, and especially Ilobur:firs:‘,elna"xhe ongiual type of the Bohemia, were all blonde worshipers. Grecae Sitvestro's Ladie : . o Her Lair of golden hue doth dim the besms That pmud?&pnun giveth from mnme And in the Penitent Palmer ode : 1 thougkt my mistress’ halr were gol And in their locks my heart I fold i Uer umber tresses wera the sight That wrapped me in vain debght, Shakapoaro thinks less of the color of hair ¢ other ponts ; tho mastor doals raiker with ehh: acter, BUT OF FORTIA ITE BAYS: m.mv:g :.cu bang on her {emples like a goldey And in his 65th Sonnet he ajtudes to ths custom of robbing the skulls of the dead of *goldea tresses” {5 adoru tho hoads of the living, a prace tico the thoughs of which must give us panse.” Raro Ben Jonson profers * crisp curls,” and likes “ chestuut color, or gold upon black” No doubt that was bia toastat the Mermaid, drank incuns of eack and canarie. Tho fashion waa unaltered in England throuzh the soventeenth century. Tho disolute court of tho Restora- tion was alive with sprawling women with WINE-DRIGETLNED EYES AND YELLOW HAIR, Charles bimself kopt a ton weizht of them. Sis Petor Lely painted their portraits. Thero was no chauge nntil Loais tho Four. teonth, the Grando fonarque, condescendsd to die, after whom was tho general doigze. Atbis | court.every woman who respected hersell waa eitlier a natural or an artideial blonde ; no com- Promisn was possible. In fact, the rula was tog Btrict, and, like all tyranny, produced revolation. After’ Fontanges, Seviguo, Maiutenon, and the great monarch had gone to_enliven the ehades with their wit, and fo_captivate tho ghosts with their manners. the reign of blonde beauty waa over. Tdeulism gave piacs to materialism. The brunettes came storming into power and took bitter feminino revenge. Thoy LADE IT HOT FOR DLONDES. They even got them into contempt. Tho ds- £eriptive terms of beauty were changed. Thers ‘was no mora talk of suburn ard gold—* red- heads” was the common phrase. Deanty hsd ravou trosses, and women wore beautiful not es the olden dwwn, but like the warm summer miduight., The bruuettos bad a long and uadis- Ibuted reign, until, as I have remarked, the, 'rench Empress commenced & re-arrangement of the world of fushion and sentiment. With tho decine of her powar, the worship of the blondes will probably subside, and wa shall soon soe the last of yellow jute, and shall speak aa formerly of ** tow-heads ” and * carrots.” THE OLD-FOGY MAH. He was a queer, old-fory man, Ana loved old-fogy ways; And railed ngainst the reckiess spesd Of these fast modern days, ‘He once could travel leinarely, pRARmEC R ut now ¢hey rashed him thro And rod him ona raly Y That good old cosch was fast enough For prudent follc 0 go; Impatient men uow laagh at it And say ’t#as rather slow: And so they rush upon the train, And speed like thought sway, ntil A smash-up breaks their boneas He thinks it doasn’t pay. g loved old housewives spinning-wheelx: The music of their hum Was far more dear to his old ear Than grand-piano thrum, But sh! ho sighs, those whecls are gone Since Whitney made bis gin; No more wa Liear their thrifty hum,— No more tha isters apin! Tha rosy girls of olden tim Sunburat, were firmer made Than these, the late und tender shoots That grow up in the shade: They did their mother's heavy work, And eased her weary hands ;. And sometimes, t0o, if brothers failed, Could help to'do & man's, Thelr dresses, made with easy fit, Gave not 3 pain beneath ; Thcir hearts had amplo room to beat, Their lungs had room to breathe,— nilike our prcsent girls, with waists Too much compressed aud slight, Wao, if thoy do not disdi Ard very often bkt They let not Fashion dwarf their form3, Bt grew to eomely size, And health shone cver on their brows And sparkled from their eyes; They thanked kind Heaven fer all its gifts, And thought, with sccret pride, That they were Leautiful cnough, And they were satistied, But now, our modern girls, alas | Thiuk Providence uvkin, For putting too much in the midst, And not enougl behind ; And 7o they bustle round, nd lace, To mend such clamsy wase, And think they far outshine tho girle 0Of good old-fogy days. e wished, ho sald, for their swect skes, ‘That Faehion's torturing vice ‘Would ease them up a little, and ‘Less pinching would sufice ; That they might feel tho bounding health - Around the heart that plays, Whea all unfettered as it was 1Iu good oid-fogy days. A Wicked Brazilinn Priests New ¥ork Herald Letter. Tn Cears, tho priest of tha parish of Rischo de Sangue (Rivuletof Blood) hias been arrested upon the charge of ordaring std causing murder o be committod apon four persons. The motires pro- ducing theso murders wero peculiar, The priest had fatlen deeply in love with one of his pari ioners, and for more than & yesr had triod to 8- dnce her and _to get ber to live with hica asbis concubine. He even had the art to get hor h‘t:- er's warm sapport of his protensious ; but the young girl resisted firmly both the priesily uall:- itationa and the paternsl pressure. As last, m! the advice of 8 miseionary, the girl fed wdw; Douso of a relation, and, after s fime, betrotheq herself to a cousin. Some time lster, s Judge o i iti i heasing high position came to tho perisb, and, on hearil of the state of thingd, o Bishop of Ceara abont them. Bishop at once sent s licenso to mary without bands and by aoy alerml;l_ but the priest openly deci\md :buu ';h;: o should never marry her cousin or any other. 12 fact, o fowdays before the marriage-dsy ‘men—on 3 glaveof thepriest—seized tho SUI0E man in day-time and barbarously mpr in the open atreet of the villaze. An old D&% who lcc‘i,:lenl.nlly cario to the spot, snd 8 mx:le' tive of the girl, who ran up to_the young rescue, wugul;m alain, and the bloody scene of the day was closed by the murder of 3 young girl, who, on seeing the assassinationa it perpe 4 their tration, ran between the murderers znd victims, ith an imsge of Chriat held boford her, to implors them to desist. Tho two, 88sh T e cror s thamm o mrdat 1o ie employ em Todother. persons, but had charged, U2 strictlv to do no bnrb to the girl who HE=in 23 i ooy & P