And so lives on the mind; the clay-wrought frame Of universal glory, reigns sublime. Oh! when I turn to mine eternal sleep, Lay not my lifeless body in the grave; Let me be buried in the boundless deep, Where the free waves my bleaching corpse may lave ; I may rejoice, although all soul I be, MONOS. HIGHWAYS AND BYEWAYS TO GLORY. Gloria, che sei mai tu? Sei dolce frode, Figlia di lungo affanno, un' aura vana, Che fra sudor si cerca, e non si gode. Tra i vivi, cote sei d'invidia insana Tra i morti, dolce suono a chi non l'ode Gloria, flagel della superbia umana!-CIAPETTI. "Messieurs," said the greatest man-slayer of modern time, addressing his gallant followers, "you have covered yourselves with glory! The troops shouted; the Emperor fed his nose with a liberal pinch of snuff; and then left the warriors of France to partition their honours amongst themselves, and each man to carry away his separate allotment of "glory" to his own quarters. Now, when it is considered that this enormous accession of "glory" might have overtaken the imperial braves within the course of a few minutes, as for instance in a skirmish before breakfast-that a company of guileless, lamb-like recruits might have ridden with half-closed eyes against an opposing battalion, and found themselves famous on their return-that, at the utmost, it might have been earned by a trifling outlay of sword-cuts and bayonet-thrusts, aided by a few sonorous oaths, and enforced by an appropriate fierceness of visage, we might naturally conclude that it was in the power of every man to obtain a competency of glory, if it were to be had on such easy terms. Alas, no! Quick as the instinct for fame may be, it can seldom find so royal a road to gratification as that which the Emperor hewed out for his children in arms. His was in truth a railroad-a Chemin-de-fer-a way of "cold iron," by which they were transported with the rapidity of steam from the tailor's board or blacksmith's forge, to the dignity of the Marshal's baton-that is, provided they were not at once promoted to the paradisaical honours which the Koran assigns to those who fall in battle. Why, if there were any truth in the little Corporal's sententious addresses, many of his troops must have worn several suits of glory at the same moment. Victory distributed her robes of honour at Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena, and elsewhere, so that in process of time this accumulation of aërial raiment must have become considerable. Yet could none of these shining suits repel the frosts of Muscovy, or preserve their wearers from the patriotic vengeance of the insulted Russian! The imperial warriors were speedily stripped of their honours, and the path from the Kremlin to the Beresina strewed with the relics of their gossamer wardrobe! We have no such wholesale manufacturers of glory now. The demand which has been made for the article has rendered its supply infinitely more difficult than it was in those days of universal combativeness. It rarely happens now that a poor fellow, penny less in honours, is suddenly put in possession of a large estate of glory, sufficient to gratify his own ambition during life, and durable enough to exalt his descendants when dead. It has ceased to be as quick of vegetation as Jonah's Gourd-the product of a night; and if the aspirant to immortality should not have caught some glimmering of approaching honours at sunset, he can never hope to awake, like Byron, at sunrise, and find himself famous. This passion for glory-I should say rather for notoriety-is a spiritual malady which has been lodged in our noble little planet from its first inhabitation by man. The experience of some thousands of years has not damped it; the medicinal virtues of time have not corrected it; the purer light which has been disclosed, and the loftier impulses which have been communicated from above, seem to have done but little to cure the distemper. From the very fountainhead of humanity, when rational life first bubbled up into this world beneath the virgin foliage of Eden, down to the broad deep stream into which it has now expanded, this taint has been in its waters and thoroughly pervaded them. Was it not the longing for fame-the hope of gratifying ambition--that impelled the aborigines of our earth to break the stilliness of primitive purity with the first blast of sin, which has been repeated by every human tongue, and is now reverberating in sullen echoes from every part? And what is it but the passion for notoriety which inflates the soul of the potboy with such excessive valour that he will venture his neck, provided he may signalize himself as the intended assassin of a monarch? And is it not the same distempered ambition which suggests to the poor, wearied, perhaps heart-broken female, that if the journey from this world to the next is to be made without proper citation, it would be better to commence it from the summit of the Monument, in a manner so recherhé and imposing, that it could not fail to excite astonishment, if it did not extort admiration? It is passing strange that men should not have settled long ago what it is that constitutes true glory. Perhaps there is not a single biped, enjoying a moderate allowance of intellect, who has not a peculiar theory of fame, in which he differs from all others as to its precise object, and the means of obtaining it. The longing for distinction expresses itself nearly in as many modes as there are mortals. The star of honour shines alike for all, but its rays are so modified in their passage through the atmosphere of each man's thoughts and circumstances, that they rarely light up different intellects with precisely the same hues. Some seem to think that a brigand or highwayman passes through the world with an amazing train of glory, and accordingly emulate the achievements of the most eminent cut-throat whose exploits have been recorded. Others, who spurn 66 the ordinary etiquette of highwaymanship, evince great anxiety to distinguish themselves amongst their brethren, and therefore found a new dynasty, who obtain celebrity, like Claude de Val, as " polite" freebooters, and make it a principle to rob you in the most gentlemanly way possible. Who has not heard of the effect produced by Schiller's "Robbers," when the young gentlemen of Germany fancied that the highway to glory had been suddenly laid open-all toll-gates removed and that the Elysian fields of their ambition would be reached by a path as easy as it was romantic. There are others who prefer a more orthodox plan of procuring immortal honours. If you ask that simple fellow who has the misfortune to wear the livery of Mars why he abandoned the home of his childhood, the fond affection of his parents, the many nameless delights of a little sequestered society, even the half-breathed attachment of the fairest of the village belles, and voluntarily submitted to the rigorous discipline, the daily perils-the inevitable disasters of war, he will tell you, with the greatest naivete in the world, that he did it for the sake of glory! He takes no note of his daily pittance, brave fellow, perhaps deeming the proportion between the two to be as immeasurable as the standard comparison between Falstaff's sack and bread. For so many pence, and so much glory, he will do or suffer according to the will of his superior and the extent of his ability: nay, he is even willing" to be or not to be," as is most consistent with the humour of the Council of War. It is well that his craving for glory is so readily amused. If he knocks a stone out of a rampart, or scalps a grenadier's cap-he has done something for glory! He will coolly drill a hole through an antagonist's body to prevent the escape of his soul, and then lay the homicide to the charge of glory! Nay, he will joyfully exchange a limb for something less then its weight in glory; and, strangest of all, when death flits before him, hiding with his sable train the most gorgeous of earthly pageants, this "radiant and adored deceit" beanis to the last, as though its light were inextinguishable. Look at the human wrecks that limp about in the princely halls at Greenwichwrecks that speak more eloquently of the mad ambition and reckless caprice of States than of their patriotism! What can we see of their glory? Does it encircle them as a halo? Are their mutilated forms resplendent with a lustre which distinguishes them pre-eminently from others? Have their protracted toils-their trials and perils from the tempest and the foe-imparted any invisible grandeur to their persons, any surpassing brilliancy to their minds? If it were so, what a magazine of glory that place would be! Like the celestial city, there would be no need of sun or stars to give it light. Alas, no! All that is to be recognized is the image of the Deity scathed by a frantic passion for military glory, to gratify which these brave fellows, with thousands of every nation, have been wantonly sacrificed! But even Gray had discovered, whilst reposing indolently upon his sofa, with the last new novel in his hand, that— "The paths of glory lead but to the grave," and though this is certainly as ugly a terminus as could have been devised, it has become tolerably fashionable under the appellation of Greenwich Hospital, or Westminster Abbey. It is very fortunate for our race, however, that honour may be extracted from almost any occupation whatever. Just as the electric fluid lies concealed in the dullest forms of matter, so it would seem that glory is latent in almost every pursuit to which men can apply themselves. Who would fancy that much honour could be derived from such a grovelling employment as that of capturing moles; yet a certain Parthian monarch, Harcatius by name, is said to have studied this branch of ancient philosophy with such ardour, that he became one of the most eminent mole-catchers in his dominions, and history has carefully preserved his name on her roll of celebrities as a successful destroyer of moles. Some of the Roman emperors, though as illustrious as the purple could make them, descended into the arena, and fought or whipped their way to glory as gladiators or charioteers: even Nero undertook to aggrandize himself as a singer with no other capital than a small deplorable squeak, which no leaden appliances could ever make respectable. No man ought, certainly, to despair: there are few things in this world, it would seem, out of which he may not attempt to distil the elements of fame with some hope of success. Paganini scraped an amazing reputation out of a few fibres of catgut, and a brother musician contrived to extract it from a tiny" Jews-harp." True it is, that so many crops of glory have already been reaped from our terrestrial soil, that its productive powers have greatly declined, and as the dark ages have now passed away for ever, there is no chance of its recruiting its strength by lying fallow for a time. Yet, as philosophers assure us that an immense period must elapse ere its physical temperature can fall to that of space, so we may hope that it will long retain the moral warmth which will enable it to return a rich harvest of honour to every one who chooses to dig for it. Besides, there is the chance-and if divers sages who have privately inspected the sibylline records of the future are to be trusted, there is the certainty-that this lovely world of ours will disappear from the catalogue of stars within a frightfully limited period, and therefore long before its powers of glorification could possibly be exhausted! It is probable, however, that by the aid of improved systems, men may cultivate it to greater advantage. The waste places may be fertilized: altitudes hitherto within the line of perpetual congelation may yield to the energy of the explorer; and even the hardesttrodden paths of life be compelled to grow yet many a parsley wreath and laurel crown! In fact, men have but recently discovered a new field of glory in the atmosphere: not content with hunting for reputation upon terra firma, they have taken to the skies, and earned it amongst the clouds. A few Montgolfiers and Roziers have already been brought within the observation of fame; but who knows whether the invisible element may not yet confer as high a renown upon mortals as the earth and sea have already done? Whether some Columbus of the skies may not speedily commence an honourable career of aërial discovery-some Bartholomew Diaz "double wide heaven's mighty capes"-or still more, some embryo Duncans or Nelsons, hereafter weighing anchor from the Andes or Himalayas, proceed with their gallant balloon-squadrons in search of the foe, and crown themselves with unfading honours at some atmospherical Camperdown or Trafalgar? It is perfectly certain, that if the sky should ever be made a thoroughfare, the unhappy pugnacity of our race will engender aërial squabbling, and therefore afford ample opportunities for obtaining the glory that facinates most, that profits least the glory of human slaughter. The first skirmish that takes place between two really hostile balloons will ensure a substantial allowance of fame to every individual of their crews; and to the chiefs, the honours of the Gazette, the Pension-list, the Peerage, or at all events, of Westminster Abbey. Some very fortunate mortals seem predestinated to enjoy a life, or a futurity of fame, without any effort, or perhaps without any merit on their parts. They are famous in spite of themselves: the force of circumstances goes vastly further that the force of nature. The most celebrated woman in the world (always excepting the most necessary one, our common ancestress) was perhaps the Lady Helen, who put in motion all the warlike spirit of Greece and Troy, roused the wrath of Achilles to ebullition, kept alive the excessive fury of the rival chiefs for a handsome portion of their lives, dismissed thousands prematurely to "Pluto's gloomy reign" without inquest or even sepulture, and then inspired the magnificent soul of Homer with that glorious song which has enraptured all subsequent ages, and yet remains the most perfect and inimitable of its kind. The fair daughter of Leda has won immortality by a mere accident! This is cheap glory! It has been borrowed from circumstances, like many other reputations. Indeed, it is mournful to think that the world should worship so many splendid prodigies which the simplest test would prove to be spurious and unworthy. How many a standard reputation would melt away, were it brought into the focus of a calm piercing gaze, which had never been dimmed by the corroding fumes of prejudice and custom! Only imagine such an intelligence examining some of the choicest specimens in our cabinet of celebrities! He would tell us (if he could speak for laughter) that we had carefully hoarded some of the vilest rubbish that the earth has produced, with, now and then, a sterling gem of the first quality! Fame seems to have been more capricious in the expression of her partiality than the most eccentric of the Pagan functionaries: like a child gathering curiosities, she has picked up the pebbles that caught her fancy, and kicked out of her path the less obtrusive jewels that were beyond price. Our biographical dictionaries now exhibit a splendid array of talent, but unless the histories of thousands of the dead, yet unknown to fame, remain to be interpolated, they will shrivel into very narrow compass, when the last and standard edition is stereotyped for futurity! It is not by means of its imperial agitators, its illustrious warriors, its political charlatans, or even its canonised saints, that this world must become famous amongst stars! To distinguish between the reputation that is true and that which is false, is perhaps seldom practicable to our disordered vision; but one attribute of true glory may guide us in our judgment of its value-its perennial and indestructible nature. It cannot fade, it never dies. It participates in the essential vitality which belongs to everything that is good and pure, and can no more be chilled by the breath of annihilation than truth itself. A genuine reputation floats |