Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Vol. 56, No. 346, August, 1844 by Various

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"Rather worse quarters than if you came into the great house, as my poor
mansion is called, but a mighty deal more comfortable than many I've had
to put up with. I remember bivouacking in a wet cave on the shores of
the Bay of Biscay. I was in command that day of the army of observation.
Carlos was on the heights of St Sebastian, and I was tired of
reconnoitring: I bivouacked, I tell you, in a cave--no blankets, no
counterpane, and covered with wounds. In the middle of the night I heard
a noise; looked up; it was pitch dark. I cocked my pistol, and fired
into the corner where the noise was made, and went to sleep again! In
the morning my aides-de-camp came in, and on groping in the cave, what
do you think we found?--but you will never guess it: a boa-constrictor--
an immense animal--thicker than stepfather's body. I had shot him right
through the eye, for I never missed a mark in my life."

"I thought you said it was pitch dark?" said Frank.

"Oh, no! you misunderstood me. I did not say it was dark, father?"

"Certainly not. You distinctly said it was light enough to see the
animal. I have heard you tell the story a dozen times. It was as light
as day."

Frank looked at the old gentleman with surprise, but said nothing; and
they proceeded as before.

"You will have no boa-constrictors to contend with," said The Chobb.
"One of the bed-rooms is splendidly furnished already. There is the
tent-bed in it which the general took from Tippoo Saib in Mexico; and as
to your dining-room and kitchen, why, you can dine with me." And here he
held out his hand, and shook Frank's again. "You will not have far to
come, and there will always be a knife and fork."

"He is certainly the most generous fellow in England," whispered the
general to Frank; "a perfect gentleman, and open as the day."

"We shall get on very well, I have no doubt," pursued the colonel, who
pretended not to have heard the general's remark; "but here comes the
landlord with dinner. I ordered it as I came up stairs; and, by way of
consolidating our friendship, I hope you will take it here to-day,
instead of in the great house."

Along with dinner came in the two brothers of The Chobb, and were
introduced in due form. The philanthropist who practised as attorney,
brought with him an agreement for the house; and the general explaining
to Frank that these business details were merely for form's sake, and
that he had told his step-son that the terms they had fixed on for the
cottage were for half a year at a rent of twenty pounds, Frank signed
the paper, and they all sat down to dinner. The Chobb presided, and the
general acted as vice.

"This is a mighty deal better than the buffalo soup we had at
Pondicherry, when we were besieged by Santa Anna and the Monte Videans,"
said the general.

"Or the tiger broth we had at Cadiz, when we were defending the town
against Don Pedro," said The Chobb. "I used to shoot the tigers myself,
which was capital amusement."

"At Cadiz, did you say?" enquired Frank.

The Chobb nodded, and said--"You'll think it odd, perhaps; but I give
you my honour I never saw so many tigers in my life as during the whole
of that bombardment. I ought to remember it well, for I was in command
of the batteries--three of twelve twenty-fours, and one of six
thirty-twos."

"But tigers are not found in Spain," observed Frank.

"I beg your pardon," said The Chobb; "I did not say tigers. Did I say
tigers, General Hosham?"

"Certainly not; you said merino sheep. I remarked it particularly."

"So did I," said the philanthropic attorney.

"I will trouble you, sir," said The Chobb, twisting his mustaches, "to
be a little more particular in your recollection of what I said. How
could any person think I could talk such nonsense as to mention tigers
in Spain?"

"There are tigers in Mexico, though," observed the general, "and we must
excuse our young friend if he confused between the two places. I was
generalissimo, and remember the whole thing perfectly; and very bad
broth they made. The Chobb," he added in a low tone to Frank, "is very
touchy if any one interrupts him in his anecdotes. He has seen an
immense deal of service though he is so young, and is very instructive
and entertaining."

Frank held his tongue, and listened the whole evening to the Mexican and
Spanish recollections of the two warriors. His object was too nearly
gained to throw it away by a quarrel with his new friends; and he played
cards with them till a late hour, and lost, at the end of the evening,
sixteen points.

"We played guinea points," said The Chobb, rising to go away, he having
always paid his losses in shillings, "and I will thank you for sixteen."

"We were playing shilling points, you will remember," said Frank.

"General Hosham," said The Chobb, "I merely appeal to you. What points
were we playing?"

"Does the other party refer it to me?" said the general, blandly
smiling; "you may both depend on my unbiased decision."

"Certainly, sir," said Frank; "there can't be a doubt upon the point."

"You were certainly playing guinea points," said the general, "as I am a
gentleman and a man of honour; but I think I know the origin of your
mistake. You saw that I and my step-son George were playing shilling
points; though I did most distinctly see you receive at the rate of
guinea points from my friend and step-son, Colonel Chobb."

Frank paid the money, and would have given ten times the amount, rather
than forego the chance of seeing Alice.

"And now good-night, my excellent friend and tenant," said the colonel;
"and, by the by, will you allow me to borrow the ten-pound note of you I
saw you take from your pocket? I wish to settle with the landlord as I
go down stairs--I hate running up a bill at an inn; and besides, we can
consider it a first instalment of your rent."

Frank gave him the ten-pound note; and the colonel, whose attentions to
wine and brandy-and-water had been unremitted, stuffed it into his
waistcoat pocket, and staggered out of the room. The general took leave
with the most stately courtesy, and soon followed.

"Now, then," said Frank, "one day will decide my fate. Time, money, and
temper will not have been wasted, if I get only half an hour's talk with
Alice Elstree."

CHAPTER V.

Mr Percy Marvale, in the mean time, had not been idle at Howkey. He had
established himself in the house, in spite of all the sour looks and
short answers Mr Smith could bestow on him. All his attempts at a
lodgment were aided by the invitations of Sibylla, whether conveyed in
words or in untranslatable smiles and glances. An instantaneous
friendship was established between him and the younger branches; and
from some of the children, who came down to see their papa, and
congratulate him on his return, he picked out a great mass of
information about the affairs of the nursery and school-room. There
certainly was as a governess--young, pretty, and very shy--exactly such
as he supposed Miss Elstree would be; and his hopes were further raised
by learning that her name was Alice. His next object was to see her--to
speak to her, if possible--and satisfy himself of her identity; for, as
the information contained in Frank's letter did not emanate from
himself, and he had not even been admitted by his principal to a
knowledge of its contents, he was not inclined to believe that the
discovery could be made without him.

By dint of remaining at Howkey till it was impossible for Old Smith to
avoid asking the friend of his preserver to stay all night, he managed
to make good his quarters on the ground of his operations, and resolved
to commence proceedings as early as possible in the morning. Sibylla lay
awake half the night, revolving all the strange speeches he had made
her--his allusions to the hidden treasure in the house--the lost star--
the incognito goddess--and tracing in all his fine expressions one
paramount idea of his anxiety to make himself master of a perfect
paragon of beauty and romance, she could not avoid coming to the
conclusion, that these were all metaphorical declarations of attachment
to herself. And, on the following day, her manner had derived so much
_empressement_ from these cogitations, that all the efforts of Monimia
on the imperturbable Frank were cast into the shade by the extraordinary
evolutions of the sentimental Sibylla.

"Gads!" said Mr Percy Marvale to himself, "this beats the Surrey all to
sticks. He must be shockingly rich"--he thought, looking round the
splendidly furnished drawing-room; "I'll see if I can't do a little
business on my own account, as well as Mr Edwards's."

"You've heard what I have been asking you, madam, about an undiscovered
jewel in this elegant abode? Pity it should be left to the dimness of
the rural shades!"

"Alas!" said Sibylla, casting down her eyes in modest embarrassment, "it
is little fitted to meet the eye of the world."

"It needs a fresh setting, that's all; and they say there's an exquisite
silversmith on the Scottish border. The railway brings him within twenty
hours."

A few arguments _pro_ and _con_--a few blushes--a few quotations from
the love scenes of the Surrey, and it was finally arranged. At three,
they were to meet at the foot of the lane, where a chaise was to be in
waiting; and Frank Edwards was left by his faithless assistant to look
after Alice Elstree for himself.

The village of Wibbleton had not slept all night for thinking of the new
inhabitant of the _cottage ornee_; and the landlord of the Rose and
Crown had not been backward in singing the praises of his generosity and
riches.

"Them Chobbs has cotch another pigeon," said the hostler to the boots;
"and a rare good thing they makes of that 'ere old house. The last
tenant paid 'em two years's rent in forfeit; and this 'un will do the
same."

"They are the bullyingest, meanestest, lyingest fellies as ever I heard
of," replied the boots. "Tom Chobbs, the eldest one, owes me no end of
money; but there aint no use asking it, for the whole kit on them--the
lawyer, the doctor, and the old corporal, his stepfather--would all
swear they had seen him pay it."

"They'll be found out some day, and the village cleared of them,"
replied the hostler; "and if they're in want of rope, I'll not grudge
ere a halter in the stable."

"But there he goes, poor young gentleman!--they'll not leave him a
farden of money if they get him into their clutches."

This pitying observation was made as Frank Edwards crossed over from the
hotel, and knocked at the door of the great house, to pay his respects
to The Chobb. Before he left the hotel, the landlord, with many
apologies, had presented his bill for the dinner of the day before,
which the military gentleman had forgotten to discharge. The door was
opened, and he was shown into a parlour on the ground floor, and told to
sit down till his arrival was announced.

"Maister's just a-coming, sir," said the slipshod maid, again putting
her head into the parlour where Frank was sitting; and in a few minutes
The Chobb, the general, the lawyer, and the medical man, walked into the
room.

"I must say, sir," said The Chobb, touching his hat slightly, which he
kept on while he spoke, "that this is rather extraordinary conduct, and
needs explanation."

"What do you allude to, sir? You asked me to call, and I now wait on
you."

"But you have not apologised, sir, nor rectified the mistake, if it
_was_ a mistake," he added, looking for support to the general.

"If it _was_ a mistake!" repeated that distinguished commander, looking
very stiff and solemn.

"Appearances are against it," chimed in the lawyer.

"What is it all about, gentlemen?" enquired Frank Edwards, biting his
lip.

"All about this, sir," replied The Chobb. "I am a gentleman, and I was
in hopes any tenant of mine would be a gentleman also; but when you
descend to such conduct as, in presence of these parties, you did last
night--there is no excuse for it--even the state of intoxication you
were in is no excuse--no excuse for it at all."

"No excuse for it at all!" repeated the general, looking stately and
solemn, as before.

"Perhaps the gentleman did it for a joke, and will make it good,"
suggested the benevolent lawyer.

"Oh, that's a different matter!" said The Chobb, slightly relaxing; "and
if the gentleman withdraws it, and replaces the sum correctly, I am the
last man in the world to find fault with a harmless pleasantry."

"As I don't know what you mean,"--Frank began.

"Oh, let me explain it!" interposed the general. "You offered last night
to pay my step-son, Colonel Chobb, a month's rent of your _cottage orne_
in advance. He agreed to accept it, and the ten-pound note with which
you discharged the amount turns out to be a flash note on the Bank of
Fashion. These are the simple facts. I regret to state that appearances
are against you."

"We do not know you, you will observe," said the lawyer. "And my
brother, Colonel Chobb, is always a great deal too careless in money
matters. He should not have let you the cottage without a reference."

"You also raised a slight suspicion by your attempt at a wrangle on the
guinea stakes," added the medical man.

"I am bound to say," observed the general, "that it would have an
awkward appearance in a court of justice."

"But"--

"Oh, you need not deny it!" said The Chobb. "I hate roundabout stories.
I am a gentleman. Was it a joke or not? Will you pay me a good ten-pound
note or not?"

"Where is this note?"

"It is in the hands of my children's governess. I have lodged it with
her for security, and gain her evidence if, unfortunately, the business
goes further."

"Gentlemen," said Frank, "before I answer you, I must insist on seeing
the lady, and the note exactly in the state it now is."

"Certainly! nothing can be fairer," said the general. "I will conduct
you to the school-room at once."

"I should like, if you please, to be paid for these documents first,"
said the lawyer. "The agreement stamp is very high."

"And, as short accounts make long friendships," said the medical man, "I
should like to receive my fee for attendance."

"What attendance, sir?" said Frank, whom even the approaching interview
with Alice could scarcely keep cool.

"I visited you professionally at the inn yesterday, sir, and sat by your
side till nearly twelve o'clock. Time with a medical man is money; and I
think my demand moderate at five guineas."

"Very moderate, indeed!" said The Chobb. "Sir Henry Halford would have
charged you five times the sum for half the time."

"But I never called this skilful physician in," said Frank, amazed in
spite of himself.

"Didn't you? But here comes General Hosham. General Hosham, did this
gentleman call me in professionally yesterday?"

"Most assuredly he did," replied the general. "I have a perfect
recollection of the fact; but perhaps he may confuse it with something
else. I thought I heard the name of Sir Henry Halford. He did not call
_him_ in. If I might advise, as an older man than any of you, and a
mutual friend of both parties, I would suggest that this gentleman had
better at once pay my step-son, George--Dr Chobb--five pounds--pounds
instead of guineas--a compromise is always best between friends. Pay him
the money, my good sir, and come up with me to the school-room."

A five-pound note instantly covered the doctor's face with smiles, and
two tens had the same effect upon the lawyer's.

"Now, sir," he said, "I go with you;" and, preceded by the general, he
went up a narrow flight of stairs.

"The French and Italian lessons are over," said the general, "and the
music is not yet begun." He opened a door, and, at the farther end of
the room, a young woman, with extraordinary breadth of back, was busy
over a large washing-tub, in the act of wringing a child's shirt. Five
or six dirty children were sewing and knitting, in different parts of
the room, and Frank looked round, enquiringly, to discover Alice
Elstree.

"This is the young lady that keeps the note," said the general. "Miss
M'Screigh, you have the evidence?"

"Tiel a toot!" said the lady thus appealed to in a broad Highland
accent, turning round from her labours, and displaying a countenance as
strongly redolent of Aberdeenshire as her tongue.

But Frank would wait for no further parley. He passed rapidly down
stairs, but was waylaid at the foot of them by The Chobb in person.
Frank was endowed with prodigious strength, and favoured the head of the
distinguished family with a dig in the ribs, that left him in the
condition of an exhausted air receiver.

"That's enough--assault and battery," said the philanthropist; "swinging
damages at the next assizes, and a comfortable bill of costs."

But Frank, regardless of Chobbs and assizes, pursued his way. He kicked
the crazy door open, and was rejoiced to find himself in the open air.
His progress through the village had not been unobserved by other eyes
besides those of the hostler and boots of the Rose and Crown. There was
a low thatched cottage on the opposite side of the road from the
residence of The Chobb; clusters of white roses clambered in all
directions over the wall, and the little lawn in front was tastefully
laid out, and the turf and shrubs kept in perfect order. Along the
gravel walks of this little lawn, walked slowly, as if in infirm health,
a middle-aged lady, leaning for support on the arm of a tall and
graceful girl; and ever and anon she turned on her companion's suffering
face a look of such love and sweetness--it was sure to create a smile
even on the wan lips of the invalid. That girl's eyes had rested on
Frank Edwards as he passed--a red flush had crossed her brow--a
whiteness, as of death, had come upon her cheek--and, leading the elder
lady with tottering steps to the garden bower, she had sat down beside
her, and covered her face with her hands, and burst into tears.

At the moment Frank Edwards emerged into the road, he was nearly jammed
against the railings in front of the thatched cottage, by the rapid
approach of a post-chaise. While he looked in at the window, the wheel
dipped into a rut, the axle instantaneously broke, and the body of the
carriage bumped upon the ground. In an instant he had secured the
horses, and the Chobb family, rushing out, advanced to the door of the
vehicle. With some difficulty the passengers were extracted, and
consisted of a tall dark-complexioned gentleman, with mustaches, looking
as sheepish and uncomfortable as possible.

"What! Marvale!" exclaimed Frank, "What has brought you here? and who is
the lady beside you?"

"Hush, my dear sir, she's in a faint."

"Why, William," cried the philanthropic attorney, "do you pretend not to
know us?"

"Ah! how d'ye do, George--ha'n't seen you a long time," said Percy
Marvale, looking contemptuously at the lawyer.

"You look very grand with these mustaches," continued George; "your own
father would scarcely know you."

"Is the old snob alive, then?" enquired the dutiful son.

"To be sure, and here he's coming. General Hosham, here's Bill come back
again."

"Has he brought back the watch and spoons?" enquired the affectionate
father; "if not, I'll have him up for the theft."

The fainting lady had been carried in the mean time by the villagers
into the thatched cottage, and into it Frank also proceeded to watch
over her recovery. Two ladies were bending over her; and, on Frank's
approach, the elder one looked up. The younger one also saw him. There
was nothing more needed than that look. Frank took a hand of each. There
was an end of his uncertainties. It was Alice Elstree and her mother.

While the recognitions were going on outside, and Sibylla was slowly
recovering, a phaeton had driven rapidly up, and Old Smith and his son
had jumped out, and laid violent hands on Percy Marvale's collar.

"You villain, you ruffian, you swindler!" began my old friend out of
breath.

"Actionable!" observed the philanthropic attorney. "I'll take down his
words."

"Where is my daughter, sir?"

"I don't know. I--that is--my friend Edwards"--

"What has he to do with it, sir?"

"I should say, sir," said General Hosham, advancing in a most polite
manner, and lifting his hat--"that it is probable the person alluded to
by my son is guilty of the crime, whatever it is you now charge my boy
with. The person has gone into that cottage, and you can arrest him on
the spot."

"Oho!" said Mr Smith, "I think I recollect your faces, my fine fellows.
Haven't we met at the quarter sessions? Was not there some rumour about
your extorting money from a tenant a year or two ago, by threats of
accusing him of passing a forged note?"

The general made a stately bow, and The Chobb himself, who had joined
the crowd, felt crestfallen, and limped back again into the house.

In the cottage all things proceeded favourably. Frank Edwards, with an
adroitness that would have done honour to the hero of one of Percy
Marvale's melodramas, assured the angry father that Sibylla had come, at
his special request, to act as companion to his bride, and consult as to
the preparations for the approaching wedding. And on that same evening
Sibylla and Frank accompanied Mrs Elstree and her daughter to my house,
where it was arranged they were to remain for three weeks or a month,
till the ceremony took place.

A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE CANAL WHICH CONNECTED THE NILE AND THE RED
SEA IN ANCIENT TIMES.

The questions relating to the different lines of communication between
Europe and India have been so frequently discussed of late, and such a
mass of ill-digested information on the subject has been printed, that
we shall not plunge into any discussion relating to the conflicting
opinions of the moderns, but proceed, without preface, to supply an
accurate history of the ancient canal which connected the Nile with the
Red Sea.[1] We are satisfied that any exact knowledge of what actually
existed in former times, and the precise object of the ancient
undertaking, are necessary, in order to form sound conclusions
concerning the future.

[1] For modern information, we refer our readers to the Reports on Steam
Navigation with India. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed.
14th July 1834, and 15th July 1837.

This canal, like every other in Egypt, had its origin in the formation
of a canal for irrigation, caused by an increased demand for arable
land, in consequence of the augmentation of the population. It was, in
its origin, one of the numerous canals which spread the waters of the
Nile for the irrigation of the land of Egypt.

The country between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea is intersected in
its longitude by a valley, which commences at Suez and joins the lake
Menzaleh and the eastern mouth of the Nile. The level of the Red Sea is
considerably higher than that of the Mediterranean. The difference at
high water is about thirty-two feet, six inches; and this difference is
seldom less than twenty-five feet, even at low water. The whole of this
valley would be inundated, and the waters of the Red Sea would flow into
the Mediterranean, through a series of lakes, were it not for a strong
embankment of elevated sand which forms the shore at Suez.

The existence of the bitter lakes in the lower levels of this valley
induced Aristotle,[1] and many of the ancients, to believe that Africa
had once been an island--Egypt having been separated from Syria and
Arabia by the union of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Colonel Leake,
in his map of Egypt, observes, "that there is no material obstacle to a
communication by lakes and inundations from Suez to the lake Menzaleh,
and to Tineh--by which Africa would become an island." And some
observations on the formation of a canal in this valley, will be found
in the _Memoire sur la communication de la Mer des Indes a la Mediterranee
par la Mer Rouge et l'Isthme de Soueys_, in the great French work on
Egypt.[2]

[1] Meteorologica, i. 14.

[2] Chap. iii. Sec. iii. and iv. p. 60 of the _Memoire_.

The valley running from Suez to Tineh is joined, about halfway between
the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, by another valley called Seba Biar,
which meets it at right angles, stretching in latitude from the
elevated ground on the right bank of the eastern branch of the Nile.
The valley of Seba Biar was the land of Goshen.[1] When this district
is first mentioned in history, it consisted of a low level, liable to
partial inundation, and affording good pasturage, though hardly suited
to regular cultivation. For this reason, and from its vicinity to
Syria, it was given by Joseph to the children of Israel, who were a
pastoral tribe. Though Joseph was the prime minister of the country,
under a dynasty of foreign conquerors--the Hyksos or Nomad Arabs--still
the laws and usages of a dense native population placed such restraint
on the sovereign's power, that the Israelites, being a race of
shepherds, would not be mixed with the Egyptians, or put in possession
of any arable land. On this account, Joseph told his father and
brethren to say to the king--"Thy servants' trade hath been about
cattle from our youth even until now, both we and also our fathers;
that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen: for every shepherd is an
abomination unto the Egyptians."[2]

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