Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 68, No. 421, November 1850Various
General
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 68, No. 421, November 1850
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
Never more did Alton bury needle in the hem of a garment. Nobody would
give employment to the two protesters; so John Crossthwaite, being a
man of a practical tendency, and not bad at statistics, determined to
turn an honest penny by writing for a Chartist newspaper, and would
have persuaded Alton to do the same, had not Sandy Mackaye interposed,
and very properly represented that his young friend was too juvenile to
become a martyr. So it was fixed at a general council that Alton should
prepare his bundle, including his precious manuscripts, and start on
foot for Cambridge, where his cousin was, to see whether he could
not procure help to have his volume launched into the world. We must
pass over his journey to Cambridge, interesting as it is, to arrive
at his cousin's rooms. There he finds George with half-a-dozen of his
companions all equipped for a rowing match, and just about to start.
George behaves like a trump, orders him luncheon, and then departs for
the river, whither Alton follows, with the intention of seeing the
fun. His behaviour is a libel on the Cockneys. He sees Lillian on the
opposite side of the river, and makes an ass of himself; then he bursts
into ecstasies at the sight of the boats, feeling "my soul stirred up
to a sort of sweet madness, not merely by the shouts and cheers of the
mob around me, but by the loud, fierce pulse of the rowlocles; the
swift whispering rush of the long, snake-like eight oars; the swirl and
gurgle of the water on their wake; the grim, breathless silence of the
straining rowers. My blood boiled over, and fierce tears swelled into
my eyes; for I, too, was a man and an Englishman." The author should
have added--and a tailor to boot. So Alton, like an idiot, begins to
roar and shout, and is ridden over by a young sprig of nobility, in
whose way he insists on standing; and is soused in the river; and
insults another young nobleman, Lord Lynedale, of whom more anon, who
picks him up, and out of good nature offers him half-a-crown: all which
shows, or is intended to show, that our friend is a splendid specimen
of the aristocracy of nature. Well--to cut a long story short--he
returns to his cousin's rooms, is kindly received, introduced to a
supper party of Cantabs, and afterwards to Lord Lynedale, for whom he
corrects certain proofs, and receives a sovereign in return. The said
Lord Lynedale is engaged to a lady, the same with "the deeper voice
than most"--not Lillian--who accosted him in the Dulwich Gallery. She
is the niece of a Dean Winnstay, Lillian being the daughter. They meet.
She recognises him, and he favours us with a sketch of Miss Eleanor
Staunton. "She was beautiful, but with the face and figure rather of
a Juno than a Venus--dark, imperious, restless--the lips almost too
firmly set, the brow almost too massive and projecting--a queen, rather
to be feared than loved--but a queen still, as truly royal as the man
into whose face she was looking up with eager admiration and delight,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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