"These summer wings Have borne me in my days of idle pleasure; I do discard them.""And, Benedick, love on; I will requite thee, Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand."
WE have a young relative, about whom we are going to relate a littleanecdote connected with insect history, which requires, however, afew prefatory words.
At the age of seventeen Emily S. "came out," gilt and lettered, fromthe Minerva Press of a fashionable boarding-school, and was twoyears afterwards bound (in white satin) as a bride. In the shortperiod intervening between these two important epochs, she had had aprodigious run of admiration. Sonnets had been penned on herpencilled brow, and the brows of rival beauties had contracted atthe homage paid to hers. All this Emily had liked wellenough--perhaps a little better than she ought; but where was thewonder? for besides excuses general (such as early youth and earlytraining) for loving the world and the world's vanities, she had anexcuse of her own, in the fact that she had nothing else to love--nomother, no sister, no home--no home at least in its largest andloving sense. She was the orphan but not wealthy ward of afashionable aunt, in whom the selfish regrets of age had entirelyfrozen the few sympathies left open by the selfish enjoyments ofyouth.
When Emily married, and for a few months previous, it was of courseto be presumed that she had found something better than the worldwhereon to fix the affection of her warm young heart. At all events,she had found a somebody to love her, and one who was worthy to beloved in return. Indeed, a better fellow than our friend F--doesnot live; but though fairly good-looking, and the perfect gentleman,he was not perhaps exactly the description of gentleman to exciteany rapid growth of romantic attachment in the bosom of an admiredgirl of nineteen.
Why did she marry him? Simply because amongst her admirers she likednobody better, and because her aunt, who was anxious to be relievedof her charge, liked nobody so well;--not because he had much tooffer, but because it was little he required.
Soon after their marriage the happy pair set out for Paris.F--though his means were slender and tastes retired, made every,effort (as far as bridegroom could so feel it) to gratify his livelyyoung wife by a stay at the capital of pleasure. After subsequentexcursion, they returned within a year to England, and settled at apretty cottage in Berkshire, to which we speedily received a cordialinvitation. It was no less readily accepted; for we were anxious tobehold the "rural felicity," of which we little doubted our friendswere in full possession.
The result, however, of a week's sojourn at their quiet abode, wasthe reluctant opinion that, somehow or another, the marriagegarments of the young couple did not sit quite easy; though to pointout the defect in their make, or to discover where they girted, werematters on which it required more time to form a decided judgment.One thing, however, was pretty obvious. With her matronly title,Emily had not assumed an atom of that seriousness--not sad, butsober--which became her new estate; nor did she, as we shrewdlysuspected, pay quite as much attention to the cares of her littlemenage as was rendered incumbent by the limited amount of herhusband's income. She seemed, in short, the same thoughtlesspleasure-loving, pleasure-seeking girl as ever; now that she wascaptured, the same volatile butterfly as when surrounded and chasedby butterflies like herself. But her captor? asks some modernPetruchio--had he not, or could he not contrive to clip her pinions?
Poor F--! not he! he would have feared to "brush the dust" fromoff them; and, from something of this over-tenderness, had beenfeeding, with the honeyed pleasures of the French capital, thosetastes which (without them) might have been reconciled already tothe more spare and simple sociabilities of a retired Englishneighbourhood. He was only now trying the experiment which shouldhave been made a year ago, and that with a reluctant and undecidedhand.
Poor Emily! her love of gayety had now, it is true, but little scopefor its display; but it was still strongly apparent, in therapturous regret with which she referred to pleasures past, and therapturous delight with which she greeted certain occasional breaksin the monotony of a country life. An approaching dinner-party wouldraise her tide of spirits, and a, distant ball or bow-meeting makethem swell into a flood. On one or two of such occasions, we fanciedthat F--, though never stern, looked grave--grave enough to havebeen set down as an unreasonable fellow; if not by every one, atleast by that complex "everybody" who declared that his wife was"one of the prettiest and sweetest little women in the world," and,as everybody must be right, so of course it was.
Rarely, indeed, had our gentle Benedick beheld the face of his"Young May Moon" absolutely obscured; but then it had always beenhis care to chase away from it every passing or even approachingcloud; and he would certainly have liked, in return, that its verybrightest rays should have shone on him direct, instead of reachinghim only, as it were, reflected from what in his eyes, certainly,were very inferior objects.
We had passed some weeks at our entertainer's cottage when rumoursgot afloat, such as had not disturbed for many a year the standingand sometimes stagnant pool of Goslington society. The son of LordW--was about to come of age, and the event was to be celebrated bygrand doings; a varied string of entertainments, to be wound up, soit was whispered, by a great parti-coloured or fancy ball. Rumourswere soon silenced by certainty, and our friends were amongst thosewho received an invitation to meet all the world of Goslington and afragment of the world of London, about to be brought into strangeconjunction at W--Castle. What shapes! grotesque, and gay, andgorgeous--ghosts of things departed--started up before the sparklingeyes of Emily, as she put the reviving talisman into F--'s hand.No wonder that her charmed sight failed to discover what was,however, sufficiently apparent, that her husband's delight at thehonour done them by no means equalled hers. Indeed, we were prettycertain that not merely dissatisfaction, but even dissent, was to beread in his compressed lip, and, for once, forbidding eye.
Nothing was said then upon the subject; but we saw the next morningsomething very like coolness on the part of F--towards his wife,which was returned on hers by something very like petulance. Ah!thought we, it all comes of this unlucky fancy ball! We had oftenheard it declared by our friend that he hated every species ofmasquerade, and would never allow (though this as certainly beforehis marriage) either sister, wife, or daughter of his to attend one.But, besides this aversion for such entertainments in general, hehad reasons, as we afterwards gathered, for disliking, inparticular, this fancy ball of Lord W--'s. Amongst the "LondonWorld" Emily would be sure to meet several of her quondamacquaintances, perhaps admirers; and though he was no jealoushusband, he preferred, on many accounts, that such meetings shouldbe avoided.
The slight estrangement spoken of did not wholly pass away, thoughso trifling were its tokens that no eye less interested than our ownmight have noticed their existence. Indeed, neither of the partiesseemed really angry with the other, appearing rather to think itincumbent on them to keep up a certain show of coolness; butwhenever the sunny smile of Emily broke even partially through thehalf-transparent cloud, it dissolved in an instant the half-formedice of her husband's manner. By mutual consent the subject of thefancy ball seemed left in abeyance, and while in every circle, formiles round, it formed the central topic, in ours it was the themeforbid. Thence we tried to infer that it was a matter abandoned, andthat Emily's better judgment, if not her good feeling, haddetermined her to give up her own liking, on this the very firstoccasion on which, we believe, her husband had ever thwarted it.
Well--whether, as with us, awaited in silence, or, as with the many,harbingered by the music of many voices--the grand event marched on;and a day was only wanted of its expected arrival when businesscalled F--to London, from whence he was not to return till late atnight. Soon after his departure, which followed an early breakfast,we left Emily, as we supposed, to the business of her littlehousehold, and repaired, as was our wont, to the library,--a smallapartment which our friend F--had made the very bijou of hispretty cottage. It was tastefully fitted up in the gothic style,with a window of painted glass,--a window, by the way, especiallysuited to a book-room, not merely as pleasing to the eye but for acorrespondence which has often struck us. The many-coloured panes,through which the light of day finds entrance, form no unfittingsymbol of a library's contents, whereby the light of intelligence ispoured upon the mind through as many varied mediums, from the deep,cold, black and blue of learned and scientific lore to the glowingflame colour and crimson of poetry and romance. Having taken down achoice copy of the Faery Queen, we committed our person to an ebonyarm-chair, and our spirit to the magic guidance of our author'sfancy. Obedient to its leading, we were careering somewhere betwixtearth and heaven, when a slight noise brought us down for a momentto our proper sphere; yet hardly,--for on looking up we beheld,standing in the wake of a coloured sun-beam, from which, on wing ofgossamer, she seemed to have just descended, an unexpectedapparition of surpassing grace and beauty. Titania's self, juststepped upon the moonlit earth, could scarcely have stood poised onan unbroken flower-stalk, in form more airy, in attitude moregraceful, with countenance more radiant than those of Emily F--,as, arrayed in likeness of the Faery Queen, she thus burst upon ourview, and with an air half-archly playful, half-proudly triumphant,enjoyed our bewildered surprise, and received the involuntary homageof our admiration.
We saw in a moment how the matter stood; Emily was really going tothe fancy ball; and this, of the Queen of Fays, was the fantasticand too bewitching costume she had chosen to assume. Knowing herkind heart, and having believed that its best affections had beengained by her estimable husband, if not bestowed on him at first, wewere vexed and disappointed in our young relation, and felt it onlyright to give, if we could, a check to her buoyant vanity, byletting her feel the weight of our disapproval,--shown, if notexpressed. "So I see, Emily," said I, in the coldest tone, "I see,after all, that you are going to this foolish ball."
The beaming countenance of the beautiful sylph darkened in a moment,like a cosmoramic landscape. "And why not?" returned she, pettishly;"I suppose, then, you don't approve."
"My approbation can be of very little import, if you possess thatof your own heart, and that of your husband. Under what character,pray, does he attend you? I suppose he plays Oberon to yourTitania?"
Emily's face reddened. Some strong emotion heaved her bosom, and Isaw that pride alone kept the starting tears from overflowing."Charles," said she, with an attempt at assumed indifference, "willnot be there at all; I am to go with Lady Forrester."
We felt more vexed than ever, and wished to say something which mightyet hinder the young wife's intention; but while considering what thatsomething should be, or whether, indeed, our age and slight relationshipgave a sufficient right to say anything, we looked down for a moment onour still open book. Of that moment Emily availed herself to effect anescape, and on raising our eyes we only caught a glimpse of herglittering wings as she glided through the doorway. Our first impulsewas to recall her; our next thought, to leave her to herself. If herbetter nature still struggled, remonstrance of ours, we considered,might only serve to set wounded pride against it; and wounded passions,like wounded bravoes, fight most desperately. We saw no more of ouryoung hostess till the hour of dinner, to which we sat down to atete-a-tete. Emily's sweet face had regained all its usual expressionof good humour, and by almost an excess of attention, and an effort atmore than ordinary liveliness, she strove to make amends for the slightebullition of temper stirred up by the morning's incident; but hersociability seemed forced, and we felt that our own was much of the samedescription.
Our after-dinner sitting was soon ended for an evening stroll. Ithad been a sultry day towards the end of August; the lazy zephyrshad been all asleep since noontide; so, with a view to meet thefirst of them which should happen to be stirring, we directed oursteps towards a high open heath, or common. Its summit was crownedby a magnificent beech, towards which we slowly ascended, under ashower of darts levelled by the declining sun; and, on arriving atthe tree, were right glad to seat ourselves on the circular benchwhich surrounded its smooth and bulky bole.
Here, in addition to the welcome boons of rest and shade, we werepresented gratis with the exhibition of a finer panorama, than theMessrs. Barker ever yet produced.
What a scene of tranquil splendour lay before us! one of thoseglowing pictures of the declining day and declining year, whereon,like a pair of dying painters, they seem to have combined theirutmost skill and richest colours in order to exceed, in a lasteffort, all the productions of their meridian prime.
After a few moments of silent admiration, we were on the point ofexclaiming to our young companion, "Oh! who could prefer the mostbrilliant ball-rooms to a scene like this?" but we checked theimpulse; for perhaps, thought we, the "still small voice," whichspeaks from all around us, is even now whispering to her heart. Butnever, we believe, was adder more deaf to the accents of the"charmer" than was Emily at that moment to those of nature. Hermind, we are pretty sure, was still running, and all the faster asshe approached it, on that fancy ball. Perhaps she suspected thatours was following the same turn, and knowing of old our habit ofmaking observations upon insects, she, by a little womanly artifice,availed herself of it to divert their course. Pointing with herparasol to a long procession of brown ants, which were crossing thefoot-worn area beneath the tree,--"Look," said she, "I suppose theyare going home to bed."
"Or perhaps to a ball," rejoined we, "quite unable to resist thepleasure of taking our fair cousin in her own ruse; but let usfollow them, and see."
Emily was delighted at having, as she thought, so ingeniously set uson our hobby, and attended us to the spot whither we had traced thelittle labourers. Their populous settlement bore no appearance ofevening repose. Other trains were approaching in various directions,to meet that which we had followed, and a multitude was covering theconical surface of, the ant-hill, as if taking a farewell bask inthe glowing sunset. Amidst the congregated many, and distinguishedfrom the common herd by very superior bulk and four resplendentwings, were several individual ants, which Emily (as well she might)mistook for flies, and inquired accordingly what could be theirbusiness in such incongruous society. "They are no flies," said we,"but ants themselves--female ants,--though with somewhat of the air,certainly, of being in masquerade or fancy costume. But say whatwe will of their attire, we must needs confess that they are intheir proper places; for they are the matrons of the community,and, as we see, they are at home."
Our young companion made no reply; but stooping down, seemed whollyengrossed by examination of the ant-hill. "Look," exclaimed she,presently; "there is one of these portly dames without any wings atall. I suppose some of her neighbours have taken up a spite againsther, and combined to strip her of her glittering appendages."
"By no means," we answered, "she has laid them aside by her ownvoluntary act. Only see, my dear Emily, here is one of her sisterseven now employed in the business of disrobing."
We both stooped, and watched narrowly the curious operation to whichwe had directed our young friend's attention. One of the largerinsects in question was actively employed in agitating her wings,bringing them before her head, crossing them in every direction,throwing them from side to side, and producing so many singularcontortions as to cause them all four to fall off at the samemoment, leaving her reduced to the same condition as her winglesssister. Fatigued, apparently, by her late efforts, she reposedawhile, after the accomplishment of her purpose, brushed her denudedcorselet with her feet, and then proceeding to burrow in the softearth of the hillock, was speedily lost to our observation. "Howvery odd!" said Emily; "what can possibly be the meaning of such astrange, unnatural proceeding?"
"I will tell you," replied we, "that which has been thought fully toexplain its intention. This insect female, in common with hersisters, has hitherto been privileged to lead a life of entireindolence and pleasure. A few days since, having risen from herlowly birth-place on those discarded pinions, we might have seen herdisporting in the air with some gay and gallant companions, ofinferior size, but winged like herself. But now her career ofpleasure, though not of happiness, being at an end, her life ofusefulness is about to begin, and, in character of a matron, she iscalled to the performance of such domestic duties as will henceforthconfine her to the precincts of her home.
"Of what use now, therefore, are the glittering wings which adornedand became her in her earlier youth? Their possession might only,perchance, have tempted her to desert the post which Nature, underDivine guidance, has instructed her to fill. Obedient to itsteaching, she has thus despoiled herself of the showy pinions which(essential to her enjoyment in the fields of air) would only haveencumbered her in the narrower but more important sphere of home."
Emily listened in silence to our lecture on Entomology, which musthave been delivered, we suppose, with peculiar clearness, as she didnot, according to her usual custom, follow it up by any furtherinquiry or comment. We soon afterwards bid adieu to the insectcommunity, and wended our way homewards.
F--returned from London the same evening; but availing ourselvesof an old friend's freedom, we had retired to bed before hisarrival.
Next morning ushered in the day, "the great, the important day" ofthe fancy ball--neither "heavily" nor "in clouds;" yet greatly didwe fear that the pleasant sunshine which greeted our opening eyeswould be met with no answering beams at the breakfast-table of ourfriends.
How agreeably, therefore, were we surprised, when, on entering theparlour, we at once perceived an expression of more perfect serenityon the countenances both of F--and his pretty wife, than had beenworn by either since the day of that confounded invitation.
"Ah!" thought we, "it's pretty plain how the matter is ended; thatwicked little fairy has wrought her charms for something--hascarried her point--and will carry her willing captive to the ball.What poor weak fools fond husbands are! Thank heaven that--Well!perhaps better so than worse."
Breakfast proceeded; chat in plenty; but not a syllable about thefancy ball; till, bursting to know how the case, so long pending,had really ended, we ventured on a pumping query--"At what hour,Emily," said we, "does Lady Forrester come to take you to the ball?"
"I have written to prevent her calling."
"Oh, then, you are going under other escort?" and we looked slyly atF--.
"I am not going at all," said Emily.
Here she put in ours her little white hand, and looked up archly inour face,--"I am not going, for I have laid aside my wings!"
"My good fellow!" said F--, as he took our other hand; "youdeserve to be made President of the Entomological Society."