Logan Marshall - "The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado"

James Jennings - "The Dialect of the West of England Particularly Somersetshire"

Jean Webster - "Jerry Junior"

Francis Hindes Groome - "Two Suffolk Friends"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Alroy

B >> Benjamin Disraeli >> Alroy




After some hours he woke. He fancied that he had been wakened by the
sound of voices. The chamber was not quite dark. A straggling moonbeam
fought its way through an open fretwork pattern in the top of the tomb,
and just revealed the dim interior. Suddenly a voice spoke, a strange
and singular voice.

'Brother, brother, the sounds of the night begin.'

Another voice answered,

'Brother, brother, I hear them, too.'

'The woman in labour!'

'The thief at his craft!'

'The sentinel's challenge!'

'The murderer's step!'

'Oh! the merry sounds of the night!'

'Brother, brother, let us come forth and wander about the world.'

'We have seen all things. I'll lie here and listen to the baying hound.
'Tis music for a tomb.'

'Choice and rare. You are idle. I like to sport in the starry air. Our
hours are few, they should be fair.'

'What shall we see, Heaven or Earth?' 'Hell for me, 'tis more amusing.'
'As for me, I am sick of Hades.' 'Let us visit Solomon!' 'In his unknown
metropolis?'

'That will be rare.'

'But where, oh! where?'

'Even a spirit cannot tell. But they say, but they say, I dare not
whisper what they say.'

'Who told you?'

'No one. I overheard an Afrite whispering to a female Ghoul he wanted to
seduce.'

'Hah! hah! hah! hah! choice pair, choice pair! We are more ethereal.'

'She was a beauty in her way. Her eyes were luminous, though somewhat
dank, and her cheek tinged with carnation caught from infant blood.'

'Oh! gay; oh! gay; what said they?'

'He was a deserter without leave from Solomon's body-guard. The trull
wriggled the secret out.'

'Tell me, kind brother.'

'I'll show, not tell.'

'I pr'ythee tell me.'

'Well, then, well. In Genthesma's gloomy cave there is a river none has
reached, and you must sail, and you must sail---- Brother!'

'Ay.'

'Methinks I smell something too earthly.'

'What's that?'

'The breath of man.'

'Scent more fatal than the morning air! Away, away!'

In the range of mountains that lead from Olivet to the river Jordan is
the great cavern of Genthesma, a mighty excavation formed by the
combined and immemorial work of Nature and of Art; for on the high
basaltic columns are cut strange characters and unearthly forms,[47] and
in many places the natural ornaments have been completed by the hands of
the sculptor into symmetrical entablatures and fanciful capitals, the
work, they say, of captive Dives and conquered Afrites for the great
king.

It was midnight; the cold full moon showered it brilliancy upon this
narrow valley, shut in on all sides by black and barren mountains. A
single being stood at the entrance of the cave.

It was Alroy. Desperate and determined, after listening to the spirits
in the tomb, he resolved to penetrate the mysteries of Genthesma. He
took from his girdle a flint and steel, with which he lighted a torch
and then he entered.

The cavern narrowed as he cautiously advanced, and soon he found himself
at the head of an evidently artificial gallery. A crowd of bats rushed
forward and extinguished his torch [48] He leant down to relight it and
in so doing observed that he had trod upon an artificial pavement.

The gallery was of great extent, with a gradual declination [49] Being
in a straight line with the mouth of the cavern, the moonlit scene was
long visible, but Alroy, on looking round, now perceived that the
exterior was shut out by the eminence that he had left behind him. The
sides of the gallery were covered with strange and sculptured forms.

The Prince of the Captivity proceeded along this gallery for nearly two
hours. A distant murmur of falling water, which might have been
distinguished nearly from the first, increased in sound as he advanced,
and now, from the loud roar and dash at hand, he felt that he was on the
brink of some cataract. It as very dark. His heart trembled. He felt
his footing ere he ventured to advance. The spray suddenly leaped
forward and extinguished his torch.

His eminent danger filled him with terror, and he receded some paces,
but in vain endeavoured to reillumine his torch, which was soaked with
water.

His courage deserted him. Energy and exertion seemed hopeless. He was
about to deliver himself up to despair, when and expanding lustre
attracted his attention in the opposing gloom.

A small and bright red cloud seemed sailing towards him. It opened,
discharged from its bosom as silvery star, and dissolved again into
darkness. But the star remained, the silvery star, and threw a long line
of tremulous light upon the vast and raging rapid, which now, fleet and
foaming, revealed itself on all sides to the eye of Alroy.

The beautiful interposition in his favour re-animated the adventurous
pilgrim. A dark shadow in the foreground, breaking the line of light
shed by the star upon the waters, attracted his attention. He advanced,
regained his former footing, and more nearly examined it. It was a boat,
and in the boat, mute and immovable, sat one of those vast, singular,
and hidden forms which eh had observed sculptured on the walls of the
gallery.

David Alry, committing his fortunes to the God of Israel, leapt into the
boat.

And at the same moment the Afrite, for it was one of those dread
beings,[50] raised the oars, and the barque moved. The falling waters
suddenly parted in the long line of the star's reflection, and the
barque glided through their high and severed masses.

In this wise they proceeded for a few minutes, until they entered a
beautiful and moonlit lake. In the distance was mountainous country.
Alroy examined his companion with a feeling of curiosity not unmixed
with terror. It was remarkable that Alroy could never succeed in any way
in attracting his notice. The Afrite seemed totally unconscious of the
presence of his passenger. At length the boat reached the opposite shore
of the lake, and the Prince of the Captivity debarked.

He debarked at the head of an avenue of colossal lions of red
granite,[51] extending far as the eye could reach, and ascending the
side of the mountain, which was cut into a flight of magnificent
steps. The easy ascent was in consequence soon accomplished, and Alroy,
proceeding along the avenue of lions, soon gained the summit of the
mountain.

To his infinite astonishment he beheld Jerusalem. That strongly-marked
locality could not be mistaken: at his feet were Jehoshaphat, Kedron,
Siloah; he stood upon Olivet; before him was Zion. But in all other
respects, how different was the landscape from the one that he had gazed
upon a few days back, for the first time! The surrounding hills
sparkled with vineyards, and glowed with summer palaces, and voluptuous
pavilions, and glorious gardens of pleasure. The city, extending all
over Mount Sion, was encompassed with a wall of white marble, with
battlements of gold; a gorgeous mass of gates and pillars, and gardened
terraces; lofty piles of rarest materials, cedar, and ivory, and
precious stones; and costly columns of the richest workmanship and the
most fanciful orders, capitals of the lotus and the palm, and flowing
friezes of the olive and the vine.

And in the front a mighty Temple rose, with inspiration in its very
form; a Temple so vast, so sumptuous, that there needed no priest to
tell us that no human hand planned that sublime magnificence!

'God of my fathers!' said Alroy, 'I am a poor, weak thing, and my life
has been a life of dreams and visions, and I have sometimes thought my
brain lacked a sufficient master; where am I? Do I sleep or live? Am I a
slumberer or a ghost? This trial is too much.' He sank down, and hid
his face in his hands: his over-exerted mind appeared to desert him: he
wept.

Many minutes elapsed before Alroy grew composed. His wild bursts of
weeping sank into sobs, and the sobs died off into sighs. And at length,
calm from exhaustion, he again looked up, and lo! the glorious city was
no more! Before him was a moon-lit plain, over which the avenue of
lions still advanced, and appeared to terminate only in the mountainous
distance.

This limit the Prince of the Captivity at length reached, and stood
before a stupendous portal, cut out of the solid rock, four hundred feet
in height, and supported by clusters of colossal Caryatides.[52] Upon
the portal were engraven some Hebrew characters, which upon examination
proved to be the same as those upon the talisman of Jabaster. And so,
taking from his bosom that all-precious and long-cherished deposit,
David Alroy, in obedience to his instructions, pressed the signet
against the gigantic portal.

The portal opened with a crash of thunder louder than an earthquake.
Pale, panting, and staggering, the Prince of the Captivity entered an
illimitable hall, illumined by pendulous balls of glowing metal. On each
side of the hall, sitting on golden thrones, was ranged a line of kings,
and, as the pilgrim entered, the monarchs rose, and took off their
diadems, and waved them thrice, and thrice repeated, in solemn chorus,
'All hail, Alroy! Hail to thee, brother king! Thy crown awaits thee!'

The Prince of the Captivity stood trembling, with his eyes fixed upon
the ground, and leaning breathless against a column. And when at length
he had a little recovered himself, and dared again to look up, he found
that the monarchs were re-seated; and, from their still and vacant
visages, apparently unconscious of his presence. And this emboldened
him, and so, staring alternately at each side of the hall, but with a
firm, perhaps desperate step, Alroy advanced.

And he came to two thrones which were set apart from the others in the
middle of the hall. On one was seated a noble figure, far above the
common stature, with arms folded and downcast eyes. His feet rested upon
a broken sword and a shivered sceptre, which told that he was a monarch,
in spite of his discrowned head.

And on the opposite throne was a venerable personage, with a long
flowing beard, and dressed in white raiment. His countenance
was beautiful, although ancient. Age had stolen on without its
imperfections, and time had only invested it with a sweet dignity and
solemn grace. The countenance of the king was upraised with a seraphic
gaze, and, as he thus looked up on high, with eyes full of love, and
thanksgiving, and praise, his consecrated fingers seemed to touch the
trembling wires of a golden harp.

And further on, and far above the rest, upon a throne that stretched
across the hall, a most imperial presence straightway flashed upon the
startled vision of Alroy. Fifty steps of ivory, and each step guarded
by golden lions,[53] led to a throne of jasper. A dazzling light blazed
forth from the glittering diadem and radiant countenance of him who sat
upon the throne, one beautiful as a woman, but with the majesty of a
god. And in one hand he held a seal, and in the other a sceptre.

And when Alroy had reached the foot of the throne, he stopped, and his
heart misgave him. And he prayed for some minutes in silent devotion,
and, without daring to look up, he mounted the first step of the throne,
and the second, and the third, and so on, with slow and faltering feet,
until he reached the forty-ninth step.

The Prince of the Captivity raised his eyes. He stood before the monarch
face to face. In vain Alroy attempted to attract his attention, or to
fix his gaze. The large dark eyes, full of supernatural lustre, appeared
capable of piercing all things, and illuminating all things, but they
flashed on without shedding a ray upon Alroy.

Pale as a spectre, the pilgrim, whose pilgrimage seemed now on the point
of completion, stood cold and trembling before the object of all his
desires and all his labours. But he thought of his country, his people,
and his God; and, while his noiseless lips breathed the name of Jehovah,
solemnly he put forth his arm, and with a gentle firmness grasped the
unresisting sceptre of his great ancestor.

And, as he seized it, the whole scene vanished from his sight!

Hours or years might have passed away, so far as the sufferer was
concerned, when Alroy again returned to self-consciousness. His eyes
slowly opened, he cast around a vacant stare, he was lying in the cavern
of Genthesma. The moon had set, but the morn had not broken. A single
star glittered over the brow of the black mountains. He faintly moved
his limbs; he would have raised his hand to his bewildered brain, but
found that it grasped a sceptre. The memory of the past returned to him.
He tried to rise, and found that he was reposing in the arms of a human
being. He turned his head; he met the anxious gaze of Jabaster!




CHAPTER VII.

_Conquest of the Seljuks_

YOUR face is troubled, uncle.' 'So is my mind.' 'All may go well.'
'Miriam, we have seen the best. Prepare yourself for sorrow, gentle
girl. I care not for myself, for I am old, and age makes heroes of us
all. I have endured, and can endure more. As we approach our limit, it
would appear that our minds grow callous. I have seen my wealth, raised
with the labours of a thoughtful life, vanish in a morn: my people, a
fragile remnant, nevertheless a people, dispersed, or what is worse. I
have wept for them, although no tear of selfish grief has tinged this
withered cheek. And, were I but alone, ay! there's the pang. The solace
of my days is now my sorrow.'

'Weep not for me, dear uncle. Rather let us pray that our God will not
forsake us.'

'We know not when we are well. Our hours stole tranquilly along, and
then we murmured. Prospering, we murmured, and now we are rightly
stricken. The legend of the past is Israel's bane. The past is a dream;
and, in the waking present, we should discard the enervating shadow. Why
should we be free? We murmured against captivity. This _is_ captivity:
this damp, dim cell, where we are brought to die.

'O! youth, rash youth, thy being is destruction. But yesterday a child,
it seems but yesterday I nursed him in these arms, a thoughtless child,
and now our house has fallen by his deeds. I will not think of it;
'twill make me mad.'

'Uncle, dearest uncle, we have lived together, and we will die together,
and both in love; but, I pray you, speak no harsh word of David.'

'Shall I praise him?'

'Say nothing. What he has done, if done in grief, has been done all in
honour. Would you that he had spared Alschiroch?'

'Never! I would have struck him myself. Brave boy, he did his duty; and
I, I, Miriam, thy uncle, at whom they wink behind his back and call him
niggard, was I wanting in that hour of trial? Was my treasure spared to
save my people? Did I shrink from all the toil and trouble of that time?
A trying time, my Miriam, but compared with this, the building of the
Temple----'

'You were then what you have ever been, the best and wisest. And since
our fathers' God did not forsake us, even in that wilderness of wildest
woe, I offer gratitude in present faith, and pay him for past mercies by
my prayers for more.'

'Well, well, life must end. The hour approaches when we must meet our
rulers and mock trial; precious justice that begins in threats and ends
in torture. You are silent, Miriam.'

'I am speaking to my God.'

'What is that noise? A figure moves behind the dusky grate. Our gaoler.
No, no, it is Caleb! Faithful child, I fear you have perilled much.'

'I enter with authority, my lord, and bear good tidings.'

'He smiles! Is't possible? Speak on, speak on!'

'Alroy has captured the harem of our Governor, as they journeyed from
Bagdad to this city, guarded by his choicest troops. And he has sent to
offer that they shall be exchanged for you and for your household. And
Hassan has answered that his women shall owe their freedom to nothing
but his sword. But, in the meantime, it is agreed between him and the
messenger of your nephew, that both companies of prisoners shall be
treated with all becoming courtesy. You, therefore, are remanded to
your palace, and the trumpet is now sounding before the great mosque
to summon all the host against Alroy, whom Hassan has vowed to bring to
Hamadan dead or alive.'

'The harem of the Governor, guarded too by his choicest troops! 'Tis a
great deed. He did remember us. Faithful boy! The harem of the Governor!
his choicest troops! 'Tis a very great deed. Me-thinks the Lord is with
him. He has his great father's heart. Only think of David, a child! I
nursed him, often. Caleb! Can this be David, our David, a child, a girl?
Yet he struck Alschiroch! Miriam! where is she? Worthy Caleb, look to
your mistress; she has fallen. Quite gone! Fetch water. 'Tis not very
pure, but we shall be in our palace soon. The harem of the Governor! I
can't believe it. Sprinkle, sprinkle. David take them prisoners! Why,
when they pass, we are obliged to turn our heads, and dare not look.
More water: I'll rub her hand. 'Tis warmer! Her eyes open! Miriam,
choice news, my child! The harem of the Governor! I'll not believe it!

'Once more within our walls, Caleb. Life is a miracle. I feel young
again. This is home; and yet I am a prisoner. You said the host were
assembling; he can have no chance. Think you, Caleb, he has any chance?
I hope he will die. I would not have him taken. I fear their tortures.
We will die too; we will all die. Now I am out of that dungeon,
me-thinks I could even fight. Is it true that he has joined with
robbers?'

'I saw the messenger, and learnt that he first repaired to some bandits
in the ruins in the desert. He had become acquainted with them in his
pilgrimage. They say their leader is one of our people.'

'I am glad of that. He can eat with him. I would not have him eat
unclean things with the Ishmaelites.'

'Lord, sir! our people gather to him from all quarters. 'Tis said that
Jabaster, the great Cabalist, has joined him from the mountains with ten
thousand men.'

'The great Jabaster! then there is some chance. I know Jabaster well. He
is too wise to join a desperate cause. Art sure about Jabaster? 'Tis
a great name, a very potent spirit. I have heard such things of that
Jabaster, sir, would make you stare like Saul before the spirit! Only
think of our David, Caleb, making all this noise! I am full of hope. I
feel not like a prisoner. He beat the harem guard, and, now he has got
Jabaster, he will beat them all.'

'The messenger told me he captured the harem, only to free his uncle and
his sister.'

'He ever loved me; I have done my duty to him; I think I have. Jabaster!
why, man, the name is a spell I There are men at Bagdad who will get up
in the night to join Jabaster. I hope David will follow his counsels
in all things. I would I had seen his servant, I could have sent him a
message.'

'Lord, sir! the Prince Alroy has no great need of counsellors, I can
tell you. 'Tis said he bears the sceptre of great Solomon, which he
himself obtained in the unknown tombs of Palestine.'

'The sceptre of Solomon! could I but believe it! 'Tis an age of wonders!
Where are we? Call for Miriam, I'll tell her this. Only think of David,
a mere child, our David with the sceptre of Solomon! and Jabaster too! I
have great faith. The Lord confound his enemies!'

'Gentle Rachel, I fear I trouble you; sweet Beruna, I thank you for your
zeal. I am better now; the shock was great. These are strange tidings,
maidens.'

'Yes, dear lady! who would have thought of your brother turning out a
Captain?'

'I am sure I always thought he was the quietest person in the world,'
said Beruna, 'though he did kill Alschiroch.'

'One could never get a word out of him,' said Rachel.

'He was always moping alone,' said Beruna.

'And when one spoke to him he always turned away,' said Leah.

'Or blushed,' added Imra.

'Well, for my part,' said the beautiful Bathsheba, 'I always thought
Prince David was a genius. He had such beautiful eyes!'

'I hope he will conquer Hassan,' said Rachel.

'So do I,' said Beruna.

'I wonder what he has done with the harem,' said Leah.

'I don't think he will dare to speak to them,' said Imra.

'You are very much mistaken,' said Bathsheba.

'Hark!' said Miriam.

''Tis Hassan,' said Bathsheba; 'may he never return!'

The wild drum of the Seljuks sounded, then a flourish of their fierce
trumpets, and soon the tramp of horse. Behind the blinds of their
chamber, Miriam and her maidens beheld the magnificent troop of
tur-baned horsemen, who, glittering with splendid armour and bright
shawls, and proudly bounding on their fiery steeds, now went forth to
crush and conquer the only hope of Israel. Upon an Arab, darker than
night, rode the superb Hassan, and, as he passed the dwelling of
his late prisoners, whether from the exulting anticipation of coming
triumph, or from a soft suspicion that, behind that lattice, bright
eyes and brilliant faces were gazing on his state, the haughty but
handsome Seljuk flourished his scimitar over his head, as he threw his
managed steed into attitudes that displayed the skill of its rider.

'He is handsomer than Alschiroch,' said Rachel.

'What a shawl!' said Beruna.

'His scimitar was like lightning,' said Leah.

'And his steed like thunder,' said Imra.

'The evil eye fall on him!' said Bathsheba.

'Lord,' exclaimed Miriam, 'remember David and all his afflictions!'

The deserted city of the wilderness presented a very different
appearance from that which met the astonished gaze of Alroy, when he
first beheld its noble turrets, and wandered in its silent streets of
palaces.

Without the gates was pitched a numerous camp of those low black tents
common among the Kourds and Turkmans; the principal street was full
of busy groups engaged in all the preparations of warfare, and all the
bustling expedients of an irregular and adventurous life; steeds were
stalled in ruined chambers, and tall camels raised their still visages
among the clustering columns, or crouched in kneeling tranquillity amid
fallen statues and prostrate obelisks.

Two months had scarcely elapsed since Alroy and Jabaster had sought
Scherirah in his haunt, and announced to him their sacred mission. The
callous heart of him, whose 'mother was a Jewess,' had yielded to their
inspired annunciations. He embraced their cause with all the fervour
of conversion, and his motley band were not long sceptical of a creed
which, while it assuredly offered danger and adventure, held out the
prospects of wealth and even empire. From the city of the wilderness
the new Messiah sent forth his messengers to the neighbouring cities, to
announce his advent to his brethren in captivity. The Hebrews, a
proud and stiff-necked race, ever prone to rebellion, received the
announcement of their favourite prince with transport. The descendant
of David, and the slayer of Alschiroch, had double claims upon their
confidence and allegiance, and the flower of the Hebrew youth in the
neighbouring cities of the Caliphate repaired in crowds to pay their
homage to the recovered sceptre of Solomon.

The affair was at first treated by the government with contempt, and the
sultan of the Seljuks contented himself with setting a price upon the
head of the murderer of his brother; but, when several cities had been
placed under contribution, and more than one Moslem caravan stopped,
and plundered in the name of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob,
orders were despatched from Bagdad to the new governor of Hamadan,
Hassan Subah, to suppress the robbers, or the rebels, and to send David
Alroy dead or alive to the capital.

The Hebrew malcontents were well apprised by their less adventurous
but still sympathising brethren of everything that took place at the
head-quarters of the enemy. Spies arrived on the same day at the city
of the wilderness, who informed Alroy that his uncle was thrown into
a dungeon at Hamadan, and that a body of chosen troops were about to
escort a royal harem from Bagdad into Persia.

Alroy attacked the escort in person, utterly discomfited them, and
captured their charge. It proved to be the harem of the Governor of
Hamadan, and if for a moment the too sanguine fancy of the captor
experienced a passing pang of disappointment, the prize at least
obtained, as we have seen, the freedom and security of his dear though
distant friends. This exploit precipitated the expedition which was
preparing at Hamadan for his destruction. The enraged Hassan Subah
started from his divan, seized his scimitar, and without waiting for the
auxiliaries he had summoned from the neighbouring chieftains, called to
horse, and at the head of two thousand of the splendid Seljuk cavalry,
hurried to vindicate his love and satiate his revenge.

Within the amphitheatre which he first entered as a prisoner, Alroy sat
in council. On his right was Jabaster, Scherirah on his left. A youth,
little his senior, but tall as a palm-tree, and strong as a young lion,
was the fourth captain. In the distance, some standing, some reclining,
were about fifty men completely armed.

'Are the people numbered, Abner?' inquired Alroy of the youth.

'Even so; three hundred effective horsemen, and two thousand footmen;
but the footmen lack arms.'

'The Lord will send them in good time,' said Jabaster; 'meanwhile let
them continue to make javelins.'

Copyright (c) 2007. topboookz.com. All rights reserved.