Chapter 12

Percussion-caps invented. Cabs introduced in London, and their use immediately spread. Aleppo, Syria, destroyed by an earthquake; twenty thousand people killed. Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet; Sir William Herschel, astronomer; and Antonio Canova, Italian sculptor, died. Viscount Castlereagh, British statesman, committed suicide.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year.=

1823

Louis XVIII of France decided to invade Spain in order to maintain Bourbon rule, which was threatened by the Spanish liberal movement; the Cortes withdrew to Cadiz, which was besieged and captured by the French. Ferdinand VII, being restored to absolute power, dissolved the Cortes, despite all persuasion annulled the constitution, and implacably punished by death, exile, or imprisonment all who had sided against him. The struggle between the Greeks and the Turks continued with much desperate fighting, but no decisive result. A notable episode of the war was the gallant defense of Missolonghi by Markos Bozzaris. Central America declared itself free from Spanish rule.

In the United States, 1823 is historically memorable as the year in which President Monroe, in his annual message to Congress, enunciated the so-called Monroe Doctrine, which has since been the keynote of American foreign policy. First steam printing-press operated in New York; an earlier attempt made by the London _Times_ was only partially successful. Gaslight introduced in New York. The first boat passed through the Erie Canal from Rochester to New York.

Richard Jenner, discoverer of vaccination, and David Ricardo, political economist, died.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that Pope Pius VII died, August 20, and was succeeded by Cardinai della Genga, who assumed the name of Leo XII.=

1824

An Egyptian army, aiding the Sultan of Turkey--to whom Egypt was, and nominally still is, a vassal state--landed in Crete, and nearly exterminated the Greek population. It also captured the island of Kossos, slaughtering most of the inhabitants, but on proceeding to attack Samos it was repulsed and driven back to Crete. The Turks also captured Psara and butchered or enslaved the whole population. The new independent states of South America--Venezuela, New Granada (Colombia), Chile, Peru, and Buenos Ayres (Argentina)--were formally recognized by the United States government. In Mexico, the self-styled Emperor Iturbide was shot, and Santa Anna established a republican government. The first Burmese War was precipitated by Bundula, who invaded Bengal. He was repelled, and the British captured Rangoon.

Lafayette revisited the United States and received a memorable welcome. Robert Owen, the English Fourierist, founded a colony at New Harmony, Indiana. First society for the prevention of cruelty to animals founded in England. Portland cement invented by Joseph Aspden, of Leeds, England. Lord Byron, English poet, died at Missolonghi, Greece, where he was serving as a volunteer in the cause of Grecian liberty.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that Louis XVIII of France died, and was succeeded by his brother, Charles X.=

1825

The Turks reduced much of the Grecian territory to a desert, and slaughtered thousands of its inhabitants, the patriot forces having been defeated and scattered. General European resentment was aroused by the inhuman savagery of the Turks. The British forces decisively defeated the Burmese, and added greatly to British territory on the eastern frontier of India.

The first public steam railroad was opened in England, between Stockton and Darlington, George Stephenson himself driving the engine. It was the first thorough and practical test of the locomotive, though in 1813 William Hedley had partially succeeded at the Wyland colliery, and in 1814 Stephenson built an engine that made six miles an hour, but it proved defective. After the success of the new road was undeniable, it was difficult to persuade Parliament to sanction it.

In the United States, Congress decided the disputed Presidential election in favor of John Quincy Adams, John Calhoun becoming Vice-President. John Randolph and Henry Clay fought a resultless duel. Reorganization of United States political parties, the Whigs lining up as supporters of President Adams, with the Democrats, whose main strength lay in the South, as their opponents.

The first boat came through the entire length of the Erie Canal, from Buffalo to New York. Bunker Hill monument begun; Lafayette present; Webster the orator of the day. Congress granted Lafayette two hundred thousand dollars and a township site.

Mutiny of Russian troops at the coronation of Nicholas I put down after much bloodshed. First steam voyage from England to India, by the Cape of Good Hope route, eighty-five days out. Augustine Fresnel, French scientist; Jacques Louis David, French historical painter; and Jean Paul Richter, German author, died.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that Nicholas I succeeded Alexander I as Czar of Russia, and John Quincy Adams succeeded James Monroe as President of the United States.=

1826

Insurrection in Portugal against the infant queen, Maria da Gloria. Insurgents defeated and fled to Spain; aid sent to Portugal by England. The Russian Czar Nicholas began his reign by hanging or exiling to Siberia those who stood for a liberal government and for popular education. The Russians pushed forward in the direction of Persia, defeating the Persian troops and annexing disputed territory. Nicholas demanded from Turkey the autonomy of Servia, Moldavia, and Wallachia; Turkey, still occupied with its Grecian troubles, yielded. In Greece, the Turks captured Missolonghi and Athens, though the Acropolis of the latter city still held out.

Financial and industrial depression prevailed in England; machine-smashing continued; friction matches perfected by John Walker; lime-light discovered by Thomas Drummond; English state lotteries prohibited.

On July 4, while the people of the United States were celebrating the semi-centennial of the Declaration of Independence, two signers of that immortal document, both ex-Presidents, died--Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. A violent anti-Masonic movement further disturbed the American political situation. Bellevue Hospital founded in New York.

Froebel published "The Education of Man." Famous men dying in 1826 were Lindley Murray, grammarian; John Flaxman, sculptor; Reginald Heber, Bishop of Calcutta and hymn-writer; and Prince Rostopchin, by whose orders Moscow was burned in 1812.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year.=

1827

The revolt in Portugal finally suppressed, with the assistance of a British army corps. The Acropolis at Athens captured by the Turks. Many foreign volunteers joined the Greek forces, and England, Russia, and France demanded that Turkey should agree to an armistice. As the Turks refused, and continued their atrocities upon the helpless Greeks, Admiral Codrington, commanding twenty-nine English, Russian, and French vessels, attacked the Turkish and Egyptian fleets at Navarino--consisting of seventy warships, forty transports, and four fire-ships--and utterly destroyed them. The Sultan, however, remained obdurate, refusing all demands, and insisting on an indemnity for his ships.

Popular discontent and anti-clerical riots in France; Charles X disbanded the National Guard, and made ineffectual attempts to gag the press.

Joseph Smith, at Palmyra, New York, began to have visions that later developed into Mormonism. Woehler, German chemist, discovered the metal aluminum; Ohm made important discoveries concerning electric currents. Famous men dying in this year were George Canning, English statesman; Laplace, French astronomer; Ludwig van Beethoven, German musician; William Blake, English poet and artist; and Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year.=

1828

Russia concluded peace with Persia, exacting an indemnity of twenty million rubles and annexing two provinces. She now moved against Turkey, where the Sultan Mahmoud had incited his people to a holy war. The Russians won some early successes, but were hampered by poor commissariat and transportation service, and could not pass the Turkish fortresses at Silistria, Varna, and Shumla. Meanwhile a French force landed in Greece; the Morea was evacuated by the Turks, and Greece became independent, with Count Joannes Capo d'Istria, a Greek who had been foreign minister at St. Petersburg, as president.

In the United States, Congress passed a bill establishing a protective tariff. The North, formerly agricultural and in favor of free trade, had turned to manufacturing, and, led by Webster, strenuously upheld protection against the Southern leaders, once its advocates, now its enemies. States rights discussions grew stronger. The first American steam railroad constructed at Baltimore. Webster's Dictionary published.

Internal wars in Latin America. The Emperor of China sought to restrain the English from carrying on the opium trade. Daniel O'Connell elected to Parliament, but not permitted to sit, being a Roman Catholic. As a result, however, a general sentiment in favor of Catholic emancipation developed in England. British troops withdrawn from Portugal. Dom Miguel proclaimed King of Portugal; absolutism supreme.

Famous people dying in 1828 were Franz Schubert, Viennese musician; Lady Caroline Lamb, English author; Dugald Stewart, Scottish philosopher; and Thomas Bewick, engraver.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year.=

1829

In the Balkans, the Russian forces renewed the campaign against Turkey, severely defeated the Turks at Kulevtcha, and captured Silistria and Adrianople. Other European powers demanded peace, and on April 14 a treaty was signed giving Russia a protectorate over the newly liberated Danubian principalities, Turkey surrendering all fortified points on the left bank of the Danube.

In the United States, President Jackson began his term by declaring that "to the victors belong the spoils," and instantly removing one hundred and sixty-seven appointees made by John Quincy Adams. Adams absented himself from the inaugural ceremonies. Georgia and South Carolina, in the course of their opposition to the tariff, maintained the right of the States to nullify acts of Congress. Jackson involved in quarrels with his Cabinet. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad opened.

The popular opposition to King Charles of France increased in intensity. The Catholic Emancipation Act passed by the British Parliament. Capital punishment for burglary abolished in England. The burning alive of widows forbidden in India. Sir Charles Gurney invented a steam-driven omnibus, the forerunner of the automobile. Sir John Ross, the British explorer, made the first Arctic voyage in a steamship. Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, French scientist; Karl von Schlegel, German scholar; and Thomas Young and Sir Humphry Davy, English scientists, died.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that Andrew Jackson became President of the United States, and Pope Leo XII died, February 10. Cardinal Castiglione, his successor, took the name of Pius VIII.=

1830

France seized Algiers, despite English protests, thus laying the foundation of her vast colonial empire in Africa. The liberals gained a majority in the French chamber, and on an appeal to the people the government was overwhelmingly defeated. On July 24 Charles X dissolved the legislature and made Marshal Marmont commandant of Paris. Next day barricades were thrown up in the streets, merchants, working men, students, and soldiers joining in opposition to the government. Paris was declared in a state of siege, but the Louvre and the Tuileries were captured by the revolutionists. After vainly endeavoring to quiet the country by concessions, Charles abdicated and fled to England. His cousin, Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, son of the so-called Philippe Egalité, was crowned king.

Rebellion began in Brussels, and Holland and Belgium, which had been united as one state since the downfall of Napoleon, formed separate governments. Uprising in Spain against Ferdinand VII, because he had abolished the Salic law, being without male issue and wishing his wife to succeed him. Poland also rose against Russian domination, and set up a provisional government. The Sultan of Turkey formally recognized the independence of Greece.

In the United States Congress, nullification continued to be the absorbing topic; Webster, speaking on it, made his famous oration in reply to Hayne, of South Carolina (January 26, 27). Mormon Church organized at Manchester, New York. First American-built locomotive operated at Baltimore. A portion of Texas was claimed as United States territory by settlers living on the Texan border; Congress refused to take action in the matter.

In England, the Duke of Wellington's ministry resigned, and was succeeded by Earl Grey's. In the British colony of Van Diemen's Land--since renamed Tasmania--the white inhabitants began a war of extermination upon the natives. A cordon was drawn across the island, but failed to accomplish the work. There was further political unrest in Germany; Duke Charles Frederick of Brunswick was expelled from his dominions by a popular uprising, and the people of Saxony forced their king, Antony, to promise them a constitution.

Barthélemy Thimonnier, French tailor, introduced a practical chain-stitch sewing-machine. Joseph Lister contributed greatly to the utility of the microscope. Simon Bolivar, liberator of South America, and Sir Thomas Lawrence, English painter, died.

=RULERS--United States, Andrew Jackson; Great Britain, George IV, died June 26, succeeded by William IV; France, Charles X, deposed, succeeded by Louis Philippe; Spain, Ferdinand VII; Prussia, Frederick William III; Russia, Nicholas I; Austria, Francis I; Pope, Pius VIII, died March 31. The Papacy remained vacant until the following year.=

FROM THE COUNTRY PRESS.

Crumbs of Wit, Wisdom, and History That Have Been Dropped by Rural Scribes in Whose Hands Pens Are Mightier Than Swords.

A CANADIAN VIEW OF PUNCH.

A copy of _Punch's_ Almanac has been received at this office. It is England's leading exponent of humor. A member of this great journal's staff read it through carefully and studied every drawing. Then he went outside and kicked at a strange dog. The English brand of humor is sedate and stately. It is not intended to be laughed at. Laughter--that is, loud laughter--is excessively rude, don't you know. _Punch's_ Almanac for 1906 is sixpen'orth of humor profundo. The man who would laugh at _Punch_ would go into hysterics at a funeral. _Punch's_ notion of humor is altogether too sublime for any place outside of an English drawing-room.--_Bobcaygeon (Ontario) Independent._

CONCERNING MRS. TAYLOR.

Mrs. Herbert Taylor, who is a pleasant and estimable woman, and who can bake the finest cake ever made, having sent us some, and, therefore, making us a judge, and who has a family of nice, clean, polite children, and who plays the piano beautifully, and gives lessons to a few fortunate pupils in our little city, had a tooth pulled Friday.--_Waitesburg (Missouri) Record._

A SUGGESTIVE FAREWELL.

An editor of a country paper thus humorously bids farewell to his readers: "The sheriff is waiting for us in the next room, so we have no opportunity to be pathetic. Major Nabbem says we are wanted and must go. Delinquent subscribers, you have much to answer for. Heaven may forgive you, but we never can."--_Western Exchange._

A QUIET NIGHT IN PLUSH.

A very pleasant surprise party was given at the 7T Ranch about a week ago, at which every one had a very enjoyable time. Jeff Parish took all honors for the best dancer. Another party was given at Plush last Friday night; a large crowd attended and had a good time, without any fights. One or two bluffs were stirred about, but no hard blows were cast.--_Plush correspondence Lakeview Examiner._

FASHION NOTES IN ARIZONA.

Every symptom points to a tendency to spread of style in Tombstone. Among other instances in this direction, the boys bought a pair of beautiful barber-pole suspenders and presented them to the amiable dispenser who shoves the amber extract of cheerfulness over the mahogany of the Parlor Saloon. He promptly donned the innovation, but claimed that he felt like he had a fence-rail on each shoulder. Then, when they became overburdensome, he would unbutton them and permit them to dangle in front, but he finally got them down fine enough to go to church in. Several old-timers, conspicuously court attendants from the other end of the county, have fallen into the habit of wearing boiled shirts, and it looks as if sky-blue overalls might be discarded as a full-dress costume. Getting "powerful tony" in town nowadays.--_Tombstone (Arizona) Prospector._

MULE PAWNED FOR LICENSE.

James Richardson, of Roger Mills County, tendered a mule to-day as a chattel to a Cheyenne money-lender in order to get funds with which to get a marriage license and pay the preacher. He had ridden the mule in--eighteen miles--and expected to walk back home in time for the wedding.--_Guthrie (Oklahoma) Gazette._.

THE REASON.

Our fat friend, Henry Bowles, fell off his front porch Sunday, but was not injured. He landed on his stomach.--_Leedsville (Colorado) Light._

IT WONT HAPPEN AGAIN.

Miss Mills, the school-teacher, asked for her salary last Friday night. Of course it created much surprise, but as it was her first offense, the board have decided to give her another trial.--_Grafton (North Dakota) Record._

GATHER YE ROSEBUDS.

A Famous English Lyric of the Seventeenth Century.

BY ROBERT HERRICK.

Robert Herrick (1591-1674) has long been known to fame as a writer of some of the most graceful lyrics in the English language. "Merrie England" has had many a laughter-loving parson who, peeping over his Book of Common Prayer, has been unable to resist the temptation to flirt with muses who have been rather more at home in ballrooms, studios, and old-world taverns than in the atmosphere of a country parsonage, but that black-garbed company never sent forth a singer with a lilt so free or a heart so light as Robert Herrick's.

Of Herrick's life comparatively little is known. He took his degree at Cambridge in 1620, and in 1629 Charles I made him vicar of Dean Prior, in Devonshire. From this position he was ousted about the beginning of the Cromwell regime. He went to London then and published "Hesperides," a book of verses. There, it is supposed, he lived a bohemian sort of existence until he was returned to his Dean Prior living by Charles II. He continued there until he died at the age of eighty-four.

This old-time Devonshire vicar was a great worshiper at the shrine of feminine beauty, and was a fond lover of his garden and ale-tankard as well. Like Omar Khayyám, he believed in making hay while the sun shone, and it is this spirit that pervades the exquisite verses which are published herewith.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles to-day, To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he's a-getting. The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer: But being spent the worse and worst Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may go marry; For having lost but once your prime, You may forever tarry.

The Beginnings of Stage Careers.

BY MATTHEW WHITE, JR

A Series of Papers That Will Be Continued from Month to Month and Will Include All Players of Note.

LACKAYE NEARLY A PRIEST.

On the Way to Rome to Prepare Himself for Holy Orders He Was Stricken with Stage Fever.

It is an interesting coincidence that Eben Plympton, now playing a bishop in "The Duel," should have been the unconscious means of keeping a young man out of the priesthood. It was away back in the early days of the Madison Square Theater, when "Esmeralda" was having its big run at that little playhouse and Plympton, as the hero, was a matinée favorite.

In the audience one day was a youth with big gray eyes, which were riveted in charmed attention on Plympton's every movement. The young man was with his father, and was on his way from his home in Washington to Rome, to attend there the school for acolytes, which was to pave the way for him to become a priest. His tomblike cell had already been selected for his occupancy, and, meantime, until the steamer sailed for Havre, the boy was going to the theater every night in New York with his father. He went in the afternoons, too, whenever there was a matinée.

"I wish the theaters were open in the morning," he said one day to his father, who began to wonder whether his son had not mistaken his vocation.

After this they went to see "Esmeralda," and then the sixteen-year-old youth issued his proclamation in these words:

"I have a vocation, but it is for the stage."

"Your vocation is the padded cell," replied his father tersely.

Trip to Rome Abandoned.

But they did not sail for Rome via Havre or any other way, but returned to Washington, and here Wilton Lackaye--for it was he--by way of compromise, began to study law. He gratified his theatrical cravings by joining an amateur dramatic club, of which he was speedily elected president, and which was known as the Lawrence Barrett Society.

Barrett himself was once induced to attend one of the performances, and he asked the young president if he wanted to go on the stage. This was like fire to gunpowder, and Mr. Barrett engaged him for utility work at twenty dollars a week.

The season ran for thirty weeks, so that he received for this period six hundred dollars. As he was obliged to buy his own costumes, and as they cost him seven hundred and twenty dollars in all, he discovered that the only way he could make money out of that company was to be discharged from it. However, his mother helped him. His father hadn't spoken to his son since he went on the stage.

After leaving the Barrett troupe, he went to New York to get another job. As an excuse to visit the agents' offices several times a day he used to write letters to himself in their care. As he was walking out with the letters, he would stop when near the door, and inquire over his shoulder, as though by an afterthought:

"Oh, by the way, have you anything for me to-day?"

He kept this up until the usual "Nothing," in the way of reply, was one day changed to:

"I think there is."

This "find" took him to a stock company in Dayton, Ohio, and after that he went from one company to another until he began to find solid footing at last with Fanny Davenport as _Claudio_ in "Much Ado About Nothing." His first big success was in the title role of "Paul Kauvar" with Rose Coghlan.

Compliment for Brady.

His first part with Lawrence Barrett was one of _Paolo's_ friends in "Francesca da Rimini," done at the Star Theater, New York--now pulled down--in 1883. He was born in Virginia.

When he comes to play in "Les Misérables" this spring, and has so much to do with the priest in the story, I wonder if he will think many times of what might have been his career had he not gone to the theater so often while waiting for that ship to sail, back there in his 'teens!

Apropos of the production of "Les Misérables," Lackaye was asked some years ago if he had yet found a manager to bring it out for him.

"Bring it out?" he repeated. "I have yet to find one who can pronounce it."

Which, now, in the sequel, is an implied compliment for William A. Brady.