attractive as she was, and known to be related by marriage to one so great and wealthy as Blue Beard, we cannot doubt that many an admiring eye was fixed upon her; but we are not told of her conquests: she keeps, from choice, not from necessity, in the back ground; she resides with her sister because she deems it her duty to be a companion, guide, and adviser to one placed in so perilous a situation, having every temptation around her, and little or no discretion to guide her through the dangerous maze; but, in the midst of luxury and dissipation, she preserves her serenity and her solidity of disposition. We do not find that the wife of Blue Beard imparts to her sister her resolution. to gratify her fatal curiosity. The cause is easy to divine: she could not doubt the nature of the answer she should receive, she shrinks from the thought of the grave rebuke and sorrowful surprise of the calm and collected Sister Anne. And here it is worthy to remark, that Sister Anne's self-control, discretion, and prudence are additionally praiseworthy, because in her immediate circle there was nothing to cherish these virtues, but everything to blight them. Her mother (as her visit to Blue Beard after his rejection by her daughters testifies,) was essentially a worldly and interested woman; her younger sister exhibits too sad a proof of her want of all self-control and selfdenial; and the friends of the family act in a manner which impresses us with a very poor opinion of their good sense and good taste. Without even waiting for the formality of an invitation, they visit, we are told, the wife of Blue Beard in his absence, 'run from room to room, and from wardrobe to wardrobe, looking into each with wonder and delight, and saying that every fresh one they come to is richer and finer than what they had seen the moment before.' Now, we might make allowance for the unsophisticated delight of people in the lower classes of life, at beholding rich hangings and splendidly-adorned rooms; but the mother of Blue Beard's wife and Sister Anne, is, we are expressly told, a lady of rank,' and from her evidently ambitious nature, and habits of shrewd calculating policy, it is not likely that she would associate with companions at all inferior to herself in the grades of society. A subdued and collected manner is generally thought to characterize individuals of a high station in life; therefore, that these friends of the family should so far forget themselves as to testify childish and inordinate rapture at the gauds and decorations surrounding them, proves them to be more than commonly frivolous, more than usually attached to the vanities and toys of life, and shows that Sister Anne has been subjected to the disadvantages of being educated in a complete vortex of folly and worldliness. I will not dwell on the unhappy curiosity of Blue Beard's wife, and its unexpected detection. I will Feb., 1847.-VOL. XLVIII.-NO. CXC. N merely notice a very remarkable fact, which speaks volumes as to Sister Anne's deserved reputation for prudence and principle in the house of her brother-in-law. Blue Beard severely denounces and threatens his wife; but he never alludes to Sister Anne, as having been her probable confidante and coadjutor in her presumptuous undertaking: nay, it is very clear that he has not the slightest misgiving on the subject; otherwise he would not permit his sister-in-law to be at large in his castle. Why is this?— is it that Blue Beard is naturally of an unsuspicious temper? Far from it he is remarkably distrustful; else why leave his young wife avowedly for some weeks, and return the same night?why prepare the magic key as a test of her truth; which, if used, is to contract a perpetual stain? Blue Beard had been an oppressor of the female race. Where we injure we always dislike. Doubtless, he had a very bad opinion of women in general; but the mild virtues and excellent principles of Sister Anne had become so well known to him during her residence in his house, that he deems it unnecessary to ask the question, whether she had aided her sister in a wrong action; he feels intuitively convinced that her sister would not even have dared to consult her on the subject. "The unhappy victim of curiosity is told by her tyrannical husband that she has only seven minutes and a half to live. She calls her sister to her. Most weak women-and the wife of Blue Beard was unquestionably a very weak one-would have passed these few remaining minutes in weeping on the bosom of a sister; but she acts differently, she implores Sister Anne to watch from the tower for the means of her deliverance. Is it not evident from this, that she has been accustomed from infancy to rely upon Sister Anne as a protectress in times of danger and difficulty? that she cannot, even in this moment of imminent peril, but cling to the hope that she will still be rescued from impending destruction, by the aid of her fearless and energetic relative? Sister Anne's conduct is like herself: we are told that she straight complied. She did not yield to unavailing grief; she did not break forth into passionate reproaches against her brother-in-law; she did not seek him for the purpose of endea vouring to soften his mind by her interposition; she did not, as many very good people are apt to do, express their wonder that one so nearly connected with herself should have been guilty of so grievous an indiscretion; she does nothing, in short, which can abbreviate by a minute the term prescribed for the duration of her sister's life. How excellent a quality is promptness! How admirable in cases of difficulty are those people who straight pursue the course which it is most wise for them to take! Årrived at the top of the tower, Sister Anne alternately exercises her eyes in strenuously watching for the approach of the brothers who would protect and deliver her unhappy sister, and her voice in conveying to the poor trembler, who hovers on the verge of destruction, the result of her anxious scrutiny. And here let me observe, how desirable it is that all women should endeavour to fortify their nerves and spirits by diligent self-training, and careful regulation of the mind. Had Sister Anne been in the habit of giving way to her feelings, her eyes would have been dimmed with tears, her tones would have faltered and become indistinct through apprehension; nay, probably she would have fallen into a deep swoon, and only have recovered to weep over the lifeless body of her murdered sister. She was not, however, a sickly sentimentalist; she was not content to weep over those dangers which it might be in her power to avert; she was not inclined to faint at the contemplation of those wrongs which she might perhaps have the means of redressing: strong in frame, active in mind, she persisted in her vigilant scrutiny, useless and discouraging as it appeared to be. And now came a still heavier trial for the admirable Sister Anne. The time allowed by the ruthless Blue Beard for the remainder of his wife's life had expired: in fierce, inexorable tones he called for his victim; he bitterly chid her delay, he threatened to drag her to her fate! Even a courageous woman in the situation of Sister Anne might then have said, 'I have striven to the utmost to save my sister; my efforts have been ineffectual, no aid approaches, the period allotted to her to prepare for death has elapsed; why, then, should I continue my vain endeavours? why should I infuriate her ty rannical husband against myself? He will discover that I am giving information to my sister, which tends to keep alive the smothered flame of hope in her breast; his vengeance will speedily be transferred to myself, I shall probably be his next victim.' Thus might many a woman of courage have reasoned; but Sister Anne was a woman of principle as well as of courage. While she saw the most remote possibility of saving the life of a fellow-creature, she was willing to risk her own. She continued to watch for deliverance; at length, deliverance came; and in the very moment of impending death, the trembling wife of Blue Beard was snatched from the grasp of her pitiless destroyer by the immediate instrumentality of her brothers, but through the previous untiring, unflinching vigilance and courage of her sister. The palace of Blue Beard now becomes the abode of peace, and we hear that the excellent Sister Anne is presented with a marriage dowry by her grateful relative. Let me here address a word to those romantic young ladies, who, mistaking the reverse of wrong for right,' pride themselves on their ability to resist the snares of ambition, but eagerly rush into all the troubles and difficulties of what they denominate a love-match.' "Such damsels, I am aware, will hail in Sister Anne a conge nial mind when they read of her firm refusal of the wealthy and munificent Blue Beard; but at the conclusion of the story, a passage occurs which will induce them to alter their opinion. 'She, the widow of Blue Beard, gave a part of her vast fortune as a marriage dowry to her sister Anne, who soon after became the wife of a young gentleman who had long loved her.' This allusion cannot be mistaken: it is evident that Sister Anne had been for a considerable period fondly attached, nay, perhaps engaged to a faithful admirer, but that prudential motives had prevented her from giving her hand in marriage to him. Superior as she was to all interested feelings, she was yet aware that it is dangerous to seek happiness in the gloomy haunts of poverty; she was aware that, although to the youthful enthusiast 'A scrip with herbs and fruit supplied, And water from the spring,' may seem to afford all that is necessary and delightful in life, yet that advancing years will render the nerves more fastidious, the spirits more irritable, the mind more exacting; that mutual reproaches may then take the place of mutual flatteries, and that the pair who were once unable to part, may lament that they ever met. Unforeseen circumstances suddenly remove these objections. Sister Anne is enabled to bring a competent portion to her lover. It has been needful heretofore to keep him in suspense; it would be needless and cruel now to lengthen his probation. She soon after' became his wife; and if he ever thought her too cold, too cautious, surely now he must recant the accusation. The property that would have enabled her to command new proposals, and to enter into new scenes, is not even for a time devoted by her to any such purpose; she bestows it on him, and with it, bestows on him a gift beyond the mines of Potosi, that of her matchless self. How happy must have been the remainder of Sister Anne's life in the love of her chosen husband, and the affection of her rescued sister! Would my young female readers emulate her happiness, then let them emulate her character. Let them strive to copy her prudence, her judgment, her selfpossession, and, above all, her freedom from selfishness; let them endeavour to benefit both by precept and example those most nearly connected with them; let them be ever ready to admonish them in the hour of temptation, and to assist them in the time of peril; and thus may they hope to attain, like Sister Anne, the gratitude of their relatives, the applauses of the world, and (best and surest reward of all), the approbation of the 'still small voice' of conscience." CLASSIC HAUNTS AND RUINS. BY NICHOLAS MICHELL. No. XII. THE VALLEY OF HEALTH-REMAINS OF THE GREAT THEATRE OF POLYCLETUS. SOUTHWARD of Corinth, girt by many a steep, How beauteous still this mountain-guarded dell, Gush with the brook, and mount the soft-winged breeze, * The temple dedicated to Esculapius, the physician, in the valley of Epidauria, about five miles from the ancient city of Epidaurus, was one of the most renowned of antiquity. Few traces of this temple of health now meet the eye of the traveller, but the vale retains, if not all its original, very considerable beauty. |