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diff --git a/19893-8.txt b/19893-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..439822f --- /dev/null +++ b/19893-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15858 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. +1-20, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 1-20 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Rossiter Johnson, Charles Horne, and John Rudd + +Release Date: November 21, 2006 [EBook #19893] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: Murder of the favorite, Rizzio, at the feet of Mary +Stuart, by her husband and associate conspirators + +Painting by Eug. Siberdt.] + + + + + THE GREAT EVENTS + + BY + + FAMOUS HISTORIANS + + +A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY, EMPHASIZING +THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE NARRATIVES +IN THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS + + +NON-SECTARIAN NON-PARTISAN NON-SECTIONAL + + + ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE + MOST DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE, INCLUDING BRIEF + INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED + NARRATIVES. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY, WITH THOROUGH INDICES, + BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF READING + + + EDITOR-IN-CHIEF + + ROSSITER JOHNSON, LL.D. + + + ASSOCIATE EDITORS + + CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D. + JOHN RUDD, LL.D. + + _With a staff of specialists_ + + + + _VOLUME X_ + + The National Alumni + + + COPYRIGHT, 1905, + + By THE NATIONAL ALUMNI + + + + + CONTENTS + + VOLUME X + + + PAGE + +_An Outline Narrative of the Great Events_, xiii + CHARLES F. HORNE + +_England Loses Her Last French Territory (A.D. 1558) +Battle of St. Quentin_, 1 + CHARLES KNIGHT + +_Reign of Elizabeth (A.D. 1558-1603)_, 8 + HENRY R. CLEVELAND + +_John Knox Heads the Scottish Reformers (A.D. 1558)_, 21 + P. HUME BROWN + THOMAS CARLYLE + +_Mary Stuart: Her Reign and Execution (A.D. 1561-1587)_, 51 + ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE + +_Founding of St. Augustine (A.D. 1565) +Massacre of the Huguenots in America_, 70 + GEORGE R. FAIRBANKS + +_Revolt of the Netherlands against Spain +Rise of the Gueux or Beggars (A.D. 1566)_, 81 + FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER + +_Lepanto: Destruction of the Turkish Naval Power +(A.D. 1571)_, 100 + SIR WILLIAM STIRLING-MAXWELL + +_Massacre of St. Bartholomew (A.D. 1572)_, 119 + HENRY WHITE + ISAAC D'ISRAELI + JNO. RUDD + +_Heroic Age of the Netherlands (A.D. 1573) +Siege of Leyden_, 145 + THOMAS HENRY DYER + +_Search for the Northwest Passage by Frobisher (A.D. 1576)_, 156 + GEORGE BEST + +_Building of the First Theatre in England (A.D. 1576)_ 163 + KARL MANTZIUS + +_Cossack Conquest of Siberia (A.D. 1581)_, 181 + NIKOLAI M. KARAMZIN + +_First Colony of England Beyond Seas (A.D. 1583)_, 198 + MOSES HARVEY + +_Assassination of William of Orange (A.D. 1584) +Division of the Netherlands_, 202 + JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY + +_Naming of Virginia: First Description of the Indians +The Lost Colony (A.D. 1584)_, 211 + ARTHUR BARLOW + R. R. HOWISON + +_Drake Captures Cartagena +He "Singes the King of Spain's Beard" at Cadiz +(A.D. 1586-1587)_, 230 + JULIAN CORBETT + +_Defeat of the Spanish Armada (A.D. 1588)_, 251 + SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY + +_Henry of Navarre Accepts Catholicism +He is Acknowledged King of France (A.D. 1593)_, 276 + MAXIMILIEN DE BÉTHUNE, DUC DE SULLY + +_Culmination of Dramatic Literature in Hamlet (A.D. 1601)_, 287 + JAMES O. HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS + +_Downfall of Irish Liberty +"Flight of the Earls" (A.D. 1603)_, 299 + JUSTIN M'CARTHY + +_The Gunpowder Plot (A.D. 1605)_, 310 + SAMUEL R. GARDINER + +_Cervantes' Don Quixote Reforms Literature (A.D. 1605)_, 325 + HENRY EDWARD WATTS + +_Earliest Positive Discovery of Australia (A.D. 1606)_, 340 + LOUIS BECKE + WALTER JEFFERY + +_Settlement of Virginia (A.D. 1607) +Charter under which America was Colonized_, 350 + R. R. HOWISON + +_Founding of Quebec (A.D. 1608) +Champlain Establishes French Power in Canada_, 366 + H. H. MILES + +_Universal Chronology (A.D. 1558-1608)_, 387 + JOHN RUDD + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + VOLUME X + + + PAGE + +_Murder of the favorite, Rizzio, at the feet of Mary +Stuart, by her husband and associate conspirators +(page 56)_, Frontispiece + Painting by Eug. Siberdt. + +_Catharine de' Medici, accompanied by her suite, issues +from the gate of the Louvre the morning after the Massacre +of St. Bartholomew_, 142 + Painting by Ed. Debat-Ponsan. + + + + + AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE + + TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES + + OF THE GREAT EVENTS + + (AGE OF ELIZABETH AND PHILIP II) + + + CHARLES F. HORNE + + +Philip II succeeded his father Charles V on the throne of Spain. The +vast extent of his domains, the absoluteness of his authority, and, +above all, the enormous wealth that poured into his coffers from the +Spanish conquests in America, made him the most powerful monarch of his +time, the central figure of the age. It was largely because of Philip's +personal character that the great religious struggle of the Reformation +entered upon a new phase, became far more sinister, more black and +deadly, extended over all Europe, and bathed the civilized world in +blood. England stood forth as the centre of opposition against Philip, +and under the unwilling leadership of Elizabeth entered on its epic +period of heroism, was stimulated to that remarkable outburst of energy +and intellect and power which we call the Elizabethan age. + +Philip, with a tenacity of purpose from which no fortune good or bad +could lure him for a moment, pursued two objects throughout his reign +(1555-1598), the reëstablishment of Catholicism over all Europe, and the +extension so far as might be of his own personal authority. If we +consider his personal ambition, we must count his reign a failure; for +at his death his country had already fallen from its foremost rank in +Europe and started on that process of decay which in later centuries has +become so marked. If, however, we look to Philip's religious purpose, it +is undeniable that during his reign Catholicism revived. Philip II, the +Jesuits, the Council of Trent--these three were the powers by means of +which the Roman Church beat back its foes, saved itself from what for a +time had seemed a threatened extinction, and so far reëstablished its +power that for over a century it appeared not improbable that Philip's +purpose of reuniting Europe might be accomplished. + +Before the beginning of this reactionary wave, the North had become +wholly Protestant. It has been estimated that nine-tenths of the people +of Germany were of the new faith; half the population of France had +adopted it; even in Italy protest and disbelief were widespread and +active. Only in Spain did the Inquisition with firmest cruelty trample +down each vestige of revolt. + + + SPAIN AND GREAT BRITAIN + +The Inquisition was established in Italy, which, as we have seen, was +really a Spanish possession. It was introduced into the Netherlands by +Charles V (1550), but remained feebly merciful there until Philip, to +whom we must at least give the credit of having been a sincere fanatic, +insisted on its rigorous enforcement. Over England also Philip sought to +extend his hand. There the eagerly Protestant Edward VI had died in +1553, and his Catholic sister Mary succeeded to the throne. Philip was +wedded to her in 1554, even before he became King of Spain, and both he +and she did their utmost to restore the kingdom to the Roman faith. So +many Protestants were burned at the stake that England remembers the +queen as "bloody Mary"; and so recklessly did she antagonize the spirit +of her people that even her husband counselled her to a caution which +she despised. He had no love for his cold, pale, embittered English +wife, except as an instrument in his policy; and when he found that it +was impossible for him, as her husband, to become King of England, he +practically abandoned her, and returned to Spain. + +When his father's abdication gave him power in 1555, Philip's first +active movement was against France. He sought to avenge his father's +loss of Metz, and persuaded his English wife to join him in war against +young Henry II. With his splendid Spanish troops Philip won a great +victory at St. Quentin.[1] "Has he yet taken Paris?" cried his father +eagerly when the news reached his secluded monastery. But Philip had +not, he had erred from over-caution and given France time to recover. +Two able generals, the great Protestant leader Coligny, and the dashing +Catholic hero of Metz, Francis of Guise, held the Spaniards in check. +Guise even seized Calais, and so snatched from England her last +territory in France (1558). Its loss filled full the measure of poor +Mary's unpopularity with her subjects and also of her own unhappiness. +She had sacrificed everything for love of a husband who had no love for +her. She died the same year. "They will find 'Calais,'" she said, +"engraven on my heart."[2] + + [1] See _Battle of St. Quentin_, page 1. + + [2] See _England Loses Her Last French Territory_, page 1. + +Her Protestant sister, Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, succeeded to +the throne, and England with a cry of relief threw off the hated Spanish +alliance. She was free again. Free, but in infinite danger. The Catholic +Pope and Catholic Philip, remembering that the divorce under which Henry +VIII married Anne Boleyn had never been admitted by the Church, declared +Elizabeth illegitimate, and pointed to her cousin Mary Stuart of +Scotland as the lawful ruler of England. Mary had been married to the +French prince Francis II, who at this moment succeeded his father Henry +II as king of France. Here was a chance indeed for Spain and France and +Scotland all three to unite against Elizabeth and place a second +Catholic Mary on England's throne. Many Englishmen themselves were still +Catholic, and might easily have been persuaded to approve the change. +That Elizabeth, by her cool and cunning diplomacy, managed to evade the +threatened danger, has ever been held as little short of providential by +the Protestants of the world.[3] In truth, however, each of the powers +which might have assailed Elizabeth, had religious difficulties of its +own to encounter. + + [3] See _Reign of Elizabeth_, page 8. + +In Scotland there was civil war. The Protestant faith had been slow of +introduction there, but under the leadership of John Knox it had become +at length supreme.[4] The Regent, mother of the young queen, Mary +Stuart, had French troops to aid her against the reformers, but had been +compelled to yield to their demands. When Queen Mary herself returned to +rule Scotland after the death of her French husband, King Francis, she +found her path anything but easy. A sovereign of one faith and a nation +of another had not yet learned to endure each other, and there were +queer doings in Scotland, wild nobles running off with the Queen, wilder +fanatics lecturing at her in her own court, her French favorite +assassinated, a new husband, a Scotch one, sent the same dark road, more +civil war, imprisonments, romantic escapes. It ended in Mary's secret +flight to England. She who had so nearly marched into the land a +conqueror, entered it a fugitive supplicating Elizabeth's protection. +The remainder of her life she passed in an English prison, and eighteen +years later was executed on an only half-proven charge of conspiring +against the rival who had kept her in such dreary durance.[5] + + [4] See _John Knox Heads the Scottish Reformers_, page 21. + + [5] See _Mary Stuart: Her Reign and Execution_, page 51. + +Let us not, however, judge Elizabeth too harshly. In reading only +English history we are apt to do so, to fail in realizing the atmosphere +that surrounded her, the spirit of the age throughout Europe. +Statecraft, which had been grasping under Charles V and false under +Francis I, seemed now to have adopted fully the maxims of Machiavelli, +and pursued its ends by means wholly base, by subtle treacheries, secret +murders and open massacre. The gloomy spirit of Philip II hung like +blackest night over all the world. He hesitated at no crime which should +advance his purposes. Where he might next strike, no man knew, until the +blow had fallen. His dark secrecy and enormous power weighed as a +nightmare upon the imaginations of men. We enter an age of plots. +Elizabeth was unquestionably surrounded by them; and where so many +existed, a thousand more were naturally suspected--leading on all sides +to counterplots. Scotland had seen several assassinations. England +guarded herself desperately against them. France, nearest to Spain's +borders, suffered worst of all. Five times in succession did the chief +leader of the state fall by sudden murder. In some of these crimes +Philip had no part; in others he was plainly implicated. + + + RELIGIOUS WARS OF FRANCE + +The early and unexpected death of Henry II of France (1559) had left the +throne to one after another of his young and feeble sons. The first of +these, Francis II, the husband of Mary Stuart, ruled only a year. He was +completely under the control of the great Catholic family, the Guises, +who began a vigorous attempt to suppress the Protestants of France, the +Huguenots as they were called. But these Huguenots included many of the +highest and ablest of the French nobility and did not yield easily to +suppression. Francis II died, and the Queen-mother, Catherine de' +Medici, became regent for her second son, Charles IX. At first Catherine +feared the power of the Guises and encouraged the Huguenots; but Philip +of Spain interfered here as everywhere in the Catholic behalf. A civil +war broke out in 1562; and for over a generation France, divided against +herself, became the theatre of repeated conflicts and savage massacres. +She had no thought to give to other lands. + +The first of her chiefs to be assassinated was Francis of Guise, the +great Catholic leader and general, shot by a Huguenot. Next the +Catholics attempted the murder of Coligny. They failed at first, and +Catherine de' Medici, who by this time had embraced fully the Catholic +cause, planned the awful massacre of St. Bartholomew (1572). A marriage +was arranged between the highest Huguenot in rank, the young prince +Henry of Navarre, and a royal princess. This was supposed to mark the +amicable ending of all disputes, and the chief Huguenots gathered gladly +to Paris for the ceremony. Suddenly an army of assassins were let loose +on them. Young Henry was spared, but Coligny and more than twenty +thousand Huguenots were slain.[6] + + [6] See _Massacre of St. Bartholomew_, page 119. + +The massacre spread over all France. The Protestants rallied, stern and +desperate, for defence and for revenge. The civil war was resumed again +and again, with false peaces patched in between. Philip might well +triumph at the utter anarchy into which he had helped to throw the +kingdom which had been his father's rival. + +The feeble French king, Charles IX, died, in remorse and madness it is +said, for having permitted the great massacre. Henry III, last of the +sons of Catherine, ascended the throne, and was also guided by the dark +genius of his Italian mother. He found the new Duke of Guise, head of +the Catholic party, far more powerful than he, so caused his +assassination. That roused the Catholics to war on the King; the +Huguenots were also in arms under Henry of Navarre; there were now three +parties to the strife. Queen Catherine died, worn out and despairing. +King Henry was murdered in his turn, and with him perished the direct +line of the royal house. Henry of Navarre was the nearest heir to the +throne. + +Of course the Catholics would not consent to be ruled by this champion +of the Huguenots; so again the strife went on. Henry proved himself a +dashing and heroic leader, winning splendid battles. Spanish forces +invaded the country, and he beat them, too. Though Protestant, he was +recognized even by his foes as the national hero. At last he took that +much-debated resolve, than which was never act more statesmanly. He +became a Catholic. His opponents gladly laid down their arms; even +fanatic Paris hailed him with extravagant delight. In 1598 he proclaimed +the Edict of Nantes, granting safety and religious freedom to his former +comrades, the Huguenots. The religious wars of France ended; the wisdom +and power of one man had healed what seemed a hopeless confusion.[7] + + [7] See _Henry of Navarre Accepts Catholicism_, page 276. + +Under this great monarch, Henry IV, France resumed her former place of +power in Europe. Her chief began planning grim revenge on Spain for all +her injuries. And then he, too, fell by the assassin's knife (1610). + + + REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS + +We have traced the French tumults to the end of the present period; let +us go back to see why, with his chief foe so helpless, Philip II +accomplished no more in extending his own power. It is one of the most +amazing tales in history. Where he had thought himself most secure, +there he failed. The foe which had seemed most helpless, proved his +undoing. He had insisted on the enforcement of the Inquisition in the +Netherlands. It is said that thirty thousand people perished there in +its flames. Yet even with thirty thousand of their bravest gone, the +Protestants refused submission. Gradually the temper of the oppressed +people grew more and more bitter, till in 1566 they flared into open +revolt. "The beggars," they were contemptuously called by the Spaniards, +and they adopted the name as a badge of honor. Penniless, helpless they +might be, yet they would fight.[8] + + [8] See _Rise of the Gueux or Beggars_, page 81. + +The cruel Alva was sent by Philip to suppress them, and for six years +(1567-1573) his savagery and that of his brutal Spanish soldiers made +the Netherlands a theatre of horror--and of heroism. The revolt in the +southern provinces, now Belgium, was finally put down. The inhabitants +there were mostly Catholics, and their strife was only against the +general despotism and cruelty of Spain. But the North would never yield. +The terrific siege of Leyden, with its accompanying horrors of +starvation and defiance, is world-famed.[9] In 1581 Holland finally +proclaimed its complete independence of Spain. + + [9] See _Siege of Leyden_, page 145. + +At enormous expense and waste of his American treasure, Philip II +continued to pour troops and troops into the rebellious provinces. Their +leader throughout had been the highest of their nobles, William of +Orange, called "the silent." Philip openly proclaimed an enormous reward +to the man who could reach and assassinate this obstacle in his path; +and at last after repeated attempts the reward was earned (1584).[10] The +fall of William ended all chance of the union of the northern and +southern provinces; he had been the only man all trusted. But Holland +under his son Maurice continued the strife even more bitterly. No +sacrifice was too great for the heroic Dutch. Spain was exhausted at +last; Philip II died a disappointed man. His son, Philip III, in 1609 +consented sullenly to a truce--peace he would not call it--and it was +many years before Spain formally acknowledged the independence of her +defiant provinces. + + [10] See _Assassination of William of Orange_, page 202. + + + SUCCESSES OF PHILIP + +Philip II had met also an even heavier defeat from Protestant England. +But before speaking of this, let us look to his few successes. In 1580 +he added Portugal to his dominions and so, temporarily at least, united +the entire Spanish peninsula as one state. This gave him control over +the vast Portuguese colonial possessions and over the rich trade with +India and the isles beyond. Australia was probably touched more than +once by his ships, though not definitely discovered until 1606.[11] + + [11] See _Earliest Positive Discovery of Australia_, page 340. + +It was under Philip that in 1564 the Spaniards extended their American +settlements northward and founded St. Augustine, the first town within +the present mainland of the United States. The French had attempted to +plant a colony even earlier. At the first outbreak of their civil wars, +some Huguenots had fled from persecution to the coast of Florida (1562). +The Spaniards regarded this as an encroachment on their territories. +Moreover, the intruders were heretics. They were attacked and massacred. +It was partly to keep further Frenchmen off the coast that St. Augustine +was founded.[12] + + [12] See _Founding of St. Augustine_, page 70. + +An even more important triumph came to Philip in 1571, when his ships, +united with those of Venice and other states, gained a great naval +victory over the Turks. This battle of Lepanto stands among the +turning-points of history. It marks the checking of the Turkish power +which for over two centuries had been rising steadily against Europe. +Lepanto crushed the naval supremacy which the followers of Mahomet had +more than once asserted over the Mediterranean. For another century and +more they remained formidable on land, but at sea they never recovered +their ascendency.[13] + + [13] See _Lepanto: Destruction of the Turkish Naval Power_, + page 100. + +At Lepanto as a common soldier, fought Miguel de Cervantes, a Spaniard, +who, toward the close of a roving life, settled down to literature in +his native land, and after Philip's death wrote what was in many ways a +satire upon that monarch's rule in Spain. Cervantes' _Don Quixote_ +altered the taste of the whole literary world. Its influence spread from +Spain to France and over all Europe. It was the death-song of ancient +chivalry, the first book since the days of Dante to alter markedly the +literary thought of man.[14] + + [14] See _Cervantes'_ Don Quixote _Reforms Literature_, page 325. + +Of the world farther eastward during this period we need say little. The +fortunes of Germany, luckily for herself, had been separated from those +of Spain at the abdication of Charles V. The Hapsburg possessions in +Austria had been bequeathed to his brother Ferdinand; and both Ferdinand +and his next successor as emperor of Germany abided by the conditions of +that remarkable religious peace of Augsburg which had allowed every +prince to settle the religion of his own domains. Although themselves +Catholic, the Emperors were not strict in enforcing Catholicism even in +their own Austrian domains. They reserved all their effort for the +struggle against the Turks. Disputes between the leaders of the +differing faiths did of course occur, but none reached an active stage +until a later generation. + +Sweden rose greatly in importance. Poland declined. Russia was almost +conquered by one or the other, a prey, like France, to civil wars. Yet +some Cossacks in her service, wandering plunderers really, invaded +Siberia, defeated the few scattered Tartar tribes, and annexed the +entire waste of Northern Asia to the Russian crown. Never again was this +to be a secretly growing, unknown world from which vast hordes might +suddenly burst forth on Europe.[15] + + [15] See _Cossack Conquest of Siberia_, page 181. + + + THE ELIZABETHAN AGE + +Turn now to England, emerging at last from the exhaustion of the Wars of +the Roses to assert her place among the great powers of the world. +Philip and Elizabeth, restrained by other anxieties, might maintain a +hollow peace at home: they could not control the rising spirits of the +English nation. English sailors, the most daring in the world, +penetrated all seas. Spanish and Portuguese ships had been almost +everywhere before them. The North was still half a century behind the +South in progress. Yet the difference is worth noting. On the southern +ships a few gallant, aristocratic leaders headed a crowd of trembling +peasants, ever begging to be taken home, sometimes mutinying through +very frenzy of fear. On England's ships each sailor was as stubborn and +dauntless as his chief, differing from him only in the intellect to +command. + +Such men as these were little like to accept Spanish claims to all the +wealth of all the new lands of the world. They cruised at will, and +fought the Spaniards successfully wherever found. Frobisher began the +long and dreary search for the "northwest passage," by which the +northern countries of Europe might send ships to round America and reach +Asia as Magellan had done to southward.[16] Gilbert raised his country's +standard over Newfoundland, England's first clearly established +possession beyond seas.[17] The memory of the Cabots' voyages was +revived, and in their name England claimed the North American coast. Sir +Walter Raleigh attempted to plant a colony, and called the new land +Virginia in honor of the Virgin Queen.[18] + + [16] See _Search for the Northwest Passage by Frobisher_, page 156. + + [17] See _First Colony of England beyond Seas_, page 198. + + [18] See _Naming of Virginia: The Lost Colony_, page 211. + +To Drake, greatest of all these wild adventurers, was it left to embroil +his country utterly with Spain. He followed Magellan in circumnavigating +the globe, and wherever he went he left a track of plundered Spanish +settlements behind. Elizabeth was in despair; she alternately knighted +him and threatened to hang him as a pirate. The Spaniards, re-reading +his name, called him the Dragon. He was the terror of their seas. + +At last the long accumulating quarrel of religious and commercial +motives reached a head. Philip began gathering in all his ports that +vast "Invincible Armada," which was to assert his supremacy on sea as +upon land, to crush England and Protestantism forever. This was the +supreme effort of his life. There was no question as to where the blow +would fall. Elizabeth knew it coming, not to be evaded by any policy or +concessions. Drake knew it coming, and, taking time by the forelock, +sailed boldly into the harbor of Cadiz to "singe the King of Spain's +beard," destroyed all the ships and stores accumulated there.[19] But +Cadiz was only one port among several where preparations were being +hurried forward; there were others the hardy Dragon could not penetrate. +The next year (1588) the "Invincible Armada" sailed for England. + + [19] See _Drake Captures Cartagena: He "Singes the King of Spain's + Beard" at Cadiz_, page 230. + +The story of its destruction is too well known for repetition. This was +England's proudest achievement. Philip accepted the terrific downfall of +all his scheming and ambitions with a gallant calm. He had truly +believed that Heaven wished him to reassert Catholicism. He accepted the +storms which partly destroyed his fleet as the divine refusal of his +aid. "You could not strive against the will of Heaven," he said kindly +to his defeated admiral.[20] + + [20] See _Defeat of the Spanish Armada_, page 251. + +In England, the repeated plunderings of Spanish ships, and now this +final victory, flooded the land with wealth and triumph. The internal +improvement, the intellectual advance of the people, were prodigious. +The "Elizabethan Age" is the most famed in English literature. The first +English theatre was built in 1570, a crude and queer affair for cruder, +queerer plays.[21] Yet, in perhaps that very armada year of 1588, +Shakespeare began writing his remarkable plays. In 1601 the drama rose to +its perfection in his _Hamlet_, the flower of English literary genius, +accredited by some as the grandest new creation that ever came from the +hand of man.[22] + + [21] See _Building of First Theatre in England_, page 163. + + [22] See _Culmination of Dramatic Literature in_ Hamlet, page 287. + +Elizabeth died in 1603. Her reign had seen also the final suppression of +the Irish Catholics and their subjugation to the English crown. In the +year of her death came the "Flight of the Earls," the mournful +abandonment of Ireland by the last of the great lords who had fought for +and now despaired of her independence.[23] + + [23] See _Downfall of Irish Liberty: "Flight of the Earls_," page + 299. + +The age of Elizabeth can scarcely, however, be said to cease at her +death. The English people had grown greater than their sovereign, and +upon them the influences of their Spanish victory continued. Shakespeare +is even more the Elizabethan age than Elizabeth, and his writings +continued until 1611. Drake had died in 1596; Raleigh lived till 1618. + +Since Elizabeth was childless, she was succeeded on the throne by the +Scotch king James VI (James I of England), son of the Mary Stuart whose +claims had caused such trouble. James, removed from his mother's care, +had been educated by his subjects as a Protestant, so he was welcome to +England. The first step toward uniting the two halves of the island was +made when they thus came under a common sovereign. The same atmosphere +of plot and treachery which had surrounded Elizabeth reached also to her +successor. In 1605 was unearthed the "Gunpowder Plot," a scheme to blow +up James with all his chief ministers and subjects in the House of +Parliament. The date of its discovery is still kept as a national +holiday in England.[24] + + [24] See _The Gunpowder Plot_, page 310. + +Then in 1607 came the fruition of Raleigh's efforts and those of Drake, +the beginning surely of a new era. Spain being no longer able to oppose, +a new colony was sent out from England to Virginia. It settled at +Jamestown, and began the successful colonization of the United +States.[25] The next year, the French, supported by their great king +Henry IV, made a similar beginning. Quebec was founded by them on the +St. Lawrence.[26] The era of American discovery was over, and that of +American settlement was come. + + [25] See _Settlement of Virginia_, page 350. + + [26] See _Founding of Quebec_, page 366. + + + [FOR THE NEXT SECTION OF THIS GENERAL SURVEY SEE VOLUME XI] + + + + + ENGLAND LOSES HER LAST FRENCH TERRITORY + + BATTLE OF ST. QUENTIN + + A.D. 1558 + + CHARLES KNIGHT + + + From 1347, when it was taken by Edward III, Calais remained a + stronghold of England until it was retaken for France by the Duke + of Guise (François de Lorraine), in 1558. With the surrender of + Calais the English lost their last foothold in French territory. + + Weary with the long tumults and wars of his reign, Charles V in + 1555 resigned all his crowns to his son, Philip II of Spain, and + his brother Ferdinand, King of Bohemia and Hungary. Pope Paul IV, + wishing to subvert the Spanish power, entered into a league + with Henry II of France against Philip. Guise, who had warred + successfully with Charles V, against whom he defended Metz when it + was won for France (1553), now espoused the papal cause. His main + object was to recover Naples to his own family. Thus he became a + leading actor in the events culminating in the capture of Calais. + + Throughout the reign of Philip II his chief aim was to restore the + Roman Catholic religion in Protestant countries and to establish a + uniform despotism over his dominions. In 1554 he had married Queen + Mary of England, and after a short sojourn in that country, whose + crown he vainly tried to obtain, and to whose people he was + obnoxious, he returned to the Continent. Soon after "he was called + to a destiny more suited to his proud and ambitious nature than to + be the unequal partaker of sovereign power over a jealous insular + people." + + +In March, 1557, Philip returned to England. He came, not out of +affection for his wife or of regard for his turbulent insular subjects, +but to stir up the old English hatred of France and to drag the nation +into a war for his personal advantage. The fiery Pope, Paul IV, panted +for the freedom of Italy as it existed in the fifteenth century; he +wanted to accomplish his wishes by an alliance with France; he would +place French princes on the thrones of Milan and Naples. The Spaniards +he pronounced as the spawn of Jews and Moors, the dregs of the earth. + +When there was a question of temporal dominion to be fought out, the +Pope did not hesitate to wage war against that faithful son of the +Church, King Philip; nor did King Philip hesitate to send the Duke of +Alva, the exterminator of Protestants, to enter the Roman states and lay +waste the territories of the Pope. Frane and Spain were upon the brank +of open war when Philip arrived in England. He urged a declaration of +war against France. There were grievances in the alleged encouragement +which had been given in Wyat's rebellion, and in the lukewarmness with +which Henry II met Queen Mary's desire that he should afford her the +means of vengeance upon the exiles for religion who took shelter in +France. + +The most recent complaint was that France had connived at the equipment +of a force by Thomas Stafford, a refugee, who had invaded England with +thirty-two followers and had surprised Scarborough castle. This +adventurer claimed to be the house and blood of the Duke of Buckingham, +who was beheaded in the times of Henry VIII. The proclamation which he +issued from his castle of Scarborough, which he held only two days, was +addressed to the English hatred of the Spaniards, rather than directed +against the ecclesiastical persecution under which the country was +suffering: "As the duke of Buckingham, our forefathers and predecessors, +have always been defenders of the poor commonalty against the tyranny of +princes, so should you have us at this juncture, most dearly beloved +friends, your protector, governor, and defender against all your +adversaries and enemies; minding earnestly to die rather, presently, and +personally before you in the field, than to suffer you to be overrun so +miserably with strangers, and made most sorrowful slaves and careful +captives to such a naughty nation as Spaniards." Stafford and his band +were soon made prisoners; and he was beheaded on Tower Hill, and three +of his followers hanged, on May 25th. Seizing upon this absurd attempt +as a ground of quarrel, war was declared against France on June 7th; and +Philip quitted the country on July 6th, never to return. + +An English force of four thousand infantry, a thousand cavalry, and two +thousand pioneers joined the Spanish army on the Flemish frontier. The +army was partly composed of German mercenaries; the _lanzknechts_ and +_reiters_, the pikemen and cavalry, who, at the command of the best +paymaster, were the most formidable soldiers of the time. But the Spanish +cavaliers were there, leading their native infantry; and there were the +Burgundian lances. The army was commanded by Emanuel Philibert, Duke of +Savoy, who had aspired to the hand of Elizabeth. Philip earnestly +seconded his suit, but Mary, wisely and kindly, would not put a +constraint upon her sister's inclinations. The wary Princess saw that the +crown would probably be hers at no distant day; and she would not risk +the loss of the people's affection by marrying a foreign Catholic. She +had sensible advisers about her, who seconded her own prudence; and thus +she kept safe amid the manifold dangers by which she was surrounded. + +The Duke of Savoy, though young, was an experienced soldier, and he +determined to commence the campaign by investing St. Quentin, a frontier +town of Picardy. The defence of this fortress was undertaken by Coligny, +the Admiral of France, afterward so famous for his mournful death. +Montmorency, the Constable, had the command of the French army. The +garrison was almost reduced to extremity--when Montmorency, on August +10th, arrived with his whole force, and halted on the bank of the Somme. +On the opposite bank lay the Spanish, the English, the Flemish, and the +German host. The arrival of the French was a surprise, and the Duke of +Savoy had to take up a new position. He determined on battle. The issue +was the most unfortunate for France since the fatal day of Agincourt. +The French slain amounted, according to some accounts, to six thousand; +and the prisoners were equally numerous. Among them was the veteran +Montmorency. + +On August 10th Philip came to the camp. Bold advisers counselled a march +to Paris. The cautious King was satisfied to press on the siege of St. +Quentin. The defence which Coligny made was such as might have been +expected from his firmness and bravery. The place was taken by storm, +amid horrors which belong to such scenes at all times, but which were +doubled by the rapacity of troops who fought even with each other for the +greatest share of the pillage. After a few trifling successes, the army +of Philip was broken up. The German mercenaries; the _lanzknechts_ and +_reiters_, the pikemen and cavalry, who, at the command of the best +paymaster, were the most formidable soldiers of the time. But the Spanish +cavaliers were there, leading their native infantry; and there were the +Burgundian lances. The army was commanded by Emanuel Philibert, Duke of +Savoy, who had aspired to the hand of Elizabeth. Philip earnestly +seconded his suit, but Mary, wisely and kindly, would not put a constraint +upon her sister's inclinations. The wary Princess saw that the crown +would probably be hers at no distant day; and she would not risk the +loss of the people's affection by marrying a foreign Catholic. She had +sensible advisers about her, who seconded her own prudence; and thus she +kept safe amid the manifold dangers by which she was surrounded. + +The Duke of Savoy, though young, was an experienced soldier, and he +determined to commence the campaign by investing St. Quentin, a frontier +town of Picardy. The defence of this fortress was undertaken by Coligny, +the Admiral of France, afterward so famous for his mournful death. +Montmorency, the Constable, had the command of the French army. The +garrison was almost reduced to extremity--when Montmorency, on August +10th, arrived with his whole force, and halted on the bank of the Somme. +On the opposite bank lay the Spanish, the English, the Flemish, and the +German host. The arrival of the French was a surprise, and the Duke of +Savoy had to take up a new position. He determined on battle. The issue +was the most unfortunate for France since the fatal day of Agincourt. +The French slain amounted, according to some accounts, to six thousand; +and the prisoners were equally numerous. Among them was the veteran +Montmorency. + +On August 10th Philip came to the camp. Bold advisers counselled a march +to Paris. The cautious King was satisfied to press on the siege of St. +Quentin. The defence which Coligny made was such as might have been +expected from his firmness and bravery. The place was taken by storm, +amid horrors which belong to such scenes at all times, but which were +doubled by the rapacity of troops who fought even with each other for +the greatest share of the pillage. After a few trifling successes, the +army of Philip was broken up. The English and Germans were indignant at +the insolence of the Spaniards; and the Germans were more indignant that +their pay was not forthcoming. Philip was glad to permit his English +subjects to take their discontents home. They had found out that they +were not fighting the battle of England. + +The war between England and France produced hostilities between England +and Scotland. Mary of Guise, the Queen Dowager and Regent of Scotland, +was incited by the French king to invade England. The disposition to +hostilities was accompanied by a furious outbreak of the Scottish +borderers. They were driven back. But the desire of the Queen Dowager +that England should be invaded was resisted by the chief nobles, who +declared themselves ready to act on the defensive, but who would not +plunge into war during their sovereign's minority. The alliance of +France and Scotland was, however, completed, in the autumn of 1558, by +the marriage between the Dauphin and the young Queen Mary, which was +solemnized at Paris, in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. + +The Duke of Guise, the uncle of the Queen of Scots, at the beginning of +1558, was at the head of a powerful army to avenge the misfortune of St. +Quentin. The project committed to his execution was a bold and patriotic +one--to drive the English from their last stronghold in France. Calais, +over whose walls a foreign flag had been waving for two centuries, was +to France an opprobrium and to England a trophy. But it was considered +by the English government as an indispensable key to the Continent--a +possession that it would not only be a disgrace to lose, but a national +calamity. The importance of Calais was thus described by Micheli, the +Venetian ambassador, only one year before it finally passed from the +English power: + +"Another frontier, besides that of Scotland, and of no less importance +for the security of the kingdom, though it be separated, is that which +the English occupy on the other side of the sea, by means of two +fortresses, Calais and Guines, guarded by them (and justly) with +jealousy, especially Calais, for this is the key and principal entrance +to their dominions, without which the English would have no outlet from +their own, nor access to other countries, at least none so easy, so +short, and so secure; so much so that if they were deprived of it they +would not only be shut out from the Continent, but also from the +commerce and intercourse of the world. They would consequently lose what +is essentially necessary for the existence of a country, and become +dependent upon the will and pleasure of other sovereigns, in availing +themselves of their ports, besides having to encounter a more distant, +more hazardous, and more expensive passage; whereas, by way of Calais, +which is directly opposite to the harbor of Dover, distant only about +thirty miles, they can, at any time, without hinderance, even in spite +of contrary winds, at their pleasure, enter or leave the harbor--such is +the experience and boldness of their sailors--and carry over either +troops or anything else for warfare, offensive and defensive, without +giving rise to jealousy and suspicion; and thus they are enabled, as +Calais is not more than ten miles from Ardres, the frontier of the +French, nor farther from Gravelines, the frontier of the imperialists, +to join either the one or the other, as they please, and to add their +strength to him with whom they are at amity, in prejudice of an enemy. + +"For these reasons, therefore, it is not to be wondered at that, besides +the inhabitants of the place, who are esteemed men of most unshaken +fidelity, being the descendants of an English colony settled there +shortly after the first conquest, it should also be guarded by one of +the most trusty barons which the King has, bearing the title of deputy, +with a force of five hundred of the best soldiers, besides a troop of +fifty horsemen. It is considered by everyone as an impregnable fortress, +on account of the inundation with which it may be surrounded, although +there are persons skilled in the art of fortification who doubt that it +would prove so if put to the test. For the same reason Guines is also +reckoned impregnable, situated about three miles more inland, on the +French frontier, and guarded with the same degree of care, though, being +a smaller place, only by a hundred fifty men, under a chief governor. +The same is done with regard to a third place, called Hammes, situated +between the two former, and thought to be of equal importance, the +waters which inundate the country being collected around." + +Ninety years later Calais was regarded in a very different light: "Now +it is gone, let it go. It was but a beggarly town, which cost England +ten times yearly more than it was worth in keeping thereof, as by the +accounts in the exchequer doth plainly appear." + +The expedition against Calais was undertaken upon a report of the +dilapidated condition of the works and the smallness of its garrison. It +was not "an impregnable fortress," as Micheli says it was considered. +The Duke of Guise commenced his attack on January 2d, when he stormed +and took the castle of Ruysbank, which commanded the approach by water. +On the 3d he carried the castle of Newenham bridge, which commanded the +approach by land. He then commenced a cannonade of the citadel, which +surrendered on the 6th. On the 7th the town capitulated. Lord Wentworth, +the Governor, and fifty others remained as prisoners. The English +inhabitants, about four thousand, were ejected from the home which they +had so long colonized, but without any exercise of cruelty. "The +Frenchmen," say the chroniclers, "entered and possessed the town; and +forthwith all the men, women, and children were commanded to leave their +houses and to go to certain places appointed for them to remain in, till +order might be taken for their sending away. + +"The places thus appointed for them to remain in were chiefly four, the +two churches of Our Lady and St. Nicholas, the deputy's house, and the +stable, where they rested a great part of that day and one whole night +and the next day till three o'clock at afternoon, without either meat or +drink. And while they were thus in the churches and those other places +the Duke of Guise, in the name of the French King, in their hearing made +a proclamation charging all and every person that were inhabitants of +the town of Calais, having about them any money, plate, or jewels to the +value of one groat, to bring the same forthwith, and lay it down upon +the high altars of the said churches, upon pain of death; bearing them +in hand also that they should be searched. By reason of which +proclamation there was made a great and sorrowful offertory. + +"While they were at this offertory within the churches, the Frenchmen +entered into their houses and rifled the same, where were found +inestimable riches and treasures; but especially of ordnance, armor, and +other munitions. Thus dealt the French with the English in lieu and +recompense of the like usage to the French when the forces of King +Philip prevailed at St. Quentin; where, not content with the honor of +victory, the English in sacking the town sought nothing more than the +satisfying of their greedy vein of covetousness, with an extreme neglect +of all moderation." + +Within the marches of Calais the English held the two small fortresses +of Guines and Hammes. Guines was defended with obstinate courage by Lord +Grey, and did not surrender till January 20th. His loss amounted to +eight hundred men. From Hammes the English garrison made their escape by +night. + + + + + REIGN OF ELIZABETH + + A.D. 1558-1603 + + HENRY R. CLEVELAND + + + Elizabeth's reign has been regarded by many writers as the most + glorious period of England's career. There were no great land + battles fought by English troops; but at sea those famous + rovers, half pirates, Drake, Raleigh, and their like, definitely + established that maritime supremacy which has ever since been + their country's proudest boast. Moreover, the intellectual + awakening of England which had taken place in the time of Henry + VII and Henry VIII now bore fruit in a glorious literary outburst, + which has made the Elizabethan Age the envy and despair of more + recent literary periods. + + There were clearly marked causes for this brilliant and patriotic + era. The indiscriminate marriages of Henry VIII had thrown more + than a shadow of doubt upon the legitimacy of every one of his + children. On his death he was succeeded, without serious dispute, + by his only son, Edward VI. Edward did not live to manhood, but + during his short reign his guardians pushed the land far in the + direction of Protestantism. Unfortunately they plundered the + common people cruelly and persecuted, though only in two cases to + the point of burning, both Catholics and the more extreme + Protestants. + + The early death of Edward left no male heir to the royal house. + For the first time in English history there were none but women to + claim the crown. Moreover, of these at least four had some show of + right. They were Mary, the Catholic daughter of King Henry's first + wife, and Elizabeth, his Protestant daughter by Anne Boleyn. Or, + if both these were to be considered illegitimate, then came their + cousins, Mary Stuart, descended from one of Henry's sisters, and + Lady Jane Grey, from another. The friends of Lady Jane tried to + raise her to the throne, but only succeeded in bringing her to the + scaffold. The Catholic, Mary, was declared the rightful queen and + ruled England for five years, during most of which she kept her + half-sister Elizabeth in prison. + + Queen Mary was devoted to her religion. The fires which had burned + in Henry's time were kindled again, but now for the torture of + Protestants, bishops, and men of mark. Mary wedded the Catholic + king and cruel fanatic Philip II of Spain, the most powerful + monarch of Europe; so that only to her death and the reign of the + persecuted Elizabeth could Protestant Englishmen look for relief. + Thus the accession of the learned and coquettish Elizabeth brought + far more than a mere promise of youth and pleasure; it was a + bursting of the fetters of fear. + + +The age of Elizabeth was preëminently distinguished by the operation of +just principles, of generous sentiments, of elevated objects, and of +profound piety. Elizabeth, it is true, was vindictive, arbitrary, and +cruel. Two prevailing sentiments filled her mind and chiefly influenced +her conduct throughout life. The first of these was the idea of +prerogative. Any assumption of rights, any freedom of debate, any +theological discussion or profession of sentiments which seemed to +infringe on the sacred limits of royalty was sure to be visited with her +severest wrath. She detested the Puritans, from whom she had suffered +nothing, but whose republican spirit appeared to her at war with royalty +in the abstract, far more than the papists, by whom her life had been +made a life of danger and suffering, but who respected forms and +ceremonies, and whose system encouraged reverence for the powers that be +and loyal sentiment toward the person whom they regarded as the lawful +sovereign. Nothing but the earnest entreaties of Cecil and the imminent +danger of a French invasion could induce her to give assistance to the +Scottish Protestants when they were persecuted by the Queen Regent. And +even her hatred of Mary could not prevent her taking sides with that +ill-fated Princess when the "Congregation" claimed the right of trying +their sovereign for alleged crimes, after having deposed and imprisoned +her. + +The other sentiment which in no small degree influenced the conduct of +the great Queen was her excessive fondness for admiration as a woman. She +filled her solitary throne with a dignity and a majesty which could not +be surpassed; and it is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive of a +character which should have strength and impetuosity enough, even if +marriage could have given the right, to overawe her lion-like spirit and +assume the reins of government in defiance of her will. Certain it is +that no such prince then lived. But while the _queen_ resolutely excluded +all human participation in the lonely eminence on which she stood, the +_woman_ was constantly claiming the tribute of sympathy and admiration. +Her eager desire was to be a heroine, a beauty, the queen of hearts, +cynosure of gallants' eyes; to reign supreme in the court of love and +chivalry; to be the watchword and war-cry of the knight and the theme of +the troubadour. + +Here was the source of the unbounded flattery which was lavished upon +her by courtiers, even to the latest years of her life, and which +appears to have at times actually deceived her, in spite of her +extraordinary penetration. To this sentiment are owing nearly all of the +few instances of disaster and disappointment which occurred during her +splendid reign. She preferred to risk the safety of her allies, and the +cause of Protestantism on the Continent, rather than to refuse the +command of her troops to her favorite, who had entreated it. To gratify +another favorite and insure his glory she forgot her habitual economy, +levied an army larger than she had ever supported, except at the time of +the invasion, and sent it to Ireland under the command of a man who was +utterly unfit for the place. And when, beset by enemies, harassed by +defeat, and overwhelmed with shame, the impetuous and noble-hearted +Essex rushed into the presence of majesty as a lover would have sought +his mistress, her woman's heart forgave him all. Had this frame of mind +continued, had not the resumed majesty of the queen condemned what the +woman forgave, the world would have been spared the consummation of +one of the most mournful tragedies in history, and the last days of +Elizabeth might have been serene and happy, instead of being tortured +with anguish and despair. + +The former of these sentiments made her an object of dread, the latter +of ridicule; and both conspired to render her tyrannical. But she was +not a tyrant in the full sense of the word. She never acted upon the +nation with that degrading influence which is always the attendant of +selfish, cold-hearted, and perfidious tyranny; she never had the power, +and we doubt if she ever had the wish, to make slaves of her people. She +understood the English character; she comprehended, appreciated, and +admired its nobleness; and she had sagacity enough to see that this very +character constituted her chief glory. A thorough and hearty affection +subsisted between her and her people; an affection Which was increased +and cemented by many circumstances of a nature not to be forgotten. As a +nation, England had been persecuted, distressed, and trampled upon +during the reign of Mary. The party which triumphed in the ascendency of +the Roman Catholic religion was small; the great majority of the people +were not very zealous in favor of one side or the other; they had been +ready to welcome Protestantism under Edward VI, and they were not +disposed to fight against the Church of Rome under Mary. The number of +zealous papists, they who were in favor of the rack and the stake, was +not more than a thirtieth part of the nation. The other twenty-nine +parts, though perhaps nearly equally divided on the question of +religion, condemned alike the bigotry of their melancholy sovereign and +looked on with sorrowful indignation while the bloody Mary, assisted +by a few narrow-minded bigots, was carrying on the infernal work of +persecution. It was a sorrow and a shame to all true Englishmen, whether +Catholic or Protestant; and the hated Philip felt the effects of their +vengeance till the day of his death. + +In these times of tribulation there was one who shared in the common +danger, suffering, and humiliation, and who, from the exalted rank +which she occupied, and the station to which she seemed destined, was +peculiarly an object of distrust and alarm to the bigots, who were +exulting in their day of power. The gloom which overhung the whole +country equally surrounded her; the fires of Smithfield and Oxford were +kindled for her terror as for the terror of the people. She had been +made to pass through that sorrowful passage from which few ever returned +alive, the Traitor's Gate in the Tower of London. + +Her course was one and the same with that of the entire English nation; +and the only light which shone upon the darkness, the only hope that +cheered the universal despondency, the dependence of all real patriots, +the trust of all friends of truth, and the pride of all free and +honorable men were centred in the prison of Elizabeth. + +There is no bond so strong as the bond of common perils and sufferings; +and, when the young Princess ascended the throne, it was amid the +thankful acclamations of a liberated and happy people, who loved her for +the dangers she had shared with them, and for whom she entertained +the interest and affection due to fellow-sufferers. This feeling was +prolonged in an uncommon manner throughout her reign; for it so happened +that there was no danger which threatened the Queen during her whole +life that was not equally formidable to the people. So difficult was +the question of succession that the prudent Burleigh never ventured to +express his mind upon the subject, and carried down to the grave the +secret of his opinion. Any change would have been for the worse; as it +would either have plunged the nation into a civil war or have placed a +Roman Catholic prince on the throne. The dangers which menaced the crown +of Elizabeth were alike formidable to the cause of freedom in England +and of the Protestant religion in Europe. The invasion of England, which +was attempted by the French under the Queen Regent of Scotland, and +afterward the gigantic preparations of Philip, foreboded more than the +ordinary horrors of an offensive warfare. These enemies came with the +stake and the fagot in their hands; they came not merely to invade, +but to convert; not merely to conquer, but to persecute; they were +stimulated not merely by ambition, but by bigotry; they were prepared +not merely to enslave, but to torture. It was therefore not a matter of +indifference to the English nation whether Elizabeth were to be their +queen or whether some other prince should ascend the throne. In her +reign, and hers alone, they saw the hope of peace, freedom, and +prosperity. Never, therefore, were nation and ruler more closely and +firmly knit together. + +The sentiment of loyalty, consequently, was never more sincere and +enthusiastic in the hearts of Englishmen than at that period. To the +nation at large the Queen really appeared what the flattery of her +courtiers and poets represented her. She was to them, in truth, the +Gloriana of Fairyland; the magnificent, the undaunted, the proud +descendant of a thousand years of royalty, and the "Imperial Votress." +She was only a tyrant within the precincts of the court. There she +reigned, it is true, with more than oriental despotism; and she seems to +have delighted occasionally in torturing mean spirits by employing them +upon such thankless offices as their hearts revolted from, though they +had not the courage to refuse them. But beyond the immediate circle of +the palace she was the queen and the mother of her people. To the nation +at large, too, she was equally a heroine, a beautiful idol enshrined in +their hearts. Living on "in maiden meditation fancy-free," rejecting +the proposals of every prince, disregarding the remonstrances of her +subjects, where marriage was spoken of, there was something in the very +unapproachableness of her state which both commanded the respect and +excited the imagination of her people. As a woman, they regarded her +just as she wished them to regard her, as the throned Vestal, the watery +Moon, whose chaste beams could quench the fiery darts of Cupid. She was +to them, in fact, the Belphoebe of Spenser, "with womanly graces, +but not womanly affections--passionless, pure, self-sustained, and +self-dependent"; shining "with a cold lunar light and not the warm glow +of day." This feeling was increased by the spirit of chivalry which +still lingered in English society, and, like the setting sun, poured a +flood of golden light over the court. + +The incense, then, that was offered to the Queen by such men as Spenser, +Raleigh, Essex, Shakespeare, and Sidney, the most noble, chivalrous, and +gifted spirits that ever gathered round a throne, is not to be judged of +as the flattery which cringing courtiers pay to a dreaded tyrant; but +rather as the outpouring of a general enthusiasm, the echo of the +stirring voice of chivalry, and the expression of the feelings of a +devoted yet free people. + +An age of tyranny is always an age of frivolity, of heartless levity, +of dwarfish objects and pursuits, of dreadful contrasts--laughter amid +mourning, rioting and wantonness amid judgments and executions; dancing +and music at the hour of death. Such was the frivolity of the days of +Nero; such was the mirth of the "death-dance" in the days of Robespierre. +Nothing like this sickly and appalling joy could be seen in the times of +Elizabeth. There were masques and balls and tournaments at the court, +and gay revels as the stately Queen went from castle to castle, and +palace to palace, in her visits to her princely subjects. But such +amusements did not form the chief object or occupation of the court of +Elizabeth. The Queen, and those who had grown up with her, had +passed through too many dangers and witnessed too much suffering to +allow them to become frivolous or very light-hearted. They had lived +among scenes of cruelty, persecution, and death. Their childhood had +witnessed the successive horrors of the reign of Henry VIII, and their +youth had suffered from the bloody fanaticism of Mary. Sorrow and +tribulation had overspread the morning of their life like a cloud. + +Miss Aikin, in the beginning of her charming work upon the court of +Queen Elizabeth, has described the gorgeous procession which filed along +the streets of London at the baptism of the infant princess. The same +picture also forms the closing scene of Shakespeare's _Henry VIII_. +As we look upon the gay and splendid train, marching in their robes of +state, beneath silken canopies, and then glance our eye along the map of +history till we trace almost every actor in the pageant to a bloody +grave, we can scarcely believe that it is a scene of joy and festivity +that we are witnessing. The angel of death seems to hover over them; +there is something dreadful in their rejoicing; their gaudy robes, their +mantles, their vases, their fringes of gold, assume the sable hue of the +grave; and, instead of a baptismal train, it seems like a funeral +procession descending to the tomb. + +The mournful scenes which the generation which grew up with Elizabeth +had been compelled to witness, and the terror in which most of the +leading characters in her reign had passed their youth, had undoubtedly +tended to sober their minds and induce them to reflect much upon the +great and solemn duties of life. The character of the age was stamped +with the dignity which hallows tribulation, and with the force and nerve +which the habitual contemplation of danger rarely fails to confer. The +same causes undoubtedly promoted the religious spirit which prevailed. +While bigotry and fanaticism appeared in a small portion of the nation, +it is certain that the age of Elizabeth was marked by the general +diffusion of a spirit of deep devotion. There was enough of chivalry +left to keep alive the fervor which prevailed at an earlier period, and +enough of intelligence to temper this fervor into rational religion. The +feeling of shame at professing faith and devoutness was the growth of a +later day; it was unknown in those times. The gayest courtier that +chanted his love-song in the ear of the high-born maiden, and the +gravest statesman who debated at the table of the privy council, were +alike penetrated with devotional sentiment, and alike ready to offer up +prayers and thanksgiving to the Most High. We are perfectly aware that +the outward signs of piety displayed by a few principal characters are +not a faithful index of the state of religion at any period. It is not +fair to infer, because Elizabeth devoutly commended herself to the care +of the Almighty when forsaken, friendless, an orphan, alone, and +helpless, she was landed at the foot of the Traitor's Stairs in the +Tower of London, or because she returned to the same gloomy fortress +when a triumphant queen, to offer up her praise and gratitude to God for +his marvellous mercies, that she lived in a pious age. Neither are we to +regard it as a sure indication of the prevailing spirit, when Burleigh +solemnly commends his son to the Almighty in his letter of advice; when +the chivalrous Sidney is found composing a prayer, which, for solemnity, +grandeur, and devotion, is scarcely surpassed in the English liturgy; +when the adventurous Raleigh displays an amount of knowledge on sacred +subjects that might be the envy of an Oxford professor of theology, or +when the city of London presents to the young Queen, on the day of her +coronation and in the midst of her glittering pageantry, the Bible, as +the most appropriate and acceptable offering. + +These are not certain signs of a religious age; but they would pass for +something at any period, even if they were mere hypocrisy. They would +show that religion was held in such respect and by so numerous a class +somewhere, as to make it worth while for the Queen and her court to +assume at least the outward badges of piety. But they have additional +force when we reflect at the same time that, at the period when they +were manifested, the Reformation was making a gradual but sure progress +in England; that the question of religion occupied every intelligent +mind and affected the interests of every family; that the lives and +fortunes of millions, the fate of kingdoms, and the progress of +intellectual freedom throughout the civilized world were inseparably +connected with the cause of Protestantism. + +If bigotry and fanaticism had been prevalent in England, and the +opposing party of Romanist and Reformer nearly equal, there would have +been witnessed in that country during the sixteenth century a succession +of atrocities and horrors compared with which the wars of the white and +red roses were bloodless. If; on the other hand, the great mass of the +nation had been indifferent, with regard not merely to forms, but to +religion itself, we should not have seen the outward show of piety in +the highest ranks; we should not have seen a house of commons +legislating in favor of Edward's liturgy, and a nation turning to +worship in their vernacular tongue. Nothing but a widely diffused spirit +of piety can account for the character of those miracles of literature +which made the days of Elizabeth glorious, and which are stamped with +nothing more strongly than their deep and wise religion. + +Moreover, in the age of Elizabeth, England was more distinguished for +patriotism than any nation in civilized Europe. On the Continent the +feeling of nationality was absorbed, and the distinction of language, +laws, and country absolutely lost, in the zeal for religious belief. +Nations, which for centuries had been enemies, were found leagued +against their natural allies; inhabitants of the same state were +divided, and at war with each other; the prophecy was literally +fulfilled that "the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the +father the son, and children shall rise up against their parents, and +shall cause them to be put to death." "The Palatine," says Schiller, +"now forsakes his home to go and fight on the side of his +fellow-believer of France, against the common enemy of their religion. +The subject of the King of France draws his sword against his native +land, which had persecuted him, and goes forth to bleed for the freedom +of Holland. Swiss is now seen armed for battle against Swiss, and German +against German, that they may decide the succession of the French throne +on the banks of the Loire or the Seine. The Dane passes the Eider, the +Swede crosses the Baltic, to burst the fetters which are forged for +Germany." + +Nothing of this kind was seen in England. The number of Catholics who +preferred the triumph of their party to the welfare of their country was +too small to be of any consideration. A few fanatics in the college at +Rheims, and a few romantic champions of the unhappy Queen of Scots, were +the only domestic enemies whom Elizabeth had to fear. With a great +majority of the Romanists, the love of country prevailed over all +religious distinctions; and, when the invasion was threatened by Philip, +they united cordially with the Protestants in the defence of their +native land; they enlisted as volunteers in the army and navy; they +equipped vessels at their own charge, armed their tenants and vassals, +encouraged their neighbors and prepared, heart and hand, for a desperate +resistance of the common foe. + +The energies of the nation were naturally brought into vigorous action +by the great objects, interests, and enterprises which the times +presented. The effects of the Reformation were felt just enough to +produce a bold and free exercise of thought, without kindling the +passions to fierce excitement. The storm which burst with all its fury +on the Continent, wrapping nations in the flames of civil war, +prostrating, withering, and overwhelming civil institutions, and marking +its path with desolation did but exert a salutary influence in England. +The lightning was seen flashing in the distant horizon, the rolling +thunder could be heard afar off, but the fury of the storm fell at a +distance; the atmosphere was purified and the soil refreshed, and the +rainbow was glittering in the heavens. + +Never in the history of England had there been a time when energy and +wisdom were more needed than that period. The nation was compelled, by +irresistible force of circumstances, to stand forth as the champion of +Protestantism. The eyes of all civilized countries were fixed upon her; +some, with imploring looks; some, glaring upon her with jealousy, +fierceness, and settled hatred. Enemies were springing up, with whom +peace was hopeless. A popish princess was heir to the throne of +Scotland, with a powerful ally ready to support her pretensions to the +English crown. On the Continent were allies, whom England was compelled +to support at the risk of a war with the mightiest empire that had risen +since the fall of Rome. And an armament was preparing for the invasion +of Britain, of an extent that seemed to render resistance hopeless, by a +monarch whose resources appeared inexhaustible, while Ireland was in +open rebellion and ready to receive the Spanish fleets into her ports. + +From all these difficulties and impending calamities, the nation +gathered a harvest of glory that alone would make her name famous +forever. It is with a feeling of joy and exultation that we trace the +history of England during these years of terror and of triumph. We +behold her extricating herself from embarrassments that seemed endless, +and turning them into the means of safety; encouraging and supporting +her allies without exhausting her own resources, and finally crushing +the vast engines which were put into operation for her destruction. + +The blood quickens in our veins, as we read of the wisdom and the +sublime moral courage, of the daring adventure, the romantic enterprise, +the chivalrous bravery, and the brilliant triumphs of that age of great +men. We see Cecil and Wotton negotiating with Scotland so wisely as to +win the confidence and affection of that nation, and to destroy the +influence of France in that country forever; Walsingham, fathoming the +secrets of the French court, or watching in silence, but certainty, the +progress of conspiracies at home, and crushing them on the eve of +maturity; the Queen, with a prudence which seems almost sublime, +rejecting a second time the proffer of the sovereignty of Holland; +Drake, circumnavigating the earth, and returning laden with the spoils +of conquered fleets and provinces; Cavendish, coming up the Thames to +London, with sails of damask and cloth of gold, and his men arrayed in +costly silks; Lancaster, dashing his boats to pieces on the strand of +Pernambuco, that he might leave his men no alternative but death or +victory; Raleigh, plunging into the fire of the Spanish galleots, and +fighting his way through overwhelming numbers, with a courage that +rivalled the incredible tales of chivalry, planting colonies in the +pleasantest vales of the New World, or ascending the Orinoco in search +of the fabled Dorado; Sidney, gallantly returning from battle on his +war-horse, though struggling with the agony of his death-wound, and +giving the cup of cold water to the wounded soldier, with those noble +words which would alone be enough to preserve his memory forever; Essex, +tossing his cap into the sea for very joy when the command is given, in +compliance with his earliest entreaties, for the assault on Cadiz, and +with that failing of memory so becoming to a brave man, forgetting the +cautions of his sovereign, and rushing into the thickest of the fight; +the naval supremacy of England completely established by the defeat of +the Armada, and the great deep itself made a monument of the nation's +glory. + +The boast of the age of Elizabeth was the splendid specimens of humanity +which it produced. "There were giants in those days." Individuals seemed +to condense in themselves the attainments of hosts. The accomplishments +and prowess of the men of those times inspire us with something like the +feeling of wonder with which the soldier of the present day handles the +sword of Robert Bruce, or the gigantic armor of Guy of Warwick. When +we read the beautiful verses "addressed to the author of the _Faerie +Queene_," by Raleigh, it is difficult to believe that they were penned by +the same person whose system of tactics was adopted so triumphantly at +the Spanish invasion; who was equally eminent as a general, a seaman, an +explorer, and a historian; and who shone unsurpassed for knightly graces +and accomplishments amid the stars of the court. Such instances were +not rare and prodigious. Raleigh was not the Crichton of his age; if +the compliment belongs to anyone peculiarly, it is Sidney; but as we +read over the list of distinguished persons to whom Spenser addressed +dedicatory stanzas to be "sent with the _Faerie Queene_," we become more +and more at a loss to distinguish the greatest among them; and we could +believe that many ages had been searched for so noble a catalogue. + +The principles which formed society were precisely such as were best +calculated for the finest developments of character. The old high, +fervid spirit of chivalry was not lost; there were the same sense of +honor, the same knightly bearing, the same passion for glory, and the +same admiration for courage and prowess that had prevailed in the +earlier days of its sway. But these were tempered by milder and more +attractive virtues and accomplishments; the clerkly learning, which had +held so humble a rank in the days when nobles could scarcely sign their +names, had now risen into far higher estimation. Great warriors were now +no longer ashamed to know how to read and write; on the contrary, the +possession of learning and literature, the delicate arts of poetry and +music, the graces of conversation and manners, were now as requisite to +the full accomplishment of the knight, as his horsemanship, or his skill +in the management of his lance. In a word, the sterner characteristics +of the ancient knight were softened down, in the age of Elizabeth, into +the more perfect and graceful attributes of the gentleman. The perfect +gentleman was more completely exhibited in the days of Elizabeth than at +any time before; for the chivalry and the accomplishments which were +then united in the same individual, had been formerly divided between +the noble and the churchman or the clerk. + +Were we called upon to characterize the age in which Spenser lived, by a +single word, we could find none that would better express its combined +attributes, than the word which the poet uses in describing his principal +hero: "In the person of Prince Arthure," says he in his letter to Raleigh, +"I set forth magnificence." The age of Elizabeth was distinguished by +magnificence, in the highest sense of the word, by the most brilliant +display of great qualities of all kinds; and the hero of the _Faerie +Queene_ seems to be the personification of the splendid attributes of the +age. A prevailing sentiment, in the mind of Spenser, was the perfectness +of character to which the gentlemen of his time aspired, and on this +model he fashioned his hero. He observes that "the general end, therefore, +of all the books is to fashion a gentleman or noble person in gentle and +virtuous discipline." And again, "I labor to pourtraict in Arthure, +before he was King, the image of a brave knight, perfected in the twelve +moral virtues." And as we read the gorgeous description of the prince, +when he first meets the forsaken Una, we could fancy that the magnificent +characteristics of the golden age of England had blended together, and +blazed forth in one dazzling form before us. + + + + + JOHN KNOX HEADS THE SCOTTISH REFORMERS + + A.D. 1559 + + P. HUME BROWN THOMAS CARLYLE + + + In the year of Martin Luther's death (1546) Protestant doctrines + were preached in Scotland by George Wishart. This reformer was + burned at St. Andrew's, in the same year (March 12th), at the + instigation of Cardinal Beaton. Two months later the Cardinal + himself, who practically controlled the Scottish government, was + murdered in the castle of St. Andrew's. Beaton's death was "fatal + to the Catholic religion and to the French interest in Scotland." + The interest of France was represented by the Queen Regent, Mary + of Lorraine, also called Mary of Guise, daughter of Claude, Duke + of Guise. She was the widow of James V of Scotland, and mother of + Mary Stuart, now four years old and living in France. + + During his brief season of Protestant preaching, Wishart had + deeply impressed a scholar, then forty years of age, who gave up + his calling as teacher, and in 1547 began to preach the reformed + religion at St. Andrew's. This was John Knox. + + From this moment dates the birth of the Protestant Reformation in + Scotland. Knox was imprisoned by the French (1547-1549), was + released, and for two years preached at Berwick. For several years + now he lived a life of many vicissitudes, partly in Great Britain and + partly on the Continent, and by his sermons and writings powerfully + influenced the growth of the Protestant faith. While at Geneva, where + he was much influenced by Calvin, in 1558, he published his _First + Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women_, a + denouncement which brought him into bitter antagonism with the Queen + Regent and with other Catholic authorities in England and France. + + In 1559 the Queen Regent took active steps for repressing the + Congregation, as the whole body of Scotch Protestants were called, + and in the same year Knox returned once more to Scotland, there to + perform a work which made his name perhaps second only to that of + Luther among the personal forces of the Reformation. + + The first of the following accounts shows Knox and his followers + in the midst of their warfare against the Regent's repressive + policy. In the second we have one of Carlyle's most fervent + eulogies, for to him Knox is the priestly hero enacting a glorious + part. + + + P. HUME BROWN + +The year 1559 began ominously for the success of the Queen Regent's +policy of suppression. To this point national feeling and religious +conviction had been the driving-forces of the coming revolution. But, as +is the case in all national upheavals, there were likewise economic +forces at work which were none the less potent because they were obscured +behind the dramatic development of sensational events. A remarkable +document, the author of which is unknown, gave striking expression to +this aspect of the Scottish Reformation. It was entitled the _Beggars' +Summons_, and purported to come from "all cities, towns, and villages of +Scotland." + +On January 1, 1559, this terrible manifesto, breathing the very spirit of +revolution, was found placarded on the gates of every religious +establishment in Scotland. The _Summons_ begins as follows: "The blind, +crooked, lame, widows, orphans, and all other poor visited by the hand of +God as may not work, to the flocks of all friars within this realm, we +wish restitution of wrongs past, and reformation in times coming, for +salutation." It may be sufficient to quote the concluding passage of this +extraordinary effusion, and it is a passage which should never be out of +mind in any estimate of the forces that were about to effect the great +cataclysm in the national life: "Wherefore, seeing our number is so +great, so indigent, and so heavily oppressed by your false means that +none taketh care of our misery, and that it is better to provide for +these our impotent members which God hath given us, to oppose to you in +plain controversy, than to see you hereafter, as ye have done before, +steal from us our lodging, and ourselves in the mean time to perish and +die for want of the same; we have thought good, therefore, ere we enter +in conflict with you, to warn you in the name of the great God by this +public writing, affixed on your gates where ye now dwell, that ye remove +forth of our said hospitals betwixt this and the feast of Whitsunday +next, so that we, the only lawful proprietors thereof, may enter thereto, +and afterward enjoy the commodities of the Church which ye have heretofore +wrongfully holden from us; certifying that if ye fail, we will at the +said term, in whole number and with the help of God and assistance of his +saints on earth, of whose ready support we doubt not, enter and take +possession of our said patrimony, and eject you utterly forth of the +same. Let him, therefore, that before hath stolen, steal no more; but +rather let him work with his hands, that he may be helpful to the poor." + +The inflammatory statements of revolutionaries must be taken for what +they are worth; but there is abundant evidence to prove that the above +indictment of the national Church was not without foundation in fact. It +has been computed that one-half of the wealth of the country was in +possession of the clergy; and we have the testimony of unimpeachable +witnesses to the unworthy uses to which it was put. Hector Boece, John +Major, and Ninian Winzet were all three faithful sons of the Church, and +all three cried aloud at the venality, avarice, and luxurious living of +the higher clergy. "But now, for many years," wrote Major, "we have been +shepherds whose only care it is to find pasture for themselves, men +neglectful of the duties of religion. By open flattery do the worthless +sons of our nobility get the governance of convents _in commendam_, and +they covet these ample revenues, not for the good help that they thence +might render to their brethren, but solely for the high position that +these places offer." To the same effect Ninian Winzet wrote after the +judgment had come. "The special roots of all mischief," he says, "be the +two infernal monsters, pride and avarice, of the which unhappily has +up-sprung the election of unqualified bishops and other pastors in +Scotland." + +This spectacle of the national Church, with its disproportionate wealth +and its selfish, incompetent, and often degraded officials, could not +but be a growing offence to the developing intelligence of the nation; +and to quicken this feeling there were minor grievances which were an +ancient ground of complaint on the part of the laity against their +spiritual advisers. On every important event of his life the poor man +was harassed by exactions which Sir David Lyndsay has so keenly touched +in his _Satire of the Three Estates_. Says the Pauper in the interlude: + + "Quhair will ye find that law, tell gif ye can, + To tak thine ky, fra ane pure husbandman? + Ane for my father, and for my wyfe ane uther, + And the third cow, he tuke fra Mald my mother." + +And Diligence replies: + + "It is thair law, all that they have in use, + Tocht it be cow, sow, ganer, gryse, or guse." + +If the poor had these grounds of discontent, the rich likewise had +theirs; and they made bitter complaint against the protracted processes +in the consistorial courts, and the frequent appeals to the Roman Curia, +by which both their means and their patience were exhausted. + +It was in the face of feelings such as these that, in the spring of +1559, the Queen Regent entered on her new line of policy toward her +refractory subjects. Her first steps were taken with her usual prudence. +A provincial council of the clergy was summoned to meet on March 1st for +the express purpose of dealing with the religious difficulty. It was the +last provincial council of the ancient Church that was to meet in +Scotland; and, if the expression of its good intentions could have +availed, the Church might yet have been saved. All that its worst +enemies had said of its shortcomings was frankly admitted, and admirable +decrees were passed with a view to a speedy and effective reform. But +the hour had passed when the mere reform of life and doctrine would have +sufficed to meet the desires of the new spiritual teachers. As was +speedily to be seen, it was revolution and not reform on which these new +teachers were now bent with an ever-growing confidence that their +triumph was not far off. A double order issued by the Regent toward the +end of March brought her face to face with the consequences of her +changed policy. Unauthorized persons were forbidden to preach, and the +lieges were commanded to observe the festival of Easter after the manner +ordained by the Church. The preachers disregarded both edicts and were +summoned to answer for their disobedience. + +It was now seen that the Regent was no longer in the mood for +temporizing; and the Congregation despatched two of their number, the +Earl of Glencairn and Sir Hew Campbell, sheriff of Ayr, to deprecate her +wrath. Their reception must have taught them that times were now changed +since the days when the Regent deemed it necessary to conciliate their +party. "In despite of you and your ministers both," she told the two +deputies, "they shall be banished out of Scotland, albeit they preached +as truly as ever did St. Paul." When they reminded her of her previous +promises, she replied in words that were never forgotten, and which her +grandson, James VI, recalled and laid to heart in his own dealings with +his subjects. "It became not subjects," she said, "to burden their +princes further than it pleaseth them to keep the same." For a time, +however, she consented to stay further action against the preachers. +But, if she were to carry out the task she had undertaken, she must +sooner or later make trial of her strength against what had now become +actual rebellion. In Perth, Dundee, and Montrose the Protestant +preachers, with the approval and countenance of the constituted +authorities, openly proceeded with their work of spreading their new +opinions. At length the Regent took the step which was to be the +beginning of the end of the Catholic Church in Scotland. She summoned +the preachers to appear before her at Stirling on May 10th, and on this +occasion it was recognized by both parties that the moment for decisive +action had come. To be ready for all contingencies, a numerous body of +Protestant gentlemen from Angus and the Mearns, all, it is specially +noted, "without armor," took up their quarters at Perth, where they were +immediately joined by another contingent from Dundee. With this last +body came John Knox, who on May 20th had finally returned to his native +country. + +All through their contest with the Regent, the Protestant leaders took +up the position that they were acting in strict accordance with the law +of the land. With the formidable following now at their back, they might +have marched on Stirling and gained a temporary advantage by their show +of strength. What they actually did was to send Erskine of Dun to the +Regent to lay their demands once more before her. As she was not yet in +a position to enforce her will, she again agreed to postpone action +against the preachers. It was the misfortune of her position from the +beginning of the struggle that Mary of Lorraine was driven to +subterfuges which made impossible any permanent understanding with her +discontented subjects; and it was of evil omen for the success of her +policy that she now allowed herself to commit a serious breach of faith. +In the teeth of her promise to Erskine, she proclaimed the preachers as +outlaws when they failed to appear at Stirling on the day appointed for +their trial. The news of the Regent's breach of faith was the immediate +occasion of the first stroke in the Scottish Reformation. The day after +the outlawry John Knox preached a sermon in the parish church of Perth, +his theme being the idolatries of Rome, and the duty of Christian men to +put an end to them. At the close of the sermon, when the majority of the +audience had left the church, a priest proceeded to celebrate mass. A +forward boy made a protesting remark; the priest struck him; the boy +retaliated by throwing a stone which broke an image, and immediately the +church was in an uproar. In a few moments not "a monument of idolatry" +was left in the building. The news of these doings spread through the +town, and the "rascal multitude" took up the work. There had been old +quarrels between the town and the religious orders; and so early as 1543 +a violent assault had been made on the Blackfriars' monastery. But on +the present occasion the work done was at once more extensive and more +thorough. The main onslaught was directed toward the monasteries of the +Dominicans and the Franciscans and the Charterhouse Abbey; and within +two days, says Knox, "the walls only did remain of these great +edifications." + +There was now no alternative but the sword, and both parties at once +took action accordingly. In support of the French troops which were at +her disposal, the Regent ordered levies from Clydesdale, Stirlingshire, +and the Lothians to meet her at Stirling on May 24th. On their part the +insurgents strengthened the defences of Perth--according to Buchanan, +the only walled town in Scotland--and addressed themselves to their +brethren in Ayrshire for instant succor. As they were now engaged in +what might be construed as rebellion, they took steps to justify +themselves in the eyes of the world. In three manifestoes, probably the +work of Knox, they addressed respectively the Regent, D'Oysel, the +French ambassador, and the whole Scottish nobility. In view of the past +history of Scotland the insurgents could present a case which possessed +sufficient plausibility. It had been the exception for the reign of a +Scottish king to pass without some more or less serious revolt on the +ground of his alleged misgovernment. Even during the reign with which we +are dealing, there had been a fair precedent for the late proceedings of +the Congregation. At the outset of the reign, the Earl of Arran was +giving away the country to England and to heresy; Beaton and the French +party had taken up arms against him, and undone all his actions to which +they objected. But as Mary of Lorraine was now governing the country, +the danger of a French conquest was much more serious than had been the +danger of conquest by England. On the ground that the state was in +peril, therefore, there was ample justification for the action of the +Protestant leaders. With regard to religion, the good of the +commonwealth might easily be urged as a plea for the most drastic +dealing with the national Church. By the admission of its own officials +the Church had become a scandal, alike from the character of the clergy +and its general neglect of its duties as a spiritual body. For at least +a century the scandal had been growing; and good citizens had been +forced to the conclusion that their accredited spiritual guides were +either unable or unwilling to set their house in order. + +But the time demanded deeds more than words. With a force of about eight +thousand French and Scots, D'Oysel, the Regent's chief adviser, advanced +to Auchterarder, some twelve miles from Perth. With this formidable +force behind her, the Regent naturally expected that her rebellious +subjects would be disposed to abate their demands. To learn what terms +they would now be willing to accept, she sent to Perth the lord James +Stewart, Lord Sempill, and the Earl of Argyle. They were told that the +town would be surrendered if assurance were given of freedom of worship +and security to the worshippers. As a reply to these demands, the Regent +despatched the lyon king-of-arms to make proclamation that all should +"avoid the toune under pane of treasone." At this moment, however, the +Earl of Glencairn, at the head of a body of two thousand five hundred +Ayrshire Protestants, made his way to within six miles of Perth. Thus +checkmated, the Regent was again driven to a compromise; and on the +conditions that she should quarter no French troops in the town, and +grant perfect freedom of worship, the gates were at length thrown open +to her. Thus closed the first act of the drama of the Scottish +Reformation. + +This good understanding was of short duration. Again the action of the +Regent gave rise to an accusation of broken pledges. She kept to the +letter of the late compact, but she evaded its spirit. She did not +quarter French troops in the town, but she occupied it with Scottish +soldiers in French pay, and, in further disregard of her pledges, +treated the Protestants with a harshness which gave rise to bitter +complaint on the part of their leaders. Argyle and the lord James, the +two most prominent of these leaders, had accompanied her into Perth (May +29th), but, indignant at these proceedings, they secretly quitted the +town and at once took action to make good their protests. Summoning the +Protestant gentlemen of Angus and the Mearns to meet them in St. +Andrew's on June 3d, they proceeded to that town, as the best centre of +action after Perth. In St. Andrew's as in Perth it is John Knox who is +again the outstanding figure. Here his preaching was attended by the +same notable results. The monasteries of the Dominicans and the +Franciscans were practically demolished by the mob, and with the +approval of the magistrates every church in the town was stripped of its +ornaments. Meanwhile the Regent had not been idle, and was now at +Falkland with a force led by D'Oysel and Châtelherault. Confident in +their strength, those two leaders marched toward Cupar, with the +intention of dealing with St. Andrew's. But again they discovered that +they had miscalculated the resources of the insurgents. Issuing from St. +Andrew's, with little over a hundred horse, Argyle and the lord James +were speedily reënforced by contingents from Lothian and Fife, which +raised their numbers to above three thousand men. Thus strengthened, +they took up their position on Cupar Muir, and awaited the approach of +the Regent's forces. But in number these forces were now inferior to +those of the enemy; and, as many of the French soldiers were Huguenots +and secretly sympathized with their fellow-believers, the issue of the +battle could not but be doubtful. Again, therefore, there was no +alternative for the Regent but to temporize. It was agreed that there +should be a truce of eight days, that the Regent's forces now in Fife +should be removed from that county, and that, during the armistice, an +attempt should be made to effect some permanent understanding. + +The new arrangement proved as hollow as the first. In point of fact, it +was borne in on both parties that the struggle had but begun, and that +the sword only could end it. Already, therefore, both were looking for +external support wherewith to crush their opponents. The very day after +the compact at Cupar, D'Oysel wrote to the French ambassador in London +that only a body of French troops could maintain the Regent's authority. +On their part the Protestant leaders now entered on those negotiations +with England which eventually led to results that gave Scotland +definitely to Protestantism and united the destinies of the two nations. +Meanwhile, however, the Regent and her revolted subjects had to fight +their own battles. The truce effected nothing, and it had no sooner +expired than hostilities recommenced. The first object of the leaders of +the Congregation was to relieve their brethren in Perth, and on June +24th they sat down before that place in such numbers that it immediately +and unconditionally surrendered. Perth, Dundee, and St. Andrew's were +now in their hands; but, having gone thus far, their only hope lay in +giving still further proof of the strength of their cause. It was +reported that the Regent meant to stop their progress southward of +Stirling bridge; but, before she could effect her object, they entered +that town with the consent of the majority of the citizens. By June 29th +they were in possession of the capital, whence Mary of Lorraine had fled +to the castle of Dunbar. + +The cause of the Congregation now appeared to be triumphant, but it +contained elements of weakness of which everyone was aware and which +speedily became manifest. The acts of violence which had attended the +revolt were filling the law-abiding citizens with dismay. The +destruction of church property in Perth and St. Andrew's had been +followed by similar excesses elsewhere. Especially disquieting had been +what had occurred at Scone immediately after the surrender of Perth. In +defiance of the protests of Knox, the lord James, and Argyle, the +reformers of Dundee had sacked and burned to the ground the abbey and +palace of that village--an outrage which Knox himself regretted in the +interest of his own cause. It was a further source of weakness to the +Congregation that their actions easily lent themselves to +misconstruction and misrepresentation. The Regent industriously spread +the plausible report both at home and abroad that their religious +professions were a mere pretext, and that their real object was to +overthrow herself and to make the lord James their king. But, above all, +the nature of the host that supported them was such that it invariably +failed them when their need was the greatest. The men who composed it +had to leave their daily business in town and country; and, as they +received no pay and their own affairs demanded their attention, their +military service did not extend beyond a few weeks. The Protestant +leaders had no sooner taken possession of Edinburgh than their following +began to dwindle. During the first week their numbers amounted to over +seven thousand men; by the third week they had diminished to one +thousand five hundred. In these circumstances the Regent had only to +bide her time, and her opportunity must come. On July 23d her troops, +led by D'Oysel and Châtelherault, marched on Leith, which they reached +on the morning of the 24th. As had been anticipated, neither that town +nor the capital itself was in a position to offer any effectual +resistance; and the leaders of the Congregation at once proposed a +conference for the discussion of terms. Accordingly, the Duke and the +Earl of Huntly on the one side, and Argyle, the lord James, and +Glencairn on the other, met on the east slope of the Calton hill and +agreed to the following adjustment: The Congregation were to give up the +coining-irons, of which they had taken possession, and they were to +evacuate Edinburgh within twenty-four hours. The town was to be left +free to choose its own religion; no French troops were to be introduced. +The Protestants were to be allowed complete liberty of worship, but were +to abstain from violence against the old religion, and these +arrangements were to hold till the 10th of the following January. By +this concession of liberty to worship according to their own consciences +the Protestants had apparently attained the main object for which they +had risen, but they well knew that they would enjoy this liberty only so +long as they were strong enough to enforce it. On leaving Edinburgh, +therefore, they proceeded to Stirling, where they came to an agreement +as to their future plan of action. As a necessary precaution for their +immediate security, they entered into a bond of mutual defence and +concerted counsels. Above all, they determined to spare no pains to win +support from England, which, as itself now a Protestant country, could +not look on with indifference while they were engaged in a +life-and-death struggle with France and Rome. + +An event that had lately happened gave a new impulse to French action in +Scotland. On July 10th Henry II had been accidentally killed in a +tournament; and Mary Stuart, the niece of the Guises, was now Queen of +France. It was with greater zeal than ever, therefore, that the Guises +sought to direct Scottish affairs according to their own interests. In +the beginning of August the Protestant lords took a decided step: they +sent John Knox to England with instructions that might serve as a basis +of a treaty between England and the Congregation. The instructions were +that if England would assist them against France, the Congregation would +agree to a common league against that country. Knox only went as far as +Berwick; but he brought home a letter containing a reply to the +Protestant overtures from Elizabeth's secretary, Sir William Cecil. The +reply was discouraging; but it contained a practical suggestion, by +which, however, the Protestant leaders were either unwilling or unable +to profit. If it was money they were in need of, Cecil told them, that +need present no difficulty; if they would but do as Henry VIII did with +the monasteries, they would have enough money and to spare. The English +Queen was, in truth, in a position that demanded the wariest going. +Two-thirds of her own subjects were Catholics, and it would be an evil +example to set them if she were to assist rebels in another country. +Moreover, the treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, concluded in the previous +April, debarred her from hostile demonstration against France. But the +peril from French ascendency in Scotland could not be ignored, and by +the gradual pressure of events Elizabeth was driven to support a course +which in her heart she abhorred. Shortly after Cecil's communication, +the veteran diplomatist, Sir Ralph Sadler, came down to Scotland with a +commission to effect a secret arrangement with the Protestant leaders, +and brought with him three thousand pounds to distribute to the best of +his wisdom. + +What the Guises meant speedily became apparent. About the middle of +August a thousand French soldiers landed at Leith; and, as they were +accompanied by their wives and children, the object of their coming +could not be misunderstood. If the leaders of the Congregation, +therefore, were not to lose all the ground they had lately gained, a +time for vigorous action had again come. As had been previously +concerted, they met at Stirling on September 10th and took counsel as to +their further action. Here they were joined by an ally who, by his rank +and his claims, was of the first importance to their cause. This was the +Earl of Arran, the eldest son of the Duke of Châtelherault, who, a few +months previously, had been forced to flee from France by reason of his +Protestant sympathies. The value of the new confederate was soon +realized. Passing to Hamilton palace, the insurgent leaders there met +the Duke himself, to whom they held out such alluring prospects that he +openly identified himself with their cause. During these transactions at +Hamilton, alarming news came of the doings of the Regent. It was +reported that she was busily engaged in fortifying Leith--a proceeding, +the Congregation maintained, in direct violation of the late treaty. +Disregarding their protest, she steadily proceeded with the work; and, +as she was strengthened by a new contingent of eight hundred French +men-at-arms, her position by the middle of autumn was such as to excite +alarm alike in Scotland and England. Again there was no arbitrament but +by the sword. + +On October 16th the insurgent leaders entered Edinburgh with the +intention of laying siege to Leith, where the Regent had taken refuge as +the safest place in the kingdom. One of their earliest steps was the +most audacious they had yet taken. They formally deposed Mary of +Lorraine from the regency, on the ground that she had ruled as a tyrant +and was betraying the country to a foreign enemy. But they soon found +that they had taken a task beyond their strength. Their force amounted +to but eight thousand men, most of whom were "cuntrie fellows" with no +experience in war, and whose service could not extend beyond a few +weeks. To this undisciplined host was opposed a garrison of three +thousand trained soldiers, with the command of the sea and intrenched in +a town fortified after the best military art of the time. Fortune, +moreover, was against the Congregation from the first. A new instalment +of one thousand pounds, secretly sent by Elizabeth, was cleverly seized +by James, Earl of Bothwell, afterward the notorious helpmate of Mary +Stuart. Their arms, also, met with no success. While a detachment of +their troops was in pursuit of Bothwell, the enemy found their +opportunity and made their way even into the streets of Edinburgh; and +on November 25th the reformers sustained so severe a reverse that the +capital was no longer a safe place for them. They had no money to pay +the few mercenaries whom they had hired; the town was tired of them; and +the earl Marischal, who had charge of the castle, held resolutely aloof. + +As at the close of their previous rising, the leaders held a council at +Stirling to determine their future policy; before they entered on their +deliberations, Knox was called upon to preach a sermon--Knox, of whom it +was said that he "put more life" into those who heard him "than five +hundred trumpets continually blustering" in their ears. The +deliberations that succeeded took a sufficiently practical shape. Young +Maitland of Lethington, who had lately deserted the Regent for the +Congregation, was despatched to England with offers that might induce +Elizabeth to give direct support to the cause of Protestantism in +Scotland. As to their own future action, the lords made the following +arrangement: Châtelherault, Argyle, Glencairn, and the lords Boyd and +Ochiltry were to make their head-quarters in Glasgow; while Arran, the +lord James, the lords Rothes and Ruthven, and John Knox were to act from +St. Andrew's as their centre. Their counsels at an end, they separated +with the intention of reassembling at Stirling on December 16th. They +had thus tried two falls with the Regent, and in both they had been +worsted: the third trial of strength was to have a different ending. + +The Regent was not slow to follow up her advantage. She took possession +of the capital two days after the Congregation had quitted it, and she +tried hard, but in vain, to persuade the earl Marischal to surrender the +castle. The arrival of fresh reënforcements from France at the beginning +of December enabled her to abandon her defensive policy and to take +decisive measures for the suppression of revolt. On Christmas Day, while +the Protestant lords were in council at Stirling, two detachments of her +troops, commanded by D'Oysel, drove them precipitately from the town. +Pursuing his advantage, D'Oysel despatched his troops across Stirling +bridge into Fife, and he himself with another detachment crossed from +Leith, apparently with the object of gaining possession of St. Andrew's. +The task proved a hard one. At every step he was beset by the Scots +under Argyle and the lord James. "The said Earl and Lord James," says +Knox, "for twenty-one days they lay in their clothes; their boots never +came off; they had skirmishing almost every day; yea, some days, from +morn to even." Yet, in the teeth of all obstacles, D'Oysel steadily +forced his way to within six miles of St. Andrew's, where Knox and his +friends had all but abandoned hope. But unexpected deliverance was at +hand. On January 23, 1560, a fleet of strange vessels appeared at the +mouth of the Frith of Forth. As a French fleet had been expected for +some weeks, D'Oysel concluded that his armament had come at last. He was +soon undeceived. Under his eyes the strangers seized two ships bearing +provisions from Leith to his own camp. The strange vessels were an +advanced squadron of a fleet sent by Elizabeth to block the Frith of +Forth against further succors from France. It was now D'Oysel who was in +extremities; and before he found himself safe in Linlithgow he had vivid +experience at once of the rigors of a Scotch winter and of the savage +hate which his countrymen had come to inspire in the nation which for +three centuries had called them friends and allies. + +Meanwhile, the mission of Maitland to the English court was about to +lead to one of the most notable compacts in the national history. At +Berwick-on-Tweed, the lord James Stewart, Lord Ruthven, and three other +Scottish commissioners met the Duke of Norfolk and concluded a treaty +(February 27th) which was to insure the eventual triumph of the +Congregation, to make Scotland a Protestant country, and at a later day +a constituent part of a Greater Britain. The treaty was in effect a bond +of mutual defence against France--Elizabeth having reluctantly consented +that an English army should at once enter Scotland and assist the +Congregation in driving the French soldiery out of the country. While +her revolted subjects were thus making strong their hands against her, +fortune was otherwise deserting the cause of the Regent. A great French +armament, which was to have brought over a force sufficient to crush all +opposition, had been driven back by a succession of storms; and she +herself was already stricken with the disease which was soon to carry +her off. In these circumstances there was but one course open to her--to +fall back on the policy of self-defence and patient waiting on events. +After one somewhat wanton expedition against Glasgow and the Hamiltons, +her troops finally (March 29th) retired within the fortifications of +Leith, and she herself at her special request was received into the +castle of Edinburgh. + +On April 4th the English and Scottish hosts joined forces at +Prestonpans, and on the 6th they sat down before Leith. The spectacle +was one suggestive of many reflections; English and Scots, immemorial +foes, were fighting side by side against the ancient friend of the one, +the ancient enemy of the other. There could not be a more memorable +illustration of the saying that "events sometimes mount the saddle and +ride men." Even with their united strength the allies had a formidable +task before them. At the outset of the siege the English amounted to +about nine thousand men, the Scots to ten thousand; but before many +weeks had gone, these numbers had dwindled to a half. With this force +the English commander, Lord Gray, had to besiege a town defended by four +thousand trained soldiers and fortified by the most skilful engineers of +the time. Two severe reverses sustained by the allies prove that in +discipline and skill they were no match for the enemy. On April 14th the +French sallied from the town, and, breaking through the English +trenches, slew two hundred men. A combined assault on the town (May 7th) +was brilliantly repulsed--the English and Scots leaving eight hundred +dead and wounded in the trenches. It was not long before all three +parties were sick of the contest. The Guises had their hands full at +home and needed every soldier they had; Elizabeth heartily disliked the +task of assisting rebel subjects and grudged every penny that was spent +in it; and the Congregation had never been in a position to support a +protracted war. + +The death of the Regent on June 10th must have quickened the desire of +the Guises for peace; for where she had failed to effect their purposes +no one else was likely to succeed. Alike by her own character and gifts +and by the momentous policy of which she was the agent, Mary of Lorraine +is one of the remarkable figures in Scottish history. It was her +misfortune--a misfortune due to her birth and connections--that she +found herself from the first in direct antagonism to the natural +development of the country of her adoption, and that the circumstances +in which she ruled were such as to bring into prominence the least +worthy traits of the proud race from which she sprang. Yet in personal +appearance, as in courage and magnificence, she was the true sister of +Henry of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, "the Pope and King of +France." Construed to a larger and more charitable sense than that in +which they were written, the words of Knox fitly enough sum up her +career. She was "unhappy--to Scotland--from the first day she entered +into it unto the day she finished her unhappy life." + +On June 16th commissioners arrived from England and France with powers +to effect an arrangement between the contending parties. From England +came Cecil and Dr. Wotton, Dean of Canterbury and York; and from France, +Monluc, Bishop of Valence, and Charles de Rochefoucauld, Sieur de +Randan. From the beginning, the French representatives gave it to be +understood that any treaty that might be made was exclusively between +England and France; the Congregation were rebel subjects with whom their +prince could in no wise treat. After many difficulties that more than +once threatened to put an end to further negotiations, a settlement was +at length reached (July 6th). The final arrangement signally proved how +hopeless the Guises were of their immediate prospects in Scotland. Mary +and Francis were to desist from using the arms of England; no Frenchman +was henceforth to hold any important office in Scotland; the +fortifications of Leith were to be demolished; and the French soldiers, +with the exception of one hundred twenty, were at once to be sent home +in their own country. Till the return of Mary the government was to be +intrusted to twelve persons, of whom she was to appoint seven and the +estates five. In the treaty no arrangement was made regarding religion; +but, with the powers now placed at their disposal, there could be little +doubt how the Protestant leaders would interpret the omission. Thus had +Elizabeth and the Congregation gained every point for which they had +striven; and their victory may be said to have determined the future, +not only of Britain, but of Protestantism. So far as Scotland is +concerned, the treaty of Edinburgh marks the central point of her +history. + +It now remained to be seen to what uses the Protestant party would put +their victory. The simultaneous departure of the French and English +troops relieved them from all restraint; and four days later the great +deliverance was signalized by a solemn thanksgiving in the Church of St. +Giles. For the effectual spreading of the Protestant doctrine, preachers +were planted in various parts of the country--Knox being appointed to +the principal charge in Edinburgh. But it was the approaching assembly +of the estates to which all men were looking with hopes or fears, +according to their desires and interests. The estates met on August 3d, +but it was not till the 8th that the attendance was complete. It was to +be the most important national assembly in the history of the Scottish +people; and the numbers of the different classes who flocked to it +showed that the momentous nature of the crisis was fully realized. +Specially noteworthy was the crowd of smaller barons from all parts of +the country. So unusual was the appearance of these persons that it had +almost been forgotten that their right to sit as representatives dated +from as far back as the reign of James I. A question raised, as to the +legality of an assembly which met independently of the summons or the +presence of the sovereign, was decisively set aside; and the House +addressed itself to the great issues involved in the late revolution. +The question of religion, as at the root of the whole controversy, took +precedence of every other. The first proceeding showed the national +instinct for the logical conduct of human affairs. The estates +instructed the ministers to draw up a statement of Protestant doctrine, +which might serve at once as a chart for their future guidance and a +justification for their present and their future action. In four days +the task (an easy one for Knox and his brother-ministers) was +accomplished; and under twenty-five heads the estates had before them +what was henceforth to be the creed of the majority of the Scottish +people. Article by article the Confession was read and considered, and, +after a feeble protest by the bishops of St. Andrew's, Dunkeld, and +Dunblane, approved and ratified by an overwhelming majority of the +estates. + +The way being thus cleared, the next step was the logical conclusion of +all the past action of the Protestant leaders. In three successive acts, +all passed in one day, it was decreed that the national Church should +cease to exist. The first act abolished the jurisdiction of the Pope; +the second condemned all practices and doctrines contrary to the new +creed; and the third forbade the celebration of mass within the bounds +of Scotland. The penalties attached to the breach of these enactments +were those approved and sanctioned by the example of every country in +Christendom. Confiscation for the first offence, exile for the second, +and death for the third--such were to be the successive punishments for +the saying or hearing of mass. + +Thus apparently had Knox and his fellow-workers attained the end of all +their labors; and it is instructive to compare the history of their +struggle with the experiences of other countries where the same +religious conflicts had successively arisen. In Germany the terrible +Peasants' War had been the direct result of Luther's revolt from Rome; +and in England the ecclesiastical revolution had been followed by the +religious atrocities of Henry VIII, by the anarchy under Edward VI, and +by the remorseless fanaticism of Mary Tudor. While the Congregation was +in the midst of its struggles with Mary of Lorraine, Philip II was +dealing with heresy in Spain. How effectually he dealt with it is one of +the notable chapters in the histories of nations. Here it is sufficient +to recall a single fact in illustration of the relative experiences of +Scotland and Spain. In 1559 Philip and his court, amid the applause of a +crowd of above two hundred thousand from all parts of Castile, +sanctioned with their presence the burning at Valladolid of a band of +persons, mostly women, accused of the crime of heresy. In France the +appearance of a new religion had evoked passions, alike among the people +and their rulers, which were to give that country an evil preeminence in +the ferocity of national and individual action. The _chambre ardente_, +the Edict of Châteaubriand (1551), the massacre of Amboise (1560), the +thirty years of intermittent civil war (1562-1592)--these were the events +of frightful significance that mark the development of religious conflict +in France. Compared with the tale of blood and confusion that has to be +told of Germany, France, England, and Spain, the history of the +Reformation in Scotland is a record of order and tranquillity. + +What is thrust upon us by the narrative of events in Scotland is the +singular moderation alike of the representatives of the old and the new +religion. Heretics had been burned indeed, but the number was +inconsiderable compared with that of similar victims in other countries; +and, even in the day of their triumph, the Scottish Protestants, in +spite of the stern threat of their legislation, were guiltless of a +single execution on the ground of religion. What is still more striking +is, that difference of faith begot no fanatical hate among the mass of +the people. In France and Spain men forgot the ties of blood and country +in the blind fury of religious zeal, but in Scotland we do not find town +arrayed against town and neighbor denouncing neighbor on the ground of a +different faith. That this tolerance was not due to indifference the +religious history of Scotland abundantly proves. It was in the +convulsions attending the change of the national faith that the Scottish +nation first attained to a consciousness of itself, and the +characteristics it then displayed have remained its distinctive +characteristics ever since. It is precisely the combination of a fervid +temper with logical thinking and temperate action that have +distinguished the Scottish people in all the great crises of their +history. + +It soon appeared that the Protestant triumph was not so complete as it +might have seemed. Those who saw furthest--and none was more keenly +alive to the fact than Knox--were well aware that many a battle must yet +be fought before the new temple they had built should stand secure +against the assault of open enemies and equivocal friends. The inherent +difficulties of the situation became speedily manifest. Mary and Francis +refused to ratify the late measures--a fact, says Knox, "we little +regarded or do regard." What he did regard, however, was the continued +alliance and support of England; and he was now to learn that, having +attained her own objects, Elizabeth was not disposed to be specially +cordial in her future relations to the Protestants in Scotland. It had +been for some time in the minds of the Protestant leaders that a +marriage between Elizabeth and the Earl of Arran would be an excellent +arrangement for both countries; and in October a commission was actually +sent to make the proposal. The reply of Elizabeth was that "presently +she was not disposed to marry." An important event made this rebuff +additionally unwelcome: on December 5th, Francis II, the husband of Mary +Stuart, unexpectedly died. Had her husband lived, Mary might have +continued to live in France, which had been so long her home, and +Scotland might have been left in large degree to settle its own affairs. +Now the probability was that Mary would return to her own country, and +with all the authority and prestige of a legitimate sovereign renew the +battle that had been lost by her mother. It was, therefore, with gloomy +forebodings that all sincere well-wishers to the Reformed Church in +Scotland saw the close of this year of their apparent triumph. + +If there were these apprehensions from enemies, there was likewise a +growing alarm from the attitude of lukewarm and dubious friends. The +sincerity and good faith of all who had taken part in the late +revolution were about to be subjected to the most stringent of tests. By +the enactments of the preceding year the ancient Church had been swept +away; but the work of rearing a new edifice in its place still remained +to be accomplished. With this object the Protestant ministers had been +intrusted with the task of drafting a constitution for a new church +which should take the place of the old. The ministers had discharged +their trust, and the result of their labors was laid before the estates +which met in Edinburgh on January 15, 1561. + +The document presented to the estates was the famous _Book of +Discipline_--the most interesting and in many respects the most +important document in the history of Scotland. If any proof were needed +that the revolt against the ancient Church was no ill-considered act of +irresponsible men, we assuredly possess that proof in this extraordinary +book. Though in its primary intention the scheme of its ecclesiastical +polity, it is in fact the draft of a "republic," under which a nation +should live its life on earth and prepare itself for heaven. It not +only prescribes a creed, and supplies a complete system of church +government: it suggests a scheme of national education, it defines the +relation of church and state, it provides for the poor and unable, it +regulates the life of households, it even determines the career of such +as by their natural gifts were especially fitted to be of service to +church or state. As we shall see, the suggestions of the _Book of +Discipline_ were to be but imperfectly realized; yet, by defining the +ideals and moulding the temper and culture of the prevailing majority +of the Scottish people, it has been one of the great formative +influences in the national development. + +It was on this memorable document that the estates were now to sit +in judgment. In the case of the Confession of Faith they had been +practically unanimous; but that had been a mere statement of abstract +doctrines which involved no question of worldly interests, and might +be subscribed with a light heart and with any degree of spiritual +conviction. With the _Book of Discipline_ it was very different. The +fundamental question that had to be answered in that book was the +question of the "sustentation" of the new Church. The answer given was +the most natural in the world: the reformed Church had an indisputable +right to the entire inheritance of the Church it had displaced. There +were, however, two formidable difficulties in the way of this claim. +Without manifest injustice the ancient clergy could not be deprived +wholesale of their means of subsistence. The second difficulty was also +formidable. Of late years a considerable amount of Church property had +passed into the hands of the nobles, barons, and gentry. Would these +persons now be willing to lay their possessions at the feet of the +ministers from whom they professed to have received the true Gospel? +The proceedings of the convention left no doubt as to the answer. +As in the preceding August, the assembly was a crowded one, but on +this occasion there was no such unanimous action. "Some approved it," +says Knox, "and willed the same have been set forth by law. Others, +perceiving their carnal liberty and worldly commodity somewhat to +be impaired thereby, grudged, insomuch that the name of _Book of +Discipline_ became odious unto them. Everything that repugned to their +corrupt affections was termed in their mocking 'devout imaginations.'" + +After long and heated debates, no definite conclusion was reached. A +large number of the nobles and barons, however, signed the _Book_ as +being "good and conformable to God's Word in all points"; but they +signed it with a qualification that did them credit. The old clergy +should be allowed to retain their livings on condition of their +maintaining Protestant ministers in their respective districts. The +denunciations of Knox have given an evil name to this convention of the +estates, yet the act of spoliation to which he would have had them put +their hands would have done little credit to a religion whose special +claim was to have reproduced the purity and simplicity of the primitive +gospel. + +While the supporters of the Reformation were thus divided among +themselves, the prospect of the Queen's approaching return was further +confounding their counsels. That she must be their open or their secret +foe, they could have no manner of doubt. Her character and opinions had +been formed under the immediate supervision of her uncle, the Cardinal +of Lorraine; and to the French Protestants the Cardinal was already +known as "_le tigre de France_." As a Catholic and as a Queen, her +natural desire must be to undo the work of the late revolution, which +she could only regard as the work of rebels and heretics. "Whenever she +comes," wrote Randolph, the English resident, "I believe there will be +a mad world." Mary might prove to be as able as her mother, and she +would possess many advantages over Mary of Lorraine in any contest with +her subjects. She was the legitimate sovereign of the country; and, now +that the immediate danger from France was removed by the death of her +husband, there was no reason why the national party, as distinguished +alike from Catholic and Protestant, should not return to its natural +allegiance. Moreover, though, with the help of England, Protestantism +had triumphed in the late trial of strength, the great majority in the +country--nobles, barons, and commons--were still on the side of the old +religion. + +Even before her return Mary had clearly indicated the policy she +intended to follow. In February she had sent deputies to the estates to +urge the renewal of the ancient league with France--a step which, at +their meeting in May, the estates decisively refused to take, as being +the virtual abandonment of their cause. In view of her imminent return, +Mary's supporters began to bestir themselves in a fashion that boded ill +for the future peace of the country. At Stirling the bishops met in +council to consider their best policy; and we have it from one of their +own number that they were acting in concert with the earls Huntly, +Athol, Crawford, Marischal, Sutherland, Caithness, and Bothwell. As the +result of their counsels, a proposal was sent to Mary which she had the +prudence to reject in her own interest as well as in the interest of her +kingdom. The proposal was that she should land at some point on the +northern coast where the earls would be ready to support her with twenty +thousand men. As a safer course for the immediate future, Mary chose the +advice proffered to her by the party for the present in the ascendant. +Through the lord James Stewart as their deputy, the Protestant leaders +urged upon her the necessity of leaving religion as she would find it, +and of adopting as her advisers the persons now at the head of affairs. +When at length, on August 19, 1561, Mary landed at Leith, it appeared +that at least for the time she was content to take things as she found +them. That she would accept them as definitive, no one, and least of all +John Knox, could so far delude himself as to believe. + + + THOMAS CARLYLE + +In the history of Scotland I can find properly but one epoch: we may +say, it contains nothing of world-interest at all but this Reformation +by Knox. A poor, barren country, full of continual broils, dissensions, +massacrings; a people in the last state of rudeness and destitution, +little better perhaps than Ireland at this day. Hungry, fierce barons, +not so much as able to form any arrangement with each other _how to +divide_ what they fleeced from these poor drudges; but obliged, as the +Colombian Republics are at this day, to make of every alteration a +revolution; no way of changing a ministry but by hanging the old +ministers on gibbets: this is a historical spectacle of no very +singular significance! "Bravery" enough, I doubt not; fierce fighting +in abundance, but not braver or fiercer than that of their old +Scandinavian Sea-king ancestors, whose exploits we have not found worth +dwelling on! It is a country as yet without a soul: nothing developed +in it but what is rude, external, semi-animal. And now, at the +Reformation, the internal life is kindled, as it were, under the ribs +of this outward material death. A cause, the noblest of causes, kindles +itself, like a beacon set on high; high as Heaven, yet attainable from +Earth, whereby the meanest man becomes not a Citizen only, but a Member +of Christ's visible Church; a veritable hero, if he prove a true man! + +But to return: This that Knox did for his Nation, I say, we may really +call a resurrection as from death. It was not a smooth business; but it +was welcome surely, and cheap at that price, had it been far rougher. +On the whole, cheap at any price--as life is. The people began to +_live_: they needed first of all to do that, at what cost and costs +soever. Scotch Literature and Thought, Scotch Industry; James Watt, +David Hume, Walter Scott, Robert Burns: I find Knox and the Reformation +acting in the heart's core of every one of these persons and phenomena; +I find that without the Reformation they would not have been. Or what +of Scotland? The Puritanism of Scotland became that of England, of New +England. A tumult in the High Church of Edinburgh spread into a +universal battle and struggle over all these realms; there came out, +after fifty years' struggling, what we all call the "_Glorious_ +Revolution," a _Habeas Corpus_ Act, Free Parliaments, and much else! +Alas, is it not too true, that many men in the van do always like +Russian soldiers, march into the ditch of Schweidnitz, and fill it up +with their dead bodies, that the rear may pass over them dry-shod, and +gain the honor? How many earnest, rugged Cromwells, Knoxes, poor +Peasant Covenanters, wrestling, battling for very life, in rough miry +places, have to struggle, and suffer, and fall, greatly censured, +_bemired_--before a beautiful Revolution of Eighty-eight can step over +them in official pumps and silk stockings, with universal +three-times-three! + +It seems to me hard measure that this Scottish man, now after three +hundred years, should have to plead like a culprit before the world; +intrinsically for having been, in such a way as it was then possible to +be, the bravest of all Scotchmen! Had he been a poor Half-and-half, he +could have crouched into the corner, like so many others; Scotland had +not been delivered; and Knox had been without blame. He is the one +Scotchman to whom, of all others, his country and the world owe a debt. +He has to plead that Scotland would forgive him for having been worth to +it any million "unblamable" Scotchmen that need no forgiveness! He bared +his breast to the battle; had to row in French galleys, wander forlorn +in exile, in clouds and storms; was censured, shot at through his +windows; had a right sore fighting life: if this world were his place of +recompense, he had made but a bad venture of it. I cannot apologize for +Knox. To him it is very indifferent, these two hundred and fifty years +or more, what men say of him. But we, having got above all those details +of his battle, and living now in clearness on the fruits of his victory, +we, for our own sake, ought to look through the rumors and controversies +enveloping the man, into the man himself. + +For one thing, I will remark that this post of Prophet to his Nation +was not of his seeking; Knox had lived forty years quietly obscure, +before he became conspicuous. He was the son of poor parents; had got a +college education; become a priest; adopted the Reformation, and seemed +well content to guide his own steps by the light of it, nowise unduly +intruding it on others. He had lived as Tutor in gentlemen's families; +preaching when any body of persons wished to hear his doctrine: +resolute he to walk by the truth, and speak the truth when called to do +it; not ambitious of more; not fancying himself capable of more. In +this entirely obscure way he had reached the age of forty; was with the +small body of Reformers who were standing siege in St. Andrew's +Castle--when one day in their chapel, the preacher, after finishing his +exhortation to these fighters in the forlorn hope, said suddenly, That +there ought to be other speakers, that all men who had a priest's heart +and gift in them ought now to speak; which gifts and heart one of their +own number, John Knox the name of him, had: had he not? said the +preacher, appealing to all the audience: what then is _his_ duty? The +people answered affirmatively; it was a criminal forsaking of his post, +if such a man held the word that was in him silent. Poor Knox was +obliged to stand up; he attempted to reply; he could say no word; burst +into a flood of tears, and ran out. It is worth remembering, that +scene. He was in grievous trouble for some days. He felt what a small +faculty was his for this great work. He felt what a baptism he was +called to be baptized withal. He "burst into tears." + +Our primary characteristic of a hero, that he is sincere, applies +emphatically to Knox. It is not denied anywhere that this, whatever +might be his other qualities or faults, is among the truest of men. +With a singular instinct he holds to the truth and fact; the truth +alone is there for him, the rest a mere shadow and deceptive nonentity. +However feeble, forlorn the reality may seem, on that and that only +_can_ he take his stand. In the Galleys of the River Loire, whither +Knox and the others, after their Castle of St. Andrew's was taken, had +been sent as Galley-slaves--some officer or priest, one day, presented +them an image of the Virgin Mother, requiring that they, the blasphemous +heretics, should do it reverence. Mother? Mother of God? said Knox, +when the turn came to him: This is no Mother of God: this is "a _pented +bredd_"--a piece of wood, I tell you, with paint on it! She is fitter +for swimming, I think, than for being worshipped, added Knox; and flung +the thing into the river. It was not very cheap jesting there: but come +of it what might, this thing to Knox was and must continue nothing +other than the real truth; it was a _pented bredd_: worship it he would +not. + +He told his fellow-prisoners, in this darkest time, to be of courage; +the Cause they had was the true one, and must and would prosper; the +whole world could not put it down. Reality is of God's making; it is +alone strong. How many _pented bredds_, pretending to be real, are +fitter to swim than to be worshipped! This Knox cannot live but by +facts: he clings to reality as the shipwrecked sailor to the cliff. He +is an instance to us how a man, by sincerity itself, becomes heroic; it +is the grand gift he has. We find in Knox a good, honest, intellectual +talent, no transcendent one; a narrow, inconsiderable man, as compared +with Luther: but in heartfelt, instinctive adherence to truth, in +_sincerity_, as we say, he has no superior; nay, one might ask, what +equal he has? The heart of him is of the true Prophet cast. "He lies +there," said the Earl of Morton at his grave, "who never feared the +face of man." He resembles, more than any of the moderns, an old Hebrew +Prophet. The same inflexibility, intolerance, rigid, narrow-looking +adherence to God's truth, stern rebuke in the name of God to all that +forsake truth: an old Hebrew prophet in the guise of an Edinburgh +minister of the sixteenth century. We are to take him for that; not +require him to be other. + +Knox's conduct to Queen Mary, the harsh visits he used to make in her +own palace, to reprove her there, have been much commented upon. Such +cruelty, such coarseness, fills us with indignation. On reading the +actual narrative of the business, what Knox said, and what Knox meant, +I must say one's tragic feeling is rather disappointed. They are not +so coarse, these speeches, they seem to me about as fine as the +circumstances would permit! Knox was not there to do the courtier; he +came on another errand. Whoever, reading these colloquies of his with +the Queen, thinks they are vulgar insolences of a plebeian priest to a +delicate high lady, mistakes the purport and essence of them altogether. +It was unfortunately not possible to be polite with the Queen of +Scotland, unless one proved untrue to the Nation and Cause of Scotland. +A man who did not wish to see the land of his birth made a hunting-field +for intriguing, ambitious Guises, and the Cause of God trampled +underfoot of falsehoods, formulas, and the Devil's Cause, had no method +of making himself agreeable! "Better that women weep," said Morton, +"than that bearded men be forced to weep." Knox was the constitutional +opposition party in Scotland: the Nobles of the country, called by their +station to take that post, were not found in it; Knox had to go, or no +one. The hapless Queen; but the still more hapless Country, if _she_ +were made happy! Mary herself was not without sharpness enough, among +her other qualities: "Who are you," said she once, "that presume to +school the nobles and sovereign of this realm?" "Madam, a subject born +within the same," answered he. Reasonably answered! If the "subject" +have truth to speak, it is not the "subject's" footing that will fail +him here. + +We blame Knox for his intolerance. Well, surely it is good that each of +us be as tolerant as possible. Yet, at bottom, after all the talk there +is and has been about it, what is tolerance? Tolerance has to tolerate +the _un_essential; and to see well what that is. Tolerance has to +be noble, measured, just in its very wrath, when it can tolerate no +longer. But, on the whole, we are not altogether here to tolerate! +We are here to resist, to control, and vanquish withal. We do not +"tolerate" Falsehoods, Thieveries, Iniquities, when they fasten on us; +we say to them, Thou art false, thou art not tolerable! We are here to +extinguish Falsehoods, and put an end to them, in some wise way! I will +not quarrel so much with the way; the doing of the thing is our great +concern. In this sense Knox was, full surely, intolerant. + +A man sent to row in French Galleys, and suchlike, for teaching the +Truth in his own land, cannot always be in the mildest humor! I am not +prepared to say that Knox had a soft temper; nor do I know that he had +what we call an ill temper. An ill nature he decidedly had not. Kind, +honest affections dwelt in the much-enduring, hard-worn, ever-battling +man. That he _could_ rebuke Queens, and had such weight among those +proud, turbulent Nobles, proud enough whatever else they were; and could +maintain to the end a kind of virtual Presidency and Sovereignty in that +wild realm, he who was only "a subject born within the same": this of +itself will prove to us that he was found, close at hand, to be no mean, +acrid man; but at heart a healthful, strong, sagacious man. Such alone +can bear rule in that kind. They blame him for pulling down cathedrals, +and so forth, as if he were a seditious, rioting demagogue: precisely +the reverse is seen to be the fact, in regard to cathedrals and the rest +of it, if we examine! Knox wanted no pulling-down of stone edifices; he +wanted leprosy and darkness to be thrown out of the lives of men. Tumult +was not his element; it was the tragic feature of his life that he +was forced to dwell so much in that. Every such man is the born enemy +of Disorder; hates to be in it: but what then? Smooth Falsehood is +not Order; it is the general sum total of _Dis_order. Order is +_Truth_--each thing standing on the basis that belongs to it: Order +and Falsehood cannot subsist together. + +Withal, unexpectedly enough, this Knox has a vein of drollery in him; +which I like much, in combination with his other qualities. He has a +true eye for the ridiculous. His _History_, with its rough earnestness, +is curiously enlivened with this. When the two Prelates, entering +Glasgow Cathedral, quarrel about precedence; march rapidly up, take to +hustling one another, twitching one another's rochets, and at last +flourishing their crosiers like quarter-staves, it is a great sight for +him everywhere! Not mockery, scorn, bitterness alone; though there is +enough of that too. But a true, loving, illuminating laugh mounts up +over the earnest visage; not a loud laugh; you would say, a laugh in +the _eyes_ most of all. An honest-hearted, brotherly man; brother to +the high, brother also to the low; sincere in his sympathy with both. +He had his pipe of Bourdeaux too, we find, in that old Edinburgh house +of his; a cheery social man, with faces that loved him! They go far +wrong who think that this Knox was a gloomy, spasmodic, shrieking +fanatic. Not at all: he is one of the solidest of men. Practical, +cautious-hopeful, patient; a most shrewd, observing, quietly discerning +man. In fact, he has very much the type of character we assign to the +Scotch at present: a certain sardonic taciturnity is in him; insight +enough; and a stouter heart than he himself knows of. He has the power +of holding his peace over many things which do not vitally concern +him--"They? what are they?" But the thing which does vitally concern +him, that thing he will speak of; and in a tone the whole world shall +be made to hear: all the more emphatic for his long silence. + +This Prophet of the Scotch is to me no hateful man! He had a sore fight +of an existence; wrestling with Popes and Principalities; in defeat, +contention, life-long struggle; rowing as a galley-slave, wandering as +an exile. A sore fight: but he won it. "Have you hope?" they asked him +in his last moment, when he could no longer speak. He lifted his finger, +"pointed upward with his finger," and so died. Honor to him! His works +have not died. The letter of his work dies, as of all men's; but the +spirit of it never. + +One word more as to the letter of Knox's work. The unforgivable offence +in him is, that he wished to set-up Priests over the head of Kings. In +other words, he strove to make the Government of Scotland a +_Theocracy_. This indeed is properly the sum of his offences, the +essential sin; for which what pardon can there be? It is most true, he +did, at bottom, consciously or unconsciously, mean a Theocracy, or +Government of God. He did mean that Kings and Prime Ministers, and all +manner of persons, in public or private, diplomatizing or whatever else +they might be doing, should walk according to the Gospel of Christ, and +understand that this was their Law, supreme over all laws. He hoped +once to see such a thing realized; and the Petition, _Thy Kingdom +come_, no longer an empty word. He was sore grieved when he saw greedy, +worldly Barons clutch hold of the Church's property; when he +expostulated that it was not secular property, that it was spiritual +property, and should be turned to _true_ churchly uses, education, +schools, worship; and the Regent Murray had to answer, with a shrug of +the shoulders, "It is a devout imagination!" This was Knox's scheme of +right and truth; this he zealously endeavored after, to realize it. If +we think his scheme of truth was too narrow, was not true, we may +rejoice that he could not realize it; that it remained, after two +centuries of effort, unrealizable, and is a "devout imagination" still. +But how shall we blame him for struggling to realize it? Theocracy, +Government of God, is precisely the thing to be struggled for! All +Prophets, zealous Priests, are there for that purpose. Hildebrand +wished a Theocracy; Cromwell wished it, fought for it; Mahomet attained +it. Nay, is it not what all zealous men, whether called Priests, +Prophets, or whatsoever else called, do essentially wish, and must +wish? That right and truth, or God's law, reign supreme among men, this +is the Heavenly Ideal (well named in Knox's time, and namable in all +times, a revealed "Will of God") toward which the Reformer will insist +that all be more and more approximated. All true Reformers are by +nature of them Priests, and strive for a Theocracy. + + + + + MARY STUART: HER REIGN AND EXECUTION + + A.D. 1561-1587 + + ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE + + + Apart from the peculiar interest of her own life and reign, Mary + Stuart is an important personage as having been the mother of the + first sovereign of the Stuart line in England (James I). + + Historical critics take widely differing views of the conduct and + character of the Queen of Scots, both in her individual life and her + relation to public affairs. In the complications then involving the + political and religious organizations of Europe, the play and + counter-play of motives are difficult to follow, and just + discrimination becomes at times almost impossible. + + In like manner, the troublous times in which Mary Stuart was called + to act her part rendered her own way intricate and uncertain. A + devotee of the Catholic faith, she was placed upon the throne of + Scotland at the very hour when that country, under the powerful + leadership of John Knox, was fast becoming Protestant. This state of + affairs made her task as ruler in her own realm sufficiently trying. + But her difficulties were increased by the inevitable antagonisms + with her great Protestant rival, Elizabeth of England, and through + the involved relations of Great Britain with Spain and Catholic + Europe generally. These historical puzzles seem always to call for + fresh explanation. No less perplexing are the circumstances into + which this Queen was drawn by her marital relations and other + personal entanglements. + + Upon all these matters Swinburne sheds light through the medium of + a sound critical judgment, in a style no less conspicuous for its + fascination than by reason of its illuminative power. + + +Mary (1542-1587), Queen of Scots, daughter of King James V and his wife +Mary of Lorraine, was born in December, 1542, a few days before the +death of her father, heart-broken by the disgrace of his arms at Solway +Moss, where the disaffected nobles had declined to encounter an enemy of +inferior force in the cause of a king whose systematic policy had been +directed against the privileges of their order, and whose representative +on the occasion was an unpopular favorite appointed general in defiance +of their ill-will. On the 9th of September following, the ceremony of +coronation was duly performed on the infant. A scheme for her betrothal +to Edward, Prince of Wales, was defeated by the grasping greed of his +father, whose obvious ambition to annex the crown of Scotland at once to +that of England aroused instantly the general suspicion and indignation +of Scottish patriotism. In 1548 the Queen of six years old was betrothed +to the dauphin Francis, and set sail for France, where she arrived +August 15th. + +The society in which the child was thenceforward reared is known to +readers of Brantome as well as that of Imperial Rome at its worst is +known to readers of Suetonius or Petronius--as well as that of papal +Rome at its worst is known to readers of the diary kept by the domestic +chaplain of Pope Alexander VI. Only in their pages can a parallel be +found to the gay and easy record which reveals, without sign of shame or +suspicion of offence, the daily life of a court compared to which the +court of King Charles II is as the court of Queen Victoria to the +society described by Grammont. + +Debauchery of all kinds, murder in all forms, were the daily matter of +excitement or of jest to the brilliant circle which revolved around +Queen Catherine de' Medici. After ten years' training under the tutelage +of the woman whose main instrument of policy was the corruption of her +own children, the Queen of Scots, aged fifteen years and five months, +was married to the eldest and feeblest of the brood on April 24, 1558. +On November 17th, Elizabeth became Queen of England, and the princes of +Lorraine--Francis the great Duke of Guise, and his brother the +Cardinal--induced their niece and her husband to assume, in addition to +the arms of France and Scotland, the arms of a country over which they +asserted the right of Mary Stuart to reign as legitimate heiress of Mary +Tudor. Civil strife broke out in Scotland between John Knox and the +Queen Dowager--between the self-styled "Congregation of the Lord" and +the adherents of the Regent, whose French troops repelled the combined +forces of the Scotch and their English allies from the beleaguered walls +of Leith, little more than a month before the death of their mistress in +the castle of Edinburgh, on June 10, 1560. + +On August 25th Protestantism was proclaimed and Catholicism suppressed +in Scotland by a convention of states assembled without the assent of +the absent Queen. On December 5th Francis II died; in August, 1561, his +widow left France for Scotland, having been refused a safe-conduct by +Elizabeth on the ground of her own previous refusal to ratify the treaty +made with England by her commissioners in the same month of the +preceding year. She arrived nevertheless in safety at Leith, escorted by +three of her uncles of the house of Lorraine, and bringing in her train +her future biographer, Brantome, and Chastelard, the first of all her +voluntary victims. On August 21st she first met the only man able to +withstand her; and their first passage of arms left, as he has recorded, +upon the mind of John Knox, an ineffaceable impression of her "proud +mind, crafty wit, and indurate heart against God and his truth." + +And yet her acts of concession and conciliation were such as no fanatic +on the opposite side could have approved. She assented, not only to the +undisturbed maintenance of the new creed, but even to a scheme for the +endowment of the Protestant ministry out of the confiscated lands of the +Church. Her half-brother, Lord James Stuart, shared the duties of her +chief counsellor with William Maitland of Lethington, the keenest and +most liberal thinker in the country. By the influence of Lord James, in +spite of the earnest opposition of Knox, permission was obtained for her +to hear mass celebrated in her private chapel--a license to which, said +the reformer, he would have preferred the invasion of ten thousand +Frenchmen. + +Through all the first troubles of her reign the young Queen steered her +skilful and dauntless way with the tact of a woman and the courage of a +man. An insurrection in the North, headed by the Earl of Huntly under +pretext of rescuing from justice the life which his son had forfeited by +his share in a homicidal brawl, was crushed at a blow by the lord James +against whose life, as well as against his sister's liberty, the +conspiracy of the Gordons had been aimed, and on whom, after the father +had fallen in fight and the son had expiated his double offence on the +scaffold, the leading rebel's earldom of Murray was conferred by the +gratitude of the Queen. Exactly four months after the battle of +Corrichie, and the subsequent execution of a criminal whom she is said +to have "loved entirely," had put an end to the first insurrection +raised against her, Pierre de Boscosel de Chastelard, who had returned +to France with the other companions of her arrival, and in November, +1562, had revisited Scotland, expiated with his head the offence of the +misfortune of a second detection at night in her bedchamber. + +In the same month, twenty-five years afterward, the execution of his +mistress, according to the verdict of her contemporaries in France, +avenged the blood of a lover who had died without uttering a word to +realize the apprehension which, according to Knox, had before his trial +impelled her to desire her brother "that, as he loved her, he would slay +Chastelard, and let him never speak word." And in the same month, two +years from the date of Chastelard's execution, her first step was +unconsciously taken on the road to Fotheringay, when she gave her heart +at first sight to her kinsman Henry, Lord Darnley, son of Matthew +Stuart, Earl of Lennox, who had suffered an exile of twenty years in +expiation of his intrigues with England, and had married the niece of +King Henry VIII, daughter of his sister Margaret, the widow of James IV, +by her second husband, the Earl of Angus. Queen Elizabeth, with the +almost incredible want of tact or instinctive delicacy which +distinguished and disfigured her vigorous intelligence, had recently +proposed as a suitor to the Queen of Scots her own low-born favorite, +Lord Robert Dudley, the widower if not murderer of Amy Robsart; and she +now protested against the project of marriage between Mary and Darnley. + +Mary, who had already married her kinsman in secret at Stirling castle +with Catholic rites celebrated in the apartment of David Rizzio, her +secretary for correspondence with France, assured the English +ambassador, in reply to the protest of his mistress, that the marriage +would not take place for three months, when a dispensation from the Pope +would allow the cousins to be publicly united without offence to the +Church. On July 29, 1565, they were accordingly remarried at Holyrood. +The hapless and worthless bridegroom had already incurred the hatred of +two powerful enemies, the Earls of Morton and Glencairn; but the former +of these took part with the Queen against the forces raised by Murray, +Glencairn, and others, under the nominal leadership of Hamilton, Duke of +Châtelherault, on the double plea of danger to the new religion of the +country, and of the illegal proceeding by which Darnley had been +proclaimed king of Scots without the needful constitutional assent of +the estates of the realm. + +Murray was cited to attend to the "raid" or array levied by the King and +Queen, and was duly denounced by public blast of trumpet for his +non-appearance. He entered Edinburgh with his forces, but failed to hold +the town against the guns of the castle, and fell back upon Dumfries +before the advance of the royal army, which was now joined by James +Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, on his return from a three years' outlawed +exile in France. He had been accused in 1562 of a plot to seize the +Queen and put her into the keeping of Earl of Arran, whose pretensions +to her hand ended only when his insanity could no longer be concealed. +Another new adherent was the son of the late Earl of Huntly, to whom the +forfeited honors of his house were restored a few months before the +marriage of his sister to Bothwell. The Queen now appealed to France for +aid; but Castelnau, the French ambassador, replied to her passionate +pleading by sober and earnest advice to make peace with the malcontents. +This counsel was rejected, and in October, 1565, the Queen marched an +army of eighteen thousand men against them from Edinburgh; their forces +dispersed in face of superior numbers, and Murray, on seeking shelter in +England, was received with contumely by Elizabeth, whose half-hearted +help had failed to support his enterprise, and whose intercession for +his return found at first no favor with the Queen of Scots. + +But the conduct of the besotted boy, on whom at their marriage she had +bestowed the title of king, began at once to justify the enterprise and +to play into the hands of all his enemies alike. His father set him on +to demand the crown matrimonial, which would at least have assured him +the rank and station of independent royalty for life. Rizzio, hitherto +his friend and advocate, induced the Queen to reply by a reasonable +refusal to this hazardous and audacious request. Darnley at once threw +himself into the arms of the party opposed to the policy of the Queen +and her secretary--a policy which at that moment was doubly and trebly +calculated to exasperate the fears of the religious and the pride of the +patriotic. Mary was invited if not induced by the King of Spain to join +his league for the suppression of Protestantism; while the actual or +prospective endowment of Rizzio with Morton's office of chancellor, and +the projected attainder of Murray and his allies, combined to inflame at +once the anger and the apprehension of the Protestant nobles. + +According to one account, Darnley privately assured his uncle George +Douglas of his wife's infidelity; he had himself, if he might be +believed, discovered the secretary in the Queen's apartment at midnight, +under circumstances yet more unequivocally compromising than those which +had brought Chastelard to the scaffold. Another version of the pitiful +history represents Douglas as infusing suspicion of Rizzio into the +empty mind of his nephew, and thus winning his consent to a deed already +designed by others. + +A bond was drawn in which Darnley pledged himself to support the +confederates who undertook to punish "certain privy persons" offensive +to the state, "especially a stranger Italian called Davie"; another was +subscribed by Darnley and the banished lords, then biding their time in +Newcastle, which engaged him to procure their pardon and restoration, +while pledging them to insure to him the enjoyment of the title he +coveted, with the consequent security of an undisputed succession to the +crown, despite the counter-claims of the house of Hamilton, in case his +wife should die without issue--a result which, intentionally or not, he +and his fellow-conspirators did all that brutality could have suggested +to accelerate and secure. + +On March 9th the palace of Holyrood was invested by a troop under the +command of Morton, while Rizzio was dragged by force out of the Queen's +presence and slain without trial in the heat of the moment. The +parliament was discharged by proclamation issued in the name of Darnley +as king; and in the evening of the next day the banished lords, whom it +was to have condemned to outlawry, returned to Edinburgh. On the +following day they were graciously received by the Queen, who undertook +to sign a bond for their security, but delayed the subscription until +the next morning under plea of sickness. During the night she escaped +with Darnley, whom she had already seduced from the party of his +accomplices, and arrived at Dunbar on the third morning after the +slaughter of her favorite. From thence they returned to Edinburgh on +March 28th, guarded by two thousand horsemen under the command of +Bothwell, who had escaped from Holyrood on the night of the murder, to +raise a force on the Queen's behalf with his usual soldierly +promptitude. + +The slayers of Rizzio fled to England, and were outlawed; Darnley was +permitted to protest his innocence and denounce his accomplices; after +which he became the scorn of all parties alike, and few men dared or +cared to be seen in his company. On June 19th a son was born to his +wife, and in the face of his previous protestations he was induced to +acknowledge himself the father. But, as Murray and his partisans +returned to favor and influence no longer incompatible with that of +Bothwell and Huntly, he grew desperate enough with terror to dream of +escape to France. This design was at once frustrated by the Queen's +resolution. She summoned him to declare his reasons for it in the +presence of the French ambassador and an assembly of the nobles; she +besought him for God's sake to speak out, and not spare her; and at last +he left her presence with an avowal that he had nothing to allege. + +The favor shown to Bothwell had not yet given occasion for scandal, +though his character as an adventurous libertine was as notable as his +reputation for military hardihood; but as the summer advanced, his +insolence increased with his influence at court and the general aversion +of his rivals. He was richly endowed by Mary from the greater and lesser +spoils of the Church; and the three wardenships of the border, united +for the first time in his person, gave the lord high admiral of Scotland +a position of unequalled power. In the gallant discharge of its duties +he was dangerously wounded by a leading outlaw, whom he slew in single +combat; and while yet confined to Hermitage castle he received a visit +of two hours from the Queen, who rode thither from Jedburgh and back +through twenty miles of the wild borderland, where her person was in +perpetual danger from the free-booters whom her father's policy had +striven and had failed to extirpate. + +On January 22, 1567, the Queen visited her husband, who was ill at +Glasgow, and proposed to remove him to Craigmillar castle, where he +would have the benefit of medicinal baths; but instead of this resort he +was conveyed on the last day of the month to the lonely and squalid +shelter of the residence which was soon to be made memorable by his +murder. Between the ruins of two sacred buildings, with the town hall to +the south and a suburban hamlet known to ill-fame as the Thieves' Row to +the north of it, a lodging was prepared for the titular King of +Scotland, and fitted up with tapestries taken from the Gordons after the +battle of Corrichie. On the evening of Sunday, February 9th, Mary took +her last leave of the miserable boy who had so often and so mortally +outraged her as consort and as queen. That night the whole city was +shaken out of sleep by an explosion of gunpowder which shattered to +fragments the building in which he should have slept and perished; and +next morning the bodies of Darnley and a page were found strangled in a +garden adjoining it, whither they had apparently escaped over a wall, to +be despatched by the hands of Bothwell's attendant confederates. + +Upon the view which may be taken of Mary's conduct during the next three +months depends the whole debatable question of her character. According +to the professed champions of that character, this conduct was a tissue +of such dastardly imbecility, such heartless irresolution, and such +brainless inconsistency as forever to dispose of her time-honored claim +to the credit of intelligence and courage. It is certain that just three +months and six days after the murder of her husband she became the wife +of her husband's murderer. On February 11th she wrote to the Bishop of +Glasgow, her ambassador in France, a brief letter, of simple eloquence, +announcing her providential escape from a design upon her own as well as +her husband's life. A reward of two thousand pounds was offered by +proclamation for discovery of the murderer. Bothwell and others, his +satellites or the Queen's, were instantly placarded by name as the +criminals. Voices were heard by night in the streets of Edinburgh +calling down judgment on the assassins. + +Four days after the discovery of the bodies, Darnley was buried in the +chapel of Holyrood with secrecy as remarkable as the solemnity with +which Rizzio had been interred there less than a year before. On the +Sunday following, Mary left Edinburgh for Seton palace, twelve miles +from the capital, where scandal asserted that she passed the time +merrily in shooting-matches, with Bothwell for her partner, against +Lords Seton and Huntly; other accounts represent Huntly and Bothwell +as left at Holyrood in charge of the infant Prince. Gracefully and +respectfully, with statesmanlike yet feminine dexterity, the demands of +Darnley's father for justice on the murderers of his son were accepted +and eluded by his daughter-in-law. Bothwell, with a troop of fifty men, +rode through Edinburgh defiantly denouncing vengeance on his concealed +accusers. As weeks elapsed without action on the part of the royal +widow, while the cry of blood was up throughout the country, raising +echoes from England and abroad, the murmur of accusation began to rise +against her also. Murray, with his sister's ready permission, withdrew +to France. + +On April 21st Mary went to visit her child at Stirling, where his +guardian, the Earl of Mar, refused to admit more than two women in her +train. It was well known in Edinburgh that Bothwell had a body of men +ready to intercept her on the way back, and carry her to Dunbar--not, +as was naturally inferred, without good assurance of her consent. On +April 24th, as she approached Edinburgh, Bothwell accordingly met her +at the head of eight hundred spearmen, assured her--as she afterward +averred--that she was in the utmost peril, and escorted her, together +with Huntly, Lethington, and Melville, who were then in attendance, to +Dunbar castle. On May 3d Lady Jane Gordon, who had become Countess of +Bothwell on February 22d of the year preceding, obtained, on the ground +of her husband's infidelities, a separation, which, however, would not +under the old laws of Catholic Scotland have left him free to marry +again. + +On the day when the first or Protestant divorce was pronounced, Mary +and Bothwell returned to Edinburgh with every prepared appearance of a +peaceful triumph. Lest her captivity should have been held to invalidate +the late legal proceedings in her name, proclamation was made of +forgiveness accorded by the Queen to her captor in consideration of his +past and future services, and her intention was announced to reward them +by further promotion; and on the same day (May 12th) he was duly created +duke of Orkney and Shetland. The Duke, as a conscientious Protestant, +refused to marry his mistress according to the rites of her Church, and +she, the chosen champion of its cause, agreed to be married to him, +not merely by a Protestant, but by one who before his conversion had +been a Catholic bishop, and therefore should have been more hateful +and contemptible in her eyes than any ordinary heretic, had not +religion as well as policy, faith as well as reason, been absorbed or +superseded by some more mastering passion or emotion. This passion or +emotion, according to those who deny her attachment to Bothwell, was +simply terror--the blind and irrational prostration of an abject spirit +before the cruel force of circumstances and the crafty wickedness of +men. Hitherto, according to all evidence, she had shown herself on +all occasions, as on all subsequent occasions she indisputably +showed herself, the most fearless, the most keen-sighted, the most +ready-witted, the most high-gifted and high-spirited of women; gallant +and generous, skilful and practical, never to be cowed by fortune, never +to be cajoled by craft; neither more unselfish in her ends nor more +unscrupulous in her practice than might have been expected from her +training and her creed. + +But at the crowning moment of trial there are those who assert their +belief that the woman who on her way to the field of Corrichie had +uttered her wish to be a man, that she might know all the hardship and +all the enjoyment of a soldier's life, riding forth "in jack and +knapskull"--the woman who long afterward was to hold her own for two +days together, without help of counsel, against all the array of English +law and English statesmanship, armed with irrefragable evidence and +supported by the resentment of a nation--showed herself devoid of moral +and physical resolution; too senseless to realize the significance and +too heartless to face the danger of a situation from which the simplest +exercise of reason, principle, or courage must have rescued the most +unsuspicious and inexperienced of honest women who was not helplessly +deficient in self-reliance and self-respect. + +The famous correspondence produced next year in evidence against her at +the conference of York may have been, as her partisans affirm, so +craftily garbled and falsified by interpolation, suppression, +perversion, or absolute forgery as to be all but historically worthless. +Its acceptance or its rejection does not in any degree whatever affect, +for better or for worse, the rational estimate of her character. The +problem presented by the simple existence of the facts just summed up +remains in either case absolutely the same. + +That the coarse and imperious nature of the hardy and able ruffian who +had now become openly her master should no less openly have shown itself +even in the first moments of their inauspicious union is what any +bystander of common insight must inevitably have foreseen. Tears, +dejection, and passionate expressions of a despair "wishing only for +death," bore fitful and variable witness to her first sense of a heavier +yoke than yet had galled her spirit and her pride. At other times her +affectionate gayety would give evidence as trustworthy of a fearless and +improvident satisfaction. They rode out in state together, and if he +kept cap in hand as a subject she would snatch it from him and clap it +on his head again; while in graver things she took all due or possible +care to gratify his ambition by the insertion of a clause in their +contract of marriage which made their joint signature necessary to all +documents of state issued under the sign manual. She despatched to +France a special envoy, the Bishop of Dunblane, with instructions +setting forth at length the unparalleled and hitherto ill-requited +services and merits of Bothwell, and the necessity of compliance at once +with his passion and with the unanimous counsel of the nation--a people +who would endure the rule of no foreign consort, and whom none of their +own countrymen were so competent to control, alike by wisdom and by +valor, as the incomparable subject of her choice. + +These personal merits and this political necessity were the only pleas +advanced in a letter to her ambassador in England. But that neither plea +would avail her for a moment in Scotland she had ominous evidence on the +thirteenth day after her marriage, when no response was made to the +usual form of proclamation for a raid or levy of forces under pretext of +a campaign against the rievers of the border. On June 6th Mary and +Bothwell took refuge in Borthwick castle, twelve miles from the capital, +where the fortress was in the keeping of an adherent whom the diplomacy +of Sir James Melville had succeeded in detaching from his allegiance to +Bothwell. The fugitives were pursued and beleaguered by the Earl of +Morton and Lord Hume, who declared their purpose to rescue the Queen +from the thraldom of her husband. He escaped, leaving her free to follow +him or to join the party of her professed deliverers. + +But whatever cause she might have since marriage to complain of his +rigorous custody and domineering brutality was insufficient to break the +ties by which he held her. Alone, in the disguise of a page, she slipped +out of the castle at midnight, and rode off to meet him at a tower two +miles distant, whence they fled together to Dunbar. The confederate +lords on entering Edinburgh were welcomed by the citizens, and after +three hours' persuasion Lethington, who had now joined them, prevailed +on the captain of the castle to deliver it also into their hands. +Proclamations were issued in which the crime of Bothwell was denounced, +and the disgrace of the country, the thraldom of the Queen, and the +mortal peril of her infant son were set forth as reasons for summoning +all the lieges of the chief cities of Scotland to rise in arms on three +hours' notice and join the forces assembled against the one common +enemy. News of his approach reached them on the night of June 14th, and +they marched before dawn with twenty-two hundred men to meet him near +Musselburgh. Mary meanwhile had passed from Dunbar to Haddington, and +thence to Seton, where sixteen hundred men rallied to her side. On June +15th, one month from their marriage day, the Queen and Bothwell, at the +head of a force of fairly equal numbers but visibly inferior discipline, +met the army of the confederates at Carberry hill, some six miles from +Edinburgh. + +It was agreed that the Queen should yield herself prisoner, and Bothwell +be allowed to retire in safety to Dunbar with the few followers who +remained to him. Mary took leave of her first and last master with +passionate anguish and many parting kisses; but in face of his enemies, +and in hearing of the cries which burst from the ranks demanding her +death by fire as a murderess and harlot, the whole heroic and passionate +spirit of the woman represented by her admirers as a spiritless imbecile +flamed out in responsive threats to have all the men hanged and +crucified in whose power she now stood helpless and alone. She grasped +the hand of Lord Lindsay as he rode beside her, and swore "by this hand" +she would "have his head for this." In Edinburgh she was received by a +yelling mob, which flaunted before her at each turn a banner +representing the corpse of Darnley, with her child beside it, invoking +on his knees the retribution of divine justice. + +From the violence of a multitude, in which women of the worst class were +more furious than the men, she was sheltered in the house of the +provost, where she repeatedly showed herself at the window, appealing +aloud with dishevelled hair and dress to the mercy which no man could +look upon her and refuse. At nine in the evening she was removed to +Holyrood, and thence to the port of Leith, where she embarked under +guard, with her attendants, for the island castle of Lochleven. On the +20th a silver casket containing letters and French verses, miscalled +sonnets, in the handwriting of the Queen, was taken from the person of a +servant who had been sent by Bothwell to bring it from Edinburgh to +Dunbar. Even in the existing versions of the letters, translated from +the lost originals and retranslated from this translation of a text +which was probably destroyed in 1603 by order of King James on his +accession to the English throne--even in these possibly disfigured +versions, the fiery pathos of passion, the fierce and piteous +fluctuations of spirit between love and hate, hope and rage and +jealousy, have an eloquence apparently beyond the imitation or invention +of art. + +Three days after this discovery Lord Lindsay, Lord Ruthven, and Sir +Robert Melville were despatched to Lochleven, there to obtain the +Queen's signature to an act of abdication in favor of her son, and +another appointing Murray regent during his minority. She submitted, and +a commission of regency was established till the return from France of +Murray, who, on August 15th, arrived at Lochleven with Morton and Athol. +According to his own account the expostulations as to her past conduct +which preceded his admonitions for the future were received with tears, +confessions, and attempts at extenuation or excuse; but when they parted +next day on good terms, she had regained her usual spirits. Nor from +that day forward had they reason to sink again, in spite of the close +keeping in which she was held, with the daughters of the house for +bedfellows. Their mother and the Regent's, her father's former mistress, +was herself not impervious to her prisoner's lifelong power of seduction +and subjugation. Her son George Douglas fell inevitably under the charm. +A rumor transmitted to England went so far as to assert that she had +proposed him to their common half-brother Murray as a fourth husband for +herself; a later tradition represented her as the mother of a child by +him. A third report, at least as improbable as either, asserted that a +daughter of Mary and Bothwell, born about this time, lived to be a nun +in France. + +It is certain that the necessary removal of George Douglas from +Lochleven enabled him to devise a method of escape for the prisoner on +March 25, 1568, which was frustrated by detection of her white hands +under the disguise of a laundress. But a younger member of the +household, Willie Douglas, aged eighteen, whose devotion was afterward +remembered and his safety cared for by Mary at a time of utmost risk and +perplexity to herself, succeeded on May 2d in assisting her to escape by +a postern gate to the lake-side, and thence in a boat to the mainland, +where George Douglas, Lord Seton, and others were awaiting her. Thence +they rode to Seton's castle of Niddry, and next day to Hamilton palace, +round which an army of six thousand men was soon assembled, and whither +the new French ambassador to Scotland hastened to pay his duty. The +Queen's abdication was revoked, messengers were despatched to the +English and French courts, and word was sent to Murray at Glasgow that +he must resign the regency, and should be pardoned in common with all +offenders against the Queen. But on the day when Mary arrived at +Hamilton, Murray had summoned to Glasgow the feudatories of the crown, +to take arms against the insurgent enemies of the infant King. + +On the 13th of May the battle or skirmish of Langside determined the +result of the campaign in three-quarters of an hour. Kirkaldy of Grange, +who commanded the Regent's cavalry, seized and kept the place of vantage +from the beginning, and at the first sign of wavering on the other side +shattered at a single charge the forces of the Queen with a loss of one +man to three hundred. Mary fled sixty miles from the field of her last +battle before she halted at Sanquhar, and for three days of flight, +according to her own account, had to sleep on the hard ground, live on +oatmeal and sour milk, and fare at night like the owls, in hunger, cold, +and fear. + +On the third day from the rout of Langside she crossed the Solway, and +landed at Workington in Cumberland, May 16, 1568. On the 20th Lord +Scrope and Sir Francis Knollys were sent from court to carry messages +and letters of comfort from Elizabeth to Mary at Carlisle. On June 11th +Knollys wrote to Cecil at once the best description and the noblest +panegyric extant of the Queen of Scots--enlarging, with a brave man's +sympathy, on her indifference to form and ceremony, her daring grace and +openness of manner, her frank display of a great desire to be avenged of +her enemies, her readiness to expose herself to all perils in hope of +victory, her delight to hear of hardihood and courage, commending by +name all her enemies of approved valor, sparing no cowardice in her +friends, but above all things athirst for victory by any means at any +price, so that for its sake pain and peril seemed pleasant to her, and +wealth and all things, if compared with it, contemptible and vile. + +Mary was held a prisoner in England for seventeen years. In 1585 she was +accused of favoring Anthony Babington's plot against the life of +Elizabeth, her captor. Anthony Babington, in his boyhood a ward of +Shrewsbury, resident in the household at Sheffield castle, and thus +subjected to the charm before which so many victims had already fallen, +was now induced to undertake the deliverance of the Queen of Scots by +the murder of the Queen of England. It is maintained by those admirers +of Mary who assume her to have been an almost absolute imbecile, gifted +with the power of imposing herself on the world as a woman of +unsurpassed ability, that, while cognizant of the plot for her +deliverance by English rebels and an invading army of foreign +auxiliaries, she might have been innocently unconscious that this +conspiracy involved the simultaneous assassination of Elizabeth. In the +conduct and detection of her correspondence with Babington, traitor was +played off against traitor, and spies were utilized against assassins, +with as little scruple as could be required or expected in the diplomacy +of the time. + +As in the case of the casket letters, it is alleged that forgery was +employed to interpolate sufficient evidence of Mary's complicity in a +design of which it is thought credible that she was kept in ignorance by +the traitors and murderers who had enrolled themselves in her +service--that one who pensioned the actual murderer of Murray and a +would-be murderer of Elizabeth was incapable of approving what her keen +and practised intelligence was too blunt and torpid to anticipate as +inevitable and inseparable from the general design. In August the +conspirators were netted, and Mary was arrested at the gate of Tixall +Park, whither Paulet had taken her under pretence of a hunting-party. At +Tixall she was detained till her papers at Chartley had undergone +thorough research. That she was at length taken in her own toils, even +such a dullard as her admirers depict her could not have failed to +understand; that she was no such dastard as to desire or deserve such +defenders, the whole brief course of her remaining life bore consistent +and irrefragable witness. + +Her first thought on her return to Chartley was one of loyal gratitude +and womanly sympathy. She cheered the wife of her English secretary, now +under arrest, with promises to answer for her husband to all accusations +brought against him; took her new-born child from the mother's arms, and +in default of clergy baptized it, to Paulet's Puritanic horror, with her +own hands by her own name. + +The next or the twin-born impulse of her indomitable nature was, as +usual in all times of danger, one of passionate and high-spirited +defiance on discovering the seizure of her papers. A fortnight afterward +her keys and her money were confiscated, while she, bedridden and unable +to move her hand, could only ply the terrible weapon of her bitter and +fiery tongue. Her secretaries were examined in London, and one of them +gave evidence that she had first heard of the conspiracy by letter from +Babington, of whose design against the life of Elizabeth she thought it +best to take no notice in her reply, though she did not hold herself +bound to reveal it. On September 25th she was removed to the strong +castle of Fotheringay in Northamptonshire. On October 6th she was +desired by letter from Elizabeth to answer the charges brought against +her before certain of the chief English nobles appointed to sit in +commission on the cause. In spite of her first refusal to submit, she +was induced by the arguments of the vice-chamberlain, Sir Christopher +Hatton, to appear before this tribunal on condition that her protest +should be registered against the legality of its jurisdiction over a +sovereign, the next heir of the English crown. + +On October 14 and 15, 1586, the trial was held in the hall of +Fotheringay castle. Alone, "without one counsellor on her side among so +many," Mary conducted the whole of her own defence with courage +incomparable and unsurpassable ability. Pathos and indignation, subtlety +and simplicity, personal appeal and political reasoning, were the +alternate weapons with which she fought against all odds of evidence or +inference, and disputed step by step every inch of debatable ground. She +repeatedly insisted on the production of proof in her own handwriting as +to her complicity with the project of the assassins who had expiated +their crime on the 20th and 21st of the month preceding. When the charge +was shifted to the question of her intrigues with Spain, she took her +stand resolutely on her right to convey whatever right she possessed, +though now no kingdom was left her for disposal, to whomsoever she might +choose. + +One single slip she made in the whole course of her defence, but none +could have been more unluckily characteristic and significant. When +Burghley brought against her the unanswerable charge of having at that +moment in her service, and in receipt of an annual pension, the +instigator of a previous attempt on the life of Elizabeth, she had the +unwary audacity to cite in her justification the pensions allowed by +Elizabeth to her adversaries in Scotland, and especially to her son. It +is remarkable that just two months later, in a conversation with her +keepers, she again made use of the same extraordinary argument in reply +to the same inevitable imputation, and would not be brought to admit +that the two cases were other than parallel. But, except for this single +instance of oversight or perversity, her defence was throughout a +masterpiece of indomitable ingenuity, of delicate and steadfast courage, +of womanly dignity and genius. Finally, she demanded, as she had +demanded before, a trial either before the states of the realm lawfully +assembled, or else before the Queen in council. + +So closed the second day of the trial; and before the next day's work +could begin, a note of two or three lines hastily written at midnight +informed the commissioners that Elizabeth had suddenly determined to +adjourn the expected judgment and transfer the place of it to the +star-chamber. Here, on October 25th, the commissioners again met; and +one of them alone, Lord Zouch, dissented from the verdict by which Mary +was found guilty of having, since the 1st of June preceding, compassed +and imagined divers matters tending to the destruction of Elizabeth. +This verdict was conveyed to her, about three weeks later, by Lord +Buckhurst and Robert Beale, clerk of the privy council. At the +intimation that her life was an impediment to the security of the +received religion, "she seemed with a certain unwonted alacrity to +triumph, giving God thanks, and rejoicing in her heart that she was held +to be an instrument" for the restoration of her own faith. This note of +exultation as in martyrdom was maintained with unflinching courage to +the last. She wrote to Elizabeth and the Duke of Guise two letters of +almost matchless eloquence and pathos, admirable especially for their +loyal and grateful remembrance of all her faithful servants. Between the +date of these letters and the day of her execution wellnigh three months +of suspense elapsed. + +Elizabeth, fearless almost to a fault in face of physical danger, +constant in her confidence even after discovery of her narrow escape +from the poisoned bullets of household conspirators, was cowardly even +to a crime in face of subtler and more complicated peril. She rejected +with resolute dignity the intercession of French envoys for the life of +the Queen Dowager of France; she allowed the sentence of death to be +proclaimed, and welcomed with bonfires and bell-ringing throughout the +length of England; she yielded a respite of twelve days to the pleading +of the French ambassador, and had a charge trumped up against him of +participation in a conspiracy against her life; at length, on February +1, 1587, she signed the death warrant, and then made her secretaries +write word to Paulet of her displeasure that in all this time he should +not of himself have found out some way to shorten the life of his +prisoner, as in duty bound by his oath, and thus relieve her singularly +tender conscience from the guilt of bloodshed. + +Paulet, with loyal and regretful indignation, declined the disgrace +proposed to him in a suggestion "to shed blood without law or warrant"; +and on February 7th the Earls of Shrewsbury and Kent arrived at +Fotheringay with the commission of the council for execution of the +sentence given against his prisoner. Mary received the announcement with +majestic tranquillity, expressing in dignified terms her readiness to +die, her consciousness that she was a martyr for her religion, and her +total ignorance of any conspiracy against the life of Elizabeth. At +night she took a graceful and affectionate leave of her attendants, +distributed among them her money and jewels, wrote out in full the +various legacies to be conveyed by her will, and charged her apothecary +Gorion with her last messages for the King of Spain. In these messages +the whole nature of the woman was revealed. Not a single friend, not a +single enemy, was forgotten; the slightest service, the slightest wrong, +had its place assigned in her faithful and implacable memory for +retribution or reward. Forgiveness of injuries was as alien from her +fierce and loyal spirit as forgetfulness of benefits; the destruction of +England and its liberties by Spanish invasion and conquest was the +strongest aspiration of her parting soul. + +At eight o'clock next morning she entered the hall of execution, having +taken leave of the weeping envoy from Scotland, to whom she gave a brief +message for her son; took her seat on the scaffold; listened with an air +of even cheerful unconcern to the reading of her sentence; solemnly +declared her innocence of the charge conveyed in it, and her consolation +in the prospect of ultimate justice; rejected the professional services +of Richard Fletcher, Dean of Peterborough; lifted up her voice in Latin +against his in English prayer; and when he and his fellow-worshippers +had fallen duly silent, prayed aloud for the prosperity of her own +Church, for Elizabeth, for her son, and for all the enemies whom she had +commended over night to the notice of the Spanish invader; then, with no +less courage than had marked every hour and every action of her life, +received the stroke of death from the wavering hand of the headsman. + + + + + FOUNDING OF ST. AUGUSTINE + + MASSACRE OF THE HUGUENOTS IN AMERICA + + A.D. 1565 + + GEORGE R. FAIRBANKS + + + Although Florida was discovered by Ponce de Leon as early as 1513, + and was soon after visited by other Spanish explorers, no Spaniard + gained permanent foothold there until after the middle of the + sixteenth century. But when the Spaniards did secure such a + foothold, it was to found the first permanent settlement on the + mainland of the United States. + + The vast territory which the Spaniards named Florida was claimed by + Spain in right of the discoveries of Columbus, the grant of the + pope, and various expeditions to the region; by England in right of + Cabot's discovery; and by France on account of Verrazano's voyage + (1524) and "vague traditions" of French visitors to the coast. + + Following the early Spanish attempts at colonization, came the first + Huguenot settlers from France, seeking refuge in the New World from + persecution at home. What they did and what befell them in the + Florida country, and how the founding of our oldest town, St. + Augustine, was begun by their Spanish supplanters, is told by + Fairbanks in an interesting and carefully verified account. + + +The settlement of Florida had its origin in the religious troubles +experienced by the Huguenots under Charles IX in France. Their +distinguished leader, Admiral Coligny, as early as 1555, projected +colonies in America, and sent an expedition to Brazil, which proved +unsuccessful. Having procured permission from Charles IX to found a +colony in Florida, a designation which embraced in rather an indefinite +manner the whole country from the Chesapeake to the Tortugas, he sent an +expedition in 1562 from France, under command of Jean Ribault, composed +of many young men of good family. They first landed at the St. John's +River, where they erected a monument, but finally established a +settlement at Port Royal, South Carolina, and erected a fort. After some +months, however, in consequence of dissensions among the officers of the +garrison and difficulties with the Indians, this settlement was +abandoned. + +In 1564 another expedition came out under the command of René de +Laudonnière, and made their first landing at the River of Dolphins, +being the present harbor of St. Augustine, and so named by them in +consequence of the great number of dolphins (porpoises) seen by them at +its mouth. They afterward coasted to the north, and entered the river +St. John's, called by them the river May. + +Upon an examination of this river Laudonnière concluded to establish his +colony on its banks, and, proceeding about two leagues above its mouth, +built a fort upon a pleasant hill of "mean height," which, in honor of +his sovereign, he named Fort Caroline. The colonists, after a few +months, were reduced to great distress, and were about taking measures +to abandon the country a second time, when Ribault arrived with +reënforcements. + +It is supposed that intelligence of these expeditions was communicated +by the enemies of Coligny to the court of Spain. Jealousy of the +aggrandizement of the French in the New World, mortification for their +own unsuccessful efforts in that quarter, and a still stronger motive of +hatred to the faith of the Huguenot, induced the bigoted Philip II of +Spain to despatch Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a brave, bigoted, and +remorseless soldier, to drive out the French colony, and take possession +of the country for himself. The compact made between the King and +Menendez was, that he should furnish one galleon completely equipped, +and provisions for a force of six hundred men; that he should conquer +and settle the country. + +He obligated himself to carry one hundred horses, two hundred horned +cattle, four hundred hogs, four hundred sheep and some goats, and five +hundred slaves--for which he had a permission free of duties--the third +part of which should be men, for his own service and that of those who +went with him, to aid in cultivating the land and in building; that he +should take twelve priests, and four fathers of the Jesuit order. He was +to build two or three towns of one hundred families, and in each town +should build a fort according to the nature of the country. He was to +have the title of _Adelantado_ of the country, as also to be entitled a +marquis (and his heirs after him), to have a tract of land, receive a +salary of two thousand ducats, a percentage of the royal duties, and +have the freedom of all the other ports of New Spain. + +His force consisted, at starting, of eleven sail of vessels, with two +thousand six hundred men; but, owing to storms and accidents, not more +than one-half arrived. He came upon the coast on August 28, 1565, +shortly after the arrival of the fleet of Ribault. On September 7th +Menendez cast anchor in the River of Dolphins, the harbor of St. +Augustine. He had previously discovered and given chase to some of the +vessels of Ribault off the mouth of the river May. The Indian village of +Selooe then stood upon the site of St. Augustine, and the landing of +Menendez was upon the spot where the city of St. Augustine now stands. + +Fra Francisco Lopez de Mendoza, the chaplain of the expedition, thus +chronicles the disembarkation and attendant ceremonies: + +"On Saturday, September 8th, the day of the nativity of Our Lady, the +General disembarked, with numerous banners displayed, trumpets and other +martial music resounding, and amid salvos of artillery. + +"Carrying a cross, I proceeded at the head, chanting the hymn '_Te Deum +Laudamus_.' The General marched straight up to the cross, together with +all those who accompanied him; and, kneeling, they all kissed the +cross. A great number of Indians looked upon these ceremonies, and +imitated whatever they saw done. Thereupon the General took possession +of the country in the name of his majesty. All the officers then took +an oath of allegiance to him, as their general and as adelantado of the +whole country." + +The name of St. Augustine was given, in the usual manner of the early +voyagers, because they had arrived upon the coast on the day dedicated +in their calendar to that eminent saint of the primitive Church, revered +alike by the good of all ages for his learning and piety. + +The first troops who landed, says Mendoza, were well received by the +Indians, who gave them a large mansion belonging to the chief, situated +near the banks of the river. The engineer officers immediately erected +an entrenchment of earth, and a ditch around this house, with a slope +made of earth and fascines, these being the only means of defence which +the country presents; for, says the father with surprise, "there is not +a stone to be found in the whole country." They landed eighty cannon +from the ships, of which the lightest weighed five hundred pounds. + +Menendez had by no means forgotten the errand upon which he principally +came; and by inquiries of the Indians he soon learned the position of +the French fort and the condition of its defenders. Impelled by +necessity, Laudonnière had been forced to seize from the Indians food to +support his famished garrison, and had thus incurred their enmity, which +was soon to produce its sad results. + +The Spaniards numbered about six hundred combatants, and the French +about the same; but arrangements had been made for further accessions to +the Spanish force, to be drawn from Santo Domingo and Havana, and these +were daily expected. + +It was the habit of those days to devolve almost every event upon the +ordering of a special providence; and each nation had come to look upon +itself almost in the light of a peculiar people, led like the Israelites +of old by signs and wonders; and as in their own view all their actions +were directed by the design of advancing God's glory as well as their +own purposes, so the blessing of Heaven would surely accompany them in +all their undertakings. + +So believed the crusaders on the plains of Palestine; so believed the +conquerors of Mexico and Peru; so believed the Puritan settlers of New +England--alike in their Indian wars and their oppressive social +polity--and so believed, also, the followers of Menendez and of Ribault; +and in this simple and trusting faith, the worthy chaplain gives us the +following account of the miraculous escape and deliverance of a portion +of the Spanish fleet: + +"God and his Holy Mother have performed another great miracle in our +favor. The day following the landing of the General in the fort he said +to us that he was very uneasy, because his galley and another vessel +were at anchor, isolated and a league at sea, being unable to enter the +port on account of the shallowness of the water, and that he feared that +the French might come and capture or maltreat them. As soon as this idea +came to him he departed, with fifty men, to go on board of his galleon. +He gave orders to three shallops which were moored in the river to go +out and take on board the provisions and troops which were on board the +galleon. The next day, a shallop having gone out thither, they took on +board as much of the provisions as they could, and more than a hundred +men who were in the vessel, and returned toward shore; but half a league +before arriving at the bar they were overtaken by so complete a calm +that they were unable to proceed farther, and thereupon cast anchor and +passed the night in that place. + +"The day following, at break of day, they raised anchor as ordered by +the pilot, as the rising of the tide began to be felt. When it was +fully light they saw astern of them, at the poop of the vessel, two +French ships which during the night had been in search of them. The +enemy arrived with the intention of making an attack upon them. The +French made all haste in their movements, for our men had no arms on +board, and had only embarked the provisions. When day appeared, and our +people discovered the French, they addressed their prayers to Our Lady +of _Bon Secours d'Utrera_, and supplicated her to grant them a little +wind, for the French were already close up to them. They say that Our +Lady descended herself upon the vessel; for the wind freshened and blew +fair for the bar, so that the shallop could enter it. The French +followed it; but as the bar had but little depth and their vessels were +large, they were not able to go over it, so that our men and the +provisions made a safe harbor. + +"When it became still clearer they perceived, besides the two vessels of +the enemy, four others at a distance, being the same which we had seen +in the port the evening of our arrival. They were well furnished with +troops and artillery, and had directed themselves for our galleon and +the other ship, which were alone at sea. In this circumstance God +afforded us two favors: the first was, that the same evening after they +had discharged the provisions and the troops I have spoken of, at +midnight the galleon and the other vessel put to sea without being +perceived by the enemy; the one for Spain, and the other for Havana for +the purpose of seeking the fleet which was there; and in this way +neither was taken. + +"The second favor, by which God rendered us a still greater service, was +that on the day following the one I have described there arose a great +storm, and so great a tempest that certainly the greater part of the +French vessels must have been lost at sea; for they were overtaken upon +the most dangerous coast I have ever seen, and were very close to the +shore; and if our vessels, that is, the galleon and its consort, are not +shipwrecked, it is because they were already more than twelve leagues +off the coast, which gave them the facility of manoeuvring as well as +they could, relying upon the aid of God to preserve them." + +Menendez had ascertained from the Indians that a large number of the +French troops had embarked on board of the vessels which he had seen off +the harbor, and he had good ground for believing that these vessels +would either be cast helpless upon the shore, or be driven off by the +tempest to such a distance as would render their return for some days +impossible. He at once conceived the project of attacking the French +fort upon the river May by land. + +The troops, having heard mass, marched out in order, preceded by twenty +Biscayans and Asturians, having as their captain Martin de Ochoa, a +leader of great fidelity and bravery, furnished with axes to open a road +where they could not get along. At this moment there arrived two +Indians, who said that they had been at the French six days before, and +who "seemed like angels" to the soldiers, sent to guide their march. +Halting for refreshment and rest wherever suitable places could be +found, and the Adelantado always with the vanguard, in four days they +reached the vicinity of the fort, and came up within a quarter of a +league of it, concealed by a grove of pine trees. It rained heavily, and +a severe storm prevailed. The place where they had halted was a very bad +one and very marshy; but he decided to stop there, and went back to seek +the rear-guard, lest they might lose their way. + +About ten at night the last of the troops arrived, very wet indeed, for +there had been much rain during the four days; they had passed marshes +with the water rising to their waists, and every night there was so +great a flood that they were in great danger of losing their powder, +their match-fire, and their biscuit; and they became desperate, cursing +those who brought them there, and themselves for coming. + +Menendez pretended not to hear their complaints, not daring to call a +council as to proceeding or returning, for both officers and soldiers +went forward very unquietly. Remaining firm in his own resolve, two +hours before dawn he called together the Master of the Camp and the +captains, to whom he said that during the whole night he had sought of +God and his Holy Mother that they would favor and instruct him what he +should do most advantageous for their holy service; and he was persuaded +that they had all done the same. "But now, gentlemen," he proceeded, "we +must make some determination, finding ourselves exhausted, lost, without +ammunition or provisions, and without the hope of relief." + +Some answered very promptly, "Why should they waste their time in giving +reasons? for, unless they returned quickly to St. Augustine, they would +be reduced to eating palmettos; and the longer they delayed, the greater +trouble they would have." + +The Adelantado said to them that what they said seemed very reasonable, +but he would ask them to hear some reasons to the contrary, without +being offended. He then proceeded--after having smoothed down their +somewhat ruffled dispositions, considerably disturbed by their first +experience in encountering the hardships of such a march--to show them +the danger of retreat was then greater than an advance would be, as they +would lose alike the respect of their friends and foes; that if, on the +contrary, they attacked the fort, whether they succeeded in taking it or +not, they would gain honor and reputation. + +Stimulated by the speech of their general, they demanded to be led to +the attack, and the arrangements for the assault were at once made. +Their French prisoner was placed in the advance; but the darkness of the +night and the severity of the storm rendered it impossible to proceed, +and they halted in a marsh, with the water up to their knees, to await +daylight. + +At dawn, the Frenchman recognized the country, and the place where they +were, and where stood the fort; upon which the Adelantado ordered them +to march, enjoining upon all, at the peril of their lives, to follow +him; and coming to a small hill, the Frenchman said that behind that +stood the fort, about three bow-shots distant, but lower down, near the +river. The General put the Frenchman into the custody of Castaneda. He +went up a little higher, and saw the river and one of the houses, but he +was not able to discover the fort, although it was adjoining them; and +he returned to Castaneda, with whom now stood the Master of the Camp and +Ochoa, and said to them that he wished to go lower down, near to the +houses which stood behind the hill, to see the fortress and the +garrison, for, as the sun was now up, they could not attack the fort +without a reconnaissance. This the Master of the Camp would not permit +him to do, saying this duty appertained to him; and he went alone with +Ochoa near to the houses, from whence they discovered the fort; and, +returning with their information, they came to two paths, and leaving +the one by which they came, they took the other. + +The Master of the Camp discovered his error, coming to a fallen tree, +and turned his face to inform Ochoa, who was following him; and as they +turned to seek the right path, he stopped in advance, and the sentinel +discovered them, who imagined them to be French; but examining them he +perceived they were unknown to him. He hailed, "Who goes there?" Ochoa +answered, "Frenchmen." The sentinel was confirmed in his supposition +that they were his own people, and approached them; Ochoa did the same; +but seeing they were not French, the sentinel retreated. Ochoa closed +with him, and with his drawn sword gave him a cut over the head, but did +not hurt him much, as the sentinel fended off the blow with his sword; +and the Master of the Camp, coming up at that moment, gave him a thrust, +from which he fell backward, making a loud outcry. The Master of the +Camp, putting his sword to his breast, threatened him with instant death +unless he kept silence. They tied him thereupon, and took him to the +General, who, hearing the noise, thought the Master of the Camp was +being killed, and meeting with the Sergeant-major, Francisco de Recalde, +Diego de Maya, and Andres Lopez Patino, with their standards and +soldiers, without being able to restrain himself, he cried out, +"Santiago! Upon them! Help of God, victory! The French are destroyed. +The Master of the Camp is in their fort, and has taken it." Upon which, +all rushed forward in the path without order, the General remaining +behind, repeating what he had said many times; himself believing it to +be certain that the Master of the Camp had taken with him a considerable +force, and had captured the fort. + +So great was the joy of the soldiers, and such their speed, that they +soon came up with the Master of the Camp and Ochoa, who was hastening to +receive the reward of carrying the good news to the General of the +capture of the sentinel. But the Master of the Camp, seeing the spirit +which animated the soldiery, killed the sentinel, and cried out with a +loud voice to those who were pressing forward, "Comrades! do as I do. +God is with us;" and turned running toward the fort, and, meeting two +Frenchmen on the way, he killed one of them, and Andres Lopez Patino the +other. Those in the environs of the fort, seeing this tragedy enacted, +set up loud outcries; and in order to know the cause of the alarm, one +of the French within opened the postern of the principal gate, which he +had no sooner done than it was observed by the Master of the Camp; and, +throwing himself upon him, he killed him and entered the gate, followed +by the most active of his followers. + +The French, awakened by the clamor, some dressed, others in their +night-clothes, rushed to the doors of their houses to see what had +happened; but they were all killed, except sixty of the more wary, who +escaped by leaping the walls. + +Immediately the standards of the Sergeant-major and of Diego Mayo were +brought in, and set up by Rodrigo Troche and Pedro Valdes Herrera, with +two cavaliers, at the same moment. These being hoisted, the trumpets +proclaimed the victory, and the band of soldiers who had entered opened +the gates and sought the quarters, leaving no Frenchman alive. + +The Adelantado, hearing the cries, left Castaneda in his place to +collect the people who had not come up, who were at least half the +force, and went himself to see if they were in any danger. He arrived at +the fort running; and as he perceived that the soldiers gave no quarter +to any of the French, he shouted "that, at the penalty of their lives, +they should neither wound nor kill any woman, cripple, or child under +fifteen years of age." By which seventy persons were saved, the rest +were all killed. + +Renato de Laudonnière, the commander of the fort, escaped, with his +servant and some twenty or thirty others, to a vessel lying in the +river. + +Such is the Spanish chronicle, contained in Barcia, of the capture of +Fort Caroline. Its details in the main correspond with the account of +Laudonnière, and of Nicolas Challeux, the author of the letter printed +at Lyons, in France, under date of August, 1566, by Jean Saugrain. In +some important particulars, however, the historians disagree. It has +been already seen that Menendez is represented as having given orders to +spare all the women, maimed persons, and all children under fifteen +years of age. The French relations of the event, on the contrary, allege +that an indiscriminate slaughter took place, and that all were +massacred, without respect to age, sex, or condition; but as this +statement is principally made upon the authority of a terrified and +flying soldier, it is alike due to the probabilities of the case, and +more agreeable to the hopes of humanity, to lessen somewhat the horrors +of a scene which has need of all the palliation which can be drawn from +the slightest evidences of compassion on the part of the stern and +bigoted leader. + +Some of the fugitives from the fort fled to the Indians; and ten of +these were given up to the Spaniards, to be butchered in cold blood, +says the French account--to be sent back to France, says the Spanish +chronicle. + +September 24th being the day of St. Matthew, the name of the fort was +changed to San Matteo, by which name it was always subsequently called +by the Spaniards; and the name of St. Matthew was also given by them to +the river, now called St. John's, on which it was situated. + +The Spaniards proceeded at once to strengthen the fortress, deepening +and enlarging the ditch, and raised and strengthened the ramparts and +wall in such manner, says the boastful Mendoza, "that, if the half of +all France had come to attack it, they could not have disturbed it;" a +boast upon which the easy conquest of it by De Gourgues, three years +subsequently, affords an amusing commentary. They also constructed, +subsequently, two small forts at the mouth of the river, one on each +side, which probably were located, the one on Batten Island, and the +other at Mayport Mills. + +Leaving three hundred soldiers as a garrison under his son-in-law, De +Valdez, Master of the Camp, who was now appointed governor of the fort, +Menendez marched from St. Augustine, beginning now to feel considerable +anxiety lest the French fleet, escaping from the tempest, might return +and visit upon his own garrison at St. Augustine the fate of Fort +Caroline. He took with him upon his return but fifty soldiers, and, +owing to the swollen waters, found great difficulty in retracing his +route. When within a league of St. Augustine, he allowed one of the +soldiers to go forward to announce his victory and safe return. + +The garrison at St. Augustine had been in great anxiety respecting their +leader, and from the accounts given by those who had deserted, they +feared the total loss of the expedition. The worthy captain thus +describes the return of Menendez: "The same day, being Monday, we saw a +man coming, crying out loudly. I myself was the first to run to him for +the news. He embraced me with transport, crying, 'Victory! Victory! The +French fort is ours.' I promised him the present which the bearer of +good news deserves, and gave him the best in my power. + +"At the hour of vespers our good General arrived, with fifty +foot-soldiers very much fatigued. As soon as I learned that he was +coming, I ran home and put on a new soutain, the best which I had, and a +surplice, and, going out with a crucifix in my hand, I went forward to +receive him; and he, a gentleman and a good Christian, before entering, +kneeled and all his followers, and returned thanks to the Lord for the +great favors which he had received. My companions and myself marched in +front in procession chanting, so that we all returned with the +demonstrations of joy." + + + + + REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS AGAINST SPAIN + + RISE OF THE GUEUX OR BEGGARS + + A.D. 1566 + + FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER + + + During the later mediæval and early modern periods, European states + and provinces passed through many changes of political relation. In + those times the territories comprised under the name of the + Netherlands--embracing the present Holland and Belgium--belonged + successively, in whole or in part, to different governments. In the + fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the region was united with + Burgundy; in 1477 it passed to the Hapsburgs; and later it came + under Spanish dominion. + + In the reign of Charles V the Protestant Reformation spread through + the Netherlands, whose peoples shared in all the disputes and + turbulences of that religious revolution. Often in great peril, + the liberties of the Netherlands were more than ever endangered by + the absorption of the provinces into the vast empire of Charles. + The Emperor issued persecuting edicts against the Protestant + inhabitants, introduced the Inquisition with its terrible _auto + dafé_, which spared neither character nor sex, and by his severe + oppression caused the people of the Netherlands to feel themselves + "destined to perpetual slavery." The number of martyrs there during + the reign of Charles has been estimated on high authority at one + hundred thousand, although some modern historians place it far + below. The Inquisition, at all events, did some of its most cruel + work in the Netherlands during that period. + + Toward the end of Charles' reign the Netherlands secured a certain + degree of exemption from these persecutions. Philip II, when he + succeeded his father, Charles V, on the throne of Spain, renewed + such favorable pledges to the Netherlands as the Emperor had given. + But once in full power (1555), Philip began the "dark and bloody + reign" which a few years later drove the Netherlander to their great + revolt, under the lead of William, Prince of Orange, called "William + the Silent." + + In 1563 William and the Counts of Egmont and Horn, members of the + council of state, sent to Philip II a petition for the recall of + Cardinal Granvella, adviser of the regent, Margaret of Parma, who + was violently persecuting the Protestants. Although next year + Granvella was recalled, Philip did not change his determination to + destroy political and religious liberty in the Netherlands, and his + continued oppressions provoked his subjects there to rise in + self-defence. + + As Schiller's history of the revolt, here presented, covers only + the preparatory stage, the brilliant summary, from another portion + of his works, is added to give completeness to his account. + + +A universal spirit of revolt pervaded the whole nation. Men began to +investigate the rights of the subject, and to scrutinize the prerogative +of kings. "The Netherlanders were not so stupid," many were heard to +say, with very little attempt at secrecy, "as not to know right well +what was due from the subject to the sovereign, and from the king to +the subject; and that, perhaps, means would yet be found to repel force +with force, although at present there might be no appearance of it." In +Antwerp a placard was set up in several places calling upon the town +council to accuse the King of Spain before the supreme court, at Spires, +of having broken his oath and violated the liberties of the country, for +Brabant, being a portion of the Burgundian circle, was included in the +religious peace of Passau and Augsburg. + +About this time, too, the Calvinists published their confession of faith, +and in a preamble, addressed to the King, declared that they, although a +hundred thousand strong, kept themselves, nevertheless, quiet, and, like +the rest of his subjects, contributed to all the taxes of the country; +from which it was evident, they added, that of themselves they entertained +no ideas of insurrection. Bold and incendiary writings were publicly +disseminated, which depicted the Spanish tyranny in the most odious +colors, and reminded the nation of its privileges and occasionally also +of its powers.[1] + + [1] The Regent mentioned to the King a number (three thousand) + of these writings. It is remarkable how important a part + printing, and publicity in general, played in the rebellion of + the Netherlands. Through this organ one restless spirit spoke to + millions. Besides the lampoons, which for the most part were + composed with all the low scurrility and brutality that were the + distinguishing characteristics of most of the Protestant polemical + writings of the time, works were occasionally published which + defended religious liberty in the fullest sense of the word. + +The warlike preparations of Philip against the Porte, as well as those +which, for no intelligible reason, Eric, Duke of Brunswick, about this +time made in the vicinity, contributed to strengthen the general +suspicion that the Inquisition was to be forcibly imposed on the +Netherlands. Many of the most eminent merchants already spoke of +quitting their houses and business, to seek in some other part of the +world the liberty of which they were here deprived; others looked about +for a leader, and let fall hints of forcible resistance and of foreign +aid. + +That in this distressing position of affairs the Regent might be left +entirely without an adviser and without support, she was now deserted by +the only person who was at the present moment indispensable to her, and +who had contributed to plunge her into this embarrassment. "Without +kindling a civil war," wrote to her William of Orange, "it was +absolutely impossible to comply now with the orders of the King. If, +however, obedience was to be insisted upon, he must beg that his place +might be supplied by another, who would better answer the expectations +of his majesty and have more power than he had over the minds of the +nation. The zeal which on every other occasion he had shown in the +service of the crown would, he hoped, secure his present proceeding from +misconstruction; for, as the case now stood, he had no alternative +between disobeying the King and injuring his country and himself." From +this time forth William of Orange retired from the council of state to +his town of Breda, where, in observant but scarcely inactive repose, he +watched the course of affairs. Count Horn followed his example. + +Egmont, ever vacillating between the republic and the throne, ever +wearying himself in the vain attempt to unite the good citizen with the +obedient subject--Egmont, who was less able than the rest to dispense +with the favor of the monarch, and to whom, therefore, it was less an +object of indifference, could not bring himself to abandon the bright +prospects which were now opening for him at the court of the Regent. The +Prince of Orange had, by his superior intellect, gained an influence +over the Regent which great minds cannot fail to command from inferior +spirits. His retirement had opened a void in her confidence, which Count +Egmont was now to fill by virtue of that sympathy which so naturally +subsists between timidity, weakness, and good nature. As she was as much +afraid of exasperating the people by an exclusive confidence in the +adherents of the crown as she was fearful of displeasing the King by too +close an understanding with the declared leaders of the faction, a +better object for her confidence could now hardly be presented than this +very Count Egmont, of whom it could not be said that he belonged to +either of the two conflicting parties. + +Up to this point the general peace had, it appears, been the sincere +wish of the Prince of Orange, the Counts Egmont and Horn, and their +friends. They had pursued the true interest of their sovereign as much +as the general weal; at least their exertions and their actions had been +as little at variance with the former as with the latter. Nothing had as +yet occurred to make their motives suspected or to manifest in them a +rebellious spirit. What they had done they had done in discharge of +their bounden duty as members of a free state, as the representatives of +the nation, as advisers of the King, as men of integrity and honor. The +only weapons they had used to oppose the encroachments of the court had +been remonstrances, modest complaints, petitions. They had never allowed +themselves to be so far carried away by a just zeal for their good cause +as to transgress the limits of prudence and moderation, which on many +occasions are so easily overstepped by party spirit. But all the nobles +of the republic did not now listen to the voice of that prudence, all +did not abide within the bounds of moderation. + +While in the council of state the great question was discussed, whether +the nation was to be miserable or not, while its sworn deputies summoned +to their assistance all the arguments of reason and of equity, and while +the middle classes and the people contented themselves with empty +complaints, menaces, and curses, that part of the nation which of all +seemed least called upon, and on whose support least reliance had been +placed, began to take more active measures. We have already described a +class of the nobility whose services and wants Philip, at his accession, +had not considered it necessary to remember. Of these, by far the +greater number had asked for promotion from a much more urgent reason +than a love of the mere honor. Many of them were deeply sunk in debt, +from which by their own resources they could not hope to emancipate +themselves. When, then, in filling up appointments, Philip passed them +over, he wounded them in a point far more sensitive than their pride. + +In these suitors he had by his neglect raised up so many idle spies and +merciless judges of his actions, so many collectors and propagators of +malicious rumor. As their pride did not quit them with their prosperity, +so now, driven by necessity, they trafficked with the sole capital which +they could not alienate--their nobility, and the political influence of +their names; and brought into circulation a coin which only in such a +period could have found currency--their protection. With a self-pride, +to which they gave the more scope as it was all they could now call +their own, they looked upon themselves as a strong intermediate power +between the sovereign and the citizen, and believed themselves called +upon to hasten to the rescue of the oppressed state, which looked +imploringly to them for succor. + +This idea was ludicrous only so far as their self-conceit was concerned +in it; the advantages which they contrived to draw from it were +substantial enough. The Protestant merchants, who held in their hands +the chief part of the wealth of the Netherlands, and who believed they +could not at any price purchase too dearly the undisturbed exercise of +their religion, did not fail to make use of this class of people, who +stood idle in the market and ready to be hired. These very men, whom at +any other time the merchants, in their pride of riches, would most +probably have looked down upon, now appeared likely to do them good +service through their numbers, their courage, their credit with the +populace, their enmity to the Government, nay, through their beggarly +pride itself and their despair. On these grounds they zealously +endeavored to form a close union with them, and diligently fostered the +disposition for rebellion, while they also used every means to keep +alive their high opinions of themselves, and, what was most important, +lured their poverty by well-applied pecuniary assistance and glittering +promises. Few of them were so utterly insignificant as not to possess +some influence, if not personally, yet at least by their relationship +with higher and more powerful nobles; and, if united, they would be able +to raise a formidable voice against the crown. Many of them had either +already joined the new sect or were secretly inclined to it; and even +those who were zealous Roman Catholics had political or private grounds +enough to set them against the decrees of Trent and the Inquisition. +All, in fine, felt the cause of vanity sufficiently powerful not to +allow the only moment to escape them in which they might possibly make +some figure in the republic. + +But much as might be expected from the coöperation of these men in a +body, it would have been futile and ridiculous to build any hopes on any +one of them singly; and the great difficulty was to effect a union among +them. Even to bring them together, some unusual occurrence was +necessary; and, fortunately, such an incident presented itself. The +nuptials of Baron Montigny, one of the Belgian nobles, as also those of +the prince Alexander of Parma, which took place about this time in +Brussels, assembled in that town a great number of the Belgian nobles. +On this occasion relations met relations; new friendships were formed +and old renewed; and, while the distress of the country was the topic of +conversation, wine and mirth unlocked lips and hearts, hints were +dropped of union among themselves and of an alliance with foreign +powers. These accidental meetings soon led to concealed ones, and public +discussions gave rise to secret consultations. Two German barons, +moreover, a Count of Holle and of Schwarzenberg, who happened at this +time to be on a visit to the Netherlands, omitted nothing to awaken +expectations of assistance from their neighbors. Count Louis of Nassau, +too, had also, a short time before, visited several German courts to +ascertain their sentiments.[2] It has even been asserted that secret +emissaries of the admiral Coligny were seen at this time in Brabant; but +this, however, may be reasonably doubted. + + [2] It was not without cause that the Prince of Orange suddenly + disappeared from Brussels in order to be present at the election + of a king of Rome in Frankfort. An assembly of so many German + princes must have greatly favored a negotiation. + +If ever a political crisis was favorable to an attempt at revolution, it +was the present: a woman at the helm of government; the governors of +provinces disaffected themselves, and disposed to wink at +insubordination in others; most of the state counsellors quite +inefficient; no army to fall back upon; the few troops there were, long +since discontented on account of the outstanding arrears of pay, and +already too often deceived by false promises to be enticed by new; +commanded, moreover, by officers who despised the Inquisition from their +hearts, and would have blushed to draw a sword in its behalf; and +lastly, no money in the treasury to enlist new troops or to hire +foreigners. The court at Brussels, as well as the three councils, not +only divided by internal dissensions, but in the highest degree venal +and corrupt; the Regent without full powers to act on the spot, and the +King at a distance; his adherents in the provinces few, uncertain, and +dispirited; the faction numerous and powerful; two-thirds of the people +irritated against popery and desirous of a change--such was the +unfortunate weakness of the Government, and the more unfortunate still +that this weakness was so well known to its enemies! + +In order to unite so many minds in the prosecution of a common object, a +leader was still wanting, and a few influential names, to give political +weight to their enterprise. The two were supplied by Count Louis of +Nassau, and Henry Count Brederode, both members of the most illustrious +houses of the Belgian nobility, who voluntarily placed themselves at the +head of the undertaking. Louis of Nassau, brother of the Prince of +Orange, united many splendid qualities, which made him worthy of +appearing on so noble and important a stage. In Geneva, where he +studied, he had imbibed at once a hatred to the hierarchy and a love to +the new religion, and, on his return to his native country, had not +failed to enlist proselytes to his opinions. The republican bias which +his mind had received in that school kindled in him a bitter hatred of +all that bore the Spanish name, which animated his whole conduct, and +only left him with his latest breath. Popery and Spanish rule were in +his mind identical, as indeed they were in reality; and the abhorrence +which he entertained for the one helped to strengthen his dislike to the +other. + +Closely as the brothers agreed in their inclinations and aversions, the +ways by which each sought to gratify them were widely dissimilar. Youth +and an ardent temperament did not allow the younger brother to follow +the tortuous course through which the elder wound himself to his object. +A cold, calm circumspection carried the latter slowly, but surely, to +his aim; and with a pliable subtlety he made all things subserve his +purpose; with a foolhardy impetuosity, which overthrew all obstacles, +the other at times compelled success, but oftener accelerated disaster. +For this reason William was a general, and Louis never more than an +adventurer; a sure and powerful arm, if only it were directed by a wise +head. Louis' pledge once given was good forever; his alliances survived +every vicissitude, for they were mostly formed in a pressing moment of +necessity, and misfortune binds more firmly than thoughtless joy. He +loved his brother as dearly as he did his cause, and for the latter he +died. + +Henry of Brederode, Baron of Viane and Burgrave of Utrecht, was +descended from the old Dutch counts, who formerly ruled that province as +sovereign princes. So ancient a title endeared him to the people, among +whom the memory of their former lords still survived and was the more +treasured the less they felt they had gained by the change. This +hereditary splendor increased the self-conceit of a man upon whose +tongue the glory of his ancestors continually hung, and who dwelt the +more on former greatness, even amid its ruins, the more unpromising the +aspect of his own condition became. Excluded from the honors and +employments to which in his opinion his own merits and his noble +ancestry fully entitled him--a squadron of light cavalry being all that +was intrusted to him--he hated the Government, and did not scruple +boldly to canvass and to rail at its measures. By these means he won the +hearts of the people. + +Besides these two, there were others also from among the most +illustrious of the Flemish nobles--the young Count Charles of Mansfeld, +a son of that nobleman whom we have found among the most zealous +royalists, the Count Kinlemburg, two counts of Bergen and of Battenburg, +John of Marnix, Baron of Thoulouse, Philip of Marnix, Baron of St. +Aldegonde, with several others, who joined the league, which about the +middle of November, in the year 1565, was formed at the house of Von +Hammes, king-at-arms of the Golden Fleece. Here it was that six men +decided the destiny of their country--as formerly a few confederates +consummated the liberty of Switzerland--kindled the torch of a +forty-years' war, and laid the basis of a freedom which they themselves +were never to enjoy. + +The objects of the league were set forth in the following declaration, +to which Philip of Marnix was the first to subscribe his name: "Whereas +certain ill-disposed persons, under the mask of a pious zeal, but in +reality under the impulse of avarice and ambition, have by their evil +counsels persuaded our most gracious sovereign the King to introduce +into these countries the abominable tribunal of the Inquisition--a +tribunal diametrically opposed to all laws human and divine, and in +cruelty far surpassing the barbarous institutions of heathenism--which +raises the inquisitors above every other power, and debases man to a +perpetual bondage, and by its snares exposes the honest citizen to a +constant fear of death, inasmuch as anyone--priest, it may be, or a +faithless friend, a Spaniard or a reprobate--has it in his power at any +moment to cause whom he will to be dragged before that tribunal, and to +be placed in confinement, condemned and executed, without the accused +ever being allowed to face his accuser or to adduce proof of his +innocence--we, therefore, the undersigned, have bound ourselves to watch +over the safety of our families, our estates, and our own persons. To +this we hereby pledge ourselves, and to this end bind ourselves as a +sacred fraternity, and vow with a solemn oath to oppose to the best of +our power the introduction of this tribunal into these countries, +whether it be attempted openly or secretly, and under whatever name it +may be disguised. We at the same time declare that we are far from +intending anything unlawful against the King our sovereign; rather is it +our unalterable purpose to support and defend the royal prerogative, and +to maintain peace, and, as far as lies in our power to put down all +rebellion. In accordance with this purpose we have sworn, and now again +swear, to hold sacred the Government, and to respect both in word and +deed, which witness almighty God! + +"Further, we vow and swear to protect and defend one another, in all +times and places, against all attacks whatsoever touching the articles +which are set forth in this covenant. We hereby bind ourselves that no +accusation of any of our followers, in whatever name it may be clothed, +whether rebellion, sedition, or other wise, shall avail to annul our +oath toward the accused or absolve us from our obligation toward him. No +act which is directed against the Inquisition can deserve the name of a +rebellion. Whoever, therefore, shall be placed in arrest on any charge, +we here pledge ourselves to assist him to the utmost of our ability, and +to endeavor by every allowable means to effect his liberation. In this, +however, as in all matters, but especially in the conduct of all +measures against the tribunal of the Inquisition, we submit ourselves to +the general regulations of the league, or to the decision of those whom +we may unanimously appoint our counsellors and leaders. + +"In witness hereof, and in confirmation of this our common league and +covenant, we call upon the holy name of the living God, maker of heaven +and earth and of all that are therein, who searches the hearts, the +consciences, and the thoughts, and knows the purity of ours. We implore +the aid of his holy spirit, that success and honor may crown our +undertaking to the glory of his name and to the peace and blessing of +our country!" + +This covenant was immediately translated into several languages and +quickly disseminated through the provinces. To swell the league as +speedily as possible, each of the confederates assembled all his +friends, relations, adherents, and retainers. Great banquets were held, +which lasted whole days--irresistible temptations for a sensual +luxurious people, in whom the deepest wretchedness could not stifle the +propensity for voluptuous living. Whoever repaired to these +banquets--and everyone was welcome--was plied with officious assurances +of friendship, and, when heated with wine, carried away by the example +of numbers and overcome by the fire of a wild eloquence. The hands of +many were guided while they subscribed their signatures; the hesitating +were derided, the pusillanimous threatened, the scruples of loyalty +clamored down; some even were quite ignorant what they were signing, and +were ashamed afterward to inquire. To many whom mere levity had brought +to the entertainment, the general enthusiasm left no choice, while the +splendor of the confederacy allured the mean, and its numbers encouraged +the timorous. + +The abettors of the league had not scrupled at the artifice of +counterfeiting the signature and seals of the Prince of Orange, Counts +Egmont, Horn, Megen, and others, a trick which won them hundreds of +adherents. This was done especially with a view of influencing the +officers of the army, in order to be safe in this quarter if matters +should come at last to violence. The device succeeded with many, +especially with subalterns, and Count Brederode even drew his sword upon +an ensign who wished time for consideration. Men of all classes and +conditions signed it. Religion made no difference. Roman Catholic +priests even were associates of the league. The motives were not the +same with all, but the pretext was similar. The Roman Catholics desired +simply the abolition of the Inquisition and a mitigation of the edicts; +the Protestants aimed at unlimited freedom of conscience. + +A few daring spirits only entertained so bold a project as the overthrow +of the present Government, while the needy and indigent based the vilest +hopes on a general anarchy. A farewell entertainment, which about this +very time was given to the Counts Schwarzenberg and Holle in Breda, and +another shortly afterward in Hogstraten, drew many of the principal +nobility to these two places, and of these several had already signed +the covenant. The Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont, Horn, and Megen were +present at the latter banquet, but without any concert of design, and +without having themselves any share in the league, although one of +Egmont's own secretaries and some of the servants of the other three +noblemen had openly joined it. At this entertainment three hundred +persons gave in their adhesion to the covenant, and the question was +mooted whether the whole body should present themselves before the +Regent armed or unarmed, with a declaration or with a petition? Horn and +Orange--Egmont would not countenance the business in any way--were +called in as arbiters upon this point, and they decided in favor of the +more moderate and submissive procedure. By taking this office upon them, +they exposed themselves to the charge of having in no very covert manner +lent their sanction to the enterprise of the confederates. In +compliance, therefore, with their advice it was determined to present +their address unarmed and in the form of a petition, and a day was +appointed on which they should assemble in Brussels. + +The first intimation the Regent received of this conspiracy of the +nobles was given by the Count of Megen soon after his return to the +capital. "There was," he said, "an enterprise on foot; no less than +three hundred of the nobles were implicated in it; it referred to +religion; the members of it had bound themselves together by an oath; +they reckoned much on foreign aid; she would soon know more about it." +Though urgently pressed, he would give her no further information. "A +nobleman," he said, "had confided it to him under the seal of secrecy, +and he had pledged his word of honor to him." What really withheld him +from giving her any further explanation was, in all probability, not so +much any delicacy about his honor, as his hatred of the Inquisition, +which he would not willingly do anything to advance. Soon after him, +Count Egmont delivered to the Regent a copy of the covenant, and also +gave her the names of the conspirators, with some few exceptions. Nearly +at the same time the Prince of Orange wrote to her: "There was, as he +had heard, an army enlisted, four hundred officers were already named, +and twenty thousand men would presently appear in arms." Thus the rumor +was intentionally exaggerated, and the danger was multiplied in every +mouth. + +The Regent petrified with alarm at the first announcement of these +tidings, and guided solely by her fears, hastily called together all the +members of the council of state who happened to be then in Brussels, and +at the same time sent a pressing summons to the Prince of Orange and +Count Horn, inviting them to resume their seats in the senate. + +The members of the senate had not yet dispersed, when all Brussels +resounded with the report that the confederates were approaching the +town. They consisted of no more than two hundred horse, but rumor +greatly exaggerated their numbers. Filled with consternation, the Regent +consulted with her ministers whether it was best to close the gates on +the approaching party or to seek safety in flight. Both suggestions were +rejected as dishonorable; and the peaceable entry of the nobles soon +allayed all fears of violence. The first morning after their arrival +they assembled at Kuilemburg house, where Brederode administered to them +a second oath, binding them, before all other duties, to stand by one +another, and even with arms if necessary. At this meeting a letter from +Spain was produced, in which it was stated that a certain Protestant, +whom they all knew and valued, had been burned alive in that country by +a slow fire. After these and similar preliminaries he called on them one +after another, by name, to take the new oath, and renew the old one in +their own names and in those of the absent. The next day, April 5, 1566, +was fixed for the presentation of the petition. Their numbers now +amounted to between three hundred and four hundred. Among them were many +retainers of the high nobility, as also several servants of the King +himself and of the Duchess. + +With the Counts of Nassau and Brederode at their head, and formed in +ranks of four by four, they advanced in procession to the palace; all +Brussels attended the unwonted spectacle in silent astonishment. Here +were to be seen a body of men, advancing with too much boldness and +confidence to look like supplicants, and led by two men who were not +wont to be petitioners and, on the other hand, with so much order and +stillness as do not usually accompany rebellion. The Regent received the +procession, surrounded by all her counsellors and the Knights of the +Fleece. "These noble Netherlanders," thus Brederode respectfully +addressed her, "who here present themselves before your highness, wish +in their own name, and of many others besides, who are shortly to +arrive, to present to you a petition, of whose importance, as well as of +their own humility, this solemn procession must convince you. I, as +speaker of this body, entreat you to receive our petition, which +contains nothing but what is in unison with the laws of our country and +the honor of the King." + +"Never"--so ran the petition, which, according to some, was drawn up by +the celebrated Balduin--"never had they failed in their loyalty to their +King, and nothing now could be further from their hearts; but they would +rather run the risk of incurring the displeasure of their sovereign than +allow him to remain longer in ignorance of the evils with which their +native country was menaced, by the forcible introduction of the +Inquisition, and the continued enforcement of the edicts. They had long +remained consoling themselves with the expectation that a general +assembly of the states would be summoned to remedy these grievances; but +now that even this hope was extinguished, they held it to be their duty +to give timely warning to the Regent. They, therefore, entreated her +highness to send to Madrid an envoy, well disposed, and fully acquainted +with the state and temper of the times, who should endeavor to persuade +the King to comply with the demands of the whole nation, and abolish the +Inquisition, to revoke the edicts, and in their stead cause new and more +humane ones to be drawn up at a general assembly of the states. But, in +the mean while, until they could learn the King's decision, they prayed +that the edicts and the operations of the Inquisition be suspended." +"If," they concluded, "no attention should be paid to their humble +request, they took God, the King, the Regent and all her counsellors to +witness that they had done their part, and were not responsible for any +unfortunate result that might happen." + +The following day the confederates, marching in the same order of +procession, but in still greater numbers--Counts Bergen and Kuilemberg +having in the interim joined them with their adherents--appeared before +the Regent in order to receive her answer. It was written on the margin +of the petition, and was to the effect "that entirely to suspend the +Inquisition and the edicts, even temporarily, was beyond her powers; but +in compliance with the wishes of the confederates, she was ready to +despatch one of the nobles to the King, in Spain, and also to support +their petition with all her influence. In the mean time she would +recommend the inquisitors to administer their office with moderation; +but in return, she should expect, on the part of the league, that they +should abstain from all acts of violence, and undertake nothing to the +prejudice of the Catholic faith." Little as these vague and general +promises satisfied the confederates, they were, nevertheless, as much as +they could have reasonably expected to gain at first. + +The granting or refusing of the petition had nothing to do with the +primary object of the league. Enough for them at present that it was +once recognized; enough that it was now, as it were, an established +body, which by its power and threats might, if necessary, overawe the +Government. The confederates, therefore, acted quite consistently with +their designs, in contenting themselves with this answer, and referring +the rest to the good pleasure of the King. As, indeed, the whole +pantomime of petitioning had only been invented to cover the more daring +plan of the league, until it should have strength enough to show itself +in its true light; they felt that much more depended on their being able +to continue this mask, and on the favorable reception of their petition, +than on its speedily being granted. In a new memorial, which they +delivered three days after, they pressed for an express testimonial from +the Regent, that they had done no more than their duty, and been guided +simply by their zeal for the service of the King. When the Duchess +evaded a declaration, they even sent a person to repeat this request in +a private interview. "Time alone and their future behavior," she replied +to this person, "would enable her to judge of their designs." + +The league had its origin in banquets, and a banquet gave it form and +perfection. On the very day that the second petition was presented, +Brederode entertained the confederates in Kuilemberg house. About three +hundred guests assembled; intoxication gave them courage, and their +audacity rose with their numbers. During the conversation one of their +number happened to remark that he had overheard the Count of Barlaimont +whisper in French to the Regent, who was seen to turn pale on the +delivery of the petitions, that "she need not be afraid of a band of +beggars (_gueux_);" in fact, the majority of them had by their bad +management of their incomes only too well deserved this appellation. +Now, as the very name of their fraternity was the very thing which had +most perplexed them, an expression was eagerly caught up, which, while +it cloaked the presumption of their enterprise in humility, was at the +same time appropriate to them as petitioners. Immediately they drank to +one another under this name, and the cry "Long live the Gueux!" was +accompanied with a general shout of applause. After the cloth had been +removed, Brederode appeared with a wallet over his shoulder, similar to +that which the vagrant pilgrims and mendicant monks of the time used to +carry; and after returning thanks to all for their accession to the +league, and boldly assuring them that he was ready to venture life and +limb for every individual present, he drank to the health of the whole +company out of a wooden beaker. The cup went round, and everyone uttered +the same vow as he set it to his lips. Then one after the other they +received the beggar's purse, and each hung it on a nail which he had +appropriated to himself. The shouts and uproar attending this buffoonery +attracted the Prince of Orange and Counts Egmont and Horn, who, by +chance, were passing the spot at the very moment, and on entering the +house were boisterously pressed by Brederode, as host, to remain and +drink a glass with them.[3] + + [3] "But," Egmont asserted in his written defence, "we drank only + one single small glass, and thereupon they cried, 'Long live the + King and the Gueux!' This was the first time that I heard that + appellation, and it certainly did not please me. But the times + were so bad that one was often compelled to share in much that + was against one's inclination, and I knew not but I was doing an + innocent thing." + +The entrance of three such influential personages renewed the mirth of +the guests, and their festivities soon passed the bounds of moderation. +Many were intoxicated; guests and attendants mingled together without +distinction, the serious and the ludicrous; drunken fancies and affairs +of state were blended one with another in a burlesque medley; and the +discussions on the general distress of the country ended in the wild +uproar of a bacchanalian revel. But it did not stop here; what they had +resolved on in the moment of intoxication, they attempted when sober to +carry into execution. It was necessary to manifest to the people in some +striking shape the existence of their protectors, and likewise to fan +the zeal of the faction by a visible emblem; for this end nothing could +be better than to adopt publicly this name of Gueux, and to borrow from +it the tokens of the association. In a few days the town of Brussels +swarmed with ash-gray garments, such as were usually worn by mendicant +friars and penitents. Every confederate put his whole family and +domestics in this dress. Some carried wooden bowls thinly overlaid with +plates of silver, cups of the same kind, and wooden knives; in short, +the whole paraphernalia of the beggar tribe, which they either fixed +around their hats or suspended from their girdles. Round the neck they +wore a golden or silver coin, afterward called the "Guesen penny," of +which one side bore the effigy of the King, with the inscription "True +to the King"; on the other side were seen two hands folded together, +holding a wallet, with the words "as far as the beggar's scrip." Hence +the origin of the name "Gueux," which was subsequently borne in the +Netherlands by all who seceded from popery and took up arms against the +King. + +A name decides the whole issue of things. In Madrid that was called +rebellion which in Brussels was styled only a lawful remonstrance. The +complaints of Brabant required a prudent mediator; Philip II sent an +executioner, and the signal for war was given. An unparalleled tyranny +assailed both property and life. + +The despairing citizens, to whom the choice of death was all that was +left, chose the nobler one on the battle-field. A wealthy and luxurious +nation loves peace, but becomes warlike as soon as it becomes poor. Then +it ceases to tremble for a life which is deprived of everything that had +made it desirable. In a moment the rage of rebellion seizes the most +distant provinces; trade and commerce are at a standstill, the ships +disappear from the harbors, the artisan abandons his workshop, the +rustic his uncultivated fields. Thousands fled to distant lands; a +thousand victims fell on the bloody field, and fresh thousands pressed +on; for divine, indeed, must that doctrine be for which men could die so +joyfully. All that was wanting was the last achieving hand, the +enlightened enterprising spirit, to seize on this great political crisis +and to mature the offspring of chance to the designs of wisdom. William +the Silent devoted himself, a second Brutus, to the great cause of +liberty. Superior to a timorous selfishness, he sent in to the throne +his resignation of offices which devolved on him objectionable duties, +and, magnanimously divesting himself of all his princely dignities, he +descended to a state of voluntary poverty, and became but a citizen of +the world. The cause of justice was staked upon the hazardous game of +battle; but the sudden levies of mercenaries and peaceful husbandmen +could not withstand the terrible onset of an experienced force. Twice +did the brave William lead his dispirited troops against the tyrant, +twice was he abandoned by them, but not by his courage. + +Philip II sent as many reënforcements as the dreadful importunity of his +viceroy begged for. Fugitives whom their fatherland rejected sought a +new country on the ocean, and turned to satisfy, on the ships of their +enemy, the demon of vengeance and of want. Naval heroes were now formed +out of corsairs, and a marine collected out of piratical vessels; and +out of morasses arose a republic. Seven provinces threw off the yoke at +the same time, to form a new, youthful state, powerful by its waters and +its union and despair. A solemn decree of the whole nation deposed the +tyrant, and the Spanish name disappeared from all the laws. + +For what had now been done no forgiveness remained; the republic became +formidable, because it was no longer possible for her to retrace her +steps; factions distracted her within; her terrible element, the sea +itself, leaguing with her oppressors, threatened her very infancy with a +premature grave. She felt herself succumb to the superior force of the +enemy, and cast herself a suppliant before the most powerful thrones of +Europe, begging them to accept a dominion which she herself could no +longer protect. At last, but with difficulty--so despised at first was +this state that even the rapacity of foreign monarchs spurned her +opening bloom--a stranger deigned to accept their importunate offer of a +dangerous crown. New hopes began to revive her sinking courage; but in +this new father of his country, destiny gave her a traitor; and in the +critical emergency, when the implacable foe was in full force before her +very gates, Charles of Anjou invaded the liberties which he had been +called to protect. The assassin's hand, too, tore the steersman from the +rudder, and with William of Orange the career, seemingly, of the infant +republic and all her guardian angels fled; but the ship continued to +scud along in the storm, and the swelling canvas carried her safe +without the steersman's help. + +Philip II missed the fruits of a deed which cost him his royal honor and +perhaps also his self-respect. Liberty struggled on still with despotism +in the obstinate and dubious contest; sanguinary battles were fought; a +brilliant array of heroes succeeded each other on the field of glory; +and Flanders and Brabant were the schools which educated generals for +the coming century. A long, devastating war laid waste the open country; +victor and vanquished alike were bathed in blood; while the rising +republic of the waters gave a welcome to fugitive industry, and out of +the ruins erected the noble edifice of its own greatness. For forty +years a war lasted, whose happy termination was not to bless the dying +eye of Philip; which destroyed one paradise in Europe, to create a new +one out of its shattered fragments; which destroyed the choicest flower +of military youth; and while it enriched more than a quarter of the +globe, impoverished the possessor of the golden Peru. This monarch, who, +even without oppressing his subjects, could expend nine hundred tons of +gold, but who by tyrannical means extorted far more, heaped on his +depopulated kingdom a debt of one hundred and forty millions of ducats. +An implacable hatred of liberty swallowed up all these treasures and +consumed in fruitless labor his royal life. But the Reformation throve +amid the devastation of his sword, and over the blood of her citizens +the banner of the new republic floated victorious. + + + + + LEPANTO: DESTRUCTION OF THE TURKISH NAVAL POWER + + A.D. 1571 + + SIR WILLIAM STIRLING-MAXWELL + + + By the defeat of the Turks in the naval fight near Lepanto their + power was so seriously shaken that its decline may be reckoned to + have begun with that event. For many years, under their great sultan + Solyman, the Magnificent, they had kept Europe in terror of their + assaults. They had taken a recognized place among European peoples. + Before his alliance with Francis I of France (1534), Solyman had + made himself master of Hungary, and by threatening Vienna he so + alarmed Charles V that the Emperor agreed to the Peace of Nuremberg, + in order that he might unite Protestants and Catholics against the + Ottoman foe. + + Although Solyman withdrew before the united forces of the Christian + empire, the Turks continued their depredations, especially on the + coasts of Italy and Spain. Charles succeeded in repelling them + there, and defeated them (1535) at Tunis, but they soon renewed + their frightful ravages along the European shores. + + Finally, in the reign of Solyman's successor, Selim II, they were + met with effectual resistance through the efforts of the Holy League + formed in 1570 by Spain, Venice, and Pope Pius V. Selim in that year + captured and pillaged Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus. In May, 1571, + the League agreed upon a plan of action, and after a series of + indecisive operations the allies accomplished their task in the + manner described below. Their forces were commanded by Don John of + Austria, a Spanish soldier, illegitimate son of Charles V. Don John + had already (1569-1570) defeated the Moriscoes or Moors in Granada. + Stirling-Maxwell is the authoritative historian of his remarkable + career. Sir William's account of the important victory near Lepanto + is one of our most interesting examples of military narration. + + +The Gulf of Lepanto is a long inlet of irregular shape, extending east +and west, and bounded on the north by the shores of Albania, the ancient +Epirus, and on the south by the coast of Morea, and closed at its +eastern end by the Isthmus of Corinth. The bold headland on the north +side, guarded by the castle of Roumelia, and the lower promontory on the +south with the castle of the Morea, advancing from the opposite shores +into its waters, divide the long inlet into two unequal parts. The first +of these parts consists of the mouth of the gulf and the lake-like +basin, together forming the Gulf of Patras. The second is the long reach +of waters within the castled headlands called the Gulf (anciently) of +Corinth, and now of Epakte or Lepanto. When the hostile fleets came in +sight of each other, that of the League was entering the gulf near its +northern shore, while that of the Turk was about fifteen miles within +its jaws, his vast crescent-shaped line stretching almost from the broad +swampy shallows which lie beneath the Acarnanian mountains to the margin +of the rich lowlands of the Morea. + +As the two armaments now advanced, each in full view of the other, the +sea was somewhat high, and the wind, blowing freshly from the east, was +in the teeth of the Christians. But in the course of the morning the +waves of the gulf fell to a glassy smoothness, and the breeze shifted to +the west, a change fortunate for the sailors of the League, which their +spiritual teachers did not fail to declare a special interposition of +God in behalf of the fleet which carried the flag of his vicar upon +earth. + +At the sound of the signal gun each captain began to prepare his ship +for action. By order of Don John of Austria the sharp peaks of the +galleys, the spurs (_espolones_) as they were called, had been cut off, +it being thought expedient to sacrifice those weapons of offence, which +were somewhat uncertain in their operation, to insure the more effectual +working of the guns on the forecastle and gangway; and the bulwarks had +been strengthened, and heightened by means of boarding-nettings. In +some vessels the rowers' benches were removed or planked over, to give +more space and scope to the soldiers. Throughout the fleet the Christian +slaves had their fetters knocked off and were furnished with arms, +which they were encouraged to use valiantly by promises of freedom and +rewards. Of the Moslem slaves, on the contrary, the chains which +secured them to their places were carefully examined, and their rivets +secured; and they were, besides, fitted with handcuffs, to disable them +from using their hands for any purpose but tugging on the oar. The +arquebusier, the musketeer, and the bombardier looked carefully to the +state of their weapons, ammunition, and equipments; the sailor sharpened +his pike and cutlass; the officer put on his strongest casque and his +best-wrought cuirass; the stewards placed supplies of bread and wine in +convenient places, ready to the hands of the combatants; and the surgeons +prepared their instruments and bandages, and spread tables in dark and +shaded nooks, for the use of the wounded. + +While these preparations occupied their subordinate officers, the chiefs +of the armament repaired to the flag-ship to learn the final resolution +and receive the last instructions of Don John of Austria. Some of these +went for the purpose of combating that resolution and objecting to those +instructions; for that eagerness to fight, which pervaded the soldiers +and sailors, was not unanimously shared by their leaders. Veniero, +although he had been hitherto very desirous of meeting the enemy, was +now anxious and dispirited. Doria and Ascanio de la Corgnia reminded +their young commander that the Turk, who was evidently bent upon +fighting, had a convenient harbor and arsenal behind him at Lepanto; +while for the fleet of the League, far from accessible ports, a disaster +implied total destruction. Some of their colleagues ventured to advise +Don John to retire while it was still in his power to do so. He refused +to discuss a question which had been decided at Corfu. "Gentlemen," he +said, "the time for counsel is past, and the time for fighting has +come," and with these words dismissed them to their ships. + +While the galleys were taking up their positions, Don John of Austria, +in complete armor and attended by Don Luis de Cordoba and his secretary +Juan de Soto, transferred himself to a frigate remarkable for speed and +armed with a single German gun, and ran along the line to the right of +the flag-ship, embracing the whole extent of the right wing. As he +neared each galley he addressed a few words of encouragement to the +officers and men. He reminded the Venetians of the cruel outrages which +the Republic had lately received from the Turk in the Adriatic, Corfu, +and especially in Cyprus; and that now was the time to take signal +vengeance; and he therefore bid them use their weapons as these +recollections and the great opportunity required. To the Spaniards he +said: "My children, we are here to conquer or to die as Heaven may +determine. Do not let our impious foe ask us, 'Where is your God?' Fight +in his holy name, and in death or victory you will win immortality." His +words were eminently successful. They were in all cases received with +enthusiastic applause. The soldiers and sailors were delighted and +inspired by the gallant bearing and language of their young leader. As +he left them, shipmates who had quarrelled as only shipmates can, and +who had not spoken for weeks, embraced, and swore to conquer or to die +in the sacred cause of Christ. + +As the two fleets approached--the Christians wafted gently onward by a +light breeze, the Ottomans plying their oars to the utmost--the Turkish +commander, who like Don John sailed in the centre of his line, fired a +gun. Don John acknowledged the challenge and returned the salute. A +second shot elicited a second reply. The two armaments had approached +near enough to enable each to distinguish the individual vessels of the +other and to scan their various banners and insignia. The Turks advanced +to battle shouting and screaming and making a great uproar with +ineffectual musketry. The Christians preserved complete silence. At a +certain signal a crucifix was raised aloft in every ship in the fleet. +Don John of Austria, sheathed in complete armor, and standing in a +conspicuous place on the prow of his ship, now knelt down to adore the +sacred emblem, and to implore the blessing of God on the great +enterprise which he was about to commence. Every man in the fleet +followed his example and fell upon his knees. The soldier, poising his +firelock, knelt at his post by the bulwarks, the gunner knelt with his +lighted match beside his gun. The decks gleamed with prostrate men in +mail. In each galley, erect and conspicuous among the martial throng, +stood a Franciscan or a Dominican friar, a Theatine or a Jesuit, in his +brown or black robe, holding a crucifix in one hand and sprinkling holy +water with the other, while he pronounced a general absolution, and +promised indulgence in this life, or pardon in the next, to the +steadfast warriors who should quit them like men and fight the good +fight of faith against infidel. + +In the night between October 6th and 7th, 1571, about the same hour that +the Christian fleet weighed anchor at Cephalonia, the Turks had left +their moorings in the harbor of Lepanto. While Don John, baffled by the +winds and waves, was beating off the Curzolarian Isles, the Pacha was +sailing down the gulf before a fair breeze. Every Turk on board the +Sultan's fleet believed that he was about to assist in conveying the +armament of the Christian powers to the Golden Horn, in obedience to the +commands of the Padishah. The soldiers and sailors, lately recruited by +large reënforcements, were many of them fresh from quarters on shore. +Officers and men were in the highest spirits, eager for the battle which +they knew to be at hand, and in which they supposed their success to be +certain. For although Ali was well informed as to the position and +movements of the fleet of the League, he was no less mistaken as to the +strength of the Christians than the Christians were as to his own. He +had been more successful in pouring fictions into the ear of Don John +than in obtaining accurate intelligence for himself. + +The Greek fishermen, in reporting to each leader the condition of his +enemy, had, as we have seen, taken care to please and deceive both. +Karacosh had indeed been present at the review of Gomenzia, but he had +erred considerably in his reckoning of the numbers of the Christian +fleet. Either by accident or design, he computed the vessels at fifty +less than the real number, and he, besides, greatly underrated the +weight of the artillery. Ali was still further deceived by the reports +of three Spanish soldiers, captured on the shore near Gomenzia, where +they had strayed too far from their boat. These prisoners assured the +Pacha that the Christian fleet had not as yet been joined either by the +great ships or the galeases, and that forty galleys, sent under Santa +Cruz to Otranto for troops, and two galleys with which Andrade had gone +on a cruise of observation, had not yet returned. This story confirmed +the accounts both of Karacosh and the Greek fishermen. The Pacha was +naturally no less anxious to meet Don John with Santa Cruz than Don John +had been to meet the Pacha without the Viceroy of Algiers. It was no +wonder, then, that the chiefs of the Turkish fleet led their galleys +down the gulf in the ardent hope of speedily meeting with an enemy in +whom they made certain of finding a rich and easy prey. The three +hundred sail of the Sultan moved, as already described, in the form of +an immense crescent, stretching nearly from shore to shore. + +When the Christian armament first came in sight, nothing was seen of it +but the small vanguard of Cardona's Sicilian galleys, and a portion of +the right wing under Doria. The rest was hidden by the rocky headlands +at the north of the gulf. For a while this circumstance buoyed up the +Turks in their belief that the force of the enemy was greatly inferior +to their own. As, however, the long lines of the centre under Don John +of Austria, and of the left wing under Barbarigo, came galley after +galley into view, they began to discover their mistake. The men posted +aloft were eagerly questioned by the officers as to the result of their +observations, and their answers, always announcing accessions of +strength to the Christians, led to misgivings, and to vehement +denunciations against Karacosh for the inaccuracy of his report from +Gomenzia. When Ali perceived that the Christians had adopted a long +straight line of battle, he also caused his fleet to take the same +order, drawing in the horns and advancing the centre of his crescent. As +the fleets came nearer to each other, the leaders of the League were +encouraged by observing that the enemy's rear was not covered by +anything that could be called a reserve, but only by a number of small +craft. Ali, on the contrary, was surprised to see the galeases which had +been pushed forward by the Christians. He inquired what these _mahones_ +were, and was told that they were not mahones, but galeases; the very +vessels, in fact, which he had been led to believe had been separated +from the enemy, and whose formidable artillery he did not expect to +encounter. He also observed with concern the large number of the +galleys which were Spanish, or western (_ponenirinas_, as they were +called in the Levant), and of a stronger build than those which were +constructed at Venice by the Orientals. He now saw that the victory was +not to be so easy as he had anticipated, and that he must neglect no +means that might avert defeat. A kind-hearted as well as a brave man, +he had always been remarkable for the humanity with which he had cared +for the unhappy Christian slaves who rowed his galley. He now walked +forward to their benches and said to them in Spanish: "Friends, I +expect you to-day to do your duty by me, in return for what I have done +for you. If I win the battle, I promise you your liberty; if the day is +yours, God has given it to you." + +When the fleets neared each other, and the Christians were all prostrate +before their crucifixes and friars, and no sound was heard on their +decks but the voices of the holy fathers, the Turks were indulging in +every kind of noise which nature or art had furnished them with the +means of producing. Shouting and screaming, they bade the Christians +come on "like drowned hens" and be slaughtered; then they danced and +stamped and clanged their arms; they blew trumpets, clashed cymbals, and +fired volleys of useless musketry. When the Christians had ended their +devotions and stood to their guns, or in their ordered ranks, each +galley, in the long array, seemed on fire, as the noon-tide sun blazed +on helmet and corselet, and pointed blades and pikes with flame. The +bugles now sounded a charge, and the bands of each vessel began to play. +Before Don John retired from the forecastle to his proper place on the +quarter-deck, it is said by one of the officers, who had written an +account of the battle, that he and two of his gentlemen, "inspired with +youthful ardor, danced a galliard on the gun platform to the music of +the fifes." The Turkish line, to the glitter of arms, added yet more +splendor of color from the brilliant and variegated garb of the +janizaries, their tall and fanciful crests and prodigious plumes, and +from the multitude of flags and streamers which every galley displayed +from every available point and peak. Long before the enemy were within +range the Turkish cannon opened. The first shot that took effect carried +off the point of the pennant of Don Juan de Cardona, who in his swiftest +vessel was hovering along the line, correcting trifling defects of +position and order, like a sergeant drilling recruits. About noon a +flash was seen to proceed from one of the galeases of the Christian +fleet. The shot was aimed at the flag-ship of the Pacha, conspicuous in +the centre of the line, and carrying the sacred green standard of the +Prophet. Passing through the rigging of the vessel, the ball carried off +a portion of the highest of the three splendid lanterns which hung on +the lofty stern as symbols of command. The Pacha, from his quarter-deck, +looked up on hearing the crash, and perceiving the ominous mischief, +said, "God grant we may be able to give a good answer to this question." +The next shot split off a great piece of the poop of an adjacent galley. +Of the six galeases four were soon pouring a murderous fire into the +Turkish centre and right wing; the remaining two, which were intended to +gall the left wing, having been rendered of little use, then and during +the battle, by dexterous southerly movements of Aluch Ali. The balls +from the galeases appeared to stop the vessels which they struck, and +which seemed to have been met as by a wall. Two of them were speedily +sunk by the terrible fire. Perceiving the great superiority of the +galeases in weight of metal, Ali ordered his galleys not to attempt to +attack them, but, avoiding them as well as they could, to push on +against the galleys of the Christians. Obedience to this order, however +necessary, produced great confusion in the Turkish line. + +The Pacha of Alexandria, who led the right wing, endeavored both to +elude the galeases and circumvent his antagonists, the Venetians on the +Christian left, by passing between them and the shore. Barbarigo +observed the movement, and prepared to oppose by adopting it; but his +pilots, inferior to those of Sirocco in local knowledge, dreading the +shoals and shallows, did not stand toward the coast with sufficient +boldness. The Pacha therefore effected his purpose with a few of his +vessels and Barbarigo found himself placed between two fires; his own +galley at one time being engaged by no less than eight Turkish vessels. +As they approached the Christians, the Turks assailed them not only with +cannon and musketry, but also with showers of arrows, many of which, +from the wounds inflicted by them, were supposed to have been poisoned. +As Barbarigo stood giving orders on his quarter-deck, he became a +conspicuous mark; and the hail of arrows fell so thick around him that +the great lantern which adorned the galley's stern was afterward found +to be studded with their shafts. At length one of these ancient missiles +pierced the left eye of the gallant commander and compelled his +immediate removal below. The wound, in three days, proved mortal. His +nephew, Marco Contarini, rushing to his assistance, was also slain. +These untoward events for a moment paralyzed the efforts of the +Venetians. The galley became the centre of so severe a fire that its +defenders were more than once swept away, and it was in great danger of +being taken. Frederigo Nano, however, who, by Barbarigo's desire, had +assumed the command, succeeded in rallying his men, and not only beat +off Sirocco, but made a prize of one of his best galleys and its +commander, the corsair Kara Ali. The combat between the Turks and the +Venetians seemed inspired by the intensest personal hatred; the Turks +thirsting for fresh conquests, the Venetians for vengeance. That they +might the more effectually use their weapons, many of the soldiers of +St. Mark uncovered their faces and laid aside their shields. No quarter +was given, and the slaughter was very great on both sides. One of the +Sultan's galleys near the shore being very hard pressed, the Turks +jumped overboard and escaped to land. Some of the Venetians followed and +slew them as they ran to the cover of some rocks. One of these pursuers, +being armed only with a stick, contrived with that simple weapon to pin +his victim through the mouth to the ground, to the great admiration of +his comrades. + +As the centre divisions of the two fleets closed with each other the +wisdom of Don John in retrenching the fore-peaks of his vessels became +abundantly apparent. The Turks had neglected to take this precaution; +the efficiency of their forecastle guns was therefore greatly impaired. +Their prows were also much higher than the prows of their antagonists. +While their shot passed harmlessly over the enemy, his balls struck +their galleys close to water-mark with fatal precision. The fire of the +Christians was the more murderous because many of the Turkish vessels +were crowded with soldiers both on the deck and below. + +Ali and Don John had each directed his helmsman to steer for the +flag-ship of the enemy. The two galleys soon met, striking each other +with great force. The left prow of the Pacha towered high above the +lower forecastle of Don John, and his galley's peak was thrust through +the rigging of the other vessel until its point was over the fourth +rowing-bench. Thus linked together the two flag-ships became a +battle-field which was strongly contested for about two hours. The Pacha +had on board four hundred picked janizaries--three hundred armed with +the arquebus and one hundred with the bow. Two galliots and ten galleys, +all filled with janizaries, lay close astern, the galliots being +connected with the Pacha's vessels by ladders, up which reënforcements +immediately came when wanted. The galley of Pertau Pacha fought +alongside. Don John's consisted of three hundred arquebusiers; but his +forecastle artillery was, for reasons above mentioned, more efficient, +while his bulwarks, like those of other Christian vessels, were +protected from boarders by nettings and other devices with which the +Turks had not provided themselves. Requesens, wary and watchful, lay +astern with two galleys, from which he led fresh troops into the +flag-ship from time to time. Alongside, Vaniero and Colonna were each +hotly engaged with an antagonist. The combat between the two chiefs was +on the whole not unequal, and it was fought with great gallantry on both +sides. From the Turkish forecastle the arquebusiers at first severely +galled the Christians. Don Lope de Figueroa, who commanded on the prow +of the flag-ship, lost so many of his men that he was compelled to ask +for assistance. Don Bernardino de Cardenas, who led a party to his aid, +was struck on the chest by a spent ball from an esmeril, and in falling +backward received injuries from which he soon expired. Considerable +execution was also done by the Turkish arrows, with which portions of +the masts and spars bristled. Several of these missiles came from the +bow of the Pacha himself, who was probably the last commander-in-chief +who ever drew a bowstring in European battle. But on the whole the fire +of the Christians was greatly superior to that of the Turks. Twice the +deck of Ali was swept clear of defenders, and twice the Spaniards rushed +on board and advanced as far as the mainmast. At that point they were on +each occasion driven back by the janizaries, who, though led by Ali in +person, do not appear to have made good a footing on the deck of Don +John. A third attempt was more successful. Not only did the Spaniards +pass the mast, but they approached the poop and assailed it with a +vigorous fire. The Pacha led on his janizaries to meet them, but it +seems with small hope of making a successful resistance, for at the same +moment he threw into the sea a small box which was supposed to contain +his most precious jewels. A ball from an arquebuse soon afterward struck +him in the forehead. He fell forward upon the gangway (_crucija_). A +soldier from Malaga, seizing the body, cut off the head and carried it +to Don John, who was already on board the Turkish vessel, leading a +fresh body of men to the support of their comrades. The trophy was then +raised on the point of a lance, to be seen by friend and foe. The Turks +paused for a moment panic-stricken; the Christians shouted victory, and, +hauling down the Turkish standard, hoisted a flag with a cross in its +place. Don John ordered his trumpets to sound, and the good news was +soon proclaimed in the adjacent galleys of the League. The Turks +defended their flag-ship but feebly after the death of their Pacha. The +vessel, which was the first taken, was in the hands of the Spaniards +about two o'clock in the afternoon--about an hour and a half after the +two leaders had engaged each other. A brigantine which had been employed +in bringing up fresh troops, surrendered almost at the same time. The +neighboring galleys of the Sultan had themselves been by this time too +severely handled to render much assistance. Only one serious attempt was +made to recover the ship of Ali or to avenge its loss. Several galleys +from other parts of the line bore down at once upon Don John. The +movement was perceived by Santa Cruz, whose vessels of reserve were +still untouched. Dashing into the advancing squadron, he had the +good-fortune to sink one galley by the force of his fire; and he +immediately boarded another and put all the janizaries to the sword. Don +John himself dealt with the remaining assailants. + +Vaniero and Colonna fought with great gallantry and success, and each +vanquished the Turk who had engaged him. The brave old Admiral of Venice +fairly earned the Doge's cap, which soon after crowned his hoary brow. +He was often in the thickest of the fire; and when, in the absence of +many of his men, who had boarded the Turkish flag-ship, his own was also +boarded, he repulsed the assailants in person, and, fighting with all +the vigor of youth, received a wound in the foot on the deck of the +galley of Pertau Pacha, whither he had pursued his advantage. A second +Turkish galley, advancing to attack Vaniero, was run into about midships +and sunk by Giovanni Contarini. Giovanni de Loredano and Caterino +Malipieri were less happy in the enemies whom they encountered, and +perished in their sunken vessels. From the flag-ship of Genoa the young +Prince of Parma, followed by a single Spanish soldier named Alonso +Davalos, leaped into a Turkish galley, fought their way through its +defenders without a wound, and might also boast of having, unaided, +caused it to strike its flag. Two other Turks afterward surrendered to +the Genoese flag-ship, the captain of which, Ettore Spinola, lost his +life by an arrow. In the flag-ship of Savoy, under a captain named Leni, +of remarkable courage, who was also severely wounded, the Prince of +Urbino likewise greatly distinguished himself. The gallant Karacosh was +compelled to surrender to Juan Bautista Cortez, a captain of the King of +Spain, although his galley was defended by one hundred fifty picked +janizaries and was one of the best built and equipped vessels in the +fleet. The Eleugina of the Pope had the credit of taking the guard-ship +of Rhodes; and the Toscana, also a papal galley, in making a prize of +the vessel of the Turkish paymaster recovered to the pontifical squadron +the flag-ship of the contingent of Pius IV in the unfortunate battle of +Gerbi. The crowning achievement of the central division was performed by +the Grand Commander, who attacked and captured after an obstinate and +bloody contest, a fine galley, in which were the sons of the deceased +Ali Pacha. These lads--Mahomet Bey, aged seventeen years, and Said Bey, +aged thirteen--had been brought to sea by their father for the first +time. Their capture was of importance, because the mother of one of them +was a sister of Sultan Selim. + +Juan de Cardona, who sailed on the left of the right wing, finding no +enemy opposed to him, brought his vessel round to the rear of the +Turkish centre, and attacked Pertau Pacha, with whom Paolo Giordano +Orsini was engaged in a somewhat unequal conflict. After a stout +resistance the Christians entered the Turkish galley, out of which the +Pacha, though wounded, succeeded in escaping in a boat. + +The right wing of the Christians and the Turkish left wing did not +engage each other until some time after the other divisions were in +deadly conflict. Doria and Aluch Ali were, each of them, bent on +outmanoeuvring the other. The Algerine did not succeed, like Sirocco, +in insinuating himself between his adversary and the shore. But the +seamen whose skill and daring were the admiration of the Mediterranean +were not easily baffled. Finding himself foiled in his first attempt, he +slackened his course, and, threatening sometimes one vessel and +sometimes another, drew the Genoese eastward, until the inferior speed +of some of the galleys had caused an opening at the northern end of the +Christian line. Upon this opening the crafty corsair immediately bore +down with all the speed of his oars, and passed through it with most of +his galleys. This evolution placed him in the rear of the whole +Christian line of battle. On the extreme right of the centre division +sailed Prior Giustiniani, the commodore of the small Maltese squadron. +This officer had hitherto fought with no less success than skill, and +had already captured four Turkish galleys. The Viceroy of Algiers had, +the year before, captured three galleys of Malta, and was fond of +boasting of being the peculiar scourge and terror of the Order of St. +John. The well-known white cross banner, rising over the smoke of +battle, soon attracted his eye and was marked for his prey. Wheeling +round like a hawk, he bore down from behind upon the unhappy prior. The +three war-worn vessels of St. John were no match for seven stout +Algerines which had not yet fired a shot. The knights and their men +defended themselves with a valor worthy of their heroic order. A youth +named Bernardino de Heredia, son of the Count of Fuentes, signally +distinguished himself; and a Saragossan knight, Geronimo Ramirez, +although riddled with arrows like another St. Sebastian, fought with +such desperation that none of the Algerine boarders cared to approach +him until they saw that he was dead. A knight of Burgundy leaped alone +into one of the enemy's galleys, killed four Turks, and defended himself +until overpowered by numbers. On board the prior's vessel, when he was +taken, he himself, pierced with five arrow wounds, was the sole +survivor, except two knights, a Spaniard and a Sicilian, who, being +senseless from their wounds, were considered as dead. Having secured the +banner of St. John, Aluch Ali took the prior's ship in tow, and was +making the best of his way out of a battle which his skilful eye soon +discovered to be irretrievably lost. He had not, however, sailed far +when he was in turn descried by the Marquess of Santa Cruz, who, with +his squadron of reserve, was moving about redressing the wrongs of +Christian fortune. Aluch Ali had no mind for the fate of Giustiniani, +and resolved to content himself with the banner of Malta. Cutting his +prize adrift, he plied his oars and escaped, leaving the prior +grievously wounded to the care of his friends, and once more master, not +only of his ship, but of three hundred dead enemies who cumbered the +deck, a few living Algerine mariners who were to navigate the vessel, +and some Turkish soldiers, from whom he had just purchased his life. +This struggle cost the order, in killed alone, upward of thirty knights, +among whom was the Grand Bailiff of Germany, commander-in-chief of its +land forces. A few were also made prisoners, most of them desperately +wounded. For one of them, Borgianni Gianfigliazzi, his relations at +Florence, supposing him dead, performed funeral obsequies, in spite of +which he returned home from captivity, and was afterward ambassador from +the Grand Duke to Sultan Amurath. Two other knights, Mastrillo and +Caraffa, finding themselves unsupported in an enemy's brigantine, had +given themselves up, and had just bribed their captor to spare their +lives and admit them to a ransom, when a Neapolitan galley coming by +boarded the brigantine and turned their new master into their slave. + +The main body of the Turkish left wing, though long of engaging the +Christian right, fought with perhaps greater fierceness than any other +part of the fleet. The battle was raging in that part of the line with +very doubtful aspect, when Don John of Austria found himself free from +the attacks of the enemies immediately around him. Thither, therefore, +he steered to the assistance of his comrades. The Turks, perceiving the +approach of a succoring squadron, and surmising the disasters which had +occurred in the centre, immediately gave way and dispersed. Sixteen of +the Algerine galleys, however, retired together, and rallying at a +little distance, adopted the tactics of their chief, by making a circuit +toward the shore of the Morea, and endeavoring to sweep round upon the +rear of the Christians. Their manoeuvres were closely watched by Don +Juan de Cardona, who placed himself in their path with eight galleys. +The encounter which took place between the two unequal squadrons was one +of the bloodiest episodes of the battle. Cardona was completely +successful, disabling some of his antagonists and putting the rest to +flight. His loss was, however, very severe. His own galley suffered more +damage than any vessel in the fleet which was not rendered absolutely +unfit for service. The forecastle was a ruin; the bulwark and defences +of all kinds were shattered to pieces; and the masts and spars were +stuck full of arrows. Cardona himself, after escaping a ball from an +arquebus, which was turned by a cuirass of fine steel given to him at +Genoa by the Prince of Tuscany, received a severe wound in the throat, +of which he died. Of the five hundred Sicilian soldiers who fought on +board his galleys only fifty remained unwounded. Many of the officers +were slain, and not one escaped without a wound. Others had suffered +even greater loss. In the Florence, a papal galley, not only many +knights of St. Stephen were killed, but also every soldier and slave; +and the captain, Tommaso de' Medicis, himself severely wounded, found +himself at the head of only seventeen wounded seamen. In the San +Giovanni, another vessel of the Pope, the soldiers were also killed to a +man, the rowing-benches occupied by corpses, and a captain laid for dead +with two musket-balls in his neck. The Piamontesa of Savoy had likewise +lost her commander and all of her soldiers and rowers. + +Although Doria, having suffered himself to be outmanoeuvred by Aluch +Ali, and having failed to exchange a shot with that leader, could not +claim any considerable part of the laurels of the day, he was +nevertheless frequently engaged with other foes and made several prizes. +He escaped without a wound, though he was covered with blood of a +soldier killed by a cannon-ball close behind him. + +On the left wing of the Christian fleet, the battle, which had begun so +unpropitiously, was also brought to a prosperous issue. The wound of +Barbarigo transferred the command to the commissary Canale. Aided by +Nano, who commanded Barbarigo's galley, Canale engaged and sunk the +vessel of the Pacha of Alexandria. Mahomet Sirocco himself, severely +wounded, was fished out of the sea by Gian Contarini, and sent on board +Canale's galley. As the wound of the Turk appeared to be mortal, the +Venetian relieved him from further suffering by cutting off his head. +Marco Quirini likewise did gallant service, compelling several of the +enemy to strike their flags. Of the remaining galleys many were run +ashore by their crews, of whom the greater number were slain or drowned +as they attempted to swim to land. + +The victory of the Christians at Lepanto was in a great measure to be +ascribed to the admirable tactics of their chief. The shock of the +Turkish onset was effectually broken by the dexterous disposition made +of the galeases of Venice. Indeed, had the great ships been there to +strengthen the sparse line formed by these six vessels, it is not +impossible that the Turks would have failed in forcing their way through +the wall of that terrible fire. Each Christian vessel, by the +retrenchment of its peak, enjoyed an advantage over its antagonist in +the freer play of its artillery. When, however, the galleys of Selim +came to close combat with the galleys of the League, the battle became a +series of isolated struggles which depended more upon individual mind +and manhood than upon any comprehensive plan of far-seeing calculation. +But Don John of Austria had the merit or the good-fortune of bringing +his forces into action in the highest moral and material perfection; of +placing admirable means in the hands of men whose spirit was in the +right temper to use them. He struck his great blow at the happy moment +when great dangers are cheerfully confronted and great things easily +accomplished. + +His plan of battle was on the whole admirably executed. The galleys of +the various confederates were so studiously intermingled that each +vessel was incited to do its utmost by the spur of rivalry. Vaniero and +Colonna deserve their full share of the credit of the day; and the +gallant Santa Cruz, although at first stationed in the rear, soon found +and employed his opportunity of earning his share of laurels. On Doria +alone Roman and Venetian critics, and indeed public opinion, pronounced +a less favorable verdict. His shoreward movement unquestionably had the +effect of enabling Aluch Ali to cut the Christian line and fall with +damaging force upon its rear, and of rendering the victory more costly +in blood and less rich in prizes. This movement was ascribed to the +desire of the Genoese to spare his own ships, and to secure a safe +retreat for himself in case of a disaster; and he was further even +taunted with cowardice for hauling down the gilded celestial sphere, the +proud cognizance of his house, which usually surmounted his flag-staff. +To the latter charge his friends replied that the sphere was taken down +to secure it from injury, it being the gift of his wife, and that his +ship was too well known to both the fleets to find safety in the want of +her usual badge. The other accusations, they considered, were disposed +of by the necessity of shaping his course according to the tactics of +the Algerine, and abundantly refuted by the vigor and success with which +he at last attacked the enemy. It is not improbable that the true +explanation of his conduct is that offered by the captain of a +Neapolitan galley, present at the battle, that he wished to gain an +advantage over Aluch Ali by seamanship, and that the renegade, no less +skilled in the game, played it on this occasion better than he. + +Although in numbers, both of men and vessels, the Sultan's fleet was +superior to the fleet of the League, this superiority was more than +counterbalanced by other important advantages possessed by the +Christians. The artillery of the West was of greater power and far +better served than the ordnance of the East; and its fire was rendered +doubly disastrous by the thronged condition of the Turkish vessels. The +lofty-peaked prows of these vessels seriously interfered, as we have +already seen, with the working of their guns. A great number of their +combatants were armed with the bow instead of the firelock, which placed +them at an obvious disadvantage, except during heavy rains, which +extinguished the match of the latter weapon. Of the Turks who carried +the musket or arquebus few could handle them with the expertness of a +Christian soldier. The advantages which the League derived from its +galeases were heightened by the fact that a large proportion of its +other vessels were superior to their antagonists. The galleys of the +King of Spain were, in general, both more strongly built and more +carefully protected against boarders than those of the Sultan. Even +early in the battle the Moslems began to discover that they were +overmatched. In many of the galleys the guns were at once silenced by +the heavier artillery of the Christians, in whose hands the fire of the +arquebus and the musket, when they came to close quarters, proved so +withering that the enemy's deck was sometimes swept clean before they +boarded, and the turbaned heads of the janizaries were seen crouching +beneath the benches of the slaves. When the conflict was transferred to +the Turkish decks, the Christians, however, found themselves fiercely +met, and among other means of opposing their progress they perceived +that the central gangway (_corsia_) had been torn up, or they slipped +upon planking which had been smeared with butter, oil, or even, it is +said, with honey, to render the footing insecure. So efficient were the +nettings and other precautions with which Don John of Austria defended +the bulwarks of his ships that he was able to inform Philip II that not +a Turk had set foot upon a single deck belonging to his majesty. + +Such were some of the chief causes of the success of the arms of the +League. In the sixteenth century, in a vast concourse of men of the +South, hot from battle and largely leavened with priests and friars, it +was natural that the victory should be by many ascribed to a more +mysterious agency. In the opinion of these persons the Almighty had +evidently been fighting on the side of the Pope and the Cross, although +they would perhaps have demurred to the logical deduction from that +opinion that at Cyprus he had steadily adhered to the drunken Sultan and +the Crescent. It was not only in the victory that they saw the finger of +Omnipotence, but in many accidents and incidents of the day. The wind, +which wafted the Turks swiftly to destruction, changed at the precise +moment when it was needed to aid the onset of the Christians. The +boisterous sea also sank to smoothness in the special interest of the +League. Of the clergy and friars who ministered on the Spanish decks to +the wounded and dying, although some of them were struck, not one was +killed. The Venetians were less fortunate, having four chaplains killed +and three wounded; and the Pope likewise lost one of his friars, who +died of his wounds soon after the battle. The churchmen exposed +themselves as freely as the combatants, whom they encouraged from +conspicuous posts either on deck or in the rigging, and sometimes by +example as well as precept. A Spanish Capuchin, an old soldier, had tied +his crucifix to a halbert, and, crying that Christ would fight for his +faith, led the boarders of his galley over the bulwarks of her +antagonist; after using his weapon manfully, he returned victorious and +untouched. + +An Italian priest, with a great gilded crucifix in one hand and a sword +in another, stood cheering on his spiritual sons, unharmed in the +fiercest centre of the arrowy sleet and iron hail. A Roman Capuchin, +finding his flock getting the worst of it, seized a boat-hook, and, +pulling his peaked hood over his face, rushed into the fray, laid about +him until he had slain seven Turks and driven the rest from the deck, +and lived to call a smile to the thin lips of Pius V by telling the +story of his prowess. The green banner of Mecca, brought from the +Prophet's tomb, and unfurled from the main-top of Ali, was riddled with +shot, which rendered illegible many of the sacred words with which it +was embroidered. But the azure standard of the League, blessed by the +supreme Pontiff and emblazoned with the image of the crucified Redeemer, +remained untouched by bolt or bullet, although masts, spars, and shrouds +around were torn and shattered from top to bottom. + +The battle was over about four o'clock in the afternoon. The rout of the +centre and right wing of the Turk was complete. The vessels which +composed these divisions were either sunk or taken, or they had singly +sought safety in flight. A few galleys of the left wing still followed +the banner of the Viceroy of Algiers. After hovering for a while near +the coast of the Morea he made sail for St. Maura. Don John of Austria, +with Doria and some other captains, gave him chase, but was compelled to +desist for want of oarsmen. The pursuit, however, was not altogether +unsuccessful, for several of the panic-stricken Algerines ran their +galleys ashore, where some of them suffered shipwreck on the rocks. In +the course of the night Aluch Ali and his little squadron of fugitives +stole back from St. Maura to Lepanto. That harbor afforded a refuge to +about nine-and-twenty vessels, most of them much shattered, the sole +remains of the proud and confident armament which had so lately sailed +out from between the two castles. + + + + + MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW + + A.D. 1572 + + HENRY WHITE ISAAC D'ISRAELI JNO. RUDD + + + Among the numberless butcheries which history, both ancient and + modern, records, there has been none more remarkable in motive, + execution, and number of victims than the Massacre of St. + Bartholomew. It is scarcely less remarkable as being one of those + historic crimes which defeat their own purpose by reacting against + the perpetrators and advancing the cause of those who suffer + outrage. + + The tragedy of St. Bartholomew's Day marked the culmination of the + great struggle which devastated France in the latter half of the + sixteenth century. During the reign of Francis I (1515-1547) and his + immediate successors, Henry II (1547-1559), Francis II (1559-1560), + and Charles IX (1560-1574), "the Huguenot (French Protestant) + character was formed, and the nation gradually separated into two + parties so fanatically hostile that the extermination of the weaker + seemed the only possible means of reestablishing the unity of + France." + + The "Puritans of France" were persecuted under all these kings. + During the minority of Charles IX his mother, Catherine de' Medici, + was regent, and throughout his reign she dictated the King's policy. + Under this rule the persecutions continued with increasing violence. + + From 1562 to 1570 France was torn with civil wars between Catholics + and Protestants. On the Protestant side the great leaders were the + Prince of Condé, Admiral Coligny, and later Henry of Navarre. Condé + was murdered in 1569. By the Peace of St. Germain (1570) the + Huguenots received some favorable concessions. The weak Charles IX, + now in fear of Philip II of Spain, was inclining to the Protestant + side. Seconded by Coligny, he planned alliances with all the enemies + of Philip in Europe. But Catherine overruled him. Charles and + Coligny, however, had their way in the marriage of the King's + sister, Margaret of Valois, to Henry of Navarre. Coligny now gained + a stronger influence over the young Charles. He was followed by a + large body of exulting Protestants to Paris, and the Catholic party, + headed by Catherine, the Duke of Anjou, and the Guises, became + greatly enraged. + + Of the terrible massacre which followed, and in which the number + killed throughout France has been estimated at from twenty thousand + to one hundred thousand, Coligny was the first victim. One attempt + to assassinate him failed; he was only wounded; and the Queen-mother + then plied her weak son with argument and persuasion in order to + make him consent to the admiral's murder and to the massacre which + had been arranged, with profound secrecy, for August 24th. She told + him of a Huguenot plot, in which, at a signal from Coligny, + conspirators were to rise throughout the kingdom, overturn the + throne, take Charles himself prisoner, and destroy the Queen-mother + and the Catholic nobility. She showed him some proofs, "forged or + real," of his personal danger. + + As a counter-view to the intensely bitter picture of Catherine + presented by most non-Catholic historians, and represented here by + White, the explanation of Charles IX himself, in the letter + furnished by D'Israeli, possesses a peculiar interest. + + + HENRY WHITE + +The King sat moody and silent, biting his nails, as was his wont. He +would come to no decision. He asked for proofs, and none was +forthcoming, except some idle gossip of the streets and the foolish +threats of a few hot-headed Huguenots. Charles had learned to love the +admiral: could he believe that the gentle Coligny and that +Rochefoucault, the companion of his rough sports, were guilty of this +meditated plot? He desired to be the king of France--of Huguenots and +Catholics alike--not a king of party. Catherine, in her despair, +employed her last argument. She whispered in his ear, "Perhaps, sire, +you are afraid." As if struck by an arrow, he started from his chair. +Raving like a madman, he bade them hold their tongues, and with fearful +oaths exclaimed: "Kill the admiral, if you like, but kill all the +Huguenots with him--all--all--all--so that not one be left to reproach +me hereafter. See to it at once--at once; do you hear?" And he dashed +furiously out of the closet, leaving the conspirators aghast at his +violence. + +But there was no time to be lost; the King might change his mind; the +Huguenots might get wind of the plot. The murderous scheme must be +carried out that very night, and accordingly the Duke of Guise was +summoned to the Louvre. And now the different parts of the tragedy were +arranged, Guise undertaking, on the strength of his popularity with the +Parisian mob, to lead them to the work of blood. We may also imagine him +begging as a favor the privilege of despatching the admiral in +retaliation for his father's murder. The city was parted into districts, +each of which was assigned to some trusty officer, Marshal Tavannes +having the general superintendence of the military arrangements. The +conspirators now separated, intending to meet again at ten o'clock. +Guise went into the city, where he communicated his plans to such of the +mob leaders as could be trusted. He told them of a bloody conspiracy +among the Huguenot chiefs to destroy the King and the royal family and +extirpate Catholicism; that a renewal of war was inevitable, but it was +better that war should come in the streets of Paris than in the open +field, for the leaders would thus be far more effectually punished and +their followers crushed. He affirmed that letters had been intercepted +in which the admiral had sought the aid of German reiters and Swiss +pikemen, and that Montmorency was approaching with twenty-five thousand +men to burn the city, as the Huguenots had often threatened. And, as if +to give color to this idle story, a small body of cavalry had been seen +from the walls in the early part of the day. + +Such arguments and such falsehoods were admirably adapted to his +hearers, who swore to carry out the Duke's orders with secrecy and +despatch. "It is the will of our lord the King," continued Henry of +Guise, "that every good citizen should take up arms to purge the city of +that rebel Coligny and his heretical followers. The signal will be given +by the great bell of the Palace of Justice. Then let every true Catholic +tie a white band on his arm and put a white cross in his cap, and begin +the vengeance of God." Finding upon inquiry that Le Charron, the provost +of the merchants, was too weak and tender-hearted for the work before +him, the Duke suggested that the municipality should temporarily confer +his power on the ex-provost Marcel, a man of very different stamp. + +About four in the afternoon Anjou rode through the crowded streets in +company with his bastard brother Angoulême. He watched the aspect of the +populace, and let fall a few insidious expressions in no degree +calculated to quiet the turbulent passions of the citizens. One account +says he distributed money, which is not probable, his afternoon ride +being merely a sort of reconnaissance. The journals of the Hôtel de +Ville still attest the anxiety of the court--of Catherine and her +fellow-conspirator--that the massacre should be sweeping and complete. +"Very late in the evening"--it must have been after dark, for the King +went to lie down at eight, and did not rise until ten--the provost was +sent for. At the Louvre he found Charles, the Queen-mother, and the Duke +of Anjou, with other princes and nobles, among whom we may safely +include Guise, De Retz, and Tavannes. The King now repeated to him the +story of the Huguenot plot which had already been whispered abroad by +Guise of Anjou, and bade him shut the gates of the city, so that no one +could pass in or out, and take possession of the keys. He was also to +draw up all the boats on the river bank and chain them together, to +remove the ferry, to muster under arms the able-bodied men of each ward +under their proper officers, and hold them in readiness at the usual +mustering-places to receive the orders of his majesty. The city +artillery, which does not appear to have been as formidable as the word +would imply, was to be stationed at the Grève to protect the Hôtel de +Ville or for any other duty required of it. With these instructions the +provost returned to the Hôtel de Ville, where he spent great part of the +night in preparing the necessary orders, which were issued "very early +the next morning." There is reason for believing that these measures +were simply precautions in case the Huguenots should resist and a bloody +struggle should have to be fought in the streets of their capital. The +municipality certainly took no part in the earlier massacres, whatever +they may have done later. Tavannes complains of the "want of zeal" in +some of the citizens, and Brantome admits that "it was necessary to +threaten to hang some of the laggards." + +That evening the King had supped in public, and, the hours being much +earlier than with us, the time was probably between six and seven. The +courtiers admitted to witness the meal appear to have been as numerous +as ever, Huguenots as well as Catholics, victims and executioners. +Charles, who retired before eight o'clock, kept Francis, Count of La +Rochefoucault, with him for some time, as if unwilling to part with him. +"Do not go," he said; "it is late. We will sit and talk all night." + +"Excuse me, sire, I am tired and sleepy." + +"You must stay; you can sleep with my valets." But as Charles was rather +too fond of rough practical jokes, the Count still declined, and went +away, suspecting no evil, to pay his usual evening visit to the Dowager +Princess of Condé. He must have remained some time in her apartments, +for it was past twelve o'clock when he went to bid Navarre good-night. +As he was leaving the palace a man stopped him at the foot of the stairs +and whispered in his ear. When the stranger left. La Rochefoucault bade +Mergey, one of his suite, to whom we are indebted for these particulars, +return and tell Henry that Guise and Nevers were about the city. During +Mergey's brief absence something more appears to have been told the +Count, for he returned upstairs with Nancay, captain of the guard, who, +lifting the tapestry which closed the entrance to Navarre's antechamber, +looked for some time at the gentlemen within, playing at cards or dice, +others talking. At last he said: "Gentlemen, if any one of you wishes to +retire, you must do so at once, for we are going to shut the gates." No +one moved, as it would appear, for at Charles' express desire, it is +said--which is scarcely probable--these Huguenot gentlemen had gathered +round the King of Navarre to protect him against any outrage of the +Guises. In the court-yard Mergey found the guard under arms. "M. +Rambouillet, who loved me," he continues, "was sitting by the wicket as +I passed out. He took my hand, and with a piteous look said: 'Adieu, +Mergey; adieu, my friend,' not daring to say more, as he told me +afterward." + +Coligny's hotel had been crowded all day by visitors; the Queen of +Navarre had paid him a visit, and most of the gentlemen in Paris, +Catholic as well as Huguenot, had gone to express their sympathy. For +the Frenchman is a gallant enemy and respects brave men; and the foul +attempt upon the admiral, whom they had so often encountered on the +battle-field, was felt as a personal injury. A council had been held +that day, at which the propriety of removing in a body from Paris and +carrying the admiral with them had again been discussed. Navarre and +Condé opposed the proposition, and it was finally resolved to petition +to the King "to order all the Guisians out of Paris, because they had +too much sway with the people of the town." One Bouchavannnes, a +traitor, was among them, greedily listening to every word, which he +reported to Anjou, strengthening him in his determination to make a +clean sweep that very night. + +As the evening came on, the admiral's visitors took their leave. +Teligny, his son-in-law, was the last to quit his bedside. To the +question whether the admiral would like any of them to keep watch in his +house during the night, he answered, says the contemporary biographer, +"that it was labor more than needed, and gave them thanks with very +loving words." It was after midnight when Teligny and Guerchy departed, +leaving Ambrose Paré and Pastor Merlin with the wounded man. There were +besides in the house two of his gentlemen, Cornaton, afterward his +biographer, and La Bonne; his squire Yolet, five Switzers belonging to +the King of Navarre's guard, and about as many domestic servants. It was +the last night on earth for all except two of that household. + +It is strange that the arrangements in the city, which must have been +attended with no little commotion, did not rouse the suspicion of the +Huguenots. Probably, in their blind confidence, they trusted implicitly +in the King's word that these movements of arms and artillery, these +postings of guards and midnight musters, were intended to keep the +Guisian faction in order. There is a story that some gentlemen, aroused +by the measured tread of the soldiers and the glare of torches--for no +lamps then lit up the streets of Paris--went outdoors and asked what it +meant. Receiving an unsatisfactory reply, they proceeded to the Louvre, +where they found the outer court filled with armed men, who, seeing them +without the white cross and the scarf, abused them as "accursed +Huguenots," whose turn would come next. One of them who replied to this +insolent threat, was immediately run through with a spear. This, if the +incident be true, occurred about one o'clock on Sunday morning, August +24th, the festival of St. Bartholomew. + +Shortly after midnight the Queen-mother rose and went to the King's +chamber, attended only by one lady, the Duchess of Nemours, whose thirst +for revenge was to be satisfied at last. She found Charles pacing the +room in one of those fits of passion which he at times assumed to +conceal his infirmity of purpose. At one moment he swore he would raise +the Huguenots and call them to protect their sovereign's life as well as +their own. Then he burst out into violent imprecations against his +brother Anjou, who had entered the room but did not dare say a word. +Presently the other conspirators arrived--Guise, Nevers, Birague, De +Retz, and Tavannes. Catherine alone ventured to interpose, and, in a +tone of sternness well calculated to impress the mind of her weak son, +she declared that there was now no turning back: "It is too late to +retreat, even were it possible. We must cut off the rotten limb, hurt it +ever so much; if you delay, you will lose the finest opportunity God +ever gave man of getting rid of his enemies at a blow." And then, as if +struck with compassion for the fate of her victims, she repeated in a +low tone--as if talking to herself--the words of a famous Italian +preacher, which she had often been heard to quote before: "_E la pieta +lor ser crudele, e la crudelta lor ser pietosa_" ("Mercy would be +cruel to them, and cruelty merciful"). Catherine's resolution again +prevailed over the King's weakness, and, the final orders being given, +the Duke of Guise quitted the Louvre, followed by two companies of +arquebusiers and the whole of Anjou's guard. + +As soon as Guise had left, the chief criminals--each afraid to lose +sight of the other, each needing the presence of the other to keep his +courage up--went to a room adjoining the tennis-court overlooking the +Place Bassecour. Of all the party--Charles, Catherine, Anjou, and De +Retz--Charles was the least guilty and the most to be pitied. They went +to the window, anxiously listening for the signal that the work of death +had begun. Their consciences, no less than their impatience, made it +impossible for them to sit calmly within the palace. Anjou's narrative +continues: "While we were pondering over the events and the consequences +of such a mighty enterprise, of which, to tell the truth, we had not +thought much until then, we heard a pistol shot. The sound produced such +an effect upon all three of us that it confounded our senses and +deprived us of judgment. We were smitten with terror and apprehension of +the great disorders about to be perpetrated." Catherine, who was a timid +woman, adds Tavannes, would willingly have recalled her orders, and with +that intent hastily despatched a gentleman to the Duke of Guise +expressly desiring him to return and attempt nothing against the +admiral. "It is too late," was the answer brought back; "the admiral is +dead"--a statement at variance with other accounts. "Thereupon," +continues Anjou, "we returned to our former deliberations, and let +things take their course." + +Between three and four in the morning the noise of horses and measured +tramp of foot-soldiers broke the silence of the narrow street in which +Coligny lay wounded. It was the murderers seeking their victims: they +were Henry of Guise with his uncle the Duke of Aumale, the bastard of +Angoulême, and the Duke of Nevers, with other foreigners, Italian and +Swiss, namely, Fesinghi (or Tosinghi) and his nephew Antonio, Captain +Petrucci, Captain Studer of Winkelbach with his soldiers, Martin Koch of +Freyberg, Conrad Burg, Leonard Grunenfelder of Glaris, and Carl +Dianowitz, surnamed Behm (the Bohemian?). There were, besides, one +Captain Attin, in the household of Aumale, and Sarlabous, a renegade +Huguenot and commandant of Havre. It is well to record the names even of +these obscure individuals who stained their hands in the best blood of +France. De Cosseins, too, was there with his guard, some of whom he +posted with their arquebuses opposite the windows of Coligny's hotel, +that none might escape. + +Presently there was a loud knock at the outer gate--"Open in the King's +name." La Bonne, imagining it to be a message from the Louvre, hastened +with the keys, withdrew the bolt, and was immediately butchered by the +assassins who rushed into the house. The alarmed domestics ran half +awake to see what was the uproar: some were killed outright, others +escaped upstairs, closing the door at the foot and placing some +furniture against it. This feeble barrier was soon broken down, and the +Swiss who had attempted to resist were shot. The tumult woke Coligny +from his slumbers, and divining what it meant--that Guise had made an +attack on the house--he was lifted from his bed, and, folding his +_robe-de-chambre_ round him, sat down prepared to meet his fate. +Cornaton entering the room at this moment, Ambrose Pare asked him what +was the meaning of the noise. Turning to his beloved master he replied: +"Sir, it is God calling us to himself. They have broken into the house, +and we can do nothing." + +"I have been long prepared to die," said the admiral. "But you must all +flee for your lives, if it be not too late; you cannot save me. I commit +my soul to God's mercy." They obeyed him, but only two succeeded in +making their way over the roofs. Pastor Merlin lay hid for three days in +a loft, where he was fed by a hen, that every morning laid an egg within +his reach. + +Pare and Coligny were left alone--Coligny looking as calm and collected +as if no danger impended. After a brief interval of suspense the door +was dashed open, and Cosseins, wearing a corselet and brandishing a +bloody sword in his hand, entered the room, followed by Behm, Sarlabous, +and others; a party of Anjou's Swiss guard, in their tricolored uniform +of black, white, and green, keeping in the rear. Expecting resistance, +the ruffians were for a moment staggered at seeing only two unarmed men. +But his brutal instincts rapidly regaining the mastery, Behm stepped +forward, and pointing his sword at Coligny's breast asked, "Are you not +the admiral?" + +"I am, but, young man, you should respect my gray hairs, and not attack +a wounded man. Yet what matters it? You cannot shorten my life except by +God's permission." The German soldier, uttering a blasphemous oath, +plunged his sword into the admiral's breast. + + "_Jugulumque parans, immota tonebat_ + _Ora senex._" + +Others in the room struck him also, Behm repeating his blows until the +admiral fell to the floor. The murderer now ran to the window and +shouted into the court-yard, "It is all over." Henry of Guise, who had +been impatiently ordering his creatures to make haste, was not satisfied. +"Monsieur d'Angoulême will not believe it unless he sees him," returned +the Duke. Behm raised the body from the ground, and dragged it to the +window to throw it out; but life was not quite extinct, and the admiral +placed his foot against the wall, faintly resisting the attempt. "Is it +so, old fox?" exclaimed the murderer, who drew his dagger and stabbed +him several times. Then, assisted by Sarlabous, he threw the body down. +It was hardly to be recognized. The bastard of Angoulême--the chevalier +as he is called in some of the narratives--wiped the blood from the face +of the corpse. "Yes, it is he; I know him well," said Guise, kicking the +body as he spoke. "Well done, my men," he continued, "we have made a +good beginning. Forward--by the King's command." He mounted his horse +and rode out of the court-yard, followed by Nevers, who cynically +exclaimed as he looked at the body, "_Sic transit gloria mundi_." +Tosinghi took the chain of gold--the insignia of his office--from the +admiral's neck, and Petrucci, a gentleman in the train of the Duke of +Nevers, cut off the head and carried it away carefully to the Louvre. Of +all who were found in the house, not one was spared except Ambrose Paré, +who was escorted in safety to the palace by a detachment of Anjou's +guard. + +Coligny's headless trunk was left for some hours where it fell, until it +became the sport of rabble children, who dragged it all round Paris. +They tried to burn it, but did little more than scorch and blacken the +remains, which were first thrown into the river, and then taken out +again "as unworthy to be food for fish," says Claude Haton. In accordance +with the old sentence of the Paris Parliament, it was dragged by the +hangman to the common gallows at Montfaucon, and there hanged up by the +heels. All the court went to gratify their eyes with the sight, and +Charles, unconsciously imitating the language of Vitellius, said, as he +drew near the offensive corpse, "The smell of a dead enemy is always +sweet." The body was left hanging for a fortnight or more, after which +it was privily taken down by the admiral's cousin, Marshal Montmorency, +and it now rests, after many removals, in a wall among the ruins of his +hereditary castle of Chatillon-sur-Loing. What became of the head no one +knows. + +When Guise left the admiral's corpse lying in the court-yard, he went +to the adjoining house, in which Teligny lived. All the inmates were +killed, but he escaped by the roof. Twice he fell into the hands of the +enemy, and twice he was spared; he perished at last by the sword of a +man who knew not his amiable and inoffensive character. His neighbor +La Rochefoucault was perhaps more fortunate in his fate. He had hardly +fallen asleep when he was disturbed by the noise in the street. He heard +shouts and the sound of many footsteps; and scarcely awake and utterly +unsuspicious, he went to his bedroom door at the first summons in the +King's name. He seems to have thought that Charles, indulging in one of +his usual mad frolics, had come to punish him as he had punished others, +like schoolboys. He opened the door and fell dead across the threshold, +pierced by a dozen weapons. + +When the messenger returned from the Duke of Guise with the answer that +it was "too late," Catherine, fearing that such disobedience to the +royal commands might incense the King and awaken him to a sense of all +the horrors that were about to be perpetrated in his name, privately +gave orders to anticipate the hour. Instead of waiting until the matin +bell should ring out from the old clock tower of the Palace of Justice, +she directed the signal to be given from the nearer belfry of St. +Germain l'Auxerrois. As the harsh sound rang through the air of that +warm summer night, it was caught up and echoed from tower to tower, +rousing all Paris from their slumbers. + +Immediately from every quarter of that ancient city uprose a tumult as +of hell. The clanging of bells, the crashing doors, the rush of armed +men, the musket-shots, the shrieks of their victims, and high over all +the yells of the mob, fiercer and more pitiless than hungry wolves--made +such an uproar that the stoutest hearts shrank appalled, and the sanest +appear to have lost their reason. Women unsexed, men wanting but the +strength of the wild beast, children without a single charm of youth or +innocence, crowded the streets where rising day still struggled with +the glare of a thousand torches. They smelt the odor of blood, and, +thirsting to indulge their passions for once with impunity, committed +horrors that have become the marvel of history. + +Within the walls of the Louvre, within the hearing of Charles and his +mother, if not actually within their sight, one of the foulest scenes of +this detestable tragedy was enacted. At daybreak, says Queen Margaret of +Navarre, her husband rose to go and play tennis, with a determination +to be present at the King's _lever_, and demand justice for the assault +on the admiral. He left his apartment, accompanied by the Huguenot +gentlemen who had kept watch around him during the night. At the foot +of the stairs he was arrested, while the gentlemen with him were +disarmed, apparently without any attempt at resistance. A list of them +had been carefully drawn up, which the sire D'O, quartermaster of the +guards, read out. As each man answered his name, he stepped into the +court-yard, where he had to make his way through a double line of Swiss +mercenaries. Sword, spear, and halberd made short work of them, and two +hundred, according to Davila, of the best blood of France soon lay a +ghastly pile beneath the windows of the palace. Charles, it is said, +looked on coldly at the horrid deed, the victims appealing in vain to +his mercy. Among the gentlemen they murdered were two who had been +boldest in their language to the King not many hours before--Segur, +Baron of Pardaillan, and Armand de Clermont, Baron of Pilles, who with +stentorian voices called upon the King to be true to his word. De +Pilles took off his rich cloak and offered it to someone whom he +recognized: "Here is a present from the hand of De Pilles, basely and +traitorously murdered." + +"I am not the man you take me for," said the other, refusing the cloak. +The Swiss plundered their victims as they fell, and, pointing to the +heap of half-naked bodies, described them to the spectators as the men +who had conspired to kill the King and all the royal family in their +sleep, and make France a republic. But more disgraceful than even this +massacre was the conduct of some of the ladies in Catherine's train, of +her "flying squadron," who, later in the day, inspected and laughed at +the corpses as they lay stripped in the court-yard, being especially +curious about the body of Soubise, from whom his wife had sought to be +divorced on the ground of nullity of marriage. + +A few gentlemen succeeded in escaping from this slaughter. Margaret, +"seeing it was daylight," and imagining the danger past of which her +sister had told her, fell asleep. But her slumbers were soon rudely +broken. "An hour later," she continues, "I was awoke by a man knocking +at the door and calling, 'Navarre! Navarre!' The nurse, thinking it was +my husband, ran and opened it. It was a gentleman named Léran, who had +received a sword-cut in the elbow and a spear-thrust in the arm; four +soldiers were pursuing him, and they all rushed into my chamber after +him. Wishing to save his life, he threw himself upon my bed. Finding +myself clasped in his arms, I got out on the other side; he followed me, +still clinging to me. I did not know the man, and could not tell whether +he came to insult me or whether the soldiers were after him or me. We +both shouted out, being equally frightened. At last, by God's mercy, +Captain de Nançay of the guards came in, and, seeing me in this condition, +could not help laughing, although commiserating me. Severely reprimanding +the soldiers for their indiscretion, he turned them out of the room, and +granted me the life of the poor man who still clung to me. I made him +lie down and had his wounds dressed in my closet until he was quite +cured. While changing my night-dress, which was all covered with blood, +the captain told me what had happened, and assured me that my husband +was with the King and quite unharmed. He then conducted me to the room +of my sister of Lorraine, which I reached more dead than alive. As I +entered the anteroom, the doors of which were open, a gentleman named +Bourse, running from the soldiers who pursued him, was pierced by a +halberd three paces from me. I fell almost fainting into Captain de +Nançay's arms, imagining the same thrust had pierced us both. Being +somewhat recovered, I entered the little room where my sister slept. +While there De Moissans, my husband's first gentleman, and Armagnac, his +first _valet-de-chambre_, came and begged me to save their lives. I +went and threw myself at the feet of the King and the Queen--my +mother--to ask the favor, which they at last granted me." + +When Captain de Nançay arrived so opportunely, he was leaving the +King's chamber, whither he had conducted Henry of Navarre and the +Prince of Condé. The tumult and excitement had worked Charles up to +such a pitch of fury that the lives of the princes were hardly safe. +But they were gentlemen, and their first words were to reproach the +King for his breach of faith. Charles bade them be silent--"_Messe ou +mort_"--("Apostatize or die"). Henry demanded time to consider; while +the Prince boldly declared that he would not change his religion: +"With God's help it is my intention to remain firm in my profession." +Charles, exasperated still more by this opposition to his will, angrily +walked up and down the room, and swore that if they did not change in +three days he would have their heads. They were then dismissed, but +kept close prisoners within the palace. + +The houses in which the Huguenots lodged, having been registered, were +easily known. The soldiers burst into them, killing all they found, +without regard to age or sex, and if any escaped to the roof they were +shot down like pigeons. Daylight served to facilitate a work that was +too foul even for the blackest midnight. Restraint of every kind was +thrown aside, and while the men were the victims of bigoted fury, the +women were exposed to violence unutterable. As if the popular frenzy +needed excitement, Marshal Tavannes, the military director of this deed +of treachery, rode through the streets with dripping sword, shouting: +"Kill! Kill! Bloodletting is as good in August as in May." One would +charitably hope that this was the language of excitement, and that in +his calmer moods he would have repented of his share in the massacre. +But he was consistent to the last. On his death-bed he made a general +confession of his sins, in which he did not mention the day of St. +Bartholomew; and when his son expressed surprise at the omission, he +observed, "I look upon that as a meritorious action, which ought to +atone for all the sins of my life." + +The massacre soon exceeded the bounds upon which Charles and his mother +had calculated. They were willing enough that the Huguenots should be +murdered; but the murderers might not always be able to draw the line +between orthodoxy and heresy. Things were fast getting beyond all +control; the thirst for plunder was even keener than the thirst for +blood. And it is certain that among the many ignoble motives by which +Charles was induced to permit the massacre, was the hope of enriching +himself and paying his debts out of the property of the murdered +Huguenots. Nor were Anjou and others insensible to the charms of +heretical property. Hence we find the provost of Paris remonstrating +with the King about "the pillaging of the houses and the murders in the +streets by the guards and others in the service of his majesty and the +princes." Charles, in reply, bade the magistrates "mount their horses, +and with all the force of the city put an end to such irregularities, +and remain on the watch day and night." Another proclamation, +countersigned by Nevers, was issued about five in the afternoon, +commanding the people to lay down the arms which they had taken up "that +day by the King's orders," and to leave the streets to the soldiers +only--as if implying that they alone were to kill and plunder. + +The massacre, commenced on Sunday, was continued through that and the +two following days. Capilupi tells us, with wonderful simplicity, "that +it was a holiday, and therefore the people could more conveniently find +leisure to kill and plunder." It is impossible to assign to each day its +task of blood; in all but a few exceptional cases, we know merely that +the victims perished in the general slaughter. Writing in the midst of +the carnage, probably not later than noon on the 24th, the nuncio +Salviati says: "The whole city is in arms; the houses of the Huguenots +have been forced with great loss of life, and sacked by the populace +with incredible avidity. Many a man to-night will have his horses and +his carriage, and will eat and drink off plate, who had never dreamed of +it in his life before. In order that matters may not go too far, and to +prevent the revolting disorders occasioned by the insolence of the mob, +a proclamation has just been issued, declaring that there shall be three +hours in the day during which it shall be unlawful to rob and kill; and +the order is observed, though not universally. You can see nothing in +the streets but white crosses in the hats and caps of everyone you meet, +which has a fine effect!" The nuncio says nothing of the streets +encumbered with bleeding corpses, nothing of the cart-loads of bodies +conveyed to the Seine, and then flung into the river, "so that not only +were all the waters in it turned to blood, but so many corpses grounded +on the bank of the little island of Louvre that the air became infected +with the smell of corruption." The living, tied hand and foot, were +thrown off the bridges. One man--probably a rag-gatherer--brought two +little children in his creel, and tossed them into the water as +carelessly as if they had been blind kittens. An infant, yet unable to +walk, had a cord tied round its neck, and was dragged through the +streets by a troop of children nine or ten years old. Another played +with the beard and smiled in the face of the man who carried him; but +the innocent caress exasperated instead of softened the ruffian, who +stabbed the child, and with an oath threw it into the Seine. Among +the earliest victims was the wife of the King's _plumassier_. The +murderers broke into her house on the Notre-Dame bridge, about four in +the morning, stabbed her, and flung her still breathing into the river. +She clung for some time to the wooden piles of the bridge, and was +killed at last with stones, her body remaining for four days entangled +by her long hair among the woodwork. The story goes that her husband's +corpse, being thrown over, fell against hers and set it free, both +floating away together down the stream. Madeleine Briçonnet, the widow +of Theobald of Yverni, disguised herself as a woman of the people, so +that she might save her life, but was betrayed by the fine petticoat +which hung below her coarse gown. As she would not recant, she was +allowed a few moments' prayer, and then tossed into the water. Her +son-in-law, the marquis Renel, escaping in his shirt, was chased by the +murderers to the bank of the river, where he succeeded in unfastening a +boat. He would have got away altogether but for his cousin Bussy +d'Amboise, who shot him down with a pistol. One Keny, who had been +stabbed and flung into the Seine, was revived by the reaction of the +cold water. Feeble as he was he swam to a boat and clung to it, but was +quickly pursued. One hand was soon cut off with a hatchet, and as he +still continued to steer the boat down the stream, he was "quieted" by a +musket-shot. One Puviaut, or Pluviaut, who met with a similar fate, +became the subject of a ballad. + +Captain Moneins had been put into a safe hiding-place by his friend +Fervacques, who went and begged the King to spare the life of the +fugitive. Charles not only refused, but ordered him to kill Moneins if +he desired to save his own life. Fervacques would not stain his own +hands, but made his friend's hiding-place known. + +Brion, governor of the young Marquis of Conti, the Prince of Condé's +brother, snatched the child from his bed, and, without stopping to dress +him, was hurrying away to a place of safety, when the boy was torn from +his arms, and he himself murdered before the eyes of his pupil. We are +told that the child "cried and begged they would save his tutor's life." + +The houses on the bridge of Notre-Dame, inhabited principally by +Protestants, were witnesses to many a scene of cruelty. All the inmates +of one house were massacred, except a little girl, who was dipped stark +naked in the blood of her father and mother and threatened to be served +like them if she turned Huguenot. The Protestant booksellers and +printers were particularly sought after. Spire Niquet was burned over a +slow fire made out of his own books, and thrown lifeless, but not dead, +into the river. Oudin Petit fell a victim to the covetousness of his +son-in-law, who was a Catholic bookseller. Rene Bianchi, the Queen's +perfumer, is reported to have killed with his own hands a young man, a +cripple, who had already displayed much skill in goldsmith's work. This +is the only man whose death the King lamented, "because of his excellent +workmanship, for his shop was entirely stripped." + +Mezeray writes that seven hundred or eight hundred people had taken +refuge in the prisons, hoping they would be safe "under the wings of +Justice"; but the officers selected for this work had brought them into +the fitly named "Valley of Misery," and there beat them to death with +clubs and threw their bodies into the river. The Venetian ambassador +corroborates this story, adding that they were murdered in batches of +ten. Where all were cruel, some few persons distinguished themselves by +especial ferocity. A gold-beater, named Crozier, one of those +prison-murderers, bared his sinewy arm and boasted of having killed four +thousand persons with his own hands. Another man--for the sake of human +nature we would fain wish him to be the same--affirmed that unaided he +had "despatched" eighty Huguenots in one day. He would eat his food with +hands dripping with gore, declaring "that it was an honor to him, +because it was the blood of heretics." On Tuesday a butcher, Crozier's +comrade, boasted to the King that he had killed one hundred fifty the +night before. Coconnas, one of the _mignons_ of Anjou, prided himself +on having ransomed from the populace as many as thirty Huguenots, for +the pleasure of making them abjure, and then killing them with his own +hand, after he had "secured them for hell." + +About seven o'clock the King was at one of the windows of his palace, +enjoying the air of that beautiful August morning, when he was startled +by shouts of "Kill, kill!" They were raised by a body of guards, who +were firing with much more noise than execution at a number of Huguenots +who had crossed the river--"to seek the King's protection," says one +account; "to help the King against the Guises," says another. Charles, +who had just been telling his mother that "the weather seemed to rejoice +at the slaughter of the Huguenots," felt all his savage instincts kindle +at the sight. He had hunted wild beasts; now he would hunt men, and, +calling for an arquebuse, he fired at the fugitives, who were +fortunately out of range. Some modern writers deny this fact, on the +ground that the balcony from which Charles is said to have fired was not +built until after 1572. Were this true, it would only show that +tradition had misplaced the locality. Brantome expressly says the King +fired on the Huguenots--not from a balcony, but--"from his bedroom +window." Marshal Tesse heard the story, according to Voltaire, from the +man who loaded the arquebuse. Henault, in his _Abrégé chronologique_, +mentions it with a "_dit-on_" and it is significant that the passage +is suppressed in Latin editions. Simon Goulart, in his contemporary +narrative, uses the same words of caution. + +Not many of the Huguenot gentlemen escaped from the toils so skilfully +drawn round them on that fatal Saturday night: yet there were a few. The +Count of Montgomery--the same who was the innocent cause of the death of +Henry II--got away safe, having been forewarned by a friend who swam +across the river to him. Guise set off in hot pursuit, and would +probably have caught him up had he not been waiting for the keys of the +city gate. Some sixty gentlemen, also, lodging near him in the Faubourg +St. Germain, were the companions of his flight. + +Sully, afterward the famous minister of Henry IV, had a narrow escape. +He was in his twelfth year, and had gone to Paris in the train of Joan +of Navarre for the purpose of continuing his studies. "About three after +midnight," he says, "I was awoke by the ringing of bells and the +confused cries of the populace. My governor, St. Julian, with my +_valet-de-chambre_, went out to know the cause; and I never heard +of them afterward. They, no doubt, were among the first sacrificed to +the public fury. I continued alone in my chamber, dressing myself, when +in a few moments my landlord entered, pale and in the most utmost +consternation. He was of the Reformed religion, and, having learned what +was the matter, had consented to go to mass to save his life and +preserve his house from being pillaged. He came to persuade me to do the +same and to take me with him. I did not think proper to follow him, but +resolved to try if I could gain the College of Burgundy, where I had +studied; though the great distance between the house in which I then was +and the college made the attempt very dangerous. Having disguised myself +in a scholar's gown, I put a large prayer-book under my arm, and went +into the street. I was seized with horror inexpressible at the sight of +the furious murderers, running from all parts, forcing open the houses, +and shouting out: 'Kill, kill! Massacre the Huguenots!' The blood which +I saw shed before my eyes, redoubled my terror. I fell into the midst of +a body of guards, who stopped and questioned me, and were beginning to +use me ill, when, happily for me, the book that I carried was perceived +and served me for a passport. Twice after this I fell into the same +danger, from which I extricated myself with the same good-fortune. At +last I arrived at the College of Burgundy, where a danger still greater +than any that I had yet met with awaited me. The porter having twice +refused me entrance, I continued standing in the midst of the street, at +the mercy of the savage murderers, whose number increased every moment, +and who were evidently seeking for their prey, when it came into my head +to ask for La Faye, the principal of the college, a good man, by whom I +was tenderly beloved. The porter, prevailed upon by some small pieces of +money which I put in his hand, admitted me; and my friend carried me to +his apartment, where two inhuman priests whom I heard mention 'Sicilian +Vespers,' wanted to force me from him, that they might cut me in pieces, +saying the order was, not to spare even infants at the breast. All the +good man could do was to conduct me privately to a distant chamber, +where he locked me up. Here I was confined three days, uncertain of my +destiny, and saw no one but a servant of my friend's, who came from time +to time to bring me provisions." + +Not until the second day does there appear to have been any remorse or +pity for the horrors inflicted upon the wretched Huguenots. Elizabeth of +Austria, the young Queen who hoped shortly to become a mother, +interceded for Condé, and so great was her agitation and distress that +her "features were quite disfigured by the tears she had shed night and +day." And, the Duke of Alençon, a youth of by no means lovable +character, "wept much," we are told, "over the fate of those brave +captains and soldiers." For this tenderness he was so bitterly +reproached by Charles and his mother that he was forced to keep out of +their sight. Alençon was partial to Coligny, and when there was found +among the admiral's papers a report in which he condemned appanages, the +grants usually given by the crown to the younger members of the royal +family, Catherine exultingly showed it to him--"See what a fine friend +he was to you." + +"I know not how far he may have been my friend," replied the Duke, "but +the advice he gave me was very good." + +If Mezeray is to be trusted, Charles broke down on the second day of the +massacre. Since Saturday he had been in a state of extraordinary +excitement, more like madness than sanity, and at last his mind gave way +under the pressure. To his surgeon, Ambrose Paré, who kept at his side +all through these dreadful hours, he said: "I do not know what ails me. +For these two or three days past, both mind and body have been quite +upset. I burn with fever; all around me grin pale blood-stained faces. +Ah! Ambrose, if they had but spared the weak and innocent." A change, +indeed, had come over him; be became more restless than ever, his looks +savage, his buffoonery coarser and more boisterous. "_Ne mai poteva +pigliar requie_" says Sigismond Cavalli. Like Macbeth, he had murdered +sleep. "I saw the King on my return from Rochelle," says Brantome, "and +found him entirely changed. His features had lost all the gentleness +[_douceur_] usually visible in them." + +"About a week after the massacre," says a contemporary, "a number of +crows flew croaking round and settled on the Louvre. The noise they made +drew everybody out to see them, and the superstitious women infected the +King with their own timidity. That very night Charles had not been in +bed two hours when he jumped up and called for the King of Navarre, to +listen to a horrible tumult in the air; shrieks, groans, yells, mingled +with blasphemous oaths and threats, just as they were heard on the night +of the massacre. The sound returned seven successive nights, precisely +at the same hour." Juvenal des Ursins tells the story rather +differently. "On August 31st I supped at the Louvre with Madame de +Fiesque. As the day was very hot we went down into the garden and sat in +an arbor by the river. Suddenly the air was filled with a horrible noise +of tumultuous voices and groans, mingled with cries of rage and madness. +We could not move for terror; we turned pale and were unable to speak. +The noise lasted for half an hour, and was heard by the King, who was so +terrified that he could not sleep the rest of the night." As for +Catherine; knowing that strong emotions would spoil her digestion and +impair her good looks, she kept up her spirits. "For my part," she said, +"there are only six of them on my conscience;" which is a lie, for when +she ordered the tocsin to be rung, she must have foreseen the +horrors--perhaps not all the horrors--that would ensue. + + + ISAAC D'ISRAELI + +An original document now lying before me, the autograph letter of +Charles IX, will prove that that unparalleled massacre, called by the +world religious, was, in the French cabinet, considered merely as +political; one of those revolting state expedients which a pretended +instant necessity has too often inflicted on that part of a nation +which, like the under-current, subterraneously works its way, and runs +counter to the great stream, till the critical moment arrives when one +or the other must cease. + +The massacre began on St. Bartholomew Day, in August, 1572, lasted in +France during seven days; that awful event interrupted the +correspondence of our court with that of France. A long silence ensued; +the one did not dare tell the tale which the other could not listen to. +But sovereigns know how to convert a mere domestic event into a +political expedient. Charles IX, on the birth of a daughter, sent over +an ambassador extraordinary to request Elizabeth to stand as sponsor; by +this the French monarch obtained a double purpose; it served to renew +his interrupted intercourse with the silent Queen, and alarmed the +French Protestants by abating their hopes, which long rested on the aid +of the English Queen. + +The following letter, dated February 8, 1573, is addressed by the King +to La Motte Fénelon, his resident ambassador at London. The King in this +letter minutely details a confidential intercourse with his mother, +Catherine de' Medici, who, perhaps, may have dictated this letter to the +secretary, although signed by the King with his own hand. Such minute +particulars could only have been known to herself. The Earl of +Wolchester (Worcester) was now taking departure, having come to Paris on +the baptism of the princess; and accompanied by Walsingham, our resident +ambassador, after taking leave of Charles, had the following interview +with Catherine de' Medici. An interview with the young monarch was +usually concluded by a separate audience with his mother, who probably +was still the directress of his councils. + +After Catherine de' Medici had assured the Earl of Worcester of her +great affection for the Queen of England, and the King's strict +intention to preserve it, she took this opportunity of inquiring of the +Earl of Worcester the cause of the Queen his mistress' marked coolness +toward them. The narrative becomes now dramatic. + +"On this, Walsingham, who always kept close by the side of the Count +[Earl of Worcester], here took on himself to answer, acknowledging that +the said Count had indeed been charged to speak on this head; and he +then addressed some words in English to Worcester. And afterward the +Count gave to my lady and mother to understand that the Queen his +mistress had been waiting for an answer on two articles; the one +concerning religion, and the other for an interview. + +"In regard to what has occurred these latter days, that he must have +seen how it happened by the fault of the chiefs of those who remained +here; for when the late admiral was treacherously wounded at Notre Dame, +he knew the affliction it threw us into--fearful that it might have +occasioned great troubles in this kingdom--and the diligence we used to +verify judicially whence it proceeded; and the verification was nearly +finished, when they were so forgetful as to raise a conspiracy, to +attempt the lives of myself, my lady and mother, and my brothers, and +endanger the whole state; which was the cause that to avoid this I was +compelled, to my very great regret, to permit what had happened in +Paris; but as he had witnessed, I gave orders to stop, as soon as +possible, this fury of the people, and place everyone on repose. On +this, the Sieur Walsingham replied to my lady and mother that the +exercise of the said religion had been interdicted in this kingdom. To +which she also answered that this had not been done but for a good and +holy purpose; namely, that the fury of the Catholic people might the +sooner be allayed, who else had been reminded of the past calamities, +and would again have been let loose against those of the said religion +had they continued to preach in this kingdom. Also should these once +more fix on any chiefs, which I will prevent as much as possible, giving +him clearly and pointedly to understand that what is done here is much +the same as what has been done and is now practised by the Queen his +mistress in her kingdom. For she permits the exercise but of one +religion, although there are many of her people who are of another; and +having also during her reign punished those of her subjects whom she +found seditious and rebellious. It is true this has been done by the +laws, but I, indeed, could not act in the same manner; for finding +myself in such imminent peril, and the conspiracy raised against me and +mine and my kingdom ready to be executed, I had no time to arraign and +try in open justice as much as I wished, but was constrained, to my very +great regret, to strike the blow [_lascher la main_] in what has been +done in this city." + +This letter of Charles IX, however, does not here conclude. "My lady and +mother" plainly acquaints the Earl of Worcester and Sir Francis +Walsingham that her son had never interfered between their mistress and +her subjects, and in return expects the same favor although, by accounts +they had received from England, many ships were arming to assist their +rebels at La Rochelle. "My lady and mother" advances another step, and +declares that Elizabeth by treaty is bound to assist her son against his +rebellious subjects; and they expect, at least, that Elizabeth will not +only stop these armaments in all her ports, but exemplarily punish the +offenders. I resume the letter. + +"And on hearing this, the said Walsingham changed color, and appeared +somewhat astonished, as my lady and mother well perceived by his face; +and on this he requested the Count of Worcester to mention the order +which he knew the Queen his mistress had issued to prevent these people +from assisting those of La Rochelle; but that in England, so numerous +were the seamen and others who gained their livelihood by maritime +affairs, and who would starve without the entire freedom of the seas, +that it was impossible to interdict them." + +Such is the first letter on English affairs which Charles IX despatched +to his ambassador, after an awful silence of six months, during which +time La Motte Fénelon was not admitted into the presence of Elizabeth. +The apology for the massacre of St. Bartholomew comes from the King +himself, and contains several remarkable expressions, which are at least +divested of that style of bigotry and exultation we might have expected: +on the contrary, this sanguinary and inconsiderate young monarch, as he +is represented, writes in a subdued and sorrowing tone, lamenting his +hard necessity, regretting he could not have recourse to the laws, and +appealing to others for his efforts to check the fury of the people, +which he himself had let loose. Catherine de' Medici, who had governed +from the tender age of eleven years, when he ascended the throne, might +unquestionably have persuaded him that a conspiracy was on the point of +explosion. Charles IX died young, and his character is unfavorably +viewed by the historians. In the voluminous correspondence which I have +examined, could we judge by state letters of the character of him who +subscribes them, we must form a very different notion; they are so +prolix and so earnest that one might conceive they were dictated by the +young monarch himself! + + +[Illustration: Catherine de Medici, accompanied by her suite, issues +from the gate of the Louvre the morning after the massacre of St. +Bartholomew + +Painting by Ed. Debat-Ponsan.] + + + JNO. RUDD + +Popular error has done more injury to the memory of Catherine de' Medici +than to that of any other woman famous in history. To understand +Catherine, and the part she played on the stage of French politics, her +training and the position she held must be understood. It is one thing +to look upon her on the obverse as wholly without heart, a trafficker in +human life, a ghoul who smiled with complacency on the victims of her +hate, and another to look on the reverse of the medal. The Massacre of +St. Bartholomew is pointed to as a crime--a religious crime. But is this +true? It may not have been an act in accordance with twentieth-century +morality, but bad, horrible indeed as it was, were there not extenuating +circumstances attending it--looked upon in the light of that age? To +Catherine de' Medici--perhaps justly--has been given the credit--or +infamy, if you will--of its conception and execution. + +"Historians are privileged liars"--this is a truism as valid to-day as +when expressed by its brilliant creator. The throne of France was saved +by Catherine de' Medici, the royal power was maintained by her under +such difficulties as few rulers would have withstood. She is painted by +Catholic and Protestant writers alike as standing without the gates of +the Louvre, the morning after the massacre, and there gloating over the +bodies of the slain lying about the palace entrance. + +Apart from her political duty, as she understood it, and which meant the +upholding of the monarchy, Catherine was a true woman; kind to her +suite, faithful to her friends. She had none of the weaknesses of her +sex; she lived chaste amid the debauchery of the most licentious court +in Europe. The losses to art caused by the destructive Calvinists she +replaced by erecting noble buildings and beautifying Paris. But she had +the sense of royalty developed to the utmost; she defended it to the +extreme. In France the opposition was always Protestant. It was her +enemy, the enemy of the crown, the arch-enemy of France. It is laid to +her charge that she coquetted with the Huguenots, whom she afterward +slew. This there is no denying; she had but her craft with which to +oppose the Guise faction, the various court cliques, and the Huguenots +themselves. + +An expert at the game, she played one piece against another, skilfully +avoiding the checkmate. Pawns might be lost, bishops fall to her hand, +knights be unhorsed, but her king was secured. She could only triumph by +cunning. + +A state cannot be governed by the same rule of morality as that which +should govern individual conduct; it is impossible that it should be so. +Professor Saintsbury says: "Every cool-headed student of history and +ethics will admit that it was precisely the abuse of the principle at +this time, and by the persons of whom Catherine de' Medici, if not the +most blamable, _has had the most blame put on her_, that brought the +principle itself into discredit."[1] + + [1] The author, not Professor Saintsbury, is responsible for the + Italics. + +Casimir Périer, the noted French statesman, wrote, "All power is a +permanent conspiracy." This is as true to-day in republican America as +it was at that time in monarchical France. And it was not religion, as +such, that led to the horrible scenes of that fatal August 24th; it was +a move in the game of politics. Protestantism spelt republicanism; to +one raised as Catherine had been, taught her life through by bitter +experience, any means available, any course adopted, was righteous if it +answered the purpose of saving the realm. + +Research into this period will amply repay the explorer with enlarged +ideas of its meaning and its issues. Of the Queen-mother "naught +extenuate nor aught set down in malice." Catherine compares more than +favorably with Marie de' Medici, whom history has painted in brighter +hue. Bigotry has blasted the name of one who for her time was at least +the equal of any ruler in Europe. + + + + + HEROIC AGE OF THE NETHERLANDS + + SIEGE OF LEYDEN + + A.D. 1573 + + THOMAS HENRY DYER + + + Events followed one another rapidly after the rising of the + Netherlanders in 1566. The organization of the Gueux ("beggars"), + the league of noblemen pledged to resist the introduction of the + Inquisition into the Low Countries by Philip II of Spain, had shown + itself prepared for extreme action in self-defence. The name Gueux, + first used in contempt, was borne in honor by the patriots in the + ensuing war, which Philip conducted as a "war of extermination." + + In 1567 the Duke of Alva, a famous veteran of the wars of Charles V + and of Philip, was sent to the Netherlands as governor, where his + cruelties soon made him notorious. He established the court known as + the Council of Blood, which first sat in September, 1567. In less + than three months this tribunal put to death eighteen hundred + persons, including Horn, Egmont, and other eminent patriots. As many + as one hundred thousand of the population are said to have emigrated + at this time to England. + + William of Orange, the great leader of the Netherlanders, refused to + appear before the Council of Blood. He had resigned his offices, + civil and military, and now retired to Dillenburg, still proclaiming + his adhesion to the Protestant faith. But in 1568 he gathered two + armies. Alva destroyed one of them, and the other was disbanded. In + 1570 William issued letters of marque to seamen who were nicknamed + "Sea Beggars," and bore a prominent part in the war of independence. + In 1572 they captured Briel. That year Mons was captured by Louis of + Nassau, William's brother, but in September it was retaken by Alva. + In Dyer's narrative the subsequent course of events, to the + Pacification of Ghent, is clearly and succinctly traced. + + +Soon after the capture of Mons, Alva went to Brussels and left the +conduct of the war to his son, Frederick de Toledo. Zutphen and Naarden +successively yielded to Frederick's arms, and became the scenes of the +most detestable violence. Alva ordered his son not to leave a single man +alive in Zutphen, and to burn down all the houses--commands which were +almost literally obeyed. The treatment of Naarden was still more +revolting. The town had capitulated, and Don Julian Romero, an officer +of Don Frederick's, had pledged his word that the lives and property of +the inhabitants should be respected. Romero then entered the town with +some five hundred musketeers, for whom the citizens provided a sumptuous +feast; and he summoned the inhabitants to assemble in the Gast Huis +Church, then used as a town hall. More than five hundred of them had +entered the church when a priest, suddenly rushing in, bade them prepare +for death. Scarcely had the announcement been made when a band of +Spanish soldiers entered and, after discharging a volley into the +defenceless crowd, attacked them sword in hand. The church was then +fired and the dead and dying consumed together. + +But these cruelties only steeled the Hollanders to a more obstinate +resistance; nor must it be concealed that in these _plusquam civilia +bella_, where civil hatred was still further embittered by sectarian +malignancy, the Dutch sometimes displayed as much savageness as their +adversaries. Thus, during the struggle in Zealand, a surgeon at Veer cut +out the heart of a Spanish prisoner, and, fixing it on the prow of a +vessel, invited his fellow-townsmen to fix their teeth in it, an +invitation with which many complied. + +The war was continued during the winter (1572-1573). In December the +Spaniards marched to attack a fleet frozen up near Amsterdam. It was +defended by a body of Dutch musketeers on skates, who, by the superior +skill of their evolutions, drove the enemy back and killed great numbers +of them. In consequence of this extraordinary combat, Alva ordered seven +thousand pairs of skates, and directed his soldiers to be instructed in +their use. Siege was then laid to Haarlem, which town, warned by the +fate of Zutphen and Naarden, made a defence that astonished all Europe. +A corps of three hundred respectable women, armed with musket, sword, +and dagger, and led by Kenan Hasselaer, a widow lady of distinguished +family, about forty-seven years of age, enrolled themselves among its +defenders, and partook in some of the most fiercely contested actions. +Battles took place upon Haarlem Lake, on which the Prince of Orange had +more than a hundred sail of various kinds; till at length Bossu, whose +vessels were larger, though less numerous, entirely defeated the +Hollanders, and swept the lake in triumph (May 28, 1573). The siege had +lasted seven months, and Frederick de Toledo, who had lost a great part +of his army by hunger, cold, and pestilence, was inclined to abandon the +enterprise; but he was kept to it by the threats of his father, and on +the 12th of July Haarlem surrendered. Don Frederick had written a letter +solemnly assuring the besieged that no punishment should be inflicted +except on those who deserved it in the opinion of the citizens +themselves, yet he was in possession of strict orders from his father to +put to death the whole garrison, except the Germans, and also to execute +a large number of the inhabitants. Between two and three thousand were +slaughtered; three hundred were drowned in the lake tied by twos back to +back. + +The resistance of Haarlem and other places determined Alva to try what +might be done by an affectation of clemency; and on the 26th of July he +issued a proclamation in which Philip was compared to a hen gathering +its chickens under the parental wing. But in the same breath his +subjects were admonished not to excite his rage, cruelty, and fury, and +they were threatened that if his gracious offers of mercy were +neglected, his majesty would strip bare and utterly depopulate the land, +and cause it to be again inhabited by strangers. So ludicrous a specimen +of paternal love was not calculated to excite much confidence in the +breasts of the Hollanders, and Alkmaar, the next town to which Don +Frederick laid siege, though defended only by eight hundred soldiers and +thirteen hundred citizens against sixteen thousand veterans, also +resolved to hold out to the last extremity. Enraged at this contempt of +what he called his clemency, at Haarlem, Alva resolved to make Alkmaar +an example of his cruelty, and he wrote to Philip that everyone in it +should be put to the sword. But the inhabitants made a heroic defence +and repulsed the besiegers in many a bloody assault; till at length the +superstitious Spaniards, believing that the place was defended by the +devil, whom they thought that the Protestants worshipped, refused to +mount to the attack, suffering themselves rather to be run through the +body by their officers; and Don Frederick, finding from an intercepted +letter that the Prince of Orange contemplated cutting the dikes and +flooding the country, in order to prevent the place from being +surrendered, raised the siege (October 8th) after it had lasted seven +weeks. + +About this time William published his _Epistle in the form of +supplication to his Royal Majesty of Spain, from the Prince of Orange +and States of Holland and Zealand_, which produced a profound +impression. It demanded that the privileges of the country should be +restored, and insisted on the recall of the Duke of Alva, whose +atrocities were vigorously described and condemned. Orange, as +stadtholder, was now acting as the King's representative in Holland, +and gave all his orders in Philip's name. He had recently turned +Calvinist, and in October publicly joined the Church at Dort. It was +reserved for the two greatest princes of the age to alleviate by their +apostasy, which, however, approached more nearly than the orthodoxy of +their adversaries, the spirit of true Christianity, the evils inflicted +on society by a consistent but bloody-minded and intolerant bigotry. + +The siege of Alkmaar was one of the last acts under Alva's auspices in +the Netherlands, and formed a fitting termination to his career. He had +himself solicited to be recalled, and in December, 1573, he was +superseded by Don Luis de Requesens, Grand Commander of St. Jago. In +fact, Philip had found this war of extermination too expensive for his +exhausted treasury. Alva boasted on his journey back that he had caused +eighteen thousand six hundred Netherlanders to be executed. He was well +received by Philip, but soon after his return was imprisoned along with +his son, Don Frederick; the latter for having seduced a maid of honor, +his father for recommending him not to marry his victim. Alva was, +however, subsequently released to undertake the conquest of Portugal. + +Requesens, the new Governor, had been vice-admiral to Don John of +Austria, had distinguished himself at the battle of Lepanto, and had +subsequently governed the Milanese with reputation. He was mild and just +and more liberal than the generality of Spaniards, though inferior to +Alva in military talent. He attempted immediately after his arrival in +the Netherlands to bring about a peace through the mediation of St. +Aldegonde, but Orange was too suspicious to enter into it. Requesens put +down robbery and murder, but he was neither able to abrogate the Council +of Blood nor to alleviate the oppressive taxes. Philip had selected him +as governor of the Netherlands, as a pledge of the more conciliatory +policy which he had thought it prudent to adopt; yet Requesens' hands +were tied up with such injunctions as rendered all conciliation +hopeless, and he was instructed to bring forward no measures which had +not for their basis the maintenance of the King's absolute authority and +the prohibition of all worship except the Roman Catholic. + +The Gueux de Mer were at this time most troublesome to the Spaniards, as +their small vessels enabled them to penetrate up the rivers and canals. +A naval action had been fought (October 11, 1573) on the Zuyder Zee +between Count Bossu, who had collected a considerable fleet at +Amsterdam, and the patriot admiral Dirkzoon, in which Bossu was +completely defeated and taken prisoner. One of the first acts of +Requesens was to send a fleet under Sancho Davila, Julian Romero, and +Admiral Glimes to the relief of Middelburg, which had been besieged by +the patriots upward of eighteen months and was now reduced to the last +extremity. Orange visited the Zealand fleet under the command of Louis +Boissot (January 20, 1574), and an action ensued a few days later, in +which the Spaniards were completely beaten. Requesens himself beheld the +action from the lofty dike of Schakerloo, where he stood all day in a +drenching rain; and Romero, who had escaped by jumping out of a +porthole, swam ashore and landed at the very feet of the Grand +Commander. The Hollanders and Zealanders were now masters of the coast, +but the Spaniards still held their ground in the interior of Holland. +After raising the siege of Alkmaar, they had invested Leyden and cut off +all communication between the Dutch cities. + +The efforts of the patriots were less fortunate on land, where they were +no match for the Spanish generals and their veteran troops. It had been +arranged that Louis of Nassau should march out of Germany with an army +of newly levied recruits and form a junction with his brother William, +who was at Bommel on the Waal. Toward the end of February, 1574, Louis +encamped within four miles of Maestricht, with the design of taking that +town; but finding that he could not accomplish this object, and having +suffered some losses, he marched down the right bank of the Meuse to +join his brother. When, however, he arrived at Mook, a village on the +Meuse a few miles south of Nimwegen, he found himself intercepted by the +Spaniards under Davila, who, having outmarched him on the opposite bank, +had crossed the river at a lower point on a bridge of boats, and placed +himself directly in his path. There was now no alternative but to fight, +and battle was delivered on the following day on the heath of Mook, when +fortune declared against the patriots. The gallant Louis, seeing that +the day was lost, put himself at the head of a little band of troopers, +and, accompanied by his brother Henry, and Duke Christopher, son of the +Elector Palatine Frederick III, made a desperate charge in which they +all perished, and were never heard of more. The only effect of Louis' +invasion was to cause the Spaniards to raise the siege of Leyden; before +which place, however, they afterward again sat down (May 26th). + +The defence of Leyden formed a worthy parallel to that of Haarlem and +Alkmaar, and acquired for the garrison and the inhabitants the respect +and admiration of all Europe. A modern historian has aptly observed that +this was the heroic age of Protestantism. Never have the virtues which +spring from true patriotism and sincere religious conviction been more +strikingly developed and displayed. Leyden was defended by John van der +Does, Lord of Nordwyck, a gentleman of distinguished family, but still +more distinguished by his learning and genius, and his Latin poetry +published under the name of Joannes Douza. The garrison of Leyden was +small, and it relied for its defence chiefly on the exertions of the +inhabitants. The revictualling of the city had been neglected after the +raising of the first siege, and at the end of June it became necessary +to put the inhabitants on short allowance; yet they held out more than +three months longer. Orange, whose head-quarters were at Delft and +Rotterdam, had no means of relieving Leyden except by breaking down the +dikes on the Meuse and the Yssel, and thus flooding the country, a step +which would involve the destruction of the growing crops, besides other +extraordinary expenses; yet he succeeded in obtaining the consent of the +Dutch States to this extreme and desperate measure. On the 3d of August +he superintended in person the rupture of the dikes on the Yssel; at the +same time the sluices of Rotterdam and Schiedam were opened; the flood +began to pour over the land, while the citizens of Leyden watched with +anxious eyes from the tower of Hengist the rising of the waters. + +A flotilla of two hundred flat-bottomed vessels had been provided, +stored with provisions, and manned by two thousand five hundred veterans +under the command of Boissot. But unexpected obstacles arose. Fresh +dikes appeared above the water, and had to be cut through amid the +resistance of the Spaniards. Twice the waters receded under the +influence of the east wind, and left the fleet aground; twice it was +floated again, as if by a providential interposition, by violent gales +from the north and west, which accumulated on the coast the waters of +the ocean. Meanwhile the besieged were suffering all the extremities of +famine; the most disgusting garbage was used for food, and caused a +pestilence which carried off thousands. In this extremity a number of +the citizens surrounded the burgomaster, Adrian van der Werf, demanding +with loud threats and clamors that he should either provide them with +food or surrender the city to the enemy. To these menaces Adrian calmly +replied, "I have taken an oath that I will never put myself or my +fellow-citizens in the power of the cruel and perfidious Spaniards, and +I will rather die than violate it." Then drawing his sword he offered it +to the surrounding crowd and bade them plunge it in his bosom and devour +his flesh if such an action could relieve them from their direful +necessity. This extraordinary address filled the people with amazement +and admiration and inspired them with a new courage. Their constancy was +soon rewarded with deliverance. On the night of October 1st a fresh gale +set in from the northwest; the ocean rushed furiously through the ruined +dikes; the fleet had soon two feet of water, and sailed on their onward +course amid storm and darkness. They had still to contend with the +vessels of the enemy, and a naval battle was fought amid the boughs of +orchards and the chimney-stacks of houses. But this was the last attempt +at resistance on the part of the Spaniards. Appalled both by the +constancy of their adversaries and by the rising flood, which was +gradually driving them into a narrow circle, the Spaniards abandoned the +two remaining forts of Zoetermonde and Lammen, which still stood between +the fleet and the city. From the latter they fled in alarm at the noise +of the falling of a large portion of the town walls which had been +thrown down by the waters, and which in the darkness they luckily +mistook for some operation of their adversaries; otherwise they might +easily have entered and captured Leyden. The fleet of Boissot approached +the city on the morning of October 3d. After the pangs of hunger were +relieved the whole population repaired to church to return thanks to the +Almighty for their deliverance. On October 4th another providential gale +from the northeast assisted in clearing off the water from the land. In +commemoration of this remarkable defence, and as a reward for the +heroism of the citizens, was founded the University of Leyden, as well +as a ten days' annual fair, free from all tolls and taxes. During this +siege the Gueux had been again successful at sea. On May 30th Boissot +defeated between Lilloo and Kalloo a Spanish fleet, took the admiral and +three ships, and chased the rest into Antwerp. + +The bankrupt state of Philip II's exchequer, and the reverses which his +arms had sustained, induced him to accept in the following year the +proffered mediation of the emperor Maximilian, which he had before +arrogantly rejected, and a congress was held at Breda from March till +June, 1575. But the insurgents were suspicious, and Philip was +inflexible; he could not be induced to dismiss his Spanish troops, to +allow the meeting of the States-General, or to admit the slightest +toleration in matters of religion; and the contest was therefore renewed +with more fury than ever. The situation of the patriots became very +critical when the enemy, by occupying the islands of Duyveland and +Schouwen, cut off the communication between Holland and Zealand, +especially as all hope of succor from England had expired. Toward the +close of the year envoys were despatched to solicit the aid of +Elizabeth, and to offer her, under certain conditions, the sovereignty +of Holland and Zealand. Requesens sent Champagny to counteract these +negotiations, which ended in nothing. The English Queen was afraid of +provoking the power of Spain, and could not even be induced to grant the +Hollanders a loan. The attitude assumed at that time by the Duke of +Alençon in France also prevented them from entering into any +negotiations with that Prince. + +In these trying circumstances William the Silent displayed the greatest +firmness and courage. It was now that he is said to have contemplated +abandoning Holland and seeking with its inhabitants a home in the New +World, having first restored the country to its ancient state of a waste +of waters, a thought, however, which he probably never seriously +entertained, though he may have given utterance to it in a moment of +irritation or despondency. On June 12, 1575, William had married +Charlotte de Bourbon, daughter of the Duke of Montpensier. The Prince's +second wife, Anne of Saxony, had turned out a drunken, violent +character, and at length an intrigue which she formed with John Rubens, +an exiled magistrate of Antwerp, and father of the celebrated painter, +justified William in divorcing her. She subsequently became insane. +Charlotte de Bourbon had been brought up a Calvinist, but at a later +period, her father having joined the party of the persecutors, she took +refuge with the Elector Palatine, and it was under these circumstances +that she received the addresses of the Prince of Orange. + +The unexpected death of Requesens, who expired of a fever, March 5, +1576, after a few days' illness, threw the government into confusion. +Philip II had given Requesens a _carte blanche_ to name his successor, +but the nature of his illness had prevented him from filling it up. The +government, therefore, devolved to the council of state, the members of +which were at variance with one another; but Philip found himself +obliged to intrust it _ad interim_ with the administration till a +successor to Requesens could be appointed. Count Mansfeld was made +commander-in-chief, but was totally unable to restrain the licentious +soldiery. The Spaniards, whose pay was in arrear, had now lost all +discipline. After the raising of the siege of Leyden they had beset +Utrecht and pillaged and maltreated the inhabitants, till Valdez +contrived to furnish their pay. No sooner had Requesens expired than +they broke into open mutiny and acted as if they were entire masters of +the country. After wandering about some time and threatening Brussels, +they seized and plundered Alost, where they established themselves; +and they were soon after joined by the Walloon and German troops. To +repress their violence, the council of state restored to the Netherlands +the arms of which they had been deprived, and called upon them by a +proclamation to repress force by force, but these citizen-soldiers were +dispersed with great slaughter by the disciplined troops in various +rencounters. Ghent, Utrecht, Valenciennes, Maestricht were taken and +plundered by the mutineers; and at last the storm fell upon Antwerp, +which the Spaniards entered early in November, and sacked during three +days. More than a thousand houses were burnt, eight thousand citizens +are said to have been slain, and enormous sums in ready money were +plundered. The whole damage was estimated at twenty-four million +florins. The horrible excesses committed in this sack procured for it +the name of the "Spanish Fury." + +The government was at this period conducted in the name of the State of +Brabant. On September 5th De Hèze, a young Brabant gentleman who was in +secret intelligence with the Prince of Orange, had, at the head of five +hundred soldiers, entered the palace where the council of state was +assembled, and seized and imprisoned the members. William, taking +advantage of the alarm created at Brussels by the sack of Antwerp, +persuaded the provisional government to summon the States-General, +although such a course was at direct variance with the commands of the +King. To this assembly all the provinces except Luxemburg sent deputies. +The nobles of the southern provinces, although they viewed the Prince of +Orange with suspicion, feeling that there was no security for them so +long as the Spanish troops remained in possession of Ghent, sought his +assistance in expelling them, which William consented to grant only on +condition that an alliance should be effected between the northern and +the southern, or Catholic, provinces of the Netherlands. This proposal +was agreed to, and toward the end of September Orange sent several +thousand men from Zealand to Ghent, at whose approach the Spaniards, who +had valorously defended themselves for two months under the conduct of +the wife of their absent general, Mondragon, surrendered and evacuated +the citadel. The proposed alliance was now converted into a formal +union, by the treaty called the Pacification of Ghent, signed November +8, 1576, by which it was agreed, without waiting for the sanction of +Philip, whose authority, however, was nominally recognized, to renew the +edict of banishment against the Spanish troops, to procure the +suspension of the decrees against the Protestant religion, to summon the +States-General of the northern and southern provinces, according to the +model of the assembly which had received the abdication of Charles V, to +provide for the toleration and practice of the Protestant religion in +Holland and Zealand, together with other provisions of a similar +character. About the same time with the Pacification of Ghent, all +Zealand, with the exception of the island of Tholen, was recovered from +the Spaniards. + + + + + SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE BY FROBISHER + + A.D. 1576 + + GEORGE BEST + + + Martin Frobisher, the English navigator, was born in Yorkshire about + 1535. When a lad he went to sea, and seems early to have dreamed of + a shorter route to China through the Arctic Ocean. He became the + pioneer in the long search for a northwest passage from the Atlantic + to the Pacific by the northern coasts of the American continent. He + even contemplated the planting of English colonies on the Pacific + shore of the New World. + + Columbus had found the western way to China barred by the continent + of America. Magellan discovered a southwest passage around that + continent. Half a century later Frobisher entered upon the northern + quest. + + Frobisher was poorly educated, and wrote with difficulty. The + narrative of his first voyage was written by George Best from an + account furnished by Frobisher himself, whom Best accompanied on his + second and third voyages. The present narrative has therefore all + the value of a first-hand record, and it is included in the + _Principal Navigations_ of Hakluyt. + + Although over two hundred voyages have now been made in search of + this passage, which in 1850-1854 was achieved by Sir Robert McClure, + the long-cherished hopes of its advantages have not been realized. + The route, for commercial purposes, is thus far quite useless, owing + to arctic conditions. Great gains, however, through these + expeditions, have been made in scientific knowledge. + + +Which thing being well considered and familiarly known to our General, +Captain Frobisher, as well for that he is thoroughly furnished of the +knowledge of the sphere and all other skills appertaining to the art of +navigation, as also for the confirmation he hath of the same by many +years' experience both by sea and land; and being persuaded of a new and +nearer passage to Cataya[1] than by Cabo de Buona Sperança, which the +Portugals yearly use, he began first with himself to devise, and then +with his friends to confer, and laid a plain plot unto them that that +voyage was not only possible by the northwest, but also, he could prove, +easy to be performed. And further, he determined and resolved with +himself to go make full proof thereof, and to accomplish or bring true +certificate of the truth, or else never to return again; knowing this to +be the only thing of the world that was left yet undone, whereby a +notable mind might be made famous and fortunate. + + [1] Cathay (China). + +But although his will were great to perform this notable voyage,[2] +whereof he had conceived in his mind a great hope by sundry sure reasons +and secret intelligence, which here, for sundry causes, I leave +untouched; yet he wanted altogether means and ability to set forward and +perform the same. Long time he conferred with his private friends of +these secrets, and made also many offers for the performing of the same +in effect unto sundry merchants of our country, above fifteen years +before he attempted the same, as by good witness shall well appear, +albeit some evil-willers, which challenge to themselves the fruits of +other men's labors, have greatly injured him in the reports of the same, +saying that they have been the first authors of that action, and that +they have learned him the way, which themselves as yet have never gone. +But perceiving that hardly he was hearkened unto of the merchants, which +never regard virtue without sure, certain, and present gains, he +repaired to the court, from whence, as from the fountain of our common +wealth, all good causes have their chief increase and maintenance, and +there laid open to many great estates and learned men the plot and sum +of his device. And among many honorable minds which favored his honest +and commendable enterprise, he was specially bound and beholding to the +Right Honorable Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, whose favorable mind +and good disposition hath always been ready to countenance and advance +all honest actions, with the authors and executers of the same. And so +by means of my lord his honorable countenance he received some comfort +of his cause, and by little and little, with no small expense and pain, +brought his cause to some perfection, and had drawn together so many +adventurers and such sums of money as might well defray a reasonable +charge to furnish himself to sea withal. + + [2] Further details of this voyage may be gathered from the log of + Christopher Hall, master of the Gabriel, printed in Hakluyt. The + present narrative, prefixed to Best's accounts of the second and + third voyages, was preceded by a treatise intended to prove all + parts of the earth, even the poles, equally habitable. + +He prepared two small barks of twenty and five-and-twenty ton apiece, +wherein he intended to accomplish his pretended voyage. Wherefore, being +furnished with the aforesaid two barks, and one small pinnace of ten ton +burden, having therein victuals and other necessaries for twelve months' +provision, he departed upon the said voyage from Blackwall, the 15. of +June,[3] Anno Domini 1576. + + [3] The date is incorrect. Hall quitted his moorings at Ratcliffe + on the 7th, and left Deptford on the 8th. In passing the royal + palace of Greenwich, says Hall, "we shot off our ordnance, and + made the best show we could. Her majesty, beholding the same, + commended it, and bade us farewell, with shaking her hand at us + out of the window." Gravesend was passed on the 12th. + +One of the barks wherein he went was named the Gabriel, and the other +the Michael; and, sailing northwest from England upon the 11. of July he +had sight of an high and ragged land, which he judged to be Frisland,[4] +whereof some authors have made mention; but durst not approach the same +by reason of the great store of ice that lay alongst the coast, and the +great mists that troubled them not a little. Not far from thence he lost +company of his small pinnace, which by means of the great storm he +supposed to be swallowed up of the sea; wherein he lost only four men. +Also the other bark, named the Michael, mistrusting the matter, conveyed +themselves privily away from him, and returned home, with great report +that he was cast away. + + [4] The land was Greenland. Friesland was the name given to the + Faroe Islands in the voyage of the brothers Zeni. Hall saw the + rocky spires of the coast "rising like pinnacles of steeples" in + the afternoon sun. + +The worthy captain, notwithstanding these discomforts, although his mast +was sprung and his topmast blown overboard with extreme foul weather, +continued his course toward the northwest, knowing that the sea at +length must needs have an ending and that some land should have a +beginning that way; and determined therefore at the least to bring true +proof what land and sea the same might be so far to the northwestward, +beyond any that man hath heretofore discovered. And the 20. of July he +had sight of an high land, which he called "Queen Elizabeth's +Foreland,"[5] after her majesty's name. And sailing more northerly +alongst that coast, he descried another foreland,[6] with a great gut, +bay, or passage, dividing as it were two main lands or continents +asunder. There he met with store of exceeding great ice all this coast +along, and, coveting still to continue his course to the northward, was +always by contrary wind detained overthwart these straits, and could not +get beyond. + + [5] The northeast corner of the island to the north of Resolution + Island. + + [6] The North Foreland, at the southeast corner of Hall's Island. + +Within few days after, he perceived the ice to be well consumed and +gone, either there engulfed in by some swift currents or indrafts, +carried more to the southward of the same straits, or else conveyed some +other way; wherefore he determined to make proof of this place, to see +how far that gut had continuance, and whether he might carry himself +through the same into some open sea on the back side, whereof he +conceived no small hope; and so entered the same the one-and-twentieth +of July, and passed above fifty leagues therein, as he reported, having +upon either hand a great main or continent. And that land upon his right +hand as he sailed westward he judged to be the continent of Asia, and +there to be divided from the firm of America, which lieth upon the left +hand over against the same. + +This place he named after his name, "Frobisher's Straits,"[7] like as +Magellanus at the southwest end of the world, having discovered the +passage to the South Sea, where America is divided from the continent of +that land, which lieth under the south pole, and called the same straits +"Magellan's Straits." + + [7] Afterward called Frobisher Bay. + +After he had passed sixty leagues into this aforesaid strait, he went +ashore, and found signs where fire had been made. He saw mighty deer, +that seemed to be mankind, which ran at him; and hardly he escaped with +his life in a narrow way, where he was fain to use defence and policy to +save his life. In this place he saw and perceived sundry tokens of the +peoples resorting thither. And being ashore upon the top of a hill, he +perceived a number of small things fleeting in the sea afar off, which +he supposed to be porpoises, or seals, or some kind of strange fish; but +coming nearer, he discovered them to be men in small boats made of +leather. And before he could descend down from the hill, certain of +those people had almost cut off his boat from him, having stolen +secretly behind the rocks for that purpose; where he speedily hastened +to his boat, and bent himself to his halberd, and narrowly escaped the +danger, and saved his boat. + +Afterward he had sundry conferences with them, and they came aboard his +ship, and brought him salmon and raw flesh and fish, and greedily +devoured the same before our men's faces. And to show their agility, +they tried many masteries upon the ropes of the ship after our mariners' +fashion, and appeared to be very strong of their arms and nimble of +their bodies. They exchanged coats of seals' and bears' skins, and such +like, with our men, and received bells, looking-glasses, and other toys +in recompense thereof again. After great courtesy and many meetings, our +mariners, contrary to their captain's direction, began more easily to +trust them; and five of our men going ashore were by them intercepted +with their boat, and were never since heard of to this day again; so +that the captain being destitute of boat, bark, and all company, had +scarcely sufficient number to conduct back his bark again. + +He could now neither convey himself ashore to rescue his men, if he had +been able, for want of a boat; and again the subtle traitors were so +wary, as they would after that never come within our men's danger. The +captain, notwithstanding, desirous of bringing some token from thence of +his being there, was greatly discontented that he had not before +apprehended some of them; and, therefore, to deceive the deceivers, he +wrought a pretty policy. For knowing well how they greatly delighted in +our toys, and specially in bells, he rang a pretty loud bell, making +signs that he would give him the same who would come and fetch it. And +because they would not come within his danger for fear, he flung one +bell unto them, which of purpose he threw short, that it might fall into +the sea and be lost. And to make them more greedy of the matter he rang +a louder bell, so that in the end one of them came near the ship side to +receive the bell. Which when he thought to take at the captain's hand, +he was thereby taken himself; for the captain, being readily provided, +let the bell fall, and caught the man fast, and plucked him with main +force, boat and all, into his bark out of the sea. Whereupon, when he +found himself in captivity, for very choler and disdain he bit his +tongue in twain within his mouth; notwithstanding, he died not thereof, +but lived until he came in England, and then he died of cold which he +had taken at sea. + +Now with this new prey, which was a sufficient witness of the captain's +far and tedious travel toward the unknown parts of the world, as did +well appear by this strange infidel, whose like was never seen, read, +nor heard of before, and whose language was neither known nor understood +of any, the said Captain Frobisher returned homeward, and arrived in +England, in Harwich, the second of October following, and thence came to +London, 1576, where he was highly commended of all men for his great and +notable attempt, but specially famous for the great hope he brought of +the passage to Cataya. + +And it is especially to be remembered that at their first arrival in +those parts there lay so great store of ice all the coast along, so +thick together, that hardly his boat could pass unto the shore. At +length, after divers attempts, he commanded his company, if by any +possible means they could get ashore, to bring him whatsoever thing they +could first find, whether it were living or dead, stock or stone, in +token of Christian possession, which thereby he took in behalf of the +Queen's most excellent majesty, thinking that thereby he might justify +the having and enjoying of the same things that grew in these unknown +parts. + +Some of his company brought flowers, some green grass; and one brought a +piece of black stone, much like to a sea coal in color, which by the +weight seemed to be some kind of metal or mineral. This was a thing of +no account in the judgment of the captain at first sight; and yet for +novelty it was kept, in respect of the place from whence it came. After +his arrival in London, being demanded of sundry his friends what thing +he had brought them home out of that country, he had nothing left to +present them withal but a piece of this black stone. And it fortuned a +gentlewoman, one of the adventurer's wives, to have a piece thereof, +which by chance she threw and burned in the fire, so long that at the +length being taken forth, and quenched in a little vinegar, it glistened +with a bright marquesite of gold. Whereupon the matter being called in +some question, it was brought to certain gold-finers in London to make +assay thereof, who gave out that it held gold, and that very richly for +the quantity.[8] Afterward the same gold-finers promised great matters +thereof if there were any store to be found, and offered themselves to +adventure for the searching of those parts from whence the same was +brought. Some that had great hope of the matter sought secretly to have +a lease at her majesty's hands of those places, whereby to enjoy the +mass of so great a public profit unto their own private gains. + + [8] The English assayers all pronounced the stone worthless. An + Italian, Giovanni Baptista Agnello, reported it to contain gold. + On being questioned as to how it was that he alone was able to + produce gold from the stone, he is said to have replied, "_Bisogna + safiere adular la natura_" ("Nature requires coaxing "). Agnello's + assay necessarily involved the addition of other substances for + the purpose of separating the gold; and it has been suggested that + the gold produced by him was itself added during this process. + There is no good reason for thinking so. Pyrites often contains a + minute proportion of gold. Admitting the possibility of trickery + in the case of the small specimen submitted to Agnello, it is + incredible that the fraud should have been successfully repeated + when the two hundred tons of mineral brought back by the second + expedition came to be tested. The mineral undoubtedly contained + gold, but not enough to pay for the carriage and working. + +In conclusion, the hope of more of the same gold ore to be found kindled +a greater opinion in the hearts of many to advance the voyage again. +Whereupon preparation was made for a new voyage against the year +following, and the captain more specially directed by commission for the +searching more of this gold ore than for the searching any further +discovery of the passage. And being well accompanied with divers +resolute and forward gentlemen, her majesty then lying at the Right +Honorable the Lord of Warwick's house, in Essex, he came to take his +leave; and kissing her highness' hands, with gracious countenance and +comfortable words departed toward his charge. + + + + + BUILDING OF THE FIRST THEATRE IN ENGLAND + + A.D. 1576 + + KARL MANTZIUS + + + _A History of the Theatre_, the scholarly work of Mantzius, has had + no time to become a classic--published 1904--but certainly the + author has delved into his subject with a minuteness and presented + it with a lively interest which fully justify the selection of his + work for presentation here. + + The theatre has become so prominent an institution among us that its + origin must be of interest to all; and the building of the first + theatre is inextricably interwoven with the larger and vaguer story + of the rise of the modern drama itself. The dramatic arts of Greece + and Rome had never been wholly forgotten. Their traditions survived + in Italy in the crude pantomime performances of the common people. + Practically, however, the Middle Ages invented a new dramatic art of + their own, developed from the gorgeous religious pantomime of the + church services. The theatre was born of the cathedral; the stage, + of the altar. + + The plays, at first purely religious, rapidly developed a comic + side, which by degrees became their central theme. The moral purpose + of the performance was forgotten; and the Church disowned its evil + changeling. To none of these early plays can the term "drama" be + accurately applied; for each and all of them lack plot. They are + merely a series of disconnected scenes, pictures having small + connection and less development. The idea of pursuing a single, + slowly developing story to its climax and conclusion dawns upon the + modern stage only with the English Elizabethan drama. + + Despite our imperfect knowledge of the plays and players of that + time, one feels almost justified in saying that the modern drama was + created about 1580 by Christopher Marlowe and was raised to the + highest point of its development about 1600 by William Shakespeare. + + +At the date of Shakespeare's birth, 1564, no permanent theatre as yet +existed in England. But there had long existed a class of professional +actors, descended partly from the mystery and the miracle-playing +artisans of the Middle Ages, partly from the strolling players, +equilibrists, jugglers, and jesters. Professional Italian actors, +players of the _commedia dell'arte_, who in the sixteenth century spread +their gay and varied art all over Europe, also supplied English players +with that touch of professional technique in which their somewhat +vacillating and half-amateurish arts were still wanting. + +While, however, as far as France is concerned, the Italian influence +must strike everybody who studies the stage history of the country, the +evidence of a fertilization of English scenic art by the commedia dell' +arte is scanty. Yet I think it is sufficient to deserve more attention +than has hitherto been bestowed upon it. + +In any case there is sufficient evidence to prove that Italian +professional actors penetrated into England and exercised their art +there. + +In January, 1577, an Italian comedian came to London with his company. +The English called him Drousiano, but his real name was Drousiano +Martinelli, the same who, with his brother Tristano, visited the court +of Philip II, and there is no reason to suppose that he was either the +first or the last of his countrymen who tried to carry off English gold +from merry London. The typical Italian masks are quite well known to the +authors of that period. Thus Thomas Heywood mentions all these doctors, +zanies, pantaloons, and harlequins, in which the French, and still more +the Italians, distinguished themselves. In Kyd's _Spanish Tragedy_, and +in Ben Jonson's _The Case is Altered_, mention is made of the Italian +improvised comedy, and a few of the well-known types of character in the +dramatic literature of the time bear distinct traces of having been +influenced by Italian masks, _e.g._, Ralph Roister Doister in Udall's +comedy of that name; as well as the splendid Captain Bobadill and his no +less amusing companion, Captain Tucca, in Ben Jonson's _Every Man in his +Humour_ and _The Poetaster_, all of which are reproductions of the +typical _capitano_. + +However, it is not these literary testimonies that I consider the most +striking evidence of the influence of Italian professional technique on +English professional actors. It is a remarkable discovery made by the +highly esteemed Shakespearean archaeologist, Edmund Malone, about a +century ago, in Dulwich College, that mine of ancient English dramatic +research, founded by the actor Edward Alleyn. + +Among the notes left by the old pawnbroker and theatrical manager, +Henslowe, and the various papers, letters, parts, accounts, etc., of his +son-in-law, the famous and very wealthy actor Alleyn, among these rare +documents, to which we owe a great part of our knowledge of the +Shakespearean stage, Malone found four remarkable card-board tables, on +which the plots of as many plays were put down, together with the names +of the persons represented, their entrances and exits, cues for music, +sonnets, etc. + +According to Collier's description, these tables--one of which only is +preserved, the three others having disappeared through the carelessness +and disorder which at that time prevailed in the Dulwich treasury--were +about fifteen inches in length and nine in breadth. They were divided +into two columns, and between these, toward the top of the table, there +was a square hole for hanging it up on a hook or some such thing. They +bore the following titles: + + 1. The Plotte of the Deade Man's Fortune. + 2. The Plotte of the First Parte of Tamar Cain. + 3. The Plotte of Frederick and Basilea. + 4. The Plotte of the Second Parte of the Seven Deadlie Sinns. + +The last-mentioned play is known for certain to have been composed by +the excellent comic actor, Richard Tarlton. Gabriel Harvey, the +astrologist, and the implacable antagonist of Thomas Nash, tells us in +his letters how Tarlton himself in Oxford invited him to see his +celebrated play on _The Seven Deadly Sins_; Harvey asked him which +of the seven was his own deadly sin, and he instantly replied, "By +G----, the sinne of other gentlemen, lechery." + +Tarlton died in the year 1588, and some of the other plays, especially +_The Dead Man's Fortune_, are considered to be a good deal older than +his. They belong, therefore, to an early period of the English +Renaissance stage. + +These four tables caused considerable trouble to Malone and his +contemporary Steevens, as well as to later investigators, as they are +without equals in the archæology of the English stage. If these men had +known that such tables, containing the plot of the piece which was acted +at the time, were always hung upon the stage of the Italian commedia +dell' arte in order to assist the memory of the improvising actors, they +would have seen instantly that their essential historical importance to +us consists in their showing by documentary evidence how the early +Elizabethan scenic art in its outer form was influenced and improved by +the Italians. + +The fact that one of the principal characters in the oldest scenario, +_The Dead Man's Fortune_, bears the name of "Panteloun" further confirms +this supposition. + +This is not the place to investigate how far the English were influenced +by Italian professional dramatic art. At any rate, the English national +character differed too much from the Italian to allow it to receive more +than an outward and formal stamp. And even this superficial effect is +much less significant in England than in France. Still, we are certainly +not mistaken in assuming that it helped to strengthen English dramatic +art, which already possessed no small amount of power; and we may take +it for granted that about the time of Shakespeare's birth London +possessed a socially and professionally organized class of actors, in +spite of the fact that they did not yet possess a theatre of their own. + +Before proper theatres were built, and after the time of the great +mysteries, the actors found a refuge for their art chiefly in the inns, +those splendid and expensive old public-houses which convey to our minds +the idea of old-fashioned and picturesque comfort; where the nobility +and clergy sought their quarters in winter, and where the carriers +unloaded their goods in the large square yards, which were surrounded on +all sides by the walls of the inn. On these walls there were galleries +running all round, supported by wooden pillars and with steep +picturesque ladders running up to them. + +It was in these yards of the Cross Keys in Gracechurch Street, of The +Bull in Bishopsgate Street, La Belle Sauvage on Ludgate Hill, or the +Tabbard Inn in Southwark that the actors set up their stages. Perhaps it +was this very circumstance that became one of the indirect reasons why +they finally were obliged to build a house for themselves. + +Certainly the inns offered advantages to the actors; they were +meeting-places for the public, frequented by lords and other persons of +distinction; probably the companies paid next to nothing for the use of +them. In themselves they afforded good room for the audience, with a +natural pit for ordinary people in the yard, and with more comfortable +"boxes" for the more distinguished part of the audience on the +surrounding balconies and at the windows facing the yard. + +On the other hand, these inn-theatres had their drawbacks. In the first +place, the actors were not on their own ground, and so, after all, they +were only tolerated. Secondly, it must have been very difficult for them +to keep to regular prices, and especially to secure the payment of the +entrance fee, as they had probably to collect the money during or after +the performance, thus depending on the liberality of the public for +their remuneration. And finally, worst of all, they were led into +quarrels with the lord mayor and with the citizens. + +Indeed, it is not unlikely that these performances in the inns caused a +good deal of noise and disturbance in the quarters where they took +place, and that the joyous, but by no means refined or quiet, "pit," +when going home, excited by one of Tarlton's jigs and by the strong ale +of the inn, was not animated by very respectful feelings toward their +sour Puritan fellow-citizens, who were scandalized as they watched +"merry London" crowding past their windows. Nor is it improbable that +these anything but respectful feelings vented themselves in some of the +coarse expressions in which the plays of those times abound, where +Puritanism, the sworn enemy, is concerned; "this barbarous sect," as it +is called by a modern English author, "from whose inherited and +contagious tyranny this nation is as yet but imperfectly released." + +It is certain, at any rate, that the Puritan citizens entertained a deep +and sincere hatred of anything connected with plays and actors, and if +it had been in their power to do what they liked, the world would once +for all have been relieved of such pernicious and wicked vagabonds as +William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson. + +Fortunately, however, this power did not lie with the Puritans only. + +Luckily, this sect, which like a malicious growth seemed to have +gathered to itself all the stubbornness, insensibility, and rude +obstinacy of the nation, was counterbalanced by a refined and +intellectual nobility, which was inspired by the new artistic and +philosophical thought of the Renaissance, and seemed to foresee, if not +fully to recognize, what a mine of poetry the English theatre of those +times was destined to be. Thanks to men like Sir Francis Walsingham, +Lords Leicester, Nottingham, Strange, and Sussex, the drama resisted for +a time the violent and unwearied attacks of the Puritans. Most +fortunately for the actors also, Queen Elizabeth, as well as her +successors, James I and Charles I, was fond of plays and favorably +inclined toward their performers. + +Elizabeth rendered a great service to the actors by placing them under +the patronage of the nobility. The municipal authorities, who were +frequently Puritan, considered neither dramatic art nor dramatic poetry +as an acceptable means of livelihood; consequently, those who cultivated +these noble arts easily exposed themselves to being treated as +"masterless men," unless they could give a reference to some +distinguished aristocratic name. + +The Queen ordered by law--in a statute which has often been +misunderstood--"that all common players of interludes wandering abroad, +other than players of interludes belonging to any baron of this realme, +or any other honorable personage of greater degree, to be authorized to +play under the hand and seale of arms of such baron or personage, shall +be adjudged and deemed rogues and vagabonds"; in other words, the Queen +urged all actors, for their own sakes, to place themselves under the +patronage of some nobleman, in order to protect them against the +persecution of the Puritan citizens. + +But even such mighty protection could not entirely shield them, and it +was this very power of the London corporation to injure the actors that +caused the establishment of the first London theatre. + +In the year 1572 the plague broke out in London; it killed many +thousands of people, and kept recurring at certain intervals during the +next twenty or thirty years, carrying horror and death with it. Under +these circumstances all dramatic performances were prohibited for a time +in London, a precaution which was reasonable enough, as the dense +crowding of people might have helped to spread the disease. But the +magistrate seems to have caught eagerly at this opportunity of +interfering. + +In Harrison's _Description of England_ the event is reported as follows: +"Plaies are banished for a time out of London, lest the resort unto them +should ingender a plague, or rather disperse it, being already begonne. +Would to God these comon plaies were exiled for altogether as seminaries +of impiety, and their theatres pulled downe as no better than houses of +baudrie. It is an evident token of a wicked time when plaiers wexe so +rich that they can build suche houses. As moche I wish also to our comon +beare baitinges used on the Sabaothe daies." + +We cannot help noticing the predilection of the Puritans for the coarse +bear-fights, which in their opinion were only displeasing to God when +performed on a Sabbath, whereas the playhouses at any time were no +better than the "ill-famed stews" in Southwark. It cannot be denied, +however, that under the prevailing circumstances it was quite right that +the playhouses should be temporarily forbidden. + +But the sudden and unwarranted expulsion of all dramatic performances +from the precincts of London a few years later, 1575, cannot be +accounted for otherwise than by the increasing popularity which these +plays enjoyed among the non-Puritan public, and the envy with which the +clergy saw the people crowding much more to the places where actors +interpreted the rising poets than to those where the preachers +themselves enunciated their gloomy doctrine. + +In the year 1574 the actor James Burbage, with four other actors, all +belonging to the retinue of the Earl of Leicester, had received +permission from the Queen to perform all kinds of plays anywhere in +England, "for the recreation of her beloved subjects as well as for her +own comfort and pleasure, if it should please her to see them." + +Perhaps it was a counter-move on the part of the Puritan community when +the lord mayor and the corporation in the following year straightway +forbade all plays within the precincts of the town. If so, it proved a +failure. James Burbage resolutely hired a liberty outside the city, and +here, in 1576, on the premises of an ancient Roman Catholic priory, he +built the first English playhouse, which he named "The Theatre." + +In the following year The Theatre gained an ally in "The Curtain," which +was built in the same neighborhood, both, of course, causing great +indignation among the Puritans. In 1577, the year after the first +playhouse had been erected, there appeared a furious pamphlet, by John +Northbrooke, against "dicing, dancing, plays and interludes as well as +other idle pastimes." + +No doubt all possible means were taken to have plays forbidden and the +playhouses pulled down, but though the attack of the Black Army never +ceased for a moment, the Puritans did not succeed in getting the better +of the theatres till the year 1642, when they acquired political power +through the civil war; and, fortunately for the part of mankind which +appreciates art, this precious flower of culture, one of the richest and +most remarkable periods in the life of dramatic art, had developed into +full bloom before the outbreak of the war. + +In a sermon of 1578 we read the following bitter and deep-drawn sigh by +the clergyman John Stockwood: "Wyll not a fylthye playe wyth the blast +of a trumpette sooner call thyther a thousande than an houres tolling of +a bell bring to the sermon a hundred?--nay, even heere in the Citie, +without it be at this place and some other certaine ordinarie audience, +where shall you finde a reasonable company?--whereas, if you resort to +the Theatre, The Curtayne, and other places of playes in the Citie, you +shall on the Lord's Day have these places, with many other that I cannot +reckon, so full as possible they can throng." + +That the bold defiance with which James Burbage and the other actors met +the lord mayor and the corporation should prove so successful lay almost +in the nature of things. The prohibition of plays within the bounds of +the city of London did not mean that they were looked upon with +animosity by the people, but merely that a majority of the corporation +was unfriendly to them. It was soon shown that, though the wise city +fathers could easily forbid the actors to perform their plays in London, +they could not prevent the enthusiastic public from walking in crowds a +mile out of town in order to see such performances, especially as people +were quite accustomed to the journey. Burbage, who was a business-like +man, had chosen his ground quite close to the public places, where the +Londoners practised their open-air sports and amused themselves with +tennis and football, stone-throwing, cock fights, and archery. + +Although Burbage called his new building "The Theatre," the title was +not intended to mean _the_ theatre _par excellence_, for the word +"theatre" was not then commonly used to denote a building in which +dramatic representations were performed. It is more probable that he +thought he had succeeded in choosing an elegant name with a certain +suggestion of the old classics, which was euphonious and not quite +common. + +The usual name for a theatre was the playhouse, a house intended for all +kinds of games and sport, such as fencing, bear-fights, bull-fights, +jigs, morris-dances, and pantomimes, as well as for dramatic +performances. + +It cannot be sufficiently emphasized that the theatrical entertainments +of those times were something more or less literary; anyhow, something +quite apart from the dramatic performances of the present day. They were +meant to satisfy mixed desires in the nation; but, besides satisfying +its craving for beautiful, picturesque language, fine spectacles, and +merry jests, they also gratified its desire for the display of physical +strength, for shallow rhyming tricks and competitions, graceful +exercises of the body, indeed for all that might be included under the +notion of sport and give opportunity for betting. + +Therefore, the plays, properly so called, alternated with fights between +animals, in which bears and bulls were baited by great blood-thirsty +bulldogs, or with fencing-matches fought by celebrated English and +foreign fencing-masters, with rope-dancing, acrobatic tricks, and +boxing. Even the serious performances ended with a more or less absurd +jig, in which the clown sang endless songs about the events of the day, +and danced interminable morris-dances. + +Shakespeare and his contemporaries, whose works are now reckoned among +the first literature--so much so that they are scarcely read any +longer--at the time of which we are speaking were nothing but practical +playwrights, and Shakespeare was so far from dreaming that the time +would come when his plays would be counted among the most precious +treasures of posterity that, as we know, he did not even take the +trouble to have a printed edition of his works published. + +The many fighting-scenes in the plays of the time, in Shakespeare's +among the rest, the wrestling-match in _As You Like It_, the duel +between Macduff and Macbeth, the fencing-scene between Hamlet and +Laertes, no doubt afforded opportunities for magnificent displays of +skill in the use of arms and in physical exercises, and we may be sure +that the spectators followed those scenes with an interest which was +perhaps more of a sporting than of a literary nature. + +It was according to a well-calculated plan, therefore, that the elder +Burbage erected his playhouse north of the city, in Finsbury Fields, +where from ancient times the people had been accustomed to see and +practise military exercises and other sports, and where the soldiers +were still in the habit of practising archery and musketry. + +And it was with equally sound calculation that he gave the theatre its +particular form, which remained essentially the same in all the +playhouses of the Shakespearean period. + +Before the establishment of the permanent theatres there had long +existed amphitheatres for the performance of fights between animals, the +so-called "rings." These rings--the auditorium as well as the +arena--were open all round, and the seats, like those of the ancient +Greek theatre, were placed according to the natural formation of the +ground. + +Burbage retained the circular amphitheatrical form; being a joiner as +well as an actor and manager, he was no doubt his own architect in his +new theatrical enterprise. + +But instead of the roofless, open-air auditorium, he constructed a +covered circular wooden building with stories or galleries, which was +made so as to contain a number of boxes for the distinguished and +well-paying public, and which entirely enclosed the open, uncovered +arena, which, as it recalled the inn-yards, was called the "yard," or +afterward, perhaps on account of the high pitlike construction +surrounding it, the "pit," whence the poorest and humblest spectators +enjoyed the performances. + +Finally, he built a covered "tire-house"--or "tiring-house," as it was +called in those times--for the actors, a place in which also all the +requisites and the so-called "properties" were kept. This tiring-house +stood within the circle, and its roof towered up above the auditorium. + +From the tiring-house the stage--a simple wooden platform resting on +rams--was pushed forward, and it might be removed when the arena was to +be used for fights between animals, etc., instead of dramatic +performances. + +By this reform of the building--a reform which became epoch-making to +the whole Shakespearean period--James Burbage obtained a threefold +advantage: more comfortable seats for the more distinguished portion of +the audience, where they were sheltered from wind and weather; the use +of the house both for plays and the baiting of animals; and the power to +oblige the public to pay their admission at certain doors of his +building, which spared him the unpleasant and unsafe collection of money +from spectators, who might not always be very willing to pay. + +But this result was not obtained without considerable expense. + +Though we are not so fortunate as to possess a drawing of the outside or +inside of The Theatre, about the shape of which, therefore, we must +partly draw our conclusions from analogy with other playhouses, we are +comparatively well informed as to its outward history till it was pulled +down, in 1598-1599. + +Thus we know that the enterprise cost James Burbage six hundred +sixty-six pounds thirteen shillings fourpence, a considerable sum in +those days, which would be equal to about eightfold that amount in our +own time. + +This money Burbage borrowed of his father-in-law, John Braynes, to whom +he had to pay high interest, and it represented only the cost of the +building itself, for he did not buy the ground on which it stood. This +ground belonged to one Giles Allen, and in the contract between him and +Burbage it was settled, among other points, that if, in the course of +the first ten years after the drawing up of the lease, Burbage spent a +sum of two hundred pounds or more on the building, he should have a +right to remove it after the expiration of the lease. + +The lease was drawn up in the year 1576, for a period of twenty-one +years. In spite of many pecuniary difficulties, which the heavy rent and +high interest naturally entailed on Burbage--who for some time even +seems to have been obliged to mortgage his entire property--and +innumerable annoyances from the Puritans, Burbage succeeded in keeping +his theatre above water till the expiration of the lease and till his +own death, which occurred in 1597. + +But before this date he had been negotiating with the proprietor, Giles +Allen, about a prolongation of the lease. Allen, who was evidently as +grasping as he was difficult to deal with, and who may not unjustly be +suspected of having been an instrument in the hands of the Puritan +authorities, had caused him a good deal of trouble in the course of +years. On seeing how people crowded to the theatre, he had tried, for +one thing, to press Burbage for a higher rent, and partly for religious, +partly for moral reasons, had threatened to forbid the running of a +playhouse on his property. The negotiations about the new lease had not +come to an end when the elder Burbage died, and left his two sons, +Cuthbert, who was a bookseller, and Richard, who was the leading actor +of his time, not only burdened with the playhouse, the long lease of +which had expired, but opposed by a proprietor with whom it was +impossible to come to terms, and by a magistrate who was more eager than +ever to deal a blow at the playhouses. + +In the same year, when the two brothers took on The Theatre, the lord +mayor of London actually succeeded in inducing the privy council to +issue an order of suppression against it and other playhouses. The order +begins as follows: "Her Majestie being informed that there are verie +greate disorders committed in the common playhouses both by lewd matters +that are handled on the stages, and by resorte and confluence of bad +people, hathe given direction that not onlie no playes shall be used +within London or about the Citty, or in any public place, during this +tyme of sommer, but that all those playhouses that are erected and built +only for suche purposes shall be plucked downe, namelie The Curtayne and +The Theatre nere to Shorditch, or any other within that county." + +It is not known whether the order was withdrawn or whether the disregard +of it was winked at--the court very likely was not particularly inclined +to see the sentence or condemnation carried out. At all events, neither +The Curtain nor The Theatre was pulled down at the time. But the order +shows how much power the Puritans possessed, and what difficulties the +brothers Burbage had to contend with. + +They seem, however, to have inherited their father's resolute character. +Since it seemed quite impossible to come to terms with the grasping +proprietor, Allen, the brothers were sensible enough to avail themselves +of the clause in the now expired lease, which permitted them to pull +down and remove the buildings they had erected on the premises, in case +they had spent at least two hundred pounds on them during the first ten +years. This sum had been much exceeded at the time, and one day, to the +great consternation and anger of the astonished Giles Allen, they simply +removed The Theatre. + +One of the paragraphs in the account of the subsequent lawsuit between +Allen and the Burbages gives a very vivid idea of this remarkable +removal. Allen accuses Cuthbert Burbage of "unlawfully combininge and +confederatinge himselfe with the sayd Richard Burbage, and one Peter +Streat, William Smyth and divers other persons, to the number of twelve, +to your subject unknowne, did aboute the eight and twentyth daye of +December in the one and fortyth yeere of your Highnes raygne (1598) +ryotouslye assemble themselves together, and then and there armed +themselves with dyvers and manye unlawfull and offensive weapons, as, +namelye, swordes, daggers, billes, axes, and such like, and so armed, +did then repayre unto the sayd Theatre, and then and there, armed as +aforesayd, in verye ryotous, outragious and forcyble manner, and +contrarye to the lawes of your highnes realme, attempted to pull down +the sayd Theatre, whereupon divers of your subjectes, servauntes, and +farmers, there goinge aboute in peaceable manner to procure them to +desist from that their unlawfull enterpryse, they the sayd ryotous +persons aforesayd notwithstanding procured then therein with greate +vyolence, not only then and there forcyblye and ryotouslye resisting +your subjectes, servauntes, and farmers, but also then and there +pulling, breaking, and throwing downe the sayd Theatre in verye +outragious, violent, and riotous sort, to the great disturbance and +terrefyeing not onlye of your subjectes sayd servauntes and farmers, but +of divers others of your Majesties loving subjectes there neere +inhabitinge; and having so done, did then alsoe in most forcible and +ryotous manner take and carrye away from thence all the wood and timber +thereof, unto the Bancksyde in the parishe of St. Marye Overyes, and +there erected a newe playehouse with the sayd timber and wood." + +Such was the end of the first short-lived London playhouse. But the new +house, which was built out of its materials on the "Bankside," was the +celebrated "Globe," the name of which is inseparably connected with that +of Shakespeare. + +As we said above, James Burbage, the creator of The Theatre, belonged to +the company which played under the patronage of Lord Leicester, and +therefore went under the name of "Lord Leicester's Servants" or "Men." +The four other actors, who in 1574 received a royal license to act from +Queen Elizabeth, were John Perkin, John Lanham, William Jonson, and +Robert Wilson. + +While James Burbage was no doubt the leader of the company, Robert +Wilson is supposed to have been its chief actor, at all events of comic +parts, and he was the only one among the five who was also a dramatic +author. Under his name, but after his death, Cuthbert Burbage published, +in 1594, _The Prophecy of the Cobbler_; and among anonymous plays the +following are ascribed to him: _Fair Eve, The Miller's Daughter from +Manchester, The Three Ladies of London_, etc. + +Most likely some of Wilson's plays were acted in The Theatre. With this +exception the internal history of this playhouse is rather obscure, and +very little is known of its _répertoire_. A few titles may be found in +contemporary literature, such as _The Blacksmith's Daughter_, mentioned +by the Puritan Gosson in his _School of Abuse_, as "containing the +treachery of Turks, the honorable bounty of a noble mind, the shining of +virtue in distress," _The Conspiracy of Catilina, Cæsar and Pompey_, and +_The Play about the Fabians_. + +All these must have belonged to the earliest répertoire of The Theatre, +for Gosson's _School of Abuse_ appeared in 1579. + +It is of more interest that Thomas Lodge mentions the original +pre-Shakespearean _Hamlet_ as having been acted in The Theatre. He +speaks of one who "looks as pale as the visard of the ghost which cries +so miserably at The Theatre, like an oister-wife, 'Hamlet revenge.'" + +The same company, originally "Lord Leicester's Servants," continued to +act in The Theatre till it was pulled down. But the company several +times changed its patron and consequently its name. In 1588 Lord +Leicester died, and after his death Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange, +became the patron of the company; till 1592, therefore, the actors were +called "Lord Strange's Men." But in 1592 Lord Strange was created earl +of Derby; consequently the troupe became for two years "The Earl of +Derby's Men." In 1594 the Earl of Derby died, and Henry Carey, first +Lord Hunsdon and lord chamberlain, undertook to become patron of the +company, which, therefore, adopted the name of "The Lord Chamberlain's +Servants." The son of Lord Hunsdon, George Carey, second Lord Hunsdon, +after his father's death (in 1596) also inherited the patronage of the +actors, and for almost a year they had to content themselves with being +called "Lord Hunsdon's Men," until Lord Hunsdon became lord chamberlain, +like his father, and allowed the company to resume the title of "The +Lord Chamberlain's Servants," 1597. This name the actors retained until +the accession of King James, in 1603, after which they were promoted to +the title of "The King's Players"; this title put them in the first +rank, which, indeed, they had long held in reality, and which they kept +till the suppression of the playhouses in 1642. + +It is no slight task for one who desires to study theatrical affairs in +the time of Shakespeare, to make himself acquainted with the varying +names of the companies of actors; but without such knowledge it would be +very difficult to pursue the thread of the history even of the leading +companies. + +About the year 1590 our company received an addition in the person of a +young man, who was not only a skilled and useful actor, but who also +possessed the accomplishment of being able to adapt older plays to the +taste of the times, and even proved to have the gift of writing +tolerably good plays himself, though older and jealous colleagues might +hint at their not being altogether original. This young man, whose +capacities became of no slight use to the company and The Theatre, was +named William Shakespeare. + +At this time the leading actors of The Theatre were the great tragedian +Richard Burbage, who was then quite a young man, Henry Condell, and John +Heminge, who continued to be the mainstays of the company. There was +also the clown, Augustine Phillips, an excellent comic actor of the old +school. These four became the most intimate friends of Shakespeare, and +to Condell and Heminge posterity owes special gratitude, since it was +they who, after the death of Shakespeare, undertook the publication of +the first printed collection of his plays. + +It is impossible to decide definitely which of Shakespeare's plays +belonged to the repertoire of The Theatre. It is probable that his first +plays, _Love's Labor Lost, The Comedy of Errors, The Two Gentlemen of +Verona_, and his first tragedy, _Romeo and Juliet_, saw the light on +this stage between 1589 and 1591. Afterward, between 1594 and 1597, +these were possibly increased by _A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard the +Second, King John, The Merchant of Venice_, and _Henry IV_. + +The repertoire of The Theatre also included the so-called "jigs," merry +after-plays, mostly consisting of songs and dances, with frequent +allusions to the events of the day, sneering at the Puritans, the +magistrates, and other enemies of the playhouses. + +It has been briefly mentioned above that not long after the +establishment of The Theatre--at the latest in the following year--this +playhouse gained a companion in The Curtain, which thus became the +second of its kind in London. + +The two playhouses were very close to each other, but for this very +reason it seems natural to suppose that they were rather meant to +support than to rival each other. They were like a kind of +double-barrelled gun directed against the corporation, and they seem, +indeed, to an equal extent, to have roused the anger of the Puritans, +for they are generally mentioned together in the Puritan pamphlets +directed against playhouses and all other wickedness. + +However, the history of The Curtain is almost unknown to us. While we +know a good deal about the outward circumstances of The Theatre on +account of the constant troubles which the Burbage family had to endure +from the proprietor of the ground and the municipal authorities, and of +the subsequent lawsuit, the reports we find about The Curtain are +extremely meagre. We know neither when nor by whom it was built nor when +it was pulled down. + +By a mistake which is natural enough, its name has been connected with +the front curtain of the stage. We shall see later that no such curtain +existed in the time of Shakespeare, and we do not know that the +background draperies of that period had the fixed name of "curtain." + +Anyhow, the possibility of this derivation is absolutely excluded by the +fact that the spot on which the second London playhouse was built, for +some unknown reason, bore the name of "Curtayne Close." So the playhouse +was simply named after the spot on which it was built. + +As long as The Theatre stood close beside it, the two companies shared +almost the same fate. We have seen that in 1597 an order was issued to +pull down both playhouses; this order, however, was never carried out. +But after the removal of The Theatre to Bankside, The Curtain seems to +have gone its own way. The actors, on the whole, were not afraid of +pleading their cause from the stage, and of retorting on the attacks of +their assailants by lashing them with the whip of caricature, and it +seems that those of The Curtain had gone a little too far in their +Aristophanic parodies of their worthy fellow-citizens and chief +magistrate; for in May, 1601, the justices of the peace for the county +of Middlesex received the following admonition from the privy council: +"We doo understand that certaine players that used to recyte their +playes at the Curtaine in Moorefeilds, do represent upon the stage in +their interludes the persons of some gent of good desert and quality +that are yet alive under obscure manner, but yet in such sorte that all +the hearers may take notice both of the matter and the persons that are +meant thereby. This beinge a thinge verye unfitte, offensive and +contrary, to such direction as have been heretofore taken, that no +plaies should be openly shewed but such as were first perused and +allowed, and that minister no occasion of offence or scandall, wee do +hereby require you that you do forthwith forbidd those players to +whomsoever they appertaine that do play at the Curtaine in Moorefeildes +to represent any such play, and that you will examine them who made that +play and to shew the same unto you, and as you in your discrecions shall +thincke the same unfitte to be publiquely shewed to forbidd them from +henceforth to play the same eyther privately or publiquely; and if upon +veiwe of the said play you shall finde the subject so odious and +inconvenient as is informed, wee require you to take bond of the +chiefest of them to aunswere their rashe and indiscreete dealing before +us." + +We know nothing of the result of this prosecution, but we may be allowed +to assume that it did not result in very severe measures. We seem to +read a certain concealed sympathy in the writ of the great lords, and we +cannot help suspecting that it was the Puritan citizens who felt +themselves hit and who brought the complaint. If the lords had been the +butt of the mockery, no doubt the proceeding of the actors would have +appeared to them much worse than "rashe and indiscreete." + +Until the Globe theatre was built, the Burbages most likely possessed a +share in The Curtain. At any rate, their company used that building +alternately with their own; no doubt, for instance, during the period +between the pulling down of The Theatre and the building of the Globe. +During this period they played (as "The Lord Chamberlain's Men"), among +other things, no less famous a piece than Ben Jonson's _Every Man in +His Humour_, which, according to old tradition, was accepted on the +recommendation of Shakespeare, after having been put aside contemptuously +by the other leading actors. This splendid play had an enormous success. +Of Shakespeare's plays, _Much Ado about Nothing_ and _The Second Part of +King Henry IV_ were acted. + +There is scarcely any reason for assuming, with Halliwell-Phillipps and +Ordish, that the first performance of _Henry V_ took place at The +Curtain. At the appearance of this play, in 1599, the Globe theatre was +built, and we cannot doubt that it was here that this popular play saw +the light. So the frequently mentioned "wooden O" in the prologue does +not allude to The Curtain, but to the Globe. + +The outward shape of The Curtain we must imagine to have been, like that +of The Theatre, circular, and unroofed in the centre. It is generally +supposed to have been somewhat smaller than Burbage's first theatre. + +The last period of the existence of The Curtain is enveloped in +obscurity. But there is no reason to suppose that it did not continue to +exist till all playhouses were put down, during the civil war, +1642-1647. If The Curtain was preserved as long as that, its life was +longer than that of any other playhouse of the Shakespearean period. + + + + + COSSACK CONQUEST OF SIBERIA + + A.D. 1581 + + NIKOLAI M. KARAMZIN[1] + + + Siberia, the northern home of the Tartars, was little known, even to + the Russians, until the latter part of the sixteenth century. The + Cossack conquest of the western portion of the region now called + Siberia opened that vast territory to Muscovite occupation, and + gradually it has become known to the world as part of the Russian + empire. + + [1] Translated by Chauncey C. Starkweather. + + Nothing certain is known of the origin of the Cossack tribes, and no + final agreement has been reached as to the derivation of their name. + According to later supposition, their nucleus was a body of refugees + from the ancient Russian lands invaded by Tartars in the thirteenth + century. Some of those refugees settled between the embouchures of + the Ural River, others near the mouth of the Don. Driven by invasion + to form themselves into a military organization, the Cossacks of the + Don became a formidable confederacy. Since 1549 they have been under + the protection of Russia, and have rendered great service to the + empire. + + Although they have always, since the time of Ivan IV, called the + "Terrible" (1547-1584), furnished valorous soldiers to Russia, the + Cossacks of the Don have often rebelled and disowned her authority. + Russian troops have frequently been ordered to exterminate them. + + During the last years of Ivan IV these Cossacks entered upon that + eastern conquest which led to Russian expansion into Asia. Karamzin, + the Russian historian, is the most eminent authority on this subject. + + +Among the enterprising leaders of the Cossacks at this time were Iermak +Timofeif, John Koltzo--condemned to death by the Czar--James Mikhailoff, +Necetas Pan, and Matthew Meschteriak, all noted for their rare +intrepidity. The Stroganoffs, having heard of the terror inspired by +their audacity among peaceful travellers, as well as amid the nomad +tribes of the neighborhood, proposed an honorable service to these five +brave men. On April 6, 1579, they sent them presents, accompanied by a +letter in which they urged them to quit an occupation unworthy of +Christian soldiers, to leave the class of brigands, and to become +warriors of the White Czar, the monarch of Muscovy; to seek, in fine, +dangers exempt from dishonor, by making peace with God and Russia. "We +have," they added, "lands and fortresses, but few soldiers; come and +defend great Perm and the Christian countries of the North." At these +propositions Iermak and his companions shed tears of emotion. The hope +of effacing their disgrace by glorious deeds, by services rendered to +the State, the idea of exchanging the title of audacious brigands for +that of brave defenders of their country, caused a keen sensibility in +these men, uncouth, if you will, but with hearts still susceptible of +remorse. Unfurling their standard on the bank of the Volga, they made an +appeal to their comrades, and assembled five hundred fifty bold +partisans, at the head of whom they arrived, burning with zeal, in the +presence of the Stroganoffs, who received them with joy, as the annalist +relates. The desires of the former, the promises of the latter, were +realized. The Cossack leaders became the bucklers of the Christian +country. The infidels trembled at the aspect of death which met them +wherever they dared to show themselves. Indeed, on July 22, 1581, the +Cossacks completely overthrew the mirza Begouly, who at the head of +seven hundred Vogulitches and Ostiaks, had ravaged the colonies founded +upon the Silva and the Tchusovaya. This success was the forerunner of +more considerable advantages. + +The Stroganoffs had in view not merely the defence of their cities, in +calling the Cossacks to their service. When they had sufficiently tested +the courage and fidelity of these warriors, and had learned the talent +and boldness of Iermak Timofeif, their principal leader--of obscure +origin, the annals say, but illustrious by his greatness of soul--they +formed a troop especially composed of Tartars subject to Russia, of +Lithuanians and of Germans, ransomed from captivity among the Nogais, +for the latter brought, as a matter of custom in their encampments, the +prisoners whom they made in war, as mercenaries of the Czar. In fine, +after having made provisions of arms and of food, the Stroganoffs openly +announced an expedition, which, under the orders of Iermak, should have +Siberia for its objective point. The number of fighting men amounted to +eight hundred forty, all animated with zeal and transported with joy. +Some dreamed of honor, others thought of the spoils. The hope of +meriting their pardon by the Czar inflamed the Cossacks, and the German +or Polish captives, who sighed for liberty, considering Siberia the road +to their fatherland. Iermak began by organizing his little army. He +named the hetmans, subaltern officers, and appointed the brave John +Koltzo as second in command. Long-boats were laden with munitions of war +and food, light artillery and long arquebuses. He procured guides, +interpreters, priests, had prayers said, and received the final +instructions of the Stroganoffs. The latter were conceived in the +following terms: "Go in peace to scour the country of Siberia and put to +flight the impious Kutchum." After having taken the oath of valor and +chastity, Iermak set out, on September 1, 1581, at the sound of warlike +trumpets, on the Tchusovaya, and directed his march toward the Ural +Mountains, preparing himself for great activity, without counting upon +any assistance. This expedition was even made without the knowledge of +the Czar, for the Stroganoffs, who had obtained the grant of the +countries situated on the other side of the chain of rocky mountains, +thought themselves able to dispense with soliciting of the Czar a new +sanction for their important enterprise. We shall see that Ivan did not +share this opinion. + +At the moment when the states of Kutchum were to become the conquest of +the Russian Pizarro--as redoubtable for the savages as he of Spain, but +less terrible for humanity--the Prince of Pelim with the Vogulitches, +the Ostiaks, the Siberian Tartars, and the Bashkirs made a sudden +irruption upon the borders of the Kama. He destroyed the Russian +colonies near Tcherdin, Ussolie, as well as many other new fortresses of +the Stroganoffs, and put to death or dragged into captivity a great +number of Christians who were deprived of defenders. But at the news of +the march of the Cossacks against Siberia he left our frontiers to fly +to the defence of his own states. + +The crime of these depredations was laid to the Stroganoffs. Upon a +report of Basile Pilepitsin, Governor of Tcherdin, Ivan wrote him that +he was either unable on unwilling to look after the frontiers. "You have +taken upon yourself," he added, "to recall proscribed Cossacks, true +bandits, whom you have sent to make war upon Siberia. This enterprise, +suited to irritate the Prince of Pelim and the sultan Kutchum, is a +treason worthy of the last punishment! I command you to cause Iermak and +his companions to start without delay for Perm and Ussolie on the Kama, +where they may be able to efface their faults by forcing the Ostiaks and +the Vogulitches to submission. You may retain at the most one hundred +Cossacks for the security of your little towns. In case you shall not +execute my commands to the letter, if in the future Perm has still to +suffer the attacks of the Prince of Pelim or of the Sultan of Siberia, I +shall overwhelm you with the weight of my disgrace and I shall have all +those traitors of Cossacks hanged." This menacing despatch made the +Stroganoffs tremble. Nevertheless, a brilliant, unexpected success +justified their enterprise and changed into favor the wrath of their +sovereign. + +In beginning the story of the exploits of Iermak we shall at first say +that, like everything that is extraordinary, they have made a strong +impression upon the imagination of the vulgar, and have given birth to +many fables, which are confused in the traditions with the real facts. +Under the title of "annals" they have led the historians themselves into +error. It is thus, for instance, that some hundreds of warriors, led by +Iermak, have been metamorphosed into an army, and, like the soldiers of +Cortés or Pizarro, have been counted as thousands. The months became +years. A somewhat difficult navigation appeared marvellous. Leaving at +one side the fabulous assertions we shall, for the principal facts, base +our statements upon official documents and on the most truthful +contemporaneous account of a conquest which was, indeed, of a most +surprising character. + +In the first place, the Cossacks ascended, for four days, the course of +the Tchusovaya, rapid and sown with rocks, as far as the chain of the +Ural Mountains. The two following days, in the shadow of the masses of +stone with which the interior of these mountains is covered, they +reached, by means of the river Serebrennaia, the passage called the +"Route of Siberia." There they stopped, and, ignorant of what might next +happen to them, they constructed for their safety a kind of redoubt to +which they gave the name of _kokui_. They had so far found only deserts +and a small number of inhabitants. Then they moved, towing their small +crafts as far as the river of Iaravle. These places are, even to this +day, marked by the monuments of Iermak; rocks, caverns, remains of +fortifications, bear his name. It is asserted that the big boats +abandoned by him between the Serebrennaia and the Barantcha are not, in +our time, entirely decayed, and that lofty trees shade their ruins, half +reduced to dust. By the Iaravle and the Taghil the Cossacks, reaching +the Tura, which waters one of the provinces of the empire of Siberia, +for the first time drew the sword of conquerors. At the place where the +city of Turinsk now stands there then existed a little town, the domain +of the prince Yepantcha. He commanded a large number of Tartars and +Vogulitches, and received these audacious strangers with a hail of +arrows, shot from the banks of the river, at the place where is seen the +present village of Usseninovo; but, frightened by a discharge of +artillery, he forthwith took flight. Iermak caused the town to be +destroyed, of which the name alone remains, for the residents still give +to Turinsk the name "Town of Yepantcha." The camps and villages situated +along the Tura were devastated. + +The Cossack leaders having taken, at the mouth of the Tavda, an officer +of Kutchum's, named Tausak, he, desirous of saving his life, +communicated to them important information regarding the country. As the +price of his frankness, his liberty was given him, and he hastened to +announce to his master that the predictions of the soothsayers of +Siberia were being realized, for according to some accounts these +pretended sorcerers had for a long time proclaimed the near and +inevitable downfall of this state by an invasion of Christians. Tausak +spoke of the Cossacks as wonderful men and invincible heroes, lancing +fire and thunder which penetrate through the cuirasses. Nevertheless, +Kutchum, although deprived of sight, had a strong soul. He made ready to +defend his country and his faith with courage. He at once gathered all +his subjects, made his nephew Mahmetkul enter the campaign at the head +of a large force of cavalry, and he himself threw up fortifications on +the bank of the Irtisch, at the foot of the Tchuvache mountain, thus +closing to the Cossacks the road to Isker. + +The conquest of Siberia resembles, in more than one regard, that of +Mexico and Peru. Here, also, it was a handful of men who, by means of +fire-arms, put to flight thousands of soldiers armed with arrows or +javelins. For the Moguls, like the Tartars of the North, were ignorant +of the use of gunpowder, and toward the end of the sixteenth century +they still used the arms employed in the time of Genghis. Each one of +Iermak's warriors faced a crowd of the enemy. If his bullet only killed +one of them, the frightful detonation of his gun put to flight twenty or +thirty. In the first combat, held on the bank of the Tobol, at a place +called Babassan, Iermak, under shelter of intrenchments, checked by some +discharges of musketry the impetuosity of ten thousand men of +Mahmetkul's cavalry, who rushed forward to crush him. He at once attacks +them himself, carries off a complete victory, and, opened, as far as the +mouth of the Tobol, a route whose perils were not yet all dissipated. +Indeed, from the height of the steep banks of the river called +Dolojai-Yar the natives poured a shower of arrows on the boats of the +Cossacks. + +Another less important affair took place sixteen versts from Irtysh, in +a country governed by a tribal chief named Karatcha, situated on the +shore of a lake which up to to-day bears the name of this intimate +counsellor of the sovereign of Siberia. Iermak having made himself +master of the enemy's camp, found rich booty there, consisting of +provisions of all kinds, as well as a large number of tuns of honey, +intended for the consumption of the sovereign. + +The third combat, on the Irtysh, was bloody, and stubbornly fought. It +cost some companions of Iermak their lives, and served to prove how dear +even to barbarians is the independence of their fatherland; for the +defenders of Siberia displayed resolution and intrepidity. Nevertheless, +they yielded the victory to the Russians toward the end of the day, +awaiting a new battle, and without losing either courage or hope. The +blind Kutchum left the fortifications in order to camp upon the +Tchuvache mountain. Mahmetkul was intrusted with the guard of the +intrenchments, and the Cossacks, who the same evening captured the +little town of Atik-Murza, dared not take repose for fear of an attack. + +Already the troops of Iermak were visibly diminished. Some Cossacks had +been killed and many wounded, and amid constant fatigues a great number +of them had no strength nor valor left. The leaders profited by this +night of unrest to hold a council on the course to take, and in this +consultation the voice of the weaklings was heard. + +"We have satiated our vengeance," they said. "It is time to turn back. +New combats will be dangerous for us, since very soon we shall be unable +to conquer any more for lack of fighters." + +"Brothers," answered the leaders, "there is left only one road for us, +and that is the one in the front of us. The rivers are already covered +with ice. In turning our backs, we shall perish amid the snows. And if +we were fortunate enough to get home to Russia, we should arrive there +with the tarnish of perjury, for we have pledged ourselves to conquer +Kutchum or to blot out our faults by a generous death. We have lived +long with a dishonored reputation. Let us know how to die after having +acquired a glorious one! It is God who awards the victory, and often to +the weaker, blessed be his name!" + +"Amen!" responded the troop. At the first rays of the sun the Cossacks +hurled themselves on the intrenchments through a cloud of arrows, +crying, "God is for us!" The enemy themselves threw down their palisades +at three different points. The Siberians rushed out sabre or lance in +hand, and engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict which was disadvantageous +for the warriors of Iermak, who were too inferior in numbers. Men fell +on all sides: but the Cossacks, Germans, and Poles formed an unshakable +wall, loaded their guns in good order, and, by a sustained attack, +thinned the ranks of the enemy, whom they drove toward their +intrenchments. Iermak and Koltzo, at the first line, accomplished +prodigies of valor, repeating in a loud voice, "God is for us!" while +the blind Kutchum, placed upon the mountain, in the midst of his imams +and his mollahs, invoked Mahomet for the salvation of his true +believers. + +Happily for the Russians, Mahmetkul, being wounded, was obliged to quit +the fight, and the mirzas carried him in a skiff to the other bank of +the Irtysh. At this news, consternation spread throughout the hostile +army. Deprived of its leader it despaired of victory. The Ostiak princes +take flight. They are followed by the Tartars. And Kutchum, learning +that the Christian banners are already floating over the intrenchments, +seeks his safety in the deserts of Ischim, having hardly had time to +remove a part of his treasure from his capital city. This general and +bloody battle decided the domination of the Russians from the chain of +Ural Mountains to the shores of the Obi and the Tobol. It cost the +Cossacks one hundred seven of their bravest warriors, and up to the +present day prayers for the repose of their souls are offered in the +Cathedral of Tobolsk. + +On October 27th Iermak, already illustrious for history, after returning +thanks to heaven, made his triumphant entry into the town of Isker, or +Sibir, situated on an elevation on the bank of the Irtysh. It was +defended on one side by intrenchments and a deep moat; on the other, by +a triple rampart. According to the annalist, the conquerers found +immense riches in gold, silver, Asiatic cloth of gold, precious stones, +furs, and so forth, which they shared among themselves like brothers. +The town was entirely deserted. These warriors, who had just conquered a +kingdom, did not see a single inhabitant here. They glutted themselves +with gold and sables, and lacked for food. Nevertheless, three days +later, they saw the Ostiaks arrive, led by their prince Bohar, who came +to bring them presents and provisions, to take the oath of fidelity, and +to ask for mercy and protection. Soon there also appeared a great number +of Tartars with their women and children. They were accorded a gracious +reception by Iermak. He quieted them and let them return to their camps, +after demanding from them a small tribute. + +This man, recently the leader of a band of brigands, who had just showed +himself to be an intrepid hero and a skilful captain, likewise employed +his extraordinary genius in matters relating to administration and to +military discipline. He inspired rude and savage peoples with an extreme +confidence in a new power. He succeeded by a just severity in curbing +his turbulent companions-in-arms, so that they dared not practise any +vexations in a country conquered by their boldness and through a +thousand dangers, at the extremity of the world. It is related that the +inflexible Iermak, managing the Christian warriors in the combats, +treated them with rigor for the least fault, and that he punished +disobedience and fornication equally with death. He not only exacted +complete submission from his whole troop, but also purity of soul, in +order to render himself agreeable to the master of the earth and to the +Master of heaven, persuaded that God would accord him the victory with a +small number of virtuous warriors, rather than with a large number of +hardened sinners. "His Cossacks," says the annalist of Tobolsk, "led a +chaste life, on the march as well as during their stay in the capital of +Siberia. Their battles were followed by prayer." But they were not yet +at the end of their dangers. + +Some time passed without news of Kutchum, and the Cossack leaders, with +no inquietude, gave themselves up to the pleasures of the chase in the +neighborhood of the town. But Kutchum had drawn near, in spite of his +wound, Mahmetkul had already remounted his horse, and on December 5th he +unexpectedly fell on twenty Russians fishing in the Lake of Abalak, and +massacred them all. As soon as Iermak heard of this surprise, he rushed +in pursuit of the enemy, overtook them near Abalak, at the place where +the borough town of Chamehin now stands, attacked and dispersed them. +Then, having removed the bodies of his companions-in-arms, he buried +them, with military honors, on the cope of Sauskan, near Isker, in the +old cemetery of the Khans. The intensity of the cold, the dangerous +snowstorms, the short winter days of these northern countries, did not +permit him to think of new enterprises of any importance before the +return of spring. While waiting, the peaceful submission of two princes +of the Vogulitches, Ichberdei and Suklem, served soon to expand the +possessions of the Cossacks. The first had his domains beyond the marsh +of Eskalbin, on the banks of the Kuda or the Tavda. The second lived in +the vicinity of Tobolsk. Both voluntarily offered to pay the _yassak_, +or tribute in sable-skins, and took the oath of allegiance to Russia. +Ichberdei was able to secure the special friendship of the Cossacks, to +whom he gave his services as counsellor and guide in the unknown places. + +So the affairs of internal administration, the collecting of tribute, +hunting and fishing, the returns from which were indispensable in a +country without architecture, occupied Iermak until the month of April. +Then a mirza informed him that the bold Mahmetkul had again approached +the Irtysh and encamped near Vagai with a small band. The occasion was +favorable; but in order to exterminate this indefatigable enemy, secrecy +and celerity were more necessary than force. Consequently the Cossack +leaders, having chosen sixty of their braves, furtively approached the +camp of the Tartars, cut the throats of many in their sleep, took +Mahmetkul prisoner, and led him in triumph to Isker. This capture caused +Iermak great joy, for he was rid of an enemy full of audacity and +courage, whom he might consider as an important hostage in his relations +with the fugitive Kutchum. Although Mahmetkul was covered with the blood +of Iermak's brothers-in-arms, the latter, abjuring all idea of personal +vengeance, treated him with flattering consideration, while yet holding +him under close watch. As Iermak already had his spies in the distant +sections of Isker, he learned that Kutchum, struck with the reverses of +Mahmetkul, was wandering in the deserts beyond the Ischim. This usurper +was about to be attacked by Seidek--son of Bekbulat, Prince of Siberia, +one of his victims--who was marching against him with numerous bands of +Usbeks. Upon another side he found himself weakened by the defection of +the mirza Karatcha, who, abandoning him in his misfortune, had drawn +away a great part of his troops, and was getting ready to encamp in the +country of Lym, near a large lake, above the junction of the Tara with +the Irtysh. The news was of the nature to cause a lively satisfaction to +the leader of the Cossacks, whose new enterprises were to be favored by +the weakness of the principal enemy of Russia, as well as by the +approach of spring. + +Iermak, leaving a part of his troop at Isker, embarked with the other +part on the Irtysh, which he descended, navigating toward the north. The +tribes of the neighborhood already recognized his power, so that he +advanced without obstacles as far as the mouth of the Armidzianka, where +he was stopped by Tartars who were still independent, and who, ensconced +in a fortress, refused to surrender. The fortress was taken by assault, +and the Cossack leaders shot or hanged the principal authors of an +obstinacy dangerous for the Russians. Terrified, the rest of the +inhabitants swore submission and fidelity to Russia, kissing a sabre +dipped in blood. The present cantons of Ratzin, Karbin, and Turtass +dared oppose no resistance. Farther on began the encampments of the +Ostiaks and the Vogules of the Kuda. There, on the steep bank of the +Irtysh their prince Demian, who had taken refuge in a fort with two +thousand warriors ready to fight, rejected all Icrmak's propositions. +According to the report of the annalist: "This little town possessed +within its walls a golden idol which was supposed to have been brought +from ancient Russia at the epoch when she embraced Christianity. The +Ostiaks kept it in a vase filled with water which they drank to revive +their courage. The Cossack leaders, having driven away the besieged +forces with their artillery, entered the town, but they could not +discover this precious idol." + +The conquerers now continued their navigation. They perceived a crowd of +soothsayers who were offering a sacrifice to their famous idol of +Ratscha, conjuring it to save them from these terrible strangers. The +idol remained mute, the Russians advanced with their "thunder," and the +frightened soothsayers ran to hide themselves in the thickness of the +forests. It is there that the colony of Ratscha is found to-day, above +the Demiansk. Farther on in the canton of Tzingal, at the place where +the Irtysh, contracted by the mountains, precipitates its rapid course, +a multitude of armed men awaited the Cossacks. But a discharge of +musketry put them to flight, and the Cossacks took the little town of +Nazym, where they found only women and children, stricken with terror +and awaiting death. Iermak treated them with so much kindness that their +fathers and husbands did not delay in coming to find him with a tribute. + +After reducing the cantons of Tarkhan to submission, the Cossacks +entered the country of the most considerable of the Ostiak princes, +named Samar. Allied with eight hundred other little princes, he was +waiting for the Russians with firmness, in order to decide, by a battle, +the lot of all the ancient country of Yugorie. Samar boasted of his +courage and of his strength, but he forgot prudence, for he, his army +and his guards, were plunged in sleep when at the hour of dawn the +Cossacks attacked his camp. Awakened by the tumult, he rose, seized his +arms, and fell, shot to death at the first volley. In an instant his +troops dispersed, and the inhabitants agreed to pay tribute to Russia. +Already Iermak had reached the shore of the Obi, an important river, +concerning the course of which the ancient Novgorodians had some +notions, but whose source and mouth, according to the Muscovite +travellers of 1567, were hidden in unknown regions. Master of Nazym, +principal town of the Ostiaks, and of many other fortresses, having in +his power the Prince of Siberia, Iermak had to deplore the loss of one +of his brave companions-in-arms, the hetman Necetas Pan, killed in an +assault with some of the most intrepid Cossacks. + +He did not desire to penetrate farther into a country which only +presented frozen deserts to him, places of desolation where during the +summer the burning rays of the sun hardly warmed the surface of immense +marshes covered with moss, and where bogs, hardened by the frost and +strewed with the bones of mammoths, presented the aspect of a vast +cemetery. Iermak appointed Alatscha, an Ostiak prince, as chief of the +tribes of the Obi. Then he again took the road of the capital of +Siberia, treated as a conqueror and a sovereign by his tributaries. He +was received everywhere with demonstrations of absolute submission, as a +redoubtable warrior endowed with a supernatural strength of soul. To the +sound of warlike music, the Cossacks ascended the rivers. They +disembarked clad in their finest raiment in order to astonish the +inhabitants by their riches. Having thus assured the domination of +Russia from Berezoff to Tobol, Iermak, satisfied and tranquil, arrived +safely at Isker. + +Then only he announced to the Stroganoffs that with the aid of God he +had been able to conquer the Sultan, had taken his capital, his states, +his nephew, and had made his people take the oath of allegiance to +Russia. At the same time he wrote to the Czar that his poor Cossacks, +proscribed, troubled in conscience and given up to repentance, had +braved death to reunite a vast state to Russia, in the name of Christ +and of their great monarch, for ages upon ages and for as long a time as +it might please God to prolong the existence of the universe. "They +awaited," he added, "the orders of the Russian waywodes, to whom they +were ready to deliver over the kingdom of Siberia, without any sort of +condition, disposed to die for glory or upon a scaffold, according as it +should please God and their master." Charged with this missive, the +second of the leaders, John Koltzo, first companion of Iermak in the +combats and in the councils, departed for Moscow, where he had been +condemned to severe punishment as a state criminal, without fearing the +solemn decree which threatened his life. + +Here we anticipate a question which seems natural enough. In announcing +so late his successes to the Stroganoffs, did not Iermak, influenced by +the easy conquest of Siberia, think, as some historians suppose, of +reigning independently over that country? Although conqueror, his forces +were diminishing every day, and was not the need of aid the only and +true motive for his bearing toward Ivan? But how can it be imagined that +this prudent leader should not have foreseen, at the beginning of his +expedition, that a handful of rash men, abandoned by Russia, would in +three or four years have been annihilated by battles or diseases; that +in a rigorous climate they would succumb amid deserts and thick forests, +impenetrable refuges of a savage and fierce population, whom fire-arms +only could force to pay tribute to strangers? It is more probable that, +not having been an eye-witness of the facts, the annalist established +upon hypothesis the order in which they succeeded each other. Perhaps +Iermak feared to boast too soon of his success, desiring, above all, to +achieve the conquest of Siberia, which he thought he had done in driving +Kutchum into the deserts and in establishing the limits of the Muscovite +empire on the banks of the Obi. + +Transported with joy at the news they had just received from the +hetmans, the Stroganoffs set out at once for Moscow, eager to +communicate to the Czar all the details of this glorious enterprise. +They urged him to finish the reduction of Siberia, simple private +citizens like themselves not possessing the means to preserve so vast a +conquest. The envoys of Iermak, John Koltzo and his companions, also +appeared before the Prince to offer him the realm of Siberia, as well as +the precious furs of sables, black foxes, and castors. + +These were, since a long time, the first transports of joy in gloomy +Moscow. The Czar and the nation seemed to wake up. At court, on the +great square, was repeated with intoxication, "God has sent a new empire +to Russia!" Bells were rung, solemn thanks were returned to heaven, as +at the epoch of Kazan and of Astrakhan, the happy time of the Czar's +youth! Rumor exaggerated the glory of this conquest. + +There was no talk but of huge armies destroyed by the Cossacks, of a +great number of peoples subjected by their valor, of the immense riches +which they had found. In a word, Siberia seemed to have fallen from the +sky for the Russians, and, to set off still further Iermak's success, it +was forgotten that from time immemorial this country had been known to +the Russians. The disgrace of the Cossacks gave place to honors. John +Koltzo, bowing his head in humility before the Czar and the boyars, +heard nothing but expressions of good-will, and of praise for his +conduct and the name of valiant warrior. Greatly moved, he kissed the +hand of the Czar, who caused to be given to him, as well as to the other +envoys of Siberia, silver, cloth, and stuffs of value. Ivan immediately +sent to Iermak Prince Simeon Bolkovsky and the officer John Glukoff with +five hundred strelitz (infantry). He authorized John Koltzo to raise +volunteers to go and establish himself in the new countries of Tobol, +and ordered the Bishop of Vologda to send ten priests thither for the +purpose of celebrating divine service. Prince Bolkovsky was ordered to +take, in the spring, the boats of the Stroganoffs and embark on the +Tchusovaya (river), to follow the traces of the hero of Siberia. These +illustrious citizens, the real authors of this important acquisition to +Russia, yielded it to the state. But in recompense, and as a reward for +their services and their zeal, Ivan made to Simeon Bolkovsky a +concession of two borough towns, the Great and Little Sol, on the Volga. +Maxime and Necetas obtained the privilege of carrying on commerce in all +their cities without paying any tax or duty. + +While awaiting good news from Russia, the conquerors of Siberia did not +give themselves up to a sterile repose. They advanced by the Tavda as +far as the country of the Vogulitches, and near the mouth of that river +where the Tartar princes Labutan and Petschenieg held sway. In a bloody +engagement Iermak put them to flight on the shores of a lake; and the +annalist reports that at his time many human bones were still to be seen +there. But the timid inhabitants of the cantons of Koschutz and of +Tabarin paid the tribute demanded by the Cossack leader without a +murmur. These peaceful savages lived in an absolute independence, having +neither princes nor chiefs. They only gave their respect to certain rich +men, whose wisdom was generally recognized, and took them as judges in +their quarrels. They yielded an equal esteem to some pretended +soothsayers. One of these, gazing upon Iermak with a holy terror, +predicted long glory for him, but kept silence about his approaching +death. Here fable creates new giants among the dwarfs of Vogulie, who +are scarcely two archines in height. According to one of these stories, +the Russians saw with surprise, near the town of Tabarin, a giant two +fathoms tall, who seized a dozen men at a time and smothered them in his +arms. Not being able to take him alive, they killed him with gunshots. + +On the whole, the relation of this latter expedition is not very +authentic, and is only found in the supplement to the _Chronicles of +Siberia_. One may also read there that, after having reached the +marshes and forests of Pelim, dispersed the Vogulitches, and made +numerous prisoners, Iermak sought to gather from the latter certain +information regarding the roads which lead from the banks of the Upper +Tavda to Perm, across a chain of rocky mountains, in order to discover a +less dangerous and less difficult communication with Russia, but that it +was impossible to open a road in deserts swampy in summer and buried +under deep snows in winter. Iermak succeeded in increasing the number of +his tributaries, and in extending his domains as far as the shore of +Sosva, in the ancient country of Yugorie. He had enclosed in their +limits the country of Kondinie, little known up to that time, although +long placed among the titles of the Muscovite sovereigns. He then +returned to the capital of Siberia, where he awaited the recompense of +his glorious works. + +John Koltzo had arrived at Isker, charged with the bounties of the Czar, +followed by Prince Bolkovsky with his warriors. The former gave rich +presents to the leaders as well as to the soldiers. He was the bearer, +for Iermak, of two cuirasses, a cup of silver, and a cloak which the +Czar had worn himself. In a letter full of goodness, Ivan announced to +the Cossacks his entire forgetfulness of their faults and the eternal +recognition of Russia for their important services. He affirmed that he +appointed Iermak prince of Siberia, commanding him to administer and +govern that country, as he had already done up to that time; to +establish order there, and, in fine, to consolidate there the supreme +power of the Czar. On their side, the Cossacks rendered honors to the +waywodes of Ivan as well as to all the strelitz. They made them presents +of sables and treated them with all the luxury which their position +permitted, preparing together for new enterprises. However, this +happiness of Iermak and his companions was not of long duration; we +touch upon the beginning of their reverses. + +In the first place, a fearful scurvy showed itself among the troops, a +disease common to those who arrive in cold and damp climates, in savage +and almost uninhabited countries. The strelitz were attacked first. Soon +it was communicated to the Cossacks, many of whom lost their strength +and their life. Next, winter brought a great dearth of food. The +excessive cold, tempests, snow-storms, hindered the hunting and fishing +as well as the arrival of grain from the neighboring encampments, some +inhabitants of which occupied themselves with a poorly productive +agriculture. Famine began to be felt; disease made progress and +continually took off many victims, among whom was Prince Bolkovsky. They +gave him an honorable funeral at Isker. The general weakness seized the +heart of Iermak also. He feared not death, long accustomed to brave it, +but he was afflicted with the idea of losing his conquest, of betraying +the hopes of the Czar and of Russia. Happily this calamity ceased with +spring. The atmospheric heat helped the cure of the diseases, and +convoys of provisions restored plenty among the Russians. Then Iermak +made Prince Mahmetkul start for Moscow, announcing to the Czar that, +while all was going on well in Siberia, yet he asked immediately for +more considerable aids than the first, in order to preserve his +conquests and to be able to make new ones. Mahmetkul, faithful observer +of the law of Mahomet, served afterward in the Russian armies. + +Iermak resolved to intimidate his enemies and to guarantee his safety +for the future. To this effect, although he had but a feeble troop left, +he undertook to pursue Karatcha, ascending the Irtysh in order to extend +the possessions of Russia toward the east. He overthrew Prince Beghiche +and captured his city, of which the ruins may still be seen on the +shores of a sinuous lake, near the mouth of the Vogai. He made himself +master of all the country which stretches as far as the Ischim, +terrifying by his vengeance those who dared resist him, and sparing +those who lay down their arms. In the country of Sargaty there lived an +illustrious old man, a former Tartar chief, a hereditary judge of all +the tribes since the first khan of Siberia. He made the act of +submission as well as Prince Etichai, who governed the city of Tehend. +The latter, bearing tribute to Iermak, presented his young daughter, +betrothed to the son of Kutchum. But the hetman, a rigid observer of the +laws of chastity, sent the young girl home. Near the mouth of the +Ischim, a bloody quarrel arose between the soldiers of Iermak and the +wild inhabitants of that wretched country, in which five brave Cossacks +lost their lives. Their memory is still celebrated in the melancholy +songs of Siberia. The little town of Tachatkan also fell into the power +of the Russians. Their chief did not judge it advisable to attack a more +important place, founded by Kutchum, on the banks of the lake Aussaklu. +He penetrated as far as the shore of Chische, where the deserts begin; +imposed tributes on this new conquest, and returned to take to Isker the +spoils which were to be his last trophies. + + + + + FIRST COLONY OF ENGLAND BEYOND SEAS + + A.D. 1583 + + MOSES HARVEY + + + In the Elizabethan era, when maritime discovery was being actively + pursued by England's adventurous spirits, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, + half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, the founder of Virginia, took + possession of Newfoundland, with feudal ceremony, in the name of the + Virgin Queen. Sir Humphrey's expedition was barren of results in the + way of colonization, and even in the way of discovery on the island; + while it proved fatal to its leader, and those who sailed with him + on the Squirrel, for on the return voyage to England the vessel + foundered at sea, and only the companion-ship, the Golden Hind, + reached the port of Falmouth, Devon. But the formal occupation of + Newfoundland at that early period makes it the most ancient colony + of the British crown, English settlement beginning shortly after Sir + Humphrey Gilbert's visit, though interrupted between the years 1692 + and 1713 by French attempts at conquest. + + +Up to this time no attempt had been made to colonize Newfoundland or any +of the neighboring lands. The hardy fishermen of various nationalities, +among whom Englishmen were now much more numerous than formerly, were in +the habit of frequenting the shores of the island during the summer and +using the harbors and coves for the cure of their fish, returning home +with the products of their toil on the approach of winter. Eighty-six +years had passed away since Cabot's discovery, and we now arrive at the +year 1583, a memorable date in the history of Newfoundland. On August +5th of that year there were lying in the harbor of St. John's thirty-six +vessels belonging to various nations, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and +English, all employed in fishing. In addition to these there were four +English warships which had arrived the day before. They were the +Delight, the Golden Hind, the Swallow, and the Squirrel. Early on this +morning boats were lowered from the English ships, and the commanders +and officers went on shore. Soon a goodly company had assembled on the +beach, then lined by a few rough wooden huts and "flakes," or stages for +drying cod. The rude inmates of these huts gathered round the company +that landed from the English ships; and the captains and officers of the +other vessels were there by special summons. A very curious and motley +group was that which then stood on the beach of St. John's +harbor--swarthy, bronzed sailors and fishermen of Spain, Portugal, and +France, in the costumes of the sixteenth century. Soon a circle formed +round one commanding figure--a man of noble presence, wearing the richly +slashed and laced doublet, velvet cloak, trunk-hose, and gay hat and +feather which constituted the dress of gentlemen in the days of Queen +Elizabeth. This was no other than Sir Humphrey Gilbert, one of the +gallant knights of Devonshire. He unrolled a parchment scroll, and +proceeded to read the royal patent authorizing him to take possession of +Newfoundland on behalf of his royal mistress, and exercise jurisdiction +over it and all other possessions of the crown in the same quarter. Twig +and sod were presented to him in feudal fashion, and, in the name of +Queen Elizabeth, he solemnly annexed the island to the British Empire. +The banner of England was then twisted on a flag-staff; the royal arms, +cut in lead, were affixed to a wooden pillar, near the water's edge, and +the ceremony was complete. The grant gave Sir Humphrey Gilbert +jurisdiction for two hundred leagues in every direction, so that the +limits included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, part of Labrador, as well as +the islands of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, and Prince Edward Island--a +right royal principality. + +This Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the first settler in Newfoundland, who, with +some two hundred fifty followers from Devonshire, had arrived with the +view of making the western wilderness a home for Englishmen, was a son +of Sir Otho Gilbert, of Compton castle, Torbay. His mother was a +Champernoun of purest Norman descent, and "could probably boast of +having in her veins the blood of Courtneys, Emperors of Byzant." Sir +Otho had three sons by this lady, John, Humphrey, and Adrian, who all +proved to be men of superior abilities. They were all three knighted by +Elizabeth, a distinction which, coming from the hands of the great +Queen, marked its recipient as a gentleman and a brave warrior. Sir Otho +died, and his widow married Walter Raleigh, a gentleman of ancient blood +but impoverished, and at the time living at Hayes, Devon. To her second +husband the fair Champernoun bore a son whose fame was destined to be +world-wide, and who, in a period more prolific of great men and great +events than any before or since, played a gallant part, and was also +knighted, as Sir Walter Raleigh, by Queen Bess. Thus Sir Humphrey +Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh were half-brothers, each being trained in +the simple and manly yet high-bred ways of English gentlemen. When +Humphrey Gilbert grew up he embraced the profession of arms, and won +high distinction in Continental and Irish wars. At length, in his mature +manhood, he and his distinguished half-brother Raleigh formed the design +of first colonizing Newfoundland, and then the neighboring islands and +continent. Hence we find him on August 5, 1583, standing on the beach in +the harbor of St. John's. Sir Walter Raleigh had embarked on the same +expedition, but a contagious disease broke out on board his ship which +compelled his return. + +The enterprise of Sir Humphrey Gilbert was worthy of a heroic and +patriotic nobleman. It was, nevertheless, doomed to end in disaster and +death. In prosecuting further explorations one of Sir Humphrey's vessels +was wrecked and the whole crew perished. The little fleet had struggled +with contrary winds for many days. Eventually the Delight, the largest +vessel, drifted into the breakers on a lee shore and struck upon a rock. +She went rapidly to pieces. Seventeen of the crew got into the longboat, +and, after seven days, fifteen of them reached port. But the captain, +Morris Browne, refused to leave the ship. "Mounting upon the highest +deck," says the ancient chronicler, "he attained imminent death, so +inevitable." The other vessels stood out to sea and saved themselves. As +winter was approaching and provisions getting low, Sir Humphrey deemed +it wise to steer for England. He had planted his flag on board the +Squirrel, a little cockle-shell of ten tons, and though earnestly +entreated to go on board the larger vessel, the Golden Hind, he refused +to abandon his brave comrades. A great storm overtook them near the +Azores. The Golden Hind kept as near the Squirrel as possible; and when +in the midst of the tempest the crew saw the gallant knight sitting +calmly on deck with a book before him, they heard him cry to his +companions, "Cheer up, lads, we are as near heaven at sea as on land!" +When the curtain of night shrouded the little bark, she and her gallant +crew disappeared beneath the dark billows of the Atlantic. Thus perished +Sir Humphrey Gilbert, scholar, soldier, colonizer, philosopher, one of +the noblest of those brave hearts that sought to extend the dominion of +England in the New World. + +To Newfoundland this sad loss was irreparable. Had Sir Humphrey lived to +reach home, no doubt he and Sir Walter Raleigh would have renewed their +efforts at colonization, and, profiting by past errors, would have +settled in the island men of the right stamp. Sir Humphrey Gilbert's +failure was the result of a succession of uncontrollable disasters. +Fully appreciating the immense value of the fisheries of Newfoundland, +he seems to have been thoroughly impressed with the idea that the right +way of prosecuting those fisheries was to colonize the country, and +conduct them on the spot, whereby he would have established a resident +population, who would have combined fishing with the cultivation of the +soil. It was a departure from this policy, and a determination, at the +behest of selfish monopolists, to make the island a mere +fishing-station, that postponed for many weary years the prosperity of +the colony, blighting the national enterprise, and paralyzing the +energies of the people. + + + + + ASSASSINATION OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE + + DIVISION OF THE NETHERLANDS + + A.D. 1584 + + JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY + + + Throughout the earlier period of the "heroic age of the Netherlands" + William of Orange, the natural leader of his people, displayed + qualities of foresight, prudence, and courage worthy of the position + which he held. Without great generalship, "he knew how to wait and + turn his reverses to account." His life was constantly in danger and + was repeatedly attempted, but his resolution was never disturbed by + fear. While meriting the surname of the "Silent," he expressed + himself effectively in the decisive speech of action. + + The Pacification of Ghent (1576)--the union of the seventeen Netherland + provinces, of which William was at the head--was of short duration. + The northern provinces were Protestant, the southern mostly Catholic. + Diverse trade interests also prevented perfect union. Compromise was + attempted without avail. The Southern provinces acknowledged Philip + II, while the seven Northern provinces--Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, + Gelderland, Overyssel, Friesland, and Groningen--formed themselves + (1579) into the Union of Utrecht, a federal republic, with William + of Orange as stadtholder. + + A little later the Spanish government published a ban against the + Prince and set a price upon his head. Many attempts against his life + were made by assassins eager for the promised reward. How the + treacherous end was finally compassed is told by Motley with all the + dramatic realism necessary for a faithful description of the scene. + + +In March, 1583, one Pietro Dordogno was executed in Antwerp for +endeavoring to assassinate the Prince. Before his death he confessed +that he had come from Spain solely for the purpose, and that he had +conferred with La Motte, Governor of Gravelines, as to the best means of +accomplishing his design. In April, 1584, Hans Hanzoon, a merchant of +Flushing, had been executed for attempting to destroy the Prince by +means of gunpowder concealed under his house in that city and under his +seat in the church. He confessed that he had deliberately formed the +intention of performing the deed, and that he had discussed the details +of the enterprise with the Spanish ambassador in Paris. + +At about the same time one Le Goth, a captive French officer, had been +applied to by the Marquis de Richebourg, on the part of Alexander of +Parma, to attempt the murder of the Prince. Le Goth had consented, +saying that nothing could be more easily done, and that he would +undertake to poison him in a dish of eels, of which he knew him to be +particularly fond. The Frenchman was liberated with this understanding, +but, being very much the friend of Orange, straightway told him the +whole story and remained ever afterward a faithful servant of the +states. It is to be presumed that he excused the treachery to which he +owed his escape from prison on the ground that faith was no more to be +kept with murderers than with heretics. + +Within two years there had been five distinct attempts to assassinate +the Prince, all of them with the privity of the Spanish government. A +sixth was soon to follow. In the summer of 1584 William of Orange was +residing at Delft, where his wife, Louisa de Coligny, had given birth, +in the preceding winter, to a son, afterward the celebrated stadtholder +Frederick Henry. The child had received these names from his two +godfathers, the kings of Denmark and of Navarre, and his baptism had +been celebrated with much rejoicing on June 12th, in the place of his +birth. + +It was a quiet, cheerful, yet somewhat drowsy little city, that ancient +burgh of Delft. The placid canals by which it was intersected in every +direction were all planted with whispering, umbrageous rows of limes and +poplars, and along these watery highways the traffic of the place glided +so noiselessly that the town seemed the abode of silence and +tranquillity. The streets were clean and airy, the houses well built, +the whole aspect of the place thriving. + +One of the principal thoroughfares was called the Old Delft Street. It +was shaded on both sides by lime-trees, which in that midsummer season +covered the surface of the canal which flowed between them with their +light and fragrant blossoms. On one side of this street was the "Old +Kirk," a plain, antique structure of brick, with lancet windows, and +with a tall, slender tower, which inclined, at a very considerable +angle, toward a house upon the other side of the canal. That house was +the mansion of William the Silent. It stood directly opposite the +church, being separated by a spacious court-yard from the street, while +the stables and other offices in the rear extended to the city wall. A +narrow lane, opening out of Delft Street, ran along the side of the +house and court in the direction of the ramparts. The house was a plain, +two-storied edifice of brick, with red-tiled roof, and had formerly been +a cloister dedicated to St. Agatha, the last prior of which had been +hanged by the furious Lumey de la Marck.[1] + + [1] Francis, Duke of Anjou, the French accomplice of Catherine de' + Medici in persecution of the Protestants, is elsewhere described + by Motley as "the most despicable personage who had ever entered + the Netherlands." + +The news of Anjou's death had been brought to Delft by a special +messenger from the French court. On Sunday morning, July 8, 1584, the +Prince of Orange, having read the despatches before leaving his bed, +caused the man who had brought them to be summoned, that he might give +some particular details by word of mouth concerning the last illness of +the Duke. The courier was accordingly admitted to the Prince's +bedchamber, and proved to be one Francis Guion, as he called himself. +This man had, early in the spring, claimed and received the protection +of Orange, on the ground of being the son of a Protestant at Besançon +who had suffered death for his religion and of his own ardent attachment +to the reformed faith. A pious, psalm-singing, thoroughly Calvinistic +youth he seemed to be, having a Bible or a hymn-book under his arm +whenever he walked the street, and most exemplary in his attendance at +sermon and lecture. For the rest, a singularly unobtrusive personage, +twenty-seven years of age, low of stature, meagre, mean-visaged, +muddy-complexioned, and altogether a man of no account--quite +insignificant in the eyes of all who looked upon him. If there were one +opinion, in which the few who had taken the trouble to think of the +puny, somewhat shambling stranger from Burgundy at all, coincided, it +was that he was inoffensive, but quite incapable of any important +business. He seemed well educated, claimed to be of respectable +parentage, and had considerable facility of speech when any person could +be found who thought it worth while to listen to him; but on the whole +he attracted little attention. + +Nevertheless this insignificant frame locked up a desperate and daring +character; this mild and inoffensive nature had gone pregnant seven +years with a terrible crime, whose birth could not much longer be +retarded. Francis Guion, the Calvinist, son of a martyred Calvinist, was +in reality Balthazar Gérard, a fanatical Catholic, whose father and +mother were still living at Villefans in Burgundy. Before reaching man's +estate he had formed the design of murdering the Prince of Orange, "who, +so long as he lived, seemed like to remain a rebel against the Catholic +King, and to make every effort to disturb the repose of the Roman +Catholic apostolic religion." + +When but twenty years of age he had struck his dagger with all his might +into a door, exclaiming as he did so, "Would that the blow had been in +the heart of Orange!" For this he was rebuked by a bystander, who told +him it was not for him to kill princes, and that it was not desirable to +destroy so good a captain as the Prince, who, after all, might one day +reconcile himself with the King. + +The "inveterate deliberation," thus thoroughly matured, Gérard now +proceeded to carry into effect. He came to Delft, obtained a hearing of +Villers, the clergyman and intimate friend of Orange, and was somewhat +against his will sent to France, to Maréchal Biron, who, it was thought, +was soon to be appointed governor of Cambray. Through Orange's +recommendation the Burgundian was received into the suite of Noel de +Caron, Seigneur de Schoneval, then setting forth on a special mission to +the Duke of Anjou. While in France Gérard could rest neither by day nor +night, so tormented was he by the desire of accomplishing his project, +and at length he obtained permission, upon the death of the Duke, to +carry this important intelligence to the Prince of Orange. The +despatches having been intrusted to him, he travelled post-haste to +Delft, and, to his astonishment, the letters had hardly been delivered +before he was summoned in person to the chamber of the Prince. Here was +an opportunity such as he had never dared to hope for. The arch-enemy to +the Church and to the human race, whose death would confer upon his +destroyer wealth and nobility in this world, besides a crown of glory in +the next, lay unarmed, alone, in bed, before the man who had thirsted +seven long years for his blood. + +Balthazar could scarcely control his emotions sufficiently to answer the +questions which the Prince addressed to him concerning the death of +Anjou, but Orange, deeply engaged with the despatches, and with the +reflections which their deeply important contents suggested, did not +observe the countenance of the humble Calvinist exile, who had been +recently recommended to his patronage by Villers. Gérard had, moreover, +made no preparation for an interview so entirely unexpected, had come +unarmed, and had formed no plan for escape. He was obliged to forego his +prey when most within his reach, and, after communicating all the +information which the Prince required, he was dismissed from the +chamber. + +It was Sunday morning, and the bells were tolling for church. Upon +leaving the house he loitered about the court-yard, furtively examining +the premises, so that a sergeant of halberdiers asked him why he was +waiting there. Balthazar meekly replied that he was desirous of +attending divine worship in the church opposite, but added, pointing to +his shabby and travel-stained attire, that, without at least a new pair +of shoes and stockings, he was unfit to join the congregation. +Insignificant as ever, the small, pious, dusty stranger excited no +suspicion in the mind of the good-natured sergeant. He forthwith spoke +of the wants of Gérard to an officer, by whom they were communicated to +Orange himself, and the Prince instantly ordered a sum of money to be +given him. Thus Balthazar obtained from William's charity what Parma's +thrift had denied--a fund for carrying out his purpose. + +Next morning, with the money thus procured, he purchased a pair of +pistols, or small carabines, from a soldier, chaffering long about the +price because the vender could not supply a particular kind of chopped +bullets or slugs which he desired. Before the sunset of the following +day, that soldier had stabbed himself to the heart, and died despairing, +on hearing for what purpose the pistols had been bought. + +On Tuesday, July 10, 1584, at about half-past twelve, the Prince, with +his wife on his arm, and followed by the ladies and gentlemen of his +family, was going to the dining-room. William the Silent was dressed +upon that day, according to his usual custom, in very plain fashion. He +wore a wide-leaved, loosely shaped hat of dark felt, with a silken cord +round the crown--such as had been worn by the Beggars in the early days +of the revolt. A high ruff encircled his neck, from which also depended +one of the Beggars' medals, with the motto, "_Fidèles au roy jusqu'à +la besace_," while a loose surcoat of gray frieze cloth, over a tawny +leather doublet, with wide, slashed underclothes, completed his costume. +Gérard presented himself at the doorway and demanded a passport. The +Princess, struck with the pale and agitated countenance of the man, +anxiously questioned her husband concerning the stranger. The Prince +carelessly observed that "it was merely a person who came for a +passport," ordering, at the same time, a secretary forthwith to prepare +one. The Princess, still not relieved, observed in an undertone that +"she had never seen so villanous a countenance." Orange, however, not at +all impressed with the appearance of Gérard, conducted himself at table +with his usual cheerfulness, conversing much with the burgomaster of +Leewarden, the only guest present at the family dinner, concerning the +political and religious aspects of Friesland. + +At two o'clock the company rose from table. The Prince led the way, +intending to pass to his private apartments above. The dining-room, +which was on the ground floor, opened into a little square vestibule, +which communicated, through an arched passageway, with the main entrance +into the court-yard. This vestibule was also directly at the foot of the +wooden staircase leading to the next floor, and was scarcely six feet in +width. Upon its left side, as one approached the stairway, was an +obscure arch, sunk deep in the wall, and completely in the shadow of the +door. Behind this arch a portal opened to the narrow lane at the side of +the house. The stairs themselves were completely lighted by a large +window, half way up the flight. The Prince came from the dining-room, +and began leisurely to ascend. He had only reached the second stair, +when a man emerged from the sunken arch, and, standing within a foot or +two of him, discharged a pistol full at his heart. Three balls entered +his body, one of which, passing quite through him, struck with violence +against the wall beyond. The Prince exclaimed in French, as he felt the +wound: "O my God, have mercy upon my soul! O my God, have mercy upon +this poor people!" + +These were the last words he ever spoke, save that, when his sister, +Catherine of Schwarzburg, immediately afterward asked him if he +commended his soul to Jesus Christ, he faintly answered, "Yes." His +master of the horse, Jacob van Maldere, had caught him in his arms as +the fatal shot was fired. The Prince was then placed on the stairs for +an instant, when he immediately began to swoon. He was afterward laid +upon a couch in the dining-room, where in a few minutes he breathed his +last in the arms of his wife and sister. + +The murderer succeeded in making his escape through the side door, and +sped swiftly up the narrow lane. He had almost reached the ramparts, +from which he intended to spring into the moat, when he stumbled over a +heap of rubbish. As he rose he was seized by several pages and +halberdiers, who had pursued him from the house. He had dropped his +pistols upon the spot where he had committed the crime, and upon his +person were found a couple of bladders, provided with a piece of pipe, +with which he had intended to assist himself across the moat, beyond +which a horse was waiting for him. He made no effort to deny his +identity, but boldly avowed himself and his deed. He was brought back to +the house, where he immediately underwent a preliminary examination +before the city magistrates. He was afterward subjected to excruciating +tortures; for the fury against the wretch who had destroyed the "father +of the country" was uncontrollable, and William the Silent was no longer +alive to intercede--as he had often done before--in behalf of those who +assailed his life. + +The sentence pronounced against the assassin was execrable--a crime +against the memory of the great man whom it professed to avenge. It was +decreed that the right hand of Gérard should be burned off with a +red-hot iron, that his flesh should be torn from his bones with pincers +in six different places, that he should be quartered and disembowelled +alive, that his heart should be torn from his bosom and flung in his +face, and that, finally, his head should be taken off. Not even his +horrible crime, with its endless consequences, not the natural frenzy of +indignation which it had excited, could justify this savage decree, to +rebuke which the murdered hero might have almost risen from the sleep of +death. The sentence was literally executed on July 14th, the criminal +supporting its horrors with the same astonishing fortitude. So calm were +his nerves, crippled and half roasted as he was ere he mounted the +scaffold, that, when one of the executioners was slightly injured in the +ear by the flying from the handle of the hammer with which he was +breaking the fatal pistol in pieces, as the first step in the +execution--a circumstance which produced a general laugh in the crowd--a +smile was observed upon Balthazar's face in sympathy with the general +hilarity. His lips were seen to move up to the moment when his heart was +thrown in his face. "Then," said a looker-on, "he gave up the ghost." + +The reward promised by Philip to the man who should murder Orange was +paid to the heirs of Gérard. Parma informed his sovereign that the "poor +man" had been executed, but that his father and mother were still +living, to whom he recommended the payment of that "merced" which "the +laudable and generous deed had so well deserved." This was accordingly +done, and the excellent parents, ennobled and enriched by the crime of +their son, received, instead of the twenty-five thousand crowns promised +in the Ban, the three seigniories of Livermont, Hostal, and Dampmartin, +in the Franche Comté, and took their place at once among the landed +aristocracy. Thus the bounty of the Prince had furnished the weapon by +which his life was destroyed, and his estates supplied the fund out of +which the assassin's family received the price of blood. At a later day, +when the unfortunate eldest son of Orange returned from Spain after +twenty-seven years' absence, a changeling and a Spaniard, the +restoration of those very estates was offered to him by Philip II +provided he would continue to pay a fixed proportion of their rents to +the family of his father's murderer. The education which Philip William +had received, under the King's auspices, had, however, not entirely +destroyed all his human feelings and he rejected the proposal with +scorn. The estates remained with the Gérard family, and the patents of +nobility which they had received were used to justify their exemption +from certain taxes, until the union of Franche-Comté with France, when a +French governor tore the documents in pieces and trampled them under +foot. + +The life and labors of Orange had established the emancipated +commonwealth upon a secure foundation, but his death rendered the union +of all the Netherlands into one republic hopeless. The efforts of the +malcontent nobles, the religious discord, the consummate ability, both +political and military, of Parma, all combined with the lamentable loss +of William the Silent to separate forever the Southern and Catholic +provinces from the Northern confederacy. So long as the Prince remained +alive, he was the father of the whole country, the Netherlands--saving +only two Walloon provinces--constituting a whole. Notwithstanding the +spirit of faction and the blight of the long civil war, there was at +least one country, or the hope of a country, one strong heart, one +guiding head, for the patriotic party throughout the land. Philip and +Granvella were right in their estimate of the advantage to be derived +from the Prince's death; in believing that an assassin's hand could +achieve more than all the wiles which Spanish or Italian statesmanship +could teach, or all the armies which Spain or Italy could muster. The +pistol of the insignificant Gérard destroyed the possibility of a united +Netherland state, while during the life of William there was union in +the policy, unity in the history of the country. + + + + + NAMING OF VIRGINIA: FIRST DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIANS + + THE LOST COLONY + + A.D. 1584 + + ARTHUR BARLOW R. R. HOWISON + + + At the age of thirty-two Sir Walter Raleigh had already been + connected with navigating and colonizing expeditions to North + America. He was associated with the enterprise of his elder + half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who in 1583 established at St. + John's, Newfoundland, the first English colony beyond seas. Upon the + death of Gilbert, in that year, Raleigh succeeded to his enterprise, + and obtained from Queen Elizabeth, whose favorite he was, a charter + of colonization. + + When next year he sent out his first expedition to find some + suitable spot for a colony on the North American coast, Raleigh took + warning from the unfortunate experiences of Gilbert in the northern + latitudes, and directed his two commanders, Philip Amidas and Arthur + Barlow, to take another route. They accordingly took the old way by + the Canary Islands. + + History is fortunate in possessing Barlow's account of this voyage. + It has, as one writer says, "all the freshness and gayety of an + idyl. His description of the sweet smell wafted to the voyagers from + the American shore, as from some delicate garden abounding with all + kinds of odoriferous flowers, was noticed by Bacon, and utilized by + Dryden to flatter one of his patrons." + + Howison's story of the ill-starred colony and the conjectural refuge + of its remnants among the Croatan Indians of Virginia--as Raleigh + named the whole region, including the present North Carolina--fittingly + completes the history of Sir Walter's American enterprise. The + failure of the colony has been freely charged to his own neglect, + occasioned by the turning of his mind to more brilliant prospects + presented by the illusory "El Dorado," whereby so many other + adventurers were misled. + + + ARTHUR BARLOW + +The 27. day of April, in the year of our redemption 1584, we departed +the west of England, with two barks well furnished with men and +victuals, having received our last and perfect directions by your +letters, confirming the former instructions and commandments delivered +by yourself at our leaving the river of Thames. And I think it a matter +both unnecessary, for the manifest discovery of the country, as also for +tediousness' sake, to remember unto you the diurnal of our course, +sailing thither and returning; only I have presumed to present unto you +this brief discourse, by which you may judge how profitable this land is +likely to succeed, as well to yourself, by whose direction and charge, +and by whose servants, this our discovery hath been performed, as also +to her highness and the commonwealth. In which we hope your wisdom will +be satisfied, considering that as much by us hath been brought to light +as by those small means and number of men we had could anyway have been +expected or hoped for. + +The tenth of May in this present year we arrived at the Canaries, and +the tenth of June we were fallen with the islands of the West Indies, +keeping a more southwesterly course than was needful, because we doubted +about the current of the Bay of Mexico, disboguing between the Cape of +Florida and Havana, had been of greater force than afterward we found it +to be. At which islands we found the air very unwholesome, and our men +grew for the most part ill-disposed: so that having refreshed ourselves +with sweet water and fresh victual, we departed the twelfth day of our +arrival here. These islands, with the rest adjoining, are so well known +to yourself, and to many others, as I will not trouble you with the +remembrance of them. + +The second of July we found shoal water, where we smelt so sweet and so +strong a smell, as if we had been in the midst of some delicate garden, +abounding with all kind of odoriferous flowers; by which we were assured +that the land could not be far distant. And keeping good watch and +bearing but slack sail, the fourth of the same month we arrived upon the +coast, which we supposed to be a continent and firm land, and we sailed +along the same one hundred twenty English miles before we could find any +entrance, or river issuing into the sea. The first that appeared unto us +we entered, though not without some difficulty, and cast anchor about +three arquebuse-shot within the haven's mouth, on the left hand of the +same; and after thanks given to God for our safe arrival thither, we +manned our boats, and went to view the land next adjoining, and to take +possession of the same in the right of the Queen's most excellent +majesty, as rightful queen and princess of the same, and after delivered +the same over to your use, according to her majesty's grant and +letters-patent, under her highness' great seal. Which being performed, +according to the ceremonies used in such enterprises, we viewed the land +about us, being, whereas we first landed, very sandy and low toward the +water's side, but so full of grapes as the very beating and surge of the +sea overflowed them. Of which we found such plenty, as well there as in +all places else, both on the sand and on the green soil on the hills as +in the plains, as well on every little shrub as also climbing toward the +tops of high cedars, that I think in all the world the like abundance is +not to be found: and myself having seen those parts of Europe that most +abound, find such difference as were incredible to be written. + +We passed from the sea side toward the tops of those hills next +adjoining, being but of mean[1] height; and from thence we beheld the +sea on both sides, to the north and to the south, finding no end any of +both ways.[2] This land lay stretching itself to the west, which after +we found to be but an island of twenty miles long and not above six +miles broad. Under the bank or hill whereon we stood we beheld the +valleys replenished with goodly cedar-trees, and having discharged our +arquebuse-shot such a flock of cranes--the most part white--arose under +us, with such a cry redoubled by many echoes, as if an army of men had +shouted all together. + + [1] Middle. + + [2] Either way. + +This island had many goodly woods full of deer, coneys, hares, and fowl, +even in the midst of summer, in incredible abundance. The woods were not +such as you find in Bohemia, Moscovia, or Hercynia, barren and +fruitless, but the highest and reddest cedars of the world, far +bettering the cedars of the Azores, of the Indies, or Libanus; pines, +cypress, sassafras, the lentisk, or the tree that beareth the mastic; +the tree that beareth the rind of black cinnamon, of which Master Winter +brought from the Straits of Magellan; and many other of excellent smell +and quality. We remained by the side of this island two whole days +before we saw any people of the country. The third day we espied one +small boat rowing toward us, having in it three persons. This boat came +to the island side, four arquebuse-shot from our ships; and there two of +the people remaining, the third came along the shore side toward us, and +we being then all within board, he walked up and down upon the point of +the land next unto us. + +Then the master and the pilot of the admiral, Simon Ferdinando, and the +captain, Philip Amidas, myself, and others, rowed to the land; whose +coming this fellow attended, never making any shew of fear or doubt. And +after he had spoken of many things, not understood by us, we brought +him, with his own good liking, aboard the ships, and gave him a shirt, a +hat, and some other things, and made him taste of our wine and our meat, +which he liked very well; and after having viewed both barks, he +departed, and went to his own boat again, which he had left in a little +cove or creek adjoining. As soon as he was two bow-shot into the water +he fell to fishing, and in less than half an hour he had laden his boat +as deep as it could swim, with which he came again to the point of the +land, and there he divided his fish into two parts, pointing one part to +the ship and the other to the pinnace. Which, after he had, as much as +he might, requited the former benefits received, departed out of our +sight. + +The next day there came unto us divers boats, and in one of them the +King's brother, accompanied with forty or fifty men, very handsome and +goodly people, and in their behavior as mannerly and civil as any of +Europe. His name was Granganimeo, and the King is called Wingina; the +country, Wingandacoa, and now, by her majesty, Virginia. The manner of +his coming was in this sort: he left his boats, altogether as the first +man did, a little from the ships by the shore, and came along to the +place over against the ships, followed with forty men. When he came to +the place, his servants spread a long mat upon the ground, on which he +sat down, and at the other end of the mat four others of his company did +the like; the rest of his men stood round him somewhat afar off. When we +came to the shore to him, with our weapons, he never moved from his +place, nor any of the other four, nor never mistrusted any harm to be +offered from us; but, sitting still, he beckoned us to come and sit by +him, which we performed; and, being set, he made all signs of joy and +welcome, striking on his head and his breast and afterward on ours, to +shew we were all one, smiling and making shew the best he could of all +love and familiarity. After he had made a long speech unto us we +presented him with divers things, which he received very joyfully and +thankfully. None of the company durst speak one word all the time; only +the four which were at the other end spake one in the other's ear very +softly. + +The King is greatly obeyed and his brothers and children reverenced. The +King himself in person was at our being there sore wounded in a fight, +which he had with the King of the next country, called "Piemacum," and +was shot in two places through the body, and once clean through the +thigh, but yet he recovered; by reason whereof, and for that he lay at +the chief town of the country, being six days' journey off, we saw him +not at all. + +After we had presented this his brother with such things as we thought +he liked, we likewise gave somewhat to the other that sat with him on +the mat. But presently he arose and took all from them and put it into +his own basket, making signs and tokens that all things ought to be +delivered unto him, and the rest were but his servants and followers. A +day or two after this we fell to trading with them, exchanging some +things that we had for chamois, buff, and deer skins. When we shewed him +all our packet of merchandise, of all things that he saw a bright tin +dish most pleased him, which he presently took up and clapped it before +his breast, and after making a hole in the brim thereof and hung it +about his neck, making signs that it would defend him against his +enemies' arrows. For those people maintain a deadly and terrible war +with the people and King adjoining. + +We exchanged our tin dish for twenty skins, worth twenty crowns or +twenty nobles; and a copper kettle for fifty skins, worth fifty crowns. +They offered us good exchange for our hatchets and axes, and for knives, +and would have given anything for swords; but we would not depart with +any. After two or three days the King's brother came aboard the ships +and drank wine, and eat of our meat and of our bread, and liked +exceedingly thereof. And after a few days overpassed, he brought his +wife with him to the ships, his daughter, and two or three children. His +wife was very well favored, of mean stature, and very bashful. She had +on her back a long cloak of leather, with the fur side next to her body, +and before her a piece of the same, About her forehead she had a band of +white coral, and so had her husband many times. In her ears she had +bracelets of pearls hanging down to her middle, whereof we delivered +your worship a little bracelet, and those were of the bigness of good +peas. The rest of her women of the better sort had pendants of copper +hanging in either ear, and some of the children of the King's brother +and other noblemen have five or six in either ear; he himself had upon +his head a broad plate of gold, or copper; for, being unpolished, we +knew not what metal it should be, neither would he by any means suffer +us to take it off his head; but feeling it, it would bow very easily. +His apparel was as his wife's, only the women wear their hair long on +both sides, and the men but on one. They are of color yellowish, and +their hair black for the most part; and yet we saw children that had +very fine auburn and chestnut-colored hair. + +After that these women had been there, there came down from all parts +great store of people, bringing with them leather, coral, divers kinds +of dyes very excellent, and exchanged with us. But when Granganimeo, the +King's brother, was present, none durst trade but himself, except such +as wear red pieces of copper on their heads like himself; for that is +the difference between the noblemen and the governors of countries, and +the meaner sort. And we both noted there, and you have understood since +by these men which we brought home, that no people in the world carry +more respect to their king, nobility, and governors than these do. The +King's brother's wife, when she came to us--as she did many times--was +followed with forty or fifty women always. And when she came into the +ship she left them all on land, saving her two daughters, her nurse, and +one or two more. + +The King's brother always kept this order: as many boats as he would +come withal to the ships, so many fires would he make on the shore afar +off, to the end we might understand with what strength and company he +approached. Their boats are made of one tree, either of pine or of pitch +trees; a wood not commonly known to our people, nor found growing in +England. They have no edge-tools to make them withal; if they have any +they are very few, and those, it seems, they had twenty years since, +which, as those two men declared, was out of a wrack, which happened +upon their coast, of some Christian ship, being beaten that way by some +storm and outrageous weather, whereof none of the people were saved, but +only the ship, or some part of her, being cast upon the sand, out of +whose sides they drew the nails and the spikes, and with those they made +their best instruments. The manner of making their boats is thus: they +burn down some great tree, or take such as are windfallen, and, putting +gum and resin upon one side thereof, they set fire into it, and when it +hath burned it hollow they cut out the coal with their shells, and ever +where they would burn it deeper or wider they lay on gums, which burn +away the timber, and by this means they fashion very fine boats, and +such as will transport twenty men. Their oars are like scoops, and many +times they set with long poles, as the depth serveth. + +The King's brother had great liking of our armor, a sword, and divers +other things which we had, and offered to lay a great box of pearl in +gage for them; but we refused it for this time, because we would not +make them know that we esteemed thereof, until we had understood in what +places of the country the pearl grew, which now your worship doth very +well understand. He was very just of his promise: for many times we +delivered him merchandise upon his word, but ever he came within the day +and performed his promise. He sent us every day a brace or two of fat +bucks, coneys, hares, fish the best of the world. He sent us divers +kinds of fruits, melons, walnuts, cucumbers, gourds, pease, and divers +roots, and fruits very excellent good, and of their country corn, which +is very white, fair, and well tasted, and groweth three times in five +months: in May they sow, in July they reap; in June they sow, in August +they reap; in July they sow, in September they reap. Only they cast the +corn into the ground, breaking a little of the soft turf with a wooden +mattock or pick-axe. Ourselves proved the soil, and put some of our peas +in the ground, and in ten days they were of fourteen inches high. They +have also beans very fair, of divers colors, and wonderful plenty, some +growing naturally and some in their gardens; and so have they both wheat +and oats. The soil is the most plentiful, sweet, fruitful, and wholesome +of all the world. There are above fourteen several sweet-smelling +timber-trees, and the most part of their underwoods are bays and such +like. They have those oaks that we have, but far greater and better. + +After they had been divers times aboard our ships, myself with seven +more went twenty mile into the river that runneth toward the city of +Skicoak, which river they call Occam; and the evening following we came +to an island which they call Roanoak, distant from the harbor by which +we entered seven leagues; and at the north end thereof was a village of +nine houses built of cedar and fortified round about with sharp trees to +keep out their enemies, and the entrance into it made like a turnpike +very artificially.[3] When we came toward it, standing near unto the +water's side, the wife of Granganimeo, the King's brother, came running +out to meet us very cheerfully and friendly. Her husband was not then in +the village. Some of her people she commanded to draw our boat on shore, +for the beating of the billow. Others she appointed to carry us on their +backs to the dry ground, and others to bring our oars into the house for +fear of stealing. + + [3] The site of the colony established in the following year, 1585. + +When we were come into the utter room--having five rooms in her +house--she caused us to sit down by a great fire, and after took off our +clothes and washed them and dried them again. Some of the women plucked +off our stockings and washed them, some washed our feet in warm water, +and she herself took great pains to see all things ordered in the best +manner she could, making great haste to dress some meat for us to eat. +After we had thus dried ourselves, she brought us into the inner room, +where she set on the board standing along the house some wheat like +frumenty, sodden venison and roasted, fish sodden, boiled and roasted, +melons raw and sodden, roots of divers kinds, and divers fruits. Their +drink is commonly water, but while the grape lasteth they drink wine, +and for want of casks to keep it, all the year after they drink water; +but it is sodden with ginger in it, and black cinnamon, and sometimes +sassafras, and divers other wholesome and medicinable herbs and trees. + +We were entertained with all love and kindness, and with as much bounty, +after their manner, as they could possibly devise. We found the people +most gentle, loving and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and +such as live after the manner of the golden age. The people only care +how to defend themselves from the cold in their short winter, and to +feed themselves with such meat as the soil affordeth; their meat is very +well sodden, and they make broth very sweet and savory. Their vessels +are earthen pots, very large, white and sweet; their dishes are wooden +platters of sweet timber. Within the place where they feed was their +lodging, and within that their idol, which they worship, of whom they +speak incredible things. While we were at meat, there came in at the +gates two or three men with their bows and arrows from hunting, whom +when we espied we began to look one toward another, and offered to reach +our weapons; but as soon as she espied our mistrust, she was very much +moved, and caused some of her men to run out, and take away their bows +and arrows and break them, and withal beat the poor fellows out of the +gate again. + +When we departed in the evening and would not tarry all night, she was +very sorry, and gave us into our boat our supper half-dressed, pots and +all, and brought us to our boat-side, in which we lay all night, +removing the same a pretty distance from the shore. She perceived our +jealousy, was much grieved, and sent divers men and thirty women to sit +all night on the bank-side by us, and sent us into our boats fine mats +to cover us from the rain, using very many words to entreat us to rest +in their houses. But because we were few men, and, if we had miscarried, +the voyage had been in very great danger, we durst not adventure +anything, although there was no cause of doubt; for a more kind and +loving people there cannot be found in the world, as far as we had +hitherto had trial. + +Beyond this island there is the mainland, and over against this island +falleth into this spacious water the great river called Occam by the +inhabitants, on which standeth a town called Pomeiock, and six days' +journey from the same is situate their greatest city, called Skicoak, +which this people affirm to be very great; but the savages were never at +it, only they speak of it by the report of their fathers and other men, +whom they have heard affirm it to be above one hour's journey about. +Into this river falleth another great river called Cipo, in which there +is found great store of muscles, in which there are pearls; likewise +there descendeth into this Occam another river called Nomopana, on the +one side whereof standeth a great town called Chawanook, and the lord of +that town and country is called Pooneno. This Pooneno is not subject to +the King of Wingandacoa, but is a free lord. + +Beyond this country is there another king, whom they call Menatonon, and +these three kings are in league with each other. Toward the southwest, +four days' journey, is situate a town called Secotan, which is the +southernmost town of Wingandacoa, near unto which six-and-twenty years +past there was a ship cast away, whereof some of the people were saved, +and those were white people, whom the country people preserved. And +after ten days remaining in an out island unhabited, called Wocokon, +they, with the help of some of the dwellers of Secotan, fastened two +boats of the country together, and made masts unto them, and sails of +their shirts, and having taken into them such victuals as the country +yielded, they departed after they had remained in this out island three +weeks. But shortly after, it seemed, they were cast away, for the boats +were found upon the coast, cast a-land in another island adjoining. +Other than these, there was never any people apparelled, or white of +color, either seen or heard of among these people, and these aforesaid +were seen only of the inhabitants of Secotan; which appeared to be very +true, for they wondered marvellously when we were among them at the +whiteness of our skins, ever coveting to touch our breasts and to view +the same. + +Besides they had our ships in marvellous admiration, and all things else +were so strange unto them, as it appeared that none of them had ever +seen the like. When we discharged any piece, were it but an arquebuse, +they would tremble thereat for very fear, and for the strangeness of the +same, for the weapons which themselves use are bows and arrows. The +arrows are but of small canes, headed with a sharp shell or tooth of a +fish sufficient enough to kill a naked man. Their swords be of wood +hardened; likewise they use wooden breast-plates for their defence; They +have beside a kind of club, in the end whereof they fasten the sharp +horns of a stag, or other beast. When they go to wars they carry about +with them their idol, of whom they ask counsel, as the Romans were wont +of the oracle of Apollo. They sing songs as they march toward the +battle, instead of drums and trumpets. Their wars are very cruel and +bloody, by reason whereof, and of their civil dissensions which have +happened of late years among them, the people are marvellously wasted, +and in some places the country left desolate. + +Adjoining to this country aforesaid, called Secotan, beginneth a country +called Pomovik, belonging to another king, whom they call Piemacum; and +this King is in league with the next King adjoining toward the setting +of the sun, and the country Newsiok, situate upon a goodly river called +Neus. These kings have mortal war with Wingina, King of Wingandacoa; but +about two years past there was a peace made between the king Piemacum +and the Lord of Secotan, as these men which we have brought with us to +England have given us to understand; but there remaineth a mortal malice +in the Secotans, for many injuries and slaughters done upon them by this +Piemacum. They invited divers men, and thirty women of the best of his +country, to their town to a feast, and when they were altogether merry, +and praying before their idol--which is nothing else but a mere delusion +of the devil--the captain or lord of the town came suddenly upon them, +and slew them every one, reserving the women and children; and these two +have oftentimes since persuaded us to surprise Piemacum his town, having +promised and assured us that there will be found in it great store of +commodities. But whether their persuasion be to the end they may be +revenged of their enemies, or for the love they bear to us, we leave +that to the trial hereafter. + +Beyond this island called Roanoak are many islands very plentiful of +fruits and other natural increases, together with many towns and +villages along the side of the continent, some bounding upon the +islands, and some stretching up farther into the land. + +When we first had sight of this country, some thought the first land we +saw to be the continent; but after we entered into the haven we saw +before us another mighty long sea, for there lieth along the coast a +tract of islands two hundred miles in length, adjoining to the ocean +sea, and between the islands two or three entrances. When you are +entered between them, these islands being very narrow for the most part, +as in some places six miles broad, in some places less, in few more, +then there appeareth another great sea, containing in breadth in some +places forty, in some fifty, in some twenty miles over, before you come +unto the continent; and in this enclosed sea there are above one hundred +islands of divers bignesses, whereof one is sixteen miles long, at which +we were, finding it a most pleasant and fertile ground, replenished with +goodly cedars and divers other sweet woods, full of currants, of flax, +and many other notable commodities which we at that time had no leisure +to view. Besides this island there are many, as I have said, some of +two, of three, of four, of five miles, some more, some less, most +beautiful and pleasant to behold, replenished with deer, coneys, hares, +and divers beasts, and about them the goodliest and best fish in the +world, and in greatest abundance. + +Thus, sir, we have acquainted you with the particulars of our discovery +made this present voyage, as far forth as the shortness of the time we +there continued would afford us to take view of; and so contenting +ourselves with this service at this time, which we hope hereafter to +enlarge, as occasion and assistance shall be given, we resolved to leave +the country, and to apply ourselves to return for England, which we did +accordingly, and arrived safely in the west of England about the midst +of September. + +And whereas we have above certified you of the country taken in +possession by us to her majesty's use, and so to yours by her majesty's +grant, we thought good for the better assurance thereof to record some +of the particular gentlemen and men of account who then were present, as +witnesses of the same, that thereby all occasion of cavil to the title +of the country, in her majesty's behalf, may be prevented, which +otherwise such as like not the action may use and pretend. Whose names +are, Master Philip Amidas, Master Arthur Barlow, captains; William +Greenville, John Wood, James Bromewich, Henry Greene, Benjamin Wood, +Simon Ferdinando, Nicholas Petman, John Hughes, of the company. + +We brought home also two of the savages, being lusty men, whose names +were Wanchese and Manteo. + + + R. R. HOWISON + +Arrived in England, Barlow and Amidas immediately sought the Queen, and +laid before her an account of their voyage and of its results. There was +much of truth as a basis for their wondrous descriptions; but the sober +observer will not fail to mark in this narrative the impress of +imaginations heated by the novelty of their performance and the +encouraging hope of their royal mistress. They spake of the land they +had visited as an earthly paradise; its seas were tranquil and gemmed +with green islands, on which the eye delighted to rest; its trees were +lofty, and many of them would rival the odoriferous products of tropical +soil; its fruits were so lavishly supplied by nature that art needed to +do little more than gather them in summer and autumn, for the wants of +the winter; its people were children of another age when virtue +triumphed, and vice was yet unknown. The Court and the Queen were alike +enlisted, and looked to this discovery as one of the brightest spots in +her lustrous reign. + +For a land so distinguished in natural charms, and to which England +designed to devote the expanding energies of her people, a name was to +be found worthy of future love. The Queen selected "Virginia," and none +can deplore the graceful choice. She remembered her own unmarried state; +and connecting, it may be, with this the virgin purity which yet seemed +to linger amid this favored region, she bestowed a name which has since +interwoven itself with the most sensitive chords of a million hearts. + +Raleigh had now obtained the honor of knighthood and a seat in +parliament; and deriving from this lucrative monopoly means for further +effort, he made diligent preparation for despatching another fleet to +Virginia. The second expedition consisted of seven vessels, large and +small; and that gallant spirit, Sir Richard Grenville, himself was at +its head. The war with Spain was now in progress, and the richly laden +vessel from South America and the West Indies offered tempting prizes to +English bravery. Sir Richard sailed from Plymouth, April 9, passed the +Canaries and West Indies, captured two Spanish ships, ran imminent +hazard of being wrecked on the dangerous headland now known as Cape +Fear, and reached Wocpcon on June 26th. Manteo was brought back to his +native land, and proved an invaluable guide and interpreter to his newly +made friends. + +But their amicable relations with the natives were now to receive a rude +shock, from which they never recovered. At Aquascogoc, an Indian stole +from the adventurers a silver cup; and, on being detected, he did not +return it as speedily as was desired (July 16). For this enormous +offence the English burned the town and barbarously destroyed the +growing corn. The affrighted inhabitants fled to the woods, and thus a +poisoned arrow was planted in their bosoms, which rankled unto the end. +A silver cup, in the eyes of European avarice, was a loss which could +only be atoned by ruin and devastation; and had the unhappy savage +stolen the only child of the boldest settler, a more furious vengeance +could not have followed! To such conduct does America owe the undying +hatred of the aboriginal tenants of her land, and the burden of infamy +that she must bear when weighed in the scales of immaculate justice. + +A serious attempt was now made to found a colony. One hundred eight men +were left on the island of Roanoke, comprising in their number some of +the boldest hearts and many of the best cultivated minds that had left +the mother-country. Among them was Thomas Heriot, whom Raleigh had sent +out with a full knowledge of his scientific acquirements, his love of +investigation, and his moral worth. Sir Richard Grenville returned to +England, where he arrived in September, bringing with him a rich Spanish +prize. + +The settlers, thus left to their own resources, seem to have done little +in the all-important task of clearing the country and planting corn for +future necessities. Ralph Lane had been appointed governor, a man +uniting military knowledge with experience in the sea. He undertook +several voyages of exploration, penetrated north as far as Elizabeth +River and a town on Chesapeake Bay, and south to Secotan, eighty leagues +from Roanoke. But his most famous expedition was up Albemarle Sound and +the Chowan River, of his adventures in which he has himself given us a +description in a letter preserved by Captain Smith. The King of the +Chawanooks was known by the title of Menatonon. He was lame in one of +his lower limbs, but his spirit seems to have been one of uncommon +activity and shrewdness. He told the credulous English of a country, +four days' journey beyond them, where they might hope for abundant +riches. + +This country lay on the sea; and its king, from the waters around his +island retreat, drew magnificent pearls in such numbers that they were +commonly used in his garments and household conveniences. Instantly the +fancies of the eager listeners were fired with the hope of attaining +this wealth; and notwithstanding the scarcity of food, and the danger of +an assault by "two or three thousand" savages, they continued to toil up +the river. They labored on until they had nothing for sustenance except +two dogs of the mastiff species and the sassafras leaves which grew in +great abundance around them. Upon this inviting fare they were fain to +nourish their bodies, while their souls were fed upon the hope of +finally entering this region of pearls; but at length, in a state near +to starvation, they returned to Roanoke, having made no discovery even +so valuable as a copper spring high up the Chowan River, concerning +which the Indians had excited their hopes. + +Thomas Heriot employed his time in researches more rational than those +which sought for pearls amid the wilderness of America. He intermingled +freely with the Indian tribes, studied their habits, their manners, +their language, and origin. He sought to teach them a theology more +exalted than the fancies of their singular superstition, and to expand +their minds by a display of the instruments of European science. He +acquired a vast fund of information as to the state of the original +country, its people and its products, and to his labors we may yet be +indebted in the progress of this narrative. + +But we have reason to believe that a great part of the colonists +contributed nothing to the success of the scheme, and did much to render +it fruitless. The natives, who had received the first adventurers with +unsuspecting hospitality, were now estranged by the certain prospect of +seeing their provisions taken away and their homes wrested from them by +civilized pretenders. Wingina, the King of the country, had never been +cordial, and he now became their implacable foe. Nothing but a +superstitious reverence of the Bible, the fire-arms, and the medicinal +remedies of the colonists restrained his earthly enmity; but at length, +upon the death of his father, Ensenore, who had been the steady friend +of the whites, he prepared for vengeance. In accordance with a custom +common among the Indians, he had changed his name to Pemissapan, and now +drew around him followers to aid in his scheme of death. Twenty or more +were to surround the hut of Lane, drive him forth with fire, and slay +him while thus defenceless. The leader destroyed, the rest of the +colonists were to be gradually exhausted by starving, until they should +fall an easy prey to the savages. But this well-concerted plan was +betrayed to the English--a _rencontre_ occurred, and several Indians +were slain. The settlers considered themselves justifiable in meeting +the treachery of the foe by a stratagem, which drew Pemissapan and eight +of his principal men within their reach, and they were all shot down in +the skirmish (1586). + +But this success did not assuage the hunger of the famished colonists. +They were reduced to extremity, when a seasonable relief appeared on +their coasts (June 8th). While despair was taking possession of their +bosoms, the white sails of a distant fleet were seen, and Sir Francis +Drake, with twenty-three ships, was soon in their waters. He had been +cruising in search of the Spaniards in the West Indies and had been +directed by the Queen to visit the Virginia colony. His quick perception +instantly discerned the wants of the settlers, and he provided for them +a ship well stored with provisions and furnished with boats to serve in +emergency. But a violent storm drove his fleet to sea and reduced to +wreck the vessel intended to sustain the settlers. Their resolution gave +way; it seemed as though divine and human power were united against +them, and, in utter despondency, they entreated Drake to receive them in +his fleet and carry them to England. He yielded to their wishes. They +embarked June 18th, and July 27th they landed once more on the shores of +their mother-land. + +Thus, after a residence of nearly twelve months in Virginia, the first +colonists deserted the country which had been offered as containing all +that the heart of man could desire. Little was gained by their abortive +attempt beyond an increased knowledge of the New World, and another +lesson in the great book of depraved human nature. + +It would be pleasing to the lover of Virginia to be able to record the +final good-fortune of Walter Raleigh, but nothing resulted from his +patent except successive disaster and an appalling consummation. The +determined knight had sent a ship to seek the colony; and this arrived +after the disheartened settlers had sailed with Sir Francis Drake, and, +thus finding the island deserted, it returned to England. Two weeks +afterward Sir Richard Grenville arrived with two ships well-appointed, +but no flourishing settlement greeted his eager eyes. Unwilling to +abandon the semblance of hope, he left fifteen men on the island, well +provided with all things essential to their comfort, and then spread his +sails for England (1587). + +In the succeeding year Raleigh prepared for another attempt. Convinced +that the Bay of Chesapeake, which had been discovered by Lane, afforded +greater advantages for a colony, he directed his adventurers to seek its +shores, and gave them a character of corporation for the city of +Raleigh--a name that North Carolina has since, with merited gratitude, +bestowed upon her most favored town. John White assumed command of this +expedition, and they were soon in the waters of Virginia (July 22d). The +cape to which maritime terrors have given an expressive name threatened +them with shipwreck, but at length they arrived in safety at Hatteras, +and immediately despatched a party to Roanoke to seek the settlers left +by Sir Richard Grenville. A melancholy silence pervaded the spot--the +huts were yet standing, but rank weeds and vines had overspread them, +and striven to reclaim to the wilderness the abortive efforts of human +labor. Not one man could be found, but the bones of one unhappy victim +told in gloomy eloquence of conflict and of death. From the reluctant +statements of the natives, they gathered the belief that these men had +either all perished under the attacks of overwhelming numbers, or had +gradually wasted away under the approaches of disease and famine. + +A discovery so mournful held out no cheering prospects to the new +adventurers; yet they determined to renew the attempt upon the island +adjoining Hatteras. About one hundred fifteen persons were landed and +prepared for their novel life. The Indians were no longer pacific; the +spirit of Wingina had diffused itself through every bosom, and the +unfortunate mistake, which caused the death of a friendly savage, +contributed much to the general hostility. But amid so much that was +unpropitious, two events occurred to shed a faint light upon their days +(August 13th). Manteo, the faithful friend of the early visitors, was +baptized with the simple though solemn rites of the Christian faith, and +upon him was bestowed the sounding title of Lord of Dessamonpeake, and, +a few days after, the first child of European parentage was born upon +the soil of America. Eleanor, daughter of Governor White, had married +Ananias Dare, and on August 18th she gave birth to a female, upon whom +was immediately bestowed the sweet name of Virginia. It is sad to +reflect that the gentle infant of an English mother, and the first whose +eyes were opened upon the New World, should have been destined to a life +of privation and to a death of early oblivion. + +But the colonists needed many things from the motherland, and determined +to send the Governor to procure them. He was unwilling to leave them +under circumstances so strongly appealing to his paternal heart, but +yielded to the general wish and sailed on August 27th. But many causes +now opposed his success in the mother-country. Spain was threatening a +descent with her formidable Armada, and England was alive with +preparations to meet the shock. Raleigh and Grenville entered with +enthusiasm into the interests of their country, and were no longer in a +state to furnish aid for a distant colony. Not until April 22, 1588, +could they prepare two small barks for a voyage to Virginia, and these, +drawn away by their eager thirst for Spanish prizes laden with Mexican +gold, wandered from their route, and were driven back by superior +enemies to their original ports. + +Yielding to his disappointment and mortification at these repeated +disasters, and exhausted in money by his enormous outlays, Raleigh no +longer hoped for success from his own exertions. Forty thousand pounds +had been expended and no return had been made. On March 7, 1589, he +assigned his patent to Thomas Smith, Richard Hakluyt, and others, who +had the means and the experience of merchants, or rather he extended to +them the rights enjoyed under his patent and exercised by him in giving +the charter for the "City of Raleigh." With this assignment he gave one +hundred pounds for the propagation of Christian principles among the +savages of Virginia. + +But the energetic soul of Raleigh no longer ruled, and doubtful zeal +impelled the assignees. Not until March, 1590, could Governor White +obtain three ships for his purposes; and though their names might have +incited him, by the motives both of earthly hope and religious trust, +yet he preferred an avaricious cruise among the West India Isles to a +speed which might, peradventure, have preserved the life of his +daughter. He arrived at Hatteras August 15th, and sought the settlers +left there three years before. The curling smoke of grass and trees in +flame gave them encouragement, but they sought in vain their +long-neglected friends. On the bark of a tree was found the word +"Croatan," legibly inscribed, and White hoped, from the absence of the +cross, which he himself had suggested as a sign of distress, that the +settlers were still in being; but as they proceeded to Croatan a furious +storm arose and drove them from the coast, and their dismayed spirits +could find no relief except in a return to England. + +No lingering trace has ever marked the fate of this unhappy colony. The +generous Raleigh in vain sent five successive messengers to seek and +save. They were gone, and whither no tongue was left to tell. Modern +ingenuity may be indulged in the forlorn suggestion that they were +amalgamated among their savage neighbors, but sober thought will rather +fear that they perished under the mingled weight of famine, of +disappointed hope, and of Indian barbarity. + + + + + DRAKE CAPTURES CARTAGENA + + HE "SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN'S BEARD" AT CADIZ + + A.D. 1586-1587 + + JULIAN CORBETT + + + Sir Francis Drake (born in Devonshire about 1540; died in 1596), + greatest of the Elizabethan seamen, has been the subject of perhaps + equal praise and blame at the hands of the world's historians. So + famous were his exploits, and so scanty the actual knowledge of them + in his own time, that "he was not dead before his life became a + fairy-tale." But history has distinguished fact from legend in the + life of this naval hero, whose undisputed achievements have kept his + name conspicuous among his country's foremost sea-fighters. + + He began his career in the coasting-trade, sailed with Sir John + Hawkins in 1567, and three years later began privateering operations + against the Spaniards in the New World, by way of making good the + losses which they had inflicted upon him. These depredations on + Spanish possessions were continued through many years, with + occasional attacks upon the coast of Spain itself. "By Spanish + historians," says an English writer, "these hostilities are + represented as unprovoked in their origin, and as barbarous in their + execution, and candor must allow that there is but too much justice + in the complaint." + + Whether justifiable or not, these aggressive acts of Drake had much + to do with the desire for revenge upon England which led Philip II + to prepare for a great invasion of that country. Drake, on his + return, in 1580, from the first English circumnavigation of the + globe, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. She now gave him important + commands, and from this period at least his career may be regarded + in connection with the regular service of his sovereign. + + In the autumn of 1585 Drake sailed with twenty-five ships against + the Spanish Main, harrying the coasts of the West Indies and of + northern South America. Cartagena, which he captured in 1586, was + the chief port and stronghold of New Granada (now Colombia). By this + feat, as also by his "singeing of the beard of the Spanish King" at + Cadiz next year, he assailed with telling effect the power with + which England was at once to be brought into more serious conflict. + + +The mill of Philip's purpose went grinding on relentlessly. He invited a +large fleet of English corn-ships to the relief of his famine-stricken +provinces, and then, as they lay unsuspecting in his ports, he seized +them every one. Never once was the growing armada out of his mind. This +atrocious outrage was but to feed his monster, and swift and sharp was +the retribution it earned. It was in the last days of May, and, ere June +was out, far and near the seas were swarming with English privateers, +and "The Dragon" was unchained. + +Fortified with letters of marque to release the embargoed vessels, Drake +hoisted his flag at Plymouth on the Elizabeth Bonaventura, and there, by +the end of July, "in all jollity and with all help and furtherance +himself could wish," a formidable fleet gathered round him. Frobisher +was his vice-admiral, Francis Knollys his rear-admiral, and Thomas +Fenner his flag-captain. Christopher Carleill was there, too, as +lieutenant-general, with a full staff and ten companies under him. No +such privateering squadron had ever been seen before. It consisted of +two battle-ships and eighteen cruisers, with their complement of +store-ships and pinnaces; it was manned with a force of soldiers and +sailors to the number of two thousand three hundred, and it is not +surprising that constant difficulties delayed its departure. + +Yet delay was dangerous in the extreme. The Spanish party had again +taken heart, and were whispering caution in the Queen's ear. Even +Burghley grew nervous that she would repent; but at last he got +sailing-orders sent off, and, with a sigh of relief, entered in his +diary that Drake had gone. To his horror came back a letter from the +admiral still dated from Plymouth, instead of from Finisterre, as he had +hoped, and he sent down a warning to urge the immediate departure of the +fleet. August wore away, and the equipment was still incomplete, when +Drake, who was now in constant dread of a countermand, was alarmed by +Sir Philip Sydney's suddenly appearing at Plymouth and announcing his +intention of accompanying the expedition. Determined to have no more to +do with courtiers and amateur soldiers, he secretly sent off a courier +to betray the truant's escapade to the Court. He must even be suspected, +in his desperation, of having set men in wait to intercept and destroy +any orders that were not to his liking. The precaution was unnecessary. +Sydney was peremptorily stopped, and ere any letter came to stay Drake, +too, the wind had shifted northerly, and, all unready as he was, he +cleared for Finisterre. + +There he arrived on September 26th. He was clear away, but that was all. +He was short both of water and victuals. There had not even been time to +distribute the stores he had, or to issue his general orders to the +fleet. He smelt foul weather, too; and, determined to complete somewhere +what he had left undone at Plymouth, he boldly ran in under the lee of +the Bayona Islands in Vigo Bay. The old Queen's officers were aghast. +Entirely dominated by the prestige of Spain, they believed that nothing +could be done against her except by surprise, and they trembled to see +their admiral thus recklessly fling his cards upon the table. But he +knew what he was doing. As with sagacious bravado he had sprung ashore +at Santa Marta, and had mocked the Spanish fleet in Cartagena harbor, so +now before he struck he exulted that his unfleshed host should hear him +shout "_En garde!_" to the King of Spain; that they should listen while +he cried that England cared not for spying traitors, for she had nothing +to conceal; that her fleets meant to sail when and where they would, and +Philip might do his worst. It was a stroke of that divine instinct which +marks out a hero from among able captains--the magic touch of a great +leader of men, under which the dead fabric of an army springs into life +and feels every fibre tingling with the strong purpose of its heart. + +Two leagues from the town of Bayona the fleet anchored; and resolved at +once to display his whole strength, and exercise his men in their +duties, Drake ordered out his pinnaces and boats for a reconnaissance in +force. His boldness bore immediate fruit. The Governor sent off to +treat, and by nightfall it was arranged that troops should land, and in +the morning be allowed to water and collect what victuals they could. +But at midnight the threatened storm rolled up. The troops were +hurriedly reëmbarked; and, barely in time to escape disaster, the +flotilla regained the ships. For three days the gale continued, +threatening the whole fleet with destruction till it was got safely up +above Vigo. There the whole of the boats in which the panic-stricken +inhabitants had embarked their property were captured, and, though by +this time the Governor of Bayona had arrived with a considerable force, +he was compelled to permit Drake to carry out his purpose in peace. + +By October 8th he was out in the Bayona road again, waiting for a wind +to waft him on his way, and it was reported at the Spanish court that he +had gone toward the Indies. The consternation was universal. The Marquis +of Santa Cruz, high admiral of Spain and the most renowned naval officer +in Europe, declared that not only the African islands, but the whole +Pacific coast, the Spanish Main, and the West Indies were at the +corsair's mercy, and told his master that a fleet of forty sail must be +instantly equipped for the pursuit. But though for another fortnight +Drake rode defiantly at the Bayona anchorage, not a limb of Philip's +inert machinery could be moved against him; and, while the chivalry of +Spain chafed under their sovereign's deliberation, the second blow was +struck. + +Madeira was passed by and the Canaries spared; for Palma, which Drake +intended should revictual him, showed so bold a front that he would not +waste time in trying to reduce it. It was on another point that his +implacable glance was fixed. + +Five years ago at Santiago, the chief town of the Cape Verd Islands, +young William Hawkins, a personal adherent of Drake's, had been made the +victim of some such treachery as his father and captain had suffered +together at Vera Cruz. From that hour it was doomed. In the middle of +November the fleet arrived in the road and the troops landed. Threatened +by Carleill from the heights above the valley where it lies, and from +the sea by Drake, without a blow the town was abandoned to its fate. For +ten days the island was scoured for plunder and provisions, and ere the +month was out the anchorage was desolate and Santiago a heap of ashes. + +Drake's vengeance was complete, and, exulting like Gideon in the +devastation that marked his course, he led his ships across the +Atlantic. Is there a moment in history more tragic than that? For the +first time since the ages began, a hostile fleet was passing the +ocean--the pioneer of how many more that have gone and are yet to +go--the forerunner of how much glory and shame and misery! What wonder +if the curse of God seemed upon it? Hardly had it lost sight of land +when it was stricken with sickness. In a few days some three hundred men +were dead, and numbers of others prostrate and useless; but in unshaken +faith, and with reverent wonder at the inscrutable will of Heaven, Drake +never flinched or paused. His only thought was how to check the evil. At +Dominica he got fresh provisions from the natives, and refreshed his +sick with a few days on shore. At St. Christopher he again halted to +spend Christmas and elaborate the details of his next move. + +The point where Philip was now to feel the weight of his arm was the +fair city of Santo Domingo in Española. It was by far the most serious +operation Drake had yet undertaken. Hitherto his exploits had been +against places that were little more than struggling settlements, but +Santo Domingo was indeed a city, stone-built and walled, and flanked +with formidable batteries. It was held by a powerful garrison, as Drake +learned from a captured frigate, and a naval force had been concentrated +in the harbor for its defence. As the oldest town in the Indies, its +renown had hitherto secured it from attack, and in Spain it was held the +queen city of the colonial empire. The moral effect of its capture would +be profound, and, besides, from Virginia the governor of Raleigh's new +colony had sent home a fabulous report of its wealth. Drake was fully +alive to the gravity of the task before him. His dispositions had never +been so elaborate, and they evince at least a touch of that military +genius which the strategists of the next century denied him. While the +sick were recruiting he sent forward a squadron to reconnoitre, and, if +possible, to open communications with the maroons who infested the +hills. For three days the garrison was thus exhausted with constant +alarms, and then on January 1, 1586, the whole fleet appeared in the +bay. + +Night fell, and, as darkness closed the eyes of the harassed garrison, +with the fleet all was activity. In boats and pinnaces the troops were +being rapidly embarked, and soon Drake in person was piloting the +flotilla for the surf-beaten shore. At a point within the bay, but some +ten miles from the town, a practicable landing-place had been found. +Watch-houses overlooked it, but watchmen there were none. Drake had got +touch with the maroons. By his directions a party of them had stolen +down from the hills, and as the sentries came out from the city in the +evening, swiftly and silently they had been every one despatched. Thus, +unseen and unmolested, the troops were successfully landed, and then, +with pious and cheery farewells to Carleill, Drake returned to the fleet +to prepare the ground for the surprise. + +In the morning he anchored in the road, ran out his guns, and proceeded +to threaten a landing at a point close to that side of the town upon +which Carleill was stealthily approaching in two parallel columns. As +the Spaniards saw the fleet preparing the advance of the boats and +pinnaces, the whole of the horse and a large force of foot marched out +of the town to oppose the threatened attack, and took up a position +fronting the sea, with their left resting on the town and the other +flank exposed in the line of Carleill's advance. It was exactly what had +been foreseen, and, ere the Spaniards had discovered that the movement +from the fleet was merely a feint, the horse which were covering their +exposed flank were flying before Carleill's musketeers. + +The surprise was complete. Taken in flank by Carleill, and threatened in +the rear by his second column under Powell, the chief of the staff, the +infantry could make no real resistance; and so rapidly was the English +advance pushed home that the struggling mass of friend and foe entered +pell-mell through the open gates of the town. For an hour, alarms of +drum and trumpet mingling confusedly with the sounds of street-fighting +reached the listening fleet as the two columns forced their way to meet +upon the Plaza. But how they fared none could tell, till on a tower a +white staff suddenly appeared, and in another moment the cross of St. +George fluttered gayly out upon the breeze. With a roar of triumph the +ships' guns saluted the signal of victory. The town was won. + +Though the garrison fled panic-stricken across the river on the far side +of the city, and the citadel was evacuated in the night, the place was +far too large to be occupied by the force at Drake's command. Following, +therefore, the same tactics that had been successful at Nombre de Dios, +he ordered the troops to intrench themselves in the Plaza and to occupy +the principal batteries. In this way he held the city for a month. The +plunder was disappointing. The city was already a hundred years old, and +its day was done; for the reckless native policy of the colonists had +almost ruined the island. It remained but to treat for a ransom. The +Governor at once declared himself unable to meet the extravagant demands +of the English admiral, and in order to bring him to terms Drake began +to burn the town piecemeal. But so well was it built that little harm +could be done, and every day his impatience increased. + +Once, in the course of the negotiations, he sent a boy with a flag of +truce to the Spanish camp. A Spaniard, meeting the lad, so ill-treated +him that he could barely crawl back to die at the admiral's feet. Then +all the fury of Drake's nature burst forth. Two friars who were among +the prisoners were immediately sent ashore and hanged by the +provost-marshal on the scene of the crime. Another was despatched to the +Spanish camp to declare that two more would be executed every morning +until the offender was brought down and hanged on the spot by his own +authorities. In hasty alarm the demand was complied with, and then the +international dinners and the negotiations went on more smoothly. +Convinced at last of the poverty of the colony, Drake accepted a ransom +of twenty-five thousand ducats. The sum, which is equal to about fifty +thousand pounds of our money, though little enough to satisfy the +shareholders, was very serious for the enemy. For besides this loss the +town had been stripped of everything worth carrying away by the troops +and seamen. Two hundred forty guns were taken on board the English +ships; and not only were they thoroughly refurnished from the Spanish +stores, but for a month the whole expedition had lived in free quarters +at the enemy's expense. The entire fleet which lay in the harbor fell +into Drake's hands, and, with the exception of four of the finest +galleons, was given to the flames. Besides the vessels which the +Spaniards themselves had scuttled, two galleys with their tenders, +fifteen frigates, and a galleon were thus destroyed, and hundreds of +galley-slaves set free. + +"It was such a cooling to King Philip," said one in Europe as the news +leaked out, "as never happened to him since he was King of Spain." But +as yet Drake was far from done. In the middle of February, with his +force recruited by the English prisoners he had freed, and with a troop +of attendant prizes laden with his spoil, in undiminished strength he +appeared before Cartagena. No city in America was more difficult of +approach, but the memories of the old hard days were still green, when, +storm-beaten, drenched, and chilled, without food or shelter, he had +ridden in the harbor day after day in despite of all the Spaniards could +do, and he knew it all like a pilot. The city was built close to the +shore fronting west, and directly from its southern face an inlet of the +sea stretched many leagues southward along the coast, forming a large +lagoon. The long spit of land which separated this sheet of water from +the sea was pierced by two natural channels. At the far end was the +dangerous Bocca Chica, and some three miles from the city was a larger +entrance known as the Bocca Grande. Between this entrance and the town a +tongue of land ran out at right angles from the spit to the opposite +shore, forming an inner harbor and barring all approach to the city from +the outer part of the lagoon, except by a narrow channel which lay under +the guns of a powerful fort on the mainland. + +On its northern and eastern faces the city was encircled by a broad +creek, which ran round it from the inner harbor to the sea in such a way +as to form a wide natural moat, rendering the city unapproachable from +the mainland except by a bridge. This bridge was also commanded by the +harbor fort, nor were land operations possible at any other point except +from that part of the spit which lay between the city and the Bocca +Grande. So finely, however, did this narrow down before the city could +be reached, that between the inner harbor and the sea it was but fifty +paces wide, and here the Spaniards had had time to prepare defences that +looked impregnable. From shore to shore a formidable entrenchment +completely barred the way; and not only was its front so staked and +encumbered as to render a night attack impossible, but its approaches +were swept by the guns and small-arms of a great galeas and two galleys +which lay in the inner harbor. + +To a man so tender as Drake ever was for the lives of his men and the +safety of his ships, to attack such a place might well have appeared +hopeless; but the originality of the amphibious corsair at once descried +a hole which had escaped all the science of the Spanish martialists. +Instead of entering by the Bocca Grande, with consummate skill and +daring he piloted the whole fleet through the dangerous channel at the +extreme end of the lagoon. The only impression which so hazardous a +movement could create in the minds of the Spaniards was that he was +about to repeat his Santo Domingo operations, and land his troops there +to attack from the mainland. Such an impression must have been confirmed +as, moving up the lagoon, he anchored opposite the Bocca Grande and +threatened the harbor fort with his boats; but Drake's project was far +different. Instead of being landed on the mainland, Carleill with eight +companies was quietly slipped ashore in the Bocca Grande, with +instructions to make his way diagonally through the woods that covered +the spit till he reached the seashore, and then, instead of advancing on +the front of the intrenchments, to wade along through the wash of the +surf till he was within striking distance of the Spanish position. + +Meanwhile Frobisher advanced with the flotilla against the harbor fort, +and as soon as Carleill was heard in contact with the enemy's pickets he +opened fire. The boat-attack was repulsed--indeed, it may only have been +intended as what soldiers then called "a hot alarm"--but Carleill was +completely successful. By the march through the surf he had not only +evaded the obstacles which the enemy had so carefully prepared, but he +had been covered from the fire of the galleys in the harbor, and had +never so much as entered the fire-area of the heavily armed +intrenchments. After a desperate struggle at push of pike, the position +was carried by assault, and once more so hotly was the advantage pursued +that in one rush the whole town was captured. The garrison fled across +the bridge to the hills, and the next day, when Drake brought up the +fleet to bear upon the fort, that also was evacuated. + +No success was ever better earned and few more richly rewarded. +Cartagena was the capital of the Spanish Main, and though much younger +than Santo Domingo it was far wealthier. It yielded rich loot for the +men; and for his shareholders Drake, after a long negotiation, succeeded +in exacting a ransom of a hundred ten thousand ducats, besides what he +got for an adjacent monastery. Though to all this plunder Drake could +add the consolation that he had destroyed the galleys and shipping which +crowded the port, and blown up the harbor fort which the Spaniards had +forgotten to include in the convention, he was still unsatisfied. Well +knowing that by an advance up the Chagres River in his boats Panama lay +at his mercy, he was resolved with its capture to crown the campaign; +but as he lay in Cartagena the sickness, which had never really ceased, +broke out again with new virulence, and made such havoc with his force +that he had reluctantly to confess that Panama must wait. To capture it +with the crippled means at his command was impossible, and the only +question was whether Cartagena should be held till he could return with +reënforcements. + +The soldiers declared themselves ready to undertake the task; but in a +full council of war it was finally decided that no strategical advantage +would be gained at all proportional to the risk that would be run in +further weakening the fleet, and on the last day of March the signal to +make sail home was flying from the Elizabeth Bonaventura. So severely, +however, did they suffer from the weather and want of water that it was +nearly two months before they reached the coast of Florida. Still Drake +found time and energy to destroy and plunder the Spanish settlement at +St. Augustine, and relieve Raleigh's exhausted colony in Virginia. With +the remnants of the settlers on board, he weighed for England, and on +July 28, 1586, he was writing from Plymouth to Lord Burghley laconically +reporting his return; and, apologizing for having missed the Plate fleet +by only twelve hours' sail--"the reason best known to God"--he declared +that he and his fleet were ready at once to strike again in any +direction the Queen would be pleased to indicate. + +"There is a very great gap opened," said Drake in his letter to +Burghley, "very little to the liking of the King of Spain." That, with +the calm request for orders, was his comment on a feat which changed the +destinies of Europe. At its fullest flood he had stemmed the tide of +Spanish empire. It was no less a thing than that. + +A few months ago all Europe had been cowering in confused alarm before +the shadow of a new Roman empire. Ever since the first triumph of +Luther, the cause of Reformation had been Steadily losing ground; on +England and the Low Countries hung its only hope, and with the fall of +Antwerp Europe saw itself on the eve of that "last great battle in the +west" which must decide its fate for centuries. In despair of the +result, each trembling power was trying to hide behind the other; each +was thrusting its neighbor forward to break the coming blow; and Philip +led the cheating till his hour should come. He was bent on crushing +Elizabeth; and then, with one foot on the ruins of her kingdom, he meant +to stamp down his rebellious Netherlands into the gloomy Catholicism in +which his own dark soul was sunk. As the fruit of his splendid +deliberation ripened, he strove to cheat Elizabeth into inactivity by a +hope that peace might yet be purchased by the betrayal of the +Netherlands. + +Then in laughing gusts came over the Atlantic the rumors of his +exploits, till the full gale they heralded swept over Europe, whirling +into oblivion a hundred intrigues and bending the prestige of Spain like +a reed. The limitless possibilities of the new-born naval warfare had +been demonstrated, and the lesson startled Europe like a revelation. An +unmeasured force was added to statecraft, and a new power had arisen. +The effect was immediate. Men saw the fountain of Spanish trade at +England's mercy; they knew how narrowly the Plate fleet had escaped, and +a panic palsied Philip's finance. The Bank of Seville broke; that of +Venice was in despair; and the King of Spain, pointed at as a bankrupt, +failed to raise a loan of half a million ducats. Parma was appalled. +With his brilliant capture of Antwerp he had seen himself on the brink +of that great exploit with which he hoped to crown his career; and now, +instead of a host armed at all points for the invasion of England, he +saw around him a broken army it was impossible to supply. In Germany the +Protestant princes raised their heads, and, seeing dawn at last, began +to shake off the lethargy into which despair had plunged them. England +was wild with joy. Burghley himself was almost startled from his +caution, and cried out with half a shudder that Drake was a fearful man +to the King of Spain. + +For two years Philip had been at work upon his Armada. His ports were +crowded with its details; his storehouses were bursting with its +furniture; and Walsingham at last was able to convince the Queen, by a +paper stolen from the very closet of the Pope, that it was upon her head +the great engine was to crash. Her eyes were opened; and, infected for a +moment with the warlike spirit into which her people and her Parliament +had lashed themselves, she ordered Drake in 1587 to the coast of Spain. + +It was no longer as a privateer that he was to act. He held the rank of +her majesty's admiral-at-the-seas, and William Borough, the comptroller +of the navy, was his vice-admiral. Four of the Queen's largest +battle-ships and two of her pinnaces were under his command, and the +London merchants committed to his flag ten fine cruisers, with the +famous Merchant Royal at their head. Besides these, he had six hundred +tons of his own shipping, as well as some of the lord admiral's. In all, +exclusive of tenders, there were twenty-three sail--five battle-ships, +two first-class cruisers, seven of the second class, and nine gunboats +large and small. With this fine force he was instructed to proceed to +Cape St. Vincent, and by every means in his power to prevent the +concentration of the several divisions of the Armada by cutting off +their victuallers, and even destroying them in the ports where they lay. +If the enemy sailed for England or Ireland, he was to hang on their +skirts, cut off stragglers, and prevent a landing; and, finally, he was +given a free hand to act against the East and West India convoys. + +Elizabeth was in a resolute mood. Drake's ideas of naval warfare were +developing a step further, and the Queen for the moment listened. He was +beginning dimly to grasp that the command of the sea was the first +object for a naval power to aim at. It was because he had not command of +the seas that he had been unable to retain his hold of Cartagena, for +the troops which should have formed its garrison were wanted to defend +his fleet. Wiser for the lesson, his aim was now to crush the Spanish +navy, and then, in undisputed control of the sea, to gather in his +harvest. The opposition were thoroughly alarmed, and, while Drake in hot +haste was driving on his preparations, they left no stone unturned to +get his orders modified. They tampered with his men, they whispered +slanders in his mistress' ear, they frightened her with threats from +abroad, they tempted her with offers of peace from Parma on the old +disgraceful terms. For Walsingham, who, through thick and thin, was +always at Drake's back, it was an unequal fight; with the stanchest of +his party in disgrace for Mary's premature execution, he was +single-handed against a host, and at last the friends of Spain +prevailed. Early in April a messenger sped down to Plymouth with orders +that operations were to be confined to the high seas. As Philip's ships +were all snug in port, and could well remain there as long as Drake's +stores allowed him to keep the sea, it was a complete triumph for Spain. +But when the messenger dashed into Plymouth with the fatal packet he +found the roadstead empty. Drake was gone. + +In vain at the last moment a number of his sailors had been induced to +desert; he had filled their places with soldiers. In vain a swift +pinnace was despatched in pursuit; Drake had taken care no orders should +catch him, and, with his squadron increased by two warships from Lyme, +was already off Finisterre, battling with a gale which drove the pinnace +home. For seven days it raged and forced the fleet far out to sea. Still +Drake held on in its teeth, and so well had he his ships in hand that on +the 16th, within twenty-four hours after the gale had blown itself out, +the whole fleet in perfect order was sailing gayly eastward past Cape +St. Vincent. + +Eastward--for he had intelligence that Cadiz harbor was full of +transports and store-ships, and on the afternoon of the 19th, as he +entered the bay, he saw a forest of masts in the road behind the city. A +council of war was summoned at once, and without asking their opinion he +quietly told them he was going to attack. It was his usual manner of +holding a council, but it took Borough's breath away. It shocked the old +Queen's officer, and outraged his sense of what was due to his own +reputation and experience and the time-honored customs of war. He wanted +to talk about it and think about it, and find out first whether it was +too dangerous. And there was certainly some excuse for his caution. +Cadiz stands on a precipitous rock at the end of a low and narrow neck +of land, some five miles in length, running parallel to the coast. +Within this natural breakwater are enclosed an outer and an inner port; +and so cumbered with shoals and rocks was the entrance from the sea that +no ship could get in without passing under the guns of the town +batteries, while access from the outer to the inner port was only to be +gained by the Puntal passage, half a mile wide. + +Opposite Cadiz, on the other side of the outer harbor, was Port St. +Mary, and within the Puntal channel, at the extreme end of the inlet, +stood Port Royal. Both places, however, were so protected by shoals as +to be unapproachable except to the port pilots. It was an ideal scene of +action for galleys to develop their full capabilities. Two had already +appeared to reconnoitre, and how many more there were no one could tell. +Galleys, it must be remembered, were then considered the most formidable +warships afloat, and quite invincible in confined waters or calms. By +all the rules of war, on which Borough was the first authority in the +service, to attack was suicide; but Drake had spent his life in breaking +rules. He did not care. The enemy was there, his authority was in his +pocket, the wind was fair, his officers believed in him, and as the sun +sank low behind them the fleet went in. + +A scene of terror and confusion followed. Every ship in the harbor cut +its cables and sought safety in flight, some to sea, some across the bay +to St. Mary's, some through the Puntal passage to the inner harbor and +Port Royal. To cover the stampede ten galleys came confidently out from +under the Cadiz batteries. All was useless. While the chartered cruisers +swooped on the fugitives, the Queen's ships stood in, to head off the +advancing galleys, as coolly as though they had fought them a hundred +times before. In a few minutes the English admiral had taught the world +a new lesson in tactics. Galleys could only fire straight ahead; and, as +they came on line abreast, Drake, passing with the Queen's four +battle-ships athwart their course, poured in his heavy broadsides. Never +before had such gunnery been seen. Ere the galleys were within effective +range for their own ordnance they were raked and riddled and confounded, +and to the consternation of the Spaniards they broke for the cover of +the batteries. Two had to be hauled up to prevent their sinking; the +rest were a shambles, and nothing was now thought of but how to protect +the city from the assault which seemed inevitable. Hardly any troops +were there: a panic seized the population; and Drake was left alone to +do the work for which he had come. + +Beyond the batteries the fleet anchored with its prizes, plundering and +scuttling with all its might, till the flood came in again. Then all +that remained were fired, and, by the flare of the blazing hulks as they +drifted clear with the tide, Drake moved the fleet into the mouth of the +Puntal channel, out of range of the batteries. He himself took up a +position seaward of the new anchorage, to engage the guns which the +Spaniards were bringing down from the town and to keep off the galleys; +for as yet the work was but half done. In the inner harbor lay the +splendid galleon of the Marquis de Santa Cruz, and a crowd of great +ships too big to seek the refuge of the shoals about Port Royal, and at +daylight the Merchant Royal went boldly in, with all the tenders in +company. Then, in spite of the labors of the past night, the plundering, +scuttling, and burning began again. Outside, the galleys were making +half-hearted demonstrations against the English anchorage, but they were +easily kept at bay. By noon it was all over, and Drake attempted to make +sail. In the past thirty-six hours he had entirely revictualled his +fleet with wine, oil, biscuit, and dried fruits. He had destroyed some +twelve thousand tons of shipping, including some of the finest vessels +afloat, and four ships laden with provisions were in possession of his +prize crews.[1] It was enough and more than enough. But the wind would +not serve, and all day long he lay where he was, in sight of the troops +that were now pouring along the isthmus into Cadiz. + + [1] In the official report the Spaniards admit the loss of + twenty-four ships valued at one hundred seventy-two thousand + ducats. This, it would seem, was all they dared tell the King. + +Again and again the galleys attempted to approach, and every time +Drake's broadsides swept them back before they reached their effective +range. Vainly, too, the Spaniards strove to post guns near enough to +annoy the fleet. Nor did the struggle cease till at midnight a land-wind +sprang up, and, brushing from his path the galleys that sought to block +the way, Drake made sail. By two o'clock he had cleared the batteries +and was safe outside without losing a single man. Boldly enough then the +galleys gave chase, but, unfortunately, the wind suddenly shifted +completely round. Drake at once went about, and the galleys fled in most +undignified haste, leaving the English fleet to complete its triumph by +anchoring unmolested in full view of the town. + +Such an exploit was without precedent. The chivalry of Spain was as +enthusiastic in its admiration of Drake's feat of arms as it was +disgusted at the cumbrous organization which condemned it to inactivity. +A whole day Drake waited where he was, to try and exchange his prisoners +for English galley-slaves, but, getting nothing but high compliments and +dilatory answers for his pains, on the morrow he sailed. There was no +time to lose. By his captures he had discovered the whole of Philip's +plan. Out of the Mediterranean the divisions of Italy, Sicily, and +Andalusia were to come and join the head-quarters at Lisbon, where the +Grand Admiral of Spain, the Marquis de Santa Cruz, was busy with the +bulk of the armada. At Cape St. Vincent was the road where ships coming +out of the Straits waited for a wind to carry them north, and there he +had resolved to take his stand, and fight everything that attempted to +join Santa Cruz's flag in the Tagus. + +Such light airs prevailed that it was not till the end of the month that +the fleet reached the road. By that time its water was exhausted, and, +as every headland was crowned with works commanding the anchorage and +the watering-places, Drake at once saw he must take them. In his usual +off-hand way he summoned his council, and told them over the dinner-table +what he was going to do. It was more than the vice-admiral's dignity and +caution could endure. In high dudgeon he returned to his ship, and, in +the midst of a gale which suddenly arose and drove the fleet to the north +of the cape, he indited a long and solemn protest, not only against the +contemplated operation, but against the unprecedented despotism with +which Drake was conducting the whole expedition. Borough, though no +doubt jealous of Drake, certainly believed he was doing nothing beyond +his right and duty. He felt he had been attached to the expedition as +the most complete sailor in the kingdom, and he valued and deserved his +reputation. In the scientific knowledge of his art he was unrivalled, +and he was the only officer in the service who had fought and won a +purely naval action. No one, therefore, can fairly blame him for +resenting the revolutionary manner in which his commander was ignoring +him in contempt of the time-honored privileges of the council of war. + +Drake, in his hot self-confidence, thought otherwise. As he rode out the +gale under the lee of St. Vincent, and the tempest howled through his +rigging, once more there fell upon him the shadow of the tragedy which +could never cease to darken his judgment. Already, in Cadiz harbor, he +had thought his vice-admiral too careful of his ship when the shot were +flying; and now he saw in him another Doughty sent by the friends of +Spain to hang on his arm. "In persisting," he told Lord Burleigh, "he +committed a double offence, not only against me, but it toucheth +further." To his embittered sense the querulous protest was a treasonable +attack on his own authority, and in his fury he brutally dismissed the +old admiral from his command and placed him under arrest on his +flag-ship. In vain the astonished veteran protested his innocence, +apologized, and made submission. Drake would not listen. The ring of the +heads-man's sword upon the desolate shores of Patagonia had deafened his +ears to such entreaties forever. + +Two days later he was back in Lagos Bay, landing a thousand men for an +attempt upon the town, but in the evening, after vainly endeavoring to +induce the bodies of cavalry which hovered on their line of march to +come within reach, the troops reëmbarked, reporting the place too strong +to be taken by assault. Such reports were not to Drake's liking. It was +no mere cross-raiding on which he was bent, but a sagacious stroke that +was essential to the development of his new ideas. To get the command of +the seas it was necessary that he should be able to keep the seas, and +for this a safe anchorage and watering-places were necessary. In default +of Lagos, strategy and convenience both indicated St. Vincent road for +his purpose. It was commanded by forts, but that did not deter him; and, +resolved to have his way, he next day landed in person near Cape Sagres. + +On the summit of the headland was a castle accessible on two sides only. +The English military officers declared that a hundred determined men +could hold it against the whole of Drake's force. But he would not +listen; it commanded the watering-place, and he meant to have it. +Detaching part of his force against a neighboring fort, which was at +once evacuated, he himself advanced against the castle, and at the +summit of the cliff found himself confronted with walls thirty feet +high, bristling with brass guns and crowded with soldiers. The garrison +had just been reënforced by that of the evacuated fort, and to every one +but the admiral the affair was hopeless. He attacked with his +musketeers, and, when they had exhausted their ammunition, in the name +of his queen and mistress he summoned the place to surrender. In the +name of his lord and master the Spanish captain laughed at him. +Whereupon Drake, more obstinate than ever, sent down to the fleet for +fagots, and began piling them against the outer gate to fire it. So +desperate was the resistance that again and again the attempt failed. +For two hours the struggle lasted. As fast as the defenders threw down +the fire, the English piled it up again; and in the midst of the smoke +and the bullets the admiral toiled like a common seaman, with his arms +full of fagots and his face black with soot. How long his obstinacy +would have continued it is impossible to say, but at the end of the two +hours the Spanish commandant sank under his wounds and the garrison +surrendered. Daunted by a feat which every one regarded as little short +of a miracle, the castle and monastery of St. Vincent, together with +another fort near it, capitulated at the magician's first summons, and +left him in complete possession of the anchorage to water the fleet +undisturbed. + +Having fired the captured strongholds, and tumbled their guns over the +cliffs into the sea, Drake returned to the fleet to find the sailors had +not been idle. Between St. Vincent and a village some nine miles to the +eastward which they had been ordered to burn, they had taken forty-seven +barks and caravels laden with stores for the Armada, and destroyed +between fifty and sixty fishing-boats with miles of nets. The +tunny-fishery, on which the whole of the adjacent country chiefly +depended for its subsistence, was annihilated. For the time Drake's work +on the Algarve coast was done, and, having watered the fleet and fished +up the captured guns, he sailed for Lisbon. + +His own idea had been to land there and smite Philip's preparation at +its heart, but this the Government had expressly forbidden. Still he +hoped that the havoc he had made and the insults he had put on the +Spanish coasts might goad Santa Cruz to come out and fight him. For +three days he lay off Cascaes, in sight of Lisbon, threatening an attack +and sending polished taunts to the Spanish admiral. He offered to convoy +him to England if his course lay that way; he took prizes under his very +nose; with his fleet in loose order he sailed up to the very entrance of +the harbor; but, though seven galleys lay on their oars watching him +from the mouth of the Tagus, Santa Cruz would not move, and Drake +learned at last how deep was the wound he had inflicted. + +Philip's organization was now completely dislocated. The fleet at Lisbon +was unmanned. Its crews had been shattered in Cadiz harbor, and the +troops that were intended for it had been thrown into the defenceless +city under the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, with orders that while Drake was +on the coast not a man was to be moved. All thought of an attack on +England was given up. It was even doubted whether by straining every +nerve it would be possible to save the homeward-bound fleets from the +Indies. The Italian squadrons were ordered to land their troops at +Cartagena, and Philip hoped that by forced marches across the peninsula +they might possibly arrive in time for Santa Cruz to sail before it was +too late. Every one else looked on the convoys as doomed. For Drake, +having assured himself that Santa Cruz could not stir, and that England +was safe for a year at least, resolved to make for the Azores and wait +for the prey that had so narrowly escaped him the year before. + +On the third day of his stay off the Tagus he took advantage of a +northerly gale to run for the anchorage at St. Vincent, which he had +made his own, and where he intended to water and refresh for the voyage. +There, huddled under the lee of the cape, was found a fresh crowd of +store-ships, which he seized. For nine days he lay there, rummaging the +ships, taking in water, and sending the men ashore in batches to shake +off the sickness with which, as usual, the fleet was attacked. Every day +new prizes fell into his hands, and ere he sailed he had taken and +destroyed forty more vessels and a hundred small craft. On May 22d he +put to sea, and, as the news spread, a panic seized every commercial +centre in the Spanish dominions. Half the merchants in Philip's empire +saw ruin before them: the whole year's produce both of the East and West +Indian trade was at Drake's mercy; and no one knew how Spain, with its +resources already strained to the utmost, would survive the shock. + +Whatever might have been the result had these fears been realized, +destiny seemed to have decided that in the Channel should be played the +last great scene. Drake had not been two days out when a storm struck +his fleet and scattered it over the face of the sea. For three days it +raged with extraordinary fury. Drake's own flag-ship was in dire peril, +and, when the heavens cleared, only three of the battle-ships and half a +dozen smaller craft were together. Not a single merchant-ship was to be +seen, and the Lion, Borough's flag-ship, on which he was still a +prisoner, was missing too. Before leaving St. Vincent Drake had told +Walsingham that he ought to have at least six more cruisers to do his +work properly, and now two-thirds of what he had before were gone. Still +he held on, hoping to find some of the missing ships at the rendezvous +in the Azores. + +On the morning of June 8th St. Michael's was sighted, but not a sail had +rejoined the flag except the Spy, one of the Queen's gunboats, with the +captain and master of the Lion on board, and they reported that the crew +of Borough's ship had mutinied and carried him home. Then, in the depth +of his disappointment, Drake's fury blazed out anew. His fierce +self-reliance and fanatic patriotism had taught him to see a traitor in +every man that opposed him, and the bitter experience of his lifelong +struggle against the enemies of his country and his creed could bring +him but to one conclusion--Borough was the traitor who had ruined the +greatest chance of his career! A jury was impanelled, the deserter tried +for his life, found guilty, and condemned to death. + +It was little good except to relieve the admiral's anger. The splendid +opportunity was gone; the fruit of his brilliant exploit was snatched +from his lips; for, even had the remnant of his fleet been less +shattered than it was, the great convoys were beyond its strength. The +only hope was to hurry back to England and beg for reënforcements to +fight Santa Cruz for the life-blood of Spain. + +Yet ere he sailed there was a consolation at hand. As he lay waiting for +his shattered squadron to close up, fuming at traitors, and marvelling +at the inscrutable will of Heaven, the dawn of June 9th lit up the gray +sea and showed him a huge carack in the offing. On a smart breeze he +gave chase. The carack kept her course, but, as Drake drew near, began +displaying her colors nervously. Drake made not a sign in reply, but +held on till he was within range. Then on a sudden, with a blaze of her +ensigns and her broadside, the Elizabeth Bonaventura told the stranger +what she was. Two of Drake's squadron threw themselves resolutely +athwart-hawse of the enemy, and the rest, plying her hard with shot, +prepared to run aboard her towering hull. But, ere they closed, her flag +fluttered sadly down, and the famous San Filippe, the King of Spain's +own East-Indiaman, the largest merchantman afloat, was a prize in +Drake's hands. + +Well might he wonder now at God's providence, as with lightened heart +he sailed homeward with his prize. For not only was it the richest ever +seen in England before or since, not only was its cargo valued at over +a million of our money, but in it were papers which disclosed to our +merchants all the mysteries and richness of the East India trade. It +was a revelation to English commerce. It intoxicated the soberest +capitalists; and they knew no rest till they had formed the great East +India Company, to widen the gap which Drake had opened, and to lay the +foundation of our Indian Empire. + + + + + DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA + + A.D. 1588 + + SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY + + + Two years after the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne of + England, the Geneva Confession of Faith (Calvinistic) was adopted by + the Scottish nation, which thus formally became Protestant. The aim + of Mary, Queen of Scots, to restore the Catholic religion in that + kingdom added many complications to her royal task, as well as to + her personal fortunes. Her final condemnation and execution, 1587, + for conspiracy against Elizabeth, occurred at a time when the shadow + of Spanish supremacy was being cast broadly over Europe. The Spanish + power was still attempting the subjugation of the Netherlands, and + it was the ambition of Philip II to bring England also under his own + sway and that of Rome. + + Elizabeth had given aid to Philip's rebellious subjects in the + Netherlands, and Sir Francis Drake had committed many depredations + upon Spain and her colonies. For the purpose of avenging these acts, + as well as the death of Mary Stuart, and of overthrowing the + Reformation in Great Britain, Philip gathered up all his strength + and prepared to hurl a mighty naval force, the "Invincible Armada," + against England. + + Creasy's masterly survey of the European situation at this period + unfolds the Anglo-Spanish complications. His exhaustive account of + the Armada and its ill-fated enterprise makes clear everything + important in this famous passage of history. + + +On the afternoon of July 19, 1588, a group of English captains was +collected at the bowling green on the Hoe, at Plymouth, whose equals +have never before or since been brought together, even at that favorite +mustering-place of the heroes of the British navy. There was Sir Francis +Drake, the first English circumnavigator of the globe, the terror of +every Spanish coast in the Old World and the New; there was Sir John +Hawkins, the rough veteran of many a daring voyage on the African and +American seas and of many a desperate battle; there was Sir Martin +Frobisher, one of the earliest explorers of the Arctic seas in search of +the northwest passage. + +There was the high admiral of England, Lord Howard of Effingham, +prodigal of all things in his country's cause, and who had recently had +the noble daring to refuse to dismantle part of the fleet, though the +Queen had sent him orders to do so in consequence of an exaggerated +report that the enemy had been driven back and shattered by a storm. +Lord Howard--whom contemporary writers describe as being of a wise and +noble courage, skilful in sea matters, wary and provident, and of great +esteem among the sailors--resolved to risk his sovereign's anger, and to +keep the ships afloat at his own charge, rather than that England should +run the peril of losing their protection. + +Another of our Elizabethan sea-kings, Sir Walter Raleigh, was at that +time commissioned to raise and equip the land forces of Cornwall; but we +may well believe that he must have availed himself of the opportunity of +consulting with the lord admiral and the other high officers, which was +offered by the English fleet putting into Plymouth; and we may look on +Raleigh as one of the group that was assembled at the bowling green on +the Hoe. + +Many other brave men and skilful mariners, besides the chiefs whose +names have been mentioned, were there, enjoying, with true sailor-like +merriment, their temporary relaxation from duty. In the harbor lay the +English fleet with which they had just returned from a cruise to Corunna +in search of information respecting the real condition and movements of +the hostile armada. Lord Howard had ascertained that our enemies, though +tempest-tossed, were still formidably strong; and, fearing that part of +their fleet might make for England in his absence, he had hurried back +to the Devonshire coast. He resumed his station at Plymouth, and waited +there for certain tidings of the Spaniards' approach. + +A match at bowls was being played, in which Drake and other high +officers of the fleet were engaged, when a small armed vessel was seen +running before the wind into Plymouth harbor with all sails set. Her +commander landed in haste, and eagerly sought the place where the +English lord admiral and his captains were standing. His name was +Fleming; he was the master of a Scotch privateer; and he told the +English officers that he had that morning seen the Spanish Armada off +the Cornish coast. At this exciting information the captains began to +hurry down to the water, and there was a shouting for the ships' boats; +but Drake coolly checked his comrades, and insisted that the match +should be played out. He said that there was plenty of time both to win +the game and beat the Spaniards. The best and bravest match that ever +was scored was resumed accordingly. Drake and his friends aimed their +last bowls with the same steady, calculating coolness with which they +were about to point their guns. The winning cast was made; and then they +went on board and prepared for action, with their hearts as light and +their nerves as firm as they had been on the Hoe bowling green. + +Meanwhile the messengers and signals had been despatched fast and far +through England, to warn each town and village that the enemy had come +at last. In every seaport there was instant making ready by land and by +sea; in every shire and every city there was instant mustering of horse +and man. But England's best defence then, as ever, was in her fleet; +and, after warping laboriously out of Plymouth harbor against the wind, +the lord admiral stood westward under easy sail, keeping an anxious +look-out for the armada, the approach of which was soon announced by +Cornish fisher-boats and signals from the Cornish cliffs. + +It is not easy, without some reflection and care, to comprehend the full +extent of the peril which England then ran from the power and the +ambition of Spain, or to appreciate the importance of that crisis in the +history of the world. Queen Elizabeth had found at her accession an +encumbered revenue, a divided people, and an unsuccessful foreign war, +in which the last remnant of our possessions in France had been lost; +she had also a formidable pretender to her crown, whose interests were +favored by all the Roman Catholic powers. It is true that, during the +years of her reign which had passed away before the attempted invasion +of 1588, she had revived the commercial prosperity, the national spirit, +and the national loyalty of England. But her resources to cope with the +colossal power of Philip II still seemed most scanty; and she had not a +single foreign ally, except the Dutch, who were themselves struggling +hard, and, as it seemed, hopelessly, to maintain their revolt against +Spain. + +On the other hand, Philip II was absolute master of an empire so +superior to the other states of the world in extent, in resources, and +especially in military and naval forces as to make the project of +enlarging that empire into a universal monarchy seem a perfectly +feasible scheme; and Philip had both the ambition to perform that +project and the resolution to devote all his energies and all his means +to its realization. Since the downfall of the Roman Empire no such +preponderating power had existed in the world. During the mediæval +centuries the chief European kingdoms were slowly moulding themselves +out of the feudal chaos; and though the wars with each other were +numerous and desperate, and several of their respective kings figured +for a time as mighty conquerors, none of them in those times acquired +the consistency and perfect organization which are requisite for a +long-sustained career of aggrandizement. After the consolidation of the +great kingdoms they for some time kept each other in mutual check. + +During the first half of the sixteenth century the balancing system was +successfully practised by European statesmen. But when Philip II +reigned, France had become so miserably weak through her civil wars that +he had nothing to dread from the rival state which had so long curbed +his father, the Emperor Charles V. In Germany, Italy, and Poland he had +either zealous friends and dependents or weak and divided enemies. +Against the Turks he had gained great and glorious successes; and he +might look round the Continent of Europe without discerning a single +antagonist of whom he could stand in awe. Spain, when he acceded to the +throne, was at the zenith of her power. + +The hardihood and spirit which the Aragonese, the Castilians, and the +other nations of the peninsula had acquired during centuries of free +institutions and successful war against the Moors had not yet become +obliterated. Charles V had, indeed, destroyed the liberties of Spain; +but that had been done too recently for its full evil to be felt in +Philip's time. A people cannot be debased in a single generation; and +the Spaniards under Charles V and Philip II proved the truth of the +remark that no nation is ever so formidable to its neighbors, for a +time, as a nation which, after being trained up in self-government, +passes suddenly under a despotic ruler. The energy of democratic +institutions survives for a few generations, and to it are superadded +the decision and certainty which are the attributes of government when +all its powers are directed by a single mind. It is true that this +preter-natural vigor is short-lived: national corruption and debasement +gradually follow the loss of the national liberties; but there is an +interval before their workings are felt, and in that interval the most +ambitious schemes of foreign conquest are often successfully undertaken. + +Philip had also the advantage of finding himself at the head of a large +standing army in a perfect state of discipline and equipment, in an age +when, except some few insignificant corps, standing armies were unknown +in Christendom. The renown of the Spanish troops was justly high, and +the infantry in particular was considered the best in the world. His +fleet, also, was far more numerous and better appointed than that of any +other European power; and both his soldiers and his sailors had the +confidence in themselves and their commanders which a long career of +successful warfare alone can create. + +Besides the Spanish crown, Philip succeeded to the kingdom of Naples and +Sicily, the duchy of Milan, Franche-Comté, and the Netherlands. In +Africa he possessed Tunis, Oran, the Cape Verd and the Canary islands; +and in Asia, the Philippine and Sunda islands and a part of the +Moluccas. Beyond the Atlantic he was lord of the most splendid portions +of the New World, which Columbus found "for Castile and Leon." The +empires of Peru and Mexico, New Spain, and Chile, with their abundant +mines of the precious metals, Española and Cuba, and many other of the +American islands were provinces of the sovereign of Spain. + +Whatever diminution the Spanish empire might have sustained in the +Netherlands seemed to be more than compensated by the acquisition of +Portugal, which Philip had completely conquered in 1580. Not only that +ancient kingdom itself, but all the fruits of the maritime enterprises +of the Portuguese, had fallen into Philip's hands. All the Portuguese +colonies in America, Africa, and the East Indies acknowledged the +sovereignty of the King of Spain, who thus not only united the whole +Iberian peninsula under his single sceptre, but had acquired a +transmarine empire little inferior in wealth and extent to that which he +had inherited at his accession. The splendid victory which his fleet, in +conjunction with the papal and Venetian galleys, had gained at Lepanto +over the Turks, had deservedly exalted the fame of the Spanish marine +throughout Christendom; and when Philip had reigned thirty-five years, +the vigor of his empire seemed unbroken, and the glory of the Spanish +arms had increased, and was increasing throughout the world. + +One nation only had been his active, his persevering, and his successful +foe. England had encouraged his revolted subjects in Flanders against +him, and given them the aid, in men and money, without which they must +soon have been humbled in the dust. English ships had plundered his +colonies; had defied his supremacy in the New World as well as the Old; +they had inflicted ignominious defeats on his squadrons; they had +captured his cities and burned his arsenals on the very coasts of Spain. +The English had made Philip himself the object of personal insult. He +was held up to ridicule in their stage plays and masks, and these scoffs +at the man had--as is not unusual in such cases--excited the anger of +the absolute King even more vehemently than the injuries inflicted on +his power. Personal as well as political revenge urged him to attack +England. Were she once subdued, the Dutch must submit; France could not +cope with him; the empire would not oppose him; and universal dominion +seemed sure to be the result of the conquest of that malignant island. + +There was yet another and a stronger feeling which armed King Philip +against England. He was one of the sincerest and one of the sternest +bigots of his age. He looked on himself, and was looked on by others, as +the appointed champion to extirpate heresy and reestablish the papal +power throughout Europe. + +A powerful reaction against Protestantism had taken place since the +commencement of the second half of the sixteenth century, and he looked +on himself as destined to complete it. The Reformed doctrines had been +thoroughly rooted out from Italy and Spain. Belgium, which had +previously been half Protestant, had been reconquered both in allegiance +and creed by Philip, and had become one of the most Catholic countries +in the world. Half Germany had been won back to the old faith. In Savoy, +in Switzerland, and many other countries the progress of the +Counter-reformation had been rapid and decisive. The Catholic league +seemed victorious in France. The papal court itself had shaken off the +supineness of recent centuries, and, at the head of the Jesuits and the +other new ecclesiastical orders, was displaying a vigor and a boldness +worthy of the days of Hildebrand or Innocent III. + +Throughout Continental Europe the Protestants, discomfited and dismayed, +looked to England as their protector and refuge. England was the +acknowledged central point of Protestant power and policy; and to +conquer England was to stab Protestantism to the very heart. Sixtus V, +the then reigning Pope, earnestly exhorted Philip to this enterprise. +And when the tidings reached Italy and Spain that the Protestant Queen +of England had put to death her Catholic prisoner, Mary, Queen of Scots, +the fury of the Vatican and Escurial knew no bounds. Elizabeth was +denounced as the murderous heretic whose destruction was an instant +duty. + +A formal treaty was concluded in June, 1587, by which the Pope bound +himself to contribute a million of scudi to the expenses of the war, the +money to be paid as soon as the King had actual possession of an English +port. Philip, on his part, strained the resources of his vast empire to +the utmost. The French Catholic chiefs eagerly coöperated with him. In +the seaports of the Mediterranean and along almost the whole coast from +Gibraltar to Jutland the preparations for the great armament were urged +forward with all the earnestness of religious zeal as well as of angry +ambition. + +"Thus," says the German historian of the Popes,[1] "thus did the united +powers of Italy and Spain, from which such mighty influences had gone +forth over the whole world, now rouse themselves for an attack upon +England! The King had already compiled, from the archives of Simancas, a +statement of the claims which he had to the throne of that country on +the extinction of the Stuart line; the most brilliant prospects, +especially that of a universal dominion of the seas, were associated in +his mind with this enterprise. Everything seemed to conspire to such an +end--the predominancy of Catholicism in Germany, the renewed attack upon +the Huguenots in France, the attempt upon Geneva, and the enterprise +against England. At the same moment a thoroughly Catholic prince, +Sigismund III, ascended the throne of Poland, with the prospect also of +future succession to the throne of Sweden. But whenever any principle or +power, be it what it may, aims at unlimited supremacy in Europe, some +vigorous resistance to it, having its origin in the deepest springs of +human nature, invariably arises. Philip II had to encounter newly +awakened powers, braced by the vigor of youth and elevated by a sense of +their future destiny. + + [1] Ranke. + +"The intrepid corsairs, who had rendered every sea insecure, now +clustered round the coasts of their native island. The Protestants in a +body--even the Puritans, although they had been subjected to as severe +oppression as the Catholics--rallied round their Queen, who now gave +admirable proof of her masculine courage and her princely talent of +winning the affections and leading the minds and preserving the +allegiance of men." + +Ranke should have added that the English Catholics at this crisis proved +themselves as loyal to their Queen and true to their country as were the +most vehement anti-Catholic zealots in the island. Some few traitors +there were, but as a body, the Englishmen who held the ancient faith +stood the trial of their patriotism nobly. The lord admiral himself was +a Catholic, and--to adopt the words of Hallam--"then it was that the +Catholics in every country repaired to the standard of the lord +lieutenant, imploring that they might not be suspected of bartering the +national independence for their religion itself." The Spaniard found no +partisans in the country which he assailed, nor did England, self-wounded, + + "Lie at the proud foot of her enemy." + +For upward of a year the Spanish preparations had been actively and +unremittingly urged forward. Negotiations were, during this time, +carried on at Ostend, in which various pretexts were assigned by the +Spanish commissioners for the gathering together of such huge masses of +shipping, and such equipments of troops in all the seaports which their +master ruled; but Philip himself took little care to disguise his +intentions; nor could Elizabeth and her able ministers doubt but that +this island was the real object of the Spanish armament. + +The peril that was wisely foreseen was resolutely provided for. +Circular-letters from the Queen were sent round to the lord lieutenants +of the several counties requiring them to "call together the best sort +of gentlemen under their lieutenancy, and to declare unto them these +great preparations and arrogant threatenings, now burst forth in action +upon the seas, wherein every man's particular state, in the highest +degree, could be touched in respect of country, liberty, wives, +children, lands, lives, and--which was specially to be regarded--the +profession of the true and sincere religion of Christ, and to lay before +them the infinite and unspeakable miseries that would fall out upon any +such change, which miseries were evidently seen by the fruits of that +hard and cruel government holden in countries not far distant. + +"We do look," said the Queen, "that the most part of them should have, +upon this instant extraordinary occasion, a larger proportion of +furniture, both for horsemen and footmen, but especially horsemen, than +hath been certified thereby to be in their best strength against any +attempt, or to be employed about our own person or otherwise. Hereunto +as we doubt not but by your good endeavors they will be the rather +conformable, so also we assure ourselves that almighty God will so bless +these their loyal hearts borne toward us, their loving sovereign, and +their natural country, that all the attempts of any enemy whatsoever +shall be made void and frustrate, to their confusion, your comfort, and +to God's high glory."[2] + + [2] Strype, cited in Southey: _Naval History_. + +Letters of a similar kind were also sent by the council to each of the +nobility and to the great cities. The Primate called on the clergy for +their contributions; and by every class of the community the appeal was +responded to with liberal zeal, that offered more even than the Queen +required. The boasting threats of the Spaniards had roused the spirit of +the nation, and the whole people "were thoroughly irritated to stir up +their whole forces for their defence against such prognosticated +conquests; so that in a very short time all her whole realm, and every +corner, were furnished with armed men, on horseback and on foot; and +those continually trained, exercised, and put into bands in warlike +manner, as in no age ever was before in this realm. + +"There was no sparing of money to provide horse, armor, weapons, powder, +and all necessaries; no, nor want of provision of pioneers, carriages, +and victuals, in every county of the realm, without exception, to attend +upon the armies. And to this general furniture every man voluntarily +offered, very many their services personally without wages, others money +for armor and weapons, and to wage soldiers--a matter strange, and never +the like heard of in this realm or elsewhere. And this general reason +moved all men to large contributions: that when a conquest was to be +withstood wherein all should be lost, it was no time to spare a +portion."[3] + + [3] Copy of contemporary letter in the Harleian Collection, quoted + by Southey. + +Our lion-hearted Queen showed herself worthy of such a people. A camp +was formed at Tilbury; and there Elizabeth rode through the ranks, +encouraging her captains and her soldiers by her presence and her words. +One of the speeches which she addressed to them during this crisis has +been preserved; and, though often quoted, it must not be omitted here. + +"My loving people," she said, "we have been persuaded by some that are +careful of our safety to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed +multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to +live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear! I have +always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest +strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; +and therefore I am come among you, as you see, at this time, not for my +recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the +battle, to live or die among you all, to lay down for my God, for my +kingdom, and for my people, my honor and my blood even in the dust. + +"I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the +heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England, too, and think it +foul scorn that Parma, of Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to +invade the borders of my realm, to which, rather than any dishonor shall +grow by me, I myself will take up arms; I myself will be your general, +judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know +already, for your forwardness, you have deserved rewards and crowns: and +we do assure you, on the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. +In the mean time my lieutenant-general shall be in my stead, than whom +never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject, not doubting but +by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your +valor in the field we shall shortly have a famous victory over those +enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people." + +Some of Elizabeth's advisers recommended that the whole care and +resources of the government should be devoted to the equipment of the +armies, and that the enemy, when he attempted to land, should be +welcomed with a battle on the shore. But the wiser counsels of Raleigh +and others prevailed, who urged the importance of fitting out a fleet +that should encounter the Spaniards at sea, and, if possible, prevent +them from approaching the land at all. + +In Raleigh's great work, the _History of the World_, he takes occasion, +when discussing some of the events of the First Punic War, to give his +reasonings on the proper policy of England when menaced with invasion. +Without doubt we have there the substance of the advice which he gave to +Elizabeth's council; and the remarks of such a man on such a subject +have a general and enduring interest beyond the immediate crisis which +called them forth. + +Raleigh says: "Surely I hold that the best way is to keep our enemies +from treading upon our ground; wherein if we fail, then must we seek to +make him wish that he had stayed at his own home. In such a case, if it +should happen, our judgments are to weigh many particular circumstances +that belong not unto this discourse. But making the question general, +the positive, _Whether England, without the help of her fleet, be able +to debar an enemy from landing_, I hold that it is unable so to do, and +therefore I think it most dangerous to make the adventure; for the +encouragement of a first victory to an enemy, and the discouragement of +being beaten to the invaded, may draw after it a most perilous +consequence. + +"Great difference I know there is, and a diverse consideration to be +had, between such a country as France is, strengthened with many +fortified places, and this of ours, where our ramparts are but the +bodies of men. But I say that an army to be transported over sea, and to +be landed again in an enemy's country, and the place left to the choice +of the invader, cannot be resisted on the coast of England without a +fleet to impeach it; no, nor on the coast of France or any other +country, except every creek, port, or sandy bay had a powerful army in +each of them to make opposition. + +"For let the supposition be granted that Kent is able to furnish twelve +thousand foot, and that those twelve thousand be layed in the three best +landing-places within that country, to wit, three thousand at Margat, +three thousand at the Nesse, and six thousand at Foulkstone, that is, +somewhat equally distant from them both, as also that two of these +troops--unless some other order be thought more fit--be directed to +strengthen the third, when they shall see the enemy's fleet to head +toward it: I say, that notwithstanding this provision, if the enemy, +setting sail from the Isle of Wight, in the first watch of the night, +and towing their long boats at their stems, shall arrive by dawn of day +at the Nesse, and thrust their army on shore there, it will be hard for +those three thousand that are at Margat--twenty-and-four long miles from +thence--to come time enough to reënforce their fellows at the Nesse. +Nay, how shall they at Foulkstone be able to do it, who are nearer by +more than half the way? seeing that the enemy, at his first arrival, +will either make his entrance by force, with three or four shot of great +artillery, and quickly put the first three thousand that are intrenched +at the Nesse to run, or else give them so much to do that they shall be +glad to send for help to Foulkstone, and perhaps to Margat, whereby +those places will be left bare. + +"Now, let us suppose that all the twelve thousand Kentish soldiers +arrived at the Nesse ere the enemy can be ready to disembark his army, +so that he will find it unsafe to land in the face of so many prepared +to withstand him, yet must we believe that he will play the best of his +own game--having liberty to go which way he list--and, under covert of +the night, set sail toward the east, where what shall hinder him to take +ground either at Margat, the Downes, or elsewhere, before they at the +Nesse can be well aware of his departure? + +"Certainly there is nothing more easy than to do it. Yea, the like may +be said of Weymouth, Purbeck, Poole, and of all landing-places on the +southwest; for there is no man ignorant that ships, without putting +themselves out of breath, will easily outrun the soldiers that coast +them. '_Les armeés ne volent point en poste_' ('Armies neither flye +nor run post'), saith a marshal of France. And I know it to be true that +a fleet of ships may be seen at sunset, and after it at the Lizard, yet +by the next morning they may recover Portland, whereas an army of foot +shall not be able to march it in six days. + +"Again, when those troops lodged on the sea-shores shall be forced to +run from place to place in vain, after a fleet of ships, they will at +length sit down in the midway and leave all at adventure. But say it +were otherwise, that the invading enemy will offer to land in some such +place where there shall be an army of ours ready to receive him; yet it +cannot be doubted but that when the choice of all our trained bands, and +the choice of our commanders and captains, shall be drawn together--as +they were at Tilbury in the year 1588--to attend the person of the +Prince, and for the defence of the city of London, they that remain to +guard the coast can be of no such force as to encounter an army like +unto that wherewith it was intended that the Prince of Parma should have +landed in England. + +"For end of this digression, I hope that this question shall never come +to trial: his majesty's many movable forts will forbid the experience. +And although the English will no less disdain, than any nation under +heaven can do, to be beaten upon their own ground, or elsewhere, by a +foreign enemy, yet to entertain those that shall assail us, with their +own beef in their bellies, and before they eat of our Kentish capons, I +take it to be the wisest way--to do which his majesty, after God, will +employ his good ships on the sea, and not trust in any intrenchment upon +the shore." + +The introduction of steam as a propelling power at sea has added tenfold +weight to these arguments of Raleigh. On the other hand, a +well-constructed system of railways, especially of coast-lines, aided by +the operation of the electric telegraph, would give facilities for +concentrating a defensive army to oppose an enemy on landing, and for +moving troops from place to place in observation of the movements of the +hostile fleet, such as would have astonished Sir Walter, even more than +the sight of vessels passing rapidly to and fro without the aid of wind +or tide., The observation of the French marshal whom he quotes is now no +longer correct. Armies can be made to pass from place to place almost +with the speed of wings, and far more rapidly than any post-travelling +that was known in the Elizabethan or any other age. Still, the presence +of a sufficient armed force at the right spot, at the right time, can +never be made a matter of certainty and, even after the changes that +have taken place, no one can doubt but that the policy of Raleigh is +that which England should ever seek to follow in defensive war. + +At the time of the armada, that policy certainly saved the country, if +not from conquest, at least from deplorable calamities. If, indeed, the +enemy had landed, we may be sure that he would have been heroically +opposed. But history shows us so many examples of the superiority of +veteran troops over new levies, however numerous and brave, that, +without disparaging our countrymen's soldierly merits, we may well be +thankful that no trial of them was then made on English land. Especially +must we feel this when we contrast the high military genius of the +Prince of Parma, who would have headed the Spaniards, with the +imbecility of the Earl of Leicester, to whom the deplorable spirit of +favoritism, which formed the great blemish on Elizabeth's character, had +then committed the chief command of the English armies. + +The ships of the royal navy at this time amounted to no more than +thirty-six; but the most serviceable merchant vessels were collected +from all the ports of the country; and the citizens of London, Bristol, +and the other great seats of commerce showed as liberal a zeal in +equipping and manning vessels as the nobility and gentry displayed in +mustering forces by land. The seafaring population of the coast, of +every rank and station, was animated by the same ready spirit; and the +whole number of seamen who came forward to man the English fleet was +17,472; the number of the ships that were collected was 191; and the +total amount of their tonnage, 31,985. There was one ship in the +fleet--the Triumph--of 1100 tons, one of 1000, one of 900, two of 800 +each, three of 600, five of 500, five of 400, six of 300, six of 250, +twenty of 200, and the residue of inferior burden. + +Application was made to the Dutch for assistance; and, as Stowe +expresses it: "The Hollanders came roundly in with three-score sail, +brave ships of war, fierce and full of spleen, not so much for England's +aid as in just occasion for their own defence, these men foreseeing the +greatness of the danger that might ensue if the Spaniard should chance +to win the day and get the mastery over them; in due regard whereof, +their manly courage was inferior to none." + +We have more minute information of the number and equipment of the +hostile forces than we have of our own. In the first volume of Hakluyt's +_Voyages_, dedicated to Lord Effingham, who commanded against the +armada, there is given--from the contemporary foreign writer Meteran--a +more complete and detailed catalogue than has perhaps ever appeared of a +similar armament: + +"A very large and particular description of this navie was put in print +and published by the Spaniards, wherein were set downe the number, +names, and burthens of the shippes, the number of mariners and soldiers +throughout the whole fleete; likewise the quantitie of their ordinance, +of their armor, of bullets, of match, of gun-poulder, of victuals, and +of all their navall furniture was in the saide description +particularized. + +"Unto all these were added the names of the governours, captaines, +noblemen, and gentlemen voluntaries, of whom there was so great a +multitude that scarce was there any family of accompt, or any one +principall man throughout all Spaine that had not a brother, sonne, or +kinsman in that fleete; who all of them were in good hope to purchase +unto themselves in that navie--as they termed it--invincible, endless +glory and renown, and to possess themselves of great seigniories and +riches in England and in the Low Countreys. But because the said +description was translated and published out of Spanish into divers +other languages, we will here only make an abridgement or brief +rehearsal thereof. + +"Portugall furnished and set foorth under the conduct of the Duke of +Medina Sidonia, generall of the fleete, 10 galeons, 2 zabraes, 1300 +mariners, 3300 souldiers, 300 great pieces, with all requisite +furniture. + +"Biscay, under the conduct of John Martines de Ricalde, admiral of the +whole fleete, set forth 10 galeons, 4 pataches, 700 mariners, 2000 +souldiers, 250 great pieces, etc. + +"Guipusco, under the conduct of Michael de Oquendo, 10 galeons, 4 +pataches, 700 mariners, 2000 souldiers, 310 great pieces. + +"Italy, with the Levant islands, under Maitine de Vertendona, 10 +galeons, 800 mariners, 2000 souldiers, 310 great pieces, etc. + +"Castile, under Diego Flores de Valdez, 14 galeons, 2 pataches, 1700 +mariners, 2400 souldiers, and 380 great pieces, etc. + +"Andaluzia, under the conduct of Petro de Valdez, 10 galeons, 1 patache, +800 mariners, 2400 souldiers, 280 great pieces, etc. + +"Item, under the conduct of John Lopez de Medina, 23 great Flemish +hulkes, with 700 mariners, 3200 souldiers, and 400 great pieces. + +"Item, under Hugo de Moncada, 4 galliasses, containing 1200 +gally-slaves, 460 mariners, 870 souldiers, 200 great pieces, etc. + +"Item, under Diego de Mandrana, 4 gallies of Portugall, with 888 +gally-slaves, 360 mariners, 20 great pieces, and other requisite +furniture. + +"Item, under Anthonie de Mendoza, 22 pataches and zabraes, with 574 +mariners, 488 souldiers, and 193 great pieces. + +"Besides the ships aforementioned, there were 20 caravels rowed with +oares, being appointed to performe necessary services under the greater +ships, insomuch that all the ships appertayning to this navie amounted +unto the summe of 150, eche one being sufficiently provided of furniture +and victuals. + +"The number of mariners in the saide fleete were above 8000, of slaves +2088, of souldiers 20,000--besides noblemen and gentlemen voluntaries; +of great cast pieces, 2600. The aforesaid ships were of an huge and +incredible capacitie and receipt, for the whole fleete was large enough +to containe the burthen of 60,000 tunnes. + +"The galeons were 64 in number, being of an huge bignesse, and very +flately built, being of marveilous force also, and so high that they +resembled great castles, most fit to defend themselves and to withstand +any assault, but in giving any other ships the encounter fair inferiour +unto the English and Dutch ships, which can with great dexteritie wield +and turne themselves at all assayes. The upper worke of the said galeons +was of thicknesse and strength sufficient to beare off musket-shot. The +lower worke and the timbers thereof were out of measure strong, being +framed of plankes and ribs foure or five foote in thicknesse, insomuch +that no bullets could pierce them but such as were discharged hard at +hand, which afterward prooved true, for a great number of bullets were +founde to sticke fast within the massie substance of those thicke +plankes. Great and well-pitched cables were twined about the masts of +their shippes, to strengthen them against the battery of shot. + +"The galliasses were of such bignesse that they contained within them +chambers, chapels, turrets, pulpits, and other commodities of great +houses. The galliasses were rowed with great oares, there being in eche +one of them 300 slaves for the same purpose, and were able to do great +service with the force of their ordinance. All these, together with the +residue aforenamed, were furnished and beautified with trumpets, +streamers, banners, warlike ensignes, and other such like ornaments. + +"Their pieces of brazen ordinance were 1600, and of yron a 1000. + +"The bullets thereto belonging were 120,000. + +"Item of gun-poulder, 5600 quintals; of matche, 1200 quintals; of +muskets and kaleivers, 7000; of haleberts and partisans, 10,000. + +"Moreover, they had great stores of canons, double-canons, culverings +and field-pieces for land services. + +"Likewise they were provided of all instruments necessary on land to +conveigh and transport their furniture from place to place, as namely of +carts, wheeles, wagons, etc. Also they had spades, mattocks, and baskets +to set pioners on worke. They had in like sort great store of mules and +horses, and whatsoever else was requisite for a land armie. They were so +well stored of biscuit, that for the space of halfe a yeere they might +allow eche person in the whole fleete halfe a quintall every moneth, +whereof the whole summe amounteth unto an hundreth thousand quintals. + +"Likewise of wine they had 147,000 pipes, sufficient also for halfe a +yeere's expedition. Of bacon, 6500 quintals. Of cheese, 3000 quintals. +Besides fish, rise, beanes, pease, oile, vinegar, etc. + +"Moreover, they had 12,000 pipes of fresh water, and all other necessary +provision, as namely candles, lanternes, lampes, sailes, hempe, oxe-hides, +and lead to stop holes that should be made with the battery of gunshot. +To be short, they brought all things expedient, either for a fleete by +sea, or for an armie by land. + +"This navie--as Diego Pimentelli afterward confessed--was esteemed by +the King himselfe to containe 32,000 persons, and to cost him every day +30,000 ducates. + +"There were in the said navie five terzaes of Spaniards--which terzaes +the Frenchmen call regiments--under the command of five governours, +termed by the Spaniards masters of the field, and among the rest there +were many olde and expert souldiers chosen out of the garisons of +Sicilie, Naples, and Terçera. Their captaines or colonels were Diego +Pimentelli, Don Francisco de Toledo, Don Alonço de Luçon, Don Nicolas de +Isla, Don Augustin de Mexia, who had eche of them thirty-two companies +under their conduct. Besides the which companies, there were many bands +also of Castilians and Portugals, every one of which had their peculiar +governours, captaines, officers, colors, and weapons." + +While this huge armament was making ready in the southern ports of the +Spanish dominions, the Duke of Parma, with almost incredible toil and +skill, collected a squadron of war-ships at Dunkirk, and a large +flotilla of other ships and of flat-bottomed boats for the transport to +England of the picked troops which were designed to be the main +instruments in subduing England. The design of the Spaniards was that +the armada should give them, at least for a time, the command of the +sea, and that it should join the squadron that Parma had collected off +Calais. Then, escorted by an overpowering naval force, Parma and his +army were to embark in their flotilla, and cross the sea to England, +where they were to be landed, together with the troops which the armada +brought from the ports of Spain. + +The scheme was not dissimilar to one formed against England a little +more than two centuries afterward. As Napoleon, in 1805, waited with his +army and flotilla at Boulogne, looking for Villeneuve to drive away the +English cruisers and secure him a passage across the Channel, so Parma, +in 1588, waited for Medina Sidonia to drive away the Dutch and English +squadrons that watched his flotilla, and to enable his veterans to cross +the sea to the land that they were to conquer. Thanks to Providence, in +each case England's enemy waited in vain! + +Although the numbers of sail which the Queen's government and the +patriotic zeal of volunteers had collected for the defence of England +exceeded the number of sail in the Spanish fleet, the English ships +were, collectively, far inferior in size to their adversaries', their +aggregate tonnage being less by half than that of the enemy. In the +number of guns and weight of metal the disproportion was still greater. +The English admiral was also obliged to subdivide his force; and Lord +Henry Seymour, with forty of the best Dutch and English ships, was +employed in blockading the hostile ports in Flanders, and in preventing +the Duke of Parma from coming out of Dunkirk. + +The Invincible Armada, as the Spaniards in the pride of their hearts +named it, set sail from the Tagus on May 29th, but near Corunna met with +a tempest that drove it into port with severe loss. It was the report of +the damage done to the enemy by this storm which had caused the English +Court to suppose that there would be no invasion that year. But, as +already mentioned, the English admiral had sailed to Corunna, and +learned the real state of the case, whence he had returned with his +ships to Plymouth. + +The armada sailed again from Corunna on July 12th. The orders of King +Philip to the Duke of Medina Sidonia were that he should, on entering +the Channel, keep near the French coast, and, if attacked by the English +ships, avoid an action and steer on to Calais roads, where the Prince of +Parma's squadron was to join him. The hope of surprising and destroying +the English fleet in Plymouth led the Spanish admiral to deviate from +these orders and to stand across to the English shore; but, on finding +that Lord Howard was coming out to meet him, he resumed the original +plan, and determined to bend his way steadily toward Calais and Dunkirk, +and to keep merely on the defensive against such squadrons of the +English as might come up with him. + +It was on Saturday, July 20th, that Lord Effingham came in sight of his +formidable adversaries. The armada was drawn up in form of a crescent, +which from horn to horn measured some seven miles. There was a southwest +wind, and before it the vast vessels sailed slowly on. The English let +them pass by, and then, following in the rear, commenced an attack on +them. A running fight now took place, in which some of the best ships of +the Spaniards were captured; many more received heavy damage, while the +English vessels, which took care not to close with their huge antagonists, +but availed themselves of their superior celerity in tacking and +manoeuvring, suffered little comparative loss. + +Each day added not only to the spirit, but to the number, of Effingham's +force. Raleigh, Oxford, Cumberland, and Sheffield joined him; and "the +gentlemen of England hired ships from all parts at their own charge, and +with one accord came flocking thither as to a set field where glory was +to be attained and faithful service performed unto their Prince and +their country." + +Raleigh justly praises the English admiral for his skilful tactics: +"Certainly he that will happily perform a fight at sea must be skilful +in making choice of vessels to fight in: he must believe that there is +more belonging to a good man of war upon the waters than great daring, +and must know that there is a great deal of difference between fighting +loose or at large and grappling. The guns of a slow ship pierce as well +and make as great holes as those in a swift. To clap ships together, +without consideration, belongs rather to a madman than to a man of war; +for by such an ignorant bravery was Peter Strossie lost at the Azores +when he fought against the Marquis of Santa Cruza. + +"In like sort had the Lord Charles Howard, admiral of England, been lost +in the year 1588, if he had not been better advised than a great many +malignant fools were that found fault with his demeanor. The Spaniards +had an army aboard them, and he had none; they had more ships than he +had, and of higher building and charging; so that, had he entangled +himself with those great and powerful vessels, he had greatly endangered +this kingdom of England; for twenty men upon the defences are equal to a +hundred that board and enter; whereas, then, contrariwise, the Spaniards +had a hundred for twenty of ours, to defend themselves withal. But our +admiral knew his advantage, and held it; which had he not done, he had +not been worthy to have held his head up." + +The Spanish admiral also showed great judgment and firmness in following +the line of conduct that had been traced out for him; and on July 27th +he brought his fleet unbroken, though sorely distressed, to anchor in +Calais roads. But the King of Spain had calculated ill the number and +the activity of the English and Dutch fleets. As the old historian +expresses it: "It seemeth that the Duke of Parma and the Spaniards +grounded upon a vain and presumptuous expectation that all the ships of +England and of the Low Countreys would at the first sight of the Spanish +and Dunkerk navie have betaken themselves to flight, yeelding them +sea-room, and endeavoring only to defend themselues, their havens, and +sea-coasts from invasion. + +"Wherefore their intent and purpose was, that the Duke of Parma, in his +small and flat-bottomed ships, should, as it were under the shadow and +wings of the Spanish fleet, convey ouer all his troupes, armor, and +war-like provisions, and with their forces so united, should invade +England; or while the English fleet were busied in fight against the +Spanish, should enter upon any part of the coast, which he thought to +be most convenient. Which invasion--as the captives afterward +confessed--the Duke of Parma thought first to have attempted by the +river of Thames; upon the bankes whereof having at the first arrivall +landed twenty or thirty thousand of his principall souldiers, he +supposed that he might easily have wonne the citie of London; both +because his small shippes should have followed and assisted his land +forces and also for that the citie it-selfe was but meanely fortified +and easie to ouercome, by reason of the citizens' delicacie and +discontinuance from the warres, who, with continuall and constant labor, +might be vanquished, if they yielded not at the first assault."[4] + + [4] Hakluyt: _Voyages_. + +But the English and Dutch found ships and mariners enough to keep the +armada itself in check, and at the same time to block up Parma's +flotilla. The greater part of Seymour's squadron left its cruising-ground +off Dunkirk to join the English admiral off Calais; but the Dutch manned +about five-and-thirty sail of good ships, with a strong force of soldiers +on board, all well seasoned to the sea-service, and with these they +blockaded the Flemish ports that were in Parma's power. Still it was +resolved by the Spanish admiral and the Prince to endeavor to effect a +junction, which the English seamen were equally resolute to prevent; and +bolder measures on our side now became necessary. + +The armada lay off Calais, with its largest ships ranged outside, "like +strong castles fearing no assault, the lesser placed in the middle ward." +The English admiral could not attack them in their position without +great disadvantage, but on the night of the 29th he sent eight fire-ships +among them, with almost equal effect to that of the fire-ships which the +Greeks so often employed against the Turkish fleets in their war of +independence. + +The Spaniards cut their cables and put to sea in confusion. One of the +largest galeases ran foul of another vessel and was stranded. The rest +of the fleet was scattered about on the Flemish coast, and when the +morning broke it was with difficulty and delay that they obeyed their +admiral's signal to range themselves round him near Gravelines. Now was +the golden opportunity for the English to assail them, and prevent them +from ever letting loose Palma's flotilla against England, and nobly was +that opportunity used. + +Drake and Fenner were the first English captains who attacked the +unwieldy leviathans; then came Fenton, Southwell, Burton, Cross, Raynor, +and then the lord admiral, with Lord Thomas Howard and Lord Sheffield. +The Spaniards only thought of forming and keeping close together, and +were driven by the English past Dunkirk, and far away from the Prince of +Parma, who, in watching their defeat from the coast, must, as Drake +expressed it, have chafed like a bear robbed of her whelps. This was +indeed the last and the decisive battle between the two fleets. It is, +perhaps, best described in the very words of the contemporary writer, as +we may read them in Hakluyt: + +"Upon the 29 of July in the morning, the Spanish fleet after the forsayd +tumult, having arranged themselues againe into order, were, within sight +of Greveling, most bravely and furiously encountered by the English, +where they once again got the wind of the Spaniards, who suffered +themselues to be deprived of the commodity of the place in Caleis road, +and of the advantage of the wind neer unto Dunkerk, rather than they +would change their array or separate their forces now conjoyned and +united together, standing only upon their defence. + +"And albeit there were many excellent and warlike ships in the English +fleet, yet scarce were there 22 or 23 among them all, which matched 90 +of the Spanish ships in the bigness, or could conveniently assault them. +Wherefore the English shippes using their prerogative of nimble +steerage, whereby they could turn and wield themselues with the wind +which way they listed, came often times very near upon the Spaniards, +and charged them so sore that now and then they were but a pike's length +asunder; and so continually giving them one broad side after another, +they discharged all their shot, both great and small, upon them, +spending one whole day, from morning till night, in that violent kind of +conflict, untill such time as powder and bullets failed them. + +"In regard of which want they thought it convenient not to pursue the +Spaniards any longer, because they had many great advantages of the +English, namely, for the extraordinary bigness of their shippes, and +also for that they were so neerely conjoyned, and kept together in so +good array, that they could by no meanes be fought withall one to one. +The English thought, therefore, that they had right well acquitted +themselues in chasing the Spaniards first from Caleis, and then from +Dunkerk, and by that means to have hindered them from joyning with the +Duke of Parma his forces, and getting the wind of them, to have driven +them from their own coasts. + +"The Spaniards that day sustained great loss and damage, having many of +their shippes shot thorow and thorow, and they discharged likewise great +store of ordinance against the English, who, indeed, sustained some +hinderance, but not comparable to the Spaniards' loss; for they lost not +any one ship or person of account; for very diligent inquisition being +made, the Englishmen all the time wherein the Spanish navy sayled upon +their seas, are not found to haue wanted aboue one hundred of their +people; albeit Sir Francis Drake's ship was pierced with shot aboue +forty times, and his very cabben was twice shot thorow, and about the +conclusion of the fight, the bed of a certaine gentleman lying weary +thereupon, was taken quite from under him with the force of a bullet. + +"Likewise, as the Earle of Northumberland and Sir Charles Blunt were at +dinner upon a time, the bullet of a demy-culvering brake thorow the +middest of their cabben, touched their feet, and strooke downe two of +the standers-by. With many such accidents befalling the English shippes, +which it were tedious to rehearse." + +It reflects little credit on the English government that the English +fleet was so deficiently supplied with ammunition as to be unable to +complete the destruction of the invaders. But enough was done to insure +it. Many of the largest Spanish ships were sunk or captured in the +action of this day. And at length the Spanish admiral, despairing of +success, fled northward with a southerly wind, in the hope of rounding +Scotland, and so returning to Spain without a further encounter with the +English fleet. + +Lord Effingham left a squadron to continue the blockade of the Prince of +Parma's armament; but that wise general soon withdrew his troops to more +promising fields of action. Meanwhile the lord admiral himself, and +Drake, chased the "vincible" armada, as it was now termed, for some +distance northward; and then, when they seemed to bend away from the +Scotch coast toward Norway, it was thought best, in the words of Drake, +"to leave them to those boisterous and uncouth northern seas." + +The sufferings and losses which the unhappy Spaniards sustained in their +flight round Scotland and Ireland are well known. Of their whole armada +only fifty-three shattered vessels brought back their beaten and wasted +crews to the Spanish coast, which they had quitted in such pageantry and +pride. + +Some passages from the writings of those who took part in the struggle +have been already quoted, and the most spirited description of the +defeat of the armada which ever was penned may perhaps be taken from the +letter which our brave vice-admiral Drake wrote in answer to some +mendacious stories by which the Spaniards strove to hide their shame. +Thus does he describe the scenes in which he played so important a +part:[5] + +"They were not ashamed to publish, in sundry languages in print, great +victories in words, which they pretended to have obtained against this +realm, and spread the same in a most false sort over all parts of +France, Italy, and elsewhere; when, shortly afterward, it was happily +manifested in very deed to all nations, how their navy, which they +termed invincible, consisting of one hundred forty sail of ships, not +only of their own kingdom, but strengthened with the greatest argosies, +Portugal carracks, Florentines, and large hulks of other countries, were +by thirty of her majesty's own ships of war, and a few of our own +merchants, by the wise, valiant, and advantageous conduct of the Lord +Charles Howard, high admiral of England, beaten and shuffled together +even from the Lizard in Cornwall, first to Portland, when they +shamefully left Don Pedro de Valdez with his mighty ship; from Portland +to Calais, where they lost Hugh de Moncado, with the galleys of which he +was captain; and from Calais, driven with squibs from their anchors, +were chased out of the sight of England, round about Scotland and +Ireland; where, for the sympathy of their religion, hoping to find +succor and assistance, a great part of them were crushed against the +rocks, and those others that landed, being very many in number, were, +notwithstanding, broken, slain, and taken, and so sent from village to +village, coupled in halters to be shipped into England, where her +majesty, of her princely and invincible disposition, disdaining to put +them to death, and scorning either to retain or to entertain them, they +were all sent back again to their countries, to witness and recount the +worthy achievements of their invincible and dreadful navy. Of which the +number of soldiers, the fearful burden of their ships, the commanders' +names of every squadron, with all others, their magazines of provision, +were put in print, as an army and navy irresistible and disdaining +prevention; with all which their great and terrible ostentation, they +did not in all their sailing round about England so much as sink or take +one ship, barque, pinnace, or cock-boat of ours, or even burn so much as +one sheep-cote on this land." + + [5] Strype, and the notes to the Life of Drake, in the _Biographia + Britannica_. + + + + + HENRY OF NAVARRE ACCEPTS CATHOLICISM + + HE IS ACKNOWLEDGED KING OF FRANCE + + A.D. 1593 + + MAXIMILIEN DE BÉTHUNE, DUC DE SULLY + + + Few periods in French history are of greater interest and importance + than that of which Sully treats in the following pages. Henry of + Navarre is regarded by the French people as the most brilliant of + all their kings in personal qualities and achievements; and his + great accomplishment of ending the terrible religious wars of his + country is one of the most conspicuous of the happier results in + modern annals. Sully, whose account of these matters stands alone + among those of contemporary narrators, was the friend and companion + of Henry of Navarre, with whom he served in the wars. He also became + famous as King Henry's minister of finance. + + After the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, the "Wars of the Huguenots" + in France continued with fury. In 1573, the year following the + massacre, by the Peace of La Rochelle Charles IX granted to the + Protestants partial toleration. By the Peace of Monsieur, in 1576, + Henry III granted them free exercise of their religion in all France + except Paris. Among French Roman Catholics this treaty caused deep + dissatisfaction, and in the same year they formed the Holy + League--also called the Catholic League--for the purpose of wiping + out the Huguenot party and raising the Guises to the throne. The + League made an alliance with Philip II of Spain. + + Henry of Navarre, head of the Huguenot party after the death of + Condé in 1569, became heir-presumptive to the throne of France in + 1584. The Holy League, refusing to recognize his title, proclaimed + the cardinal Charles de Bourbon heir-presumptive. On the death of + Henry III, successor of Charles IX, in 1589, the League proclaimed + Bourbon as king, under the title of Charles X. In the following year + Henry of Navarre signally defeated the League at Ivry, but still the + war went on. Battles and sieges, widespread intrigues, and frequent + assassinations kept the kingdom in a condition of tumult and alarm. + Disputes between the contending parties proved futile, debates in + the States or legislative assembly of Paris availed nothing, and the + successive "treaties" of the long war period failed to bring lasting + peace. + + At length Henry decided to abjure the Protestant faith, and his + abjuration was followed by the surrender to him of the chief cities + of the kingdom (1593), including Paris. + + Still, although the King secured the general recognition of the + Roman Catholics, and was crowned, as Henry IV, in July, 1594, war + was continued by the League and its Spanish allies. In April, 1598, + Henry issued the famous Edict of Nantes, whereby Huguenots were + granted the political rights enjoyed by Catholics, and religious, + military, and judicial concessions were made to the Protestants. + This edict ended the long religious wars, and in May the Peace of + Vervins with Spain and the League was concluded. The central event + selected for this work is the securing by Henry of the sovereign + power, whereby the end of these prolonged troubles was finally + reached. + + +Alternate succession of war and debates lasted all the time that the +States of Paris continued to be held, and even till the day that the +King abjured the Protestant religion. His intention of changing his +religion now became daily more certain: many causes urged him to adopt +this resolution, the principal of which (not to mention his conscience, +of which he alone could be the true judge) were his grief for the +miseries to which the people would still be exposed; his dread of the +Catholics about his person; the powerful and subtle theological +arguments of M. du Perron, added to his sweet and agreeable +conversation; the artful connivance of some of the ministers and +Huguenots in the cabinet, who were willing to profit by the times at any +rate; the faithless ambition of many of the most powerful and +distinguished among the Protestants, at the mercy of whom he dreaded +falling, should the Catholics resolve to abandon him; the contempt which +he had conceived against some of the zealous Catholics (and particularly +M. d'O), on account of the insolent language they had used toward him; +his desire of getting rid of them, and of one day making them suffer for +their temerity; his dread lest the States, still sitting in Paris, might +elect the Cardinal of Bourbon king, and marry him to the Infanta of +Spain; finally, the fatigue and troubles he had endured from his youth, +the hope of enjoying a life of ease and tranquillity for the future, +added to the persuasions of some of his most faithful servants, among +whom may be also reckoned his mistress,[1] the one by tears and +supplications, the other by remonstrances: all these circumstances, I +say, fixed him in his resolution of embracing the Catholic religion. + + [1] The Marchioness de Monceaux, who, D'Aubigné says, acted this + part in the hope of becoming queen herself if Henry should be + declared king. + +While these things were under consideration a great number of the larger +towns, and Paris in particular, which were in the party of the League, +being no longer able to endure the inconveniences and privations which +the confusion of the times had occasioned--all commerce, internal as +well as external, being at a stand, on account of the prohibitions +against trading with the places in the King's interest--disturbances +broke out among the people, who at last compelled their leaders to send +a deputation to the King to request liberty to trade: M. de Belin was +accordingly appointed for this purpose, and came to the King when he was +either at Mantes or Vernon; but, notwithstanding all his arguments, the +whole council opposed his request. There was not a Protestant there who +appeared willing that he should grant it; and, what is still more +surprising, it met with equal opposition from the Catholics, without +their being able to assign a lawful, or even a plausible, reason for +such a conduct. + +All these persons were perplexed in their debates, and perceived plainly +that their opinion would signify nothing, yet could not prevail upon +themselves to alter it. The King looking at me that moment, "Monsieur de +Rosny," said he, "what makes you so thoughtful? Will not you speak your +mind absolutely any more than the others?" I then began, and was not +afraid to declare myself against all those who had voted, by maintaining +that it was necessary not to hesitate a moment, but to endeavor to gain +the affections of the people by kind treatment, as experience had proved +that harsh measures were productive of no good consequences whatever. I +therefore advised the King to grant them not only the liberty of trade, +which they requested, but also a general truce, if, as the Count de +Belin seemed to hint, they should desire it. To these I added many other +reasons; but they only excited against me the hatred or contempt of most +of the council, to whose decision the King was obliged to yield, and the +Count de Belin returned without being able to gain anything. + +Henry, reflecting upon this refusal and judging that there wanted but +little more of the same nature to alienate the people's affections from +him without a possibility of regaining them, and to induce them to go +over to the party of his enemies, he resolved to defer his abjuration no +longer. He was now convinced that there was no probability of his subduing +the reluctance of several of the Protestants, or of ever obtaining their +free consent to this proceeding;[2] but that it was necessary to act +independently of them, and hazard some murmurs, which would end in +nothing. As for the Catholics of his party, the King endeavored only to +remove their fears that, looking upon them as persons of whom he was +already secure, he would apply himself wholly to gaining the rest by +bestowing all rewards upon them. He therefore at last declared publicly +that on July 20, 1593, he would perform his abjuration, and named the +Church of St. Denis for this ceremony. + + [2] Henry IV was always sensible that his abjuration would expose + him to great dangers, which made him write in this manner to + Mademoiselle d'Estrées: "On Sunday I shall take a dangerous leap. + While I am writing to you I have a hundred troublesome people + about me, which makes me detest St. Denis as much as you do + Mantes," etc. + +This declaration threw the League into confusion, and filled the hearts +of the people and the Catholics of the royal party with joy. The +Protestants, although they had expected it, discovered their discontent +by signs and low murmurs, and did, for form's sake, all that such a +juncture required of them, but they did not go beyond the bounds of +obedience. All the ecclesiastics, with Du Perron, intoxicated with his +triumph, at their head, flocked together; everyone was desirous of a +share in this work. Du Perron, for whom I had obtained the bishopric of +Evreux, thought he could not show his gratitude for it in a better manner +than by exercising his functions of converter upon me. He accosted me +with the air of a conqueror, and proposed to me to be present at a +ceremony where he flattered himself he should shine with such powers of +reasoning as would dissipate the profoundest darkness. "Sir," I replied, +"all I have to do by being present at your disputes is to examine which +side produces the strongest and most effectual arguments. The state of +affairs, your number and your riches, require that yours should prevail." +In effect they did. There was a numerous court at St. Denis, and all was +conducted with great pomp and splendor. I may be excused from dwelling +upon the description of this ceremony here, since the Catholic historians +have been so prolix upon the subject. + +I did not imagine I could be of any use at this time, therefore kept +myself retired, as one who had no interest in the show that was +preparing, when I was visited by Du Perron, whom the Cardinal of Bourbon +had sent to me to decide a dispute that had arisen on occasion of the +terms in which the King's profession of faith should be conceived. The +Catholic priests and doctors loaded it with all the trifles their heads +were filled with, and were going to make it ridiculous, instead of a +grave and solemn composition. The Protestant ministers, and the King +himself, disapproved of the puerilities and trifles with which they had +stuffed this instrument; and it occasioned debates which had like to have +thrown everything again into confusion. I went immediately with Du Perron +to the Cardinal of Bourbon, with whom it was agreed that those articles +of faith which were disputed by the two churches should be admitted, but +that all the rest should be suppressed as useless. The parties approved +of this regulation; and the instrument was drawn up in such a manner that +the King there acknowledged all the Roman tenets upon the Holy Scripture: +the Church, the number and ceremonies of the sacraments, the sacrifices +of the mass, transubstantiation, the doctrine of justification, the +invocation of saints, the worship of relics and images, purgatory, +indulgences, and the supremacy and power of the pope,[3] after which the +satisfaction was general.[4] + + [3] Another act of equal validity, by which Henry IV acknowledged + the pope's authority, is the declaration which he made after his + conversion, that it was necessity and the confusion of affairs + which obliged him to receive absolution from the prelates of France + rather than from those of the Holy Father. + + [4] It was Renauld, or Beaune de Samblançai, Archbishop of Bourges, + who received the King's abjuration; the Cardinal of Bourbon, who + was not a priest, and nine other bishops assisted at the ceremony. + Henry IV entering the Chapel of St. Denis, the Archbishop said to + him, "Who are you?" Henry replied, "I am the King." "What is your + request?" said the Archbishop. "To be received," said the King, + "into the pale of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church." "Do + you desire it?" added the prelate. "Yes, I do desire it," replied + the King. Then, kneeling, he said: "I protest and swear, in the + presence of Almighty God, to live and die in the Catholic, + Apostolic, and Roman religion; to protect and defend it against all + its enemies, at the hazard of my blood and life, renouncing all + heresies contrary to this Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church." + He afterward put this same confession in writing into the hands of + the Archbishop, who presented him his ring to kiss, giving him + absolution with a loud voice, during which _Te Deum_ was sung, + etc. + +The ceremony of the King's abjuration was followed by a deputation of the +Duke of Nevers to Rome, who, together with the Cardinal de Gondy and the +Marquis de Pisany, was to offer the Pope the submission usual in such +cases. Although this change was a mortal blow for the League, yet the +Spaniards and the Duke of Mayenne still held out; they endeavored to +persuade their partisans that there still remained resources capable of +making it ineffectual; but they spoke at that time contrary to their own +opinion, and this feigned confidence was only designed to obtain greater +advantages from the King before he was securely fixed on the throne. + +This is not a mere conjecture, at least with regard to the King of Spain, +since it is certain that he ordered Taxis and Stuniga to offer the King +forces sufficient to reduce all the chiefs of the League and the +Protestant party, without annexing any other condition to this offer than +a strict alliance between the two crowns, and an agreement that the King +should give no assistance to the rebels in the Low Countries. Philip II +judged of Henry by himself, and considered his conversion only as the +principle of a new political system, which made it necessary for him to +break through his former engagements. It may not, perhaps, be useless to +mention here an observation I have made on the conduct of Spain, which +is, that although before and after the death of Catherine de' Medicis she +had put a thousand different springs in motion, changed parties and +interests as she thought most expedient to draw advantages from the +divisions that shook this kingdom, yet the Protestant party was the only +one to which she never made any application: she had often publicly +protested that she never had the least intention to gain or suffer their +alliance. + +It is by an effect of this very antipathy that the Spaniards have +constantly refused the Reformed religion admission into their states--an +antipathy which cannot be attributed to anything but the republican +principles the Protestants are accused of having imbibed. The King being +fully convinced that, to stifle the seeds of schism in his kingdom, it +was necessary to give none of the different factions occasion to boast +that his power was at their disposal, and that to reduce all parties he +must be partial to none, he therefore steadily rejected these offers from +Spain, and those which the Duke of Mayenne made him to the same purpose, +but at that very time appeared willing to treat with any of the chiefs or +cities of the League which would surrender, and to reward them in +proportion to their readiness and services; and it was this prudent +medium that he was resolved to persist in. + +Although he now professed the same religion as the League, yet his +aversion to the spirit which actuated that party, and to the maxims by +which they were governed, was not lessened; the very name only of the +League was sufficient to kindle his anger. The Catholic Leaguers, +supposing that his abjuration authorized them to abolish in those cities +which depended upon them the edicts that were favorable to the Huguenots, +the King caused them to be restored; and though in some places the +Leaguers had obtained the consent even of the Huguenots +themselves--determined to purchase peace at any price--for this purpose, +yet, the Protestant party murmuring at it, Henry cancelled all that had +been done to that effect,[5] and showed that it was his design to keep +the balance even. + + [5] The King, on the 12th of December this year, held an assembly + of the Protestants at Mantes, in which he publicly declared that + his changing his religion should make no alteration in the affairs + of the Protestants. And, the Calvinists having asked many things of + him, he told them he could not comply with their requests, but that + he would tolerate them. + +The Duke of Mayenne, finding that in this last scheme, which he had +believed infallible, he was disappointed as well as in the rest, placed +all his future dependence upon his old friends the Parisians, and +neglected no method by which he might awaken their mutinous disposition; +but so far was he from succeeding in this attempt that he could not +hinder them from discovering their joy at what had just passed at St. +Denis. They talked publicly of peace, and even in his presence; and he +had the mortification to hear a proposal to send deputies to the King to +demand a truce for six months, and they obliged him to give his consent +to it. The truce for three months, which had been granted them at Surêne, +had only inspired them with an inclination for a longer one. + +The King gave audience to the deputies in full council. The greatest +number of those who composed it, listening to nothing but their jealousy +of the Duke of Mayenne, whom they feared as a man that had the means in +his power of purchasing favor and rewards, were of the opinion that no +attention ought to be paid to this demand of the deputies, because the +person who sent them persisted in his revolt against the King, even after +his abjuration. Notwithstanding the justice of not confounding the Duke +of Mayenne with the Parisians, I saw this advice was likely to be +followed, and it certainly might have produced some very bad consequence. +I therefore insisted so strongly upon the advantage of letting the +people, already recovered from their first terrors, taste the sweets of a +peace which would interest them still more in the King's favor, that this +Prince declared he would grant the truce they demanded of him, but for +the months of August, September, and October only. + +The next day a prodigious concourse of the populace of Paris assembled at +St. Denis. The King showed himself to the people and assisted publicly at +mass; wherever he turned his steps the crowd was so great that it was +sometimes impossible to pierce through it, while every moment a million +of voices cried, "Long live the King!" Everyone returned, charmed with +the gracefulness of his person, his condescension, and that engaging +manner which was natural to him. "God bless him!" said they, with tears +in their eyes, "and grant that he may soon do the same in our Church of +Notre Dame in Paris." I observed to the King this disposition of the +people with regard to him; tender and sensible as he was, he could not +behold this spectacle without strong emotions. + +Some months later, while on a mission for the King, I received from his +majesty a letter, which concluded with these words: "Come to me at Senlis +on the 20th of March, or at St. Denis on the 21st, that you may help to +cry, 'Long live the King!' in Paris, and afterward we will do the same at +Rouen." + +It was upon some correspondence the King carried on in Paris that he +founded his hopes of being soon admitted there, and he was on his way +thither from St. Denis when I joined him. His party in that city was so +firmly united, and so many persons of equal courage and fidelity had +joined it, that it was almost impossible but that it should succeed. Ever +since the battle of Arques, when the Count of Belin was taken prisoner by +the King's forces, and had an opportunity of discovering the great +qualities of Henry contrasted with the weakness of his enemies, the Duke +of Mayenne perceived the inclinations of the count to lean secretly +toward the King. Full of this suspicion, he did not hesitate a moment +about depriving him of the government of so considerable a city as Paris, +and, seeking for a man whose fidelity to himself and the League could be +depended upon, to whom he might intrust the care of this great city at a +time when the necessity of his affairs obliged him to repair to the +frontier of Picardy, he fixed upon Brissac and made him governor. + +Brissac, at first, answered his purposes perfectly well. The study of +Roman history had inspired this officer, who valued himself greatly upon +his penetration and judgment, with a very singular project, which was to +form France into a republic upon the model of ancient Rome, and make +Paris the capital of this new state. Had Brissac descended ever so little +from these lofty ideas to an attention to particular applications, which +in the greatest designs it is necessary to have some regard to, he would +have perceived that there are circumstances under which a scheme, however +happily imagined, may, by the nature of the obstacles which oppose it, by +the difference of the genius and character of the people, by the force of +those laws they have adopted, and by long custom, which, as it were, +stamps a seal upon them, become alike chimerical and impracticable. Time +only and long experience can bring remedies to defects in the customs of +a state whose form is already determined; and this ought always to be +attempted with a view to the plan of its original constitution: this is +so certain that, whenever we see a state conducted by measures contrary +to those made use of in its foundation, we may be assured a great +revolution is at hand; nor does the application of the best remedies +operate upon diseases that resist their force. + +Brissac did not go so far; he could not for a long time comprehend from +whence the general opposition his designs met with proceeded, for he had +explained himself freely to the nobles and all the chief partisans of the +League; at last he began to be apprehensive for his own safety lest, +while, without any assistance, he was laboring to bring his project to +perfection, the King should destroy it entirely by seizing his capital. +Possessed with this fear, the Roman ideas quickly gave place to the +French spirit of those times, which was to be solicitous only for his +own advantage. When self-interested motives are strengthened by the +apprehension of any danger, there are few persons who will not be induced +by them to betray even their best friend. Thus Brissac acted: he entered +into the Count of Belin's resolutions, though from a motive far less +noble and generous, and thought of nothing but of making the King +purchase at the highest price the treachery he meditated against the +Duke of Mayenne in his absence. St. Luc, his brother-in-law, undertook +to negotiate with the King in his name, and having procured very +advantageous conditions, Brissac agreed to admit Henry with his army into +Paris in spite of the Spaniards. The troops of the League were absolutely +at his disposal, and there was no reason to apprehend any opposition from +the people. + +D'O lost no time in making application for the government of Paris and +the Isle of France, and obtained his request; but now a conflict between +his interest and ambition so perplexed this superintendent that, +notwithstanding his new dignity, the reduction of Paris was among the +number of those things he most feared should happen: he would have had it +believed that the true motive of this fear was, lest the finances should +become a prey to the men of the sword and gown, by whom, he said, the +King, as soon as he was possessed of Paris, would be oppressed for the +payment of pensions, appointments, and rewards. But this discourse +deceived none but those who were ignorant of the advantage he found in +keeping the affairs of the finances in their present state of confusion, +and with what success he had hitherto labored for that purpose. + +The King, upon this occasion, put all the friends of the Count of Belin +in motion, on whom he had no less dependence than upon Brissac, and at +nine o'clock in the morning presented himself, at the head of eight +thousand men, before the Porte Neuve, where the Mayor of Paris and the +other magistrates received him in form. He went immediately and took +possession of the Louvre, the Palace, the Great and Little Châtelet, and, +finding no opposition anywhere, he proceeded even to the Church of Notre +Dame, which he entered to return thanks to God for his success. His +soldiers, on their part, fulfilled with such exactness the orders and +intentions of their master that no one throughout this great city +complained of having received any outrage from them. They took possession +of all the squares and crossways in the street, where they drew up in +order of battle. Everything was quiet, and from that day the shops were +opened with all the security which a long-continued peace could have +given. + +The Spaniards had now only the Bastille, the Temple, and the quarters of +St. Anthony and St. Martin in their possession; and there they fortified +themselves, being about four thousand in number, with the Duc de Feria +and Don Diego d'Evora at their head, all greatly astonished at such +unexpected news, and firmly resolved to defend themselves to the last +extremity, if any attempts were made to force them from those +advantageous posts. The King relieved them from their perplexity by +sending to tell them that they might leave Paris and retreat in full +security. He treated the Cardinals of Placentia and Pelleve with the same +gentleness, notwithstanding the resentment he still retained for their +conduct with regard to him. Soissons was the place whither these enemies +of the King retired,[6] protected by a strong escort. His majesty then +published a general pardon for all the French who had borne arms against +him. When this sacrifice is not extorted by necessity, but, on the +contrary, made at a time when vengeance has full liberty to satiate +itself, it is not one of the least marks of a truly royal disposition. + + [6]The King had a mind to see them march out, and viewed them from + a window over St. Denis' gate. They all saluted him with their + hats off, bowing profoundly low. The King, with great politeness, + returned the salute to the principal officers, adding these words: + "Remember me to your master; go, I permit you, but return no + more." This anecdote agrees with that in the _Memoirs for the + History of France_, but is contradicted by the _Journal_ written + by the same author. + + + + + CULMINATION OF DRAMATIC LITERATURE IN "HAMLET" + + A.D. 1601 + + JAMES O. HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS + + + The tragedy of _Hamlet_ is generally regarded by critics as + Shakespeare's masterpiece. Hence it is often referred to as the + highest literary product of human genius. In the following + discussion of the play, Mr. J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, the master + and dean of later Shakespearean scholars, gives 1601 as the probable + date of its first production. At that time Shakespeare was a London + actor, and leading shareholder in the Globe Theatre, where his play + was presumably produced. He had made his first big success some five + years before with _Romeo and Juliet_, and was, so far as we can + judge, on the high tide of financial prosperity. The profession of + an actor carried with it in those days much discredit, but in his + far-off home at Stratford, Shakespeare had in 1601 already begun to + seek the repute of a country gentleman, and had purchased the finest + house and estate in the little village. + + Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps' _Memoranda on Hamlet_ were never thrown + into final shape by the author. Therefore the editors have taken + such slight liberties in rearranging the order of his text as were + necessary to make its discourse consecutive. + + +The tragedy of _Hamlet_ is unquestionably the highest effort of artistic +literary power yet given to the world. There is nothing to be found in +real competition with it excepting in the other works of Shakespeare, +but all are inferior to this great masterpiece. There is hardly a speech +in the whole play which may not fairly be made the subject of an +elaborate discourse, especially when viewed in connection with its +bearings, however occasionally remote, on the character of Hamlet, the +development of which appears to have been the chief object of the +author, not only in the management of the plot, but in the creation of +the other personages who are introduced. There is contemporary evidence +to this effect in the _Stationers' Register_ of 1602 in the title there +given--_The Revenge of Hamlet_. + +There was an old English tragedy on the subject of Hamlet which was in +existence at least as early as the year 1589, in the representation of +which an exclamation of the Ghost--"Hamlet, revenge!"--was a striking +and well-remembered feature. This production is alluded to in some +prefatory matter by Nash in the edition of Greene's _Menaphon_, issued +in that year, here given: "I'le turne backe to my first text, of studies +of delight, and talke a little in friendship with a few of our triuiall +translators. It is a common practise now a daies amongst a sort of +shifting companions that run through euery arte and thriue by none, to +leaue the trade of _Nouerint_ whereto they were borne, and busie +themselues with the indeuors of art, that could scarcelie latinize their +necke-verse if they should haue neede; yet English _Seneca_ read by +candle light yeeldes manie good sentences, as _Bloud is a beggar_, and +so foorth: and if you intreate him faire in a frostie morning, he will +afoord you whole _Hamlets_, I should say hand-fulls of tragical +speeches." + +Another allusion occurs in Lodge's _Wits' Miserie_, "and though this +fiend be begotten of his father's own blood, yet is he different from +his nature; and were he not sure that jealousie could not make him a +cuckold, he had long since published him for a bastard: you shall know +him by this, he is a foule lubber, his tongue tipt with lying, his heart +steeled against charity; he walks for the most part in black under color +of gravity, and looks as pale as the visard of the ghost which cried so +miserably at the theator like an oister-wife,' _Hamlet, revenge_'." +Again, in Decker's _Satiromastix_, 1602: "_Asini_. 'Wod I were hang'd, +if I can call you any names but Captaine and Tucca.' _Tuc._ 'No, fye'st, +my name's _Hamlet, revenge_. Thou hast been at Parris Garden, hast not?' +_Hor._ 'Yes, Captaine, I ha plaide Zulziman there'"; with which may be +compared another passage in _Westward Hoe_, 1607--"I, but when light +wives make heavy husbands, let these husbands play mad _Hamlet_ and +crie, _revenge_." So, likewise, in Rowland's _Night Raven_, 1620, a +scrivener, who has his cloak and hat stolen from him, exclaims, "I will +not cry, _Hamlet, revenge_ my greeves." There is also reason to suppose +that another passage in the old tragedy of _Hamlet_ is alluded to in +Armin's _Nest of Ninnies_, 1608: "There are, as Hamlet sayes, things +cald whips in store," a sentence which seems to have been well known and +popular, for it is partially cited in the _Spanish Tragedie_, 1592, and +in the _First Part of the Contention_, 1594. + +It seems, however, certain that all the passages above quoted refer to a +drama of Hamlet anterior to that by Shakespeare, and the same which is +recorded in Henslowe's _Diary_ as having been played at Newington in +1594 by "my Lord Admeralle and my lorde Chamberlen men, 9 of June, 1594, +receved at Hamlet, viii, 5," the small sum arising from the performance +showing most probably that the tragedy had then been long on the stage. +As Shakespeare was a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Company at that +time, it is certain that he must have been well acquainted with the older +play of _Hamlet_, one of a series of dramas on the then favorite theme +of revenge, aided by the supernatural intervention of a ghost. + +There are a few other early allusions to the first _Hamlet_ which appear +to deserve quotation. "His father's empire and government was but as the +_Poeticall Furie in a Stageaction_, compleat, yet with horrid and wofull +Tragedies: a first, but no second to any _Hamlet_; and that now +_Reuenge_, iust _Reuenge_ was coming with his Sworde drawne against him, +his royall Mother, and dearest Sister to fill up those Murdering +Sceanes."--Sir Thomas Smithe's _Voiage and Entertainment in Rushia_, +1605. "Sometimes would he overtake him and lay hands upon him like a +catch-pole, as if he had arrested him, but furious Hamlet woulde +presently eyther breake loose like a beare from the stake, or else so +set his pawes on this dog that thus bayted him that, with tugging and +tearing one another's frockes off, they both looked like mad Tom of +Bedlam."--Decker's _Dead Terme_, 1608. "If any passenger come by and, +wondering to see such a conjuring circle kept by hel-houndes, demaund +what spirits they raise there, one of the murderers steps to him, +poysons him with sweete wordes and shifts him off with this lye, that +one of the women is falne in labor: but if any mad Hamlet, hearing this, +smell villanie and rush in by violence to see what the tawny divels are +dooing, then they excuse the fact, lay the blame on those that are the +actors, and perhaps, if they see no remedie, deliver them to an officer +to be lead to punishment."--Decker's _Lanthorne and Candle-light, or the +Bellman's Second Nights-Walke_, 1609, a tract which was reprinted under +more than one different title. + +Mr. Collier, in his _Farther Particulars_, 1839, cites a very curious +passage--"a trout, Hamlet, with four legs"--which is given as a +proverbial line in Clarke's _Paroemiologia Anglo-Latina_ (or _Proverbs +English and Latin_), 1639. It is unnecessary to be too curious in +searching for the exact meaning of the phrase, but, as Dr. Ingleby +suggested to me, it is in all probability taken from the older play of +_Hamlet_, which does not appear to have been entirely superseded at once +by the new, or at least was long remembered by play-goers. + +The preceding notices may fairly authorize us to infer that the ancient +play of _Hamlet_--1. Was written by either an attorney or an attorney's +clerk, who had not received a university education; 2. Was full of +tragical, high-sounding speeches; 3. Contained the passage "There are +things called whips in store," spoken by Hamlet; 4. Included a very +telling brief speech by the Ghost in the two words "Hamlet, revenge!" 5. +Was acted at the theatre in Shoreditch and at the playhouse at Newington +Butts; 6. Had for its principal character a hero exhibiting more general +violence than can be attributed to Shakespeare's creation of Hamlet. + +As the older _Hamlet_ was performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Company in +the year 1594, it is possible that Shakespeare might then have undertaken +the part of the Ghost, a character he afterward assumed in his own +tragedy. There is a curious inedited notice of this personage in +Saltonstall's _Picturæ Loquentes_, 1635: "a chamberlaine is as nimble as +Hamlet's ghost, heere and everywhere, and when he has many guests, +stands most upon his pantofles, for hee's then a man of some calling." + +There are a number of critics, following the lead of Coleridge, who tells +us that Shakespeare's judgment is commensurate with his genius; but they +speak of the former generally as if it were always unfettered, and +neglect to add that it was continually influenced by the conditions under +which he wrote, and that it was often his task to discover a route to a +successful result through the tortuous angularities of a preconceived +foreground. There is every reason to believe that this was the case with +the tragedy of _Hamlet_ and, if so, it is certain that no genius but +that of Shakespeare could have moulded the inartistic materials of a +rude original into that harmonious composition, which, although it has +certainly been tampered with by the players, and is therefore not the +perfect issue of his free inspiration, is the noblest drama the world is +ever likely to possess. + +It must be recollected that in 1602 Shakespeare was in the zenith of his +dramatic power. His tragedy of _Hamlet_ was produced on the stage either +in 1601 or 1602, as appears from the entry of it on the books of the +Stationers' Company on July 26, 1602: "James Robertes--Entered for his +copie under the handes of Mr. Pasfeild and Mr. Waterson, warden, a booke +called the _Revenge of Hamlett, Prince (of) Denmarke_, as yet was +_latelie acted_ by the Lo: Chamberleyne his servantes." + +No copy of this date is known to exist, but a surreptitious and imperfect +transcript of portions of the tragedy appeared in the following year +under the title of "_The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of +Denmarke_. By William Shakespeare. As it hath been diuerse times acted +by his Highnesse seruants in the Cittie of London: as also in the two +Vniuersities of Cambridge and Oxford, and elsewhere. At London, printed +for N. L. and Iohn Trundell, 1603." In the next year, 1604, N. L., who +was Nicholas Ling, obtained by some means a playhouse copy of the +tragedy, not a copy in the state in which it left the hands of the +author, but representing in the main the genuine words of Shakespeare. It +was published under the following title: "_The Tragicall Historie of +Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke_. By William Shakespeare. Newly imprinted and +enlarged to almost as much againe as it was, according to the true and +perfect coppie. At London, Printed by I. R. for N. L., and are to be sold +at his shoppe under Saint Dunston's Church in Fleetstreet, 1604." This +impression was reissued in the following year, the title-page and a few +leaves at the end, sigs. N. and O., being fresh-printed, the sole +alteration in the former being the substitution of 1605 for 1604. + +_Hamlet_ is not mentioned by Meres in 1598, and it could not have been +written before 1599, in which year the Globe was erected, there being a +clear allusion to that theatre in act ii, sc. 2. The tragedy continued to +be acted after Shakespeare's company commenced playing at the Blackfriars +Theatre, it being alluded to in a manuscript list, written in 1660, +of "some of the most ancient plays that were played at Blackfriars." +According to Downes, Sir William Davenant, "having seen Mr. Taylor of the +Black-Fryars Company act it, who, being instructed by the author, Mr. +Shaksepeur, taught Mr. Betterton in every particle of it."--_Roscius +Anglicanus_, 1708. Roberts, in his answer to Mr. Pope's _Preface on +Shakespeare_, 1729, thinks that Lowin was the original Hamlet. + +The date of 1601 for the production of _Hamlet_ appears to suit the +internal evidence very well. That evidence decidedly leads to the +conclusion that it could not have been written long before that time, +and, without placing too much reliance on the general opinion that +Shakespeare entirely laid aside his earlier style of composition at some +particular era, that year is probably about the latest in which he would +have written in the strain of the following lines, which, taken by +themselves, might be assigned to the period of the _Two Gentlemen of +Verona_: + + "Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister; + And keep you in the rear of your affection + Out of the shot and danger of desire. + The dearest maid is prodigal enough + If she unmask her beauty to the moon: + Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes: + The canker galls the infants of the spring, + Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd; + And in the morn and liquid dew of youth + Contagious blastments are most imminent. + Be wary, then; best safety lies in fear; + Youth to itself rebels, though none else near." + +Were it not that the elder play of _Hamlet_ did not belong to Shakespeare's +company, these lines might lead to the conjecture that he had made some +additions to it long before he wrote his own complete tragedy. + +There was once in existence a copy of Speght's edition of Chaucer, 1598, +with manuscript notes by Gabriel Harvey, one of those notes being in the +following terms: "The younger sort take much delight in Shakespeare's +_Venus and Adonis_, but his _Lucrece_ and his tragedy of _Hamlet, Prince +of Denmarke_, have it in them to please the wiser sort." This note was +first printed in 1766 by Steevens, who gives the year 1598 as the date of +its insertion in the volume, but, observed Dr. Ingleby, "we are unable to +verify Steevens' note or collate his copy, for the book which contained +Harvey's note passed into the collection of Bishop Percy, and his library +was burned in the fire at Northumberland House." Under these +circumstances one can only add the opinions of those who have had the +opportunity of inspecting the volume. Firstly, from the letter of Percy +to Malone, 1803: "In the passage which extols Shakespeare's tragedy, +Spenser is quoted by name among our flourishing metricians. Now this +edition of Chaucer was published in 1598, and Spenser's death is +ascertained to have been in January, 1598-1599, so that these passages +were all written in 1598, and prove that _Hamlet_ was written before that +year, as you have fixed it." Secondly, from a letter from Malone to +Percy, written also in 1803, in which he gives reasons for controverting +this opinion: "When I was in Dublin I remember you thought that, though +Harvey had written 1598 in his book, it did not follow from thence that +his remarks were then written; whilst, on the other hand, I contended +that, from the mention of Spenser, they should seem to have been written +in that year; so that, like the two Reynoldses, we have changed sides and +each converted the other; for I have now no doubt that these observations +were written in a subsequent year. The words that deceive are 'our now +flourishing metricians,' by which Harvey does not mean 'now living,' but +now admired or in vogue; and what proves this is that in his catalogue he +mixes the living and the dead, for Thomas Watson was dead before 1593. +With respect to Axio Philus, I think you will agree with me hereafter +that not Spenser, but another person, was meant. Having more than once +named Spenser, there could surely be no occasion to use any mysterious +appellation with respect to that poet. My theory is that Harvey bought +the book in 1598 on its publication, and then sat down to read it, and +that his observations were afterward inserted at various times. That +passage, which is at the very end, and subjoined to Lydgate's catalogue, +one may reasonably suppose was not written till after he had perused the +whole volume." + +The tragedy of _Hamlet_ is familiarly alluded to more than once in the +play of _Eastward Hoe_, printed in 1605, in a manner which indicates +that the former drama was very well established in the memories of the +audience. There is a parody on one of Ophelia's songs which is of some +interest in regard to the question of the critical value of the quarto of +1604; the occurrence of the word "all" before "flaxen" showing that the +former word was incorrectly omitted in all the early quartos excepting +in that of 1603. One of the subordinate characters in _Eastward Hoe_ is +a running-footman of the name of Hamlet, who enters in great haste to +tell the coachman to be ready for his mistress, whereupon Potkin, a +tankard-bearer, says: "Sfoote, Hamlet, are you madde? Whether run you +nowe? You should brushe up my olde mistresse." + +There is an unsupported statement by Oldys to the effect that Shakespeare +received but five pounds for his tragedy of _Hamlet_, but whether from +the company who first acted it or from the publisher is not mentioned. +This is the only information that has reached us respecting the exact +emolument received by Shakespeare for any of his writings, but it cannot +be accepted merely on such an authority. It is, however, worthy of remark +that Greene parted with his _Orlando_ to the Queen's Players for twenty +nobles; so the sum named appears to have been about the usual amount +given for a play sold direct from the author to a company, but in all +probability, when _Hamlet_ was produced, Shakespeare was playing at the +Globe Theatre on shares. + +Notwithstanding the extreme length of the tragedy of _Hamlet_, there +is such a marvellously concentrative power displayed in much of the +construction and dialogue that, in respect to a large number of the +incidents and speeches, a wide latitude of interpretation is admissible, +the selection in those cases from possible explanations depending upon +the judgment and temperament of each actor or reader. Hence it may be +confidently predicted that no æsthetic criticisms upon this drama will +ever be entirely and universally accepted, and as certainly that there +will remain problems in connection with it which will be subjects for +discussion to the end of literary time. Among the latter the reason or +reasons which induced Hamlet to defer the fulfilment of his revenge may +perhaps continue to hold a prominent situation, although the solution of +that special mystery does not seem to be attended with difficulties equal +to those surrounding other cognate inquiries which arise in the study of +the tragedy. + +In respect to this drama, as to many others by the same author, the +prophetic words of Leonard Digges may be usefully remembered--"Some +second Shakespeare must of Shakespeare write." Until this miracle occurs, +it is not likely that any æsthetic criticism on the tragedy will be +successful; and certainly at present, notwithstanding the numbers of +persons of high talent and genius who have discussed the subject, nothing +has been, nor is likely to be, produced which is altogether satisfactory. +The cause of this may perhaps to some extent arise from the latitude of +interpretation the dramatic form of composition allows, to the +appreciation of the minor details of a character, and the various +plausible reasons that can often be assigned for the same line of action; +something also may be due to the unconscious influence exercised by +individual temperament upon the exposition of that character, and again +much to the defective state of the text; but the reason of the general +failure in _Hamlet_ criticism is no doubt chiefly to be traced to the +want of ability to enter fully into the inspiration of the poet's genius. + +It may, however, be safely asserted that the simpler explanations are, +and the less they are biassed by the subtleties of the philosophical +critics, the more likely they are to be in unison with the intentions of +the author. Take, for instance, the well-established fact that immodesty +of expression, the recollection derived, it may often be, accidentally +and unwillingly from oral sources during the previous life, is one of the +numerous phases of insanity; and not only are the song-fragments chanted +by Ophelia, but even the ribaldry addressed to her by Hamlet, in the +play-scene, vindicated, there being little doubt that Shakespeare +intended the simulated madness of the latter through his intellectual +supremacy to be equally true to nature, the manners of his age permitting +the delineation in a form which is now repulsive and inadmissible. + +The present favorite idea is that in Hamlet the great dramatist intended +to delineate an irresolute mind depressed by the weight of a mission +which it is unable to accomplish. This is the opinion of Goethe +following, if I have noted rightly, an English writer in the _Mirror_ of +1780. A careful examination of the tragedy will hardly sustain this +hypothesis. So far from Hamlet being indecisive, although the active +principle in his character is strongly influenced by the meditative, he +is really a man of singular determination, and, excepting in occasional +paroxsyms, one of powerful self-control. His rapidity of decision is +strikingly exhibited after his first interview with the Ghost. Perceiving +at once how important it was that Marcellus, at all events, should not +suspect the grave revelations that had been made, although they had been +sufficient to have paralyzed one of less courage and resolution than +himself, he outwits his companions by banter, treating the apparition +with intentional and grotesque disrespect and jocularity at a moment when +an irresolute mind would have been terrified and prostrated. + +Then Hamlet's powerful intellect not only enables him to recognize almost +instantaneously the difficulties which beset his path, but immediately to +devise a scheme by which some of them might be overcome. The compliance +with the advice of his father's spirit, in strict unison with his own +natural temperament, that the pursuit of his revenge was to harmonize +with the dictates of his conscience, involving of course his duties to +others, was attended by obstacles apparently insurmountable; yet all were +to be removed before the final catastrophe, however acutely he might feel +the effort of suppressing his desire for vengeance, that obligation the +fulfilment of which was postponed by subtle considerations, and by fear +lest precipitate action might leave him with "a wounded name." But this +duty, it is important to observe, was never sought to be relinquished. +The influences practically render delay a matter of necessity with him, +and leaving a murderer to contend against one who, as he must have felt, +would not have scrupled to design his assassination if at any moment +safety could be in that way secured, his determination to assume the garb +of insanity in the presence of the King and of those likely to divulge +the secret, is easily and naturally explained. + +Hamlet is wildly impetuous in moments of excitement, so that his +utterances are not invariably to be accepted as evidences of his general +nature. Much of the difficulty in the interpretation of the tragedy +arises from the oversight of accepting his soliloquies as continuous +illustrations of his character, instead of being, as they mostly are, +transient emanations of his subtle irritability. Even in the midst of his +impetuosity the current of violent thought was subject to a controlling +interruption by a sudden reaction arising from the influence of reason; +but it was natural on occasions that, stirred by his desire for revenge, +he should doubt the validity of his reasons for delay. A wide distinction +also must be drawn in the matter of time for vengeance, between action +resulting from sudden and that from remoter provocation. + +There seems to have been in Hamlet, so far as regards the commands of the +apparition, an almost perpetual conflict between impulse and reason, each +in its turn being predominant. The desire for revenge is at times so +great that it is only by the strongest effort of will he resists +precipitate action, then, losing no pretext to find causes for its +exercise, overpowering the dictates of his penetrative genius. It is not +rashness in Hamlet on one occasion and procrastination on another, but a +power of instantaneous action that could be controlled by the very +briefest period of reflection, the great feature in his intellect being a +preternaturally rapid reflective power, and men of genius almost +invariably do meditate before action. + +Among the numerous unsupported conjectures respecting this tragedy may be +mentioned that, when Shakespeare drew the characters of, 1. Hamlet; 2. +Horatio; 3. Claudius; 4. The Queen, he had in his mind, 1. The Earl of +Essex or Sir Phillip Sydney or himself; 2. Lord Southampton or Fulke +Greville; 3. The Earl of Leicester; 4. Mary, Queen of Scots. Although +some of these suggestions are ingeniously supported, there is not one of +them which rests on any kind of real evidence or external probability. + +Burbage was the first actor of Hamlet in Shakespeare's tragedy. His +performance is spoken of in terms of high commendation, but there is no +record of his treatment of the character, his delineation probably +differing materially from that of modern actors. Stage tradition merely +carries down the tricks of the profession, no actor entirely replacing +another, and, in the case of Hamlet, hardly two of recent times, whose +performances I have had the opportunity of witnessing, but who are or +have been distinct in manner and expression, and even in idea. Few actors +or readers can be found to agree respecting Shakespeare's conception of +the character. This, however, may be safely asserted, that no criticism +on Hamlet will ever be permanent which does not recognize the sublimity +of his nature. Horatio understood Hamlet better than anyone, and his +judgment of him doubtless expressed Shakespeare's own estimate: + + "Now cracks a noble heart--good night, sweet prince; + And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!" + +A "noble heart" that ever shrank from an act that would have resulted in +his own aggrandizement, for, although the monarchy was elective, not +hereditary, the succession of Hamlet had been proclaimed by the King and +tacitly accepted. + + + + + DOWNFALL OF IRISH LIBERTY + + "FLIGHT OF THE EARLS" + + A.D. 1603 + + JUSTIN McCARTHY + + + At the accession of Henry VIII to the English throne that portion of + Ireland mainly colonized from England, the ruling country, was known + as the English pale--that is, district. It comprised "the four + shires" or counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, and Louth. Beyond this + district the country was held by various Celtic clans ruled by their + own chieftains. Early in Henry's reign the English lords began to + show their independence of royal authority, and also to ally + themselves with the native chieftains. Henry saw that the Irish, who + had often before aimed at independence of England, were about to + renew the struggle. He determined to forestall them, and sent one + lord deputy after another to Ireland in charge of the royal + interests. + + Disputes between his own representatives, and their doubtful loyalty, + caused the King much trouble, and Irish affairs were far from being + composed when Thomas Fitzgerald, tenth earl of Kildare, renounced his + allegiance to Henry and headed an unsuccessful rebellion. Fitzgerald + was executed at Tyburn in 1537. + + Matters were now further complicated by the introduction of the + Reformation into Ireland. Most of the Irish people were stanch + adherents of Catholicism, while some of the leading English + Protestants in Ireland favored Irish nationality as strongly as did + the Catholics. After the death of Henry VIII the religious troubles + were intensified. Under Edward VI a severe policy was pursued against + the Irish Catholics and Nationalists. After a brief reaction under + Mary, the Catholic sovereign of England, the policy of suppression + was renewed with still greater severity by Queen Elizabeth, and the + condition of Ireland became one of chronic rebellion. + + +This time of trouble called forth some powerful champions of the Irish +national cause. One of these, Shane O'Neil, has been celebrated in many +a popular ballad. The head of the house to which he belonged had +acknowledged allegiance to Henry VIII and received the title of Earl of +Tyrone. The English title carried with it, according to English law, the +principle of hereditary succession; but when the first earl died, the +clan of O'Neil refused to adopt the English practice, and, according to +the Irish principle of tanistry, chose as his successor the member of the +house for whom they had the highest regard. + +This was Shane O'Neil, who was a younger and not even a legitimate son +of the Earl of Tyrone, but whose energy, courage, and strong national +sentiments had already made him the hero of his sept. Shane O'Neil at +once proclaimed himself the champion of Irish national independence. +Queen Elizabeth, amid all her troubles with foreign states, had to pour +large numbers of troops into Ireland, and these troops, as all historians +admit, overran the country in the most reckless and merciless manner. +Shane O'Neil, however, held his own, and began to prove himself a +formidable opponent of English power. + +The evidence of history leaves little or no doubt that Elizabeth connived +at a plot for the removal of O'Neil by assassination. This project did +not come to anything, and the Queen tried another policy. She was a woman +not merely of high intellect but also of artistic feeling, and it would +seem as if the picturesque figure of Shane O'Neil had aroused some +interest in her. She proposed to enter into terms with the new "Lord +of Ulster," as he now declared himself, and invited him to visit her +court in England. O'Neil seems to have accepted with great good-will +this opportunity of seeing a life hitherto unknown to him, and he soon +appeared at court. We read that O'Neil and his retainers presented +themselves in their saffron-colored shirts and shaggy mantles, bearing +battle-axes as their weapons, amid the stately gentlemen, the +contemporaries of Essex and Raleigh, who thronged the court of the +great Queen. A meeting took place on January 6, 1562. + +Froude tells us the effect produced upon the court by the appearance +of O'Neil and his followers: "The council, the peers, the foreign +ambassadors, bishops, aldermen, dignitaries of all kinds, were present in +state, as if at the exhibition of some wild animal of the desert. O'Neil +stalked in, his saffron mantle sweeping round and round him, his hair +curling on his back and clipped short below the eyes, which gleamed from +under it with a gray lustre, frowning, fierce, and cruel. Behind him +followed his gallow-glasses, bareheaded and fair-haired, with shirts of +mail which reached beneath their knees, a wolf's skin flung across their +shoulders, and short, broad battle-axes in their hands." O'Neil made a +formal act of submission to the Queen, and negotiations set in for a +definite and lasting arrangement. Nothing came of it. O'Neil seems to +have understood that he was acting under a promise of safe-conduct, and +was to be confirmed in the ownership of his estates in return for his +submission. But, whatever may have been the misunderstanding, it is +certain that these terms were not carried out according to O'Neil's +expectation. He was detained in London in qualified captivity, and was +informed that he could only be restored to his lands when he had engaged +to make war against his former allies the Scots, had pledged himself not +to make war without the consent of the English government, and to set up +no claim of supremacy over other chiefs in Ireland. + +O'Neil seems to have proved himself skilful as a diplomatist, and he +greatly gratified the Queen by paying intense deference to all her +suggestions, and even by modestly requesting that she would choose a wife +for him. He seems to have agreed to what he did not intend to carry out. +Some terms were understood to be arranged at last, and on May 5, 1562, +a royal proclamation was issued declaring that in future he was to be +regarded as a good and loyal subject of the Queen. Shane returned to +Ireland, and made known to his friends that the articles of agreement had +been forced upon him under peril of captivity or death, and that he could +not regard them as binding. He went so far to maintain the terms of the +treaty as to begin a war against the Scots, and sent the Queen a list of +his captives in token of his sincerity. But he still insisted that he had +never made peace with the Queen except by her own seeking; that his +ancestors were kings of Ulster, and that Ulster was his kingdom and +should continue to be his. + +He soon after applied to Charles IX, King of France, to send him five +thousand men to assist him in expelling the English from Ireland. Then +war set in again between the English Lord Deputy and Shane O'Neil. +Defeated in many encounters, O'Neil again tried to make terms with the +Queen, and again applied to the King of France for the help of an army to +drive the English from Ireland and restore the Catholic faith. By this +time the Scottish settlers in Ulster, who appear to have once been as +much disliked by the English government as the Irish themselves, had +turned completely against him. His end was not in keeping with his +soldierly picturesque career. After a severe defeat he took refuge with +some old tribal enemies of his, who at first professed to receive him +as a friend and find a shelter for him. A quarrel sprang up at a +drinking-festival during the June of 1567, and Shane and most of his +companions were killed in the affray. + +It is not easy to come to a satisfactory estimate of the character of +Shane O'Neil. Some English historians treat him as if he were a mere +monster of treachery and violent crime. Most Irish legends and stories +convert him into a perfect hero and patriot; while other Irish writers of +graver order are inclined to dwell altogether upon the wrongs done to +him, and the perfidies employed to ensnare him by those who acted for the +English government. It is necessary to keep always in mind that, in their +dealings with the Irish native populations, the English government only +too frequently employed deception and treachery, thus giving the Irish +chieftains what they considered warrant enough for playing a similar +game. Shane O'Neil was very unscrupulous in his methods of dealing with +his enemies; he was a man of sensuous passions and fierce hatreds, but he +was gifted with splendid courage, a remarkable capacity for soldiership, +and much of the diplomatist's or statesman's art. + +An Irish essayist, who writes with much judgment and moderation on the +subject, describes Shane as "a thorough Celtic chief, not of the +traditional type, but such as centuries of prolonged struggle for +existence had made the chieftains of his nation." This seems the only +fair standard by which to judge his career. No Irish family gave more +trouble in its time to the English conquerors than did the O'Neils, and +Shane O'Neil was in some of his qualities the most extraordinary man of +the family. There were other O'Neils who bequeathed to their country's +history a brighter and purer fame, and of whose characters we can form a +common estimate with less chance of dispute, but in Shane O'Neil we see a +genuine type of the ancestral Irish chieftain brought into dealings and +antagonism with the advances and the emissaries of a newer civilization. + +This prolonged period of incessant war brought about the almost complete +devastation of wide tracts of country in Ireland. Historians and poets +tell the same sad story. Holinshed says that except in the cities or +towns the traveller might journey for miles without meeting man, woman, +child, or even beast. Edmund Spenser declared that the story of many +among the inhabitants, and the picture one could see of their miserable +state, was such that "any stony heart would rue the same." Mr. Froude +affirms that in Munster alone there had been so much devastation that +"the lowing of a cow or the sound of a ploughboy's whistle was not to be +heard from Valentia to the Rock of Cashel." It was made a boast by at +least one of those engaged in ruling Ireland on behalf of the Queen that +he had reduced some of the populations so deeply down that they preferred +slaughter in the field to death by starvation. When the supposed +pacification of Munster was accomplished, the province was divided into +separate settlements, to be held under the crown, at hardly more than a +nominal quit-rent, by any loyal settlers who were willing to hold the +land as vassals of the sovereign and fight for their lives. All these +lands were obtained by the confiscation of the estates of the rebellious +chieftains. + +A new deputy, Sir John Perrot, convened a parliament in Ireland. There +was something farcical as well as grim in calling together a parliament +under such conditions, when the delegates were supposed to be convened +that they might give frank and sincere advice to the representative of +the sovereign. Some of the Irish chieftains who had given their +allegiance to the English sovereign not only accepted the Deputy's +invitation, but actually presented themselves in full English costume. In +former parliaments, when Irish chieftains were loyal enough to take part +in the sittings, they still wore the costume of their septs; but now, +after so many struggles, some of the Irish nobles thought they would do +better by making a complete submission to the conqueror, and inaugurating +the new season of peace and prosperity by adopting the costume of their +rulers. + +This parliament naturally proved most obedient. Whatever the Deputy +wished, it promptly adopted. More estates were confiscated to the Crown, +and the land thus obtained was parcelled out on the cheapest terms of +holding to English nobles, and also to mere English adventurers, who +undertook to colonize it with workmen and traders from England. But it +was soon found that English traders and laborers were not easily to be +persuaded into the risks of a settlement under these conditions, and the +new owners were compelled in most cases either to put up with such labor +as the country afforded or to allow the soil to lie barren for the time. +The scheme which the rulers had in mind--a scheme which meant nothing +less than the substitution of an English for an Irish population--proved +a failure. An English nobleman endowed with the spirit of adventure might +be tempted to accept an estate in Ireland on the chance of making a +brilliant career there, winning the favor of his sovereign, and becoming +a great figure in the eyes of his own court and his own country. A mere +adventurer might be as ready to try his fortunes in Ireland as in some +unexplored part of the New World beyond the Atlantic. But the ordinary +trader or working-man of English birth and ways did not at that time feel +inclined to give up his business and his home to venture on a settlement +in that wild western island, where all reports told him that every man's +hand was against every other man, and that the loyal subjects of the +Queen were hunted like wild game by the uncivilized Irish. + +Sir John Perrot was not a man qualified to make the situation any better +than he had found it. A man of quick and violent temper, he succeeded in +making enemies of some of the Irish chieftains who had lately been coming +over to the service of the Crown, and converted some of his friends in +office into his most bitter enemies. Sir John Perrot had to be withdrawn, +and a new deputy appointed in his place. Such a representative of English +government was not likely to encourage many of the Irish chieftains to +accept the advances of an English deputy, or to believe that they could +secure safety for themselves and their lands by submitting to his rule. +The new Deputy, Sir William Russell, had a hard task before him. + +One of the most important and famous struggles made during these years +against English dominion was led by Hugh O'Neil. This celebrated Irish +leader was the grandson of that Shane O'Neil whom Henry VIII had created +Earl of Tyrone. He had led thus far a very different life from that +usually led by an Irish chieftain. The ruling powers were at first +inclined to make a favorite of him, and confirmed him in his earldom and +estates. He was brought over when very young to England, and we learn +that even in the brilliant court of Queen Elizabeth he was distinguished +for gifts and graces of body and mind. For a long time Tyrone seemed a +loyal supporter of English rule. He commanded a troop in the Queen's +service, and even took part in the suppression of risings in his own +country, cooperating with the Earl of Essex in the Ulster wars and the +settlement of Antrim. One romantic incident of his life brought him into +personal antagonism with Sir Henry Bagnal, the Lord Marshal of Ireland. +Hugh O'Neil had been left a widower, and he fell in love with Bagnal's +beautiful sister. Bagnal highly disapproved of the match, but, as the +lady was heart and soul in love with the Irish chieftain, her brother's +opposition was vain. She eloped with her lover and married him. Bagnal +became O'Neil's determined enemy. It may be that Sir Henry Bagnal did his +best to prejudice the ruling authorities against O'Neil, and at that time +no very substantial evidence was needed to set up a charge of treason +against an Irish chieftain. + +Perhaps when O'Neil returned to his own country he was recalled to +national sentiments by the sight of oppression there, and it is certain +that he was roused to indignation by the arbitrary imprisonment of one of +his kinsmen known as Red Hugh. When Red Hugh succeeded in escaping from +prison he inspired Tyrone with a keen sense of his wrongs, and brought +him into the temper of insurrection. O'Neil threw himself completely into +the new movement for independence. A confederation of Irish chieftains +was organized, and O'Neil took the command. He proved himself possessed +of the most genuine military talents, and he could play the part of the +statesman as well as of the soldier. The confederation of Irish chieftains +soon became an embattled army, and the brothers-in-law met in arms as +hostile commanders on the shores of the northern Blackwater. As one +historian has well remarked, there was something positively Homeric about +this struggle, in which the two men connected by marriage encountered +each other as commanders of opposing armies. Events had been moving on +since the marriage between Tyrone and Bagnal's sister. O'Neil's young +wife had found her early grave before this last engagement between her +husband and her brother. The army of Bagnal was completely defeated, and +Bagnal was killed upon the field. + +For a time victory seemed to follow Tyrone. Before long the greater part +of Ireland was in the hands of the Irish forces. The Earl of Essex was +sent to Ireland at the head of the largest army ever despatched from +England for the conquest of the island. But Essex does not seem to have +made any serious effort. He appears to have had some idea of coming to +terms with Tyrone. The two had a meeting, over which many pages of +historical description and conjecture have been spent, but it is certain +that, so far as Essex was concerned, neither peace nor war came of his +intervention. He was recalled to London. His failure in Ireland, and the +trouble it brought upon him in England, only drove him into the wild +movements which led to his condemnation as a traitor and to his death on +the scaffold. + +The place which Essex had so unsuccessfully endeavored to hold was given +to Lord Mountjoy, who proved himself a more fitting man for the work. +Mountjoy was a strong man, who made up his mind from the first that he +was sent to Ireland to fight the Irish. He had a great encounter with +Tyrone, and Tyrone was defeated. From that moment the fortunes of the +struggle seem to have turned. The resources of the Irish were very +limited, and it was almost certain that, if the English government +carried on the war long enough, the Irish must sooner or later be +defeated. It was a question of numbers and weapons and money, and in all +these the English had an immense superiority. Tyrone had great hopes that +a Spanish army would come to the aid of the Irish. A large Spanish force +was actually despatched for the purpose, but the news of Tyrone's defeat +reached the Spaniards on their arrival, and they promptly reëmbarked, and +gave up what they considered a lost cause. Some of the Irish chiefs were +compelled to surrender; others fled to Spain, in the hope of stirring up +some movement there against England, or at least of finding a place of +shelter. Ireland was suffering almost everywhere from famine, and in many +districts famine of the most ghastly order. Tyrone found it impossible to +carry on the struggle for independence under such terrible conditions. +There was nothing for it but to surrender and come to terms as best he +could with his conquering enemy. + +The times just then might have been regarded as peculiarly favorable for +Tyrone. Queen Elizabeth was dead, and the son of Mary Stuart sat on the +English throne. Tyrone made a complete surrender of his estates, pledged +himself to enter into alliance with no foreign power against England, and +even undertook to promote the introduction of English laws and customs +into any part of Ireland over which he had influence. In return Tyrone +received from the King the restoration of his lands and his title by +letters-patent, and a free pardon for his campaigns against England. He +was brought to London to be presented to King James, and was treated with +great courtesy and hospitality. This aroused much anger among some of the +older soldiers and courtiers in London, who did not understand why an +Irish rebel should be treated as if he were a respectable member of +society. Sir John Harrington expressed his opinions very freely in +letters which are still preserved. "I have lived," he wrote, "to see that +damnable rebel Tyrone brought to England, honored, and well liked. Oh! +what is there that does not prove the inconstancy of worldly matters? I +adventured perils by sea and land, was near starving, ate horseflesh in +Munster, and all to quell that man, who now smileth in peace at those who +did harass their lives to destroy him; and now doth Tyrone dare us, old +commanders, with his presence and protection." + +When Tyrone returned to his own country he found that the reign of peace +and reconciliation between England and Ireland was as far off as ever. +Tyrone had believed it was fortunate for him to have made terms of peace +in King James' reign and not in Elizabeth's. But he soon found that his +hopes of a better time coming were premature. James no doubt thought it +good policy to secure the allegiance of a man like Tyrone by apparently +generous concessions. But he had no idea of adopting any policy toward +Ireland other than the old familiar policy of striving to reduce her to +the conditions of an English province, with English laws, customs, +costumes, and religion. + +The King appears to have set his mind on the complete suppression of the +national religion by the enforcement of the sternest penal laws against +Catholics. He was determined also to blot out whatever remained of the +old Brehon laws, still dear to the memories of the people, and still +cherished among the sacred traditions of the country. When King James +succeeded to the throne he promised the Irish that they should have the +right of practising their religion, at least in private; but he soon +recalled his promise, and made it clear that those who would retain the +protection of the new ruling system must abjure the faith of their +fathers. Those who were put into the actual government of the country saw +that this policy could not be carried out without much resistance, and +therefore decreed the complete disarmament of all Irish retainers who +still acknowledged the leadership of the chieftains. One of the greatest +of these chieftains, O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnel, was called upon to +conform openly to the English Church, under pain of being proceeded +against as a traitor. + +The state of things he found existing on his return to Ireland would +naturally have driven Tyrone into rebellion, and the rulers of the +country appear to have made up their minds that he must be planning some +such rising. Tyrconnel was naturally regarded as an enemy of the same +order, and the policy of the ruling powers was to anticipate their +designs and condemn them in advance. Tyrone and Tyrconnel were +accordingly proclaimed traitors to the King. The two earls determined +that, as immediate insurrection had no chance of success, there was no +safety for them but in prompt escape from the country. + +Then followed "the flight of the earls." Tyrone and Tyrconnel, with their +families and many of their friends and retainers, nearly a hundred +persons in all, made their escape in one vessel from the Irish shore, +and for twenty-one days were at the mercy of the sea and of the +equinoctial winds, for they sailed about the middle of September. A story +characteristic of the faith which then filled the hearts of Irish +chieftains is told. Tyrone fastened his golden crucifix to a string and +drew it through the sea at the stern of the vessel, in the hope that the +waves might thus be stilled. In the first week of October they landed on +the shore of France and travelled on to Rouen, receiving nothing but +kindness from the French. When King James heard of their flight he at +once demanded from France the surrender of the earls, but Henry IV +refused to surrender them. + +Henry received the exiles with gracious and friendly greeting, but it was +not thought prudent by the earls, any more than by the French King, they +should remain in France at the risk of involving the two countries in +war. The earls, with their families and followers, went into Flanders +and then on to Rome. Pope Paul V gave them a cordial welcome, and made +liberal arrangements for their maintenance, while the King of Spain +showed his traditional sympathy with Ireland by settling pensions on +them. Tyrconnel died soon after, in the Franciscan Church of St. Pietro +di Montorio, and was laid in his grave wrapped in the robe of a +Franciscan friar. Tyrone lived for several years. He was filled in this +later time by a passionate longing to see once more the loved country of +his birth, and he appealed to the English government for permission to +return to Ireland and live quietly there until the end came. His request +was not granted. The English authorities, no doubt, felt good reason to +believe that his return to Ireland would be the cause of profound and +dangerous emotion among the people who loved him and whom he loved so +well. + +His later years in Rome were literally darkened, because his sight, which +had been for some time failing, soon left him to absolute blindness. He +died on July 20, 1616, having lived a life of seventy-six years. Tyrone's +body was laid to rest in the same church which held the body of his +comrade Tyrconnel. Their graves are side by side. A modern writer tells +us that the church which has become the tomb of the two exiled earls +stands "where the Janiculum overlooks the glory of Rome, the yellow +Tiber and the Alban Hills, the deathless Coliseum, and the stretching +Campagna." "Raphael had painted his Transfiguration for the grand altar; +the hand of Sebastiano del Piombo had colored the walls with the +scourging of the Redeemer." The present writer has seen the graves, and +even the merest stranger to the spirit of Irish history must feel +impressed by the story of the two exiles who found their last +resting-place enclosed by such a scene. + + + + + THE GUNPOWDER PLOT + + A.D. 1605 + + SAMUEL R. GARDINER + + + The "Gunpowder Plot" acquires importance from the fact that its + anniversary, November 5th, is still celebrated in England with + fire-crackers, burnings of "Guy Fawkes" scarecrows, and other + patriotic manifestations. Historically the plot, being detected + before its execution, ended in smoke, with no more terrible result + than the execution of the conspirators. + + James I, son of the ill-starred Mary of Scotland, succeeded Elizabeth + on the English throne in 1603, and held both England and Scotland + under his sway. The English Catholics had been led to hope that James + would be lenient toward their faith, but in this they were + disappointed, and a few desperate followers of their religion united + in the Gunpowder Plot. More than one attempt has been made to prove + that this really amounted to very little, and was exaggerated by + James' minister, the Earl of Salisbury, to justify the harshness of + the Government toward Catholics. + + Father Gerard's book, _What was the Gunpowder Plot?_ is the strongest + argument yet produced in favor of this view; but the fact remains + undenied and undeniable that some sort of plot existed. We present + here the latest summarizing of the matter (1897) by the standard + English historian, Gardiner, confining the account almost wholly to + Fawkes' own confessions. + + +Before examining the evidence, it will be well to remind my readers what +the so-called traditional story of the plot is, or, rather, the story +which has been told by writers who have in the present century availed +themselves of the manuscript treasures now at our disposal, and which are +for the most part in the Public Record Office. With this object I cannot +do better than borrow the succinct narrative of the _Edinburgh +Review_.[1] + + [1] January, 1897, p. 192. + + "Early in 1604 the three men, Robert Catesby, John Wright, and Thomas + Winter, meeting in a house at Lambeth, resolved on a Powder Plot, + though, of course, only in outline. By April they had added to their + number Wright's brother-in-law, Thomas Percy, and Guy Fawkes, a + Yorkshire man of respectable family, but actually a soldier of + fortune, serving in the Spanish army in the Low Countries, who was + specially brought over to England as a capable and resolute man. + Later on they enlisted Wright's brother Christopher, Winter's brother + Robert, Robert Keyes, and a few more; but all, with the exception of + Thomas Bates, Catesby's servant, men of family and for the most part + of competent fortune, though Keyes is said to have been in straitened + circumstances, and Catesby to have been impoverished by a heavy fine + levied on him as a recusant.[2] + + [2] This is a mistake. The fine of three thousand pounds was + imposed for his part in the Essex rebellion. + + "Percy, a second cousin of the Earl of Northumberland, then captain + of the Gentleman Pensioners, was admitted by him into that body + in--it is said--an irregular manner, his relationship to the earl + passing in lieu of the usual oath of fidelity. The position gave him + some authority and license near the court, and enabled him to hire a + house, or part of a house, adjoining the House of Lords. From the + cellar of this house they proposed to burrow under the House of + Lords; to place there a large quantity of powder, and to blow up the + whole when the King and his family were there assembled at the + opening of Parliament. On December 11, 1604, they began to dig in the + cellar, and after a fortnight's labor, having come to a thick wall, + they left off work and separated for Christmas. + + "Early in January they began at the wall, which they found to be + extremely hard, so that, after working for about two months,[3] they + had not got more than half way through it. They then learned that a + cellar actually under the House of Lords, and used as a coal cellar, + was to be let; and as it was most suitable for their design, Percy + hired it as though for his own use. The digging was stopped, and + powder, to the amount of thirty-six barrels, was brought into the + cellar, where it was stowed under heaps of coal or firewood, and so + remained, under the immediate care of Guy Fawkes,[4] till, on the + night of November 4, 1605--the opening of Parliament being fixed for + the next day--Sir Thomas Knyvet, with a party of men, was ordered to + examine the cellar. He met Fawkes coming out of it, arrested him, and + on a close search found the powder, of which a mysterious warning had + been conveyed to Lord Monteagle a few days before. On the news of + this discovery the conspirators scattered, but by different roads + rejoined each other in Warwickshire, whence, endeavoring to raise the + country, they rode through Worcestershire, and were finally shot or + taken prisoners at Holbeche in Staffordshire." + + [3] Off and on, a fortnight at the end of January and beginning of + February, and then again probably for a very short time in March. + + [4] Fawkes was absent part of the time. + +It is this story that I now propose to compare with the evidence. First +of all, let us restrict ourselves to the story told by Guy Fawkes himself +in the five examinations to which he was subjected previously to his +being put to the torture on November 9th, and to the letters, +proclamations, etc., issued by the Government during the four days +commencing with the 5th. From these we learn, not only that Fawkes' +account of the matter gradually developed, but that the knowledge of +the Government also developed; a fact which fits in very well with the +"traditional story," but which is hardly to be expected if the Government +account of the affair was cut-and-dried from the first. + +Fawkes' first examination took place on November 5th, and was conducted +by Chief Justice Popham and Attorney-General Coke. It is true that only a +copy has reached us, but it is a copy taken for Coke's use, as is shown +by the headings of each paragraph inserted in the margin in his own hand. +It is therefore out of the question that Salisbury, if he had been so +minded, would have been able to falsify it. Each page has the signature +(in copy) of "Jhon Jhonson," the name by which Fawkes chose to be known. + +The first part of the examination turns upon Fawkes' movements abroad, +showing that the Government had already acquired information that he had +been beyond sea. Fawkes showed no reluctance to speak of his own +proceedings in the Low Countries, or to give the names of persons he had +met there, and who were beyond the reach of his examiners. As to his +movements after his return to England, he was explicit enough so far as +he was himself concerned, and also about Percy, whose servant he +professed himself to be, and whose connection with the hiring of the +house could not be concealed. + +Fawkes stated that after coming back to England he "came to the lodging +near the Upper House of Parliament," and "that Percy hired the house of +Whynniard for £12 rent, about a year and a half ago"; that his master, +before his own going abroad, _i.e._, before Easter, 1605, "lay in the +house about three or four times." Further, he confessed "that about +Christmas last," _i.e._, Christmas, 1604, "he brought in the night-time +gunpowder [to the cellar under the Upper House of Parliament]."[5] +Afterward he told how he covered the powder with fagots, intending to +blow up the King and the Lords; and, being pressed how he knew that the +King would be in the House on the 5th, said he knew it only from general +report, and by the making ready of the King's barge; but he would have +"blown up the Upper House whensoever the King was there." + + [5] The words between brackets are inserted in another hand. + +He further acknowledged that there was more than one person concerned in +the conspiracy, and said he himself had promised not to reveal it, but +denied that he had taken the sacrament on his promise. Where the promise +was given he could not remember, except that it was in England. He +refused to accuse his partners, saying that he himself had provided the +powder, and defrayed the cost of his journey beyond sea, which was only +undertaken "to see the country, and to pass away the time." When he went, +he locked up the powder and took the key with him, and "one Gibbons' +wife, who dwells thereby, had the charge of the residue of the house." + +Such is that part of the story told by Fawkes which concerns us at +present. It is obvious that Fawkes, who, as subsequent experience shows, +was no coward, had made up his mind to shield as far as possible his +confederates, and to take the whole of the blame upon himself. He says, +for instance, that Percy had only lain in the house for three or four +days before Easter, 1605, a statement, as subsequent evidence proved, +quite untrue; he pretends not to know, except from rumor and the +preparation of the barge, that the King was coming to the House of Lords +on the 5th, a statement almost certainly untrue. In order not to +criminate others, and especially any priest, he denies having taken the +sacrament on his promise, which is also untrue. + +What is more noticeable is that he makes no mention of the mine, about +which so much was afterward heard, evidently--so at least I read the +evidence--because he did not wish to bring upon the stage those who had +worked at it. If indeed the passage which I have placed in square +brackets be accepted as evidence, Fawkes did more than keep silence upon +the mine. He must have made a positive assertion--soon afterward found to +be untrue--that the cellar was hired several months before it really was. +This passage is, however, inserted in a different hand from the rest of +the document. My own belief is that it gives a correct account of a +statement made by the prisoner, but omitted by the clerk who made the +copy for Coke, and inserted by some other person. Nobody that I can think +of had the slightest interest in adding the words, while they are just +what Fawkes might be expected to say if he wanted to lead his examiners +off the scent. At all events, even if these words be left out of account, +it must be admitted that Fawkes said nothing about the existence of a +mine. + +Though Fawkes kept silence as to the mine, he did not keep silence on the +desperate character of the work on which he had been engaged. "And," runs +the record, "he confesseth that when the King had come to the Parliament +House this present day, and the Upper House had been sitting, he meant to +have fired the match and have fled for his own safety before the powder +had taken fire, and confesseth that, if he had not been apprehended this +last night, he had blown up the Upper House when the King, Lords, +Bishops, and others had been there, and saith that he spake for [and +provided][6] those bars and crows of iron, some in one place, some in +another, in London, lest it should be suspected, and saith that he had +some of them in or about Gracious Street."[7] Fawkes here clearly takes +the whole terrible design, with the exception of the mine, on his own +shoulders. + + [6] Inserted in the same hand as that in which the words about the + cellar were written. It will be observed that the insertion cannot + serve anyone's purpose. + + [7] Gracechurch Street. + +Commissioners were now appointed to conduct the investigation further. +They were: Nottingham, Suffolk, Devonshire, Worcester, Northampton, +Salisbury, Mar, and Popham, with Attorney-General Coke in attendance. +This was hardly a body of men who would knowingly cover an intrigue of +Salisbury's. Worcester is always understood to have been professedly a +Catholic; Northampton was certainly one, though he attended the King's +service, while Suffolk was friendly toward the Catholics; and Nottingham, +if he is no longer to be counted among them,[8] was at least not long +afterward a member of the party which favored an alliance with Spain, and +therefore a policy of toleration toward the Catholics. + + [8] On July 20-30, 1605, Father Creswell writes to Paul V that + Nottingham showed him every civility "that could be expected from + one who does not profess our holy religion." + +Before five of these commissioners--Nottingham, Suffolk, Devonshire, +Northampton, and Salisbury--Fawkes was examined a second time on the +forenoon of the 6th. In some way the Government had found out that Percy +had had a new door made in the wall leading to the cellar, and they now +drew from Fawkes an untrue statement that it was put in about the middle +of Lent, that is to say, early in March, 1605.[9] They had also +discovered a pair of brewer's slings, by which barrels were usually +carried between two men, and they pressed Fawkes hard to say who was his +partner in removing the barrels of gunpowder. He began by denying that he +had had a partner at all, but finally answered that "he cannot discover +the party, but"--_i.e._, lest--"he shall bring him in question." He also +said that he had forgotten where he slept on Wednesday, Thursday, or +Friday in the week before his arrest. + + [9] The "cellar" was not really hired till a little before Easter, + March 31st. + +Upon this James himself intervened, submitting to the Commissioners a +series of questions with the object of drawing out of the prisoner a true +account of himself, and of his relations to Percy. A letter had been +found on Fawkes when he was taken, directed not to Johnson, but to +Fawkes, and this among other things had raised the King's suspicions. In +his third examination, on the afternoon of the 6th, in the presence of +Northampton, Devonshire, Nottingham, and Salisbury, Fawkes gave a good +deal of information, more or less true, about himself; and, while still +maintaining that his real name was Johnson, said that the letter, which +was written by a Mrs. Bostock in Flanders, was addressed to him by +another name "because he called himself Fawkes," that is to say, because +he had acquired the name of Fawkes as an alias. + +"If he will not otherwise confess," the King had ended by saying, "the +gentler tortures are to be first used unto him, _et sic per gradus ad ima +tenditur_." To us, living in the nineteenth century, these words are +simply horrible. As a Scotchman, however, James had long been familiar +with the use of torture as an ordinary means of legal investigation, +while even in England, though unknown to the law, that is to say, to the +practice of the ordinary courts of justice, it had for some generations +been used not infrequently by order of the council to extract evidence +from a recalcitrant witness, though, according to Bacon, not for the +purpose of driving him to incriminate himself. Surely, if the use of +torture was admissible at all, this was a case for its employment. The +prisoner had informed the government that he had been at the bottom of a +plot of the most sanguinary kind, and had acknowledged by implication +that there were fellow-conspirators whom he refused to name. + +If, indeed, Father Gerard's view of the case, that the government, or at +least Salisbury, had for some time known all about the conspiracy, +nothing--not even the Gunpowder Plot itself--could be more atrocious than +the infliction of torments on a fellow-creature to make him reveal a +secret already in their possession. If, however, the evidence I have +adduced be worth anything, this was by no means the case. What it shows +is that on the afternoon of the 6th all that the members of the +government were aware of was that an unknown number of conspirators were +at large--they knew not where--and might at that very moment be +appealing--they knew not with what effect--to Catholic land-owners and +their tenants, who were, without doubt, exasperated by the recent +enforcement of the penal laws. We may, if we please, condemn the conduct +of the government which had brought the danger of a general Catholic +rising within sight. We cannot deny that, at that particular moment, they +had real cause of alarm. At all events, no immediate steps were taken to +put this part of the King's orders in execution. + +Some little information, indeed, was coming in from other witnesses. In +his first examination, on November 5th, Fawkes had stated that in his +absence he locked up the powder, and "one Gibbons' wife who dwells +thereby had the charge of the residue of the house." An examination of +her husband on the 5th, however, only elicited that he, being a porter, +had with two others carried three thousand billets into the vault. On the +6th, Ellen, the wife of Andrew Bright, stated that Percy's servant had, +about the beginning of March, asked her to let the vault to his master, +and that she had consented to abandon her tenancy of it if Mrs. +Whynniard, from whom she held it, would consent. Mrs. Whynniard's consent +having been obtained, Mrs. Bright, or rather Mrs. Skinner--she being a +widow remarried subsequently to Andrew Bright--received two pounds for +giving up the premises. + +The important point in this evidence is that the date of March, 1605, +given as that on which Percy entered into possession of the cellar, +showed that Fawkes' statement that he had brought powder into the cellar +at Christmas, 1604, could not possibly be true. On the 7th Mrs. Whynniard +confirmed Mrs. Bright's statement, and also stated that, a year earlier, +in March, 1604, "Mr. Percy began to labor very earnestly with this +examinate and her husband to have the lodging by the Parliament House, +which one Mr. Henry Ferris, of Warwickshire, had long held before, and, +having obtained the said Mr. Ferris' good-will to part from it after long +suit by himself and great entreaty of Mr. Carleton, Mr. Epsley, and other +gentleman belonging to the Earl of Northumberland, affirming him to be a +very honest gentleman, and that they could not have a better tenant, her +husband and she were contented to let him have the said lodging at the +same rent Mr. Ferris paid for it." + +Mrs. Whynniard had plainly never heard of the mine; and that the +Government was in equal ignorance is shown by the indorsement on the +agreement of Ferris--or rather Ferrers--to make over his tenancy to +Percy--"The bargain between Ferris and Percy for the bloody cellar, found +in Winter's lodging." Winter's name had been under consideration for some +little time, and doubtless the discovery of this paper was made on, or +more probably before, the 7th. The Government, having as yet nothing but +Fawkes' evidence to go upon, connected the hiring of the house with the +hiring of the cellar, and at least showed no signs of suspecting anything +more. + +On the same day, the 7th, something was definitely heard of the +proceedings of the other plotters, who had either gathered at Dunchurch +for the hunting-match, or had fled from London to join them, and a +proclamation was issued for the arrest of Percy, Catesby, Rokewood, +Thomas Winter, Edward[10] Grant, John and Christopher Wright, and +Catesby's servant, Robert Ashfield. They were charged with assembling in +troops in the counties of Warwick and Worcester, breaking into stables +and seizing horses. Fawkes, too, was on that day subjected to a fourth +examination. Not very much that was new was extracted from him. He +acknowledged that his real name was Guy Fawkes, that--which he had denied +before--he had received the sacrament not to discover any of the +conspirators, and also that there had been at first five persons privy to +the plot, and afterward five or six more "were generally acquainted that +an action was to be performed for the Catholic cause, and saith that he +doth not know that they were acquainted with the whole conspiracy." Being +asked whether Catesby, the two Wrights, Winter, or Tresham, were privy, +he refused to accuse any one. + + [10] Properly "John." + +That Fawkes had already been threatened with torture is known, and it may +easily be imagined that the threats had been redoubled after this last +unsatisfactory acknowledgment. On the morning of the 8th, however, Waad, +who was employed to worm out his secrets, reported that little was to be +expected. "I find this fellow," he wrote, "who this day is in a most +stubborn and perverse humour, as dogged as if he were possessed. +Yester-night I had persuaded him to set down a clear narration of all his +wicked plots from the first entering to the same, to the end they +pretended, with the discourses and projects that were thought upon +amongst them, which he undertook [to do] and craved time this night to +bethink him the better; but this morning he hath changed his mind and is +[so] sullen and obstinate as there is no dealing with him." + +The sight of the examiners, together with the sight of the rack,[11] +changed Fawkes' mind to some extent. He was resolved that nothing but +actual torture should wring from him the names of his fellow-plotters, +who so far as was known in London were still at large.[12] He prepared +himself, however, to reveal the secrets of the plot so far as was +consistent with the concealment of the names of those concerned in it. +His fifth examination, on the 8th, the last before the one taken under +torture on the 9th, gives to the inquirer into the reality of the plot +all that he wants to know. + + [11] In _The King's Book_ it is stated that Fawkes was shown the + rack, but never racked. Probably the torture used on the 9th was + that of the manacles, or hanging up by the wrists or thumbs. + + [12] The principal ones were either killed or taken at Holbeche on + that very day. + +"He confesseth," so the tale begins, "that a practice was first broken +unto him against his majesty for the Catholic cause, and not invented or +propounded by himself, and this was first propounded unto him about +Easter last was twelvemonth, beyond the seas in the Low Countries, by an +English layman,[13] and that Englishman came over with him in his company +into England, and they two and three more[14] were the first five +mentioned in the former examination. And they five resolving to do +somewhat for the Catholic cause (a vow being first taken by all of them +for secrecy), one of the other three[15] propounded to perform it with +powder, and resolved that the place should be (where this action should +be performed and justice done) in or near the place of the sitting of the +Parliament, wherein Religion had been unjustly suppressed. This being +resolved, the manner of it was as followeth: + +"First they hired the house at Westminster, of one Ferres, and having +his house they sought then to make a mine under the Upper House of +Parliament, and they began to make the mine in or about the 11 of +December, and they five first entered into the works, and soone after +took an other[16] to them, having first sworn him and taken the sacrament +for secrecy; and when they came to the wall (that was about three yards +thick) and found it a matter of great difficulty, they took to them an +other in like manner, with oath and sacrament as aforesaid;[17] all which +seven were gentlemen of name and blood, and not any was employed in or +about this action (no, not so much as in digging and mining) that was not +a gentleman. + + [13] Thomas Winter. + + [14] Catesby, Percy, and John Wright. + + [15] _I.e._, Catesby. In a copy forwarded to Edmondes by Salisbury + (Stowe MSS. 168, fol. 223) the copyist had originally written + "three or four more," which is altered to "three." + + [16] Christopher Wright. + + [17] Robert Winter. + +"And having wrought to the wall before Christmas, they ceased until after +the holidays, and the day before Christmas (having a mass of earth that +came out of the mine) they carried it into the garden of the said house, +and after Christmas they wrought the wall till Candlemas, and wrought the +wall half through; and saith that all the time while the other wrought, +he stood as sentinel, to decry any man that came near; and when any man +came near to the place, upon warning given by him they ceased until they +had notice to proceed from him; and sayeth that they seven all lay in the +house, and had shot and powder, and they all resolved to die in that +place, before they yielded or were taken. + +"And, as they were working, they heard a rushing in the cellar, which +grew by one Bright's selling of his coals,[18] whereupon this examinant, +fearing they had been discovered, went into the cellar and viewed the +cellar, and perceiving the commodity thereof for their purpose, and +understanding how it would be letten, his master, Mr. Percy, hired the +cellar for a year for £4 rent; and confesseth that after Christmas twenty +barrels of powder were brought by themselves to a house, which they had +on the bank side in hampers, and from that house removed the powder to +the said house near the Upper House of Parliament; and, presently, upon +hiring the cellar they themselves removed the powder into the cellar, and +covered the same with fagots which they had before laid into the cellar. + + [18] This is an obvious mistake, as the widow Skinner was not at + this time married to Bright, but one just as likely to be made by + Fawkes himself as by his examiners. + +"After, about Easter, he went into the Low Countries (as he before hath +declared in his former examination) and that the true purpose of his +going over was, lest, being a dangerous man, he should be known and +suspected, and in the mean time he left the key of the cellar with Mr. +Percy, who in his absence caused more billets to be laid into the cellar, +as in his former examination he confessed, and returned about the end of +August, or the beginning of September, and went again to the said house, +near to the said cellar, and received the key of the cellar again of one +of the five,[19] and then they brought in five or six barrels of powder +more into the cellar, which also they covered with billets, saving four +little barrels covered with fagots, and then this examinant went into the +country about the end of September. + + [19] Percy. + +"It appeareth the powder was in the cellar placed as it was found the 5 +of November, when the Lords came to prorogue the Parliament, and sayeth +that he returned again to the said house near the cellar on Wednesday the +30 of October. + +"_He confesseth he was at the Earl of Montgomery's marriage, but, as he +sayeth, with no intention of evil, having a sword about him, and was very +near to his Majesty and the Lords there present._[20] + + [20] The words in Italics are marked by pen-strokes across them for + omission. + +"Forasmuch as they knew not well how they should come by the person of +the Duke Charles, being near London, where they had no forces (if he had +not been also blown up), he confesseth that it was resolved among them +that the same day that this detestable act should have been performed, +the same day should other of their confederacy have surprised the person +of the Lady Elizabeth, and presently have proclaimed her Queen, _to +which purpose a proclamation was drawn, as well to avow and justify the +action, as to have protested against the Union, and in no sort to have +meddled with religion therein, and would have protested also against all +strangers_, and this proclamation should have been made in the name of +the Lady Elizabeth. + +"Being demanded why they did not surprise the King's person, and draw him +to the effecting of their purpose, sayeth that so many must have been +acquainted with such an action as it would not have been kept secret. + +"He confesseth that if their purpose had taken effect, until they had had +power enough, they would not have avowed the deed to be theirs; but if +their power (for their defence and safety) had been sufficient, they +themselves would then have taken it upon them. They meant also to have +sent for the prisoners in the Tower to have come to them, of whom +particularly they had some consultation. + +"He confesseth that the place of rendezvous was in Warwickshire, and that +armour was sent thither, but the particular thereof he knows not. + +"He confesseth that they had consultation for the taking of the Lady Mary +into their possession, but knew not how to come by her. + +"And confesseth that provision was made by some of the conspiracy of some +armour of proof this last summer for this action. + +"He confesseth that the powder was bought by the common purse of the +confederates. + + "L. Admiral [Earl of Nottingham] Earl of Salisbury + L. Chamberlain [Earl of Suffolk] Earl of Mar + Earl of Devonshire Lord Chief Justice [Popham][21] + Earl of Northampton + "Attended by Mr. Attorney-General [Coke]." + + [21] _G.P.B._, No. 49. In the Stowe copy the names of the + commissioners are omitted, and a list of fifteen plotters added. As + the paper was enclosed in a letter to Edmondes of the 14th, these + might easily be added at any date preceding that. + +The 9th, the day on which Fawkes was put to the torture, brought news to +the government that the fear of insurrection need no longer be entertained. +It had been known before this that Fawkes' confederates had met on the +5th at Dunchurch on the pretext of a hunting-match,[22] and had been +breaking open houses in Warwickshire and Worcestershire in order to +collect arms. Yet so indefinite was the knowledge of the council that, +on the 8th, they offered a reward for the apprehension of Percy alone, +without including any of the other conspirators.[23] On the evening of +the 9th[24] they received a letter from Sir Richard Walsh, the Sheriff +of Worcestershire. + + [22] Probably, as Father Gerard suggests, what would now be known + as a coursing-match. + + [23] _Proclamation Book, R.O._, p. 117. + + [24] A late postscript added to the letter to the ambassadors sent + off on the 9th (_Winwood_, ii. 173) shows that before the end of + the day Salisbury had learned even more of the details than were + comprised in the sheriff's letter. + +"We think fit," he wrote, "with all speed to certify your Lordships of +the happy success it hath pleased God to give us against the rebellious +assembly in these parts. After such time as they had taken the horses +from Warwick upon Tuesday night last,[25] they came to Mr. Robert +Winter's house to Huddington upon Wednesday night,[26] where--having +entered--[they] armed themselves at all points in open rebellion. They +passed from thence upon Thursday morning[27] unto Hewell--the Lord +Windsor's house--which they entered and took from thence by force great +store of armour, artillery of the said Lord Windsor's, and passed that +night into the county of Staffordshire unto the house of one Stephen +Littleton, Gentleman, called Holbeche, about two miles distant from +Stourbridge, whither we pursued, with the assistance of Sir John Foliot, +Knight, Francis Ketelsby, Esquire, Humphrey Salway, Gentleman, Edmund +Walsh, and Francis Conyers, Gentlemen, with few other gentlemen and the +power and face of the country. + + [25] November 5th. + + [26] November 6th. + + [27] November 7th. + +"We made against them upon Thursday morning,[27] and freshly pursued them +until the next day,[28] at which time, about twelve or one of the clock +in the afternoon, we overtook them at the said Holbeche House--the greatest +part of their retinue and some of the better sort being dispersed and +fled before our coming, whereupon and after summons and warning first +given and proclamation in his Highness's name to yield and submit +themselves--who refusing the same, we fired some part of the house and +assaulted some part of the rebellious persons left in the said house, in +which assault one Mr. Robert Catesby is slain, and three others verily +thought wounded to death whose names--as far as we can learn--are Thomas +Percy, Gentleman, John Wright, and Christopher Wright, Gentlemen; and +these are apprehended and taken: Thomas Winter Gentleman, John Grant +Gentleman, Henry Morgan Gentleman, Ambrose Rokewood Gentleman, Thomas +Ockley carpenter, Edmund Townsend servant to the said John Grant, +Nicholas Pelborrow, servant unto the said Ambrose Rokewood, Edward Ockley +carpenter, Richard Townsend servant to the said Robert Winter, Richard +Day servant to the said Stephen Littleton, which said prisoners are in +safe custody here, and so shall remain until your Honours good pleasures +be further known. The rest of that rebellious assembly is dispersed, +we have caused to be followed with fresh suite and hope of their +speedy apprehension. We have also thought fit to send unto your +Honours--according unto our duties--such letters as we have found about +the parties apprehended; and so resting in all duty at your Honours' +further command, we take leave, from Stourbridge this Saturday morning, +being the ixth of this instant November 1605. + +"Your Honours' most humble to be commanded, + +"RICH. WALSH." + + [28] November 8th. + + + + + CERVANTES' "DON QUIXOTE" REFORMS LITERATURE + + A.D. 1605 + + HENRY EDWARD WATTS + + + Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra is the most celebrated of Spanish + authors; but his fame rests upon a far more solid basis than merely + that of having written the most readable and tender of humorous + romances. He reformed literature. He tilted at windmills as truly as + ever his hero did, and overthrew the false taste for wordy pomp and + emptiness which was characteristic of his times. It was not only + Spanish literature that felt the impulse of his warm, frank honesty + and insight into life. All Europe was his debtor. + + Cervantes was an impoverished nobleman, that too common product of + Spain in those days when her American gold fleets had begun to fail + her. In his early manhood he was an author and then a soldier of + fortune in Italy. He fought as a common soldier on one of the Genoese + galleys in the great sea-fight of Lepanto, distinguished himself + there by his heroism, and was three times wounded, crippled in one + arm for life. Later he was captured by Algerian pirates, and was for + five years a slave, ever planning and attempting escapes, a daring, + dashing hero, the life and admiration of his fellow-captives. + + After his ransom and return to Spain, Cervantes once more took up + literature, the amusement of his youth. He became a playwright and + romancer. The government gave him a small position as a tax-collector, + but with such good-natured carelessness did he handle this + uncongenial employ that he had repeatedly to make good from his own + pocket the losses he entailed upon the government. Even this + unsatisfactory labor failed the impractical author about the period + of the death of King Philip II (1598). He was imprisoned for debt, + and sank into such abject poverty that he depended on his friends + for bread. How much the gloomy Philip II is satirized in Cervantes' + masterpiece has always been a disputed question. + + +The accession of the new King, which had been hailed as "the light after +darkness," had little effect on Cervantes' fortunes. Philip III, though +he had some taste for letters, and was not without sprouts of kindliness +in his heart, had been by education and by an over-strict regimen in +youth debased, so that he was even more completely a slave to the +priestly influence than his father had been, without any of his father's +ability or force of character. The Duke of Lerma was "the Atlas who bore +the burden of the monarchy."[1] He was a man, according to Quevedo, +"alluring and dexterous rather than intelligent; ruled by the interested +cunning of his own creatures but imperious with all others; magnificent, +ostentatious; choosing his men only by considerations of his own special +policy or from personal friendship." Under such a man, who ruled the King +at his will, it was not likely that any portion of the royal benevolence +should light on Miguel de Cervantes. Moreover, the crowd of suppliants at +court was very great, their appetite stimulated doubtless by the +flattering reports of the new King's liberal disposition. + + [1] The phrase was probably used by Cervantes in irony. It had been + used by others before, and was a common form. + +A contemporary writer laments with pathetic zeal and pious indignation +the lot of many famous captains and valiant soldiers, who, after serving +the King all their lives and being riddled with wounds, were not only +pushed aside into corners without any reward, but condemned to see +unworthy men without merit loaded with benefits, merely through enjoying +the favor of some minister or courtier.[2] The Duke of Lerma, as one who +professed a contempt for all letters and learning, was even less likely +to be influenced by Cervantes' literary merits than by his services as a +soldier--services which had now become an old story. Disappointed in his +hopes of preferment, Cervantes had to maintain himself and his family by +the exercise of his pen--writing, as we learn, letters and memorials for +those who needed them,[3] while busy upon his new book. + + [2] Fr. Sepulveda, quoted by Navarrete. + + [3] And "employed in various agencies and businesses," says + Navarrete, vaguely. + +Without the gifts which are in favor at court--unskilled in the arts of +solicitation--we can imagine, with a man of Cervantes' temperament, what +a special hell it must have been--"in suing long to bide." About this +time he seems almost to have dropped out of life. The four years between +1598 and 1602 are the obscurest in his story. We do not know where he +lived or what he did. It was the crisis of the struggle with his +unrelenting evil destiny. The presumption is that he was still in the +South, engaged in his humble occupation of gathering rents, of buying +grain for the use of the fleet, with intervals perhaps of social +enjoyment among such friends as he had made at Seville; among whom is +reckoned the painter Francisco de Pacheco. This was for our hero the +darkest hour before the dawn. For already, according to my calculation, +he must have begun to write _Don Quixote_, being now (1602) in his +fifty-fifth year.[4] He had duly qualified himself, by personal +experience, to tell the story of the adventures of him who sought to +revive the spirit of the ancient chivalry. His own romance was ended. The +pathetic lines of Goethe might seem to be written for his own case: + + "Wer nie sein Brod mit Thränen ass, + Wer nicht die kummervollen Nächte + Auf seinem Bette weinend sass, + Der kennt euch nicht, ihr himmlischen Mächte."[5] + + [4] That _Don Quixote_ could not have been written before 1591 is + proved by the mention in chapter vi of a book published in that + year. That it must have been written subsequently to 1596 is proved + by the reference in chapter xix to an incident which was not ended + till September, 1596 (see Navarrete). There are other hints and + allusions in the story which, I think, show that it could scarcely + have been begun while Philip II was alive. + + [5] From _Wilhelm Meister, Lehrjahre_, chapter xii, thus Englished + by Thomas Carlyle: + + "Who never ate his bread in sorrow, + Who never spent the darksome hours + Weeping and watching for the morrow, + He knew you not, ye unseen Powers." + +Never had any man of letters to go through a severer ordeal. At last his +genius found the true path for which it had been beating about so many +years; but not until his prime of life had passed, when even that brave +heart must have been chilled and that gay spirit deadened. + +In 1601 Philip III, at the instance of the Duke of Lerma, removed the +court to the old capital of Castile, Valladolid--by nature far better +situated for a metropolis than Madrid, which had been the choice of his +grandfather, Charles V. Thither Cervantes repaired, in 1603, doubtless +with some hope of gleaning some crumbs of the royal favor. He was no more +fortunate with the new King than he had been with the old. Despairing of +place or patronage, he turned, with his brave spirit unquenched as by the +record sufficiently appears, to completing this new thing among books. + +_Don Quixote_ was probably finished by the beginning of 1604, though some +further time elapsed, as it seems, before the author had courage to go to +print. His genius had lain fallow for twenty years. He was now old, and +had written nothing, or at least published nothing, since _Galatea_. What +fame was left to him he had earned as a poet among many poets. As an +author, if he was remembered at all, it was in a line wholly different +from that which he now essayed. There is reason to believe that the +manuscript of the new book was in circulation among those who called +themselves the author's friends, as was the custom of the age, before he +found a patron and a publisher.[6] The publisher was got at last in +Francisco Robles, the King's printer, to whom the copyright was sold for +ten years.[7] The patron appeared in the person of the Duque de Bejar, a +nobleman described by a writer of that age--Cristobal de Mesa--as himself +both a poet and a valiant soldier. The choice was not altogether a happy +one, for the Duke of Bejar might be said to have an ancestral claim to be +regarded as a patron of books of chivalries. It was to his great-grandfather +that one of the silliest and most extravagant of the romances had been +dedicated by the author, Feliciano de Silva, who is the writer specially +ridiculed by Cervantes--the very book which is the subject of a parody in +the opening chapter of _Don Quixote_.[8] The Duke of Bejar was noted, +moreover, for his own uncommon affection for the books of chivalries then +in fashion, and it is probable that he at first understood _Don Quixote_ +to be one such as he was in the habit of reading. Learning of his +mistake, he refused, it is said, the dedication, and withdrew his +patronage from the author. Then, according to the pleasant story first +told by Vicente de los Rios, was enacted that scene which has been so +favorite a subject with modern artists. Cervantes begged of the Duke to +give him a hearing before deciding against his book; upon which he was +permitted to read a chapter, which the Duke found so much to his taste +that he graciously readmitted the author into his favor and consented to +receive the dedication. There is another tradition which imputes to the +Duke's confessor--an ecclesiastic who must have had a cleaner nose for +heterodoxy than most of his fellows--the original rejection of the +dedication by the Duke, the alteration in its wording, and the subsequent +neglect of the author.[9] The dedication which now does duty at the +opening of the First Part of _Don Quixote_ I have shown to have been +tampered with by someone bearing no good-will to Cervantes. + + [6] There are two curious pieces of evidence in proof that _Don + Quixote_ was known before it was printed. In the first edition of + the _Picara Justina_, composed by Francisco de Ubeda--the license + to print which is dated August, 1604--there are some truncated + verses, like those in the beginning of _Don Quixote_, in which _Don + Quixote_ is mentioned by name as already famous (_Catalogo de + Salva_, vol. ii, p. 157). Also in a private letter from Lope de + Vega to his patron, the Duke of Sessa, there is a malignant + allusion to Cervantes, speaking of poets. "There is none so bad as + Cervantes, and none so foolish as to praise _Don Quixote_." The + letter is dated August 4, 1604. + + [7] That seems to have been the usual period for which a book was + licensed in that age. The sum which Cervantes received for his + copyright is not recorded. + + [8] The Third Part of _Don Florisel de Niquea_ was dedicated to a + former Duque de Bejar. See Salva's _Catalogo_, vol. ii, p. 14. + + [9] Cervantes is supposed to reflect on this meddlesome ecclesiastic + in Part II, chap, xxxi, of _Don Quixote_, where there is a passage + against those of the religious profession who "govern the houses + of princes," written with a bitterness most unusual in our author. + +The privilege of publication is dated September 26th, and the _Tasa_ +December 20,1604. The book itself, the First Part of _Don Quixote_ (it +was not so called in the first edition, of course), was printed by Juan +de la Cuesta during 1604, and published at Madrid in January, 1605.[10] +The impression was very carelessly made, and swarms with blunders, +typographical and otherwise, showing that it was not corrected or revised +by the author. The press-work, however, is quite equal in execution to +that of most books of that age. + + [10] Those who are fond of dwelling on coincidences may find one + here of singular interest. The year during which _Don Quixote_ was + being printed was also the year in which, according to the best + authorities, Shakespeare was producing his perfected _Hamlet_. The + two noblest works of human wit, their subjects bearing a curious + affinity one to another, each the story of a mind disordered by the + burden of setting the world right, were thus born in the same year. + +The reception which _Don Quixote_ met with on its first appearance was +cordial beyond all precedent, and such as must have convinced the author, +who was evidently doubtful of his new experiment, that here at last his +genius had found its true field of exercise. The persons of culture, +indeed, received the book coldly. The half-learned sneered at the title +as absurd and at the style as vulgar. Who was this _ingenio lego_--this +lay, unlearned wit--"a poor Latin-less author," which is what they said +of Shakespeare--outside of the _cultos_ proper, of no university +education--who had dared to parody the tastes of the higher circles? +The envy and malice of all his rivals--especially of those who found +themselves included in the satire--even the great Lope himself, the +phoenix of his age, then at the height of his glory--spoke out, with +open mouth, against the author. The chorus of dispraise was swelled by +all those, persons chiefly of high station, whose fashion of reading +had been ridiculed. A book, professing to be of entertainment, in which +knights and knightly exercises were made a jest of--in which peasants, +innkeepers, muleteers, and other vulgar people spoke their own language +and behaved after their own fashion--was a daring innovation, all the +more offensive because the laugh was directed at what was felt to be a +national infirmity. Who was the bold man who, being neither courtier +nor ecclesiastic, made sport for the world out of the weaknesses of +_caballeros_? An old soldier of Lepanto, indeed! Lepanto was a name +outworn. Spain was now in a new world. Crusades against the unbeliever, +even those more popular ones which combined the saving of souls with +the getting of gold, were long out of fashion. Lastly, the entire +ecclesiastical body--the formidable phalanx of the endowed, with their +patrons dependents, and dupes--though they were too dull to perceive +and too dense to feel the shafts aimed at obscurantism and superstition, +had something more than a suspicion that this book called _Don Quixote_ +was a book to be discouraged. + +In spite of the frowns and sneers of the quality, however, and the +ill-concealed disgust of the learned, _Don Quixote_ was received with +unbounded applause by the common people.[11] Those best critics in +every age and country, the honest readers, who were neither _bourgeois_ +nor genteel, neither learned nor ignorant, welcomed the book with a +joyous enthusiasm, as a wholly new delight and source of entertainment. +Nothing like it had ever appeared before. It was an epoch-marking book, +if ever there was one. + + [11] _Con general aplauso de las gentes_--he says in the Second + Part of _Don Quixote_, speaking through the mouth of the Duchess. + The legend, revived in the present age, that _Don Quixote_ hung + fire on the first publication, and that the author wrote + anonymously a tract called _El Buscapie_ (The Search-foot), in + order to explain his story and its object, rests only upon the + evidence of one Ruidiaz, and is contradicted by all the facts of + the case. No such aid was necessary to push the sale of the book, + whose purpose had been sufficiently explained by the author in + his preface. The so-called _Buscapie_, published in 1848 by + Adolfo de Castro, is an impudent forgery, which has imposed upon + no one. It is the composition of Señor de Castro himself, who is + a _farceur_, of some wit and more effrontery. Ticknor is even too + serious in the attention which he bestows on Señor de Castro and + his work, which an English publisher has thought worthy of a + translation. + +The proud and happy author himself spoke of his success with a frank +complacency which, in any other man, would savor of vanity. Some seven +or eight editions of _Don Quixote_ are supposed to have been printed in +the first year, of which six are now extant--two of Madrid, two of +Lisbon, and two of Valencia.[12] The number of copies issued from the +press in one year was probably in excess of the number reached by any +book since the invention of printing.[13] But though all Spain talked +of _Don Quixote_ and read _Don Quixote_, and though the book brought +him much fame, some consolation, and a few good friends, it does not +appear to have helped to mend the fortunes of Cervantes in any material +degree. In accordance with the usual dispensation, the author derived +the least benefit from his success. Francisco Robles and Juan de la +Cuesta, doubtless, made a good thing of it; but to Miguel de Cervantes +there must have come but a small share of the profit. The laws of +copyright were, in that age, little regarded; and it may be questioned +whether, in a book published in Madrid, they could be enforced outside +of Castile. The pirates and the wreckers were busy upon _Don Quixote_ +from its very earliest appearance; and its quick and plentiful +reproduction in all the chief cities, not only of Spain but of the +outside Spanish dominions, though highly flattering to the author, +could not have greatly helped to lighten his life of toil and penury. + + [12] Señor Gayangos is of opinion that there were other editions + of 1605 which have wholly perished; one probably at Barcelona, + the press of which city was very active in that year; one at + Pamplona, and probably one at Saragossa, which were capitals of + old kingdoms. See also Señor Asensio's letter to the _Ateneo_, + No. 23, p. 296; and the Bibliography of _Don Quixote_ at the end + of this volume. + + [13] The ordinary _obrada_, or impression, of a book at this + period, I am told by Señor Gayangos--and there can be no better + authority--was 250 copies. But in the case of a popular book like + _Don Quixote_ the impression would be larger--probably 500 copies. + Supposing 8 editions to have been issued in 1605, there would thus + have been printed 4,000 copies in the first year--a number + unprecedently large in an age when readers were few and books a + luxury. + +Taking the object of _Don Quixote_ to be, what Cervantes declared +it--"the causing of the false and silly books of chivalries to be +abhorred by mankind"--no book was ever so successful. The doughtiest +knight of romance never achieved an adventure so stupendous as that which +Miguel de Cervantes undertook and accomplished. With his pen, keener than +the lance of Esplandian or Felixmarte, he slew the whole herd of puissant +cavaliers, of very valiant and accomplished lovers. Before him went down +the Florisandros and Florisels, the Lisuartes and Lepolemos, the +Primaleons and the Polindos, and the whole brood of the invincible. +Scarcely a single romance was printed, and not one was written, after the +date of the publication of _Don Quixote_.[14] Such a revolution in +taste was never accomplished by any single writer, in any age or country. + + [14] The last book of the kind written before _Don Quixote_, + according to Clemencin, was _Policisne de Boecia_, published in + 1602; but _La Toledana Discreta_, which is a romantic poem in + _ottava rima_, was published in 1604, and a few chap-books and + religious romances, of the slighter kind, afterward. + +A few words only are here needed, in the discussion of that question +which has occupied so largely the ingenuity of writers, native and +foreign, as to what was the object of Cervantes in writing _Don Quixote_. +There are those who insist upon seeking in every work of humor or of wit +some meaning other and deeper than in the book appears, as though it were +impossible that an author should be disinterested or write merely out of +the fulness of his heart or pride in his work. With Cervantes' own +declaration, more than once repeated, of the purpose of his book the +critics will not be content. So good a book must have had a better reason +for being than Cervantes' dislike of the fantastic books of the later +chivalry. Who, then, was the man--the original of Don Quixote? Against +whom was the satire levelled? Of course nothing was then known to the +world outside of poor Don Rodrigo de Pacheco, the Argamasillan _hidalgo_. +Some great man Cervantes must have intended to ridicule. It was Charles +V, said some. It was his son Philip, cried others--ignoring the absurdity +of the Prudent one losing his wits through excessive reading of romances. +It was the Duke of Lerma--or the Duke of Osuna--or some other great man, +or Cervantes' wife's cousin, who opposed his marriage with Catalina. It +was Ignatius Loyola--our own countryman, the good John Bowle, suggested. + +Surely these various theories are a little far-fetched and not a little +grotesque and absurd. What there is in either of the two Spanish monarchs +to liken him to the Knight of La Mancha it is difficult to see. Those who +have looked upon that wonderful equestrian picture of Titian's in the +Museo at Madrid, with its weird, weary, far-off expression, are +irresistibly led to think of Don Quixote; but the converse is by no means +so clear that on looking at Don Quixote we are tempted to think of that +most unromantic of monarchs, Carlos Quinto.[15] His son is still more +unlike his supposed portrait. As to the Duke of Lerma, they who can +believe, on the faith of the cock-and-bull stories told by the Abbé +Lenglet du Fresnoy and the Jesuit Rapin, that Cervantes satirized the +all-powerful minister in revenge for personal injuries suffered at +his hands, may be consigned to the same limbo with the believers in +the Bacon-Shakespeare. The theory about Loyola, first mooted by Bowle, +the English commentator, is of all, perhaps, not the least absurd. The +one shred by which it hangs is a passage in _Don Quixote_ where the +angry Biscayan, the adversary of Don Quixote, is made a native of +Azpeitia--this being the name of the obscure village where Loyola was +born. + + [15] The question is reopened in the _España Moderna_ (1894), by + my good friend Asensio, who quotes from one of the histories of + Charles V how that as a youth he would draw his sword and lay about + him at the figures in the tapestry, and how once he was discovered + teasing a caged lion with a stick. This is slender material on + which to base the theory of Charles V being the original of Don + Quixote. + +A sufficient answer to all these theories is that contained in the book +itself. Surely no one has read _Don Quixote_ with profit to himself who +has been unable to see that the hero is not one whom the author desired +to revile or to malign. Never was a satire like this, which leaves us +full of love and sympathy for the object. And why cannot we believe the +author when he avers that never did his humble pen stoop to satire? He +meant, of course, the satire of persons as distinguished from the +reprehension and the ridicule of human follies and general vices. As a +lampoon, _Don Quixote_ could hardly have endured to this day. The spirit +which has given it eternal life is love, and not hate. + +To estimate the worth of the service performed by Cervantes--not in +abolishing romance, as has been absurdly said, still less in discrediting +chivalry, as with even a more perverse misconception of his purpose has +been suggested, but in purging books of fiction of their grossness and +their extravagance, and restoring romance to truth and to nature--we have +to consider the enormous influence exercised by this pernicious +literature over the minds of the people of Spain in the sixteenth +century. + +The ceaseless wars with the Moors had trained the whole manhood of the +nation to soldiership. The trade of fighting was familiar to every man of +good birth, so that the word for "knight" (_caballero_) came to be +synonymous with that for "gentleman." The constant exercise in arms made +of chivalry, in Spain, a more solemn and serious calling than elsewhere. +As a native writer says, with equal point and spirit, there was developed +by the chronic war with the Moor a _caballerismo_--there is none but +a Spanish word for a quality purely indigenous--essentially distinct from +the gay, fantastic chivalry of the North. It extended to all classes of +the people. It was not confined to the aristocracy. "Every Spaniard was +a warrior, every warrior a noble, and every noble a knight of his +country."[16] They had not to go far to seek for adventures. They had the +Paynim at home: Mahound and Termagaunt were at their doors. There was a +constant supply at hand of men of the wrong faith and alien habits--the +delight in fighting whom was enhanced by the fact that they equally were +possessed of the chivalric fervor, and, though Moors and misbelievers, +gentlemen still and cavaliers.[17] The long and desperate struggle for +existence evolved the highest qualities of the race. And small wonder it +was that out of that fruitful soil which had grown the Cid and the +warriors of the heroic age, who should be rightly classed as prechivalric, +there sprung up that ranker produce, the knights-errant. Of these, the +seekers after adventure, the bohemians of the knightly order, Spain, as +her native historians boast, was the teeming mother. No other country in +that age, or in the previous one, could show the world such a scene as +that gravely enacted before King Juan II and his court, when eighty +knights ran a-tilt with each other, and incurred serious loss of limb and +permanent injury to their persons, in order that one of them might fulfil +a fantastic vow made to his mistress.[18] + + [16] See the eloquent and judicious prologue to his _Romancero + General_ by Don Agustin Duran. + + [17] "Caballeros granadinos, + Aunque Moros, hijos d'algo." + + [18] See the account of the Paso Honroso, held at the instance of + Suero de Quiñones, before Juan II, in 1434, at the bridge of + Orbigo, near Leon, which is contained in Appendix D, vol. i, of my + translation of _Don Quixote_. + +Knight-errantry, which was a caprice in France and in England, in Spain +was a calling. No other country could afford such a field for it, and to +no other society was it so well suited. The grave and wise Fernando de +Pulgar, the counsellor and chronicler of Ferdinand and Isabella, speaks +with complacency of the noblemen he knew who had gone into foreign +countries in search of adventures, "so as to gain honor for themselves, +and the fame of valiant and hardy knights for the gentlemen of +Castile"--boasting that there were more Spanish knights of the errant +sort than of any other nation. + +The romance of chivalry was the natural growth of this fashion of +knight-errantry; and, like its parent, flourished nowhere so luxuriantly +as in Spain. _Amadis Of Gaul_ and _Belianis Of Greece_ are, in fact, as +much "racy of the soil" as _Don Quixote_ itself. + +There were some simple or devout enough to take the romance for a gospel, +who believed in Amadis as much as in any other hero or saint. In the +_Arte de Galanteria_, written by Francisco de Portugal about the close of +the sixteenth century, it is mentioned that a Portuguese poet, Simon de +Silveira, once swore upon the Evangelists that he believed the whole of +_Amadis_ to be true history. This is capped by another story in the same +book of how a certain knight came home from hunting and found his wife +and daughters dissolved in tears. Asking them what was the matter--whether +any child or relation was dead--they said "No; but Amadis is dead!" They +had come to the 174th chapter of _Lisuarte of Greece_, where the old +Amadis finally dies. + +The influence of the _Palmerins_ and of the Carlovingian romances, which +form a class by themselves, was scarcely inferior to that of _Amadis_. +_Palmerin of England_ himself, the patriarch of the family--that "Palm of +England," as Cervantes calls him--may be placed second to his rival in +merit. The difference in spirit is great between the two; for _Amadis_ +really is, though in its present form of the fifteenth, of the fourteenth +century, when chivalry was in its early prime; and _Palmerin_ was not +written till the sixteenth century, when the true ideal of knighthood had +already been dimmed by the lust of gold-seeking and religious adventure. +Southey, perhaps, ranks _Palmerin_ too high in the literary scale by +placing it on a level with _Amadis_, and averring that he knew "no +romance and no epic in which suspense is so successfully kept up." Of +their successors, the long line of sons, grandsons and nephews, each more +valiant and puissant than the last, it must be said that they are as +scant of beauty as of grace. In order to keep up the interest of their +readers, the authors of the Primaleons and the Polindos--the Florisels +and the Florisandos--were compelled to put in wonders on an ascending +scale; to pile up adventure upon adventure; to make the dragons fiercer, +the giants huger, the fighting more terrible, and the slaughter more +bloody. The popular appetite, which craved for more and more excitement +with every successive stimulant, could only be fed by inventions so +monstrous that it is a wonder the stomach of the readers of romances of +chivalry did not reject the nauseous aliment. Yet there is no evidence +of any decline in the production of these books up to the date of the +appearance of _Don Quixote_. + +It was to do battle with this brood of fabled monsters, against whom the +pulpit and the parliament had preached and legislated in vain, that +Cervantes took up his pen. The adventure was one reserved for his single +arm; and it was achieved with a completeness of success such as must have +astonished our hero himself, as we know by many signs that it disgusted +and irritated many of his literary rivals. The true nature of the service +performed, as well as Cervantes' motive in undertaking it, has been +greatly misrepresented. Nothing can be more certain than that his aim +in _Don Quixote_ was, primarily, to correct the prevailing false taste +in literature. What moral and social results followed were the necessary +consequences of the employment of his rare wit and humor on such a work. +There is no reason to believe that Cervantes, at first, had any more +serious intention than that which he avowed, namely, to give "a pastime +to melancholy souls"[19] in destroying "the authority and influence which +the books of chivalries have in the world and over the vulgar." That he +was not impelled to this work by any antipathy to knightly romances as +such--still less by any ambition to repress the spirit of chivalry, or to +purge the commonwealth of social and political abuses--is abundantly +proved by the whole tenor of his book, if not by the evidence of his +life. His own tastes strongly inclined him to books of romance. Perhaps +no one in that age had read more of those books, or was so deeply imbued +with their spirit. + + [19] See the _Viaje del Parnaso_, chapter iv: + + "Y he dado en _Don Quixote_ pasatiempo + Al pecho melancolico y mohino + En cualquiera sazon, en todo tiempo." + + ("And I am he in _Quixote_ who has given + A pastime for the melancholy soul + In every age, and all time and season.") + + Why cannot we believe the author, when he thus plainly and candidly + avows his purpose? + +The opinion of an acute Spanish writer, Don Vicente de Salva, on this +point we hold to be a very sensible one--"Cervantes did not intend to +satirize the substance and essence of books of chivalries, but only to +purge away their follies and impossibilities." What is _Don Quixote_ +itself, it is shrewdly added, but a romance of chivalry, "which has +ruined the fortunes of its predecessors by being so immensely in advance +of them"?[20] What was Cervantes' own last book, as we shall presently +show, but in some kind a romance of chivalry--not free, alas! from some +of the very errors he had himself burlesqued? Nay, what was Cervantes' +own life but a romance of chivalry? + + [20] See the essay of Salva's in Ochoa, _Apuntes para una + Biblioteca_, vol. ii, pp. 723-740. I know one great Spanish scholar + who has never forgiven Cervantes for destroying the books of + chivalries. But his anger is rather that of the bibliographer than + of the critic or patriot. He has the best collection of those evil + books in Europe. + +That, after all, the overthrow of the books of chivalries was but a small +part of the good work which Cervantes performed in _Don Quixote_ is only +to say that, like all great writers, he "builded better than he knew." +The pen of the genius, as Heine says, is ever greater than the man +himself. Rejecting all the many subtle and ingenious theories as to what +was Cervantes' object in writing his book; that it was a crusade against +enthusiasm, as even Heine seems to suspect; that it was a missionary +tract, intended to destroy popery and throw down antichrist, as some, +even bearded men, have dared to suggest; that it was a programme of +advanced liberalism artfully veiled under a mask of levity, and, indeed, +the forerunner of that gospel of sentimental cosmopolitanism since +preached by other eminent persons supposed to resemble Cervantes in their +characters or Don Quixote in their careers--I hold that the author wrote +but out of the fulness of his own heart, giving us, by a happy impulse, a +fable in which are transparently figured his own character, his own +experiences, and his own sufferings. What is the key but this to the +mystery which makes this book, on a purely local subject of passing +interest, the book of humanity for all time--as popular out of Spain as +among Spaniards? A mere burlesque would have died with the books which it +killed. A satire survives only so long as the person or the thing +satirized is remembered. But _Don Quixote_ lives, and, by a miracle of +genius, keeps _Amadis_ and _Palmerin_ alive. + +The invention is the most simple, as it is the most original, in +literature. From _Don Quixote_ dates an epoch in the art of fiction. For +once Cervantes was happy in his opportunity. And what is the secret of +his success? It is that this "child of his sterile, ill-cultured wit" is +no creature of pure fancy, but fashioned in the very likeness of its +parent, drawn out of his life, shaped after his pattern--an image of its +creator. How could Cervantes' romance fail of holding the field against +all the romances? It was his own life from which he drew--that life which +had been a true knight-errantry. The hero himself, the enthusiast, nursed +on visions of chivalry, who is ever mocked by fortune; the reviver of the +old knighthood, who is buffeted by clowns and made sport of by the baser +sort; who, in spite of the frequent blows, jeers, reverses, and indignities +he receives, never ceases to command our love and sympathy--who is he but +the man of Lepanto himself, whose life is a romance at least as various, +eventful, and arduous; as full of hardships, troubles, and sadness; as +prolific of surprising adventures and strange accidents, as the immortal +story he has written? This is the key to _Don Quixote_, which, unless we +use, we shall not reach to the heart of the mystery. + + + + + EARLIEST POSITIVE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA + + A.D. 1606 + + LOUIS BECKE AND WALTER JEFFERY + + + As shown by the authors of the following account, there is no lack of + evidence that it was belief in a great southern land which led early + geographers and sailors to belief in the existence of the Australian + continent. Notwithstanding this, it is held by some students of the + subject to be doubtful whether the first navigators who reached the + shores of Australia set out with any expectation of discovering a + great land in the south. + + Whether this was the case or not, it is argued that the earliest + achievements in that quarter were either of no definite consequence + or were imperfectly estimated by those who made or promoted the + discoveries in connection with which not even their names have been + preserved. + + The narrative of Becke and Jeffery, with its references to other + leading authorities, furnishes the completest and most recent + information on this subject available within the compass of a + reasonably brief survey. + + +Learned geographers have gone back to very remote times, even to the +Middle Ages, and, by the aid of old maps, have set up ingenious theories +showing that the Australian continent was then known to explorers. Some +evidence had been adduced of a French voyage in which the continent was +discovered in the youth of the sixteenth century, and, of course, it has +been asserted that the Chinese were acquainted with the land long before +Europeans ventured to go so far afloat. There is strong evidence that the +west coast of Australia was touched by the Spanish and the Portuguese +during the first half of the sixteenth century, and proof of its +discovery early in the seventeenth century. At the time of these very +early South Sea voyages the search, it should always be remembered, was +for a great antarctic continent. The discovery of islands in the Pacific +was, to the explorers, a matter of minor importance; New Guinea, although +visited by the Portuguese in 1526, up to the time of Captain Cook was +supposed by Englishmen to be a part of the mainland; and the eastern +coast of Australia, though touched upon earlier and roughly outlined upon +maps, remained unknown to them until Cook explored it. + +_Early Voyages to Australia_, by R.H. Major, printed by the Hakluyt +Society in 1859, is still the best collection of facts, and contains the +soundest deductions from them on the subject, and although ably written +books have since been published, the industrious authors have added +little or nothing in the way of indisputable evidence to that collected +by Major. The belief in the existence of the Australian continent grew +gradually and naturally out of a belief in a great southern land. G.B. +Barton, in an introduction to his valuable Australian history, traces +this from 1578, when Frobisher wrote: + +"Terra Australis seemeth to be a great, firm land, lying under and about +the south pole, being in many places a fruitful soil, and is not yet +thoroughly discovered, but only seen and touched on the north edge +thereof by the travel of the Portiugales and Spaniards in their voyages +to their East and West Indies. It is included almost by a parallel, +passing at 40 degrees in south latitude, yet in some places it reacheth +into the sea with great promontories, even into the tropic Capricornus. +Only these parts are best known, as over against Capo d'buona Speranza +(where the Portiugales see popinjayes commonly of a wonderful greatness), +and again it is known at the south side of the Straight of Magellanies, +and is called Terra del Fuego. It is thought this south land, about the +pole Antarctic, is far bigger than the north land about the pole Arctic; +but whether it be so or not, we have no certain knowledge, for we have no +particular description thereof, as we have of the land under and about +the north pole." + +Then Purchas, in 1578, says: "This land about the Straits is not +perfectly discovered, whether it be continent or islands. Some take it +for continent, and extend it more in their imagination than any man's +experience toward those islands of Saloman and New Guinea, esteeming (of +which there is great probability) that Terra Australis, or the Southern +Continent, may for the largeness thereof take a first place in order and +the first in greatness in the division and parting of the Whole World." + +The most important of the Spanish voyages was that made by De Quiros, who +left Callao in December, 1605, in charge of an expedition of three ships. +One of these vessels was commanded by Luis Vaez de Torres. De Quiros, who +is believed to have been by birth a Portuguese, discovered several island +groups and many isolated islands, among the former being the New +Hebrides, which he, believing he had found the continent, named Tierra +Australis del Espiritu Santo. Soon after, the ships commanded by De +Quiros became separated from the other vessels, and Torres took charge. +He subsequently found that the land seen was an island group, and so +determined to sail westward in pursuance of the scheme of exploration. In +about the month of August he fell in with a chain of islands--now called +the Louisiade Archipelago and included in the British possession of New +Guinea--which he thought, reasonably enough, was the beginning of New +Guinea, but which really lies a little to the southeast of that great +island. As he could not weather the group, he bore away to the southward, +and his subsequent proceedings are here quoted from Burney's _Voyages_: + + "We went along three hundred leagues of coast, as I have mentioned, + and diminished the latitude 2-1/2 degrees, which brought us into 9 + degrees. From thence we fell in with a bank of from 3 to 9 fathoms, + which extends along the coast to 7-1/2 south latitude; and the end of + it is in 5 degrees. We could go no further on for the many shoals and + great currents, so we were obliged to sail south-west in that depth + to 11 degrees south latitude. There is all over it an archipelago of + islands, without number, by which we passed; and at the end of the + eleventh degree the bank became shoaler. Here were very large + islands, and they appeared more to the southward. They were inhabited + by black people, very corpulent and naked. Their arms were lances, + arrows, and clubs of stone ill-fashioned. We could not get any of + their arms. We caught in all this land twenty persons of different + nations, that with them we might be able to give a better account to + your Majesty. They give (us) much notice of other people, although as + yet they do not make themselves well understood. We were upon this + bank two months, at the end of which time we found ourselves in + twenty-five fathoms and 5 degrees south latitude and ten leagues from + the coast; and having gone 480 leagues here, the coast goes to the + north-east. I did not search it, for the bank became very shallow. So + we stood to the north." + +The "very large islands" seen by Torres were, no doubt, the hills of Cape +York, the northernmost point of Australia, and so he, all unconsciously, +had passed within sight of the continent for which he was searching. A +copy of the report by Torres was lodged in the archives of Manila; and +when the English took that city in 1762, Dalrymple, the celebrated +geographer, discovered it, and gave the name of Torres Straits to what is +now well known as the dangerous passage dividing New Guinea from +Australia. De Quiros, in his ship, made no further discovery. He arrived +on the Mexican coast in October, 1606, and did all he could to induce +Philip III of Spain to sanction further exploration, but without success. + +Of the voyages of the Dutch in Australian waters much interesting matter +is available. Major sums up the case in these words: "The entire period +up to the time of Dampier, ranging over two centuries, presents these two +phases of obscurity: that in the sixteenth century--the period of the +Portuguese and Spanish discoveries--there are indications on maps of the +great probability of Australia having already been discovered, but with +no written documents to confirm them; while in the seventeenth century +there is documentary evidence that its coasts were touched upon or +explored by a considerable number of Dutch voyagers, but the documents +immediately describing these voyages have not been found." + +The period of known Dutch discovery begins with the establishment of the +Dutch East India Company, and a knowledge of the west coast of Australia +grew with the growth of the Dutch colonies, but grew slowly, for the +Dutchmen were too busy trading to risk ships and spend time and money +upon scientific voyages. + +In January, 1644, Commodore Abel Janszoon Tasman was despatched upon his +second voyage of discovery to the South Seas, and his instructions, +signed by the Governor-General of Batavia, Antonio van Diemen, begin with +a recital of all previous Dutch voyages of a similar character. From this +document an interesting summary of Dutch exploration can be made. Tasman, +in his first voyage, had discovered the island of Van Diemen, which he +named after the then Governor of Batavia, but which has since been named +Tasmania, after its discoverer. During this first voyage the navigator +also discovered New Zealand, passed round the east side of Australia +without seeing the land, and on his way home sailed along the northern +shore of New Guinea. + +But to come back to the summary of Dutch voyages found in Tasman's +instructions: During 1605 and 1606 the Dutch yacht Duyphen made two +exploring voyages to New Guinea. On one trip, the commander, after +coasting New Guinea, steered southward along the islands on the west side +of Torres Straits to that part of Australia, a little to the west and +south of Cape York, marked on modern maps as Duyphen Point, thus +unconsciously--for he thought himself still on the west coast of New +Guinea--making the first authenticated discovery of the continent. + +Dirk Hartog, in command of the Endragt, while on his way from Holland to +the East Indies, put into what Dampier afterward called Shark's Bay, and +on an island, which now bears his name, deposited a tin plate with an +inscription recording his arrival, and dated October 25, 1616. The plate +was afterward found by a Dutch navigator in 1697, and replaced by +another, which, in its turn, was discovered in July, 1801, by Captain +Hamelin, of the Naturaliste, on the well-known French voyage in search of +the ill-fated La Perouse. The Frenchman copied the inscription, and +nailed the plate to a post, with another recording his own voyage. These +inscriptions were a few years later removed by De Freycinet, and +deposited in the museum of the Institute of Paris. Hartog ran along the +coast a few degrees, naming the land after his ship, and was followed by +many other voyagers at frequent intervals down to the year 1727, from +which time Dutch exploration has no more a place in Australian discovery. + +During the one hundred twenty-two years of which we have records of their +voyages, although the Dutch navigators' work, compared with that done by +Cook and his successors, was of small account, yet, considering the state +of nautical science, and that the ships were for the most part Dutch East +Indiamen, the Dutch names which still sprinkle the north and the west +coasts of the continent show that from Cape York in the extreme north, +westward of the great Australian Bight in the south, the Dutchmen had +touched at intervals the whole coast line. + +But before leaving the Dutch period there are one or two voyages that, +either on account of their interesting or important character, deserve +brief mention. In 1623 Arnhem's Land, now the northern district of the +northern territory of South Australia, was discovered by the Dutch yachts +Pesa and Arnhem. This voyage is also noteworthy on account of the +massacre of the master of the Arnhem and eight of his crew by the natives +while they were exploring the coast of New Guinea. In 1627 the first +discovery of the south coast was made by the Gulde Zeepard, and the land +then explored, extending from Cape Leeuwin to the Nuyts Archipelago, on +the South Australian coast, was named after Peter Nuyts, then on board +the ship on his way to Batavia, whence he was sent to Japan as ambassador +from Holland. + +In the year 1628 a colonizing expedition of eleven vessels left Holland +for the Dutch East Indies. Among these ships was the Batavia, commanded +by Francis Pelsart. A terrible storm destroyed ten of the fleet, and on +June 4, 1629, the Batavia was driven ashore on the reef still known as +Houtman's Abrolhos, which had been discovered and named by a Dutch East +Indiaman some years earlier--probably by the commander of the Leeuwin, +who discovered and named after his ship the cape at the southwest point +of the continent. The Batavia, which carried a number of chests of silver +money, went to pieces on the reef. The crew of the ship managed to land +upon the rocks, and saved some food from the wreck, but they were without +water. Pelsart, in one of the ship's boats, spent a couple of weeks in +exploring the inhospitable coast in the neighborhood, in the hope of +discovering water, but found so little that he ultimately determined to +attempt to make Batavia and from there bring succor to his ship's +company. On July 3d he fell in with a Dutch ship off Java and was taken +on to Batavia. From there he obtained help and returned to the wreck, +arriving at the Abrolhos in the middle of September; but during the +absence of the commander the castaways had gone through a terrible +experience, which is related in Therenot's _Recueil de Voyages curieux_, +and translated into English in Major's book, from which the following is +extracted: + + "While Pelsart is soliciting assistance, I will return to those of + the crew who remained on the island; but I should first inform you + that the supercargo, named Jerome Cornelis, formerly an apothecary at + Haarlem, had conspired with the pilot and some others, when off the + coast of Africa, to obtain possession of the ship and take her to + Dunkirk, or to avail themselves of her for the purpose of piracy. + This supercargo remained upon the wreck ten days after the vessel had + struck, having discovered no means of reaching the shore. He even + passed two days upon the mainmast, which floated, and, having from + thence got upon a yard, at length gained the land. In the absence of + Pelsart, he became commander, and deemed this a suitable occasion for + putting his original design into execution, concluding that it would + not be difficult to become master of that which remained of the + wreck, and to surprise Pelsart when he should arrive with the + assistance which he had gone to Batavia to seek, and afterward to + cruise in these seas with his vessel. To accomplish this it was + necessary to get rid of those of the crew who were not of his party; + but before inbruing his hands with blood he caused his accomplices to + sign a species of compact, by which they promised fidelity one to + another. The entire crew was divided (living upon) between three + islands; upon that of Cornelis, which they had named the graveyard of + Batavia, was the greatest number of men. + + "One of them, by name Weybehays, a lieutenant, had been despatched to + another island to seek for water, and having discovered some after a + search of twenty days he made the preconcerted signal by lighting + three fires, but in vain, for they were not noticed by the people of + Cornelis' company, the conspirators having during that time murdered + those who were not of their party. Of these they killed thirty or + forty. Some few saved themselves upon pieces of wood, which they + joined together, and, going in search of Weybehays, informed him of + the horrible massacre that had taken place. + + "Having with him forty-five men, he resolved to keep upon his guard, + and to defend himself from their assassins if they should make an + attack upon his company, which in effect they designed to do, and to + treat the other party in the same manner; for they feared lest their + company, or that which remained upon the third island, should inform + the commander upon his arrival, and thus prevent the execution of + their design. They succeeded easily with the party last mentioned, + which was the weakest, killing the whole of them, excepting seven + children and some women. They hoped to succeed as easily with + Weybehays' company, and in the mean while broke open the chests of + merchandise which had been saved from the vessel. Jerome Cornelis + caused clothing to be made for his company out of the rich stuffs + which he found therein, choosing to himself a bodyguard, each of whom + he clothed in scarlet, embroidered with gold and silver. Regarding + the women as part of the spoil, he took one for himself, and gave one + of the daughters of the minister to a principal member of his party, + abandoning the other three for public use. He drew up also certain + rules for the future conduct of his men. + + "After these horrible proceedings he caused himself to be elected + captain-general by a document which he compelled all his companions + to sign. He afterward sent twenty-two men in two shallops to destroy + the company of Weybehays, but they met with a repulse. Taking with + him thirty-seven men, he went himself against Weybehays, who received + him at the water's edge as he disembarked, and forced him to retire, + although the lieutenant and his men had no weapons but clubs, the + ends of which were armed with spikes. + + "Finding force unavailing, the mutineer had recourse to other means. + He proposed a treaty of peace, the chaplain, who remained with + Weybehays, drawing up the conditions. It was agreed to with this + proviso, that Weybehays' company should remain unmolested, and they, + upon their part, agreed to deliver up a little boat in which one of + the sailors had escaped from the island where Cornelis was located to + that of Weybehays, receiving in return some stuffs for clothing his + people. During his negotiations Cornelis wrote to certain French + soldiers who belonged to the lieutenant's company, offering to each a + sum of money to corrupt them, with the hope that with this assistance + he might easily compass his design. His letters, which were without + effect, were shown to Weybehays, and Cornelis, who was ignorant of + their disclosure, having arrived the next day with three or four + others to find Weybehays and bring him the apparel, the latter caused + him to be attacked, killed two or three of the company, and took + Cornelis himself prisoner. One of them, by name Wouterlos, who + escaped from this rout, returned the following day to renew the + attack, but with little success. + + "Pelsart arrived during these occurrences in the frigate Sardam. As + he approached the wreck he observed smoke from a distance, a + circumstance that afforded him great consolation, since he perceived + by it that his people were not all dead. He cast anchor, and threw + himself immediately into a skiff with bread and wine, and proceeded + to land on one of the islands. Nearly at the same time a boat came + alongside with four armed men. Weybehays, who was one of the four, + informed him of the massacre, and advised him to return as speedily + as possible to his vessel, for that the conspirators designed to + surprise him, having already murdered twenty-five persons, and to + attack him with two shallops, adding that he himself had that morning + been at close quarters with them. Pelsart perceived at the time the + two shallops coming toward him, and had scarcely got on board his + vessel before they came alongside. + + "He was surprised to see the people covered with embroidery of gold + and silver, and weapons in their hands, and demanded of them why they + approached the vessel armed. They replied that they would inform him + when they came on board. He commanded them to cast their arms into + the sea or otherwise he would sink them. Finding themselves compelled + to submit, they threw away their weapons, and, being ordered on + board, were immediately placed in irons. One of them, named Jan de + Bremen, confessed that he had put to death or assisted in the + assassination of twenty-seven persons. The same evening Weybehays + brought his prisoner on board. + + "On September 18th the captain and the master pilot, taking with them + ten men of Weybehays' company, passed over in boats to the island of + Cornelis. Those who still remained thereon lost all courage as soon + as they saw them, and allowed themselves to be placed in irons." + +Pelsart remained another week at the Abrolhos, endeavoring to recover +some of the Batavia's treasure, and succeeded in finding all but one +chest. The mutineers were tried by the officers of the Sardam, and all +but two were executed before the ship left the scene of their awful +crime. The two men who were not hanged were put on shore on the mainland, +and were probably the first Europeans to end their lives upon the +continent. Dutch vessels for many years afterward sought for traces of +the marooned seamen, but none was ever discovered. + +The 1644 voyage of Tasman was made expressly for the purpose of exploring +the north and northwestern shores of the continent, and to prove the +existence or otherwise of straits separating it from New Guinea. Tasman's +instructions show this, and prove that while the existence of the straits +was suspected, and although Torres had unconsciously passed through them, +they were not known. Tasman explored a long length of coast line, +establishing its continuity from the extreme northwestern point, Arnhem +Land, as far as the twenty-second degree of south latitude, Exmouth Gulf. +He failed to prove the existence of Torres Straits; but to him, it is +generally agreed, is due the discovery and naming of the Gulf of +Carpentaria--Carpenter, in Tasman's time, being president at Amsterdam of +the Dutch East India Company--and the naming of a part of North +Australia, as he had previously named the island to the south, after Van +Diemen. From this voyage dates the name "New Holland." The great stretch +of coast lines embracing his discoveries became known to his countrymen +as Hollandia Nova, a name which, in its English form, was adopted for the +whole continent, and remained until it was succeeded by the more +euphonious name of Australia. Tasman continued doing good service for the +Dutch East India Company until his death, about 1659, at Batavia. + + + + + SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA + + CHARTER UNDER WHICH AMERICA WAS COLONIZED + + A.D. 1607 + + R. R. HOWISON + + + As the first of the original English colonies in North America, + Virginia enjoys a primacy in our history which, however other + sectional claims may be contested, is beyond dispute. The name + Virginia, which in 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh gave to his settlement on + the Carolina coast, at first covered an indefinite extent of the + great central territory of the continent. + + After the failure and disappearance of Raleigh's colony, no further + attempts were made to settle the region until 1606, when new interest + in American colonization had been aroused in England. The credit for + awakening this interest is given to Bartholomew Gosnold, an English + navigator who, in 1602, sailed directly west and in May reached Cape + Cod. Then, coasting along New England, he found and named Martha's + Vineyard, and in July returned to England. + + English adventurers were so much impressed with his enthusiastic + reports and his arguments in favor of new endeavors to occupy western + lands, that they began to urge a fresh undertaking. Gosnold's views + were strongly supported by the geographer Richard Hakluyt, "to whom + America owes a heavy debt of gratitude." There were numerous offers + of money and service, and when application was made to King James I + he was quite ready to sanction the project. He is said to have + thought of the profits that might return to him and also of the + satisfaction to be found in being rid of the "turbulent spirits" sure + to be drawn into the enterprise. + + +On April 10, 1606, James I issued a patent to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir +George Somers, Richard Hakluyt, and others with them associated, under +which they proposed to embark upon their eagerly sought scheme. This +royal grant deserves our close attention, as it will explain the nature +of the enterprise and the powers originally enjoyed by those who entered +upon it. + +Selecting for the scene of operations the beautiful belt of country lying +between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth parallels of north latitude, +the King certainly provided an ample field for the success of the +patentees. This tract extends from Cape Fear to Halifax, and embraces all +the lands between its boundaries in North America, except perhaps the +French settlement in Arcadia, which had already been so far matured as to +come under the excluding clause of the patent. For colonizing this +extensive region the King appointed two companies of adventurers--the +first consisting of noblemen, knights, gentlemen, and others in and about +the city of London, which, through all its subsequent modifications, was +known by the title of the London Company; the other consisted of knights, +gentlemen, merchants, and others in and about the town of Plymouth, and +was known as the Plymouth Company, though its operations were never +extensive and were at last utterly fruitless. + +To the London adventurers was granted exclusive right to all the +territory lying between the thirty-fourth and thirty-eighth parallels and +running from the ocean to an indefinite extent westward into the wilds of +America, even to the waters of the Pacific. They were also allowed all +the islands, fisheries, and other marine treasures within one hundred +miles directly eastward from their shores and within fifty miles from +their most northern and most southern settlements, following the coast to +the northeast or southwest, as might be necessary. Within these limits +ample jurisdiction was conferred upon them. To the Plymouth Company were +granted in like manner the land and appurtenances between the forty-first +and forty-fifth parallels. Thus the whole region between thirty-eight and +forty-one was left open to the enterprise of both companies; but to +render angry collision impossible, the charter contained the judicious +clause above noted, by which each colony might claim exclusive right +fifty miles north or south of its extreme settlements, and thus neither +could approach within one hundred miles of the other. + +The hope of gold and silver from America was yet clinging with tenacity +to the English mind. James grants to the companies unlimited right to dig +and obtain the precious and other metals, but reserves to himself +one-fifth of all the gold and silver and one-fifteenth of all the copper +that might be discovered. Immediately after this clause we find a section +granting to the councils for the colonies authority to coin money and use +it among the settlers and natives. This permission may excite some +surprise when we remember that the right to coin has been always guarded +with peculiar jealousy by English monarchs, and that this constituted one +serious charge against the Massachusetts colony in the unjust proceedings +by which her charter was wrested from her in subsequent years. + +To the companies was given power to carry settlers to Virginia and plant +them upon her soil, and no restriction was annexed to this authority +except that none should be taken from the realm upon whom the King should +lay his injunction to remain. The colonists were permitted to have arms +and to resist and repel all intruders from foreign states; and it was +provided that none should trade and traffic within the colonies unless +they should pay or agree to pay to the treasurers of the companies 2½ per +cent, on their stock in trade if they were English subjects, and 5 per +cent, if they were aliens. The sums so paid were to be appropriated to +the company for twenty-one years from the date of the patent, and +afterward were transferred to the crown. James never forgot a prospect +for gain, and could not permit the colonists to enjoy forever the customs +which, as consumers of foreign goods, they must necessarily have paid +from their resources. + +The jealous policy which at this time forbade the exportation, without +license, of English products to foreign countries, has left its impress +upon this charter. The colonists were, indeed, allowed to import all +"sufficient shipping and furniture of armour, weapons, ordinance, powder, +victual, and all other things necessary," without burdensome restraint; +but it was provided that if any goods should be shipped from England or +her dependencies "with pretence" to carry them to Virginia, and should +afterward be conveyed to foreign ports, the goods there conveyed and the +vessel containing them should be absolutely forfeited to his majesty, his +heirs and successors. + +The lands held in the colonies were to be possessed by their holders +under the most favorable species of tenure known to the laws of the +mother-country. King James had never admired the military tenure entailed +upon England by the feudal system, and he had made a praiseworthy though +unsuccessful effort to reduce them all to the form of "free and common +soccage," a mode of holding land afterward carried into full effect under +Charles II, and which, if less pervaded by the knightly spirit of feudal +ages, was more favorable to the holder and more congenial with the +freedom of the English constitution. This easy tenure was expressly +provided for the lands of the new country; and it is a happy circumstance +that America has been little affected even by the softened bonds thus +early imposed upon her. + +But how shall these colonial subjects be governed? and from whom shall +they derive their laws? These were questions to which the vanity and the +arbitrary principles of the King soon found a reply. Two councils were to +be provided, one for each colony, and each consisting of thirteen +members. They were to govern the colonists according to such laws, +ordinances, and instructions as should afterward be given by the King +himself, under his sign manual and the privy seal of the realm of +England; and the members of the council were to be "ordained, made, and +removed from time to time," as the same instructions should direct. In +addition to these provincial bodies a council of thirteen, likewise +appointed by the King, was to be created in England, to which was +committed the general duty of superintending the affairs of both +colonies. + +And to prove the pious designs of a monarch whose religion neither +checked the bigotry of his spirit nor the profaneness of his language it +was recited in the preamble of this charter that one leading object of +the enterprise was the propagation of Christianity among "such people as +yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and +worship of God, and might in time be brought to human civility and to a +settled and quiet government." + +Such was the first charter of James to the colony of Virginia. We will +not now pause to consider it minutely either for praise or for blame. +With some provisions that seem to be judicious, and which afterward +proved themselves to be salutary, it embraces the most destructive +elements of despotism and dissension. The settlers were deprived of the +meanest privilege of self-government, and were subjected to the control +of a council wholly independent of their own action, and of laws +proceeding directly or indirectly from the King himself. The Parliament +of England would have been a much safer depositary of legislative power +for the colonists than the creatures of a monarch who held doctrines +worthy of the Sultan of Turkey or the Czar of the Russian empire. + +But all parties seemed well satisfied with this charter, and neither the +King nor the adventurers had before their minds the grand results that +were now giving birth. The patentees diligently urged forward +preparations for the voyage, and James employed his leisure hours in +preparing the instructions and code of laws contemplated by the charter. +His wondrous wisdom rejoiced in the task of acting the modern Solon, and +penning statutes which were to govern the people yet unborn; and neither +his advisers nor the colonists seemed to have reflected upon the enormous +exercise of prerogative herein displayed. The adventurers did not cease +to be Englishmen in becoming settlers of a foreign clime, and the charter +had expressly guaranteed to them "all liberties, franchises, and +immunities" enjoyed by native-born subjects of the realm. Even acts of +full Parliament bind not the colonies unless they be expressly included, +and an English writer of subsequent times has not hesitated to pronounce +this conduct of the royal law-maker in itself illegal (November 20th). +But James proceeded with much eagerness to a task grateful alike to his +vanity and his principles of government. + +By these articles of instruction, the King first establishes the general +council, to remain in England, for the superintendence of the colonies. +It consisted originally of thirteen, but was afterward increased to +nearly forty, and a distinction was made in reference to the London and +Plymouth companies. In this body we note many names which were afterward +well known both in the interests of America and the mother-land. + +Sir William Wade, lieutenant of the Tower of London; Sir Thomas Smith, +Sir Oliver Cromwell, Sir Herbert Croft, Sir Edwin Sandys, and others +formed a power to whom were intrusted many of the rights of the intended +settlement. They were authorized, at the pleasure and in the name of his +majesty, to give directions for the good government of the settlers in +Virginia, and to appoint the first members of the councils to be resident +in the colonies. + +These resident councils thus appointed, or the major part of them, were +required to choose from their own body a member, not being a minister of +God's Word, who was to be president, and to continue in office for a +single year. They were authorized to fill vacancies in their own body, +and, for sufficient cause, to remove the president and elect another in +his stead; but the authority to "increase, alter, or change" these +provincial councils was reserved as a final right to the King. + +The Church of England was at once established, and the local powers were +to require that the true word and service of God, according to her +teachings, should be preached, planted, and used, not only among the +settlers, but, as far as possible, among the sons of the forest. + +The crimes of the rebellion, tumults, conspiracy, mutiny, and sedition, +as well as murder, incest, rape, and adultery, were to be punished with +death, without benefit of clergy. To manslaughter, clergy was allowed. +These crimes were to be tried by jury, but the president and council were +to preside at the trial--to pass sentence of death--to permit no reprieve +without their order, and no absolute pardon without the sanction of the +King, under the great seal of England. + +But with the exception of these capital felonies, the president and +council were authorized to hear and determine all crimes and +misdemeanors, and all civil cases, without the intervention of a jury. +These judicial proceedings were to be summary and verbal, and the +judgment only was to be briefly registered in a book kept for the +purpose. + +For five years succeeding the landing of the settlers, all the results of +their labor were to be held in common, and were to be stored in suitable +magazines. The president and the council were to elect a "cape merchant" +to superintend these public houses of deposit, and two clerks to note all +that went into or came out from them, and every colonist was to be +supplied from the magazines by the direction and appointment of these +officers or of the council. + +The adventurers of the first colony were to choose from their number one +or more companies, each to consist of at least three persons, to reside +in or near London, and these were to superintend the general course of +trade between the mother-country and her distant daughter, and direct it +into such channels as would be most advantageous to both. + +No person was to be admitted to reside in the colonies but such as would +take oath of obedience to the King, in the ample form provided for by a +statute passed early in the reign of James, and any rash offenders who +should attempt to withdraw from allegiance to his majesty was to be +imprisoned until reformation, or else sent to England, there to receive +"condign punishment." + +The president and councils, or the major part of them, were empowered, +from time to time, to make, ordain, and constitute laws, ordinances, and +officers for the better government of the colony, provided that none of +these laws affected life or limb in the settlers. Their enactments were +also required to be, in substance, consonant to the jurisprudence of +England, and the King or the council in the mother-country was invested +with absolute power at any time to rescind and make void the acts of the +provincial councils. + +As the colonists should increase in population and influence the King +reserves to himself the right to legislate for them; but condescends to +restrict his law-making energies to such action as might be "consonant to +the law of England or the equity thereof." + +And to show his tender feelings toward the aborigines, whose lands he was +so deliberately appropriating to the use of his subjects, his majesty +requires that they shall be treated with all kindness and charity and +that all proper means should be used to bring them to "the knowledge of +God and the obedience of the King, his heirs and successors, under such +severe pains and punishments as should be inflicted by the respective +presidents and councils of the several colonies." + +On these kindly ordinances the philosophic reader will not fail to +observe the impress of the man. The stern penalty of death visited the +crimes of rebellion and conspiracy, which aimed a blow at sovereign +power, and even the popular tumult, which kings have so much cause to +dread, was stilled by the same bloody monitor; yet arson and burglary +were left to the discretion of the councils. Adultery was punished with +death--a penalty never inflicted even in England, except during a time of +puritanic zeal, which offered God a service without knowledge. In the eye +of divine purity the offender, by this crime, may be the vilest of the +vile, but if the Redeemer of the world refused to denounce the punishment +of death against one taken in the act, it devolved not on this Scottish +Draco to render it a capital crime. The whole legislative power is vested +in the council, without any reference to the interests or the rights of +the people whom they were to govern, and the King retains absolute +control over the present and future laws of the colony, thus rendering +their great distance from his face the best protection they could have +against his tyranny. The trial by jury was required for capital felonies +and manslaughter; but all inferior offences and every civil interest, +however overwhelming in importance to the colonist, were to be summarily +decided upon by the provincial councils. In the same space it would have +been difficult to compress more absurd concession and of ruinous +restraint. The clause requiring all things to be held in common was +destructive of the most powerful stimulus that urges man to labor; the +semblance of mercy which forbade war upon the savages often held the hand +of the settler when raised in self-defence; and the church establishment, +forced by the arm of the law upon reckless adventurers, made religion a +hated bondage and the tithe-gatherer more odious than the author of evil. + +But notwithstanding the defects and deformities of a charter which, in +modern times, would have been indignantly rejected as an invasion of the +rights of man, the London Company eagerly prepared for their proposed +scheme of settlement. Sir Thomas Smith was elected treasurer--a gentleman +who had amassed great wealth by merchandise, who was one of the assignees +under Raleigh's patent, and was soon afterward made governor of the East +India Company. Much has been said against him; but he was a man of public +spirit and expanded views, and urged forward the enterprise with his +influence and his contributions. The means of the company were at first +very limited; three ships only were prepared, the largest of which was of +not more than one hundred tons burden, and Christopher Newport was +selected for the command. He was a navigator of some renown, principally +derived from a voyage of destruction against the Spaniards in 1592; but +he was a vain and affected character, little calculated for decisive and +manly action. Instructions were prepared, but the King, with his +accustomed profundity of folly, directed that they should be sealed in a +box, and not opened until the voyagers arrived upon the coasts of +Virginia. In the vessels there embarked, beyond the regular crews, one +hundred five persons, to form the settlement. And it does not seem +extravagant to assert that Virginia has felt, through all her subsequent +history, the influence of these first settlers in giving a peculiar bias +to her population. Besides the six gentlemen intended for the council, +and Mr. Robert Hunt, a minister of the gospel, we find the names of more +than fifty cavaliers, who are carefully reckoned in the shipping list as +"gentlemen," and who were better fitted for the adventures of the +drawing-room than for the rude scenes of the American forest. +Disappointed in hope and reduced in fortune, these restless wanderers +sought the New World with desire for exciting adventure and speedy +wealth. Among them was George Percy, a member of a noble family and +brother to the Earl of Northumberland. In this singular band we note but +eleven professed laborers, four carpenters, one blacksmith, one +bricklayer, and one mason: but we are not surprised to find a barber to +aid in making the toilet of the "gentlemen," a tailor to decorate their +persons, and a drummer to contribute to their martial aspirations! + +Thus prepared with the elements of a refined colony, Newport set sail +from Blackwall, December 19, 1606. Adverse winds kept him long upon the +coast of England, and with disappointment came discord and murmuring +among the voyagers. The preacher suffered with weakening disease, but his +soothing counsels alone preserved peace among this wild company. Instead +of following Gosnold's former voyage immediately across the Atlantic, +they sailed by the Canaries and West Indies; and while in full route, the +dissensions among the great men raged so furiously that Captain John +Smith was seized and committed to close confinement on the false charge +that he intended to murder the council and make himself King of Virginia. +Arriving at length near the coast of America, their false reckoning kept +them in suspense so alarming that Ratcliffe, commander of one of the +barks, was anxious to bear away again for England. + +But heaven, by its storms, contributed more to the settlements of +Virginia than men by their infatuated counsels (1607). A furious tempest +drove them all night under bare poles, and on April 26th they saw before +them the broad inlet into the Bay of Chesapeake. The cape to the south +they honored with the name of Henry, from the Prince of Wales, a noble +youth, whose character gave the fairest promise of a career of +high-souled action, whose love to Raleigh was only succeeded by his +father's hatred, and whose early death gave England cause for unaffected +mourning. The northern headland was called Charles, from the King's +second son, who afterward succeeded to his throne. + +As they passed the first cape a desire for recreation possessed them--and +thirty, without arms, went on shore; but they were soon attacked by five +savages, and two of the English were dangerously hurt. This inhospitable +treatment promised but little for future peace. The sealed box was now +opened, and it was found that Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Edward +Maria Wingfield, Christopher Newport, John Ratcliffe, John Martin, and +George Kendall were named as members of the Provincial Council. + +Sailing leisurely up the beautiful expanse of water to which the Indians +had given a name that Europeans have never violated, the voyagers were +charmed with the prospect before them. The season was mild, and nature +had fully assumed that emerald robe of spring. On either side the distant +land presented a scene of tranquil verdure, upon which the eye might +rejoice to repose. The noble bay received into its bosom the waters of +many broad streams, which descended from the highlands faintly visible in +the dim horizon. Green islands saluted them at times as they advanced and +invited their approach by their peaceful loveliness. + +At length they reached the mouth of the magnificent river, that tempted +them too strongly to be resisted. This was the "Powhatan" of the Indians; +and no true lover of Virginia can cease to deplore the change which +robbed this graceful stream of a title pregnant with all the associations +of Indian valor and of the departed glory of their empire, and bestowed a +name that can only recall a royal pedant and a timid despot! + +Seventeen days were employed in searching for a spot suited to a +settlement (May 13th). At length they selected a peninsula, on the north +side of the river, about forty miles from its mouth, and immediately +commenced the well-known city of Jamestown. + +A commendable industry seems at first to have prevailed. The council +contrived a fort, the settlers felled the trees, pitched their tents, +prepared gardens, made nets for the fish which abounded in the river, and +already began to provide clapboards to freight the ships on their return +to England. + +But these fair promises of good were destined to a speedy betrayal. +Already discord prevailed in their counsels, and a flagrant act of +injustice had been committed, which soon recoiled upon the heads of its +authors. We have heretofore mentioned the name of John Smith among the +persons nominated for the council, and have spoken of the violent +imprisonment to which he was subjected during the outward voyage. +Jealousy of his merit and commanding talents did not stop at this point. +He was excluded from his place in the council, and an entry was made in +their records detailing the alleged reason for this act. + +John Smith is the hero of the romantic destinies that attended the early +life of Virginia; and the historian who would attempt to tell of her +fortunes and yet neglect his story would be recreant to his trust. +Nations have generally owed their brightest days of power or of happiness +to the genius of a single person--directing their energies, subduing +their follies, enlightening their seasons of early ignorance. Assyria has +had her Semiramis, China her Confucius, Arabia her Mahomet, England her +Alfred; and were we required to point to the man to whom America is +principally indebted for the care of her infant years, we would not +hesitate to name the heroic spirit who now appears before us. + +His talent for command excited the mean jealousy of inferior souls, only +that his merit might appear brighter by contrast. If we have aught to +urge against him, it is that he met the treachery of the Indians with a +severe spirit, but too much akin to that of the Spaniards in the South. +Yet we cannot reproach him with undeserved cruelty or with deliberate +falsehood, and the stern demands of his circumstances often rendered +inevitable acts which would otherwise have been ungrateful to his soul. + +When the council was constituted, Edward Maria Wingfield was elected +president--a man who always proved an inveterate enemy to Smith, and who +speedily attracted the hatred even of his accomplices by his rapacity, +his cowardice, and his selfish extravagance. Smith demanded a trial, but +the council feared to trust their wretched charge to an impartial jury, +and pretended, in mercy to him, to keep him under suspension. But their +own incompetence soon brought his talents into demand. He accompanied +Newport upon an exploring voyage up the river, and ascended to the +residence of King Powhatan, a few miles below the falls, and not far from +the spot now occupied by the city of Richmond. The royal seat consisted +of twelve small houses, pleasantly placed on the north bank of the river, +and immediately in front of three verdant islets. His Indian majesty +received them with becoming hospitality, though his profound +dissimulation corresponded but too well with the treacherous designs of +his followers. He had long ruled with sovereign sway among the most +powerful tribes of Virginia, who had been successively subdued by his +arms, and he now regarded with distrust the event of men whom his +experience taught him to fear and his injuries to detest. + +On their return to Jamestown they found that, during their absence, the +Indians had made an attack upon the settlement, had slain one boy, and +wounded seventeen men. The coward spirit of Wingfield had caused this +disaster. Fearful of mutiny he refused to permit the fort to be palisaded +or guns to be mounted within. The assault of the savages might have been +more fatal, but happily a gun from the ships carried a crossbar-shot +among the boughs of a tree above them, and, shaking them down upon their +heads, produced great consternation. The frightened wretches fled in +dismay from an attack too mysterious to be solved, yet too terrible to be +withstood. + +After this disaster the fears of Wingfield were overruled--the fort was +defended by palisades, and armed with heavy ordnance, the men were +exercised, and every precaution was used to guard against a sudden attack +or a treacherous ambuscade. + +Smith had indignantly rejected every offer held out to him by the +artifices of the council. He now again demanded a trial in a manner that +could not be resisted. The examination took place and resulted in his +full acquittal. So evident was the injustice of the president that he was +adjudged to pay to the accused two hundred pounds, which sum the generous +Smith immediately devoted to the store of the colony. Thus elevated to +his merited place in the council, he immediately devised and commenced +active schemes for the welfare of the settlers, and on June 15th Newport +left the colony, and set forth on his voyage of return to England. + +Left to their own resources, the colonists began to look with gloomy +apprehension upon the prospect before them. While the ships remained, +they enjoyed sea-stores, which to them were real luxuries, but now they +had little whereupon to feast, except a miserable compound of wheat and +barley boiled with water, and even to the larger portion of this the +worms successfully laid claim. Crabs and oysters were sought with +indolent greediness, and this unwholesome fare, with the increasing heats +of the season, produced sickness, which preyed rapidly on their strength. +The rank vegetation of the country pleased the eye, but it was fatal to +the health. In ten days hardly ten settlers were able to stand. Before +the month of September fifty of their number were committed to the grave, +and among them we mark, with sorrow, the name of Bartholomew Gosnold. The +gallant seaman might have passed many years upon the stormy coasts of the +continent, but he sank among the first victims who risked their lives for +colonization. + +To this scene of distress and appalling mortality the president Wingfield +lived in sumptuous indifference. His gluttony appropriated to itself the +best provisions the colony could afford--"oatmeal, sacke, oyle, aqua +vitae, beefe, egges, or whatnot"--and, in this intemperate feasting, it +seemed as though his valueless life were only spared that he might endure +the disgrace he so richly merited. Seeing the forlorn condition of the +settlement he attempted to seize the pinnace, which had been left for +their use by Newport, and make his escape to England. These outrages so +wrought upon the council that they instantly deposed him, expelled his +accomplice, Kendall, and elected Ratcliffe to the presidency. Thus their +body, consisting originally of seven, was reduced to three. Newport had +sailed, Gosnold was dead, Wingfield and Kendall were in disgraced +seclusion. Martin, Ratcliffe, and Smith alone remained. They seem to have +felt no desire to exercise their right of filling their vacant ranks. The +first had a nominal superiority, but the genius of the last made him the +very soul of the settlement. + +It is related by the best authority that in this dark crisis, when their +counsels were distracted, their hopes nearly extinguished, their bodies +enfeebled from famine and disease, the savages around them voluntarily +brought in such quantities of venison, corn, and wholesome fruits that +health and cheerfulness were at once restored. Their condition now +brought them in almost daily contact with the aborigines. + +Ratcliffe and Martin were alike incompetent, and Smith assumed the +guidance of affairs. Finding their provisions again nearly exhausted, he +went with a party down the river to Kecoughtan to obtain supplies from +the natives. Savage irony was all they received; a handful of corn and a +piece of bread were offered in exchange for swords and muskets. The +Indians came against them in numbers, frightfully dressed, and bearing +their okee in the form of a monstrous idol, stuffed with moss, and hung +with chains and copper. But they were received with a volley of +pistol-shot. The omnipotent okee fell to the earth, and with him several +of his worshippers. The rest fled to the woods, and, finding resistance +vain, they brought quantities of corn, venison, turkeys, and wild-fowl, +and received in exchange beads, copper, hatchets, and their discomfited +deity. + +During the absence of the ruling mind, Wingfield and Kendall seduced a +few sailors and made another attempt to carry off the bark to England. At +the critical moment Smith returned, and, instantly directing the cannon +of the fort against them, commanded submission. A skirmish ensued, and +the seditious Kendall lost his life. A similar effort to the settlement +was soon made by Captain Gabriel Archer and the imbecile President +Ratcliffe, and again the decision of Smith arrested them and forced them +to their duty. He was ever prompt, and hesitated not at any measures +required to govern his turbulent compeers. + +And now the winter came on, and with it immense numbers of swans, geese, +and ducks, which covered the rivers and afforded delightful food to the +settlers. They daily feasted upon them, and enjoyed in abundance the +peas, pumpkins, persimmons, and other vegetable treasures which the +season matured. But Smith could not be contented with a life of +inactivity, however plentifully supplied. The council had ungratefully +charged him with negligence, in not searching for the head of the +Chickahominy, and his own adventurous spirit urged him to renewed +enterprise. + +He prepared his boat for a voyage, and, in a season of uncommon rigor, he +set forth upon an expedition destined to add greatly to the fame of his +already wonderful career. + +The Chickahominy falls into the James not many miles above the site of +Jamestown. It flows through a very fertile region, and upon its banks +were native settlements well supplied with the stores of savage labor. + +Up this stream Smith urged his boat with great perseverence, cutting +through trunks of trees and matted underwood which opposed his progress. +At length, finding the obstacles to increase, he left the boat in a broad +bay, where Indian arrows could not reach her, and, strictly forbidding +the crew to leave her, he pressed on, with two Englishmen and two +Indians, eager to penetrate with their canoe the swamps beyond them. +Hardly had he disappeared before the disobedient seamen left the boat and +sought amusement upon the shore. Opecancanough, an Indian chief of great +subtlety and courage, was near with a lurking band of savages, and, +instantly seizing his advantage, he made prisoner George Cassen, one of +this party, and obtained from him full information as to the movements of +Captain Smith. The cowardice of Cassen did not save him. The savages put +him to death with cruel tortures, and then pursued their more dreaded +foe. + +Smith had now penetrated twenty miles into the marshes; and, leaving the +two Englishmen in the canoe, he went forward with an Indian guide. The +savages found the two men sunk in stupid slumber by the side of the +canoe, and shot them to death with arrows ere they could escape. But they +had now to encounter a superior being. Two hundred savages, approaching +with fatal intent, caused no dismay in the heart of Smith. Binding the +Indian guide firmly to his arm, he used him as a shield to preserve him +from the arrows of the enemy, and with his musket he brought two of them +dead to the ground. He would perhaps have reached the canoe--the savages +fell back appalled by his courage--but while in full retreat he sunk to +the middle in a swamp from which his utmost efforts could not extricate +him. Excessive cold froze his limbs and deprived him of strength, yet the +Indians dared not approach him until he threw away his arms and made +signals of submission. Then they drew him out, and, chafing his benumbed +body, speedily restored him to activity. His self-possession was never +lost for a moment. Discovering that Opecancanough was the chief, he +presented to him a small magnetic dial, and made the simple savages +wonder at the play of the needle beneath the glass surface. + +On this excursion he was made prisoner, and he himself assures us was +saved by the Indian maiden Pocahontas. After a captivity of seven weeks +he returned to Jamestown, with increased knowledge of savage life and +manners. He treated his Indian guides with great kindness and gave them +two heavy guns and a millstone for the monarch. But the present was too +heavy for his strength, and when one of the cannons was discharged among +the boughs of a tree, and crashing of wood and ice was heard, the timid +natives declined any further interference with agents so formidable. + +The absence of Smith had caused disorder and insubordination in the +colony. The pinnace had again been seized, and again he was obliged to +level the guns of the fort against her and compel submission. He was now +personally assailed by a charge replete with stupid malignity. Some, who +believed themselves skilled in the Levitical law, accused him of being +the cause of the death of Emry and Robinson, the two unfortunate men whom +the Indians had slain, and, with this pretext, they clamored for capital +punishment. To their insane charge Smith replied by taking the accusers +into custody, and by the first vessel he sent them for trial to England. +By his courage, his address, and his firmness he now wielded great +influence with the Indians, and proved the salvation of the settlement. + + + + + FOUNDING OF QUEBEC + + CHAMPLAIN ESTABLISHES FRENCH POWER IN CANADA + + A.D. 1608 + + H. H. MILES + + + From the period of Cartier's and Roberval's expeditions nearly fifty + years elapsed before France renewed her efforts to colonize the New + World. About the year 1598 the lucrative fur trade began to be + encouraged by Henry IV, of France, who in the brief respite from + religious wars was turning his attention to colonization and + commerce. In 1603 Samuel de Champlain, a French naval officer of high + character and chivalrous instincts, made his first voyage to Canada + in company with M. Pontegravé, a merchant of St. Malo, and together + they pushed their way up the St. Lawrence as far as the rapids above + Montreal, which Champlain named Lachine (_à la Chine_), for he + thought he had at last found a waterway to China. In 1608 he + proceeded to found at Stadacona (Quebec) a fixed trading-post of the + Merchant Company, in whose service he had again come to the country. + Champlain brought with him among the colonists a number of artisans, + who, on the magnificent headland of Quebec, erected a fort which was + to become the refuge of the sadly menaced little European colony, and + was long the centre of French influence and dominion in the New + World. + + The rivalries of various commercial companies and the conflicting + colonial policy of France seriously retarded settlement and were a + great vexation to Champlain. Moreover, his quarrels with the powerful + Iroquois Indians, as here related by Dr. Miles, secretary of the + Quebec Council of Instruction, long prevented the southward extension + of French power in America. + + In 1627 Cardinal Richelieu, prime minister to Louis XIII, cancelled + the old trading-charters, and established the Company of One Hundred + Associates, with power to trade throughout New France from Florida to + Hudson Bay. By the terms of the charter the "Hundred Associates" were + given the sole right to engage in the fur trade, with control over + the shore and inland fishing and of all commerce with the French + settlements in the country. In return for this monopoly the company + agreed to carry out mechanics and tradesmen to the colony, to settle + within a specified period some six thousand colonists, and to make + provision for the support of a certain number of Catholic clergy. The + French King, at the same time, made Champlain governor, so that he + finished his life in the service of the colony he had founded. + + +Samuel de Chaplain, who must be regarded as the real founder of the +Canadian colony, was already a noted man when invited by De Chates (or +De Chastes), commandant of Dieppe, to take part in the enterprise for +colonizing New France. He had served in the French marine at the +Antilles, and also in the South of France against the Spaniards, and +De Chates had met him at court. He was a man of noble and virtuous +disposition, chivalrous, and inspired with a deep sense of religion, +and at that time about thirty-six years of age. It will also be seen +that Champlain was gifted with qualities which endeared him both to his +own followers and to the native Indians of Canada. He was of good +address--always able, when he desired it, to render himself acceptable +to the highest personages in France, so as to secure a willing attention +to his representations. Such was the man who, under the auspices of De +Chates and of M. de Monts, first made his appearance in New France, in +whose early annals he figured conspicuously upward of thirty years. + +In 1603 Champlain, in conjunction with Pontegravé, made his first voyage +to the St. Lawrence. At Tadoussac they left their ships and ascended the +river in boats to the then farthest attainable point--the Sault St. +Louis, now known as the Rapids, above the city of Montreal. The features +of the country, so far as they could be examined from the river, were +carefully observed. The Indian towns of Carrier's time, Stadacona and +Hochelaga, were no longer in existence; but Champlain regarded with +attention the scenery around their sites. Hochelaga is not even mentioned +by him, although, acting as Carrier had done nearly seventy years before, +he ascended Mount Royal in order to obtain a good view. Returning to +Tadoussac, where their three small vessels had been left, Champlain and +Pontegravé, toward autumn, set sail for France. + +De Chates had died during their absence, and the company formed by him +was already almost broken up. Champlain, however, prepared a narrative, +and a map to illustrate what he had seen, and submitted these for the +information of Henry (IV of France), who expressed his willingness to +countenance the resumption of plans for settling the country. + +Almost immediately afterward the company was reorganized by M. de Monts. +He also was a Huguenot, patriotic, of great abilities and experience, and +possessing much influence at court, without which he could not have +surmounted impediments that were purposely raised against his designs +from the first. The King, unmoved by the objections to De Monts, +appointed him lieutenant-general of the North American territory between +40° and 46° north latitude, with instructions to establish colonists, +cultivate the soil, search for mines of gold and silver, build forts and +towns, and with power to confer grants of land, as well as the exclusive +right of trading with the natives in furs and all kinds of merchandise. +Although a Protestant, while De Monts and his friends were to enjoy the +free exercise of their religion, he was bound by the charter to provide +for the conversion of the natives, and their training, exclusively, in +the principles and worship of the Church of Rome. + +The King was the more willing to grant a charter on these terms, because +De Monts and his company were to bear all the costs that might be +incurred in their enterprise. Preparations were then made for the +despatch of an expedition on a larger scale than any that had yet left +France for America. + +Early in the spring of 1604 De Monts set sail with four vessels, well +manned, and equipped with all means requisite both for carrying on the +fur trade and for starting a colony at any place that might be judged +suitable. He had under him Champlain and Pontegravé, also a French +nobleman named Poutrincourt, who was going out to settle with his family +in America, and the subsequently celebrated historian Lescarbot. Two of +the ships were specially intended for the fur traffic, and in the first +instance to scour the coasts and inlets for the purpose of driving away +or capturing all persons found illegally trading with the natives. The +other two ships had on board the intending colonists; among whom were +soldiers and workpeople, priests, ministers, and some gentleman +volunteers. This expedition did not steer for Canada, but for that part +of New France then called Acadia (Nova Scotia), De Monts being under the +impression that he should there find localities more favorable for +settlement than by ascending the St. Lawrence. But it carried with it +those whom Lescarbot justly styled "the hope of Canada"; for besides De +Monts, there were Champlain and Pontegravé, and probably many of inferior +grade, whose participation in this attempt to found an Acadian colony +must have greatly assisted in rendering their future services more +valuable elsewhere. + +The effort at colonization in Acadia may be said to have been sustained +under many vicissitudes during about nine years until the year 1613; but +long before this the attention and services of Champlain and Pontegravé +were withdrawn. De Monts lost his charter in 1606, about which time +Champlain having, in conjunction with Pontegravé, made a number of +maritime excursions from Port Royal, and some geographical discoveries, +during the previous two years, became urgent for the renewal of attempts +up the river St. Lawrence, which he never ceased to represent as offering +a more favorable field for enterprise than the shores of Acadia. In 1607, +therefore, De Monts procured the restoration of his charter for the space +of one year; and, following Champlain's suggestions, turned his attention +to Canada. Two vessels were fitted out and despatched in April, 1608. +Arriving at Tadoussac in June, Champlain left his colleague there to +traffic with the natives, while he continued his route up the river, +until he came to the place where Cartier and his companions had wintered +in 1535. + +Champlain landed, and having ascended some distance from the mouth of the +St. Charles toward the promontory now called Cape Diamond, judged the +situation favorable for permanent settlement. Artisans, provisions, +merchandise, arms, and tools were brought on shore, and a commencement +made in the work of constructing wooden buildings and defences. At the +same time preparations were made for cultivating the ground and for +testing the productiveness of the soil by sowing various seeds brought +from France. In these operations, begun on July 3, 1608, Champlain had in +view the establishment of a fixed trading-station for the advantage of +the company he represented, as well as the more immediate purpose of +providing for the security and accommodation of his people during the +ensuing winter. But on the site of these rude works the city of Quebec +grew up in after-times. Champlain is, therefore, entitled to be regarded +as its founder, and the date last mentioned as that of its foundation. + +During the autumn the works were continued, Champlain himself +superintending them with indefatigable activity. Pontegravé returned to +France with the results of the season's traffic at Tadoussac. + +Champlain's experience, previously acquired at Port Royal, doubtless was +of service in giving effect to his forethought and energy as regards +preparations for the winter; for it is recorded that the thirty persons +composing his party were comfortably protected from the ordinary rigors +of the climate. + +On the return of spring Champlain's activity of disposition did not +suffer him to await the coming of Pontegravé from France. He set out +at once up the St. Lawrence. Meeting parties of Indians belonging to +Algonquin and Huron tribes, he entered into friendly communication with +them. Between these tribes and the Iroquois, or Five Nations, a state +of warfare subsisted. Champlain, on his part, desired to secure the +friendship of those natives who were to be the more immediate neighbors +of the French on the St. Lawrence, while the Algonquins and Hurons were +equally solicitous about forming an alliance with the Europeans for the +sake of aid against their enemies. An understanding was soon established. +The Indians engaged to visit the French trading-posts with abundance of +furs for the purposes of traffic, and promised to assist Champlain with +facilities for exploring their country westward. On the other hand, +Champlain undertook to help them in their conflicts with the Iroquois. In +pursuance of this agreement the French, under Champlain, first intervened +in Indian warfare. Returning to Quebec, Champlain procured reënforcements +and supplies for his establishment from Pontegravé, who had by this time +arrived at Tadoussac from France. Before the end of May he set out again +on his way up the river to join his Indian allies, and to accompany them +into the country of their enemies, the Iroquois. + +During the twenty-seven years following the foundation of Quebec, the +history of the colony consists almost exclusively of the personal history +of Champlain, its founder, upon whose own memoirs we are dependent +chiefly for authentic information. They present details of romantic +incidents, of courage, fortitude, and virtue, of sagacity, and of +indefatigable industry, of self-denial and patience, which will always +entitle him to a high rank among the celebrated in the annals of mankind. + +In pursuance of the alliance he had entered into with the aborigines of +Canada, as well as for the purpose of extending his discoveries, he +engaged in three different warlike expeditions into the country of the +Iroquois, viz., in the years 1609, 1611, and 1615. + +In his first expedition he passed with a body of Algonquins and +Montagnais up the river Richelieu, which then, and subsequently, was the +principal route followed by the Iroquois when making incursions into +Canada. He discovered that this river formed the outlet of the waters of +a beautiful lake, which he was the first of Europeans to behold, and +which he called "Lake Champlain," after his own name. He was now in parts +frequented by the Iroquois. According to Champlain's description it was a +region abounding in game, fish, beavers, bears, and other wild animals. + +Not far from the site upon which, long afterward, Fort Ticonderoga was +constructed, the invaders fell in with a body of two hundred Iroquois, +who were easily beaten and put to flight, chiefly owing to the chivalrous +valor of Champlain, and the terror inspired by fire-arms used by him and +his two attendant Frenchmen. + +Here Champlain witnessed for the first time the cruelties and horrors +attendant upon Indian warfare; and he appears to have exerted his utmost +influence vainly in endeavoring to save the wounded and captive Iroquois +from being tortured. To his indignant remonstrances the conquerors turned +a deaf ear, alleging that they were only inflicting upon their enemies +the sufferings which their own people had often endured at their hands, +and which were reserved for themselves should they ever fall into the +power of the Iroquois. After this the allies made their way back to the +St. Lawrence, when the Hurons and Algonquins returned to their +settlements toward the Ottawa region, while Champlain and the Montagnais +descended the river to Quebec. + +The battle with the Iroquois took place on July 30, 1609, so that upward +of two and a half months had been occupied in the campaign. In September +following Champlain set sail for France, accompanied by Pontegravé. +Before he left Quebec he made all the arrangements in his power for the +safety of those left to winter there. A trustworthy commander was +appointed; and in order to prevent the necessity of outdoor labor during +the time of severe cold, a supply of fuel was provided in the autumn; for +it was supposed that exposure and hard work combined were among the +causes of the terrible malady which had afflicted Champlain's people in +the winter of 1608. + +On his arrival in France he reported his adventures and the condition of +New France to the King, by whom he was treated with the utmost +consideration and kindness. Nevertheless, owing to opposition and clamor, +it was found impossible to bring about the renewal of the charter, which +had expired. + +In spite of this, De Monts succeeded in procuring the means of fitting +out two vessels in the spring of 1610, in which Champlain and Pontegravé +set sail from Harfleur about the middle of April, and arrived at +Tadoussac on May 26th. At Quebec Champlain found his people in good +health and undiminished numbers, the winter having been passed through +without the endurance of any particular hardship. His Indian allies, +also, the Hurons, Algonquins, and Montagnais, were eagerly waiting for +him to rejoin them in another attack upon the Iroquois. + +In the middle of June Champlain, with a few Frenchmen, left Quebec and +proceeded up the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the river Richelieu. Near +to this, on ascending that river, and employing the services of scouts, +it was found that a body of Iroquois had established themselves in a post +fortified by means of great trees which had been felled, so that their +branches, interlaced with each other, presented a strong wall of defence. +The Algonquins and Montagnais immediately commenced an attack; when, +although assisted by the French, with their arquebuses, it was for a long +time found impossible to force an entrance into the position. In the end, +however, the Iroquois fled, leaving fifteen of their number prisoners. +The conquerors had three killed and about fifty wounded, among whom was +Champlain himself. Again was he compelled to witness the perpetration of +the most revolting cruelties upon the unfortunate Iroquois captured by +his allies, whom he could not restrain, although now regarded by them +with feelings amounting to veneration. + +Champlain was now in a position to do something toward forwarding his own +plans through the good-will and assistance of the Hurons and Algonquins. +To extend the knowledge of the country westward, and to find out a +passage through the continent to China, were to him as much objects of +desire as they had been to Cartier before him. The Indian chiefs promised +to furnish all the facilities he required; and they placed in his care a +young Huron, whom he afterward took to Paris. At the same time a young +Frenchman was intrusted to a chief named Iroquet, for the purpose of +learning the Algonquin language, and of visiting the lakes, rivers, and +mines which were stated to exist in the interior of the country. When +these arrangements had been made Champlain and his allies parted. On +arriving at Quebec he learned the sad intelligence of the death of his +powerful friend and patron, King Henry IV, who had been assassinated +three months before in the streets of Paris. Although the season was not +far advanced he immediately took his departure for France, accompanied by +Pontegravé. + +In the spring of 1611 Champlain returned to Canada.[1] During the winter, +although it was now impossible to recover the exclusive privileges which +had formerly been accorded to his company, he and Pontegravé had again +succeeded in procuring the means of equipping several vessels. De Monts +still enjoyed the title of "lieutenant-general of New France," but was +greatly crippled in his resources and influence in consequence of the +King's death, and the large expenses attendant on previous undertakings +in connection with the establishments in Acadia, at Tadoussac, and +Quebec. But the most discouraging circumstance, which now cut off all +hope of redeeming his losses, was the virtual throwing open of the peltry +trade in the St. Lawrence, of which the traders belonging to French +maritime ports availed themselves in considerable numbers; for when +Champlain and Pontegravé arrived out at Tadoussac, toward the end of May, +they found traders already there doing business with the savages, and +that others had preceded them in the river above, as far as the rapids +near Hochelaga. Champlain hastened to the latter place, with the +determination of establishing there a trading-station for the benefit of +the company. Temporary structures were begun near the site of the future +city of Montreal; ground was cleared, and seeds sown, in order to test +the fruitfulness of the soil. He proposed to erect a fort on an island, +called by him St. Helen's, after the name of his wife. + + [1] About the end of 1610 or early in 1611 Champlain, in Paris, + espoused a very youthful lady, named Hélène Boullé, daughter of the + King's private secretary. She was a Huguenot, though subsequently + converted by her husband. She visited Canada in 1620, and remained + about four years. + +Champlain went to France before winter, and was there detained nearly two +years by the affairs of the company. Although his zeal and his hopes of +founding a colony never flagged, even De Monts retired from participation +in further undertakings, owing to the uncertainties attendant upon the +peltry traffic, and the losses incurred. It appears that Champlain deemed +it indispensably necessary for the colony, and for the trading company +with which it might be connected, to possess, as chief, some personage in +France who had influence and rank at court; therefore, on the retirement +of De Monts, the Count de Soissons was applied to, and afterward the +Prince Henri de Condé. Condé being created viceroy of New France, +Champlain was appointed his lieutenant.[2] Much time was then occupied in +negotiations, with the object of effecting a compromise with the +merchants and traders of Dieppe, St. Malo, Rochelle, and Rouen. In the +end some kind of arrangement was made, securing for the wants of the +colony at Quebec a certain portion of the results of the fur traffic to +be paid by traders; but it seems that no perfectly satisfactory +arrangement was practicable at that time, owing to the state of affairs +at the court of France, which would not renew the former exclusive +privileges. + + [2] This nomination of Champlain as lieutenant of the Viceroy of + New France was dated October 15, 1612; hence, in lists of official + functionaries of Canada, this date is frequently put as that on + which the rule of governors commenced, Champlain being set down as + the first. + +Early in May, 1613, Champlain arrived at Quebec. The people whom he had +left there in 1611 had passed the two preceding winters without any +notable occurrence and free from suffering or disease. After a short +delay he proceeded up the river to Sault St. Louis, at the foot of the +Rapids, where he expected to find many of his former Indian friends +assembled in readiness for traffic. In fact, his mind was now intent upon +a long journey of exploration westward, in company with some returning +chiefs. But this season few Indians came, which Champlain attributed to +misconduct on the part of the traders the previous year while he was +absent in France. Taking with him two canoes, manned by four Frenchmen +and an Indian guide, he contrived to pass the Rapids and to surmount all +the other difficulties of a first passage up the river Ottawa, until he +arrived at Île Allumettes, where resided a friendly chief named Tessouat, +who received him with cordial hospitality, and celebrated his unexpected +visit by giving a grand entertainment. Champlain requested canoes and +people to conduct him and his attendants on the way to Lake Nipissing, +whence, according to information of Nicolas du Vignau, who had passed the +previous winter with Tessouat, there was a practicable route to the North +Sea, from which, it was believed, the coveted passage to China would be +found. Champlain's hopes rose with this information, but before he could +act upon it Du Vignau was proved to be an impostor. Champlain, therefore, +with reluctance, sorrowfully commenced his journey homeward to Quebec, +whence, toward the latter part of August, he again sailed for France, in +order to promote the interests of the colony, so much dependent on the +course of events in the mother-country. + +In April, 1615, Champlain sailed from Harfleur with several vessels +having on board supplies for the colony--artisans and laborers, together +with four persons of the religious order of Franciscans, called +Récollets. The latter took out with them the appliances and ornaments +that might be required for the use of portable chapels and places of +worship in the wilderness, and which had been provided at the cost of +religious persons in France. + +Immediately on his arrival in Canada, about the beginning of June, he +took steps for establishing regular religious services at the three +principal trading-posts--Quebec, Three Rivers, and Tadoussac--at the +first of which places a sort of council was held, consisting of himself, +the four Récollets, and "the most intelligent persons in the colony." The +arrangements agreed upon comprised, in addition to dispositions of a +permanent nature at the three principal localities named above, the +sending forward one of the Récollets, Joseph le Caron, into the distant +regions occupied by the Huron tribes, which up to this time had not been +visited by any European.[3] Thus, under Champlain's auspices, were the +first foundations laid for establishing in Canada the faith and services +of the Church of Rome; and especially, in the first instance, for +commencing the "missions to the Indians," which have survived the +vicissitudes of more than two centuries, and subsist to this day in forms +and localities regulated by the progress of civilization on this +continent. + + [3] Henceforward the history of the colony, as well as that of the + gradual extension of discovery westward, is inseparably associated + with the proceedings of the religious missionaries, who were the + real pioneers of French influence among the tribes of the interior. + +During the winter of 1618 the colony was reduced to the verge of +extinction through the defection of its fickle allies, the Indians. The +station at Three Rivers had become to them a great place of resort; and +while many hundreds of savages were assembled there a quarrel occurred at +Quebec between some Indians and colonists, the particulars of which have +not been very clearly transmitted. But the result was similar to that +which had been experienced in the time of Jacques Cartier, for the +Indians became discontented and hostile, manifesting a disposition to +take advantage of the helplessness of the handful of Europeans +established in their midst. Two Frenchmen were murdered, and this outrage +was followed by a conspiracy, which was entered into by the Indians at +Three Rivers, with the object of consummating the destruction of the +entire colony. The Récollet brother Duplessis discovered the plot, and, +while the French at Quebec remained closely shut up in their fort, +contrived to disconcert it. In the end the savages, who seem to have had +originally no very serious cause of offence, proposed a reconciliation, +which was acceded to by the French, on condition that the case of the +murderers should be decided on Champlain's return, and that in the mean +time hostages should be given. + +Champlain's absence continued for the space of about three years, as he +did not return to Quebec until July, 1620. By this time the course of +events had taken a favorable turn. The Viceroy Condé regained his +liberty, and, in consideration of a sum of money, surrendered his +viceroyalty in favor of the Duke of Montmorency, a godson of the late +King. Montmorency confirmed Champlain in his post of lieutenant-general, +and the King himself, Louis XIII, favored him with royal letters +expressing his recognition of the appointment and of his services. Thus +fortified, and charged by the new viceroy to return to Quebec and improve +the defences of the colony, Champlain induced a number of persons to +embark with him for the purpose of settling in the country. He himself +arranged all his private affairs and took out with him his wife and +several relations. + +The return of Champlain, accompanied by Madame Champlain, then only +twenty-two years of age, was celebrated at Quebec with all the +manifestations of rejoicing and of respect that it was possible for the +people to evince. It was an epoch in the history of the colony. The +Indian savages were especially delighted with the amiable demeanor and +the beauty of Madame Champlain,[4] who at once set about learning their +language, and in many ways testified her concern in their welfare. She +soon became able to instruct their children, using their native tongue, +in the principles of the Catholic religion; for, though formerly a +Huguenot, she was now a devout adherent of the church to which her +husband belonged. Champlain found the edifices at Quebec in a dilapidated +condition, so that his first care was to effect repairs on the magazine, +the old fort, and other buildings, as well as to provide temporary +quarters for his family. Steps were also taken for commencing a structure +extensive enough to afford protection to all the inhabitants and the +interests of the company, in case of serious attack from any enemy, and +so situated as to command the harbor. The site chosen was that now known +as "Durham Terrace," where, subsequently, when Champlain's design was +practically carried out, the famous Fort St. Louis stood--the residence +and official head-quarters of many governors of Canada. + + [4] According to the custom of the ladies of that time, Madame + Champlain wore a small mirror suspended from her girdle. The + untutored natives who approached her were astonished at perceiving + themselves reflected from the glass, and circulated among + themselves the innocent conceit that she cherished in her heart + the recollection of each one of them. + +Champlain might have now enjoyed a period of comparative repose but for +two causes of anxiety which soon pressed themselves upon his attention. +The first of these was his knowledge of the cruel state of war subsisting +between the Iroquois and the natives of Canada. In 1620 the former made +incursions in considerable force, and, although few or none of them at +that time approached Quebec, they pressed hard upon the Algonquins higher +up the river, and lay in wait for his former allies, the Hurons, whom +they slaughtered without mercy as they descended with the products of the +chase for the purpose of trading with the French at Three Rivers, Quebec, +and Tadoussac. The injury to French interests, apart from the necessity +for being always on the alert to defend themselves in case of attack from +these barbarians, may be imagined. Champlain, as the only recourse open +to him, made appeals to the company and to the court of France for +succor. + +In the course of 1622 and the following year several additional priests +and brothers of the order of Récollets came out to Canada, among whom was +Gabriel Sagard, the historian, who, along with Le Caron, departed as +missionaries into the Huron settlements beyond Lake Simcoe. These two +priests rendered most valuable services to the colony in becoming the +influential promoters of peace with the Iroquois in 1624. They had +labored to confirm in the minds of the Huron people a disposition to come +to terms with their fierce adversaries, between whom and themselves +unceasing hostilities had been waged ever since the period of Champlain's +third and unsuccessful expedition against the cantons. The war had proved +harassing to all the parties concerned--the French, the Iroquois, the +Hurons, the Algonquins, and minor tribes--and all were more or less +inclined to accede to proposals for a general cessation of strife. Caron +and Sagard accompanied a flotilla of sixty Huron canoes down the Ottawa +and St. Lawrence to Three Rivers, at which place, in the presence of +Champlain, it was intended to agree upon and ratify a general treaty. On +the way to this rendezvous they were joined by twenty-five canoes bearing +the Iroquois deputies and thirteen of the Algonquins. The preliminaries +having been arranged, happily without the occurrence of quarrels so +likely to take place in such a concourse of individuals belonging to +different nations, the ceremonies and customary distribution of presents +were followed by a mutual interchange of stipulations, rendered +intelligible to all by means of interpreters. The final result was a +treaty of peace, to which the chief contracting parties were the French, +the Hurons, the Algonquins, and the Iroquois, who agreed thenceforward to +remain on peaceable terms with each other. The peace thus established was +not of long duration. + +In the mean time the improvements projected by Champlain in 1620 were +steadily prosecuted. Very extensive repairs and additions to former +structures, and a number of new ones, were completed or in progress. The +De Caëns and the Governor, notwithstanding the difference of their +religious views, continued throughout to discharge their respective +functions in a manner that denoted mutual respect and personal +friendship. Yet, from whatever cause, the number of inhabitants, +exclusive of a few factors or agents at the trading-posts, and the +Frenchmen who from choice had taken up their abodes among the Indian +tribes, remained less than sixty. In fact, every person who bestowed a +transient thought upon Canada placed a very low estimate upon it as a +country fit for settlement, excepting Champlain himself, whose faith in +the future of his colony seems never to have wavered. + +In August, 1624, Champlain made arrangements for revisiting France, where +fresh dissensions had arisen in regard to the company's rights and +privileges. His chief purpose was to again urge at home an appeal for a +more generous support in behalf of his undertakings. The Récollets, also, +having found themselves utterly unequal to the occupation of their +immense and constantly increasing field of missionary work, had +determined to appeal for aid to some of the religious communities of +France, and, with this view, deputed Sagard and a priest to sail for +Europe in the suite of the Governor. + +Before his departure Champlain nominated the younger De Caën commandant +at Quebec during his absence, and gave instructions that the works in +progress should be prosecuted with the utmost vigor, especially the +completion of the Fort St. Louis. + +These preparations being made, he set sail on August 15, 1624, +accompanied by his wife and the two Récollet deputies. + +Champlain, having accomplished all that seemed at that time attainable in +France, returned to Quebec in the summer of 1626, accompanied by the +priest Le Caron, and his brother-in-law, Boullé, as his lieutenant. + +He found the works scarcely advanced beyond the condition in which he had +left them two years before. His people also were in a somewhat enfeebled +condition. They had been ill-supplied with necessaries the preceding +season, owing to the neglect of the company to furnish what was requisite +for their comfort and plentiful support during the winter of 1625. + +Notwithstanding the exertions which had been made by Champlain to prevent +a recurrence of the former sufferings of the colony owing to the neglect +of the company, he and his people were doomed to struggle on precisely as +heretofore. Scarcely any land had been cleared, so that it was impossible +by means of agriculture alone to provide against famine in the winter. +Nevertheless, the requisite supplies were furnished by the company's +agents in the most niggardly manner. Its neglect became worse and worse, +until, in the winter of 1626, there was an actual dearth of provisions at +Quebec. In the spring of 1627 De Caën's vessels brought out, as usual, a +certain supply of necessaries. But when the summer had passed away, and +autumn came, although the season of traffic had been very profitable, the +ships departed, leaving the establishments in the colony very +insufficiently provisioned. The colony contained but one farmer--Louis +Hebert[5]--who could maintain himself and those dependent on him by the +cultivation of the ground. But about fifty persons had to endure the +rigors of the winter of 1627 on short allowance; and such became their +plight that even Champlain's patience and powers of endurance were +severely exercised. When at length the arrival of spring afforded some +sources of relief, derived from hunting and fishing, Champlain and his +unfortunate colonists at Quebec were amazed to find that De Caën's ships +came not as usual with succors. With infinite anxiety they contrived to +subsist until the month of July, when it became known that the river +below the Island of Orleans was in possession of the English, at that +time enemies to France. In fact, on July 10, 1628, Champlain received a +summons from Sir David Kirke, then at Tadoussac, with several ships under +his command, to surrender the fort and station of Quebec. Notwithstanding +his weakness, which would have prevented him from offering any effectual +resistance had Kirke followed up his summons by an attack upon the place, +Champlain responded with dignity and firmness, declaring that he would +defend his post. Kirke, therefore, for the present, deferred his hostile +intentions upon Quebec, and contented himself with adopting measures to +intercept supplies and succor from France. + + [5] He died in the course of this season. Champlain, in his + memoirs, mentions him with approbation and respect. + +Cut off from communication with France, Champlain exhorted his now +isolated band of priests, colonists, and laborers to follow his own +example of patience and courage. A single small ship, with very scanty +supplies, succeeded in making its passage good through the English +vessels to Quebec, with intelligence that at least ten months must elapse +before adequate succor from France could be expected to reach the harbor. +To cope with the present emergency, and to prevent absolute starvation, +measures were taken to crop all the cleared ground in the neighborhood. +At the same time recourse was had to hunting and fishing for the purpose +of collecting food for the ensuing winter, and Champlain's +brother-in-law, Eustache Boullé, was despatched with a small vessel and +twelve men down to Gaspé, in the hope of falling in with French +fishing-vessels and procuring intelligence and assistance. Some steps +were also taken for obtaining aid from the Abnaquis. These responded +favorably, promising to furnish maintenance sufficient for about +three-fifths of Champlain's people until succor should arrive. The other +Indians, however, the Montagnais and Algonquins, took advantage of the +emergency, and manifested, both in demeanor and hostile acts, their +enmity to the French. + +Having contrived to sustain a precarious existence up to the middle of +July, 1629, the French witnessed, instead of the expected fleet from +France, the English, under Louis and Thomas Kirke, brothers of Sir David, +who remained at Tadoussac, making their appearance off Point Levi. +Provisions were very scarce, as well as ammunition and all other means of +defence; and there seemed to be no prospect of immediate succor. He had +with him only sixteen persons who could in any sense be styled +combatants. An officer landed, bringing with him very liberal terms, upon +which Champlain and his followers might honorably surrender a post which, +in their circumstances, was utterly untenable. Champlain and Pontegravé, +who was present, acceded, and the conditions having been ratified by Sir +David Kirke at Tadoussac, the English, without resistance, took +possession of the fort, magazine, and habitations of Quebec. Before +actually yielding up his post, the high-minded Champlain went on board +the vessel of Captain Louis Kirke, and stipulated for the security of the +place of worship and quarters of the Jesuits and Récollets, as well as +for the protection of the property of the widow Hebert and her +son-in-law, Couillard. On July 24, 1629, Champlain and the priests, +together with all who chose to depart, embarked on board the vessel of +Thomas Kirke, and after some delay at Tadoussac, were carried to England, +and thence suffered to pass into France.[6] + + [6] When Champlain, accompanied by Pontegravé, went on board Louis + Kirke's vessel, on the 20th, he demanded to be shown the commission + from the King of England in virtue of which the seizure of the + country was made. The two, as being persons whose reputation had + spread throughout Europe, were received with profound respect; and + after Champlain's request relative to the commission had been + complied with, it was stipulated that the inhabitants should leave + with their arms and baggage, and be supplied with provisions and + means of transport to France. About four days were needed to + procure the sanction of the admiral, David Kirke, at Tadoussac, and + then Champlain, with a heavy heart, attended by his followers, + embarked in the English ship. He says in his memoirs--"Since the + surrender every day seems to me a month." On the way down the St. + Lawrence, Emery de Caën was met, above Tadoussac, in a vessel with + supplies for Quebec. Kirke is said to have desired Champlain to use + his influence with De Caën to induce him to surrender without + resistance, which, however, the noble-minded man declined. Bazilli + was reported to be in the gulf with a French fleet, but + nevertheless De Caën felt obliged to surrender, as the Kirkes had + two ships to oppose his one. De Caën told Champlain that he + believed peace was already signed between the two crowns. + +Thus ended, for the time, Champlain's effort to found and establish a +colony at Quebec--an attempt persevered in during twenty years, in spite +of discouragement and obstacles which would have conquered the zeal of +any man of that age excepting Champlain, who alone, even now, when taken +prisoner and carried out of the country, did not despair of ultimate +success.[7] + + [7] A few, by Champlain's advice, accepted the offers of the + English to remain under their protection in the possession of their + habitations and clearings. They were to enjoy the same privileges + as the English themselves. A number of the French traders also + remained, but betook themselves to the west and into the Huron + country, where they lived with the Indians until the country was + restored to France, about three years subsequently. Louis Kirke was + left in command at Quebec. + +Cardinal Richelieu, the prime minister of Louis XIII, founded the society +called the "Company of the One Hundred Associates." It was established, +not merely to put an end to the various obstacles and evils under which +the colony languished, but also to place its future upon a strong and +durable basis. Its organization was completed in the year 1627, and the +first expedition under its auspices was entered upon in 1628, but proved +an entire failure, owing to the English having then the control of the +St. Lawrence, and capturing or destroying the vessels sent out under M. +de Roguemont. Then occurred, as we have described, the surrender of +Quebec and the other stations, and their occupation by the English under +the Kirkes. The existence of the new company, and its government of the +affairs of the colony can scarcely be said to have commenced, +practically, until the year 1632, when New France was, by treaty with +England, restored to the French authorities. + +Pursuant to arrangements, Emery de Caën, furnished with instructions from +the Government of France, and with an order signed by the King of +England, superseded Thomas Kirke at Quebec on July 13,1632. On landing +with the priests who were sent out on board De Caën's vessels, it was +found that much injury had been done in the place. Fire, violence, and +wilful neglect had been instrumental in destroying nearly all the +buildings, including those of the Jesuits and Récollets. It was also +found that the old friends of the French--the Montagnais and other +Indians--had been much corrupted by the traders with whom they had held +intercourse during the three preceding years. The fort itself remained +uninjured, and afforded shelter to all while the work of reconstructing +habitations and a place of worship was carried on. + +In the mean time Champlain made preparations in France for carrying out +colonists, merchandise, ammunition, and provisions. The company furnished +him with three vessels, well equipped, and armed with cannon. With these, +having on board about two hundred persons, he arrived at Quebec on May +23, 1633, and landed amid manifestations of great joy on the part of the +French inhabitants, more especially of those who had remained in the +country after his forced departure. + +From the moment of his return to Canada until his decease, Champlain +occupied himself diligently in providing for the material progress of the +colony, and at the same time coöperated heartily in all measures for +securing its religious welfare, and for converting the savages. While +occupied with various duties appertaining to his position, about October +10, 1635, Champlain was laid prostrate by a stroke of paralysis. In his +last illness, he was attended by his friend and spiritual adviser, +Charles Lalemant, the author of the _Relation of 1626_, and, during the +previous ten years, a most efficient coadjutor in his work. At length, on +Christmas Day, 1635, the pious and amiable founder of Quebec breathed his +last, bequeathing his blessing to his bereaved people, together with the +memory of his virtues and of his great services. + + + + + CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY + + EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME + + A.D. 1558-1608 + + JOHN RUDD, LL.D. + + +Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals +following give volume and page. + +Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of +famous persons, will be found in the Index Volume, with volume and page +references showing where the several events are fully treated. + + +A.D. + +1558. Calais, the last English possession in France, taken by De Guise. +See "ENGLAND LOSES HER LAST FRENCH TERRITORY," X, 1. + +Death of Bloody Queen Mary; accession of Elizabeth in England. See +"REIGN OF ELIZABETH," X, 8. + +Marriage of the Dauphin, Francis, with Mary Stuart, Queen of the Scots. + +Battle of Gravelines; victory of the Spaniards, under Egmont, over the +French. + + +1559. A new act of supremacy passed in England, firmly establishing +Protestantism. + +Treaty of peace (Cateau-Cambrécis) between England, France, and Spain. + +Iconoclastic outbreaks in Scotland, due to the teachings of John Knox. +See "JOHN KNOX HEADS THE SCOTTISH REFORMERS," X, 21. + +Institution of the papal _Index Librorum Prohibitorum_. + + +1560. Conspiracy of Amboise, by the Huguenots, for the overthrow of the +Guises, in France; death of Francis II, Charles IX succeeds; Catherine +de' Medici controls the government as regent. Arrest of Condé. + +Queen Elizabeth of England and the Scottish Reformers conclude a pact +of alliance. Death of the Regent, Mary of Guise; Mary Stuart and her +husband, Francis II, arrange the treaty of Edinburgh with Elizabeth +and the Reformers. Passing by the Scotch Parliament of the Statutes of +Reformation. + + +1561. Queen Mary Stuart returns to Scotland. See "MARY STUART: HER REIGN +AND EXECUTION," X, 51. + +Rebellion of Shane O'Neil in Ireland. + +Edict against the Reformers, now called Huguenots; Condé and Coligny +prepare to take up arms. + + +1562. Submission and pardon of Shane O'Neil. + +Edict of St. Germain; it grants toleration to the Huguenots; massacre of +Huguenots at Vassy and other cities; defeat of the Huguenot army under +Condé and Coligny. + +Attempted settlement of the Huguenots on the coast of South Carolina. + + +1563. Assassination of the Duc de Guise at the siege of Orléans. + +Publication of the Thirty-nine Articles in England.[1] + + [1] See 1552. + +Publication by the Calvinists of the Heidelberg Catechism. + +Beginning of the construction of the Escurial, Spain, by Philip II. + + +1564. Death of Ferdinand I; Maximilian II succeeds in the German empire, +the archduchy of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia. + +Settlement of a Huguenot colony on the St. John's River, Florida. See +"FOUNDING OF ST. AUGUSTINE," X, 70. + +Birth of Shakespeare. + + +1565. Marriage of Queen Mary Stuart with Darnley. See "MARY STUART: HER +REIGN AND EXECUTION," X, 51. + +Brilliant defence of Malta by La Valette against the Turks, led by +Mustapha Pacha. + +Massacre of the Huguenots in Florida. See "FOUNDING OF ST. AUGUSTINE," +X, 70. + + +1566. A petition of rights presented to the Regent by nobles of the +Netherlands. See "REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS AGAINST SPAIN," X, 81. + +Moscow sacked by the Crim Tartars. + +Murder of Rizzio by Darnley. See "MARY STUART: HER REIGN AND EXECUTION," +X, 51. + + +1567. Defeat and assassination of Shane O'Neil. + +Renewal of the civil-religious war in France; Battle of St. Denis. + +Murder of Darnley; Mary marries Bothwell; she is imprisoned and +compelled to resign the crown. See "MARY STUART: HER REIGN AND +EXECUTION," X, 51. + +Organization of the "Council of Blood" by the Duke of Alva, on his +arrival in the Netherlands as Spanish governor. + +Founding of the Royal Exchange, London. + + +1568. Peace of Longjumeau with the Huguenots; assembling of Protestant +leaders at La Rochelle. + +Thousands of the better classes of the Netherlands take refuge in +England from the persecutions of the Spaniards. + +Execution of Egmont and Horn at Brussels; arms taken against the +Spaniards by Louis of Nassau and William of Orange, his brother. + + +1569. Insurrection of Roman Catholics in England. + +Battle of Jarnac; defeat of the Huguenots; Condé taken and shot; Coligny +defeated at Moncontour. + +Under the sovereignty of the Medici is created the grand duchy of +Tuscany out of the Florentine dominions. + + +1570. Murra, Regent of Scotland, assassinated; the English invade that +country; Earl Lennox made regent. + +Revolt of the Moors in Spain crushed by John of Austria. + + +1571. Battle of Lepanto; the Holy League, consisting of Spain, Venice, +and the Pope, wins a great victory over the Turks. See "BATTLE OF +LEPANTO," X, 100. + +Dumbarton, the main stronghold of the adherents of Mary Stuart, falls +into the possession of the Earl of Lennox. + +The Thirty-nine Articles are made binding on the clergy of the Church of +England. + + +1572. Trial, condemnation, and execution of the Duke of Norfolk for +conspiracy, in England. + +Marriage of Margaret of Valois, sister of Charles IX, with Henry of +Navarre; Massacre of St. Bartholomew. See "MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW," +X, 119. + +Rising of the Dutch against their Spanish oppressors; recognition of the +authority of William of Orange. + + +1573. Successful defence of La Rochelle; the treaty of La Rochelle +grants toleration to the Huguenots. + +Haarlem reduced by the Spaniards; they besiege Leyden. See "HEROIC AGE +OF THE NETHERLANDS," X, 145. + +Building of Manila which is made the seat of the Spanish viceroy in the +Philippines. + + +1574. Coronation of Henry, Duke of Anjou, as King of Poland; he becomes +King of France on the death of his brother, Charles IX; he abandons +Poland. + + +1575. Queen Elizabeth of England is offered the sovereignty of the +Netherlands. + +Foundation of the University of Leyden, in commemoration of the siege +and relief of that city. + +Stephen Bathori, Prince of Transylvania, elected king of Portugal. + + +1576. Devastation of Italy by the plague; Titian, the painter, is one of +the victims. + +First voyage of Frobisher in search of a northwest passage. See "SEARCH +FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE BY FROBISHER," X, 156. + +Organization by Henry, Duke of Guise, of the Catholic League against the +Huguenots. + +Appointment of Don John of Austria as governor of the Netherlands, by +his half-brother, Philip II of Spain. + +"BUILDING OF THE FIRST THEATRE IN ENGLAND." See X, 163. + + +1577. Peace of Bergerac, the sixth one between Henry III and the +Huguenots. + +Many of Titian's finest works destroyed in a great fire at Venice. + +Sailing of Sir Francis Drake on his circumnavigation of the globe. + + +1578. Treaty of alliance concluded between England and the Netherlands. + +Invasion of Morocco by King Sebastian of Portugal; he is defeated and +slain at Alcazar-Quivir. + +Battle of Gembloux; great victory of Don John; on his death the Duke of +Parma succeeds as Spanish governor of the Netherlands. + +Attempt of the Norwegians to interrupt the English commerce with +Archangel; Queen Elizabeth asserts the right freely to navigate all +seas. + + +1579. Union of Utrecht; foundation of the Dutch Republic. + +A force of Spaniards invade Ireland. + +Confinement of Tasso as a lunatic by the Duke of Ferrara. + + +1580. Persecution by the Protestants of Jesuits and seminary priests in +England. + +Outlawry of William of Orange, by Philip II of Spain, inviting his +assassination. + +Seizure of Portugal by Philip II. + + +1581. Conquest of Siberia by the Cossacks. See "COSSACK CONQUEST OF +SIBERIA," x, 181. + +Declaration of independence formally issued by the Seven United +Provinces of the Netherlands. + +Founding of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. + + +1582. Reformation of the calendar by Gregory XIII. October 5th of this +year is made October 15th. + + +1583. Gilbert takes possession of Newfoundland for Queen Elizabeth. See +"FIRST COLONY OF ENGLAND BEYOND SEAS," x, 198. + +Failing in his treacherous attempt on Antwerp the Duke of Anjou retires +into France, covered with disgrace. + + +1584. Assassination of William, Prince of Orange, at the instigation of +Philip II of Spain. See "ASSASSINATION OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE," x, 202. + +Alliance between Philip II and the Catholic League. + +Queen Elizabeth dismisses the Spanish ambassador Mendoza. + +Having embraced Protestantism the Archbishop of Cologne is expelled his +territories. + +Visit of Sir Walter Raleigh's men to South Carolina; the name Virginia +given to the district. See "NAMING OF VIRGINIA: FIRST DESCRIPTION OF THE +INDIANS," x, 211. + + +1585. Renewal of the war against the Huguenots, the "War of the Three +Henrys." + +Capture of Antwerp by Parma; an English army sent to aid the Dutch. + +Attack on the Spanish settlements in the West Indies by a powerful +English fleet under Drake and Frobisher. + +Ambassadors from Japan received at Rome by Pope Gregory XIII. + +Coaches first used in England. + + +1586. An unsuccessful settlement made by Raleigh's men on Roanoke +Island. + +Trial and condemnation of Mary Stuart. See "MARY STUART: HER REIGN AND +EXECUTION," X, 51. + +Conspiracy of Babbington against Queen Elizabeth. + +Drake returns with an immense booty; he takes back the Virginian +colonists; they introduce potatoes and tobacco into England. + + +1587. Henry of Navarre defeats the army of Henry III at Coutras. + +Sigismund Vasa elected King of Poland. + +Expedition of Drake against the Spanish harbors. See "DRAKE CAPTURES +CARTAGENA," X, 230. + +Cabal of "the Sixteen" in Paris. + + +1588. Publication of the first English newspaper, by Lord Burghley, +_The English Mercury_. It announced the defeat of the Invincible +Armada. See "DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA," X, 251. + +Revolt against Henry III in Paris; "Day of the Barricades." + + +1589. End of the Valois line in France; inauguration of the Bourbon +dynasty. + +Invention of the stocking-knitting frame by Lee, of Cambridge, England. + + +1590. Battle of Ivry; Henry IV defeats the Catholic League; he lays +siege to Paris, which is relieved by the Duke of Parma. + +Establishment of the first paper-mill in England. + +Publication of three books of Spenser's _Faerie Queene_, the +_Arcadia_ of Sidney, and part of Marlowe's _Tamburlane_. + + +1591. Elizabeth sends an army to assist Henry IV in France; it besieges +Rouen; it is relieved by Parma. + + +1592. Introduction of the sale of books at the fair of Leipsic. + +Building of the Théâtre Français at Paris. + +Abolishment of Episcopacy and establishment of Presbyterianism in +Scotland. + + +1593. "HENRY OF NAVARRE ACCEPTS CATHOLICISM." See X, 276. + +Severe enactments against the recusants in England. + +Conformation to Catholicism by Henry IV; Pope Clement VIII refuses to +absolve him. The Parliament of Paris declares against foreign +interference and female succession. + +Publication of Shakespeare's _Venus and Adonis_. + + +1594. Jesuits expelled Paris. + +Coronation of Henry IV at Chartres; Paris opens its gates to him. + + +1595. Declaration of war against Spain by Henry IV. + + +1596. Crushing defeat of the Austrians by the Turks in Hungary. + +Writing of _Romeo and Juliet_ by Shakespeare. + +Capture of Cadiz by Essex and Howard. + + +1597. Rebellion in Ireland of Tyrone. + +Abolition of the Hanseatic League's privileges in England. + + +1598. Toleration granted to the Huguenots. + +Treaty of Vervins, securing peace between France and Spain. + +Founding of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, England. + +Shakespeare performs in his own plays at the new Globe theatre, London. + + +1599. Essex sent to Ireland to crush the rebellion there; he treats with +the rebel leader. + +Attempt of Sigismund Vasa to establish Catholicism in Sweden; he loses +the crown. + + +1600. Establishment of the English East India Company. + +Invasion and occupation of Savoy by the French; marriage of Henry IV +with Marie de' Medici. + +Giordano Bruno burned in Rome as an obstinate heretic. + + +1601. Suppression of the rebellion in Ireland; complete tranquillity +restored by Mountjoy, Elizabeth's general. + +Commencement of the siege of Ostend by Archduke Albert of Austria. + +Enactment of the earliest "poor law in England." + + +1602. Beheading of the Due de Biron for conspiring against King Henry +IV. + +Failure of the Duke of Savoy in an attempt to seize Geneva. + +Attempted settlement of Bartholomew Gosnold on the coast of +Massachusetts. + + +1603. Death of Queen Elizabeth; James VI of Scotland succeeds as James +I, King of Great Britain. + +"DOWNFALL OF IRISH LIBERTY." See X, 299. + +Committal to the Tower of Sir Walter Raleigh, on a charge of conspiring +to place Arabella Stuart on the English throne. + +Publication of Shakespeare's _Hamlet_. See "CULMINATION OF DRAMATIC +LITERATURE IN 'HAMLET,'" X, 287. + +A French colony founded at Port Royal, Acadia; now Nova Scotia. + + +1604. Conference at Hampton Court between English prelates and Puritans, +James I presiding. + +Ostend surrenders to the Spanish general, Spinola. + + +1605. Detection of the Gunpowder Plot. See "THE GUNPOWDER PLOT," X, 310. + +Publication of Bacon's _Advancement of Learning_. + +Cervantes' _Don Quixote_, Part I, published. See "CERVANTES' 'DON +QUIXOTE' REFORMS LITERATURE," X, 325. + +Death of the Russian Czar, Boris Godunoff; Fedor, his son, is dethroned; +his successor being the first Pseudo-Demetrius. This impostor pretended +to be Demetrius, a son of Ivan IV, who was put to death by Boris +Godunoff in 1591. + +Battle of Bassorah; defeat of the Turks by Abbas the Great, of Persia. + + +1606. A patent granted to the London and Plymouth companies for the +purpose of American colonization. + +Dethronement of the first Pseudo-Demetrius; he is slain; Shinski +succeeds as Basil V. + +Discovery of Australia by the Portuguese. See "EARLIEST POSITIVE +DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA," X, 340. + + +1607. Naval victory of the Hollanders over the Spaniards off Cape St. +Vincent. + +Foundation of Jamestown, Virginia. See "SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA," X, 350. + + +1608. Ireland secures an improved government from James I; the forfeited +lands in Ulster are offered to Protestant settlers. + +Foundation of Quebec by the French. See "FOUNDING OF QUEBEC," X, 366. + +Formation of the Evangelical Union by the Protestant German states. + + + END OF VOLUME X + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, +Vol. 1-20, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS *** + +***** This file should be named 19893-8.txt or 19893-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/8/9/19893/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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