"UBI MEL, IBI MUSCA." No. 11-NEW SERIES.] SATURDAY, MARCH 16. [TWOPENCE. Every purchaser of this number of "THE FLY," is entitled to an exquisitely-executed Lithographic PRINT of "The Widow," which is presented gratuitously.-[A similar print with every number.] THE FLY'S PICTURE GALLERY. (No. XI-New Series.) THE WIDOW. A SKETCH. BY MRS. S. C. HALL. "And didst thou know the comfort of two hearts In one delicious harmony united? As to joy one joy, and think both one thought CHAPMAN. They are all bubbles; our thoughts, wishes, hopes, anxieties, and fears. For a brief time they either glitter in the sunshine, or tremble in the storm, and then, mingling with thin air, float away, and are seen no more. So thought the once gay and still beautiful Mary Myrvin, the widow of a Scottish clergyman, the mother of two animated and affectionate children, who, with the happy thoughtlessness of youth, sat at their mother's feet, and beneath the shadow of their father's picture, blowing babbles, and laughing as they burst, or floated Lound the chamber. There has ever been to me something of thrilling sadness in the dress and appearance of young widow, but I never thought it so Fect an index of the heart's bereavement 1I knew Mrs. Myrvin; yet there was noching peculiar in her story. It is an everyday occurrence in woman's life. She had loved, and married. Her husband, always in delicate health, at length fell a victim to consumption. Her means were limited, but she di' not repine; a murmur was never heard to cape her lips. She became both preceptor nd servant to her two children; and so admirably did she attend to the duties of each, that it would be difficult to determine which she performed best; her life was one con e tinued precept of excellence, without the pedantry which accompanies precepts spoken by the lips, and in which the heart has often little share. She lived in the small and picturesque village of Lilyburn, not far from Paisley, and many a prudent, sensible "auld wife" wished from the heart that their sons might be fortunate enough to meet with ". sae prudent and well-favoured a body as Mary Myrvin." I cannot say the fame of her beauty, but rather that the reputation of her industry and good sense, was often the subject of conversation among the rich and poor of Lilyburn, all of whom were anxious to contribute towards Mrs. Myrvin's enjoyment. Her cottage garden was filled with the finest plants; and the poor labourers, to whom she had often read and expounded the precious Gospel, if they could bestow nothing else, would come in the early morning, weed, and plant, and train her flowers, or cultivate her vegetables; so that her garden was always neat and productive. Mary was but two-and-twenty when her husband died; and she had been three years a widow before even village gossip ventured to say it was likely she would ever again become a wife. At last the rumour ran that no less a person than David Gordon, a rich and wealthy baillie, was deeply enamoured of the fair widow of Lilyburn, and would undoubtedly make her an offer. He was a handsome, portly man, with a certain air of importance which said, "I'm a baillie of Paisley," and there was united to this a rough and rude good nature which rendered him popular with all the children of all his acquaintances; he had given little Jenny Myrvin a beautiful China bowl, in which to manufacture her bubbles, and bestowed upon Johnny a ballsuch a ball as made him the envy of all the boys in the village And yet the people prated of this matter under their breath as if it was almost a profanation to think of Mary's bridal. She had ever been so faithful to the dead-19 John Cunningham, Printer, Crown-court, Fleet-street. constant, and yet so unpresuming in her constancy, that though they knew that to the generality of women gold and land are great temptations, something whispered that the heart of sweet Mary Myrvin was in the grave, and that she would never again be linked with aught but the clay that mouldered in his coffin. "Sandy, gude mon!" exclaimed the greatest gossip in Lilyburn, "make haste and come here, and tell me what ye see." Sandy, a stern, quaint, old labourer, moved to the door in obedience to his wife's command, and lifting his hand to his bonnetso as to shade the evening sun from his eyes, replied, "I see Baillie Gordon on his bay mare stopping at Mrs. Myrvin's cottage, and the laddie Johnny is aye glad to see him there." Sandy, gude mon, d'ye think there's ere anither body glad to see him there forbye Johnny ?" 66 "Deed is there, woman; just then, little Jenny; the baillie is kind-hearted." 66 Hoot, mon! it is na' that; dinna ye see that the baillie is as bra' as a maid on her weddin' day? I wonder at his extravagance! There's as mickle as a piggin fu' o' gold chain donlin' from his watch!" "Well, and what is that to you or me either what devilry are ye speering at noo; canna a mon gang to a neebour's house, but ye maun mak evil o' it?" "Evil! retorted the dame; "whar is the evil? sure we a' ken that Madame Myrvin has been contented wi' little, but that doesna' say she is not be cantie wi' mair." "A woman canna mourn for aye." "Nae; not sic wives as you, Ally. Ay, Ally, Ally, if I war under the sod, auld as y'e are, ye'd be speerin' for anither Joe: nae, ye need na' whimper. But Madame Myrvin is anither sort, Ally woman. In the kirk-yard, where her bairns sleep, and she thinks that none but the eye of God (and the old man lifted his bonnet reverently from his head as he spoke) is upon her, she steals out there in the night dew, and prays and weeps; and if there's any sense in y'er words, it's an ill day the baillie has chosen; for this day three years the minister died." It turned out that both Sandy and Ally were right; for the baillie had gone to offer himself and his fortunes to the widow of Archibald Myrvin. He found her with her children, and saw that a gauze curtain shaded the portrait of her husband, which hung in its old place above the work-table. The baillie thought what an exceedingly pale, thin person Mr. Myrviu had been, and congratulated himself upon his own portly presence. startling that the baillie stopped, and did not attempt to conclude his sentence. "You meant me no wrong, baillie, you meant me no wrong; and yet, God forgive ye for having wounded the poor stricken heart! Did ye think I could forget him! Oh, God forgive ye, baillie, God forgive ye! Yes, there is one house I wish to share, but not yet;-one house." "If it be in the town o' Paisley you shall have it," exclaimed the worthy man, striking the table in the fervour of his eloquence. "It is not in the town of Paisley," she replied; "it lies under the left window of the same kirk where he preached Christ crucified, and a blessed resurrection: it is low, and narrow, and cold; but it will hold us both. The only house I will ever share is, my hus How impossible it is for a coarse or common mind to comprehend the delicacy and tender-band's grave !" ness of a gentle spirit! He thought how deThe baillie returned in sadness to his home, lighted Mrs. Myrvin would be to exchange but he did not neglect his promise. Johnny her cottage for his large red brick mansion; Myrvin, in due time, was promoted to a seat and, to do him justice, he also thought how in the baillie's counting-house; and it is not pleased he should himself be to see Johnny very long since the wish of Mary Myrvin was mounted on the highest stool in his counting- accomplished; she shares her husband's house, and Jenny sitting bolt upright, practis- grave! ing "Blue Bonnets" on a piano-forte, which had been the first ever brought into the good town of Paisley. He dispatched Johnny to the garden to try the powers of a new top, and Jenny to see how the top spun; and then quietly asked the widow what she had been thinking of. "The children were blowing bubbles," she replied, "and I was thinking how completely our hopes and fears, anxieties and wishes, are like the bubbles, which fly in the air, or float upon the stream." "Very true, very true," said the baillie; "but my dear lady, you are no bubble, nor am I a bubble; and, really, I think you have indulged your sadness quite long enough." The poor widow smiled and shook her head, but the smile was one of sorrow. Her eye also glanced at the crape-covered picture; but the baillie at that moment was thinking what he should say next, and did not note it. "In short, Mrs. Myrvin, I think Johnny will make a clever man, and I shall be very happy by-and-by to bring him on in my count ing-house." Mrs Myvin warmly and sincerely thanked him for his promised kindness; "to see her children well off was all she now desired in this world." The good baillie continued; and after a little more circumlocution got to the pointwould she be Mrs. Gordon? At once the feelings which time and habitual self-restraint had pent up in her bosom broke forth, and she burst into an uncontrolled flood of tears. The good man paused; and then spoke at intervals. "Jenny shall have a new piano if the old one will not do; and sure am I-who ought not to say it-that many will envy you. Well, it is better to be envied than pitied. You shall have the finest coach in Paisley, and such horses! and as to the house-" Mary Myrvin raised her face from between her hands, which were dripping with tears, and the change that had passed over it was so BOADICEA. AN ODE. When the British warrior queen, Counsel of her country's gods, Sat the Druid, hoary chief; Every burning word he spoke Full of rage, and full of grief. Princess! if our aged eyes Weep upon thy matchless wrongs, "Tis because resentment ties All the terrors of our tongues. Rome shall perish-write that word In the blood that she has spilt; Perish, hopeless and abhorred, Deep in ruin as in guilt. Rome, for empire far renowned, Tramples on a thousand states; Soon her pride shall kiss the groundHark! the Gaul is at her gates! Other Romans shall arise, Heedless of a soldier's name; Sounds, not arms, shall win the prize, Harmony the path to fame. Then the progeny that springs From the forests of our land, Armed with thunder, clad with wings, Shall a wider world command. Regions Cæsar never knew Thy posterity shall sway; Where his eagles never flew, None invincible as they. Such the bard's prophetic words, Pregnant with celestial fire, Bending as he swept the chords Of his sweet but awful lyre. She, with all a monarch's pride, RECOLLECTIONS IN THE TIME OF THE EMPIRE. AFTER AUSTERLITZ. (For the FLY.) We have already said that Napoleon, at the close of his interview with the Emperor of Austria, the day after the battle, had dispatched his aide-de-camp, Savary, to the headquarters of the Austrian monarch to obtain from the Emperor Alexander, his ally, a ratification of the verbal convention that had been agreed on. Savary rejoined the Emperor Francis at one of his domains, situated about a mile from Goeding, where he had halted for supper. General Stutterheim having announced to his Imperial Majesty the arrival of Napoleon's envoy, gave orders that he should be well entertained, and in three quarters of an hour afterwards this same Stutterheim (word for word in the original) received instructions to conduct Savary to Holitich, where the Emperor Alexander intended passing the night. It was scarcely more than two leagues or two leagues and a half from Goding to Holitich, but the state of the roads, completely broken up and in ruts, from the passage of artillery, waggons, &c., was such that the two messengers did not arrive at the chateau of Holitich, where the Czar had arrived the night before, (always attended by his aide-de-camp Dalgorowski), until four o'clock in the morning, Here they found the Emperor Alexander already risen, and again preparing for his departure, although the day had not broke, and the night still pitchy dark. Alexander immediately, and first of all, received the Austrian General, who remained closeted with him for more than half an hour, and when he had retired, Savary was introduced in his turn. The Prince Dolgorowski having retired to some distance, the Emperor in his usually courteous manner spoke first. "I am very glad to see you again upon an occasion so glorious for you," said he to Napoleon's aide-de-camp. "The day of Austerlitz is worthy of the entire military career per formed by your master, who really knows how to work miracles. Let him know that I rereturn full of admiration of him, for he is predestined by Heaven. It would take my army one hundred years' campaigning and warfare to equal his-but tell me, can I now retire in safety ?" "Yes, Sire, if your Majesty ratifies that which the Emperors have already agreed upon ?" "What is that ?" demanded Alexander, with a tone and look of surprise: "General Stutterheim did not mention a word on the subject a minute ago." unless, indeed, it be England-no longer re- "The army of your Majesty will retire by easy marches, the movements of which will The two messengers repassed the little river be regulated by my master the Emperor, who of La Marche at Geeding, where they were will on his part immediately evacuate Ger- obliged to wait the coming up of the Russian many and Poland. This condition being rati- columns, who had beat a retreat, and were fied, I have orders to repair to the French out-pressing forward for the opposite bank. This posts, which have already turned your right was a long detention for the envoys, who were flank, Sire, and to stop the further advancing forced to remain until all the troops had passed of our troops; otherwise than especially to over. They had with them neither cannon, protect the departure of your Majesty, the provisions, nor baggage, of any kind. Vast Emperor, my master, desiring always to re- numbers of the soldiers, severely wounded, spect the ancient friend of the First Consul." still kept their ranks, and marched on with "And what guarantee will be required to courage and resignation. The greater part of ensure that ?" them were without arms, and a small number only retained their haversacks; and this from a custom in the infantry of taking them off previously to their going into action, and leaving them on the ground; so that when they were repulsed or lost ground, as a matter of course, they lost their provisions into the bargain. It was not till 1806, at Jena, that the Russians fought as we do, with the haversack slung from the shoulder. "Sire, nothing but your princely word." "Monsieur le General Savary, I give it you readily," said Alexander, and with an air of lively satisfaction he added, "As surety for the same, there is my hand." Savary took the proffered hand, and respectfully pressed it to his lips, and then the Emperor, immediately changing the subject, interrogated him upon some of the main objects of the battle. “You were inferior to us in numbers," added he, "yet have you been conquerors on all the chief points of attack!" "Sire, the deep and profound study of the art of war, and fifteen years of glory and experience, have brought about this result; this is the fortieth battle that the Emperor Napoleon has directed in person." "It is most true," said the Czar, turning to the Prince Dolgorowski, whom Savary had not till this moment discovered, hidden as he was in the shade of that vast cabinet, and lighted by a single wax taper; "Your master is a great tactician in war: for my own part this is the first time that I have been under fire. I never had the pretensions to oppose myself to him: it is the Emperor of the Romans," for so Alexander designated the Emperor of Austria, "that forced me to it." "When your Majesty shall have acquired more practical knowledge in the field of battle, probably your Majesty may." The Czar left Savary no time to finish the sentence, for, interrupting him with a courtierlike smile, he replied with bienveillance, "Monsieur le General Savary, should circumstances more auspicious for me bring you to St. Petersburg, I hope to be able to render your visit there agreeable to you. Adieu; eport to your master all that I have verified re." Savary took leave of the Emperor Alexier, and went to seek out General Stutter'm, who was waiting for him in one of the ver apartments in the chateau. It is worthy of remark that during this inview, which lasted nearly an hour, that en Savary had to speak of Napoleon, he ver designated him otherwise than the Emeror, my master; whilst Alexander had always avoided even mentioning the name of Napoleon, much less was he disposed to give him the qualification of Emperor. It must be confessed that this affectation of the autocrat, in not choosing to recognise in Napoleon a title which no power in Europe As soon as the Russians had all passed over, General Stutterheim took leave of Savary. This last crossed by himself the bridge, which the Russians immediately after blew up, so much were they in dread of being pursued. The aide-de-camp of Napoleon lost no time in repairing to the outposts of Davoust, to whom he recounted all that had passed relative to the mission entrusted to him by the Emperor. Most apropos, indeed, was his arrival, for the Marshal was on the point of renewing the attack, not on the Russians who had gained on him in the retreat, but against an Austrian corps, who had approached unprepared, and without caution, near to Goeding. Almost at the same moment General Meerfed was dispatched in all haste from the Emperor of Russia with a note, couched in these terms: "I authorise General Meerfed to make known to the French general that the Emperors of Germany and France have yesterday concluded an armistice in that part of the territory where, at this time, the armies are situated; and that in consequence it is no longer expedient to sacrifice the lives of brave men.-December 4, 1805. ALEXANDER." This billet, which in his precipitation the Czar had wrote in pencil, is deposited among the archives of the Minister of War, where we had an opportunity of seeing it last year. Davoust, in consequence, suspended further operation, and Savary set forward to meet his master the Emperor at the chateau of Kaunitz, where it will be remembered that a rendezvous had been named. On his arrival there the evening before, the first care of Napoleon was to give authority to the Minister's proceedings by his own signature, which documentary papers were daily sent in, and returned by estafette. Then, with a sort of exultation and pride, he addressed a small number of those who were about him, always pacing to and fro, from angle to angle of the saloon, his arms crossed behind his back. "Ah! ah! gentlemen, what a peace for the allies! For then it will be the break-up of the grand Germanic Empire; the recognising THE DOG AND THE WATER LILY. The noon was shady, and soft airs My spaniel, prettiest of his race, Now wantoned lost in flags and reeds, It was the time when Ouse displayed With cane extended far I sought Beau marked my unsuccessful pains To comprehend the case. But with a chirrup clear and strong, I thence withdrew, and followed long My ramble finished, I returned; I saw him with that lily cropped My quick approach, and soon he dropped Charmed at the sight, the world, I cried, Of man's superior breed : But chief myself I will enjoin, Awake at duty's call, To show a love as prompt as thine |