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diff --git a/28455-h/28455-h.htm b/28455-h/28455-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cae3f42 --- /dev/null +++ b/28455-h/28455-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12025 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html lang="en"> + +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg e-Book of Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 5. Editor: Charles F. Horne.</title> + + +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- + +body {font-size: 1em; text-align: justify; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} + +h1 {font-size: 120%; text-align: center; margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 2em;} +h2 {font-size: 115%; text-align: center; margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 2em;} +h3 {font-size: 105%; text-align: center; margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 2em; line-height: 2em;} + +a:focus, a:active { outline:#ffee66 solid 2px; background-color:#ffee66;} +a:focus img, a:active img {outline: #ffee66 solid 2px; } + +hr {width: 20%; text-align: center;} + +ul {list-style-type: none;} +ul li {line-height: 1.5em;} + +table {border-collapse: collapse; table-layout: fixed; + width: 95%; margin-left: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 1em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em;} + +.pagenum {visibility: hidden; + position: absolute; right:0; text-align: right; + font-size: 10px; + font-weight: normal; font-variant: normal; + font-style: normal; letter-spacing: normal; + color: #C0C0C0; background-color: inherit;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 95%;} +.small {font-size: 70%;} +.smaller {font-size: smaller;} +.italic {font-style: italic;} + +.noindent {text-indent: 0em;} +.center {text-align: center;} +.right {text-align: right;} + +.quote {margin-left: 5%; font-size: 95%;} +.poem10 {text-indent: 0em; margin-left: 10%; font-size: 95%;} +.poem30 {text-indent: 0em; margin-left: 30%; font-size: 95%;} +.poem50 {text-indent: 0em; margin-left: 50%; font-size: 95%;} + +.ralign85 {position: absolute; right: 15%; top: auto;} +.ralign95 {position: absolute; right: 5%; top: auto;} +.add1em {margin-left: 1em;} +.add2em {margin-left: 2em;} +.add7em {margin-left: 7em;} + +.figcenter {text-align: center; margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 2em; clear:both;} +.figcenter p {font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 95%;} + +.floatright {float: right; clear: right; text-align: center; + padding: 5px; margin: 0 0 0 7px;} + +.floatleft {float: left; clear: left; text-align: center; + padding: 5px; margin: 0 7px 0 0;} + +div.wrap_area {position: relative} + +div.wrap_area img {left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px;} + +div.wrap_area p {position: relative;} + +div.shape_wrap div { clear: left; float: left; + height: 15px; padding-right: 10px;} + +--> +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 5 of 8, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 5 of 8 + A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more + than 200 of the most prominent personages in History + +Author: Various + +Editor: Charles F. Horne + +Release Date: March 30, 2009 [EBook #28455] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT MEN AND FAMOUS WOMEN. *** + + + + +Produced by Sigal Alon, Christine P. Travers and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<a id="img001" name="img001"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img001.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="" title=""> +<p>Columbus before Isabella.</p></div> + +<h1>GREAT MEN AND FAMOUS WOMEN</h1> + +<p class="noindent center italic">A Series of Pen and Pencil Sketches of</p> + +<p class="center noindent">THE LIVES OF MORE THAN 200 OF +THE MOST PROMINENT PERSONAGES IN HISTORY</p> + +<p class="center noindent">Vol. V.</p> + +<p class="p4 noindent center"><span class="smaller">Copyright, 1894, BY SELMAR HESS</span><br> +<span class="smcap">Edited by Charles F. Horne</span></p> + +<p class="p4 center noindent smaller"><span class="smcap">New-York: Selmar Hess Publisher</span><br> +Copyright, 1894, by <span class="smcap">Selmar Hess</span>.</p> + +<a id="toc" name="toc"></a> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="pageiii" name="pageiii"></a>(p. iii)</span> CONTENTS OF VOLUME V.</h2> + +<ul> +<li>SUBJECT <span class="ralign85">AUTHOR</span> <span class="ralign95">PAGE</span></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>ÆNEAS, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Charlotte M. Yonge</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page012">12</a></span></li> + +<li>ETHAN ALLEN, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Gertrude Van Rensselaer Wickham</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page200">200</a></span></li> + +<li>KING ARTHUR, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Rev. S. Baring-Gould</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page036">36</a></span></li> + +<li>THE CHEVALIER BAYARD, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Herbert Greenhough Smith</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page145">145</a></span></li> + +<li>ST. BERNARD, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Henry G. Hewlett</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page060">60</a></span></li> + +<li>ROBERT BRUCE, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Sir J. Bernard Burke, LL.D.</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page105">105</a></span></li> + +<li>WILLIAM CAXTON, +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page129">129</a></span></li> + +<li>THE CID, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Henry G. Hewlett</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page056">56</a></span></li> + +<li>CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>A. R. Spofford, LL.D.</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page131">131</a></span></li> + +<li>CAPTAIN JAMES COOK, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Oliver Optic</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page188">188</a></span></li> + +<li>ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>George Parsons Lathrop, LL.D.</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page078">78</a></span></li> + +<li>FREDERICK BARBAROSSA, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Lady Lamb</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page065">65</a></span></li> + +<li>VASCO DA GAMA, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Judge Albion W. Tourgée</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page139">139</a></span></li> + +<li>THE GRACCHI, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>James Anthony Froude, LL.D.</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page020">20</a></span></li> + +<li>GUSTAVUS VASA, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Charles F. Horne</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page153">153</a></span></li> + +<li>HANS GUTENBERG, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Alphonse de Lamartine</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page121">121</a></span></li> + +<li>HAROLD, KING OF ENGLAND, +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page054">54</a></span></li> + +<li>WILLIAM HARVEY, +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page172">172</a></span></li> + +<li>HERCULES, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Charlotte M. Yonge</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page001">1</a></span></li> + +<li>JOHN HOWARD, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Harriet G. Walker</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page194">194</a></span></li> + +<li>JOAN OF ARC, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Ella Wheeler Wilcox</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page113">113</a></span></li> + +<li>LEIF ERICSON, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page049">49</a></span></li> + +<li>ST. LOUIS, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Henry G. Hewlett</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page086">86</a></span></li> + +<li>MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Samuel L. Knapp</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page159">159</a></span></li> + +<li>MARCO POLO, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Noah Brooks</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page092">92</a></span></li> + +<li>RICHARD CŒUR DE LION, +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page071">71</a></span></li> + +<li>ROLAND, +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page039">39</a></span></li> + +<li>ROLLO THE GANGER, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page044">44</a></span></li> + +<li>SIEGFRIED, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Karl Blind</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page031">31</a></span></li> + +<li>CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Marion Harland</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page166">166</a></span></li> + +<li>PRINCE CHARLES STUART, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Andrew Lang, LL.D.</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page177">177</a></span></li> + +<li>THESEUS, +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page005">5</a></span></li> + +<li>ULYSSES, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Charles F. Horne</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page007">7</a></span></li> + +<li>SIR WILLIAM WALLACE, +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page100">100</a></span></li> + +<li>ARNOLD VON WINKELRIED, +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page111">111</a></span></li> + +<li>XENOPHON, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Professor J. Pentland Mahaffy</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page015">15</a></span></li> + +<li>ZENOBIA, QUEEN OF PALMYRA, +<span class="ralign85 italic"><i>Anna Jameson</i>,</span> +<span class="ralign95"><a href="#page026">26</a></span></li> +</ul> + + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagev" name="pagev"></a>(p. v)</span> LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<p class="center noindent">VOLUME V.</p> + +<p class="p2 noindent center">PHOTOGRAVURES</p> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" summary="Illustration list"> +<colgroup> + <col width="60%"> + <col width="30%"> + <col width="10%"> +</colgroup> +<tr> +<td>ILLUSTRATION</td> +<td class="right">ARTIST</td> +<td class="right">To face<br>page</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>COLUMBUS BEFORE ISABELLA,</td> +<td class="italic right">Vacslav Brozik</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img001">Frontispiece</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>ULYSSES DEFYING THE CYCLOPS,</td> +<td class="italic right">Louis-Frederic Schutzenberger</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img008">10</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>THE MOTHER OF THE GRACCHI,</td> +<td class="italic right">Gustave Boulanger</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img013">20</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>LEIF ERICSON OFF THE COAST OF VINELAND,</td> +<td class="italic right">O. A. Wergeland</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img025">52</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>THE VISION OF ST. BERNARD,</td> +<td class="italic right">Wilhelm Bernatzik</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img031">62</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>THE DEATH OF BARBAROSSA,</td> +<td class="italic right">Wilhelm Beckmann</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img033">70</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>LOUIS IX. OPENS THE JAILS OF FRANCE,</td> +<td class="italic right">Luc Olivier Merson</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img042">90</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>ARNOLD WINKELRIED AT SEMPACH,</td> +<td class="italic right">Konrad Grob</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img047">112</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>JOAN OF ARC,</td> +<td class="italic right">Mme. Zoe-Laure de Chatillon</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img049">118</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>MARY STUART AND RIZZIO,</td> +<td class="italic right">Georg Conrader</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img062">162</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<p class="p2 noindent center">WOOD-ENGRAVINGS AND TYPOGRAVURES</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" summary="Illustration list"> +<colgroup> + <col width="60%"> + <col width="30%"> + <col width="10%"> +</colgroup> + +<tr> +<td>HERCULES AT THE FEET OF OMPHALE,</td> +<td class="italic right">J. E. Dantan</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img004">4</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>TRIBUTE TO THE MINOTAUR,</td> +<td class="italic right">A. Gendron</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img006">6</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>ZENOBIA CAPTIVE,</td> +<td class="italic right">H. Schmalz</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img015">26</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>SIEGFRIED SLAYING THE DRAGON,</td> +<td class="italic right">K. Dielitz</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img017">32</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>THE RUINS OF KING ARTHUR'S CASTLE,</td> +<td class="italic right">Percy Dixon</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img019">38</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>ROLAND AT RONCESVALLES,</td> +<td class="italic right">Alphonse de Neuville</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img021">42</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>ROLLO THE RANGER ATTACKS PARIS,</td> +<td class="italic right">Alphonse de Neuville</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img023">46</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>EDITH SEARCHING FOR THE BODY OF HAROLD,</td> +<td class="italic right">Alphonse de Neuville</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img027">56</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>THE CID ORDERING THE EXECUTION OF AHMED,</td> +<td class="italic right">Alphonse de Neuville</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img029">58</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>RICHARD CŒUR DE LION ON THE FIELD OF ARSUR,</td> +<td class="italic right">Gustave Doré</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img035">74</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>THE VISION OF ST. FRANCIS,</td> +<td class="italic right">Chartran</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img038">84</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>THE EDUCATION OF LOUIS IX.,</td> +<td class="italic right">Chartran</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img040">86</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>GUTENBERG'S INVENTION,</td> +<td class="italic right">E. Hillemacher</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img051">126</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>THE FIRST SHEET FROM CAXTON'S PRESS,</td> +<td class="italic right">E. H. Wehnert</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img053">130</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>COLUMBUS RIDICULED AT THE COUNCIL OF SALAMANCA,</td> +<td class="italic right">Nicolo Barabino</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img055">134</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>BAYARD TAKING LEAVE OF THE LADIES OF BRESCIA,</td> +<td class="italic right">Alphonse de Neuville</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img058">150</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>ABDICATION OF GUSTAVUS VASA,</td> +<td class="italic right">Hersent</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img060">156</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>CAPTAIN SMITH SAVED BY POCAHONTAS,</td> +<td class="italic right">Grosch</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img064">168</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>HARVEY DEMONSTRATING THE CIRCULATION OF THE + BLOOD,</td> +<td class="italic right">Robert Hannah</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img066">176</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>THE FIRST MEETING OF PRINCE CHARLES WITH FLORA + MACDONALD,</td> +<td class="italic right">Alex. Johnstone</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img068">184</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK,</td> +<td class="italic right">J. Webber</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img070">192</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>HOWARD RELIEVING A PRISONER,</td> +<td class="italic right">F. Wheatley</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img072">198</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>ETHAN ALLEN AT TICONDEROGA,</td> +<td class="italic right">Alonzo Chappel</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#img074">204</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page001" name="page001"></a>(p. 001)</span> WORKMEN AND HEROES</h2> + +<p class="poem30"> + The heights by great men reached and kept<br> +<span class="add1em">Were not attained by sudden flight,</span><br> + But they, while their companions slept,<br> +<span class="add1em">Were toiling upward in the night.</span></p> + +<p class="poem50">—<span class="smcap">Longfellow</span>.</p> + + +<h3>HERCULES<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Charlotte M. Yonge</span></h3> + +<a id="img003" name="img003"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img003.jpg" width="250" height="416" alt="Hercules." title=""> +</div> + +<p>One morning Jupiter boasted among the gods in Olympus that a son would +that day be born, in the line of Perseus, who would rule over all the +Argives. Juno was angry and jealous at this, and, as she was the +goddess who presided over the births of children, she contrived to +hinder the birth of the child he intended till that day was over, and +to hasten that of another grandson of the great Perseus. This child +was named Eurystheus, and, as he had been born on the right day, +Jupiter was forced to let him be King of Argos, Sparta, and Mycenæ, +and all the Dorian race; while the boy whom he had meant to be the +chief was kept in subjection, in spite of having wonderful gifts of +courage and strength, and a kind, generous nature, that always was +ready to help the weak and sorrowful.</p> + +<p>His name was Alcides, or Hercules, and he was so strong at ten months +old that, with his own hands, he strangled two serpents whom Juno sent +to devour him in his cradle. He was bred up by Chiron, the chief of +the Centaurs, a wondrous race of beings, who had horses' bodies as far +as the forelegs, but where the neck of the horse would begin had human +breasts and shoulders, with arms and heads. Most of them were fierce +and savage; but Chiron was very wise and good, and, as Jupiter made +him immortal, he was the teacher of many of the great Greek heroes. +When Hercules was about eighteen, two maidens appeared to him—one in +a simple white dress, grave, modest, and seemly; the other scarcely +clothed <span class="pagenum"><a id="page002" name="page002"></a>(p. 002)</span> but tricked out in ornaments, with a flushed face, +and bold, roving eyes. The first told him that she was Virtue, and +that, if he would follow her, she would lead him through many hard +trials, but that he would be glorious at last, and be blest among the +gods. The other was Vice, and she tried to wile him by a smooth life +among wine-cups and dances and flowers and sports, all to be enjoyed +at once. But the choice of Hercules was Virtue, and it was well for +him, for Jupiter, to make up for Juno's cheat, had sworn that, if he +fulfilled twelve tasks which Eurystheus should put upon him, he should +be declared worthy of being raised to the gods at his death.</p> + +<p>Eurystheus did not know that in giving these tasks he was making his +cousin fulfil his course; but he was afraid of such a mighty man, and +hoped that one of these would be the means of getting rid of him. So +when he saw Hercules at Argos, with a club made of a forest-tree in +his hand, and clad in the skin of a lion which he had slain, +Eurystheus bade him go and kill a far more terrible lion, of giant +brood, and with a skin that could not be pierced, which dwelt in the +valley of Nemea. The fight was a terrible one; the lion could not be +wounded, and Hercules was forced to grapple with it and strangle it in +his arms. He lost a finger in the struggle, but at last the beast died +in his grasp, and he carried it on his back to Argos, where Eurystheus +was so much frightened at the grim sight that he fled away to hide +himself, and commanded Hercules not to bring his monsters within the +gates of the city.</p> + +<p>There was a second labor ready for Hercules—namely, the destroying a +serpent with nine heads, called Hydra, whose lair was the marsh of +Lerna. Hercules went to the battle, and managed to crush one head with +his club, but that moment two sprang up in its place; moreover, a huge +crab came out of the swamp and began to pinch his heels. Still he did +not lose heart, but, calling his friend Iolaus, he bade him take a +firebrand and burn the necks as fast as he cut off the heads; and thus +at last they killed the creature, and Hercules dipped his arrows in +its poisonous blood, so that their least wound became fatal. +Eurystheus said that it had not been a fair victory, since Hercules +had been helped, and Juno put the crab into the skies as the +constellation Cancer; while a labor to patience was next devised for +Hercules—namely, the chasing of the Arcadian stag, which was sacred +to Diana, and had golden horns and brazen hoofs. Hercules hunted it up +hill and down dale for a whole year, and when at last he caught it, he +got into trouble with Apollo and Diana about it, and had hard work to +appease them; but he did so at last; and for his fourth labor was sent +to catch alive a horrid wild boar on Mount Erymanthus. He followed the +beast through a deep swamp, caught it in a net, and brought it to +Mycenæ.</p> + +<p>The fifth task was a curious one. Augeas, King of Elis, had immense +herds, and kept his stables and cowhouses in a frightful state of +filth, and Eurystheus, hoping either to disgust Hercules or kill him +by the unwholesomeness of the work, sent him to clean them. Hercules, +without telling Augeas it was his appointed task, offered to do it if +he were repaid the tenth of the herds, and received the promise on +oath. Then he dug a canal, and turned the water of two <span class="pagenum"><a id="page003" name="page003"></a>(p. 003)</span> +rivers into the stables, so as effectually to cleanse them; but when +Augeas heard it was his task, he tried to cheat him of the payment, +and on the other hand Eurystheus said, as he had been rewarded, it +could not count as one of his labors, and ordered him off to clear the +woods near Lake Stymphalis of some horrible birds, with brazen beaks +and claws, and ready-made arrows for feathers, which ate human flesh. +To get them to rise out of the forest was his first difficulty, but +Pallas lent him a brazen clapper, which made them take to their wings; +then he shot them with his poisoned arrows, killed many, and drove the +rest away.</p> + +<p>King Minos, of Crete, had once vowed to sacrifice to the gods whatever +should appear from the sea. A beautiful white bull came, so fine that +it tempted him not to keep his word, and he was punished by the bull +going mad, and doing all sorts of damage in Crete; so that Eurystheus +thought it would serve as a labor for Hercules to bring the animal to +Mycenæ. In due time back came the hero, with the bull, quite subdued, +upon his shoulders; and, having shown it, he let it loose again to run +about Greece.</p> + +<p>He had a harder task in getting the mares of the Thracian king, +Diomedes, which were fed on man's flesh. He overcame their grooms, and +drove the beasts away; but he was overtaken by Diomedes, and, while +fighting with him and his people, put the mares under the charge of a +friend; but when the battle was over, and Diomedes killed, he found +that they had eaten up their keeper. However, when he had fed them on +the dead body of their late master they grew mild and manageable, and +he brought them home.</p> + +<p>The next expedition was against the Amazons, a nation of women +warriors, who lived somewhere on the banks of the Euxine, or Black +Sea, kept their husbands in subjection, and seldom brought up a son. +The bravest of all the Amazons was the queen, Hippolyta, to whom Mars +had given a belt as a reward for her valor. Eurystheus's daughter +wanted this belt, and Hercules was sent to fetch it. He was so hearty, +honest, and good-natured, that he talked over Hippolyta, and she +promised him her girdle; but Juno, to make mischief, took the form of +an Amazon, and persuaded the ladies that their queen was being deluded +and stolen away by a strange man, so they mounted their horses and +came down to rescue her. He thought she had been treacherous, and +there was a great fight, in which he killed her, and carried off her +girdle.</p> + +<p>Far out in the west, near the ocean flowing found the world, were +herds of purple oxen, guarded by a two-headed dog, and belonging to a +giant with three bodies called Geryon, who lived in the isle of +Erythria, in the outmost ocean. Passing Lybia, Hercules came to the +end of the Mediterranean Sea, Neptune's domain, and there set up two +pillars—namely, Mounts Calpe and Abyla—on each side of the Straits +of Gibraltar. The rays of the sun scorched him, and in wrath he shot +at it with his arrows, when Helios, instead of being angry, admired +his boldness, and gave him his golden cup, wherewith to cross the +outer ocean, which he did safely, although old Oceanus, who was king +there, put up his hoary head, and tried to frighten him by shaking the +bowl. It was large enough to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page004" name="page004"></a>(p. 004)</span> hold all the herd of oxen, when +Hercules had killed dog, herdsman, and giant, and he returned it +safely to Helios when he had crossed the ocean.</p> + +<p>Again Eurystheus sent Hercules to the utmost parts of the earth. This +time it was to bring home the golden apples which grew in the gardens +of the Hesperides, the daughters of old Atlas, who dwelt in the land +of Hesperus, the Evening Star, and, together with a dragon, guarded +the golden tree in a beautiful garden. Hercules made a long journey, +apparently round by the north, and on his way had to wrestle with a +dreadful giant named Antæus. Though thrown down over and over again, +Antæus rose up twice as strong every time, till Hercules found out +that he grew in force whenever he touched his mother earth, and +therefore, lifting him up in those mightiest of arms, the hero +squeezed the breath out of him. By and by he came to Mount Caucasus, +where he found the chained Prometheus, and, aiming an arrow at the +eagle, killed the tormentor, and set the Titan free. Atlas undertook +to go to his daughters, and get the apples, if Hercules would hold up +the skies for him in the meantime. Hercules agreed, and Atlas shifted +the heavens to his shoulders, went, and presently returned with three +apples of gold, but said he would take them to Eurystheus, and +Hercules must continue to bear the load of the skies. Prometheus bade +Hercules say he could not hold them without a pad for them to rest on +upon his head. Atlas took them again to hold while the pad was put on; +and thereupon Hercules picked up the apples, and left the old giant to +his load.</p> + +<p>One more labor remained—namely, to bring up the three-headed +watch-dog, Cerberus, from the doors of Tartarus. Mercury and Pallas +both came to attend him, and led him alive among the shades, who all +fled from him, except Medusa and one brave youth. He gave them the +blood of an ox to drink, and made his way to Pluto's throne, where he +asked leave to take Cerberus to the upper world with him. Pluto said +he might, if he could overcome Cerberus without weapons; and this he +did, struggling with the dog, with no protection but the lion's skin, +and dragging him up to the light, where the foam that fell from the +jaws of one of the three mouths produced the plant called aconite, or +hellebore, which is dark and poisonous. After showing the beast to +Eurystheus, Hercules safely returned him to the under world, and thus +completed his twelve great labors.</p> + +<p>Hercules was subject to fits of madness, in one of which he slew a +friend, and as a penalty he allowed himself to be sold as a slave. He +was purchased by the Queen of Lydia, Omphale, and remained in her +service three years. She used to make him do a woman's work, and even +dressed him at times in female garments, while she herself wore his +famous lion skin and laughed at him.</p> + +<a id="img004" name="img004"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img004.jpg" width="600" height="423" alt="" title=""> +<p>Hercules at the Feet of Omphale.</p></div> + +<p>But strong as he was, Hercules had in time to meet death himself. He +had married a nymph named Deianira, and was taking her home, when he +came to a river where a Centaur named Nessus lived, and gained his +bread by carrying travellers over on his back. Hercules paid him the +price for carrying Deianira over, while he himself crossed on foot; +but as soon as the river was between them, the faithless Centaur began +to gallop away with the lady. Hercules sent <span class="pagenum"><a id="page005" name="page005"></a>(p. 005)</span> an arrow after +him, which brought him to the ground, and as he was dying he prepared +his revenge by telling Deianira that his blood was enchanted with love +for her, and that if ever she found her husband's affection failing +her, she had only to make him put on a garment anointed with it, and +his heart would return to her; he knew full well that his blood was +full of the poison of the Hydra, but poor Deianira believed him, and +had saved some of the blood before Hercules came up.</p> + +<p>Several years after, Hercules made prisoner a maiden named Iole, in +Lydia, after gaining a great victory. Landing in the island of +Eubœa, he was going to make a great sacrifice to Jupiter, and sent +home to Deianira for a festal garment to wear at it. She was afraid he +was falling in love with Iole, and steeped the garment in the +preparation she had made from Nessus's blood. No sooner did Hercules +put it on, than his veins were filled with agony, which nothing could +assuage. He tried to tear off the robe, but the skin and flesh came +with it, and his blood was poisoned beyond relief. Unable to bear the +pain any longer, and knowing that by his twelve tasks he had earned +the prize of endless life, he went to Mount Œta, crying aloud with +the pain, so that the rocks rang again with the sound. He gave his +quiver of arrows to his friend Philoctetes, charging him to collect +his ashes and bury them, but never to make known the spot; and then he +tore up, with his mighty strength, trees by the roots, enough to form +a funeral pile, lay down on it, and called on his friend to set fire +to it; but no one could bear to do so, till a shepherd consented to +thrust in a torch. Then thunder was heard, a cloud came down, and he +was borne away to Olympus, while Philoctetes collected and buried the +ashes.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>THESEUS</h3> + +<a id="img005" name="img005"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img005.jpg" width="200" height="317" alt="Theseus." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Theseus, the great national hero of Athens, is said to have been born +at Trœzen, where his father, Ægeus, King of Athens, slept one night +with Æthra, the daughter of Pittheus, king of the place. Ægeus, on his +departure, hid his sword and his shoes under a large stone, and +charged Æthra, if she brought forth a son, to send him to Athens with +these tokens, as soon as he was able to roll away the stone. She +brought forth a son, to whom she gave the name of Theseus, and when he +was grown up informed him of his origin, and told him to take up the +tokens and sail to Athens, for the roads were infested by robbers and +monsters. But Theseus, who was desirous of emulating the glory of +Hercules, refused to go by sea, and after destroying various monsters +who had been the terror of the country, arrived in safety at Athens. +Here he was joyfully recognized by Ægeus, but with difficulty escaped +destruction from Media and the Pallantids, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page006" name="page006"></a>(p. 006)</span> the sons and +grandsons of Pallas, the brother of Ægeus. These dangers, however, he +finally surmounted, and slew the Pallantids in battle.</p> + +<p>His next exploit was the destruction of the great Marathonian bull, +which ravaged the neighboring country; and shortly after he resolved +to deliver the Athenians from the tribute that they were obliged to +pay to Minos, King of Crete. Every ninth year the Athenians had to +send seven young men and as many virgins to Crete, to be devoured by +the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. Theseus volunteered to go as one of the +victims, and through the assistance of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, +who became enamoured of him, he slew the Minotaur and escaped from the +Labyrinth. He then sailed away with Ariadne, whom he deserted in the +island of Dia or Naxos, an event which frequently forms the subject of +ancient works of art. The sails of the ship Theseus left Athens in +were black, but he promised his father, if he returned in safety, to +hoist white sails. This, however, he neglected to do, and Ægeus, +seeing the ship draw near with black sails, supposed that his son had +perished, and threw himself from a rock.</p> + +<p>Theseus now ascended the throne of Athens. But his adventures were by +no means concluded. He marched into the country of the Amazons, who +dwelt on the Thermodon, according to some accounts, in the company of +Hercules, and carried away their queen, Antiope. The Amazons in +revenge invaded Attica, and were with difficulty defeated by the +Athenians. This battle was one of the favorite subjects of the ancient +artists, and is commemorated in several works of art that are still +extant. Theseus also took part in the Argonautic expedition and the +Calydonian hunt. He assisted his friend Pirithous and the Lapithæ in +their contest with the Centaurs, and also accompanied the former in +his descent to the lower world to carry off Proserpine, the wife of +Pluto. When Theseus was fifty years old, according to tradition, he +carried off Helen, the daughter of Leda, who was then only nine years +of age. But his territory was invaded in consequence by Castor and +Pollux, the brothers of Leda; his own people rose against him, and at +last, finding his affairs desperate, he withdrew to the island of +Scyros, and there perished, either by a fall from the cliffs or +through the treachery of Lycomedes, the king of the island. For a long +time his memory was forgotten by the Athenians, but he was +subsequently honored by them as the greatest of their heroes. At the +battle of Marathon they thought they saw him armed and bearing down +upon the barbarians, and after the conclusion of the Persian war his +bones were discovered at Scyros by Cimon, who conveyed them to Athens +where they were received with great pomp and deposited in a temple +built to his honor. A festival also was instituted, which was +celebrated on the eighth day of every month, but more especially on +the eighth of Pyanipsion.</p> + +<p>The above is a brief account of the legends prevailing respecting +Theseus. But he is, moreover, represented by ancient writers as the +founder of the Attic commonwealth, and even of its democratic +institutions. It would be waste of time to inquire whether there was +an historical personage of this name who actually introduced the +political changes ascribed to him; it will be convenient to adhere to +the ancient account in describing them as the work of Theseus.</p> + +<a id="img006" name="img006"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img006.jpg" width="600" height="383" alt="" title=""> +<p>Tribute to the Minotaur.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page007" name="page007"></a>(p. 007)</span> Before this time Attica contained many independent townships, +which were only nominally united. Theseus incorporated the people into +one state, removed the principal courts for the administration of +justice to Athens, and greatly enlarged the city, which had hitherto +covered little more than the rock which afterward formed the citadel. +To cement their union he instituted several festivals, and especially +changed the Athenæa into the Panathenæa, or the festivals of all the +Atticans. He encouraged the nobles to reside at Athens, and +surrendered a part of his kingly prerogatives to them; for which +reason he is perhaps represented as the founder of the Athenian +democracy, although the government which he established was, and +continued to be long after him, strictly aristocratic.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>ULYSSES<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1" title="Go to footnote 1"><span class="small">[1]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Charles F. Horne</span></h3> + +<a id="img007" name="img007"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img007.jpg" width="300" height="192" alt="Ulysses." title=""> +</div> + +<p>While courage and strength seemed to the ancient Greeks the noblest of +virtues, they ranked wisdom and ready wit almost as high. Achilles was +the strongest of the Grecian warriors at the siege of Troy, but there +was another almost as strong, equally brave, and far shrewder of wit. +This was Ulysses. It was he who ultimately brought about the capture +of the city. Homer speaks often of him in his "Iliad;" and the bard's +second great work, the "Odyssey," is devoted entirely to the +wanderings of Odysseus, or, as we have learned from the Romans to call +him, Ulysses. Whether he was a real person or only a creation of the +poet's fancy, it is impossible to say. But as it is now generally +agreed that there was a siege of Troy, it follows that there was +probably a Ulysses, and his adventures, while in the main mythical, +are of value as having perhaps some foundation in truth, and giving, +at all events, a picture of what the old Greeks thought a hero should +be and do.</p> + +<p>Ulysses was King of Ithaca when he was summoned to join the rest of +the Grecian princes for the war with Troy. He had no wish to go, for +he had lately married a beautiful girl, Penelope, and was happy as a +man might be. So when the heralds came he pretended to be insane, and +hitching a yoke of oxen to a plough he drove them along the sands of +the sea-shore. He sang and shouted, and ploughed up the sand, and +scattered salt as if he were sowing it, and cried out that he would +soon have a beautiful crop of salt waves. The heralds watched him for +a moment, and then returning to the princes told them that <span class="pagenum"><a id="page008" name="page008"></a>(p. 008)</span> +there was no use delivering the summons to Ulysses, for he had lost +his wits. Then Palamedes, who, after Ulysses, was accounted shrewdest +of the Greeks, went, and standing there on the beach, watched the +plough. And he took Ulysses's baby son and threw him in front of the +team to see if the father was indeed mad. Ulysses turned the plough +aside to avoid the child; and then the princes knew it was all a +pretence, and he had to go with them. But he never forgave Palamedes, +and long after brought about his death.</p> + +<p>He was in many ways the ablest of the Greeks. Next to Achilles, Ajax +was accounted the strongest; but Ulysses threw him in wrestling. +Oilemenus was regarded as the swiftest of men, but Ulysses in a race +outran him. When Achilles was slain Ulysses alone held back all the +Trojans, while his comrades bore the body to their ships. Many other +great exploits he performed, and his counsels were of much value to +the Greeks through all the long siege. A great pile of spoils was +heaped up to be given to the man who had been of most use to the +assailants, and the Trojan prisoners themselves being called on to +decide, gave it to Ulysses. At the last, when Achilles was dead, and +the Greeks were all worn out and despairing, it was his fertile brain +which originated the snare into which the Trojans fell.</p> + +<p>Now, with the other Greeks, Ulysses set out to return to his home. Yet +first he stopped with his Ithacans to attack the Trojan city of +Ciconia. The assault was unexpected and successful. Great treasure +fell into the hands of the conquerors; but, in spite of their leader's +entreaties, they persisted in stopping in the captured city for a +night's carouse. The dispersed Ciconians rallied, gathered together +their allies, and attacking the revellers, defeated them with great +slaughter, so that less than half of them escaped in their ships. Yet +this was only the first of the many mishaps which befell the +ill-starred Ulysses. So persistently did misfortune pursue him that +the superstitious Greeks declared that he must have incurred the +hatred of the sea-god, Neptune, who would not let him cross his +domains.</p> + +<p>No sooner had his flying ships escaped from Ciconia than they were +struck by a terrific tempest which drove them far out of their course. +For three days the storm continued; then, as it abated, they saw +before them an unknown shore on which they landed to rest and recover +their strength. It was the land of the lotos-eaters, and when Ulysses +sent messengers to find out where he was, they, too, ate of the lotos +fruit. It caused them to forget everything; their struggles and +exhaustion, their homes, their leader, the great battles they had +fought, all were obliterated. They only cared to lie there as the +other lotos-eaters did, doing no work, but just dreaming all their +lives, nibbling at the fruit, which was both food and drink, until +they grew old and died.</p> + +<p>Ulysses knew that any life, no matter how wretched, was far better +than this death in life. He forbade any other of his men to touch the +fruit, and binding those who had already eaten it, he bore them, +despite their pleading and weeping, back to his ships, which he at +once led away from that clime of subtle danger. They next sighted a +fertile island, where leaving most of his comrades <span class="pagenum"><a id="page009" name="page009"></a>(p. 009)</span> for the +rest they needed, Ulysses sailed in his own ship, exploring. He soon +found himself in a beautiful country, where were seen vast herds of +sheep and goats, but no people. Landing with his men, they explored it +and found great caves full of milk and cheese, but still no people, +only a huge giant in the distance. So sitting down in one of the caves +they feasted merrily and awaited the return of the inhabitants.</p> + +<p>Now these inhabitants were giants, such as the one they had seen. They +were called Cyclops, and had only one great eye in the middle of the +forehead. The Cyclops who owned the cave in which the adventurers were +was a particularly large and savage one named Polyphemus. When he +returned at night and saw the men within, he immediately seized two of +them, cracked their heads together, and ate them for supper. Then he +went to bed. Ulysses and his terrified men would have slain the huge +creature as he slept; but he had rolled a great stone in front of the +door, and they could not possibly move it to escape. In the morning +the monster ate two more of the unfortunates and then went off with +his flocks, fastening the door as before. In the evening he ate two +more.</p> + +<p>By this time the crafty Ulysses, as Homer delights to call him, had +perfected his plans. He offered Polyphemus some wine, which so +delighted him that he asked the giver his name, and said he had it in +mind to do him a kindness. The crafty one told him his name was +No-man. Then said the ogre, "This shall be your reward, I will eat +No-man the last of you all." Then, heavy with the wine, he fell into a +deep sleep. The tiny weapons of the wanderers would have been of +little effect against this man-mountain, so taking a great pole, they +heated it red-hot in the fire, and all together plunged it into his +one great eye, blinding him. Up he jumped, roaring and howling +horribly, and groping in the dark to find his prisoners; but they +easily avoided him. Then came other Cyclops running at the noise from +their distant caves, and called to him, "Who has hurt thee, +Polyphemus?"</p> + +<p>He answered them, "No-man has hurt me, No-man has blinded me."</p> + +<p>Then they said, "If no man has hurt thee, thy trouble is from the +gods, and we may not interfere. Bear it patiently, and pray to them."</p> + +<p>In the morning Polyphemus opened the door, and sitting in it, let his +sheep pass out, feeling each one, so that the Greeks might not escape. +But the crafty one fastened himself and his remaining comrades under +the breasts of the largest sheep, and so, hidden by the wool, escaped +unnoticed. They hurried to their ship and put out to sea. And now +feeling safe, Ulysses shouted to the blind monster and taunted him, +whereon, rushing to the shore, Polyphemus lifted up a vast rock and +hurled it toward the sound he heard. It almost struck the vessel, and +its waves swept the little craft back to the land. In great haste they +shoved off again, and when they felt safe, shouted at him once more. +He followed them, hurling rocks, but now they were beyond his reach +and returned safely to their companions.</p> + +<p>Next the wanderers reached the island of Æolus, who controls the +winds. He received them with royal hospitality, pointed out to them +their proper course to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page010" name="page010"></a>(p. 010)</span> Ithaca, and when they left him, gave +to Ulysses a bag in which he had tied up all the contrary winds, that +they might have a fair one to waft them home. For nine days they +sailed, and at last were actually in sight of their destination; but +the seamen fancying there was treasure in Æolus's bag opened it while +their leader slept. At once leaped out all the wild winds, and there +was a terrible tempest which swept the vessels back to their +starting-point. Æolus, however, refused to help them again, for he +said they were plainly accursed of the gods.</p> + +<p>So they journeyed on as best they might, and came to the land of the +Læstrygonians. These people were of enormous strength and were +cannibals; but Ulysses and his men knowing nothing of this, sailed +into the narrow harbor. As they landed the cannibals rushed upon them +and slew them, and hurling rocks from the top of the narrow entrance, +sank those ships which would have escaped. Ulysses in his own ship +managed to force his way out, but all the other ships were taken and +their crews slain.</p> + +<p>Then, in deep mourning, Ulysses sailed on till he came to the home of +Circe, a beautiful but wicked enchantress. Here he divided his crew +into two parties, and while one half rested, the others went to find +what place this was. Circe welcomed them in her palace, feasted them, +and gave them a magic drink. When they had drunk this, she touched +them with her wand, and they were turned into swine, all except one, +who had feared to enter the palace, and now returning, told Ulysses +that the others had disappeared. Then the hero arose and went alone to +the palace; but on the way he sought out a little herb which might +render the drink harmless. This he ate, and when Circe having given +him the deadly cup, would have turned him also into a brute, he drew +his sword as if to slay her. Terribly frightened, she besought mercy, +and at his request restored his men to their own forms.</p> + +<p>Directed by her, Ulysses is said to have entered the abode of the +dead, and conversed with the ghosts of all the great warriors who had +been slain in the Trojan war, or who had died since. At last, when +Circe had no more wonders to show him, the wanderer left her, once +more directed on the road to Ithaca, and to some extent warned of the +dangers which beset the path.</p> + +<p>First he had to pass the Sirens, beautiful but baleful maidens, who +sat on a rocky shore and sang a magic song so alluring, that men +hearing it let their ships drift on the rocks while listening, or +threw themselves into the sea to swim to the maidens, and were +drowned. No man had ever heard them and lived. Here the crafty one +filled his companions' ears with wax, so they could not hear the +Sirens' song, and he bade them bind him to the mast, so that he might +hear it but could not go to them. This was done, and they passed in +safety. Ulysses heard the sweet song, and raved and struggled to break +his bonds, but they held fast. So he was the first to hear the Sirens' +song and live. And some say he was the last as well, for in despair, +thinking their music had lost its power, the maidens threw themselves +into the sea.</p> + +<a id="img008" name="img008"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img008.jpg" width="600" height="378" alt="Ulysses." title=""> +<p>Ulysses defying the Cyclops.</p></div> + +<p>Next the wanderers came to a narrow strait, on one side of which was +Charybdis, a dread whirlpool from which no ship could escape, and on +the other <span class="pagenum"><a id="page011" name="page011"></a>(p. 011)</span> was the cave of Scylla, a monster having six +snake-like heads, with each of which she seized a man from every +passing ship. Choosing the lesser evil, the bold Ulysses sailed +through the strait close to Scylla; and six poor wretches were +snatched by the monster from the deck and devoured, but the rest +escaped.</p> + +<a id="img009" name="img009"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img009.jpg" width="600" height="286" alt="Ulysses." title=""> +<p>Menelaus. <span class="add1em">Paris.</span> <span class="add1em">Diomedes.</span> <span class="add1em">Ulysses.</span> <span class="add1em">Nestor.</span> <span class="add1em">Achilles.</span> +<span class="add1em">Agamemnon.</span></p></div> + +<p>Then they came to an uninhabited island, filled with herds of cattle. +These were held sacred to the sun, and no man might slay or eat them +without being punished by the gods. This Ulysses knew well, and warned +his men against touching them; but great tempests now swelled up, and +for a whole month the sailors could not leave the island. Their +provisions gave out and they were starving. Then their leader wandered +away looking for help, and while he was gone they slew some of the +oxen and ate their fill. The storm died, and, Ulysses returning, they +again set sail; but at once came a terrific hurricane, upset the ship, +and drowned all of the guilty ones. Ulysses had not eaten the flesh of +the oxen; and he alone was saved, clinging to a spar, and was tossed +on the island of the nymph Calypso. After a long sojourn he escaped +from here on a raft. But his old enemy Neptune again raised a storm, +which broke his raft; and, naked and almost dead, he was thrown upon +another shore, from which at last the pitying people sent him home. He +had been away twenty years.</p> + +<p>His fair wife Penelope had been for four years past pestered with +suitors, who declared that Ulysses must be dead. She put them all off, +by saying that first she must finish a wonderful cloth she was +weaving; and on this she undid each night what she had done in the +day. Meanwhile they stayed in the palace, haughty and insolent, +terrifying everybody, in defiance of the protests of Ulysses' infant +son, now grown to be almost a man.</p> + +<p>The wanderer, coming alone and finding how things were, feared they +would slay him; so, disguised as an old beggar man, he went to the +palace. The suitors mocked him, and then in sport it was proposed to +see who could bend the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page012" name="page012"></a>(p. 012)</span> great Ulysses's bow. It was brought +out, but none could bend it. The beggar asked leave to try, and they +hesitated, but gave him leave. Right easily he bent it, and sent then +a broad arrow through the leader of the suitors. Ulysses's son ranged +himself by his side. Some old servants, recognizing him, did the same; +and soon all those parasites were slain. Then was there a royal +welcome from wife and son, and afterward from kinsmen and friends and +servants, for the royal wanderer, whom the gods had spared, and who at +last was returned home.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>ÆNEAS<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Charlotte M. Yonge</span></h3> + +<a id="img010" name="img010"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img010.jpg" width="250" height="303" alt="Æneas." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Among the Trojans at the fall of Troy there was a prince called Æneas, +whose father was Anchises, a cousin of Priam, and whose mother was +said to be the goddess Venus. When he saw that the city was lost he +rushed back to his house and took his old father Anchises on his back, +giving him his penates, or little images of household gods, to take +care of, and led by the hand his little son Iulus, or Ascanius, while +his wife Creusa followed close behind, and all the Trojans who could +get their arms together joined him, so that they escaped in a body to +Mount Ida; but just as they were outside the city he missed poor +Creusa, and though he rushed back and searched for her everywhere, he +never could find her. Because of his care for his gods, and for his +old father, he is always known as the pious Æneas.</p> + +<p>In the forests of Mount Ida he built ships enough to set forth with +all his followers in quest of the new home which his mother, the +goddess Venus, gave him hopes of. He had adventures rather like those +of Ulysses as he sailed about the Mediterranean. Once in the +Strophades, some clusters belonging to the Ionian Islands, where he +and his troops had landed to get food, and were eating the flesh of +the numerous goats which they found climbing about the rocks, down on +them came the harpies, horrible birds with women's faces and hooked +hands, with which they snatched away the food and spoiled what they +could not eat. The Trojans shot at them, but the arrows glanced off +their feathers and did not hurt them. However, they all flew off +except one, who sat on a high rock, and croaked out that the Trojans +would be punished for thus molesting the harpies, by being tossed +about till they should reach Italy, but there they should not build +their city till they should have been so hungry as to eat their very +trenchers.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page013" name="page013"></a>(p. 013)</span> They sailed away from this dismal prophetess, and touched on +the coast of Epirus, where Æneas found his cousin Helenus, son to old +Priam, reigning over a little new Troy, and married to Andromache, +Hector's wife, whom he had gained after Pyrrhus had been killed. +Helenus was a prophet, and he gave Æneas much advice. In especial he +said that when the Trojans should come to Italy they would find, under +the holly-trees by the river-side, a large, white, old sow lying on +the ground, with a litter of thirty little pigs round her, and this +should be a sign to them where they were to build their city.</p> + +<p>By his advice the Trojans coasted round the south of Sicily, instead +of trying to pass the strait between the dreadful Scylla and +Charybdis, and just below Mount Etna an unfortunate man came running +down to the beach begging to be taken in. He was a Greek, who had been +left behind when Ulysses escaped from Polyphemus's cave, and had made +his way to the forests, where he had lived ever since. They had just +taken him in when they saw the Cyclop coming down, with a pine-tree +for a staff, to wash the burning hollow of his lost eye in the sea, +and they rowed off in great terror.</p> + +<p>Poor old Anchises died shortly after, and while his son was still +sorrowing for him, Juno, who hated every Trojan, stirred up a terrible +tempest, which drove the ships to the south, until, just as the sea +began to calm down, they came into a beautiful bay, enclosed by tall +cliffs with woods overhanging them. Here the tired wanderers landed, +and, lighting a fire, Æneas went in quest of food. Coming out of the +forest they looked down from a hill, and beheld a multitude of people +building a city, raising walls, houses, towers, and temples. Into one +of these temples Æneas entered, and to his amazement he found the +walls sculptured with all the story of the siege of Troy, and all his +friends so perfectly represented, that he burst into tears at the +sight.</p> + +<p>Just then a beautiful queen, attended by a whole troop of nymphs, came +into the temple. This lady was Dido; her husband, Sichæus, had been +King of Tyre, till he was murdered by his brother, Pygmalion, who +meant to have married her; but she fled from him with a band of +faithful Tyrians and all her husband's treasure, and had landed on the +north coast of Africa. There she begged of the chief of the country as +much land as could be enclosed by a bullock's hide. He granted this +readily; and Dido, cutting the hide into the finest possible strips, +managed to measure off ground enough to build the splendid city which +she had named Carthage. She received Æneas most kindly, and took all +his men into her city, hoping to keep them there forever, and make him +her husband. Æneas himself was so happy there that he forgot all his +plans and the prophecies he had heard, until Jupiter sent Mercury to +rouse him to fulfil his destiny. He obeyed the call; and Dido was so +wretched at his departure that she caused a great funeral pile to be +built, laid herself on the top, and stabbed herself with Æneas's +sword; the pile was burnt, and the Trojans saw the flame from their +ships without knowing the cause.</p> + +<p>By and by Æneas landed at a place in Italy named Cumæ. There dwelt one +of the Sibyls. These were wondrous virgins whom Apollo had endowed +with <span class="pagenum"><a id="page014" name="page014"></a>(p. 014)</span> deep wisdom; and when Æneas went to consult the Cumæan +Sibyl, she told him that he must visit the under-world of Pluto to +learn his fate. First, however, he had to go into a forest, and find +there and gather a golden bough, which he was to bear in his hand to +keep him safe. Long he sought it, until two doves, his mother's birds, +came flying before him to show him the tree where gold gleamed through +the boughs, and he found the branch growing on the tree as mistletoe +grows on the thorn.</p> + +<p>Guarded with this, and guided by the Sibyl, after a great sacrifice, +Æneas passed into a gloomy cave, where he came to the river Styx, +round which flitted all the shades who had never received funeral +rites, and whom the ferryman, Charon, would not carry over. The Sibyl, +however, made him take Æneas across, his boat groaning under the +weight of a human body. On the other side stood Cerberus, but the +Sibyl threw him a cake of honey and of some opiate, and he lay asleep, +while Æneas passed on and found in myrtle groves all who had died for +love—among them, to his surprise, poor forsaken Dido. A little +farther on he found the home of the warriors, and held converse with +his old Trojan friends. He passed by the place of doom for the wicked, +Tartarus; and in the Elysian Fields, full of laurel groves and meads +of asphodel, he found the spirit of his father Anchises, and with him +was allowed to see the souls of all their descendants, as yet unborn, +who should raise the glory of their name. They are described on to the +very time when the poet wrote to whom we owe all the tale of the +wanderings of Æneas, namely, Virgil, who wrote the "Æneid," whence all +these stories are taken. He further tells us that Æneas landed in +Italy, just as his old nurse Caiëta died, at the place which still is +called Gaëta. After they had buried her they found a grove, where they +sat down on the grass to eat, using large round cakes or biscuits to +put their meat on. Presently they came to eating up the cakes. Little +Ascanius cried out, "We are eating our very tables," and Æneas, +remembering the harpy's words, knew that his wanderings were over.</p> + +<p>Virgil goes on to tell at much length how the king of the country, +Latinus, at first made friends with Æneas, and promised him his +daughter Lavinia in marriage; but Turnus, an Italian chief who had +before been a suitor to Lavinia, stirred up a great war, and was only +conquered and killed after much hard fighting. However, the white sow +was found in the right place with all her little pigs, and on the spot +was founded the city of Alba Longa, where Æneas and Lavinia reigned +until he died, and his descendants, through his two sons, Ascanius or +Iulus, and Æneas Silvius, reigned after him for fifteen generations.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page015" name="page015"></a>(p. 015)</span> XENOPHON<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2" title="Go to footnote 2"><span class="small">[2]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Professor J. Pentland Mahaffy</span><br> + +(445-354 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>)</h3> + +<a id="img011" name="img011"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img011.jpg" width="300" height="252" alt="Xenophon." title=""> +</div> + +<p>There is no figure in Greek history more familiar to us than this +famous Athenian. There are passages in his life known to every +schoolboy; we possess all the books he ever wrote; we know therefore +his opinions upon all the important questions of life, religion, +ethics, politics, manners, education, as well as upon finance and +military tactics, not to speak of social intercourse and sport. And +yet his early youth and late age are hidden from us. Like the models +of Greek eloquence, which begin with tame obviousness, rise into +dignity, fire, pathos, and then close softly, without sounding +peroration, so Xenophon comes upon us, an educated young man, looking +out for something to do; we lose him in the autumn of his life, when +he was driven from the fair retreat which the old man had hoped would +be his final resting-place. During seven years of his early manhood we +find him in the middle of all the most stirring events in the Greek +world. For thirty years later (394-62 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>), we hear him from his +retired country-seat recording contemporary history, telling the +adventures of his youth, from the fascinations of the ragged Socrates +to the fascinations of the magnificent Cyrus, preaching the lessons of +his varied life. Then came the bitter loss of his brave son, killed in +the van at Mantinea. According to good authority he only survived this +blow a couple of years. But even then he appears to have found +distraction from his grief by a dry tract upon the Attic revenue. Such +is the general outline which we shall fill up and color from allusions +throughout his varied and manifold writings.</p> + +<p>He was a pure Athenian, evidently of aristocratic birth, and +attracted, probably by his personal beauty, the attention of Socrates, +who is said to have stopped him in the way, and asked him did he know +where men of honor were to be found; upon his replying <i>no</i>, the sage +said, follow me and learn. This apocryphal anecdote, at all events, +records the fact that Xenophon attached himself to Socrates's +teaching, and so afforded us perhaps the most remarkable instance of +the great and various influence of that great teacher. We do not +wonder at disciples like Plato; but here is a young man of fashion, of +a practical turn, and loving adventure, who records in after years the +teaching after his own <span class="pagenum"><a id="page016" name="page016"></a>(p. 016)</span> fashion, and in a perfectly +independent way, as the noblest of training. His youth, however, was +spent in the distressful later years of the Peloponnesian War, which +ended in fearful gloom and disaster for his native city. Intimate, +apparently, with the great historian Thucydides, whose unfinished work +he seems to have edited, and subsequently to have continued in his own +"Hellenica," he must have long foreseen the collapse of the Athenian +empire, and then he and many other adventurous spirits found +themselves in a society faded in prosperity, with no scope for energy +or enterprise. Such was the somewhat tame and vulgar Athens which +succeeded to that of Pericles and Aristophanes, and which could not +tolerate the spiritual boldness of Socrates. He tells us himself, in +the third book of his "Anabasis," how he was tempted to leave Athens +for the East by his friend Proxenus, who had made the acquaintance of +the chivalrous and ambitious Cyrus, brother of the Persian king, and +governor of southern Asia Minor. This prince was preparing secretly to +invade Persia and dethrone his brother, and for that purpose was +gathering troops and courting the favor of the Greeks. His splendid +gifts were on a scale sufficient to dazzle men of small means and +smaller prospects, like the youth of conquered Athens. Xenophon +thought it right to consult his spiritual guide, Socrates, on the +propriety of abandoning his country for hireling service. The +philosopher advised him to consult the oracle at Delphi, but the young +man only asked what gods he might best conciliate before his +departure, and Socrates, though noting the evasion of his advice, +acquiesced.</p> + +<p>When Xenophon arrived at Sardis, Proxenus presented him to Cyrus, who +invited him to accompany him on his pretended campaign to Pisidia, and +then coaxed him on with the rest into his enterprise against the king +Artaxerxes. On this expedition or <i>anabasis</i> up the country, Xenophon +was only a volunteer, with no command, and under no man's orders, but +accompanying the army on horseback, and enjoying the trip as a bright +young man, well appointed by the prince, and full of intelligent +curiosity, was sure to enjoy it. But then came the decisive day of +Cunaxa, where Xenophon offered his services as an extra aide-de-camp +to Cyrus, and where he witnessed the victory of his countrymen and the +defeat of their cause by the rashness and death of Cyrus. In the +crisis which followed he took no leading part, till the generals of +the 10,000 Greeks were entrapped and murdered by Tissaphernes. Then, +in the midst of the panic and despair which supervened, he tells us in +graphic words how he came to be a leader of men. He, too, with the +rest, was in sore distress, and could not sleep; but anon getting a +snatch of rest he had a dream. It seemed to him that there was a +storm, and a thunderbolt fell on his father's house and set it all in +a blaze. He sprang up in terror, and, pondering the matter, decided +that in part the dream was good, in that when in great danger he had +seen a light from Zeus; but partly, too, he feared it, for it came +from the king of heaven. But as soon as he was fully awake the first +clear thought that came into his head was: "Why am I lying here? The +night advances, and with the coming day the enemy will be upon us. If +we fall into the king's hands we must face torture, slavery, and +death, and yet here we lie, as if it were a time for rest! What am I +waiting for? Is it a general <span class="pagenum"><a id="page017" name="page017"></a>(p. 017)</span> to lead me? and where is he? or +till I am myself of riper age to command? Older I shall never be, if +to-day I surrender to mine enemies." And so he rouses the officers of +his murdered friend, Proxenos, and appeals to them all to be up and +stirring, to organize their defence and appoint new leaders to direct +them. Before dawn he has some kind of confidence restored, and the new +organization in progress. Presently the Persians send to demand the +surrender of the army whose generals they had seized, and find to +their astonishment that their task of subduing the Greeks must begin +afresh. Meanwhile the policy of the Greek army becomes defined. They +threaten to settle in Mesopotamia and build a fortified city which +shall be a great danger and a torment to the king. They really desire +to escape to the coast, if they can but find the way.</p> + +<p>It was the king's policy to let them depart, but so harass them by the +way as to produce disorder and rout, which meant absolute destruction. +It was in conducting this retreat, as a joint general with the Spartan +Cheirisophos, that Xenophon showed all his resource. There were no +great pitched battles; no room for strategy or large combinations; but +ample scope for resource in the details of tactics for meeting new and +sudden difficulties, for maintaining order among an army of men that +only acknowledged leaders for their ability. At first, in the plains, +as they journeyed northward, the danger was from the Persian cavalry, +for their own contingent had deserted to the enemy. This difficulty, +which well-nigh ruined the 10,000, as it ruined Crassus in his retreat +at Carrhæ, he met by organizing a corps of Rhodian slingers and +archers, whose range was longer than that of the Persians, and who +thus kept the cavalry in check. When the plains were passed, and the +mountains reached, there arose the new difficulties of forcing passes, +of repelling wild mountaineers from positions commanding the road, of +providing food, and avoiding false routes. The narrative of the +surmounting of all these obstacles with tact and temper is the main +subject of the famous "Anabasis." Still graver dangers awaited +Xenophon when the retreating army had at last hailed the welcome +sea—the Black Sea—and with returning safety returned jealousies, +insubordinations, and the great problem what to do with this great +army when it arrived at Greek cities. Xenophon had always dreamt of +forming on the border of Hellenedom a new city state, which should +honor him as its founder. The wilder spirits thought it simpler to +loot some rich city like Byzantium, which was saved with difficulty +from their lawlessness. The Spartan governors, who now ruled +throughout the Greek world, saw the danger, and were determined to +delay and worry the dangerous horde until it dissipated; and they +succeeded so well that presently the 6,000 that remained were glad to +be led by Xenophon to take service under the Spartan commander Thibron +in Asia Minor (399 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>). But Xenophon was not given any independent +command. He appears to have acted on the staff of the successive +Spartan commanders till with King Agesilaus he attained personal +influence, and probably planned the new expedition of that king to +conquer Persia, which was only balked by a diversion wrought by +Persian gold in Greece. With Agesilaus Xenophon returned therefore to +Greece, and was present at the great shock of the rival infantries, +the Theban and the Spartan, at <span class="pagenum"><a id="page018" name="page018"></a>(p. 018)</span> Coronea (394 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>). But +either his presence in the Spartan army, or his former action against +the King of Persia, whom shifting politics were now bringing over to +the Athenian side, caused him to be sentenced to banishment at Athens, +and so made his return to his native city impossible. He went, +therefore, with his royal patron to Sparta, and sojourned there for +some time, even sending for his sons, now growing boys, from Miletus, +and submitting them, at Agesilaus's advice, to the famous Spartan +education. They grew up fine and warlike young men, so that the death +of one of them, Gryllus, in a cavalry skirmish just before the great +battle of Mantinea (362 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>) caused universal regret. But long before +this catastrophe the Spartans gave Xenophon possession of an estate at +Skillus, near the famous Olympia, which combined the pleasures of +seclusion and of field sports with those of varied society when the +stream of visitors assembled for the Olympic games (every four years). +He himself tells us that he and his family, in company with their +neighbors, had excellent sport of all kinds. He was not only a careful +farmer, but so keen at hunting hares that he declares a man at this +delightful pursuit "will forget that he ever cared for anything else." +He had also built a shrine to his patroness, the goddess Artemis, and +the solemn sacrifices at her shrine were the occasion of feasts, whose +solemnity only enhanced their enjoyments. As Mr. Dakyns writes: "The +lovely scenery of the place, to this day lovely; the delicious +atmosphere; the rare combination of mountain, wood, and stream; the +opportunity for sport; the horses and the dogs; the household, the +farmstead, and their varying occupations; the neighboring country +gentlemen, and the local politics; the recurring festival at Olympia +with its stream of visitors; the pleasures of hospitable +entertainment; the constant sacrifices before the cedar image of +Artemis in her temple—these things, and above all the serene +satisfaction of successful literary labors, combined to form an +enviable sum total of sober happiness during many years." There can be +no doubt that this was the first great period of his literary +activity, though he may have edited, in early youth, his predecessor +Thucydides, and composed the first two books of his historical +continuation entitled "Hellenica." In his retreat at Skillus he +composed a series of "Dialogues," in what is termed the Socratic vein; +"Memorials" of his great master, a tract on household "Economy," +another on a "Symposium," or feast, one called "Hiero," or on the +Greek tyrant, and an account of the "Laconian Polity," which he had so +long admired and known. The tract on "Hunting" also speaks the +experience at Skillus. The tract "On the Athenian State," preserved +among his writings, is not from his hand, but the work of an earlier +writer.</p> + +<p>With the sudden rise of the Theban power, and consequent depression of +Sparta, he and other settlers around Skillus were driven out by the +Eleans, and he lost his country-seat, with all its agreeable +diversions. But probably the ageing man did not feel the transference +of his home to Corinth so keenly as an English gentleman would. He was +a thorough Greek, and therefore intensely attached to city life, Elis, +his adopted country, being the only state which consisted of a country +gentry.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page019" name="page019"></a>(p. 019)</span> In the next place, a daily thoroughfare such as the Isthmus, +must have been far more suitable for the collecting of historical +evidence than Skillus, where the crowd came by only once in four +years. And then his grown-up sons could find something more serious to +do than hunting deer, boars, and hares in the glades of Elis. He may +have known, too, that his chances of restoration to Athens were +improving, and that he would do well to be within easy reach of +friends in that city. Indeed we find that the rescinding of exile soon +followed, and so he was able to send his two sons to do cavalry duty +for Athens (and Sparta) against the Thebans. It is, indeed, likely +that the young men were enrolled as Spartan volunteers. He himself +must have kept very close to his literary work; for in these closing +years of his life he brought out or re-edited the "Anabasis;" he +discussed "Cavalry Tactics," he kept writing up contemporary history +to the year 362 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>, when the star of Thebes set with the death of +Epaminondas; he completed his long and perhaps tedious historical +novel, the "Education of Cyrus" (the elder), and lastly composed a +curious and fanciful tract on the "Revenues of Athens." There is no +evidence that he ever changed his residence back to his native city, +but that he often went there when no obstacle remained, from the +neighboring Corinth, is most probable. An open sailing boat could +carry him, with a fair wind, in a few hours. Though a very old man, he +was, however, still active with his pen when we lose him. His +promising remaining son disappears with him from the scene; we hear of +no descendants. The only offspring he has left us are his immortal +works. The names of these have already been given, with the exception +of the speech put into Socrates's mouth as his Defence, the tract on +"The Horse," appendant to his "Cavalry Tactics," and his "Panegyric on +Agesilaus." It remains to estimate their general features. Without +controversy, he excelled all his great contemporaries in breadth of +culture and experience, and in the variety of his interests. +Philosophy, politics, war, husbandry, sport, travel, are all +represented in his works. And upon all he has written with a clearness +and a grace which earned for him the title of the "Attic Bee." But +this breadth implies (as usual) a certain lack of depth, as is +particularly obvious in his case, owing to the almost necessary +comparison with his two mighty rivals—Thucydides, in history, Plato, +in philosophy. It may, indeed, be considered hard luck for him that he +stood between two such men, for they have necessarily damaged his +reputation by comparison. Xenophon's portrait of Socrates is quite +independent, and probably historically truer than that of Plato; but +the sage lives for us in Plato, not in Xenophon. The Retreat of the +Ten Thousand, and the wars of Epaminondas were far more brilliant than +the operations of the Peloponnesian War. Yet, to the scholar, a raid +in Thucydides is more than a campaign in Xenophon. For neither is his +style so pure as that of either of his rivals, nor is his enthusiasm +the same. We feel him always a polished man of the world—never the +rugged patriot, never the rapt seer. He seems, too, to lack +impartiality. He lavishes praise upon Agesilaus, a second-rate man, +while he is curt and ill-tempered concerning Epaminondas, the real +genius of the age. It is more than likely that he has colored his own +part in the famous "Retreat," in glowing colors. His <span class="pagenum"><a id="page020" name="page020"></a>(p. 020)</span> +hereditary instincts lead him to approve of autocrats as against +republics, Spartan discipline as against Attic freedom. Yet in himself +he has shown a striking example how the latter could appreciate and +embrace the former. As the simplest specimen of pure Attic prose he +will ever be paramount in schools, neglected in universities—the +recreation rather than the occupation of mature scholars. He is a +great worthy, a man of renown; "nevertheless, he did not attain unto +the first three"—the two masters of his own day, and the colossal +Demosthenes.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig001" name="sig001"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig001.jpg" width="250" height="97" alt="Author signature. J. Pentland Mahaffy." title=""> +</div> + + + + +<h3>THE GRACCHI<br> + +Extracts from "Cæsar, a Sketch,"<br> +by <span class="smcap">James Anthony Froude, LL.D.</span><br> +(164-133, 153-121 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>)</h3> + +<a id="img012" name="img012"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img012.jpg" width="250" height="251" alt="The Gracchi." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Tiberius Gracchus was born about the year 164 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span> He was one of +twelve children, nine of whom died in infancy, himself, his brother +Caius, and his sister Cornelia being the only survivors. His family +was plebeian, but of high antiquity, his ancestors for several +generations having held the highest offices in the Republic. On the +mother's side he was the grandson of Scipio Africanus. His father, +after a distinguished career as a soldier in Spain and Sardinia, had +attempted reforms at Rome. He had been censor, and in this capacity he +had ejected disreputable senators from the Curia; he had degraded +offending Equites; he had rearranged and tried to purify the Comitia. +But his connections were aristocratic. His wife was the daughter of +the most famous of them, Scipio Africanus the Younger. He had been +himself in antagonism with the tribunes, and had taken no part, at any +time, in popular agitations.</p> + +<a id="img013" name="img013"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img013.jpg" width="400" height="580" alt="" title=""> +<p>The Mother Of The Gracchi.</p></div> + +<p>The father died when Tiberius was still a boy, and the two brothers +grew up under the care of their mother, a noble and gifted lady. They +early displayed remarkable talents. Tiberius, when old enough, went +into the army, and served under his brother-in-law in the last +Carthaginian campaign. He was first on the walls of the city in the +final storm. Ten years later he went to Spain as quæstor, when he +carried on his father's popularity, and by taking the people's side in +some questions, fell into disagreement with his brother-in-law. His +political views had perhaps already inclined to change. He was still +of an age when <span class="pagenum"><a id="page021" name="page021"></a>(p. 021)</span> indignation at oppression calls out a +practical desire to resist it. On his journey home from Spain he +witnessed scenes which confirmed his conviction and determined him to +throw all his energies into the popular cause. His road lay through +Tuscany, where he saw the large estate system in full operation—the +fields cultivated by the slave gangs, the free citizens of the +Republic thrust away into the towns, aliens and outcasts in their own +country, without a foot of soil which they could call their own. In +Tuscany, too, the vast domains of the landlords had not even been +fairly purchased. They were parcels of the <i>ager publicus</i>, land +belonging to the state, which, in spite of a law forbidding it, the +great lords and commoners had appropriated and divided among +themselves. Five hundred acres of state land was the most which by +statute any one lessee might be allowed to occupy. But the law was +obsolete or sleeping, and avarice and vanity were awake and active. +Young Gracchus, in indignant pity, resolved to rescue the people's +patrimony. He was chosen tribune in the year 133. His brave mother and +a few patricians of the old type encouraged him, and the battle of the +revolution began. The Senate, as has been said, though without direct +legislative authority, had been allowed the right of reviewing any new +schemes which were to be submitted to the Assembly. The constitutional +means of preventing tribunes from carrying unwise or unwelcome +measures lay in a consul's veto, or in the help of the College of +Augurs, who could declare the auspices unfavorable and so close all +public business. These resources were so awkward that it had been +found convenient to secure beforehand the Senate's approbation, and +the encroachment, being long submitted to, was passing by custom into +a rule. But the Senate, eager as it was, had not yet succeeded in +engrafting the practice into the constitution. On the land question +the leaders of the aristocracy were the principal offenders.</p> + +<p>Disregarding usage, and conscious that the best men of all ranks were +with him, Tiberius Gracchus appealed directly to the people to revive +the Agrarian law. His proposals were not extravagant. That they should +have been deemed extravagant was a proof of how much some measure of +the kind was needed. Where lands had been enclosed and money laid out +on them, he was willing that the occupants should have compensation. +But they had no right to the lands themselves. Gracchus persisted that +the <i>ager publicus</i> belonged to the people, and that the race of +yeomen, for whose protection the law had been originally passed, must +be re-established on their farms. No form of property gives to its +owners so much consequence as land, and there is no point on which in +every country an aristocracy is more sensitive. The large owners +protested that they had purchased their interests on the faith that +the law was obsolete. They had planted and built and watered with the +sanction of the government, and to call their titles in question was +to shake the foundations of society. The popular party pointed to the +statute. The monopolists were entitled in justice to less than was +offered them. They had no right to a compensation at all. Political +passion awoke again after the sleep of a century. The oligarchy had +doubtless connived at the accumulations. The suppression of the small +holdings favored their supremacy, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page022" name="page022"></a>(p. 022)</span> and placed the elections +more completely in their control. Their military successes had given +them so long a tenure of power that they had believed it to be theirs +in perpetuity; and the new sedition, as they called it, threatened at +once their privileges and their fortunes. The quarrel assumed the +familiar form of a struggle between the rich and the poor, and at such +times the mob of voters becomes less easy to corrupt. They go with +their order, as the prospect of larger gain makes them indifferent to +immediate bribes. It became clear that the majority of the citizens +would support Tiberius Gracchus, but the constitutional forms of +opposition might still be resorted to. Octavius Cæcina, another of the +tribunes, had himself large interests in the land question. He was the +people's magistrate, one of the body appointed especially to defend +their rights, but he went over to the Senate, and, using a power which +undoubtedly belonged to him, he forbade the vote to be taken.</p> + +<p>There was no precedent for the removal of either consul, prætor, or +tribune, except under circumstances very different from any which +could as yet be said to have arisen. The magistrates held office for a +year only, and the power of veto had been allowed them expressly to +secure time for deliberation and to prevent passionate legislation. +But Gracchus was young and enthusiastic. Precedent or no precedent, +the citizens were omnipotent, he invited them to declare his colleague +deposed. They had warmed to the fight, and complied. A more +experienced statesman would have known that established constitutional +bulwarks cannot be swept away by a momentary vote. He obtained his +Agrarian law. Three commissioners were appointed, himself, his younger +brother, and his father-in-law, Appius Claudius, to carry it into +effect; but the very names showed that he had alienated his few +supporters in the higher circles, and that a single family was now +contending against the united wealth and distinction of Rome. The +issue was only too certain. Popular enthusiasm is but a fire of straw. +In a year Tiberius Gracchus would be out of office. Other tribunes +would be chosen more amenable to influence, and his work could then be +undone. He evidently knew that those who would succeed him could not +be relied on to carry on his policy. He had taken one revolutionary +step already; he was driven on to another, and he offered himself +illegally to the Comitia for re-election. It was to invite them to +abolish the constitution, and to make him virtual sovereign; and that +a young man of thirty should have contemplated such a position for +himself as possible, is of itself a proof of his unfitness for it. The +election day came. The noble lords and gentlemen appeared in the +Campus Martius with their retinues of armed servants and clients; +hot-blooded aristocrats, full of disdain for demagogues, and meaning +to read a lesson to sedition which it would not easily forget. Votes +were given for Gracchus. Had the hustings been left to decide the +matter, he would have been chosen; but as it began to appear how the +polling would go, sticks were used and swords; a riot rose, the +unarmed citizens were driven off, Tiberius Gracchus himself and three +hundred of his friends were killed, and their bodies were flung into +the Tiber.</p> + +<p>Thus the first sparks of the coming revolution were trampled out. But +though <span class="pagenum"><a id="page023" name="page023"></a>(p. 023)</span> quenched and to be again quenched with fiercer +struggles, it was to smoulder and smoke and burst out time after time, +till its work was done. Revolution could not restore the ancient +character of the Roman nation, but it could check the progress of +decay by burning away the more corrupted parts of it. It could destroy +the aristocracy and the constitution which they had depraved, and +under other forms preserve for a few more centuries the Roman +dominion. Scipio Africanus, when he heard in Spain of the end of his +brother-in-law, exclaimed "May all who act as he did perish like him!" +There were to be victims enough and to spare before the bloody drama +was played out. Quiet lasted for ten years, and then, precisely when +he had reached his brother's age, Caius Gracchus came forward to +avenge him, and carry the movement through another stage. Young Caius +had been left one of the commissioners of the land law; and it is +particularly noticeable that, though the author of it had been killed, +the law had survived him, being too clearly right and politic in +itself to be openly set aside. For two years the commissioners had +continued to work, and in that time forty thousand families were +settled on various parts of the <i>ager publicus</i>, which the patricians +had been compelled to resign. This was all which they could do. The +displacement of one set of inhabitants and the introduction of another +could not be accomplished without quarrels, complaints, and perhaps +some injustice. Those who entered on possession were not always +satisfied. The commissioners became unpopular. When the cries against +them became loud enough, they were suspended, and the law was then +quietly repealed. The Senate had regained its hold over the Assembly, +and had a further opportunity of showing its recovered ascendency +when, two years after the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, one of his +friends introduced a bill to make the tribunes legally re-eligible. +Caius Gracchus actively supported the change, but it had no success; +and, waiting till times had altered, and till he had arrived at an age +when he could carry weight, the young brother retired from politics, +and spent the next few years with the army in Africa and Sardinia, he +served with distinction; he made a name for himself, both as a soldier +and an administrator. Had the Senate left him alone, he might have +been satisfied with a regular career, and have risen by the ordinary +steps to the consulship. But the Senate saw in him the possibilities +of a second Tiberius; the higher his reputation, the more formidable +he became to them. They vexed him with petty prosecutions, charged him +with crimes which had no existence, and at length, by suspicion and +injustice, drove him into open war with them. Caius Gracchus had a +broader intellect than his brother, and a character considerably less +noble. The land question he perceived was but one of many questions. +The true source of the disorders of the commonwealth was the Senate +itself. The administration of the empire was in the hands of men +totally unfit to be trusted with it, and there he thought the reform +must commence. He threw himself on the people, he was chosen tribune +in 123, ten years exactly after Tiberius. He had studied the +disposition of parties. He had seen his brother fall because the +Equites and the senators, the great commoners and the nobles, were +combined against him. He revived the Agrarian law as a matter of +course, but he disarmed the opposition <span class="pagenum"><a id="page024" name="page024"></a>(p. 024)</span> to it by throwing an +apple of discord between the two superior orders. The high judicial +functions in the commonwealth had been hitherto a senatorial monopoly. +All cases of importance, civil or criminal, came before courts of +sixty or seventy jurymen, who, as the law stood, must be necessarily +senators. The privilege had been extremely lucrative. The corruption +of justice was already notorious, though it had not yet reached the +level of infamy which it attained in another generation. It was no +secret that in ordinary causes jurymen had sold their verdicts, and, +far short of taking bribes in the direct sense of the word, there were +many ways in which they could let themselves be approached, and their +favor purchased. A monopoly of privileges is always invidious. A +monopoly in the sale of justice is alike hateful to those who abhor +iniquity on principle, and to those who would like to share the +profits of it. But this was not the worst. The governors of the +provinces, being chosen from those who had been consuls or prætors, +were necessarily members of the Senate. Peculation and extortion in +these high functions were offences, in theory, of the gravest kind; +but the offender could only be tried before a limited number of his +peers, and a governor who had plundered a subject state, sold justice, +pillaged temples, and stolen all that he could lay hands on, was safe +from punishment if he returned to Rome a millionnaire and would admit +others to a share in his spoils. The provincials might send +deputations to complain, but these complaints came before men who had +themselves governed provinces, or else aspired to govern them. It had +been proved in too many instances that the law which professed to +protect them was a mere mockery.</p> + +<p>Caius Gracchus secured the affections of the knights to himself, and +some slightly increased chance of an improvement in the provincial +administration, by carrying a law in the Assembly disabling the +senators from sitting on juries of any kind from that day forward, and +transferring the judicial functions to the Equites. How bitterly must +such a measure have been resented by the Senate, which at once robbed +them of their protective and profitable privileges, handed them over +to be tried by their rivals for their pleasant irregularities, and +stamped them at the same time with the brand of dishonesty! How +certainly must such a measure have been deserved when neither consul +nor tribune could be found to interpose his vote! Supported by the +grateful knights, Caius Gracchus was for the moment all-powerful. It +was not enough to restore the Agrarian law. He passed another aimed at +his brother's murderers, which was to bear fruit in later years, that +no Roman citizen might be put to death by any person, however high in +authority, without legal trial, and without appeal, if he chose to +make it, to the sovereign people. A blow was thus struck against +another right claimed by the Senate, of declaring the Republic in +danger, and the temporary suspension of the constitution. These +measures might be excused, and perhaps commended; but the younger +Gracchus connected his name with another change less commendable, +which was destined also to survive and bear fruit. He brought forward +and carried through, with enthusiastic clapping of every pair of hands +in Rome that were hardened with labor, a proposal that there should be +public granaries <span class="pagenum"><a id="page025" name="page025"></a>(p. 025)</span> in the city, maintained and filled at the +cost of the state, and that corn should be sold at a rate artificially +cheap to the poor free citizens. Such a law was purely socialistic. +The privilege was confined to Rome, because in Rome the elections were +held, and the Roman constituency was the one depositary of power. The +effect was to gather into the city a mob of needy unemployed voters, +living on the charity of the state, to crowd the circus and to clamor +at the elections, available no doubt immediately to strengthen the +hands of the popular tribune, but certain in the long run to sell +themselves to those who could bid highest for their voices. Excuses +could be found, no doubt, for this miserable expedient, in the state +of parties, in the unscrupulous violence of the aristocracy, in the +general impoverishment of the peasantry through the land monopoly, and +in the intrusion upon Italy of a gigantic system of slave labor. But +none the less it was the deadliest blow which had yet been dealt to +the constitution. Party government turns on the majorities at the +polling places, and it was difficult afterward to recall a privilege +which, once conceded, appeared to be a right. The utmost that could be +ventured in later times, with any prospect of success, was to limit an +intolerable evil, and if one side was ever strong enough to make the +attempt, their rivals had a bribe ready in their hands to buy back the +popular support. Caius Gracchus, however, had his way, and carried all +before him. He escaped the rock on which his brother had been wrecked. +He was elected tribune a second time. He might have had a third term +if he had been contented to be a mere demagogue. But he, too, like +Tiberius, had honorable aims. The powers which he had played into the +hands of the mob to obtain, he desired to use for high purposes of +statesmanship, and his instrument broke in his hands. He was too wise +to suppose that a Roman mob, fed by bounties from the treasury, could +permanently govern the world. He had schemes for scattering Roman +colonies, with the Roman franchise, at various points of the empire.</p> + +<p>Carthage was to be one of them. He thought of abolishing the +distinction between Romans and Italians, and enfranchising the entire +peninsula. These measures were good in themselves—essential, indeed, +if the Roman conquests were to form a compact and permanent dominion. +But the object was not attainable on the road on which Gracchus had +entered. The vagabond part of the constituency was well contented with +what it had obtained, a life in the city, supported at the public +expense, with politics and games for its amusements. It had not the +least inclination to be drafted off into settlements in Spain or +Africa, where there would be work instead of pleasant idleness. +Carthage was still a name of terror. To restore Carthage was no better +than treason. Still less had the Roman citizens an inclination to +share their privileges with Samnites and Etruscans, and see the value +of their votes watered down. Political storms are always cyclones. The +gale from the east to-day is a gale from the west to-morrow. Who and +what were the Gracchi, then?—the sweet voices began to ask—ambitious +intriguers, aiming at dictatorship, or perhaps the crown. The +aristocracy were right, after all; a few things had gone wrong, but +these had <span class="pagenum"><a id="page026" name="page026"></a>(p. 026)</span> been amended. The Scipios and Metelli had +conquered the world: the Scipios and Metelli were alone fit to govern +it. Thus, when the election time came round, the party of reform was +reduced to a minority of irreconcilable radicals, who were easily +disposed of. Again, as ten years before, the noble lords armed their +followers. Riots broke out and extended day after day. Caius Gracchus +was at last killed, as his brother had been, and under cover of the +disturbance three thousand of his friends were killed along with him. +The power being again securely in their hands, the Senate proceeded at +their leisure, and the surviving patriots who were in any way +notorious or dangerous were hunted down in legal manner, and put to +death or banished.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>ZENOBIA, QUEEN OF PALMYRA<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Anna Jameson</span><br> + +(REIGNED 267-273 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span>)</h3> + +<a id="img014" name="img014"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img014.jpg" width="250" height="323" alt="Zenobia." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Of the government and manners of the Arabians before the time of +Mahomet, we have few and imperfect accounts; but from the remotest +ages they led the same unsettled and predatory life which they do at +this day, dispersed in hordes, and dwelling under tents. It was not to +those wild and wandering tribes that the superb Palmyra owed its rise +and grandeur, though situated in the midst of their deserts, where it +is now beheld in its melancholy beauty and ruined splendor, like an +enchanted island in the midst of an ocean of sands. The merchants who +trafficked between India and Europe, by the only route then known, +first colonized this singular spot, which afforded them a convenient +resting-place; and even in the days of Solomon it was the emporium for +the gems and gold, the ivory, gums, spices, and silks of the far +Eastern countries, which thus found their way to the remotest parts of +Europe. The Palmyrenes were, therefore, a mixed race—their origin, +and many of their customs, were Egyptian; their love of luxury and +their manners were derived from Persia; their language, literature, +and architecture were Greek.</p> + +<p>Thus, like Venice and Genoa, in more modern times, Palmyra owed its +splendor to the opulence and public spirit of its merchants; but its +chief fame and historical interest it owes to the genius and heroism +of a woman.</p> + +<a id="img015" name="img015"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img015.jpg" width="400" height="549" alt="" title=""> +<p>Zenobia Captive.</p></div> + +<p>Septimia Zenobia, for such is her classical appellation, was the +daughter of an Arab chief, Amrou, the son of Dharb, the son of Hassan. +Of her first husband <span class="pagenum"><a id="page027" name="page027"></a>(p. 027)</span> we have no account; she was left a +widow at a very early age, and married, secondly, Odenathus, chief of +several tribes of the desert, near Palmyra, and a prince of +extraordinary valor and boundless ambition. Odenathus was the ally of +the Romans in their wars against Sapor (or, more properly, Shah Poor), +king of Persia; he gained several splendid victories over that +powerful monarch, and twice pursued his armies even to the gates of +Ctesiphon (or Ispahan), his capital. Odenathus was as fond of the +chase as of war, and in all his military and hunting expeditions he +was accompanied by his wife Zenobia—a circumstance which the Roman +historians record with astonishment and admiration, as contrary to +their manners, but which was the general custom of the Arab women of +that time. Zenobia not only excelled her countrywomen in the qualities +for which they were all remarkable—in courage, prudence, and +fortitude, in patience of fatigue, and activity of mind and body—she +also possessed a more enlarged understanding; her views were more +enlightened, her habits more intellectual. The successes of Odenathus +were partly attributed to her, and they were always considered as +reigning jointly. She was also eminently beautiful—with the oriental +eyes and complexion, teeth like pearls, and a voice of uncommon power +and sweetness.</p> + +<p>Odenathus obtained from the Romans the title of Augustus, and General +of the East; he revenged the fate of Valerian, who had been taken +captive and put to death by Shah Poor: the eastern king, with a +luxurious barbarity truly oriental, is said to have used the +unfortunate emperor as his footstool to mount his horse. But in the +midst of his victories and conquests Odenathus became the victim of a +domestic conspiracy, at the head of which was his nephew Mæonius. He +was assassinated at Emessa during a hunting expedition, and with him +his son by his first marriage. Zenobia avenged the death of her +husband on his murderers, and as her sons were yet in their infancy, +she first exercised the supreme power in their name; but afterward, +apparently with the consent of the people, assumed the diadem with the +titles of Augusta and Queen of the East.</p> + +<p>The Romans, and their effeminate emperor Gallienus, refused to +acknowledge Zenobia's claim to the sovereignty of her husband's +dominions, and Heraclianus was sent with a large army to reduce her to +obedience; but Zenobia took the field against him, engaged and totally +defeated him in a pitched battle. Not satisfied with this triumph over +the haughty masters of the world, she sent her general Zabdas to +attack them in Egypt, which she subdued and added to her territories, +together with a part of Armenia and Asia Minor. Thus her dominions +extended from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean, and over all those +vast and fertile countries formerly governed by Ptolemy and Seleucus. +Jerusalem, Antioch, Damascus, and other cities famed in history, were +included in her empire, but she fixed her residence at Palmyra, and in +an interval of peace she turned her attention to the further adornment +of her magnificent capital. It is related by historians, that many of +those stupendous fabrics of which the mighty ruins are still existing, +were either erected, or at least restored and embellished, by this +extraordinary woman. But that which we have most difficulty in +reconciling with the manners of her age and country, was Zenobia's +passion for study, and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page028" name="page028"></a>(p. 028)</span> her taste for the Greek and Latin +literature. She is said to have drawn up an epitome of history for her +own use; the Greek historians, poets, and philosophers were familiar +to her; she invited Longinus, one of the most elegant writers of +antiquity, to her splendid court, and appointed him her secretary and +minister. For her he composed his famous "Treatise on the Sublime," a +work which is not only admirable for its intrinsic excellence, but +most valuable as having preserved to our times many beautiful +fragments of ancient poets whose works are now lost, particularly +those of Sappho.</p> + +<p>The classical studies of Zenobia seem to have inspired her with some +contempt for her Arab ancestry. She was fond of deriving her origin +from the Macedonian kings of Egypt, and of reckoning Cleopatra among +her progenitors. In imitation of the famous Egyptian queen, she +affected great splendor in her style of living and in her attire; and +drank her wine out of cups of gold richly carved and adorned with +gems. It is, however, admitted that in female dignity and discretion, +as well as in beauty, she far surpassed Cleopatra. She administered +the government of her empire with such admirable prudence and policy, +and in particular with such strict justice toward all classes of her +subjects, that she was beloved by her own people, and respected and +feared by the neighboring nations. She paid great attention to the +education of her three sons, habited them in the Roman purple, and +brought them up in the Roman fashion. But this predilection for the +Greek and Roman manners appears to have displeased and alienated the +Arab tribes; for it is remarked that after this time their fleet +cavalry, inured to the deserts and unequalled as horsemen, no longer +formed the strength of her army.</p> + +<p>While Gallienus and Claudius governed the Roman empire, Zenobia was +allowed to pursue her conquests, rule her dominions, and enjoy her +triumphs almost without opposition; but at length the fierce and +active Aurelian was raised to the purple, and he was indignant that a +woman should thus brave with impunity the offended majesty of Rome. +Having subdued all his competitors in the West, he turned his arms +against the Queen of the East. Zenobia, undismayed by the terrors of +the Roman name, levied troops, placed herself at their head, and gave +the second command to Zabdas, a brave, and hitherto successful, +general. The first great battle took place near Antioch; Zenobia was +totally defeated after an obstinate conflict; but, not disheartened by +this reverse, she retired upon Emessa, rallied her armies, and once +more defied the Roman emperor. Being again defeated with great loss, +and her army nearly dispersed, the high-spirited queen withdrew to +Palmyra, collected her friends around her, strengthened her +fortifications, and declared her resolution to defend her capital and +her freedom to the last moment of her existence.</p> + +<p>Zenobia was conscious of the great difficulties which would attend the +siege of a great city, well stored with provisions and naturally +defended by surrounding deserts; these deserts were infested by clouds +of Arabs, who, appearing and disappearing with the swiftness and +suddenness of a whirlwind, continually harassed her enemies. Thus +defended without, and supported by a strong garrison <span class="pagenum"><a id="page029" name="page029"></a>(p. 029)</span> within, +Zenobia braved her antagonist from the towers of Palmyra as boldly as +she had defied him in the field of battle. The expectation of succors +from the East added to her courage, and determined her to persevere to +the last. "Those," said Aurelian in one of his letters, "who speak +with contempt of the war I am waging against a woman, are ignorant +both of the character and power of Zenobia. It is impossible to +enumerate her warlike preparations of stones, of arrows, and of every +species of missile weapons and military engines."</p> + +<p>Aurelian, in fact, became doubtful of the event of the siege, and he +offered the queen the most honorable terms of capitulation if she +would surrender to his arms; but Zenobia, who was aware that famine +raged in the Roman camp, and daily looked for the expected relief, +rejected his proposals in a famous Greek epistle, written with equal +arrogance and eloquence; she defied the utmost of his power; and, +alluding to the fate of Cleopatra, expressed her resolution to die +like her rather than yield to the Roman arms. Aurelian was incensed by +this haughty letter, even more than by dangers and delays attending +the siege; he redoubled his efforts, he cut off the succors she +expected; he found means to subsist his troops even in the midst of +the desert; every day added to the number and strength of his army, +every day increased the difficulties of Zenobia, and the despair of +the Palmyrenes. The city could not hold out much longer, and the queen +resolved to fly, not to insure her own safety, but to bring relief to +her capital—such at least is the excuse made for a part of her +conduct which certainly requires apology. Mounted on a fleet +dromedary, she contrived to elude the vigilance of the besiegers, and +took the road to the Euphrates; but she was pursued by a party of the +Roman light cavalry, overtaken, and brought as a captive into the +presence of Aurelian. He sternly demanded how she had dared to oppose +the power of Rome? to which she replied, with a mixture of firmness +and gentleness, "Because I disdained to acknowledge as my masters such +men as Aureolus and Gallienus. To Aurelian I submit as my conqueror +and my sovereign." Aurelian was not displeased at the artful +compliment implied in this answer, but he had not forgotten the +insulting arrogance of her former reply. While this conference was +going forward in the tent of the Roman emperor, the troops, who were +enraged by her long and obstinate resistance, and all they had +suffered during the siege, assembled in tumultuous bands calling out +for vengeance, and with loud and fierce cries demanding her instant +death. The unhappy queen, surrounded by the ferocious and insolent +soldiery, forgot all her former vaunts and intrepidity; her feminine +terrors had perhaps been excusable if they had not rendered her base; +but in her first panic she threw herself on the mercy of the emperor, +accused her ministers as the cause of her determined resistance, and +confessed that Longinus had written in her name that eloquent letter +of defiance which had so incensed the emperor.</p> + +<p>Longinus, with the rest of her immediate friends and counsellors, were +instantly sacrificed to the fury of the soldiers, and the philosopher +met death with all the fortitude which became a wise and great man, +employing his last moments in endeavoring to console Zenobia and +reconcile her to her fate.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page030" name="page030"></a>(p. 030)</span> Palmyra surrendered to the conqueror, who seized upon the +treasures of the city, but spared the buildings and the lives of the +inhabitants. Leaving in the place a garrison of Romans, he returned to +Europe, carrying with him Zenobia and her family, who were destined to +grace his triumph.</p> + +<p>But scarcely had Aurelian reached the Hellespont, when tidings were +brought to him that the inhabitants of Palmyra had again revolted, and +had put the Roman governor and garrison to the sword. Without a +moment's deliberation the emperor turned back, reached Palmyra by +rapid marches, and took a terrible vengeance on that miserable and +devoted city; he commanded the indiscriminate massacre of all the +inhabitants—men, women, and children; fired its magnificent edifices, +and levelled its walls to the ground. He afterward repented of his +fury, and devoted a part of the captured treasures to reinstate some +of the glories he had destroyed; but it was too late; he could not +reanimate the dead, nor raise from its ruins the stupendous Temple of +the Sun. Palmyra became desolate; its very existence was forgotten, +until about a century ago, when some English travellers discovered it +by accident. Thus the blind fury of one man extinguished life, +happiness, industry, art, and intelligence through a vast extent of +country, and severed a link which had long connected the eastern and +western continents of the old world.</p> + +<p>When Aurelian returned to Rome after the termination of this war, he +celebrated his triumph with extraordinary pomp. A vast number of +elephants and tigers, and strange beasts from the conquered countries; +sixteen hundred gladiators, an innumerable train of captives, and a +gorgeous display of treasures—gold, silver, gems, plate, glittering +raiment, and Oriental luxuries and rarities, the rich plunder of +Palmyra, were exhibited to the populace. But every eye was fixed on +the beautiful and majestic figure of the Syrian queen, who walked in +the procession before her own sumptuous chariot, attired in her diadem +and royal robes, blazing with jewels, her eyes fixed on the ground, +and her delicate form drooping under the weight of her golden fetters, +which were so heavy that two slaves were obliged to assist in +supporting them on either side; while the Roman populace, at that time +the most brutal and degraded in the whole world, gaped and stared upon +her misery, and shouted in exultation over her fall. Perhaps Zenobia +may in that moment have thought upon Cleopatra, whose example she had +once proposed to follow; and, according to the pagan ideas of +greatness and fortitude, envied her destiny, and felt her own ignominy +with all the bitterness of a vain repentance.</p> + +<p>The captivity of Zenobia took place in the year 273, and in the fifth +year of her reign. There are two accounts of her subsequent fate, +differing widely from each other. One author asserts that she starved +herself to death, refusing to survive her own disgrace and the ruin of +her country; but others inform us that the Emperor Aurelian bestowed +on her a superb villa at Tivoli, where she resided in great honor; and +that she was afterward united to a Roman senator, with whom she lived +many years, and died at a good old age. Her daughters married into +Roman families, and it is said that some of her descendants remained +so late as the fifth century.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page031" name="page031"></a>(p. 031)</span> SIEGFRIED<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3" title="Go to footnote 3"><span class="small">[3]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Karl Blind</span><br> + +(ABOUT 450)</h3> + +<a id="img016" name="img016"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img016.jpg" width="200" height="143" alt="Siegfried." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Siegfried is the name of the mythic national hero of the Germans, +whose tragic fate is most powerfully described in the "Nibelungen +Lied," and in a series of lays of the Icelandic Edda. A matchless +warrior, a Dragon-killer and overthrower of Giants, who possesses a +magic sword, he conquers the northern Nibelungs and acquires their +famed gold hoard. In the great German epic he is the son of Siegmund +and Siegelinde, who rule in the Netherlands. Going Rhine-upward to +Worms, to Gunther, the King of the Burgundians, he woos and wins +Kriemhild, the beautiful sister of that king, after having first +helped Gunther to gain the hand of Brünhild, a queen beyond sea, in +Iceland. No one could obtain that valiant virgin's consent to wedlock +unless he proved a victor over her in athletic feats, and in trials of +battle. By means of his own colossal strength and his hiding hood, +Siegfried, standing invisibly at the side of Gunther, overcomes +Brünhild. Even after the marriage has been celebrated at Worms, +Siegfried has once more to help the Burgundian king in the same hidden +way, in order to vanquish Brünhild's resistance to the accomplishment +of the marriage. When, in later times, Kriemhild and Brünhild fall out +in a quarrel about their husbands' respective worth, the secret of +such stealthy aid having been given, is let out by the former in a +manner affecting the honor of the Burgundian queen as a wife. +Thereupon Hagen promises her to effect a revenge. Having deftly +ascertained from Kriemhild the single vulnerable part of the hero, +whose skin had otherwise been made impenetrable by being dipped into +the Dragon's blood, Hagen treacherously murders Siegfried at a chase. +The gold hoard is then sunk in the Rhine by Hagen, lest Kriemhild +should use it as a means of bribing men for wreaking her own revenge. +She afterward becomes the consort of Etzel, the heathen king of the +Hiunes (Hunns) in Hungary, who resides at Vienna. Thither she allures +the Burgundians, Hagen alone mistrusting the invitation. In Etzel's +eastern land all the Burgundian knights, upon whom the Nibelung name +had been conferred, suffer a terrible death through Kriemhild's wrath. +Hagen, who refuses to the end to reveal to her the whereabouts of the +sunken gold hoard, has his head cut off with Siegfried's sword by the +infuriated queen herself. At last, she, too, is hewn down by the +indignant, doughty warrior, Hildebrand; and so the lofty Hall, into +which fire had been thrown, is all strewn over with the dead. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page032" name="page032"></a>(p. 032)</span> "Here," says the poem, "has the tale an end. These were the +sorrows of the Nibelungs."</p> + +<p>In this "Iliad of the Germans," which dates from the end of the +twelfth century, the Siegfried story is given as a finished epic. But +its originally heathen Teutonic character is overlaid there with +admixtures of Christian chivalry. In the Edda and other Scandinavian +sources, the tale appears in fragmentary and lyrical shape, but in a +purer version, without additions from the new faith or from mediæval +chivalry. It is in the Sigurd-, Fafnir-, Brynhild-, Gudrun-, Oddrun-, +Atli-, and Hamdir Lays of the Norse Scripture that the original nature +of the older German songs, which must have preceded the epic, can best +be guessed. Rhapsodic lays, referring to Siegfried, were, in all +probability, part of the collection which Karl the Great, the Frankish +Kaiser, ordered to be made. Monkish fanaticism afterward destroyed the +valuable relics. Fortunately, Northmen travelling in Germany had +gathered some of those tale-treasures, which then were treated by +Scandinavian and Icelandic bards in the form of heroic lyrics. Hence +the Eddic lays in question form now a link between our lost Siegfried +"Lieder" and our national epic.</p> + +<p>Even as in the "Nibelungen Lied" so also in the "Edda," Sigurd +(abbreviation for Siegfried) is not a Scandinavian, but a Southern, a +Rhenish, a German hero. The whole scene of the tragic events is laid +in the Rhinelands, where the killing of the Worm also takes place. On +a hill in Frank-land Sigurd frees Brynhild from the magic slumber into +which Odin had thrown her on a rock of punishment, because she, as a +Valkyr, or shield-maiden of his, had brought about the death of a +Gothic king to whom the god of battle had promised victory. In the +south, on the Rhine, Sigurd is murdered. In the Rhine, Högni (Hagen) +hides the Nibelung treasure. Many German tribes—Franks, Saxons, +Burgundians, Goths, even a Svava-land, or Suabian land, are mentioned +in the "Edda." The "Drama of Revenge," after Sigurd's death, though +motives of the act somewhat different from those stated in the +"Nibelungen Lied" are assigned, is also localized on the Lower Rhine, +in the Hall of Atli, the King of the Hunes. In the "Nibelungen Lied," +that name appears as Etzel (Attila), King of the Hunns.</p> + +<p>In the "Edda" and in the "Vilkina Saga," Germans are referred to as +sources for some details of the Sigurd story. So strong was, in +Scandinavia, the tradition of the Teutonic origin of the tale, down to +the twelfth century, that, in a geographical work written in Norse by +the Abbot Nicolaus, the Gnita Heath, where Sigurd was said to have +killed the Dragon, was still placed half-way between Paderborn and +Mainz. Thus it was from Germany that this grand saga spread all over +the North, including the Faröer. In the "Hvenic Chronicle," in Danish +songs, we even find Siegfried as "Sigfred;" Kriemhild as "Gremild;" +and she is married to him at Worms, as in the "Nibelungen Lied," while +in the "Edda" Sigurd's wife is called Gudrun, and the remembrance of +Worms is lost. The scene of the Norse poems is wholly on Rhenish +ground.</p> + +<a id="img017" name="img017"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img017.jpg" width="400" height="567" alt="" title=""> +<p>Siegfried slaying the Dragon.</p></div> + +<p>Now, in that neighborhood, in the northwest of Germany, a Teutonic +tribe once dwelt, called Hunes, which is also traceable in +Scandinavia. Sigurd himself <span class="pagenum"><a id="page033" name="page033"></a>(p. 033)</span> is, in the "Edda," described +as a Hunic king. His kith and kin dwell in Huna-land. "Hune" probably +meant a bold and powerful warrior. The word still lingers in Germany +in various ways; gigantic grave-monuments of prehistoric times are +called Hunic Graves or "Hünen-Betten," and a tall, strong man a +"Hüne." In his "Church History" the Anglo-Saxon monk Baeda, or Bede, +when speaking of the various German tribes which had made Britain into +an Angle-land, or England, mentions the Hunes. In the Anglo-Saxon +"Wanderer's Tale" they also turn up, apparently in connection with a +chieftain Aetla; that is, Atli. In Friesland, the Hunsing tribe long +preserved the Hunic name. The word occurs in many personal and place +names both in Germany and in England; for instance: Hunolt (a Rhenish +hero), Hunferd, Hunlaf, Hunbrecht (champions among Frisians and +Rhinelanders in the "Beowulf" epic); Huneboldt (bold like a Hune); +Ethelhun (noble Hune); then there are, in German geography, the +Hunsrück Mountain; Hunoldstein, Hunenborn, Hunnesrück, near +Hildesheim, etc. Again, in England: Hundon, Hunworth, Hunstanton, +Huncote, Hunslet, Hunswick, and many other places from Kent and +Suffolk up to Lancashire and Shetland, where certainly no Mongolic +Hunns ever penetrated. The Hunic Atli name is also to be found on +English soil, in Attlebridge and Attleborough.</p> + +<p>After the Great Migrations the various tribes and races became much +intermixed. It was by a misunderstanding which arose then between the +German Hunes and the Hunns under Attila's leadership, that Kriemhild's +revenge after the murder of Siegfried was poetically transferred from +the Rhine to the Danube. The name of the Rhenish Atli, which is +preserved in the "Edda," and which also occurs as a German chieftain's +name on the soil of conquered Britain, easily served to facilitate the +confusion. Even the composition of Attila's army lent itself to this +transplantation of the second part of the Siegfried story to Danubian +lands. For, though Attila was overthrown on the Catalaunian fields, +mainly by Germanic hosts, to which Roman and Gallic troops were added, +he had a great many Teutonic warriors in his own army. From this +military intermingling of races so utterly dissimilar in blood and +speech as the Hunns and the Germans, one of whose tribes were called +Hunes, it is not difficult to conceive the shifting of the tragic +issue of the Nibelung story to the East. Attila, the Hunn, slid into +the previous Teutonic hero-figure of Atli, the Hune. This change will +the more easily be understood when the deep impression is remembered +which the terrible Mongolic war-leader had made on the popular mind in +southern Germany, where the Nibelungen epic was cast into its present +shape.</p> + +<p>The hold which the Siegfried story has had on the German people, +through ages, can be gathered from the fact of its having kept its +place, down to our days, in the workman's house and the peasant's hut, +first by oral tradition, and then by rudely printed and illustrated +chap-books ("Die Geschichte vom hürnenen Siegfried"). In this +"Volksbuch" there are remarkable details concerning the hero's early +life in a smithy and the prophecy of his assassination, which are +lost in the "Nibelungen Lied," but preserved in the "Edda." This +circumstance—overlooked <span class="pagenum"><a id="page034" name="page034"></a>(p. 034)</span> even by Simrock, who, like Jacob +Grimm, has done much to show the German origin of the Norse Sigurd +saga—is another curious bit of evidence of the undeniable Teutonic +source of the corresponding Scandinavian and Icelandic stories and +poems.</p> + +<p>Many attempts have been made to get at the historical kernel of the +tale. Some would see in it traces of the songs which, according to +Tacitus, were sung, of old, in honor of Armin (usually, though +mistakenly, called Hermann), the deliverer of Germany from the Roman +yoke. It has been assumed that the contents of these songs were +combined with traditions of the deeds of Civilis, the leader of the +Batavian Germans against Roman dominion, as well as of the conquest of +Britain by Hengest. Recently, the Norse scholar, Gudbrand Vigfússon, +has once more started this "Armin" interpretation of the tale, under +the impression that he was the first to do so; whereas, in Germany, +Mone and Giesebrecht had worked out that idea already some sixty years +ago. In order to support his theory, Vigfússon boldly proposed to +change the Hunic name of Sigurd, in the Eddic text, into "Cheruskian." +He imagined the former name to be absurd, because Siegfried was not a +Hunn; but Vigfússon was unacquainted with the wide historical +distribution of the Hunic name in Germany and England.</p> + +<p>Others saw in the Siegfried story an echo of the overthrow of the +Burgundian king Gundahari (Gunther), by Attila, on the Rhine. +Gundahari, who first threw himself with an army of 20,000 men against +the Hunnic leader, gloriously fell with all his men. In the same way, +in the "Nibelungen Lied," the Burgundian king, Gunther, is killed, +with all his men, in the land of Etzel, the ruler of the Hiunes. +Again, others have pointed to the feats of Theodorick, the king of the +Eastern Goths; or to the fate of Siegbert, the king of the Austrasian +Franks, who was murdered at the instigation of Fredegunda; or to the +powerful Frankish family of the Pipins, from whom Karl the Great +hailed, by way of trying to explain some parts of the Siegfried story. +With the Pipins of "Nivella," we come upon a word in consonance with +"Nibelung."</p> + +<p>Then the wars which the Frankish Kaiser Karl waged against the Saxons +of Witukind, have been held to be indicated in the war which the +Frankish Siegfried, in the "Nibelungen Lied," wages against the +Saxons. To all appearance, however, the tale is a mixture of +mythological and historical traditions. In the Middle Ages, and still +much later, Siegfried was looked upon as an undoubtedly historical +figure. His praise was sung through all Germany. His very tomb, one of +his weapons, as well as his carved image, were shown under the name of +Siegfried's grave, Siegfried's spear, and Siegfried's statue. So +persistent was this belief that when, in the fifteenth century, Kaiser +Frederick III. came to Worms, he had the alleged grave of "that second +Hector and powerful giant" opened, to see whether his bones could be +found. Only a head and a few bones were dug up, "larger than men's +heads and bones usually are." At Worms, the Siegfried story was +pictured, in ancient times, in the Town Hall and on the Mint. All +round Worms, place-names connected with the Nibelung tale occur with +remarkable <span class="pagenum"><a id="page035" name="page035"></a>(p. 035)</span> frequency. If the lost rhapsodic songs could be +recovered, both mythological and historical allusions would, in all +likelihood, be found in them.</p> + +<p>An eminently Frankish tale, the Nibelungen cycle, has arisen in that +martial German tribe which once held sway in the greater part of +Europe. In its origin, the tale is considered by many careful +investigators—so also by Richard Wagner, who founded his famous +music-drama on it—to have been a Nature myth, upon which real events +became engrafted. From this point of view, the earliest meaning of +Siegfried's victory over the Dragon would signify the triumph of the +God of Light over the monster of the chaotic aboriginal Night. It +would be, on German ground, the overthrow of Python by Apollon. In +this connection it is to be pointed out that Sigurd appears in the +"Edda" as the hero "with the shining eyes," and that, in one of the +German Rose Garden tales, twelve swords are attributed to him—a +description which might be referred to the zodiac and to sunshine; so +that he would be a solar hero. And even as Day is, in its turn, +vanquished by Night; as Summer must yield to Winter; so also Siegfried +falls in the end. The god which he originally was thus becomes human; +the sad fate of so noble a champion gives rise to feelings of revenge +for what is held to be an evil and criminal deed; and a tragedy is +constructed, in which generations appear as actors and victims.</p> + +<p>A special feature of the Frankish myth is the hoard, the fatal +treasure which works never-ending mischief. It is said to represent +the metal veins of the subterranean Region of Gloom. There, as is +stated in an Eddic record, Dark Elves (Nibelungs, or nebulous Sons of +the Night) are digging and working, melting and forging the ore in +their smithies, producing charmful rings that remind us of the diadems +which bind the brows of rulers; golden ornaments and sharp weapons; +all of which confer great power upon their owner. When Siegfried slays +the Dragon, when Light overcomes Darkness, this hoard is his booty, +and he becomes master of the Nibelungs. But the Dragon's dark heir +ever seeks to regain it from the victor; so Night malignantly murders +the Day; Hagen kills Siegfried. The treasure on which Siegfried's +power is founded becomes the cause of his death; and through Death he +himself, albeit originally a refulgent God of Light, is turned into a +figure of gloom; that is, a Nibelung.</p> + +<p>There is much in the Norse Skalds which seems to support this +mythological aspect of the tale. The name of Siegfried's murderer, +Hagen—who is one-eyed, even as Hödur, the God of Night, who kills +Baldur, the God of Light, is blind—has also been adduced for this +interpretation. Hagen is explained as the Thorn of Death, the hawthorn +(German Hagedorn), with which men are stung into eternal sleep, or +rather into a death-like trance. Odin stings Brynhild into her trance +with a sleeping-thorn. Hagen, in the sense of death, still lingers in +the German expression, "Friend Hain," as a euphemism for the figure +which announces that one's hour has come. The hawthorn was the special +wood used for fire-burial in Germany; hence the figurative poetical +expression which would make Hagen a synonym for death.</p> + +<p>In the German and Norse poems, as we possess them now, myth and +apparently <span class="pagenum"><a id="page036" name="page036"></a>(p. 036)</span> historical facts are inextricably welded +together. A powerful representation of the Siegfried tale is given in +the series of large pictures, at Munich, by the distinguished painter +Schnorr von Karolsfeld.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig002" name="sig002"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig002.jpg" width="300" height="111" alt="Author signature. Karl Blind." title=""> +</div> + + + + +<h3>KING ARTHUR<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Rev. S. Baring-Gould</span><br> + +(ABOUT 520)</h3> + +<a id="img018" name="img018"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img018.jpg" width="250" height="263" alt="King Arthur." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Arthur, king of the Siluri, or Dumnonii—British races driven back +into the west of England by the Saxons—is represented as having +united the British tribes in resisting the pagan invaders, and as +having been the champion not only of his people but also of +Christianity. He is said to have lived in the sixth century, and to +have maintained a stubborn contest against the Saxon Cerdic, but the +"Saxon Chronicle" is suspiciously silent as to his warfare and as to +his existence. Indeed, the Welsh bards of the earliest period do not +assert that he was a contemporary, and it is more than doubtful +whether he is an historic personage. It is worthy of remark that the +fame of Arthur is widely spread; he is claimed alike as a prince in +Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, Cumberland, and the lowlands of Scotland; +that is to say, his fame is conterminous with the Brithonic race, and +does not extend to the Goidels or Gaels. As is now well known, Great +Britain was twice invaded by races of Celtic blood and tongue; the +first wave was that of the Goidels, and after a lapse of some +considerable time a second Celtic wave, that of the Brithons, or +Britons, from the east, overran Britain, and drove the Gaels to west +and north. Finn and Ossian belong to the mythic heroic cycle of the +Gaels, and Arthur and Merlin to that of the Britons. These several +shadowy forms are probably deities shorn of their divinity and given +historic attributes and position, much as, among the Norsemen, Odin, +when he ceased to be regarded as the All-father, or God, came to be +reckoned as an ancestor of the kings.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page037" name="page037"></a>(p. 037)</span> In the lays of the Welsh bards, supposed to be as early as +the sixth and seventh centuries (although no MS. is extant of older +date than the twelfth century), Arthur and his brave companions are +celebrated, but modestly and without marvels. It is possible that +there may have existed in the sixth century a prince bearing the +already well-known heroic name; and if so, about him the myths +belonging to the remote ancestor or god have crystallized. The +legendary additions begin to gather in the history of the Britons by +Nennius, a writer supposed to have lived at the beginning of the +seventh century; but Mr. Thomas Wright has shown ("Biographia +Literaria," Saxon period) that his history is a forgery of a much +later date, probably of the tenth century. Mr. Skene, however ("The +Four Ancient Books of Wales"), makes fight to give Arthur an historic +place, and we do not deny that there may have been a prince of that +name. Next in order come the so-called Armoric collections of Walter, +Archdeacon of Oxford (latter part of eleventh century), from which +Geoffrey of Monmouth professes to translate, and in which the +marvellous and supernatural elements largely prevail. Here for the +first time the magician Merlin comes into association with Arthur. +According to Geoffrey, Arthur's father, Uther, conceiving a passion +for Igerna, wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, is changed by Merlin +into the likeness of Gorlois, and Arthur is the result. After his +father's death Arthur becomes paramount leader of the British, and +makes victorious expeditions to Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, +and also to France, where he defeats a great Roman army. During his +absence his nephew, Modred, revolts, and seduces Prince Arthur's wife, +Gweniver (Gwenhwywar). Arthur returning, falls in a battle with his +nephew, and is carried to the Isle of Avalon to be cured of his +wounds. Geoffrey's work apparently gave birth to a multitude of +fictions, which came to be considered as quasi-historical traditions. +From these, exaggerated by each succeeding age, and recast by each +narrator, sprung the famous metrical romances of the twelfth and +thirteenth centuries, first in French and afterward in English, from +which modern notions of Arthur are derived. In these his habitual +residence is at Caerlon, on the Usk, in Wales, where, with his +beautiful wife, Guinevere, he lives in splendid state, surrounded by +hundreds of knights and beautiful ladies, who serve as patterns of +valor, breeding, and grace to all the world. Twelve knights, the +bravest of the throng, form the centre of this retinue, and sit with +the king at a round table, the "Knights of the Round Table." From the +court of King Arthur knights go forth to all countries in search of +adventure—to protect women, chastise oppressors, liberate the +enchanted, enchain giants and malicious dwarfs, is their knightly +mission.</p> + +<p>The earliest legends of Arthur's exploits are to be found in the +bardic lays attributed to the sixth and seventh centuries ("Myoyrian +Archæology of Wales," 1801). A Welsh collection of stories called the +"Mabinogion," of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and +translated into English by Lady Charlotte Guest in 1849, gives further +Arthurian legends. Some of the stories "have the character of +chivalric romances," and are therefore probably of French origin; +while others "bear the impress of a far higher antiquity, both as +regards the manners they depict <span class="pagenum"><a id="page038" name="page038"></a>(p. 038)</span> and the style of language in +which they are composed." These latter rarely mention Arthur, but the +former belong, as Mr. Skene puts it, to the "full-blown Arthurian +romance." Chrétien de Troies, the most famous of the old French +trouvères in the latter part of the twelfth century, made the Arthur +legend the subject for his "Romans" and "Contes," as well as for two +epics on Tristan; the Holy Grail, Peredur, etc., belonging to the same +cycle. Early in the same century the Arthurian metrical romance became +known in Germany, and there assumed a more animated and artistic form +in the "Parzival" of Wolfram of Eschenbach, "Tristan und Isolt" of +Gottfried of Strasburg, "Erec and Iwein" of Hartmann, and "Wigalois" +of Wirnt. The most renowned of the heroes of the Arthurian school are +Peredur (Parzival or Perceval), Tristan or Tristram, Iwein, Erec, +Gawein, Wigalois, Wigamur, Gauriel, and Lancelot. From France the +Arthurian romance spread also to Spain, Provence, Italy, and the +Netherlands, even into Iceland, and was again transplanted into +England. One of the publications that issued from the press of Caxton +(1485) was a collection of stories by Sir Thomas Malory, either +compiled by him in English, from various of the later French prose +romances, or translated directly from an already existing French +compendium. Copland reprinted the work in 1557, and in 1634 the last +of the black-letter editions appeared. A reprint of Caxton's "Kynge +Arthur," with an introduction and notes by Robert Southey, was issued +in 1817—"The Byrth, Lyfe, and Actes of Kyng Arthur." The most +complete edition is that by Thomas Wright, from the text of 1634.</p> + +<p>The name of King Arthur was given during the Middle Ages to many +places and monuments supposed to have been in some way associated with +his exploits, such as "Arthur's Seat," near Edinburgh, "Arthur's +Oven," on the Carron, near Falkirk, etc. What was called the sepulchre +of his queen was shown at Meigle, in Strathmore, in the sixteenth +century. Near Boscastle, in Cornwall, is Pentargain, a headland called +after him "Arthur's Head." Other localities take his name in Brittany. +In the Middle Ages, in Germany, Arthur's Courts were buildings in +which the patricians assembled. One such still remains at Danzig. +There was one anciently at Thorn, about which a ballad and legend +exist. Milton was meditating an Arthurian epic in 1639; and in our own +day the interest of the legends about King Arthur and his knights has +been revived by Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" and some of Wagner's +operas. We must not omit to note the magnificent life-sized ideal +bronze figure of Arthur, cast for the monument of Maximilian I., now +in the Franciscan church at Innsbruck, and regarded as the finest +among the series of heroes there represented.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="img019" name="img019"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img019.jpg" width="600" height="428" alt="" title=""> +<p>The Ruins of King Arthur's Castle.</p></div> + + + + + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page039" name="page039"></a>(p. 039)</span> ROLAND<br> + +(740-778)</h3> + +<p class="poem30"> + "O, for a blast of that dread horn,<br> + On Fontarabian echoes borne<br> +<span class="add2em">That to King Charles did come,</span><br> + When Rowland brave, and Olivier,<br> + And every paladin and peer<br> +<span class="add2em">On Roncesvalles died!"—<i>Marmion.</i></span></p> + +<p class="poem30"> + "When Charlemain with all his peerage fell,<br> +<span class="add2em">By Fontarabbia."—<i>Paradise Lost.</i></span></p> + +<a id="img020" name="img020"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img020.jpg" width="250" height="254" alt="Roland." title=""> +</div> + +<p>"A Roland for an Oliver!" Saving the passing reference by Scott and +Milton, quoted above, Roland and Olivier are almost unknown to English +readers, and yet their once familiar names, knit together for +centuries, have passed into a proverb, to be remembered as we remember +the friendship of David and Jonathan, or to be classed by the scholar +with Pylades, and Orestes of classic story, or with Amys and Amylion +of romance.</p> + +<p>The "Song of Roland" might be called the national epic of France. It +corresponds to the "Mort d'Arthur" of England, the "Cid Chronicles" of +Spain, the "Nibelungen Lied" of Germany, and the Longobardian legends +of North Italy. Italian mediæval literature is rich in the Roland +romances, founded on the fabulous "Chronicle of John Turpin" and the +"Chansons de Gestes," of which the "Song of Roland" is one. Of the +Italian romances the "Morgante Maggiore" of Pulci was published as +early as 1488, Boyardo's "Orlando Innamorata" in 1496, and Ariosto's +"Orlando Furioso" in 1515. English versions of Boyardo and Ariosto +have since been translated into the rhyming couplets of Hoole, and as +late as 1831 into the <i>ottava rima</i> stanzas of W. S. Rose. It was not, +however, till April, 1880, that a full English translation of the +original "Song of Roland," from MSS. written in the old <i>langue d'oil</i> +of Northern France, was published by Kegan, Paul & Co., from the pen +of Mr. O'Hagan, Q.C., of Dublin. Most probably it was a curtailed +version of this romance that is referred to by Wace in his "Roman le +Rou," when he records how, as the Normans marched to Senlac Hill, in +1066, the minstrel Taillefer sang,</p> + +<p class="poem30"> + "Of Roland and the heroes all<br> + Who fell at fatal Roncesvall."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page040" name="page040"></a>(p. 040)</span> Turning to the historical data on which the romance is based, +it will be found that in the year 778 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> Charlemagne, accompanied by +his nephew, Count Roland of Bretagne, and the flower of Frankish +chivalry, made a raid across the Spanish border. Abdalrahman, the +first of the great Spanish caliphs of Cordova, was engaged in putting +down the rebellious chiefs who had refused to own their allegiance to +the new caliphate. The frontier was therefore comparatively +unprotected. The Spanish Christians, who maintained a precarious +independence among the Asturias and Pyrenees, and who found it the +wisest policy to be at peace with the Mohammedan rulers, were not +strong enough to resist Charlemagne. Accordingly the Franks advanced +nearly to Saragossa. On returning to France laden with spoil through +the winding defile of Roncesvalles (the valley of thorns or briers), +their rear-guard was cut off by a band of Basques or Gascons and +Spanish-Arabians, and their leader, Roland, slain. To the presence of +these Spanish Christians in the Moorish army must be attributed the +origin of the many Spanish ballads on the victory, in which all the +glory is due to the prowess of the national hero, Bernardo Del Carpio, +"the doughtiest lance in Spain." It is curious also to note, on the +other hand, that the Arabians themselves in their chronicles, +translated by the Spanish historian Condé, make little of this +victory, merely mentioning the fact. The Saracen King Marsil, or +Marsilius, of Saragossa, so often referred to in this and other +Carlovingian romances, is identified by Condé with the Mohammedan +Wali, or Governor of Saragossa, Abdelmelic, the son of Omar, called by +the Christians Omarus Filius, hence the corruption Marsilius.</p> + +<p>With these brief outlines of the history of Roncesvalles before us it +is interesting to observe the grandiloquent strain of the old Norman +<i>rymours</i>, the fearless exaggerations, and the total ignorance of the +actual state of affairs in Spain under the enlightened and +accomplished Arabians.</p> + +<p class="poem30"> + <i>"Carles li reis nostre emperere magnes,<br> + Set anz tut pleins ad estet en Espaigne."</i></p> + +<p>Our great emperor Charles the King had been for seven full years in +Spain, so runs the chronicle; castle and keeper alike had gone down +except Saragossa, the mountain town, where King Marsil held his court, +surrounded by 20,000 Mohammedan nobles. At their council it was agreed +to accept Spain as a fief from the emperor, and ten knights set out +with golden bridles and silver saddles,</p> + +<p class="poem30"> + "And they ride with olive boughs in hand,<br> + To seek the lord of the Frankish land."</p> + +<p>Near the pass of Roncesvalles, one of the Pyrenean "gates" of Spain, +sits the emperor upon a throne of beaten gold. His form is tall and +majestic, and his long white beard flows over his coat of mail. 'Tis +whispered, too, that he is already two hundred years old, and yet, +there he is in all his pride. Beside him stand his nephew Roland, the +Lord Marquis of the marches of Bretagne; Sir <span class="pagenum"><a id="page041" name="page041"></a>(p. 041)</span> Olivier; +Geoffrey of Anjou, the progenitor of the Plantagenets; "and more than +a thousand Franks of France." The Moslem knights are introduced to +this council of war, King Marsil's offer is accepted, and Sir Ganelon +is sent to Saragossa to represent the emperor. Jealous of Roland's +military glory, and envious of the stores of pagan gold, the false +Ganelon conspires with King Marsil to put the all-powerful Roland to +death. King Marsil is assured that on receipt of the golden tribute, +Charlemagne will be persuaded to leave Spain, while by the traitor's +advice Roland will be appointed to remain behind and guard the rear of +the retiring hosts. The scheme succeeded. Ganelon returned to the +Frankish camp with the tribute-money for the emperor, and the +traitor's gold for himself. The Franks begin their homeward march. +They are now descending the mountains into their own fertile Gascon +plains, and their hearts beat lightly, for</p> + +<p class="poem30"> + "They think of their homes and their manors there,<br> + Their gentle spouses and damsels fair."</p> + +<p>But their great chief is silent and gloomy. Roland, the bravest of the +brave, has been left behind with all the paladins, save Ganelon, +beyond the gates of Spain. Last night the emperor dreamed he seemed to +stand by Cizra's pass in Roncesvalles, when Ganelon appeared before +him, wrenched the emperor's spear from out his hand, waved it on high, +then dashed it in pieces. What did it mean? He remembered the ominous +words of his peers, "Evil will come of this quest, we fear," and +Ganelon's strange reply, "Ye shall hear."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Sir Roland was far behind in Roncesvalles. He rode his +gallant steed Veillantif; his white pennon, fringed with gold and set +with diamonds, sparkled in the sunshine; and by his side he wore his +famous sword Durindana, with its hilt of gold shaped like a cross, on +which was graven the name of "Jesus." What a glorious picture of the +Christian hero of mediæval times! With him were Olivier, the good +Archbishop Turpin, and the remaining knights who made up the Order of +the Paladins of Charlemagne, together with an army of 20,000 men.</p> + +<p>The drums beat to arms in Saragossa's town, the tambours roll, the +tabors sound, and 400,000 men attend the call of King Marsil. From a +neighboring height Sir Olivier observes this countless host +approaching. He calls to Roland to blow his ivory horn and bring back +the emperor. Roland refuses, and the Franks prepare to fight; not, +however, before on bended knee they receive the archbishop's +benediction and a promise of paradise to all who die in this holy war +against the pagan foe. With the old French battle-cry, "Mont-joie! +Mont-joie!" the Christians dash the rowels into their steeds and close +with the enemy. Homer does not relate a bloodier fight than that which +follows, and which takes eighty-six stanzas, or fifty of Mr. O'Hagan's +pages, to describe. Again and again the Christians charge the +Saracens. What deeds the great sword Durindana did that day! The slain +lie in thousands; the Saracens flee; and in the pursuit all are killed +save <i>one</i>, who reaches Saragossa. The triumph, however, is +short-lived; Ganelon had decreed that Roland must die, and so a +mightier <span class="pagenum"><a id="page042" name="page042"></a>(p. 042)</span> army than before marches forth to exterminate +Roland's handful, now reduced to 300.</p> + +<p>During this battle a terrible storm passes over France,—thunder and +whirlwinds, rain and hail, there came.</p> + +<p>The people thought that the end of the world had come, but this was +only a foreshadowing of Roland's death. At last all the nobles are +killed except Roland, Olivier, the archbishop, and sixty men. Then +only will Roland deign to blow his horn. Charlemagne hears it thirty +leagues away, and orders his army to return to Roncesvalles. Ganelon +alone seeks to dissuade him, and is put in chains by the desire of the +nobles, who suspect him. The army of Charles hurries back, but all too +late. They will not arrive in time. Away in the Pass of Cizra, Roland +looks around on his dead comrades and weeps. He returns to Olivier's +side, who is engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter with King Marsil's +uncle, the Moslem prince, Algalif, from whom he receives his +death-wound. Olivier reels in his saddle, his eyes are dimmed with +blood, and as he strikes madly about with his spear, he smashes +Roland's helmet. The friend of Olivier is astonished, but soft and low +he speaks to him thus:</p> + +<p class="poem30"> + "'Hast thou done it, my comrade, wittingly?<br> + Roland who loves thee so dear am I.<br> + Thou hast no quarrel with me to seek?'<br> + Olivier answered, 'I hear thee speak,<br> + But I see thee not; God seeth thee.<br> + Have I struck thee, brother, forgive it me?'<br> + 'I am not hurt, O Olivier;<br> + And in sight of God, I forgive thee here.'<br> + Then to each other his head hath laid,<br> + And in love like this was their parting made."</p> + +<p>With hands clasped Sir Olivier cries to God for admittance into +Paradise, and for a blessing on "King Karl and France the fair," and +above all on his brother Roland. Then his hands fall, his head sinks +on his breast, and he passes away. Filled with grief, Roland murmurs:</p> + +<p class="poem30"> + "So many days and years gone by<br> + We lived together.<br> + And thou hast never done me wrong.<br> + Since thou art dead, to live is pain."</p> + +<p>Once more Roland turns to where Count Walter of Hum and the archbishop +alone stand at bay:</p> + +<p class="poem30"> + "And the heathen cries, 'What a felon three!<br> + Look to it, lords, that they shall not flee.'"</p> + +<a id="img021" name="img021"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img021.jpg" width="400" height="586" alt="" title=""> +<p>Roland at Roncesvalles.</p></div> + +<p>Count Walter falls at last, just as they hear the welcome sound of +Charlemagne's trumpets, at which the Saracens flee, leaving Roland and +the archbishop unconquered. But their end is near. Roland swoons, and +the good archbishop, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page043" name="page043"></a>(p. 043)</span> in attempting to bring water in the +famous horn for the dying Paladin, falls from loss of blood. Roland +recovers only in time to see him die; then, as he feels that death is +near him also, he looks once more on his goodly sword Durindana, and +as he looks he cries:</p> + +<p class="poem30"> + "Oh fair and holy, my peerless sword,<br> + What relics lie in thy pommel stored—<br> + Tooth of St. Peter, Saint Basil's blood,<br> + Hair of St. Denis beside them strewed,<br> + Fragment of Holy Mary's vest—<br> + 'Twere shame that thou with the heathen rest,<br> + Thee should the hand of a Christian serve,<br> + One who should never in battle swerve."</p> + +<p>In despair lest it fall into pagan hands he tries to break it in +pieces, and the mighty slashes he made in the rocks are still pointed +out as the "Brèche de Roland." You remember Wordsworth's lines:</p> + +<p class="poem30"> +<span class="add7em">"the Pyrenean breach,</span><br> + Which Roland clove with huge two-handed sway,<br> + And to the enormous labor left his name,<br> + Where unremitting frost the rocky crescents bleach."</p> + +<p>Surely Roland might now rest from his labors, amid the "flowerets of +Paradise." But no; he had yet to smash the head of a prowling Saracen +who thought him an easy prey. In doing so he spoiled forever the ivory +horn, his only weapon. Not till then could he clasp his hands as he +went to rest, and not till then did</p> + +<p class="poem30"> + "God from on high send down to him<br> + One of His angel cherubim."</p> + +<p>St. Michael it was, who with St. Gabriel bore his soul to Paradise.</p> + +<p>It would be too long a story to tell of the vengeance of the Emperor +Charles, how <i>the sun stood still</i> till the Franks had killed every +one of the Saracens; how Ganelon was accused of treachery, tried by +combat, and sentenced to be torn to pieces by wild horses. The story +is a true tragedy, terrible as the tragedy of Œdipus. From another +source we gather the mournful sequel.</p> + +<p>Long before the battle of Roncesvalles Roland and Olivier had met in +single combat on a quiet island in the Rhone. Toward even a fleecy +cloud hovered over them, and from its midst an angel "wrapped in rosy +light" separated the combatants, bidding them be friends, and telling +them to turn their swords against the enemies of the Faith. The heroes +shook hands, the angel vanished, and from that day there were no truer +friends than Roland and Olivier. Their union was further cemented by +the betrothal of Roland to the Lady Alda, Sir Olivier's sister, a +maiden who had already, in Roland's presence, proved herself as bold +in war as she was loving in peace.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page044" name="page044"></a>(p. 044)</span> ROLLO THE GANGER<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4" title="Go to footnote 4"><span class="small">[4]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen</span><br> + +(860-932)</h3> + +<a id="img022" name="img022"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img022.jpg" width="300" height="161" alt="Rollo the Ganger." title=""> +</div> + +<p>When King Harold the Fair-haired, in 872 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span>, had united all the +scattered earldoms of Norway under his own sway, he issued a stringent +order forbidding pillaging within his kingdom under penalty of +outlawry. The custom of sailing out into the world as a viking and +plundering foreign lands, was held to be a most honorable one in those +days; and every chieftain who wished to give his sons the advantages +of "a liberal education" and foreign travel, strained his resources in +order to equip them for such an expedition. But the Norwegians of the +ninth century had as yet no national feeling; and they regarded King +Harold's prohibition against plundering their own shores as absurd and +arbitrary. Rollo or Rolf, the son of the king's best friend, Ragnvald, +Earl of Möre, undertook to disregard the order. Coming home from a +cruise in the Baltic and being short of provisions, he landed in the +south of Norway and made havoc among the coast dwellers. The king, +determined to make an end of the nefarious practice, kept his word and +outlawed him.</p> + +<p>Rollo, being unequal to a struggle with the king, betook himself to +the Hebrides, where a number of other Norse chieftains had sought a +refuge from similar persecutions. His great strength and sagacity, no +less than his distinguished birth, secured him a favorable reception +and much influence. He was so tall that no Norwegian horse could carry +him, for which reason he was compelled always to walk, and was +surnamed Rollo the Ganger, or Walker. Though not formally recognized +as chieftain, he seems gradually, by dint of his eminence, to have +assumed command over the Norse exiles; and it was probably at his +advice that they resolved to abandon the bleak and barren Hebrides, +and seek a more congenial home in a sunnier clime. At all events a +large expedition was fitted out and set sail for the south, early in +the tenth century. It landed first in Holland, but finding that +all-too-accessible country already devastated by other vikings, they +proceeded to the coast of France and entered the mouth of the river +Seine. Charles the Simple, a feeble, foolish, and good-natured man, +was then king of France, but utterly unequal to the task of defending +his territory against foreign invaders or domestic pretenders. The +empire of Charlemagne had been broken up and divided among his +grandsons; and the fraction which was to be France, was then confined +between the Loire and the Meuse.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page045" name="page045"></a>(p. 045)</span> Here was a golden opportunity for Rollo the Ganger and his +vikings. Meeting with no formidable opposition, they sailed up the +Seine and cast anchor at the town of Jumièges, five leagues from +Rouen. This ancient city, which had suffered much from recent sieges +and invasions, was in no condition to defend itself. It was of slight +avail that the priests chanted in the churches, with the fervor of +despair: "Deliver us, oh God, from the fury of Norsemen!" The vikings +continued to pillage the surrounding territory, and were daily +expected to sack the city. In this dire dilemma the Archbishop of +Rouen offered himself as an ambassador to the pagans, in the hope that +perhaps he might become an instrument in the hand of God to avert the +impending doom. But if, as seemed more probable, martyrdom was in +store for him, he was ready to face death without flinching. Rollo, +however, who could honor courage even in an enemy, received him +courteously, and after a brief negotiation pledged himself, in case +the city surrendered, to take peaceful possession of it and to molest +no one. This pledge he kept to the letter. His ships sailed up the +river, and the tall chieftain, at the head of his band of +yellow-haired warriors, made his entry into Rouen, without a sword +being drawn or a torch lighted. He inspected the fortifications, the +water supply, and all points of strategic interest, and finding +everything tolerably satisfactory, resolved to remain. Making Rouen +his headquarters and base of supplies, the Norsemen made expeditions +up the Seine and established a great fortified camp near the +confluence of the Seine and the Eure. Hither a French army, under the +command of Regnault, Duke of France, was sent to drive them out of the +country. But before risking a battle Regnault chose to negotiate. He +sent a certain Hasting, Count of Chartres, to Rollo in order to find +out what was the aim and object of his invasion. This Hasting was +himself a Norseman, and had, twenty years before, proved himself so +formidable a foe, that the King of France had been compelled to buy +his friendship by a concession of land and a noble title, in return +for which favors Hasting had become a Christian and a vassal to the +king. It was doubtful, perhaps, if this man, even though he may have +acted in good faith, was the best ambassador to his countrymen. For he +was himself a living example of what might be gained by audacity and a +shrewd use of one's advantages.</p> + +<p>The following conversation is reported to have taken place between the +Count of Chartres and the Norwegian vikings:</p> + +<p>"Gallant soldiers!" shouted Hasting, from afar, "what is your +chieftain's name?"</p> + +<p>"We have no lord over us," they replied; "we are all equal."</p> + +<p>"For what purpose have you come to France?"</p> + +<p>"To drive out the people who are here, or make them our subjects, and +win for ourselves a new country. But who are you? How is it that you +speak our tongue?"</p> + +<p>"You know the story of Hasting," the count made answer; "Hasting, the +great viking, who scoured the seas with his multitude of ships, and +did so much damage in this kingdom?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page046" name="page046"></a>(p. 046)</span> "Ay, we have heard of that; but Hasting has made a bad end to +so good a beginning."</p> + +<p>"Will you submit to King Charles?" was the ambassador's next query. +"Will you give your faith and service, and receive from him gifts and +honor?"</p> + +<p>"No, no," they cried back; "we will not submit to King Charles. Go +back and tell him so, you messenger, and say that we claim the rule +and dominion of whatever we win by our own strength and our swords."</p> + +<p>Hasting lost no time in communicating this message to the French and +in urging a compromise. But Regnault called him a traitor, and would +have none of his advice. He promptly attacked Rollo and his Norsemen, +but suffered an overwhelming defeat. His army was cut to pieces, and +he himself slain by a fisherman of Rouen who had attached himself to +the invading force. Rollo followed up his victory by sailing up the +river and laying siege to Paris; but the capital of France proved too +strong for him and he had to retire to Rouen, whence he continued to +havoc the surrounding country. He conquered the city of Bayeux and +slew its ruler, Count Berenger, whose beautiful daughter, Popa, he +married. Instead of organizing mere plundering expeditions, Rollo +gradually changed his tactics and took permanent possession of the +towns that fell into his hands. The peasants, too, who lived in the +open country, found that it was their best policy to seek his +friendship and pay him tribute, rather than rely upon the uncertain +protection of the King of France. They had discovered before this that +Rollo was a man whose word could be trusted—a lord of mighty will, +who had a ruthless way of enforcing obedience, but was open-handed and +generous withal to those who would serve his purposes.</p> + +<p>It could no longer be said with truth, as the vikings had said to +Hasting, that they had no lord over them. Rollo, whose chieftainship +had hitherto been based upon his genius for ruling, was now formally +chosen king—a title which he later exchanged for that of Duke of +Normandy. In Norway, previous to the conquests of Harold the +Fair-haired, each province had had its king, who was not always +hereditary, but was often chosen by the peasants themselves, because +he possessed the qualities required of a leader. It was in accordance +with the same custom that they now conferred kingship upon Rollo, +whose valor, sagacity, and firmness of purpose had been amply proven. +It was the power of the man—the weight and force of his +personality—which they respected, no less than his clear-sightedness, +his readiness of resource, and his skill in the rude statecraft of his +age.</p> + +<a id="img023" name="img023"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img023.jpg" width="400" height="588" alt="" title=""> +<p>Rollo the Ganger attacks Paris.</p></div> + +<p>Encouraged by his previous successes, Rollo now made larger plans, and +with the view to carrying them out, formed an alliance with some +Danish vikings who had managed to effect a lodgement and maintain +themselves for some years at the mouth of the Loire. Together they +started upon an extensive campaign, the objective point of which was +again Paris. But the powerful fortifications baffled the Norsemen, who +possessed no machinery of destruction fit to cope with such defences. +The siege had therefore to be abandoned. Dijon and Chartres also made +a successful resistance. But a long chain of smaller cities +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page047" name="page047"></a>(p. 047)</span> surrendered, and the country was ravaged far and wide. The +peasants took to the woods and refused to sow their fields, knowing +that there was small chance of their reaping them. So desperate became +the situation that nobles and peasants alike entreated the king to +make peace with the Norsemen on whatever terms he could procure. The +king was not unwilling to listen to such prayers. It occurred to him +that in making a treaty with Rollo he would be killing two birds with +one stone. He would not only be ridding France of a dangerous foe, but +he might secure for himself a powerful friend who might help him keep +the unruly nobles in order, and secure him in the possession of his +shorn and reduced kingdom. With this end in view he invested Rollo +with the sovereignty of his northern province, named after the +Norsemen, Normandy, and conferred upon him the title of duke (912 +<span class="smcap">a.d.</span>). Rollo was to recognize Charles as his overlord, and defend him +against external and internal foes; and he was to become a Christian +and marry the king's daughter, Gisla. It is told, however, that when +Rollo was required to kneel down and kiss the royal foot in token of +fealty, he stoutly refused.</p> + +<p>"I will never bend my knee before any man," he said, "nor will I kiss +anyone's foot."</p> + +<p>After much persuasion however, he permitted one of his men to perform +the act of homage in his stead. His proxy stalked sullenly forward, +and pausing before the king, who was on horseback, seized his foot and +raised it to his lips. By this manœuvre, the king came to make a +somersault, at which there followed a great and disrespectful burst of +laughter from the Norsemen.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the conclusion of this treaty Rollo was baptized, and +his marriage to the Princess Gisla was celebrated with great pomp in +the city of Rouen. His previous marriage to Popa does not seem to have +caused him any scruple, though, as a matter of fact, he continued to +regard the latter as his wife, and when Gisla died he resumed his +marital relations with her, if indeed they had ever been interrupted. +The princess had been to him nothing but a hostage from the king and a +pledge of his good faith. But Popa, who was the mother of his son +William, surnamed Longsword, he loved, and we do not hear that the +fact that he had killed her father caused any serious trouble between +them.</p> + +<p>As Duke of Normandy, Rollo exhibited a political insight and a genius +for administration which in those turbulent days was certainly +remarkable. He had the true welfare of his people at heart, and with a +firm hand he maintained justice, protecting the weak, and restraining +the strong. The laws which he made he enforced with stern +impartiality, and no man could plead birth or privilege before him, if +he wantonly offended. The farmers were Rollo's special care; for +warrior though he was, he well knew that war is destructive, and that +the prosperity of a land must be founded upon productive labor. The +peasantry of Normandy were not slow to discover that they were better +off under their new ruler than they ever had been under the old; and +they rewarded Rollo with a sincere loyalty and devotion. Their +confidence in his power to right wrong, became in the course of time +half superstitious; and if any of them was in peril <span class="pagenum"><a id="page048" name="page048"></a>(p. 048)</span> or +suffered at the hands of his enemy, it became the fashion to shout: +"Ha, Rou!"—Rou being a corruption of Raoul, the French form of Rolf +or Rollo. Then it was the duty of everyone who heard this cry, to +hasten to the aid of the sufferer or to pursue his assailant. It has +been asserted that our "hurrah" is derived from this Norman shout, but +I hold this to be more than doubtful.</p> + +<p>That Normandy was prosperous under the reign of Rollo, and that its +people were contented, seems, however, to be well established. +According to the legend, so great was the public security that +property left on the highway could be found untouched after days and +weeks; the farmer left his implements in the field without fear of +losing them; and theft and robbery became comparatively rare. In a +great measure this was, no doubt, due to the strict organization which +Rollo introduced, and his insistence upon the personal accountability +of each one of his subjects to himself. For he had learned one most +important lesson from his enemy, Harold the Fair-haired. This king was +the first to establish in Europe what is called the feudal system of +land-tenure. He declared all land to be the property of the crown, and +merely held in fief by the nominal owners. In recognition of the +king's proprietorship, the latter, therefore, pledged themselves to +pay a certain tribute, and to support the king in case of war, with a +given number of armed men, in accordance with the size and value of +their holdings. This same system Rollo is said to have introduced into +Normandy, whence it spread over all Europe. Though we have now no more +use for it, it proved a great and important element in the progress of +civilization.</p> + +<p>Rollo the Ganger must have been nearly eighty years old when he died +in 927. His son, William Longsword, who succeeded him as Duke of +Normandy, was a man of gentler disposition and in vigor and sagacity +inferior to his father. Rollo's descendant in the fifth generation was +William the Conqueror, who inherited in a larger measure the qualities +of his great ancestor.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig003" name="sig003"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig003.jpg" width="300" height="101" alt="Author signature. Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen." title=""> +</div> + + + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page049" name="page049"></a>(p. 049)</span> LEIF ERICSON<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5" title="Go to footnote 5"><span class="small">[5]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen</span><br> + +(<span class="smcap">About</span> 1000)</h3> + + +<a id="img024" name="img024"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img024.jpg" width="300" height="174" alt="Leif Ericson." title=""> +</div> + +<p>The story of the Finding of Wineland the Good is contained, in +somewhat differing versions, in two parchment books, the one belonging +to the first, and the other to the last, quarter of the fourteenth +century. Both agree in attributing the discovery to Leif the Lucky, +the son of Eric the Red; though the Flatey Book says that he was +induced to undertake this voyage by a certain Bjarne Herjulfson, who, +having been driven out of his course by storms, had seen strange +lands, but had not explored them.</p> + +<p>Leif's father, Eric the Red, was, like most Norsemen of his day, an +unruly and turbulent man, whose sword sat loosely in its sheath. He +was born about the middle of the tenth century at Jaederen, in Norway, +but was outlawed on account of a manslaughter, and set sail for +Iceland, where he married a certain Thorhild, the daughter of Jorund +and Thorbjorg the Ship-chested. But the same high temper and +quarrelsome spirit which had compelled him to leave Norway got him +into trouble also in his new home. He was forced by blood-feuds and +legal acts of banishment to change his abode repeatedly, and finally +he was declared an outlaw. Knowing that his life was forfeited, Eric, +as a last desperate chance, equipped a ship, and sailed "in search of +that land which Gunbjörn, the son of Ulf the Crow, had seen when he +was driven westward across the main;" and promised, in case he found +it, to return and apprise his friends of the discovery. Fortune +favored him, and he found a great, inhospitable continent, which (in +order to allure colonists) he called Greenland; "for," he said, "men +would be more easily persuaded thither, if the country had a good +name." He landed in three or four places, but, being dissatisfied, +broke up and started in search of more favorable localities. At the +end of three years he returned to Iceland fought his foes and was +defeated, but finally succeeded, by the backing of friends, in +effecting a reconciliation with them. He spent the winter in Iceland, +and sailed the following spring for Greenland, where he settled at a +place called Brattahlid (Steep Lea) in Ericsfirth. Thirty-five +ship-loads of people followed him, but only fourteen arrived safely. +The remainder were shipwrecked, or driven back to Iceland.</p> + +<p>The interest now shifts from Eric to his son, Leif the Lucky, who +becomes <span class="pagenum"><a id="page050" name="page050"></a>(p. 050)</span> the hero of the Saga. Sixteen years after his +father's settlement in Greenland, Leif, as behooved the son of a +chieftain, equipped a ship and set out to see the world, and gather +fortune and experience. He must then have been between twenty and +twenty-five years old. He arrived in Drontheim, Norway, in the autumn, +and met there King Olaf Tryggveson. The king, who had been baptized in +England, was full of zeal for the Christian faith, and was employing +every means in his power to christianize the country. But the +peasantry, who were worshippers of Odin and Thor, refused to listen to +him, and even compelled him to eat horse-flesh and participate in +pagan rites. Under these circumstances it is not to be wondered at +that he took kindly to the handsome young Icelander who displayed such +an interest in the new religion, and listened attentively while the +king expounded the faith to him. For Leif was a courteous and +intelligent man, of fine presence, good address, and indomitable +spirit. The king, says the Saga, "thought him a man of great +accomplishments." It was not long before he concluded to accept +Christianity, whereupon he was baptized, with all his shipmates. King +Olaf then charged him to return to Iceland and induce the people to +abandon idolatry and accept the true faith. Leif, knowing how deeply +attached the Icelanders were to their old gods, was very reluctant to +undertake this mission, but finally yielded to the king's persuasions, +"provided the king would grant him the grace of his protection."</p> + +<p>He accordingly put to sea; but encountered heavy weather and was +driven out of his course. For a long while he was tossed about by the +tempest, until he came upon "lands of which he had previously no +knowledge. There were self-sown wheat-fields and vines growing there. +There were also those trees which are called <i>masur</i> (maples?). And of +all these things they took samples."</p> + +<p>The other version to which I have alluded is much more explicit, and +recounts how Leif went to Greenland to visit his father, Eric the Red, +and how there he heard the account of Bjarne Herjulfson's voyage, and +of the unknown lands to the westward which he professed to have seen. +The people, we read, blamed Bjarne for his lack of enterprise in +failing to explore the territories of which he had caught glimpses, +"so as to be able to bring some report of them." Leif, being of an +adventurous spirit, was fired by this talk, and resolved to accomplish +what the incurious Bjarne had left undone. He gathered together a crew +of thirty-five men, and invited his father to command the expedition. +Eric at first declined, saying that he was well stricken in years, and +unable to endure the exposure of such a voyage. Leif insisted, +however, that "he would be most apt to bring good luck," and the old +man, yielding to his son's solicitation, mounted his horse and rode +forth at the head of the ship-crew. But when he was nearing the beach, +the horse stumbled and Eric was thrown and wounded his foot. This was +held to be a bad omen, and as he was trying to rise, he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"It is not destined that I shall discover any more lands than the one +in which we are now living; nor can we now continue longer together."</p> + +<p>Leif, knowing persuasion to be vain, pursued his way alone, and +embarked with his thirty-five shipmates.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page051" name="page051"></a>(p. 051)</span> "When they were ready, they sailed out to sea and found first +that land which Bjarne and his shipmates found last."</p> + +<p>It is not stated how long they had been at sea when this land was +found. The account goes on as follows:</p> + +<p>"They sailed up to the land and cast anchor, and launched a boat and +went ashore, and saw no grass there. Great ice mountains lay inland, +back from the sea, and it was as a [table land of] flat rocks all the +way from the sea to the ice mountains; and the country seemed to them +to be entirely devoid of good qualities. Then said Leif: 'It has not +come to pass with us in regard to this land as with Bjarne, that we +have not gone upon it. To this country I will now give a name and call +it Helluland' (<i>i.e.</i>, The Land of Flat Rocks).</p> + +<p>"They returned to the ship and put out to sea, and found a second +land. They sailed again to the land, came to anchor, launched a boat, +and went ashore. This was a level wooded land, and there were broad +stretches of white sand, where they went, and the land was level by +the sea. Then said Leif: 'This land shall have a name according to its +nature, and we will call it Markland' (<i>i.e.</i>, Wood Land). They +returned to the ship forthwith and sailed away upon the main, with +northeast winds, and were out two 'doegr' before they sighted land. +They sailed toward this land and came to an island which lay to the +northward off the land. There they went ashore and looked about them, +the weather being fine, and they observed that there was dew upon the +grass; and it so happened that they touched the dew with their hands, +and touched their hands to their mouths; and it seemed to them that +they had never tasted anything so sweet as this. They went aboard +their ship again, and sailed into a certain sound, which lay between +the island and a cape which jutted out from the land on the north, and +they stood in westering past the cape. At ebb-tide there were broad +stretches of shallow water there, and they ran their ship aground; and +it was a long distance from the ship to the ocean. Yet were they so +anxious to go ashore that they could not wait until the tide should +rise under their ship, but hastened to the land, where a certain river +flows out from a lake. As soon as the tide rose beneath their ship, +however, they took the boat and rowed to the ship, which they towed up +the river, and then into the lake, where they cast anchor and carried +their hammocks ashore, and built themselves booths there. They +afterward determined to establish themselves there for the winter, and +they accordingly built a large house. There was no lack of salmon +either in the river or in the lake, and larger salmon than they had +ever seen before. The country thereabouts seemed to be possessed of +such good qualities that cattle would need no fodder there during the +winter. There was no frost there during the winter, and the grass +withered but little. The days and the nights were of more nearly equal +length than in Greenland or Iceland."</p> + +<p>Now follows an account of the exploring parties which Leif sent out, +some of which he joined, while at other times he remained behind to +guard the house. Here occurs, with curious abruptness, this graphic +bit of characterization: "Leif <span class="pagenum"><a id="page052" name="page052"></a>(p. 052)</span> was a large and powerful man, +and of most imposing bearing, a man of sagacity, and a very just man +in all things."</p> + +<p>A very pretty incident is now related of the German Tyrker, who had +been one of the thralls of Eric the Red, and of whom Leif was very +fond. It was the custom in the households of Norse chiefs to give +children into the special charge of a trusted thrall, who was then +styled the child's foster-father. Sometimes the thrall was presented +to the child as a "tooth-gift," <i>i.e.</i>, in commemoration of its +cutting its first tooth.</p> + +<p>"It was discovered one evening that one of their company was missing; +and this proved to be Tyrker, the German. Leif was sorely troubled by +this; for Tyrker had lived with Leif and his father for a long time, +and had been very devoted to Leif when he was a child. Leif severely +reprimanded his companions and prepared to go in search of him. They +had proceeded but a short distance from the house when they were met +by Tyrker, whom they received most cordially. Leif observed at once +that his foster-father was in lively spirits.... Leif addressed him +and asked: 'Wherefore art thou so belated, foster-father mine, and +astray from the others?'</p> + +<p>"In the beginning Tyrker spoke for some time in German, rolling his +eyes, and grinning, and they could not understand him. But after a +time he addressed them in the Norse tongue.</p> + +<p>"'I did not go much farther [than you]; yet I have something novel to +relate. I have found grapes and vines.'</p> + +<p>"'Is this indeed true, foster-father?' asked Leif.</p> + +<p>"'Of a certainty it is true' replied he; 'for I was born where there +is no lack of either grapes or vines.'</p> + +<p>"They slept the night through, and on the morrow Leif said to his +shipmates:</p> + +<p>"'We will now divide our labors; and each day will either gather +grapes, or cut vines, or fell trees, so as to obtain a cargo of these +for my ship.'</p> + +<p>"They acted upon this advice, and it is said that their after-boat was +filled with grapes. A cargo sufficient for the ship was cut, and when +the spring came they made their ship ready and sailed away. And from +its products Leif gave the land a name and called it Wineland.</p> + +<p>"They sailed out to sea and had fair winds until they sighted +Greenland, and the fells below the glacier; then one of the men spoke +up and said: 'Why do you steer the ship so close to the wind?' Leif +answered: 'I have my mind upon my steering and upon other matters as +well. Do you not see anything out of the common?' They replied that +they saw nothing unusual. 'I do not know,' says Leif, 'whether it is a +ship or a skerry that I see.' Now they saw it, and said that it must +be a skerry. But he was so much more sharp-sighted than they, that he +was able to discern men upon the skerry. 'I think it best to tack,' +says Leif, 'so that we may draw near to them and be able to render +them assistance, if they stand in need of it. And if they should not +be peaceably disposed, we shall have better command of the situation +than they.'</p> + +<a id="img025" name="img025"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img025.jpg" width="600" height="390" alt="" title=""> +<p>Leif Ericson off the Coast of Vineland.</p></div> + +<p>"They approached the skerry, and lowering their sail, cast anchor and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page053" name="page053"></a>(p. 053)</span> launched a second small boat, which they had brought with +them. Tyrker inquired who was the leader of the party. He replied that +his name was Thare, and that he was a Norwegian. 'But what is thy +name?' Leif gave his name. 'Art thou a son of Eric the Red, of +Brattahlid?' says he. Leif replied that he was. 'It is now my wish,' +Leif continued, 'to take you all into my ship, and likewise as much of +your possessions as the ship will hold.'</p> + +<p>"This offer was accepted, and [with their ship] thus laden, they held +their course toward Ericsfirth, and sailed until they arrived at +Brattahlid. Having discharged his cargo, Leif invited Thare, with his +wife, Gudrid, and three others to make their home with him, and +procured quarters for the other members of the crew, both for his own +and Thare's men. Leif rescued fifteen men from the skerry. He was from +that time forth called Leif the Lucky."</p> + +<p>The time of Leif's voyage to Wineland has been fixed at 1000 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> For +we learn that it took place while Olaf Tryggveson (995-1000 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span>) was +king in Norway; and scarcely less than four or five years could have +elapsed since Leif's first meeting with the king in Drontheim, shortly +after the death of his predecessor, Earl Hakon.</p> + +<p>The remainder of the Saga of Eric the Red is occupied with an account +of the successive Wineland voyages of Thorwald Ericson, the brother of +Leif, Thorfinn Karlsefne, and of Leif's sister, Freydis, who was as +quarrelsome, proud, and pugnacious as her father. The Indians (called +by the Norsemen Skrellings), who had failed to disturb Leif, made +demonstrations of hostility against Thorfinn Karlsefne, and after the +loss of several of his men, compelled him to abandon the attempt at a +permanent settlement.</p> + +<p>The tradition of these Wineland voyages continued, however, to be +transmitted from generation to generation in Iceland, and in the early +part of the fourteenth century was committed to writing.</p> + +<p>It will be seen that the saga to which I have referred was not written +primarily with a view to establish Leif's claim to be the discoverer +of Wineland. In the first place the story, in the shape in which we +have it, is more than a century and a half older than the Columbian +discovery, and there could, accordingly, be no great glory in having +found a country which had since been lost. Secondly, the saga is (like +most Icelandic sagas) a family chronicle, purporting to relate all +matters of interest pertaining to the race of Eric the Red. The +Wineland voyages are treated as remarkable incidents in this +chronicle, but they hardly occupy any more space than properly belongs +to them in a family history which is concerned with a great many other +things besides. The importance of this as corroborating the +authenticity of the narrative, can scarcely be over-estimated.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig003.jpg" width="300" height="101" alt="Author signature. Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen." title=""> +</div> + + + + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page054" name="page054"></a>(p. 054)</span> HAROLD, KING OF ENGLAND<br> + +(1022-1066)</h3> + +<a id="img026" name="img026"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img026.jpg" width="300" height="222" alt="Harold, King of England." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Harold II., the last of the native English kings, was the second son +of Earl Godwin by his Danish wife Gytha, the sister of Earl Ulf, and +was born about 1022. At an early age he was made Earl of the East +Angles and he shared his father's outlawry in 1051, finding a refuge +in Ireland. Next year, together with his brother Leofwin, he crossed +the Channel with nine ships, defeated the men of Somerset and Devon at +Porlock, and ravaged the country, next joined his father at Portland, +and shared the triumph of his return. Harold was at once restored to +his earldom, and next year (1053) succeeded to his father's earldom of +the West Saxons. Henceforward he was the right hand of King Edward, +and still more after the deaths of the old Earls Leofric and Siward, +he directed the whole affairs of the kingdom, with an unusual union of +gentleness and vigor. His brother Tostig succeeded Siward as Earl of +the Northumbrians in 1055, and two years later two other brothers were +raised to earldoms: Gurth to that of the East Anglians, Leofwin to one +formed out of Essex, Kent, and the other shires round about London. +Meantime Harold drove back the Welsh marauders of King Griffith out of +Herefordshire, and added that post of danger to his earldom. The death +in 1057 of the Ætheling Edward, the son of Edmund Ironside, who had +been brought back from Hungary as heir to the throne, opened up the +path for Harold's ambition, and from this time men's eyes rested on +him as their future king. And nature had equalled fortune in her +kindness, for his handsome and stalwart figure and his gentle and +conciliatory temper were kingly qualities that sat well upon his +sagacity, his military skill, and his personal courage. Harold's +policy throughout was thoroughly English, contrary to the predominant +French influences that had governed the early part of Edward's reign. +He was English in everything, even to his preference for secular +priests to monks. He made his pilgrimage to Rome in 1058, and after +his return completed his church at Waltham, known later as Waltham +Abbey. In 1063, provoked by the fresh incursions of Griffith, he +marched against him, and by making his men put off their heavy armor +and weapons, and adopt the Welshmen's own tactics, he was able to +traverse the whole country, and beat <span class="pagenum"><a id="page055" name="page055"></a>(p. 055)</span> the enemy at every +point. Griffith was killed by his own people, whereupon Harold gave +the government to the dead king's brothers, Bleddyn and Rhiwallon, who +swore oaths of fealty both to King Edward and to himself.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to say exactly at what date occurred that famous +visit of Harold to the court of Duke William, in Normandy, of the +results of which the Norman writers make so much, although with many +contradictions, while the English writers, with the most marked and +careful unanimity, say nothing at all. It seems most likely that +Harold did make some kind of oath to William, most probably under +compulsion, when he had fallen into his hands after being shipwrecked +on the coast of Ponthieu, and imprisoned by its Count Guy. Mr. Freeman +thinks the most probable date to be 1064. It is at least certain that +Harold helped William in a war with the Bretons, and in the Bayeux +tapestry we see his stalwart form lifting up two Normans at once when +they were in danger of being swept away by the river Coesnon, which +divides Normandy from Brittany. The Norman writers make Harold +formally swear fealty to William, promising to marry one of his +daughters, and we are told that additional sanctity was given to this +oath by its being made upon a chest full of the most sacred relics.</p> + +<p>In 1065, the Northumbrians rebelled against the rule of Tostig, and +Harold found himself compelled, between policy and a sense of justice, +to side with them, and to acquiesce in their choice of Morcar and the +banishment of Tostig. At the beginning of 1066 King Edward died, his +last breath being to recommend that Harold should be chosen king. He +was crowned on January 6th, and at once set himself with steadfast +energy to consolidate his kingdom. At York he won over the reluctant +men of Northumbria, and he next married Ealdgyth, Griffith's widow, in +order to secure the alliance of her brothers, Morcar and Edwin. His +short reign of forty weeks and one day was occupied with incessant +vigilance against the attacks of two formidable enemies at once. Duke +William lost no time in beginning his preparations for the invasion of +England, and Tostig, after trying the Normans and the Scots, and +filibustering along the coasts on his own account, succeeded in +drawing to his side the famous Harold Hardrada, king of Norway. In the +month of September the two reached the Humber, and Harold marched to +meet them, resting neither day nor night. The Icelandic historian, +Snorro, in his dramatic narrative of the fight, tells how Harold rode +out accompanied with twenty of his housecarls to have speech with Earl +Tostig, and offer him peace; and when asked what amends King Hardrada +should have for his trouble in coming, replied, "Seven feet of the +ground of England, or more perchance, seeing he is taller than other +men." At Stamford Bridge Harold overtook his enemy, and after a bloody +struggle won a complete victory (September 25, 1066), both Tostig and +Harold Hardrada being among the slain. But four days later Duke +William landed at Pevensey. Harold marched southward with the utmost +haste, bringing with him the men of Wessex and East Anglia, and the +earldoms of his brothers; but the two earls, Edwin and Morcar, held +aloof and kept back the men of the north, although some of the men of +Mercia, in the earldom of Edwin, followed their king to the fatal +struggle which was fought out <span class="pagenum"><a id="page056" name="page056"></a>(p. 056)</span> from nine in the morning till +past nightfall, on October 14, 1066. The English fought with the most +stubborn courage, and the battle was only lost by their allowing the +pretended flight of the Normans to draw them from their impregnable +position on the crest of the hill, ringed with an unbroken shield +wall. On its slope, right in front of the Norman army, waved the +golden dragon of Wessex, as well as the king's own standard, a +fighting man wrought upon it in gold. Here Harold stood with his +mighty two-handed axe, and hewed down the Normans as they came. Before +nightfall he fell, pierced through the eye with an arrow. His +housecarls fought where they stood till they fell one by one; his +brothers, Gurth and Leofwin, died beside him. The king's body was +found upon the field, recognized only by a former mistress, the fair +Eadgyth Swanneshals ("Edith of the swan's neck").</p> + +<p>At first, William ordered it to be buried on the rocks at Hastings, +but seems after to have permitted it to be removed to Harold's own +church at Waltham. Than Harold, no braver or more heroic figure ever +filled a throne; no king ever fought more heroically for his crown. If +he failed, it was because he had to bow his head to fate, and in his +death he saved all the honor of his family and his race. His tragic +story has given a subject for a romance to Lytton, and for a stately +drama to Tennyson.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="img027" name="img027"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img027.jpg" width="400" height="585" alt="" title=""> +<p>Edith searching for the Body of Harold.</p></div> + + + +<h3>THE CID<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Henry G. Hewlett</span><br> + +(1026-1099)</h3> + +<a id="img028" name="img028"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img028.jpg" width="250" height="282" alt="The Cid." title=""> +</div> + +<p>The narratives concerning the life and exploits of the Cid are, to a +great extent, merely poetic. Yet it has been wisely said, that much +which must be rejected as not fact may still be accepted as truth; +that is, there is often to be found under the husks of legend and +myth, a sound kernel of historical reality. This may be the case with +respect to the Cid, who probably was a warrior so remarkable for +genius or bravery above his fellows that he gathered up in a single +fame the reputation of many others, with whose deeds he was credited, +and whom, as a class, he accordingly represents in history.</p> + +<p>Spain, long one of the most flourishing provinces of the Roman Empire, +was among the first to fall under the sway of the Visigoths, a warlike +but enlightened race, which soon embraced Christianity. For three +centuries the country <span class="pagenum"><a id="page057" name="page057"></a>(p. 057)</span> remained under Gothic rule, but +fell, in 712, by the invasion of the Arabian conquerors of Africa—a +remnant of Christians only preserving an independent monarchy in the +mountains of Asturia. This little seed of freedom grew and bore fruit. +France proved a formidable barrier against further invasion; and in +Spain itself internal jealousies among the Arab families weakened the +Moslem and strengthened the Christian power. In the eleventh century +there were several states in Spain wholly unfettered by a foreign +yoke. The enmity between the two races and creeds was bitter, and war +raged perpetually. Yet it often happened that, at the prompting of +private revenge or family quarrels, alliances were made between +kingdoms thus naturally opposed to each other. A recollection of this +fact is essential to a clear understanding of Spanish history at this +period.</p> + +<p>At the commencement of the eleventh century the chief Christian states +of Spain became, through divers marriages, united under one king, +Sancho, who died in 1034 dividing his territories among his three +sons: of whom Garcia took Navarre, Ferdinand, Castile, and Ramirez, +Aragon. Leon, the remaining Christian monarchy, was ruled by Bermudez +III., whose sister Ferdinand of Castile had married. Just as this +apparent junction of interest occurred among the warriors of the +Cross, the greatest confusion prevailed among those of the Crescent. +The mighty house of the Ommiades—perhaps the most illustrious of the +factions into which the successors of the Prophet were divided—no +longer commanded the allegiance of the Arabs of Spain. Its last prince +fled, and the chief cities fell into the hands of independent lords, +who constituted themselves petty Emirs in their own dominions. +Instead, however, of taking full advantage of this state of anarchy to +extend their united power, the Christian kings weakened each other by +unnatural and deadly quarrels. Ferdinand, King of Castile, seems to +have been the principal aggressor. His great captain in his wars, both +with Moslem and Christian states, was Rodrigo Laynez, who was called +also by the Spaniards Ruy Diaz de Rivar, from the name of his +birthplace, and by the Arabs <i>El Sayd</i> (Lord), which has been altered +into Cid. He was probably born about the year 1026, or rather later, +at the Castle of Rivar, near Burgos, in Old Castile, of a noble but +not wealthy family. He joined the army of Ferdinand, and rose by his +talents, strength, and courage to the highest place in that king's +service. Among the romantic stories told of his early career is one +concerning his marriage, which forms the subject of a popular ballad. +The father of Rodrigo, having been injured by a Count Gomez, the young +knight defied the latter to a duel and slew him. The count's daughter, +Ximena, in a storm of grief and rage, flew to the king, and cried for +vengeance on Rodrigo, who met her face to face, and awaited the result +of her entreaties.</p> + +<p>No one, however, was hardy enough to offer himself as the damsel's +champion against so doughty a warrior, and Rodrigo calmly retired. His +manly bearing and fame won him a place in the very heart which he had +so deeply offended; and, with truly Spanish impetuosity, Ximena gave +him, not only pardon, but love. She again repaired to the king and +asked leave to bestow her hand upon <span class="pagenum"><a id="page058" name="page058"></a>(p. 058)</span> the knight, urging the +curious plea that she foresaw he would one day be the most powerful +subject in the realm. Informed of this request, of which the king +approved, Rodrigo consented to the marriage, as an act of obedience to +his sovereign and of justice to the lady. The meeting of this +strangely matched pair is thus described in the ballad (Lockhart's +translation):</p> + +<p class="poem10"> + "But when the fair Ximena came forth to plight her hand,<br> + Rodrigo, gazing on her, his face could not command:<br> + He stood, and blushed before her: thus at the last said he,<br> + 'I slew thy sire, Ximena, but not in villany:<br> + In no disguise I slew him; man against man I stood;<br> + There was some wrong between us, and I did shed his blood:<br> + I slew a man; I owe a man; fair lady, by God's grace,<br> + An honored husband shalt thou have in thy dead father's place.'"</p> + +<p>It is unfortunate that this charming story is supposed to have but +little foundation in fact. Many of Rodrigo's legendary exploits are +still less authentic; but history and fable unite in declaring him a +warrior of no common stamp. His master, King Ferdinand, as we have +said, invaded the territories of his brothers and friends, besides +those of his enemies. Garcia, Ramirez, and Bermudez successively fell +before his attacks, which Rodrigo, in the true spirit of knightly +obedience to his lord, did not hesitate to lead. Sancho, the king's +eldest son, was Rodrigo's most intimate friend; and on the accession +of the prince to his father's throne on the death of Ferdinand, in +1065, Rodrigo became Campeador (or, as the Arabs call him, <i>El +Cambitur</i>); that is, head of the army. The new king followed in his +father's courses of injustice, and drove his brother, Alfonso, King of +Leon, into exile.</p> + +<a id="img029" name="img029"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img029.jpg" width="400" height="582" alt="" title=""> +<p>The Cid ordering the Execution of Ahmed.</p></div> + +<p>In 1072 Sancho besieged Zamora, which one of his sisters, whom he had +likewise despoiled, held out against him. The king was killed during +the siege, and, as it was suspected, by the agency of his exiled +brother, Alfonso, who succeeded to the throne. Rodrigo felt his +friend's death deeply, and did not scruple to avow his suspicions of +Alfonso. Before promising allegiance, the Campeador insisted that the +king should cleanse himself by an oath of the accusation which popular +rumor had brought against him. To this Alfonso, whether innocent or +guilty, not unnaturally demurred; but the powerful warrior was firm, +and the king at last yielded. When the appointed day arrived, Alfonso +made his appearance, surrounded by his courtiers, all obsequiously +vying in praise of his glory and virtue, and contemptuous +denunciations of his daring accuser. Rodrigo stood alone and gazed on +the king sternly. Some of the nobles endeavored to dissuade him from +holding this attitude of opposition, and to induce him to forego the +demand which he had made; but he put them aside and repeated his +challenge. Alfonso dared not refuse to accept, and accordingly recited +aloud the form of oath prescribed on such occasions, affirming, in the +presence of his maker and the saints of heaven, that he was guiltless +of the death of his brother. He had no sooner concluded than all eyes +were turned upon the Cid, who, in deep, solemn tones, and with the +most impressive earnestness of manner, imprecated <span class="pagenum"><a id="page059" name="page059"></a>(p. 059)</span> on the +head of his king every curse that heaven or hell could inflict, if, in +taking that oath, he had committed perjury. The awed assembly then +broke up. Rodrigo, from that hour, was hated by the king and shunned +by the court.</p> + +<p>Yet, aware of the Cid's value, Alfonso seems to have concealed his +resentment for some time, and even endeavored to win the affection of +his great subject by allying him in marriage with one of the royal +family. Rodrigo's wife was now dead, and he consented to marry the +princess proposed to him, whose name was also Ximena. The marriage +took place in 1074. It had not the effect, however, of uniting the +king and the Cid. After having achieved a brilliant success over the +Arabs of Granada, who were at war with two other Moslem states in +alliance with Castile, and having signalized his humanity by releasing +all his prisoners, the great Campeador was disgraced and banished by +his ungrateful master. At the court of the Emir of Saragossa the exile +found a ready welcome, and was appointed to a high post in the +government of the kingdom. He did not bear arms against his own +sovereign, but headed the Arabs in several battles with the Christians +of Aragon and other states. The invasion of a Moorish host in Spain, +under the eminent Caliph Jusef Ben Taxfin, chief of the Almoravides +and conqueror of Morocco; the rapid subjugation of the independent +Emirs, and the defeat of Alfonso's army at the battle of Zalaka, in +1087, recalled the Castilians to a sense of Rodrigo's worth. He was +invited to return by Alfonso, and with great generosity consented, +bringing with him a large body of men raised by his own exertion and +cost. For two years he made his name terrible to the Moors, as the +great Christian champion.</p> + +<p>But even this fame was not sufficient to secure his influence at +court, and about the year 1090 he was once more banished, and his +estates were seized. He appears from this time to have commenced a +life of adventurous and independent warfare with the Moors. He +besieged Alcocer, a strong Moorish fortress on the borders of Aragon, +and finally took it. With a band of determined warriors of his own +stamp he ravaged, consumed, and spoiled all the Moslem territories +which he invaded, making a castle on a rock in Ternel his chief +stronghold, and thence sallying out in forays. The place has been ever +since called the Rock of the Cid.</p> + +<p>The last and greatest achievement of this hero was the taking of +Valencia. This city was in the hands of a Moslem prince, Alcadir by +name, who had refused to acknowledge the authority of Jusef and the +Almoravides over Spain, which they were attempting to subdue. The Cid, +either as an ally of Alcadir, or from motives of policy, assisted him +in the defence of the city; but it was taken through the treachery of +its Cadi, Ahmed. For this service, the traitor was made governor in +the room of Alcadir, who fell fighting bravely. A kinsman of the +betrayed king determined to avenge his death, and asked the Cid's aid, +which was promptly given. The Arabian historians relate that Ahmed +yielded after a brief siege, on conditions of safety for himself and +family. It is further related that this promise was faithlessly +broken, and the guilty Ahmed sentenced by Rodrigo to be burned alive +for his crimes. The Christian historians happily acquit <span class="pagenum"><a id="page060" name="page060"></a>(p. 060)</span> the +Cid's memory of this barbarity; but all unite in recording the +successful siege of the city, which he took in 1094. While he lived, +the Moors vainly tried to retake it; but on his death, which is +supposed to have occurred in 1099, Valencia again fell. Romance has +colored with glowing tints this scanty historic outline of the Cid's +life. Spanish literature, for two or three hundred years after his +death, is almost confined to epic or ballad poetry, of which he is the +hero. To acquire such a fame demanded a force of character, which, if +not accurately painted by these loving and fanciful narrators, cannot +have fallen far short of the glory with which the world will forever +associate the name of the Cid Campeador.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + +<h3>ST. BERNARD<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Henry G. Hewlett</span><br> + +(1091-1153)</h3> + +<div class="wrap_area"> +<img src="images/img030.jpg" width="350" height="424" alt="" title=""> + +<div class="shape_wrap"> +<div style="width:350px; height:270px;"> </div> +<div style="width:160px; height:150px;"> </div> +</div> + +<p>In 1091, when the career of the Cid was drawing to a close in Spain, a +yet greater Christian champion was born in France; greater, if only in +this, that the weapons of his warfare were not carnal. That the work +was good in itself, we think will be clear from a perusal of the life +of the warrior-monk, St. Bernard.</p> + +<p>His birthplace was Fontaines, near Dijon, in Burgundy; his father, +Tecelin, a knight of honorable reputation, and so absorbed in his +profession that he was compelled to leave the care of his seven sons, +of whom Bernard was the third, to his wife Aleth. She was a pious and +gentle woman, strictly attached to the duties of religion, and anxious +for the spiritual rather than the temporal welfare of her children, +whom she therefore devoted to the cloister. A dream, it is said, had +indicated to her the future fame of her third son, before his birth. +He rapidly displayed signs of possessing no ordinary character. His +education was undertaken by the then celebrated school of Chantillon +and the University of Paris, where he remained some years, actively +pursuing his studies. His mother died soon <span class="pagenum"><a id="page061" name="page061"></a>(p. 061)</span> after his return +home, and he then proceeded to fulfil her wish, which accorded with +his own, of becoming a monk. His father and friends endeavored to +dissuade him from this step, but instead, he persuaded five of his +brothers and twenty-five other friends to join him in the career which +he had chosen. His father and remaining brothers subsequently followed +him, and the whole family took monastic vows. Bernard did not select +for his abode one of those monasteries whose wealth and splendor had +corrupted the intention of their founders, and softened the severity +of the original discipline. His motive was truly religious, and took +the superstitious form then almost inseparable from earnest piety. He +and his comrades entered the poor convent of Citeaux, near Dijon, +where the rules of life enjoined by St. Benedict in the sixth century +were observed with great rigor. Frequent watchings, fasts, bleedings, +and scourgings, for the purpose of mortifying the body; abstinence +from conversation or laughter; habits of perpetual devotion, laborious +exertion, and humble obedience to the abbot, were the main features of +the system. Bernard undertook the duties of his office with such +incessant zeal, and displayed such amazing control over his appetites, +that he seriously weakened his health, but at the same time enlarged +his reputation to such an extent that the convent became overcrowded +with the number of those whom he had attracted thither. He was +therefore appointed, after three years' residence at Citeaux, to head +a colony of monks which was to be fixed in the valley of Clairvaux—a +desolate though beautiful spot in the bishopric of Langres. The tears +of their brethren accompanied the departure of Bernard and the twelve +others who composed the band. It was in the year 1115, and at the age +of twenty-six, that he was made Abbot of Clairvaux. His appearance at +the consecration is described as that of a corpse rather than a man, +so emaciated with the rigors of devotion had he become. He had +frequent visions, perhaps from his weakness, in one of which he +imagined that the Virgin Mary herself appeared to him. The privations +of the members of his little colony were most severe. The season for +sowing had been spent in building the convent, and when the winter +came they were reduced to little better than starvation. Coarse bread +and beech-leaves steeped in salt were their only food. This scanty +sustenance, together with the strict adherence to the Benedictine +rule, in which Bernard still persisted, so shattered his health, that +the bishop of the diocese, who was his personal friend, at last +interfered, and released him from the active duties of abbot. But as +soon as a brief respite had restored his strength, Bernard renewed his +self-mortifying practices. A fresh attack of illness followed, and he +was obliged permanently to relax his habits. In after-years he +lamented the error into which his early enthusiasm and mistaken zeal +had led him, the effects of which greatly marred his future influence +for good.</p></div> + +<p>Though debarred from laboring in his own sphere, Bernard's energetic +mind would not let him rest, and he began from this time to exercise +the power which his reputation for sanctity had brought him, in +political life. He well knew the nature of the position which he was +thus enabled to take, and did not shrink from its perils. "Bernard! +wherefore art thou here on earth?" is said to have <span class="pagenum"><a id="page062" name="page062"></a>(p. 062)</span> been his +constant self-appeal. Poor and unarmed, a priest or monk in those days +had nothing wherewith to oppose the tyranny of the powerful nobility, +save the weapons of religion and intellect. How righteously they could +be used we shall see in the case of Bernard. In repeated instances he +interposed the weight of his authority between the anger of a king or +noble and the weakness of a subject or tenant, and scarcely ever +failed in his object. One of the most remarkable examples of this kind +was his conduct toward the Count of Aquitaine. This nobleman, a man of +immense strength of will no less than body, and violent and despotic +beyond his fellows, having espoused the cause of one rival Pope +against another, dismissed from their sees several excellent bishops +in his territory who were adverse to his views, and supplied their +places without regard to fitness of character. Bernard, having twice +remonstrated in vain, after the last interview held a solemn mass in +the church near the count's castle, at which that nobleman, as +excommunicated, could not be present, but stood outside. The +consecration of the wafer was duly performed, and the blessing +bestowed upon the people, when Bernard suddenly made his way through +the crowd, bearing in his hand the Host on its paten (or plate), and +confronted the astonished count as he stood at the church door amid +his soldiery. With pale, stern face, and flashing eyes, the daring +monk thus addressed the haughty chief: "Twice have the Lord's servants +entreated you, and you have despised them. Lo! now the blessed Son of +the Virgin—the Head and Lord of that Church which you +persecute—appears to you! Behold your Judge, to whom your soul must +be rendered! Will you reject Him like His servants?" A hush of awe and +expectation among the bystanders followed these words, broken by a +groan from the conscience-stricken count, whose imagination was filled +with such lively terror of Divine wrath that he fell fainting to the +ground. Though raised up by his men, he again fell speechless. +Bernard, seizing the opportunity, called to his side one of the +deposed bishops, and on the count's recovery ordered that the kiss of +reconciliation should be bestowed, and the exile restored. The effect +of this scene was not transient, for the proud spirit had been subdued +in the count's heart, and he performed penance for his offences by +going on pilgrimage.</p> + +<a id="img031" name="img031"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img031.jpg" width="600" height="306" alt="" title=""> +<p>The Vision of St. Bernard.</p></div> + +<p>Various other instances of Bernard's boldness in rebuking kings, +nobles, and even Popes, might be adduced. His most remarkable +appearance as a political peace-maker was in the dispute which took +place after the death of Pope Honorius II., as to the succession to +the popedom. Two rival factions at Rome contended for the claims of +separate candidates: one a wealthy and worldly, the other a learned +and pious, cardinal. Bernard, as we may suppose, supported the cause +of the latter, who took the name of Innocent II. At the council of +Etampes, where Louis VI. of France and his nobles were assembled, the +monk's eloquence prevailed over all the arguments of diplomacy, and +the influence of France was pledged to the side of Innocent. Bernard +next engaged aid from Henry I., of England, and Lothaire, the Emperor +of Germany. He then proceeded to Milan, where the party of the rival +Pope, Anaclete, and his supporter, Conrad, Duke of Suabia, Lothaire's +antagonist, was strongest. Bernard's fame <span class="pagenum"><a id="page063" name="page063"></a>(p. 063)</span> was so great, +and the imaginations of those who beheld him so fascinated by his +force of will, that on his way the sick were carried forth to meet +him, and numerous miracles were said to be wrought by the touch of his +garments. In Milan, through his eloquence, Anaclete's party was +completely vanquished, and the Milanese so impressed that they offered +to displace their archbishop in Bernard's favor. But on this and other +occasions he steadily refused any such rank, content to live and die +in a sphere where he could be more useful, if less exalted. He +returned to France, after a lengthened absence, in 1135, meeting on +his way with a royal reception.</p> + +<p>He was once more absorbed in the duties of his office, as Abbot of +Clairvaux, when again summoned to Italy by Innocent II., to oppose the +power of Roger, the Norman King of Sicily, whose aid Anaclete had +obtained. Bernard first passed into Germany, and successfully mediated +between the emperor and the Suabian princes, inducing the latter to +relinquish their rebellion. Lothaire was then prevailed upon to aid +Innocent by force of arms, while Bernard proceeded to employ force of +intellect in the same service. He first won over by his arguments many +of Anaclete's chief supporters, and then accepted a challenge which +King Roger threw out, to dispute publicly in the Court of Salerno as +to the claims of the rival Popes, with Anaclete's champion, Cardinal +Pietro di Pisa. At this public contest Bernard not only confuted, but +converted, the cardinal, and reconciled him to Innocent. With Roger, +Bernard was not so successful, and a battle ensued between the armies +of the contending Popes. Innocent was captured, but contrived to make +favorable terms with Roger; and a peace was agreed to, which was +finally ratified by the death of Anaclete, in 1138. Another anti-pope +having been set up, Bernard used his personal influence with the +pretender, and induced him to yield. Thus the schism in the Church was +healed, and the good abbot returned to Clairvaux.</p> + +<p>In 1146 he was mainly instrumental in promoting the second crusade. +News reached Europe that, two years before, the Christian state of +Edessa (which, as we have already seen, was founded by Baldwin, +brother of Godfrey de Bouillon) had, through the weakness of its +government, fallen into the hands of the Sultan of Bagdad, and +Jerusalem was again in peril. Inflamed with enthusiasm, Bernard +stirred up the hearts of his countrymen to zeal in the cause of the +Cross. Louis VII., of France, was readily persuaded to undertake the +crusade as a penance for his crimes; but the Emperor Conrad, of +Germany, was indisposed to exertion; and to him, therefore, Bernard +hastened, rousing the people of France and Germany as he travelled +through. The frozen reluctance of the monarch could not withstand the +fiery earnestness of the monk. Conrad is said to have dissolved into +tears at the discourse, and eagerly accepted the cross which was +offered. While in Germany Bernard showed his liberality of +thought—rare in those days—by sternly rebuking the ignorance of a +monk who was denouncing the Jews as the cause of the recent +calamities. At the council of Vezelay (in Burgundy), held in 1146, +Bernard's eloquence was as exciting in its influence on his hearers as +that of Pope Urban had been on a previous occasion. As the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page064" name="page064"></a>(p. 064)</span> +speaker, at the end of his oration, held up the cross which was to be +the badge of the enterprise, Louis VII. threw himself at the feet of +his subject, and the whole assembly thronged round him, shouting the +old war-cry, "It is God's will!" Bernard distributed to thousands of +eager hands all the crosses which he had brought with him; and finding +these insufficient for the demand, took off the Benedictine robe which +he wore, and tore it into cross-shaped pieces. So impressed were the +chiefs of the crusading army with his power over the people, that at a +subsequent assembly they even offered the command of the expedition to +him—an unwarlike monk.</p> + +<p>He declined the post on the ground of unfitness, but had he accepted +it, the issue of the crusades might have been different from what it +was. His authority would at least have kept in check the discords, +perfidies, and excesses to which he, probably with justice, afterward +attributed the failure of the enterprise. From these causes, together +with a fatal incapacity on the part of the French and German generals, +the second crusade resulted in nothing but the wholesale massacre of +the Christian armies by the Turks. Bernard, who had predicted the +success of the expedition, was deeply distressed at the unfortunate +result; the more as, with great injustice, the weight of popular +indignation fell upon him and seriously damaged his influence. This +disappointment, however, did not discourage him, and only served to +concentrate his attention for the rest of his life on the more +immediate duties of his calling.</p> + +<p>These he had never neglected, even while immersed in religious +politics. By advice and example he greatly reformed the discipline of +monastic life. He continually preached in his own convent; and, either +personally or through agents, is said to have founded upward of sixty +monasteries in alliance with Clairvaux. Among them the Hospice of +Mount St. Bernard, in Switzerland, has distinguished itself by loving +deeds worthy of its founder. Bernard was an eminent theologian, both +in theory and practice, and many of his works are extant. They +disclose very forcibly his strong intellect and warm heart. Many of +his opinions were most liberal for his age, and he rejected several +tenets, on which the Roman Catholic Church has since insisted, with a +decision which would have ranked him among heretics had he lived a few +centuries later. He manifested, nevertheless, a want of freedom in his +conduct toward the great Abelard, who in that age represented the true +Protestant spirit of inquiry into the received doctrines of the +Church. Against this daring thinker Bernard unjustifiably employed the +weight of authority which he possessed, to silence what he deemed a +dangerous boldness of opinion. Toward Abelard personally, however, he +displayed nothing but generous and respectful courtesy, even in the +heat of controversy; and it is satisfactory to know that a cordial +interchange of kindly feeling passed between these two eminent men +long before their deaths.</p> + +<p>Many of Bernard's wise and good deeds are recorded, which cannot be +noticed here. We may refer to but one, which greatly influenced the +world for centuries after his death; namely, the sanction and aid +which he gave to the establishment of the Knight-Templars, a body of +soldier-priests, who devoted their <span class="pagenum"><a id="page065" name="page065"></a>(p. 065)</span> lives to the preservation +of the Holy Places and the protection of pilgrims. Had they faithfully +adhered to the statutes which he drew up for their conduct, the +exhibition of zeal which they were designed to make might have been as +blessed to Christendom as their arrogance was cursed.</p> + +<p>A few years before his death, Bernard had the gratification of seeing +one of his own disciples raised to the papal chair, as Pope Eugenius +III. The new pontiff recognized his master's authority no less than +before his accession, and Bernard's counsel and influence were +repeatedly used in his behalf. But the over-activity of the good abbot +too soon decayed the slender strength which his firm will had wrested, +as it were, from death in a hand-to-hand struggle that lasted for more +than forty years. Always sickly, frequently reduced to the brink of +the grave, yet perpetually at work, his constitution gave way in 1155, +at the age of sixty-three. His last act was worthy of his life. He was +on a dying-bed when a discord broke out between the nobles and the +burghers of the town of Mentz. Bernard rose, and once more entered the +arena of strife with the olive-branch of peace in his hand. The proud +barons and the angry citizens listened humbly to his gentle words, and +shrank from the mild glances of those eyes which his biographers +scarcely ever mention without calling <i>dove-like</i>. The turbulence of +passion was hushed, and Bernard returned to die. The filial tears of +his disciples at Clairvaux, and the regrets of all the nation, +followed him to the grave. About twenty years after his death a decree +of canonization awarded him the title of Saint, which, considering how +it has been disgraced by unholy bearers, will not seem so fitly to +recognize his merit as that name which the reverence of the Church has +further bestowed on him—the <i>last</i> of the Fathers.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>FREDERICK BARBAROSSA<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Lady Lamb</span><br> + +(1121-1190)</h3> + + +<p>It seems almost incredible that no history should exist of the +childhood and early life of an emperor of such note as "Barbarossa;" +yet, in spite of most diligent search, we have been compelled almost +to renounce one of the most pleasing tasks of a biographer, which +consists in making acquaintance with a hero in his infancy, and +through childhood and youth following his career to fame and glory. So +far as we have been able to discover, no trace, except a few dry data, +exists of "Frederick of the Red Beard," until we find him setting out +with his uncle, Conrad III., in the spring of 1147, to join the second +crusade against the Saracens. The date of his birth is given as 1121, +his father being Duke Frederick of Hohenstauffen (surnamed "le +Borgne") and his mother Judith, daughter of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page066" name="page066"></a>(p. 066)</span> Henry the Black, +Duke of Bavaria; opinions are divided on the subject of his +birthplace, some writers mentioning the castle of Veitsberg, near +Ravensburg, others the town of Weiblingen, in Nuremburg; but since the +main interest of his history does not begin until his succession to +the paternal duchy of Swabia, and his departure for the Holy Land in +1147; his marriage with Adelaide, daughter of Theobald, Margrave of +Vohburg, in 1149; and finally his accession to the imperial throne in +1152, we must resign ourselves to silence on the subject of his +earlier years, and take up his history from the death of Conrad III., +and that monarch's choice of him as a successor, to the exclusion of +his own son.</p> + +<a id="img032" name="img032"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img032.jpg" width="500" height="308" alt="Frederick Barbarossa." title=""> +</div> + +<p>From every possible point of view, Frederick of Hohenstauffen +justified his uncle's choice: endowed with the most brilliant +qualities of heart and mind, he had already earned the suffrages of a +great portion of his new subjects by the manner in which he had +distinguished himself during the above-mentioned campaign in the Holy +Land; moreover, as the son of Frederick of Hohenstauffen and Judith, +daughter of Henry the Black, Duke of Bavaria, Ghibelline by his father +and Guelph on his mother's side, there seemed good ground for the hope +that in him might terminate the differences of the two contending +factions. The election diet was accordingly assembled at Frankfort, +and it being there decided to confirm Conrad's choice and to invest +Frederick with the imperial insignia, he was proclaimed King of the +Romans and of Germany, and anointed at Aix-la-Chapelle on March 5, +1152, the ceremony being performed by Arnoul de Gueldre, Archbishop of +Cologne. Not lightly or eagerly did the new emperor accept these +dignities, but after mature and careful consideration of his capacity +to undertake the responsibility of guiding Germany through shoals and +quicksands which had little <span class="pagenum"><a id="page067" name="page067"></a>(p. 067)</span> by little enveloped the fair +countries won three hundred years before by the valiant Charlemagne.</p> + +<p>Tidings of ever-recurring disturbances determined Frederick to make an +expedition into Italy, as soon as affairs in Germany would admit of +his absence; but there was much to be done first—many princes to be +dealt with, who, from different motives viewing his election with +dissatisfaction, would take immediate advantage of his departure to +bring all the horrors of civil war into his dominions. Bavaria, for +example, had been wrested from Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, during +his minority, by Conrad III., and now he conjured Frederick, with +tears and threats, to restore it to him. This, by dint of much +diplomacy, Frederick effected, and the result was that for some years +he gained a stanch ally, instead of a designing enemy.</p> + +<p>Having decided this quarrel and several others, into which we need not +enter, Frederick prepared for that first expedition into Italy which, +as we have seen, he had resolved on from the commencement of his +reign.</p> + +<p>At the head of a numerous army he passed into Switzerland, and +encamped near the lake of Constance; when, under the banner of Count +von Lenzburg, the inhabitants of the three "cents" or cantons of +Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden came to do homage and offer their feudal +service in the field. At the same time, and while still engaged in +assembling the forces with which to march into Italy, deputies from +the city of Lodi arrived, and throwing themselves at his feet, +besought his interference against the oppressions of the Milanese, who +had declared for Adrian IV., and whose town was indeed the very +hot-bed of the papal faction. The emperor instantly sent letters +commanding the Milanese to make full reparation to their unfortunate +neighbors; but on perusal of his behests they tore the missives in a +thousand pieces, and flung them in the faces of the messengers, +sending back by them as their sole answer an open defiance of his +authority. Enraged at this insolence, Frederick crossed the Alps, but, +too prudent to risk an immediate attack on Milan, strongly fortified +and well garrisoned as it was, he sought rather to weaken it through +the other towns with which it was in league, and accordingly besieged +in turn Rosate, Cairo, and Asti, which all fell into his hands, and +ended with the total demolition of the city of Tortona, which he +reduced to ashes, afterward even levelling the ground upon which it +had stood. This last victory proved the accuracy of Barbarossa's +judgment, as regarded the remainder of the fifteen towns of the +so-called "Lombard League," most of which, intimidated by his +energetic measures, sent ambassadors to do homage on their account. He +now seized the iron crown of Lombardy; was crowned at Pavia and again +at Monza, after which he entered into negotiations with Adrian IV. for +the performance of the coronation ceremony at Rome.</p> + +<p>We now come to the second marriage of our hero, when Beatrix, the only +child and heiress of Reinold of Burgundy, became his bride; and an +echo of the old romantic halo which surrounds that incident in +Barbarossa's life reaches us, even in this prosaic age, as we picture +to ourselves the gallant, handsome Frederick riding off with his +trusty knights to deliver the fair heiress of Count Reinold <span class="pagenum"><a id="page068" name="page068"></a>(p. 068)</span> +from the gloomy prison in which her uncle, Count William, had confined +her in order to appropriate the rich domains of "Franche-Comté." Over +hill and dale sped the chivalrous band till the grim castle was +reached; a halt was ordered, and an envoy sent to summon Count William +to yield both his fortress and the fair prisoner. At first the count +meditated resistance, but on looking out and investigating the number +of Frederick's followers, he decided to submit, and congratulated +himself on his determination when Frederick's messenger said, on +behalf of his master, that if the castle were not given freely it +would be taken by force, the fair Beatrix released, and her gloomy +prison walls be prevented from hiding any other like iniquity by being +razed to the ground. Prudence, we hear, is the better part of valor, +and evidently Count William shared in the opinion, for we learn that +he promptly let down the drawbridge, over which Frederick and his +followers passed, and whence they presently issued, bearing in their +midst the quondam prisoner, the lovely Beatrix, whose eyes, moist with +tears of gratitude, looked trustingly in the handsome face of her +deliverer. So now, away, away to the old church at Wurtzburg! deck the +streets, ring the bells, bid priests don their vestments and burghers +their best, and fall in merrily with the gay procession that comes to +do honor to Barbarossa and his fair bride!</p> + +<p>Thus far the little romance of our emperor and Beatrix; now to return +to the sober and solemn statement of facts. During 1157 and the next +year, Frederick busied himself with a campaign against Poland, and +compelled Boleslaw, the king, to acknowledge the supremacy of the head +of the German Empire, and to take the oath of fealty, barefoot and +with his naked sword hung round his neck; after which he bestowed the +kingdom upon Wladislaw of Bohemia, whom he had appointed regent of the +German states during his absence, and whom he now took this +opportunity to reward. New disputes began to arise between Pope Adrian +and Frederick; and when at Besançon some indiscreet remarks of His +Holiness as to having "conferred the imperial crown" on, and "accorded +it by favor" to Frederick, were mentioned, that monarch waited no +longer, but collected a fresh army, and marched into Italy to chastise +the pontiff, who, on hearing of his approach, and scared at the +prospect of such a calamity, hastened to explain away his words as +best he might. The emperor accepted his excuses, but as he was so far +on the road, determined to attack Milan, whose inhabitants had +increased the anger he already felt for them by rebuilding Tortona +(which, as we know, he had totally destroyed), and expelling the +inhabitants of Lodi from their dwellings for having called him to +mediate on the subject of their wrongs. With 100,000 men (for almost +all of the Lombard cities had, either willingly or by force, +contributed their militia) and 15,000 cavalry, he advanced toward +Milan and laid siege to it. The inhabitants made a most obstinate +resistance, and were at length only vanquished by the impossibility of +finding food for the vast population within the walls. A capitulation +was effected, by which the emperor contented himself with very +moderate conditions, the most severe being that which condemned the +city to the loss of her privileges; but when the chief nobles came to +deliver the keys, barefooted and with every token of humility, he +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page069" name="page069"></a>(p. 069)</span> forgot their former insolence, and only required, in return +for his clemency, a renewal of the oath of fealty and their promise to +rebuild the town of Lodi.</p> + +<p>To put an end to these ever-recurring disputes Frederick called +together a diet at Roncaglia, to which each of the Italian towns was +commanded to send its representative; the four most learned jurists +from the university of Bologna being also requested to attend, for the +purpose of drawing up a document which should conclusively define the +relations between himself, as head of the empire, and the vassals and +imperial cities of Italy. But when the learned quartet had heard all +the points of dispute, and were in possession of the facts, their +decision gave such almost limitless power to Frederick that several of +the towns, and more especially Milan, refused to abide by it and +prepared for further resistance.</p> + +<p>Frederick had not been idle all the time these schisms were raging; on +the contrary, he had made a third expedition to Italy, from which he +had been compelled to return, leaving the flower of his army lying +dead, stricken down with pestilence. The next six years were spent in +settling various disputes and complications which had arisen in +Germany during his absence; in causing his son Henry, a child of only +five years of age, to be crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle; and in keeping +some sort of check on his vassal, Henry the Lion, who, now that he had +increased his power by a marriage with Matilda, daughter of Henry II. +of England, was no unimportant person in the empire, and moreover one +extremely liable to become sulky and unmanageable if he had a chance, +or the smallest grievance to complain of.</p> + +<p>The news now spread through Europe of the reconquest of Jerusalem by +Saladin. These tidings effaced every other thought; the new Pope, +Urban, forgot the thunders of the Church which he had been keeping, +like a second sword of Damocles, suspended over Frederick's head; the +emperor buried his resentment; a general peace was concluded, and +Barbarossa, then in his seventieth year, gave the regency of his +dominions to his son Henry, and joyfully taking up the +cross—accompanied by his son Frederick, the flower of German +chivalry, and an army of 100,000 men—marched by way of Vienna to +Presburg, and thence through Hungary, Servia, and Roumelia.</p> + +<p>Isaac Angelus, the Greek emperor, who had promised to furnish the +German troops with provisions and assist Frederick in all ways, with +the proverbial duplicity of his nation, broke his word, harassed him +on his march, and threw Count von Diez, his ambassador, into prison; +which treachery greatly incensed the emperor, and caused him to give +permission to his soldiers to plunder; the results being that the +country soon bore sad traces of their passage, and that the two +important towns of Manioava and Philippopolis were completely +destroyed. This reduced Isaac, professedly, to a state of contrition; +and when Barbarossa advanced toward Constantinople, the Greek emperor, +anxious to conciliate him, placed his entire fleet at his disposal for +the transport of the German army. Scarcely had they entered Asia Minor +before Isaac's good resolutions abandoned him, and leaguing himself +with another faithless ally of Frederick, the Sultan of Iconium, they +beset the German troops, and did everything they possibly <span class="pagenum"><a id="page070" name="page070"></a>(p. 070)</span> +could to make the march more difficult; however, though they tried +both fair means and foul, their evil practices resulted in their own +defeat, and the Oriental Christians soon found they had every reason +to congratulate themselves upon the arrival of such a champion.</p> + +<p>The fanaticism of a Turkish prisoner, who, acting as guide, wilfully +sacrificed his life in order to mislead Frederick's army, involved the +Germans in almost endless troubles by taking them amidst pathless +mountains, where the horrors of starvation and the entire lack of +water added yet more miseries to their condition. Brave where all were +despairing, encouraging his men with cheering words and hopeful looks, +their gallant old leader rode on, and footsore, half-starved, thirsty, +and wretched as they were, the men tried, though tears of agony filled +their eyes, to raise the notes of their Swabian war-song to please +him. Frederick, Duke of Swabia, hastened forward with half the +remaining army, and gaining a victory over a body of Turks, pushed on +till he came to the town of Iconium; when, scattering the enemy before +him, he put the inhabitants to the sword, gained a great booty, and, +more than all, food, drink, and rest for his weary men.</p> + +<p>A body of Turks had meanwhile crept round the town, and surrounded the +columns which were advancing under Barbarossa; worn out with sorrow, +hunger, and thirst, even his courage gave way for one moment, as he +thought that this band of Turks had only, in all probability, reached +him by passing over the dead bodies of his brave son and the gallant +Swabians; the aged monarch bowed his head, and the scorching tears of +rage ran down his cheeks; then dashing his hand across his eyes, he +cried: "Christ still lives! Christ conquers!" and shouting to his +followers, they fell on the Turks like lions; Barbarossa with his own +hand sending many a one to his last sleep. Then they marched forward +to Iconium, where rest and plenty awaited them, and where the old +emperor doubtless found much cause for thankfulness when he threw +himself into the arms of his brave son.</p> + +<p>At Iconium the army stayed for some time, the soldiers being in sad +need of repose; and then starting afresh, continued as far as the +little river Saleph; when, the road being encumbered with cattle, and +the emperor impatient of delay, he commanded his men to cross the +stream and plunged into the water. Here this hero of many combats, +this brave and wise king, was destined to end his long life in an +obscure river, of which he had probably never heard; the current was +too strong for his horse, and, nobly as the animal battled against it, +both rider and steed were drowned.</p> + +<p>The Germans, almost frantic with grief and dismay, made frenzied +efforts to regain the body of their leader; and, when at last they +succeeded, they conveyed it with much loving care to Antioch, where it +was buried in St. Peter's Church.</p> + +<p>With the history of the crusade after the death of our hero, we have +nothing to do further than to say that his son, Frederick, took the +chief command and led the brave followers of his gallant father until +a pestilence occasioned his death at Acre, in the following year, when +the remnant of the once formidable army returned to Germany.</p> + +<a id="img033" name="img033"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img033.jpg" width="600" height="453" alt="" title=""> +<p>The Death of Barbarossa.</p></div> + +<p>How Barbarossa still lingers in the hearts of his people even now, +when all <span class="pagenum"><a id="page071" name="page071"></a>(p. 071)</span> these hundreds of years divide his time from +theirs, is shown by a dozen legends. Most of these profess an utter +disbelief in the death of their loved emperor; one of them tells how, +in a rocky cleft of the Klyfhaüser Mountains, Barbarossa still sleeps +calmly and peacefully; he sits before a marble table into which and +through which his red beard has grown; his head is bowed on his folded +hands, and though he from time to time lifts it and opens his eyes, it +is but to shut them again quickly, for the right time of his awakening +is not come; he has seen the ravens flying round the mountain, and his +long sleep will only end when their black forms are no longer visible, +when he will step forth and avenge the wrongs of the oppressed.</p> + +<p>Another story says that he is lying in the Untersberg near Salzburg, +and that when the dead pear-tree which, thrice cut down, plants itself +afresh, shall bud forth and blossom, the gallant "Rothbart" will come +out into the bright daylight, hang his shield on the pink-flowered +bough, throw down his gauntlet as a gage to all evil-doers, and, aided +by the good and chivalrous few who will still be inhabitants of this +bad world, will vanquish cruelty and wickedness, and realize the dream +of a golden age they have for so long anticipated.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>RICHARD CŒUR DE LION<br> + +(1157-1199)</h3> + +<a id="img034" name="img034"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img034.jpg" width="250" height="372" alt="Richard Cœur De Lion." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Richard I., King of England, surnamed Cœur de Lion, was the third +son of Henry II. and his queen, Eleanor, and was born at Oxford, in +the king's manor house there, afterward the monastery of the White +Friars, in September, 1157. By the treaty of Montmirail, concluded on +January 6, 1169, between Henry and Louis VII. of France, it was +stipulated that the duchy of Aquitaine should be made over to Richard, +who should do homage and fealty for it to Louis, and should espouse +Adelais, or Alice, that king's youngest daughter; and in 1170 King +Henry, being taken ill at Domfront, in Maine, made a will, by which he +confirmed this arrangement. In 1173 Richard, with his younger brother, +Geoffrey, and their mother, joined their eldest brother, Henry, in his +first rebellion against their father. On the submission of the rebels, +in September, 1174, Richard received two castles in Poitou, with half +the revenue of that earldom, and, along with Geoffrey, did <span class="pagenum"><a id="page072" name="page072"></a>(p. 072)</span> +homage and swore fealty to their father. Nevertheless Richard +continued from this time to hold the government of the whole of +Aquitaine, and to be usually styled, as before, Duke of Aquitaine, or +Duke of Poitou (which were considered as the same title), although it +appears that King Henry now looked upon the arrangements made at the +treaty of Montmirail as annulled, and that dukedom to have actually +reverted to himself. In 1183 Richard refused, when commanded by his +father, to do homage for Aquitaine to his elder brother, Henry; on +which his brothers Henry and Geoffrey invaded the duchy, and a new war +ensued between them and their father, who was assisted by Richard, +which, however, was terminated by the death of the eldest of the three +brothers in June of that same year, when Richard became his father's +heir-apparent. But at an interview between King Henry and Philip +Augustus, now King of France, in November, 1188, Richard, apparently +impelled by a suspicion that his father intended to leave his crown to +his younger brother, John, and also professing to resent his father's +conduct in withholding from him his affianced bride, the French king's +sister, suddenly declared himself the liegeman of Philip for all his +father's dominions in France; whence arose a new war, in which Philip +and Richard speedily compelled King Henry to yield to all their +demands, and a treaty to that effect was about to be signed when King +Henry died, on July 6, 1189. Richard was present at the burial of his +father in the choir of the convent of Fontevrault.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding his apprehensions, real or affected, of his brother +John, Richard made no particular haste to come over to England, but, +contenting himself with ordering his mother, Queen Eleanor, to be +liberated from confinement, and to be invested with the regency of +that kingdom, he first proceeded to Rouen, where he was formally +acknowledged as Duke of Normandy on July 20th, and it was August 13th +before he arrived at Portsmouth (or, as others say, at Southampton). +His coronation, from which the commencement of his reign is dated, +took place in Westminster Abbey on September 3d. It was on occasion of +that ceremony that a furious riot broke out among the Jews in London, +which was in the course of the next six months renewed in most of the +great towns throughout the kingdom. At York, in March, 1190, a body of +500 Jews, with their wives and children, having taken refuge in the +castle, found no other way of saving themselves from their assailants +than by first cutting the throats of the women and children and then +stabbing one another.</p> + +<p>A short time before his father's death Richard, and his then friend, +Philip Augustus, had, as it was expressed, taken the cross, that is to +say, had publicly vowed to proceed to the Holy Land, to assist in +recovering from the infidels the city and kingdom of Jerusalem, which +had recently (1187) fallen into the hands of the great Saladin. The +mighty expedition, in which all the principal nations of Western +Christendom now joined, for the accomplishment of this object is known +by the name of the Third Crusade. Leaving the government of his +kingdom during his absence in the hands of William Longchamp, Bishop +of Ely and chancellor, and Hugh Pudsey, Bishop of Durham and +justiciary, Richard took his departure from England on December 11th +of this same year, 1189, and proceeding <span class="pagenum"><a id="page073" name="page073"></a>(p. 073)</span> to Normandy, united +his forces with those of Philip Augustus in the plain of Vezelay on +July 1, 1190. The two friends proceeded together at the head of an +army of more than 100,000 men as far as Lyons, where they separated on +the 31st; Philip taking the road to Genoa, Richard that to Marseilles, +where he was to meet his fleet. The fleet, however, not arriving so +soon as was expected, Richard in his impatience hired thirty small +vessels for the conveyance of himself and his suite, and, sailing for +Naples, arrived there on August 28th. On September 8th he proceeded by +sea to Salerno, where he remained till the 23d, and then sailed for +Messina, which port his fleet had reached about a week before, with +the army, which it had taken on board at Marseilles. The French king +had also arrived at Messina a few days before his brother of England.</p> + +<p>The two kings remained together at Messina till the end of March, +1191. During their stay Richard compelled Tancred, who had usurped the +crown of Sicily, to relinquish the dower of his sister Joan, the widow +of William, the late sovereign, and to pay him besides forty thousand +ounces of gold. In return he betrothed his nephew, Arthur, the son of +his next brother, Geoffrey, to Tancred's infant daughter, and formed a +league offensive and defensive with the Sicilian king—a connection +which afterward cost him dear, for it was the source of the enmity of +the Emperor Henry VI., who had married Constantia, the aunt of +William, and claimed the throne of Sicily in right of his wife. After +the dispute with Tancred had been settled, the latent rivalry of +Richard and Philip broke out in a quarrel about the Princess Adelais, +whom her brother Philip insisted that Richard should espouse, in +conformity with their betrothment, now that his father no longer lived +to oppose their union. But if Richard had ever cared anything for the +French princess, that attachment had now been obliterated by another, +which he had some years before formed for Berengaria, the beautiful +daughter of Sancho VI. (styled the Wise), King of Navarre; in fact he +had by this time sent his mother Eleanor to her father's court to +solicit that lady in marriage, and, his proposals having been +accepted, the two were now actually on their way to join him. In these +circumstances Philip found himself obliged to recede from his demand; +and the matter was arranged by an agreement that Richard should pay a +sum of ten thousand marks, in five yearly instalments, and restore +Adelais, who had previously been conducted into England, and the +places of strength that had been given along with her as her marriage +portion, when he should have returned from Palestine.</p> + +<p>Richard, having sent his mother home to England, sailed from Messina +on April 7th, at the head of a fleet of about two hundred ships, of +which fifty-three were large vessels of the sort styled galleys; his +sister, the queen dowager of Sicily, and the Princess Berengaria +accompanying him. The King of France had set sail about a week before. +Several months, however, elapsed before Richard reached the Holy Land, +having been detained by an attack which he made upon the island of +Cyprus; Isaac, the king, or emperor, of which had ill used the crews +of some of the English ships that had been driven upon his coasts in a +storm. Richard took Limasol, the capital, by assault; and that blow +was soon followed <span class="pagenum"><a id="page074" name="page074"></a>(p. 074)</span> by the complete submission of Isaac and +the surrender of the whole island. Isaac was put into confinement, and +remained a captive till his death in 1195. Meanwhile the island of +Cyprus was made over by Richard, in 1192, to Guy of Lusignan, upon his +resignation of the now merely titular royalty of Jerusalem to his +rival Henry of Champagne and Guy's posterity reigned in that island +till the year 1458.</p> + +<p>Having married Berengaria at Limasol, Richard set sail from Cyprus, on +June 4th (1191), with a fleet now described as consisting of thirteen +large ships called busses, fifty galleys, and a hundred transports; +and on the 10th he reached the camp of the crusaders assembled before +the fortress of Acre, the siege of which had already occupied them not +much less than two years, and had cost the lives, it is said of nearly +two hundred thousand of the assailants. But the presence of the +English king, although he was suffering from severe illness, and had +to be carried to the trenches on a litter, immediately inspired so +much new vigor into the operations of the Christian army that, on July +12th, the place surrendered, and Saladin, who had been harassing the +besiegers from the neighboring mountains, withdrew, in conformity with +the terms of capitulation. This great event, however, was immediately +followed by an open rupture between Richard and King Philip, whose +rivalry had already exhibited itself in a variety of ways, and more +particularly in the support given by Richard to the claim of Guy of +Lusignan, and by Philip to that of Conrad of Montferrat to the vacant +crown of Jerusalem. Philip, in fact, took his departure from Palestine +on the last day of July, leaving only ten thousand men, under the +command of the Duke of Burgundy.</p> + +<a id="img035" name="img035"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img035.jpg" width="400" height="492" alt="" title=""> +<p>Richard at the Battle of Arsur.</p></div> + +<p>Richard performed prodigies of valor in the Holy Land, but, although a +signal defeat of Saladin on September 7th at Arsur was followed by the +capture of Jaffa and some other places of less importance, Jerusalem, +which was the main object of the crusade, so far from being taken was +not even attacked. Jaffa, however, after it had again fallen into the +hands of Saladin, was recovered by the impetuous valor of the English +king. At last, on October 9, 1192, Richard set sail from Acre in a +single vessel, his fleet, having on board his wife, his sister, and +the daughter of the captive King of Cyprus, having put to sea a few +days before. The three ladies got safe to Sicily; but the first land +the king made was the island of Corfu, which he took about a month to +reach. He left Corfu about the middle of November with three +coasting-vessels which he hired there; but after being a few days at +sea he was compelled by a storm to land on the coast of Istria, at a +spot between the towns of Aquileia and Venice. After narrowly escaping +first from falling at Goritz into the hands of Maynard, a nephew of +Conrad of Montferrat (to whose murder in Palestine Richard, upon very +insufficient evidence, was suspected to be an accessory), and then at +Friesach from Maynard's brother, Frederick of Batesow, he was taken on +December 21st, at Erperg, near Vienna, by Leopold, Duke of Austria (a +brother-in-law of Isaac of Cyprus), and was by him consigned to close +confinement in the castle of Tyernsteign, under the care of his +vassal, Baron Haldmar. In the course of a few <span class="pagenum"><a id="page075" name="page075"></a>(p. 075)</span> days, +however, by an arrangement between Leopold and the Emperor Henry VI., +the captive king was transferred to the custody of the latter, who +shut him up in a castle in the Tyrol, where he was bound with chains, +and guarded by a band of men who surrounded him day and night with +drawn swords. In this state he remained about three months. Meanwhile, +intelligence of his having fallen into the hands of the emperor had +reached England, and excited the strongest sensation among all ranks +of the people. It is sufficient to mention that during his absence a +struggle for supremacy had for some time been carried on with varying +success between the king's brother, John, and Longchamp, the +chancellor, who had acquired the entire regency, and had also been +appointed papal legate for England and Scotland; and that this had +resulted, in October, 1191, in the deposition of Longchamp, by a +council of the nobility held in St Paul's Churchyard, London; after +which he left the country, and although he soon ventured to return, +ultimately deemed it most prudent to retire to Normandy. The supreme +authority was thus left for a time in the hands of John, who, as soon +as he learned the news of his brother's captivity, openly repaired to +Paris, and did homage to the French king for the English dominions on +the Continent.</p> + +<a id="img036" name="img036"></a> +<div class="floatright"> +<img src="images/img036.jpg" width="250" height="315" alt="Richard Cœur De Lion" title=""> +</div> + +<p>On returning to England, John raised an army to support his +pretensions, while his confederate, Philip, took up arms in his behalf +in France, and, entering Normandy, overran a great part of that duchy, +although Rouen, the capital, was preserved principally by the +exertions of the Earl of Essex, lately one of Richard's companions in +the Holy Land. In England, also, John met with a general opposition to +his usurpation of the regal authority, which soon compelled him to +conclude an armistice with a council of regency that had been +appointed by the prelates and barons. This was the position of affairs +when Longchamp, having discovered Richard's place of confinement, +after much solicitation prevailed upon the emperor to allow the royal +prisoner to be brought before the diet at Hagenau, where, accordingly, +he made his appearance on April 13, 1193, and defended himself with so +much eloquence against the several charges made against him in regard +to Tancred and the kingdom of Sicily, to his conquest of Cyprus, and +to the murder of Conrad of Montferrat, that Henry found himself +compelled by the general sentiment of the diet to order his chains to +be immediately struck off, and to agree to enter upon negotiations for +his ransom. Longchamp was immediately despatched to England with a +letter to the council of regency, and the result was, that, +notwithstanding the insidious efforts both of John and his friend, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page076" name="page076"></a>(p. 076)</span> Philip of France, to prevent the conclusion of the treaty, +Richard was at last liberated, on February 4, 1194, after seventy +thousand marks had been actually paid to the emperor, and hostages +given for the payment of thirty thousand more. The English king had +also engaged to release both Isaac of Cyprus and his daughter, and he +had besides, at the persuasion, it is said, of his mother, Eleanor, +the more effectually to conciliate Henry, formally resigned his crown +into the hand of the emperor, who immediately restored it to him to be +held as a fief of the empire, and burdened with a yearly feudal +payment to his superior lord of five thousand pounds. This strange +transaction rests on the authority of the contemporary annalist +Hoveden. Richard, descending the Rhine as far as Cologne, proceeded +thence across the country to Antwerp, and, embarking there on board +his own fleet, landed at Sandwich on March 13th.</p> + +<p>Most of John's strongholds had been wrested from his hands before his +brother's return, and now the rest immediately surrendered and he +himself fled the country, and with his principal adviser, Hugh, Bishop +of Coventry, having been charged with high treason, and not appearing +to plead after forty days, was outlawed and divested of all his +possessions.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile it was thought necessary that Richard should be crowned +again, and that ceremony was accordingly performed at Winchester by +Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, on April 17th. Then, leaving Hubert +guardian of England and grand justiciary, on May 2d, following, +having, with his characteristic activity employed almost every moment +since his arrival in raising an army and procuring funds for its +maintenance by all sorts of exactions and the most unscrupulous use of +every means in his power, he again set sail from Portsmouth, his whole +soul bent on chastising the King of France. Owing to adverse winds he +was a fortnight in reaching Barfleur, in Normandy, where, as soon as +he landed, he was met by his brother John, who professed contrition +and implored his pardon, which, on the intercession of his mother, +Eleanor, was granted. Richard now marched against Philip, and several +engagements took place between them, in most of which the English king +was successful. But the war, though it lasted for some years, was +distinguished by few remarkable events. A truce for one year was +agreed to on July 23d, and although hostilities were resumed some time +before the expiration of that term, a peace was again concluded in the +end of the following year, which lasted till the beginning of 1197.</p> + +<p>All this time Hubert, assisted by Longchamp, who had been restored to +his office of chancellor, is said to have presided over the government +at home with great ability. Hubert had been educated under the famous +Glanvil, and he seems, in the spirit of his master, to have exerted +himself in re-establishing and maintaining the authority of the law, +by which alone, even if he did no more, he must have materially +contributed to the revival of industry. The large sums, however, which +he was obliged to raise by taxation to meet the expenses of the war, +in the exhausted state to which the country had been reduced provoked +much popular dissatisfaction; and the third year of the king's absence +in particular was distinguished by the remarkable commotion excited by +William Fitz-Osbert, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page077" name="page077"></a>(p. 077)</span> styled Longbeard, a citizen of London, +who is admitted to have possessed both eloquence and learning, and +whose whole character and proceedings might not improbably, if he had +had his own historian, have assumed a very different complexion from +what has been given to him. Longbeard, who acquired the names of the +Advocate and King of the Poor, is affirmed to have had above fifty +thousand of the lower orders associated with him by oaths which bound +them to follow whithersoever he led. When an attempt was made to +apprehend him by two of the wealthier citizens, he drew his knife and +stabbed one of them, named Geoffrey, to the heart, and then took +refuge in the church of St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside, the tower of +which he and his followers fortified, and held for three days, when +they were at last (April 7, 1196), dislodged by fire being set to the +building. Fitz-Osbert was first dragged at a horse's tail to the +Tower, and then to the Elms in West Smithfield, where he was hanged, +with nine of his followers. The people, however, long continued to +regard him as a martyr.</p> + +<p>The war between Richard and Philip broke out again in 1197, and in the +course of this campaign Richard had the gratification of capturing the +Bishop of Beauvais, a personage whom he had reason to regard as a main +instigator of the severities and indignities which he had sustained at +the hands of the emperor. The bishop was taken armed cap-à-pie and +fighting, and when Pope Celestine recommended him to the clemency of +Richard as his son, the English king sent his holiness the bishop's +coat of mail, with the following verse of Scripture attached to it: +"This have we found; know now whether it be thy son's coat, or no." +This same year, too, finished the career of the Emperor Henry, who, in +his last moments, is said to have expressed the extremest remorse for +the manner in which he had treated the great champion of the Cross. +Richard's other enemy, Leopold, Duke of Austria, had been killed by a +fall from his horse two years before.</p> + +<p>A truce, as usual, at the end of the year, again suspended hostilities +for a space. The war was renewed on its termination, and in this +campaign (of the year 1198) Richard gained one of his greatest +victories near Gisors, when Philip in his flight fell into the river +Epte, and was nearly drowned. After this, by the intercession of the +Pope's legate, a truce was concluded between the two kings for five +years, and they never met again in fight; although they probably +would, notwithstanding the truce, if both had lived. But on March 26th +in the following year, 1199, as Richard was engaged in reducing the +castle of Chaluz, the stronghold of one of his Aquitanian vassals, +Vidomar, Viscount of Limoges, who it seems had refused to surrender a +treasure found on his estate, to which the king laid claim in right of +his feudal superiority, Cœur de Lion was struck in the left +shoulder by an arrow, aimed from the rampart of the castle by a youth +named Bertrand de Gurdun. The wound would not have been dangerous but +for the mismanagement of the surgeon in his attempts to extract the +arrow-head, which had broken off in the flesh. As it was, Richard +lived only till Tuesday, April 16th. The shot was a fatal one in every +way; in the fury into which the wound of the king threw the besieging +army the castle was taken by storm, and all the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page078" name="page078"></a>(p. 078)</span> persons +found in it were immediately hanged, as some authorities say, by the +king's orders, with the exception only of Gurdun. He was brought into +the presence of his dying victim, when Richard, under the impulse of +generosity or compunction, gave him his liberty, with a hundred +shillings to take him home; but after the king's death he was flayed +alive, and then hanged, by order of Marchadee, the leader of the +Brabantine mercenaries serving in Richard's army.</p> + +<p>The character of Richard is, of course, not to be judged without +reference to the general manners of the age in which he lived. It is +probable enough that there was hardly an excess, either of violence or +licentiousness, into which his impetuous temperament did not +occasionally precipitate him; but he seems to have had nothing base or +malignant in his composition; and that he was as capable of acts of +extraordinary generosity and disinterestedness as of excesses of +brutal fury or profligacy. Of the courage and strength of will proper +to his race, he had his full share, with more than his share of their +strength of thew and sinew; and his intellectual powers, both natural +and acquired, were also of a high order. He was renowned in his own +day not only as beyond all dispute the stoutest and most gallant of +living heroes, but as likewise occupying a place in the foremost rank +of those who excelled in wit, in eloquence, and in song.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + + +<h3>ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6" title="Go to footnote 6"><span class="small">[6]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">George Parsons Lathrop, LL.D.</span><br> + +(1182-1226)</h3> + +<a id="img037" name="img037"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img037.jpg" width="300" height="234" alt="St. Francis of Assisi." title=""> +</div> + +<p>One reason why those beings who are known to us as saints are so +little understood is, that their lives are usually written in one of +two ways, both equally unsuited to popular appreciation. Either they +are presented in a dry, bare, matter-of-fact manner, which requires +all the knowledge and sympathy of the initiated to give it vital +meaning; or else they are surrounded with an appanage of portents, +visions, miracles, legends—spread before the reader without +discrimination or explanation—which confuse the mind and soul, and +absolutely repel all who do not share the faith of the subject and the +biographer.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, no Catholic is obliged to accept these legends +and traditions <span class="pagenum"><a id="page079" name="page079"></a>(p. 079)</span> literally, except in those cases where the +authorities of the Church, after a scrutiny, which is always +deliberate and searching, declare that a miracle was wrought. But +every Catholic, by the very nature of his belief in the actual +presence of the Divinity among men, must acknowledge and maintain that +miracles have been wrought by that supernatural power constantly, ever +since apostolic times; that they may and do occur, through the same +power, at any moment to-day; and always will occur. In the ordinary +gossip of the world, men hold to the maxim that if reports are +current, all pointing to one particular fact, there must be truth in +them. "Where there is so much smoke there is sure to be some fire." We +should at least accord the same, if not a greater, degree of +probability and of credence to stories of the saints which have been +carefully, competently examined. "The love of the marvellous," says +Chavin de Malin, in his book on St. Francis, "is but a remnant of our +original greatness. Man was created to contemplate the wonders of the +Divinity; and, until he clearly beholds them, he is borne onward by an +interior desire to love and admire everything which bears the +slightest resemblance to them.... <i>A person utterly ignorant of the +practices of a spiritual life can no more do justice to the life of a +saint, than a blind man could adjudicate on the merits or demerits of +a painting.</i>" He adds that, with regard to the religious occupations +of the Middle Ages, "the positive bounds of history could not be kept, +digressions were made on all sides, and thus around the true history +of saints, like a poetic wreath, wonder and amazement were both +entwined. Christianity has had its denominated legendary tales, which +invariably are based on truth, and should not be rejected by the +historian without serious reflection and profound study."</p> + +<p>There is still another way of regarding the saints; the purely +material view, which denies the immediate action of supernatural power +upon the details of natural daily life, mental or physical. This +view—or rather, this abstention from seeing—is futile; because, +without a particle of actual proof to sustain its negative, it refuses +to admit possibilities of truth to which the really comprehensive and +perceptive mind must always hold itself open.</p> + +<p>Saint Francis was born at Assisi, in Umbria, in 1182; near the close +of the twelfth century, which has been called a "century of mud and +blood, when darkness prevailed over light, evil over good, the flesh +over the spirit." Umbria was then, as it is now, a beautiful and +fertile valley, rich in citron, almond, aloe, with forest trees of oak +and pine and fir, to which long cultivation has added grapevines, +engarlanding the elms, and orchards of the pale-leaved olive-tree, +that give the landscape a somewhat transparent, aërial effect. The +province is encircled on one hand by the yellow Tiber; on the other, +by the bluish foot-hills of the Apennines; and it is full of ancient +little towns, nestled in the vales, or perched upon the airy +hill-crests, with crenelated towers and terraces which command +far-reaching and inspiring views. Old Perugia guards the northern +entrance to this exquisite region; and five leagues to the northeast +of that town is the saint's birthplace, Assisi.</p> + +<p>His father was Peter Bernard of Moriconi, better known as +"Bernardone," a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page080" name="page080"></a>(p. 080)</span> rich merchant who carried on extensive +business with France. In those days Italian merchants maintained a +lavish mode of life, resembling that of the nobles; and as the +disorders of the period and the perils attending travel compelled them +to send armed escorts with their convoys of merchandise, there was +something of military daring and display mingled with their business +and their surroundings. The wife of Bernardone, however, whose name +was Pica (of the noble Bourlemont family of Provence), was remarkable +for her piety; the son—in this, as in so many historic instances of +genius or distinction—inheriting his rare quality from the mother's +side. She had but one other child, a younger son, Angelo, who, +notwithstanding his heavenly name, seems to have been a boy after +Bernardone's own pattern; since he, later on, reviled Francis and +called him a fool for his piety and self-renunciation. Angelo's +descendants were still living in Assisi in the latter half of the +sixteenth century. Whether they shared their ancestor's contemptuous +opinion of the Saint has not been recorded; but it seems probable that +the homage of the world, rendered to the poor ascetic for several +centuries, may have made some impression on their minds, if not their +souls.</p> + +<p>Just before the birth of Francis, his mother suffered greatly. A +pilgrim, coming to the house for alms, told the servants: "The mother +will be delivered only in a stable, and the child see the light upon +straw." This appeared strange and unreasonable enough. Nevertheless +his advice was followed. Pica was carried to the stable, and there she +gave birth to her first son, whom she caused to be baptized John, +after the beloved apostle of Jesus. Her husband, Bernardone, was +absent at the time on a business tour in France. Upon his return, he +was delighted at finding that he had a boy; and he insisted on giving +him the surname Francis, in commemoration of that country with which +he drove such a flourishing trade. Possibly he was also moved by the +thought—albeit the chroniclers do not say so—that his wife's family +came from Southern France. At all events, Francis was the name by +which the son came to be known throughout his life and in history.</p> + +<p>Under priestly teachers he received an education which, for that time, +was a fairly good one, in Latin, French, and literature. At the age of +fourteen his father took him into partnership; and for ten years the +young man bought and sold with him, or travelled for him. But while +Bernardone was a hard, avaricious man, the son differed from him +greatly in disposition; being fond of dress, of song, and feasting, +gayety, and gaming. He was generous even to prodigality, full of wit +and imagination, very sympathetic withal, and compassionate. Thomas of +Celano thus describes him: "His figure was above the middle height and +well set. He was thin, and of a very delicate constitution. He had an +oval face, broad brow, white, close-set teeth, dark complexion, black +hair, regular features, expressive countenance, rosy lips, and a +charming smile." With all his roystering, dissipation, and +extravagance, however, he was a foe to immorality, always rebuked +impurity in severe terms, and kept his own purity intact. This lavish +and somewhat reckless pursuit of other pleasures gave his parents much +anxiety; although his mother, Pica, said in his defence, "I see in +him, even in his <span class="pagenum"><a id="page081" name="page081"></a>(p. 081)</span> amusements, a nobility of character which +gives me the highest hopes of his future." But up to his twenty-fourth +year nothing seemed more unlikely than that he should have any +vocation to a holy life. He was called the "flower of the youth" of +Assisi, rejoiced in his gay leadership of the rich young men of the +place, and dreamed of winning military glory.</p> + +<p>In this capacity of taking the lead, and in the confident belief he +often expressed that he would one day receive honor from the world, we +see one natural germ of his later spiritual eminence. Another and more +potent germ was the love of the poor, and his pity for them, which he +manifested from childhood. In 1201, taking part as a soldier in a +brief war between Assisi and Perugia, he was captured, with several of +his companions, and imprisoned for a year. This experience, his first +touch of adversity, sobered him a little; opening his eyes to the +contrast between prosperity, with idle amusement and flattery, on the +one hand, and on the other, suffering. Soon after his return home, +also, he was stricken down by a long and painful illness. When he rose +from it and, as a convalescent, took his first walk into the country, +he was astonished to find that the beautiful Umbrian landscape which +he had always so enjoyed, seemed to him cold, discolored, and sombre. +A natural effect of illness, one may say. Yet it more often happens +that when a convalescent returns to fresh air and the beauty of the +earth, his pleasure in them is heightened. At all events Francis was +vividly impressed with the nothingness of nature, as compared with the +eternal splendor of God. But presently the passion for warlike renown +took possession of him again. In 1206 he volunteered to join the Count +of Brienne, a Guelph champion of Italian national independence, who +was defending the Two Sicilies against the attacks of the German +emperor, Frederick II. Announcing to his friends that he was about to +become a great captain, Francis set out for the field of war, richly +apparelled and with a brilliant retinue.</p> + +<p>In truth he was shortly to become a great captain, though not as he +expected, in war, but in peace. On the way to Spoleto, southward, a +voice that seemed to come from heaven sounded in his ears; just as +Saul was appealed to while on his way to Damascus and was converted by +it into <i>St. Paul</i>. To the young Umbrian, half asleep, the voice said: +"Francis, which can do thee most good; the master or the servant, the +rich one or the pauper?" He replied: "The master and the rich one." +And the voice resumed: "Why, then, leavest thou God, who is both rich +and the Master, to run after man, who is only the servant and the +pauper?" Then Francis cried: "Ah, Lord; what willest Thou I should +do?" "Go," said the voice, "return to thy native city, for the vision +thou hast had has a spiritual meaning. It is from God, not men, thou +shalt receive its accomplishment."</p> + +<p>Heedless of whatever taunts might be flung at him, he turned back. But +the youth of Assisi, though surprised, were rejoiced to see him, and +begged him to preside once more at their revels. He gave them a final +magnificent banquet, at which they noticed that he was silent and +preoccupied. Immediately afterward he retired to a grotto, where he +passed his days alone, entreating God to pardon <span class="pagenum"><a id="page082" name="page082"></a>(p. 082)</span> the misspent +years of youth and to direct him in the right way. Here he had a +vision of Jesus Christ nailed to the cross. It is probably impossible +to prove a vision; but that this one was real to Francis, at least, we +may judge by its effects. Thenceforth he devoted himself to a pious +life of marvellous self-abnegation. Seeing the change that had come +upon him, his former friends fell away; but he, undisturbed, went on +performing works of charity; making gifts of money, food, and even his +own clothes to the poor. Again a voice spoke to him, from the crucifix +of the dilapidated old church of St. Damien: "Francis, go and repair +my house, which you see falling into ruins!" The young ascetic obeyed +literally, and, passing through the streets, begged from all whom he +met a stone or two to help rebuild the old church. Bernardone had been +absent several months on one of his business trips; but his +home-coming, this time, was not so pleasing to him as when his boy had +been born. For, seeing the young man's complete transformation, all +his selfish love of him turned into rage. He imprisoned him for a +while in his own house; but Pica, recognizing that it was useless to +oppose her son's religious vocation, finally set him free, and Francis +took refuge in St. Damien's church. His father pursued him there, and +brought before the Bishop of Assisi a complaint against him, demanding +that he should give up all the money in his hands. Francis not only +surrendered his money, but stripped off his clothing and gave it to +his father, saying: "Until now I have called Peter Bernardone my +father. Henceforth I can boldly say, 'Our Father, who art in heaven,' +in whom I have placed all my treasures and my hopes."</p> + +<p>The bishop covered him with his mantle and held him clasped in his +arms, until the by-standers brought Francis the cloak of a poor +peasant. "Oh, what a grand bankrupt this merchant becomes to-day!" +Bossuet wrote of him, long afterward. "Oh man worthy of being written +in the book of the evangelical poor, and henceforward living on the +capital of Providence!" From that time Francis wore mendicant's garb +and begged his food in the streets.</p> + +<p>What did he accomplish by all this? To begin with, he succeeded in +rebuilding three churches. But his influence was destined to be much +more far-reaching than that, and of a very different nature. One day, +while he was supplicating in church, his brother Angelo passed near +him, and said to a friend, scoffingly: "Go, ask him to sell you some +drops of his sweat." "No," said Francis; "I shall not sell my sweat to +men. I shall sell it at a higher price, to God." He gave his sweat, +his toil, his sufferings, and his renunciation to God, in exchange for +the regeneration of men in a corrupt age.</p> + +<p>All Europe, at that time the whole civilized world, was suffering. The +mass of the people were the poor, who were in deep distress, ground +down by the pride and oppressions of the barons and the rich. The +country was devastated by wars, large and small. The emperors of +Germany were trying to establish their dominion over Italy and to +control the Pope. The Church itself, after emerging from an heroic +struggle with centuries of barbarism, had been obliged to accept and +use the feudal system as a means of self-defence; and now the wrongs, +the injustices, the selfishness of feudal society were beginning to +exercise <span class="pagenum"><a id="page083" name="page083"></a>(p. 083)</span> a corrupting influence on the exterior of the +Church itself. Unselfish and holy men in ecclesiastical places, both +high and humble, preserved the spirit and sanctity of Christian faith, +but were not able wholly to counteract the evils of pride, wealth, and +luxury that invaded the Church from the worldly side, and infected its +unworthy servants. Francis perceived that the only hope or relief +possible to that age lay in a decisive spiritual revolution, to be +effected without violence, which would recall people to the primitive +simplicity, unselfishness, and absolute devotion of the time of Christ +and the apostolic period. This revolution could be accomplished, he +saw, only by a personal example so strong, so undeviating, so entirely +free from self-seeking, that all men would be compelled to pause and +consider it, and then to act upon it. He therefore sacrificed his +whole life for the good of the race. In the end he achieved his aim, +single-handed, single-souled. No one who believes in God and in +Christianity throughout, can maintain that Francis of Assisi brought +about these results by mere unaided human power. The human element +relies upon will, coercion, manœuvre, and even intrigue. Francis +gave up all these means. He first served the lepers for a month, +living with them and taking care of them. This should especially +interest us to-day; since Father Damien's self-immolating life among +the lepers of the Hawaiian Islands in recent years is so well known to +us, and since the first refuge of Saint Francis from the world was St. +Damien's church, in Assisi. Portiuncula, "The Little Portion," was one +of the churches which he had rebuilt, and was his favorite. While he +was listening to the Gospel there, one day in February, 1209, these +words were read from the altar: "Do not possess gold nor silver, nor +money in your purses; nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor +shoes, nor a staff."</p> + +<p>That precept decided him. He saw his vocation as a devotee of holy +poverty. Straightway he began preaching everywhere the duty of poverty +and love of the poor; and gradually he drew to himself disciples, +until they numbered twelve; sometimes accosting his old friends, +sometimes strangers, who immediately joined him and consented to give +up all worldly things, for the love of God. Most of them were men of +rank and wealth, who had never known privation; yet they gave up +social positions where they had been accustomed to command, accepted +dire penury with him in a hut at Rivotorto, and submitted themselves +to him in entire obedience. "Bread begged from door to door is the +bread of angels," said Francis. They went barefoot, wore a coarse gray +tunic with a cincture of cord, prayed much, helped the sick and needy, +discoursed to and exhorted the people, and lived on bread and water +chiefly. Amid all these austerities they thanked God that they had +been chosen to give an example of perfect happiness! Their leader +insisted upon incessant industry and unfailing cheerfulness. "Think of +your errors in your cells," he commanded. "Weep, kneeling before God. +But before others be gay, and maintain an air of ease." At first they +called themselves simply "penitents from Assisi," and for a time they +were treated with ridicule, scorn, and even violence. But their +mission was to suffer everything, to rejoice at insults and injuries +and, by patience, compel recognition of the dignity <span class="pagenum"><a id="page084" name="page084"></a>(p. 084)</span> of every +human creature under whatsoever guise he might present himself. In +this they succeeded.</p> + +<p>To a novice he said one day, "Brother, let us go out and preach." +Taking him along, he went up into Assisi and they walked through the +streets without saying a word; then returned to the convent. "And our +preaching, father?" asked the novice. "It is done," replied the Saint; +implying that a modest, thoughtful exterior and the force of example +are often the most eloquent kind of preaching. But in 1209 it became +clear to him by an inward vision in which the Christ came to him as a +shepherd, that great numbers would flock to follow him; and, though he +had not thought of founding an Order, he now saw that it would be +necessary. He therefore drew up a simple Rule in twenty-three +chapters; the gist of which was that they were to possess no money, no +property whatever; that they were neither to blame nor to judge any +one; were to hold themselves profoundly respectful toward all members +of the clergy; to say not a word against the rich or against luxury; +to preach, everywhere, concord and the love of God and one's neighbor; +to bind themselves to obedience and chastity, as well as poverty; to +do penance and persist in the perfect faith of Christ. Not until +sixteen years later did the Lateran Council ordain that all religious +orders must receive the approval of the Holy Father. But Francis did +not wait for decrees. His humility, obedience, and loyalty to the +Vicar of Christ led him to repair to Rome with his companions and +there ask the permission of Pope Innocent III., which he quickly +obtained. The Rule was rewritten in 1619. Some of the brethren +suggested that he take the advice of a cardinal in formulating his +rules; but the Saint declared that God had willed that he should +"appear as a new sort of madman in the world," arresting the attention +of the people and bringing them to reflect, without qualification, +upon "the folly of the cross," and that he alone must direct the +manner in which this was to be done.</p> + +<a id="img038" name="img038"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img038.jpg" width="600" height="366" alt="" title=""> +<p>The Vision of St Francis.</p></div> + +<p>His order multiplied rapidly, and convents were established in all +parts of Europe; although he was inclined to object to costly +buildings, and was prevailed upon to let them stand on the plea that +they were needed to shelter travellers and pilgrims. He established +also the order of Poor Clares, so called from a noble maiden, Clare, +who became its first superior. This was, for women, what his order of +the Friars Minor was for men; though the Clares remained strictly +enclosed, while the Friars went abroad preaching, and established +missions in various quarters of the globe. Finally, he formed his +Third Order, which included laymen and laywomen living in the world, +who bound themselves by simple vows of virtue and charity, while +continuing in their accustomed phase of life. Thousands joined the +Friars; and probably millions were enrolled in the Third Order. It has +been said that Francis first made known to the Middle Ages the power +of association among the weak and humble, and that from the pages on +which he inscribed his institutes sprang modern democracy in Italy. +Certain it is that the Emperor Frederick II. received a letter from +some of his Italian feudal supporters, saying: "The Friars Minor ... +have raised themselves against us. They have publicly condemned both +our mode of life and our principles, they have <span class="pagenum"><a id="page085" name="page085"></a>(p. 085)</span> shattered +our rights, and have brought us to nothingness." Yet the Franciscan +Friars and the Third Order had done this only by the contrast of +example, of poverty, fasting, prayer, self-denial, and charity of the +heart as well as of the hands.</p> + +<p>The work of Saint Francis did much to undermine feudalism; and it +almost regenerated the spirit of Christianity in the thirteenth +century. "Man of the people," writes R. F. O'Connor, "he did more for +the people than ever yet had been done by any one; whose vocation was +to revive in the midst of a corrupting opulence the esteem and +practice of poverty, which he ennobled, ... and, without setting class +against class, <i>or violating the least point of the divine or human +law</i>, levelled every social barrier and united princes and peasants in +a bond of union which neither time nor eternity was to sever."</p> + +<p>This phase of his influence should interest us of to-day, when the +same problems of wealth and poverty and of superficiality in religion +confront our arrogant modern "civilization." That St. Francis was not +a madman is evident from the orderliness of his work, his clear +legislative and administrative capacity, his calm, powerful, amiable +sway over all sorts of people. Yet he was possessed by an absolute +passion and ecstasy of charity and universal love, which raised him +above the apprehension of the gross, material mind. It was this +supremacy of the spiritual in him which enabled him to accomplish +marvels of practical result. Toward the end of his life, this +exaltation of the spirit produced upon his body a singular phenomenon. +His hands and feet appeared to be transpierced by large nails, and a +wound opened in his side, from which blood frequently flowed. In a +word, he bore the wounds, or "stigmata" of Christ, on his own body. +The nails were distinct from the wound, but were apparently blackened +flesh; being inseparable from the hands and feet. This phenomenon was +well attested at the time. Within the present century several similar +cases have occurred, under the observation of modern and approved +sceptical men of science, who find that they occur when there has been +much fasting, loss of sleep, and constant meditation upon the Passion +of Christ. Their testimony states the conditions and verifies the +fact, but does not explain it.</p> + +<p>He died at his convent of St. Mary of the Angels (Portiuncula), +October 4, 1226, in perfect lucidity of mind, with patience and simple +resignation, while giving good counsel to his brethren. Of death he +spoke gently as "our sister death;" and when, during his illness, his +physician was obliged to cauterize him with a red-hot iron, he blessed +the iron, speaking of it as "our brother fire," and submitted to the +cauterization, or moxa, without a murmur or sign of pain. One +remarkable thing about him was his extraordinary recognition of all +the powers and elements of nature as related to man in one family +under God. This was the origin of his famous short "sermon to the +birds," which has been preserved. He talked to them and to all other +animals as though he firmly believed that they could understand him, +and could adore their Creator as well as he; though it is not probable +that he supposed they would understand him precisely as men would, or +adore in the same way. It is clear that St. Francis had a great +influence over animals, even over wolves.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page086" name="page086"></a>(p. 086)</span> Nowadays we have many lion-tamers and tiger-tamers, who rely +simply upon human will and craft. Therefore it is not astonishing that +St. Francis, who relied upon Divine power, should have been able to +tame beasts. What is surprising is, that he should have been able to +control men, who are so much harder to tame.</p> + +<p>The poems of St. Francis—his "Canticle of the Sun," "Canticle of +Love," and "Canticle of Charity"—exemplify the immense and tender +scope of his exquisite love and good-will. His Order continues, and +has given rise to subsidiary organizations such as the Recollects and +the Capuchins. Thousands of people in common life belong to his Third +Order, now, and continue his work unostentatiously. His spirit is +alive and operative in the world to-day, nearly six hundred and +seventy years since he left this earth.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig004" name="sig004"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig004.jpg" width="300" height="61" alt="Author signature. George Parsons Lathrop." title=""> +</div> + + + + +<h3>ST. LOUIS<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Henry G. Hewlett</span><br> + +(1215-1270)</h3> + +<a id="img039" name="img039"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img039.jpg" width="250" height="327" alt="St. Louis." title=""> +</div> + +<p>The most striking features of the political history of France during +the tenth and eleventh centuries are the conflict of the feudal +aristocracy on the one hand, with monarchical and democratical power +on the other, and the influence exerted by the Crusades on both.</p> + +<p>The Crusades aided much in the accomplishment of the final result, the +destruction of the power of the nobility. In the first place, they +glorified the character of feudalism by enforcing the principles of +chivalry. To be a "true knight," a man must be devout, just, merciful, +and pure. Many Crusaders, indeed, fell far short of this high ideal; +but there can be no doubt that, on the whole, it elevated the standard +of morality, and checked the rampant tyranny which had previously +prevailed. Founded on a principle of sincere though mistaken piety, +the Crusaders recognized all who took the cross as brethren; hence the +meanest serf became, in some measure, free; and the same benign +sentiment extended its effect to all classes. The attraction of a +common cause in foreign lands further contributed to wean the +Crusaders from the class quarrels and domestic feuds which occupied +them at <span class="pagenum"><a id="page087" name="page087"></a>(p. 087)</span> home. During their absence the crown was enabled +to acquire a strength which had previously been spent in the +repression of constant rebellions. And the need of money for the +expedition obliged many feudal lords to contract with the communes for +the sale of lands or liberties.</p> + +<a id="img040" name="img040"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img040.jpg" width="400" height="584" alt="" title=""> +<p>The Education of Louis IX.</p></div> + +<p>Such was the condition of France at the commencement of the thirteenth +century. The balance of power, however, was only sustained by the +activity of all the parties concerned. The slightest wavering on the +part of the crown would be fatal, the least opportunity seized. A +wise, sincere, and humane ruler was needed to confirm and enlarge the +vantage ground which law and order had already obtained; and such a +ruler rose in the person of Louis IX., who ascended the throne in +1226.</p> + +<p>His father, Louis VIII., was a man of weak character, whose reign was +chiefly signalized by the horrible persecution of the Protestant +Albigenses of Provence, which, under the sanction of Innocent III., +and later Popes, had been carried on by Simon de Montfort and other +fanatics, since 1209. Louis himself had died of fever when about to +commence the siege of Toulouse.</p> + +<p>The Queen Dowager, Blanche, of Castile, was a woman of great energy, +and during the minority of her son she bravely contested her claims to +the regency of the kingdom against those of Philip, her husband's +brother, whom Henry III., of England, supported. She appealed, not in +vain, to the gratitude of the metropolis, which the Capetian kings had +befriended; and at her call a large force of citizens joined her. With +their aid she defeated Philip and other nobles, who opposed her son's +coronation, and by two treaties, in 1229 and 1231, she both extended +the limits of her kingdom and put an end to civil war. Over Louis, who +was but eleven years old when his father died, she exercised a +somewhat rigorous, but a holy and prudent discipline, to which he was +much indebted for strengthening his moral and mental constitution. He +was educated at the Abbey of Royaumont by Vincent de Beauvais, and +though not remarkable for talents, possessed considerable decision of +character, and a large share of personal courage. It is, however, by +the piety, purity, and benevolence of his soul that he stands forth so +prominently in the history of Europe. The year of his coronation all +the jails of the kingdom were thrown open by the royal command. A +nature more truly loving and lovable has rarely been bestowed on any +member of the human family. Yet, with all these paramount excellences, +his life presents a tragedy—the fatal consequences of unreasoning +faith. All his errors—we cannot justly call them faults—proceeded +from this prolific source. Before recording these, it will be +gratifying to point out the happier results of those noble and wise +qualities which have consecrated his name.</p> + +<p>After the treaty of 1231, France remained at peace for some years, +during which time Louis married Margaret of Provence, a princess only +inferior in worth to himself. Soon after attaining his majority he was +called upon to contend with the Count of Brittany and other nobles who +resisted his authority. At the head of his vassals Louis marched +against the rebels, and was so prompt and energetic in his measures +that the count was forced to yield and sue for pardon <span class="pagenum"><a id="page088" name="page088"></a>(p. 088)</span> in the +attitude of a criminal, with a rope round his neck. Henry III. crossed +the channel with an army to support the rebellion, and recover, if +possible, the possessions which King John had surrendered to King +Philip. The armies met at Saintes, in 1242, where the French were +victorious, the rebels subsequently submitting, and Henry returning +home.</p> + +<p>In 1244 Louis had a severe illness, which was attended with danger to +his life. During the progress of it, he vowed to undertake a new +crusade should he recover. The fulfilment of this vow was opposed by +Blanche of Castile (who still had great influence over her son) and +many of his best counsellors; but Louis was inflexible where religion +and honor demanded a sacrifice.</p> + +<p>In 1248 he collected a large army, and prepared to start by way of +Sicily, the nearest route to Palestine, when he remembered that the +island belonged to Frederick II., of Germany, who was under +excommunication by the Pope. All attempts to shake the decision of +Innocent IV. failed; and yielding to the pious weakness of fearing to +rest in an excommunicant's territory, Louis changed his plans, and +determined to pass by way of Cyprus and Egypt—a route which proved +the ruin of the expedition. He committed the regency of France to his +mother, assumed the staff of pilgrimage, and accompanied by his wife +and brothers, left Paris on June 12, 1248. He stayed for several +months in Cyprus, until his armament amounted to 50,000 men, and then +sailed for Egypt.</p> + +<p>Arrived at the port of Damietta, he caused the oriflamme (the national +standard of France) to be waved above his head; and, arrayed in +complete armor, he unsheathed his sword, and leaped into the sea, +followed by the knights. The inhabitants fled, and the French took +possession of the city. The inundation of the Nile prevented their +further movements for several months. Licentiousness and disease were +fostered by this delay, in spite of the king's remonstrances; and +their unopposed success made the Crusaders careless as to the tactics +of the enemy.</p> + +<p>On the subsidence of the Nile, Louis fortified Damietta, and left his +queen and her ladies there, while he, with the main army, advanced on +Cairo, the metropolis of Egypt, where the sultan resided. Near +Mansourah, the Crusaders became perplexed by the intricacy of the +canals, and a hasty dash across one of these, made by the king's +brother, the Count of Artois, with 2,000 men, led to a calamitous +result. Mansourah was apparently deserted, and the count's troops, who +preceded their comrades at some distance, commenced pillaging the +houses. The inhabitants, who were only concealed, showered down stones +from the roofs; and at the same moment, a large body of the sultan's +army made an attack in front. Louis reached Mansourah in time to save +a few of his men, but found his brother and several others slain. The +Moslem camp was captured, but proved a doubtful prize. The plains were +barren and scorching, and the harassing assaults of the Egyptians, who +poured "Greek fire" (missiles filled with combustible materials) on +their foes, rendered the situation more intolerable still. Pestilence +broke out, and the king himself fell dangerously ill. He then ordered +a retreat to Damietta, whither the sick were to be conveyed in +galleys. These were intercepted, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page089" name="page089"></a>(p. 089)</span> and the sick murdered by +the Egyptians; while, at the same time an attack was made on the +Christian camp.</p> + +<a id="img041" name="img041"></a> +<div class="floatright"> +<img src="images/img041.jpg" width="250" height="329" alt="St. Louis." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Louis was so weak that he could scarcely ride, but nevertheless would +not desert his post. He rode between the ranks, encouraging his men, +till he fainted and was obliged to withdraw from the field. His quaint +and affectionate biographer, the Lord of Joinville, who was with him +in this expedition, thus describes the scenes which ensued: "Of all +his men-at-arms there was only one with him, the good knight, Sir +Geoffrey de Sargines; and who, I heard say, did defend him like as a +faithful servant doth guard his master's cup from flies—for every +time that the Saracens did approach the king he defended him with +vigorous strokes of the blade and point of his sword, and his strength +seemed doubled. At last he brought the king to a house where there was +a woman from Paris; and laying him on the ground, placed his head on +the woman's lap, expecting every moment that he would breathe his +last." In this half-dying condition a body of Egyptians found him, and +bore him to the tent of the sultan. The defeat of the Christians, who +were weakened by the climate, disease, and want of food, was general; +many fell by the sword, and the rest were taken prisoners with their +king.</p> + +<p>In captivity Louis showed a noble resignation and courage amid the +apostasy of many. He won the respect of the sultan, who treated him +with generosity, and listened to the terms of ransom which he +proposed. The queen remained at Damietta, which was strongly +garrisoned. Fearful, nevertheless, of falling into the hands of the +Moslems, who would have carried her into the sultan's harem, she +prayed an old knight in her suite to slay her with his sword, should +there be any danger of that event. "I had determined on so doing, +madam," was the answer. Margaret's heroism was not put to this severe +test, for the surrender of Damietta was one of the conditions of her +husband's release; and after paying in addition a sum of 400,000 +livres, Louis was on the point of being set free. An insurrection, +however, suddenly arose among the Mamelukes, or Tartarian troops, in +whose hands the real power of the state was placed, and the sultan was +murdered. A party of the assassins, it is said, entered the chamber of +Louis with their scimitars drawn, but his calm dignity saved him, and +the treaty was carried out by the new sultan.</p> + +<p>Many of the French nobles returned home, but the king, faithful to his +vow, proceeded to Syria, and spent four years in strengthening the +fortresses of Tyre <span class="pagenum"><a id="page090" name="page090"></a>(p. 090)</span> and other Christian towns, redeeming many +Crusaders from slavery, and reducing to order the disturbed condition +of the country.</p> + +<p>The death of the Queen Dowager Blanche, who had governed France wisely +during her regency, recalled him in 1254, after an absence of six +years. He still wore the cross upon his shoulder, as a token that his +oath as a Crusader was not yet fulfilled; but he never once neglected +the more pressing and necessary duties which devolved on him as a +monarch. His immediate work was to supersede the arbitrary legislation +which the nobles exercised in their manorial courts over their +tenants. He accordingly introduced into general use the famous code of +Roman laws known as the Pandects of Justinian, and constituted the +chief civil lawyers, who had studied its contents and were best +acquainted with its principles, into a Parliament, or Court of +Justice. The nobles and the clergy were duly represented in this +assembly; but its clerks, or lawyers, were especially favored by the +king, who seconded their own efforts to absorb the business of the +court as much as possible. Louis further mediated between the tyranny +of the nobles and the weakness of their tenants, by encouraging the +practice of appealing to the crown in case of injustice. This he even +extended to ecclesiastical matters; a bold step for one so devoted to +the Church. The prohibition of the barbarous custom of duelling to +decide personal quarrels was another of his humane laws. These, and +divers other ordinances, founded in a like spirit of equity, are known +in a collected shape as the <i>Institutes of St. Louis</i>. His enactment +touching appeals from the Church to the Crown, and the prohibition +which he likewise issued against the levying of money in France for +the use of the Pope without the king's license, are known as a +<i>Pragmatic Sanction</i>—a term applied to any especially important +national decree. Louis set the example of enforcing the laws +personally, and none was fitter to administer them than he. Under an +oak in the forest of Vincennes, near Paris, often sat the good king to +hear appeals and petitions from his poor subjects. His social and +foreign relations were as fully attended to as his political reforms. +He first placed the French navy on a substantial footing. To him Paris +owed a public library, a hospital for the blind, and the establishment +of a body of police. Under his sanction, also, his confessor, Robert +de Sorbon, founded the famous theological college called by his name. +So scrupulously just and honorable was Louis, that he appointed a +commission to ascertain what restitution of territory should be made +to nations which had been mulcted by the conquests of his +predecessors, and he thus more than once sacrificed extensive +possessions for the sake of a principle. By a treaty in 1255, made +with Henry III., Louis restored to the English crown the provinces of +which Philip Augustus had deprived it, and obtained in return the +surrender of Henry's rights in Normandy and other fiefs. The +reputation which Louis thus acquired among his fellow-monarchs led to +his being asked to act as mediator in several quarrels, and gave him +many opportunities of exhibiting his peaceful and loving policy.</p> + +<a id="img042" name="img042"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img042.jpg" width="600" height="444" alt="" title=""> +<p>Louis IX. opens the Jails of France.</p></div> + +<p>The mental blindness of which we have spoken led him to commit errors, +which, if his misled conscience had not sanctioned them, would deserve +the name <span class="pagenum"><a id="page091" name="page091"></a>(p. 091)</span> of crimes. Toward Jews and heretics he showed no +mercy, issuing severe and unjust laws against them "for the good of +his soul." The duty of the historian is to record these failings of a +noble nature as impartially as its beauties; but the evil must, in all +fairness, be credited to the Church and system which taught, and not +to the believer who practised.</p> + +<p>In 1270 the affairs of the East again attracted the attention of +Europe, and recalled Louis to the fulfilment of his vow, which he had +only postponed. The Greeks had retaken the city of Constantinople from +the French and Venetian Crusaders some years previously, yet the +reconstitution of the Christian Empire of the East had not availed to +check the aggressions of the Moslem in Palestine. Benocdar, the Sultan +of Egypt, had already taken Cæsarea and Jaffa; and news now came that +Antioch had fallen, 100,000 Christians having been massacred in the +siege. The seventh and last Crusade was at once set on foot by +outraged Europe, and Louis led the expedition, in which France was, as +usual, foremost. He raised an army of 6,000 horse and 30,000 foot, and +was accompanied by his three sons, the King of Navarre, and several +nobles of high rank. His brother, Charles of Anjou (the new King of +Naples), and Edward I., of England, (then prince), were to join the +French in the course of the year. Some romantic intelligence that the +Moslem King of Tunis was desirous of being baptized, induced the pious +Louis again to try the African, instead of the Asiatic, route to +Palestine. He narrowly escaped with his life, in a tempest which +overtook the fleet in the Mediterranean, but landed in Sardinia, and +after recruiting here again set sail, and anchored off Carthage. He +met with opposition, instead of welcome, from the inhabitants of the +coast, and was obliged to besiege Tunis. The excessive heat of the +climate and the unhealthiness of the soil proved a second time fatal +to the army. Plague at last broke out, and Louis was himself seized. +Finding himself dying, he sent for Philip, his eldest son and +successor. Placing in his hand a written paper, the good king prayed +his son to follow the directions which it contained—directions for +the conduct of his life, as king and individual; enforcing those +principles of love to God and man which had guided his own career. +Then, requesting to be lifted from his bed, Louis instructed his +attendants to strew the floor of his tent with ashes and place him +thereon, that he might die as he had lived, in an attitude of +humiliation and penitence toward his creator. This was done, and +shortly afterward, as though in vision fulfilling the vow which he was +not permitted to realize, he uttered, "I will enter thy house—I will +worship in thy sanctuary!" and expired. His age was but fifty-four.</p> + +<p>A few hours elapsed, and the sound of a trumpet echoed through the +plague-stricken and half-deserted camp. It was the note of Charles of +Naples, whose fleet had just arrived off the coast. Meeting with no +response, he rode rapidly toward the tent of the king, and on entering +saw his body lying still warm upon the ashes. The rites of burial were +not performed with the usual formalities, his remains being +distributed among his relatives. The flesh was kept by Charles, who +buried it, on his return to Sicily, in the great Abbey of Monreale, at +Palermo. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page092" name="page092"></a>(p. 092)</span> The bones and other parts were conveyed back to +France. Those who have visited Paris will not forget the exquisite +Gothic structure known as the "Sainte Chapelle," which is attached to +the Palais de Justice, containing the courts of law. It was erected by +Louis as a receptacle for certain supposed relics of Christ. The +windows of the chapel are entirely composed of stained glass, and as +the sunbeams strike upon them, their tints of crimson, blue, and +orange blend into a rainbow-like harmony of glowing and lustrous +color, which recalls the heart of Louis IX., enshrined within those +walls, as its fitting human antitype. He was canonized about thirty +years afterward, under the title of St. Louis.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>MARCO POLO<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7" title="Go to footnote 7"><span class="small">[7]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Noah Brooks</span><br> + +(1256-1324)</h3> + + +<a id="img043" name="img043"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img043.jpg" width="200" height="285" alt="Marco Polo." title=""> +</div> + +<p>In the month of November, in the year 1295, there appeared in the +beautiful city of Venice three strangers, who were clothed in an +outlandish and shabby garb of a Tartar cut. They claimed to be of +Venice, but, according to one of their biographers, one Ramusio, +"through the many worries and anxieties they had undergone, they were +quite changed in aspect, and had got a certain indescribable smack of +the Tartar both in air and accent, having, indeed, all but forgotten +their Venetian tongue." They went to the house of the Polo family, +demanding entrance and claiming to be Nicolo Polo, Maffeo, his +brother, and Marco, son of the elder of the two brothers, Nicolo. They +were laughed to scorn as pretenders and impostors; for the three +missing members of the Polo family had been gone away from Venice some +twenty-odd years; it was in 1271 that the Polos were last heard from, +then at Acre, journeying into the Far East.</p> + +<p>But the three somehow gained access to their own house, then in the +possession of one of their relations. And the news of their +home-coming was presently noised abroad throughout the city of Venice; +so much so that the people for days talked of little else save the +reappearance in the land of the living of the long-lost travellers. +Many, however, doubted if these really were the brothers Polo and +young Marco; this last was a mere lad of seventeen when he went away, +and now was grown to be a portly man of forty-odd years. So +incredulous were the townsfolk that the brothers hit upon a scheme to +convince the doubting ones. They made a grand feast to which all the +gentry were invited, for the Polo family were of noble birth and had +held station in the state. The entertainment <span class="pagenum"><a id="page093" name="page093"></a>(p. 093)</span> was served in +great splendor with gold and silver dishes, and the three travellers, +when they sat down, were dressed in robes of the richest crimson satin +flowing down to the ground. After some of the courses had been eaten, +they retired to their chamber and came forth again dressed in other +robes of crimson silk damask, very rich, and the satin garments were +cut up and divided among the servants. Again, later on in the repast, +they retired, and when they came again to the table they wore other +robes, of the richest crimson velvet, and the second garments were cut +up and divided as the others had been. When the dinner was over they +took off the velvet robes, and these were disposed of in like manner. +"These proceedings," says the honest Ramusio, "caused much wonder and +amazement among the guests," which we can well imagine.</p> + +<p>Next, dismissing all the servants, the younger one of the three, Marco +Polo, went to an inner chamber and brought forth to the table the +coarse and shabby dresses in which the three had arrived in Venice. +Then, taking sharp knives, the travellers ripped open the seams and +welts of the garments, and shook from them a vast profusion of +diamonds, rubies, sapphires, carbuncles, emeralds, and other precious +stones. The guests were dumfounded and amazed. "And now," says +Ramusio, "they recognized that in spite of all former doubts, these +were in truth those honored and worthy gentlemen of the Casa Polo that +they claimed to be; and so all paid them the greatest honor and +reverence." Furthermore, we are told that when the story got wind in +Venice, straightway the whole city, gentle and simple, flocked to the +house to embrace the three travellers, and to make much of them with +every conceivable demonstration of affection and respect.</p> + +<p>This was the wonderful home-coming of the three Polos, who for +twenty-four years had been wandering in the East, and who, when they +set out on their homeward journey, a journey beset with untold +difficulties and dangers, took the precaution to conceal in their +garments, as above told, the wealth which they had accumulated while +they were at the court of the Great Khan of Tartary. It reads like a +romance, a story out of "The Arabian Nights' Entertainments." But it +is all true, and the archives of Venice corroborate pretty nearly all +the details herein set forth. Indeed, as a prophet is not without +honor save in his own country and among his own kindred, it must be +said that the later generation of Venetians found less difficulty in +believing the tales of the three travellers than did those who first +heard them. In telling these tales, they had frequent occasion to use +the word "millions," a word not then common among the Venetians, as to +say that the Great Khan had revenues amounting to ten or fifteen +<i>millions</i> of gold, and so on. And the people gave Marco, who seems to +have been the story-teller of the party, the nickname of Messer Marco +Millioni. Curiously enough, this name appears in the public records of +old Venice.</p> + +<p>Of the final exit of the elders of the Polo family, Nicolo and Maffeo, +we have no trustworthy account. As they were well stricken in years +when they returned from their long sojourn in Cathay, we may suppose +that they did not <span class="pagenum"><a id="page094" name="page094"></a>(p. 094)</span> live long after their return to Venice. +But the younger Marco had a busy and stirring life. At that time the +republics of Venice and Genoa were rivals for the ruling of the seas +and the monopoly of maritime trade everywhere. A Venetian galley could +not meet one from Genoa without a fight, and the fleets of the two +states were continually at war.</p> + +<p>Marco, being one of the representatives of the noble Venetian families +who were required to come to the support of the state with at least +one galley, entered the naval service of Venice in command of a war +galley, and was engaged in the great battle between Venice and Genoa +near Curzola, off the Dalmatian coast, in 1298, three years after his +return from Cathay. The Venetians were beaten ignominiously, and 7,000 +of them were taken prisoners and carried to Genoa. It was a lucky +thing for the world that Marco Polo was thus put into enforced +idleness, and that he had for a companion in confinement an educated +gentleman, one Rusticiano, of Pisa. Otherwise, most likely we never +would have heard of the travels of Marco Polo, whom some of the later +chroniclers have likened to Columbus, the discoverer of America.</p> + +<p>To beguile the tedium of their imprisonment, Marco was wont to tell +his traveller's tales to his companion, Rusticiano, and this worthy +gentleman conceived the notion of writing out the marvellous +adventures and observations of his fellow-prisoner. We must bear in +mind that the Italian gentry of that time did not hold in high esteem +the art of writing, and although Marco was not inferior to any man in +daring or adventurousness, he was willing to leave to the scriveners +the task of writing about such matters. But, in the end, the advice of +Rusticiano prevailed, and the Pisan gentleman set down from the +dictation of Marco "The Book of Ser Marco Polo Concerning the Kingdoms +and Marvels of the East." This was, up to that time, the most +important book of travels and voyages ever written. Indeed, it was the +most important book of any kind written during the Middle Ages.</p> + +<p>The book contributed more new facts toward a knowledge of the earth's +surface, says one skilled authority, than any book that had been +written before. The writer was the first to describe China, or Cathay, +in its vastness of territory, its wonderfully rich and populous +cities, and the first to tell of Tartary, Thibet, Burmah, Siam, +Cochin-China, the Indian Archipelago, the Andaman Islands, of Java and +Sumatra, of the fabled island of Cipangu, or Japan, of Hindustan, and +that marvellous region which the world learned to know as Farther +India. From far-voyaging sailors he brought home accounts of Zanzibar +and Madagascar, and the semi-Christian country of Abyssinia, where +some accounts located that mysterious potentate called Prester John. +He had traversed Persia and had picked up a vast amount of information +concerning the country of Siberia, with its polar snows and bears, its +dog-sledges, and its almost everlasting winter. He traversed the +entire length of Asia.</p> + +<p>Surely, Europe might well be dazed when this account of regions, until +then unknown, was unrolled before the scholars and explorers who could +read the few precious books then in circulation. For it should be +remembered that the art of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page095" name="page095"></a>(p. 095)</span> printing was then unknown, and +only in manuscript did any book make its appearance. Rusticiano wrote +in a very poor sort of French; for then, as now, that language was +commonest in all the cities of Europe. How much of the language of the +book of Marco Polo's travels was Marco's, and how much was the worthy +Rusticiano's, we are unable to decide. The facts in that famous book +were duly vouched for by Marco. The opening chapter, or prologue, +inflated and wordy, after the fashion of the times, was undoubtedly +Rusticiano's. He began thus: "Great Princes, Emperors, and Kings, +Dukes and Marquises, Counts, Knights, and Burgesses! and People of all +degree who desire to get knowledge of the various races of mankind and +of the diversities of the sundry regions of the World, take this Book +and cause it to be read to you. For ye shall find therein all kinds of +wonderful things, and the divers histories of the Great Hermenia, and +of Persia, and of the Land of the Tartars, and of India, and of many +another country of which our Book doth speak, particularly and in +regular succession, according to the description of Messer Marco Polo, +a wise and noble citizen of Venice, as he saw them with his own eyes."</p> + +<p>This portentous prologue ends with these great swelling words: "And I +may tell you that in acquiring this knowledge he spent in those +various parts of the World good six-and-twenty years. Now, being +thereafter an inmate of the Prison at Genoa, he caused Messer +Rusticiano, of Pisa, who was in the same Prison likewise, to reduce +the whole to writing; and this befell in the year 1298 from the birth +of Jesus."</p> + +<p>One year later, in the summer of 1299, Marco Polo was set at liberty +and returned to Venice, where he died peacefully in 1324. His last +will and testament, dated January 9, 1323, is preserved among the +archives of Venice, and a marble statue in his honor was set up by the +Venetians, in the seventeenth century, and may be seen unto this day +in the Palazzo Morosini-Gattemburg, in the Campo S. Stefano of that +city.</p> + +<p>How came Marco Polo to be drawn so far into the vague and shadowy +East? Somewhere about the middle of the thirteenth century, certain +members of the Polo family had established a trading-house in +Constantinople, then pretty near the end of the world from Europe. +These adventurous Venetians, in 1260, sent the two brothers, Nicolo +and Maffeo, still further to the eastward on a trading journey to the +Crimea. Led on by one adventure and another, and lured by the hope of +new and greater gains, they ascended the Volga northward and eastward, +crossed Bokhara, and finally broke into one of the northwestern +provinces of China, or Cathay, then faintly known in Europe by various +names, the most classic of which was Seres.</p> + +<p>Here they made their way to the capital city of the Great Mongol +Empire, the seat of government where ruled the Great Khan, a very +mighty potentate, Kublai Khan, grandson of the famous conqueror, +Ghenghis Khan. Kublai Khan resided at the wonderful city of Cambuluc, +which we now know as Pekin. North of the Great Wall, and some one +hundred and eighty miles from Cambuluc, was the Great Khan's summer +palace, one of the wonders of the world, reading of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page096" name="page096"></a>(p. 096)</span> which in +Purchas' account of Marco Polo's travels, it is said that Coleridge +fell asleep and dreamed the famous poem beginning:</p> + +<p class="poem30"> + "In Xanadu did Kublai Khan<br> +<span class="add1em">A stately pleasure dome decree,</span><br> + Where Alph, the sacred river, ran,<br> + Through caverns measureless to man,<br> +<span class="add1em">Down to a sunless sea."</span></p> + +<p>These Polo brothers were the first Europeans that the Great Khan had +ever seen; but before this time, Friar Plano Carpini, in 1246, and +Friar William Rubruquis, in 1253, had penetrated into Mongolia on some +errand not now distinctly understood, but far enough to learn that a +great and civilized country existed somewhere in the eastern extremity +of Asia. They also learned that beyond this extremity of the continent +there was a sea; people had until then believed that the eastern end +of Asia disappeared in a vast and reedy bog, beyond which was deep and +impenetrable darkness. More exact knowledge of that far eastern sea +was subsequently acquired by the Venetian travellers. From these +wandering friars the Great Khan had heard, at second-hand, doubtless, +of European princes, potentates, and powers, and of the Pope of Rome.</p> + +<p>He was mightily taken with the noble Venetians, and we are told that +he treated them with every courtesy and consideration. He was anxious +to secure through them the aid of the Sovereign Pontiff, of whose +functions he entertained high respect, in the civilizing of the hordes +that had lately been added to the Mongol Empire by wars of conquest. +And he entreated the good offices of the polished and cultivated +Venetians in securing for him the good offices of the Pope for that +end. Accordingly, the two brothers, after satisfying to some degree +their curiosity, set out for home, full of tales of their strange +adventure, we doubt not; and they reached Venice in 1269, only to find +that the Pope Clement IV. was dead, and that no successor had been +chosen in his place.</p> + +<p>There was a long interregnum, and the brothers, taking with them the +son of Nicolo, the young Marco, then a stout lad, began to retrace +their steps to Cathay, despairing of being able to enlist the one +hundred priests which the Great Khan had asked them to borrow for +missionary purposes from the Pope.</p> + +<p>At Acre, then held by European powers that had been engaged in the +crusades for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, they took counsel +with one Tebaldo Visconti, an eminent prelate, who was Archdeacon of +Liége and a person of great consequence in the Eastern church. At +their request, he wrote letters to the Great Khan, authenticating the +causes of their failure to fulfil the wishes of the Khan in the matter +of obtaining the missionaries whom he desired. Then they pushed on +toward the farther East, and while waiting for a vessel to sail from +the port of Ayas, on the Gulf of Scanderoon, then the starting-point +for the Asiatic trade, they were overtaken by the news that their +friend the Archdeacon Tebaldo had been chosen Pope, under the title of +Gregory X. They at once returned to Acre, and were able to present to +the newly elected <span class="pagenum"><a id="page097" name="page097"></a>(p. 097)</span> pontiff the request of the Great Khan and +get a reply. But instead of one hundred teachers and preachers, they +were furnished with only two Dominican friars; and these lost heart +and drew back before the journey was fairly begun. It may be said here +that the Great Khan, being disappointed by the Roman Church, +subsequently applied to the Grand Llama of Thibet, and from that +source secured the teachers whom he so greatly desired. The Great Khan +appears to have been an enlightened and liberal sovereign, and, +according to his lights, was willing to furnish to his people the best +form of religion that was to be had. He preferred the religion of the +elegant and polished Italians, but, failing to get this, he naturally +turned his eyes in the direction of Thibet, then an unknown land to +all Europeans, but regarded in Mongolia as a region of some +considerable civilization.</p> + +<p>The three members of the Polo family finally set out on their return +to Cathay, leaving Acre in November, 1271. They proceeded by the way +of Ayas and Sivas to Mardin, Mosul, and Bagdad to Hormuz, at the mouth +of the Persian Gulf. Here they met with some obstacle and turned from +Hormuz, and traversed successively Kerman and Khorassan, Balkh, and +Badakhshan, by the way of the upper Oxus, to the plateau of Pamir; +thence crossing the steppes of Pamir, the three travellers descended +upon Kashgar, whence they proceeded by Yarkand and Khotan to the +vicinity of Lake Lob; and, crossing the desert of Gobi, they reached +the province of Tangut in the extreme northwestern corner of China, or +Cathay. Skirting the northern frontier, they finally reached the +actual presence of the Great Khan, who was then at his summer palace +of Kaipingfu, before spoken of, situated at the base of the Khingan +Mountains, fifty miles north of the Great Wall. One may form some idea +of the difficulties of Asiatic travel in those days, as well as the +leisurely habits of the time, by considering that this journey +occupied the three Venetians three years and a half. They arrived at +the palace of the Khan about May, 1275.</p> + +<p>The Polos were very cordially and gladly received by the potentate, +then ruling over a territory so vast that it has been well said that, +"In Asia and Eastern Europe scarcely a dog might bark without Mongol +leave, from the borders of Poland and the coast of Cilicia to the +Amoor and the Yellow Sea." Kublai Khan regarded the young Marco with +especial favor, and soon began to employ him in errands and +commissions of importance. "The Young Bachelor," as he is called in +his book, took pains to acquire at once an acquaintance with the +Chinese alphabet, and to learn the languages and dialects of the +countries in which he found profitable and interesting employment.</p> + +<p>It appears that the Khan had been greatly annoyed by the stupidity of +his own officials and agents. They attended only to the errands on +which they were sent, and brought back absolutely no knowledge of the +distant countries that they visited, except that which they were +specially directed to fetch. Very different was the conduct of the +young Venetian. He was shrewdly observant, of a lively disposition, +and given to inquiring into the strange and wonderful things which he +beheld in those remote parts of the world, hitherto secluded from the +observation <span class="pagenum"><a id="page098" name="page098"></a>(p. 098)</span> of Europeans. He made copious and minute notes +of all that he saw and heard, for the benefit of his imperial master. +These notes afterward served him a good purpose, as we shall see; for +they were the basis of the book that has made the name of Marco Polo +famous throughout the world. When he returned to the imperial court, +we can imagine the satisfaction with which the picturesque and +intelligent narrations of what he had seen and heard were received by +the Great Khan.</p> + +<p>In the records of the Mongol dynasty has been found a minute setting +forth the fact that a certain Polo, undoubtedly young Marco, was +nominated a second-class commissioner attached to the privy council of +the Empire, in the year 1277. His first mission appears to have taken +him on public business to the provinces of Shansi, Shensi, Sechuen and +Yunnan, in the southern and southwestern part of China, and east of +Thibet. Even now, those regions are comparatively unknown to the rest +of the world; and one must needs admire the intrepidity of the young +Venetian who penetrated their wild mountain fastnesses, traced their +mighty rivers, and carried away for the delight of the Great Khan, +much novel information concerning the peoples that so numerously +flourished in that cradle of the human race.</p> + +<p>In his book Marco Polo does not greatly magnify himself and his +office, and it is only incidentally, as it were, that we know that he +was for three years governor of the great city of Yangchau. Following +the details laid down in his book, the accuracy of which we have no +reason to doubt, we find him visiting the old capital of the Khans, in +Mongolia, employed in Southern Cochin-China, and on a mission to the +Indian Seas, when he visited some of the states of India, of which +Europeans at that time had only dimly heard the most fabulous and +vague accounts. That the Polos were all favorites of the Great Khan is +sufficiently evident; but it does not appear that any but Marco was in +the employment of the Khan. All three of them doubtless made hay while +the sun shone, and gathered wealth as they could, trading with the +people and making use of their Venetian shrewdness in dealing with the +natives, who were no match for the cunning traders from the Rialto.</p> + +<p>Naturally, they longed to carry their wealth and their aged heads—for +the two elders were now well stricken in years—safely back to their +beloved Venice on the Adriatic, so far away. But Kublai Khan would not +listen to any of their suggestions, and turned a deaf ear to their +hints. A happy chance intervened to bring them out of the wild, +mysterious realm of the Great Khan. Arghun, Khan of Persia, a +great-nephew of Kublai, had lost by death his favorite wife, who was +of one of the Mongol tribes, and who, dying in 1286, laid a parting +injunction on the Khan that he should wed none but a Mongol princess. +Sorely mourning her, the Persian Khan sent an embassy to the court of +Kublai Khan to solicit a suitable bride for him. The Lady Kuchachin, a +damsel of seventeen, beautiful and virtuous, was selected by the Court +and was made ready to be sent to Tabriz, then the capital of the +Persian Empire. The overland journey was highly dangerous, as it lay +through regions tenanted by hostile and warlike tribes, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page099" name="page099"></a>(p. 099)</span> +besides being portentously long to be undertaken by a delicate young +princess. The Persian envoys, accordingly, entreated the Great Khan to +send with them by sea the three foreigners, of whose seamanship they +undoubtedly held high opinion, especially as the young Marco had just +returned from his distant and venturous voyage to the Indian Seas. +With much reluctance the Khan consented, and the argosy set forth.</p> + +<p>Having given leave for the three Venetians to sail, the Great Khan +fitted them out nobly and endowed them with handsome presents at +parting. They sailed, so far as we can now make out, from the port of +Zayton, better known as Chinchau, in Fokien, at the beginning of the +year 1292, two hundred years before Columbus set forth upon his voyage +across the Ocean Sea.</p> + +<p>It was an ill-starred and unfortunate voyage for the three Polos and +their precious charge, although all escaped with their lives and +treasure. They were detained five months on the coast of Sumatra, and +there were even longer detentions off the southern coast of India, so +that more than two years had passed since their departure from Fokien, +when they arrived at the camp of the then reigning prince of Persia. +The Khan of Persia, they found, had died before they set sail from +China, and his son, Ghazan Khan, reigned in his stead.</p> + +<p>After the custom of the times and the people, however, the princess +was married without ado to the successor of the royal person to whom +she had been betrothed before leaving far-off Cathay. It is related +that she took her leave of the three noble Venetians, to whom she had +become like a daughter and sister, with many tears and protestations +of affection; for they had been very choice in their care of her, and +she lamented their departure with sincere sorrow and many tears.</p> + +<p>Leaving the princess at the camp of the Khan (for he was now at war), +the Venetians pushed on to Tabriz, where they made a long halt, +resting and refreshing themselves after their long and wearisome +journey. Then they again took up their line of march westward, and +reached Venice, as we have seen, in November, 1295, only to find their +identity denied and their stories disbelieved, until, by an artifice, +they made themselves truly known to their fellow-townsmen, who had +long since given them up for dead.</p> + +<p>Marco Polo's book, dictated by him in prison, is remarkable for its +reserve and its scantiness of all semblance of ornament in its +literary style. Messer Marco evidently did not greatly affect the arts +and graces of fine writing. Like most of the Italian gentlefolk of his +day and generation, he held the business of writing in low esteem. +Some of his chapters are very brief indeed, the text being no greater +in bulk than the headings which his amanuensis put over them of his +own motion. Of the original manuscript, written in French, copies were +made for the use of the learned, the art of printing being as yet not +invented. There are now in existence no less than eighty of these +manuscripts, in various languages, more or less differing from each +other in unimportant details; but all substantially verifying the +facts of the wonderful history of Messer Marco Polo as here set forth. +The most precious of these is known as the Geographical text, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100"></a>(p. 100)</span> and is preserved in the great Paris Library; from it was +printed, in 1824, one of the most valued of the texts now in +existence. But the most useful and satisfactory of all the printed +editions is that edited and annotated by Colonel Henry Yule, and +printed in London in 1871. The first printed edition of Marco Polo's +book was in the German text, and was published in 1477.</p> + +<p>Many writers have dwelt long on the question, Did Columbus gather any +information from the book of Marco Polo that aided him in forming his +theory, that one could reach India and Cathay by sailing westward from +Spain out into the Sea of Darkness? We cannot satisfactorily answer +that question. But we do know that all Europe, at the time of Marco +Polo's adventurous journey eastward, resolutely turned its back upon +the Atlantic, and looked toward Cathay and the Far Orient for a road +to the fabulous diamond mines and spice islands that were believed to +exist somewhere in the vague and mysterious East. Many philosophers, +among whom was Columbus himself, thought the globe much smaller than +it really is; but it was Columbus who was apparently charged with a +divine mission to teach the world that sailing due westward from the +Pillars of Hercules would bring the voyager to the dominions of +Prester John, the Indies, and Cipangu.</p> + +<p>When Columbus set sail for his hazardous venture into the Sea of +Darkness, he was armed with letters to Prester John, the traditional +Christian prince of the Far East; and his first landfall, as we know +now, was by him supposed to be an outlying portion of that vast region +vaguely known to the explorers who followed Marco Polo, as Farther +India. But centuries rolled away before the world saw the facts of +geography as we know them, or learned to accept as true the marvellous +stories of Marco Polo, whose priceless legacy was first dimly known to +the few, and was dubbed the Romance of the Great Khan.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig005" name="sig005"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig005.jpg" width="300" height="74" alt="Author signature. Noah Brooks." title=""> +</div> + + + + +<h3>SIR WILLIAM WALLACE<br> + +(1270-1305)</h3> + + +<p>The life and exploits of this most popular national hero of the Scots +have been principally preserved in a legendary form by poetry and +tradition, and are only to a very small extent matter of contemporary +record, or illustrated by authentic documents. There is no extant +Scottish chronicler of the age of Wallace. Fordun, the earliest of his +countrymen from whom we have any account of him, is his junior by +nearly a century. Wyntoun, the next authority, is still half a century +later. His <span class="pagenum"><a id="page101" name="page101"></a>(p. 101)</span> chief celebrator is the metrical writer Blind +Harry, or Harry the Minstrel, whose work confesses itself by its very +form to be quite as much of a fiction as a history, and whose era, at +any rate, is supposed to be nearly two centuries subsequent to that of +his hero. Some few facts, however, may be got out of the English +annalists Trivet and Hemingford, who were the contemporaries of +Wallace.</p> + +<a id="img044" name="img044"></a> +<div class="floatright"> +<img src="images/img044.jpg" width="250" height="349" alt="Sir William Wallace." title=""> +</div> + +<p>There are contradictory statements of the year of his birth, but it is +probable he was born about 1270. His family was one of some +distinction, and he is said to have been the younger of the two sons +of Sir Malcolm Wallace, of Elderslie and Auchinbothie, in the +neighborhood of Paisley. His mother, who according to one account was +Sir Malcolm's second wife, is stated by the genealogists to have been +Margaret, daughter of Sir Raynald or Reginald (other authorities say +Sir Hugh) Crawford, who held the office of Sheriff of Ayr.</p> + +<p>The history of Wallace down to the year 1297 is entirely legendary, +and only to be found in the rhymes of Harry the Minstrel; though many +of the facts which Harry relates still live as popular traditions in +the localities where the scenes of them are laid, whether handed down +in that way from the time when they happened, or only derived from his +poem, which long continued to be the literary favorite of the Scottish +peasantry. Harry, who, it may be observed, professes to translate from +a Latin account written by Wallace's intimate friend and chaplain, +John Blair, makes him to have been carefully educated by his uncle, a +wealthy churchman who resided at Dunipace, in Stirlingshire, and to +have been afterward sent to the grammar-school of Dundee. Here his +first memorable act is said to have been performed; his slaughter of +the son of Selby, the English governor of the castle of Dundee, in +chastisement of an insult offered him by the unwary young man; Wallace +with his dagger struck him dead on the spot. This must have happened, +if at all, in the year 1291, after Edward I. of England had obtained +possession of all the places of strength throughout Scotland on his +recognition as Lord Paramount by the various competitors for the +crown, which had become vacant by the death of the infant Margaret, +the Maiden of Norway, in September, 1290.</p> + +<p>This bold deed committed by Wallace, who in making his escape is +asserted to have laid several of young Selby's attendants as low as +their master, was immediately followed by his outlawry. He now took to +the woods, and gifted as he was with eloquence, sagacity, and other +high mental powers and accomplishments (to this the testimony of +Fordun is as express and explicit as that of his poetical biographer), +not less than with strength and height of frame and all other personal +advantages, he soon found himself at the head of a band of attached as +well as determined followers, who under his guidance often harassed +the English soldiery, both on their marches and at their stations, +plundering and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102"></a>(p. 102)</span> slaying, as it might chance, with equally +little remorse. Particular spots in nearly every part of Scotland are +still famous for some deed of Wallace and his fellow-outlaws, +performed at this period of his life; but for these we must refer to +the Blind Minstrel. The woods in the neighborhood of Ayr would seem to +have been his chief haunt; and some of his most remarkable feats of +valor were exhibited in that town, in the face and in defiance of the +foreign garrison by which it was occupied. Both his father and his +elder brother are said to have fallen in <i>rencontres</i> with the English +during this interval. It was now also that he fell in love with the +orphan daughter of Sir Hew de Bradfute, the heiress of Lamington, +having, it is said, first seen her at a church in the neighborhood of +Lanark. The Scotch writers affirm that this lady, whom he appears to +have married, and who at any rate bore him a daughter, a year or two +after forming her connection with Wallace fell into the hands of his +enemies, and was barbarously executed by order of Hazelrig, the +English Sheriff or Governor of Lanark, while her husband, or lover, +was doomed to witness the spectacle from a place where he lay in +concealment. Such private injuries were well fitted to raise his +hatred to an unextinguishable flame.</p> + +<p>How far the guerilla warfare maintained by Wallace and his associates +contributed to excite and spread the spirit of resistance to the +English government, we have scarcely the means of judging; but it +seems probable that it aided materially in producing the general +insurrection which broke out in the spring of 1297. The accounts we +have of the commencement of that movement represent Wallace at its +head, in command of a considerable force, and in association with some +of the most distinguished persons in the kingdom, such as the Steward +of Scotland and his brother, Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, Sir William +Douglas, etc. Soon after this he was joined by the younger Robert +Bruce (afterward King Robert I.) who had hitherto, as well as his +father, who was still alive (the son of the original competitor for +the crown), professed to adhere to the English king.</p> + +<p>This, however, appears to have been but an ill-cemented confederacy. +When the force despatched by Edward to quell the revolt presented +itself before the Scottish army posted near Irvine, in Ayrshire, the +leaders of the latter, throwing off the authority of their nominal +chief, could no more agree what to do than whom to obey: and the +result was that Bruce, the Steward, Douglas, and others of them, +availing themselves of the diplomatic talents of the Bishop of +Glasgow, concluded a treaty on July 9th, by which they agreed to +acknowledge Edward as their sovereign lord. All the rest ultimately +acceded to this arrangement, except only Wallace and his friend, Sir +Andrew Moray, of Bothwell. The treaty of Irvine, which is printed by +Rymer, is, we believe, the first of the few public documents in which +mention is made of Wallace; to the instrument (which is in French) are +subjoined the words, "Escrit à Sir Willaume," the meaning of which +Lord Hailes conceives to be, "that the barons had notified Wallace +that they had made terms of accommodation for themselves and their +party." The words, moreover, on the supposition that they refer to +Wallace, of which there seems to be little doubt, show that he had +before this date obtained the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" name="page103"></a>(p. 103)</span> honor of knighthood. It had +probably been bestowed upon him (as was then customary) by some other +knight, one of his companions in arms, since his elevation from being +the captain of a band of outlaws to be the commander-in-chief of the +national forces.</p> + +<p>Wallace now retired to the north, carrying with him, however, a +considerable body of adherents, to whom additional numbers rapidly +gathered, so that he soon found himself in a condition to recommence +aggressive operations. Directing his force to the northeastern coast, +he surprised the castle of Dunottar, cleared Aberdeen, Forfar, +Brechin, and other towns of their English garrisons, and then laid +siege to the castle of Dundee. While he was engaged in this last +attempt, news was brought that the English army was approaching +Stirling; upon which, leaving the siege to be carried on by the +citizens of Dundee, he hastened to meet the enemy in the field. The +result was the complete defeat and rout of the English, at the battle +of Stirling Bridge, fought on September 11, 1297—a battle which once +more, for the moment, liberated Scotland. The English were immediately +driven or fled from every place of strength in the country, including +Berwick itself.</p> + +<p>Availing himself of this panic and of the exhilaration of his +countrymen, Wallace pursued the fugitives across the border; and +putting himself at the head of a numerous force, he entered England on +October 18th, and, remaining till November 11th, wasted the country +with fire and sword from sea to sea, and as far south as to the walls +of Newcastle. It was during this visitation that the prior and convent +of Hexham obtained from him the protection preserved by Hemingford. It +is dated at Hexildesham (Hexham), November 7th, and runs in the names +of "Andreas de Moravia, et Wilhelmus Wallensis, duces exercitus +Scotiæ, nomine præclari principis Joannis, Dei gratia, Regis Scotia +illustris, de consensu communitatis regni ejusdem," that is, "Andrew +Moray and William Wallace, commanders-in-chief of the army of +Scotland, in the name of King John, and by consent of the community of +the said kingdom." The John here acknowledged as King of Scotland was +Baliol, now in the hands of Edward, and living in a sort of free +custody in the Tower of London. Wallace's associate in the command was +the young Sir Andrew Moray, son of his faithful friend of that name, +who had retired with him from the capitulation of Irvine, and who had +fallen at the battle of Stirling Bridge.</p> + +<p>One of the most curious of the few public papers in which the name of +Wallace occurs was a few years since discovered by Dr. Lappenburg, of +Hamburg, in the archives of the ancient Hanseatic city of Lübeck. It +is a letter, in Latin, addressed to the authorities of Lübeck and +Hamburg, informing them that their merchants should now have free +access to all ports of the kingdom of Scotland, seeing that the said +kingdom, by the favor of God, had been recovered by war from the power +of the English. The letter is dated "apud Badsing tonam" (the true +word, it has been suggested, is probably Haddingtonam), October 11, +1297, that is, a few days before the invasion of Cumberland and +Northumberland. It is in the name of "Andreas de Moravia et Willelmus +Wallensis, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name="page104"></a>(p. 104)</span> duces exercitis regni Scotiæ, et communitas, +eiusdem regni"—like the Hexham protection—but without any mention of +King John.</p> + +<p>After his triumphal return from his incursion into England, Wallace +assumed the title of Guardian of the Kingdom in the name of King John, +whether formally invested with that dignity or only hailed as such by +the gratitude of his countrymen. In a charter, printed in Anderson's +"Diplomata," conferring the constabulary of Dundee on Alexander +Skirmischur (Scrimgeour) and his heirs, and dated at Torphichen (in +the county of Linlithgow) March 29, 1298, he styles himself, +"Willelmus Walays miles, Custos Regni Scotiæ, et ductor exercituum +ejusdem, nomine præclari principis Domini Johannis, Dei gratia Regis +Scotiæ illustris, de consensu communitatis ejusdem." The grant is +stated to have been made with the consent and approbation of the +nobility ("per consensum et assensum magnatum dicti regni.")</p> + +<p>But this supreme elevation did not last long. Supported only by his +own merits and the admiration and attachment of his humbler +fellow-countrymen, Wallace, a new man, and without family connection, +would probably have found it difficult or impossible to retain his +high place, even if he had had nothing more to contend with than +domestic jealousy and dissatisfaction. Fordun relates that many of the +nobility were in the habit of saying, "We will not have this man to +rule over us." Meanwhile the energetic English king, who had been +abroad when the defeat of Stirling Bridge lost him Scotland, had now +returned home, and was already on his march toward the borders at the +head of a powerful army. A body of English, which had landed in the +north of Fife, led by Aymer de Vallois, Earl of Pembroke, is said by +the Scottish authorities to have been attacked and routed by Wallace +on June 12, 1298, in the forest of Blackironside, in that county; but +when the two main armies met on July 22d, in the neighborhood of +Falkirk—the Scots commanded by Wallace, the English by their king in +person—the former, after a gallant and obstinate resistance, were at +last forced to give way, and the battle ended in a universal rout +accompanied with immense slaughter.</p> + +<p>This defeat did not put an end to the war; but it was taken advantage +of by the Scottish nobility to deprive Wallace of his office of +guardian or chief governor of the kingdom. The Scottish accounts say +that he voluntarily resigned the supreme power; it is certain, at any +rate, that Bruce, his rival Comyn, and Lamberton, Bishop of St. +Andrew's, were now appointed joint guardians of Scotland, still in the +name of Baliol. For some years after this our accounts of Wallace are +slight and obscure; but he appears to have returned with a chosen band +of followers to the practice of the desultory warfare in which he had +originally distinguished himself. The legendary histories continue to +detail his deeds of prowess performed in harassing the enemy both on +their marches and in their camps and strongholds. And to fill up the +story, they also make him to have paid two visits to France—the first +in 1300, the second in 1302. The next well-ascertained fact regarding +him is that when the Scottish leaders were at last obliged to submit +to Edward at Strathorde, on February 9, 1304, Wallace was <span class="pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105"></a>(p. 105)</span> +not included in the capitulation, one of the clauses of which (printed +in the original French in Ryley's "Placeta Parliamentaria") is to the +effect that as for Wallace (Monsieur Guillaume de Galeys), he might, +if he pleased, give himself up to the king's mercy ("quil se mette en +la voluntè et en la grace nostre seigneur le Roy, si lui semble, que +bon soit"). He was soon after summoned to appear before a parliament +or convention of Scotch and English nobility, held at St. Andrew's; +and upon their not presenting themselves, he and Sir Simon Frisel, or +Fraser, were pronounced outlaws. For some time his retreat remained +undiscovered, although his active hostility still continued +occasionally to make itself felt. A principal person employed in the +attempts to capture him appears to have been Ralph de Haliburton; but +how he was actually taken is not known. Sir John Menteith (a son of +Walter Stewart, Earl of Menteith), to whose treachery his delivery to +the English king is attributed by Blind Harry and popular tradition, +appears to have really done nothing more than forward him to England +after he was brought a prisoner to Dumbarton Castle, of which Menteith +was governor under a commission from Edward.</p> + +<p>On being brought to London, Wallace was lodged in the house of William +Delect, a citizen, in Fenchurch Street; and on the next day, being the +eve of St. Bartholomew, he was brought on horseback to Westminster, +and in the hall there, "being placed on the south bench," says Stow, +"crowned with laurel for that he had said in times past that he ought +to bear a crown in that all," he was arraigned as a traitor, and on +that charge found guilty, and condemned to death. After being dragged +to the usual place of execution—the Elms, in West Smithfield—at the +tails of his horses, he was there hanged on a high gallows, on August +23, 1305, after which he was "drawn and quartered." His right arm was +set up at Newcastle, his left at Berwick; his right leg at Perth, his +left at Aberdeen; his head on London Bridge. Wallace's daughter, by +the heiress of Lamington, married Sir William Bailie, of Hoprig, whose +descendants through her inherited the estate of Lamington.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + +<h3>ROBERT BRUCE<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Sir J. Bernard Burke, LL.D.</span><br> + +(1274-1329)</h3> + + +<p>Robert Bruce was born in the year 1274, on the Feast of the +translation of St. Benedict, being March 21st, and was undoubtedly of +Norman origin. In an annual roll containing the names of those knights +and barons who came over with William the Conqueror, we find that of +Brueys; and from the Domesday Book it appears that a family of the +same name were possessed of lands in Yorkshire. Coming down to a later +period, 1138, when David I. of Scotland made his fatal attack +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106"></a>(p. 106)</span> upon England—fatal, that is, to himself and his people—the +English barons, previous to the battle of Cutton Moor, near +Northallerton, sent a message to the Scottish king, by Robert Bruce, +of Cleveland, a Norman knight, who possessed estates in either +country. Upon his death, this knight bequeathed his English lands to +his eldest son, and those in Annandale to his younger, who received a +confirmation of his title by a charter of William the Lion. From this +root sprung Robert Bruce, the competitor for the crown with Baliol, +whose grandson was the more celebrated Robert Bruce, the younger, Earl +of Carrick in virtue of his mother's title, and afterward King of +Scotland. He was the eldest of three brothers and seven sisters, whose +marriages with some of the leading families of Scotland proved an +important element of success to the future hero. His earliest years +were passed at the castle of Turnberry, where his mother resided; but +as he grew older, his father, who considered himself an English baron, +thought proper that he should be removed to the English court. The +friendship subsisting between Edward the First and the Earl of Carrick +induced the former to adopt the earl's son; so that the confiding +monarch trained up his mortal enemy in the use of those arts and +weapons which were one day to be turned against himself.</p> + +<a id="img045" name="img045"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img045.jpg" width="250" height="304" alt="Robert Bruce." title=""> +</div> + +<p>The family of Bruce, as we have already noticed, were competitors for +the Scottish throne with Baliol, in whose favor an award was +pronounced by Edward, when called upon to arbitrate between them. At +this time the elder Bruce was far advanced in years; his son, the Earl +of Carrick, was still in the prime of life, and his grandson, Robert +Bruce was eighteen years of age. Upon the old man being required to do +homage for his lands in Scotland to the new monarch of that country, +he indignantly refused, exclaiming, "I am Baliol's sovereign, not +Baliol mine; and rather than consent to such a homage, I resign my +lands in Annandale to my son, the Earl of Carrick." But Carrick was +not less proud, or averse to anything that might call in question his +claim to the crown of Scotland, and in like manner refused to hold any +lands of Baliol. As, however, according to the feudal law, he must +either divest himself of his estate, or do homage for it, he adopted +the former alternative, and resigned the lands of Annandale in favor +of his son, Robert. The young baron, less scrupulous than his +relatives, did not hesitate to accept his father's gift, which, upon +feudal principles, carried with it the title of Earl of Carrick, and +did homage for the same to Baliol. By his father's death, in 1304, he +became possessed of the family estates in England.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page107" name="page107"></a>(p. 107)</span> From this time Bruce played his part with skill, though in +justice it must be allowed that his patriotism was not altogether +without the alloy of a selfish ambition; and perhaps it would be +expecting too much from human nature, even in its best and highest +forms, to look for anything else. Neither can we free him from the +charge of dissimulation in that he swore a fealty to Baliol, which it +is plain he never intended to observe, and affected gratitude and +attachment for the English monarch, while in secret he was preparing +to undermine him. An excuse for this has been sought by his more +partial admirers in the necessity of the case, arising from the +well-known sagacity of Edward, who would otherwise have penetrated his +purposes and crushed them in the bud without scruple. Nor was this the +only obstacle in his path to empire. Upon the failure of Baliol and +his only son, Edward, the ancient and powerful family of the Comyns +were ready to dispute his title to the crown, which they claimed for +themselves. John, commonly called the Red Comyn, who had been the +determined opponent of Wallace, possessed, in the event of the monarch +dying without issue, the same right to the throne which was vested in +Bruce himself. He, too, had connected himself by marriage with the +royal family of England, and was at this time one of the most powerful +subjects in Scotland. When Baliol leagued with Comyn to throw off the +supremacy of Edward, whose hand, whether justly or not, had raised him +to the Scottish throne, the Bruces and their party, tempted by the +promise of a crown, lent their best aid to the English monarch. Upon +the termination of the campaign the elder Bruce demanded the +fulfilment of Edward's promise, to which the latter indignantly +replied that he had not come into Scotland to conquer a kingdom for +him; so that Bruce reaped nothing else at the time from his service, +than the satisfaction of seeing his rival, Baliol, dethroned, and the +influence of the Comyns effectually diminished.</p> + +<p>In 1296 Edward held a parliament at Berwick, compelling the Scotch +barons to do him homage, and the young lord of Carrick concurred in +the national submission. But notwithstanding this outward show of +fealty, he became, in the time of Wallace's success, suspected of +entertaining designs upon the crown. At first, indeed, he had joined +against Wallace, and wasted the lands of his adherent, Douglas, with +fire and sword; yet, soon after his return home, he summoned the +Annandale men, who were the vassals of his father, then in the service +of Edward, and thus addressed them: "You have already heard, without +doubt, of that solemn oath, which I lately took at Carlisle, and I +cannot deny the fact; but the oath was a foolish one, and exacted by +fear; it was my body that took the oath, and not my mind; but its +having been taken at all is now to me the cause of much remorse and +sorrow; yet erelong I hope to be absolved from it by our Holy Father. +In the meanwhile, I am resolved to go and join my fellow-countrymen, +and assist them in their efforts to restore to its liberty the land of +my nativity, for none, as you know, is an enemy of his own flesh, and +as for me, I love my people. Let me beseech you, then, to adopt the +same resolution, and you shall ever be esteemed my most dear friends +and approved counsellors."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page108" name="page108"></a>(p. 108)</span> To this request the men of Annandale deferred giving any +answer till the morning, and took advantage of the night to retire, so +that Bruce could only join the insurgents with his own vassals of +Carrick.</p> + +<p>The first disappointment might have taught Bruce to desist from his +design, for which the time was not yet ripe; but blinded by ambition, +he entered into a strict alliance with Wishart, the Bishop of Glasgow, +and the Steward of Scotland, the principal leaders of the +insurrection. Upon joining his new associates, he found their purposes +utterly incompatible with his views upon the crown. Wallace, the soul +of the party, had ever supported the claims of Baliol, and his great +supporter, Sir Andrew Moray, a near connection of the Comyns, had the +same object. During the campaign, therefore, of 1298, which concluded +with the battle of Falkirk, Bruce shut himself up in his castle of +Ayr, maintaining a cautious neutrality, while his father continued to +reside in England and to serve Edward in his wars. The king, however, +did not admire this cold system of neutrality. He in consequence +determined to attack the castle of Ayr, and Bruce, dreading the +consequences, razed it to the ground, and sought an asylum in the +mountain fastnesses of Carrick.</p> + +<p>In the following year, when Wallace had resigned the regency, John +Comyn, of Badenoch, and Sir John de Soulis, were chosen governors of +the kingdom, and the party of Bruce availed themselves of the +opportunity to advance his influence by opposition to those in power, +and by defeating every measure taken for the public benefit. An +attempt was made by those who really wished well to the national +cause, or who dreaded that their disunion might be fatal to all alike, +to reconcile the contending factions; with this view they elected +Bruce, and Lamberton, Bishop of Glasgow, joint regents in the name of +Baliol; but this ill-assorted coalition soon fell to pieces, as might +have been expected, where the views which one party entertained in +secret were so utterly opposed to the avowed purposes of all.</p> + +<p>The policy which actuated Bruce on this occasion may be easily +explained. It was clear that Edward would never consent to the +restoration of Baliol, then in exile, and the Comyns had taken so +decided a part against him, that it seemed most improbable he would +ever consent to raise one of that family to the throne. Continuing, +therefore, the same line of duplicity with which he had commenced, and +which he had only abandoned for a single instant in the vain hope of +persuading the party of Wallace to openly adopt his claims, he now +endeavored by submission and affected attachment to win the favor of +the English monarch. Edward, he well knew, had the power, could he be +brought to entertain the inclination, to place him on the Scottish +throne, and if this point were once attained, Bruce trusted that means +would afterward occur of shaking off all dependence upon his +benefactor. In these designs he to a certain extent succeeded, but not +in his main object. If he was crafty, Edward was yet craftier. He had +fallen into the same error that his father had, in 1296, and was +outwitted by the superior political ability of him whom he had +intended to deceive, and who, it must be confessed, was equally +insincere. Edward cheated both father and son, by <span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name="page109"></a>(p. 109)</span> holding +out to them the hope of a crown he never meant them to attain, his +object being to unite the two countries; an excellent purpose in +itself, if we could only bring ourselves to overlook the fraud and +violence by which it was to be accomplished. When, therefore, the +Comyns submitted, in 1304, and he proceeded to the settlement of his +new dominions, the Earl of Carrick found that his only gain was the +being employed among the commissioners in organizing a system of +government. He had, however, reaped no little advantage from his +dissimulation. While Baliol was an exile and Comyn in disgrace, he had +preserved his estates, and won the king's confidence without losing, +but rather augmenting, his influence with the Scotch. At the same time +he saw that Comyn was still powerful; his claims to the throne were +more generally admitted by the people, and without his concurrence +nothing could be effected. Thus situated, Bruce submitted to his rival +this alternative: "Give me your land, and I shall bind myself to +support your title to the kingdom, and, when we have expelled our +enemies, to place the crown upon your head; or, if thou dost not +choose to assume the state of the kingdom, here am I ready to resign +to you my estates, on condition that you second me in my efforts to +regain the throne of my fathers." Comyn accepted the latter +alternative, but immediately betrayed the design to Edward, and sent +him the letter, or indenture, by which Bruce had bound himself. But +the latter, when suddenly charged with it, denied his hand and seal +with a coolness that could only belong to one long practised in the +arts of dissimulation, and demanded time to prove his innocence. +Arch-deceiver as the English king himself was, he yet allowed himself +to be duped by this specious effrontery, and Bruce escaping into +Scotland, murdered Comyn in the church of the Grey Friars, at +Dumfries. Soon afterward he was crowned at Scone, and the revolution +spread far and wide; upon hearing which, Edward sent an invading army +into Scotland. Superiority of force and military skill soon compelled +Bruce to retreat to the mountain fastnesses, that offered a better +place of security than the strongest castle, for castles might be +stormed; but here, if danger threatened him at one point, he had only +to retreat to one more remote and more rugged, and thus at any time +was enabled to baffle his pursuers when he found them too powerful to +be resisted. A series of fights—battles they could hardly be +called—and adventures now ensued which have all the coloring of +romance, but which entailed so much of hardness and privation upon his +followers, that after a while it became evident he would not be able +much longer to keep them from abandoning a cause so desperate. Then, +again, a spark of hope was kindled by the disaffection growing out of +the severity which Edward exercised upon all who had been in arms to +resist him. Numbers in consequence flocked to Bruce, and fresh +adventures succeeded of a yet more romantic nature than those already +mentioned; the fortunes of the wanderer seeming now to be at the +lowest ebb, and then again rising into a prosperous flood, which as +rapidly subsided, making it a matter of some difficulty for him to +escape being stranded by the falling waters. It was during this season +that Douglas disgraced himself and the Scottish name by barbarities +that have never been surpassed, and rarely even equalled.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110"></a>(p. 110)</span> The death of the great Edward—for great he was, in spite of +all his faults—and the accession of his son, the feeble Edward II., +left an open field to Bruce, who was as much superior to those that +now opposed him, as he had been overcrowned by the genius of his late +adversary. He marched from victory to victory, and would, no doubt, +have brought the contest to a happy termination, had he not been +seized by an alarming sickness. At first, it threatened to be fatal; +things were again beginning to look gloomy for Scotland; but in the +moment of extreme peril, he shook off his disease by a strong effort, +and once more led his followers through a series of triumphs, which +were crowned by the great battle of Bannockburn. Though we cannot +allow the ambition which seeks a crown to pass for patriotism, it is +impossible to deny the highest praise to the courage, firmness, and +ability displayed by Bruce through the whole of this trying period. +None may deny that he deserved a crown, and when once obtained, it +acquired a lustre from the talents of him who wore it.</p> + +<p>Bruce soon found himself in a condition to assist his brother Edward +in the attempt to drive the English out of Ireland. But here the usual +good fortune of the Scotch abandoned them. After a hard-fought +campaign, attended by many vicissitudes, his sagacity saw that the +attempt was hopeless, and he returned to Scotland. Shortly afterward, +the turbulent and aspiring Edward Bruce was slain in battle.</p> + +<p>His wonted success attended Bruce in the field, in the midst of which, +however, a plot was formed against his life and government. +Fortunately it was revealed in time by the Countess of Strathearn, to +whom the conspirators had the weakness to confide their intentions; +and soon afterward, to crown his prosperity, Edward II. was compelled +by a series of defeats to conclude a peace. But Bruce's health began +to be impaired, and when war again broke out between the countries, +upon the deposition of Edward II. and the succession of his son, +Edward III., he was unable to lead his projected expedition against +England. It ended in failure, if not in defeat.</p> + +<p>A short interval of health and hope gleamed upon him after this +attack, and peace was concluded between the two countries, greatly to +the dissatisfaction of the English, who, justly enough, considered +themselves sacrificed to the ambition of the queen-mother, Isabella, +and of her favorite, Mortimer. But this momentary promise of health +and vigor soon passed away, and it became plain to all that the life +of this brave and sagacious monarch was drawing rapidly to a close. In +expectation of the final event he had given orders to have a +magnificent tomb made at Paris; which was brought to Bruges, thence +through England into Scotland, and on its arrival erected in the +church of the Benedictines at Dunfermline.</p> + +<p>Bruce died in his fifty-fifth year, and was buried in the abbey-church +of Dunfermline, as he had desired.</p> + +<p>In the prime of his life Bruce was upward of six feet high; his +shoulders were broad, his chest full and open; the cheek-bones strong +and prominent, and the muscles of the back and neck of great size and +thickness; his hair curled short over a broad forehead, and the +general expression of his face was calm and cheerful; <span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111"></a>(p. 111)</span> yet, +when he pleased, he could assume a character of stern command. Such, +at least, Bruce has been described by the old historian, and we may +easily believe it, since the outward semblance agrees so well with +what is recorded of his life and actions.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>ARNOLD VON WINKELRIED<br> + +(DIED, 1386)</h3> + + +<a id="img046" name="img046"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img046.jpg" width="300" height="218" alt="Arnold von Winkelried." title=""> +</div> + +<p>The incident with which this name is connected is, after the purely +legendary feat of Tell, the best known and most popular in the early +history of the Swiss Confederation. We are told how, at a critical +moment in the great battle of Sempach, when the Swiss had failed to +break the serried ranks of the Austrian knights, a man of Unterwalden, +Arnold von Winkelried by name, came to the rescue. Commending his wife +and children to the care of his comrades, he rushed toward the +Austrians, gathered a number of their spears together against his +breast, and fell pierced through, having opened a way into the hostile +ranks for his fellow-countrymen, though at the price of his own life. +But the Tell and Winkelried stories stand in a very different position +when looked at in the dry light of history; for, while in the former +imaginary and impossible men (bearing now and then a real historical +name) do imaginary and impossible deeds at a very uncertain period, in +the latter we have some solid ground to rest on, and Winkelried's act +might very well have been performed, though, as yet, the amount of +genuine and early evidence in support of it is very far from being +sufficient.</p> + +<p>The Winkelrieds of Stanz were a knightly family when we first hear of +them, though toward the end of the fourteenth century they seem to +have been but simple men without the honors of knighthood, and not +always using their prefix "von." Among its members we find an Erni +Winkelried acting as a witness to a contract of sale on May 1, 1367; +while the same man, or perhaps another member of the family, Erni von +Winkelried, is plaintiff in a suit at Stanz, on September 29, 1389, +and in 1417 is the landamman (or head-man) of Unterwalden, being then +called Arnold Winkelriet. We have, therefore, a real man named Arnold +Winkelried living at Stanz, about the time of the battle of Sempach. +The question is thus narrowed to the points, was he present at the +battle, and did he then perform the deed commonly attributed to him? +The determination of this question requires a minute investigation of +the history of that battle, to ascertain if <span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112"></a>(p. 112)</span> there are any +authentic traces of this incident, or any opportunity for it to have +taken place.</p> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">Evidence of Chronicles.</span>—The earliest known mention of the incident +is found in a Zurich chronicle (discovered in 1862 by Herr G. von +Wyss), which is a copy, made in 1476, of a chronicle written in, or at +any rate not earlier than, 1438, though it is wanting in the sixteenth +century transcript of another chronicle written in 1466, which up to +1389 closely agrees with the former. It appears in the well-known +form, but the hero is stated to be "ein getrüwer man under den +Eidgenozen," no name being given, and it seems clear that his death +did not take place at that time. No other mention has been found in +any of the numerous Swiss or Austrian chronicles, till we come to the +book "De Helvetiæ Origine," written in 1538 by Rudolph Gwalther +(Zwingli's son-in-law), when the hero is still nameless, being +compared to Decius or Codrus, but is said to have been killed by his +brave act. Finally we read the full story in the original draft of +Giles Tschudi's chronicle, where the hero is described "as a man of +Unterwalden, of the Winkelried family," this being expanded in the +first rescension of the chronicle (1564) into "a man of Unterwalden, +Arnold von Winkelried by name, a brave knight;" while he is entered +(in the same book, on the authority of the "Anniversary Book" of +Stanz, now lost) on the list of those who fell at Sempach, at the head +of the Nidwald (or Stanz) men, as "Herr Arnold von Winkelried, +ritter," this being in the first draft "Arnold Winckelriet."</p> + +<p>2. <span class="smcap">Ballads.</span>—There are several war songs on the battle of Sempach +which have come down to us, but in one only is there mention of +Winkelried and his deed. This is a long ballad of sixty-seven +four-line stanzas, part of which (including the Winkelried section) is +found in the additions made between 1531 and 1545 to Etterlin's +chronicle by H. Berlinger of Basel, and the whole in Werner Steiner's +chronicle (written 1532). It is agreed on all sides that the last +stanza, attributing the authorship to Halbsuter, of Lucerne, "as he +came back from the battle," is a very late addition. Many authorities +regard it as made up of three distinct songs (one of which refers to +the battle and Winkelried), possibly put together by the younger +Halbsuter (citizen of Lucerne in 1435, died between 1470 and 1480); +though others contend that the Sempach-Winkelried section bears clear +traces of having been composed after the Reformation began, that is, +about 1520 or 1530. Some recent discoveries have proved that certain +statements in the song, usually regarded as anachronisms, are quite +accurate; but no nearer approach has been made toward fixing its exact +date, or that of any of the three bits into which it has been cut up. +In this song the story appears in its full-blown shape, the name of +Winckelriet being given.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="img047" name="img047"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img047.jpg" width="600" height="377" alt="" title=""> +<p>Arnold Winkelried at Sempach.</p></div> + + + + + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page113" name="page113"></a>(p. 113)</span> JOAN OF ARC<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8" title="Go to footnote 8"><span class="small">[8]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Ella Wheeler Wilcox</span><br> + +(1412-1431)</h3> + +<a id="img048" name="img048"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img048.jpg" width="250" height="251" alt="Joan of Arc." title=""> +</div> + +<p>In the history of the world since the dawn of time, there is no other +character so remarkable to me as that of Joan of Arc.</p> + +<p>You have but to think of any young girl of your acquaintance, +seventeen years old, and try to imagine her leading an army to battle, +storming a fort, or planning a campaign, in order to realize in a +measure the astounding qualities possessed by this wonderful being.</p> + +<p>Not only did she do all this as wisely as the most astute general who +ever lived, but she succeeded in liberating France from the hands of +the English, where we have very good reason to think it might have +otherwise remained to this day; for the English were gaining ground +steadily, and the French dauphin was utterly discouraged, and had +ceased to make an effort to maintain his rights, when Joan of Arc came +to his rescue.</p> + +<p>The English king, Henry V., had died in the midst of his triumphs. Two +months later, imbecile Charles VI., of France, passed away also, and +Henry VI., of England, was proclaimed king of both nations; while at +the same time the dauphin was hailed King of France by his few +followers. But his fortunes were at the lowest ebb, his small army, +stationed at Orleans, was in need of food. Four thousand of his men +went out to search for provisions, and encountered half that number of +English soldiers. A battle ensued, and five hundred of the bravest +French soldiers were left dead on the field of strife. Despite their +bravery, hunger and fatigue had unfitted them to combat with their +well-fed adversaries.</p> + +<p>The dauphin had shut himself in the castle of Chinon, with fair women +and gay comrades, while the siege was raging before the walls of +Orleans. He was at that time a weak and vacillant youth, given over to +the same pleasures and vices which drove his father mad and caused his +brother's death. He had no pride in rescuing his crown from the +English, and it must be confessed that the treatment he had received +from his own mother and his own countrymen, who sold him to the enemy, +was sufficient to dishearten a stronger nature than his. Added to +this, he was doubtful of his legitimate right to the throne, owing to +his mother's depraved career. But when, in the midst of his orgies, +the news was brought to him, in the castle of Chinon, that his army +was defeated before the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page114" name="page114"></a>(p. 114)</span> walls of Orleans, what little hope +or courage he had left seemed to desert him and he sank into a state +of despair.</p> + +<p>And far away on the frontier, in the little village of Domremy, a +young girl watched her flocks, and wept over the fate of her beloved +country; and weeping, prayed that God would save France from the +oppressor. How earnestly she prayed, and how well God listened, +history has recorded in a tale more wonderful than any story ever +conceived by the imagination of man, and sadder than any other save +the story of the Nazarene upon the Cross of Calvary.</p> + +<p>The end of France as a nation seemed at hand. The nobility had been +led into captivity and sold to an invading enemy; the clergy had seen +its altars defamed by arrogant strangers. Industry had been ruined by +civil wars during the long imbecility of Charles VI., and the +succeeding ravages made by the English. Villages were depopulated, +homes desolated, and look where they might, the people of France saw +no hope of aid, save from on high.</p> + +<p>Of this epoch Henry Martin says, "The people expected nothing from +human sources; but a sentiment of indestructible nationality stirred +in their hearts and told them that France could not die. Hoping +nothing from earth, they lifted their souls to heaven; an ardent +religious fervor seized upon them, which had no part with clergy or +creed. It rose from the extremity of their need, and fixed its root in +an old oracle of the Middle Ages, which had predicted that France +should be 'lost through a woman and saved by a virgin.'"</p> + +<p>France had certainly been lost through its wicked queen; that part of +the old prophecy had been fearfully fulfilled; the remaining clause +was yet to be verified. The people, excited to a religious frenzy by +their desperate straits and their faith in the old superstition, +prayed more fervently with each day; and their prayers rose like great +white eagles and settled upon the heart of that strange divine child, +who was weeping over the fate of France while she watched her sheep on +the plains of Domremy.</p> + +<p>A humbly born girl was Joan of Arc, unable to read or write; women who +could do more than that were rare in those days, so she was not +despised on account of her ignorance, but highly respected for her +industry and piety. An enthusiastic Catholic, she added to her church +duties by active benevolence and kindness to the sick and poor in her +native town. Often she was seen to kneel in the fields and pray; and +there was a chapel some miles from Domremy to which she used to make a +pilgrimage every Sunday and offer prayers to the Virgin. There was, +too, in the forest of Bois Chemin a famous beech-tree under which a +stream of clear water flowed; and a superstition prevailed among the +people of Domremy that fairies had blessed this tree and bestowed +healing properties upon the waters of the stream. The priest and the +villagers marched about the sacred tree once each year singing solemn +chants, and the young people hung its boughs with garlands, and danced +under its shading branches. Joan dearly loved this spot, and it became +her favorite haunt. The echoes of war reverberated even to this quiet +frontier hamlet, and in her hours of reverie she dwelt sadly upon the +stories of bloodshed and suffering which she heard her elders repeat.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page115" name="page115"></a>(p. 115)</span> She was twelve years old when the dauphin was proclaimed king +by his few followers; and in all his flight from province to province, +fleeing before the usurpers of his throne, no heart in all France +suffered more keenly than the heart beating in the breast of this +humble shepherd girl. The misfortunes of the dauphin, the woes of her +country, took complete possession of her expanding mind. Her pure +young soul yearned toward the Infinite in one ceaseless prayer; and +when any soul is so lifted up above all thought of self, praying for +the good of others, a response never fails to come. It is only selfish +prayers which remain unanswered. Joan's beautiful nature was like the +sensitive plate prepared to receive the impression; and while she +prayed the angels to save France, the angels prepared her to become +the saviour.</p> + +<p>One summer day, when she was in her fourteenth year, she was running +in the fields with her companions, when, as she afterward declared, +"she felt herself lifted as by an invisible force and carried along as +if she possessed wings." Her companions gazed upon her with +astonishment, seeing her fly beyond their reach. Then she heard a +voice, which proceeded from a great light above her; and the voice +said, "Joan, put your trust in God, and go and save France."</p> + +<p>This strange experience filled her with terror; but ere many days she +heard the voice again, and this time she saw the figure of a winged +angel. "I am the Archangel Michael," the voice said, "and the +messenger of God, who bids you to go to the aid of the dauphin and +restore him to his throne."</p> + +<p>Overcome with fear, she fell on her knees in tears; but the angel +continued to appear to her, accompanied with two female forms, and +always urging her to go to the aid of her country. Fear gave place to +ecstacy, and in the heart of this divine child awoke the audacious +idea whose climax astounded the whole world.</p> + +<p>At first she reasoned with the voices, telling them "she was but a +poor girl, who knew nothing of men or war." But the voices replied, +"Go and save France; God will be with you, and you have nothing to +fear."</p> + +<p>During three years she listened to these voices, which made themselves +heard by her two or three times each week. She seemed consumed by an +inward fever, and strange words escaped her. One day she said to a +laborer, that "midway between Coussi and Vaucouleurs there lived a +maid who should bring the dauphin to his throne."</p> + +<p>These words were repeated to her father and they alarmed him; and we +cannot wonder that they did. How could he think otherwise than that +his little girl was losing her senses? How could he dream of the +divine and superhuman powers that had descended upon her from a higher +world? He told her brother that if Joan should attempt to follow the +army, as he feared she might, "he would rather drown her with his own +hands." Her parents set a watch upon her movements, and decided to +marry her to a young man who was secretly enamored of her. They +connived with this admirer to swear before an officer of the law that +Joan had promised him her heart; but she so strenuously denied the +assertion before the judge that she gained her case.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page116" name="page116"></a>(p. 116)</span> Just at this epoch the people of Domremy were obliged to fly +before an invading troop of soldiers. When they returned to their +village they found their church burned and their homes pillaged. Joan +regarded this as a direct punishment for her hesitation in heeding the +"voices." She would hesitate no longer, and after repeated delays and +disheartening rebuffs, she succeeded in winning her way, with a few +believers in her mission, to the king's castle.</p> + +<p>When Charles finally consented to an interview, he disguised one of +his courtiers as king, and he was disguised as a courtier; but Joan +was not deceived by clothing; she fell at his feet, clasped his knees, +and exclaimed, "Gentle king, God has taken pity on you and your +people; the angels are on their knees praying for you and them."</p> + +<p>The king was impressed with her lofty enthusiasm, and plied her with +questions. Her responses astonished him. One reliable authority tells +us that she revealed to him something known only to himself—and +answered a question which he had that day demanded of God in the +privacy of prayer—the question of his legitimate right to the throne. +Joan told him that he had asked this question of God, and that she was +able to reply to it in the affirmative.</p> + +<p>The king was so astonished and overjoyed at this proof of the maiden's +powers, that he expressed belief in her divine mission; but he quickly +relapsed into doubt again, and Joan was obliged to endure a very +critical examination before a parliament, where she confused and +confounded the learned doctors by her simple words: "I know not A or +B, but I am commanded by my voices to raise the siege of Orleans and +crown the dauphin at Rheims." When one aggressive doctor, with a bad +accent, asked sarcastically; "what language her voices spoke," she +replied, "Better than yours, sir," which brought the laughter of the +whole parliament upon him. A messenger sent to Domremy, to ascertain +the early conduct of the maid, returned with accounts of her piety and +benevolence. All this worked in her favor, together with the strong +faith which the masses reposed in her; for the people remembered the +old prophecy and believed that the maiden had come to deliver France.</p> + +<p>Even the doctors of theology were affected by this prophecy, and the +result was the final equipment of Joan for battle. When arrayed in a +knight's armor she refused to accept a sword. "The voices told me," +she said, "that in the church vault at Fierbois there lies a sword +marked with five crosses which I must carry, and no other."</p> + +<p>A messenger was sent, who found the sword exactly as she had described +it. This naturally swelled the faith of the people in her divine +mission. She ordered a white banner made, covered with the lilies of +France, and with the inscription, "Jesus Maria," emblazoned upon it. +At the end of two months she entered the town of Blois, where the army +was stationed, seated upon a fine horse, her head bare, her dark curls +streaming in the wind, an air of triumph and joy on her face. Six +thousand soldiers were drawn up to receive her. But the +pleasure-loving young dauphin, be it said to his shame, was enjoying +himself in his castle and was not there to meet her. Nothing had yet +been decided about the position <span class="pagenum"><a id="page117" name="page117"></a>(p. 117)</span> Joan was to occupy, but the +wild enthusiasm of the army at once made her its leader.</p> + +<p>The very first act of this pure being was an attempt to uplift the +moral status of the army. Women of evil repute were sent away with +good advice, and the men were called to battle by prayer and +confession. Coarse soldiers followed her to mass, fascinated by her +peculiar spell, and rough language was silenced in her presence. +Remarkable as has seemed Joan's career up to this point, it was simple +compared to the miracles which ensued. Modest as the simplest maiden +in private life, gentle as a child in all matters pertaining to +herself, utterly devoid of self-seeking interests, she was yet enabled +to plan campaigns, direct attacks and lead armies with all the skill +of any world-renowned general. In the dead of night, with a band of +200 men, she entered the beleaguered city of Orleans in the face of +the English enemy. The inhabitants crowded about her, regarding her +rightly with wonder and awe. Her first act was to hasten to a +cathedral where the Te Deum was being chanted by torch-light. She then +selected her home with a lady of spotless reputation, in order that +all her hours of repose might be guarded from suspicions of evil. The +following day she directed a letter of warning to be sent to the +English, urging them to retreat before compelled to do so by the "fire +of Heaven." She then reconnoitred the city, determining in her mind +where to begin the attack; and as she saw no signs that the English +had taken heed of her letter, she finally mounted the walls of the +town, and in a loud voice warned the English to depart before +overtaken with the shame and disaster in store for them. To this the +English responded with insults and ribald words, and told her to "Go +home and keep her cows." Joan wept at their insults to her modesty, +and would have at once opened an attack, had she not been dissuaded by +her generals, who begged her to await the arrival of her army.</p> + +<p>Despite their bold words, the English were so influenced by Joan's +peculiar power, that they allowed her army to enter Orleans with a +convoy of provisions, and made no resistance. They seemed to be +paralyzed with fear, and many of them expressed a belief that she was +aided by the devil. Although the maid was immensely popular with the +army, a lurking secret jealousy of her was already at work in the +breasts of some of her officers; and these men chose an hour when she +was taking a brief repose, to open an attack upon the English, hoping +to take the glory of a conquest to themselves. But Joan's Voices awoke +her, and told her the blood of France was being spilled; and seizing +her white banner, she mounted her horse, and rushed into the strife, +turning the tide of battle at once in favor of the French army, which +had already suffered loss. Wherever the white flag was seen, a +superhuman strength seemed to take possession of the men; and after a +fierce battle of three hours, the bastile of St. Loup was won by the +French.</p> + +<p>The bastile des Augustins fell next, and here Joan was slightly +wounded in the foot; but she resolved to attack the only remaining +hold of the English the following day. Her officers counselled +together and reported themselves unfavorable to this project, as the +bastile des Tournelles was very strong, and filled <span class="pagenum"><a id="page118" name="page118"></a>(p. 118)</span> with the +bravest of the English army. But Joan replied, "I, too, have been at +council with God, and we shall fight to-morrow."</p> + +<p>They did fight, the English with fury, the French "as if they believed +themselves immortal." After three hours of warfare Joan saw her men +hesitate under the fierce attack of the enemy. She seized a ladder, +planted it against a wall, and began to ascend it. At that moment an +English arrow struck her between the neck and shoulder, and she fell +to the ground. The disheartened soldiers bore her from the field, and +dressed her wound, from which she extracted the arrow with her own +hand, shedding womanly tears meanwhile. After the wound was dressed, a +vision came to her, and with sudden strength she remounted her horse +and rode back to battle.</p> + +<p>The English, believing her nearly dead from her wound, were terrified +to see her return, and lost courage from that moment; while the +French, electrified by her unexpected presence, fought with such zeal +that before nightfall the maid led her army into Orleans crowned with +triumph. It was only seven days since she had entered the city, and +Joan had already verified her assertion that she could and would +"raise the siege of Orleans."</p> + +<p>The indolent and unworthy dauphin, however, refused to go to Rheims +and be crowned and so fulfil the second part of Joan's mission. He +said there were ports along the Loire which needed to be taken first +so the girl general laid out her campaign and added Beaugency and +Jargeau to her other conquests. The English had become filled with +superstitious fear of her power, attributing it to the devil. But the +Dauphin of France still dallied with light women in his castle, and +treated Joan with coldness and suspicion. The army now became so +unanimous in the desire that the king should go to Rheims, that he +finally, with reluctance, consented. On July 16th, after having taken +Troyes and Chalons on the way, the French army entered Rheims; and +there, on the following day, the dauphin was anointed with holy oil +and received the crown of France.</p> + +<p>Happy, but modest and humble in her happiness, rejoicing only in the +prosperity of the king and the country, the sublime saviour of her +land knelt before her sovereign after the ceremonies were concluded +and said, "Gentle king, I wish now that I might return toward my +father and my mother, to keep my flocks and my herds as heretofore." +Alas for the happiness of the poor girl and the honor of two +countries, that her request was not granted!</p> + +<p>Joan's father was present on this occasion, and the inn where he +lodged at the king's expense, and the cathedral where the dauphin was +crowned, still exist in Rheims.</p> + +<a id="img049" name="img049"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img049.jpg" width="400" height="603" alt="" title=""> +<p>Joan of Arc.</p></div> + +<p>During all Joan's life as a soldier and general, she exhibited a most +touching humanity toward the conquered enemy. She would spring from +her horse to sooth the wounds of a suffering English soldier, and it +is recorded of her that she carried a dying enemy in her arms to a +confessor, and remained with him till his soul took flight. The people +adored her, the soldiers of her army idolized her, and the king +realized that she was of too great value to him to permit her to go in +peace to her old humble home. So Joan remained, asking that the king +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page119" name="page119"></a>(p. 119)</span> would remove all impost from the village of Domremy, in +place of bestowing a title upon her family as he offered to do. For +three hundred years her request was obeyed. From this time to the +tragic end, the story of Joan's life is a hard one to relate. Although +we are nearing the fifth centennial of her birth, the recital of her +sufferings and death must still wring tears from every heart which is +not made of stone. The feeling of jealousy which great success, of +even the most worthy and noble souls, arouses in meaner natures, had +already sprung up against Joan. This feeling increased as the days +passed by and she added more and more to her glory by the conquest of +Laon, Soissons, Compiègne, and Beauvais. Paris was next besieged, and +here Joan was seriously wounded, an event which depressed the king and +the army.</p> + +<p>Her wound disabled her from action, and she was left lying on the +field until evening, neglected, and seemingly forgotten. Already +conscious of the growing sentiment of jealousy among her officers, +this final proof of their indifference to her fate must have been more +painful to her pure and lofty mind than the physical agony she was +enduring. But even lying there, wounded, she cheered on the men as +they passed her in the combat, and revived their failing courage.</p> + +<p>She was enabled to resume action the next day; her plans were all +perfected, and judging from her past triumphs we can but suppose +victory would have attended her, had not that most remarkable mandate +arrived from the king, commanding the French army to retreat to +Saint-Denis.</p> + +<p>To the undying shame of his memory be it said that Charles VII. +entered into a plot, with jealous enemies of Joan, to force failure +upon her. The people and the soldiers had grown to believe her +infallible; the king and his favorites determined that she should be +proven fallible. They deemed the country sufficiently safe, the army +sufficiently strong, to enable them to go on now and claim victories +of their own, without having their divine deliverer share the glory.</p> + +<p>Next to the crime of Isabel, who sold her son and her country to the +enemy, this base act of Charles VII. stands unparalleled in infamy. So +discouraged and heart-broken was Joan over the conduct of the king, +although she did not understand the deep-laid plot against her, that +she resolved to abandon the life of a soldier and enter the church of +Saint-Denis. She hung up her armor and her sword, but when the king +heard of this he sent for her to return to the army. He was not yet +sure of himself, and he wanted her where he could call upon her if +need be.</p> + +<p>Joan returned with reluctance; "her Voices" counselled her to keep to +her resolution; but she was so accustomed to obey the king, that for +the first time she allowed an earthly voice to overrule the counsels +of her heavenly guides. And from this hour her star set; from this +hour her path led into darkness. Soon after her return to the army she +broke the magic sword with which she had achieved so many conquests; +the Voices, too, were silent, and all this troubled her. The king kept +her away from all active warfare, and she grew restive and impatient +with her life of inaction. The army, which under her influence had +been reformed of half its vices, now separated from her by the king's +orders and fell <span class="pagenum"><a id="page120" name="page120"></a>(p. 120)</span> into the most wild excesses. Joan prayed and +pleaded to be allowed to go again into combat, and finally the king +allowed her to do so; but such success attended her, and such +enthusiasm seized upon her soldiers, that the jealous favorites of the +king were alarmed. They resolved to prevent any further triumphs for +her, but to pretend great friendship and admiration meanwhile.</p> + +<p>The king was influenced to bestow honors and titles upon her family, +and to present her two brothers, who had fought in the army, with +swords of silver; all of which Joan received coldly and with +indifference, for meantime she was suffering such agony as only so +brave and valiant a soul could suffer in being kept from her duty.</p> + +<p>After four months of this galling life, Joan could not fail to see +that she was the victim of a jealous plot. What suffering to a nature +so honest and self-sacrificing as hers, to discover that the king for +whom she had achieved such miracles, was a coward and a hypocrite, +unworthy of her respect and faith.</p> + +<p>But it was surely this knowledge which actuated Joan to take a few +brave men, and without orders from the king, to go in aid of William +de Flavy, commander of the fortress of Compiègne, who was in distress. +She set out, and on the evening of May 24th, headed an attack upon the +English. She fought nobly and well, but before the close of the +combat, she was obliged to sound a retreat, and as she was attempting +to escape through the half-closed city gate, an English archer came up +behind and pulled her to the ground.</p> + +<p>Joan of Arc was a prisoner. The joy of the English was +overwhelming—the despair of the French correspondingly great; and +that despair gave place to anger when it was learned that William de +Flavy, the man whom she had tried to defend, had betrayed her into the +hands of the English because he was jealous of her. This man's wife +slew him when she learned of his base act, and was pardoned for the +crime when she told its cause. In all the cities which Joan had +delivered from English control, public prayers and processions were +ordered; people walked barefooted and bareheaded, chanting the +<i>Miserere</i>, in the streets of Tours. She was imprisoned first at +Beaurevoir, then in the prison of Arras, and from there she was taken +to Le Crotoy.</p> + +<p>It was customary in those days to exchange prisoners taken in arms, or +to ransom them; but the English had suffered such loss and defeat +through Joan that they determined she should die.</p> + +<p>Their only way to do this without publicly dishonoring themselves, was +to accuse her of being a witch, and to compel the "religious" tribunal +of her own land to become her murderer.</p> + +<p>During the first six months of her captivity Joan was treated +humanely; but the defeat of the English at Compiègne awoke anew the +superstitions of the English, who believed that, though a prisoner, +she exercised her spell upon the army; and she was taken to Le Crotoy, +and cast into an iron cage with chains upon her wrists and ankles. +After being starved, insulted, and treated with the most hellish +brutality in prison for nearly ten months, the saviour of France was +brought before a tribunal of men, all of them her enemies. There were +three days of this <span class="pagenum"><a id="page121" name="page121"></a>(p. 121)</span> shameful pretence of a trial, and the +holy maid, deserted by those whom she had crowned with glory and +benefits, was trapped into signing a paper which she supposed only a +form of abjuration, but which proved to be a confession of all the +crimes with which she was charged; and after she was returned to her +dungeon this was exhibited to the people to convince them of her guilt +and turn the tide of public sympathy. The Bishop of Beauvais then +sentenced her to prison for the rest of her life, on condition that +she resume woman's apparel; yet one morning she woke to find no dress +in her prison but the clothes she had worn in battle. No sooner had +she donned these than the bishop appeared, and accused her of +disobedience to the orders of the Church, and he fixed her execution +for the next day.</p> + +<p>When the horrible fact was made known to her that she was to be burned +at the stake in the market-place of Rouen, before a multitude of +people, she burst into piercing cries of agony. Her physical strength, +courage, and brain-power were all impaired by the months of abuse she +had endured, and her very soul was torn by the neglect and +indifference which the base king manifested toward her. Up to the very +last hour she had believed deliverance would come, but it came only +through death. Never since that spectacle of the bleeding Nazarene +upon the Cross of Calvary, has the world beheld so terrible a picture +of crucified innocence and purity as that of Joan of Arc, the saviour +of France, burning in the market-place of Rouen. With her dying breath +she cried out that the Voices were real, and that she had obeyed God +in listening to their counsels.</p> + +<p>Her last word was the name of—Jesus.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig006" name="sig006"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig006.jpg" width="300" height="57" alt="Author signature. Ella Wheeler Wilcox." title=""> +</div> + + + + +<h3>HANS GUTENBERG<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Alphonse de Lamartine</span><br> + +(1400-1468)</h3> + + +<p>Hans Gensfleisch Gutenberg von Sorgeloch was a young patrician—born +at Mainz, a free and wealthy city on the banks of the Rhine, in the +year 1400. His father, Friel Gensfleisch, married Else von Gutenberg, +who gave her name to her second son John.</p> + +<p>It is probable that if Mainz, his country, had not been a free city, +this young gentleman would have been unable to conceive or to carry +into execution his invention. Despotism and superstition equally +insist upon silence; they would have stifled the universal and +resistless echo which genius <span class="pagenum"><a id="page122" name="page122"></a>(p. 122)</span> was about to create for written +words. Printing and liberty were both to spring from the same soil and +the same climate.</p> + +<a id="img050" name="img050"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img050.jpg" width="250" height="308" alt="Hans Gutenberg." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Mainz, Strasburg, Worms, and other municipal towns on the Rhine, then +governed themselves, under the suzerainty of the empire, as small +federal republics, like Florence, Genoa, Venice, and the other states +of Italy. The nobility warlike, the burgesses increasing in +importance, and the laboring population vacillating between these two +classes, who alternately oppressed and courted it, from time to time, +here as everywhere, fought for supremacy. Outbursts of civil war, +excited by vanity or interest, and in which the victory remained +sometimes with the patricians, sometimes with the burgesses, and at +others with the artisans, made them alternately victors, conquered, +and proscribed. This is the history of all cities, of all republics, +and of all empires. Mainz, was a miniature of Rome or Athens, only the +proscribed party had not the sea to cross to escape from their +country; they went outside the walls, and crossed the Rhine; those of +Strasburg going to Mainz, and those of Mainz to Strasburg, to wait +until their party recovered power, or until they were recalled by +their fellow-citizens.</p> + +<p>In these intestine struggles of Mainz, the young Gutenberg, himself a +gentleman, and naturally fighting for the cause most holy in a son's +eyes—that of his father—was defeated by the burgesses, and banished, +with all the knights of his family, from the territory of Mainz. His +mother and sisters alone remained there in possession of their +property, as innocent victims on whom the faults of the nobility +should not be visited. His first banishment was short, and peace was +ratified by the return of the refugees. A vain quarrel about +precedence in the public ceremonies on the occasion of the solemn +entry of the Emperor Robert, accompanied by the Archbishop Conrad, +into Mainz, refreshed the animosity of the two classes in 1420, and +young Gutenberg, at the age of nineteen, under went his second exile.</p> + +<p>The free city of Frankfort now offered itself as a mediator between +the nobles and plebeians of Mainz, and procured their recall on +condition of the governing magistracy being equally shared between the +high classes and the burgesses. But Gutenberg, whether his valor in +the civil war had rendered him more obnoxious and more hostile to the +burgesses; whether his pride, fostered by the traditions of his race, +could not submit patiently to an equality with plebeians; or whether, +more probably, ten years of exile and study at Strasburg had already +turned the bent of his thoughts to a nobler subject than the vain +honors of a free city, refused <span class="pagenum"><a id="page123" name="page123"></a>(p. 123)</span> to return to his country. His +mother, who watched over her son's interest at Mainz, petitioned the +republic to allow him to receive as a pension a small portion of the +revenues of his confiscated possessions. The republic replied that the +young patrician's refusal to return to his country was a declaration +of war, and that the republic did not pay its enemies. Gutenberg, +persisting in his voluntary exile and in his disdain, lived on the +secret remittances of his mother.</p> + +<p>But at Strasburg he already enjoyed so great a popularity for his +disposition and his acquirements, that one day, when the chief +magistrate of Mainz was passing the territory of Strasburg, he was +arrested by the friends of Gutenberg, shut up in a castle, and did not +recover his liberty until the city of Mainz had signed a treaty which +restored the exile his patrimony. Thus this youth, the great tribune +of the human mind, whose invention was destined to destroy forever the +prejudices of race, and to restore, in after-times, liberty and civil +equality to all the plebeians of the world, began his life, as yet +unrecognized, at the head of the patrician party of his country, in +these struggles between the privileged castes and the people. Fortune +seemed to delight in the contrast. But Gutenberg's wisdom, increasing +with his age, was afterward destined to reunite the people and +nobility, who looked on each other as enemies.</p> + +<p>The restoration of his goods allowed young Gutenberg to satisfy his +literary, religious, and artistic tastes, by travelling from town to +town to study monuments, and visit men of all conditions celebrated +for their science, their art, or even their trade. The artisans of +Germany then held nearly the same rank as the artists. It was at the +time when the trades, scarcely known, were confused with the arts, and +when the most humble professions produced their earliest masterpieces, +which, on account of their novelty, were looked upon as prodigies. +Gutenberg travelled alone, on foot, carrying a knapsack containing +books and clothes, like a mere student visiting the schools, or a +journeyman looking for a master. He thus went through the Rhenish +provinces, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and lastly, Holland, not +without an object, like a man who lets his imagination wander at the +caprice of his footsteps, but carrying everywhere with him a fixed +idea, an unchanging will led by a presentiment. This guiding star was +the thought of spreading the word of God and the Bible among a vaster +number of souls.</p> + +<p>Thus it was religion which, in this young wandering apostle, was +seeking the soil wherein to sow a single seed, of which the fruit +hereafter was to be a thousand various grains. It is the glory of +printing that it was given to the world by religion, not by industry. +Religious enthusiasm was alone worthy to give birth to the instrument +of truth.</p> + +<p>What mechanical processes Gutenberg may until then have revolved in +his mind, remains unknown. Whatever they were, chance effaced them +all, and brought him at once upon his great discovery. One day, at +Haarlem, in Holland, the verger of the cathedral, named Lawrence +Koster, with whom he had established friendly relations, showed him in +the sacristy a Latin grammar, curiously wrought in engraved letters on +a wooden board, for the instruction of the seminarists. Chance, that +gratuitous teacher, had produced this approach to printing.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page124" name="page124"></a>(p. 124)</span> The poor and youthful sacristan of Haarlem was in love. He +used to walk on holydays to the spring outside the town, and sit under +the willows by the canals, to indulge in his day-dreams. His heart +full of the image of his bride, he used to amuse himself, in true +lover's fashion, by engraving with his knife the initials of his +mistress and himself, interlaced, as an emblem of the union of their +hearts and of their interwoven destinies. But, instead of cutting +these ciphers on the bark, and leaving them to grow with the tree, +like the mysterious ciphers so often seen on the trees in the forests +and by the brooks, he engraved them on little blocks of willow +stripped of their bark, and still reeking with the moisture of their +sap; and he used to carry them, as a remembrance of his dreams and a +pledge of affection, to his lady-love.</p> + +<p>One day, having thus cut some letters on the green wood, probably with +more care and perfection than usual, he wrapped up his little work in +a piece of parchment, and brought it with him to Haarlem. On opening +it next day to look at his letters, he was astonished to see the +cipher perfectly reproduced in brown on the parchment by the relieved +portion of the letters, the sap having oozed out during the night and +imprinted its image on the envelope. This was a discovery. He engraved +other letters on a large platter, replaced the sap by a black liquid, +and thus obtained the first proof ever printed. But it would only +print a single page. The movable variety and endless combinations of +characters infinitely multiplied, to meet the vast requirements of +literature, were wanting. The invention of the poor sacristan would +have covered the surface of the earth with plates engraved or +sculptured in relief, but would not have been a substitute for a +single case of movable type. Nevertheless, the principle of the art +was developed in the sacristy of Haarlem, and we might hesitate +whether to attribute the honor of it to Koster or Gutenberg, if its +invention had not been with one the mere accidental discovery of love +and chance, and, in the other, the well-earned victory of patience and +genius.</p> + +<p>At the sight of this coarse plank, the lightning from heaven flashed +before the eyes of Gutenberg. He looked at the plank, and, in his +imagination, analyzed it, decomposed it, put it together again, +changed it, divided it, readjusted it, reversed it, smeared it with +ink, placed the parchment on it, and pressed it with a screw. The +sacristan, wondering at his long silence, was unwittingly present at +this development of an idea over which his visitor had brooded in vain +for the last ten years. When Gutenberg retired, he carried a new art +with him.</p> + +<p>On the morrow, like a man who possesses a treasure, and knows neither +rest nor sleep until he has hidden it safely, Gutenberg left Haarlem, +hastened up the Rhine until he reached Strasburg, shut himself up in +his work-room, fashioned his own tools, tried, broke, planned, +rejected, returned to his plans, and again rejected them, only to +return to them again; and ended by secretly executing a fortunate +proof upon parchment with movable wooden types, bored through the side +with a small hole, strung together and kept close by a thread, like +square beads on a chaplet, each with a letter of the alphabet cut in +relief on <span class="pagenum"><a id="page125" name="page125"></a>(p. 125)</span> one side—the first printer's alphabet, coarse, +but wonderful—the first company of twenty-four letters, which +multiplied like the herds of the patriarchs, until at last they +covered the whole earth with written characters, in which a new and +immaterial element—human thought—became incarnate.</p> + +<p>Gutenberg, perceiving at the first glance the immense social and +industrial bearing of his invention, felt that his weak hand, short +life, and moderate property would be spent in vain on such a work. He +experienced two opposite wants—the necessity of associating with +himself persons to assist in meeting the expenses and in executing the +mechanical labor, and the necessity of concealing from his assistants +the secret and real object of their labors, for fear lest his +invention might be divulged and pirated, and the glory and merit of +his discovery taken from him. He cast his eyes on the nobility and +rich gentry of his acquaintance at Strasburg and Mainz. He probably +met with rebuffs from all quarters, on account of the prejudice then +prevailing that handicrafts were derogatory to a gentleman. He was, +therefore, obliged to sink his rank, become a workman, associate with +artisans, and mix with the people, in order to raise the people to the +high level of morality and intelligence.</p> + +<p>Under the pretence of working together at <i>a new and marvellous +craft</i>, such as jewelry, clock-making, and grinding and setting +precious stones, he entered into a deed of partnership with two +wealthy inhabitants of Strasburg, Andrew Dritzchen and Hans Riffe, +bailiff of Lichtenau; and afterward with Faust, a goldsmith and banker +of Mainz, whose name, confounded with that of Faustus, the wondrous +sorcerer of German fable, the master of mystery, and the friend of the +Evil One, caused the invention of printing to be attributed to magic; +and, lastly, with Hulmann, whose brother had just established the +first paper-mill at Strasburg.</p> + +<p>In order the more effectually to conceal from his partners the real +object of his pursuit, Gutenberg joined them in several artistic and +secondary enterprises. Continuing in secret his mechanical researches +on printing, he employed himself publicly in these other occupations. +He taught Dritzchen the art of cutting precious stones. He himself +polished Venetian glass for mirrors, or cut pieces of it into facets, +setting them in copper frames ornamented with wooden figurines +representing personages from history or fable, from the Bible or the +Testament. These articles, which found sale at the fair of +Aix-la-Chapelle, kept up the funds of the association, and assisted +Gutenberg in the secret expenses reserved for accomplishing and +perfecting his design.</p> + +<p>To conceal it the better also from the restless curiosity of the +public, who began to circulate a suspicion of witchcraft against him, +Gutenberg left the town, and established his workshop in the ruins of +an old deserted monastery, called the Convent of St. Arbogast. The +solitude of the place, only inhabited by the houseless poor of the +suburbs, covered his first attempts.</p> + +<p>In a corner of one of the vast cloisters of the monastery, occupied by +his partners for their less secret labors, Gutenberg had reserved for +himself a cell, always closed with lock and bolt, and to which none +but himself ever had access. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page126" name="page126"></a>(p. 126)</span> He was supposed to go there to +draw the designs, arabesques, and figurines for his jewelry and the +frames of his glasses; but he passed his days and sleepless nights +there, wearing himself out in the pursuit of his invention. There it +was that he engraved his movable types in wood, and projected casting +them in metal, and studied hard to find the means of inclosing them in +<i>forms</i>, whether of wood or of iron, to make the types into words, +phrases, and lines, and to leave spaces on the paper. There it was +that he invented colored mediums, oleaginous and yet drying, to +reproduce these characters, brushes and dabbers to spread the ink on +the letters, boards to hold them, and screws and weights to compress +them. Months and years were spent, as well as his own fortune and the +funds of the firm, in these persevering experiments, with alternate +success and disappointment.</p> + +<p>At length, having made a model of a press, which seemed to him to +combine all the requirements of printing, according to his ideas at +that time, he concealed it under his cloak, and walking to the town, +went to a skilful turner in wood and metal, named Conrad Saspach, who +lived in the Mercer's Lane, asking him to make the machine of full +size. He requested the workman to keep it secret, merely telling him +that it was a machine by the help of which he proposed to produce some +masterpieces of art and mechanism, of which the marvels should be +known in due time.</p> + +<p>The turner, taking the model in his hands, and turning it backward and +forward with the smile of contempt that a skilful artist usually puts +on when looking at a rough specimen, said, somewhat scornfully, "But +it is just simply a press that you are asking me for, Master Hans!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Gutenberg, with a grave and enthusiastic tone, "it is a +press, certainly, but a press from which shall soon flow in +inexhaustible streams the most abundant and most marvellous liquor +that has ever flowed to relieve the thirst of man! Through it God will +spread his Word. A spring of pure truth shall flow from it; like a new +star, it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light +heretofore unknown to shine among men." He retired. The turner, who +understood not these words, made the machine, and delivered it at the +monastery of Arbogast.</p> + +<p>This was the first printing-press.</p> + +<p>As soon as he was in possession of his press, Gutenberg began +printing. Little is known of the first works which he sent out; but +the strongly religious disposition of the inventor leaves no doubt +concerning the nature of the labors to which he devoted the +first-fruits of his art. They were, to a certainty, religious books. +The art invented for the sake of God, and by his inspiration, began +with his worship. His later publications at Mainz are a proof of it; +the divine songs of the Psalmist, and the celebrated Latin Bible, were +the first works issued at Mainz from the machine invented by +Gutenberg, and applied to the use of the most sacred powers of man, +lyrical praise of his Maker, and lamentation for the woes of earth. +Under the hands of this pious and unfortunate man, praise and prayer +were the first voices of the press. The press ought ever to be proud +of it.</p> + +<a id="img051" name="img051"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img051.jpg" width="600" height="453" alt="" title=""> +<p>Gutenberg's Invention.</p></div> + +<p>But great tribulation awaited him after his triumph. We have seen that +the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page127" name="page127"></a>(p. 127)</span> necessity of procuring funds obliged him to take +partners. The necessity that subsequently arose of getting assistance +for the multifarious labor of a great printing establishment obliged +him to confide his occupation, and even the secret of his process, to +his partners and to a number of workmen. His partners, tired of +supplying funds to an enterprise which, for want of perfection, was +not then remunerative, refused to persevere in the ungrateful +occupation. Gutenberg begged them not to abandon him at the very +moment that fortune and glory were within his grasp. They consented to +make fresh advances, but only on condition of sharing completely his +secret, his profits, his property, and his fame.</p> + +<p>He sold his fame to procure success to his work. The name of Gutenberg +disappeared. The firm absorbed the inventor, who soon became a mere +workman in his own workshop. It was a parallel to the case of +Christopher Columbus brought back in irons on board his own vessel, by +a crew to whom he had opened a new world.</p> + +<p>This was not all. The heirs of one of the partners brought an action +against him to contest his invention, his property, and his right of +carrying on the work. They compelled him to appear before the judges +at Strasburg, to make him submit to some more complete and more legal +spoliation than the voluntary abandonment he had himself acknowledged. +His perplexity before the court was extreme. To justify himself, it +was necessary to enter into all the technical details of his art, +which he did not as yet wish to make completely public, reserving to +himself, at least, the secret of his hopes. The judges, being +inquisitive, pressed him with insidious questions, the answers to +which would have exposed the secret of all his processes. He evaded +them, preferring an adverse decision to the publication of his art. To +succeed in penetrating the secret of the discovery which filled +people's imaginations, the judges summoned his most confidential +workmen, and required them to give evidence of what they knew. These +men, simple-minded, yet faithful and strongly attached to Gutenberg, +refused to reveal anything. Their master's secret was safer in their +hearts than in the breasts of his more grasping associates. None of +the great mysteries of the art transpired. Gutenberg, ruined, +condemned, perhaps banished, retired alone and in poverty to Mainz, +his native place, to recommence his labors and begin his life and fame +anew.</p> + +<p>He was still young, and the report of his lawsuit at Strasburg had +made his fame known all over Germany, but he returned a workman to a +city which he had quitted as a knight. Humiliation, poverty, and glory +contended with each other in his fate and in the behavior of his +fellow-citizens. Love alone recognized him for what he had been, and +for what he was one day to become.</p> + +<p>On his return to Mainz, having been relieved from degradation and ruin +by the woman he loved, as Mohammed was by his first wife, Gutenberg +gave himself entirely up to his art, entered into partnership with +Faust and Schœffer, Faust's son-in-law; established offices at +Mainz, and published, still under the name of the firm, Bibles and +Psalters, of remarkable perfection of type.</p> + +<p>Schœffer had for a long time carried on the business of a +scrivener, and a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page128" name="page128"></a>(p. 128)</span> trade in manuscripts in Paris. His travels, +and his intimacy with the artists of that town, had made him +acquainted with mechanical processes for working in metals, which he +adapted, on his return to Mainz, to the art of printing. These new +means enabled him to cast movable leaden types in a copper matrix, +with greater precision than before, and thus to give great neatness to +the letters. It was by this new process that the Psalter, the first +book bearing a date, was printed in 1457. Soon afterward the Mainz +Bible, recognized as a masterpiece of art, was produced under the +direction of Gutenberg, from types founded by Peter Schœffer's +process.</p> + +<p>The tendency of the new art, which began by cheapening sacred books +under the auspices of the Church alone, escaped, during the first +years of its existence, the notice of the Roman court, which saw an +auxiliary in what it afterward considered as an opponent.</p> + +<p>"Among the number of blessings which we ought to praise God for having +vouchsafed during your pontificate," says a dedication in the time of +Paul II., "is this invention, which enables the poorest to procure +libraries at a low price. Is it not a great glory to your Holiness, +that volumes which used to cost <i>one hundred pieces of gold</i> are now +to be bought for four, or even less, and that the fruits of genius, +heretofore the prey of the worms and buried in dust, begin under your +reign to arise from the dead, and to multiply profusely over all the +earth?"</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Faust the banker, and Schœffer the workman, Gutenberg's +new partners, were not long in giving way, like his former partner, +one Mentel or Metelin at Strasburg, to the temptation of absorbing by +degrees Gutenberg's glory, the most tempting of all possessions, +because of its immortality. Like many others, they hoped to deceive +posterity, if not their own contemporaries. After recognizing, in the +Epistle Dedicatory prefixed to the German translation of Livy, printed +by Hans Schœffer, and addressed to the Emperor Maximilian, "that +the art of printing was invented at Mainz by that sublime mechanician +Hans von Gutenberg," they forgot this confession, and seven years +later assumed to themselves all the merit and honor of the discovery.</p> + +<p>A short time afterward, the Emperor Maximilian, erecting the printers +and compositors into a species of intellectual priesthood, relieved +them by the nobility of their occupation from all degradation of rank. +He ennobled the art and the artists together; he authorized them to +wear robes embroidered with gold and silver, which nobles only had a +right to wear, and gave them for armorial bearings an eagle with his +wings spread over a globe, a symbol of the flight of written thoughts, +and of its conquest of the world.</p> + +<p>But Gutenberg was no longer upon earth to enjoy the possession of that +intellectual world, religious and political, of which he had only had +a glimpse, like Moses, in the vision of his dream in the monastery of +St. Arbogast. Despoiled by his partners of his property and of his +fame; expelled again, and for the last time, from his country by +poverty, his only consolation being that he was followed by his wife, +who remained faithful through all his troubles; deprived by death of +all his children; advanced in years, without bread, and soon +afterward, by his <span class="pagenum"><a id="page129" name="page129"></a>(p. 129)</span> wife's decease, a widower, he was received +by the Elector of Nassau, the generous Adolphus. The elector created +him his counsellor of state and chamberlain, in order to enjoy in an +honorable familiarity the conversation of this surpassing genius, who +was afterward to hold converse with all times and all places. This +shelter afforded to Gutenberg sheds everlasting lustre on Nassau and +its prince. We meet in history with instances where a generous +hospitality has given happiness and immortal fame to the most +insignificant potentates and to the smallest of states.</p> + +<p>Gutenberg continued printing with his own hands, at Nassau, under the +eyes of his Mæcenas, the elector, during several years of peace and +quiet. He died at the age of sixty-eight, leaving his sister no +inheritance, but bequeathing to the world the empire of the human +mind, discovered and achieved by a workman.</p> + +<p>"I bequeath," he says in his will, "to my sister all the books which I +printed at the monastery of St. Arbogast." The poor inventor's only +legacy to his surviving relative was the common property of almost all +inventors like himself—wasted youth, a persecuted life, a name +aspersed, toil, watchings, and the oblivion of his contemporaries.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>WILLIAM CAXTON<br> + +(1412-1491)</h3> + + +<a id="img052" name="img052"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img052.jpg" width="250" height="350" alt="William Caxton." title=""> +</div> + +<p>William Caxton, to whom England owes the introduction of printing, was +born, according to his own statement, in the Weald of Kent. Of the +date of his birth nothing is known with certainty, though Oldys places +it in 1412. Lewis and Oldys suppose that between his fifteenth and +eighteenth years he was put apprentice to one Robert Large, a mercer +or merchant of considerable eminence, who was afterward, successively, +sheriff and lord mayor of London, and who upon his death, in 1441, +remembered Caxton in his will by a legacy of 20 marks. Caxton at this +time had become a freeman of the Company of Mercers. His knowledge of +business, however, induced him, either upon his own account or as +agent of some merchant, to travel to the Low Countries for a short +time. In 1464 we find him joined in a commission with one Robert +Whitehill, to continue and confirm a treaty of trade and commerce +between Edward IV. and Philip, Duke of Burgundy; or if they find it +necessary, to make a new one. They are styled in it ambassadors +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page130" name="page130"></a>(p. 130)</span> and special deputies. This commission at least affords a +proof that Caxton had acquired a reputation for knowledge of business. +Seven years afterward Caxton describes himself as leading a life of +ease, when, "having no great charge or occupation," he set about +finishing the translation of Raoul le Fevre's "Recueil des Histoires +de Troye," which he had commenced two years before, in 1469. The +original was the first book he printed, and this translation the +third. Of Caxton's pursuits and travels abroad, we know little more +than that in his peregrinations he confined himself, for the most +part, to the countries of Brabant, Flanders, Holland, and Zealand, and +finally entered into the service, or at least the household, of +Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, who encouraged him to finish his +translation of Le Fevre's "History of Troy," assisted him with her +criticisms upon his English, and amply rewarded him upon the +completion of his labor. From the prologues and epilogues of this work +we discover that he was now somewhat advanced in years, and that he +had learnt to exercise the art of printing, but by what step he had +acquired this knowledge cannot be discovered; his types only show that +he acquired it in the Low Countries. He does not appear to have seen +any of the beautiful productions of the Roman, Venetian, and Parisian +presses before he had caused his own font of letters to be cut.</p> + +<p>The original of Raoul's "History," the "Oration of John Russell on +Charles, Duke of Burgundy, being created a Knight of the Garter," and +the "Translation" of Raoul, were, as far as we know, Caxton's first +three works; the last finished in 1471. A "Stanza," by Wynkyn de +Worde, notices an edition of "Bartholomœus, de Proprietatibus +Rerum," as printed by Caxton at Cologne (about 1470), but the actual +existence of this edition is unknown. Nor has more certain information +yet been obtained of the exact period of Caxton's return to his native +country. The usual supposition has been that he brought the art of +printing into England in 1474, and this date is indicated by the +figures which are united in the centre of his device as a printer. In +1477, however, he had undoubtedly quitted the Low Countries and taken +up his residence in the vicinity of Westminster Abbey, where and in +which year he printed his "Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers." +Stowe says he first exercised his business in an old chapel near the +entrance of the abbey; but a very curious placard, a copy of which, in +Caxton's largest type, is now at Oxford in the late Mr. Douce's +library, shows that he printed in the Almonry. It is as follows: "If +it plese any man spirituel or temporel to bye ony Pyes of two and thre +comemoracions of Salisburi vse emprynted, after the forme of this +present lettre whiche ben wel and truly correct, late hym come to +Westmonester in to the Almonesrye at the reed pole and he shal have +them good chepe. Supplico stet cedula." According to Bagford, Caxton's +office was afterward removed to King Street.</p> + +<a id="img053" name="img053"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img053.jpg" width="600" height="467" alt="" title=""> +<p>The First Sheet from Caxton's Press.</p></div> + +<p>From the evidence of Wynkyn de Worde, in the colophon of his edition +of "Vitæ Patrum," 1495, it appears that these "Lives of the Fathers" +were "translated out of French into English by William Caxton, of +Westminster, lately dead," and that he finished the work "at the last +day of his life." His death, however, seems fixed, by two or three +entries in the parish accounts of St. Margaret, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page131" name="page131"></a>(p. 131)</span> +Westminster, to the year 1491 or 1492, in which we read, "Item: atte +bureyng of William Caxton for iiij, torches vj<sup>s</sup> viij<sup>d</sup>. Item: for the +belle at same Bureyng vj<sup>d</sup>." Wynkyn de Worde no doubt referred to this +time.</p> + +<p>Caxton, Mr. Warton observes, by translating, or procuring to be +translated, a great number of books from the French, greatly +contributed to promote the state of literature in England. In regard +to his types, Mr. Dibdin says he appears to have made use of five +distinct sets, or fonts, of letters, which, in his account of Caxton's +works, he has engraved plates in fac-simile. Edward Rowe Mores, in his +"Dissertation upon English Typographical Founders and Foundries," says +Caxton's letter was originally of the sort called Secretary, and of +this he had two fonts; afterward he came nearer to the English face, +and had three fonts of Great Primer, a rude one which he used anno +1474, another something better, and a third cut about 1482; one of +Double Pica, good, which first appears 1490; and one of Long Primer, +at least nearly agreeing with the bodies which have since been called +by those names. All of Caxton's works were printed in what are called +black letter.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9" title="Go to footnote 9"><span class="small">[9]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">A. R. Spofford, LL.D.</span><br> + +(1436-1506)</h3> + + +<a id="img054" name="img054"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img054.jpg" width="250" height="271" alt="Christopher Columbus." title=""> +</div> + +<p>The discovery and the discoverer of America have furnished an almost +inexhaustible theme for the critic, the biographer, and the historian. +In the year 1892 there was celebrated an event which has come by +common consent to be regarded as a world-famous epoch, worthy to be +held in everlasting remembrance. We commemorated the man whose +discovery almost doubled the extent of the habitable globe.</p> + +<p>The life, the voyages, the brilliant triumphs, and the mournful end of +Columbus are already familiar to most readers. To recount them at +length would be here a needless repetition. Let us rather attempt to +glance at some of the historic disputes involving the character and +acts of the great discoverer, to sketch briefly the sources of +information about him, and to characterize some of the more important +writings upon the subject.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page132" name="page132"></a>(p. 132)</span> There is no lack of biographical material concerning the +discoverer of America. He has left memorials of his personality and +life-history more abundant than most of the men who have influenced +their age. There are more than sixty authentic letters of Columbus in +existence. There are long narratives of his expeditions and +discoveries, by persons who knew him more or less intimately. There is +an extended biography of him written by his own son, Ferdinand +Columbus, or from materials furnished by him. There are numerous +documents and state papers authenticating his acts, his privileges, +and his dignities. And yet, with all the wealth of material, so +copious upon his character and his career, it would seem, from recent +developments, that the true discoverer of America is yet to be +discovered.</p> + +<p>Among the many lives of Columbus that have been written, there exist +some twenty-five in the English language. Of these two or three only +have any historical or critical value. The mass of biographies, both +English and American, are mere echoes or abridgments, in other forms +of language, of the great work of Washington Irving, first published +in 1828. This book was written in Spain, and based upon collections of +documents (manuscript and printed) not previously used by biographers. +Hence its value as the most copious and systematic life of Columbus +which had appeared in any language. The finished and graceful style +which characterizes all the works of its accomplished author gave it a +high place in literature, which it has maintained for more than half a +century, being constantly reprinted.</p> + +<p>Next in point of time to Irving, though treating Columbus with less +fulness of detail, came the polished historian Prescott, whose +"History of Ferdinand and Isabella" was published in 1837. This ardent +and laborious scholar was, like Irving, constitutionally inclined to +the optimistic view of his leading characters. To magnify the virtues +and to minimize the faults of their heroes has always been the +besetting sin of biographers. The pomp and picturesque circumstance of +the Spanish court, the splendid administrative abilities of Ferdinand, +the beauty, amiability, and devoted piety of Isabella, are depicted in +glowing colors, but the crimes and cruelties which they sanctioned, +while condemned upon one page, are softly extenuated upon others. +Columbus appears as a romantic figure in history, the glory of whose +successful discovery atones for his many failings.</p> + +<p>Of the original sources of information about Columbus the most +important are:</p> + +<p>1. The great collection of original documents printed in Spanish by +Navarrete, in 1825-37, in five volumes, and partly reprinted in a +French translation in 1828. These contain the precious letters of +Columbus, many of which have been translated and recently published in +English.</p> + +<p>2. The "Historia general de las Indias," of Oviedo, first published in +1535.</p> + +<p>3. The "Historia de las Indias," of the Spanish Bishop Las Casas, +composed in 1527 to 1561, which remained in manuscript until 1875, +when it was printed from the original Spanish.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page133" name="page133"></a>(p. 133)</span> 4. The "Letters and the Decades of Peter Martyr," written in +part contemporaneously with the discovery of America, and printed in +Latin in 1530, and in English in 1555.</p> + +<p>5. The "Historia de las Reyes Catolicos," of Andres Bernaldez.</p> + +<p>6. The "Life of the Discoverer," by Ferdinand Columbus, first +published in 1571 at Venice, in Italian.</p> + +<p>The last five writers had personal knowledge or intercourse with +Columbus, while Las Casas, Oviedo, and Ferdinand had the advantage of +residence in America, and intimate knowledge of the aborigines, and of +the men and events of the period.</p> + +<p>Almost every item involved in the checkered and eventful life of +Columbus has afforded a fruitful theme for controversy. His birth, +even, is disputed, under stress of evidence, as falling anywhere +between 1435 and 1447—a discrepancy of twelve years. His birthplace +is claimed by more towns than that of Homer, although his own +statement, that he was a native of Genoa, has met general concurrence. +His knowledge of geography, astronomy, and navigation is asserted and +denied with various degrees of pertinacity. His treatment by the +sovereigns of Portugal, Castile, and Aragon is so far in question that +irreconcilable differences of opinion exist. How much Columbus really +owed to the aid of the crown, and how much to private enterprise, in +fitting out his expeditions of discovery, cannot be definitely +ascertained. How far he was hindered by the bigotry, or helped by the +enlightenment of powerful ecclesiastics, as at the council of +Salamanca, is a theme of perennial controversy.</p> + +<p>The island where he first landed is so far from being identified, that +many books have been written to prove the claims of this, that, or the +other gem of the sea to be the true land-fall of Columbus. His +treatment of the natives has been made the subject of unsparing +denunciation and of undiscriminating eulogy. His conduct toward his +own, often mutinous, crews is alternately lauded as humane and +generous, or denounced as arrogant and cruel, according to the +sympathies or the point of view of the critic. His imprisonment and +attempted disgrace have been made the theme of indignant comment and +of extenuating apology. His moral character and marital relations are +subjects of irreconcilable differences of judgment. His deep religious +bias, so manifest in nearly all his writings, has been praised as a +mark of exalted merit by some writers, and stigmatized by others as +cant and superstition. The last resting-place of his bones, even, is +in doubt, which it required an elaborate investigation by the Royal +Academy of History of Madrid to solve in favor of Havana, as against +the cathedral of Santo Domingo; though its report is still +controverted, and M. A. Pinart has proved to the satisfaction of many +that a misprision took place and that the true remains of Columbus +still rest at Santo Domingo. The movement to canonize the great +discoverer has been championed with more zeal than discretion by some +over-ardent churchmen, while the too-evident human frailties of the +proposed candidate for the honors of sainthood have inspired an +abundant caution in the councils of the Vatican.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page134" name="page134"></a>(p. 134)</span> On a subject fraught with so much inherent difficulty, +contradictory evidence, and conflict of opinion, he is on the safest +ground who candidly holds his judgment in reserve. In the light of the +keenly-sifted evidence which modern critical study has brought to +bear, the laudatory judgments of Irving and Prescott, rendered sixty +years ago, cannot stand wholly approved.</p> + +<p>Neither can a discerning reader accept the fulsome laudations of his +principal French biographer, Roselly de Lorgues, whose rhetorical +panegyrics and pious eulogies place its author in the front rank of +the canonizers.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, those who have taken the unfavorable view of +Columbus, have done their utmost to divest him of most of the honors +which the general voice of history has assigned him as America's +greatest discoverer. The established fact that parts of North America +were seen centuries before, though no permanent settlement nor +continuity of intercourse ensued, has been used to discredit him, +though he was undeniably the pioneer who set out with a plan to +discover, and did discover by design, what others found only by +accident. His geographical ideas were derived, they say, from Behaim +and Toscanelli; his nautical skill from Pinzon; his certainty of +finding new lands from Alonzo Sanchez; his courage and daring from +some of his fellow-voyagers.</p> + +<p>We are pointed to his double reckoning on his first voyage, by which +he deceived his sailors as to their true distance from Spain, as +evidence of a false nature. He is charged with ambition, cupidity, and +arrogance, in demanding titles, dignities, and money as fruits of his +discoveries. He was, we are told, a fanatic, a visionary, a tyrant, a +buccaneer, a liar, and a slave-trader. He was proud, cruel, and +vindictive.</p> + +<p>What manner of man, then, was this Columbus, with whose name the trump +of fame has been busy so long? As to his person, we have no verified +portrait, while the likenesses (of all periods) claiming to represent +his features, present irreconcilable differences. But here is the +description of him given by Herrera: "Columbus was tall of stature, +long-visaged, of a majestic aspect, his nose hooked, his eyes gray, of +a clear complexion, somewhat ruddy. He was witty and pleasant, +well-spoken and eloquent, moderately grave, affable to strangers, to +his own family mild. His conversation was discreet, which gained him +the affection of those he had to deal with, and his presence attracted +respect, having an air of authority and grandeur. He was a man of +undaunted courage and high thoughts, patient, unmoved in the many +troubles and adversities that attended him, ever relying on the Divine +Providence." Gomara describes him as "a man of good height, +strong-limbed, with a long countenance, fresh and rosy in aspect, +somewhat given to anger, hardy in exposure to fatigues."</p> + +<p>Benzoni says that Columbus was "a man of exalted intellect, of a +pleasant and ingenuous countenance."</p> + +<p>Bernaldez, the historian of Ferdinand and Isabella, who knew him +intimately in his later years, says "he was a man of very lofty +genius, and of marvellously honored memory."</p> + +<a id="img055" name="img055"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img055.jpg" width="600" height="418" alt="" title=""> +<p>Columbus ridiculed at the Council of Salamanca.</p></div> + +<p>With these personal characteristics, Columbus united a restless +spirit, a firm <span class="pagenum"><a id="page135" name="page135"></a>(p. 135)</span> will, and a singularly enthusiastic +temperament. The latter faculty gave him a consuming zeal for his +undertakings, which was as rare as it proved ultimately successful in +compassing his great discovery. He was discouraged by no rebuffs, +would take no denials. His motto seemed to be never to despair, and +never to let go. His spiritual nature was as remarkable as his +intellectual. Here, his imagination was the predominant faculty. He +firmly believed himself divinely commissioned to find out the Indies, +and to bring their inhabitants into the fold of the true faith. He had +early vowed to devote the profits of his enterprise, if successful, to +rescue the tomb of Christ from the infidels. Himself a devout son of +the Church, he fervently believed that he had miraculous aid on many +perilous occasions of his life. Humble before God, he was sufficiently +proud and independent before men. He insisted upon conditions with the +haughty sovereigns of Spain which they deemed exacting, but the high +views and tenacity of Columbus carried the day, and his own terms were +granted at last. He never forgot, in all his subsequent trials and +humiliations, that he was a Spanish admiral, and Viceroy of the +Indies.</p> + +<p>Such was the character of Columbus. Let us now look at his +environment, which in all men contributes so much to make or modify +character. Born in Genoa, the headquarters in that day of navigation, +Columbus early imbibed a passion for maritime affairs. His youthful +days and nights were given to the study of astronomy and of +navigation. He was a trained sailor and map-maker from his boyhood. He +brooded over the problems involved in the spherical form of the earth. +He caught up all the hints and allusions in classical and mediæval +writers that came in his way, of other lands than those already known. +The Atlantis of Plato, and the clear prediction in Seneca of another +world in the west, fired his imagination. He himself tells us that he +voyaged to the Ultima Thule of his day, which was Iceland, besides +various expeditions in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.</p> + +<p>The early fancies of isles in the western sea loomed up before his +eyes, and repeated themselves in his dreams. These visions were +heightened by that vague sense of wonder that is linked with the +unknown. No wonder, then, that Columbus, with a bent almost +preternatural toward the undiscovered regions of the globe, should +dream of new lands, new men, new scenery, and new wealth. But to his +vivid imagination dreams became realities, until he believed with all +the force of his ardent nature that he was divinely commissioned to be +a discoverer. Hitherto the Portuguese voyages familiar to Columbus had +only skirted the coast of Africa, and discovered the Cape Verde +Islands and the Azores. It was not till 1486, years after the idea of +his western voyage took firm root in his mind, that the Cape of Good +Hope was at last doubled by Vasco da Gama. All voyages prior to his +had been only tentative and brief, slowly creeping from headland to +headland, or else finding new islands by being drifted out of courses +long familiar to mariners.</p> + +<p>It was the supreme merit of Columbus that he was the first to cut +loose from one continent to find another, and to steer boldly across +an unknown sea, in <span class="pagenum"><a id="page136" name="page136"></a>(p. 136)</span> search of an unknown world. We need not +belittle (still less need we deny) the finding of Greenland and of +other parts of North America by the Norsemen in the ninth and tenth +centuries. We may hail Eric the Red and his stout son, Leif Ericson, +as pioneers in what may be termed coasting voyages of discovery. But +the story of America gains as little from these shadowy and abortive +voyages as civilization has gained from their fruitless results.</p> + +<p>On the first voyage of Columbus, he was more fortunate in the +uncertain elements which always affect sea voyages so overpoweringly +than in some of his later ones. His own vessel, with single deck, was +about ninety feet long, by a breadth of twenty feet. The Pinta, a +faster sailer, and the Nina (or "baby") were smaller caravels, and +without decks, commanded respectively by the brothers Martin and +Vicente Pinzon. The three vessels carried ninety persons, sailing +September 6, 1492, running first south to the Canaries, and then +stretching straight westward on the twenty-eighth parallel for what +the admiral believed to be the coast of Japan. Delightful weather +favored the voyagers, but when, on the tenth day out from Spain, the +caravels struck into that wonderful stretch of seaweed and grass, +known as the Sargasso Sea, fear lest they should run aground or soon +be unable to sail in either direction took possession of the crews. In +five days the caravels ran into smooth water again. But as their +distance from Spain grew greater, the spirit of protest and mutiny +grew louder. Columbus needed all of his invincible constancy and +firmness of purpose to quell and to animate his despairing crews. At +last, October 21, 1492—day ever memorable in the annals of this +world—the unknown land rose from the bosom of the water. It was named +by its pious discoverer San Salvador—Holy Saviour. The charm of +climate and of landscape enchanted all, and fear and despondency gave +way to delight and joy and the most extravagant anticipations. The +subsequent history of this first voyage, the wreck of the admiral's +flag-ship Santa Maria, the base desertion of Pinzon, and his baffled +attempt to forestall Columbus in the credit of the discovery, the +triumphal honors paid to the successful admiral, and the pope's bull +conferring upon Spain all lands west of a meridian one hundred leagues +from the Azores—all this is familiar to most readers. The actual +discoveries of the first voyage included Cuba and Hispaniola (or +Haiti), with some little islands of the Bahama group, of small +importance.</p> + +<p>On his second voyage Columbus found no difficulty in collecting +seventeen ships and 1,500 adventurers, so popular had the new way to +the Indies become when the way was once found. He set sail six months +after his return to Spain, or on September 15, 1493. He returned in +June, 1496, after three years of explorations, interrupted by a long +illness, and having discovered Jamaica, Porto Rico, Santa Cruz, +Antigua, Montserrat, Dominica, and Guadaloupe.</p> + +<p>The third voyage began May 30, 1498, and embraced six vessels and 200 +men. Columbus struck southwestward from the Cape Verde Islands and ran +nearly to the equator, into a region of torrid heat, discovering +Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, and the Gulf of Paria, and making his first +landing on the continent, at the Pearl Coast, near the mouth of the +Orinoco, in what is now Venezuela. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page137" name="page137"></a>(p. 137)</span> This voyage witnessed +many disasters—the rebellion of Roldan, the severe prostration of the +admiral by fever, and his seizure and imprisonment in chains by the +infamous Bobadilla.</p> + +<p>The fourth and last voyage of Columbus, with four small caravels and +150 men, was begun May 11, 1502. On this voyage he discovered +Martinique and the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Veragua, on the +mainland, returning to Spain, after untold disasters and miseries, on +November 7, 1504. Then followed the weary struggle of the infirm old +voyager to secure justice and a part of his hard-earned benefits from +the crown. But Isabella had died, and Ferdinand, under the influence +of the hard-hearted and cruel bigot, Fonseca, postponed all the claims +of Columbus. He who had given a world died in poverty, a suppliant for +the means of an honorable existence.</p> + +<p>It is easy enough for the writers of the nineteenth century to +criticise the actors of the fifteenth; and learned scholars, sitting +in luxurious easy-chairs in great libraries, can pass swift and severe +judgment upon the acts and motives of Columbus. But let them go back +four hundred years, and divest themselves of the bias which the +science of to-day unconsciously inspires; let them quit the age of +steam-engines, telegraphs, democratic governments, printing-presses, +and Sunday-schools; let them orient themselves, and become Spaniards +of 1492, instead of Americans of 1892; let them take the place of +Columbus—if they are gifted with imagination enough among their +manifold endowments to do it; let them think his thoughts, endure his +trials, cherish his resolves, encounter his rebuffs, overcome his +obstacles, launch out on his voyage, govern his mutinous crew, deal +with his savage and hostile tribes, combat the traitors in his camp, +suffer his shipwrecks, struggle with his disappointments, bear the +ignominy of his chains, see his visions, and pray his prayers.</p> + +<p>Behold him, launched on his uncertain voyage across the "sea of +darkness," in three little caravels, no larger than the modern yacht, +and far less seaworthy. Watch his devoted and anxious look, his +solitary self-communings, his all-night vigils under the silent stars. +See his motley crew, picked up at random in Palos streets, ignorant, +superstitious, and full of fears, dreading every added mile of the +voyage, and alarmed at the prevalent east winds which they thought +would never permit them to sail back to Spain; so that Columbus, on a +contrary head-wind springing up, thanked God with all the fervency of +his pious soul. Pursue his career in his later expeditions, hampered +by the mutinous vagabonds whom fate had thrust upon him as followers, +many of them desperadoes just out of jail. See his baffled endeavors +to maintain order and discipline among such a crew; to restrain their +excesses, curb their lawless acts of violence, and secure some +semblance of decency in their conduct toward the natives. Many of +them, we read, were so given over to idleness and sloth, that they +actually made the islanders beasts of burden, to carry them on their +backs. It is a most unhappy fact that the missionaries of the cross +were often accompanied by bands of miscreants, who wantonly broke +every commandment in the decalogue and trampled upon every precept of +the gospel. See him in his last voyage, beating about <span class="pagenum"><a id="page138" name="page138"></a>(p. 138)</span> the +rocks and shoals of an unknown archipelago, overtaken by West India +hurricanes, almost engulfed in waterspouts, scudding under bare poles +amid perilous breakers, blinded by lightning, deafened by incessant +peals of thunder, his crazy little barks tossed about like +cockle-shells in the raging waves, his anchors lost, his worm-eaten +vessels as full of holes as a honey-comb, two caravels abandoned, and +the two remaining run ashore at Jamaica, where Columbus built huts on +their decks to shelter his forlorn crew. See him stranded here, +pressed by hunger and want, visited by sickness and almost blindness, +burning with fever under the wilting, fiery heat of the tropics, +desolate, forsaken, infirm, and old. There he lay a whole year without +relief, until the cup of his misery was full.</p> + +<p>If Columbus was sometimes harsh and cruel, we are to remember that he +lived in an age when the most cruel and barbarous punishments were +common. There are numerous instances of his clemency both to natives +and to his revolted Spaniards, and he more than once jeopardized his +own life by sparing theirs. Among a treacherous and vindictive race, +many of whom were continually plotting for his overthrow, the admiral, +endowed with full power over the lives and acts of his followers, was +compelled to make examples of the worst, many of whom were criminals +released from the prisons of Spain. Like other fighters, he met +treachery with treachery, cruelty with cruelty. He had never learned +to love his enemies, nor to turn his cheek for the second blow. Show +us the man invested with absolute power, in that or in any former age, +who abused it less. Try him by the moral standards, not of our humane +and enlightened age, but by those of his own. Compared with the deeds +of darkness that were done by Bobadilla and Ovando, the governors who +replaced him, the reign of Columbus appears, even at its worst, to +have been mild and merciful.</p> + +<p>By the side of the atrocities and cruel massacres perpetrated under +Cortes in Mexico, and Pizarro in Peru, the few deeds of blood under +Columbus appear slight indeed. While we have no right to extenuate his +errors and his abuses, we have as little right to hold him to a +standard nowhere set up in his day. He had learned his ethics in a +school which taught that, for great and pious objects, the end +justified the means. In the ardor of his zeal for what he deemed the +Christian faith, Columbus committed many glaring mistakes and errors; +but what over-zealous apostle or reformer has failed to do the same? +Columbus was unduly eager after gold, they say; but in our advanced +age, when that which Virgil called "the accursed hunger for gold" +pervades all ranks, and our cities are nothing but great encampments +of fortune-hunters, does it lie in our mouths to condemn him?</p> + +<p>The age of Columbus took him as he was—all full of human +imperfections and frailties, but full also to overflowing with a great +idea, and with a will, a perseverance, a constancy, and a faith so +sublime, as fairly to conquer every obstacle, after a weary struggle +of eighteen years, and to carry forward his arduous enterprise to +triumphant success. That the great discoverer failed as a governor and +administrator makes nothing against his merits as a discoverer. That +his light at last went out in darkness—that the world he discovered +brought nothing to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page139" name="page139"></a>(p. 139)</span> Spain but disappointment and Dead Sea +ashes—that he dragged out a miserable old age in rotten and +unseaworthy ships, lying ill in the torrid heats of the West Indies, +racked with excruciating pain, and in absolute penury and want—all +this but adds point to a life so full of paradox that we may almost +pardon him for believing in miracles. After so much glory and so much +fame, his life darkened down to its dreary and pathetic close. His +ardent soul went at last where wicked governments cease from +troubling, and weary mariners are at rest. On May 20, 1506, worn out +by disease, anxieties, and labors, the great discoverer launched forth +on his last voyage of discovery, beyond the border of that unknown +land whose boundaries are hid from mortal ken.</p> + +<p>His place among the immortals is secure. By the power of the +unconquerable mind with which nature had endowed him, he achieved a +fame so imperishable that neither the arrows of malice, nor the shafts +of envy, nor the keenest pens of critics, nor the assaults of +iconoclasts can avail to destroy it.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig007" name="sig007"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig007.jpg" width="300" height="77" alt="Author signature. A. R. Spofford." title=""> +</div> + + + +<h3>VASCO DA GAMA<a id="footnotetag10" name="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10" title="Go to footnote 10"><span class="small">[10]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Judge Albion W. Tourgée</span><br> + +(1460-1525)</h3> + + +<a id="img056" name="img056"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img056.jpg" width="200" height="254" alt="Vasco da Gama." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Vasco da Gama was the pet of fortune. Never did a man win immortality +more easily. As a discoverer and a navigator he should rank not only +below Columbus, but also below Bartolemeo Diaz and Cabral among his +own countrymen, as well as Vespucius and Magellan, who carried the +Spanish flag, and the Cabots, who established England's claim to the +most important portions of the New World. As a commander, an +administrator, and ruler of newly discovered regions, however, he +ranks easily above them all. He not only led the way to India, but +laid securely the foundations of Portuguese empire in the East.</p> + +<p>Even in the hour of his birth he was fortunate. Prince Henry, surnamed +"the Navigator," to whose indefatigable exertions for more than forty +years was due that impulse to maritime achievement of which the +discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were the result, +had just died, and his influence hung like an inspiration over the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page140" name="page140"></a>(p. 140)</span> little kingdom for which he had wrought with such +self-denying patience. This grandson of John of Gaunt has received +scant credit for that wonderful series of discoveries by which the +accessible earth was more than quadrupled in extent. Yet without him, +there is no reason to believe that either the coast of Africa would +have been explored, the Cape of Good Hope passed, or the American +continents discovered for a century, at least, perhaps for two or +three centuries afterward. He was the father of discovery, and it was +his hand more than any or all others that rolled up the curtain of +darkness which hid the major part of the habitable globe. All the +navigators and discoverers of that marvellous age were but the agents +of his genius and the creatures of his indefatigable exertion.</p> + +<p>The son of the most noted sovereign of Portugal, and grandson of that +rugged Englishman from whose loins have sprung so many royal lines, he +was fitted by descent and training for the heroic part which he +performed. Distinguished for military achievement before he had come +to man's estate, urged by four of the leading sovereigns of Europe to +take command of their armies, and made Grand Master of the Order of +Christ before he was twenty-five, there is hardly any limit to the +military distinction he might have won or the power he might have +secured, had he sought his own advancement.</p> + +<p>But he gave himself to Portugal, and determined to raise the little +kingdom his father had so gallantly held against jealous and powerful +neighbors, to the rank of a first-class power. To seek to enlarge a +realm shut in by mountains on one side and the sea upon the other, by +constant strife with embittered enemies, he saw at once was to invite +annihilation. The sea afforded the only avenue of hope, the continent +of Africa, where his father had already gained something from the +Moor, in battling with whom he had himself won renown, the only +visible opportunity. So he determined to explore, and finally, to +circumnavigate Africa, and give to Portugal whatever of power or +wealth the ocean or the dark continent might hide. He believed that +India might be reached by sailing round its southern extremity, and he +determined to pour the wealth of the Orient into the treasury of the +kingdom his father had established.</p> + +<p>In 1418, therefore, he turned his back on personal ambition, laid +aside the glory of military renown, and sat himself down to a hermit's +life and a scholar's labors on the promontory of Sagres, in the +province of Algarve, that point on the coast of Portugal which +stretches farthest out into the Atlantic in the direction of his hope. +Here he built an observatory whose light was the last his captains saw +as they went forth, and the first to greet them on their return. Here +he opened a school of navigation, and here were trained the +discoverers who opened the way for all who came afterward. Here was +not only nourished the impulse which fired the hearts of Columbus and +his contemporaries, but here was taught the science and here were +gathered the facts which enabled them to achieve success.</p> + +<p>Up to that time, Cape Nun had been the boundary of the modern world to +the southward. With infinite patience, Prince Henry labored to +convince his captains that the terrors which they thought lay at the +southward of this point were wholly imaginary. Little by little his +caravels crept down the coast of Africa. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page141" name="page141"></a>(p. 141)</span> Every year he sent +out two or three. Navigators and geographers flocked to his service. +In two years he re-discovered Madeira and Porto Santo, of which latter +he afterward made Perestrello, the father of Columbus's wife, the +governor. By 1433 his ships had reached Cape Bojador; eight years +afterward they passed Cape Blanco; in 1445 they were at the mouth of +the Senegal. Still he urged them on toward that "<i>thesaurus Arabum et +divitia Indiæ</i>," to which he set himself the task of opening up the +way. The crown of Portugal assumed all the cost of these expeditions. +Gold, ivory, cinnabar, dye-woods, spices, and slaves, added to the +wealth of the kingdom only to furnish forth new ventures.</p> + +<p>He died before the end came, but not until many of the most important +problems of cosmographic condition had been solved. It was known by +actual experience that the "steaming sea" was a myth. Ships had +crossed the equator, and their crews came back to tell of +southward-stretching shadows. Ships were able, it was seen, to sail up +the southern slope of the world as well as down it. Why they did not +fall off into space, none knew, but that they did not was proved. +Gravitation was a force whose laws and character were yet +unformulated. The diurnal motion of the earth was hardly suspected +until a hundred years later. But the facts on which these two +fundamental truths are based were being gathered for Newton and +Copernicus. When he died, those whom he had inspired and instructed +continued the work to which he had devoted himself, under the +patronage of his brother Alfonso and his nephew João II.; until, in +1486, Bartholomeo Diaz had sailed two hundred miles to the eastward of +the Cape of Good Hope and returned to assure his sovereign that the +way to India had at length been found.</p> + +<p>It was not, however, until Dom Manoel had succeeded to the throne, in +1495, that any successful effort was made to follow up the success +which Diaz had achieved. The way to India was indeed open, but no one +seems to have had sufficient fortitude to undertake so long a voyage +in order to reach it by that route. Dom Manoel had, however, but one +idea. He was not a geographer like his predecessor, João, "the +perfect," but he was a man of action, and determined that the route +Prince Henry's navigators had opened to India should not remain +unused. Vasco da Gama was then in his thirty-fifth year, the +handsomest man of his age, of ancient family, and it is claimed was +not without royal blood in his veins. As a soldier he was trained in +the war with Castile; as a navigator he had served under Prince +Henry's best captains. Camoens, the historical poet of Portugal, +declares that he was familiar not only with the recorded achievements +of his predecessors, but with all the regions they had discovered. Dom +João, on the return of Diaz, selected him to command the fleet he +meant to send to follow up this discovery. In the ten years that +elapsed before he actually sailed, it is probable that he had grown to +be not only a better geographer, but also a stronger, more +cool-headed, and reliable man. That he was able to command, those +mutineers who cavilled at his severity during the stormy passage of +four months from Lisbon to Table Bay, found out when they demanded +that he give up trying to reach India and return to Portugal as other +captains had done, at the behest of their crews. He made short work +of them, and in his whole career, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page142" name="page142"></a>(p. 142)</span> so salutary was the lesson, +no one under his command ever again refused to obey his orders.</p> + +<p>It was July 8, 1497, when he sailed from Lisbon, and it was not until +December 1st that he left Delagoa Bay, the farthest eastward point +which Diaz had reached, to pass over the actually unknown water that +lay between him and India. Even this could hardly be called "unknown +water," for Corvilhan, who a dozen years before had made his way +overland to Aden, had sent back to Dom João II. this message:</p> + +<p>"Anyone who will persist, is sure to sail around the southernmost +point of Africa, and can then easily make his way up the eastern shore +and across the gulf to India."</p> + +<p>Literally were his words fulfilled. With favoring breezes, Gama +reached Malinda early in January, 1498, and securing the services of +an Indian pilot, who had not only sailed hither from Calicut, but +seemed as familiar as Gama himself with compass and astrolabe, he set +out boldly across the Indian Ocean, and in May arrived at Calicut. +When we consider that this latter part of the voyage was with a pilot +accustomed to make the trip in the far more fragile crafts of the +Arabs, the boldness of the undertaking does not seem so apparent to +one of our day. Compared with the voyages of Columbus, Magellan, +Vespucius, or Cabral over absolutely unknown seas, without pilots or +charts of any kind, the passage from Aden to India hardly seems +remarkable. Yet upon this the fame of Gama as an explorer rests, and +as has been remarked, "few men have won fame so easily." His real +merit lay in the fact that he did what so few of his predecessors were +able to accomplish, controlled the mutinous crews, who had after all +been the most serious obstacle in the path of Portugal to the coveted +Indian possessions. It is probable that if Prince Henry had encouraged +his captains to exercise greater severity, the darling object of his +life might have been attained before his death and the birth of the +fortunate explorer, whose cheaply-won fame has obscured his own, even +with the king-loving Portuguese.</p> + +<p>It would seem as if the capacity to control men, which was so +prominent a characteristic of the "Discoverer of India," was not of a +conciliatory character, for the Zamorin of Calicut received him but +coldly, and before his ships were loaded the difference had ripened +into a quarrel, and he was obliged to cut his way out of the harbor to +begin his homeward voyage. This lack of complaisance on the part of +the Zamorin he attributed, not without reason, to the jealousy of the +Arab merchants, whose swift-sailing dhows crowded the port. Why should +they not be jealous of him who came to take away their immemorial +privilege? Theretofore the treasures of the Orient had reached the +western world only through the hands of the Arab merchants. The dhow +and the camel had been its carriers. Gama had brought the more +capacious caravel to bear them over a new highway to the western +consumers. His success meant the loss of a great part of the business +on which the sailors, merchants, and camel-drivers of Arabia depended +for a livelihood. Why should they not conspire to kill him and destroy +his fleet?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page143" name="page143"></a>(p. 143)</span> His homeward passage was as fortunate as the outward one had +been. That he did not experience the disasters which befell others, +was no doubt largely due to the fact that he foresaw and avoided peril +whenever possible. He was one of those men who, while shrinking from +no unavoidable danger, take no unnecessary risks. He was received with +unprecedented honors when, after two years and two months' absence, +his ships were again anchored in the Tagus. Their rich cargo attested +the rare value of the trade he had opened up. Despite the gold which +the miners of Española were beginning to send to Spain, and the pearls +which had come from Cubagua, the apparent value of the discoveries of +Columbus were as nothing to the boundless wealth which Gama's voyage +assured to Portugal. By the bull of Pope Alexander VI., all lands +discovered east of the meridian of the Azores belonged to the King of +Portugal. It was not only half the world, but that half which was of +most inexhaustible richness, Asia and Africa. Titles and honors and +wealth were conferred upon the fortunate explorer. In consideration +perhaps of his royal extraction, he was permitted to affix the kingly +title, "Dom," to his name. No wonder he was thus honored, when the +cargo of one small caravel loaded with spices, yielded a greater sum +than the whole outfit of the fleet Columbus commanded on his first +voyage!</p> + +<p>In an incredibly short time, thirteen ships were fitted out, and under +that prince of navigators, Cabral, set sail to secure the results of +Gama's discovery. On him, too, fortune smiled as it rarely has on them +that "go down to the sea in ships." Blown out of his course by +head-winds, his very mishaps ripened into the rarest fortune, for he +discovered Brazil, and thus added to his master's realm what was +destined to be one of the richest kingdoms of the world. With the +instinct of genius, and a courage as rare as it was heroic, he did not +return to notify his king of the new continent which had risen out of +the deep before him, but sending back a single caravel with the +marvellous news, he turned his battered prows to that point of the +compass where he judged the Cape of Good Hope to be, and after passing +three thousand miles of water that had never known a keel before, he +rounded the southern point of Africa and proceeded to carry out his +orders. He lacked, however, the soldierly qualities and administrative +power of the "Discoverer of India," who the year after his return was +sent out to complete his work. This time he had a fleet of twenty +sail, and from the outset was bent not only on taking permanent +possession of the countries whose trade it was desirable to secure, +but on avenging the affront that had before been offered him by the +Zamorin of Calicut and the Arab traders who had inspired the action.</p> + +<p>On his way he founded the colonies of Mozambique and Sofala, and +sailed to Travancore. During the passage he fell in with a ship which +was carrying many Indian Mussulmans to Mecca, laden with rich presents +for the shrine of the Prophet. This he pillaged and burned, with all +of her 300 passengers except twenty women and children, whom he saved +more for his own pleasure, no doubt, than from any pity for them. He +excused this act of savagery, so far as any excuse was necessary, on +the ground that they were paynim Moors, and some <span class="pagenum"><a id="page144" name="page144"></a>(p. 144)</span> among them +had incited the attack upon him at Calicut on his former voyage. The +truth is they were rich; he wanted the plunder; and there was less +likelihood of trouble if he killed them than if they were left alive +to publish and avenge their losses. It was merely an application of +the freebooter's maxim, that "dead men tell no tales."</p> + +<p>Arriving at Calicut, he found that forty Portuguese who had been left +to establish a permanent post, had been killed. With unusual +deliberation, he investigated the matter and demanded reparation, +submission, and a treaty acknowledging the sovereignty of Portugal +over India. This being refused, he bombarded the city, burned the +ships in the harbor, and compelled the Zamorin himself and all the +native princes of the region to submit and acknowledge themselves +feudatories of Portugal. So rapid were his movements, and so accurate +his calculations, that before the close of 1503 he had reached Lisbon +again with thirteen vessels laden to the gunwale with the plunder of +the Orient—by all odds the richest argosy that had come to any +European port since the days of the Romans.</p> + +<p>Da Gama was now forty-three years old, and must have been in the very +prime of manhood. Why so skilled a navigator, so intrepid a commander, +so shrewd a negotiator, and so successful an administrator, who had +established the power of Portugal from Delagoa Bay to Calcutta, +should, at that period of his life, have been laid upon the shelf for +twenty years, is a conundrum hard to answer. Knowing the character of +Dom Manoel, it is not difficult to guess that his sordidness lay +somewhere at the bottom of the trouble; but it is said to Gama's +credit, that he neither whined nor remonstrated.</p> + +<p>It must be admitted, however, that he was succeeded by one who was +greatly his superior both as a general, a statesman, and an +administrator. If Vasco da Gama laid the foundations of Portuguese +empire in the East, Alfonso d'Albuquerque, "the Great," broadened and +built upon them as he could never have done. From Aden to Cochin blood +flowed beneath his blows, but peace followed; and though he was termed +"the Portuguese Mars," his justice became traditional, and his +sagacity was shown in the permanence of the settlements he made, even +under the incompetent viceroys who followed him.</p> + +<p>It was twenty years since Vasco da Gama had commanded a ship. +Albuquerque was dead, and his successors had brought shame and defeat +upon the Portuguese power in the East. Dom Manoel was dead also, and +whatever grievance he had against "the Discoverer of India," seems to +have died with him. His successor, Dom João III., casting about for +someone to bring order out of confusion, success out of failure, and +honor out of shame, called again into his service the courtly and +sagacious mariner, now over sixty years of age; and conferring upon +him the title of viceroy, sent him to retrieve the prestige his +successors had lost. His high spirit was yet undaunted, and when he +neared the coast of India and found the waters in a strange ferment +for which no one could account, as there was neither wind nor tide, he +said loftily: "The sea beholds its conqueror and trembles before him!" +It sounds bombastic, but in the mouth of one who had first guided a +civilized keel over its surface, such arrogance is at least +pardonable.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page145" name="page145"></a>(p. 145)</span> In the few months that intervened before his death he made +the power of Portugal once more respected in the East. When he died in +Cochin, in 1525, he was mourned by the natives as a just ruler, and by +his countrymen as one who had saved to Portugal the richest part of +the national domain. It is not strange, therefore, that when his ashes +were conveyed to Lisbon, they were received with a pomp almost equal +to that which greeted him when he came as the discoverer of the Orient +and its priceless treasures. It is rare in history that one receives +two triumphs, the one while living and the other when dead, especially +in connection with the same achievement; but it is rarer still that +one who has won immortality should leave a record so singularly free +from bickering and strife as that of the dignified and self-contained +Portuguese rival of Columbus, Dom Vasco da Gama, the "Discoverer and +Sixth Viceroy of India, Count of Vidigueira," where he lies entombed. +Little is known of his private life; but there seems no doubt that it +was free from the stains that obscure his great rival's fame, from +whom he also differed in the fact that he neither begged nor boasted, +and in old age was honored even more than in his prime.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig008" name="sig008"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig008.jpg" width="300" height="83" alt="Author signature. Albion W. Tourgée." title=""> +</div> + + + +<h3>THE CHEVALIER BAYARD<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Herbert Greenhough Smith</span><br> + +(1476-1524)</h3> + + +<a id="img057" name="img057"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img057.jpg" width="300" height="170" alt="The Chevalier Bayard." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Pierre Du Terrail was born in 1476, at Castle Bayard, in Dauphiny. The +house of Terrail belonged to the Scarlet of the ancient peers of +France. The Lords of Bayard, during many generations, had died under +the flags of battle. Poictiers, Agincourt, and Montlhéry had taken, in +succession, the last three; and in 1479, when Pierre was in his +nurse's arms, his father, Aymon du Terrail, was carried from the field +of Guinegate with a frightful wound, from the effects of which, +although he survived for seventeen years to limp about his castle with +the help of sticks, he never again put on his shirt of mail.</p> + +<p>The old knight was thus debarred from bringing up his son as his own +squire. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page146" name="page146"></a>(p. 146)</span> But the Bishop of Grenoble, his wife's brother, was a +close friend of Charles the Warrior, the great Duke of Savoy. When +Pierre was in his fourteenth year it was proposed that he should begin +his knightly education among the pages of the duke. The bishop +promised to present him. A little horse was bought; a tailor was set +to work to make a gorgeous suit of silk and velvet; and Pierre was +ready to set out.</p> + +<p>During six months the palace of Charles became his home. The lovable +and handsome boy soon won all hearts about him. The duke with delight +saw him leap and wrestle, throw the bar, and ride a horse better than +any page about the court. The duchess and her ladies loved to send him +on their dainty missions. His temper was bright and joyous; his only +fault, if fault it can be called, was an over-generosity of nature. +His purse was always empty; and when he had no money, any trifling +service of a lackey or a groom would be requited with a silver button, +a dagger, or a clasp of gold. And such was to be his character through +life. Time after time, in after years, his share of treasure, after +some great victory, would have paid a prince's ransom; yet often he +could not lay his hand on five gold pieces.</p> + +<p>When Pierre had lived at the palace about half a year, the duke made a +visit to Lyons, to pay his duty to the king. That king was Charles the +Eighth, then a boy of twenty, who was making his days fly merrily with +tilts and hawking parties, and his nights with dances and the whispers +of fair dames. The duke desired to carry with him to his sovereign a +present worthy of a king's acceptance. A happy notion struck him. He +resolved to present the king with Bayard and his horse.</p> + +<p>King Charles, delighted with his new page, placed him in the palace of +Lord Ligny, a prince of the great house of Luxemburg, and there for +three years he continued to reside. During that time his training was +the usual training of a page. But the child was the father of the man. +Thoughts of great deeds, of tilts and battle-fields, of champions +going down before his lance, of crowns of myrtle, and the smiles of +lovely ladies—such already were the dreams which set his soul on +fire.</p> + +<p>At seventeen Pierre received the rank of gentleman. Thenceforward he +was free to follow his own fortune; he was free to seek the glorious +Dulcinea of his dreams—a fame as bright and sparkling as his sword. +And thereupon begins to pass before us, brilliant as the long-drawn +scenes of a dissolving view, the strange and splendid series of his +exploits. He had not ceased to be a page ten days before the court was +ringing with his name.</p> + +<p>Sir Claude de Vauldre, Lord of Burgundy, was regarded as the stoutest +knight in France. He was then at Lyons, and was about to hold a tilt, +with lance and battle-axe, before the ladies and the king. His shield +was hanging in the Ainay meadows, and beside it Montjoy, the +king-at-arms, sat all day with his book open, taking down the names of +those who struck the shield. Among these came Bayard. Montjoy laughed +as he wrote down his name; the king, Lord Ligny, and his own +companions, heard with mingled trepidation and delight <span class="pagenum"><a id="page147" name="page147"></a>(p. 147)</span> that +Bayard had struck the blazon of Sir Claude. But no one had a thought +of what was coming. The day arrived, the tilt was held, and Bayard, by +the voice of all the ladies, bore off the prize above the head of +every knight in Lyons.</p> + +<p>The glory of this exploit was extreme. It quickly spread. Three days +later Bayard went to join the garrison at Aire. He found, as he rode +into the little town, that the fame of his achievement had arrived +before him. Heads were everywhere thrust out of windows, and a band of +fifty of his future comrades issued on horseback from the garrison to +bid him welcome. A few days after his arrival he held a tilt in his +own person, after the example of Sir Claude. The palms were a diamond +and a clasp of gold. Forty-eight of his companions struck his shield, +and rode into the lists against him. Bayard overthrew the whole band, +one by one, and was once more hailed at sunset by the notes of +trumpets as the champion of the tourney.</p> + +<p>It is not in tournaments and tilts, however, that a knight can win his +spurs. Bayard burned for battle. For many months he burned in vain; +but at last the banners of the king were given to the wind, and +Bayard, to his unspeakable delight, found himself marching under Lord +Ligny against Naples.</p> + +<p>The two armies faced each other at Fornovo. The odds against the +French were six to one, and the fight was long and bloody. When the +great victory was at last decided, Bayard was among the first of those +called up before the king. That day two horses had dropped dead +beneath him; his cuirass and sword were hacked and battered, and a +captured standard, blazing with the arms of Naples, was in his hand. +At the king's order he knelt down, and received upon the spot the rank +of knight. At one bound he had achieved the height of glory—to be +knighted by his sovereign on the field of battle.</p> + +<p>Bayard was not yet nineteen. His figure at that age was tall and +slender; his hair and eyes were black; his complexion was a sunny +brown; and his countenance had something of the eagle's.</p> + +<p>He was now for some time idle. He was left in garrison in Lombardy. +But fiercer fields were soon to call him. Ludovico Sforza took Milan. +At Binasco, Lord Bernardino Cazache, one of Sforza's captains, had +three hundred horse; and twenty miles from Milan was Bayard's place of +garrison. With fifty of his comrades he rode out one morning, bent on +assaulting Lord Bernardino's force. The latter, warned by a scout of +their approach, armed his party, and rushed fiercely from the fort. +The strife was fought with fury; but the Lombards, slowly driven back +toward Milan, at length wheeled round their horses and galloped like +the wind into the city.</p> + +<p>Bayard, darting in his spurs, waving his bare blade, and shouting out +his battle-cry of "France," was far ahead of his companions. Before he +knew his danger, he had dashed in with the fugitives at the city gates +and reached the middle of the square in front of Sforza's palace. He +found himself alone in the midst of the fierce enemy—with the white +crosses of France emblazoned on his shield.</p> + +<p>Sforza, hearing a tremendous uproar in the square, came to a window of +the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page148" name="page148"></a>(p. 148)</span> palace and looked down. The square was swarming with the +soldiers of Binasco, savage, hacked, and bloody; and in the centre of +the yelling tumult, Bayard, still on horseback, was slashing at those +who strove to pull him from his seat.</p> + +<p>Sforza, in a voice of thunder, bade the knight be brought before him. +Bayard, seeing that resistance was mere madness, surrendered to Lord +Bernardino, and was led, disarmed, into the palace. Sforza was a +soldier more given to the ferocity than to the courtesies of war. But +when the young knight stood before him, when he heard his story, when +he looked upon his bold yet modest bearing, the fierce and moody +prince was moved to admiration. "Lord Bayard," he said, "I will not +treat you as a prisoner. I set you free; I will take no ransom; and I +will grant you any favor in my power." "My Lord Prince," said Bayard, +"I thank you for your courtesy with all my soul. I will ask you only +for my horse and armor." The horse was brought; Bayard sprang into the +saddle, and an hour later was received by his companions with raptures +of surprise and joy, as one who had come alive out of the lion's den.</p> + +<p>Milan fell; Sforza was taken; and Bayard went into garrison at +Monervino. At Andri, some miles distant, was a Spanish garrison under +the command of Don Alonzo de Sotomayor, one of the most famous knights +in Spain. Bayard, with fifty men, rode out one morning, in the hope of +falling in with some adventure. It happened that he came across +Alonzo, with an equal party, abroad on the same quest. Their forces +met; both sides flew joyously to battle, and for an hour the victory +hung in the balance. But at last Bayard, with his own sword, forced +Alonzo to surrender; and his party, carrying with them a large band of +prisoners, rode back in triumph to the garrison.</p> + +<p>Sotomayor behaved in most unknightly fashion, and after being +ransomed, accused Bayard of ill-treating him. Bayard sent him the lie, +and challenging him to a duel to the death, slew him. A few days +later, the Spaniards, panting for reprisal, proposed to meet a party +of the French in combat, for the glory of their nations. Bayard +received the challenge with delight. On the appointed day, thirteen +knights of either side, glittering in full harness, armed with sword +and battle-axe, and prepared for a contest to the death, rode forth +into the lists.</p> + +<p>By the laws of such a tilt a knight unhorsed, or forced across the +boundary, became a prisoner, and could fight no longer. The Spaniards, +with great cunning, set themselves to maim the horses; and by these +tactics, eleven of the French were soon dismounted. Two alone were +left to carry on the contest, Bayard and Lord Orose.</p> + +<p>Then followed such a feat of arms as struck the gazers dumb. For four +hours these two held good their ground against the whole thirteen. The +Spaniards, stung with rage and shame, spurred till their heels dripped +blood. In vain. Night fell; the bugles sounded; and still the +unconquerable pair rode round the ring.</p> + +<p>But great as this feat was, it was soon to be succeeded by a greater. +A few weeks afterward the French and Spanish camps were posted on +opposite sides of the river Gargliano. Between them was a bridge, in +the possession of the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page149" name="page149"></a>(p. 149)</span> French; and some way farther down the +river was a ford, known only to the Spanish general, Pedro de Paez. He +proposed to lure the French guards from the bridge, and then to seize +it. And his stratagem was ready.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning the French soldiers at the bridge were startled +to perceive a party of the enemy, each horseman bearing a foot-soldier +on his crupper, approach the river at the ford and begin to move +across it. Instantly, as Paez had intended, they left the bridge and +rushed toward the spot. Bayard, attended by Le Basque, was in the act +of putting on his armor. He sprang into the saddle, and was about to +spur after his companions, when he perceived, across the river, a +party of two hundred Spaniards making for the bridge. The danger was +extreme; for if the bridge were taken the camp itself would be in the +most deadly peril. Bayard bade Le Basque gallop for his life to bring +assistance. And he himself rode forward to the bridge, alone.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards, on seeing a solitary knight advance against them, +laughed loudly at his folly. Their foremost horsemen were already +half-way over when Bayard, with his lance in rest, came flying down +upon them. His onset swept the first three off the bridge into the +river, and instantly the rest, with cries of vengeance, rushed +furiously upon him. Bayard, not to be surrounded, backed his horse +against the railing of the bridge, rose up in his stirrups, swung his +falchion with both hands above his head, and lashed out with such fury +that, with every blow a bloody Spaniard fell into the river, and the +whole troop recoiled in wonder and dismay, as if before a demon. While +they still stood, half-dazed, two hundred glaring at one man, a shout +was heard, and Le Basque, with a band of horsemen, was seen +approaching like a whirlwind. In two minutes the Spaniards were swept +back upon the land in hopeless rout—and the French camp was saved.</p> + +<p>Bayard received for this great feat the blazon of a porcupine, with +this inscription, <i>Unus agminis vires habet</i>—"One man has the might +of armies."</p> + +<p>And still came exploit after exploit in succession—exploits of every +kind of fiery daring. At Genoa, when the town revolted, Bayard stormed +the fort of the insurgents, quelled the riot, forced the city to +surrender, and hanged the leader on a pole. At Agnadello, against the +troops of Venice, he waded with his men through fens and ditches, took +the picked bands of Lord d'Alvicino on the flank, scattered them to +the winds, and won the day. At Padua, during the long siege, he +scoured the country with his band of horse, and frequently rode back +to camp at nightfall with more prisoners than armed men. At Mirandola, +where he faced the papal armies, he laid a scheme to take the Pope +himself. A snowstorm kept the fiery Julius in his tent, and Bayard +lost him. A few days afterward the pontiff's life was in his hands. A +traitor offered, for a purse of gold, to poison the Pope's wine. But +it is not the Bayards of the world who fight with pots of poison; and +the slippery Judas had to fly in terror from the camp, or Bayard would +infallibly have hanged him.</p> + +<p>So far, amid his life of perils, Bayard had escaped without a wound. +But now his time had come.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page150" name="page150"></a>(p. 150)</span> Brescia was taken by the troops of Venice. Gaston de Foix, +the thunderbolt of Italy, marched with 12,000 men to its relief. +Bayard was among them. At the head of the storming-party he was first +across the ramparts, and was turning round to cheer his men to victory +when a pike struck him in the thigh. The shaft broke off, and the iron +head remained embedded in the wound.</p> + +<p>Two of his archers caught him as he fell, bore him out of the rush of +battle, and partly stanched the wound by stripping up the linen of +their shirts. They then bore him to a mansion close at hand. The +master of the house, who seems to have been a person of more wealth +than valor, had disappeared, and was thought to be hiding somewhere in +a convent, leaving his wife and his two daughters to themselves. The +girls had fled into a hay-loft, and plunged themselves beneath the +hay; but, on the thunderous knocking of the archers, the lady of the +house came trembling to the door. Bayard was carried in, a surgeon was +luckily discovered close at hand, and the pike-head was extracted. The +wound was pronounced to be not dangerous. But Bayard, to his great +vexation, found he was doomed to lie in idleness for several weeks.</p> + +<p>According to the laws of war, the house was his, and all the inmates +were his prisoners. And the fact was well for them. Outside the house +existed such a scene of horror as, even in that age, was rare. Ten +thousand men lay dead in the great square; the city was given up to +pillage, and it is said that the conquerors gorged themselves that day +with booty worth three million crowns. The troops were drunk with +victory and rapine. No man's life, no woman's honor, was in safety for +an instant.</p> + +<p>Bayard set his archers at the door-way. His name was a talisman +against the boldest; and in the midst of the fierce tumult that raged +all round it, the house in which he lay remained a sanctuary of peace.</p> + +<p>The ladies of the house were soon reassured. Bayard refused to regard +them as his prisoners or to take a coin of ransom. The daughters, two +lovely and accomplished girls, were delighted to attend the wounded +knight. They talked and sang to him, they touched the mandolin, they +woke the music of the virginals. In such society the hours flew +lightly by. The wound healed, and in six weeks Bayard was himself +again.</p> + +<p>On the day of his departure the lady of the house came into his +apartment, and besought him, as their preserver, to accept a certain +little box of steel. The box contained two thousand five hundred +golden ducats. Bayard took it. "But five hundred ducats," he said, "I +desire you to divide for me among the nuns whose convents have been +pillaged." Then, turning to her daughters, "Ladies," he said, "I owe +you more than thanks for your kind care of me. Soldiers do not carry +with them pretty things for ladies; but I pray each of you to accept +from me a thousand ducats, to aid your marriage portions." And with +that he poured the coins into their aprons.</p> + +<a id="img058" name="img058"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img058.jpg" width="400" height="581" alt="" title=""> +<p>Bayard taking Leave of The Ladies of Brescia.</p></div> + +<p>His horse was brought, and he was about to mount, when the girls came +stealing down the steps into the castle court, each with a little +present, worked by their own hands, which they desired him to accept. +One brought a pair of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page151" name="page151"></a>(p. 151)</span> armlets, made of gold and silver +thread; the other, a purse of crimson satin. And this was all the +spoil that Bayard carried from the inestimable wealth of Brescia—the +little keepsakes of two girls whom he had saved.</p> + +<p>The scenes of Bayard's life at which we have been glancing have been +chiefly those of his great feats of arms. And so it must be still; for +it is these of which the details have survived in history. And yet it +was such incidents as these at Brescia which made the fame of Bayard +what it was and what it is. To his foes, he was the flower of +chivalry; but to his friends, he was, besides, the most adored of men. +It is said that in his native province of Dauphiny, at his death, more +than a hundred ancient soldiers owed to him the roof that covered +their old age; that more than a hundred orphan girls had received +their marriage portions from his bounty. But of such acts the vast +majority are unrecorded; for these are not the deeds which shine in +the world's eye.</p> + +<p>Gaston de Foix was now before Ravenna. Bayard rode thither with all +speed; he was just in time. Two days after his arrival came the +battle. Weak though he still was from his long illness, Bayard on that +day was seen, as ever, "shining above his fellow-men." He turned the +tide of victory; he tore two standards from the foe with his own hand; +and he was first in the pursuit.</p> + +<p>Two months after, Bayard was at Pavia. The little troop with which he +was then serving had there sought refuge under Louis d'Ars. The armies +of the Swiss burst in upon them. Bayard, with a handful of soldiers in +the market-place, held, for two hours, their whole force at bay, while +his companions were retreating from the town across a bridge of boats. +As he himself was crossing, last of all, a shot struck him in the +shoulder, and stripped it to the bone. No surgeon was at hand. The +wound, roughly stanched with moss, brought on a fever, and for some +time he lay in danger of his life.</p> + +<p>And now Bayard was to follow a new master. Louis XII. died; Francis I. +received the crown; and Bayard, with the young king, marched to Milan, +which the Swiss had seized and held.</p> + +<p>On Thursday, September 13, 1515, King Francis pitched his camp at +Marignano, before the city of the spires. No danger of attack was +apprehended; the king sat calmly down to supper in his tent; when all +at once the Swiss, aroused to madness by the fiery eloquence of +Cardinal de Sion, broke like a tempest from the city, and fell upon +the camp. The French, by the red light of sunset, flew to arms, and +fought with fury till night fell. Both armies sat all night on +horseback, waiting for the dawn; and with the first streaks of +morning, flew again to battle. It was noon before the bitter contest +ended, and the Swiss, still fighting every inch of ground, drew slowly +back toward the city. It had been, indeed, as Trevulzio called it, a +Battle of the Giants. And the greatest of the giants had been Bayard +and the king.</p> + +<p>That evening Francis held, before his tent, the ceremony of creating +knights of valor. But before the ceremony began, a proclamation by the +heralds startled and delighted all the camp. Francis had determined to +receive the rank in his own person. Bayard was to knight the king!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page152" name="page152"></a>(p. 152)</span> In the days of the primeval chivalry, when even princes were +compelled to win their spurs, such a spectacle was not uncommon. But +not for ages had a king been knighted by a subject on a field of +battle. Nor was any splendor wanting that could make the spectacle +impressive. Nowhere in Ariosto is a picture of more gorgeous details +than is presented by this scene of history; the great crimson silk +pavilion, the seat spread with cloth of gold, the blazoned banners, +the heralds with their silver trumpets, the multitude all hushed in +wonder, the plumed and glittering company of knights and men-at-arms. +Such were the surroundings amid which Francis knelt, and Bayard, with +his drawn sword, gave the accolade.</p> + +<p>The sword with which he had performed the ceremony Bayard kept +religiously until his death. It was then mislaid, and never +rediscovered. The loss is a misfortune. For few relics could exist of +more romantic interest than the sword with which the noblest of all +knights did honor to the most magnificent of kings.</p> + +<p>Bayard's glory had long been at such a height that hardly any exploit +could increase it. And yet an exploit was at hand at which, even when +Bayard was the actor of it, all France and Germany were to stand in +wonder.</p> + +<p>The German emperor, marching with a mighty army on Champagne, took +Monson by surprise, and advanced against Mézières. If Mézières were +taken, the whole province would be in the most deadly peril. And yet +defence seemed hopeless; the place had no artillery, and the ramparts +were in ruins. At this crisis Bayard volunteered to hold the crazy +city. "No walls are weak," he said, in his own noble style, "which are +defended by brave men."</p> + +<p>With a small but chosen band he hastened to Mézières. Two days after +his arrival the Count of Nassau, with a vast array of men and cannon, +appeared before the walls. The siege began—a siege which seemed +impossible to last twelve hours.</p> + +<p>But day after day went by, and still the town was standing. Every day +the ramparts gaped with cannon-shot; but every night, as if by +miracle, they rose again. The defenders suffered from wounds, +pestilence, and famine; but Bayard had put every man on oath to eat +his horse, and then his boots, before he would surrender. Three weeks +passed; and when at last the king arrived with forces to relieve the +town, he found a few gaunt spectres still glaring defiance from the +battered ramparts against a hundred cannon and more than forty +thousand men.</p> + +<p>Nothing can more strikingly describe the part of Bayard than the +testimony of his enemies themselves. Some time after, Mary of Hungary +asked the Count of Nassau in disdain how it came to pass that with a +host of troops and guns he could not take a crazy pigeon-house. +"Because," replied the count, "there was an eagle in it."</p> + +<p>It was Bayard's last great exploit. It had been his lifelong wish that +he might fall upon the field of battle. And so it was to be.</p> + +<p>Early in the spring of 1524, the French camp was posted at Biagrasso. +Lord Bonnivet, who was in command, found himself, after a prolonged +resistance, at last compelled by famine and sickness to retire before +the Spaniards. It was Bayard's <span class="pagenum"><a id="page153" name="page153"></a>(p. 153)</span> constant custom to be first +in an advance and last in retreat, and that day he was, as usual, in +the post of danger. It was for the last time. Friends and enemies were +to hear, before night fell, the thrilling tidings that Bayard was no +more.</p> + +<p>On both sides of the road which the retreating army had to traverse +the Spaniards had placed in ambush a large force of arquebusiers. It +was a weapon which Bayard held in detestation; for while skill and +courage were required to wield a spear or sword, any skulking wretch +could pull a trigger from behind a stone. From one of these hated +weapons he received his death. As he was retreating slowly with his +face toward the foe, a stone from a cross-arquebus struck him on the +side. He instantly sank forward on his saddle-bow, exclaiming in a +faint voice, "Great God! I am killed."</p> + +<p>His squire helped him from his horse, and he was laid beneath a tree. +His spine was broken in two places; and he felt within himself that he +was dying. He took his sword, and kissed the cross-hilt, murmuring +aloud the Latin prayer, "<i>Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam +misericordiam tuam</i>."</p> + +<p>The Spaniards were approaching. His friends made some attempt to raise +him and to bear him from the field. But the least movement made him +faint with agony; and he felt that all was vain. He charged his +companions, as they loved him, to turn his face toward the enemy, and +to retire into a place of safety; and he sent, with his last breath, +his salutation to the king. With breaking hearts they did as he +desired, and he was left alone.</p> + +<p>When the Spaniards reached the spot, they found him still alive, but +sinking fast. The conduct of Lord Pescara, the Spanish general, toward +his dying foe, was worthy of a great and noble knight. He bade his own +pavilion to be spread above him; cushions were placed beneath his +head; and a friar was brought, to whom he breathed his last +confession. As he was uttering the final words, his voice faltered, +and his head fell. The friar looked upon his face—and saw that all +was over.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>GUSTAVUS VASA<a id="footnotetag11" name="footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11" title="Go to footnote 11"><span class="small">[11]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Charles F. Horne</span><br> + +(1496-1560)</h3> + + +<p>Three or four hundred years ago the little country of Denmark was of +much greater importance than it is to-day. It had the mightiest navy +in the world, and its rule over the seas was undisputed. Its +appearance on the map was also very different then, for it not only +extended over much of the German territory now surrounding it, but +also held all Norway as a province. Sweden, too, though often +rebelling, and being punished with terrible cruelty, was, up to the +year 1523, a dependency of the Danish crown.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page154" name="page154"></a>(p. 154)</span> Naturally the Danes rather looked down on the conquered +Swedes, and made them the subject of many rude jests and taunts. There +was in the beginning of the sixteenth century at the great Danish +university at Upsala a Swedish boy, who with the rest of his +countrymen must have suffered many such insults. His proud, brave, +little heart rebelled against this treatment; and one day, when his +teacher had driven him beyond endurance with his severe punishments +and bitter sneers, the boy snatched out his little sword and plunged +it straight through the master's book. "I will teach you something, +too," he cried; "teach you that the Swedes are no cowards, for some +day I will gather them together and treat every Dane in Sweden as I do +your book." Then he rushed out of the school, never to return.</p> + +<a id="img059" name="img059"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img059.jpg" width="250" height="262" alt="Gustavus Vasa." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Many lads have, in some moment of passion made big boasts of what they +would do "some day." Few ever made so tremendous a vaunt; fewer still +ever so completely fulfilled their threats; and, perhaps, no one ever +struggled so patiently, so nobly, nor against such tremendous +obstacles before the goal was reached, as did this angry little Swede, +known to history as Gustavus Vasa. He was born in 1496, and was the +oldest son of Sir Eric Johansson, governor of a little group of +islands in the Gulf of Bothnia. Returning home after his precipitate +flight from school, Gustavus grew up under the eye of his stalwart +father, who trained him to be not only a strong and a shrewd man, but +also a good one.</p> + +<p>Sent at the age of eighteen to the court of Svante Sture, the regent +governing Sweden, he threw himself eagerly into the great war for +freedom which his countrymen had begun under that mighty leader. This +struggle was so far successful that four years later King Christian, +of Denmark, utterly defeated on land and with his fleet in sore danger +anchored off Stockholm, and proposed a peace. He asked that hostages +be sent to remain on his ships, while he was on shore arranging the +treaty. This was readily agreed to, and the hostages went on board +without a thought of evil, the king having guaranteed their safe +return. Young Vasa, although only twenty-two, had already gained such +prominence among the patriots as to be one of those selected for this +duty. Just as he and his companions reached the ships, the wind, which +had hitherto blown from such a direction that King Christian was +unable to leave the harbor, suddenly changed, and the king as promptly +changing his plans, hoisted sail and fled from Stockholm, carrying +with him, as prisoners, the hostages whom he was bound in honor to +respect. But this grim and cruel old king never at any time let +himself be checked by his promised word; and now he seriously +considered slaying these men as rebels and traitors. Finally he +concluded to hold them as prisoners.</p> + +<p>Gustavus was placed for safe keeping in the castle of Eric Bauer, a +Jutland noble, where he remained for two years. He lived on the very +poorest food, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page155" name="page155"></a>(p. 155)</span> and far worse, had to endure taunts a hundred +times more bitter than those of his old school days, from the young +nobles about him. Worse still, he learned from them that King +Christian was gathering another and greater army with which to utterly +crush the rebellious Swedes; and he could neither warn his countrymen +nor raise a finger to give them help. But his courage and patience +never failed him. Through all that weary time he was always planning +and watching for a chance to escape. At last it came. Deceived by his +apparent indifference his jailers permitted him to ride, and even to +hunt with them, but always under a careful watch. One day, however, +the hunt grew so exciting that everyone forgot Gustavus and rode hard +and fast after the game. He saw his opportunity, and rode hardest and +fastest of all. Soon he was first in the race; but he did not stop +when he reached the captured deer. There was no one in sight and he +hurried on faster than ever. When his horse gave out he pressed +forward on foot, and nightfall found him forty miles from the castle. +He astonished a countryman by trading clothes with him; and the next +day, thus disguised, he hired himself to a drover to help him drive a +herd of cattle to the great German city of Lubeck. Probably no cattle +had ever been so driven before. Our hero knew well that the pursuit +would be fast and furious, and he kept the herd almost on a steady +run. The old drover was in a perpetual state of amazement; he did not +know whether to regard his new assistant as a madman or as the most +valuable hand he had ever hired. Gustavus never let the poor old +fellow rest a moment; he had to eat his meals as he walked, and even +to totter along half asleep. At last animals and men reached Lubeck, +all badly worn out, but safe, for Lubeck was a free city and a +powerful one, and when, an hour later, the enraged Eric Bauer galloped +up to its great gates, he knew that his prisoner was beyond his reach, +and that unless he could persuade the citizens to give him up there +was no chance of recapturing him.</p> + +<p>The citizens did not give Gustavus up. He and his jailer were brought +face to face before the City Council to argue their case. When Eric +said his prisoner had broken his word in escaping, Gustavus related +how the king had broken his in the capture. When Eric threatened them +all with his master's wrath, the shrewd old burghers laughed. They +knew King Christian had other things to keep him busy enough, and that +he would think twice before attacking their great league of cities. +Besides, this young man had already shown that he could do great +things, and, as one of the Council said, "Who knows what he may win if +we send him home." So Eric was forced to leave without his captive; +and after some delay, during which he was treated with high honor, +Gustavus was sent home by the kind Lubeckers with the promise to help +him, if need be, with both men and money.</p> + +<p>Indeed Sweden needed all the help she could get just then; but it did +not seem as though one man could do much for her. King Christian had +carried out his threats, and landing with a great army, defeated the +brave Sture and spread terror and destruction through all the land. +The tale of his cruelty and treacheries belongs rather to the history +of Sweden than of Gustavus. Enough to say <span class="pagenum"><a id="page156" name="page156"></a>(p. 156)</span> that, having by +promises of peace and pardon got all the leading Swedes into his +power, he had them murdered, and then he and his soldiers went on +slaying the common people right and left in mere wanton savagery. All +the surviving nobles were in his pay; the least suspicion of an +uprising was crushed with an iron hand, the least murmur of discontent +brought death. Never had Sweden seemed more helpless in the power of +the Danes.</p> + +<p>To this unhappy country came Gustavus Vasa, and at once he was +declared an outlaw, and a great price was offered for his head; for +the king knew that here survived one man whom he could neither terrify +nor bribe. One castle still held out against the besieging Danes, and +for this Gustavus set out. But its defenders were disheartened by +their hopeless position, and were almost on the point of surrender. +They answered angrily to his brave words, and he left them to try and +rouse the peasantry all over the land.</p> + +<p>Now began for him such a period of danger, sorrow, and privation, as +few men could have endured and lived. The land was filled with Danes +eager for his capture. The peasants were timid and disheartened. To +his passionate patriotic appeal they answered only, "We have salt and +herring still. If we rebel we will lose them too." Often they drove +him away with stones. Sometimes his own countrymen would have slain +him for the promised reward. At length it was no longer possible for +him to remain in Southern Sweden, and with a single servant he fled to +the highlands of Dalecarlia, a province in the north. From this on his +life reads like some wild romance of adventure. He had the grim +courage and grit and perseverance of a bull-dog. Nothing could +dishearten him in his seemingly hopeless and insane resolve to raise +the Swedes once more against Christian.</p> + +<p>He found as much devotion in some places, as he did treachery in +others. Having crossed a ferry in advance of his servant, this latter +rode off with their small stock of money. Gustavus plunged his horse +into the river, and riding back after the faithless servitor, pursued +him all day straight back into the enemy's country, until the +terrified thief, abandoning horse and money and all, fled into the +woods. Gustavus recovered his property and pursued his course. The +Danes swarmed into Dalecarlia after him. He disguised himself as a +woodcutter, and lived as such. One day he met in the woods a giant +Dalesman named Liss Lars, and, as they were chatting together, a great +bear attacked Gustavus. After a fierce battle Lars slew the brute with +a blow of his axe. The two woodcutters became friends, and Lars got +his companion a place under the same master as himself, where Gustavus +remained a whole winter unsuspected. Often he himself was questioned +by the Danish spies, hunting for the now famous Vasa.</p> + +<a id="img060" name="img060"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img060.jpg" width="600" height="486" alt="" title=""> +<p>Abdication of Gustavus Vasa.</p></div> + +<p>Once there was like to have been trouble between the two friends, for +Lars loved a maiden at the farm, who out of coquetry often smiled at +Gustavus, until the giant Dalesman became terribly jealous. One day +when she brought them their noon-day ale, she handed it first to +Gustavus, who, after drinking, returned it with a pleasant word and a +pat on the cheek. With a roar like a mad bull, Lars rushed on his +comrade and seized him in his giant arms. As he did so he <span class="pagenum"><a id="page157" name="page157"></a>(p. 157)</span> +saw around his neck the embroidered collar worn by the Swedish +nobility. The astounded Dalesman staggered back, pointing to it. +"Either thou art a thief, or the great Gustavus himself." "Ay, friend +Lars, I am the outlaw Gustavus, son of Eric. Now, wilt thou hand me +over to the Danes, or smash my head against the floor, as just now +thou seemedest minded?" "I will swear eternal fealty to thee," cried +Lars; "and if thou raisest the standard of revolt, I will be the first +to join."</p> + +<p>Soon, however, even this retired spot became too unsafe, and Gustavus +fled farther north. Once an old schoolmate offered him shelter, and +then, while Gustavus slept, rode away to get help to capture him. But +the housewife, suspecting her husband's treachery, roused Gustavus, +who climbed through a window twenty feet from the ground, and escaped +on a horse the good woman had provided.</p> + +<p>At another time, by burying himself in a load of hay he was carried +past some Danish soldiers who were searching for him. They thrust +their spears through the hay and then rode on. One of the spears +wounded the hidden man, and, seeing the blood trickle down, the +soldiers hurried back. But the driver had snatched out his knife and +given a slight cut to one of his horses; and when he pointed to this, +charging one of them with having done it, they rode away again +laughing at their own suspicions. In a hundred other equally dangerous +situations he escaped either by his own courage, or by the ready wit +of the brave Dalecarlian peasants; and at last the Danish spies gave +up the hunt for him, and returned to Stockholm.</p> + +<p>Then he came forth again, and in ringing words urged the people to +revolt. But though they loved Gustavus, and loved Sweden, yet they +held back in doubt and fear from his daring plans; and so the hero +left them, and went on through the surrounding provinces, telling +everywhere of King Christian's cruelty, and sowing seed which was to +ripen later on. Yet nowhere could he rouse the peasants to action, +until word came that the cruel king had sworn to cut a hand and foot +from every man in Sweden, that they might never revolt again. Now all +felt that there was nothing left but fight. In great haste the +Dalecarlians sent after Gustavus and brought him back. They held a +great meeting, and to it came Gustavus' wood-cutter friend, Liss Lars. +He made a great homely speech, saying, "This Gustavus, son of Eric, is +a man. He has threshed with me, and I know him. We can trust him, and +sense has he, more than all of us put together. He must be our +leader."</p> + +<p>All swore fealty to Gustavus; and he bade them make swords and spears +and arrows on their own anvils, while he went on again to rouse the +other provinces. King Christian had been called home by a rumor of +rebellion there, but his lieutenants thought to crush this little +uprising of the Dalecarlians as easily as they had a few others, and +one of them marched promptly there with a large force. The brave +peasants, led by Liss Lars and another, attacked him as he was +crossing a river and defeated him with great slaughter. Gustavus heard +rumors of the battle, and that his little army was destroyed. In wild +haste he galloped back to Dalecarlia to find them celebrating their +victory.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page158" name="page158"></a>(p. 158)</span> Now did the men he had roused in every quarter come pouring +in; and he drilled them, and trained them, and encouraged them, became +head and hand and heart for them all, till soon he had such an army +that he might fairly hope to match any force the Danes could bring +against him. Then he sent out a proclamation declaring Christian +deposed for his cruel and bloody tyranny, and calling all true Swedes +to join him in making war upon the oppressor.</p> + +<p>Thus did this young man at twenty-five become the leader of a great +rebellion, which he himself had created and controlled. He led his men +against one fortress after another. There were long sieges and +terrible battles; but Gustavus proved himself as great a general as he +was a man; and two years later, in 1525, Stockholm, the last town +remaining to the Danes in Sweden, surrendered to his army. Christian +himself had been unable to leave Denmark, but he was in constant +communication with his lieutenants, and wild was his rage at the +continued success of his young opponent. Gustavus's mother and sister, +with many other Swedish ladies, had fallen into the king's hands at +the time of those wholesale murders; and he tried to frighten the hero +with threats of what he would do to them; but poor Gustavus had +learned only too surely that most of them were already dead from his +cruel treatment. Finally this brute was deposed by his own subjects, +and a new king chosen. This king made some faint attempts to recover +Sweden, but he had small chance against such a man as Vasa.</p> + +<p>The hero and his army entered Stockholm in triumph; and such of the +old nobles as were left, gathered in a council and offered him the +crown which he had wrested from Denmark. He refused it, saying he had +labored for his country, not himself, and bade the nobles choose from +among themselves some older man. But the whole country cried out that +they would submit to no man but him; he had freed them, he should rule +them. So there was, what seldom has been in history, a free choice of +a king by a united people; and Gustavus, son of Eric, became Gustavus +I., King of Sweden. Five years before he had been carried off a +helpless, almost friendless prisoner, by a mighty king. Now they had, +by sheer force of character, changed places; the king was in a +dungeon, Gustavus on a throne.</p> + +<p>Though the remainder of our hero's life was less adventurous, it was +no less noble. He made, as all had foreseen, a great king, showing +himself as wise and high-minded as he had already proven brave and +patient. He found Sweden a petty province, he left it a mighty +kingdom; he found it a wilderness, poor, thinly peopled, and +semi-barbarous, he left it prosperous, populous, and civilized. He +himself was the head and centre of all this, performing an amount of +work which seems almost impossible for one man. His letters, some of +which remain, are clear, minute in detail, and exact. He knew just how +he wanted things done, and he had them done his way. His own life +might be summed up in his advice to his two sons, given when, only a +few months before his death, he resigned a crown grown too heavy for +his failing strength. "Think carefully, execute promptly, <i>never give +up</i>, never delay. Resolves not carried out are like clouds without +rain in times of drought."<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page159" name="page159"></a>(p. 159)</span> MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS<br> + +By <span class="smcap">Samuel L. Knapp</span><br> + +(1542-1587)</h3> + + +<a id="img061" name="img061"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img061.jpg" width="250" height="248" alt="Mary, Queen of Scots." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was the third child of James V. and his +wife, Mary of Guise. That lady had borne him previously, two sons, +both of whom died in infancy. Mary was born on December 7, 1542, in +the palace of Linlithgow. She was only seven days old when she lost +her father, who, at the time of her birth, lay sick at the palace of +Falkland.</p> + +<p>The young queen was crowned by Cardinal Beaton, at Stirling, on +September 9, 1543. Soon after her birth, the Parliament nominated +commissioners, to whom they intrusted the charge of the queen's +person, leaving all her other interests to the care of her mother. The +first two years of her life, Mary spent at Linlithgow, where it is +said she had the small-pox, but the disease must have been of a +particularly gentle kind, having left behind no visible traces. During +the greater part of the years 1545, 1546, and 1547, she resided at +Stirling Castle, in the keeping of Lords Erskine and Livingstone. She +was afterward removed to Inchmahome, a sequestered island in the lake +of Monteith; after remaining there upward of two years, it was thought +expedient by those who had at the time the disposal of her future +destiny, that she should be removed to France. She was accordingly, in +the fifth year of her age, taken to Dunbarton, where she was delivered +to the French admiral, whose vessels were waiting to receive her; and +attended by Lords Erskine and Livingstone, her three natural brothers, +and four young ladies as companions, she left Scotland.</p> + +<p>The thirteen happiest years of Mary's life were spent in France. She +was received at Brest, by order of Henry II., with all the honors due +to her rank and royal destiny. She travelled by easy stages to the +palace at St. Germain en <span class="pagenum"><a id="page160" name="page160"></a>(p. 160)</span> Laye; and to mark the respect that +was paid to her, the prison gates of every town she came to were +thrown open, and the prisoners set free. Shortly after her arrival she +was sent, along with the king's own daughters, to one of the first +convents in France, where young ladies of distinction were instructed +in the elementary branches of education.</p> + +<p>Henry, to confirm the French authority in Scotland, was eager to marry +Francis, his son, to Mary. Francis, the young dauphin, who was much +about Mary's own age, was far inferior to her both in personal +appearance and mental endowments. They had been playmates from +infancy; they had prosecuted all their studies together; he loved her +with the tenderest affection; it was not in Mary's nature to be +indifferent to those who evinced affection for her; and if her +fondness for Francis was mingled with pity, it has long been asserted +that "pity is akin to love."</p> + +<p>On April 24, 1558, the nuptials took place in the church of Notre +Dame, with great splendor. Every eye was fixed on the youthful Mary; +and, inspired by those feelings which beauty seldom fails to excite, +every heart offered up prayers for her future welfare and happiness. +She was now at that age when feminine loveliness is perhaps most +attractive. It is not to be supposed, indeed, that her charms, in her +sixteenth year, had ripened into that full-blown maturity which they +afterward attained; but they were on this account only the more +fascinating. Some have conjectured that Mary's beauty has been +extolled far above its real merits; and it cannot be denied that many +vague and erroneous notions exist regarding it. But that her +countenance possessed, in a pre-eminent degree, the something which +constitutes beauty, is sufficiently attested by the unanimous +declaration of all contemporary writers. Her person was finely +proportioned, and her carriage exceedingly graceful and dignified.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the espousals, Mary and her husband retired to one of +their princely summer residences, where she discharged the duties of a +wife without ostentation. But the intriguing and restless ambition of +her uncles could not allow her to remain long quiet. About this time +Mary Tudor, who had succeeded Edward VI. on the English throne, died; +and although the Parliament had declared that the succession rested in +her sister Elizabeth, it was thought proper to claim for Mary Stuart a +prior right. But it was destined that there was to be another and more +unexpected death at the French court. Henry II. was killed at a +tournament by Count Montgomery. Francis and Mary succeeded to the +throne. Mary was now at the very height of European grandeur, for she +was queen of two powerful countries, and heir presumptive of a third. +She stood unluckily on too high a pinnacle to be able to retain her +position long. Francis died after a short reign of seventeen months, +and the heir to the throne Charles IX., being a minor, Catharine de +Medicis became once more virtually queen of France; and from her Mary +could expect no favors.</p> + +<p>In August, 1561, Mary left France with tears, and was received in +Scotland with every mark of respect. She came, alone and unprotected, +to assume the government of a country which had long been +distinguished for its rebellious turbulence. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161"></a>(p. 161)</span> Contrasted, +too, with her former situation, that which she was now about to fill +appeared particularly formidable. By whatever counsel she acted, the +blame of all unpopular measures would be sure to rest with her. If she +favored the Protestants, the Catholics were sure to renounce her, and +if she assisted the Catholics, the Protestants would be again found +assembling at Perth, listening, with arms in their hands, to the +sermons of John Knox, pulling down the remaining monasteries, and +subscribing additional covenants. Is it surprising, then, that she +found it difficult to steer her course between the rocks of Scylla and +the whirlpools of Charybdis? If misfortunes ultimately overtook her, +the wonder unquestionably ought to be, not that they ever arrived, but +that they should have been guarded against so long.</p> + +<p>To further their political views, Mary's hand was sought for by +princes of the several European courts. The princes of the house of +Austria, apprehensive of the ambition of France, wished a union +between the Scottish queen and the Archduke Charles. Philip II., +envying the Austrians so important a prize, used all his influence to +procure her hand for his son Don Carlos, heir to the extensive domains +of the Spanish monarchy. Catharine de Medicis, jealous of them both, +offered the hand of the Duke of Anjou, brother to her former husband, +and Elizabeth, the artful queen of England, recommended Lord Robert +Dudley, afterward Earl of Leicester.</p> + +<p>Mary shunned all their intrigues, and followed the bent of her own +inclination in marrying Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, eldest son of the +Earl of Lennox. Darnley, at this time in the bloom of youth, was +distinguished for the beauty and grace of his person, and accomplished +in every elegant art; and he also professed the Catholic religion. +Darnley's qualifications, however, were superficial, and abandoning +himself to pleasure and the vices of youth, he became gradually +careless and indifferent toward the queen, whose disappointments and +mortifications were in proportion to the fervor of her former +sentiments. Her French secretary was one David Rizzio, who was +possessed of musical talents, and to whom she became much attached. +Darnley became jealous of Rizzio, and he, with a number of +conspirators, took possession of the palace on March 9, 1566, while +the queen was at supper with the Countess of Argyle and Rizzio. The +latter clung to the queen for protection, but he was torn from her and +dragged to the next apartment, where the fury of his enemies put an +end to his existence, by piercing his body with fifty-six wounds. The +conspirators put Mary under guard, but she escaped, and by the aid of +Bothwell and others, she was soon enabled to put her enemies at +defiance. This event served to alienate Mary's affections from +Darnley.</p> + +<p>On June 19, 1566, the queen gave birth to a son; an event more +fortunate to the nation than to his unhappy mother, whose evil destiny +received aggravation from a circumstance which appeared so flattering +to her hopes.</p> + +<p>Darnley, neglected by the queen, and despised by the people, remained +in solitude at Stirling, but alarmed by the rumor of a design to seize +his person, he thought fit to retire to his father at Glasgow. On his +way thither he was seized <span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162"></a>(p. 162)</span> with a dangerous illness. Mary +visited him, and it is said prevailed on him to be removed to the +capital, where she would attend on him. Kirk of Field, a house +belonging to the provost of a collegiate church, was prepared for his +reception. The situation, on a rising ground and in an open field, was +recommended for the salubrity of its air.</p> + +<p>At two o'clock on the morning of February 10, 1567, the city was +alarmed by a sudden explosion. The house in which Darnley resided was +blown up with gunpowder. The dead body of Henry and a servant, who +slept in his room, were found lying in an adjacent garden, without +marks of violence, and untouched by fire. Thus perished Henry Stuart, +Lord Darnley, in his twenty-first year, a youth whom the indulgence of +nature and fortune had combined to betray to his ruin.</p> + +<p>This execrable deed gave rise to various suspicions and conjectures, +which, while they glanced at the queen from her new sentiments with +regard to her husband, were, with a general consent, directed toward +Bothwell. A proclamation was issued from the throne, offering a +considerable reward for the murderer. Neither the power and greatness +of Bothwell, nor his favor with the queen, secured him from the +indignant sentiment of the nation. He had a mock trial, in which he +was acquitted.</p> + +<p>The queen, on a journey from Edinburgh to Stirling, to visit her son, +was seized by a party of Bothwell's and conducted a prisoner to his +castle at Dunbar. Here he prevailed on her to marry him, and on her +subsequent appearance in public she was received with a sullen and +disrespectful silence by the people.</p> + +<p>The transactions which had passed during the last three months in +Scotland were beheld by Europe with horror and detestation. The murder +of the king, the impunity with which his assassins were suffered to +escape, and the marriage of the queen with the man accused of being +their chief, were a series of incidents, which, for their atrocity and +rapid succession, were scarcely to be paralleled in the pages of +history. A general infamy fell upon the Scotch nation, which was +regarded, from these circumstances, as a people void of decency, +humanity, and honor.</p> + +<a id="img062" name="img062"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img062.jpg" width="600" height="433" alt="" title=""> +<p>Mary Stuart and Rizzio.</p></div> + +<p>The discontented nobles confederated together and flew to arms. +Bothwell and Mary were unable to stem the opposition; she surrendered +to her enemies, and was conducted a captive to the castle of +Lochleven. Mary had for some weeks suffered the terrors of a prison; +of her deliverance there seemed to be but little prospect; no one had +appeared as her defender or advocate. Thus solitary, deserted, and +distressed, her persecutors reckoned on her fears and on her sex. Lord +Lindsay, the fiercest zealot of the party, was employed to communicate +their plan to the queen, and to obtain from her a subscription to the +papers with which he was charged. In the execution of his commission, +he spared neither harshness nor brutality; certain death was offered +to the unhappy victim, as the alternative of her refusal. Thus urged, +she yielded to the pressure of circumstances, and put her signature to +the papers presented to her by Lindsay. By one of these papers she +resigned the crown, renounced all share in the government, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name="page163"></a>(p. 163)</span> +and consented to the coronation of the young king. By another, she +appointed Murray to the regency, and vested him with the powers and +privileges of the office. Pierced with grief, and bathed in indignant +tears, she signed the deed of her own humiliation, and furnished to +her adversaries the instrument of her abasement.</p> + +<p>The people were not generally satisfied with the conduct of Murray, +the regent, and the scattered party of the queen began gradually to +reunite. Such was the disposition of the nation when Mary, through the +medium of George Douglas, a youth of eighteen, contrived to escape +from prison. She flew on horseback, at full speed, to Hamilton, where, +before a train of great and splendid nobles, and an army 6,000 strong, +she declared that the deeds signed by her during her imprisonment, and +the resignation of her crown, were extorted from her by fear. An +engagement between her forces and those of Murray took place at +Hamilton; her army was defeated. She stood on a hill and saw all that +passed. In confusion and horror she began her flight, and so terrible +was the trepidation of her spirits, that she stopped not till she +reached the abbey of Dunrenan, in Galloway, fully sixty Scottish miles +from the field of battle. In the space of eleven days she had beheld +herself a prisoner, at the mercy of her greatest enemies; at the head +of a powerful army, with a numerous train of nobles devoted to her +service; and a fugitive, at the hazard of her life, driven, with a few +attendants, to lurk in a corner of her kingdom. Still anxious and +agitated in her retreat, she was impelled by her fears to an +irretrievable step, fatal to all her future hopes. In vain her +attendants, with the lords Herries and Heming, implored her on their +knees not to confide in Elizabeth, her resolution was not to be +shaken, and to England she fatally resolved to fly. No longer an +object of jealousy, but compassion, Mary trusted in the generosity of +a sister queen, that she would not take advantage of her calamitous +situation. She got into a fisherman's boat, and with about twenty +attendants, landed at Workington, in Cumberland, whence, with marks of +respect, she was conducted to Carlisle.</p> + +<p>She addressed, on her arrival in England, a letter to the queen, in +which she painted in glowing colors the injuries she had sustained, +and implored the sympathy and assistance which her present situation +so pressingly required. Elizabeth and her council deliberated upon the +course which, in this extraordinary event, it would be proper to +pursue; and at last determined, in spite of justice and humanity, to +avail herself of the advantages given her by the confidence of her +rival. Mary demanded a personal interview with Elizabeth, but this +honor she was told must be denied to her. She had no intention of +acknowledging superiority in the queen of England, who, she expected, +would, as a friend, herself receive and examine her defences. But +Elizabeth chose to consider herself as umpire between the Scottish +queen and her subjects; and she prepared to appoint commissioners to +hear the pleadings of both parties, and wrote to the Regent of +Scotland to empower proper persons to appear in his name, and produce +what could be alleged in vindication of his proceedings.</p> + +<p>Mary, who had hitherto relied on the professions of Elizabeth, was by +this <span class="pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164"></a>(p. 164)</span> proposal at once undeceived, and she was, in despite of +her remonstrances and complaints, conducted to Bolton, a castle of +Lord Scroop, on the borders of Yorkshire. Commissioners met on both +sides, and after protracted deliberations for four months, they left +things just as they found them.</p> + +<p>The last eighteen years of Mary's life were spent in imprisonment, and +are comparatively a blank in her personal history. She was +transported, at intervals, from castle to castle, and was intrusted +sometimes to the charge of one nobleman, and sometimes to another; but +for her the active scenes of life were past; the splendor and dignity +of a throne were to be enjoyed no longer; the sceptre of her native +country was never more to grace her hands; her will ceased to +influence a nation; her voice did not travel beyond the walls that +witnessed her confinement. She came into England at the age of +twenty-five, in the prime of womanhood, the full vigor of health, and +the rapidly ripening strength of her intellectual powers. She was +there destined to feel, in all its bitterness, that "hope deferred +maketh the heart sick." Year after year passed slowly on, and year +after year her spirits became more exhausted, her health feebler, and +her doubts and fears confirmed, till they at length settled in +despair. Premature old age overtook her before she was past the +meridian of life; and for some time before her death, her hair was +white "with other snows than those of age." Yet, during the whole of +this long period, amid sufferings which would have broken many a +masculine spirit, and which, even in our own times, have been seen to +conquer those who had conquered empires, Mary retained the innate +grace and dignity of her character, never forgetting that she had been +born a queen, or making her calamities an excuse for the commission of +any petty meanness, which she would have scorned in the days of her +prosperity. Full of incident as her previous life had been, brilliant +in many of its achievements, it may be doubted whether the +forbearance, fortitude, and magnanimity displayed in her latter years, +do not redound more highly to her praise than all that preceded. +Elizabeth wished for some plausible pretext to take away the life of +the unhappy Mary, whom, though so defenceless, she regarded as a +dangerous rival. The Duke of Norfolk made offers of marriage to Mary, +to which she consented, in case she should be liberated. His scheme +also was to favor the Catholic cause, and on its being discovered he +was thrown into prison, where, after six months' confinement, he was +liberated, on condition of his holding no further intercourse with the +queen. He was, however, arrested the second time, and executed.</p> + +<p>A conspiracy soon after took place, through the blind affection of the +English Catholics for Mary, and their implacable hatred of Elizabeth; +that, while it proved fatal to the life of one queen, has left on the +memory of the other an indelible stain. It was a conspiracy of two +zealous Catholics, to take the life of Elizabeth. The plot was +revealed in confidence to Anthony Babington, a young gentleman of +Derbyshire, possessing a large fortune and many amiable qualities, +whom the Archbishop of Glasgow had recommended to the notice of Mary. +The conspirators, through treachery, were arrested, and it is said two +letters from Mary were found with Babington. This was a pretext to +represent these fanatics <span class="pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165"></a>(p. 165)</span> as the instruments of the captive +queen. Determined that no circumstance of solemnity suited to the +dignity of the person arraigned might be wanting, Elizabeth appointed, +by a commission under the great seal, forty persons, the most +illustrious in the kingdom for their rank and birth, together with +five judges, for the decision of the cause.</p> + +<p>On October 11, 1586, the commissioners arrived at Fotheringay, where +Mary was confined. She solemnly protested her innocence of the crime +laid to her charge, and having never countenanced any attempt against +the life of Elizabeth, she refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of +the commissioners. "I came," said she, "into the kingdom an +independent sovereign, to implore the queen's assistance, not to +subject myself to her authority. Nor is my spirit so broken by past +misfortunes, or intimidated by present dangers, as to stoop to +anything unbecoming the majesty of a crowned head, or that will +disgrace the ancestors from whom I am descended, and the son to whom I +shall leave my throne."</p> + +<p>Mary made her own defence; and her conduct before her judges displayed +the magnanimity of a heroine, tempered by the gentleness and modesty +of a woman. The judges were predetermined to find her guilty: the +trial was a mere pretence to give a sanction to their proceedings; +they were unanimous in declaring Mary "to be accessory to the +conspiracy of Babington, and to have imagined divers matters, tending +to the hurt, death, and destruction of Elizabeth, contrary to the +express words of the statute made for the security of the life of the +queen."</p> + +<p>On Tuesday, February 7, 1587, the Earls of Shrewsbury and Kent arrived +at Fotheringay, and read in Mary's presence the warrant for her +execution, which was appointed for the ensuing day. "That soul," said +Mary, calmly crossing herself, "is unworthy the joys of heaven, which +repines because the body must endure the stroke of the axe. I submit +willingly to the lot which heaven has decreed for me; though I did not +expect the Queen of England would set the first example of violating +the sacred person of a sovereign prince." Then laying her hand on a +Bible, which happened to be near her, she solemnly protested her +innocence.</p> + +<p>At the scaffold she prayed for the prosperity of her son, and for a +long and peaceable reign to Elizabeth. She hoped for mercy, she +declared, only through the death of Christ, at the foot of whose image +she willingly shed her blood. With intrepid calmness she laid her neck +on the block; her hands were held by one executioner, while the other, +with two blows, dissevered her head from her body. "So perish all the +enemies of Elizabeth!" exclaimed the dean, as he held up the streaming +head. "Amen," answered the Earl of Kent alone; every other eye was +drowned in tears; every other voice was stifled in commiseration. +Thus, after a life of forty-four years and two months, nineteen years +of which had been passed in captivity, perished the lovely and +unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166"></a>(p. 166)</span> CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH<a id="footnotetag12" name="footnotetag12"></a><a href="#footnote12" title="Go to footnote 12"><span class="small">[12]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Marion Harland</span><br> + +(1579-1631)</h3> + + +<a id="img063" name="img063"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img063.jpg" width="250" height="267" alt="Captain John Smith." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Of the antecedents of John Smith, Esquire, Captain and Knight, little +is recorded beyond the facts that he was of gentle blood and honorable +lineage, and that he was born in Lancashire, England, in 1579.</p> + +<p>He was still under age when he enlisted as a private soldier and +fought with "our army" in Flanders. Sigismund Bathor, Duke of +Transylvania, was warring with the Turks, and young Smith, athirst for +adventure, next took service under him. Before the Transylvanian town +of Regall, he killed three Turkish officers in single combat, for +which doughty deed he was knighted. The certificate of Sigismund's +patent empowering the Englishman to quarter three Turks' heads upon +the family coat-of-arms is in the Herald's Office in London.</p> + +<p>The tables were turned by his subsequent capture by the Turks. He was +sent to Tartary as a slave, not a prisoner of war, and compelled to +perform the most ignoble tasks, until, escaping by killing his brutal +master, he made his way by his wits to his native country in 1604. He +was now twenty-five years of age, and emphatically a soldier of +fortune. The tale of his prowess and adventures had preceded him, and +he was eagerly welcomed in London by kindred spirits who were +preparing to emigrate to America to form the colony of Virginia under +the grant and direct patronage of James I. By the time the enterprise +was ripe for execution, Smith had made himself so useful in counsel +and preparation that the king named him as one of the councillors of +the prospective colony.</p> + +<p>The boundary lines of the royal grant were two hundred miles north, +and the same distance south, of the mouth of the James River, and east +and west "from sea to sea."</p> + +<p>On December 19, 1606, the band of adventurers, 100 in number, embarked +at Gravesend in three small vessels. Christopher Newport was in +command, but Smith, and his close allies, Bartholomew Gosnold and +George Percy, a younger brother of the Duke of Northumberland, were +the ruling spirits of the voyagers. Carpenters and laborers were oddly +jumbled upon the list of emigrants with <span class="pagenum"><a id="page167" name="page167"></a>(p. 167)</span> jewellers, +perfumers, and gold refiners, and "gentlemen" held prominence in +numbers and influence. The officers outnumbered the privates. The +little fleet was hardly out of the offing when the struggle for power +began. The voyage was not half accomplished when John Smith was +charged with complicity in a discovered mutiny. He had intended, it +was alleged, to murder his superiors, seize the fleet, and make +himself king of Virginia. The "General History of Virginia" tells how +serious an aspect the affair wore:</p> + +<p>"Such factions here we had, as commonly attend such voyages, that a +paire of gallowes was made, but Captain Smith, for whom they were +intended, <i>could not be persuaded to use them</i>."</p> + +<p>He was still under suspicion and arrest when the fleet anchored (May +13, 1607) in the broad river, Powhatan, to which the English explorers +gave the name of their king. Their first tents were pitched and first +cabins built upon a low peninsula flanked by extensive marshes. The +settlement received the name of Jamestown, in further demonstration of +loyalty.</p> + +<p>When the king's sealed orders were opened, the name of John Smith +appeared second upon the roll of seven councillors appointed to govern +the infant colony. Next to him Gosnold was fittest for the responsible +position assigned to them. His death within three months after the +landing, left Smith the object of the envious distrust of Wingfield, +who had been elected president, and virtually alone in the honest +desire to found a permanent settlement in Virginia for ends he thus +sets forth:</p> + +<p>"Erecting towns, peopling countries, informing the ignorant, reforming +things unjust, teaching virtue and gain to our native Mother Country."</p> + +<p>There is a prophetic ring in this remarkable utterance of one whom his +contemporaries persisted in regarding as a reckless adventurer, +ambitious and unscrupulous. His frank denunciation of the feeble +measures of Wingfield and the selfish villainy of Ratcliffe, another +colleague, had earned the ill-will of the president and the relentless +hatred of Ratcliffe. Smith, being under arrest, was not allowed to +take his place among the councillors. He bided the day of justice with +patience learned from adversity. When the supreme opportunity came he +grasped it. An attack from hostile Indians proved Wingfield's +unfitness for the military command, and the alarmed colonists turned +instinctively to the bravest of their number. Wingfield anticipated +the uprising by reiterating his intention of sending Smith to England +for trial, for the double crime of mutiny and treason.</p> + +<p>"The restive soldier suddenly flamed out. He would be tried in +Virginia as was his right—there was the charter! and the trial took +place. The result was a ruinous commentary on the characters of +Wingfield and the council. The testimony of their own witnesses +convicted them of subornation of perjury to destroy Smith. He was +acquitted by the jury of all the charges against him, and Kendall, who +had conducted the prosecution, was condemned to pay him £200 damages. +This sum was presented by Smith to the colony for the general use, and +then the foes partook of the commission, and the soldier was admitted +to his seat in the council." (Cooke's "History of Virginia.")</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" name="page168"></a>(p. 168)</span> By autumn the settlement was fearfully reduced in numbers and +spirits. Fever, engendered by marshland malaria and famine, threatened +utter extinction.</p> + +<p>"From May to September, those who escaped lived upon sturgeon and +sea-crabs; 50 in this time were buried," writes one of the sufferers. +"The rest, seeing the president's projects to escape these miseries in +our pinnace by flight (who all this time had neither felt want or +sickness), so moved our dead spirits as we deposed him and established +Ratcliffe in his place."</p> + +<p>It was an exchange of inefficiency for deliberate wickedness, and in +the excess of continued misery the more reasonable of the victims +arose as a man and put Smith at the head of affairs.</p> + +<p>The "terrible summer" left hardly ten men who could wield axe or hoe. +Smith himself was ill with malarial fever, yet nursed the sick, prayed +with the dying, and kept up the hearts of all by brave words and +braver action. He bought corn and meat of the Indians when they would +sell, and when they refused, secured supplies by intimidation. Yet we +find him, as soon as the immediate peril was over, again the +subordinate of envious leaders, and volunteering to satisfy +malcontents in America and in England, by heading a party in +mid-December to attempt the discovery of the great "South Sea," for so +long the <i>ignis fatuus</i> of Western adventurers.</p> + +<p>The explorers sailed up the James, diverging here and there into the +tortuous creeks of the Chickahominy. When stopped by shallows, Smith +procured a canoe and Indian guides and pushed on with but two other +white men (Robinson and Emry) into the unknown wilderness, teeming +with spies jealous of the foreign intruders. Attempting to land at +"Powhatan," one of "the emperor's" residences, he and his guide sank +into the morass and were fired upon from the shore.</p> + +<p>"The salvages ... followed him with 300 bowmen, led by the king of +Pamunkee, who, searching the turnings of the river, found Robinson and +Emry by the fire-side. These they shot full of arrowes and slew."</p> + +<p>Smith bound the Indian guide to his arm and used him as a shield, thus +saving his own life. He was, however, captured, lashed to a tree, and +would have been killed, but for his address in presenting the King +Opecancanough with "a round ivory double compass Dyall"—his own +pocket compass—directing the attention of the "salvages" to the +movement of the needle, and describing the uses of the instrument.</p> + +<p>"A month those Babarians kept him prisoner; many strange triumphes and +conjurations they made of him, yet he so demeaned himself among them +as he not only diverted them from surprising the Fort, but procured +his own libertie, and got himself and his company such estimation +among them that these Salvages admired him as a demi-god."</p> + +<p>From the pen of a contemporary we have the account of what led to his +"libertie." He had killed two of the attacking party, and was +condemned by Powhatan to die for the offence.</p> + +<a id="img064" name="img064"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img064.jpg" width="600" height="392" alt="" title=""> +<p>Captain Smith saved by Pocahontas.</p></div> + +<p>"Having feasted him after their best barbarous manner they could, a +long consultation was held; but the conclusion was, two great stones +were brought <span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169"></a>(p. 169)</span> before Powhatan, then, as many as could lay +hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and +being ready with their clubs to beate out his brains, Pocahontas, the +king's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevaile, got his head +in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death; +whereat the emperor was contented he should live to make him hatchets, +and her bells, beads, and copper."</p> + +<p>From other pages we get the stage-setting for this, the most dramatic +incident in colonial history.</p> + +<p>The emperor had heard the evidence with a "sour look," sitting in +state upon a rude dais, covered with mats, his body wrapped in a cloak +of raccoon skins. His dusky harem was grouped about him, watchful and +interested. When the trial was over he bade one wife to bring water to +wash the captive's hands, another a bunch of feathers to dry them +upon. This was preliminary to the feast.</p> + +<p>"So fat they fed Mee," says "A True Relation of Virginia," published +by Smith in 1608, "that I much doubted they intended to have +sacrificed mee to the Quioughquosiche, which is a superiour power they +worship."</p> + +<p>The appointment to the position of armorer in the royal household, and +trinket-maker to the princess, was one of honor. Smith enjoyed it for +a month only, but to his residence at Powhatan and intimacy with +Pocahontas, he was indebted for the familiarity with Indian language +and customs which was afterward of incalculable benefit to the +Virginians. He describes Pocahontas in respectful admiration:</p> + +<p>"For features, countenance, and expression she much exceeded the +rest."</p> + +<p>Her gala attire was a doeskin mantle lined with down from the breasts +of wood-pigeons; bangles of coral bound her brown ankles and wrists, +and in her hair was a white heron's feather in token of her royal +blood. At the time of her rescue of Smith she was about thirteen years +old.</p> + +<p>In January, 1608, the emperor offered Smith a forest principality if +he would remain with the tribe, but he petitioned to be allowed to +return to Jamestown. The request was reluctantly granted, and an +escort sent with him to the "Fort." This returned, bearing gifts for +Powhatan and his wives, with marvellous stories of the cannon-shot +fired into the sleety forest at Smith's command. We cannot but wonder +what toy or ornament went to the petted child whom he had served in +glad gratitude while a member of her father's household.</p> + +<p>He had no time for sentimental musings. Upon the very day of his +unlooked for return (January 8, 1608), Ratcliffe repeated Wingfield's +attempt to escape to England in the only vessel left at Jamestown. The +anchor was actually raised when Smith hastily collected a force and +hurried to the landing. "With the hazzard of his life, with sakre, +falcon, and musket shot, Smith forced" (them) "now the third time to +stay or sinke."</p> + +<p>In their sullen rage the foiled conspirators plotted and nearly +executed a fiendish revenge. Once more we copy from the "General +History," written by Smith and his friends.</p> + +<p>"Some no better than they should be, had plotted with the president" +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" name="page170"></a>(p. 170)</span> (Ratcliffe) "the next day to have put him" (Smith) "to death +by the Leviticall law for the lives of Robinson and Emry, pretending +the fault was his that had led them to their ends; but he quickly took +such order with such lawyers that he layd them by the heeles till he +sent some of them prisoners to England."</p> + +<p>The colony was almost destitute of food, and the memories of the +famine of last year terrified the imaginations of those who had lived +through it. "Gentlemen" having again predominated in reinforcements +sent from England, the crops planted and gathered in Smith's absence +had been meagre, while rats brought over in one of the vessels had +wrought havoc with stored grain. Like an angel of mercy was the +apparition of Pocahontas, at the head of a "wild train" of Indians +laden with corn and game, approaching the fort. "Ever once in four or +five days during the time of two or three years," the young princess, +thus attended, visited the fort and succored the needy settlers. Smith +declares that "next under God she preserved the colony from death, +famine, and utter confusion." He might have subjoined that, but for +himself, not even Pocahontas's bounty could have saved the settlement +from the consequences of misconduct and misrule.</p> + +<p>His was the only voice lifted to condemn the mad folly of loading a +homeward-bound vessel with the glittering mud of a neighboring creek. +That he was "not enamored of their dirty skill to freight such a +drunken ship with so much gilded dirt"—was one of the mildest of his +phrases, as, "breathing out these and many other passions," he +harangued those who had "no thought, no discourse, no hope, and no +work but to dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, and load gold."</p> + +<p>Before the English assayers confirmed his judgment as to the value of +this cargo, the intrepid adventurer had sailed, with fourteen others, +up the Chesapeake into new and wonderful regions. Never losing heart, +even when he believed himself to be dying from the sting of a +poisonous fish, he discovered and entered the Potomac, the +Rappahannock, and tributary creeks, fighting his way when not allowed +to proceed peaceably. In July (1608) he led another party to the spot +now occupied by the city of Baltimore, and made friends with a tribe +called Susquehannocks, believed to be sun-worshippers. Returning from +these voyages of three thousand miles in all, he drew in masterly +style a chart of the countries explored, and sent it to England.</p> + +<p>Jamestown was still in a state of what he calls "combustion," under +the tyranny of Ratcliffe. Emboldened by Smith's return, the colonists +deposed the hated governor, and formally elected Smith Governor of +Virginia. The winter closed in upon an "affrighted" population. +Storehouses were nearly empty, agriculture having been neglected in +the gold fever. As Smith could not be "persuaded to use" the gallows, +so he now announced that "no persuasion could persuade <i>him</i> to +starve." In company with George Percy and fifty others, he visited his +old ally Powhatan, and tried to buy food. A change had come to the +emperor's heart. He addressed his quondam armorer as a "rash youth;" +protested that he was afraid of him, and would not treat with the +English unless they came to him unarmed. Warned by Pocahontas, who +stole through the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171"></a>(p. 171)</span> woods after dark to apprise Smith that +treachery was intended, the party lay on their arms all night, and the +force sent to surprise them retreated. Next day, Powhatan loaded the +boats with corn, and Smith sailed up the York upon a similar errand to +Opecancanough, Powhatan's brother. While in audience with him, the +Englishmen were surrounded by a band of seven hundred armed savages. +Seizing the wily chieftain by the scalp-lock, Smith held a pistol to +his breast, and demanded a cargo of corn and safe-conduct for his +party to Jamestown. The fifty men, without loss of a single life, took +back enough food to victual the town.</p> + +<p>Early in the spring of 1609, the president thus made known his policy +to his constituents:</p> + +<p>"Countrymen! You see now that power resteth wholly in myself. You must +obey this now for a law—<i>he that will not work shall not eat</i>. And +though you presume that authority here is but a shadow and that I dare +not touch the lives of any, but my own must answer for it, yet he that +offendeth, let him assuredly expect his due punishment.</p> + +<p>"I protest by that God that made me, since necessity hath no power to +force you to gather for yourselves, you shall not only gather for +yourselves, but for those that are sick. <i>They</i> shall not starve."</p> + +<p>Fields were tilled, the fort was repaired, wise Powhatan treated the +pale-faces kindly for Smith's sake, and the emigrants felt for the +first time firm ground beneath their feet. They had twenty-four pieces +of ordnance, and three hundred stand of small-arms; three ships, seven +boats, a store of more than two months' provisions, six hundred hogs, +with goats, fowls, and sheep, and an established trading-station with +the natives.</p> + +<p>Like an aërolite from the summer sky came news from England that a +fleet was to be sent out with a new colony, a new charter, and new +officers; Smith's old enemy, Christopher Newport, was in command of +the expedition. Smith had been complained of at home as "dealing +harshly with the natives and not returning the ships full-freighted." +His day was over. The king so willed it.</p> + +<p>Smith's last official act was the establishment of a colony at +Powhatan, renamed "Nonsuch," opposite where the city of Richmond was +laid out over a century later. On his way back to Jamestown, he was +cruelly wounded by the explosion of a bag of gunpowder. There was no +good surgeon in the colony. To return forthwith to England was but +anticipating by a few weeks what must be when the fleet arrived.</p> + +<p>He returned to London at the age of thirty. "He had broke the ice and +beat the path, but had not there" (in Virginia) "one foot of ground, +nor the very house he builded, nor the ground he digged with his own +hands."</p> + +<p>In 1614 he returned to America, but now to the northern region +assigned to the Plymouth Company. He gave name to Boston; explored and +made a survey of the New England coast. On a second voyage he had a +fight with a French squadron, was captured, and taken to Rochelle. +While there he wrote a "Description of New England," for which service +James I. appointed him <span class="pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172"></a>(p. 172)</span> "Admiral of New England." He died in +London, in 1631, at the age of fifty-two, never having revisited +Virginia. Upon his tomb, in the Church of St. Sepulchre's, London, may +be still traced the outlines of the Three Turks' Heads and the +inscription, beginning:</p> + +<p class="poem10"> + "<i>Here lies one conquered that hath conquered kings.</i>"</p> + +<p>Any sketch of his life, however brief, would be incomplete that +contained no reference to the letter written by him to Queen Anne (the +consort of James I.), in 1616, recommending the Lady Rebecca Rolfe to +the royal favor.</p> + +<p>He would "be guilty of the deadly poison of ingratitude," he wrote, if +he failed to narrate what he and the colony at Jamestown owed to +Pocahontas. He besought the queen's kindly consideration for the +stranger just landed upon her shores, as due to Pocahontas's "great +spirit, her desert, birth, want, and simplicity." His one call upon +the wife of John Rolfe, Gentleman, was marked by profound respect on +his part to one whom he accosted as "Lady Rebecca;" by profound +emotion on hers.</p> + +<p>John Smith's biography and epitaph are best summed up by one of his +brothers-in-arms:</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "What shall I saye, but thus we lost him that in all his + proceedings made justice his first guide and experience his + second, ever hating basenesse, sloth, pride, and indignitie more + than any dangers; that never allowed more for himself than for + his soldiers with him; that upon no danger would send them where + he would not lead them himselfe; that would never see us want + what he either had or could by any means get us; that would + rather want than borrow, or starve than not pay; that loved + action more than wordes, and hated falsehood and covetousnesse + worse than death; whose adventures were our lives and whose losse + our deaths."<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig009" name="sig009"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig009.jpg" width="300" height="61" alt="Author signature. Marion Harland." title=""> +</div> + + + + +<h3>WILLIAM HARVEY<br> + +(1578-1657)</h3> + + +<p>William Harvey was born on April 1, 1578, at Folkestone, on the +southern coast of Kent. He was the eldest of nine children; of the +rest little more is known, than that several of the brothers were +among the most eminent merchants in the city of London during the +reigns of the two first Stuarts. His father, Thomas Harvey, followed +no profession. He married Joanna Falke, at the age of twenty, and +lived upon his own estate at Folkestone. This property devolved by +inheritance <span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name="page173"></a>(p. 173)</span> upon his eldest son; and the greater part of it +was eventually bequeathed by him to the college at which he was +educated.</p> + +<p>At ten years of age he commenced his studies at the grammar school in +Canterbury; and upon May 31, 1593, soon after the completion of his +fifteenth year, was admitted as a pensioner at Caius College, +Cambridge.</p> + +<a id="img065" name="img065"></a> +<div class="floatright"> +<img src="images/img065.jpg" width="200" height="276" alt="William Harvey." title=""> +</div> + +<p>At that time a familiar acquaintance with logic and the learned +languages was indispensable as a first step in the prosecution of all +the branches of science, especially of medicine; and the skill with +which Harvey avails himself of the scholastic form of reasoning in his +great work on the Circulation, with the elegant Latin style of all his +writings, particularly of his latest work on the Generation of +Animals, affords a sufficient proof of his diligence in the +prosecution of these preliminary studies during the next four years +which he spent at Cambridge. The two next were occupied in visiting +the principal cities and seminaries of the Continent. He then prepared +to address himself to those investigations to which the rest of his +life was devoted; and the scene of his introduction to them could not +have been better chosen than at the University of Padua, where he +became a student in his twenty-second year.</p> + +<p>The ancient physicians gathered what they knew of anatomy from +inaccurate dissections of the lower animals, and the slender knowledge +thus acquired, however inadequate to unfold the complicated functions +of the human frame, was abundantly sufficient as a basis for +conjecture, of which they took full advantage. With them everything +became easy to explain, precisely because nothing was understood; and +the nature and treatment of disease, the great object of medicine, and +its subsidiary sciences, was hardily abandoned to the conduct of the +imagination, and sought for literally among the stars. Nevertheless, +so firmly was their authority established, that even down to the close +of the sixteenth century the naturalists of Europe still continued to +derive all their physiology, and the greater part of their anatomy and +medicine, from the works of Aristotle and Galen, read not in the +original Greek, but re-translated into Latin from the interpolated +versions of the Arabian physicians. The opinions entertained by these +dictators in the republic of letters, and consequently by their +submissive followers, with regard to the structure and functions of +the organs concerned in the circulation, were particularly fanciful +and confused; so much so that it would be no easy task to give an +intelligible account of them that would not be tedious from its +length. It will be enough to say, that a scarcely more oppressive mass +of mischievous error was cleared away from the science of astronomy by +the discovery of Newton, than that from which physiology was +disencumbered by the discovery of Harvey.</p> + +<p>But though the work was completed by an Englishman, it is to Italy +that, in anatomy, as in most of the sciences, we owe the first +attempts to cast off the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174"></a>(p. 174)</span> thralldom of the ancients. Mundinus +had published a work in the year 1315, which contained a few original +observations of his own; and his essay was so well received that it +remained the text-book of the Italian schools of anatomy for upward of +two centuries. It was enriched from time to time by various +annotators, among the chief of whom were Achillini, and Berengarius, +the first person who published anatomical plates. But the great +reformer of anatomy was Vesalius, who, born at Brussels in 1514, had +attained such early celebrity during his studies at Paris and Louvain, +that he was invited by the Republic of Venice, in his twenty-second +year, to the chair of anatomy at Padua, which he filled for seven +years with the highest reputation. He also taught at Bologna, and +subsequently, by the invitation of Cosmo de' Medici, at Pisa. The +first edition of his work, "De Corporis Humani Fabrica" was printed at +Basle, in the year 1543; it is perhaps one of the most successful +efforts of human industry and research, and from the date of its +publication begins an entirely new era in the science of which it +treats. The despotic sway hitherto maintained in the schools of +medicine by the writings of Aristotle and Galen was now shaken to its +foundation, and a new race of anatomists eagerly pressed forward in +the path of discovery. Among these no one was more conspicuous than +Fallopius, the disciple, successor, and in fame the rival, of +Vesalius, at Padua. After him the anatomical professorship was filled +by Fabricius ab Aquapendente, the last of the distinguished anatomists +who flourished at Padua in the sixteenth century.</p> + +<p>Harvey became his pupil in 1599, and from this time he appears to have +applied himself seriously to the study of anatomy. The first germ of +the discovery which has shed immortal honor on his name and country +was conceived in the lecture-room of Fabricius.</p> + +<p>He remained at Padua for two years; and having received the Degree of +Doctor of Arts and Medicine, with unusual marks of distinction, +returned to England early in the year 1602. Two years afterward he +commenced practice in London and married the daughter of Dr. Launcelot +Browne, by whom he had no children. He became a Fellow of the College +of Physicians, when about thirty years of age, having in the meantime +renewed his degree of Doctor in Medicine, at Cambridge; and was soon +after elected Physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which office he +retained till a late period of his life.</p> + +<p>On August 4, 1615, he was appointed Reader of Anatomy and Surgery to +the College of Physicians. From some scattered hints in his writings +it appears that his doctrine of the circulation was first advanced in +his lectures at the college about four years afterward; and a +note-book in his own hand-writing is still preserved at the British +Museum, in which the principal arguments by which it is substantiated +are briefly set down, as if for reference in the lecture-room. Yet +with the characteristic caution and modesty of true genius, he +continued for nine years longer to reason and experimentalize upon +what is now considered one of the simplest, as it is undoubtedly the +most important known law of animal nature; and it was not till the +year 1628, the fifty-first of his life, that he consented to publish +his discovery to the world.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page175" name="page175"></a>(p. 175)</span> In that year the "Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et +Sanguinis" was published at Frankfort. This masterly treatise begins +with a short outline and refutation of the opinions of former +anatomists on the movement of the animal fluids and the function of +the heart; the author discriminating with care, and anxiously +acknowledging the glimpses of the truth to be met with in their +writings; as if he had not only kept in mind the justice due to +previous discoveries, and the prudence of softening the novelty and +veiling the extent of his own, but had foreseen the preposterous +imputation of plagiarism, which, with other inconsistent charges, was +afterward brought forward against him. This short sketch is followed +by a plain exposition of the anatomy of the circulation, and a detail +of the results of numerous experiments; and the new theory is finally +maintained in a strain of close and powerful reasoning, and followed +into some of its most important consequences. The whole argument is +conducted in simple and unpretending language, with great perspicuity, +and scrupulous attention to logical form.</p> + +<p>The doctrine announced by Harvey may be briefly stated thus: The blood +circulates through the body, thereby sustaining life. The heart is +simply the pump which drives the blood through the arteries, from +whence it returns impure, and is then forced through the lungs and +repurified.</p> + +<p>The pulmonary circulation had been surmised by Galen, and maintained +by his successors; but no proof even of this insulated portion of the +truth, more than amounted to strong probability, had been given till +the time of Harvey, and no plausible claim to the discovery, still +less to the demonstration, of the general circulation has ever been +set up in opposition to his. Indeed, its truth was quite inconsistent +with the ideas everywhere entertained in the schools on the functions +of the heart and other viscera, and was destructive of many favorite +theories. The new doctrine, therefore, as may well be supposed, was +received by most of the anatomists of the period with distrust, and by +all with surprise. Some of them undertook to refute it, but their +objections turned principally on the silence of Galen, or consisted of +the most frivolous cavils; the controversy, too, assumed the form of +personal abuse even more speedily than is usually the case when +authority is at issue with reason. To such opposition Harvey for some +time did not think it necessary to reply; but some of his friends in +England, and of the adherents to his doctrine on the Continent, warmly +took up his defence. At length he was induced to take a personal share +in the dispute in answer to Riolanus, a Parisian anatomist of some +celebrity, whose objections were distinguished by some show of +philosophy, and unusual abstinence from abuse. The answer was +conciliatory and complete, but ineffectual to produce conviction; and +in reply to Harvey's appeal to direct experiment, his opponent urged +nothing but conjecture and assertion. Harvey once more rejoined at a +considerable length; taking occasion to give a spirited rebuke to the +unworthy reception he had met with, in which it seems that Riolanus +had now permitted himself to join; adducing several new and conclusive +experiments in support of his theory; and entering at large upon its +value in simplifying physiology and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page176" name="page176"></a>(p. 176)</span> the study of diseases, +with other interesting collateral topics. Riolanus, however, still +remained unconvinced; and his second rejoinder was treated by Harvey +with contemptuous silence. He had already exhausted the subject in the +two excellent controversial pieces just mentioned, the last of which +is said to have been written at Oxford about 1645; and he never +resumed the discussion in print. Time had now come to the assistance +of argument, and his discovery began to be generally admitted. To +this, indeed, his opponents contributed, by a still more singular +discovery of their own, namely, that the facts had been observed, and +the important inference drawn, long before. This was the mere +allegation of envy, chafed at the achievements of another, which, from +their apparent facility, might have been its own. It is indeed strange +that the simple mechanism thus explained should have been unobserved +or misunderstood so long; and nothing can account for it but the +imperceptible lightness as well as the strength of the chains which +authority imposes on the mind.</p> + +<p>In the year 1623 Harvey became physician extraordinary to James I., +and seven years later was appointed physician to Charles. He followed +the fortunes of that monarch, who treated him with great distinction +during the first years of the civil war, and he was present at the +battle of Edgehill, in 1642. Having been incorporated doctor of physic +by the University of Oxford, he was promoted by Charles to the +wardenship of Merton College, in 1645; but he did not retain this +office very long, his predecessor, Dr. Brent, being reinstated by the +Parliament after the surrender of Oxford in the following year.</p> + +<p>Harvey then returned to London, and resided with his brother Eliat at +Cockaine house, in the Poultry. About the time of Charles's execution +he gave up his practice, which had never been considerable, probably +in consequence of his devotion to the scientific, rather than the +practical, parts of his profession. He himself, however, attributed +his want of success to the enmity excited by his discovery. After a +second visit to the Continent, he secluded himself in the country, +sometimes at his own house in Lambeth, and sometimes with his brother +Eliat at Combe, in Surrey. Here he was visited by his friend, Dr. Ent, +in 1651, by whom he was persuaded to allow the publication of his work +on the "Generation of Animals." It was the fruit of many years of +experiment and meditation; and, though the vehicle of no remarkable +discovery, is replete with interest and research, and contains +passages of brilliant and even poetical eloquence. The object of his +work is to trace the germ through all its changes to the period of +maturity; and the illustrations are principally drawn from the +phenomena exhibited by eggs in the process of incubation, which he +watched with great care, and has described with minuteness and +fidelity. The microscope had not at that time the perfection it has +since attained; and consequently Harvey's account of the first +appearance of the chick is somewhat inaccurate, and has been +superseded by the observations of Malpighi, Hunter, and others. The +experiments upon which he chiefly relied in this department of natural +history had been repeated in the presence of Charles I., who appears +to have taken great interest in the studies of his physician.</p> + +<a id="img066" name="img066"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img066.jpg" width="500" height="412" alt="" title=""> +<p>Harvey demonstrating the Circulation of the Blood.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page177" name="page177"></a>(p. 177)</span> In the year 1653, the seventy-fifth of his life, Harvey +presented the College of Physicians with the title-deed of a building +erected in their garden, and elegantly fitted up, at his expense, with +a library and museum, and commodious apartments for their social +meetings. Upon this occasion he resigned the professorship of anatomy, +which he had held for nearly forty years, and was succeeded by Dr. +Glisson.</p> + +<p>In 1654 he was elected to the presidency of the college, which he +declined on the plea of age; and the former president, Sir Francis +Prujean, was re-elected at his request. Two years afterward he made a +donation to the college of a part of his patrimonial estate, to the +yearly value of £56, as a provision for the maintenance of the +library, and the annual festival and oration in commemoration of +benefactors.</p> + +<p>At length his constitution, which had long been harassed by the gout, +yielded to the increasing infirmities of age, and he died in his +eightieth year, on June 3, 1657. He was buried at Hempstead, in Essex, +in a vault belonging to his brother Eliat, who was his principal heir, +and his remains were followed to the grave by a numerous procession of +the body of which he had been so illustrious and munificent a member.</p> + +<p>In person he was below the middle size, but well proportioned. He had +a dark complexion, black hair, and small, lively eyes. In his youth +his temper is said to have been very hasty. If so, he was cured of +this defect as he grew older; for nothing can be more courteous and +temperate than his controversial writings; and the genuine kindness +and modesty which were conspicuous in all his dealings with others, +with his instructive conversation, gained him many attached and +excellent friends. He was fond of meditation and retirement; and there +is much in his works to characterize him as a man of warm and +unaffected piety.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + + + + +<h3>PRINCE CHARLES STUART<a id="footnotetag13" name="footnotetag13"></a><a href="#footnote13" title="Go to footnote 13"><span class="small">[13]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Andrew Lang, LL.D.</span><br> + +(1720-1788)</h3> + + +<p>Charles Edward Stuart, called the "Young Pretender" by his enemies, +the "Young Chevalier" by neutrals, "Prince of Wales" and "Prince +Regent" by his partisans, "Prince Edouard" by the French, "Ned" by his +intimates, as we read in letters of Oliphant of Gask, and "Prince +Charlie" by later generations, was born at Rome, December 31, 1720. +His father was James VIII., of Scotland, and III. of England, +according to the Legitimist theory; his foes called him "The +Pretender," partly on the strength of the old fable about the +warming-pan, so useful to the Whigs. No sane person now doubts the +genuineness of James' descent from <span class="pagenum"><a id="page178" name="page178"></a>(p. 178)</span> James II., but the +nickname of Pretender still sticks, though Boswell tells us that +George III. particularly disliked an appellation which "may be +parliamentary, but is not gentlemanly." James III., or the Chevalier +de St. George, was taken up by Louis XIV. on the death of James II., +in France. He is said to have displayed courage in several battles in +Flanders, but his attempt to assert his rights in 1715 was a +melancholy failure. James showed melancholy and want of confidence; he +soon left Scotland for the Continent, and the best that can be said +for his conduct is that he endeavored to compensate the peasants whose +houses were destroyed in the military operations of "the Fifteen." +Unable to reside in France, he retired to Rome, a pensioner of the +Pope, and entertained with royal honors. In 1719 he married Clementina +Sobieski, a granddaughter of the famous John Sobieski, who delivered +Europe from the Turks. Their eldest son, Prince Charles, appears to +have inherited the spirit and daring of his Polish ancestors, which +animated him throughout his youth, and were extinguished less by +Culloden than by the treatment which he received from the French +court, by his imprisonment in Vincennes in 1748, and by the +unrelenting animosity of the English Government, which made him a +homeless exile living mysteriously in hiding on the Continent. +Heart-broken by these misfortunes and by other disappointments, +Charles developed an unreasoning and sullen obstinacy, which alienated +his adherents, while the habit of heavy drinking, learned in his +Highland distresses, ruined his head and heart, and converted the most +gallant, gay, and promising of princes into a brutal dipsomaniac.</p> + +<a id="img067" name="img067"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img067.jpg" width="250" height="337" alt="Prince Charles Stuart." title=""> +</div> + +<p>The education of Charles was casual and interrupted. Now he was in the +hands of Protestants, now of Catholic governors and tutors, as the +advice of English adherents, or the wishes of his devout mother, +chanced to prevail. There were frequent quarrels between James and his +wife, turning partly on the question of education, more on the +jealousy which the queen conceived of the Countess of Inverness. The +Pope sided with the queen in these melancholy broils, and James's +private life (which was not faultless) was much more subject to +criticism and interference than that of his at least equally lax rival +on the English throne. A second son, Henry Benedict, Duke of York, was +born in 1725, and, at one time, was regarded as of more martial +disposition than Prince Charles. As the elder, Charles was first under +fire, and at the siege of Gaeta, in 1734, while a mere boy, he +displayed coolness, daring, and contempt of danger. Young Henry, aged +nine, "was so much discontented at being refused the partnership of +that glory and that danger, that he would not put on his sword till +his father threatened to take away his garter too," says Murray of +Broughton, in a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page179" name="page179"></a>(p. 179)</span> letter dated 1742. In later life the Duke of +York showed no military aptitude. A kind of progress which Charles +made through the cities of Italy, aroused his desire to be a prince in +more than name. The English Government quarrelled with the Republic of +Venice about the royal honors paid to the prince, and his ambition was +awakened. His education, we have said, was very imperfect. Murray of +Broughton, indeed, credits him with Latin, Greek, history, and +philosophy. But his spelling in both French and English was unusually +bad, even in an age of free spelling; he wrote <i>époles</i> for <i>epaules</i>, +"Gems" for "James," "sord" for "sword." He did not neglect physical +exercise; was wont to make long marches without stockings, to harden +his feet (as he told a follower during his Highland distresses). He +was a good shot, fond of hunting, and, about 1742, was probably the +first man who ever played golf in Italy. Murray describes him as "tall +above the common stature, his limbs cast in the most exact mould, his +complexion of an uncommon delicacy, all his features perfectly regular +and well turned, and his eyes the finest I ever saw." Whether they +were blue or hazel is undecided; they are hazel in at least one +contemporary portrait. As a boy, engravings show him pretty, merry, +and buoyant; an air of melancholy may be remarked as early as 1744. +With bright nut-brown hair, golden in the sun, and worn long beneath +his peruke, he certainly justified the endearing name of "Bonny Prince +Charlie." The distinction of his air could be concealed by no +disguise, as his followers loved fondly to declare. He certainly had +the royal memory for faces. At the opera, in 1773, he noticed an +English officer opposite, whom he sent for. The gentleman visited the +royal box, accompanied by a Scotch servant. "I have seen you before," +said Charles to this man. "You once brought me a message at Falkirk, +in 1746."</p> + +<p>Such was Prince Charles when, in 1742, Murray of Broughton became +acquainted with the royal exile in Rome, and was appointed secretary +for Scotland. With Lochiel and others, Murray formed a Jacobite +association in his native country. Negotiations were begun with the +French court, which hung off and on, as did the English Jacobites. +They would rise, if France supplied men, money, and arms. France would +do this if sufficiently assured of support in England. The king had no +enthusiasm for the enterprise. He was weary of promises and of leaning +on that broken reed, Louis XV. Murray intrigued in Scotland, Lord +Elcho in England, Kelly at the French court. Lord Semple confused all +by false hopes; Charles was much in the hands of Irishmen—Sheridan, +Sullivan, O'Brien, and O'Neil; already a "forward," or Prince's party +was growing, as opposed to the waiting policy and party of the +disheartened and unambitious James. To what extent English Jacobites +were pledged is uncertain. There was much discontent with the +Hanoverian dynasty in England, but the dread of popery was strong +among the middle classes. The butchers were advised that Catholics ate +no meat on Sundays, the official clergy preached Protestant sermons, +the Jacobite gentry feared for their lives and estates in case of +failure, and the sagacity of the Government has never revealed the +extent to which the Duke of Beaufort and others were committed to King +James. The universities, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page180" name="page180"></a>(p. 180)</span> the sporting squires, and the +smugglers drank to "The king over the water," but there enthusiasm +began and ended.</p> + +<p>More was expected, and till assured of more, France held aloof, while +making promises enough. Even the Highland chiefs said that without a +French army nothing could be done. In 1744 Charles left Rome, under +pretext of a hunting party, concealed his withdrawal with great skill, +and reached Paris. He was obliged, however, to be incognito and was +not received by the king. An invading force was crowded on board ship. +The chance seemed excellent, England's forces being mainly abroad; but +the old friends of England, the winds, drove the battered fleet back +into harbor, and Charles in vain tried to persuade the Earl Marischal +to accompany him to Scotland in a small fishing vessel.</p> + +<p>One result followed the reception of Charles by France, niggardly as +that reception was—war with England broke out, and the French army of +invasion was moved from Dunkirk to Flanders. The prince, not permitted +to serve in the French army, returned to Paris, where he had been +falsely assured by Semple and Æneas Macdonald that England was ready +to rise for him. Murray, who visited him in Paris, tried to dissuade +him from a wild venture; in Scotland he found the chiefs of his own +opinion, but the letter carrying the news never reached the prince. +His Irish friends urged him on; "the expedition was entirely an Irish +project." He borrowed money from his bankers, the Waters, he pawned +his share of the Sobieski jewels, and, with a privateer man-of-war and +a brig, La Doutelle, he left Belleisle on July 13, 1745. Neither the +French court nor his father knew that, attended only by seven men, +"The Seven Men of Moidart," he had set out to seek for a crown. The +day before he embarked he wrote to James; he said that no man would +buy a horse, nor trust a prince, that showed no spirit. "I never +intend to come back," he added. So, dressed as a student of the Scots +College, he started. He lost his convoy, the Elizabeth, on the way, +after a drawn battle with the Lion (Captain Brett). Resisting all +advice to turn back, as Æneas Macdonald, who accompanied him, +narrates, he held on in La Doutelle, and reached Erisca, an islet +between Barra and South Uist, on August 2, 1745. An eagle hovered over +his ship, and Tullibardine hailed the royal bird as a happy omen. But +he found himself unwelcome. Boisdale bade him go home; "I <i>am</i> at +home," said the prince. He steered for Moidart, the most beautiful but +the wildest shore of Scotland, a region of steep and serrated +mountains, of long salt-water straits, winding beneath the bases of +the hills, and of great fresh-water lochs. Loch Nahuagh was his port; +here he received Clan Ranald, whose desolate keep, Castle Tirrim, +stands yet in ruins, since "the Fifteen." Glenaladale (whose +descendants yet hold their barren acres), Dalilea, and Kinlochmoidart +(now, like Clan Ranald, landless men) met him with discouraging words. +But, seeing a flash in the eyes of a young Macdonald, of +Kinlochmoidart, Charles said, "You will not forsake me?" "I will +follow you to death, were no other sword drawn in your cause."</p> + +<p>The chiefs caught fire, Charles landed, with the seven men of +Moidart—Æneas Macdonald, the Judas of the cause; the Duke of Athol +(Tullibardine), <span class="pagenum"><a id="page181" name="page181"></a>(p. 181)</span> who had been out in the fifteen; Sheridan, +the prince's tutor; Sir John Macdonald; Kelley, a parson who had been +in Atterbury's affair; Strickland, an Englishman; and Buchanan. Young +Lochiel was disinclined to join, but yielded to the fascination of the +prince. With his accession the rising was a certainty. But Duncan +Forbes of Culloden, the lord president, had influence enough to hold +back the Macleods of Skye, to paralyze the shifty Lovat, and to secure +the Sutherland house for the Hanoverian cause. Charles left Boisdale +for Kinlochmoidart, "the head of Loch Moidart," where an avenue of +trees, the prince's walk, is still shown, though the old house was +burned after Culloden. Keppoch cut off a small party of Scots Royal; +this was first blood for the Jacobite cause. The wounded were +hospitably treated by Lochiel; the English captain was released on +parole. Charles now crossed the steep hills between Kinlochmoidart and +the long narrow lake of Loch Sheil, there he took boat, and rowed past +the lands of Glenaladale and Dalilea to Glenfinnan, where Tullibardine +raised the standard, inscribed <i>Tandem Triumphans</i>. A statue of the +prince, gazing southward, now marks the spot. The clans came in, and +as Charles marched southeast, each glen sent down its warriors to join +the stream. The clansmen, as a rule, had probably little knowledge of +or interest in the cause. They followed their chiefs. The surviving +Gaelic poetry speaks much of the chieftains; of <i>Tearlach, righ nan +Gael</i>, but little is said. It was the middle of August before the +rulers of England received the news of the landing. They at once set a +reward of £30,000 on Charles's head, a proceeding "unusual among +Christian princes," said Charles, who was compelled by his forces, and +their threats of desertion, to follow the evil example. Sir John Cope +was sent with an English army to stop the prince. It appeared likely +that the armies would meet about Dalwhinnie, now the highest and +bleakest part of the Highland Railway. The path then led over +Corryarrack; Charles and his men raced for the summit, but Cope was +not to be seen. He had marched east and north, to Inverness, and all +the south of Scotland lay open to the prince. He passed by +Killiecrankie and Blair Athol to Perth; Cluny came in, with the Duke +of Perth, and Lord George Murray, Charles's most skilled general, who +had been out at Glensheil, in 1719, and had learned the lesson of war +in the Sardinian army. How easily he won Edinburgh, how he held court +at Holyrood, how he routed Cope (who returned by sea) at Preston Pans +or Gladsmuir, is familiar to all. His clemency was conspicuous; he +wrote to James that he would give up Holyrood to the wounded, rather +than see them homeless. Home, a Whig volunteer, and the author of a +Whiggish history, acknowledges the nobility of his conduct, and his +"foolish lenity" (he would not permit the execution of several persons +who tried to assassinate him) is blamed by the fanatics who, in 1749, +issued a wild Cameronian manifesto, "The Active Testimonies of +Presbyterians." The contrast with the savage brutalities of Cumberland +is very notable. In the battle the chiefs refused to let Charles lead +the charge, but he was at the head of the second line, "a pistol shot +behind" the first. Preston Pans was fought on September 21, 1745. That +Charles dallied before Edinburgh Castle till October 21st <span class="pagenum"><a id="page182" name="page182"></a>(p. 182)</span> +was no fault of his. Some of his men had gone home with booty, others +were to be waited for, many of the chiefs were in favor of holding +Scotland under James as a separate kingdom, and it was only by +constant personal appeals that the prince persuaded them to push +south. Lord George's strategy deceived the English, who knew not where +to look for the Highlanders. They met at Carlisle, took it, passed +through Preston and Manchester, gave Cumberland the slip, and their +advanced posts, six miles south of Derby, were within a hundred and +twenty miles of London. The army of Finchley was unlikely to make a +stand, the city was partly Jacobite, the mob were ready for anything, +when Lord George and the chiefs insisted on retreat. Historians doubt +which policy was the wiser; it is certain that success, if to be +attained at all, could only be won by audacity. The chiefs, however, +declared for a return and a junction with French forces then expected. +Charles wept and prayed to no avail. His army, as disappointed as +himself, found their faces set to the north, and the prince, who had +ever walked among the first ranks, leaving his carriage to old Lord +Pitsligo, now rode dejected and heart-broken. The retreat was rapid +and able. At Clifton, Murray turned on the pursuing dragoons, headed a +claymore charge, and drove them back. A hapless garrison of Lancashire +volunteers was left to the tender mercies of Cumberland in Carlisle, +and Charles went by way of Whiggish Dumfries (the house where he +lodged is now an inn) to Glasgow. To all intents and purposes the end +had come. Charles had lost faith in the advisers who dragged him back +from the south, he listened to Murray of Broughton and to his Irishry; +he suspected, unjustly but not unnaturally, the good faith of Lord +George. He dallied at Stirling, besieging the castle without proper +artillery, and Hawley was sent to attack him. On January 17, 1746, the +armies met at Falkirk. A storm of wind and rain blew at the backs of +the Highlanders, they charged, scattered the enemy, drove them in +flight, and cut up the Glasgow volunteers. But, in the dark and the +mist they scarcely knew their own advantage. The pipers had thrown +their pipes to their boys, had gone in with the claymore, and could +not sound the calls. Hawley wrote to Cumberland "My heart is broke ... +I got off but three cannon of the ten." Hawley retreated to Edinburgh, +the Duke of Cumberland came to take the command; the Highlanders began +to desert with their booty, dissensions prevailed, and Charles went on +besieging Stirling. Again Lord George Murray urged a retreat, Charles +dashed his head in impotent rage against the wall of his room, but he +had to follow. With perfect truth he said:</p> + +<p>"I cannot see anything but ruin and destruction to us all in case we +should think of a retreat;" his forces in flight would lose heart, his +enemies would gain confidence. All this was true, but all this was +unavailing. Months were spent in unimportant movements. Cumberland, +meanwhile, instructed his men in the method of meeting a Highland +charge, and deceiving the parry of the Highland shields. It was known +that France would lend no substantial aid, and a French subsidy of +30,000 <i>Louis d'or</i> came too late, after the battle of Culloden, and +was buried at the head of Loch Arkaig. One last chance Charles had: +Lord <span class="pagenum"><a id="page183" name="page183"></a>(p. 183)</span> George proposed, and Charles eagerly seconded, a night +surprise at Nairn. But the delays on the march, and the arrival of +dawn, made Murray command a retreat, and Charles's faith in him was +irretrievably gone for the time, though he later expressed in writing +a more worthy opinion. With 10,000 well-fed men against 5,000 who were +starving, Cumberland had every chance of victory at Culloden. The +Macdonalds, placed on the left wing, would not charge. Keppoch's men +were discontented because they were not allowed to have a Catholic +chaplain. Crying out, "The children of my clan have forsaken me," +Keppoch charged alone, and died the death of renown. Beaten and +blinded by a storm of snow in their faces, the Highland right clove +the ranks of Monro and Burrell, only to fall, in layers three or four +deep, before the fire of Sempill's regiment in the second line. The +whole English force advanced; Charles rode to his second line, and +offered to charge with them. His officers told him that it was in +vain; Highlanders once beaten would not rally. (MS. "Lyon in +Mourning," and MS. of Stuart Threipland at Abbotsford.) Charles was +hurried off the field by his Irish tutor, and fled to Lord Lovat's, at +Gortuleg. A story of his lack of courage, told by Sir Walter Scott on +the authority of Sir James Stewart Denham's recollections of Lord +Elcho's MS., is erroneous. Lord Elcho's MS. does not contain the +statement. What he objects to is Charles's refusal to meet the +fragments of his army at Ruthven, in Badenoch, whence they hoped to +wage a guerilla warfare. Lord George Murray himself admits that the +project was impossible. Charles, however, should have gone to Ruthven, +but he distrusted Lord George; and his hope of a speedy voyage to +France, where he expected to receive aid in men and money, was +frustrated.</p> + +<p>It is needless to repeat the tale of Cumberland's almost incredible +butcheries, cruelties, and robberies, or to tell of the executions +accompanied by the torture of disembowelling the living man. The story +of Charles's wanderings and distresses is narrated best in the MS. +"Lyon in Mourning," partly printed by Robert Chambers, in "Jacobite +Memoirs." No words can overpraise the loyalty of the starving +Highlanders; neither English tortures, nor the promise of £30,000, +ever moved one man or woman from their constant faith. Only one hungry +boy whom Charles had fed, attempted to betray him, but was not +believed. As for the prince, he is briefly described by a companion as +"the most prudent man not to be a coward, the most daring not to be +foolhardy, whom he had ever known." He showed a constant gayety, +singing and telling tales to hearten his followers. His resource was +endless; he was by far the best cook and the least fastidious eater of +his company. He could cook a dish of cow's brains, or swallow raw +oatmeal and salt-water. Surrounded by English <i>cordons</i>, through which +he slipped at night up the bed of a burn, when the sentinels had +reached their furthest point apart, Charles led a little expedition +which cut off the cattle intended for the provender of his enemies. +(MS. "Lyon in Mourning.") He would not even let a companion carry his +great-coat. He knew every extremity of hunger, thirst, and cold; and +perhaps his most miserable experience was to lurk for many hours, +devoured by midges, under a wet rock. Unshorn, unwashed, in a filthy +shirt, his last, he was <span class="pagenum"><a id="page184" name="page184"></a>(p. 184)</span> yet the courteous prince in his +dealings with all women whom he met, notably with Flora Macdonald, the +stainless and courageous heroine of loyalty and womanly kindness. At +last, late in September, 1746, Charles, with Lochiel and many others, +escaped in a French barque from Loch Nahuagh, where he had first +landed. It has been said of him by his enemies, especially by Dr. +King, a renegade, that he was avaricious and ungrateful. Letters and +receipts in the muniment room of a Highland chief show him directing +large sums, probably out of the Loch Arkaig treasure, to be paid to +Lochiel, to "Keppoch's lady," and to many poor clansmen. The receipts, +written in hiding, and dried with snuff or sand, attest that the money +came to the persons for whom it was intended.</p> + +<p>Charles' expedition could only be justified by success. That it failed +was due to no want of courage, or audacity, or resolve on his part, +but to the very nature of a Highland army, to the jealousies of Irish +and Scotch, to the half-heartedness of his English partisans, and to +the English horror of his father's religion. By his own creed he held +very loosely.</p> + +<a id="img068" name="img068"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img068.jpg" width="500" height="363" alt="" title=""> +<p>The First Meeting of Prince Charles with Flora Macdonald.</p></div> + +<p>In France Charles was a popular hero, and adored by ladies. His +appearance at court was magnificent, and for him the Princesse de +Tallemant made every sacrifice. But the Government was deaf to his +appeals, a journey to Spain was fruitless; worst of all, his brother +Henry, to whom he had been tenderly devoted, accepted a cardinal's +hat, on July 3, 1747. This was fatal. The English would never forgive +a son of their so-called king who became a Romish priest; and the +shadow of the hat fell on Charles. From letters of James to the +prince, it is plain that, for some reason, the Duke of York could not +look forward to marriage and to continuing the Stuart family. The +young man, therefore, having also a vocation withal, accepted +ecclesiastical rank, and a cluster of rich benefices. A breach between +Charles and James followed, which was never healed, despite the +touching letters of the king to his "dearest Carluccio." Charles +betook himself to adventurous and secret projects. In the Highlands he +had learned to seek the consolation of the poor, and to forget hunger, +cold, misery, and sorrow in drink. He drank "our best bowlsman," says +an islander, under the table. The habit soon dominated him, and—with +his disgraceful arrest and imprisonment, when he refused to +acknowledge the peace of Aix la Chapelle and to withdraw from +France—soured his character and ruined his life. Released from +Vincennes, he hurried to the then Papal city of Avignon, where he +introduced boxing-matches. England threatened to bombard Civita +Vecchia, and Charles had to depart. Whither he went no man knows. +There is a Jacobite tract of 1750, purporting to be written by his +equerry, Henry Goring. According to this, Charles, Goring, and a +mysterious Comte de la Luze (Marshal Keith?), went to Lyons, Dijon, +Strasbourg. Here Charles rescued a beautiful girl from a fire, and +honorably declined to take advantage of her manifest passion for her +preserver. The party was attacked by assassins, Charles shot two of +them, La Luze and Goring accounted for others. They took ship from +some northern coast, were tempest-driven to an unfriendly port, +visited, apparently, Frederick the Great, spent some time in +Lithuania, and there are hints of a love affair, though Charles had +already <span class="pagenum"><a id="page185" name="page185"></a>(p. 185)</span> proclaimed that he would never marry to beget +royal beggars. He certainly visited Sweden; there was talk of him as a +candidate for the Polish crown. For many years (1749-1755) neither +James nor the English Government knew where Charles really was. Grimm +says that for three years he lay hidden in the house of a lady in +Paris, a friend of the Princesse de Tallemant. A sportsman and a lover +of the open air is not likely to have loitered so long with Armida in +a secret chamber. There is tattle about him in D'Argenson's "Memoirs;" +a disguised shabby prince appears now and then, none knows whence, and +vanishes. In the papers of Charles Stuart, Comte d'Albanie, one finds +a trace of a visit paid by the prince to Ireland. There is evidence, +in the State Papers, that he was not far from Paris, in June, 1749. We +have it under his own hand, in the Stuart Papers at Windsor, that he +visited London on September 5, 1750, returning to Paris on September +13th. Here, as we know from the document left by Archibald Cameron, +Lochiel's brother, the last man executed for the rising, or rather for +a later plot, Charles renounced the Catholic faith. Charles himself +gives 1750 as the date of this conversion. It came five years too +late, and he recanted his recantation. He was in England again later +(1752), and held his last council in Merriworth Castle in Kent. There +is a legend of his ghost haunting a house in Godalming, which probably +comes from a tradition of his residence there. Since 1750 or +thereabouts, a Miss Clementina Walkinshaw, of Barrowfield, had been +his mistress. He is said to have met her near Glasgow, and flirted +with her; when or where she fled to him on the continent is obscure. +Mr. Ewald supposes her to have been with him in Paris before the +affair of Vincennes (1748). The writer, however, has seen a letter +from Paris to a sister of Miss Walkinshaw describing the arrest at the +Opera House, without the most distant allusion to Clementina, about +whom her sister would be concerned. Clementina, judging by a +miniature, was a lady with very large black eyes; a portrait in oil +gives a less favorable view of her charms. In 1754 Charles was again +in England, and in Nottingham. He actually walked in Hyde Park, where +someone, recognizing him, tried to kneel to him. He therefore returned +at once to France. He is reported to have come back in 1755 or 1756, +braving the reward of £30,000 for his head. The Jacobites now +requested him to dismiss Clementina Walkinshaw, whose eldest sister +was a lady housekeeper in the Hanoverian family. A scrap in Charles's +hand at Windsor proves that he regarded some lady as a possible +traitor, but he declined to be dictated to, in his household matters, +by his adherents. This gave the English Jacobites an excuse for +turning their coats, of which they availed themselves. Sir Walter +Scott makes the romance of "Redgauntlet" hang on the incident. About +this time jottings of Charles prove that he fancied himself a +Republican. He hated Louis XV., and declined on one occasion to act as +a bug-bear (<i>épouvantail</i>), at the request of France. He had already +struck a medal in honor of the British Navy and contempt of the +French. He is now lost sight of till 1760, when Miss Walkinshaw, with +his daughter, left his protection for that of a convent. This lady, in +some letters, now unluckily lost, endeavored to persuade her family +that she was married to the prince. A later myth <span class="pagenum"><a id="page186" name="page186"></a>(p. 186)</span> averred +that her daughter (the Duchess of Albany) had been secretly married, +and a General Stuart, claiming, on this evidence, to be a legitimate +descendant of the prince, died about 1852. As Charles, late in life, +legitimatized his daughter by Clementina Walkinshaw (a thing needless +had he been married to her mother), and made affirmation that he never +had any other child, all these legends are manifestly absurd. (The +affirmation is among documents in possession of Lord Braye, and is +published by the Historical MSS. Commission.)</p> + +<p>From this point there is little historical or personal interest in the +life of Charles. His father, James III., died in 1766, and was buried +as a king. Charles hurried from Bouillon to Rome; his brother, the +cardinal, tried to secure his recognition by the Papal Court, but the +Pope dared not, and no other government chose to defy the English +Ministry. Charles's life was spent, now in seclusion, now in society; +he still was fond of shooting, of music, and the drama; he still +retained his grace of demeanor when he happened to be sober. Late in +1771 he went in disguise to Paris, where he accepted a pension from +France, and a beautiful bride, Louise, Princess of Stolberg, descended +from the Earl of Ailesbury into whose arms Charles II. fell under the +stroke of his fatal illness. The ill-matched pair were married on Good +Friday, April 17, 1772. At first Charles behaved with more sobriety +and good humor than usual. A child of the marriage was expected, at +least by the Scotch Jacobites, in 1773. There is a legend that a child +was actually born, was intrusted to Captain John Carter Allen, was +brought up by him as his own, and this infant, grown to manhood, +became the father of two gentlemen calling themselves John Sobieski +Stolberg Stuart and Charles Edward Stuart, Counts of Albany. They +lived till late in the present century, were picturesque figures in +society, and writers of some spirit and vigor. For long they were much +cherished by some noble Highland families. Charles, the younger, has +left descendants. It is needless to discuss here the authenticity of +these claims.</p> + +<p>Charles's relations with his wife were on the pattern of his relations +with his mistress. He was jealous, and brutal beyond description; she +was courted by Alfieri, the poet, and, after fleeing from her husband +to a convent, she united her fortunes with Alfieri's. On his death she +chose a young French painter, Fabre, as his successor, and to him she +left her rich collection of relics, spoils of the poet and the king. A +beautiful, witty, and engaging woman, she was long a centre of society +in Italy. She died in 1824. In 1784 Charles sent for his daughter by +Miss Walkinshaw. Both had long been maintained by the cardinal. He +made her Duchess of Albany, medals were designed, if never struck, +representing her as <i>spes ultima et exigua</i>, "the last frail hope," of +the Stuarts. For the last time, in conversation with a Mr. Greathead, +the old spirit blazed out. His face brightened, he began the tale of +his campaign, but, when attempting to narrate the butcheries of +Cumberland, the cruel executions in London, he fell on the floor in +convulsions. He used to solace himself by playing on the pipes, and at +the sound of the martial music which he had heard on three stricken +fields, he was able to live in the past. On January 31, 1788, the +anniversary of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page187" name="page187"></a>(p. 187)</span> the death of Charles I., Charles Edward +passed away from earth. His daughter did not long survive him; she was +killed by a fall from her horse. Henry now took the title of Henry IX. +"by grace of God, not by the will of men." He died in 1806; the French +had stripped him of all his property, even the famous Sobieski rubies +were gone, and he was in receipt of a pension from the English +Government. In 1819 George IV. erected a monument by Canova, in St +Peters at Rome, to "James III., son of James II., King of Great +Britain, to Charles Edward, and Henry, his sons, the last of the Royal +Stuart line. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." Sir Walter +Scott visited this alone of Roman sights, in 1832, just before he came +home to die.</p> + +<p>Had Charles fallen at Culloden, history could find no blot on his +name, no stain on the white rose. Surviving, as he did, a +broken-hearted exile, with no home, no chance of a career, "eating his +own heart, shunning the paths of men," as Homer says of Bellerophon, +he fell a victim to the habit which has ever the same wretched +results, which turns a hero to a coward, a gentleman to a brute. Yet, +in his one year of brilliance, he won immortal love. Scott had seen +strong men, the prince's ancient comrades, weep at the mention of his +name. No man, in any age, ever inspired such a large, such a gallant, +such a tender and melancholy body of song. Even now as one hears the +notes of</p> + +<p class="poem30"> + "Will ye no come back again,<br> + Better lo'ed ye canna be,"</p> + +<p class="noindent">sung by the lads of a Scotch village, one feels that Charles Stuart +did not wholly fail; the song outlives the dynasty, and relics of +Prince Charlie are fondly cherished, while no man cares a halfpenny +for his Hanoverian rivals.</p> + +<p>The best life of Prince Charles is that by Mr. Ewald (London, 1875). +Mr. Ewald alone has used the State Papers at the Record Office. Lord +Stanhope's and Mr. Chambers's "Histories of the Forty-five" are also +excellent; as are "Jacobite Memoirs," selected from Bishop Forbes's +MS. "Lyon in Mourning." These works, with the contemporary tracts, and +some MSS., with Lord Stanhope's "Decline of the Last Stuarts," and the +Stuart Papers at Windsor, as given in Browne's "History of the +Highland Clans," have been consulted in compiling this study of Prince +Charles.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig010" name="sig010"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig010.jpg" width="150" height="75" alt="Author signature. Andrew Lang." title=""> +</div> + + + + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page188" name="page188"></a>(p. 188)</span> CAPTAIN JAMES COOK<a id="footnotetag14" name="footnotetag14"></a><a href="#footnote14" title="Go to footnote 14"><span class="small">[14]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Oliver Optic</span><br> + +(1728-1779)</h3> + + +<a id="img069" name="img069"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img069.jpg" width="250" height="279" alt="Captain James Cook." title=""> +</div> + +<p>As an example of the self-made man without fortune or the prestige of +a distinguished family to assist him, perhaps there is none better and +more instructive than the career of Captain Cook, the great English +navigator and discoverer. At his birth, in 1728, his father was a +farm-laborer, and his mother belonged to the same grade of society. +They lived in the north of England, and were people of excellent +character. On account of his honesty, industry, and skill in farming, +his father was promoted to the place of head servant on a farm some +distance from where he had been working; but it does not appear that +he ever made any further advancement. James learned to read and write, +and was instructed in some of the simpler rules of arithmetic, which +was the extent of his school learning, a very slender outfit for one +of the distinction to which he attained in a lifetime of fifty years.</p> + +<p>At the age of thirteen James was bound as an apprentice to a dry-goods +dealer in a small way in a considerable fishing town. The business did +not suit the youth at all, for he had before cherished the idea of +going to sea, and his surroundings in a seaport doubtless increased +his yearnings in that direction. A disagreement between the apprentice +and his employer enabled him to procure his discharge, and he engaged +his services to the Messrs. Walker, a couple of Quakers, who owned two +vessels employed in the coal trade. He passed the greater portion of +his term, and a considerable period after its expiration, as a common +sailor on board of the ship Free Love, where he obtained a thorough +knowledge of seamanship. From this humble sphere he was promoted to be +mate of one of the Walker ships. His life in this capacity was +uneventful, though he was all the time learning navigation and storing +his mind with the information which was to enable him to distinguish +himself in later years.</p> + +<p>In 1755, when Cook was twenty-seven years old, war broke out between +England and France, and there was a great demand for seamen for the +navy of England. At that time the system of impressment was in vogue, +and when Britain wanted sailors she took them, wherever and whenever +she could find them. Press-gangs were sent out, under one or more +officers, by ships of war in port needing more men. They visited the +drinking-places and taverns of the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page189" name="page189"></a>(p. 189)</span> town and captured all the +seamen they could find, usually more or less intoxicated, and +compelled them to go on board of the man-of-war. They were forced to +do duty. Sometimes the unlucky tars were taken from the vessels to +which they belonged, whether in port or at sea. This impressment was +not always confined to British seamen, and this system was one of the +causes which led to the war of 1812 between England and the United +States. Though the law sanctioning this abuse was never repealed, +press-gangs became obsolete half a century ago.</p> + +<p>Cook's ship was in the Thames at this time, and he was liable to +impressment, for mates were not exempt, though captains were. Like all +British seamen, he had a dread of being forced into the naval service, +oftener because they were forced than for any other reason. He +concealed himself, and used all the precautions he could to avoid such +a calamity, as he then regarded it. But he faithfully reconsidered the +subject, and concluded to enter the navy by voluntary enlistment, thus +escaping impressment, which would be an outrage upon his manhood. He +began his service on board the Eagle, a sixty-gun ship, which was soon +after commanded by Captain Palliser. Cook was not only an able and +skilful seaman, but he diligently and faithfully performed every duty, +so that he soon attracted the attention of his officers.</p> + +<p>His friends at home had endeavored to do something for him, and his +commander received a letter from a member of Parliament commending the +seaman to his favor. The captain acknowledged the merit of Cook in his +reply, but stated that he had been in the navy for so brief a period +that he could not be made a commissioned officer, but in due time, if +he proved worthy, a master's warrant might be obtained for him. Four +years after he entered the service a strong interest secured this +promotion for him. In this capacity he was assigned to the frigate +Mercury, which was ordered to North America, where she became one of +the fleet that operated in connection with the army of General Wolfe +in the siege of Quebec.</p> + +<p>The navigation of this portion of the St. Lawrence River was difficult +and dangerous then to the English; they were comparative strangers +there, and the French had removed the channel buoys. It was necessary +to make a survey, and Captain Palliser recommended Master Cook for the +service. The locality was exposed to the enemy, and for several nights +he conducted the work till he had about completed it, when his +operations were discovered by the French. A force of Indians was sent +to capture the surveyor, and they surrounded him in the darkness in +their canoes, and Cook made his escape only by leaping ashore, to +which his barge had been directed, near the English hospital, while +the Indians were boarding the boat over the stern. But he had +performed the duty intrusted to him, and from his measurements +constructed a perfect chart of the channel.</p> + +<p>He was a very skilful draughtsman, though he had educated himself in +the art, as well as an expert surveyor, and he was employed by the +admiral in making surveys of other portions of the river. His charts +of the locality were published, with soundings and sailing directions; +and they were so correct that no <span class="pagenum"><a id="page190" name="page190"></a>(p. 190)</span> others were needed for at +least a hundred years. He piloted the boats of the squadron in the +attack upon Montmorency, and superintended the landing of the troops +for the assault on the Plains of Abraham, where both Wolfe and +Montcalm were mortally wounded.</p> + +<p>For four years Cook had been an acting master, but in 1759 he was +fully confirmed in his rank and appointed to the flag-ship of Lord +Colvill, passing the following winter at Halifax. This was a season of +leisure from active professional occupation, and the master employed +it in studying geometry, astronomy, and mathematics generally, fitting +himself for the highest positions in the navy. For the next ten years +he was largely engaged in surveying in Newfoundland, and was present +at its capture from the French. Returning to England he was married, +but was soon sent back to the field of his recent labors, as marine +surveyor of the coasts, by the influence of his constant friend, now +Sir Hugh Palliser. He was busily employed in this capacity, rendering +valuable service to his country, and especially to the king's +ministers in arranging the terms of peace with France. During his +absence he observed an eclipse of the sun, which was so well done that +his results were published in the "Philosophical Transactions," adding +greatly to his reputation as an astronomer.</p> + +<p>At this period the spirit of discovery was reanimated in England, and +an expedition was fitted out, at the instance of the Royal Society, +primarily to observe a transit of Venus across the disk of the sun, +which could only be done in some parts of the Pacific Ocean. Sir Hugh +Palliser was again his friend, and Cook, raised to the rank of +lieutenant, was appointed to the command. He selected a ship of three +hundred and seventy tons, called the Endeavor, for the purpose, and +accompanied by several eminent scientists, he sailed in 1778. In +addition to its astronomical task, the expedition was to make +discoveries and explorations in the Pacific.</p> + +<p>It would be impossible to follow Lieutenant Cook in the details of his +three notable voyages of discovery in anything less than a volume, so +full are they of interesting incidents. He proceeded first to Madeira, +and then across the Atlantic to Rio Janeiro, where he made a +considerable stay to obtain supplies, and improve the condition of his +crew. Passing through the Strait of Le Maire, he went around Cape +Horn, and in April of 1769 the Endeavor arrived at Otaheite, now +called Tahiti, in the Society Islands, where the transit was to be +observed. The observations required a considerable stay in Matavia +Bay, and as soon as he had made his preparations on shore for the +work, the commander established regulations for intercourse between +his people and the natives who crowded in multitudes around their +strange visitors.</p> + +<p>No man in his day and generation ever had more extensive dealings with +the uncivilized tribes of the earth than Captain Cook, and none ever +treated them with more enlightened humanity, or with more even-handed +justice. His treatment of the aborigines of the vast number of islands +and other regions he visited, is in remarkable contrast with that of +the early explorers of the Western Continent. By the latter the +natives were remorselessly slain, enslaved, and even tortured. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page191" name="page191"></a>(p. 191)</span> They were regarded as pagans, with no natural rights, whose +territories, families, and persons were the legitimate spoils of the +conquerors. On the contrary, Cook, with the means in his possession to +overawe, subdue, and subjugate them, always extended to them the +utmost consideration in his power. He could be severe when necessity +required, but his forbearance was almost unlimited.</p> + +<p>The first of a series of rules he established and enforced was: "To +endeavor, by every fair means, to cultivate a friendship with the +natives, and to treat them with all imaginable humanity." He was +largely dependent upon the resources of the islands he visited for the +sustenance of his people; but nothing, except in dire necessity, was +ever taken from the natives by force. Persons were appointed to trade +with them, and no others were allowed to barter or exchange goods with +them, and a proper equivalent was always to be given. His own men were +put under the strictest discipline in order to control their relations +with the natives who constantly surrounded them. Generally the most +friendly spirit prevailed on both sides. The inhabitants of all the +islands seemed to have a natural inclination to steal, and most of the +trouble with them grew out of this tendency. Cook judiciously +repressed theft from the beginning, and almost invariably compelled +the restoration of the property.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, his own men were sometimes tempted to desert; but +he hunted them down, secured one or more chiefs as hostages, or by +some common-sense method recovered the absentees. At some of the +islands Cook was extremely popular with the inhabitants, and was +regarded as a superior being, even a demigod, in many of them. When he +was compelled to resort to extreme severity, he did not begin with +cannon, loaded with grape, but trusted first to the loud report, +terrific to the savages, fired over their heads, or had the muskets +loaded with small shot which would hurt, but did not kill. No +slaughter that could possibly be avoided was permitted. If he erred at +all it was on the side of humanity, and if he had been less forbearing +he might have added more years to his length of days.</p> + +<p>The astronomical work at Otaheite was successfully accomplished, and +in July Captain Cook departed, taking with him Tupia, a native of some +distinction, who proved to be valuable to him as an interpreter, and +for his general knowledge. During this voyage he visited many of the +islands of the Pacific, including New Zealand, where he encountered no +little hostility, so that it was often difficult and sometimes +impossible to establish friendly relations with the natives. But he +obtained what he needed, and proceeded on his voyage. He gave names to +islands, bays, straits, and harbors, some of which seem strange at the +present day, but most of them were suggested by the circumstances of +the visit. Of many of the islands he took possession in the name of +his sovereign, leaving memorials of his landing.</p> + +<p>Sailing to the westward, he examined the east coast of New Holland, as +it was then called, Australia, at the present time, charted the coast, +as he had done throughout the voyage, and took possession of the +country in the name of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page192" name="page192"></a>(p. 192)</span> England. The existence of a Southern +Continent had long been a mooted question, and in this and subsequent +voyages Captain Cook searched unsuccessfully for it. He passed through +Torres Strait, and thus proved that New Guinea was not a part of +Australia, as some claimed. Continuing his voyage, he went around the +Cape of Good Hope, and reached England in the middle of 1771. The +results of his cruise of nearly four years were exceedingly important +to his country. His reputation was largely increased, and he was +promoted to the rank of commander in the navy.</p> + +<p>So well approved was the conduct of Captain Cook on his first voyage +around the world, that he was appointed to the command of another +similar expedition, consisting of two ships, the Resolution and the +Adventure, and after about a year on shore, he sailed again in 1772. +He went around the Cape of Good Hope, and cruised in the Southern +Pacific, discovering and taking possession of New Caledonia, visiting +islands where he had landed before, and exploring and charting the New +Hebrides. His instructions particularly required him to circumnavigate +the earth in the highest practicable southern latitude in search of +the unknown continent still supposed to be there. He used the southern +summer for this purpose; but he found no land he was willing to call a +continent. Though large bodies of land have since been discovered in +that region, the question is still an open one.</p> + +<p>Adapting his operations to the varying climate of the north and the +south, Captain Cook continued his explorations, encountering many +hardships and perils in unknown seas, from hostile savages, and in the +icy realms of the extreme south.</p> + +<p>He returned to England in 1775 after an absence of three years. The +commander had always taken excellent care of the health of his men, +for in voyages of the description he had undertaken the mortality was +always considerable, and sometimes terrible. One of the most +noticeable features of his second expedition was that it returned with +a record of only one death in both ships; and the details of the means +he used to secure a good sanitary condition among his crews are very +interesting.</p> + +<p>On his return Cook was immediately raised to the rank of post-captain, +and was also appointed a captain in Greenwich Hospital, which secured +to him an honorable retirement, and reward for his important labors. +He was elected a member of the Royal Society, which also bestowed upon +him a gold medal in recognition of his contributions to the science of +the period. The passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific by the north +coast of America was exciting a great deal of attention at this time, +and Captain Cook was sent upon an expedition to continue his +explorations in the Pacific, and then to investigate the mystery of a +northwest passage. He sailed in the Resolution in 1776, and was +followed by Captain Clerke in the Discovery. He proceeded, after his +arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, to Tasmania, visited New Zealand +again, and passed the following year in explorations in the Pacific.</p> + +<a id="img070" name="img070"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img070.jpg" width="600" height="436" alt="" title=""> +<p>Death of Captain Cook.</p></div> + +<p>In the first month of 1778 he discovered the Sandwich Islands, to +which he <span class="pagenum"><a id="page193" name="page193"></a>(p. 193)</span> gave this name in honor of his patron, the Earl +of Sandwich, then the first Lord of the Admiralty. Obtaining the +supplies he needed, the commander proceeded to explore the northwest +coast of America, which he followed inside of Behring Strait, till the +ice and cold compelled him to seek a more southern latitude, which he +found in the genial airs of the Sandwich Islands.</p> + +<p>During his former visit he had found the natives to be friendly and +generally well disposed, though more addicted to thieving than the +people of any other islands the explorer had visited. For some +unexplained reason they were in a different frame of mind on his +second visit. A boat belonging to the expedition had been stolen by +the savages, and Captain Cook proceeded, in his usual vigorous manner, +to recover it. He sent a boat on shore for this purpose, and then +landed himself with another party, intending to capture a certain +chief, to be exchanged for the boat. An immense crowd gathered around +him, and were hypocritically friendly at first; but it was soon +observed that they were arming themselves. The commander asked +Kariopoo, the chief he had selected, to go with him, and he made no +objection. The captain had ordered the marines to be drawn up on the +shore, and leading his prisoner by the hand he approached the boat, +the natives opening a passage for him.</p> + +<p>The chief's family and friends interposed to save him, declaring that +he would be killed if he went on board of the ship. The captain +expostulated with them and the tumult increased. The lieutenant of +marines wanted to fire, but Cook refused the pet mission. The tumult +soon became a battle, and then he ordered his men to fire. As he was +trying to save his party he was struck with a club, which partially +stunned him, and then he was stabbed in the back of the neck by an +iron dagger. He fell into shallow water, and the savages threw +themselves upon him. A struggle ensued, and he was hauled on the beach +by his foes, where they stabbed him in turn in their barbarous rage. +His body lay on the beach, and it might have been recovered, but it +was not. Only a portion of his remains were obtained, and they were +buried at sea.</p> + +<p>Thus perished Captain James Cook, and all England mourned him.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig011" name="sig011"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig011.jpg" width="300" height="74" alt="Author signature. William S. Adams." title=""> +</div> + + + + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page194" name="page194"></a>(p. 194)</span> JOHN HOWARD<a id="footnotetag15" name="footnotetag15"></a><a href="#footnote15" title="Go to footnote 15"><span class="small">[15]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Harriet G. Walker</span><br> + +(1726-1790)</h3> + + +<a id="img071" name="img071"></a> +<div class="floatleft"> +<img src="images/img071.jpg" width="250" height="277" alt="John Howard." title=""> +</div> + +<p>John Howard was born in Hackney, Middlesex County, England, September +2, 1726. The only existing record of this fact is the inscription upon +his monument in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. His parentage came +through a somewhat obscure family, his father being sometimes +mentioned as an upholsterer and sometimes as a merchant of moderate +means. Of his mother we know only her name—Chomley—and that she died +when her second child, and only son, was an infant. The father was a +strict, sturdy, honest, severe Puritan, the marks of whose character +ever remained on the character of the son.</p> + +<p>The motherless boy seems to have passed unnoticed through the weary +days of a sickly childhood, and the usual martyrdom of the "dullest +boy in the school," under first one tutor and then another, to his +sixteenth year, when he left school and books, as he afterward +testifies, "not thoroughly knowing any one thing." How much does any +boy or girl thoroughly know of any one thing at sixteen? Surely not +enough to warrant his removal from school.</p> + +<p>But not so reasoned the father of John Howard, for we find him at this +age apprenticing his only son to Alderman Newham, a wholesale grocer +on Watling Street, London.</p> + +<p>That this was not a change made from pecuniary necessity is evidenced +by the liberal provision made for the boy. We are told that his father +paid £700 for his fee of apprenticeship, and provided him a separate +suite of apartments, a servant, and a pair of saddle-horses! The +inference is that young John's progress in school was not such as to +warrant his continuance at his books.</p> + +<p>His letters and manuscripts still in existence reveal a lamentable +deficiency in orthography and the handling of the king's English.</p> + +<p>Some of Howard's biographers attempt to attribute his methodical +businesslike habits in later life to the experience gained while in +the service of this wholesale grocer. But when we consider that his +stay was far less than one year, we <span class="pagenum"><a id="page195" name="page195"></a>(p. 195)</span> may fairly be allowed to +conclude that more was due to an inherited temperament for slow +methodical action.</p> + +<p>Before reaching his seventeenth year, the death of his father released +him from the grocery business, for which he had evidently no +affection, and left him in possession of £7,000 in ready cash, beside +land, plate, house, etc.</p> + +<p>This fortune was left under the management of guardians, it being his +father's wish that he should not control it until his twenty-fourth +year. But his course of life goes to show that he had wonderfully easy +trustees, as he immediately bought himself off the grocery business, +and made a long tour of the Continent for the benefit of his health. +Returning to England, he dropped into the little village of Stoke +Newington, a mere hamlet, where he had some possessions.</p> + +<p>That a young man of wealth and free from all ties of family or +business, should have voluntarily chosen such a home, and been +contented to remain there, in a state of idle inactivity, for the +space of seven or eight years, can be accounted for only by +remembering his feeble health.</p> + +<p>When twenty-five, his health entirely failed, and he was prostrated by +a severe fit of illness, through which he was nursed by his landlady, +Mrs. Loidore. Upon his recovery he made her his wife, in testimony of +his gratitude, though history records that she had neither beauty, +money, nor health, having been an invalid for twenty-two years, and +was twenty-seven years his senior.</p> + +<p>Two or three years after this seemingly ill-suited marriage, which, +strange to say, seems to have been a not unhappy one, Mrs. Howard +died. Immediately Mr. Howard, then twenty-eight or nine years of age, +again left England for a second extended tour. This being the year of +the great earthquake of Lisbon, he naturally turned his steps +thitherward.</p> + +<p>Setting sail from England for Spain, he was captured on the high seas +by a French privateer, and for two months suffered the hardships and +indignities of prison life in those times. Upon his release he used +all his influence to secure the exchange of the remainder of his +vessel's company, and was successful. This prison experience he never +forgot.</p> + +<p>Three years later (1758) he married Henrietta Leeds, a lady of fine +character, and one to whom he was sincerely attached. Indeed, so +fearful was he that their married life might not be entirely without +jars, that he made a bargain with her, in advance of their marriage, +that on all disputed points the adjustment should be according to his +judgment. One is at a loss which member of a couple the most to +admire, the man who could make such a proposition, or the woman who +would bind herself with such bonds! But, like his first marriage, his +strange contract with his second wife seems to have led only to happy +results.</p> + +<p>They settled in Cardington, upon the Howard estate, and for the next +seven years led the uneventful life of landed gentry of the times. The +husband and wife were united in their efforts to improve the morals +and general condition of their tenantry. Rightly believing that the +beginning of all reform was to improve the physical condition, Howard +spared no expense in rearing new cottages <span class="pagenum"><a id="page196" name="page196"></a>(p. 196)</span> upon new and +improved plans, held his tenants removable at will, and through their +improved conditions ruled over them with an almost despotic sway, +tempered and made bearable in that all his restrictions and +requirements were on the line of their temporal and spiritual +advancement.</p> + +<p>How strange is the making of history! Had the gentle, loving, +well-governed, dependent Mrs. Howard lived on, this would no doubt +have been the continuation, the aim, and the end of John Howard's +life—to constantly advance and improve the interests and condition of +his tenantry, and to wisely govern and administer his estate. But it +was not so to be. The happy home must be broken up, and the man whom +God needed must, through the sting of his own sorrow, be sent out +again upon his wanderings to do the work reserved for him in the broad +field not of his own choosing. The birth of the only child, a son, +preceded the death of its mother by but a few days, and Howard was +again alone. To the end of his life he remained a sincere and constant +mourner for the wife to whom he owed the happiest, if not the most +useful, seven years of his life. It is said by some of his biographers +that he always kept the anniversary of her death as a solemn day of +fasting and prayer.</p> + +<p>Come we now to the point in his career where, all unknown to himself, +Howard took up the work which was to startle the whole civilized +world, and place his name in the roll of those whose memories die not.</p> + +<p>But first let us remember the son whose life began where his mother's +ended, and ended where it was well his mother had not lived to see it.</p> + +<p>It would seem that the loss of his beloved wife and the sad +recollection of his own motherless unloved boyhood, would have made of +John Howard a tender and pitiful, as well as devoted father. Such was +not the case, if we may judge from the vehemence with which some of +his biographers deny the charges of undue severity to the infant, and +forgetfulness and neglect of the growing-up boy, and the silence of +others on the same subject.</p> + +<p>The real truth probably was, so far as we can judge, that the man had +nothing in his stiff nature and puritanical education, certainly +nothing in his own early life, to make him respond to the +uninteresting helplessness of infancy.</p> + +<p>So we find him doing his duty by the crying infant of a few months, in +a manner which would be amusing if it were not pathetic. He takes him +from the nurse, lays him across his knees, and sits unmoved and +unmovable until the tempest exhausts itself, and the child is silent +from exhaustion, when he hands him solemnly back to the nurse, and +feels that, by so much at least, has he cast out of the young child +the spice of Old Adam, which is the birthright of us all! A few such +experiences, we are told, and the child would at once cease its +struggles and be silent. One would surely think it would!</p> + +<p>But the silent, lonely man, bereft of the loving companionship of the +gentle wife, who would so differently have soothed and silenced the +crying infant, could not long bear the solitude of his broken home, +and so began the years of wanderings, which lasted as long as his +life, and through which he seems so largely to have lost sight of his +young son at his most impressionable age, save to provide <span class="pagenum"><a id="page197" name="page197"></a>(p. 197)</span> +for his material wants, and to some extent, also, his education. When +with him in later years he appears to have enjoyed his society, or at +least the evidences which he gave of implicit, unreasoning obedience, +illustrated by his remark, "I believe if I told the boy to put his +hand in the fire he would obey me."</p> + +<p>At four the boy was put into a boarding-school, and the home was +broken up. The later glimpses which we get of his career are vague, +unsatisfactory, or decidedly bad, until the end came, and "Jack" was +incarcerated in a mad-house when but twenty-two, where his unfortunate +life went out after twelve years' confinement in a darkness that +darkened also the last years of his good, if injudicious, father, with +a sorrow beside which all common bereavements should seem like +blessings.</p> + +<p>In 1769, then, we see the Cardington home broken up, the boy placed in +a boarding-school, and John Howard setting forth upon what to him was +but an aimless journey, in search of consolation, amid new scenes, for +the shattered fortunes of his home. He travelled over large portions +of Italy, and returned again to England, where in 1773 he was elected +High Sheriff of Bedford. No sooner had he entered upon the duties of +his office, than he was struck with the gross injustice of the +practices, especially as affecting those prisoners held for debt. Many +heads of families were held for months and years, not for the original +debt for which they were incarcerated, which in many cases had been +forgiven or paid, but for an accumulation of fees due to jailer and +divers other officers of the prison, who drew their salaries from this +source. Much astounded by such a state of things in a Christian land, +but supposing it to be a peculiarity of his own county, he made a +journey into some of the surrounding districts, to learn from them, if +possible, some better method. It but augmented his indignation and +distress to find their condition and methods worse even than at home, +since in some he actually found the fees wrung from these unhappy +prisoners to amount to so much that the office of jailer was sold to +the highest bidder, the sum paid for the position often amounting to +as much as £40 per annum.</p> + +<p>On this tour Howard, now thoroughly awake on the subject, could not +but observe the miseries of the prisoners from other sources, besides +extortions. This might have been borne, but for the terrible crowding +of herds of men and women, without regard to age, sex, character, or +crime, into foul underground dungeons, damp, dark, unventilated, often +unwarmed, with insufficient and unfit food and clothing, without beds, +and many in chains. Such were the sights which met his gaze at every +turn, and moved his soul with shame for his country, and a slow but +deadly anger that, once kindled, died only with his life. Thoroughly +and systematically he continued his investigation of the jails and +prisons of England, until he had been over them all, which consumed +nearly a year's time (travel was a different matter a hundred years +ago, from now), and then made his report public, for which labor he +was called before the bar of the House of Commons and received the +thanks of that august body.</p> + +<p>More satisfactory still, he had the pleasure of seeing two bills +passed, one making the office of jailer a salaried position, thereby +abolishing the whole <span class="pagenum"><a id="page198" name="page198"></a>(p. 198)</span> iniquitous system of special fees from +prisoners, the other having reference to improvements in ventilation +and other sanitary matters.</p> + +<p>The text of these bills he had printed in large bold type at his own +expense, and sent them to every jail and prison in England. A few +months later, being desirous of seeing whether or not the requirements +of the new laws were being put into execution, he made personal +inspection, riding by chaise or on horseback from city to city and +from town to town.</p> + +<p>Toward the last of this year, 1774, Howard made his first and last +venture into the arena of political life. Being a man of strong, stern +political convictions, and feeling it his duty to stand by his +principles, he listened to the advice of friends, and made a stand for +the House of Commons. Fortunately for the world he was defeated by +<i>four votes</i>.</p> + +<p>On such small hinges swing the doors of life. Had he been elected he +would doubtless have sunk out of sight and been forgotten, and his +great work would have been given to some other agent.</p> + +<p>Though greatly disappointed at his failure, Howard's mind at once +returned to the question of prison reform, and his next journey led +him over Ireland and Scotland. The former he found worse and the +latter better than England.</p> + +<p>Being desirous of publishing a book upon his investigations and their +results, he at the close of this year left England to examine the +prisons of France, Flanders, and Holland. It surprises us much to +learn that he found the prisons of Holland almost models, while France +is declared far in advance of England, although these were the days of +the Bastille! He also journeyed into Switzerland and again made a +survey of the jails of England and Wales. Feeling at last that he had +sufficient material he returned to England and began upon his book. +For eight months he labored incessantly upon this work, correcting +proofs, collating and arranging statistics, etc., although for the +literary part he was obliged to call in the assistance of some of his +learned friends, who, better than he understood the use of the king's +English.</p> + +<p>This book made a most profound sensation throughout the civilized +world. That it might reach a more extended circulation, it was sold at +less than the cost of production, and large numbers were given away +among the officials. All this expense was borne by Howard out of his +own private purse, as were at all times his immense and constant +outlay in travel. Not only his whole private income, but the fortune +of £15,000 received from his only sister at her death, was expended in +the same manner.</p> + +<p>Subsequently Howard published a second volume, in 1780, as an appendix +to the first, and in 1784 a third and last, which was a compilation of +the first two, with much added material acquired during his continuous +travels over every part of Europe.</p> + +<a id="img072" name="img072"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img072.jpg" width="600" height="448" alt="" title=""> +<p>Howard relieving a Prisoner.</p></div> + +<p>During the earlier and idler parts of his life, Howard had been +pleased to dabble somewhat in medicine, after the manner of the +gentlemen of his time. This stood him in good part upon his travels, +and made him familiar with the various forms of disease that +especially afflicted prisons and the people at large. For <span class="pagenum"><a id="page199" name="page199"></a>(p. 199)</span> +jail fever and typhus he rightly judged that the sanitary and food +conditions were sufficient cause and attacked them from this basis. +But having in a measure finished his jail and prison work, to his +mind, he became possessed with the idea that he might search out and +find a remedy for the dreadful <i>plague</i> that was filling all Europe +with dismay. The methodical habit of the man's mind is evidenced by +noting that he followed exactly the same method in this as in his +former undertaking, namely, personal investigation and experience. He +left home in July, 1789, and it is surprising that for six months he +literally lived in the poisonous atmosphere of the pest-houses, +pest-ships, and lazarettos of Europe, and escaped contagion. In +January, 1790, however, in a little Russian village near the Crimea, +he was called upon to prescribe for a young lady, ill with some low +malignant fever, from which visit he contracted the same disease. +Being then sixty-four years of age, naturally frail, worn down by +sixteen years of hard, exhaustive toil, depleted by a diet that found +no place for meats or stimulants, he had nothing upon which to rally, +and rapidly sank into the long slumber which at last gave him what he +had so many years denied himself—<i>rest</i>.</p> + +<p>His remains were buried there in Russia in the village of Dophinovka. +After his death a monument was erected to his memory, being the first +placed in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. This was appropriately +inscribed to his memory, although it was his latest expressed wish +that he should be left to sleep in an unmarked, unknown grave.</p> + +<p>A just estimate of the character of John Howard can only be arrived at +by a careful consideration of the times in which he lived and the +peculiar circumstances of his life. The natural inherited sternness of +his character never felt the modifying influences of a mother's love +or the companionship of brothers or sisters. His ill health added to +his restless desire for travel and change, but unfitted him for close +or continued application to any special line of thought or interest, +while his early independence in the management of his fortune placed +in his way strong temptations to extravagance and idleness.</p> + +<p>It is therefore more than an ordinary indication of an inborn +principle of humanity when we find him, upon his first settlement upon +his father's estates, devoting time, thought, and money to the +amelioration of the condition of his neglected and suffering tenantry. +Model landlords were not in fashion in those times, and a man who so +administered his affairs must have done so in the face of much +criticism, ridicule, and contempt among his peers.</p> + +<p>But none of these things seem to have moved him from the even tenor of +his way. Yet there was no sentimentalism in his dealings with his +tenants, as we find him holding them to a strict accounting for the +use made of their improved conditions.</p> + +<p>So of his prison work. It seemed to be all and altogether for the +masses, and not for individuals. No record is left of personal +almsgiving, save when resorted to as a ruse to obtain entrance to the +French prisons. That his interest was not in individuals is further +shown by the calm and deliberate manner in which he prosecuted his +investigations, taking years for the accumulation of materials +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page200" name="page200"></a>(p. 200)</span> and months to their careful watching through the press. It +was the principle of justice ingrained in the man's deepest nature +that forced him to <i>know</i> all that could be known or said upon both +sides before speaking. It was this thoroughness, this absolute +fairness, that made of his work and of his inartistically constructed +books the tremendous and lasting success which they were.</p> + +<p>Deeply religious, he naturally reflected the spirit of the religious +teachings of the times, which savored more of the terrors of the law +than of mercy and forgiveness to evil-doers; that found more worship +in denying self the indulgences of soft living than in the partaking +of the harmless pleasures and sweets of life, giving a good God thanks +for His good gifts. Through all the life and writings of Howard one +constantly hears the minor chord of infinite sadness wrought into his +life by his motherless infancy, his unloved boyhood, his years of +invalidism, his ceaseless mourning for his wife Henrietta, the +bitterness of death in the cup held to his lips by his unfortunate +son, and over and above all, the constant atmosphere of crime, +cruelty, sin, and suffering in which he spent the last sixteen years +of his life. Life to him came to mean sin, suffering, and sorrow in +the world about him, and for himself work, work, incessant work, in +the effort to do what one man could to lift or lighten the burden +under which the whole earth groaned. Death came to him where he would +have most wished it might, and took him directly from labor to reward. +And throughout the coming ages the world will be the better because in +the last half of the eighteenth century there lived, labored, and died +in the midst of his labors one <i>John Howard, the Philanthropist</i>.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig012" name="sig012"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig012.jpg" width="300" height="53" alt="Author signature. Harriet G. Walker." title=""> +</div> + + + + +<h3>ETHAN ALLEN<a id="footnotetag16" name="footnotetag16"></a><a href="#footnote16" title="Go to footnote 16"><span class="small">[16]</span></a><br> + +By <span class="smcap">Gertrude Van Rensselaer Wickham</span><br> + +(1738-1789)</h3> + + +<p>Was Ethan Allen a hero or a humbug? a patriot or a pretender? Ask +Vermont and she cries "Nulli secundus!" Ask New York and the reply is +"Ad referendum."</p> + +<p>The differentiation antedates the American Revolution and the part +Ethan Allen played in that historic drama. It is an inheritance of +loving loyalty and gratitude that quivers in the answer of one State, +the traditional antagonisms of prejudice that speak in the other.</p> + +<p>But for Ethan Allen, Vermont would have had no separate existence. But +for Ethan Allen, New York's northeastern boundary would have been the +Connecticut River. Therefore, on one shore of Lake Champlain the +disputed shield <span class="pagenum"><a id="page201" name="page201"></a>(p. 201)</span> is unalloyed gold, reflecting all that is +strong and brave, all that is courageous and magnanimous, all that is +patriotic and generous, while from the other shore its appearance is +as brass engraven by vanity and vulgarity, by self-sufficiency and +infidelity.</p> + +<a id="img073" name="img073"></a> +<div class="floatright"> +<img src="images/img073.jpg" width="250" height="295" alt="Ethan Allen." title=""> +</div> + +<p>Controversy over property rights engenders such diversities of +opinion, and when, as in this case, one side gains all and the other +loses much, the exultation of triumph or the bitterness of defeat will +color the ink of all literature on the subject for a century to come.</p> + +<p>Not until after the year 1761 did the dense wilderness of either +Northern New York, or what was then considered Western New Hampshire, +prove attractive to the Yankee or Dutch settler in search of a pioneer +home. The cruel conflicts that for over seventy years had made these +border lands the scene of bloody race enmities were ended by the +conquest of Canada. These primeval forests, that had echoed only to +the tread of skulking savages, or the revengeful tramp of opposing +forces, became peaceful spots for the erection of hearth-stones around +which women and children might gather in safety. Many of the +Connecticut soldiery who had taken active part in the late French and +Indian wars, now recalled the beautiful country through which they had +marched to meet or pursue the foe, the grandeur of its evergreen +mountain peaks, the limpid sheets of water nestling between, its +sparkling fish-laden streams, and the apparent fertility of its soil.</p> + +<p>These recollections were stimulated by the conditions which confronted +them on their return to peaceful and agricultural pursuits. The +subdivision of farms among the many robust sons of the average New +England household had reached its limit, and the young man who would +found a home and family of his own, thenceforth must seek for cheaper +and broader acres than were to be found already under cultivation. New +Hampshire's liberal offer of grants in her western border upon easy +terms, decided the future of many a New England lad, and for several +years the tide of emigration rolled steadily northward.</p> + +<p>From Burlington, on Lake Champlain, for one hundred miles south to +Bennington, the sound of the axe was heard by day and by night. The +enthusiasms of a new country lent strength to the arm and courage to +the heart. In every direction homes sprang up, surrounded by young +orchards, and beyond and around these, cultivated fields.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the settlers were set to wondering and worrying at the sight +of strange surveyors taking new measurements through the farms +wrenched from the wilds with so much of hard labor and wearisome toil. +And then the blow fell. New York was claiming all this tract of land +as part of her province, and declaring New Hampshire grants to be null +and void. A second payment for their farms was demanded, based upon +their present value as improved property.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page202" name="page202"></a>(p. 202)</span> In some cases new owners put in an appearance and attempted +to take possession, having purchased, in good faith, of land +speculators in New York City, to whom Governor Colden, of New York, +had issued immense grants covering a large part of the disputed +territory. These speculators were mostly lawyers, who were favorites +or friends of the governor. Against these shrewd men of wealth and +education, with their powerful backing, the puny defence of the +original settlers seemed wellnigh hopeless. But it was to be a contest +between might and right, and that invisible influence which seems ever +to weaken the one and strengthen the other was surely, though silently +at work.</p> + +<p>Upon this scene of trouble and uncertainty appears Ethan Allen, a +farmer, born about thirty years before in Coventry, Conn., large of +frame, of great personal strength, and with mental characteristics in +harmony with his powerful physique: a tender-hearted giant whose +standard of honor and honesty soon measured the injustice of New +York's position in the land controversy, and at once sided with the +besieged farmers, with whom he had many generalities of sympathy.</p> + +<p>With fiery energy of will and purpose, he immediately assumed the +leadership of the defence, guiding its combined strength into the +legal side of the question, thus meeting the power of alleged law with +like weapons. Selecting the best legal talent of Connecticut as +assistants, and armed with New Hampshire's charter and seal, he +appeared in the Albany courts to contest New York's claim that the +Connecticut River was the boundary between that province and New +Hampshire.</p> + +<p>But the trial was a farce, stripped of all dignity and justice by the +fact that the judge upon the bench, the prosecuting attorneys, and +other officials were personally interested, each holding New York +grants for many thousand acres in the disputed territory. All evidence +for the defence, even the New Hampshire charter, was ruled out of +court, and Ethan Allen's peaceful efforts for defence were defeated.</p> + +<p>He returned home, burning with indignation and resolving to protect +his property and that of his neighbors, if need were, by the force of +his own strong right arm. For six years, under his leadership, all +attempts by New York settlers to take possession were frustrated by +the alertness of the "Green Mountain Boys," as the defence now termed +themselves, who drove them off quietly or with violence, according to +the exigencies of the occasion.</p> + +<p>As a measure of punishment for these acts, Ethan Allen was outlawed by +the Governor of New York, and a price offered for his capture. Soon +after he rode alone into Albany one day, and alighting at a tavern in +the heart of the city, called for refreshment. His former visit had +marked his strong personality in the remembrance of many, and he was +at once recognized by prominent officials, who stared at him with +curiosity, but made no effort to arrest him. Returning their gaze, he +lifted his glass to his lips, pledging in a loud, firm voice "The +Green Mountain Boys," and then rode away unmolested.</p> + +<p>This act was defined by his friends as the rashness of bravery; by his +enemies as the madness of impudence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page203" name="page203"></a>(p. 203)</span> But the cloud overhanging the shores of Lake Champlain was +but a shadow compared with the darkness of the storm brooding over the +whole region south and east of it, and the battle of Lexington ended +this local strife.</p> + +<p>Thenceforth, Ethan Allen was to bid defiance, not to a State, but to a +nation. To him and his Green Mountain Boys came urgent appeals from +leading patriots of the American Revolution for help and support in +the coming struggle, and the answer was more than kindly assent and +promise: it was prompt and vigorous action—the first aggressive blow +at the power of Great Britain, for the musket-shots that harassed the +retreating red-coats from Concord were those of spirited defence +rather than of deliberate attack.</p> + +<p>As the fortress of Ticonderoga had been the key of the position in the +late French and Indian wars, the gain or loss of which meant either +overwhelming victory or disaster, so now it was deemed of equal +importance in the coming conflict, which inevitably would bring the +British foe upon them from the North, along the same familiar +war-path. The capture of this fort was a serious undertaking, for it +was well garrisoned by a company of British soldiers, and thoroughly +equipped for vigorous defense. Only the keenest strategy and the most +complete surprise would avail in the accomplishment of the task.</p> + +<p>But the experience and ability of Ethan Allen—who had been +unanimously chosen as leader—was adequate to the occasion, and his +plans were made with the greatest secrecy and skill. One of his men +was detailed to gain admission to the fort on some pretext, and then +by skilfully acting the part of a greenhorn full of foolish questions, +to learn many important facts and necessary details. In addition, a +lad was found thoroughly familiar with the interior of the garrison, +who would serve as guide, and on the night of May 9, 1775, 270 +American patriots appeared on the shore opposite Fort Ticonderoga, +which was on the west or New York side of Lake Champlain.</p> + +<p>A day or two previous a small force of men had been despatched +secretly to points above and below this spot in quest of boats, which +failing them, in this emergency only 83 of the 270 men could be +accommodated in the limited number at hand. Spring lingers long in +this latitude, and the night, clear and cold, was giving way to dawn +when the brave leader and his little vanguard of heroes resolved to +attack without further re-enforcement. According to military precedent, +he first harangued his followers.</p> + +<p>"Friends and fellow-soldiers, you have for a number of years been a +scourge and a terror to arbitrary power. Your valor has been famed +abroad and acknowledged, as appears by the advice and orders to me +from the General Assembly of Connecticut to surprise and take the +garrison now before us. I now propose to advance before you and in +person conduct you through the wicket gate; for we must this morning +either quit our pretensions to valor, or possess ourselves of this +fortress in a few minutes. And inasmuch as it is a desperate attempt, +which none but the bravest men dare undertake, I do not urge it on any +contrary to his will. You that will undertake voluntarily, poise your +firelock!"</p> + +<p>Needless to state, the firelocks were all "poised"—whatever that may +be—and, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page204" name="page204"></a>(p. 204)</span> led by Allen, a rush was made, the sentry +overpowered, and soon the gallant "83" were standing back to back on +the parade-ground within the fort, their muskets levelled at the two +barracks which, filled with sleeping soldiers, faced each other.</p> + +<p>The commandant was then aroused by loud rapping on his door and the +voice of Allen bidding him come out and surrender the fort. The +astonished officer, half dressed, made his appearance, demanding by +what authority he was asked to do such a thing.</p> + +<p>A part of Ethan Allen's famous reply: "In the name of Jehovah and the +Continental Congress!" was more prophetic than authentic, as the +latter earthly tribunal at that time had no existence.</p> + +<p>The hundred cannon and quantities of ammunition found in the fort were +sent east, where they proved of great service in the siege of Boston.</p> + +<p>Crown Point, the garrison of St. Johns, many boats, vessels, and a +British armed schooner soon after fell into the hands of the Green +Mountain Boys, thus giving them the full sweep of Lake Champlain, and +holding in check any attempts at invasion from that direction.</p> + +<p>Ethan Allen's military instincts and foresight transcended any +experience and all knowledge he possessed on the subject. He at once +saw the importance of pushing the advantage now gained, by an +immediate advance upon Canada before reinforcements could arrive to +strengthen the strongholds of Montreal and Quebec; a measure which, if +adopted, would have changed the whole history of the northern campaign +that eventually proved so disastrous.</p> + +<p>With the splendid magnanimity of a noble soul and the abnegation of a +true patriot, he addressed the Continental Congress of New York on the +subject, first apologizing for his seeming neglect to consult with +that body before his attack on Ticonderoga, which was within its +province, and explaining the necessity for secrecy, which prompted +him. Note the spirit of prophecy breathed in the following words:</p> + +<p>"I wish to God America would at this critical juncture exert herself +agreeable to the indignity offered her by a tyrannical ministry. She +might rise on eagle's wings and mount up to glory, freedom, and +immortal honor if she did but know and exert her strength. Fame is now +hovering over her head. A vast continent must now sink to slavery, +poverty, and bondage, or rise to unconquerable freedom, immense +wealth, inexpressible felicity, and immortal fame."</p> + +<p>He then offers the services of his own men for the purpose, and to +raise a regiment of rangers in Northern New York, a proposal which he +trusts will not be deemed impertinent.</p> + +<a id="img074" name="img074"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img074.jpg" width="600" height="426" alt="" title=""> +<p>Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga.</p></div> + +<p>But for some unexplained reason no action was taken on his suggestions +until months later, when the conditions had materially changed, making +such a campaign exceedingly more difficult. Generals Schuyler and +Montgomery were then in command, and to Ethan Allen was given a task +requiring shrewdness, tact, and great personal influence—to enlist +the co-operation or the neutrality of the Canadians in the struggle +between the American colonists and the mother country. For weeks he +travelled in Canada, "preaching politics" so successfully <span class="pagenum"><a id="page205" name="page205"></a>(p. 205)</span> +that he was able to report a company of 300 Canadian recruits for the +American service, and that 2,000 more could be enlisted when needed.</p> + +<p>In returning from this expedition he was persuaded by a brother +officer into a step that but for an accident would have been more +brilliant than Allen's former exploit and added fresh laurels to his +name as a military hero. It was no less than the surprise and capture +of Fort Montreal, then garrisoned by 500 men, 40 only of whom were +regulars, the remainder volunteers and Indians.</p> + +<p>It seemed a feasible undertaking. The plan was similar to the seizure +of Ticonderoga—the quiet landing of boats under the walls of the fort +before daybreak and the quick rush of attack. The forces were divided, +Allen taking 110 men and landing below the city. The remainder and +larger portion were to cross the river above and then signal the +others. Colonel Allen promptly performed his part of the programme, +but no signal greeted his ears, and daylight found him in full view of +the fort and unable to retreat. He and his men for two hours bravely +resisted the enemy, who sallied out to attack them, but without avail, +and they were taken prisoners.</p> + +<p>The story of Ethan Allen's long captivity, lasting two years and eight +months, as told by himself, is one of the most interesting narratives +connected with the Revolutionary war. Loaded with chains, consigned to +the filthy hold of a vessel, with no seat nor bed save a seaman's +chest, half starved, tortured by daily indignities, his high courage +and brave spirit never faltered. Once, when insulted, he sprang at his +tormentor—the captain of the ship—and with his shackled hands +knocked him down; and again he bit off the nail that fastened his +handcuffs, and by these feats of strength and anger awed his guards +into some show of respect.</p> + +<p>The method by which he saved himself from a felon's death in England +was worthy the dignity of a veteran diplomat. A letter to the +Continental Congress, which he knew would never reach its destination, +but fall into the hands of its bitterest enemy, Lord North, contained +an account of his ill treatment and possible fate, and closed with the +request that if retaliation upon the Tory and other prisoners in its +power should be found necessary, it might be exercised not according +to his own value or rank, but in proportion to the importance of the +cause for which he suffered.</p> + +<p>The English ministry concluded evidently to treat him henceforth as a +prisoner of war entitled to an honorable exchange, rather than a rebel +deserving an ignoble death, and he was returned to America, where he +was confined, with varieties of usage, in Halifax, and afterward in +New York.</p> + +<p>While in the latter place, and suffering from hunger and long ill +health, he was approached by a British officer, authorized to offer +him the command of a royalist regiment, and the gift of thousands of +acres of land at the close of the war, in any part of the American +colonies he might select, providing he would forsake the patriot cause +and take oath of allegiance to the crown. Colonel Allen rejected this +overture with great scorn, assuring the officer that he had as little +land to promise him as had the devil when making a similar one.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page206" name="page206"></a>(p. 206)</span> "Thereupon," said Allen, "he closed the conversation and +turned from me with an air of dislike, saying I was a bigot."</p> + +<p>An exchange of prisoners at length freed him from a situation so full +of personal hardship and mental anguish, and he hastened home to his +family, from whom he so long and cruelly had been separated.</p> + +<p>His only son had died in the meantime, and his wife and daughters, not +expecting his arrival, were not at Bennington in time to receive him. +But his neighbors and friends flocked in from miles around to give him +greeting, and although it was the Sabbath, a day strictly observed in +those parts, the enthusiasm of the joyful occasion could neither be +postponed nor suppressed, and its expression found vent in the firing +of cannon and happy huzzas.</p> + +<p>The "Hampshire Grants" in his absence had become the full-fledged +"State of Vermont," knocking for admission at the doors of the +Continental Congress.</p> + +<p>Ethan Allen at once was appointed General of the Vermont State +Militia, and although he did not again join the American army, his +natural gifts of diplomacy were of inestimable service to the country, +and the number of men he could summon at a moment's notice to his +command, served to hold in check any attempted raids of the enemy +through Canada. He lived eight years after the declaration of peace, +dying at the age of fifty-one, in Burlington, where he was engaged in +farming.</p> + +<p>A little incident never before in print was recently related to the +writer of this sketch by a lady to whom it was told in childhood by an +old man who, as a lad, lived on Ethan Allen's farm. It was in +illustration of the simplicity of the celebrated hero's private life.</p> + +<p>The farm hands all sat at the table with the family, much to the +amusement or astonishment of his frequent guests, who sometimes were +wealthy and distinguished and quite unaccustomed to such practical +exhibitions of democracy. One of these had the poor taste to +expostulate with the general, and remarked, "I should think your men +would prefer to eat by themselves."</p> + +<p>General Allen feigned to misunderstand the meaning of this, and after +a moment's reflection replied, "Thank you very much for calling my +attention to it. I see that what has been hearty enough for my family +may not have been for my hard-working help. I will take more notice +hereafter to see that they are better served."</p> + +<p>"It was little use," says my informant, "to try to dictate to Ethan +Allen."<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p> + +<a id="sig013" name="sig013"></a> +<div class="right"> +<img src="images/sig013.jpg" width="350" height="42" alt="Author signature. Gertrude Van Rensselaer Wickham." title=""> +</div> + + + +<p class="p4"><a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> +<b>Footnote 1:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag1"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> +<b>Footnote 2:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag2"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> +<b>Footnote 3:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag3"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a> +<b>Footnote 4:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag4"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a> +<b>Footnote 5:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag5"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a> +<b>Footnote 6:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag6"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a> +<b>Footnote 7:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag7"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a> +<b>Footnote 8:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag8"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a> +<b>Footnote 9:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag9"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote10" name="footnote10"></a> +<b>Footnote 10:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag10"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote11" name="footnote11"></a> +<b>Footnote 11:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag11"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote12" name="footnote12"></a> +<b>Footnote 12:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag12"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote13" name="footnote13"></a> +<b>Footnote 13:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag13"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote14" name="footnote14"></a> +<b>Footnote 14:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag14"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote15" name="footnote15"></a> +<b>Footnote 15:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag15"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote16" name="footnote16"></a> +<b>Footnote 16:</b> Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.<a href="#footnotetag16"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Great Men and Famous Women. 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