Every Saturday, Oct. 19, 1867.) CANINE CELEBRITIES. 485 regarding it as a good-natured mystification, he con- wolf that had forced its way into the courtyard. As sidered it meant as a proof of disdain. He could not a trophy I cut off his feet and head, and nailed them drive it out of his mind; and having heard that In-to-the stable-door. What does monsieur think of dia was the real Eldorado, he resolved to solicit the these ?” king for a commission, and seek his fortune at Pon-1 At the sight La Châtaigneraie could not restrain dicherry. | a smile of approbation. “ As you give him such ex“ Since my suit is repulsed thus scornfully," he cellent testimonials,” he said, “ I have no wish to said, “I will console myself by acquiring wealth.” bear malice any longer. There, Diamond, let us A fortnight afterwards he sailed from Marseilles make it up,” he added, patting the dog's head; and on board the brig Duquesne, bound for the Car- nothing further passed in the matter for a time. natic. Some days afterwards the Viscount went out When the Marquise de Servay heard of his de- shooting, taking with him the once despised dog parture, she, in turn, felt exceedingly vexed. On his way back he said to himself, “Fridolin is " What nonsense has he taken into his head," she right; there cannot be a better sporting dog. The exclaimed, “ to treat seriously in this way a mere Marquise, without intending it, has made me a piece of harmless pleasantry? I was fond of him, very valuable present.” and was quite prepared to let him see it.” Before the week was out La Châtaigneraie had “Ah, Madame!” said a lady in her confidence, taken the dog completely into favor. When the “there are three things you should never play with, creature came to caress and be caressed, he would - the fire, your eyes, and your affections." say, " Good Diamond! You are the best friend I La Châtaigneraie was absent a couple of years. have ; for you love me in spite of my injustice. .I'm He fulfilled the mission intrusted to him with great sure you would defend me at the risk of your life”; credit to himself. Some English prizes (vessels and then the dog would bark his assent. captured at sea) in which he had a share brought A year afterwards, in the depth of winter, the him in two hundred thousand francs, at that time a Viscount, going from Nevers to Avallon, entered, considerable sum. Then there was his allowance of towards the close of day, a woody defile of the two thousand crowns a year from the Archbishop of Morvan, a hilly country of bad repute. He skirted Bordeaux, besides his claim on the royal treasury the forest called the Tremblaye. It was an act for his services at Pondicherry; so that he was quite either of foolish imprudence or of very determined in a position to return to Europe. resolution ; for the neighborhood was notorious for He did return, at the beginning of the year 1785, the murders that were almost daily committed there. first to Paris, then to Bourges. At any epoch two On so rough and ill-conditioned a road he could not years are a considerable lapse of time ; under the hope to escape an attack by flight, however powerancien régime they were especially so. Nothing is ful his borse might be. On the other hand, neither stable here below; and the Nivernais nobleman the pistols he carried nor the raw-boned lurcher found many things changed. On presenting him- which ran before him were a sufficient protection self at one of Madame la Présidente de Morlieu's against the bands of robbers which then infested the receptions he heard the news of the neighborhood. east of France. Amongst other things he learned that the pretty Moreover, the Viscount, still fond of play, had Marquise de Servay, tired of waiting, and uncertain lately lost ten thousand francs on his parole, and whether he would ever come back, had taken to was now loyally taking it in gold to the winner. herself one Maurice d'Esgrigny, a sort of small Without manifesting apprehension, he nevertheless Baron in the Sologne, as a second husband some urged his horse to do his best. “ Patience, Acasix months ago, her choice having been guided, l jou !” he said. “You 'll soon get plenty of oats gossips said, by his intrepidity as a dancer. and hay. Courage, good Diamond! Don't you La Châtaigneraie therefore retired to his Niver- smell your supper?” nais home. After Fridolin, still his only attendant, His first intention had been not to halt before the first creature who came to meet him was a reaching one of the intermediate towns between rough-coated greyhound, a sort of lurcher, with Nevers and Avallon ; but as he felt himself opbloodshot eyes, and of not at all a prepossessing ap- pressed by drowsiness, he changed his plan and pearance; but he wagged his tail to beg for favor, hastened his pace, in order to sleep at the Têteand licked his master's hand in token of affection. Noire, an inn situated in the middle of the wood. "Ah! I recollect you, ugly brute. You are a re- He reached it before very long. Finding the door minder of my late mishap," said the Viscount, lash- shut, he knocked for admission. ing him with his riding-whip. « Go to the Devil !”! Strangely enough, although the house seemed in With a plaintive cry the animal turned round, a bustle, to judge from the voices and the lights and crawled back on his belly to his master's feet. which flashed about in the upper story, he got no "If I might be allowed to speak," said Fridolin, I answer. The door remained closed. “I would say a few words in Diamond's favor." T " Are you all deaf?” he shouted, knocking Yes, I remember; Diamond is his name." louder. “Can't you hear there is some one come “Monsieur doubtless has not forgotten that he to pass the night?” gave me permission to bring up the pup. I did so, After a while a window opened. “Who is and have had no reason to repent of it." there ? ” inquired the inn-keeper, with feigned sur“ What is he good for ? " prise. “ With Trumeau's (your old keeper's) help, Il “It's me, Master Pennetier, the Viscount de la have made him the best dog in the neighborhood. Châtaigneraie. I have already told you I want a He always has his wits about him. He is first-rate night's lodging." in unearthing a fox, starting a roe-deer, and driving * A hearty welcome to you, Monsieur le Vicomte. a boar. Diamond's courage is extraordinary; he is Jeanne! George! Why don't you run down stairs afraid of nothing, and has teeth of iron. Last win- and open the door to let the worthy gentleman in ? ter, when the ground was covered with snow, he You seem as if yon meant to keep him waiting outfonicht with and strangled in less than five minutes laido all night long." They set before him. regretting they had no ided the sakeone ere : the secret Gaor soul chesse for dessert th a bottle oi excelent Sa jenei sten i r crete bei und stabbed Carre wine La Chataigneraie ate bearti, derar-' the bodafest, regering his sies ererzi time ing there was quite emaga for him and for D2 - I s bare doce Es business the assessin mondi tro. It 28 ten o'cioek by his Geneta watch mattered when he mee from table and retired to his bedroom, Hariy bad the words escaped his Essen Dia. As he entered the deposited the knapsack in 2 cor- mond rashed at him, and with his powal teeth re: Distusi went and lay down upon it. iure bs cet - Just so good for: keep guard there." Cast - The der] take you the mandat growled. ing a glance roand the room. he observed to him.. - As soon it is Ezot I will serve you as I have self, * The look of the place is not inviting : bat for served your master. The door then closed and all one night it does it matter moeb." He then un- was silent. dress and got into bed. At eock-crow La Chataigneraie creps out of his Under the infidence of fatigue he was about to hiding-place, with the fall determination of gaitting blow out the candle and fall asleep, when be noticed the bouse by some means or other. At daybreak that the dog had suddenly left his post, walking he beard the sound of wheels; they were carriers' round the bed and sniffing under it in a singular carts, whose drivers balted for their morning dram. way. |- Now is our time, Diamond," whispered La Cha- What can this mean?" La Châtaigneraie taigneraie, taking his knapsack and stalking down thought. He rose, and felt under the bed, to aseer-stairs, making all the noise be could. tain the cause. He sbordered involuntarily as his! - Saddle my borse instantly," he said to the 23hand touched a human foot, - a cold and naked tonished innkeeper, whose face mas tied up in a human foot. handkerchief. And be set off on his journey withDuring his stay in India he had witnessed, in the out bidding his crestfallen host farewell. character both of actor and spectator, not a few in- That very evening the officers of justice came and cidents of a startling nature, but he had never met | searched the Tête Noire inn. Pennetier and his with anything so horrible as this. Doubting whether accomplices were sent for trial before the Criminal he were not in a dream or the victim of some fright-Court of Dijon. As the innkeeper persisted in de --- Imbed Inving many of the facts of which he was accused, ---- ---- eh, lexandart story of this evidence to be regarded in a serious light. sibility, there are such things as light theology, When Diamond was confronted with the prisoner, interesting geology, entertaining meteorology (withis eyes flashed fury, he showed his teeth, and if ness the weather almanacs), and ridiculous astrolLa Châtaigneraie had not held him tight, he would ogy (see Francis Moore and Zadkiel). have torn the innkeeper to pieces. The 'grams present an equal diversity. Epigrams That well-deserved punishment was only deferred. make us smile or wince, according as they are Master Pennetier was condemned to death. Three pointed at others or ourselves. Monograms are months after the commission of the offence he was more amusing for the gentleman who makes them broken on the wheel, alive, in front of the palace than for the lady who has to make them out. Anaof the Dukes of Burgundy. grams are an excellent expedient for twisting your Diamond became the lion of the neighborhood, I brains into a ruffled skein ; while telegrams often and La Châtaigneraie grew more and more at- illustrate the sayings that no news is good news, tached to the courageous creature who had so ef- and that bad news travels fast. We may assume, fectually helped him. I think, that they (namely, telegrams) bring with “ Monsieur le Vicomte," said Fridolin one day, them more sorrow than mirth, upon the whole. For " was I not right in begging you to let me keep the one telegram announcing that you have come into dog ?” a fortune, informing you that the Queen has raised The question painfully recalled Madame de Ser- you to the baronetcy, or pressing you to join a vay's joke, as well as what he was pleased to term pleasant picnic coming off without fail at the rendezher treachery. vous to-morrow, you will have a dozen summoning Meanwhile a storm was brewing, which threatened you to a parent's death-bed, acquainting you that to sweep over not only all France but the whole your favorite child has caught the measles, warning of Europe. That storm was THE REVOLUTION, you that your banker is on the verge of a run, or with its train of horrors, its torrents of blood, and delicately hinting that your wife has left home, forits avenging thunderbolts. One of the first pitiless getting to return to the conjugal dwelling. Unless war-cries raised was, “ Down with the châteaux ! you know beforehand what it is likely to contain, spare the cottages !” the very sight of a telegram is enough to make you La Châtaigneraie, who dwelt in an unpretending tremble. old manor-house, with a pepper-box tower for its We therefore welcome a new sort of 'gram which sole fortification, listened to these menaces without will often please and never pain. It belongs to alarm. In the first place, because he was brave and the same branch of harmless amusement as enigcapable of defending himself is attacked by a mob; mas, conundrums, and charades. Its name, metaand secondly, because he was greatly beloved and gram, is derived from two Greek words, signifying a did not know a single enemy. Almost all his neigh- change of letters.” It is on this change that the bors, however, were emigrating. Some, who were whole thing turns. The mode of doing it is best going to Germany to take up arms against the pro- explained by an example. moters of the Republic, urged him to follow their Take a word, ROBE, for instance. You describe example. a robe as you would in a charade or enigma. You “No," said the Viscount, quietly but decidedly. I then suppose it converted into another word by “I respect the feelings and the motives of those changing one of its letters. Thus, change the third who think fit to enter a foreign service as the best letter, B, into s, and you obtain a new word, ROSE, way of assisting their king, but I have no intention which has also to be enigmatically indicated to the of doing as they do; neither do I mean to remain at home, to be slaughtered like a sheep one of these Again : suppose we take DAME, in which we fix days." upon the first letter as the one to be changed. What will you do, then?” Substitute G for D, and it gives you GAME, which is “I shall follow the advice of a young Breton offi- open to quite a different set of descriptive details. cer whom I recently met in Paris.” By using s instead of G, you obtain another word, "His name?” with another set of ideas attached to it, although it * The Viscount René-François de Châteaubriand.is SAME: F replacing s, rewards you with FAME, He recommended me to make a tour in the New on which you may exercise your rhymester's eloWorld, and remain there till the tempest shall have quence. passed away. It is useless to fight with the elements It is understood that, in every case, there is no let loose. When the storm is over I can return to suppression nor addition, but only a change, of letFrance and help to reconstruct the ruins of our ters. Moreover, the letter substituted must always country." occupy the place of the letter removed. The meta“Do you go alone ?" gram, therefore, gives you a word to guess by “ Certainly not.” indicating, under the name of “ feet," the number “ Whom do yon take with you?” of letters of which it is composed. It then tells you “ The best of friends." which letter of this word is to be changed in order The Viscount whistled. “Here, Diamond. This to form another word, at the same time adding a way. Show yourself. The day after to-morrow description of the thing signified by the new-made you and I, and Fridolin also, if he likes to come, will word. Of course a certain vagueness and ambistart for America, to avoid witnessing what threatens guity in the terms employed enhances the pleasure to occur at home.” of guessing a metagram, as it does with an enigma and a charade. METAGRAMS.* So now, fair ladies, let us go to work. Only put The 'grams, as numerous and as varied as the on your best guessing-caps, and the metagram will 'ologies, differ like them in their degree of attrac reveal its mysteries to your bright intelligence, as | the rosebud opens in the sunsbine. Their solution tiveness. For besides 'ologies of hard comprehen prenen is not so hard as determining beforehand what new * From the advance sheets of London Society for October, 1867. female appendage is to succeed to chignons. guesser. (Oct. 19, 1867. sharp-eyed, sure-footed, keen-nosed, sweet-temper- “Monsieur,” he said, politely, uncovering first his ed; all you want.” | badge of office and then his head, “ I am very sorry “ But I hope, at least, that he can fetch ?” for what has happened, for you have certainlx un “Whatever you like; hares, rabbits, pheasants. La most wondes nartridena. ali 1 .200 I present you with no more than half a dozen mutiny time of 1857 and 1858, — I found myself so metagrams for trial. If you like them, it will be shattered in health, and broken down in spirits, by easy to produce a few more out of my treasury. some twelve months of hard service in the north west provinces, where rebellion had been the hotAn insect of the wing I be, test, as to be compelled to take sick-leave; the Although my feet are only three. spring was then too far advanced to make a home- My third foot changed, I then have four, ward voyage through the Red Sea a prudent step Which, standing still from hour to hour, Await your pleasure and your pain for one in my condition, so I resolved on seeking With equal patience. - Change again; change and cure in a cheaper and speedier fashion, The chances are that, out of me, Reverse of fortune you may see. by going off to one of the many delightful sanitaria First I have much to do with honey ; in the Himalayas. Next, with night-work ; last, with money. The curious among the readers of this little sketch must forgive me if I withhold the name of the staMy feet are four, on which I firmly stand, tion to which I went; and they must likewise furConfronting ocean, to protect the land ; And yet beneath the waves I often lie, ther exercise that Christian feeling towards me for The unsuspecting ship's worst enemy. introducing in the disguise of fictitious names the Without my aid the lofty mountain chain Would melt and crumble to the level plain. various characters that figure here. It may be that - Change but my first foot, and you give me two, some of my readers of Indian experiences may On which I strut aud sing my “Doodle-doo ! " identify not only the place, but also some of the inA feathered biped, typical of France, Except in never having learnt to dance. dividuals; to all such, if any there be, I can only Gallic I am, and British too, I trow, say, - exercise by all means your memories and Whenever Britain wants to pluck a crow; A gallant bird ; and if too loud a boaster, perceptive powers to the utmost, if you please. I make amends as rooster, or as roaster. A pleasant little spot was this retreat of mine, among the pine-covered hills, backed by range upon III. On six feet, I am a noxious drink, range, ending in mountain summits clad in a glistenOf whose effects you shudder to think. ing garment of never changing snow; while, far - Change only my second foot, and then You convert me into the horrible den below, like a gray misty ocean, lay the sandy Where the culprit, who gave the noxious drink, plains, traced here and there by silver veins, fast Awaits the fate of which you shudder to think. and broad flowing rivers in reality, but seen from IV. such a distant height, looking like thin serpentine With four feet I swim in waters clear, lines of gleaming light. The pure, free atmosphere; A fish, to cooks and gourmands dear; With four feet, in waters still I dwell, the cool breezes; the tempered sun, - no longer How many years no man can tell. feared and avoided as an enemy, but courted and - My first foot changed, the Emerald Isle enjoyed as a benefactor, — all these, and endless Accepts my music with a smile. With equal welcome heard am I other beauties, silent appealings from nature to In the Welsh vales, midst mountains high. man's better sense, seemed almost to bring back But whether fish, Sir, or instrument of music, I hope, Sir, I never shall make you sick. upon me a tranquillity of spirit, and a delicious feel ing of contentment and repose, – a state of mind On my four feet I oft sustain you ; which many years of military life, with its rough ex-The first changed, I can still maintain you. periences and hardening influences, had banished for - Again changed, I'm a source of wonder; a while. 'T is me, if you can silence thunder, Or turn the tide, or jump over the moon, I cannot say that civilization and the congregaOr empty the Caspian Sea with a spoon. tion of one's fellow-creatures had added much to First I am wood, or iron, or stone ; what nature had done towards making the place enNext, I am flesh, with fat and bone. Lastly, I am, my worthy good man, joyable; but this view of the case depended of What you can't do, rather than what you can. course upon one's peculiar character and disposition. VI. Mine, I fear, had imbibed, from my profession, Concluding specimen, or bouquet ; the simplest which had forced me to a mere existence in some of possible of metagrams, in free verse. the dullest and most detestable of the many dull On four feet, whether I run, or jump, or walk, or creep, and detestable places to be found in the upper provI am only a fool; inces of India, a dash of the cynic, the misan- Change my first ; if I saw, or cut, or brush, or sweep, I am still but a tool: thrope, and the materialist ; a state of mind which - Change again ; if you wish to make your sweetheart weep, I only found to be acquired and not inherent when And are such a silly elf, my thoughts travelled back, as they very often did, As to drown yourself ; Very well ; I am a pool. to the home far away, and to those among whom This time, being in a generous frame of mind. I my earlier years had been passed. It was then, and only then, perhaps, I discovered that there remained will whisper the solutions in your ear at once, in in my nature a little of the sympathy and warmth stead of making you wait till next month for them. ' ten- law and listen attentively, in order that towards others which is born in all of us, more or less. ****mathered together Every Saturday, A SPINSTER'S SWEEPSTAKE, AND WHAT CAME OF IT. Every Saturday, Oct. 19, 1867.] seas. balls, or without seeing, through some of its many / His military career had then been būt a short windows, silent parties of four seated at whist-tables, one, he having joined the regiment in which I was shuffling, cutting, dealing, and going through the a captain but five years before. Between us there mysteries of the game, intent as though the fate of had, from the first, existed a great friendship, - the British India depended upon their play. sort of friendship generally met with between a Then, topmost on one of the many peaks of the younger and an elder brother, not forgetting, howhill over which the station spread, stood, with the ever, a dash of patronage sometimes on Buckley's English flag waving over it, the house of the gover- part which rather amused me. My greater age (I nor of the province, — the centre of a world, – a was his senior by about twelve years), combined small world, certainly, yet as brimful as any larger with a certain sort of character among the juniors, one of anxieties and fears, hopes and aspirations, and some of the older officers too, for a calm and running over with envy, hatred, and malice, and all unprejudiced judgment in most matters (I am sadly uncharitableness. Where the golden calf of self- afraid that, spite of every desire to put it' mildly, I interest was elevated and worshipped unceasingly, am here making an egotistical fool of myself) had as it is everywhere elevated and worshipped in this given me a degree of influence over him which it world of ours, – a centre it was to which all looked, was frequently necessary to exercise, often to the many for advancement, others for approval and disturbance, but never to the permanent lessening praise; some, the shortcomers and offenders, for or breaking of our attachment. moderation and forgiveness; all for something or And so we settled down to pass the summer another, from a coveted appointment down to an months away, Buckley devoting his time to the invitation to dinner. Ranged round about, respect Club billiard tables in the morning, to calling on all fully, yet very moderately subordinate, were the the ladies, married and single, in the place, during residences of the general of the division, where, the middle of the day, and in the evening to riding from the top of a more humble staff waved a flag of upon the Mall, or lounging at the Band Stand with smaller size; and the commissioner, besides those of the prettiest and most agreeable women to be other civil and military magnates; then, promiscu- found; while I, following the more hermit-like ously mingled, came the smaller fry, — the gud- and thoughtful propensities of my nature, devoted geons, the minnows, and the tittlebats of the social myself, with little exception, to reading and day | dreaming, and to quiet and solitary rambles among We were soon settled down in a small house, the hills, not forgetting my Persian and other studwhich by a very liberal construction of an English | ies, — for I was grinding hard for a Staff appointterm had been described to me by the house agent ment, — content to hear of the doings of the little as “ furnished." I say we, though it seems that my world around us from my companion. companion has not been introduced ; as he plays rather a conspicuous part in the small events about “We are getting up a Spins' Sweep," said Buckto be chronicled, it is only fair to bring him forward, ley to me a week or two after our arrival; “ will with a flourish of trumpets, by the grand entrance, you join it? They are great fun." and not shuffle him in up the back stairs. We were standing in the verandah in the early Buckley was his name, - Charley Buckley, - or, morning, drinking the customary tea, and enjoying as he had always been called by his brother officers, - at least I was — the fresh air, and luxuriating in Buckey. No doubt, it had been thought that by the bright sunshine as it poured slantingly through eliding the “l” the name was softened down, and the branches of the surrounding pines. so conveyed a better idea of the affectionate regard “A Spins' Sweep! What on earth is that?” I felt for him. He was decidedly a favorite with men, replied. women, and children, and with the brutes too; and i Well, a Spinsters' Sweepstake, since you don't this last point I am by no means disposed to treat understand contractions of your native tongue. lightly, for it has always seemed to me that there They are generally got up here every year, and are is a marvellous discernment sometimes shown by an immense resource to the poor devils who don't dogs and horses, more like reason than instinct, in know how to kill time, as well as an amusement to the spontaneous attachments and dislikes which they some of those who do." form towards us. “ Your explanation leaves me no wiser than beBuckley certainly bad but few enemies either fore." among human or brute kind. I don't mean to main | “Well, old fellow, I am sorry to find a man of tain by this that nearness to moral perfection en- your intelligence in so benighted a state of ignosures friends, or that Buckley was very close to that rance as to the manners and customs of time-killing impossible standard of excellence often read of but bachelors in these diggings; but I'll tell you all never met with; he was only a rather above the about it if you promise first of all to take a ticket. average specimen of the young, vigorous, well-edu- I can't, you know, expend my time and energies for cated, and generous Englishman, such as our public the mere diffusion of knowledge without some maschools and colleges send out into the world by hun-terial result.” dreds, and fortunate it is for England that it is so. “Consider it promised," and, I continued with a A good rider across country, great at cricket, foot-smile, “I intrust to you both my purse and my repball, and rackets; ever ready to join, heart and utation, so be careful of the trust.” soul, in promoting any scheme for the general good. Meanwhile Buckley had lighted a cheroot, and |