I sat down in one of the booths, and after theless, overpowered by the rich bass of two partaking of some refreshment, which I really sceptical blind men, begging for alms on needed, I turned from the bustle around me either side of the door. Their faith must to gaze on the glories of the departing sun: have been languid, indeed, since they preeach fold of the mountain on mountain clos-ferred carrying on their supplications outside, ing in the prospect to the north was glowing at the risk of being flattened against the wall, red, while the valleys at the foot were lost to trying their chances with the Madonna inalready in a soft blue mist. The calm and side. The cortège took to the right of the solemn grandeur of the landscape at that chapel, and advanced till its front row stood hour, which always brings with it a mingled opposite the main altar; then it came to a feeling of regret and hope, made the flurry full stop, and the presentation of the sick and excitement going on at my elbow seem began. An old man, with snow-white hair still more puerile and aimless. While watch- and a face like parchment, was hoisted up ing the twinkling into view of one star after towards the image; but for the shivering of another, I heard a bell toll, and saw, to my his palsied limbs, the poor creature might great surprise, every one, pilgrims and pur- have been taken for a corpse, so unconscious veyors, all rise with one accord, as if they had did he look. “O, Madonna, fategli la received an electric shock-cards, relics, eat-grazia!" (Grant him the blessing!) screamed ables, and wine-bottles thrown on one side, several voices-"Fategli la grazia!" reand a general rush made for the stone bridge. sponded the whole church in chorus. "What's the matter?" asked I of a neighbor.

"It's the Madonna going to cure you — rouse yourself: have faith; lift up your the Ma-arms to her," cried an old shrivelled peasantwoman to the wretched cripple.

"The presentation of the sick donna fa le grazie," was the quick answer, as he ran off also. This was the particular hour, it seems, selected by the Madonna for performing her miracles.

He did try and managed to raise his arms a little, but only to let them drop again, while his head sunk on his shoulder with a To see a miracle was worth a little squeez- groan. "O, Madonna, it is too cruel," ing; I, therefore, resolved on improving the sobbed the old woman in a state of distraction, occasion, and joined in the race. I crossed" after I have said so many prayers to you, the bridge, ran through a little square, up and given so many alms on your account. some steps, and so into a spacious cloister You know you can do it, if you like. O me! which goes round the church. Here, innu- O me! you know you can." merable silver er votos glittered on the walls, "Make another effort," cries a young man amid rude representations of miracles. Some to the old one. "Only say a Salve Regina, of these last would have been worth copying an Ave-anything you can remember." -naïveté and want of perspective making Alas! it was past the power of the sufferer, them chefs-d'œuvre in their way. The throng already covered with cold sweats, to do any here formed in procession, four or five abreast, thing but tremble and shake; and he and his the sick, with their small or large group of disconsolate friends must make room for kindred and friends, in the front rows. Mov- another party. ing slowly round, they all wended their way to the church-door, through the open portals of which the miraculous statue was seen. The blaze of jewels on all parts of the image, together with the quantities of lighted waxtorches surrounding her, produced a certain effect even on me. I was positively dazzled. An explosion of admiring ejaculations, of broken appeals, of sighs and sobs, mostly from the female part of the congregation, broke forth at the gorgeous sight- a concert shrill enough to pierce even the stone ears of Nostra Signora del Laghetto; but, never

My jolly friend, the father of the deaf and dumb child, with some of his relations whom he had met, came forward. Poor Marina was duly lifted up, and held towards the Virgin, with the customary invocations. It was a sad and touching sight, indeed, to behold the intelligent little creature join her hands, and evidently pray- O, so carnestly!

her eyes distended with eagerness, and, in answer to her father's expressive pantomime, try to speak. Nothing came of it, or course, but some uncouth inarticulate sounds, which apparently deceived a portion of the

From the Dublin University Magazine.

A TRIO OF AMERICAN SAILOR-AUTHORS. AMERICA has produced three authors, who, having acquired their knowledge of sea-life in a practical manner,* have written either nautical novels or narratives of the highest degree of excellence. We allude to Fenimore Cooper, R. H. Dana, Jun., and Herman Melville, each of whom has written at least one book, which is, in our estimation, decidedly A 1. Our task here happily is not to institute a critical comparison of the respective merits of American and English

landsmen than sailors; and even in the very best works of the class we find not a few chapters occupied by scenes and characters

which have no connection whatever with the sea. A genuine sea story should be evolved should be confined to the ocean and its coasts afloat from first to last; its descriptions - to ships and their management; its characters should exclusively be seamen (unless a fair heroine be introduced on shipboard); its episodes and all its incidental materials should smack of sea-life and adventure-the to, should as much as possible be sunk and land, and all that exclusively pertains theresea-novelists and writers; but we do not hesitate incidentally to admit that, to say of this kind yet been written? No, it has forgotten! But, it will be asked, has a book, the very least, America worthily rivals us in not. And if the most eminent naval novelthis department of literature. Taking Coop-ists have not attempted such a performance, er, for instance, all in all, we question great-does not that prove that they considered the ly whether any English author excels him as idea one that could not be practically carried a sea-novelist. Our two best are Marryat and Michael Scott ("Tom Cringle"), but out? So at least it would appear, and very they are in some respects essentially inferior successful nautical writers explicitly give to Cooper; and although they both have their testimony against our theory. For ex"Ben very great distinctive merits of their own, in ample,, Captain Chamier-whose Brace" " and other nautical novels and narwhat shall we deliberately pronounce them superior to the great American? Turn to ratives are, by the way, very little inferior to Dana, and where is the English author, liv- Marryat's-in his "Life of a Sailor," makes the following remark: ing or dead, who has written a book descriptive of real foremast life worthy to be com"The mere evolutions of a ship, the interior pared with Two Years before the Mast?" arrangements, the nautical expressions, would Again, to select only a single work by Her- soon pall on a landsman. Even Marryat, who man Melville, where shall we find an English wrote, in my opinion, the very best naval novel picture of man-of-war life to rival his mar-ever penned, The King's Own,' has found it vellous White-Jacket?" Tastes and opinions of course vary, and there may be, and doubtless are, able and intelligent critics who will dissent from our verdict; but we may be permitted to say that we believe very few works of nautical fiction and narrative (by either English or American authors) exist, with which we are not familiar.

66

Ere proceeding to consider the peculiar and distinguishing excellencies of our three American sailor-authors, we would observe that, as regards sea-novels, not one realizes our idea of what this species of literature ought to be. A sea-novel, to which we can appeal as a standard by which to judge the general artistic merits of similar compositions, is yet, and will, we fear, long continue to be, a desideratum. In many socalled naval fictions, two-thirds or more of the scenes are described as occurring on shore, and the actors are more frequently * All three, be it observed, have sailed before the mast; for, although Cooper was six years a midshipman in the United States Navy, he previously made one or more voyages as an ordinary ship-boy in a merchantman. See the autobiography of "Ned Myers," written by his old messpoint, not having a copy of "Ned Myers" to refer to; and, singularly enough, we read it in the garb of a French translation when on board a foreign vessel years ago, and have

mate, Cooper himself. We speak from memory on this

never seen it in the original. A cheap English edition has been subsequently issued.

impossible to keep to nautical scenes; and the author of the Post Captain,' a most excellent specimen of nautical life, has wisely painted the beauty of Cassandra, and made most of the interesting scenes occur on shore.”

written

We dissent decidedly from much which our gallant friend here maintains. The evoexpressions" which he puts in the mouths lutions of Cooper's ships, and the "nautical of his characters, do not pall; the " King's Own" is not the best naval novel that even Post Captain," we admit that two or Marryat himself penned; and as to the three opening chapters of that very coarselyall the rest are unmitigated balderdash; and anonymous work are pretty good, but how it happened that many editions of such is a greater mystery to us than a reel in a a miserable performance found purchasers, mother. We must not digress further; but was to our venerable great-grandwe reiterate our firm belief that a nautical fiction, strictly written on the plan we have proposed, if by a man of genius, would not merely be the facile princeps of its class of literature, but would delight landsmen as much as seamen, and interest all hands to a greater degree than any work written on the mongrel system of alternately describing life

bottle

at sea and life on shore, which has hitherto | of seamanship so vividly delineated. We prevailed. never noted any technical or professional error on Cooper's part, and, whatever he himself might be practically, he certainly was a good seaman theoretically.

in an earlier part of the same narrative. Cooper himself never penned anything more striking, more poetical, and yet true to nature, than the following grand passage:

or two ships), and the incidents naturally arise out of this single leading feature, which may be termed Cooper's forte, and which he exhibits also in most of his Indian stories. In one work, however, "The Two Admi rals," Cooper attempts to "deal with the profession on a large scale," to use his own words, by detailing the manœuvres eets. Able as are some of the scenes, we think the experiment a decided failure on the whole, and do not marvel at this, for obvious reasons. Cooper himself seems to have been aware of the dubious nature of his undertaking, and to have had misgivings as to his probable He remarks in his preface that

"The dim tracery of the stranger's form had been swallowed by the flood of misty light, which, by this time, rolled along the sea like drifting vapor, semi-pellucid, preternatural, and seemingly tangible. The ocean itself seemed admonished that a quick and violent change was nigh. The waves had ceased to break in their former foaming and brilliant crests, but black masses of the water were seen lifting their surly summits against the eastern horizon no longer relieved by their scintillating brightness, or shedding their success. own peculiar and lucid atmosphere around them." among all the sea-tales that the last twenty The breeze, which had been so fresh, and which years have produced, we know of none in had even blown, at times, with a force that which the evolutions of fleets have formed . . Every writer material feature. nearly amounted to a little gale, was lulling and any becoming uncertain, as though awed by the more of romance appears to have carefully abviolent power that was gathering along the bor-stained from dealing with the profession on ders of the sea in the direction of the neighbora large scale."

ing continent. Each moment the eastern puffs And rightly abstained, say we! as, accordof air lost their strength, and became more and more feeble, until, in an incredibly short period, ing to our private theory, nautical fiction the heavy sails were heard flapping against the ought to be legitimately confined to one or masts -a frightful and ominous calm succeed-two vessels; for to bring whole fleets into ing.'

- a

"We have

action is to trespass unwarrantably on the domain of history, if real events are deNow, is not the above a piece of splendid scribed, in which case facts are ever preferable descriptive writing? And we can assure our to fiction; and it is rather absurd to expect landsmen friends that seamen (and any per- that any reader of proper taste can enjoy an son of an observant turn, who has had op-account of the manoeuvres and battles of portunities of beholding and noting the mys- hostile fleets, if wholly imaginary. The second of our Trio is Dana, the author terious phenomena of ocean) will bear witness to its perfect truth and fidelity. But of "Two Years before the Mast" of ten thousand spectators of such a scene.book which alone has made him renowned would there be one who could describe it in throughout the world. Well can we recal a few lines in such a vivid and masterly man- the intense, the absorbing interest with which we read this work on its first appearance. ner as our author has done? Fourthly-Cooper's leading characters Our copy is prefaced by extracts from the among the seamen are, in many instances, criticism of the New York "Knickerbocker." highly-finished portraits, drawn by the hand One passage we shall introduce here, on aoof a great master; and the reader instinct count of its poetic truthfulness. ively feels that they are not mere conventional ourselves," says old Knickerbocker, "risen mariners of the melodramatic school, but from the discussion of this volume with a genuine brue-water salts, who exhibit special new sense of the sublime in nature — with a individual idiosyncracies in addition to the more enlarged conception of the vastness of general characteristics of their class. The the gray and melancholy wastes' of ocean two finest and most elaborate portraits in the which spread around earth's isles and contientire Cooper sea-gallery are Long Tom Coffin nents, upon which the early dawn breaks in the Pilot," and Dick Fid in the "Red and daylight fades alike; where the almost Rover." In their way, they both are per- living vessel, swift-sailing, drops in the dis fect and quite Shakspearian. They never yet tant wave the Southern Cross, the Magellan have been equalled in naval fiction, nor do Clouds, the wild and stormy Cape; where, unlike the travel of the land, which at most we think they ever will be surpassed. Cooper's sea-novels have several distin-conquers a narrow horizon after horizon, guishing peculiarities besides those we have each succeeding night the homeward ship already pointed out. It is worth observing, that they rarely exhibit anything like an artistic plot-and we like them none the worse for that- but in nearly every instance their interest is concentrated on a long chase (the reader's attention being riveted on one

* We believe that the only other work of which he is the author is the "Seaman's Manual" (as it is called in the

English edition, but in America it is entitled the "Seaman's Friend "), a practical handbook for seamen, and, of course, in a great measure a compilation. We possess a copy of kind.

it, and consider it an excellent and valuable work of the