THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 STANDARD EDITION 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 OP 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS 
 
 OP 
 
 ALL NATIONS AND ALL AGES
 
 STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, 
 
 uoa AfiCKuEs, can.
 
 THE Lirjf. ftj s BOOK.
 
 STANDARD EDITION 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS 
 
 AND 
 
 FAMOUS EVENTS 
 
 OF ALL NATIONS AND ALL AQES 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 A. R. SPOFFORD, Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 
 
 FRANK WEITENKAMPF, Astor Library, New York 
 
 and PROFESSOR J. P. LAMBERTON 
 
 / 0801 
 
 Illustrated with 100 Photogravures from Paintings by the World's Great Artiste 
 
 COMPLETE IN TEN VOLUMES 
 VOLUME I 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 ART-LIBRARY PUBLISHING CO. 
 1897 
 
 141901
 
 Copyright, 1894, 
 By WH.UAM FINI.EY & Co. 
 
 Copyright, 1897, 
 By ART-LIBRARY PUBLISHING Co. 
 
 Press of 
 Thejw. B. Rodgers Printing Co. 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 55G1
 
 D <o 
 S ?G 
 v* \ 
 
 THIS LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS 
 
 IS DEDICATED TO 
 
 ITbe people of Bmerica, 
 
 WHOSE INTELLIGENT DEMAND FOR INFORMATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PAST AND 
 THE LEADERS OF THE WORLD'S PROGRESS 
 
 KEEPS EVEN PACE WITH 
 THEIR OWN MARVELOUS GROWTH 
 
 AND 
 FULFILLMENT OF DESTINY.
 
 PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 
 
 ft^/j^"" ~^HE rapid growth of large collections of books, 
 J^kttllitw^ public and private, has compelled all classes to 
 recognize the necessity of selecting and con- 
 densing from these vast treasuries of knowledge. 
 Standard histories must be re-examined, both 
 with reference to the importance of the events 
 and the excellence of the narrative. A large 
 part of the most famous works loses its interest 
 by lapse of time or the progress of enlightenment, while a 
 smaller part, from its intrinsic merit, steadily increases in value. 
 Certain events and certain characters become more conspicuous 
 by their true grandeur, while others, which were deemed their 
 rivals, sink into insignificance. 
 
 It has been proposed in the present Library of Historic Char- 
 acters and Famous Events to select from the records of the 
 K) world's progress such personages and such facts as have a valid 
 ..Q and pre-eminent claim for remembrance by the people of the 
 present day. The careers of these chosen leaders are sketched 
 ^J- by the editors, with the aid of the best historians and biographers, 
 r\ whether of ancient or modern times. The facts are condensed 
 V} into a brief compass, so as easily to be grasped and retained, 
 while care has been taken to make them readable and attractive. 
 U Each biographical sketch serves also as an introduction to the 
 description of the most famous event or prominent period in the 
 career of the historic personage selected. This more copious 
 narrative is judiciously culled from the distinguished historian 
 or other writer who has treated it in the most graphic style. 
 To the sketches of distinguished orators have been appended 
 choice specimens of their eloquence, as being their chief and 
 indisputable title to fame. 
 
 The combination and contrast of characters and events is 
 
 3
 
 4 PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 
 
 intended to impress upon the minds of readers more strongly and 
 permanently the really important facts of history. It has not been 
 considered necessary, however, to present these in chronological 
 order. Each volume will contain selections from ancient, medi- 
 aeval and modern history, from American as well as European 
 and Asiatic history. This variety, it is hoped, will assist in 
 stimulating the interest of readers and may serve to gratify 
 their varying moods. But in the conclusion of the work full 
 chronological tables will be presented, and an ample index will 
 enable any person consulting it to obtain needed information 
 in regard to every part of history. 
 
 While prominent characters thus form the staple of the work, 
 some minor characters have been described, whose connection 
 with some famous event or whose personal picturesqueness has 
 given them a special claim to recognition. 
 
 The Publishers take pleasure in calling attention to the artistic 
 illustrations of this work. The photogravures have been exe- 
 cuted in the most careful manner from the most approved paint- 
 ings of eminent artists. Their excellence will, it is hoped, 
 enhance the historic value as well as the artistic merit of this 
 library, making it a delightful Gallery of Scenes as well as an 
 instructive record of events. Portraits derived from ancient 
 coins, medals and other authentic sources, have been used in 
 connection with many biographical sketches. 
 
 The Publishers have earnestly endeavored to present this 
 library of Historic Characters and Famous Events in a style 
 worthy of its valuable contents. Special pains have been taken 
 in regard to the typography and paper, as well as the illus- 
 trations. 
 
 We therefore feel justified in commending this work to intel- 
 ligent Americans as most worthy of a place in their homes, as a 
 collection deserving to be perused and studied by old and young, 
 and certain to give gratification to refined taste and love of culture, 
 and to afford abundant information to all seekers after knowledge.
 
 LIST OF CONTENTS. 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE IDEAL LIBRARY 9 
 
 INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 ^ ALEXANDER THE GREAT 17 
 
 The Battle of Arbela 21 
 
 LYCURGUS 29 
 
 Laconic Speech 31 
 
 EPAMINONDAS 33 
 
 The Battle of Leuctra 35 
 
 CHARLES MARTEL 39 
 
 The Battle of Tours 42 
 
 VWILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 47 
 
 The Battle of Hastings 49 
 
 EDWARD III 55 
 
 The Battle of Crecy 56 
 
 The Battle of Poitiers 58 
 
 y SIR WALTER RALEIGH 62 
 
 Eldorado and the Death of Raleigh 66 
 
 D DE SOTO. 70 
 
 '.e Discovery of the Mississippi 71 
 
 76 
 
 ' Innefeld in the Teutoburger- IVald 79 
 
 minius 8l 
 
 ROM;. 83 
 
 e Rape of the Sabine Virgins 85 
 
 ULLIUS CICERO 91 
 
 ... 'era against Verres 96 
 
 Cicero against Mark Antony 97 
 
 iYKtis THK GREAT 100 
 
 "US' Capture of Babylon IO2 
 
 SON IO5 
 
 5
 
 
 6 LIST OF CONTENTS. 
 PERICLES 
 
 Oration, "The True Glory of Athens" 112 
 
 Pericles and Aspasia 117 
 
 ^ PHIDIAS 119 
 
 DARIUS 122 
 
 CHARLES THE BOLD. 126 
 
 The Invasion of Switzerland 129 
 
 J_ OLIVER CROMWELL J 37^ 
 
 The Battle of Naseby 142 
 
 Cromwell before the Dead Body of Charles I. I48_ 
 
 HENRY HUDSON 150 
 
 The Discovery of the Hudson River 152 
 
 SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN .^ 164 
 
 Discovery of Lake Champlain 166 
 
 GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM 171 
 
 The Battle of Bunker Hill 174 
 
 GENERAL NATHANIEL GREENE 181 
 
 The Battle of Guilford Court- House 183 
 
 The Battle of Eutaw 190 
 
 GENERAL DANIEL MORGAN 193 
 
 The Battle of Cowpens 195 
 
 GENERAL FRANCIS MARION 201 
 
 The Swamp Fox 203 
 
 RAMSES II 211 
 
 Pentaur's Egyptian Epic 215 
 
 SOLON 219 
 
 Solon and Crcesus . 221 
 
 The Constitution of Athens 224 
 
 .LEONIDAS AT THERMOPYLAE 225 
 
 The Spartan's Oath 227 
 
 * XERXES 228 
 
 The Flight of Xerxes 230 
 
 THEMISTOCLES 232 
 
 The Sea-Fight of Salamis 236 
 
 * DEMOSTHENES 244 
 
 Demosthenes against Philip 247 
 
 PHOCION 251 
 
 Phocion's Sayings . .55 
 
 \ ALFRED THE GREAT 259 
 
 N^ Alfred's Triumph over Guthrum 263 <.
 
 IJST OF CONTENTS. 7 
 
 PAGK 
 
 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 268 
 
 Drake at San Francisco 271 
 
 Drake at St. Augustine 274 
 
 FATHER MARQUETTE 277 
 
 Marquette's Voyage down the Mississippi 279 
 
 JQHN WlNTHROP 288 
 
 The Colony of Massachusetts Bay 291 
 
 GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 295 
 
 The Capture of Stony Point 298 
 
 MlI/TIADBS 301 
 
 The Battle of Marathon 304 
 
 PAUSANIAS 311 
 
 The Battle of Plataiai 313 
 
 LOUIS XV 320 
 
 Death of Louis XV. 323 
 
 THE GRACCHI 329 
 
 Cornelia the Mother of the Gracchi 336 
 
 JUSTINIAN 339 
 
 Reform of Roman Law by Justinian 341 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 346 
 
 Franklin 's Diplomacy . . . . " 355 
 
 Louis IX i 361 
 
 The Egyptian Crusade of St. Louis 365 
 
 LADY JANE GREY . ? ^y ';.-^\ J ;. 371 
 
 Wyafs Insurrection 373 
 
 HUGH CAPET 379 
 
 The Year One Thousand 381 
 
 SCIPIO AFRICANUS 386 
 
 Scipio Conquers Hannibal 389 
 
 PWNY 393 
 
 The First Eruption of Vesuvius 396
 
 LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 ARTIST. PAGE 
 
 LIBRARIAN SPOFFORD C. M. Bell .... Frontispiece 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT A, Tholey 17 
 
 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR S. J, Ferris 47 
 
 HERMANN A. Tholey 76 
 
 LEIF ERICSON DISCOVERING AMERICA . . C. Krohg 105 
 
 CROMWELL IN WHITEHALL J- Schrader 137 
 
 GENERAL PUTNAM AT BUNKER HILL . J- L. G. Ferris 171 
 
 DEMOSTHENES Lecomte du Nouy 244 
 
 Louis XV AND MME. Du BARRY B. Gyula 323 
 
 FRANKWN AT HOME H, Bacon 346
 
 9-2.0- / f 
 
 THE IDEAL LIBRARY. 
 
 3TIBRARIES, it has truly been said, imply an ad- 
 vanced and elaborate civilization. The earliest 
 libraries in the history of the world were at- 
 tached to temples, and the librarians were the 
 priests. The modern librarian who is worthy 
 of the name still holds a sacred character. 
 He is the guardian of priceless treasures, conse- 
 crated to the preservation and presentation of 
 truth. Withdrawn from the bustle of street 
 and market, he is raised by his elevated position above the con- 
 flict of opinions, the clashing of parties, the fluctuations of events, 
 the revolutions of nations. He preserves for the use of the present 
 and future generations the records of the past, the memorials of 
 all the achievements and aspirations of men. 
 
 The duty of a custodian of a large library is not merely to 
 receive and store away the books and documents entrusted to 
 him. He must so arrange them that, when desired again for 
 examination, they shall be forthcoming at the instant. He must 
 gauge their contents and literary merits so that they may take 
 their appropriate places with their associates. To him therefore 
 resort those who need to use these heaped-up treasures the 
 student of literature, the historian, the statesman, the man of 
 affairs, the man of science, the philosopher, every seeker after 
 truth and fact and fiction. " What record have you of what the 
 world has done in my department? What event, what invention, 
 what noble saying, what great deed, what inspired prophecy, 
 what grand imagination, has been registered that I need to know 
 to-day ? Bring forth the writings of the imaginative poets, the 
 profound philosophers, the great historians, the faithful depicters 
 of human life in drama and novel. Help me to recall the 
 eloquence of the great orators of Greece and Rome, of France, 
 and England and America. In whose writings, in what volume 
 
 9
 
 IO THE IDEAL LIBRARY. 
 
 can I find what bears directly on my present work, be it political 
 or poetical, industrial or social?" The question may be more 
 general : . ' ' What will inform my mind, refresh and elevate my 
 soul, delight my fancy, transport me to a new world of thought 
 or action?" Or it maybe more particular: "Where is the best 
 description of Julius Caesar or Kubla Khan, of ancient Babylon or 
 modern Paris, of remote Pekin or mythical Atlantis ? ' ' Such are 
 the heterogeneous requests and demands made daily and hourly 
 upon the keeper of these treasures. To respond to these calls, to 
 answer these various questioners, some precise and exact, others 
 vague and misty, requires mind of high order, well trained by 
 ample experience of books and men and human needs of all kinds. 
 
 No man in America is better qualified to meet this avalanche 
 of interrogatories, to satisfy and gratify these multitudinous 
 seekers after intellectual pabulum than the present Librarian of 
 Congress AINSWORTH RAND SPOFFORD. 
 
 Like most Americans he has had experience of other occupa- 
 tions before settling down to his special life-work. Born at Gil- 
 manton, New Hampshire, in 1825, he received an academic educa- 
 tion, but was prevented by weak health from entering college. 
 In early manhood he removed to Cincinnati, and there became 
 a bookseller and publisher, and after some years an editor of a 
 daily paper. The great uprising at the outbreak of the civil war 
 carried him to Washington, and there he soon found his proper 
 place in the Congressional Library. He was made chief librarian 
 in 1864, and during the thirty years in which he has presided 
 over this national accumulation of literary treasures he has seen 
 its contents grow from 70,000 volumes to 700,000, besides 300,000 
 pamphlets. 
 
 By the present copyright law all American copyrights are 
 issued from the office of the Librarian of Congress, and copies 
 of all publications seeking this protection must be deposited in 
 the library. This simple and satisfactory arrangement works 
 greatly to the advantage of the National Library. Mr. Spofford 
 has gained a high reputation for his thorough knowledge of 
 books in general, and his individual acquaintance with hundreds 
 of thousands of volumes which are in his custody. Thirty years 
 spent in handling these tomes have impressed their names and 
 features on his memory. As the shepherd knows the sheep in 
 his flock, the trained librarian knows the peculiarities of the 
 books in his collection and their assigned place when not in a 
 reader's use. He could, if desired, when a volume is called for,
 
 THE IDEAL LIBRARY. II 
 
 find his way in darkness to the right alcove, place his haiid on 
 the right shelf and bear away the volume. He could distinguish 
 by the sense of touch the desired book. His knowledge of the 
 contents of books is not less admirable. It has enabled him, amid 
 the constant demands on his services, to compile and edit valuable 
 literary works, besides contributing instructive articles to reviews 
 and magazines on his grand topic Books and Literature. 
 
 The Congressional Library has long been housed in the 
 central part of the Capitol, and years ago every available inch of 
 shelf room was occupied. Fresh additions are piled on floors, 
 until the picturesquely towering heaps threaten to dislodge the 
 living occupants. Yet the administrator of this intellectual king- 
 dom serenely looks forward to the increase of these collections 
 to much vaster proportions, and he has so impressed upon the 
 National legislators the absolute necessity of providing suitable 
 accommodations for the ever-swelling store that rises around 
 him, that he can now rejoice in the approaching completion of 
 the New National Library. It rises to the east of the Capitol, 
 and is crowned with a splendid golden dome. The new building is 
 designed to be more commodious, better lighted and ventilated, 
 and in all respects more perfectly adapted to the purposes for 
 which it is intended than any other library edifice ; in short, a 
 crowning monument to the enlightenment and progressiveness of 
 the American people. 
 
 Mr. Spofford made the first suggestion for the erection of the 
 new library shortly before the centennial anniversary of the Inde- 
 pendence of the United States, when the city of Washington was 
 taking on itself that new aspect which has redeemed it from the 
 old-time reproach of being merely a city of magnificent distances. 
 He was successful in bringing Senators and Representatives into 
 harmonious action for providing better quarters for the bewilder- 
 ing mass of books, pamphlets, periodicals and manuscripts which 
 were steadily accumulating. A bill was passed appropriating 
 $585,000 for the purchase of a site, and three blocks of ground on 
 the hill just east of the Capitol were purchased. On this choice 
 site, as a result of further appropriations amounting to millions 
 of dollars, the stately pile rises in beauty, with its magnificent 
 facade and golden dome, a fit companion to the noble edifice of 
 the National Capitol. 
 
 This new library is built for centuries. It is the only govern- 
 ment structure in this country that has been planned for more than 
 a generation. The country grows so rapidly that it is difficult
 
 12 
 
 THE IDEAL LIBRARY. 
 
 to make practical arrangements ahead of its needs ; but in plan- 
 ning the library it was felt that it was hardly worth while to build 
 at all unless it could be built for the probable growth of ages to 
 come. The present collection of books and documents would not 
 fill more than one of the eight great book-stacks. There will be 
 sufficient room for 4,500,000 volumes. The second story con- 
 tains an art gallery over 200 feet in length, for the arrangement 
 and exhibitions of works of graphic art, of which many hun- 
 dreds of thousands have been acquired, affording an instructive 
 exhibit of the progress of the arts of design. Another hall of 
 equal size is devoted to the great collection of maps which consti- 
 tutes a rich historical series of the utmost value. 
 
 The edifice now covers three and one-half acres of ground. 
 In the centre is a magnificent rotunda, covered by the golden 
 dome. This will be the reading room. Running out from the 
 central structure are the book-stacks, all of iron, with polished 
 iron shelves. The spacious outside rooms will serve for the keep- 
 ing of the copyright records and the artistic treasures and most 
 precious books and documents which the Government owns. The 
 full and appropriate display of these monuments of literature 
 and art will be a revelation of delight to all who visit the Con- 
 gressional Library in its new abode. J. P. LAMBERTON.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ISTORY is the oldest kind of literature. The origin 
 of the race, the movements of tribes, the ex- 
 ploits of warriors, the formation of government, 
 are the staple of the first writing among every 
 people. In its beginning, it was often poetical 
 in form, being intended to be committed to 
 memory, recited at feasts and public gatherings, 
 and made familiar to the new generation. In 
 later times, it takes the prose form and becomes 
 the life-work of professional authors. 
 In English literature history has always held a prominent 
 place. Many of those who have been most active in public affairs 
 have turned aside for a time to record contemporary events or to 
 give fresh currency to accounts of the more remote past. Thus 
 did Bacon relate the "History of Henry the Seventh," Sir Walter 
 Raleigh undertake the "History of the World," Milton "The 
 History of Britain. " Nor should we omit to notice that the editors 
 of Shakespeare, in the first folio edition of his immortal works, 
 classified them as Comedies, Tragedies, and Histories. The 
 succeeding century was made renowned with the great names of 
 Hume, Gibbon and Robertson, besides many of minor importance, 
 as Smollett and Goldsmith. The nineteenth century has largely 
 increased the list. Passing over many worthy of note who belonged 
 to the earlier part of this century, we recall within living memory 
 Macaulay, Carlyle, Palgrave, Thomas Arnold, Mitford, Thirlwall, 
 Grote, J. Hill Burton, John R. Green, Freeman, and Froude, who, 
 each in his own way and in his own chosen field, have explored and 
 re-illumined the past. 
 
 America, too, by its historians and biographers, has won a most 
 honorable rank among the nations. The long list includes Wash- 
 ington Irving, Prescott, Sparks, Palfrey, Bancroft, Motley, Park- 
 man, Henry Adams, L,ossing, Gayarr6, MacMaster, Schouler, 
 Fiske, and others who are making valuable contributions to this 
 
 13
 
 14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 department. Some of these foremost writers take pleasure in 
 relating the discovery, the exploration, the settlement, and the 
 development, political, industrial and social, of the New World. 
 Others of them have returned with fondness to the sources of 
 our civilization, and patiently investigated the great historic 
 movements of the Old World. Many, recognizing the advantage 
 of concentration, have limited their work to single great char- 
 acters, or to memorable epochs in our country's history or in 
 that of the world. Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Jackson, 
 Lincoln, Grant and other statesmen and heroes have furnished 
 conspicuous subjects for these biographers, and the campaigns and 
 battles of the Civil War have been the themes of interesting 
 monographs. Still other writers have given new fame to the 
 worthies of the more remote past. By their patient toil America 
 has made laudable additions to the stately pile of history built up 
 and still rising to grander proportions in the English language. 
 
 While English literature is thus honorably distinguished by 
 the famous works of both British and American historians and 
 biographers, it has been further enriched with excellent transla- 
 tions of all the memorable works of other literatures, ancient and 
 modern. Many of these translations take deserved rank beside 
 their originals. 
 
 The result of the labors of this multitude of historical writers 
 forms a majestic array, in one aspect overwhelming, in another 
 inspiring to the imagination. The willing student feels that he 
 needs a guide to direct him in the choice and use of the vast riches 
 of these stores. The general reader demands further that selec- 
 tions be made of the most important and valuable parts, and that 
 judicious condensations be made of the works which will best 
 enable him to appreciate the mutual relations and intrinsic value 
 of those personages and facts for which his attention and admira- 
 tion are challenged. 
 
 To respond to this reasonable and intelligent demand has been 
 the aim of the Editors in this Library of Historic Characters and 
 Famous Events. From the recesses of the grand treasuries of 
 historic wealth, they have sought to bring forth what is of perma- 
 nent value and immediate service and interest to the American 
 people. They have chosen such characters and events, as by 
 their relation to the progress of civilization, their intrinsic im- 
 portance, their display of national traits, or their personal pictur- 
 esqueness, claim a place in the memory of the general reader. 
 
 The biographical sketches have been carefully prepared from
 
 INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 the best sources, and written with a view to impress the leading 
 facts on the mind. They are designed to be suggestive rather 
 than exhaustive, to be characters rather than detailed narratives. 
 The sketches of famous events have been as carefully selected 
 from writers of acknowledged merit, who have given to these 
 historic incidents an appropriate setting. 
 
 In giving prominence to biography in this collection the 
 editors have followed the judgment of many great masters of 
 thought. Carlyle, the Seer of the Nineteenth Century, both a 
 philosopher and a historian, has given expression to this truth : 
 ' ' Universal History the History of what Man has accomplished 
 in the world is at bottom the history of the Great Men who 
 have lived here." Others of established fame as thinkers and 
 writers have given the same verdict. By bringing forward in- 
 dividually the leaders and heroes of nations, and by presenting 
 distinctly their careers and their distinguishing exploits, the 
 great aim of historic study has been most effectually subserved. 
 
 The true object of history is not merely to preserve the relics 
 of the past, however intrinsically valuable they may be, but to 
 represent its life, restore before the mental vision its action, and 
 so far as is possible re-create its actors and their deeds. The 
 true historian is not a mere chronologer or recorder of the dates 
 of events, however important. He is not a mere antiquarian or 
 investigator and preserver of the outward aspect, dress, manners 
 and surroundings of people of former times. He is not a mere 
 reciter of stirring exploits and hair-breadth escapes. But he is, 
 first, a searcher after the essential facts of the immutable past, 
 and, secondly, a literary artist who endeavors to give to others 
 a correct and vivid impression of the facts which he has ascer- 
 tained. His facts must be true or he becomes a romancer ; his 
 presentation of facts must be lifelike and attractive, or he will 
 sink into oblivion. 
 
 The historians whom the world delights to honor have not, it 
 is true, been of equal merit in these two directions. Some have 
 become dear to the popular heart by their skill in depicting the 
 events they have chosen to recount, without being able to analyze 
 deeply the characters and motives of the chief actors in their 
 drama. Yet where they have presented clearly and vividly the 
 scenes and the deeds, and have been able to appreciate and set 
 forth the relative importance of these, the rule of truth has been 
 sufficiently observed to justify their fame. Herodotus and 
 Froissart still charm countless readers, however little of philo-
 
 16 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sophic insight they evince. Even the severe critics who censure 
 their defects yield without reluctance to the allurements of their 
 charming narratives. Critics, too, of a more gracious spirit, find 
 in these simple historians and their racy stories ample matter for 
 philosophic reflection. 
 
 In this historical collection the editors have endeavored con- 
 stantly to bear in mind these fundamental principles, so that 
 whether in the original sketches of characters, or in the selec- 
 tions from eminent historians and orators, Truth and Art may 
 be seen harmoniously united. They trust that the result of 
 their labors in presenting the great and worthy characters of the 
 past and their immortal deeds may be not only to excite admira- 
 tion of what has already been achieved for human progress and 
 welfare, but to stimulate the rising generation to emulate the 
 glory of their predecessors and to win for themselves a niche in 
 the Temple of Fame.
 
 STATE NORMAL SCHOOL,
 
 ALEXANDER THE C-:,
 
 ' ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 
 
 ALEXANDER of Macedon is the 
 first in the order of time of those 
 great commanders whose achieve- 
 ments form such an essential part 
 of the world's history that their 
 names are ineffaceably impressed 
 on the popular imagination. His 
 campaigns are still carefully studied 
 by the greatest soldiers and mili- 
 tary critics, as establishing most 
 firmly and exhibiting most clearly the fundamental principles 
 of the art of war. In his brief career for he was cut off at 
 the early age of thirty-three he demonstrated the superiority 
 of strategy and military skill over the Oriental reliance on 
 the crushing force of huge masses of troops. He gave the 
 empire of the world to that Greek culture of which he him- 
 self was a product, and which is still bearing fruit wherever 
 man has risen above the savage state. 
 
 Alexander was the third Macedonian king of that name, 
 and was the son of King Philip and Olympias, who claimed 
 descent from Achilles. He was born at Pella, 356 B. Ci 
 When he reached the age of fourteen, his father summoned 
 the famous philosopher, Aristotle, to become preceptor of 
 the young prince. While his mental powers were thus devel- 
 oped, he practiced also every manly and martial exercise. In 
 horsemanship he especially excelled, and his famous exploit 
 in mastering the steed Bucephalus after his father's most 
 expert grooms had failed, is familiar to all. At the early age 
 of sixteen the precocious youth was permitted to act as regent 
 2 17
 
 1 8 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 at the capital while his father made an expedition to Byzan- 
 tium. On hearing of Philip's victories, he exclaimed, 
 "My. father will leave me nothing to do." At eighteen 
 his dashing valor was shown in the victory at Chaeronea, 
 which established Philip's supremacy in the affairs of 
 Greece. 
 
 In 336 B. c. Philip of Macedon fell by the hand of an 
 assassin, and Alexander, not yet twenty years old, became 
 king. Some of the Grecian states deemed this a favorable 
 opportunity to recover their independence, but the young 
 king's astounding energy and promptitude disconcerted their 
 plans. Again, while he was subduing some distant tribes in 
 the north, report of his death was circulated, and Thebes 
 threw off the Macedonian yoke. But Alexander appeared 
 before the gates, took the city by storm, and with his innate 
 barbarian vehemence ordered all the houses to be levelled to 
 the ground. Yet the intellectual culture which he owed to 
 Greece was singularly shown in his sparing the house in 
 which the lyric poet Pindar had been born. The other cities 
 of Greece, terrified by the ominous example of Thebes, has- 
 tened to submit to the son of Philip, already proved to be 
 greater than his father. A general assembly was held at 
 Corinth, in fulfilment of a plan which Philip had projected, 
 and Alexander was chosen comma nder-in-chief of the expe- 
 dition organized against the hereditary enemy, the king of 
 Persia. 
 
 Alexander, therefore, as the Pan-Hellenic champion, 
 crossed into Asia with an army of about 40,000 men, of whom 
 the cavalry formed one-eighth. The report of his visit to the 
 tomb of his ancestor, Achilles, near ancient Troy, and his 
 there celebrating magnificent funeral games, is in keeping 
 with the story that he carried constantly with him the Iliad 
 of Homer in a golden box. Sterner duties and more perilous 
 conflicts awaited him. On the banks of the river Granicus 
 stood arrayed the army of Memnon the Greek, to whom 
 Darius II., surnamed Codomannus, had entrusted the com- 
 mand of Asia Minor. But Alexander forced a passage, and 
 thus released the Greek cities of the western coast from Per- 
 sian rule, and secured then- allegiance to a sovereign of their
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. I 9 
 
 own race. A full year was spent by Darius in gathering 
 from all parts of his vast empire a motley host to crush the 
 bold invaders, reinforced by their Asiatic kinsmen. The two 
 armies met at Issus in Cilicia, near the extreme northeastern 
 point of the Mediterranean Sea. Though the Persian king, 
 with no small skill, had carefully chosen the ground for the 
 contest, he was utterly defeated, and fled, leaving his baggage, 
 his wife and his mother in the hands of his enemy. Alex- 
 ander displayed the magnanimity which well became him, 
 and treated the royal captives with the utmost respect. 
 
 Entering Syria, he captured without difficulty the city of 
 Damascus, which contained all the treasures of the Great 
 King, but was compelled to lay siege to Tyre, built on an 
 island, and then the commercial metropolis of the world. 
 This siege detained him nine months, and though his genius 
 prevailed over insuperable obstacles, his barbarian temper 
 inflicted cruel vengeance on the citizens who had sought to 
 defy him. According to a doubtful report, Alexander spared 
 Jerusalem at the solemn entreaty of its high priest, Jaddua, 
 and confessed that he recognized in the venerable intercessor 
 one who had appeared to him in a vision before his crossing 
 into Asia, and had assured him of success. Gaza, the capital 
 of the Philistines, held out for two months, and a week was 
 spent crossing the southern desert into Egypt, the ancient 
 abode of a civilization which is attested by its sculptured 
 records as well as its marvellous pyramids and temples. Here 
 the conqueror, with keen eye for advantage of situation, 
 marked the plan of the new city, Alexandria, which still 
 preserves his name. Afterwards, in various parts of Asia, he 
 sought thus to stamp his impress on the countries he brought 
 under his sway. Crossing the Libyan desert to the oasis in 
 which was the famous temple of Jupiter Ammon, he demanded 
 to be called the son of that deity. His impetuous vehemence 
 extorted from the frightened priestess the desperate cry, which 
 he professed to consider oracular, " My son, thou art irresisti- 
 ble." The facts of his career confirmed the saying. In less 
 than two years, after two battles and four sieges, the wealthy 
 and populous countries of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt had 
 submitted to his arms. But the Persian empire had not yet
 
 20 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 been destroyed. Dreading further encounter, Darius offered 
 to divide with Alexander the sovereignty of Asia, but the 
 Macedonian replied, "Heaven cannot support two suns, nor 
 Asia two kings." 
 
 In 331 B. c. Alexander returned to Syria, passed the 
 Euphrates and Tigris, and on the field of Arbela again de- 
 feated Darius, now at the head of an army even stronger than 
 that which he had mustered at Issus. The ancient capital of 
 Babylon opened her gates to the conqueror, and Darius, 
 "fallen from his high estate," fled through Persia toward the 
 wilds of Central Asia. After a year's wandering the king 
 was slain by the traitor Bessus ; but the assassin, instead of 
 being rewarded by Alexander, as he had expected, was 
 delivered to the relatives of Darius to be tortured. Alexander, 
 having completed the conquest of Persia as far as the coast of 
 the Caspian Sea, penetrated into Scythia. Again receiving 
 16,000 recruits from Macedonia, he resolved to add India to 
 his empire. Crossing the Indus in the next year, he van- 
 quished the valiant Porus in a pitched battle and took him 
 prisoner. 
 
 The Greeks had now accomplished far more than the 
 original declared purpose of the war, the overthrow of the 
 Persian empire, and when their commander, with insatiable 
 love of conquest, called them to push on to the Ganges, the 
 wearied troops peremptorily refused. Alexander, therefore, 
 recognizing the necessity, if not the justice, of yielding to 
 their wishes, prepared for their return to Greece by building 
 eight hundred vessels, in which they sailed down the Indus. 
 Arriving at the ocean, he sent Nearchus as admiral of a fleet 
 to coast along the Persian Gulf and the mouth of the 
 Euphrates. He himself took the overland route through a 
 dreary desert, and visited again the most ancient cities of 
 Persia. At the close of one of those scenes of drunken 
 revelry which too often disgraced his career, he set fire to the 
 temple of Persepolis. And yet, perhaps to win the allegiance 
 of the people of the empire, he had already adopted the cos- 
 tume and manners of the Persian court. He also married 
 Statira, the daughter of Darius. 
 
 In 324 B. c. Alexander marched again to the north to
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 21 
 
 subdue rebellious tribes, and visited Ecbatana, the usual 
 summer residence of the Persian kings. In the midst of fes- 
 tivities at this place, Hephaestion, his favorite from his boyish 
 days, was seized with a fever due to a drinking bout, and in 
 spite of the vigor of his constitution, died in a few days. 
 Alexander's grief for this loss was unbounded, and manifested 
 itself in incredible excesses. He also caused a magnificent 
 funeral pile to be erected at Babylon, and even sought to 
 render his friend divine honors. At last the conqueror roused 
 himself from the passionate grief which daily made his tem- 
 per more irascible, and found consolation in subduing the 
 mountain tribe Cossaei, who had defied the attacks of Persian 
 kings. Pursuing them into almost impenetrable recesses of 
 the rocks, he slew the entire male population. 
 
 During his leisurely return to Babylon the conqueror 
 received envoys from remote nations, not only from the East, 
 but from Carthage, Ethiopia, Scythia, Gaul, Sicily, Sardinia, 
 the cities of Southern Italy, and even, as some say, from 
 Rome. Yet dark omens and prophecies are reported to have 
 clouded his enjoyments, and the Chaldean priests warned him 
 to stay outside the gates of Babylon. After some hesitation 
 he entered, attended to various affairs of state, and conducted 
 the obsequies of his deceased friend. The feast which formed 
 part of the funeral ceremonies was prolonged into boisterous 
 revelry, in which Alexander wildly indulged. A fever ensued, 
 during which he still directed all public affairs until his 
 strength failed. Then he ordered all his generals and officers 
 to remain in attendance near the hall. His last utterance is 
 said to have been in reply to the question to whom he 
 bequeathed his kingdom, ' ' To the strongest. ' ' One of his last 
 acts was to take the signet ring from his finger and give it to 
 Perdiccas. He died in June, 323 B. c., after a life of thirty- 
 two years and eight months. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF ARBELA. 
 
 Arbela, the city which has furnished its name to the deci- 
 sive battle which gave Asia to Alexander, lies more than 
 twenty miles from the actual scene of conflict. A little vil-
 
 22 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 lage, then named Gaugamela, is close to the spot where the 
 armies met, in one of the wide plains that lie between the 
 Tigris -and the mountains of Kurdistan. A few undulating 
 hillocks diversify the surface of this sandy tract ; but the 
 ground is generally level, and admirably qualified for the 
 evolutions of cavalry, and also calculated to give the 
 larger of two armies the full advantage of numerical superior- 
 ity. The Persian king (who, before he came to the throne, 
 had proved his personal valor as a soldier and his skill as a 
 general) had wisely selected this region for the third and deci- 
 sive encounter between his forces and the invader. The pre- 
 vious defeats of his troops, however severe they had been, 
 were not looked on as irreparable. The Granicus had been 
 fought by his generals rashly and without mutual concert ; and, 
 though Darius himself had commanded and been beaten at 
 Issus, that defeat might be attributed to the disadvantageous 
 nature of the ground, where, cooped up between the moun- 
 tains, the river, and the sea, the numbers of the Persians con- 
 fused and clogged alike the general's skill and the soldiers' 
 prowess, and their very strength had been made their weak- 
 ness. Here, on the broad plains of Kurdistan, there was 
 scope for Asia's largest host to array its lines, to wheel, to 
 skirmish, to condense or expand its squadrons, to manceuver, 
 and to charge at will. Should Alexander and his scanty 
 band dare to plunge into that living sea of war, their destruc- 
 tion seemed inevitable. 
 
 A little before the end of August, Alexander crossed the 
 Euphrates at Thapsacus, a small corps of Persian cavalry 
 under Mazaeus retiring before him. Alexander was too pru- 
 dent to march down through the Mesopotamian deserts, and 
 continued to advance eastward with the intention of passing 
 the Tigris, and then, if he was unable to find Darius and 
 bring him to action, of marching southward on the left side 
 of that river along the skirts of a mountainous district where 
 his men would suffer less from heat and thirst, and where pro- 
 visions would be more abundant. 
 
 On learning that Darius was with a large army on the left 
 of the Tigris, Alexander hurried forward and crossed that 
 river without opposition. He was at first unable to procure
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 23 
 
 any certain intelligence of the precise position of the enemy, 
 and after giving his army a short interval of rest, he marched 
 for four days down the left bank of the river. 
 
 On the fourth day Alexander's advance guard reported 
 that a body of the enemy's cavalry was in sight. He instantly 
 formed his army in order for battle, and directing them to 
 advance steadily, he rode forward at the head of some squadrons 
 of cavalry, and charged the Persian horse, whom he found 
 before him. This was a mere reconnoitering party, and they 
 broke and fled immediately ; but the Macedonians made some 
 prisoners, and from them Alexander found that Darius was 
 posted only a few miles off, and learned the strength of the 
 army that he had with him. On receiving this news Alexan- 
 der halted, and gave his men repose for four days, so that they 
 should go into action fresh and vigorous. He also fortified his 
 camp and deposited in it all his military stores, and all his 
 sick and disabled soldiers, intending to advance upon the 
 enemy with the serviceable part of his army perfectly unen- 
 cumbered. After this halt, he moved forward, while it was 
 yet dark, with the intention of reaching the enemy, and 
 attacking them at break of day. About half way between the 
 camps there were some undulations of the ground, which con- 
 cealed the two armies from each other's view. 
 
 Alexander halted his army on the heights, and, taking with 
 him some light-armed infantry and some cavalry, he passed 
 part of the day in reconnoitering the enemy, and observing the 
 nature of the ground on which he had to fight. Darius wisely 
 refrained from moving from his position to attack the Mace- 
 donians on the eminences which they occupied, and the two 
 armies remained until night without molesting each other. 
 
 The Persians expected, and were prepared to meet, a night 
 attack. Such was the apprehension that Darius entertained 
 of it, that he formed his troops at evening in order of battle, 
 and kept them under arms all night. The morning of the 
 first of October, 331 B. a, dawned slowly to their wearied 
 watching, and they could hear the note of the Macedonian 
 trumpet sounding to arms, and could see King Alexander's 
 forces descend from their tents on the heights, and form in 
 order of battle on the plain.
 
 24 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 There was deep need of skill, as well as of valor, on 
 Alexander's side ; and few battle-fields have witnessed more 
 consummate generalship than was now displayed by the Mace- 
 donian king. There were no natural barriers by which he 
 could protect his flanks ; and not only was he certain to be 
 overlapped on either wing by the vast lines of the Persian 
 army, but there was imminent risk of their circling round 
 him, and charging him in the rear, while he advanced against 
 their centre. He formed, therefore, a second or reserve line, 
 which was to wheel round, if required, or to detach troops to 
 either flank, as the enemy's movements might necessitate ; 
 and thus, with their whole army ready at any moment to be 
 thrown into one vast hollow square, the Macedonians ad- 
 vanced in two lines against the enemy, Alexander himself 
 leading on the right wing, and the renowned phalanx form- 
 ing the centre, while Parmenio commanded on the left. 
 
 Conspicuous by the brilliancy of his armor, and by the 
 chosen band of officers who were round his person, Alexander 
 took his station at the head of his cavalry ; and when all the 
 arrangements for the battle were complete, and his generals 
 were fully instructed how to act in each probable emergency, 
 he began to lead his men toward the enemy. It was ever his 
 custom to expose his life freely in battle, and to emulate the 
 personal prowess of his great ancestor, Achilles. 
 
 Great reliance had been placed by the Persian king on the 
 effects of the scythe-bearing chariots. It was designed to 
 launch these against the Macedonian phalanx, and to follow 
 them up by a heavy charge of cavalry, which, it was hoped, 
 would find the ranks of the spearmen disordered by the rush 
 of the chariots, and easily destroy this most formidable part 
 of Alexander's force. In front, therefore, of the Persian cen- 
 tre, where Darius took his station, and which it was supposed 
 that the phalanx would attack, the ground had been carefully 
 levelled and smoothed, so as to allow the chariots to charge 
 over it with their full sweep and speed. As the Macedonian 
 army approached the Persian, Alexander found that the front 
 of his whole line barely equalled the front of the Persian 
 centre, so that he was outflanked on his right by the entire 
 left wing of the enemy, and by their entire right wing on his
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 25 
 
 left. His tactics were to assail some one point of the hostile 
 army, and gain a decided advantage, while he refused, as far 
 as possible, the encounter along the rest of the line. He 
 therefore inclined his order of march to the right, so as to 
 enable his right wing and centre to come into collision with 
 the enemy on as favorable terms as possible, although the 
 manoeuver might in some respect compromise his left. 
 
 The effect of this oblique movement was to bring the 
 phalanx and his own wing nearly beyond the limits of the 
 ground which the Persians had prepared for the operations of 
 the chariots ; and Darius, fearing to lose the benefit of this 
 arm against the most important parts of the Macedonian 
 force, ordered the Scythian and Bactrian cavalry, who were 
 drawn up in front of his extreme left, to charge round upon 
 Alexander's right wing, and check its further lateral progress. 
 Against these assailants Alexander sent from his second line 
 Menidas' cavalry. As these proved too few to make head 
 against the enemy, he ordered Ariston also from the second 
 line with his right horse, and Oleander with his foot, in sup- 
 port of Menidas. The Bactrians and Scythians now began to 
 give way ; but Darius reinforced them by the mass of Bac- 
 trian cavalry from his main line, and an obstinate cavalry 
 fight now took place. The Bactrians and Scythians were 
 numerous, and were better armed than the horsemen under 
 Menidas and Ariston ; and the loss at first was heaviest on the 
 Macedonian side. But still the European cavalry stood the 
 charge of the Asiatics, and at last, by their superior discipline, 
 and by acting in squadrons that supported each other, instead 
 of fighting in a confused mass like the barbarians, the Mace- 
 donians broke their adversaries, and drove them off the field. 
 
 Darius now directed the scythe-armed chariots to be driven 
 against Alexander's horse guards and the phalanx, and these 
 formidable vehicles were accordingly sent rattling across the 
 plain, against the Macedonian line. But the Asiatic chariots 
 were rendered ineffective by the light-armed troops, whom 
 Alexander had specially appointed for the service, and who, 
 wounding the horses and drivers with their missile weapons, 
 and running alongside so as to cut the traces or seize the reins, 
 marred the intended charge ; and the few chariots that reached
 
 26 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 the phalanx passed harmlessly through the intervals which 
 the spearmen opened for them, and were easily captured in 
 the rear. 
 
 A mass of Asiatic cavalry was now, for the second time, 
 collected against Alexander's extreme right, and moved round 
 it, with the view of gaining the flank of his army. At the 
 critical moment, when their own flanks were exposed by this 
 evolution, Aretes dashed on the Persian squadrons with his 
 horsemen from Alexander's second line. While Alexander 
 thus met and baffled all the flanking attacks of the enemy 
 with troops brought up from his second line, he kept his own 
 horse-guards and the rest of the front line of his wing fresh, 
 and ready to take advantage of the first opportunity for 
 striking a decisive blow. This soon came. A large body of 
 horse, who were posted on the Persian left wing nearest to the 
 centre, quitted their station, and rode off to help their com- 
 rades in the cavalry fight, that still was going on at the ex- 
 treme right of Alexander's wing against the detachments 
 from his second line. This made a huge gap in the Persian 
 array, and into this space Alexander instantly charged with 
 his guard and all the cavalry of his wing ; and then pressing 
 toward his left, he soon began to make havoc in the left flank 
 of the Persian centre. The shield-bearing infantry now 
 charged also among the reeling masses of the Asiatics ; and 
 five of the brigades of the phalanx, with the irresistible might 
 of their long pikes, bore down the Greek mercenaries of 
 Darius, and dug their way through the Persian centre. In 
 the early part of the battle Darius had showed skill and 
 energy ; and he now, for some time, encouraged his men, by 
 voice and example, to keep firm. But the lances of Alexan- 
 der's cavalry and the pikes of the phalanx pressed nearer 
 and nearer to him. His charioteer was struck down by a 
 javelin at his side ; and at last Darius' nerve failed him, and, 
 descending from his chariot, he mounted on a fleet horse and 
 galloped from the plain, regardless of the state of the battle 
 in other parts of the field, where matters were going on much 
 more favorably for his cause, and where his presence might 
 have done much toward gaining a victory. 
 
 Alexander's operations with his right and centre had ex-
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 2J 
 
 posed his left to an immensely preponderating force of the 
 enemy. Parmenio kept out of action as long as possible ; but 
 Mazasus, who commanded the Persian right wing, advanced 
 against him, completely outflanked him, and pressed him 
 severely with reiterated charges by superior numbers. Seeing 
 the distress of Parmenio' s wing, Simmias, who commanded 
 the sixth brigade of the phalanx, which was next to the left 
 wing, did not advance with the other brigades in the great 
 charge upon the Persian centre, but kept back to cover Par- 
 menio' s troops on their right flank, as otherwise they would 
 have been completely surrounded and cut off from the rest of 
 the Macedonian army. By so doing, Simmias had unavoid- 
 ably opened a gap in the Macedonian left centre ; and a large 
 column of Indian and Persian horse, from the Persian right 
 centre, had galloped forward through this interval, and right 
 through the troops of the Macedonian second line. Instead 
 of then wheeling round upon Parmenio, or upon the rear of 
 Alexander's conquering wing, the Indian and Persian cavalry 
 rode straight on to the Macedonian camp, overpowered the 
 Thracians who were left in charge of it, and began to plunder. 
 This was stopped by the phalangite troops of the second line, 
 who, after the enemy's horsemen had rushed by them, faced 
 about, countermarched upon the camp, killed many of the 
 Indians and Persians in the act of plundering, and forced the 
 rest to ride off again. Just at this crisis, Alexander had been 
 recalled from his pursuit of Darius by tidings of the distress 
 of Parmenio and of his inability to bear up any longer against 
 the hot attacks of Mazaeus. Taking his horse-guards with 
 him, Alexander rode toward the part of the field where his 
 left wing was fighting ; but on his way thither he encountered 
 the Persian and Indian cavalry, on their return from his 
 camp. 
 
 These men now saw that their only chance of safety was 
 to cut their way through, and in one huge column they 
 charged desperately upon the Macedonian regiments. There 
 was here a close hand-to-hand fight, which lasted some time, 
 and sixty of the royal horse-guards fell, and three generals, 
 who fought close to Alexander's side, were wounded. At 
 length the Macedonian discipline and valor again prevailed,
 
 28 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 and a large number of the Persian and Indian horsemen were 
 cut down, some few only succeeding in breaking through and 
 riding away. Relieved of these obstinate enemies, Alexander 
 again formed his regiments of horse-guards, and led them 
 toward Parmenio ; but by this time that general also was 
 victorious. Probably the news of Darius' flight had reached 
 Mazaeus, and had damped the ardor of the Persian right wing, 
 while the tidings of their comrades' success must have pro- 
 portionally encouraged the Macedonian forces under Parmenio. 
 His Thessalian cavalry particularly distinguished themselves 
 by their gallantry and persevering good conduct ; and by the 
 time that Alexander had ridden up to Parmenio, the whole 
 Persian army was in full flight from the field. 
 
 It was of the deepest importance to Alexander to secure 
 the person of Darius, and he now urged on the pursuit. The 
 River Lycus was between the field of battle and the city of 
 Arbela, whither the fugitives directed their course, and the 
 passage of this river was even more destructive to the Per- 
 sians than the swords and spears of the Macedonians had been 
 in the engagement. The narrow bridge was soon choked up 
 by the flying thousands who rushed toward it, and vast num- 
 bers of the Persians threw themselves, or were hurried by 
 others, into the rapid stream, and perished in its waters. 
 Darius had crossed it, and had ridden on through Arbela 
 without halting. Alexander reached the city on the next day, 
 and made himself master of all the Persian king's treasure 
 and stores. Darius, unfortunately for himself, had fled too 
 fast for his conqueror, but had only escaped to perish by the 
 treachery of his Bactrian satrap, Bessus. A few days after 
 the battle Alexander entered Babylon, "the oldest seat of 
 earthly empire" then in existence, as its acknowledged lord 
 and master. SIR E. S. CREASY.
 
 ALTHOUGH the ancient accounts of the 
 personal history of Lycurgiis have many 
 discrepancies, and are disputed by mod- 
 ern critics, we give the generally received 
 outline of his career. He is reputed to 
 have been born about 926 B. c. , and to be 
 the son of king Eunomus. As guardian 
 qf his nephew, who had succeeded to the 
 throne, Lycurgus conducted the affairs of 
 the state with great wisdom and probity. Later on, he 
 became a traveler, and while visiting the island of Crete 
 thoroughly studied its laws. Thence he passed to Asia 
 Minor, and viewed the Ionian cities, sunk in luxury and 
 effeminacy. Finding there the poems of Homer, he was so 
 enraptured by their manly and heroic strain that he collected 
 and transcribed them, and was the first to introduce them 
 fully into Greece. 
 
 In the meantime Sparta was a prey to civil dissensions, 
 and several deputations were sent to Lycurgus, imploring 
 him to return and resume the reins of Government. At 
 length, after fully maturing the political knowledge which 
 it had been his principal object to acquire by travel, he came 
 back to his native land. Perceiving that the disorders of the 
 state admitted no other effectual remedy than a total change 
 of the laws and constitution, he proposed a new legislative 
 system for Sparta. 
 
 Like other legislators, Lycurgus fortified his authority with 
 the sanctions of religion, and obtained from the oracle of 
 Delphi a declaration that the new constitution would be the 
 most excellent in the world. He also directed thirty of his 
 friends to appear armed in the market-place, in order to inti- 
 
 29
 
 30 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 midate opposition. Thus surrounded, he promulgated his 
 new constitution and code of laws. The monarchical part of 
 the government, administered by two kings, was retained ; 
 but a senate of twenty-eight persons was formed, as a media- 
 ting body between them and the people. He was equally 
 averse to a tyranny and an unmixed democracy. Yet the 
 people were allowed a public assembly in which the most 
 important measures were to be voted on, and five officers, 
 called ephors, were commissioned as their representatives, to 
 see that the kings did not violate their enactments. These 
 ephors became eventually the controlling power of the Spartan 
 state. 
 
 The next step of Lycurgus was the very arduous measure 
 of equalizing landed property. The territory of Sparta and of 
 the rest of Laconia was divided into lots, each capable of 
 supporting a single family, and one of these was assigned to 
 each citizen. Lycurgus attempted to equalize other property 
 by forbidding the use of gold and silver coin, and allowing no 
 other money than iron, which was so bulky that it was im- 
 possible to hoard much wealth. Still further to reduce to a 
 social level, and preclude private luxury, he ordained that all 
 the men should eat at public tables, where all were served 
 alike with plain, wholesome food. This regulation proved 
 more grievous to the richer classes than any other, and even 
 caused a tumult, in which Lycurgus lost an eye. His beha- 
 vior on this occasion was truly philosophical, as he pardoned 
 the youthful perpetrator, and converted him into a permanent 
 friend. 
 
 The spirit of his ordinances, which extended to all the 
 particulars of education, and of social arrangements, was to 
 form a people in whom patriotism should be paramount to 
 private interests, who should be vigorous in body and invin- 
 cible in defence of their country. In pursuance of this, he 
 scrupled not to sacrifice the decencies of life. Together with 
 riches, he excluded all the fine arts, and all the studies which 
 soften and humanize the mind and heart. But what he aimed 
 at he obtained ; and Sparta, under the stern laws of Lycurgus, 
 became a gymnasium of athletic warriors, whose prowess for 
 centuries dominated all Greece. -
 
 LYCURGUS, THE SPARTAN LAWGIVER. 3! 
 
 The disinterestedness of Lycurgus was proved by his last 
 administrative act. In an assembly of the people that he 
 convoked, he said that it was important that he should consult 
 the oracle at Delphi on one remaining point ; but before his 
 departure he wished them to take a solemn oath to observe his 
 laws inviolably until his return. They complied, and he went 
 to Delphi, where he obtained a declaration that while Sparta 
 should keep the laws of Lycurgus, she should be the most 
 flourishing of cities. This oracle he sent to Sparta, and then 
 disappeared, in order that they might never be freed from the 
 obligation of their oath. The classical authors are not 
 agreed concerning what afterwards became of him. His 
 memory was long honored at Sparta by an anniversary, at, 1 
 which his praises were recited and sung. 
 
 LACONIC SPEECH. 
 
 Lycurgus fixed but a small value on a considerable 
 quantity of his iron money ; but on the contrary, the worth 
 of speech was to consist in its being comprised in a few plain 
 words, pregnant with a great deal of sense ; and he contrived 
 that by long silence they might learn to be sententious and 
 acute in their replies. As debauchery often causes weakness 
 and sterility in the body, so the intemperance of the tongue 
 makes conversation empty and insipid. King Agis, there- 
 fore, when a certain Athenian laughed at the Lacedaemonian 
 short swords, and said, "The jugglers would swallow them 
 with ease upon the stage," answered in his laconic way, 
 "And yet we can reach our enemies' hearts with them." 
 Indeed, to me there seems to be something in this concise 
 manner of speaking which immediately reaches the object 
 aimed at, and forcibly strikes the mind of the hearer. 
 
 Lycurgus himself was short and sententious in his dis- 
 course, if we may judge by some of his answers which are 
 recorded ; that, for instance, concerning the constitution. 
 When one advised him to establish a popular government in 
 Lacedaemon, ' ' Go, ' ' said he, ' ' and first make a trial of it in 
 thy own family." That again, concerning sacrifices to the 
 Deity, when he was asked why he appointed them so trifling
 
 32 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 and of so little value, "That we might never be in want," 
 said he, "of something to offer him." Once more, when they 
 inquired of him, what sort of martial exercises he allowed of, 
 he answered, "All, except those in which you stretch out 
 your hands" (which was the form of demanding quarter in 
 battle). Several such like replies of his are said to be taken 
 from the letters which he wrote to his countrymen ; as to 
 their question, "How shall we best guard against the inva- 
 sion of the enemy?" "By continuing poor, and not desiring 
 in your possession to be one above another." And to the 
 question, whether they should enclose Sparta with walls, 
 " That city is well fortified, which has a wall of men instead 
 of brick. ' ' Whether these and some other letters ascribed to 
 him are genuine or not, is no easy matter to determine. 
 
 That they hated long speeches, the following sayings are 
 a farther proof. King I^eonidas said to one who discoursed 
 at an improper time about affairs of some concern, "My 
 friend, you should not talk so much to the purpose of what 
 it is not to the purpose to talk of." Charilaus, the nephew of 
 Lycurgus, being asked why his uncle had made so few laws, 
 answered, " To men of few words, few laws are sufficient." 
 Some people finding fault with Hecataeus the sophist, because, 
 when admitted to one of the public repasts, he said nothing 
 all the time, Archidamidas replied, "He that knows how to 
 speak, knows also when to speak." PLUTARCH.
 
 EPAMINONDAS 
 
 PAMINONDAS, one of the greatest 
 and noblest characters recorded in 
 ancient history, was a native of Thebes, 
 in Boeotia. Though born and reared 
 in poverty, he was educated by the best 
 masters in Greece. From one of them, 
 Lysis, the Pythagorean, he probably 
 acquired that elevation of mind and 
 austerity of morals which characterized him throughout his 
 career. He was never married. His indifference to riches 
 rendered him inaccessible to corruption of every kind ; and 
 though he was susceptible to glory, yet, like a true phil- 
 osopher, he made the consciousness of rectitude, and not fame, 
 the great object of his life. To the qualities of an exalted 
 mind he added a serene and amiable disposition, wisdom and 
 sincerity. By the general agreement of writers, he exhibited 
 beyond almost any ancient personality the appearance of a 
 perfect character. 
 
 The Spartans, having obtained possession of Thebes in 
 383 B.C., expelled Pelopidas, a friend of Epaminondas, for his 
 attachment to liberty. But Epaminondas, being considered 
 as of no political weight, was permitted to remain. Pelopidas 
 and other exiles, four years later, by bold stratagem entered 
 and mastered the city, amid much bloodshed. When his 
 friends had succeeded, Epaminondas, abhorring civil strife, 
 energetically interfered to stop the slaughter of the van- 
 quished. 
 
 The two friends now formed the design of arousing in their 
 Theban countrymen an enduring sense of the benefits of 
 3 33
 
 34 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 virtue and liberty, exhorting them to frugality in living, and 
 contempt of pleasure. 
 
 As one of the delegates to a convention of the Grecian 
 States, held at Sparta, to treat of a general peace, Epami- 
 nondas showed such independence of conduct as to exasperate 
 the Spartan king, Agesilaus. The Thebans were therefore 
 excluded from the peace, and war was declared against them. 
 Twenty days afterwards the Thebans defeated the Spartans 
 with great slaughter on the battle-field of Leuctra. The 
 Thebans, now formidable, were joined by allies, formerly 
 much oppressed by Sparta, and the Peloponnesus was in- 
 vaded, but without any advantage, as Epaminondas was too 
 prudent to hazard an assault on the city of Sparta. The next 
 year, however, he again marched into the Peloponnesus, 
 laying waste the country and taking some towns, but was 
 thwarted in capturing Corinth. The change of public favor 
 caused him upon his return to be deprived of his command, 
 and reduced to a private condition. But when an expedition 
 to Pherae was saved from utter destruction by his ability, the 
 people of Thebes restored him to supreme command. 
 
 Epaminondas, taking advantage of new commotions in 
 the Peloponnesus, marched thither with a powerful army. 
 The combined forces of the allies, Spartans, Athenians, Arca- 
 dians, etc., commanded by King Agesilaus, were attacked 
 by the Thebans at Mantinea, and completely routed. Un- 
 happily, Epaminondas at the close received a mortal wound. 
 When he was told that his death would immediately follow 
 the extraction of the javelin, he would not allow this to be 
 done until he had been assured that his shield was safe, and 
 that the victory was with his countrymen. Seeing his friends' 
 tears, he said, cheerfully, "This day is not the end of my 
 life, but the beginning of my happiness and completion of 
 my glory." As they mourned for his death, unmarried and 
 childless, he said, "Leuctra and Mantinea are children 
 enough to keep my name alive." Then, while others faltered 
 and evaded the sad work of extracting the dart, he himself 
 drew it forth and expired. 
 
 The saddened Thebans buried him where he had died, and 
 raised on the spot a column, bearing the figure of a dragon,
 
 EPAMINONDAS. 35 
 
 in token of his lineage from one of the followers of Cadmus. 
 They never prospered after the grand fifteen years of the influ- 
 ence of their great Pythagorean soldier. With the death 
 of this true hero, the power of Thebes declined as rapidly as 
 it had formerly risen. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF LEUCTRA. 
 
 The field of Leuctra is well marked to the present day by 
 a tumulus on the summit of the ridge which borders the 
 southern side of the valley of Thespise. This isolated ridge 
 was the position of Cleombrotus, the Spartan. The height, 
 on which the Thebans were encamped, was evidently a spur 
 of the ridge of hills forming the southern wall of the valley 
 of the Kanavari river, which it separates from the plain of 
 lyeuctra. This plain does not exceed a mile in width from 
 north to south, except at the eastern end, where there occurs 
 a gap between the ridge of Leuctra and the foot of the downs, 
 on the summit of which stands the city of Thebes. Here, in 
 earlier times, Pausanias had finally proved the superiority of 
 Hellenic to Persian arms. From east to west it runs nearly 
 five miles, and is an admirably chosen spot for a pitched 
 battle, since the face of the country is perfectly open, without 
 any natural obstructions to impede the shock of combatants, 
 and the hills are wide sheep-walks to the top, of no great 
 altitude, that of Leuctra more especially, and perfectly 
 adapted to military movements, though perhaps scarcely 
 accessible to charging cavalry. 
 
 Epaminondas depended much on the superiority of his 
 cavalry ; but he neglected no precautions to ensure the victory 
 against his formidable opponent. Cleombrotus (July 20, B. c. 
 371) descended into the plain with his cavalry in front of his 
 heavy-armed infantry, who were drawn up in line, each com- 
 pany having three shields in rank and twelve in file, he him- 
 self commanding the right wing, consisting of Spartans. 
 
 Perceiving this disposition, and knowing, from the im- 
 movable valor of the Spartans, that a general attack along 
 the front would probably cause the defeat of his numerically 
 inferior force, Epaminondas formed his men on an entirely new 
 principle. Selecting his best warriors, and especially his best
 
 36 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVEXTS. 
 
 file-leaders, he drew them to extreme left, where he arranged 
 them, considerably in advance of the centre, and this centre 
 itself- considerably in advance of the right, thus forming in 
 echelon, under his own command, no less than fifty shields 
 in depth, intending by this extraordinary weight of his 
 column to cut in two the Spartan right, and break it up. 
 His own right and centre were drawn up in much shallower 
 order, probably not exceeding the usual depth of eight 
 shields, for it was his object, if possible, to induce the enemy 
 to extend their own left unduly. Being actually inferior in 
 numbers, while he had reduced his general strength yet 
 farther by the extraordinary concentration of his masses on 
 the left, he was obliged to make his right shallow, even to 
 feebleness, in order to keep up the semblance of an even 
 front. It appears, from Plutarch's statement, that Epami- 
 nondas had strengthened his centre, so as in some degree to 
 compensate for its numerical weakness, by the three hundred 
 known as the Sacred Band, who were never beaten until they 
 fell to a man, and lay as they fell 
 
 " With their back to the field and their feet to the foe, 
 And leaving in battle no blot on their name, 
 looked proudly to heaven from the death-bed of fame." 
 
 But that day of disaster had not yet arrived ; and in this 
 furious hand to hand encounter, they, with their gallant 
 leader, did their duty well ;, yet, but for the new and strange 
 formation in which they fought, they must almost to a cer- 
 tainty have suffered a terrible defeat. From that day forth, 
 this oblique method was the constant array and order of the 
 Thebans. It was adopted by Philip of Macedon, and became 
 the favorite inanceuver of his son, Alexander the Great. 
 
 No sooner were the two armies in the plain, the '*f hVbans 
 with their left advanced so as almost to feel the enemy's right, 
 while their own right was still far retired from the Spartan 
 left, the cavalry trumpets sounded, and the horse on both 
 sides encountered between the main bodies in full career. 
 
 The Theban cavalry were much superior, and quickly 
 scattered the Spartan horse, who, falling back into the lines 
 of their own heavy foot, threw them somewhat into disorder
 
 EPAMINONDAS. 37 
 
 before the encounter of the main battle. This must have 
 occurred toward the Theban right, where the interval was the 
 widest between the opposing armies, and the space between 
 the hills the narrowest. For since the signal for the onset of 
 the infantry seems to have been given as soon as the cavalry 
 were no longer interposed, if the Spartan right, which first 
 came into contact with the Boeotians, had been much shaken, 
 as they must have been, had their broken horse disordered 
 them in that quarter, they could never have made such a 
 resistance as they did to the terrible onset of Epaminondas, 
 with his column of fifty shields. The cavalry on both sides, 
 therefore, of which we hear no more during the action, must 
 have been swept away, the Spartans in full flight, and the 
 Thebans in inconsiderate pursuit, down the plain toward 
 Thespise eastward. 
 
 So soon as the trumpets sounded, the Spartans led forth 
 at charging pace along the whole front ; their left hurrying 
 their advance, in order to close with the Theban right, which 
 rather fell back than advanced, though still preserving their 
 connection with the centre, which met the Spartan right with 
 leveled pikes, at a full run. There the battle raged fiercely, 
 hand to hand, and was for a long time undecided, since there 
 Epaminondas met the chosen Spartans, with Cleombrotus, 
 their king, who would not yield a step, but sustained the 
 shock of his deep column with their linked shields, until 
 their spears were broken, and it came to the closest single 
 combat with their short stabbing swords. In the meantime, 
 their left, which had been disordered somewhat by its own 
 flying horse, endeavored to extend still farther to the left, in 
 order to outflank and surround the Theban right, with which 
 it was not yet fairly engaged. All manceuvering with so 
 heavy and unwieldy a body as the phalanx, in the face of an 
 enemy, was difficult ; and if attacked in the act of deploying 
 or changing its front, that array, at other times so formidable, 
 was the most defenceless and helpless of masses. Precisely at 
 such a moment, and in the middle of such a movement, 
 Pelopidas rushed headlong with his three hundred of the 
 Sacred Band, serried in the closest combination, upon their 
 centre, giving them neither time to extend as they desired,
 
 38 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 nor to contract their files in order to meet his shock, so that 
 they began to waver and fall into confusion. 
 
 By this time, however, the extraordinary depth, and con- 
 sequent weight and impetus of the terrible column of 
 Epaminondas began to tell, the pressure of the rearmost 
 files bearing the foremost bodily onward, and if the front 
 men fell, others succeeded at once to their places. And now 
 Cleombrotus had fallen, and all the adjutants ; and four hun- 
 dred of the seven hundred Spartans. As the head of the 
 assailing column met less resistance, it fell in with a more 
 fiery impetus, and broke the Spartan right into fragments, out- 
 flanking it, moreover, and thereby turning the right of the 
 whole array. But no sooner did the Spartan centre, already 
 shaken, and their left, which had scarcely felt the enemy, see 
 the defeat of their right wing, than they turned also ; and the 
 forces opposed to them assuming the offensive, gave them no 
 time to rally. The confusion and rout became general along 
 the whole front. The loss of the Spartans was prodigious, 
 considering that there was no long flight or fierce pursuit. 
 
 Diodorus states the loss of the Spartans at four thousand, 
 and that of the Thebans about three hundred ; but these 
 numbers cannot be exactly relied on. At all events it was the 
 severest defeat ever as yet inflicted by one Hellenic nation on 
 another. Sparta never again recovered from the moral con- 
 sequences of that overwhelming defeat, or recovered its station 
 among the Hellenic nations, although it struggled stoutly for 
 pre-eminence, and long maintained its independence. H. W. 
 HERBERT.
 
 CHARLES MARTEL 
 
 I HEN, in the early part of the eighth century, 
 the wave of Mohammedan conquest was 
 sweeping with irresistible force over South- 
 ern Europe, the Franks formed a firm rock 
 on which it spent its fury in vain. And the 
 central figure in this scene, the man who 
 is most prominently identified with this 
 victory of the advancing civilization of the 
 West, was Charles Martel. His father, 
 Pepin of Heristal, Duke of Austrasia and mayor of the 
 palace of the Merovingian kings of the Franks, had two 
 wives : Plectrude, by v/hom he had a son, Grimoald, and 
 Alpa'ide, who had two sons, Charles (born about 689 A. D. ), 
 and Childebrand. Grimoald was assassinated, and Charles 
 was suspected of complicity in the murder. Pepin appointed 
 Grimoald' s son Theobald, a boy of six, his successor, setting 
 aside the claims of Charles and Childebrand. On Pepin' s 
 death (714), Plectrude, the regent, lost no time in imprisoning 
 Charles in the fortress of Cologne ; but not long afterward, in 
 715, the Austrasiaus rose in revolt, liberated him, and pro- 
 claimed him Duke of Austrasia. From this time his life was 
 a continual battle, a long struggle, the final outcome of which 
 was, as Guizot puts it, "the re-establishment throughout the 
 whole of Gaul of the Franco-Gallo-Roman empire." 
 
 He took the first step towards extending his own authority 
 and consolidating and strengthening the Frankish dominion 
 by defeating the Neustrians, and installing a Merovingian 
 puppet-king under the name of Clotaire IV., he himself 
 adopting the title of mayor of the palace. While he was 
 busy repulsing and attacking the Frisons and Saxons, on the 
 
 39
 
 40 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 other side of the Rhine (715-718), the Neustrians entered 
 into an alliance with Eudes, Duke of Aquitania, and advanced 
 towards Soissons, to meet a common defeat in 719, at the 
 hands of Charles, who concluded a treaty with Eudes. 
 Chilperic II., the sluggard king (roi faineant} of the Neus- 
 trians, was generously treated, and at his death was replaced 
 by Thierry (or Theodoric) IV. , another Merovingian phantom, 
 who posed as king for seventeen years, while Charles ruled 
 over the country, repressing dissensions within and guarding 
 it from invasion without, for the Franks were incessantly at 
 war with their belligerent Germanic neighbors. But his im- 
 portance in history is more directly due to his victories over 
 the Saracens, which materially changed the course of European 
 history. 
 
 The Moslems, who, after their conquests in the Orient, 
 had passed into Europe, overrunning Spain and conquering 
 the Visigoths, now passed the Pyrenees and threatened Gaul. 
 In their first two expeditions they were severely defeated 
 by Eudes, although they captured Narbonne, which they 
 made their capital. Under the governor-general of Spain, 
 Abdel-Rhaman (Abderame), preparations were made for a 
 fresh invasion. Eudes, sorely pressed on the south, had to 
 suffer also from the inroads, on the north, of Charles Martel, 
 who accused him of not having faithfully observed the treaty 
 concluded by them in 720. Abdel-Rhaman advanced and 
 forced the Duke of Aquitania back upon Bordeaux, where he 
 defeated him totally and plundered the city. Eudes now in- 
 voked the aid of Charles Martel against their common enemy, 
 which was readily granted on his oath of allegiance. The 
 Arabs had meanwhile spread over the country between the 
 Garonne and the Loire, and had carried their ravages beyond 
 the latter river into Burgundy. The hostile forces met 
 between Tours and Poictiers, and for a week they remained 
 encamped opposite to each other. When the Arab cavalry 
 finally attacked, it was received by the Franks in serried 
 ranks, and disorder spreading through the Mussulman army 
 gave Charles a further advantage. Both armies retired to 
 their camps at nightfall ; but when the Franks turned out in 
 the morning to renew the struggle they found the enemy's
 
 CHARLES MARTEN. 4! 
 
 tents deserted, the Arabs having acknowledged their total 
 defeat by decamping precipitately during the night. Although 
 the opinions of historians differ on this point, yet it is a 
 popularly accepted tradition that it was his valor in this battle, 
 fought in 732, which gained him the title of Martel, or "the 
 Hammer. ' ' Charles Martel defeated the Moslems once more 
 in 738, but his assaults on their capital, Narbonne, were un- 
 successful. In the following year, however, they were 
 definitely driven from Provence, and all of Southern Gaul 
 lying to the left of the Rhone was incorporated in the 
 Prankish kingdom. But the security of the latter was still 
 threatened by Germanic invasion, and it was only after a long 
 series of expeditions that the barbarians beyond the Rhine 
 were finally repulsed. 
 
 While Charles Martel was thus reconstituting the Prankish 
 domain in its entirety, Thierry IV. died, in 737 ; but the 
 throne was left vacant, the mayor keeping his old title, but 
 ruling with absolute authority until his death, which over- 
 took him on October 22, 741, at Quiercy on the Oise, in the 
 full vigor of manhood, in the midst of his activity and his 
 projects. He had seized many possessions of the clergy, and 
 used them to attract warriors to his flag, and this offence was 
 never forgiven him by the church. In spite of his great 
 services, the relief of Christianity from the fear of Moslem 
 conquest, his effective support of missions in Germany, his 
 protection of the Pope at various times, he was loaded with 
 anathemas and maledictions by those whom he had despoiled 
 of their lands. On his death, he divided his territory, which 
 had been united with so much trouble, between his sons, 
 Pepin and Carloman, the former receiving Neustria, the latter 
 Austrasia. But Carloman died, and Pepin gained possession 
 of the entire kingdom, and assumed the title of king. Thus 
 did this title of royalty, which had become a meaningless 
 name under the last of the Merovingians, pass to the succes- 
 sor of the mayors of the palace, who ruled with the intelli- 
 gence and energy wanting in those phantoms of regal power, 
 the sluggard kings. And thus, also, were laid the foundations 
 of modern France.
 
 42 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF TOURS. 
 
 The broad tract of champaign country which intervenes 
 between the cities of Poictiers and Tours is principally com- 
 posed of a succession of rich pasture lands, which are traversed 
 and fertilized by the Cher, the Creuse, the Vienne, the Claine, 
 the Indre, and other tributaries of the River Loire. Here and 
 there the ground swells into picturesque eminences, and occa- 
 sionally a belt of forest land, a brown heath, or a clustering 
 series of vineyards breaks the monotony of the wide-spread 
 meadows ; but the general character of the laud is that of a 
 grassy plain, and it seems naturally adapted for the evolutions 
 of numerous armies, especially of those vast bodies of cavalry 
 which principally decided the fate of nations during the cen- 
 turies that followed the downfall of Rome, and preceded the 
 consolidation of the modern European powers. 
 
 This region has been signalized by more than one memo- 
 rable conflict ; but it is principally interesting to the historian 
 by having been the scene of the great victory won by Charles 
 Martel over the Saracens, A.D. 732, which gave a decisive 
 check to the career of Arab conquest in Western Europe, res- 
 cued Christendom from Islam, preserved the relics of ancient 
 and the germs of modern civilization, and re-established the 
 old superiority of the Indo-European over the Semitic family 
 of mankind. 
 
 The monkish chroniclers, from whom we are obliged to 
 glean a narrative of this memorable campaign, bear full evi- 
 dence to the terror which the Saracen invasion inspired, and 
 to the agony of that great struggle. The Saracens, say they, 
 and their king, who was called Abdirames, came out of Spain, 
 with all their wives and their children, and their substance, 
 in such great multitudes that no man could reckon or esti- 
 mate them. They brought with them all their armor, and 
 whatever they had, as if they were thenceforth always to 
 dwell in France. 
 
 ' Then Abderrahman, seeing the land rilled with the 
 multitude of his army, pierces through the mountains, tram- 
 ples over rough and level ground, plunders far into the 
 country of the Franks, and smites all with the sword, inso-
 
 CHARLES MARTEI,. 43 
 
 much that when Eudo came to battle with him at the River 
 Garonne, and fled before him, God alone knows the number 
 of the slain. Then Abderrahman pursued after Count Eudo, 
 and while he strives to spoil and burn the holy shrine at 
 Tours, he encounters the chief of the Austrasian Franks, 
 Charles, a man of war from his youth up, to whom Eudo had 
 sent warning. There for nearly seven days they strive in- 
 tensely, and at last they set themselves in battle array, and 
 the nations of the North standing firm as a wall, and impen- 
 etrable as a zone of ice, utterly slay the Arabs with the edge 
 of the sword. ' ' 
 
 The European writers all concur in speaking of the fall of 
 Abderrahman as one of the principal causes of the defeat of 
 the Arabs ; who, according to one writer, after finding that 
 their leader was slain, dispersed in the night, to the agreeable 
 surprise of the Christians, who expected the next morning to 
 see them issue from their tents and renew the combat. One 
 monkish chronicler puts the loss of the Arabs at 375,000 men, 
 while he says that only 1 , 007 Christians fell ; a disparity of 
 loss which he feels bound to account for by a special inter- 
 position of Providence. I have translated above some of the 
 most spirited passages of these writers ; but it is impossible 
 to collect from them anything like a full authentic descrip- 
 tion of the great battle itself, or of the operations which 
 preceded and followed it. 
 
 Though, however, we may have cause to regret the 
 meagreness and doubtful character of these narratives, we 
 have the great advantage of being able to compare the ac- 
 counts given of Abderrahman' s expedition by the national 
 writers of each side. This is a benefit which the inquirer 
 into antiquity so seldom can obtain, that the fact of posses- 
 sing it, in the case of the battle of Tours, makes us think 
 the historical testimony respecting that great event more 
 certain and satisfactory than is the case in many other in- 
 stances where we possess abundant details respecting military 
 exploits, but where those details come to us from the annalist 
 of one nation only, and where we have, consequently, no safe- 
 guard against the exaggerations, the distortions, and the 
 fictions which national vanity has so often put forth in the
 
 44 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 garb and under the title of history. The Arabian writers 
 who recorded the conquests and wars of their countrymen in 
 Spain have narrated also the expedition into Gaul of their 
 great emir, and his defeat and death near Tours, in battle 
 with the host of the Franks under King Caldus, the name 
 into which they metamorphose Charles Martel. 
 
 They tell us how there was war between the count of the 
 Prankish frontier and the Moslems, and how the count 
 gathered together all his people, and fought for a time with 
 doubtful success. "But,'' say the Arabian chroniclers, 
 u Abderrahinan drove them back; and the men of Abder- 
 rahman were puffed up in spirit by their repeated successes, 
 and they were full of trust in the valor and the practice in 
 war of their emir. So the Moslems smote their enemies, and 
 passed the River Garonne, and laid waste the country, and 
 took captives without number. And that army went through 
 all places like a desolating storm. Prosperity made these 
 warriors insatiable. At the passage of the river, Abder- 
 rahman overthrew the count, and the count retired into his 
 stronghold ; but the Moslems fought against it, and entered it 
 by force and slew the count ; for every thing gave way to their 
 cimeters, which were the robbers of lives. All the nations of 
 the Franks trembled at that terrible army, and they betook 
 them to their king Caldus, and told him of the havoc made 
 by the Moslem horsemen, and how they rode at their will 
 through all the land of Narbonne, Toulouse, and Bordeaux, 
 and they told the king of the death of their count. Then the 
 king bade them be of good cheer, and offered to aid them. 
 And in the ii4th year (of the Hegira) he mounted his horse, 
 and he took with him a host that could not be numbered, and 
 went against the Moslems. And he came upon them at the 
 great city of Tours. And Abderrahman and other prudent 
 cavaliers saw the disorder of the Moslem troops, who were 
 loaded with spoil ; but they did not venture to displease the 
 soldiers by ordering them to abandon every thing except their 
 arms and war-horses. And Abderrahinan trusted in the valor 
 of his soldiers, and in the good fortune which had ever 
 attended him. But (the Arab writer remarks) such defect of 
 discipline always is fatal to armies. So Abderrahman and
 
 CHARLES MARTEN. 45 
 
 his host attacked Tours to gain still more spoil, and they 
 fought against it so fiercely that they stormed the city almost 
 before the eyes of the army that came to save it ; and the fury 
 and the cruelty of the Moslems toward the inhabitants of the 
 city was like the fury and cruelty of raging tigers. It was 
 manifest," adds the Arab, "that God's chastisement was sure 
 to follow such excesses ; and Fortune thereupon turned her 
 back upon the Moslems. 
 
 1 ' Near the River O war (probably the Loire) the two great 
 hosts of the two languages and the two creeds were set in 
 array against each other. The hearts of Abderrahman, his 
 captains, and his men, were rilled with wrath and pride, and 
 they were the first to begin the fight. The Moslem horsemen 
 dashed fierce and frequent forward against the battalions of 
 the Franks, who resisted manfully, and many fell dead on 
 either side, until the going down of the sun. Night parted 
 the two armies ; but in the gray of the morning the Moslems 
 returned to the battle. Their cavaliers had soon hewn their 
 way into the centre of the Christian host. But many of the 
 Moslems were fearful for the safety of the spoil which they 
 had stored in their tents, and a false cry arose in their ranks 
 that some of the enemy were plundering the camp ; where- 
 upon several squadrons of the Moslem horsemen rode off to 
 protect their tents. But it seemed as if they fled ; and all the 
 host was troubled. And while Abderrahman strove to check 
 their tumult, and to lead them back to battle, the warriors of 
 the Franks came around him, and he was pierced through 
 with many spears, so that he died. Then all the host fled 
 before the enemy and many died in the flight. This deadly 
 defeat of the Moslems, and the loss of the great leader and 
 good cavalier Abderrahman, took place in the hundred and 
 fifteenth year. ' ' 
 
 It would be difficult to expect from an adversary a more 
 explicit confession of having been thoroughly vanquished 
 than the Arabs here accord to the Europeans. The points 
 on which their narrative differs from those of the Christians 
 as to how many days the conflict lasted, whether the assailed 
 city was actually rescued or not. and the like are of little 
 moment compared with the admitted great fact that there was
 
 46 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 a decisive trial of strength between Frank and Saracen, in 
 which the former conquered. The enduring importance of 
 the battle of Tours in the eyes of the Moslems is attested not 
 only by the expressions of "the deadly battle" and "the 
 disgraceful overthrow" which their writers constantly em- 
 ploy when referring to it, but also by the fact that no more 
 serious attempts at conquest beyond the Pyrenees were made 
 by the Saracens. Charles Martel, and his son and grandson, 
 were left at leisure to consolidate and extend their power. 
 The new Christian Roman empire of the West, which the 
 genius of Charlemagne founded, and throughout which his 
 iron will imposed peace on the old anarchy of creeds and 
 races, did not indeed retain its integrity after its great ruler's 
 death. Fresh troubles came over Europe ; but Christendom, 
 though disunited, was safe. The progress of civilization, and 
 the development of the nationalities and governments of 
 modern Europe, from that time forth went forward in not 
 uninterrupted, but ultimately certain career. 
 
 SIR EDWARD S. CREASY.
 
 STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, 
 
 ItOS AJ4Cwu::;c, CRU.
 
 5.J. FERRIS. PINX. 
 
 VTILLIOJuf THE CONQUEROR JIT HASTINGS.
 
 , WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 
 
 his 
 
 ILLJAM I. , King of England and surnamed 
 the Conqueror, was the sixth duke of 
 Normandy in direct descent, from the 
 famous Rollo. He was born in 1024, the 
 natural son of Duke Robert le Diable, 
 who had been captivated with the 
 charms of Arietta, a tanner's daughter. 
 In default of legitimate sons, William 
 was accepted by the nobles as the heir, 
 eleventh year succeeded to the rule of the 
 
 and in 
 Duchy. 
 
 During his minority anarchy prevailed ; but as he 
 approached manhood he gradually established his authority, 
 and when a general conspiracy was formed in 1047, ne ^ TS ^ 
 escaped by riding hard all night and afterwards completely 
 defeated the rebels. In 1051 he married Matilda, Countess of 
 Flanders, though the Church opposed the marriage as 
 uncanonical, and a dispensation was not obtained until some 
 years later. This alliance had greatly increased William's 
 strength ; but Henry I. of France, who had heretofore aided 
 him, now turned against him, as becoming dangerous. 
 Alternate war and truce succeeded until Henry's death in 
 1060 ; but William maintained his possessions, and by favor- 
 able chances soon enlarged them. 
 
 In 1051 William had visited England and had obtained 
 from Edward the Confessor, the childless King of Saxon 
 England, at the instigation of the Norman Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, some promise or reason to regard himself as heir 
 to the English throne. But Harold, the son of the great 
 Earl Godwin, was the bravest and most popular chieftain in 
 
 47
 
 43 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 that land, and by the people's choice the destined king. In 
 1065 Harold visited the ducal court and found himself in his 
 rival's power. William made skillful use of the opportunity, 
 requesting Harold to agree to assist him in obtaining the 
 promised throne. When Harold assented he was required to 
 do homage to William as the heir apparent before a full 
 assembly of Norman barons. Finally the duke conducted him 
 to the council-room, and there exacted an oath from his titular 
 guest and real captive that Harold would fulfil his promises. 
 Then William raised the cover from the chest on which the 
 missal rested which Harold had touched when taking the 
 oath, and showed that it contained all the most precious relics 
 of saints in Normandy. Such is the Norman chronicler's 
 account of this strange transaction. 
 
 Harold was then permitted to return to England, and both 
 parties awaited the death of the Confessor. But when that 
 death occurred in January, 1066, Harold assumed the crown, % 
 and renounced his oath as having been obtained by com- \ 
 pulsion. Some English authorities consider both the oath I 
 and the renunciation doubtful. The Pope, however, sup- *' 
 ported William's claim to the crown of England, and sent / 
 him a ring and a banner as symbols that the blessing of ^ 
 Heaven was on his claim. In assertion of this claim William 
 landed at Pevensey in England with 60,000 troops. Harold 
 had just won, near York in the north of England, a great 
 victory over his banished brother Tostig and the king of 
 Norway. He now hastened southward by forced marches to 
 meet the Norman invaders. In the great battle that ensued 
 near Hastings on the I4th of October, King Harold's birthday, 
 the Saxons, after an obstinate contest, were finally defeated, 
 and Harold himself was slain. 
 
 William, having thus won the title of Conqueror, at once 
 marched to London, and on Christmas day was solemnly 
 crowned King of England. In consequence of his tyranny 
 rebellions often occurred, but were quelled with the greatest 
 severity. After one that he suppressed in the north he turned 
 the whole country, between York and Durham, into a wil- 
 derness, and 100,000 of both sexes and all ages are said to 
 have perished.
 
 THE CONQUEROR. 49 
 
 William divided the lands into baronies, as rewards for his 
 faithful followers, thus introducing the feudal system. He 
 reduced the property of the clergy to a like tenure, expelled 
 the English churchmen and placed Normans in their stead. 
 The record of the general survey of the kingdom, instituted 
 by him, is still preserved, and is called the Domesday Book. 
 By means of it he obtained a complete account of all estates 
 and their revenues. His New Forest, established solely for 
 the pleasures of the chase, was acquired by the laying waste 
 villages, convents and churches for thirty miles round. 
 Poaching in this domain was made a capital offence. He not 
 only divided the lands of the Saxons among his followers, 
 but enforced the sole use of the Norman language in every 
 department of government, and to prevent nocturnal conspi- 
 racies enacted the Curfew law, which required the extinction 
 of every light, at 8 o'clock in the evening, at the sound of 
 the bell. 
 
 From his vigorous and stern administration of English 
 affairs, William was recalled to the Continent, the king of 
 France having incited the barons in Normandy to rebel. 
 William invaded the French dominions, but being injured by 
 striking on the iron pommel of his saddle from the stumbling 
 of his horse, he died September gth, 1087, near Rouen, in 
 the sixty-third year of his age. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 
 
 William with 60,000 Normans, landed in Sussex, England, 
 on the 29th of September, 1066, and encamped near Hast- 
 ings. Harold was at York, rejoicing over his hard-won 
 victory over the Norwegian King Harold Hardrada. Sixteen 
 days elapsed ere Harold's army, inferior in number and 
 exhausted by hard marches, reached the Norman lines. 
 
 The Norman outposts were first aware of the coming 
 Saxons, and falling back announced that the foe was advanc- 
 ing with furious speed. Harold hoped to surprise the 
 enemy ; but receiving intelligence of their position and 
 strength, he suddenly changed his plans and fortified himself 
 on the hill of Senlac, seven miles from Hastings. His 
 position was a strong one, surrounded by ditches and 
 4
 
 50 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 palisades. The Normans, quitting Hastings, occupied a 
 position in front of the Saxons, who spent the night in 
 feasting and the singing of their old patriotic songs, while, 
 on the other hand, the Normans listened to the chanting 
 of litanies by their priests, confessed themselves, and took 
 the sacrament thousands at a time. 
 
 At the dawn of the eventful day Saturday, October 
 I4th, 1066 William's half brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeitx, 
 dressed in a coat of mail beneath his ecclesiastical robes, 
 celebrated mass and pronounced his benediction on the 
 troops. The Norman force was divided into three columns. 
 Mounted on a magnificent charger, William was at the head 
 of one column. He wore round his neck some of the relics 
 on which Harold had sworn. The Pope's banner was borne 
 aloft amidst the Norman host. 
 
 The battle began at 9 o'clock of the morning by the 
 advance of the Normans to the foot of the hill. At the first 
 sound of the trumpet, their whole line of archers shot forth 
 their arrows, but with no effect. The heavy-foot immedi- 
 ately attacked the palisade, while a shower of javelins 
 disordered their approach. Their infantry could make no 
 breach. Their cavalry now charged upon the defenders ; but 
 their broadswords clashed in vain against the two-handed 
 axes. Few who came within the sweep of an English axe 
 ever lived to strike another blow. Rank after rank of the 
 Norman chivalry pressed on to the unavailing task. 
 
 The English had well withstood their ground. The 
 Normans lost heart : their auxiliaries on the left gave way. 
 Horse and foot alike, they fled. Some English troops, 
 despite of the injunctions of Harold, pursued the fugitives. 
 The whole of William's left wing was thrown into utter 
 confusion. The press of the fugitives disordered the centre 
 ranks, and soon the whole of the assailing hosts was falling 
 back. For the moment, the day seemed lost. But the 
 strong heart of William failed him not, and by his single 
 prowess and presence of mind he recalled his flying troops. 
 He tore his helmet from his head, and called back his men to 
 the attack. "Madmen," he cried, " behold me. Why flee 
 ye ? Death is behind you, victory is before you. I live, and
 
 THE CONQUEROR. 5! 
 
 by God's grace I will conquer." With a spear, snatched, it 
 may be, from some comrade, he met or pursued the fugitives, 
 driving them back by main force. The bold words and 
 gestures of the Duke restored the spirits of his men, and his 
 knights once more pressed on, sword in hand, around him. 
 The Breton infantry themselves, chased as they were across 
 the field by the English, now turned and cut down their 
 pursuers. 
 
 A new act in the awful drama of that day has now begun. 
 
 . . . The Duke himself, his relics round his neck, 
 spurred on right in the teeth of the English King. Before 
 William could come to hand-strokes with Harold, a spear, 
 hurled by the hand of Earl Gyrth, checked his progress. 
 The weapon so far missed its aim that the Duke was himself 
 unhurt. But his noble Spanish horse, the first of three that 
 died under him that day, fell to the ground. William rose to 
 his feet ; Duke and Earl met face to face, and the English 
 hero fell crushed beneath the stroke of the Duke's mace. 
 The day might seem to be turning against England when a 
 son of Godwin had fallen. Nor did he fall alone ; close at 
 his side, L,eofwine, fighting sword in hand, was smitten to 
 the earth. Of the valiant band of sons who had surrounded 
 Godwin on the great day of his return, Harold now stood 
 alone. 
 
 William, again mounted, was soon again dealing wounds 
 and death among the defenders of England. But the deed 
 and the fate of Gyrth were soon repeated. The spear of 
 another Englishman brought William's horse to the ground, 
 and he, too, like Gyrth, paid the penalty of his exploit by 
 death at the Duke's own hand. 
 
 The second attack had, indeed, to some extent prevailed ; 
 the barricade was now in some places broken down. . . . 
 The shield-wall still stood behind the palisade, and every 
 Frenchman who had pressed within the English enclosure 
 had paid for his daring with his life. It was still plain that 
 to scale the hill by any direct attack of the Norman horsemen 
 was a hopeless undertaking. 
 
 William had marked with pleasure that the late flight of 
 his troops had beguiled a portion of the English to forsake their
 
 52 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 firm array and their strong position. If by any means any 
 large portion of the English army could be drawn down from 
 the heights, an entrance might be made at the points where 
 the barricade was already weakened. He therefore ventured 
 on a daring stratagem. He gave his orders accordingly. A 
 portion of the army, seemingly the left wing, which had so 
 lately fled in earnest, now again turned in apparent flight. . 
 . . The English on the right wing, mainly the irregular 
 levies, rushed down and pursued them with shouts of delight. 
 But the pursued turned on the pursuing English, .... 
 and the pursuers now themselves fled in earnest. Yet, undis- 
 ciplined and foolhardy as their conduct had been, they found 
 the means to take a special revenge for the fraud that had 
 been played off upon them. The importance of the small 
 outlying hill now came into full play. It was occupied and 
 gallantly defended. With a shower of darts and stones they 
 overwhelmed a body of French who attacked them. 
 
 The men who had committed the great error of pursuing 
 the apparent fugitives had thus, as far as they themselves 
 were concerned, retrieved their error skillfully. But the error 
 was none the less fatal to England. The Duke's great object 
 was now gained ; the main end of Harold's skillful tactics 
 had been frustrated by the inconsiderate ardor of the least 
 valuable portion of his troops. The pursuing English had 
 left the most easily accessible portion of the hill open to the 
 approach of the enemy. The Normans were at last on the 
 hill. Instead of having to cut their way up the slope and 
 through the palisades, they could now charge to the east, with 
 a slight inclination of the ground in their favor, directly 
 against the defenders of the Standard. 
 
 Nevertheless, the hill, narrow and in some places with 
 steep sides, was by no means suited for the evolutions of 
 cavalry, and, though the English palisade was gone, the 
 English shield-wall was still a formidable hindrance in the 
 way of the assailants. It was still the hardest of tasks to 
 surround their bristling lines. The array of the English was 
 so close that they moved only when they were dead, they 
 stirred not at all while they were alive. That array of the 
 shield-wall was still kept
 
 WIUJAM THE CONQUEROR. 53 
 
 The fight had already been raging for six hours, and as 
 
 yet its result was far from certain The two rivals 
 
 never actually met ; William, we are told, sought earnestly to 
 meet his enemy face to face, but never succeeded. Many of 
 the best and bravest of England had died, but not a man had 
 fled ; the Standard still waved as proudly as ever ; the King 
 
 still fought beneath it New efforts, new devices, 
 
 were needed to overcome the resistance of the English, dimin- 
 ished as were their numbers. The Duke ordered his archers 
 to shoot up in the air, that their arrows might, as it were, fall 
 straight from heaven. The effect was immediate and fearful. 
 No other device of the wily Duke that day did such frightful 
 execution. Helmets were pierced ; eyes were put out. . . . 
 There was one point of the hill at which the Norman bow- 
 men were bidden specially to aim. As twilight was coming 
 on, a mighty shower of arrows was launched on its deadly 
 errand against the defenders of the Standard. At last, an 
 arrow, more charged with destiny than its fellows, falling like 
 a bolt from heaven, pierced the King's right eye ; he clutched 
 convulsively at the weapon, he broke off the shaft, his axe 
 dropped from his hand, and he sank in agony at the foot of the 
 Standard. His comrades still fought. Four Norman knights 
 rushed upon him and despatched him with various wounds. 
 The Latin poet of the battle describes this inglorious exploit 
 with great glee. 
 
 Such was the measure which the boasted chivalry of 
 Normandy meted out to a prince who had never dealt harshly 
 or cruelly by either a domestic or a foreign foe 
 
 Harold had fallen, as his valiant brothers had fallen before 
 him. The event too truly showed that England had fallen 
 with the sons of Godwin ; that, as ever in this age, everything 
 turned on the life of one man. 
 
 As long as there was a ray of light the personal following 
 of King Harold continued the unequal strife. Quarter was 
 neither given nor asked ; not a man of the comitatus fled ; not 
 a man was taken captive. Under cover of the darkness, the 
 light-armed took to flight. 
 
 Looking at the fight of Senlac simply as a battle, it is one 
 of the most memorable in all military history. Two utterly
 
 54 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 opposite systems of warfare came into conflict under two com- 
 manders, each worthily matched against the other : the con- 
 summate skill with which Harold chose his position ; the 
 wonderful readiness with which William formed and varied 
 his plans as occasion served. The Normans came again and 
 again to the charge ; they knew how to carry out successfully 
 the elaborate stratagem of the feigned flight. Yet almost 
 more admirable is the long, stubborn endurance of the Eng- 
 lish, keeping their post through nine hours of constant de- 
 fence. 
 
 A place of slaughter indeed it was, where, from morn till 
 twilight the axe and javelin of England, the lance and bow 
 of Normandy had done their deadly work at the bidding of 
 the two mightiest captains upon earth. Dead and dying men 
 lay close together ; nowhere were they heaped so thickly as 
 around the fallen Standard of England. There, where the 
 flower of England's nobility and soldiery lay stretched in 
 death, the Conqueror knelt, gave his thanks to God, and bade 
 his own banner to be planted. Then he took off his armor ; 
 his shield and helmet were seen to be dinted with many 
 heavy blows, but the person of the Conqueror was unhurt. 
 He was hailed by the loud applause of his troops, likening 
 him to Roland and Oliver and all the heroes of old. Again 
 he returned thanks to God, again he thanked his faithful 
 followers, and sat down to eat and drink among the dead. 
 EDWARD A. FREEMAN.
 
 DWARD III., of England, and seventh king 
 of the family of the Plantagenets, was born 
 November 13, 1312. At the age of fourteen, 
 in consequence of the deposal of his father, 
 Edward II., he became Regent ; and a year 
 afterwards, upon his father's death, he was 
 proclaimed king. In his eighteenth year, 
 he overcame the domination of his mother, 
 Isabella, and her favorite, Roger Mortimer 
 (Earl of March). They had held absolute control of 
 the government. Mortimer was executed, and the queen- 
 mother was forced into strict retirement for the rest of her 
 long life. 
 
 Edward, henceforth untrammeled, began now that career 
 of conquest that was to add so greatly to the military renown 
 of England, though in the end there was little permanent 
 addition to her power. 
 
 The subjection of Scotland was the initiative. In the 
 interest of Edward Baliol, who offered vassalage, King 
 Edward besieged Berwick. The Scots, under the Regent, 
 Douglas, in attempting to raise the siege, brought on the 
 bloody battle of Halidon Hill, July 19, 1333, in which they 
 were badly defeated, with a loss of 30,000. All the Scottish 
 nobles of distinction were slain or taken prisoners. Douglas 
 was killed. 
 
 France was now at the commencement of the era, called 
 in her annals the ' ' Hundred Years War. ' ' She had not the 
 territorial area now included in her domain. 
 
 Philip de Valois having obtained the crown, Edward, 
 who had been also a claimant, submitted his homage to 
 
 55
 
 56 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Philip, at Amiens. His claim to the French crown was 
 based upon the rights of his mother, Isabella, the daughter 
 of Philip le Bel. At the suggestion of James van Arteveld, 
 the "-Brewer of Ghent," Edward renewed his claim to the 
 throne of France. 
 
 On June 22, 1340, Edward won a great naval victory over 
 the French at Sluys, off the coast of Flanders, in which the 
 French lost 230 ships and many thousands slain. 
 
 The forays of the English upon the French continued 
 with varying fortunes till, in 1346, Edward found it necessary 
 to take charge personally. He embarked at Southampton 
 with a fleet of a thousand sail, accompanied by his chief 
 nobility and by his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, (after- 
 wards named the " Black Prince," from his wearing of black 
 armor) then in his sixteenth year. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF CRECY. 
 
 The English troops landed at La Hogue, in Normandy. 
 The city of Caen was taken. By a feint upon Paris, Edward 
 crossed the Seine, advanced towards the Somme, which he 
 crossed over near Abbeville, and halted soon at Crecy, where 
 he chose his positions, and awaited the shock of the enemy. 
 He arranged his army in three divisions. The first, under 
 command of the " Black Prince," consisted of nearly 4,000 
 men, of whom 2,000 were archers. The second division was 
 placed behind them, and slightly on their flank. The third 
 division formed a reserve under the King, on some rising 
 ground in the rear, and consisted of about 3,000 men, of 
 whom 2,000 were archers. According to Sir John Froissart, 
 the English army amounted to 8,000 men, but the prob- 
 ability is that it numbered nearly 30,000. As his army 
 was subject to the danger of being surrounded by that 
 of the French, consisting of about 100,000 men, Edward 
 guarded his flanks by causing entrenchments to be thrown 
 up. Thus, all conceivable contingencies provided for, he and 
 the Prince of Wales took the sacrament with great apparent 
 devotion. 
 
 The French army, under King Philip, marched from 
 Abbeville at the dawn of Saturday, August 26, 1346, and
 
 EDWARD III. AND "THE BI,ACK PRINCE." 57 
 
 arrived at Crecy in much confusion, consequent upon the 
 forced marches it had made to overtake the English. Philip 
 was confident in his superior numbers ; and his troops were 
 so impatient that no orders could restrain their ardor. He 
 divided his army into three corps, thus corresponding to 
 those of the English. The first, consisting of 15,000 
 Genoese crossbow men, under King John of Bohemia ; the 
 second, in charge of the Count d'Alenson ; and the third, 
 under himself. 
 
 About 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Philip began the 
 battle. He ordered the Genoese to attack the English line. 
 With shouts for "God and Saint Denis," they advanced, 
 but soon their bowstrings relaxed, in consequence of a heavy 
 shower of rain. On the other hand, the English archers 
 had kept their bows in their cases, and now, whilst the 
 sunshine dazzled the vision of the foe, let drive their arrows 
 thick and fast into their ranks. The " Black Prince," 
 taking advantage of their confusion, ordered his line to 
 charge. But now, the cavalry of Count d'Alengon wheeling 
 around, attempted to hem in the Prince's troops. The 
 Earls of Northampton and Arundel, apprehensive that the 
 Prince's position was very critical, despatched an officer to the 
 King asking for aid. The King, who, from the eminence, 
 had viewed the engagement, demanded if his son were dead ; 
 but being answered in the negative, he replied, " Then, tell 
 my generals that he shall have no assistance from me ; let 
 him show himself worthy of the profession of arms, and let 
 him be indebted to his own merit alone for victory. ' ' The 
 u Black Prince " threw himself upon the French cavalry, 
 who upon the death of their leader, the Count d'Alen^on, 
 were thrown into the greatest disorder. Vainly King Philip 
 tried to animate his troops ; the total overthrow of his army 
 had begun, and he was forced to accompany his army in its 
 flight. Not till morning of the next day was it known that 
 the whole French army had been routed. The loss of the 
 French amounted to 30,000 men, exclusive of about 1,200 
 knights and barons. 
 
 It is said that Edward first made use of artillery at this 
 battle ; that the " Black Prince" himself slew the King of
 
 58 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Bohemia, whose crest was three ostrich feathers, with the 
 motto, Ich dien, "I serve." As a memento of the 
 victory, it was added to the arms of the " Black Prince," 
 and has remained the insignia of each succeeding Prince of 
 Wales. 
 
 Thus was lost the battle of Crecy, the greatest battle on 
 French soil, since that fought by Charles Martel at Tours. 
 At Crecy, fell the Duke of Lorraine, the Counts of Alen$on, 
 Flanders, Nevers, Blois, Harcourt, the Lord of Tours, the 
 Archbishops of Nismes, and of Sens, the Grand Prior of the 
 Hospital of St. John, the Count of Savoy the very flower of 
 the French chivalry. 
 
 Edward quickly advanced to the siege of Calais, which 
 required nearly a year to enforce its surrender. Hereupon 
 occurred the remarkable event of the intercession of Queen 
 Philippa on behalf of the six burghers, who had offered them- 
 selves as a vicarious sacrifice to appease the wrath of Edward 
 against their fellow townsmen. It is believed that he would 
 have inflicted the punishment of death upon them but for her 
 efforts to save them. 
 
 After a truce of eight years, hostilities were renewed. 
 Philip was dead, and John was now the King of France. 
 
 In 1355, the "Black Prince" landed in France; but it 
 was not till the next year that John proceeded to meet him ; 
 the Prince's army, consisting of twelve thousand men, having 
 penetrated into the interior. The Prince's intention was to 
 form a junction with the troops under the Duke of Lancaster. 
 But he found himself foiled, the country before him practically 
 barricaded, and the bridges behind him destroyed, thereby 
 cutting off all retreat. The French, sixty thousand strong, 
 under the command of John, were advancing upon him, and 
 the Prince found himself forced to await their approach. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF POITIERS. 
 
 The battle-field it still can be recognized in its area 
 contained "two ridges of rising ground, parted by a gentle 
 hollow." A forest stood back of the higher ridge, and the 
 ridge itself was only attainable by means of a long, narrow 
 lane, leading up from the hollow through a dense growth of
 
 EDWARD III. AND "THE BLACK PRINCE." 59 
 
 underbrush and rows of hedges. During the night, the Prince 
 had taken the precaution to thoroughly entrench himself on 
 this ridge a strong position of itself. He placed three 
 hundred men in ambush, with as many archers, who were 
 commanded to attack the enemy in the flank during the en- 
 gagement. He ranged his army in three divisions ; the van 
 under the Earl of Warwick, the rear under the Earls of Salis- 
 bury and Suffolk, and the main body under himself. 
 
 The French were ranged on the lower ridge, in three 
 divisions, the rear one under the command of John. 
 
 About nine o'clock in the morning (September 19, 1356), 
 the battle began. The French cavalry rushed to the assault, 
 up through the narrow defile, in which they were so terribly 
 harassed by the English archers concealed by the hedges, 
 that they wavered, and those that emerged at the head of the 
 pass were furiously attacked by the ' ' Black Prince ' ' in 
 person. A dreadful overthrow ensued. The lane became 
 wholly blocked with the dead and wounded. The six 
 hundred men in ambush fell upon the flanks of the French, 
 and a complete rout took place. 
 
 The glory of this victory was enhanced by the fact that, 
 among the nobles taken prisoners, was the renowned Bertrand 
 Du Guesclin, and that the King himself was captured while 
 endeavoring to stem the retreat of his forces. 
 
 The reception accorded to the captive King by the young 
 conqueror, forms the subject of one of Froissart's finest pas- 
 sages in his ' ' Chronicles. ' ' We give a few lines concerning 
 the supper that the Prince gave in his lodgings to the French 
 King, and to most of the great lords that were prisoners. " He 
 caused the King and his son to sit at one table, and the other 
 lords, knights and squires at the others; and he always 
 served the King very humbly, and would not sit at his table, 
 
 although he requested him He said to the King, ' Sir, 
 
 for God's sake, make no bad cheer .... for, sir, the King, 
 my father, will certainly bestow on you as much honor and 
 friendship as he can, and will agree with you so reasonably, 
 that you shall ever after be friends ; and, sir, I think you 
 ought to rejoice, though the battle be not as you will, for you 
 have this day gained the high honor of prowess, and have
 
 60 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 surpassed all others on your side in valor. And I say not this, 
 sir, in raillery, for all our party, who saw every man's deeds, 
 agree in this, and give you the palm and garland. ' ' 
 
 Thus was achieved by the "Black Prince" one of the 
 three great battles that occurred on this historic ground, for 
 here Clovis defeated the Goths, and here Charles Martel beat 
 back the Saracens ! 
 
 A few words more before we dismiss the u Black Prince." 
 He was in the popular estimation the hero of this heroic age. 
 His valor was undoubted ; and his conduct distinguished by 
 courtesy and modesty. These qualities were peculiarly ex- 
 emplified in his treatment of the captive King. The u Black 
 Prince " died in his forty-sixth year (June 8, 1376). His son 
 Richard, born at Bordeaux was, under the title of Richard II. 
 the immediate successor of Edward III. as King of England. 
 
 Of the " Black Prince " one can justly say that his virtues 
 were his own, and his vices those of his age. Even the 
 French king, Louis, the son of King John, celebrated funeral 
 services in his honor. 
 
 For two weeks his body lay in state at Westminster; 
 thence it was taken, for interment, to Canterbury. In the 
 great cortege were two chargers, fully caparisoned, and 
 mounted by two riders in complete armor, one bearing the 
 Prince's escutcheon of England and France, the other carry- 
 ing the Crown with ostrich feathers. 
 
 And so, bid we farewell to this First Great English Cap- 
 tain ; never forgetting how truly his two mottoes harmonize, 
 Ich Dien and Hoch Muth. 
 
 While Edward III. was warring in France, the Scots in- 
 vaded the northern frontier of England. Lord Percy, at the 
 head of the English troops, met and defeated them near 
 Durham, with a loss of fifteen thousand killed. King David 
 Bruce and many of his nobles were taken prisoners. 
 
 Two kings, prisoners at the same court, and at the same 
 time, were a spectacle certainly very flattering to the 
 pride of the English people, and the cause of great elation to 
 their king.
 
 EDWARD III. AND "THE BLACK PRINCE." 6l- 
 
 The latter part of the King's reign became clouded with 
 adverse fortunes. The various defeats sustained by his gen- 
 erals in France and on the sea, formed a sad close to the early 
 promise and splendor of his rule. Edward III. died in a year 
 after the death of his favorite son (June 21, 1377). 
 
 During his reign, the " Black Plague," that had spread 
 over Europe reached England. This pestilence, more dreadful 
 than any mentioned in the annals of history, originated in 
 Asia, and settled, at last, upon Western Europe with a frightful 
 malignity. During the year 1349, there were buried, in one 
 churchyard Charter House in London, fifty thousand 
 persons. 
 
 The reign of Edward III. was distinguished by the com- 
 plete ascendancy of the system of chivalry, with its jousts and 
 tournaments. The Order of the "Knights of the Garter" 
 was instituted by him. The occasion of its institution is not 
 established with certainty. The legend, " Honi soit qui mal 
 y pense," "Evil be to him that evil thinks" is said to 
 afford no basis for the vulgar belief that it was a result of the 
 Countess of Salisbury's happening to drop her garter at a 
 ball, and the king's picking it up. The Order consists of 
 twenty-four persons besides the King.
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH was the 
 first Englishman that attempted to 
 plant a colony in America, and 
 though the attempt failed, it pointed 
 the way to the success of later 
 adventurers. Raleigh's whole career 
 was a series of similar romantic 
 enterprises, glorious but unfortunate. 
 His character still shines with un- 
 dimmed brightness. 
 
 He was born in Devonshire, 
 
 England, in 1552, and received some training at Oriel 
 College, Oxford. In his seventeenth year he began his 
 military service in aid of the Huguenots, and appears to have 
 spent seven years on the Continent. He was afterwards 
 engaged in Ireland against the rebellious natives. On his 
 return to England, he became attached to the suite of 
 courtiers that surrounded Queen Elizabeth. The celebrated 
 act of gallantry which secured the Queen's favor happened 
 in this wise. Her Majesty, surrounded by her maids of 
 honor and gentlemen in waiting, was passing through the 
 park on her way to the barge lying in the Thames. 
 Happening to arrive at a spot which had been rendered 
 muddy by the previous night's rain, she stopped, perplexed 
 whether to cross it, when a courtier, handsome of person 
 and elegantly attired, instantly stepping to the front, quickly 
 threw off his splendidly embroidered plush cloak and spread 
 it over the place, at the same time making a most profound 
 bow. Such graceful courtesy was soon lavishly rewarded. 
 
 It is also said of Raleigh that, while at court on a certain 
 occasion, being unaware of the presence of the Queen, he 
 62
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 63 
 
 scratched on the glass with his diamond ring, " I wish to 
 climb, but fear to fall." A few days afterward on observing 
 the window, he found beneath his lines these words : "If 
 thou fear to fall, climb not at all. ' ' 
 
 Ere long the Queen granted him two estates, and the 
 revenue from certain licenses that gave him an annual 
 income of about $25,000. In 1584, she conferred on him 
 the honor of knighthood ; in 1585, a lord wardenship, 
 followed by the Lieutenancy of Cornwall ; next he was 
 made Vice Admiral ; and finally, Captain of the Queen's 
 Guard. 
 
 In 1584, Raleigh, at his own expense, sent two vessels 
 which explored the coast of the New World north of 
 Florida, and debarked at Wocoken Island, off the shores of 
 North Carolina. Raleigh received a patent of discovery, and 
 the Queen graciously conferred on this enchanting country 
 the name of Virginia. 
 
 The next year Raleigh sent a fleet with 107 emigrants to 
 colonize his lands, under the command of Ralph Lane as 
 governor. The colonists were soon involved in troubles 
 with the Indians, and returned home in the ships of Sir 
 Francis Drake, who happened to stop off this coast, on his 
 way from the West Indies to England. Thus ended the first 
 actual settlement of the English in America. But the 
 attempt was not wholly without results. The exiles of a 
 year had grown familiar with the favorite amusement of the 
 lethargic Indians, and they introduced into England the 
 general use of tobacco. Raleigh enjoyed the soothing solace 
 of the new luxury from a silver pipe/^e Queen sitting by 
 him while he smoked. He also planted the first potatoes in 
 Irish soil, where he had received, in 1587, a grant of 42,000 
 acres of land.- While in Ireland he formed the acquaintance 
 of Spenser, with the endless fame of whose great poem, the 
 Fairy Queen, his name is imperishably linked by the 
 glorious eulogy the poet has inscribed in the dedication of 
 the, work. 
 
 Raleigh sent another colony to Virginia under John 
 White as governor, together with a charter of incorporation 
 as a municipality, or "City of Raleigh." They landed on
 
 64 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Roanoke Island in June, 1587, and started to build the city 
 there. The governor's grandchild, born here, the first child 
 of English parents born in America, was named Virginia 
 Dare. The supply ships sent next year by Raleigh failed to 
 reach Roanoke, and as he had already sunk $200,000, he 
 converted his proprietary rights into the form of a company, 
 who sent an addition to the number of the colonists in the 
 year 1590. When they arrived the colony on Roanoke had 
 disappeared. Their fate remains unknown ; but there is 
 reason to believe that part of them became attached to the 
 Indian tribe. Raleigh now relinquished any further attempt 
 at colonization in America. 
 
 The favor of princes is proverbially unstable. Raleigh, 
 after enjoying the sunshine of the English court for ten years, 
 was now to encounter its clouds and storms. In July, 1 592, 
 he was sent prisoner to the Tower, consequent upon the 
 Queen's discovery of his intrigue with one of her maids-of- 
 honor, Miss Throckmorton. .When released from prison he 
 married her. It was five years before he was again admitted 
 to the Queen's presence. 
 
 In 1595 Raleigh made his first attempt to reach the 
 fabulous El Dorado by sailing up the Orinoco. In the next 
 year he was with Lords Howard and Essex in their attack on 
 the Spanish fleet in the harbor of Cadiz. In fact, it was 
 upon his urgent suggestion that the conflict was made by sea 
 rather than by land. In 1600 he was appointed governor 
 of the Isle of Jersey, and in 1602 he sold his Irish estates. 
 
 The death of Queen Elizabeth and the accession of 
 James I., presaged misfortune to Raleigh. The Earl of 
 Essex, whom the Queen had executed, was greatly admired 
 by James, who probably knew that Raleigh was indifferent 
 to the fate of the Queen's favorite. At any rate, the clique 
 surrounding King James confirmed his prejudice against 
 Sir Walter. It is said that upon Raleigh's meeting the 
 King, the latter perpetrated this feeble pun ; " On my soul, 
 man, I have heard but rawly of thee." Ere long Raleigh 
 was deprived of all the posts of honor and vantage he had 
 held. 
 
 On the i /th of July, 1603, Raleigh was arrested on the
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 65 
 
 charge of complicity in the plot of L,ord Cobham against 
 King James. Cobham alleged that Raleigh was the instiga- 
 tor of the plot. Raleigh, in his despair attempted suicide, 
 and Cobham retracted his assertion. At the trial of Raleigh, 
 the attorney-general, Sir Edward Coke, disgraced English 
 jurisprudence by his brutal prosecution, during which he 
 called the defendant "a monster,'' " viper/' u rankest traitor 
 in all England," "damnable atheist," " spider of hell," etc. 
 
 Raleigh's defense was splendid, and for the first time in 
 his life he made his way into the hearts of all Englishmen 
 by his dauntless bearing and the burning eloquence of his 
 words. But he was condemned to death, and was reprieved 
 only on the scaffold, his sentence being commuted to perpet- 
 j^L imprisonment. 
 
 During the twelve years ensuing, Raleigh wrote his 
 famous History of the World, of which Edmund Gosse gives 
 the following criticism : "It is leisurely to the last excess. 
 The first chapter, of seven long sections, takes us but to the 
 close of creation. It is not until he reaches the Patriarchs 
 that it begins to occur to the historian that at his present 
 rate of progress it will need forty folio volumes, and not 
 
 four, to complete his labors With all this, the 
 
 "History of the World" is a charming and delightful miscel- 
 lany, if we do not accept it too seriously There 
 
 is not a chapter, however arid, without its fine things some- 
 where. It is impossible to tell where Raleigh's pen will take 
 fire. He is most exquisite and fanciful where his subject is 
 most unhopeful, and, on the other hand he is likely to 
 disappoint us where we take for granted he will be fine." 
 
 As King James affected to be a man of learning, and a 
 patron of men of letters, one would think his prejudice 
 would have been mitigated ; but the contrary was the fact, 
 his jealousy of Raleigh was increased by this literary activity. 
 Not only was this history suppressed by the king, but many 
 other of Raleigh's writings. For the tragic conclusion 
 of the adventurous knight's career, see the following chapter 
 on El Dorado.
 
 66 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 EL DORADO AND THE DEATH OF RALEIGH. 
 
 The Spanish conquerors of America were dazzled with 
 the wealth of Mexico and Peru, and later explorers were 
 incited with the hope of discovering still richer regions. 
 The sailor, Martinez, who had been set adrift on the sea, 
 asserted that he was flung on the coast of Guiana, and 
 conducted inland to a city called Manoa, which was governed 
 by a king in alliance with the Incas. Here was such abund- 
 ance of the precious metals that the roofs and walls were 
 covered with gold. The whole country was therefore called 
 "El Dorado," the Golden. Orellana, who discovered the 
 mighty stream of the Amazon in 1540, brought reports of a 
 neighboring land of fabulous wealth. Other Spaniards pro- 
 fessed to have seen the golden splendor of Manoa, and their 
 accounts fired the imagination of Sir Walter Raleigh fifty 
 years later. During his exile from the court of Queen 
 Elizabeth, Raleigh, thirsting for new adventures worthy of 
 his ambition, formed the project of an expedition for the 
 recovery of the lost city of Manoa and its El Dorado in the 
 wilds of Guiana. In command of five ships he explored, in 
 1595, the coasts of Trinidad, sailed up the Orinoco, and had 
 his enthusiasm aroused by the tropical splendors of the 
 scenery, and still more by the auriferous quartz he found, and 
 the marvelous stories told by the Indians of immense 
 treasures of gold further in the interior. To rouse his coun- 
 trymen to the great opportunity, he returned to England, 
 and published, in 1596, The Discovery of the large, rich 
 and beautiful Empire of Guiana, a splendid piece of vigor- 
 ous English prose. But it failed to interest the English 
 public. 
 
 With the death of King James' infamous favorite, Carr, 
 Earl of Somerset, and the accession of Villiers to power in 
 1616, Raleigh was liberated from the Tower upon condition 
 of undertaking another expedition to Guiana in search of the 
 gold mine, which he asserted to exist near the Orinoco ; but 
 he was required also to avoid attacking the Spaniards. As 
 Spain now claimed this country, it is plain this last condition 
 was a snare of the king's to entrap Raleigh. The expedition
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 67 
 
 sailed despite the protest of the Spanish ambassador Gondo- 
 mar, but King James guarded against ultimate trouble with 
 Spain through the cowardly safeguard of allowing Raleigh to 
 go with his old sentence still hanging over his head, as well 
 as communicating his route to Gondomar. And so in April, 
 1617, the hero sailed to his doom. 
 
 The small fleet, provided mostly at the expense of Raleigh 
 and his friends, arrived at the Orinoco. Here the com- 
 mander's illness he had suffered an apoplectic attack in 
 the Tower prevented his further progress. He sent his 
 friend Keymis forward in search of the mine. Keymis' party 
 came in collision with the Spaniards, burnt their town, and 
 failed to find any mine. Young Walter Raleigh was killed in 
 the fight, shouting, "Come on, my men ! This is the only 
 mine you will ever find." Raleigh's reproaches of Keymis 
 were so bitter that the latter committed suicide. Raleigh, 
 stricken as he was, wished now to search for the mine, but 
 his men refused to go with him. Utterly broken down, he 
 reached England with his ship Destiny, in June, 1618. He 
 desired to escape to France ; but he was surrounded with 
 satellites of the king, and finally betrayed by his kinsman, 
 Sir Lewis Stukely. 
 
 King James fearing to bring Raleigh before the council of 
 state, instituted a commission, among whom were Coke and 
 Bacon. Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, had changed from 
 an opponent to an adherent of Spain, and King Philip having 
 demanded Raleigh's execution, King James resorted to this 
 device of a commission so as to avoid a legal trial. Bacon, 
 who was an enemy of Raleigh, delivered the judgment of the 
 commission, that he was guilty of abusing the confidence of 
 King James, and of injuring the subjects of Spain, and that 
 he must prepare to die, being already civilly dead. Both 
 judges convinced themselves that he never had any intention 
 to find the mine at all. He was condemned to die the next 
 morning (October 29, 1618) on the old sentence. 
 
 After parting with his wife on the evening of the 2, 8th, 
 Raleigh wrote these words : 
 
 " Even such is time, that takes in trust 
 Our youth, our joys, our all we have,
 
 68 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 And pays us but with earth and dust'; 
 Who in the dark and silent grave, 
 When we have wandered all our ways, 
 Shuts up the story of our days ; 
 But from this earth, this grave, this dust, 
 My God shall raise me up, I trust." 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh went to death in high spirits. Gosse 
 says, "He was justly elated. He took his public execution 
 with delight, as if it were a martyrdom, and had the greatness 
 of soul to perceive that nothing could possibly commend his 
 career and character to posterity so much as to leave this 
 mortal stage with a telling soliloquy. His powers were drawn 
 together to their height ; his intellect ... never flashed 
 more brilliantly ... As he stood on the scaffold in the cold 
 morning air, he foiled James and Philip at one thrust, and 
 conquered the esteem of all posterity." 
 
 Sir Walter requested to see the axe, and having felt its 
 edge, he, smiling, turned to the Sheriff and said, " 'Tis a 
 sharp medicine, but one that will cure me of all my diseases." 
 In answer as to how he would lay his head on the block, he said, 
 "So the heart be right, it matters not which way the head 
 lies." His last words were to the headsman : " What dost 
 thou fear? Strike, man, strike !" 
 
 Thus perished Sir Walter Raleigh in the sixty-seventh 
 year of his age. Bancroft's eulogium is but a just tribute to 
 this extraordinary man. " What shall be said of King James, 
 who would open to an aged paralytic no other hope of liberty 
 but through success in the discovery of mines in Guiana ? 
 What shall be said of a monarch who could, at that time, 
 under a sentence which was originally unjust, and which had 
 slumbered for fifteen years, order the execution of the decrepit 
 man, whose genius and valor shone brilliantly through the 
 
 ravages of physical decay The family of the chief 
 
 author of early colonization in the United States was reduced 
 to beggary by the government of England, and he himself 
 was beheaded. After a lapse of nearly two centuries, the State 
 of North Carolina, by a solemn act of legislation, revived in 
 its capital 'The City of Raleigh,' and thus expressed its con- 
 fidence in the integrity, and a grateful respect for the memory,
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 69 
 
 of the extraordinary man, who united in himself as many 
 kinds of glory as were ever combined in an individual." 
 
 AMBITION AND DEATH. 
 
 (The eloquent concluding paragraphs of Sir Walter Raleigh's "History of the World.") 
 
 If we seek a reason of the succession and continuance of 
 boundless ambition in mortal men, we may add that the 
 kings and princes of this world have always laid before them 
 the actions, but not the ends, of those great ones which 
 preceded them. They are always transported with the glory 
 of the one, but they never mind the misery of the other, till 
 they find the experience in themselves. They neglect the 
 advice of God while they enjoy life, or hope of it, but they 
 follow the counsel of Death upon his first approach. 
 
 It is, therefore, Death alone that can suddenly make man 
 to know himself. He tells the proud and the insolent that 
 they are but objects, and humbles them at the instant, makes 
 them cry, complain, and repent, yea, even to hate their fore- 
 passed happiness. He takes account of the rich, and proves 
 him a beggar a naked beggar which hath interest in noth- 
 ing but in the gravel that fills his mouth. He holds a glass 
 before the eyes of the most beautiful, and makes them see 
 their deformity and rottenness, and they acknowledge it. 
 
 O eloquent, just, and mighty Death ! whom none could 
 advise, thou hast persuaded ; what none hath dared, thou hast 
 done ; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hast 
 cast out of the world and despised. Thou hast drawn 
 together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, 
 and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these true 
 words, Hicjacet!
 
 FERDINAND DE SOTO. 
 
 FERDINAND (or Hernando) DE SOTO, 
 the discoverer of the Mississippi, was 
 born in 1500 in the town of Xeres 
 in Central Spain, of a noble but im- 
 poverished family. In his youth he 
 was taken under the protection of a 
 wealthy nobleman, Don Pedro de 
 Avila, and was thus enabled to spend 
 some years at a university, where he 
 
 won distinction, not only in literary studies, but in athletic 
 accomplishments. Meanwhile Don Pedro went to America 
 to become governor of Darien, and young De Soto fell 
 in love with his patron's daughter, Isabella. De Avila's 
 return in 1519 brought a sad experience to the ardent lovers. 
 When De Soto proposed manfully for his daughter's hand, Don 
 Pedro scornfully rejected him as a suitor. But when Isabella 
 announced her determination to enter a convent, the proud 
 and crafty father changed his plan of action, and feigned a 
 reconciliation with De Soto. With the greatest appearance of 
 cordiality, he offered the young man a captain's commission, 
 with the necessary outfit, to accompany him back to Darien. 
 He assured De Soto every facility would be afforded to him for 
 the acquisition of wealth and distinction. De Soto frankly 
 accepted the offer ; but though the Don, on various pretexts, 
 had prevented any private interviews of the lovers, yet they 
 were not completely baulked. They parted, and her words to 
 him were : "Ferdinand, remember that one treacherous friend 
 is more dangerous than a thousand avowed enemies. ' ' 
 
 He was not long at Darien, before Don Pedro sent Captain 
 Perez, a noted duellist, with an order to him to set out for a 
 70
 
 FERDINAND DE SOTO. 7! 
 
 certain Indian village and destroy it, and to spare the life of 
 neither man, woman or child. De Soto, shocked, replied, 
 "Tell Don Pedro, the governor, that my life and services are 
 always at his disposal, when the duty to be performed is such 
 as may become a Christian and a gentleman. But in the pre- 
 sent case, I think the governor would have shown more dis- 
 cretion by entrusting you, Captain Perez, with this commission, 
 instead of sending you with the order to myself." Don Pedro 
 anticipated the result, and instigated the duel which followed, 
 in which, however, contrary to the expectations of the Me- 
 phistophilean governor, De Soto was the victor. 
 
 De Soto, with three hundred men, aided Pizarro in his con- 
 quest of Peru ; and he was also one of the twelve Spaniards 
 who maintained the honor of humanity by their protest against 
 the infamous murder of the Inca. 
 
 De Soto, who landed in America with nothing of his own 
 "save his sword and target," returned to Spain in affluent cir- 
 cumstances, arising from his share of the enormous ransom 
 the Inca had vainly brought together. The fame of his brave 
 deeds had preceded him, and he was even popularly considered 
 to be the actual conqueror of Peru. Isabella de Avila became 
 his wife, and everywhere he was received with the most dis- 
 tinguished attention. The rest of his adventurous career is 
 comprised in the narrative of his expedition to Florida, in 
 which he finally discovered the Mississippi River. He was 
 buried in its waters in June, 1546. 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 Soon after the discovery of Florida in 1512 by Juan Ponce 
 de Leon, it became an article of popular belief in Spain that 
 the unknown country to the north of the Gulf of Mexico, 
 which was all vaguely comprised under the name Florida, 
 contained cities as wealthy and temples as splendid as those 
 of Peru. The strange story of Cabega de Vaca, who after 
 being wrecked on the coast of Texas had crossed to the Gulf 
 of California, greatly conduced to the prevalence of this no- 
 tion. Ferdinand de Soto, already enriched with the spoils of 
 the New World, and high in favor both with the court and 
 the people, obtained in 1537, from Charles V, a patent author-
 
 72 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 izing him to fit out, at his own expense, an expedition to 
 conquer Florida, over which he was to have absolute power 
 as ruler ; and, as a favor precedent, the Emperor appointed 
 him governor of Cuba. When the news spread, adventurers 
 from all quarters flocked to his standard as volunteers ; the 
 Spanish sea-port was crowded with persons wishing to share 
 in the enterprise. Many were persons of noble birth and 
 good estates. The prospect was considered brilliant, since 
 so great a soldier as De Soto believed in the wealth and 
 splendor of the interior of Florida. 
 
 De Soto set sail, in 1538, with six hundred picked men, 
 the flower of Spain. In Cuba also, the infatuation to accom- 
 pany the governor to the conquest of "the richest country 
 which had yet been discovered" prevailed. With augmented 
 forces De Soto landed at Tampa bay, 3Oth of May, 1539. The 
 fleet of nine vessels was sent back to Cuba where his wife, 
 Isabella, was to act as Regent during his absence ; a sepa- 
 ration that was indeed final, as far as concerned their ever 
 meeting again in this world. 
 
 Notwithstanding De Soto's strict orders, that forbade the 
 practice of any injustice upon the Indians, it was impossible 
 to prevent all wrong by the soldiery. De Soto was undoubt- 
 edly upright in conduct and hated oppression. But the na* 
 tives could not forget the cruelties inflicted upon them by 
 Spaniards : especially was this the case with the chief, Ucita, 
 who had been most cruelly used by Narvaez, when he invaded 
 Florida in 1528. De Soto's first attempts at friendly inter- 
 course were repelled by the chief. As De Soto realized fully 
 the impolicy of leaving a hostile tribe in his rear, when he 
 should begin his march into the interior, he persevered in 
 friendly offers to Ucita, sending messages to him containing 
 assurances of his utter detestation of the actions of Narvaez, 
 and of the outrages he had inflicted. Finally, the reply of 
 Ucita came back in the following noble words : "The memory 
 of my injuries prevents me from returning a kind reply to your 
 messages, and your courtesy is such that it will not allow me to 
 return a harsh answer." This response, so remarkable, is cer- 
 tainly evidence that there are, at times, in this world individ- 
 uals who are far in advance of their age and environment.
 
 FERDINAND DB SOTO. . 73 
 
 Fortunately for De Soto, Juan Ortiz, who had managed 
 to escape death when Narvaez's band was expelled, found his 
 way to the Spanish camp. All the information he could 
 impart was that, a hundred miles away, there was a chief 
 whose realms were more populous and wealthy than those of 
 the surrounding chieftains. 
 
 It was not, however, till March, 1540, that the expedition 
 started on the great invasion of the interior, and after two 
 months of desultory northward inarching through pine 
 barrens, morasses and swamps, during which they were glad 
 even to live on dog-flesh, they arrived in the kingdom of 
 Cutifachiqui, ruled over by a female sovereign. Here they 
 obtained pearls from the natives, and acquired a very large 
 quantity indeed, by rifling the Indian tombs. But as there 
 was no gold to be found, they soon marched onward, taking 
 now a westerly direction, through a mountainous country, and 
 arrived at the kingdom of Guaxule, whose king, when he saw 
 the Christians, killing and eating the village dogs, presented 
 them with three hundred of these animals. 
 
 In a few days more, De Soto reached the country of 
 Chiaha. He was received by the sovereign where now stands 
 the city of Rome, Georgia, with these words : ' ' Powerful and 
 Excellent Master, fortunate am I that you will make use of 
 my services. Nothing could happen that would give me so 
 great contentment, or which I should value more. From 
 Guaxule you sent to have maize for you in readiness to last 
 two months ; you have in this town twenty barbacoas full of 
 the choicest and best to be found in all this country. If the 
 reception I give is not worthy so great a prince, consider my 
 youth, which will relieve me of blame, and receive my good 
 will, which, with true loyalty and pure, shall ever be shown 
 in all things that concern your welfare." 
 
 After a rest of thirty days with the friendly Chiahas, 
 De Soto, in July, 1540, entered the country of the Alibamons. 
 Taking now a southwest direction, by October he had 
 reached the town of Mavilla, situated on the Alabama river, 
 near its junction with the Tombigbee, and about one hun- 
 dred miles north of the bay of Pensacola. 
 
 The Spaniards took possession of the town, which so
 
 74 . HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 incensed the Indians that a bloody battle ensued in the public 
 square. At last the natives took to their frame houses, to fight 
 at better advantage. To drive them from this defense, the 
 soldiers fired the houses ; soon the whole town was a mass of 
 flames, and became the funeral pyre of thousands. 
 
 Retreating northward, in about a month's time, Decem- 
 ber, 1540, De Soto arrived at the banks of the Yazoo river 
 and went into winter quarters. However, during the follow- 
 ing March, the Chickasaws, exasperated at the occupancy of 
 their houses by strangers, set them on fire, causing the loss of 
 eleven Spanish lives. 
 
 A march due west, for seven days, through a wilderness of 
 forests and marshes, brought the weary Spaniards, at last, to 
 the banks of a magnificent river, which rolled its immense 
 volume of water through the splendid vegetation of an alluvial 
 soil. The natives guided them, probably, to the usual cross- 
 ing place, at Chickasaw Bluff, where the width is nearly two 
 miles. The rapid current bore upon its bosom a vast 
 quantity of driftwood logs and whole trees. Thus in April, 
 1541, De Soto, little aware of the magnitude of his discovery, 
 was standing on the banks of the Mississippi, justly called by 
 the Indians, ' ' Father of Waters. ' ' This discovery has more 
 surely enrolled his name in the annals of fame than if he had 
 found those mines of silver and gold which he sought with 
 such indomitable perseverance in the fancied Eldorado 
 hidden in the Floridian wildernesses. 
 
 A month was spent before the flat boats were fully con- 
 structed, and the transport of the men and horses effected. A 
 remarkable incident now occurred. The natives, worshipers 
 of the sun, brought their blind to be healed by "the sons of 
 light" u Pray only to God, who is in heaven, for whatso- 
 ever ye need," was De Soto's answer. 
 
 The unsatisfied quest of gold urged him onward and 
 northwestward, till he reached the highlands of the White 
 river. Then he turned south till he was obliged to halt for 
 the winter, at the sources of the Washita. In March, 1542, 
 he descended along this stream to the Mississippi, anxious 
 now to reach the sea. His frequent disappointments had 
 thrown him into a wasting melancholy. In the dense woods,
 
 FERDINAND DE SOTO. 75 
 
 cane-brakes and wide bayous, he contracted a malignant 
 fever. Before lie was relieved by death in May, 1542, he 
 called his faithful followers around him and appointed his 
 lieutenant, Moscoso, as his successor. 
 
 Thus perished Ferdinand De Soto, the associate of Pizarro, 
 the governor of Cuba, the prospective Marquis of Florida, 
 the discoverer of the Mississippi. u His miserable end," says 
 Bancroft, ' ' was the more observable from the greatness of 
 his former prosperity. His soldiers pronounced his eulogy 
 by grieving for their loss ; the priests chanted over his body 
 the first requiems that were ever heard on the waters cf the 
 Mississippi. To conceal his death, his body was wrapped in 
 a mantle, and, in the stillness of midnight, was silently sunk 
 in the middle of the stream. The discoverer of the Missis- 
 sippi slept beneath its waters. He had crossed a large part 
 of the continent in search of gold, and found nothing so 
 remarkable as his burial place." 
 
 The surviving Spaniards, under the command of Moscoso, 
 now marched at first to the west, induced by a rumor that not 
 far off was Mexico, where an army of their countrymen were 
 enriching themselves. After a toilsome march of five hun- 
 dred miles, they reached the buffalo prairies, the hunting 
 grounds of the Comanches ; then completely exhausted, and 
 nearly famished, they turned back to the Mississippi, which 
 they reached in December, 1542. By the following July, they 
 had constructed seven frail crafts, which enabled them to 
 descend to the Gulf of Mexico in seventeen days. Then, 
 following the coast for fifty days, they arrived at the Panuco 
 River, in Mexico, in September, 1543. The survivors num- 
 bered about three hundred. De Soto's faithful wife is said to 
 have expired at Havana, on the third day after learning his 
 fate. 
 
 Three independent narratives of this expedition, written 
 by participants, and widely different in style, but agreeing 
 substantially in details of fact, attest the truth and importance 
 of De Soto's discovery beyond dispute.
 
 ERMANN, called by Latin writers Ar- 
 ininius, is justly venerated by all Ger- 
 manic people as the Liberator of their 
 Fatherland from the bondage of imperial 
 Rome. He deserves also to be enrolled 
 among the earliest heroes of the Anglo- 
 Saxon race, and to be remembered by 
 all who claim descent from them or 
 speak the English language. It was indeed their primeval 
 fatherland that the brave German rescued when he slaughtered 
 the legions of Varus in the marshes of the Ems. 
 
 When Augustus was firmly established in power as the 
 first Emperor of Rome, he directed his armies to the subjuga- 
 tion of various tribes on the borders of the empire. The 
 most important of the Roman wars of this period was that 
 against the Germans. It consisted of a continuous series of 
 attacks from 12 B.C. TO 5 A.D., first by Drusus, and after his 
 death in 9 B.C., by Tiberius, both of whom were step-sons of 
 Augustus. Vast armies penetrated into the interior of Ger- 
 many ; fleets coasted along the northern shore and sailed up 
 the great rivers to cooperate with the land forces. The north- 
 ern districts between the rivers Rhine and Elbe were 
 brought into seeming and sullen subjection to the Romans. 
 To aid in the maintenance of that domination, the children 
 of the chiefs of the tribes were taken as hostages and given 
 an education, generally at Rome. 
 
 Hermann was the son of Sigimer, the chief of the Cherusci, 
 and was born B.C. 16. But in early boyhood, with his brother, 
 76
 
 COPYRIGHT 1394 or Wu. FiULErX Co. 
 
 HERMANN.
 
 HERMANN, THE HERO OP GERMANY. 77 
 
 he was taken to Rome, named Arminius, educated in the 
 best Roman method, made a Roman citizen and a knight, 
 and admitted into the Roman army. Through this train- 
 ing he quickly perceived the hopelessness of pitting undis- 
 ciplined barbarians in open field fight against Roman co- 
 horts. While Roman honors and refinements denationalized 
 his brother, who had received the Roman name of Flavius, 
 Hermann remained incorruptible. 
 
 At this time Rome had as many as fifty fortified positions 
 along the Rhine, many of them the sites of the present great 
 German cities ; among others Bonn, Mayence, etc. The Ro- 
 man fleets often sailed into the mouths of the Rhine, Ems, 
 Weser and Elbe. These fleets sailed from the harbors of con- 
 quered Gaul. 
 
 Quintilius Varus, who had previously been governor of 
 Syria, was commissioned as the viceroy of Northwest Ger- 
 many. Accustomed to rule over submissive vassals, he tyran- 
 nized with the greatest rapacity and licentiousness. In this 
 he was imitated, as example is always contagious, by his 
 officers, and by his still more brutal soldiery. Varus had 
 three Roman legions, amounting to about fourteen thousand 
 men, a thousand cavalry, and about five thousand auxiliary 
 troops. He held his court in Central Westphalia, to which 
 tribunal the Germans were compelled to submit their disputes ; 
 and there venality always prevailed. In the sequel, the 
 Roman lawyers, who flocked there to enrich themselves, paid 
 a fearful forfeit. 
 
 With the exception of his father-in-law, Segestes, Her- 
 mann, while still in the Roman army, originated a great con- 
 spiracy of the German tribes, the result of which was the 
 almost complete destruction of the legions of Varus in the 
 three-days' bloody battle of the Teutoburgerwald, in Septem- 
 ber, A. D. 9. When the dreadful tidings were brought to Rome 
 the greatest consternation ensued. The Emperor Augustus, 
 stunned by the unexpected blow, cried out repeatedly, "Quin- 
 tilius Varus, give me back my legions ! ' ' 
 
 Henceforth the hatred of Hermann for Rome was aggra- 
 vated by the captivity of his wife, Thusuelda, who had been 
 surrendered by her father, Segestes, on the demand of the
 
 78 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Romans. His wife he never saw again. His child was born 
 in captivity. His uncle, Ingomar, now joined him. 
 
 The brave Caesar, called Germanicus in honor of his Ger- 
 man campaigns, now attempted the reconquest of the coun- 
 try, but after a number of terrible encounters with the tribes, 
 he was recalled through the jealousy of the Emperor Tiberius, 
 and Western Germany thereafter remained free from Roman 
 invasion. Just previous to his battle with Hermann on the 
 plains of Idistavisus, a most extraordinary historical incident 
 occurred. Hermann, coming to the river Weser, which sepa- 
 rated the two armies, beheld his brother, Flavins, on the 
 opposite bank. They had not seen each other for some years. 
 Conversing in Latin, Hermann sought to gain over his brother 
 to the cause of their common country. It was in vain that 
 he stigmatized his military insignia as the reward of degrada- 
 tion, appealed to him in the name of their country's gods, 
 and of their mother that had borne them. Mutual taunts 
 and threats followed. Nothing but the river prevented them 
 from fratricidal strife. 
 
 Hermann's last great achievement was the defeat of Mar- 
 bodius, an ally of the Romans, and king of the Marcomanni, 
 in Southeastern Germany. Hermann, who was now deserted 
 by his uncle, Ingomar, through jealousy, came off victorious 
 in a long and bloody battle. Marbodius fled to Rome, where 
 he died. 
 
 In his thirty-seventh year, A. D. 21, Hermann was assas- 
 sinated by one of his kinsmen. It is said he aspired to king- 
 ship. Hermann left a name which the historians of the 
 nation, against whom he fought so long and gloriously, have 
 delighted to honor. Tacitus says : ' ' Anninius was beyond 
 all question the deliverer of Germany. He fought against 
 the Romans, not like other kings and generals, when they 
 were weak, but when their empire was mighty and their re- 
 nown glorious. Fortune, indeed, sometimes deserted him ; 
 but, even when conquered, his noble character commanded the 
 veneration of his conqueror. For twelve years, he presided 
 over the destiny of Germany ; and after his death, they paid 
 him divine honors." 
 
 A colossal statue of Hermann, ninety feet in height, on
 
 HERMANN, THE HERO OF GERMANY. 79 
 
 which the sculptor, Bandel, had employed his genius many 
 years, was erected on an eminence near Detmold, and was 
 dedicated by the Emperor William of Germany, in August, 
 
 1875- 
 
 WlNNEFELD IN THE TEUTOBURGER-WALD. 
 
 Upon a rumor of a rising in the north, Varus set his troops 
 in motion. It was about the time of the equinoctial storms, 
 A. D. 9. 
 
 When the long array quitted the firm level ground, and 
 began to wind its way among the woods, the marshes, and 
 the ravines, the difficulties of the march, even without the 
 intervention of an armed foe, became fearfully apparent. In 
 many places, the soil, sodden with rain, was impracticable for 
 cavalry, and even for infantry. A heavy discharge of 
 missiles from the dense woods on either flank taught Varus 
 how serious was the peril. His light-armed auxiliaries, who 
 were principally of Germanic race, now rapidly deserted, and 
 it was impossible to deploy the legionaries on such broken 
 ground. ' Choosing one of the most open and firm spots, the 
 Romans halted and formed their camp. On the morrow they 
 renewed their march. For some distance Varus was allowed 
 to move on, only harassed by slight skirmishes, but strug- 
 gling with difficulty through the broken ground, the toil and 
 distress of his men being aggravated by heavy torrents of 
 rain, which burst upon the devoted legions. 
 
 After some little time the Roman van approached a ridge 
 of high woody ground, which is one of the offshoots of the 
 great Hercynian forest. Arminius had caused barricades of 
 hewn trees to be formed here Fatigue and dis- 
 couragement now began to betray themselves in the Roman 
 ranks. Their lines became less steady ; baggage-wagons 
 were abandoned from the impossibility of forcing them 
 along ; and as this happened, many soldiers left their ranks 
 and crowded round the wagons to secure the most valuable 
 portions of their property ; each was busy about his own 
 affairs, and purposely slow in hearing the word of command 
 from his officers. Arminius now gave the signal for a general 
 attack. The fierce shouts of the Germans pealed through
 
 80 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS- 
 
 the gloom of the forests, and in thronging multitudes they 
 assailed the flanks of the invaders, pouring in clouds of darts 
 on the encumbered legionaries, as they struggled up the glen 
 or floundered in the morasses. 
 
 Arminius, with a chosen band of retainers, cheered 
 on his countrymen by voice and example. They aimed 
 their weapons particularly at the horses of the Roman 
 cavalry. The wounded animals, slipping about in the mire 
 and their own blood, threw their riders and plunged among 
 the ranks of the legions, disordering all round them. Varus 
 now ordered the troops to be countermarched. But retreat 
 was as impracticable as advance ; and the falling back of the 
 Romans only augmented the courage of their assailants. 
 The Roman cavalry commander, Numonius Vala, rode off 
 with his squadrons in the vain hope of escaping by thus 
 abandoning his comrades. Unable to keep together, or force 
 their way across the woods and swamps, the horsemen were 
 overpowered in detail, and slaughtered to the last man. The 
 Roman infantry still held together and resisted desperately. 
 
 Varus, after being severely wounded in a charge of the 
 Germans, against his part of the column, committed suicide to 
 avoid falling into the hands of those whom he had exasperated 
 by his oppressions. Mercy to a fallen foe had never been a 
 Roman virtue, and those among her legions who now laid 
 down their arms in hope of quarter, drank deep of the cup of 
 suffering, which Rome had held to the lips of many a brave 
 but unfortunate enemy. The infuriated Germans slaughtered 
 their oppressors with deliberate ferocity. One body of brave 
 veterans arraying themselves in a ring on a little mound, beat 
 off every charge of the Germans, and prolonged their honor- 
 able resistance to the close of that dreadful day. The traces 
 of a feeble attempt at forming a ditch, attested in after years 
 the spot where the last of the Romans passed their night of 
 suffering and despair. But on the morrow, this remnant also, 
 worn out with hunger, wounds, and toil, was charged by the 
 victorious Germans, and either massacred on the spot or 
 offered up in fearful rites at the altars of the deities. SIR 
 E. S. CREASY.
 
 HERMANN, THE HERO OF GERMANY. 8 1 
 
 ARMINIUS. 
 
 The address of Hermann or Arminius to his renegade brother Flavins 
 when they met on the banks of the Weser. 
 
 Back, back ! he fears not foaming flood 
 
 Who fears not steel-clad line ! 
 No offspring this of German blood, 
 
 No brother thou of mine ; 
 Some bastard spawn of menial birth, 
 
 Some bound and bartered slave : 
 Back, back ! for thee our native earth 
 
 Would be a foreign grave! 
 
 Away! be mingled with the rest 
 
 Of that thy chosen tribe ; 
 And do the tyrant's high behest, 
 
 And earn the robber's bribe ; 
 And win the chain to gird the neck, 
 
 The gems to hide the hilt, 
 And blazon honor's hapless wreck 
 
 With all the gauds of guilt. 
 
 And wouldst thou have me share the prey ? 
 
 By all that I have done, 
 By Varus' bones, which day by day 
 
 Are whitening in the sun, 
 The legion's shattered panoply, 
 
 The eagle's broken wing, 
 I would not be, for earth and sky, 
 
 So loathed and scorned a thing! 
 
 Ho! bring me here the wizard, boy, 
 
 Of most surprising skill, 
 To agonize, and not destroy, 
 
 To palsy, and not kill : 
 If there be truth in that dread art, 
 
 In song, and spell, and charm, 
 Now let them torture the base heart, 
 
 And wither the false arm! 
 
 I curse him by our country's gods, 
 
 The terrible, the dark, 
 The scatterers of the Roman rods 
 
 The quellers of the bark!
 
 82 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 They fill a cup with bitter woe, 
 
 They fill it to the brim : 
 Where shades of warriors feast below, 
 
 That cup shall be for him! 
 
 Oh, misery, that such a vow 
 
 On such a head should be! 
 Why comes he not, my brother, now, 
 
 To fight or fall with me, 
 To be my mate in banquet bowl, 
 
 My guard in battle throng, 
 And worthy of his father's soul 
 
 And of his country's song? 
 
 But it is past : where heroes press 
 
 And spoilers bend the knee, 
 Arminius is not brotherless, 
 
 His brethren are the free ! 
 They come around; one hour, and light 
 
 Will fade from turf and tide ; 
 Then onward, onward to the fight, 
 
 With darkness for our guide ! 
 
 To-night, to-night, when we shall meet 
 
 In combat face to face, 
 There only would Arminius greet 
 
 The renegade's embrace ; 
 The canker of Rome's guilt shall be 
 
 Upon his Roman name, 
 And as he lives in slavery, 
 
 So shall he die in shame ! 
 
 W. M. PRAED.
 
 THE FOUNDER OF ROME 
 
 THE prevalent tradition of the 
 Roman people, which has been 
 confirmed to all posterity by their 
 great historian Livy, declared 
 that Rome was founded by Rom- 
 ulus in the year 753 B.C. His 
 ancestry was traced to ^neas, 
 who, according to the story which 
 forms the basis of Virgil's great 
 epic, led a band of Trojans to 
 Italy. Ascanius or lulus, the son of JEneas, founded Alba 
 Longa, and there his descendants reigned for three centuries. 
 Then Numitor was deprived of the kingdom by his brother 
 Amulius, and his daughter, Rhea Sylvia, was made a Vestal 
 virgin. She, however, bore twins, who were said to be the 
 offspring of the god Mars. Their uncle caused them to be 
 placed in a basket and thrown into the Tiber. The river 
 wafted them to the foot of the Palatine hill, where a she-wolf 
 gave them suck until they were rescued by Faustulus, the 
 king's shepherd. By him they were placed under the care of 
 his wife, and afterwards brought up as shepherds under the 
 names of Romulus and Remus. They excelled in strength 
 and courage ; but having engaged in conflict with the shep- 
 herds of Numitor, they were seized and brought before their 
 grandfather. 
 
 Faustulus now disclosed the secret of their birth, and they 
 were encouraged to attack the tyrant Amulius. When they 
 had conquered and slain him, Numitor gave them a tract of 
 land on the Tiber. The brothers entered into a contest for 
 the honor of founding a city, and appeal was made to augury. 
 Remus standing on the Aventine hill was the first to observe 
 
 83
 
 84 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 the flight of six vultures; but Romulus on the Palatine 
 saw twelve immediately after, and was regarded by the people 
 as most favored of heaven. Romulus, therefore, according to 
 Etruscan custom, yoked together a bull and a heifer, and with 
 a brazen plough-share, marked a furrow around the Palatine 
 hill. Then he commenced the building of the wall ; but 
 Remus, in derision, leaped over it, exclaiming, "Can such 
 defences protect your city? " He was struck dead by Romu- 
 lus, who cried, " So perish all who dare to surmount these 
 ramparts ! " Long afterwards, amid the gloom of their civil 
 wars, Romans declared that the frightful slaughter of fellow- 
 citizens in their day had been prefigured by this fratricide at 
 the foundation. Yet some expiation was believed to have been 
 made by the institution of a festival in commemoration of 
 Reinus. 
 
 Romulus opened a place of refuge, to which many restless 
 and criminal characters from surrounding tribes resorted. 
 But the tribes refused to give these outlaws their daughters in 
 marriage. Romulus, therefore, proclaimed a celebration of 
 games in honor of a newly-found deity. These games were 
 attended by crowds from the neighboring towns ; but while 
 the men were watching the sports, the young women were 
 seized by the Roman youth. War was declared by one tribe 
 after another ; but in every fight the Romans were victorious. 
 Then the Sabines came, under their King, Titus Tatius, and 
 by the treachery of Tarpeia, secured possession of a fortress. 
 During the battle which ensued, the women ran down from the 
 Palatine, and besought their fathers and their husbands to 
 cease from hostilities. Peace was made, and the two peoples 
 became one under the name Quirites, yet retained both 
 kings in joint power for five years, until Tatius was slain in 
 war with another town. 
 
 Romulus now reigned alone and made successful wars upon 
 the Etruscans. He also established the organization of his 
 people in three tribes, dwelling on neighboring hills. After 
 a prosperous reign of thirty-seven years he called an assembly 
 of the people in the field of Mars. A terrible storm arose, and 
 when it abated, Romulus had disappeared. The soothsayers 
 declared him to have been carried to heaven in the chariot of
 
 ROMULUS, THE FOUNDER OP ROME- 85 
 
 his father, the god of war. Julius Procelus allayed the fears 
 of the people by telling them how he had seen the shade of 
 Romulus on the way from Alba, and that the hero had bade 
 them not to weep, but to be brave and warlike, and thus they 
 should make their city great. Regarding their founder now as 
 a god, the people worshiped him under the name Quirinus. 
 In later and more sceptical times some Romans asserted that 
 Romulus had been murdered and his body concealed by the 
 Senators. 
 
 THE RAPE OF THE SABINE VIRGINS. 
 
 In the fourth month after the building of the city, the 
 rape of the Sabine women was put in execution. Some say 
 Romulus himself, who was naturally warlike and persuaded 
 by certain oracles that the Fates had decreed Rome to obtain 
 her greatness by military achievements, began hostilities 
 against the Sabines, and seized only thirty virgins, being more 
 desirous of war than of wives for his people. But this is not 
 likely. For, as he saw his city soon filled with inhabitants, 
 very few of whom were married ; the greatest part consisted 
 of a mixed rabble of mean and obscure persons, to whom no 
 regard was paid, and who were not expecting to settle in any 
 place whatever, the enterprise naturally took that turn ; and 
 he hoped that from this attempt, though not a just one, some 
 alliance or union with the Sabines would be obtained, when 
 it appeared that they treated the women kindly. In order to 
 do this, he first gave out that he had found the altar of some 
 god, which had been covered with earth. Upon this discovery, 
 Romulus, by proclamation, appointed a day for a splendid 
 sacrifice, with public games and shows. Multitudes assem- 
 bled at the time, and he himself presided, sitting among his 
 nobles, clothed in purple. As a signal for the assault, he was 
 to rise, gather up his robe, and fold it about him. Many of 
 his people wore swords that day, and kept their eyes upon 
 him, watching for the signal, which was no sooner given than 
 they drew them, and rushing on with a shout, seized the 
 daughters of the Sabines, but quietly suffered the men to 
 escape. Some say thirty were carried off, who each gave 
 name to a tribe ; but Valerius Antias makes their number
 
 86 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 537 ; and according to Juba, there were 683, all virgins. This 
 was the best apology for Roinulus; for they had taken but 
 one married woman, named Hersilia, who was afterwards 
 chiefly concerned in reconciling them ; and her they took by 
 mistake, as they were not incited to this violence by lust or 
 injustice, but by their desire to conciliate and unite the tw 
 nations in the strongest ties. Hersilia was married to Hos- 
 tilius, one of the most eminent men among the Romans. 
 
 The Sabines were a numerous and warlike people ; but 
 they dwelt in unwalled towns, thinking it became them, who 
 were a colony of the Lacedaemonians, to be bold and fearless . 
 But as they saw themselves bound by such pledges, and were 
 very solicitous for their daughters, they sent ambassadors to 
 Romulus with moderate and equitable demands : That he 
 should return them the young women, and disavow the vio- 
 lence, and then the two nations should proceed to establish a 
 correspondence and contract alliances in a friendly and legal 
 way. Romulus, however, refused to part with the young 
 women, and entreated the Sabines to give their sanction to 
 what had been done; whereupon some of them lost time in 
 consulting and making preparations. But Acron, king of the 
 Ceninenses, a man of spirit, and an able general, suspected 
 the tendency of Romulus' first enterprises; and, when he 
 had behaved so boldly in the rape, looked upon him as one 
 that would grow formidable, and indeed insufferable to his 
 neighbors, except he were chastised. Acron, therefore, went 
 to seek the enemy, and Romulus prepared to receive him. 
 When they came in sight, and had well viewed each other, a 
 challenge for single combat was mutually given, their forces 
 standing under arms in silence. Romulus on this occasion 
 made a vow, that if he conquered his enemy, he would him- 
 self dedicate his adversary's arms to Jupiter ; in consequence 
 of which he both overcame Acron, and, after battle was 
 joined, routed his army and took his city. But he did no 
 injury to its inhabitants, unless it were such to order them to 
 demolish their houses, and follow him to Rome, as citizens 
 entitled to equal privileges with the rest. Indeed, there was 
 nothing that contributed more to the greatness of Rome, than
 
 ROMULUS, THE FOUNDER OP ROME. 87 
 
 that she was always uniting and incorporating with herself 
 those whom she conquered. 
 
 Romulus having considered how he should perform his 
 vow in the most acceptable manner to Jupiter, and withal 
 make the procession most agreeable to his people, cut down a 
 great oak that grew in the camp, and hewed it into the figure 
 of a trophy ; to this he fastened Acron's whole suit of armor, 
 disposed in its proper form. Then he put on his own robes, 
 and wearing a crown of laurel on his head, his hair gracefully 
 flowing, he took the trophy erect upon his right shoulder, and 
 so marched on, singing the song of victory before his troops, 
 who followed completely armed, while the citizens received 
 him with joy and admiration. This procession was the origin 
 and model of future triumphs. The trophy was dedicated to 
 Jupiter Feretrius. 
 
 After the defeat of the Ceninenses, while the rest of the 
 Sabines were busied in preparations, the people of Fidenae, 
 Crustumerium, and Antemnse, united against the Romans. 
 A battle ensued, in which they were likewise defeated, and 
 surrendered to Romulus, their cities to be spoiled, their lands 
 to be divided, and themselves to be transplanted to Rome. 
 All the lands thus acquired he distributed among the citizens, 
 except what belonged to the parents of the stolen virgins ; for 
 those he left in the possession of their former owners. The 
 rest of the Sabines, enraged at this, appointed Tatius their 
 general, and carried war to the gates of Rome. The city was 
 difficult of access, having a strong garrison on the hill where 
 the Capitol now stands, commanded by Tarpeius. Tarpeia, 
 the governor's daughter, charmed with the golden bracelets 
 of the Sabines, betrayed the fort into their hands, and asked, 
 in return for her treason, what they wore on their left arms. 
 Tatius agreeing to the condition, she opened one of the gates 
 by night, and let in the Sabines. Tatius ordered the Sabines 
 to remember their promise, and to grudge Tarpeia nothing 
 which they had on their left arms. He was the first to take 
 off his bracelet, and throw it to her, and with that his shield. 
 As every one did the same, she was overpowered by the gold 
 and shields thrown upon her, and sinking under the weight,
 
 88 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 expired. * From the place where Tarpeia was buried the hill 
 had the name of the Tarpeian, till Tarquin consecrated the 
 place to Jupiter, at which time her bones were removed, and 
 so it lost her name ; except that part of the Capitol from 
 which malefactors are thrown down, which is still called the 
 Tarpeian rock. 
 
 The Sabines thus possessed of the fort, Romulus in great 
 fury offered them battle, which Tatius did not decline, as he 
 saw he had a place of strength to retreat to, in case he was 
 worsted. And, indeed, the spot on which he was to engage, 
 being surrounded with hills, seemed to promise on both sides 
 a sharp and bloody contest, because it was so confined, and 
 the outlets were so narrow, that it was not easy either to fly 
 or to pursue. It happened, too, that a few days before the 
 river had overflowed, and left a deep mud on the plain, where 
 the Forum now stands ; which, as it was covered with a crust, 
 was not easily discoverable by the eye, but at the same time 
 was soft underneath and impracticable. The Sabines, igno- 
 rant of this, were pushing forward into it, but by good fortune 
 were prevented. For Curtius, a man of high distinction and 
 spirit, being mounted on a good horse, advanced a considerable 
 way before the rest. Presently his horse plunged into the 
 slough, and for a while he endeavored to disengage him, 
 encouraging him with his voice, and urging him with blows ; 
 but finding all ineffectual, he quitted him and saved himself. 
 From him the place, to this very time, is called the Curtian 
 Lake. 
 
 The Sabines, having escaped this danger, began the fight 
 with great bravery. The victory inclined to neither side, 
 though many were slain, and among the rest Hostilius ; who, 
 they say, was husband to Hersilia, and grandfather to that 
 Hostilius who reigned after Numa. It is probable there were 
 many other battles in a short time ; but the most memorable 
 was the last,' in which Romulus, having received a blow 
 upon the head with a stone, was almost beaten down to the 
 ground, and no longer able to oppose the enemy ; then the 
 
 *Piso and other historians, say that Tatius treated her in this manner 
 because she acted a double part, and endeavored to betray the Sabines to 
 Romulus, while she was pretending to betray the Romans to them.
 
 ROMULUS, THE FOUNDER OF ROME. 89 
 
 Romans gave way, and were driven from the plain as far as 
 the Palatine Hill. By this time Romulus, recovering from 
 the shock, endeavored by force to stop his men in their flight, 
 and loudly called upon them to stand and renew the engage- 
 ment. But when he saw the rout was general, and that no 
 one had courage to face about, he lifted up his hands towards 
 heaven, and prayed to Jupiter to stop the army, and to 
 re-establish and maintain the Roman cause, which was now 
 in extreme danger. When the prayer was ended, many of 
 the fugitives were struck with reverence for their king, and 
 their fear was changed into courage. They first stopped 
 where now stands the temple of Jupiter Stator, so called for 
 his putting a stop to their flight. There they engaged again, 
 and repulsed the Sabines as far as the palace now called 
 Regia, and the temple of Vesta. 
 
 When they were preparing here to renew the combat with 
 the same animosity as at first, their ardor was repressed by an 
 astonishing spectacle, which the powers of language are 
 unable to describe. The daughters of the Sabines that had 
 been forcibly carried off, appeared rushing this way and that 
 with loud cries and lamentations, like persons distracted, 
 amidst the drawn swords and over the dead bodies, to come 
 at their husbands and fathers ; some carrying their infants in 
 their arms, some darting forward with disheveled hair, but 
 all calling by turns, both upon the Sabines and the Romans, 
 by the tenderest names. Both parties were extremely moved, 
 and room was made for them between the two armies. Their 
 lamentations pierced to the utmost ranks, and all were deeply 
 affected ; particularly when their upbraiding and complaints 
 ended in supplication and entreaty. ' ' What great injury have 
 we done you," said they, u that we have suffered, and do still 
 suffer, so many miseries ? We were carried off, by those who 
 now have us, violently and illegally. After this violence, we 
 were so long neglected by our brothers, our fathers, and rela- 
 tions, that we were necessitated to unite in the strongest ties 
 with those that were the objects of our hatred ; and we are 
 now brought to tremble for the men that had injured us so 
 much, when we see them in danger, and to lament them 
 when they fall. For you came not to deliver us from violence
 
 90 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 while virgins, or to avenge our cause, but now you tear the 
 wives from their husbands, and the mothers from their chil- 
 dren ; an assistance more grievous to us than all your neglect 
 and disregard. Such love we experienced from them, and 
 such compassion from you. Were the war undertaken in 
 some other cause, yet surely you would stop its ravages for 
 us, who have made you fathers-in-law and grandfathers, or 
 otherwise placed you in some near affinity to those whom you 
 seek to destroy. But if the war be for us, take us, with your 
 sons-in-law and their children, and restore us to our parents 
 and kindred ; but do not, we beseech you, rob us of our chil- 
 dren and husbands, lest we become captives again." Hersilia 
 having said a great deal to this purpose, and others joining in 
 the same request, a truce was agreed upon, and the generals 
 proceeded to a conference. In the meantime, the women 
 presented their husbands and children to their fathers and 
 brothers, brought refreshments to those that wanted them, 
 and carried the wounded home to be cured. Here they 
 showed them that they had the ordering of their own houses, 
 what attentions their husbands paid them, and with what 
 respect and indulgence they were treated. Upon this a peace 
 was concluded, the conditions of which were, that such of 
 the women as chose to remain with their husbands should be 
 exempt from all labor and drudgery, except spinning; that 
 the city should be inhabited by the Romans and Sabines in 
 common, with the name of Rome, from Romulus ; but that 
 all the citizens from Cures, the capital of the Sabines, and 
 the country of Tatius, should be called Quirites, and that the 
 regal power, and the command of the army, should be equally 
 shared between them. PLUTARCH.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 CICERO was not only the greatest orator of 
 ancient times except Demosthenes, but 
 also an illustrious philosopher and patri- 
 otic statesman. He was, indeed, the most 
 consummate specimen of the Roman char- 
 acter formed under the influence of Hel- 
 lenic culture. His voluminous writings 
 gave permanent character to the Latin 
 language, and were beyond all others the 
 means of transmitting ancient culture to 
 modern times. 
 
 Marcus Tullius Cicero was born at Arpinurn (now Arpino) 
 in January, 106 B. c., the son of M. Tullius Cicero, an opulent 
 plebeian of the equestrian order. He was liberally educated 
 at Rome under the direction of numerous teachers, among 
 whom were Archias, the Greek poet, whom he defended and 
 eulogized in one of his extant orations, and Philo the Acade- 
 mic philosopher. Cicero learned to speak Greek fluently, 
 and became profoundly versed in Hellenic literature and 
 culture. After studying law under Mucius Scsevola, and 
 serving a campaign in the Social War (89 B.C.), he perfected 
 his education by travel in Greece and Asia Minor, and by 
 the study of philosophy at Athens, where he passed six 
 months. Here was formed his intimate and lasting friend- 
 ship with Titus Pomponius Atticus, to which the world owes 
 many of his admirable letters. 
 
 About the age of twenty-five he began his career as an 
 advocate in the Forum, where he soon eclipsed in eloquence 
 all his competitors, among whom Hortensius was the most
 
 92 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 eminent and most popular. Cicero excelled in sarcasm, in 
 witty repartees and good-humored raillery. His gestures 
 were natural and graceful, and no orator ever had greater 
 power over the hearts and sympathies of his auditors. Plu- 
 tarch states that "it was not by slow and insensible degrees 
 that he gained the palm of eloquence : his fame shot forth at 
 once, and he was distinguished above all the orators of 
 Rome." As custom and the public opinion of his age 
 required, his services as an advocate were always gratuitous. 
 At the age of thirty he married a noble lady, a rich heiress, 
 named Terentia. His income, which was evidently very ample, 
 was greatly increased by the legacies which he received in 
 the course of his life. 
 
 In 76 B.C., Cicero was elected quaestor (paymaster). This 
 office was the first step in the ladder of political promotion 
 in Rome, and entitled him to admission into the Senate for 
 life. The quaestors, many of whom were elected annually, 
 were sent to the provinces, one with each Consul or Pro- con- 
 sul, to whom he was second in power and authority. During 
 Cicero's discharge of the duties of quaestor in the Province 
 of Sicily he gained honor and popularity by his humanity, 
 probity and moderation. Returning to Rome in 74 B.C., he 
 resumed his place in the Forum. It was his general rule and 
 favorite practice to act as counsel for the defense in criminal 
 trials. In 70 B.C., Caius Verres, who had been praetor of 
 Sicily, was impeached for enormous cruelty and rapine by the 
 Sicilians, but was defended or abetted by the aristocracy and 
 most powerful men of Rome. The Sicilians regarded Cicero 
 as their firm friend, and insisted on his pleading their cause in 
 this very celebrated trial. Verres, in no way dismayed, em- 
 ployed Hortensius to defend him. But Cicero gained his 
 cause and increased his fame by the seven great and admira- 
 ble orations he prepared against Verres, though only two of 
 them were actually delivered in court. Overcome by the 
 damning array of evidence, Hortensius declined to plead, and 
 Verres absconding, exiled himself in Gaul. 
 
 Cicero was elected sedile by a large majority in 69 B.C., 
 the first year in which his election was possible, as no citizen 
 was eligible to this responsible office until he was thirty-eight
 
 MARCUS TULUUS CICERO. 93 
 
 years old. It was the duty of the aediles to take care of the 
 temples and public buildings, to keep the streets clean, etc. 
 He kept up his practice as an advocate during his term of 
 public office. In the year 67 B.C., he was a candidate for the 
 office of praetor, and was elected prcztor-urbanus by the suf- 
 frages of all the centuries, or voting divisions of the Romans. 
 His duty as praetor was to preside as judge over the highest 
 courts in Rome. Of the eight praetors elected at the same 
 time, the pr&tor-urbanus was considered the highest in 
 authority. The most important event during his prsetorship 
 occured in 66 B.C., when he delivered his brilliant political 
 oration for the Manilian Law, the object of which was to 
 give Pornpey the chief command and unlimited power in the 
 war against Mithridates the Great. This was the first time 
 Cicero ever addressed the people in a public meeting from the 
 rostra. The result was that the command was given to 
 Pompey against the will of many optimates and powerful 
 senators. Though seemingly necessary at the time, it paved 
 the way for the subsequent gift of similar power to Caesar. 
 
 Cicero had now a just right to aspire to the office of 
 Consul, the highest office in the scale of public honors. He 
 had six competitors, among whom were L,. Sergius Catilina 
 and C. Antonius (an uncle of Mark Antony), who were 
 favored by Caesar and Crassus. The optimates or nobles 
 opposed Cicero because he was a new man, that is, one whose 
 ancestors had held no high office. Yet he was chosen Consul 
 by the unanimous acclamation of the citizens. C. Antonius, 
 an ignoble and rather feeble man, was chosen as his colleague. 
 Cicero entered upon the office of Consul on the ist of Janu- 
 ary, 63 B.C. During his consular year he continued to 
 practice as an advocate in the Forum, for, according to 
 Roman notions, no office was so high as to exempt an emi- 
 nent pleader from the duty of defending his friends. The 
 republic was then in a turbulent and perilous condition, and 
 Cicero firmly believed that he promoted the cause of liberty 
 and order by inducing the senators and the equites or knights, 
 to form a coalition; and again when by a powerful and bril- 
 liant speech, he persuaded the people to reject an agrarian 
 law proposed by the tribune Rullus.
 
 94 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 The most brilliaiit and memorable achievement of his 
 administration was his defeat of the audacious conspiracy of 
 Catiline, in dealing with which he acted with consummate 
 courage, prudence and decision, and gained unbounded 
 applause. Catiline, who was a depraved man of superior 
 talents, great resources and excessive audacity, was a candi- 
 date for the consulship in 63 B.C., and at the same time the 
 leader of a large band of ruffians and desperate men who con- 
 spired to burn the city and massacre the senators and friends 
 of order. He hired assassins to kill Cicero ; but they failed, 
 and he was again defeated in the election. Troops were now 
 levied by or for Catiline in Etruria, and he was nearly ready 
 for the execution of his plot when the consul was informed 
 of it by Fulvia, the mistress of one of the conspirators. On 
 the 8th of November Cicero delivered in the senate the first of 
 his four famous orations against Catiline, who was present. 
 The conspirator, baffled by the disclosure of his treason, de- 
 parted hastily to his rebel army, and was killed in battle in 
 the following January. Lentulus, Cethegus and other con- 
 spirators were put to death by order of the consul. Men of 
 all ranks and all parties now saluted Cicero as the saviour of 
 Rome and the father of his country. During the momentous 
 crisis of this conspiracy and before the death of Catiline, 
 Cicero defended Muraena against a charge of bribery in a 
 witty and admirable oration a signal demonstration of the 
 agility and elasticity of his mind. 
 
 When he retired from the office of Consul, he declined the 
 government of a province and remained in Rome with no 
 office but that of senator. This course was rendered necessary 
 by the renewed activity of his political opponents. His 
 favorite country residence was a villa at Tusculum, which 
 has been immortalized by his philosophical works composed 
 there, called the " Tusculan Disputations." He owned 
 other country seats and a fine mansion on the Palatine hill. 
 
 When Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey united to form the 
 first Triumvirate, about 60 B.C., Cicero refused to favor it, as 
 being dangerous to public liberty and peace. He had been a 
 personal and political friend of Pompey, and still he hoped 
 that this great general would be loyal to the republic, though
 
 MARCUS TUUJUS CICERO. 95 
 
 he had reason to suspect him of coldness and insincerity 
 towards himself. In 59 B. c. , P. Clodius, a demagogue and an 
 enemy to Cicero, obtained the office of tribune, being sup- 
 ported by Csesar and Pompey. Clodius procured the enactment 
 of a law that Cicero should be banished four hundred miles 
 from Rome, for putting Roman citizens (Lentulus and other 
 conspirators) to death without regular form of law. For 
 his place of exile Cicero chose Greece, and went thither in 
 April, 58. The violence and insolence of Clodius soon pro- 
 duced a reaction. In August, 57, a bill for Cicero's restora- 
 tion was approved by the nearly unanimous vote of the free- 
 men of all Italy. There had never been known so numer- 
 ous and solemn an assembly of the Roman people as this. 
 His Palatine mansion, which had been burnt by Clodius, was 
 rebuilt at the public expense. Five years after his return 
 from exile, he was appointed pro-consul of Cilicia and Pisidia, 
 where he acted with rare moderation, clemency and probity. 
 When he returned to Rome in 50 B.C., a civil war was im- 
 minent between the Senate and Caesar. Cicero was one of the 
 few pagan statesmen who can be described as thoroughly con- 
 scientious. Agreeing with the aims of neither party abso- 
 lutely, he desired to act as mediator and peace-maker, and 
 hesitated whether he should actively support either. "He 
 fluctuated greatly," says Plutarch, " for he says in his letters, 
 'Whither shall I turn? Pompey has the most honorable 
 cause; but Caesar manages his affairs with the greatest 
 address, and is most able to save himself and his friends.' ' 
 However, Cicero joined the army of Pompey in 49 B.C. 
 Though oppressed with anxiety, he retained his power of 
 repartee. Pompey asked, ' ' Where is your son-in-law (Dola- 
 bella) ? ' ' Cicero replied ' ' He is with your father-in-law 
 (Caesar). ' ' Cicero witnessed the assassination of Caesar (44 B. c. ), 
 and applauded the act. He also denounced Mark Antony in a 
 series of fourteen famous orations called Philippics, the second 
 of which Juvenal calls "the divine Philippic." While the 
 nation was convulsed by civil war and anarchy, he sought 
 consolation in his favorite philosophy and wrote an excellent 
 essay "On Duties," and another "On the Nature of the 
 Gods. ' ' But his voluntary retirement from public affairs did
 
 96 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 not save him from the vengeance of Antony. He was pro- 
 scribed by the Triumvirs, and was killed by the soldiers of 
 Antony in December, 43 B.C. 
 
 Cicero's extant works comprise over fifty Orations, many 
 Essays, and more than eight hundred letters, which are highly 
 prized as models of pure and elegant Latinity. The letters 
 are the best in any language. His Orations and Essays dis- 
 play a profound knowledge of human nature, and he is not 
 excelled by any of the ancients in what the French call esprit 
 light, unexpected, inexhaustible wit. He elevated and 
 adorned every subject which he touched. As all the greatest 
 Latin authors were born after Cicero, it appears that he is 
 entitled to the honor of forming and perfecting the Latin 
 language the most regular and ' ' the most heroic language 
 ever spoken by men ." The Encyclopaedia Britannica truly 
 says, "As a specimen of the highest culture of the ancient 
 world, both moral and intellectual, Cicero must ever stand 
 pre-eminent." 
 
 CICERO AGAINST VERRES. 
 
 I ask now, Verres, what have you to advance against this 
 charge ? Will you pretend to deny it ? Will you pretend 
 that anything false, that even anything aggravated, is alleged 
 against you ? Had any prince, or any state, committed the 
 same outrage against the privileges of Roman citizens, 
 should we not think we had sufficient reason for declaring 
 immediate war against them? What punishment, then, 
 ought to be inflicted on a tyrannical and wicked praetor, who 
 dared, at no greater distance than Sicily, within sight of the 
 Italian coast, to put to the infamous death of crucifixion that 
 unfortunate and innocent citizen, Publius Gavius Cosanus, 
 only for his having asserted his privilege of citizenship and 
 declared his intention of appealing to the justice of his 
 country against a cruel oppressor, who had unjustly confined 
 him in prison at Syracuse, whence he had just made his 
 escape? The unhappy man, arrested as he was going to 
 embark for his native country, is brought before the wicked 
 praetor. With eyes darting fury, and a countenance distorted 
 with cruelty, he orders the helpless victim of his rage to be
 
 MARCUS TULUUS CICERO. 97 
 
 stripped, and rods to be brought ; accusing him, but without 
 the least shadow of evidence, or even of suspicion, of having 
 come to Sicily as a spy. It was in vain that the unhappy 
 man cried out, ' ' I am a Roman citizen, I have served under 
 Lucius Pretius, who is now at Panormus, and will attest my 
 innocence." The bloodthirsty praetor, deaf to all he could 
 urge in his own defense, ordered the infamous punishment to 
 be inflicted. Thus, fathers, was an innocent Roman citizen 
 publicly mangled with scourging ; whilst the only words he 
 uttered amidst his cruel sufferings were, ' ' I am a Roman 
 citizen ! " With these he hoped to defend himself from vio- 
 lence and infamy. But of so little service was this privilege 
 to him, that while he was asserting his citizenship, the order 
 was given for his execution ; for his execution upon the 
 cross ! 
 
 O liberty ! O sound once delightful to every Roman ear ! 
 O sacred privilege of Roman citizenship ! once sacred, now 
 trampled upon ! But what then ! is it come to this ? Shall 
 an inferior magistrate, a governor who holds his power of the 
 Roman people, in a Roman province, within sight of Italy, 
 bind, scourge, torture with fire and red-hot plates of iron, 
 and at last put to the infamous death of the cross, a Roman 
 citizen ? Shall neither the cries of innocence expiring in 
 agony, nor the tears of pitying spectators, nor the majesty of 
 the Roman commonwealth, nor the fear of the justice of his 
 country, restrain the licentious and wanton cruelty of a mon- 
 ster, who, in the confidence of his riches, strikes at the root 
 of liberty and sets mankind at defiance ? 
 
 CICERO AGAINST MARK ANTONY. 
 
 This one day this blessed individual day I say, this 
 very point of time in which I am speaking defend it, if you 
 can ! Why is the Forum hedged in with armed troops ? Why 
 stand your satellites listening to me sword in hand ? Why 
 are the gates of the Temple of Peace not flung open ? Why 
 have you marched into the town men of all nations, but 
 chiefly barbarous nations, savages from Ituraea, armed thus 
 with slings ? 
 
 You pretend that it is all to protect your person. Is it not 
 7
 
 98 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 better far to die a thousand deaths, than be unable to live 
 in one's own country without guards of armed men ? But 
 trust me, there is no safety in defenses like these. We must 
 be fenced round by the affections and the good-will of our 
 country-men, not by their arms, if we would be secure. 
 
 Look back, then, Mark Antony, on that day when you 
 abolished the Dictatorship ; set before your eyes the delight 
 of the Senate and People of Rome ; contrast it with the traffic 
 you and your followers are now engaged in then you will be 
 sensible of the vast difference between glory and gain. 
 
 But, if the glory of great actions has no charms for you, 
 cannot even fear deter you from wicked deeds ? You have 
 no apprehension of criminal prosecutions be it so ; if this 
 arises from conscious innocence, I commend it ; but if it pro- 
 ceeds from your reliance upon mere, force, do you not perceive 
 what it is that awaits him who has thus overcome the terrors 
 of the law? 
 
 But, if you have no dread of brave men and patriotic citi- 
 zens, because your person is protected from them by your 
 satellites, believe me, your own partisans will not bear with 
 you much longer ; and what kind of life is his whose days 
 and nights are distracted with the fear of his own followers ? 
 Unless, indeed, you have bound them to you by greater obli- 
 gations than those by which Caesar had attached some of 
 the very men who put him to death ; or that you can, in 
 any one respect, be compared to him. 
 
 In him there was genius, judgment, memory, learning, 
 circumspection, reflection, application. His exploits in war, 
 how mischievous soever to his country, were yet transcendent 
 Bent for years upon obtaining supreme power, he had accom- 
 plished his object with vast labor, through countless perils. 
 By his munificence, by public works, by largesses, by hospi- 
 tality, he had won over the thoughtless multitude; he had 
 attached his followers by his generosity, his adversaries by his 
 specious clemency. In a word, he had introduced into a free 
 state, partly through fear of him, partly through tolerance of 
 him, a familiarity with slavery. 
 
 With that great man I may compare you as regards the lust 
 of power : in no other thing can you be, in any manner or
 
 MARCUS TULLJUS CICERO. 
 
 99 
 
 way, likened to him. But out of a thousand ills which he 
 forced into the constitution of our commonwealth, this one 
 good has come, that the Roman people have now learnt how 
 far each person is to be trusted, to whom they may commit them- 
 selves, against whom they must be on their guard. Do these 
 things never pass through your mind ? Do you not compre- 
 hend that it suffices for brave men to have learnt how beau- 
 tiful the deed, how precious the service, how glorious the 
 fame of extirpating a tyrant? When mankind could not 
 endure Ccesar, will they hear thee ? Henceforward, trust me, 
 they will flock emulously to this work, nor wait for the lin- 
 gering opportunity. 
 
 Regard the commonwealth for a moment, Mark Antony, 
 I do beseech you. Think of the race you are sprung from, 
 not the generation you live with. Be on what terms you 
 please with me ; but return into favor with your country. 
 That, however, is your own affair I will declare my course. 
 Young, I stood by the country old, I will not desert her. I 
 defied the arms of Catiline I will not tremble at yours! 
 Nay, I should cheerfully fling myself into the gulf if my 
 death would restore the public freedom, and the sufferings of 
 the Roman people could thus be exasperated at once to the 
 crisis which has been so long coming on ! 
 
 For truly, if it is well nigh twenty years since I denied, 
 in this very temple, that death ever could come before its 
 time to a man of consular rank, how much more truly may I 
 say so now, in my old age ? To me, Senators, death is even 
 desirable, having lived to finish all I have undertaken to 
 achieve. For two things only I feel anxious ; the one, that 
 my eyes may close upon the liberties of Rome a greater boon 
 than this Heaven has not to bestow ; the other, that that fate 
 may befall every one, which his conduct to his country has 
 earned. Translated by Lord Brougham.
 
 CYRUS THE GREAT. 
 
 BEFORE the time of Cyrus, Persia 
 had been a petty kingdom. His 
 great victories over the kingdoms of 
 Media, Lydia and Babylonia, reduced 
 them to provinces, so that eventually 
 his empire extended from the Persian 
 Gulf to the Black Sea, from Afghan- 
 istan to the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 Like most of the heroes of an- 
 tiquity, the classical legends assign 
 him an humble birth ; but the revela- 
 tions of the contemporary cuneiform 
 tablets give us more authentic infor- 
 mation than that of Herodotus or 
 
 Ctesias. We now know that Cyrus, 
 
 the Akhaemenian, as he called him- 
 self, was the son of Cambyses, grandson of Cyrus, and great- 
 grandson of Teispes, and ruled over the kingdom of Auzan 
 (Elam). In his youth he was renowned for his valor. About 
 the year 549 B. c., having revolted against Astyages, king 
 of Media, whose vassal he had been, he dethroned the king, 
 then married his daughter and added Media to the domain of 
 Persia. 
 
 Croesus, king of Lydia, who had increased his wealth and 
 power enormously by the conquest of Syria and nearly all of 
 Asia Minor, sought to check the growing power of Cyrus, 
 and therefore formed an alliance with Ahmes II., king of 
 Egypt, and Nabonidus, king of Babylonia. This confedera- 
 tion would very likely have ensured the downfall of Cyrus, 
 
 IOO
 
 CYRUS THE GREAT. IOI 
 
 had not Croesus rashly commenced the war before there was 
 a junction of the forces of the allies. 
 
 Cyrus advanced to meet him (B.C. 546), and after a battle 
 that lasted a whole day, Croesus retired northward with the 
 intention of going into winter quarters. But Cyrus, knowing 
 well that the delay of a few months might be fatal to his 
 cause, decided to follow the foe. He crossed the river Halys 
 despite the winter season and pushed straight for Sardis, the 
 capital of I/ydia. Croesus, though surprised, offered battle. 
 His cavalry was the best in the world, and would have 
 obtained the victory but that Cyrus had guarded his front 
 with a line of camels, whose odor so scared the Lydian 
 horses that they broke and ran into the ranks of Croesus. 
 The whole army, being thrown into confusion, was easily 
 defeated and fled into Sardis. This city was fortified to stand 
 a long siege and Cyrus made an ineffectual assault on the 
 works. But at the expiration of a fortnight the city was 
 captured in a singular manner. One of the garrison, having 
 accidentally dropped his helmet from the top of the citadel, 
 descended the embankment and ascended by the same route ; 
 one of Cyrus' soldiers, having observed this incident, then 
 proposed and led an escalade of this rocky ascent, which the 
 Lydian engineers had neglected to guard, believing it inac- 
 cessible ; the city, therefore, was taken by a surprise. 
 
 All the kings of the East saw that they were hereafter at 
 the mercy of Persia, and consequently took care to give no 
 cause for quarrel. The sudden collapse of the Lydian mon- 
 archy struck all Greece with a stupor. It was the first time 
 that they had witnessed one of those great tragedies with 
 which the history of the Oriental world was filled. The 
 dynasty of Gyges had abruptly ended. The career of Croesus 
 furnished them a theme the most striking upon the instability 
 of human affairs. It was said that Solon, while a guest at 
 the court of Croesus, was asked by the king, "Who is the 
 happiest man?" Solon had replied that u No one can judge 
 of the happiness of a man while he yet lives." The 
 captured Croesus was ordered by Cyrus to be burnt on a 
 funeral pyre. The unhappy captive cried out, ' ' Solon ! 
 Solon! Solon!" Cyrus, hearing these words, ordered Croesus
 
 102 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 to be unbound from the pyre and brought before him. After 
 that Croesus had explained the words of Solon, Cyrus treated 
 the fallen king with the greatest kindness. 
 
 After the fall of Sardis, the lieutenants of Cyrus subjected 
 all Asia Minor to his rule, while the king himself made 
 campaigns into the country to the east of Persia, to Bactria 
 and Tartary. These Eastern campaigns occupied about six 
 years (B. c. 545-539) Then came his conquest of Babylon, 
 which we give according to the account of M. Maspero, the 
 French archaeologist. 
 
 In the first year of his sojourn at Babylon, Cyrus issued 
 his edict permitting the Jews to return to Jerusalem, 536 B.C. 
 Babylonia henceforth was simply a province of Persia. Of 
 all the potentates who had allied themselves against Persia, 
 Ahrnes II, of Egypt, alone remained free from a conflict. For 
 a moment that conflict seemed now at hand. It was but a 
 moment that Cyrus hesitated, then started on another cam- 
 paign in the East, and disappeared in a mysterious manner 
 (B.C. 529). According to Xenophon he died in his bed, sur- 
 rounded by his children, edifying those who approached him 
 by the wisdom more than human that he evinced. But this 
 information is no more authentic than are in general the 
 statements of Persian affairs furnished by Xenophon. Accord- 
 ing to Herodotus, ' ' the Massagetes had the upper hand. The 
 greater part of the Persian army lay on the field of battle ; 
 Cyrus himself perished there after a reign of twenty-nine 
 years. ' ' The Persians recovered the body of their king and 
 brought it to Pasargadse, where they buried it sumptuously 
 in the gardens of his palace. 
 
 CYRUS' CAPTURE OF BABYLON. 
 
 When Cyrus turned his attention to Babylon, its king 
 was Nabonidus, the son of a high priest and of Nitocris, who 
 was probably of royal blood. Nevertheless, Nabonidus was 
 an usurper, having attained the throne through the influence 
 of the priesthood. As king he devoted great attention to the 
 temples and worship of all the gods of Babylonia ; but the 
 priests of the capital became much displeased at receiving no 
 preference over those of the other cities. They were soon
 
 CYRUS THE GREAT. 103 
 
 ripe for conspiracy. It is very doubtful that Cyrus could 
 have captured Babylon without a siege, unless there had been 
 treachery within. The most impolitic act of Nabonidus was 
 his placing of the statues of all the gods in the temple sacred 
 to Merodach in Babylon. According to the cuneiform records 
 of the time, the offended god and his priests left the city. 
 The frightened people prayed him to return. He granted 
 their prayer conditionally. He would tolerate no longer the 
 presence of an impious ruler. "And he (Merodach) selected 
 a king to conduct after his heart what he committed to his 
 hands. He proclaimed the name of Cyrus, king of the city 
 of Auzan, to be king over the whole country, and to all 
 people he declared his title. . . . To his own city of Babylon, 
 he summoned him to march." The clay cylinders, giving 
 us this information, contain the famous proclamation of 
 Cyrus the Great. It establishes the fact that the priesthood 
 of the city called in the enemy. The resources of Babylonia 
 had been exhausted in previous wars and it was easy to fore- 
 see the approaching downfall of its power. Nabonidus was 
 neither a soldier nor a hero ; he was a scholar and an archaeo- 
 logist. He was not the leader needed for the crisis. 
 
 When the Persians arrived at the frontiers of Southern 
 Babylonia, Nabonidus resorted to immense sacrifices to the 
 gods to avert the threatened calamity to his people. The 
 Persians, however, were not intimidated. They crossed the 
 Tigris and defeated the Babylonians, under the command of 
 Belshazzar, the king's son, in the first engagement. There- 
 upon the inhabitants of the city of Accad surrendered it with- 
 out a struggle. This was in June, B.C. 538. A few days later 
 the city of Babylon opened its gates to Gobryas, the Persian 
 general. Nabonidus, escaping, fled into the country, and 
 was made a prisoner. Three months afterwards he died, and 
 the Persians buried him with all the honors due to his rank ; 
 for a whole week the city lamented the death of the good 
 Nabonidus. At this time Cyrus had arrived in Babylon. He 
 sent back to every city its tutelary god, that Nabonidus had 
 brought away. "All the people of Babel ... of Sumer and 
 of Accad . . . the nobles and the priests . . . rejoiced in 
 their new master and changed their oath of fealty, for the
 
 104 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 god (Merodach), who brings the dead to life and is merciful 
 in all misfortune and in all anguish, has accorded all his favor 
 to him." 
 
 The Babylonians were not alone in seeing in the Persian 
 a messenger of God ; still more the Jews were disposed to 
 assign him this character. The manner in which Babylon 
 had succumbed had disappointed their hopes ; . . . the city 
 of Nebuchadnezzar had not been wiped from the face of the 
 earth like that of Sennacherib (Nineveh), and the vengence 
 of Jerusalem was less complete than that of Samaria. But 
 they felt that the deliverance was near, and one of their 
 greatest poets, Isaiah, announced it in magnificent words : 
 
 " Sing, O ye heavens ; for the LORD hath done it: shout, 
 ye lower parts of the earth : break forth into singing, ye 
 mountains, O forest, and every tree therein : for the LORD 
 hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. Thus 
 saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from 
 the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things ; that 
 stretcheth forth the heavens alone ; that spreadeth abroad the 
 earth by myself: that confirmeth the word of his servant, 
 and performeth the counsel of his messengers ; that saith to 
 Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited ; and to the cities of 
 Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed 
 places thereof: that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry 
 up the rivers : that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and 
 shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, 
 Thou shalt be built ; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall 
 belaid." G. C. C. MASPERO.
 
 STATS NOSttAL SCHOOL,
 
 LEIF ERICSON 
 
 NORWEGIAN DISCOVERER 
 
 HE discovery of a continent so large that 
 it may be said to have doubled the 
 habitable world, is an event so grand and 
 interesting that nothing parallel to it 
 can ever occur again in the history of 
 mankind. America had been vaguely 
 known to barbarous tribes of Eastern 
 Asia for thousands of years ; but it is 
 singular that it should have been visited by one of the most 
 enterprising nations of Europe five centuries before the time 
 of Columbus without awakening the attention of either 
 statesman or philosopher. The account of this discovery 
 by the Northmen, though meagre, is distinct and consistent 
 Its authenticity can scarcely be disputed. 
 
 Iceland was discovered by the Northmen between 86 1 and 
 868 A.D., and in 874 it was colonized by Ingolf, the Nor- 
 wegian. A few years later all the habitable parts of the island 
 had been completely settled. During the last half of the tenth 
 century, while the Norwegians were struggling against the 
 introduction of Christianity, restless men continued to seek 
 new homes where they might persist in the practice of their 
 Pagan religion. One of these, Eric the Red, wandered to 
 Iceland, and after a long search for some place farther west 
 where he might feel himself under still less constraint, he 
 discovered a land which he named Greenland, in the hope, 
 perhaps, of making others believe that it was a fruitful 
 country. This was in the year 983, and shortly afterwards he 
 induced a number of Icelanders to colonize Greenland. 
 
 105
 
 106 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 A son of Eric the Red, named Leif, who had remained in 
 Norway and had been converted to Christianity, came to 
 Greenland 1000 A.D. A number of monks, whom he brought 
 with him, began at once to baptize the people, till soon there 
 was not a pagan among them. The life in Greenland became 
 somewhat monotonous to the young voyager, and when an 
 opportunity presented itself for further adventure, he quickly 
 embraced it. An Icelander, Bjarne, while sailing in search of 
 his father, who had gone on a trading voyage to Greenland, 
 was carried away to the west and south, till he reached a flat 
 country, so closely wooded that he felt certain from the 
 description he had heard of Greenland, it could not be the 
 land of which he was in search. He, therefore, sailed in a 
 different direction, and on arriving, at last, at Greenland, told 
 of the strange land he had seen. On hearing this, Leif was 
 at once so impatient to visit the new country that, buying 
 Bjarne' s ship, he manned it with thirty-five good seamen 
 and set sail. 
 
 Leif had been desirous that his father Eric, who was still 
 living, should accompany them and command the expedition. 
 Eric objected, that he was too old, and was unable to endure 
 hardships as formerly. But at last he yielded to his son's 
 urgency and they rode from home. As they approached the 
 ship Eric's horse stumbled and he fell, hurting his foot. This 
 accident he regarded as a sign from Heaven and said to his 
 son : "I cannot go with you. It is not my destiny to dis- 
 cover any other lands than this in which we live. I will 
 follow you no further." Leif then took command. He is 
 described as a large and strong man, of imposing looks, and 
 wise and moderate in everything. 
 
 Following the course which Bjarne had pointed out, Leif 
 reached a long line of coast, at many parts of which he and 
 his men landed, amongst others, the coast of Labrador and of 
 Nova Scotia. On one of these occasions he suddenly missed 
 Tyrker, a German. Leif sought him a long time in the 
 woods, and at length found him gathering bright purple and 
 red bunches of fruit, which the man seemed overjoyed to have 
 found. It was some time before Tyrker could make Leif and 
 his Norwegian comrades understand that he had found grapes,
 
 ERICSON. 107 
 
 of which his native countrymen made wine. The Northmen 
 spent the winter in this district, and Leif named the country 
 " Vinland the Good." Viuland is now generally conceded to 
 be some part of Massachusetts or Rhode Island. After%ruis- 
 ing along the coast further south, during the succeeding spring 
 they returned to Greenland. After they had come in sight of 
 its glaciers, some of the crew thought that Leif was steering 
 the vessel out of its course. But Leif said, ' ' I see something, 
 but cannot tell whether it is a ship or a rock. ' ' When others 
 saw that it was a rock, Leif's keen sight enabled him to see 
 men on the rock. Therefore he drew closer ; the ship was 
 anchored, and a boat sent out. The leader of the men on the 
 rock proved to be Thorir, a Norwegian, who was now glad to 
 be taken, with his fifteen men, on board Leif's vessel. After 
 his return Leif is said to have been rich and respected, and 
 was surnamed the Lucky. 
 
 Leif seems to have remained contented with the exploits 
 we have narrated, and died in Greenland among his kindred. 
 His brother, Thorstein, attempted a voyage to Vinland, but 
 contrary winds and stormy seas prevented the accomplishment 
 of the object. Another brother, Thorwald, however, made 
 an expedition to Vinland and settled there. But within a 
 short time he was killed in a fight with the natives, who 
 swarmed about the settlers and harassed them with their 
 arrows. Thorwald was buried there, and his companions 
 returned to Greenland. 
 
 Finally Thorfinn, a wealthy Norwegian, came to Brattah- 
 lid, the colony in Greenland, with two ships, and hearing so 
 much talk there about Vinland the Good, resolved to 
 colonize it if possible. He set sail in 1007 with a number of 
 colonists, and landed in a country that corresponded to the 
 description given by former navigators. Wild wheat covered 
 the fields, and grapes the hills. Numbers of the natives 
 visited them in canoes, carrying on a system of barter in furs, 
 peltries, etc., extremely profitable to the Northmen. In a few 
 months this friendly intercourse ceased and skirmishes ensued, 
 in which several of the settlers were killed. Their discour- 
 agements so increased that their settlement was broken up, 
 and the colonists returned to Greenland, A.D. ion. During
 
 108 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 the three years' residence a son was born to Thorfinn, 
 probably the first descendant of Europeans ever born in 
 America. He afterwards became a person of great distinc- 
 tion, and his descendants included some of the most eminent 
 persons of Northern Europe. Among them we may mention 
 Thorwaldseu, the sculptor. 
 
 This was the last authentic attempt at a settlement in 
 America. Even the Greenland colony, after an existence of 
 nearly five hundred years, completely disappeared (1460 A. D.), 
 and the memory of it was almost wholly forgotten. First the 
 "Black Plague," which had raged in Europe about 1350, 
 reached Greenland, and swept away nearly all the people. 
 The few who had escaped the frightful disease were soon after- 
 ward cut off by an invasion of hostile Esquimaux from the 
 north. After a period of oblivion covering four centuries and 
 a half, the western world was again restored to the knowledge 
 of the civilized nations of Europe, when, in 1492, Christopher 
 Columbus re-opened the ocean-road to its vast territories. In 
 the early part of the eighteenth century Hans Egede, with 
 ships and means furnished by Frederick IV., of Denmark, 
 proceeded to Greenland in search of the remains of the long- 
 forgotten colony. Since that time the Danes have held 
 possession of the country. 
 
 It remains to be said that certain supposed monuments, 
 attesting the visits of the Northmen, such as the " Dighton 
 Rock " and the " Old Mill " at Newport, are not authentic, 
 and are in no wise necessary to prove the priority of tbe 
 Northmen in the discovery of America. The late Prof. 
 Horsford believed that he had discovered evidence of ancient 
 Norwegian settlements on the Charles River, Massachusetts, 
 but the proof seemed insufficient to establish his theory.
 
 PERICLES was not only the greatest 
 of Athenian statesmen, but one of 
 the most remarkable characters of 
 antiquity. The age of Pericles is 
 memorable as the most brilliant 
 period of Athenian art, culture and 
 dramatic literature. Among his 
 illustrious contemporaries were the 
 tragedians JEschylus, Euripides, 
 Sophocles; the philosophers De- 
 mocritus and Socrates ; the lyric 
 poet Pindar; the historians Herod- 
 otus and Thucydides; the painter 
 Polygnotus, and his personal friend 
 the sculptor Phidias. Amid this 
 constellation the genius of Pericles still shines conspicuous. 
 
 Pericles was the son of Xanthippus, who defeated the Per- 
 sians at Mycale in 479 B.C. By his mother, Agariste, he was 
 connected with the princely line of Sicyon, and other noble 
 families. The precise date of his birth is unknown. Pericles 
 received the best education the times could supply, among 
 his teachers being Damon, Zeno of Elea, and the subtle and 
 profound Anaxagoras. Plutarch declares that Anaxagoras 
 gave him that force and sublimity of sentiment superior to 
 all the demagogues, and formed him to that admirable dig- 
 nity of manners and unruffled serenity which marked his 
 character amid all the storms of political life, and won for him 
 the surname of Olympian Zeus. 
 
 Pericles began his career about 470 B.C. as leader of the 
 democratic, or progressive party, when Cimon was the leader 
 of the aristocratic, or conservative party. His wealth, his 
 noble birth, his powerful friends, his grand manner, and even 
 
 109
 
 110 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 his personal resemblance to the tyrant Pisistratus, might have 
 seemed to indicate that his natural place was on the other 
 side; while the blunt, jovial, rough and ready Cimon, though 
 of equally noble birth, seemed better fitted to be the leader of 
 the popular party. Yet every action of the career of Pericles 
 attests the sincerity of his convictions and the ardor of his 
 patriotism. ' ' Adorning his orations, ' ' says Plutarch, "with 
 the rich colors of philosophy, adding the loftiness of imagina- 
 tion and all -commanding energy with which philosophy sup- 
 plied him, to his native powers of genius, he far excelled all 
 other leaders." Pericles introduced the practice of paying 
 the citizens liberally from public moneys for the performance 
 of public duties, thus not only overcoming the lavish outlay 
 made by the aristocratic party from their private resources, 
 but enabling poorer citizens to give their time to matters of 
 general concern. About 461 B.C. he deprived the Areopagus 
 of the judicial power which had rendered it a formidable in- 
 strument of the aristocracy. When the struggle between the 
 two parties and the two leaders reached a crisis, Pericles, ac- 
 cording to the remarkable provision of the Athenian law, 
 procured the ostracism of Cimon. Yet in the year 456 Per- 
 icles proposed a decree that Citnon should be recalled from 
 exile. Pericles was now the acknowledged and undisputed 
 master of Athens, but he ruled, not by terror and tyrannic 
 usurpation, but in accordance with law and by his matchless 
 gift of persuasive eloquence^ 
 
 During his long administration, by his profuse expendi- 
 ture of public money, he made Athens the most beautiful city 
 of Greece, and cultivated the taste of the people by excellent 
 models of sculpture and architecture. The Acropolis was cov- 
 ered with magnificent temples and monuments of inimitable 
 beauty; the Parthenon was built and adorned with the sculp- 
 tures of Phidias. In this course he claimed to be fulfilling 
 the desire of his fellow-citizens, for, as he says in one of his 
 orations, " We Athenians are lovers of the beautiful. " Pur- 
 suing the policy inaugurated by the far-sighted Themistocles, 
 Pericles urged the importance of a navy, and rendered the 
 maritime power of Athens superior to that of any other State. 
 He opposed ambitious schemes of foreign conquest, and pre-
 
 PERICLES. Ill 
 
 ferred to win power by peaceful methods. Yet he conquered 
 the wealthy island of Samos in 440 B.C., and he planted colo- 
 nies at Chalcis and Sinope. His administration rendered 
 Athens an imperial State, with numerous allies and colonies, 
 partly free and partly tributary. With the wealth which 
 flowed freely into the treasury of Athens, Pericles fortified as 
 well as beautified his native city. Under his rule was built 
 the Long Walls, which, connecting Athens with the Piraeus, 
 converted the capital and its seaport into one vast fortress. 
 
 The wonderful growth of the grand naval empire of 
 Athens roused into bitterness the jealousy of Sparta, which 
 claimed the military leadership of Greece. In 432 B.C. the 
 Spartans organized a league of Hellenic States against the 
 Athenians, and all Greece became involved in the great Pe- 
 loponnesian war. The Spartans were confessedly superior on 
 land, and thought to end the war by invading Attica, but 
 Pericles was master of the sea. Even when Attica was rav- 
 aged by the enemy, he remained on the defensive. By his 
 advice and direction the country people carried their movable 
 property, partly to adjacent islands and partly to the space en- 
 closed by the Long Walls. / At the end of the first campaign 
 Pericles pronounced on those who had fallen in battle a 
 funeral oration which, as reported by Thucydides, is one of 
 the noblest monuments of Athenian glory. This speech, 
 perhaps the most remarkable of all compositions of antiquity 
 the full transfusion of which into a modern language is an 
 impossibility exhibits a more complete view of the intellect- 
 ual power and moral character of Pericles than all that the 
 historians have said of him. 
 
 In the second campaign Pericles led in person a powerful 
 fleet against the Peloponnesus, and ravaged its coast, that the 
 Lacedaemonians might have the evils of war brought home to 
 them. In 430 B.C. a great plague broke out in Athens, un- 
 doubtedly due to the overcrowding of the country people in 
 temporary habitations within the walls, and the privations 
 caused by the raids of the Spartans. The fickle and impa- 
 tient populace charged their misfortunes on Pericles, fined 
 him and deprived him of command. But no other was found 
 equal to the task, and Pericles, who had submitted gracefully
 
 112 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 to the will of the people, was again elected general and re- 
 stored to all his former power. He died in the autumn of 
 429 B.C., during a second outbreak of the pestilence. He had 
 lived many years in conjugal relatibns with the highly gifted 
 and beautiful Aspasia, but they were not legally married be- 
 cause she was a foreigner. His tender regard for the welfare 
 and life of every Athenian is attested by many recorded say- 
 ings. On his death-bed, when his friends were recounting 
 his claims to public gratitude, he roused himself to remind 
 them of his best title to remembrance: " No Athenian," he 
 said, " ever put on black through me." 
 
 The abundance of men of genius of the first order in the 
 little States of Greece at this time, conferred on the Age of 
 Pericles a brilliance which has made it conspicuous in the 
 history of the world. Pericles was not inferior to any of them 
 in versatile genius or nobility of character. Emerson says: 
 "The best heads that ever existed, Pericles, Plato, Julius 
 Caesar, Shakespeare, Goethe and Milton, were well read, uni- 
 versally educated men." His philosophy teaches that life is 
 to be enjoyed, death not to be feared. Though a leader of 
 the democratic party, he did not believe in the natural equality 
 of men; and although the head of the Athenian State, he was 
 suspected of rejecting much of the traditional religion. He 
 wielded the powers of his majestic intelligence and the stores 
 of his spacious imagination with consummate ease and mastery. 
 In the perfect harmony and completeness of nature, and in the 
 classic calm which is the fruit of it, Pericles is the type of the 
 ideal spirit, not of his own age only, but of antiquity. 
 
 PERICLES' ORATION. 
 
 THE TRUE GLORY ov ATHENS. 
 
 (In the year 430 B.C., Pericles pronounced the Funeral Oration of those 
 Athenians who had fallen in the first year of the Peloponnesian War. We 
 present hera the main part of this celebrated oration). 
 
 I will speak first of our ancestors, for it is right and becom- 
 ing that now, when we are lamenting the dead, a tribute 
 should be paid to their memory. There has never been a 
 time when they did not inhabit this land, which, by their 
 valor, they have handed down from generation to generation,
 
 PERICLES. 113 
 
 and we have received from them a free State. But if they 
 were worthy of praise, still more were our fathers, who added 
 to their inheritance, and after many a struggle transmitted to 
 us, their sons, this great empire. Of the military exploits by 
 which our various possessions were acquired, or of the energy 
 with which we or our fathers drove back the tide of war, 
 Hellenic or Barbarian, I will not speak, for the tale would be 
 long and is familiar to you. But before I praise the dead, I 
 should like to point out by what principles of action we rose 
 to power, and under what institutions and through what man- 
 ner of life our empire became great. 
 
 Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with 
 the institutions of others. We do not copy from our neighbors, 
 but are an example to them. It is true that we are called a 
 democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the 
 many, and not of the few. But while the law secures equal 
 justice to all alike in their private disputes, the claim of ex- 
 cellence is also recognized; and when a citizen is in any way 
 distinguished he is promoted to the public service, not as a 
 matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit. Neither is 
 poverty a bar; but a man may benefit his country, whatever 
 be the obscurity of his condition. There is no exclusiveness 
 in our public life, and in our private intercourse we are not 
 suspicious of one another, nor angry with our neighbor if he 
 does what he likes; we do not put on sour looks at him 
 which, though harmless, are not pleasant. While we are 
 thus unconstrained in our private intercourse, a spirit of rev- 
 erence pervades our public acts; we are prevented from doing 
 wrong by respect for authority and for the laws, having an 
 especial regard to those which are ordained for the protection 
 of the injured, as well as to those unwritten laws which bring 
 upon the transgressor of them the reprobation of the general 
 sentiment. 
 
 And we have not forgotten to provide for our weary 
 spirits many relaxations from toil. We have regular games 
 and festivals throughout the year; at home the style of our 
 life is refined, and the delight which we daily feel in all these 
 things helps to banish melancholy. Because of the greatness 
 of our city the fruits of the whole earth flow in upon us, so 
 8
 
 114 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 that we enjoy the goods of other countries as freely as of our 
 own. 
 
 Then, again, our military training is, in many respects, 
 superior to that of the Spartans. Our city is thrown open to 
 the world, and we never expel a foreigner or prevent him 
 from seeing or learning anything of which the secret, if re- 
 vealed to an enemy, might profit him. We rely not upon 
 management or trickery, but upon our own hearts and hands. 
 And in the matter of education, whereas they from early 
 youth are always undergoing laborious exercises which are to 
 make them brave, we live at ease, and yet are equally ready 
 to face the perils which they face. And here is the proof. 
 The Lacedaemonians come into Attica not by themselves, but 
 with their whole confederacy following; but we Athenians go 
 alone into a neighbor's country; and although our opponents 
 are fighting for their homes and we on a foreign soil, we have 
 seldom any difficulty in overcoming them. Our enemies have 
 never yet felt our united strength. The care of a navy di- 
 vides our attention, and on land we are obliged to send our 
 own citizens everywhere. But they, if they meet and defeat 
 a part of our army, are as proud as if they had routed us all ; 
 and when defeated, they pretend to have been vanquished by 
 us all. 
 
 If, then, we prefer to meet danger with a light heart, but 
 without laborious training, and with a courage which is 
 gained by habit and not enforced by law, are we not greatly 
 the gamers ? Since we do not anticipate the pain, although, 
 when the hour comes, we can be as brave as those who never 
 allow themselves to rest Thus, too, our city is equally ad- 
 mirable in peace and in war. For we are lovers of the beau- 
 tiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind with- 
 out loss of manliness. Wealth we employ, not for talk and 
 ostentation, but when there is a real use for it. To avow 
 poverty with us is no disgrace; the true disgrace is in doing 
 nothing to avoid it. An Athenian citizen does not neglect 
 the State because he takes care of his own household; and 
 even those of us who are engaged in business have a very fair 
 idea of politics. We alone regard a man who takes no in- 
 terest in public affairs not as a harmless, but as a useless
 
 PERICLES. 115 
 
 character; and if but few of us are originators, we are all 
 sound judges of a policy. The great impediment to action is, 
 in our opinion, not discussion, but the want of that know- 
 ledge which is gained by discussion preparatory to action. 
 For we have a peculiar power of thinking before we act and 
 of acting, too; whereas, other men are courageous from ig- 
 norance, but hesitate upon reflection. And they are surely 
 to be esteemed the bravest spirits who, having the clearest 
 sense, both of the pains and pleasures of life, do not on that 
 account shrink from danger. 
 
 Again, in our relation to our friends we are unlike others; 
 we make friends by conferring, not by receiving favors. 
 Now, he who confers a favor is the firmer friend, because he 
 would fain by kindness keep alive the memory of an obliga- 
 tion; but the recipient is colder in his feelings, because he 
 knows that in requiting another's generosity he will not be 
 winning gratitude, but only paying a debt. We alone do 
 good to our neighbors, not upon a calculation of interest, but 
 in the confidence of freedom and in a frank and fearless spirit. 
 To sum up: I say that Athens is the school of Hellas, and 
 that the individual Athenian, in his own person, seems to 
 have the power of adapting himself to the most varied forms 
 of action with the utmost versatility and grace. This is no 
 passing and idle word, but truth and fact; and the assertion 
 is verified by the position to which these qualities have raised 
 the State. For in the hour of trial Athens, alone among her 
 contemporaries, is superior to her report. No enemy who 
 comes against her is indignant at the reverses which he sus- 
 tains at the hands of such a city; no subject complains that 
 his masters are unworthy of him. And we shall assuredly 
 not be without witnesses; there are mighty monuments of 
 our power which will make us the wonder of this and of suc- 
 ceeding ages; we shall not need the praises of Homer or of 
 any other panegyrist whose poetry may please for the moment, 
 although his representation of the facts will not bear the light 
 of day. For we have compelled every land and every sea to 
 open a path for our valor, and have everywhere planted 
 eternal memorials of our friendship and of our enmity. 
 Such is the city for whose sake these men nobly fought and
 
 116 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 died; they could not bear the thought that she might be 
 taken from them; and every one of us who survive should 
 gladly toil in her behalf. 
 
 I have dwelt upon the greatness of Athens because I want 
 to show you that we are contending for a higher prize than 
 those who enjoy none of these privileges, and to establish by 
 manifest proof the merit of these men whom I am now com- 
 memorating. Their loftiest praise has been already spoken. 
 For in magnifying the city I have magnified them, and men 
 like them, whose virtues made her glorious. And of how 
 few Hellenes can it be said as of them, that their deeds, when 
 weighed in the balance, have been found equal to their fame! 
 Methinks that a death such as theirs gives the true measure 
 of a man's worth; it may be the first revelation of his virtues, 
 but is at any rate their final seal. For even those who come 
 short in other ways may justly plead the valor with which 
 they have fought for their country. They have blotted out 
 the evil with the good, and have benefited the State more by 
 their public services than they have injured her by their pri- 
 vate actions. None of these men were enervated by wealth 
 or hesitated to resign the pleasures of life; none of them put 
 off the evil day in the hope, natural to poverty, that a man, 
 though poor, may one day become rich. But, deeming that 
 the punishment of their enemies was sweeter than any of 
 these things, and that they could fall in no nobler cause, they 
 determined at the hazard of their lives to be honorably 
 avenged, and to leave the rest. They resigned to hope their 
 unknown chance of happiness; but in the face of death they 
 resolved to rely upon themselves alone. And when the mo- 
 ment came they were resolved to resist and suffer rather than 
 to fly and save their lives. They shrank from the word of 
 dishonor, but on the battle-field their feet stood fast, and in 
 an instant, at the height of their fortune, they passed away 
 from the scene, not of their fear, but of their glory. 
 
 Such was the end of these men. They were worthy of 
 Athens, and the living need not desire to have a more heroic 
 spirit, although they may pray for a less fatal issue. The 
 value of such a spirit is not to be expressed in words. Any 
 one can discourse to you forever about the advantages of a
 
 PERICLES. 117 
 
 brave defense which you know already. But instead of list- 
 ening to him I would have you, day by day, fix your eyes 
 upon the greatness of Athens, until you become filled with 
 love of her; and when you are impressed by the spectacle of 
 her glory, reflect that this empire has been acquired by men 
 who knew their duty and had the courage to doit; who, in 
 the hour of conflict, had the fear of dishonor always present 
 to them, and who, if ever they failed in an enterprise, would 
 not allow their virtues to be lost to their country, but freely 
 gave their lives to her as the fairest offering which they could 
 present at her feast. The sacrifice which they collectively 
 made was individually repaid to them, for they received again, 
 each one for himself, a praise which grows not old and the 
 noblest of all sepulchres I speak not of that in which their 
 remains are laid, but of that in which their glory survives 
 and is proclaimed always and on every fitting occasion, both 
 in word and deed. For the whole earth is the sepulchre of 
 famous men. Not only are they commemorated by columns 
 and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands 
 there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not 
 on stone, but in the hearts of men. Make them your exam- 
 ples, and, esteeming courage to be freedom and freedom to be 
 happiness, do not weigh too nicely the perils of war. To a 
 man of spirit cowardice and disaster coming together are far 
 more bitter than death, striking him unperceived at a time 
 when he is full of courage and animated by the general hope. 
 Translated by PROF. B. JowETT. 
 
 PERICLES AND ASPASIA. 
 
 This was the ruler of the land, 
 
 When Athens was the land of fame ; 
 
 This was the light that led the band, 
 When each was like a living flame ; 
 
 The centre of earth's noblest ring, 
 
 Of more than men, the more than king. 
 
 Yet not by fetter, nor by spear, 
 
 His sovereignty was held, or won ; 
 Feared, but alone as freemen fear ; 
 
 I,oved, but as freemen love, alone ;
 
 Il8 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 He waved the sceptre o'er his kind 
 By nature's first great title mind. 
 
 Resistless words were on his tongue ; 
 
 Then eloquence first flashed below ; 
 Full-armed, to life the portent sprung, 
 
 Minerva, from the thunderous brow ; 
 And his the sole, the sacred hand 
 That shook her aegis o'er the land. 
 
 Then, throned, immortal, by his side, 
 A woman sits, with eye sublime, 
 
 Aspasia, all his spirit's bride: 
 
 But if their solemn love were crime, 
 
 Pity the beauty and the sage, 
 
 Their crime was in that darkened age. 
 
 He perished, but his wreath was won ; 
 
 He perished in his height of fame ; 
 Then sank the cloud on Athens' sun, 
 
 Yet still she conquered in his name. 
 Filled with his soul, she could not die : 
 Her conquest was posterity. 
 
 WALTER SAVAGE L,ANDOR. 
 
 v
 
 "THE Greek national mind," says 
 Ltibke, ' ' unfolded in all its splendor 
 immediately after the Persian wars. 
 In political life, as well as in art and 
 science, the bands were loosened, and 
 released from its former restraint the 
 Greek mind developed with perfect 
 freedom and beauty. Athens . . . 
 was the central point of this develop- 
 ment. . . . All that was achieved in 
 the short space of one generation 
 (from 460 B.C. to about 430) belongs, 
 even in the poor mutilated remains 
 which have come down to us, to the 
 most splendid possessions of the human mind. ' ' 
 
 It was at this propitious period, so favorable to the develop- 
 ment of genius, that Phidias, the greatest sculptor of Greece, 
 achieved his artistic triumphs. He was the son of Charmides, 
 and was born at Athens about 500 B.C. He made his studies 
 in the plastic art under Hegias of Athens and Ageladas of 
 Argos. His first notable opportunities came when the Athe- 
 nians, under Cimon, began the magnificent restoration of 
 their city, which had been destroyed by the Persians. A 
 colossal statue of Athena Promachos (on the Acropolis), 
 another of Athena, at Platsea, and a group commemorating 
 the victory of Marathon, at Delphi, were his most famous 
 contributions, during that period, to the artistic manifestation 
 of Greece triumphant. 
 
 The administration of Pericles, who succeeded Cimon, 
 was marked by an even more extraordinary and brilliant 
 
 119
 
 120 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 artistic development, and under his patronage Phidias, too, 
 reached the maturity of his powers. Beside being commis- 
 sioned to execute the more important statuary to be erected, 
 he was entrusted with the general superintendence of the 
 artistic improvements planned for the city. The two most 
 famous monuments of art thus carried out under his direc- 
 tions were the Propylsea and the Parthenon. His huge gold 
 and ivory figure of Athena (438 B.C.)* in the latter building 
 has completely disappeared, but the sculptured ornaments of 
 the building, f directly " inspired " by him, give evidence of 
 his great genius, even though they may not or at least not 
 all be his own handiwork. 
 
 But his most famous statue is the colossal one of Zeus, at 
 Olympia, executed in ivory and gold like the Athena, the 
 embodiment of the Homeric Zeus. Although the usual 
 practice of the Greeks was to place the image of a deity in 
 the sanctuary or inner chamber of his temple, this majestic 
 statue, nearly sixty feet high, was erected in the outer room, 
 directly facing the entrance. On ordinary occasions it was 
 concealed with an elaborate curtain, but on the great festi- 
 vals it was unveiled. Zeus was represented seated on a mag- 
 nificent throne, crowned with a wreath of olive, holding in 
 his right hand a statue of Victory, formed of ivory and gold, 
 and supporting with his left hand his sceptre, highly orna- 
 mental and surmounted with an eagle. His sandals and robe 
 were of gold, the latter being decorated with figures of 
 animals and flowers, especially lillies. The throne was formed 
 of ivory and ebony, inlaid with gold, set with precious stones, 
 and sculptured with graceful figures. The fronts of the steps 
 bore bas-reliefs of classic myths, and the foot-stool rested on 
 four lions couchant. In this great work presented the Greek 
 ideal of the Supreme Ruler of the world. The sculptor him- 
 self said he found his model in the famous lines of Homer in 
 the First Book of the Iliad : 
 
 * We are told that the nude parts of the statue were of ivory, gems 
 formed the eyes, and gold was used for the drapery, arms and ornaments. 
 
 t Fragments of the metopes, frieze and pediments were taken to Eng- 
 land by Lord Elgin, and are housed in the British Museum, being known as 
 the "Elgin Marbles."
 
 PHIDIAS. 121 
 
 "So did lie speak, and, at pausing, he signed with his shadowy 
 
 eyebrows, 
 
 And the ambrosial curls from the head everlasting were shaken, 
 And at the nod of the King deep trembled the lofty Olympus. ' ' 
 
 The sojourn of Phidias in Olympia has usually been re- 
 garded as subsequent to the production of the Athena Par- 
 thenos, but Loeschke and other more recent writers place his 
 activity in HHs before the time of the erection of the Parthe- 
 non statue (i. <?., soon after 460 B.C.). 
 
 The famous Athena, it appears, furnished the pretext for 
 his overthrow. The intensity of party feeling against Pericles 
 extended to him and others who enjoyed that ruler's favor. 
 Phidias was accused of having appropriated part of the gold 
 intended for the Athena Parthenos, but cleared himself by 
 taking off the gold portions of the statue, which were remov- 
 able, and weighing them. Nevertheless, on the further 
 charge of impiety in having introduced himself and Pericles 
 among the battling Greeks on the shield of the goddess, he 
 was thrown into prison, where he died about 432 B.C. 
 
 Phidias has been called the greatest of all sculptors, not 
 only on account of his consummate technical and artistic 
 ability, but also by reason of the grandeur and nobility of his 
 conceptions. In his figures of the gods he created types that 
 were sublime in their perfect embodiment of the highest 
 ideas of the Greek mind. It was the verdict of the ancients 
 that he alone had "seen the true likeness of the gods, and 
 rendered them visible. ' ' In his work, Greek art attained the 
 height of spiritual beauty, and produced, it is believed, the 
 noblest specimens of sculpture in the world.
 
 DARIUS, the first of that name who became 
 King of Persia} was the son of Hystaspes, 
 a Persian nobleman of the royal family of 
 the Achalmenides. According to the great 
 cuneiform inscription of King Darius, 
 sculptured on the mountain-wall at Behis- 
 tun, his father, Hystaspes, was entrusted with the satrapy of 
 Hyrcania and Parthia by King Cambyses. He gives the 
 genealogy of his own family thus : 
 
 I, Achaemenes. 
 
 3' 
 
 4, 
 
 
 2, 
 
 Teispes. 
 
 
 
 1 
 Cyrus. 
 
 Cambyses. 
 
 7, 
 8, 
 
 1 
 Ariarames. 
 
 1 
 Arsanes. 
 
 5, Cyrus the Great 
 
 (Hystaspes.) 
 
 i i 
 
 6, Cambyses. 9, Darius. 
 
 Immediately after Darius assumed the sceptre of Persia 
 (B.C. 521), Babylon revolted under Nidintabel, a pretender, 
 who called himself ' ' Nebuchadnezzar the son of Nabonidus, ' ' 
 the last Babylonian king. Darius overthrew the pretender in 
 two battles at Zazan and laid siege to the city. It was taken 
 June B.C. 519 after a blockade of nearly two years, the Per- 
 sians penetrating into the city during a festival, by marching 
 along the dry channel of the Euphrates. Nidintabel was 
 captured and executed. It is this siege and capture which 
 Herodotus transfers to the age of Cyrus. 
 
 Legends soon gathered around the events attending the 
 
 122
 
 DARIUS, THE PERSIAN DESPOT. 123 
 
 capture of Babylon. A favorite story relates that Darius, 
 on arriving at Babylon, found that the inhabitants had cut 
 canals, filled their magazines and granaries. In the course of 
 twenty months the Persians were no further advanced than 
 on the first day. At last, when they were utterly disheartened, 
 Zopyrus, a noble Persian, sacrificed himself to assure them 
 the victory. Cutting off his nose and ears, he fled into the 
 city and pretended to be a fugitive from the cruelty of the 
 Persian King. Being entrusted with a command, he led some 
 sorties of the besieged and gained some advantages. When 
 he had thus sufficiently won the confidence of the Babylon- 
 ians to be placed in charge of the walls, he opened two 
 of the gates for the entrance of his countrymen, who thus 
 became masters of the city. By the order of the king three 
 thousand Babylonians were impaled, the walls were leveled 
 to the ground, and the city repeopled with foreign colonists. 
 All antiquity applauded the self-sacrificing treachery of Zopy- 
 rus, on the word of Herodotus. 
 
 Parthia and Hyrcania revolted under the lead of a cer- 
 tain Phraortes, and Darius had great difficulty in suppress- 
 ing the rebellion. Suddenly quitting Babylon, he pene- 
 trated Media, and threw himself fiercely upon the enemy. 
 Phraortes fled towards the mountains in the North, but was 
 afterwards captured. His chastisement was atrocious, his 
 nose and ears and tongue were cut off; his eyes were torn 
 from their sockets ; finally he was impaled. Of his principal 
 partisans, some were impaled, and others beheaded. But it 
 seems that one war engendered another : the ephemeral success 
 of a second false Bardes evoked a second false Nebuchadnez- 
 zar. Darius had hardly left Babylon when an Armenian, 
 Aracha, gave himself out as the son of Nabonidus. A gen- 
 eral of Darius, however, vanquished and executed him (B.C. 
 
 Having vanquished all these rebels, Darius at last had op- 
 portunity to exhibit to the world his remarkable genius for 
 organization. For the first time in history centralization 
 became a political fact. Hitherto the Great King had not 
 concerned himself to suppress the local dynasties, but rather 
 encouraged the people to maintain their language, customs,
 
 124 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 religion, laws, and all their particular constitutions. The 
 Jews had permission to finish the construction of their Tem- 
 ple ; the Greeks of Asia retained their various governments, 
 Phoenicia retained its kings and judges, Egypt its hereditary 
 monarchs. But above these local authorities there was a 
 power unique, superior to all and everywhere the same. The 
 King was the source of all authority. "It is true that a 
 council, consisting of seven nobles, and a hereditary subno- 
 bility, sat without the will of the king ; but this relic of a 
 period when Persia had not yet become an empire had 
 little power or influence against the bureaucracy, the mem- 
 bers of which owed their offices to an irresponsible despot. 
 The centralization of Persia stands in marked contrast to the 
 decentralization of Greece." 
 
 The Persian empire was divided into twenty-three satra- 
 pies. Each satrap was responsible for a fixed tribute, but 
 beyond that he enjoyed the full power of a king. It was of 
 course the interest of the crown to prevent the provinces 
 from being exhausted. The danger to the government caused 
 by the power of the satrap and his distance from the central 
 authority was diminished in several ways. Royal scribes 
 were employed to send reports of the satraps and of their 
 actions to the king. At irregular times an officer of the 
 court came to inspect the province. It seems also that the 
 important fortresses were always entrusted to an independent 
 officer. But on the frontiers of the empire necessarily the 
 offices of satrap and commander were often united in the 
 one person for the purpose of prompt suppression of popular 
 disturbances. These three rivals, satrap, scribe, general, bal- 
 anced and held each other in check so as to make a revolt of 
 either if not impossible, at least difficult. 
 
 Despite some defects of detail, the fiscal system introduced 
 by Darius conduced to the stability of the government. No 
 more was the death of each king the signal for revolts in the 
 provinces, which occupied the greater part of the reign of 
 the successor in suppressing. Darius not only had the glory 
 of organizing the Persian empire ; he invented a form of 
 government which served thereafter as a model for the great 
 Oriental States. His renown as an administrator has even
 
 DARIUS, THE PERSIAN DESPOT. 
 
 125 
 
 overshadowed his military fame. By reason of its previous 
 conquests, Persia had now issue for its energies only in two 
 directions, on the east into India, on the west into Greece. 
 
 About 512 B.C., Darius invaded the Punjab in Northern 
 India and acquired extensive territory, of which he formed a 
 new satrapy. Declining to push his conquests further east, 
 he had a fleet constructed and placed under the orders of 
 Scylax, a Greek admiral, who descended the Indus river to 
 its mouth. Hence he set sail westward, and arrived in less 
 than thirty months at the coast of Arabia. Darius next 
 directed his attention to securing his northwest frontier. The 
 coast of the Black Sea was explored, the Bosphorus was 
 bridged, and the steppes of Southern Russia were swept by 
 the Persian army. Meanwhile Thrace had been reduced, 
 and Macedonia made a tributary kingdom. 
 
 But in 501 B.C. came the Ionic revolt, when Sardis was 
 burnt by the Athenians. Darius, bent on vengeance, no 
 longer delayed to listen to Hippias, the exiled tyrant of 
 Athens. He sent envoys to demand the submission of Ath- 
 ens and the restoration of the tyrant When satisfaction was 
 refused, Mardonius was sent against the offending city with 
 a large army. But his fleet was wrecked off Mount Athos. 
 Two years later (B.C. 490) the Persian army under Datis was 
 again hurled against Attica ; but Athenian valor at Mara- 
 thon drove back the power hitherto held invincible, and saved 
 Greece. For three years Asia was astir with preparations for 
 crushing the audacious Athenians. Fortunately for Athens, 
 Egypt now revolted (B.C. 487) and diverted the blow which 
 would have fallen upon Greece. Before the Egyptian revolt 
 could be suppressed Darius died, in the sixty-third year of 
 his age and the thirty-sixth of his reign (B.C. 486).
 
 THE name Burgundy has at vari- 
 ous times been applied to differ- 
 ent areas. But under Charles 
 the Bold, who followed the 
 policy of extension inaugurated 
 by his predecessors, the posses- 
 sions of the Duke included, be- 
 sides the Duchy and County of 
 Burgundy, Flanders, Holland, 
 Gelderland, Hainault, Brabant, 
 Namur, Luxemburg, Limburg, Lorraine and Alsace. The 
 whole formed a huge curve, hemming in France on the 
 east, and extending from the Flemish coast to Switzerland. 
 For part of this vast domain the Duke owed allegiance to 
 the King of France, and for the rest to the Emperor of 
 Germany. 
 
 Charles the Bold ( in French, Le Temeraire] was the son 
 of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and was born at 
 Dijon, November 10, 1433. During his youth he was known 
 as the Count of Charolais. He married Isabella of Bourbon 
 in 1454, and in 1464 the Princess Margaret of York. When he 
 succeeded his father as Duke of Burgundy, in 1467, he was 
 still in the prime of life, a man of decided promise. He was 
 chivalrous, refined, open to good influences, well educated, 
 highly accomplished, athletic, energetic and ambitious. But 
 despite all these good qualities his pride, choler and obstinacy, 
 in the course of years, brought out strongly the darker side of 
 his nature and eventually caused his ruin. 
 
 The conflict with Louis XL of France, forms a dominant 
 note in his life, a conflict extending from the intrigues of 
 126
 
 CHARGES THE BOLD. 127 
 
 Louis, while a refugee at the court of old Duke Philip, to his 
 sinister influence on Charles' career to the very end. On the 
 one hand, the "imperial dreamer," the man of "great 
 thoughts," whose ambition conceived of the establishment of 
 a grand " Empire of the Rhine," a stepping-stone to a new 
 and splendid Holy Roman Empire ; on the other, the founder 
 of absolute monarchy in France, a master in state-craft and 
 intrigues. 
 
 When Louis ascended the throne, Charles became the 
 leading spirit of the great nobles' ' ' League of the Public 
 Weal ' ' against the French king. At Montleheri that queer 
 battle ensued between Louis and Charles (16 July, 1465), in 
 which both sides ran away and both claimed the victory. The 
 Leaguers besieged Paris unsuccessfully, but made what 
 appeared to be very favorable terms with the king in the 
 Peace of Conflans, (October 5, 1465), but the wily sovereign, 
 having lulled the princes into a feeling of security, could with 
 more ease attack them separately. Charles was powerless, for 
 the League was broken up ; but he meted out severe and 
 savage punishment to the town of Dinant, which had com- 
 bined against him with Liege. From this expedition he 
 returned to find his father dying, nursed him to the end, and 
 gave signs of a real and deep grief when it came. 
 
 In 1464 Charles had allied himself with England's royal 
 house of York ; these two, together with Brittany, Aragon 
 and Castile, formed a powerful league. The Duke of Brittany 
 was quickly put down by the king, who resolved to treat with 
 Charles in person. He met him at Peronne, and it is rather 
 remarkable that, in those days of deceit, perjury, and myste- 
 rious and violent deaths, he should have escaped with his life. 
 As it was, he had to submit to abject humiliation at the hands 
 of the wrathful Duke, signed peace at any price, and was 
 forced to be present at the fearful punishment of the revolted 
 citizens of Liege (1468). But Louis, once free again, con- 
 vened a packed assembly of notables (1470), who speedily 
 found that Charles had broken the Treaty of Peronne, and his 
 well-trained army soon gave the Duke plenty to worry about; 
 so that the latter made a three months' truce with Louis 
 (10 April, 1471). Once more was his policy of coalition
 
 128 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 brought into play, but the king's brother Charles, Duke of 
 Guienne, on whom Charles the Bold had counted, died in 
 1472, and the great League crumbled to dust. The wrathy 
 Duke crossed the Somme, ravaging the country in bloodthirsty 
 fury : Nesle was destroyed with great slaughter and Roye 
 submitted, but at Beauvais he failed before the valor of the 
 citizens, men and women; at Dieppe he was also unsuccessful, 
 and at Rouen he waited in vain for the Duke of Brittany, 
 whom Louis had overpowered in the meantime. Charles left 
 the land, and a truce was signed in the fall of the same *y ear 
 (1472) between him and Louis. 
 
 Fresh fields of conquest now attracted the Duke. To his 
 already large possessions were added Alsatia, Breisgau, and, 
 in 1473, Lorraine and Guelders, thus giving him control of 
 both ends of the Rhine. Lordship over the whole of the 
 river would be the first step towards the satisfaction of his 
 ambitions. A noteworthy interview between him and the 
 Emperor Frederick III. took place in the same year (1473) at 
 Treves, but the wary emperor secretly decamped. Negotia- 
 tions having failed to further his project, he had resort to 
 force. He marched an army down to Neuss, near Cologne, 
 but the little town held out stubbornly, and Charles persisted 
 obstinately in a tedious and ill-advised siege of eleven months. 
 Finally, he came to terms with the Pope and the Emperor, 
 and withdrew ; but his star was in the descendent 
 
 Edward IV. landed in France, as agreed upon; but he and 
 the Duke failed to make connections, and he was bought off 
 with 72,000 crowns by Louis. The Duke now overran Lor- 
 raine, and took Nanci (30 November, 1475) ; the following 
 year he attacked the Swiss town of Granson, and put the 
 citizens to death. But the Swiss wreaked speedy vengeance 
 on him soon after : the Burgundians fled in a wild panic, and 
 all the treasures of the camp fell into the hands of the moun- 
 taineers. Charles, however, raised another army at Lausanne, 
 and marched against Bern. But he got no further than 
 Morat, for the brave garrison of that place barred the way 
 while a large force of Germans, Alsatians, Lorrainers and 
 Swiss came up. In the battle of Morat, June 22, 1476, his 
 army was destroyed and his power broken.
 
 CHARLES THE BOLD. 1 29 
 
 Charles the Bold, though conscious of the lacK of depend- 
 ence to be placed in feudal levies, since he made attempts to 
 found a standing army, lacked discretion in his plans of battle, 
 and was a poor military commander even at a time when the 
 art of modern warfare was quite in its infancy. After his 
 defeat at Morat, he managed to raise another force and has- 
 tened to Nanci, but there met total defeat and death, January 
 4, 1477, in a battle with Duke Rene, against superior num- 
 bers. The proud, haughty, obstinate Duke, who had begun 
 with high ideals and ended as a cruel and obstinate war-lord, 
 was found on the day after the battle in a swamp, his naked 
 body covered with wounds. He had lived up to his motto : 
 " J'ay empris," and had failed. 
 
 THE INVASION OF SWITZERLAND. 
 
 The army which Charles of Burgundy led against the 
 Swiss was already exhausted by two winters' campaigns, 
 and finding snow in the month of March in this cold Swit- 
 zerland, betrayed no great eagerness for the expedition, if we 
 may judge by a threat of the duke's in his general order, 
 (February 26), that all caught deserting should be broken 
 alive on the wheel. This army, somewhat recruited in 
 Franche-Comte, hardly exceeded eighteen thousand men in 
 number, to which are to be added eight thousand Piedmontese 
 or Savoyards, led by James of Savoy. On the i8th of Febru- 
 ary the duke arrived before Granson, which, contrary to his 
 expectation, detained him until the 28th. A brave garrison 
 first maintained the town, and then the castle, against the 
 assaults of the Burgundians. On this, some courtesans and 
 a man were sent in with an offer that their lives should be 
 spared. They surrendered. But the duke had not author- 
 ized the man to treat, and was angered with the Swiss for 
 having delayed a prince like him, who did them the honor to 
 attack them in person ; so he suffered the people of the sur- 
 rounding country, who had more than one grudge to pay off, 
 to wreak their pleasure upon them. The Swiss were either 
 drowned in the lake, or hung on the battlements. 
 
 The army of the confederates was at Neufchatel. Great 
 was their surprise and indignation at having lost Granson, 
 9
 
 130 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 and, next, Vaumarcus, which surrendered without striking a 
 blow. They advanced, in order to recover it. The duke, 
 who occupied a strong position on the heights, left it, and 
 advanced likewise, in quest of provisions. He descended into 
 a narrow plain, where he was forced to extend his line and 
 march in columns. 
 
 The men of the canton of Schweitz, who were some dis- 
 tance in advance, suddenly found themselves face to face with 
 the Burgundians. They summoned, and were soon joined 
 by Berne, Soleure and Fribourg. These cantons, the only 
 ones which had yet arrived on the field of battle, were to bear 
 the shock alone. They knelt a moment in prayer ; then 
 rising and fixing their long lances in the ground, the point 
 towards the enemy, they waited immovable and invincible. 
 
 The Burgundians displayed but little skill. They were 
 ignorant how to use their artillery, and pointed their cannon 
 too high. The men-at-arms, according to the old custom, 
 flung themselves upon the lances, where they were dashed to 
 pieces and broken ; their own lances were only ten feet long, 
 whilst those of the Swiss were eighteen. The duke marched 
 bravely to the attack at the head of his infantry against that 
 of the Swiss ; whilst the valiant Count de Chateauguyon 
 charged his flanks with his cavalry, and twice forced his way 
 up to the enemy's standard, touched it, and fancied it won ; 
 twice he was repulsed, and at last slain. No effort could 
 divide the impenetrable mass. 
 
 With a view to throw it into confusion and draw it lower 
 down into the plain, the duke ordered his first line to fall 
 back, which retrograde movement struck a panic into the 
 second. At this moment, a sudden sunburst displayed on 
 the left a new army Uri, Underwald and Lucerne, the men 
 of which cantons had at length come up, having made their 
 way in single file along a snow-track, from which a hundred 
 horsemen could have precipitated them. Tha trump of 
 Underwald lowed in the valley, with the wild horns of 
 Lucerne and Uri. All uttered a cry of vengeance, "Granson, 
 Granson ! " The Burgundians of the second line, who were 
 already falling back on the third, saw with dread these fresh 
 troops deploying on their flank. Even from the camp arose
 
 CHARLES THE BOLD. 13! 
 
 the cry, u Sauve qui peut" From that instant nothing 
 could stop their flight ; vain was it for the Duke to seize them 
 or cut them down. They fled without a thought but of 
 flight : never was rout more complete. " The Confederates," 
 says the chronicler with a savage joy, " the Confederates fell 
 upon them like the hail, cutting up these gay popinjays 
 piecemeal ; so thoroughly discomfited and put to the rout are 
 these poor Burgundians, that they seem smoke scattered by 
 the northeast wind." So narrow was the plain, that few had 
 been actually engaged. It had been panic and rout, rather 
 than actual defeat. Comines, who, as being with the king, 
 would, undoubtedly, have asked no better than to believe the 
 loss had been considerable, says that there were only seven 
 men-at-arms slain : the Swiss said three thousand. 
 
 He had lost little, but infinitely. The charm was dissi- 
 pated. He was no longer Charles the Terrible. Valiant as 
 he was, he had shown his back. His great sword of honor 
 was now hung up at Fribourg or at Berne. Into the famous 
 tent of audience of red velvet, which princes entered trem- 
 bling, clowns had unceremoniously forced their way. The 
 chapel, the very saints of the house of Burgundy, which he 
 carried about with him in their shrines and reliquaries, had 
 allowed themselves to be taken : they were now the saints of 
 the enemy. His celebrated diamonds, known by their names 
 all over Christendom, were thrown aside at first as bits of 
 glass, and flung on the highway. The symbolic collar of the 
 Fleece, the ducal seal, that dreaded seal which sealed life or 
 death to be handled, exposed, defiled, ridiculed ! A Swiss 
 had the audacity to take the hat which had shaded the 
 majesty of that terrible brow (depositary of such vast 
 dreams !) ; he tried it on, laughed, and then cast it on the 
 ground. 
 
 Charles felt what he had lost, and every one besides felt it 
 too. King Louis, who up to this moment had lived at Lyons 
 much neglected, who sent everywhere, and was everywhere 
 badly received, saw the crowd gradually return. The most 
 decided of these repentant deserters was the Duke of Milan, 
 who offered to advance the king a hundred thousand ducats 
 in ready money, if he would fall upon the duke and pursue
 
 132 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 him without allowing him peace or truce. King Rene, who 
 had only waited for an envoy from the duke to give over 
 Provence into his hands, came to Lyons to offer his excuses. 
 He was old, and his nephew, his heir, sick ; and as Louis XL , 
 when he saw them concluded they would not last long, he 
 settled upom them a good pension for life, in consideration 
 of which they secured Provence to him after their demise. 
 
 The Duchess of Savoy, a sister truly worthy of him, 
 played double. She sent a message to him to Lyons, but set 
 off herself to the Duke of Burgundy. 
 
 The latter had established himself with her at Lausanne, 
 as being the central point where he could most quickly 
 assemble what troops might come to him from Savoy, from 
 Italy, and from Franche-Comte. These troops arrived slowly, 
 and at their pleasure ; he was devoured with impatience. 
 He had himself aided to alarm and disperse those who had 
 fled, and to prevent them from returning to his banner by 
 threats of condign punishment. What with his compulsory 
 inactivity, his shame at his defeat at Granson, his thirst for 
 vengeance, the impotence which he had to feel for the first 
 time now that he was taught that he was only a mortal, he 
 was suffocated ; his heart seemed ready to burst. He was at 
 Lausanne ; not in the city, but in his camp, on the height 
 commanding the lake and the Alps ; solitary and ferocious, 
 and suffering his beard to grow, which he had sworn that he 
 would not cut until he had once more seen the Swiss face to 
 face. He would scarcely allow his physician, Angelo Cato, 
 to come near him, who, however, managed to apply cupping- 
 glasses to him, got him to drink a little wine, unmixed, (he 
 was a water-drinker,) and even persuaded him to allow him- 
 self to be shaved. 
 
 The good Duchess of Savoy arrived to console him, and 
 sent home for silk to refit his wardrobe he had remained in 
 the torn, dishevelled array in which the flight from Granson 
 had left him. Nor did she stop here ; she clothed his troops, 
 and had hats and scarfs made for them. Money and equip- 
 ments of every kind were sent him from Venice, and even 
 from Milan (which was plotting against him. ) He was sup- 
 plied by the Pope and by Bologna with four thousand Italians,
 
 CHARLES THE BOLD. 133 
 
 and recruited to its full number his good troop of three thou- 
 sand English. There came from his own dominions six 
 thousand Walloons ; and, finally, from Flanders and from the 
 Low Countries two thousand knights or holders of fiefs, who, 
 with their body attendants, formed a fine body of five or six 
 thousand horse. The Prince of Tarentum, who was close to 
 the duke when he reviewed his troops, computed them at 
 twenty-three thousand fighting men, over and above the large 
 number of artillery men and baggage attendants ; to which 
 must be added nine thousand men, subsequently reinforced 
 by four thousand more, from the Savoyard army of the Count 
 de Romont The duke, finding himself at the head of this 
 large array, resumed all his pride, and even took upon him- 
 self to threaten the king on the Pope's account no longer 
 thinking it enough to have the Swiss upon his hands. 
 
 The unheard-of efforts made by the Count de Romont, and 
 undertaken through his agency, to crush the allies, and 
 which were ruining Savoy for the sake of the camp of Lau- 
 sanne, confirmed the prevalent report that the duke had pro- 
 mised his daughter's hand to the young Duke of Savoy, that 
 the territory of Berne had been partitioned out by anticipa- 
 tion, and that he had already bestowed its fiefs on the nobles 
 who had taken the field with him. Berne wrote letter upon 
 letter, each more pressing than the last, to the German cities, 
 to the King of France, and to the other Swiss cantons. Accord- 
 ing to his wont, the king promised succor, but sent not a 
 man. It was precisely that period of the year when the con- 
 federate mountaineers were in the habit of driving their flocks 
 to the higher mountain pastures ; and it was no easy matter 
 to get them to descend and assemble together ; they did not 
 well understand how, to defend Switzerland, it was essential 
 to march into Vaud and make that the battle-field. 
 
 Yet it was on the frontier that the war was about to break 
 out. Berne rightly judged that the attack would be made 
 upon Morat, which she considered to be her advance guard. 
 The troops sent to defend this town were not without uneasi- 
 ness, remembering Granson, and its unsuccored, hung, 
 drowned garrison. To quiet their fears of being similarly 
 abandoned to fate, out of every family in which there were
 
 134 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 two brothers, one was chosen for the defence of Morat, 
 the other drafted to the army of Berne. The honest and 
 valiant Bubenberg undertook the conduct of the defence, and 
 this post of trust was unhesitatingly confided to the leader of 
 the Burgundian party. 
 
 There, nevertheless, lay the salvation of Switzerland ; all 
 depended on the resistance offered by this town ; it was neces- 
 sary to allow the Confederates time to assemble, since their 
 enemy was ready. He did not push his advantage; he 
 marched from Lausanne on the 27th of May, and did not 
 reach Morat until the loth of June, when he invested the 
 town on the land side, and left the lake open, so that the 
 besieged could receive provisions and ammunition at pleasure. 
 Apparently, he deemed himself too strong to be resisted ; 
 and thought to carry the town at once. Repeated assaults, 
 urged for ten days continuously, utterly failed. The country 
 was against him. Friend of the Pope, as the duke was, 
 and the legate accompanying him to boot, the whole land 
 was horrified at his Italians, who were looked upon as infa- 
 mous wretches and heretics. At Laupen, a priest bravely led 
 his parishioners into battle. 
 
 Morat held out, and the Swiss had time to assemble. The 
 red coats of Alsace came to its relief, despite the emperor ; 
 and with them the youthful Rene, a duke without a duchy, 
 the sight of whom alone recalled to men's minds all the acts 
 of injustice committed by the Burgundian. This young man, 
 equally innocent and unfortunate, abandoned by his two 
 natural protectors, the king and the emperor, and who came 
 to fight on the side of the Swiss, arrived at the very moment 
 of the engagement, like a living image of persecuted justice 
 and of the good cause. The troops of Zurich joined at the 
 same time. 
 
 The evening before the battle, while the whole population 
 of Berne filled the churches and offered up prayers to God for 
 the event, the Zurichers passed through. The town was at 
 once lighted up, tables spread for them, and a festival pre- 
 pared ; but they were in too great haste to stop, in their fears 
 of arriving late; so embraces were quickly exchanged, and 
 they were wished u God speed." Fine and irreparable mo-
 
 CHARGES THE BOLD. 135 
 
 ment of sincere fraternity, which Switzerland has never since 
 enjoyed. They left Berne at ten, singing their war-songs, 
 marched the whole night, despite of the rain, and joined the 
 main body of the Confederates at a very early hour. All 
 heard matins; and then numbers were dubbed knights, 
 whether nobles or burgesses matters not The good young 
 Rene, who had no pride, desired to be made a knight too. 
 There was nothing now to do but to march to battle. Many, 
 through impatience (or through devotion?), took neither 
 bread nor wine, but fasted on that sacred day (22d June, 1476.) 
 
 The duke, though warned the evening before, persisted in 
 disbelieving that the army of the Swiss was in a state to 
 attack him. Both parties had nearly the same number of 
 men ; about thirty-four thousand on each side. But the 
 Swiss were in one body, whilst the duke committed the glar- 
 ing fault of remaining divided, and of leaving at a distance, 
 before the opposite gate of Morat, the Count de Romont's nine 
 thousand Savoyards. His artillery was badly stationed, and 
 his fine cavalry was of little use, because he would not give it 
 room to act by changing his position. He staked his honor 
 on disdaining to budge, on not giving way one foot, on never 
 stirring from his place. The battle was lost beforehand. 
 The physician and astrologer, Angelo Cato, had warned the 
 Prince of Tarentum, the evening before, that he would do 
 wisely to take his leave. On the duke's march to Dijon it 
 had rained blood ; and Angelo had predicted and written in 
 Italy the rout of Granson ; that of Morat was easier to be 
 foreseen. 
 
 In the morning, the duke draws up his army in battle- 
 array under a heavy rain ; but the bows and the powder 
 getting saturated, the troops fall back into the camp. The 
 Swiss seize the moment, scale the mountain's brow from the 
 opposite side, clothed with wood, where they had remained 
 concealed, and when they reach the summit, kneel down 
 in prayer. The sun bursts forth, and at once reveals to their 
 view the lake, the plain and the enemy. They descend with 
 hasty strides, shouting " Granson ! Granson ! " and fall upon 
 the intrenchment, which they had charged whilst the duke 
 was still scouting the idea that they would attack him.
 
 136 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 The cainp was covered by a numerous train of artillery, 
 but, as was common in those days, badly and slowly served. 
 The Purgundian cavalry charged and broke their opponents, 
 and Rene had a horse killed under him ; but the infantry, the 
 immovable spearsmen, came to their support. Meanwhile, an 
 old Swiss captain, who had served with Huniades in his cam- 
 paigns against the Turks, turns the battery, gains possession 
 of it, and directs the guns against the Burgundians. On the 
 other hand, Bubenberg, sallying out of Morat, gives full 
 occupation to the corps commanded by the bastard of Bur- 
 gundy. The duke, being thus deprived of the services of the 
 bastard and of the Count de Romont, was left but twenty 
 thousand men to oppose to more than thirty thousand. The 
 rear-guard of the Swiss, which had not yet been engaged, 
 made a movement which placed them in the rear of the 
 Burgundians, so as to cut off their retreat They thus 
 found themselves hemmed in on both sides, and met on the 
 third by the garrison of Morat. The fourth was the lake. 
 In the plain between, there was resistance, and a fearful 
 resistance the duke's guard fought till cut to pieces ; so did 
 his personal attendants, so did the English. All the rest of 
 the army, a confused, bewildered mass, was gradually im- 
 pelled towards the lake. The men-at-arms sunk into the 
 muddy shore ; the foot soldiers were drowned, or afforded the 
 Swiss the cruel pleasure of riddling them with arrow after 
 arrow. No pity was shown ; they slew as many as eight or 
 ten thousand men, whose heaped up bones formed for three 
 centuries a hideous monument. M. MICHELET.
 
 STATS NORMAL SCHOOL,

 
 OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 UNTIL the present century English 
 historians have not merely neglected 
 but have done flagrant injustice to 
 Oliver Cromwell, who was certainly 
 entitled to a foremost place among 
 their statesmen and rulers. Though 
 his acts proved him one of the most 
 extraordinary men that ever lived, 
 it was deemed sufficient by most 
 writers to pronounce him at once a 
 fierce fanatic and an odious hypocrite 
 
 two incompatible characters. But the genius of Carlyle 
 and the judgment of Macaulay, confirmed by the sober sense 
 of subsequent impartial investigators of the Parliamentary 
 struggle of the seventeenth century, have set the character 
 and career of the Lord Protector of the British Common- 
 wealth in their true light, and proved him to be a genuine 
 and most striking embodiment of that spirit which has made 
 English institutions and ideas dominant over so great a part 
 of the world. 
 
 Oliver Cromwell was born at Huntingdon on the 25th of 
 April, 1599. His father, Robert Cromwell, was the second 
 son of Sir Henry Cromwell of Hinchinbrook, surnamed from 
 his munificence "the Golden Knight." His mother, Eliza- 
 beth Steward, was descended from the royal line of Scotland. 
 He inherited from his father an ample estate. In April, 1616, 
 he entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he 
 remained until his father died, in June, 1617. He began the 
 study of law in London, but having there married Elizabeth 
 Bourchier, in 1620, he settled on the ancestral estate at 
 
 137 

 
 138 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Huntingdon. Here he passed many years in the cultivation 
 
 of the soil, and came into intimate fellowship with the 
 
 Puritans, who were then beginning to resist the arbitrary 
 
 tendencies of the king in both Church and State. Cromwell 
 
 represented the borough of Huntingdon in the parliament 
 
 which met in 1628, and was dissolved in March, 1629. ^ na d> 
 
 h ~>wever, done great service to liberty by enacting the famous 
 
 Petition of Right, which deprived the king of power to 
 
 'son without cause shown, and to make forced loans. In 
 
 rliament Cromwell made his first speech rebuking 
 
 bishops for advancing clergymen who had been censured by 
 
 'tousc 1 of Commons. This was the last parliament that 
 
 met In li ;.yland for eleven years, during which period the 
 
 ubject to the arbitrary and tyrannical personal 
 
 timeiit of the king. 
 
 According to some authorities, Cromwell and his cousin, 
 John Ha^ i 1637, resolved to emigrate to North America 
 
 foi tii_ rutke of liberty. They had even embarked on a ship, 
 but were detained by order of the king or his council, and so 
 they remained ir nd. This statement, however, seems 
 
 to be incorrect, as are IP any others about Cromwell's early 
 life. He represented CVnbridge in the Short Parliament 
 which me i f or three weeks in April, 1640, and also in the 
 Long Parliament /inch succeeded it in November of that 
 year. When he rotsc once to address the House, Lord Digby 
 asked Hampden who ''that sloven " was. Hampden replied 
 that it was Oliver Cromwell, and added, "That sloven whom 
 you see before you jias no ornament in his speech ; but if we 
 should ever come to a breach with the king, that sloven, I 
 say, will be the greatest man in England." This Long Par- 
 liament abolished the king's personal government, and stripped 
 the crown of various arbitrary powers it had acquired. Hop- 
 ing to intimidate the members, Charles, n January, 1642, 
 attempted to seize Hampden an'i tour other leaders of the 
 House, whom he accused of treason. But -warned of his 
 project they had retired, and the attempt r< oiled on the king. 
 Both parties then appealed to an 
 
 At the mature age of forty-three Crom < ered the 
 
 Parliamentary army as captain of cavalry, and soon distin-
 
 OLIVER CROMWEI.I,. 139 
 
 guished himself by practical sagacity, military genius, and 
 strict discipline. He took care to enlist in this service 
 yeomen of the rural districts, Puritans and other men of firm 
 principles. Thus he gradually gathered a regiment whose 
 title of ' ' Ironsides ' ' has become memorable in history. In 
 1643 the Earl of Manchester was appointed general of an 
 army, with Cromwell as lieutenant-general. The latter gained 
 his first victory in July near Gainsborough, over a body three 
 times as large as his own, and again defeated the royalist 
 horse at Winceby in October of that year. In the following 
 April the Scotch Covenanted army entered England and 
 joined the Parliamentary forces. On July 2, 1644, in the 
 great battle of Marston Moor, Cromwell commanded the left 
 wing, and after sweeping all opposing him, turned to aid 
 Fairfax, who had been overpowered by the royalist left wing, 
 commanded by Prince Rupert. In his own forcible phrase, 
 " God made them as stubble to our swords." The other 
 Parliamentary generals had lost their armies, but Parliament 
 granted them fresh troops and ordered Manchester to join 
 them. Though the result of the conflict at Newbury, in 
 October, was in their favor, Cromwell could not persuade 
 Manchester to follow up his advantage. 
 
 Returning to Parliament he urged the remodeling of the 
 army, which was finally agreed to. By the "self-denying 
 ordinance," members of Parliament were prohibited from 
 holding military offices. Soldiers were also permitted to 
 enlist without signing the Covenant, which had been prepared 
 by the Presbyterians as a basis of government for the king- 
 dom, but was rejected by the Independents, who were steadily 
 becoming stronger. The former had a majority in Parlia- 
 ment, but were unable to control the current of affairs. 
 
 Early in 1645 Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed general 
 of the newly-organized army. Cromwell being exempted 
 from the self-denying ordinance, proved his military skill in 
 several fights, and was made lieutenant-general, with the 
 command of the cavalry. He led the right wing at the 
 decisive battle of Naseby, I4th of June, 1645, and totally 
 defeated the royal forces. " The stake played for at Naseby," 
 says Gardiner, " was the crown of England, and Charles lost
 
 140 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 it" His private papers captured here revealed his persistent 
 intrigues to bring alien armies into England. Cromwell 
 never lost a battle ; he also became noted for the success of 
 his sieges, capturing strongholds that had been deemed 
 impregnable. Early in 1646 the civil war virtually came to 
 an end, and Cromwell, on his return to Parliament, was 
 received with distinguished honors. 
 
 -* The contest between the Independents and the Presby- 
 terians occupied the next two years. The king, yielding to 
 circumstances, promised to establish Presbyterianism in his 
 three realms and punish heresy. The city of London was as 
 Presbyterian as Parliament, and the Presbyterian leaders fan- 
 cied themselves masters of the situation. The Parliament 
 resolved in 1647 to disband the army, which they feared more 
 than the king. But the army refused to disband. In June 
 one of Cromwell's officers seized the king and removed him 
 from the custody of Parliament to that of the army. A 
 Scottish army under the Duke of Hamilton invaded England 
 on behalf of the king in 1648, and began the second civil war. 
 In August Cromwell, with less than"9,ooo men, met the enemy 
 at Preston and utterly routed the Scottish army of 22,000. 
 
 On December 5, the House of Commons, recoiling from 
 the effect of their own success, declared for a reconciliation 
 with the king. On the next day forty-one royalists were 
 ejected from the House by Colonel Pride, one of Cromwell's 
 officers. The part left seated was called in derision the 
 Rump. Of this the Independents were in full control, and 
 soon brought Charles Stuart to trial for violation of the 
 liberties of England. Cromwell was a member of the court 
 which condemned the king to death, in January, 1649. 
 Thereupon Parliament declared Great Britain to be a Com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 Cromwell was now the most powerful man in England. 
 But Presbyterian Scotland and Roman Catholic Ireland 
 acknowledged Charles II. as rightful sovereign. In August, 
 1649, Cromwell led an army to Ireland, which was in a state 
 of anarchy. He defeated the royalists at Drogheda and 
 Wexford, and, by punishing their resistance with frightful 
 severity, reduced the rest of Ireland to speedy submission. 

 
 OLIVER CROMWELL. 141 
 
 It is remarkable that his brief rule brought to that ill-fated 
 island an unexampled prosperity. 
 
 In June, 1650, Charles II. landed in Scotland and was 
 proclaimed King by the Scotch, who raised an army to fight 
 for him. Cromwell, having been appointed by Parliament 
 commander-in-chief, marched hastily into Scotland. On 
 September 3, 1650, he defeated the Scotch army at Dunbar, 
 and took about 10,000 prisoners. Charles, however, was rein- 
 forced and led his army into England. Cromwell pursued 
 him and gained a complete victory at Worcester, September 
 3, 1651, absolutely destroying the Scottish army. Those 
 who were not slain were taken prisoners. After this final 
 ruin of the royal cause, a change in Cromwell's manner 
 appeared. Clarendon observes that ' ' his parts seemed to be 
 raised, as if he had concealed his faculties till he had occasion 
 to use them." 
 
 In April, 1653, Cromwell finally dissolved the Long Par- 
 liament, which had sunk from usefulness and glory to utter 
 shame and contempt. At the end of that year he assumed 
 the title of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, with much 
 of royal state and nearly royal power. Nominally, he was 
 restrained by a council of state which was independent of 
 him. The Protector and the council moved forward in the 
 path of conservative reform. With the poet Milton as his 
 Latin Secretary, he defended the Protestant cause on the Con- 
 tinent of Europe and compelled the respectful attention of 
 sovereigns to his wishes. Liberty of conscience was one of 
 the principles of his domestic policy. He was bitterly hated 
 by the extreme royalists and by the religious enthusiasts who 
 abused the liberty granted them. Charles II. , to his disgrace, 
 offered rewards for the murder of the usurper. In the face of 
 such danger Oliver abandoned the forms of constitutional 
 government. He divided England into ten military districts, 
 over each of which he set a major-general with arbitrary 
 power. 
 
 The Protector, having become involved in a war against 
 Spain, formed, in 1655, an alliance with France. A new 
 Parliament met September, 1656, with a remodeled House of 
 Lords. Its subservient character is shown by the fact that
 
 142 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS, 
 
 Oliver was urged to take the title of king, but he refused. 
 In June, 1658, the allied armies of England and France 
 defeated the Spaniards in a great battle on the Dunes, and in 
 the same month Dunkirk surrendered and was placed in the 
 hands of the English. Cromwell's political aims were noble, 
 but his earnest efforts to restore order were partly frustrated 
 by the mutinous and factious conduct of his enemies. Yet 
 no open resistance was made during his life. His death 
 occurred after a brief illness, on September 3, 1658, the anni- 
 versary of his victories at Dunbar and Worcester. He left 
 two sons, Richard and Henry. The former, weak and good- 
 natured, was easily thrust aside by determined men, and 
 monarchy was soon restored. 
 
 Although it was formerly the fashion for historians to 
 revile Cromwell as a hypocrite, a fanatic, an usurper and a 
 man of mediocre talents, it is now admitted by all that as a 
 statesman, a reformer and general, he possessed abilities of 
 the highest order. " Never," says Macaulay, u was any ruler 
 so conspicuously born to sovereignty. The cup which has 
 intoxicated almost all others, sobered him. His spirit, rest- 
 less from its buoyancy in a lower sphere, reposed in majestic 
 placidity as soon as it had reached the level congenial to it. 
 Rapidly as his fortunes grew, his mind expanded more rapidly 
 still. Insignificant as a private citizen, he was a great 
 general ; he was a still greater prince." 
 
 THE BATTLE OF NASEBY. 
 
 Cromwell drew together about 6,000 chosen horse, marched 
 after Fairfax, and on the evening of the i3th of June, came up 
 with him at Northampton, where he lay within six miles of 
 Charles. The presence of Cromwell at once carried life and 
 energy into the camp of Fairfax. He found the general still 
 uncertain of the movements of the king, and, without hesita- 
 tion, suggested the propriety of sending out a detachment of 
 horse to ascertain the exact position of the Royalists, and to 
 attack their rear should they persist in retiring from the scene 
 of action. Cromwell, resolved to bring on a battle, intrusted 
 this service to Ireton, on whom he could best rely, and who 
 well justified his selection.
 
 OLIVER CROMWELL. 143 
 
 The night had scarcely fallen when Ireton moved silently 
 out with a choice party of men, charged and drove in the 
 king's outposts, and brought back with him several prisoners, 
 from whom all necessary intelligence as to the number and 
 disposition of the enemy was immediately obtained. Crom- 
 well, in great excitement, declared for a "decisive action" 
 on the morrow. Fairfax acquiesced, and about an hour 
 before dawn on the morning of the I4th of June, the whole 
 army formed, and in deep silence and admirable order began 
 its march. 
 
 A strange and agitated scene had meanwhile been acting in 
 the camp of Charles. Ire ton's assault upon the outposts 
 spread alarm with the rapidity of wildfire ; officers, summoned 
 out of their beds to attend a council of war, were seen hurry- 
 ing towards the king's tent in abrupt excitement and disordered 
 dress, and after an hour's consultation, the whole camp was 
 ordered into motion. With that careless and characteristic 
 gallantry which, whatever their other failings, never failed 
 the Cavaliers, the officers had resolved, notwithstanding their 
 critical position, not only to risk, but to advance and offer 
 battle. 
 
 This resolution taken, the army was at once drawn up on 
 a rising ground about a mile south from Harborough, a posi- 
 tion of a most advantageous nature both for the foot, cavalry, 
 and ordnance. The main body of the infantry, amounting to 
 about 25,000, was put under the command of Lord Ashley ; 
 the right wing of horse, being somewhat less numerous, was 
 led by Prince Rupert ; while the left wing, consisting of cav- 
 alry from the Northern counties, and of some detachments 
 from Newark, in all not exceeding 1600, was intrusted to the 
 charge of Sir Marmaduke Langdale. In the reserve were the 
 king's life-guards, commanded by the Earl of Lindsay, Prince 
 Rupert's regiment of foot, and the royal horse-guards, .under 
 Lord Bernard Stuart, recently created Earl of Litchfield. 
 Here, after remaining in order of battle till eight o'clock (still 
 the busy and fatal morning of the I4th of June), Charles 
 began to doubt the intelligence on which they had moved, 
 when suddenly Prince Rupert, who had dashed forward with 
 his characteristic impetuosity upward of two miles in front of
 
 144 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 his men to ascertain the intentions of Fairfax, galloped back, 
 and sent word throughout the line that the enemy were about 
 to turn their backs, and that one fierce attack in pursuit would 
 utterly disperse them. The word was given ; Charles put his 
 army in motion ; and, relinquishing the favorable ground he 
 had originally occupied, led his battalions into the plain, or 
 fallow field, about a mile in breadth, which separated Harbor- 
 ough from a village called Naseby. 
 
 Here, with no thought of retreat, the men of the new 
 model had been drawn up by their great leaders. Here, at 
 dawn in the morning, having sung a psalm in praise of their 
 God, they had sat down composedly and in rank with their 
 arms in their hands. Some few troops merely had been set 
 in motion by Cromwell, and miserably had Rupert, self- 
 deceived, deceived his unfortunate master ! 
 
 The position, a remarkably strong one, had been selected 
 by Cromwell, who being satisfied early in the march (from 
 catching a glimpse of a corps of Rupert's cavalry in motion) 
 that the king had doubled back on his pursuers, and deter- 
 mined to give rather than receive battle, suggested to Fairfax 
 the fallow field near Naseby. Along the ridge of a gentle 
 eminence the men were drawn up, the infantry in the centre, 
 the cavalry on either flank, and some twenty pieces of artil- 
 lery so well planted as to cover every avenue of approach. 
 Fairfax and Skippon commanded the main battle, Cromwell 
 took the right wing, and at his request Fairfax gave Ireton 
 upon the field the rank of commissary-general, and the com- 
 mand of the horse on the left. The forces were nearly equal, 
 and might amount altogether to about 36,000 men. 
 
 Rupert began the battle, and charged Ireton with such 
 furious force that even the astonishing resistance of that lion- 
 like soldier opposed the shock in vain. Again and again he 
 strove. to rally his men, but Rupert hewed down everything 
 before him. At the head of the last few troops who had 
 kept their ground, Ireton then threw himself, with the terri- 
 ble courage of despair, on a body of the royal infantry ; their 
 pikes pierced him in the face and thigh, he fell senseless from 
 his horse, was taken prisoner, and only in the subsequent rout 
 recovered by his friends. His division was now utterly dis-
 
 OLIVER CROMWEU,. 145 
 
 persed, and Rupert, regardless, after his impetuous fashion, of 
 the fate of the main body of the men engaged, rushed on 
 after the fugitives, drove them through their reserves with the 
 gay excitement that belonged to the hunting-field rather than 
 the collected resolution and foresight necessary in such a 
 momentous battle, and having reached the enemy's cannon 
 and baggage in the rear, only turned round his jaded horse- 
 men when they had lost all further opportunity of service. 
 
 Fairfax, meanwhile, maintained in the centre an unequal 
 fight. Abandoning the privileges of a captain, he grappled 
 personally with the foe, galloped through the thickest of the 
 fray, and his helmet having been beaten to pieces, still bare- 
 headed as he was, flamed resolution and courage- everywhere 
 among his men, when the colonel of his body-guard, Charles 
 D'Oyley, threw himself before him with his own helmet, 
 entreating him not to hazard unduly so rich a life. "'Tis 
 well enough, Charles," said Fairfax, putting the proffered 
 helmet by. 
 
 But, with total rout upon the left wing, and fearful uncer- 
 tainty in the centre, Cromwell and his Ironsides now singly 
 decided the battle. I,angdale had charged after Rupert's 
 example, but might as well have charged against a rock. 
 Recoiling from the steady shock of that iron wall, Cromwell 
 charged him in his turn, first with a heavy fire of carbines, 
 next at the sword's point, routed the whole of his cavalry, 
 sent three squadrons after them to prevent their rallying, and 
 with the remaining four, which he had held steadily in hand, 
 wheeled furiously round, and with loosened rein and spur in 
 his horse's flanks, led them on with overpowering shock 
 against the weary infantry engaged with Fairfax. Not for an 
 instant could the Royalists resist that fell attack. They 
 wavered, gave way, were cut through and through, and fled 
 in all directions. One regiment alone preserved its ground, 
 and scarcely a man of it survived to tell his courageous story. 
 
 Charles behaved with the bravery which never deserted 
 him in war. At the head of the cavalry that remained 
 joined in the instant by Rupert's weary stragglers he 
 implored them to follow their king, and stand the coming 
 shock. A terrible conviction of his hopeless ruin, no doubt, 
 10
 
 146 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 then flashed upon him. "One charge more," he exclaimed 
 u and we recover the day." It was too late ; Rupert's cavalry 
 were already worn out by their chase, and the rest had been 
 panic-struck by the charge of the Ironsides. Never was rout 
 so triumphantly complete. Two thousand men were left dead 
 upon the field. The Royalists who were made prisoners were 
 five thousand foot and three thousand horse. There were also 
 captured the whole of Charles' artillery, eight thousand 
 stand of arms, above one hundred pair of colors, the royal 
 standard, the king's cabinet of letters, his coaches, and the 
 whole spoil of his camp. 
 
 The first civil war was decided by this victory ; and so, it 
 is evident, Cromwell at once perceived, for nothing could 
 equal his excitement after the day was won. He led the pur- 
 suit for upward of twelve miles, returned to Harborough 
 (Haverbrowe it was then called), and, before taking rest or re- 
 freshment, after toils that would have worn down the strength 
 of a score of ordinary men, took up his pen and wrote news 
 of the victory to the Speaker of the House of Commons. 
 The letter of the second officer in command reached Parlia- 
 ment a day before the letter of the lord-general. The circum- 
 stance created T some sensation, and no doubt Cromwell 
 intended that it should. The news which was to dismay the 
 Presbyterians more than intelligence of a defeat would have 
 dismayed them ; the victory which was to elevate Vane and 
 the Independents into enthusiastic strength and joy, should 
 fitly issue first from him. And how the letter is written 
 with what an ill-subdued effort from exultation in what curt 
 regal sentences with what resolute purpose against his polit- 
 ical adversaries in the House ! It is addressed to the Speaker, 
 and bears date from u Haverbrowe, June the i4th, 1645. 
 
 "SiR, Being commanded by you to this service, I think myself 
 bound to aquainte you with the good hand of God towards you and 
 us. Wee marched yesterday after the kinge, whoe went before us 
 from Daventree to Haverbroue, and quartered about six miles from 
 him. This day wee marched towards him. He drew out to meet us. 
 Both armies engaged. Wee, after three howers fight, very doubtfull, 
 at last routed his armie ; killed and tooke about 5000, very many 
 officers, butt of what quallitie wee yett know not. Wee took also 
 about 200 carriages, all he had, and all his gunnes, beinge 12 in num-
 
 OLIVER CROMWELL. 147 
 
 ber, whereof 2 were demie-cannon, 2 demie-culverings, and (I thinke) 
 the rest sackers. Wee pursued enemie from 3 miles short of Haver- 
 browe to nine beyond, even to sight of Leicester, whither the kinge 
 fled. 
 
 " Sir, this is none other butt the hand of God, and to him alone 
 belongs the glorie, wherein none are share with him. The general 
 served you with all faithfulnesse and honour ; and the best commen- 
 dations I can give him is, that I dare say he attributes all to God, and 
 would rather perish than assume to himselfe ; which is an honest and 
 a thrivinge way, and yett as much for bravery may be given to him in 
 this action as to a man. Honest men served you faithfully in this 
 action. Sir, they are trustie. I beseeche you, in the name of God, not 
 to discourage them. I wish this action may beget thankfulnesss and 
 humilite in all that are concerned in it. He that venters life for the 
 libertie of his countrie, I wish he trust God for the libertie of his con- 
 science, and you for the libertie he fights for. In this he rest whoe is 
 your most humble servent, " OLIVER CROMWELL." 
 
 But not in the affairs of battle does the writer rest till all 
 his work is done. After Naseby he overspread the land with 
 his victorious forces, as with a devastating torrent. Leicester 
 was immediately retaken ; Taunton, besieged by the disso- 
 lute Goring and defended by the valiant Blake, was relieved ; 
 Goring himself was beaten, and obliged to retreat to Bridge- 
 water. Here the prudence, not less than the valor, of Crom- 
 well, shone forth most eminently. An advanced party of 
 horse, with inconsiderate rashness, rushed forward to charge 
 the enemy, when, with consummate presence of mind, he 
 checked them until the whole of the cavalry had come up, 
 and then putting himself at their head, attacked the Royalists 
 with such vigor and success, that nearly their whole body of 
 foot became his prisoners, while he captured also the greater 
 part of their ordnance. From this he pushed on against the 
 town itself, which he carried by storm against a heavy garri- 
 son. While engaged in this gallant work, he had a very 
 narrow escape from a musket-ball of the enemy. J. FOR- 
 STER.
 
 148 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 CROMWEU, BEFORE THE DEAD BODY OF CHARGES I. 
 History relates that Cromwell expressed a wish to look upon the 
 King after his execution, which he accordingly did "not in cruelty, 
 or anger, or exultation ; but with reverential fear, as he thought on 
 the judgment of God." 
 
 With stern, sad brow, and mournful mien, and rigid lip com- 
 pressed, 
 And head low bent in brooding thought upon his mail-clad 
 
 breast, 
 
 With all the stormy elements that swept his mighty soul, 
 Subdued to silent, solemn awe, beneath a dread control, 
 He of the iron heart and frame, and spirit's fiery mould, 
 Gazed on the form that slept in death, ghastly, and stiff, and 
 cold. 
 
 Before him lay his crowned king, his liege, whom he had 
 
 sworn 
 
 To honor with the loyalty, by faithful subject borne ; 
 Whose sacred person he was vowed to guard from every foe, 
 Whose rightful throne his oaths were pledged to shield from 
 
 hostile blow ; 
 And yet that kingly neck beneath the headsman's stroke had 
 
 bent, 
 That throne had crumbled to the ground, that sceptre's power 
 
 was rent. 
 
 And he he who with folded arms, and sorrow's sternest air, 
 Upon that strangely pallid face, so long stood gazing there, 
 How could he see the axe descend, and yet forbear to spring 
 With vengeful fury on the power that dared assail his king ! 
 How could he see that monarch's throne just tottering to its fall, 
 Nor interpose his stalwart arm, his life's best blood, his all ! 
 
 Across his flashing eye, the mist of feeling gathers now, 
 His lips relax, and softer light is falling o'er his brow ; 
 No weakly, woman's nature moves the warrior's heart, and yet, 
 The cheek made rugged by the toils of war's wild strife, is wet; 
 Strange man ! a conqueror he stands before the conquered here, 
 His exultation but a groan, his triumph but a tear ! 
 
 "Would God thou hadst not perished thus ! Would God thou 
 
 hadst not wrought, 
 With suicidal hand, the fate so blindly on thee brought !
 
 OLIVER CROMWEI.lv. 
 
 149 
 
 That thou by priestly craft hadst ne'er submitted to be led, 
 
 And to the majesty of law hadst bowed thine own proud head ; 
 
 And still maintained thy solemn oaths, in reverent faith and 
 
 fear ; 
 Thou hadst to-day been on thy throne, and not upon thy bier ! 
 
 " Thy people broke not fealty, till 'twixt their cause and thine, 
 Thy sacrilegious sword had drawn the deep, dissevering line, 
 Till covenanted rights, which blood of thousand heroes slain, 
 Had flowed to win, were trampled down with scorn and high 
 
 disdain. 
 Till at the shrine of lawless power thou sought' st with vain 
 
 disguise, 
 To make a nation's fondest hopes, the costly sacrifice ! 
 
 "With zeal I served thee once, but when thine unrelenting 
 
 hand 
 
 Weighed its usurping force against the freedom of the land, 
 When holy faith and liberty within one scale were laid, 
 And loyalty and tyrant-rule in balance were arrayed, 
 Since I must choose, with liberty and faith my choice I fling 
 Keep my allegiance to my God, and break it to my king ! 
 
 " And yet I fain had turned aside this fearful, fatal blow ! 
 No vengeance in my heart required thy princely blood to flow ; 
 Thy form how fit for length of years ! unsilvered still thy hair ; 
 How mildly grave thy face ! no dark, deceitful lines are there ; 
 But He who marked thy devious course, hath smote thee with 
 
 His rod, 
 And here thou liest the monument of an avenging God ! " 
 
 MARGARET J. PRESTON.
 
 IENRY HUDSON. 
 
 THE name of Henry Hudson is in- 
 dissolubly linked with the waters 
 of the Western Continent, yet the 
 greater part of his life is wrapped 
 in obscurity. He is supposed to 
 have been born about A. D. 1570. 
 The first certain knowledge of 
 him which we have is his appoint- 
 ment, in 1607, to the command of 
 the "Hopeful," a vessel sent by 
 the Muscovy Company on a voyage 
 "to discover the pole." On the 
 first of May he set sail accompanied by his son and a crew of 
 twelve men ; and after various adventures, through icy seas 
 and regions intensely cold, during which he touched at Green- 
 land and coasted along the island of Spitsbergen, he arrived 
 home September i5th, of the same year. 
 
 On the 22d of April, 1608, Hudson made his second voy- 
 age for the Muscovy Company, with his son and a crew of 
 thirteen men. This time he took the route formerly attempted 
 by Willoughby and Barentz, to find a passage by the north- 
 east to the pole. This second voyage was as unsuccessful as 
 the first, and he arrived in England August 26, 1608. 
 
 Not disheartened, he attempted a voyage for the Dutch 
 East India Company, and set sail from Amsterdam, Holland, 
 on March 25, 1609, with two ships. When off the coast of 
 Nova Zembla, the crew of his own ship refused to proceed 
 farther, and Hudson, turning about, stretched across the Atlan- 
 tic to the coast of Nova Scotia, and thence southward to the 
 Chesapeake Bay, from which he turned northward, touching 
 150
 
 HENRY HUDSON. 15! 
 
 at the Delaware Bay, and readied the bay of New York Sep- 
 tember 2, 1609. He devoted a month to the examination of 
 this bay, and sailed up its river the distance of one hundred 
 and fifty miles. The river has since received his name. He 
 now put to sea, and arrived in England November 7, 1609. 
 
 The next year, April 17, 1610, Hudson made his last voy- 
 age. He sailed from London in the "Discovery," fitted out 
 at the cost of three English gentlemen, to attempt the north- 
 west passage, if through any of those American inlets which 
 Captain Davis saw, but durst not enter on the western side of 
 Davis' Strait, any passage might be found to the South Sea. 
 
 Arriving the i5th of June, off Frobisher's Strait, Hudson 
 thence proceeded until he arrived at the strait which bears 
 his name, into which he sailed westward, as the land and ice 
 would permit, till he got into the bay, which has ever since 
 borne the name of "Hudson's Bay." He gave names to 
 places as he went along, and called the country itself "New 
 Britain." 
 
 Captain Hudson sailed over three hundred miles into the 
 bay, being confident he had found the desired passage to the 
 South Sea ; but discovering his mistake at last, he concluded 
 to winter at the most southern point of the bay, and by the 
 loth of November, 1610, his ship was frozen in, possibly near 
 Moose Fort. The winter passed very miserably; the provis- 
 ions were hardly sufficient, and the supply of game and fish 
 was scanty. With the opening of the Spring of 1611 came 
 dissension. On the 23d of June, when he arrived at the west 
 end of the strait, on the way home, the mutineers entered 
 Hudson's cabin in the night, seized, bound and put him into 
 the small boat ; and with him they put his son, John Hudson, 
 King, and seven men who were sick. The boat was then 
 cut adrift, and they were never seen again. 
 
 Bylot was now elected master of the "Discovery," and 
 while proceeding eastward through the strait, the provisions 
 being almost exhausted, a party went on shore to hunt game. 
 Of the party five were killed by the Esquimaux. Only a 
 miserable remnant of the crew, worn by famine and sickness, 
 survived to reach England. They were immediately impris- 
 oned, but were shortly afterwards released. Bylot himself,
 
 152 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS- 
 
 in the following year, sailed with Button in his voyage to 
 Hudson's Bay. It is probable that the surviving mutineers 
 were judged to have expiated their crime by their sufferings. 
 
 The accounts we have of Henry Hudson are really very 
 vague. The river, the strait, the bay, and the vast tract of 
 land which bear his name have made his memory imperish- 
 able ; but in point of fact not one of these was discovered by 
 him. All that can be seriously claimed for him is that he 
 pushed his explorations further than his predecessors, and left 
 a somewhat imperfect record of them. It has been conclu- 
 sively shown by Dr. Asher that the river, the strait, and the 
 bay were marked in maps years before the time of Hudson. 
 
 What Henry Hudson really did was to show, in four sev- 
 eral voyages, that the passage to Cathay was not the simple 
 thing that was generally supposed ; that there was no strait 
 through the continent of North America in a low latitude, 
 and if there was one in a high latitude, it would not avail, on 
 account of being ice-bound nearly the whole year round. He 
 tried in fact all the routes that had been suggested, and these 
 having all failed, there is little doubt that had he lived, he 
 would have examined beyond Davis' Strait, and have antici- 
 pated Baffin's discoveries of a few years later. 
 
 Henry Hudson was a bold, energetic and able man, zeal- 
 ous in the cause to which he had devoted himself, though 
 prevented by cruel fortune from achieving merited success. 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF THE HUDSON RIVER. 
 
 The tradition of Henry Hudson's arrival at the mouth of 
 the Hudson River, as originally given by the Indians them- 
 selves to the Rev. John Heckewelder, for many years a Mora- 
 vian missionary to the Indians in Pennsylvania, runs as fol- 
 lows: "A long time ago, when there was no such thing known 
 to the Indians as people with a white skin, some Indians who 
 had been out a fishing, and where the sea widens, espied, at a 
 great distance, something remarkably large, swimming or 
 floating on the water, and such as they had never seen before. 
 They, immediately returning to the shore, told their country- 
 men of what they had seen, and pressed them to go out with 
 them and discern what it might be. These together hurried
 
 HENRY HUDSON. 153 
 
 out, and saw, to their great surprise, the phenomenon, but 
 could not agree what it might be, some concluding it to be 
 an uncommonly large fish or other animal, while others were 
 of opinion it must be some very large house. It was at 
 length agreed among them, that as this phenomenon moved 
 toward the land, whether it was an animal or not, it would 
 be well to inform all the Indians of what they had seen, and 
 put them on their guard. Accordingly they sent runners to 
 carry the news to their scattered chiefs, that they might send 
 off in every direction for the warriors to come in. These 
 now came in numbers, and seeing the strange appearance, 
 and that it was actually moving forward, concluded that it 
 was a large canoe or house, in which the Great Manitto [or 
 Spirit] himself was, and that he probably was corning to 
 visit them. By this time the chiefs of the different tribes 
 were assembled on York Island, and were counseling as to 
 the manner in which they should receive the Manitto on his 
 arrival. They now provided plenty of meat for a sacrifice ; 
 the women were required to prepare the best of victuals ; their 
 idols or images were examined and put in order ; and a grand 
 dance was supposed not only to be an agreeable entertainment 
 for the Manitto, but might, with the addition of a sacrifice, 
 contribute toward appeasing him in case he was angry. 
 The conjurers were also set to work to determine what the 
 meaning of this phenomenon was, and what the result would 
 be. To these, and to the chiefs and wise men of the nation, 
 men, women and children were looking up for advice and 
 protection. Being at a loss what to do, between hope and 
 fear, and in confusion, a dance commenced. In the mean- 
 time, fresh runners arrived, declaring it to be a great house 
 of various colors that was coming, and filled with living crea- 
 tures. It now appeared certain that it was their Manitto 
 coming, bringing probably some new kind of game. But 
 other runners now came in, declaring that it was a house of 
 various colors and filled with people, but that the people were 
 of a different color from themselves ; that they were also 
 dressed in a different manner from them, and that one in par- 
 ticular appeared altogether red. This they thought must be 
 the Manitto himself. They were now lost in admiration.
 
 154 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Presently they were hailed from the vessel, but in a language 
 they could not understand, and were able to answer only by 
 a yell. Many were now for running into the woods, while 
 others pressed them to stay, in order not to offend their visi- 
 tors, who could find them out and might easily destroy them. 
 The house (or large canoe) stopped, and a smaller canoe 
 now came ashore, bringing the red man and some others in 
 it. Some stayed by this canoe to guard it. The chiefs and 
 wise men formed a circle, into which the red-clothed man 
 and two others approached. He saluted them with a friendly 
 countenance, and they returned the salute after their manner. 
 They were amazed at the color of their skin and their dress, 
 particularly at the red man, whose clothes glittered with 
 something they could not account for. He must be the great 
 Manilla, they thought ; but then why should he have a white 
 skin ? A large elegant bottle was brought forward by one of the 
 Manilla's servants, and something poured from it into a small 
 cup or glass, and handed to the Manilla. He drank it, had 
 the cup refilled, and had it handed to the chief next to him 
 for him to drink. The chief took it, smelt it, and passed it 
 to the next, who did the same. The cup passed in this way 
 round the circle, untasted, and was about to be returned to 
 the red-clothed man, when one of their number, a spirited 
 man and a great warrior, jumped up, and harangued the mul- 
 titude on the impropriety of returning the cup unemptied. 
 'It was handed to them,' he said, 'by the Manilla to drink 
 out of as he had done ; that to follow his example would 
 please him, but to return what he had given them might pro- 
 voke him and cause him to destroy them. And that since he 
 believed it to be for the good of the nation that the contents 
 offered them should be drunk, if no one else was willing to 
 drink, he would try it, let the consequence be what it would, 
 for it was better for one man to die than that a whole nation 
 should be destroyed. He then took the glass, smelt it, ad- 
 dressed them again, and bidding them all farewell, drank it. 
 All eyes were now fixed upon him, to see what effect this would 
 have upon him. He soon began to stagger, and the women 
 cried, supposing that he had fits. Presently he rolled on the 
 ground, and they all began to bemoan him, supposing him to
 
 HENRY HUDSON. 155 
 
 be dying. Then he fell asleep, and they thought now that he 
 was dead, but presently they saw that he was still breathing. 
 In a little time he awoke, jumped up, and declared that he 
 never felt himself before so happy, as after he had drunk the 
 cup. He asked for more, which was given to him, and the 
 whole assembly soon joined him, and all became intoxicated. 
 ' ' While the intoxication lasted, the white men kept them- 
 selves in their vessel, and when it was over, the man with the 
 red clothes again returned to them, bringing them presents of 
 beads, axes, hoes and stockings. They soon now became 
 familiar, and talked by making signs. The whites made 
 them understand that they should now return home, but the 
 next year they should visit them again with presents, and 
 stay with them a while. But as they could not live without 
 eating, they should then want a little land to sow seeds, in 
 order to raise herbs to put into their broth. Accordingly a 
 vessel arrived the next season, when they were much rejoiced 
 to see each other ; but the white men laughed at them when 
 they saw the axes and hoes hanging to their breasts as orna- 
 ments, and the stockings used for tobacco pouches. The 
 whites now put handles in the former, and cut down trees 
 and dug the ground before their eyes, and showed them the 
 use of the stockings. Then all the Indians laughed, to think 
 that they had been ignorant of the use of these things so long, 
 and had carried these heavy articles hung around their necks. 
 They took every white man they saw for a Manitto, yet in- 
 ferior to the Supreme Manitto; to wit, to the one who wore 
 the shining red clothes. They now became more familiar, 
 and the whites now reminded them that they wanted some 
 land ; and asked if they might have as much land as the hide 
 of a bullock spread before them would cover. Their request 
 was readily granted. The white men then took a knife, and 
 beginning at one place on the hide, cut it up into a rope not 
 thicker than the finger of a little child, so that by the time 
 this hide was cut up, there was a great heap. They then 
 took the rope and drew it gently along (to keep it from break- 
 ing) in a circular form, and took in a large piece of ground. 
 The Indians were surprised at the superior wit of the whites, 
 but did not wish to contend with them about a little land, as
 
 156 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 they had enough. They lived contentedly together for a long 
 time ; the whites from time to time asking for more land, 
 which was readily granted to them. And thus they gradually 
 went higher and higher up the Mahicannituck [or Hudson] 
 River, until they began to believe they would soon want all 
 their country, which proved at last to be the case." 
 
 This tradition is remarkably confirmed by a Dutch histo- 
 rian, who wrote his history only forty -three years after the 
 discovery of Henry Hudson. He says, "that the Indians or 
 natives of the land, many of whom are still living, and with 
 whom I have conversed, declare freely that before the arrival 
 of the Lowland ship, the 'Half Moon,' in the year 1609, 
 they, the natives, did not know that there were any other 
 people in the world than those who were like themselves, 
 much less any people who differed so much in appearance 
 from them as we did. When some of them first saw our ship 
 approaching at a distance, they did not know what to think 
 about her, but stood in deep and solemn amazement, wonder- 
 ing whether it were a ghost or apparition, coming down from 
 heaven, or from hell. Others of them supposed her to be a 
 strange fish or sea-monster. When they discovered men on 
 board, they supposed them to be more like devils than human 
 beings. Thus they differed about the ship and men. A 
 strange report was spread about the country concerning the 
 ship and visit, which created great astonishment and surprise 
 among the Indians." 
 
 It is said that the tribe of Delaware Indians, even to this 
 day, call New York Mannahattanink, meaning thereby, the 
 Island or place of general intoxication. 
 
 On the morning of September i2th, while Hudson was 
 still at his anchorage, twenty-eight canoes, filled with men, 
 women and children, came off to see him, bringing oysters 
 and clams to trade for trifles. These Indians had "great 
 tobacco pipes of yellow copper, and pots of earth to dress their 
 meat in." Hudson's men seem, as usual, to have been sus- 
 picious of them, and though they traded with them, none of 
 them were allowed to come on board. 
 
 About noon, with a heart full of hope, he weighed anchor, 
 and moved into the river. The wind was not fair ; so that he
 
 HENRY HUDSON. 157 
 
 made only two leagues, and again anchored for the night. 
 The place off which he lay is supposed to have been what is 
 now Manhattanville. The next day, the wind being ahead, 
 he managed, by the help of the flood tide, to pass up only 
 eleven miles higher. This brought him to what is now 
 known as Yonkers, and again he cast anchor. In the course 
 of this day he was again visited by Indians, bringing pro- 
 visions, and they seemed very friendly ; but his crew suspected 
 these also, and none of them came on board the ship. 
 
 The day following the weather was fair, and a fine breeze 
 springing up from the southeast, he passed up through Tap- 
 pan and Haverstraw bays ; "the river" (as the journal says) 
 "being a mile wide, and anchored at night about thirty-six 
 miles higher, in a region where the land was very high and 
 mountainous. ' ' He was now evidently in the neighborhood 
 of "the Highlands," and his anchorage near West Point. 
 
 Hudson and his men seem to have been struck with the 
 wild and beautiful appearance of the country ; and strange 
 must have been his feelings, when in his little "yacht," 
 moored beneath the Highlands, the shadows of night fell over 
 him. He had braved the tempests of the north, and seen the 
 monsters of the ocean ; but all now was a new world around 
 him. A wild and beautiful wilderness hung over him. Per- 
 haps in the distance he might see the camp-fires of straggling 
 Indians ; then he might hear the screechings of the owls, and 
 the scream of panthers in the wilderness above him, or per- 
 haps be startled by the strange and tremendous roar of the 
 "Naked Bear" of the Indians. 
 
 The next morning a mist hung over the river and moun- 
 tains until sunrise, when it cleared up with a fair wind. Just 
 as he was weighing anchor a circumstance happened which 
 afterwards gave him trouble. The two Indians whom he held 
 as hostages made their escape through the port-holes of the 
 ship and swam to the shore, and as soon as the ship was under 
 way, they were seen standing on the shore making loud and 
 angry cries, and looking at them "with scornful looks." 
 They now moved up the river, "passing by the high moun- 
 tains, ' ' until, having sailed fifty miles, they came at night in 
 sight of "other mountains which lie from the river side."
 
 158 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Here they found (as the journal says) "very loving people and 
 very old men, ' ' who treated them very kindly. Having cast 
 anchor here (which was probably near what is now Catskill 
 Landing), Hudson sent the boat off, and the men caught large 
 quantities of fine fish. 
 
 It was here, perhaps, that the pleasant interview happened 
 between Hudson and an old chief of the Indians. The story 
 is, that he went on shore in one of their canoes with an old 
 man, who was the chief of forty men and seventeen women. 
 These he saw in a large circular house made of oak bark. In 
 the house, he discovered a large quantity of maize or Indian 
 corn, and beans of the last year's growth, and near the house, 
 for the purpose of drying, there lay enough to load their ship, 
 besides what was growing in the fields. Upon his entering 
 the house, two mats were immediately spread out to sit upon, 
 and food was brought forward in large red bowls made of 
 wood. In the meantime, two men were dispatched with 
 bows and arrows in search of game. Soon after, they returned 
 with a pair of pigeons ; then they killed a fat dog, and skinned 
 it in great haste for their guest, with shells which they had 
 got out of the water. After the feast, they supposed that 
 Hudson would remain all night with them. But upon his 
 showing signs of departure, the hospitable old man became 
 very uneasy ; and his people, supposing that the guest might 
 be leaving because he was afraid of them, took all their 
 arrows, and breaking them in pieces, cast them into the fire. 
 
 The quantities of fish taken the evening before now 
 induced Hudson (the next morning being warm and fair) to 
 send some of the men out upon another fishing party. This 
 time, however, they were not so successful ; for the natives 
 had been there all night in their canoes. In the mean- 
 time, the Indians flocked on board the ship, bringing In- 
 dian corn, pumpkins and tobacco. The whole day was 
 consumed in trading with these friendly people, and filling 
 the water casks with fresh water. Towards night, he again 
 set sail, and, passing some six miles higher up, found the 
 water shoal and cast anchor. He was now probably near the 
 spot where the city bearing his name has since grown up. 
 The weather was warm, and Hudson determined to take
 
 HENRY HUDSON. 159 
 
 advantage of the cool hours of the morning. At dawn, there- 
 fore, the next day he weighed anchor, and ran up the river 
 "six leagues higher;" but finding shoals and small islands 
 in the middle of the river, he once more stopped. As night 
 came on, the vessel drifted near the shore and grounded ; but 
 they ' ' layed out their small anchor and heaved her off again.' ' 
 In a little time, she was aground again in the channel ; but 
 when the flood-tide rose she floated off, and then they anchored 
 for the night, it is thought, somewhere near Castleton. 
 
 The next day was fair, and he ' ' rode still ' ' all day. In the 
 afternoon, he went ashore with "an old savage, a governor 
 of the country, who carried him to his house, and made him 
 good cheer." With the flood-tide, about noon on the follow- 
 ing day, he ran up "two leagues above the shoals," and cast 
 anchor again in eight fathoms of water. The natives now 
 came on board in crowds, bringing grapes, pumpkins, beaver 
 and other skins, for which the sailors readily gave them 
 beads, knives, and hatchets. 
 
 Here Hudson seems to have had some misgivings as to the 
 depth of the river above him. He had now been seven or 
 eight days in reaching this point, and his ship had been 
 aground and his soundings shallow more than once in the 
 last three days. The next day, therefore (the morning of the 
 2oth), he sent the mate with four men in the boat to explore 
 the river and take soundings. They were gone nearly the 
 whole day, and returned with the report that ' ' the channel 
 was very narrow ; ' ' that two leagues above, they found only 
 two fathoms' water, though in some places there was a better 
 depth. The next morning they were about starting again, to 
 explore the depth and breadth of the stream (for the wind 
 was fair, and Hudson was anxious to move up with the ship), 
 but were prevented by the great crowds of Indians that came 
 flocking on board. They seem again to have been afraid of 
 these men, and unwilMng to leave the ship while they were 
 there. Finding that he was not likely to make any progress 
 on that day, Hudson sent the carpenter ashore to make a new 
 foreyard for the ship, and determined with his men, in the 
 meantime, to make an experiment with some of these Indians, 
 that he might learn if they were treacherous.
 
 l6o HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 This experiment was a strange one ; it was neither more 
 nor less than intoxicating some of the Indian chiefs, and 
 thereby throwing them "off their guard." He therefore took 
 several of them down into the cabin, and gave them plenty of 
 wine and brandy, until they were all merry. The poor women 
 looked innocently on, for we are told particularly of the wife 
 of one of these merry chiefs, who "sate in the cabin as mod- 
 estly as any of our country-women would do in a strange 
 place." The men drank plentifully, and presently one of 
 them became so drunk that he fell asleep. The rest were 
 now frightened, supposing him to be poisoned, and imme- 
 diately took to their canoes and pushed for the shore. They 
 did not forget the poor man on board ; for some of them soon 
 returned, bringing long strings of beads, which they hoped 
 the whites would accept, and release their poor countryman. 
 
 The poor Indian slept soundly all night, and the next day, 
 when his countrymen came to see him, they were rejoiced to 
 find him well. They returned to the shore, and about three 
 o'clock came again, bringing beads and tobacco, which they 
 gave to Hudson. One of them made a long oration, and 
 showed him all the country round about Anxious still 
 farther to show him their gratitude, they now sent one of 
 their number ashore, who presently returned with a large 
 platter of venison, dressed in their own style, and placed it 
 before Hudson, that he might eat with them. After this, 
 they all "made him reverence" and departed. 
 
 In the morning, before all this scene took place, Hudson 
 had again started the mate with the four men to sound the 
 river. At ten o'clock at night he came back in a hard shower 
 of rain, bringing a bad report once more. He had ascended 
 the river eight or nine leagues, and found only seven feet 
 of water and very irregular soundings. 
 
 Disappointed in not finding this the passage to the East, 
 Hudson was cheered by the reflection that he had passed up 
 this noble stream nearly one hundred and fifty miles, and dis- 
 covered a beautiful and fertile region, for the future enterprise 
 of his employers. He now prepared for his return. 
 
 About mid-day on the 23d, he commenced retracing his 
 way, and went down the river only six miles, the wind being
 
 HENRY HUDSON. l6l 
 
 ahead. On the 24th, he ran down twenty-four miles farther 
 and anchored (it is supposed between Athens and Hudson). 
 Here he was detained four days by head winds ; but the time 
 was spent pleasantly and profitably in surveying the country. 
 Some of the men went on shore gathering chestnuts, and 
 others strolled along the bank making their observations. 
 They found "good ground for corn and other garden herbs, 
 with a good store of goodly oaks and walnut-trees and chestnut- 
 trees, yew-trees and trees of sweet wood, in great abundance, 
 and great stores of slate for houses, and other good stones." 
 While they lay at this anchorage, they had a visit from one 
 who considered himself at least an old friend. On the morn- 
 ing of the 26th, two canoes came up from the place where 
 they met "the loving people" (Catskill Landing), and in one 
 of them was the old chief who had been made drunk above, 
 and given so much alarm to his countrymen. The friendship 
 of this old man must have been strong, for he seems to have 
 followed them even to the Catskill mountains. He brought 
 now another old chief with him, who presented strings of 
 beads to Hudson, and "showed him all the country there- 
 about, as though it were at his command." The old man's 
 wife was along, with three other Indian women. Hudson 
 was very kind to them, invited them all to dine with him, 
 after dinner gave them presents, and they departed begging 
 that he would visit them as he passed by, for the place where 
 they lived was only two leagues off. 
 
 The wind being north on the morning of the 27th, they 
 set sail and moved onward. As they passed the old man's 
 home, he came off again, hoping they would cast anchor, and 
 go ashore and eat with him. The wind was too fair and 
 inviting for them to listen to his invitation, and he left them, 
 "being very sorrowful for their departure." Toward night 
 they reached the neighborhood of what is known as Red 
 Hook Landing, and there had fine fishing. For the two next 
 days his progress was very slow, for on the morning of the 
 3Oth, we are told, his ship was anchored off "the northern- 
 most of the mountains, ' ' meaning, I suppose, the head of the 
 Highlands. Here, again, the natives came on board in a 
 friendly manner. Detained for a day by head winds, he 
 ii
 
 1 62 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 observed the country closely. The description of the land 
 near them is very minute, and the town of Newburgh has 
 arisen, perhaps, upon the very spot of which the journal 
 speaks. "This" (says the journal) "is a very pleasant place 
 to build a town on. The road is very near, and very good for 
 all winds, save an east-northeast wind." Here, too, they 
 were struck with the strange appearance of some of the moun- 
 tains. "The mountains look as if some metal or mineral 
 were in them. For the trees that grow on them were all 
 blasted, and some of them barren, with few or no trees on 
 them. The people brought a stone aboard like to emery (a 
 stone used by glaziers to cut glass), it would cut iron or steele, 
 yet being bruised small and water put to it, it made a color 
 like black lead, glistering. It is also good for painters' colors.' ' 
 On the ist of October, with a fair wind he sailed through the 
 Highlands, and reached as far as the neighborhood of Stony 
 Point, when being becalmed he cast anchor. 
 
 No sooner had they anchored, than the natives were 
 crowding aboard, astonished at, and admiring everything they 
 saw. They came trading with skins, but these could not pro- 
 cure all that they desired. One poor fellow, therefore, was 
 prompted to steal. He swept his canoe lightly under the 
 stern, crawled up the rudder into the cabin window, and stole 
 a pillow with some articles of clothing. The mate saw him 
 as he moved off with his canoe, shot at him and killed him. 
 The rest now fled in terror, some taking to their canoes, and 
 some plunging into the stream. The ship's boat was manned 
 at once, and sent to secure the stolen articles. These were 
 easily obtained ; but as the boat came back, one of the Indians 
 who was swimming in the water took hold of her, endeavor- 
 ing to overturn her. The cook now drew a sword, and with 
 one blow cut off his hand. The poor creature sank to the 
 bottom never to rise again. They now returned to the ship, 
 got under way immediately, and passing down six miles 
 farther, anchored, near dark, off the mouth of Croton River, 
 near the entrance into Tappan Sea. 
 
 The next day, with a fair wind, they sailed twenty-one 
 miles, which must have brought them somewhere near the 
 head of Manhattan Island. Here they soon found themselves
 
 HENRY HUDSON. 163 
 
 in trouble. The two Indians who had escaped from the ship 
 on their way up, angry and indignant at their captivity, had 
 roused a number of their countrymen along the shores of the 
 river, and they were now assembled near this point to attack 
 Hudson on his return. A canoe appeared, in which was one 
 of those who had escaped, and many others armed with bows 
 and arrows. Hudson suspected something from their appear- 
 ance, and none of them were allowed to come on board. 
 Presently, two canoes filled with armed men dropped under 
 the stern, and the attack was commenced with their bows and 
 arrows ; six muskets were fired from the ship, and three In- 
 dians fell dead. The Indians on the land, marking what was 
 done, were now exasperated the more : they moved down to 
 the shore in a solid body ("about one hundred of them"), 
 and made ready with their bows as the ship passed slowly on. 
 A cannon was now fired from the ship upon them, and two 
 more Indians fell. The rest fled for the woods, with the ex- 
 ception of nine or ten desperate men, who were resolved upon 
 revenge. These jumped into a canoe, and advanced to meet 
 the ship. The cannon was again discharged, the canoe "shot 
 through, ' ' and another man killed ; at the same time the men 
 fired again with their muskets, and killed three or four men. 
 Thus the fight ended with the loss of nine Indians. The ship 
 now moved on her way, and at the distance of "two leagues" 
 dropped anchor under the shores of what is now known as 
 Hoboken. The next day was stormy ; but the morning of 
 the 4th dawned upon them with a fair wind. Hudson again 
 weighed anchor, passed through the bay, and, with all sails 
 set, put out to sea once more.
 
 SAMUEL DE CHAM PLAIN 
 
 SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN was 
 born in Brouage, in the Province 
 of Saintonge, in France, about the 
 year 1567. He was of a noble 
 family. In his early life he served 
 in the French navy, becoming 
 quartermaster. He was pensioned 
 and attached to the court of Henry 
 IV. Champlain gained his experi- 
 ence in navigation from his uncle, 
 who was a pilot-general of the Spanish fleets, and with whom 
 he frequently sailed. In about 1600, he commanded a vessel 
 called the u St. Julien," and in her made a voyage to the 
 West Indies, of which he kept a diary. This was discovered 
 about 1860 and published in 1870 by the Laval University. 
 
 After an absence of two years Champlain returned to 
 France, when it was decided to prosecute the discoveries of 
 Jacques Carrier in Canada. M. de Chastes, Governor of 
 Canada, engaged Champlain in his service. On March 15, 
 1603, he set sail for America. They sailed up the St. Lawrence 
 River to the Sault St. Louis ; this was in the neighborhood 
 of Hochelaga, an eastern suburb of Montreal. After making 
 many inquiries from the natives, and carefully examining the 
 banks of the river, he returned, in August, to France. It was 
 now that he published his first volume, entitled, "Des 
 Sauvages." M. de Chastes died, and was succeeded by Sieur 
 de Monts. He engaged Champlain as his pilot in another 
 voyage. They sailed March 7, 1604, an ^ landed in Acadia, 
 May 6th. Champlain spent the winter in exploring the 
 country, going as far as Cape Cod. They founded the settle- 
 164
 
 SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 165 
 
 ment on the island of St. Croix, which is at the mouth of 
 the river which divides the United States from New Brunswick. 
 
 In October, 1607, Champlain returned to France. His 
 third voyage to America he made in the following year. It 
 was on this trip that he founded Quebec upon the site of an 
 Indian village, Stadacona. Here he erected a barracks and 
 houses, cultivating the surrounding land, and sowing wheat 
 and rye. A plot was made by some of his followers to assas- 
 sinate him; but it was fortunately discovered, one of the 
 conspirators being hanged and the remainder condemned to 
 the galleys. Champlain had heard an account from the 
 Indians of a wonderful inland sea, dotted with islands, lying 
 to the south of the St. L/awrence. As soon as the winter 
 snows had melted, he set out with the hope, of finding it. 
 Only two of his own countrymen accompanied him ; but there 
 were sixty Indian warriors and twenty-four canoes with them. 
 After a toilsome passage up the rapids, they entered the lake 
 to which he gave his own name. In 1609 he joined in assist- 
 ing the Hurons and Algonquins to defeat their common 
 enemy, the Iroquois. He hoped by this to secure to France, 
 as allies, those Indians for whom he fought Champlain, 
 with the aid of his arquebuse and the armor in which he 
 was clad, contributed largely to the victory of the Hurons and 
 Algonquins. He shot two of the Iroquois chiefs dead, and the 
 sound of fire-arms so alarmed their followers that they fled in 
 terror, leaving all behind. The conquerors returned to Quebec 
 with their girdles adorned by fifty Iroquois scalps. The Iro- 
 quois through this became the friends and allies of the English. 
 
 Champlain was now summoned to return to France, but 
 remained there only for a short period. On coming again to 
 Canada, he joined the Montagnez Indians against the Iroquois. 
 In this fight Champlain was wounded with an arrow. On the 
 death of Henry IV., the interest of De Monts in Canada 
 ended. Charles de Bourbon succeeded him, and appointed 
 Champlain his lieutenant. After this Champlain frequently 
 crossed the Atlantic. To the end he remained a bitter enemy 
 of the Iroquois. He discovered Lake Ontario, and explored 
 along the western boundaries of Northern New York. He 
 was the first explorer of the Thousand Islands.
 
 166 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 In July, 1629, Quebec was taken by the English, and Cham- 
 plain was conveyed to France. But he was once more able 
 to return to Canada, as Governor-General, that country being 
 restored to France, by the treaty of St. Gerrnains, 1632. He 
 was eager in every way to promote the interest of the Christian 
 religion, and that the Indians should be brought under its 
 influence. He established schools and a college at Quebec ; 
 but before its completion he died in that city, on Christmas 
 day, 1635. 
 
 Champlain was a shrewd, calm and patient master of men. 
 Though he was credulous, he possessed an uncommon share 
 of penetration. He could work with determined Calvinist 
 and subtle Jesuit alike ; he harmonized the conflicting interests 
 of fur traders and colonists to a surprising degree, and his 
 zeal for the spread of religion was so great that he used to 
 say, u that the salvation of one soul was of more value than 
 the conquest of an empire." 
 
 DISCOVERY OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 
 
 After the settlement of Quebec, it was deemed by the 
 French colonists wise policy to keep on friendly terms with 
 the neighboring Indians, among whom were the Algonquins, 
 Les Montagnez and Hurons. At the same time the Indians 
 were glad to avail themselves of the alliance of their new 
 neighbors, who, they thought, would render them efficient 
 service in their attacks upon their powerful enemies, the 
 Iroquois. Having secured the friendship of the whites, it 
 was not long before they obtained their consent to unite with 
 them in vigorous measures against their common enemy. 
 
 A party of Indians, in company with a few of the French- 
 men of Quebec, set out, in 1609, upon an expedition against 
 the terrible Iroquois. Samuel Champlain was one of their 
 number. He was induced to join them with the hope that, 
 by so doing, he might be able to humble the proud Iroquois, 
 and then, by negotiating a peace, bring all the tribes of 
 Indians in Canada into a friendly league with the French. If 
 this could have been accomplished, it would have been highly 
 advantageous to the French. Champlain, however, found 
 that it was much more easy to project the plan than to carry
 
 SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 167 
 
 it into execution. The confederated Iroquois, otherwise known 
 as the Five Nations, or sometimes as the Six Nations, who 
 had held in check and were the terror of the tribes for a 
 space of three hundred miles around them, were not to be 
 subdued. Another European nation, who had watched with 
 an eagle eye the advancing power of the French in the New 
 World, was to enter into league with the Iroquois for the pur- 
 pose of arresting the farther progress of France. This, how- 
 ever, was hidden from Champlain. He, no doubt, was 
 determined to exert himself, to the utmost of his ability, for 
 the accomplishment of the object he had in view. He accord- 
 ingly embarked with his Indian allies at Quebec. 
 
 The vessel proceeded slowly up the broad and noble St. 
 Lawrence. They passed the mouth of the Chaudiere River 
 on the south ; then the River St. Anne, which came in on 
 the north ; then the Becancour and the St. Maurice, nearly 
 opposite each other. Here the St. Lawrence gradually 
 widened into a broad lake, now called Lake St. Peter, twenty- 
 six miles long, and containing several islands. They sailed 
 through the whole length of this lake, passed by the islands, 
 and then entered a river which came in on the south. This 
 was the Iroquois, now known as the St. John's or the Sorrelle 
 River. It unites the waters of the St. Lawrence with those 
 of Lake Champlain. They had not proceeded far into this 
 river before a discovery was made which convinced Champlain 
 of the unprincipled duplicity of his allies ; this was the 
 discovery of impassable rapids. His allies, if they had been 
 true, would have given him information of these rapids ; but, 
 instead of that, they had carefully concealed them from him. 
 His vessel could proceed no farther. He therefore sent her 
 back to Quebec. Himself and two faithful Frenchmen, who 
 would not forsake him, determined to press on, notwith- 
 standing the secrecy and deceitfulness of the Indians. They 
 carried their canoes around the falls, and then made prepara- 
 tions for their night encampment. The Indians, according 
 to their custom, sent out one of their number to reconnoitre 
 and ascertain whether any enemies were in sight. He 
 returned without making any discoveries. They then pre- 
 pared for sleep, without the precaution to appoint a guard.
 
 168 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Chainplain rebuked them for stupidity and carelessness ; but 
 all the reply they gave was, that those who were fatigued all 
 day needed sleep at night. But as they approached nearer 
 the settlements of their enemies, they redoubled their vigi- 
 lance. They traveled only at night, and made no fires in the 
 day, lest the columns of smoke might reveal their retreat. 
 
 Champlain was delighted with the beautiful and romantic 
 appearance of the uncultivated regions through which he 
 passed. The islands were well stocked with deer and other 
 game, whilst the river abounded with fish. They found it a 
 pleasant amusement to hunt and fish in order to supply them- 
 selves with food. On this excursion, Champlain obtained 
 considerable information of Indian customs and character. 
 He was especially interested in the implicit confidence which 
 they reposed in the mysterious powers of their sorcerers or 
 powwows. One of these was in their company, who took 
 occasion, at one of their encampments, to go through with his 
 superstitious, terrific incantations. After this they inquired 
 for several days, of Champlain, if he had not dreamed of 
 seeing the Iroquois. He told them no. At this they were 
 greatly troubled, and made no attempt to conceal their 
 anxiety from him. Under the impression that it would afford 
 them relief, and might encourage them to deeds of noble 
 daring in the coming conflict, he finally told them that, in a 
 dream, he had seen their hated enemy, the Iroquois, drowning 
 in a lake, but that he placed no confidence in it. They, 
 however, were filled with joy. They had now no doubt of 
 victory. It is not improbable that the powwow, in his incan- 
 tations, had associated Champlain, dreaming of the Iroquois, 
 with a favorable termination of the present expedition ; hence 
 their enthusiasm when he informed them that he had seen, in 
 a dream, their enemy overwhelmed in the waters of a lake. 
 After this they pressed on with high hopes. 
 
 They soon left the spot where St. John's now stands, and 
 the Isle aux Noix, passed by Rouse's Point, and entered upon 
 the romantic Lake Champlain. For a hundred and ten miles 
 did they paddle their light canoes over this beautiful sheet, 
 passing by places which, since then, have been consecrated by 
 important national events, as classic localities in the history
 
 SAMUEIv DB CHAMPLAIN. 169 
 
 of the country. On the south, Champlain connects with Lake 
 George, which is greatly admired for the transparency of its 
 waters and the extreme beauty of its shores. Pebbles and 
 shells on its bottom can be seen at a great depth. It seems 
 almost like sailing in the air. Between these two lakes there 
 are rapids. The intention of the allies was to pass these rapids, 
 make an irruption into the quiet and romantic valleys of the 
 Iroquois, and suddenly pounce upon one of their villages. 
 But their plan was thwarted by the unexpected appearance of 
 their enemy, at ten o'clock at night, upon the lake. When 
 they met both parties were surprised and elated, which they 
 expressed in loud shouts. As it was contrary to their practice 
 to fight upon the water when they could reach the land, the 
 two parties made directly for the shore. 
 
 The allies immediately placed themselves in a position for 
 battle, by concealing themselves behind trees and stumps, or 
 whatever else offered them safety, and then sent a messenger 
 to their enemy, to know whether they would fight that night. 
 This certainly was a somewhat singular procedure. Why 
 did they not at once attack the Iroquois, and let them exhibit 
 by their conduct whether they were ready for battle ? Their 
 enemy sent them word that the night was too dark ; they 
 must, therefore, wait till day. Early the next morning 
 Champlain stationed his two Frenchmen, with a few Indians, 
 in the woods, so as to attack the enemy in flank. Each party 
 consisted of about two hundred men, all confident of victory. 
 They were all armed with bows and arrows, except the 
 French, who alone had fire-arms, and who were expected by 
 the allies to determine the victory. They showed Champlain 
 who were chiefs among their enemy, and advised him to fire 
 upon them. They were distinguished by their head-dress of 
 feathers being higher and more showy than the others. Their 
 plan of attack was original and ingenious. The allies rushed 
 out from their entrenchments, and ran two hundred feet 
 towards the enemy ; they then parted to the right and left, 
 making an opening in the center. Through this opening 
 Champlain, who was in the rear, advanced and took the 
 command. 
 
 This sudden appearance of a singular-looking, pale-faced
 
 170 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 stranger, with a kind of weapon which they had never seen 
 before, created great astonishment among the Iroquois. 
 Whilst they were wondering at this white-skinned stranger, 
 suddenly a flash was seen, and a loud report heard, followed 
 by a cloud of smoke. It was the discharge of an arquebuse 
 from the spot where Champlain had placed four of his men. 
 When the Iroquois saw, as the effect of this new mode of 
 warfare, two of their chiefs slain and a third badly wounded, 
 their amazement was extreme. The allies rent the air with 
 their wild shouts, and let fly a shower of arrows. Champlain 
 followed up his success with another discharge of his fire-spit- 
 ting and ball-hurling weapons. The enemy were terrified ; 
 they turned and fled in dismay. They were hotly pursued by 
 the victorious army, and some of them were taken prisoners. 
 The corn which the Iroquois left behind them in their flight 
 furnished a timely supply to their conquerors, who were 
 reduced to great need. Two hours did they pass upon the 
 field of battle in singing, dancing and feasting. 
 
 So successful had been the conflict that not one of their 
 number had been slain, and only a few wounded. They made 
 no attempt to follow up their advantage. It was the custom 
 with those tribes for the conquerors, as well as the conquered, 
 to retreat after an engagement; and sometimes the victors 
 would exhibit as much disorder in their retreat as though the 
 enemy was shouting in full pursuit. One of their prisoners 
 they subjected to horrible tortures, to which Champlain soon 
 put an end. The victorious party returned to Quebec. 
 In September following, Champlain sailed for France. J. 
 FROST.
 
 i i AI2 NORMAL SCHOOL, 
 
 UOS &$i^&'-*^~ r ~'i call.
 
 GENERAL PUTNAM J2T BUltKER HILL.
 
 GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM 
 
 ISRAEL PUTNAM was one of the 
 most striking figures of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution. He was a very 
 Paladin in executing the commands 
 of his superior officer. He was 
 born at Salem, Massachusetts, on 
 the 7th of January, 1718. As he 
 grew up, he became distinguished 
 for feats of skill and strength ; and 
 in leaping, running and wrestling 
 had no superiors. In 1739, he 
 
 married, and shortly after emigrated to Pomfret, Connecticut, 
 where he engaged in farming. Here, also, he pursued and 
 shot, in her cave, the she-wolf which had so long been a 
 terror to the neighborhood. 
 
 In 1755, on the outbreak of the French war, Putnam com- 
 manded a Connecticut company in the expedition against 
 Crown Point ; and in 1757, was raised to the rank of Major. 
 In 1758, the British general, Abercrombie, attacked Ticon- 
 deroga, which was garrisoned by 5,000 French troops. 
 Putnam was in the van, attended by Lord Howe, when, upon 
 the first fire of the enemy, Howe fell, universally beloved 
 and regretted. In the course of the assault the British troops, 
 in the confusion and smoke of battle, fired upon each other, 
 and Abercrombie was forced to relinquish his design. After- 
 wards Putnam and his men were ambuscaded by the French ; 
 Putnam himself was captured by their Indian allies, and was 
 on the point of being burnt to death at the stake, to which 
 he had been fastened, when a French officer rushed in, 
 scattered the blazing brands; and took the victim to his quar- 
 
 171
 
 1 72 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 ters. When Putnam arrived in Montreal he was in a very 
 sad plight, with ragged clothes, his body torn with briers, 
 and a tomahawk gash in his face. His exchange being 
 shortly effected, in 1759 he was raised to the rank of Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel, and was in the victorious expedition of General 
 Amherst against Ticonderoga and Crown Point. 
 
 In the rupture between Great Britain and Spain, in 
 January, 1762, a formidable expedition against Havana was 
 committed to the charge of Lord Albemarle. It was com- 
 posed in part of provincials from New York, New Jersey and 
 Connecticut Putnam accompanied it at the head of a 
 regiment After the reduction of Havana, he returned home, 
 and settled down to farming, after ten years of military 
 service. 
 
 The battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, was the tocsin of 
 the war. Colonel Putnam, like another Cincinnatus, on hear- 
 ing of the battle, left his plough in the field, and without 
 delaying to change his clothes, rode one hundred miles to 
 Cambridge in a single day. He was soon appointed Major- 
 General in the provincial army. Immediately after General 
 Gage, the British Commander-in-chief, heard of this, he 
 privately conveyed to Putnam an offer of a Major-Generalship 
 in the British army, together with a great pecuniary reward 
 as the price of his honor ; but Putnam spurned the proposal. 
 
 In the battle at Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, General 
 Putnam arrived in time to participate in that brilliant affair, 
 wherein the vanquished were really the victors, although the 
 lack of ammunition compelled them finally to give up the 
 ground. 
 
 When Washington, who had been elected by Congress 
 Commander-in-chief, organized the American army at Cam- 
 bridge, July 2, 1775, Putnam, who was one of the first four 
 Major-Generals commissioned, was assigned to the reserve 
 division. In the summer of 1776, when General Greene, just 
 before the battle of Long Island, was taken sick, Washington 
 selected Putnam to fill his post. Unfortunately Putnam did 
 not fully appreciate the emergency, and did not take full pre- 
 caution against the landing of the British troops. The battle 
 was lost, and the British entered New York. However, during
 
 GENERAI, ISRAEL PUTNAM. 173 
 
 the various operations that followed on the Hudson and 
 through the retreat across New Jersey, Putnam was energetic 
 in his assistance to Washington, and during November he 
 was deputed to the charge of Philadelphia. In January, 
 
 1777, he was sent to Princeton, and, in May, he was assigned 
 a separate force in the Highlands, on the Hudson River. 
 This was now an important point. General Burgoyne was 
 advancing from Canada, and Sir Henry Clinton was hastening 
 up the Hudson. Favored by a fog, most of Clinton's force 
 crossed the river at Stony Point, and very soon captured Forts 
 Montgomery and Clinton. Putnam had, of necessity, to 
 retire to Fishkill, and the command of the river was lost. 
 Gates having defeated Burgoyne at Saratoga, Washington now 
 ordered a brigade to Philadelphia, and Putnam, for some rea^ 
 son, having hesitated, the Commander-in-chief censured him 
 in a letter. Putnam, however, was continued in the com- 
 mand of the Highlands. 
 
 Here occurred the tragical incident of the hanging of the 
 British spy, a lieutenant of a levy of Tories. Tryon, the 
 Royalist Governor of New York, threatened vengeance if the 
 lieutenant was executed, whereupon Putnam wrote this 
 pithy reply : 
 
 "SiR, Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in your King's service, was 
 taken in my camp as a spy ; he was tried as a spy ; he was condemned 
 as a spy ; and he shall be hanged as a spy. ISRAEL PUTNAM." 
 
 " P. S. Afternoon. He is hanged." 
 
 To Putnam chiefly belongs the merit of having selected 
 West Point as the true key of the Highlands. In March, 
 
 1778, Putnam was relieved of his command, through the 
 influence of certain persons in New York, who were entrusted 
 with the disposal of Tory property. He had interfered to 
 prevent their peculations. In 1779 he was detached to 
 Connecticut, where he was nearly surprised, at West Green- 
 wich, by Governor Tryon, and only escaped by dashing, on 
 horseback, headlong down a steep ascent, nearly one hundred 
 feet high. The place has since been called Putnam's Leap, 
 and sometimes Horse-neck Hill. 
 
 After the campaign of 1779, a paralytic affection impaired
 
 174 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 his bodily activity, and he passed the remainder of his days 
 in retirement. He died at Brookline, Connecticut, May 29, 
 1790, aged seventy-two years. 
 
 THE BATTLE OP BUNKER HILL. 
 
 The Battle of Bunker Hill was the first real battle of the 
 American Revolution. The British army, under General 
 Thomas Gage, numbering 10,000 men, occupied Boston, and 
 were besieged by the Americans. General Artemas Ward 
 had 9,000 infantry and four companies of artillery at Cam- 
 bridge. General Thomas had 5,000 infantry with three 
 companies of artillery, extending from Roxbury to Dorchester. 
 The peninsula upon which Charlestown stands is separated 
 from the northern side of Boston by the Charles River. On 
 this peninsula are two elevations ; one, known as Breed's 
 Hill, is seventy-five feet high ; the other, called Bunker Hill, 
 is 112 feet high. At a council of war held by the American 
 generals it was decided to fortify this peninsula. 
 
 Accordingly, a detachment of 1,000 men, under Colonel 
 Prescott, was sent thither, on the night of the i6th of June, 
 1775, with orders to fortify the higher hill, but by mistake in 
 the darkness they actually began work on the lower. They 
 proceeded with such secrecy and despatch that the officers of 
 a ship of war then in the river, expressed their astonishment 
 when in the morning they saw entrenchments reared and 
 fortified in the space of a few hours, where they least 
 expected the Americans would look them in the face. 
 
 The alarm being immediately given, orders were issued by 
 General Gage that a continual fire should be kept playing upon 
 the unfinished works from the ships, the floating batteries in 
 the river and Copp's Hill, a fortified post of the British in 
 Boston, directly opposite the American redoubt; but, with 
 extraordinary perseverance, the Americans continued to 
 strengthen their works, not returning a shot. At noon a 
 number of boats and barges, filled with regular troops from 
 Boston, approached Charlestown. The day was exceedingly 
 hot. Ten companies of grenadiers, ten of light infantry, 
 with a proportion of field artillery, landed at Moulton's Point, 
 the whole commanded by Major-General Howe and Brigadier-
 
 GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM. 175 
 
 General Pigot. These troops having formed, remained in 
 that position till joined by a second detachment of light 
 infantry and grenadier companies, the Forty-seventh Regi- 
 ment and a battalion of marines, making in the whole near 
 three thousand men. 
 
 The Americans had not a rifleman amongst them, not one 
 having yet arrived from the southward, nor had they any rifles; 
 their arms were but common muskets, and these mostly 
 without bayonets ; but then they were almost all marksmen, 
 being accustomed to sporting of one kind or other from their 
 youth. A reinforcement of Massachusetts troops was posted 
 in a redoubt, and in part of the breast-work nearest it. The 
 left of the breast-work, and the open ground stretching 
 beyond its point to the water side, along which time did not 
 admit of accomplishing the work, were occupied partly by 
 the Massachusetts, and partly by the Connecticut men under 
 Captain Knowlton, of Ashford, and the New Hampshire under 
 Colonel Stark, the whole amounting to about one thousand 
 five hundred men. By direction of the officers the troops 
 upon the open ground pulled up the post and rail fence, and 
 carrying it forward to another of the same kind, and placing 
 some clods of grass between, formed a slight defence in some 
 parts. 
 
 A critical scene now opened to the view. The British 
 regulars, formed in two lines, advanced slowly, frequently 
 halting to give time for the artillery to fire. The light 
 infantry were directed to force the left point of the breast- 
 work, and to take the American line in flank. The grena- 
 diers advanced to attack in front, supported by two battalions, 
 under General Howe, while the left, under General Pigot, 
 inclined to the right of the American line. As the British 
 advanced nearer and nearer to the attack, a carcass, or shell, 
 was discharged from Copp's Hill, which set on fire an old 
 house in Charlestown, and the flames quickly spread to 
 others. The houses at the eastern end of Charlestown were 
 set on fire by seamen from the boats. The whole town, 
 consisting of about three hundred dwelling-houses, and nearly 
 two hundred other buildings, speedily became involved in 
 one great blaze, being chiefly of timber. The large meeting-
 
 176 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 house, by its aspiring steeple, formed a pyramid of fire above 
 the rest The houses, heights, and steeples in Boston were 
 covered with anxious spectators of this scene, and the sur- 
 rounding hills were occupied by others. 
 
 The slow movement of the British troops advancing to 
 the attack, afforded to the Americans the advantage of taking 
 a surer and more deliberate aim. The wind having shifted, 
 carried the smoke in such a direction that the British had not 
 the cover of it in their approach. The destruction of the 
 place, however, served to prevent their opponents from effect- 
 ing a lodgement in the houses, whence they might have 
 annoyed to advantage. General Warren, who had been 
 appointed by Congress a Major-General in their army only 
 four days before, was everywhere aiding and encouraging his 
 men. General Pomeroy commanded a brigade, and General 
 Putnam directed the whole on the fall of General Warren. 
 The troops were ordered to reserve their fire until the close 
 approach of the British. They strictly obeyed, with a steadi- 
 ness and composure that would have done honor to the most 
 approved veterans, and when the enemy had arrived within 
 ten or twelve rods, poured in a discharge of small arms which 
 arrested and so staggered their foes, that they could only for 
 a time return it, without advancing a step. Finding the 
 stream of the American fire so incessant as to mow down 
 whole sections, they retired in disorder to the river. Rallying 
 as well as their extraordinary loss of officers would admit of, 
 the British again advanced with an apparent resolution of 
 forcing their way, whatever loss of lives it might cost them. 
 The Americans again reserved their fire till the enemy arrived 
 within five or six rods, when, discharging their pieces, which 
 were admirably pointed, they threw the opposing ranks again 
 into confusion. 
 
 General Clinton, who, with General Gage, the Comman- 
 der-in-chief of the British forces in Boston, was on Copp's 
 Hill, observing the events of the day, when he perceived the 
 disconcerted state of the troops, passed over and joined just in 
 time to be of service. The united and strenuous efforts of 
 the different officers were again successful, and the columns 
 were advanced a third time to the attack, with a desperation
 
 GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM. 177 
 
 increased by the unshaken opposition they experienced . It is 
 probable, from the nature of the resistance, that every effort 
 to dislodge the Americans would have been ineffectual, had 
 not their ammunition failed ; on sending for a supply none 
 could be procured, as there was but a barrel and a half in 
 the magazine. This deficiency prevented them from making 
 the same defence as before ; while the British enjoyed a 
 farther advantage by bringing some cannon to bear so as to 
 rake the inside of the breast-work from end to end, upon 
 which the Americans were compelled to retreat within their 
 redoubt. 
 
 The British now made a decisive movement, covered by 
 the fire of the ships, batteries, and field-artillery . The Ameri- 
 cans disputed possession of the works with the butt-ends of 
 their muskets, until the redoubt, easily mounted and attacked 
 on three sides at once, was taken, and their defences, the 
 labor of only a few hours, had been prostrated by artillery. 
 Whilst these operations were going on at the breast-work and 
 redoubt, the British light infantry were engaged in attempt- 
 ing to force the left point of the former, through the space 
 between that and the water, that they might take the Amer- 
 icans line in flank. The resistance they met with was as for- 
 midable and fatal in its effects as experienced in the other 
 quarter ; for here, also, the Americans, by command, reserved 
 their fire till the enemy's close approach, and then poured in 
 a discharge so well directed and with such execution that 
 wide chasms were made in every rank. Some of the Ameri- 
 cans were slightly guarded by the rail fences ; but others were 
 altogether exposed, so that their bravery in close combat was 
 put to the test, independent of defences neither formed by 
 military rules nor workmen. The most determined assaults 
 of their regular opponents, who were now brought to the 
 charge with redoubled fury, could not, after all, compel them 
 to retreat, till they observed that their main body had left the 
 hill, when they retrograded, but with a regularity that could 
 scarcely have been expected of troops newly embodied, and 
 who in general never before had seen an engagement. Over- 
 powered by numbers, and seeing all hope of reinforcement cut 
 off by the incessant fire of the ships across a neck of land that 
 12
 
 178 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 separated them from the country, they were compelled to quit 
 the ground. 
 
 The staunch opposition of this band of patriots saved their 
 comrades, who must otherwise have been cut off, as the 
 enemy, but for them, would have been in the rear of the 
 whole. While these brave heroes retired, disputing every 
 inch of ground, and taking up every new position successively 
 that admitted of defence, their leader, the gallant Warren, 
 unfortunately received a ball through the right side of the 
 skull, and mechanically clapping his hand to the wound, 
 dropped down dead. 
 
 The British, taught by the experience of this day to respect 
 their rustic adversaries, contented themselves with taking post 
 at Bunker Hill, which they fortified. The Americans, with 
 the enthusiasm of men determined to be free, did the same 
 upon Prospect Hill, a mile in front. It was here that Gen- 
 eral Putnam regaled the precious remains of his army, after 
 their fatigues, with several hogsheads of beer. Owing to 
 some unaccountable error, the working parties who had 
 been incessantly laboring the whole of the preceding night, 
 were neither relieved nor supplied with refreshments, but left 
 to engage under all these disadvantages. 
 
 This battle was generally admitted, by experienced offi- 
 cers of the British army who witnessed it and had served at 
 Minden, Dettingen, and throughout the campaigns in Ger- 
 many, to have been unparalleled for the time it lasted, and 
 the numbers engaged. There was a continued sheet of fire 
 from the breast- work for nearly half an hour, and the action 
 was hot for about double that period. In this short space of 
 time the loss of the British, according to General Gage, 
 amounted to 1,054, of whom 226 were killed ; of these 19 
 were commissioned officers, including a lieutenant-colonel, two 
 majors, and seven captains ; 70 other officers were wounded. 
 
 The battle of Quebec, in the former war, with all its glory, 
 and the vastness of the consequences attending it, was not so 
 disastrous in the loss of officers as this affair of an American 
 entrenchment, the work of but a few hours. The fact was, 
 the Americans, accustomed to aim with precision and to 
 select objects, directed their skill principally against the officers
 
 GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM. 179 
 
 of the British army, justly conceiving that much confusion 
 would ensue on their fall. Nearly all the officers around the 
 person of General Howe were killed or disabled, and the gen- 
 eral himself narrowly escaped. At the battle of Minden, 
 where the British regiments sustained the force of the whole 
 French army for a considerable time, the number of officers 
 killed, including two who died soon after of their wounds, 
 was only 1 3, and the wounded 66 ; the total loss of the army 
 on that occasion was 291 in killed, and 1,037 wounded. 
 
 The British acknowledged the valor of their opponents 
 which, though by no means new to them, surpassed on this 
 occasion what could have been expected of a handful of cot- 
 tagers, as they termed them, under officers of little military 
 knowledge and still less experience, whom they affected to 
 hold in contempt. 
 
 They pretended to forget that many of the common sol- 
 diers who gained such laurels by their singular bravery on 
 the Plains of Abraham, when Wolfe died in the arms of vic- 
 tory, were natives of the Massachusetts Bay. When Mar- 
 tinique was attacked in 1761, and the British force was greatly 
 reduced by sickness and mortality, the timely arrival of the 
 New England troops enabled the British commander to prose- 
 cute the reduction of the island to a happy issue. A part of 
 the troops being sent on an expedition to the Havana, the 
 New-Englanders, whose health had been much impaired by 
 service and the climate, were embarked in three ships for 
 their native country, with a view to their recovery. Before 
 they had completed their voyage, they found themselves 
 restored, ordered the ships about, steered immediately for the 
 Havana, arrived when the British were too much weakened 
 to expect success, and by their junction, contributed materi- 
 ally to the surrender of the place. Their fidelity, activity, 
 and good conduct were such as to gain the approbation and 
 unbounded confidence of the British officers. Of such ele- 
 mentary principles were the heroes of Bunker Hill com- 
 posed. It surely was a misguided policy to rouse the oppo- 
 sition of men made of these materials. 
 
 The blood spilt here roused the whole American people, 
 and united them in a common cause, in defence of their rights.
 
 i8o 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Whether indeed we consider the action of the i7th of June 
 in itself, or as the prelude to succeeding events, we must pro- 
 nounce it most glorious. 
 
 If we except that of New Orleans, no parallel is to be found 
 to it in the extent of impression produced upon the enemy. 
 But there time had been afforded for maturing the works, 
 which were constructed under the superintendence of skilful 
 engineers, and extended across a position that could not be 
 outflanked. Twelve hours only were gained for those on 
 Breed's Hill, formed, during a great part of the time, under a 
 heavy fire from the enemy's ships, a number of floating bat- 
 teries, beside fortifications which poured upon them an inces- 
 sant shower of shot and shells, and left incomplete, owing to 
 the severe cannonade. E. FERRETT.
 
 GEN. NATHANIEL GREENE 
 
 I 
 
 NATHANIEL GREENE was, after 
 Washington, the ablest of the Amer- 
 ican Revolutionary heroes. His 
 mental qualities singularly resem- 
 bled those of the Commander-in- 
 chief, the same calm judgment, 
 the same originality, energy, perse- 
 verance, and capacity of adapting 
 himself to circumstances. When 
 Washington, year after year, stood on the defensive, and when 
 Greene made his memorable retreat through North Carolina, 
 there were many who openly charged them with incapacity ; 
 but both of these great Generals, conscious of their superior 
 insight, persisted in the course they had laid down for them- 
 selves, and finally triumphed. As the war progressed the 
 natural daring of Greene became tempered with prudence. 
 Nothing can exceed in boldness the resolution he took to 
 abandon Virginia to Cornwallis ; yet it was based on the 
 soundest rules, and eventually wrought the downfall of that 
 General, and the emancipation of the Carolinas. 
 
 Nathaniel Greene was born at Warwick, Rhode Island, on 
 the 27th of May, 1742. His family were Friends or Quakers, 
 in which denomination his father was a preacher ; and Greene 
 himself continued a member of that sect until he was disowned 
 in consequence of his assuming arms. His education was 
 self-acquired, and he worked in his father's blacksmith shop, 
 along with his father, until he was elected by the people of 
 Warwick to represent them in the General Assembly of 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 181
 
 1 82 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 At the breaking out of the War of Independence the Leg- 
 islature chose Greene to command the troops, with the rank 
 of Brigadier-General. In August, 1776, Greene was commis- 
 sioned a Major-General. He was with the army at Trenton 
 and Princeton, sharing in that enterprise so fortunate for the 
 American cause. About the time of the battle at German- 
 town, Washington appointed him to the duties of Quarter- 
 master-General. These duties he performed while still retain- 
 ing his rank in the line. 
 
 Everything had gone wrong for the patriots in the South. 
 The British considered the war as finished there, when Greene, 
 ordered thither by Washington, appeared upon the scene. 
 He found the army in a most wretched condition ; a mere 
 skeleton of military force, having been wasted away by sword, 
 famine and desertion. Many of his companies were worse 
 than Falstaff's famous battalion, for they were not only 
 ragged, but almost literally naked. 
 
 The next month after Greene's arrival, the brave General 
 Morgan having joined him, was fought the battle of Cowpens, 
 January 17, 1781, one of the fiercest of the war. The proud 
 and courageous Tarleton was beaten by a force smaller than 
 his own, two-thirds of whom were raw militia. On March 
 15, 1781, occurred the battle of Guilford Court-House, with- 
 out decisive results for either side. His next conflict was 
 with the forces under Lord Rawdon, at Camden, with like 
 result as the previous battle. 
 
 The British, having received reinforcements, took the 
 offensive ; but in turn they were attacked by General Greene, 
 in the battle at Eutaw Springs, September 9, 1781. Greene's 
 army was victorious, and the consequences were favorable to 
 the American cause ; the British, who had so long lorded it 
 over the Carolinas, were forced to keep themselves in Charles- 
 ton. To the difficulties that at this time embarrassed General 
 Greene, was added that of a dangerous plot among a few of 
 his men, whom privations had made reckless. The purpose 
 of it was to deliver up their brave General to the British. 
 The conspirators, about twelve in number, were severely 
 punished when the plot was fortunately discovered. 
 
 The happy moment at last arrived, when, aided by the
 
 GENERAL, NATHANIEL GREENE. 183 
 
 favor of Heaven, America compelled Great Britain to recog- 
 nize her Independence. Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown, 
 October igth, 1781, virtually ended the war. The armies 
 retired from the tented field to their homes to cultivate the 
 arts of peace. General Greene now revisited his native State, 
 being everywhere received with enthusiasm. In October, 
 1785, he removed with his family to his estate near Savannah, 
 Georgia. His life as a planter, however, was brief. He died 
 suddenly June 19, 1786, in his forty-fourth year, leaving a 
 wife and five children. 
 
 General Greene, like every other man who has achieved 
 an eminent place among his fellow-men, had his detractors. 
 He, however, lived down envy and malice, and rose triumph- 
 ant over all who assailed him. He possessed an undeviating 
 honesty and integrity of character, worthy the best ages of 
 the world. He claimed no lineal honors he had no adventi- 
 tious supports. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE. 
 
 General Gates, the victor at Saratoga, had yielded his 
 laurels to Cornwallis, at the fatal fight of Camden. The war 
 in the South needed a more prudent and not less courageous 
 warrior. General Greene was therefore appointed to the com- 
 mand. The debris of Gates' army awaited him at Charlotte, 
 North Carolina. Here he found it ; but it was a wreck indeed, 
 few in number, feeble in spirit, and wanting everything 
 necessary to proper performance. To examine into the nature 
 of the country he designed to penetrate, to ascertain the 
 objects and resources of his enemy, to find or make the 
 resources essential to his own troops, and to discipline them 
 for active and immediate service, required and received his 
 instant attention. His people were dispirited ; his enemy 
 exulting in repeated conquest. To avoid precipitate conflict 
 with the latter, without still farther depressing the morale of 
 the former, required the talents of superior generalship. 
 Greene brought these to the work before him. It was fortu- 
 nate that he was admirably sustained by his own officers, and 
 the peculiar abilities of the partisan captains which the South 
 furnished for co-operation with him. With Marion, Sumter
 
 1 84 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 and Pickens, of the Carolina troops ; and Morgan, Williams, 
 Howard, Lee and Carrington, of the regular service, he might 
 well found his hopes upon a resource which would scarcely 
 fail him, the material of war being still so greatly wanting. 
 He soon entered the region of bloody debate and peril. A 
 detachment, under Morgan, was sent across the Catawba, 
 while Greene, with the main army, encamped upon the Pedee. 
 
 His presence and proceedings were very soon productive 
 of the most admirable effects. His appearance in Carolina 
 was followed by results of the most encouraging character. 
 Marion and Lee carried Georgetown by surprise, though they 
 failed to hold it ; and Morgan, after some small successes 
 against the Tories, met and defeated Tarleton, in the bloody 
 and brilliant battle of the Cowpens. Greene soon appeared 
 in the camp of Morgan, on the banks of the Catawba. Mean- 
 while, Cornwallis had destroyed his baggage, to facilitate his 
 movements, and was preparing to cross the same river. His 
 objects were unknown ; but Greene endeavored to anticipate 
 them. He drew his army together and hastened its march 
 towards Salisbury. "There is great glory ahead," he writes 
 in one of his letters ; "and I am not without hopes of ruining 
 Lord Cornwallis, if he persists in his mad scheme of pushing 
 through the country." The aim of the British general was 
 not long doubtful. The waters of the Catawba, by which the 
 two armies were separated, swollen by recent rains, now began 
 to subside. The fords were practicable. Greene determined 
 to dispute the passage with his militia, and to retard and harass 
 the progress of the enemy, with whom he was not yet suf- 
 ficiently strong to engage in equal battle. Cornwallis effected 
 the passage of the Catawba, in a rain storm, and under the 
 American fire. A sharp conflict ensued. The British suffered 
 severely ; but the death of General Davidson, who commanded 
 the militia, had the effect of dispiriting and dispersing them. 
 Greene retreated upon Salisbury. 
 
 Cornwallis urged the pursuit with vigor, sending General 
 O'Hara forward to prevent the Americans from passing the 
 Yadkin. But the prudence of Greene, by which boats had 
 been secured in advance, enabled them to effect the passage 
 before the British appeared in sight. The Whigs of Salisbury
 
 GENERAL NATHANIEL GREENE. 185 
 
 were bringing up the rear, when O'Hara's advance broke 
 upon them. A sharp skirmish followed, in which both parties 
 claimed the victory. But the Americans gained their object 
 They threw the river between them and their pursuers, with- 
 out loss to themselves, baffled the efforts of O'Hara to seize 
 upon their boats, and, in the delay thus caused to the pursuit, 
 the Yadkin, swelled by successive rains beyond its bounds, 
 effectually saved the Americans from farther annoyance. It 
 was in vain that the British opened with a fierce cannonade 
 upon the camp of Greene. Their bullets tore the shingles 
 from the roof of the cabin in which he sat, writing his dis- 
 patches, but without disturbing his composure or injuring 
 his person. 
 
 Cornwallis continued the pursuit, as soon as he could cross 
 the river, in the hope of cutting off his adversary from the 
 upper fords of the Dan. The manoeuvres which followed 
 from this chase have been justly considered among the most 
 masterly that had been exhibited during the American war. 
 Greene's great merit was that Fabian policy which had so 
 frequently saved Washington. On the loth of February, the 
 two armies lay within twenty-five miles of each other. Nearly 
 one month had been consumed in this protracted pursuit, and 
 the eyes of the nation were drawn upon the rival armies. To 
 crush his adversary without impediment, Cornwallis had de- 
 stroyed his baggage. This showed a rare and stern resolution, 
 at all hazards to effect his object. But one river lay between 
 the British general and Virginia. This crossed, and the South 
 must be detached from the confederacy, certainly for the time, 
 possibly forever. Greene felt the vast importance of the trust ; 
 and his genius rose with its pressure, and proved equal to its 
 exigencies. We cannot pursue these beautiful details of pro- 
 gress, as exquisitely nice and as admirably calculated as any 
 work of art, by which a series of the most masterly manoeuvres, 
 and occasional skirmishes of great spirit, placed the Ameri- 
 cans in safety on the northern banks of the Dan, and finished 
 this remarkable retreat and pursuit. "Your retreat," said 
 Washington, "is highly applauded by all ranks." Tarleton, 
 an enemy, writes : "Every measure of the Americans, during 
 their march from the Catawba to Virginia, was judiciously
 
 1 86 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 designed and vigorously executed." And the retreat, thus 
 made in the immediate presence of a far superior foe, was 
 made by troops many of whom had never seen battle, raw 
 militia, in fact, without adequate clothing, without supplies, 
 in the depth of winter, and under inclement skies. The 
 genius of their commander supplied deficiencies, soothed dis- 
 content, encouraged hope, and converted a dispirited militia 
 into confident and veteran soldiers. 
 
 Greene soon obtained supplies and reinforcements. Re- 
 crossing the Dan, it was now the turn of Cornwallis to 
 retreat. Pickens advanced with a strong body of militia on 
 the left flank of the enemy. Caswell, with a subsidy from 
 the North Carolina militia, made a similar demonstration 
 from the opposite direction. The two armies lay sullenly 
 watching each other, when the British columns suddenly 
 began their retreat from the banks of the Dan. Bodies of 
 picked men from the American army followed his movements, 
 at once to harass his progress, and ascertain his objects. 
 These were doubtful. At one moment he seemed to threaten 
 Pickens, at another the magazines on the Roanoke ; but, 
 suddenly turning his back upon the Dan, he moved towards 
 Hillsborough, a region filled with loyalists, whence he issued 
 his proclamation calling upon the faithful to repair to his 
 standard. But the time had come when, as he himself 
 expressed it, the friendly had grown timid, and the hostile 
 inveterate. Greene watched and followed all his movements, 
 determined to prevent his flight to the coast a purpose 
 which his proceedings seemed to indicate. The delay of a 
 few days, he well knew, would be fatal to the British. The 
 American partisans were closing around them. The army of 
 Greene was receiving daily accessions ; and several smart 
 skirmishes, in which the British suffered great losses, had 
 encouraged their adversaries with fresher hopes. Greene was 
 not yet strong enough to give battle to Cornwallis ; but 
 circumstances made it necessary that he should keep the field, 
 and exhibit equal boldness and activity. His light troops 
 were continually employed in beating up the British quarters, 
 harassing their march, cutting off their supplies, doing 
 everything, in short, but pitching their standards before
 
 GENERAL NATHANIEL, GREENE. 187 
 
 them in the plain. It became the policy of Cornwallis to 
 force him to retreat or fight. A war of manoeuvre followed, 
 and the result of this struggle at length brought Greene to 
 Guilford Court-House, within fourteen miles of the British 
 position. 
 
 A battle was now nearly inevitable, and, yielding some- 
 what to popular opinion, Greene was prepared to wait for it, 
 if not to seek it. It was on the i5th of March, 1781, that he 
 drew up in order of battle. The ground was chosen with 
 regard to the nature of the American troops. It was broken 
 and irregular. The first line of Greene was drawn out on the 
 skirts of a wood, and at right-angles with the road by which 
 the enemy was approaching. It consisted of raw and un- 
 trained militia from North Carolina, who had never crossed 
 arms with an enemy. But they were practiced marksmen. 
 They were commanded by Generals Butler and Eaton. The 
 second line, arranged about three hundred yards behind the 
 first, consisted of raw troops also, Virginians, led by Stevens 
 and Lawson. Both of these lines extended across the road. 
 About four hundred yards behind the second line, the Con- 
 tinentals were placed under Huger and Williams. They pre- 
 sented, in conformity with the aspect of the ground they 
 occupied, a double front, two regiments of Virginia regulars, 
 under Greene and Rudford, on the right, and the First and 
 Second Maryland on the left, under Gunby and Ford. A 
 corps of observation, composed of the dragoons of the First 
 and Third Regiments, Lynch' s Riflemen, and a detachment of 
 light infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel William Washing- 
 ton, covered the right flank. Lee, with his legion, supported 
 by detachments of light infantry and riflemen, increased the 
 securities of the left, and both of these corps occupied the 
 woods at the extremities of the first line. The artillery, with 
 the exception of two pieces, under Captain Singleton, which 
 were pushed forward, commanding the enemy's first ap- 
 proaches, was posted with the regulars on the hill, near the 
 Court-House. 
 
 The van of the British army came under the fire of 
 Singleton's pieces about one o'clock in the day. A brisk 
 cannonade from the royal artillery answered them, until the
 
 1 88 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 British had formed their line of battle. They were ranged in 
 a single line, and without a reserve. They advanced under 
 cover of the smoke from their artillery, and the militia yielded 
 to the charge of the bayonet, delivering a partial fire only. 
 The enemy, pressing forward upon the second line, were 
 suddenly checked by a sharp fire from the corps of Washing- 
 ton and Lee. To dislodge these was necessary to the British 
 progress. Concentrating a sufficient force for this object, 
 Cornwallis drove them slowly before him, suffering severely 
 under their fire, and making his way only with the bayonet. 
 The battle now began with double spirit. The Virginia 
 militia met the tide of conflict manfully, undismayed by its 
 torments and the bad example of the North Carolinians. 
 The fire told with deadly effect upon the assailants, whom 
 nothing saved but the flight of the first line of the Americans 
 and their own admirable discipline. The right wing of the 
 Americans gradually yielded, but with ranks still unbroken. 
 The British followed up their advantage with the bayonet, 
 and the retreat of the wing, which still held together, became 
 general throughout the line. Retreating to the third line, 
 they took post on the right of the Marylanders. On the left, 
 where the militia was supported by the corps of lyee and 
 Campbell, the action still continued. 
 
 The eye of Greene was cheered by the prospect, with all 
 its disadvantages. By this time the whole of the British 
 army, with the exception of its cavalry, had been brought into 
 action. It had suffered to a considerable degree, in all its 
 divisions, from the American fire. The line was dismembered, 
 some of its corps were scattered ; and, with his third line 
 fresh, and as yet untouched, the American general had every 
 reason to think that the victory was within his gsasp. The 
 veteran regiment of Gunby was the first to feel the British 
 fire, as General Webster, with his division, flushed with the 
 success already won, advanced upon the third line of the 
 Americans. Discipline met discipline. They were received 
 by a steady blaze of fire, general and well-directed, under 
 which they reeled, stunned and confounded, and before they 
 could recover from the shock, the Americans were upon them 
 with the bayonet. The rout was complete. Had the cavalry
 
 GENERAL, NATHANIEL GREENE. 189 
 
 of Greene been present, or could he have ventured to push 
 forward another regiment to follow up the blow, the conflict 
 would have been finished in victory. 
 
 But the battle was still raging on the left, and had 
 assumed an aspect unfavorable to his fortunes. Stevens, who 
 commanded the left wing of the Virginians, had been 
 disabled ; his militia, after a gallant struggle, had at length 
 yielded to the push of the veteran bayonet, and, still deliver- 
 ing their fire from tree to tree, as they withdrew, were 
 winding through the woods to the rear of the Continentals. 
 Their retreat left the column of Leslie free to hasten to the 
 support of that of O'Hara, who was now hurrying to the 
 assault upon the Second Regiment of Maryland. It was their 
 shame and Greene's misfortune, that this latter body failed to 
 follow the brilliant example just given them by that of 
 Gunby, failed in the moment of trial, and, breaking at the 
 first rude collision with the enemy, scattered themselves in 
 confusion through the field. Gunby's regiment again inter- 
 posed to check the progress of the British. Wheeling to the 
 left upon the advancing guards of the enemy, they compelled 
 a renewal of the contest. Fierce and wild was the encounter. 
 Gunby's horse was shot down; Howard succeeded to the com- 
 mand. At the moment of the greatest peril, when the strife 
 was at its worst, Washington with his cavalry dashed through 
 the British ranks, smiting terribly on every side. The charge 
 of the bayonet, led by Howard, rendered the shock irresistible, 
 and Stuart, the commander of the guards, being slain, they 
 sought safety in flight, suffering dreadfully under the close 
 pursuit of Howard and Washington, who gave them no 
 breathing moment to reunite their broken ranks. 
 
 Cornwallis beheld the peril of the day. The field could 
 be saved only by an expedient, at once bold and terrible. He 
 did not scruple to use it. The ground was covered by his 
 favorite but flying troops. The Americans were close upon 
 their footsteps. All was about to be lost, when the stern but 
 sagacious Briton commanded his artillery to open upon the 
 mingled masses, though every bullet told equally upon friend 
 and foe. "It is destroying ourselves," remonstrated O'Hara. 
 u Very true," was the reply of Cornwallis, " but it is neces-
 
 190 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 sary that we should do so, to arrest impending destruction." 
 The expedient was successful ; the pursuing Americans 
 paused from the work of death ; but one-half of the British 
 battalion was cut to pieces by their own artillery. 
 
 As the British rallied, Greene seized the opportunity to 
 recall his troops, and retire from a field at once of defeat and 
 victory. The laurel had been within his grasp more than 
 once during the conflict The premature flight of the first 
 line, .before their fire had well told upon their assailants the 
 unhappy panic of the Second Regiment of Maryland had lost 
 him the day. But for these events the victory was beyond all 
 question. To Cornwallis, who had narrowly escaped captivity 
 in the conflict, it was such a victory as that of Pyrrhus. It 
 left him undone. The fruits of the battle of Guilford inured 
 to the Americans. The remaining force of Cornwallis showed 
 a diminution of one-fourth of its strength, and its progress 
 was encumbered by his numerous wounded. It soon became 
 necessary that he should retreat from the barren field that he 
 boasted to have won. Greene pressed upon his retreating 
 footsteps. But the flight of Cornwallis was too precipitate ; 
 and, after having contributed, by an eager pursuit, to quicken 
 further his movements^ Greene forbore the chase, and pre- 
 pared to contemplate a new enemy and another field of 
 action. J. T. HEADLEY. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF EUTAW. 
 
 Hark ! 'tis the voice of the mountain, 
 
 And it speaks to our heart in its pride, 
 As it tells of the bearing of heroes 
 
 Who compassed its summits and died ! 
 How they gathered to strife as the eagles, 
 
 When the foeman had clambered the height, 
 How, with scent keen and eager as beagles, 
 
 They hunted him down for the fight 
 
 Hark ! through the gorge of the valley, 
 
 'Tis the bugle that tells of the foe ; 
 Our own quickly sounds for the rally, 
 
 And we snatch down the rifle and go.
 
 GENERAI, NATHANIEL GREENE. 191 
 
 As the hunter who hears of the panther, 
 
 Each arms him and leaps to his steed, 
 Rides forth through the desolate antre, 
 
 With his knife and his rifle at need. 
 
 From a thousand deep gorges they gather, 
 
 From the cot lowly perched by the rill, 
 The cabin half hid in the heather, 
 
 ' Neath the crag where the eagle keeps still, 
 Each lonely at first in his roaming, 
 
 Till the vale to the sight opens fair, 
 And he sees the low cot through the gloaming, 
 
 When his bugle gives tongue to the air. 
 
 Thus a thousand brave hunters assemble 
 
 For the hunt of the insolent foe, 
 And soon shall his myrmidons tremble 
 
 'Neath the shock of the thunderbolt's blow, 
 Down the lone heights now wind they together, 
 
 As the mountain-brooks flow to the vale, 
 And now, as they group on the heather, 
 
 The keen scout delivers his tale : 
 
 ' ' The British the Tories are on us, 
 
 And now is the moment to prove 
 To the women whose virtues have won us, 
 
 That our virtues are worthy their love ! 
 They have swept the vast valleys below us 
 
 With fire, to the hills from the sea ; 
 And here would they seek to o'erthrow us 
 
 In a realm which our eagle makes free ! " 
 
 No war-council suffered to trifle 
 
 With the hours devote to the deed ; 
 Swift followed the grasp of the rifle, 
 
 Swift followed the bound to the steed ; 
 And soon to the eyes of our yeomen, 
 
 All panting with rage at the sight, 
 Gleamed the long wavy tents of the foeman, 
 
 As he lay in his camp on the height. 
 
 Grim dashed they away as they bounded, 
 The hunters to hem in the prey,
 
 192 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 And, with Deckard's long rifles surrounded, 
 Then the British rose fast to the fray ; 
 
 And never with arms of more vigor 
 
 Did their bayonets press through the strife, 
 
 Where with every swift pull of the trigger, 
 The sharp-shooters dashed out a life! 
 
 'Twas the meeting of eagles and lions ; 
 
 'Twas the rushing of tempests and waves, 
 Insolent triumph 'gainst patriot defiance, 
 
 Born freemen 'gainst sycophant slaves; 
 Scotch Ferguson sounding his whistle, 
 
 As from danger to danger he flies, 
 Feels the moral that lies in Scotch thistle, 
 
 With its " touch me who dare " and he dies ! 
 
 An hour, and the battle is over ; 
 
 The eagles are rending their prey ; 
 The serpents seek flight into cover, 
 
 But the terror still stands in the way : 
 More dreadful the doom that on treason 
 
 Avenges the wrong of the state ; 
 And the oak tree for many a season 
 
 Bears fruit for the vultures of fate! 
 
 W. GILMORE SIMMS.
 
 GENERAL DANIEL MORGAN. 
 
 GENERAL MORGAN'S victory at 
 Cowpens was the turning point of the 
 struggle for American Independence 
 in the Southern States. Though a 
 citizen of Virginia, he was originally 
 from the North. He was of Welsh 
 extraction, and was born in New 
 Jersey in 1736. His e'ducation was 
 entirely neglected, and his adventur- 
 ous disposition led him, at the age 
 of seventeen, to run away from home. Wandering to the 
 wildest parts of Virginia, he settled, in 1754, in Berkeley 
 County (since Jefferson), at Charlestown. 
 
 When General Braddock came with his army in 1755, young 
 Morgan joined the expedition with his wagon and horses, be- 
 ginning his military career as a teamster. Braddock pushed 
 forward with the greater portion of the troops, leaving Colonel 
 Dunbar in command at Little Meadows. When Braddock' s 
 force was routed by the Indians, Virginia raised an additional 
 regiment, and gave the command to Washington. Morgan, 
 with his wagon and team, was attached to the quartermaster's 
 department. In 1 756, while taking a wagon-load of stores to 
 Fort Chiswell, he got into serious trouble. A British officer, 
 taking offence at something he had done, struck him with 
 the flat of his sword. Morgan knocked the officer down. He 
 received for this offence the horrible punishment of five hun- 
 dred lashes on his naked back. Morgan received his first 
 commission as ensign from Governor Dinwiddie, in recog- 
 nition of bravery he displayed, at the head of a few back- 
 woodsmen, defeating a small force of Frenchmen. Shortly 
 13 193
 
 194 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 afterwards, in an engagement with Indians, he was shot 
 through the neck. Morgan kept his seat on horseback, and 
 although weak from loss of blood, got safely back to the fort. 
 
 Having married Abigail Bailey, a farmer's daughter, Mor- 
 gan now purchased a house and piece of land a few miles east 
 of Winchester. This he named "Soldier's Rest" Here, 
 with his wife, he established himself and commenced his 
 domestic career. In 1771 he received a commission as Cap- 
 tain of militia, and served in Lord Dunmore's war on the 
 frontier. At the outbreak of the Revolution in 1775, Morgan, 
 with a company of riflemen, marched to the American camp 
 before Boston, a distance of 600 miles, which he covered in 
 twenty-one days. In September he was sent with the expe- 
 dition against Quebec, and marched with Arnold through 
 Maine. In the attack on the city Arnold was wounded, and 
 Morgan and his riflemen carried a battery at the west angle 
 of the town; but he was surrounded and taken prisoner. 
 Governor Carleton, admiring his bravery, released him on 
 parole and he returned to Virginia. Prisoners being ex- 
 changed, he was released from parole. 
 
 Towards the close of 1776, Morgan was appointed colonel 
 of a rifle regiment In this and the following year, he also 
 rendered Washington valuable assistance in New Jersey. 
 Being sent to assist Gates, he largely contributed to the cap- 
 ture of Burgoyne, though Gates did not speak of it in his 
 dispatches. In the South he served again, under that general 
 and Greene. With great valor he defeated Tarleton, in the 
 battle of the Cowpens, January 17, 1781. This was the 
 crowning achievement of his career, and for his valuable 
 services he received a gold medal from Congress. He con- 
 tinued in every way to harass Cornwallis, until compelled by 
 sickness to retire to his home. 
 
 From 1795 to 1799, Morgan was a member of Congress. 
 The year previous to his election in Congress, he helped in 
 quelling the Whiskey Insurrection in Pennsylvania. After 
 living thirteen years in retirement on his estate, he died 
 at Winchester, Va., 6th of July, 1802. General Morgan 
 was plain in his manners, and indulgent in command of his 
 trusty riflemen. Whatever task he undertook, however diffi-
 
 GENERAL DANIEL, MORGAN. 195 
 
 cult, he executed it with unshaken courage and perseverance. 
 He was a true Christian of the Presbyterian faith. Of 
 undoubted veracity, he was the soul of honor. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE COWPENS. 
 
 In December, 1780, General Greene reached the Ameri- 
 can camp, and assumed command of the Southern Army . He 
 was attended by General Morgan at the head of a body of 
 Virginia regulars and a few light troops. Greene's object was 
 to prevent a general engagement in the open field, for which 
 he was ill-prepared. He resolved by prudent means to rouse 
 the spirit of the country, already excited by the cruelty of the 
 English ; to suppress the meeting of the Tories, and to keep 
 the enemy in check. Having taken post with the main body 
 of his army at Hicks' Creek, he sent Morgan to the country 
 bordering on the Pacolet River, that he might organize resist- 
 ance to the enemy, and make a demonstration against Fort 
 Ninety-Six. Morgan's whole command consisted of not more 
 than six hundred men three hundred infantry under Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel John Eager Howard, two hundred Virginia rifle- 
 men, and about one hundred gallant dragoons under Colonel 
 William Washington. 
 
 When Cornwallis learned of his movements, he dispatched 
 his celebrated subordinate, Colonel Tarleton, to oppose him, 
 and if possible to force him into action. The name of Tarle- 
 ton had become proverbial through the country for his activ- 
 ity, his success, and his harsh measures towards the patriots. 
 He promised himself an easy victory over "the wagoner," as 
 Morgan was called in contempt, and the force at his command 
 seemed fully to justify his expectations. Tarleton had light 
 and legion infantry, fusileers, three hundred and fifty cavalry, 
 and a fine battalion of the Seventy-first Regiment, making in 
 all eleven hundred men, besides two field-pieces well served 
 by artillerists. But he had now to encounter a general who 
 had braved the snows of Camden, had scaled the walls of Que- 
 bec, and had faced the legions of Burgoyne. With consum- 
 mate prudence Morgan retreated until he reached the mem- 
 orable field of the Cowpens, near one of the branches of 
 Pacolet River. This was a place in the woods roughly
 
 196 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 enclosed, in which the cattle of the settlers, who roamed at 
 large most of the year, were gathered at certain seasons to be 
 claimed by their owners. Here, in the face of a superior 
 enemy, Morgan determined to make a stand. He communi- 
 cated his design to his inferior officers, and with ready spirit 
 they prepared the minds of the men for the expected combat. 
 Morgan's arrangement was simple but masterly, and showed 
 a perfect knowledge of the character, both of his own force 
 and of that of Tarleton. In the open wood, which formed the 
 Cowpens, he established three lines ; the first consisted of the 
 militia, under Colonel Pickens, a brave officer who had been 
 recently released from captivity among the English. The 
 next line embraced all the regular infantry and the Virginia 
 riflemen, and was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Howard. 
 The third was formed by Washington's dragoons, and about 
 fifty mounted militia, armed with swords and pistols. Know- 
 ing that the militia, though full of courage, were liable to 
 panics, Morgan directed that the first line, if overpowered, 
 should gradually retire and form on the right and left of the 
 second. When Tarleton found his foe drawn up in battle 
 order, he rejoiced in the hope of a speedy victory, and though 
 his troops were somewhat fatigued by a rapid march, he gave 
 orders for a charge. Before his first line was perfectly formed, 
 he placed himself at its head, and in person rushed to the 
 onset. Colonel Pickens ordered his men not to fire until their 
 adversaries were within fifty yards, and their fire was delivered 
 with great steadiness and with severe effect. But so impetu- 
 ous was the British charge that the militia gave way, and 
 falling back attempted to form on the flanks of the second 
 line. 
 
 At the head of his legion and fusileers, Tarleton pressed 
 upon the regulars and riflemen, and notwithstanding their stern 
 resistance they were borne down by numbers, and forced to 
 yield their ground. The British regarded their victory as 
 secured, and for a time at least the hearts of the Republicans 
 failed. But Morgan was everywhere encouraging his men by 
 his voice and presence. At this moment, when their very 
 success had caused some confusion among the fusileers, Wash- 
 ington at the head of his dragoons made a furious charge, and
 
 GENERAL DANIEL MORGAN. 197 
 
 dashing in among them overthrew them in a moment. His 
 horses passed over the British infantry like a storm, and the 
 swords of his men hewed them down with resistless sway. In 
 this happy crisis, Howard succeeded in restoring the Conti- 
 nentals to order, and Pickens rallied the militia and brought 
 them again into line. Morgan gave the word to advance, and 
 with presented bayonets the compact line bore down upon the 
 Royalists. Struck with astonishment at finding themselves 
 thus assaulted by men whom just before they looked upon 
 as defeated, the English troops wavered and then broke in 
 disorder before the charge. In vain their officers endeavored 
 to rally them for a renewed stand. The spirits of the patriots 
 were roused, and pressing forward with their bayonets they 
 carried everything before them. Infantry and cavalry were 
 alike broken by their violence. Nearly two hundred of 
 Tarleton's horse retreated in dismay from the field, riding 
 over their comrades, and involving them in confusion beyond 
 remedy. The Americans gained the two field-pieces, and 
 Colonel Howard having come up with a large body of infantry 
 and summoned them to surrender, they laid down their arms 
 on the field. The rout of the British was now complete ; a 
 more signal victory had never been achieved. Washington 
 and his horse followed the flying foe during several hours, and 
 Tarleton himself narrowly escaped falling into the hands of 
 his determined pursuer. 
 
 Such was the brilliant battle of the Cowpens, and beyond 
 doubt the success of the Americans must be largely attributed 
 to the prudent arrangement of General Morgan, and to the 
 brave spirit which he had succeeded in infusing into his men. 
 To form some idea of the importance of this victory, we must 
 recall the loss of the enemy and the gain of the Americans. 
 The British lost ten officers and more than one hundred pri- 
 vates killed, two hundred men wounded, twenty-nine officers 
 and above five hundred privates prisoners. The Americans 
 captured two field-pieces, two standards, eight hundred 
 muskets, thirty-five baggage-wagons, and more than one 
 hundred cavalry horses ; and they lost but twelve men killed 
 and sixty wounded. 
 
 But great as was the effect of this battle in restoring the
 
 198 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 confidence of the Americans, it was hardly more important to 
 the future fame of Morgan than his subsequent retreat. 
 When Cornwallis learned of the total defeat of his favorite 
 Tarleton, and of the destruction of his corps, he was deeply 
 mortified ; but instead of yielding to despondency, he resolved 
 to pursue the victor and wrest the fruits of triumph from his 
 hands. Leaving behind him heavy baggage and everything 
 that could impede his progress, he pressed on, hoping to 
 overtake his enemy and crush him at a blow ere he could 
 cross the Catawba River. But the sagacious American had 
 anticipated his movements and prepared to counteract his 
 design. Sending his prisoners on before under a strong 
 guard of militia, he manoeuvred in the rear with his regulars 
 and riflemen, whom he knew he could at any time push to a 
 rapid march. Thus the vanguard and prisoners crossed the 
 Catawba on the 29th of January, and Morgan, still retreating 
 before Cornwallis, passed the river in safety on the evening 
 of the same day. Hardly had he crossed before the English 
 army appeared on the other side, but during the night a 
 tremendous fall of rain took place, and so swelled the river 
 that a passage became impracticable. Thus nature herself 
 seemed to come to the aid of liberty ; nor was this the only 
 occasion in which she interposed in behalf of the patriot 
 army. 
 
 General Greene had feared for Morgan's safety, and 
 believing that his own presence in this division of the army 
 would contribute to its success in the retreat yet before it, he 
 left the main body at Hicks' Creek, under General Huger, 
 directing him to retire as rapidly as possible and form a 
 junction with Morgan's division at Guilford Court-House in 
 North Carolina. When Greene reached the camp of his sub- 
 ordinate on the 3ist of January, the two generals immediately 
 entered into consultation as to the best route for their con- 
 tinued retreat. Morgan thought a road over the mountains 
 the most eligible, as he believed his men were accustomed to 
 such localities, and he knew the roughness of the way would 
 oppose many obstacles to a pursuing army. But Greene pre- 
 ferred the lower route, and when Morgan urged his wishes 
 and declared that if the mountain road were not taken he
 
 GENERAI, DANIEL MORGAN. 199 
 
 would not be answerable for the consequences, Greene replied, 
 u Neither will you be answerable, for I shall take the measure 
 upon myself. ' ' Thus the dispute was ended, and the march 
 commenced. 
 
 Cornwallis marched rapidly up the Catawba River to cross 
 at McGowan's Ford. Had a sufficient force, even of resolute 
 militia, opposed him on the northern bank, it is not probable 
 that his passage would have been effected without severe loss. 
 But the Americans had unhappily taken post too far from the 
 bank. A small number only disputed the point, and the 
 British army forded in safety, though the water was generally 
 up to the middle of their bodies. General Davidson, of North 
 Carolina, was killed in the skirmish, and the militia rapidly 
 retreated. Thus Greene was again in danger, and it seems 
 that had he taken the mountain route recommended by 
 Morgan, he might have been overwhelmed by his vigilant 
 enemy. Reaching the banks of the Yadkin, he crossed on 
 the 2d and 3d of February. The passage was made partly in 
 flats and partly by fording, and all the boats were secured on 
 the northern side. Cornwallis was so close on his rear that 
 the light troops of both armies skirmished with each other, 
 and the Virginia riflemen did good service. But in the 
 night rain fell in torrents and the waters of the Yadkin rose 
 suddenly to a height which rendered fording impossible. 
 Again the British general was foiled. The American army 
 was saved from a dangerous encounter, and the patriots, not 
 without reason, ascribed their deliverance to divine inter- 
 vention. 
 
 At Gtiilford Court-House the two divisions of the army 
 united, and a few days were allowed for refreshment after the 
 late rapid marching. General Morgan here resigned his com- 
 mand, and suggested Colonel Otho Williams as his successor, 
 who was immediately appointed by Greene. It has been 
 thought by many that Morgan's resignation was caused by 
 his dispute with his superior ; but we have the best reason to 
 believe that this was not the case. Though firm and proud, 
 he was generous and intelligent, and he could not have failed 
 to perceive that Greene's measures had been prudent, and 
 that the course he himself had preferred would have been
 
 2OO HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 highly dangerous. We have a much more satisfactory expla- 
 nation of his wish for retirement. His old malady, the 
 rheumatism, had returned upon him, and aggravated by his 
 late exposure, it had rendered him incapable of exertion. 
 After crossing the Yadkin, it became so violent that he was 
 unable to retain his command, and had he remained with the 
 army it would have been only in the character of an invalid. 
 Under these circumstances it cannot be surprising that he 
 should have sought repose at his home in Virginia. To prove 
 that he remained on terms of friendly intercourse with 
 General Greene, we give a letter from the latter to him. 
 
 "AUGUST 26, 1781. 
 
 "DEAR MORGAN. Your letter of 24th of June arrived 
 safe at headquarters ; and your compliments to Williams, 
 Washington and I^ee have been properly distributed. Noth- 
 ing would have given me greater pleasure than to have had 
 you with me. The people of this country adore you. Had 
 you been with me a few weeks past, you could have had it in 
 your power to give the world the pleasure of reading a second 
 Cowpens affair ; . . . the expedition ought to have realized us 
 six hundred men, and the chances were more than fifty times 
 as great in our favor as they were at Tarleton's defeat. Great 
 generals are scarce : there are few Morgans to be found." 
 
 No American of that day could have been insensible to 
 the merit of the hero of the Cowpens. When a full report of 
 the victory was made to Congress, it passed a vote of thanks 
 to Morgan and his officers, and directed that a gold medal 
 should be prepared for him, with a suitable device and inscrip- 
 tion expressing their sense of his value. J. T. HEADLEY. 
 
 'so
 
 GENERAL FRANCIS MARION. 
 
 FRANCIS MARION, the "Swamp 
 Fox ' ' of the American Revolution, 
 was born at Winyaw, near George- 
 town, South Carolina, in 1732. He 
 was the grandchild of a family of 
 Huguenots who, in 1690, had sought 
 shelter here from the storm of per- 
 secution raging in France. Francis 
 was the youngest of the six children 
 of Gabriel and Esther Marion. As 
 a baby he was so diminutive and 
 feeble that Weems says, " He was not larger than a New Eng- 
 land lobster. ' ' At the age of sixteen, having a passion for 
 the sea, he shipped for the West Indies. A storm arose, and 
 the vessel foundered. He with five others took to the ship's 
 boat, and it was seven days before they were picked up. Two 
 had died of starvation, and Marion and the other three barely 
 escaped with their lives. This cured him of the desire for a 
 sailor's life. 
 
 In 1758 Marion went to St. John's, and settled at Pond 
 Bluff. The following year he entered the service of the State, 
 joining a company of horse under Captain Moultrie against 
 the Cherokee Indians, and distinguished himself by his daring. 
 Colonel James Grant held the command of the Royal Scots 
 in 1761, and he was assisted by a State regiment of 1200 men, 
 led by Middleton. Marion, still serving under Captain 
 Moultrie with 2600 men, marched from Fort George. On the 
 yth of June a terrible battle was fought with the Indians at 
 Etchoee. All the time Marion was in the hottest of the fight. 
 
 20 1
 
 202 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 With thirty men he stormed the strongest position of the 
 Indians. Fourteen towns of the Cherokees were burned and 
 their country laid waste. Marion protested against this sever- 
 ity; said he, u To me it is a shocking sight. When we are 
 gone the Indian children will return and ask their mothers : 
 1 Who did this ? ' ' The white people, the Christians, ' will 
 be the reply." 
 
 In 1775 Marion was chosen to the Provincial Congress of 
 South Carolina from St. John's. Whilst they were deliberat- 
 ing, news came of the battle of Lexington. They at once 
 resolved to raise two regiments of infantry, consisting of 1 500 
 men, and one of cavalry numbering 450 men. Marion had 
 charge of the cavalry as captain under Colonel Moultrie. His 
 commission as captain was dated 2ist June, 17/5. In the 
 same year he assisted in the capture of Fort Johnson from 
 the British. He was now promoted to the rank of major, and 
 acted as such at Sullivan's Island. Owing to his skill in 
 organization and his strict discipline he was called ' ' the archi- 
 tect of the Second Regiment." On June 28, 1776, when the 
 British fleet were driven from Charleston, Marion greatly dis- 
 tinguished himself and was raised to the rank of lieutenant- 
 colonel. Just before Charleston surrendered to Sir Henry 
 Clinton, Marion injured his leg, and had to be taken home. 
 This providentially saved him from being shut up in the city 
 at that time. 
 
 On his recovery he made his way into Virginia and joined 
 the army of Gates: having no command, he accepted the posi- 
 tion of aide-de-camp to DeKalb. In the crushing defeat at 
 Camden, Marion escaped with 30 men. With these he became 
 a successful annoyance to the British. He first captured a 
 British guard of three times his strength and liberated 200 
 American prisoners. He cut up a party of 49 Tories, taking 
 their ammunition, baggage, arms and horses. His little force 
 had now increased to one hundred and fifty men. Governor 
 Rutledge, of South Carolina, gave him a commission as briga- 
 dier-general, directing him to protect the southwest portion of 
 the State. This work he did, and successfully cut off sup- 
 plies from the British. He harassed in every way their oper- 
 ations. He, in 1780, won two engagements. The first
 
 GENERAL FRANCIS MARION. 203 
 
 against a party of Tories on the Black Mingo River ; the 
 second against a band of Colonel Tynes' regulars at Tarcote. 
 Tarleton, the British general, gave Marion the name of 
 " Swamp Fox," so impossible was it to get near him after he 
 had inflicted a blow on the enemy. Three attacks did Marion 
 make on Georgetown : the first two were unsuccessful ; but the 
 third effort proved successful. He so crippled the British 
 cavalry at Parker's Ferry that they were of very little service 
 to the enemy during the remainder of the war. Until the 
 British evacuated Charleston on the I4th of December, 1782, 
 Marion assisted his country's cause. 
 
 He sat as State Senator from 1782 to 1790 ; then, retiring 
 from public life, he removed to his plantation at St. John's. 
 In 1784 he married Mary Videau. They left no children. He 
 died on his plantation February 27, 1795, his last words being : 
 ' ' Thank God, I can lay my hand on my heart and say that 
 since I came to man's estate, I have never done, intentionally, 
 wrong to any." Francis Marion was a true patriot, an active, 
 brave and hardy soldier ; his conduct was most generous. 
 No houses were burned by his orders, and he hated making 
 war on women and children. He and his comrades slept in 
 the swamps, with not a blanket to cover them, for months 
 together. The extremes of heat and cold he endured with 
 indifference. Though a strict disciplinarian, he was beloved 
 by his men. Always was he kind, chivalric and gentle. 
 
 THE " SWAMP Fox." 
 
 At the end of the summer of 1780 all seemed lost in South 
 Carolina. Charleston was taken, and Gates had been totally 
 defeated. Nothing like an organized force opposed the Brit- 
 ish. Their foraging parties swept through the country and 
 insulted the inhabitants without hazard. The hopes of the 
 most sanguine patriots seemed about to expire. Darkness and 
 gloom were on every side. It was at this crisis that the true 
 value of Francis Marion began to appear ; and if the man de- 
 serves more admiration who struggles against the current of 
 adversity than he who sails with a prosperous wind, we can- 
 not refuse to admire the course now pursued by the partisan 
 of South Carolina.
 
 204 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 He obeyed a summons from a few brave men in the neigh- 
 borhood of Williamsburg, who, after accepting British protec- 
 tion, had been required by Cornwallis to take up arms against 
 their country. Outraged by this breach of faith, they threw 
 off the fetters they had assumed, and invited Marion to come 
 and lead them in the warfare they intended to wage against 
 the enemy. About the i2th of August, 1780, four days after 
 the defeat of Gates, he joined the little band at Lynch' s 
 Creek, and immediately commenced drilling them for service. 
 He now held a commission as general from Governor Rut- 
 ledge, of South Carolina, and the command of that part of the 
 State in which he intended to act was committed to his 
 hands. 
 
 Not more than thirty horsemen were at first assembled ; 
 but after the arrival of their commander the number increased. 
 "Marion's Brigade" was formed, and it was soon renowned 
 throughout the country. Tories feared it, and patriots heard 
 of its deeds with delight. To join Marion, to be one of 
 Marion's men, was esteemed the highest privilege to which a 
 young man could aspire, who wished to serve his country. 
 These troopers were men admirably adapted to the duty they 
 assumed. Active and hardy in body, they were capable of 
 enduring fatigue and exposure without a murmur ; they rode 
 well, and accustomed their horses to the privations they them- 
 selves encountered. They used the rifle with unerring skill ; 
 swords were at first wanting ; but they stripped all the saw- 
 mills of the neighborhood, and the saws were converted by 
 rude blacksmiths into sabres for the men ; and we are informed 
 by a contemporary that their rude swords were so efficient 
 that a strong trooper never failed to cut down an adversary at 
 a single blow. 
 
 Immediately after taking command of his troopers, Marion 
 advanced silently upon the squadron of Major Gainey, an 
 English partisan officer of considerable reputation, and before 
 his approach was known, the whole party were his prisoners. 
 Emboldened by this success, and by the surprise it produced, 
 he next attempted a more important scheme. A party of 
 about ninety British soldiers passed near Nelson's ferry, con- 
 ducting at least two hundred American prisoners to Charles-
 
 GENERAI, FRANCIS MARION. 205 
 
 ton. These captives were from the ill-fated field of Camden. 
 Marion and his band passed the ferry about an hour after sun- 
 set, and, concealing themselves on the other side, awaited the 
 approach of the detachment. After crossing, the English 
 sought the first public-house they could find, in which to 
 pass the night, and, dreaming not of danger, the)' spent many 
 hours in drinking and merriment, and finally fell asleep in a 
 spacious arbor in front of the house, leaving drowsy sentinels 
 to guard their slumbers. In a moment Marion was upon them, 
 the sentinels were stricken down, and several of the detach- 
 ment were slain before they knew who were their enemies. 
 Starting from sleep, they found themselves invaded by bold 
 troopers, who dashed among them with their horses, and with 
 loud shouts called them to surrender. The English asked for 
 quarter, and not until they were disarmed and their prisoners 
 were all released did they discover how insignificant was the 
 enemy who had vanquished them. 
 
 This exploit was soon followed by others of an equally 
 daring character. Hearing that a party of Tories under Cap- 
 tain Burfield were assembling on the Pedee River, the Ameri- 
 can put his men in motion, and after a rapid ride of forty 
 miles came upon the enemy at three o'clock in the morning. 
 So startling was the assault that the Tories broke and dis- 
 persed without firing a single shot. Of forty-nine composing 
 their number, thirty were either killed or fell into the hands 
 of the patriots. From these two parties Marion obtained a 
 welcome supply of ammunition, cartridge-boxes, muskets and 
 horses, which enabled him materially to increase his own 
 strength. 
 
 The English officers seem to have been greatly astonished 
 at their defeats. While the whole country was apparently in 
 their power, they found an American partisan leading his 
 troops through the very heart of the province, dealing rapid 
 and disabling blows upon his enemies, alarming the Tories 
 and keeping alive the spirit of resistance. They determined 
 to follow him with an overwhelming force, and to crush him 
 at once; but they found his prudence equal to his courage. 
 With more than two hundred British regulars advancing in 
 front and about five hundred Tories in his rear, Marion com-
 
 206 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 menced a retreat which was conducted with consummate skill 
 and success. His practice was to dismiss many of his men to 
 their homes, receiving from each his word of honor that he 
 would return when summoned, and to the credit of these suf- 
 fering patriots be it known that their promises in this respect 
 were never violated. At the head of a small band, generally 
 of about sixty men, Marion then plunged into the swamps, and 
 concealing each trace of his passage, he would lie concealed 
 until the immediate danger was over. 
 
 Finding that the enemy had abandoned the pursuit, he 
 again turned his troops South, and leaving North Carolina, 
 advanced cautiously into his own province. Major Wemyss, 
 who had commanded the British regulars, had retired to 
 Georgetown; but a large body of Tories had taken post at 
 Shepherd's Ferry, on the Black Mingo River. Against this 
 traitor class of foes Marion was always signally active, for he 
 well knew their influence in depressing the spirit of liberty 
 in the country. About a mile below Shepherd' s ' Ferry a 
 long bridge of planks crossed the Black Mingo, and this was 
 the only avenue open to Marion. As his troopers entered 
 upon the bridge, the trampling of their horses was so loud as 
 to arouse the enemy, and immediately an alarm gun was heard 
 from their camp. No time was now to be lost : Marion gave 
 the word to charge, and the whole troop passed the bridge' at 
 a sweeping gallop. The Tories were there double in number, 
 and they had drawn up in a body on a piece of rising ground 
 near the ferry. A heavy fire received the patriots as they 
 advanced, and for a time their leading corps faltered; but 
 when the whole number came into action their onset was irre- 
 sistible. After losing their commander, the Tories left their 
 ranks and fled in the utmost disorder. Nearly two-thirds of 
 their number were either killed or wounded, and many were 
 made prisoners. Had they not been alarmed by the noise at 
 the bridge, it is probable they would all have fallen into the 
 hands of the Americans. It is said that after this conflict 
 Marion never crossed a bridge at night without spreading 
 blankets upon it to deaden the sound. He generally pre- 
 ferred to cross at a ford, where there would be no risk of 
 giving a premature alarm.
 
 GENERAI, FRANCIS MARION. 207 
 
 After giving his men a season of rest and recreation, 
 among the people of the State who were friendly to their 
 cause, he called them again to his side and prepared for active 
 proceedings. His vigilant scouts informed him that Colonel 
 Tynes was raising a body of Tories at Tarcote, in the forks of 
 Black River, and that he had brought from Charleston a full 
 supply of saddles and bridles, blankets, pistols and broad- 
 swords, powder and ball for his new levies. These articles 
 were precisely what Marion's men wanted, and they were 
 stimulated to unwonted energy by the hope of accomplishing 
 two objects the defeat of the Tories and the seizure of their 
 munitions. Tynes suspected no danger and used but little 
 precaution. At midnight Marion and his troops approached 
 and found their enemy. Some were asleep, some lying on the 
 ground in careless conversation, many were at cards, and the 
 very words they uttered were heard by the Americans as they 
 advanced. Instantly the attack was made and the Tories 
 took to flight, and all who escaped concealed themselves in 
 the swamps bordering on the Black River. Few were killed; 
 but Colonel Tynes and many of his men, together with all 
 the military wealth he had brought out of Charleston, fell 
 into the hands of the victors. Marion did not lose a single 
 man. 
 
 In this succession of gallant deeds the American proved 
 his ability and thoroughly established his reputation. The 
 British generals had hoped that the country might be consid- 
 ered as conquered; but while such a foe was among them they 
 felt that they had little cause for triumph. We have a letter 
 from Cornwallis himself, in which he says, ' ' Colonel Marion 
 had so wrought on the minds of the people, partly by the 
 terror of his threats and cruelty of his punishments, and 
 partly by the promise of plunder, that there was scarcely an 
 inhabitant between the Santee and Pedee that was not in 
 arms against us. Some parties had even crossed the Santee, 
 and carried terror to the gates of Charleston." Those who 
 knew Marion personally, and who have given sketches of his 
 life, have refuted the charge of cruelty here brought against 
 him. He was proverbially mild and humane in his disposi- 
 tion; he often saved the lives of Tories whom his men would
 
 208 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 have hanged in retaliation for similar outrages inflicted upon 
 the patriots ; even though his own nephew, Gabriel Marion, 
 was murdered while asking for quarter, when afterwards the 
 supposed murderer was shot by one of his troopers, he sternly 
 censured the deed, and would have punished the perpetrator 
 could he have been detected. 
 
 Renewed efforts were made to crush this dangerous foe. 
 Colonel Tarleton left the room to which he had been confined 
 by sickness in Charleston, and placed himself at the head of 
 his dragoons with the firm resolve not to yield the pursuit 
 until he had secured the enemy. Marion watched his course, 
 and adopted his own with ceaseless caution. At the planta- 
 tion of General Richardson, the English partisan believed his 
 triumph complete. Marion was at a wood-yard within a mile 
 of him ; but warned by the flames of the general's house that 
 his pursuer was near, he took to flight, and when Tarleton 
 arrived he was filled with rage on finding that the prize was 
 gone. Through forests and swamps, thorny hedges and 
 tangled undergrowth, he followed the retreating troops, but 
 never came near enough to strike a blow. At length, on 
 arriving" at Benbow's Ferry on Black River, Marion deter- 
 mined to make a stand. The ferry was rapid and dangerous, 
 and behind him was Ox Swamp, through which only three 
 passes were practicable. His men were perfectly familiar 
 with the localities, and having thrown up a breastwork of 
 logs, and made other defences, they prepared their rifles for 
 the English dragoons. Had Tarleton attempted to carry their 
 position, he would, in the language of Judge James, ' ' have 
 exposed his force to such sharp-shooting as he had not yet 
 experienced, and that in a place where he could not have 
 acted with either his artillery or cavalry." But he prudently 
 turned back. " Come, boys," he said, " let us go back. We 
 will soon find the game cock (General Sumter) ; but as for 
 this swamp fox, the devil himself could not catch him." 
 The devil would certainly have been a very appropriate com- 
 rade for Colonel Tarleton in his partisan excursions through 
 the Carolinas. 
 
 Marion planned an attack upon Georgetown, which had 
 long been held by a British garrison ; but in consequence of
 
 GENERAL FRANCIS MARION. 209 
 
 mismanagement on the part of his subordinates, the attempt 
 failed entirely. He now retired to his favorite retreat on 
 Snow's Island, which lay at the point where Lynch' s Creek 
 and the Pedee River unite. Here the camp of the partisan 
 was regularly established in a spot admirably suited to his 
 purposes. Running water enclosed it on all sides, and the 
 current of Lynch 's Creek was almost always encumbered by 
 drifting logs and timber. Deep swamps formed the borders of 
 the island, and in the cane-brakes great quantities of game 
 and live-stock might generally be found. The middle part 
 was more elevated, and covered with tall forest trees ; here 
 Marion established his stronghold, and increased the natural 
 defences of the island by diligent labor. From this retreat he 
 could sally out in any direction, and by sudden strokes 
 astonish the Tories who were gathering in aid of British 
 power. 
 
 An incident occurred which has been regarded as worthy 
 to furnish the subject of a historical painting. An exchange 
 of prisoners having been agreed upon, a young English 
 officer was sent from Georgetown to complete the arrangement 
 with Marion. On arriving near the camp, he was carefully 
 blindfolded, and was thus conducted into the presence of the 
 American General. When the bandage was removed, he saw 
 before him a scene for which he was not prepared. Lofty 
 trees surrounded him, casting a sombre shade over all objects 
 beneath them : under these were lying in listless groups the 
 men belonging to the renowned partisan brigade. Active 
 forms and limbs, giving promise of great muscular power, 
 were clad in rude costumes which had already seen much 
 service. Rifles and sabres were seen among the trees, and 
 horses were around for instantaneous motion. Before him 
 stood Marion himself, small in stature, slight in person, dark 
 and swarthy in complexion, with a quiet aspect, but a brilliant 
 and searching eye. Scarcely could the officer believe that 
 this was indeed the man whose nme had spread terror among 
 all the enemies of liberty in southern America. After the 
 business before them had been properly arranged, the English- 
 man was about to retire; but Marion pressed him to stay to 
 dinner. The bewildered officer looked round him in vain for
 
 210 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 tables or plates, knives or forks, roast-ineats or savory vegeta- 
 bles ; but his suspense was soon to terminate. Sweet potatoes 
 yet smoking from the ashes were placed upon a piece of bark 
 and set before the American General and his guest. This 
 was the dinner, and while the officer pretended to eat, he 
 asked many questions. ' ' Doubtless this is an accidental meal ; 
 you live better in general." "No," was the reply, "we 
 often fare much worse. " "Then I hope at least you draw 
 noble pay to compensate?" "Not a cent, sir," replied 
 Marion, "not a cent!" Lost in amazement, the messenger 
 returned to Georgetown, and when questioned as to his 
 seriousness, he declared that he had much cause to be serious, 
 ' ' he had seen an American general and his officers without 
 pay, and almost without clothes, living on roots and drinking 
 water, all for liberty! What chance have we against such 
 men ? " In this rude scene might be found one of the most 
 glorious triumphs of the American Revolution. 
 
 J. T. HEADLEY.
 
 THOSE who are familiar with the com- 
 mon limits of history may be surprised 
 at the assertion that no nation has oc- 
 cupied so long the stage of the world, 
 or performed a grander part thereon 
 than ancient Egypt. With the dawn 
 of the Nineteenth Century came the 
 decipherment of the hieroglyphics, 
 furnishing a clear revelation of the 
 true history of that country, its civili- 
 zation, arts, sciences, literature, gov- 
 ernment and military conquests. She 
 presents to the admiration of the mod- 
 ern world her long series of works of architecture, sculpture 
 and even painting. Her kings and warriors, engineers and 
 artists are in no wise inferior to the Greek or Roman in the 
 excellence of their works or in the magnitude of their enter- 
 prises. 
 
 The exploits, fabulous and otherwise, of numerous 
 Egyptian kings were assigned by the classical narrators to 
 the sole credit of one hero, whom they called ' ' Sesostris. ' ' 
 We know now what the Greeks did not, that his right name 
 and title is Ramses II. There are echoes from the remote 
 antiquity of Egypt itself, telling of other hero kings who 
 were called, more deservedly than Ramses II., the "Great," 
 for instance, Antef the Great, Thothmes III. the Great, of the 
 XI. and XVIII. dynasties respectively. But still Ramses II. 
 was eminent enough to be entitled to the epithet. The infor- 
 mation as to the works he accomplished and the conquests he 
 made has come down to us with very full details. For Ramses 
 
 211
 
 212 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 himself caused Pentaur's great panegyric on the King's valor 
 at Kadesh, to be engraved on the walls of the temples every- 
 where throughout Egypt. 
 
 One of the most recent wonderful discoveries made in 
 Egypt was that of the mummies of a number of the Kings, 
 Queens and members of the royal families of the Thothmes' 
 and Ramses' dynasties (the XVIII. and XIX.), in the hiding- 
 place of Deir-el-Bahari. They all now lie in state at the 
 great Egyptian museum at Gizeh. There the tourist can 
 look upon the great warrior Kings, Thothmes III., Seti I., 
 Ramses II., who helped to make ancient Egypt powerful and 
 illustrious. 
 
 Ramses II., the Sesostris of the Greeks, was the grandson 
 of Ramses I., the founder of the XIX. Egyptian dynasty, 
 and succeeded his father, Seti I. about 1490 B.C. He was 
 the "Grand Monarch" of Egypt. His long reign of sixty- 
 seven years, his colossal buildings, his numerous wars, and 
 the victories he claimed, all make him the prototype of 
 Louis XIV-, of France. For a time, even from boyhood, he 
 had been associated in the government with his father. The 
 death of Seti was a signal for a renewal of the war between 
 Egypt and the Khiti or Hittites. Kadesh on the Orontes, 
 near the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea, became 
 the centre of the war. 
 
 Our description of the Syrian campaign is taken from 
 M. Maspero, the highest authority upon the affairs of ancient 
 Egypt. The king of the Khiti or Hittites, Khitasar, con- 
 voked his vassals and his allies and broke with Egypt The 
 hope of the pillage decided Ilion, Pedasos, Gerges, the 
 Mysians, and the Dardanians to join with the Khiti against 
 Sesostris. The Trojan bands crossed the peninsula of Asia 
 Minor and encamped in the valley of the Orontes, three 
 hundred leagues from their own country. Notwithstanding 
 our exaggerated ideas of the immobility of the people of the 
 Orient, the composition of the Egyptian army that Ramses 
 opposed to the confederates would alone suffice to show with 
 what facility those nations moved to vast distances. It con- 
 tained, by the side of the pure Egyptians, the Libyans, the 
 Mazion, and the Sardinians. Ramses established his base
 
 RAMSES II. 213 
 
 of operations on the Arabian frontier of Egypt in the city of 
 Raamses. He crossed Canaan and the northern countries 
 rapidly, and halted to the southwest of the city of Kadesh 
 for the purpose of reconnoitering the position of the enemy. 
 On the other hand, the Prince of the Khiti being well in- 
 formed of his movements, conceived and executed an able 
 manoeuvre which put the Egyptian army within a hair's 
 breath of destruction. 
 
 One day two Arabs sought an interview with Ramses and 
 said: "Our brethren, chiefs of the tribes united with the 
 vile chief of the Khiti, sent us to speak to his Majesty. We 
 wish to serve the Pharaoh with whom be life, health and 
 strength. We renounce the vile chief of the Khiti, who is in 
 the country of Khalupu where, through fear of the Pharaoh, 
 he has retreated rapidly." The King, deceived by this plaus- 
 ible speech, felt assured against surprise by the presumed dis- 
 tance of the enemy, Khalupu (Aleppo) being forty leagues 
 north of Kadesh. He, therefore, advanced confidently, 
 escorted only by his military staff, while the bulk of his 
 army followed at some distance. The Khiti, however, had 
 formed an ambuscade to the northeast of Kadesh. Their 
 number was very great, for one of them, the Prince of 
 Khalupu, had set in array 18,000 select soldiers, besides a 
 well-drilled infantry, 2,500 chariots each carrying three men. 
 
 But suddenly Ramses conceived some suspicion, and 
 ordered the spies to be severely beaten till they confessed that 
 the forces of the allies were concentrated behind Kadesh, 
 and only awaited a favorable occasion to show themselves. 
 Ramses sent an express to hasten the main body of his army. 
 His council of war was still in consultation when he received 
 word that the enemy was in movement. The Prince of the 
 Khiti quickly threw his forces to the south of Kadesh while 
 Ramses was to the north of it, and attacking the centre, 
 separated in two the Egyptian army. Ramses himself led at 
 the head of his division. Eight times in succession he threw 
 himself on the foe, broke through their ranks, rallied his 
 dispersed troops, and sustained the shock for the rest of the 
 day. About dusk the Khiti retreated before the main body 
 of the Egyptian army which had now formed into line.
 
 214 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS- 
 
 The decisive blow was struck the next day ; the confederates, 
 driven back at many points, sought safety by flight. Some 
 corps of the Syrian army fled to Orontes, threw themselves 
 into it, and many were drowned in the attempt to cross by 
 swimming. The vanquished probably would all have per- 
 ished, had not a sortie of the garrison of Kadesh checked the 
 progress of the Egyptians, and afforded an opportunity for the 
 wounded and the fugitives to enter the city. 
 
 Against all expectation, the country of Canaan and the 
 neighboring provinces arose in the rear of the victorious 
 army. The King of the Khiti regained his courage, repaired 
 his losses and broke the truce ; all Syria was on fire from the 
 banks of the Euphrates to the shores of the Nile. But there 
 were no more great battles ; petty actions, skirmishes and 
 sieges occupied the space of fifteen years, during which 
 Ascalon was taken despite the heroic defence of its inhab- 
 itants, and two cities of the Khiti were captured. The war, 
 thus protracted from year to year, was ended at last by a treaty 
 of peace, offensive and defensive. It stipulated that the peace 
 should be eternal between the two peoples ; that they would 
 assist each other against the enemies of either. It contained 
 clauses for the protection of their commerce and industries, 
 and for the extradition of fugitive criminals. " Equality and 
 reciprocity such were the principal conditions of this treaty 
 that may be considered the most ancient monument of the 
 science of diplomacy. ' ' 
 
 The peace was made permanent by the marriage of Ramses 
 with Ur-mas-nefru-ra, the daughter of the King of Khiti. 
 Thus terminated the wars of Ramses II. in the thirty-fourth 
 year of his reign. Tradition, inspired doubtless by the 
 splendor of his monuments, made its triumphs still more 
 splendid and extensive than they were in reality. According 
 to the Greek historians, Sesostris penetrated to the heart of 
 Asia, subjected Media, Persia, Bactria, India ; then returned 
 through the deserts of Scythia. 
 
 During forty-six years preceding the King's death, by 
 favor of the profound peace that existed, he indulged his taste 
 for monumental constructions. Truly, Ramses II. was the 
 royal builder par excellence. Throughout the sixty-seven
 
 RAMSES II. 215 
 
 years of his sole reign, he had leisure to complete those 
 which his predecessor had begun. The grand cave temple 
 at Ipsamboul (or Abu-Simbel) was designed to commemorate 
 his early campaigns against Ethiopia and Syria. He im- 
 proved the temples at Luxor and at Tanis, the Ramesseum, 
 Abydos, Memphis, and Bubastis. For these constructions he 
 worked the quarries of Silsilis and the mines of Sinai. Upon 
 these great buildings labored the thousands of captives, 
 Asiatic and African, acquired by his military operations. It 
 is even charged that after the Asiatic wars were terminated, 
 man-hunts were organized on a monstrous scale throughout 
 the whole country of the Soudan in order to supply the needed 
 laborers, and the principal episodes of these negro-hunts 
 were sculptured on the walls of temples as glorious exploits. 
 This fact is in one way a proof of the growth of civilization. 
 Native subjects were no longer employed as by the predeces- 
 sors of Ramses in these mighty works intended to im- 
 mortalize their names. 
 
 Ramses II. appears from his statues to have been the 
 handsomest of all the Egyptian kings and to have had a 
 Semitic face. He also introduced the Semitic practice of 
 polygamy, but showed special affection for two of his wives. 
 He died in the eightieth year of his age, about 1410 B.C., and 
 was succeeded by Menephthah, his fourteenth and eldest 
 surviving son. 
 
 PENTAUR'S EGYPTIAN EPIC. 
 
 (Pentaur, the royal scribe of Ramses II. composed a remarkable 
 poem on "The Campaign of Kadesh," a panegyric of the exploits of 
 his sovereign, which was engraved on the walls of many temples. We 
 give considerable extracts from the translation by Prof. Lushington.) 
 
 The vile chief of Cheta [the Khiti or Hittites], with many 
 allies accompanying him, lay ambushed to the northwest of 
 Kadesh. Now King Ramses was all alone, no other with him, 
 the brigade of Ammon marching after him, the brigade of 
 Ptah in the centre, the brigade of Set on the border. Then 
 the vile Cheta chief made an advance with men and horses 
 numerous as sand ; then they charged the brigade of Ra 
 Harmachis in the centre, as they were marching on unpre-
 
 2l6 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 pared to fight Foot and horse of King Ramses gave way 
 before them. This news was told the king ; then he rose as 
 Mentu, he seized his arms for battle ; the great horse that 
 bore him ' Victory in Thebes ' his name. The King drew 
 himself up, he pierced the line of the foe, the vile Cheta ; he 
 was all alone, no other with him. When he turned to survey 
 behind him, he found there encircled him 2, 500 chariots, three 
 men to a car. 
 
 Then said King Ramses, ' ' Where art thou, my father 
 Ammon? What father denies his son? For have I done 
 aught without thee ? Have I not stepped, looking to thee, 
 not transgressing the decisions of thy mouth ? Sovran Lord 
 of Egypt, who makest to bow down the peoples that with- 
 stand thee ; what are these, Amu, to thy heart ? Ammon 
 brings them low who know not God. Have I not made thee 
 many monuments? Filled thy temple with my spoils? 
 Built thee a house for millions of years ? Given treasures to 
 thy shrine? Completed the building of thy court? [This 
 probably refers to the addition of the vast hypostyle hall 
 of one hundred and forty columns before the Temple of 
 Ammon, at Karnak.] I call on thee, my father Ammon. I 
 am amid multitudes unknown, nations gathered against me ; 
 I am alone, no other with me ; my foot and horse have left 
 me. I called aloud to them, none of them heard ; I cried to 
 them. I find Ammon worth more than millions of soldiers. 
 No works of many men avail, Ammon, against thee." My 
 cry rang unto Hermonthis ; Ra heard when I called ; he put 
 his hand to me, "Ramses Miamon, I am with thee, I thy 
 father Ra ; my hand is with thee. I am Sovran Lord of 
 Victory, loving valor." 
 
 I became as Mentu ; I shoot to the right ; I seize on my 
 left ; I find twenty-five hundred chariots ; I am amidst them. 
 Then were they overthrown before my steeds ; their hearts 
 shrank within them ; their hands all dropped ; they knew not 
 how to shoot ; they found no heart to grasp the spear ; I made 
 them fall into the water as fall crocodiles ; they tumbled head- 
 long one over another ; I slew them. Then the vile chief of 
 Cheta stood amid his army to see the prowess of King 
 Ramses. Charging the midst of them fiercer than flame, I
 
 RAMSES II. 217 
 
 rushed upon them ; I was as Mentu. I hew at them to slay 
 them. I kept slaying them ; none escaped me ; I gave a call 
 to my foot and horse, saying, "Be firm, be firm, behold my 
 victory." 
 
 Now when Menna, my charioteer, saw me thus encircled 
 by many chariots, he cowered, his heart quailed, great terror 
 entered his limbs; he said to the King, "My gracious Lord, 
 Prince revered, valiant exceedingly, protector of Egypt in 
 day of battle, verily we stand alone amidst the foe ; how can 
 we save ourselves, King Ramses, my gracious Lord ? ' ' The 
 King said to his charioteer, "Courage, courage, my driver, 
 I will pierce them as a hawk ; I will slay and hew them, cast 
 them to the dust. Ammon brings very low them that know 
 not God, who brightens not his face on millions of them." 
 
 King Ramses dashed into the van, then he pierced the 
 foe, the caitiff Cheta six times, one and all he pierced them. 
 Then the king called to his archers and cavalry, likewise to 
 his chiefs who failed to fight: "Had I not stood as Royal 
 Master, ye were down-stricken. Never did any Royal Master 
 for his soldiers what King Ramses did for you ; ye have not 
 performed my behests, my archers and cavalry. Lo ! ye have 
 played cowards all together, not one of you stood to aid me 
 while I had to fight. Blessed be Ammon. Lo ! I am over 
 Egypt, as my father Ra ; great shame on that act of my foot 
 and horse, greater than to tell, for lo ! I achieve my victories. 
 I was all alone, no other with me, no chiefs behind, no mar- 
 shals, no captains, no officers. All peoples saw, and will tell 
 my name to limits of lands unknown." 
 
 Morning lighted the field of Katesh. Then my soldiers 
 came glorifying, extolling my prowess : "What a goodly deed 
 of valor ! Firm in heart, thou hast saved thine army, thy 
 cavalry, son of Turn : spoiling Cheta-land by thy victorious 
 sword, Royal Conqueror, none is like thee ! O King, thou 
 great of heart, first in the fray, thou reckest not for all peoples 
 banded together. Without gainsaying, thou guardest Egypt, 
 chastisest lands of thy foes, thou bruisest the back of Cheta 
 for ever." Then the king addressed his foot and horse, like- 
 wise his chiefs who failed to fight : ' ' Not well done of one of 
 you, your leaving me alone amid the foe; there came no
 
 218 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 chiefs, officer or captain of host to aid me. I fought, repelling 
 millions of tribes, all alone. ' Victory in Thebes ' and ' Neb- 
 rahuta ' (my horses), they are all I found to succor me. I will 
 let them eat corn before Ra daily when I am in my royal 
 palace ; these are they found in the midst of the foe, and my 
 Marshal, Menna my Squire, with the officers of my staff who 
 were near me, the witnesses of my conflict. King Ramses 
 prevailed over them, he slew them, they escaped not, they 
 were overthrown under his steeds. 
 
 "Dread of his might is in every heart, he protects his 
 army, all nations come to the great name, falling down and 
 adoring his noble countenance. Ammon hailed his form, 
 saying: 'Glory to thee, son loved of us, Ramses Miamon, to 
 whom we grant festivities for ever on the throne of thy father 
 Turn. All lands are overthrown under his feet ; he has quelled 
 all enemies.' " Translated by PROF. LUSHINGTON.
 
 SOLON, 
 
 THE ATHENIAN LAWGIVER. 
 
 THE name of Solon has become pro- 
 verbial as that of a wise lawgiver, 
 who gave to his State a Constitution 
 which established internal harmony 
 and promoted its proper develop- 
 ment. He was one of the Seven 
 Sages of Greece, and a descendant 
 of Codrus, the last King of Athens. 
 He was born in the Island of Salamis 
 about 638 B.C. In his youth he 
 was a merchant and visited foreign 
 countries, partly to improve his fortune, and partly to gratify 
 his curiosity and to gain experience of men, manners and 
 institutions. In his boyhood the Megarians had seized and 
 occupied Salamis, and the Athenians were so imbecile and 
 demoralized by discord and faction, that they failed to recover 
 it until Solon, now a man, wrote a poem on the loss of his 
 native Salamis. Having thus excited the martial spirit of the 
 people, he was given command of an expedition and led a force 
 which gained a decisive victory over the Megarians. This 
 military achievement led to his political career. The Athe- 
 nian State was torn by violent dissensions of parties, and under 
 the old oppressive laws of Draco, many of the people had 
 become slaves or insolvent debtors liable to be reduced to 
 slavery. There were three parties thus described by Plutarch : 
 "The inhabitants of the mountains were for a democracy; 
 those of the plains for an oligarchy, and those of the sea-coast 
 contended for a mixed kind of government." 
 
 Solon, having been elected archon in 594 B.C., began to 
 lay the stable foundations of the liberty and prosperity of 
 
 219
 
 220 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Athens. His reputation for justice caused him to be accepted 
 as a mediator between the opposing parties of rich and poor. 
 In his efforts to ameliorate the political and moral condition 
 of the people, he invoked the power of religion, and invited 
 to Athens Epimenides, who was reputed an inspired prophet. 
 His visit is said to have had a salutary effect in abating 
 superstitions, malignant passions and imaginary evils. As 
 archon, Solon had full authority to reorganize the State 
 and give it a new code of laws. The nobles, who were the 
 ruling class, had reduced the smaller proprietors to depend- 
 ence and poverty by usury and oppressive laws. Solon 
 reformed the Constitution, abolished slavery and relieved 
 debtors by a reduction of the rate of interest. He is said to 
 have annulled all mortgages. ' ' This was the first of his pub- 
 lic acts," says Plutarch, " that debts should be forgiven, and 
 that no man should take the body of a debtor for security." 
 Though many citizens urged him to follow the example of 
 successful leaders in other Greek cities, and make himself 
 tyrant or King of Athens, he refused. The bloody laws of 
 Draco, except those for the punishment of murder, were 
 annulled, citizens who had been exiled were recalled, and an 
 amnesty restored those who had been deprived of the fran- 
 chise for lighter offenses. An important feature of his new 
 Constitution was the substitution of property for pedigree as 
 a qualification for honors and offices. He retained (some say, 
 created) the Senate or Council of the Areopagus, an aristocratic 
 body, consisting of men who had been good archons. The 
 citizens were divided into four classes according to a graduated 
 scale of income or estate. The first class consisted of the 
 richest men, and they only were eligible to the archonship 
 and other high offices. The fourth class, who were the poor- 
 est, could not hold any office ; but they could vote and they 
 were exempt from direct taxes, and could take part in the 
 popular assembly. 
 
 A body of six thousand citizens was annually elected to 
 act as jurors in trials for political offenses, by which the 
 people acquired complete control over public affairs. The 
 laws of Solon fostered commerce and manufactures. Having 
 been asked whether he had given the Athenians the best of
 
 SOLON, THE ATHENIAN LAWGIVER. 221 
 
 all laws, he answered, "The best they are capable of receiv- 
 ing. " " The most peculiar and surprising of his laws, ' ' says 
 Plutarch, ' ' is that which declares a man infamous who stands 
 neutral in time of sedition." After the completion of his 
 legislative work, he found himself subjected to much impor- 
 tunity and vexation from the questions of the curious and the 
 cavils and censures of the discontented. ' ' Under pretence of 
 traffic he set sail for another country, having obtained leave 
 for ten years' absence" (Plutarch). He visited Asia Minor, 
 Cyprus and Egypt, collecting and diffusing knowledge. 
 Having returned to Athens in old age, he did not recover 
 power; but he endeavored to appease and reconcile the factions 
 by which the State was still somewhat disturbed. He opposed 
 the ambition and usurpation of Pisistratus without success, 
 and devoted his remaining years to poetry and culture. One 
 of his verses says, "I grow in learning as I grow in years." 
 He began to compose a poem on the fabulous Island of Atlan- 
 tis, but did not live to finish it He died about 558 B.C. 
 
 SOLON AND CRCESUS. 
 
 Solon, after having established new laws at Athens, 
 thought he might absent himself for some years and improve 
 that time by traveling. He went to Sardis, where he was 
 received in a manner suitable to the reputation of so great a 
 man. Croesus, the King, attended with a numerous court, 
 appeared in all his regal pomp and splendor, dressed in the 
 most magnificent apparel, enriched with gold and glittering 
 with diamonds. Notwithstanding the novelty of this spec- 
 tacle to Solon, it did not appear that he was the least moved 
 at it, or that he uttered a word which betrayed the least 
 surprise or admiration. On the contrary, people of sense 
 might sufficiently discern, from his behavior, that he looked 
 upon all this outward pomp as an indication of a little mind, 
 which knows not in what true greatness and dignity consist. 
 This coldness and indifference on Solon's first approach gave 
 the King no favorable opinion of his new guest. He after- 
 wards ordered that all his treasures, his magnificent apart- 
 ments and costly furniture, should be exhibited to him ; as if 
 he expected, by the multitude of his fine vessels, diamonds,
 
 222 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 statues and paintings, to conquer the philosopher's indiffer- 
 ence. But these things were not the King ; and it was the 
 King that Solon had come to visit, and not the walls or cham- 
 bers of his palace. He had no notion of making a judgment 
 of the King, or an estimate of his worth, by these outward 
 appendages, but by himself and his own personal qualities. 
 
 When Solon had seen all, he was brought back to the 
 King. Croesus then asked him, which of mankind, in all his 
 travels, he had found the most truly happy? "One Tellus," 
 replied Solon, "a citizen of Athens, a very honest and good 
 man, who lived all his days without indigence, had always seen 
 his country in a flourishing condition, had children that were 
 universally esteemed, with the satisfaction of seeing those 
 children's children, and at last died gloriously in fighting for 
 his country." 
 
 Such an answer as this, in which gold and silver were 
 accounted as nothing, seemed to Croesus to argue a strange 
 ignorance and stupidity. However, as he flattered himself on 
 being ranked in the second degree of happiness, he asked him, 
 "who, of all those he had seen, was the next in felicity to 
 Tellus?" Solon answered, "Cleobis and Biton, of Argos, two 
 brothers, who had left behind them a perfect pattern of fra- 
 ternal affection, and of the respect due from children to their 
 parents. Upon a solemn festival, when their mother, a priest- 
 ess of Juno, was to go to the temple, the oxen that were to 
 draw her not being ready, the two sons put themselves to the 
 yoke and drew their mother's chariot thither, which was 
 above five miles distant. All the mothers of the place, filled 
 with admiration, congratulated the priestess on the piety of 
 her sons. She, in the transports of her joy and thankful- 
 ness, earnestly entreated the goddess to reward her children 
 with the best thing that heaven can give to man. Her pray- 
 ers were heard. When the sacrifice was over, her two sons 
 fell asleep in the very temple, and there died in a soft and 
 peaceful slumber. In honor of their piety, the people of 
 Argos consecrated statues to them in the Temple of Delphi." 
 
 "What then," says Croesus, in a tone that showed his dis- 
 content, ' ' do you not reckon me in the number of the 
 happy?" Solon, who was not willing either to flatter or
 
 SOLON, THE ATHENIAN LAWGIVER. 223 
 
 exasperate him any farther, replied calmly : ' ' King of Lydia, 
 besides many other advantages, the gods have given us 
 Grecians a spirit of moderation and reserve, which has pro- 
 duced among us a plain, popular kind of philosophy, accom- 
 panied with a certain generous freedom, void of pride or 
 ostentation, and therefore not well suited to the courts of 
 kings ; this philosophy, considering what an infinite numbei 
 of vicissitudes and accidents the life of man is liable to, does 
 not allow us either to glory in any prosperity we ourselves 
 enjoy, or to admire happiness in others, which perhaps may 
 prove only transient or superficial." From hence he took 
 occasion to represent to him farther, "that the life of man 
 seldom exceeds seventy years, which make up in all six 
 thousand two hundred and fifty days, of which no two are 
 exactly alike ; so that the time to come is nothing but a 
 series of various accidents which cannot be foreseen. There- 
 fore, in our opinion, ' ' continued he, ' ' no man can be 
 esteemed happy but one whose happiness God continues to 
 the end of his life ; as for others, who are perpetually exposed 
 to a thousand dangers, we account their happiness as uncer- 
 tain as the crown is to a person that is still engaged in battle, 
 and has not yet obtained the victory." Solon retired when 
 he had spoken these words, which served only to mortify 
 Croesus, but not to reform him. 
 
 In Plutarch's time some of the learned were of opinion 
 that this interview between Solon and Croesus did not agree 
 with the dates of chronology. But as those dates are very 
 uncertain, that judicious author did not think this objection 
 ought to prevail against the authority of several creditable 
 writers, by whom this story is attested. 
 
 When Cyrus, King of Persia, had captured Sardis, Croesus 
 being a prisoner, was condemned by the conqueror to be burnt 
 alive. Accordingly, the funeral-pile was prepared, and that 
 unhappy prince being laid thereon, and just upon the point of 
 execution, recollecting the conversation he had formerly had 
 with Solon, was wofully convinced of the truth of that phil- 
 osopher's admonition, and in remembrance thereof, cried out
 
 224 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 aloud three times, "Solon, Solon, Solon!" Cyrus, who 
 with the chief officers of his court, was present at this spec- 
 tacle, was curious to know why Croesus pronounced that cele- 
 brated philosopher's name with so much vehemence in this 
 extremity. Being told the reason and reflecting upon the 
 uncertain state of all sublunary things, he was touched with 
 commiseration at the prince's misfortune, caused him to be 
 taken from the pile, and treated him afterwards, as long as he 
 lived, with honor and respect Thus had Solon the glory, 
 with a single word, to save the life of one king, and give a 
 wholesome lesson of instruction to another. C. ROLUN. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS. 
 
 (From the Poems of Solon we take this brief statement of his own work) 
 
 The force of snow and furious hail is sent 
 
 From swelling clouds that load the firmament. 
 
 Thence the loud thunders roar, and lightnings glare 
 
 Along the darkness of the troubled air. 
 
 Unmoved by storms, old ocean peaceful sleeps 
 
 Till the loud tempest swells the angry deeps ; 
 
 And thus the State, in fell distraction tossed, 
 
 Oft by its noblest citizens is lost; 
 
 And oft a people, once secure and free, 
 
 Their own imprudence dooms to tyranny. 
 
 My laws have arm'd the crowd with useful might, 
 
 Have banish' d honors and unequal right, 
 
 Have taught the proud in wealth, and high in place, 
 
 To reverence justice, and abhor disgrace ; 
 
 And given to both a shield, their guardian tower 
 
 Against ambitious aims and lawless power. 
 
 Translated by J. H. MBRIVALB.
 
 LEONIDAS AT THERMOPYLAE. 
 
 EONIDAS, whose name has been immor-. 
 talized by his glorious death in defence 
 of Grecian liberty, was the King of 
 Sparta, and ascended the throne about 
 488 B.C. In the year 480 B. c, Xerxes, 
 the Persian King, invaded Greece with 
 a force of over two million soldiers, 
 exclusive of camp-followers. Having 
 crossed the Hellespont, Xerxes entered 
 
 Greece on the northeast, and traversed Thrace and Thessaly 
 until he found his further march obstructed by an insur- 
 mountable range of mountains. The only crossing was at 
 the narrow pass of Thermopylae, a defile having a length of 
 five miles. Here the Greek States had posted an army for 
 the common defence. But the minor States, with the excep- 
 tion of Thespiae and Plataea, became so terrified by the reports 
 of the vastness of the Persian host, that they withdrew their 
 troops. Sparta and Athens were now deserted by their allies 
 and their total force was consequently reduced to 12,000 men. 
 One-third of these were sent under Leonidas to the mountain 
 pass, while the rest sailed in a fleet to the coast near Thermo- 
 pylae, and the northern point of Euboea. 
 
 Xerxes, recognizing the difficulty of conducting his im- 
 mense army through the narrow pass, employed every means 
 to shake the purpose of Leonidas to hold it. He offered him 
 the sovereignty of all Greece, if he would forego the defense 
 of the defile ; but Leonidas was immovable. Xerxes then 
 wrote to him commanding him to deliver up his arms, and 
 received the laconic reply, " Come and take them." 
 
 15 225
 
 226 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 After a delay of twenty days the Persian advanced to the 
 attack. He sent his Median forces first, with orders to take 
 their antagonists alive and bring them to him. But the 
 Medes were not able to stand the charge of the Grecians, and 
 were soon compelled to fly. Next Xerxes sent his band of 
 "Immortals," consisting of 10,000 Persians ; but they were 
 likewise repulsed. Two days had thus elapsed without any 
 perceptible weakening of the Greeks, while 20,000 of his 
 bravest troops had been slain. The great King was per- 
 plexed ; he began to despair of forcing the defile. At this 
 crisis a traitorous native informed the King of a secret path 
 which led to an eminence that overlooked and commanded 
 the Spartan army. Thither Xerxes promptly sent troops in 
 the night-time. The next morning the Greeks were soon 
 aware of their proximity, and Leonidas seeing that it was now 
 impossible to withstand the Persians, obliged the allies to 
 retire, while he himself remained with his three hundred 
 Spartans, who were forbidden by their country's laws ever to 
 flee from an enemy. They had no hopes either to escape or 
 conquer, but, loyal to their Spartan training, accepted Ther- 
 mopylae, the gate of Greece, as their burial place. They 
 arrayed themselves as if for a feast, and while they were 
 eating their last meal, Leonidas announced that they would 
 all sup with Pluto. The devoted band set up a shout of joy, 
 and in the darkness of the night assaulted the Persian out- 
 posts and for a while slew many enemies. With the daylight 
 they were overcome by ever-increasing numbers, but not 
 until they had performed prodigies of valor. Leonidas was 
 struck down under the cloud of arrows which harassed his 
 men, who still endeavored to defend his body. At length, 
 completely exhausted and overwhelmed, all fell but one man, 
 who escaped to Sparta. 
 
 To his eternal disgrace the exasperated victor caused the 
 body of Leonidas to be hanged upon a cross. King Pau- 
 sanias, after the Persians had been driven from Greece, took 
 his remains to Sparta, where his grateful people, though they 
 refused to mourn, erected for Leonidas a magnificent tomb, and 
 for the Three Hundred a grand temple. The government 
 also instituted an annual festival entitled Leonidas, in which
 
 LEONIDAS AT THERMOPYI^. 227 
 
 only Spartans had the right to participate. The Council of 
 the Amphictyons, the representative body of all Greece, 
 erected a noble monument at Thermopylae with two inscrip- 
 tions in honor of their glorious defence of their country. One 
 of these was ' ' Go, traveler, tell at Sparta that we died here in 
 obedience to her sacred laws." 
 
 THE SPARTANS' OATH. 
 
 'Twas an hour of fearful issues, 
 
 When the bold Three Hundred stood, 
 For their love of holy freedom, 
 
 By that old Thessalian flood- 
 When, lifting high each sword of flame, 
 They called on every sacred name, 
 And swore, beside those dashing waves, 
 They never, never would be slaves ! 
 
 And oh ! that oath was nobly kept. 
 
 From morn to setting sun 
 Did desperation urge the fight 
 
 Which valor had begun ; 
 Till, torrent-like, the stream of blood 
 Ran down and mingled with the flood, 
 And all, from mountain cliff to wave, 
 Was Freedom's, Valor's, Glory's grave. 
 
 Oh yes ! that oath was nobly kept, 
 
 Which nobly had been sworn, 
 And proudly did each gallant heart 
 
 The foeman's fetters spurn ; 
 And firmly was the fight maintained, 
 And amply was the triumph gained ; 
 They fought, fair liberty, for thee ; 
 They fell TO DIE is To BE FREE ! 
 
 GEO. W. DOANE.
 
 ERXES, the originator and leader of 
 what might be properly called the 
 u Persian Armada," succeeded to the 
 throne of his father, Darius, in the 
 year 485 B.C. The great event of his 
 reign was the invasion of Greece, with 
 an immense armament of ships and 
 the largest army that probably the 
 world has ever seen. His inglorious 
 
 defeat by the Grecian States is his only and invidious title to 
 be enrolled in the annals of fame. For four full years he 
 was making preparations for this expedition. The fleet, and 
 the vast army of men, were collected from every province 
 under the government of Persia. 
 
 In the autumn of 481 B.C. his forces wintered at Sardis, in 
 Asia Minor. In the spring of 480 they advanced to the 
 Hellespont, and crossed at Abydos by a bridge of boats. The 
 first bridge constructed was destroyed by a storm, on which 
 the king ordered the rebellious Hellespont to be whipped, 
 which was done with three hundred lashes. His barbaric 
 cruelty was further seen in his ordering the engineers to be 
 beheaded. The army was seven days and nights in crossing, 
 on the new bridge of boats, from Asia to Europe. While the 
 land forces marched through Thrace, Xerxes had numbered 
 his forces at a station near the river Hebrus, the ships taking 
 position close by. The various classical authorities differ in 
 their statements ; but it is generally accepted that his land and 
 sea forces amounted to two millions, exclusive of a still 
 228
 
 XERXES. 229 
 
 greater number of the usual attendants, sutlers, women, slaves 
 and camp-followers. 
 
 The statement that he caused a canal to be cut across the 
 neck of the peninsula at Mount Athos is asserted by the 
 Roman satirist, Juvenal, to be a Grecian fiction, yet it is not 
 improbable. It is said that his ships sailed two abreast 
 through it, and thereby avoided the dangerous coasting 
 around the promontory. 
 
 Xerxes met no obstruction in his march through Mace- 
 donia and Thessaly ; but at Thermopylae, the noted pass, a 
 chosen band of Greeks kept guard, A traitor revealed a side- 
 path, which enabled the Persians to destroy Leonidas and his 
 devoted three hundred Spartans. Xerxes thus gained an en- 
 trance into Greece proper ; but he had not yet subdued its pa- 
 triotic people. Eagerly pressing forward, he destroyed the 
 hated city of Athens, which its inhabitants had wisely deserted, 
 taking refuge in their ' ' wooden walls. ' ' 
 
 In the three days' sea-fight at Artemisium, off the northern 
 promontory of the Island of Eubcea and opposite to the moun- 
 tain pass of Thermopylae, the Persian fleet suffered severely, 
 as the narrowness of the strait prevented the action of the 
 whole armament at once. Two hundred galleys were lost in 
 a storm off the coast of Euboea. But in spite of these disas- 
 ters, when his fleet arrived in the Bay of Salamis, whither it 
 had promptly followed the retreat of the Grecian ships, the 
 Persian armada had regained its full number of vessels. The 
 new recruitment of ships was made by Thracian and Tries- 
 salian contingents. 
 
 In the great naval engagement at Salamis, this fleet, num- 
 bering over one thousand ships, was defeated with a loss of 
 two hundred vessels. The Grecian ships amounted to nearly 
 three hundred, of which the number lost was about forty. 
 Xerxes, who had witnessed the combat safely from a promon- 
 tory, relinquished the desperate task of subduing the stubborn 
 Greeks, and hastened back to the Hellespont with part of his 
 land forces. His flatterers easily persuaded him that he had 
 accomplished the main object of his expedition by the destruc- 
 tion of Athens. But three hundred thousand of his choicest 
 troops remained with his general, Mardouius, to effect the
 
 230 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 conquest of Greece if possible. After a weary retreat of forty- 
 five days Xerxes reached the Hellespont with a comparatively 
 small army, reduced as it had been, on the way, by drought 
 and lack of provisions. The Persian fleet with its auxiliaries, 
 the next morning after the battle of Salamis, had completely 
 disappeared when the Greeks hurried out to chase them. 
 
 In the next year Mardonius, who had been one of the chief 
 advisers and promoters of the great expedition, was defeated 
 and slain in the battle of Plataea, which forever established 
 the military superiority of the Greeks to the Persians. The 
 Greek fleet also sailed across the ^gsean Sea, redeemed the 
 islands which had been brought under the Persian yoke, and 
 in a double fight at Mount Mycale, in Asia Minor, defeated a 
 Persian army of 60,000 men, and destroyed the remnant of 
 the ships that had escaped from Salamis. With these great 
 successes the Greeks remained content for twelve years. Then 
 the Athenians again sent forth a fleet under Cimon, which 
 swept the Phoenician and Persian vessels from the eastern 
 Mediterranean, and returned loaded with spoils and captives. 
 
 After reaching his capital Xerxes abandoned himself to 
 a life of debauchery, and became the object of general odium 
 and contempt He was assassinated in his sleep, in the 
 twenty-first year of his reign, 465 B.C. 
 
 THE FUGHT OF XERXES. 
 
 I saw him on the battle-eve, 
 
 When, like a king, he bore him 
 Proud hosts in glittering helm and greave, 
 
 And prouder chiefs before him : 
 The warrior, and the warrior's deeds 
 The morrow, and the morrow's meeds 
 
 No daunting thoughts come o'er him ; 
 He looked around him, and his eye 
 Defiance flashed to earth and sky. 
 
 He looked on ocean its broad breast 
 
 Was covered with his fleet ; 
 On earth and saw from east to west, 
 
 His bannered millions meet ;
 
 XERXES. 231 
 
 While rock, and glen, and cave, and coast. 
 Shook with the war-cry of that host, 
 
 The thunder of their feet ! 
 He heard the imperial echoes ring 
 He heard, and felt himself a king. 
 
 I saw him next alone : nor camp 
 
 Nor chief his steps attended ; 
 Nor banner blazed, nor courser's tramp 
 
 With war-cries proudly blended. 
 He stood alone, whom fortune high 
 So lately seemed to deify ; 
 
 He, who with heaven contended, 
 Fled like a fugitive and slave ! 
 Behind the foe ; before the wave. 
 
 He stood fleet, army, treasure, gone 
 
 Alone, and in despair ! 
 But wave and wind swept ruthless on, 
 
 For they were monarchs there ; 
 And Xerxes, in a single bark, 
 Where late his thousand ships were dark, 
 
 Must all their fury dare. 
 What a revenge a trophy, this 
 For thee, immortal Salamis ! 
 
 M. J. FLETCHER.
 
 THEMISTOCLES. 
 
 THE determined effort of the Persian 
 Empire to crush the rising power of 
 Greece was the means of calling forth 
 men of heroic character, whose exertions 
 gave to their country a foremost position 
 in the history of civilization. At the 
 most critical moment, when Greece was 
 invaded by the vast army of Xerxes, 
 who came to avenge the dishonor done 
 at Marathon to the Persian name, there arose in Athens the 
 most inspiring leader of the great struggle. 
 
 Themistocles was born at Athens in the year 514 B.C. 
 His father was Neocles, a man of middle class and of mode- 
 rate means. As his mother was a foreign woman of Thrace, 
 the law of Athens pronounced Themistocles illegitimate. 
 In his boyhood he exhibited a wayward and wilful dispo- 
 sition, yet he spent his time, as Plutarch writes, in inventing 
 and composing declamations for either the impeachment or 
 defence of some of his youthful companions. His master 
 would often say, "Boy, you will be nothing common or 
 indifferent; you will either be a blessing or a curse to the 
 community." 
 
 Athens had become the scene of a fierce political rivalry, 
 and Themistocles, as the leader of the popular party, was 
 using all the arts and tricks of the demagogue. His rival, 
 Aristides, had all the virtues which belonged to his position 
 as leader of the aristocratic party. He was especially noted 
 for his strict justice, and refused to favor his partisans at its 
 expense. Themistocles was able, therefore, to put in exercise 
 against him that remarkable provision of Athenian law by 
 232
 
 THEMISTOCLES. 233 
 
 which a leader who should be voted by his fellow-citizens to 
 be dangerous could be banished for ten years. 
 
 The battle of Marathon, 490 B.C., in which Miltiades, 
 the Grecian leader, humbled the Persian army of ten times 
 his own numbers, stirred the soul of this young man. 
 Themistocles took part in the action, and with his famous 
 rival held a post of great danger. Some time after the battle 
 of Marathon, Themistocles became depressed and denied 
 himself all enjoyment. When asked the reason of his con- 
 duct by his friends, he replied, "The trophies of Miltiades 
 will not suffer me to sleep." 
 
 Whilst the Athenian people fondly imagined that Mara- 
 thon had put an end to danger from the Persians, Themis- 
 tocles thought otherwise, and sought to strengthen the city's 
 naval power as its proper defence. He prevailed on the 
 assembly to reject a proposition that to every citizen of 
 Athens should be distributed ten drachmae (about $2), from 
 the product of the silver mines at Laurium, and to appro- 
 priate the gross amount to building ships for the war with 
 ^gina, a neighboring island. 
 
 Before this war was ended, accounts were brought to 
 Athens of the formidable preparations of Xerxes, who ap- 
 peared to inherit all his father's rancor against the Greeks. 
 What Themistocles had foreseen now took place. In 480 
 B.C. Xerxes moved his forces on land and sea to the attack. 
 Themistocles now urged his countrymen to build more ships, 
 and to rely for safety on their naval power. The adoption of 
 this counsel saved Greece, for subsequently Xerxes, when de- 
 feated at sea, could make no headway against the Athenians, 
 though his land forces remained entire. When Xerxes was 
 approaching through Northern Greece, burning and destroy- 
 ing the Phocian cities, the Greeks sent no succor to Athens. 
 Its brave inhabitants could not think of giving battle alone 
 to such a vast army ; yet they were unwilling to leave Athens 
 and trust themselves to their ships. Themistocles, after 
 using all his eloquence and address to work upon their 
 passions, had recourse to the oracle. From Delphi came the 
 words, " The wooden wall shall alone remain unconquered to 
 defend you and your children." Themistocles explained
 
 234 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 that by ' ' wooden walls ' ' ships were meant At last his argu- 
 ments prevailed, and the young and adventurous embarked 
 for Salainis ; the old, the women and children took shelter in 
 the city of Trcezene. Themistocles, acknowledging the 
 patriotism of his rival Aristides, caused a decree to be made 
 that all who had been banished only for a time, should have 
 leave to return. 
 
 After suffering loss in the naval engagements off Eubcea, 
 it was learned that the large Persian fleet was approaching 
 the doomed city. Eurybiades, the Spartan, who had been 
 given the command of the allied fleet, was for sailing to the 
 Gulf of Corinth, that he might be near the land army. But 
 Themistocles clearly saw that in the Straits of Salamis they 
 could fight the Persian fleet with much greater advantage 
 than in the Gulf of Corinth, where there was an open sea. 
 Eurybiades lost his temper during the dispute, and was about 
 to strike Themistocles. " Strike if you will, but hear me," 
 exclaimed the great Athenian. The reason and moderation 
 of Themistocles prevailed, and the generals decided to receive 
 the Persians at Salamis. Xerxes gave command to his fleet 
 to surround the straits by night in order to prevent the escape 
 of the enemy. Aristides, who was then at ^Egina, ventured in 
 a small boat through the Persian fleet. Upon landing he 
 went to the tent of Themistocles, and thus addressed him, 
 u Let us still be rivals ; but let our strife be which can best 
 save our country." Themistocles replied, U I could have 
 wished, Aristides, that you had not been beforehand with me 
 in this noble emulation ; but I will endeavor to outdo this 
 happy beginning of yours by my future actions. ' ' 
 
 Aristides, informing Themistocles of the Persian fleet's 
 real situation, exhorted him to give battle without delay. 
 Themistocles had introduced into his fleet a new and improved 
 system of attack, which proved highly effective. Every 
 trireme was armed with a strong iron beak, and with this 
 they would bear down on the vessels of the enemy, striking 
 them broadside; the next tactic was to render the hostile 
 ships unmanageable by dashing among the oars and breaking 
 them. The most glorious event of the life of Themistocles 
 was undoubtedly this great victory of Salamis. The fleet of
 
 THEMISTOCLES. 235 
 
 Xerxes comprised more than a thousand triremes, and al- 
 though Themistocles had but 378 vessels, he utterly routed 
 the Persian fleet The joy of the Greeks upon this victory 
 was enthusiastic : every commander had his share of honor ; 
 but the glory of Themistocles eclipsed that of all the rest. 
 The Lacedaemonians carried him in triumph to Sparta. 
 They adjudged the reward of valor to their own countryman 
 Eurybiades, but that of wisdom to Themistocles. They 
 crowned him with olive, presented him with a rich chariot, 
 and conducted him with three hundred horse to the confines 
 of their State. At the Olympic games the spectators received 
 him with uncommon acclamations, the whole assembly rising 
 to do him honor. 
 
 Themistocles now induced the Athenians, as the guardians 
 of Grecian liberty, to levy contributions from all the islands 
 that had espoused the Persian cause. These contributions he 
 was charged with converting to his private advantage; but 
 they were chiefly used for the maintenance and increase of 
 the Athenian fleet. Themistocles, in thus reaching after 
 imperial power, lost his influence at home, and was finally 
 accused of treason in conjunction with Pausanias, King of 
 Sparta. To him in turn came the dreaded ostracism. Ban- 
 ished from his native land, he threw himself on the mercy of 
 Artaxerxes, a son of the man whose fleet he had destroyed at 
 Salamis. In return for protection, Themistocles even promised 
 to unfold a plan whereby that monarch might crush the 
 power of Athens, but desired that one year should be given 
 him to think over and mature this scheme. Artaxerxes made 
 him ruler over four cities, from which he received all taxes. 
 Plutarch relates that Themistocles, amid the splendor of his 
 luxurious table, one day exclaimed, ' ' How much we should 
 have lost, my children, if we had not been ruined!" He died 
 at the age of sixty-five, about the year 449 B.C. Thucydides 
 says that the bones of Themistocles, by his own command, 
 were privately carried back into Attica and buried there. 
 
 Themistocles left a reputation for decision, promptness of 
 action and rectitude of judgment, fertility of resource and 
 acuteness in conjecture, for foresight of the good and evil 
 results of every measure, and for eloquence in enforcing his
 
 236 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 conclusions. Nor was lie less distinguished for daring in 
 action. He, however, was fond of show and power, and of 
 associating with men of wealth, and did not hesitate to use 
 corrupt means for accomplishing his object, whether for the 
 public weal or for self-enrichment. Themistocles was always 
 chosen as leader in an emergency. He combined the arts 
 of the successful politician of a democracy with the foresight 
 and sagacity of an imperial statesman. 
 
 THE SEA-FIGHT OF SALAMIS. 
 
 All the Athenians capable of bearing arms or of handling 
 an oar, embarked on board the fleet stationed at Salamis. 
 The ships equipped and manned by them alone exceeded in 
 number those of all their allies together, although the com- 
 bined force was considerably augmented by the naval strength 
 of Epirus and Acarnania. The whole Grecian armament, 
 thus increased, amounted to three hundred and eighty vessels. 
 That of the Persians, which now took possession of the 
 Athenian harbors, lying to the south of the strait occupied by 
 the Greeks, had also received a powerful reinforcement. The 
 Locrians, Boeotians, and in general every people who had sub- 
 mitted to their arms, readily supplied them with ships ; and 
 several of the ^Sgaean Islands having at length prepared the 
 quota which they had formerly been commanded to furnish, 
 the Persian fleet was thus restored to its original complement 
 of twelve hundred sail. 
 
 Trusting to the immense superiority of his armament, 
 Xerxes was still desirous to make trial of his fortune at sea, 
 notwithstanding his former disasters on that element. But 
 before he came to a final resolution he summoned a council 
 of war, in order to hear the opinion of his maritime subjects 
 or allies. The tributary Kings of Tyre and Sidou, the leaders 
 of the Egyptians, Cyprians and Cilicians, ever ready to flatter 
 the passions of their sovereign, offered many frivolous reasons 
 in favor of the alternative to which they perceived him 
 inclined. But in the fleet of Xerxes there was a Grecian queen 
 named Artemisia, widow of the Prince of Halicarnassus, and 
 who had assumed the government of that city and territory 
 for the benefit of her infant son. She not only fitted out five
 
 THBMISTOCLES. 237 
 
 ships to attend the Persian expedition, but took upon herself 
 the command of her little squadron, and on every occasion 
 conducted it with equal skill and bravery. Such vigor of 
 mind, united with so delicate a form, deserved to excite 
 admiration in every part of the world ; but the manly spirit of 
 Artemisia becomes still more admirable, when we consider 
 the severe restraints which have been in all ages imposed on 
 the female sex, by the manners and climate of Asia. Her 
 superior genius recommended her to the peculiar favor of 
 Xerxes, who was obliged to esteem in a woman the virtues 
 which he himself wanted spirit to practice. Artemisia dis- 
 sented from the general voice of the allies, and even opposed 
 the inclination of the prince. But her judicious observations 
 were heard without approbation ; the worst opinion prevailed, 
 being the best adapted to flatter the vanity of Xerxes. 
 
 When the Grecian commanders observed that the enemy 
 prepared to venture another engagement at sea, they likewise 
 assembled to deliberate whether they should continue in the 
 strait between Salamis and Attica, or proceed further up the 
 .gulf, towards the Corinthian Isthmus. The latter proposal 
 was generally approved by the confederates of Peloponnesus, 
 who anxiously desired, in the present emergency, to approach 
 as near as possible to their respective cities. Some hastened to 
 their ships and hoisted sail, in order to depart ; and it seemed 
 likely that their example would be soon followed by the 
 whole fleet. On board the ship of Themistocles was Mnesi- 
 philus, formerly the instructor of his youth, and who now 
 accompanied him as his counselor and friend. Mnesiphilus 
 readily discerned that should the Greeks sail from Salamis, 
 it would be impossible to prevent the general dispersion of 
 their armament. He therefore exhorted Themistocles to 
 endeavor, by all means possible, to prevent this fatal measure, 
 and particularly to persuade the Spartan admiral, Eurybiades, 
 to alter his present intention. 
 
 Themistocles readily embraced the opinion of his friend. 
 Having waited on Eurybiades, he obtained his consent to 
 summon a second assembly of the confederates. After they 
 were fully convened, the Athenian began to call their atten- 
 tion to the state of their affairs; but his discourse was
 
 238 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 insolently interrupted by Adimantus, the commander of the 
 Corinthians, who had constantly discovered a particular solici- 
 tude for returning to the isthmus. Themistocles, no less 
 prudent than brave, answered his reproaches with calmness, 
 and then addressing himself to Eurybiades, " The fate of 
 Greece," said he, "depends on the decision of the present 
 moment, and that decision on you ; if you resolve to sail to 
 the isthmus, we must abandon Salamis, Megara and ^gina ; 
 we shall be compelled to fight in an open sea, where the 
 enemy may fully avail themselves of their superior numbers ; 
 and as the Persian army will certainly attend the movements of 
 their fleet, we shall draw their combined strength towards the 
 Grecian Peninsula, our last and only retreat. But if you 
 determine to retain the ships in their present station, the 
 Persians will find it impossible, in a narrow channel, to attack 
 us at once with their whole force : we shall preserve Megara 
 and Salamis, and we shall effectually defend Peloponnesus ; 
 for the Barbarians being, as I firmly trust, defeated in a naval 
 engagement, will not penetrate further than Attica, but 
 return home with disgrace." 
 
 The firmness of this discourse shook the resolution of 
 the confederates ; and it was determined by the majority to 
 continue at Salamis. Notwithstanding the wisdom and 
 eloquence of Themistocles, the Peloponnesians were ready to 
 return to their first determination. A vessel arriving from 
 the isthmus, brought advice that the fortifications there were 
 almost completed ; if the fleet retired to the neighboring 
 shore, the sailors might, even after a defeat at sea, take refuge 
 behind their walls; but if conquered near the coast of 
 Salamis, they would be forever separated from their families 
 and friends and confined, without hope or resource, within 
 the narrow limits of a barren island. Themistocles deter- 
 mined to prevent the Greeks from the possibility of leaving 
 by employing stratagem, and sent a freedman, named Sicinus, 
 to inform Xerxes that the Greeks had determined to make 
 their escape under cover of the night. The deceit was 
 believed ; the whole day and the greater part of the succeed- 
 ing night, the Persians employed in securing the several 
 passages between the islands and the adjacent coast. They
 
 THEMISTOCLES. 239 
 
 also filled the little isle, or rather rock, of Psyttalea with the 
 flower of the Persian infantry, in order to intercept the 
 miserable remnant of the Greeks, who, after the expected 
 defeat, would fly thither for refuge. 
 
 The first intelligence of these operations was brought to 
 the Grecian fleet by Aristides, the Athenian, who readily 
 embraced every opportunity to serve his country. Having 
 with difficulty escaped in a small vessel from the Isle of 
 ^gina, the generous patriot immediately communicated an 
 account of what he had seen there to his rival, Themistocles, 
 who, meeting his generosity with equal frankness, made him 
 the confidant of his secret. Their interview was as memorable 
 as the occasion ; and, after a continued life of opposition and 
 "hatred, they now first agreed to suspend their private animos- 
 ities in order to promote the common interest of their country. 
 As the Peloponnesian commanders were either wavering and 
 irresolute, or had determined to set sail, Aristides was desired 
 to inform them of the arrangement which he had seen. The 
 arrival of a vessel belonging to the Isle of Tenos confirmed 
 the veracity of his report, and the Peloponnesians resolved 
 to fight, because it was impossible to fly. 
 
 Before the dawn of the day the Grecian ships were drawn 
 up in order of battle ; and the Persians, who had been sur- 
 prised at not finding them attempt to escape during the night, 
 were still more surprised when morning discovered their close 
 and regular arrangement. The Greeks began with the light 
 their sacred hymns and paeans, which preceded their trium- 
 phant songs of war, accompanied by the animating sound of 
 the trumpet. The shores 6f Attica re-echoed to the rocks of 
 Salamis and Psyttalea. The Grecian acclamations filled the 
 sky. Neither their appearance nor their words betokened 
 flight or fear, but rather determined intrepidity and invincible 
 courage. Yet was their valor tempered with wisdom. The- 
 mistocles delayed the attack until the ordinary breeze should 
 spring up, which was no less favorable to the experience of 
 the Grecian mariners, than dangerous to the lofty unwieldi- 
 ness of the Persian ships. The signal was then given for the 
 Athenian line to bear down against that of the Phoenicians, 
 which rode on the west, off the coast of Eleusis ; while the
 
 240 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Peloponnesians advanced against the enemy's left wing, 
 stationed on the east, near the harbor of the Piraeus. The 
 Persians, confiding in their number, and secure of victory, did 
 not decline the fight. A Phoenician galley, of uncommon 
 size and strength, was distinguished in the front of their line 
 by every circumstance of naval pomp. In the eagerness to 
 engage, she far outstripped her companions ; but her career 
 was checked midway between the two fleets by an Athenian 
 galley which had sailed forth to meet her. The first shock 
 shattered her sculptured prow; the second buried her in the 
 waves. The Athenians, encouraged by this auspicious pre- 
 lude, proceeded with their whole force, animating each other 
 to the combat by a martial song: "Advance, ye sons of 
 Athens, save your country, defend your wives and children, 
 deliver the temples of your gods, regain the sacred tombs of 
 your renowned forefathers ; this day, the common cause of 
 Greece demands your valor." 
 
 The battle was bloody and destructive, and disputed on 
 the side of the Persians with more obstinate resistance than 
 on any former occasion ; for, from the Attic coast, seated on 
 a lofty throne, on the top of Mount ^galios, Xerxes observed 
 the scene of action, and attentively remarked, with a view to 
 reward and punish, the various behavior of his subjects. The 
 presence of their prince operated on their hopes, and still 
 more powerfully on their fears. But neither the hope of 
 acquiring the favor, nor the fear of incurring the displeasure 
 of a despot, could furnish principles of action worthy of 
 being compared with the patriotism and love of liberty which 
 actuated the Greeks. To the dignity of their motives, as 
 much as to the superiority of their skill, the latter owed their 
 unexampled success in this memorable engagement. The fore- 
 most ships of the Phoenicians were dispersed or sunk. Amidst 
 the terror and confusion occasioned by their repulse, they ran 
 foul of those which had been drawn up in two lines behind 
 them. The Athenians skillfully encircled them around, 
 compressed them into a narrow space, and increased their 
 disorder ; they were at length entangled in each other, deprived 
 of all power of action, and, to use the expressive figure of 
 an eye-witness, "caught and destroyed like fish in a net."
 
 THEMISTOCLES. 241 
 
 Such was the fate of the right wing ; while the lonians, 
 who, on the left, opposed the fleets of Peloponnesus and 
 ^Dgina, furnished them with an opportunity to complete the 
 victory. Many of the Asiatic Greeks, mindful of the advice 
 given by Themistocles, abandoned the interest of the great 
 king, and openly declared for their countrymen ; others de- 
 clined the engagement ; the remainder were sunk and put to 
 flight. Among those which escaped was the ship of Queen 
 Artemisia, who in the battle of Salamis displayed superior 
 courage and conduct ; she was closely pursued by an Athenian 
 galley, commanded by Amenias, brother of the poet ^Sschy- 
 lus. In this extremity she employed a successful, but very 
 unwarrantable stratagem. The nearest Persian vessel was 
 commanded by Damasithymus, a tributary prince of Calynda 
 in Lycia, a man with whom Artemisia was at variance. With 
 great dexterity she darted the beak of her galley against the 
 Lycian vessel. Damasithymus was buried in the waves ; and 
 Amenias, deceived by this measure equally artful and auda- 
 cious believed the vessel of Artemisia one of those which 
 had deserted the Persian interest. The Phoenician and Ionian 
 squadrons (for that of the Egyptians had been exceedingly 
 weakened by the action on the coast of Euboea) formed the 
 main strength of the Persian armament; after these were 
 defeated, the ships at a distance ventured not to advance ; but, 
 hastily changing sail, measured back their course to the 
 Athenian and other neighboring harbors. The victors, dis- 
 daining to pursue them, dragged the most valuable part of 
 the wreck to the coasts of Psyttalea and Salamis. The nar- 
 row seas were covered with floating carcasses of the dead, 
 among whom were few Greeks, as even those who lost their 
 ships in the engagement saved their lives by swimming. 
 
 Xerxes had scarcely time to consider and deplore the de- 
 struction and disgrace of his fleet, when a new spectacle, not 
 less mournful, offered itself to his sight. The flower of the 
 Persian infantry had taken post on the rocky isle of Psyttalea, 
 in order to receive the shattered remains of the Grecian arma- 
 ment, which, after its expected defeat, would naturally take 
 refuge on that barren coast. But equally fallacious and fatal 
 was their conjecture concerning the event of the battle. The 
 16
 
 242 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Greeks, disembarking from their ships, attacked, in the en- 
 thusiasm of victory, those astonished troops, who, unable to 
 resist, and finding it impossible to fly, were cut down to a 
 man. As Xerxes beheld this dreadful havoc, he started in 
 wild agitation from his silver throne, rent his royal robes, 
 and in the first moment of his returning tranquillity com- 
 manded the main body of his forces, posted along the 
 Athenian coast, to return to their respective camps. From 
 that moment he resolved to retreat with all possible expedi- 
 tion into Asia. 
 
 When the Greeks had leisure to examine the extent and 
 completeness of their success, they determined, in the first 
 emotions of triumph and resentment, to pursue the shattered 
 remains of the enemy. That no Barbarian might escape, they 
 purposed immediately to sail northward, to destroy the Per- 
 sian bridge over the Hellespont, and thus to intercept their 
 return. This design was recommended and chiefly supported 
 by the Athenians, who, having experienced the greatest share 
 of the danger, felt more sensibly the joys of deliverance. But, 
 upon more mature deliberation, it occurred that the Persians 
 were still sufficiently numerous to afford just grounds of 
 terror. To their cowardice and inexperience, not to their 
 want of strength, the Greeks owed all their advantages over 
 them ; but should the impossibility of retreat be added to their 
 other calamities, they might derive courage from despair, and, 
 by efforts hitherto unexerted, repair the consequences of 
 their past errors and misfortunes. These considerations, first 
 suggested, it is said, by Eurybiades the Spartan, were adopted 
 by Themistocles, who convinced his countrymen that the 
 jealousy of the Grecian gods, unwilling that one man should 
 be lord of Europe and Asia, rather than their own prowess, 
 had given them the victory over Xerxes, a prince of such folly 
 and madness that he had treated with equal irreverence things 
 human and divine, destroyed the sacred temples, overthrown 
 the venerable altars and images, and impiously insulted the 
 gods of the Hellespont with stripes and fetters. That it was 
 the duty of the Athenians, after having gloriously repelled the 
 common enemy, to provide for the subsistence of their wives 
 and families, to sow their lands, rebuild their houses, and thus
 
 THEMISTOCLES. 243 
 
 to repair, by the most industrious activity, the dreadful rav- 
 ages committed in their territories. 
 
 Themistocles had no sooner persuaded the Athenians to 
 embrace his opinion than he secretly dispatched his confidant, 
 Sicinus, to acquaint the great king with the danger which he 
 had so nearly escaped, and to advise him to pursue his journey 
 with all possible expedition. Xerxes readily believed a piece 
 of information which agreed with the suggestions of his own 
 timidity. The rapidity of his march conspired with famine 
 and other circumstances in proving fatal to the lives of most 
 of his followers ; and the crafty Athenian, who, knowing the 
 unstable affections of the multitude, wished to deserve the 
 gratitude of a king, gained the double advantage of dispelling, 
 sooner than could otherwise have happened, that destructive 
 cloud of Barbarians which hovered over his country, and of 
 convincing their leader that he was in part indebted for his 
 safety to that very man whose counsels, rather than the arms 
 of Greece, had occasioned his affliction and disgrace. J. 
 GILLIES.
 
 DEMOST [ENES 
 
 DEMOSTHENES, the cele- 
 brated Athenian orator and 
 statesman, perhaps the 
 greatest orator that ever 
 lived, was a son of Demos- 
 thenes, a cutler and opulent 
 citizen of Athens, and was 
 born about 3843.0. When 
 he was but seven years old 
 his father died, and his 
 guardians converted to 
 their own use a large part 
 of his patrimony. Though 
 his constitution was delicate and his voice feeble, he cherished, 
 at an early age, an ambition to be an orator. He studied 
 rhetoric with Isaeus, and from Plato he imbibed much of the 
 richness and grandeur which characterized the writings of 
 that mighty master. But his rascally guardians defrauded 
 his tutors of their salaries. On attaining his freedom, about 
 the age of eighteen, he prosecuted his guardians, denouncing 
 them in five orations, and gained his cause, but did not recover 
 all his patrimony. 
 
 His attempts at public political speeches were less success- 
 ful, bringing on him ridicule for his stammering voice and 
 ungraceful gestures. To remedy his defects he adopted heroic 
 remedies ; to cure his stammering he spoke with pebbles in 
 his mouth ; to become long-winded, he practiced running up 
 hill ; and to accustom himself to the turbulence of the noisy 
 assembly of the people, he declaimed on the seashore. Nor 
 was this all his peculiar regimen. He built a subterranean 
 244
 
 DEMOSTHENES.
 
 STATE POSM.M SCHOOL, 
 
 CAU*
 
 DEMOSTHENES. 245 
 
 study, in which he made strenuous and persistent efforts to 
 improve his oratorical action and acquire a distinct and 
 orotund utterance. To perfect his style he copied many 
 times the History of Thucydides, which abounds in terse 
 orations. The great statesman, Pericles, was his model in 
 action and delivery. 
 
 When Demosthenes emerged from the obscurity of his 
 cell and his genius began to attract public attention, one of 
 his rivals uttered the taunt that all his arguments smelled of 
 the lamp. Demosthenes retorted, " Yes, indeed; but your lamp 
 and mine are not conscious of the same labors. " He practiced 
 in the courts as an advocate, and in 350 B. c. he achieved a 
 decided success by an oration against Leptines. His principal 
 fame was derived from his political orations, which form a 
 glorious protest against the moral decadence and pervading 
 corruption of the times. 
 
 The chief aim of his public career was to resist and defeat 
 the ambitious schemes and aggressive operations of Philip of 
 Macedon. Against that crafty and resolute king Demos- 
 thenes, almost single-handed, undertook to defend the cause 
 of Grecian democracy. He proved himself a champion 
 worthy of the momentous charge, and won the respect of the 
 opponents of the bold truths which he uttered. But he never 
 obtained any eminent position ; nor did he lead against Philip 
 those armies which his eloquence had raised. Between 352 
 and 340 B. c. he delivered eleven orations against Philip, and 
 four of these have acquired special fame as Philippics. Hav- 
 ing persuaded the Athenians of their duty to resist the 
 schemes of the Macedonian king, he next went as an ambas- 
 sador to other Hellenic States, and persuaded nearly all to 
 join in a league against the common enemy. But Philip, 
 with his well-drilled Macedonian phalanx, gained at Chseronea 
 in 338 B.C. the decisive victory which was fatal to the liberty 
 and independence of Athens. Demosthenes was there, but if 
 we are to believe Plutarch, ' ' he performed nothing worthy of 
 the glorious things he had spoken. He quitted his post ; he 
 threw away his arms. ' ' 
 
 Yet after this crushing defeat the orator, whose true voca 
 tion was to arouse and stimulate patriotism, continued to be
 
 246 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 the foremost man in the State. In 336 B.C. Ctesiphon pro- 
 posed that Demosthenes should receive a golden crown from 
 the city as a reward for his public services, as had been done 
 to other benefactors. His rival, JEschines, opposed this 
 measure as unconstitutional, and the trial of this celebrated 
 cause before the assembly of the people was postponed until 
 330. The oration of Demosthenes, " On the Crown," which 
 was really a defence of his entire public career, is undoubt- 
 edly his masterpiece, and the most perfect specimen of 
 eloquence that was ever produced. Demosthenes triumphed, 
 and ^Sschines was banished. More than four-fifths of the 
 numerous judges in this trial voted against ^schines. 
 
 In the year 324 the incorruptible patriot was accused of 
 receiving a bribe from Harpalus, a defaulting steward of 
 Alexander the Great, with whom he had had some dealings. 
 Strange to say, he was convicted and fined fifty talents; but he 
 avoided the payment of the fine by going into exile. Modern 
 historical critics doubt the truth of this charge and the justice 
 of the penalty, and attribute the conviction to political rancor. 
 When Demosthenes quitted his native city in disgrace and 
 bitterness of soul, he lifted up his hands toward the Acropolis 
 and said, "O Athene, goddess of those towers, why dost thou 
 delight in three such monsters as an owl, a dragon, and the 
 people?" Soon after the death of Alexander, in 323 B.C., 
 Demosthenes was recalled and returned in triumph. But his 
 exultation was of short duration, and his death having been 
 decreed by Antipater, now King of Macedon, he ended his life 
 by poison in 322 B.C. 
 
 About sixty of his orations are extant. "His style," says 
 Hume, "is rapid harmony exactly adjusted to the sense ; it is 
 vehement reasoning without any appearance of art ; it is dis- 
 dain, anger, boldness, freedom, involved in a continued stream 
 of argument. " He affects no learning, exhibits no ostenta- 
 tious declamation, seeks no glaring ornaments. Yet by the 
 power of his unadorned eloquence, he wielded against the 
 most powerful king of the time the fierce and turbulent 
 democracy. In his person were united the ardent patriot, the 
 far-seeing statesman, with the consummate and unapproach- 
 able artist
 
 DEMOSTHENES. 247 
 
 DEMOSTHENES AGAINST PHILIP. 
 
 When you hear described, men of Athens ! the continual 
 hostilities by which Philip violates the peace, I observe that 
 you approve the equity and patriotism of those who support 
 the rights of the Republic ; but while nothing is done, on 
 account of which it is worth while to listen to such speeches, 
 our affairs are brought to such a pass that the more clearly 
 we convict Philip of perfidy towards you, and of hostile 
 designs against Greece, the more difficult it is to propose any 
 seasonable advice. The cause of this difficulty is, that the 
 encroachments of ambition must be repelled, not by words, 
 but by deeds. If speeches and reasonings sufficed, we should 
 long ere now have prevailed over our adversary. But Philip 
 excels in actions as much as we do in arguments ; and both 
 of us obtain the superiority in what forms respectively the 
 chief object of our study and concern ; we in our assemblies, 
 Philip in the field. 
 
 Immediately after the peace, the King of Macedon became 
 master of Phocis and Thermopylae, and made such use of 
 these acquisitions as suited the interest of Thebes, not of 
 Athens. Upon what principle did he act thus? Because, 
 governed in all his proceedings, not by the love of peace and 
 justice, but by an insatiable lust of power, he saw the impos- 
 sibility of bending the Athenians to his selfish and tyrannical 
 purposes. He knew that the loftiness of their character 
 would never stoop to private considerations, but prefer to any 
 advantage that he might offer them, the dictates of justice and 
 of honor ; and that neither their penetration, nor their dignity, 
 could ever be prevailed on to sacrifice to a partial and tempo- 
 rary interest, the general safety of Greece ; but that they 
 would fight for each member of the Confederacy with the 
 same ardor as for their own walls. The Thebans he judged 
 (and he judged aright) to be more assailable ; he knew their 
 folly and their meanness to be such, that provided he heaped 
 benefits on themselves, they would assist him to enslave their 
 neighbors. Upon the same principle he now cultivates, in 
 preference to yours, the friendship of the Messenians and 
 Argives ; a circumstance, Athenians ! which highly redounds
 
 248 . HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 to your honor, since Philip thus declares his persuasion that 
 you alone have wisdom to understand, and virtue to oppose 
 his designs ; that you foresee the drift of all his negotiations 
 and wars, and are determined to be the incorruptible defend- 
 ers of the common cause. Nor is it without good grounds 
 that he entertains such an honorable opinion of you, and the 
 contrary of the Thebans and Argives. When the liberties of 
 Greece were threatened by Persia, as they now are by Mace- 
 don, the Thebans basely followed the standard of the invaders ; 
 the Argives did not oppose their arms ; while the magnani- 
 mous patriots, from whom you are descended, spurned offers, 
 highly advantageous, made them by Alexander of Macedou, 
 the ancestor of Philip, who acted as the ambassador of Persia. 
 Your fathers, preferring the public interest to their own, pro- 
 voked the devastation of their land and the destruction of their 
 capital, and performed, in defence of Greece, those unrivalled 
 exploits of heroism which can never be celebrated with due 
 praise. For such reasons, Philip chooses for his allies 
 Thebes, Argos, and Messene, rather than Athens and Sparta. 
 The former States possess not greater strength, wealth, fleets, 
 harbors, and armies ; they have not more power, but less 
 virtue. Nor can Philip plead the merits of their cause; since, 
 if Chaeronea and Orchomenus are justly subject to Thebes, 
 Argos and Messene are justly subject to Lacedaemon ; nor 
 could it be equitable to enslave the inferior cities of Bceotia, 
 and at the same time to teach those of Peloponnesus to rebel. 
 But Philip was compelled to this conduct (for this is the 
 only remaining argument that can be alleged in his defence). 
 ' ' Surrounded by the Thessalian cavalry and Theban infantry, 
 he was obliged to assist allies whom he distrusted, and to con- 
 cur with measures which he disapproved. Hence the severe 
 treatment of Phocis, hence the cruel servitude of Orchomenus 
 and Chaeronea. The King of Macedon, being now at liberty 
 to consult the dictates of his own humanity and justice, is 
 desirous to re-establish the Republic of Phocis ; and, in order 
 to bridle the insolence of Thebes, actually meditates the forti- 
 fying of Elatea." This, indeed, he meditates, and will 
 meditate long. But he does not meditate the destruction of 
 Lacedaemon. For this purpose he has remitted money, he
 
 DEMOSTHENES. 249 
 
 has sent his mercenaries, he is prepared, himself, to march 
 at the head of a powerful army. His present transactions 
 sufficiently explain the motives of his conduct. It is evident 
 that he acts from system, and that his principal batteries are 
 erected against Athens itself. How can it be otherwise? He 
 is ambitious to rule Greece ; you alone are capable to thwart 
 his measures. He has long treated you unworthily ; and he is 
 conscious of his injustice. He is actually contriving your 
 destruction, and he is sensible that you see through his 
 designs. For all these reasons he knows that you detest him, 
 and that should he not anticipate your hostility, he must fall 
 a victim to your just vengeance. Hence he is ever active and 
 alert, watching a favorable moment of assault, and practicing 
 on the stupidity and selfishness of the Thebans and Pelopon- 
 nesians ; for if they were not stupid and blind, they might 
 perceive the fatal aim of the Macedonian policy. I once 
 spoke on this subject before the Messenians and Argives; 
 my discourse, which was useless to them, may, perhaps not 
 unseasonably, be repeated to you. 
 
 "Men of Argos and Messene ! you remember the time 
 when Philip caressed the Olynthians, as he now does you ; 
 how highly, do you think, that infatuated people would have 
 been offended, had any man talked against the benefactor 
 who had generously bestowed on them Anthemus and 
 Potidsea? Had any man warned them against the dangerous 
 artifices of Philip, would they have listened to his advice? 
 Yet, after enjoying for a moment the territories of their neigh- 
 bors, they were forever despoiled of their own. Inglorious 
 was their fall ; not conquered only, but betrayed and sold by 
 one another. Turn your eyes to the Thessalians. When 
 Philip expelled their tyrants, could the Thessalians ever con- 
 jecture that the same prince would subject them to the crea- 
 tures of Macedon, still more tyrannical and oppressive? When 
 he restored them to their seat and suffrage in the Amphictyonic 
 Council, could they have been persuaded that he would one 
 day deprive them of the management of their own revenues? 
 As to you, Messenians and Argives ! you have beheld Philip 
 smiling and deceiving ; but beware ! pray to heaven, that you 
 may never behold him insulting, threatening and destroying.
 
 250 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Various are the contrivances which communities have dis- 
 covered for their defence ; walls, ramparts, battlements, all of 
 which are raised by the labor of man, and supported by con- 
 tinual expense and toil. But there is one common bulwark, 
 which only the prudent employ, though alike useful to all, 
 especially to free cities against tyrants. What is that ? Dis- 
 trust. Of this be mindful ; to this adhere ; preserve this care- 
 fully, and no calamity can befall you." From the SECOND 
 PHILIPPIC.
 
 THENS, during all the period of its dem- 
 ocratic government, had an aristocratic 
 party, and a succession of aristocratic 
 leaders. These were usually men of an- 
 cient and wealthy families, who took an 
 active part in public affairs, were person- 
 ally respected for their probity, and often 
 manifested a philosophic contempt for luxury. These esti- 
 mable aristocrats were at times entrusted by the despised 
 people with the highest offices and commands ; yet their efforts 
 were mainly directed towards repressing the natural move- 
 ment of the people and their chosen system of government. 
 No better type of this class can be found than Phocion, 
 the strenuous opponent of Demosthenes. This sternly up- 
 right statesman, whose private virtues, in a time of general 
 corruption, won for him the surname of ' ' The Good, ' ' was yet 
 the ready instrument in subjecting his native city to the 
 power of Philip of Macedon. 
 
 Phocion was born at Athens about the year 402 B.C. He 
 received an excellent education and attended the lectures of 
 Plato. His military training was commenced under Chabrias, 
 an experienced commander. By him Phocion, while yet a 
 young man, was commissioned with twenty galleys to collect 
 tribute from the allies of Athens. But he sagely objected to 
 the size of the fleet, saying, ' ' To meet enemies the force was 
 insufficient ; to visit friends it was needlessly great. ' ' Chabrias 
 then allowed him to go with a single galley, which he provided 
 at his own expense. He made this mission unusually accept- 
 
 251
 
 252 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 able, and numerous vessels of the allies voluntarily attended 
 him home, bearing the full amount of tribute. This was the 
 first time within memory that the expense of equipping an 
 expedition had been undertaken by individuals. 
 
 In the naval battle of Naxos, in September, 376, Phocion 
 commanded the left wing of the fleet, and contributed largely 
 by his skillful tactics to obtain a signal victory over the Spar- 
 tans. Athens then gave Phocion the command of the forces 
 sent to the aid of Plutarch against Philip of Macedon, expect- 
 ing that the Euboeans would immediately rise and join him. 
 But Phocion found them corrupted by Philip's money and dis- 
 affected to their own country. Plutarch himself repaid his 
 benefactors with ingratitude, and endeavored openly to repulse 
 the army he had requested. However, Phocion on the plains 
 of Tamynae won a decided victory, and expelled Plutarch 
 from Eretria. He then took the Fort of Zaretra, advan- 
 tageously situated on a point at the end of the island. After 
 this success he sailed back to Athens. 
 
 Philip now determined, if possible, to gain possession of 
 the Chersonesus, Perinthus and Byzantium, but was still 
 very cautious of displeasing the Athenians. At least whilst 
 besieging Byzantium, he wrote to them a letter upbraiding 
 them in the strongest terms for their infraction of treaties. 
 Demosthenes told the Athenians that this letter was a plain 
 declaration of war, and Phocion being general, led his troops to 
 the succor of the Byzantines. His prudence and the bravery of 
 his army forced Philip to abandon his design. Phocion cap- 
 tured some of his ships, recovered many fortresses, and drove 
 him from the Hellespont. The King of Macedon now made 
 overtures of peace. Phocion, apprehensive of the uncertainty 
 of supplies, urged the Athenians to accept his offers; but 
 Demosthenes, believing that Philip's only view was to gain 
 time, prevented them from listening to pacific proposals. 
 Demosthenes advised that the war should be carried on as far 
 as possible from Attica. This drew from Phocion, the expe- 
 rienced general, the remark: " My good friend, consider not 
 so much where we shall fight, as how we shall conquer ; for 
 victory is the only thing that can keep war at a distance : if 
 we are beaten, every danger will soon be at our gates. ' ' The
 
 PHOCION. 253 
 
 Athenians did lose the day at Chaeronsea (338 B.C.), and then 
 decided, against the advice of Phocion, that Athens should be 
 comprehended in the general peace, made at Corinth, and as 
 one of the States of Greece, should have the same terms 
 with the other cities. When, afterwards, the Athenians 
 repented, because they were obliged to furnish Philip with 
 vessels and cavalry, Phocion observed, " This was the thing 
 I feared ; and on it my opposition was founded. But since 
 you have signed the treaty, you must bear its inconveniences 
 without murmuring or despondence ; remembering that your 
 ancestors sometimes gave law to their neighbors, and some- 
 times were forced to submit, but did both with honor; and 
 by that means saved themselves and all Greece." 
 
 When the news of Philip's death was brought to Athens, 
 Phocion would not permit any public rejoicing. ' ' Nothing, ' ' 
 said he, ' ' could show greater meanness of spirit than expres- 
 sions of joy on the death of an enemy. " Demosthenes, with 
 all the power of his oratory, now urged the Athenians against 
 submitting to Alexander, whose military abilities were soon 
 shown in his capture of Thebes. Phocion directly opposed 
 Demosthenes. ' ' When you see, ' ' he remarked, ' ' such a dread- 
 ful fire near you, could you plunge Athens into it ? For my 
 part, I will not suffer you to ruin yourselves, though your 
 inclinations lie that way ; and to prevent every step of that 
 kind is the end I proposed in taking the command." 
 Phocion, in an embassy to Alexander, advised him, ' ' If tran- 
 quillity be your object, put an end to your wars ; if glory, 
 leave the Greeks in quiet, and turn your arms against the 
 barbarians." Alexander followed his suggestion, and was 
 pleased to say, "The people of Athens must be very atten- 
 tive to the affairs of Greece : for if anything happens to me, 
 the supreme direction will devolve upon them. ' ' He after- 
 wards sent to Phocion a present of a hundred talents, which 
 the incorruptible patriot unhesitatingly refused. Again was 
 he offered by the same monarch the choice of one of four 
 Asiatic cities; but this gift the Athenian likewise declined. 
 
 After the death of Alexander in 323 B.C., Phocion pursued 
 his usual line of policy in the Lamian war, by which Athens 
 sought to regain independence. When that conflict had
 
 254 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 eventuated unfavorably for Athens, he was sent to treat with 
 Antipater, King of Macedon, for peace. In this he succeeded, 
 and Antipater, recognizing his high personal character, vested 
 in him the chief authority of Athens. But 12,000 citizens 
 were disfranchised, and the anti-Macedonian leaders put to 
 death. Thus was the voice of the democracy silenced. 
 
 But the death of Antipater, in 318, renewed the troubles. 
 The Athenians returning held an assembly, and voted the 
 complete re-establishment of democracy, and the death or 
 banishment of all who had held office in the oligarchy, of 
 whom the most conspicuous was Phocion. The exiles fled to 
 the camp of Alexander, son of Polysperchon, and were sent 
 by him to his father's court. They were followed thither 
 by an Athenian embassy, which demanded their sur- 
 render. Polysperchon gave up the fugitives. When Phocion 
 and the others were brought before the assembly, their voices 
 were drowned by the clamor of their judges. Every one who 
 attempted to speak in favor of the accused was hooted down 
 as a traitor to democracy. They were all condemned to die. 
 One wretch is said to have spat on Phocion, as he and the 
 others were led back to prison. With unruffled composure he 
 only looked towards the magistrates and asked, "Will no one 
 stop this man's indecency?" Phocion was the last of the 
 prisoners to die (317 B.C.). Before he drank the hemlock, he 
 was asked if he had any message for his son ; he replied, ' ' I 
 bid him cherish no resentment against the Athenians. ' ' The 
 people soon repented of their hasty act; they erected to Phocion 
 a statue of brass, and honored his remains with a public 
 funeral. His principal accuser was put to death, and the 
 others driven into exile. 
 
 Phocion, though not eloquent, was a singularly ready and 
 acute debater, and his opinion carried weight from his well 
 established character for uprightness. In politics his distrust 
 of the people led him to counsel peace, and to side with the 
 Macedonian party. His motives were pure and unselfish, and 
 his desire for peace sincere. Yet as a warrior he possessed 
 eminent ability, and was elected annually to the office of 
 general no less than forty-five times. He lived in unostenta- 
 tious frugality. He is most conspicuous as the unrelenting
 
 PHOCION. 255 
 
 adversary of Demosthenes. The great orator recognized his 
 opponent's influence, and when Phocion rose to speak, 
 whispered to his friends, ' ' Here comes the chopper of my 
 speeches .' ' Phocion was the last of the Athenian statesmen 
 who combined the characters of legislator and general. 
 
 PHOCION' s SAYINGS. 
 
 Phocion was one of the most humane and best-tempered 
 men in the world, and yet he had so ill-natured and forbidding 
 a look that strangers were afraid to address him without 
 company. Therefore, when Chares, the orator, observed to the 
 Athenians what terrible brows Phocion had, and they could 
 not help enjoying the remark, he calmly said, "This brow of 
 mine never gave one of you an hour of sorrow ; but the 
 laughter of these sneerers has cost their country many a tear. ' ' 
 In like manner, though the measures he proposed were 
 happy ones, and his counsels of the most salutary kind, yet 
 he used no flowers of rhetoric ; his speeches were concise, 
 commanding, and severe. For, as Zeno says, that a philoso- 
 pher should never let a word come out of his mouth that is 
 not strongly tinctured with sense, so Phocion' s oratory con- 
 tained the most sense in the fewest words. And it seems that 
 Polyeuctus, the Sphettian, had this view when he said, 
 " Demosthenes was the better orator, and Phocion the more 
 persuasive speaker." His speeches were to be estimated like 
 coins, not for the size, but for the intrinsic value. Agreeably 
 to which we are told that one day, when the theatre was full 
 of people, Phocion was observed behind the scenes wrapt up 
 in thought, when one of his friends took occasion to say, 
 "What! at your meditations, Phocion?" "Yes," said he, 
 " I am considering whether I cannot shorten what I have to 
 say to the Athenians." His influence with the people is 
 chiefly to be ascribed to the excellence of his character, since 
 a word or a nod from a person revered for his virtue is of 
 more weight than the most elaborate speeches of other men. 
 
 Phocion not only honored and paid his court to Chabrias 
 as long as he lived, but, after his death, continued his atten- 
 tions to all that belonged to him. With his son, Ctesippus, 
 he took peculiar care to form him to virtue ; and though he
 
 256 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 found him very stupid and untractable, yet he still labored to 
 correct his errors, as well as to conceal them. Once, indeed, 
 his patience failed him. In one of his expeditions the young 
 man was so troublesome with unseasonable questions and 
 attempts to give advice, as if he knew how to direct the 
 operations better than the general, that at last he cried out, 
 "O Chabrias, Chabrias ! what a return do I make thee for 
 thy favors, in bearing with the impertinencies of thy son !" 
 
 He observed that those who took upon them the manage- 
 ment of public affairs made two departments of them the 
 civil and the military, which they shared as it were by lot. 
 Pursuant to this division, Demosthenes, Lycurgus and Hype- 
 rides addressed the people from the rostrum, and proposed 
 new edicts ; while Leosthenes and Chares raised themselves 
 by the honors and employments of the camp. But Phocion 
 chose rather to move in the line of Pericles, Aristides and 
 Solon, who excelled not only as orators, but as generals, for 
 he thought their fame more complete ; and he knew that the 
 tutelar goddess of Athens was equally the patroness of arts 
 and arms. 
 
 When an oracle from Delphi was read in the assembly, 
 importing, ' ' That the rest of the Athenians were unanimous 
 in their opinions, and there was only one man who dissented 
 from them," Phocion forthwith arose and said, "They need 
 not give themselves any trout le in inquiring for this refrac- 
 tory citizen, for he was the man who liked not anything they 
 did." And another time in a public debate, when his opinion 
 happened to be received with universal applause, he turned 
 to his friends and said, " Have I inadvertently let some bad 
 thing slip from me?" 
 
 The Athenians were one day making a collection to defray 
 the expense of a public sacrifice, and numbers gave liberally . 
 Phocion was importuned to contribute among the rest, but 
 he bade them apply to the rich. "I should be ashamed," 
 said he, "to give you anything, and not to pay this man 
 what I owe him;" pointing to the usurer Callicles. And as 
 they continued very clamorous and teasing, he told them this 
 tale: "A cowardly fellow once resolved to make a cam- 
 paign ; but when he was set out the ravens began to croak,
 
 PHOCION. 257 
 
 and he laid down his arms and stopped. When the first 
 alarm was a little over, he marched again. The ravens 
 renewed their croaking, and then he made a full stop, and 
 said, * You may croak your hearts out if you choose, but you 
 shall not taste my carcass.' " 
 
 The Athenians once insisted on his leading them against 
 the enemy, and when he refused, they told him nothing 
 could be more dastardly and spiritless than his behavior. He 
 answered, "You can neither make me valiant, nor can I 
 make you cowards ; however, we know one another very 
 well." 
 
 Public affairs happening to be in a dangerous situation, 
 the people were greatly exasperated against him, and de- 
 manded an immediate account of his conduct. Upon which 
 he only said, ' ' My good friends, first get out of your diffi- 
 culties." 
 
 During a war, however, they were generally humble and 
 submissive, and it was not till after peace was made that they 
 began to talk in a vaunting manner, and to find fault with 
 their general. As they were one time telling Phocion he had 
 robbed them of the victory which was in their hands, he said, 
 "It is happy for you that you have a general who knows 
 you ; otherwise you would have been ruined long ago. ' ' 
 
 Having a difference with the Boeotians, which they re- 
 fused to settle by treaty, and proposed to decide by the sword, 
 Phocion said, "Good people, keep to the method in which 
 you have the advantage ; and that is talking, not fighting." 
 
 One day, determined not to follow his advice, they refused 
 to give him a hearing. But he said, ' ' Though you can make 
 me act against my judgment, you shall never make me speak 
 so." 
 
 Demosthenes, the greatest orator of the adverse party, 
 happening to say, "The Athenians will certainly kill thee, 
 Phocion, if they get mad," he answered, "They may kill 
 me, if they get mad ; but it will be you, if they are in their 
 senses. ' ' 
 
 When Polyeuctus, the Sphettian, advised the Athenians to 
 make war upon Philip, the weather being hot, and the orator 
 a corpulent man, he ran himself out of breath, and perspired 
 17
 
 258 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 so violently that lie was forced to take several draughts of 
 cold water before he could finish his speech. Phocion, seeing 
 him in such a condition, thus addressed the assembly "You 
 have great reason to pass an edict for the war upon this man's 
 recommendation. For what are you not to expect from him 
 when, loaded with a suit of armor, he marches against the 
 enemy, if in delivering to you peaceable folks a speech he 
 had composed at his leisure, he is ready to be suffocated?" 
 
 Lycurgus, the orator, one day said many disparaging things 
 of him in the general assembly, and, among the rest, observed 
 that when Alexander demanded ten of their orators, Phocion 
 gave it as his opinion that they should be delivered to him. 
 "It is true," said Phocion, "I have given the people of 
 Athens much good counsel ; but they do not follow it." 
 
 All these sayings have something so severe in them that 
 it seems strange that a man of such austere and unpopular 
 manners should ever get the surname of u The Good." It is 
 indeed difficult, but I believe not impossible, for the same 
 man to be both rough and gentle, as some wines are both 
 sweet and sour ; and, on the other hand, some men who have 
 a great appearance of gentleness in their temper are very 
 harsh and vexatious to those who have to do with them. In 
 this case, the saying of Hyperides to the people of Athens 
 deserves notice: " Examine not whether I am severe upon 
 you, but whether I am so for my own sake." As if it were 
 avarice only that makes a minister odious to the people, and 
 the abuse of power to the purposes of pride, envy, anger or 
 revenge, did not make a man equally obnoxious. PLUTARCH.
 
 ALFRED THE GREAT has always 
 been regarded by the English people 
 as their ideal king, and is pro- 
 nounced by the eminent historian, 
 Edward A. Freeman, "the most 
 perfect character in history." Yet 
 he lived in a rude and barbarous 
 age when might made right, when 
 the violence of savage enemies com- 
 pelled every man constantly to resort 
 to arms to protect his person and 
 possessions, and allowed little op- 
 portunity to cultivate the arts of peace. When war was neces- 
 sary to defend his country, Alfred proved himself a valiant 
 soldier and skillful military leader. When peace was estab- 
 lished he devoted himself to the promotion of justice and the 
 welfare of his people. In the midst of the turmoil of war 
 and battle he retained the love of learning which his pious 
 mother had inculcated, and when happier times came at last, 
 he endeavored, by writing books and founding institutions of 
 learning, to transmit to posterity the means of enlightenment 
 Alfred was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, 850 A.D. His 
 father, Ethelwulf, before coming to the throne, had been a 
 monk. Ethelwulf married Osberga, the daughter of his cup- 
 bearer, and by her he had four sons, of whom Alfred was the 
 youngest When he was twelve years old, his mother offered 
 a handsomely illuminated book of Saxon poems to the son 
 who first should be able to read them. Alfred obtained the 
 prize, and henceforth he showed a studious disposition and 
 great love for literature. While still a boy he was taken 
 by his father on a pilgrimage to Rome, and undoubtedly 
 
 259
 
 260 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS, 
 
 received deep impressions from the splendid monuments of 
 the Eternal City. 
 
 At his accession to the throne of Wessex, the country of 
 the West Saxons, in 871 A.D., Alfred was twenty-one years of 
 age. The infant son of his elder brother, Ethelwald, being 
 alive, Alfred was not the rightful heir ; but owing to the 
 troublous state of the country at that period, the nobles 
 requested him to take the crown, as being more capable of 
 guarding its rights. He had already been married to Alswitha, 
 the daughter of a Mercian nobleman. The Danes, who from 
 the time of Egbert, had been constantly making depredations 
 in England, now invaded Wessex, and defeated Alfred in 
 battle at Wilton, in Wiltshire. The Danes, on receiving a 
 large sum of money, withdrew from Wessex. They, however, 
 continued their ravages in the North of England, slaughtering 
 the people without mercy, and laying waste the country. 
 Alfred retired south of the Thames and equipped a fleet, 
 which, in some measure, checked the attacks of the Danes. 
 While Alfred was residing at Chippenham, on the river Avon, 
 Guthrum, a Danish leader, attacked this town at night, in 
 the middle of winter, and the King had to flee for his life. 
 He wandered through the country for some time in disguise. 
 It is related by the chroniclers of that day, that the King 
 sought shelter in the house of a swineherd. The wife of his 
 humble host, being engaged in her homely duties, requested 
 the stranger to turn some cakes, which she was baking, to 
 prevent them burning. The thoughts of Alfred were far 
 away, considering the best means of defeating his enemies. 
 The cakes were burned, and the woman, on discovering his 
 neglect, soundly berated her guest, saying that he would be 
 glad enough to eat the cakes, but was too lazy to turn them. 
 
 In the county of Somerset, at the junction of the rivers 
 Parret and Tone, was a marshy island, now called Athelney. 
 This, for many months, was Alfred's hiding place ; and here 
 he was frequently visited by his nobles, who were secretly 
 preparing to make one great and final struggle to overthrow 
 the Danes. Alfred, in the disguise of a harper, now left his 
 hiding place, and boldly visited the camp of Guthrum. His 
 enemies were captivated with his music, and kept him there
 
 ALFRED THE GREAT. 26 1 
 
 for several days, during which he overheard them discussing 
 their plans of further attack on the Saxons. Quietly leaving 
 their cainp, he joined his nobles, who were assembled in 
 Selwood Forest. An army was quickly gotten together and 
 inarched against the Danes, meeting them at Ethandune, in 
 Wiltshire ; a battle ensued, 878 A.D., in which the Saxons 
 were completely victorious. Alfred at once attacked the 
 camp of Guthrum, and in fourteen days the Danish leader 
 was forced to capitulate. Guthrum himself, and many of his 
 chiefs, embraced the Christian faith. They were given a 
 narrow tract of land lying between the rivers Thames and 
 Tweed, which received the name of Danelagh. The settle- 
 ment of the Danes in England is shown at the present day by 
 many geographical names, such as those ending in 'by,' the 
 Danish for ' town. ' 
 
 For a time England had rest from foreign invaders, and 
 her people were able to turn without distraction to their do- 
 mestic affairs. Alfred summoned the Witenagemot, or " as- 
 sembly of the wise men," to assist him in providing for the 
 welfare of the kingdom. This great national council or par- 
 liament was composed of the higher clergy and the nobles. 
 The Commons, who now hold the reins of power, had not 
 then attained sufficient importance or prominence in the State 
 to be asked for advice. The Anglo-Saxon Parliament not 
 only assisted in making those laws which are consecrated with 
 the name of Alfred, but were the judges of all State criminals 
 and had the general superintendence of the courts of justice 
 throughout the land. 
 
 But the peace was of short duration. Once more, in 890 
 A.D., the irrepressible Danes, with a fleet of 330 ships, crossed 
 the German Ocean, and landed on the Kentish shore. Their 
 leader was Hastings, a man of such vigor and skill, that, but 
 for the precautions taken by King Alfred, and the general- 
 ship he now displayed, all England must speedily have be- 
 come Danish. The Danes ravaged the south of the island for 
 three years; Hastings even established a camp within twenty 
 miles of London. The Saxon king went to reconnoitre the 
 Danish camp, and saw the river covered with the ships of the 
 enemy. Summoning his men, he ordered them to dig three
 
 262 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 deep channels from the Lea to the Thames, thus diverting the 
 course of the former river. Very soon the Danish ships were 
 all aground. Hastings and his army fled. 
 
 The rest of Alfred's reign was peace. He spent his latter 
 years in carrying out plans for the welfare of his people. 
 Though the victim of an internal disease which left him few 
 painless hours during twenty-four years, his energies never 
 drooped through all the changes of a toilsome life. For the 
 safety of the country, he built strong castles in advantageous 
 positions, where the attack of an enemy could most easily be 
 withstood. He was the organizer of the militia system, and 
 divided all men capable of bearing arms into three divisions; 
 one body garrisoned the towns, while the other two acted as 
 a sort of reserve, being engaged in military duty and agricul- 
 tural pursuits by turns. 
 
 This great king was untiring in his efforts to acquire 
 knowledge and convey it to his people. He sent intelligent 
 men to Russia, Jerusalem, and even, it is said, to India, to 
 obtain geographical and other learning. His court was the 
 home of many distinguished scholars. He is honored as the 
 founder of Oxford University, which dates from 886 A.D. 
 He promulgated a law compelling the nobles to have their 
 children educated, and he himself provided books for their 
 instruction. "^Esop's Fables," Bede's " Latin History of the 
 Anglo-Saxon Church " and the Psalms were translated into 
 Saxon by this book-loving king. 
 
 Bishop Asser relates that Alfred measured the time by 
 candles, so as not to neglect any of his duties. These candles 
 were made all of one length, burning one inch in twenty 
 minutes. He divided his day into three parts, one he devoted 
 to business of state; a second, to religious exercises and the 
 pursuit of knowledge; and a third, to sleep, meals and recre- 
 ation. 
 
 Alfred framed a code of laws, in which the chief enact- 
 ments of Ethelbert and OfFa had place ; and by the execution 
 of these with stern impartiality, crime became rare. Trial 
 by jury is traced to this code, though its original form had 
 little resemblance to the institution as now known. The 
 execution of the laws was vested in officers called Reeves, of
 
 ALFRED THE GREAT. 263 
 
 whom the chief in each county was called Shire-reeve, and 
 was the original of our Sheriff. The land was divided into 
 counties, hundreds, and tithings or tenths, making the admin- 
 istration of justice the easier. 
 
 Alfred died at Farringdon, in Berkshire, 901 A.D., being 
 fifty-one years of age. He was buried in the new Minster, 
 which he himself had founded in Winchester, the capital of 
 his kingdom. 
 
 Alfred the Great was the best of English kings. The 
 pages of history can nowhere produce a purer portion than 
 those which record his life. His remark, "It is just that the 
 English should forever remain as free as their own thoughts, " 
 showed his patriotism and noble nature. He devoted his life 
 to the good of his subjects, and "we can justly bestow on 
 him the triple crown of Virtue, Heroism, and Culture." 
 
 Alfred the Great, says Freeman, "is a singular instance 
 of a prince who has become a hero of romance, who, as such, 
 has had countless imaginary exploits attributed to him, but 
 to whose character romance has done no more than justice, 
 and who appears in exactly the same light in history and in 
 fable. No other man on record has ever so thoroughly united 
 all the virtues both of the ruler and of the private man. In 
 no other man on record were so many virtues disfigured by so 
 little alloy. A saint without superstition, a scholar without 
 ostentation, a warrior whose wars were all fought in the 
 defence of his country, a conqueror whose laurels were never 
 stained by cruelty, a prince never cast down by adversity, 
 never lifted up to insolence in the day of triumph, there is no 
 other name in history to compare with his." 
 
 ALFRED'S TRIUMPH OVER GUTHRUM. 
 
 Guthrum, the leader of the Danes, had fixed his residence 
 at Gloucester, and rewarded the services of his veterans by 
 dividing among them the lands in the neighborhood. But 
 while this peaceful occupation seemed to absorb his attention, 
 his mind was actively employed in arranging a plan of war- 
 fare which threatened to extinguish the last of the Saxon 
 governments in Britain. A winter campaign had hitherto 
 been unknown in the annals of Danish devastation ; after
 
 264 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 their summer expeditions the invaders had always devoted 
 the succeeding months to festivity and repose, and it is 
 probable that the followers of Guthrum were as ignorant as 
 the Saxons of the real design of their leader. On the first 
 day of the year 878 they received an unexpected summons to 
 meet him on horseback at an appointed place ; on the night 
 of the 6th of January they were in possession of Chippenharn, 
 a royal villa on the left bank of the Avon. There is reason 
 to believe that Alfred was in the place when the alarm was 
 given ; it is certain that he could not be at any great distance. 
 From Chippenham, Guthrum dispersed his cavalry in dif- 
 ferent directions over the neighboring counties ; the Saxons 
 were surprised by the enemy before they had heard of the 
 war ; and the king saw himself surrounded by the barbarians, 
 without horses, and almost without attendants. At first he 
 conceived the rash design of rushing on the multitude of his 
 enemies ; but his temerity was restrained by the more con- 
 siderate suggestions of his friends ; and he consented to 
 reserve himself for a less dangerous and more hopeful experi- 
 ment. To elude suspicion he dismissed the few thanes who 
 were still near his person, and endeavored alone and on foot 
 to gain the centre of Somersetshire. There he found a secure 
 retreat in a small island situated in a morass formed by the 
 conflux of the Tone and the Parret, which was afterwards 
 distinguished by the name of Ethelingey, or Prince's Island. 
 Though the escape of Alfred had disappointed the hopes 
 of the Danes, they followed up their success with indefati- 
 gable activity. The men of Hampshire, Dorset, Wilts, and 
 Berkshire, separated from each other, ignorant of the fate of 
 their prince, and unprepared for any rational system of de- 
 fence, saw themselves compelled to crouch beneath the storm. 
 Those who dwelt near the coast crossed with their families 
 and treasure to the opposite shores of Gaul ; the others 
 sought to mitigate by submission the ferocity of the invaders, 
 and by the surrender of a part to preserve the remainder of 
 their property. One county alone, that of Somerset, is said 
 to have continued faithful to the fortunes of Alfred ; and yet 
 in the county of Somerset he was compelled to conceal 
 himself at Ethelingey, while the ealderman ^Ethelnoth, with
 
 ALFRED THE GREAT. 265 
 
 a few adherents, wandered in the woods. By degrees the 
 secret of the royal retreat was revealed ; Alfred was joined 
 by the more trusty of his subjects ; and in their company 
 he occasionally issued from his concealment, intercepted the 
 straggling parties of the Danes, and returned, loaded with 
 the spoils, often of the enemy, sometimes (such was his hard 
 necessity) of his own people. As his associates multiplied, 
 these excursions were more frequent and successful ; and at 
 Easter, to facilitate the access to the island, he ordered a 
 communication to be made with the land by a wooden bridge, 
 of which he secured the entrance by the erection of a fort. 
 
 While the attention of Alfred was thus fixed on the enemy 
 who had seized the eastern provinces of his kingdom, he 
 was unconscious of the storm which threatened to burst on 
 him from the West. A brother of Guthrum, probably the 
 sanguinary Ubbo, with three-and-twenty sail, had lately 
 ravaged the shores of South Wales ; and, crossing to the 
 northern coast of Devonshire, had landed his troops in the 
 vicinity of Apledore. It appears as if the two brothers had 
 previously agreed to crush the king between the pressure of 
 their respective armies. Alarmed at this new debarkation, 
 Odun, the ealderman, with several thanes, fled for security to 
 the castle of Kynwith. It had no other fortification than a 
 loose wall erected after the manner of the Britons ; but its 
 position on the summit of the lofty rock rendered it impreg- 
 nable. The Danish leader was too wary to hazard an assault ; 
 and calmly pitched his tent at the foot of the mountain, 
 in the confident expectation that the want of water would 
 force the garrison to surrender. But Odun, gathering cour- 
 age from despair, silently left his entrenchments at the dawn 
 of morning, burst into the enemy's camp, slew the Danish 
 chief with twelve hundred of his followers, and drove the 
 remainder to their fleet. The bravery of the Saxons was 
 rewarded with the plunder of Wales ; and among the trophies 
 of their victory was the Reafan, the mysterious Standard of 
 the Raven, woven in one noon-tide by the hands of the three 
 daughters of Ragnar. The superstition of the Danes was 
 accustomed to observe the bird as they marched to battle. 
 If it appeared to flap its wings, it was a sure omen of victory ;
 
 266 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 if it hung motionless in the air, they anticipated nothing but 
 defeat. 
 
 The news of this success infused courage into the hearts 
 of the most pusillanimous. Alfred watched the reviving 
 spirit of his people, and by trusty messengers invited them to 
 meet him in the seventh week after Easter at the stone of 
 Egbert, in the eastern extremity of Selwood forest. On the 
 appointed day the men of Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somer- 
 set cheerfully obeyed the summons. At the appearance of 
 Alfred they hailed the avenger of their country ; the wood 
 echoed their acclamations ; and every heart beat with the 
 confidence of victory. But the place was too confined to 
 receive the multitudes that hastened to the royal standard ; 
 and the next morning the camp was removed to Icglea, a 
 spacious plain lying on the skirts of the wood, and covered 
 by marshes in its front. The day was spent in making prep- 
 arations for the conflict, and in assigning their places to the 
 volunteers that hourly arrived ; at the dawn of the next morn- 
 ing Alfred marshaled his forces, and occupied the summit of 
 Ethandune, a neighboring and lofty eminence. 
 
 In the meanwhile Guthrum had not been an idle spectator 
 of the motions of his adversary. He had recalled his scat- 
 tered detachments, and was advancing with hasty steps to 
 chastise the insolence of the insurgents. As the armies met, 
 they vociferated shouts of mutual defiance ; and after the dis- 
 charge of their missive weapons, rushed to a closer and more 
 sanguinary combat. The shock of the two nations, the efforts 
 of their leaders, the fluctuations of victory, and the alternate 
 hopes and fears of the contending armies, must be left to the 
 imagination of the reader. The Danes displayed a courage 
 worthy of their former renown and their repeated conquests. 
 The Saxons were stimulated by every motive that could influ- 
 ence the heart of man. Shame, revenge, the dread of subju- 
 gation, and the hope of independence, impelled them forward ; 
 their perseverance bore down all opposition ; and the North- 
 men, after a most obstinate but unavailing resistance, fled in 
 crowds to their camp. The pursuit was not less murderous 
 than the engagement ; the Saxons immolated to their resent- 
 ment every fugitive who fell into their hands. Immediately,
 
 ALFRED THE GREAT. 267 
 
 by the king's orders, lines were drawn round the encamp- 
 ment ; and the escape of the survivors was rendered imprac- 
 ticable by the vigilance and the multitude of their enemies. 
 Famine and despair subdued the obstinacy of Guthrum, who 
 on the fourteenth day offered to capitulate. The terms imposed 
 by the conqueror were : that the King and principal chieftains 
 should embrace Christianity ; that they should entirely evac- 
 uate his dominions ; and that they should bind themselves to 
 the fulfilment of the treaty by the surrender of hostages, and by 
 their oaths. After a few weeks Guthrum, with thirty of his 
 officers, was baptized at Aulre, near Athelney. He took the sur- 
 name of Athelstan, and Alfred was his sponsor. After the cere- 
 mony both princes removed Wedmore, where on the eighth 
 day Guthrum put off the white robe and chrismal fillet, and 
 on the twelfth bade adieu to his adopted father, whose gen- 
 erosity he had now learned to admire as much as he had before 
 respected his valor. J. LINGARD.
 
 FRANCIS DRAKE 
 
 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, the first Eng- 
 lish circumnavigator of the globe, was 
 born in 1545, at Crowndale, near Tavi- 
 stock, Devonshire, England. His pa- 
 rentage is obscure, yet we are told 
 that, by just descent and prerogative 
 of birth, he had the right to bear the 
 arms of his name and family. His 
 father, Robert, was probably the third 
 son of John Drake, of Otterton, and of 
 his wife, Agnes Kelloway. Drake's 
 
 inclinations were for a sailor's life, and in 1565-6 he was 
 engaged in one or two voyages to Guinea and the Spanish 
 Main, under Captain John Lovell. 
 
 In 1567, in a squadron fitted out by Captain Hawkins, a 
 near relation, Drake commanded the "Judith." She was 
 destroyed by the Spaniards. On his return to England, he 
 was sent up to London to lay before Sir William Cecil all the 
 particulars. Thus Drake was for the first time brought to 
 the notice of this great minister. In the years 1570-71 he 
 made two voyages to the West Indies. In the second trip he 
 sailed with two ships ; the largest of which was the " Pascha," 
 of seventy tons burthen, with a crew of forty-seven men ; the 
 smaller, the "Swanne," was of twenty-five tons burthen, with 
 twenty-six men. One-third of these died on the voyage. He 
 attacked Nombre de Dios, and several other towns on the 
 Isthmus of Darien ; captured or destroyed several Spanish 
 vessels which he found on the coast ; penetrated inland, and 
 plundered more than one train of mules, bringing the treasures 
 of the Mexican mines to the coast for shipment to the mother 
 country. 
 268 
 

 
 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 269 
 
 Drake returned to England determined to organize a fresh 
 expedition with more ambitious designs. From a high tree, 
 which he had climbed on the Isthmus of Panama, he had 
 seen the Pacific, and had made a vow to sail upon its waters. 
 In 1577 he again left Plymouth with five ships, the largest of 
 which, the "Pelican," was under his own command. The 
 united crews numbered but 164 men. They arrived on the 
 coast of Patagonia June aoth, 1578. Here Thomas Doughty, 
 second in command, was accused of plotting against Drake, 
 tried, and beheaded. Drake now coasted down to the Straits 
 of Magelhaen; but, a storm arising, his squadron was shattered, 
 and he was left to prosecute his enterprise with the u Pelican" 
 alone. He changed his vessel's name to that of the " Golden 
 Hind, " as an omen of what she was to prove to him. He 
 threaded his way through the Straits of Magelhaen, and 
 reached the Pacific. Drake now proceeded to attack the most 
 tempting Spanish towns on the Peruvian coast. He reaped 
 a golden harvest, even entering the port of Callao, and plun- 
 dering no less than seventeen galleons. He landed in Cali- 
 fornia, taking possession of it in the name of Queen Elizabeth. 
 He now quitted the American coast, and in two months 
 reached the Philippine Islands. After being nearly wrecked 
 on the coast of Celebes, he passed around the Cape of Good 
 Hope on his homeward voyage. He reached Plymouth in 
 Sept. , 1 580, after a voyage of nearly three years' duration. 
 
 Drake sailed around to the Thames, where Queen Eliza- 
 beth did him the honor of dining on board his ship. She also 
 conferred on him the honor of knighthood, Drake being the 
 first Englishman who had sailed round the world. A chair 
 was made out of the "Golden Hind," which still may be 
 seen in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. 
 
 Nearly five years elapsed before the great captain again put 
 to sea. In 1585 he once more crossed the Atlantic, to renew 
 his attacks on the Spaniards. His flag-ship was the ' ' Eliza- 
 beth, ' ' a vessel of 900 tons' burthen. He overran St. Domingo, 
 stormed and sacked Carthagena and St. Jago, near Cape Verd. 
 Drake, on his return to England, expressed himself as "eager 
 to singe the King of Spain's beard." He set sail for Cadiz in 
 1587 with thirty sail. Entering Cadiz, he destroyed 10,000
 
 270 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 tons of shipping, transferring their valuable cargoes to his 
 own ships. At Lisbon he burnt 100 vessels more; but later, 
 in 1589, Sir Francis and Sir John Norris failed in an expedi- 
 tion, the object of which was to deliver Portugal from the 
 dominion of Spain. 
 
 On the 1 2th of July, 1 588, the great Spanish Armada was 
 sighted off the Lizard Point. At the time that word of their 
 arrival was brought, the Lord High Admiral and the other 
 admirals and captains were playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe. 
 Lord Howard was for at once putting to sea and meeting the 
 enemy. u There's plenty of time to win this game and thrash 
 the Spaniards too," said Drake. The English soon put to 
 sea to meet the Armada. Drake was second in command of 
 the ' ' Revenge, ' ' a vessel of 500 tons and carrying 240 guns. 
 On the 2ist of July the fleets sighted each other west of 
 Plymouth. The Armada consisted of a hundred and thirty- 
 six ships, thus doubling in number the English fleet. After 
 a week's fighting the Spanish fleet was scattered and destroyed 
 by means of fire-ships sent among them by the English. 
 
 Elizabeth now determined once more to invade the terri- 
 tory of the King of Spain ; fitting out 30 vessels, with 2, 500 
 men aboard, Hawkins and Drake led the expedition. It failed 
 entirely. Hawkins died of fever off Porto Rico, while Drake 
 passed on to the Isthmus to attack Panama. He was com- 
 pelled to retreat, and on January 28, 1596, died of fever on 
 board his flagship. A few days later his body, enclosed in a 
 lead coffin, was committed to the deep. 
 
 Sir Francis Drake, though twice married, left no children. 
 In stature he was low; but he was broad-chested and possessed 
 wonderfully strong limbs. Had Drake been living at this 
 time, he, with many of his friends, would have been deemed 
 pirates; but things were different then, and the Spaniards 
 themselves were worse than Sir Francis. He was a thorough 
 sailor, a skillful commander, kind and considerate to his 
 sailors and careful of their lives and interests. Eloquent by 
 nature, restless and full of energy, a man to be feared by an 
 enemy, Drake carried the flag of England across seas where it 
 never had before waved.
 
 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 271 
 
 DRAKE AT SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Sir Francis Drake, having set sail from England, for the 
 purpose of examining the west coast of America and circum- 
 navigating the globe, reached Aguapulco, or Acapulco, on 
 the southwestern coast of Mexico, on April I5th, 1577. He 
 had coasted down the eastern side of South America ; sailed 
 through the Straits of Magellan ; been driven, by unfavorable 
 winds, south of Cape Horn, the extreme point of South 
 America, and had coursed his way up the western coast as far 
 as Acapulco. 
 
 Leaving this port, Drake penetrated farther north until 
 the cold became so severe, and gave the men so much annoy- 
 ance, especially in freezing the ropes and hindering the 
 management of the vessel, as to occasion great complaints. 
 He sailed as far as the 48th degree of latitude, near Van- 
 couver's Island, where he found a harbor. But dense fogs, 
 sudden flaws and violent tempests, prevented him from 
 tarrying there very long. His men being strongly opposed 
 to proceeding farther north, and the wind being against him, 
 he concluded to run down the coast to the neighborhood of 
 the 38th degree of north latitude, where he found another 
 harbor, which, there can be but little doubt, was San 
 Francisco. The country was inhabited, and many of the 
 natives had erected their huts close by the water. 
 
 Approaching this harbor, they saw a single native coming 
 off in- a canoe, who, when he came within speaking dis- 
 tance, made a long address to them, and then, with marks of 
 great reverence, returned to the shore. What the address 
 was, whether it was made up of threats, information, or offers 
 of submission, they knew not, as they were unacquainted 
 with the language. The vessel having sprung aleak, it was 
 necessary to lighten her, in order to repair her. Tents were 
 raised on the shore for the men, and a rude fort constructed 
 for the protection of the stores and cargo. The natives looked 
 on from a distance, not knowing what these things meant. 
 By and by they came down armed, in great numbers, but 
 gave no evidence of hostile design. They were ordered, by 
 signs, to lay down their bows and arrows, and at once com- 
 
 s
 
 272 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 plied. The admiral, in order to secure their good will, gave 
 them a number of presents of European manufacture. In 
 return, they presented him with articles of their own handi- 
 work, and also some feathers and skins. At night they 
 withdrew to their own village, about a mile distant. They 
 there made demonstrations of a most noisy character ; the 
 women, especially, shrieked in a terrific manner, as if they 
 expected to be led to captivity or death. For two days after 
 this none of them came near the English; but on the third 
 day a company presented themselves, much more numerous 
 than those who first appeared. One of them, who was prob- 
 ably a chief speaker among them, delivered a long address. 
 When he had finished, the whole company laid down their 
 weapons, and came to the English camp. Judging from their 
 conduct, it would seem that the women had no sympathy 
 with the proceedings of the men. They made doleful lamen- 
 tations, tore the flesh from their cheeks, and appeared to be 
 overwhelmed with sorrow. Perhaps, however, this was their 
 method of giving more intense expression to the same feel- 
 ings as those of the men. 
 
 The English suspected that they were about to offer a sac- 
 rifice. Whereupon the admiral, with his company, engaged 
 in prayer and in the reading of the 'Bible to them, to which 
 the natives gave good attention, and seemed much impressed 
 by it ; but when they came to the English they restored the 
 gifts which they had previously received from them. Pres- 
 ently the King himself made his appearance, accompanied by 
 many of his followers, of stately and warlike appearance, and 
 painted in various colors. His Indian majesty was preceded 
 by two ambassadors, who came to announce his approach. 
 Their address continued about an hour, at the end of which 
 the King advanced, surrounded with all the trappings of roy- 
 alty at his command. During his stately march to the Eng- 
 lish camp, the followers who composed his train c ' cried con- 
 tinually, after a singing manner, with a lusty courage. As 
 they drew nearer and nearer, so did they more and more strive 
 to behave themselves with a certain comeliness and gravity 
 in all their actions." 
 
 So friendly was the manner of their approach that Drake,
 
 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 273 
 
 being disarmed of all suspicions, gave orders for their admis- 
 sion within the enclosure of the camp without interruption. 
 They entered the fort with songs and dances. During the 
 continuance of the festivity, the King approached the admiral 
 with singing, and, with the consent of all the rest, placed upon 
 his head, with great reverence, an ornamented feather cap, as 
 if it were an act of coronation, threw over his neck many 
 chains belonging to his followers, presented many other 
 things as gifts, and then greeted him with the salutation, 
 Hioh, which the English supposed was either his own name 
 or else the Indian title for King. They then added what was 
 supposed to be a song and dance of triumph. The women, 
 not satisfied with songs and dances, tore their faces and breasts 
 until they were horribly disfigured with wounds and blood. 
 
 The ceremony of coronation which we have described was 
 interpreted by Drake as a formal and official acknowledgment 
 of allegiance to him, by which the King resigned himself, his 
 people, and all their lands, into his hands, and bound them- 
 selves and all their posterity to become his subjects. In reply, 
 Drake gave them to understand, as well as he was able, that 
 he accepted them and their lands in the name and for the use 
 of her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth of England. It is very un- 
 certain whether the interpretation of the admiral was correct. 
 The ceremony of the Indians was undoubtedly an expression 
 of great respect and reverence for the English ; but it seems 
 quite improbable that they should voluntarily have offered 
 themselves, their lands, and their posterity to these strangers, 
 without receiving, or even asking, any equivalent. Such an 
 act is not in harmony with Indian character. 
 
 These people are described as teachable, confiding, and 
 amiable, destitute of duplicity, treachery, and revenge. 
 Their bows and arrows were comparatively harmless, being 
 weak, and more appropriate for children than adults. Yet 
 the men were unusually strong. A burden, which two or 
 three of the English found it difficult to lift, one of them 
 would carry over a rough road, up hill and down, a long dis- 
 tance. It was observed also that the women were very 
 obedient and serviceable to those whom they had married. 
 
 Before the admiral left this place he erected a post, or 
 18
 
 274 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 column, on which he fastened a brass plate, containing the 
 date of his arrival, the voluntary proffer of the country by the 
 King and people to him, with his own name underneath. 
 He also had skillfully set in the plate a current English six- 
 pence, on which were impressed the picture and coat-of-arms 
 of her majesty. In this manner he left evidence of having 
 taken formal possession of the place in the name of Queen 
 Elizabeth of England. 
 
 As a token of respect to his own country, and also because 
 he had observed on different parts of this coast white cliffs 
 similar t those on the coast of England, he called all the land 
 he had here seen New Albion. 
 
 After remaining in this port thirty-six days, repairing his 
 ships and cultivating friendly relations with the natives, 
 Drake again put to sea. The Indians appear to have parted 
 with him with regret, and to have wished for his speedy 
 return. They ran upon the hills, kindled fires and kept them 
 burning all the time that he was in sight J. BANVARD. 
 C-P-- 
 
 DRAKE AT ST. AUGUSTINE. 
 
 At a subsequent period, Drake again visited this country, 
 approaching it from the West Indies on the eastern side. On 
 the 28th of May, 1586, he discovered on the coast of Florida 
 a rude scaffold, supported on four poles, having the appear- 
 ance of an observatory. As no one on board could give any 
 account of its history, he manned his pinnaces and went on 
 shore to discover who held it Passing up the River St. 
 Augustine, he came to a fort newly erected by the Spaniards, 
 but not quite finished, called the Fort of St Juan de Pinos. 
 When the Spaniards saw the English approaching, they 
 abandoned the work and fled as rapidly as possible to the town 
 of St Augustine, which contained a garrison of one hundred 
 and fifty men. The next day the English landed, and 
 marched to the fort which protected the town, for the purpose 
 of storming it As they approached, they could discover no 
 one there to defend it. Perhaps the garrison are concealed, in 
 order to throw the English off their guard. Perhaps they are 
 in ambush, and will suddenly fire upon their flank or rear. 
 The storming party advance very cautiously. Not a sword,
 
 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 275 
 
 musket, nor feather can they see. They enter the fort ; but 
 no one is there. They have all fled. On a platform, con- 
 structed of large pine trees, were fourteen pieces of large brass 
 ordnance. But the Spaniards tested the calibre of none of 
 them. They fled without firing a single ball. Upon exam- 
 ining the place, the attacking party discovered a Frenchman, 
 a fifer, who had been held by the Spaniards a prisoner. He 
 informed the English that the Spaniards fled in such haste as 
 to leave behind them a chest containing two thousand pounds 
 in money. 
 
 The English soldiers now pressed on to the town. The 
 Spaniards mustered sufficient courage to fire a few shots at 
 them, and then, having no blood to spare, they 'ran away. 
 Anthony Powell, a sergeant-major, leaping upon one of the 
 horses they had left behind, pursued them over ground which 
 was covered with long grass. His rashness led him too far in 
 advance of his company. A Spaniard who had concealed 
 himself in the grass fired at him, and shot him through the 
 head, and then pierced his body with many wounds. The 
 Governor of the place had retired to St. Matheo, leaving not 
 a single inhabitant in the town. Drake noticed that St. 
 Augustine appeared to be in a prosperous condition. Among 
 other edifices it contained a town-house and church, and was 
 ornamented with a number of gardens ; but all these pleasant 
 things were burnt and laid waste by the English, in revenge 
 for the death of Major Powell. 
 
 It was Drake's intention to have visited another Spanish 
 settlement, about thirty miles farther on, called St. Helena, 
 and to have destroyed that also ; but the weather being un- 
 favorable, and the shoals dangerous, it was considered advis- 
 able to relinquish the attempt, especially as he had no pilot 
 who was acquainted with the channel. 
 
 Abandoning this design, Sir Francis Drake proceeded 
 farther north, in search of Sir Walter Raleigh's colony, which 
 had recently been planted in Virginia. He had received 
 orders from her Majesty, the Queen, before his departure from 
 England, to extend to this infant settlement every encourage- 
 ment and assistance in his power. He found the shore 
 inaccessible on account of shoals, and was therefore obliged
 
 276 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 to anchor in an open, exposed situation, two miles from land. 
 To Mr. Ralph Lane, Governor of the colony, who was then 
 at his fort in Roanoke, he sent an offer of assistance and 
 supplies. The Governor, with some of his men, visited the 
 admiral, and requested him to furnish the colony with more 
 men and provisions, and also a small vessel and boats, so that, 
 if an extremity should occur, they might be able to return to 
 England. In compliance with their request, the admiral 
 immediately fitted up one of his ships and bountifully supplied 
 it with all manner of stores for their use. A storm now arose, 
 which drove that ship and some others out to sea, and Drake 
 did not see them again till his return home. He now pro- 
 posed to furnish another of his ships for their use. But the 
 Governor and his colonists, having passed through many 
 hardships, had become quite disheartened. And now that 
 this recent calamity had been visited upon them, and the 
 promised stores from England had failed, they construed it 
 into an expression of the disapprobation of Providence of their 
 design to establish a colony. After mutual consultation 
 among themselves, they requested Sir Francis Drake to re- 
 move them from the coast and take them home. When they 
 landed in Virginia, their number was one hundred and eight ; 
 it was reduced to one hundred and three, all of whom now 
 embarked in the fleet of the admiral for England. J. BAN- 
 YARD.
 
 FATHER MARQUETTE. 
 
 , OR FATHER MARQUETTE, the Jesuit 
 missionary, is claimed the honor of the 
 rediscovery of the Mississippi River, 
 more than a century after its original 
 discovery by the Spanish adventurer, 
 Ferdinand De Soto, in 1541. Marquette 
 was one of that self-sacrificing band 
 who devoted their lives and energies to 
 bringing within the pale of Christian 
 
 civilization the hordes of barbarians who occupied the wilder- 
 nesses of America. 
 
 James Marquette was descended from an ancient French 
 family, and was born at Laon, France, in 1637. In his seven- 
 teenth year he entered the Society of Jesus, and after com- 
 pleting his studies he proceeded of his own choice to Canada. 
 Landing at Quebec in September, 1666, he gpent eighteen 
 months at Three Rivers in acquiring the Indian languages. In 
 April, 1668, he was placed at the Ottawa Mission, which 
 extended west from the Ottawa River to Lake Huron. Jour- 
 neying through that splendid scenery, he pushed on to Sault 
 Sainte Marie, where he soon built a rude church. 
 
 In 1669 he was appointed to a more remote mission; but, 
 on account of the outbreak of hostilities among the tribes, 
 removed to Mackinaw, near Lake Huron, where he founded 
 the Mission of St. Ignatius. He desired, however, a wider 
 field; and his associate, Father Alloiiez, during his visits to 
 some tribes, had heard of the great river, whose Indian name 
 he reported to be " Messippi. ' ' Marquette was chosen to 
 accompany Louis Joliet, who had been commissioned by the 
 Governor-General of Canada to search for this great river. 
 
 277
 
 278 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 From the Illinois Indians Marquette received much informa- 
 tion, and drew up a rude map of the river. 
 
 On the 1 7th of May, 1673, the expedition of discovery 
 embarked in two canoes at Mackinaw and proceeded to Green 
 Bay, through the Fox River to the Wisconsin, and thence by 
 portage to the Mississippi. The story of this voyage, narrated 
 by Marquette himself, entitled "Voyage et decouverte de 
 quelques pays et nations de 1'Amerique Septentrionale, " is 
 remarkable " for charm of style as well as close observation 
 and fine descriptive ability. ' ' He had also the scientific capa- 
 city to note all the natural features of the river, and he was 
 the first to give the true theory of the lake tides. 
 
 They descended the river to the mouth of the Arkansas, 
 and proved by experience the navigability of the Mississippi. 
 In returning they ascended the Illinois River, proceeded 
 thence across to Green Bay, where they arrived in September, 
 1674. The hardships that Marquette endured broke his con- 
 stitution; but he sent to his superior, early in 1675, the journal 
 of his voyage. At the same time Father Dablon, one of the 
 missionaries, sent a proposal to connect Lake Michigan with 
 the Illinois River. Being commanded to establish a mission 
 on the upper waters of the Illinois River at the settlement of 
 Kaskaskia, Marquette, though just arising from his bed of 
 long sickness at Green Bay, started on the 23d of October, 
 1674, and, overtaking a party of Illinois Indians, he jour- 
 neyed with them until reaching the Chicago River. Here he 
 was too exhausted to proceed farther. The Indians continued 
 on to their village; "but two Frenchmen remained with him 
 and built a log hut, the first human dwelling on the site of 
 what is now the city of Chicago." After remaining here 
 perforce of his feebleness for three months, he set out for Kas- 
 kaskia, where he arrived on the 8th of April, 1675. 
 
 Here he proceeded ' ' from cabin to cabin, explaining the 
 principles of his religion, and then convened the whole peo- 
 ple," and "preached to more than 2000 men and a still larger 
 number of women." He told the Indians that he was obliged 
 to leave them on account of his ailment, and then he set out 
 for Mackinaw, escorted by them for the distance of thirty 
 leagues. He had hoped to reach Mackinaw, there to lay his
 
 FATHER MARQUETTE. 279 
 
 wearied head among his proselytes and to die at the mission 
 he had founded; but fate ordained otherwise, for on the way 
 his disease increased with great virulence, and feeling his hour 
 had come, he hailed death with ecstasy. He had become so 
 weak that he had to be lifted in and out of his canoe. On the 
 eve (May 17, 1675) of his death he told his companions he 
 would die the next day. He was carried ashore, and a poor 
 bark cabin raised to shelter him for his few remaining hours. 
 The river on whose banks Father Marquette died is in the 
 west of Michigan. It long bore his name, which has now 
 been given to a large neighboring stream. His remains were 
 transferred to Point Saint Ignatius, Michigan, and their rest- 
 ing place was afterwards forgotten, but was discovered in 1877. 
 
 MARQUETTE'S VOYAGE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 Father Marquette and Francis Joliet were appointed by 
 Governor Frontenac to have charge of the perilous expedition. 
 Marquette was especially adapted to this service on account 
 of his bravery, discretion, religious zeal for the conversion of 
 the natives, and his acquaintance with several Indian dialects 
 which were widely spoken by the natives. Five others were 
 associated with them. From Father Marquette' s account of 
 the expedition we have full knowledge of their adventures. 
 
 On the 1 3th of May, 1673, these seven individuals embarked 
 in two canoes on their dangerous expedition. The first tribe 
 of Indians which they reached were called Wild Rice, because 
 their country produced this grain in great abundance. Father 
 Marquette informed them of his design to visit the tribes of 
 the remote west and south, and make known to them the 
 knowledge of the true God. These sons of the forest, being 
 favorably impressed with the good father's appearance and 
 doctrines, were unwilling that he should expose himself to 
 the perils of so hazardous an enterprise. They earnestly 
 entreated him to abandon it. They pictured it as full of 
 terrors. They represented the navigation of the river as 
 extremely dangerous, the Indians as cruel, and the climate as 
 insufferably hot. They, moreover, said that the water of the 
 river teemed with gigantic monsters, with which it would be 
 useless to contend. Their tales of terror were sufficient to
 
 280 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 have chilled the ardor of any other than the bravest hearts. 
 But they produced no effect upon Marquette. Although he 
 expressed his gratitude for the affectionate interest which they 
 manifested in his welfare, he informed them he had no fear 
 of the aquatic monsters of the river, and that he should use 
 extra vigilance to guard against surprise from the Indians. 
 True to his design, Marquette gave these Wild Rice Indians 
 religious instruction and offered for them his prayers. We 
 next find him at the Bay of Puans, on the northwestern side 
 of I/ake Michigan. Its present name is Green Bay. As in 
 the Indian language its name signified Salt Bay, our adventur- 
 ers were induced to make some examination of the place, to 
 ascertain if any salt springs existed in the neighborhood ; but 
 none were found. 
 
 Ascending a river which emptied into the bay, and which 
 is now known as Fox River, they approached a village, beau- 
 tifully situated on a hill, from which an extensive view was 
 had of a landscape which, as it stretched away in every direc- 
 tion, presented to the beholder, in picturesque combination, 
 the gorgeousness of the many-flowered prairie, with groves of 
 trees scattered over it, like islands in a lake, and a dense forest 
 skirting the horizon, as if it were the green bank by which 
 the waters of this golden lake were kept within their limits. 
 Here Marquette was delighted to see a large cross the symbol 
 of his religion erected in a conspicuous place in the centre 
 of the town. He was even more gratified to perceive that it 
 was covered with offerings which the natives had presented to 
 the Great Spirit. The year before this, Father Allouez, a 
 Catholic missionary, had labored among this people ; and so 
 deeply were they interested in his communications, that they 
 scarcely allowed him time for necessary repose. They required 
 him to teach at night as well as through the day. The cross, 
 decorated with their thank-offerings, was probably the result 
 of his influence among them. 
 
 From these Indians Marquette obtained two guides, and, in 
 return for some presents, they gave him a mat, which was used 
 for a bed during the whole voyage. Like the Wild Rice Indi- 
 ans, they endeavored to dissuade the pioneers from their haz- 
 ardous expedition, but in vain. The loth of June was a day
 
 FATHER MARQUETTE. 28 1 
 
 of unusual excitement in the village. All the inhabitants 
 understood the object of their visitors. And as they were well 
 acquainted with the fierce, warlike disposition of the powerful 
 tribes to the south and west, whom this small company 
 intended to reach, they regarded the attempt as extremely 
 hazardous, and one which would most probably result in 
 martyrdom. When, therefore, the hour arrived for their 
 friendly visitors to embark, the whole village chiefs, braves, 
 squaws, and naked children assembled together and gazed 
 with astonishment upon the temerity of this small handful of 
 men, in exposing themselves to the power of the distant bar- 
 barous tribes, and to the perils of navigation which they 
 knew would inevitably beset them. 
 
 The voyagers entered a river which emptied into Green 
 Bay, and followed it to a place known as the Portage. Here 
 they were obliged to carry their two canoes across land to 
 another river which ran west, called the Mescousin, but now 
 known as the Wisconsin. Here their guides left them, to 
 return. Until now, the natural current of all the water which 
 they had traversed was toward Quebec. From this point the 
 water flowed in an opposite direction to the west and south. 
 As they passed slowly on through the broad, but shallow Wis- 
 consin, they found the river checkered with numerous islands 
 of various shapes and sizes, covered with stately trees, and 
 ornamented with brilliant flowers and the graceful drapery of 
 innumerable vines. As they swept along close by the shore, 
 various kinds of wild fowl were started, some of which, as 
 they left their nests or feeding-places, would fly away with a 
 shrill, shrieking cry, and some with a whirring sound, whilst 
 others darted off noiselessly, as if fearful of betraying the 
 direction of their flight. Occasionally the timid deer and 
 uncouth buffalo were seen, but no Indians. After sailing 
 about thirty leagues, they discovered extensive iron mines, 
 the ore of which appeared to be of good quality. They con- 
 tinued their course for forty leagues more, and on the iyth of 
 June they entered, with emotions of gratitude and joy, the 
 far-famed river of which they were in search. The friendly 
 Wisconsin had introduced them to the magnificent Mississippi ! 
 This far everything had been favorable, and they commenced
 
 282 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 their exploration of the Rio Grande, as the unknown rivet 
 was sometimes called, under encouraging auspices and with 
 high hopes. 
 
 Although they had seen no natives since they left Green 
 Bay, they were well aware that they were passing through 
 Indian territory, and were liable at any moment to an attack. 
 They therefore proceeded with great caution. Some of the 
 party were always on guard whilst the others took their rest. 
 As they could not conveniently cook their food in their small 
 canoes whilst floating down the stream, their method was to 
 approach the shore in the latter part of the afternoon, kindle a 
 fire, cook their game, then push out into the middle of the river 
 and anchor for the night They proceeded in this manner 
 until the 25th of June, when, at a point some sixty leagues 
 below the mouth of the Wisconsin, they discovered the foot- 
 prints of men. They now knew that they were in the 
 vicinity of Indian settlements. Looking around, they per- 
 ceived a well-trodden path, which led into a prairie. This 
 was no unwelcome sight. Although they were no war party, 
 stealthily seeking their unsuspecting enemy, yet they were as 
 highly pleased to find themselves in the neighborhood of 
 Indians as were the blood-thirsty warriors of the forest when 
 they discovered the hiding-places of those whom they were 
 pursuing for purposes of revenge. 
 
 After committing the canoes to the care of the boatmen, 
 and giving them all necessary instructions, Marquette and 
 Joliet set out in pursuit of natives. After following the beaten 
 track about six miles, they came to a cluster of villages quite 
 romantically situated, two of them being perched upon a hill 
 top, as if for purposes of observation, and the other nestling 
 by the margin of a graceful stream, as if it were an outpost 
 guarding the hill from the approach of danger. 
 
 When they arrived within hailing distance, in order to 
 avoid exciting suspicion by any appearance of concealment, 
 they paused, and signified their presence by a loud call. In 
 an instant the Indians presented themselves at the doors of 
 their cabins. After gazing at their unexpected visitors a few 
 moments, they deputed four old men of their tribe to advance 
 and hold a parley with them. As these four messengers
 
 FATHER MARQUETTE. 283 
 
 approached with slow and dignified step, two of them per- 
 formed the interesting service of elevating ornamented pipes 
 toward the sun, as a sign of friendship. Encouraged by this 
 proffer of peace, Father Marquette broke silence and inquired 
 the name of their nation. "We are Illinois," was their 
 reply. They then offered pipes to the strangers, and 
 invited them to their homes. As they entered the village 
 they were received with every demonstration of respect. 
 After they were seated in the wigwam of the chief, the cal- 
 umet, or pipe of peace, was presented to them. 
 
 The Illinois Indians were divided into separate tribes, 
 having, however, one general chief, who ruled over all. As 
 there was to be a council of all these tribes, the chief invited 
 Marquette and Joliet to attend it, which they accepted. They 
 were there treated with every mark of friendship. Marquette 
 explained fully the objects of their voyage. The chief 
 approved the objects, but at the same time earnestly endeav- 
 ored to dissuade them from attempting its accomplishment, 
 in consequence of the perils which would necessarily be 
 incurred. In return for presents received from Marquette, 
 the chief gave him a calumet or ornamented pipe. 
 
 After the council, a feast of four courses was served up in 
 Indian style, after which the two visitors were publicly con- 
 ducted, with great ceremony, through the village, and 
 received from the hands of individuals small presents of 
 ornamented girdles and garters. When they returned to their 
 canoes, they were escorted by nearly a thousand natives, who 
 seemed to take pleasure in bestowing upon them all the tokens 
 of respect in their power. 
 
 Bidding farewell to these friendly Indians, with the promise 
 of returning after four moons (or months), our voyagers pur- 
 sued their course down the Mississippi. As they were float- 
 ing quietly upon the surface of the water, their eyes were 
 arrested by two huge monsters, which were portrayed in 
 green, red, and blue upon the perpendicular, rocky cliffs, on 
 one side of the stream, as if they were Gorgons, placed there 
 to defend the passage of the river. So bright were their 
 colors, so well defined their outline, and so artistic their exe- 
 cution, as to suggest the belief that they were the work of
 
 284 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 savages ; and yet this solution seemed to be disproved by the 
 height and inaccessibleness of their position. Their terrific 
 appearance was well fitted to excite the fears of the super- 
 stitious. 
 
 Without stopping to settle the question whether those 
 uncouth figures on the rocks were natural or artificial, Mar- 
 quette, after examining them as long as he desired, paddled 
 off down the stream. It was not long before a rushing sound 
 was heard ; then rapids were discovered. Floating timber 
 and dead trees, in great quantities, were seen coming into the 
 Mississippi from its western side. They had reached the 
 mouth of the Pekitanoni (Missouri River). Until now the 
 water of the Mississippi had been clean ; below this it was 
 very turbid. The sediment brought into it by the Pekitanoni 
 colored and rendered muddy the whole river. 
 
 As one object of this expedition was to discover the 
 course and outlet of the Mississippi, this was made a subject 
 of special attention and inquiry. After they reached the 
 mouth of the Pekitanoni, Father Marquette formed the 
 opinion that, if the Mississippi continued in general the 
 same course it had thus far, it must empty itself into the Gulf 
 of Mexico. He also expressed the belief that, by following 
 the Pekitanoni, another river might be reached, which dis- 
 charged its waters into the Gulf of California. Marquette 
 was right in both his opinions: 
 
 Another river which they came to, that discharged its 
 waters into the Mississippi, was called Ouabouskigou. This 
 came in from the east, and is now called the Ohio. Near its 
 mouth is a place which was regarded by the Indians as the 
 residence of some evil spirit, and against which Marquette 
 had been seriously cautioned. An island in the river divided 
 the waters, and sent a portion with great force against a ledge 
 of rocks, from which they recoiled with a loud noise, and 
 then stole rapidly away through a narrow and dangerous 
 channel. 
 
 They also discovered in this vicinity iron ore, earths or 
 ochres, of purple, red and violet colors, some of which, 
 coming in contact with the oar, produced a stain which re- 
 mained for more than two weeks. Tall reeds now began to
 
 FATHER MARQUETTE. 285 
 
 grow along the shores, and mosquitoes became numerous and 
 troublesome. 
 
 Some Indians presented themselves upon the bank of the 
 river, and appeared to be waiting for the approach of the 
 voyagers. Not knowing what their character might be, the 
 boatmen prepared for battle ; but the missionary, Marquette, 
 raised his calumet and spoke to them in Huron. They made 
 no reply, but invited them, by signs, to land and take some 
 food. Their invitation was accepted. Marquette noticed 
 that this tribe were better provided with weapons and 
 tools than the Illinois were. They had iron hoes, hatchets, 
 knives and guns. They carried their powder in glass bottles. 
 As they could not have manufactured these, it was evident 
 that they had had intercourse with Europeans. Upon in- 
 quiry, Marquette ascertained that these articles were pur- 
 chased of men who came from the East and dressed as he 
 did, who had images and beads, and performed on different 
 instruments. They were probably Europeans, who had 
 formed settlements in Carolina and Virginia. After instruct- 
 ing them in the elements of the Christian religion and giving 
 them some medals, Marquette continued his journey. 
 
 The next village he came to was called Metchigamea, the 
 inhabitants of which, at first, made some warlike demonstra- 
 tions. They came out armed with bows, arrows, tomahawks 
 and clubs, and threatened to attack them. Marquette raised 
 his calumet. The young warriors, pretending not to see it, 
 were about to open the battle, when some old men made their 
 appearance, who, as soon as they saw the pipe of peace in 
 Marquette' s hand, constrained the young savages to desist, 
 and, casting their own weapons at the feet of the visitors, 
 they entered the canoes and invited them to land. Their 
 invitation was accepted, though with some apprehension. 
 Marquette addressed them in six different languages, but was 
 unsuccessful in making them understand, until an old man 
 was found who had some acquaintance with the language of 
 the Illinois. Through him, as an interpreter, Marquette in- 
 formed them of his intention to proceed to the sea, and asked 
 of them information as to the distance. He also gave them, 
 as usual, religious instruction. They referred him to a
 
 286 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 town some thirty miles farther down the river, called 
 Akamsca (or Arkansas) for the information he desired. He 
 spent the night, though with some degree of uneasiness, on 
 shore among this people. The next day he took the newly- 
 found interpreter, and hastened to Akamsca. When he had 
 arrived within about two miles of it, he met canoes filled 
 with savages. As they approached, the chief presented the 
 calumet, and invited them to go ashore. They were received 
 with kindness, and supplied with stores. They were accom- 
 panied from Metchigamea by ten canoes of Indians, who 
 preceded them on the water, as if to show them the way. 
 At Akamsca they very fortunately found a young man who 
 was well acquainted with the Illinois language, and through 
 whom communications could be made to these Indians with 
 some degree of ease and correctness. 
 
 After making these Indians presents, as was his usual 
 custom, he learned from them that the sea was only five days 
 distance ; but they could give him no additional information, 
 as between them and it the river was infested by tribes with 
 whom they were at war, and who prevented them from 
 holding intercourse with the inhabitants who dwelt lower 
 down. 
 
 While at Akamsca, our company of trustful voyagers 
 were exposed to some peril. The elders of the Indians, who 
 embraced the wise men and counsellors of the tribe, held a 
 secret meeting, at which they seriously deliberated upon the 
 measures to be adopted in their treatment of these novel, pale- 
 faced visitors. Some were in favor of murdering them, and 
 then taking possession of their property. This they could 
 easily have done. The chief, however, would not consent 
 He favored a more peaceful course. A kind Providence caused 
 his counsels to prevail. The result was that Marquette and 
 Joliet were invited to attend the interesting ceremony of the 
 dance of the calumet, at the conclusion of which the chief 
 gave them a calumet, as an expression of his friendly feelings 
 towards them. 
 
 The question was now considered whether it was expedient 
 to proceed farther south. Being persuaded, from the general 
 southerly direction of this crooked river, that it could neither
 
 FATHER MARQUETTE. 
 
 287 
 
 empty into the Atlantic at the east, nor into the Gulf of 
 California at the west, but that its outlet must be into the 
 Gulf of Mexico, they had accomplished one prominent object 
 of their expedition. As it was possible that by penetrating 
 farther south they might be attacked by the more warlike 
 tribes and taken prisoners, and thus the results of their dis- 
 coveries be lost to the civilized world, they decided that the 
 wisest policy was to return. They had now been a month 
 upon the river, during which time they had traced its serpen- 
 tine windings from the forty-second to the thirty-fourth 
 degree of latitude; had examined the nature of the country, 
 the character of the inhabitants, and had been privileged to 
 preach the gospel to those who had never before heard the 
 name of Christ. 
 
 On their return, instead of ascending the Mississippi to 
 the Wisconsin, by which they had entered it, they turned 
 into the Illinois, which conducted them by a much shorter 
 route to Lake Michigan. On the banks of the Illinois they 
 visited a village, where they gave religious instruction to an 
 attentive, inquiring people. The chief was so much pleased 
 that he entreated Marquette to return and teach them more 
 fully. Some of the young men of this tribe, with a chief, 
 accompanied our party as far as Lake Michigan, near, prob- 
 ably, the place where Chicago now stands. From thence 
 it was easy for them, by following the shore, to find their way 
 to Green Bay. They reached here in September, after an 
 absence of four months, during which time they had traveled 
 over two thousand five hundred miles. J. BANVARD.
 
 JOHN WINTHROP. 
 
 JOHN WINTHROP, first Governor 
 of Massachusetts, was born at 
 Groton, Suffolk, England, on Jan- 
 uary 12, 1588. Although in the 
 possession of an annual income of 
 $3000 from an hereditary estate, 
 he devoted himself to the study 
 of law. When in March, 1629, 
 Charles I. granted a charter to a 
 corporation entitled "The Com- 
 pany of Massachusetts Bay in 
 New England," Winthrop converted his estate into cash, and 
 sailed as Governor, April 7, 1630, from England with a com- 
 pany of nine hundred persons. During the passage across the 
 Atlantic Ocean, he wrote a tract on "A Model of Christian 
 Charity." On June I2th, the emigrants arrived at Salem. 
 The three hundred people already settled there under Endi- 
 cott came under the rule of Winthrop. 
 
 John Winthrop and his wealthy colleagues, some time 
 before sailing from England, had decided upon a "peculiar 
 government," that is, in modern phrase, "home rule." To 
 carry out their views fully, it was necessary to obtain a 
 transfer of the charter to the freemen now emigrating. The 
 patent and the government were legally transferred. The 
 same year seventeen vessels brought over the Atlantic 1500 
 persons. The Massachusetts Bay Company's immigrants 
 settled in Boston and other towns on the Bay. 
 
 Regarding the transfer of the charter, Bancroft says, "The 
 
 history of Massachusetts is the counterpart to that of Virginia; 
 
 the latter obtained its greatest liberty by the abrogation of the 
 
 charter of its company; the former by a transfer of its charter 
 
 288
 
 JOHN WINTHROP. 289 
 
 and a daring construction of its powers by the successors of 
 the original patentees." The terms of the patent presuppose 
 that the incorporators would reside in England. A stipu- 
 lation was that the company was empowered to elect forever, 
 out of the freemen of said company, a Governor, a Deputy- 
 Governor, etc., to be chosen annually by the greater part of 
 the company, and to make laws not repugnant to the laws of 
 England. 
 
 The transfer of the patent was brought about because of 
 the unwillingness of some of the rich and intending emi- 
 grants to embark, foreseeing the certainty of trouble if they 
 were governed by a foreign board. In fact it would have 
 been a government analogous to that long possessed by the 
 corporation known as the East India Company. 
 
 There has been put on record a specious plea that they had 
 "no special warrant of toleration; they had not even the 
 promise of connivance, which the ' Pilgrim Fathers ' ten years 
 before had obtained from James I. The charter does not once 
 mention liberty of conscience.' 1 ' 1 Before leaving England, an 
 address was signed by Winthrop and others. They said, ' ' We 
 are not of those that dream of perfection in this world ; yet we 
 desire you to take notice of the principals and body of our 
 company, as those who esteem it an honor to call the Church 
 of England, whence we rise, our dear Mother. As members 
 of the same body, we shall always rejoice in her good, and 
 unfeignedly grieve for any sorrow that shall ever betide her. ' ' 
 On the 3oth of June, 1630, the first Church of Boston was 
 established. 
 
 During the nineteen years of Winthrop' s life in the colony 
 he kept a journal of all transactions. He was out of all exec- 
 utive functions during four years of that time. He held the 
 office of Governor twelve terms, and Deputy-Governor three 
 terms. Complaints of the too lenient spirit of Governor 
 Winthrop were made at a meeting of the leading men of the 
 colony in January, 1636, whereupon Winthrop submitted to 
 their judgment, strictly adhering thereafter to all measures 
 tending to support the dignity of the government, by an 
 appearance of union and a concealment of dissensions among 
 public officers. 
 19
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 In the year 1634, when he was left out of the magistracy, 
 some persons having incited suspicions of his integrity as a 
 public officer, his accounts were audited. One of the cries 
 against his re-election was that "by too frequent choice of one 
 man, the office should cease to be elective, and seem to be his 
 by prescription. ' ' It is said of Winthrop that though amiable 
 of disposition, yet where the interest of the colony was con- 
 cerned, he could be both firm and foremost in opposition to 
 the public enemies. Anne Hutchinson, a woman of intel- 
 lectual ability, having held lectures at her house in which she 
 advanced theological opinions deemed by the authorities 
 incompatible with the religious welfare of the people, the 
 colony began to split into two sects. This was during the 
 year 1636, Sir Henry Vane being Governor, and Winthrop, 
 Deputy-Governor. 
 
 At the election in 1637 Winthrop was elected Governor in 
 place of Vane. The Council, in order to prevent the latter 
 from acquiring new adherents from the great influx of immi- 
 grants, passed restrictive enactments regarding the elective 
 franchise. A synod cited the Hutchinsonians before them, 
 and eighty-two of their opinions were condemned as erroneous. 
 The holders of these opinions were themselves banished the 
 colony. Toleration had not then been introduced in any of 
 the Protestant countries except Holland, and the best men 
 were afraid of it During Winthrop' s career in the colony, 
 the Brownists, the Hutchinsonians, and Roger Williams were 
 expelled; and Sir Henry Vane returned in disgust to England. 
 The religious liberty established by Roger Williams in Rhode 
 Island, by the Dutch in New York, by William Penn in 
 Pennsylvania, and by Lord Baltimore in Maryland, exhibits 
 a spirit more in accordance with true enlightenment than the 
 stern intolerance of the first rulers of Massachusetts Bay. 
 Professor John Fiske declares : ' ' Neither Winthrop nor Cotton 
 approved of toleration upon principle. Cotton asserted that 
 persecution is not wrong in itself ; it is wicked for falsehood 
 to persecute truth, but it is the sacred duty of truth to perse- 
 cute falsehood. Winthrop was a man of affairs. They had 
 come to New England, he said, to make a society after their 
 own model ; all who agreed with them might join that society ;
 
 JOHN WINTHROP. 2QI 
 
 those who disagreed with them might go elsewhere ; there 
 was room enough on the American continent." Unfortu- 
 nately for John Winthrop's fame, the Genius of History gives 
 us no isolated picture of him, but presents him to us in marked 
 contrast with Sir Henry Vane and Roger Williams. 
 
 John Winthrop lived to his sixty-first year, dying March 
 26, 1649. He was married four times, and of his thirteen 
 children, seven survived him. He was one of the original 
 founders of Harvard College. 
 
 THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 
 
 When contemplating emigration Winthrop naturally 
 turned his thoughts toward America. Many colonies had 
 been founded there, and the suitability of the land for coloni- 
 zation had been demonstrated. In 1628 a Puritan colony had 
 been established at Salem, in Massachusetts, with Endicott 
 as the governor. The company which sent forth this colony 
 did so under the security of a patent obtained from the 
 Council for New England. Desiring to enlarge the scope of 
 the enterprise, the company applied for a royal charter and 
 obtained one empowering "The Governor and Company of 
 the Massachusetts Bay in New England," to make laws and 
 govern the territory on certain conditions, and to resist by 
 force of arms all attacks made upon themselves and their 
 property, whether on land or water. Charles I. signed this 
 document on the 2ist of March, 1629 ; a few days afterwards 
 he intimated his intention of governing the country without 
 a parliament. It may be surmised that the king looked upon 
 a Puritan emigration as most desirable, insomuch as it 
 lessened the number of his adversaries. The writings of 
 Laud supply evidence in support of such a conclusion. In a 
 report made to the king in 1636, Laud remarked that a 
 lecturer at Yarmouth having gone to New England, there was 
 peace in the town, and that Mr. Bridge, a Puritan clergyman, 
 had departed from Norwich to Holland. After reading this, 
 Charles wrote on the margin, u Let him go ; we are well rid 
 of him. ' ' Indeed, so far from showing any desire to detain 
 the Puritan leaders in England, the king was resigned to
 
 2Q2 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 their departure, and was prepared to exclaim out of the ful- 
 ness of a thankful heart, ' ' We are well rid of them. ' ' 
 
 Twelve gentlemen met at Cambridge in August, 1629, 
 and resolved that, if the charter could be legally transferred 
 to America, they would embark for the plantation of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay by the first day of the following March, with 
 the view "to inhabit and continue in New England," and 
 that they would take their wives and families, if the latter 
 would consent to accompany them. They likewise agreed 
 that any one who failed through his own default in keeping 
 this agreement, should forfeit ^3 for every day that he was un- 
 prepared to start. Winthrop was present at the meeting and 
 assented to the resolutions. Two days later, a general court 
 of the company was held in London, when it was resolved 
 that the government should be transferred to the plantation 
 itself. At the same meeting John Winthrop was elected 
 governor of the company. In April, 1630, he set sail in the 
 "Arbella" for the Western continent. Sir Simonds D'Ewes, 
 writing four years later, thus describes how this expedition 
 was viewed by contemporaries. Previous emigrants to New 
 England had ' ' chiefly aimed at trade and gain, till about the 
 year 1630, in the spring, when John Winthrop, Esq., a Suf- 
 folk man, and many other godly and well-disposed Christians, 
 with the main of their estates, and many of them with their 
 entire families, to avoid the burdens and snares which were 
 here laid upon their consciences, departed thither." 
 
 Winthrop had taken a personal farewell of his friends 
 and associates at a dinner before embarking. When about to 
 drink their healths his feelings overpowered him, and the 
 company wept in concert at the thought of never seeing each 
 other's faces any more. The sacrifice which Winthrop made 
 in leaving his native land has seldom been equalled by any 
 self-exiled Englishman. He left a fine estate, where he lived 
 as a county gentleman in the receipt of an ample income and 
 enjoying the esteem of his neighbors. The best society of 
 the age was open to him. He had everything, in short, 
 which constitutes human happiness, and it proves the 
 strength of his religious sentiments that he parted with his 
 property, withdrew from all the attractions of society, and
 
 JOHN WINTHROP. 293 
 
 separated himself from a dearly beloved wife, in order that 
 he might help to establish what he considered to be a pure 
 Church and commonwealth on the North American Continent. 
 
 He arrived at Salem on the I2th of June, 1631, after a 
 voyage of two months' duration. The sea was often very 
 rough, but, as Winthrop records, however the tempest might 
 blow and the waves rage, it was the exception for Sunday not 
 to be duly kept, and two sermons be preached. Every 
 Tuesday and Wednesday the passengers were catechized. 
 On board ship Winthrop composed and probably delivered a 
 discourse entitled "Christian Charity." In the course of it 
 he set forth the objects of their society, which was composed 
 of persons professing to be fellow members of Christ, who 
 were ' ' seeking out a place of cohabitation and consortship 
 under a due form of government, both civil and ecclesiasti- 
 cal," whose end was the improvement of their lives, and who 
 hoped to attain it by bringing "into familiar and constant 
 practice" what most of the churches in England "main- 
 tained as truth in profession only." 
 
 On the sixtieth day after sailing, land was seen. " There 
 came a smell off the shore, like the smell of a garden." Four 
 days later, Winthrop was able to record that he and others 
 went on shore, where they supped on " a good venison pasty 
 and good beer," 'nd that some of the passengers "gathered 
 store of fine strawberries at Cape Ann." 
 
 The settlers at Salem numbered 300 when Winthrop 
 arrived. About 1000 persons were transported in the ships 
 which sailed with him or followed after. The cost of the 
 enterprise was reckoned at ^192, ooo. The vessels were laden 
 with provisions to feed the settlers, wood and iron wherewith 
 to build houses, and sheep, pigs, cattle and horses wherewith 
 to stock the land. Most of the goats and horses died at sea, 
 and only half of the cows survived. This was not the worst. 
 The settlers were in great straits for food, and stood in need 
 of the assistance which the newcomers expected from them. 
 Fever broke out, and carried off 200 before Winthrop had been 
 six months in the country. At least 100 returned to England, 
 both because they were in dread of famine, and also because 
 they objected to the strictness of the discipline which prevailed.
 
 294 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Deputy-Governor Dudley, when informing the Countess of 
 Lincoln, by letter, what had occurred, states that those per- 
 sons who thought of joining them for worldly ends had better 
 stay at home ; but that, if influenced by spiritual motives, 
 they would find in New England what would satisfy them ; 
 that is, "materials to build, fuel to burn, ground to plant, 
 seas and rivers to fish in, a pure air to breathe in, good water 
 to drink till wine and beer can be made, which, together with 
 the cows, hogs and goats brought hither already, may suffice 
 for food. As for fowl and venison, they are dainties here as 
 well as in England. For clothes and bedding, they must bring 
 them with them till time and industry produce them here. In 
 a word, we yet enjoy little to be envied, but endure much to 
 be pitied in the sickness and mortality of our people. ' ' 
 
 The story of Winthrop's life during the nineteen years 
 passed in New England is virtually the history of the rise and 
 progress of the Company of Massachusetts Bay. It was owing 
 to him that the peninsula then called Shawmut, upon which 
 Boston now stands, was selected as suitable for settlement, an 
 excellent spring of water being the chief attraction. The 
 Rev. William Blackstone, who claimed the right of owner- 
 ship, was paid a small sum for permitting houses to be erected 
 on Shawmut, and he left the spot when he found that he was 
 to be under subjection to stricter Puritans than himself. W. 
 FRASER RAE.
 
 GEN. ANTHONY WAYNE. 
 
 ANTHONY WAYNE was the Ney 
 of the War of American Independ- 
 ence. His name has passed into a 
 synonym for all that is unsurpassed 
 in courage. Men of Wayne's 
 class have been, in all ages, the 
 favorites of the masses. He stood 
 alone among the American generals 
 in the terrible power which he 
 infused into a column of attack. 
 Had he been one of Napoleon's 
 Marshals, he would have rivaled 
 Macdonald at Wagram, or Ney at Waterloo. 
 
 Anthony Wayne, whose ancestors were of English descent, 
 was born at Easttown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, on 
 January i, 1745. He received a fair education, and, at the 
 age of eighteen, became a land-surveyor. At the age of 
 twenty-one he was sent to Nova Scotia as a surveyor in the 
 service of a wealthy association, on the recommendation of 
 Benjamin Franklin. In 1767 he married and settled perma- 
 nently in his native county. As early as 1764 he had applied 
 himself to the study of military science. In 1774 he was 
 chosen one of the provincial deputies to consider the relations 
 between the Colonies and Great Britain, and also a member 
 of the Pennsylvania Convention, held at Philadelphia, to dis- 
 cuss similar questions. At the same time he represented his 
 county in the Pennsylvania Colonial Legislature. In 1775 
 he became a member of the Committee of Public Safety. 
 
 On the breaking out of hostilities he raised the Fourth Penn- 
 sylvania Regiment, and was commissioned Colonel on January 
 
 295
 
 296 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 3, 1776, and shortly afterwards went with the expedition to 
 Canada, where, in the battle of Three Rivers, he was wounded 
 and defeated. He retreated and concentrated his forces at 
 Ticonderoga. 
 
 In February, 1777, Wayne was commissioned Brigadier- 
 General, and in the following May he rendered Washington 
 important aid in driving the enemy from New Jersey. 
 
 In the action at Brandywine, September 6, 1777, Wayne, 
 who commanded at Chadd's Ford, particularly distinguished 
 himself. A few days later Wayne led the attack at Warren 
 Tavern, on Howe's rear ; but he himself was attacked at Paoli 
 by superior numbers on the 2Oth of the same month. Wayne, 
 who had an intimation of the intended attack, had ordered 
 Colonel Hampton to retreat ; but through some misappre- 
 hension, Hampton did not put his men in motion until three 
 distinct orders had been sent to him. The consequence was 
 the loss of one hundred and fifty of his troop, who were 
 bayoneted. Colonel Hampton charged the misfortune to the 
 negligence of Wayne. A court-martial declared that the 
 General had done everything that could be expected of a 
 brave and vigilant officer. 
 
 In the battle at Germantown, Wayne, who commanded a 
 division of the right wing, carried the position that was 
 assigned to him to take, but the Americans having failed in 
 their purpose, retreated. During the winter of 1777-8, he 
 foraged New Jersey for supplies to the army at Valley Forge. 
 In the battle at Monmouth he signalized himself by the 
 utmost daring, and was one of the few who sided with Wash- 
 ington in recommending an engagement. 
 
 The most brilliant affair of the War of Independence and 
 of General Wayne's career was the capture of Stony Point, 
 on the 1 5th of July, 1779. Stony Point is a precipitous hill, 
 on the western shore of the Hudson River, completely com- 
 manding King's Ferry, the then ordinary communication 
 between the Middle and Eastern States. This strong posi- 
 tion, in the possession of six hundred British troops, was 
 washed on two sides by the river, and covered on the third 
 side by a marsh. The enemy encircled this hill with a double 
 row of abattis, and erected on its summit a breastwork brist-
 
 GENERAI, ANTHONY WAYNE. 297 
 
 ling with artillery. On a starry but moonless night, Wayne 
 made the assault. It was arranged to be in two columns, 
 which, entering the fort at opposite corners, were to meet in 
 the centre, at midnight. Wayne placed himself at the head 
 of the right column. ' ' The first man that fires his piece shall 
 be cut down," was his short address ; "trust to the bayonet. 
 March ! ' ' Though the British had been foiled at Bunker 
 Hill, under nearly similar circumstances, yet Stony Point was 
 taken. The American loss was about one hundred. For this 
 splendid attack Wayne was voted a gold medal by Congress, 
 together with its thanks. His fiery daring won for him the 
 popular sobriquet, "Mad Anthony." 
 
 The great popularity of Wayne with the masses of the 
 people was shown by the success of his efforts to quell the 
 mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line. On January i, 1781, the 
 prolonged distress of these troops, caused by want of pay and 
 provisions, culminated in their throwing down their arms. 
 Wayne's appeal to their patriotism and pledge of relief restored 
 order. Sir Henry Clinton made offers to the mutineers, but 
 received the memorable answer that "their patience, but not 
 their patriotism, was exhausted. ' ' In the latter part of this 
 year Wayne was very active in the various skirmishes con- 
 nected with the siege of Yorktown. After the surrender of 
 Cornwallis, Wayne joined General Greene in the South, and 
 on the 23d of June, 1782, defeated the Creek Indians with 
 great slaughter. 
 
 General Wayne, having settled in Georgia, served in Con- 
 gress a few months. He was nominated by Washington as 
 General-in-Chief of the United States Army, with the rank of 
 Major-General, and was confirmed April 3, 1792. The turbu- 
 lent state of the Indians in the Northwest, instigated as they 
 were by the British, caused Wayne to place himself in charge 
 of the American troops at Fort Miami, Ohio ; and on the 2oth 
 of August, 1793, he completely defeated the tribes. Nearly all 
 of the dead warriors were found to have British arms in their 
 possession. A treaty of peace was signed by twelve tribes of 
 Indians, August 3, 1795, and long remained respected. 
 
 Wayne died in Presque Isle (now Erie), Pennsylvania, 
 from an attack of the gout, on the I5th of December, 1796.
 
 298 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 He was on his return from the Northwest, whither he had 
 gone to take possession of all the forts that had been held by 
 the British in that territory. In 1809 his body was removed 
 to Radnor Churchyard, in Chester County. A monument, 
 erected by the Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinnati, 
 marks the place of interment 
 
 THE CAPTURE OF STONY POINT. 
 
 Among the many exploits of gallantry and prowess which 
 shed a lustre on the fame of the Revolutionary Army, the 
 storming of the fort at Stony Point has always been consid- 
 ered one of the most brilliant. To General Wayne, who 
 commanded the light infantry of the army, the execution of 
 the plan was entrusted. Secrecy was deemed so much more 
 essential to success than numbers, that it was thought unad- 
 visable to add to the force already on the lines. One brigade 
 was ordered to commence its march so as to reach the scene of 
 action in time to cover the troops engaged in the attack, in case 
 of any unlooked-for disaster ; and Major Henry Lee, of the 
 Light Dragoons, who had been eminently useful in obtaining 
 the intelligence which led to the enterprise, was associated 
 with General Wayne, as far as cavalry could be employed. 
 
 The night of the I5th of July, 1779, was fixed on for the 
 assault ; and it being suspected that the garrison would prob- 
 ably be more on their guard towards day, twelve was chosen 
 for the hour. 
 
 Stony Point is a commanding hill, projecting far into the 
 Hudson, which washes three-fourths of its base. The 
 remaining fourth is, in a great measure, covered by a deep 
 marsh, commencing near the river on the upper side, and 
 continuing into it below. Over this marsh there is only one 
 crossing-place. But at its junction with the river it is a sandy 
 beach, passable at low tide. On the summit of this hill was 
 erected the fort, which was furnished with a sufficient number 
 of heavy pieces of ordnance. Several breastworks and 
 strong batteries were advanced in front of the principal work, 
 and about half way down the hill were two rows of abattis. 
 The batteries were calculated to command the beach and the 
 crossing-place of the marsh, and to rake and enfilade any
 
 GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE. 299 
 
 column which might be advancing from either of those points 
 towards the fort In addition to these defenses, several ves- 
 sels of war were stationed in the river, so as, in a considerable 
 degree, to command the ground at the foot of the hill. 
 
 The fort was garrisoned by about six hundred men, under 
 the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson. 
 
 At noon of the day preceding the night of the attack, the 
 light infantry commenced their march from Sandy Beach, 
 distant fourteen miles from Stony Point, and passing through 
 an excessively rugged and mountainous country, arrived about 
 8 P. M. at Spring Steel's, one and a half miles from the fort, 
 where the dispositions for the assault were made. 
 
 It was intended to attack the works on the right and left 
 flanks at the same instant. The regiments of Febiger, and of 
 Meiggs, with Major Hull's detachment, formed the right 
 column, and Butler's Regiment, with two companies under 
 Major Murfree, formed the left. One hundred and fifty vol- 
 unteers, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Fleury and Major Posey, 
 constituted the van of the right ; and one hundred volunteers 
 under Major Stewart, composed the van of the left. At half- 
 past eleven the two columns moved on to the charge, the van 
 of each with unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets. They 
 were each preceded by a forlorn hope of twenty men, the one 
 commanded by Lieutenant Gibbon, and the other by Lieuten- 
 ant Knox, whose duty it was to remove the abattis and other 
 obstructions, in order to open a passage for the columns 
 which followed close in the rear. 
 
 Proper measures having been taken to secure every indi- 
 vidual on the route who could give intelligence of their 
 approach, the Americans reached the marsh undiscovered. 
 But unexpected difficulties having been experienced in sur- 
 mounting this and other obstructions in the way, the assault 
 did not commence until twenty minutes after twelve. Both 
 columns then rushed forward, under a tremendous fire of 
 musketry and grape-shot. Surmounting every obstacle, they 
 entered the works at the point of the bayonet, and without 
 having discharged a single piece, obtained complete possession 
 of the post 
 
 All the troops engaged in this perilous service manifested
 
 300 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 a degree of ardor and impetuosity which proved them to be 
 capable of the most difficult enterprises ; and all distinguished 
 themselves whose situation enabled them to do so. Colonel 
 Fleury was the first to enter the fort and strike the British 
 standard. Major Posey mounted the works almost at the 
 same instant, and was the first to give the watchword " The 
 fort's our own." Lieutenants Gibbon and Knox performed 
 the service allotted to them with a degree of intrepidity which 
 could not be surpassed. Out of twenty men who constituted 
 the party of the former, seventeen were killed or wounded. 
 
 The loss sustained by the garrison was not considerable. 
 The return made by L/ieutenant- Colonel Johnson represented 
 their dead at only twenty, including one captain, and their 
 wounded at six officers and sixty-eight privates. The return 
 made by General Wayne states their dead at sixty-three, in- 
 cluding two officers. This difference may be accounted for 
 by supposing that among those Colonel Johnson supposed to 
 be missing, there were many killed. The prisoners amounted 
 to five hundred and forty-three, among whom were one 
 lieutenant-colonel, four captains, and twenty subaltern officers. 
 The military stores taken in the fort were also considerable. 
 
 The loss sustained by the assailants was by no means pro- 
 portioned to the apparent danger of the enterprise. The killed 
 and wounded did not exceed one hundred men. General 
 Wayne himself, who marched at the head of Febiger's regi- 
 ment in the right column, received a slight wound in the 
 head, which stunned him for a time, but did not compel him 
 to leave the column. Being supported by his aids, he entered 
 the fort with the regiment. E. FERRETT.
 
 TO oppose the formidable invasion of Darius, 
 King of Persia, in 490 B.C., the Athenians 
 had only their courage, their dread of 
 slavery, their discipline, and about ten 
 thousand men. Their civil commotions 
 with the other Grecian States had given 
 them a spirit of war and stratagem. Every 
 citizen was a statesman and a general, so to 
 speak, and every soldier considered himself 
 as one of the bulwarks of his country. 
 Miltiades was the son of Cimon and nephew of Miltiades, 
 an illustrious Athenian, who, having been invited by the 
 natives of the Thracian Chersonesus to found in it an Athe- 
 nian colony, which might assist in their defence, had agreed 
 to the proposal, and had been made a so-called tyrant or ruler 
 of the Chersonesus. On his death, as he left no children, his 
 authority passed to his nephew, Stesagoras. He also died, 
 and in the hope of succeeding him, Miltiades, his younger 
 brother, went from Athens to the Chersonesus. By a mix- 
 ture of fraud and force, Miltiades secured the position of 
 "tyrant," and strengthened himself in it by keeping five 
 hundred guards, and by marrying the daughter of Olorus, a 
 Thracian prince. He was appointed to this government the 
 same year that Darius undertook his unsuccessful Thracian 
 expedition ; was obliged to attend that prince as far as the 
 Ister or Danube, with what shipping he was able to supply ; 
 but, ever eager to throw off the Persian yoke, it was he who 
 advised the lonians to destroy the bridge over the Ister and 
 leave the army of Darius to its fate in the wilderness beyond. 
 The lonians, however, insisted on its preservation, and 
 Darius owed to them his safety. When the affairs of the 
 
 301
 
 302 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Greeks began to decline in Asia, Miltiades, rather than live 
 in dependence, resolved to return once more to Athens ; and 
 thither he returned with five ships, which were all that 
 remained of his shattered fortunes. 
 
 Darius now turned his arms against the petty States of 
 Greece which had audaciously refused to acknowledge his 
 supremacy. He carried the town of Eretria by storm, and, 
 flushed with victory, led his army to the plain of Mara- 
 thon, a fertile valley but ten miles distant from Athens. 
 The Athenians placed their army under the leadership of ten 
 generals, of whom Miltiades was chief. These generals dis- 
 puted whether they should hazard a battle or, staying within 
 the walls, await the approach of the enemy. Opinions were 
 equal on either side of the argument when the suffrages 
 came to be taken. It now, therefore, remained for Callima- 
 chus, the Polemarch, who had a right of voting as well as the 
 ten commanders, to give his opinion, and decide this impor- 
 tant question. Miltiades was for risking an advance ; and he 
 explained that the only means to exalt the courage of their 
 own troops and to strike terror into the enemy, was to 
 advance boldly towards them. "If," said he, " we decline 
 a battle, I foresee some great dissension will shake the fidelity 
 of the army, and induce them to a compliance with the Medes ; 
 but if we fight before corruption insinuates itself into the 
 hearts of the Athenians, we may hope, from the equity of the 
 gods, to obtain a victory. ' ' Callimachus gave his voice in 
 favor of an open engagement 
 
 The Athenians had been joined by the whole strength of 
 Plataea, which little commonwealth had thrown itself on their 
 protection against Thebes, and had ever since been their 
 most faithful ally. Miltiades, now vested with the supreme 
 command, drew up his combined forces of 10,000 men at the 
 foot of a mountain, so that the enemy an army of 120,000 
 strong should not surround him or attack him in the rear. 
 He had large trees cut down and placed on the flanks on 
 either side. These trees served to guard him against the 
 dreaded Persian cavalry. The engagement now pending was 
 to decide the liberty of Greece, and even the future progress 
 of civilization among mankind. The Athenians, without
 
 MILTIADES. 303 
 
 waiting the Persian onset, rushed in upon their ranks. The 
 battle was long, fierce and obstinate. At last the scale of 
 victory began to turn in favor of the Greeks. The Persians 
 gave way and fled to their ships in great confusion. The 
 Athenians followed them to the beach and set many of their 
 ships on fire. Seven of the enemy's ships were taken ; six 
 thousand of their men were slain, and many more drowned 
 in endeavoring to reach the vessels. The Greeks lost 200 
 men only. Thus ended the ever-memorable battle of Mara- 
 thon, 490 B.C. 
 
 The Persian army, on its embarkation, sailed immediately 
 towards Athens, hoping to surprise it in the absence of its 
 defenders ; but Miltiades, guessing their design, made a hasty 
 march, and arrived in the city before the enemy was in sight 
 The baffled invaders returned to Asia. The Greeks, in 
 acknowledgment of the inestimable merits of Miltiades, had 
 a picture painted, in which he was represented at the head of 
 the ten commanders exhorting the army. There were also 
 erected three sorts of monuments to all that had fallen ; 
 one for the Athenians, one for the Plataeans, and a third for 
 the slaves. 
 
 But though the gratitude of the Athenians to Miltiades 
 was very sincere, yet it was of no long continuance. The 
 Parians had assisted the Persians with ships in the expedition 
 to Marathon. Miltiades made this an excuse, in order to take 
 a revenge on one Lysagoras, a Parian, who had done him 
 injury with Hydarnes, the Persian. Taking a fleet of seventy 
 ships, he arrived at Paros and demanded from the Parians a 
 fine of one hundred talents, threatening in case of refusal to 
 besiege the city. The Parians refused. Miltiades at once 
 invested the place. A Parian priestess came to him and pre- 
 tended to inform him how he might take the city. In conse- 
 quence of what she told him he repaired to the temple of 
 Ceres, the lawgiver, and, being unable to open the gate, 
 climbed to the top of the wall and leaped down. Being, 
 however, seized with a sudden tremor, he endeavored again 
 to scale the wall, and in so doing fell and broke his thigh- 
 bone. Raising the siege, he returned to Athens, in which 
 cfty an unfortunate man was never welcome.
 
 304 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Accused by Xanthippus of having taken a bribe from 
 Persia, Miltiades was at once brought to trial. His wound 
 disabled him from defending himself ; but he was carried into 
 the assembly on a bed, while his friends defended him, princi- 
 pally by recalling his former services. The memory of these, 
 with pity for his present condition, prevailed on the people to 
 absolve him from the capital charge ; but they fined him fifty 
 talents (about $53,000), this being the cost of the late unsuc- 
 cessful expedition. This money he was unable to pay, and he 
 was thrown into prison, where he shortly died of gangrene of 
 his wound. The dates of his birth and death are obscure. 
 His son Cimon afterwards paid the fine, and a monument was 
 raised in honor of Miltiades, on the plain of Marathon. 
 
 Miltiades, with brilliant generalship, showed great power 
 as a statesman, and was also an able speaker, an essential 
 qualification for success in Athenian public life. Whether 
 his attack on Paros was an abuse of public authority to the 
 gratification of private revenge, or the first act in a scheme 
 for the establishment of naval empire, is disputed by historians. 
 Though called a tyrant, Miltiades has very justly been lauded . 
 for his condescension and moderation. To him Athens was 
 indebted for its preservation and even for all its glory ; since 
 he was the man who first taught her to despise the empty 
 menaces of the boastful Persian King. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF MARATHON. 
 
 When Miltiades arrayed his men for action, he staked on 
 the arbitrament of one battle not only the fate of Athens, but 
 that of all Greece ; for if Athens had fallen, no other Greek 
 State, except Lacedaemon, would have had the courage to 
 resist ; and the Lacedaemonians, though they would probably 
 have died in their ranks to the last man, never could have 
 successfully resisted the victorious Persians and the numerous 
 Greek troops which would have soon marched under the 
 Persian satraps, had they prevailed over Athens. 
 
 Great as the preponderance of the Persian over the 
 Athenian power at the crisis seems to have been, it would 
 be unjust to impute wild rashness to the policy of Miltiades 
 and those who voted with him in the Athenian council of
 
 MILTIADES. 305 
 
 war, or to look on the after-current of events as the mere 
 fortunate result of successful folly. As before has been 
 remarked, Miltiades, while Prince of the Chersonese, had 
 seen service in the Persian armies ; and he knew by personal 
 observation how many elements of weakness lurked beneath 
 their imposing aspect of strength. He knew that the bulk 
 of their troops no longer consisted of the hardy shepherds 
 and mountaineers from Persia proper and Kurdistan, who 
 won Cyrus' battles ; but that unwilling contingents from 
 conquered nations now filled up the Persian muster-rolls, 
 fighting more from compulsion than from any zeal in the 
 cause of their masters. He had also the sagacity and the 
 spirit to appreciate the superiority of the Greek armor and 
 organization over the Asiatic, notwithstanding former re- 
 verses. Above all, he felt and worthily trusted the enthu- 
 siasm of those whom he led. 
 
 The Athenians whom he led had proved by their new- 
 born valor in recent wars against the neighboring States that 
 "liberty and equality of civic rights are brave spirit-stirring 
 things, and they who, while under the yoke of a despot, had 
 been no better men of war than any of their neighbors, as 
 soon as they were free, became the foremost men of all ; for 
 each felt that in fighting for a free commonwealth he fought 
 for himself, and whatever he took in hand, he was zealous to 
 do the work thoroughly." So the nearly contemporaneous 
 historian describes the change of spirit that was seen in the 
 Athenians after their tyrants were expelled ; and Miltiades 
 knew that in leading them against the invading army, where 
 they had Hippias, the foe they most hated, before them, he 
 was bringing into battle no ordinary men, and could calcu- 
 late on no ordinary heroism. 
 
 With these hopes and risks, Miltiades, on the afternoon 
 of a September day, 490 B.C., gave the word for the Athenian 
 army to prepare for battle. There were many local associa- 
 tions connected with those mountain heights which were 
 calculated powerfully to excite the spirits of the men, and of 
 which the commanders well knew how to avail themselves 
 in their exhortations to their troops before the encounter. 
 Marathon itself was a region sacred to Hercules. Close to 
 20
 
 306 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 them was the Fountain of Macaria, who had in days of yore 
 devoted herself to death for the liberty of her people. The 
 very plain on which they were to fight was the scene of the 
 exploits of their national hero, Theseus ; and there, too, as 
 old legends told, the Athenians and the Heraclidae had routed 
 the invader, Eurystheus. These traditions were not mere 
 cloudy myths or idle fictions, but matters of implicit, earnest 
 faith to the men of that day, and many a fervent prayer arose 
 from the Athenians' ranks to the heroic spirits who, while on 
 earth, had striven and suffered on tljat very spot, and who 
 were believed to be now heavenly powers, looking down with 
 interest on their still-beloved country, and capable of inter- 
 posing with superhuman aid in its behalf. 
 
 According to old national custom, the warriors of each 
 tribe were arrayed together ; neighbor thus fighting by the 
 side of neighbor, friend by friend, and the spirit of emula- 
 tion and the consciousness of responsibility excited to the 
 very utmost. The War-ruler, Callimachus, had the leading 
 of the right wing ; the Plateeans formed the extreme left ; 
 and Themistocles and Aristides commanded the centre. 
 The line consisted of the heavy armed spearmen only ; for 
 the Greeks (until the time of Iphicrates) took little or no 
 account of light-armed soldiers in a pitched battle, using 
 them only in skirmishes, or for the pursuit of a defeated 
 enemy. The panoply of the regular infantry consisted of 
 a long spear, a shield, helmet, breast-plate, greaves and 
 short sword. Thus equipped, they usually advanced slowly 
 and steadily into action in a uniform phalanx of about eight 
 spears deep. But the military genius of Miltiades led him to 
 deviate on this occasion from the commonplace tactics of his 
 countrymen. It was essential for him to extend his line so 
 as to cover all the practicable ground, and to secure himself 
 from being outflanked and charged in the rear by the Persian 
 horse. This extension involved the weakening of his line. 
 Instead of a uniform reduction of its strength, he determined 
 on detaching principally from his centre, which, from the 
 nature of the ground, would have the best opportunities for 
 rallying, if broken ; and on strengthening his wings so as to 
 insure advantage at those points ; and he trusted to his own
 
 MILTIADES. 307 
 
 skill and to his soldiers' discipline for the improvement of 
 that advantage into decisive victory. 
 
 In this order, and availing himself probably of the ine- 
 qualities of the ground, so as to conceal his preparations 
 from the enemy till the last possible moment, Miltiades drew 
 up the eleven thousand infantry whose spears were to decide 
 this crisis in the struggle between the European and the 
 Asiatic worlds. The sacrifices by which the favor of heaven 
 was sought, and its will consulted, were announced to show 
 propitious omens. The trumpet sounded for action, and 
 chanting the hymn of battle, the little army bore down upon 
 the host of the foe. 
 
 Instead of advancing at the usual slow pace of the pha- 
 lanx, Miltiades brought his men on at a run. They were 
 all trained in the exercise of the palaestra, so that there was 
 no fear of their ending the charge in breathless exhaustion ; 
 and it was of the deepest importance for him to traverse as 
 rapidly as possible ihe mile or so of level ground that lay 
 between the mountain foot and the Persian outposts, and so 
 to get his troops into close action before the Asiatic cavalry 
 could mount, form and manoeuvre against him, or their 
 archers keep him long under fire, and before the enemy's 
 generals could fairly deploy their masses. 
 
 "When the Persians," says Herodotus, u saw the Athe- 
 nians running down on them, without horse or bowmen, and 
 scanty in numbers, they thought them a set of madmen 
 rushing upon certain destruction." They began, however, 
 to prepare to receive them, and the Eastern chiefs arrayed, 
 as quickly as time and place allowed, the varied races who 
 sewed in their motley ranks. Mountaineers from Hyrcania 
 and Afghanistan, wild horsemen from the steppes of Khor- 
 assan, the black archers of Ethiopia, swordsmen from the 
 banks of the Indus, the Oxus, the Euphrates and the Nile, 
 made ready against the enemies of the Great King. But no 
 national cause inspired them except the division of native 
 Persians ; and in the large host there was no uniformity of 
 language, creed, race or military system. Still, among them 
 there were many gallant men, under a veteran general ; they 
 were familiarized with victory, and in contemptuous confi-
 
 308 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 dence, their infantry, which alone had time to form, awaited 
 the Athenian charge. On came the Greeks, with one un- 
 wavering line of leveled spears, against which the light targets, 
 the short lances and cimeters of the Orientals, offered weak 
 defense. The front rank of the Asiatics must have gone down 
 to a man at the first shock. Still they recoiled not, but strove, 
 by individual gallantry and by the weight of numbers, to 
 make up for the disadvantages of weapons and tactics, and to 
 bear back the shallow line of the Europeans. In the centre, 
 where the native Persians and the Sacse fought, they succeeded 
 in breaking through the weakened part of the Athenian 
 phalanx ; and the tribes led by Aristides and Themistocles 
 were, after a brave resistance, driven back over the plain, and 
 chased by the Persians up the valley toward the inner country. 
 There the nature of the ground gave the opportunity of rally- 
 ing and renewing the struggle. Meanwhile, the Greek wings, 
 where Miltiades had concentrated his chief strength, had 
 routed the Asiatics opposed to them ; and the Athenian and 
 Plataean officers, instead of pursuing the fugitives, kept their 
 troops well in hand, and, wheeling round, they formed the 
 two wings together. Miltiades instantly led them against 
 the Persian centre, which had hitherto been triumphant, but 
 which now fell back, and prepared to encounter these new 
 and unexpected assailants. Aristides and Themistocles re- 
 newed the fight with their reorganized troops, and the full 
 force of the Greeks was brought into close action with the 
 Persian and Sacian divisions of the enemy. Datis' veterans 
 strove hard to keep their ground, and evening was approaching 
 before the stern encounter was decided. 
 
 But the Persians, with their slight wicker shields, desti- 
 tute of body-armor, and never taught by training to keep the 
 even front and act with the regular movement of the Greek 
 infantry, fought at heavy disadvantage with their shorter and 
 feebler weapons against the compact array of well-armed 
 Athenian and Plataean spearmen, all perfectly drilled to per- 
 form each necessary evolution in concert, and to preserve a 
 uniform and unwavering line in battle. In personal courage 
 and in bodily activity the Persians were not inferior to their 
 adversaries. Their spirits were not yet cowed by the recollec-
 
 MII/TIADBS. 309 
 
 tion of former defeats ; and they lavished their lives freely, 
 rather than forfeit the fame which they had won by so many 
 victories. While their rear ranks poured an incessant shower 
 of arrows over the heads of their comrades, the foremost 
 Persians kept rushing forward, sometimes singly, sometimes 
 in desperate groups of twelve or ten upon the projecting 
 spears of the Greeks, striving to force a lane into the phalanx, 
 and to bring their cimeters and daggers into play. But the 
 Greeks felt their superiority, and though the fatigue of the 
 long-continued action told heavily on their inferior numbers, 
 the sight of the carnage that they dealt upon their assailants 
 nerved them to fight on still more fiercely. 
 
 At last the previously unvanquished lords of Asia turned 
 their backs and fled, and the Greeks followed, striking them 
 down, to the water's edge, where the invaders were now 
 hastily launching their galleys, and seeking to embark and 
 fly. Flushed with success, the Athenians attacked and strove 
 to fire the fleet. But here the Asiatics resisted desperately, 
 and the principal loss sustained by the Greeks was in the 
 assault on the ships. Here fell the brave War-ruler Callim- 
 achus, the General Stesilaus, and other Athenians of note. 
 Seven galleys were fired ; but the Persians succeeded in saving 
 the rest. They pushed off from the fatal shore; but even here 
 the skill of Datis did not desert him, and he sailed round to 
 the western coast of Attica, in hopes to find the city unpro- 
 tected, and to gain possession of it from some of the partisans 
 of Hippias. Miltiades, however, saw and counteracted his 
 manoeuvre. Leaving Aristides, and the troops of his tribe, to 
 guard the spoil and the slain, the Athenian commander led 
 his conquering army by a rapid night-march back across the 
 country to Athens. And when the Persian fleet had doubled 
 the Cape of Sunium and sailed up to the Athenian harbor in 
 the morning, Datis saw arrayed on the heights above the 
 city the troops before whom his men had fled on the preced- 
 ing evening. All hope of further conquest in Europe for the 
 time was abandoned, and the baffled armada returned to the 
 Asiatic coasts. 
 
 The number of the Persian dead was 6400 ; of the Athe- 
 nians, 192. The number of the Platseans who fell is not men-
 
 310 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 tioned; but, as they fought in the part of the army which was 
 not broken, it cannot have been large. 
 
 The apparent disproportion between the losses of the two 
 armies is not surprising when we remember the armor of the 
 Greek spearmen, and the impossibility of heavy slaughter 
 being inflicted by sword or lance on troops so armed, as long 
 as they kept firm in their ranks. 
 
 The Athenian slain were buried on the field of battle. 
 This was contrary to the usual custom, according to which 
 the bones of all who fell fighting for their country in each 
 year were deposited in a public sepulchre in the suburb of 
 Athens called the Cerameicus. But it was felt that a distinc- 
 tion ought to be made in the funeral honors paid to the men 
 of Marathon, even as their merit had been distinguished over 
 that of all other Athenians. A lofty mound was raised on the 
 plain of Marathon, beneath which the remains of the men of 
 Athens who fell in the battle were deposited. Ten columns 
 were erected on the spot, one for each of the Athenian tribes; 
 and on the monumental column of each tribe were graven the 
 names of those of its members whose glory it was to have 
 fallen in the great battle of liberation. The antiquarian 
 Pausanias read those names there six hundred years after the 
 time when they were first graven. The columns have long 
 since perished ; but the mound still marks the spot where the 
 noblest heroes of antiquity repose. SIR E. S. CREASY.
 
 'HE classical historians, while agreeing in a 
 high estimate of the military genius of Pau- 
 sanias, the Spartan general, differ in their 
 views concerning his character at various 
 periods of his life, and also in regard to the 
 motives of his marchings and counter-march- 
 ings at Platsea. All admit that his last 
 shifting of position precipitated the final 
 great battle that resulted in the destruction of the Persian 
 power in Europe forever. 
 
 Pausanias, the Spartan, was the nephew of King Leon- 
 idas, who fell at Thermopylae, and during the minority of his 
 successor, was his guardian and acting king. Xerxes, being 
 utterly defeated in the sea fight at Salamis, returned in haste 
 to Asia, but left his general, Mardonius, in Greece, with an 
 army exceeding 300, ooo men to effect its reduction. During 
 the winter while this army remained in Thessaly, Mardonius 
 vainly endeavored to win the leaders of the Greeks, and espe- 
 cially of the Athenians, to compliance with the Persian 
 king's demands. In the next' spring, 479 B.C., he moved 
 southward and again seized and burned Athens. The Spar- 
 tans, who had previously refused to leave the Peloponnesus, 
 now issued forth, and in the memorable battle of Platsea, 
 September igth, Mardonius was defeated and killed. Pausa- 
 nias showed great nobleness of mind in rejecting a proposal 
 that the body of the Persian general should be treated with 
 the same indignity that had been offered to Leonidas. He 
 proceeded, however, to punish the internal foes of Greece, and 
 obliged the Thebans to surrender their traitors, whom he 
 executed. His share of the Persian spoils at Platsea, one- 
 
 3"
 
 312 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 tenth of the whole, made him very wealthy ; and the effects 
 of his great victory seem to have inspired him with ambi- 
 tion and arrogance. He assumed to himself all the honors 
 of the battle ; and upon a golden tripod, which he presented 
 to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, he put an inscription 
 recording only his own name as the victor. 
 
 A Greek fleet being shortly sent to drive out the Persian 
 garrisons that still lingered in some of their maritime cities, 
 the command -was taken by Pausanias. He acted with such 
 great partiality toward the Spartans, and with such arrogance 
 to the leaders of the other Greek contingents, that ultimately 
 these embraced the cause and followed the lead of Athens and 
 not Sparta. In the present instance, however, Pausanias was 
 successful in capturing Byzantium. Some of the Persians 
 here taken were of royal blood, and Pausanias sent them to 
 Xerxes with a letter proposing a private alliance with the 
 King on the condition of being made ruler of Greece as his 
 vassal. Being detected in part of this negotiation, he was 
 recalled to Sparta, and subjected to a trial; but, as sufficient 
 evidence was lacking, he was acquitted. 
 
 Pausanias now threw caution to the winds, adopted the 
 Persian habit and manners, and indulged in luxurious 
 excesses. It would appear that his mind became disordered 
 from a tragical incident. He married a Persian bride, but 
 during the wedding-night she got up in the dark, and the 
 noise of her movements waking him, he fancied an assassin 
 was in the room, and starting up plunged a dagger in her 
 breast. The discovery of the fatal error distracted him, and 
 from that time he imagined "that the blood of his Cleonice 
 perpetually demanded vengeance. 
 
 Pausanias still maintained his treasonable correspondence 
 with the Persian court; and to preserve the secret, all the 
 messengers were killed after they had delivered their messages. 
 It is said he in vain attempted to engage Themistocles, then 
 an exile, to concur in his measures. At length one of the 
 messengers, Argilius, his favorite, becoming suspicious 
 through the non-appearance of the former messengers, 
 unsealed the packet, and finding a direction to put him to 
 death, immediately disclosed the matter to the Spartan
 
 PAUSANIAS. 313 
 
 Ephori. In order to obtain fuller proof against Pausanias, the 
 magistrates directed Argilius, as if in fear of his life, to take 
 refuge in the Temple of Neptune at Tsenarus, concealing at 
 the same time a witness near the altar. Pausanias, hearing 
 of Argilius having sought safety in the temple, repaired 
 thither to ascertain the reason of his action. In the conver- 
 sation that ensued the Ephori had sufficient evidence against 
 Pausanias, who fled to the Temple of Athene. In order not 
 to violate the sanctity of this place, they tore off the roof and 
 blocked all the entrances. When he had died with hunger 
 and exposure, his body was allowed to be interred by his 
 friends. In such a wretched manner did this great and 
 vicious man terminate his days (B.C. 474). This splendid sol- 
 dier and superb commander might have reigned immortal in 
 the hearts of his countrymen, could he but have restrained 
 his ambition. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF PLATAIAI. 
 
 (NOTE. Sir G. W. Cox uses in this narrative a mode of spelling Greek 
 names more close to the original than that which is common in English). 
 
 The story of Plataiai brings before us a series of move- 
 ments which explain themselves, and which seem to be 
 reported with tolerable accuracy. From the Corinthian Isth- 
 mus the Spartans with their Peloponnesian allies advanced to 
 Eleusis, where they were joined by the forces of the Athenians 
 who had crossed over from Salamis, and thence, cheered by 
 favorable omens, resumed their march, until from the slopes 
 of Kithairon they looked down on the Persian camp near the 
 northern bank of the Asopos. 
 
 Here, then, on the plain beneath the mighty mass of 
 Kithairon, Mardonios with his host, it is said, of 600,000 
 men, awaited with impatience the attack which he trusted 
 that the Greeks, numbering in all 110,000, would begin. If 
 Persian boastfulness exaggerated his own numbers, those of 
 his enemies were swollen not so much from carelessness of 
 falsehood as from the desire that all the States which had not 
 Medized should be represented as taking part in the final 
 struggle with the servants of the Asiatic despot. But what- 
 ever their numbers may have been when Mardonios threw the
 
 314 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 die for battle, they were less formidable when they first 
 encamped on the lower slopes of Kithairon. Still no time 
 was to be lost in dislodging them from their vantage-ground ; 
 and on this errand the whole Persian cavalry was dispatched 
 under Masistios, a leader noted for his bravery. Riding on a 
 golden-bitted Nisaian steed magnificently caparisoned, Masis- 
 tios led his horsemen on ; and the nature of the ground made 
 their attack specially felt by the Megarians, who sent a mes- 
 sage to Pausanias to say that, unless they could be speedily 
 supported, they must give way. The rigidity of Spartan dis- 
 cipline would lead us to suppose that Pausanias issued an 
 order, and that this order was obeyed ; but instead of this we 
 have the mere entreaty for the help of volunteers. All, it is 
 said, including, it would seem, the Spartans, held back, 
 although the Persian horsemen rode up and reviled them as 
 women ; and three hundred picked Athenians could alone be 
 found to undertake the dangerous task. Aided by some bow- 
 men, they moved to the Megarian ground, where presently 
 the horse of Masistios, struck by an arrow in its side, reared 
 and threw its rider. Throwing themselves upon him, the 
 Athenians seized his horse ; but his golden breast-plate pro- 
 tected him from his enemies until a spear was thrust into his 
 eye. So died Masistios, unseen by his men, who at the time 
 were falling back to make ready for another charge. When 
 on halting they learned their loss, with a fierce cry they rushed 
 back to recover his body, of which for a little while they 
 gained possession ; but the three hundred Athenians were 
 now supported by the main body of their countrymen, and 
 the Persian cavalry was definitely beaten back. All Boiotia, 
 it is said, resounded with the Persian wail which went up 
 for the loss of Masistios, while the body of the fallen 
 general, stretched on a chariot, was carried along the ranks 
 of the Greeks who crowded to see his grand and beautiful 
 form. 
 
 . To these the death of Masistios and the repulse of his cav- 
 alry brought great encouragement ; and they resolved to move 
 from Erythrai nearer to Plataiai, as a position far better both 
 for encamping and for watering. Their road led them by 
 Hysiai to ground stretching from the Fountain of Gargaphia
 
 PAUSANIAS. 315 
 
 to the shrine of the hero Androkrates, and broken by low hills 
 rising from the plain. 
 
 Although the two armies were brought thus near to each 
 other, the final conflict was delayed by the omens which were 
 interpreted by the soothsayers on either side as unfavorable to 
 the aggressor. But if a pitched battle was not to be thought 
 of, Timagenidas, the Theban, warned Mardonios against 
 wasting more time in addition to the eight days which had 
 already passed. There were other things which might safely 
 be undertaken. Every day the Greeks were receiving fresh 
 convoys through the passes of Kithairon ; and it was easy by 
 occupying these passes to enrich the Persians and starve their 
 enemies. His advice was promptly acted upon. Night had 
 no sooner set in than the Persian cavalry were dispatched to 
 the pass of the Oak Heads ; and there 500 beasts laden with 
 corn were cut off with the men who had brought them from 
 the Peloponnesos. 
 
 Two days more passed by, each adding to the numbers of 
 the Greeks. On the morning of the eleventh, Mardonios, 
 wearied out with the delay, consulted Artabazos, who advised 
 him, it is said, to fall back on Thebes, and there to trust 
 rather to money than to men. In open battle, he urged, they 
 were no match for their enemies ; but not a Greek was to be 
 found who would not sell his freedom for money, and Persian 
 gold, freely scattered among the chief men of all the non- 
 Medizing cities, would soon make them hearty in the Persian 
 cause. It is possible, of course, that Artabazos may have had 
 other reasons for differing with Mardonios ; but the latter was 
 certainly justified in depending on the bravery of his country- 
 men and in deploring the inaction which was daily increasing 
 the number and strength of his enemies. 
 
 On the morning of the eleventh day the battle of Plataiai 
 may be said practically to have begun, although the traditional 
 narrative confines it to the day on which the infantry of the 
 Persians came to close combat with the Hellenic hoplites. 
 During the whole of the day preceding this final conflict, the 
 Greek army was terribly pressed by constant charges of the 
 Persian cavalry ; and early in the day it became clear to the 
 confederate generals that a change of position was indis-
 
 316 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 pensably necessary. The stream of Asopos, in front of the 
 Greeks, had all along been useless for watering, as it was 
 within range of the Persian bowmen. The whole army was 
 forced, therefore, to obtain its supplies from the Fountain or 
 stream of Gargaphia, which is said by Herodotus to have been 
 two miles and a half distant from the town of Plataiai. This 
 fountain was now completely fouled and choked up by the 
 trampling of the Persian horses : but about half-way between 
 Gargaphia and Plataiai was a spot of ground called the Island, 
 as lying between two channels, into which for a short space 
 the little stream of Oeroe is divided in its descent from 
 Kithairon. The ground thus enclosed between the points 
 where the waters divided and again met was barely half a 
 mile in width, and about a mile and a half in length. Here, 
 however, they would have not only an abundant supply of 
 water, for the Persian cavalry could not reach the channel in 
 their rear, but they would be protected from their attacks by 
 the stream in front To this spot, therefore, the generals re- 
 solved that the army should be transferred on the coming 
 night: but, whether from confusion or from fear, the Pelo- 
 ponnesian allies, when the time for retreat came, fell back not 
 on this so-called island, but on Plataiai itself, about a mile 
 and a half further from the Asopos, and took up their position 
 by the Temple of Here. Seeing these in retreat (and as he 
 supposed, for the Island), Pausanias gave the order to the 
 Spartans also : but he encountered an unexpected opposition 
 from Amompharetos, a captain. This officer complained that, 
 not having been summoned to the previous council, he was 
 now commanded to retreat, not merely against his better 
 judgment, but in violation of duty, which forbade retreat to 
 all Spartans under any circumstances. 
 
 With this obstacle to retreat, it became impossible for 
 Pausanias to carry out the decision of the council ; and the 
 Athenians, beginning to suspect, it would seem, that Spartan 
 vacillation might end in open Medism, sent a herald to ascer- 
 tain the state of affairs. He found the Spartan leaders in hot 
 dispute with Amompharetos, who, taking up a huge stone 
 with both hands, placed it at the feet of Pausanias and said 
 that thus he gave his vote against the dastardly proposal to
 
 PAUSANIAS. 317 
 
 turn their backs upon the e'nemy. Having bestowed on him 
 the epithet of madman, Pausanias turned to the Athenian 
 messenger, and bidding him to report to Aristeides how mat- 
 ters stood, urged the immediate union of the Athenian with 
 the Spartan forces. Amidst these disputes the night had 
 passed away ; and the sky was already lit with the dawn, 
 when Pausanias, wearied out with the folly of Amompharetos, 
 gave the order for retreat. The Spartans immediately fell 
 back, keeping as near as they could to the heights of Kithairon, 
 in order to avoid the attacks of the Persian horsemen, while 
 the Athenians, less cautious or less timid, moved along the 
 plain. Having gone a mile and a half, they halted to see 
 whether Amompharetos would follow. The departure of the 
 Spartans and Tegeatans had soon convinced him that he could 
 do but little good by imitating the example of Leonidas ; and 
 his company accordingly joined the main body. 
 
 But their retreat had now become known in the Persian 
 camp ; and the Persian cavalry at once advanced to harass 
 them as they had done the day before. Hurriedly crossing 
 the Asopos, Mardonios hastened with his Persians towards 
 the higher ground where the Spartan troops might be seen 
 winding along under the hillside, for from the river's banks 
 he could not catch sight of the Athenians, who were hidden 
 among the low hills which rose from the level plain. Without 
 order or discipline, the hordes of the Persian subject tribes 
 rushed after him, as though nothing more remained for them 
 to do beyond the butchering of unresisting fugitives. The 
 last momentous strife was now begun. Hard pressed by the 
 Persian horsemen, Pausanias sent to beg instant succor from 
 the Athenians on the lower ground. But the attack of the 
 Greeks in the Persian army, who now flung themselves on the 
 Athenians, rendered this impossible. To the Spartans and 
 Tegeatans, thus cut off from their allies, it was a moment of 
 supreme distress. Fifty-three thousand in all, they were 
 opposed to the overwhelming numbers of Mardonios ; and the 
 sacrifices even now forbade any action except in the way 
 of self-defence. This merely passive resistance enabled the 
 Persians to make a rampart of their wicker-work shields, 
 from behind which they shot their arrows with deadly effect
 
 318 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 At last Pausanias, looking in agony towards the temple of 
 Here, besought the Queen of Heaven not to abandon them 
 utterly. Scarcely had his prayer been offered, when the 
 sacrifices were reported to be favorable; and the charge of the 
 Tegeatans was followed by the onset of the Spartans. After 
 a fierce fight the hedge of shields was thrown down, and the 
 defeat of the barbarian host virtually ensured. The Persians 
 fought with almost more than Hellenic heroism. Coming to 
 close quarters, they seized the spears of their enemies, and 
 broke off their heads; but they wore no body-armor, and they 
 had no discipline. Rushing forward singly or in small groups, 
 they were borne down in the crush and killed. Still they 
 were not dismayed; and the battle raged most fiercely on the 
 spot where Mardonios, on his white war-horse, fought with the 
 flower of his troops. But at length Mardonios was slain, 
 and when his chosen guards had fallen round him the issue 
 was no longer doubtful. The linen tunics of the Persian 
 soldiers were of no avail in a conflict with brazen-coated hop- 
 lites. With the utmost speed the defeated barbarians made 
 their way to their fortified camp, and took refuge behind its 
 wooden walls. 
 
 Artabazos had awaited the battle with very definite resolu- 
 tions. He despised, with good reason, the military arrange- 
 ments of Mardonios; and he had no intention of allowing 
 himself and his men to be slaughtered if Mardonios should, 
 as he foreboded, lose the day. His troops, therefore, the 
 forty thousand still remaining to him of the six myriads who 
 guarded Xerxes on his retreat to the Hellespont, received 
 strict orders to look only to him and to follow his movements 
 with the utmost promptness; and no sooner had the battle 
 begun, it is said, than, inviting his men verbally to follow 
 him into it, he led them from the field. The flight of the 
 Persians soon showed him that the day was lost; and putting 
 spurs to his horse he hurried away with all speed into Phokis. 
 Without pausing to answer the questions of the people, he 
 rode on into Thessaly, and through Makedonia and Thrace. 
 He brought the bulk of his troops safely to Byzantion, and 
 thence crossed over with them into Asia. 
 
 One body of men alone held their ground when, on the
 
 PAUSANIAS. 
 
 319 
 
 death of Mardonios and the defeat of his Persians, all the rest 
 of his army fled in utter confusion. These were the Theban 
 oligarchs. They felt, doubtless, that they had gone too far to 
 leave any hope of making their peace with the Spartans and 
 their allies, and we may do them the justice to say that with- 
 out the tyranny which the victory of Xerxes might have 
 enabled them to exercise, life was to them scarcely worth the 
 living for. Three hundred of these patricians fell fighting on 
 the field. The rest made their way as best they could to 
 Thebes. 
 
 If the Persians on finding themselves within their fortified 
 camp hoped that its wooden walls would keep out the enemy, 
 they were soon to be disappointed. To the Spartans, whose 
 incompetence in all siege operations was notorious, they 
 opposed an effectual barrier ; but Athenian skill and resolu- 
 tion effected a breach after a terrible struggle. Headed by 
 the Tegeatans, the allies burst like a deluge into the incamp- 
 ment ; and the Persians, losing all heart, sought wildly to 
 hide themselves like deer flying from lions. Then followed a 
 carnage so fearful that of 260,000 men not 3,000, it is said, 
 remained alive. On the side of the Greeks we are told that 
 only 91 Spartan citizens had fallen, while the Tegeatans lost 
 only 1 6, and the Athenians only 52. SIR G. W. Cox.
 
 LOUIS XV., King of France, was the 
 great-grandson and immediate suc- 
 cessor of Louis XIV. He was born 
 at Versailles on February 15, 1710, 
 being the third son of Louis, Duke 
 of Burgundy. His father became 
 Dauphin in 1711, and died in the 
 next year. The death of Louis 
 XIV., in 1715, after the unparalleled 
 reign of seventy-two years, left this 
 child, five years old, the legal King 
 of France. He was then of feeble 
 
 constitution, and appeared unlikely to attain manhood. A 
 Council of Regency was appointed, of which the Duke of 
 Orleans was named president and entrusted with the guard- 
 ianship arid education of the youthful sovereign. But the 
 whims and sports of the royal boy were little interfered with 
 by his obsequious tutors and attendants. 
 
 The early victories, as well as the later defeats of Louis 
 XIV., had been frightfully expensive, and when the Grand 
 Monarch passed away, the debts thus incurred pressed with 
 redoubled force on the impoverished people of France. Dur- 
 ing the Regency, though the splendor of the court was 
 maintained, the financial condition of France became a per- 
 fect chaos. All available capital was drawn from trade and 
 agriculture and pocketed by public officials and financial 
 cliques, or squandered in wasteful shows by the court. To 
 provide a circulating medium and in some measure cover the 
 deficiency, paper-money was issued, and the national debt 
 was augmented to 625,000,000 francs. 
 320
 
 LOUIS XV. 321 
 
 Louis XV. was declared to have attained his legal majority 
 on the thirteenth anniversary of his birth. The Duke of 
 Orleans now became President of the Council of State, which 
 included also the Duke of Bourbon, Cardinal Dubois, and 
 Fleury, Bishop of Frejus, who had been the King's tutor. 
 Louis had been engaged in 1721 to his cousin, a Spanish 
 Princess; but she was now sent back to Spain. On Sep- 
 tember 5, 1725, he was married at Fontainebleau, to Maria 
 Leszczynski, daughter of Stanislaus, the dethroned King of 
 Poland, who was her husband's senior by seven years. This 
 union continued to subsist, after a fashion, until the Queen's 
 death, in 1768. Fleury was the chief administrator of public 
 affairs, and under his direction France repaired her losses and 
 extended her commerce. Louis willingly abandoned to his 
 minister the entire burden of state as long as his eager pur- 
 suit of private pleasure was undisturbed, and the Minister as 
 willingly complied with these terms. 
 
 Louis' father-in-law, Stanislaus, being again proclaimed 
 King of Poland, called on his son-in-law for aid. When 
 Fleury granted him but 1,500 men and 3,000,000 livres, this 
 help proved insufficient, and he was once more driven from 
 Warsaw. The War of the Austrian Succession also involved 
 France in troubles which ended in serious disaster. Fleury 
 died in his ninetieth year, in January, 1743. Louis, now 
 thirty-three years of age, affected to take the reins of govern- 
 ment into his own hands. But his character and habits 
 altogether unfitted him for the task. The influence which 
 really predominated in the State was that of the King's mis- 
 tress, the Duchesse de Chateauroux, the youngest of four 
 sisters of the family of Nesle, who had successively yielded 
 to his licentious passion. She was a woman of talent, spirit 
 and ambition, and exerted herself to rouse her royal paramour 
 from his constitutional indolence and torpor. But the King 
 hated business, and nothing wearied him so much as an inter- 
 view with a minister or a dispatch from a general. 
 
 In course of time the Duchesse de Chateauroux was dis- 
 placed by the more celebrated Marquise de Pompadour, who 
 was really a great historic personage. Yet she was of the 
 humblest origin. Her father had been butcher to the In- 
 
 21
 
 322 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 valides, and she bribed the Princess Conti to present her at 
 court. She won the royal fancy, and reigned twenty years, 
 losing her power only by death. She identified herself with 
 the fall of the Jesuits in France, the triumphs of so-called 
 philosophers and economists, the disgrace of ministers, and 
 the most extravagant prodigality that ever scandalized a 
 nation. Louis XV. was almost wholly directed by this in- 
 famous favorite. She named and removed the controllers- 
 general at her pleasure, and she herself received annually 
 1,500,000 livres. Those who incurred her displeasure were 
 almost sure of being banished from the kingdom, or perhaps 
 sentenced by lettres de cachet to a living burial in the dreary 
 cells of the Bastille. 
 
 In 1754 France engaged in a war against England, in 
 which America was a principal scene of conflict. In this 
 struggle Canada was lost. On the Continent of Europe 
 France also became involved in the celebrated Seven Years' 
 War, siding with Austria against Prussia. But these foreign 
 wars, with all their consequent troubles and burdens, were 
 not allowed to disturb the round of pleasure at the court. 
 The evil day of reckoning was deferred beyond the reign 
 of Louis XV. 
 
 On the death of Madame de Pompadour, Louis appeared 
 to be profoundly affected. But not more than a year elapsed 
 before he resumed his habits of profligacy. A simple pea- 
 sant's child, who peddled haberdashery through the streets of 
 Paris, entered, under the name of Mademoiselle Ran^on, the 
 millinery shop of one M. Mabille. Here she attracted the 
 notice of Count Jean Du Barry, and soon became his mistress. 
 The King heard of her charms and determined to raise her to 
 a loftier station. Count Jean, being a married man, could 
 not properly assist the King's design, who thought that a 
 demoiselle could not decently fulfil the function of a royal 
 mistress. But for a handsome consideration, a nominal hus- 
 band was found in Count William Du Barry, Jean's brother. 
 This comedy-marriage was celebrated September ist, 1768, 
 and Madame Du Barry was duly presented to her royal lover. 
 In the next year he settled on her a life annuity of 100,000 
 livres to be paid by the City of Paris, and a pension of 10,000
 
 STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, 
 
 ian;;, cau.
 
 LOUIS XV. AND U.ME. DU BJZKKT.
 
 LOUIS XV. 
 
 323 
 
 livres to be paid by the States of Burgundy. Her political 
 power was shown by her securing the downfall of the Due de 
 Choiseul ; yet for the most part she abstained from meddling 
 in affairs of state, being thus strongly contrasted with her 
 great predecessor. Devoid of hatred, ambition and calcula- 
 tion, Du Barry sought only to occupy herself with her toilettes 
 and her furniture. 
 
 The closing years of Louis XV. were destitute of striking 
 events. The King was enslaved by his vices and by those 
 who pandered to them. He would not act the king, nor the 
 man. Seeing the approaching dangers, yet feeling his im- 
 potence to dispel them, he affected levity, and exclaimed to 
 his courtiers: "Apres nous le deluge," a prediction which 
 testifies to greater sagacity than he has usually been credited 
 with. His career of self-abandonment continued to the last, 
 even after satiety and ennui had deprived him of appetite. 
 Deaf, incapable of being amused, prematurely worn out, 
 hated and despised by the whole nation, Louis XV. died of 
 small-pox at the age of sixty-four, on the loth of May, 1774. 
 His remains were hastily consigned, without pomp, to the 
 Cathedral of St. Denis. His funeral was greeted as a festival 
 by the people. Nearly twenty years later, among the thou- 
 sands butchered in the Reign of Terror in 1793, was the 
 notorious Madame Du Barry. 
 
 DEATH OF Louis XV. 
 
 President Henault, remarking on royal Surnames of Honor 
 how difficult it often is to ascertain not only why, but even 
 when, they were conferred, takes occasion, in his sleek official 
 way, to make a philosophical reflection. "The Surname of 
 Bien-aime (Well -beloved)," says he, " which Louis XV. bears, 
 will not leave posterity in the same doubt. This Prince, in 
 the year 1744, while hastening from one end of his kingdom 
 to the other, and suspending his conquests in Flanders that 
 he might fly to the assistance of Alsace, was arrested at Metz 
 by a malady which threatened to cut short his days. At the 
 news of this, Paris, all in terror, seemed a city taken by storm: 
 the churches resounded with supplications and groans ; the 
 prayers of priests and people were every moment interrupted
 
 324 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 by their sobs : and it was from an interest so dear and tender 
 that this Surname of Bien-aime fashioned itself, a title 
 higher still than all the rest which this great Prince has 
 earned. ' ' 
 
 So stands it written ; in lasting memorial of that year 
 1744. Thirty other years have come and gone; and "this 
 great Prince" again lies sick; but in how altered circum- 
 stances now ! Churches resound not with excessive groan- 
 ings ; Paris is stoically calm : sobs interrupt no prayers, for 
 indeed none are offered ; except Priests' Litanies, read or 
 chanted at fixed money-rate per hour, which are not liable to 
 interruption. The shepherd of the people has been carried 
 home from Little Trianon, heavy of heart, and been put to 
 bed in his own Chateau of Versailles : the flock knows it, and 
 heeds it not. At most, in the immeasurable tide of French 
 Speech (which ceases not day after day, and only ebbs towards 
 the short hours of night), may this of the royal sickness 
 emerge from time to time as an article of news. Bets are 
 doubtless depending ; nay, some people "express themselves 
 loudly on the streets. ' ' But for the rest, on green field and 
 steepled city, the May sun shines out, the May evening fades; 
 and men ply their useful or useless business as if no Louis lay 
 in danger. 
 
 Dame Du Barry, indeed, might pray, if she had a talent 
 for it ; Duke d' Aiguillon too, Maupeou and the Parlement 
 Maupeou: these, as they sit in their high places, with France 
 harnessed under their feet, know well on what basis they 
 continue there. Look to it, D' Aiguillon; sharply as thou 
 didst, from the Mill of St. Cast, on Quiberon and the invading 
 English ; thou, " covered if not with glory, yet with meal ! " 
 Fortune was ever accounted inconstant ; and each dog has but 
 his day. 
 
 Forlorn enough languished Duke d' Aiguillon, some years 
 ago ; covered, as we said, with meal ; nay, with worse. For 
 La Chalotais, the Breton Parlementeer, accused him not only 
 of poltroonery and tyranny, but even of concussion (official 
 plunder of money) ; which accusations it was easier to get 
 "quashed" by backstairs Influences than to get answered: 
 neither could the thoughts, or even the tongues, of men be
 
 LOUIS xv. 325 
 
 tied. Thus, under disastrous eclipse, had this grand-nephew 
 of the great Richelieu to glide about ; unworshiped by the 
 world ; resolute Choiseul, the abrupt, proud man, disdaining 
 him, or even forgetting him. Little prospect but to glide 
 into Gascony, to rebuild Chateaus there, and die inglorious 
 killing game ! However, in the year 1770, a certain young 
 soldier, Dumouriez by name, returning from Corsica, could 
 see ' ' with sorrow, at Compiegne, the old King of France, on 
 foot, with doffed hat, in sight of his army, at the side of a 
 magnificent phaeton, doing homage to the Du Barry." 
 
 Much lay therein ! Thereby, for one thing, could 
 D'Aiguillon postpone the rebuilding of his Chateau, and 
 rebuild his fortunes first. For stout Choiseul would discern 
 in the Du Barry nothing but a wonderfully dizened Scarlet- 
 woman ; and go on his way as if she were not. Intolerable : 
 the source of sighs, tears, of pettings and poutings ; which 
 would not end till "France" (La France, as she named her 
 royal valet) finally mustered heart to see Choiseul ; and with 
 that "quivering in the chin" natural in such case, faltered 
 out a dismissal : dismissal of his last substantial man, but 
 pacification of his scarlet-woman. Thus D'Aiguillon rose 
 again, and culminated. And with him there rose Maupeou, 
 the banisher of Parlements ; who plants you a refractory 
 President "at Croe in Combrailles on the top of steep rocks, 
 inaccessible except by litters," there to consider himself. 
 Likewise there rose Abbe Terray, dissolute Financier, paying 
 eight pence in the shilling, so that wits exclaim in some 
 press at the playhouse, "Where is Abbe Terray, that he 
 might reduce us to two-thirds!" And so have these indi- 
 viduals (verily by black-art) built them a Domdaniel, or en- 
 chanted Dubarrydom ; call it an Armida-Palace, where they 
 dwell pleasantly ; Chancellor Maupeou "playing blind-man's- 
 buff" with the scarlet Enchantress; or gallantly presenting 
 her with dwarf Negroes ; and a Most Christian King has 
 unspeakable peace within doors, whatever he may have 
 without. "My Chancellor is a scoundrel; but I cannot do 
 without him." 
 
 Beautiful Armida-Palace, where the inmates live enchanted 
 lives ; lapped in soft music of adulation ; waited on by the
 
 326 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 splendors of the world ; which nevertheless hangs won- 
 drously as by a single hair. Should the Most Christian King 
 die ; or even get seriously afraid of dying ! For, alas, had 
 not the fair, haughty Chateauroux to fly, with wet cheeks and 
 flaming heart, from that Fever-scene at Metz, long since ; 
 driven forth by sour shavelings? She hardly returned, when 
 fever and shavelings were both swept into the background. 
 Pompadour too, when Damiens wounded Royalty "slightly, 
 under the fifth rib, ' ' and our drive to Trianon went off futile, 
 in shrieks and madly shaken torches, had to pack, and be 
 in readiness ; yet did not go, the wound not proving poisoned. 
 For his Majesty has religious faith : believes, at least in a 
 Devil. And now a third peril ; and who knows what may be 
 in it! For the Doctors look grave; ask privily, If his 
 Majesty had not the small-pox long ago ? and doubt it may 
 have been a false kind. Yes, Maupeou, pucker those sinister 
 brows of thine, and peer out on it with thy malign rat-eyes : 
 it is a questionable case. Sure only that man is mortal ; that 
 with the life of one mortal snaps irrevocably the wonderfulest 
 talisman, and all Dubarrydom rushes off, with tumult, into 
 infinite Space ; and ye, as subterranean Apparitions are wont, 
 vanish utterly, leaving only a smell of sulphur ! 
 
 These, and what holds of these, may pray, to Beelzebub, 
 or whoever will hear them. But from the rest of France 
 there comes, as was said, no prayer ; or one of an opposite 
 character, "expressed openly in the streets." Chateau or 
 Hotel, where an enlightened Philosophism scrutinizes many 
 things, is not given to prayer : neither are Rossbach victories, 
 Terray Finances, nor, say only ' ' sixty thousand Lettres-de- 
 Cachet" (which is Maupeou' s share), persuasives towards 
 that O Renault ! Prayers? From a France smitten (by 
 black-art) with plague after plague, and lying now, in shame 
 and pain, with a Harlot's foot on his neck, what prayer can 
 come? 
 
 Dame Du Barry issues from the sick-room, with perceptible 
 ' ' trouble in her visage. " It is the fourth evening of May, 
 year of Grace, 1774. Such a whispering in the CEil-de-Boeuf ! 
 Is he dying, then? What can be said is, that Du Barry seems 
 making up her packages ; she sails weeping through her gilt
 
 LOUIS XV. 327 
 
 boudoirs, as if taking leave. D'Aiguillon and Company are 
 near their last card ; nevertheless they will not yet throw up 
 the game. But as for the sacramental controversy, it is as 
 good as settled without being mentioned ; I^ouis sends for his 
 Abbe Moudon in the course of next night ; is confessed by 
 him, some say for the space of "seventeen minutes," and 
 demands the sacraments of his own accord. 
 
 Nay already, in the afternoon, behold is not this your Sor- 
 ceress Du Barry with the handkerchief at her eyes, mounting 
 D' Aiguillon's chariot ; rolling off in his Duchess' consolatory 
 arms? She is gone: and her place knows her no more. 
 Vanish, false Sorceress, into Space! Needless to hover at 
 neighboring Ruel ; for thy day is done. Shut are the royal 
 palace-gates forevermore ; hardly in coming years shalt thou, 
 under cloud of night, descend once, in black domino, like a 
 black night-bird, and disturb the fair Antoinette's music-party 
 in the Park ; all Birds of Paradise flying from thee, and 
 musical windpipes growing mute. Thou unclean, yet unma- 
 lignant, not unpitiable thing! What a course was thine: 
 from that first truckle-bed (in Joan of Arc's country) where 
 thy mother bore thee, with tears, to an unnamed father : for- 
 ward, through lowest subterranean depths, and over highest 
 sunlit heights, of Harlotdom and Rascaldom to the guillo- 
 tine-axe, which shears away thy vainly whimpering head ! 
 Rest there uncursed ; only buried and abolished : what else 
 befitted thee? 
 
 This tenth May day falls into the loathsome sick-bed; but 
 dull, unnoticed there: for they that look out of the windows 
 are quite darkened; the cistern-wheel moves discordant on its 
 axis ; Life, like a spent steed, is panting towards the goal. In 
 their remote apartments, Dauphin and Dauphiness stand road- 
 ready; all grooms and equerries booted and spurred: waiting 
 for some signal to escape the house of pestilence. And, hark! 
 across the CEil-de-Bceuf, what sound is that ; sound " terrible 
 and absolutely like thunder"? It is the rush of the whole 
 Court, rushing as in wager, to salute the new Sov- eigns : 
 Hail to your Majesties ! The Dauphin and Dauphiness are 
 King and Queen! Overpowered with many emotions, they 
 too fall on their knees together, and, with streaming tears,
 
 328 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 exclaim, ' ' O God, guide us, protect us ; we are too young to 
 reign!" Too young, indeed. 
 
 But thus, in any case, "with a sound absolutely like thun- 
 der, " has the Horologe of Time struck, and an old Era passed 
 away. The Louis that was, lies forsaken, a mass of abhorred 
 clay ; abandoned ' ' to some poor persons, and priests of the 
 Chapelle Ardente" who make haste to put him "in two 
 lead coffins, pouring in abundant spirits of wine." The new 
 Louis with his Court is rolling towards Choisy, through the 
 summer afternoon : the royal tears still flow; but a word mis- 
 pronounced by Monseigneur d' Artois sets them all laughing, 
 and they weep no more. Light mortals, how ye walk your 
 light life-minuet, over bottomless abysses, divided from you 
 by a film! 
 
 For the rest the proper authorities felt that no Funeral 
 could be too unceremonious. Besenval himself thinks it was 
 unceremonious enough. Two carriages containing two noble- 
 men of the usher species, and a Versailles clerical person ; 
 some score of mounted pages, some fifty palfreniers: these, 
 with torches, but not so much as in black, start from Ver- 
 sailles on the second evening, with their leaden bier. At a 
 high trot they start; and keep up that pace. For the gibes 
 (brocards) of those Parisians, who stand planted in two rows, 
 all the way to St. Denis, and " give vent to their pleasantry, 
 the characteristic of the nation," do not tempt one to slacken. 
 Towards midnight the vaults of St. Denis receive their own : 
 unwept by any eye of all these. 
 
 Him they crush down, and huddle underground, in this 
 impatient way; him and his era of sin and tyranny and 
 shame: for behold, a New Era is come: the future all the 
 brighter that the past was base. T. CARLYLE.
 
 IBERIUS SEMPRONIUS GRACCHUS, 
 the elder of the famous asserters of 
 popular rights among the Romans, was 
 born B.C. 188. He served his first cam- 
 paign under his maternal uncle, Scipio 
 Africanus. Not long after he became 
 consul's quaestor under Mancinus, the 
 unfortunate commander in the Numan- 
 tine war. The respect of the Numantines for the memory 
 of his father enabled Gracchus to obtain favorable terms 
 for the defeated Roman army, but the Roman Senate, greatly 
 displeased, rejected the terms of the accommodation, and 
 resolved to deliver all the officers of the army prisoners 
 to the enemy. Finally, however, through the opposition of 
 the people to this drastic measure, Mancinus alone was 
 delivered up to the Numantines, being first stripped naked 
 and then shackled. This treatment estranged Gracchus from 
 the Senate, and tended to confirm the antagonism in his bosom 
 against their predominance in the State. 
 
 The sympathy of Gracchus with the people was excited 
 more by their distress than by his evident popularity with 
 them. In fact his kinsman, Scipio Africanus, the younger, 
 joined with the aristocracy in their jealousy of the rising 
 power of Tiberius. When Tiberius Gracchus came from 
 Spain through Italy to Rome, he observed with indignation 
 thousands of foreign slaves cultivating the immense estates of 
 the wealthy, while Roman freemen, thus supplanted, could 
 
 329
 
 330 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 hardly procure their subsistence. Necessarily he found Rome 
 crowded with indigent freemen. When, in 133 B.C., Gracchus 
 was elected tribune, he proposed as a remedy for the glaring 
 evils that afflicted the State, a revival of the obsolete Ljcinian 
 law with some modifications. Had the Licinian law, which 
 regulated the amount of public land which a person might 
 occupy, been observed, these evils could not have arisen. 
 The intention of Gracchus was to create a middle class of 
 agriculturists and to put a check upon the unbounded avarice 
 of the aristocracy, whose covetousness had destroyed the class 
 of small land-owners. 
 
 The people had anticipated aid at the hands of Gracchus, 
 for placards were seen in all parts of the city calling upon 
 him to protect them. He was also urged on by his mother, 
 Cornelia, and had the concurrence of eminent men. The 
 agrarian law of Licinius, which it was proposed to renew, had 
 now the modification that, besides the 500 jugera (about 310 
 acres) of the public land allowed by the old law, any one 
 might possess half as much more for each of his sons ; but 
 any person owning more than this amount was to restore it to 
 the nation on receiving the price for it from the treasury, and 
 the land so recovered should be divided among the poorer 
 citizens; and, further, in future the possession of public lands 
 should not be transferred by sale or purchase, in order that the 
 wealthy might not be able gradually to acquire again more 
 land than the law allowed : three commissioners were to be 
 appointed annually. 
 
 As the aristocracy hotly opposed the projected law, Grac- 
 chus dropped the conciliatory clauses, and proposed that the 
 holders of public lands beyond the legal amount should be 
 obliged to give them up at once. As the consent of the Sen- 
 ate was not necessary to make it a law, the aristocracy in- 
 duced Octavius, one of the tribunes, to negative the scheme. 
 Octavius himself was the holder of an illegal amount of pub- 
 lic land. Gracchus, in turn, availed himself of his power as 
 Tribune to negative the functions of every officer in the State, 
 and sealed up the doors of the treasury, thus "stopping the 
 wheels of government. ' ' However strange was this power of 
 the Tribune, he was still acting in accordance with law, and
 
 THE GRACCHI. 331 
 
 the nobility went into mourning to show their sense of the 
 dangerous state of the Republic. 
 
 Octavius persisted in his opposition to the law, and it 
 could not be carried into effect. Tiberius offered to indem- 
 nify Octavius out of his own purse for the loss which he 
 might sustain through the agrarian law ; but Octavius de- 
 clined. Gracchus therefore declared that as the two Tribunes 
 could not come to agreement concerning the public good, one 
 of them must be deposed. When the day of assembly arrived, 
 Tiberius proposed the deposition of Octavius, and put it to a 
 vote. When seventeen out of thirty-five tribes had succes- 
 sively voted for his deposition, Tiberius stopped the proceed- 
 ings and implored Octavius to give up his opposition to the 
 law. Octavius was staggered ; but the sight of the nobility 
 who anxiously watched him, hardened him, and he exclaimed, 
 ' ' Complete what thou hast begun. ' ' The eighteenth tribe 
 voted and his tribuneship was gone. With difficulty he 
 escaped from the fury of the populace. 
 
 The deposition of Octavius for the lawful exercise of his 
 rights has been looked upon as a violation of the Roman Con- 
 stitution ; but its injustice was a mere irregularity ; and Tibe- 
 rius might have said that a Tribune who acted in defiance of 
 the people was a still greater irregularity ; the people surely 
 had the right to take away a commission from a man to whom 
 they had given it. The law being now passed, three persons 
 were appointed to superintend its execution. They were 
 Tiberius Gracchus, Appius Claudius, his father-in-law, and 
 his brother, Caius Gracchus. The people were enthusiastic, 
 the Senate was enraged and covered him with contumely. 
 
 At this time Attalus, King of Pergamus, died after be- 
 queathing his property to the Roman people. Gracchus, now 
 at the zenith of his power, proposed the admission of the 
 Italian allies to the Roman franchise, that they might share 
 in the benefits about to result to the people. His enemies at 
 once spread the report that Tiberius had secretly received a 
 diadem from the Pergamian messenger, and that he thought 
 of making himself King of Rome. The Roman freemen (dis- 
 affected to their protector because of his liberal proposal re- 
 garding the Italian allies), incapable of distinguishing between
 
 332 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 the motives of Gracchus and those of the aristocracy, now 
 turned against him. This calumny was proclaimed by Pom- 
 peius, of whom Scipio Nasica, the leader of the aristocracy, 
 made use. 
 
 The time for election of the Tribunes was at hand, and 
 Tiberius, believing that his life would be in imminent peril 
 when his term expired, offered himself again as candidate for 
 the office. This was the first time that any one had ever offered 
 himself for two consecutive terms. The election fell in June, 
 when the peasantry were occupied with the harvest. The 
 assembly of the citizens, therefore, consisted mostly of the 
 city populace. Gracchus had misgivings. He went about 
 leading his little son by the hand, and imploring the people 
 not to desert him and not to expose him to the fury of his 
 enemies, against whom he had protected them. Two of the 
 tribes had already voted in his favor, when the aristocrats 
 who were mingling among the people, exclaimed that no 
 man could be elected for two successive years. The presiding 
 Tribune, not knowing how to act, the other Tribunes insisted 
 that a president ought to be decided upon by lot. Amidst 
 the greatest confusion the day had nearly passed when Tibe- 
 rius proposed an adjournment of the voting till the next day. 
 The people, moved by his fear and danger, escorted him 
 home and guarded his house all that night. During the night 
 he, in conjunction with his friends, devised a plan of action if 
 his enemies should use violence. 
 
 The next day he was escorted to the Capitol, and all prom- 
 ised well ; but when the voting began, the aristocrats disturbed 
 the proceedings, and the tumult became so great that no one 
 could be heard. At this moment a senator, who was a friend 
 of Gracchus, informed him that the senators were assembled, 
 and that, as they could not move the consuls to interfere, they 
 themselves were resolved to kill Tiberius, and had for this 
 purpose armed their slaves and partisans. The people now 
 armed themselves with whatever sticks or clubs they could 
 find, and soon the uproar became general. The Tribunes took 
 to flight 
 
 This was what the aristocratic party waited for, and seiz- 
 ing the opportunity, Scipio Nasica exclaimed, "As the consul
 
 THE GRACCHI. 333 
 
 betrays the Republic, do you, who wish to maintain the Con- 
 stitution, follow me!" The senators now rushed to the 
 election place, and all who ventured to oppose them were 
 knocked down. Tiberius, in the act of fleeing, stumbled 
 over one of the killed, and as he arose, received a fatal blow. 
 He fell at the entrance of the Temple of Faith. Three hun- 
 dred persons lost their lives, and, it is said, none by the 
 sword. The body of Gracchus was thrown into the River 
 Tiber, and the surviving friends of Tiberius suffered exile 
 and death at the hands of their implacable enemies. 
 
 Thus perished the great Tribune, who, from the lack of 
 some prudence, suffered the death of a martyr in the noblest 
 cause the protection of the oppressed. 
 
 CAIUS GRACCHUS was nine years younger than Tiberius. 
 At the time of his brother's murder, B.C. 133, he was serving 
 in a military capacity in Spain, under his brother-in-law, 
 Scipio Africanus, the younger, who exclaimed, on hearing of 
 the assassination, ' ' So perish all who do the like again. ' ' 
 The common people looked forward to Caius with hopes of a 
 deliverer; but the aristocracy watched him jealously, and 
 devised plans to prevent him from obtaining the Tribuneship. 
 The term of Caius as quaestor to Sardinia being about to 
 expire, fresh troops were sent, and the Consul Orestes was 
 ordered to remain in the island, the intention being to detain 
 Caius there also. It is reported that the shade of his brother 
 appeared to him and said, ' ' Caius, why dost thou linger ? 
 There is no escape ; thou must die like myself, defending the 
 rights of the people." Cicero and Plutarch declare that 
 Caius was drawn into his political career by a sort of fatality. 
 When he heard the voice of Tiberius, he divined the inten- 
 tion of the Senate, and at once appeared at Rome. Being 
 cited before the censors, he proved he had violated no law or 
 custom in relinquishing his post as quaestor. 
 
 The aristocracy persisted, however, in harassing Caius 
 upon various frivolous pretexts ; but being encouraged by the 
 demands of the people, he became a candidate for the Tribune- 
 ship. His mother prayed him not to deprive her of her last 
 comfort and support in her old age ; but Caius had already 
 gone too far. His hatred of his brother's murderers, and the
 
 334 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 enthusiasm of the people who flocked to Rome to elect him, 
 did not allow him to retrace his steps. The whole of the 
 aristocracy opposed his election ; and while they could not 
 prevent his election, they succeeded in causing him to be 
 fourth instead of first Tribune. Caius, however, soon made 
 himself first, for he surpassed all his contemporaries in elo- 
 quence, and his misfortunes gave him an ample scope for 
 speaking freely concerning his lamented brother's death. 
 
 He became Tribune B.C. 123. His first act was the pro- 
 posal of a law, aimed at the ex-Tribune Octavius, that whoever 
 had been deprived by the people of one office, should never 
 be allowed to hold another ; his second act was a law (directed 
 against the murderers of his brother) that whoever had put to 
 death or banished a Roman citizen without trial should be 
 liable to persecution. These first steps may be regarded as an 
 expiatory sacrifice offered to the shade of his brother. At 
 the request of his mother he withdrew the former bill. He 
 now renewed the agrarian law, which, after the death of his 
 brother, had not been enforced. 
 
 The legislation of this great man had two distinct objects : 
 first, to ameliorate the condition of the poor, and secondly, to 
 diminish the power of the Senate and thereby weaken the 
 aristocracy. His plan was extensive, embracing every de- 
 partment of government. The few details of his laws that 
 have survived show that they were wise and salutary, and if 
 his plans had not been thwarted by the aristocracy, the 
 Roman Republic might long have been prosperous. 
 
 Caius carried a law by which the judiciary were trans- 
 ferred from the Senate to a court consisting of three hundred 
 knights. The benefits to the people, however, were not per- 
 manent, as the knights soon discovered as many motives for 
 the perpetration of injustice as the senators had had before. 
 The favoritism hitherto practiced by the Senate in its assign- 
 ment of provinces to consuls and praetors was abolished by 
 another law. The roads of Italy were improved, thus affording 
 much employment to the poor. 
 
 Caius, when elected for his second term as Tribune, pro- 
 cured also the election of his friend Fannius to the Consul- 
 ship, as against Opimius (B.C. 122). The Italian allies had
 
 THE GRACCHI. 335 
 
 for some time been urgent for the privilege of the Roman 
 franchise. While a bill of Caius for this purpose was under 
 consideration, the Senate resorted to a treacherous course of 
 action in order to preserve their privileges. One of the 
 Tribunes, Livius Drusus, a man of wealth, was influenced by 
 the senators to outbid Caius in the proposal of popular meas- 
 ures. The people, thus imposed upon by Drusus, gradually 
 became reconciled to the Senate, and the recollection of past 
 sufferings was effaced. The popularity of Caius decreased, 
 and his position became perilous. His friend Fannius, the 
 Consul, for whom Caius had acquired a mortal enemy in 
 Opimius, now fell away from him. By command of the 
 Senate, Fannius drove out of the city all those who were not 
 Roman citizens ; and Caius, although he had promised them 
 his assistance if they would defy the edict and remain in 
 Rome, yet allowed his acquaintances to be dragged off before 
 his eyes by the lictors of the Consul. The people regarded 
 his forbearance as an act of cowardice. 
 
 Caius was defeated for a third term as Tribune, and on the 
 other hand Opimius was chosen Consul. The Senate resorted 
 to various measures to estrange the people from Caius. They 
 also repealed several of his enactments. The crisis was at 
 hand. During a meeting of the people, a certain Autyllius, 
 a creature of the Consul Opimius, was killed, it is said, 
 because of an insult to some of the friends of Caius. Caius, 
 who was not concerned in the murder, deeply grieved, de- 
 scended to the forum to explain the unfortunate occurrence ; 
 but the people shunned him as if he were accursed. The 
 assembly broke up ; Caius and his impetuous friend Flaccus 
 returned to their homes. The Consul Opimius urged the 
 people to avenge the murder. The next day he convoked 
 the Senate, while the people were assembled in the forum, and 
 garrisoned the capital. At his command the body of Autyl- 
 lius was carried across the forum with loud wailings, and was 
 deposited in front of the Senate-house. The Senate conferred 
 unlimited power upon Opimius to act as he thought best for 
 the good of the Republic. Opimius at once ordered the 
 Senate to meet again the next day in arms, and each knight 
 was commanded to bring with him two armed slaves.
 
 336 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 The friends of Caius took up a strong position, but Caius 
 refused to arm himself; he left his house having only a 
 dagger under his toga. He prevailed on Flaccus to send his 
 young son as a deputy to the Senate to propose a reconciliation. 
 The innocent request of the boy moved some of the senators ; 
 but Opimius haughtily declared that rebels must surrender at 
 discretion. Opimius, who longed to use force, advanced with 
 armed men toward the friends of Caius, at the same time 
 proclaiming amnesty for all those who would at once lay 
 down their arms. As they had no organization they were 
 soon dispersed, and Flaccus and his son were murdered in 
 their flight. Gracchus, who had early withdrawn for a while 
 to a temple, now arrived at the bridge over the Tiber ; but he 
 would have been cut down had not his friends resolutely 
 fought until they all were killed. Accompanied by a single 
 slave he reached a grove, and there the slave first killed his 
 master and then himself. The bodies of the slain were 
 thrown into the Tiber. They amounted to three thousand. 
 Their property was confiscated, and their houses demolished. 
 The friends of Gracchus who fell into the hands of their 
 enemies were thrown into prison, and there strangled. After 
 the Senate was satiated with blood, it dedicated a temple to 
 Concord ! 
 
 The people of Rome, when they found themselves again 
 oppressed, were seized with remorse ; statues were erected to 
 the two brothers, and the spots on which they had fallen were 
 declared sacred ground. 
 
 CORNELIA, THE MOTHER OF THE GRACCHI. 
 
 Cornelia, the mother of the two illustrious Roman tribunes, 
 Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, was the younger daughter of 
 Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal. The lapse of 
 two thousand years has not diminished the splendor of the 
 distinction which is inseparable from the title conferred upon 
 her by the Roman people, " The Mother of the Gracchi ! " 
 
 Her husband, Tiberius Gracchus, a man of noble character, 
 belonged to the plebeian gens of the Sempronia. Cornelia's 
 descent was of the patrician order. After her husband's death, 
 Cornelia devoted herself entirely to the education of her
 
 THE GRACCHI. 337 
 
 children, training them to be worthy of their father and of 
 her own ancestors. L,ike all leading women of Rome, she 
 had imbibed the heroic or ambitious spirit of the age. When 
 a Campanian lady made a show of her jewels at Cornelia's 
 house, and entreated the favor of a sight of her own, Cornelia 
 delayed until the return of her two sons, and then presented 
 them, saying, "These are my jewels." They early showed 
 ambition, but at the same time were nobly patriotic. She 
 persuaded them to study Greek philosophy, in which all the 
 ennobling principles of freedom are to be found. 
 
 The whole life of Cornelia presents a beautiful character, 
 and from the facts which have come down to us we may draw 
 these inferences : First, Cornelia must have been educated 
 in a very superior manner by her father. For in no other way 
 can we account for her knowledge and love of literature ; nor 
 for the fact that while yet young, she was regarded as worthy 
 of the companionship and discourse of the most virtuous and 
 noble men of Rome. Second, she must have been from the 
 beginning a woman of fixed principles and undaunted cour- 
 age ; for in no other way can we account for her unremitting 
 care of her family, the high education of her sons, and her 
 great influence over them to the end of their careers. 
 
 Cornelia survived the violent deaths of her two sons, and 
 gloried in the struggles they had made for liberty. When 
 some one offered her condolence, she replied, " Can the mother 
 of the Gracchi need consolation ? ' ' 
 
 Plutarch closes the lives of the Gracchi with the following 
 account of Cornelia's later life: "She took up her residence at 
 Misenum, and made no alteration in her manner of living. 
 As she had many friends, her table was ever open for the 
 purpose of hospitality. Greeks and other men of letters she 
 had always with her, and all the kings in alliance with Rome 
 expressed their regard by sending her presents. . . . She 
 made herself very agreeable to her guests by acquainting 
 them with many particulars of her father, Africanus. . . . But 
 what they most admired in her was that she could speak of 
 her sons without a sigh or a tear, and recount their actions 
 and sufferings as if she had been giving an account of some 
 ancient heroes. Some, therefore, imagined that age and the 
 
 22
 
 338 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 greatness of her misfortunes had deprived her of sensibility. 
 But those who were of that opinion seem rather to have 
 wanted understanding themselves, since they knew not how 
 much a noble mind may, by a liberal education, be enabled 
 to support itself against distress, and that though in the pur- 
 suit of rectitude, Fortune may often defeat the purposes of 
 Virtue; yet Virtue, in bearing affliction, can never lose her 
 prerogative." 
 
 She lived long enough to receive striking evidence of the 
 reaction of public opinion against the Roman Senate, the 
 destroyer of her sons. The Roman people erected in the 
 Forum, during her lifetime, a statue in her honor with this 
 inscription: "CORNELIA MATER GRACCHORUM." Of late 
 years the statue, still on the site of the Forum, has been dis- 
 covered during archaeological excavations at Rome. J. WYLIE 
 WILLIAMS.
 
 THE long reign of Justinian as Roman Em- 
 peror of the East was a remarkable epoch 
 in the history of the world. He was origi- 
 nally named Uprauda, and was born of ob- 
 scure parents in Dardania in Illyricum, on 
 the eastern coast of the Adriatic, in May, 
 483, A.D. He was a nephew of the Em- 
 peror Justin L, who in 518 appointed Up- 
 rauda, or as he henceforth called himself, Flavius Justinianus, 
 as his colleague. Nine years later he became sole Emperor 
 at Constantinople, having been crowned or invested with 
 supreme authority by Justin a few months before his death. 
 
 Thoroughly imbued with high ideas of his imperial 
 authority in all matters of Church as well as State, Justinian 
 began a persecution of the Arians, Jews and Pagans. Yet 
 Theodora, the wife of this severely orthodox and persecuting 
 Emperor, had been an actress and even a courtesan. Her 
 unbounded influence over him is regarded as attesting her 
 greater strength of character. In 527 he proclaimed her as 
 Empress and as his equal colleague in the Empire. "The 
 reproach of cruelty," says Gibbon, "so repugnant even to her 
 softer vices, has left an indelible stain on the memory of 
 Theodora." 
 
 Justinian was by no means a lover of pleasure ; he was 
 fond of study and very diligent in application to business. 
 He was, or professed to be, a poet, a philosopher, a lawyer, 
 and architect. His liberality and architectural talents were 
 displayed in the construction of churches, aqueducts, bridges, 
 convents and fortifications. The magnificent church of Saint 
 Sophia in Constantinople was built under his directions. To 
 
 339
 
 340 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 him also is due the introduction of silk-worms and of the 
 manufacture of silk fabrics into Europe. 
 
 Soon after his accession to the throne Justinian, appointed 
 Belisarius commander-in-chief of his armies. To this famous 
 general he was indebted for the military glory of his reign. 
 Belisarius defeated the Persians at Dara in 530, and gained 
 decisive victories over the Vandals in Africa in 533 and 534. 
 He afterward defeated the Ostrogoths in Italy in 536, captured 
 Rome, and re-united Italy to the Empire of the East. Jus- 
 tinian became the most powerful European monarch of his 
 time, and the most famous of all the Emperors of the Eastern 
 Roman Empire. His government extended over sixty-four 
 Provinces. Theology appears to have been one of his ruling 
 passions. He summoned a general council of the church to 
 deal with heresy, enacted stringent laws against heathen and 
 heretics, and closed the schools of philosophy at Athens 
 because of his disapproval of their doctrines. By a strange 
 fatality he finally lapsed into heresy himself, holding that the 
 earthly body of Christ was incorruptible. 
 
 It is as a legislator and codifier of laws, that the name of 
 Justinian is most memorable and familiar to the modern world. 
 He found that, through lapse of time and the multiplication of 
 imperial decrees and decisions, the laws of the Roman Empire 
 had been plunged into great confusion. The infinite variety of 
 laws and legal opinions had filled many thousand volumes. 
 The reforms of Justinian were of immense benefit to both 
 lawyers and people. They were compiled by the eminent 
 jurist, Tribonian, and were published under the names 
 "Codes," "Pandects," or Digests, and "Institutions." 
 
 Justinian was the last Emperor of Constantinople who, by 
 his dominion over all Italy, re-united the two principal parts of 
 the former Empire of the Caesars. He died without issue in 
 565 A.D., after a reign of thirty-eight years. His habits were 
 temperate and virtuous, and he was addicted to long vigils. 
 Great diversity of opinion exists among historians respecting 
 his character and abilities. The name of this Emperor is 
 eclipsed by that of his victorious generals ; and that of Bel- 
 isarius still lives to upbraid the envy and ingratitude of his 
 sovereign.
 
 JUSTINIAN. 341 
 
 REFORM OF ROMAN LAW BY JUSTINIAN. 
 
 When Justinian ascended the throne, the reformation of 
 the Roman jurisprudence was an arduous but indispensable 
 task. In the space of ten centuries, the infinite variety of 
 laws and legal opinions had filled many thousand volumes, 
 which no fortune could purchase and no capacity could digest. 
 Books could not easily be found ; and the judges, poor in the 
 midst of riches, were reduced to the exercise of their illiterate 
 discretion. The subjects of the Greek Provinces were igno- 
 rant of the language that disposed of their lives and proper- 
 ties ; and the barbarous dialect of the Latins was imperfectly 
 studied in the academies of Berytus and Constantinople. As 
 an Illy rian soldier, that idiom was familiar to the infancy of 
 Justinian ; his youth had been instructed by the lessons of 
 jurisprudence, and his Imperial choice selected the most 
 learned civilians of the East to labor with their sovereign in 
 the work of reformation. The theory of professors was 
 assisted by the practice of advocates and the experience of 
 magistrates; and the whole undertaking was animated by the 
 spirit of Tribonian. 
 
 This extraordinary man, the object of so much praise and 
 censure, was a native of Side in Pamphylia ; and his genius, 
 like that of Bacon, embraced as his own all the business and 
 knowledge of the age. To the literature of Greece he added 
 the use of the Latin tongue; the Roman civilians were depos- 
 ited in his library and in his mind ; and he most assiduously 
 cultivated those arts which opened the road to wealth and 
 preferment. From the bar of the praetorian praefects he raised 
 himself to the honors of quaestor, of consul, and of master of 
 the offices. The reproaches of impiety and avarice have 
 stained the virtues or the reputation of Tribonian. In a 
 bigoted and persecuting court, the principal minister was 
 accused of a secret aversion to the Christian faith, and was 
 supposed to entertain the sentiments of an atheist and a Pagan. 
 His avarice was more clearly proved and more sensibly felt. 
 If he were swayed by gifts in the administration of justice, 
 the example of Bacon will again occur ; nor can the merit of 
 Tribonian atone for his baseness, if he degraded the sanctity
 
 342 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 of his profession, and if the laws were every day enacted, 
 modified or repealed, for the base consideration of his private 
 emolument. In the sedition of Constantinople, his removal 
 was granted to the clamors, perhaps to the just indignation, 
 of the people ; but the Quaestor was speedily restored, and, 
 till the hour of his death, he possessed, above twenty years, 
 the favor and confidence of the Emperor. 
 
 In the first year of his reign Justinian directed the faith- 
 ful Tribonian, and nine learned associates, to revise the ordi- 
 nances of his predecessors, as they were contained, since the 
 time of the Emperor Hadrian, in the Gregorian, Hermogenian 
 and Theodosian Codes. The work was accomplished in four- 
 teen months (A.D. 528, 529) ; and the Twelve Books or Tables, 
 which the new decemvirs produced, might be designed to 
 imitate the labors of their Roman predecessors. The new 
 CODE of Justinian was honored with his name, and confirmed 
 by his royal signature : authentic transcripts were multiplied 
 by the pens of notaries and scribes, and were transmitted to 
 the magistrates of the Provinces. 
 
 A more arduous operation was still behind to extract the 
 spirit of jurisprudence from the decisions and conjectures, the 
 questions and disputes, of the Roman civilians. Seventeen 
 lawyers, with Tribonian at their head, were appointed by the 
 Emperor to exercise an absolute jurisdiction over the works of 
 their predecessors. If they had obeyed his commands in ten 
 years, Justinian would have been satisfied with their diligence; 
 and the rapid composition of the DIGEST or PANDECTS in 
 three years will deserve praise or censure according to the 
 merit of the execution (A.D. 530, Dec. 15 A.D. 533, Dec. 
 16). From the library of Tribonian they chose forty, the 
 most eminent civilians of former times: 2,000 treatises were 
 comprised in an abridgement of 50 books ; and it has been 
 carefully recorded that three millions of lines or sentences 
 were reduced, in this abstract, to the moderate number of 
 150,000. The edition of this great work was delayed a month 
 after that of the INSTITUTES : and it seemed reasonable that 
 the elements should precede the digest of the Roman law. 
 As soon as the Emperor had approved their labors, he ratified, 
 by his legislative power, the speculations of these private
 
 JUSTINIAN. 343 
 
 citizens ; their commentaries on the Twelve Tables, the 
 Perpetual Edict, the laws of the people, and the decrees of 
 the Senate, succeeded to the authority of the text ; and the 
 text was abandoned as an useless, though venerable relic of 
 antiquity. The Code, the Pandects, and the Institutes, were 
 declared to be the legitimate system of civil jurisprudence ; 
 they alone were admitted in the tribunals, and they alone 
 were taught in the academies of Rome, Constantinople and 
 Berytus. 
 
 Since the Emperor declined the fame and envy of original 
 composition, we can only require at his hands method, choice, 
 and fidelity the humble, though indispensable, virtues of a 
 compiler. Among the various combinations of ideas it is 
 difficult to assign any reasonable preference ; but, as the order 
 of Justinian is different in his three works, it is possible that 
 all may be wrong, and it is certain that two cannot be right. 
 In the selection of ancient laws he seems to have viewed his 
 predecessors without jealousy and with equal regard : the 
 series could not ascend above the reign of Hadrian, and the 
 narrow distinction of Paganism and Christianity, introduced 
 by the superstition of Theodosius, had been abolished by the 
 consent of mankind. But the jurisprudence of the Pandects 
 is circumscribed within a period of an hundred years, from 
 the Perpetual Edict to the death of Alexander Severus ; the 
 civilians who lived under the first Caesars are seldom per- 
 mitted to speak, and only three names can be attributed to 
 the age of the Republic. The favorite of Justinian (it has 
 been fiercely urged) was fearful of encountering the light of 
 freedom and the gravity of Roman sages. But the ministers 
 of Justinian were instructed to labor not for the curiosity of 
 antiquarians, but for the immediate benefit of his subjects. 
 Perhaps, if the preceptors and friends of Cicero were still 
 alive, our candor would acknowledge that their intrinsic 
 merit was excelled by the school of Papinian and Ulpian. 
 The science of the laws is the slow growth of time and 
 experience, and the advantage both of method and materials 
 is naturally assumed by the most recent authors. But the 
 Emperor was guilty of fraud and forgery when he corrupted 
 the integrity of their text, inscribed with their venerable
 
 344 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 names the words and ideas of his servile reign, and sup- 
 pressed by the hand of power the pure and authentic 
 copies of their sentiments. The changes and interpolations 
 of Tribonian and his colleagues are excused by the pretence 
 of uniformity : but their cares have been insufficient, and the 
 antinomies, or contradictions, of the Code and Pandects, still 
 exercise the patience and subtlety of modern civilians. 
 
 A rumor, devoid of evidence, has been propagated by the 
 enemies of Justinian, that the jurisprudence of ancient Rome 
 was reduced to ashes by the author of the Pandects, from the 
 vain persuasion that it was now either false or superfluous. 
 Without usurping an office so invidious, the Emperor might 
 safely commit to ignorance and time the accomplishment of 
 this destructive wish. Before the invention of printing and 
 paper, the labor and materials of writing could be purchased 
 only by the rich ; and it may reasonably be computed that the 
 price of books was an hundred-fold their present value. The 
 books of jurisprudence were interesting to few and entertain- 
 ing to none ; the value was connected with present use, and 
 they sunk forever as soon as that use was superseded by the 
 innovations of fashion, superior merit, or public authority. 
 The copies of Papinian or Ulpian, which the reformer had pro- 
 scribed, were deemed unworthy of future notice ; the Twelve 
 Tables and praetorian edict insensibly vanished ; and the 
 monuments of ancient Rome were neglected or destroyed by 
 the envy and ignorance of the Greeks. Even the Pandects 
 themselves have escaped with difficulty and danger from the 
 common shipwreck, and criticism has pronounced that all the 
 editions and manuscripts of the West are derived from one 
 original. It was transcribed at Constantinople in the begin- 
 ning of the seventh century, was successively transported by 
 the accidents of war and commerce to Amalphi, Pisa, and 
 Florence, and is now deposited as a sacred relic in the ancient 
 Palace of the Republic. 
 
 It is the first care of a reformer to prevent any future 
 reformation. To maintain the text of the Pandects, the In- 
 stitutes, and the Code, the use of ciphers and abbreviations 
 was rigorously proscribed ; and as Justinian recollected that 
 the Perpetual Edict had been buried under the weight of
 
 JUSTINIAN. 345 
 
 commentators, he denounced the punishment of forgery 
 against the rash civilians who should presume to interpret or 
 pervert the will of their sovereign. But the Emperor was 
 unable to fix his own inconstancy ; and, while he boasted of 
 renewing the exchange of Diomede, of transmuting brass 
 into gold, he discovered the necessity of purifying the gold 
 from the mixture of baser alloy. Six years had not elapsed 
 from the publication of the Code before he condemned the 
 imperfect attempt by a new and more accurate edition of the 
 same work, which he enriched with two hundred of his own 
 laws and fifty decisions of the darkest and most intricate 
 points of jurisprudence (A.D. 534, Nov. 16). Every year, or, 
 according to Procopius, each day of his long reign was marked 
 by some legal innovation. Many of his acts were rescinded 
 by himself ; many were rejected by his successors ; many 
 have been obliterated by time ; but the number of sixteen 
 Edicts, and one hundred and sixty-eight Novels, has been 
 admitted into the authentic body of the civil jurisprudence 
 (A.D. 534-565)- 
 
 Monarchs seldom condescend to become the preceptors of 
 their subjects ; and some praise is due to Justinian, by whose 
 command an ample system was reduced to a short and ele- 
 mentary treatise. Among the various institutes of the Roman 
 law, those of Gaius were the most popular in the East and 
 West; and their use may be considered as an evidence of 
 their merit. They were selected by the Imperial delegates, 
 Tribonian, Theophilus, and Dorotheus; and the freedom 
 and purity of the Antonines was encrusted with the coarser 
 materials of a degenerate age. The same volume which in- 
 troduced the youth of Rome, Constantinople and Berytus to 
 the gradual study of the Code and Pandects, is still precious 
 to the historian, the philosopher and the magistrate. 
 E. GIBBON.
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FRANKLIN'S name, as he him- 
 self states in his Autobiogra- 
 phy, shows that his family 
 belonged to that sturdy race of 
 English yeomen, whose stub- 
 born self-reliance and daunt- 
 less courage have contributed 
 largely to England's greatness. 
 For three centuries his ances- 
 tors were settled at Ecton, in 
 Northamptonshire, England ; 
 but in 1682 Josias Franklin, 
 being a Nonconformist to the Church of England, emigrated 
 to America and settled in Boston. He was twice married 
 and had seventeen children, of whom Benjamin, born January 
 6, 1706, was the youngest son. Josias was a tallow-chandler, 
 and Benjamin, at the age of ten, was called from school to 
 assist in that occupation. At twelve he went to a cousin's to 
 learn the trade of cutler ; but when his brother James returned 
 from England to open a printing-office, Benjamin found there 
 his true destiny. He was a lover of books, and had already 
 gathered a number, and made himself familiar with Plutarch, 
 Bunyan and Defoe. 
 
 In 1721 James Franklin ventured to publish a newspaper, 
 called The New England Courant, the third regularly issued 
 in America. For its columns young Benjamin wrote several 
 articles, and as they were contributed anonymously, he had 
 the gratification of hearing them attributed by frequenters of 
 his brother's shop to some leading men of the town. The 
 boy worked diligently at case, and saved time from meals to 
 346
 
 . sb 
 
 ^ A ii k !. .;*' OwUUULry 
 
 UOtt ^^wuUwi^, C**JUu
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 347 
 
 read and study. James Franklin was arrested and imprisoned 
 for publishing a political article which gave offence to the 
 authorities ; but the paper was still issued in the name of Ben- 
 jamin. As it prospered under his management, and the 
 secret of his contributions became known, James became 
 jealous of his brother, and treated him with such harshness 
 that Benjamin ran away. He went to New York, but being 
 unable to obtain employment, crossed the Jerseys on foot and 
 assisted in rowing the boat that brought him down the Dela- 
 ware from Burlington to Philadelphia. 
 
 Andrew Bradford, the only printer in Philadelphia, was 
 not able to give Franklin employment, yet gave him lodging 
 till he could secure a place. This he obtained with a German 
 Jew named Keimer, who proposed to start a rival office, 
 though he knew little of the trade, and depended on Franklin, 
 then only seventeen years of age, to make his scheme success- 
 ful. The Boston runaway proved himself the man for the 
 place, and when his brother James wrote to him begging him 
 to return to his home and friends, Benjamin refused. Sir 
 William Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania, having discovered 
 Franklin's ability as a writer as well as printer, suggested 
 that he should start in business for himself, and promised to 
 use his influence on his behalf. Franklin therefore asked his 
 father's assistance ; but the prudent father thought him still 
 too young. Keith then proposed that Franklin should go to 
 London to procure an outfit, and furnished him letters of 
 introduction, which proved worthless. Franklin arrived in 
 London penniless, and was obliged to seek work as a compositor 
 and pressman. However, he wrote and printed on his own 
 account "A Short Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, 
 Pleasure and Pain," and by it obtained some literary friends, 
 including Mandeville and Sir Hans Sloane. He practiced 
 vegetarianism, and, to the astonishment of his fellow-pressmen, 
 used water only as a beverage, and was called by them the 
 "American Aquatic." 
 
 After spending eighteen months in London Franklin 
 returned to Philadelphia, and became chief clerk in the store 
 of Mr. Denham, who had been a fellow-passenger in both his 
 voyages. But Denham soon died, and Franklin returned to
 
 348 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Keimer as manager of his business. He next formed a part- 
 nership, which proved successful enough to enable him in 
 1729 to buy out his partner and purchase the Pennsylvania 
 Gazette. The paper had only ninety subscribers ; but under 
 Franklin's judicious management this number soon increased. 
 In September, 1 730, he was married to Miss Read, in whose 
 father's house he had lived for some time after his first arrival 
 in Philadelphia. In 1 732, under the name of Richard Saunders, 
 Franklin began the publication of an Almanac, which, being 
 continued for about twenty-five years, became famous as 
 "Poor Richards Almanac" and reached a sale of 10,000 
 copies annually. 
 
 Early in his career as printer, Franklin had formed a 
 club called "The Junto" for the discussion of questions of 
 morality, philosophy and politics. It met on Friday evenings, 
 and was continued for nearly forty years. It was the germ from 
 which sprang, in 1744, the venerable and learned "American 
 Philosophical Society." To the same source can be traced 
 the first subscription circulating library in America, which 
 was afterwards incorporated, in 1742, under the name of 
 "The Library Company of Philadelphia. " In 1736 Franklin 
 was unanimously chosen clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly, 
 and held this, his first political position, during the next year. 
 He was then elected by the people as a member of the As- 
 sembly, and so continued for ten years. In 1737 he was ap- 
 pointed by the British government Deputy Postmaster at 
 Philadelphia. In 1738 he organized a police force and a fire- 
 company for that city, and procured the paving of its streets. 
 
 In spite of the abundant labor involved in these numerous 
 public duties and self-imposed efforts for the general welfare, 
 Franklin prosecuted many physical experiments. The most 
 famous of these is his grand discovery that lightning, the 
 most imposing of meteorological phenomena, is identical 
 with the harmless electricity which is produced by the 
 rubbing of amber (Greek, electron). The remarkable experi- 
 ment by which he successfully proved this identity has, on 
 account of its danger, rarely been repeated. But Franklin's 
 thoroughly practical mind did not rest content with the dis- 
 covery of scientific truth. He proceeded to look for its
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKUN. 349 
 
 practical application, and by his invention of lightning con- 
 ductors sought to save property from the destruction to which 
 it is frequently exposed. Though much of his theory about 
 electricity, or the electric fluid as he called it, has been super- 
 seded by later researches, the fundamental discovery and its 
 important application remain his proudest titles to fame. 
 
 In 1748 Franklin, whose time was becoming engrossed 
 with public affairs, took David Hall, one of his most intelli- 
 gent workmen, into partnership in the printing business, and 
 was thus released from its active management. In the next 
 year he was the leader in a scheme for the advancement of 
 education, which, starting with a well-arranged academy, has 
 grown into the large and flourishing University of Pennsyl- 
 vania. The plan which he proposed for this institution in its 
 successive stages has received the highest commendation from 
 professional educators as plainly anticipating many improve- 
 ments which have only recently been introduced into practice. 
 Before this scheme was fairly developed, Franklin's public 
 spirit had found another outlet in raising subscriptions and 
 procuring from the Legislature an auxiliary grant to establish 
 the first hospital in Pennsylvania. This institution has long 
 been recognized as a model in every department. 
 
 In 1750 Franklin was appointed to his first public mission, 
 being sent to negotiate with a tribe of Indians; and in this, as 
 in all his diplomatic missions, he was eminently successful. 
 In 1753 he was appointed by the Crown Postmaster-General 
 for the American Colonies, with a salary of ^300. This over- 
 sight of the interests of several Colonies easily led the way to his 
 plan for a union of the Colonies against invasion from Canada, 
 when the French War began in 1754. The plan was approved 
 by the first Congress, composed of deputies from six Colonies 
 or Provinces, which met at Albany in 1754. But the attempt 
 was premature, and the plan, however great its merits, was 
 rejected by the colonial assemblies, as well as by the British 
 Government. Eleven years later a more successful Congress 
 was held in New York City, and again, after an interval of nine 
 years, came the First Continental Congress. But Franklin, 
 who had started the movement, was in England while these 
 later bodies were in session.
 
 350 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 The Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, descendants of Wil- 
 liam Penn, claimed immunity from taxation on the large 
 possessions which they held. The Assembly, pressed by the 
 burdens required for the public defence, insisted that all prop- 
 erty and property-holders should be treated alike. The 
 Governor, being appointed by the Proprietaries and responsi- 
 ble only to them, vetoed such bills. After the controversy 
 had continued for some time with increasing animosity, 
 Franklin, in 1757, was appointed a commissioner to visit 
 England and present the case of the people and Assembly. 
 After some vexatious delays he was successful. The Penns 
 gave up their claim, and agreed that their property should 
 bear its proper share of taxation. During the period of five 
 years thus spent in England, Franklin received many honors 
 from learned and scientific bodies. The Universities of 
 Oxford and St. Andrews conferred on him their highest 
 degrees. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, which 
 thus made amends for its former refusal to print in its 
 Transactions an account of his electrical experiments. To 
 the "Annual Register," of which Edmund Burke was then 
 editor, Franklin contributed a paper on ' ' The Peopling 
 of Countries," which called forth much comment. To 
 Franklin's advice is attributed the withdrawal of certain 
 troops from the Continent of Europe and the sending of them 
 against the French in Canada. The direct result of this 
 movement was the permanent transfer of that dominion from 
 the French to the English. 
 
 Franklin returned to Pennsylvania in 1762, and received 
 from the Assembly for his services a grant of ^5000. In 1 764 
 his election to that body was strongly opposed by the Proprie- 
 tary party, and he was defeated by a small majority. This 
 victory of his opponents, however, proved a Pyrrhic one, for 
 he was again appointed by the Assembly to be its agent in 
 England. He sailed November i, 1765, and in the next 
 year he was called to the bar of the House of Commons, and 
 underwent a memorable examination, which greatly increased 
 his political fame. He defended the cause of the American 
 Colonies with firmness and moderation. Had the Proprie- 
 taries of Pennsylvania been wise, they would have
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKL.IN. 351 
 
 appointed Franklin Governor of that Province, and have 
 allowed him abundant discretion in the use of his power. 
 But with the same obstinacy which characterized the British 
 Ministry, they refused to make concessions until it was too 
 late for their own interests. 
 
 During this period Franklin paid some visits to the Conti- 
 nent of Europe, and was everywhere received with the most 
 distinguished and respectful consideration. In Paris he was 
 introduced to many of the literary men; was elected an asso- 
 ciate of the Academy of Sciences, and was presented to the 
 King, Louis XV., and his sisters. He was thus prepared for 
 his future diplomatic work at the same court. 
 
 The closing of the port of Boston in 1773, and the quar- 
 tering of troops in that town, defeated part of Franklin's 
 mission. He was at this time agent not only for Pennsylva- 
 nia, but also for New Jersey, Georgia and Massachusetts. He 
 was busily engaged in presenting their remonstrances not 
 only before the Ministry and Parliament, but before the 
 British people, whose rights, he maintained, were involved 
 in the treatment accorded to the Colonists. At length, finding 
 his endeavors to secure an equitable and honorable settlement 
 of the difficulties fruitless, he sailed for Philadelphia on 
 March 4, 1775. The day after he landed he was elected a 
 member of the Continental Congress, then assembled. Shortly 
 after he had entered on his duties there, he wrote a letter to 
 a member of Parliament, who claimed to be still his friend 
 in spite of political differences, which is worth reproducing 
 as showing his spirit and his wit : 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, July 5, 1775. 
 
 MR. STRAHAN, You are a member of that Parliament, and have formed 
 part of that majority, which has condemned my native country to destruc- 
 tion. You have begun to burn our towns, and to destroy their inhabitants. 
 
 Look at your hands ! They are stained with the blood of your relations 
 and your acquaintances. 
 
 You and I were long friends. You are at present my enemy, and I am 
 yours, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 In the next year Franklin was a member of the committee 
 that drafted the famous Declaration of Independence, of 
 which it has been truthfully said: "The burning page of
 
 352 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Jefferson bears Franklin's calmer lines." When the members 
 were about to vote on this document, Franklin's ready wit 
 was displayed again. " We must be unanimous," said John 
 Hancock, the President of Congress, " there must be no 
 pulling different ways : we must all hang together. " " Yes," 
 said Franklin, "we must indeed all hang together, or most 
 assuredly we shall all hang separately. ' ' 
 
 The British ministry had now begun to see its error in the 
 harsh treatment of the Colonies. Lord Howe was sent with 
 full powers to concede everything but absolute independence ; 
 but Franklin and the other Commissioners whom Congress 
 had appointed to confer with him were instructed to insist 
 upon this basis, and the negotiations came to an abrupt 
 termination. Franklin was next despatched, in company with 
 Samuel Chase and Rev. John Carroll, to persuade the French 
 Canadians to join the American cause. These people had 
 been too recently brought under the British domination to 
 appreciate the causes of the present strife, and the mission was 
 fruitless. Franklin returned to Philadelphia to become presi- 
 dent of the Convention for framing a State Constitution for 
 Pennsylvania. When this task was successfully completed, 
 the veteran statesman was, at the age of seventy, sent to 
 France, in conjunction with Arthur Lee and Silas Deane, to 
 present the cause of the United States to the favorable con- 
 sideration of the French Government. Deane was a faithful 
 helper, and Lee was a captious critic ; but Franklin was the 
 effective negotiator who obtained from the French Govern- 
 ment the material aid absolutely necessary to the success of 
 the American cause. The French Government was finally 
 induced to form an offensive and defensive alliance with the 
 United States, February 6th, 1778. Franklin had fixed his 
 residence at Passy, near Paris, and his political engagements 
 were interspersed and even furthered by his attention to 
 science and by various publications, which were the constant 
 subject of talk . He became for a time the idol of the French 
 Court and people; but amid all the acclamations and flatteries 
 which attended him, he never lost the practical wisdom which 
 had ever distinguished him, nor did he ever neglect the 
 interests of his country to promote any private ends. He
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKUN. 353 
 
 remained in France until England was brought to consent to 
 recognize the independence of her late Colonies. The defini- 
 tive treaty was signed on September 30, 1783, by himself, 
 and, on the part of Great Britain, by David Hartley. He 
 continued to represent the United States at the French Court 
 for two years more. 
 
 At last Franklin was recalled by his own request, and was 
 succeeded by Jefferson. " You replace Dr. Franklin, I hear," 
 said the Count de Vergennes to Jefferson, when they first met. 
 "I succeed him; no one can replace him," was Jefferson's 
 significant and magnanimous reply. 
 
 Franklin, on his return, was elected a member of the 
 Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and was soon 
 made its President. In 1787 he was one of the delegates 
 from that State in the convention called to frame the Con- 
 stitution of the United States. His long experience in 
 statesmanship and his acknowledged practical wisdom were 
 constantly brought into requisition in the arduous task of 
 forming a permanent Federal Union. His last political act 
 was an address to his colleagues entreating them to sacrifice 
 their own private views with regard to various details on 
 which they desired amendments, for the sake of unanimity 
 in recommending to the people the new Constitution as deter- 
 mined by the majority. He had the pleasure of seeing this 
 document ratified by a sufficient number of States to give it 
 vitality, and of witnessing a revival of prosperity after the 
 depression and exhaustion of the Revolutionary War. 
 
 Franklin's last printed essay appeared in the Federal 
 Gazette of March, 1789, and was signed " Historicus. " After 
 a short illness, he died April I7th, 1790, at the age of 84. 
 He was buried in Christ Church Cemetery in Philadelphia, 
 where a small marble slab, level with the surface of the 
 earth, and close to a busy street, bears the simple inscription 
 BENJAMIN AND DEBORAH FRANKLIN. 
 
 Franklin's son, William Temple, was the Royal Governoi 
 of New Jersey at the time of the Revolution, and, to the grief 
 of his father, adhered to the Royal cause. He subsequently 
 fixed his residence in England. 
 
 Franklin made various bequests and donations to cities, 
 
 23
 
 354 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 public bodies and individuals. Among his papers, written 
 when he was but twenty-three years of age, was found this 
 original epitaph : 
 
 THE BODY 
 
 OF 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 PRINTER, 
 
 (LIKE THE COVER OF AN OLD BOOK, 
 
 ITS CONTENTS TORN OUT 
 AND STRIPPED OF ITS LETTERING AND GILDING) 
 
 LIES HERE FOOD FOR WORMS ; 
 
 YET THE WORK ITSELF SHALL NOT BE LOST, 
 
 FOR IT WILL (AS HE BELIEVED) APPEAR ONCE MORB 
 
 IN A NEW 
 
 AND MORE BEAUTIFUL EDITION 
 CORRECTED AND AMENDED 
 
 BY 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 It is rare that a single mind establishes claims so various 
 as those of Benjamin Franklin. Unceasing industry, perse- 
 verance, business-like habits, general information and readi- 
 ness in the use of his pen, secured to him a large circle of 
 friends, and raised him from poverty to affluence. He was 
 bold, speculative and inquiring in physical as well as in meta- 
 physical science. He carried into public life the same char- 
 acteristics which had marked his private career, and by 
 honesty, fair dealing and a zealous and patriotic spirit, he 
 achieved the highest success as a statesman and diplomatist. 
 A sincere believer in the equal rights of all men, he estimated 
 at their true worth the various distinctions which he found 
 introduced into the civilized nations and polite society of 
 Europe. In his personal bearing Franklin was sedate and 
 weighty. He had no stately eloquence ; he spoke and wrote 
 sententiously. Men instinctively felt his worth, and submitted 
 themselves to his wisdom. ' ' Seest thou a man diligent in 
 his business? He shall stand before kings." 
 
 "His country," says Bigelow, "owes much to Franklin 
 for his service in various public capacities ; the world owes 
 much to the fruits of his pen ; but his greatest contribution
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 355 
 
 to the welfare of mankind, probably, was what he did by his 
 example and life to dignify manual labor. While Diderot 
 was teaching the dignity of labor in France and the folly of 
 social standards that proscribed it, Franklin was illustrating 
 it in America, and proving by his own most conclusive exam- 
 ple that 'Honor and fame from no condition rise.' There 
 are few born into this world so ill-conditioned that they can- 
 not find comfort and encouragement from some portion of the 
 life of Franklin ; none of any station who may not meditate 
 on it with advantage. ' ' 
 
 FRANKLIN'S DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Franklin shook the dust of England from his feet, as a 
 subject of King George, when he set sail for America in 1775. 
 When he returned to Europe, it was to watch and to baffle 
 from Passy the clumsy efforts of British ministers to make a 
 solitude where they had failed to maintain peace. He was so 
 far a diplomatist that he had studied human character for 
 seventy years. Yet in England his diplomacy had only exas- 
 perated. In France he accomplished as much against Eng- 
 land as Washington with all his victories. His knowledge of 
 French was so indifferent that on one occasion, during the sit- 
 ting of the Academy, he was observed to "applaud the loudest 
 at his own praises." He did the work, but he never learned 
 the dialect of diplomacy. He was that strange creature a 
 republican at the court of a pure monarchy. In Paris his 
 defects were virtues. His scientific fame spoke for itself in 
 purest Parisian French. As a politician, to the court he was 
 the dire enemy of England ; to the jaded society of Paris he 
 was* the representative of a new world of feeling and thought. 
 His New England astuteness seemed to Parisian courtiers 
 patriarchal innocence. His naive stories and illustrations, 
 which a thousand admirers were ready to translate and repeat 
 in every circle of the town, were as bracing as quinine. His 
 very costume, "his hair hanging, his spectacles on his nose, 
 his white hose and white hat under his arm," in the midst of 
 absurd perukes and brocaded suits, came like a revelation of 
 nature to the victims of fashion. He became, to his own 
 amusement, tb e idol of Paris. ' ' Mr. Franklin, ' ' writes a con-
 
 356 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 temporary Parisian, "is besieged, followed, admired, adored, 
 wherever he shows himself, with a fury, a fanaticism, capable 
 no doubt of flattering him and doing him honor, but which 
 at the same time proves that we shall never be reasonable." 
 He tells his daughter that there have been sold incredible 
 numbers of clay medallions of him, "some to be set in the 
 lids of snuff-boxes, and some so small as to be worn in rings. ' ' 
 "Pictures, busts and prints have made your father's face as 
 well known as that of the moon." Versailles was never 
 perhaps quite certain that the New England philosopher was 
 not of red Indian descent. But love does not reason. Paris 
 had fallen in love with Franklin, and in homage to him even 
 grew enamored of simplicity. 
 
 No Englishman was ever so caressed in Paris, for the very 
 reason that Franklin was and was not an Englishman. As 
 the American sage and philosopher, he performed as much 
 for his country as he accomplished by his diplomatic skill. 
 But he was a diplomatist, too, and of high rank in the art. 
 Colleagues and rivals, like his detractor Arthur Lee, or even 
 Jay and Adams, who, as Mr. Fitzherbert wrote, "rather fear 
 than are attached to him," might be pardoned for inability to 
 understand the source of his influence. They did not venture 
 to deny the fact. In the only serious instance in which, in 
 reference to the disputed fishery and boundary rights, he was 
 accused of neglecting the interests of his countrymen, his 
 colleagues certified that he had defended those interests with 
 his counsels and his authority. On another and more 
 important point, he not merely co-operated, but took the 
 initiative. 
 
 A man who had gone through the campaign with Brad- 
 dock, who had shared in the apprehensions and labors of the 
 crisis which followed the defeat of Braddock, and exulted in 
 the triumph of Wolfe, was not likely to depreciate the value 
 of Canada. When the war commenced, he sought to induce 
 France to help the Colonies to wrest Canada and Nova 
 Scotia from England. As soon as the negotiations for peace 
 with England opened, his great efforts were directed to per- 
 suade the English commissioner, Richard Oswald, to see the 
 utility of ceding those territories as proofs of a desire for
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKUN. 357 
 
 that "sweet" thing, a "reconciliation," and as a safeguard 
 against future causes of strife. Oswald, a prosperous Scotch 
 merchant was, as Franklin says of him, an old man who had 
 "nothing at heart but the good of mankind, and putting a 
 stop to mischief." But he does not seem to have been fit to 
 cope with a consummate philanthropist like Franklin. He 
 had happened to let fall an opinion that "the giving up of 
 Canada to the English at the last peace had been a politic 
 act in France, for that it had weakened the ties between 
 England and her colonies, and that he himself had predicted 
 from it the late revolution. ' ' Franklin had already developed 
 a scheme on paper which he lent Oswald to read and meditate 
 upon. The plan was that ' ' Britain should voluntarily offer 
 to give up the Province, though on these conditions, that she 
 shall in all times coming have and enjoy the right of free 
 trade thither, unencumbered with any duties whatsoever ; that 
 so much of the vacant lands shall be sold as will raise a sum 
 sufficient to pay for the houses burned by the British troops 
 and their Indians, and also to indemnify the royalists for the 
 confiscation of their estates." Oswald, he says, "told me that 
 nothing in his judgment could be clearer, more satisfactory 
 and convincing than the reasonings in that paper ; that he 
 would do his utmost to impress Lord Shelburne with them." 
 Franklin, in reporting by letter this conversation to his 
 brother Peace-Commissioner Adams, describes Oswald's 
 remarks rather more fully than in the semi-official journal 
 he kept. He tells Adams on April 20, 1782, his proposal 
 about Canada : " Mr. Oswald liked much the idea, but said 
 they were too much straitened for money to make any pecu- 
 niary reparation ; but he should endeavor to persuade theii 
 doing it this way." Oswald went to England to confer with 
 Lord Shelburne, taking Franklin's paper with him. On his 
 return to Paris, he informed Franklin that " it seemed to have 
 made an impression, and he had reason to believe that it 
 might be settled to our satisfaction toward the end of the 
 treaty ; but in his own mind he wished it might not be men- 
 tioned at the beginning ; that his lordship indeed said he had 
 not imagined reparation would be expected, and he wondered 
 I should not know whether it was intended to demand it."
 
 358 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS- 
 
 But it has now been proved by the publication of the 
 French dispatches, that no one was more bitterly opposed 
 than the French Ministers to the annexation of Canada to 
 the United States. Eager as they were to promote the separ- 
 ation of the British Provinces in America from the mother 
 country, M. de Vergennes was entirely opposed to any exten- 
 sion of the emancipated territory ; and he perhaps still cher- 
 ished a hope that the French Provinces in America, which 
 had been conquered by England only twenty years before, 
 might one day be brought back to their allegiance to the 
 Court of Versailles. 
 
 Franklin, as a diplomatist, was not peremptory in insist- 
 ing on the rights of his country, still less on his own dignity. 
 But he studied the French men and the French women who 
 ruled France, and he probed to the bottom the instincts of 
 the French governing class, without losing his own. About 
 alliances in general he was not solicitous. Before he started 
 on his own mission to Europe he had in Congress, though in 
 vain, deprecated the sending a ' ' virgin ' ' republic ' ' suitor- 
 ing" for the friendship of European powers. "It seems to 
 me," he writes, "that we have in most instances hurt our 
 credit and importance by sending all over Europe, begging 
 alliances, and soliciting declarations of our independence. 
 The nations, perhaps, from thence seemed to think that our 
 independence is something they have to sell, and that we do 
 not offer enough for it." Writing to Jay, at Madrid, in April, 
 1782, he exclaims : ' ' Spain has taken four years to consider 
 whether she should treat with us or not. Give her forty, and 
 let us in the meantime mind our own business." 
 
 In fact, he cared little for other European alliances than 
 the American alliance with France. To cement that he was 
 ready to be all complaisance. His tact alone prevented a 
 rupture with the French ministers through the signature, in 
 December, 1782, behind their backs, of the preliminary treaty 
 between Great Britain and the United States. His brother 
 commissioners, Jay and Adams, suspected that the French 
 Government wished to protract the negotiations for its own 
 objects, however the United States might suffer by the pro- 
 longation of the war. Their suspicion was not without
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 359 
 
 foundation; and Franklin, when he understood the facts, 
 acquiesced in their decision to proceed independently. But 
 he had the wisdom, which his colleagues lacked, to be con- 
 tent with starting peace on its route without breaking down 
 the bridge by which it had crossed before he knew whether it 
 might not be useful for a retreat. To the French minister's 
 reproaches for the departure from good-fellowship, he replied 
 by the soft answer which turneth away wrath. He defends 
 himself, and Jay and Adams, against the charge of anything 
 worse than "indiscretion" and "neglect of a point of bien- 
 seance" To those two offences he pleads guilty. But he 
 warns M. de Vergennes not to forget the effect of a quarrel 
 upon ' ' the English, who, I just now learn, flatter themselves 
 they have already divided us." 
 
 The friendly relations of France and the United States 
 had seemed in danger of being completely overclouded when 
 Franklin's amiable apologies restored peace. Two days after 
 the French ministerial remonstrance, the United States 
 actually received from the French treasury a loan of six 
 million francs, which infused new life into their military 
 operations. Jay and Adams, " who, " alleges M. de Vergennes, 
 * ' do not pretend to recognize the rules of courtesy in regard 
 to us," could never have obtained that aid. Franklin's 
 brother commissioners underrated the gain to the United 
 States from French succor. Without the diversion France 
 created in Europe, and the subsidies she granted, it is almost 
 incredible that the Congress should not have been compelled 
 to make a humiliating peace with King George. Franklin 
 understood that the French alliance was vital to his people, 
 and he spared no pains that he might confirm it. As Jefferson 
 said of him, in extolling his diplomatic dexterity, he, by his 
 reasonableness, moderation and temper, so won the confidence 
 of the French ministers that " it may truly be said they were 
 more under his influence than he under theirs." 
 
 Franklin did not see the instability of that charming 
 Parisian society to which he discoursed in his shrewdly witty 
 parables. We suspect that he only affected not to perceive 
 the selfish motives at the bottom of the invaluable assistance 
 the French nation and government afforded his country.
 
 360 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Chivalrous Frenchmen like Lafayette, in advocating the 
 American cause, were more protesting against court absolu- 
 tism at home than against the imperial tyranny of Great 
 Britain. Frenchmen generally and their rulers, when they 
 succored the United States, were merely fighting, as they had 
 fought a generation earlier, England in America. They 
 longed to recover Canada. When they had convinced them- 
 selves that their American allies would not consent to their 
 return as sovereigns to any part of the North American con- 
 tinent, they liked better to leave their old dominions in the 
 hands of England than struggle for their transfer to the eman- 
 cipated British colonies. While Great Britain remained still 
 a neighbor, they believed the Republic would not be able to 
 dispense with the shelter of French protection. Franklin, 
 who gauged human motives, especially when not altogether 
 noble, with unerring sagacity, was possibly more desirous to 
 convince Robert Livingston than himself convinced, when 
 he wrote : ' ' The ideas of aggrandizement by conquest are 
 out of fashion. The wise here think France great enough ; 
 and its ambition at present seems to be only that of justice 
 and magnanimity toward other nations, fidelity and utility 
 to its allies." EDINBURGH REVIEW.
 
 
 
 GUIS IX, of France, whom Mignet calls 
 "the most religious and the most just 
 of men," was born at Poissy, April 25, 
 1215. He succeeded his father, Louis 
 VIII, on the throne, in November, 
 1226, when a boy of twelve, under the 
 regency of his noble mother, Blanche 
 of Castile. It was a critical time for the 
 cause of royalty in France, for the feudal 
 
 lords were eager to curtail its growing power again. The 
 queen-widow hastened to have her boy crowned at Rheirns, 
 and caused the first attempt at revolt of the disaffected nobles 
 to fall flat. She gained their leader, Theobald, Count of 
 Champagne, and others, for her cause, and when the barons 
 assembled at Corbeil, to seize the young King on his passage 
 from Orleans to Paris, she prudently stopped at Montlheri, 
 and sent for help to the Parisians, who came out in mass and 
 compelled the Confederates to beat a retreat (February, 1227). 
 After some years of conflict with the nobles, their league was 
 broken up by the Treaty of St. Aubin de Cormier (1231). 
 But the struggle of the barons and the great feudal bishops 
 against the King was not definitely ended until 1242, at which 
 time also Raymond VII, who had come to terms in the Treaty 
 of Meaux in 1229, made one more attempt to secure the inde- 
 pendence of the South. He was unsuccessful, however, and 
 the King received him on the terms of the old treaty. 
 
 During the earlier years of the King's reign, his mother, 
 while triumphing over her formidable foes, instilled into the 
 mind of her sickly son the religious sentiment and conscien- 
 
 361
 
 362 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 tiousness, the nobility and honesty of purpose, the justice and 
 self-denial which won for him the admiration of his fellow- 
 men, and the appellation "Saint. " (The latter is more than a 
 mere name bestowed in gratitude and respect, for he was 
 canonized by Boniface VIII in 1297.) The nobility of his 
 character is shown in many of his subsequent acts. His firm 
 stand against the clergy, whenever they were in the wrong, 
 his upright conduct towards Frederick II, of Germany, in the 
 face of Gregory IX' s fierce opposition to the Emperor, who 
 had been excommunicated; his support of the barons in their 
 efforts to restrict the jurisdiction of the clergy, his bold 
 attack on feudal rights, forbidding judicial combats and 
 private warfare, limiting feudal jurisdiction and instituting a 
 right of appeal to the King in all cases, his firmness and 
 gentleness when held a prisoner by the Saracens, his unselfish 
 devotion to his crusaders and fellow-captives, all serve to 
 emphasize his clear sense of justice. 
 
 In 1234 Louis was married to Margaret, daughter of Ray- 
 mond Berenger, Count of Provence ; but the young princess 
 suffered much from the imperious character of her mother-in- 
 law, who was jealous of any other influence but her own, so 
 that the young people were obliged to meet by stealth. Yet 
 even after taking the reins of government in his hands, in 
 1236, on attaining his majority, the King still submitted to 
 his mother. 
 
 There was peace in the young king's land, but strife and 
 discord without, and his sense of justice was brought into 
 strong relief by the part he played in international affairs, as, 
 for instance, in the great struggle between Pope Gregory IX 
 and Frederic II, of Germany. When the Saracens, hard 
 pressed by the Tartars, who were threatening Europe, had 
 made an unsuccessful appeal to France and England for help, 
 the Germans met the invading hordes at the Danube and drove 
 them back. But this great service to Christendom did not 
 prevent the Pontiff from excommunicating the Emperor and 
 offering his crown to Louis for his brother, Robert of Artois. 
 Saint Louis, however, refused it in vigorous language, criti- 
 cising the Pope's action and defending Frederick. And this 
 course of wise impartiality he always consistently pursued.
 
 LOUIS IX. 363 
 
 In 1241 his attempt to make his brother, Alphonse, Lord of 
 Poitou and Auvergne aroused the resistance of the nobles, who 
 gained the aid of Henry III, of England ; but Louis fell upon 
 them vigorously, and brought them to terms. Not long after, 
 he declared that all barons holding fiefs, under himself and also 
 under the King of England, would have to choose between 
 them, and nearly all cast their fortunes with his. During this 
 time, also, Raymond VII made his unsuccessful attempt to 
 regain the independence of the South, and in 1244 the long 
 and horrible persecution of the Albigenses closed with their 
 total extinction. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the devout King had been preparing 
 tor the great act of his reign, the Crusade. The Pope tried in 
 vain to turn him from his purpose and obtain protection from 
 him against the Emperor Frederic, and in the summer of 1248 
 Louis set sail from Aigues Mortes. After eight months spent 
 at Cyprus, the rendezvous, the expedition pressed on to 
 Egypt, for there was centered the power of the Moslems. In 
 June, 1249, a landing was effected, and the town of Damietta 
 taken. So far all had gone well, and the time was propitious 
 for prompt and decisive action, for discord reigned among the 
 enemy. But the King delayed, waiting for the waters of the 
 Nile to fall, and when he finally set out, five and one-half 
 months later, disease and disorganization had overtaken his 
 army. Mansourah was reached after more unnecessary waste 
 of time and men. The Saracens, at first driven back, soon 
 rallied, and gave the Christians fierce battle. It was a hotly 
 contested day ; but the valor of the gallant knights could not 
 compensate for the want of concerted action and of a capable 
 commander. Three days later the Christians succeeded in 
 beating off an attack only after terrible loss, and then more 
 dangerous delays ensued : the dead were buried and Lent was 
 rigorously kept. Disease spread, and the King, who refused 
 to leave his men, fell ill and was taken prisoner. The com- 
 mon soldiers were butchered by the Saracens; the King 
 finally agreed to cede Damietta, pay a million bezants,* and 
 keep a ten years' truce in return for his freedom, and that of 
 
 *A gold coin, deriving its name from Byzantium, and worth not quite 
 ten English shillings, or $2.50.
 
 364 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 his barons. With the sad remnant of his army he made his 
 way to the Holy Land, landing at Ptolemais. Sickness over- 
 took them, and the King's two brothers returned to France. 
 Pope Innocent, like all of Europe, bewailed the danger of 
 Louis, but instead of aiding him invoked help in his work of 
 crushing the Hohenstaufen. But that was refused by France 
 in indignant and vigorous terms. Meanwhile, the King 
 spent four years in Palestine, agitating for the release of the 
 prisoners in Egypt, and strengthening the slight hold which 
 the Christians had in the Orient. On the death of his mother 
 he returned to France, reaching Paris in September, 1254. 
 
 For over fifteen years he now proved a power for good at 
 home by his firmness, justice and devout spirit. He made 
 treaties with King James of Aragon in 1258, and Henry of 
 England in 1259, gi ym & U P various districts for the sake of 
 peace, built many benevolent institutions and churches, and 
 ruled his country wisely and justly, so that peace and plenty 
 reigned in his dominions. But his great passion proved too 
 strong : he took the cross again in 1267, despite the advice of 
 prudent counselors, and after three years' preparation, set 
 sail in 1270 for Tunis, in Northern Africa. After he had 
 landed there, however, disease overtook the army, and he, 
 being extremely weak, proved an easy prey to dysentery, 
 succumbing August 25, 1 270. 
 
 Such was the end of this truthful, honorable and chival- 
 rous King, the last great crusader, u the most loyal man of 
 his age. ' ' Devout almost to superstition, he could persecute 
 like a zealot in the manner of his time, and yet faced the 
 Pope and his subordinates boldly, when he thought them in 
 the wrong. Modest and gentle in his ways, he was yet 
 always firm when he felt that he was in the right. He was 
 not skilled in the art of warfare : to his poor generalship was 
 largely due the failure of his ill-fated first crusade. But he 
 was unselfish and self-denying : he confronted death to stand 
 by his men. Saint Louis did much for his country : he 
 enlarged the extent of the kingdom by conquest as well as by 
 purchase; reformed the law; centralized the powers of govern- 
 ment, both civil and ecclesiastical, in every way; established 
 a better currency; and if, as the founder of absolute monarchy
 
 LOUIS IX. 365 
 
 in France, he was ultimately the cause of much distress, yet 
 this was the only road to national greatness. Such was this 
 "king of kings," as Matthew Paris styled him, whose many 
 sterling qualities could win the approbation even of a Voltaire. 
 For that cynic wrote of him, "Louis IX seemed a prince 
 destined to reform Europe, had that been possible ; he made 
 France triumphant and gave it a definite policy, and he was 
 in everything a model man. His piety, which was that of an 
 anchorite, did not prevent him from having royal virtues; his 
 liberality did not affect his wise economy ; he was able to 
 bring profound statecraft into accord with strict justice, and 
 is possibly the only sovereign who merits this praise." 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN CRUSADE OF ST. Louis. 
 
 It was not a mere war, an expedition, which St. Louis 
 projected, but the foundation of a great colony in Egypt. 
 The idea of that day was, and not unsupported by probability, 
 that to conquer and keep possession of the Holy Land it was 
 essential to have Egypt to rest upon. Thus he carried with 
 him a large quantity of agricultural implements and tools of 
 every kind. In order to maintain a regular communication, 
 he desiderated a port of his own on the Mediterranean and, 
 as the Provengal harbors belonged to his brother, Charles of 
 Anjou, he formed that of Aigues-Mortes. 
 
 He first sailed to Cyprus, where he took in an immense 
 stock of provisions, and where he made a long stay, either 
 waiting for his brother Alphonse, who headed his reserve, or 
 perhaps to train himself to an eastern clime in this new world. 
 Here he was amused by watching the ambassadors of the 
 Asiatic princes, who came to observe the great King of the 
 Franks. First, came those of the Christians, from Constan- 
 tinople, Armenia and Syria ; those of the Mussulmans, and, 
 among others, the envoys of that Old Man of the Mountain, 
 of whom there ran so many stories. Even the Mongols sent 
 their representatives; and St. Louis, who supposed them 
 favorable to Christianity from their hate to the other Mahom- 
 etans, entered into a league with them against the two popes 
 of Islamism the Caliphs of Bagdad and of Cairo. 
 
 When the Asiatics had recovered from their first fears,
 
 366 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 they grew familiar with the idea of the great invasion of the 
 Franks ; who were becoming enervated by the abundance and 
 seductions of a tempting clime. At length the King deter- 
 mined on setting out for Egypt, and had the choice of Dami- 
 etta or of Alexandria as a landing-place. Borne by a gale 
 towards the first, he attacked in all haste and leaped into the 
 water, sword in hand. The light troops of the Saracens, who 
 were drawn up on the shore, tried one or two charges, but 
 finding the Franks immovable, they fled at full gallop. The 
 strong town of Damietta, which might have held out, surren- 
 dered on the first alarm. Master of such a place, the next 
 step was an immediate attack on Alexandria or Cairo. But 
 the' same faith which inspired the crusade, led to the neglect 
 of the human means which would have secured its success. 
 Besides, the King, a feudal king, no doubt was unable to 
 force his followers from the plunder of a rich city. It was a 
 repetition of Cyprus ; they only allowed themselves to be 
 drawn off when wearied of their own excesses. There was 
 another excuse ; Alphonse and the reserve had not arrived. 
 
 The Count of Brittany, Mauclerc, already experienced in 
 Eastern warfare, advised Alexandria's being first secured ; the 
 King insisted on making for Cairo. This led to the army's 
 plunging into that country, intersected with canals, and fol- 
 lowing that route which had been so fatal to John de Brienne. 
 The march was singularly slow. Instead of throwing bridges 
 over the canals, they made a causeway across each ; and they 
 thus took a month to march the ten leagues between Damietta 
 and Mansourah, to gain which latter town they undertook a 
 dike which was to stem the current of the Nile, and afford 
 them a passage. During this labor, they suffered fearfully 
 from the Greek fire directed against them by the Saracens, and 
 which, cased in their armor as they were, burned them beyond 
 the possibility of relief. Fifty days were consumed, when 
 they learned that they might have spared themselves all the 
 labor and trouble; a Bedouin showed them a ford (Feb. 8th). 
 
 The vanguard, led by Robert of Artois, effected the pass- 
 age with some difficulty. The Templars, who happened to 
 be with him, recommended his waiting until his brother 
 should come up ; but the fiery youth scorned their advice as
 
 I.OUIS IX. 367 
 
 that of cowards, and spurred into the town like a madman 
 through the open gates. He allowed his horse to be led by a 
 brave knight who was deaf, and who cried out, with a stun- 
 ning voice, ' ' Upon them, upon them, down with the enemy ! " 
 The Templars dared not remain behind : all entered, all per- 
 ished. The Mamelukes, recovered from their surprise, barri- 
 caded the streets and crushed the assailants from the windows. 
 
 The King, as yet ignorant of what had befallen, crossed 
 over and encountered the Saracens. He fought valiantly. 
 "There, where I was on foot with my knights, " says Joinville, 
 "the King came, wounded, with all his battle, and with great 
 sound and noise of trumpets and nakers, and halted on a raised 
 way ; but never was so goodly a man at arms seen, for he 
 topped all his people from the shoulders upward, and had a 
 golden helm on his head and a German sword in his hand." 
 In the evening, he was made acquainted with the death of the 
 Count d'Artois: he exclaimed, "that God had wished for 
 what he had given him," and then big tears fell from his eyes. 
 Some one came to inquire about his brother: "All that I 
 know," he said, "is that he is in paradise." 
 
 The Mamelukes returning from all sides to the charge, tha. 
 French defended their intrenchments until night-fall. The 
 Count of Anjou, who had pushed on the nearest to Cairo, was 
 on foot, in the midst of his knights, when he was attacked at 
 one and the same time by two troops of Saracens, the one on 
 foot, the other on horseback ; he was overwhelmed with the 
 Greek fire, and was considered to be utterly discomfited. The 
 King saved him, by breaking through the Mussulmans ; while 
 his horse's mane was all covered with the Greek fire. The 
 Count of Poictiers was for a moment a prisoner ; but was luckily 
 rescued by the butchers, sutlers and women of the army. 
 The Sire de Briangon could only keep his ground under cover 
 of the Duke of Burgundy's machines, which played across 
 the river. Gui de Mauvoisin, covered with the Greek fire, 
 hardly escaped from the flames. The battalions of the Count 
 of Flanders, of the barons from beyond the sea, commanded 
 by Gui d'Ibelin and Gauthier de Chatillon, had almost 
 throughout the day the advantage over the enemy. The 
 latter, at last, sounded the retreat ; and Louis returned thanks
 
 368 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 to God, in the midst of the whole army, for the aid which He 
 had vouchsafed him. 
 
 Louis must soon have seen that success was impossible, 
 and have desired to retire on Damietta ; but he could not 
 resolve on the step. Indisputably, the large number of 
 wounded in the camp rendered retreat difficult ; but every day 
 added to the numbers of the sick. Encamped on the slime of 
 Egypt, and chiefly fed on the eelpouts of the Nile, which 
 devoured so many corpses, strange and hideous maladies broke 
 out in the army. Their gums swelled and grew rotten, and 
 they could only swallow by having the proud-flesh cut away ; 
 and the camp sounded with dolorous cries. The deaths 
 increased daily. One day during the epidemic, Joinville, sick 
 and hearing mass in his bed, was obliged to rise and support 
 his almoner, who was on the point of fainting: "So sup- 
 ported, he concluded the administration of the sacrament, said 
 entire mass and never sang more." 
 
 The dead inspired horror ; each fearing to touch and to 
 bury them. In vain did the King, full of respect for these 
 martyrs, set the example and assist in burying them with his 
 own hands. The epidemic was daily increased by the num- 
 ber of bodies left without burial ; and retreat was the only 
 chance of saving the survivors the sad and doubtful retreat 
 of a diminished, weakened and discouraged army. The King, 
 who had at last fallen sick like the rest, might have secured 
 his own safety ; but he would not consent to abandon his 
 people. Dying as he was, he determined to retreat by land, 
 while the sick were embarked on the Nile. To so extreme a 
 state of weakness was he reduced, that his attendants were 
 soon compelled to bear him into a small house. 
 
 However, the march was soon stopped by the Saracens, 
 who hung upon the Christians by land, and lay in wait for 
 them on the river. A fearful massacre took place, notwith- 
 standing their repeated cries of surrender, the Saracens fear- 
 ing to make too many prisoners. At length they drove the 
 crusaders into an enclosed place and summoned them to deny 
 Christ : many consented ; among others, all Joinville's seamen. 
 
 The King and the prisoners of note had been reserved for 
 future consideration. Jerusalem was demanded by the Sultan
 
 IXHJIS IX. 369 
 
 as the price of their liberty : they objected that it belonged to 
 the Emperor of Germany, and offered to surrender Damietta, 
 and pay a ransom of four hundred thousand golden bezants. 
 The Sultan had consented to the terms, when the Mamelukes, 
 to whom he owed his victory, revolted and slew him before 
 the galleys in which the French were kept prisoners. Their 
 situation was exceedingly critical ; and, in fact, the murderers 
 forced their way to the King. " The ruffian who had torn out 
 the Sultan's heart stalked up to him with his bloody hands, 
 and said, 'What will you give me for having slain your 
 enemy, who would have killed you ? ' And the King answered 
 him not a word. There came as many as thirty with bared 
 swords and their Danish axes in their hands into our galley. ' ' 
 Joinville goes on to say, ' ' And I inquired of my lord, Baudouin 
 d'Ibelin, who was well acquainted with their tongue, what 
 they said. He replied, that they said that they had come to 
 cut our heads off. Numbers began to confess themselves to a 
 brother of the Trinity, who was with Count William of 
 Flanders ; but, for my part, not one of my sins would come 
 into my head. On the contrary, I thought that the more I 
 should defend myself, or do anything to provoke them, the 
 worse it would be for me. Then I crossed myself, and knelt 
 at the feet of one of them who had a carpenter's Danish axe 
 in his hand and said, l So died St. Agnes.' Messire Gui 
 d' Ibelin, constable of Cyprus, knelt by my side, and I said to 
 him, ' I give you absolution with such power as God has given 
 me.' But when I got up thence, I did not recollect a word of 
 what he had said or related to me." 
 
 Three days after Margaret had heard of her husband's 
 captivity she was confined of a son, named John, whom she 
 surnamed Tristan. For security sake, she had an old knight, 
 eighty years of age, to lie at the foot of her bed. Shortly 
 before her labor came on, she knelt at his feet and begged a 
 boon, which the knight swore to grant. Then she said, " I 
 require you, by the faith which you have just now plighted, 
 if the Saracens take this city, to strike off my head before 
 they lay hands on me." The knight replied, "Be sure that 
 I will do it willingly, for I had myself resolved on slaying you 
 rather than that you should fall into their power." 
 24
 
 370 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 The misfortunes and humiliation of St. Louis were com- 
 plete. The Arabs celebrated his defeat in songs, and more 
 than one Christian people lighted bonfires in their joy at it. 
 He nevertheless remained a year in the Holy Land to aid in 
 its defence, in case the Mamelukes should push their victory 
 beyond Egypt. He raised the walls of the towns, fortified 
 Caesarea, Jaffa, Sidon and St. Jean d'Acre, and did not quit 
 this unfortunate country until the barons of the Holy Land 
 had themselves assured him that his presence was no longer 
 essential. Besides, he had just heard news which made it 
 his duty to hasten his return to France his mother was dead; 
 an immeasurable misfortune to such a son, who, for so many 
 years, had thought only as she wished, and who had left her, 
 contrary to her wishes, on this disastrous expedition, which 
 was to end in his leaving in infidel ground one of his brothers, 
 so many loyal followers, and the bones of so many martyrs. 
 The sight of France itself could not console him. " Had 
 I alone to endure the disgrace and the misfortune," he 
 exclaimed to a bishop, "and had not my sins turned to the 
 prejudice of the Church Universal, I should be resigned. 
 But, alas ! all Christendom has fallen through me into dis- 
 grace and confusion." 
 
 The state in which he found Europe was not calculated to 
 give him comfort. Long after his return, St. Louis seemed 
 to reject every foreign thought and ambition. He confined 
 himself, with uneasy scrupulosity, to his duty as a Christian, 
 considering all the duties of royalty comprised in the practices 
 of devotion, and imputing to himself, as a sin, every disorder 
 of the common weal. M. MiCHELET.
 
 KING EDWARD VI., the only son 
 of Henry VIII., of England, died 
 after a few years' reign in 1553. 
 All the near heirs to the throne were 
 females, and a Queen had never 
 heretofore reigned in England. 
 Crafty noblemen schemed to get 
 the real power into their own hands. 
 To gratify the ambitious designs of 
 the most daring, a girl of sixteen 
 was hastily brought forward as Ed- 
 ward's successor, and when the people refused to sanction 
 these illegal proceedings, the youthful victim expiated her 
 crime on the scaffold. Such is the brief tragedy of Lady 
 Jane Grey. 
 
 She was born in 1537, the eldest daughter of Henry Grey, 
 Marquis of Dorset and afterwards Duke of Suffolk. Her 
 mother was a grand-daughter of King Henry VII. As a 
 child Lady Jane showed wonderful mental abilities, and was 
 placed under the special care of Dr. Aylmer, afterwards Bishop 
 of London. When fifteen years old she was familiar with 
 Latin, Greek, French and Italian, and could read Hebrew. 
 She was equally distinguished for sweetness and amiability of 
 temper, nor was she deficient in graceful accomplishments. 
 She was of the same age as her royal cousin, Edward VI. , 
 and they were very similar in the early maturity of their 
 minds and characters and religious views. 
 
 Henry VIII., foreseeing the probability of disputes about 
 the Kingdom, had obtained from Parliament the power and 
 privilege to fix by letters patent the line of succession. He
 
 372 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 gave the precedence, after Edward, to his daughter Mary, and 
 then Elizabeth. If they failed to have issue, then the crown 
 should pass to Lady Jane Grey, the grand-daughter of his 
 second sister, Mary, and after her to Mary, Queen of Scotland, 
 the grand-daughter of his oldest sister, Margaret. The Duke 
 of Northumberland, having become the ruling spirit of Ed- 
 ward's Council, succeeded in having his son, Lord Guilford 
 Dudley, married to Lady Jane, and then formed a plot with 
 her father, the Duke of Suffolk, to bring the young bride to 
 the throne. They contended that Edward had the same right 
 to fix the succession that his father had. The dying King 
 was prevailed upon to make his cousin his heir to the exclu- 
 sion of his sisters. The necessary document was made out 
 and sealed ; but all this was done without Lady Jane's knowl- 
 edge. 
 
 When Edward died, Northumberland and Suffolk, and 
 others of the Council went to her residence and saluted her as 
 Queen. She refused to accept the position, urged the supe- 
 rior claims of the two princesses, and begged to be let alone 
 to enjoy her private position. At last she yielded to the per- 
 suasions of her parents and went with them to the Tower to 
 spend the few days of her reign. But the English people, 
 moved by righteous distrust of the unscrupulous Northumber- 
 land, refused to sanction the proceedings, and in ten days Mary 
 obtained the throne. Lady Jane was soon afterward a pris- 
 oner, and Northumberland was beheaded. Lady Jane and her 
 husband were also convicted of treason ; but as it was evident 
 that these children of sixteen years were only tools in the 
 hands of others, Mary refused to execute them, but kept them 
 in prison. 
 
 When Mary announced her intended marriage with King 
 Philip, of Spain, the popular opposition to this Spanish alli- 
 ance resulted in a serious rebellion led by Sir Thomas Wyat, 
 in which the restless Duke of Suffolk took part. The entrance 
 of the rebels into London alarmed Mary's ministers, and they 
 concluded there would be no absolute safety as long as Lady 
 Jane lived. Suffolk was therefore at once beheaded, and the 
 execution of Lady Jane and her husband ordered to take place 
 four days later. Lord Dudley was executed on Tower Hill,
 
 LA.DY JANE GREY. 373 
 
 and Lady Jane within the Tower, because of her royal lineage. 
 On the day of execution Dudley requested the favor of an 
 interview; but Lady Jane sent back word that she feared that 
 the tenderness of their parting would overcome their fortitude, 
 and so unnerve them that they could not meet their approach- 
 ing end in a becoming manner ; that their separation would 
 only be for a moment, and that they would then join each 
 other where their affections would never be interrupted. As 
 her husband was led to the place of execution, she gave him 
 from her prison window a sign of loving remembrance, then 
 saw his headless body taken back in a cart. 
 
 An hour afterward the nobler victim was led forth to 
 execution. On the scaffold she made a speech with great 
 calmness and self-possession. She said, "that her offence 
 was not having laid her hand upon the crown, but the not 
 rejecting it with sufficient constancy ; that she had erred less 
 through ambition than through reverence to her parents, 
 whom she had been taught to respect and obey ; that she 
 willingly received death, as the only satisfaction which she 
 could now make to the injured State ; and that the story of 
 her life, she hoped, might at least be useful, by proving that 
 innocence excuses not great misdeeds, if they tend anywise 
 to the destruction of the Commonwealth." She then caused 
 her waiting-woman to disrobe her, and without the slightest 
 evidence of fear, laid her head upon the block. 
 
 Thus perished on the i2th of February, 1554, in the 
 seventeenth year of her age, a lovely character, deserving of 
 
 a kinder fate. 
 
 WYAT'S INSURRECTION. 
 
 It was in Kent only that the insurrection assumed a for- 
 midable appearance under the direction of Sir Thomas Wyat. 
 It was formed without his knowledge, and was first commu- 
 nicated to him by the Earl of Devon ; but he engaged in it 
 with cheerfulness, under the persuasion that the marriage of 
 Queen Mary with Philip would be followed by the death of 
 the Lady Elizabeth, and by the subversion of the national 
 liberties. While his associates, by their presumption and 
 weakness, proved themselves unequal to the attempt, he 
 excited the applause of his very adversaries, by the secrecy
 
 374 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 and address with which he organized the rising, and by the 
 spirit and perseverance with which he conducted the enter- 
 prise. The moment he drew the sword, fifteen hundred 
 armed men assembled around him; while five thousand others 
 remained at their homes, ready, at the first toll of the alarum- 
 bell, to crowd to his standard. He fixed his headquarters in 
 the old and ruinous castle of Rochester; a squadron of five 
 sail, in the Thames, under his secret associate Winter, sup- 
 plied him with cannon and ammunition ; and batteries were 
 erected to command the passage of the bridge, and the oppo- 
 site bank of the river. Yet fortune did not appear to favor 
 his first attempts. It required all his address to keep his 
 followers together. Though he boasted of the succors which 
 he daily expected from France, and circulated reports of 
 successful risings in other parts of the country, many of the 
 insurgents began to waver; several sent to the council offers 
 to return to their duty, on condition of pardon; and there is 
 reason to believe that the main force under Wyat would have 
 dissolved of itself, had it been suffered to remain a few days 
 longer in a state of inactivity. 
 
 But the Duke of Norfolk had already marched from 
 London, with a detachment of guards, under the command 
 of Sir Henry Jerningham. He was immediately followed 
 by five hundred Londoners, led by Captain Bret, and was 
 afterwards joined by the Sheriff of Kent with the bands of 
 the county. This force was far inferior in number to the 
 enemy ; and, what was of more disastrous consequence, some 
 of its leaders were in secret league with Wyat The Duke, 
 having in vain made an offer of pardon, ordered the bridge 
 to be forced. The troops were already in motion, when Bret, 
 who led the van, halted his column, and raising his sword, 
 exclaimed, "Masters, we are going to fight in an unholy 
 quarrel against our friends and countrymen, who seek only 
 to preserve us from the dominion of foreigners. Wherefore, 
 I think that no English heart should oppose them, and am 
 resolved for my own part to shed my blood in the cause 
 of this worthy captain, Master Wyat." This address was 
 seconded by Brian Fitzwilliam ; shouts of "A Wyat! a 
 Wyat!" burst from the ranks; and the Londoners, instead
 
 LADY JANE GREY. 375 
 
 of advancing against the rebels, faced about to oppose the 
 royalists. At that moment Wyat himself joined them at the 
 head of his cavalry ; and the Duke, with his principal officers, 
 apprehending a general defection, fled towards Gravesend. 
 Seven pieces of artillery fell into the hands of the insurgents ; 
 their ranks were recruited from the deserters ; and the whole 
 body, confident of victory, began their march in the direction 
 of London. 
 
 This unexpected result revealed to the Queen the alarming 
 secret that the conspiracy had pushed its branches into the 
 very heart of the metropolis. Every precaution was imme- 
 diately taken for the security of the court, the Tower, and 
 the city ; the bridges for fifteen miles were broken down and 
 the boats secured on the opposite bank of the river ; the 
 neighboring peers received orders to raise their tenantry, and 
 hasten to the protection of the royal person ; and a reward of 
 one hundred pounds per annum in land was offered for the 
 apprehension of WyaL That chieftain, with fifteen thousand 
 men under his command, had marched through Dartford to 
 Greenwich and Deptford, when a message from the council, 
 inquiring into the extent of his demands, betrayed their 
 diffidence and added to his presumption. In the court and 
 the council-room nothing was to be heard but expressions of 
 mistrust and apprehension ; some blamed the precipitancy of 
 Bishop Gardner in the change of religion ; some the interested 
 policy of the advisers of the Spanish match ; and the im- 
 perial ambassadors, with the exception of Renard, fearing for 
 their lives, escaped in a merchant vessel lying in the river. 
 Queen Mary alone appeared firm and collected ; she betrayed 
 no symptom of fear, no doubt of the result ; she ordered her 
 ministers to provide the means of defence, and undertook to 
 fix, by her confidence and address, the wavering loyalty of the 
 Londoners. The lord mayor had called an extraordinary 
 meeting of the citizens; and, at three in the afternoon, 
 Mary, with the sceptre in her hand, and accompanied by her 
 ladies and officers of state, entered the Guildhall. 
 
 The Queen was received with every demonstration of re- 
 spect, and, in a firm and dignified tone, complained of the 
 disobedience and insolence of the men of Kent At first the
 
 376 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 leaders had condemned her intended marriage with the Prince 
 of Spain ; now they had betrayed their real design. They 
 demanded the custody of her person, the appointment of her 
 council, and the command of the Tower. Their object was 
 to obtain the exercise of the royal authority, and to abolish 
 the national worship. But she was convinced that her people 
 loved her too well to surrender her into the hands of rebels. 
 "As for this marriage," she continued, "ye shall understand 
 that I enterprised not the doing thereof without the advice of 
 all our privy council. Certainly, did I think that this marriage 
 were to the hurt of you my subjects, or the impeachment of 
 my royal estate, I would never consent thereunto. And, I 
 promise you, on the word of a Queen, that, if it shall not 
 appear to the Lords and Commons in parliament to be for the 
 benefit of the whole realm, I will never marry while I live. 
 Wherefore, stand fast against these rebels, your enemies and 
 mine ; fear them not, for I assure ye, I fear them nothing at 
 all ; and I will leave with you my Lord Howard and my lord 
 admiral, who will be assistant with the mayor for your de- 
 fence." With these words she departed ; the hall rang with 
 acclamations, and by the next morning more than twenty 
 thousand men had enrolled their names for the protection of 
 the city. 
 
 The next day Wyat entered Southwark. But his followers 
 had dwindled to seven thousand men, and were hourly dimin- 
 ishing. The batteries erected on the walls of the Tower com- 
 pelled him to leave Southwark; but he had by this time 
 arranged a plan with some of the reformers in the city to sur- 
 prise Ludgate an hour before sunrise; and for that purpose 
 directed his march towards Kingston. Thirty feet of the 
 wooden bridge had been destroyed ; but he swam, or prevailed 
 on two seamen to swim across the river, and, having procured 
 a boat from the opposite bank, labored with a few associates 
 at the repairs, while his men refreshed themselves in the town. 
 At eleven at night the insurgents passed the bridge ; at Brent- 
 ford they drove in the advanced post of the royalists ; but an 
 hour was lost in repairing the carriage of a cannon, and, as it 
 became too late for Wyat to keep his appointment at Ludgate, 
 the chief of his advisers abandoned him in despair. Among
 
 LADY JANE GREY. 377 
 
 these was Sir George Harper, who rode to St. James', and 
 announced the approach and expectations of Wyat. He 
 arrived about two hours after midnight. The palace was 
 instantly filled with alarm ; the boldness of the attempt gave 
 birth to reports of treason in the city and the court ; and the 
 ministers on their knees, particularly the Chancellor, conjured 
 the Queen to provide for her own safety, by retiring into the 
 Tower. But Mary scorned the timidity of her advisers : from 
 the Earl of Pembroke and Lord Clinton she received assur- 
 ances that they would do their duty ; and in return she 
 announced her fixed determination to remain at her post. In 
 a council of war it was decided to place a strong force at Lud- 
 gate, to permit the advance of Wyat, and then to press on 
 him from every quarter, and to enclose him like a wild beast 
 in the toils. 
 
 At four in the morning the drum beat to arms; and in a few 
 hours the royalists, under Pembroke and Clinton, amounted 
 to ten thousand infantry and fifteen hundred cavalry. The 
 hill opposite St. James' was occupied with a battery of can- 
 non and a strong squadron of horse ; lower down and nearer 
 to Charing Cross, were posted two divisions of infantry ; and 
 several smaller parties were detached to different points in the 
 vicinity. About nine, Wyat reached Hyde Park Corner. 
 Many of his followers, who heard of the Queen's proclamation 
 of pardon, had slunk away in the darkness of the night ; the 
 rest were appalled at the sight of the formidable array before 
 their eyes. But their leader saw that to recede must be his 
 ruin ; he still relied on the co-operation of the conspirators 
 and reformers in the city ; and after a short cannonade, seizing 
 a standard, rushed forward to charge the cavalry. They 
 opened ; allowed three or four hundred men to pass ; and clos- 
 ing, cut off the communication between them and the main 
 body. The insurgents, separated from their leader, did not 
 long sustain the unequal contest ; about one hundred were 
 killed, great numbers wounded, and four hundred made 
 
 prisoners. 
 
 Wyat paid no attention to the battle which raged behind 
 his back. Intent on his purpose, he hastened through Picca- 
 dilly, insulted the gates of the palace, and proceeded towards
 
 378 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 the city. No molestation was offered by the armed bands 
 stationed on each side of the street. At Ludgate he 
 knocked, and demanded admittance, "for the Queen had 
 granted all his petitions." "Avaunt, traitor!" exclaimed 
 from the gallery the Lord William Howard, " thou shalt 
 have no entrance here." Disappointed and confounded, he 
 retraced his steps, till he came opposite the inn called the Bel 
 Savage. There he halted a few minutes. To the spectators 
 he seemed absorbed in thought; but was quickly aroused by 
 the shouts of the combatants, and with forty companions 
 continued to fight his way back, till he reached Temple Bar. 
 He found it occupied by a strong detachment of horse ; what- 
 ever way he turned, fresh bodies of royalists poured upon 
 him; and Norroy, King-at-arms, advancing, exhorted him to 
 spare the blood of his friends, and to yield himself a prisoner. 
 After a moment's pause he threw away his sword, and sur- 
 rendered to Sir Maurice Berkeley, who carried him first to 
 the Court, and thence to the Tower. J. LJNGARD.
 
 WITH the accession of Hugh 
 Capet to the throne of France, 
 royalty, which had been little 
 more than a mere name under 
 the later Carlovingians, became, 
 as Michelet says, "a hope, a 
 living right, which slumbers, it 
 is true, but which, when need- 
 ful, will awaken. ' ' His election 
 as the King of France marked 
 a real revolution, the culmination of a change that had been 
 long in preparation, the beginning of a new period. The 
 Carolings had been more German than French, but now a 
 French king ruled, "the ancestor of all the kings who have 
 sat on the throne of France." 
 
 Hugh, Duke of France, was grandson of Robert the 
 Strong, and son of Hugh the Great, and was, like his father, 
 Abbot of St. Martin de Tours, whence, some believe, the 
 name Capet, from capetus, a cowl. Of very humble origin 
 (it cannot be traced beyond the third generation), he rose to 
 prominence, and eventually became the first one in that suc- 
 cession supposed to have been foreshadowed by St. Valery. 
 For popular tradition had it that when Hugh translated the 
 relics of that holy man, the latter appeared to him in a dream 
 and said : ' ' For what thou hast done, thou and thy descend- 
 ants shall be kings to the seventh generation that is for- 
 ever." 
 
 Lothaire, the King of France, was threatened by the same 
 opposition to the Carlovingian race which kept his grand- 
 father, Charles the Simple, from the throne for a number of 
 
 379
 
 380 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 years by the election of Eudes, son of Robert the Strong, as 
 King, and which drove his father, Louis d'Outremer, across 
 the Rhine for help against Hugh the Great, and the other 
 lords objected to his alliance with King Otho I, of Germany. 
 However, he avoided open rebellion, although his power 
 steadily diminished. " Lothaire," a contemporary writer 
 tells us, "is King only in name. Hugh, without the title, is 
 King in truth and deed. ' ' After his death in 986, followed 
 by that of his childless son, Louis V, May 21, 987, Hugh was 
 proclaimed King by the nobles and crowned 3d July, 987, at 
 Noyon. There still remained a brother of Lothaire, Charles, 
 Duke of Lorraine, who was supported in his resistance to the 
 King by formidable chiefs. He captured Laon; but that city, 
 after being long besieged by Hugh, fell into the latter' s hands 
 in 990, through the treason of Bishop Adelbero, and Charles 
 died in captivity the following year. 
 
 If it is stated that Hugh's claim to the throne was now no 
 longer contested, it must also not be forgotten that his 
 kingdom was small indeed. He was one, the most powerful 
 one, of the great lords of the land, but not much more. The 
 feudal barons in far-off parts of France probably cared not a 
 whit who held the title of King. The status of kingship in 
 France was not yet such as to seriously endanger the interests 
 of the barons : the great struggle between feudalism and 
 royalty did not really begin until later on, and especially 
 under Louis XI was the royal power strengthened and the 
 cause of absolute monarchy furthered. "Hugh Capet's 
 reign," says Kitchin, "was a constant struggle against his 
 lay and clerical neighbors : he purchased his kingly name by 
 a life of toil and by the loss of much of his domain, given to 
 his barons as pay for their services." But from his election 
 the modern kingdom of France may be said to date its 
 existence. 
 
 On his death, October 24, 996, Hugh was succeeded by 
 his son, Robert, who had been crowned about nine years 
 before, and his direct descendants reigned in France until 
 1328. In his person there was raised to the throne a race in 
 which, as Freeman says, "by a fate unparalleled in any other 
 kingly house, the crown was passed on for three hundred and
 
 HUGH CAPET. 381 
 
 fifty years (987-1328) from father to son, a race which, down 
 to our own day, has never been without a male heir, and in 
 which the right of the male heir has never been disputed, save 
 once through the ambition of a foreign prince (1338-1420), 
 and once through the frenzy of religious partisanship (1589)." 
 
 THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND. 
 
 (Although the remarkable year 1000 A.D., falls just beyond the reign of 
 Hugh Capet, we take it as exhibiting in another way the great revolution 
 of that time). 
 
 It was the universal belief of the Middle Age that the 
 thousandth year from the Nativity of Christ would be the 
 end of the world. In like manner, before Christianity, the 
 Btrusci had fixed ten centuries as the term of their empire ; 
 and the prediction had been fulfilled. Christianity, a way- 
 farer on this earth, a guest, exiled from heaven, readily 
 adopted a similar belief. The world of the Middle Age was 
 without the external regularity of the ancient city, and the 
 firm and compact order within was not easily discernible. It 
 only saw chaos in itself; but longed for order, and hoped to 
 find it in death. Besides, in those days of miracles and 
 legends, in which everything assumed a strange hue, as if 
 seen through the sombre medium of a stained casement, it 
 might well be doubted whether all that met the eye in this 
 apparently tangible world were other than a dream. Every-day 
 life was made up of marvels. The army of Otho had seen the 
 sun fading, and as yellow as saffron. King Robert, excom- 
 municated for having married within the forbidden degrees, 
 had received, when his queen lay in, a monster in his arms. 
 The devil no longer took the trouble to conceal himself; for 
 at Rome he had appeared openly to a Pope who practiced the 
 black art. What with all these apparitions, visions and 
 strange voices, what with God's miracles and the devil's 
 witchcrafts, who could deny the likelihood of the earth's 
 resolving itself some morning into smoke, at the sound of the 
 fatal trump? Then, might it well have happened that what 
 we call life would have been found to be death ; and that the 
 world, in coming to a close, might, like the saint of the 
 legend, begin to live and cease to dte("zt tune vivere incepit, 
 morique desiit").
 
 382 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 The idea of the end of the world, sad as that world was, 
 was at once the hope and the terror of the Middle Age. Look 
 at those antique statues of the tenth and eleventh centuries 
 mute, meager, and their pinched and stiffened lineaments 
 grinning with a look of living suffering, allied to the repul- 
 siveness of death. See how they implore, with clasped hands, 
 that desired yet dreaded moment, that second death of the 
 resurrection, which is to redeem them from their unspeakable 
 sorrows, and raise them from nothingness into existence and 
 from the grave to God. Here is imaged the poor world itself 
 and its hopelessness, after having witnessed so many ruins. 
 The Roman Empire had crumbled away ; so had that of 
 Charlemagne. Christianity had then believed itself intended 
 to do away with sorrow here below ; but suffering still went 
 on. Misfortune succeeded misfortune; ruin, ruin. Some 
 other advent was needed ; and men expected that it would 
 arrive. The captive expected it in the gloomy dungeon, and 
 in the bonds of the sepulchral in pace. The serf expected it 
 while tracing the furrow under the shadow of his lord's hated 
 tower. The monk expected it amidst the privations of the 
 cloister, amidst the solitary tumults of his heart, amidst temp- 
 tations and backslidings, repentances and strange visions. A 
 chronicler writes that he saw Satan, who malignantly gam- 
 boled around him, and who at night would draw aside his 
 coverlet and laughingly chuckle in his ear " Thou art mine. ' ' 
 
 All longed to be relieved from their suffering, no matter 
 at what cost ! Better were it for them to fall once for all into 
 God's hands, and rest forever, though on a bed of fire, than 
 remain as they are. Nor could that moment be without its 
 charm, when the shrill and withering trump of the arch- 
 angel should peal in the ear of their tyrants ; for then from 
 dungeon, cloister and from furrow one tremendous shriek 
 of laughter would burst forth from the stricken and oppressed. 
 
 This fearful hope of the arrival of the judgment-day grew 
 with the calamities that ushered in the year 1000, or that fol- 
 lowed hard upon. It seemed as if the order of the seasons 
 had been inverted, and the elements had been subjected to 
 new laws. A dreadful pestilence made Aquitaine a desert 
 The flesh of those who were seized by it was as if struck by
 
 HUGH CAPET. 383 
 
 fire, for it fell rotting from the bones. The high roads to the 
 places of pilgrimage were thronged with these wretched 
 beings. They besieged the churches, particularly that of St 
 Martin's at Limoges, and crowded its portals to suffocation, 
 undeterred by the stench around it. Most of the bishops of 
 the south repaired thither, bringing with them the relics of 
 their respective churches. The crowd increased, and so did 
 the pestilence ; and the sufferers breathed their last on the 
 relics of the saints. 
 
 A few years after it was still worse. From the East to 
 Greece, Italy, France and England, famine prevailed. u The 
 peck of corn," says a contemporary writer, "rose to sixty 
 sous of gold. The rich lost color and flesh. The poor dug 
 up and ate the roots in the woods. Many, horrible to relate, 
 were driven by hunger to feed on their fellow-creatures. The 
 strong waylaid the weak, tore them in pieces, roasted them, 
 and ate them. Children would be tempted into lonely places 
 by the offer of an egg, or of fruit, and then made way with. 
 To such extremes did this madness of famine go, that the 
 very beasts were safer than man. As if it were an under- 
 stood thing that it was to be eaten, human flesh was exposed 
 for sale in the market-place of Touraus. The vender did not 
 deny the fact, and was burned. The night succeeding his ex- 
 ecution, the self-same flesh was dug up by a starving wretch, 
 who ate it, and was burned as well." 
 
 "A wretch had built a hut in the forest of Macon, near 
 the church of St. Jean de Castanedo, where he murdered in 
 the night-time those who had besought his hospitality. The 
 bones of his victims caught the eye of one of his guests, who 
 managed to escape ; and there were found in his hut forty- 
 eight skulls of men, women and children. Driven by hunger, 
 many mixed clay with the flour. Still further misfortune 
 followed. The wolves, allured by the number of unburied 
 bodies, attacked the living. The God-fearing then dug 
 trenches, whither father and mother were borne by son, and 
 brother by brother, as soon as life began to fail ; and the sur- 
 vivor himself, despairing of life, would often cast himself in 
 after them. A council of the prelates of the cities of Gaul 
 being summoned, in order to devise some remedy for these
 
 384 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EYENTS. 
 
 woes, it was agreed, that since there was not food for all, the 
 stoutest should be assisted as much as possible, for fear of the 
 land's being left uncultivated." 
 
 Men's hearts were often softened by this excess of misery, 
 and rendered accessible to the touch of pity. Dreading the 
 sword of God, they sheathed their own. It was no longer 
 worth while to fight or to wage war for an accursed world, 
 which they were about to quit Vengeance was useless : all 
 saw that their enemies' lives, like their own, were doomed. 
 When the pestilence attacked Limoges, men hurried to throw 
 themselves at the feet of the bishops, pledged themselves 
 thenceforward to live peaceably, respect the churches, and to 
 abstain from plundering travelers, or at least such as jour- 
 neyed under the protection of priests or of monks. All war 
 was prohibited during the holy days of each week ; that is, 
 from the Wednesday evening to the Monday morning: a 
 custom called the peace, and subsequently, the truce of God. 
 
 In this general despair few enjoyed any peace save under 
 the shadow of the Church. Men crowded to lay on the altar 
 gifts of lands, of houses and of serfs ; all which acts have the 
 imprint of the one universal belief: "The end of the world 
 draws nigh," so they ran, "each day brings fresh destruc- 
 tion ; therefore I, count or baron, give to such or such church 
 for the benefit of my soul " .... or else, "Reflecting that 
 slavery is contrary to Christian liberty, I declare such or such 
 a one, my born thrall, him, his children and his heirs, free." 
 
 Even this did not set their minds at rest. They longed to 
 forsake the sword, the baldric, and all the insignia of the 
 military service of the age, in order to screen themselves 
 among monks, and under monkly garb, seeking but a corner 
 of a convent in which to bury themselves. The difficulty 
 was to hinder the great of the earth, kings and dukes, from 
 becoming monks, or at least lay brothers. William I. , Duke 
 of Normandy, would have forsaken all and retired into the 
 Monastery of Jumieges, had the abbot permitted him ; still, 
 he managed to carry away a cowl and a frock, which he 
 secured in a small coffer, the key of which he always wore at 
 his girdle. Hugh L, Duke of Burgundy, and, before him, 
 the Emperor Henry II., had desired to turn monks. Hugh
 
 HUGH CAPET. 
 
 385 
 
 was prevented from carrying his wish into effect by the Pope. 
 Henry, on entering the church of the Abbey of St. Vanne, at 
 Verdun, had exclaimed with the Psalmist "This is my rest 
 for ever ; here will I dwell, for I have desired it ! " Being 
 overheard by a monk, who put the abbot on his guard, the 
 latter invited him to attend a chapter of the house, and then 
 inquired into his intentions. "By the grace of God," re- 
 plied the Emperor with tears, "I seek to renounce the gar- 
 ments of this world, to assume yours, and to live, serving 
 God, with your brethren." "Will you then," said the 
 abbot, "in compliance with our rule, and the example of 
 Jesus Christ, promise obedience until death?" "I will," 
 was the answer. "Well, I accept you as a monk; from this 
 day forward I take on myself the care of your soul, and what 
 I order, that do you with the fear of God before you. I bid 
 you return to the government of the Empire, which God has 
 confided to your charge, and to watch with all your soul, in 
 fear and trembling, over the safety of the whole kingdom." 
 The Emperor, bound thereto by his vow, sorrowfully obeyed. 
 However, he had long previously been a monk, having lived 
 with his wife as brother with sister, and he is honored by the 
 Church with the name of St. Henry. M. MiCHELET.
 
 SCIPIO AFRICANUS. 
 
 CARTHAGE, founded by the Phoeni- 
 cians in northern Africa, was for a 
 very long period the one great rival 
 of the Roman power. Thrice be- 
 tween the years 264 and 146 B.C. did 
 this city contest with Rome for the 
 supremacy of the Mediterranean. 
 These wars were called by the Ro- 
 mans Punic that is, Phoenician. 
 The First Punic War covered a period 
 of twenty-three years, and resulted 
 in the defeat by the Romans, not only 
 of the armies, but of the fleets of the 
 
 Carthaginians, who had prided themselves on their naval 
 power. The Second Punic War, 218 to 201 B.C., commenced 
 with Hannibal's siege of Saguntum in Spain, and was occu- 
 pied chiefly with his invasion and conquest of Italy, but was 
 terminated by his defeat in the battle of Zama, within a day's 
 march of Carthage. The third war was a most desperate con- 
 flict, and was ended by the destruction of Carthage by the 
 Romans, 146 B.C. 
 
 Publius Cornelius Scipio, the chief Roman hero of the 
 Second Punic War, was born in Rome in 234 B.C. He came 
 of the illustrious Cornelian tribe, and of a family whose name 
 is identified with some of the most splendid triumphs of the 
 Roman arms. His father, bearing the same name as himself, 
 successfully avenged an imprisonment in Africa by taking 
 many places in Sicily, and particularly Panormos, from the 
 Carthaginians. He had also great successes in Corsica and 
 Sardinia. The son, having entered the army, which was 
 under his father's command, sought to resist Hannibal's in-
 
 SCIPIO AFRICANUS. 387 
 
 vasion of Italy. He first distinguished himself at the battle 
 of Ticinus, 218 B.C., when he was but sixteen years of age. 
 As he had indeed saved his father's life by his valor and bold- 
 ness, the father, by his authority as general, ordered the civic 
 crown to be presented to him ; but the son modestly refused 
 it, with the magnanimous declaration that the action was one 
 that rewarded itself. The young soldier continued to serve 
 faithfully in the war against Hannibal, and the battle of Can- 
 nae, which well nigh proved fatal to the Roman cause, instead 
 of disheartening him, roused all his courage. He no sooner 
 heard that some of his countrymen wished, in despair, to 
 abandon Italy, than, sword in hand, he burst into the cham- 
 ber of Metellus, where he found the young patricians met in 
 deep consultation. Scipio addressed them: U I swear that I 
 will never abandon the republic of the Roman people, nor 
 suffer one of her citizens to desert it. If knowingly I break 
 this oath, then, O Jupiter, supremely good and great, do you 
 overwhelm with ruin myself, my house, my family and my 
 fortune. I call on you, Metellus ; I call on all who are pre- 
 sent to take the same oath. Whoever will not swear, let that 
 man know that against him this sword is drawn." All took 
 the solemn pledge of fidelity to the Republic. 
 
 In his twenty-first year Scipio was made an ^dile, which 
 office was, by law, reserved for such as had reached their 
 twenty-seventh year. The Tribunes opposed his election, and 
 told him that he was too young. " If, " answered he, ' ' the 
 Romans wish to make me an ^Edile, I am old enough." 
 When news was brought from Spain that Scipio' s father and 
 uncle had been slain, the young man was at once chosen 
 to avenge this great disaster to his family and the State. He 
 soon showed special ability as commander of the army ; vari- 
 ous tribes of Spain were conquered, and in four years the 
 Carthaginians were driven from that part of Europe. New 
 Carthage submitted in one day, and in a battle 54,000 of the 
 enemy were left dead on the field. 
 
 Having returned to Italy, Scipio received the dignity of 
 Consul, and was empowered to carry the war into Africa. 
 Success attended his arms ; his conquests were here as rapid 
 as in Spain. Terms of accommodation were proposed ; but
 
 388 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 these came to nothing. Finally, on the igth of October, 202 
 B.C., was fought the great battle of Zauia. About 30,000 Car- 
 thaginians were slain and the same number made pris- 
 oners of war. Only 2,000 of the Romans were killed. Recog- 
 nizing this battle as decisive, Hannibal sought refuge in the 
 East. The Carthaginians sued for peace, which Scipio, in 
 spite of the vengeful clamor of his countrymen, granted on 
 moderate terms. The conqueror of Hannibal, returning to 
 Rome, was received with the most unbounded applause, 
 honored with a triumph and dignified with the appellation 
 Africanus. This was the first instance of such a surname 
 since the days of Coriolanus. 
 
 Soon after this, Scipio, who was strongly aristocratic in 
 feeling, offended the plebeians by wishing to have the sena- 
 tors distinguished from the rest of the people at all public 
 exhibitions. Hence, when he canvassed for the Consulship 
 for two of his friends, he had the mortification to see his 
 application slighted. He then retired from Rome, and, 
 in the capacity of lieutenant, accompanied his brother Lucius 
 in the war against Antiochus, King of Syria. The Asiatic 
 monarch was defeated, and submitted to terms dictated by the 
 conquerors. On Scipio' s return to Rome, he found the malevo- 
 lence of his enemies still unabated. In 187 B.C. two Tribunes 
 of the people, named Petillius, required that Lucius, the 
 brother of Scipio, should render an account of all the money 
 which he had received from Antiochus. His brother pre- 
 pared the account; but as he was about to present it, Scipio 
 snatched it out of his hands and tore it to pieces. Cato, his 
 inveterate rival, had raised seditions against him. He was 
 now charged with extortions in the Provinces of Asia, and 
 of living in a luxurious manner. Under this indictment he 
 was three times summoned to appear. Twice he did so; but 
 the third time he fled to his country house at Liternum. He 
 never returned to Rome. Dying about the year 184 B.C., he 
 was buried at Liternum, where his tomb still existed in the 
 time of Livy. 
 
 As his son afterward bore the same name and surname, 
 the father is distinguished in history as P. Cornelius Scipio 
 Africanus Major or the Elder. By nature, he was thoroughly
 
 SCIPIO AFRICANUS. 389 
 
 aristocratic, but generous and courteous in his manners. In 
 his gestures and behaviour there was a princely grace. No 
 Roman character has been celebrated with more cordial praise 
 by ancient and modern writers than that of Scipio Africanus. 
 His name stands among the most eminent military charac- 
 ters of the Republic, but though fortune and the trained valor 
 of the Roman legions enabled him to defeat Hannibal, he 
 cannot justly be regarded as equal in ability to the great 
 Carthaginian. 
 
 SCIPIO CONQUERS HANNIBAL. 
 
 The renown of Scipio derives peculiar lustre from sources 
 which we are unable distinctly to trace. The account of his 
 exploits by Livy seems to betray in its romantic and poetical 
 character the coloring, if not the invention, of the panegyrists 
 who hung about the families of the Roman magnates. Scipio 
 was himself one of the first of his nation to devote himself 
 to Greek manners, and surround himself with Greek admirers 
 and flatterers. His manners were refined beyond the usual 
 tone of his rough countrymen. He was popular at Rome, 
 but he was far more popular among the allies of Rome, and 
 was adored by the Italians as their great protector against the 
 Carthaginian invader. When the Senate, in its jealousy of 
 his transcendent abilities, refused to allow him the men and 
 money requisite for his meditated descent upon Africa, it was 
 from the States of Italy that he recruited his forces, each 
 furnishing him with a portion of the material he required, 
 and urging him to abandon the Fabian policy which, how- 
 ever, it had answered the interests of Rome herself, had 
 caused prolonged misery to every part of the peninsula. It 
 was this popularity that gave rise to the assertion repeated by 
 many of the later writers, that wherever he set his foot Scipio 
 might have established himself as a king. Undoubtedly his 
 gallantry and genius gained him the peculiar veneration of 
 his countrymen, and pointed him out for an epic hero to be 
 adored like Romulus, to be loved like Camillus. His conti- 
 nence is justly noted by Polybius in a simple story which 
 Livy has magnified into a romance. No other Roman except 
 Julius Csesar ever won and retained such a hold upon the 
 imagination of the Romans. 
 
 o
 
 390 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 Scipio had overcome the resistance of the Senate by 
 threatening it with an appeal to the people, in order to obtain 
 permission to carry the war into Africa. He had been con- 
 tent, with this grand object in view, to forego the honors of a 
 triumph, which party jealousy denied him, but which no 
 doubt he could have extorted, with the popular feeling rising 
 so high at his beck. But in Africa it was evident that a long 
 contest yet lay before the Romans, and Scipio devoted him- 
 self to the task with constancy and resolution. The Car- 
 thaginian Senate commanded Hannibal to quit Italy without 
 delay, and make all diligence to come and save his country 
 at home. 
 
 Scipio, having landed in Africa in the year 204, began his 
 operations by laying siege to Utica. There appears to have 
 been no disposition on the part either of the nation or of their 
 mercenary soldiers to revolt against the Carthaginian Govern- 
 ment. Scipio found no ally except Masinissa, and he was a 
 fugitive with only a few hundred horsemen, having been ex- 
 pelled from his own realm by Syphax. His knowledge of 
 the country and of the people may have been valuable, and it 
 was by his counsel, perhaps, that Scipio set fire to the huts of 
 the Numidians and Carthaginians, constructed of the lightest 
 materials, successively on the same day. The effect of this 
 stroke seems to have been prodigious. The armies of the 
 enemy were thrown into utter confusion, and routed with 
 immense slaughter. Masinissa followed up the blow by 
 the capture of Syphax, which neutralized at once the 
 alliance of Numidia. But Scipio sustained a reverse in the 
 loss of his fleet, and the Uticans continued to defend them- 
 selves, and compelled him at last to raise the siege. For a 
 moment at least he contemplated making terms with Carthage, 
 and arranged an armistice while envoys were sent from Africa 
 to Rome. But the Roman Senate, now exulting in the defeat 
 of Mago in Spain, and the recall just announced of Hannibal 
 from Italy, would listen to no accommodation. The envoys 
 of Carthage returned without even a hearing. Hannibal 
 reluctantly quitted the land in which he had waged war for 
 so many years, and gained such glorious victories to so little 
 purpose.
 
 SCIPIO AFRICANUS. 39! 
 
 Hannibal sailed from Crotona in the autumn of 203, under 
 cover of the armistice which had been concluded, and while 
 it seemed still possible that a permanent peace might be 
 established. The Romans were evidently glad to let him go 
 and bear his laurels with him untarnished. He came to land, 
 not at Carthage, but at Leptis, and spent the winter at 
 Hadrumetum. The greater part of another year intervened, 
 and yet we hear nothing of warlike operations between the 
 great generals who now confronted each other. At last a 
 pitched battle was fought somewhere to the west of Carthage 
 on the banks of the river Bagradas, to which the name of 
 Zama has been attached, but which is supposed to have really 
 occurred at two or three days' journey from that place. Nor 
 is the date of the battle definitely noted, which may, however, 
 be aptly inferred from the circumstance recorded that it was 
 fought on the day of an eclipse of the sun, such as is found 
 to have taken place on the igth of October. This would be 
 a small matter but for the vast importance of the fortunes 
 which were decided in that famous conflict. The disposition 
 of Scipio's forces seems to have deviated in some particulars 
 from that which was usual with the Romans, but the event 
 was no doubt decided more by the indomitable valor of the 
 legions, when well led and confident in their commander, than 
 by any superiority of the one chief over the other. It ended 
 in the entire rout and destruction of the Carthaginian army, 
 the flight of Hannibal, and the virtual conclusion of the long 
 struggle between the rival republics. Scipio was at once 
 advanced to the highest pinnacle of military glory, as the con- 
 queror of the conqueror of Trasimenus and Cannae. 
 
 There remained, however, a yet higher glory to achieve, 
 and Scipio made it his own by his moderation and generosity. 
 Carthage lay at last at the feet of Rome. The question now 
 arose at Rome and among the chiefs of the triumphant legions 
 how this detested and still dangerous enemy should be treated. 
 Many there were who vehemently urged her entire destruc- 
 tion, after the manner of Veii, or the treatment little less 
 severe which had been inflicted on Capua and Tarentum. 
 But Scipio alone withstood the clamor of his vengeful coun- 
 trymen, partly, we may hope, from a feeling of humanity;
 
 392 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 partly, it has been surmised, from the liberal policy of not 
 leaving Rome without a rival to teach her still to content 
 herself by the law of nations, and refrain from the gratifica- 
 tion of an inordinate ambition. He abstained from demanding 
 the delivery of Hannibal into his hands, and allowed Carthage 
 to retain her laws at home, and her sway over the territories 
 she claimed as her own in Africa. She was required to sur- 
 render all her ships but ten, all her elephants, and no doubt 
 her other munitions of war, and to engage to make no war 
 even in Africa without the permission of the Romans. Han- 
 nibal proved to his countrymen the necessity of submission. 
 
 Having established Masinissa in dignity and power, as a 
 vigilant outpost at the gates of Carthage, Scipio transported 
 his army across the sea, traversed the southern half of the 
 peninsula with an immense concourse of the people who had 
 witnessed so many of his rival's victories, and entered Rome 
 in the most splendid of triumphs. Scipio received from the 
 soldiers and citizens the illustrious name of Africanus, being 
 the first Roman, if we except the dubious instance of Cori- 
 olanus, who was honored with a titular designation from the 
 place or people he had conquered. His statue was placed, in 
 triumphal robes and crowned with laurel, in the Temple of 
 Jupiter. The people were ready to offer him the consulship 
 for life. At that crisis of the Roman polity a true patriot 
 might have accepted the post of a constitutional sovereign, 
 and done much to check the downward progress of public 
 life which became now marked and rapid. C. MERIVALE.
 
 HE name of Pliny has been made illus- 
 trious by two Romans, who were uncle 
 and nephew, and are usually distin- 
 guished as Pliny the Elder and Pliny 
 the Younger. Pliny the Elder, whose 
 full Latin name was Caius Plinius 
 Secundus, was born of a noble family 
 at Novum Comum (now Como) in 
 
 northern Italy, in 23 A.D. He was educated in Rome, where 
 he studied law and the Greek language. At an early age he 
 served in the army in Germany under Lucius Pomponius, 
 who gave him command of a body of cavalry. Having 
 returned to Rome about the age of thirty, he pleaded several 
 causes ; but during the greater part of the reign of Nero, he 
 lived in retirement. 
 
 After the death of Nero, in 68 A.D., Pliny was appointed 
 Procurator of Spain, and it appears that he retained that 
 office several years. He afterwards became an intimate friend 
 of the Emperor Vespasian, who appointed him admiral of 
 a fleet, and he was commander of a fleet at Misenum at the 
 time of his death. Especial interest attaches to the manner 
 of his death, as the full particulars are given in a letter of 
 Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus. In August, yg > 
 A.D., occurred the first great eruption of Vesuvius. Perceiv- 
 ing a cloud of smoke rising in the form of a pine tree from 
 the mountain, which was not then known to be a volcano, 
 Pliny embarked on a vessel, and desiring to make careful 
 
 393
 
 394 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS- 
 
 observation of the remarkable phenomenon, approached so 
 near the scene of danger that showers of cinders and pumice- 
 stone fell into the vessel. He landed at Stabiae in the even- 
 ing, ate supper in the house of a friend, and retired to rest 
 and sleep. The danger became so imminent that he was 
 awakened, and attempted to return to his vessel, but was 
 suffocated by noxious gases, on the land, and thus fell a vic- 
 tim to his thirst for knowledge. This was the celebrated 
 eruption which overwhelmed the cities of Herculaneum and 
 Pompeii. 
 
 The only work of Pliny that is now extant is his ' ' Natural 
 History ' ' in thirty-seven books a stupendous monument of 
 his industry. It is, at the same time, one of the most precious 
 collections that antiquity has left for us, and the evidence of 
 an erudition very wonderful in a warrior and statesman. In 
 order to appreciate this vast and celebrated production, it is 
 necessary to direct our attention to the plan, the facts and the 
 style. The plan is immense, as it includes besides natural 
 history, in the modern sense of that term, physics, astronomy, 
 geography, medicine and the arts. Pliny was not an original 
 observer like Aristotle ; in general he is only a compiler, and 
 often without direct knowledge of the subjects on which he 
 collects the testimonies of others. He shows too great a 
 fondness for what is singular and marvelous, and too much 
 credulity, to be ranked as an accurate naturalist. Yet his 
 work long shared, with that of Aristotle, the esteem of the 
 learned world, and is still regarded as a valuable museum of 
 antiquities. His style is condensed and vigorous, and he is 
 fond of antithesis. He is always dignified and grave, full of 
 love for justice and respect for virtue, a horror of cruelty and 
 a contempt for the unbridled luxury which had corrupted the 
 Roman people. "His profound erudition," says Buffon, "is 
 enhanced by elevation of ideas and nobleness of style. He 
 had that large faculty of thinking which multiplies science; 
 he had that finesse of reflection on which elegance and taste 
 depend, and he inspires the reader with a certain freedom of 
 spirit which is the germ of philosophy." His history of 
 Greek art has elicited praise from the best modern critics. 
 Pliny believed that the world is spherical, and that the
 
 PUNY. 395 
 
 universe is eternal, boundless, uncreated and indestructible. 
 In theology he was a pantheist, and a worshiper of nature, in 
 philosophy a disciple of Epicurus. 
 
 PLINY THE YOUNGER, whose full Latin name was Caius 
 Plinius Csecilius Secundus, was a son of Lucius Csecilius and 
 of Plinia, a sister of Pliny the Elder, and was born at Comum, 
 on Lake Como, in 61 or 62 A.D. Having been adopted by his 
 uncle Pliny, he was liberally educated, learned the Greek lan- 
 guage, and wrote a Greek tragedy at the age of fourteen. He 
 studied rhetoric under Quintilian, and also studied law, and 
 became a popular pleader in Rome, where he began to prac- 
 tice about 80 A.D. 
 
 Pliny was highly accomplished, devoted to literature, very 
 rich and munificent. At the age of twenty he served as an 
 officer in Syria. Having returned to Rome, he became Quaes- 
 tor, and subsequently Tribune of the people. He was elected 
 Praetor at the age of thirty, and during the reign of Domitian 
 passed several years in retirement. The Emperor Trajan, 
 who was an intimate friend of Pliny, recalled him to the pub- 
 lic service. He became Consul in 100 A.D., and was appointed 
 Governor of the Province of Bithynia and Pontica in 103. 
 
 From this Province Pliny wrote to Trajan a famous letter, 
 in which he bore testimony to the good morals of the Chris- 
 tians of his Province, and asked directions for their treatment. 
 In this letter he said: "Those who obstinately persisted that 
 they were Christians, after they were warned of the conse- 
 quences, I ordered to be punished." The Emperor replied: 
 "You ought not to search for them; but if they are accused 
 and convicted, they must be punished." He modified this 
 decree by saying that "if the accused denies that he is a 
 Christian, and gives evidence of his sincerity by praying to 
 our gods, he should receive pardon for his repentance." It 
 appears that he enforced the law, and punished with death 
 some Christians who refused to renounce their faith. The last 
 book of Pliny's Epistles contains many letters from Pliny to 
 Trajan, and many replies written by Trajan. The date of his 
 death is unknown. 
 
 As a husband, master and friend, he was affectionate, 
 humane and generous. He founded and endowed an alms-
 
 396 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 house, and founded a public library at Comum. He was a 
 friend of the historian Tacitus. No Roman, from the time of 
 Cicero, acquired so high a reputation for eloquence; but all 
 his orations are lost except a u Panegyric on Trajan," which 
 is much admired, and which supplies us with interesting facts. 
 He published a collection of Letters in ten books, which are 
 highly prized and very instructive, as all original letters of 
 antiquity must be, because they elucidate the period in which 
 they are written. There are few remains of Roman prose 
 literature which are as interesting and elegant as Pliny's 
 Letters. The Latinity of these Letters is perhaps not inferior 
 to that of Cicero, whom he imitated in style. Erasmus, him- 
 self a renowned letter- writer, said of Pliny's Letters: "They 
 are witty, elegant and appropriate; in them you read nothing 
 but what pertains to domestic every-day life, and everything 
 simply Latin, chaste and well set off. Though his style is 
 elaborated with much art, ingenuity and culture, yet it seems 
 in a manner unlabored, unpremeditated and extemporaneous. 
 They are a fine example of epistolary style, which ought to 
 be simple and rather careless, for there is a sort of careful 
 carelessness. ' J 
 
 THE FIRST ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS* 
 
 (Pliny the Younger, in writing to the historian Tacitus an account of the 
 death of his uncle, gives this description of the first eruption of Vesuvius in 
 historic times ) 
 
 My uncle was at Misenum, where he was in personal 
 command of the fleet. On the ninth day before the calends 
 of September (24th August, 79 A.D.) at about the seventh 
 hour (i P.M.), my mother, observing the appearance of a 
 cloud of unusual size and shape, mentioned it to him. After 
 reclining in the sun, he had taken his old bath; he had then 
 again lain down, and after a slight repast, applied himself to 
 his studies. Immediately upon hearing her remark he called 
 for his shoes, and ascended to a spot from which he could 
 more easily observe this marvelous phenomenon. The cloud 
 was to be seen gradually rising upwards, though from the 
 great distance it was uncertain from which of the mountains 
 it arose ; it was afterwards, however, ascertained to be Vesu-
 
 PUNY. 397 
 
 vius. In appearance and shape it strongly resembled a tree ; 
 perhaps it was more like a pine than anything else, with a 
 stem of enormous length, reaching upwards to the heavens, 
 and then spreading out in a number of branches in every direc- 
 tion. I have little doubt that either it had been carried 
 upwards by a violent gust of wind, and that the wind dying 
 away, it had lost its compactness; or else that, being over- 
 come by its own weight, it had decreased in density and 
 become extended over a large surface. At one moment it 
 was white, at another dingy and spotted, just as it was more 
 or less charged with earth or with ashes. 
 
 To a man so eager as he was in the pursuit of knowledge, 
 this appeared to be a most singular phenomenon, and one 
 that deserved to be viewed more closely. Accordingly he 
 gave orders for a light Liburnian vessel to be got ready, and 
 left it at my option to accompany him. To this, however, I 
 made answer that I should prefer continuing my studies ; 
 and as it so happened he himself had just given me some- 
 thing to write. Taking his tablet with him he left the house. 
 The sailors stationed at Retina, alarmed at the imminence of 
 the danger for the village lay at the foot of the mountain, 
 and the sole escape was by sea sent to entreat his assistance 
 in rescuing them from this frightful peril. Upon this he 
 instantly changed his plans; and what he had already begun 
 from a desire for knowledge, he determined to carry out as a 
 matter of duty. He had the galleys put to sea at once, and 
 went on board himself, with the intention of rendering assist- 
 ance, not only to Retina, but to many other places as well ; 
 for the whole of this charming coast was thickly populated. 
 Accordingly he made all possible haste toward the spot from 
 which others were flying, and steered straight onwards into 
 the very midst of the danger : so far, indeed, was he from any 
 sensation of fear, that he remarked and had noted down every 
 movement and every change that was to be observed in the 
 appearance of this ominous eruption. The ashes were now 
 falling fast upon the vessels, hotter and more and more 
 thickfy the nearer they approached the shore; showers of 
 pumice, too, intermingled with black stones, calcined and 
 broken by the action of the flames. The sea suddenly re-
 
 398 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 treated from the shore, where the debris of the mountain 
 rendered landing quite impossible. 
 
 My uncle then hesitated for a moment whether or not to 
 turn back, as the pilot strongly advised him to do. But, 
 after deliberating, he cried, "Fortune favors the bold; con- 
 duct me to Pomponianus." Pomponianus was then at Sta- 
 biae, a place that lay on the other side of the bay, for in those 
 parts the shores are winding, and as they gradually trend 
 away the sea forms a number of little creeks. At this spot 
 the danger of being overwhelmed was not imminent at the 
 time ; but still it could be seen, and as it appeared to be ap- 
 proaching nearer and nearer, Pomponianus had ordered his 
 baggage on board the ships, determined to take flight if the 
 wind, which happened to be blowing the other way, should 
 chance to lull. 
 
 The wind, being in this quarter, was esteemed favorable 
 to his passage, and my uncle soon arrived at Stabiae. He 
 embraced his anxious friend, and did his best to restore his 
 courage ; and the better to reassure him by evidence of his 
 own sense of their safety, he requested the servants to conduct 
 him to the bath. After bathing he took his place at table 
 and dined, and that, too, in high spirits, or, at all events, 
 what equally showed his strength of mind, with every out- 
 ward appearance of being so. In the meantime vast sheets 
 of flame and large bodies of fire were to be seen arising from 
 Mount Vesuvius ; the glare and brilliancy of which were 
 beheld in bolder relief as the shades of night came on apace. 
 My uncle, however, in order to calm their fears, persisted in 
 saying that this was only the light given by some villages 
 which had been abandoned to the flames by the rustics in 
 their alarm. Soon after this he retired to rest, and fell asleep : 
 for his respiration, which with him was heavy and loud, in 
 consequence of his corpulence, was distinctly heard by the 
 servants who were keeping watch at the door of the apart- 
 ment 
 
 The court-yard which led to his apartment had now be- 
 come filled with cinders and pumice-stones to such a degree 
 that if he had remained any longer in the room, it would 
 have been quite impossible for him to leave it. On being
 
 PLINY. 399 
 
 aroused, he immediately rejoined Pomponianus and the others, 
 who had in the meanwhile been sitting up. They then con- 
 sulted together whether it would be better to remain in the 
 house or take their chance in the open air, as the building 
 was now rocking to and fro from the violent and repeated 
 shocks, while the walls, as though torn up from their very 
 foundations, seemed to be at one moment carried in this direc- 
 tion, at another in that. Having adopted the latter alterna- 
 tive, they were now alarmed at the showers of light calcined 
 pumice-stones that were falling thick about them, a risk, 
 however, to which, as a choice of evils, they had to submit. In 
 taking this step I must remark that, while with my uncle it 
 was reason triumphing over reason, with the rest it was only 
 one fear getting the better of the other. Taking the precau- 
 tion of placing pillows on their heads, they tied them on with 
 towels, by way of protection against the falling stones and 
 ashes. 
 
 It was now day in other places, though there it was still 
 night, more dark and more profound than any ordinary night. 
 Torches, however, and various lights, in some measure served 
 to dispel the gloom. It was then determined to make for the 
 shore, and to ascertain whether the sea would now admit of 
 their embarking. It was found, however, to be still too stormy 
 and boisterous to allow of their making the attempt. Upon 
 this my uncle lay down on a sail which had been spread for 
 him, and more than once asked for some cold water, which he 
 drank; very soon, however, they were alarmed by the flames 
 and the sulphurous smell which announced their approach, 
 upon which the others at once took to flight, while my uncle 
 arose, leaning upon two of the servants for support. Upon 
 making this effort he instantly fell to the ground, the dense 
 vapor having, I imagine, stopped the respiration and suffo- 
 cated him; for his chest was naturally weak and contracted, 
 and often troubled with violent palpitations. 
 
 When day was at last restored, the third after the closing 
 one of his existence, his body was found untouched and with- 
 out a wound; there was no change to be perceived in the 
 clothes, and its appearance was rather that of a person asleep 
 than of a corpse. In the meantime my mother and myself
 
 400 
 
 HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. 
 
 were at Misenum that, however, has nothing to do with the 
 story. The only thing I shall add is the assurance that I 
 have truthfully related all these facts, of which I was either 
 an eye-witness myself, or heard them at the time of their 
 occurrence. Farewell. 
 
 ********** 
 
 To the foregoing contemporary account it may be added 
 that in this eruption both Herculaneum and Pompeii were 
 buried; the former under a mass of lava, Pompeii under 
 showers of stones, cinders and ashes. The ceilings and upper 
 stories of the houses, being chiefly of wood, were either burned 
 by the red-hot stones and cinders ejected from Vesuvius, or 
 were broken down by the weight of matter collected on the 
 roofs. It would appear that the town was buried by succes- 
 sive eruptions, between which the inhabitants had time to 
 come and revisit their half-ruined habitations and recover 
 some of their property. Successive layers of volcanic matter 
 are clearly traced. A bed of soil formed itself over all the 
 town; grass grew upon it, grain was sown and the vine 
 planted. The very existence of Pompeii was forgotten until 
 1689, when in digging, some indications of ruins were dis- 
 covered. It was not until 1755 that the systematic excavations 
 began, which have brought to light remarkable exhibitions 
 of the actual surroundings of Roman life in the first century. 
 
 SIR. E. BULWER lyYTTON.
 
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