at all events, I am, and that's something," he thought; so he walked on, smiling and bowing as before. Of all nations in the world, the French are certainly the greatest admirers of a uniform, and the most easily humbugged by any one who will flatter their vanity, and certainly republicans are the greatest worshippers of titles. On walked the great O' Wiggins, admired equally by the vieux moustache of the Imperial Guard, by the peasant-girl, with her high balloon starched cap, by the dapper grisette, by real soldiers of the line, by shopkeeping national guards, by citizen gentlemen and ladies in plain clothes, and the queer-shaped seamen and boatmen, of whom I have before spoken. His step was firm and confident) as he approached the hall, and as he got near, he saw with dismay that the guests arriving in crowds before him were admitted by tickets. This we also observed, and fully expected to have seen him turned back, shorn of his honours, amid the shouts of the populace. But the knowing doorkeeper, equally knowing as the officious official, who now, with a glance of pride, announced him, could not dream of insulting a prince by asking him for his ticket, only bowed the lower as he advanced, bestowing on them in return some of his most gracious nods. The act was accomplished. He was safe in the banqueting-hall; but still there might be a turn in the tide of his affairs; some one who knew him might possibly ask how the d-1 he got there, and the mayor might request his absence. But O'Wiggins was too true a disciple of St. Impudentia thus to lose the ground he had gained. Having begun with blusters and bold confidence, he now called in meek humility and modest bashfulness with an abundant supply of blarney. Stowing away his cocked-hat in a safe corner, he retired among a crowd of betinselled officials, and earnestly entered into conversation with them, expatiating largely on his satisfaction at the sight he had that day witnessed, assuring his hearers that in Turkey, Russia, or America, or any other of the many countries he had visited, he had never seen anything to equal the magnificence he had beheld in this important part of la belle France. He endeavoured also to bend down, so as to hide his diminished head among the crowd, and thus, as he had calculated, more wisely than a well-known wise man we have heard of, he passed undetected. Dinner being announced as served, he found himself, much against his will, forced upwards close to the English naval officers and yacht commodors; but by a still further exertion of humility he contrived to take his seat a few persons off from those who knew him and might put awkward questions. The French, however, could not fail to admire the admirable modesty of the foreign prince, and the liberals set it down to the score of his respect for republican institutions, while the royalists fancied that he was afraid of assuming on his rank before his republican host. From the information I could gain, and from his own account afterwards, his impudence carried him through the affair with flying colours, for no one detected him, though many wondered who he was; and even some who were acquainted with him by sight, failed to recognise the O'Wiggins in the gaily-decked militaire before them. Having seen him enter the hall, we returned on board the Fun, to give an account of what had happened to our fair friends; and of course we did not fail of making a good story of the affair, and surmising that O'Wiggins would be discovered and compelled to strip off his feathers. After dinner we prepared to go to the ball, to which the ladies wisely would not venture. Poor Groggs was very downcast at the events of the morning, and with the discovery that he could never with propriety make Eulalie Mrs. Groggs. As we were going on shore we met O'Wiggins pulling off in his gig with four highly bedecked officers of National Guards, whom he had invited to visit the yacht. He had selected them for the gayness of their uniforms, which he fancied betokened their exalted rank. They had discovered that he was not a prince, but still were under the impression that he was at least a Mi Lord Anglais, imbued with liberal principles. He nodded condescendingly to us as he passed. "I'm going to show my craft to these officers whom I brought from the banquet, and I'll be back soon at the ball," he exclaimed, with a look of triumph. It is understood-for I cannot vouch for the truth of the statementthat he made the officers very drunk, and then changing his gay uniform for his usual yacht dress-coat, he made his appearance at the ball, where he boasted of the polite manner in which the President had asked him to the banquet, quoting all the speeches which had been made, and many other particulars, so that no one doubted that he was there. The ball-room was crowded to suffocation, and dancing was out of the question. I looked at the President with interest. The last time I had seen him was in a London ball-room, and at supper I had sat opposite to him and his cousin, the very image of their uncle. At that time, neither had more influence in the world than I or any other humble person. They were little lions because they had the blood in their veins of the most extraordinary man our times has known; but any Indian from the East, with a jewelled turban, created more interest. Now I beheld the same man the head of a great nation-the observed of all observers— dispensing his courtesies with a truly regal air. One could not help feeling that a mockery as he may be, and unstable as is his seat, that there must be more of his uncle's spirit in the man than one was before inclined to suppose. A considerable number of ladies' dresses and men's coats were torn, and purses and handkerchiefs abstracted from pockets, and the ball terminated. I have not given a very lucid description of it; but a crush in England is so very like a crush in France, that my readers who have endured one may easily picture the other. CHAPTER VI. Another Day at Cherbourg-Scenes in the Harbour-The Visit of the President to his Fleet-A large Expenditure of Gunpowder-An Address to British Economists-A few Remarks on Affairs in General-The Ripple and Fun sail -Matrimony the happy Conclusion of the Tale. MRS. MIZZEN and her charges were anxious to sail to get back to Plymouth for Sunday, but we induced them to stop till the afternoon, by promising then to accompany them, that they might see the President visit the fleet, which it was understood he was to do on Saturday. The day was lovely, and every craft afloat, from the big Valmy to the smallest yacht, did her best to look gay, and to add to the brilliancy of the scene. The piers were crowded with people, and so were the decks of the vessels, and boats and barges laden with passengers were moving in every direction. It was amusing to watch the numerous parties on board the steamers at their meals; those forward indulging in bread and cheese and sausages, and vin ordinaire or beer; the more aristocratic aft in chickenpies, hams, champagne, and claret, in which beverages they drank prosperity to the republic and long life to the President, though they would as readily have toasted a king or an emperor. It was a day of excitement. The first thing in the morning there was a pulling-match, but who was the winner I am unable to say. Then the President paid a visit to the dockyard, and from that time every one was on the tip-toe of expectation to catch a glimpse of him as he pulled off to the ships-of-war he purposed visiting. At length he appeared in a state barge of blue and white and gold, and prow and stern raised and carved richly, which floated as proudly as that of any Lord Mayor of London, from Whittington downward; for not altogether dissimilar was she in appearance. She pulled twenty-four oars, and a captain stood by the coxswain to con her. Under a canopy of purple cloth, the colour reminding one of imperial dignity, sat the President of the republic, a tricolor flag waving in the bow from a lofty flagstaff, speaking, however, loudly of republicanism. As his galley shot out of the dockyard, there burst forth from the mouth of every cannon on board the ships and in every fort on shore, roars most tremendous, flashes of flame, and clouds of smoke. Never had I before heard such a wild, terrific uproar; crash followed crash, till it appeared that every soul afloat or on shore must be annihilated. Thundering away went the guns, every ship firing every gun she had as fast as she could, and every fort doing the same. Bang-crash, crash, crash. The ladies stopped their ears, and looked as if they wished themselves well out of it. It appeared as if a fierce battle were raging, while the ships, and the batteries, and the shore, were shrouded by a dense mass of smoke. On a sudden the firing ceased, the smoke blew away, revealing once more the masts and rigging of the ships of war, now crowded with inen in the act of laying out on the yards. The crews cheered, and the bands of all the ships struck up martial music, which floated joyfully over the water, and one could not help fancying that something very important was taking place. In reality, it was only a coup d'étatPrince Napoleon was trying to supplant Prince de Joinville in the affections of the seamen of France. It is said that he made himself very popular, and gained golden opinions from all classes of men. His first visit was to the Friedland, the flag-ship of Admiral Deschenes, then to the Valmy, and next to Minerve, the gunnery-ship, on the same plan as our Excellent. Here some practice took place, but I cannot say that the firing was anything out of the way good. Having inspected his own ships, he paid a visit to Lord Wilton's beautiful schooner, the Xarifa, and afterwards to the Enchantress, Lord Cardigan's yacht, both perfect vessels of their kind. We yachtsmen had, indeed, reason to feel not a little proud of the display made by our peaceable crafts on the occasion. Perhaps it may have occurred to any Frenchmen, who might have looked with boastful eyes on their proud war-ships, if these sons of perfidious Albion can make such a display with their pleasure-boats, what will they do if they get into earnest, and fit out a national fleet of big ships and steamers? Unfortunately, however, there is that indomitable self-sufficiency and pride in the composition of Frenchmen that they cannot be convinced of our superiority at sea, and will, to a certainty, on the first favourable opportunity, try to pay off old scores. I do not say this from any dislike to the French, but being in an economical, or rather an utilitarian, mood, I wish they would sensibly reduce their squadron to dimensions suited to the wants of peaceable people, and allow us to employ our ships in carrying emigrants, putting down the slave-trade, and taking care of our interests in various parts of the world. I only do hope, if they ever do go to war with us again, that we shall not let them rest till we have sunk every one of their ships, and burnt and destroyed every dockyard and arsenal on their coasts, so as to put it for the future out of their power to threaten us. That dockyard at Cherbourg is a sore subject with me. It puts me too much in mind of a man's fist held up to my nose to be pleasant. It is a doubled fist near John Bull's nose, let him depend on that, and one that will strike very hard, if he ever shuts his eyes and has not his own knuckles ready. We went on board several of the French ships, and were much struck with their beauty, cleanliness, and order, while every improvement which science has suggested has been introduced on board them. We were not particularly prepossessed in favour of the French seamen, either on shore or on board. There was a roughness in their manner which savoured somewhat of national dislike, fostered for sinister purposes, to be pleasant; or, if it was put on in imitation of the manners of our own honest Jack Tars, all I can say is, that it was a very bad imitation indeed, and about as unlike the truth as when they attempt to represent the national character on the stage. From the French officers all who visited their ships received the very greatest attention and courtesy. We sailed that afternoon, as soon as the spectacle was over, in company with the Fun. I cannot, therefore, describe the ball, with its overpowering heat and crush, which took place that evening, nor the sham-fight, when the boats of the squadron attacked the steamer Descartes, nor the evolutions of the fleet, nor the awful expenditure of gunpowder from the ships, sufficient to make the economical hearts of Joe Hume and Cobden sink dismayed within their bosoms. Oh, Cobden—oh, man of Manchester! think you this expenditure of gunpowder and noise breathes the spirit of peace? Oh, Joe, surnamed Hume, excellent calculator, well versed in addition and subtraction, is it not worth while to employ some portion of our own income, even a large portion maybe, to insure old England against any freak our volatile neighbours may take into their heads? We have heard lately of the descendants of the Crusaders talking largely of winning infidel Britain to become the humble servant of a certain personage who manages, by aid of our volatile friends' bayonets, to sit, somewhat uneasily perhaps, in a chair in which St. Peter it is said once sat. We live in the nineteenth century, and therefore neither the nonsense spoken by the Crusaders' descendants, nor by the developers of religion, nor by any Father Ignatius alive, nor by Brumigem patriot Cobden, affect us much, nor destroy our night's repose; but they serve, nevertheless, to show the animus of the speakers, and therefore would we wisely guard against them, for fools, if allowed to go on in their foolery, or knaves in their knavery, are apt to prove dangerous in the end. But I have done with public affairs. The Ripple and the Fun danced gaily together over the starlit ocean towards Plymouth, wind and tide favouring us. The voices of our fair friends, as they sung in concert some delicious airs, sounded across the water most sweetly to our ears. What a contrast to the loud roar of the cannon in the morning, and the glare and bustle of Cherbourg harbour, did that quiet evening present! "Well, what do you think of it?" I asked of Ashmore, as we stood late at night watching the Fun gliding on noiselessly close on our weather-beam. "That she is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met, and so fond of yachting. She'll suit me," he answered. "I was speaking of the Cherbourg affair," I observed, laughing. "And I, my dear fellow, was thinking of Laura Mizzen," he replied, frankly. "But my doubts are whether she will have me. A woman may like a man, and yet not be in love with him, or ready to marry him." "Take my advice, and ask her," said I; "you have no great reason to dread her reply." We arrived safe in Plymouth in time for the afternoon service. Ashmore took my advice, and I am happy to say that in the autumn I received cards with silver ties from my friends Mr. and Mrs. Ashmore and Mr. and Mrs. Tom Mizzen. I think it right to announce to the spinster world that Groggs, Porpoise, and I, are still bachelors. I'M THINKING OF THE PAST. BY J. E. CARPENTER. I'm thinking of the past, Kate, When we both look'd to the future I'm thinking of the past, Kate, When we thought to have a home, Kate, With its garden and its flowers; But our little ones must stem, love, Like us, life's wintry blast; We had hoped to live for them, love,― I'm thinking of the past, Kate, Of love, that still shall last, |