"On thee thy fond father hath thought to-day, For dearly thou lovest to greenwood to stray, Then take thou this javelin, my venturous child; And the hunter wild I slew!" The javelin she took from her father's hand, But the horn that she wound gave a dirge-like sound, And she saw 'neath a willow-tree's mournful shade The deep, deep sleep of death! "Oh, true to the faith that I plighted, I come And o'er the two fond ones sweet flow'rets spring, One damsel looked down from the castle tower Where, borne on his steed of matchless breed, Rode her sire in knightly mail. "And welcome, Sir Father! and welcome," she cried, "To thy daughter, who long for thy coming hath sighed! Oh, say, what gift dost thou bring?" "Nay, think not thy sire hath forgotten thee, For dearer than gems are the soft flowers to thee, From the gardener so skilled, for my darling one, This flow'ret, than silver far fairer, I won, And the gardener so skilled I slew!" "And hast thou then slain that gardener so skilled,— My flowers did he rear with a father's care- And he swore to his loved one, no fairer flower Than the flow'ret he nurtured for me!" Then next to her bosom so gentle she laid And forth to the garden she dolefully strayed,— There a small mound freshly raised she descried,, And she sunk on that freshly-raised mound! "Oh, could I but do as my sisters have done,- But my delicate flower to wound hath no power, Like the flower that she gazed on, so wan and pale, Like her flower did she fade and die! ONE OF MANY TALES. BY A NEGLECTED OPERATIVE. SIR, It was not until I had ascertained beyond all dispute that there are publications both ready and able to defend retiring merit, and to exhibit in their true light all instances of neglect, and cruelty, and persecution, which may be properly brought forward, that I resolved on sending you a sketch of my case. You are probably well aware that in an early number of a popular magazine a full statement will be given of the proceedings of the Custom-house officer who insisted on searching the trunk of an elephant recently imported, and actually did turn it inside out, urging that he was fully authorised so to do, and was but acting up to the letter of his instructions. So, however, it is; and the knowledge of this circumstance having reached the ears of the editor, he has most benevolently determined to expose the officer, vindicate the beast, and have his disarranged trunk set to rights, and returned; and you, sir, will, I am sure, feel sufficiently for me, when you have fully perused my knotty statement, to bring it before the notice of a sympathising public. Talent and merit are indeed often allowed to wither in obscurity for want of a discriminating and fostering patron; but it is not often that an active and unflinching servant of the crown, whose capabilities are known, and whose efficiency has been for years exhibited and valued both at home and abroad, is, while in the full vigor of his powers, left neglected and unpensioned. The foremost in the fight, the unflinch ing advocate of military and naval discipline, the tried friend, and steady supporter, and constant advocate of every officer in both services, I have worked my way into notoriety, and have been invariably looked on with the most profound veneration, though sometimes it has been my misfortune to fall into rough and unskilful hands. But, while I have been constantly held up as a most striking example of all that was required in my situation,-while I have never been suspected, much less accused, of imbecility, of cowardice, of unfitness in any way whatever for the station I have long occupied,-I find myself day by day more neglected, and called every week of my existence into less active operation. I am, sir, already little better than laid on the shelf. I am spoken of with indifference bordering on contempt, by very many who I believed would to their dying day have borne the most indelible impressions of my exertions on their behalf; men, sir, who have received my favors unseen, for whom I have labored when they were unable to tell from whom the benefit came, these very beings are the first and the most active in the conduct of which I complain. And this is a hard case; it is, however, mine. Redress in some shape I must have! An ample restitution I can never expect! for even, were Jupiter himself to make a general auction of Olympus, and pay me over the proceeds, I doubt greatly if they would satisfy my claims. I have many, very many cutting tales to bring forward, any one of which would, I am sure, sir, produce on your readers the most sensible effects, as they already have done on all who have practically perused their startling conclusions. Will you, sir, devote a few pages to a hasty statement of some par. ticulars, and assist me in the recovery of that station which I have long occupied; and which, without arrogance be it written, I am yet both as able and as willing to fill as in my earlier and happier days? It will be sufficient for me to state, that my very earliest recollections are of bloodshed and of warfare; and, having been inured from my first existence to scenes such as these, I am not reluctant to confess that I entered on them with the greatest readiness, and never felt so happy as when in full employment. And, sir, be it known to you, although I speak of myself as being yet in full vigor, that I have seen as much service both afloat and ashore as any one of my own standing. I was present on board the admiral's ship, the ship of the immortal Nelson, on the never-to-be-forgotten First of August, in the Bay of Aboukir; and during the whole of that dangerous and glorious conflict did I remain at my post, exhibiting no symptoms of fear, although at one moment I was within a hair's-breadth of annihilation, for a cannon-shot actually carried away a very long tail,-and tails were then generally worn by our jolly tars. This, I felt, could be easily replaced; and so it was, thanks to the boatswain! I was with the Hero of the Nile during the whole of his cruisings in the Mediterranean; and was by many of the captains and officers on that station continually pointed out to the men, and praised as a most efficient disciplinarian; and numerous indeed were the results produced by my active and powerful operations. Indeed, during the later years of Nelson's life I was almost invariably on board his ship; nor did I quit it until his remains were brought to England, and consigned to their stately and final resting-place amidst all the pomp, and pride, and circumstance which a grateful and bereaved nation could bestow. But, sir, upon this occasion I was not allowed to form a part of the mournful pageant; although others much younger, and of much less experience than myself, were there. But it is not my intention to inflict on your readers a wearying detail of my varied services: it is, however, necessary to state that I went through the whole Peninsular campaign; and my having been engaged both afloat and ashore must convince the most sceptical that my services were not held unimportant by the powers of those days. I do not hesitate to appeal to his Grace the Duke of Wellington for a confirmation of the truth of my assertion. My interference was on very many occasions commanded by his Grace personally; and in no one instance during that lengthened and stirring warfare had I any reason to believe that my duties had been inefficiently performed. At Vimeira, at Corunna, Talavera, Busaco, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, and Vittoria, I was in attendance, and, as you will believe, got my share of rubs and blows. Often, indeed, when in the thick of the fight, did I think and fear that I should become so mutilated in appearance, and so broken in constitution, as to be rendered unfit for further service; but the kind and sympathising watchfulness of my friends, who viewed me with parental fondness, strengthening my weakness, binding up my fractures, and day by day restoring me as my necessities and their abilities prompted, carried me safely through these, the most arduous of of all the varied scenes in which I have hitherto engaged. Since the conclusion of the war, it has pleased the authorities to employ me very considerably at home; and the various barracks and depôts scattered through the country can each and all of them bear testimony to my visitations. I have, therefore, in some branch of my profession been for very many years an active servant. There is, in. deed, scarcely an individual in the army or in the navy with whom I have not in one way or other been brought into contact. With many my acquaintance has been intimate, and my connection has been very close; with more I have been rather an acquaintance of the eye than of the heart; but, of all with whom I ever became familiar, no one has yet turned his back on me without having had the most sensible evidences of the temerity of his conduct. Now it is, sir, that in this weak piping time of peace, the services are venturing to speak disrespectfully of me; they view my operations as over, and therefore speak of them lightly; they only look to my future uselessness, and are quite unmindful of my past efficacy. I am it is true, at this moment without employment, and without pension,-neglected; in fact superseded,-and all from an idle prejudice, a paltry affectation of sensibility, which is suddenly upraised against me, and allowed to outstrip years of devoted labor. If you, sir, have individually been brought within the sphere of my more immediate application, I am sure that, even to the present day, you must bear about you the most lively evidences of my operations. There are, indeed, but few who have been under my discipline without receiving the most striking proofs of my prowess. On the young and on the old, in the camp, in the barrack-yard, and on the deck, I have constantly been called into service; and each and all by whom my services have been received, have borne for ever after the most permanent memorials of my interference. It is this justifiable and prudent pride which renders my situation the more painful. Had I been useless, I might have been forgotten; had I made no lasting impressions on those with whom I have dealt, I might merit the oblivion into which I am daily hastening; but I have been active, energetic, influential, known in every climate and in every camp, and therefore it is past my powers of endurance to groan any longer in silence beneath the oppressive neglect and cruel sarcasm with which I am treated. The men before the mast, and the rank and file of every regiment, are one and all arrayed against me; they have taken a cowardly and unmanly dislike to my measures, and will no longer give their shoulders to the support of my arguments. These very men, many of whom I have officially attended through the fleet as well as in the camp, who have received from me more than ever they received from mortal man, who are even to the present instant sensibly alive to my startling advice and stinging remonstrances,-even these, one and all, seem determined to cut me to pieces, and to destroy me inch by inch. Is this to be endured? Shall I remain longer a silent sufferer, unused and neglected, when so many other officials are in full operation, and in the hourly hope of promotion? No, sir, I cannot, I will not bear it longer! I am, however, in common gratitude to the late secretary at war, bound to state, that, upon a full review of my tales, he was disposed to render me his assistance, and that he did espouse my cause when it was brought under the consideration of the House of Commons. I thank him for his patriotic and benevolent exertions, and will, at any future time, should an opportunity offer, give him a more sensible proof of my qualifi. cations than any he has yet individually felt. He did not, however, state one fact, which will, I know, appear altogether incredible to many of your readers, which is this,-that I have actually been, for a very long pe. riod, firmly lashed to an unmoved log of wood, from which it is utterly impossible for me to get free. Many have shed tears at the sight of me; some men have even died in consequence of my having been brought into their presence; and one and all who have felt the full weight of my impositions have never ceased to think upon me with the most unequivocal sensations. There are, also, many, and it is a debt of which I must acquit myself,-there are, sir, I say, many, and those too general officers, to whom I owe my grateful acknowledgments for the kind feelings with which they have had me taken in hand occasionally; although, even by them, I have been only brought to the back of the rank and file anything is, however, a relief from my present obscurity. I have long borne my sorrows in silence. My waleings are not loud, but deep; but, through your assistance, I hope and expect relief, for I am now in such a state, so worn, so tattered, so forgotten, that I would rather submit even to decimation than to the prolongation of my present passive endurance. Sir, if I had not the qualities of a cat, I should have been out of being very long ago. Under your kind patronage my now hopeless case may possibly be improved. Your influential interference may perchance assist me to my old station; I may once more re-exert my weighty influence; I may become not only a member of, but really and truly, the United Service Club itself; and, should such be the case, believe me, sir, you shall at all times command the unflinching services, whether required by your. self personally, or by any of your acquaintances, of Yours, to command, CAT-O'-NINE-TAILS. SONNET IN A CHURCHYARD. I STAND beside the grave where years long past The tooth of Time hath eat those words away! the last Tell not the name, nor worth, nor how long stayed Upon this upper earth, a being cast In Nature's loveliest mould! Still, still remain Whose sorrow yet is green: dust will it turn, OLD NICHOLAS. |