Braemar

“ The Brahmin must eat no meat, nor any thing that has had life; he must drink no spirituous liquors. He must use no vessel for cooking or eating that has been used by any one of a lower caste; if a Sudra but look upon the pot in which his rice is boiling, it must be broken. He cannot receive water or cooked food from any but Brahmins; nor can he have a Sudra as a servant in his house. A man of any other caste, even though a king, is too impure to hand food to a Brahmin beggar. ”

“ Brauer. But after to-day--what about that? Who can look into the future? Who can look into your heart and read your thoughts? Who knows what may happen over night, eh?
George. Uncle, these are insults I will not endure, even from you----
Brauer. Well! What then! Come on! [Jumps up, facing him, ready to fight.]
Mrs. Brauer. [Enters, ready to go out, dressed.] Henry, what on earth have you done to Gertrude? She is in her room, crying as if her heart would break.
[Marie has also come in with Mrs. Brauer .]
Brauer. How is the eggnog getting on, Marie?
Marie. It is not quite done, papa! ”

“ Brauer. But you can do that later, can't you?
Marie. I fear I might forget it.
Brauer. Very well; I am going down to look after the cow. Will you come, wife?
Mrs. Brauer. [Rising and putting up her handwork.] Yes, dear.
Brauer. [To Marie.] And one thing more,--don't you put your foot outside of the gate without an escort hereafter! Understand? Not once!
Marie. But why not, papa dear?
Brauer. After what has happened? But I never heard of such a thing--never, as long as I----
Mrs. Brauer. But, Henry, in broad daylight, it is hardly necessary----
Brauer. ”

“ Asirvadam the Brahmin has raised up lusty boys to himself, as every good Brahmin should; and they shall bind together his thumbs and his great toes, and lay him on the ground, when his hour is come,—lest the bed or the mat cling to his ghost, whithersoever it go, and torment it eternally. His wife shall spread beneath him a cloth that the hands of Kooleen Brahmins have woven. Lilies of Nilufar shall garland the neck of the happy cow that is to lead him safely beyond the fiery river, and the rings shall be golden wherewith her horns are tipped. ”

“ A German cheer, led by Prince Friedrich, greeted the achievement, the searchlights swung downward to illumine the path of the falling vessel, and every available man crowded the nearer rail of the flagship’s side.
If any had turned he would have seen a strangely outlined figure gain their deck. For a moment Brampton Reed stood with uplifted hand. Nothing could arrest the fall of his arm; nothing avert the destruction held in the uplifted hand. ”

“ All these considerations went far to stultify the otherwise weak and feeble Mr Brammel; when, in addition, he endeavoured to arrange in his mind the terms on which he would request the favour of a temporary loan of only (!) twenty thousand pounds, a sensation of nausea completely overpowered him, and the table, the chairs, the iron chest, swam round him like so many ships at sea. To recover from his sickness, and to curse the banking-house, every member of the same, and his own respectable parent for linking him to it, was one and the same exertion. ”

“ Whilst season in full tide, Madame Brahe's painfully reminiscent of Bourse at Paris. Evil communications have wrought proverbial effect; Germans feared throughout Europe by reason of their conversational shouting; but English ladies, and some gentlemen, met for luncheon chez Madame Brahe, might give them odds and beat them. Three or four girls, decently spoken at home one hopes, seated at small table here, carry on conversation at top of voice; many small tables, and as many friendly parties; one group not to be shouted down by a neighbour. ”

“ Charles Bramble was no sooner fairly at sea than he was filled with amazement at the condition of matters on board the slaver. Himself accustomed to enforce the most rigid discipline, he here saw a perfect bedlam; a crew of some thirty people, composed of the vilest of the vile, who must have been shipped only with an eye to numbers, and no regard for character or stability. Added to this, the captain, though a man of some experience as a seaman, had no control of the crew, and was quite at a loss how to manage them. ”

“ Brauer. [Alarmed.] Wha---- The devil you say! H'm! Who--who has seen her?
Paul. She was seen begging in the village--and last night, one of my men observed her creeping stealthily around the sheds yonder.
Brauer. [Scratching his head.] Yes, yes! I had almost forgotten. She has served her last sentence--fully five years!--we have been free from her annoying presence and now, she has returned. Well, what does she want?
Paul. She has heard her daughter is about to be married, she says.
Brauer. [Laughs.] Her daughter? ha, ha! I see! no doubt she has learned of Gertrude's betrothal. Well? ”

“ Oh! how I prayed for Bravo! The thoughts of death were bitter. To die thus in the wild forest, alone, with none to help! Thoughts of home and friends coursed like lightning through my brain. At that moment, when Hope herself had fled, deep and clear over the neighboring hill, came the baying of my gallant Bravo! I should have known his voice among a thousand. I pealed forth in one faint shout, 'On Bravo, on!' The next moment, with tiger-like bounds, the noble dog came leaping down the declivity, scattering the dried autumnal leaves like a whirlwind in his path. ”

“ Down fell his body, senseless, and his soul animating the corpse, the dead Brahmin sat up and opened his eyes. Instantly the crafty hunchback repeated the incantation, and took possession of the carcass of his majesty, mounted the king’s horse, and rode off to Liavati, where he was received by the courtiers, the servants, the ministers, and the queen as if he were the true Mukunda, whilst the real monarch, in the shape of a begging Brahmin, roved the forests and the villages, cursing his folly, half starved on the scanty charity of the faithful. ”

“ Brahms' 'Magelone Romances' have become world-famous, and wherever they are heard the delight which stirred the heart of the youthful Johannes as he and Lischen sat together in the pleasant Winsen fields eagerly devouring the old story from Aaron Löwenherz's purloined volume lives also. Lischen was not again to meet her old friend, but she never forgot either him or his music, and he, too, kept a faithful memory for the old pleasant time. ”

“ Haven't I as much right to bring my wife to Paris as you have? Give and take, if you please"——
"No, bless-ed," sagely and sarcastically interposed Mrs Brammel, "I ain't so rich as Mrs Allcraft; I can't dress so fine; we ain't sich gentle-folks"——
"Mr Brammel, pray let us have no more recrimination. I have met you here by the merest chance. It is my duty to speak to you at once, and very seriously, on your position. You are mistaken if you suppose that my own pleasure has brought me here; business—important, weighty business—is the sole cause, I can assure you." ”

“ The wise Brahmin knew nothing of this, and merely said, for the sake of a few rupees, what Farebwala told him to say. For the bribe of a hundred rupees, he would have declared the herdsman's child to be the son of a rajah.
"Who are you, O ass, and son of an ass, who would pour contempt on holy devotees!" cried the angry Brahmin.
The youths around, easily moved to mirth or to mockery—as the chaff is whirled round by a light puff of wind—joined in the insulting Cry, "O ass, and son of an ass!" ”

“ And now, after months of traveling, playing in many towns and meeting with many musicians and distinguished people, Johannes turned his steps toward Hamburg, and was soon in the bosom of the home circle. It is easy to imagine the mother's joy, for Hannes had always been the apple of her eye, and she had kept her promise faithfully, to write him a letter every week. But who shall measure the father's pride and satisfaction to have his boy return a real musical hero?
The concert journey just completed was the bridge over which Johannes Brahms passed from youth to manhood. ”

“ While Tycho Brahe was still at Rostock awaiting the result of his own and the Duke's letters to the king, he occupied himself in investing the ready money which he had brought with him from Denmark. As he repeatedly states that he had been obliged to part with his hereditary estate on account of the great outlay on buildings and instruments, which all his endowments did not cover, it would almost seem certain that his aunt and foster-mother, Inger Oxe, who died in 1591, must have left him a very considerable sum of money. ”

“ Brewster climbed up easily and sat beside the strangers. He churked to the horses and drove away in a manner that threatened to hurl the city girls from their earthly perch into kingdom come.
"Oh, this is terrible!" groaned Barbara, at an unusually hard bump of the wagon over a rutty road.
"Maybe we can sit down on the floor of the wagon where the trunks are?" ventured Eleanor, looking at Mr. Brewster.
"Shore—if you-all want to. The senseless trunks make better company than a rough old farmer," replied Mr. Brewster, without the least suspicion of malice in the words. ”

“ My son, the mighty Bramah is well pleased when he observes in his children an ingenuous heart, and kind disposition; but dangerous even is the love of our fellow creatures, if we are weak enough to yield to the sweet voice of deceit. Baizeed was tried with the magic pebble, and he squandered away its blessings. The wicked Daoud, whose imagination was at work to obtain the goods of Baizeed, was made the [Pg 93] instrument for punishing thy weakness ”

“ Leave me, and try some younger, less disillusionised man."
"There is no other man who will serve my purpose." Sir John stared hard, as well he might: others had not been in the habit of appealing to him to serve their purposes. "You are the natural leader of our classes. You alone can inspire them; you alone have the authority to call them to any effort."
"I have been invited to lead a hundred forlorn hopes," replied Sir John. "A dozen years—nine years—aye, perhaps even six years ago any one of them might have been sufficient. Now—I have my earwigs. Good night, Mr Salt." ”

“ He knows that I possess, for an amateur—a mere amateur, Brasher—one of the finest collections in Europe. He is green with envy, racked by covetous desires. He fixes his mind upon one of the finest gems in my collection, a relic for which crowned heads—crowned heads, Brasher!—might sigh in vain, and which none the less, so marvellously strong is my natural born instinct as a connoisseur, I picked up at a little town in Italy for less than fifteen shillings. ”

“ This, indeed, was the case, for with a vigorous crunch of his jaws, Bramble-buffer now smashed beams, rafters, joists, and planks all into one shapeless mass, which he forthwith spat out of his mouth as fast as he could, and afterwards indulged in a long, deep sigh of relief. It was a moment of agonizing suspense to the men. Suppose the giant should play false? They might indeed put out his eyes, but his roars would probably bring other giants to his aid before long, and, when free, his vengeance would be terrible. ”

“ A stormy atmosphere prevailed during the day in the house of the hospitable ladies, who were not only unused to visits from men, but could never have imagined that the ideal artist would commit himself to such extravagances. I was severely censured by grandmother and aunts as the harebrained youth who had led the honoured guest astray. Brahms left the next day, not having been very warmly pressed to prolong his visit! He had, however, given such satisfaction in high quarters that his return in the autumn for a long stay in Detmold was definitely arranged. ”

“ Though Tycho Brahe had been unsuccessful in his application to the king and in his attempt to use the influence of Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg, he still tried to bring all the influence he could to bear on him. In December 1597 he went on a visit to Rantzov at Bramstedt in Holstein, where he met Margrave Joachim Frederic, who shortly afterwards became Elector of Brandenburg, and his consort, who were on their way home after attending the wedding of their daughter and King Christian at Haderslev in Slesvig, on the 27th November. ”

“ Jörgen Brahe now thought that the time had come to send his nephew to a foreign university, as was then customary. He probably hoped that, when removed from his friends at Copenhagen, the young worshipper of Urania might be induced to give up his scientific inclinations and devote himself more to studies which would in after years enable him to take the place in his native land to which his birth entitled him. The university he selected for his nephew was that of Leipzig. ”

“ On November 27, having had time to study Brahms' variations, he writes, in the course of a letter to his wife:
'The variations of Johannes delighted me at first sight and do so still more on deeper acquaintance. I shall myself write also to Brahms; does his portrait by de Laurens still hang in my study? He is the most attractive and gifted young fellow. I recall with delight the splendid impression he made that first time with his C major Sonata, and afterwards with the F sharp minor Sonata and the Scherzo in E flat minor. ”

“ On the other hand, Brahmins may be found cultivating the land in villages where none but the twice-born live. They are clerks in offices, shopkeepers, postmasters, telegraph clerks, soldiers, stationmasters, and beggars. Rich or poor, educated or ignorant, the caste is always respected, and nobody presumes to outrage it because the Brahmin is poor and ignorant. ”