river, which joins the Garonne at Bordeaux, Thus wisely careless, innocently gay, Yet, dear Sir, often do we wish ourselves in We receive much civility from the people here. We had letters of recommendation, which I would advise every English person to procure wherever he goes in France. We have visitors, even more than we wish- -as we ever found the French in general very insipid. I would rather choose to converse with people much superior to me in understanding (that I grant I can easily do, so you need not smile). With the one I can have no improvement, but with people of sense I am sure of learning something every hour; as being intimate with a person of an excellent heart and sensible feelings mends sometimes one's own. and opportunity to have replied. Some three months went by. No reply came, and Lydia again appealed to him: 66 How long have I waited (she wrote in October) for a letter from Mr. Wilkes in answer to that I wrote him. I fear he is not well; I fear his own affairs have not allowed him time to answer me; in short, I am full of fears. Hope deferred makes the heart sick." Three lines, with a promise of writing Tristram's Life, for the benefit of his widow and daughter, would make us happy. A promise, did I say? that I already have: but a second assurance. Indeed, my dear Sir, since I last wrote we stand more in need of such an act of kindness. Panchaud's failure has hurt us considerably: we have, I fear, lost more than, in our circumstances, we could afford to lose. Do not, I beseech you, disappoint us: let me have a single line from you, "I will perform my promise," and joy will take place of our sorrow. I trust you will write to Hall; in pity, do. Adieu, dear Sir! May you enjoy all the happiness you deserve! may every wish of yours be granted, as I am sure you will grant my request! My mother joins in best compliments. Our most cordial wishes attend you and the amiable Miss Wilkes. - Believe me, most truly, your faithful friend, and obedient humble servant, L. STERNE. 'Tis now time to remind Mr. Wilkes of his kind promise-to exhort him to fulfil it. If you knew, dear Sir, how much we are straitened as to our income, you would not neglect it. No answer was returned to this apWe should be truly happy to be so much peal. At the same time she addressed a obliged to you that we may join, to our ad-reminder to the proposed coadjutor, Mr. miration of Mr. Wilkes in his public char- Hall Stevenson, who also took no notice. acter, tears of gratitude whenever we hear his Six months went by, and, despairing of name mentioned, for the peculiar service he hearing from Wilkes, she wrote again to has rendered us. Much shall we owe to Mr. Stevenson : Hall for that and many other favours; but to you do we owe the kind intention which we beg you to put in practice. As I know Mr. Hall is somewhat lazy, as you were the promoter, write to him yourself: he will be more attentive to what you say. ... I fear I have wore out your patience. Forgive me, 'twas a pleasing occupation to write to you. I know not whether it is impertinent to ask you if your affairs go on equal to the wishes of your friends? That they may, believe me, is the sincere wish of, Dear Sir, Your most faithful obliged friend, P.S. We flatter ourselves you are well. My mother joins in most cordial wishes for your welfare and happiness. May everything you wish be granted you! as I am sure you will grant us ours; nay, you even prevented it. Once more, adieu! Our best compliments wait on Miss Wilkes. - Wilkes, Cor. v. p. 7. Mr. Wilkes had, however, sufficient on bis hands. He was harassed with difficulties and shut up in the King's Bench Prison. But then he had, at least, leisure If you ever felt (she says) what hope deferred occasions, you would not have put us under that painful situation; from whom the neglect arises I know not, but surely a line from you, dear Sir, would not have cost you much trouble. Tax me not with boldness for using the word neglect: as you both promised, out of the benevolence of your hearts, to write my father's Life for the benefit of his widow and daughter, and as I myself look on a promise as sacred, and I doubt not but you think as I do; in that case the word is not improper. In short, dear Sir, I ask but this of you; to tell me by a very short letter, whether we may depend on yours and Mr. Wilkes's promise, or if we must renounce the pleasing expectation. But, dear Sir, consider that the fulfilling of it may put 400/. into our pockets; and that the declining it would be unkind, after having made us hope and depend upon that kindness. Let this plead my ex in our behalf, 'twill but be acting consistent would be impossible. The French law with his character; 'twill prove that Eugenius is, or used to be, very strict in requiring was the friend of Yorick-nothing can prove such formalities. There is certainly ob it stronger than befriending his widow and scurity in the matter, and we must not daughter. — Adieu, dear Sir!-believe me condemn poor Lydia too hastily. your most obliged, humble servant, L. STERNE. My mother joins in best compliments. Wilkes, Cor. v. p. 7. Mrs. Sterne died in January 1773, at a Dr. Lioncière's house in the town, No. 9, Rue St. Antoine. It must be said that during her somewhat troubled As was to be expected, neither of the course, she carried out, in an ungracious gentlemen performed what they had un- way perhaps, correct and respectable dertaken to do. Indeed it may be doubt-principles of conduct. That publication ed if they had the gifts for such a task. So a rather pretty edition of the works appeared, and without a Life. Three years later we find mother and daughter settled at Alby, an old town in Languedoc, probably seeking a still cheaper manner of living. M. Stapfer, who has written with much critical sagacity on Sterne's works and character, has discovered that here they moved in the best society of the place, and were well appreciated. of the Letters which her daughter had once hinted at, was not attempted during her lifetime. In June 1775, Mrs. de Medalle was in London for the purpose of publishing these papers, in which her father confesses that he "was more sick of his wife than ever," in which he makes love to Lady P. and others, with other indecorous confessions. The only excuse is that she may have been too careless to have read the Letters, and it should be said that the passage that refers to her mother is in Latin. All the Reviews protested against this scandal, which was called indecent. Lydia dedicated the book in her favourite style to Mr. Garrick. At this point, the accounts of Lydia's history usually end, there being no more known of her, save a dim tradition that she married a Frenchman, and was one of the victims of the Revolution. It is now ascertained that at Alby she became She had one son, who died in Septemacquainted with a young man of the ber 1783, when at school. The year of name of Alexander Anne Medalle, a son her death is unknown, but she died beof a Receveur des Décimes in the Cus-fore her son. She did not therefore toms. From the "Acts" of the town it perish in the Revolution, as is supposed. appears, that on April 28, 1772, she ab- Nothing whatever is known of the fate of jured the Protestant religion in the pri- M. de Medalle. vate chapel of the Provost's house, and on the same day was married to the young man, who was a year younger than herself her mother being too ill to be present. Such is the story of Sterne's daughter, which is worth preserving if only in memory of Yorick. PERCY FITZGERALD. From Temple Bar. SIX WEEKS IN ELBA. In the Registers is a most remarkable entry which invites speculation. "The marriage was imperative (force) and urgent; on which, in the Inventaire des Archives d'Alby, is found this gloss: "For at that period the law authorized PEOPLE Occasionally rail at the monotla recherche de la paternité." The first ony of civilization, the dulness of beaten impression from this would be unfavour-paths, the prestige de l'inconnu, &c., &c.; able to Miss Lydia's character, and Lord all I can say is, that the last six weeks' Howden (in a letter to the Athenæum) experience has taught me that the beaten quotes the altered rule from the Code Napoléon in support of this view; but it seems too harsh and ungracious a conclusion to be accepted on such evidence. The following solution is not improbable. Mrs. Sterne was ill, probably in danger of death, for she died a few months later. In case of her death, the difficulty of proving consent of parents and guardians would be increased, and the countries beng at war, the recherche de la paternité path, if dull, is smooth; that the inconnu, when connu, loses its charm; and that invading a virgin soil is a dangerous experiment. Nevertheless, to one who dislikes roughing it less than I do, there are charms in the scenery and primitive customs of Elba sufficient to compensate for many inconveniences. It was early on a bright June morning that I and my belongings embarked at Leghorn, and at 1.30 P.M., after a some what rough passage, the northern coast hills; and altogether, a place more fitted of Elba rose menacingly before us, im- to give one the horrors I have seldom pressing me with a sense of unutterable seen. dreariness. Gigantic rocks, like massive The memory of Napoleon is warmly walls, rising perpendicularly from the and justly cherished by the Elbans, for water, alone met the eye. Mass after he invariably displayed, during his resimass of these natural ramparts did we dence among them, the warmest anxiety steam by, without getting a peep of town for their well-being, and neglected no or harbour; in fact, the entrance to the means by which their moral and social latter is so winding, and the town so hid-condition might be improved. On leaving den by fortifications, natural and artifi- the island, he bequeathed his library, cial, that the first glimpse one obtains of consisting of many thousand volumes, it is when actually in the port. The posi- including costly editions of rare and valution and general appearance of Porto able works, to the municipality, for the Ferrajo are wonderfully striking and pic- public advantage and instruction. But, turesque; the little peninsula on which alas! neither the municipality nor the it is built is so narrow where it joins the public have shown themselves capable of main land, that it looks almost like a sep-appreciating such a treasure. Numbers arate island. The town is crescent- of volumes have been lost; others are shaped, and the streets, rising terrace- so worm-eaten and otherwise injured as fashion, one above another, are connected to be unreadable; they are now left to by broad, steep flights of steps, which make walking very fatiguing. moulder on their shelves, no one being allowed to read, or even, unless by especial favour, to see them. Thus, through ignorance and neglect, has a truly generous intention been wholly frustrated. Having heard wonders of the variety and beauty of the mineralogical treasures of Elba, and being curious about, though wholly unlearned in such matters, I was surprised on inquiry to find that no collection of specimens of these existed at Porto Ferrajo, and still more so to hear Via Degli Ebrei, or Jews Street, where I was located, is at the very top of the town, and runs its whole length, from Fort Stella, at the north-eastern angle, to Fort Falcone, at the north-western point. At but two yards' distance from my abode a flight of broad steps leads to the Piazza Grande, below which are the cathedral, casino, public offices, half a dozen cafés, and as many barbers' shops. Crossing the Piazza, we enter the Piazetta. The that though one of its most intelligent Piazetta is the Rialto of the Porto Ferraiese, where assemble the Antonios and Shylocks of the town to calculate their gains and speculate on the fate of their argosies tossing on the distant ocean. Here also are the best shops and the most frequented cafés. In a word, here business is transacted, scandal repeated, bargains are struck, and politics discussed. Porto Ferrajo is the cleanest town in the world, and its houses, for the most part, though exceedingly plain, have a neat and decent appearance. If there are no palaces, neither are there any hovels; if no signs of riches, but few indications of poverty. and cultivated inhabitants, Signor Raffaello Foresi, well known in Tuscany for his literary attainments, had offered to form and classify such a collection-volunteering at the same time to contribute many valuable specimens towards it— the municipality, for reasons only understood by that majestic body, had thought fit to turn a deaf ear to the proposal. Although exceedingly anxious to visit the wonderful iron mines of Rio, distant about nine miles from Porto Ferrajo, on the eastern coast of the island, more than a fortnight from the day of my arrival passed away without my being able to do so the unusual prevalence of sirocco My first excursion was to San Martino, having really made everything like exerthe country residence of the Emperor tion beyond crawling to the port late in Napoleon during his brief exile, distant the evening for an hour's sail in the gulf some four miles from Porto Ferrajo. an utter impossibility. The sirocco is The road thither lies through desolate the scourge of Elba, and while it lasts looking sandy fields, enclosed by tumble- one's limbs seem to give way at every down-looking stone walls, with here and there a blighted tree supporting a sickly vine. The situation of San Martino is gloomy in the extreme. The house, a large, square, hideous building, stands in a deep ravine, between two fir-clothed step. However, one evening, the wind having suddenly changed, I fixed my expedition for the next morning. We were astir at cock-crow, and, embarking at seven o'clock, an hour's rowing brought us to a small fishing-village on the oppo site side of the bay, where horses and neath this lie enormous masses of iron, guides awaited us -a fearful thing in the thrown together without any appearance shape of a side-saddle of the most anti- of stratification. These mines are sup'quated form, and wholly guiltless of stuff-posed to be the richest in the world, and ing, having been brought from the other could, it is said, furnish supplies sufficiect side of the island for me. My two little for the requirements of the whole of boys, perched on pillows, strapped across Europe, were it but possible to carry on strong donkeys, under the guardianship the process of smelting either in the of a trusty guide, led the van in triumph. island itself or on the adjacent Tuscan For rather more than a mile our road lay coast; but the absence of coal and the along the beach, and then, gradually scarcity of timber render this impossible. winding inland, passed through a pictu- Roads, wide enough for carts, traverse the resque, little-cultivated, and almost wholly mountains in all directions. I was so much uninhabited country; indeed, with the interested by the novelty of the scene exception of a hamlet perched on the top that, notwithstanding the heat, and occaof a seemingly inaccessible rock, I did sional steepness of the ascent, I walked not see during our long ride a single about in all directions for nearly three habitation, or, saving one solitary goat- hours, almost unconscious of fatigue ; herd, a human being. About three miles but the sight of the gigantic masses of from Rio the landscape is sombre and iron, the constant explosions and consedesolate in the extreme, the road, or quent falling of the huge blocks just derather rugged path, now winding through tached, the ringing sound of numberless a gloomy ravine and now along the un- hammers, the bustle inseparable from the fenced edge of a deep abyss -an occa-presence of a vast number of workmen, sional cluster of oak or grove of olive and troops of ponies, mules, and asses, trees alone enlivening the utter dreariness so bewildered me, that I returned to my of the scene. The heat, as the day wore kind hosts deaf and dizzy. A cup of on, became well-nigh intolerable, making coffee and an hour's rest having someone at times feel sick and dizzy. The what restored me, we set out on our sky was terribly cloudless, and the path, homeward journey. It was past ten except by an occasional projecting rock o'clock when we reached home. I felt as or hedge of prickly pear, wholly unshad- if I had been away a month! The day ed. I noticed a profusion of myrtles, had been interminable! oleanders, gum cistus, and lilacs, while rosemary, thyme, and a great variety of sweet-smelling plants flourished in weedlike luxuriance. A very fatiguing ride of two hours brought us to Rio Alto, or Upper Rio, where the road attains its greatest elevation, and whence we had a magnificent view of the Gulf of Porto Ferrajo and the Italian coast. The descent from Upper to Lower Rio is so steep that we were forced to dismount and scramble down on foot as best we could. This was by far the worst part of our journey, for the sharp-pointed stones cut our feet horribly. At the bottom of the hill we found ourselves in a pretty valley, watered by the stream or rio which gives its name to the locality, and a tolerable road soon brought us to the town and harbour of Lower Rio. Early one morning, a day or two after this memorable expedition, my old boatman rushed in to say that if I cared to see la pesca del tonno,* or tunny fishery, for which Elba is famous, I must not lose a moment, as the boats were just pushing off. Away we flew to the port, and were rowed to the entrance of the harbour. The nets in which the fish are taken are allowed to remain under water for a month or six weeks, and are fastened to large fishing-boats, which are arranged so as to form a circle of considerable dimensions. When the nets are to be hauled up this circle is gradually lessened, and the boats drawn towards the centre. These were full of men, of whom seventy or eighty are required to draw up the nets. Such a scene as it was! The men jumped and yelled like maniacs, while the lookers-on (for the whole town turns out on these occasions) cheered vociferously as the increasing bubbling and foaming of the water showed that the net was approaching the surface; the struggles of the unhappy fish, as they saw Of the magnitude and almost inexhaustible resources of the mines nothing that I can say can give a just idea. The mass of iron which constitutes them forms a mountain rising to a height of five or six hundred feet and more than four miles in circumference, of which the surface is covered with a reddish kind of This fishery takes place in different parts of the earth, full of shining scales of iron. Be-island, and its annual profits amount to about £4000. found as in miniature, and nowhere, perhaps, have been discovered more valuable records of that marvellous preadamite world, the duration of which no effort of science has been able to define. The primary granite of Mounts Capanna and Marciana, in which are injected immense veins of the tourmaliferous granite, has raised from the depths of the sea the ver rucano, now recognized by the fossil plants and mollusca which it contains as a coal formation, and the lias, followed by cretaceous and eocenical rocks, and finally, miocene, pliocene, and pleistocene formations.* that escape was impossible, being horri- gist, Elba presents a most interesting ble to witness, as they bounded in the study; all the formations which compose nets, lashing right and left with their the Apennines of Central Italy are there tails, with a force which sent the water flying in all directions, and drenching the nearest spectators to the skin. I had been so nearly fried on my way to the scene of action, the thermometer standing at eighty-eight in the shade, that this shower-bath was rather refreshing. Finding their case hopeless, the wretched fish fell upon and attacked each other, until the straitened space between the boats looked like a pool of blood; and they were at last dragged up, dead and dying, and flung, panting and bleeding, into the boats; many of them being of great size, and weighing not less than from 250 to 300 lbs. Pickled tunny is excellent, but when fresh it tastes like fishy veal. The "flesh pots" of Elba are no great things, the market being very ill-supplied. Beef, veal, and mutton are bad and dear, poultry diminutive and thin, butter and cow's milk luxuries unknown. For the latter I found goat's milk not a bad substitute. Bread is good and cheap, and vegetables and fruit excellent. Amongst the latter I noticed a kind of wild cherry, very good when dried and made into puddings. The wines, both red and white, are really admirable, and the quantity exported amounts in some years to not less than 100,000 barrels. If nature has shown herself thus prodigal of her gifts to this gem of the Tyrrhenian sea, man, it must he acknowledged, has proved himself all unworthy of her bounty. In common with most maritime populations, the Elbans are idle and indifferent husbandmen; the ground is ill cultivated, the crops (flax alone excepted) are scanty, and wholly inadequate to the wants of the population. Quantities of wheat and even oil are therefore imported. The olive woods, with which more than a third of the island is clothed, scarcely produce more than 150 barrels of oil yearly, the greater part of the trees having degenerated so much through want of proper cultivation as to be almost The Elbans are a peaceable, good sort incapable of bearing fruit. Of pastureof people, their failings being those of all land there is little or none; the goats small communities, and especially of such browse among the rocks, while the sheep, as, from their peculiar position, are shut fewer in number, pick up a scanty living out from free and frequent intercourse where and how they can; the number of with the rest of the world. They are horned cattle is trifling, oxen being vain and exceedingly touchy, not a little little used for the purposes of labour or given to evil speaking and slandering, transport. The mountain paths are too and inquisitive to an absurd and trouble- narrow for the passage of carts, and loads some excess. The Elban ladies are are therefore conveyed from one part of really adepts in the art of cross-examina- the island to another on the backs of tion. Serious crime is hardly known, mules. In common with Sardinia and and Elban honesty is proverbial; bolts Corsica, Elba possesses an excellent and bars get rusty from disuse, and in-breed of horses, sure-footed and rapid, deed few people take the trouble of even shutting their doors at night. Nature has bestowed on Elba many of her choicest gifts, and the variety of scenery to be found in this little island is truly remarkable. I have passed, in the course of an hour's ramble, from the dark ravine where the noonday sun had never shone, no bird had ever sung, nor flower bloomed, to the smiling vineyard and fertile valley, from the oak wood to the myrtle grove, from the foaming torrent to the purling brook. To the geolo and fitted equally for either riding or draught; their coats are very shaggy,. and some of them are hardly larger than a big dog. Small game, such as woodcocks, partridges, snipes, quails, and wild duck, are abundant; hares and rabbits. are also plentiful. It is strange, considering the close proximity of Elba to the Etruscan coast, and her long annexation to the kingdom of Etruria, that all the For this slight geological sketch I am indebted to the kindness of the late Mrs. Somerville. |