one chill Sunday evening with his bundle through our street. The church-bell was ringing, and in the gathering darkness the whole village, with sound of many footsteps and a mingled murmur of voices, was streaming down the sidewalks to the evening meeting. It must have been a stupendous sense of isolation that induced him to make himself so dimly conspicuous by walking alone down the middle of the street, and when he removed his hat and began to gesticulate in a rapt, religious way, muttering strange wisdom to himself the while, we perceived that there was a partial unconsciousness about it that was quite weird and awe-inspiring. As he came nearer his thoughts assumed a keener relish, and he chuckled louder at each fresh fantasy of his uneasy brain. There was a quick hint of some fearful and unavoidable climax in the swifter flourish of his arm and the seething murmur of his lips; and all at once, sudden as the hiss of a rocket, the final phrase, for which his whole being seemed to have been struggling, rushed explosively from his lips: "They think they know more than God! ha, ha!" With a wild demoniacal laugh, that thrilled us all like a bitter curse, his voice died away, and, turning neither to the right nor the left from his dreadful self-communing, he disappeared in the gloom of the way-side elms, through the arches of which the dying tones of the bell wandered hollowly as in a cavern.

Of a less portentous aspect, and in the smiling Indian summer of his years in singular affinity with the warm, dreamy glory of the late No

Not only through the summer, but late into the autumn, these gypsies prolong their camp, maintaining themselves in their shelter of blank-vember days-both man and season astray in a ets around their fires through all the earlier snows. All the late lingering days of the Indian summer-awaking I may not guess what sluggish unchallenged memories in their bloodare thus their own. Against the frozen clutch of winter they finally house themselves in such chance in-door shelter as they can find.

hazy second childhood-was the old man whom the last golden weather allured along our street. Beckoned abroad from the security of his not distant home upon visionary journeyings by I know not what of richest promise in the sky, he had slung his bundle about his neck and stolen unnoticed away. There was a certain subdued riotousness to his good-nature, a childish fickleness of mood that darted hither and thither with an almost uncontrollable sense of freedom. He was fain to exhort us from the street with much unintelligible utterance as we wandered among the lingering flowers in a neighboring yard; and his church-going memory so crowd

If the earlier summer most abounds with vagabonds, the few whom one meets on their ways during the glorious days of its decline have about them a halo of ripeness-an atmosphere of much travel, and of many curious loiterings and weather-bound intervals by the way that is not without a subtler charm. The season wanes, but, secure in the hospitali-ed his hapless tongue with words, that from the ty of the year, they do not hasten. I love best to think of these not as outcasts or estrays, but as being in some incommunicable way in the confidence of Nature, acquainted with all the sunny haunts and hiding-places of the earth, and as alert as the insects and the birds to hide themselves away against all inclemencies. One never thinks of questioning their mission or aim; their weather-brown garb and the hint of duration and prolonged continuity of travel that pervades all their persons keeps him aloof with a suspicion of a largeness of experience and purpose that may not in a moment be told. But for this feeling, I might be able to say more of the tall wayfarer who passed

semblance of speech his voice passed to a simple, variegated cry, tripping at last into a cackle of immoderate laughter. His gestures, too, raced into as hasty climax, and he swung his battered beaver, and swayed and stamped, carried nearly off his feet by his pious hilarity. And then, the memory of his late outbreak lost in the groping of some later impulse, though his features were yet twinkling with the merriment it had inspired, he entered the open gate and came up the broad slope of the yard with much affectation of spruceness in his gait and a rare elaborateness of obeisance to the ladies, and yet, withal, so conspicuous a decrepitude in all his motions that it was very sad to see. His

mood half failed him, too, when it should have been at its brightest; and though his eyes gleamed, and his deep-sunken lips mumbled as if with the expectation of speech, his gallantry found no words. What hope of relief his disconcerted mind thus discerned I can not guess, but he immediately began to caper away in a risky kind of dance, low wheezing to himself the fragment of some ancient song. A sad and curious study was this withered old man. His mind occupied itself so much with its own fantastic disorder that he was but dimly susceptible to impressions from without-they serving at most only to awaken some dislocated memory or impulse within, and inciting his feebleness to fresh absurdities of grimace or activity. Some gay and lively imp seemed to have taken possession of him, refusing him rest; and not even our most deferential approaches had power to reawaken the sober dignity and self-command that had evidently enough once been characteristic of him, for we could easily fancy that he had been a deacon and a solid man in his prime. We did not make loud game of him at any rate, and with

held the friendly words that would but have touched the key to fresh extravagances, letting him forget us, as he seemed to after a momentary pause, and wander among the withered and reedy flower-beds back to the highway and thence along the road, until his friends should get upon his trail.

Perhaps it were wiser not to follow these children of the summer beyond the pleasant days, or to disturb our sunny fancies by the thought that the year ever proves other than genial to them all. But there is a deal of comfort in the providence that its surlier moods incite in us, and perhaps none are unwilling to have their firesides give out the cheerier warmth with which they always glow at the passing of those belated vagrants whom the winter is buffeting outside. When the summer itself has turned vagabond, and gone with the autumnal sunsets beyond the hills, we would fain make our firesides ruddy as we can; and a waif from out the storm-a stray child of sunnier dayshas often, beneath the chill crust of his present fortune, a store of remembered sunshine with which to repay our charity.

complex principles of the science of government, or had a more profound insight into that still more complex system of principles and passions, sentiments and facts, which we choose to designate as modern society. His political sagacity seemed almost a political instinct, while he could calculate the momentum of opposing moral forces, estimate their disturbing elements, discount their loss by friction, and find the resultant with almost mathematical precision.

The complete biography of the illustrious statesman, as he himself has said, will not be written during the present generation; nor could it be without reflecting unfavorably upon surviving statesmen, and violating the sacred

COUNT CAVOUR, AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY. NE of the most perplexing problems of po- | litical science is the establishment of an equilibrium between the centripetal and centrifugal forces of society. The tendencies of the former are to unity, centralization, and despotism; of the latter to freedom, anarchy, and chaos. Liberty, like every other good, is a mean between two extremes, which are evilsdespotism and anarchy, or the despotism of one as opposed to the despotism of the many. Under the impulse of these opposing influences society oscillates, and upon this oscillation depends the stability of the social system. Hence the danger and impolicy of excluding too long from power one of two parties which are respectively the exponents of these political tend-reserve imposed upon his family and friends. encies. It is thus that an opposition ceases to be a counter-check and becomes a revolution. "Five years of Tories and six months of Whigs" rather quaintly expresses the old English formula for the adjustment of these opposing forces. The French sweep through a larger arc, in longer periods, and experience more violent extremes. But, however the formula may vary, the proposed result is always a constant quantity; and ordinarily that is the best government which most nearly approximates the desired equilibrium, and he the ablest statesman who has the ability most thoroughly to comprehend and most completely to co-ordinate these conflicting dynamics of society.

This prime characteristic of a great statesman few have possessed in a more eminent degree than Count Cavour. In the accomplishment of his grand mission-the unification of Italy-no one understood better than he the

Enough, however, is known not only to gratify a legitimate curiosity, but to establish his incontestable right to one of the brightest pages of modern history. Epitomizing in his short and eventful career the splendid traditions and sublime aspirations of Italian literature from Dante to Machiavel, and from Machiavel to Gioberti, he is justly entitled to stand out as the most prominent figure, the undisputed protagonist, in the grand political drama of Italian regeneration, in which a small province of five millions has become a great nation of twentyseven, and which, commencing with the reform of church and state, has ended with the unification of the one and the abolition of the temporal power of the other.

Camillo Bensi di Cavour was born in Turin, August 10, 1810. His father, Don Michael Joseph, belonged to one of the most ancient and noble families of Piedmont, and was for many

in consequence, was transferred as a punishment to the garrison of the fortress of Bard. If he had ever studied in the school of Pythagoras, he had not learned the discipline of silence. Of an ardent temperament, and conscious of his ability, his free and independent spirit rendered him impatient of the restraints of a military life, and he accordingly resigned his commission.

years, during the reign of Carlo Alberto, mayor | ernment as incendiary, if not treasonable, and, of the city of Turin. The Princess Pauline Borghese, sister of Napoleon I., held him at the baptismal font, and the Abbé Frézet, author of a history of the house of Savoy, was his first instructor. At an early age he entered the military academy of Turin, where he soon distinguished himself among his fellow-students, consisting for the most part of the noble Piedmontese youth, and in recognition of his superior parts was appointed one of the king's pages. But the proud spirit of the future prime minister chafed under the "pack-saddle," as he styled it, of his livery; so that the king, in accordance with his wishes, soon released him from a serv-dition of his unhappy country, rent and torn by ice that was so uncongenial to his sturdy and robust disposition.

At the age of eighteen he completed his course of studies at the military academy, with the grade of lieutenant of engineers, and soon after entered upon the duties of his profession. In 1831, having been ordered to Genoa to superintend some works upon the fortifications, he was imprudent enough to indulge in the expression of liberal opinions at a time when every such expression was regarded by the gov

He had already dreamed of being prime minister, and it may be had marked out for himself a political career. But as he contemplated with grief and indignation the deplorable con

civil dissensions, bristling with Austrian bayonets, down-trodden, priest-ridden, "worm-eaten;" the national life well-nigh crushed out by foreign domination and papal tyranny; every generous sentiment, every noble aspiration, branded as revolutionary if not sacrilegious; when even the hope of a regenerated Italy seemed dead beyond the possibility of a resurrection-such a career held out no glittering prizes to an aspiring youth thoroughly imbued with liberal principles, unless he were willing to

MILITARY ACADEMY AT TURIN.

devote himself to a life of toil and conflict as a political reformer. Cavour accepted unhesitatingly his God-given mission. On the breaking out of the revolution in Paris, when divine right was in eclipse, and the aurora of liberty began to dawn, in writing to a friend of his liberal opinions and ardent aspirations, he thus formally dedicates himself to his life-work: "These ideas constitute a part of my existence. I will declare them openly. I will maintain and defend them so long as God gives me breath." As a preparation for this great work he sought a more liberal baptism upon the banks of the Thames, where he found a freer and purer political atmosphere, a mental pabulum better suited to his vigorous and robust genius, and where, intead of an intermittent state of political syncope or revolutionary violence, he found national progress wrought out by a gradual process of normal development.

abroad in politics and economics. Acting upon the principle-a cardinal point of his creedthat political revolutions to be permanent must always be preceded and inaugurated by moral ones, he began the great work of reform with the pen which was afterward so successfully completed with the sword. He wrote for the various French reviews upon the leading social, financial, and political questions of the day; wrote as a man of profound convictions, of large and comprehensive vision, of absolute independence of judgment; not as a professional writer, but because he had something to say; wrote as one who had profoundly studied and thoroughly mastered his subject, without literary pretension, in a plain, forcible, straightforward manner, relying upon the vigor of his thought and the strength of his reasoning rather than the perfection of his style or the beauty of his imagery: in a word, wrote as a man who would not be satisfied with writing only, but as one who would some day achieve an epic such as Tasso sang and Luther realized.

Of his writings during this period the most noteworthy were his articles on "Communism" and "The State of Ireland." The latter attracted no little attention in England as a luminous exposition of the difficulties as well as the possible solution of that vexed political problem, while the former illustrates his profound insight into the fundamental principles of civil society. Recognizing the grand truth that "all men are equal," he did not fail to perceive that equality of right can never confer equality of condition. Hence he was as far removed from socialism, which he regarded as the "negation of liberty," as from divine right. As he himself subsequently affirmed, amidst the merriment of the Chamber, he was not a great revolutionist. He was rather a progressive constitutionalist, who sought to accomplish his reforms by a process of natural development rather than by an insane appeal to revolutionary violence. To this end he advocated the establishment of agricultural colleges, mechanics' institutes, infant asylums, industrial associations, and banking institutions, with a view of ameliorating the condition of the laboring classes, fully convinced that the moral advancement of a nation must go hand in hand with its material development.

After remaining some time in England, ed- In 1847 Cavour, with several of his political ucating himself after the manner of the En-associates, organized a moderate liberal party, glish nobility, blending the distracting experi- and established as their organ the Risorgimento, ences of the gay outside world with the graver a journal devoted to progress, political reform, pursuits of university life, he returned to his union, and Italian independence. As a journative city thoroughly imbued with the spirit nalist he clearly foreshadowed his policy as a of English liberty, and with a profound admi- cabinet minister. Affirming that "the most ration for English institutions, which was so noble and genuine characteristics of right, as strikingly apparent in his subsequent policy as well as of power, are calmness and moderato constitute one of the principal counts in the tion," he resolved to advance resolutely toward indictment found against him by his personal the goal whither the irresistible force of his poenemies and political opponents. Out of favor litical principles would infallibly conduct him. with the government and watched by the police, he nevertheless sought to diffuse among his countrymen the results of his observations

The signs of the times now clearly indicated the coming of a political storm. The press, asserting its independence, assumed a bolder

tone. The wrath of centuries announced itself | sceptre of the house of Savoy, addressed a in deep-toned mutterings, soon to burst forth bold and stirring appeal to the Piedmontese with volcanic violence. Pius IX. startled Eu- government, which sounded out amidst the rope with the spectacle of a liberal pope; Aus- storm like the blast of a bugle. tria recoiled beneath the liberal impulse, and ground her teeth with rage. The King of Naples and Leopold of Tuscany propitiated their subjects by granting a constitution, while Carlo Alberto, who was among the last of the Italian princes to yield to the revolution, on the petition of Cavour, Durando, and others, soon after followed their example.

"The supreme hour for the Savoyard monarchy has struck-the hour for bold deliberations, the hour upon which depends the fate of empires and the destinies of nations. In view of the startling events transpiring in Lombardy and Vienna, hesitation, doubt, delay, are no longer possible: they would prove the most disastrous of policies. Men of cool judgment, accustomed to listen much more to the dictates of reason than the impulses of passion, after having pondered well our every word, we are in duty bound to declare there is no alternative for the nation, for the government, for the king, but war-war without hesitation, and without delay." The result justified the declaration of Cavour; for, shortly after, Carlo Alberto formally declared war against Austria.

In the midst of the wild storm of conflicting passions, Cavour, in accordance with his political creed, that revolutions to be permanent must be in accordance with natural laws, castigated with an unsparing hand the Utopian reformers and ultra-revolutionists who assumed to be independent of every law whatever, whether human or divine. Equally bold and daring as they, he had a more profound respect for humanity, and a greater faith in the final triumph of principles. Though satisfied with nothing less than the possible, he never aimed at the impracticable. Resolutely advancing in the path of progress, he was not one of those timid reformers "who are always waiting until the people become mature before conceding to them the very institutions which are precisely forget," he exclaimed, “that while we are talkadapted to mature them." Nor did he belonging and debating our brethren are fighting, and to that impracticable school of politicians who that they have the same rights that we have in affect to believe that a legislative act can create the formation of the Constitutional Assembly value, that a law of political economy can be which is to decide the destinies of Italy." annulled by a parliamentary majority, or a permanent revolution be achieved by a proclamation or a coup d'état.

Referring to the French revolutionists in the Risorgimento of the 16th November, 1848, he thus characterizes their insane policy, and, with singular prevision, prophesies its final result: "This iniquitous and ignorant faction finds itself confronted by science, affection, the individual, the family-every fundamental law of human society...... What does it signify? It has implicit faith in revolutionary measures, is certain of victory, and enacts the 24th of June. French blood flows in torrents. France, upon the brink of an abyss, arouses herself and hastens to suppress the fool-hardy attempt. What has been the result? We were looking for a democratic and social republic; we were in possession of the germs of many ideas, which, if developed by peaceful and ordinary means, would probably have resulted in some new advance in political science; and, instead, we have Paris under martial law, in Piedmont a dubious and dilatory intervention, at Naples a shameful intimacy between the French envoy and the Bourbon tyrant...... Let us wait a while longer, and we shall see the final result of revolutionary measures-Louis Napoleon upon the throne."

On the breaking out of the revolution in Lombardy, Cavour, who, with prophetic eye, already saw the grand and noble edifice of Italian unity rising under the constitutional

On the 1st of May, 1848, the Sub-alpine Parliament was convoked for the first time. Cavour, who was elected as the representative of the first electoral college of Turin, delivered his maiden speech on the 4th of July following, upon the occasion of the proposed union of Lombardy with Piedmont. "We must not

On the announcement of the defeat of Custozza, Cavour hastened to enroll himself as a volunteer, but the armistice of Milan prevented his departure for the theatre of war. He accordingly resumed his seat in Parliament, where he ably defended the Perrone-Pinelli ministry, which, having accepted the mediation of England and France in obtaining an honorable peace from Austria, was fiercely assailed by the opposition, who were impelled by their principles to wish a continuation of the war. Not only the ministry, but the monarchy itself, was in imminent peril. The star of democracy was now in the ascendant. Mazzini had proclaimed the advent of the universal republic. Pius IX., who had precipitated a revolution he did not wish and could not control, was conspiring at Gaeta against the new-born liberties of the people; Austria, supported by Germany and Russia, triumphant and defiant, with one hundred thousand soldiers in Lombardy; France declining aid, and England counseling delay. In a word, the Piedmontese government, without a friend or ally abroad, and with an unpopular ministry at home, was compelled to make headway against this colossal opposition.

The spirited boldness with which Cavour defended the administration subjected him to a storm of popular abuse. He had entered upon his parliamentary career distrusted by the aristocratic party, to whom he was related by ties of birth and friendship, on account of his lib