Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1875-04-02

devoid OF any body. Feel was decidedly
average, and Canning too would-be hero
ic. Lord Glare, who had taken off a coro-
net, was looking up from luxurious So
ia; and William Wilberforce suggested
port wine and more than Episcopal arm
chair. A marble erected by the Fast India
company was strikingly stiff aud unnatur-
al, while a little more Of the modest and a
little less of the classic had certainly been
In Christian taste. Such were the observa-
tions Of my friend. 1t will be seen that he
profoundly appreciated both art and con-
grulty of place. 1t is possible that similar
reflections may have been made by good
many minds; nor could my friend lay
claim TO he original, save in his selection
of me.
was thinking how to get rid Of him,
for the abbey was cold ; and the chllllness
of the monuments, with the bombast OF
my friend, suggested speedy escape.
think he saw that I had heard about e.
nough, and was on the point Of wishing
him Good evening" This quickenedhis
plan.
you know the cloisters?" he asked me
with eagerness tone which implied
"If you don't, should be extremely de-
lighted to show them."
did not know the cloisters. 1 had new
er been in them in my life. / had M wish
whatever TO enter them, least Of all on this
chill winters eve, with the thermometer
down below zero. The wind, too, was
blowing from the east, and there was moth
ing outside TO invite me. therefore re-
piled that | would now return home. and I
made some excuse about 'family."
He was not TO be refused.
II know all these places by heart" be
objected 81 have made them the study Of
my life. 1t will not take US five minutes
TO walk round. DO come r.
There is fascination in some men In the
inverse proportion of their gins of att rae
tlveness aud merit. You may oflen he un-
able 10 refuse to the disagreesble what,
with reluctance, you would refuse to the
pleasing. Nor is it possible to account for
this anomaly, save on the ground Of that
secret bewitchment which comes OF rank
evil to the soul. | think Catulus speaks Of
fascinating "mala llngua;" but there are
worse destinations inherent TO some men
NHe' 'Hp'' w ha'h iiONNph iaOli Ailt hohEhts
''Suadent cadentia sidera somnos," says
| Virgil, though | forget with what con-
text,-which one might apply, In allegori-
cal sense, to some falling stars that are hu-
man. The ''somnos" would take moral
signifcation and truly there is moro OF
moral "somnos" in the world than there il
OF even midnight fOrgetluness. Howev-
er, was fascinated, saying 'yes' to my
friend, and accordingly 10 the cloisters we
went.
1t was the very witching hour OF five,
which in winter time means coming night
and shadows drear and titful. The abbey
was growing indistinct. As we turned to
go, my friend still poured ON the stream of
his laborious comments.
This motley crowd Of incongruOus mon
uments casts a weird and a sepulchral look
along these deso.ate aisles. 1t is difficult
TO ascertain whether one is really In a
church or in some Pagan mausoeum Tor
the dead
answered that thought so.
"Ah," he went on, "for men who think
this is a very humiliatlng spot. always
feel Inclined, whenever l come here, to
take a pickax aud a broom, and sweep all
these monuments into the Thames"
objected 10 this.
"What is more vulgar than marble mer-
1t, more unmeaning than stone in memo.
riamsH''
objected again.
~ see" he retorted with some little con-
tempt, you are man of the nineteenth
century. am not. detest the present.
and live altogether in the past"
1t struck me that | also "delested the
present. aud would have been glad To get
on into the future. | cannot tell what it
was that possessed me to accompany the
gentleman to the clolsters, save that curl
Gus and indednable fascination to which
have already alluded. The sirens were fa-
bled To attract poor mariners by sweet
voices to inevitable shipwreck, but this
man had not sweet voice. There is, too,
an all1siOn in some natural histories TO the
"evil eye of the snake, though Mr.. Wa
terton says this is all nonsense, and that
the eye OF the snake cannot move. Yet
this man had not an 'evil eye.' There
must, then, be charms of the dlabolical
kind which admit not of featured ex pres
sion. You are conscious in such charms OF
neither pleasure nor harm you are con-
scious OF nothing but the charm. Ovid
calls certain kinds OF wItchment, which
are not of the virluous kind, "jucundun
malum;" but then, though the ''jucundum'
be present, and the "nialum" come later
you are conscious OF both from the begin.
ming. Yet this man had neither 'jucun.
DUN" nor "malum' at least In his sensi
BILE attractiveLess. | give It up. Certain
1t Is that, In our journey through life, more
influences for evil are without clear ex
preston than such as bear their meaning
on the front.
"Mlght venture 10 Inquire" asked my
friend at this moment, when we were jus
going out of the abbey, "ir 1t Is not tax lni
, too great a liberty, which university you
were at2"
conceived the inquiry superAuous; thl
more so as nothing had been said whicl
brought the subject into parley.
T cambridge" l replied, rather shortly.
81 thought So" he answered. "Some re
marks which fell from you In respect I,
, the monuments implied the mathematics
, mind. l was at Oxford myself, though
previously at Dublin. think Oxford pro
notes theological turn, Cambridge rathe
rational"
I 1 did not see the drin OF this paIllcula
comment, which my friend delivered sen
, tentiously but I was pleased to think tha
he was theological and that was so oslen
, sibly mathematical.
: We had had now got out into the open
, The air was keen and frosty, the wind wa