forth. The captain's nomination was seconded representative-he would work much harder by Sir James Wallsend, a young baronet who had than he ever did before, for he would have to lately come of age, and had succeeded to a very attend to his own business and to their business large property in the neighbourhood. Sir also. James was a good-looking, open-faced young fellow, a fair speaker in his way, and who looked as if he could have knocked down half the men in the crowd. He was just the sort of man to take with an English mob, who, with all their faults, admire any one who is manly in appearance. He was, moreover, a relative by marriage of Captain Streatham's, for his mother and Sir Charles Vance's mother (both dead) were sisters. The other side had selected him to second their man for several reasons, but chiefly because of his looks, his connexions with the Vance family, and his being able to speak about Captain Streatham, who held a commission in the same regiment as himself. The code of signals I had agreed upon with those who surrounded the hustings was, that when I held my handkerchief in my right hand they were to cheer; when I held it in my left they were to hiss or groan; when I put it in my pocket they were to keep silence. At this part of Mr. Mellam's speech I pulled it out and held it in my right hand for about a minute, during which time there arose and continued one of those noisy storms which newspaper reporters designate between parentheses as tremendous cheering." The day before the nomination I had strongly advised Mr. Mellam to go in for the Cottagers' Almshouse question early in his speech, so Sir James did not make a long speech, nor that he might make sure of pleasing many of did he dwell much upon any political question his hearers at once, because what he said would of the day. He evidently made a set at the be in accordance with their own views. Acting publican or sporting portion of the electors, upon this hint, he spoke first of the local weland assured them that if his relative and friend fare of the town, and said that if the electors of was returned for their borough, he would do Northenville honoured him by returning him to his best to resuscitate the Northenville races, parliament, he would do his utmost to bring in which had been allowed to fall away for the a bill by which the surplus funds of the almslast half-dozen years. He pointed out how houses might be applied to beautifying the much more easy of access the town was now town, and that thus the drainage of the borough than it had been formerly, and ended by say- could be improved, a new town hall built, ing that he hoped next year there would be the corn exchange enlarged, and the market a large influx of visitors to the place, and that finished off, without increasing the local rates the members' cup, given by his worthy relative by a single shilling. Of course sentiments like and brother officer, would form one of the these-the signal being made by me as before prizes to be run for. And having said his say,-drew forth loud symptoms of approval from Mr. Mellam came forward to make his bow and the free and independent electors around the speech to what he hoped would be his future constituents. As I have said before, at an English election personal appearance goes for a great deal, and in this respect both the candidates for Northenville had nothing to be ashamed of. Mr. Mellam was a man of one or two-and-fifty, rather bald, slightly grey, clean shaved except a pair of not very large whiskers, and with that peculiarly English appearance only seen in this country, and more seldom now that so many wear beards. He began by thanking the electors for having asked him to come forward and contest their borough, with which he had been so long connected, and from the neighbourhood of which he hoped never to move during his life unless to attend to his duties in parliament, if they did him the honour to elect him. This, of course, was hit number one at his opponent, whose best friends could not deny that he was a rolling stone. Mr. Mellam said that he did not seek election for the purpose of getting any place or situation (hit number two); he had his own interest in the ironworks to attend to, as they very well knew, and those were occupation enough for him (hit number three at the other side) if the day were composed of forty-eight instead of twenty-four hours. He had never been an idle man (hit number four), as all his hearers knew well, and now, if returned to parliament-if honoured by being named their hustings. It was our great card to play was this of the cottagers' almshouses, and in an election speech it is always the best policy to lead trumps. From local topics Mr. Mellam went on to speak of general politics. Of future evils, of evils which the present ministry had the audacity to propose, he could hardly speak with patience. They intended, if allowed to remain in office, to destroy all, or nearly all, that was dear to us, and whilst trying to amuse the people of this great land with horse-races and the like (as proposed by the gentleman who had seconded the candidate on the other side), to lead them away from the serious consideration of their own affairs, and do away with that anxious careful system of self-government which had always been, and, he trusted, would always be, the glory, the boast, and the pride of Englishmen. (Here-at a signal from me- -the cheering was tremendous.) "What the party now in office want," continued Mr. Mellam, "is to centralise every institution, and to have under government superintendence every national establishment. They have succeeded with our telegraph system, they want now to get hold of our poorhouses, and dictate to our poor-law guardians what they shall and what they shall not do. Will Englishmen ever stand this?" ("No, no," from the mob.) They would shut up your public-houses if they had a chance, and rr they will, too, if you allow them." ("We never The whole body of electors were divided in my book into three lists-friends, enemies, and doubtful. It was the latter, which I calculated as amounting to about a hundred, that I deterOn the whole, Mr. Mellam's speech, delivered mined Mr. Mellam should canvass with me on in a very earnest business-like way, was a de- the Wednesday and Thursday. Most of them cided success, and was closed with several were shopkeepers, and I found out, very much rounds of applause from the small regiment of to my disgust, that Lady Vance had already electors who obeyed my signals. When he been amongst them, and that several whom I had finished Captain Streatham came forward. hoped to carry with us to the poll were pledged The handkerchief in my left hand brought to the other party. Still we gained some votes, forth a storm of hisses, groans, chaff, and slang. at a cost, taking one with another, of ten pounds Captain Streatham took it all very good na- a head. In many cases we called at a house, and turedly, his own supporters-that is, the mass perhaps bought a canary, or a parrot, or a of them-being too far off, or too rudely dog, for, say, five pounds, leaving our purchase hustled by our people, to afford him any help. with the seller until we should send for it: I was too good a general to allow the signs which meant, of course, that it would remain of disapprobation to continue very long, and with its former owner for ever. Many persons the moment I put up my handkerchief my who are not behind the scenes in election matfollowers were silent. The captain was evi- ters, believe that bribery is a thing of history; dently, in the strictest sense of the word, un- but those who manage these affairs know accustomed to public speaking. He addressed better. Of course Mr. Mellam never saw or his hearers in a jaunty, off-hand style, which heard of any bribery going on. All he did was did not please them, although his good temper to provide me with money for "sundry" exand evident determination not to be annoyed penses. If I paid five pounds for a bulfinch with his audience, certainly told in his favour. that cost as many pence, or gave ten pounds for The difficult point for him to get over was the cottagers' almshouse question. The moment he approached it, out came my pocket-handkerchief in my left hand, and the groans, hisses, catcalls, and slang were renewed. Now and again I would give him the chance of saying a few words; but as these were invariably distasteful to the great mass of his hearers, I invariably caused the marks of disapprobation to be renewed. When the day was over even the reporter of the Independent was obliged to admit that very little of Captain Streatham's address could be heard except by those on the hustings. When the speeches were over, the mayor came forward and called for a show of hands in favour of each candidate. These were, by a majority of nearly ten to one, in favour of Mr. Mellam. And as the whole of the mob surrounding the hustings were more or less in our pay, or at any rate had drunk our beer, it would have been a miracle had there been any other result. Of course Captain Streatham's party demanded a poll, which was fixed by the mayor for the following Friday. This gave both sides two clear days to prepare for the struggle. The qualified electors of Northenville, when, as they say of a ship's crew, "all told," amounted to eighteen hundred and forty-seven. Of these I calculated that we might safely set down ten per cent. as abroad, or men who did not care to vote; this reduced them in round numbers to about sixteen hundred. From the pledges I had received, and the assurances that had been made me, I calculated that our side might safely reckon upon seven hundred and fifty votes, and that our adversaries had perhaps as many, leaving a hundred votes or so to be bid for, or got over by some means, and so I determined to make the best use of my time, and work up my forces so as to make the most of our party's strength. a terrier that would have been dear at five shillings, he knew nothing of it—at least, not officially. I was the person who bought everything, and who made presents to those from whom I could not purchase. Sometimes-and this is a very politic stroke in electioneering— the present is made through a child. The party that is canvassing goes into a house, and finds that the wife only is at home. You ask how the husband is going to vote, and are told that he has not yet made up his mind. There is a child; you admire it, ask its age, wonder that it is so large for its years, say that you have one of your own, just that age, but not half so large. The woman's heart is gained, and you may depend that her husband's vote is half won. You ask why the child is not better dressed; the woman says she can't afford to give it better clothes. You inquire whether a five-pound note would not fit out her child, and herself, with Sunday clothes. She says it would, and do more besides. You give her the money, praise her child again, talk of indifferent matters, and take your leave, saying you hope her husband will vote for your candidate. Depend upon it that vote is yours, and that when you inspect the voting list the name of that woman's husband will be found recorded on your side. Another way of getting votes is through the local loan societies. Find out the names of electors who are in debt to any of these institutions, and the amount they owe. Pay off the debts of these debtors, and depend upon it their votes are yours. Twice during the two days that were left to us I met Lady Vance, who seemed to be very busy visiting amongst some of the electors, or rather their wives. On the Thursday, as I made out by my lists and calculations, our side could rely upon a certain majority of fifty, or perhaps more. Lady Vance not only looked At noon the numbers stood: Streatham 420 380 leaving us a majority of forty ahead. At one o'clock we had polled another two hundred and twenty, and our adversaries only a hundred and ninety, thus still increasing our majority. At three o'clock we had polled eight hundred and twenty, but the other party had crept up nearer to us, and had polled seven hundred and forty. I thought the battle was won, and was startled to find that at half past three we had only increased our score by ten, whereas the enemy had gained some sixty votes, and was now only twenty-three or twenty-four behind us. Our agents were busy whipping up voters in every direction, but about a quarter to four sixty odd electors arrived by the London train, and going direct to the poll voted for Streatham. At four o'clock, when the poll closed, the numbers were: Streatham 886 834 worn-out rubbish cast off by the moon or whichever of the planets you please. This theory does not disturb our equanimity; because when a new science, Prehistoric Archæology," fills leaders in the Times, and occupies a prominent place in addresses of Presidents of the British Association, we may without anxiety leave the said things found in the drift to receive eventually a correct account of their use and origin. In truth, the light of science, like the light of day, breaks gradually on the human understanding. At first, nothing is visible but objects close at hand. Soon, however, the distance widens, unsuspected points come, one by one, into view; at last, the delighted eye takes in the complete circuit of an extensive horizon. As with terrestrial space, so it is with earthly time. Within the memory of man, history, geology, creation even, were supposed to lie within the limits of a few thousand years. Astronomy (through the means of the precession of the equinoxes), first raised doubts as stretched out the lapse of past time over an to the accuracy of such narrow bounds. Geology indefinitely wide extent; and finally, a French gentleman, M. Boucher de Perthes, recently deceased in the fulness of years, by obstinately searching gravel pits in the valley of the Somme, assigned to the human race a longevity which, until quite lately, it was black heresy even to imagine. The world had long been puzzled by the inscrutable antiquity of Celtic remains and sotells us that there exist in India, within three called Druidical erections; now, Dr. Hooker hundred miles of the British capital, indigenous Mellam tribes who are still in the habit of raising meMajority for the enemy fifty-two, and so the galithic monuments. It seems that there are battle was lost. I found out later that Lady countries in the East in which tombs, altars, Vance's agents had all along made sure of a and places of worship, are still built after the number of Northenville electors who lived in fashion of Stonchenge. There may even be London, and had kept them in reserve until the tribes still using exactly such knives and arrowvery last moment. They had left London heads as are found in the drift; Dr. Hooker, at 6 A.M. that day, but the train had been with his eyes fixed on the Khasia people of greatly delayed on the way. Had they been East Bengal, proposes to besiege the problem detained another quarter of an hour we should from this singularly practical point of attack. have gained the day. As it turned out Captain All this is quite new light thrown on a subStreatham got his seat, and will in due time goject wrapped in gloom. Before the Iron Age, out as Governor to a West Indian colony, the Silver Age, and the Golden Age, was where I hope he may do well. Mr. Mellam an Age of Stone. Man knew not metals, intends to try his luck again, with me for helper, but he fabricated and made use of flint. If at the approaching general election. THE AGE OF STONE. A BOOK has been recently published on the other side of the Channel, entitled La Chute du Ciel, The Fall of the Sky, of which we say no more than that, written by a noble author, its object is to prove, in some six hundred pages, that coal, erratic boulders, fossil remains in general, and a variety of sundries, among them being the flint implements found in "the drift," have all-all, been shot out on the earth from the firmament above! They are fossil man were still a desideratum (which is now denied), his fossil handiworks are to be found in plenty. No animal (except man) of which we have the slightest trace or relic, is capable of fashioning knives, axes, spearheads, arrow-heads, symbols, toys, personal ornaments, and tools. If such be found in a truly fossil state, the unavoidable inference is that man must have been the living companion of numerous extinct animals. He must have shared the forest with the mammoth, have chased the gigantic Irish deer, have feasted on the flesh of the aurochs, and trembled at the voice of the monstrous tiger of our caverns. What a life to lead! An intruder among, not the master of, a numberless crowd of powerful brutes! neglected by the learned world. He survived to see them appreciated, and to be himself regarded as not quite a madman. With his feeble means of defence and offence, with gaunt carnivores glaring at him by night The beginning of the matter happened thus. and by day, with colossal bears, hyenas, and One summer's evening, in 1826, while M. de felidæ multiplying around, without any possible Perthes was examining a sand pit at the outcheck from him, man was the victim and the skirts of the Faubourg St. Gilles, at Abbeville, prey. Even beasts of comparatively milder the idea struck him that manufactured flints natures would unconsciously and unintention- might perhaps be found in tertiary beds. Years ally be his enemies, not his friends-his ser- passed, and he searched numerous localities in vants least of all. Little would he be able to vain. At last, at a place called the "Banc de withstand the shock of angry bulls and en-l'Hôpital," he found a flint, about five inches croaching elephants. Attempts at culture long, from which two splints had evidently would soon be trodden under foot. A perse-been struck off. Every one to whom it was cuted fugitive, man would owe his only safety shown, said this was the result of accident. He to cunning and flight. For security, he would found a second, and then a third, exactly have to retreat to the depths of the semi-liquid similar. M. de Perthes felt convinced that he swamp, or climb to a lodging on the steepest had traced the hand of man, and he continued his rocks. And what a race of men! As the search. But learned dons of science refused to polished European is to the Red Indian, so believe that he had found human handiwork would the Red Indian be to that poor, primi- mixed up with virgin diluvium. tive savage. But, argued our enthusiast, archæology, like geology, is as yet no more than an infant science. It is only by penetrating into the depths of the earth that you will arrive at really great discoveries. We have not yet pierced the epidermis. We have merely scratched its upper surface and raised a little dust. How will you demonstrate the antiquity of the population of any given soil? By the antiquity of the objects found in it. How can you measure that antiquity? By the materials, the work. manship, and above all by the subterranean The relics of this bygone race appear, at first sight, exceedingly trifling. They are nearly limited to bones, and rudely cut stones. We find no inscriptions, medals, nor statues. Our pains are rewarded by no vases, elegant in outline or rich in material. We gather nothing but bones, potsherds, and scarcely polished bits of flint. But for the observer in whose eyes the demonstration of a truth is of greater price than the possession of a gem, value consists neither in finished workmanship nor in money's worth. In his eyes, the most beau-position of the objects. We thereby admit a tiful object is that which most helps him to a sort of scale of life-a superposition of strata sure conclusion. The pebble which a collector formed by the relics of generations; and we would disdainfully reject, or the bone which seek, in each one of those strata, indications of has not even the value of a bone, becomes so the history of those generations. Consequently, precious on account of its logical importance the deepest strata will illustrate the most that it would not be exchanged for its weight ancient populations. in gold. It is the unquestionable footmark of man, walking on earth thousands and thousands of years ago. It frequently happens, in the valley of the Somme, that after having traversed the stratum of Roman soil, and of the soil of the Gauls, you These venerable though humble relics-arms, will reach a Celtic deposit, which you recognise utensils, idols, symbols-not only betray the by the nature of its pottery. There you will existence of a people, their habits of life, their find an axe of stone, characteristic, in your means of satisfying the necessities of the mo- eyes, of that epoch when iron was still rare. ment; they also give us a significant clue to Sounding deeper, you meet with a stratum of the thoughts and the conscience of our ante- turf, of no great thickness, but whose ancient diluvian ancestors. They prove that they had formation, if you examine its elements, apa notion of the future, a faith, religious long-pears incontestable. Beneath this stratum is a ings-in short, that they had caught a glimpse bed of sand, and in this bed another axe. of the Divinity. The first men who united their When you are convinced that this axe is in its efforts to raise a monumental stone, who hewed natural place, and has not in any way been it into shape, or battered it into the coarse re-introduced into the sand, it is evident that the semblance of some living object, came forth, by that very act, from association with mere brute animals, and ceased to grovel utterly in the dust. M. Boucher de Perthes is fairly entitled to the credit of having founded Prehistoric Archæology. At first, the few who listened to him only laughed. No scientific body would accept his collections or give house-room to the treasures he had collected together. They remained for years in his house in Abbeville, open to those who chose to inspect them, but quite epoch of the fabrication of the second axe is separated from the epoch of the first, by the series of ages requisite for the formation of the bed of turf-an interval of time of which you are able to form an approximate estimate. You conclude that, during this period, the inhabitants have been, if not in the same, at least in an analogous condition; which is confirmed by historical and traditional probability. The primitive Gauls, composed of wandering tribes, and living by fishing and the chase, like hordes of North American savages, long remained stationary, without making any sensible progress in manufactures or the arts. Digging still further down, you arrive at a level which you are at first tempted to regard as virgin earth that has never borne the footsteps of man. Still, however, there are human traces. After a little study, you cannot mistake them. A mere notch in a bone, made with the edge of a flint; a splinter knocked off the flint, with the evidence of intention; a single bit of wood, cut and not broken, prove the presence of a human hand as clearly as a carved inscription. The most intelligent animal -the elephant, the dog, or the ape-is incapable of making that notch. He breaks or gnaws the wood; he can neither cut nor slice it. simple. The antediluvian peoples, like the Celtic people and like people at the present day, could only reproduce copies of species they had seen; and they copied those which they beheld the most frequently. Among those species, some were common to both the Celtic and the diluvian periods-bears, stags, boars, and oxen. But besides these, the diluvian beds offer many figures which are never found in Celtic deposits-notably of elephants and rhinoceroses. There are also images of problematical creatures whose types are now unknown to us. Nevertheless, the abundance of their copies in stone is a proof that such creatures did once exist. Many dogs' heads surprise by the freshness of their chiselling; there is also a hippopotaThe accuracy of this reasoning was tested mus's head. A bear sitting on his hind quarters by the visits of English geologists, who dared to is almost humorously represented. Symbols burst through the cautious scepticism adopted are frequently found which appear to repreby their brethren of France. Mr. Prest- sent the enormous mastodons and antediluvian wich says: "I myself detached a flint partly elephants whose bones we discover mixed up fashioned into an axe, buried in the gravel pell-mell with their portraits in flint. At the at a depth of more than five yards. A la- period of the great inundation which formed bourer who was working in a trench, disin- those deposits, these animals were very common terred without observing them a couple of in Europe, as is proved by the abundance of axes, which we picked up from the thrown-out their remains. gravel." Sir Charles Lyell says: "The strata containing these rude instruments reposed immediately upon the chalk, and belong to the period which followed the formation of the pleiocene beds-that is, to the quaternary period. The antiquity of the Amiens and Abbeville flint instruments is very great, when compared with the time embraced by history and even by tradition. The disappearance of the elephant, the rhinoceros, and other genera of quadrupeds now strangers to Europe, in all probability implies that a wide lapse of time separates the epoch when these fossil instruments were fashioned from that when the Romans invaded Gaul.” In the work in which M. de Perthes first announced these facts, he gives figures both of the instruments and of the images or symbols. There are rough tools whose utility is evident, either for hollowing out or boring, even were they not fashioned by hand. There are knives of the same description, formed of oblong flints with a naturally rounded base, which has been allowed to remain in its original state in order to give greater strength to the handle. The symbols and images of stone found in Celtic tombs, are ordinarily those of the animals whose bones are found in the same deposits. A like fact occurs in the diluvian beds; but the cause is different. In the case of the Celtic remains, the juxtaposition was effected by the hand of man; in the diluvian beds, by the agency of the waters. The remarkable analogy between the figures of the Celtic tombs and the animals which lived at that period, is not less striking in those obtained from the diluvian beds. The reason is A PORTRAIT, FROM MEMORY. And glorious Titian (jewels set A child might smile thus; two grey eyes For all they look on; frank, serene, A rosy fan hung from her wrist Such was the vision once I saw, |