Stories after Nature/Julia and Lysius
STORIES
AFTER
NATURE.
To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.
HAMLET.
LONDON:
T. AND J. ALLMAN,
PRINCES STREET, HANOVER SQUARE; AND
C. AND J. OLLIER,
VERE STREET, OXFORD STREET.
1822
JULIA AND LYSIUS.
N Ravenna, an ancient city of Italy, was a certain judge of great wisdom and piety; much honoured, and enjoying the good esteem of his friends. He had but one child, a daughter named Julia, of tender years, of the greatest beauty, and most delicately brought up.
It happened, that he took a secretary into his house, to dwell with him, and manage some part of the weighty public business that devolved upon him. This youth's name was Lysius, a scholar; and, at bottom, of the deepest feeling. Julia no sooner saw him than she loved him, and laid her beauty at his feet; and being of a sensitive and delicate nature, and continually in his company, her colour faded, and her deep yearnings of affection touched every thought with melancholy. Lysius liked her as a beautiful woman, but was indifferent to the delicacy of her affection; so that she was continually looking on a blank.
Her father, seeing her health thus decline, began to cast often for the cause; and at length, going into her bedchamber one morning, as she lay awake, he took her hand between his, and said, "My dear daughter, I have long forborne, from great delicacy, to question you of the cause of this your sickness of mind; but so does it affect me, that I find I cannot go about my daily occupations, and leave you so sorely afflicted, without offering what consolation I can to you. My child, thy peace is as precious to me as my life; nevertheless, I know you to be mistress of so delicate a sense, that if you feel disinclined to impart to me your thoughts, do not do it; and I will take more patience to myself, till time, that healeth all wounds, shall have fulfilled the will of Heaven on thy desires." Julia was silent, and hung down her head; but presently, bursting into tears, she hid her face in his bosom, saying "Father, my heart is almost broken." He began to sooth and comfort her; when she looked up, and told him of her affection. And he said, "Heaven is above these things. I will not be thy father so much in authority as in friendliness. To-morrow we will talk of this matter." But she answered eagerly, "Now—I prythee now. I can bear anything now, but have no fortitude for to-morrow. Counsel me what I am to do." And her father said, "The truth is best to be told in these matters. Hitherto thy happiness has been in my hands, and thou hast been happy; but now it goes from me. I think thy passion is foremost: I do not think this youth loves you, and it is not delicate in us to ask him in marriage." Julia began weeping afresh, and said, "In matters of this nature we may sometimes break through the common laws. I think I could ask him to marry me." Her father, seeing her thus bent on it, kissed her, and said, "Though his fortunes are most mean compared to thine, and his estate low; yet, if he like it, you shall be his wife: and if he take thee, I pray that he may grow into that passion for thee that thy tender nature deserves. I will send messengers to say I cannot attend the court to-day, and will go about this thing; I shall do all for the best, so I hope you will contrive in the meanwhile to be somewhat comfortable." And kissing her, and blessing her, he went from her chamber. The great kindness of Julia's father wrought upon her heart; and the sudden hope that she was willing to entertain, arising from despair, thrilled her with an ecstasy, that was but seldom damped with the sad thought of failure.
Her father went into the garden, and walked some time, thinking; then, sending for Lysius, he led him into a chamber, and sitting opposite to him, he told him of his daughter's passion, and his willingness to lay good fortune on him; but to ponder on it, and have a care that he did not by future neglect waste his child's life. And, for all the severity of his speech, a tear stood in his eye. Lysius answered, "Sir, if I were insensible to the beauty of your child, I must be more than stone; but affection is a matter of deep birth, and cannot be called up of one's own accord. I do more honour your daughter than love her; but considering my poorness of fortune, and the good estate I shall receive at your hands, I will so far bind myself as to marry your daughter, and will do all in my power to behave virtuously towards her; teaching myself (if it may so be) continual lessons of affection, so that in time I may perhaps fully answer her passion: but this is in the hands of fate. I will at all hazards treat her delicately and honourably." The old man hearing this, approving of his open manner of speech, and the confession of his feelings, embraced him; and went instantly to his daughter, and told her of what had passed, than which nothing more could rejoice her; so that she despised her bed, and arose, and went into the air. Lysius seeing her walking in the garden, came to her, and kissed her, and began to converse with her. All was bustle and merriment, and in a week every thing was ready for the marriage.
It happened that Lysius, who was highly related in Athens, received word suddenly, saying, that the two youths who stood in his way to an immense estate had fallen in a quarrel by each other's hands, and were dead; and inviting him to come and take possession of his riches. Now when Lysius heard this, he bethought him how he should act; first inquiring the truth of this matter, and finding it correct, he went to the apartment of the judge, and spoke to him as follows. "The news that I have to tell you at once grieves and rejoices me. When I said I would marry your daughter, I was a beggar. I told you that I did not love her; but considering the good estate I should arrive to, and her passion, I was willing to take her on such conditions, which are now altered, leaving only her passion; for I am a lord, and master of immense revenues. I purpose to lead the life of a wealthy man; and being a great admirer of woman's beauty, and my affections free, I cannot now bind myself to the benefit of her passion alone." After a pause, the judge said, "I am afraid my daughter will die in consequence." Lysius replied, "It grieves me; but we must part here." So saying, he took horse and went to Athens.
Now when Julia's father told this, she stifled much of her grief, seeing his great pain for her; called to aid an independence of spirit, and for some time made a desperate head against her affliction: stifling her tears and sighs, and groaning but seldom, and in secret, at her hard fate. But her father saw what was passing in her heart, and was miserable. The days and nights proved too long for her, and she went mad for many months. She sat half in her grave, and half out; and it was the falling of an autumnal leaf whether she lived or died. But the violence of the fever abating, her senses gradually returned. As nature mouldeth to its sweetest shape after a wasteful storm, so she gathered her reason, and, because of her father, made great efforts towards her peace. Three years passed over her head, yet she was nothing altered; save in declining to her last bed by fast degrees.
Her father, seeking by all means to amuse her mind, had built a cell behind a buttress close where he held his seat in the court of justice, and provided it with curtains, so that she could see and hear all that passed of interest, without being herself perceived. It happened, that one morning, Julia being present, a man in tattered apparel, with a staff in his hand, and like a beggar, was brought before them on the charge of murder. No one knew aught of him, or who he was, nor would he describe himself; but Julia's sense was quick, and she knew him to be Lysius: and holding her forehead for some minutes, she departed from the court.
Lysius having come to his estate, had joined the noisy and luxurious youth of Athens; and never thinking that wells may be drawn dry, he went on scattering his money on one worthless banquet and another, till his lands were gaged, his coffers empty, and he obliged to fly for fear of imprisonment for heavy debts. And here he stood, in this deplorable condition, before Julia's father, to answer to the crime of murder. Although he avowed his innocence, yet circumstances were so clear against him, and fortune was so much his enemy, that every body adjudged him guilty, and he was doomed to death at the sunset of that day. Now when Julia left the court, she beat with her hand upon her heart, and, collecting all her firmness, went into the garden and gathered berries, with which she dyed her face and neck; and tying her hair in knots, and clothing herself in ragged apparel like a wandering beggar, she made her way through the press in the court, just as Lysius was being carried away to prison; and, standing up before her father, she said, "Hold, you man of justice, truly blind; you know not what you do! What poor things, ye gods! are mortals in your eyes, if the gravest of us thus play with each other's lives. Be it known unto you this man is innocent. I slew him who is dead, and confess myself guilty of the murder: my motive was jealousy; his crime, neglect of me. Set him free, I pray you: and, O ye gods, take of me the weary life that I have held so long, nor ever dreamt of using it as I now do." It now being the close of the court, and the judges having some difference in this affair, suspended the execution; and ordered, that early in the morning they should appear before them to pass sentence on the woman and release the accused; so they were both conveyed out, and put into two dungeons. Now Julia, feeling for her father, and to put him off his guard from discovering her, had written to him, saying, "If I do not return to-night, consider me safe and happy." So that he felt no alarm, having full confidence in her; and was inwardly glad that she showed an inclination for any thing. When the morning came, sentence was taken off Lysius, and passed upon her by her own father, who condemned her to present death.
But fate was fickle in this, and would not permit it; for the man who appeared slain, after long seeming dead, showed some signs of animation; and he found his senses, and voice enough to accuse his murderers; who, being apprehended, confessed their crime, and the whole of them had just come into court. The judges were amazed at this matter, as also was Lysius; and they said, "Woman, why hast thou deceived us, and thus cast thy life at fortune? Albeit thou hast saved the life of a fellow being, we understand it not." She replied, "Stifle your amazement. The gods are above. We two are declared innocent. I know not why, my soul, but I have some hope." Saying this, she took Lysius's hand and kissed it, and a tear fell on it; so she departed. When she touched him he trembled like a child (for he knew her), but was dumb with remorse and wonder. After this time Julia became more peaceful, seeing she had saved her lover's life.
Now away went Lysius into Athens, full of love and affection for Julia; wondering at himself and the greatness of her act. He came to his steward, gathered his books together, and worked from light till dark; beginning at the peep of morning, and closing only at the shut of day. He examined his accounts, closed with those to whom he owed money; and was red with shame, and shuddered at the wreck of fortune he had strewn upon so barren a strand, while such a woman as Julia would lay down her life for him, though ruined, and a beggar. In the course of one year he had gathered money enough from his former waste to provide for the present in splendour. So he went from Athens like a prince, with choice youth about him, with music and banners, followers, and horsemen habited in gold and silver apparel, bearing gifts; and, coming to Ravenna, he went to Julia's house, and embraced her father. When she came into the hall she wondered who this stranger might be; but when he fell at her feet, thanking her for his life, asked pardon for the past, and besought her hand, she shouted, and fainted in his arms.
They were married the next day, and lived only for each other; their happiness increasing with their wealth and family.
