Polynesian., 1858-06-12
No. 6.
Adventures.

Adventures, persons who lack the necessary
discipline and balance of mind to submit them
selves to the laws of society, while, at the same
time, they are devoured by the ambition of dis
tinguishing themselves, of making fortune or
a sensation. They stand in the same relation
to the oheUGEer d. indHstrie as the pirate to the
pickpocket, while to men of genuine ambition
they compare a coxcomb to q man of the world
a poacher to a sportsman.
Adventures are rarely without a redeeming
love of glory, and if they are successful they
become heroes like Napoleon. On the other hand,
they seldom listen to the appeals of conscience,
ald if they are unsuccessful they become scamps
like Cagliostro. In the historical records of men
of brilliant fame we find as many adventures
persons of infamous repute in the police returns.
They to be found daily in the walks of private
life, as we'll as in the realms of fiction. Micawber,
in David Copperfeld, would have been great ad-
venturer If he had not been destined to become the
great Micawber. He was always waiting for
something to "turn up" This peculiar state of
expectation is in fact, the moral state of mind of
an adventurer. As long as this state of sus-
pense lasts he keeps wisely in the background,
ransacking earth and heaven, his brain aching
with thought, his heart swelling with hope, his
very soul bursting with ambition; but as all the
while his pocket is empty, and as lie does not per-
form any honest labor for the purpose of filling it.
his life is that of an outlaw. His name, nay his
very existence, is utterly unknown except TO his
unfortunate family and his miserable creditors.
But of sudden his corroding ambition is grati-
fed, the dreams of his life realiZed.-Some-
thing has turned up. He jumps into some con-
spicuous or notorious position. The fact of his
existence is like new revolution to mankind.
His name falls like bomb upon the public ear.
{" Who in the world is he ?" ask thousand yolc-
es, and echo answers: "An Adventurer.'
If he is a person of military turn, he becomes
filibuster, like Lopez or Walker. If of an ener-
getic, semi-intrguing nature, he becomes a rajah-
like Sir james Brooke, of Sarawak. If his predi,
ections are of the financial order, he becomes a
railway-king, like Hudson, or a colossal swinder
like Law. If of religious disposition, he becomes
prophet, like John of Leyden or Joe Smith.
The word adventurer is derived from the Latin
adrenire The knight-errants were called adVen-
turers and the poets of the middle ages exalt the
" Dame Aventuire," as she was called, to the
dignity of goddess, and represent her as a wo-
man of angelic beauty, possessed, like Gyges, Of
the power of making herself invisible by putting
on mysterious ring, which enables her to travel
ncog. all over the world and to observe, without
being observed, the doings of mankind. In order
to make her divine Paul mission more comfortable,
she carries a staff in her hand which has the mag
ic power of helping her over land and sea.
Female adventurers are also pretty numerous.
Nell Gwynne. Lady Hamilton, Madame de Pomp-
adour, Lola Montez. all come more or less under
the category of adventures. In Italy, female ad-
venturers abound among the princesses and high
est nobility In Europe and America they occa-
sionally make their appearance as governesses and
teachers of foreign languages.-NeuO Am. CycloPe-