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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of Golden Deeds, by Charlotte M. Yonge
+
+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: A Book of Golden Deeds
+
+Author: Charlotte M. Yonge
+
+Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6489]
+Last Updated: August 10, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF GOLDEN DEEDS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Hanh Vu and Sandra Laythorpe
+
+
+
+
+
+
+A BOOK OF GOLDEN DEEDS
+
+By Charlotte M. Yonge
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+     What is a Golden Deed?
+     The Stories of Alcestis and Antigone
+     The Cup of Water
+     How One Man has saved a Host
+     The Pass of Thermopylae
+     The Rock of the Capitol
+     The Two Friends of Syracuse
+     The Devotion of the Decii
+     Regulus
+     The brave Brethren of Judah
+     The Chief of the Arverni
+     Withstanding the Monarch in his Wrath
+     The last Fight in the Coliseum
+     The Shepherd Girl of Nanterre
+     Leo the Slave
+     The Battle of the Blackwater
+     Guzman el Bueno
+     Faithful till Death
+     What is better than Slaying a Dragon
+     The Keys of Calais
+     The Battle of Sempach
+     The Constant Prince
+     The Carnival of Perth
+     The Crown of St. Stephen
+     George the Triller
+     Sir Thomas More's Daughter
+     Under Ivan the Terrible
+     Fort St. Elmo
+     The Voluntary Convict
+     The Housewives of Lowenburg
+     Fathers and Sons
+     The Soldiers in the Snow
+     Gunpowder Perils
+     Heroes of the Plague
+     The Second of September
+     The Vendeans
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+As the most striking lines of poetry are the most hackneyed, because
+they have grown to be the common inheritance of all the world, so many
+of the most noble deeds that earth can show have become the best known,
+and enjoyed their full meed of fame. Therefore it may be feared that
+many of the events here detailed, or alluded to, may seem trite to those
+in search of novelty; but it is not for such that the collection has
+been made. It is rather intended as a treasury for young people, where
+they may find minuter particulars than their abridged histories usually
+afford of the soul-stirring deeds that give life and glory to the record
+of events; and where also other like actions, out of their ordinary
+course of reading, may be placed before them, in the trust that example
+may inspire the spirit of heroism and self-devotion. For surely it must
+be a wholesome contemplation to look on actions, the very essence of
+which is such entire absorption in others that self is forgotten; the
+object of which is not to win promotion, wealth, or success, but simple
+duty, mercy, and loving-kindness. These are the actions wrought, 'hoping
+for nothing again', but which most surely have their reward.
+
+The authorities have not been given, as for the most [Page] part the
+narratives lie on the surface of history. For the description of the
+Coliseum, I have, however, been indebted to the Abbe Gerbet's Rome
+Chretienne; for the Housewives of Lowenburg, and St. Stephen's Crown,
+to Freytag's Sketches of German Life; and for the story of George the
+Triller, to Mr. Mayhew's Germany. The Escape of Attalus is narrated
+(from Gregory of Tours) in Thierry's 'Lettres sur l'Histoire de France;'
+the Russian officer's adventures, and those of Prascovia Lopouloff
+(<http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/yonge/deeds/pardon.html> Ed.),
+the true Elisabeth of Siberia, are from M. le Maistre; the shipwrecks
+chiefly from Gilly's 'Shipwrecks of the British Navy;' the Jersey Powder
+Magazine from the Annual Registrer, and that at Ciudad Rodrigo, from the
+traditions of the 52nd Regiment.
+
+There is a cloud of doubt resting on a few of the tales, which it may be
+honest to mention, though they were far too beautiful not to tell. These
+are the details of the Gallic occupation of Rome, the Legend of St.
+Genevieve, the Letter of Gertrude von der Wart, the stories of the
+Keys of Calais, of the Dragon of Rhodes, and we fear we must add, both
+Nelson's plan of the Battle of the Nile, and likewise the exact form of
+the heroism of young Casabianca, of which no two accounts agree. But
+it was not possible to give up such stories as these, and the thread of
+truth there must be in them has developed into such a beautiful tissue,
+that even if unsubstantial when tested, it is surely delightful to
+contemplate.
+
+Some stories have been passed over as too devoid of foundation, in
+especial that of young Henri, Duke of Nemours, who, at ten years old,
+was said to have been hung up with his little brother of eight in one of
+Louis XI's cages at Loches, with orders that two of the children's teeth
+should daily be pulled out and brought to the king. The elder child was
+said to have insisted on giving the whole supply of teeth, so as to
+save his brother; but though they were certainly imprisoned after
+their father's execution, they were released after Louis's death in a
+condition which disproves this atrocity.
+
+The Indian mutiny might likewise have supplied glorious instances of
+Christian self-devotion, but want of materials has compelled us to stop
+short of recording those noble deeds by which delicate women and light-
+hearted young soldiers showed, that in the hour of need there was not
+wanting to them the highest and deepest 'spirit of self-sacrifice.'
+
+At some risk of prolixity, enough of the surrounding events has in
+general been given to make the situation comprehensible, even without
+knowledge of the general history. This has been done in the hope that
+these extracts may serve as a mother's storehouse for reading aloud to
+her boys, or that they may be found useful for short readings to the
+intelligent, though uneducated classes.
+
+NOVEMBER 17, 1864.
+
+
+
+
+WHAT IS A GOLDEN DEED?
+
+
+We all of us enjoy a story of battle and adventure. Some of us delight
+in the anxiety and excitement with which we watch the various strange
+predicaments, hairbreadth escapes, and ingenious contrivances that
+are presented to us; and the mere imaginary dread of the dangers
+thus depicted, stirs our feelings and makes us feel eager and full of
+suspense.
+
+This taste, though it is the first step above the dullness that cannot
+be interested in anything beyond its own immediate world, nor care for
+what it neither sees, touches, tastes, nor puts to any present use, is
+still the lowest form that such a liking can take. It may be no better
+than a love of reading about murders in the newspaper, just for the
+sake of a sort of startled sensation; and it is a taste that becomes
+unwholesome when it absolutely delights in dwelling on horrors and
+cruelties for their own sake; or upon shifty, cunning, dishonest
+stratagems and devices. To learn to take interest in what is evil is
+always mischievous.
+
+But there is an element in many of such scenes of woe and violence that
+may well account for our interest in them. It is that which makes the
+eye gleam and the heart throb, and bears us through the details of
+suffering, bloodshed, and even barbarity--feeling our spirits moved
+and elevated by contemplating the courage and endurance that they have
+called forth. Nay, such is the charm of brilliant valor, that we often
+are tempted to forget the injustice of the cause that may have called
+forth the actions that delight us. And this enthusiasm is often united
+with the utmost tenderness of heart, the very appreciation of suffering
+only quickening the sense of the heroism that risked the utmost, till
+the young and ardent learn absolutely to look upon danger as an occasion
+for evincing the highest qualities.
+
+
+     'O Life, without thy chequer'd scene
+     Of right and wrong, of weal and woe,
+     Success and failure, could a ground
+     For magnanimity be found?'
+
+
+The true cause of such enjoyment is perhaps an inherent consciousness
+that there is nothing so noble as forgetfulness of self. Therefore it
+is that we are struck by hearing of the exposure of life and limb to
+the utmost peril, in oblivion, or recklessness of personal safety, in
+comparison with a higher object.
+
+That object is sometimes unworthy. In the lowest form of courage it is
+only avoidance of disgrace; but even fear of shame is better than mere
+love of bodily ease, and from that lowest motive the scale rises to the
+most noble and precious actions of which human nature is capable--the
+truly golden and priceless deeds that are the jewels of history, the
+salt of life.
+
+And it is a chain of Golden Deeds that we seek to lay before our
+readers; but, ere entering upon them, perhaps we had better clearly
+understand what it is that to our mind constitutes a Golden Deed.
+
+It is not mere hardihood. There was plenty of hardihood in Pizarro when
+he led his men through terrible hardships to attack the empire of Peru,
+but he was actuated by mere greediness for gain, and all the perils
+he so resolutely endured could not make his courage admirable. It was
+nothing but insensibility to danger, when set against the wealth and
+power that he coveted, and to which he sacrificed thousands of helpless
+Peruvians. Daring for the sake of plunder has been found in every
+robber, every pirate, and too often in all the lower grade of warriors,
+from the savage plunderer of a besieged town up to the reckless monarch
+making war to feed his own ambition.
+
+There is a courage that breaks out in bravado, the exuberance of high
+spirits, delighting in defying peril for its own sake, not indeed
+producing deeds which deserve to be called golden, but which, from
+their heedless grace, their desperation, and absence of all base
+motives--except perhaps vanity have an undeniable charm about them, even
+when we doubt the right of exposing a life in mere gaiety of heart.
+
+Such was the gallantry of the Spanish knight who, while Fernando and
+Isabel lay before the Moorish city of Granada, galloped out of the camp,
+in full view of besiegers and besieged, and fastened to the gate of
+the city with his dagger a copy of the Ave Maria. It was a wildly brave
+action, and yet not without service in showing the dauntless spirit of
+the Christian army. But the same can hardly be said of the daring shown
+by the Emperor Maximilian when he displayed himself to the citizens of
+Ulm upon the topmost pinnacle of their cathedral spire; or of Alonso
+de Ojeda, who figured in like manner upon the tower of the Spanish
+cathedral. The same daring afterwards carried him in the track of
+Columbus, and there he stained his name with the usual blots of rapacity
+and cruelty. These deeds, if not tinsel, were little better than gold
+leaf.
+
+A Golden Deed must be something more than mere display of fearlessness.
+Grave and resolute fulfillment of duty is required to give it the true
+weight. Such duty kept the sentinel at his post at the gate of Pompeii,
+even when the stifling dust of ashes came thicker and thicker from
+the volcano, and the liquid mud streamed down, and the people fled and
+struggled on, and still the sentry stood at his post, unflinching,
+till death had stiffened his limbs; and his bones, in their helmet and
+breastplate, with the hand still raised to keep the suffocating dust
+from mouth and nose, have remained even till our own times to show how
+a Roman soldier did his duty. In like manner the last of the old Spanish
+infantry originally formed by the Great Captain, Gonzalo de Cordova,
+were all cut off, standing fast to a man, at the battle of Rocroy, in
+1643, not one man breaking his rank. The whole regiment was found lying
+in regular order upon the field of battle, with their colonel, the old
+Count de Fuentes, at their head, expiring in a chair, in which he had
+been carried, because he was too infirm to walk, to this his twentieth
+battle. The conqueror, the high-spirited young Duke d'Enghien,
+afterwards Prince of Conde, exclaimed, 'Were I not a victor, I should
+have wished thus to die!' and preserved the chair among the relics of
+the bravest of his own fellow countrymen.
+
+Such obedience at all costs and all risks is, however, the very essence
+of a soldier's life. An army could not exist without it, a ship could
+not sail without it, and millions upon millions of those whose 'bones
+are dust and good swords are rust' have shown such resolution. It is
+the solid material, but it has hardly the exceptional brightness, of a
+Golden Deed.
+
+And yet perhaps it is one of the most remarkable characteristics of a
+Golden Deed that the doer of it is certain to feel it merely a duty;
+'I have done that which it was my duty to do' is the natural answer of
+those capable of such actions. They have been constrained to them by
+duty, or by pity; have never even deemed it possible to act otherwise,
+and did not once think of themselves in the matter at all.
+
+For the true metal of a Golden Deed is self-devotion. Selfishness is the
+dross and alloy that gives the unsound ring to many an act that has been
+called glorious. And, on the other hand, it is not only the valor, which
+meets a thousand enemies upon the battlefield, or scales the walls in
+a forlorn hope, that is of true gold. It may be, but often it is a mere
+greed of fame, fear of shame, or lust of plunder. No, it is the spirit
+that gives itself for others--the temper that for the sake of religion,
+of country, of duty, of kindred, nay, of pity even to a stranger, will
+dare all things, risk all things, endure all things, meet death in one
+moment, or wear life away in slow, persevering tendance and suffering.
+
+Such a spirit was shown by Leaena, the Athenian woman at whose house
+the overthrow of the tyranny of the Pisistratids was concerted, and who,
+when seized and put to the torture that she might disclose the secrets
+of the conspirators, fearing that the weakness of her frame might
+overpower her resolution, actually bit off her tongue, that she might be
+unable to betray the trust placed in her. The Athenians commemorated
+her truly golden silence by raising in her honor the statue of a lioness
+without a tongue, in allusion to her name, which signifies a lioness.
+
+Again, Rome had a tradition of a lady whose mother was in prison under
+sentence of death by hunger, but who, at the peril of her own life,
+visited her daily, and fed her from her own bosom, until even the stern
+senate were moved with pity, and granted a pardon. The same story is
+told of a Greek lady, called Euphrasia, who thus nourished her father;
+and in Scotland, in 1401, when the unhappy heir of the kingdom, David,
+Duke of Rothesay, had been thrown into the dungeon of Falkland Castle by
+his barbarous uncle, the Duke of Albany, there to be starved to death,
+his only helper was one poor peasant woman, who, undeterred by fear
+of the savage men that guarded the castle, crept, at every safe
+opportunity, to the grated window on a level with the ground, and
+dropped cakes through it to the prisoner, while she allayed his thirst
+from her own breast through a pipe. Alas! the visits were detected, and
+the Christian prince had less mercy than the heathen senate. Another
+woman, in 1450, when Sir Gilles of Brittany was savagely imprisoned and
+starved in much the same manner by his brother, Duke Francois, sustained
+him for several days by bringing wheat in her veil, and dropping it
+through the grated window, and when poison had been used to hasten his
+death, she brought a priest to the grating to enable him to make his
+peace with Heaven. Tender pity made these women venture all things; and
+surely their doings were full of the gold of love.
+
+So again two Swiss lads, whose father was dangerously ill, found that
+they could by no means procure the needful medicine, except at a price
+far beyond their means, and heard that an English traveler had offered a
+large price for a pair of eaglets. The only eyrie was on a crag supposed
+to be so inacessible, that no one ventured to attempt it, till these
+boys, in their intense anxiety for their father, dared the fearful
+danger, scaled the precipice, captured the birds, and safely conveyed
+them to the traveler. Truly this was a deed of gold.
+
+Such was the action of the Russian servant whose master's carriage was
+pursued by wolves, and who sprang out among the beasts, sacrificing his
+own life willingly to slake their fury for a few minutes in order that
+the horses might be untouched, and convey his master to a place of
+safety. But his act of self-devotion has been so beautifully expanded
+in the story of 'Eric's Grave', in 'Tales of Christian Heroism', that
+we can only hint at it, as at that of the 'Helmsman of Lake Erie', who,
+with the steamer on fire around him, held fast by the wheel in the very
+jaws of the flame, so as to guide the vessel into harbour, and save
+the many lives within her, at the cost of his own fearful agony, while
+slowly scorched by the flames.
+
+Memorable, too, was the compassion that kept Dr. Thompson upon the
+battlefield of the Alma, all alone throughout the night, striving
+to alleviate the sufferings and attend to the wants, not of our own
+wounded, but of the enemy, some of whom, if they were not sorely belied,
+had been known to requite a friendly act of assistance with a pistol
+shot. Thus to remain in the darkness, on a battlefield in an enemy's
+country, among the enemy themselves, all for pity and mercy's sake, was
+one of the noblest acts that history can show. Yet, it was paralleled
+in the time of the Indian Mutiny, when every English man and woman
+was flying from the rage of the Sepoys at Benares, and Dr. Hay alone
+remained because he would not desert the patients in the hospital, whose
+life depended on his care--many of them of those very native corps who
+were advancing to massacre him. This was the Roman sentry's firmness,
+more voluntary and more glorious. Nor may we pass by her to whom our
+title page points as our living type of Golden Deeds--to her who first
+showed how woman's ministrations of mercy may be carried on, not only
+within the city, but on the borders of the camp itself--'the lady with
+the lamp', whose health and strength were freely devoted to the holy
+work of softening the after sufferings that render war so hideous; whose
+very step and shadow carried gladness and healing to the sick soldier,
+and who has opened a path of like shining light to many another woman
+who only needed to be shown the way. Fitly, indeed, may the figure of
+Florence Nightingale be shadowed forth at the opening of our roll of
+Golden Deeds.
+
+Thanks be to God, there is enough of His own spirit of love abroad in
+the earth to make Golden Deeds of no such rare occurrence, but that they
+are of 'all time'. Even heathen days were not without them, and how much
+more should they not abound after the words have been spoken, 'Greater
+love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend',
+and after the one Great Deed has been wrought that has consecrated all
+other deeds of self-sacrifice. Of martyrdoms we have scarcely spoken.
+They were truly deeds of the purest gold; but they are too numerous to
+be dwelt on here: and even as soldiers deem it each man's simple duty
+to face death unhesitatingly, so the 'glorious army of martyrs' had, for
+the most part, joined the Church with the expectation that they should
+have to confess the faith, and confront the extremity of death and
+torture for it.
+
+What have been here brought together are chiefly cases of self-devotion
+that stand out remarkably, either from their hopelessness, their
+courage, or their patience, varying with the character of their age; but
+with that one essential distinction in all, that the dross of self was
+cast away.
+
+Among these we cannot forbear mentioning the poor American soldier, who,
+grievously wounded, had just been laid in the middle bed, by far the
+most comfortable of the three tiers of berths in the ship's cabin in
+which the wounded were to be conveyed to New York. Still thrilling with
+the suffering of being carried from the field, and lifted to his place,
+he saw a comrade in even worse plight brought in, and thinking of the
+pain it must cost his fellow soldier to be raised to the bed above him,
+he surprised his kind lady nurses (daily scatterers of Golden Deeds)
+by saying, 'Put me up there, I reckon I'll bear hoisting better than he
+will'.
+
+And, even as we write, we hear of an American Railway collision that
+befell a train on the way to Elmira with prisoners. The engineer, whose
+name was William Ingram, might have leapt off and saved himself before
+the shock; but he remained in order to reverse the engine, though with
+certain death staring him in the face. He was buried in the wreck of the
+meeting train, and when found, his back was against the boiler he was
+jammed in, unable to move, and actually being burnt to death; but even
+in that extremity of anguish he called out to those who came round
+to help him to keep away, as he expected the boiler would burst. They
+disregarded the generous cry, and used every effort to extricate him,
+but could not succeed until after his sufferings had ended in death.
+
+While men and women still exist who will thus suffer and thus die,
+losing themselves in the thought of others, surely the many forms of
+woe and misery with which this earth is spread do but give occasions of
+working out some of the highest and best qualities of which mankind are
+capable. And oh, young readers, if your hearts burn within you as you
+read of these various forms of the truest and deepest glory, and
+you long for time and place to act in the like devoted way, bethink
+yourselves that the alloy of such actions is to be constantly worked
+away in daily life; and that if ever it be your lot to do a Golden
+Deed, it will probably be in unconsciousness that you are doing anything
+extraordinary, and that the whole impulse will consist in the having
+absolutely forgotten self.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORIES OF ALCESTIS AND ANTIGONE
+
+
+It has been said, that even the heathens saw and knew the glory of self-
+devotion; and the Greeks had two early instances so very beautiful that,
+though they cannot in all particulars be true, they must not be passed
+over. There must have been some foundation for them, though we cannot
+now disentangle them from the fable that has adhered to them; and, at
+any rate, the ancient Greeks believed them, and gathered strength and
+nobleness from dwelling on such examples; since, as it has been truly
+said, 'Every word, look or thought of sympathy with heroic action, helps
+to make heroism'. Both tales were presented before them in their solemn
+religious tragedies, and the noble poetry in which they were recounted
+by the great Greek dramatists has been preserved to our time.
+
+Alcestis was the wife of Admetus, King of Pherae, who, according to the
+legend, was assured that his life might be prolonged, provided father,
+mother, or wife would die in his stead. It was Alcestis alone who was
+willing freely to give her life to save that of her husband; and her
+devotion is thus exquisitely described in the following translation, by
+Professor Anstice, from the choric song in the tragedy by Euripides:
+
+
+     'Be patient, for thy tears are vain
+     They may not wake the dead again:
+     E'en heroes, of immortal sire
+     And mortal mother born, expire.
+         Oh, she was dear
+         While she linger'd here;
+     She is dear now she rests below,
+         And thou mayst boast
+         That the bride thou hast lost
+     Was the noblest earth can show.
+
+     'We will not look on her burial sod
+       As the cell of sepulchral sleep,
+     It shall be as the shrine of a radiant god,
+     And the pilgrim shall visit that blest abode
+       To worship, and not to weep;
+     And as he turns his steps aside,
+       Thus shall he breathe his vow:
+     'Here sleeps a self-devoted bride,
+     Of old to save her lord she died.
+         She is a spirit now.
+
+     Hail, bright and blest one! grant to me
+     The smiles of glad prosperity.'
+     Thus shall he own her name divine,
+     Thus bend him at Alcestis' shrine.'
+
+
+The story, however, bore that Hercules, descending in the course of one
+of his labors into the realms of the dead, rescued Alcestis, and
+brought her back; and Euripides gives a scene in which the rough, jovial
+Hercules insists on the sorrowful Admetus marrying again a lady of his
+own choice, and gives the veiled Alcestis back to him as the new bride.
+Later Greeks tried to explain the story by saying that Alcestis nursed
+her husband through an infectious fever, caught it herself, and had been
+supposed to be dead, when a skilful physician restored her; but this is
+probably only one of the many reasonable versions they tried to give of
+the old tales that were founded on the decay and revival of nature in
+winter and spring, and with a presage running through them of sacrifice,
+death, and resurrection. Our own poet Chaucer was a great admirer of
+Alcestis, and improved upon the legend by turning her into his favorite
+flower--
+
+
+     'The daisie or els the eye of the daie,
+     The emprise and the floure of flouris all'.
+
+
+Another Greek legend told of the maiden of Thebes, one of the most
+self-devoted beings that could be conceived by a fancy untrained in the
+knowledge of Divine Perfection. It cannot be known how much of her story
+is true, but it was one that went deep into the hearts of Grecian men
+and women, and encouraged them in some of their best feelings; and
+assuredly the deeds imputed to her were golden.
+
+Antigone was the daughter of the old King Oedipus of Thebes. After a
+time heavy troubles, the consequence of the sins of his youth, came upon
+him, and he was driven away from his kingdom, and sent to wander forth
+a blind old man, scorned and pointed at by all. Then it was that his
+faithful daughter showed true affection for him. She might have remained
+at Thebes with her brother Eteocles, who had been made king in her
+father's room, but she chose instead to wander forth with the forlorn
+old man, fallen from his kingly state, and absolutely begging his
+bread. The great Athenian poet Sophocles began his tragedy of 'Oedipus
+Coloneus' with showing the blind old king leaning on Antigone's arm, and
+asking--
+
+
+     'Tell me, thou daughter of a blind old man,
+     Antigone, to what land are we come,
+     Or to what city? Who the inhabitants
+     Who with a slender pittance will relieve
+     Even for a day the wandering Oedipus?'
+                                       POTTER.
+
+
+The place to which they had come was in Attica, hear the city of
+Colonus. It was a lovely grove--
+
+
+     'All the haunts of Attic ground,
+     Where the matchless coursers bound,
+     Boast not, through their realms of bliss,
+     Other spot so fair as this.
+     Frequent down this greenwood dale
+     Mourns the warbling nightingale,
+     Nestling 'mid the thickest screen
+     Of the ivy's darksome green,
+     Or where each empurpled shoot
+     Drooping with its myriad fruit,
+     Curl'd in many a mazy twine,
+     Droops the never-trodden vine.'
+                                ANSTICE.
+
+
+This beautiful grove was sacred to the Eumenides, or avenging goddesses,
+and it was therefore a sanctuary where no foot might tread; but near it
+the exiled king was allowed to take up his abode, and was protected
+by the great Athenian King, Theseus. There his other daughter, Ismene,
+joined him, and, after a time, his elder son Polynices, arrived.
+
+Polynices had been expelled from Thebes by his brother Eteocles, and had
+been wandering through Greece seeking aid to recover his rights. He had
+collected an army, and was come to take leave of his father and sisters;
+and at the same time to entreat his sisters to take care that, if he
+should fall in the battle, they would prevent his corpse from being
+left unburied; for the Greeks believed that till the funeral rites were
+performed, the spirit went wandering restlessly up and down upon the
+banks of a dark stream, unable to enter the home of the dead. Antigone
+solemnly promised to him that he should not be left without these last
+rites. Before long, old Oedipus was killed by lightning, and the two
+sisters returned to Thebes.
+
+The united armies of the seven chiefs against Thebes came on, led by
+Polynices. Eteocles sallied out to meet them, and there was a terrible
+battle, ending in all the seven chiefs being slain, and the two
+brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, were killed by one another in single
+combat. Creon, the uncle, who thus became king, had always been on
+the side of Eteocles, and therefore commanded that whilst this younger
+brother was entombed with all due solemnities, the body of the elder
+should be left upon the battlefield to be torn by dogs and vultures, and
+that whosoever durst bury it should be treated as a rebel and a traitor
+to the state.
+
+This was the time for the sister to remember her oath to her dead
+brother. The more timid Ismene would have dissuaded her, but she
+answered,
+
+
+     'To me no sufferings have that hideous form
+     Which can affright me from a glorious death'.
+
+
+And she crept forth by night, amid all the horrors of the deserted
+field of battles, and herself covered with loose earth the corpse
+of Polynices. The barbarous uncle caused it to be taken up and again
+exposed, and a watch was set at some little distance. Again Antigone
+
+
+     'Was seen, lamenting shrill with plaintive notes,
+     Like the poor bird that sees her lonely nest
+                Spoil'd of her young'.
+
+
+Again she heaped dry dust with her own hands over the body, and poured
+forth the libations of wine that formed an essential part of the
+ceremony. She was seized by the guard, and led before Creon. She boldly
+avowed her deed, and, in spite of the supplications of Ismene, she was
+put to death, a sufferer for her noble and pious deeds; and with this
+only comfort:
+
+
+             'Glowing at my heart
+     I feel this hope, that to my father, dear
+     And dear to thee, my mother, dear to thee,
+     My brother, I shall go.'
+                                          POTTER.
+
+
+Dim and beautiful indeed was the hope that upbore the grave and
+beautiful Theban maiden; and we shall see her resolution equaled, though
+hardly surpassed, by Christian Antigones of equal love and surer faith.
+
+
+
+
+THE CUP OF WATER
+
+
+No touch in the history of the minstrel king David gives us a more warm
+and personal feeling towards him than his longing for the water of the
+well of Bethlehem. Standing as the incident does in the summary of the
+characters of his mighty men, it is apt to appear to us as if it had
+taken place in his latter days; but such is not the case, it befell
+while he was still under thirty, in the time of his persecution by Saul.
+
+It was when the last attempt at reconciliation with the king had been
+made, when the affectionate parting with the generous and faithful
+Jonathan had taken place, when Saul was hunting him like a partridge on
+the mountains on the one side, and the Philistines had nearly taken his
+life on the other, that David, outlawed, yet loyal at the heart, sent
+his aged parents to the land of Moab for refuge, and himself took up his
+abode in the caves of the wild limestone hills that had become familiar
+to him when he was a shepherd. Brave captain and Heaven-destined king as
+he was, his name attracted around him a motley group of those that
+were in distress, or in debt, or discontented, and among them were the
+'mighty men' whose brave deeds won them the foremost parts in that army
+with which David was to fulfill the ancient promises to his people.
+There were his three nephews, Joab, the ferocious and imperious, the
+chivalrous Abishai, and Asahel the fleet of foot; there was the warlike
+Levite Benaiah, who slew lions and lionlike men, and others who, like
+David himself, had done battle with the gigantic sons of Anak. Yet even
+these valiant men, so wild and lawless, could be kept in check by the
+voice of their young captain; and, outlaws as they were, they spoiled no
+peaceful villages, they lifted not their hands against the persecuting
+monarch, and the neighboring farms lost not one lamb through their
+violence. Some at least listened to the song of their warlike minstrel:
+
+
+     'Come, ye children, and hearken to me,
+     I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
+     What man is he that lusteth to live,
+     And would fain see good days?
+     Let him refrain his tongue from evil
+     And his lips that they speak no guile,
+     Let him eschew evil and do good,
+     Let him seek peace and ensue it.'
+
+
+With such strains as these, sung to his harp, the warrior gained the
+hearts of his men to enthusiastic love, and gathered followers on all
+sides, among them eleven fierce men of Gad, with faces like lions and
+feet swift as roes, who swam the Jordan in time of flood, and fought
+their way to him, putting all enemies in the valleys to flight.
+
+But the Eastern sun burnt on the bare rocks. A huge fissure, opening
+in the mountain ridge, encumbered at the bottom with broken rocks,
+with precipitous banks, scarcely affording a foothold for the wild
+goats--such is the spot where, upon a cleft on the steep precipice,
+still remain the foundations of the 'hold', or tower, believed to have
+been the David's retreat, and near at hand is the low-browed entrance
+of the galleried cave alternating between narrow passages and spacious
+halls, but all oppressively hot and close. Waste and wild, without
+a bush or a tree, in the feverish atmosphere of Palestine, it was a
+desolate region, and at length the wanderer's heart fainted in him, as
+he thought of his own home, with its rich and lovely terraced slopes,
+green with wheat, trellised with vines, and clouded with grey olive, and
+of the cool cisterns of living water by the gate of which he loved to
+sing--
+
+
+     'He shall feed me in a green pasture,
+     And lead me forth beside the waters of comfort'.
+
+
+His parched longing lips gave utterance to the sigh, 'Oh that one would
+give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem that is by the
+gate?'
+
+Three of his brave men, apparently Abishai, Benaiah, and Eleazar, heard
+the wish. Between their mountain fastness and the dearly loved spring
+lay the host of the Philistines; but their love for their leader feared
+no enemies. It was not only water that he longed for, but the water from
+the fountain which he had loved in his childhood. They descended from
+their chasm, broke through the midst of the enemy's army, and drew the
+water from the favorite spring, bearing it back, once again through the
+foe, to the tower upon the rock! Deeply moved was their chief at this
+act of self-devotion--so much moved that the water seemed to him to be
+too sacred to be put to his own use. 'May God forbid it me that I should
+do this thing. Shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their
+lives in jeopardy, for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought
+it?' And as a hallowed and precious gift, he poured out unto the Lord
+the water obtained at the price of such peril to his followers.
+
+In later times we meet with another hero, who by his personal qualities
+inspired something of the same enthusiastic attachment as did David, and
+who met with an adventure somewhat similar, showing the like nobleness
+of mind on the part of both leader and followers.
+
+It was Alexander of Macedon, whose character as a man, with all its dark
+shades of violence, rage, and profanity, has a nobleness and sweetness
+that win our hearts, while his greatness rests on a far broader basis
+than that of his conquests, though they are unrivalled. No one else so
+gained the love of the conquered, had such wide and comprehensive views
+for the amelioration of the world, or rose so superior to the prejudice
+of race; nor have any ten years left so lasting a trace upon the history
+of the world as those of his career.
+
+It is not, however, of his victories that we are here to speak, but of
+his return march from the banks of the Indus, in BC 326, when he had
+newly recovered from the severe wound which he had received under the
+fig tree, within the mud wall of the city of the Malli. This expedition
+was as much the expedition of a discoverer as the journey of a
+conqueror: and, at the mouth of the Indus, he sent his ships to survey
+the coasts of the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, while he himself
+marched along the shore of the province, then called Gedrosia, and now
+Mekhran. It was a most dismal tract. Above towered mountains of reddish-
+brown bare stone, treeless and without verdure, the scanty grass
+produced in the summer being burnt up long before September, the month
+of his march; and all the slope below was equally desolate slopes of
+gravel. The few inhabitants were called by the Greeks fish-eaters and
+turtle-eaters, because there was apparently, nothing else to eat; and
+their huts were built of turtle shells.
+
+The recollections connected with the region were dismal. Semiramis
+and Cyrus were each said to have lost an army there through hunger and
+thirst; and these foes, the most fatal foes of the invader, began to
+attack the Greek host. Nothing but the discipline and all-pervading
+influence of Alexander could have borne his army through. Speed was
+their sole chance; and through the burning sun, over the arid rock,
+he stimulated their steps with his own high spirit of unshrinking
+endurance, till he had dragged them through one of the most rapid and
+extraordinary marches of his wonderful career. His own share in their
+privations was fully and freely taken; and once when, like the rest, he
+was faint with heat and deadly thirst, a small quantity of water, won
+with great fatigue and difficulty, was brought to him, he esteemed it
+too precious to be applied to his own refreshment, but poured it forth
+as a libation, lest, he said, his warriors should thirst the more
+when they saw him drink alone; and, no doubt, too, because he felt the
+exceeding value of that which was purchased by loyal love. A like story
+is told of Rodolf of Hapsburgh, the founder of the greatness of Austria,
+and one of the most open-hearted of men. A flagon of water was brought
+to him when his army was suffering from severe drought. 'I cannot,'
+he said, 'drink alone, nor can all share so small a quantity. I do not
+thirst for myself, but for my whole army.'
+
+Yet there have been thirsty lips that have made a still more trying
+renunciation. Our own Sir Philip Sidney, riding back, with the mortal
+hurt in his broken thigh, from the fight at Zutphen, and giving the
+draught from his own lips to the dying man whose necessities were
+greater than his own, has long been our proverb for the giver of that
+self-denying cup of water that shall by no means lose its reward.
+
+A tradition of an act of somewhat the same character survived in a
+Slesvig family, now extinct. It was during the wars that ranged from
+1652 to 1660, between Frederick III of Denmark and Charles Gustavus of
+Sweden, that, after a battle, in which the victory had remained with the
+Danes, a stout burgher of Flensborg was about to refresh himself, ere
+retiring to have his wounds dressed, with a draught of beer from a
+wooden bottle, when an imploring cry from a wounded Swede, lying on the
+field, made him turn, and, with the very words of Sidney, 'Thy need
+is greater than mine,' he knelt down by the fallen enemy, to pour the
+liquor into his mouth. His requital was a pistol shot in the shoulder
+from the treacherous Swede. 'Rascal,' he cried, 'I would have befriended
+you, and you would murder me in return! Now I will punish you. I would
+have given you the whole bottle; but now you shall have only half.'
+And drinking off half himself, he gave the rest to the Swede. The king,
+hearing the story, sent for the burgher, and asked him how he came to
+spare the life of such a rascal.
+
+'Sire,' said the honest burgher, 'I could never kill a wounded enemy.'
+
+'Thou meritest to be a noble,' the king said, and created him one
+immediately, giving him as armorial bearings a wooden bottle pierced
+with an arrow! The family only lately became extinct in the person of an
+old maiden lady.
+
+
+
+
+HOW ONE MAN HAS SAVED A HOST
+
+B.C. 507
+
+
+There have been times when the devotion of one man has been the saving
+of an army. Such, according to old Roman story, was the feat of Horatius
+Cocles. It was in the year B.C. 507, not long after the kings had been
+expelled from Rome, when they were endeavoring to return by the aid of
+the Etruscans. Lars Porsena, one of the great Etruscan chieftains,
+had taken up the cause of the banished Tarquinius Superbus and his son
+Sextus, and gathered all his forces together, to advance upon the city
+of Rome. The great walls, of old Etrurian architecture, had probably
+already risen round the growing town, and all the people came flocking
+in from the country for shelter there; but the Tiber was the best
+defense, and it was only crossed by one wooden bridge, and the farther
+side of that was guarded by a fort, called the Janiculum. But the
+vanguards of the overwhelming Etruscan army soon took the fort, and
+then, in the gallant words of Lord Macaulay's ballad,--
+
+
+     'Thus in all the Senate
+       There was no heart so bold
+     But sore it ached, and fast it beat,
+       When that ill news was told.
+     Forthwith uprose the Consul,
+       Up rose the Fathers all,
+     In haste they girded up their gowns,
+       And hied them to the wall.
+
+     'They held a council standing
+       Before the River Gate:
+     Short time was there, ye well may guess,
+       For musing or debate.
+     Out spoke the Consul roundly,
+       'The bridge must straight go down,
+     For, since Janiculum is lost,
+       Nought else can save the town.'
+
+     'Just then a scout came flying,
+       All wild with haste and fear:
+     'To arms! To arms! Sir Consul,
+       Lars Porsena is here.'
+     On the low hills to westward
+       The Consul fixed his eye,
+     And saw the swarthy storm of dust
+       Rise fast along the sky.
+
+  .................
+
+     'But the Consul's brow was sad,
+       And the Consul's speech was low,
+     And darkly looked he at the wall,
+       And darkly at the foe.
+     'Their van will be upon us
+       Before the bridge goes down;
+     And if they once may win the bridge
+       What hope to save the town?'
+
+     'Then out spoke brave Horatius,
+       The Captain of the Gate,
+     'To every man upon this earth
+       Death cometh soon or late;
+     And how can man die better
+       Than facing fearful odds,
+     For the ashes of his fathers,
+       And the temples of his gods?
+
+     'And for the tender mother
+       Who dandled him to rest,
+     And for the wife who nurses
+       His baby at her breast?
+     And for the holy maidens
+       Who feed the eternal flame,
+     To save them from false Sextus,
+       That wrought the deed of shame?
+
+     'Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul,
+       With all the speed ye may,
+     I, with two more to help me,
+       Will hold the foe in play.
+     In yon strait path a thousand
+       May well be stopp'd by three:
+     Now who will stand on either hand,
+       And keep the bridge with me?'
+
+     'Then out spake Spurius Lartius,
+       A Ramnian proud was he,
+     'Lo, I will stand at thy right hand,
+       And keep the bridge with thee.'
+     And out spake strong Herminius,
+       Of Titian blood was he,
+     'I will abide on thy left side,
+       And keep the bridge with thee.'
+
+
+So forth went these three brave men, Horatius, the Consul's nephew,
+Spurius Lartius, and Titus Herminius, to guard the bridge at the farther
+end, while all the rest of the warriors were breaking down the timbers
+behind them.
+
+
+     'And Fathers mixed with commons,
+       Seized hatchet, bar, and crow,
+     And smote upon the planks above,
+       And loosen'd them below.
+     'Meanwhile the Tuscan army,
+       Right glorious to behold,
+     Came flashing back the noonday light,
+     Rank behind rank, like surges bright,
+       Of a broad sea of gold.
+     Four hundred trumpets sounded
+       A peal of warlike glee,
+     As that great host, with measured tread,
+     And spears advanced, and ensigns spread,
+     Roll'd slowly towards the bridge's head,
+       Where stood the dauntless three.
+
+     'The three stood calm and silent,
+       And look'd upon the foes,
+     And a great shout of laughter
+       From all the vanguard rose.'
+
+
+They laughed to see three men standing to meet the whole army; but it
+was so narrow a space, that no more than three enemies could attack them
+at once, and it was not easy to match them. Foe after foe came forth
+against them, and went down before their swords and spears, till at
+last--
+
+
+     'Was none that would be foremost
+       To lead such dire attack;
+     But those behind cried 'Forward!'
+       And those before cried 'Back!'
+
+..................
+
+
+However, the supports of the bridge had been destroyed.
+
+
+     'But meanwhile axe and lever
+       Have manfully been plied,
+     And now the bridge hangs tottering
+       Above the boiling tide.
+     'Come back, come back, Horatius!'
+       Loud cried the Fathers all;
+     'Back, Lartius! Back, Herminius!
+       Back, ere the ruin fall!'
+
+     'Back darted Spurius Lartius,
+       Herminius darted back;
+     And as they passed, beneath their feet
+       They felt the timbers crack;
+     But when they turn'd their faces,
+       And on the farther shore
+     Saw brave Horatius stand alone,
+       They would have cross'd once more.
+
+     'But with a crash like thunder
+       Fell every loosen'd beam,
+     And, like a dam, the mighty wreck
+       Lay right athwart the stream;
+     And a long shout of triumph
+       Rose from the walls of Rome,
+     As to the highest turret-tops
+       Was splashed the yellow foam.'
+
+
+The one last champion, behind a rampart of dead enemies, remained till
+the destruction was complete.
+
+
+      'Alone stood brave Horatius,
+       But constant still in mind,
+     Thrice thirty thousand foes before
+       And the broad flood behind.'
+
+
+A dart had put out one eye, he was wounded in the thigh, and his work
+was done. He turned round, and--
+
+
+                   'Saw on Palatinus,
+       The white porch of his home,
+     And he spake to the noble river
+       That rolls by the walls of Rome:
+     'O Tiber! father Tiber!
+       To whom the Romans pray,
+     A Roman's life, a Roman's arms
+       Take thou in charge this day.'
+
+
+And with this brief prayer he leapt into the foaming stream. Polybius
+was told that he was there drowned; but Livy gives the version which the
+ballad follows:--
+
+
+     'But fiercely ran the current,
+       Swollen high by months of rain,
+     And fast his blood was flowing,
+       And he was sore in pain,
+     And heavy with his armor,
+       And spent with changing blows,
+     And oft they thought him sinking,
+       But still again he rose.
+
+     'Never, I ween, did swimmer,
+       In such an evil case,
+     Struggle through such a raging flood
+       Safe to the landing place.
+     But his limbs were borne up bravely
+       By the brave heart within,
+     And our good father Tiber
+       Bare bravely up his chin.
+
+     .................
+
+     'And now he feels the bottom,
+       Now on dry earth he stands,
+     Now round him throng the Fathers,
+       To press his gory hands.
+     And now with shouts and clapping,
+       And noise of weeping loud,
+     He enters through the River Gate,
+       Borne by the joyous crowd.
+
+     'They gave him of the corn land,
+       That was of public right,
+     As much as two strong oxen
+       Could plough from morn to night.
+     And they made a molten image,
+       And set it up on high,
+     And there it stands unto this day,
+       To witness if I lie.
+
+     'It stands in the Comitium,
+       Plain for all folk to see,
+     Horatius in his harness,
+       Halting upon his knee:
+     And underneath is written,
+       In letters all of gold,
+     How valiantly he kept the bridge
+       In the brave days of old.'
+
+
+Never was more honorable surname than his, of Cocles, or the one-eyed;
+and though his lameness prevented him from ever being a Consul, or
+leading an army, he was so much beloved and honored by his fellow
+citizens, that in the time of a famine each Roman, to the number of
+300,000, brought him a day's food, lest he should suffer want. The
+statue was shown even in the time of Pliny, 600 years afterwards, and
+was probably only destroyed when Rome was sacked by the barbarians.
+
+Nor was the Roman bridge the only one that has been defended by one man
+against a host. In our own country, Stamford Bridge was, in like manner,
+guarded by a single brave Northman, after the battle fought A.D. 1066,
+when Earl Tostig, the son of Godwin, had persuaded the gallant sea king,
+Harald Hardrada, to come and invade England. The chosen English king,
+Harold, had marched at full speed from Sussex to Yorkshire, and met
+the invaders marching at their ease, without expecting any enemy, and
+wearing no defensive armor, as they went forth to receive the keys of
+the city of York. The battle was fought by the Norsemen in the full
+certainty that it must be lost. The banner, 'Landwaster', was planted
+in the midst; and the king, chanting his last song, like the minstrel
+warrior he had always been, stood, with his bravest men, in a death ring
+around it. There he died, and his choicest warriors with him; but many
+more fled back towards the ships, rushing over the few planks that were
+the only way across the River Ouse. And here stood their defender, alone
+upon the bridge, keeping back the whole pursuing English army, who could
+only attack him one at a time; until, with shame be it spoken, he died
+by a cowardly blow by an enemy, who had crept down the bank of the
+river, and under the bridge, through the openings between the timbers
+of which he thrust up his spear, and thus was able to hurl the brave
+Northman into the river, mortally wounded, but not till great numbers
+of his countrymen had reached their ships, their lives saved by his
+gallantry.
+
+In like manner, Robert Bruce, in the time of his wanderings, during
+the year 1306, saved his whole band by his sole exertions. He had been
+defeated by the forces of Edward I. at Methven, and had lost many of
+his friends. His little army went wandering among the hills, sometimes
+encamping in the woods, sometimes crossing the lakes in small boats.
+Many ladies were among them, and their summer life had some wild charms
+of romance; as the knightly huntsmen brought in the salmon, the roe, and
+the deer that formed their food, and the ladies gathered the flowering
+heather, over which soft skins were laid for their bedding. Sir James
+Douglas was the most courtly and graceful knight of all the party, and
+ever kept them enlivened by his gay temper and ready wit; and the king
+himself cherished a few precious romances, which he used to read aloud
+to his followers as they rested in their mountain home.
+
+But their bitter foe, the Lord of Lorn, was always in pursuit of them,
+and, near the head of the Tay, he came upon the small army of 300 men
+with 1000 Highlanders, armed with Lochaber axes, at a place which is
+still called Dalry, or the King's Field. Many of the horses were killed
+by the axes; and James Douglas and Gilbert de la Haye were both wounded.
+All would have been slain or fallen into the hand of the enemy, if
+Robert Bruce had not sent them all on before him, up a narrow, steep
+path, and placed himself, with his armor and heavy horse, full in the
+path, protecting the retreat with his single arm. It was true, that so
+tall and powerful a man, sheathed in armor and on horseback, had a great
+advantage against the wild Highlanders, who only wore a shirt and a
+plaid, with a round target upon the arm; but they were lithe, active,
+light-footed men, able to climb like goats on the crags around him, and
+holding their lives as cheaply as he did.
+
+Lorn, watching him from a distance, was struck with amazement, and
+exclaimed, 'Methinks, Marthokson, he resembles Gol Mak Morn protecting
+his followers from Fingal;' thus comparing him to one the most brilliant
+champions a Highland imagination could conceive. At last, three men,
+named M'Androsser, rushed forward, resolved to free their chief from
+this formidable enemy. There was a lake on one side, and a precipice on
+the other, and the king had hardly space to manage his horse, when all
+three sprang on him at once. One snatched his bridle, one caught him by
+the stirrup and leg, and a third leaped from a rising ground and seated
+himself behind him on his horse. The first lost his arm by one sweep
+of the king's sword; the second was overthrown and trampled on; and the
+last, by a desperate struggle, was dashed down, and his skull cleft by
+the king's sword; but his dying grasp was so tight upon the plaid that
+Bruce was forced to unclasp the brooch that secured it, and leave both
+in the dead man's hold. It was long preserved by the Macdougals of Lorn,
+as a trophy of the narrow escape of their enemy.
+
+Nor must we leave Robert the Bruce without mentioning that other Golden
+Deed, more truly noble because more full of mercy; namely, his halting
+his little army in full retreat in Ireland in the face of the English
+host under Roger Mortimer, that proper care and attendance might be
+given to one sick and suffering washerwoman and her new-born babe. Well
+may his old Scotch rhyming chronicler remark:--
+
+
+      'This was a full great courtesy
+     That swilk a king and so mighty,
+      Gert his men dwell on this manner,
+      But for a poor lavender.'
+
+
+We have seen how the sturdy Roman fought for his city, the fierce
+Northman died to guard his comrades' rush to their ships after the lost
+battle, and how the mail-clad knightly Bruce periled himself to secure
+the retreat of his friends. Here is one more instance, from far more
+modern times, of a soldier, whose willing sacrifice of his own life
+was the safety of a whole army. It was in the course of the long dismal
+conflict between Frederick the Great of Prussia and Maria Theresa of
+Austria, which was called the Seven Years' War. Louis XV. of France
+had taken the part of Austria, and had sent an army into Germany in the
+autumn of 1760. From this the Marquis de Castries had been dispatched,
+with 25,000 men, towards Rheinberg, and had taken up a strong position
+at Klostercamp. On the night of the 15th of October, a young officer,
+called the Chevalier d'Assas, of the Auvergne regiment, was sent out
+to reconnoitre, and advanced alone into a wood, at some little distance
+from his men. Suddenly he found himself surrounded by a number of
+soldiers, whose bayonets pricked his breast, and a voice whispered in
+his ear, 'Make the slightest noise, and you are a dead man!' In one
+moment he understood it all. The enemy were advancing, to surprise the
+French army, and would be upon them when night was further advanced.
+That moment decided his fate. He shouted, as loud as his voice would
+carry the words, 'Here, Auvergne! Here are the enemy!' By the time the
+cry reached the ears of his men, their captain was a senseless corpse;
+but his death had saved the army; the surprise had failed, and the enemy
+retreated.
+
+Louis XV was too mean-spirited and selfish to feel the beauty of this
+brave action; but when, fourteen years later, Louis XVI came to the
+throne, he decreed that a pension should be given to the family as long
+as a male representative remained to bear the name of D'Assas. Poor
+Louis XVI had not long the control of the treasure of France; but a
+century of changes, wars, and revolutions has not blotted out the memory
+of the self-devotion of the chevalier; for, among the new war-steamers
+of the French fleet, there is one that bears the ever-honored name of
+D'Assas.
+
+
+
+
+THE PASS OF THERMOPYLAE
+
+B.C. 430
+
+
+There was trembling in Greece. 'The Great King', as the Greeks called
+the chief potentate of the East, whose domains stretched from the
+Indian Caucasus to the Aegaeus, from the Caspian to the Red Sea, was
+marshalling his forces against the little free states that nestled amid
+the rocks and gulfs of the Eastern Mediterranean. Already had his might
+devoured the cherished colonies of the Greeks on the eastern shore of
+the Archipelago, and every traitor to home institutions found a ready
+asylum at that despotic court, and tried to revenge his own wrongs
+by whispering incitements to invasion. 'All people, nations, and
+languages,' was the commencement of the decrees of that monarch's court;
+and it was scarcely a vain boast, for his satraps ruled over subject
+kingdoms, and among his tributary nations he counted the Chaldean,
+with his learning and old civilization, the wise and steadfast Jew, the
+skilful Phoenician, the learned Egyptian, the wild, free-booting Arab
+of the desert, the dark-skinned Ethiopian, and over all these ruled the
+keen-witted, active native Persian race, the conquerors of all the
+rest, and led by a chosen band proudly called the Immortal. His many
+capitals--Babylon the great, Susa, Persepolis, and the like--were names
+of dreamy splendor to the Greeks, described now and then by Ionians from
+Asia Minor who had carried their tribute to the king's own feet, or
+by courtier slaves who had escaped with difficulty from being all too
+serviceable at the tyrannic court. And the lord of this enormous empire
+was about to launch his countless host against the little cluster of
+states, the whole of which together would hardly equal one province of
+the huge Asiatic realm! Moreover, it was a war not only on the men but
+on their gods. The Persians were zealous adorers of the sun and of fire,
+they abhorred the idol worship of the Greeks, and defiled and plundered
+every temple that fell in their way. Death and desolation were almost
+the best that could be looked for at such hands--slavery and torture
+from cruelly barbarous masters would only too surely be the lot of
+numbers, should their land fall a prey to the conquerors.
+
+True it was that ten years back the former Great King had sent his best
+troops to be signally defeated upon the coast of Attica; but the losses
+at Marathon had but stimulated the Persian lust of conquest, and the new
+King Xerxes was gathering together such myriads of men as should crush
+down the Greeks and overrun their country by mere force of numbers.
+
+The muster place was at Sardis, and there Greek spies had seen the
+multitudes assembling and the state and magnificence of the king's
+attendants. Envoys had come from him to demand earth and water from each
+state in Greece, as emblems that land and sea were his, but each state
+was resolved to be free, and only Thessaly, that which lay first in his
+path, consented to yield the token of subjugation. A council was held at
+the Isthmus of Corinth, and attended by deputies from all the states of
+Greece to consider of the best means of defense. The ships of the enemy
+would coast round the shores of the Aegean sea, the land army would
+cross the Hellespont on a bridge of boats lashed together, and march
+southwards into Greece. The only hope of averting the danger lay in
+defending such passages as, from the nature of the ground, were so
+narrow that only a few persons could fight hand to hand at once, so that
+courage would be of more avail than numbers.
+
+The first of all these passes was called Tempe, and a body of troops was
+sent to guard it; but they found that this was useless and impossible,
+and came back again. The next was at Thermopylae. Look in your map of
+the Archipelago, or Aegean Sea, as it was then called, for the great
+island of Negropont, or by its old name, Euboea. It looks like a piece
+broken off from the coast, and to the north is shaped like the head of
+a bird, with the beak running into a gulf, that would fit over it, upon
+the main land, and between the island and the coast is an exceedingly
+narrow strait. The Persian army would have to march round the edge of
+the gulf. They could not cut straight across the country, because the
+ridge of mountains called Ceta rose up and barred their way. Indeed, the
+woods, rocks, and precipices came down so near the seashore, that in two
+places there was only room for one single wheel track between the steeps
+and the impassable morass that formed the border of the gulf on its
+south side. These two very narrow places were called the gates of the
+pass, and were about a mile apart. There was a little more width left
+in the intervening space; but in this there were a number of springs of
+warm mineral water, salt and sulphurous, which were used for the sick to
+bathe in, and thus the place was called Thermopylae, or the Hot Gates. A
+wall had once been built across the western-most of these narrow places,
+when the Thessalians and Phocians, who lived on either side of it, had
+been at war with one another; but it had been allowed to go to decay,
+since the Phocians had found out that there was a very steep narrow
+mountain path along the bed of a torrent, by which it was possible to
+cross from one territory to the other without going round this marshy
+coast road.
+
+This was, therefore, an excellent place to defend. The Greek ships
+were all drawn up on the farther side of Euboea to prevent the Persian
+vessels from getting into the strait and landing men beyond the pass,
+and a division of the army was sent off to guard the Hot Gates. The
+council at the Isthmus did not know of the mountain pathway, and thought
+that all would be safe as long as the Persians were kept out of the
+coast path.
+
+The troops sent for this purpose were from different cities, and
+amounted to about 4,000, who were to keep the pass against two millions.
+The leader of them was Leonidas, who had newly become one of the two
+kings of Sparta, the city that above all in Greece trained its sons to
+be hardy soldiers, dreading death infinitely less than shame. Leonidas
+had already made up his mind that the expedition would probably be his
+death, perhaps because a prophecy had been given at the Temple of Delphi
+that Sparta should be saved by the death of one of her kings of the race
+of Hercules. He was allowed by law to take with him 300 men, and these
+he chose most carefully, not merely for their strength and courage,
+but selecting those who had sons, so that no family might be altogether
+destroyed. These Spartans, with their helots or slaves, made up his own
+share of the numbers, but all the army was under his generalship. It is
+even said that the 300 celebrated their own funeral rites before they
+set out, lest they should be deprived of them by the enemy, since, as we
+have already seen, it was the Greek belief that the spirits of the dead
+found no rest till their obsequies had been performed. Such preparations
+did not daunt the spirits of Leonidas and his men, and his wife, Gorgo,
+who was not a woman to be faint-hearted or hold him back. Long before,
+when she was a very little girl, a word of hers had saved her father
+from listening to a traitorous message from the King of Persia; and
+every Spartan lady was bred up to be able to say to those she best loved
+that they must come home from battle 'with the shield or on it'--either
+carrying it victoriously or borne upon it as a corpse.
+
+When Leonidas came to Thermopylae, the Phocians told him of the mountain
+path through the chestnut woods of Mount Ceta, and begged to have
+the privilege of guarding it on a spot high up on the mountain side,
+assuring him that it was very hard to find at the other end, and that
+there was every probability that the enemy would never discover it. He
+consented, and encamping around the warm springs, caused the broken wall
+to be repaired, and made ready to meet the foe.
+
+The Persian army were seen covering the whole country like locusts, and
+the hearts of some of the southern Greeks in the pass began to sink.
+Their homes in the Peloponnesus were comparatively secure--had they
+not better fall back and reserve themselves to defend the Isthmus of
+Corinth? But Leonidas, though Sparta was safe below the Isthmus, had
+no intention of abandoning his northern allies, and kept the other
+Peloponnesians to their posts, only sending messengers for further help.
+
+Presently a Persian on horseback rode up to reconnoitre the pass. He
+could not see over the wall, but in front of it, and on the ramparts, he
+saw the Spartans, some of them engaged in active sports, and others in
+combing their long hair. He rode back to the king, and told him what he
+had seen. Now, Xerxes had in his camp an exiled Spartan Prince, named
+Demaratus, who had become a traitor to his country, and was serving
+as counsellor to the enemy. Xerxes sent for him, and asked whether his
+countrymen were mad to be thus employed instead of fleeing away; but
+Demaratus made answer that a hard fight was no doubt in preparation, and
+that it was the custom of the Spartans to array their hair with special
+care when they were about to enter upon any great peril. Xerxes would,
+however, not believe that so petty a force could intend to resist him,
+and waited four days, probably expecting his fleet to assist him, but as
+it did not appear, the attack was made.
+
+The Greeks, stronger men and more heavily armed, were far better able to
+fight to advantage than the Persians, with their short spears and wicker
+shields, and beat them off with great ease. It is said that Xerxes three
+times leapt off his throne in despair at the sight of his troops being
+driven backwards; and thus for two days it seemed as easy to force a
+way through the Spartans as through the rocks themselves. Nay, how
+could slavish troops, dragged from home to spread the victories of an
+ambitious king, fight like freemen who felt that their strokes were to
+defend their homes and children!
+
+But on that evening a wretched man, named Ephialtes, crept into the
+Persian camp, and offered, for a great sum of money, to show the
+mountain path that would enable the enemy to take the brave defenders in
+the rear! A Persian general, named Hydarnes, was sent off at nightfall
+with a detachment to secure this passage, and was guided through the
+thick forests that clothed the hillside. In the stillness of the air, at
+daybreak, the Phocian guards of the path were startled by the crackling
+of the chestnut leaves under the tread of many feet. They started up,
+but a shower of arrows was discharged on them, and forgetting all save
+the present alarm, they fled to a higher part of the mountain, and the
+enemy, without waiting to pursue them, began to descend.
+
+As day dawned, morning light showed the watchers of the Grecian camp
+below a glittering and shimmering in the torrent bed where the shaggy
+forests opened; but it was not the sparkle of water, but the shine
+of gilded helmets and the gleaming of silvered spears! Moreover, a
+Cimmerian crept over to the wall from the Persian camp with tidings that
+the path had been betrayed, that the enemy were climbing it, and
+would come down beyond the Eastern Gate. Still, the way was rugged and
+circuitous, the Persians would hardly descend before midday, and there
+was ample time for the Greeks to escape before they could be shut in by
+the enemy.
+
+There was a short council held over the morning sacrifice. Megistias,
+the seer, on inspecting the entrails of the slain victim, declared,
+as well he might, that their appearance boded disaster. Him Leonidas
+ordered to retire, but he refused, though he sent home his only son.
+There was no disgrace to an ordinary tone of mind in leaving a post that
+could not be held, and Leonidas recommended all the allied troops under
+his command to march away while yet the way was open. As to himself and
+his Spartans, they had made up their minds to die at their post, and
+there could be no doubt that the example of such a resolution would do
+more to save Greece than their best efforts could ever do if they were
+careful to reserve themselves for another occasion.
+
+All the allies consented to retreat, except the eighty men who came from
+Mycenae and the 700 Thespians, who declared that they would not desert
+Leonidas. There were also 400 Thebans who remained; and thus the whole
+number that stayed with Leonidas to confront two million of enemies were
+fourteen hundred warriors, besides the helots or attendants on the 300
+Spartans, whose number is not known, but there was probably at least one
+to each. Leonidas had two kinsmen in the camp, like himself, claiming
+the blood of Hercules, and he tried to save them by giving them letters
+and messages to Sparta; but one answered that 'he had come to fight, not
+to carry letters'; and the other, that 'his deeds would tell all that
+Sparta wished to know'. Another Spartan, named Dienices, when told that
+the enemy's archers were so numerous that their arrows darkened the sun,
+replied, 'So much the better, we shall fight in the shade.' Two of the
+300 had been sent to a neighboring village, suffering severely from a
+complaint in the eyes. One of them, called Eurytus, put on his armor,
+and commanded his helot to lead him to his place in the ranks; the
+other, called Aristodemus, was so overpowered with illness that he
+allowed himself to be carried away with the retreating allies. It was
+still early in the day when all were gone, and Leonidas gave the word to
+his men to take their last meal. 'To-night,' he said, 'we shall sup with
+Pluto.'
+
+Hitherto, he had stood on the defensive, and had husbanded the lives of
+his men; but he now desired to make as great a slaughter as possible,
+so as to inspire the enemy with dread of the Grecian name. He therefore
+marched out beyond the wall, without waiting to be attacked, and the
+battle began. The Persian captains went behind their wretched troops
+and scourged them on to the fight with whips! Poor wretches, they were
+driven on to be slaughtered, pierced with the Greek spears, hurled into
+the sea, or trampled into the mud of the morass; but their inexhaustible
+numbers told at length. The spears of the Greeks broke under hard
+service, and their swords alone remained; they began to fall, and
+Leonidas himself was among the first of the slain. Hotter than ever was
+the fight over his corpse, and two Persian princes, brothers of Xerxes,
+were there killed; but at length word was brought that Hydarnes was
+over the pass, and that the few remaining men were thus enclosed on all
+sides. The Spartans and Thespians made their way to a little hillock
+within the wall, resolved to let this be the place of their last stand;
+but the hearts of the Thebans failed them, and they came towards the
+Persians holding out their hands in entreaty for mercy. Quarter was
+given to them, but they were all branded with the king's mark as
+untrustworthy deserters. The helots probably at this time escaped into
+the mountains; while the small desperate band stood side by side on the
+hill still fighting to the last, some with swords, others with daggers,
+others even with their hands and teeth, till not one living man remained
+amongst them when the sun went down. There was only a mound of slain,
+bristled over with arrows.
+
+Twenty thousand Persians had died before that handful of men! Xerxes
+asked Demaratus if there were many more at Sparta like these, and was
+told there were 8,000. It must have been with a somewhat failing heart
+that he invited his courtiers from the fleet to see what he had done
+to the men who dared to oppose him! and showed them the head and arm of
+Leonidas set up upon a cross; but he took care that all his own slain,
+except 1,000, should first be put out of sight. The body of the brave
+king was buried where he fell, as were those of the other dead. Much
+envied were they by the unhappy Aristodemus, who found himself called by
+no name but the 'Coward', and was shunned by all his fellow-citizens.
+No one would give him fire or water, and after a year of misery, he
+redeemed his honor by perishing in the forefront of the battle of
+Plataea, which was the last blow that drove the Persians ingloriously
+from Greece.
+
+The Greeks then united in doing honor to the brave warriors who, had
+they been better supported, might have saved the whole country from
+invasion. The poet Simonides wrote the inscriptions that were engraved
+upon the pillars that were set up in the pass to commemorate this great
+action. One was outside the wall, where most of the fighting had been.
+It seems to have been in honor of the whole number who had for two days
+resisted--
+
+
+      'Here did four thousand men from Pelops' land
+     Against three hundred myriads bravely stand'.
+
+
+In honor of the Spartans was another column--
+
+
+      'Go, traveler, to Sparta tell
+     That here, obeying her, we fell'.
+
+
+On the little hillock of the last resistance was placed the figure of
+a stone lion, in memory of Leonidas, so fitly named the lion-like, and
+Simonides, at his own expense, erected a pillar to his friend, the seer
+Megistias--
+
+
+      'The great Megistias' tomb you here may view,
+     Who slew the Medes, fresh from Spercheius fords;
+      Well the wise seer the coming death foreknew,
+      Yet scorn'd he to forsake his Spartan lords'.
+
+
+The names of the 300 were likewise engraven on a pillar at Sparta.
+
+Lions, pillars, and inscriptions have all long since passed away, even
+the very spot itself has changed; new soil has been formed, and there
+are miles of solid ground between Mount Ceta and the gulf, so that the
+Hot Gates no longer exist. But more enduring than stone or brass--nay,
+than the very battlefield itself--has been the name of Leonidas. Two
+thousand three hundred years have sped since he braced himself to perish
+for his country's sake in that narrow, marshy coast road, under the brow
+of the wooded crags, with the sea by his side. Since that time how many
+hearts have glowed, how many arms have been nerved at the remembrance of
+the Pass of Thermopylae, and the defeat that was worth so much more than
+a victory!
+
+
+
+
+THE ROCK OF THE CAPITOL
+
+B.C. 389
+
+
+The city of Rome was gradually rising on the banks of the Tiber, and
+every year was adding to its temples and public buildings.
+
+Every citizen loved his city and her greatness above all else. There was
+as yet little wealth among them; the richest owned little more than
+a few acres, which they cultivated themselves by the help of their
+families, and sometimes of a few slaves, and the beautiful Campagna di
+Roma, girt in by hills looking like amethysts in the distance, had not
+then become almost uninhabitable from pestilential air, but was rich and
+fertile, full of highly cultivated small farms, where corn was raised in
+furrows made by a small hand plough, and herds of sheep, goats, and oxen
+browsed in the pasture lands. The owners of these lands would on public
+days take off their rude working dress and broad-brimmed straw hat, and
+putting on the white toga with a purple hem, would enter the city, and
+go to the valley called the Forum or Marketplace to give their votes for
+the officers of state who were elected every year; especially the two
+consuls, who were like kings all but the crown, wore purple togas richly
+embroidered, sat on ivory chairs, and were followed by lictors carrying
+an axe in a bundle of rods for the execution of justice. In their own
+chamber sat the Senate, the great council composed of the patricians, or
+citizens of highest birth, and of those who had formerly been consuls.
+They decided on peace or war, and made the laws, and were the real
+governors of the State, and their grave dignity made a great impression
+on all who came near them. Above the buildings of the city rose steep
+and high the Capitoline Hill, with the Temple of Jupiter on its summit,
+and the strong wall in which was the chief stronghold and citadel of
+Rome, the Capitol, the very centre of her strength and resolution. When
+a war was decided on, every citizen capable of bearing arms was called
+into the Forum, bringing his helmet, breast plate, short sword, and
+heavy spear, and the officers called tribunes, chose out a sufficient
+number, who were formed into bodies called legions, and marched to
+battle under the command of one of the consuls. Many little States or
+Italian tribes, who had nearly the same customs as Rome, surrounded the
+Campagna, and so many disputes arose that every year, as soon as the
+crops were saved, the armies marched out, the flocks were driven to
+folds on the hills, the women and children were placed in the walled
+cities, and a battle was fought, sometimes followed up by the siege of
+the city of the defeated. The Romans did not always obtain the victory,
+but there was a staunchness about them that was sure to prevail in the
+long run; if beaten one year, they came back to the charge the next, and
+thus they gradually mastered one of their neighbors after another, and
+spread their dominion over the central part of Italy.
+
+They were well used to Italian and Etruscan ways of making war, but
+after nearly 400 years of this kind of fighting, a stranger and wilder
+enemy came upon them. These were the Gauls, a tall strong, brave people,
+long limbed and red-haired, of the same race as the highlanders of
+Scotland. They had gradually spread themselves over the middle of
+Europe, and had for some generations past lived among the Alpine
+mountains, whence they used to come down upon the rich plans of northern
+Italy for forays, in which they slew and burnt, and drove off cattle,
+and now and then, when a country was quite depopulated, would settle
+themselves in it. And thus, the Gauls conquering from the north and the
+Romans from the south, these two fierce nations at length came against
+one another.
+
+The old Roman story is that it happened thus: The Gauls had an unusually
+able leader, whom Latin historians call Brennus, but whose real name was
+most likely Bran, and who is said to have come out of Britain. He had
+brought a great host of Gauls to attack Clusium, a Tuscan city, and the
+inhabitants sent to Rome to entreat succor. Three ambassadors, brothers
+of the noble old family of Fabius, were sent from Rome to intercede for
+the Clusians. They asked Brennus what harm the men of Clusium had done
+the Gauls, that they thus made war on them, and, according to Plutarch's
+account, Brennus made answer that the injury was that the Clusians
+possessed land that the Gauls wanted, remarking that it was exactly
+the way in which the Romans themselves treated their neighbors, adding,
+however, that this was neither cruel nor unjust, but according--
+
+
+          'To the good old plan
+That they should take who have the power And they should keep who can.'
+
+
+     [Footnote: These lines of Wordsworth on Rob Roy's grave
+     almost literally translate the speech Plutarch gives the
+     first Kelt of history, Brennus.]
+
+The Fabii, on receiving this answer, were so foolish as to transgress
+the rule, owned by the savage Gauls, that an ambassador should neither
+fight nor be fought with; they joined the Clusians, and one brother,
+named Quintus, killed a remarkably large and tall Gallic chief in single
+combat. Brennus was justly enraged, and sent messengers to Rome to
+demand that the brothers should be given up to him for punishment. The
+priests and many of the Senate held that the rash young men had deserved
+death as covenant-breakers; but their father made strong interest for
+them, and prevailed not only to have them spared, but even chosen as
+tribunes to lead the legions in the war that was expected. [Footnote:
+These events happened during an experiment made by the Romans of having
+six military tribunes instead of two consuls.] Thus he persuaded the
+whole nation to take on itself the guilt of his sons, a want of true
+self-devotion uncommon among the old Romans, and which was severely
+punished.
+
+The Gauls were much enraged, and hurried southwards, not waiting for
+plunder by the way, but declaring that they were friends to every State
+save Rome. The Romans on their side collected their troops in haste, but
+with a lurking sense of having transgressed; and since they had gainsaid
+the counsel of their priests, they durst not have recourse to the
+sacrifices and ceremonies by which they usually sought to gain the favor
+of their gods. Even among heathens, the saying has often been verified,
+'a sinful heart makes failing hand', and the battle on the banks of the
+River Allia, about eleven miles from Rome, was not so much a fight as
+a rout. The Roman soldiers were ill drawn up, and were at once broken.
+Some fled to Veii and other towns, many were drowned in crossing the
+Tiber, and it was but a few who showed in Rome their shame-stricken
+faces, and brought word that the Gauls were upon them.
+
+Had the Gauls been really in pursuit, the Roman name and nation would
+have perished under their swords; but they spent three day in feasting
+and sharing their plunder, and thus gave the Romans time to take
+measures for the safety of such as could yet escape. There seems to have
+been no notion of defending the city, the soldiers had been too much
+dispersed; but all who still remained and could call up something of
+their ordinary courage, carried all the provisions they could collect
+into the stronghold of the Capitol, and resolved to hold out there till
+the last, in hopes that the scattered army might muster again, or that
+the Gauls might retreat, after having revenged themselves on the city.
+Everyone who could not fight, took flight, taking with them all they
+could carry, and among them went the white-clad troop of vestal virgins,
+carrying with them their censer of fire, which was esteemed sacred, and
+never allowed to be extinguished. A man named Albinus, who saw these
+sacred women footsore, weary, and weighted down with the treasures of
+their temple, removed his own family and goods from his cart and seated
+them in it--an act of reverence for which he was much esteemed--and thus
+they reached the city of Cumae. The only persons left in Rome outside
+the Capitol were eighty of the oldest senators and some of the priests.
+Some were too feeble to fly, and would not come into the Capitol to
+consume the food that might maintain fighting men; but most of them were
+filled with a deep, solemn thought that, by offering themselves to the
+weapons of the barbarians, they might atone for the sin sanctioned by
+the Republic, and that their death might be the saving of the nation.
+This notion that the death of a ruler would expiate a country's guilt
+was one of the strange presages abroad in the heathen world of that
+which alone takes away the sin of all mankind.
+
+On came the Gauls at last. The gates stood open, the streets were
+silent, the houses' low-browed doors showed no one in the paved courts.
+No living man was to be seen, till at last, hurrying down the steep
+empty streets, they reached the great open space of the Forum, and there
+they stood still in amazement, for ranged along a gallery were a row of
+ivory chairs, and in each chair sat the figure of a white-haired, white-
+bearded man, with arms and legs bare, and robes either of snowy white,
+white bordered with purple, or purple richly embroidered, ivory staves
+in their hands, and majestic, unmoved countenances. So motionless were
+they, that the Gauls stood still, not knowing whether they beheld men or
+statues. A wondrous scene it must have been, as the brawny, red-haired
+Gauls, with freckled visage, keen little eyes, long broad sword, and
+wide plaid garment, fashioned into loose trousers, came curiously down
+into the marketplace, one after another; and each stood silent and
+transfixed at the spectacle of those grand figures, still unmoving, save
+that their large full liquid dark eyes showed them to be living beings.
+Surely these Gauls deemed themselves in the presence of that council of
+kings who were sometimes supposed to govern Rome, nay, if they were not
+before the gods themselves. At last, one Gaul, ruder, or more curious
+than the rest, came up to one of the venerable figures, and, to make
+proof whether he were flesh and blood, stroked his beard. Such an insult
+from an uncouth barbarian was more than Roman blood could brook, and the
+Gaul soon had his doubt satisfied by a sharp blow on the head from the
+ivory staff. All reverence was dispelled by that stroke; it was at once
+returned by a death thrust, and the fury of the savages wakening in
+proportion to the awe that had at first struck them, they rushed on the
+old senators, and slew each one in his curule chair.
+
+Then they dispersed through the city, burning, plundering, and
+destroying. To take the Capitol they soon found to be beyond their
+power, but they hoped to starve the defenders out; and in the meantime
+they spent their time in pulling down the outer walls, and such houses
+and temples as had resisted the fire, till the defenders of the Capitol
+looked down from their height on nothing but desolate black burnt
+ground, with a few heaps of ruins in the midst, and the barbarians
+roaming about in it, and driving in the cattle that their foraging
+parties collected from the country round. There was much earnest faith
+in their own religion among the Romans: they took all this ruin as the
+just reward of their shelter of the Fabii, and even in their extremity
+were resolved not to transgress any sacred rule. Though food daily
+became more scarce and starvation was fast approaching, not one of the
+sacred geese that were kept in Juno's Temple was touched; and one Fabius
+Dorso, who believed that the household gods of his family required
+yearly a sacrifice on their own festival day on the Quirinal Hill,
+arrayed himself in the white robes of a sacrificer, took his sacred
+images in his arms, and went out of the Capitol, through the midst
+of the enemy, through the ruins to the accustomed alter, and there
+preformed the regular rites. The Gauls, seeing that it was a religious
+ceremony, let him pass through them untouched, and he returned in
+safety; but Brennus was resolved on completing his conquest, and while
+half his forces went out to plunder, he remained with the other half,
+watching the moment to effect an entrance into the Capitol; and how
+were the defenders, worn out with hunger, to resist without relief from
+without? And who was there to bring relief to them, who were themselves
+the Roman State and government?
+
+Now there was a citizen, named Marcus Furius Camillus, who was, without
+question, at that time, the first soldier of Rome, and had taken several
+of the chief Italian cities, especially that of Veii, which had long
+been a most dangerous enemy. But he was a proud, haughty man, and had
+brought on himself much dislike; until, at last, a false accusation was
+brought against him, that he had taken an unfair share of the plunder
+of Veii. He was too proud to stand a trial; and leaving the city, was
+immediately fined a considerable sum. He had taken up his abode at the
+city of Ardea, and was there living when the plundering half of Brennus'
+army was reported to be coming thither. Camillus immediately offered the
+magistrates to undertake their defense; and getting together all the men
+who could bear arms, he led them out, fell upon the Gauls as they all
+lay asleep and unguarded in the dead of night, made a great slaughter
+of them, and saved Ardea. All this was heard by the many Romans who had
+been living dispersed since the rout of Allia; and they began to recover
+heart and spirit, and to think that if Camillus would be their leader,
+they might yet do something to redeem the honor of Rome, and save their
+friends in the Capitol. An entreaty was sent to him to take the command
+of them; but, like a proud, stern man as he was, he made answer, that he
+was a mere exile, and could not take upon himself to lead Romans without
+a decree from the Senate giving him authority. The Senate was--all that
+remained of it--shut up in the Capitol; the Gauls were spread all round;
+how was that decree to be obtained?
+
+A young man, named Pontius Cominius, undertook the desperate mission. He
+put on a peasant dress, and hid some corks under it, supposing that he
+should find no passage by the bridge over the Tiber. Traveling all day
+on foot, he came at night to the bank, and saw the guard at the bridge;
+then, having waited for darkness, he rolled his one thin light garment,
+with the corks wrapped up in it, round his head, and trusted himself to
+the stream of Father Tiber, like 'good Horatius' before him; and he was
+safely borne along to the foot of the Capitoline Hill. He crept along,
+avoiding every place where he saw lights or heard noise, till he came
+to a rugged precipice, which he suspected would not be watched by the
+enemy, who would suppose it too steep to be climbed from above or below.
+But the resolute man did not fear the giddy dangerous ascent, even in
+the darkness; he swung himself up by the stems and boughs of the vines
+and climbing plants, his naked feet clung to the rocks and tufts of
+grass, and at length he stood on the top of the rampart, calling out his
+name to the soldiers who came in haste around him, not knowing whether
+he were friend or foe. A joyful sound must his Latin speech have been to
+the long-tried, half starved garrison, who had not seen a fresh face for
+six long months! The few who represented the Senate and people of Rome
+were hastily awakened from their sleep, and gathered together to hear
+the tidings brought them at so much risk. Pontius told them of the
+victory at Ardea, and that Camillus and the Romans collected at Veii
+were only waiting to march to their succor till they should give him
+lawful power to take the command. There was little debate. The vote was
+passed at once to make Camillus Dictator, an office to which Romans
+were elected upon great emergencies, and which gave them, for the time,
+absolute kingly control; and then Pontius, bearing the appointment, set
+off once again upon his mission, still under shelter of night, clambered
+down the rock, and crossed the Gallic camp before the barbarians were
+yet awake.
+
+There was hope in the little garrison; but danger was not over. The
+sharp-eyed Gauls observed that the shrubs and creepers were broken, the
+moss frayed, and fresh stones and earth rolled down at the crag of the
+Capitol: they were sure that the rock had been climbed, and, therefore,
+that it might be climbed again. Should they, who were used to the snowy
+peaks, dark abysses, and huge glaciers of the Alps, be afraid to climb
+where a soft dweller in a tame Italian town could venture a passage?
+Brennus chose out the hardiest of his mountaineers, and directed them to
+climb up in the dead of night, one by one, in perfect silence, and thus
+to surprise the Romans, and complete the slaughter and victory, before
+the forces assembling at Veii would come to their rescue.
+
+Silently the Gauls climbed, so stilly that not even a dog heard them;
+and the sentinel nearest to the post, who had fallen into a dead sleep
+of exhaustion from hunger, never awoke. But the fatal stillness was
+suddenly broken by loud gabbling, cackling, and flapping of heavy wings.
+The sacred geese of Juno, which had been so religiously spared in the
+famine, were frightened by the rustling beneath, and proclaimed their
+terror in their own noisy fashion. The first to take the alarm was
+Marcus Manlius, who started forward just in time to meet the foremost
+climbers as they set foot on the rampart. One, who raised an axe to
+strike, lost his arm by one stroke of Manlius' short Roman sword; the
+next was by main strength hurled backwards over the precipice, and
+Manlius stood along on the top, for a few moments, ready to strike the
+next who should struggle up. The whole of the garrison were in a few
+moments on the alert, and the attack was entirely repulsed; the sleeping
+sentry was cast headlong down the rock; and Manlius was brought, by each
+grateful soldier, that which was then most valuable to all, a little
+meal and a small measure of wine. Still, the condition of the Capitol
+was lamentable; there was no certainty that Pontius had ever reached
+Camillus in safety; and, indeed, the discovery of his path by the enemy
+would rather have led to the supposition that he had been seized and
+detected. The best hope lay in wearying out the besiegers; and there
+seemed to be more chance of this since the Gauls often could be seen
+from the heights, burying the corpses of their dead; their tall, bony
+forms looked gaunt and drooping, and, here and there, unburied carcasses
+lay amongst the ruins. Nor were the flocks and herds any longer driven
+in from the country. Either all must have been exhausted, or else
+Camillus and his friends must be near, and preventing their raids.
+At any rate, it appeared as if the enemy was quite as ill off as to
+provisions as the garrison, and in worse condition as to health. In
+effect, this was the first example of the famous saying, that Rome
+destroys her conquerors. In this state of things one of the Romans had a
+dream that Jupiter, the special god of the Capitol, appeared to him, and
+gave the strange advice that all the remaining flour should be baked,
+and the loaves thrown down into the enemy's camp. Telling the dream,
+which may, perhaps, have been the shaping of his own thoughts, that this
+apparent waste would persuade the barbarians that the garrison could not
+soon be starved out, this person obtained the consent of the rest of the
+besieged. Some approved the stratagem, and no one chose to act contrary
+to Jupiter's supposed advice; so the bread was baked, and tossed down by
+the hungry men.
+
+After a time, there was a report from the outer guards that the Gallic
+watch had been telling them that their leader would be willing to
+speak with some of the Roman chiefs. Accordingly, Sulpitius, one of the
+tribunes, went out, and had a conference with Brennus, who declared that
+he would depart, provided the Romans would lay down a ransom, for their
+Capital and their own lives, of a thousand pounds' weight of gold.
+To this Sulpitius agreed, and returning to the Capitol, the gold was
+collected from the treasury, and carried down to meet the Gauls, who
+brought their own weights. The weights did not meet the amount of gold
+ornaments that had been contributed for the purpose, and no doubt the
+Gauls were resolved to have all that they beheld; for when Sulpitius was
+about to try to arrange the balance, Brennus insultingly threw his sword
+into his own scale, exclaiming, Voe victis! 'Woe to the conquered!' The
+Roman was not yet fallen so low as not to remonstrate, and the dispute
+was waxing sharp, when there was a confused outcry in the Gallic camp,
+a shout from the heights of the Capitol, and into the midst of the open
+space rode a band of Roman patricians and knights in armor, with the
+Dictator Camillus at their head.
+
+He no sooner saw what was passing, than he commanded the treasure to be
+taken back, and, turning to Brennus, said, 'It is with iron, not gold,
+that the Romans guard their country.'
+
+Brennus declared that the treaty had been sworn to, and that it would
+be a breach of faith to deprive him of the ransom; to which Camillus
+replied, that he himself was Dictator, and no one had the power to make
+a treaty in his absence. The dispute was so hot, that they drew their
+swords against one another, and there was a skirmish among the ruins;
+but the Gauls soon fell back, and retreated to their camp, when they saw
+the main body of Camillus' army marching upon them. It was no less than
+40,000 in number; and Brennus knew he could not withstand them with
+his broken, sickly army. He drew off early the next morning: but was
+followed by Camillus, and routed, with great slaughter, about eight
+miles from Rome; and very few of the Gauls lived to return home, for
+those who were not slain in battle were cut off in their flight by the
+country people, whom they had plundered.
+
+In reward for their conduct on this occasion, Camillus was termed
+Romulus, Father of his Country, and Second Founder of Rome; Marcus
+Manlius received the honorable surname of Capitolinus; and even the
+geese were honored by having a golden image raised to their honor in
+Juno's temple, and a live goose was yearly carried in triumph, upon a
+soft litter, in a golden cage, as long as any heathen festivals lasted.
+The reward of Pontius Cominius does not appear; but surely he, and the
+old senators who died for their country's sake, deserved to be for ever
+remembered for their brave contempt of life when a service could be done
+to the State.
+
+The truth of the whole narrative is greatly doubted, and it is suspected
+that the Gallic conquest was more complete than the Romans ever chose to
+avow. Their history is far from clear up to this very epoch, when it
+is said that all their records were destroyed; but even when place and
+period are misty, great names and the main outline of their actions loom
+through the cloud, perhaps exaggerated, but still with some reality; and
+if the magnificent romance of the sack of Rome be not fact, yet it is
+certainly history, and well worthy of note and remembrance, as one of
+the finest extant traditions of a whole chain of Golden Deeds.
+
+
+
+
+THE TWO FRIENDS OF SYRACUSE
+
+B.C. 380 (CIRCA)
+
+
+Most of the best and noblest of the Greeks held what was called the
+Pythagorean philosophy. This was one of the many systems framed by the
+great men of heathenism, when by the feeble light of nature they were,
+as St. Paul says, 'seeking after God, if haply they might feel after
+Him', like men groping in the darkness. Pythagoras lived before the time
+of history, and almost nothing is known about him, though his teaching
+and his name were never lost. There is a belief that he had traveled in
+the East, and in Egypt, and as he lived about the time of the dispersion
+of the Israelites, it is possible that some of his purest and best
+teaching might have been crumbs gathered from their fuller instruction
+through the Law and the Prophets. One thing is plain, that even in
+dealing with heathenism the Divine rule holds good, 'By their fruits
+ye shall know them'. Golden Deeds are only to be found among men whose
+belief is earnest and sincere, and in something really high and noble.
+Where there was nothing worshiped but savage or impure power, and the
+very form of adoration was cruel and unclean, as among the Canaanites
+and Carthaginians, there we find no true self-devotion. The great deeds
+of the heathen world were all done by early Greeks and Romans before yet
+the last gleams of purer light had faded out of their belief, and while
+their moral sense still nerved them to energy; or else by such later
+Greeks as had embraced the deeper and more earnest yearnings of the
+minds that had become a 'law unto themselves'.
+
+The Pythagoreans were bound together in a brotherhood, the members of
+which had rules that are not now understood, but which linked them so as
+to form a sort of club, with common religious observances and pursuits
+of science, especially mathematics and music. And they were taught to
+restrain their passions, especially that of anger, and to endure with
+patience all kinds of suffering; believing that such self-restraint
+brought them nearer to the gods, and that death would set them free from
+the prison of the body. The souls of evil-doers would, they thought,
+pass into the lower and more degraded animals, while those of good
+men would be gradually purified, and rise to a higher existence. This,
+though lamentably deficient, and false in some points, was a real
+religion, inasmuch as it gave a rule of life, with a motive for striving
+for wisdom and virtue. Two friends of this Pythagorean sect lived at
+Syracuse, in the end of the fourth century before the Christian era.
+Syracuse was a great Greek city, built in Sicily, and full of all kinds
+of Greek art and learning; but it was a place of danger in their time,
+for it had fallen under the tyranny of a man of strange and capricious
+temper, though of great abilities, namely Dionysius. He is said to have
+been originally only a clerk in a public office, but his talents raised
+him to continually higher situations, and at length, in a great war with
+the Carthaginians, who had many settlements in Sicily, he became general
+of the army, and then found it easy to establish his power over the
+city.
+
+This power was not according to the laws, for Syracuse, like most other
+cities, ought to have been governed by a council of magistrates; but
+Dionysius was an exceedingly able man, and made the city much more rich
+and powerful, he defeated the Carthaginians, and rendered Syracuse by
+far the chief city in the island, and he contrived to make everyone so
+much afraid of him that no one durst attempt to overthrow his power.
+He was a good scholar, and very fond of philosophy and poetry, and
+he delighted to have learned men around him, and he had naturally a
+generous spirit; but the sense that he was in a position that did not
+belong to him, and that everyone hated him for assuming it, made him
+very harsh and suspicious. It is of him that the story is told, that
+he had a chamber hollowed in the rock near his state prison, and
+constructed with galleries to conduct sounds like an ear, so that he
+might overhear the conversation of his captives; and of him, too, is
+told that famous anecdote which has become a proverb, that on hearing
+a friend, named Damocles, express a wish to be in his situation for a
+single day, he took him at his word, and Damocles found himself at a
+banquet with everything that could delight his senses, delicious food,
+costly wine, flowers, perfumes, music; but with a sword with the point
+almost touching his head, and hanging by a single horsehair! This was to
+show the condition in which a usurper lived!
+
+Thus Dionysius was in constant dread. He had a wide trench round his
+bedroom, with a drawbridge that he drew up and put down with his own
+hands; and he put one barber to death for boasting that he held a razor
+to the tyrant's throat every morning. After this he made his young
+daughters shave him; but by and by he would not trust them with a razor,
+and caused them to singe of his beard with hot nutshells! He was said to
+have put a man named Antiphon to death for answering him, when he asked
+what was the best kind of brass, 'That of which the statues of Harmodius
+and Aristogeiton were made.' These were the two Athenians who had killed
+the sons of Pisistratus the tyrant, so that the jest was most offensive,
+but its boldness might have gained forgiveness for it. One philosopher,
+named Philoxenus, he sent to a dungeon for finding fault with his
+poetry, but he afterwards composed another piece, which he thought so
+superior, that he could not be content without sending for this adverse
+critic to hear it. When he had finished reading it, he looked to
+Philoxenus for a compliment; but the philosopher only turned round
+to the guards, and said dryly, 'Carry me back to prison.' This time
+Dionysius had the sense to laugh, and forgive his honesty.
+
+All these stories may not be true; but that they should have been
+current in the ancient world shows what was the character of the man
+of whom they were told, how stern and terrible was his anger, and how
+easily it was incurred. Among those who came under it was a Pythagorean
+called Pythias, who was sentenced to death, according to the usual fate
+of those who fell under his suspicion.
+
+Pythias had lands and relations in Greece, and he entreated as a favor
+to be allowed to return thither and arrange his affairs, engaging to
+return within a specified time to suffer death. The tyrant laughed his
+request to scorn. Once safe out of Sicily, who would answer for his
+return? Pythias made reply that he had a friend, who would become
+security for his return; and while Dionysius, the miserable man
+who trusted nobody, was ready to scoff at his simplicity, another
+Pythagorean, by name of Damon, came forward, and offered to become
+surety for his friend, engaging, if Pythias did not return according to
+promise, to suffer death in his stead.
+
+Dionysius, much astonished, consented to let Pythias go, marveling
+what would be the issue of the affair. Time went on and Pythias did not
+appear. The Syracusans watched Damon, but he showed no uneasiness. He
+said he was secure of his friend's truth and honor, and that if any
+accident had cause the delay of his return, he should rejoice in dying
+to save the life of one so dear to him.
+
+Even to the last day Damon continued serene and content, however it
+might fall out; nay even when the very hour drew nigh and still no
+Pythias. His trust was so perfect, that he did not even grieve at having
+to die for a faithless friend who had left him to the fate to which
+he had unwarily pledged himself. It was not Pythias' own will, but the
+winds and waves, so he still declared, when the decree was brought
+and the instruments of death made ready. The hour had come, and a few
+moments more would have ended Damon's life, when Pythias duly presented
+himself, embraced his friend, and stood forward himself to receive his
+sentence, calm, resolute, and rejoiced that he had come in time.
+
+Even the dim hope they owned of a future state was enough to make
+these two brave men keep their word, and confront death for one another
+without quailing. Dionysius looked on more struck than ever. He felt
+that neither of such men must die. He reversed the sentence of Pythias,
+and calling the two to his judgment seat, he entreated them to admit him
+as a third in their friendship. Yet all the time he must have known it
+was a mockery that he should ever be such as they were to each other--he
+who had lost the very power of trusting, and constantly sacrificed
+others to secure his own life, whilst they counted not their lives dear
+to them in comparison with their truth to their word, and love to one
+another. No wonder that Damon and Pythias have become such a byword that
+they seem too well known to have their story told here, except that a
+name in everyone's mouth sometimes seems to be mentioned by those who
+have forgotten or never heard the tale attached to it.
+
+
+
+
+THE DEVOTION OF THE DECII
+
+B.C. 339
+
+
+The spirit of self-devotion is so beautiful and noble, that even when
+the act is performed in obedience to the dictates of a false religion,
+it is impossible not to be struck with admiration and almost reverence
+for the unconscious type of the one great act that has hallowed every
+other sacrifice. Thus it was that Codrus, the Athenian king, has ever
+since been honored for the tradition that he gave his own life to secure
+the safety of his people; and there is a touching story, with neither
+name nor place, of a heathen monarch who was bidden by his priests to
+appease the supposed wrath of his gods by the sacrifice of the being
+dearest to him. His young son had been seized on as his most beloved,
+when his wife rushed between and declared that her son must live, and
+not by his death rob her of her right to fall, as her husband's dearest.
+The priest looked at the father; the face that had been sternly composed
+before was full of uncontrolled anguish as he sprang forward to save
+the wife rather than the child. That impulse was an answer, like the
+entreaty of the mother before Solomon; the priest struck the fatal blow
+ere the king's hand could withhold him, and the mother died with a last
+look of exceeding joy at her husband's love and her son's safety. Human
+sacrifices are of course accursed, and even the better sort of heathens
+viewed them with horror; but the voluntary confronting of death, even at
+the call of a distorted presage of future atonement, required qualities
+that were perhaps the highest that could be exercised among those who
+were devoid of the light of truth.
+
+In the year 339 there was a remarkable instance of such devotion. The
+Romans were at war with the Latins, a nation dwelling to the south of
+them, and almost exactly resembling themselves in language, habits,
+government, and fashions of fighting. Indeed the city of Rome itself
+was but an offshoot from the old Latin kingdom; and there was not much
+difference between the two nations even in courage and perseverance. The
+two consuls of the year were Titus Manlius Torquatus and Publius Decius
+Mus. They were both very distinguished men. Manlius was a patrician, or
+one of the high ancient nobles of Rome, and had in early youth fought a
+single combat with a gigantic Gaul, who offered himself, like Goliath,
+as a champion of his tribe; had slain him, and taken from him a gold
+torque, or collar, whence his surname Torquatus. Decius was a plebeian;
+one of the free though not noble citizens who had votes, but only within
+a few years had been capable of being chosen to the higher offices
+of state, and who looked upon every election to the consulship as a
+victory. Three years previously, when a tribune in command of a
+legion, Decius had saved the consul, Cornelius Cossus, from a dangerous
+situation, and enabled him to gain a great victory; and this exploit was
+remembered, and led to the choice of this well-experienced soldier as
+the colleague of Manlius.
+
+The two consuls both went out together in command of the forces, each
+having a separate army, and intending to act in concert. They marched
+to the beautiful country at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, which was then
+a harmless mountain clothed with chestnut woods, with spaces opening
+between, where farms and vineyards rejoiced in the sunshine and the
+fresh breezes of the lovely blue bay that lay stretched beneath. Those
+who climbed to the summit might indeed find beds of ashes and the jagged
+edge of a huge basin or gulf; the houses and walls were built of dark-
+red and black material that once had flowed from the crater in boiling
+torrents: but these had long since cooled, and so long was it since a
+column of smoke had been seen to rise from the mountain top, that it
+only remained as a matter of tradition that this region was one of
+mysterious fire, and that the dark cool lake Avernus, near the mountain
+skirts, was the very entrance to the shadowy realms beneath, that were
+supposed to be inhabited by the spirits of the dead.
+
+It might be that the neighborhood of this lake, with the dread
+imaginations connected with it by pagan fancy, influenced even the stout
+hearts of the consuls; for, the night after they came in sight of the
+enemy, each dreamt the same dream, namely, that he beheld a mighty
+form of gigantic height and stature, who told him 'that the victory was
+decreed to that army of the two whose leader should devote himself to
+the Dii Manes,' that is, to the deities who watched over the shades
+of the dead. Probably these older Romans held the old Etruscan belief,
+which took these 'gods beneath' to be winged beings, who bore away the
+departing soul, weighted its merits and demerits, and placed it in a
+region of peace or of woe, according to its deserts. This was part of
+the grave and earnest faith that gave the earlier Romans such truth
+and resolution; but latterly they so corrupted it with the Greek myths,
+that, in after times, they did not even know who the gods of Decius
+were.
+
+At daybreak the two consuls sought one another out, and told their
+dreams; and they agreed that they would join their armies in one, Decius
+leading the right and Manlius the left wing; and that whichever found
+his troops giving way, should at once rush into the enemy's columns and
+die, to secure the victory to his colleague. At the same time strict
+commands were given that no Roman should come out of his rank to fight
+in single combat with the enemy; a necessary regulation, as the Latins
+were so like, in every respect, to the Romans, that there would have
+been fatal confusion had there been any mingling together before the
+battle. Just as this command had been given out, young Titus Manlius,
+the son of the consul, met a Latin leader, who called him by name and
+challenged him to fight hand to hand. The youth was emulous of the honor
+his father had gained by his own combat at the same age with the Gaul,
+but forgot both the present edict and that his father had scrupulously
+asked permission before accepting the challenge. He at once came
+forward, and after a brave conflict, slew his adversary, and taking his
+armor, presented himself at his father's tent and laid the spoils at his
+feet.
+
+But old Manlius turned aside sadly, and collected his troops to hear his
+address to his son: 'You have transgressed,' he said, 'the discipline
+which has been the support of the Roman people, and reduced me to the
+hard necessity of either forgetting myself and mine, or else the regard
+I owe to the general safety. Rome must not suffer by one fault. We must
+expiate it ourselves. A sad example shall we be, but a wholesome one
+to the Roman youth. For me, both the natural love of a father, and that
+specimen thou hast given of thy valor move me exceedingly; but since
+either the consular authority must be established by thy death, or
+destroyed by thy impunity, I cannot think, if thou be a true Manlius,
+that thou wilt be backward to repair the breach thou hast made in
+military discipline by undergoing the just meed of thine offence. He
+then placed the wreath of leaves, the reward of a victor, upon his son's
+head, and gave the command to the lictor to bind the young man to a
+stake, and strike off his head. The troops stood round as men stunned,
+no one durst utter a word; the son submitted without one complaint,
+since his death was for the good of Rome: and the father, trusting that
+the doom of the Dii Manes was about to overtake him, beheld the brave
+but rash young head fall, then watched the corpse covered with the
+trophies won from the Latins, and made no hindrance to the glorious
+obsequies with which the whole army honored this untimely death. Strict
+discipline was indeed established, and no one again durst break his
+rank; but the younger men greatly hated Manlius for his severity, and
+gave him no credit for the agony he had concealed while giving up his
+gallant son to the wellbeing of Rome.
+
+A few days after, the expected battle took place, and after some little
+time the front rank of Decius' men began to fall back upon the line in
+their rear. This was the token he had waited for. He called to Valerius,
+the chief priest of Rome, to consecrate him, and was directed to put
+on his chief robe of office, the beautiful toga proetexta, to cover
+his head, and standing on his javelin, call aloud to the 'nine gods' to
+accept his devotion, to save the Roman legions, and strike terror into
+his enemies. This done, he commanded his lictors to carry word to his
+colleague that the sacrifice was accomplished, and then girding his robe
+round him in the manner adopted in sacrificing to the gods, he mounted
+his white horse, and rushed like lightning into the thickest of the
+Latins. At first they fell away on all sides as if some heavenly
+apparition had come down on them; then, as some recognized him, they
+closed in on him, and pierced his breast with their weapons; but even
+as he fell the superstition that a devoted leader was sure to win the
+field, came full on their minds, they broke and fled. Meanwhile the
+message came to Manlius, and drew from him a burst of tears--tears that
+he had not shed for his son--his hope of himself meeting the doom and
+ending his sorrow was gone; but none the less he nerved himself to
+complete the advantage gained by Decius' death. Only one wing of the
+Latins had fled, the other fought long and bravely, and when at last it
+was defeated, and cut down on the field of battle, both conqueror and
+conquered declared that, if Manlius had been the leader of the Latins,
+they would have had the victory. Manlius afterwards completely subdued
+the Latins, who became incorporated with the Romans; but bravely as he
+had borne up, his health gave way under his sorrow, and before the end
+of the year he was unable to take the field.
+
+Forty-five years later, in the year 294, another Decius was consul. He
+was the son of the first devoted Decius, and had shown himself worthy of
+his name, both as a citizen and soldier. His first consulate had been in
+conjunction with one of the most high-spirited and famous Roman nobles,
+Quintus Fabius, surnamed Maximus, or the Greatest, and at three years'
+end they were again chosen together, when the Romans had been brought
+into considerable peril by an alliance between the Gauls and the
+Samnites, their chief enemies in Italy.
+
+One being a patrician and the other a plebeian, there was every attempt
+made at Rome to stir up jealousies and dissensions between them; but
+both were much too noble and generous to be thus set one against the
+other; and when Fabius found how serious was the state of affairs in
+Etruria, he sent to Rome to entreat that Decius would come and act with
+him. 'With him I shall never want forces, nor have too many enemies to
+deal with.'
+
+The Gauls, since the time of Brennus, had so entirely settled in
+northern Italy, that it had acquired the name of Cisalpine Gaul, and
+they were as warlike as ever, while better armed and trained. The united
+armies of Gauls, Samnites, and their allies, together, are said to have
+amounted to 143,330 foot and 46,000 horse, and the Roman army consisted
+of four legions, 24,000 in all, with an unspecified number of horse. The
+place of battle was at Sentinum, and here for the first time the Gauls
+brought armed chariots into use,--probably the wicker chariots, with
+scythes in the midst of the clumsy wooden wheels, which were used by the
+Kelts in Britain two centuries later. It was the first time the Romans
+had encountered these barbarous vehicles; they were taken by surprise,
+the horses started, and could not be brought back to the charge, and the
+legions were mowed down like corn where the furious Gaul impelled his
+scythe. Decius shouted in vain, and tried to gather his men and lead
+them back; but the terror at this new mode of warfare had so mastered
+them, that they paid no attention to his call. Then, half in policy,
+half in superstition, he resolved to follow his father in his death.
+He called the chief priest, Marcus Livius, and standing on his javelin,
+went through the same formula of self-dedication, and in the like manner
+threw himself, alone and unarmed, in the midst of the enemy, among whom
+he soon fell, under many a savage stroke. The priest, himself a gallant
+soldier, called to the troops that their victory was now secured, and
+thoroughly believing him, they let him lead them back to the charge, and
+routed the Gauls; whilst Fabius so well did his part against the other
+nations, that the victory was complete, and 25,000 enemies were slain.
+So covered was the body of Decius by the corpses of his enemies, that
+all that day it could not be found; but on the next it was discovered,
+and Fabius, with a full heart, pronounced the funeral oration of the
+second Decius, who had willingly offered himself to turn the tide
+of battle in favor of his country. It was the last of such acts of
+dedication--the Romans became more learned and philosophical, and
+perhaps more reasonable; and yet, mistaken as was the object, it seems
+a falling off that, 200 years later, Cicero should not know who were the
+'nine gods' of the Decii, and should regard their sacrifice as 'heroic
+indeed, but unworthy of men of understanding'.
+
+
+
+
+REGULUS
+
+B.C. 249
+
+
+The first wars that the Romans engaged in beyond the bounds of Italy,
+were with the Carthaginians. This race came from Tyre and Zidon; and
+were descended from some of the Phoenicians, or Zidonians, who were such
+dangerous foes, or more dangerous friends, to the Israelites. Carthage
+had, as some say, been first founded by some of the Canaanites who fled
+when Joshua conquered the Promised Land; and whether this were so or
+not, the inhabitants were in all their ways the same as the Tyrians
+and Zidonians, of whom so much is said in the prophecies of Isaiah
+and Ezekiel. Like them, they worshipped Baal and Ashtoreth, and the
+frightful Moloch, with foul and cruel rites; and, like them, they were
+excellent sailors and great merchants trading with every known country,
+and living in great riches and splendor at their grand city on the
+southern shore of the Mediterranean. That they were a wicked and cruel
+race is also certain; the Romans used to call deceit Punic faith, that
+is, Phoenician faith, and though no doubt Roman writers show them up
+in their worst colours, yet, after the time of Hiram, Solomon's ally at
+Tyre, it is plain from Holy Scripture that their crimes were great.
+
+The first dispute between Rome and Carthage was about their possession
+in the island of Sicily; and the war thus begun had lasted eight years
+when it was resolved to send an army to fight the Carthaginians on their
+own shores. The army and fleet were placed under the command of the two
+consuls, Lucius Manlius and Marcus Attilius Regulus. On the way, there
+was a great sea fight with the Carthaginian fleet, and this was the
+first naval battle that the Romans ever gained. It made the way to
+Africa free; but the soldiers, who had never been so far from home
+before, murmured, for they expected to meet not only human enemies, but
+monstrous serpents, lions, elephants, asses with horns, and dog-headed
+monsters, to have a scorching sun overhead, and a noisome marsh under
+their feet. However, Regulus sternly put a stop to all murmurs, by
+making it known that disaffection would be punished by death, and the
+army safely landed, and set up a fortification at Clypea, and plundered
+the whole country round. Orders here came from Rome that Manlius should
+return thither, but that Regulus should remain to carry on the war. This
+was a great grief to him. He was a very poor man, with nothing of
+his own but a little farm of seven acres, and the person whom he had
+employed to cultivate it had died in his absence; a hired laborer had
+undertaken the care of it, but had been unfaithful, and had run away
+with his tools and his cattle; so that he was afraid that, unless he
+could return quickly, his wife and children would starve. However,
+the Senate engaged to provide for his family, and he remained, making
+expeditions into the country round, in the course of which the Romans
+really did fall in with a serpent as monstrous as their imagination had
+depicted. It was said to be 120 feet long, and dwelt upon the banks of
+the River Bagrada, where it used to devour the Roman soldiers as they
+went to fetch water. It had such tough scales that they were obliged to
+attack it with their engines meant for battering city walls, and only
+succeeded with much difficulty in destroying it.
+
+The country was most beautiful, covered with fertile cornfields and full
+of rich fruit trees, and all the rich Carthaginians had country houses
+and gardens, which were made delicious with fountains, trees, and
+flowers. The Roman soldiers, plain, hardy, fierce, and pitiless, did, it
+must be feared, cruel damage among these peaceful scenes; they boasted
+of having sacked 300 villages, and mercy was not yet known to them. The
+Carthaginian army, though strong in horsemen and in elephants, kept
+upon the hills and did nothing to save the country, and the wild desert
+tribes of Numidians came rushing in to plunder what the Romans had left.
+The Carthaginians sent to offer terms of peace; but Regulus, who had
+become uplifted by his conquests, made such demands that the messengers
+remonstrated. He answered, 'Men who are good for anything should either
+conquer or submit to their betters;' and he sent them rudely away, like
+a stern old Roman as he was. His merit was that he had no more mercy on
+himself than on others.
+
+The Carthaginians were driven to extremity, and made horrible offerings
+to Moloch, giving the little children of the noblest families to be
+dropped into the fire between the brazen hands of his statue, and grown-
+up people of the noblest families rushed in of their own accord, hoping
+thus to propitiate their gods, and obtain safety for their country.
+Their time was not yet fully come, and a respite was granted to them.
+They had sent, in their distress, to hire soldiers in Greece, and among
+these came a Spartan, named Xanthippus, who at once took the command,
+and led the army out to battle, with a long line of elephants ranged in
+front of them, and with clouds of horsemen hovering on the wings. The
+Romans had not yet learnt the best mode of fighting with elephants,
+namely, to leave lanes in their columns where these huge beasts might
+advance harmlessly; instead of which, the ranks were thrust and trampled
+down by the creatures' bulk, and they suffered a terrible defeat;
+Regulus himself was seized by the horsemen, and dragged into Carthage,
+where the victors feasted and rejoiced through half the night, and
+testified their thanks to Moloch by offering in his fires the bravest of
+their captives.
+
+Regulus himself was not, however, one of these victims. He was kept a
+close prisoner for two years, pining and sickening in his loneliness,
+while in the meantime the war continued, and at last a victory so
+decisive was gained by the Romans, that the people of Carthage were
+discouraged, and resolved to ask terms of peace. They thought that
+no one would be so readily listened to at Rome as Regulus, and they
+therefore sent him there with their envoys, having first made him swear
+that he would come back to his prison if there should neither be peace
+nor an exchange of prisoners. They little knew how much more a true-
+hearted Roman cared for his city than for himself--for his word than for
+his life.
+
+Worn and dejected, the captive warrior came to the outside of the gates
+of his own city, and there paused, refusing to enter. 'I am no longer a
+Roman citizen,' he said; 'I am but the barbarian's slave, and the Senate
+may not give audience to strangers within the walls.'
+
+His wife Marcia ran out to greet him, with his two sons, but he did not
+look up, and received their caresses as one beneath their notice, as
+a mere slave, and he continued, in spite of all entreaty, to remain
+outside the city, and would not even go to the little farm he had loved
+so well.
+
+The Roman Senate, as he would not come in to them, came out to hold
+their meeting in the Campagna.
+
+The ambassadors spoke first, then Regulus, standing up, said, as
+one repeating a task, 'Conscript fathers, being a slave to the
+Carthaginians, I come on the part of my masters to treat with you
+concerning peace, and an exchange of prisoners.' He then turned to go
+away with the ambassadors, as a stranger might not be present at the
+deliberations of the Senate. His old friends pressed him to stay and
+give his opinion as a senator who had twice been consul; but he refused
+to degrade that dignity by claiming it, slave as he was. But, at the
+command of his Carthaginian masters, he remained, though not taking his
+seat.
+
+Then he spoke. He told the senators to persevere in the war. He said he
+had seen the distress of Carthage, and that a peace would only be to her
+advantage, not to that of Rome, and therefore he strongly advised that
+the war should continue. Then, as to the exchange of prisoners, the
+Carthaginian generals, who were in the hands of the Romans, were in full
+health and strength, whilst he himself was too much broken down to be
+fit for service again, and indeed he believed that his enemies had given
+him a slow poison, and that he could not live long. Thus he insisted
+that no exchange of prisoners should be made.
+
+It was wonderful, even to Romans, to hear a man thus pleading against
+himself, and their chief priest came forward, and declared that, as his
+oath had been wrested from him by force, he was not bound to return to
+his captivity. But Regulus was too noble to listen to this for a moment.
+'Have you resolved to dishonor me?' he said. 'I am not ignorant that
+death and the extremest tortures are preparing for me; but what are
+these to the shame of an infamous action, or the wounds of a guilty
+mind? Slave as I am to Carthage, I have still the spirit of a Roman. I
+have sworn to return. It is my duty to go; let the gods take care of the
+rest.'
+
+The Senate decided to follow the advice of Regulus, though they bitterly
+regretted his sacrifice. His wife wept and entreated in vain that they
+would detain him; they could merely repeat their permission to him to
+remain; but nothing could prevail with him to break his word, and he
+turned back to the chains and death he expected so calmly as if he had
+been returning to his home. This was in the year B.C. 249.
+
+'Let the gods take care of the rest,' said the Roman; the gods whom
+alone he knew, and through whom he ignorantly worshipped the true God,
+whose Light was shining out even in this heathen's truth and constancy.
+How his trust was fulfilled is not known. The Senate, after the next
+victory, gave two Carthaginian generals to his wife and sons to hold as
+pledges for his good treatment; but when tidings arrived that Regulus
+was dead, Marcia began to treat them both with savage cruelty, though
+one of them assured her that he had been careful to have her husband
+well used. Horrible stories were told that Regulus had been put out in
+the sun with his eyelids cut off, rolled down a hill in a barrel with
+spikes, killed by being constantly kept awake, or else crucified. Marcia
+seems to have set about, and perhaps believed in these horrors, and
+avenged them on her unhappy captives till one had died, and the Senate
+sent for her sons and severely reprimanded them. They declared it was
+their mother's doing, not theirs, and thenceforth were careful of the
+comfort of the remaining prisoner.
+
+It may thus be hoped that the frightful tale of Regulus' sufferings was
+but formed by report acting on the fancy of a vindictive woman, and that
+Regulus was permitted to die in peace of the disease brought on far more
+probably by the climate and imprisonment, than by the poison to which
+he ascribed it. It is not the tortures he may have endured that make him
+one of the noblest characters of history, but the resolution that would
+neither let him save himself at the risk of his country's prosperity,
+nor forfeit the word that he had pledged.
+
+
+
+
+THE BRAVE BRETHREN OF JUDAH
+
+B.C. 180
+
+
+It was about 180 years before the Christian era. The Jews had long since
+come home from Babylon, and built up their city and Temple at Jerusalem.
+But they were not free as they had been before. Their country belonged
+to some greater power, they had a foreign governor over them, and had to
+pay tribute to the king who was their master.
+
+At the time we are going to speak of, this king was Antiochus Epiphanes,
+King of Syria. He was descended from one of those generals who, upon the
+death of Alexander the Great, had shared the East between them, and he
+reigned over all the country from the Mediterranean Sea even into Persia
+and the borders of India. He spoke Greek, and believed in both the Greek
+and Roman gods, for he had spent some time at Rome in his youth; but
+in his Eastern kingdom he had learnt all the self-indulgent and violent
+habits to which people in those hot countries are especially tempted.
+
+He was so fierce and passionate, that he was often called the 'Madman',
+and he was very cruel to all who offended him. One of his greatest
+desires was, that the Jews should leave their true faith in one God,
+and do like the Greeks and Syrians, his other subjects, worship the same
+idols, and hold drunken feasts in their honor. Sad to say, a great many
+of the Jews had grown ashamed of their own true religion and the strict
+ways of their law, and thought them old-fashioned. They joined in the
+Greek sports, played games naked in the theatre, joined in riotous
+processions, carrying ivy in honor of Bacchus, the god of wine, and
+offered incense to the idols; and the worst of all these was the false
+high priest, Menelaus, who led the King Antiochus into the Temple
+itself, even into the Holy of Holies, and told him all that would most
+desecrate it and grieve the Jews. So a little altar to the Roman
+god Jupiter was set up on the top of the great brazen altar of burnt
+offerings, a hog was offered up, and broth of its flesh sprinkled
+everywhere in the Temple; then all the precious vessels were seized, the
+shewbread table of gold, the candlesticks, and the whole treasury, and
+carried away by the king; the walls were thrown down, and the place made
+desolate.
+
+Some Jews were still faithful to their God, but they were horribly
+punished and tortured to death before the eyes of the king; and when at
+last he went away to his own country, taking with him the wicked high
+priest Menelaus, he left behind him a governor and an army of soldiers
+stationed in the tower of Acra, which overlooked the Temple hill, and
+sent for an old man from Athens to teach the people the heathen rites
+and ceremonies. Any person who observed the Sabbath day, or any other
+ordinance of the law of Moses, was put to death in a most cruel manner;
+all the books of the Old Testament Scripture that could be found were
+either burnt or defiled, by having pictures of Greek gods painted upon
+them; and the heathen priests went from place to place, with a little
+brazen altar and image and a guard of soldiers, who were to kill every
+person who refused to burn incense before the idol. It was the very
+saddest time that the Jews had ever known, and there seemed no help near
+or far off; they could have no hope, except in the promises that God
+would never fail His people, or forsake His inheritance, and in the
+prophecies that bad times should come, but good ones after them.
+
+The Greeks, in going through the towns to enforce the idol worship, came
+to a little city called Modin, somewhere on the hills on the coast
+of the Mediterranean Sea, not far from Joppa. There they sent out,
+as usual, orders to all the men of the town to meet them in the
+marketplace; but they were told beforehand, that the chief person in the
+place was an old man named Mattathias, of a priestly family, and so much
+respected, that all the other inhabitants of the place were sure to do
+whatever he might lead them in. So the Greeks sent for him first of all,
+and he came at their summons, a grand and noble old man, followed by
+his five sons, Johanan, Simon, Judas, Jonathan, and Eleazar. The Greek
+priest tried to talk him over. He told him that the high priest had
+forsaken the Jewish superstition, that the Temple was in ruins, and that
+resistance was in vain; and exhorted him to obtain gratitude and honor
+for himself, by leading his countrymen in thus adoring the deities
+of the king's choice, promising him rewards and treasures if he would
+comply.
+
+But the old man spoke out with a loud and fearless voice: 'Though all
+the nations that are under the king's dominion obey him, and fall away
+every one from the religion of their fathers, and give consent to
+his commandments; yet will I and my sons and my brethren walk in the
+covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake the law and
+the ordinances! We will not hearken to the king's words, to go from our
+religion, either on the right hand or the left!'
+
+As he spoke, up came an apostate Jew to do sacrifice at the heathen
+altar. Mattathias trembled at the sight, and his zeal broke forth. He
+slew the offender, and his brave sons gathering round him, they attacked
+the Syrian soldiers, killed the commissioner, and threw down the altar.
+Then, as they knew that they could not there hold out against the king's
+power, Mattathias proclaimed throughout the city: 'Whosoever is zealous
+of the law, and maintaineth the covenant, let him follow me!' With that,
+he and his five sons, with their families, left their houses and lands,
+and drove their cattle with them up into the wild hills and caves, where
+David had once made his home; and all the Jews who wished to be
+still faithful, gathered around them, to worship God and keep His
+commandments.
+
+There they were, a handful of brave men in the mountains, and all the
+heathen world and apostate Jews against them. They used to come down
+into the villages, remind the people of the law, promise their help,
+and throw down any idol altars that they found, and the enemy never were
+able to follow them into their rocky strongholds. But the old Mattathias
+could not long bear the rude wild life in the cold mountains, and he
+soon died. First he called all his five sons, and bade them to 'be
+zealous for the law, and give their lives for the covenant of their
+fathers'; and he reminded them of all the many brave men who had before
+served God, and been aided in their extremity. He appointed his son
+Judas, as the strongest and mightiest, to lead his brethren to battle,
+and Simon, as the wisest, to be their counsellor; then he blessed them
+and died; and his sons were able to bury him in the tomb of his fathers
+at Modin.
+
+Judas was one of the bravest men who ever lived; never dreading the
+numbers that came against him. He was surnamed Maccabeus, which some
+people say meant the hammerer; but others think it was made up of the
+first letters of the words he carried on his banner, which meant 'Who
+is like unto Thee, among the gods, O Lord?' Altogether he had about six
+thousand men round him when the Greek governor, Apollonius, came out
+to fight with him. The Jews gained here their first victory, and Judas
+killed Apollonius, took his sword, and fought all his other battles with
+it. Next came a captain called Seron, who went out to the hills to lay
+hold of the bold rebels that dared to rise against the King of Syria.
+The place where Judas met him was one to make the Jews' hearts leap with
+hope and trust. It was on the steep stony broken hillside of Beth-horon,
+the very place where Joshua had conquered the five kings of the
+Amorites, in the first battle on the coming in of the children of Israel
+to Palestine. There was the rugged path where Joshua had stood and
+called out to the sun to stand still in Gibeon, and the moon in the
+valley of Ajalon. Miracles were over, and Judas looked for no wonder to
+help him; but when he came up the mountain road from Joppa, his heart
+was full of the same trust as Joshua's, and he won another great
+victory.
+
+By this time King Antiochus began to think the rising of the Jews a
+serious matter, but he could not come himself against them, because his
+provinces in Armenia and Persia had refused their tribute, and he had
+to go in person to reduce them. He appointed, however, a governor, named
+Lysias, to chastise the Jews, giving him an army of 40,000 foot and 7000
+horse. Half of these Lysias sent on before him, with two captains, named
+Nicanor and Gorgias, thinking that these would be more than enough to
+hunt down and crush the little handful that were lurking in the hills.
+And with them came a great number of slave merchants, who had bargained
+with Nicanor that they should have ninety Jews for one talent, to sell
+to the Greeks and Romans, by whom Jewish slaves were much esteemed.
+
+There was great terror in Palestine at these tidings, and many of the
+weaker-minded fell away from Judas; but he called all the faithful
+together at Mizpeh, the same place where, 1000 years before, Samuel had
+collected the Israelites, and, after prayer and fasting, had sent them
+forth to free their country from the Philistines. Shiloh, the sanctuary,
+was then lying desolate, just as Jerusalem now lay in ruins; and yet
+better times had come. But very mournful was that fast day at Mizpeh, as
+the Jews looked along the hillside to their own holy mountain crowned
+by no white marble and gold Temple flashing back the sunbeams, but only
+with the tall castle of their enemies towering over the precipice.
+They could not sacrifice, because a sacrifice could only be made at
+Jerusalem, and the only book of the Scriptures that they had to read
+from was painted over with the hateful idol figures of the Greeks. And
+the huge army of enemies was ever coming nearer! The whole assembly
+wept, and put on sackcloth and prayed aloud for help, and then there was
+a loud sounding of trumpets, and Judas stood forth before them. And he
+made the old proclamation that Moses had long ago decreed, that no
+one should go out to battle who was building a house, or planting a
+vineyard, or had just betrothed a wife, or who was fearful and faint-
+hearted. All these were to go home again. Judas had 6,000 followers when
+he made this proclamation. He had only 3,000 at the end of the day, and
+they were but poorly armed. He told them of the former aid that had come
+to their fathers in extremity, and made them bold with his noble words.
+Then he gave them for their watchword 'the help of God', and divided
+the leadership of the band between himself and his brothers, appointing
+Eleazar, the youngest, to read the Holy Book.
+
+With these valiant men, Judas set up his camp; but tidings were soon
+brought him that Gorgias, with 5000 foot and 1000 horse, had left the
+main body to fall on his little camp by night. He therefore secretly
+left the place in the twilight; so that when the enemy attacked his
+camp, they found it deserted, and supposing them to be hid in the
+mountains, proceeded hither in pursuit of them.
+
+But in the early morning Judas and his 3,000 men were all in battle
+array in the plains, and marching full upon the enemy's camp with
+trumpet sound, took them by surprise in the absence of Gorgias and his
+choice troops, and utterly defeated and put them to flight, but without
+pursuing them, since the fight with Gorgias and his 5,000 might be yet
+to come. Even as Judas was reminding his men of this, Gorgias's troops
+were seen looking down from the mountains where they had been wandering
+all night; but seeing their own camp all smoke and flame, they turned
+and fled away. Nine thousand of the invaders had been slain, and the
+whole camp, full of arms and treasures, was in the hands of Judas, who
+there rested for a Sabbath of glad thanksgiving, and the next day parted
+the spoil, first putting out the share for the widows and orphans and
+the wounded, and then dividing the rest among his warriors. As to the
+slave merchants, they were all made prisoners, and instead of giving a
+talent for ninety Jews, were sold themselves.
+
+The next year Lysias came himself, but was driven back and defeated
+at Bethshur, four or five miles south of Bethlehem. And now came the
+saddest, yet the greatest, day of Judas's life, when he ventured to go
+back into the holy city and take possession of the Temple again. The
+strong tower of Acra, which stood on a ridge of Mount Moriah looking
+down on the Temple rock, was still held by the Syrians, and he had no
+means of taking it; but he and his men loved the sanctuary too well to
+keep away from it, and again they marched up the steps and slopes that
+led up the holy hill. They went up to find the walls broken, the gates
+burnt, the cloisters and priests' chambers pulled down, and the courts
+thickly grown with grass and shrubs, the altar of their one true God
+with the false idol Jupiter's altar in the middle of it. These warriors,
+who had turned three armies to flight, could not bear the sight. They
+fell down on their faces, threw dust on their heads, and wept aloud for
+the desolation of their holy place. But in the midst Judas caused the
+trumpets to sound an alarm. They were to do something besides grieving.
+The bravest of them were set to keep watch and ward against the Syrians
+in the tower, while he chose out the most faithful priests to cleanse
+out the sanctuary, and renew all that could be renewed, making new holy
+vessels from the spoil taken in Nicanor's camp, and setting the stones
+of the profaned altar apart while a new one was raised. On the third
+anniversary of the great profanation, the Temple was newly dedicated,
+with songs and hymns of rejoicing, and a festival day was appointed,
+which has been observed by the Jews ever since. The Temple rock and city
+were again fortified so as to be able to hold out against their enemies,
+and this year and the next were the most prosperous of the life of the
+loyal-hearted Maccabee.
+
+The great enemy of the Jews, Antiochus Epiphanes, was in the meantime
+dying in great agony in Persia, and his son Antiochus Eupator was set
+on the throne by Lysias, who brought him with an enormous army to reduce
+the rising in Judea. The fight was again at Bethshur, where Judas had
+built a strong fort on a point of rock that guarded the road to Hebron.
+Lysias tried to take this fort, and Judas came to the rescue with his
+little army, to meet the far mightier Syrian force, which was made more
+terrific by possessing thirty war elephants imported from the Indian
+frontier. Each of these creatures carried a tower containing thirty-two
+men armed with darts and javelins, and an Indian driver on his neck; and
+they had 1000 foot and 500 horse attached to the special following of
+the beast, who, gentle as he was by nature, often produced a fearful
+effect on the enemy; not so much by his huge bulk as by the terror he
+inspired among men, and far more among horses. The whole host was spread
+over the mountains and the valleys so that it is said that their bright
+armor and gold and silver shields made the mountains glisten like lamps
+of fire.
+
+Still Judas pressed on to the attack, and his brother Eleazar,
+perceiving that one of the elephants was more adorned than the rest,
+thought it might be carrying the king, and devoted himself for his
+country. He fought his way to the monster, crept under it, and stabbed
+it from beneath, so that the mighty weight sank down on him and crushed
+him to death in his fall. He gained a 'perpetual name' for valor and
+self-devotion; but the king was not upon the elephant, and after a hard-
+fought battle, Judas was obliged to draw off and leave Bethshur to be
+taken by the enemy, and to shut himself up in Jerusalem.
+
+There, want of provisions had brought him to great distress, when
+tidings came that another son of Antiochus Epiphanes had claimed the
+throne, and Lysias made peace in haste with Judas, promising him full
+liberty of worship, and left Palestine in peace.
+
+This did not, however, last long. Lysias and his young master were slain
+by the new king, Demetrius, who again sent an army for the subjection of
+Judas, and further appointed a high priest, named Alcimus, of the family
+of Aaron, but inclined to favor the new heathen fashions.
+
+This was the most fatal thing that had happened to Judas. Though of
+the priestly line, he was so much of a warrior, that he seems to have
+thought it would be profane to offer sacrifice himself; and many of the
+Jews were so glad of another high priest, that they let Alcimus into the
+Temple, and Jerusalem was again lost to Judas. One more battle was won
+by him at Beth-horon, and then finding how hard it was to make head
+against the Syrians, he sent to ask the aid of the great Roman power.
+But long before the answer could come, a huge Syrian army had marched
+in on the Holy Land, 20,000 men, and Judas had again no more than 3000.
+Some had gone over to Alcimus, some were offended at his seeking Roman
+alliance, and when at Eleasah he came in sight of the host, his men's
+hearts failed more than they ever had done before, and, out of the 3000
+at first collected, only 800 stood with him, and they would fain have
+persuaded him to retreat.
+
+'God forbid that I should do this thing,' he said, 'and flee away from
+them. If our time be come, let us die manfully for our brethren, and let
+us not stain our honor.'
+
+Sore was the battle, as sore as that waged by the 800 at Thermopylae,
+and the end was the same. Judas and his 800 were not driven from the
+field, but lay dead upon it. But their work was done. What is called the
+moral effect of such a defeat goes further than many a victory. Those
+lives, sold so dearly, were the price of freedom for Judea.
+
+Judas's brothers Jonathan and Simon laid him in his father's tomb, and
+then ended the work that he had begun; and when Simon died, the Jews,
+once so trodden on, were the most prosperous race in the East. The
+Temple was raised from its ruins, and the exploits of the Maccabees had
+nerved the whole people to do or die in defense of the holy faith of
+their fathers.
+
+
+
+
+THE CHIEF OF THE ARVERNI
+
+B.C. 52
+
+
+We have seen the Gauls in the heart of Rome, we have now to see them
+showing the last courage of despair, defending their native lands
+against the greatest of all the conquerors that Rome ever sent forth.
+
+These lands, where they had dwelt for so many years as justly to regard
+them as their inheritance, were Gaul. There the Celtic race had had
+their abode ever since history has spoken clearly, and had become, in
+Gaul especially, slightly more civilized from intercourse with the Greek
+colony at Massilia, or Marseilles. But they had become borderers upon
+the Roman dominions, and there was little chance that they would not be
+absorbed; the tribes of Provence, the first Roman province, were already
+conquered, others were in alliance with Rome, and some had called in
+the Romans to help them fight their battles. There is no occasion to
+describe the seven years' war by which Julius Caesar added Gaul to the
+provinces claimed by Rome, and when he visited Britain; such conquests
+are far from being Golden Deeds, but are far worthier of the iron age.
+It is the stand made by the losing party, and the true patriotism of one
+young chieftain, that we would wish here to dwell upon.
+
+In the sixth year of the war the conquest seemed to have been made, and
+the Roman legions were guarding the north and west, while Caesar himself
+had crossed the Alps. Subjection pressed heavily on the Gauls, some of
+their chiefs had been put to death, and the high spirit of the nation
+was stirred. Meetings took place between the warriors of the various
+tribes, and an oath was taken by those who inhabited the centre of the
+country, that if they once revolted, they would stand by one another
+to the last. These Gauls were probably not tall, bony giants, like the
+pillagers of Rome; their appearance and character would be more like
+that of the modern Welsh, or of their own French descendants, small,
+alert, and dark-eyed, full of fire, but, though fierce at the first
+onset, soon rebuffed, yet with much perseverance in the long run. Their
+worship was conducted by Druids, like that of the Britons, and their
+dress was of checked material, formed into a loose coat and wide
+trousers. The superior chiefs, who had had any dealings with Rome, would
+speak a little Latin, and have a few Roman weapons as great improvements
+upon their own. Their fortifications were wonderfully strong. Trunks of
+trees were laid on the ground at two feet apart, so that the depth of
+the wall was their full length. Over these another tier of beams was
+laid crosswise, and the space between was filled up with earth, and the
+outside faced with large stones; the building of earth and stone was
+carried up to some height, then came another tier of timbers, crossed as
+before, and this was repeated again to a considerable height, the inner
+ends of the beams being fastened to a planking within the wall, so that
+the whole was of immense compactness. Fire could not damage the mineral
+part of the construction, nor the battering ram hurt the wood, and the
+Romans had been often placed in great difficulties by these rude but
+admirable constructions, within which the Gauls placed their families
+and cattle, building huts for present shelter. Of late, some attempts
+had been made at copying the regular streets and houses built round
+courts that were in use among the Romans, and Roman colonies had been
+established in various places, where veteran soldiers had received
+grants of land on condition of keeping the natives in check. A growing
+taste for arts and civilization was leading to Romans of inferior
+classes settling themselves in other Gallic cities.
+
+The first rising of the Gauls began by a quarrel at the city we now call
+Orleans, ending in a massacre of all the Romans there. The tidings were
+spread through all the country by loud shouts, repeated from one to the
+other by men stationed on every hill, and thus, what had been done at
+Orleans at sunrise was known by nine at night 160 miles off among the
+mountains, which were then the homes of a tribe called by the Romans the
+Arverni, who have left their name to the province of Auvergne.
+
+Here dwelt a young chieftain, probably really called Fearcuincedorigh,
+or Man who is chief of a hundred heads, known to us by Caesar's version
+of his name, as Vercingetorix, a high-spirited youth, who keenly felt
+the servitude of his country, and who, on receiving these tidings,
+instantly called on his friends to endeavor to shake off the yoke. His
+uncle, who feared to provoke Roman vengeance, expelled him from the
+chief city, Gergovia, the remains of which may be traced on the mountain
+still called Gergoie, about six miles from Clermont; but he collected
+all the younger and more high-spirited men, forced a way into the city,
+and was proclaimed chief of his tribe. All the neighboring tribes joined
+in the league against the common enemy, and tidings were brought to
+Caesar that the whole country round the Loire was in a state of revolt.
+
+In the heart of winter he hurried back, and took the Gauls by surprise
+by crossing the snows that lay thick on the wild waste of the Cebenna,
+which the Arverni had always considered as their impenetrable barrier
+throughout the winter. The towns quickly fell into his hands, and he was
+rapidly recovering all he had lost, when Vercingetorix, collecting his
+chief supporters, represented to them that their best hope would be
+in burning all the inhabited places themselves and driving off all the
+cattle, then lying in wait to cut off all the convoys of provisions that
+should be sent to the enemy, and thus starving them into a retreat. He
+said that burning houses were indeed a grievous sight, but it would be
+more grievous to see their wives and children dragged into captivity. To
+this all the allies agreed, and twenty towns in one district were burnt
+in a single day; but when they came to the city of Avaricum, now called
+Bourges, the tribe of Bituriges, to whom it belonged, entreated on
+their knees not to be obliged to destroy the most beautiful city in the
+country, representing that, as it had a river on one side, and a morass
+everywhere else, except at a very narrow entrance, it might be easily
+held out against the enemy, and to their entreaties Vercingetorix
+yielded, though much against his own judgment.
+
+Caesar laid siege to the place, but his army suffered severely from
+cold and hunger; they had no bread at all, and lived only on the cattle
+driven in from distant villages, while Vercingetorix hovered round,
+cutting off their supplies. They however labored diligently to raise a
+mount against a wall of the town; but as fast as they worked, the higher
+did the Gauls within raise the stages of their rampart, and for twenty-
+five days there was a most brave defense; but at last the Romans made
+their entrance, and slaughtered all they found there, except 800, who
+escaped to the camp of Vercingetorix. He was not disconcerted by this
+loss, which he had always expected, but sheltered and clothed the
+fugitives, and raised a great body of archers and of horsemen, with whom
+he returned to his own territory in Auvergne. There was much fighting
+around the city of Gergovia; but at length, owing to the revolt of
+the Aedui, another Gallic tribe, Caesar was forced to retreat over the
+Loire; and the wild peaks of volcanic Auvergne were free again.
+
+But no gallant resolution could long prevail against the ever-advancing
+power of Rome, and at length the Gauls were driven into their fortified
+camp at Alesia, now called Alise [footnote: In Burgundy, between Semur
+and Dijon.], a city standing on a high hill, with two rivers flowing
+round its base, and a plain in front about three miles wide. Everywhere
+else it was circled in by high hills, and here Caesar resolved to shut
+these brave men in and bring them to bay. He caused his men to begin
+that mighty system of earthworks by which the Romans carried on their
+attacks, compassing their victim round on every side with a deadly
+slowness and sureness, by those broad ditches and terraced ramparts that
+everywhere mark where their foot of iron was trod. Eleven miles round
+did this huge rampart extend, strengthened by three-and-twenty redoubts,
+or places of defense, where a watch was continually kept. Before the
+lines were complete, Vercingetorix brought out his cavalry, and gave
+battle, at one time with a hope of success; but the enemy were too
+strong for him, and his horsemen were driven into the camp. He then
+resolved to send home all of these, since they could be of no use in the
+camp, and had better escape before the ditch should have shut them in on
+every side. He charged them to go to their several tribes and endeavor
+to assemble all the fighting men to come to his rescue; for, if he were
+not speedily succored, he and 80,000 of the bravest of the Gauls must
+fall into the hands of the Romans, since he had only corn for thirty
+days, even with the utmost saving.
+
+Having thus exhorted them, he took leave of them, and sent them away
+at nine at night, so that they might escape in the dark where the Roman
+trench had not yet extended. Then he distributed the cattle among his
+men, but retained the corn himself, serving it out with the utmost
+caution. The Romans outside fortified their camp with a double ditch,
+one of them full of water, behind which was a bank twelve feet high,
+with stakes forked like the horns of a stag. The space between the
+ditches was filled with pits, and scattered with iron caltrops or hooked
+spikes. All this was against the garrison, to prevent them from breaking
+out; and outside the camp he made another line of ditches and ramparts
+against the Gauls who might be coming to the rescue.
+
+The other tribes were not deaf to the summons of their friends, but
+assembled in large numbers, and just as the besieged had exhausted
+their provisions, an army was seen on the hills beyond the camp. Their
+commander was Vergosillaunus (most probably Fearsaighan, the Man of the
+Standard), a near kinsman of Vercingetorix; and all that bravery could
+do, they did to break through the defenses of the camp from outside,
+while within, Vercingetorix and his 80,000 tried to fill up the ditches,
+and force their way out to meet their friends. But Caesar himself
+commanded the Romans, who were confident in his fortunes, and raised a
+shout of ecstasy wherever they beheld his thin, marked, eagle face and
+purple robe, rushing on the enemy with a confidence of victory that did
+in fact render them invincible. The Gauls gave way, lost seventy-four of
+their standards, and Vergosillaunus himself was taken a prisoner; and as
+for the brave garrison within Alesia, they were but like so many flies
+struggling in vain within the enormous web that had been woven around
+them. Hope was gone, but the chief of the Arverni could yet do one thing
+for his countrymen--he could offer up himself in order to obtain better
+terms for them.
+
+The next day he convened his companions in arms, and told them that
+he had only fought for the freedom of their country, not to secure his
+private interest; and that now, since yield they must, he freely offered
+himself to become a victim for their safety, whether they should judge
+it best for themselves to appease the anger of the conqueror by putting
+him to death themselves, or whether they preferred giving him up alive.
+
+It was a piteous necessity to have to sacrifice their noblest and
+bravest, who had led them so gallantly during the long war; but they had
+little choice, and could only send messengers to the camp to offer to
+yield Vercingetorix as the price of their safety. Caesar made it known
+that he was willing to accept their submission, and drawing up his
+troops in battle array, with the Eagle standards around him, he watched
+the whole Gallic army march past him. First, Vercingetorix was placed as
+a prisoner in his hands, and then each man lay down sword, javelin, or
+bow and arrows, helmet, buckler and breastplate, in one mournful heap,
+and proceeded on his way, scarcely thankful that the generosity of their
+chieftain had purchased for them subjection rather than death.
+
+Vercingetorix himself had become the property of the great man from whom
+alone we know of his deeds; who could perceive his generous spirit and
+high qualities as a general, nay, who honored the self-devotion by which
+he endeavored to save his countrymen. He remained in captivity--six long
+years sped by--while Caesar passed the Rubicon, fought out his struggle
+for power at Rome, and subdued Egypt, Pontus, and Northern Africa--and
+all the time the brave Gaul remained closely watched and guarded, and
+with no hope of seeing the jagged peaks and wild valleys of his own
+beautiful Auvergne. For well did he, like every other marked foe of
+Rome, know for what he was reserved, and no doubt he yielded himself in
+the full expectation of that fate which many a man, as brave as he, had
+escaped by self-destruction.
+
+The day came at last. In July, B.C. 45, the victorious Caesar had
+leisure to celebrate his victories in four grand triumphs, all in one
+month, and that in honor of the conquest of Gaul came the first. The
+triumphal gate of Rome was thrown wide open, every house was decked with
+hangings of silk and tapestry, the household images of every family,
+dressed with fresh flowers, were placed in their porches, those of the
+gods stood on the steps of the temples, and in marched the procession,
+the magistrates first in their robes of office, and then the trumpeters.
+Next came the tokens of the victory--figures of the supposed gods of the
+two great rivers, Rhine and Rhone, and even of the captive Ocean,
+made in gold, were carried along, with pictures framed in citron wood,
+showing the scenes of victory--the wild waste of the Cevennes, the steep
+peaks of Auvergne, the mighty camp of Alesia; nay, there too would be
+the white cliffs of Dover, and the struggle with the Britons on the
+beach. Models in wood and ivory showed the fortifications of Avaricum,
+and of many another city; and here too were carried specimens of the
+olives and vines, and other curious plants of the newly won land; here
+was the breastplate of British pearls that Caesar dedicated to Venus. A
+band of flute-players followed, and then came the white oxen that were
+to be sacrificed, their horns gilded and flowers hung round them, the
+sacrificing priests with wreathed heads marching with them. Specimens
+of bears and wolves from the woods and mountains came next in order,
+and after them waved for the last time the national ensigns of the many
+tribes of Gaul. Once more Vercingetorix and Vergosillaunus saw their
+own Arvernian standard, and marched behind it with the noblest of their
+clan: once more they wore their native dress and well-tried armor. But
+chains were on their hands and feet, and the men who had fought so long
+and well for freedom, were the captive gazing-stock of Rome. Long, long
+was the line of chained Gauls of every tribe, before the four white
+horses appeared, all abreast, drawing the gilded car, in which stood
+a slight form in a purple robe, with the bald head and narrow temples
+encircled with a wreath of bay, the thin cheeks tinted with vermilion,
+the eager aquiline face and narrow lips gravely composed to Roman
+dignity, and the quick eye searching out what impression the display
+was making on the people. Over his head a slave held a golden crown, but
+whispered, 'Remember that thou too art a man.' And in following that old
+custom, how little did the victor know that, bay-crowned like himself,
+there followed close behind, in one of the chariots of the officers, the
+man whose dagger-thrust would, two years later, be answered by his
+dying word of reproach! The horsemen of the army followed, and then the
+legions, every spear wreathed, every head crowned with bay, so that an
+evergreen grove might have seemed marching through the Roman streets,
+but for the war songs, and the wild jests, and ribald ballads that
+custom allowed the soldiers to shout out, often in pretended mockery of
+their own victorious general, the Imperator.
+
+The victor climbed the Capitol steps, and laid his wreath of bay on
+Jupiter's knees, the white oxen were sacrificed, and the feast began
+by torchlight. Where was the vanquished? He was led to the dark prison
+vault in the side of Capitoline hill, and there one sharp sword-thrust
+ended the gallant life and long captivity.
+
+It was no special cruelty in Julius Caesar. Every Roman triumph was
+stained by the slaughter of the most distinguished captives, after the
+degradation of walking in chains had been undergone. He had spirit to
+appreciate Vercingetorix, but had not nobleness to spare him from the
+ordinary fate. Yet we may doubt which, in true moral greatness, was the
+superior in that hour of triumph, the conqueror who trod down all that
+he might minister to his own glory, or the conquered, who, when no
+resistance had availed, had voluntarily confronted shame and death in
+hopes to win pardon and safety for his comrades.
+
+
+
+
+WITHSTANDING THE MONARCH IN HIS WRATH
+
+A.D. 389
+
+
+When a monarch's power is unchecked by his people, there is only One
+to whom he believes himself accountable; and if he have forgotten the
+dagger of Damocles, or if he be too high-spirited to regard it, then
+that Higher One alone can restrain his actions. And there have been
+times when princes have so broken the bounds of right, that no hope
+remains of recalling them to their duty save by the voice of the
+ministers of God upon Earth. But as these ministers bear no charmed
+life, and are subjects themselves of the prince, such rebukes have been
+given at the utmost risk of liberty and life.
+
+Thus it was that though Nathan, unharmed, showed David his sin, and
+Elijah, the wondrous prophet of Gilead, was protected from Jezebel's
+fury, when he denounced her and her husband Ahab for the idolatry of
+Baal and the murder of Naboth; yet no Divine hand interposed to shield
+Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada, the high priest, when he rebuked the
+apostasy of his cousin, Jehoash, King of Judah, and was stoned to
+death by the ungrateful king's command in that very temple court where
+Jehoiada and his armed Levites had encountered the savage usurping
+Athaliah, and won back the kingdom for the child Jehoash. And when 'in
+the spirit and power of Elijah', St. John the Baptist denounced the
+sin of Herod Antipas in marrying his brother Philip's wife, he bore the
+consequences to the utmost, when thrown into prison and then beheaded to
+gratify the rage of the vindictive woman.
+
+Since Scripture Saints in the age of miracles were not always shielded
+from the wrath of kings, Christian bishops could expect no special
+interposition in their favor, when they stood forth to stop the way
+of the sovereign's passions, and to proclaim that the cause of mercy,
+purity, and truth is the cause of God.
+
+The first of these Christian bishops was Ambrose, the sainted prelate of
+Milan. It was indeed a Christian Emperor whom he opposed, no other than
+the great Theodosius, but it was a new and unheard-of thing for any
+voice to rebuke an Emperor of Rome, and Theodosius had proved himself a
+man of violent passions.
+
+The fourth century was a time when races and all sorts of shows were
+the fashion, nay, literally the rage; for furious quarrels used to
+arise among the spectators who took the part of one or other of the
+competitors, and would call themselves after their colours, the Blues or
+the Greens. A favorite chariot driver, who had excelled in these
+races at Thessalonica, was thrown into prison for some misdemeanor
+by Botheric, the Governor of Illyria, and his absence so enraged
+the Thessalonican mob, that they rose in tumult, and demanded his
+restoration. On being refused, they threw such a hail of stones that the
+governor himself and some of his officers were slain.
+
+Theodosius might well be displeased, but his rage passed all bounds. He
+was at Milan at the time, and at first Ambrose so worked on his feelings
+as to make him promise to temper justice with mercy; but afterwards
+fresh accounts of the murder, together with the representations of
+his courtier Rufinus, made him resolve not to relent, and he sent off
+messengers commanding that there should be a general slaughter of
+all the race-going Thessalonicans, since all were equally guilty of
+Botheric's death. He took care that his horrible command should be kept
+a secret from Ambrose, and the first that the Bishop heard of it was the
+tidings that 7,000 persons had been killed in the theatre, in a massacre
+lasting three hours!
+
+There was no saving these lives, but Ambrose felt it his duty to make
+the Emperor feel his sin, in hopes of saving others. Besides, it was not
+consistent with the honor of God to receive at his altar a man reeking
+with innocent blood. The Bishop, however, took time to consider; he
+went into the country for a few days, and thence wrote a letter to
+the Emperor, telling him that thus stained with crime, he could not
+be admitted to the Holy Communion, nor received into church. Still the
+Emperor does not seem to have believed he could be really withstood by
+any subject, and on Ambrose's return, he found the imperial procession,
+lictors, guards, and all, escorting the Emperor as usual to the Basilica
+or Justice Hall, that had been turned into a church. Then to the door
+came the Bishop and stood in the way, forbidding the entrance, and
+announcing that there, at least, sacrilege should not be added to
+murder.
+
+'Nay,' said the Emperor, 'did not holy King David commit both murder and
+adultery, yet was he not received again?'
+
+'If you have sinned like him, repent like him,' answered Ambrose.
+
+Theodosius turned away, troubled. He was great enough not to turn his
+anger against the Bishop; he felt that he had sinned, and that the
+chastisement was merited, and he went back to his palace weeping, and
+there spent eight months, attending to his duties of state, but too
+proud to go through the tokens of penitence that the discipline of the
+Church had prescribed before a great sinner could be received back
+into the congregation of the faithful. Easter was the usual time for
+reconciling penitents, and Ambrose was not inclined to show any respect
+of persons, or to excuse the Emperor from a penance he would have
+imposed on any offender. However, Rufinus could not believe in such
+disregard, and thought all would give way to the Emperor's will.
+Christmas had come, but for one man at Milan there were no hymns, no
+shouts of 'glad tidings!' no midnight festival, no rejoicing that 'to us
+a Child is born; to us a Son is given'. The Basilica was thronged with
+worshippers and rang with their Amens, resounding like thunder, and
+their echoing song--the Te Deum--then their newest hymn of praise. But
+the lord of all those multitudes was alone in his palace. He had not
+shown good will to man; he had not learnt mercy and peace from the
+Prince of Peace; and the door was shut upon him. He was a resolute
+Spanish Roman, a well-tried soldier, a man advancing in years, but he
+wept, and wept bitterly. Rufinus found him thus weeping. It must have
+been strange to the courtier that his master did not send his lictors to
+carry the offending bishop to a dungeon, and give all his court favor
+to the heretics, like the last empress who had reigned at Milan. Nay,
+he might even, like Julian the Apostate, have altogether renounced that
+Christian faith which could humble an emperor below the poorest of his
+subjects.
+
+But Rufinus contented himself with urging the Emperor not to remain
+at home lamenting, but to endeavor again to obtain admission into the
+church, assuring him that the Bishop would give way. Theodosius replied
+that he did not expect it, but yielded to the persuasions, and Rufinus
+hastened on before to warn the Bishop of his coming, and represented how
+inexpedient it was to offend him.
+
+'I warn you,' replied Ambrose, 'that I shall oppose his entrance, but
+if he chooses to turn his power into tyranny, I shall willingly let him
+slay me.'
+
+The Emperor did not try to enter the church, but sought Ambrose in an
+adjoining building, where he entreated to be absolved from his sin.
+
+'Beware,' returned the Bishop, 'of trampling on the laws of God.' 'I
+respect them,' said the Emperor, 'therefore I have not set foot in the
+church, but I pray thee to deliver me from these bonds, and not to close
+against me the door that the Lord hath opened to all who truly repent.'
+
+'What repentance have you shown for such a sin?' asked Ambrose.
+
+'Appoint my penance,' said the Emperor, entirely subdued.
+
+And Ambrose caused him at once to sign a decree that thirty days should
+always elapse between a sentence of death and its execution. After this,
+Theodosius was allowed to come into the church, but only to the corner
+he had shunned all these eight months, till the 'dull hard stone within
+him' had 'melted', to the spot appointed for the penitents. There,
+without his crown, his purple robe, and buskins, worked with golden
+eagles, all laid aside, he lay prostrate on the stones, repeating the
+verse, 'My soul cleaveth unto the dust; quicken me, O Lord, according to
+thy word.' This was the place that penitents always occupied, and there
+fasts and other discipline were also appointed. When the due course had
+been gone through, probably at the next Easter, Ambrose, in his Master's
+name, pronounced the forgiveness of Theodosius, and received him back to
+the full privileges of a Christian. When we look at the course of many
+another emperor, and see how easily, where the power was irresponsible,
+justice became severity, and severity, bloodthirstiness, we see what
+Ambrose dared to meet, and from what he spared Theodosius and all the
+civilized world under his sway. Who can tell how many innocent lives
+have been saved by that thirty days' respite?
+
+Pass over nearly 700 years, and again we find a church door barred
+against a monarch. This time it is not under the bright Italian sky,
+but under the grey fogs of the Baltic sea. It is not the stately marble
+gateway of the Milanese Basilica, but the low-arched, rough stone portal
+of the newly built cathedral of Roskilde, in Zealand, where, if a zigzag
+surrounds the arch, it is a great effort of genius. The Danish king
+Swend, the nephew of the well-known Knut, stands before it; a stern and
+powerful man, fierce and passionate, and with many a Danish axe at his
+command. Nay, only lately for a few rude jests, he caused some of his
+chief jarls to be slain without a trial. Half the country is still
+pagan, and though the king himself is baptized, there is no certainty
+that, if the Christian faith do not suit his taste, he may not join the
+heathen party and return to the worship of Thor and Tyr, where deeds
+of blood would be not blameworthy, but a passport to the rude joys of
+Valhall. Nevertheless there is a pastoral staff across the doorway,
+barring the way of the king, and that staff is held against him by
+an Englishman, William, Bishop of Roskilde, the missionary who had
+converted a great part of Zealand, but who will not accept Christians
+who have not laid aside their sins.
+
+He confronts the king who has never been opposed before. 'Go back,' he
+says, 'nor dare approach the alter of God--thou who art not a king but a
+murderer.'
+
+Some of the jarls seized their swords and axes, and were about to strike
+the bishop away from the threshold, but he, without removing his staff,
+bent his head, and bade them strike, saying he was ready to die in the
+cause of God. But the king came to a better frame of mind, he called
+the jarls away, and returning humbly to his palace, took off his royal
+robes, and came again barefoot and in sackcloth to the church door,
+where Bishop William met him, took him by the hand, gave him the kiss
+of peace, and led him to the penitents' place. After three days he was
+absolved, and for the rest of his life, the bishop and the king lived in
+the closest friendship, so much so that William always prayed that
+even in death he might not be divided from his friend. The prayer was
+granted. The two died almost at the same time, and were buried together
+in the cathedral at Roskilde, where the one had taught and other learnt
+the great lesson of mercy.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST FIGHT IN THE COLISEUM
+
+A.D. 404
+
+
+As the Romans grew prouder and more fond of pleasure, no one could hope
+to please them who did not give them sports and entertainments. When
+any person wished to be elected to any public office, it was a matter of
+course that he should compliment his fellow citizens by exhibitions of
+the kind they loved, and when the common people were discontented, their
+cry was that they wanted panem ac Circenses, 'bread and sports', the
+only things they cared for. In most places where there has been a
+large Roman colony, remains can be seen of the amphitheatres, where the
+citizens were wont to assemble for these diversions. Sometimes these are
+stages of circular galleries of seats hewn out of the hillside, where
+rows of spectators might sit one above the other, all looking down on
+a broad, flat space in the centre, under their feet, where the
+representations took place. Sometimes, when the country was flat, or it
+was easier to build than to excavate, the amphitheatre was raised above
+ground, rising up to a considerable height.
+
+The grandest and most renowned of all these amphitheatres is the
+Coliseum at Rome. It was built by Vespasian and his son Titus, the
+conquerors of Jerusalem, in a valley in the midst of the seven hills of
+Rome. The captive Jews were forced to labour at it; and the materials,
+granite outside, and softer travertine stone within, are so solid and
+so admirably built, that still at the end of eighteen centuries it has
+scarcely even become a ruin, but remains one of the greatest wonders of
+Rome.
+
+Five acres of ground were enclosed within the oval of its outer wall,
+which outside rises perpendicularly in tiers of arches one above the
+other. Within, the galleries of seats projected forwards, each tier
+coming out far beyond the one above it, so that between the lowest and
+the outer wall there was room for a great space of chambers, passages,
+and vaults around the central space, called the arena, from the arena,
+or sand, with which it was strewn.
+
+When the Roman Emperors grew very vain and luxurious, they used to have
+this sand made ornamental with metallic filings, vermilion, and even
+powdered precious stones; but it was thought better taste to use the
+scrapings of a soft white stone, which, when thickly strewn, made the
+whole arena look as if covered with untrodden snow. Around the border
+of this space flowed a stream of fresh water. Then came a straight wall,
+rising to a considerable height, and surmounted by a broad platform, on
+which stood a throne for the Emperor, curule chairs of ivory and
+gold for the chief magistrates and senators, and seats for the vestal
+virgins. Next above were galleries for the equestrian order, the great
+mass of those who considered themselves as of gentle station, though not
+of the highest rank; farther up, and therefore farther back, were
+the galleries belonging to the freemen of Rome; and these were again
+surmounted by another plain wall with a platform on the top, where were
+places for the ladies, who were not (except the vestal virgins) allowed
+to look on nearer, because of the unclothed state of some of the
+performers in the arena. Between the ladies' boxes, benches were
+squeezed in where the lowest people could seat themselves; and some of
+these likewise found room in the two uppermost tiers of porticoes, where
+sailors, mechanics, and persons in the service of the Coliseum had their
+post. Altogether, when full, this huge building held no less than 87,000
+spectators. It had no roof; but when there was rain, or if the sun was
+too hot, the sailors in the porticoes unfurled awnings that ran along
+upon ropes, and formed a covering of silk and gold tissue over the
+whole. Purple was the favorite color for this velamen, or veil; because,
+when the sun shone through it, it cast such beautiful rosy tints on the
+snowy arena and the white purple-edged togas of the Roman citizens.
+
+Long days were spent from morning till evening upon those galleries. The
+multitude who poured in early would watch the great dignitaries arrive
+and take their seats, greeting them either with shouts of applause or
+hootings of dislike, according as they were favorites or otherwise; and
+when the Emperor came in to take his place under his canopy, there
+was one loud acclamation, 'Joy to thee, master of all, first of all,
+happiest of all. Victory to thee for ever!'
+
+When the Emperor had seated himself and given the signal, the sports
+began. Sometimes a rope-dancing elephant would begin the entertainment,
+by mounting even to the summit of the building and descending by a cord.
+Then a bear, dressed up as a Roman matron, would be carried along in
+a chair between porters, as ladies were wont to go abroad, and another
+bear, in a lawyer's robe, would stand on his hind legs and go through
+the motions of pleading a case. Or a lion came forth with a jeweled
+crown on his head, a diamond necklace round his neck, his mane plaited
+with gold, and his claws gilded, and played a hundred pretty gentle
+antics with a little hare that danced fearlessly within his grasp. Then
+in would come twelve elephants, six males in togas, six females with
+the veil and pallium; they took their places on couches around an ivory
+table, dined with great decorum, playfully sprinkled a little rosewater
+over the nearest spectators, and then received more guests of their
+unwieldy kind, who arrived in ball dresses, scattered flowers, and
+performed a dance.
+
+Sometimes water was let into the arena, a ship sailed in, and falling
+to pieces in the midst, sent a crowd of strange animals swimming in
+all directions. Sometimes the ground opened, and trees came growing up
+through it, bearing golden fruit. Or the beautiful old tale of Orpheus
+was acted; these trees would follow the harp and song of the musician;
+but--to make the whole part complete--it was no mere play, but real
+earnest, that the Orpheus of the piece fell a prey to live bears.
+
+For the Coliseum had not been built for such harmless spectacles as
+those first described. The fierce Romans wanted to be excited and feel
+themselves strongly stirred; and, presently, the doors of the pits and
+dens round the arena were thrown open, and absolutely savage beasts were
+let loose upon one another--rhinoceroses and tigers, bulls and lions,
+leopards and wild boars--while the people watched with savage curiosity
+to see the various kinds of attack and defense; or, if the animals were
+cowed or sullen, their rage would be worked up--red would be shown to
+the bulls, white to boars, red-hot goads would be driven into some,
+whips would be lashed at others, till the work of slaughter was fairly
+commenced, and gazed on with greedy eyes and ears delighted, instead
+of horror-struck, by the roars and howls of the noble creatures whose
+courage was thus misused. Sometimes indeed, when some especially strong
+or ferocious animal had slain a whole heap of victims, the cries of the
+people would decree that it should be turned loose in its native forest,
+and, amid shouts of 'A triumph! a triumph!' the beast would prowl round
+the arena, upon the carcasses of the slain victims. Almost incredible
+numbers of animals were imported for these cruel sports, and the
+governors of distant provinces made it a duty to collect troops of
+lions, elephants, ostriches, leopards--the fiercer or the newer the
+creature the better--to be thus tortured to frenzy, to make sport in
+the amphitheatre. However, there was daintiness joined with cruelty: the
+Romans did not like the smell of blood, though they enjoyed the sight
+of it, and all the solid stonework was pierced with tubes, through which
+was conducted the stream of spices and saffron, boiled in wine, that the
+perfume might overpower the scent of slaughter below.
+
+Wild beasts tearing each other to pieces might, one would think, satisfy
+any taste of horror; but the spectators needed even nobler game to be
+set before their favorite monsters--men were brought forward to confront
+them. Some of these were at first in full armor, and fought hard,
+generally with success; and there was a revolving machine, something
+like a squirrel's cage, in which the bear was always climbing after his
+enemy, and then rolling over by his own weight. Or hunters came, almost
+unarmed, and gaining the victory by swiftness and dexterity, throwing a
+piece of cloth over a lion's head, or disconcerting him by putting their
+fist down his throat. But it was not only skill, but death, that the
+Romans loved to see; and condemned criminals and deserters were reserved
+to feast the lions, and to entertain the populace with their various
+kinds of death. Among these condemned was many a Christian martyr, who
+witnessed a good confession before the savage-eyed multitude around the
+arena, and 'met the lion's gory mane' with a calm resolution and hopeful
+joy that the lookers-on could not understand. To see a Christian die,
+with upward gaze and hymns of joy on his tongue, was the most strange
+unaccountable sight the Coliseum could offer, and it was therefore the
+choicest, and reserved for the last part of the spectacles in which the
+brute creation had a part.
+
+The carcasses were dragged off with hooks, and bloodstained sand was
+covered with a fresh clean layer, the perfume wafted in stronger clouds,
+and a procession came forward--tall, well-made men, in the prime of
+their strength. Some carried a sword and a lasso, others a trident and
+a net; some were in light armor, others in the full heavy equipment of a
+soldier; some on horseback, some in chariots, some on foot. They marched
+in, and made their obeisance to the Emperor; and with one voice,
+their greeting sounded through the building, Ave, Caesar, morituri te
+salutant! 'Hail, Caesar, those about to die salute thee!'
+
+They were the gladiators--the swordsmen trained to fight to the death to
+amuse the populace. They were usually slaves placed in schools of arms
+under the care of a master; but sometimes persons would voluntarily hire
+themselves out to fight by way of a profession: and both these, and such
+slave gladiators as did not die in the arena, would sometimes retire,
+and spend an old age of quiet; but there was little hope of this, for
+the Romans were not apt to have mercy on the fallen.
+
+Fights of all sorts took place--the light-armed soldier and the
+netsman--the lasso and the javelin--the two heavy-armed warriors--all
+combinations of single combat, and sometimes a general melee. When
+a gladiator wounded his adversary, he shouted to the spectators, Hoc
+habet! 'He has it!' and looked up to know whether he should kill or
+spare. If the people held up their thumbs, the conquered was left to
+recover, if he could; if they turned them down, he was to die: and if he
+showed any reluctance to present his throat for the deathblow, there was
+a scornful shout, Recipe ferrum! 'Receive the steel!' Many of us must
+have seen casts of the most touching statue of the wounded man, that
+called forth the noble lines of indignant pity which, though so often
+repeated, cannot be passed over here:
+
+
+      'I see before me the Gladiator lie;
+       He leans upon his hand--his manly brow
+       Consents to death, but conquers agony.
+       And his droop'd head sinks gradually low,
+       And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow
+       From the red gash, fall heavy one by one,
+       Like the first of a thunder shower; and now
+       The arena swims around him--he is gone
+  Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won.
+
+       'He heard it, but he heeded no--this eyes
+       Were with his heart, and that was far away.
+       He reck'd not of the life he lost, nor prize,
+       But where his rude hut by the Danube lay,
+       There were his young barbarians all at play,
+       There was their Dacian mother--he their sire,
+       Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday.
+       All this rush'd with his blood--Shall he expire,
+  And unavenged? Arise ye Goths and glut your ire.'
+
+
+Sacred vestals, tender mothers, fat, good-humored senators, all thought
+it fair play, and were equally pitiless in the strange frenzy for
+exciting scenes to which they gave themselves up, when they mounted the
+stone stairs of the Coliseum. Privileged persons would even descend
+into the arena, examine the death agonies, and taste the blood of some
+specially brave victim ere the corpse was drawn forth at the death gate,
+that the frightful game might continue undisturbed and unencumbered.
+Gladiator shows were the great passion of Rome, and popular favor could
+hardly be gained except by ministering to it. Even when the barbarians
+were beginning to close in on the Empire, hosts of brave men were still
+kept for this slavish mimic warfare--sport to the beholders, but sad
+earnest to the actors.
+
+Christianity worked its way upwards, and at least was professed by the
+Emperor on his throne. Persecution came to an end, and no more martyrs
+fed the beasts in the Coliseum. The Christian emperors endeavored to
+prevent any more shows where cruelty and death formed the chief interest
+and no truly religious person could endure the spectacle; but custom and
+love of excitement prevailed even against the Emperor. Mere tricks of
+beasts, horse and chariot races, or bloodless contests, were tame and
+dull, according to the diseased taste of Rome; it was thought weak and
+sentimental to object to looking on at a death scene; the Emperors were
+generally absent at Constantinople, and no one could get elected to any
+office unless he treated the citizens to such a show as they best liked,
+with a little bloodshed and death to stir their feelings; and thus
+it went on for full a hundred years after Rome had, in name, become
+a Christian city, and the same custom prevailed wherever there was an
+amphitheatre and pleasure-loving people.
+
+Meantime the enemies of Rome were coming nearer and nearer, and Alaric,
+the great chief of the Goths, led his forces into Italy, and threatened
+the city itself. Honorius, the Emperor, was a cowardly, almost
+idiotical, boy; but his brave general, Stilicho, assembled his forces,
+met the Goths at Pollentia (about twenty-five miles from where Turin now
+stands), and gave them a complete defeat on the Easter Day of the year
+403. He pursued them into the mountains, and for that time saved Rome.
+In the joy of the victory the Roman senate invited the conqueror and his
+ward Honorius to enter the city in triumph, at the opening of the new
+year, with the white steeds, purple robes, and vermilion cheeks with
+which, of old, victorious generals were welcomed at Rome. The churches
+were visited instead of the Temple of Jupiter, and there was no murder
+of the captives; but Roman bloodthirstiness was not yet allayed,
+and, after all the procession had been completed, the Coliseum shows
+commenced, innocently at first, with races on foot, on horseback, and
+in chariots; then followed a grand hunting of beasts turned loose in
+the arena; and next a sword dance. But after the sword dance came the
+arraying of swordsmen, with no blunted weapons, but with sharp spears
+and swords--a gladiator combat in full earnest. The people, enchanted,
+applauded with shouts of ecstasy this gratification of their savage
+tastes. Suddenly, however, there was an interruption. A rude, roughly
+robed man, bareheaded and barefooted, had sprung into the arena, and,
+signing back the gladiators, began to call aloud upon the people to
+cease from the shedding of innocent blood, and not to requite God's
+mercy in turning away the sword of the enemy by encouraging murder.
+Shouts, howls, cries, broke in upon his words; this was no place for
+preachings--the old customs of Rome should be observed 'Back, old man!'
+'On, gladiators!' The gladiators thrust aside the meddler, and rushed to
+the attack. He still stood between, holding them apart, striving in vain
+to be heard. 'Sedition! Sedition!' 'Down with him!' was the cry; and
+the man in authority, Alypius, the prefect, himself added his voice. The
+gladiators, enraged at interference with their vocation, cut him down.
+Stones, or whatever came to hand, rained down upon him from the furious
+people, and he perished in the midst of the arena! He lay dead, and then
+came the feeling of what had been done.
+
+His dress showed that he was one of the hermits who vowed themselves to
+a holy life of prayer and self-denial, and who were greatly reverenced,
+even by the most thoughtless. The few who had previously seen him, told
+that he had come from the wilds of Asia on pilgrimage, to visit the
+shrines and keep his Christmas at Rome--they knew he was a holy man--no
+more, and it is not even certain whether his name was Alymachus or
+Telemachus. His spirit had been stirred by the sight of thousands
+flocking to see men slaughter one another, and in his simple-hearted
+zeal he had resolved to stop the cruelty or die. He had died, but not
+in vain. His work was done. The shock of such a death before their eyes
+turned the hearts of the people; they saw the wickedness and cruelty to
+which they had blindly surrendered themselves; and from the day when
+the hermit died in the Coliseum there was never another fight of the
+Gladiators. Not merely at Rome, but in every province of the Empire, the
+custom was utterly abolished; and one habitual crime at least was wiped
+from the earth by the self-devotion of one humble, obscure, almost
+nameless man.
+
+
+
+
+THE SHEPHERD GIRL OF NANTERRE
+
+A.D. 438
+
+
+Four hundred years of the Roman dominion had entirely tamed the once
+wild and independent Gauls. Everywhere, except in the moorlands of
+Brittany, they had become as much like Romans themselves as they could
+accomplish; they had Latin names, spoke the Latin tongue, all their
+personages of higher rank were enrolled as Roman citizens, their chief
+cities were colonies where the laws were administered by magistrates in
+the Roman fashion, and the houses, dress, and amusements were the same
+as those of Italy. The greater part of the towns had been converted
+to Christianity, though some Paganism still lurked in the more remote
+villages and mountainous districts.
+
+It was upon these civilized Gauls that the terrible attacks came from
+the wild nations who poured out of the centre and east of Europe. The
+Franks came over the Rhine and its dependent rivers, and made furious
+attacks upon the peaceful plains, where the Gauls had long lived in
+security, and reports were everywhere heard of villages harried by wild
+horsemen, with short double-headed battleaxes, and a horrible short
+pike, covered with iron and with several large hooks, like a gigantic
+artificial minnow, and like it fastened to a long rope, so that the prey
+which it had grappled might be pulled up to the owner. Walled cities
+usually stopped them, but every farm or villa outside was stripped of
+its valuables, set on fire, the cattle driven off, and the more healthy
+inhabitants seized for slaves.
+
+It was during this state of things that a girl was born to a wealthy
+peasant at the village now called Nanterre, about two miles from
+Lutetia, which was already a prosperous city, though not as yet so
+entirely the capital as it was destined to become under the name of
+Paris. She was christened by an old Gallic name, probably Gwenfrewi,
+or White Stream, in Latin Genovefa, but she is best known by the late
+French form of Genevieve. When she was about seven years old, two
+celebrated bishops passed through the village, Germanus, of Auxerre, and
+Lupus, of Troyes, who had been invited to Britain to dispute the false
+doctrine of Pelagius. All the inhabitants flocked into the church to
+see them, pray with them, and receive their blessing; and here the sweet
+childish devotion of Genevieve so struck Germanus, that he called her to
+him, talked to her, made her sit beside him at the feast, gave her his
+special blessing, and presented her with a copper medal with a cross
+engraven upon it. From that time the little maiden always deemed herself
+especially consecrated to the service of Heaven, but she still remained
+at home, daily keeping her father's sheep, and spinning their wool as
+she sat under the trees watching them, but always with a heart full of
+prayer.
+
+After this St. Germanus proceeded to Britain, and there encouraged his
+converts to meet the heathen Picts at Maes Garmon, in Flintshire, where
+the exulting shout of the white-robed catechumens turned to flight the
+wild superstitious savages of the north,--and the Hallelujah victory was
+gained without a drop of bloodshed. He never lost sight of Genevieve,
+the little maid whom he had so early distinguished for her piety.
+
+After she lost her parents she went to live with her godmother, and
+continued the same simple habits, leading a life of sincere devotion
+and strict self-denial, constant prayer, and much charity to her poorer
+neighbors.
+
+In the year 451 the whole of Gaul was in the most dreadful state of
+terror at the advance of Attila, the savage chief of the Huns, who came
+from the banks of the Danube with a host of savages of hideous features,
+scarred and disfigured to render them more frightful. The old enemies,
+the Goths and the Franks, seemed like friends compared with these
+formidable beings whose cruelties were said to be intolerable, and of
+whom every exaggerated story was told that could add to the horrors
+of the miserable people who lay in their path. Tidings came that this
+'Scourge of God', as Attila called himself, had passed the Rhine,
+destroyed Tongres and Metz, and was in full march for Paris. The whole
+country was in the utmost terror. Everyone seized their most valuable
+possessions, and would have fled; but Genevieve placed herself on the
+only bridge across the Seine, and argued with them, assuring them in a
+strain that was afterwards thought of as prophetic, that, if they would
+pray, repent, and defend instead of abandoning their homes, God would
+protect them. They were at first almost ready to stone her for thus
+withstanding their panic, but just then a priest arrived from Auxerre,
+with a present for Genevieve from St. Germanus, and they were thus
+reminded of the high estimation in which he held her; they became
+ashamed of their violence, and she held them back to pray and to arm
+themselves. In a few days they heard that Attila had paused to besiege
+Orleans, and that Aetius, the Roman general, hurrying from Italy, had
+united his troops with those of the Goths and Franks, and given Attila
+so terrible a defeat at Chalons that the Huns were fairly driven out of
+Gaul. And here it must be mentioned that when the next year, 452,
+Attila with his murderous host came down into Italy, and after horrible
+devastation of all the northern provinces, came to the gates of Rome, no
+one dared to meet him but one venerable Bishop, Leo, the Pope, who, when
+his flock were in transports of despair, went forth only accompanied by
+one magistrate to meet the invader, and endeavor to turn his wrath side.
+The savage Huns were struck with awe by the fearless majesty of the
+unarmed old man. They conducted him safely to Attila, who listened
+to him with respect, and promised not to lead his people into Rome,
+provided a tribute should be paid to him. He then retreated, and, to the
+joy of all Europe, died on his way back to his native dominions.
+
+But with the Huns the danger and suffering of Europe did not end. The
+happy state described in the Prophets as 'dwelling safely, with none
+to make them afraid', was utterly unknown in Europe throughout the long
+break-up of the Roman Empire; and in a few more years the Franks were
+overrunning the banks of the Seine, and actually venturing to lay siege
+to the Roman walls of Paris itself. The fortifications were strong
+enough, but hunger began to do the work of the besiegers, and the
+garrison, unwarlike and untrained, began to despair. But Genevieve's
+courage and trust never failed; and finding no warriors willing to run
+the risk of going beyond the walls to obtain food for the women and
+children who were perishing around them, this brave shepherdess embarked
+alone in a little boat, and guiding it down the stream, landed beyond
+the Frankish camp, and repairing to the different Gallic cities, she
+implored them to send succor to the famished brethren. She obtained
+complete success. Probably the Franks had no means of obstructing the
+passage of the river, so that a convoy of boats could easily penetrate
+into the town, and at any rate they looked upon Genevieve as something
+sacred and inspired whom they durst not touch; probably as one of the
+battle maids in whom their own myths taught them to believe. One account
+indeed says that, instead of going alone to obtain help, Genevieve
+placed herself at the head of a forage party, and that the mere sight
+of her inspired bearing caused them to be allowed to enter and return
+in safety; but the boat version seems the more probable, since a single
+boat on a broad river would more easily elude the enemy than a troop of
+Gauls pass through their army.
+
+But a city where all the valor resided in one woman could not long
+hold out, and in another inroad, when Genevieve was absent, Paris was
+actually seized by the Franks. Their leader, Hilperik, was absolutely
+afraid of what the mysteriously brave maiden might do to him, and
+commanded the gates of the city to be carefully guarded lest she
+should enter; but Geneviere learnt that some of the chief citizens were
+imprisoned, and that Hilperik intended their death, and nothing could
+withhold her from making an effort in their behalf. The Franks had made
+up their minds to settle, and not to destroy. They were not burning and
+slaying indiscriminately, but while despising the Romans, as they
+called the Gauls, for their cowardice, they were in awe of the superior
+civilization and the knowledge of arts. The country people had free
+access to the city, and Genevieve in her homely gown and veil passed by
+Hilperik's guards without being suspected of being more than an ordinary
+Gaulish village maid; and thus she fearlessly made her way, even to the
+old Roman halls, where the long-haired Hilperik was holding his wild
+carousal. Would that we knew more of that interview--one of the most
+striking that ever took place! We can only picture to ourselves the
+Roman tessellated pavement bestrewn with wine, bones, and fragments of
+the barbarous revelry. There were untamed Franks, their sun-burnt hair
+tied up in a knot at the top of their heads, and falling down like
+a horse's tail, their faces close shaven, except two moustaches, and
+dressed in tight leather garments, with swords at their wide belts. Some
+slept, some feasted, some greased their long locks, some shouted out
+their favorite war songs around the table which was covered with
+the spoils of churches, and at their heads sat the wild, long-haired
+chieftain, who was a few years later driven away by his own followers
+for his excesses, the whole scene was all that was abhorrent to a pure,
+devout, and faithful nature, most full of terror to a woman. Yet, there,
+in her strength, stood the peasant maiden, her heart full of trust and
+pity, her looks full of the power that is given by fearlessness of them
+that can kill the body. What she said we do not know--we only know
+that the barbarous Hilperik was overawed; he trembled before the
+expostulations of the brave woman, and granted all she asked--the safety
+of his prisoners, and mercy to the terrified inhabitants. No wonder that
+the people of Paris have ever since looked back to Genevieve as their
+protectress, and that in after ages she has grown to be the patron saint
+of the city.
+
+She lived to see the son of Hilperik, Chlodweh, or, as he was more
+commonly called, Clovis, marry a Christian wife, Clotilda, and after
+a time became a Christian. She saw the foundation of the Cathedral
+of Notre-Dame, and of the two famous churches of St. Denys and of
+St. Martin of Tours, and gave her full share to the first efforts for
+bringing the rude and bloodthirsty conquerors to some knowledge of
+Christian faith, mercy, and purity. After a life of constant prayer and
+charity she died, three months after King Clovis, in the year 512, the
+eighty-ninth of her age.
+
+     [Footnote: Perhaps the exploits of the Maid of Orleans were
+     the most like those of Genevieve, but they are not here
+     added to our collection of 'Golden Deeds,' because the
+     Maid's belief that she was directly inspired removes them
+     from the ordinary class. Alas! the English did not treat her
+     as Hilperik treated Genevieve.]
+
+
+
+
+LEO THE SLAVE
+
+A.D. 533
+
+
+The Franks had fully gained possession of all the north of Gaul, except
+Brittany. Chlodweh had made them Christians in name, but they still
+remained horribly savage--and the life of the Gauls under them was
+wretched. The Burgundians and Visigoths who had peopled the southern and
+eastern provinces were far from being equally violent. They had entered
+on their settlements on friendly terms, and even showed considerable
+respect for the Roman-Gallic senators, magistrates, and higher clergy,
+who all remained unmolested in their dignities and riches. Thus it
+was that Gregory, Bishop of Langres, was a man of high rank and
+consideration in the Burgundian kingdom, whence the Christian Queen
+Clotilda had come; and even after the Burgundians had been subdued by
+the four sons of Chlodweh, he continued a rich and prosperous man.
+
+After one of the many quarrels and reconciliations between these fierce
+brethren, there was an exchange of hostages for the observance of the
+terms of the treaty. These were not taken from among the Franks, who
+were too proud to submit to captivity, but from among the Gaulish
+nobles, a much more convenient arrangement to the Frankish kings, who
+cared for the life of a 'Roman' infinitely less than even for the life
+of a Frank. Thus many young men of senatorial families were exchanged
+between the domains of Theodrik to the south, and of Hildebert to the
+northward, and quartered among Frankish chiefs, with whom at first they
+had nothing more to endure than the discomfort of living as guests with
+such rude and coarse barbarians. But ere long fresh quarrels broke out
+between Theodrik and Hildebert, and the unfortunate hostages were at
+once turned into slaves. Some of them ran away if they were near the
+frontier, but Bishop Gregory was in the utmost anxiety about his young
+nephew Attalus, who had been last heard of as being placed under the
+charge of a Frank who lived between Treves and Metz. The Bishop sent
+emissaries to make secret enquiries, and they brought word that the
+unfortunate youth had indeed been reduced to slavery, and was made to
+keep his master's herds of horses. Upon this the uncle again sent off
+his messengers with presents for the ransom of Attalus, but the Frank
+rejected them, saying, 'One of such high race can only be redeemed for
+ten pounds' weight of gold.'
+
+This was beyond the Bishop's means, and while he was considering how to
+raise the sum, the slaves were all lamenting for their young lord, to
+whom they were much attached, till one of them, named Leo, the cook to
+the household, came to the Bishop, saying to him, 'If thou wilt give me
+leave to go, I will deliver him from captivity.' The Bishop replied that
+he gave free permission, and the slave set off for Treves, and there
+watched anxiously for an opportunity of gaining access to Attalus;
+but though the poor young man--no longer daintily dressed, bathed, and
+perfumed, but ragged and squalid--might be seen following his herds of
+horses, he was too well watched for any communication to be held with
+him. Then Leo went to a person, probably of Gallic birth, and said,
+'Come with me to this barbarian's house, and there sell me for a slave.
+Thou shalt have the money, I only ask thee to help me thus far.'
+
+Both repaired to the Frank's abode, the chief among a confused
+collection of clay and timber huts intended for shelter during eating
+and sleeping. The Frank looked at the slave, and asked him what he could
+do.
+
+'I can dress whatever is eaten at lordly tables,' replied Leo. 'I am
+afraid of no rival; I only tell thee the truth when I say that if thou
+wouldst give a feast to the king, I would send it up in the neatest
+manner.'
+
+'Ha!' said the barbarian, 'the Sun's day is coming--I shall invite my
+kinsmen and friends. Cook me such a dinner as may amaze them, and make
+then say, 'We saw nothing better in the king's house.' 'Let me have
+plenty of poultry, and I will do according to my master's bidding,'
+returned Leo.
+
+Accordingly, he was purchased for twelve gold pieces, and on the Sunday
+(as Bishop Gregory of Tours, who tells the story, explains that the
+barbarians called the Lord's day) he produced a banquet after the most
+approved Roman fashion, much to the surprise and delight of the Franks,
+who had never tasted such delicacies before, and complimented their host
+upon them all the evening. Leo gradually became a great favorite, and
+was placed in authority over the other slaves, to whom he gave out their
+daily portions of broth and meat; but from the first he had not shown
+any recognition of Attalus, and had signed to him that they must be
+strangers to one another. A whole year had passed away in this manner,
+when one day Leo wandered, as if for pastime, into the plain where
+Attalus was watching the horses, and sitting down on the ground at some
+paces off, and with his back towards his young master, so that they
+might not be seen together, he said, 'This is the time for thoughts of
+home! When thou hast led the horses to the stable to-night, sleep not.
+Be ready at the first call!'
+
+That day the Frank lord was entertaining a large number of guests, among
+them his daughter's husband, a jovial young man, given to jesting. On
+going to rest he fancied he should be thirsty at night and called Leo
+to set a pitcher of hydromel by his bedside. As the slave was setting it
+down, the Frank looked slyly from under his eyelids, and said in joke,
+'Tell me, my father-in-law's trusty man, wilt not thou some night take
+one of those horses, and run away to thine own home?'
+
+'Please God, it is what I mean to do this very night,' answered the
+Gaul, so undauntedly that the Frank took it as a jest, and answered, 'I
+shall look out that thou dost not carry off anything of mine,' and then
+Leo left him, both laughing.
+
+All were soon asleep, and the cook crept out to the stable, where
+Attalus usually slept among the horses. He was broad awake now, and
+ready to saddle the two swiftest; but he had no weapon except a small
+lance, so Leo boldly went back to his master's sleeping hut, and took
+down his sword and shield, but not without awaking him enough to ask who
+was moving. 'It is I--Leo,' was the answer, 'I have been to call Attalus
+to take out the horses early. He sleeps as hard as a drunkard.' The
+Frank went to sleep again, quite satisfied, and Leo, carrying out the
+weapons, soon made Attalus feel like a free man and a noble once more.
+They passed unseen out of the enclosure, mounted their horses, and rode
+along the great Roman road from Treves as far as the Meuse, but they
+found the bridge guarded, and were obliged to wait till night, when they
+cast their horses loose and swam the river, supporting themselves on
+boards that they found on the bank. They had as yet had no food since
+the supper at their master's, and were thankful to find a plum tree in
+the wood, with fruit, to refresh them in some degree, before they lay
+down for the night. The next morning they went on in the direction of
+Rheims, carefully listening whether there were any sounds behind, until,
+on the broad hard-paved causeway, they actually heard the trampling of
+horses. Happily a bush was near, behind which they crept, with their
+naked swords before them, and here the riders actually halted for a few
+moments to arrange their harness. Men and horses were both those they
+feared, and they trembled at hearing one say, 'Woe is me that those
+rogues have made off, and have not been caught! On my salvation, if I
+catch them, I will have one hung and the other chopped into bits!' It
+was no small comfort to hear the trot of the horses resumed, and soon
+dying away in the distance. That same night the two faint, hungry, weary
+travelers, footsore and exhausted, came stumbling into Rheims, looking
+about for some person still awake to tell them the way to the house of
+the Priest Paul, a friend of Attalus' uncle. They found it just as the
+church bell was ringing for matins, a sound that must have seemed very
+like home to these members of an episcopal household. They knocked,
+and in the morning twilight met the Priest going to his earliest Sunday
+morning service.
+
+Leo told his young master's name, and how they had escaped, and the
+Priest's first exclamation was a strange one: 'My dream is true. This
+very night I saw two doves, one white and one black, who came and
+perched on my hand.'
+
+The good man was overjoyed, but he scrupled to give them any food, as
+it was contrary to the Church's rules for the fast to be broken before
+mass; but the travelers were half dead with hunger, and could only say,
+'The good Lord pardon us, for, saving the respect due to His day, we
+must eat something, since this is the forth day since we have touched
+bread or meat.' The Priest upon this gave them some bread and wine, and
+after hiding them carefully, went to church, hoping to avert suspicion;
+but their master was already at Rheims, making strict search for them,
+and learning that Paul the Priest was a friend of the Bishop of Langres,
+he went to church, and there questioned him closely. But the Priest
+succeeded in guarding his secret, and though he incurred much danger, as
+the Salic law was very severe against concealers of runaway slaves, he
+kept Attalus and Leo for two days till the search was blown over, and
+their strength was restored, so that they could proceed to Langres.
+There they were welcomed like men risen from the dead; the Bishop wept
+on the neck of Attalus, and was ready to receive Leo as a slave no more,
+but a friend and deliverer.
+
+A few days after Leo was solemnly led to the church. Every door was
+set open as a sign that he might henceforth go whithersoever he
+would. Bishop Gregorus took him by the hand, and, standing before the
+Archdeacon, declared that for the sake of the good services rendered by
+his slave, Leo, he set him free, and created him a Roman citizen.
+
+Then the Archdeacon read a writing of manumission. 'Whatever is done
+according to the Roman law is irrevocable. According to the constitution
+of the Emperor Constantine, of happy memory, and the edict that declares
+that whosoever is manumitted in church, in the presence of the bishops,
+priests, and deacons, shall become a Roman citizen under the protection
+of the Church: from this day Leo becomes a member of the city, free to
+go and come where he will as if he had been born of free parents. From
+this day forward, he is exempt from all subjection of servitude, of all
+duty of a freed-man, all bond of client-ship. He is and shall be free,
+with full and entire freedom, and shall never cease to belong to the
+body of Roman citizens.'
+
+At the same time Leo was endowed with lands, which raised him to the
+rank of what the Franks called a Roman proprietor--the highest reward
+in the Bishop's power for the faithful devotion that had incurred such
+dangers in order to rescue the young Attalus from his miserable bondage.
+
+Somewhat of the same kind of faithfulness was shown early in the
+nineteenth century by Ivan Simonoff, a soldier servant belonging to
+Major Kascambo, an officer in the Russian army, who was made prisoner
+by one of the wild tribes of the Caucasus. But though the soldier's
+attachment to his master was quite as brave and disinterested as that
+of the Gallic slave, yet he was far from being equally blameless in the
+means he employed, and if his were a golden deed at all, it was mixed
+with much of iron.
+
+Major Kascambo, with a guard of fifty Cossacks, was going to take the
+command of the Russian outpost of Lars, one of the forts by which the
+Russian Czars have slowly been carrying on the aggressive warfare that
+has nearly absorbed into their vast dominions all the mountains between
+the Caspian and Black seas. On his way he was set upon by seven hundred
+horsemen of the savage and independent tribe of Tchetchenges. There was
+a sharp fight, more than half his men were killed, and he with the rest
+made a rampart of the carcasses of their horses, over which they were
+about to fire their last shots, when the Tchetchenges made a Russian
+deserter call out to the Cossacks that they would let them all escape
+provided they would give up their officer. Kascambo on this came forward
+and delivered himself into their hands; while the remainder of the
+troops galloped off. His servant, Ivan, with a mule carrying his
+baggage, had been hidden in a ravine, and now, instead of retreating
+with the Cossacks, came to join his master. All the baggage was,
+however, instantly seized and divided among the Tchetchenges; nothing
+was left but a guitar, which they threw scornfully to the Major. He
+would have let it lie, but Ivan picked it up, and insisted on keeping
+it. 'Why be dispirited?' he said; 'the God of the Russians is great, it
+is the interest of the robbers to save you, they will do you no harm.'
+
+Scouts brought word that the Russian outposts were alarmed, and that
+troops were assembling to rescue the officer. Upon this the seven
+hundred broke up into small parties, leaving only ten men on foot to
+conduct the prisoners, whom they forced to take off their iron-shod
+boots and walk barefoot over stones and thorns, till the Major was so
+exhausted that they were obliged to drag him by cords fastened to his
+belt.
+
+After a terrible journey, the prisoners were placed in a remote village,
+where the Major had heavy chains fastened to his hands and feet, and
+another to his neck, with a huge block of oak as a clog at the other
+end; they half-starved him, and made him sleep on the bare ground of the
+hut in which he lodged. The hut belonged to a huge, fierce old man of
+sixty named Ibrahim, whose son had been killed in a skirmish with the
+Russians. This man, together with his son's widow, were continually
+trying to revenge themselves on their captive. The only person who
+showed him any kindness was his little grandson, a child of seven years
+old, called Mamet, who often caressed him, and brought him food by
+stealth. Ivan was also in the same hut, but less heavily ironed than
+his master, and able to attempt a few alleviations for his wretched
+condition. An interpreter brought the Major a sheet of paper and a reed
+pen, and commanded him to write to his friends that he might be ransomed
+for 10,000 roubles, but that, if the whole sum were not paid, he would
+be put to death. He obeyed, but he knew that his friends could not
+possibly raise such a sum, and his only hope was in the government,
+which had once ransomed a colonel who had fallen into the hands of the
+same tribe.
+
+These Tchetchenges professed to be Mahometans, but their religion sat
+very loose upon them, and they were utter barbarians. One piece of
+respect they paid the Major's superior education was curious--they made
+him judge in all the disputes that arose. The houses in the village were
+hollowed out underground, and the walls only raised three or four
+feet, and then covered by a flat roof, formed of beaten clay, where the
+inhabitants spent much of their time. Kascambo was every now and then
+brought, in all his chains, to the roof of the hut, which served as a
+tribunal whence he was expected to dispense justice. For instance, a
+man had commissioned his neighbour to pay five roubles to a person in
+another valley, but the messenger's horse having died by the way,
+a claim was set up to the roubles to make up for it. Both parties
+collected all their friends, and a bloody quarrel was about to take
+place, when they agreed to refer the question to the prisoner, who was
+accordingly set upon his judgment seat.
+
+'Pray,' said he, 'if, instead of giving you five roubles, your comrade
+had desired you to carry his greetings to his creditor, would not your
+horse have died all the same?'
+
+'Most likely.'
+
+'Then what should you have done with the greetings? Should you have
+kept them in compensation? My sentence is that you should give back the
+roubles, and that your comrade gives you a greeting.'
+
+The whole assembly approved the decision, and the man only grumbled out,
+as he gave back the money, 'I knew I should lose it, if that dog of a
+Christian meddled with it.'
+
+All this respect, however, did not avail to procure any better usage
+for the unfortunate judge, whose health was suffering severely under his
+privations. Ivan, however, had recommended himself in the same way
+as Leo, by his perfections as a cook, and moreover he was a capital
+buffoon. His fetters were sometimes taken off that he might divert the
+villagers by his dances and strange antics while his master played the
+guitar. Sometimes they sang Russian songs together to the instrument,
+and on these occasions the Major's hands were released that he might
+play on it; but one day he was unfortunately heard playing in his chains
+for his own amusement, and from that time he was never released from his
+fetters.
+
+In the course of a year, three urgent letters had been sent; but no
+notice was taken of them, and Ivan began to despair of aid from home,
+and set himself to work. His first step was to profess himself a
+Mahometan. He durst not tell his master till the deed was done, and then
+Kascambo was infinitely shocked; but the act did not procure Ivan so
+much freedom as he had hoped. He was, indeed, no longer in chains, but
+he was evidently distrusted, and was so closely watched, that the only
+way in which he could communicate with his master was when they were
+set to sing together, when they chanted out question and answer in Russ,
+unsuspected, to the tune of their national airs. He was taken on
+an expedition against the Russians, and very nearly killed by the
+suspicious Tchetchenges on one side, and by the Cossacks on the other,
+as a deserter. He saved a young man of the tribe from drowning; but
+though he thus earned the friendship of the family, the rest of the
+villagers hated and dreaded him all the more, since he had not been able
+to help proving himself a man of courage, instead of the feeble buffoon
+he had tried to appear.
+
+Three months after this expedition, another took place; but Ivan was not
+allowed even to know of it. He saw preparations making, but nothing was
+said to him; only one morning he found the village entirely deserted by
+all the young men, and as he wandered round it, the aged ones would not
+speak to him. A child told him that his father had meant to kill him,
+and on the roof of her house stood the sister of the man he had saved,
+making signals of great terror, and pointing towards Russia. Home he
+went and found that, besides old Ibrahim, his master was watched by a
+warrior, who had been prevented by an intermitting fever from
+joining the expedition. He was convinced that if the tribe returned
+unsuccessful, the murder of both himself and his master was certain; but
+he resolved not to fly alone, and as he busied himself in preparing the
+meal, he sung the burden of a Russian ballad, intermingled with words of
+encouragement for his master:
+
+
+      The time is come;
+       Hai Luli!
+     The time is come,  Hai Luli!
+     Our woe is at an end,  Hai Luli!
+     Or we die at once!  Hai Luli!
+     To-morrow, to-morrow,  Hai Luli!
+     We are off for a town,  Hai Luli!
+     For a fine, fine town,  Hai Luli!
+     But I name no names,  Hai Luli!
+     Courage, courage, master dear,  Hai Luli!
+     Never, never, despair,  Hai Luli!
+     For the God of the Russians is great,  Hai Luli!
+
+
+Poor Kascambo, broken down, sick, and despairing, only muttered, 'Do as
+you please, only hold your peace!'
+
+Ivan's cookery incited the additional guard to eat so much supper, that
+he brought on a severe attack of his fever, and was obliged to go home;
+but old Ibrahim, instead of going to bed, sat down on a log of wood
+opposite the prisoner, and seemed resolved to watch him all night. The
+woman and child went to bed in the inner room, and Ivan signed to his
+master to take the guitar, and began to dance. The old man's axe was in
+an open cupboard at the other end of the room, and after many gambols
+and contortions, during which the Major could hardly control his fingers
+to touch the strings, Ivan succeeded in laying his hands upon it, just
+when the old man was bending over the fire to mend it. Then, as Ibrahim
+desired that the music should cease, he cut him down with a single blow,
+on his own hearth. And the daughter-in-law coming out to see what had
+happened, he slew her with the same weapon. And then, alas! in spite of
+the commands, entreaties, and cries of his master, he dashed into the
+inner room, and killed the sleeping child, lest it should give the
+alarm. Kascambo, utterly helpless to save, fell almost fainting upon the
+bloody floor, and did not cease to reproach Ivan, who was searching the
+old man's pockets for the key of the fetters, but it was not there, nor
+anywhere else in the hut, and the irons were so heavy that escape was
+impossible in them. Ivan at last knocked off the clog and the chains
+on the wrist with the axe, but he could not break the chains round the
+legs, and could only fasten them as close as he could to hinder them
+clanking. Then securing all the provisions he could carry, and putting
+his master into his military cloak, obtaining also a pistol and dagger,
+they crept out, but not on the direct road. It was February, and the
+ground was covered with snow. All night they walked easily, but at noon
+the sun so softened it that they sank in at every step, and the Major's
+chains rendered each motion terrible labour. It was only on the second
+night that Ivan, with his axe, succeeded in breaking through the
+fastenings, and by that time the Major's legs were so swollen and
+stiffened that he could not move without extreme pain. However, he was
+dragged on through the wild mountain paths, and then over the plains for
+several days more, till they were on the confines of another tribe of
+Tchetchenges, who were overawed by Russia, and in a sort of unwilling
+alliance. Here, however, a sharp storm, and a fall into the water,
+completely finished Kascambo's strength, and he sank down on the snow,
+telling Ivan to go home and explain his fate, and give his last message
+to his mother.
+
+'If you perish here,' said Ivan, 'trust me, neither your mother nor mine
+will ever see me again.'
+
+He covered his master with his cloak, gave him the pistol, and walked on
+to a hut, where he found a Tchetchenge man, and told him that here was a
+means of obtaining two hundred roubles. He had only to shelter the major
+as a guest for three days, whilst Ivan himself went on to Mosdok, to
+procure the money, and bring back help for his master. The man was full
+of suspicion, but Ivan prevailed, and Kascambo was carried into the
+village nearly dying, and was very ill all the time of his servant's
+absence. Ivan set off for the nearest Russian station, where he found
+some of the Cossacks who had been present when the major was taken. All
+eagerly subscribed to raise the two hundred roubles, but the Colonel
+would not let Ivan go back alone, as he had engaged to do, and sent a
+guard of Cossacks. This had nearly been fatal to the Major, for as soon
+as his host saw the lances, he suspected treachery, and dragging his
+poor sick guest to the roof of the house, he tied him up to a stake, and
+stood over him with a pistol, shouting to Ivan, 'If you come nearer,
+I shall blow his brains out, and I have fifty cartridges more for my
+enemies, and the traitor who leads them.'
+
+'No traitor!' cried Ivan. 'Here are the roubles. I have kept my word!'
+
+'Let the Cossacks go back, or I shall fire.'
+
+Kascambo himself begged the officer to retire, and Ivan went back with
+the detachment, and returned alone. Even then the suspicious host made
+him count out the roubles at a hundred paces from the house, and at once
+ordered him out of sight; but then went up to the roof, and asked the
+Major's pardon for all this rough usage.
+
+'I shall only recollect that you were my host, and kept your word,' said
+Kascambo.
+
+In a few hours more, Kascambo was in safety among his brother officers.
+Ivan was made a non-commissioned officer, and some months after was seen
+by the traveler who told the story, whistling the air of Hai Luli at his
+former master's wedding feast. He was even then scarcely twenty years
+old, and peculiarly quiet and soft in manners.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF THE BLACKWATER
+
+991
+
+
+In the evil days of King Ethelred the Unready, when the teaching of good
+King Alfred was fast fading away from the minds of his descendants, and
+self-indulgence was ruining the bold and hardy habits of the English,
+the fleet was allowed to fall into decay, and Danish ships again
+ventured to appear on the English coasts.
+
+The first Northmen who had ravaged England came eager for blood and
+plunder, and hating the sight of a Christian church as an insult to
+their gods, Thor and Odin; but the lapse of a hundred years had in some
+degree changed the temper of the North; and though almost every young
+man thought it due to his fame to have sailed forth as a sea rover, yet
+the attacks of these marauders might be bought off, and provided they
+had treasure to show for their voyage, they were willing to spare the
+lives and lands of the people of the coasts they visited.
+
+King Ethelred and his cowardly, selfish Court were well satisfied with
+this expedient, and the tax called Danegeld was laid upon the people, in
+order to raise a fund for buying off the enemy. But there were still in
+England men of bolder and truer hearts, who held that bribery was false
+policy, merely inviting the enemy to come again and again, and that the
+only wise course would be in driving them back by English valor, and
+keeping the fleet in a condition to repel the 'Long Serpent' ships
+before the foe could set foot upon the coast.
+
+Among those who held this opinion was Brythnoth, Earl of Essex. He was
+of partly Danish descent himself, but had become a thorough Englishman,
+and had long and faithfully served the King and his father. He was a
+friend to the clergy, a founder of churches and convents, and his
+manor house of Hadleigh was a home of hospitality and charity. It would
+probably be a sort of huge farmyard, full of great barn-like buildings
+and sheds, all one story high; some of them serving for storehouses,
+and others for living-rooms and places of entertainment for his numerous
+servants and retainers, and for the guests of all degrees who gathered
+round him as the chief dispenser of justice in his East-Saxon earldom.
+When he heard the advice given and accepted that the Danes should be
+bribed, instead of being fought with, he made up his mind that he, at
+least, would try to raise up a nobler spirit, and, at the sacrifice of
+his own life, would show the effect of making a manful stand against
+them.
+
+He made his will, and placed it in the hands of the Archbishop of
+Canterbury; and then, retiring to Hadleigh, he provided horses and arms,
+and caused all the young men in his earldom to be trained in warlike
+exercises, according to the good old English law, that every man should
+be provided with weapons and know the use of them.
+
+The Danes sailed forth, in the year 991, with ninety-three vessels, the
+terrible 'Long Serpents', carved with snakes' heads at the prow, and
+the stern finished as the gilded tail of the reptile; and many a lesser
+ship, meant for carrying plunder. The Sea King, Olaf (or Anlaff), was
+the leader; and as tidings came that their sails had been seen upon the
+North Sea, more earnest than ever rang out the petition in the Litany,
+'From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord, deliver us'.
+
+Sandwich and Ipswich made no defense, and were plundered; and the fleet
+then sailed into the mouth of the River Blackwater, as far as Maldon,
+where the ravagers landed, and began to collect spoil. When, however,
+they came back to their ships, they found that the tide would not yet
+serve them to re-embark; and upon the farther bank of the river bristled
+the spears of a body of warriors, drawn up in battle array, but in
+numbers far inferior to their own.
+
+Anlaff sent a messenger, over the wooden bridge that crossed the river,
+to the Earl, who, he understood, commanded this small army. The brave
+old man, his grey hair hanging down beneath his helmet, stood, sword in
+hand, at the head of his warriors.
+
+'Lord Earl,' said the messenger, 'I come to bid thee to yield to us thy
+treasure, for thy safety. Buy off the fight, and we will ratify a peace
+with gold.'
+
+'Hear, O thou sailor!' was Brythnoth's answer, 'the reply of this
+people. Instead of Danegeld, thou shalt have from them the edge of the
+sword, and the point of the spear. Here stands an English Earl, who will
+defend his earldom and the lands of his King. Point and edge shall judge
+between us.'
+
+Back went the Dane with his message to Anlaff, and the fight began
+around the bridge, where the Danes long strove to force their way
+across, but were always driven back by the gallant East-Saxons. The tide
+had risen, and for some time the two armies only shot at one another
+with bows and arrows; but when it ebbed, leaving the salt-marches dry,
+the stout old Earl's love of fair play overpowered his prudence, and he
+sent to offer the enemy a free passage, and an open field in which to
+measure their strength.
+
+The numbers were too unequal; but the battle was long and bloody before
+the English could be overpowered. Brythnoth slew one of the chief Danish
+leaders with his own hand, but not without receiving a wound. He was
+still able to fight on, though with ebbing strength and failing numbers.
+His hand was pierced by a dart; but a young boy at his side instantly
+withdrew it, and, launching it back again, slew the foe who had aimed
+it. Another Dane, seeing the Earl faint and sinking, advanced to plunder
+him of his ring and jeweled weapons; but he still had strength to lay
+the spoiler low with his battleaxe. This was his last blow; he gathered
+his strength for one last cheer to his brave men, and then, sinking on
+the ground, he looked up to heaven, exclaiming: 'I thank thee, Lord of
+nations, for all the joys I have known on earth. Now, O mild Creator!
+have I the utmost need that Thou shouldst grant grace unto my soul, that
+my spirit may speed to Thee with peace, O King of angels! to pass into
+thy keeping. I sue to Thee that Thou suffer not the rebel spirits of
+hell to vex my parting soul!'
+
+With these words he died; but an aged follower, of like spirit, stood
+over his corpse, and exhorted his fellows. 'Our spirit shall be the
+hardier, and our soul the greater, the fewer our numbers become!' he
+cried. 'Here lies our chief, the brave, the good, the much-loved lord,
+who has blessed us with many a gift. Old as I am, I will not yield, but
+avenge his death, or lay me at his side. Shame befall him that thinks to
+fly from such a field as this!'
+
+Nor did the English warriors fly. Night came down, at last, upon the
+battlefield, and saved the lives of the few survivors; but they were
+forced to leave the body of their lord, and the Danes bore away with
+them his head as a trophy, and with it, alas! ten thousand pounds of
+silver from the King, who, in his sluggishness and weakness had left
+Brythnoth to fight and die unaided for the cause of the whole nation.
+One of the retainers, a minstrel in the happy old days of Hadleigh, who
+had done his part manfully in the battle, had heard these last goodly
+sayings of his master, and, living on to peaceful days, loved to
+rehearse them to the sound of his harp, and dwell on the glories of one
+who could die, but not be defeated.
+
+Ere those better days had come, another faithful-hearted Englishman had
+given his life for his people. In the year 1012, a huge army, called
+from their leader, 'Thorkill's Host', were overrunning Kent, and
+besieging Canterbury. The Archbishop Aelfeg was earnestly entreated to
+leave the city while yet there was time to escape; but he replied,
+'None but a hireling would leave his flock in time of danger;' and he
+supported the resolution of the inhabitants, so that they held out
+the city for twenty days; and as the wild Danes had very little chance
+against a well-walled town, they would probably have saved it, had not
+the gates been secretly opened to them by the traitorous Abbot Aelfman,
+whom Aelfeg had once himself saved, when accused of treason before the
+King.
+
+The Danes slaughtered all whom they found in the streets, and the
+Archbishop's friends tried to keep him in the church, lest he should
+run upon his fate; but he broke from them, and, confronting the enemy,
+cried: 'Spare the guiltless! Is there glory in shedding such blood? Turn
+your wrath on me! It is I who have denounced your cruelty, have ransomed
+and re-clad your captive.' The Danes seized upon him, and, after he had
+seen his cathedral burnt and his clergy slain, they threw him into a
+dungeon, whence he was told he could only come forth upon the payment of
+a heavy ransom.
+
+His flock loved him, and would have striven to raise the sum; but,
+miserably used as they were by the enemy, and stripped by the exactions
+of the Danes, he would not consent that they should be asked for a
+further contribution on his account. After seven months' patience in his
+captivity, the Danish chiefs, who were then at Greenwich desired him
+to be brought into their camp, where they had just been holding a great
+feast. It was Easter Eve, and the quiet of that day of calm waiting
+was disturbed with their songs, and shouts of drunken revelry, as the
+chained Archbishop was led to the open space where the warriors sat and
+lay amid the remains of their rude repast. The leader then told him that
+they had agreed to let him off for his own share with a much smaller
+payment than had been demanded, provided he would obtain a largesse for
+them from the King, his master.
+
+'I am not the man,' he answered, 'to provide Christian flesh for Pagan
+wolves;' and when again they repeated the demand, 'Gold I have none to
+offer you, save the true wisdom of the knowledge of the living God.' And
+he began, as he stood in the midst, to 'reason to them of righteousness,
+temperance, and judgment to come.'
+
+They were mad with rage and drink. The old man's voice was drowned with
+shouts of 'Gold, Bishop--give us gold!' The bones and cups that lay
+around were hurled at him, and he fell to the ground, with the cry, 'O
+Chief Shepherd, guard Thine own children!' As he partly raised himself,
+axes were thrown at him; and, at last, a Dane, who had begun to love and
+listen to him in his captivity, deemed it mercy to give him a deathblow
+with an axe. The English maintained that Aelfeg had died to save his
+flock from cruel extortion, and held him as a saint and martyr, keeping
+his death day (the 19th of April) as a holiday; and when the Italian
+Archbishop of Canterbury (Lanfranc) disputed his right to be so
+esteemed, there was strong opposition and discontent. Indeed, our
+own Prayer Book still retains his name, under the altered form of St.
+Alphege; and surely no one better merits to be remembered, for having
+loved his people far better than himself.
+
+
+
+
+GUZMAN EL BUENO
+
+1293
+
+
+In the early times of Spanish history, before the Moors had been
+expelled from the peninsula, or the blight of Western gold had enervated
+the nation, the old honor and loyalty of the Gothic race were high and
+pure, fostered by constant combats with a generous enemy. The Spanish
+Arabs were indeed the flower of the Mahometan races, endowed with
+the vigor and honor of the desert tribes, yet capable of culture and
+civilization, excelling all other nations of their time in science and
+art, and almost the equals of their Christian foes in the attributes
+of chivalry. Wars with them were a constant crusade, consecrated in the
+minds of the Spaniards as being in the cause of religion, and yet in
+some degree freed from savagery and cruelty by the respect exacted
+by the honorable character of the enemy, and by the fact that the
+civilization and learning of the Christian kingdoms were far more
+derived from the Moors than from the kindred nations of Europe.
+
+By the close of the thirteenth century, the Christian kingdoms of
+Castille and Aragon were descending from their mountain fastnesses, and
+spreading over the lovely plains of the south, even to the Mediterranean
+coast, as one beautiful Moorish city after another yielded to the
+persevering advances of the children of the Goths; and in 1291 the
+nephew of our own beloved Eleanor of Castille, Sancho V. called El
+Bravo, ventured to invest the city of Tarifa.
+
+This was the western buttress of the gate of the Mediterranean, the base
+of the northern Pillar of Hercules, and esteemed one of the gates of
+Spain. By it five hundred years previously had the Moorish enemy first
+entered Spain at the summons of Count Julian, under their leader Tarif-
+abu-Zearah, whose name was bestowed upon it in remembrance of his
+landing there. The form of the ground is said to be like a broken punch
+bowl, with the broken part towards the sea. The Moors had fortified
+the city with a surrounding wall and twenty-six towers, and had built a
+castle with a lighthouse on a small adjacent island, called Isla
+Verde, which they had connected with the city by a causeway. Their
+fortifications, always admirable, have existed ever since, and in 1811,
+another five hundred years after, were successfully defended against the
+French by a small force of British troops under the command of Colonel
+Hugh Gough, better known in his old age as the victor of Aliwal. The
+walls were then unable to support the weight of artillery, for which of
+course they had never been built, but were perfectly effective against
+escalade.
+
+For six months King Sancho besieged Tarifa by land and sea, his
+fleet, hired from the Genoese, lying in the waters where the battle of
+Trafalgar was to be fought. The city at length yielded under stress of
+famine, but the King feared that he had no resources to enable him to
+keep it, and intended to dismantle and forsake it, when the Grand Master
+of the military order of Calatrava offered to undertake the defense
+with his knights for one year, hoping that some other noble would come
+forward at the end of that time and take the charge upon himself.
+
+He was not mistaken. The noble who made himself responsible for this
+post of danger was a Leonese knight of high distinction, by name Alonso
+Perez de Guzman, already called El Bueno, or 'The Good', from the high
+qualities he had manifested in the service of the late King, Don Alonso
+VI, by whom he had always stood when the present King, Don Sancho,
+was in rebellion. The offer was readily accepted, and the whole Guzman
+family removed to Tarifa, with the exception of the eldest son, who was
+in the train of the Infant Don Juan, the second son of the late King,
+who had always taken part with his father against his brother, and on
+Sancho's accession, continued his enmity, and fled to Portugal.
+
+The King of Portugal, however, being requested by Sancho not to permit
+him to remain there, he proceeded to offer his services to the King of
+Morocco, Yusuf-ben-Yacoub, for whom he undertook to recover Tarifa, if
+5,000 horse were granted to him for the purpose. The force would have
+been most disproportionate for the attack of such a city as Tarifa, but
+Don Juan reckoned on means that he had already found efficacious; when
+he had obtained the surrender of Zamora to his father by threatening to
+put to death a child of the lady in command of the fortress.
+
+Therefore, after summoning Tarifa at the head of his 5,000 Moors, he led
+forth before the gates the boy who had been confided to his care, and
+declared that unless the city were yielded instantly, Guzman should
+behold the death of his own son at his hand! Before, he had had to deal
+with a weak woman on a question of divided allegiance. It was otherwise
+here. The point was whether the city should be made over to the enemies
+of the faith and country, whether the plighted word of a loyal knight
+should be broken. The boy was held in the grasp of the cruel prince,
+stretching out his hands and weeping as he saw his father upon the
+walls. Don Alonso's eyes, we are told, filled with tears as he cast one
+long, last look at his first-born, whom he might not save except at the
+expense of his truth and honor.
+
+The struggle was bitter, but he broke forth at last in these words: 'I
+did not beget a son to be made use of against my country, but that he
+should serve her against her foes. Should Don Juan put him to death, he
+will but confer honor on me, true life on my son, and on himself eternal
+shame in this world and everlasting wrath after death. So far am I from
+yielding this place or betraying my trust, that in case he should want a
+weapon for his cruel purpose, there goes my knife!'
+
+He cast the knife in his belt over the walls, and returned to the Castle
+where, commanding his countenance, he sat down to table with his wife.
+Loud shouts of horror and dismay almost instantly called him forth
+again. He was told that Don Juan had been seen to cut the boy's throat
+in a transport of blind rage. 'I thought the enemy had broken in,' he
+calmly said, and went back again.
+
+The Moors themselves were horrorstruck at the atrocity of their ally,
+and as the siege was hopeless they gave it up; and Don Juan, afraid and
+ashamed to return to Morocco, wandered to the Court of Granada.
+
+King Sancho was lying sick at Alcala de Henares when the tidings of the
+price of Guzman's fidelity reached him. Touched to the depths of his
+heart he wrote a letter to his faithful subject, comparing his sacrifice
+to that of Abraham, confirming to him the surname of Good, lamenting his
+own inability to come and offer his thanks and regrets, but entreating
+Guzman's presence at Alcala.
+
+All the way thither, the people thronged to see the man true to his
+word at such a fearful cost. The Court was sent out to meet him, and the
+King, after embracing him, exclaimed, 'Here learn, ye knights, what are
+exploits of virtue. Behold your model.'
+
+Lands and honors were heaped upon Alonso de Guzman, and they were not a
+mockery of his loss, for he had other sons to inherit them. He was
+the staunch friend of Sancho's widow and son in a long and perilous
+minority, and died full of years and honors. The lands granted to him
+were those of Medina Sidonia which lie between the Rivers Guadiana and
+Guadalquivir, and they have ever since been held by his descendants, who
+still bear the honored name of Guzman, witnessing that the man who gave
+the life of his first-born rather than break his faith to the King has
+left a posterity as noble and enduring as any family in Europe.
+
+
+
+
+FAITHFUL TILL DEATH
+
+1308
+
+
+One of the ladies most admired by the ancient Romans was Arria, the wife
+of Caecina Paetus, a Roman who was condemned by the Emperor Claudius to
+become his own executioner. Seeing him waver, his wife, who was resolved
+to be with him in death as in life, took the dagger from his hand,
+plunged it into her own breast, and with her last strength held it out
+to him, gasping out, 'It is not painful, my Paetus.'
+
+Such was heathen faithfulness even to death; and where the teaching
+of Christianity had not forbidden the taking away of life by one's own
+hand, perhaps wifely love could not go higher. Yet Christian women have
+endured a yet more fearful ordeal to their tender affection, watching,
+supporting, and finding unfailing fortitude to uphold the sufferer in
+agonies that must have rent their hearts.
+
+Natalia was the fair young wife of Adrian, an officer at Nicomedia, in
+the guards of the Emperor Galerius Maximianus, and only about twenty-
+eight years old. Natalia was a Christian, but her husband remained a
+pagan, until, when he was charged with the execution of some martyrs,
+their constancy, coupled with the testimony of his own wife's virtues,
+triumphed over his unbelief, and he confessed himself likewise a
+Christian. He was thrown into prison, and sentenced to death, but he
+prevailed on his gaoler to permit him to leave the dungeon for a time,
+that he might see his wife. The report came to Natalia that he was no
+longer in prison, and she threw herself on the ground, lamenting aloud:
+'Now will men point at me, and say, 'Behold the wife of the coward and
+apostate, who, for fear of death, hath denied his God.'
+
+'Oh, thou noble and strong-hearted woman,' said Adrian's voice at the
+door, 'I bless God that I am not unworthy of thee. Open the door that I
+may bid thee farewell.'
+
+But this was not the last farewell, though he duly went back to the
+prison; for when, the next day, he had been cruelly scourged and
+tortured before the tribunal, Natalia, with her hair cut short, and
+wearing the disguise of a youth, was there to tend and comfort him. She
+took him in her arms saying, 'Oh, light of mine eyes, and husband of
+mine heart, blessed art thou, who art chosen to suffer for Christ's
+sake.'
+
+On the following day, the tyrant ordered that Adrian's limbs should be
+one by one struck off on a blacksmith's anvil, and lastly his head. And
+still it was his wife who held him and sustained him through all and,
+ere the last stroke of the executioner, had received his last breath.
+She took up one of the severed hands, kissed it, and placed it in her
+bosom, and escaping to Byzantium, there spent her life in widowhood.
+
+Nor among these devoted wives should we pass by Gertrude, the wife of
+Rudolf, Baron von der Wart, a Swabian nobleman, who was so ill-advised
+as to join in a conspiracy of Johann of Hapsburg, in 1308, against the
+Emperor, Albrecht I, the son of the great and good Rudolf of Hapsburg.
+
+This Johann was the son of the Emperor's brother Rudolf, a brave knight
+who had died young, and Johann had been brought up by a Baron called
+Walther von Eschenbach, until, at nineteen years old, he went to his
+uncle to demand his father's inheritance. Albrecht was a rude and
+uncouth man, and refused disdainfully the demand, whereupon the noblemen
+of the disputed territory stirred up the young prince to form a plot
+against him, all having evidently different views of the lengths to
+which they would proceed. This was just at the time that the Swiss,
+angry at the overweening and oppressive behaviour of Albrecht's
+governors, were first taking up arms to maintain that they owed no duty
+to him as Duke of Austria, but merely as Emperor of Germany. He set out
+on his way to chastise them as rebels, taking with him a considerable
+train, of whom his nephew Johann was one. At Baden, Johann, as a last
+experiment, again applied for his inheritance, but by way of answer,
+Albrecht held out a wreath of flowers, telling him they better became
+his years than did the cares of government. He burst into tears, threw
+the wreath upon the ground, and fed his mind upon the savage purpose of
+letting his uncle find out what he was fit for.
+
+By and by, the party came to the banks of the Reuss, where there was no
+bridge, and only one single boat to carry the whole across. The first to
+cross were the Emperor with one attendant, besides his nephew and four
+of the secret partisans of Johann. Albrecht's son Leopold was left to
+follow with the rest of the suite, and the Emperor rode on towards the
+hills of his home, towards the Castle of Hapsburg, where his father's
+noble qualities had earned the reputation which was the cause of all the
+greatness of the line. Suddenly his nephew rode up to him, and while one
+of the conspirators seized the bridle of his horse, exclaimed, 'Will you
+now restore my inheritance?' and wounded him in the neck. The attendant
+fled; Der Wart, who had never thought murder was to be a part of the
+scheme, stood aghast, but the other two fell on the unhappy Albrecht,
+and each gave him a mortal wound, and then all five fled in different
+directions. The whole horrible affair took place full in view of Leopold
+and the army on the other side of the river, and when it became possible
+for any of them to cross, they found that the Emperor had just expired,
+with his head in the lap of a poor woman.
+
+The murderers escaped into the Swiss mountains, expecting shelter there;
+but the stout, honest men of the cantons were resolved not to have any
+connection with assassins, and refused to protect them. Johann himself,
+after long and miserable wanderings in disguise, bitterly repented,
+owned his crime to the Pope, and was received into a convent; Eschenbach
+escaped, and lived fifteen years as a cowherd. The others all fell into
+the hands of the sons and daughters of Albrecht, and woeful was the
+revenge that was taken upon them, and upon their innocent families and
+retainers.
+
+That Leopold, who had seen his father slain before his eyes, should
+have been deeply incensed, was not wonderful, and his elder brother
+Frederick, as Duke of Austria, was charged with the execution of
+justice; but both brothers were horribly savage and violent in their
+proceedings, and their sister Agnes surpassed them in her atrocious
+thirst for vengeance. She was the wife of the King of Hungary, very
+clever and discerning, and also supposed to be very religious, but all
+better thoughts were swept away by her furious passion. She had nearly
+strangled Eschenbach's infant son with her own bare hands, when he was
+rescued from her by her own soldiers, and when she was watching the
+beheading of sixty-three vassals of another of the murderers, she
+repeatedly exclaimed, 'Now I bathe in May dew.' Once, indeed, she met
+with a stern rebuke. A hermit, for whom she had offered to build a
+convent, answered her, 'Woman, God is not served by shedding innocent
+blood and by building convents out of the plunder of families, but by
+compassion and forgiveness of injuries.'
+
+Rudolf von der Wart received the horrible sentence of being broken on
+the wheel. On his trial the Emperor's attendant declared that Der Wart
+had attacked Albert with his dagger, and the cry, 'How long will ye
+suffer this carrion to sit on horseback?' but he persisted to the last
+that he had been taken by surprise by the murder. However, there was no
+mercy for him; and, by the express command of Queen Agnes, after he had
+been bound upon one wheel, and his limbs broken by heavy blows from
+the executioner, he was fastened to another wheel, which was set upon
+a pole, where he was to linger out the remaining hours of his life. His
+young wife, Gertrude, who had clung to him through all the trial, was
+torn away and carried off to the Castle of Kyburg; but she made her
+escape at dusk, and found her way, as night came on, to the spot where
+her husband hung still living upon the wheel. That night of agony was
+described in a letter ascribed to Gertrude herself. The guard left to
+watch fled at her approach, and she prayed beneath the scaffold, and
+then, heaping some heavy logs of wood together, was able to climb up
+near enough to embrace him and stroke back the hair from his face,
+whilst he entreated her to leave him, lest she should be found there,
+and fall under the cruel revenge of the Queen, telling her that thus it
+would be possible to increase his suffering.
+
+'I will die with you,' she said, 'tis for that I came, and no power
+shall force me from you;' and she prayed for the one mercy she hoped
+for, speedy death for her husband.
+
+In Mrs. Hemans' beautiful words--
+
+
+      'And bid me not depart,' she cried,
+       'My Rudolf, say not so;
+     This is no time to quit thy side,
+       Peace, peace, I cannot go!
+     Hath the world aught for me to fear
+       When death is on thy brow?
+     The world! what means it?
+      Mine is here!
+       I will not leave thee now.
+     'I have been with thee in thine hour
+       Of glory and of bliss;
+     Doubt not its memory's living power
+       To strengthen me through this.
+     And thou, mine honor'd love and true,
+       Bear on, bear nobly on;
+     We have the blessed heaven in view,
+       Whose rest shall soon be won.'
+
+
+When day began to break, the guard returned, and Gertrude took down her
+stage of wood and continued kneeling at the foot of the pole. Crowds of
+people came to look, among them the wife of one of the officials, whom
+Gertrude implored to intercede that her husband's sufferings might be
+ended; but though this might not be, some pitied her, and tried to give
+her wine and confections, which she could not touch. The priest came
+and exhorted Rudolf to confess the crime, but with a great effort he
+repeated his former statement of innocence.
+
+A band of horsemen rode by. Among them was the young Prince Leopold and
+his sister Agnes herself, clad as a knight. They were very angry at
+the compassion shown by the crowd, and after frightfully harsh language
+commanded that Gertrude should be dragged away; but one of the nobles
+interceded for her, and when she had been carried away to a little
+distance her entreaties were heard, and she was allowed to break away
+and come back to her husband. The priest blessed Gertrude, gave her his
+hand and said, 'Be faithful unto death, and God will give you the crown
+of life,' and she was no further molested.
+
+Night came on, and with it a stormy wind, whose howling mingled with the
+voice of her prayers, and whistled in the hair of the sufferer. One of
+the guard brought her a cloak. She climbed on the wheel, and spread the
+covering over her husband's limbs; then fetched some water in her
+shoe, and moistened his lips with it, sustaining him above all with her
+prayers, and exhortations to look to the joys beyond. He had ceased to
+try to send her away, and thanked her for the comfort she gave him. And
+still she watched when morning came again, and noon passed over her, and
+it was verging to evening, when for the last time he moved his head; and
+she raised herself so as to be close to him. With a smile, he murmured,
+'Gertrude, this is faithfulness till death,' and died. She knelt down to
+thank God for having enabled her to remain for that last breath--
+
+
+     'While even as o'er a martyr's grave
+       She knelt on that sad spot,
+     And, weeping, blessed the God who gave
+       Strength to forsake it not!'
+
+
+She found shelter in a convent at Basle, where she spent the rest of her
+life in a quiet round of prayer and good works; till the time came when
+her widowed heart should find its true rest for ever.
+
+
+
+
+WHAT IS BETTER THAN SLAYING A DRAGON
+
+1332
+
+
+The next story we have to tell is so strange and wild, that it would
+seem better to befit the cloudy times when history had not yet been
+disentangled from fable, than the comparatively clear light of the
+fourteenth century.
+
+It took place in the island of Rhodes. This Greek isle had become the
+home of the Knights of St. John, or Hospitaliers, an order of sworn
+brethren who had arisen at the time of the Crusades. At first they had
+been merely monks, who kept open house for the reception of the poor
+penniless pilgrims who arrived at Jerusalem in need of shelter, and
+often of nursing and healing. The good monks not only fed and housed
+them, but did their best to cure the many diseases that they would catch
+in the toilsome journey in that feverish climate; and thus it has come
+to pass that the word hospitium, which in Latin only means an inn, has,
+in modern languages, given birth, on the one hand, to hotel, or lodging
+house, on the other, to hospital, or house of healing. The Hospital at
+Jerusalem was called after St. John the Almoner, a charitable Bishop
+of old, and the brethren were Hospitaliers. By and by, when the first
+Crusade was over, and there was a great need of warriors to maintain the
+Christian cause in Jerusalem, the Hospitaliers thought it a pity that
+so many strong arms should be prevented from exerting themselves, by the
+laws that forbade the clergy to do battle, and they obtained permission
+from the Pope to become warriors as well as monks. They were thus all in
+one--knights, priests, and nurses; their monasteries were both castles
+and hospitals; and the sick pilgrim or wounded Crusader was sure of all
+the best tendance and medical care that the times could afford, as well
+as of all the ghostly comfort and counsel that he might need, and, if he
+recovered, he was escorted safely down to the seashore by a party strong
+enough to protect him from the hordes of robber Arabs. All this was for
+charity's sake, and without reward. Surely the constitution of the Order
+was as golden as its badge--the eight-pointed cross--which the brethren
+wore round their neck. They wore it also in white over their shoulder
+upon a black mantle. And the knights who had been admitted to the full
+honors of the Order had a scarlet surcoat, likewise with the white
+cross, over their armor. The whole brotherhood was under the command of
+a Grand Master, who was elected in a chapter of all the knights, and to
+whom all vowed to render implicit obedience.
+
+Good service in all their three capacities had been done by the Order as
+long as the Crusaders were able to keep a footing in the Holy Land; but
+they were driven back step by step, and at last, in 1291, their last
+stronghold at Acre was taken, after much desperate fighting, and the
+remnant of the Hospitaliers sailed away to the isle of Cyprus, where,
+after a few years, they recruited their forces, and, in 1307, captured
+the island of Rhodes, which had been a nest of Greek and Mahometan
+pirates. Here they remained, hoping for a fresh Crusade to recover the
+Holy Sepulcher, and in the meantime fulfilling their old mission as
+the protectors and nurses of the weak. All the Mediterranean Sea was
+infested by corsairs from the African coast and the Greek isles, and
+these brave knights, becoming sailors as well as all they had been
+before, placed their red flag with its white cross at the masthead of
+many a gallant vessel that guarded the peaceful traveler, hunted down
+the cruel pirate, and brought home his Christian slave, rescued from
+laboring at the oar, to the Hospital for rest and tendance. Or their
+treasures were used in redeeming the captives in the pirate cities. No
+knight of St. John might offer any ransom for himself save his sword
+and scarf; but for the redemption of their poor fellow Christians
+their wealth was ready, and many a captive was released from toiling
+in Algiers or Tripoli, or still worse, from rowing the pirate vessels,
+chained to the oar, between the decks, and was restored to health and
+returned to his friends, blessing the day he had been brought into the
+curving harbour of Rhodes, with the fine fortified town of churches and
+monasteries.
+
+Some eighteen years after the conquest of Rhodes, the whole island was
+filled with dismay by the ravages of an enormous creature, living in a
+morass at the foot of Mount St. Stephen, about two miles from the city
+of Rhodes. Tradition calls it a dragon, and whether it were a crocodile
+or a serpent is uncertain. There is reason to think that the monsters
+of early creation were slow in becoming extinct, or it is not impossible
+that either a crocodile or a python might have been brought over by
+storms or currents from Africa, and have grown to a more formidable size
+than usual in solitude among the marshes, while the island was changing
+owners. The reptile, whatever it might be, was the object of extreme
+dread; it devoured sheep and cattle, when they came down to the water,
+and even young shepherd boys were missing. And the pilgrimage to the
+Chapel of St. Stephen, on the hill above its lair, was especially a
+service of danger, for pilgrims were believed to be snapped up by the
+dragon before they could mount the hill.
+
+Several knights had gone out to attempt the destruction of the creature,
+but not one had returned, and at last the Grand Master, Helion de
+Villeneuve, forbade any further attacks to be made. The dragon is said
+to have been covered with scales that were perfectly impenetrable either
+to arrows or any cutting weapon; and the severe loss that encounters
+with him had cost the Order, convinced the Grand Master that he must be
+let alone.
+
+However, a young knight, named Dieudonne de Gozon, was by no means
+willing to acquiesce in the decree; perhaps all the less because it came
+after he had once gone out in quest of the monster, but had returned,
+by his own confession, without striking a blow. He requested leave of
+absence, and went home for a time to his father's castle of Gozon, in
+Languedoc; and there he caused a model of the monster to be made. He had
+observed that the scales did not protect the animal's belly, though
+it was almost impossible to get a blow at it, owing to its tremendous
+teeth, and the furious strokes of its length of tail. He therefore
+caused this part of his model to be made hollow, and filled with food,
+and obtaining two fierce young mastiffs, he trained them to fly at the
+under side of the monster, while he mounted his warhorse, and endeavored
+to accustom it likewise to attack the strange shape without swerving.
+
+When he thought the education of horse and dogs complete, he returned to
+Rhodes; but fearing to be prevented from carrying out his design, he did
+not land at the city, but on a remote part of the coast, whence he made
+his way to the chapel of St. Stephen. There, after having recommended
+himself to God, he left his two French squires, desiring them to return
+home if he were slain, but to watch and come to him if he killed the
+dragon, or were only hurt by it. He then rode down the hillside, and
+towards the haunt of the dragon. It roused itself at his advance, and at
+first he charged it with his lance, which was perfectly useless against
+the scales. His horse was quick to perceive the difference between the
+true and the false monster, and started back, so that he was forced to
+leap to the ground; but the two dogs were more staunch, and sprang at
+the animal, whilst their master struck at it with his sword, but still
+without reaching a vulnerable part, and a blow from the tail had thrown
+him down, and the dragon was turning upon him, when the movement left
+the undefended belly exposed. Both mastiffs fastened on it at once, and
+the knight, regaining his feet, thrust his sword into it. There was a
+death grapple, and finally the servants, coming down the hill, found
+their knight lying apparently dead under the carcass of the dragon. When
+they had extricated him, taken off his helmet, and sprinkled him with
+water, he recovered, and presently was led into the city amid the
+ecstatic shouts of the whole populace, who conducted him in triumph to
+the palace of the Grand Master.
+
+We have seen how Titus Manlius was requited by his father for his
+breach of discipline. It was somewhat in the same manner that Helion de
+Villeneuve received Dieudonne. We borrow Schiller's beautiful version
+of the conversation that took place, as the young knight, pale, with his
+black mantle rent, his shining armor dinted, his scarlet surcoat stained
+with blood, came into the Knights' Great Hall.
+
+
+      'Severe and grave was the Master's brow,
+     Quoth he, 'A hero bold art thou,
+     By valor 't is that knights are known;
+     A valiant spirit hast thou shown;
+     But the first duty of a knight,
+     Now tell, who vows for CHRIST to fight
+     And bears the Cross on his coat of mail.'
+     The listeners all with fear grew pale,
+     While, bending lowly, spake the knight,
+     His cheeks with blushes burning,
+     'He who the Cross would bear aright
+     Obedience must be learning.'
+
+
+Even after hearing the account of the conflict, the Grand Master did not
+abate his displeasure.
+
+
+      'My son, the spoiler of the land
+     Lies slain by thy victorious hand
+     Thou art the people's god, but so
+     Thou art become thine Order's foe;
+     A deadlier foe thine heart has bred
+     Than this which by thy hand is dead,
+     That serpent still the heart defiling
+     To ruin and to strife beguiling,
+     It is that spirit rash and bold,
+       That scorns the bands of order;
+     Rages against them uncontrolled
+       Till earth is in disorder.
+
+      'Courage by Saracens is shown,
+     Submission is the Christian's own;
+     And where our Saviour, high and holy,
+     Wandered a pilgrim poor and lowly
+     Upon that ground with mystery fraught,
+     The fathers of our Order taught
+     The duty hardest to fulfil
+     Is to give up your own self-will
+     Thou art elate with glory vain.
+     Away then from my sight!
+     Who can his Saviour's yoke disdain
+     Bears not his Cross aright.'
+
+      'An angry cry burst from the crowd,
+     The hall rang with their tumult loud;
+     Each knightly brother prayed for grace.
+     The victor downward bent his face,
+     Aside his cloak in silence laid,
+     Kissed the Grand Master's hand, nor stayed.
+     The Master watched him from the hall,
+     Then summoned him with loving call,
+     'Come to embrace me, noble son,
+     Thine is the conquest of the soul;
+     Take up the Cross, now truly won,
+     By meekness and by self-control.'
+
+
+The probation of Dieudonne is said to have been somewhat longer than
+the poem represents, but after the claims of discipline had been
+established, he became a great favorite with stern old Villeneuve, and
+the dragon's head was set up over the gate of the city, where Thevenot
+professed to have seen it in the seventeenth century, and said that it
+was larger than that of a horse, with a huge mouth and teeth and very
+large eyes. The name of Rhodes is said to come from a Phoenician word,
+meaning a serpent, and the Greeks called this isle of serpents, which
+is all in favor of the truth of the story. But, on the other hand, such
+traditions often are prompted by the sight of the fossil skeletons of
+the dragons of the elder world, and are generally to be met with where
+such minerals prevail as are found in the northern part of Rhodes. The
+tale is disbelieved by many, but it is hard to suppose it an entire
+invention, though the description of the monster may have been
+exaggerated.
+
+Dieudonne de Gozon was elected to the Grand Mastership after the death
+of Villeneuve, and is said to have voted for himself. If so, it seems as
+if he might have had, in his earlier days, an overweening opinion of
+his own abilities. However, he was an excellent Grand Master, a great
+soldier, and much beloved by all the poor peasants of the island, to
+whom he was exceedingly kind. He died in 1353, and his tomb is said to
+have been the only inscribed with these words, 'Here lies the Dragon
+Slayer.'
+
+
+
+
+THE KEYS OF CALAIS
+
+1347
+
+
+Nowhere does the continent of Europe approach Great Britain so closely
+as at the straits of Dover, and when our sovereigns were full of the
+vain hope of obtaining the crown of France, or at least of regaining
+the great possessions that their forefathers has owned as French nobles,
+there was no spot so coveted by them as the fortress of Calais, the
+possession of which gave an entrance into France.
+
+Thus it was that when, in 1346, Edward III. had beaten Philippe VI. at
+the battle of Crecy, the first use he made of his victory was to march
+upon Calais, and lay siege to it. The walls were exceedingly strong and
+solid, mighty defenses of masonry, of huge thickness and like rocks
+for solidity, guarded it, and the king knew that it would be useless to
+attempt a direct assault. Indeed, during all the Middle Ages, the modes
+of protecting fortifications were far more efficient than the modes of
+attacking them. The walls could be made enormously massive, the towers
+raised to a great height, and the defenders so completely sheltered by
+battlements that they could not easily be injured and could take aim
+from the top of their turrets, or from their loophole windows. The gates
+had absolute little castles of their own, a moat flowed round the walls
+full of water, and only capable of being crossed by a drawbridge, behind
+which the portcullis, a grating armed beneath with spikes, was always
+ready to drop from the archway of the gate and close up the entrance.
+The only chance of taking a fortress by direct attack was to fill up the
+moat with earth and faggots, and then raise ladders against the walls;
+or else to drive engines against the defenses, battering-rams which
+struck them with heavy beams, mangonels which launched stones, sows
+whose arched wooden backs protected troops of workmen who tried to
+undermine the wall, and moving towers consisting of a succession of
+stages or shelves, filled with soldiers, and with a bridge with iron
+hooks, capable of being launched from the highest story to the top of
+the battlements. The besieged could generally disconcert the battering-
+ram by hanging beds or mattresses over the walls to receive the brunt of
+the blow, the sows could be crushed with heavy stones, the towers
+burnt by well-directed flaming missiles, the ladders overthrown, and in
+general the besiegers suffered a great deal more damage than they could
+inflict. Cannon had indeed just been brought into use at the battle
+of Crecy, but they only consisted of iron bars fastened together with
+hoops, and were as yet of little use, and thus there seemed to be little
+danger to a well-guarded city from any enemy outside the walls.
+
+King Edward arrived before the place with all his victorious army early
+in August, his good knights and squires arrayed in glittering steel
+armor, covered with surcoats richly embroidered with their heraldic
+bearings; his stout men-at-arms, each of whom was attended by three bold
+followers; and his archers, with their crossbows to shoot bolts, and
+longbows to shoot arrows of a yard long, so that it used to be said that
+each went into battle with three men's lives under his girdle, namely,
+the three arrows he kept there ready to his hand. With the King was
+his son, Edward, Prince of Wales, who had just won the golden spurs of
+knighthood so gallantly at Crecy, when only in his seventeenth year, and
+likewise the famous Hainault knight, Sir Walter Mauny, and all that was
+noblest and bravest in England.
+
+This whole glittering army, at their head the King's great royal
+standard bearing the golden lilies of France quartered with the lions
+of England, and each troop guided by the square banner, swallow-tailed
+pennon or pointed pennoncel of their leader, came marching to the gates
+of Calais, above which floated the blue standard of France with its
+golden flowers, and with it the banner of the governor, Sir Jean de
+Vienne. A herald, in a rich long robe embroidered with the arms of
+England, rode up to the gate, a trumpet sounding before him, and called
+upon Sir Jean de Vienne to give up the place to Edward, King of England,
+and of France, as he claimed to be. Sir Jean made answer that he held
+the town for Philippe, King of France, and that he would defend it to
+the last; the herald rode back again and the English began the siege of
+the city.
+
+At first they only encamped, and the people of Calais must have seen the
+whole plain covered with the white canvas tents, marshalled round
+the ensigns of the leaders, and here and there a more gorgeous one
+displaying the colours of the owner. Still there was no attack upon the
+walls. The warriors were to be seen walking about in the leathern suits
+they wore under their armor; or if a party was to be seen with their
+coats of mail on, helmet on head, and lance in hand, it was not against
+Calais that they came; they rode out into the country, and by and by
+might be seen driving back before them herds of cattle and flocks
+of sheep or pigs that they had seized and taken away from the poor
+peasants; and at night the sky would show red lights where farms and
+homesteads had been set on fire. After a time, in front of the tents,
+the English were to be seen hard at work with beams and boards, setting
+up huts for themselves, and thatching them over with straw or broom.
+These wooden houses were all ranged in regular streets, and there was
+a marketplace in the midst, whither every Saturday came farmers and
+butchers to sell corn and meat, and hay for the horses; and the English
+merchants and Flemish weavers would come by sea and by land to bring
+cloth, bread, weapons, and everything that could be needed to be sold in
+this warlike market.
+
+The Governor, Sir Jean de Vienne, began to perceive that the King did
+not mean to waste his men by making vain attacks on the strong walls of
+Calais, but to shut up the entrance by land, and watch the coast by sea
+so as to prevent any provisions from being taken in, and so to starve
+him into surrendering. Sir Jean de Vienne, however, hoped that before he
+should be entirely reduced by famine, the King of France would be able
+to get together another army and come to his relief, and at any rate he
+was determined to do his duty, and hold out for his master to the last.
+But as food was already beginning to grow scarce, he was obliged to turn
+out such persons as could not fight and had no stores of their own, and
+so one Wednesday morning he caused all the poor to be brought together,
+men, women, and children, and sent them all out of the town, to the
+number of 1,700. It was probably the truest mercy, for he had no food to
+give them, and they could only have starved miserably within the town,
+or have hindered him from saving it for his sovereign; but to them it
+was dreadful to be driven out of house and home, straight down upon
+the enemy, and they went along weeping and wailing, till the English
+soldiers met them and asked why they had come out. They answered
+that they had been put out because they had nothing to eat, and their
+sorrowful, famished looks gained pity for them. King Edward sent orders
+that not only should they go safely through his camp, but that they
+should all rest, and have the first hearty dinner that they had eaten
+for many a day, and he sent every one a small sum of money before they
+left the camp, so that many of them went on their way praying aloud for
+the enemy who had been so kind to them.
+
+A great deal happened whilst King Edward kept watch in his wooden town
+and the citizens of Calais guarded their walls. England was invaded
+by King David II. of Scotland, with a great army, and the good Queen
+Philippa, who was left to govern at home in the name of her little son
+Lionel, assembled all the forces that were left at home, and crossed the
+Straits of Dover, and a messenger brought King Edward letters from his
+Queen to say that the Scots army had been entirely defeated at Nevil's
+Cross, near Durham, and that their King was a prisoner, but that he had
+been taken by a squire named John Copeland, who would not give him up to
+her.
+
+King Edward sent letters to John Copeland to come to him at Calais,
+and when the squire had made his journey, the King took him by the
+hand saying, 'Ha! welcome, my squire, who by his valor has captured our
+adversary the King of Scotland.'
+
+Copeland, falling on one knee, replied, 'If God, out of His great
+kindness, has given me the King of Scotland, no one ought to be jealous
+of it, for God can, when He pleases, send His grace to a poor squire
+as well as to a great Lord. Sir, do not take it amiss if I did not
+surrender him to the orders of my lady the Queen, for I hold my lands of
+you, and my oath is to you, not to her.'
+
+The King was not displeased with his squire's sturdiness, but made him a
+knight, gave him a pension of 500l. a year, and desired him to
+surrender his prisoner to the Queen, as his own representative. This was
+accordingly done, and King David was lodged in the Tower of London.
+Soon after, three days before All Saint's Day, there was a large and gay
+fleet to be seen crossing from the white cliffs of Dover, and the King,
+his son, and his knights rode down to the landing place to welcome
+plump, fair haired Queen Philippa, and all her train of ladies, who had
+come in great numbers to visit their husbands, fathers, or brothers in
+the wooden town.
+
+Then there was a great Court, and numerous feasts and dances, and the
+knights and squires were constantly striving who could do the bravest
+deed of prowess to please the ladies. The King of France had placed
+numerous knights and men-at-arms in the neighboring towns and castles,
+and there were constant fights whenever the English went out foraging,
+and many bold deeds that were much admired were done. The great point
+was to keep provisions out of the town, and there was much fighting
+between the French who tried to bring in supplies, and the English who
+intercepted them. Very little was brought in by land, and Sir Jean
+de Vienne and his garrison would have been quite starved but for two
+sailors of Abbeville, named Marant and Mestriel, who knew the coast
+thoroughly, and often, in the dark autumn evenings, would guide in a
+whole fleet of little boats, loaded with bread and meat for the starving
+men within the city. They were often chased by King Edward's vessels,
+and were sometimes very nearly taken, but they always managed to escape,
+and thus they still enabled the garrison to hold out.
+
+So all the winter passed, Christmas was kept with brilliant feastings
+and high merriment by the King and his Queen in their wooden palace
+outside, and with lean cheeks and scanty fare by the besieged within.
+Lent was strictly observed perforce by the besieged, and Easter brought
+a betrothal in the English camp; a very unwilling one on the part of
+the bridegroom, the young Count of Flanders, who loved the French much
+better than the English, and had only been tormented into giving his
+consent by his unruly vassals because they depended on the wool of
+English sheep for their cloth works. So, though King Edward's daughter
+Isabel was a beautiful fair-haired girl of fifteen, the young Count
+would scarcely look at her; and in the last week before the marriage
+day, while her robes and her jewels were being prepared, and her father
+and mother were arranging the presents they should make to all their
+Court on the wedding day, the bridegroom, when out hawking, gave his
+attendants the slip, and galloped off to Paris, where he was welcomed by
+King Philippe.
+
+This made Edward very wrathful, and more than ever determined to take
+Calais. About Whitsuntide he completed a great wooden castle upon the
+seashore, and placed in it numerous warlike engines, with forty men-at-
+arms and 200 archers, who kept such a watch upon the harbour that not
+even the two Abbeville sailors could enter it, without having their
+boats crushed and sunk by the great stones that the mangonels launched
+upon them. The townspeople began to feel what hunger really was, but
+their spirits were kept up by the hope that their King was at last
+collecting an army for their rescue.
+
+And Philippe did collect all his forces, a great and noble army, and
+came one night to the hill of Sangate, just behind the English army, the
+knights' armor glancing and their pennons flying in the moonlight, so as
+to be a beautiful sight to the hungry garrison who could see the white
+tents pitched upon the hillside. Still there were but two roads by
+which the French could reach their friends in the town--one along the
+seacoast, the other by a marshy road higher up the country, and there
+was but one bridge by which the river could be crossed. The English
+King's fleet could prevent any troops from passing along the coast
+road, the Earl of Derby guarded the bridge, and there was a great tower,
+strongly fortified, close upon Calais. There were a few skirmishes, but
+the French King, finding it difficult to force his way to relieve the
+town, sent a party of knights with a challenge to King Edward to come
+out of his camp and do battle upon a fair field.
+
+To this Edward made answer, that he had been nearly a year before
+Calais, and had spent large sums of money on the siege, and that he had
+nearly become master of the place, so that he had no intention of coming
+out only to gratify his adversary, who must try some other road if he
+could not make his way in by that before him.
+
+Three days were spent in parleys, and then, without the slightest
+effort to rescue the brave, patient men within the town, away went King
+Philippe of France, with all his men, and the garrison saw the host that
+had crowded the hill of Sangate melt away like a summer cloud.
+
+August had come again, and they had suffered privation for a whole year
+for the sake of the King who deserted them at their utmost need. They
+were in so grievous a state of hunger and distress that the hardiest
+could endure no more, for ever since Whitsuntide no fresh provisions had
+reached them. The Governor, therefore, went to the battlements and
+made signs that he wished to hold a parley, and the King appointed
+Lord Basset and Sir Walter Mauny to meet him, and appoint the terms of
+surrender.
+
+The Governor owned that the garrison was reduced to the greatest
+extremity of distress, and requested that the King would be contented
+with obtaining the city and fortress, leaving the soldiers and
+inhabitants to depart in peace.
+
+But Sir Walter Mauny was forced to make answer that the King, his lord,
+was so much enraged at the delay and expense that Calais had cost him,
+that he would only consent to receive the whole on unconditional terms,
+leaving him free to slay, or to ransom, or make prisoners whomsoever he
+pleased, and he was known to consider that there was a heavy reckoning
+to pay, both for the trouble the siege had cost him and the damage the
+Calesians had previously done to his ships.
+
+The brave answer was: 'These conditions are too hard for us. We are but
+a small number of knights and squires, who have loyally served our
+lord and master as you would have done, and have suffered much ill and
+disquiet, but we will endure far more than any man has done in such a
+post, before we consent that the smallest boy in the town shall fare
+worse than ourselves. I therefore entreat you, for pity's sake, to
+return to the King and beg him to have compassion, for I have such an
+opinion of his gallantry that I think he will alter his mind.'
+
+The King's mind seemed, however, sternly made up; and all that Sir
+Walter Mauny and the barons of the council could obtain from him was
+that he would pardon the garrison and townsmen on condition that six of
+the chief citizens should present themselves to him, coming forth with
+bare feet and heads, with halters round their necks, carrying the
+keys of the town, and becoming absolutely his own to punish for their
+obstinacy as he should think fit.
+
+On hearing this reply, Sir Jean de Vienne begged Sir Walter Mauny
+to wait till he could consult the citizens, and, repairing to the
+marketplace, he caused a great bell to be rung, at sound of which all
+the inhabitants came together in the town hall. When he told them of
+these hard terms he could not refrain from weeping bitterly, and wailing
+and lamentation arose all round him. Should all starve together, or
+sacrifice their best and most honored after all suffering in common so
+long?
+
+Then a voice was heard; it was that of the richest burgher in the town,
+Eustache de St. Pierre. 'Messieurs high and low,' he said, 'it would be
+a sad pity to suffer so many people to die through hunger, if it could
+be prevented; and to hinder it would be meritorious in the eyes of our
+Saviour. I have such faith and trust in finding grace before God, if I
+die to save my townsmen, that I name myself as the first of the six.'
+
+As the burgher ceased, his fellow townsmen wept aloud, and many, amid
+tears and groans, threw themselves at his feet in a transport of grief
+and gratitude. Another citizen, very rich and respected, rose up and
+said, 'I will be second to my comrade, Eustache.' His name was Jean
+Daire. After him, Jacques Wissant, another very rich man, offered
+himself as companion to these, who were both his cousins; and his
+brother Pierre would not be left behind: and two more, unnamed, made up
+this gallant band of men willing to offer their lives for the rescue of
+their fellow townsmen.
+
+Sir Jean de Vienne mounted a little horse--for he had been wounded,
+and was still lame--and came to the gate with them, followed by all the
+people of the town, weeping and wailing, yet, for their own sakes and
+their children's not daring to prevent the sacrifice. The gates were
+opened, the governor and the six passed out, and the gates were again
+shut behind them. Sir Jean then rode up to Sir Walter Mauny, and told
+him how these burghers had voluntarily offered themselves, begging him
+to do all in his power to save them; and Sir Walter promised with his
+whole heart to plead their cause. De Vienne then went back into the
+town, full of heaviness and anxiety; and the six citizens were led by
+Sir Walter to the presence of the King, in his full Court. They all
+knelt down, and the foremost said: 'Most gallant King, you see before
+you six burghers of Calais, who have all been capital merchants, and who
+bring you the keys of the castle and town. We yield ourselves to your
+absolute will and pleasure, in order to save the remainder of the
+inhabitants of Calais, who have suffered much distress and misery.
+Condescend, therefore, out of your nobleness of mind, to have pity on
+us.'
+
+Strong emotion was excited among all the barons and knights who stood
+round, as they saw the resigned countenances, pale and thin with
+patiently endured hunger, of these venerable men, offering themselves
+in the cause of their fellow townsmen. Many tears of pity were shed; but
+the King still showed himself implacable, and commanded that they should
+be led away, and their heads stricken off. Sir Walter Mauny interceded
+for them with all his might, even telling the King that such an
+execution would tarnish his honor, and that reprisals would be made on
+his own garrisons; and all the nobles joined in entreating pardon
+for the citizens, but still without effect; and the headsman had been
+actually sent for, when Queen Philippa, her eyes streaming with tears,
+threw herself on her knees amongst the captives, and said, 'Ah, gentle
+sir, since I have crossed the sea, with much danger, to see you, I have
+never asked you one favor; now I beg as a boon to myself, for the sake
+of the Son of the Blessed Mary, and for your love to me, that you will
+be merciful to these men!'
+
+For some time the King looked at her in silence; then he exclaimed:
+'Dame, dame, would that you had been anywhere than here! You have
+entreated in such a manner that I cannot refuse you; I therefore give
+these men to you, to do as you please with.'
+
+Joyfully did Queen Philippa conduct the six citizens to her own
+apartments, where she made them welcome, sent them new garments,
+entertained them with a plentiful dinner, and dismissed them each with
+a gift of six nobles. After this, Sir Walter Mauny entered the city,
+and took possession of it; retaining Sir Jean de Vienne and the other
+knights and squires till they should ransom themselves, and sending out
+the old French inhabitants; for the King was resolved to people the city
+entirely of English, in order to gain a thoroughly strong hold of this
+first step in France.
+
+The King and Queen took up their abode in the city; and the houses of
+Jean Daire were, it appears, granted to the Queen--perhaps, because she
+considered the man himself as her charge, and wished to secure them for
+him--and her little daughter Margaret was, shortly after, born in one of
+his houses. Eustache de St. Pierre was taken into high favor, and placed
+in charge of the new citizens whom the King placed in the city.
+
+Indeed, as this story is told by no chronicler but Froissart, some have
+doubted of it, and thought the violent resentment thus imputed to Edward
+III inconsistent with his general character; but it is evident that
+the men of Calais had given him strong provocation by attacks on his
+shipping--piracies which are not easily forgiven--and that he considered
+that he had a right to make an example of them. It is not unlikely that
+he might, after all, have intended to forgive them, and have given the
+Queen the grace of obtaining their pardon, so as to excuse himself from
+the fulfillment of some over-hasty threat. But, however this may have
+been, nothing can lessen the glory of the six grave and patient men who
+went forth, by their own free will, to meet what might be a cruel
+and disgraceful death, in order to obtain the safety of their fellow-
+townsmen.
+
+Very recently, in the summer of 1864, an instance has occurred of self-
+devotion worthy to be recorded with that of Eustache de St. Pierre. The
+City of Palmyra, in Tennessee, one of the Southern States of America,
+had been occupied by a Federal army. An officer of this army was
+assassinated, and, on the cruel and mistaken system of taking reprisals,
+the general arrested ten of the principal inhabitants, and condemned
+them to be shot, as deeming the city responsible for the lives of his
+officers. One of them was the highly respected father of a large family,
+and could ill be spared. A young man, not related to him, upon this,
+came forward and insisted on being taken in his stead, as a less
+valuable life. And great as was the distress of his friend, this
+generous substitution was carried out, and not only spared a father to
+his children, but showed how the sharpest strokes of barbarity can still
+elicit light from the dark stone--light that but for these blows might
+have slept unseen.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF SEMPACH
+
+1397
+
+
+Nothing in history has been more remarkable than the union of the
+cantons and cities of the little republic of Switzerland. Of differing
+races, languages, and, latterly, even religions--unlike in habits,
+tastes, opinions and costumes--they have, however, been held together,
+as it were, by pressure from without, and one spirit of patriotism has
+kept the little mountain republic complete for five hundred years.
+
+Originally the lands were fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, the city
+municipalities owning the Emperor for their lord, and the great family
+of Hapsburg, in whom the Empire became at length hereditary, was in
+reality Swiss, the county that gave them title lying in the canton of
+Aargau. Rodolf of Hapsburg was elected leader of the burghers of Zurich,
+long before he was chosen to the Empire; and he continued a Swiss in
+heart, retaining his mountaineer's open simplicity and honesty to the
+end of his life. Privileges were granted by him to the cities and the
+nobles, and the country was loyal and prosperous in his reign.
+
+His son Albert, the same who was slain by his nephew Johann, as before-
+mentioned, permitted those tyrannies of his bailiffs which goaded the
+Swiss to their celebrated revolt, and commenced the long series of wars
+with the House of Hapsburgor, as it was now termed, of Austria--which
+finally established their independence.
+
+On the one side, the Dukes of Austria and their ponderous German
+chivalry wanted to reduce the cantons and cities to vassalage, not to
+the Imperial Crown, a distant and scarcely felt obligation, but to the
+Duchy of Austria; on the other, the hardy mountain peasants and stout
+burghers well knew their true position, and were aware that to admit the
+Austrian usurpation would expose their young men to be drawn upon
+for the Duke's wars, cause their property to be subject to perpetual
+rapacious exactions, and fill their hills with castles for ducal
+bailiffs, who would be little better than licensed robbers. No wonder,
+then, that the generations of William Tell and Arnold Melchthal
+bequeathed a resolute purpose of resistance to their descendants.
+
+It was in 1397, ninety years since the first assertion of Swiss
+independence, when Leopold the Handsome, Duke of Austria, a bold but
+misproud and violent prince, involved himself in one of the constant
+quarrels with the Swiss that were always arising on account of the
+insulting exactions of toll and tribute in the Austrian border cities. A
+sharp war broke out, and the Swiss city of Lucerne took the opportunity
+of destroying the Austrian castle of Rothemburg, where the tolls had
+been particularly vexatious, and of admitting to their league the cities
+of Sempach and Richensee.
+
+Leopold and all the neighboring nobles united their forces. Hatred and
+contempt of the Swiss, as low-born and presumptuous, spurred them on;
+and twenty messengers reached the Duke in one day, with promises of
+support, in his march against Sempach and Lucerne. He had sent a large
+force in the direction of Zurich with Johann Bonstetten, and advanced
+himself with 4,000 horse and 1,400 foot upon Sempach. Zurich undertook
+its own defense, and the Forest cantons sent their brave peasants to the
+support of Lucerne and Sempach, but only to the number of 1,300, who,
+on the 9th of July, took post in the woods around the little lake of
+Sempach.
+
+Meanwhile, Leopold's troops rode round the walls of the little city,
+insulting the inhabitants, one holding up a halter, which he said was
+for the chief magistrate; and another, pointing to the reckless waste
+that his comrades were perpetrating on the fields, shouted, 'Send a
+breakfast to the reapers.' The burgomaster pointed to the wood where his
+allies lay hid, and answered, 'My masters of Lucerne and their friends
+will bring it.'
+
+The story of that day was told by one of the burghers who fought in the
+ranks of Lucerne, a shoemaker, named Albert Tchudi, who was both a brave
+warrior and a master-singer; and as his ballad was translated by another
+master-singer, Sir Walter Scott, and is the spirited record of an
+eyewitness, we will quote from him some of his descriptions of the
+battle and its golden deed.
+
+The Duke's wiser friends proposed to wait till he could be joined by
+Bonstetten and the troops who had gone towards Zurich, and the Baron von
+Hasenburg (i.e. hare-rock) strongly urged this prudent counsel; but--
+
+
+      'O, Hare-Castle, thou heart of hare!'
+       Fierce Oxenstiern he cried,
+     'Shalt see then how the game will fare,'
+       The taunted knight replied.'
+
+
+'This very noon,' said the younger knight to the Duke, 'we will deliver
+up to you this handful of villains.'
+
+
+     'And thus they to each other said,
+       'Yon handful down to hew
+      Will be no boastful tale to tell
+       The peasants are so few.'
+
+
+Characteristically enough, the doughty cobbler describes how the first
+execution that took place was the lopping off the long-peaked toes of
+the boots that the gentlemen wore chained to their knees, and which
+would have impeded them on foot; since it had been decided that the
+horses were too much tired to be serviceable in the action.
+
+
+     'There was lacing then of helmets bright,
+       And closing ranks amain,
+     The peaks they hewed from their boot points
+       Might well nigh load a wain.'
+
+
+They were drawn up in a solid compact body, presenting an unbroken
+line of spears, projecting beyond the wall of gay shields and polished
+impenetrable armor.
+
+The Swiss were not only few in number, but armor was scarce among them;
+some had only boards fastened on their arms by way of shields, some
+had halberts, which had been used by their fathers at the battle of
+Morgarten, others two-handed swords and battleaxes. They drew themselves
+up in the form of a wedge and
+
+
+     'The gallant Swiss confederates then
+       They prayed to God aloud,
+     And He displayed His rainbow fair,
+       Against a swarthy cloud.'
+
+
+Then they rushed upon the serried spears, but in vain. 'The game was
+nothing sweet.'
+
+The banner of Lucerne was in the utmost danger, the Landamman was slain,
+and sixty of his men, and not an Austrian had been wounded. The flanks
+of the Austrian host began to advance so as to enclose the small peasant
+force, and involve it in irremediable destruction. A moment of dismay
+and stillness ensued. Then Arnold von Winkelried of Unterwalden, with
+an eagle glance saw the only means of saving his country, and, with the
+decision of a man who dares by dying to do all things, shouted aloud: 'I
+will open a passage.'
+
+
+      'I have a virtuous wife at home,
+       A wife and infant son:
+     I leave them to my country's care,
+       The field shall yet be won!'
+     He rushed against the Austrian band
+       In desperate career,
+     And with his body, breast, and hand,
+       Bore down each hostile spear;
+     Four lances splintered on his crest,
+       Six shivered in his side,
+     Still on the serried files he pressed,
+       He broke their ranks and died!'
+
+
+The very weight of the desperate charge of this self-devoted man opened
+a breach in the line of spears. In rushed the Swiss wedge, and the
+weight of the nobles' armor and length of their spears was only
+encumbering. They began to fall before the Swiss blows, and Duke Leopold
+was urged to fly. 'I had rather die honorably than live with dishonor,'
+he said. He saw his standard bearer struck to the ground, and seizing
+his banner from his hand, waved it over his head, and threw himself
+among the thickest of the foe. His corpse was found amid a heap of
+slain, and no less then 2000 of his companions perished with him, of
+whom a third are said to have been counts, barons and knights.
+
+
+     'Then lost was banner, spear and shield
+       At Sempach in the flight;
+     The cloister vaults at Konigsfeldt
+       Hold many an Austrian knight.'
+
+
+The Swiss only lost 200; but, as they were spent with the excessive heat
+of the July sun, they did not pursue their enemies. They gave thanks
+on the battlefield to the God of victories, and the next day buried the
+dead, carrying Duke Leopold and twenty-seven of his most illustrious
+companions to the Abbey of Konigsfeldt, where they buried him in the old
+tomb of his forefathers, the lords of Aargau, who had been laid there in
+the good old times, before the house of Hapsburg had grown arrogant with
+success.
+
+As to the master-singer, he tells us of himself that
+
+
+     'A merry man was he, I wot,
+       The night he made the lay,
+     Returning from the bloody spot,
+       Where God had judged the day.'
+
+
+On every 9th of July subsequently, the people of the country have been
+wont to assemble on the battlefield, around four stone crosses
+which mark the spot. A priest from a pulpit in the open air gives
+a thanksgiving sermon on the victory that ensured the freedom of
+Switzerland, and another reads the narrative of the battle, and the roll
+of the brave 200, who, after Winkelried's example, gave their lives in
+the cause. All this is in the face of the mountains and the lake now
+lying in summer stillness, and the harvest fields whose crops are secure
+from marauders, and the congregation then proceed to the small chapel,
+the walls of which are painted with the deed of Arnold von Winkelried,
+and the other distinguished achievements of the confederates, and masses
+are sung for the souls of those who were slain. No wonder that men thus
+nurtured in the memory of such actions were, even to the fall of the
+French monarchy, among the most trustworthy soldiery of Europe.
+
+
+
+
+THE CONSTANT PRINCE
+
+1433
+
+
+The illustrious days of Portugal were during the century and a half of
+the dynasty termed the House of Aviz, because its founder, Dom Joao I.
+had been grand master of the military order of Aviz.
+
+His right to the throne was questionable, or more truly null, and he had
+only obtained the crown from the desire of the nation to be independent
+of Castile, and by the assistance of our own John of Gaunt, whose
+daughter, Philippa of Lancaster, became his wife, thus connecting the
+glories of his line with our own house of Plantagenet.
+
+Philippa was greatly beloved in Portugal, and was a most noble-minded
+woman, who infused her own spirit into her children. She had five sons,
+and when they all had attained an age to be admitted to the order of
+knighthood, their father proposed to give a grand tournament in which
+they might evince their prowess. This, however, seemed but play to the
+high-spirited youths, who had no doubt fed upon the story of the manner
+in which their uncle, the Black Prince, whose name was borne by the
+eldest, had won his spurs at Crecy. Their entreaty was, not to be
+carpet--knights dubbed in time of peace, and King Joao on the other hand
+objected to entering on a war merely for the sake of knighting his sons.
+At last Dom Fernando, the youngest of the brothers, a lad of fourteen,
+proposed that their knighthood should be earned by an expedition to take
+Ceuta from the Moors. A war with the infidel never came amiss, and
+was in fact regarded as a sacred duty; moreover, Ceuta was a nest
+of corsairs who infested the whole Mediterranean coast. Up to the
+nineteenth century the seaports along the African coast of the
+Mediterranean were the hives of pirates, whose small rapid vessels were
+the terror of every unarmed ship that sailed in those waters, and whose
+descents upon the coasts of Spain, France, and Italy rendered life and
+property constantly insecure. A regular system of kidnapping prevailed;
+prisoners had their fixed price, and were carried off to labour in the
+African dockyards, or to be chained to the benches of the Moorish ships
+which their oars propelled, until either a ransom could be procured from
+their friends, or they could be persuaded to become renegades, or death
+put an end to their sufferings. A captivity among the Moors was by no
+means an uncommon circumstance even in the lives of Englishmen down to
+the eighteenth century, and pious persons frequently bequeathed sums of
+money for the ransom of the poorer captives.
+
+Ceuta, perched upon the southern Pillar of Hercules, was one of the most
+perilous of these dens of robbery, and to seize it might well appear
+a worthy action, not only to the fiery princes, but to their cautious
+father. He kept his designs absolutely secret, and contrived to obtain
+a plan of the town by causing one of his vessels to put in there as in
+quest of provisions, while, to cover his preparations for war, he sent
+a public challenge to the Count of Holland, and a secret message at
+the same time, with the assurance that it was only a blind. These
+proceedings were certainly underhand, and partook of treachery; but
+they were probably excused in the King's own mind by the notion, that no
+faith was to be kept with unbelievers, and, moreover, such people as the
+Ceutans were likely never to be wanting in the supply of pretexts for
+attack.
+
+Just as all was ready, the plague broke out in Lisbon, and the Queen
+fell sick of it. Her husband would not leave her, and just before her
+death she sent for all her sons, and gave to each a sword, charging them
+to defend the widow and orphan, and to fight against the infidel. In the
+full freshness of their sorrow, the King and his sons set sail from the
+Bay of Lagos, in the August of 1415, with 59 galleys, 33 ships of war,
+and 120 transports; the largest fleet ever yet sent forth by the little
+kingdom, and the first that had left a Peninsular port with the banners
+and streamers of which the more northern armaments were so profuse.
+
+The governor of Ceuta, Zala ben Zala, was not unprepared for the attack,
+and had collected 5,000 allies to resist the Christians; but a great
+storm having dispersed the fleet on the first day of its appearance, he
+thought the danger over, and dismissed his friends On the 14th August,
+however, the whole fleet again appeared, and the King, in a little boat,
+directed the landing of his men, led by his sons, the Infantes Duarte
+and Henrique. The Moors gave way before them, and they entered the city
+with 500 men, among the flying enemy, and there, after a period of much
+danger, were joined by their brother Pedro. The three fought their way
+to a mosque, where they defended themselves till the King with the rest
+of his army made their way in. Zala ben Zala fled to the citadel, but,
+after one assault, quitted it in the night.
+
+The Christian captives were released, the mosque purified and
+consecrated as a cathedral, a bishop was appointed, and the King gave
+the government of the place to Dom Pedro de Menezes, a knight of such
+known fidelity that the King would not suffer him to take the oath of
+allegiance. An attempt was made by the Moors four years later to recover
+the place; but the Infantes Pedro and Henrique hurried from Portugal
+to succor Menezes, and drove back the besiegers; whereupon the Moors
+murdered their King, Abu Sayd, on whom they laid the blame of the
+disaster.
+
+On the very day, eighteen years later, of the taking of Ceuta, King Joao
+died of the plague at Lisbon, on the 14th of August, 1433. Duarte came
+to the throne; and, a few months after, his young brother, Fernando,
+persuaded him into fitting out another expedition to Africa, of which
+Tangier should be the object.
+
+Duarte doubted of the justice of the war, and referred the question
+to the Pope, who decided against it; but the answer came too late, the
+preparations were made, and the Infantes Henrique and Fernando took the
+command. Henrique was a most enlightened prince, a great mathematician
+and naval discoverer, but he does not appear to have made good use of
+his abilities on the present occasion; for, on arriving at Ceuta, and
+reviewing the troops, they proved to have but 8,000, instead of 14,000,
+as they had intended. Still they proceeded, Henrique by land and
+Fernando by sea, and laid siege to Tangier, which was defended by their
+old enemy, Zala ben Zala. Everything was against them; their scaling
+ladders were too short to reach to the top of the walls, and the Moors
+had time to collect in enormous numbers for the relief of the city,
+under the command of the kings of Fez and Morocco.
+
+The little Christian army was caught as in a net, and, after a day's
+hard fighting, saw the necessity of re-embarking. All was arranged for
+this to be done at night; but a vile traitor, chaplain to the army,
+passed over to the Moors, and revealed their intention. The beach was
+guarded, and the retreat cut off. Another day of fighting passed, and at
+night hunger reduced them to eating their horses.
+
+It was necessary to come to terms, and messengers were sent to treat
+with the two kings. The only terms on which the army could be allowed to
+depart were that one of the Infantes should remain as a hostage for
+the delivery of Ceuta to the Moors. For this purpose Fernando offered
+himself, though it was exceedingly doubtful whether Ceuta would be
+restored; and the Spanish poet, Calderon, puts into his mouth a generous
+message to his brother the King, that they both were Christian princes,
+and that his liberty was not to be weighed in the scale with their
+father's fairest conquest.
+
+Henrique was forced thus to leave his brave brother, and return with
+the remnants of his army to Ceuta, where he fell sick with grief and
+vexation. He sent the fleet home; but it met with a great storm, and
+many vessels were driven on the coast of Andalusia, where, by orders of
+the King, the battered sailors and defeated soldiers were most kindly
+and generously treated.
+
+Dom Duarte, having in the meantime found out with how insufficient an
+army his brothers had been sent forth, had equipped a fresh fleet, the
+arrival of which at Ceuta cheered Henrique with hope of rescuing his
+brother; but it was soon followed by express orders from the King
+that Henrique should give up all such projects and return home. He was
+obliged to comply, but, unable to look Duarte in the face, he retired to
+his own estates at the Algarve.
+
+Duarte convoked the States-general of the kingdom, to consider whether
+Ceuta should be yielded to purchase his brother's freedom. They decided
+that the place was too important to be parted with, but undertook to
+raise any sum of money for the ransom; and if this were not accepted,
+proposed to ask the Pope to proclaim a crusade for his rescue.
+
+At first Fernando was treated well, and kept at Tangier as an honorable
+prisoner; but disappointment enraged the Moors, and he was thrown into
+a dungeon, starved, and maltreated. All this usage he endured with the
+utmost calmness and resolution, and could by no means be threatened into
+entreating for liberty to be won at the cost of the now Christian city
+where his knighthood had been won.
+
+His brother Duarte meantime endeavored to raise the country for his
+deliverance; but the plague was still desolating Portugal, so that it
+was impossible to collect an army, and the infection at length seized
+on the King himself, from a letter which he incautiously opened, and he
+died, in his thirty-eighth year, in 1438, the sixth year of his reign
+and the second of his brother's captivity. His successor, Affonso V.,
+was a child of six years old, and quarrels and disputes between the
+Queen Mother and the Infante Dom Pedro rendered the chance of redeeming
+the captivity of Fernando less and less.
+
+The King of Castille, and even the Moorish King of Granada, shocked at
+his sufferings and touched by his constancy, proposed to unite their
+forces against Tangier for his deliverance; but the effect of this was
+that Zala ben Zala made him over to Muley Xeques, the King of Fez, by
+whom he was thrown into a dungeon without light or air. After a time, he
+was brought back to daylight, but only to toil among the other Christian
+slaves, to whom he was a model of patience, resignation, and kindness.
+Even his enemies became struck with admiration of his high qualities,
+and the King of Fez declared that he even deserved to be a Mahometan!
+
+At last, in 1443, Fernando's captivity ended, but only by his death.
+Muley Xeque caused a tall tower to be erected on his tomb, in memory
+of the victory of Tangier; but in 1473, two sons of Muley being made
+prisoners by the Portuguese, one was ransomed for the body of Dom
+Fernando, who was then solemnly laid in the vaults of the beautiful
+Abbey of Batalha on the field of Aljubarota, which had given his father
+the throne. Universal honor attended the name of the Constant Prince,
+the Portuguese Regulus; and seldom as the Spanish admire anything
+Portuguese, a fine drama of the poet Calderon is founded upon that noble
+spirit which preferred dreary captivity to the yielding up his father's
+conquest to the enemies of his country and religion. Nor was this
+constancy thrown away; Ceuta remained a Christian city. It was held by
+Portugal till the house of Aviz was extinguished in Dom Sebastiao, and
+since that time has belonged to the crown of Spain.
+
+
+
+
+THE CARNIVAL OF PERTH
+
+1435
+
+
+It was bedtime, and the old vaulted chambers of the Dominican monastery
+at Perth echoed with sounds that would seem incongruous in such a home
+of austerity, but that the disturbed state of Scotland rendered it
+the habit of her kings to attach their palaces to convents, that they
+themselves might benefit by the 'peace of the Church', which was in
+general accorded to all sacred spots.
+
+Thus it was that Christmas and Carnival time of 1435-6 had been spent
+by the Court in the cloisters of Perth, and the dance, the song, and the
+tourney had strangely contrasted with the grave and self-denying habits
+to which the Dominicans were devoted in their neighboring cells. The
+festive season was nearly at an end, for it was the 20th of February;
+but the evening had been more than usually gay, and had been spent in
+games at chess, tables, or backgammon, reading romances of chivalry,
+harping, and singing. King James himself, brave and handsome, and in the
+prime of life, was the blithest of the whole joyous party. He was the
+most accomplished man in his dominions; for though he had been basely
+kept a prisoner at Windsor throughout his boyhood by Henry IV of
+England, an education had been bestowed on him far above what he would
+have otherwise obtained; and he was naturally a man of great ability,
+refinement, and strength of character. Not only was he a perfect knight
+on horseback, but in wrestling and running, throwing the hammer, and
+'putting the stane', he had scarcely a rival, and he was skilled in all
+the learned lore of the time, wrote poetry, composed music both sacred
+and profane, and was a complete minstrel, able to sing beautifully and
+to play on the harp and organ. His Queen, the beautiful Joan Beaufort,
+had been the lady of his minstrelsy in the days of his captivity, ever
+since he had watched her walking on the slopes of Windsor Park, and
+wooed her in verses that are still preserved. They had now been eleven
+years married, and their Court was one bright spot of civilization,
+refinement, and grace, amid the savagery of Scotland. And now, after the
+pleasant social evening, the Queen, with her long fair hair unbound, was
+sitting under the hands of her tire-women, who were preparing her for
+the nights rest; and the King, in his furred nightgown, was standing
+before the bright fire on the hearth of the wide chimney, laughing and
+talking with the attendant ladies.
+
+Yet dark hints had already been whispered, which might have cast a
+shadow over that careless mirth. Always fierce and vindictive, the
+Scots had been growing more and more lawless and savage ever since
+the disputed succession of Bruce and Balliol had unsettled all royal
+authority, and led to one perpetual war with the English. The twenty
+years of James's captivity had been the worst of all--almost every noble
+was a robber chief; Scottish Borderer preyed upon English Borderer,
+Highlander upon Lowlander, knight upon traveler, everyone who had armor
+upon him who had not; each clan was at deadly feud with its neighbour;
+blood was shed like water from end to end of the miserable land, and the
+higher the birth of the offender the greater the impunity he claimed.
+
+Indeed, James himself had been brought next to the throne by one of the
+most savage and horrible murders ever perpetrated--that of his elder
+brother, David, by his own uncle; and he himself had probably been only
+saved from sharing the like fate by being sent out of the kingdom. His
+earnest words on his return to take the rule of this unhappy realm were
+these: 'Let God but grant me life, and there shall not be a spot in my
+realm where the key shall not keep the castle, and the bracken bush the
+cow, though I should lead the life of a dog to accomplish it.'
+
+This great purpose had been before James through the eleven years of his
+reign, and he had worked it out resolutely. The lawless nobles would
+not brook his ruling hand, and strong and bitter was the hatred that
+had arisen against him. In many of his transactions he was far from
+blameless: he was sometimes tempted to craft, sometimes to tyranny; but
+his object was always a high and kingly one, though he was led by the
+horrid wickedness of the men he had to deal with more than once to
+forget that evil is not to be overcome with evil, but with good. In the
+main, it was his high and uncompromising resolution to enforce the laws
+upon high and low alike that led to the nobles' conspiracies against
+him; though, if he had always been true to his purpose of swerving
+neither to the right nor to the left, he might have avoided the last
+fatal offence that armed the murderer against his life.
+
+The chief misdoers in the long period of anarchy had been his uncles and
+cousins; nor was it till after his eldest uncle's death that his return
+home had been possible. With a strong hand had he avenged upon the
+princes and their followers the many miseries they had inflicted upon
+his people; and in carrying out these measures he had seized upon the
+great earldom of Strathern, which had descended to one of their party in
+right of his wife, declaring that it could not be inherited by a female.
+In this he appears to have acted unjustly, from the strong desire
+to avail himself by any pretext of an opportunity of breaking the
+overweening power of the great turbulent nobles; and, to make up for
+the loss, he created the new earldom of Menteith, for the young Malise
+Graham, the son of the dispossessed earl. But the proud and vindictive
+Grahams were not thus to be pacified. Sir Robert Graham, the uncle
+of the young earl, drew off into the Highlands, and there formed
+a conspiracy among other discontented men who hated the resolute
+government that repressed their violence. Men of princely blood joined
+in the plot, and 300 Highland catherans were ready to accompany the
+expedition that promised the delights of war and plunder.
+
+Even when the hard-worked King was setting forth to enjoy his holiday at
+Perth, the traitors had fixed upon that spot as the place of his doom;
+but the scheme was known to so many, that it could not be kept entirely
+secret, and warnings began to gather round the King. When, on his way
+to Perth, he was about to cross the Firth of Forth, the wild figure of
+a Highland woman appeared at his bridle rein, and solemnly warned him
+'that, if he crossed that water, he would never return alive'. He was
+struck by the apparition, and bade one of his knights to enquire of her
+what she meant; but the knight must have been a dullard or a traitor,
+for he told the King that the woman was either mad or drunk, and no
+notice was taken of her warning.
+
+There was likewise a saying abroad in Scotland, that the new year, 1436,
+should see the death of a king; and this same carnival night, James,
+while playing at chess with a young friend, whom he was wont to call the
+king of love, laughingly observed that 'it must be you or I, since there
+are but two kings in Scotland--therefore, look well to yourself'.
+
+Little did the blithe monarch guess that at that moment one of the
+conspirators, touched by a moment's misgiving, was hovering round,
+seeking in vain for an opportunity of giving him warning; that even
+then his chamberlain and kinsman, Sir Robert Stewart, was enabling
+the traitors to place boards across the moat for their passage, and
+to remove the bolts and bars of all the doors in their way. And the
+Highland woman was at the door, earnestly entreating to see the King, if
+but for one moment! The message was even brought to him, but, alas! he
+bade her wait till the morrow, and she turned away, declaring that she
+should never more see his face!
+
+And now, as before said, the feast was over, and the King stood, gaily
+chatting with his wife and her ladies, when the clang of arms was heard,
+and the glare of torches in the court below flashed on the windows. The
+ladies flew to secure the doors. Alas! the bolts and bars were gone! Too
+late the warnings returned upon the King's mind, and he knew it was he
+alone who was sought. He tried to escape by the windows, but here the
+bars were but too firm. Then he seized the tongs, and tore up a board
+in the floor, by which he let himself down into the vault below, just
+as the murderers came rushing along the passage, slaying on their way a
+page named Walter Straiton.
+
+There was no bar to the door. Yes, there was. Catherine Douglas, worthy
+of her name, worthy of the cognizance of the bleeding heart, thrust her
+arm through the empty staples to gain for her sovereign a few moments
+more for escape and safety! But though true as steel, the brave arm was
+not as strong. It was quickly broken. She was thrust fainting aside, and
+the ruffians rushed in. Queen Joan stood in the midst of the room, with
+her hair streaming round her, and her mantle thrown hastily on. Some of
+the wretches even struck and wounded her, but Graham called them off,
+and bade them search for the King. They sought him in vain in every
+corner of the women's apartments, and dispersed through the other rooms
+in search of their prey. The ladies began to hope that the citizens and
+nobles in the town were coming to their help, and that the King might
+have escaped through an opening that led from the vault into the tennis
+court. Presently, however, the King called to them to draw him up again,
+for he had not been able to get out of the vault, having a few days
+before caused the hole to be bricked up, because his tennis balls used
+to fly into it and be lost. In trying to draw him up by the sheets,
+Elizabeth Douglas, another of the ladies, was actually pulled down into
+the vault; the noise was heard by the assassins, who were still watching
+outside, and they returned.
+
+There is no need to tell of the foul and cruel slaughter that ensued,
+nor of the barbarous vengeance that visited it. Our tale is of golden,
+not of brazen deeds; and if we have turned our eyes for a moment to the
+Bloody Carnival of Perth, it is for the sake of the King, who was too
+upright for his bloodthirsty subjects, and, above all, for that of the
+noble-hearted lady whose frail arm was the guardian of her sovereign's
+life in the extremity of peril.
+
+In like manner, on the dreadful 6th of October, 1787, when the
+infuriated mob of Paris had been incited by the revolutionary leaders
+to rush to Versailles in pursuit of the royal family, whose absence they
+fancied deprived them of bread and liberty, a woman shared the honor of
+saving her sovereign's life, at least for that time.
+
+The confusion of the day, with the multitude thronging the courts and
+park of Versailles, uttering the most frightful threats and insults, had
+been beyond all description; but there had been a pause at night, and at
+two o'clock, poor Queen Marie Antoinette, spent with horror and fatigue,
+at last went to bed, advising her ladies to do the same; but their
+anxiety was too great, and they sat up at her door. At half-past four
+they heard musket shots, and loud shouts, and while one awakened the
+Queen, the other, Madame Auguier, flew towards the place whence
+the noise came. As she opened the door, she found one of the royal
+bodyguards, with his face covered with blood, holding his musket so as
+to bar the door while the furious mob were striking at him. He turned
+to the lady, and cried, 'Save the Queen, madame, they are come to murder
+her!' Quick as lightning, Madame Auguier shut and bolted the door,
+rushed to the Queen's bedside, and dragged her to the opposite door,
+with a petticoat just thrown over her. Behold, the door was fastened on
+the other side! The ladies knocked violently, the King's valet opened
+it, and in a few minutes the whole family were in safety in the King's
+apartments. M. de Miomandre, the brave guardsman, who used his musket to
+guard the Queen's door instead of to defend himself, fell wounded; but
+his comrade, M. de Repaire, at once took his place, and, according to
+one account, was slain, and the next day his head, set upon a pike, was
+borne before the carriage in which the royal family were escorted back
+to Paris.
+
+M. de Miomandre, however, recovered from his wounds, and a few weeks
+after, the Queen, hearing that his loyalty had made him a mark for the
+hatred of the mob, sent for him to desire him to quit Paris. She said
+that gold could not repay such a service as his had been, but she hoped
+one day to be able to recompense him more as he deserved; meanwhile, she
+hoped he would consider that as a sister might advance a timely sum to a
+brother, so she might offer him enough to defray his expenses at Paris,
+and to provide for his journey. In a private audience then he kissed her
+hand, and those of the King and his saintly sister, Elizabeth, while the
+Queen gratefully expressed her thanks, and the King stood by, with tears
+in his eyes, but withheld by his awkward bashfulness from expressing the
+feelings that overpowered him.
+
+Madame Auguier, and her sister, Madame Campan, continued with their
+royal lady until the next stage in that miserable downfall of all that
+was high and noble in unhappy France. She lived through the horrors of
+the Revolution, and her daughter became the wife of Marshal Ney.
+
+Well it is that the darkening firmament does but show the stars, and
+that when treason and murder surge round the fated chambers of royalty,
+their foulness and violence do but enhance the loyal self-sacrifice
+of such doorkeepers as Catherine Douglas, Madame Auguier, or M. de
+Miomandre.
+
+
+     'Such deeds can woman's spirit do,
+     O Catherine Douglas, brave and true!
+     Let Scotland keep thy holy name
+     Still first upon her ranks of fame.'
+
+
+
+
+THE CROWN OF ST. STEPHEN
+
+1440
+
+
+Of all the possessions of the old kingdom of Hungary, none was more
+valued than what was called the Crown of St. Stephen, so called from
+one, which had, in the year 1000, been presented by Pope Sylvester II.
+to Stephen, the second Christian Duke, and first King of Hungary. A
+crown and a cross were given to him for his coronation, which took place
+in the Church of the Holy Virgin, at Alba Regale, also called in German
+Weissenburg, where thenceforth the Kings of Hungary were anointed to
+begin their troubled reigns, and at the close of them were laid to
+rest beneath the pavement, where most of them might have used the same
+epitaph as the old Italian leader: 'He rests here, who never rested
+before'. For it was a wild realm, bordered on all sides by foes, with
+Poland, Bohemia, and Austria, ever casting greedy eyes upon it, and
+afterwards with the Turk upon the southern border, while the Magyars, or
+Hungarian nobles, themselves were a fierce and untameable race, bold
+and generous, but brooking little control, claiming a voice in choosing
+their own Sovereign, and to resist him, even by force of arms, if he
+broke the laws. No prince had a right to their allegiance unless he
+had been crowned with St. Stephen's Crown; but if he had once worn
+that sacred circle, he thenceforth was held as the only lawful monarch,
+unless he should flagrantly violate the Constitution. In 1076, another
+crown had been given by the Greek Emperor to Geysa, King of Hungary, and
+the sacred crown combined the two. It had the two arches of the
+Roman crown, and the gold circlet of the Constantinopolitan; and the
+difference of workmanship was evident.
+
+In the year 1439 died King Albert, who had been appointed King of
+Hungary in right of his wife, Queen Elizabeth. He left a little daughter
+only four years old, and as the Magyars had never been governed by a
+female hand, they proposed to send and offer their crown, and the hand
+of their young widowed Queen, to Wladislas, the King of Poland. But
+Elizabeth had hopes of another child, and in case it should be a son,
+she had no mind to give away its rights to its father's throne. How,
+then, was she to help herself among the proud and determined nobles
+of her Court? One thing was certain, that if once the Polish king were
+crowned with St. Stephen's crown, it would be his own fault if he were
+not King of Hungary as long as he lived; but if the crown were not to be
+found, of course he could not receive it, and the fealty of the nobles
+would not be pledged to him.
+
+The most trustworthy person she had about her was Helen Kottenner, the
+lady who had the charge of her little daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and
+to her she confided her desire that the crown might be secured, so as
+to prevent the Polish party from getting access to it. Helen herself
+has written down the history of these strange events, and of her own
+struggles of mind, at the risk she ran, and the doubt whether good
+would come of the intrigue; and there can be no doubt that, whether the
+Queen's conduct were praiseworthy or not, Helen dared a great peril for
+the sake purely of loyalty and fidelity. 'The Queen's commands', she
+says, 'sorely troubled me; for it was a dangerous venture for me and my
+little children, and I turned it over in my mind what I should do, for
+I had no one to take counsel of but God alone; and I thought if I did
+it not, and evil arose therefrom, I should be guilty before God and the
+world. So I consented to risk my life on this difficult undertaking; but
+desired to have someone to help me.' This was permitted; but the first
+person to whom the Lady of Kottenner confided her intention, a Croat,
+lost his color from alarm, looked like one half-dead, and went at once
+in search of his horse. The next thing that was heard of him was that
+he had had a bad fall from his horse, and had been obliged to return to
+Croatia, and the Queen remained much alarmed at her plans being known
+to one so faint-hearted. However, a more courageous confidant was
+afterwards found in a Hungarian gentleman, whose name has become
+illegible in Helen's old manuscript.
+
+The crown was in the vaults of the strong Castle of Plintenburg, also
+called Vissegrad, which stands upon a bend of the Danube, about twelve
+miles from the twin cities of Buda and Pesth. It was in a case within a
+chest, sealed with many seals, and since the King's death, it had been
+brought up by the nobles, who closely guarded both it and the Queen,
+into her apartments, and there examined and replaced in the chest. The
+next night, one of the Queen's ladies upset a wax taper, without being
+aware of it, and before the fire was discovered, and put out, the corner
+of the chest was singed, and a hole burnt in the blue velvet cushion
+that lay on the top. Upon this, the lords had caused the chest to be
+taken down again into the vault, and had fastened the doors with many
+locks and with seals. The Castle had further been put into the charge of
+Ladislas von Gara, the Queen's cousin, and Ban, or hereditary commander,
+of the border troops, and he had given it over to a Burggraf, or
+seneschal, who had placed his bed in the chamber where was the door
+leading to the vaults.
+
+The Queen removed to Komorn, a castle higher up the Danube, in charge
+of her faithful cousin, Count Ulric of Eily, taking with her her little
+daughter Elizabeth, Helen Kottenner, and two other ladies. This was the
+first stage on the journey to Presburg, where the nobles had wished to
+lodge the Queen, and from thence she sent back Helen to bring the rest
+of the maids of honor and her goods to join her at Komorn. It was early
+spring, and snow was still on the ground, and the Lady of Kottenner and
+her faithful nameless assistant travelled in a sledge; but two Hungarian
+noblemen went with them, and they had to be most careful in concealing
+their arrangements. Helen had with her the Queen's signet, and keys;
+and her friend had a file in each shoe, and keys under his black velvet
+dress.
+
+On arriving in the evening, they found that the Burggraf had fallen
+ill, and could not sleep in the chamber leading to the vault, because it
+belonged to the ladies' chambers, and that he had therefore put a cloth
+over the padlock of the door and sealed it. There was a stove in the
+room, and the maidens began to pack up their clothes there, an operation
+that lasted till eight o'clock; while Helen's friend stood there,
+talking and jesting with them, trying all the while to hide the files,
+and contriving to say to Helen: 'Take care that we have a light.' So she
+begged the old housekeeper to give her plenty of wax tapers, as she had
+many prayers to say. At last everyone was gone to bed, and there only
+remained in the room with Helen, an old woman, whom she had brought with
+her, who knew no German, and was fast asleep. Then the accomplice came
+back through the chapel, which opened into this same hall. He had on his
+black velvet gown and felt shoes, and was followed by a servant, who,
+Helen says, was bound to him by oath, and had the same Christian name as
+himself, this being evidently an additional bond of fidelity. Helen, who
+had received from the Queen all the keys to this outer room, let them
+in, and, after the Burggraf's cloth and seal had been removed, they
+unlocked the padlock, and the other two locks of the outer door of
+the vault, and the two men descended into it. There were several other
+doors, whose chains required to be filed through, and their seals and
+locks broken, and to the ears of the waiting Helen the noise appeared
+fatally loud. She says, 'I devoutly prayed to God and the Holy Virgin,
+that they would support and help me; yet I was in greater anxiety for my
+soul than for my life, and I prayed to God that He would be merciful to
+my soul, and rather let me die at once there, than that anything should
+happen against his will, or that should bring misfortune on my country
+and people.'
+
+She fancied she heard a noise of armed men at the chapel door, but
+finding nothing there, believed--not in her own nervous agitation,
+a thing not yet invented--that it was a spirit, and returning to her
+prayers, vowed, poor lady, to make a pilgrimage to St. Maria Zell, in
+Styria, if the Holy Virgin's intercessions obtained their success, and
+till the pilgrimage could be made, 'to forego every Saturday night
+my feather bed!' After another false alarm at a supposed noise at the
+maiden's door, she ventured into the vault to see how her companions
+were getting on, when she found they had filed away all the locks,
+except that of the case containing the crown, and this they were obliged
+to burn, in spite of their apprehension that the smell and smoke might
+be observed. They then shut up the chest, replaced the padlocks and
+chains with those they had brought for the purpose, and renewed the
+seals with the Queen's signet, which bearing the royal arms, would
+baffle detection that the seals had been tampered with. They then took
+the crown into the chapel, where they found a red velvet cushion, so
+large that by taking out some of the stuffing a hiding place was made in
+which the crown was deposited, and the cushion sewn up over it.
+
+By this time day was dawning, the maidens were dressing, and it was the
+hour for setting off for Komorn. The old woman who had waited on them
+came to the Lady of Kottenner to have her wages paid, and be dismissed
+to Buda. While she was waiting, she began to remark on a strange
+thing lying by the stove, which, to the Lady Helen's great dismay, she
+perceived to be a bit of the case in which the crown was kept. She tried
+to prevent the old woman from noticing it, pushed it into the hottest
+part of the stove, and, by way of further precaution, took the old woman
+away with her, on the plea of asking the Queen to make her a bedeswoman
+at Vienna, and this was granted to her.
+
+When all was ready, the gentleman desired his servant to take the
+cushion and put it into the sledge designed for himself and the Lady of
+Kottenner. The man took it on his shoulders, hiding it under an old
+ox-hide, with the tail hanging down, to the laughter of all beholders.
+Helen further records the trying to get some breakfast in the
+marketplace and finding nothing but herrings, also the going to mass,
+and the care she took not to sit upon the holy crown, though she had to
+sit on its cushion in the sledge. They dined at an inn, but took care
+to keep the cushion in sight, and then in the dusk crossed the Danube on
+the ice, which was becoming very thin, and halfway across it broke under
+the maidens' carriage, so that Helen expected to be lost in the Danube,
+crown and all. However, though many packages were lost under the ice,
+her sledge got safe over, as well as all the ladies, some of whom she
+took into her conveyance, and all safely arrived at the castle of Komorn
+late in the evening.
+
+The very hour of their arrival a babe was born to the Queen, and to her
+exceeding joy it was a son. Count von Eily, hearing 'that a king
+and friend was born to him', had bonfires lighted, and a torchlight
+procession on the ice that same night, and early in the morning came the
+Archbishop of Gran to christen the child. The Queen wished her faithful
+Helen to be godmother, but she refused in favor of some lady whose
+family it was probably needful to propitiate. She took off the little
+princess Elizabeth's mourning for her father and dressed her in red
+and gold, all the maidens appeared in gay apparel, and there was great
+rejoicing and thanksgiving when the babe was christened Ladislas, after
+a sainted King of Hungary.
+
+The peril was, however, far from ended; for many of the Magyars had no
+notion of accepting an infant for their king, and by Easter, the King of
+Poland was advancing upon Buda, to claim the realm to which he had
+been invited. No one had discovered the abstraction of the crown, and
+Elizabeth's object was to take her child to Weissenburg, and there have
+him crowned, so as to disconcert the Polish party. She had sent to Buda
+for cloth of gold to make him a coronation dress, but it did not come in
+time, and Helen therefore shut herself into the chapel at Komorn, and,
+with doors fast bolted, cut up a rich and beautiful vestment of his
+grandfather's, the emperor Sigismund, of red and gold, with silver
+spots, and made it into a tiny coronation robe, with surplice and
+humeral (or shoulder-piece), the stole and banner, the gloves and shoes.
+The Queen was much alarmed by a report that the Polish party meant to
+stop her on her way to Weissenburg; and if the baggage should be seized
+and searched, the discovery of the crown might have fatal consequences.
+Helen, on this, observed that the King was more important than the
+crown, and that the best way would be to keep them together; so she
+wrapped up the crown in a cloth, and hid it under the mattress of his
+cradle, with a long spoon for mixing his pap upon the top, so, said the
+Queen, he might take care of his crown himself.
+
+On Tuesday before Whit Sunday the party set out, escorted by Count
+Ulric, and several other knights and nobles. After crossing the
+Danube in a large boat, the Queen and her little girl were placed in
+a carriage, or more probably a litter, the other ladies rode, and the
+cradle and its precious contents were carried by four men; but this
+the poor little Lassla, as Helen shortens his lengthy name, resented so
+much, that he began to scream so loud that she was forced to dismount
+and carry him in her arms, along a road rendered swampy by much rain.
+
+They found all the villages deserted by the peasants, who had fled into
+the woods, and as most of their lords were of the other party, they
+expected an attack, so the little king was put into the carriage with
+his mother and sister, and the ladies formed a circle round it 'that
+if anyone shot at the carriage we might receive the stroke'. When the
+danger was over the child was taken out again, for he would be content
+nowhere but in the arms of either his nurse or of faithful Helen, who
+took turns to carry him on foot nearly all the way, sometimes in a high
+wind which covered them with dust, sometimes in great heat, sometimes
+in rain so heavy that Helen's fur pelisse, with which she covered his
+cradle, had to be wrung out several times. They slept at an inn, round
+which the gentlemen lighted a circle of fires, and kept watch all night.
+
+Weissenburg was loyal, five hundred armed gentlemen came out to meet
+them, and on Whitsun Eve they entered the city, Helen carrying her
+little king in her arms in the midst of a circle of these five hundred
+holding their naked swords aloft. On Whit Sunday, Helen rose early,
+bathed the little fellow, who was twelve weeks old that day, and dressed
+him. He was then carried in her arms to the church, beside his mother.
+According to the old Hungarian customs, the choir door was closed--the
+burghers were within, and would not open till the new monarch should
+have taken the great coronation oath to respect the Hungarian liberties
+and laws.
+
+This oath was taken by the Queen in the name of her son, the doors were
+opened, and all the train entered, the little princess being lifted
+up to stand by the organ, lest she should be hurt in the throng. First
+Helen held her charge up to be confirmed, and then she had to hold him
+while he was knighted, with a richly adorned sword bearing the motto
+'Indestructible', and by a stout Hungarian knight called Mikosch Weida,
+who struck with such a goodwill that Helen felt the blow on her arm, and
+the Queen cried out to him not to hurt the child.
+
+The Archbishop of Gran anointed the little creature, dressed him in the
+red and gold robe, and put on his head the holy crown, and the people
+admired to see how straight he held up his neck under it; indeed, they
+admired the loudness and strength of his cries, when, as the good lady
+records, 'the noble king had little pleasure in his coronation for he
+wept aloud'. She had to hold him up for the rest of the service, while
+Count Ulric of Eily held the crown over his head, and afterwards to seat
+him in a chair in St. Peter's Church, and then he was carried home in
+his cradle, with the count holding the crown over his head, and the
+other regalia borne before him.
+
+And thus Ladislas became King of Hungary at twelve weeks old, and was
+then carried off by his mother into Austria for safety. Whether this
+secret robbery of the crown, and coronation by stealth, was wise or just
+on the mother's part is a question not easy of answer--though of course
+she deemed it her duty to do her utmost for her child's rights. Of Helen
+Kottenner's deep fidelity and conscientious feeling there can be no
+doubt, and her having acted with her eyes fully open to the risk she
+ran, her trust in Heaven overcoming her fears and terrors, rendered her
+truly a heroine.
+
+The crown has had many other adventures, and afterwards was kept in an
+apartment of its own, in the castle of Ofen, with an antechamber guarded
+by two grenadiers. The door was of iron, with three locks, and the
+crown itself was contained in an iron chest with five seals. All this,
+however, did not prevent it from being taken away and lost in the
+Revolution of 1849.
+
+
+
+
+GEORGE THE TRILLER
+
+1455                I.
+
+      'Why, Lady dear, so sad of cheer?
+       Hast waked the livelong night?'
+     'My dreams foreshow my children's woe,
+       Ernst bold and Albrecht bright.
+
+      'From the dark glades of forest shades
+       There rushed a raging boar,
+     Two sapling oaks with cruel strokes
+       His crooked tusks uptore.'
+
+      'Ah, Lady dear, dismiss thy fear
+       Of phantoms haunting sleep!'
+     'The giant knight, Sir Konrad hight,
+       Hath vowed a vengeance deep.
+
+     'My Lord, o'erbold, hath kept his gold,
+       And scornful answer spake:
+     'Kunz, wisdom learn, nor strive to burn
+       The fish within their lake.'
+
+     'See, o'er the plain, with all his train,
+       My Lord to Leipzig riding;
+     Some danger near my children dear
+       My dream is sure betiding.'
+
+     'The warder waits before the gates,
+       The castle rock is steep,
+     The massive walls protect the halls,
+       Thy children safely sleep.'
+
+
+                II.
+
+     'T is night's full noon, fair shines the moon
+       On Altenburg's old halls,
+     The silver beams in tranquil streams
+       Rest on the ivied walls.
+
+     Within their tower the midnight hour
+       Has wrapt the babes in sleep,
+     With unclosed eyes their mother lies
+       To listen and to weep.
+
+     What sudden sound is stirring round?
+       What clang thrills on her ear?
+     Is it the breeze amid the trees
+       Re-echoing her fear?
+
+     Swift from her bed, in sudden dread,
+       She to her lattice flies:
+     Oh! sight of woe, from far below
+       Behold a ladder rise:
+
+     And from yon tower, her children's bower,
+       Lo! Giant Kunz descending!
+     Ernst, in his clasp of iron grasp,
+       His cries with hers is blending.
+
+     'Oh! hear my prayer, my children spare,
+       The sum shall be restored;
+     Nay, twenty-fold returned the gold,
+       Thou know'st how true my Lord.'
+
+     With mocking grace he bowed his face:
+       'Lady, my greetings take;
+     Thy Lord may learn how I can burn
+       The fish within their lake.'
+
+     Oh! double fright, a second knight
+       Upon the ladder frail,
+     And in his arm, with wild alarm,
+       A child uplifts his wail!
+
+     Would she had wings! She wildly springs
+       To rouse her slumbering train;
+     Bolted without, her door so stout
+       Resists her efforts vain!
+
+     No mortal ear her calls can hear,
+       The robbers laugh below;
+     Her God alone may hear her moan,
+       Or mark her hour of woe.
+
+     A cry below, 'Oh! let me go,
+       I am no prince's brother;
+     Their playmate I--Oh! hear my cry
+       Restore me to my mother!'
+
+     With anguish sore she shakes the door.
+       Once more Sir Kunz is rearing
+     His giant head. His errand sped
+       She sees him reappearing.
+
+     Her second child in terror wild
+       Is struggling in his hold;
+     Entreaties vain she pours again,
+       Still laughs the robber bold.
+
+     'I greet thee well, the Elector tell
+       How Kunz his counsel takes,
+     And let him learn that I can burn
+       The fish within their lakes.'
+
+
+                     III.
+
+     'Swift, swift, good steed, death's on thy speed,
+       Gain Isenburg ere morn;
+     Though far the way, there lodged our prey,
+       We laugh the Prince to scorn.
+
+     'There Konrad's den and merry men
+       Will safely hold the boys--
+     The Prince shall grieve long ere we leave
+       Our hold upon his joys.
+
+     'But hark! but hark! how through the dark
+       The castle bell is tolling,
+     From tower and town o'er wood and down,
+       The like alarm notes rolling.
+
+     'The peal rings out! echoes the shout!
+       All Saxony's astir;
+     Groom, turn aside, swift must we ride
+       Through the lone wood of fir.'
+
+     Far on before, of men a score
+       Prince Ernst bore still sleeping;
+     Thundering as fast, Kunz came the last,
+       Carrying young Albrecht weeping.
+
+     The clanging bell with distant swell
+       Dies on the morning air,
+     Bohemia's ground another bound
+       Will reach, and safety there.
+
+     The morn's fresh beam lights a cool stream,
+       Charger and knight are weary,
+     He draws his rein, the child's sad plain
+       He meets with accents cheery.
+
+     'Sir Konrad good, be mild of mood,
+       A fearsome giant thou!
+     For love of heaven, one drop be given
+       To cool my throbbing brow!'
+
+     Kunz' savage heart feels pity's smart,
+       He soothes the worn-out child,
+     Bathes his hot cheeks, and bending seeks
+       For woodland berries wild.
+
+     A deep-toned bark! A figure dark,
+       Smoke grimed and sun embrowned,
+     Comes through the wood in wondering mood,
+       And by his side a hound.
+
+     'Oh, to my aid, I am betrayed,
+       The Elector's son forlorn,
+     From out my bed these men of dread
+       Have this night hither borne!'
+
+     'Peace, if thou 'rt wise,' the false groom cries,
+       And aims a murderous blow;
+     His pole-axe long, his arm so strong,
+       Must lay young Albrecht low.
+
+     See, turned aside, the weapon glide
+       The woodman's pole along,
+     To Albrecht's clasp his friendly grasp
+       Pledges redress from wrong.
+
+     Loud the hound's note as at the throat
+       Of the false groom he flies;
+     Back at the sounds Sir Konrad bounds:
+       'Off hands, base churl,' he cries.
+
+     The robber lord with mighty sword,
+       Mailed limbs of giant strength--
+     The woodman stout, all arms without,
+       Save his pole's timber length--
+
+     Unequal fight! Yet for the right
+       The woodman holds the field;
+     Now left, now right, repels the knight,
+       His pole full stoutly wields.
+
+     His whistle clear rings full of cheer,
+       And lo! his comrades true,
+     All swarth and lusty, with fire poles trusty,
+       Burst on Sir Konrad's view.
+
+     His horse's rein he grasps amain
+       Into his selle to spring,
+     His gold-spurred heel his stirrup's steel
+       Has caught, his weapons ring.
+
+     His frightened steed with wildest speed
+       Careers with many a bound;
+     Sir Konrad's heel fast holds the steel,
+       His head is on the ground.
+
+     The peasants round lift from the ground
+       His form in woeful plight,
+     To convent cell, for keeping well,
+       Bear back the robber knight.
+
+     'Our dear young lord, what may afford
+       A charcoal-burners' store
+     We freely spread, milk, honey, bread,
+       Our heated kiln before!'
+
+
+                     IV.
+
+     Three mournful days the mother prays,
+       And weeps the children's fate;
+     The prince in vain has scoured the plain--
+       A sound is at the gate.
+
+     The mother hears, her head she rears,
+       She lifts her eager finger--
+     'Rejoice, rejoice, 't is Albrecht's voice,
+       Open! Oh, wherefore linger?'
+
+     See, cap in hand the woodman stand--
+       Mother, no more of weeping--
+     His hound well tried is at his side,
+       Before him Albrecht leaping,
+
+     Cries, 'Father dear, my friend is here!
+       My mother! Oh, my mother!
+     The giant knight he put to flight,
+       The good dog tore the other.'
+
+     Oh! who the joy that greets the boy,
+       Or who the thanks may tell,
+     Oh how they hail the woodman's tale,
+       How he had 'trilled him well!'
+
+
+     [Footnote: Trillen, to shake; a word analogous to our rill,
+     to shake the voice in singing]
+
+
+     'I trilled him well,' he still will tell
+       In homely phrase his story,
+     To those who sought to know how wrought
+       An unarmed hand such glory.
+
+     That mother sad again is glad,
+       Her home no more bereft;
+     For news is brought Ernst may be sought
+       Within the Devil's Cleft.
+
+     That cave within, these men of sin
+       Had learnt their leader's fall,
+     The prince to sell they proffered well
+       At price of grace to all.
+
+     Another day and Earnest lay,
+       Safe on his mother's breast;
+     Thus to her sorrow a gladsome morrow
+       Had brought her joy and rest.
+
+     The giant knight was judged aright,
+       Sentenced to death he lay;
+     The elector mild, since safe his child,
+       Sent forth the doom to stay.
+
+     But all to late, and o'er the gate
+       Of Freiburg's council hall
+     Sir Konrad's head, with features dread,
+       The traitor's eyes appal.
+
+     The scullion Hans who wrought their plans,
+       And oped the window grate,
+     Whose faith was sold for Konrad's gold,
+       He met a traitor's fate
+
+
+                     V.
+
+     Behold how gay the wood to-day,
+       The little church how fair,
+     What banners wave, what tap'stry brave
+       Covers its carvings rare!
+
+     A goodly train--the parents twain,
+       And here the princess two,
+     Here with his pole, George, stout of soul,
+       And all his comrades true.
+
+     High swells the chant, all jubilant,
+       And each boy bending low,
+     Humbly lays down the wrapping gown
+       He wore the night of woe.
+
+     Beside them lay a smock of grey,
+       All grimed with blood and smoke;
+     A thankful sign to Heaven benign,
+       That spared the sapling oak.
+
+     'What prize would'st hold, thou 'Triller bold',
+       Who trilled well for my son?'
+     'Leave to cut wood, my Lord, so good,
+       Near where the fight was won.'
+
+     'Nay, Triller mine, the land be thine,
+       My trusty giant-killer,
+     A farm and house I and my spouse
+       Grant free to George the Triller!'
+
+     Years hundred four, and half a score,
+       Those robes have held their place;
+     The Triller's deed has grateful meed
+       From Albrecht's royal race.
+
+
+The child rescued by George the Triller's Golden Deed was the ancestor
+of the late Prince Consort, and thus of our future line of kings. He was
+the son of the Elector Friedrich the mild of Saxony, and of Margarethe
+of Austria, whose dream presaged her children's danger. The Elector had
+incurred the vengeance of the robber baron, Sir Konrad of Kauffingen,
+who, from his huge stature, was known as the Giant Ritter, by refusing
+to make up to him the sum of 4000 gulden which he had had to pay for his
+ransom after being made prisoner in the Elector's service. In reply
+to his threats, all the answer that the robber knight received was the
+proverbial one, 'Do not try to burn the fish in the ponds, Kunz.'
+
+Stung by the irony, Kunz bribed the elector's scullion, by name Hans
+Schwabe, to admit him and nine chosen comrades into the Castle of
+Altenburg on the night of the 7th of July, 1455, when the Elector was
+to be at Leipzig. Strange to say, this scullion was able to write, for
+a letter is extant from him to Sir Konrad, engaging to open the window
+immediately above the steep precipice, which on that side was deemed
+a sufficient protection to the castle, and to fasten a rope ladder
+by which to ascend the crags. This window can still be traced, though
+thenceforth it was bricked up. It gave access to the children's
+apartments, and on his way to them, the robber drew the bolt of their
+mother's door, so that though, awakened by the noise, she rushed to her
+window, she was a captive in her own apartment, and could not give the
+alarm, nor do anything but join her vain entreaties to the cries of her
+helpless children. It was the little son of the Count von Bardi whom
+Wilhelm von Mosen brought down by mistake for young Albrecht, and Kunz,
+while hurrying up to exchange the children, bade the rest of his
+band hasten on to secure the elder prince without waiting for him. He
+followed in a few seconds with Albrecht in his arms, and his servant
+Schweinitz riding after him, but he never overtook the main body. Their
+object was to reach Konrad's own Castle of Isenburg on the frontiers
+of Bohemia, but they quickly heard the alarm bells ringing, and beheld
+beacons lighted upon every hill. They were forced to betake themselves
+to the forests, and about half-way, Prince Ernst's captors, not daring
+to go any father, hid themselves and him in a cavern called the Devil's
+Cleft on the right bank of the River Mulde.
+
+Kunz himself rode on till the sun had risen, and he was within so few
+miles of his castle that the terror of his name was likely to be a
+sufficient protection. Himself and his horse were, however, spent by the
+wild midnight ride, and on the border of the wood of Eterlein, near the
+monastery of Grunheim, he halted, and finding the poor child grievously
+exhausted and feverish, he lifted him down, gave him water, and went
+himself in search of wood strawberries for his refreshment, leaving the
+two horses in the charge of Schweinitz. The servant dozed in his saddle,
+and meanwhile the charcoal-burner, George Schmidt, attracted by the
+sounds, came out of the wood, where all night he had been attending
+to the kiln, hollowed in the earth, and heaped with earth and roots of
+trees, where a continual charring of wood was going on. Little Albrecht
+no sooner saw this man than he sprang to him, and telling his name and
+rank, entreated to be rescued from these cruel men. The servant awaking,
+leapt down and struck a deadly blow at the boy's head with his pole-ax,
+but it was parried by the charcoal-burner, who interposing with one hand
+the strong wooden pole he used for stirring his kiln, dragged the little
+prince aside with the other, and at the same time set his great dog upon
+the servant. Sir Konrad at once hurried back, but the valiant charcoal-
+burner still held his ground, dangerous as the fight was between the
+peasant unarmed except for the long pole, and the fully accoutered
+knight of gigantic size and strength. However, a whistle from George
+soon brought a gang of his comrades to his aid, and Kunz, finding
+himself surrounded, tried to leap into his saddle, and break through the
+throng by weight of man and horse, but his spur became entangled, the
+horse ran away, and he was dragged along with his head on the ground
+till he was taken up by the peasants and carried to the convent of
+Grunheim, whence he was sent to Zwickau, and was thence transported
+heavily ironed to Freiburg, where he was beheaded on the 14th of July,
+only a week after his act of violence. The Elector, in his joy at the
+recovery of even one child, was generous enough to send a pardon, but
+the messenger reached Freiburg too late, and a stone in the marketplace
+still marks the place of doom, while the grim effigy of Sir Konrad's
+head grins over the door of the Rathhaus. It was a pity Friedrich's
+mildness did not extend to sparing torture as well as death to his
+treacherous scullion, but perhaps a servant's power of injuring his
+master was thought a reason for surrounding such instances of betrayal
+with special horrors.
+
+The party hidden in the Devil's Cleft overheard the peasants in the wood
+talking of the fall of the giant of Kauffingen, and, becoming alarmed
+for themselves, they sent to the Governor of the neighboring castle
+of Hartenstein to offer to restore Prince Ernst, provided they were
+promised a full pardon. The boy had been given up as dead, and intense
+were the rejoicings of the parents at his restoration. The Devil's Cleft
+changed its name to the Prince's Cleft, and the tree where Albrecht had
+lain was called the Prince's Oak, and still remains as a witness to the
+story, as do the moth-eaten garments of the princely children, and
+the smock of the charcoal-burner, which they offered up in token of
+thanksgiving at the little forest church of Ebendorff, near the scene of
+the rescue.
+
+'I trillirt the knaves right well,' was honest George's way of telling
+the story of his exploit, not only a brave one, but amounting even
+to self-devotion when we remember that the robber baron was his near
+neighbour, and a terror to all around. The word Triller took the place
+of his surname, and when the sole reward he asked was leave freely to
+cut wood in the forest, the Elector gave him a piece of land of his own
+in the parish of Eversbach. In 1855 there was a grand celebration of
+the rescue of the Saxon princes on the 9th of July, the four hundredth
+anniversary, with a great procession of foresters and charcoal-burners
+to the 'Triller's Brewery', which stands where George's hut and
+kiln were once placed. Three of his descendants then figured in the
+procession, but since that time all have died, and the family of the
+Trillers is now extinct.
+
+
+
+
+SIR THOMAS MORE'S DAUGHTER
+
+1535
+
+
+We have seen how dim and doubtful was the belief that upbore the grave
+and beautiful Antigone in her self-sacrifice; but there have been women
+who have been as brave and devoted in their care of the mortal remains
+of their friends--not from the heathen fancy that the weal of the dead
+depended on such rites, but from their earnest love, and with a fuller
+trust beyond.
+
+Such was the spirit of Beatrix, a noble maiden of Rome, who shared the
+Christian faith of her two brothers, Simplicius and Faustinus, at the
+end of the third century. For many years there had been no persecution,
+and the Christians were living at peace, worshipping freely, and
+venturing even to raise churches. Young people had grown up to whom the
+being thrown to the lions, beheaded, or burnt for the faith's sake, was
+but a story of the times gone by. But under the Emperor Diocletian all
+was changed. The old heathen gods must be worshipped, incense must
+be burnt to the statue of the Emperor, or torture and death were the
+punishment. The two brothers Simplicius and Faustinus were thus asked
+to deny their faith, and resolutely refused. They were cruelly tortured,
+and at length beheaded, and their bodies thrown into the tawny waters
+of the Tiber. Their sister Beatrix had taken refuge with a poor devout
+Christian woman, named Lucina. But she did not desert her brothers in
+death; she made her way in secret to the bank of the river, watching
+to see whether the stream might bear down the corpses so dear to her.
+Driven along, so as to rest upon the bank, she found them at last, and,
+by the help of Lucina, she laid them in the grave in the cemetery called
+Ad Ursum Pileatum. For seven months she remained in her shelter, but she
+was at last denounced, and was brought before the tribunal, where she
+made answer that nothing should induce her to adore gods made of wood
+and stone. She was strangled in her prison, and her corpse being cast
+out, was taken home by Lucina, and buried beside her brothers. It was,
+indeed, a favorite charitable work of the Christian widows at Rome to
+provide for the burial of the martyrs; and as for the most part they
+were poor old obscure women, they could perform this good work with far
+less notice than could persons of more mark.
+
+But nearer home, our own country shows a truly Christian Antigone,
+resembling the Greek lady, both in her dutifulness to the living, and in
+her tender care for the dead. This was Margaret, the favorite daughter
+of sir Thomas More, the true-hearted, faithful statesman of King Henry
+VIII.
+
+Margaret's home had been an exceedingly happy one. Her father, Sir
+Thomas More, was a man of the utmost worth, and was both earnestly
+religious and conscientious, and of a sweetness of manner and
+playfulness of fancy that endeared him to everyone. He was one of the
+most affectionate and dutiful of sons to his aged father, Sir John More;
+and when the son was Lord Chancellor, while the father was only a judge,
+Sir Thomas, on his way to his court, never failed to kneel down before
+his father in public, and ask his blessing. Never was the old saying,
+that a dutiful child had dutiful children, better exemplified than in
+the More family. In the times when it was usual for parents to be very
+stern with children, and keep them at a great distance, sometimes making
+them stand in their presence, and striking them for any slight offence,
+Sir Thomas More thought it his duty to be friendly and affectionate with
+them, to talk to them, and to enter into their confidence; and he was
+rewarded with their full love and duty.
+
+He had four children--Margaret, Elizabeth, Cicely, and John. His much-
+loved wife died when they were all very young, and he thought it for
+their good to marry a widow, Mrs. Alice Middleton, with one daughter
+named Margaret, and he likewise adopted an orphan called Margaret Giggs.
+With this household he lived in a beautiful large house at Chelsea, with
+well-trimmed gardens sloping down to the Thames; and this was the resort
+of the most learned and able men, both English and visitors from abroad,
+who delighted in pacing the shady walks, listening to the wit and wisdom
+of Sir Thomas, or conversing with the daughters, who had been highly
+educated, and had much of their father's humor and sprightliness.
+Even Henry VIII. himself, then one of the most brilliant and graceful
+gentlemen of his time, would sometimes arrive in his royal barge, and
+talk theology or astronomy with Sir Thomas; or, it might be, crack jests
+with him and his daughters, or listen to the music in which all were
+skilled, even Lady More having been persuaded in her old age to learn
+to play on various instruments, including the flute. The daughters were
+early given in marriage, and with their husbands, continued to live
+under their father's roof. Margaret's husband was William Roper, a young
+lawyer, of whom Sir Thomas was very fond, and his household at Chelsea
+was thus a large and joyous family home of children and grandchildren,
+delighting in the kind, bright smiles of the open face under the square
+cap, that the great painter Holbein has sent down to us as a familiar
+sight.
+
+But these glad days were not to last for ever. The trying times of the
+reign of Henry VIII. were beginning, and the question had been stirred
+whether the King's marriage with Katherine of Aragon had been a lawful
+one. When Sir Thomas More found that the King was determined to take his
+own course, and to divorce himself without permission from the Pope, it
+was against his conscience to remain in office when acts were being
+done which he could not think right or lawful. He therefore resigned his
+office as Lord Chancellor, and, feeling himself free from the load
+and temptation, his gay spirits rose higher than ever. His manner of
+communicating the change to his wife, who had been very proud of his
+state and dignity, was thus. At church, when the service was over, it
+had always been the custom for one of his attendants to summon Lady More
+by coming to her closet door, and saying, 'Madam, my lord is gone.' On
+the day after his resignation, he himself stepped up, and with a low
+bow said, 'Madam, my lord is gone,' for in good soothe he was no longer
+Chancellor, but only plain Sir Thomas.
+
+He thoroughly enjoyed his leisure, but he was not long left in
+tranquillity. When Anne Boleyn was crowned, he was invited to be
+present, and twenty pounds were offered him to buy a suitably splendid
+dress for the occasion; but his conscience would not allow him to
+accept the invitation, though he well knew the terrible peril he ran by
+offending the King and Queen. Thenceforth there was a determination
+to ruin him. First, he was accused of taking bribes when administering
+justice. It was said that a gilt cup had been given to him as a New
+Year's gift, by one lady, and a pair of gloves filled with gold coins by
+another; but it turned out, on examination, that he had drunk the wine
+out of the cup, and accepted the gloves, because it was ill manners to
+refuse a lady's gift, yet he had in both cases given back the gold.
+
+Next, a charge was brought that he had been leaguing with a half-crazy
+woman called the Nun of Kent, who had said violent things about the
+King. He was sent for to be examined by Henry and his Council, and this
+he well knew was the interview on which his safety would turn, since the
+accusation was a mere pretext, and the real purpose of the King was to
+see whether he would go along with him in breaking away from Rome--a
+proceeding that Sir Thomas, both as churchman and as lawyer, could not
+think legal. Whether we agree or not in his views, it must always be
+remembered that he ran into danger by speaking the truth, and doing what
+he thought right. He really loved his master, and he knew the humor of
+Henry VIII., and the temptation was sore; but when he came down from his
+conference with the King in the Tower, and was rowed down the river to
+Chelsea, he was so merry that William Roper, who had been waiting for
+him in the boat, thought he must be safe, and said, as they landed and
+walked up the garden--
+
+'I trust, sir, all is well, since you are so merry?'
+
+'It is so, indeed, son, thank God!'
+
+'Are you then, sir, put out of the bill?'
+
+'Wouldest thou know, son why I am so joyful? In good faith I rejoice
+that I have given the devil a foul fall; because I have with those lords
+gone so far that without great shame I can never go back,' he answered,
+meaning that he had been enabled to hold so firmly to his opinions, and
+speak them out so boldly, that henceforth the temptation to dissemble
+them and please the King would be much lessened. That he had held his
+purpose in spite of the weakness of mortal nature, was true joy to him,
+though he was so well aware of the consequences that when his daughter
+Margaret came to him the next day with the glad tidings that the charge
+against him had been given up, he calmly answered her, 'In faith, Meg,
+what is put off is not given up.'
+
+One day, when he had asked Margaret how the world went with the new
+Queen, and she replied, 'In faith, father, never better; there is
+nothing else in the court but dancing and sporting,' he replied, with
+sad foresight, 'Never better. Alas, Meg! it pitieth me to remember unto
+what misery, poor soul, she will shortly come. These dances of hers will
+prove such dances that she will spurn off our heads like footballs, but
+it will not be long ere her head will take the same dance.'
+
+So entirely did he expect to be summoned by a pursuivant that he thought
+it would lessen the fright of his family if a sham summons were brought.
+So he caused a great knocking to be made while all were at dinner, and
+the sham pursuivant went through all the forms of citing him, and the
+whole household were in much alarm, till he explained the jest; but the
+earnest came only a few days afterwards. On the 13th of April of 1534,
+arrived the real pursuivant to summon him to Lambeth, there to take the
+oath of supremacy, declaring that the King was the head of the Church
+of England, and that the Pope had no authority there. He knew what
+the refusal would bring on him. He went first to church, and then,
+not trusting himself to be unmanned by his love for his children and
+grandchildren, instead of letting them, as usual, come down to the water
+side, with tender kisses and merry farewells, he shut the wicket gate
+of the garden upon them all, and only allowed his son-in-law Roper to
+accompany him, whispering into his ear, 'I thank our Lord, the field is
+won.'
+
+Conscience had triumphed over affection, and he was thankful, though for
+the last time he looked on the trees he had planted, and the happy home
+he had loved. Before the council, he undertook to swear to some clauses
+in the oath which were connected with the safety of the realm; but he
+refused to take that part of the oath which related to the King's
+power over the Church. It is said that the King would thus have been
+satisfied, but that the Queen urged him further. At any rate, after
+being four days under the charge of the Abbot of Westminister, Sir
+Thomas was sent to the Tower of London. There his wife--a plain, dull
+woman, utterly unable to understand the point of conscience--came and
+scolded him for being so foolish as to lie there in a close, filthy
+prison, and be shut up with rats and mice, instead of enjoying the favor
+of the King. He heard all she had to say, and answered, 'I pray thee,
+good Mrs. Alice, tell me one thing--is not this house as near heaven
+as my own?' To which she had no better answer than 'Tilly vally, tilly
+vally.' But, in spite of her folly, she loved him faithfully; and
+when all his property was seized, she sold even her clothes to obtain
+necessaries for him in prison.
+
+His chief comfort was, however, in visits and letters from his daughter
+Margaret, who was fully able to enter into the spirit that preferred
+death to transgression. He was tried in Westminster Hall, on the 1st of
+July, and, as he had fully expected, sentenced to death. He was taken
+back along the river to the Tower. On the wharf his loving Margaret was
+waiting for her last look. She broke through the guard of soldiers
+with bills and halberds, threw her arms round his neck, and kissed him,
+unable to say any word but 'Oh, my father!--oh, my father!' He blessed
+her, and told her that whatsoever she might suffer, it was not without
+the will of God, and she must therefore be patient. After having once
+parted with him, she suddenly turned back again, ran to him, and,
+clinging round his neck, kissed him over and over again--a sight at
+which the guards themselves wept. She never saw him again; but the night
+before his execution he wrote to her a letter with a piece of charcoal,
+with tender remembrances to all the family, and saying to her, 'I never
+liked your manner better than when you kissed me last; for I am most
+pleased when daughterly love and dear charity have no leisure to look
+to worldly courtesy.' He likewise made it his especial request that she
+might be permitted to be present at his burial.
+
+His hope was sure and steadfast, and his heart so firm that he did not
+even cease from humorous sayings. When he mounted the crazy ladder of
+the scaffold he said, 'Master Lieutenant, I pray you see me safe up;
+and for my coming down let me shift for myself.' And he desired the
+executioner to give him time to put his beard out of the way of the
+stroke, 'since that had never offended his Highness'.
+
+His body was given to his family, and laid in the tomb he had already
+prepared in Chelsea Church; but the head was set up on a pole on London
+Bridge. The calm, sweet features were little changed, and the loving
+daughter gathered courage as she looked up at them. How she contrived
+the deed, is not known; but before many days had passed, the head was
+no longer there, and Mrs. Roper was said to have taken it away. She was
+sent for to the Council, and accused of the stealing of her father's
+head. She shrank not from avowing that thus it had been, and that the
+head was in her own possession. One story says that, as she was passing
+under the bridge in a boat, she looked up, and said, 'That head has
+often lain in my lap; I would that it would now fall into it.' And at
+that moment it actually fell, and she received it. It is far more likely
+that she went by design, at the same time as some faithful friend on the
+bridge, who detached the precious head, and dropped it down to her in
+her boat beneath. Be this as it may, she owned before the cruel-hearted
+Council that she had taken away and cherished the head of the man whom
+they had slain as a traitor. However, Henry VIII. was not a Creon, and
+our Christian Antigone was dismissed unhurt by the Council, and allowed
+to retain possession of her treasure. She caused it to be embalmed, kept
+it with her wherever she went, and when, nine years afterwards, she died
+(in the year 1544), it was laid in her coffin in the 'Roper aisle' of
+St. Dunstan's Church, at Canterbury.
+
+
+
+
+UNDER IVAN THE TERRIBLE
+
+1564.
+
+
+Prince Andrej Kourbsky was one of the chief boyards or nobles at the
+Court of Ivan, the first Grand Prince of Muscovy who assumed the Eastern
+title of Tzar, and who relieved Russia from the terrible invasions of
+the Tatars. This wild race for nearly four hundred years had roamed over
+the country, destroying and plundering all they met with, and blighting
+all the attempts at civilization that had begun to be made in the
+eleventh century. It was only when the Russians learnt the use of
+firearms that these savages were in any degree repressed. In the year
+1551 the city of Kazan, upon the River Kazanka, a tributary of the
+Volga, was the last city that remained in the hands of the Tatars. It
+was a rich and powerful place, a great centre of trade between Europe
+and the East, but it was also a nest of robbers, who had frequently
+broken faith with the Russians, and had lately expelled the Khan Schig
+Alei for having endeavored to fulfill his engagements to them. The Tzar
+Ivan Vassilovitch, then only twenty-two years of age, therefore marched
+against the place, resolved at any cost to reduce it and free his
+country from these inveterate foes.
+
+On his way he received tidings that the Crimean Tatars had come
+plundering into Russia, probably thinking to attack Moscow, while Ivan
+was besieging Kazan. He at once sent off the Prince Kourbsky with 15,000
+men, who met double that number of Tatars at Toula, and totally defeated
+them, pursuing them to the River Chevorona, where, after a second
+defeat, they abandoned a great number of Russian captives, and a great
+many camels. Prince Kourbsky was wounded in the head and shoulder, but
+was able to continue the campaign.
+
+Some of the boyards murmured at the war, and declared that their
+strength and resources were exhausted. Upon this the Tzar desired that
+two lists might be drawn up of the willing and unwilling warriors in his
+camp. 'The first', he said, 'shall be as dear to me as my own children;
+their needs shall be made known to me, and I will share all I have with
+them. The others may stay at home; I want no cowards in my army.' No one
+of course chose to be in the second list, and about this time was formed
+the famous guard called the Strelitzes, a body of chosen warriors who
+were always near the person of the Tzar.
+
+In the middle of August, 1552, Ivan encamped in the meadows on the banks
+of the Volga, which spread like a brilliant green carpet around the hill
+upon which stood the strongly fortified city of Kazan. The Tatars had no
+fears. 'This is not the first time', they said, 'that we have seen the
+Muscovites beneath our walls. Their fruitless attacks always end in
+retreats, till we have learned to laugh them to scorn;' and when Ivan
+sent them messengers with offers of peace, they replied, 'All is ready;
+we only await your coming to begin the feast.'
+
+They did not know of the great change that the last half-century had
+made in sieges. One of the Italian condottieri, or leaders of free
+companies, had made his way to Moscow, and under his instructions,
+Ivan's troops were for the first time to conduct a siege in the regular
+modern manner, by digging trenches in the earth, and throwing up the
+soil in front into a bank, behind which the cannon and gunners are
+posted, with only small openings made through which to fire at some spot
+in the enemy's walls. These trenches are constantly worked nearer and
+nearer to the fortifications, till by the effect of the shot an opening
+or breach must be made in the walls, and the soldiers can then climb up
+upon scaling ladders or heaps of small faggots piled up to the height of
+the opening. Sometimes, too, the besiegers burrow underground till they
+are just below the wall, then fill the hole with gunpowder, and blow
+up all above them; in short, instead of, as in former days, a well-
+fortified city being almost impossible to take, except by starving out
+the garrison, a siege is in these times almost equally sure to end in
+favor of the besiegers.
+
+All through August and September the Russians made their approaches,
+while the Tatars resisted them bravely, but often showing great
+barbarity. Once when Ivan again sent a herald, accompanied by a number
+of Tatar prisoners, to offer terms to Yediguer, the present Khan, the
+defenders called out to their countrymen, 'You had better perish by our
+pure hands than by those of the wretched Christians,' and shot a whole
+flight of arrows at them. Moreover, every morning the magicians used to
+come out at sunrise upon the walls, and their shrieks, contortions,
+and waving of garments were believed, not only by the Tatars but by the
+Russians, and by Andrej Kourbsky himself, to bring foul weather, which
+greatly harassed the Russians. On this Ivan sent to Moscow for a sacred
+cross that had been given to the Grand Prince Vladimir when he was
+converted; the rivers were blessed, and their water sprinkled round the
+camp, and the fair weather that ensued was supposed to be due to the
+counteraction of the incantations of the magicians. These Tatars
+were Mahometans, but they must have retained some of the wind-raising
+enchantments of their Buddhist brethren in Asia.
+
+A great mine had been made under the gate of Arsk, and eleven barrels
+of gunpowder placed in it. On the 30th of September it was blown up,
+and the whole tower became a heap of ruins. For some minutes the
+consternation of the besieged was such that there was a dead silence
+like the stillness of the grave. The Russians rushed forward over
+the opening, but the Tatars, recovering at the sight of them, fought
+desperately, but could not prevent them from taking possession of the
+tower at the gateway. Other mines were already prepared, and the Tzar
+gave notice of a general assault for the next day, and recommended
+all his warriors to purify their souls by repentance, confession,
+and communion, in readiness for the deadly strife before them. In the
+meantime, he sent Yediguer a last offer of mercy, but the brave Tatars
+cried out, 'We will have no pardon! If the Russians have one tower, we
+will build another; if they ruin our ramparts we will set up more. We
+will be buried under the walls of Kazan, or else we will make him raise
+the siege.'
+
+Early dawn began to break. The sky was clear and cloudless. The Tatars
+were on their walls, the Russians in their trenches; the Imperial eagle
+standard, which Ivan had lately assumed, floated in the morning wind.
+The two armies were perfectly silent, save here and there the bray of
+a single trumpet, or beat of a naker drum in one or the other, and the
+continuous hum of the hymns and chants from the three Russian chapel-
+tents. The archers held their arrows on the string, the gunners stood
+with lighted matches. The copper-clad domes of the minarets began to
+glow with the rising sunbeams; the muezzins were on the roofs about to
+call the Moslemin to prayer; the deacon in the Tzar's chapel-tent was
+reading the Gospel. 'There shall be one fold and one Shepherd.' At that
+moment the sun's disk appeared above the eastern hills, and ere yet the
+red orb had fully mounted above the horizon, there was a burst as it
+were of tremendous thunderings, and the ground shook beneath the church.
+The Tzar went to the entrance, and found the whole city hill so 'rolled
+in sable smoke', that he could distinguish nothing, and, going back to
+his place, desired that the service should continue. The deacon was in
+the midst of the prayer for the establishment of the power of the Tzar
+and the discomfiture of his enemies, when the crushing burst of another
+explosion rushed upon their ears, and as it died away another voice
+broke forth, the shout raised by every man in the Russian lines, 'God is
+with us!' On then they marched towards the openings that the mines
+had made, but there the dauntless garrison, in spite of the terror and
+destruction caused by the two explosions, met them with unabated fury,
+rolling beams or pouring boiling water upon them as they strove to climb
+the breach, and fighting hand to hand with them if they mounted it.
+However, by the time the Tzar had completed his devotions and mounted
+his horse, his eagle could be seen above the smoke upon the citadel.
+
+Still the city had to be won, step by step, house by house, street by
+street; and even while struggling onwards the Russians were tempted
+aside by plunder among the rich stores of merchandise that were heaped
+up in the warehouses of this the mart of the East. The Khan profited by
+their lack of discipline, and forced them back to the walls; nay, they
+would have absolutely been driven out at the great gate, but that they
+beheld their young Tzar on horseback among his grey-haired councillors.
+By the advice of these old men Ivan rode forward, and with his own hand
+planted the sacred standard at the gates, thus forming a barrier that
+the fugitives were ashamed to pass. At the same time he, with half his
+choice cavalry, dismounted, and entered the town all fresh and vigorous,
+their rich armor glittering with gold and silver, and plumes of various
+colours streaming from their helmets in all the brilliancy of Eastern
+taste. This reinforcement recalled the plunderers to their duty, and the
+Tatars were driven back to the Khan's palace, whence, after an hour's
+defense, they were forced to retreat.
+
+At a postern gate, Andrej Kourbsky and two hundred men met Yediguer and
+10,000 Tatars, and cut off their retreat, enclosing them in the narrow
+streets. They forced their Khan to take refuge in a tower, and made
+signs as if to capitulate. 'Listen,' they said. 'As long as we had a
+government, we were willing to die for our prince and country. Now Kazan
+is yours, we deliver our Khan to you, alive and unhurt--lead him to the
+Tzar. For our own part, we are coming down into the open field to drain
+our last cup of life with you.'
+
+Yediguer and one old councillor were accordingly placed in the hands of
+an officer, and then the desperate Tatars, climbing down the outside of
+the walls, made for the Kazanka, where no troops, except the small body
+under Andrej Kourbsky and his brother Romanus, were at leisure to pursue
+them. The fighting was terrible, but the two princes kept them in view
+until checked by a marsh which horses could not pass. The bold fugitives
+took refuge in a forest, where, other Russian troops coming up, all were
+surrounded and slain, since not a man of them would accept quarter.
+
+Yediguer was kindly treated by Ivan, and accompanying him to Moscow,
+there became a Christian, and was baptized by the name of Simeon, in the
+presence of the Tzar and his whole court, on the banks of the Moskwa. He
+married a Russian lady, and his whole conduct proved that his conversion
+was sincere.
+
+But this story has only been told at so much length to show what manner
+of man Andrej Kourbsky was, and Ivan Vassilovitch had been, and how they
+had once been brethren in arms; and perhaps it has been lingered over
+from the melancholy interest there must always be in watching the fall
+of a powerful nation, and the last struggles of gallant men. Ivan
+was then a gallant, religious and highly gifted prince, generous and
+merciful, and with every promise of a glorious reign, full of benefits
+to his country. Alas! this part of his career was one glimpse of
+brightness in the course of a long tempestuous day. His reign had begun
+when he was but three years old. He had had a violent and cruel mother,
+and had, after her death, been bred up by evil-minded courtiers, who
+absolutely taught him cruel and dissolute amusements in order to prevent
+him from attending to state affairs. For a time, the exhortations of
+the good and fearless patriarch, and the influence of his gentle wife
+Anastasia, had prevailed, and with great vigor and strong principle
+he had shaken off all the evil habits of his boyhood, and begun, as it
+seemed, an admirable reign.
+
+Too soon, a severe illness shook the balance of his mind, and this
+was quickly followed by the death of the excellent Tzarina Anastasia.
+Whether grief further unsettled him, or whether the loss of her gentle
+influence left him a prey to his wicked councillors, from that time
+forward his conduct was so wildly savage and barbarous as to win for him
+the surname of the Terrible. Frantic actions, extravagant excesses, and
+freaks of horrible cruelty looked like insanity; and yet, on the other
+hand, he often showed himself a clear-headed and sagacious monarch,
+anxious for the glory and improvement of his people.
+
+But he lived in continual suspicion, and dreaded every eminent man in
+his dominions. Kourbsky whom he had once loved and trusted, and had
+charged with the command of his army, as his most able boyard, fell
+under his suspicion; and, with horror and indignation, learnt that the
+Tzar was plotting against his life, and intended to have him put to
+death. Kourbsky upon this explained to his wife that she must either see
+him put to a shameful death, or let him leave her for ever. He gave his
+blessing to his son, a boy of nine years old, and leaving his house at
+night he scaled the wall of Moscow, and meeting his faithful servant,
+Vasili Shibanoff, with two horses, he made his escape. This Vasili was
+his stirrup-bearer, one of those serfs over whom the boyard on whose
+land they were born possessed absolute power. That power was often
+abused, but the instinctive faithfulness of the serf towards his master
+could hardly be shaken, even by the most savage treatment, and a well-
+treated serf viewed his master's family with enthusiastic love and
+veneration. Vasili accompanied his master's flight through the birch
+forests towards the Livonian frontier, the country where but lately
+Kourbsky had been leading the Tzar's armies. On the way the prince's
+horse became exhausted by his weight, and Vasili insisted on giving up
+his own in its stead, though capture in the course of such desertion
+would have been certain death. However, master and servant safely
+arrived at Wolmar in Livonia, and there Andrej came to the determination
+of renouncing the service of the ungrateful Ivan, and entering that of
+the King of Poland. For this last step there was no excuse. Nothing can
+justify a man in taking up arms against his country, but in the middle
+Ages the tie of loyalty was rather to the man than to the state, and
+Andrej Kourbsky seems to have deemed that his honor would be safe,
+provided he sent a letter to his sovereign, explaining his grievance and
+giving up his allegiance. The letter is said to have been full of grave
+severity and deep, suppressed indignation, though temperate in tone; but
+no one would consent to be the bearer of such a missive, since the cruel
+tyrant's first fury was almost certain to fall on him who presented it.
+Believing his master's honor at stake, Vasili offered himself to be the
+bearer of the fatal letter, and Kourbsky accepted the offer, tendering
+to him a sum of money, which the serf rejected, knowing that money would
+soon be of little service to him, and seeking no reward for what he
+deemed his duty to his lord.
+
+As Ivan's justice had turned into barbarity, so his religion had turned
+into foolish fanatic observance. He had built a monastery near Moscow
+for himself and three hundred chosen boyards, and every morning at
+three or four o'clock he took his two sons into the belfry with him and
+proceeded to strike the bells, the Russian mode of ringing them, till
+all the brethren were assembled. This bell-sounding was his favorite
+occupation, and in it he was engaged when Vasili arrived. The servant
+awaited him in the vestibule, and delivered the letter with these words:
+'From my master and thine exile, Prince Andrej Kourbsky.'
+
+Ivan answered by such a blow on the leg with his iron-tipped rod that
+the blood poured from the wound; but Vasili neither started, cried out,
+nor moved a feature. At once the Tzar bade him be seized and tortured,
+to make him disclose whether his master had any partners in guilt, or
+if any plans were matured. But no extremity of agony could extract aught
+but praises of the prince, and assurances of his readiness to die for
+him. From early morning till late at night the torturers worked, one
+succeeding when another was tired out; but nothing could overcome his
+constancy, and his last words were a prayer to implore his God to have
+mercy on his master and forgive his desertion.
+
+His praise came even from the tyrant, who wrote to Kourbsky--'Let thy
+servant Vaska [Footnote: the abbreviation of Vasili or Basil.] shame
+thee. He preserved his truth to thee before the Tzar and the people.
+Having given thee his word of faith, he kept it, even before the gates
+of death.'
+
+After the flight of Kourbsky, the rage of Ivan continued to increase
+with each year of his life. He had formed a sort of bodyguard of a
+thousand ruffians, called the Oprichnina, who carried out his barbarous
+commands, and committed an infinity of murders and robberies on their
+own account. He was like a distorted caricature of Henry VIII, and, like
+him, united violence and cruelty with great exactness about religious
+worship, carrying his personal observances to the most fanatic
+extravagance.
+
+In the vacancy of the Metropolitan See, he cast his eyes upon the
+monastery in the little island of Solovsky, in the White Sea, where the
+Prior, Feeleep Kolotchof, was noted for his holy life, and the good he
+had done among the wild and miserable population of the island. He was
+the son of a rich boyard, but had devoted himself from his youth to a
+monastic life, and the fame of his exertions in behalf of the islanders
+had led the Tzar to send him not only precious vessels for the use
+of his church, but contributions to the stone churches, piers, and
+hostelries that he raised for his people; for whom he had made roads,
+drained marshes, introduced cattle, and made fisheries and salt
+pans, changing the whole aspect of the place, and lessening even the
+inclemency of the climate.
+
+On this good man the Tzar fixed his choice. He wrote to him to come
+to Moscow to attend a synod, and on his arrival made him dine at the
+palace, and informed him that he was to be chief pastor of the Russian
+Church. Feeleep burst into tears, entreating permission to refuse, and
+beseeching the Tzar not to trust 'so heavy a freight to such a feeble
+bark'. Ivan held to his determination, and Feeleep then begged him at
+least to dismiss the cruel Oprichnina. 'How can I bless you,' he said,
+'while I see my country in mourning?'
+
+The Tzar replied by mentioning his suspicions of all around him, and
+commanded Feeleep to be silent. He expected to be sent back to his
+convent at once, but, instead of this, the Tzar commanded the clergy
+to elect him Archbishop, and they all added their entreaties to him to
+accept the office, and endeavor to soften the Tzar, who respected him;
+and he yielded at last, saying, 'The will of the Tzar and the pastors of
+the church must, then, be done.'
+
+At his consecration, he preached a sermon on the power of mildness, and
+the superiority of the victories of love over the triumphs of war. It
+awoke the better feelings of Ivan, and for months he abstained from any
+deed of violence; his good days seemed to have returned and he lived in
+intimate friendship with the good Archbishop.
+
+But after a time the sleeping lion began to waken. Ivan's suspicious
+mind took up an idea that Feeleep had been incited by the nobles to
+request the abolition of the Oprichnina, and that they were exciting
+a revolt. The spies whom he sent into Moscow told him that wherever an
+Oprichnik appeared, the people shrank away in silence, as, poor things!
+they well might. He fancied this as a sign that conspiracies were
+brewing, and all his atrocities began again. The tortures to which whole
+families were put were most horrible; the Oprichniks went through the
+streets with poignards and axes, seeking out their victims, and killing
+from ten to twenty a day. The corpses lay in the streets, for no one
+dared to leave his house to bury them. Feeleep vainly sent letters and
+exhortations to the Tzar--they were unnoticed. The unhappy citizens came
+to the Archbishop, entreating him to intercede for them, and he gave
+them his promise that he would not spare his own blood to save theirs.
+
+One Sunday, as Feeleep was about to celebrate the Holy Communion,
+Ivan came into the Cathedral with a troop of his satellites, like him,
+fantastically dressed in black cassocks and high caps. He came towards
+the Metropolitan, but Feeleep kept his eyes fixed on the picture of our
+Lord, and never looked at him. Someone said, 'Holy Father, here is the
+prince; give him your blessing.'
+
+'No,' said the Archbishop, 'I know not the Tzar in this strange
+disguise--still less do I know him in his government. Oh, Prince! we are
+here offering sacrifice to the Lord, and beneath the altar the blood
+of guiltless Christians is flowing in torrents... You are indeed on the
+throne, but there is One above all, our Judge and yours. How shall
+you appear before his Judgment Seat?--stained with the blood of the
+righteous, stunned with their shrieks, for the stones beneath your feet
+cry out for vengeance to Heaven. Prince, I speak as shepherd of souls; I
+fear God alone.'
+
+The Archbishop was within the golden gates, which, in Russian churches,
+close in the sanctuary or chancel, and are only entered by the clergy.
+He was thus out of reach of the cruel iron-tipped staff, which the Tzar
+could only strike furiously on the pavement, crying out, 'Rash monk,
+I have spared you too long. Henceforth I will be to you such as you
+describe.'
+
+The murders went on in their full horrors; but, in spite of the threat,
+the Archbishop remained unmolested, though broken-hearted at the
+cruelties around him. At last, however, his resolute witness became more
+than the tyrant would endure, and messengers were secretly sent to the
+island of Solovsky, to endeavor to find some accusation against him.
+They tampered with all the monks in the convent, to induce them to
+find some fault in him, but each answered that he was a saint in
+every thought, word, and deed; until at last Payssi, the prior who had
+succeeded him, was induced, by the hope of a bishopric, to bear false
+witness against him.
+
+He was cited before an assembly of bishops and boyards, presided over by
+the Tzar, and there he patiently listened to the monstrous stories told
+by Payssi. Instead of defending himself, he simply said, 'This seed
+will not bring you a good harvest;' and, addressing himself to the
+Tzar, said, 'Prince, you are mistaken if you think I fear death.
+Having attained an advanced age, far from stormy passions and worldly
+intrigues, I only desire to return my soul to the Most High, my
+Sovereign Master and yours. Better to perish an innocent martyr, than as
+Metropolitan to look on at the horrors and impieties of these wretched
+times. Do what you will with me! Here are the pastoral staff, the white
+mitre, and the mantle with which you invested me. And you, bishops,
+archimandrites, abbots, servants of the altar, feed the flock of Christ
+zealously, as preparing to give an account thereof, and fear the Judge
+of Heaven more than the earthly judge.'
+
+He was then departing, when the Tzar recalled him, saying that he could
+not be his own judge, and that he must await his sentence. In truth,
+worse indignities were preparing for him. He was in the midst of the
+Liturgy on the 8th of November, the Greek Michaelmas, when a boyard came
+in with a troop of armed Oprichniks, who overawed the people, while the
+boyard read a paper degrading the Metropolitan from his sacred office;
+and then the ruffians, entering through the golden gates tore off his
+mitre and robes, wrapped him in a mean gown, absolutely swept him out of
+the church with brooms, and took him in a sledge to the Convent of
+the Epiphany. The people ran after him, weeping bitterly, while the
+venerable old man blessed them with uplifted hands, and, whenever he
+could be heard, repeated his last injunction, 'Pray, pray to God.'
+
+Once again he was led before the Emperor, to hear the monstrous sentence
+that for sorcery, and other heavy charges, he was to be imprisoned for
+life. He said no reproachful word, only, for the last time, he besought
+the Tzar to have pity on Russia, and to remember how his ancestors
+had reigned, and the happy days of his youth. Ivan only commanded the
+soldiers to take him away; and he was heavily ironed, and thrown into a
+dungeon, whence he was afterwards transferred to a convent on the banks
+of the Moskwa, where he was kept bare of almost all the necessaries of
+life: and in a few days' time the head of Ivan Borissovitch Kolotchof,
+the chief of his family, was sent to him, with the message, 'Here are
+the remains of your dear kinsman, your sorcery could not save him!'
+Feeleep calmly took the head in his arms, blessed it, and gave it back.
+
+The people of Moscow gathered round the convent, gazed at his cell, and
+told each other stories of his good works, which they began to magnify
+into miracles. Thereupon the Emperor sent him to another convent, at a
+greater distance. Here he remained till the next year, 1569, when Maluta
+Skouratof, a Tatar, noted as a favorite of the Tzar, and one of the
+chief ministers of his cruelty, came into his cell, and demanded his
+blessing for the Tzar.
+
+The Archbishop replied that blessings only await good men and good
+works, adding tranquilly, 'I know what you are come for. I have long
+looked for death. Let the Tzar's will be done.' The assassin then
+smothered him, but pretended to the abbot that he had been stifled by
+the heat of the cell. He was buried in haste behind the altar, but his
+remains have since been removed to his own cathedral at Moscow, the
+scene where he had freely offered his own life by confronting the tyrant
+in the vain endeavor to save his people.
+
+Vain, too, was the reproof of the hermit, who shocked Ivan's scruples
+by offering him a piece of raw flesh in the middle of Lent, and told him
+that he was preying on the flesh and blood of his subjects. The crimes
+of Ivan grew more and more terrible, and yet his acuteness was such that
+they can hardly be inscribed to insanity. He caused the death of his own
+son by a blow with that fatal staff of his; and a last, after a fever
+varied by terrible delirium, in which alone his remorse manifested
+itself, he died while setting up the pieces for a game at chess, on the
+17th of March, 1584.
+
+This has been a horrible story, in reality infinitely more horrible
+than we have made it; but there is this blessing among many others in
+Christianity, that the blackest night makes its diamonds only show their
+living luster more plainly: and surely even Ivan the Terrible, in spite
+of himself, did something for the world in bringing out the faithful
+fearlessness of Archbishop Feeleep, and the constancy of the stirrup-
+bearer, Vasili.
+
+
+
+
+FORT ST. ELMO
+
+1565
+
+
+The white cross of the Order of St. John waved on the towers of Rhodes
+for two hundred and fifty-five years. In 1552, after a desperate
+resistance, the Turks, under their great Sultan, Solyman the
+Magnificent, succeeded in driving the Knights Hospitaliers from their
+beautiful home, and they were again cast upon the world.
+
+They were resolved, however, to continue their old work of protecting
+the Mediterranean travelers, and thankfully accepted, as a gift from the
+Emperor Charles V., the little islet of Malta as their new station. It
+was a great contrast to their former home, being little more than a mere
+rock rising steeply out of the sea, white, glaring and with very shallow
+earth, unfit to bear corn, though it produced plenty of oranges, figs,
+and melons--with little water, and no wood,--the buildings wretched, and
+for the most part uninhabited, and the few people a miserable mongrel
+set, part Arab, part Greek, part Sicilian, and constantly kept down by
+the descents of the Moorish pirates, who used to land in the unprotected
+bays, and carry off all the wretched beings they could catch, to sell
+for slaves. It was a miserable exchange from fertile Rhodes, which was
+nearly five times larger than this barren rock; but the Knights only
+wanted a hospital, a fortress, and a harbour; and this last they found
+in the deeply indented northern shore, while they made the first two.
+Only a few years had passed before the dreary Citta Notabile had become
+in truth a notable city, full of fine castle-like houses,
+infirmaries, and noble churches, and fenced in with mighty wall and
+battlements--country houses were perched upon the rocks--the harbors
+were fortified, and filled with vessels of war--and deep vaults were
+hollowed out in the rock, in which corn was stored sufficient to supply
+the inhabitants for many months.
+
+Everywhere that there was need was seen the red flag with the eight-
+pointed cross. If there was an earthquake on the shores of Italy or
+Sicily, there were the ships of St. John, bringing succor to the crushed
+and ruined townspeople. In every battle with Turk or Moor, the Knights
+were among the foremost; and, as ever before, their galleys were the aid
+of the peaceful merchant, and the terror of the corsair. Indeed, they
+were nearer Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, the great nests of these
+Moorish pirates, and were better able to threaten them, and thwart their
+cruel descents, than when so much farther eastward; and the Mahometan
+power found them quite as obnoxious in Malta as in Rhodes.
+
+Solyman the Magnificent resolved, in his old age, to sweep these
+obstinate Christians from the seas, and, only twelve years after the
+siege of Rhodes, prepared an enormous armament, which he united with
+those of the Barbary pirates, and placed under the command of Mustafa
+and Piali, his two bravest pashas, and Dragut, a terrible Algerine
+corsair, who had already made an attempt upon the island, but had been
+repulsed by the good English knight, Sir Nicholas Upton. Without
+the advice of this pirate the Sultan desired that nothing should be
+undertaken.
+
+The Grand Master who had to meet this tremendous danger was Jean Parisot
+de la Valette, a brave and resolute man, as noted for his piety and
+tenderness to the sick in the infirmaries as for his unflinching
+courage. When he learnt the intentions of the Sultan, he began by
+collecting a Chapter of his Order, and, after laying his tidings before
+them, said: 'A formidable army and a cloud of barbarians are about to
+burst on this isle. Brethren, they are the enemies of Jesus Christ. The
+question is the defense of the Faith, and whether the Gospel shall yield
+to the Koran. God demands from us the life that we have already devoted
+to Him by our profession. Happy they who in so good a cause shall first
+consummate their sacrifice. But, that we may be worthy, my brethren, let
+us hasten to the altar, there to renew our vows; and may to each one
+of us be imparted, by the very Blood of the Saviour of mankind, and
+by faithful participation in His Sacraments, that generous contempt of
+death that can alone render us invincible.'
+
+With these words, he led the way to the church, and there was not an
+individual knight who did not on that day confess and receive the
+Holy Communion; after which they were as new men--all disputes, all
+trivialities and follies were laid aside--and the whole community
+awaited the siege like persons under a solemn dedication.
+
+The chief harbour of Malta is a deep bay, turned towards the north, and
+divided into two lesser bays by a large tongue of rock, on the point
+of which stood a strong castle, called Fort St. Elmo. The gulf to the
+westward has a little island in it, and both gulf and islet are called
+Marza Muscat. The gulf to the east, called the Grand Port, was again
+divided by three fingers of rock projecting from the mainland, at right
+angles to the tongue that bore Fort St. Elmo. Each finger was armed with
+a strong talon--the Castle of La Sangle to the east, the Castle of St.
+Angelo in the middle, and Fort Ricasoli to the west. Between St. Angelo
+and La Sangle was the harbour where all the ships of war were shut up
+at night by an immense chain; and behind was il Borgo, the chief
+fortification in the island. Citta Notabile and Gozo were inland, and
+their fate would depend upon that of the defenses of the harbor. To
+defend all this, the Grand Master could only number 700 knights and
+8,500 soldiers. He sent to summon home all those of the Order who were
+dispersed in the different commanderies in France, Spain, and Germany,
+and entreated aid from the Spanish king, Philip II., who wished to be
+considered as the prime champion of Roman Catholic Christendom, and
+who alone had the power of assisting him. The Duke of Alva, viceroy
+for Philip in Sicily, made answer that he would endeavor to relieve the
+Order, if they could hold out Fort St. Elmo till the fleet could be got
+together; but that if this castle were once lost, it would be impossible
+to bring them aid, and they must be left to their fate.
+
+The Grand Master divided the various posts to the knights according to
+their countries. The Spaniards under the Commander De Guerras, Bailiff
+of Negropont, had the Castle of St. Elmo; the French had Port de la
+Sangle; the Germans, and the few English knights whom the Reformation
+had left, were charged with the defense of the Port of the Borgo, which
+served as headquarters, and the Commander Copier, with a body of troops,
+was to remain outside the town and watch and harass the enemy.
+
+On the 18th of May, 1565, the Turkish fleet came in sight. It consisted
+of 159 ships, rowed by Christian slaves between the decks, and carrying
+30,000 Janissaries and Spahis, the terrible warriors to whom the Turks
+owed most of their victories, and after them came, spreading for miles
+over the blue waters, a multitude of ships of burthen bringing the
+horses of the Spahis, and such heavy battering cannon as rendered
+the dangers of a siege infinitely greater than in former days. These
+Janissaries were a strange, distorted resemblance of the knights
+themselves, for they were bound in a strict brotherhood of arms, and
+were not married, so as to care for nothing but each other, the Sultan,
+and the honor of their troop. They were not dull, apathetic Turks, but
+chiefly natives of Circassia and Georgia, the land where the human race
+is most beautiful and nobly formed. They were stolen from their homes,
+or, too often, sold by their parents when too young to remember their
+Christian baptism, and were bred up as Mahometans, with no home but
+their corps, no kindred but their fellow soldiers. Their title, given by
+the Sultan who first enrolled them, meant New Soldiers, their ensign was
+a camp kettle, as that of their Pashas was one, two, or three horses'
+tails, in honor of the old Kurdish chief, the founder of the Turkish
+empire; but there was no homeliness in their appointments, their
+weapons--scimitars, pistols, and carabines--were crusted with gold and
+jewels; their head-dress, though made in imitation of a sleeve, was
+gorgeous, and their garments were of the richest wool and silk, dyed
+with the deep, exquisite colours of the East. Terrible warriors were
+they, and almost equally dreaded were the Spahis, light horsemen from
+Albania and the other Greek and Bulgarian provinces who had entered the
+Turkish service, and were great plunderers, swift and cruel, glittering,
+both man and horse, with the jewels they had gained in their forays.
+
+These were chiefly troops for the land attack, and they were set on
+shore at Port St. Thomas, where the commanders, Mustafa and Piali, held
+a council, to decide where they should first attack. Piali wished to
+wait for Dragut, who was daily expected, but Mustafa was afraid of
+losing time, and of being caught by the Spanish fleet, and insisted on
+at once laying siege to Fort St. Elmo, which was, he thought, so small
+that it could not hold out more than five or six days.
+
+Indeed, it could not hold above 300 men, but these were some of the
+bravest of the knights, and as it was only attacked on the land side,
+they were able to put off boats at night and communicate with the
+Grand Master and their brethren in the Borgo. The Turks set up their
+batteries, and fired their enormous cannon shot upon the fortifications.
+One of their terrible pieces of ordnance carried stone balls of 160
+lb., and no wonder that stone and mortar gave way before it, and that
+a breach was opened in a few days' time. That night, when, as usual,
+boatloads of wounded men were transported across to the Borgo, the
+Bailiff of Negropont sent the knight La Cerda to the Grand Master to
+give an account of the state of things and ask for help. La Cerda spoke
+strongly, and, before a great number of knights, declared that there was
+no chance of so weak a place holding out for more than a week.
+
+'What has been lost,' said the Grand Master, 'since you cry out for
+help?'
+
+'Sir,' replied La Cerda, 'the castle may be regarded as a patient in
+extremity and devoid of strength, who can only be sustained by continual
+remedies and constant succor.'
+
+'I will be doctor myself,' replied the Grand Master, 'and will bring
+others with me who, if they cannot cure you of fear, will at least be
+brave enough to prevent the infidels from seizing the fort.'
+
+The fact was, as he well knew, that the little fort could not hold
+out long, and he grieved over the fate of his knights; but time was
+everything, and the fate of the whole isle depended upon the white cross
+being still on that point of land when the tardy Sicilian fleet should
+set sail. He was one who would ask no one to run into perils that he
+would not share, and he was bent on throwing himself into St. Elmo, and
+being rather buried under the ruins than to leave the Mussulmans free a
+moment sooner than could be helped to attack the Borgo and Castle of St.
+Angelo. But the whole Chapter of Knights entreated him to abstain, and
+so many volunteered for this desperate service, that the only difficulty
+was to choose among them. Indeed, La Cerda had done the garrison
+injustice; no one's heart was failing but his own; and the next day
+there was a respite, for a cannon shot from St. Angelo falling into the
+enemy's camp, shattered a stone, a splinter of which struck down
+the Piali Pasha. He was thought dead, and the camp and fleet were in
+confusion, which enabled the Grand Master to send off his nephew, the
+Chevalier de la Valette Cornusson, to Messina to entreat the Viceroy of
+Sicily to hasten to their relief; to give him a chart of the entrance of
+the harbour, and a list of signals, and to desire in especial that
+two ships belonging to the Order, and filled with the knights who had
+hurried from distant lands too late for the beginning of the siege,
+might come to him at once. To this the Viceroy returned a promise
+that at latest the fleet should sail on the 15th of June, adding an
+exhortation to him at all sacrifices to maintain St. Elmo. This reply
+the Grand Master transmitted to the garrison, and it nerved them to
+fight even with more patience and self-sacrifice. A desperate sally was
+led by the Chevalier de Medran, who fought his way into the trenches
+where the Turkish cannon were planted, and at first drove all before
+him; but the Janissaries rallied and forced back the Christians out of
+the trenches. Unfortunately there was a high wind, which drove the smoke
+of the artillery down on the counter-scarp (the slope of masonry facing
+the rampart), and while it was thus hidden from the Christians, the
+Turks succeeded in effecting a lodgment there, fortifying themselves
+with trees and sacks of earth and wool. When the smoke cleared off, the
+knights were dismayed to see the horse-tail ensigns of the Janissaries
+so near them, and cannon already prepared to batter the ravelin, or
+outwork protecting the gateway.
+
+La Cerda proposed to blow this fortification up, and abandon it, but no
+other knight would hear of deserting an inch of wall while it could yet
+be held.
+
+But again the sea was specked with white sails from the south-east. Six
+galleys came from Egypt, bearing 900 troops--Mameluke horsemen, troops
+recruited much like the Janissaries and quite as formidable. These ships
+were commanded by Ulucciali, an Italian, who had denied his faith and
+become a Mahometan, and was thus regarded with especial horror by the
+chivalry of Malta. And the swarm thickened for a few days more; like
+white-winged and beautiful but venomous insects hovering round their
+prey, the graceful Moorish galleys and galliots came up from the south,
+bearing 600 dark-visaged, white-turbaned, lithe-limbed Moors from
+Tripoli, under Dragut himself. The thunders of all the guns roaring
+forth their salute of honor told the garrison that the most formidable
+enemy of all had arrived. And now their little white rock was closed in
+on every side, with nothing but its own firmness to be its aid.
+
+Dragut did not approve of having begun with attacking Fort St. Elmo; he
+thought that the inland towns should have been first taken, and Mustafa
+offered to discontinue the attack, but this the Corsair said could not
+now be done with honor, and under him the attack went on more furiously
+than ever. He planted a battery of four guns on the point guarding the
+entrance of Marza Muscat, the other gulf, and the spot has ever since
+been called Dragut's Point. Strange to say, the soldiers in the ravelin
+fell asleep, and thus enabled the enemy to scramble up by climbing on
+one another's shoulders and enter the place. As soon as the alarm was
+given, the Bailiff of Negropont, with a number of knights, rushed into
+the ravelin, and fought with the utmost desperation, but all in vain;
+they never succeeded in dislodging the Turks, and had almost been
+followed by them into the Fort itself. Only the utmost courage turned
+back the enemy at last, and, it was believed, with a loss of 3,000. The
+Order had twenty knights and a hundred soldiers killed, with many more
+wounded. One knight named Abel de Bridiers, who was shot through the
+body, refused to be assisted by his brethren, saying, 'Reckon me no more
+among the living. You will be doing better by defending our brothers.'
+He dragged himself away, and was found dead before the altar in the
+Castle chapel. The other wounded were brought back to the Borgo in boats
+at night, and La Cerda availed himself of a slight scratch to come with
+them and remain, though the Bailiff of Negropont, a very old man, and
+with a really severe wound, returned as soon as it had been dressed,
+together with the reinforcements sent to supply the place of those
+who had been slain. The Grand Master, on finding how small had been La
+Cerda's hurt, put him in prison for several days; but he was afterwards
+released, and met his death bravely on the ramparts of the Borgo.
+
+The 15th of June was passed. Nothing would make the Sicilian Viceroy
+move, nor even let the warships of the Order sail with their own
+knights, and the little fort that had been supposed unable to hold out a
+week, had for full a month resisted every attack of the enemy.
+
+At last Dragut, though severely wounded while reconnoitring, set up a
+battery on the hill of Calcara, so as to command the strait, and hinder
+the succors from being sent across to the fort. The wounded were laid
+down in the chapel and the vaults, and well it was for them that each
+knight of the Order could be a surgeon and a nurse. One good swimmer
+crossed under cover of darkness with their last messages, and La Valette
+prepared five armed boats for their relief; but the enemy had fifteen
+already in the bay, and communication was entirely cut off. It was the
+night before the 23rd of June when these brave men knew their time was
+come. All night they prayed, and prepared themselves to die by giving
+one another the last rites of the Church, and at daylight each repaired
+to his post, those who could not walk being carried in chairs, and sat
+ghastly figures, sword in hand, on the brink of the breach, ready for
+their last fight.
+
+By the middle of the day every Christian knight in St. Elmo had died
+upon his post, and the little heap of ruins was in the hands of the
+enemy. Dragut was dying of his wound, but just lived to hear that the
+place was won, when it had cost the Sultan 8,000 men! Well might Mustafa
+say, 'If the son has cost us so much, what will the father do?'
+
+It would be too long to tell the glorious story of the three months'
+further siege of the Borgo. The patience and resolution of the knights
+was unshaken, though daily there were tremendous battles, and week after
+week passed by without the tardy relief from Spain. It is believed that
+Philip II. thought that the Turks would exhaust themselves against the
+Order, and forbade his Viceroy to hazard his fleet; but at last he
+was shamed into permitting the armament to be fitted out. Two hundred
+knights of St. John were waiting at Messina, in despair at being unable
+to reach their brethren in their deadly strait, and constantly haunting
+the Viceroy's palace, till he grew impatient, and declared they did not
+treat him respectfully enough, nor call him 'Excellency'.
+
+'Senor,' said one of them, 'if you will only bring us in time to save
+the Order, I will call you anything you please, excellency, highness, or
+majesty itself.'
+
+At last, on the 1st of September, the fleet really set sail, but it
+hovered cautiously about on the farther side of the island, and only
+landed 6,000 men and then returned to Sicily. However, the tidings of
+its approach had spread such a panic among the Turkish soldiers, who
+were worn out and exhausted by their exertions, that they hastily raised
+the siege, abandoned their heavy artillery, and, removing their garrison
+from Fort St. Elmo, re-embarked in haste and confusion. No sooner,
+however, was the Pasha in his ship than he became ashamed of his
+precipitation, more especially when he learnt that the relief that had
+put 16,000 men to flight consisted only of 6,000, and he resolved to
+land and give battle; but his troops were angry and unwilling, and were
+actually driven out of their ships by blows.
+
+In the meantime, the Grand Master had again placed a garrison in St.
+Elmo, which the Turks had repaired and restored, and once more the cross
+of St. John waved on the end of its tongue of land, to greet the Spanish
+allies. A battle was fought with the newly arrived troops, in which the
+Turks were defeated; they again took to their ships, and the Viceroy of
+Sicily, from Syracuse, beheld their fleet in full sail for the East.
+
+Meantime, the gates of the Borgo were thrown open to receive the
+brethren and friends who had been so long held back from coming to the
+relief of the home of the Order. Four months' siege, by the heaviest
+artillery in Europe, had shattered the walls and destroyed the streets,
+till, to the eyes of the newcomers, the town looked like a place taken
+by assault, and sacked by the enemy; and of the whole garrison, knights,
+soldiers, and sailors altogether, only six hundred were left able to
+bear arms, and they for the most part covered with wounds. The Grand
+Master and his surviving knights could hardly be recognized, so pale and
+altered were they by wounds and excessive fatigue; their hair, beards,
+dress, and armor showing that for four full months they had hardly
+undressed, or lain down unarmed. The newcomers could not restrain their
+tears, but all together proceeded to the church to return thanks for the
+conclusion of their perils and afflictions. Rejoicings extended all over
+Europe, above all in Italy, Spain, and southern France, where the Order
+of St. John was the sole protection against the descents of the Barbary
+corsairs. The Pope sent La Valette a cardinal's hat, but he would not
+accept it, as unsuited to his office; Philip II. presented him with a
+jeweled sword and dagger. Some thousand unadorned swords a few months
+sooner would have been a better testimony to his constancy, and that of
+the brave men whose lives Spain had wasted by her cruel delays.
+
+The Borgo was thenceforth called Citta Vittoriosa; but La Valette
+decided on building the chief town of the isle on the Peninsula of Fort
+St. Elmo, and in this work he spent his latter days, till he was killed
+by a sunstroke, while superintending the new works of the city which is
+deservedly known by his name, as Valetta.
+
+The Order of St. John lost much of its character, and was finally swept
+from Malta in the general confusion of the Revolutionary wars. The
+British crosses now float in the harbour of Malta; but the steep white
+rocks must ever bear the memory of the self-devoted endurance of the
+beleaguered knights, and, foremost of all, of those who perished in St.
+Elmo, in order that the signal banner might to the very last summon the
+tardy Viceroy to their aid.
+
+
+
+
+THE VOLUNTARY CONVICT
+
+1622
+
+
+In the early summer of the year 1605, a coasting vessel was sailing
+along the beautiful Gulf of Lyons, the wind blowing gently in the sails,
+the blue Mediterranean lying glittering to the south, and the curved
+line of the French shore rising in purple and green tints, dotted with
+white towns and villages. Suddenly three light, white-sailed ships
+appeared in the offing, and the captain's practiced eye detected that
+the wings that bore them were those of a bird of prey. He knew them for
+African brigantines, and though he made all sail, it was impossible to
+run into a French port, as on, on they came, not entirely depending on
+the wind, but, like steamers, impelled by unseen powers within them.
+Alas! that power was not the force of innocent steam, but the arms of
+Christian rowers chained to the oar. Sure as the pounce of a hawk upon a
+partridge was the swoop of the corsairs upon the French vessel. A signal
+to surrender followed, but the captain boldly refused, and armed his
+crew, bidding them stand to their guns. But the fight was too unequal,
+the brave little ship was disabled, the pirates boarded her, and, after
+a sharp fight on deck, three of the crew lay dead, all the rest were
+wounded, and the vessel was the prize of the pirates. The captain was at
+once killed, in revenge for his resistance, and all the rest of the crew
+and passengers were put in chains. Among these passengers was a young
+priest named Vincent de Paul, the son of a farmer in Languedoc, who
+had used his utmost endeavors to educate his son for the ministry, even
+selling the oxen from the plough to provide for the college expenses. A
+small legacy had just fallen to the young man, from a relation who had
+died at Marseilles; he had been thither to receive it, and had been
+persuaded by a friend to return home by sea. And this was the result
+of the pleasant voyage. The legacy was the prey of the pirates, and
+Vincent, severely wounded by an arrow, and heavily chained, lay half-
+stifled in a corner of the hold of the ship, a captive probably for life
+to the enemies of the faith. It was true that France had scandalized
+Europe by making peace with the Dey of Tunis, but this was a trifle to
+the corsairs; and when, after seven days' further cruising, they put
+into the harbour of Tunis, they drew up an account of their capture,
+calling it a Spanish vessel, to prevent the French Consul from claiming
+the prisoners.
+
+The captives had the coarse blue and white garments of slaves given
+them, and were walked five or six times through the narrow streets and
+bazaars of Tunis, by way of exhibition. They were then brought back to
+their ship, and the purchasers came thither to bargain for them. They
+were examined at their meals, to see if they had good appetites; their
+sides were felt like those of oxen; their teeth looked at like those of
+horses; their wounds were searched, and they were made to run and walk
+to show the play of their limbs. All this Vincent endured with patient
+submission, constantly supported by the thought of Him who took upon Him
+the form of a servant for our sakes; and he did his best, ill as he was,
+to give his companions the same confidence.
+
+Weak and unwell, Vincent was sold cheap to a fisherman; but in his new
+service it soon became apparent that the sea made him so ill as to be of
+no use, so he was sold again to one of the Moorish physicians, the like
+of whom may still be seen, smoking their pipes sleepily, under
+their white turbans, cross-legged, among the drugs in their shop
+windows---these being small open spaces beneath the beautiful stone
+lacework of the Moorish lattices. The physician was a great chemist and
+distiller, and for four years had been seeking the philosopher's stone,
+which was supposed to be the secret of making gold. He found his slave's
+learning and intelligence so useful that he grew very fond of him, and
+tried hard to persuade him to turn Mahometan, offering him not only
+liberty, but the inheritance of all his wealth, and the secrets that he
+had discovered.
+
+The Christian priest felt the temptation sufficiently to be always
+grateful for the grace that had carried him through it. At the end of a
+year, the old doctor died, and his nephew sold Vincent again. His next
+master was a native of Nice, who had not held out against the temptation
+to renounce his faith in order to avoid a life of slavery, but had
+become a renegade, and had the charge of one of the farms of the Dey
+of Tunis. The farm was on a hillside in an extremely hot and exposed
+region, and Vincent suffered much from being there set to field labour,
+but he endured all without a murmur. His master had three wives, and one
+of them, who was of Turkish birth, used often to come out and talk to
+him, asking him many questions about his religion. Sometimes she asked
+him to sing, and he would then chant the psalm of the captive Jews: 'By
+the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept;' and others of the 'songs'
+of his Zion. The woman at last told her husband that he must have been
+wrong in forsaking a religion of which her slave had told her such
+wonderful things. Her words had such an effect on the renegade that he
+sought the slave, and in conversation with him soon came to a full sense
+of his own miserable position as an apostate. A change of religion on
+the part of a Mahometan is, however, always visited with death, both to
+the convert and his instructor. An Algerine, who was discovered to have
+become a Christian, was about this time said to have been walled up at
+once in the fortifications he had been building; and the story has
+been confirmed by the recent discovery, by the French engineers, of the
+remains of a man within a huge block of clay, that had taken a perfect
+cast of his Moorish features, and of the surface of his garments, and
+even had his black hair adhering to it. Vincent's master, terrified at
+such perils, resolved to make his escape in secret with his slave. It is
+disappointing to hear nothing of the wife; and not to know whether she
+would not or could not accompany them. All we know is, that master and
+slave trusted themselves alone to a small bark, and, safely crossing the
+Mediterranean, landed at Aigues Mortes, on the 28th of June, 1607;
+and that the renegade at once abjured his false faith, and soon after
+entered a brotherhood at Rome, whose office it was to wait on the sick
+in hospitals.
+
+This part of Vincent de Paul's life has been told at length because
+it shows from what the Knights of St. John strove to protect the
+inhabitants of the coasts. We next find Vincent visiting at a hospital
+at Paris, where he gave such exceeding comfort to the patients that all
+with one voice declared him a messenger from heaven.
+
+He afterwards became a tutor in the family of the Count de Joigni, a
+very excellent man, who was easily led by him to many good works. M. de
+Joigni was inspector general of the 'Galeres', or Hulks, the ships in
+the chief harbors of France, such as Brest and Marseilles, where the
+convicts, closely chained, were kept to hard labour, and often made to
+toil at the oar, like the slaves of the Africans. Going the round of
+these prison ships, the horrible state of the convicts, their half-naked
+misery, and still more their fiendish ferocity went to the heart of
+the Count and of the Abbe de Paul; and, with full authority from the
+inspector, the tutor worked among these wretched beings with such good
+effect that on his doings being represented to the King, Louis XIII., he
+was made almoner general to the galleys.
+
+While visiting those at Marseilles, he was much struck by the broken-
+down looks and exceeding sorrowfulness of one of the convicts. He
+entered into conversation with him, and, after many kind words,
+persuaded him to tell his troubles. His sorrow was far less for his own
+condition than for the misery to which his absence must needs reduce his
+wife and children. And what was Vincent's reply to this? His action was
+so striking that, though in itself it could hardly be safe to propose
+it as an example, it must be mentioned as the very height of self-
+sacrifice.
+
+He absolutely changed places with the convict. Probably some arrangement
+was made with the immediate jailor of the gang, who, by the exchange of
+the priest for the convict, could make up his full tale of men to show
+when his numbers were counted. At any rate the prisoner went free,
+and returned to his home, whilst Vincent wore a convict's chain, did a
+convict's work, lived on convict's fare, and, what was worse, had only
+convict society. He was soon sought out and released, but the hurts
+he had received from the pressure of the chain lasted all his life. He
+never spoke of the event; it was kept a strict secret; and once when
+he had referred to it in a letter to a friend, he became so much afraid
+that the story would become known that he sent to ask for the letter
+back again. It was, however, not returned, and it makes the fact
+certain. It would be a dangerous precedent if prison chaplains were
+to change places with their charges; and, beautiful as was Vincent's
+spirit, the act can hardly be justified; but it should also be
+remembered that among the galleys of France there were then many who
+had been condemned for resistance to the arbitrary will of Cardinal de
+Richelieu, men not necessarily corrupt and degraded like the thieves and
+murderers with whom they were associated. At any rate, M. de Joigni did
+not displace the almoner, and Vincent worked on the consciences of the
+convicts with infinitely more force for having been for a time one of
+themselves. Many and many were won back to penitence, a hospital was
+founded for them, better regulations established, and, for a time, both
+prisons and galleys were wonderfully improved, although only for the
+life-time of the good inspector and the saintly almoner. But who shall
+say how many souls were saved in those years by these men who did what
+they could?
+
+The rest of the life of Vincent de Paul would be too lengthy to tell
+here, though acts of beneficence and self-devotion shine out in glory
+at each step. The work by which he is chiefly remembered is his
+establishment of the Order of Sisters of Charity, the excellent
+women who have for two hundred years been the prime workers in every
+charitable task in France, nursing the sick, teaching the young, tending
+deserted children, ever to be found where there is distress or pain.
+
+But of these, and of his charities, we will not here speak, nor even of
+his influence for good on the King and Queen themselves. The whole tenor
+of his life was 'golden' in one sense, and if we told all his golden
+deeds they would fill an entire book. So we will only wait to tell how
+he showed his remembrance of what he had gone through in his African
+captivity. The redemption of the prisoners there might have seemed his
+first thought, but that he did so much in other quarters. At different
+times, with the alms that he collected, and out of the revenues of his
+benefices, he ransomed no less then twelve hundred slaves from their
+captivity. At one time the French Consul at Tunis wrote to him that for
+a certain sum a large number might be set free, and he raised enough to
+release not only these, but seventy more, and he further wrought upon
+the King to obtain the consent of the Dey of Tunis that a party of
+Christian clergy should be permitted to reside in the consul's house,
+and to minister to the souls and bodies of the Christian slaves, of
+whom there were six thousand in Tunis alone, besides those in Algiers,
+Tangier, and Tripoli!
+
+Permission was gained, and a mission of Lazarist brothers arrived. This,
+too, was an order founded by Vincent, consisting of priestly nurses like
+the Hospitaliers, though not like them warriors. They came in the midst
+of a dreadful visitation of the plague, and nursed and tended the sick,
+both Christians and Mahometans, with fearless devotion, day and night,
+till they won the honor and love of the Moors themselves.
+
+The good Vincent de Paul died in the year 1660, but his brothers of St.
+Lazarus, and sisters of charity still tread in the paths he marked
+out for them, and his name scarcely needs the saintly epithet that his
+church as affixed to it to stand among the most honorable of charitable
+men.
+
+The cruel deeds of the African pirates were never wholly checked till
+1816, when the united fleets of England and France destroyed the old den
+of corsairs at Algiers, which has since become a French colony.
+
+
+
+
+THE HOUSEWIVES OF LOWENBURG
+
+1631
+
+
+Brave deeds have been done by the burgher dames of some of the German
+cities collectively. Without being of the first class of Golden Deeds,
+there is something in the exploit of the dames of Weinsberg so quaint
+and so touching, that it cannot be omitted here.
+
+It was in the first commencement of the long contest known as the strife
+between the Guelfs and Ghibellines--before even these had become the
+party words for the Pope's and the Emperor's friends, and when they only
+applied to the troops of Bavaria and of Swabia--that, in 1141, Wolf,
+Duke of Bavaria, was besieged in his castle of Weinberg by Friedrich,
+Duke of Swabia, brother to the reigning emperor, Konrad III.
+
+The siege lasted long, but Wolf was obliged at last to offer to
+surrender; and the Emperor granted him permission to depart in safety.
+But his wife did not trust to this fair offer. She had reason to believe
+that Konrad had a peculiar enmity to her husband; and on his coming to
+take possession of the castle, she sent to him to entreat him to give
+her a safe conduct for herself and all the other women in the garrison,
+that they might come out with as much of their valuables as they could
+carry.
+
+This was freely granted, and presently the castle gates opened. From
+beneath them came the ladies--but in strange guise. No gold nor jewels
+were carried by them, but each one was bending under the weight of
+her husband, whom she thus hoped to secure from the vengeance of the
+Ghibellines. Konrad, who was really a generous and merciful man, is said
+to have been affected to tears by this extraordinary performance; he
+hastened to assure the ladies of the perfect safety of their lords,
+and that the gentlemen might dismount at once, secure both of life and
+freedom. He invited them all to a banquet, and made peace with the Duke
+of Bavaria on terms much more favorable to the Guelfs than the rest of
+his party had been willing to allow. The castle mount was thenceforth
+called no longer the Vine Hill, but the Hill of Weibertreue, or woman's
+fidelity. We will not invidiously translate it woman's truth, for there
+was in the transaction something of a subterfuge; and it must be owned
+that the ladies tried to the utmost the knightly respect for womankind.
+
+The good women of Lowenburg, who were but citizens' wives, seem to us
+more worthy of admiration for constancy to their faith, shown at a
+time when they had little to aid them. It was such constancy as makes
+martyrs; and though the trial stopped short of this, there is something
+in the homeliness of the whole scene, and the feminine form of passive
+resistance, that makes us so much honor and admire the good women that
+we cannot refrain from telling the story.
+
+It was in the year 1631, in the midst of the long Thirty Years' Was
+between Roman Catholics and Protestants, which finally decided that
+each state should have its own religion, Lowenburg, a city of Silesia,
+originally Protestant, had passed into the hands of the Emperor's Roman
+Catholic party. It was a fine old German city, standing amid woods and
+meadows, fortified with strong walls surrounded by a moat, and with gate
+towers to protect the entrance.
+
+In the centre was a large market-place, called the Ring, into which
+looked the Council-house and fourteen inns, or places of traffic, for
+the cloth that was woven in no less than 300 factories. The houses were
+of stone, with gradually projecting stories to the number of four or
+five, surmounted with pointed gables. The ground floors had once had
+trellised porches, but these had been found inconvenient and were
+removed, and the lower story consisted of a large hall, and strong
+vault, with a spacious room behind it containing a baking-oven, and a
+staircase leading to a wooden gallery, where the family used to dine. It
+seems they slept in the room below, though they had upstairs a handsome
+wainscoted apartment.
+
+Very rich and flourishing had the Lowenburgers always been, and their
+walls were quite sufficient to turn back any robber barons, or even any
+invading Poles; but things were different when firearms were in use, and
+the bands of mercenary soldiers had succeeded the feudal army. They
+were infinitely more formidable during the battle or siege from their
+discipline, and yet more dreadful after it for their want of discipline.
+The poor Lowneburgers had been greatly misused: their Lutheran pastors
+had been expelled; all the superior citizens had either fled or been
+imprisoned; 250 families spent the summer in the woods, and of those who
+remained in the city, the men had for the most part outwardly conformed
+to the Roman Catholic Church. Most of these were of course indifferent
+at heart, and they had found places in the town council which had
+formerly been filled by more respectable men. However, the wives had
+almost all remained staunch to their Lutheran confession; they had
+followed their pastors weeping to the gates of the city, loading
+them with gifts, and they hastened at every opportunity to hear their
+preachings, or obtain baptism for their children at the Lutheran
+churches in the neighborhood.
+
+The person who had the upper hand in the Council was one Julius, who had
+been a Franciscan friar, but was a desperate, unscrupulous fellow, not
+at all like a monk. Finding that it was considered as a reproach that
+the churches of Lowenburg were empty, he called the whole Council
+together on the 9th of April, 1631, and informed them that the women
+must be brought to conformity, or else there were towers and prisons for
+them. The Burgomaster was ill in bed, but the Judge, one Elias Seiler,
+spoke up at once. 'If we have been able to bring the men into the right
+path, why should not we be able to deal with these little creatures?'
+
+Herr Mesnel, a cloth factor, who had been a widower six weeks, thought
+it would be hard to manage, though he quite agreed to the expedient,
+saying, 'It would be truly good if man and wife had one Creed and one
+Paternoster; as concerns the Ten Commandments it is not so pressing.' (A
+sentiment that he could hardly have wished to see put in practice.)
+
+Another councilor, called Schwob Franze, who had lost his wife a few
+days before, seems to have had an eye to the future, for he said it
+would be a pity to frighten away the many beautiful maidens and widows
+there were among the Lutheran women; but on the whole the men without
+wives were much bolder and more sanguine of success than the married
+ones. And no one would undertake to deal with his own wife privately,
+so it ended by a message being sent to the more distinguished ladies to
+attend the Council.
+
+But presently up came tidings that not merely these few dames, whom they
+might have hoped to overawe, were on their way, but that the Judge's
+wife and the Burgomaster's were the first pair in a procession of full
+500 housewives, who were walking sedately up the stairs to the Council
+Hall below the chamber where the dignitaries were assembled. This was
+not by any means what had been expected, and the message was sent down
+that only the chief ladies should come up. 'No,' replied the Judge's
+wife, 'we will not allow ourselves to be separated,' and to this they
+were firm; they said, as one fared all should fare; and the Town Clerk,
+going up and down with smooth words, received no better answer than this
+from the Judge's wife, who, it must be confessed, was less ladylike in
+language than resolute in faith.
+
+'Nay, nay, dear friend, do you think we are so simple as not to perceive
+the trick by which you would force us poor women against our conscience
+to change our faith? My husband and the priest have not been consorting
+together all these days for nothing; they have been joined together
+almost day and night; assuredly they have either boiled or baked a
+devil, which they may eat up themselves. I shall not enter there! Where
+I remain, my train and following will remain also! Women, is this your
+will?'
+
+'Yea, yea, let it be so,' they said; 'we will all hold together as one
+man.'
+
+His honor the Town Clerk was much affrighted, and went hastily back,
+reporting that the Council was in no small danger, since each housewife
+had her bunch of keys at her side! These keys were the badge of a wife's
+dignity and authority, and moreover they were such ponderous articles
+that they sometimes served as weapons. A Scottish virago has been
+know to dash out the brains of a wounded enemy with her keys; and the
+intelligence that the good dames had come so well furnished, filled the
+Council with panic. Dr. Melchior Hubner, who had been a miller's man,
+wished for a hundred musketeers to mow them down; but the Town Clerk
+proposed that all the Council should creep quietly down the back stairs,
+lock the doors on the refractory womankind, and make their escape. This
+was effected as silently and quickly as possible, for the whole Council
+'could confess to a state of frightful terror.' Presently the women
+peeped out, and saw the stairs bestrewn with hats, gloves, and
+handkerchiefs; and perceiving how they had put all the wisdom and
+authority of the town to the rout, there was great merriment among them,
+though, finding themselves locked up, the more tenderhearted began to
+pity their husbands and children. As for themselves, their maids and
+children came round the Town Hall, to hand in provisions to them, and
+all the men who were not of the Council were seeking the magistrates to
+know what their wives had done to be thus locked up.
+
+The Judge sent to assemble the rest of the Council at his house; and
+though only four came, the doorkeeper ran to the Town Hall, and called
+out to his wife that the Council had reassembled, and they would soon
+be let out. To which, however, that very shrewd dame, the Judge's wife,
+answered with great composure, 'Yea, we willingly have patience, as we
+are quite comfortable here; but tell them they ought to inform us why we
+are summoned and confined without trial.'
+
+She well knew how much better off she was than her husband without her.
+He paced about in great perturbation, and at last called for something
+to eat. The maid served up a dish of crab, some white bread, and butter;
+but, in his fury, he threw all the food about the room and out the
+window, away from the poor children, who had had nothing to eat all day,
+and at last he threw all the dishes and saucepans out of window. At last
+the Town Clerk and two others were sent to do their best to persuade the
+women that they had misunderstood--they were in no danger, and were
+only invited to the preachings of Holy Week: and, as Master Daniel, the
+joiner, added, 'It was only a friendly conference. It is not customary
+with my masters and the very wise Council to hang a man before they have
+caught him.'
+
+This opprobrious illustration raised a considerable clamor of abuse from
+the ruder women; but the Judge's and Burgomaster's ladies silenced them,
+and repeated their resolution never to give up their faith against their
+conscience. Seeing that no impression was made on them, and that nobody
+knew what to do without them at home, the magistracy decided that they
+should be released, and they went quietly home; but the Judge Seiler,
+either because he had been foremost in the business, or else perhaps
+because of the devastation he had made at home among the pots and pans,
+durst not meet his wife, but sneaked out of the town, and left her with
+the house to herself.
+
+The priest now tried getting the three chief ladies alone together,
+and most politely begged them to conform; but instead of arguing, they
+simply answered; 'No; we were otherwise instructed by our parents and
+former preachers.'
+
+Then he begged them at least to tell the other women that they had asked
+for fourteen days for consideration.
+
+'No, dear sir,' they replied: 'we were not taught by our parents to tell
+falsehoods, and we will not learn it from you.'
+
+Meanwhile Schwob Franze rushed to the Burgomaster's bedside, and begged
+him, for Heaven's sake, to prevent the priest from meddling with the
+women; for the whole bevy, hearing that their three leaders were called
+before the priest, were collecting in the marketplace, keys, bundles,
+and all; and the panic of the worthy magistrates was renewed. The
+Burgomaster sent for the priest, and told him plainly, that if any harm
+befel him from the women, the fault would be his own; and thereupon he
+gave way, the ladies went quietly home, and their stout champions laid
+aside their bundles and keys--not out of reach, however, in case of
+another summons.
+
+However, the priest was obliged, next year, to leave Lowenburg in
+disgrace, for he was a man of notoriously bad character; and Dr.
+Melchior became a soldier, and was hanged at Prague.
+
+After all, such a confession as this is a mere trifle, not only compared
+with martyrdoms of old, but with the constancy with which, after
+the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the Huguenots endured
+persecution---as, for instance, the large number of women who were
+imprisoned for thirty-eight years at Aigues Mortes; or again, with the
+steady resolution of the persecuted nuns of Port Royal against signing
+the condemnation of the works of Jansen. Yet, in its own way, the
+feminine resistance of these good citizens' wives, without being equally
+high-toned, is worthy of record, and far too full of character to be
+passed over.
+
+
+
+
+FATHERS AND SONS
+
+219--1642--1798
+
+
+One of the noblest characters in old Roman history is the first Scipio
+Africanus, and his first appearance is in a most pleasing light, at the
+battle of the River Ticinus, B.C. 219, when the Carthaginians, under
+Hannibal, had just completed their wonderful march across the Alps, and
+surprised the Romans in Italy itself.
+
+Young Scipio was then only seventeen years of age, and had gone to
+his first battle under the eagles of his father, the Consul, Publius
+Cornelius Scipio. It was an unfortunate battle; the Romans, when
+exhausted by long resistance to the Spanish horse in Hannibal's army,
+were taken in flank by the Numidian calvary, and entirely broken. The
+Consul rode in front of the few equites he could keep together, striving
+by voice and example to rally his forces, until he was pierced by one
+of the long Numidian javelins, and fell senseless from his horse. The
+Romans, thinking him dead, entirely gave way; but his young son would
+not leave him, and, lifting him on his horse, succeeded in bringing him
+safe into the camp, where he recovered, and his after days retrieved the
+honor of the Roman arms.
+
+The story of a brave and devoted son comes to us to light up the sadness
+of our civil wars between Cavaliers and Roundheads in the middle of
+the seventeenth century. It was soon after King Charles had raised his
+standard at Nottingham, and set forth on his march for London, that it
+became evident that the Parliamentary army, under the Earl of Essex,
+intended to intercept his march. The King himself was with the army,
+with his two boys, Charles and James; but the General-in-chief was
+Robert Bertie, Earl of Lindsay, a brave and experienced old soldier,
+sixty years of age, godson to Queen Elizabeth, and to her two favorite
+Earls, whose Christian name he bore. He had been in her Essex's
+expedition to Cambridge, and had afterwards served in the Low Countries,
+under Prince Maurice of Nassau; for the long Continental wars had
+throughout King James' peaceful reign been treated by the English
+nobility as schools of arms, and a few campaigns were considered as a
+graceful finish to a gentleman's education. As soon as Lord Lindsay had
+begun to fear that the disputes between the King and Parliament must end
+in war, he had begun to exercise and train his tenantry in Lincolnshire
+and Northamptonshire, of whom he had formed a regiment of infantry. With
+him was his son Montagu Bertie, Lord Willoughby, a noble-looking man of
+thirty-two, of whom it was said, that he was 'as excellent in reality as
+others in pretence,' and that, thinking 'that the cross was an ornament
+to the crown, and much more to the coronet, he satisfied not himself
+with the mere exercise of virtue, but sublimated it, and made it
+grace.' He had likewise seen some service against the Spaniards in
+the Netherlands, and after his return had been made a captain in
+the Lifeguards, and a Gentleman of the Bedchamber. Vandyke has left
+portraits of the father and the son; the one a bald-headed, alert,
+precise-looking old warrior, with the cuirass and gauntlets of elder
+warfare; the other, the very model of a cavalier, tall, easy, and
+graceful, with a gentle reflecting face, and wearing the long lovelocks
+and deep point lace collar and cuffs characteristic of Queen Henrietta's
+Court. Lindsay was called General-in-chief, but the King had imprudently
+exempted the cavalry from his command, its general, Prince Rupert of
+the Rhine, taking orders only from himself. Rupert was only three-and-
+twenty, and his education in the wild school of the Thirty Years' War
+had not taught him to lay aside his arrogance and opinionativeness;
+indeed, he had shown great petulance at receiving orders from the King
+through Lord Falkland.
+
+At eight o'clock, on the morning of the 23rd of October, King Charles
+was riding along the ridge of Edgehill, and looking down into the Vale
+of Red Horse, a fair meadow land, here and there broken by hedges and
+copses. His troops were mustering around him, and in the valley he could
+see with his telescope the various Parliamentary regiments, as they
+poured out of the town of Keinton, and took up their positions in three
+lines. 'I never saw the rebels in a body before,' he said, as he gazed
+sadly at the subjects arrayed against him. 'I shall give them battle.
+God, and the prayers of good men to Him, assist the justice of my
+cause.' The whole of his forces, about 11,000 in number, were not
+assembled till two o'clock in the afternoon, for the gentlemen who
+had become officers found it no easy matter to call their farmers and
+retainers together, and marshal them into any sort of order. But while
+one troop after another came trampling, clanking, and shouting in,
+trying to find and take their proper place, there were hot words round
+the royal standard.
+
+Lord Lindsay, who was an old comrade of the Earl of Essex, the commander
+of the rebel forces, knew that he would follow the tactics they had both
+together studied in Holland, little thinking that one day they should be
+arrayed one against the other in their own native England. He had a high
+opinion of Essex's generalship, and insisted that the situation of the
+Royal army required the utmost caution. Rupert, on the other hand, had
+seen the swift fiery charges of the fierce troopers of the Thirty Years'
+war, and was backed up by Patrick, Lord Ruthven, one of the many Scots
+who had won honor under the great Swedish King, Gustavus Adolphus.
+A sudden charge of the Royal horse would, Rupert argued, sweep the
+Roundheads from the field, and the foot would have nothing to do but to
+follow up the victory. The great portrait at Windsor shows us exactly
+how the King must have stood, with his charger by his side, and his
+grave, melancholy face, sad enough at having to fight at all with his
+subjects, and never having seen a battle, entirely bewildered between
+the ardent words of his spirited nephew and the grave replies of the
+well-seasoned old Earl. At last, as time went on, and some decision was
+necessary, the perplexed King, willing at least not to irritate Rupert,
+desired that Ruthven should array the troops in the Swedish fashion.
+
+It was a greater affront to the General-in-chief than the king was
+likely to understand, but it could not shake the old soldier's loyalty.
+He gravely resigned the empty title of General, which only made
+confusion worse confounded, and rode away to act as colonel of his own
+Lincoln regiment, pitying his master's perplexity, and resolved that no
+private pique should hinder him from doing his duty. His regiment was
+of foot soldiers, and was just opposite to the standard of the Earl of
+Essex.
+
+The church bell was ringing for afternoon service when the Royal forces
+marched down the hill. The last hurried prayer before the charge was
+stout old Sir Jacob Astley's, 'O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be
+this day; if I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me;' then, rising, he
+said, 'March on, boys.' And, amid prayer and exhortation, the other side
+awaited the shock, as men whom a strong and deeply embittered sense of
+wrong had roused to take up arms. Prince Rupert's charge was, however,
+fully successful. No one even waited to cross swords with his troopers,
+but all the Roundhead horse galloped headlong off the field, hotly
+pursued by the Royalists. But the main body of the army stood firm, and
+for some time the battle was nearly equal, until a large troop of the
+enemy's cavalry who had been kept in reserve, wheeled round and fell
+upon the Royal forces just when their scanty supply of ammunition was
+exhausted.
+
+Step by step, however, they retreated bravely, and Rupert, who had
+returned from his charge, sought in vain to collect his scattered
+troopers, so as to fall again on the rebels; but some were plundering,
+some chasing the enemy, and none could be got together. Lord Lindsay was
+shot through the thigh bone, and fell. He was instantly surrounded
+by the rebels on horseback; but his son, Lord Willoughby, seeing
+his danger, flung himself alone among the enemy, and forcing his way
+forward, raised his father in his arms thinking of nothing else, and
+unheeding his own peril. The throng of enemy around called to him to
+surrender, and, hastily giving up his sword, he carried the Earl into
+the nearest shed, and laid him on a heap of straw, vainly striving to
+staunch the blood. It was a bitterly cold night, and the frosty wind
+came howling through the darkness. Far above, on the ridge of the hill,
+the fires of the King's army shone with red light, and some way off on
+the other side twinkled those of the Parliamentary forces. Glimmering
+lanterns or torches moved about the battlefield, those of the savage
+plunderers who crept about to despoil the dead. Whether the battle were
+won or lost, the father and son knew not, and the guard who watched
+them knew as little. Lord Lindsay himself murmured, 'If it please God
+I should survive, I never will fight in the same field with boys
+again!'--no doubt deeming that young Rupert had wrought all the
+mischief. His thoughts were all on the cause, his son's all on him;
+and piteous was that night, as the blood continued to flow, and nothing
+availed to check it, nor was any aid near to restore the old man's
+ebbing strength.
+
+Toward midnight the Earl's old comrade Essex had time to understand his
+condition, and sent some officers to enquire for him, and promise speedy
+surgical attendance. Lindsay was still full of spirit, and spoke to
+them so strongly of their broken faith, and of the sin of disloyalty and
+rebellion, that they slunk away one by one out of the hut, and dissuaded
+Essex from coming himself to see his old friend, as he had intended.
+The surgeon, however, arrived, but too late, Lindsay was already so much
+exhausted by cold and loss of blood, that he died early in the morning
+of the 24th, all his son's gallant devotion having failed to save him.
+
+The sorrowing son received an affectionate note the next day from the
+King, full of regret for his father and esteem for himself. Charles made
+every effort to obtain his exchange, but could not succeed for a whole
+year. He was afterwards one of the four noblemen who, seven years later,
+followed the King's white, silent, snowy funeral in the dismantled
+St. George's Chapel; and from first to last he was one of the bravest,
+purest, and most devoted of those who did honor to the Cavalier cause.
+
+We have still another brave son to describe, and for him we must return
+away from these sad pages of our history, when we were a house divided
+against itself, to one of the hours of our brightest glory, when the
+cause we fought in was the cause of all the oppressed, and nearly alone
+we upheld the rights of oppressed countries against the invader. And
+thus it is that the battle of the Nile is one of the exploits to which
+we look back with the greatest exultation, when we think of the triumph
+of the British flag.
+
+Let us think of all that was at stake. Napoleon Bonaparte was climbing
+to power in France, by directing her successful arms against the world.
+He had beaten Germany and conquered Italy; he had threatened England,
+and his dream was of the conquest of the East. Like another Alexander,
+he hoped to subdue Asia, and overthrow the hated British power by
+depriving it of India. Hitherto, his dreams had become earnest by the
+force of his marvelous genius, and by the ardor which he breathed into
+the whole French nation; and when he set sail from Toulon, with 40,000
+tried and victorious soldiers and a magnificent fleet, all were filled
+with vague and unbounded expectations of almost fabulous glories. He
+swept away as it were the degenerate Knights of St. john from their rock
+of Malta, and sailed for Alexandria in Egypt, in the latter end of June,
+1798.
+
+His intentions had not become known, and the English Mediterranean fleet
+was watching the course of this great armament. Sir Horatio Nelson was
+in pursuit, with the English vessels, and wrote to the First Lord of the
+Admiralty: 'Be they bound to the Antipodes, your lordship may rely that
+I will not lose a moment in bringing them to action.'
+
+Nelson had, however, not ships enough to be detached to reconnoitre, and
+he actually overpassed the French, whom he guessed to be on the way to
+Egypt; he arrived at the port of Alexandria on the 28th of June, and saw
+its blue waters and flat coast lying still in their sunny torpor, as if
+no enemy were on the seas. Back he went to Syracuse, but could learn no
+more there; he obtained provisions with some difficulty, and then, in
+great anxiety, sailed for Greece; where at last, on the 28th of July, he
+learnt that the French fleet had been seen from Candia, steering to the
+southeast, and about four weeks since. In fact, it had actually passed
+by him in a thick haze, which concealed each fleet from the other, and
+had arrived at Alexandria on the 1st of July, three days after he had
+left it!
+
+Every sail was set for the south, and at four o'clock in the afternoon
+of the 1st of August a very different sight was seen in Aboukir Bay, so
+solitary a month ago. It was crowded with shipping. Great castle-like
+men-of-war rose with all their proud calm dignity out of the water,
+their dark port-holes opening in the white bands on their sides, and the
+tricolored flag floating as their ensign. There were thirteen ships of
+the line and four frigates, and, of these, three were 80-gun ships, and
+one, towering high above the rest, with her three decks, was L'Orient,
+of 120 guns. Look well at her, for there stands the hero for whose sake
+we have chose this and no other of Nelson's glorious fights to place
+among the setting of our Golden Deeds. There he is, a little cadet de
+vaisseau, as the French call a midshipman, only ten years old, with a
+heart swelling between awe and exultation at the prospect of his first
+battle; but, fearless and glad, for is he not the son of the brave
+Casabianca, the flag-captain? And is not this Admiral Brueys' own ship,
+looking down in scorn on the fourteen little English ships, not one
+carrying more than 74 guns, and one only 50?
+
+Why Napoleon had kept the fleet there was never known. In his usual
+mean way of disavowing whatever turned out ill, he laid the blame upon
+Admiral Brueys; but, though dead men could not tell tales, his papers
+made it plain that the ships had remained in obedience to commands,
+though they had not been able to enter the harbour of Alexandria. Large
+rewards had been offered to any pilot who would take them in, but
+none could be found who would venture to steer into that port a vessel
+drawing more than twenty feet of water. They had, therefore, remained at
+anchor outside, in Aboukir Bay, drawn up in a curve along the deepest
+of the water, with no room to pass them at either end, so that the
+commissary of the fleet reported that they could bid defiance to a force
+more than double their number. The admiral believed that Nelson had
+not ventured to attack him when they had passed by one another a month
+before, and when the English fleet was signaled, he still supposed that
+it was too late in the day for an attack to be made.
+
+Nelson had, however, no sooner learnt that the French were in sight than
+he signaled from his ship, the Vanguard, that preparations for battle
+should be made, and in the meantime summoned up his captains to receive
+his orders during a hurried meal. He explained that, where there was
+room for a large French ship to swing, there was room for a small
+English one to anchor, and, therefore, he designed to bring his ships up
+to the outer part of the French line, and station them close below their
+adversary; a plan that he said Lord Hood had once designed, though he
+had not carried it out.
+
+Captain Berry was delighted, and exclaimed, 'If we succeed, what will
+the world say?'
+
+'There is no if in the case,' returned Nelson, 'that we shall succeed is
+certain. Who may live to tell the tale is a very different question.'
+
+And when they rose and parted, he said, 'before this time to-morrow I
+shall have gained a peerage or Westminster Abbey.'
+
+In the fleet went, through a fierce storm of shot and shell from a
+French battery in an island in advance. Nelson's own ship, the Vanguard,
+was the first to anchor within half-pistol-shot of the third French
+ship, the Spartiate. The Vanguard had six colours flying, in any case
+any should be shot away; and such was the fire that was directed on
+her, that in a few minutes every man at the six guns in her forepart
+was killed or wounded, and this happened three times. Nelson himself
+received a wound in the head, which was thought at first to be mortal,
+but which proved but slight. He would not allow the surgeon to leave the
+sailors to attend to him till it came to his turn.
+
+Meantime his ships were doing their work gloriously. The Bellerophon
+was, indeed, overpowered by L'Orient, 200 of her crew killed, and all
+her masts and cables shot away, so that she drifted away as night
+came on; but the Swiftsure came up in her place, and the Alexander and
+Leander both poured in their shot. Admiral Brueys received three wounds,
+but would not quit his post, and at length a fourth shot almost cut him
+in two. He desired not to be carried below, but that he might die on
+deck.
+
+About nine o'clock the ship took fire, and blazed up with fearful
+brightness, lighting up the whole bay, and showing five French ships
+with their colours hauled down, the others still fighting on. Nelson
+himself rose and came on deck when this fearful glow came shining from
+sea and sky into his cabin; and gave orders that the English boars
+should immediately be put off for L'Orient, to save as many lives as
+possible.
+
+The English sailors rowed up to the burning ship which they had lately
+been attacking. The French officers listened to the offer of safety, and
+called to the little favorite of the ship, the captain's son, to come
+with them. 'No,' said the brave child, 'he was where his father had
+stationed him, and bidden him not to move save at his call.' They told
+him his father's voice would never call him again, for he lay senseless
+and mortally wounded on the deck, and that the ship must blow up. 'No,'
+said the brave child, 'he must obey his father.' The moment allowed no
+delay the boat put off. The flames showed all that passed in a quivering
+flare more intense than daylight, and the little fellow was then seen on
+the deck, leaning over the prostrate figure, and presently tying it to
+one of the spars of the shivered masts.
+
+Just then a thundering explosion shook down to the very hold every ship
+in the harbour, and burning fragments of L'Orient came falling far and
+wide, plashing heavily into the water, in the dead, awful stillness
+that followed the fearful sound. English boats were plying busily about,
+picking up those who had leapt overboard in time. Some were dragged in
+through the lower portholes of the English ships, and about seventy were
+saved altogether. For one moment a boat's crew had a sight of a helpless
+figure bound to a spar, and guided by a little childish swimmer, who
+must have gone overboard with his precious freight just before the
+explosion. They rowed after the brave little fellow, earnestly desiring
+to save him; but in darkness, in smoke, in lurid uncertain light, amid
+hosts of drowning wretches, they lost sight of him again.
+
+
+ The boy, oh where was he!
+  Ask of the winds that far around
+With fragments strewed the sea;  With mast and helm, and pennant fair
+That well had borne their part:  But the noblest thing that perished there
+Was that young faithful heart!
+
+
+By sunrise the victory was complete. Nay, as Nelson said, 'It was not a
+victory, but a conquest.' Only four French ships escaped, and Napoleon
+and his army were cut off from home. These are the glories of our navy,
+gained by men with hearts as true and obedient as that of the brave
+child they had tried in vain to save. Yet still, while giving the full
+meed of thankful, sympathetic honor to our noble sailors, we cannot but
+feel that the Golden Deed of Aboukir Bay fell to--
+
+     'That young faithful heart.'
+
+
+
+
+THE SOLDIERS IN THE SNOW
+
+1672
+
+
+Few generals had ever been more loved by their soldiers than the great
+Viscount de Turenne, who was Marshal of France in the time of Louis XIV.
+Troops are always proud of a leader who wins victories; but Turenne was
+far more loved for his generous kindness than for his successes. If he
+gained a battle, he always wrote in his despatches, 'We succeeded,' so
+as to give the credit to the rest of the army; but if he were defeated,
+he wrote, 'I lost,' so as to take all the blame upon himself. He always
+shared as much as possible in every hardship suffered by his men, and
+they trusted him entirely. In the year 1672, Turenne and his army were
+sent to make war upon the Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg, in
+Northern Germany. It was in the depth of winter, and the marches through
+the heavy roads were very trying and wearisome; but the soldiers endured
+all cheerfully for his sake. Once when they were wading though a deep
+morass, some of the younger soldiers complained; but the elder ones
+answered, 'Depend upon it, Turenne is more concerned than we are. At
+this moment he is thinking how to deliver us. He watches for us while we
+sleep. He is our father. It is plain that you are but young.'
+
+Another night, when he was going the round of the camp, he overheard
+some of the younger men murmuring at the discomforts of the march; when
+an old soldier, newly recovered from a severe wound, said: 'You do not
+know our father. He would not have made us go through such fatigue,
+unless he had some great end in view, which we cannot yet make out.'
+Turenne always declared that nothing had ever given him more pleasure
+than this conversation.
+
+There was a severe sickness among the troops, and he went about among
+the sufferers, comforting them, and seeing that their wants were
+supplied. When he passed by, the soldiers came out of their tents to
+look at him, and say, 'Our father is in good health: we have nothing to
+fear.'
+
+The army had to enter the principality of Halberstadt, the way to
+which lay over ridges of high hills with narrow defiles between them.
+Considerable time was required for the whole of the troops to march
+through a single narrow outlet; and one very cold day, when such a
+passage was taking place, the Marshal, quite spent with fatigue, sat
+down under a bush to wait till all had marched by, and fell asleep. When
+he awoke, it was snowing fast; but he found himself under a sort of tent
+made of soldiers' cloaks, hung up upon the branches of trees planted
+in the ground, and round it were standing, in the cold and snow, all
+unsheltered, a party of soldiers. Turenne called out to them, to ask
+what they were doing there. 'We are taking care of our father,' they
+said; 'that is our chief concern.' The general, to keep up discipline,
+seems to have scolded them a little for straggling from their regiment;
+but he was much affected and gratified by this sight of their hearty
+love for him.
+
+Still greater and more devoted love was shown by some German soldiers
+in the terrible winter of 1812. It was when the Emperor Napoleon I. had
+made his vain attempt to conquer Russia, and had been prevented from
+spending the winter at Moscow by the great fire that consumed all the
+city. He was obliged to retreat through the snow, with the Russian army
+pursuing him, and his miserable troops suffering horrors beyond all
+imagination. Among them were many Italians, Poles, and Germans, whom he
+had obliged to become his allies; and the 'Golden Deed' of ten of these
+German soldiers, the last remnant of those led from Hesse Darmstadt
+by their gallant young Prince Emilius, is best told in Lord Houghton's
+verses:--
+
+
+'From Hessen Darmstadt every step to Moskwa's blazing banks, Was Prince
+Emilius found in flight before the foremost ranks; And when upon the
+icy waste that host was backward cast, On Beresina's bloody bridge his
+banner waved the last.
+
+'His valor shed victorious grace on all that dread retreat--That
+path across the wildering snow, athwart the blinding sleet; And every
+follower of his sword could all endure and dare, Becoming warriors,
+strong in hope, or stronger in despair. 'Now, day and dark, along the
+storm the demon Cossacks sweep--The hungriest must not look for food,
+the weariest must not sleep. No rest but death for horse or man,
+whichever first shall tire; They see the flames destroy, but ne'er may
+feel the saving fire. 'Thus never closed the bitter night, nor rose the
+salvage morn, But from the gallant company some noble part was shorn;
+And, sick at heart, the Prince resolved to keep his purposed way With
+steadfast forward looks, nor count the losses of the day.
+
+'At length beside a black, burnt hut, an island of the snow, Each head
+in frigid torpor bent toward the saddle bow; They paused, and of that
+sturdy troop--that thousand banded men--At one unmeditated glance he
+numbered only ten!
+
+'Of all that high triumphant life that left his German home--Of all
+those hearts that beat beloved, or looked for love to come--This piteous
+remnant, hardly saved, his spirit overcame, While memory raised each
+friendly face, recalled an ancient name.
+
+'These were his words, serene and firm, 'Dear brothers, it is best That
+here, with perfect trust in Heaven, we give our bodies rest; If we have
+borne, like faithful men, our part of toil and pain, Where'er we wake,
+for Christ's good sake, we shall not sleep in vain.'
+
+'Some uttered, others looked assent--they had no heart to speak; Dumb
+hands were pressed, the pallid lip approached the callous cheek. They
+laid them side by side; and death to him at last did seem To come
+attired in mazy robe of variegated dream.
+
+'Once more he floated on the breast of old familiar Rhine, His mother's
+and one other smile above him seemed to shine; A blessed dew of healing
+fell on every aching limb; Till the stream broadened, and the air
+thickened, and all was dim.
+
+'Nature has bent to other laws if that tremendous night Passed o'er his
+frame, exposed and worn, and left no deadly blight; Then wonder not that
+when, refresh'd and warm, he woke at last, There lay a boundless gulf of
+thought between him and the past.
+
+'Soon raising his astonished head, he found himself alone, Sheltered
+beneath a genial heap of vestments not his own; The light increased,
+the solemn truth revealing more and more, The soldiers' corses,
+self-despoiled, closed up the narrow door.
+
+'That every hour, fulfilling good, miraculous succor came, And Prince
+Emilius lived to give this worthy deed to fame. O brave fidelity in
+death! O strength of loving will! These are the holy balsam drops that
+woeful wars distil.'
+
+
+
+
+GUNPOWDER PERILS
+
+1700
+
+
+The wild history of Ireland contains many a frightful tale, but also
+many an action of the noblest order; and the short sketch given by Maria
+Edgeworth of her ancestry, presents such a chequerwork of the gold and
+the lead that it is almost impossible to separate them.
+
+At the time of the great Irish rebellion of 1641 the head of the
+Edgeworth family had left his English wife and her infant son at his
+castle of Cranallagh in county Longford, thinking them safe there while
+he joined the royal forces under the Earl of Ormond. In his absence,
+however, the rebels attacked the castle at night, set fire to it, and
+dragged the lady out absolutely naked. She hid herself under a furze
+bush, and succeeded in escaping and reaching Dublin, whence she made her
+way to her father's house in Derbyshire. Her little son was found by the
+rebels lying in his cradle, and one of them actually seized the child
+by the leg and was about to dash out his brains against the wall; but a
+servant named Bryan Ferral, pretending to be even more ferocious, vowed
+that a sudden death was too good for the little heretic, and that he
+should be plunged up to the throat in a bog-hole and left for the crows
+to pick out his eyes. He actually did place the poor child in the bog,
+but only to save his life; he returned as soon as he could elude his
+comrades, put the boy into a pannier below eggs and chickens, and thus
+carried him straight though the rebel camp to his mother at Dublin.
+Strange to say, these rebels, who thought being dashed against the wall
+too good a fate for the infant, extinguished the flames of the castle
+out of reverence for the picture of his grandmother, who had been a
+Roman Catholic, and was painted on a panel with a cross on her bosom and
+a rosary in her hand.
+
+John Edgeworth, the boy thus saved, married very young, and went with
+his wife to see London after the Restoration. To pay their expenses they
+mortgaged an estate and put the money in a stocking, which they kept
+on the top of the bed; and when that store was used up, the young man
+actually sold a house in Dublin to buy a high-crowned hat and feathers.
+Still, reckless and improvident as they were, there was sound principle
+within them, and though they were great favorites, and Charles II.
+insisted on knighting the husband, their glimpse of the real evils and
+temptations of his Court sufficed them, and in the full tide of flattery
+and admiration the lady begged to return home, nor did she ever go back
+to Court again.
+
+Her home was at Castle Lissard, in full view of which was a hillock
+called Fairymount, or Firmont, from being supposed to be the haunt of
+fairies. Lights, noises, and singing at night, clearly discerned from
+the castle, caused much terror to Lady Edgeworth, though her descendants
+affirm that they were fairies of the same genus as those who beset Sir
+John Falstaff at Hearne's oak, and intended to frighten her into leaving
+the place. However, though her nerves might be disturbed, her spirit was
+not to be daunted; and, fairies or no fairies, she held her ground
+at Castle Lissard, and there showed what manner of woman she was in a
+veritable and most fearful peril.
+
+On some alarm which caused the gentlemen of the family to take down
+their guns, she went to a dark loft at the top of the house to fetch
+some powder from a barrel that was there kept in store, taking a young
+maid-servant to carry the candle; which, as might be expected in
+an Irish household of the seventeenth century, was devoid of any
+candlestick. After taking the needful amount of gunpowder, Lady
+Edgeworth locked the door, and was halfway downstairs when she missed
+the candle, and asking the girl what she had done with it, received the
+cool answer that 'she had left it sticking in the barrel of black salt'.
+Lady Edgeworth bade her stand still, turned round, went back alone to
+the loft where the tallow candle stood guttering and flaring planted in
+the middle of the gunpowder, resolutely put an untrembling hand beneath
+it, took it out so steadily that no spark fell, carried it down, and
+when she came to the bottom of the stairs dropped on her knees, and
+broke forth in a thanksgiving aloud for the safety of the household in
+this frightful peril. This high-spirited lady lived to be ninety years
+old, and left a numerous family. One grandson was the Abbe Edgeworth,
+known in France as De Firmont, such being the alteration of Fairymount
+on French lips. It was he who, at the peril of his own life, attended
+Louis XVI. to the guillotine, and thus connected his name so closely
+with the royal cause that when his cousin Richard Lovell Edgeworth, of
+Edgeworths-town, visited France several years after, the presence of a
+person so called was deemed perilous to the rising power of Napoleon.
+This latter Mr. Edgeworth was the father of Maria, whose works we hope
+are well known to our young readers.
+
+The good Chevalier Bayard was wont to mourn over the introduction of
+firearms, as destructive of chivalry; and certainly the steel-clad
+knight, with barbed steed, and sword and lance, has disappeared from
+the battle-field; but his most essential qualities, truth, honor,
+faithfulness, mercy, and self-devotion, have not disappeared with
+him, nor can they as long as Christian men and women bear in mind that
+'greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his
+friend'.
+
+And that terrible compound, gunpowder, has been the occasion of many
+another daring deed, requiring desperate resolution, to save others at
+the expense of a death perhaps more frightful to the imagination than
+any other. Listen to a story of the King's birthday in Jersey 'sixty
+years since'--in 1804, when that 4th of June that Eton boys delight in,
+was already in the forty-fourth year of its observance in honor of the
+then reigning monarch, George III.
+
+All the forts in the island had done due honor to the birthday of His
+Majesty, who was then just recovered from an attack of insanity. In each
+the guns at noon-day thundered out their royal salute, the flashes had
+answered one another, and the smoke had wreathed itself away over the
+blue sea of Jersey. The new fort on the hill just above the town of St.
+Heliers had contributed its share to the loyal thunders, and then it
+was shut up, and the keys carried away by Captain Salmon, the artillery
+officer on guard there, locking up therein 209 barrels of gunpowder,
+with a large supply of bombshells, and every kind of ammunition such as
+might well be needed in the Channel islands the year before Lord Nelson
+had freed England from the chance of finding the whole French army on
+our coast in the flat-bottomed boats that were waiting at Boulogne for
+the dark night that never came.
+
+At six o'clock in the evening, Captain Salmon went to dine with the
+other officers in St. Heliers and to drink the King's health, when the
+soldiers on guard beheld a cloud of smoke curling out at the air-hole
+at the end of the magazine. Shouting 'fire', they ran away to avoid an
+explosion that would have shattered them to pieces, and might perhaps
+endanger the entire town of St. Heliers. Happily their shout was heard
+by a man of different mould. Lieutenant Lys, the signal officer, was
+in the watch-house on the hill, and coming out he saw the smoke, and
+perceived the danger. Two brothers, named Thomas and Edward Touzel,
+carpenters, and the sons of an old widow, had come up to take down a
+flagstaff that had been raised in honor of the day, and Mr. Lys ordered
+them to hasten to the town to inform the commander-in-chief, and get the
+keys from Captain Salmon.
+
+Thomas went, and endeavored to persuade his brother to accompany him
+from the heart of the danger; but Edward replied that he must die some
+day or other, and that he would do his best to save the magazine, and he
+tried to stop some of the runaway soldiers to assist. One refused; but
+another, William Ponteney, of the 3rd, replied that he was ready to die
+with him, and they shook hands.
+
+Edward Touzel then, by the help of a wooden bar and an axe, broke open
+the door of the fort, and making his way into it, saw the state of the
+case, and shouted to Mr. Lys on the outside, 'the magazine is on fire,
+it will blow up, we must lose our lives; but no matter, huzza for the
+King! We must try and save it.' He then rushed into the flame, and
+seizing the matches, which were almost burnt out (probably splinters of
+wood tipped with brimstone), he threw them by armfuls to Mr. Lys and
+the soldier Ponteney, who stood outside and received them. Mr. Lys saw a
+cask of water near at hand; but there was nothing to carry the water in
+but an earthen pitcher, his own hat and the soldier's. These, however,
+they filled again and again, and handed to Touzel, who thus extinguished
+all the fire he could see; but the smoke was so dense, that he worked in
+horrible doubt and obscurity, almost suffocated, and with his face and
+hands already scorched. The beams over his head were on fire, large
+cases containing powder horns had already caught, and an open barrel
+of gunpowder was close by, only awaiting the fall of a single brand
+to burst into a fatal explosion. Touzel called out to entreat for some
+drink to enable him to endure the stifling, and Mr. Lys handed him some
+spirits-and-water, which he drank, and worked on; but by this time the
+officers had heard the alarm, dispelled the panic among the soldiers,
+and come to the rescue. The magazine was completely emptied, and the
+last smoldering sparks extinguished; but the whole of the garrison and
+citizens felt that they owed their lives to the three gallant men to
+whose exertions alone under Providence, it was owing that succor did
+not come too late. Most of all was honor due to Edward Touzel, who, as
+a civilian, might have turned his back upon the peril without any blame;
+nay, could even have pleaded Mr. Lys' message as a duty, but who had
+instead rushed foremost into what he believe was certain death.
+
+A meeting was held in the church of St. Heliers to consider of a
+testimonial of gratitude to these three brave men (it is to be hoped
+that thankfulness to an overruling Providence was also manifested
+there), when 500l. was voted to Mr. Lys, who was the father of a large
+family; 300l. to Edward Touzel; and William Ponteney received, at his
+own request, a life annuity of 20l. and a gold medal, as he declared
+that he had rather continue to serve the King as a soldier than be
+placed in any other course of life.
+
+In that same year (1804) the same daring endurance and heroism were
+evinced by the officers of H.M.S. Hindostan, where, when on the way
+from Gibraltar to join Nelson's fleet at Toulon, the cry of 'Fire!' was
+heard, and dense smoke rose from the lower decks, so as to render it
+nearly impossible to detect the situation of the fire. Again and again
+Lieutenants Tailour and Banks descended, and fell down senseless from
+the stifling smoke; then were carried on deck, recovered in the free
+air, and returned to vain endeavor of clearing the powder-room. But no
+man could long preserve his faculties in the poisonous atmosphere, and
+the two lieutenants might be said to have many deaths from it. At last
+the fire gained so much head, that it was impossible to save the vessel,
+which had in the meantime been brought into the Bay of Rosas, and was
+near enough to land to enable the crew to escape in boats, after having
+endured the fire six hours. Nelson himself wrote: 'The preservation of
+the crew seems little short of a miracle. I never read such a journal of
+exertions in my life.'
+
+Eight years after, on the taking of Ciudad Rodrigo, in 1812, by the
+British army under Wellington, Captain William Jones, of the 52nd
+Regiment, having captured a French officer, employed his prisoner
+in pointing out quarters for his men. The Frenchman could not speak
+English, and Captain Jones--a fiery Welshman, whom it was the fashion
+in the regiment to term 'Jack Jones'--knew no French; but dumb show
+supplied the want of language, and some of the company were lodged in
+a large store pointed out by the Frenchman, who then led the way to a
+church, near which Lord Wellington and his staff were standing. But no
+sooner had the guide stepped into the building than he started back,
+crying, 'Sacre bleu!' and ran out in the utmost alarm. The Welsh
+captain, however, went on, and perceived that the church had been used
+as a powder-magazine by the French; barrels were standing round, samples
+of their contents lay loosely scattered on the pavement, and in
+the midst was a fire, probably lighted by some Portuguese soldiers.
+Forthwith Captain Jones and the sergeant entered the church, took up the
+burning embers brand by brand, bore them safe over the scattered powder,
+and out of the church, and thus averted what might have been the most
+terrific disaster that could have befallen our army. [Footnote: The
+story has been told with some variation, as to whether it was the embers
+or a barrel of powder that he and the sergeant removed. In the Record of
+the 52d it is said to have been the latter; but the tradition the author
+has received from officers of the regiment distinctly stated that it was
+the burning brands, and that the scene was a reserve magazine--not, as
+in the brief mention in Sir William Napier's History, the great magazine
+of the town.]
+
+Our next story of this kind relates to a French officer, Monsieur
+Mathieu Martinel, adjutant of the 1st Cuirassiers. In 1820 there was a
+fire in the barracks at Strasburg, and nine soldiers were lying sick and
+helpless above a room containing a barrel of gunpowder and a thousand
+cartridges. Everyone was escaping, but Martinel persuaded a few men to
+return into the barracks with him, and hurried up the stairs through
+smoke and flame that turned back his companions. He came alone to the
+door of a room close to that which contained the powder, but found it
+locked. Catching up a bench, he beat the door in, and was met by such a
+burst of fire as had almost driven him away; but, just as he was about
+to descend, he thought that, when the flames reached the powder, the
+nine sick men must infallibly be blown up, and returning to the charge,
+he dashed forward, with eyes shut, through the midst, and with face,
+hands, hair, and clothes singed and burnt, he made his way to the
+magazine, in time to tear away, and throw to a distance from the powder,
+the mass of paper in which the cartridges were packed, which was just
+about to ignite, and appearing at the window, with loud shouts for
+water, thus showed the possibility of penetrating to the magazine, and
+floods of water were at once directed to it, so as to drench the powder,
+and thus save the men.
+
+This same Martinel had shortly before thrown himself into the River Ill,
+without waiting to undress, to rescue a soldier who had fallen in, so
+near a water mill, that there was hardly a chance of life for either.
+Swimming straight towards the mill dam, Martinel grasped the post of the
+sluice with one arm, and with the other tried to arrest the course of
+the drowning man, who was borne by a rapid current towards the mill
+wheel; and was already so far beneath the surface, that Martinel could
+not reach him without letting go of the post. Grasping the inanimate
+body, he actually allowed himself to be carried under the mill wheel,
+without loosing his hold, and came up immediately after on the other
+side, still able to bring the man to land, in time for his suspended
+animation to be restored.
+
+Seventeen years afterwards, when the regiment was at Paris, there was,
+on the night of the 14th of June, 1837, during the illuminations at
+the wedding festival of the Duke and Duchess of Orleans, one of those
+frightful crushes that sometimes occur in an ill-regulated crowd,
+when there is some obstruction in the way, and there is nothing but a
+horrible blind struggling and trampling, violent and fatal because of
+its very helplessness and bewilderment. The crowd were trying to
+leave the Champ de Mars, where great numbers had been witnessing some
+magnificent fireworks, and had blocked up the passage leading out by the
+Military College. A woman fell down in a fainting fit, others stumbled
+over her, and thus formed an obstruction, which, being unknown to those
+in the rear, did not prevent them from forcing forward the persons in
+front, so that they too were pushed and trodden down into one frightful,
+struggling, suffocating mass of living and dying men, women, and
+children, increasing every moment.
+
+M. Martinel was passing, on his way to his quarters, when, hearing the
+tumult, he ran to the gate from the other side, and meeting the crowd
+tried by shouts and entreaties to persuade them to give back, but the
+hindmost could not hear him, and the more frightened they grew, the more
+they tried to hurry home, and so made the heap worse and worse, and
+in the midst an illuminated yew-tree, in a pot, was upset, and further
+barred the way. Martinel, with imminent danger to himself, dragged out
+one or two persons; but finding his single efforts almost useless among
+such numbers, he ran to the barracks, sounded to horse, and without
+waiting till his men could be got together, hurried off again on foot,
+with a few of his comrades, and dashed back into the crowd, struggling
+as vehemently to penetrate to the scene of danger, as many would have
+done to get away from it.
+
+Private Spenlee alone kept up with him, and, coming to the dreadful
+heap, these two labored to free the passage, lift up the living, and
+remove the dead. First he dragged out an old man in a fainting fit, then
+a young soldier, next a boy, a woman, a little girl--he carried them to
+freer air, and came back the next moment, though often so nearly pulled
+down by the frantic struggles of the terrified stifled creatures, that
+he was each moment in the utmost peril of being trampled to death. He
+carried out nine persons one by one; Spenlee brought out a man and
+a child; and his brother officers, coming up, took their share. One
+lieutenant, with a girl in a swoon in his arms, caused a boy to be put
+on his back, and under this double burthen was pushing against the crowd
+for half and hour, till at length he fell, and was all but killed.
+
+A troop of cuirassiers had by this time mounted, and through the Champ
+de Mars came slowly along, step by step, their horses moving as gently
+and cautiously as if they knew their work. Everywhere, as they advanced,
+little children were held up to them out of the throng to be saved, and
+many of their chargers were loaded with the little creatures, perched
+before and behind the kind soldiers. With wonderful patience and
+forbearance, they managed to insert themselves and their horses, first
+in single file, then two by two, then more abreast, like a wedge, into
+the press, until at last they formed a wall, cutting off the crowd
+behind from the mass in the gateway, and thus preventing the encumbrance
+from increasing. The people came to their senses, and went off to other
+gates, and the crowd diminishing, it became possible to lift up the many
+unhappy creatures, who lay stifling or crushed in the heap. They were
+carried into the barracks, the cuirassiers hurried to bring their
+mattresses to lay them on in the hall, brought them water, linen, all
+they could want, and were as tender to them as sisters of charity, till
+they were taken to the hospitals or to their homes. Martinel, who was
+the moving spirit in this gallant rescue, received in the following year
+one of M. Monthyon's prizes for the greatest acts of virtue that could
+be brought to light.
+
+Nor among the gallant actions of which powder has been the cause should
+be omitted that of Lieutenant Willoughby, who, in the first dismay of
+the mutiny in India, in 1858, blew up the great magazine at Delhi,
+with all the ammunition that would have armed the sepoys even yet more
+terribly against ourselves. The 'Golden Deed' was one of those capable
+of no earthly meed, for it carried the brave young officer where alone
+there is true reward; and all the Queen and country could do in his
+honor was to pension his widowed mother, and lay up his name among those
+that stir the heart with admiration and gratitude.
+
+
+
+
+HEROES OF THE PLAGUE
+
+1576--1665--1721
+
+
+When our Litany entreats that we may be delivered from 'plague,
+pestilence, and famine', the first of these words bears a special
+meaning, which came home with strong and painful force to European minds
+at the time the Prayer Book was translated, and for the whole following
+century.
+
+It refers to the deadly sickness emphatically called 'the plague', a
+typhoid fever exceedingly violent and rapid, and accompanied with a
+frightful swelling either under the arm or on the corresponding part of
+the thigh. The East is the usual haunt of this fatal complaint, which
+some suppose to be bred by the marshy, unwholesome state of Egypt after
+the subsidence of the waters of the Nile, and which generally prevails
+in Egypt and Syria until its course is checked either by the cold of
+winter or the heat in summer. At times this disease has become unusually
+malignant and infectious, and then has come beyond its usual boundaries
+and made its way over all the West. These dreadful visitations were
+rendered more frequent by total disregard of all precautions, and
+ignorance of laws for preserving health. People crowded together in
+towns without means of obtaining sufficient air or cleanliness, and thus
+were sure to be unhealthy; and whenever war or famine had occasioned
+more than usual poverty, some frightful epidemic was sure to follow in
+its train, and sweep away the poor creatures whose frames were already
+weakened by previous privation. And often this 'sore judgment' was that
+emphatically called the plague; and especially during the sixteenth and
+seventeenth centuries, a time when war had become far more cruel and
+mischievous in the hands of hired regiments than ever it had been with a
+feudal army, and when at the same time increasing trade was filling the
+cities with more closely packed inhabitants, within fortifications that
+would not allow the city to expand in proportion to its needs. It
+has been only the establishment of the system of quarantine which has
+succeeded in cutting off the course of infection by which the plague was
+wont to set out on its frightful travels from land to land, from city to
+city.
+
+The desolation of a plague-stricken city was a sort of horrible dream.
+Every infected house was marked with a red cross, and carefully closed
+against all persons, except those who were charged to drive carts
+through the streets to collect the corpses, ringing a bell as they went.
+These men were generally wretched beings, the lowest and most reckless
+of the people, who undertook their frightful task for the sake of the
+plunder of the desolate houses, and wound themselves up by intoxicating
+drinks to endure the horrors. The bodies were thrown into large
+trenches, without prayer or funeral rites, and these were hastily closed
+up. Whole families died together, untended save by one another, with no
+aid of a friendly hand to give drink or food; and, in the Roman Catholic
+cities, the perishing without a priest to administer the last rites of
+the Church was viewed as more dreadful than death itself.
+
+Such visitations as these did indeed prove whether the pastors of the
+afflicted flock were shepherds or hirelings. So felt, in 1576, Cardinal
+Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, the worthiest of all the successors
+of St. Ambrose, when he learnt at Lodi that the plague had made its
+appearance in his city, where, remarkably enough, there had lately been
+such licentious revelry that he had solemnly warned the people that,
+unless they repented, they would certainly bring on themselves the wrath
+of heaven. His council of clergy advised him to remain in some healthy
+part of his diocese till the sickness should have spent itself, but he
+replied that a Bishop, whose duty it is to give his life for his sheep,
+could not rightly abandon them in time of peril. They owned that to
+stand by them was the higher course. 'Well,' he said, 'is it not a
+Bishop's duty to choose the higher course?'
+
+So back into the town of deadly sickness he went, leading the people
+to repent, and watching over them in their sufferings, visiting the
+hospitals, and, by his own example, encouraging his clergy in carrying
+spiritual consolation to the dying. All the time the plague lasted,
+which was four months, his exertions were fearless and unwearied, and
+what was remarkable was, that of his whole household only two died, and
+they were persons who had not been called to go about among the sick.
+Indeed, some of the rich who had repaired to a villa, where they spent
+their time in feasting and amusement in the luxurious Italian fashion,
+were there followed by the pestilence, and all perished; their dainty
+fare and the excess in which they indulged having no doubt been as bad a
+preparation as the poverty of the starving people in the city.
+
+The strict and regular life of the Cardinal and his clergy, and their
+home in the spacious palace, were, no doubt, under Providence, a
+preservative; but, in the opinions of the time, there was little
+short of a miracle in the safety of one who daily preached in the
+cathedral,--bent over the beds of the sick, giving them food and
+medicine, hearing their confessions, and administering the last rites of
+the Church,--and then braving the contagion after death, rather than let
+the corpses go forth unblest to their common grave. Nay, so far was he
+from seeking to save his own life, that, kneeling before the altar in
+the cathedral, he solemnly offered himself, like Moses, as a sacrifice
+for his people. But, like Moses, the sacrifice was passed by--'it cost
+more to redeem their souls'--and Borromeo remained untouched, as did the
+twenty-eight priests who voluntarily offered themselves to join in his
+labors.
+
+No wonder that the chief memories that haunt the glorious white marble
+cathedral of Milan are those of St. Ambrose, who taught mercy to an
+emperor, and of St. Carlo Borromeo, who practiced mercy on a people.
+
+It was a hundred years later that the greatest and last visitation of
+the plague took place in London. Doubtless the scourge called forth--as
+in Christian lands such judgments always do--many an act of true and
+blessed self-devotion; but these are not recorded, save where they
+have their reward: and the tale now to be told is of one of the small
+villages to which the infection spread--namely, Eyam, in Derbyshire.
+
+This is a lovely place between Buxton and Chatsworth, perched high on a
+hillside, and shut in by another higher mountain--extremely beautiful,
+but exactly one of those that, for want of free air, always become the
+especial prey of infection. At that time lead works were in operation
+in the mountains, and the village was thickly inhabited. Great was the
+dismay of the villagers when the family of a tailor, who had received
+some patterns of cloth from London, showed symptoms of the plague in its
+most virulent form, sickening and dying in one day.
+
+The rector of the parish, the Rev. William Mompesson, was still a young
+man, and had been married only a few years. His wife, a beautiful young
+woman, only twenty-seven years old, was exceedingly terrified at the
+tidings from the village, and wept bitterly as she implored her husband
+to take her, and her little George and Elizabeth, who were three and
+fours years old, away to some place of safety. But Mr. Mompesson gravely
+showed her that it was his duty not to forsake his flock in their hour
+of need, and began at once to make arrangements for sending her and the
+children away. She saw he was right in remaining, and ceased to urge him
+to forsake his charge; but she insisted that if he ought not to desert
+his flock, his wife ought not to leave him; and she wept and entreated
+so earnestly, that he at length consented that she should be with him,
+and that only the two little ones should be removed while yet there was
+time.
+
+Their father and mother parted with the little ones as treasures that
+they might never see again. At the same time Mr. Mompesson wrote
+to London for the most approved medicines and prescriptions; and he
+likewise sent a letter to the Earl of Devonshire, at Chatsworth, to
+engage that his parishioners should exclude themselves from the
+whole neighborhood, and thus confine the contagion within their own
+boundaries, provided the Earl would undertake that food, medicines,
+and other necessaries, should be placed at certain appointed spots, at
+regular times, upon the hills around, where the Eyamites might
+come, leave payment for them, and take them up, without holding any
+communication with the bringers, except by letters, which could be
+placed on a stone, and then fumigated, or passed through vinegar, before
+they were touched with the hand. To this the Earl consented, and for
+seven whole months the engagement was kept.
+
+Mr. Mompesson represented to his people that, with the plague once among
+them, it would be so unlikely that they should not carry infection about
+with them, that it would be selfish cruelty to other places to try to
+escape amongst them, and thus spread the danger. So rocky and wild was
+the ground around them, that, had they striven to escape, a regiment of
+soldiers could not have prevented them. But of their own free will they
+attended to their rector's remonstrance, and it was not known that one
+parishoner of Eyam passed the boundary all that time, nor was there a
+single case of plague in any of the villages around.
+
+The assembling of large congregations in churches had been thought to
+increase the infection in London, and Mr. Mompesson, therefore, thought
+it best to hold his services out-of-doors. In the middle of the village
+is a dell, suddenly making a cleft in the mountain-side, only five yards
+wide at the bottom, which is the pebble bed of a wintry torrent, but is
+dry in the summer. On the side towards the village, the slope upwards
+was of soft green turf, scattered with hazel, rowan, and alder bushes,
+and full of singing birds. On the other side, the ascent was nearly
+perpendicular, and composed of sharp rocks, partly adorned with bushes
+and ivy, and here and there rising up in fantastic peaks and archways,
+through which the sky could be seen from below. One of these rocks was
+hollow, and could be entered from above--a natural gallery, leading to
+an archway opening over the precipice; and this Mr. Mompesson chose
+for his reading-desk and pulpit. The dell was so narrow, that his
+voice could clearly be heard across it, and his congregation arranged
+themselves upon the green slop opposite, seated or kneeling upon the
+grass.
+
+On Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays arose the earnest voice of prayer
+from that rocky glen, the people's response meeting the pastor's voice;
+and twice on Sundays he preached to them the words of life and hope.
+It was a dry, hot summer; fain would they have seen thunder and rain
+to drive away their enemy; and seldom did weather break in on the
+regularity of these service. But there was another service that the
+rector had daily to perform; not in his churchyard--that would have
+perpetuated the infection--but on a healthy hill above the village.
+There he daily read of 'the Resurrection and the Life', and week by
+week the company on the grassy slope grew fewer and scantier. His
+congregation were passing from the dell to the healthy mound.
+
+Day and night the rector and his wife were among the sick, nursing,
+feeding, and tending them with all that care and skill could do; but,
+in spite of all their endeavors, only a fifth part of the whole of their
+inhabitants lived to spend the last Sunday in Cucklet Church, as the
+dell is still called. Mrs. Mompesson had persuaded her husband to have
+a wound made in his leg, fancying that this would lessen the danger of
+infection, and he yielded in order to satisfy her. His health endured
+perfectly, but she began to waste under her constant exertions, and her
+husband feared that he saw symptoms of consumption; but she was full of
+delight at some appearances in his wound that made her imagine that it
+had carried off the disease, and that his danger was over.
+
+A few days after, she sickened with symptoms of the plague, and
+her frame was so weakened that she sank very quickly. She was often
+delirious; but when she was too much exhausted to endure the exertion of
+taking cordials, her husband entreated her to try for their children's
+sake, she lifted herself up and made the endeavor. She lay peacefully,
+saying, 'she was but looking for the good hour to come', and calmly
+died, making the responses to her husband's prayers even to the last.
+Her he buried in the churchyard, and fenced the grave in afterwards
+with iron rails. There are two beautiful letters from him written on her
+death--one to his little children, to be kept and read when they would
+be old enough to understand it; the other to his patron, Sir George
+Saville, afterwards Lord Halifax. 'My drooping spirits', he says, 'are
+much refreshed with her joys, which I assure myself are unutterable.' He
+wrote both these letters in the belief that he should soon follow her,
+speaking of himself to Sir George as 'his dying chaplain', commending
+to him his 'distressed orphans', and begging that a 'humble pious man'
+might be chosen to succeed him in his parsonage. 'Sire, I thank God
+that I am willing to shake hands in peace with all the world; and I have
+comfortable assurance that He will accept me for the sake of His
+Son, and I find God more good than ever I imagined, and wish that his
+goodness were not so much abused and contemned', writes the widowed
+pastor, left alone among his dying flock. And he concludes, 'and with
+tears I entreat that when you are praying for fatherless and motherless
+infants, you would then remember my two pretty babes'.
+
+These two letters were written on the last day of August and first of
+September, 1666; but on the 20th of November, Mr. Mompesson was writing
+to his uncle, in the lull after the storm. 'The condition of this place
+hath been so dreadful, that I persuade myself it exceedeth all history
+and example. I may truly say our town has become a Golgotha, a place of
+skulls; and had there not been a small remnant of us left, we had been
+as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah. My ears never heard such doleful
+lamentations, my nose never smelt such noisome smells, and my eyes never
+beheld such ghastly spectacles. Here have been seventy-six families
+visited within my parish, out of which died 259 persons.'
+
+However, since the 11th of October there had been no fresh cases, and he
+was now burning all woolen cloths, lest the infection should linger in
+them. He himself had never been touched by the complaint, nor had his
+maid-servant; his man had had it but slightly. Mr. Mompesson lived many
+more years, was offered the Deanery of Lincoln, but did not accept it,
+and died in 1708. So virulent was the contagion that, ninety-one years
+after, in 1757, when five laboring men, who were digging up land near
+the plague-graves for a potato-garden, came upon what appeared to be
+some linen, though they buried it again directly, they all sickened with
+typhus fever, three of them died, and it was so infectious that no less
+than seventy persons in the parish were carried off.
+
+The last of these remarkable visitations of the plague, properly so
+called, was at Marseilles, in 1721. It was supposed to have been brought
+by a vessel which sailed from Seyde, in the bay of Tunis, on the 31st of
+January, 1720, which had a clean bill of health when it anchored off
+the Chateau d'If, at Marseilles, on the 25th of May; but six of the crew
+were found to have died on the voyage, and the persons who handled the
+freight also died, though, it was said, without any symptoms of the
+plague, and the first cases were supposed to be of the fevers caused
+by excessive poverty and crowding. The unmistakable Oriental plague,
+however, soon began to spread in the city among the poorer population,
+and in truth the wars and heavy expenses of Louis XIV. had made poverty
+in France more wretched than ever before, and the whole country was like
+one deadly sore, festering, and by and by to come to a fearful crisis.
+Precautions were taken, the infected families were removed to the
+infirmaries and their houses walled up, but all this was done at night
+in order not to excite alarm. The mystery, however, made things more
+terrible to the imagination, and this was a period of the utmost
+selfishness. All the richer inhabitants who had means of quitting the
+city, and who were the very people who could have been useful
+there, fled with one accord. Suddenly the lazaretto was left without
+superintendents, the hospitals without stewards; the judges, public
+officers, notaries, and most of the superior workmen in the most
+necessary trades were all gone. Only the Provost and four municipal
+officers remained, with 1,100 livres in their treasury, in the midst of
+an entirely disorganized city, and an enormous population without
+work, without restraint, without food, and a prey to the deadliest of
+diseases.
+
+The Parliament which still survived in the ancient kingdom of Provence
+signalized itself by retreating to a distance, and on the 31st of May
+putting out a decree that nobody should pass a boundary line round
+Marseilles on pain of death; but considering what people were trying to
+escape from, and the utter overthrow of all rule and order, this penalty
+was not likely to have much effect, and the plague was carried by
+the fugitives to Arles, Aix, Toulon, and sixty-three lesser towns and
+villages. What a contrast to Mr. Mompesson's moral influence!
+
+Horrible crimes were committed. Malefactors were released from the
+prisons and convicts from the galleys, and employed for large payment
+to collect the corpses and carry the sick to the infirmaries. Of course
+they could only be wrought up to such work by intoxication and unlimited
+opportunities of plunder, and their rude treatment both of the dead and
+of the living sufferers added unspeakably to the general wretchedness.
+To be carried to the infirmary was certain death,--no one lived in that
+heap of contagion; and even this shelter was not always to be had,--some
+of the streets were full of dying creatures who had been turned out of
+their houses and could crawl no farther.
+
+What was done to alleviate all these horrors? It was in the minority of
+Louis XV., and the Regent Duke of Orleans, easy, good-natured man that
+he was, sent 22,000 marks to the relief of the city, all in silver, for
+paper money was found to spread the infection more than anything else.
+He also sent a great quantity of corn, and likewise doctors for the
+sick, and troops to shut in the infected district. The Pope, Clement
+XI., sent spiritual blessings to the sufferers, and, moreover, three
+shiploads of wheat. The Regent's Prime Minister, the Abbe Dubois, the
+shame of his Church and country, fancied that to send these supplies
+cast a slight upon his administration, and desired his representative at
+Rome to prevent the sailing of the ships, but his orders were not, for
+very shame, carried out, and the vessels set out. On their way they were
+seized by a Moorish corsair, who was more merciful than Dubois, for he
+no sooner learnt their destination than he let them go unplundered.
+
+And in the midst of the misery there were bright lights 'running to and
+fro among the stubble'. The Provost and his five remaining officers, and
+a gentleman call Le Chevalier Rose, did their utmost in the bravest
+and most unselfish way to help the sufferers, distribute food, provide
+shelter, restrain the horrors perpetrated by the sick in their ravings,
+and provide for the burial of the dead. And the clergy were all devoted
+to the task of mercy. There was only one convent, that of St. Victor,
+where the gates were closed against all comers in the hope of shutting
+out infection. Every other monastic establishment freely devoted itself.
+It was a time when party spirit ran high. The bishop, Henri Francois
+Xavier de Belzunce, a nephew of the Duke de Lauzun, was a strong
+and rigid Jesuit, and had joined so hotly in the persecution of the
+Jansenists that he had forbidden the brotherhood called Oratorian
+fathers to hear confessions, because he suspected them of a leaning to
+Jansenist opinions; but he and they both alike worked earnestly in the
+one cause of mercy. They were content to obey his prejudiced edict,
+since he was in lawful authority, and threw themselves heartily into the
+lower and more disdained services to the sick, as nurses and tenders of
+the body alone, not of the soul, and in this work their whole community,
+Superior and all, perished, almost without exception. Perhaps these men,
+thus laying aside hurt feeling and sense of injustice, were the greatest
+conquerors of all whose golden deeds we have described.
+
+Bishop Belzunce himself, however, stands as the prominent figure in
+the memory of those dreadful five months. He was a man of commanding
+stature, towering above all around him, and his fervent sermons, aided
+by his example of severe and strict piety, and his great charities,
+had greatly impressed the people. He now went about among the plague-
+stricken, attending to their wants, both spiritual and temporal, and
+sold or mortgaged all his property to obtain relief for them, and he
+actually went himself in the tumbrils of corpses to give them the rites
+of Christian burial. His doings closely resembled those of Cardinal
+Borromeo, and like him he had recourse to constant preaching of
+repentance, processions and assemblies for litanies in the church. It is
+curiously characteristic that it was the English clergyman, who, equally
+pious, and sensible that only the Almighty could remove the scourge, yet
+deemed it right to take precautions against the effects of bringing
+a large number of persons into one building. How Belzunce's clergy
+seconded him may be gathered from the numbers who died of the disease.
+Besides the Oratorians, there died eighteen Jesuits, twenty-six of
+the order called Recollets, and forty-three Capuchins, all of whom
+had freely given their lives in the endeavor to alleviate the general
+suffering. In the four chief towns of Provence 80,000 died, and about
+8,000 in the lesser places. The winter finally checked the destroyer,
+and then, sad to say, it appeared how little effect the warning had had
+on the survivors. Inheritances had fallen together into the hands of
+persons who found themselves rich beyond their expectations, and in
+the glee of having escaped the danger, forgot to be thankful, and spent
+their wealth in revelry. Never had the cities of Provence been so full
+of wild, questionable mirth as during the ensuing winter, and it was
+remarked that the places which had suffered most severely were the most
+given up to thoughtless gaiety, and even licentiousness.
+
+Good Bishop Belzunce did his best to protest against the wickedness
+around him, and refused to leave his flock at Marseilles, when, four
+years after, a far more distinguished see was offered to him. He died
+in 1755, in time to escape the sight of the retribution that was soon
+worked out on the folly and vice of the unhappy country.
+
+
+
+
+THE SECOND OF SEPTEMBER
+
+1792
+
+
+The reign of the terrible Tzar was dreadful, but there was even a more
+dreadful time, that which might be called the reign of the madness of
+the people. The oppression and injustice that had for generations
+past been worked out in France ended in the most fearful reaction that
+history records, and the horrors that took place in the Revolution pass
+all thought or description. Every institution that had been misused was
+overthrown at one fell swoop, and the whole accumulated vengeance of
+generations fell on the heads of the persons who occupied the positions
+of the former oppressors. Many of these were as pure and guiltless as
+their slaughterers were the reverse, but the heads of the Revolution
+imagined that to obtain their ideal vision of perfect justice and
+liberty, all the remnants of the former state of things must be swept
+away, and the ferocious beings who carried out their decrees had
+become absolutely frantic with delight in bloodshed. The nation seemed
+delivered up to a delirium of murder. But as
+
+
+     'Even as earth's wild war cries heighten,
+     The cross upon the brow will brighten',
+
+
+These times of surpassing horror were also times of surpassing devotion
+and heroism. Without attempting to describe the various stages of the
+Revolution, and the different committees that under different titles
+carried on the work of destruction, we will mention some of the deeds
+that shine out as we look into that abyss of horror, the Paris of 1792
+and the following years.
+
+Think of the Swiss Guards, who on the 10th of August, 1792, the
+miserable day when the King, Queen, and children were made the captives
+of the people, stood resolutely at their posts, till they were massacred
+almost to a man. Well is their fidelity honored by the noble sculpture
+near Lucerne, cut out in the living rock of their own Alps, and
+representing a lion dying to defend the fleur-de-lis.
+
+A more dreadful day still was in preparation. The mob seemed to have
+imagined that the King and nobility had some strange dreadful power, and
+that unless they were all annihilated they would rise up and trample all
+down before them, and those who had the direction of affairs profited
+by this delusion to multiply executioners, and clear away all that
+they supposed to stand in the way of the renewal of the nation. And the
+attempts of the emigrant nobility and of the German princes to march
+to the rescue of the royal family added to the fury of their cowardly
+ferocity. The prisons of Paris were crowded to overflowing with
+aristocrats, as it was the fashion to call the nobles and gentry, and
+with the clergy who had refused their adhesion to the new state of
+things. The whole number is reckoned at not less than 8,000.
+
+Among those at the Abbaye de St. Germain were M. Jacques Cazotte, an old
+gentleman of seventy-three, who had been for many years in a government
+office, and had written various poems. He was living in the country,
+in Champagne, when on the 18th of August he was arrested. His daughter
+Elizabeth, a lovely girl of twenty, would not leave him, and together
+they were taken first to Epernay and then to Paris, where they were
+thrown into the Abbaye, and found it crowded with prisoners. M.
+Cazotte's bald forehead and grey looks gave him a patriarchal
+appearance, and his talk, deeply and truly pious, was full of Scripture
+language, as he strove to persuade his fellow captives to own the true
+blessings of suffering.
+
+Here Elizabeth met the like-minded Marie de Sombreuil, who had clung
+to her father, Charles Viscount de Sombreuil, the Governor of the
+Invalides, or pensioners of the French army; and here, too, had Madame
+de Fausse Lendry come with her old uncle the Abbe de Rastignac, who had
+been for three months extremely ill, and was only just recovering when
+dragged to the prison, and there placed in a room so crowded that it
+was not possible to turn round, and the air in the end of August was
+fearfully close and heated. Not once while there was the poor old man
+able to sleep. His niece spent the nights in a room belonging to the
+jailer, with the Princess de Tarente, and Mademoiselle de Sombreuil.
+
+On the 2nd of September these slaughter-houses were as full as they
+could hold, and about a hundred ruffians, armed with axes and guns, were
+sent round to all the jails to do the bloody work. It was a Sunday, and
+some of the victims had tried to observe it religiously, though little
+divining that, it was to be their last. They first took alarm on
+perceiving that their jailer had removed his family, and then that he
+sent up their dinner earlier than usual, and removed all the knives and
+forks. By and by howls and shouts were heard, and the tocsin was heard,
+ringing, alarm guns firing, and reports came in to the prisoners of the
+Abbaye that the populace were breaking into the prisons.
+
+The clergy were all penned up together in the cloisters of the Abbaye,
+whither they had been brought in carriages that morning. Among them was
+the Abbe Sicard, an admirable priest who had spent his whole lifetime in
+instructing the deaf and dumb in his own house, where--
+
+
+      'The cunning finger finely twined
+The subtle thread that knitteth mind to mind; There that strange bridge
+of signs was built where roll The sunless waves that sever soul from
+soul, And by the arch, no bigger than a hand, Truth travell'd over to
+the silent land'.
+
+
+He had been arrested, while teaching his pupils, on the 26th of August,
+1792, and shut up among other clergy in the prison of the Mayoralty; but
+the lads whom he had educated came in a body to ask leave to claim him
+at the bar of the National Assembly. Massieu, his best scholar, had
+drawn up a most touching address, saying, that in him the deaf and dumb
+were deprived of their teacher, nurse, and father. 'It is he who has
+taught us what we know, without him we should be as the beasts of the
+field.' This petition, and the gestures of the poor silent beings, went
+to the heart of the National Assembly. One young man, named Duhamel,
+neither deaf nor dumb, from pure admiration of the good work, went and
+offered to be imprisoned in the Abbe's place. There was great applause,
+and a decree was passed that the cause of the arrest should be enquired
+into, but this took no effect, and on that dreadful afternoon, M.
+Sicard was put into one of a procession of carriages, which drove slowly
+through the streets full of priests, who were reviled, pelted, and
+wounded by the populace till they reached the Abbaye.
+
+In the turnkey's rooms sat a horrible committee, who acted as a sort of
+tribunal, but very few of the priests reached it. They were for the
+most part cut down as they stepped out into the throng in the
+court---consisting of red-capped ruffians, with their shirt sleeves
+turned up, and still more fiendish women, who hounded them on to the
+butchery, and brought them wine and food. Sicard and another priest
+contrived, while their companions fell, to rush into the committee room,
+exclaiming, 'Messieurs, preserve an unfortunate!'
+
+'Go along!' they said, 'do you wish us to get ourselves massacred?'
+
+But one, recognizing him, was surprised, knowing that his life was to
+be spared, and took him into the room, promising to save him as long as
+possible. Here the two priests would have been safe but for a wretched
+woman, who shrieked out to the murderers that they had been admitted,
+and loud knocks and demands for them came from without. Sicard thought
+all lost, and taking out his watch, begged one of the committee to give
+it to the first deaf mute who should come and ask for him, sure that it
+would be the faithful Massieu. At first the man replied that the danger
+was not imminent enough; but on hearing a more furious noise at the
+door, as if the mob were going to break in, he took the watch; and
+Sicard, falling on his knees, commended his soul to God, and embraced
+his brother priest.
+
+In rushed the assassins, they paused for a moment, unable to distinguish
+the priests from the committee, but the two pikemen found them out, and
+his companion was instantly murdered. The weapons were lifted against
+Sicard, when a man pushed through the crowd, and throwing himself before
+the pike, displayed his breast and cried, 'Behold the bosom through
+which you must pass to reach that of this good citizen. You do not know
+him. He is the Abbe Sicard, one of the most benevolent of men, the most
+useful to his country, the father of the deaf and dumb!'
+
+The murderer dropped his pike; but Sicard, perceiving that it was the
+populace who were the real dispensers of life or death, sprang to the
+window, and shouted, 'Friends, behold an innocent man. Am I to die
+without being heard?'
+
+'You were among the rest,' the mob shouted, 'therefore you are as bad as
+the others.'
+
+But when he told his name, the cry changed. 'He is the father of the
+deaf and dumb! he is too useful to perish; his life is spent in doing
+good; he must be saved.' And the murderers behind took him up in their
+arms, and carried him out into the court, where he was obliged to submit
+to be embraced by the whole gang of ruffians, who wanted to carry him
+home in triumph; but he did not choose to go without being legally
+released, and returning into the committee room, he learnt for the first
+time the name of his preserver, one Monnot, a watchmaker, who, though
+knowing him only by character, and learning that he was among the clergy
+who were being driven to the slaughter, had rushed in to save him.
+
+Sicard remained in the committee room while further horrors were
+perpetrated all round, and at night was taken to the little room called
+Le Violon, with two other prisoners. A horrible night ensued; the
+murders on the outside varied with drinking and dancing; and at three
+o'clock the murderers tried to break into Le Violon. There was a loft
+far overhead, and the other two prisoners tried to persuade Sicard to
+climb on their shoulders to reach it, saying that his life was more
+useful than theirs. However, some fresh prey was brought in, which drew
+off the attention of the murderers, and two days afterwards Sicard was
+released to resume his life of charity.
+
+At the beginning of the night, all the ladies who had accompanied their
+relatives were separated from them, and put into the women's room;
+but when morning came they entreated earnestly to return to them, but
+Mademoiselle de Fausse Lendry was assured that her uncle was safe, and
+they were told soon after that all who remained were pardoned. About
+twenty-two ladies were together, and were called to leave the prison,
+but the two who went first were at once butchered, and the sentry called
+out to the others, 'It is a snare, go back, do not show yourselves.'
+They retreated; but Marie de Sombreuil had made her way to her father,
+and when he was called down into the court, she came with him. She hung
+round him, beseeching the murderers to have pity on his grey hairs,
+and declaring that they must strike him only through her. One of the
+ruffians, touched by her resolution, called out that they should be
+allowed to pass if the girl would drink to the health of the nation. The
+whole court was swimming with blood, and the glass he held out to her
+was full of something red. Marie would not shudder. She drank, and with
+the applause of the assassins ringing in her ears, she passed with her
+father over the threshold of the fatal gates, into such freedom and
+safety as Paris could then afford. Never again could she see a glass of
+red wine without a shudder, and it was generally believed that it was
+actually a glass of blood that she had swallowed, though she always
+averred that this was an exaggeration, and that it had been only her
+impression before tasting it that so horrible a draught was offered to
+her.
+
+The tidings that Mademoiselle de Sombreuil had saved her father came
+to encourage the rest of the ladies, and when calls were heard for
+'Cazotte', Elizabeth flew out and joined her father, and in like manner
+stood between him and the butchers, till her devotion made the crowd cry
+'Pardon!' and one of the men employed about the prison opened a passage
+for her, by which she, too, led her father away.
+
+Madame de Fausse Lendry was not so happy. Her uncle was killed early
+in the day, before she was aware that he had been sent for, but she
+survived to relate the history of that most horrible night and day. The
+same work was going on at all the other prisons, and chief among
+the victims of La Force was the beautiful Marie Louise of Savoy, the
+Princess de Lamballe, and one of the most intimate friends of the Queen.
+A young widow without children, she had been the ornament of the court,
+and clever learned ladies thought her frivolous, but the depth of her
+nature was shown in the time of trial. Her old father-in-law had taken
+her abroad with him when the danger first became apparent, but as soon
+as she saw that the Queen herself was aimed at, she went immediately
+back to France to comfort her and share her fate.
+
+Since the terrible 10th of August, the friends had been separated, and
+Madame de Lamballe had been in the prison of La Force. There, on the
+evening of the 2nd of September, she was brought down to the tribunal,
+and told to swear liberty, equality, and hatred to the King and Queen.
+
+'I will readily swear the two former. I cannot swear the latter. It is
+not in my heart.'
+
+'Swear! If not, you are dead.'
+
+She raised her eyes, lifted her hands, and made a step to the door.
+Murderers closed her in, and pike thrusts in a few moments were the
+last 'stage that carried from earth to heaven' the gentle woman, who had
+loved her queenly friend to the death. Little mattered it to her that
+her corpse was soon torn limb from limb, and that her fair ringlets were
+floating round the pike on which her head was borne past her friend's
+prison window. Little matters it now even to Marie Antoinette. The worst
+that the murderers could do for such as these, could only work for them
+a more exceeding weight of glory.
+
+M. Cazotte was imprisoned again on the 12th of September, and all his
+daughter's efforts failed to save him. She was taken from him, and he
+died on the guillotine, exclaiming, 'I die as I have lived, faithful to
+my God and to my King.' And the same winter, M. de Sombreuil was also
+imprisoned again. When he entered the prison with his daughter, all the
+inmates rose to do her honor. In the ensuing June, after a mock trial,
+her father and brother were put to death, and she remained for many
+years alone with only the memory of her past days.
+
+
+
+
+THE VENDEANS
+
+1793
+
+
+While the greater part of France had been falling into habits of self-
+indulgence, and from thence into infidelity and revolution, there was
+one district where the people had not forgotten to fear God and honor
+the King.
+
+This was in the tract surrounding the Loire, the south of which is now
+called La Vendee, and was then termed the Bocage, or the Woodland. It
+is full of low hills and narrow valleys, divided into small fields,
+enclosed by high thick hedgerows; so that when viewed from the top of
+one of the hills, the whole country appears perfectly green, excepting
+near harvest-time, when small patches of golden corn catch the eye, or
+where here and there a church tower peeps above the trees, in the midst
+of the flat red-tiled roofs of the surrounding village. The roads are
+deep lanes, often in the winter beds of streams, and in the summer
+completely roofed by the thick foliage of the trees, whose branches meet
+overhead.
+
+The gentry of La Vendee, instead of idling their time at Paris, lived
+on their own estates in kindly intercourse with their neighbours, and
+constantly helping and befriending their tenants, visiting them at their
+farms, talking over their crops and cattle, giving them advice, and
+inviting them on holidays to dance in the courts of their castles, and
+themselves joining in their sports. The peasants were a hardworking,
+sober, and pious people, devoutly attending their churches, reverencing
+their clergy, and, as well they might, loving and honoring their good
+landlords.
+
+But as the Revolution began to make its deadly progress at Paris, a
+gloom spread over this happy country. The Paris mob, who could not bear
+to see anyone higher in station than themselves, thirsted for noble
+blood, and the gentry were driven from France, or else imprisoned and
+put to death. An oath contrary to the laws of their Church was required
+of the clergy, those who refused it were thrust out of their parishes,
+and others placed in their room; and throughout France all the youths of
+a certain age were forced to draw lots to decide who should serve in the
+Republican army.
+
+This conscription filled up the measure. The Vendeans had grieved over
+the flight of their landlords, they had sheltered and hidden their
+priests, and heard their ministrations in secret; but when their
+young men were to be carried way from them, and made the defenders and
+instruments of those who were murdering their King, overthrowing their
+Church, and ruining their country, they could endure it no longer, but
+in the spring of 1793, soon after the execution of Louis XVI., a rising
+took place in Anjou, at the village of St. Florent, headed by a peddler
+named Cathelineau, and they drove back the Blues, as they called the
+revolutionary soldiers, who had come to enforce the conscription. They
+begged Monsieur de Bonchamp, a gentleman in the neighborhood, to take
+the command; and, willing to devote himself to the cause of his King, he
+complied, saying, as he did so, 'We must not aspire to earthly rewards;
+such would be beneath the purity of our motives, the holiness of our
+cause. We must not even aspire to glory, for a civil war affords none.
+We shall see our castles fall, we shall be proscribed, slandered,
+stripped of our possessions, perhaps put to death; but let us thank God
+for giving us strength to do our duty to the end.'
+
+The next person on whom the peasants cast their eyes possessed as true
+and strong a heart, though he was too young to count the cost of
+loyalty with the same calm spirit of self-devotion. The Marquis de la
+Rochejacquelein, one of the most excellent of the nobles of Poitou, had
+already emigrated with his wife and all his family, excepting Henri, the
+eldest son, who, though but eighteen years of age, had been placed in
+the dangerous post of an officer in the Royal Guards. When Louis XVI.
+had been obliged to dismiss these brave men, he had obtained a promise
+from each officer that he would not leave France, but wait for some
+chance of delivering that unhappy country. Henri had therefore remained
+at Paris, until after the 10th of August, 1792, when the massacre at
+the Tuileries took place, and the imprisonment of the royal family
+commenced; and then every gentleman being in danger in the city, he had
+come to his father's deserted castle of Durballiere in Poitou.
+
+He was nearly twenty, tall and slender, with fair hair, an oval face,
+and blue eyes, very gentle, although full of animation. He was active
+and dexterous in all manly sports, especially shooting and riding;
+he was a man of few words; and his manners were so shy, modest, and
+retiring, that his friends used to say he was more like an Englishman
+than a Frenchman.
+
+Hearing that he was alone at Durballiere, and knowing that as an officer
+in the Guards, and also as being of the age liable to the conscription,
+he was in danger from the Revolutionists in the neighboring towns, his
+cousin, the Marquis de Lescure, sent to invite him to his strong castle
+of Clisson, which was likewise situated in the Bocage. This castle
+afforded a refuge to many others who were in danger--to nuns driven from
+their convents, dispossessed clergy, and persons who dreaded to remain
+at their homes, but who felt reassured under the shelter of the castle,
+and by the character of its owner, a young man of six-and-twenty, who,
+though of high and unshaken loyalty, had never concerned himself with
+politics, but led a quiet and studious life, and was everywhere honored
+and respected.
+
+The winter passed in great anxiety, and when in the spring the rising
+at Anjou took place, and the new government summoned all who could bear
+arms to assist in quelling it, a council was held among the party at
+Clisson on the steps to be taken. Henri, as the youngest, spoke first,
+saying he would rather perish than fight against the peasants; nor among
+the whole assembly was there one person willing to take the safer but
+meaner course of deserting the cause of their King and country. 'Yes,'
+said the Duchess de Donnissan, mother to the young wife of the Marquis
+de Lescure, 'I see you are all of the same opinion. Better death than
+dishonor. I approve your courage. It is a settled thing:' and seating
+herself in her armchair, she concluded, 'Well, then, we must die.' For
+some little time all remained quiet at Clisson; but at length the order
+for the conscription arrived, and a few days before the time appointed
+for the lots to be drawn, a boy came to the castle bringing a note to
+Henri from his aunt at St. Aubin. 'Monsieur Henri,' said the boy, 'they
+say you are to draw for the conscription next Sunday; but may not your
+tenants rise against it in the meantime? Come with me, sir, the whole
+country is longing for you, and will obey you.'
+
+Henri instantly promised to come, but some of the ladies would have
+persuaded him not to endanger himself--representing, too, that if he was
+missing on the appointed day, M. de Lescure might be made responsible
+for him. The Marquis, however, silenced them, saying to his cousin,
+'You are prompted by honor and duty to put yourself at the head of your
+tenants. Follow out your plan, I am only grieved at not being able to go
+with you; and certainly no fear of imprisonment will lead me to dissuade
+you from doing your duty.'
+
+'Well, I will come and rescue you,' said Henri, embracing him, and his
+eyes glancing with a noble soldier-like expression and an eagle look.
+
+As soon as the servants were gone to bed, he set out with a guide, with
+a stick in his hand and a pair of pistols in his belt; and traveling
+through the fields, over hedges and ditches, for fear of meeting with
+the Blues, arrived at St. Aubin, and from thence went on to meet M. de
+Bonchamp and his little army. But he found to his disappointment that
+they had just been defeated, and the chieftains, believing that all was
+lost, had dispersed their troops. He went to his own home, dispirited
+and grieved; but no sooner did the men of St. Aubin learn the arrival of
+their young lord, than they came trooping to the castle, entreating him
+to place himself at their head.
+
+In the early morning, the castle court, the fields, the village, were
+thronged with stout hardy farmers and laborers, in grey coats, with
+broad flapping hats, and red woolen handkerchiefs round their necks. On
+their shoulders were spits, scythes, and even sticks; happy was the man
+who could bring an old fowling-piece, and still more rejoiced the owner
+of some powder, intended for blasting some neighboring quarry. All
+had bold true hearts, ready to suffer and to die in the cause of their
+Church and of their young innocent imprisoned King.
+
+A mistrust of his own powers, a fear of ruining these brave men, crossed
+the mind of the youth as he looked forth upon them, and he exclaimed,
+'If my father was but here, you might trust to him. Yet by my courage I
+will show myself worthy, and lead you. If I go forward, follow me: if I
+draw back, kill me; if I am slain, avenge me!' They replied with shouts
+of joy, and it was instantly resolved to march upon the next village,
+which was occupied by the rebel troops. They gained a complete victory,
+driving away the Blues, and taking two small pieces of cannon, and
+immediately joined M. de Bonchamp and Cathelineau, who, encouraged
+by their success, again gathered their troops and gained some further
+advantages.
+
+In the meantime, the authorities had sent to Clisson and arrested M.
+de Lescure, his wife, her parents, and some of their guests, who were
+conducted to Bressuire, the nearest town, and there closely guarded.
+There was great danger that the Republicans would revenge their losses
+upon them, but the calm dignified deportment of M. de Lescure obliged
+them to respect him so much that no injury was offered to him. At
+last came the joyful news that the Royalist army was approaching. The
+Republican soldiers immediately quitted the town, and the inhabitants
+all came to ask the protection of the prisoners, desiring to send their
+goods to Clisson for security, and thinking themselves guarded by the
+presence of M. and Madame de Lescure.
+
+M. de Lescure and his cousin Bernard de Marigny mounted their horses
+and rode out to meet their friends. In a quarter of an hour afterwards,
+Madame de Lescure heard the shouts 'Long live the King!' and the next
+minute, Henri de la Rochejacquelein hurried into the room, crying, 'I
+have saved you.' The peasants marched in to the number of 20,000, and
+spread themselves through the town, but in their victory they had gained
+no taste for blood or plunder--they did not hurt a single inhabitant,
+nor touch anything that was not their own. Madame de Lescure heard some
+of them wishing for tobacco, and asked if there was none in the town.
+'Oh yes, there is plenty to be sold, but we have no money;' and they
+were very thankful to her for giving the small sum they required.
+Monsieur de Donnissan saw two men disputing in the street, and one
+drew his sword, when he interfered, saying, 'Our Lord prayed for His
+murderers, and would one soldier of the Catholic army kill another?' The
+two instantly embraced.
+
+Three times a day these peasant warriors knelt at their prayers, in the
+churches if they were near them, if not, in the open field, and seldom
+have ever been equaled the piety, the humility, the self-devotion alike
+of chiefs and of followers. The frightful cruelties committed by the
+enemy were returned by mercy; though such of them as fell into the hands
+of the Republicans were shot without pity, yet their prisoners were
+instantly set at liberty after being made to promise not to serve
+against them again, and having their hair shaved off in order that they
+might be recognized.
+
+Whenever an enterprise was resolved on, the curates gave notice to their
+parishioners that the leaders would be at such a place at such a time,
+upon which they crowded to the spot, and assembled around the white
+standard of France with such weapons as they could muster.
+
+The clergy then heard them confess their sins, gave them absolution,
+and blessed them; then, while they set forward, returned to the churches
+where their wives and children were praying for their success. They did
+not fight like regular soldiers, but, creeping through the hedgerows
+and coppices, burst unexpectedly upon the Blues, who, entangled in the
+hollow lanes, ignorant of the country, and amazed by the suddenness
+of the attack, had little power to resist. The chieftains were always
+foremost in danger; above all the eager young Henri, with his eye on the
+white standard, and on the blue sky, and his hand making the sign of
+the cross without which he never charged the enemy, dashed on first,
+fearless of peril, regardless of his life, thinking only of his duty to
+his king and the protection of his followers.
+
+It was calmness and resignation which chiefly distinguished M. de
+Lescure, the Saint of Poitou, as the peasants called him from his great
+piety, his even temper, and the kindness and the wonderful mercifulness
+of his disposition. Though constantly at the head of his troops, leading
+them into the most dangerous places, and never sparing himself, not one
+man was slain by his hand, nor did he even permit a prisoner to receive
+the least injury in his presence. When one of the Republicans once
+presented his musket close to his breast, he quietly put it aside with
+his hand, and only said, 'Take away the prisoner'. His calmness was
+indeed well founded, and his trust never failed. Once when the little
+army had received a considerable check, and his cousin M. de Marigny was
+in despair, and throwing his pistols on the table, exclaimed, 'I fight
+no longer', he took him by the arm, led him to the window, an pointing
+to a troop of peasants kneeling at their evening prayers, he said, 'See
+there a pledge of our hopes, and doubt no longer that we shall conquer
+in our turn.'
+
+Their greatest victory was at Saumur, owing chiefly to the gallantry of
+Henri, who threw his hat into the midst of the enemy, shouting to his
+followers, 'Who will go and fetch it for me?' and rushing forward, drove
+all before him, and made his way into the town on one side, while M. de
+Lescure, together with Stofflet, a game-keeper, another of the chiefs,
+made their entrance on the other side. M. de Lescure was wounded in the
+arm, and on the sight of his blood the peasants gave back, and would
+have fled had not Stofflet threatened to shoot the first who turned;
+and in the meantime M. de Lescure, tying up his arm with a handkerchief,
+declared it was nothing, and led them onwards.
+
+The city was entirely in their hands, and their thankful delight was
+excessive; but they only displayed it by ringing the bells, singing the
+Te Deum, and parading the streets. Henri was almost out of his senses
+with exultation; but at last he fell into a reverie, as he stood, with
+his arms folded, gazing on the mighty citadel which had yielded to
+efforts such as theirs. His friends roused him from his dream by
+their remarks, and he replied, 'I am reflecting on our success, and am
+confounded'.
+
+They now resolved to elect a general-in-chief, and M. de Lescure was the
+first to propose Cathelineau, the peddler, who had first come forward
+in the cause. It was a wondrous thing when the nobles, the gentry, and
+experienced officers who had served in the regular army, all willingly
+placed themselves under the command of the simple untrained peasant,
+without a thought of selfishness or of jealousy. Nor did Cathelineau
+himself show any trace of pride, or lose his complete humility of mind
+or manner; but by each word and deed he fully proved how wise had been
+their judgment, and well earned the title given him by the peasants of
+the 'Saint of Anjou'.
+
+It was now that their hopes were highest; they were more numerous and
+better armed than they had ever been before, and they even talked of
+a march to Paris to 'fetch their little king, and have him crowned at
+Chollet', the chief town of La Vendee. But martyrdom, the highest glory
+to be obtained on this earth, was already shedding its brightness round
+these devoted men who were counted worthy to suffer, and it was in a
+higher and purer world that they were to meet their royal child.
+
+Cathelineau turned towards Nantes, leaving Henri de la Rochejaquelein,
+to his great vexation, to defend Saumur with a party of peasants. But
+he found it impossible to prevent these poor men from returning to their
+homes; they did not understand the importance of garrison duty, and
+gradually departed, leaving their commander alone with a few officers,
+with whom he used to go through the town at night, shouting out, 'Long
+live the king!' at the places where there ought to have been sentinels.
+At last, when his followers were reduced to eight, he left the town,
+and, rejoicing to be once more in the open field, overtook his friends
+at Angers, where they had just rescued a great number of clergy who had
+been imprisoned there, and daily threatened with death. 'Do not thank
+us,' said the peasants to the liberated priests; 'it is for you that we
+fight. If we had not saved you, we should not have ventured to return
+home. Since you are freed, we see plainly that the good God is on our
+side.'
+
+But the tide was now about to turn. The Government in Paris sent a far
+stronger force into the Bocage, and desolated it in a cruel manner.
+Clisson was burnt to the ground with the very fireworks which had been
+prepared for the christening of its master's eldest child, and which
+had not been used because of the sorrowful days when she was born. M. de
+Lescure had long expected its destruction, but had not chosen to remove
+the furniture, lest he should discourage the peasants. His family were
+with the army, where alone there was now any safety for the weak and
+helpless. At Nantes the attack was unsuccessful, and Cathelineau himself
+received a wound of which he died in a few days, rejoicing at having
+been permitted to shed his blood in such a cause.
+
+The army, of which M. d'Elbee became the leader, now returned to Poitou,
+and gained a great victory at Chatillon; but here many of them forgot
+the mercy they had usually shown, and, enraged by the sight of their
+burnt cottages, wasted fields, and murdered relatives, they fell upon
+the prisoners and began to slaughter them. M. de Lescure, coming in
+haste, called out to them to desist. 'No, no,' cried M. de Marigny; 'let
+me slay these monsters who have burnt your castle.' 'Then, Marigny,'
+said his cousin, 'you must fight with me. You are too cruel; you will
+perish by the sword.' And he saved these unhappy men for the time; but
+they were put to death on their way to their own army.
+
+The cruelties of the Republicans occasioned a proclamation on the part
+of the Royalists that they would make reprisals; but they could never
+bring themselves to act upon it. When M. de Lescure took Parthenay, he
+said to the inhabitants, 'It is well for you that it is I who have taken
+your town; for, according to our proclamation, I ought to burn it;
+but, as you would think it an act of private revenge for the burning of
+Clisson, I spare you'.
+
+Though occasional successes still maintained the hopes of the Vendeans,
+misfortunes and defeats now became frequent; they were unable to save
+their country from the devastations of the enemy, and disappointments
+began to thin the numbers of the soldiers. Henri, while fighting in a
+hollow road, was struck in the right hand by a ball, which broke his
+thumb in three places. He continued to direct his men, but they were at
+length driven back from their post. He was obliged to leave the army for
+some days; and though he soon appeared again at the head of the men of
+St. Aubin, he never recovered the use of his hand.
+
+Shortly after, both D'Elbee and Bonchamp were desperately wounded; and
+M. de Lescure, while waving his followers on to attack a Republican
+post, received a ball in the head. The enemy pressed on the broken and
+defeated army with overwhelming force, and the few remaining chiefs
+resolved to cross the Loire and take refuge in Brittany. It was much
+against the opinion of M. de Lescure; but, in his feeble and
+suffering state, he could not make himself heard, nor could Henri's
+representations prevail; the peasants, in terror and dismay, were
+hastening across as fast as they could obtain boats to carry them. The
+enemy was near at hand, and Stofflet, Marigny, and the other chiefs were
+only deliberating whether they should not kill the prisoners whom they
+could not take with them, and, if set at liberty, would only add to the
+numbers of their pursuers. The order for their death had been given;
+but, before it could be executed, M. de Lescure had raised his head to
+exclaim, 'It is too horrible!' and M. de Bonchamp at the same moment
+said, almost with his last breath, 'Spare them!' The officers who stood
+by rushed to the generals, crying out that Bonchamp commanded that they
+should be pardoned. They were set at liberty; and thus the two Vendean
+chiefs avenged their deaths by saving five thousand of their enemies!
+
+M. de Bonchamp expired immediately after; but M. de Lescure had still
+much to suffer in the long and painful passage across the river,
+and afterwards, while carried along the rough roads to Varades in an
+armchair upon two pikes, his wife and her maid supporting his feet. The
+Bretons received them kindly, and gave him a small room, where, the next
+day, he sent for the rest of the council, telling them they ought to
+choose a new general, since M. d'Elbee was missing. They answered that
+he himself alone could be commander. 'Gentlemen,' he answered: 'I am
+mortally wounded; and even if I am to live, which I do not expect, I
+shall be long unfit to serve. The army must instantly have an active
+chief, loved by all, known to the peasants, trusted by everyone. It is
+the only way of saving us. M. de la Rochejaquelein alone is known to the
+soldiers of all the divisions. M. de Donnissan, my father-in-law, does
+not belong to this part of the country, and would not be as readily
+followed. The choice I propose would encourage the soldiers; and I
+entreat you to choose M. de la Rochejaquelein. As to me, if I live, you
+know I shall not quarrel with Henri; I shall be his aide-de-camp.'
+
+His advice was readily followed, Henri was chosen; but when a second
+in command was to be elected, he said no, he was second, for he should
+always obey M. de Donnissan, and entreated that the honor might not be
+given to him, saying that at twenty years of age he had neither weight
+nor experience, that his valor led him to be first in battle, but in
+council his youth prevented him from being attended to; and, indeed,
+after giving his opinion, he usually fell asleep while others were
+debating. He was, however, elected; and as soon as M. de Lescure heard
+the shouts of joy with which the peasants received the intelligence, he
+sent Madame de Lescure to bring him to his bedside. She found him
+hidden in a corner, weeping bitterly; and when he came to his cousin, he
+embraced him, saving earnestly, again and again, that he was not fit to
+be general, he only knew how to fight, he was too young and could never
+silence those who opposed his designs, and entreated him to take the
+command as soon as he was cured. 'That I do not expect,' said M. de
+Lescure; 'but if it should happen, I will be your aide-de-camp, and help
+you to conquer the shyness which prevents your strength of character
+from silencing the murmurers and the ambitious.'
+
+Henri accordingly took the command; but it was a melancholy office that
+devolved upon him of dragging onward his broken and dejected peasants,
+half-starved, half-clothed, and followed by a wretched train of women,
+children, and wounded; a sad change from the bright hopes with which,
+not six months before, he had been called to the head of his tenants.
+Yet still his high courage gained some triumphs, which for a time
+revived the spirits of his forces and restored their confidence. He was
+active and undaunted, and it was about this time, when in pursuit of the
+Blues, he was attacked by a foot soldier when alone in a narrow lane.
+His right hand was useless, but he seized the man's collar with his
+left, and held him fast, managing his horse with his legs till his men
+came up. He would not allow them to kill the soldier, but set him free,
+saying 'Return to the Republicans, and tell them that you were alone
+with the general of the brigands, who had but one hand and no weapons,
+yet you could not kill him'. Brigands was the name given by the
+Republicans, the true robbers, to the Royalists, who, in fact, by
+this time, owing to the wild life they had so long led, had acquired
+a somewhat rude and savage appearance. They wore grey cloth coats and
+trousers, broad hats, white sashes with knots of different colours to
+mark the rank of the officers, and red woolen handkerchiefs. These
+were made in the country, and were at first chiefly worn by Henri, who
+usually had one round his neck, another round his waist, and a third to
+support his wounded hand; but the other officers, having heard the Blues
+cry out to aim at the red handkerchief, themselves adopted the same
+badge, in order that he might be less conspicuous.
+
+In the meantime a few days' rest at Laval had at first so alleviated
+the sufferings of M. de Lescure, that hopes were entertained of his
+recovery; but he ventured on greater exertions of strength than he was
+able to bear, and fever returned, which had weakened him greatly before
+it became necessary to travel onwards. Early in the morning, a day or
+two before their departure, he called to his wife, who was lying on a
+mattress on the floor, and desired her to open the curtains, asking, as
+she did so, if it was a clear day. 'Yes,' said she. 'Then,' he answered,
+'I have a sort of veil before my eyes, I cannot see distinctly; I always
+thought my wound was mortal, and now I no longer doubt. My dear, I must
+leave you, that is my only regret, except that I could not restore my
+king to the throne; I leave you in the midst of a civil war, that is
+what afflicts me. Try to save yourself. Disguise yourself, and attempt
+to reach England.' Then seeing her choked with tears, he continued:
+'Yes, your grief alone makes me regret life; for my own part, I die
+tranquil; I have indeed sinned, but I have always served God with piety;
+I have fought, and I die for Him, and I hope in His mercy. I have often
+seen death, and I do not fear it I go to heaven with a sure trust, I
+grieve but for you; I hoped to have made you happy; if I ever have given
+you any reason to complain, forgive me.' Finding her grief beyond all
+consolation, he allowed her to call the surgeons, saying that it was
+possible he might be mistaken. They gave some hope, which cheered her
+spirits, though he still said he did not believe them. The next day they
+left Laval; and on the way, while the carriage was stopping, a person
+came to the door and read the details of the execution of Marie
+Antoinette which Madame de Lescure had kept from his knowledge. It was
+a great shock to him, for he had known the Queen personally, and
+throughout the day he wearied himself with exclamations on the horrible
+crime. That night at Ernee he received the Sacrament, and at the same
+time became speechless, and could only lie holding his wife's hand and
+looking sometimes at her, sometimes toward heaven. But the cruel enemy
+were close behind, and there was no rest on earth even for the dying.
+Madame de Lescure implored her friends to leave them behind; but they
+told her she would be exposed to a frightful death, and that his body
+would fall into the enemy's hands; and she was forced to consent to his
+removal. Her mother and her other friends would not permit her to remain
+in the carriage with him; she was placed on horseback and her maid and
+the surgeon were with him. An hour after, on the 3rd of November, he
+died, but his wife did not know her loss till the evening when they
+arrived at Fongeres; for though the surgeon left the carriage on his
+death, the maid, fearing the effect which the knowledge might have
+upon her in the midst of her journey, remained for seven hours in the
+carriage by his side, during two of which she was in a fainting fit.
+
+When Madame de Lescure and Henri de la Rochejaquelein met the next
+morning, they sat for a quarter of an hour without speaking, and weeping
+bitterly. At last she said 'You have lost your best friend,' and he
+replied, 'Take my life, if it could restore him.'
+
+
+Scarcely anything can be imagined more miserable than the condition of
+the army, or more terrible than the situation of the young general, who
+felt himself responsible for its safety, and was compelled daily to see
+its sufferings and find his plans thwarted by the obstinacy and folly of
+the other officers, crushed by an overwhelming force, knowing that there
+was no quarter from which help could come, yet still struggling on in
+fulfillment of his sad duty. The hopes and expectations which had filled
+his heart a few months back had long passed away; nothing was around him
+but misery, nothing before him but desolation; but still he never failed
+in courage, in mildness, in confidence in Heaven.
+
+At Mans he met with a horrible defeat; at first, indeed, with a small
+party he broke the columns of the enemy, but fresh men were constantly
+brought up, and his peasants gave way and retreated, their officers
+following them. He tried to lead them back through the hedges, and if
+he had succeeded, would surely have gained the victory. Three times
+with two other officers he dashed into the midst of the Blues; but the
+broken, dispirited peasants would not follow him, not one would even
+turn to fire a shot. At last, in leaping a hedge, his saddle turned, and
+he fell, without indeed being hurt, but the sight of his fall added to
+the terror of the miserable Vendeans. He struggled long and desperately
+through the long night that followed to defend the gates of the town,
+but with the light of morning the enemy perceived his weakness and
+effected their entrance. His followers had in the meantime gradually
+retired into the country beyond, but those who could not escape fell a
+prey to the cruelty of the Republicans. 'I thought you had perished,'
+said Madame de Lescure, when he overtook her. 'Would that I had,' was
+his answer.
+
+He now resolved to cross the Loire, and return to his native Bocage,
+where the well-known woods would afford a better protection to his
+followers. It was at Craon, on their route to the river, that Madame de
+Lescure saw him for the last time, as he rallied his men, who had been
+terrified by a false alarm.
+
+She did not return to La Vendee, but, with her mother, was sheltered
+by the peasants of Brittany throughout the winter and spring until they
+found means to leave the country.
+
+The Vendeans reached the Loire at Ancenis, but they were only able to
+find two small boats to carry them over. On the other side, however,
+were four great ferry boats loaded with hay; and Henri, with Stofflet,
+three other officers, and eighteen soldiers crossed the river in their
+two boats, intending to take possession of them, send them back for the
+rest of the army, and in the meantime protect the passage from the Blues
+on the Vendean side. Unfortunately, however, he had scarcely crossed
+before the pursuers came down upon his troops, drove them back from
+Ancenis, and entirely prevented them from attempting the passage, while
+at the same time Henri and his companions were attacked and forced from
+the river by a body of Republicans on their side. A last resistance was
+attempted by the retreating Vendeans at Savenay, where they fought nobly
+but in vain; four thousand were shot on the field of battle, the chiefs
+were made prisoners and carried to Nantes or Angers, where they were
+guillotined, and a few who succeeded in escaping found shelter among
+the Bretons, or one by one found their way back to La Vendee. M. de
+Donnissan was amongst those who were guillotined, and M. d'Elbee, who
+was seized shortly after, was shot with his wife.
+
+Henri, with his few companions, when driven from the banks of the Loire,
+dismissed the eighteen soldiers, whose number would only have attracted
+attention without being sufficient for protection; but the five chiefs
+crossed the fields and wandered through the country without meeting a
+single inhabitant--all the houses were burnt down, and the few remaining
+peasants hidden in the woods. At last, after four-and-twenty hours,
+walking, they came to an inhabited farm, where they lay down to sleep on
+the straw. The next moment the farmer came to tell them the Blues were
+coming; but they were so worn out with fatigue, that they would not
+move. The Blues were happily, also, very tired, and, without making any
+search, laid down on the other side of the heap of straw, and also fell
+asleep. Before daylight the Vendeans rose and set out again, walking
+miles and miles in the midst of desolation, until, after several days,
+they came to Henri's own village of St. Aubin, where he sought out his
+aunt, who was in concealment there, and remained with her for three
+days, utterly overwhelmed with grief at his fatal separation from his
+army, and only longing for an opportunity of giving his life in the good
+cause.
+
+Beyond all his hopes, the peasants no sooner heard his name, than once
+more they rallied round the white standard, as determined as ever not
+to yield to the Revolutionary government; and the beginning of the year
+1794 found him once more at the head of a considerable force, encamped
+in the forests of Vesins, guarding the villages around from the
+cruelties of the Blues. He was now doubly beloved and trusted by the
+followers who had proved his worth, and who even yet looked forward to
+triumphs beneath his brave guidance; but it was not so with him, he
+had learnt the lesson of disappointment, and though always active and
+cheerful, his mind was made up, and the only hope he cherished was of
+meeting the death of a soldier. His headquarters were in the midst of a
+forest, where one of the Republican officers, who was made prisoner,
+was much surprised to find the much-dreaded chieftain of the Royalists
+living in a hut formed of boughs of trees, dressed almost like a
+peasant, and with his arm still in a sling. This person was shot,
+because he was found to be commissioned to promise pardon to the
+peasants, and afterwards to massacre them; but Henri had not learnt
+cruelty from his persecutors, and his last words were of forgiveness.
+
+It was on Ash Wednesday that he had repulsed an attack of the enemy, and
+had almost driven them out of the wood, when, perceiving two soldiers
+hiding behind a hedge, he stopped, crying out, 'Surrender, I spare you.'
+As he spoke one of them leveled his musket, fired, and stretched him
+dead on the ground without a groan. Stofflet, coming up the next moment,
+killed the murderer with one stroke of his sword; but the remaining
+soldier was spared out of regard to the last words of the general. The
+Vendeans wept bitterly, but there was no time to indulge their sorrow,
+for the enemy were returning upon them; and, to save their chieftain's
+corpse from insult, they hastily dug a grave, in which they placed both
+bodies, and retreated as the Blues came up to occupy the ground.
+The Republicans sought for the spot, but it was preserved from
+their knowledge; and the high-spirited, pure-hearted Henri de la
+Rochejaquelein sleeps beside his enemy in the midst of the woodlands
+where he won for himself eternal honor. His name is still loved beyond
+all others; the Vendeans seldom pronounce it without touching their
+hats, and it is the highest glory of many a family that one of their
+number has served under Monsieur Henri.
+
+Stofflet succeeded to the command, and carried on the war with great
+skill and courage for another year, though with barbarities such as had
+never been permitted by the gentle men; but his career was stained by
+the death of Marigny, whom, by false accusations, he was induced to
+sentence to be shot. Marigny showed great courage and resignation,
+himself giving the word to fire--perhaps at that moment remembering the
+warning of M. de Lescure. Stofflet repented bitterly, and never ceased
+to lament his death. He was at length made prisoner, and shot, with his
+last words declaring his devotion to his king and his faith.
+
+Thus ends the tale of the Vendean war, undertaken in the best of causes,
+for the honor of God and His Church, and the rescue of one of the most
+innocent of kings, by men whose saintly characters and dauntless courage
+have seldom been surpassed by martyrs or heroes of any age. It closed
+with blood, with fire, with miseries almost unequalled; yet who would
+dare to say that the lives of Cathelineau, Bonchamp, Lescure, La
+Rochejaquelein, with their hundreds of brave and pious followers, were
+devoted in vain? Who could wish to see their brightness dimmed with
+earthly rewards?
+
+And though the powers of evil were permitted to prevail on earth, yet
+what could their utmost triumph effect against the faithful, but to make
+for them, in the words of the child king for whom they fought, one of
+those thorny paths that lead to glory!
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A Book of Golden Deeds, by Charlotte M. Yonge
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