beam. And it was even so with me at that moment, looking on that jewel of exceeding rareness. Yet the expression on her countenance was not anger or indignation, so much as unutterable sorrow that she should have been deceived in me. And over her brow flitted a smile— a sad, sad, moonlike smile, which I shall never forget. Alas! it is even now fixed in the mirror of mine eyes, and it eateth like a poisoned dagger into my heart's heart. No word spoke she-even her eyes, those eloquent orbs, in which you could have read every thought of her bosom-even they were dumb, and mute, and motionless as marble. No word spoke she, but looked as if her heart was broken within by the few words I had just said. Yet I did not withdraw-I did not repent one syllable of what I had advanced, but urged my words by my looks also. Passion had so complete a mastery of me that I knew nothing, cared for nothing, but one object only; and that I was resolved to compass, though Heaven itself stood before me, and cried "Stop!" "Thou art now," said I, "in my power, on the lonely waters; thy mother's house shall never again see thee. Fly with me; we shall be happier than those of Paradise. I can command the powers of earth and air to minister unto thee-and they shall. I can say unto sunborn spirits, who know no master so powerful as myself, Go!' and they go forth. And of all my domination thou, my own Inez, shalt be the sharer. Alas! I read scorn and hate and sorrow in thine eye; but I have said the word, and I tell thee it shall be as I say. Who can control me? Who can resist the power I wield?”

One shrill scream, sent far and wide over the silent waves, was her only answer to this wild speech, and in the instant that I seated myself by her, to repress another exclamation of the same kind, the Spirit appeared rushing out of the water, and in a second he was in the gondola fronting me, his face all red with rage.

"THIS HOUR IS MINE!" he exclaimed; and methought fire flashed out from all his body, and his wings seemed laden with burning lightnings. "Lo," he added, "I am here."

I knew that it was vain to oppose; I only coiled my arms about Inez firmly. She had fainted away, and was for the rest of the time insensible; and I thought within myself, " An hour will soon pass, and then he shall be again my slave, and she mine own for ever."

He seemed to have read my thoughts, for, gazing fiercely in my eyes, he frowned, and said, "Give me the maiden ere the hour passes, that I may place her once more with her mother. Try, then, canst thou ever again get her into thy power!" But I only wound my arms about her more closely, and laughed triumphantly in his face.

Then came over that divine countenance the expression of ghastly melancholy, of which I have spoken before, and he looked at me as if his soul sorrowed for what I had done. But I did not heed him, for the demon was strong within me. "I have sworn," said he, "by the splendour of Him before whom creation trembles, that this fair girl shall not be in thy hands when the hour hath elapsed. Wouldst thou that she should leave them alive or dead? If thou dost love her as thou proclaimest, can there be with thee a doubt of the alternative?" I signed him away with my eyes. "Thou canst not harm her," I said.

He implored-he wept. He fell on his face before me, and humbled himself. He asked me to give her up-with words that might have

been wont.

moved a stone he besought me, but I remained inflexible. I still held her in my arms, and kept him aloof, for I confided in myself, as I have Then he rose up. "I have sworn," he said, "to save her, and I will keep my oath. Upon thine own head be this innocent's blood! Behold!"-He struck his foot through one of the planks. Ere thou couldst reckon ten, the gondola filled, and sank.

Down-down into the deep waters sank we. Yet still I kept my hold. I knew that my life was charmed, and vowed never to let her go. Even while the waters, all sparkling with the moonbeams, and translucent as crystal almost to their lowest depths, were above our heads many fathoms, I gazed on my fair burthen with delight and anticipated triumph; and when we rose to the surface, I struck out boldly for the land, shouting meanwhile with all my strength. But no boat came; and the Spirit, who hovered over my head, and who fancied, doubtless, that in the confusion, I should have lost hold of Inez, and thus afforded him the means of rescuing her, wept, methought, tears of blood at what he saw. On through the waves I swam, bearing her securely, and breasting every billow with my accustomed pride. I made but slow way, for her weight pressed on me; but the hour was quickly passing, and after all I doubted not of entire success. Steering by the stars and the lights of the distant city-wild, too, with excitement, and nerved to superhuman exertion by every consideration of raging love, disappointed passion, and the disobedience of the Spirit, I felt a more than lion vigour in my arms, and swept the waters like a haughty galley. Nearer and nearer I drew to land; faster and faster beat my heart. I felt my delighted and victorious spirit dance triumphantly within. My eyes glistened with joy; every vein seemed maddened and swollen. My breath came short and quick. Onwardonward; a few more strokes of the arm, and all was safe. I grasped the land. At the first touch, I sank back exhausted. Again I grasped it with iron force. Now, I felt-now, at least, she is irrevocably mine. I got out upon the marble steps; I staggered with my beautiful burthen over to a shrine of the Virgin, before which hung a small lamp, and I looked into her face. But she was dead-Inez was dead! I had killed her whom I loved!

[The original of the following poem was written by the author on his death-bed.]

LISTEN to him, who dying

Breathes his last words to thee,

This wither'd flower, Elvira,

Take as a gift from me.

How fondly I have prized it
To thee I need not say;
I stole it from thy bosom,
Upon our wedding-day.

Of love 'twas then a symbol,

'Tis now a pledge of pain; Place, dearest, in thy bosom,

This wither'd flower again.

And on thy true heart ever
Engraven may it be,
How once from thee 'twas stolen,
How 'twas restored to thee.

STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE LEGITIMATE DRAMA

IN CHINA.

A LETTER FROM THE MANAGER OF THE IMPERIAL THEATRE, AND CHINESE OPERA-HOUSE, PEKIN.

(Reprinted from Ainsworth's Magazine for January, 1850.)

TO CHARLES W. BROOKS, ESQ.

I. T., AND C. O. H., PEKIN, 1 April, 1849.

DEAR SIR,-I take advantage of the close of the first season of the Imperial Theatre, to comply with your complimentary request made when I left England, to be informed of the State and Prospects of the Drama in China. When I add that this is about the only advantage which I have as yet derived from my management, you may think that I have already answered your inquiry.

When the Cinque Ports of the Celestial Empire were thrown open, and a long score of equality was marked by the chalk of Albion upon the wall of China, it at once became the duty of each nation to ascertain which of its productions would bear transplanting to the soil of the other. It occurred to me, while forming one of a select and shivering party of eleven who were occupying the pit of Drury Lane Theatre during the performance of Hamlet, that it was possible the Legitimate Drama might be one of these plants. I considered that the mighty Vegetable had originally taken deep and wide root in this land; but that its very size and vigour had in fact impoverished the earth on which it grew, and that its present flagging and fading condition was owing, not to its own decay, but to the exhaustion of the nutritive matter of the soil. After much deliberation, I made up my mind that the experiment of planting a slip of our tree beneath the shelter of the slips of the Chinese theatre, was one to be risked,—and I was fortified in my conviction by the thought, that in forcing "Cato," "Jane Shore," and the "Grecian Daughter," upon the natives of China, I could hardly be discountenanced by our own government which had contended so strenuously for the right of introducing opium.

You are aware that I succeeded Mr. S. Daggerwood in the management of the Dunstable Theatre, and that, consequently, I have had much experience in theatrical affairs. The miserable state of the wardrobe and of the treasury of that establishment was my reason for relinquishing its direction-I stopped only when I was reduced to the condition of Dogberry-" a man that hath two gowns and that hath had losses." I therefore found very slight difficulty in collecting a company sufficiently good to answer my purposes,-for in the empire of the Brother to the Sun and Cousin to the Moon, I did not expect to find much favour for the star system. I therefore engaged a small but useful set of artists; and though, were I to give you their names, you might be tempted to call them "barn actors," I did not consider that they would go against the grain in a country whose very soldiers are men of straw.

I pass over our voyage, which was as prosperous as if Ariel itself (with all deference to the Misses Horton and Rainforth, I cannot see that this corset-fitter to Mother Earth was a lady) had been the clerk of the weather, and hasten to report ourselves at Pekin. Finding that

our European dresses did not attract favourable notice from the inhabitants of the towns through which we passed-indeed, we were occasionally "called on" to receive a shower of fresh eggs, the rotten ones being retained by the Chinese as favourite delicacies-I caused the company to select various dresses from our theatrical wardrobe, and in these we made our way to the capital. I led the van (I do not mean that containing our properties), in the costume of Comus;-and I feel it due to the ladies and gentlemen of the company, to say that the characters of Bacchantes and Bacchanals lost nothing in their hands, whatever I may have lost out of them. If, therefore, as I was afterwards told was the case, the natives took us for some kind of religious procession, I must add, for the information of the conscientious (if any) of your acquaintance, that civil and religious liberty flourish in a most writing-masterly style under this benignant despotism.

Having reached Pekin, where interpreters are now as plentiful as blackberries, I lost no time in applying for a licence and patronage. I met, singular to relate, with the utmost courtesy from the magistrates, who, however, evinced a somewhat less singular want of comprehension of the objects of the applicant. You are aware that the Chinese themselves have a National Drama, but one the range of which is rather limited-the following being an outline of the only plot ever attempted upon the celestial boards-it is meagre, you will say; but in England I have seen successful dramas with far less.

Wang and Fang are neighbours. Wang's son, Bang, is privately attached to Fang's daughter, Twang. Twang loves Bang. But Wang has destined Bang to become the husband of Loo, daughter to Pooh, an old friend of his; and Pooh has a son, Chew, whom he wished to marry to Twang. Chew and Bang are friends; but neither has disclosed to the other his matrimonial arrangements. The scene on the stage discovers Bang scrambling over Fang's wall, regardless of ceremony and broken glass, to throw himself at the feet of Miss Twang. A short love scene is interrupted by the entrance of Fang, armed with a large bamboo, which he immediately lets fall on the head of the kneeling Bang. Now Chew, who has been out in search of adventures, hears the noise, and looking over the wall, sees his friend Bang being beaten. He comes to the rescue, and beats Fang. Pooh has missed his son Chew, and knowing his life-after-dark propensities, follows him with another bamboo. Finding Chew thrashing his intended fatherin-law, Pooh flogs him unmercifully. The roaring of all parties summons Wang, who, seeing his son Bang, instantly concludes that paternal correction is wanted in that quarter, and he produces a third bamboo, and bangs Bang. Everybody now thrashes everybody, when Miss Loo enters with the Magistrate. The Magistrate flogs everybody all round, and reads some verses from Con-Fu-Zee, which I suppose are the Chinese translation of the Riot Act, for everybody departs to his or her dwelling. That the innocent are punished in this life as well as the guilty, seems to be the moral of this "Mystery of the Bamboo," so that after all it is only a plagiarism from Byron's Mystery of "Cane."

You will see, my dear sir, that it was useless to attempt to explain to these lovers of the domestic drama what I wished to introduce. In vain I repeated Mr. Jerrold's definition of the Legitimate to them, and told them that it was the composition in which the interest depended on passion rather than on situation. I was told, in reply, that all the

interest in their own drama was of that order for that the severity of the floggings administered depended upon the passion the floggers were in. I still strove to explain, but I might as well have talked to a parliamentary committee. I described performers as declaiming without action-but nothing would remove their idea of sticks. And when I talked to them about the Esthetic in art, I might as well have called it the Asthmatic, for it seemed quite to take their breath away.

So, finding that we were only at cross-questions, and fearing that the answers might soon partake of the same character, I resolved on a bold stroke for a licence. I said that I would ask the presence of the authorities only at a single performance, and would then leave myself in their hands. They agreed to this, and I commenced my season forthwith. At first, I had greatly doubted whether I should not treat the Chinese to a play in English, and I reasoned from the success of the French, Italians, and Germans, in London, that Mungo's inquiry"What signify me hear if me no understand?" was an absurd one. My actors and actresses, too, were urgent that I should take this course; but whether this advice arose from laziness or not I did not care-I immediately decided against taking it; for I may tell you, in and with confidence, that nobody is so ignorant of dramatic matters as a performer. I at once determined to open with an "occasional" drama, and with the tragedy of " Macbeth," both in Chinese. I wrote the first myself; and while half a dozen translators were at work upon the two pieces, I worked night and day at my theatre.

An old temple, which I obtained on easy terms, was converted into a temple of the drama, and the energies of my carpenters and scenepainters soon rendered it a very elegant minor. I was soon ready to open, for actors can learn anything, and mine were speedily pretty well up in their parts. It is true they did not understand a word of what they recited, but I had too much conscience to announce that fact as one of the novelties. The authors (myself and Billy) suffered nothing by it on the contrary, I suspect that the performers were now occasionally right in their delivery.

On the opening night, I was honoured with a full and fashionable audience. Indeed, the crowd was so great, that I was forced to apply for the assistance of the Pekin police. This was willingly afforded, and a detachment of the T division, armed with long whips, stood in my vestibule, and lashed and slashed a generous public until it behaved with great decorum. The ceremony of paying at the door seemed to astonish the natives, and much confusion arose from their ignorance of the amount to be tendered. At last, with that liberality which I trust will ever characterize an English manager, I desired my officers not to stand upon terms, but to take all they could get. The result was most satisfactory to the treasury, and silver poured in copiously. I must add that four or five enthusiastic play-goers who forced their way in without paying at all were pursued by the officers, were brought out, and were immediately hanged in front of the theatre. I confess I had not contemplated this mode of suspending the free-list.

The Imperial Theatre was crammed, until you could not have squeezed an imperial, far less a pigtail, into any part of it. No orders were admitted, except those which, on the ratification of the treaty, were bestowed by your Queen upon the principal Mandarins, who wore