am of opinion that no government should allow it that she could not see any thing that he did. to be in any way practised within its boundaries; He made a pass behind her back at some that no conscientious person should meddle with distance, and she was instantly fixed and it, and that no prudent one should expose himHe had self, or any member of his family, to its influence; rigid, and perfectly senseless. and that, as a thing more likely to lead to evil sense enough to believe his senses; was than to good, it should be just sufficiently accred- satisfied of the truth of Mesmerism, and ited to put people on their guard against it, but has since mesmerized many hundred percertainly not made the object of particular re- sons, and spread the truth widely." search or inquiry; its eventual utility to mankind not being sufficiently established to make it worth the student's while. The moral is sound, but too weak to counteract the influence of this attractive but unhealthy tale; though, while Mesmerism is so much in vogue, it may be right to supply a popular antidote. Unregulated enthusiasm, and the magical power of the passions in vain and unstable minds, is equal to every thing alleged here to have been produced by Mesmerism. It would not do to absolve women from their moral responsibilities, nor to burn men as sorcerers, because, to take a familiar case, and one quite in point, a Dr. Lardner may seem to have enchanted or magnetized a Mrs. H, a case that Mesmerism, were it true, would at once satisfactorily account for. It will not do to shift the blame of errors, once conveniently laid upon the stars, to the Mesmerizers. Dr. Elliotson, though pretty far gone in the science, disclaims the alleged power of the Mesmerizer over the will of the Mesmeree, who is compelled, it is averred, to act, think, suffer, taste, smell, and feel, as the more potent spirit chooses to ordain; to be in complete subjection to his absolute will. No. one, he says, can be mesmerized against their will; though, by his own account, Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield surely took Miss O'Key at vantage when he was suddenly converted. What power of resistance-what will could a poor half-conscious girl, dangling over a balustrade, oppose to a gentleman who stole on, and made passes at her behind her back, unless she could, like others in her condition, see with the back of her head-and so apprehend her danger? Mr. Wakefield had been induced to witness one of Dr. Elliotson's wonderful exhibitions of Mesmerism. He had gone an unbeliever; and, when the experiments were over, was retiring at least skeptical, when, in passing through a gallery of the Hospital, he accidentally noticed one of the O'Keys, with her back to him, hanging over the balusters, and still in the Mesmeric delirium, and therefore highly susceptible. He thought this a most favorable opportunity to test her, because he was satisfied This was indeed a sudden and remarkable conversion; but how, we again ask, could Miss O'Key's will have protected her from the magnetic influence of Mr. Wakefield? The wonder was, that thus left to roam about alone, she had not tumbled over the balusters and broken her neck. THE MESSENGER DOVE. BY MRS. JAMES GRAY. No rest for thy foot, oh, Dove, And a raging deep below; Though drear and dull its chambers beReturn, return, 'tis a sheltering bark, And a resting-place for thee! 'Twas vain to send thee forth, To tire thy downy wing; Its pilgrims on a lonely track, Receives them wearied back! No rest for thy foot, oh, Hope, Sent forth on pinion fleet, Lie spread beneath thy feet. To rend the plumage of thy breast- No rest for thy foot, oh, Peace, If sent to find some leafS.gn that earth's tempests cease, And are dried her springs of grief; No rest for thee !-return, return!— The soul that sent thee vainly forth, To keep thee safe, must cease to yearn For the flowers and toys of earth! Least rest for thy foot, oh, Love, With thy pinion pure and strong, All earth's wild waters move To do thee deadly wrong. Back to the deep, fond heart, whose sighs Have all too much of" passion's leaven," And if thou must go forth, arise On an angel's wing to heaven! Dublin University Magazine. 1843.] MEMOIR OF LADY HESTER STANHOPE. MEMOIR OF LADY HESTER STANHOPE. From the World of Fashion. [WE are indebted for the following sketch to Dr. Madden, the Author of "Travels in the East," Lives and Times of the United Irishmen." It is to ourselves, personally, a subject of pride, that we should be honored by this contribution, and feel assured that our readers will feel equal gratification in the perusal.] FEW persons whose names are unconnected with literary labors or political movements, have acquired so much notoriety, and excited so much curiosity, not only in this country but in every part of Europe, as the late Lady Hester Stanhope. The published accounts, which we have had occasionally given us, of her mode of life, her opinions, and her acts, still leave some of the most singular traits in her character as mysterious and inexplicable as they were before. It remains to be seen whether any additional light can be thrown on this subject, by one intimately acquainted with her Ladyship's peculiar opinions, and those favorite speculations of hers to which the latter years of her life were devoted. 191 The perhaps, the disappointment of hopes at home on which her heart was set-these tended to isolate her mind in the midst of European society-to render the latter distasteful to her, and eventually contributed to the determination she came to of fixing her abode in the East. Shortly after her arrival in the Levant, she resided among the mountains of Lebanon, and in the dreary wilderness of D'Joun, where she had been hospitably received by the wild inhabitants of those mountains, where the gene. rosity, nobleness, and benevolence of her disposition, and above all-the heroism of her character-were calculated to make a deep impression on the minds of a bold, simple, hospitable, and unsubjugated people like the Druses of the Mountains of Lebanon, and the Arabs of the adjoining desert, she fixed her abode. science of the stars, to use an expression of "cradled in the East." Lady Hester's, was Every form of mysticism or magic which in later times we find served up in new shapes and systems, in the works especially of the great Magister Magistrorum Paracelsus, traces are to be found of in the writings of the Arab illuminati of an earlier age. Their works are still in request with the modern literati of Syria and Egypt, of all creeds-Jews, Christians, and Mahommedans; magic, in fact, is held in the Her communication with persons who ap- same estimation (as a branch of learning of the preciated her noble qualities, (for, with all her highest description) as the profoundest attaineccentricities, she possessed many,) was divestment in mathematics is considered in this couned of a great deal of that glare of coloring, which her Ladyship thought it necessary to give to conversation, the object of which was to maintain an influence over those around her, by exciting wonder, and keeping up a belief in her astrological attainments. Travellers have given ample details of her career in the East, her habits of life in her latter years, and the devotion of her faculties to mystical and metaphysical inquiries, in the mazes of which an understanding of less original vigor must have been totally bewildered. The delusions of Lady Hester Stanhope resembled, in one particular, those which Hamlet was conscious of laboring under, and careful to magnify the indications of, and to exhibit as tokens of insanity, for the accomplishment of one fixed design-the aim and end of every act and thought. In time, however, these half delusions, half impositions change their character "And he that will be cheated to the last, Delusion strong at length will bind him fast." The one fixed object of Lady Hester's ambition, was dominion over the minds of the people by whom she was surrounded. All the tendencies of her nature, and of her altered position at the death of Mr. Pitt-the distinction then lost-the falling off of friends, the worshippers of place and power-the preferment of her uncle's foes-the grown power of democracy, hateful to the proud and lofty spirit of one whose aristocratic ideas were formed in times when the privileges of her Order were upheld with a high handher admiration of the extraordinary powers of Mr. Pitt-her experience of the influence which he exerted over the minds of his fellow-men, and over the destinies of Europe; and, finally, try. Lady Hester was surrounded by the Sheiks, Effendis, Hakkims, Malims, Dervishes, Priests, and Rabbis of the Druses, Arabs, Turks, Maronites, and Jews of Lebanon, and its adjacent borders. These men of learning, are like "the Mystery Men" of North America; they combine the exercise of all the learned professions with pretensions to the knowledge of magic, and the exercise of supernatural power. Curiosity, in all probability, first directed the attention of Lady Hester to the subjects which are the never failing topics of oriental converShut out from sations among the learned. communication, as she was, with Europeans, the inquiries that were entered into for the employment of her leisure, or which afforded amusement at first on account of their novelty, deepened in their interest as her time and thoughts became devoted to them; and where truth was not to be found, nor falsehood often to be easily detected, she suffered her mind to acquiesce in much which she could not comprehend, and which she could not controvert, if she were able and inclined to do so, without losing that ascendency over the people about her, which was essential to her power. In such a position, those who are partially deluded, endeavor often to deceive themselves: and even when they fail, it becomes a sort of intellectual exercise to try how far they may succeed with others in the attempt which has proved unsuccessful with themselves. If this be madness, there is a method in it which resembles Hamlet's-if it be frenzy, then Cromwell's fanaticism had nothing in it, of a stimulated fervor in behalf of the interests of religion, when he harangued his troopers about heaven, and their matchlocks in the same breath. The Arabs have "their philosophical persons to make familiar things seem strange and causeless." pose to her enemies, prudence in vain suggested the last resource that was left to her—a return to her own country; but this course to Lady Hester appeared nothing less than flying from her enemies; and the idea, carrying with it to her mind that of dishonor, she spurned at its entertainment. The last flash of that proud spirit was elicited on the occasion of the communication made to her by Government, respecting the appropriation of a part of her pension* to the payment of her numerous debts in the Levant. In this correspondence, the characteristic qualities of Lady Hester are plainly seen in the haughty defiance hurled at the menaced interference in her affairs, the reference to the power and influence, in by-gone times, of her celebrated relatives-the appeal to the Queen Victoria of England, as from one sovereign to another, from one who felt that she had once been looked upon as an Eastern Princess, and now that she was in adversity, was entitled to consider the protection of a sovereign whom she seemed to consider as a sister Queen. This poor lady did not long survive the occurrence which we have referred to. She died at D'Joun the 23d December, 1839, in the 64th year of her age. The father of Lady Hester was the third Earl of Stanhope, a nobleman distinguished for his mechanical genius and scientific researches. His lordship married the eldest daughter of the Earl of Chatham, by whom he had issue Hester Lucy, born the 12th of March, 1776; Griselda, married in 1800 to John Teckell, Esq., of Hambleton in Hans; and Lucy Rachel, married in 1796, to Thomas Taylor, Esq., of Seven Oaks, in Kent. The Earl married, secondly, the daughter of Henry Grenville, Esq., (cousin to the Marquis of Buckingham,) by whom he had issue, Philip Henry, Viscount Mahon, and two other sons. The knowledge she possessed of the speculations of the Arab adepts, was obtained in conversation with the persons distinguished for their abstruse learning and acquaintance with its recondite authors who frequented her house. With these persons her time was chiefly spent, and on them her means were unfortunately profusely lavished. When her circumstances became embarrassed, the Arab philosophers carried their secret love and the juggling of the fiends in the interests of avarice and cupidity elsewhere. Her pecuniary difficulties, for the last ten years of her life, rendered her situation one that few other persons would have been able to have borne up against. Her friends fell off one after another, her servants deserted her, her enemies scoffed at her forlorn condition, and on some occasions basely took advantage of it to terrify the few within her walls, who remained faithful to her. They attempted to break into her house-they ravaged the country in the immediate neighborhood of her solitary establishment. On several occasions her life was placed in the most imminent danger, and in one instance at the hand of one of her own slaves. There, however, she continued to reside forsaken and forlorn-impoverished, slighted, and maltreated-unsubdued, though surrounded by dangers and utterly unprotected. Things were strangely altered from what they had been when, in the days of her prosperity, she had her thousand and her tens of thousands" of the children of the desert at her command; when she was held as an equal by the Emirs, the Sheiks, and scherifs of the land, when she received their messengers and ministers with all the pomp and circumstances of Oriental state-when the lawless Bedouins and the wild men of the mountains, the tribes of the Druses and Ansari were accustomed to bring their domestic strife and border feuds to the foot of her divan for arbitration and adjustment-noble qualities of her nature, her active benev when the "Sittee Inglis" was wont to ride forth at the head of a goodly retinue to meet the multitude of Arabs of some encampment newly made in her vicinity, mounted on her favorite charger" of the sacred race of the steed of Solomon," conscious of her power "to witch the world with noble horsemanship." Poor Lady Hester's proud spirit met, indeed, with rubs enough to break it down in her latter years, but she struggled against them with a brave spirit. When the object of her ambition ceased to be attainable-when her influence declined, and the power that, in reality, was based on the rep-cost of peace and happiness. utation of her wealth, no longer was acknowledged by the people around her, she shut herself up in the seclusion of her desolate abode at D'Joun; she communed with none, she sought no sympathy, and she ceased to be importuned, even by travellers, for permission to be admitted to her presence. Her fame seemed to have vanished with her affluence. The breaking down of such a being was not suited for the observation of strangers. Conscious of her pending ruin, sensible of her inability to impede its progress, and having nothing but scorn to op If, in the few preceding observations, the peculiarities and eccentricities of Lady Hester's character are noticed at some length--and the olence, above all, her charitableness to the poor, her enthusiasm in the service of the injured and oppressed, are less dwelt on than the former topic-it is not that the writer of this slight notice of her character was unacquainted with these excellencies, or ignorant of the claim which they give the memory of Lady Hester Stanhope to the regard of all who knew her, and to the sympathy of those who are only acquainted with those deviations of hers from ordinary modes and customs, and habits of life, which obtained a temporary celebrity at the R. R. M. "The Pension to Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope, the niece of the Right Hon William Pitt, was £900 per annum, secured on the 41 per cent duties." COLONEL TORRENS ON FREE From the Westminster Review. 1. Letter to the Right Honorable Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M. P., on the Condition of England, and on the Means of Removing the Causes of Distress. By R. Torrens, Esq., F. R. S. 2. Postscript to a Letter to the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart., on the Condition of England, and on the Means of Removing the Causes of Distress. By R. Torrens, Esq., F. R. S. THE first of these pamphlets takes up the subject of Emigration as the remedy, and the only remedy, for the distress under which this country has long been suffering. This is a subject of vast importance, into the consideration of which it is not our intention to enter at this time; and we content ourselves with respect to it, by simply stating our dissent from many of the positions assumed and the conclusions adopted by Colonel Torrens. Our business on this occasion is with the "Postscript," which has little or nothing to do with the contents of the preceding "Letter"-in fact, has nothing in common with it, save its parentage and the wildness of its assumptions. In this postscript Colonel Torrens has brought forward views which he had previously offered to the world in certain pamphlets published anonymously, but since avowed by him, under the title of "The Budget." Having been known during many years as a writer on economical science, his opinions are calculated to influence persons accustomed to avail them selves of the studies of others rather than enter for themselves upon the task of investigation. It therefore appears desirable to examine the doctrines thus authoritatively put forward, and to exhibit their fallacious character. The main proposition brought forward, and which meets us in the first page of the Postscript, is thus solemnly introduced by Colonel Torrens : "I would beg to submit for your consideration what appears to amount to a mathematical demonstration, that a reduction of the duties upon foreign productions, unaccompanied by a corresponding mitigation of the duties imposed by foreign countries upon British goods, would cause a further decline of prices, of profits, and of wages, and would render it doubtful whether the taxes could be collected, and faith with the public creditor maintained."-P. 1. VOL. III. No. II. 13 To any one who considers Colonel Torrens an authority upon questions of political economy, such a proposition must be startling, and as there may be such persons, who consequently will look with alarm at the free-trade movement now in progress, it may be worth while to examine his positions, and to ascertain how far they are tenable. To illustrate his theory, Colonel Torrens has assumed the existence of circumstances which have not, and which never could have, existence, and in common with all reasoners upon false premises, he has arrived at erroneous conclusions. We will not bespeak for ourselves, as Colonel Torrens has done, a favorable hearing for theories by averring their agreement with the writings of political economists, some of whom are probably surprised enough at the support they are made thus to give to doctrines "never dreamt of in their philosophy." Having endeavored to understand the principles which regulate the commercial intercourse of different countries, we are persuaded that the fears expressed by Colonel Torrens are without even a shadow of foundation, and may be completely allayed by bringing his theories to the test of experience and common sense. The principal difficulty in the performance of this task will consist in rendering intelligible the propositions of Colonel Torrens, which, as they stand, lead us inevitably to conclude that the mind whence they emanate is any thing but logical or "mathematical." What, it may be asked, can be made of the following ?— "At any given time, the demand for foreign articles must be a definite quantity, and the supply of such articles must also be a definite quantity, and the value of domestic productions, in relation to foreign productions, will be as the quantity of the demand is to the quantity of the supply. For example:-If in England the demand for foreign produce should consist of 1,000 bales of finished goods, while the supply of such produce consisted of 1,000 hogsheads, then a bale of finished goods, and a hogshead of foreign produce, would be the equivalents of each other."-P. 6. We apprehend it is not meant either that the demand at any given time is a quantity, still less that it is a fixed quantity, or that the supply at that time is equally a fixed quantity-nor that they are known quantities-nor that they are quantities that can be defined. How, then, can they be definite? Further, it can hardly be meant that the value of domestic productions which a country has to offer in exchange for for eign productions, is at any given moment of clearness of his mind as seen in the of time the measure and limit of the de- manner of enunciating his positions. At mand for such foreign productions. Thus page 8 of this Postscript we find the folmuch for the propositions. How does the lowing passage:— 66 "example" given afford us any explanation? How can a demand for foreign produce that England and Cuba impose upon the pro"Let us now vary our supposition, and assume consist of" that which we have to offer? ductions of each other an import duty of 100 per We may guess at the meaning which Colocent. The effect of this duty would be to dinel Torrens intends to convey, and which minish, by one half, the demand in each country probably is, that if England has 1,000 bales for the products of the other. Consumers in of goods, and Cuba has 1,000 hogsheads of England would have as before 1,000 bales of produce, and they wish to barter the one finished goods with which to purchase Cuba for the other, then a bale of goods will be produce; but 500 bales would now be paid into the equivalent for a hogshead of produce. quently, no more than the remaining 500 bales the Treasury on account of the duty, and conseThe proposition in itself is of little value. could be exported in payment of the foreign proIt could be true only if the figment created duce. In like manner, the producers in Cuba by Colonel Torrens were also true, of Eng- would have as before 1,000 hogsheads of proland and Cuba being the only countries duce to lay out in the purchase of British goods; having commercial intercourse each with but out of the 1,000 hogsheads which they paid the other. The passage may serve to sug- be transferred by him to the Treasury of Cuba, to the importing merchant, 500 hogsheads would gest whether its author is fitted to become and only the remaining 500 exported to Engthe expounder of doctrines, and may afford land. In England, the value of tropical produce means for accounting for the effect which estimated in finished goods would be doubled; his recent writings are said to have pro-and in Cuba the value of finished goods in reduced upon people unaccustomed to the lation to raw produce would be doubled." examination of subjects connected with economical science, and unused to detect the fallacies that are pretty sure to lurk under a style for describing which there is no legitimate English word, so that we are driven to the columns of the slang dictionary, and to borrow from it the expression rigmarole. By his manner of thus stating his propositions, Colonel Torrens converts the import duty of Cuba into an export duty of England, and vice versa. But the operation, independent of this jumble, would not be conducted as stated. By the hypothesis, England has made 1,000 bales of goods It betrays a most singular want of con- and Cuba 1,000 hogsheads of produce more gruity in the mind of Colonel Torrens that than each requires, and it would not result he should have chosen for the illustration from the imposition of duties as assumed, of his theory our intercourse with Cuba. that an increased demand would arise in Had he known any thing of the nature of England for 500 bales of goods, nor in Cuba that intercourse, he must have been con- for 500 hogsheads of produce. The 1,000 scious that it affords in itself a perfect an- bales and the 1,000 hogsheads, respectiveswer to that theory; for if it be true, ourly, must still be exported, and if the inhatrade must have long since have consum-bitants of Cuba had nothing to give in exmated the ruin of the island, seeing that its change but their 1,000 hogsheads, and the tariff is far less hostile to us than our tariff merchants of England nothing to offer but is to it, for it takes of our manufactures their 1,000 bales, the importers in the two a very large amount, while we wholly ex- countries would pay the duties upon the clude its produce by prohibitory duties. 1,000 packages imported by them respectThe case of Switzerland, too, might ively, and those duties would not be in have suggested a doubt as to the truth of diminution of the net proceeds. By the Colonel Torrens's "mathematical demon-hypothesis the rate of duty is 100 per cent.; stration," seeing that on every side the it will therefore result that finished goods Cantons have to encounter hostile tariffs, in Cuba and "produce" in England will be while they are wholly without any tariff, dearer to the respective consumers than and yet manage under conditions other they were before the duties were imposed, wise disadvantageous to carry on prosper- possibly by the full amount of the duty, ously their manufactures and their foreign but probably by the greatest part of the impost; but the duty collected in each country would of course relieve the inhabitants of each from an equal weight of taxation in some other direction, and each would thus, after paying the duty, have commerce. Before proceeding at greater length to show that the theory brought forward by Colonel Torrens has no true foundation, it may be well still further to expose the want |