At all events we must bear in mind, while reading or thinking over Miss Porter's novels, that, in her day, even the exaggeration of enthusiasm was considered good tone and good taste. How this enthusiasm was fostered, not subdued, can be gathered by the author's ingenious preface to the, we believe, tenth edition of "Thaddeus of Warsaw."

66

435

were thoroughly “awake,” the British Lion had | Porter owed her Polish inspirations so peculiarly not slumbered through a thirty years' peace. to the tone of the times in which she lived, she We were a nation of soldiers and sailors, and traces back, in her introduction to the latest patriots; not of mingled cotton-spinners and edition of "The Scottish Chiefs," her enthusiasm railway speculators and angry protectionists; in the cause of Sir William Wallace to the influwe do not say which state of things is best or ence of an old "Scotch wife's" tales and ballads worst, we desire merely to account for what may produced upon her mind while in early childbe called the taste for heroic literature at that hood. time, and the taste for-we really hardly know as "beautiful green banks," which rose in natShe wandered amid what she describes what to call it-literature of the present, made ural terraces behind her mother's house, and up, as it too generally is, of shreds and patches where a cow and a few sheep occasionally fed. -bits of gold and bits of tinsel-things written This house stood alone, at the head of a little in a hurry to be read in a hurry, and never square, near the high school; the distinguished thought of afterward-suggestive rather than Lord Elchies formerly lived in the house, which reflective, at the best; and we must plead guilty was very ancient, and from those green banks to a too great proneness to underrate what our it commanded a fine view of the Frith of Forth. fathers probably overrated. for her infant sister (whom she loved more dearWhile gathering "gowans" or other wild flowers ly than her life, during the years they lived in most tender and affectionate companionship), she frequently encountered this aged woman with her knitting in her hand; and she would speak to the eager and intelligent child of the blessed quiet of the land, where the cattle were browswould talk of the awful times of the brave Sir ing without fear of an enemy; and then she William Wallace, when he fought for Scotland "against a cruel tyrant; like unto them whom Abraham overcame when he recovered Lot, with all his herds and flocks, from the proud foray of the robber kings of the South," who, she never failed to add, pressing the stranger in a foreign land! for the were all rightly punished for opLord careth for the stranger." Miss Porter says that this woman never omitted mingling pious allusions with her narrative, "Yet she was a person of low degree, dressed in a coarse woolen gown, and a plain Mutch cap clasped under the chin with a silver brooch, which her father had worn at the battle of Culloden." Of course she filled with tales of Sir William Wallace and the Bruce, the listening ears of the lovely Saxon child who treasured them in her heart and brain, until they fructified in after years into the "Scottish Chiefs." Pastor's Fireside," and a number of other tales To these two were added "The and romances; she contributed to several annuals and magazines, and always took pains to keep up the reputation she had won, achieving a large share of the popularity, to which, as an author, she never looked for happiness. No one could be more alive to praise or more grateful for attention, but the heart of a genuine, pure, loving woman, beat within Jane Porter's bosom, and she was never drawn out of her domestic circle by the flattery that has spoiled so many, It was on the publication of Miss Porter's ably balanced by her home affections, which remen as well as women. Her mind was admirtwo first works in the German language that mained unsullied and unshaken to the end of their author was honored by being made a Lady her days. She had, in common with her three of the Chapter of St. Joachim, and received the brothers and her charming sister, the advantage gold cross of the order from Wurtemberg; but of a wise and loving mother-a woman pious "The Scottish Chiefs" was never so popular without cant, and worldly-wise without being on the continent as "Thaddeus of Warsaw," worldly. Mrs. Porter was born at Durham, although Napoleon honored it with an interdict, and when very young bestowed her hand and to prevent its circulation in France. If Jane heart on Major Porter; an old friend of the

This story brought her abundant honors, and rendered her society, as well as the society of her sister and brother, sought for by all who aimed at a reputation for taste and talent. Mrs. Porter, on her husband's death (he was the younger son of a well-connected Irish family, born in Ireland, in or near Coleraine, we believe, and a major in the Enniskillen dragoons), sought a residence for her family in Edinburgh, where education and good society are attainable to persons of moderate fortunes, if they are well born;" but the extraordinary artistic skill of her son Robert required a wider field, and she brought her children to London sooner than she had intended, that his promising talents might be cultivated. We believe the greater part of "Thaddeus of Warsaw" was written in London, either in St. Martin's-lane, Newportstreet, or Gerard-street, Soho (for in these three streets the family lived after their arrival in the metropolis); though as soon as Robert Ker Porter's abilities floated him on the stream, his mother and sisters retired, in the brightness of their fame and beauty, to the village of Thames Ditton, a residence they loved to speak of as their "home." The actual labor of "Thaddeus"- her first novel-must have been considerable; for testimony was frequently borne to the fidelity of its localities, and Poles refused to believe that the author had not visited Poland; indeed, she had a happy power in describing localities.

eighty-the blue ribbons and good-natured frankness of Anna Maria, and the noble courtesy of Jane, who received visitors as if she granted an audience; this manner was natural to her; it was only the manner of one whose thoughts have dwelt more on heroic deeds, and lived more with heroes than with actual living men and women; the effect of this, however, soon passed away, but not so the fascination which was in all she said and did. Her voice was soft and musical, and her conversation addressed to one person rather than to the company at large, while Maria talked rapidly to every one, or for every one who chose to listen. How happily the hours passed! we were shown some of those extraordinary drawings of Sir Robert, who gained an artist's reputation before he was twenty, and attracted the attention of West and Shee* in his mere boyhood. We heard all the interesting particulars of his panoramic picture of the Storming of Seringapatam, which, the first of its class, was known half over the world. We must not, however, be

family assures us that two or three of their remember the formal, old-fashioned courtesy of children were born in Ireland, and that certain- the venerable old lady, who was then nearly ly Jane was among the number;* although she left Ireland when in early youth, perhaps almost an infant, she certainly must be considered "Irish," as her father was so both by birth and descent, and esteemed during his brief life as a brave and generous gentleman; he died young, leaving his lovely widow in straightened circumstances, having only her widow's pension to depend on. The eldest son-afterward Colonel Porter-was sent to school by his grandfather. We have glanced briefly at Sir Robert Ker Porter's wonderful talents, and Anna Maria, when in her twelfth year, rushed, as Jane acknowledged, "prematurely into print." Of Anna Maria we knew personally but very little; enough, however, to recall with a pleasant memory her readiness in conversation, and her bland and cheerful manners. No two sisters could have been more different in bearing and appearance: Maria was a delicate blonde, with a riant face, and an animated manner-we had said almost peculiarly Irish-rushing at conclusions, where her more thoughtful and careful sister paused to consider and calculate. The misunderstood-there was neither personal nor beauty of Jane was statuesque, her deportment serious yet cheerful, a seriousness quite as natural as her younger sister's gayety; they both labored diligently, but Anna Maria's labor was sport when compared to her elder sister's careful toil; Jane's mind was of a more lofty order, she was intense, and felt more than she said, while Anna Maria often said more than she felt; they were a delightful contrast, and yet the harmony between them was complete; and one of the happiest days we ever spent, while trembling on the threshold of literature, was with them at their pretty road-side cottage, in the village of Esher, before the death of their venerable and dearly-beloved mother, whose rectitude and prudence had both guided and sheltered their youth, and who lived to reap with them the harvest of their industry and exertion. We remember the drive there, and the anxiety as to how those very "clever ladies" would look, and what they would say; we talked over the various letters we had received from Jane, and thought of the cordial invitation to their cottage-their "mother's cottage"as they always called it. We remember the old white friendly spaniel who looked at us with blinking eyes, and preceded us up-stairs; we

* Miss Porter never told me she was an Irishwoman, but once she questioned me concerning my own parentage and place of birth; and upon my explaining that my mother was an English woman, my father Irish, and that I was born in Ireland, which I quitted early in life, she observed her own circumstances were very similar to mine. For my own part, I have no doubt that she was Irish by birth and by descent on the father's side, but it will be no difficult matter to obtain direct evidence of the facts; and we hope that some Irish patriotic friend will make due inquiries on the subject. During her life, I had no idea of her connection with Ireland, or I should certainly have ascertained if my own country had a claim of which it may be justly proud.

family egotism in the Porters; they invariably spoke of each other with the tenderest affection

but unless the conversation was forced by their friends, they never mentioned their own, or each other's works, while they were most ready to praise what was excellent in the works of others; they spoke with pleasure of their sojourns in London; while their mother said, it was much wiser and better for young ladies who were not rich, to live quietly in the country, and escape the temptations of luxury and display. At that time the " young ladies" seemed to us certainly not young; that was about two-and-twenty years ago, and Jane Porter was seventy-five when she died. They talked much of their previous dwelling at Thames Ditton, of the pleasant neighborhood they enjoyed there, though their mother's health and their own had much improved since their residence on Esher-hill; their little garden was bounded at the back by the beautiful park of Claremont, and the front of the house overlooked the leading roads, broken as they are by the village green, and some noble elms. The view is crowned by the high trees of Esher-place, opening from the village on that side of the brow of the hill. Jane pointed out the locale of the proud Cardinal Wolsey's domain, inhabited during the days of his power over Henry VIII, and in their cloudy evening, when that capricious monarch's favor changed to bitterest hate. It was the very spot to foster her high romance, While she could at the same time enjoy the sweets of that domestic converse she loved best of all. We were prevented by the occupations and heart-beatings of our own literary labors

*In his early days the President of the Royal Academy painted a very striking portrait of Jane Porter, as "Mi. randa," and Harlowe painted her in the canoness dress of the order of St. Joachim.

the affectionate welcome she so well deserved afflicted with so severe an illness, that we, in in many homes, where friends vied with each common with her other friends, thought it imother to fill the void in her sensitive heart. She possible she could carry out her plan of jourwas of too wise a nature, and too sympathizing neying to St. Petersburgh to visit her brother, a habit, to shut out new interests and affections, Sir Robert Ker Porter, who had been long united but her old ones never withered, nor were they to a Russian princess, and was then a widower; ever replaced; were the love of such a sister- her strength was fearfully reduced; her once friend-the watchful tenderness and uncom- round figure become almost spectral, and little promising love of a mother-ever "replaced," beyond the placid and dignified expression of to a lonely sister or a bereaved daughter! Miss her noble countenance remained to tell of her Porter's pen had been laid aside for some time, former beauty; but her resolve was taken; she when suddenly she came before the world as wished, she said, to see once more her youngest the editor of "Sir Edward Seward's Narrative," and most beloved brother, so distinguished in and set people hunting over old atlases to find several careers, almost deemed incompatibleout the island where he resided. The whole as a painter, an author, a soldier, and a diplowas a clever fiction; yet Miss Porter never matist, and nothing could turn her from her confided its authorship, we believe, beyond her purpose: she reached St. Petersburgh in safety, family circle; perhaps the correspondence and and with apparently improved health, found her documents, which are in the hands of one of brother as much courted and beloved there as her kindest friends (her executor), Mr. Shep- in his own land, and his daughter married to herd, may throw some light upon a subject a Russian of high distinction. Sir Robert which the "Quarterly" honored by an article. We think the editor certainly used her pen, as well as her judgment, in the work, and we have imagined that it might have been written by the family circle, more in sport than in earnest, and then produced to serve a double purpose.

After her sister's death Miss Jane Porter was

longed to return to England. He did not complain of any illness, and every thing was arranged for their departure; his final visits were paid, all but one to the Emperor, who had ever treated him as a friend; the day before his intended journey he went to the palace, was graciously received, and then drove home,

but when the servant opened the carriage-door | at his own residence he was dead! One sorrow after another pressed heavily upon her, yet she was still the same sweet, gentle, holyminded woman she had ever been, bending with Christian faith to the will of the Almighty"biding her time."

How differently would she have "watched and waited" had she been tainted by vanity, or fixed her soul on the mere triumphs of "literary reputation." While firm to her own creed, she fully enjoyed the success of those who scramble up where she bore the standard to the heights-of Parnassus; she was never more happy than when introducing some literary "Tyro" to those who could aid or advise a future career. We can speak from experience of the warm interest she took in the Hospital for the cure of Consumption, and the Governesses' Benevolent Institution; during the progress of the latter, her health was painfully feeble, yet she used personal influence for its success, and worked with her own hands for its bazaars. She was ever aiding those who could not aid themselves; and all her thoughts, words, and deeds, were evidence of her clear, powerful mind, and kindly loving heart; her appearance in the London coteries was always hailed with interest and pleasure; to the young she was especially affectionate; but it was in the quiet mornings, or in the long twilight evenings of summer, when visiting her cherished friends at Shirley Park, in Kensingtonsquare, or wherever she might be located for the time-it was then that her former spirit revived and she poured forth anecdote and illustration, and the store of many years' observation, filtered by experience and purified by that delightful faith to which she held-that "all things work together for good to them that love the Lord." She held this in practice, even more than in theory: you saw her chastened yet hopeful spirit beaming forth from her gen

tle eyes, and her sweet smile can never be forgotten. The last time we saw her, was about two years ago-in Bristol-at her brother, Dr. Porter's house in Portland-square: then she could hardly stand without assistance, yet she never complained of her own suffering or feebleness-all her anxiety was about the brother-then dangerously ill, and now the last of "his race." Major Porter, it will be remembered, left five children, and these have

We did not think at our last leave-taking that Miss Porter's fragile frame could have so long withstood the Power that takes away all we hold most dear; but her spirit was at length summoned, after a few days' total insensibility, on the 24th of May.

We were haunted by the idea that the pretty
cottage at Esher, where we spent those happy
hours, had been treated even as "Mrs. Porter's
Arcadia" at Thames Ditton-now altogether
removed; and it was with a melancholy pleas-
ure we found it the other morning in nothing
changed; it was almost impossible to believe
that so many years had passed since our last
visit. While Mr. Fairholt was sketching the
cottage, we knocked at the door, and were
kindly permitted by two gentle sisters, who
now inhabit it, to enter the little drawing-room
and walk round the garden; except that the
drawing-room has been re-papered and painted,
and that there were no drawings and no flowers,
the room was not in the least altered; yet to us
it seemed like a sepulchre, and we rejoiced to
breathe the sweet air of the little garden, and
listen to a nightingale, whose melancholy ca-
dence harmonized with our feelings.

"Whenever you are at Esher," said the de-
voted daughter, the last time we conversed with
her, "do visit my mother's tomb."
We did so.

A cypress flourishes at the head of the grave;
and the following touching inscription is carved
on the stone:

HERE SLEEPS IN JESUS A CHRISTIAN WIDOW
JANE PORTER

OBIIT JUNE 18TH, 1831, TAT. 86;

THE BELOVED MOTHER OF

W. PORTER, M.D., OF SIR ROBERT KER PORTER,
AND OF JANE AND ANNA MARIA PORTER,

left only one descendant-the daughter of Sir WHO MOURN IN HOPE, HUMBLY TRUSTING TO BE BORN

Robert Ker Porter and the Russian Princess

whom he married, a young Russian lady, whose present name we do not even know.

OF THEIR LORD AND SAVIOUR.

RESPECT HER GRAVE, FOR SHE MINISTERED TO THE POOR

[From the Gallery of Nature.]

SHOOTING STARS AND METEORIC
SHOWERS.

the subject assumes a strictly astronomical aspect, and claims a place in a treatise on the economy of the solar system.

The first attempt accurately to investigate these elegant meteors was made by two uniROM every re-versity students, afterward Professors Brandes gion of the globe of Leipsic, and Benzenberg of Dusseldorf, in the and in all ages year 1798. They selected a base line of 46,200 of time within feet, somewhat less than nine English miles, and the range of his-placed themselves at its extremities on appointed tory, exhibitions nights, for the purpose of ascertaining their of apparent in- average altitude and velocity. Out of twentystability in the two appearances identified as the same, they heavens have found been observed, when the curttains of the evening have been drawn. Suddenly, a line of light

arrests the eye, darting like an arrow through a varying extent of space, and in a moment the firmament is as sombre as before. pearance is exactly that of a star falling from The apits sphere, and hence the popular title of shooting star applied to it. The apparent magnitudes of these meteorites are widely different, and also their brilliancy. Occasionally, they are far more resplendent than the brightest of the planets, and throw a very perceptible illumination upon the path of the observer. A second or two commonly suffices for the individual display, but in some instances it has lasted several minutes. In every climate it is witnessed, and at all times of the year, but most frequently in the autumnal months. As far back as records go, we meet with allusions to these swift and evanescent luminous travelers. Minerva's hasty flight from the peaks of Olympus to break the truce between the Greeks and Trojans, is compared by Homer to the emission of a brilliant star. Virgil, in the first book of the Georgics, mentions the shooting stars as prognosticating weather changes:

"And oft, before tempestuous winds arise,

The seeming stars fall headlong from the skies,
And, shooting through the darkness, gild the night
With sweeping glories and long trains of light."

Various hypotheses have been framed to explain the nature and origin of these remarkable appearances. When electricity began to be understood, this was thought to afford a satisfactory explanation, and the shooting stars were regarded by Beccaria and Vassali as merely electrical sparks. When the inflammable nature of the gases became known, Lavosier and Volta supposed an accumulation of hydrogen in the higher regions of the atmosphere, because of its inferior density, giving rise by ignition to the meteoric exhibitions. While these theories of the older philosophers have been shown to be untenable, there is still great obscurity resting upon the question, though we have reason to refer the phenomena to a cause exterior to the bounds of our atmosphere. Upon this ground,

7 under 45 miles

9 between 45 and 90 miles
5 above 90 miles

1 above 140 miles

The greatest observed velocity gave twenty-five
organized by Brandes in the year 1823, and car-
miles in a second. A more extensive plan was
ried into effect in the neighborhood of Breslaw.
heights were,
Out of ninety-eight appearances, the computed

4 under 15 miles

15 from 15 to 30 miles 22 from 30 to 45 miles 33 from 45 to 70 miles 13 from 70 to 90 miles 6 above 90 miles

5 from 140 to 460 miles.

The velocities were between eighteen and thirtysix miles in a second, an average velocity far greater than that of the earth in its orbit.

of a more extraordinary kind, though a rare The rush of luminous bodies through the sky occurrence, has repeatedly been observed. They are usually discriminated from shooting stars, and known by the vulgar as fire-balls; but probably both proceed from the same cause, and are identical phenomena. They have sometimes been seen of large volume, giving an intense light, a hissing noise accompanying their progress, and a loud explosion attending their termination. In the year 1676, a meteor passed over Italy about two hours after sunset, upon which Montanari wrote a treatise. It came over the Adriatic Sea as if from Dalmatia, crossed the country in being heard at the latter place, and disappeared the direction of Rimini and Leghorn, a loud report upon the sea toward Corsica. A similar visitor forms the subject of one of Halley's papers to was witnessed all over England, in 1718, and the Royal Society. Sir Hans Sloane was one of its spectators. Being abroad at the time of its appearance, at a quarter past eight at night, in the streets of London, his path was suddenly and intensely illuminated. This, he apprehended at first, might arise from a discharge of rockets; but found a fiery object in the heavens, moving after the manner of a falling star, in a direct line from the Pleiades to below the girdle of Orion. Its brightness was so vivid, that several times he was obliged to turn away his eyes from it. The stars disappeared, and the moon, then nine days old, and high near the meridian, the sky being