which existed between forty or fifty ladies and gentlemen standing in
a parallelogram in a drawing-room, and the very same number and the
very same faces, rectilinearly seated in the very same form in a
dining-room. It was the difference between sterility and fertility,
between health and sickness, between joy and sorrow, between winter
and summer; in fact, between countenances frozen into Lapland
formality and glowing with tropical animation and delight. Everybody's
mouth had apparently something kind to say to its neighbour's eyes;
and the only alloy was that, as each person had two neighbours, his
lips, under a sort of _embarras des richesses_, occasionally found it
rather difficult to express all that was polite and pleasing to both.'
Dinner being over, all returned to the drawing-room in the same formal
order. Each gentleman bowed ceremoniously to the lady he had
conducted, she withdrew her arm, 'and the sofas were again to be seen
fringed by rows of satin shoes; while the carpet, in all other
directions, was subjected to the pressure of boots, that often
remained for a short time motionless as before. A general buzz of
conversation, however, soon enlivened the room; and the President,
gladly availing himself of it, mingled familiarly with the crowd.'
In the course of his rambles through Paris, Sir Francis visits various
_casernes_ or military barracks, and military schools. He also makes
sundry investigations into the functions and _matériel_ of the French
army, and finally, in company with Louis Napoleon, goes to a review.
The sum of these proceedings is, that he is much struck with the
progress made by the French in strategy and military manoeuvres,
especially in their musket-ball firing, against which, he says, we
have no chance. Everybody knows that our author is an alarmist, ever
sighing over our want of national defences, and dreaming of invasion
and rapine. At the same time, his details on military affairs are
worth the notice of those to whom the business of military education
is intrusted.
Sir Francis is very much pleased with the Parisian street
_commissionaires_ or porters, and wonders that no such luxury is
general in London. One day he invites the nearest commissionaire to
visit his lodging, and tell him his whole story, which the man gladly
did. Setting off at a great rate, he said: - 'Sir, I black boots; I saw
wood; I take it up into the apartments; I carry portmanteaus and
luggage, and whatever offers itself; I carry letters and parcels; I
rub the floors of apartments and stairs; I wash the floors and the
dining-rooms; I change furniture from one house to another with a
handbarrow - carried by two men with leathern straps; I draw a cart
with portmanteaus, wood, or furniture; I beat carpets, take them up
out of the apartments, and carry them to the barrier outside Paris
(yes, sir); I bring them back to the persons to whom they belong; I
lay them down. I know how to arrange a room; I make the beds; I colour
the inlaid floors of the apartments; I watch a sick person through the
night and day (a shrug) for so much a day (a shrug), and for the night
also (a shrug); I agree as to the price with those persons who employ
me, for five francs the night, eight francs for the twenty-four
hours, when they do not feed me; besides, I watch the dead in the
apartment during the twenty-four hours that they remain exposed; in
short (three shrugs), I do whatever is offered to me. I receive
commercial notes for whoever will charge me with the commission, and
who will give me the note to enable me to receive it; I bring back the
money to the person who has intrusted me with the note, and the person
pays me for my commission; I pawn at the Mont de Piété whatever the
public is willing to intrust to me - jewels (a shrug), chains, watches,
gold or silver; I pawn silver spoons and forks, for eating; I pawn
clocks, linen; they take everything in pawn (a shrug) at the Mont de
Piété - furniture, pianos, mattresses, candelabras, lustres: in short,
they take in pawn everything of value; and I bring back the money and
the pawnbroker's ticket to the person who has intrusted me with the
commission, and at the same time that person pays me for my
commission. Afterwards, I redeem pawned articles from the Mont de
Piété for all those persons who choose to honour me with their
commissions, provided that the person puts his signature on the back
of the paper which the Mont de Piété delivered to him on the day when
he pawned the aforesaid articles. I act as commissioner throughout all
the departments of France, and also (shrug) in foreign countries,
according to the price agreed on, and at a reasonable price; I travel
on the railways (shrug), in the diligence (shrug); I go as quick as I
can, and I come back as quick as I can; I rub down a horse - I can! I
feed him; wash the carriage; drive the carriage; arrange the cellar;
rinse out the bottles; bottle the wine; pile up the bottles after they
are corked and stamped; lower the hogsheads of wine into the cellar
with a thick rope, with the help of a comrade, and the price is two
francs for each hogshead. In my own country, I am a labourer, and do
everything relating to the cultivation of the ground. I root up the
trees; I saw them into several lengths; I split the wood; pile it up
to dry; then load it on mules, and carry it to the house to be burned;
afterwards I mow the hay and corn; carry the corn into the barn
(shrug), and the hay also; thrash the corn, and put it away into the
granary; from whence they take it out by little and little to have it
ground and to make bread. I prune the vines.' Here the commissionaire
gives an account of the whole process of wine-making, in which he is
an adept; and then goes on to explain how he is employed as a spy on
families and others, all in the way of business. He ends with saying
that trade is dull, and blames the revolution of 1848 for ruining his
employment - for why? 'Everybody is afraid of the future. Everybody is
economical; everybody is hiding, hoarding, or saving his money,
because he knows that affairs cannot continue as they are, that sooner
or later there will be another revolution.' Such a country! The
revolution thus anticipated has taken place. By relieving the
Parisians from the fears of a social upbreak - a universal sack of
property - for that was preying on their minds - the grand _coup_ of
Louis Napoleon will doubtless set money afloat, and restore occupation
to the humbler classes - the real sufferers by revolutions.
The curious thing about all the revolutions and coups that have ever
taken place in France is, that they never give the slightest particle
of real liberty to the people; and, what is equally surprising, the
people do not know what liberty is. It is a thing they talk about, and
paint over doorways, but further they go not. When, in 1848, a mob was
suffered to assume supreme authority, it might have been anticipated
that the very first thing they would do would be to turn the whole
police system about its business and destroy its records. No such
thing. The triumphant insurrectionists, complaining of tyranny, were
as tyrannical as anybody; they retained the obnoxious system of
passports, and kept up the usual routine of police administration,
spies and all. The truth appears to be, that the French cannot
comprehend the idea of social organisation without a minute machinery
of management and interference. Society in England, where people may
speak and do pretty much what they like, go here and go there without
leave asked, and set up any business anywhere as suits their fancy - is
anarchy, a chaos, according to French notions. Sir Francis inclines to
the belief that a system of government interference and regulation, as
in France, is an advantage, because it protects society against some
gross abuses - such as the indiscriminate sale of medicines, want of
sanitary arrangements, the open spectacle of vice, and so forth. True
this, in some respects, and we could wish for a little more vigour in
certain departments of our social policy; but in this, as in many
things, we have to make a choice of evils. Better, we think, allow
abuses to be corrected by the comparatively sluggish action of public
opinion, than accustom a people to have everything done for them,
every action regulated by laws and prefects of police. The account
given by Sir Francis of the manner in which the authority of the
police bears on common workmen, is only a version of what every
traveller speaks of with execration. Although we ourselves alluded to
the subject on a former occasion, we may recapitulate a few points
from the volume before us: 'Every workman or labouring boy is obliged,
all over France, to provide himself with a book termed _un livret_,
indorsed in Paris by a commissaire of police, and in other towns by
the mayor or his assistants, containing his description, name, age,
birthplace, profession, and the name of the master by whom he is
employed. In fact, no person, under a heavy fine, can employ a workman
unless he produce a livret of the above description, bearing an
acquittal of his engagements with his last master. Every workman,
after inscribing in his livret the day and terms of his engagement
with a new master, is obliged to leave it in the hands of his said
master, who is required, under a penalty, to restore it to him on the
fulfilment of his engagement. Any workman, although he may produce a
regular passport, found travelling without his book, is considered as
"vagabond," and as such may be arrested and punished with from three
to six months' imprisonment, and after that subjected to the
surveillance of the _haute-police_ for at least five and not exceeding
ten years. No new livret can be indorsed until its owner produces the
old one filled up. In case of a workman losing his livret, he may, on
the presentation of his passport, obtain provisional permission to
work, but without authority to move to any other place until he can
satisfy the officer of police that he is free from all engagements to
his last master. Every workman coming to Paris with a passport is
required, within three days of his arrival, to appear at the
prefecture of police with his livret, in order that it may be
indorsed. In like manner, any labourer leaving Paris with a passport
must obtain the _visé_ of the police to his livret, which, in fact,
contains an abstract history of his industrial life. As a description
of the political department of the police of Paris would involve
details, the ramifications of which would almost be endless, I will
only briefly state, that from the masters of every furnished hotel and
lodging-house - who are required to insert in a register, indorsed by a
commissaire de police, the name, surname, profession, and usual
domicile of every person who sleeps in their house for a single
night - and from innumerable other sources, information is readily
obtained concerning every person, and especially every stranger,
residing in the metropolis. For instance, at the entrance of each
lodging, and of almost every private house, there sits a being termed
a _concierge_, who knows the hour at which each inmate enters and goes
out; who calls on him; how many letters he receives; by their
post-marks, where they come from; what parcels are left for him; what
they appear to contain, &c. &c. &c. Again, at the corner of every
principal street, there is located, wearing the badge of the police, a
commissionaire, acquainted with all that outwardly goes on within the
radius of his Argus-eyed observations. From these people, from the
drivers of fiacres, from the sellers of vegetables, from fruiterers,
and lastly, from the masters of wine-shops, who either from people
sober, tipsy, or drunk, are in the habit of hearing an infinity of
garrulous details, the police are enabled to track the conduct of
almost any one, and, if necessary, to follow up their suspicions by
their own agents in disguises which, practically speaking, render them
invisible.' Sir Francis mentions that he was considered of sufficient
importance to be under surveillance. '"You are," said very gravely to
me a gentleman in Paris of high station, on whom I had had occasion to
call, "a person of some consideration. Your object here is not
understood, and you are therefore under the surveillance of the
police." I asked him what that meant. "Wherever you go," he replied,
"you are followed by an agent of police. When one is tired, he hands
you over to another. Whatever you do, is known to them; and at this
moment there is one waiting in the street until you leave me."'
We need say no more. The people who, under all phases of
government - despotism, constitutional monarchy, and universal-suffrage
republic - coolly tolerate, nay, they admire and vindicate, this
atrocious system of personal restraint and espionage, are totally
unfit for the enjoyment of civil liberty. In conclusion, we can hardly
recommend the book before us, further than to say, that its gossip,
though often prosy to the verge of twaddle, is also sometimes droll
and amusing from its graphic minuteness.
* * * * *
[Footnote 2: _A Faggot of French Sticks_, 2 vols. London: Murray. 1852.]
IVORY AND ITS APPLICATIONS.
The Chinese, from time immemorial, have been celebrated for their
excellence in the fabrication of ornamental articles in ivory; and,
strange to say, up to our own time, their productions are still
unrivalled. European artists have never succeeded in cutting ivory
after the manner of these people, nor, to all appearance, is it likely
they ever will. Nothing can be more exquisitely beautiful than the
delicate lacework of a Chinese fan, or the elaborate carving of their
miniature junks, chess-pieces, and concentric balls: their models of
temples, pagodas, and other pieces of architecture are likewise
skilfully constructed; and yet three thousand years ago such monuments
of art were executed with the very same grace and fidelity!
Ivory was known to the Egyptians as an article both of use and
ornament. They manufactured it into combs, rings, and a variety of
similar things. The processions on the walls of their palaces and
tombs would seem to indicate the fact of its having been obtained from
India, and also from Ethiopia or Central Africa. There is every reason
to believe also that the harder and more accessible ivory of the
hippopotamus was extensively used by them. Colonel Hamilton Smith has
seen a specimen of what appeared to be a sword-handle of ancient
Egyptian workmanship, which has been recognised by dentists as
belonging to this class of ivory.
Ivory was extensively used by the Jews. It is frequently spoken of in
Scripture as being obtained from Tarshish - an indiscriminate term for
various places in the lands of the Gentiles, but probably referring in
this case to some part of India or Eastern Africa. Wardrobes were made
of ivory, or at least inlaid with it; the splendid throne of Solomon
was formed of this material, overlaid with gold; Ahab built an ivory
palace: and beds or couches of the same material were common among the
wealthy Israelites. The Phoenicians of Tyre - those merchant-princes of
antiquity - were so profuse of this valuable article of their luxurious
commerce as to provide ivory benches for the rowers of their galleys.
Assyria - whose records and history are only now beginning to be
unfolded - possessed magnificent articles of ivory. Mr Layard, in his
excavations at Nineveh, found 'in the rubbish near the bottom of a
chamber, several ivory ornaments upon which were traces of gilding:
among them was the figure of a man in long robes, carrying in one hand
the Egyptian _crux ansata_ - part of a crouching sphinx - and flowers
designed with great taste and elegance.'
The Greeks - who were acquainted with it at least as early as the time
of Homer - gradually introduced ivory as a material for sculpture. In
certain forms of combination with gold, it gave origin to the art of
_chryselephantine_ sculpture, so called from the Greek primitives,
gold and ivory. This art, which was perhaps more luxurious than
tasteful, was introduced about six hundred years before the Christian
era; and it was much admired for its singular beauty. It was not,
however, till the days of Phidias that it attained to its full
splendour. Two of the masterpieces of this sculptor - the colossal
statues of Minerva in the Parthenon at Athens and the Olympian Jove in
his temple - were formed of gold and ivory. The Minerva was forty feet
high, and the Olympian Jupiter was one of the wonders of the world. In
the latter of these, the exposed parts of the figure were of ivory,
and the drapery of gold. It was seated on a throne elaborately formed
of gold, ivory, and cedar-wood; it was adorned with precious stones;
and in his hand the god sustained an emblematic figure of Victory,
made of the same costly materials.
The Romans used ivory as a symbol of power; but they applied it
practically to an infinite variety of purposes. Their kings and
magistrates sat on ivory thrones of rich and elaborate
construction - an idea received from the Etruscans. The curule chairs
of ivory and gold that belonged to the office of consul, together with
the sceptres and other articles of similar description, were all of
Etruscan origin. The _libri elephantis_ were tablets of ivory, on
which were registered the transactions of the senate and magistrates;
the births, marriages, and deaths of the people; their rank, class,
and occupation, with other things pertaining to the census. The Romans
also applied this material to the manufacture of musical instruments,
combs, couches, harnesses of horses, sword-hilts, girdles. They were
acquainted with the arts of dyeing and incrusting ivory, and they also
possessed some splendid specimens of chryselephantine statuary.
Ancient writers, indeed, mention no fewer than one hundred statues of
gold and ivory; but they furnish us with no particulars of the mode of
executing these colossal monuments of art in a substance which could
only be obtained in small pieces. A head, smaller than the usual size,
a statue about eight inches in height, and a bas-relief, are the only
specimens that exist in the present day.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the taste for ivory ornament
became almost extinct. There were some periods, however, in the early
part of mediæval history when this material was not forgotten: when
the caliphs of the East formed of it some of the beautiful ornaments
of their palaces; when the Arabian alchemists subjected it to the
crucible, and so produced the pigment ivory black; when a Danish
knight killed an elephant in the holy wars, and established an order
of knighthood which still exists; when Charlemagne, the emperor of the
West, had ivory ornaments of rare and curious carving.[3] It is,
however, at a period subsequent to the return of the crusaders that we
must date the commencement of a general revival of the taste in
Europe. It would be interesting to trace the steps by which ivory
regained its place in the arts and commerce of nations; but on this
point we must not linger. From the low countries it spread to the far
North. Its relations with art and beauty soon became widely
recognised; the growing luxury of the Roman pontificate encouraged its
applications; and towards the end of the fifteenth century it was
extensively employed as an article of ornament and decoration in every
country and court of Europe. The Portuguese were the first to revive a
traffic with Africa which had been dormant for upwards of 1000 years.
It was originally confined to the immense stores of ivory which the
natives had accumulated for the purposes of their superstition; but
these soon became exhausted, and the inexorable demands of European
commerce once more prompted the destruction of the mighty and docile
inhabitant of the wilderness. Elephant-hunting became a trade; and a
terrible havoc was commenced, which has been unremittingly pursued
down to the present time.
The term ivory, originally derived from a Greek word signifying heavy,
is indiscriminately applied to the following varieties of osseous
matter: -
1. _The tusks and teeth of the elephant_. - Naturalists recognise two
species of elephants - the Asiatic (_Elephas Indicus_) and the African
(_Elephas Africanus_.) The former of these species is indigenous to
the whole of Southern India and the Eastern Archipelago; but the
largest and most valuable Indian elephant is that of Ceylon. The
second species is found throughout the whole of Africa; and on the
banks of the great rivers and lakes of the unexplored regions of the
interior, hordes of the finest African elephants are supposed to
wander in security. It was until very recently believed that the
Asiatic elephant yielded the largest teeth, and those imported from
Pegu, Cochin-China, and Ceylon, sometimes weighed 150 lbs. Specimens,
however, have been obtained from the interior of Africa of much
greater weight and dimensions. Mr Gordon Cumming has in his collection
a pair of teeth taken from an old bull elephant in the vicinity of the
equator, of which the larger of the two measures 10 feet 9 inches
long, and weighs 173 lbs.; and Mr Cawood, who resided thirty years at
the Cape, has another pair in his possession measuring 8-1/2 feet
each, and weighing together 330 lbs.
Besides these contemporary races of elephants, the market is
extensively supplied by the fossil ivory derived from the tusks of the
great mammoth or fossil elephant of the geologist. The remains of this
gigantic animal are abundantly distributed over the whole extent of
the globe. They exist in large masses in the northern hemisphere,
deeply embedded in the alluvial deposits of the tertiary period.
Humboldt discovered specimens on some of the most elevated ridges of
the Andes; and similar remains have been found in Africa. In the
frozen regions of the far North, surrounded by successive layers of
everlasting ice, the fossil ivory exists in a state of perfect
preservation, and it constitutes indeed an important article of
commerce in the north of Europe.
2. _The teeth of the hippopotamus, or river-horse_. - These, under the
inappropriate term of 'sea-horse teeth,' supply the most suitable
ivory for the dentist. In addition to twenty grinders, the animal has
twelve front teeth, the outer on each side of the jaw being the
largest and most prized. This ivory is much harder, closer in the
grain, and more valuable than that of the elephant. It is remarkable,
moreover, for the extreme hardness of its enamel, which is quite
incapable of being cut, and will strike fire with a steel instrument.
The large teeth of the hippopotamus weigh on the average 6 lbs., and
the small ones about 1 lb. each. Their value ranges from 6s. to 40s.
per lb.
3. _The teeth of the walrus, or sea-cow_. - These are nearly straight,
and measure from 2 feet to 2-1/2 feet in length. The exterior portion
of the tooth possesses a much finer grain and texture than its core,
which in appearance and properties bears a close resemblance to
ordinary bone. Of a yellowish cream-colour and mottled, this ivory is
much less valuable than the teeth of the hippopotamus. It is seldom
applied in our day to other than dental purposes; but its antiquity is
interesting. The Scandinavian relics of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, with which our museums are so profusely enriched, are for
the most part formed of the teeth of the walrus. The elegant spiral
horn of the narwhal or sea-unicorn also produces ivory of a superior
quality. It is not to any great extent applied to useful purposes, but
is more frequently preserved in museums and collections as a beautiful
natural curiosity.
The tusks and teeth of the elephant - the latter, for the sake of
distinction, are termed grinders - are formed after the ordinary manner
of the teeth of animals. The organism which converts the earthy
constituents of the blood into cellular tissue and membrane,
contributes in the same way to form the teeth by the successive
deposition of layer upon layer of the soft vascular pulp. The marks of
these depositions, or laminæ, are clearly distinguishable in the
longitudinal striæ of the section of a tooth. Mr Corse Scott states
that the Indian elephant has only ten or twelve laminæ in the tooth,
while that of the great mammoth has twenty-four, besides having a much
more regularly disposed enamel. The tooth is hollow about half-way up,
but a very small tubular cavity is visible throughout its entire
length. This, sometimes called the nerve, is in reality the apex of