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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Heroes of Modern Europe, by Alice Birkhead
+
+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: Heroes of Modern Europe
+
+Author: Alice Birkhead
+
+Release Date: April 16, 2007 [EBook #21114]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEROES OF MODERN EUROPE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: Leo Tolstoy in his bare Apartments at Yasnaya Polyana
+(Repin)]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+HEROES OF MODERN EUROPE
+
+
+BY
+
+ALICE BIRKHEAD B.A.
+
+
+AUTHOR OF
+
+'THE STORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION' 'MARIE ANTOINETTE' 'PETER THE
+GREAT' ETC.
+
+
+
+WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+
+
+GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. LTD.
+
+LONDON ---- CALCUTTA ---- SYDNEY
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers
+enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}.  They have been located where page
+breaks occurred in the original book, in accordance with Project
+Gutenberg's FAQ-V-99.  For its Index, a page number has been placed
+only at the start of that section.  In the HTML version of this book,
+page numbers are placed in the left margin.]
+
+
+
+
+First published July 1913
+
+by GEORGE G. HARRAP & Co.
+
+39-41 Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W.C.2
+
+
+Reprinted in the present series:
+
+February 1914; August 1917; May 1921; January 1924; July 1926
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+CHAP.
+
+     I.  THE TWO SWORDS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
+    II.  DANTE, THE DIVINE POET  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
+   III.  LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
+    IV.  THE PRIOR OF SAN MARCO  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41
+     V.  MARTIN LUTHER, REFORMER OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . .  52
+    VI.  CHARLES V, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR . . . . . . . . . . . .  63
+   VII.  THE BEGGARS OF THE SEA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  74
+  VIII.  WILLIAM THE SILENT, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY . . . . . .  86
+    IX.  HENRY OF NAVARRE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
+     X.  UNDER THE RED ROBE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
+    XI.  THE GRAND MONARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
+   XII.  PETER THE GREAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
+  XIII.  THE ROYAL ROBBER  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
+   XIV.  SPIRITS OF THE AGE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
+    XV.  THE MAN FROM CORSICA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
+   XVI.  "GOD AND THE PEOPLE"  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
+  XVII.  "FOR ITALY AND VICTOR EMMANUEL!"  . . . . . . . . . . 195
+ XVIII.  THE THIRD NAPOLEON  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
+   XIX.  THE REFORMER OF THE EAST  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
+    XX.  THE HERO IN HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
+         INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations
+
+
+LEO TOLSTOY IN HIS BARE APARTMENTS
+  AT YASNAYA POLYANA  (_Repin_). . . . . . . . . .  _Frontispiece_
+
+DANTE IN THE STREETS OF FLORENCE (_Evelyn Paul_) . . . . . . .  22
+
+THE LAST SLEEP OF SAVONAROLA (_Sir George Reid, P.R.S.A._) . .  60
+
+PHILIP II PRESENT AT AN AUTO-DA-FÉ (_D. Valdivieso_) . . . . .  78
+
+LAST MOMENTS OF COUNT EGMONT (_Louis Gallait_) . . . . . . . .  90
+
+AN APPLICATION TO THE CARDINAL FOR HIS FAVOUR (_Walter Gay_)   124
+
+FREDERICK THE GREAT RECEIVING HIS PEOPLE'S HOMAGE
+  (_A. Menzel_)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
+
+THE MEETING OF VICTOR EMMANUEL AND GARIBALDI (_Pietro Aldi_)   204
+
+
+
+
+
+{9}
+
+Heroes of Modern Europe
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Two Swords
+
+In the fourth century after Christ began that decay of the Roman Empire
+which had been the pride of the then civilized world.  Warriors of
+Teutonic race invaded its splendid cities, destroyed without remorse
+the costliest and most beautiful of its antique treasures.  Temples and
+images of the gods fell before barbarians whose only fear was lest they
+should die "upon the straw," while marble fountains and luxurious
+bath-houses were despoiled as signs of a most inglorious state of
+civilization.  Theatres perished and, with them, the plays of Greek
+dramatists, who have found no true successors.  Pictures and statues
+and buildings were defaced where they were not utterly destroyed.  The
+Latin race survived, forlornly conscious of its vanished culture.
+
+The Teutons had hardly begun to impose upon the Empire the rude customs
+of their own race when Saracens, bent upon spreading the religion of
+Mahomet, bore down upon Italy, where resistance from watchtowers and
+castles was powerless to check their cruel depredations.  Norman
+pirates plundered the shores of the Mediterranean and sailed up the
+River Seine, {10} always winning easy victories.  Magyars, a strange,
+wandering race, came from the East and wrought much evil among the
+newly-settled Germans.
+
+From the third to the tenth century there were incredible changes among
+the European nations.  Gone were the gleaming cities of the South and
+the worship of art and science and the exquisite refinements of the
+life of scholarly leisure.  Gone were the flourishing manufactures
+since the warrior had no time to devote to trading.  Gone was the love
+of letters and the philosopher's prestige now that men looked to the
+battle-field alone to give them the awards of glory.
+
+Outwardly, Europe of the Middle Ages presented a sad contrast to the
+magnificence of an Empire which was fading to remoteness year by year.
+The ugly towns did not attempt to hide their squalor, when dirt was
+such a natural condition of life that a knight would dwell boastfully
+upon his contempt for cleanliness, and a beauty display hands innocent
+of all proper tending.  The dress of the people was ill-made and
+scanty, lacking the severe grace of the Roman toga.  Furniture was
+rudely hewn from wood and placed on floors which were generally uneven
+and covered with straw instead of being paved with tessellated marble.
+
+Yet the inward life of Europe was purer since it sought to follow the
+teaching of Christ, and preached universal love and a toleration that
+placed on the same level a mighty ruler and the lowest in his realm.
+Fierce spirits, unfortunately, sometimes forgot the truth and gave
+themselves up to a cruel lust for persecution which was at variance
+with their creed, but the holiest now condemned warfare and praised the
+virtues of obedience and self-sacrifice.
+
+{11}
+
+Whereas pagan Greek and Rome had searched for beauty upon earth, it was
+the dreary belief of the Middle Ages that the world was a place where
+only misery could be the portion of mankind, who were bidden to look to
+another life for happiness and pleasure.  Sinners hurried from
+temptation into monasteries, which were founded for the purpose of
+enabling men to prepare for eternity.  Family life was broken up and
+all the pleasant intercourse of social habits.  Marriage was a snare,
+and even the love of parents might prove dangerous to the devoted monk.
+Strange was the isolation of the hermit who refused to cleanse himself
+or change his clothes, desiring above all other things to attain to
+that blessed state when his soul should be oblivious of his body.
+
+Women also despised the claims of kindred and retired to convents where
+the elect were granted visions after long prayer and fasting.  The nun
+knelt on the bare stone floor of her cell, awaiting the ecstasy that
+would descend on her.  When it had gone again she was nigh to death,
+faint and weary, yet compelled to struggle onward till her earthly life
+came to an end.
+
+The Crusades, or Wars of the Cross, had roused Europe from a state of
+most distressful bondage.  Ignorance and barbarism were shot with
+gleams of spiritual light even after the vast armies were sent forth to
+wrest the possession of Jerusalem from the infidels.  Shameful stories
+of the treatment of pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre had moved the hearts
+of kings and princes to a passionate indignation.  Valour became the
+highest, and all men were eager to be ranked with Crusaders--those
+soldiers of heroic courage whose cause was Christianity and its
+defence.  At the close of the tenth century there were innumerable
+pilgrims travelling {12} toward the Holy Land, for it had been
+prophesied that in the year A.D. 1000 the end of the world would come,
+when it would be well for those within Jerusalem, the City of the
+Saviour.  The inhuman conduct of the Turk was resented violently,
+because it would keep many a sinner from salvation; and the dangerous
+journey to the East was held to atone for the gravest crimes.
+
+After the first disasters in which so many Crusaders fell before they
+reached their destination, Italy especially began to benefit by these
+wars.  It was considered safer to reach Jerusalem by sea, boarding the
+vessels in Italian ports, which were owned and equipped by Italian
+merchants.  Venice, Pisa, and Genoa gradually assumed the trade of
+ancient Constantinople, once without rival on the southern sea.
+Constantinople was a city of wonder to the ignorant fighting men from
+other lands, who had never dreamed of a civilization so complete as
+that which she possessed.  Awed by elegance and luxury, they returned
+to their homes with a sense of inferiority.  They had met and fought
+side by side with warriors of such polished manners that they felt
+ashamed of their own brutal ways.  They had seen strange costumes and
+listened to strange tongues.  Henceforth no nation of Europe could be
+entirely indifferent to the fact that there was a world without.
+
+The widowed and desolate were not comforted by the knowledge which the
+returned Crusader delighted to impart.  They had been sacrificed to the
+pride which led husbands and fathers to sell their estates and squander
+vast sums of money, that they might equip a band of followers to lead
+in triumph to the Holy Wars.  The complaints of starving women led to
+{13} the collection of much gold and silver by Lambert Le Bègue, "the
+stammering priest."  He built a number of small houses to be inhabited
+by the Order of Bèguines, a new sisterhood who did not sever themselves
+entirely from the world, but lived in peaceful retirement, occupied by
+spinning and weaving all day long.
+
+The Beghards, or Weaving Brothers, took pattern by this busy guild of
+workers and followed the same rules of simple piety.  They were fond of
+religious discussion, and were mystics.  They enjoyed the approval of
+Rome until the new orders were established of Saint Francis and Saint
+Dominic.
+
+In the twelfth century religion was drawing nearer to humanity and the
+needs of earth.  The new orders, therefore, tried to bridge the gulf
+between the erring and the saintly, forbidding their brethren to
+seclude themselves from other men.  A healthy reaction was taking place
+from the old idea that the religious life meant a withdrawal from the
+temptations of the world.
+
+St Dominic, born in Spain in 1170, was the founder of "the Order of
+Preaching Monks for the conversion of heretics."  The first aim of the
+"Domini canes" (Dominicans), or Hounds of the Lord, was to attack
+anyone who denied their faith.  Cruelty could be practised under the
+rule of Dominic, who bade his followers lead men by any path to their
+ultimate salvation.  Tolerance of free thought and progress was
+discouraged, and rigid discipline corrected any disciple of compassion.
+The dress of the order was severely plain, consisting of a long black
+mantle over a white robe.  The brethren practised poverty, and fared
+humbly on bread and water.
+
+The brown-frocked Franciscans, rivals in later times of the monks of
+Dominic, were always taught to love {14} mankind and be merciful to
+transgressors.  It was the duty of the Preaching Brothers to warn and
+threaten; it was the joy of the _Frati Minori_, or Lesser Brothers, to
+tend the sick and protect the helpless, taking thought for the very
+birds and fishes.
+
+St Francis was born at Assisi in 1182, the son of a prosperous
+householder and cloth merchant.  He drank and was merry, like any other
+youth of the period, till a serious illness purged him of follies.
+After dedicating his life to God, he put down in the market-place of
+Assisi all he possessed save the shirt on his body.  The bitter
+reproaches of kinsfolk pursued him vainly as he set out in beggarly
+state to give service to the poor and despised.  He loved Nature and
+her creatures, speaking of the birds as "noble" and holding close
+communion with them.  The saintly Italian was opposed to the warlike
+doctrines of St Dominic; he made peace very frequently between the two
+parties known as Guelfs and Ghibellines.
+
+_Welf_ was a common name among the dukes of Bavaria, and the Guelfs
+were, in general, supporters of the Papacy and this ducal house,
+whereas the Waiblingen (Ghibellines) received their name from a castle
+in Swabia, a fief of the Hohenstaufen enemies of the Pope.  It was
+under a famous emperor of the House of Swabia that the struggle between
+Papacy and Empire, "the two swords," gained attention from the rest of
+Europe.
+
+In the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII had won many notable
+victories in support of his claims to temporal power.  He had brought
+Henry IV, the proud Emperor, before whose name men trembled, to sue for
+his pardon at Canossa, and had kept the suppliant in the snow, with
+bare head and bare feet, that he might {15} endure the last
+humiliations.  Then the fortune of war changed, and the Pope was seized
+in the Church of St Peter at Rome by Cencio, a fiery noble, who held
+him in close confinement.  It was easier to lord it over princes who
+were hated by many of their own subjects than to quell the animosity
+which was roused by attempted domination in the Eternal City.
+
+The Pope was able sometimes to elect a partisan of the Guelf party as
+emperor.  On the other hand, an emperor had been heard to lament the
+election of a staunch friend to the Papacy because he believed that no
+pope could ever be a true Ghibelline.
+
+Certain princes of the House of Hohenstaufen were too proud to
+acknowledge an authority that threatened to crush their power in Italy.
+Henry VI was a ruler dreaded by contemporaries as merciless to the last
+degree.  He burned men alive if they offended him, and had no
+compunction in ordering the guilty to be tarred and blinded.  He was of
+such a temper that the Pope had not the courage to demand from him the
+homage of a vassal.  It was Frederick II, Henry's son, who came into
+conflict with the Papacy so violently that all his neighbours watched
+in terror.
+
+Pope Gregory IX would give no quarter, and excommunicated the Emperor
+because he had been unable to go on a crusade owing to pestilence in
+his army.  The clergy were bidden to assemble in the Church of St Peter
+and to fling down their lighted candles as the Pope cursed the Emperor
+for his broken promise, a sin against religion.  The news of this
+ceremony spread through the world, the two parties appealing to the
+princes of Europe for aid in fighting out this quarrel.  Frederick
+defied the papal decree, and went to win back Jerusalem from the
+infidels as soon as his soldiers had {16} recovered.  He took the city,
+but had to crown himself as king since none other would perform the
+service for a man outside the Church.  Frederick bade the pious
+Mussulmans continue the prayers they would have ceased through
+deference to a Christian ruler.  He had thrown off all the
+superstitions of the age except the study of astrology, and was a
+scholar of wide repute, delighting in correspondence with the learned.
+
+The Arabs did not admire Frederick's person, describing him as unlikely
+to fetch a high price if he had been a slave!  He was bald-headed and
+had weak eyesight, though generally held graceful and attractive.  In
+mental powers he surpassed the greatest at his house, which had always
+been famous for its intellect.  He had been born at Palermo, "the city
+of three tongues"; therefore Greek, Latin, and Arabic were equally
+familiar.  He was daring in speech, broad in views, and cosmopolitan in
+habit.  He founded the University of Naples and encouraged the study of
+medicine; he had the Greek of Aristotle translated, and himself set the
+fashion in verse-making, which was soon to be the pastime of every
+court in Italy.
+
+The Pope was more successful in a contest waged with tongues than he
+had proved on battle-fields, which were strewn with bodies of both
+Guelf and Ghibelline factions.  He dined in 1230 at the same table as
+his foe, but the peace between them did not long continue.  In turn
+they triumphed, bringing against each other two armies of the Cross,
+the followers of the Pope fighting under the standard of St Peter's
+Keys as the champion of the true Christian Church against its
+oppressors.
+
+Pope Innocent IV, who succeeded Gregory, proved himself a very cunning
+adversary.  He might have {17} won an easy victory over Frederick II if
+the exactions of the Papacy had not angered the countries where he
+sought refuge after his first failures.  It was futile to declare at
+Lyons that the Emperor was deposed when all France was crying out upon
+the greed of prelates.  The wearisome strife went on till the very
+peasants had to be guarded at their work by knights, sent out from
+towns to see that they were not taken captive.  It was the day of the
+robber, and all things lay to his hand if he were bold enough to grasp
+them.  Prisoners of war suffered horrible tortures, being hung up by
+their feet and hands in the hope that their friends would ransom them
+the sooner.  Villages were burned down, and wolves howled near the
+haunts of men, seeking food to appease their ravening hunger.  It was
+said that fierce beasts gnawed through the walls of houses and devoured
+little children in their cradles.  Italy was rent by a conflict which
+divided one province from another, and even placed inhabitants of the
+same town on opposite sides and caused dissension in the noblest
+families.
+
+The Flagellants marched in procession through the land, calling for
+peace but bringing tumult.  The Emperor's party made haste to shut them
+out of the territory they ruled, but they could not rid the people of
+the terrible fear inspired by the barefooted, black-robed figures, with
+branches and candles in their hands and the holy Cross flaming red
+before them.
+
+One defeat after another brought the House of Hohenstaufen under the
+control of the Church they had defied so boldly.  Frederick's own son
+rebelled against him, and Frederick's camp was destroyed by a Guelf
+army.  The Emperor had lived splendidly, making more impression on
+world-history than any other prince of that {18} illustrious family,
+but he died in an hour of failure, feeling bitterly how great a triumph
+his death would be to the Pope who had conquered.
+
+It was late in the year 1250 when the tidings of Frederick II's death
+travelled slowly through his Empire.  Many refused to believe them, and
+declared long years afterwards that the Emperor was still living,
+beneath a mighty mountain.  The world seemed to be shaking yet with the
+vibration of that deadly struggle.  Conrad and Conradin were left, and
+Manfred, the favourite son of Frederick, but their reigns were short
+and desperate, and when they, too, had passed the Middle Ages were
+merging into another era.  The "two swords" of Papacy and Empire were
+still to pierce and wound, but the struggle between them would never
+seem so mighty after the spirit had fled which inspired Conradin, last
+of the House of Swabia.
+
+This young prince was led to the scaffold, where he asserted stoutly
+his claim to Naples above the claim of Charles, the Count of Anjou, who
+held it as fief of the Papacy.  Then Conradin dared to throw his glove
+among the people, bidding them to carry it to Peter, Prince of Aragon,
+as the symbol by which he conveyed the rights of which death alone had
+been able to despoil him.
+
+
+
+
+{19}
+
+Chapter II
+
+Dante, the Divine Poet
+
+There were still Guelfs and Ghibellines in 1265, but the old names had
+partially lost their meaning in the Republic of Florence, where the
+citizens brawled daily, one faction against the other.  The nobles had,
+nevertheless, a bond with the emperor, being of the same Teutonic
+stock, and the burghers often sought the patronage of a very powerful
+pope, hoping in this way to maintain their well-loved independence.
+
+But often Guelf and Ghibelline had no interest in anything outside the
+walls of Florence.  The Florentine blood was hot and rose quickly to
+avenge insult.  Family feuds were passionately upheld in a community so
+narrow and so zealous.  If a man jostled another in the street, it was
+an excuse for a fight which might end in terrible bloodshed.  Fear of
+banishment was no restraint to the combatants.  The Guelf party would
+send away the Ghibelline after there had been some shameful tumult.
+Then the _fuori_ (outside) were recalled because their own faction was
+in power again, and, in turn, the Guelfs were banished by the
+Ghibellines.  In 1260 there had even been some talk of destroying the
+famous town in Tuscany.  Florence would have been razed to the ground
+had not a party leader, Farinata degli Uberti, showed unexpected
+patriotism which saved her.
+
+Florence had waxed mighty through her commerce, {20} holding a high
+place among the Italian cities which had thrown off the feudal yoke and
+become republics.  Wealth gave the citizens leisure to study art and
+literature, and to attain to the highest civilization of a thriving
+state.  The Italians of that time were the carriers of Europe, and as
+such had intercourse with every nation of importance.  They were
+especially successful as bankers, Florentine citizens of middle rank
+acquiring such vast fortunes by finance that they outstripped the
+nobles who dwelt outside the gates and spent all their time in
+fighting.  The guilds of Florence united men of the same trade and also
+encouraged perfection in the various branches.  Goldsmiths offered
+marvellous wares for the purchase of the affluent dilettante.  Silk was
+a natural manufacture, and paper had to be produced in a place where
+the School of Law attracted foreign scholars.
+
+Rome had the renown of past splendour and the purple of imperial pride.
+Venice was the depôt of the world's trade, and sent fleets east and
+west laden with precious cargoes, which gave her a unique position
+among the five Republics.  Bologna drew students from every capital in
+Europe to her ancient Universities.  Milan had been a centre of
+learning even in the days of Roman rule, and the Emperor Maximilian had
+made it the capital of Northern Italy.  Florence, somewhat overshadowed
+by such fame, could yet boast the most ancient origin.  Was not
+Faesulae, lying close to her, the first city built when the Flood had
+washed away the abodes of men and left the earth quite desolate?  _Fia
+sola_--"Let her be alone"--the words re-echoed through the whole
+neighbourhood and were the pride of Florence, which lay in a smiling
+fertile plain where all things flourished.  The Florentines were coming
+to their own as the Middle Ages {21} passed; they were people of
+cunning hand and brain, always eager to make money and spend it to
+procure the luxury and beauty their natures craved.  The "florin" owed
+its popularity to the soundness of trade within the very streets where
+the bell, known as "the great cow," rang so lustily to summon the
+citizens to combat.  The golden coins carried the repute of the fair
+Italian town to other lands, and changed owners so often that her
+prosperity was obvious.
+
+Florence looked very fair when Durante Alighieri came into the world,
+for he was born on a May morning, and the Florentines were making
+holiday.  There was mirth and jesting within the tall grey houses round
+the little church of San Martino.  The Alighieri dwelt in that quarter,
+but more humbly than their fine neighbours, the Portinari, the Donati,
+and the Cerci.
+
+The Portinari celebrated May royally in 1275, inviting all their
+friends to a blithe gathering.  At this _festa_ Dante Alighieri met
+Beatrice, the little daughter of his host, and the long dream of his
+life began, for he idealized her loveliness from that first youthful
+meeting.
+
+"Her dress on that day was of a most noble colour, a subdued and goodly
+crimson, girdled and adorned in such sort as best suited with her very
+tender age.  At that moment I say most truly that the spirit of life,
+which hath its dwelling in the secretest chamber of the heart, began to
+tremble so violently that the least pulses of my body shook therewith;
+and in trembling it said these words--'_Ecce Deus fortior me, qui
+veniens dominabitur mihi._'  From that time Love ruled my soul. . . ."
+
+Henceforth, Dante watched for the vision of Beatrice, weaving about her
+all the poetic fancies of his youth.  He must have seen her many times,
+but no words passed {22} between them till nine years had sped and he
+chanced to come upon her in all the radiance of her womanhood.  She was
+"between two gentle ladies who were older than she; and passing by in
+the street, she turned her eyes towards that place where I stood very
+timidly, and in her ineffable courtesy saluted me so graciously that I
+seemed then to see the heights of all blessedness.  And because this
+was the first time her words came to my ears, it was so sweet to me
+that, like one intoxicated, I left all my companions, and retiring to
+the solitary refuge of my chamber I set myself to think of that most
+courteous one, and thinking of her, there fell upon me a sweet sleep,
+in which a marvellous vision appeared to me."  The poet described the
+vision in verse--it was Love carrying a sleeping lady in one arm and in
+the other the burning heart of Dante.  He wished that the sonnet he
+wrote should be answered by "all the faithful followers of love," and
+was gratified by the prompt reply of Guido Cavalcanti, who had won
+renown as a knight and minstrel.
+
+Dante became the friend of this elder poet, and was encouraged to
+pursue his visionary history of the earlier years of his life and his
+fantastic adoration for Beatrice Portinari.  The _Vita Nuova_ was read
+by the poet's circle, who had a sympathetic interest in the details of
+the drama.  The young lover did not confess his love to "the youngest
+of the angels," but he continued to worship her long after she had
+married Simone de Bardi.
+
+[Illustration: Dante in the Streets of Florence (Evelyn Paul)]
+
+Yet Dante entered into the ruder life of Florence, and took up arms for
+the Guelf faction, to which his family belonged.  He fought in 1289 at
+the battle of Campaldino against the city of Arezzo and the Ghibellines
+who had taken possession of that city.  Florence had been strangely
+peaceful in his childhood because the Guelfs were her unquestioned
+masters at the time.  It must have {23} been a relief to Florentines to
+go forth to external warfare!
+
+Dante played his part valiantly on the battle-field, then returned to
+wonderful aloofness from the strife of factions.  He was stricken with
+grave fears that Beatrice must die, and mourned sublimely when the sad
+event took place on the ninth day of one of the summer months of 1290.
+"In their ninth year they had met, nine years after, they had spoken;
+she died on the ninth day of the month and the ninetieth year of the
+century."
+
+Real life began with the poet's marriage when he was twenty-eight, for
+he allied himself to the noble Donati by marrying Gemma of that house.
+Little is known of the wife, but she bore seven children and seems to
+have been devoted.  Dante still had his spiritual love for Beatrice in
+his heart, and planned a wonderful poem in which she should be
+celebrated worthily.
+
+Dante began to take up the active duties of a citizen in 1293 when the
+people of Florence rose against the nobles and took all their political
+powers from them.  The aristocratic party had henceforth to submit to
+the humiliation of enrolling themselves as members of some guild or art
+if they wished to have political rights in the Republic.  The poet was
+not too proud to adopt this course, and was duly entered in the
+register of the art of doctors and apothecaries.  It was not necessary
+that he should study medicine, the regulation being a mere form,
+probably to carry out the idea that every citizen possessing the
+franchise should have a trade of some kind.
+
+The prosperity of the Republic was not destroyed by this petty
+revolution.  Churches were built and stones laid for the new walls of
+Florence.  Relations with other states demanded the services of a
+gracious and tactful {24} embassy.  Dante became an ambassador, and was
+successful in arranging the business of diplomacy and in promoting the
+welfare of his city.  He was too much engaged in important affairs to
+pay attention to every miserable quarrel of the Florentines.  The
+powerful Donati showed dangerous hostility now to the wealthy Cerchi,
+their near neighbours.  Dante acted as a mediator when he could spare
+the time to hear complaints.  He was probably more in sympathy with the
+popular cause which was espoused by the Cerchi than with the arrogance
+of his wife's family.
+
+The feud of the Donati and Cerchi was fostered by the irruption of a
+family from Pistoia, who had separated into two distinct branches--the
+Bianchi and the Neri (the Whites and the Blacks)--and drawn their
+swords upon each other.  The Cerchi chose to believe that the Bianchi
+were in the right, and, of course, the Donati took up the cause of the
+Neri.  The original dispute had long been forgotten, but any excuse
+would serve two factions anxious to fight.  Brawling took place at a
+May _festa_, in which several persons were wounded.
+
+Dante was glad to divert his mind from all his discords when the last
+year of the thirteenth century came and he set out to Rome on
+pilgrimage.  At Easter all the world seemed to be flocking to that
+solemn festival of the Catholic Church, where the erring could obtain
+indulgence by fifteen days of devotion.  Yet the very break in the
+usual life of audiences and journeys must have been grateful to the
+tired ambassador.  He began to muse on the poetic aims of his first
+youth and the work which was to make Beatrice's name immortal.  Some
+lines of the new poem were written in the Latin tongue, then held the
+finest language for expressing a great subject.  The poet had to
+abandon his scheme for {25} a time at least, when he was made one of
+the Priors, or supreme rulers, of Florence in June 1300.
+
+There was some attempt during Dante's brief term of office to settle
+the vexed question of the rival parties.  Both deserved punishment,
+without doubt, and received it in the form of banishment for the heads
+of the factions.  "Dante applied all his genius and every act and
+thought to bring back unity to the republic, demonstrating to the wiser
+citizens how even the great are destroyed by discord, while the small
+grow and increase infinitely when at peace. . . ."
+
+Apparently Dante was not always successful in his attempts to unite his
+fellow-citizens.  He talked of resignation sometimes and retirement
+into private life, a proposal which was opposed by his friends in
+office.  When the losing side decided to ask Pope Boniface for an
+arbitrator to settle their disputes, all Dante's spirit rose against
+their lack of patriotism.  He went willingly on an embassy to desire
+that Charles, the brother or cousin of King Philip of France, who had
+been selected to regulate the state of Florence, should come with a
+friendly feeling to his party, if his arrival could not be averted.  He
+remained at Rome with other ambassadors for some unknown cause, while
+his party at Florence was defeated and sentence of banishment was
+passed on him as on the other leaders.
+
+Dante loved the city of his birth and was determined to return from
+exile.  He joined the band of _fuor-usciti_, or "turned-out," who were
+at that time plotting to reverse their fortunes.  He cared not whether
+they were Guelf or Ghibelline in his passionate eagerness to win them
+to decisive action that would restore him to his rights as a Florentine
+citizen.  He had no scruples in seeking foreign aid against the unjust
+Florentines.  An {26} armed attempt was made against Florence through
+his fierce endeavours, but it failed, as also a second conspiracy
+within three years, and by 1304 the poet had been seized with disgust
+of his companions outside the gates.  He turned from them and went to
+the University of Bologna.
+
+Dante's wife had remained in Florence, escaping from dangers, perhaps,
+because she belonged to the powerful family of Donati.  Now she sent
+her eldest son, Pietro, to his father, with the idea that he should
+begin his studies at the ancient seat of learning.
+
+After two years of a quiet life, spent in writing his _Essay on
+Eloquence_ and reading philosophy, the exile was driven away from
+Bologna and had to take refuge with a noble of the Malespina family.
+He hated to receive patronage, and was thankful to set to work on his
+incomplete poem of the _Inferno_, which was sent to him from Florence.
+The weariness of exile was forgotten as he wrote the great lines that
+were to ring through the centuries and prove what manner of man his
+fellow-citizens had cast forth through petty wish for revenge and
+jealous hatred.  He had written beautiful poems in his youth, telling
+of love and chivalry and fair women.  Now he took the next world for
+his theme and the sufferings of those whose bodies have passed from
+earth and whose souls await redemption.  "Where I am sailing none has
+tracked the sea" were his words, avowing an intention to forsake the
+narrower limits of all poets before him.
+
+  "In the midway of this our mortal life,
+  I found one in a gloomy wood, astray
+  Gone from the path direct; and e'en to tell
+  It were no easy task, how savage wild
+  That forest, how robust and rough its growth,
+  Which to remember only, my dismay
+  Renews, in bitterness not far from death."
+
+{27}
+
+So the poet descended in imagination to the underworld, which he
+pictured reaching in wide circles from a vortex of sin and misery to a
+point of godlike ecstasy.  With Vergil as a guide, he passed through
+the dark portals with their solemn warning.
+
+  "Through me men pass to city of great woe,
+  Through me men pass to endless misery,
+  Through me men pass where all the lost ones go."
+
+
+In 1305 the _Inferno_ was complete, and Dante left it with the monks of
+a certain convent while he wandered into a far-distant country.  The
+Frate questioned him eagerly, asking why he had chosen to write the
+poem in Italian since the vulgar tongue seemed to clothe such a
+wonderful theme unbecomingly.  "When I considered the condition of the
+present age," the poet replied, "I saw that the songs of the most
+illustrious poets were neglected of all, and for this reason
+high-minded men who once wrote on such themes now left (oh! pity) the
+liberal arts to the crowd.  For this I laid down the pure lyre with
+which I was provided and prepared for myself another more adapted to
+the understanding of the moderns.  For it is vain to give sucklings
+solid food."
+
+Dante fled Italy and again sat on the student's "bundle of straw,"
+choosing Paris as his next refuge.  There he discussed learned
+questions with the wise men of France, and endured much privation as
+well as the pangs of yearning for Florence, his beloved city, which
+seemed to forget him.  Hope rose within his breast when the
+newly-elected Emperor, Henry of Luxemburg, resolved to invade Italy and
+pacify the rebellious spirit of the proud republics.  Orders were given
+that Florence should settle her feuds once for all, {28} but the
+Florentines angrily refused to acknowledge the imperial authority over
+their affairs and, while recalling a certain number of the exiled,
+refused to include the name of Dante.
+
+Dante, in his fierce resentment, urged the Emperor to besiege the city
+which resisted his imperial mandates.  The assault was unsuccessful,
+and Henry of Luxemburg died without accomplishing his laudable
+intention of making Italy more peaceful.
+
+Dante lived under the protection of the powerful Uguccione, lord of
+Pisa, while he wrote the _Purgatorio_.  The second part of his epic
+dealt with the region lying between the under-world of torment and the
+heavenly heights of Paradise itself.  Here the souls of men were to be
+cleansed of their sins that they might be pure in their final ecstasy.
+
+A revolt against his patron led the poet to follow him to Verona, where
+they both dwelt in friendship with the young prince, Cane della Scala.
+The later cantos of the great poem, the _Divine Comedy_, were sent to
+this ruler as they were written.  Cane loved letters, and appreciated
+Dante so generously that the exile, for a time, was moved to forget his
+bitterness.  He dedicated the _Paradiso_ to della Scala, but he had to
+give up the arduous task of glorifying Beatrice worthily and devote
+himself to some humble office at Verona.  The inferiority of his
+position galled one who claimed Vergil and Homer as his equals in the
+world of letters.  He lost all his serene tranquillity of soul, and his
+face betrayed the haughty impatience of his spirit.  Truly he was not
+the fitting companion for the buffoons and jesters among whom he was
+too often compelled to sit in the palaces where he accepted bounty.  He
+could not always win respect by the power of his dark and {29} piercing
+eyes, for he had few advantages of person and disdained to be genial in
+manners.  Brooding over neglect and injustice, he grew so repellant
+that Cane was secretly relieved when thoughtless, cruel levity drove
+the poet from his court.  He never cared, perhaps, that Dante, writing
+the concluding cantos of his poem, decided sadly not to send them to
+his former benefactor.
+
+The last goal of Dante's wanderings was the ancient city of Ravenna,
+where his genius was honoured by the great, and he derived a melancholy
+pleasure from the wonder of the people, who would draw aside from his
+path and whisper one to another: "Do you see him who goes to hell and
+comes back again when he pleases?"  The fame of the _Divine Comedy_ was
+known to all, and men were amazed by the splendid audacity of the
+_Inferno_.
+
+Yet Dante was still an exile when death took him in 1321, and Florence
+had stubbornly refused to pay him tribute.  He was buried at Ravenna,
+and over his tomb in the little chapel an inscription reproached his
+own city with indifference.
+
+  "_Hic claudor Dantes patriis extorris ab oris,_
+  _Quem genuit parvi Florentia mater amoris._"
+
+  "Here I am enclosed, Dante, exiled from my native country,
+  Whom Florence bore, the mother that little did love him."
+
+
+
+
+{30}
+
+Chapter III
+
+Lorenzo the Magnificent
+
+The struggle in which Dante had played a leading part did not cease for
+many years after the poet had died in exile.  The Florentines proved
+themselves so unable to rule their own city that they had to admit
+foreign control and bow before the Lords Paramount who came from
+Naples.  The last of these died in 1328 and was succeeded by the Duke
+of Athens.  This tyrant roused the old spirit of the people which had
+asserted its independence in former days.  He was driven out of
+Florence on Saint Anne's Day, July 26th of 1343, and the anniversary of
+that brave fight for liberty was celebrated henceforth with loud
+rejoicing.
+
+The _Ciompi_, or working-classes, rose in 1378 and demanded higher
+wages.  They had been grievously oppressed by the nobles, and were
+encouraged by a general spirit of revolt which affected the peasantry
+of Europe.  They were strong enough in Florence to set up a new
+government with one of their own rank as chief magistrate.  But
+democracy did not enjoy a lengthy rule and the rich merchant-class came
+into power.  Such families as the Albizzi and Medici were well able to
+buy the favour of the people.
+
+There had been a tradition that the Florentine banking-house of Medici
+were on the popular side in those struggles which rent Florence.  They
+were certainly born leaders {31} and understood very thoroughly the
+nature of their turbulent fellow-citizens.  They gained influence
+steadily during the sway of their rivals, the illustrious Albizzi.
+When Cosimo dei Medici had been banished, it was significant that the
+same convention of the people which recalled him should send Rinaldo
+degli Albizzi into exile.
+
+Cosimo dei Medici rid himself of enemies by the unscrupulous method of
+his predecessors, driving outside the walls the followers of any party
+that opposed him.  He had determined to control the Florentines so
+cleverly that they should not realize his tyranny.  He was quite
+willing to spend the hoards of his ancestors on the adornment of the
+state he governed, and, among other things, he built the famous convent
+of St Mark.  Fra Angelico, the painter-monk, was given the work of
+covering its white walls with the frescoes in which the monks delighted.
+
+Cosimo gained thereby the reputation of liberality and gracious
+interest in the development of genius.  The monk had devoted his time
+before this to the illuminations of manuscripts, and was delighted to
+work for the glory of God in such a way that all the convent might
+behold it.  He wished for neither profit not praise for himself, but he
+knew that his beautiful vision would be inherited by his Church, and
+that they might inspire others of his brethren.
+
+The Golden Age of Italian art was in its heyday under Cosimo dei
+Medici.  Painters and architects had not been disturbed by the tumults
+that drew the rival factions from their daily labours.  They had been
+constructing marvellous edifices in Florence even during the time when
+party feeling ran so high that it would have sacrificed the very
+existence of the city to its rancours.  {32} The noble Cathedral had
+begun to rise before Dante had been banished, but there was no belfry
+till 1334 when Giotto laid the foundation-stone of the _Campanile_,
+whence the bells would ring through many centuries.  The artist had
+completed his masterpiece in 1387, two years before the birth of
+Cosimo.  It was an incentive to patriotic Florentines to add to the
+noble buildings of their city.  The Church of San Lorenzo owed its
+existence to the House of Medici, which appealed to the people by
+lavish appreciation of all genius.
+
+Cosimo was a scholar and welcomed the learned Greeks who fled from
+Constantinople when that city was taken by the Turks in 1453.  He
+founded a Platonic Academy in Florence so that his guests were able to
+discuss philosophy at leisure.  He professed to find consolation for
+all the misfortunes of his life in the writings of the Greek Plato, and
+read them rather ostentatiously in hours of bereavement.  He collected
+as many classical manuscripts as his agents could discover on their
+journeys throughout Europe, and had these translated for the benefit of
+scholars.  He had been in the habit of conciliating Alfonso of Naples
+by a present of gold and jewels, but as soon as a copy of Livy, the
+Latin historian, came to his hand, he sent the priceless treasure to
+his ally, knowing that the Neapolitan prince had an enormous reverence
+for learning.  Cosimo, in truth, never coveted such finds for his own
+private use, but was always generous in exhibiting them at public
+libraries.  He bought works of art to encourage the ingenuity of
+Florentine craftsmen, and would pay a high price for any new design,
+because he liked to think that his benevolence added to the welfare of
+the city.
+
+Cosimo protected the commercial interests of Florence, identifying them
+with his own.  He knew that peace {33} was essential to the foreign
+trade, and tried to keep on friendly terms with the neighbours whose
+hostility would have destroyed it.  He lived with simplicity in private
+life, but he needed wealth to maintain his position as patron of art
+and the New Learning; nor did he grudge the money which was scattered
+profusely to provide the gorgeous spectacles, beloved by the unlearned.
+He knew that nothing would rob the Florentines so easily of their
+ancient love of liberty as the experience of sensuous delights, in
+which all southern races find some satisfaction.  He entertained the
+guests of the Republic with magnificence, that they might be impressed
+by the security of his unlawful government.
+
+Lorenzo, the grandson of Cosimo dei Medici, carried on his policy.  It
+had been successful, for the Florentines of their own accord put
+themselves beneath the sway of a second tyrant.
+
+"Poets of every kind, gentle and simple, with golden cithern and with
+rustic lute, came from every quarter to animate the suppers of the
+Magnifico; whosoever sang of arms, of love, of saints, of fools, was
+welcome, or he who, drinking and joking, kept the company amused. . . .
+And in order that the people might not be excluded from this new
+beatitude (a thing which was important to the Magnifico), he composed
+and set in order many mythological representations, triumphal cars,
+dances, and every kind of festal celebration, to solace and delight
+them; and thus he succeeded in banishing from their souls any
+recollection of their ancient greatness, in making them insensible to
+the ills of the country, in disfranchising and debasing them by means
+of temporal ease and intoxication of the senses."
+
+Lorenzo the Magnificent was endowed with charms {34} that were
+naturally potent with a beauty-loving people.  He had been very
+carefully trained by the prudent Cosimo, so that he excelled in
+physical exercises and could also claim a place among the most
+intellectual in Florence.  Although singularly ill-favoured, he had
+personal qualities which attracted men and women.  He spared no pains
+to array himself with splendour whenever he appeared in public.  At
+tournaments he wore a costume ornamented with gold and silver thread,
+and displayed the great Medicean diamond--_Il Libro_--on his shield,
+which bore the _fleur-de-lis_ of France in token of the friendship
+between the Medici and that nation.  The sound of drums and fifes
+heralded the approach of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and cheers acclaimed
+him victor when he left the field bearing the coveted silver helmet as
+a trophy.
+
+Lorenzo worshipped a lady who had given him a bunch of violets as a
+token, according to the laws of chivalry.  He wrote sonnets in honour
+of Lucrezia Donati, but he was not free to marry her, the great house
+of Medici looking higher than her family.  The bride, chosen for the
+honour of mating with the ruler of Florence, was a Roman lady of such
+noble birth that it was not considered essential that she should bring
+a substantial dowry.  Clarice Orsini was dazzled at her wedding-feast
+by the voluptuous splendour of the family which she entered.
+
+The ceremony took place at Florence in 1469 and afforded an excuse for
+lavish hospitality.  The bride received her own guests in the garden of
+the villa where she was to reign as mistress.  Young married women
+surrounded her, admiring the costliness of her clothing and preening
+themselves in the rich attire which they had assumed for this great
+occasion.  In an upper {35} room of the villa the bridegroom's mother
+welcomed her own friends of mature years, and listened indulgently to
+the sounds of mirth that floated upward from the cloisters of the
+courtyard.  Lorenzo sat there with the great Florentines who had
+assembled to honour his betrothal.  The feast was served with solemnity
+at variance with the wit and laughter that were characteristic of the
+gallant company.  The blare of trumpets heralded the arrival of dishes,
+which were generally simple.  The stewards and carvers bowed low as
+they served the meats; their task was far from light since abundance
+was the rule of the house of Medici.  No less than five thousand pounds
+of sweetmeats had been provided for the wedding, but it must be
+remembered that the banquets went on continuously for several days, and
+the humblest citizen could present himself at the hospitable boards of
+the bridegroom and his kinsfolk.  The country-folk had sent the usual
+gifts, of fat hens and capons, and were greeted with a welcome as
+gracious as that bestowed on the guests whose offerings were rings or
+brocades or costly illuminated manuscripts.
+
+After his marriage, Lorenzo was called upon to undertake a foreign
+mission.  He travelled to Milan and there stood sponsor to the child of
+the reigning Duke, Galeazzo Sforza, in order to cement an alliance.  He
+gave a gold collar, studded with diamonds, to the Duchess of Milan, and
+answered as became him when she was led to express the hope that he
+would be godfather to all her children!  It was Lorenzo's duty to act
+as host when the Duke of Milan came to visit Florence.  He was not
+dismayed by the long train of attendants which followed the Duke, for
+he knew that these richly-dressed warriors might be bribed to {36}
+fight for his State if he conciliated their master.  There were
+citizens in Florence, however, who shrank from the barbaric ostentation
+of their ally.  They looked upon a fire which broke out in a church as
+a divine denunciation of the mystery play performed in honour of their
+guests, and were openly relieved to shut their gates upon the Duke of
+Milan and his proud forces.
+
+Lorenzo betrayed no weakness when the town of Volterra revolted against
+Florence, which exercised the rights of a protector.  He punished the
+inhabitants very cruelly, banishing all the leaders of the revolt and
+taking away the Volterran privilege of self-government.  His enemies
+hinted that he behaved despotically in order to secure certain mineral
+rights in this territory, and held him responsible for the sack of
+Volterra, though he asserted that he had gone to offer help to such of
+the inhabitants as had lost everything.
+
+But the war of the Pazzi conspiracy was the true test of the strength
+of Medicean government.  It succeeded a time of high prosperity in
+Florence, when her ruler was honoured by the recognition of many
+foreign powers, and felt his position so secure that he might safely
+devote much leisure to the congenial study of poetry and philosophy.
+
+Between the years 1474-8 Lorenzo had managed to incur the jealous
+hatred of Pope Sixtus IV, who was determined to become the greatest
+power in Christendom.  This Pontiff skilfully detached Naples from her
+alliance with Florence and Milan by promising to be content with a
+nominal tribute of two white horses every year instead of the handsome
+annual sum she had usually exacted from this vassal.  He congratulated
+himself especially on this stroke of policy, because he believed Venice
+to be too selfish as a commercial State {37} to combine with her
+Italian neighbours and so form another Triple Alliance.  He then
+proceeded to win over the Duke of Urbino, who had been the leader of
+the Florentine army.  He also thwarted the ambition of Florentine trade
+by purchasing the tower of Imola from Milan.  The Medici, coveting the
+bargain for their traffic with the East, were too indignant to advance
+the money which, as bankers to the Papacy, they should have supplied.
+They preferred to see their rivals, the great Roman banking-house of
+the Pazzi, accommodating the Pope, even though this might mean a fatal
+blow to their supremacy.
+
+Lorenzo's hopes of a strong coalition against his foe were destroyed by
+the assassination of Sforza of Milan in 1474.  The Duke was murdered in
+the church of St Stephen by three young nobles who had personal
+injuries to avenge and were also inspired by an ardent desire for
+republican liberty.  The Pope exclaimed, when he heard the news, that
+the peace of Italy was banished by this act of lawlessness.  Lorenzo,
+disapproving of all outbreaks against tyranny, promised to support the
+widowed Duchess of Milan.  The control he exercised during her brief
+régime came to an end in 1479 with the usurpation of Ludovico, her
+Moorish brother-in-law.
+
+Then Riario, the Pope's nephew, saw that the time was ripe for a
+conspiracy against the Medici which might deprive them of their power
+in Italy.  He allied himself closely with Francesco dei Pazzi, who was
+anxious for the aggrandisement of his own family.  His name had long
+been famous in Florence, every good citizen watching the ancient _Carro
+dei Pazzi_ which was borne in procession at Easter-tide.  The car was
+stored with fireworks set alight by means {38} of the Colombina (Dove)
+bringing a spark struck from a stone fragment of Christ's tomb.  The
+citizens could not forget the origin of the sacred flame, for they had
+all heard in youth the story of the return of a crusading member of the
+Pazzi house with that precious relic.
+
+The two conspirators hoped to bring a foreign army against Florence
+and, therefore, gained the aid of Salviati, Archbishop of Pisa.  The
+Pope bade them do as they wished, "provided that there be no killing."
+In reality, he was aware that a plot to assassinate both Lorenzo dei
+Medici and his brother, Giuliano, was on foot, but considered that it
+would degrade his holy office if he spoke of it.
+
+It was necessary for their first plan that Lorenzo should be lured to
+Rome where the conspirators had assembled, but he refused an invitation
+to confer with the Pope about their differences and a new plan had to
+be substituted.  Accordingly the nephew of Riario, Cardinal Raffaelle
+Sansoni, expressed a keen desire to view the treasures of the Medici
+household, and was welcomed as a guest by Florence.  He attended mass
+in the Cathedral which was to be the scene of the assassination, since
+Lorenzo and his brother were certain to attend it.  Two priests offered
+to perform the deed of sacrilege from which the original assassin
+recoiled.  They hated Lorenzo for his treatment of Volterra, and drove
+him behind the gates of the new sacristy.  Giuliano was slain at the
+very altar, his body being pierced with no less than nineteen wounds,
+but Lorenzo escaped to mourn the fate of the handsome noble brother who
+had been a model for Botticelli's famous "Primavera."
+
+He heard the citizens cry, "Down with traitors!  The Medici!  The
+Medici!" and resolved to move {39} them to a desperate vengeance on the
+Pazzi.  The Archbishop of Pisa was hanged from the window of a palace,
+while a fellow-conspirator was hurled to the ground from the same
+building.  This gruesome scene was painted to gratify the avengers of
+Giuliano.
+
+Florence was enthusiastic in defence of her remaining tyrant.  He was
+depicted by Botticelli in an attitude of triumph over the triple forces
+of anarchy, warfare and sedition.  All the family of Pazzi were
+condemned as traitors.  Their coat of arms was erased by Lorenzo's
+adherents wherever it was discovered.
+
+Henceforth, Lorenzo exercised supreme control over his native city.  He
+won Naples to a new alliance by a diplomatic visit that proved his
+skill in foreign negotiations.  The gifts that came to him from strange
+lands were presented, in reality, to the master of the Florentine
+"republic."  Egypt sent a lion and a giraffe, which were welcomed as
+wonders of the East even by those who did not appreciate the fact that
+they showed a desire to trade.  It was easy soon to find new markets
+for the rich burghers whose class was in complete ascendancy over the
+ancient nobles.
+
+Lorenzo was seized with mortal sickness in the early spring of 1492,
+and found no comfort in philosophy.  He drank from a golden cup which
+was supposed to revive the dying when it held a draught, strangely
+concocted from precious pearls according to some Eastern fancy.  But
+the sick man found nothing of avail in his hour of death except a visit
+from an honest monk he had seen many times in the cloisters of San
+Marco.
+
+Savonarola came to the bedside of the magnificent pagan and demanded
+three things as the price of absolution.  Lorenzo was to believe in the
+mercy of God, to {40} restore all that he had wrongfully acquired, and
+to agree to popular government being restored to Florence.  The third
+condition was too hard, for Lorenzo would not own himself a tyrant.  He
+turned his face to the wall in bitterness of spirit, and the monk
+withdrew leaving him unshriven.
+
+The sack of Volterra, and the murder of innocent kinsfolk of the Pazzi
+who had been involved in the great conspiracy haunted Lorenzo as he
+passed from life in the prime of manhood and glorious achievements.  He
+would have mourned for the commerce of his city if he had known that in
+the same year of 1492 the discovery of America would be made, through
+which the Atlantic Ocean was to become the highway of commerce,
+reducing to sad inferiority the ports of the Mediterranean.
+
+
+
+
+{41}
+
+Chapter IV
+
+The Prior of San Marco
+
+Long before Lorenzo's death, Girolamo Savonarola had made the
+corruption of Florence the subject of sermons which drew vast crowds to
+San Marco.  The city might pride herself on splendid buildings
+decorated by the greatest of Italian painters; she might rouse envy in
+the foreign princes who were weary of listening to the praises of
+Lorenzo; but the preacher lamented the sins of Florentines as one of
+old had lamented the wickedness of Nineveh, and prophesied her downfall
+if the pagan lust for enjoyment did not yield to the sternest
+Christianity.
+
+Savonarola had witnessed many scenes which showed the real attitude of
+the Pope toward religion.  He had been born at Ferrara, where the
+extravagant and sumptuous court had extended a flattering welcome to
+Pius IV as he passed from town to town to preach a Crusade against the
+Turks.  The Pope was sheltered by a golden canopy and greeted by sweet
+music, and statues of heathen gods were placed on the river-banks as an
+honour to the Vicar of Christ!
+
+Savonarola shrank from court-life and the patronage of Borsi, the
+reigning Marquis of Ferrara.  That prince, famed for his banquets, his
+falcons, and his robes of gold brocade, would have appointed him the
+court physician it he would have agreed to study medicine.  {42} The
+study of the Scriptures appealed more to the recluse, whose only
+recreation was to play the lute and write verses of a haunting
+melancholy.
+
+Against the wishes of his family Savonarola entered the Order of Saint
+Dominic.  He gave up the world for a life of the hardest service in the
+monastery by day, and took his rest upon a coarse sack at night.  He
+was conscious of a secret wish for pre-eminence, no doubt, even when he
+took the lowest place and put on the shabbiest clothing.
+
+The avarice of Pope Sextus roused the monk to burning indignation.  The
+new Pope lavished gifts on his own family, who squandered on luxury of
+every kind the money that should have relieved the poor.  The Church
+seemed to have entered zealously into that contest for wealth and power
+which was devastating all the free states of Italy.
+
+Savonarola had come from his monastery at Bologna to the Convent of San
+Marco when he first lifted up his voice in denunciation.  He was not
+well received because he used the Bible--distrusted by the Florentines,
+who expressed doubts of the correctness of its Latin!  Pico della
+Mirandola, the brilliant young scholar, was attracted, however, by the
+friar's eloquence.  A close friendship was formed between these two
+men, whose appearance was as much in contrast as their characters.
+
+Savonarola was dark in complexion, with thick lips and an aquiline
+nose--only the flashing grey eyes set under overhanging brows redeemed
+his face from harshness.  Mirandola, on the other hand, was gifted with
+remarkable personal beauty.  Long fair curls hung to his shoulders and
+surrounded a face that was both gentle and gracious.  He had an
+extraordinary knowledge of languages and a wonderful memory.
+
+{43}
+
+Fastidious Florentines were converted to Mirandola's strange taste in
+sermons, so that the convent garden with its rose-trees became the
+haunt of an ever-increasing crowd, eager to hear doctrines which were
+new enough to tickle their palates pleasantly.  On the 1st of August
+1489, the friar consented to preach in the Convent Church to the
+Dominican brothers and the laymen who continued to assemble in the
+cloisters.  He took a passage of Revelations for his text.  "Three
+things he suggested to the people.  That the Church of God required
+renewal, and that immediately; second, that all Italy should be
+chastised; third, that this should come to pass soon."  This was the
+first of Savonarola's prophecies, and caused great excitement among the
+Florentines who heard it.
+
+At Siena, the preacher pronounced sentence on the Church, which was now
+under the rule of Innocent IV, a pope more openly depraved than any of
+his predecessors.  Through Lombardy the echo of that sermon sounded and
+the name of Girolamo Savonarola.  The monk was banished, and only
+recalled to Florence by the favour of Lorenzo dei Medici, who was
+undisturbed by a series of sermons against tyranny.
+
+Savonarola was elected Prior of San Marco in July 1491, but he refused
+to pay his respects to Lorenzo as the patron of the convent.  "Who
+elected me to be Prior--God or Lorenzo?" he asked sternly when the
+elder Dominicans entreated him to perform this duty.  "God," was the
+answer they were compelled to make.  They were sadly disappointed when
+the new Prior decided, "Then I will thank my Lord God, not mortal man."
+
+In the Lent season of this same year Savonarola preached for the first
+time in the cathedral or Duomo {44} of Florence.  "The people got up in
+the middle of the night to get places for the sermon, and came to the
+door of the cathedral, waiting outside till it should be opened, making
+no account of any inconvenience, neither of the cold nor the wind, nor
+of standing in the winter with their feet on the marble; and among them
+were young and old, women and children of every sort, who came with
+such jubilee and rejoicing that it was bewildering to hear them, going
+to the sermon as to a wedding. . . .  And though many thousand people
+were thus collected together no sound was to be heard, not even a
+'hush,' until the arrival of the children, who sang hymns with so much
+sweetness that heaven seemed to have opened."
+
+The Magnificent often came to San Marco, piqued by the indifference of
+the Prior and interested in the personality of the man who had
+succeeded in impressing cultured Florentines by simple language.  He
+gave gold pieces lavishly to the convent, but the gold was always sent
+to the good people of St Martin, who ministered to the needs of those
+who were too proud to acknowledge their decaying fortunes.  "The silver
+and copper are enough for us," were the words that met the
+remonstrances of the other brethren.  "We do not want so much money."
+No wonder that Lorenzo remembered the invincible honesty of this Prior
+when he was convinced of the hollowness of the life he had led among a
+court of flatterers!
+
+The Prior's warnings were heard in Florence with an uneasy feeling that
+their fulfilment might be nearer after Lorenzo died and was succeeded
+by his son.  Piero dei Medici sent the preacher away from the city, for
+he knew that men whispered among themselves that the Dominican had
+foretold truly the death of Innocent and the parlous state of Florence
+under the {45} new Pope, Alexander VI (Alexander Borgia).  He did not
+like the predictions of evil for his own house of Medici, which had now
+wielded supreme power in Florence for over sixty years.  It would go
+hardly with him if the people were to rise against the tyranny his
+fathers had established.
+
+Piero's downfall was hastened by the news that a French army had
+crossed the Alps under Charles VIII of France, who intended to take
+Naples.  This invasion of Italy terrified the Florentines, for they had
+become unwarlike since they gave themselves up to luxury and pleasure.
+They dreaded the arrival of the French troops, which were famous
+throughout Europe.  On these Charles relied to intimidate the citizens
+of the rich states he visited on his way to enforce a claim transmitted
+to him through Charles of Anjou.  Piero de Medici made concessions to
+the invader without the knowledge of the people.  The Florentines
+rebelled against the admission of soldiers within their walls as soon
+as the advance guard arrived to mark with chalk the houses they would
+choose for their quarters.  There were frantic cries of "_Abbasso le
+palle_," "Down with the balls," in allusion to the three balls on the
+Medici coat of arms.  Piero himself was disowned and driven from the
+city.
+
+All the enemies of the Medici were recalled, and the populace entreated
+Savonarola to return and protect them in their hour of peril.  They had
+heard him foretell the coming of one who should punish the wicked and
+purge Italy of her sins.  Now their belief in the Prior's utterances
+was confirmed.  They hastened to greet him as the saviour of their city.
+
+Savonarola went on an embassy to Charles' camp and made better terms
+than the Florentines had {46} expected.  Nevertheless, they had to
+endure the procession of French troops through their town, and found it
+difficult to get rid of Charles VIII, whose cupidity was aroused when
+he beheld the wealth of Florence.  There was tumult in the streets,
+where soldiers brawled with citizens and enraged their hosts by
+insults.  The Italian blood was greatly roused when the invading
+monarch threatened "to sound his trumpets" if his demands were not
+granted.  "Then we will ring our bells," a bold citizen replied.  The
+French King knew how quickly the town could change to a stronghold of
+barricaded streets if such an alarm were given, and wisely refrained
+from further provocation.  He passed on his way after "looting" the
+palace in which he had been lodged.  The Medicean treasures were the
+trophies of his visit.
+
+In spite of himself, the monk had to turn politician after the French
+army had gone southward.  He was said to have saved the State, and was
+implored to assume control now that the tyranny was at an end.  There
+was a vision before him of Florence as a free Republic in the truest
+sense.  He took up his work gladly for the cause of liberty.  The
+_Parliamento_, a foolish assembly of the people which was summoned
+hastily to do the will of any faction that could overawe it, was
+replaced by the Great Council formed on a Venetian model.  In this sat
+the _benefiziati_--those who had held some civic office, and the
+immediate descendants of officials.  Florence was not to have a really
+democratic government.
+
+After the cares of government, Savonarola felt weary in mind and body;
+he had never failed to preach incessantly in the cathedral, where he
+expounded his schemes for reform without abandoning his work as
+prophet.  He broke down, but again took up his burden {47} bravely.
+Florence was a changed city under his rule.  Women clothed themselves
+in the simplest garb and forsook such vanities as wigs and rouge-pots.
+Bankers, repenting of greed, hastened to restore the wealth they had
+wrongly appropriated.  Tradesmen read their Bibles in their shops in
+the intervals of business, and were no longer to be found rioting in
+the streets.  The Florentine youths, once mischievous to the last
+degree, attended the friar daily, and actually gave up their
+stone-throwing.  "_Piagnoni_" (Snivellers) was the name given to these
+enthusiasts, for the godly were not without opponents.
+
+Savonarola had to meet the danger of an attempt to restore the
+authority of Piero dei Medici.  He mustered eleven thousand men and
+boys, when a report came that the tyrant had sought the help of Charles
+VIII against Florence.  The Pope, also, wished to restore Piero for his
+own ends.  In haste the citizens barred their gates and then assembled
+in the cathedral to hearken to their leader.
+
+Savonarola passed a stern resolution that any man should be put to
+death who endeavoured to destroy the hard-won freedom of his city.
+"One must treat these men," he declared, "as the Romans treated those
+who sought the recall of Tarquinius."  His fiery spirit inflamed the
+Florentines with such zeal that they offered four thousand gold florins
+for the head of Piero dei Medici.
+
+The attempt to force the gates of Florence proved a failure.  Piero had
+to fly to Rome and the Prior's enemies were obliged to seek a fresh
+excuse for attacking his position.  The Pope was persuaded to send for
+him that he might answer a charge of disseminating false doctrines.
+The preacher defended himself vigorously, {48} and seemed to satisfy
+Alexander Borgia, whose aim was to crush a reformer of the Catholic
+Church likely to attack his evil practices.  He was, however, forbidden
+to preach, and had to be silent at the time when Florence held her
+carnival.
+
+The extraordinary change in the nature of this festival was a tribute
+to the influence of Savonarola.  Children went about the streets,
+chanting hymns instead of the licentious songs which Lorenzo dei Medici
+had written for the purpose.  They begged alms for the poor, and their
+only amusement was the _capannucci_, or Bonfire of Vanities, for which
+they collected the materials.  Books and pictures, clothes and jewels,
+false hair and ointments were piled in great heaps round a kind of
+pyramid some sixty feet in height.  Old King Carnival, in effigy, was
+placed at the apex of the pyramid, and the interior was filled with
+comestibles that would set the whole erection in a blaze as soon as a
+taper was applied.  When the signal was given, bells pealed and
+trumpets sounded glad farewell to the customs of the ancient carnival.
+The procession set forth from San Marco on Palm Sunday (led by
+white-robed children with garlands on their heads), and went round the
+city till it came to the cathedral.  "And so much joy was there in all
+hearts that the glory of Paradise seemed to have descended on earth and
+many tears of tenderness and devotion were shed."  So readily did
+Florentines confess that the new spirit of Christianity brought more
+satisfaction than the noisy licence of a pagan festival.
+
+In 1496 the Pope not only allowed Savonarola to preach, but even
+offered him a Cardinal's Hat on condition that he would utter no more
+predictions.  "I want no other red hat but that of martyrdom, reddened
+{49} by my own blood," was the firm response of the incorruptible
+preacher.  He was greeted by joyful shouts when he mounted to the
+pulpit of the Duomo, and had reached the height of his popularity in
+Florence.
+
+When a year had passed, Savonarola faced a different world, where
+friends were fain to conceal their devotion and enemies became loud in
+their constant menaces.  The _Arrabiati_ (enraged) had overcome the
+_Piagnoni_ and induced the Pope to pronounce excommunication against
+the leader of this party.  The sermons continued, the Papal decree was
+ignored, but a new doubt had entered the mind of Florentines.  A
+Franciscan monk, Francesco da Puglia, had attacked the Dominican,
+calling him a false prophet and challenging him to prove the truth of
+his doctrines by the "ordeal by fire."
+
+Savonarola hesitated to accept the challenge, knowing that he would be
+destroyed by it, whatever might be the actual issue.  The _Piagnoni_
+showed some chagrin when he allowed a disciple, Fra Domenico, to step
+into his place as a proof of devotion.  On all sides there were murmurs
+at the Prior's strange shrinking and obvious reluctance to meet with a
+miracle the charges of his opponents.
+
+A great crowd assembled on the day appointed for the "ordeal" in the
+early spring of 1498.  Balconies and roofs were black with human
+figures, children clung to columns and statues in order that they might
+not lose a glimpse of this rare spectacle.  Only a few followers of
+Savonarola prayed and wept in the Piazza of San Marco as the chanting
+procession of Domenicans appeared.  Fra Domenico walked last of all,
+arrayed in a cope of red velvet to symbolize the martyr's flames.  He
+did not fear to prove the strength of his belief, but walked erect and
+bore the cross in triumph.  It was the {50} Franciscan brother whose
+courage failed for he had never thought, perhaps, that any man would be
+brave enough to reply to his awful challenge.
+
+The crowd watched, feverishly expectant, but the hours passed and there
+was no sign of Francesco da Puglia.  His brethren found fault with
+Domenico's red cope and bade him change it.  They consulted, and came
+at last to the conclusion that their own champion had found himself
+unable to meet martyrdom.  At length it was announced that there would
+be no ordeal--a thunderstorm had not caused one spectator to leave his
+place in the Piazza, where there should be wrought a miracle.  It was
+clear that the Prior's enemies had sought his death, for they showed a
+furious passion of resentment.  Even the _Piagnoni_ were troubled by
+doubts of their prophet, who had refused to show his supernatural
+powers and silence the Franciscans.  The monks were protected with
+difficulty from the violence of the mob as they returned in the April
+twilight to the Convent of San Marco.
+
+[Illustration: The Last Sleep of Savonarola.  (Sir George Reid,
+P.R.S.A.)]
+
+There was the sound of vespers in the church when a noise of tramping
+feet was heard and the fierce cry, "To San Marco!"  The monks rose from
+their knees to shut the doors through which assailants were fast
+pouring.  These soldiers of the Cross fought dauntlessly with any
+weapon they could seize when they saw that their sacred dwelling was in
+danger.
+
+Savonarola called the Dominicans round him and led them to the altar,
+where he knelt in prayer, commanding them to do likewise.  But some of
+the white-robed brethren had youthful spirits and would not refrain
+from fighting.  They rose and struggled to meet death, waving lighted
+torches about the heads of their assailants.  A novice met naked swords
+with a great {51} wooden cross he took to defend the choir from
+sacrilege.  "Save Thy people, O God"; it was the refrain of the very
+psalm they had been singing.  The place was dense with smoke, and the
+noise of the strife was deafening.  A young monk died on the very altar
+steps, and received the last Sacrament from Fra Domenico amid this
+strange turmoil.
+
+As soon as a pause came in the attack, Savonarola led the brethren to
+the library.  He told them quietly that he was resolved to give himself
+up to his enemies that there might be no further bloodshed.  He bade
+them farewell with tenderness and walked forth into the dangerous crowd
+about the convent.  His hands were tied and he was beaten and buffeted
+on his way to prison.  The first taste of martyrdom was bitter in his
+mouth, and he regretted that he had not answered the Franciscan's
+challenge.
+
+The prophet was put on trial on a charge of heresy and sedition.  He
+was tortured so cruelly that he was led to recant and to "confess," as
+his judges said.  They had already come to a decision that he was
+guilty.  Sentence of death was pronounced, and he mounted the scaffold
+on May 23rd, 1498.  He looked upon the multitude gathered in the great
+Piazza, but he did not speak to them; he did not save himself, as some
+of them were hoping.  It was many years before Florence paid him due
+honour as the founder of her liberties and the greatest of her
+reformers.
+
+
+
+
+{52}
+
+Chapter V
+
+Martin Luther, Reformer of the Church
+
+The martyrdom of Savonarola gave courage to reformers and renewed the
+faith of the people.  It had been his aim to progress steadily toward
+the truth and to draw the whole world after him.  Unconsciously he
+prepared the way for the German monk who destroyed the unity of the
+Catholic Church.  Though he was merciless to papal abuses, it had not
+been in the mind of the zealous Dominican to protest against the
+doctrines of the Papacy, nor did he ever doubt the faith which had
+drawn him to the convent.  He had no wish to destroy--his work was to
+purify.  But his death proved that purification was impossible.  Rome
+had gone too far on the downward path to be checked by a Reformer.  She
+had come at last to the parting of the ways.
+
+Martin Luther knew nothing of the pomp of Italian cities.  He was born
+in very humble circumstances at Eisleben, a little town in Germany, on
+St Martin's Eve, 1483.  Harsh discipline made his childhood unhappy,
+for the age of educational reformers had not yet come.  The little
+Martin was beaten and tormented, and had to sing in the streets for
+bread.
+
+Ambition roused his parents to send him to the University of Erfurt
+that he might study law.  He took his degree as Doctor of Philosophy in
+1505--the event {53} was celebrated by a torchlight procession and
+rejoicing, after the student-custom of those parts.
+
+Then Martin Luther, appalled by the sudden death of a comrade in a
+thunderstorm, resolved to devote himself to God.  Luther was a genial
+youth, and gave a supper to his friends before he left them; there were
+feasting and laughter and a burst of song.  That same evening the door
+of a convent opened to receive a novice with two books, Vergil and
+Plautus, in his hand.
+
+The novice had to perform the meanest tasks, sweeping floors and
+begging in the street on behalf of his brethren of the Augustinian
+Order.  "Go through the street with a sack and get food for us," they
+clamoured, driving him out that they might resume their idleness.
+
+Staupnitz, the head of the Order, visited the convent and was
+interested in the young man to whom fasting and penance did not bring
+the peace he craved.  Oppressed by his sins, Luther lived a life of
+misery.  He read the Bible constantly, having discovered the Holy Book
+by chance within the convent walls.  At last, the words of the creed
+brought comfort to him "_I believe_ in the forgiveness of sins."  He
+despaired of his soul no longer.  "It was as if I had found the door of
+Paradise wide open," he said joyfully, and devoted himself more closely
+to the study of the Scriptures.
+
+The fame of Luther's learning spread beyond the convent of his Order.
+He was summoned to teach philosophy and theology at Wittenberg, a new
+university, founded by Frederick, the Elector of Saxony.  The boldness
+of the lecturer's spirit was first shown in his sermons against
+"indulgences," one of the worst abuses of the Roman Church.
+
+The Pope claimed to inherit the keys of St Peter, {54} which opened the
+treasury containing the good works of the saints and the boundless
+merits of Jesus Christ.  He professed to be able to transfer a portion
+of this merit to any person who gave a sum of money to purchase pardon
+for sins.  "Indulgences" had been first granted to pilgrims and
+Crusaders.  They were further extended to those who aided pious works,
+such as the building of St Peter's.  The Pope, Leo X, had found the
+papal treasury exhausted by his predecessors.  He had to raise money,
+and therefore allowed agents to sell pardons throughout Germany.
+Tetzel, a Dominican friar, was employed in Saxony.  He was noisy and
+dishonest, and spent on his own evil pleasures sums that were given by
+the ignorant creatures upon whom he traded to secure their eternal
+happiness.
+
+Luther inveighed against such practices from the pulpit of the church
+at Wittenberg.  He was particularly angry to hear Tetzel's wicked
+proclamation that "when one dropped a penny into the box for a soul in
+purgatory, so soon as the money chinked in the chest, the soul flew up
+to heaven."
+
+The papal red cross hung above Tetzel's money-counter, and he sat there
+and called on all to buy.  Luther decided on an action that should stop
+the shameful traffic, declaring, "God willing, I will beat a hole in
+his drum."  On the eve of All Saints' Day a crowd assembled to gaze at
+the relics displayed at the Castle church of Wittenberg.  Their
+attention was drawn to a paper nailed on the church gate, which set
+forth reasons why indulgences were harmful and should be immediately
+discontinued.
+
+There were other abuses in the Church of Rome which Luther now openly
+deplored.  Hot discussion followed this bold step.  Tetzel retired to
+Frankfort, {55} but from there he wrote to contradict the new teaching
+of the Augustine monk.  He burnt Luther's theses publicly, and then
+heard that his own had been consigned to the flames in the market-place
+of Wittenberg, where a host of sympathisers had watched the bonfire
+with satisfaction.  Luther did not stand alone in his struggle to free
+the Church from vice and superstition.  He lived in an age when men had
+learning enough to despise the trickery of worldly monks.  The spirit
+of inquiry had lived through the Revival of Letters and Erasmus, the
+famous scholar, had discovered many errors in the Roman Church.
+
+Erasmus joined Luther in an attempt to show men that the Holy
+Scriptures alone would offer guidance in spiritual matters.  He knew
+that a reform of the Western Church was urgently needed, and was
+willing to use his subtle brains to confute the arguments of ignorant
+opponents.  But soon he found that Luther's temper was too ardent, that
+there was no middle course for this impetuous spirit.  He dreaded for
+himself the loss of wealth and honour, and refused to make war on those
+in high stations, whose patronage had helped him to the rewards of
+knowledge.
+
+Alarmed by the spread of Luther's books and doctrines, the cardinals
+entreated the Pope to summon him to Rome.  Printing had been invented,
+and poor as well as rich could easily be roused to inquire into the
+truth of the doctrines taught by Rome.  Leo X had been disposed to
+ignore the sermons of the obscure German monk, for he had many schemes
+to further his own ambition.  He yielded, at last, and sent the
+necessary summons.  Luther was loth to go to Rome, where he was sure of
+condemnation.  The Elector Frederick of Saxony came forward as his
+champion, not from religious {56} motives, but because he was pleased
+to see some prospect of the exactions of the court of Rome being
+diminished.
+
+Cajetan, the Papal Legate, came to preside over a Diet, summoned
+specially to Augsburg.  He urged the monk to retract his dangerous
+doctrine that the authority of the Bible was above that of the Pope of
+Rome.  "Retract, my son, retract," he urged; "it is hard for thee to
+kick against the pricks."  But the conference ended where it had
+begun--Luther fled back to Wittenberg.
+
+He began to see now that the whole system of Romish government was
+wrong, and that there were countless abuses to be swept away before the
+Church could truly claim to point the way to Christianity.  Conscience
+or authority, the Scriptures or the Church, Germany or Rome?  A choice
+had to be made, each man ranging himself on one side or the other.  The
+independence of Germany was dear to Luther's heart.  He wrote an
+address to the nobles and summoned the Christian princes of Germany to
+his aid.  He declared that all Christians were priests, and that the
+Church and nation ought to be freed from the interference of the
+Papacy.  He was becoming an avowed enemy of the Pope, losing his former
+reluctance to attack authority.  A Bull was, of course, issued against
+him, but the students of Erfurt threw the paper on which it was written
+into the river, saying contemptuously--"It is a bubble, let it swim!"
+
+In December, 1520, Luther himself burnt the Bull on a fire kindled for
+the purpose at the Elster Gate of Wittenberg.  He said, as he committed
+the document to the flames, "As thou hast vexed the saints of God, so
+mayest thou be consumed in eternal fire."  The act cut him off from the
+Papacy for ever.  He had defied the Pope in the presence of many
+witnesses.  {57} Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, was not in a
+position to take up the cause of Luther against his powerful enemies.
+He maintained an alliance with the Pope so that he would oppose the
+vast schemes which his rival, Francis I of France, was maturing.  At
+the same time, he owed a debt of gratitude to the Elector Frederick,
+who was one of the seven German princes possessing the right to "elect"
+a new emperor.  He decided, after a brief struggle, to yield to the
+demands of the Papal Legates.  He ordered Martin Luther to come to
+Worms and appear before the great Diet, or Assembly of German rulers,
+which met in 1521.
+
+Luther obeyed at once, making a triumphant journey through many towns
+and villages.  Music fell on his ears pleasantly, a portrait of
+Savonarola was sent to him that he might feel his courage strengthened.
+Had not his resolve been fixed, he would have turned back at Weimar,
+where he found an edict posted on the walls ordering all his writings
+to be burnt.  "I am lawfully called to appear in that city," he said,
+"and thither will I go in the name of the Lord, though as many devils
+as there are tiles on the houses were there combined against me."  He
+was stricken with illness at Eisenach, but went on as soon as he
+recovered.  When he caught sight of the old towers of Worms, his spirit
+leapt with joy, and he began to sing his famous hymn, "_Ein feste Burg
+ist unser Gott._"  ("A mighty fortress is our God.")
+
+The crowded streets testified to the fame that had gone before him.
+Not even the Emperor had met with such a flattering reception.  Saxon
+noblemen welcomed him, and friendly speech cheered him to meet the
+ordeal of the next day.  The Diet was an impressive assembly, with the
+Emperor on his throne and the great dignitaries {58} of State around
+him, clad in all the majesty of red and purple.  Not the chivalry of
+Germany only had flocked to hear the defence of Martin Luther for
+Spanish warriors sat there in yellow cloaks and added lustre to the
+splendid gathering.
+
+Luther's courageous stand against his adversaries won many to his
+cause.  He would not withdraw one word he had written or spoken, nor
+did he consent to his opinions being tried by any other rule than the
+word of God.
+
+Eric, the aged Duke of Brunswick, sent him a silver can of Einbech beer
+as a token of sympathy.  Weary of strife, Luther drank it, saying, "As
+Duke Eric has remembered me this day, so may our Lord Christ remember
+him in his last struggle."
+
+The reformer called in vain on the Emperor and States, assembled at
+Worms, to consider the parlous case of the Church, lest God should
+visit the German nation with His judgment.  A severe edict was
+published against him by the authority of the Diet, and he was deprived
+of all the privileges he enjoyed as a subject of the Empire.
+Furthermore, it was forbidden for any prince to harbour or protect him,
+and his person was to be seized as soon as the safe-conduct for the
+journey had expired.
+
+As Luther returned to Wittenberg, a band of horsemen took him and
+carried him off to the strong castle of Wartburg, where he was lodged
+in the disguise of a knight.  It was a ruse of the Elector of Saxony to
+save him from the storm he had roused by his behaviour at the Diet.
+Imprisonment was not irksome, and the retreat was pleasant enough after
+the strife of years.  He hunted in his character of gallant cavalier,
+and always wore a sword.  Much of his time was spent in {59}
+translating the Scriptures into German, that knowledge might not be
+denied even to the unlettered.  Constant study made his imagination
+very vivid, and the devil seemed to be constantly before him.  He had
+long conversations with Satan in person, as he believed, and decided
+that the best way to get rid of him was by gibes and mockery.  One
+night his bed shook with the violent agitation caused by the rattling
+of some hazel nuts against each other after they had felt the
+inspiration of the Evil One!  On another occasion a diabolical moth
+buzzed round him, preventing close attention to his labours.  He hurled
+an inkstand at the intruder, staining the wall of the chamber with a
+mark that remained there through centuries.
+
+During this confinement, Luther's opinions gained ground in Saxony.
+The University of Wittenberg made several alterations in the form of
+Church worship, abolishing, in particular, the celebration of private
+masses for the souls of the dead.  Two events counteracted the pleasure
+of the reformer when the news came to him.  He was told that the
+ancient University of Paris had condemned his doctrines, and that Henry
+VIII of England had written a reply to one of his books, so ably that
+the Pope had been delighted to confer on him the title of Defender of
+the Faith.
+
+In 1522, Luther returned to Wittenberg, enjoying a harmless jest at
+Jena by the way.  There his disguise of red mantle and doublet so
+deceived fellow-travellers that they told him their intention of going
+to see Martin Luther return, without realizing that they were speaking
+to the great reformer!
+
+His next sermons were not fortunate in their results, since the
+peasants failed to understand them.  A class war followed, in which
+Luther took the part of mediator, {60} trying to show his poorer
+neighbours the evils their violence would bring on themselves, and
+reproaching the nobles with their oppressive customs.  He was angry
+that the new religious spirit should be discredited by social disorder,
+and spoke bitterly of all who refused to heed his remonstrances.
+Erasmus was shocked by Luther's roughness of speech, and withdrew more
+and more from the reforming party.  He hated the old monkish teaching
+and desired literary freedom, but he could not forgive the excesses of
+this thorough-going reformer.
+
+In 1523, Luther gave grave offence to many of his own followers by
+marrying Catherine von Bora, a nun who had left her convent.  He had
+cast off the Roman belief that a priest should never marry, but public
+feeling could not approve of a change which was in conflict with so
+many centuries of tradition.  The Reformer's home life was happy,
+nevertheless, and six children were born of the marriage.  As a father,
+Luther showed much tenderness.  He wrote with a marvellous simplicity
+to his eldest son: "I know a very pretty, pleasant garden and in it
+there are a great many children, all dressed in little golden coats,
+picking up nice apples and pears and cherries and plums, under the
+trees.  And they sing and jump about and are very merry; and besides,
+they have got beautiful little horses with golden bridles and silver
+saddles.  Then I asked the man to whom the garden belonged, whose
+children they were, and he said, 'These are children who love to pray
+and learn their lessons, and do as they are bid'; then I said, 'Dear
+sir, I have a little son called Johnny Luther; may he come into this
+garden too?'"
+
+Luther's translation of the Bible was read with wonderful attention by
+people of every rank.  Other {61} countries of Europe also were
+influenced by his doctrines, with the result of a diminution of the
+blind faith in priestcraft.  Nuremburg, Frankfort, Hamburg, and other
+imperial free cities in Germany openly embraced the reformed religion,
+abolishing the mass and other "superstitious rites of popery."  The
+secular princes drew up a list of one hundred grievances, enumerating
+the grievous burdens laid upon them by the Holy See.  In 1526 a Diet
+assembled at Speyer to consider the state of religion!  The Diet
+enjoined all those who had obeyed the decree issued against Luther at
+Worms to continue to observe it, and to prohibit other States from
+attempting any further innovation in religion till the meeting of a
+general council.  The Elector of Saxony, with the heads of other
+principalities and free cities, entered a solemn "protest" against this
+decree, as unjust and impious.  On that account they were distinguished
+by the name of Protestants.
+
+At Augsburg, where priests and statesmen met together in 1530, the
+Protestant form of religion was established.  The reformers issued
+there a "confession" of their faith, known as the Augsburg Confession,
+and which placed them for ever apart from the old Roman Catholic
+Church.  A zeal for religion had seized on men excited by their own
+freedom to find the truth for themselves.  Luther lamented the strife
+that of necessity followed, often wondering whether he had not been too
+bold in opposing the ancient traditions of Rome.  For he had aimed at
+purification rather than separation, and would have preferred to keep
+the old Church rather than to set up a new one in its place.  "He was
+never for throwing away old shoes till he had got new ones."  Naturally
+reformers of less moderate nature did not love him.  He detested
+argument for {62} argument's sake.  There was nothing crafty or subtle
+in his nature.  He poured out the honest convictions of his heart
+without regard to the form in which he might express them.
+
+In 1546, Luther had promised to settle a dispute between two nobles,
+and set out on his journey, feeling a presentiment that the end of
+worldly strife was come for him.  On the way, he visited Eisleben,
+where he had been born, and there died.  His body was taken to
+Wittenberg, the scene of his real life-work.
+
+Germany had been restless before the reforms of Martin Luther,
+disinclined to believe all that was taught by monks and inculcated by
+tradition.  The authority of the Pope had kept men's souls in bondage.
+They hardly dared to judge for themselves what was right and what was
+wrong.  If money could free them from the burden of sins, they paid it
+gladly, acquitting themselves of all responsibility.  Now conscience
+had stirred and the mind been slowly awakened.  Luther declared his
+belief that each was responsible to God for his own soul, and there was
+a universal echo.  "I _believe_ in the forgiveness of sins."  The truth
+which had shone on the troubled monk was the truth to abide for ever
+with his followers.  "No priest can save you! no masses or indulgences
+can help you!  But God has saved you!"  The voice of the preacher came
+to the weary, crying out from ancient cathedrals and passionately
+swaying the whole nation of Germany.  Europe was in need of the same
+moral freedom.  Other countries took up the new creed and examined it,
+finding that which would work like a leaven in the corruptness of the
+age.
+
+
+
+
+{63}
+
+Chapter VI
+
+Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
+
+The sixteenth century was an age of splendid monarchs, who vied with
+each other in the luxury of their courts, the chivalry of their
+bearing, and the extent of their possessions.
+
+Francis I was a patron of the New Learning, the pride of France, ever
+devoted to a monarch with some dash of the heroic in his composition.
+He was dark and handsome, and excelled in the tournaments, where he
+tried to recapture the romance of the Middle Ages by his knightly
+equipment and gallant feats of arms.
+
+Henry VIII, the King of England, was eager to spend the wealth he had
+inherited on the glittering pageants which made the people forget the
+tyranny of the Tudor monarchs.  He was four years the senior of
+Francis, but still under thirty when Charles the Fifth succeeded, in
+1516, to the wide realms of the Spanish Crown.
+
+This king was likely to eclipse the pleasure-loving rivals of France
+and England, for he had vast power in Europe through inheritance of the
+great possessions of his house.  Castile and Aragon came to Charles
+through his mother, Joanna, who was the daughter of Ferdinand and
+Isabella.  Naples and Sicily went with Aragon, though, as a matter of
+fact, they had been appropriated in violation of a treaty.  The Low
+Countries were part of the dominions of Charles' grandmother, Mary of
+{64} Burgundy, who had married Philip, the Archduke of Austria.  When
+Maximilian of Austria died in 1519, he desired that his grandson should
+succeed not only to his dominions in Europe, but also to the proud
+title of Holy Roman Emperor, which was not hereditary.  With the
+treasures of the New World at his disposal, through the discoveries of
+Christopher Columbus, Charles V had little doubt that he could obtain
+anything he coveted.
+
+It was soon evident that Charles' claim to the Empire would be disputed
+by Francis I, who declared, "An he spent three millions of gold he
+would be Emperor."  The French King had a fine army, and money enough
+to bribe the German princes, in whose hands the power of "electing"
+lay.  Francis' ambassadors travelled from one to another with a train
+of horses, heavily laden with sumptuous offerings, but these found it
+quite impossible to bribe Frederick the Wise of Saxony.
+
+Charles did not scruple to use bribery, and he hoped to win Henry of
+England by flattery and by appealing to him as a kinsman; for his aunt,
+Catherine of Aragon, was Henry's Queen at that time.  The Tudor King
+had boldly taken for his motto, "Whom I defend is master," but he had
+secret designs on the Imperial throne himself, and thought either
+Francis I or Charles V would become far too powerful in Europe if the
+German electors appointed one of them.
+
+The Pope entered into the struggle because he knew that Charles of
+Spain would be likely to destroy the peace of Italy by demanding the
+Duchy of Milan, which was then under French rule.  He gave secret
+advice, therefore, to the German electors to choose one of their own
+number, and induced them to offer the Imperial rank to Frederick the
+Wise of Saxony.  {65} This prince did not feel strong enough to beat
+off the attacks of Selim, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, then
+threatening the land of Hungary.  He refused to become Emperor and
+suggested that the natural resistance to the East should come from
+Austria.
+
+Charles, undoubtedly, had Spanish gold that would assist him in this
+struggle.  In 1519 he was invested with the imperial crown and began to
+dream of further conquests.  A quarrel with France followed, both sides
+having grievances that made friendship impossible at that period.
+Charles had offended Francis I by promising to aid d'Albert of Navarre
+to regain his kingdom.  He also wished to claim the Duchy of Milan as
+the Pope had predicted, and was indignant that Burgundy, which had been
+filched from his grandmother by Louis XI, had never been restored to
+his family.
+
+Francis renewed an ancient struggle in reclaiming Naples.  He was
+determined not to yield to imperial pride, and sought every means of
+conciliating Henry VIII of England, who seemed eager to assert himself
+in Europe.  The two monarchs met at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in
+1513 and made a great display of friendship.  They were both skilled
+horsemen and showed to advantage in a tournament, having youth and some
+pretensions to manly beauty in their favour.  The meeting between them
+was costly and did not result as Francis had anticipated, since Charles
+V had been recently winning a new ally in the person of Cardinal
+Wolsey, the chief adviser of the young King of England.
+
+Wolsey was ambitious and longed for the supreme honour of the Catholic
+Church.  He believed that he might possibly attain this through the
+nephew of {66} Catherine of Aragon.  He commended Charles to his
+master, and in the end gained for him an Austrian alliance.  There was
+even some talk of a marriage between the Emperor and the little
+Princess Mary.
+
+A treaty with the Pope made Charles V more sanguine of success than
+ever.  Leo X belonged to the family of the Medici and hoped to restore
+the ancient prestige of that house.  He was overjoyed to receive Parma
+and Placentia as a result of his friendship with the ambitious Emperor,
+and now agreed to the expulsion of the French from Milan on condition
+that Naples paid a higher tribute to the Papal See.
+
+These arrangements were concluded without reference to Chièvres, the
+Flemish councillor, whose influence with Charles had once been
+paramount.  Henceforward, the Emperor ruled his scattered empire,
+relying only upon his own strength and capability.  He naturally met
+with disaffection among his subjects, for the Spaniards were jealous of
+his preference for the Netherlands, where he had been educated, and the
+people of Germany resented his long sojourn in Spain, thinking that
+they were thereby neglected.  It would have been impossible for Charles
+to have led a more active life or to have striven more courageously to
+retain his hold over far distant countries.  He was constantly
+travelling to the different parts of his empire, and made eleven
+sea-voyages during his reign--an admirable record in days when voyages
+were comparatively dangerous.
+
+Charles changed his motto from _Nondum_ to _Plus ultra_ as he proceeded
+to send fleets across the ocean that the banner of Castile might float
+proudly on the distant shores of the Pacific.  But the war with France
+was the real interest of the Emperor's life and he pursued it
+vigorously, obtaining supplies from the Spanish {67} _Cortes_ or
+legislative authority of Spain.  He gained the sympathy of that nation
+during his residence at Madrid from 1522-9 and pacified the rebellious
+spirit of the _Communes_ which administered local affairs.  His
+marriage with Isabella of Portugal proved, too, that he would maintain
+the traditions of the Spanish monarchy.
+
+In 1521 the French were driven from the Duchy of Milan and in 1522 they
+were compelled to retire from Italy.  In the following year the
+Constable of Bourbon deserted Francis to espouse the Emperor's cause,
+because he had received many insults from court favourites.  He had
+been removed from the government of Milan, and was fond of quoting the
+words of an old Gascon knight first spoken in the reign of Charles VII:
+"Not three kingdoms like yours could make me forsake you, but one
+insult might."
+
+Bourbon was rebuked for his faithlessness to his King at the battle of
+La Biagrasse where Bayard, that perfect knight, _sans peur et sans
+reproche_, fell with so many other French nobles.  The Constable had
+compassion on the wounded man as he lay at the foot of a tree with his
+face still turned to the enemy.  "Sir, you need have no pity for me,"
+the knight answered bravely, "for I die an honest man; but I have pity
+on you, seeing you serve against your prince, your country, and your
+oath."
+
+Bourbon may have blushed at the rebuke, but he took the field gallantly
+at Pavia on behalf of the Emperor.  Francis I had invaded Italy and
+occupied Milan, but he was not quick to follow up his success and met
+defeat at the hands of his vassal on February 24th, 1525, which was
+Charles V's twenty-fifth birthday.  The flower of France fell on the
+battle-field, while the King himself {68} was taken prisoner.  He would
+not give up his sword to the traitor Bourbon, but continued to fight on
+foot after his horse had been shot under him.  He proved that he was as
+punctilious a knight as Bayard, and wrote to his mother on the evening
+of this battle, "All is lost but honour."
+
+The Emperor's army now had both France and Italy at their mercy.
+Bourbon decided to march on Rome, to the joy of his needy, avaricious
+soldiers.  He took the ancient capital where the riches of centuries
+had accumulated; both Spaniards and Germans rioted on its treasures
+without restraint.  They spared neither church nor palace, but defiled
+the most sacred places.  The very ring was removed from the hand of
+Pope Julius as he lay within his tomb.  Clement VII, the reigning Pope,
+was too feeble and vacillating to save himself, though it would have
+been quite possible.  He was made a prisoner of war, for political
+motives inspired the Emperor to demand a heavy ransom.
+
+The Ladies' Peace concluded the long war between Charles V and Francis
+I.  It was so called because it was arranged through Louise, the French
+King's mother, and Margaret, the aunt who had taken charge of the
+Emperor in his childhood.  These two ladies occupied adjoining houses
+in the town of Cambrai, and held consultations at any hour in the
+narrow passage between the two dwellings.  The peace, finally drawn up
+in August 1529, was very shameful to Francis I, since he agreed to
+desert all his partisans in Italy and the Netherlands.  He had
+purchased his own freedom by the treaty of Madrid in 1526.
+
+In 1530, the Emperor, who had made a separate treaty with the Italian
+states, received the crown of Lombardy and crown of the Holy Roman
+Empire from {69} the hands of the Pope at Bologna.  On this occasion he
+was invested with a mantle studded with jewels and some ancient
+sandals.  Ill-health and increasing melancholy clouded his delight in
+these honours.  His aquiline features and dark colouring had formerly
+given him some claim to beauty, but now the heavy "Hapsburg" jaw began
+to show the settled obstinacy of a narrow nature.  The iron crown of
+Italy weighed on him heavily, for he was stricken by remorse that he
+had disregarded the entreaties of the Pope for the rescue of the
+Knights of St John, whose settlement of Rhodes had been attacked by the
+Turkish infidels.  He gave them Malta in order that he might appease
+his conscience.  Religion claimed much of his attention after the long
+conflict with France was ended.
+
+Heresy was spreading in Germany, where Luther gained a vast number of
+adherents.  Charles issued an edict against the monk, but there was
+national resistance for him to face as a consequence.  In 1530 he
+renewed the Edict of Worms and was opposed by a League of Protestant
+princes, who applied for help from England, France, and Denmark against
+the oppressive Emperor.  He would have set himself to crush them if his
+dominions had not been menaced by Soliman the Magnificent, a Turkish
+Sultan with an immense army.  He was obliged to secure the co-operation
+of the Protestants against the Turks that he might drive the latter
+from his eastern frontier.
+
+Italians, Flemings, Hungarians, Bohemians, and Burgundians fought side
+by side with the German troops and drove the invader back to his own
+territory.  When this danger was averted, France suddenly attacked
+Savoy, and the Emperor found that he must postpone his struggle with
+the Lutherans.  A joint invasion of {70} France by Charles V and Henry
+VIII of England forced Francis to conclude humiliating peace at Crespy
+1544.  Three years later the death of the French King left his
+adversary free to crush the religious liberty of his German subjects.
+
+The Emperor, who had declared himself on the side of the Papacy in
+1521, now united with the Pope and Charles' brother Ferdinand, who had
+been given the government of all the Austrian lands.  All three were
+determined to compel Germany to return to the old faith and the old
+subjection to the Empire.  Their resolve seemed to be fulfilled when
+Maurice, Duke of Saxony, betrayed the Protestant cause, the allies of
+the German princes proved faithless, and the Elector of Saxony and the
+Landgrave of Hesse were taken prisoners at Muhlberg in April 1547.
+
+The star of Austria was still in the ascendant, and Charles V could
+still quote his favourite phrase, "Myself and the lucky moment."  He
+put Maurice in the place of the venerable Elector of Saxony, who had
+refused long ago to take a bribe, and let the Landgrave of Hesse lie in
+prison.  He imagined that he had Germany at his feet, and exulted over
+the defenders of her freedom.  There had been a faint hope in their
+hearts once that the Emperor would champion Luther's cause from
+political interest, but he did not need a weapon against the Pope since
+the Holy See was entirely subservient to his wishes.  Bigotry,
+inherited from Spanish ancestors, showed itself in the Emperor now.  In
+Spain and the Netherlands he used the terrible Inquisition to stamp out
+heresy.  The Grand Inquisitors, who charged themselves with the
+religious welfare of these countries, claimed control over lay and
+clerical subjects in the name of their ruler.
+
+{71}
+
+Maurice was unscrupulous and intrigued with Henry II of France against
+the Emperor, who professed himself the Protector of the Princes of the
+Empire.  A formidable army was raised, which took Charles at a
+disadvantage and drove him from Germany.  The Peace of Augsburg, 1555,
+formally established Protestantism over a great part of the empire.
+
+The Emperor felt uneasily that the star of the House of Austria was
+setting.  After his failure to crush the heretics, he was troubled by
+ill-health and the gloomy spirit which he inherited from his mother
+Joanna.  He was weary of travelling from one part of his dominions to
+another, and knew that he could never win more fame and riches than he
+had enjoyed.  His son Philip was old enough to reign in his stead if he
+decided to cede the sovereignty.  The old Roman Catholic faith drew him
+apart from the noise and strife of the world by its promise of rest and
+all the solaces of retirement.
+
+In 1555 the Emperor held the solemn ceremony of abdication at Brussels,
+for he paid especial honour to his subjects of the Netherlands.  He sat
+in a chair of state surrounded by a splendid retinue and recounted the
+famous deeds of his administration with a natural pride, dwelling on
+the hardships of constant journeying because he had been unwilling to
+trust the affairs of government to any other.  Turning to Philip he
+bade him hold the laws of his country sacred and to maintain the
+Catholic faith in all its purity.  As he spoke, all his hearers melted
+into tears, for the people of the Netherlands owed much gratitude to
+their ruler.  And the ceremony which attended the transference of the
+Spanish crown to Philip was no less moving.  Charles had chosen the
+monastery of San Yuste as his last dwelling on account of its warm, dry
+climate.  After {72} a tender farewell to his family he set out there
+in some state, many attendants going into retreat with him.  Yuste was
+a pleasant peaceful village near the Spanish city of Plasencia.  Deep
+silence brooded over it, and was only broken by the bells of the
+convent the Emperor was entering.  He found that a building had been
+erected for his "palace" in a garden planted with orange trees and
+myrtles.  This was sumptuously furnished according to the monks' ideas,
+for Charles did not intend to adopt the simplicity of these brothers of
+St Jerome.  Velvet canopies, rich tapestries, and Turkey carpets had
+been brought for the rooms which were prepared for a royal inmate.  The
+walls of the Emperor's bedchamber were hung in black in token of his
+deep mourning for his mother, but many pictures from the brush of
+Titian were hung in that apartment.  As Charles lay in bed he could see
+the famous "Gloria," which represented the emperor and empress of a
+bygone age in the midst of a throng of angels.  He could also join in
+the chants of the monks without rising, if he were suffering from gout,
+for a window opened directly from his room into the chapel of the
+monastery.  Sixty attendants were still in the service of the recluse,
+and those in the culinary office found it hard to satisfy the appetite
+of a monarch who, if he had given up his throne, had not by any means
+renounced the pleasures of the table.
+
+A Keeper of the Wardrobe had been brought to Yuste, although Charles
+was plain in his attire and had somewhat disdained the personal vanity
+of his great rivals.  He was parsimonious in such matters and hated to
+see good clothes spoilt, as he showed when he removed a new velvet cap
+in a sudden storm and sent to his palace for an old one!  He observed
+{73} fast-days, though he did not dine with the monks, and he lived the
+regular life of the monastery.  The monks grew restive under the
+constant supervision which he exercised, and one of them is said to
+have remonstrated with the royal inmate, saying, "Cannot you be
+contented with having so long turned the world upside down, without
+coming here to disturb the quiet of a convent?"
+
+Charles amused many hours of leisure by mechanical employments in which
+he was assisted by one Torriano, who constructed a sundial in the
+convent-garden.  He had a great fancy for clocks, and had a number of
+these in his royal apartments.  The special triumphs of Torriano were
+some tin soldiers, so constructed that they could go through military
+exercises, and little wooden birds which flew in and out of the window
+and excited the admiring wonder of the monks walking in the convent
+garden.
+
+Many visitors were received by the Emperor in his retirement.  He still
+took an interest in the events of Europe, and received with the deepest
+sorrow the news that Calais had been lost by Philip's English wife.  He
+was always ready to give his successor advice, and became more and more
+intolerant in religious questions.  "Tell the Grand Inquisitor from
+me," he wrote, "to be at his post and lay the axe to the root of the
+tree before it spreads further.  I rely on your zeal for bringing the
+guilty to punishment and for having them punished without favour to
+anyone, with all the severity which their crimes demand."  After this
+impressive exhortation to Philip, he added a codicil to his will,
+conjuring him earnestly to bring to justice every heretic in his
+dominions.
+
+
+
+
+{74}
+
+Chapter VII
+
+The Beggars of the Sea
+
+The Netherlands, lying like a kind of debateable land between France
+and Germany, were apt to be influenced by the different forms of
+Protestantism which were established in those countries.  The
+inhabitants were remarkably quick-witted and attracted by anything
+which appealed to their reason.  Their breadth of mind and cosmopolitan
+outlook was, no doubt, largely due to the extensive trade they carried
+on with eastern and western nations.  The citizens of the well-built
+towns studding the Low Countries, had become very wealthy.  They could
+send out fine soldiers, as Charles V had seen, but their chief pursuit
+was commerce.  Education rendered them far superior to many other
+Europeans, who were scarcely delivered from the ignorance and
+superstition of the Middle Ages.  Having proved themselves strong
+enough to be independent, they formed a Confederacy of Republics on the
+death of Charles V in 1558.
+
+The Emperor was sincerely mourned because he had possessed Flemish
+tastes, yet he had always failed in his attempts to unite the whole of
+the Low Countries into one kingdom.  There were no less than seventeen
+provinces in the Netherlands, with seventeen petty princes over them.
+Each province disdained the other as quite alien and foreign.  Both
+French and a dialect {75} of German were spoken by the natives.  It was
+a great drawback to Philip II, their new ruler, that he could only
+speak Castilian.
+
+Philip had been unpopular from the time of his first visit to the
+Netherlands, before the French war was settled by the treaty of Cateau
+Cambresis.  The credit of the settlement was chiefly due to the subtle
+diplomacy of William, Prince of Orange, the trusted councillor of
+Charles V, on whose shoulder the Emperor leant during the ceremony of
+abdication.
+
+William of Orange yielded to none in pride of birth, being descended
+from one of the most illustrious houses of the Low Countries.  He was
+young, gallant, and fond of splendour when he negotiated on the
+Emperor's behalf with Henry II of France.  He managed matters so
+successfully that the Emperor was able to withdraw without loss of
+prestige from a war he was anxious to end at any cost.  William
+received his nickname of the Silent during his residence as a hostage
+at the French court.
+
+One day, at a hunting party, Henry II uncautiously told Orange of a
+plan he had made with Philip to stamp out every heretic in their
+dominions of France and the Netherlands by a sudden deadly onslaught
+that would allow the Protestants no time for resistance.  It was
+assumed that William, being a powerful Catholic noble, would rejoice in
+this scheme.  He held his peace very wisely but, in reality, he was
+full of indignation.  He cared nothing for the reformed religion in
+itself, but he was a humane generous man, and from that hour determined
+that he would defend the helpless, persecuted Protestants of the Low
+Countries.
+
+Philip II was not long in showing himself zealous to observe his
+father's instructions to preserve the Catholic {76} faith in all its
+purity.  He renewed the edict or "placard" against heresy which had
+been first issued in 1550.  This provided for the punishment of anyone
+who should "print, write, copy, keep, conceal, sell, buy, or give in
+churches, streets, or other places" any book of the Reformers, anyone
+who should hold conventicles, or anyone who should converse or dispute
+concerning the Holy Scriptures, to say nothing of those venturing to
+entertain the opinions of heretics.  The men were to be executed with
+the sword and the women buried alive, if they should persist in their
+errors.  If they were firm in holding to their beliefs, such deaths
+were held too merciful.  Execution by fire was a punishment that was
+universal in the days of the Spanish Inquisition.
+
+[Illustration: Philip II present at an Auto-da-Fé.  (D. Valdivieso)]
+
+Philip watched the burning of his heretic subjects with apparent
+satisfaction.  The first ceremony that greeted him on his return to
+Spain was an _Auto da fé_, or Act of Faith, in which many victims were
+led to the stake.  The scene was the great square of Valladolid in
+front of the Church of Saint Francis, and the hour of six was the
+signal for the bells to toll which brought forth that dismal train from
+the fortress of the Inquisition.  Troops marched before the hapless men
+and women, who were clad in the hideous garb known as the San Benito--a
+loose sack of yellow cloth which was embroidered with figures of flames
+and devils feeding on them, in token of the destiny that would attend
+the heretics, soul and body.  A pasteboard cap bore similar devices,
+and added grotesque pathos to the suffering faces of the martyrs.
+Judges and magistrates followed them, and nobles of the land were there
+on horseback, while members of the dread tribunal came after these,
+bearing aloft the arms of the Inquisition.
+
+Philip occupied a seat upon the platform erected {77} opposite to the
+scaffold.  It was his duty to draw his sword from the scabbard and to
+repeat an oath that he would maintain the purity of the Catholic faith
+before he witnessed the execution of "the enemies of God," as he
+thought all those who laid down their lives for the sake of heretical
+scruples.
+
+A few who recanted were pardoned, but for the majority recantation only
+meant long imprisonment in cells where many hearts broke after years of
+solitude.  The property of the accused was confiscated in any case; and
+this rule was a sore temptation to informers, who received a certain
+share of their neighbour's goods if they denounced him.  When the
+"reconciled" had been sent back to prison under a strong guard, all
+eyes were fixed on the unrepentant.  These wore cards round their necks
+and carried in their hands either a cross, or an inverted torch, which
+was a sign that their own life would shortly be extinguished.  Few of
+these showed weakness, since they had already triumphed over
+long-protracted torture.  They walked with head erect to the _quemada_
+or place of execution.
+
+Dominican monks, by whose fanatic zeal the Holy Office gained a hold on
+every Spaniard, often walked among the doomed, stripped of their former
+vestments.  Once a noble Florentine appealed to Philip as he was led by
+the royal gallery.  "Is it thus that you allow your innocent subjects
+to be persecuted?"  The King's face hardened, and his reply came
+sharply.  "If it were my own son, I would fetch the wood to burn him,
+were he such a wretch as thou art."  And there is no doubt that Philip
+spoke truth when he uttered words so merciless.
+
+Under the royal sanction the persecution was continued in the
+Netherlands.  It had closed the domains {78} of science and speculation
+for Spain.  It must break the free republican spirit of the Low
+Countries.  Charles V had been afraid of injuring the trade which
+enabled him to pay a vast, all-conquering army.  His son was less
+tolerant, and thought religion of greater importance even than military
+successes.
+
+The terror of that formidable band of Inquisitors came upon the
+Protestant Flemings like the shadow on some sunny hill-side.  They had
+lived in comfort and independence, resisting every attempt at royal
+tyranny.  Now a worse tyranny was ruling in their midst--secret,
+relentless, inhuman--demanding toll of lives for sacrifice.  Philip was
+zealous in appointing new bishops, each of whom should have inquisitors
+to aid in the work of hunting down the Protestants.  "There are but few
+of us left in the world who care for religion," he wrote, "'tis
+necessary therefore for us to take the greater heed for Christianity."
+
+Granvelle, a cardinal of the Catholic Church, was the ruler of the Low
+Countries, terrorizing Margaret of Parma, whom Philip had appointed to
+act there as his Regent.  Margaret was a worthy woman of masculine
+tastes and habits; she was the daughter of Charles V and therefore a
+half-sister of Philip.  She would have won some concessions for the
+Protestants, knowing the temper of the Flemish, to whom she was allied
+by birth, but Granvelle was artful in his policy and managed by
+frequent correspondence with Spain to baffle the efforts of the whole
+party, which looked with indignation on the work of the Inquisitors.
+Peter Titelmann, the chief instrument of the Holy Office in the
+Netherlands, alarmed Margaret as well as her subjects, who were at the
+mercy of this monster.  He rode through the country on horseback,
+dragging suspected persons {79} from their very beds, and glorying in
+the knowledge that none dared resist him.  He burst into a house at
+Ryssel one day, seized John de Swarte, his wife and four children,
+together with two newly-married couples and two other persons,
+convicted them of reading the Bible, of praying within their own
+dwellings, and had them all immediately burned.  No wonder that the
+Duchess of Parma trembled when the same man clamoured at the doors of
+her chamber for admittance.  High and low were equally in danger.  Even
+the royal family were at the mercy of the Holy Office.  Spies might be
+found in any household, and both men and women disappeared to answer
+"inquiries" made with torture of the rack, without knowing their
+accusers.
+
+Granvelle had enemies, who bent themselves to accomplish the downfall
+of the minister.  He was of humble origin, though he had amassed great
+wealth and possessed a remarkable capacity for administration.  Egmont,
+the fierce, quarrelsome soldier, was his chief adversary among the
+nobles.  There was a lively scene when Egmont drew his sword on the
+Cardinal in the presence of the Regent.
+
+William of Orange was, perhaps, the one man whom all respected for his
+true courage and strength of character.  Granvelle wrote of him to
+Philip as highly dangerous, knowing that in the Silent he had met his
+match in cunning; for William's qualities were strangely mingled--he
+had vast ambition and yet took up a cause later that broke his splendid
+fortunes.  He was upright, yet he had few scruples in dealing with
+opponents.  He would employ spies to acquaint him with secret papers
+and use every possible means of gaining an advantage.
+
+Egmont and Orange vied with each other in the state they kept, their
+wives being bitterly jealous of each {80} other.  William's second
+marriage had been arranged for worldly motives.  His bride was Princess
+Anna of Saxony, daughter of the Elector Maurice who had worked such
+evil for the Emperor Charles and had embraced the new religion.  The
+Princess was only sixteen; she limped, and was by no means handsome.
+It was hinted, too, that her temper was stormy and her mind narrow.
+The advantages of the match consisted in her high rank, which was above
+that of Orange.  Philip disliked the wedding of a Reformer with one of
+his most powerful subjects.  He disliked the bride's family, as was
+natural, and the bride's family did not approve of her wedding with a
+"Papist."  The ceremony took place on St Bartholomew's Day, 1561.
+
+After his second marriage the Prince of Orange continued to exercise a
+lordly hospitality, for his staff of cooks was famous.  His wife
+quarrelled for precedence with the Countess Egmont, till the two were
+obliged to walk about the streets arm-in-arm because neither would
+acknowledge an inferior station.  Being magnificently dressed, they
+suffered much inconvenience from narrow doorways, which were not built
+to admit more than one dame in the costume of the period.  The times
+were not yet too serious to forbid such petty bickering, and there was
+a certain section of society quite frivolous enough to enjoy the
+ridiculous side of it.
+
+Margaret of Parma openly showed her delight when Granvelle was
+banished, for she felt herself relieved from a tyrant.  She now gave
+her confidence to Orange, who was very popular with the people.  There
+seemed to be some hope of inducing Philip to withdraw some of the
+edicts against his Protestant subjects.  Their cries were daily
+becoming louder, and there was an uneasy spirit abroad in the Low
+Countries which greeted with {81} delight the device of Count Egmont
+for a new livery for his servants that should condemn the ostentation
+of such ministers as Granvelle.  His retainers appeared in doublet and
+hose of the coarsest grey material, with long hanging sleeves and no
+embroideries.  They wore an emblem of a fool's cap and bells, or a
+monk's cowl, which was supposed to mock the Cardinal's contemptuous
+allusion to the nobles as buffoons.  The King was furious at the
+fashion which soon spread among the courtiers.  They changed the device
+then to a bundle of arrows or a wheat-sheaf which, they asserted,
+denoted the union of all their hearts in the King's service.
+Schoolboys could not have betrayed more joy in the absence of their
+pedagogue than the whole court showed when Granvelle left the country
+in 1564 on a pretended visit to his mother.
+
+Orange had now three aims in life, to convoke the States-General, to
+moderate or abolish the edicts, and to suppress both council of finance
+and privy council, leaving only the one council of state, which he
+could make the body of reform.  By this time the persecutions were
+rousing the horror of Catholic as well as Calvinist.  The prisons were
+crowded with victims, and through the streets went continual
+processions to the stake.  The four estates of Flanders were united in
+an appeal to Philip.  Egmont was to visit Spain and point out the
+uselessness of forcing the Netherlands to accept religious decrees
+which reduced them to abject slavery.  Before he set out, William of
+Orange made a notable speech, declaring the provinces free and
+determined to vindicate their freedom.
+
+Egmont's visit was a failure, since he suffered himself to be won by
+the flattery of Philip II.  He was reproached with having forgotten the
+interests of the State when {82} he returned, and was consumed by
+regrets that were unavailing.  The wrath of the people was increasing
+daily as the cruel persecution devastated the Low Countries.  All other
+subjects were forgotten in the time of agony and expectation.  There
+was talk of resistance that would win death on the battlefield, more
+merciful than that proceeding from slow torture.  In streets, shops,
+and taverns men gathered to whisper of the dark deeds done in the name
+of the Inquisition.  Philip had vowed "never to allow myself either to
+become or to be called the lord of those who reject Thee for their
+Lord," as he prostrated his body before a crucifix.  The doom of the
+Protestants had been sealed by that oath.  Henceforth, those who feared
+death were known to favour freedom of religion.
+
+The Duke of Alva was firm in his support of Philip's measures.  The
+Inquisition was formally proclaimed in the market-place of every town
+and village in the Netherlands.  Resistance was certain.  All knew that
+contending armies would take the field soon.  Commerce ceased to engage
+the attention of the people.  Those merchants and artisans who were
+able left the cities.  Patriots spoke what was in their hearts at last,
+and pamphlets "snowed in the streets."  The "League of the Compromise"
+was formed in 1566, with Count Louis of Nassau as the leader; it
+declared the Inquisition "iniquitous, contrary to all laws, human and
+divine, surpassing the greatest barbarism which was ever practised by
+tyrants, and as redounding to the dishonour of God and to the total
+desolation of the country."  The members of the League might be good
+Catholics though they were pledged to resist the Inquisition.  They
+always promised to attempt nothing "to the diminution of the King's
+grandeur, majesty, or dominion." {83} All who signed the Compromise
+were to be mutually protected by an oath which permitted none to be
+persecuted.  It was a League, in fact, against the foreign government
+of the Netherlands, signed by nobles whose spirit was roused to protest
+against the influence of such men as Alva.
+
+The Compromise did not gain the support of William of Orange because he
+was distrustful of its objects.  The members were young and imprudent,
+and many of them were not at all disinterested in their desire to
+secure the broad lands belonging to the Catholic Church.  Their wild
+banquets were dangerous to the whole country, since spies sat at the
+board and took note of all extravagant phrases that might be construed
+into disloyalty.  Orange himself held meetings of a very different sort
+in his sincere endeavour to avert the catastrophe he feared.
+
+Troops rode into Brussels, avowing their intention to free the country
+from Spanish tyranny.  Brederode was among them--a handsome reckless
+noble, descended from one of the oldest families of Holland.  The
+citizens welcomed the soldiers with applause and betrayed the same
+enthusiasm on the following day when a procession of noble cavaliers
+went to present a petition to Margaret of Parma, urging that she should
+suspend the powers of the Inquisition while a messenger was sent to
+Spain to demand its abolition.
+
+As the petitioners left the hall, they heard with furious resentment
+the remark of one Berlaymont to the troubled Regent.  "What, Madam! is
+it possible that your highness can entertain fears of these beggars?
+(_gueux_).  Is it not obvious what manner of men they are?  They have
+not had wisdom enough to manage their own estates, and are they now to
+teach the King {84} and Your Highness how to govern the country?  By
+the living God, if my advice were taken, their petition should have a
+cudgel for a commentary, and we would make them go down the steps of
+the palace a great deal faster than they mounted them."
+
+The Confederates received an answer from the Duchess not altogether to
+their satisfaction, though she promised to make a special application
+to the King for the modification of edicts and ordered the Inquisitors
+to proceed "moderately and discreetly" with their office.  Three
+hundred guests met at Brederode's banquet on the 8th of April, and
+there and then, amid the noise of revelry and the clink of wine-cups,
+they adopted the name of "Beggars," flung at them in scorn by
+Berlaymont.
+
+Brederode was the first to call for a wallet, which he hung round his
+neck after the manner of those who begged their bread.  He filled a
+large wooden bowl as part of his equipment, lifted it with both hands
+and drained it, crying, "Long live the Beggars!"  The cry was taken up
+as each guest donned the wallet in turn and drank from the bowl to the
+Beggars' health.  The symbols of the brotherhood were hung up in the
+hall so that all might stand underneath to repeat certain words as he
+flung salt into a goblet:
+
+  "By this salt, by this head, by this wallet still,
+  These beggars change not, fret who will."
+
+
+A costume was adopted in accordance with the fantastic humour of the
+nobles.  Soon Brussels stared at quaint figures in coarse grey
+garments, wearing felt hats, and carrying the beggar's bowl and wallet.
+The badges which adorned their hats protested fidelity to Philip.
+
+{85}
+
+Twelve of the Beggars sought an interview with the Duchess of Parma to
+demand that Orange, Egmont, and Admiral Hoorn should be appointed to
+guard the interests of the States, and they even threatened to form
+foreign alliances if Margaret refused to grant what they wanted.  They
+knew that they could count now on assistance from the Huguenot leaders
+in France and from the Protestant princes in Germany.
+
+The war was imminent in which the Beggars would avenge the insult
+uttered by the haughty lips of Berlaymont.  The sea-power of Holland
+had its origin in the first fleet which the Sea-Beggars equipped in
+1569.  These corsairs who cruised in the narrow waters and descended
+upon the seaport towns were of many different nationalities, but were
+one and all inspired by a fanatic hatred of the Spaniard and the Papist.
+
+
+
+
+{86}
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+William the Silent, Father of his Country
+
+The confusion which reigned in the Netherlands sorely troubled Margaret
+of Parma, who wrote to Philip for men and money that she might put down
+the rising.  She received nothing beyond vague promises that he would
+come one day to visit his dominions overseas.  It was still the belief
+of the King of Spain that he held supreme authority in a country where
+many a Flemish noble claimed a higher rank, declaring that the
+so-called sovereign was only Duke of Brabant and Count of Flanders.
+
+In despair, the Regent called on Orange, Hoorn, and Egmont to help her
+in restoring order.  Refugees had come back from foreign countries and
+were holding religious services openly, troops of Protestants marched
+about the streets singing Psalms and shouting "Long live the Beggars!"
+It seemed to Margaret of Parma, a devout Catholic, that for the people
+there was "neither faith nor King."
+
+William, as Burgrave of Antwerp, was able to restore order in that
+city, promising the citizens that they should have the right to
+assemble for worship outside the walls.  A change had come over this
+once worldly noble--henceforth he cared nothing for the pomps and {87}
+vanities of life.  He had decided to devote himself to the cause of the
+persecuted, however dear it cost him.
+
+The Prince of Orange hoped that Egmont would join him in resistance to
+the Spanish tyranny.  Egmont was beloved by the people of the
+Netherlands as a soldier who had proved his valour; his high rank and
+proud nature might have been expected to make him resentful of
+authority that would place him in subjection.  But William parted from
+his friend, recognizing sadly that they were inspired by different
+motives.  "Alas!  Egmont," he said, embracing the noble who would not
+desert the cause of Philip, "the King's clemency, of which you boast,
+will destroy you.  Would that I might be deceived, but I foresee too
+clearly that you are to be the bridge which the Spaniards will destroy
+so soon as they have passed over it to invade our country."
+
+William found himself soon in a state of isolation.  He refused to take
+a new oath of fidelity to the King, which bound him to "act for or
+against whomsoever his Majesty might order without restriction or
+limitation."  His own wife was a Lutheran, and by such a promise it
+might become his duty to destroy her!  An alliance with foreign princes
+was the only safeguard against the force which Spain was preparing.
+The Elector of Saxony was willing to enter into a League to defend the
+reformed faith of the Netherlands.  Meantime, after resigning all his
+offices, the Prince of Orange went into exile with his entire household.
+
+In 1567 Philip ceased his vacillation.  He sent the Duke of Alva to
+stamp out heresy at any cost in the Low Countries.
+
+Alva was the foremost general of his time, a soldier whose life had
+been one long campaign in Europe.  He {88} had a kind of fierce
+fanatical religion which led him to revenge his father's death at the
+hands of the Moors on many a hapless Christian.  He was avaricious, and
+the lust for booty determined him to sack the rich cities of the
+Netherlands without regard for honour.  He was in his sixtieth year,
+but time had not weakened his strong inflexible courage.  Tall, thin,
+and erect, he carried himself as a Spaniard of noble blood, and yielded
+to none in the superb arrogance of his manners.  His long beard gave
+him the dignity of age, and his bearing stamped him always as a
+conqueror who knew nothing of compassion.  It was hopeless to appeal to
+the humanity of Toledo, Duke of Alva.  A stern disciplinarian, he could
+control his troops better than any general Philip had, yet he did not
+wish to check their excesses, and seemed to look with pleasure upon the
+awful scenes of a war in which no quarter was given.
+
+Alva led a picked army of 10,000 men--Italian foot soldiers for the
+most part, with some musketeers among them--who would astonish the
+simple northern people he held in such contempt.  "I have trained
+people of iron in my day," was his boast.  "Shall I not easily crush
+these people of butter?"
+
+At first the people of the Netherlands seemed likely to be cowed into
+complete submission.  Egmont came out to meet Alva, bringing him two
+beautiful horses as a present.  The Spaniard had already doomed this
+man to the block, but he pretended great pleasure at the welcome gift
+and put his arms round the neck which he knew would not rest long on
+Egmont's shoulders.  He spoke very graciously to the escort who led him
+into Brussels.
+
+Margaret of Parma was still Regent in name, but in reality she had been
+superseded by the Captain-General {89} of the Spanish forces.  She was
+furious at the slight, and showed her displeasure by greeting the Duke
+of Alva coldly.  After writing to Philip to expostulate, she discovered
+that her position would not be restored, and therefore retired to Parma.
+
+Egmont and Hoorn were the first victims of Alva's treachery.  They died
+on the same day, displaying such fortitude at the last that the people
+mourned them passionately, and a storm of indignation burst forth
+against Philip II and the agent he had sent to shed the noblest blood
+of the Low Countries.
+
+Alva set up a "Council of Troubles" so that he could dispatch other
+victims with the same celerity.  This became known as "the Council of
+Blood" from the merciless nature of its transactions.  Anyone who chose
+to give evidence against his friends was assured that he would have a
+generous reward for such betrayals.  The Duke of Alva was President of
+the Council and had the right of final decision in all cases.  Few were
+saved from the sword or the stake, since by blood alone the rebel and
+the heretic were to be crushed and Philip's sovereignty established
+firmly in the Netherlands.
+
+In 1568 William of Orange was ordered to appear before the court and,
+on his refusal, was declared an outlaw.  His eldest son was captured at
+the University of Louvain and sent to the Spanish court that he might
+unlearn the principles in which he had been educated.
+
+Orange issued a justification of his conduct, but even this was held to
+be an act of defiance against the authority of Philip.  The once loyal
+subject determined to expel the King's troops from the Low Countries,
+believing himself chosen by God to save the reformers from the pitiless
+oppression of the Spanish.  He had {90} already changed his views on
+religion.  Prudence seemed to have forsaken the astute Prince of
+Orange.  He proceeded to raise an army, though he had not enough money
+to pay his mercenaries.  He was preparing for a struggle against a
+general, second to none in Europe, a general, moreover, who had
+veterans at his command and the authority of Spain behind him.  Yet the
+first disaster did not daunt either William of Orange or his brother
+Louis of Nassau, who was also a chivalrous leader of the people.  "With
+God's help I am determined to go on," were the words inspired by Alva's
+triumph.  There were Reformers in other countries ready to send help to
+their brethren in religion.  Elizabeth of England had extended a
+welcome to thousands of Flemish traders.  It was William's constant
+hope that she would send a force openly to his assistance.
+
+Elizabeth, however, did not like rebels and was not minded to show
+sympathy with the enemies of Philip, who kept his troops from an attack
+on England.  She would secretly encourage the Beggars to take Spanish
+ships, but she would not send an army of sufficient strength to ensure
+a decisive victory for the Reformers of the Netherlands.
+
+[Illustration: Last Moments of Count Egmont (Louis Gallait)]
+
+Alva exulted in the loss of prestige which attended his enemy's flight
+from the Huguenot camp in the garb of a German peasant.  He regarded
+William as a dead man, since he was driven to wander about the country,
+suffering from the condemnation of his allies because he had not been
+successful.  Alva's victory would have seemed too easy if there had not
+been a terrible lack of funds among the Spanish, owing to the plunder
+which was carried off from Spain by Elizabethan seamen.  The Spanish
+general demanded taxes suddenly {91} from the people of the
+Netherlands, and expected that they would be paid without a murmur.
+
+But he had mistaken the spirit of a trading country which was not
+subservient in its loyalty to any ruler.  These prosperous merchants
+had always been accustomed to dispose of the money they earned
+according to their own wishes.  Enemies of the Spanish sprang up among
+their former allies.  Catholics as well as Protestants were angry at
+Alva's demand of a tax of the "hundredth penny" to be levied on all
+property.  Alva's name had been detested even before he marched into
+the Low Countries with the army which was notorious for deeds of blood
+and outrage.  Now it roused such violent hatred that men who had been
+ready to support his measures for their own interests gradually forsook
+him.
+
+In July 1570, an amnesty was declared by the Duke of Alva in the great
+square of Antwerp.  Philip's approaching marriage with Anne of Austria
+ought to have been celebrated with some appearance of goodwill to all
+men, but it was at this time that the blackest treachery stained
+Philip's name, already associated with stern cruelty.
+
+Montigny, the son of the Dowager Countess of Hoorn, was one of the
+envoys sent to Philip's court before the war had actually opened.  He
+had been detained in Spain and feared death, for he was a prisoner in
+the castle of Segovia.  Philip had intended from the beginning to
+destroy Montigny, but he did not choose to order his execution openly.
+The knight had been sentenced by the Council of Blood after three years
+imprisonment, but still lingered on, hoping for release through the
+exertions of his family.  The King was busied with wedding
+preparations, but not too busy to {92} carry out a crafty scheme by
+which Montigny seemed to have died of fever, whereas he was strangled
+in the Castle.  The hypocrisy of the Spanish monarch was so complete
+that he actually ordered suits of mourning for Montigny's servants.
+
+In 1572 the Beggars, always restlessly cruising against their foes on
+the high seas, took Brill in the absence of a Spanish garrison.  Their
+action was so successful that they hoisted the rebel flag over the
+little fort and took an oath with the inhabitants to acknowledge the
+Prince of Orange as their Stadtholder.  Brill was an unexpected triumph
+which the brilliant, impetuous Louis of Nassau followed up by the
+seizure of Flushing, the key of Zealand, which was the approach to
+Antwerp.  The Sea-Beggars then swarmed over the whole of Walcheren,
+receiving many recruits in their ranks and pillaging churches
+recklessly.  Middelburg alone remained to the Spanish troops, while the
+provinces of the North began to look to the Prince of Orange as their
+legitimate ruler.
+
+William looked askance at the disorderly feats of the Beggars, but the
+capture of important towns inspired him to fresh efforts.  He
+corresponded with many foreign countries and had his agents everywhere.
+Sainte Aldgonde was one of the prime movers in these negotiations.  He
+was a poet as well as a soldier, and wrote the stirring national anthem
+of _Wilhelmus van Nassouwen_, which is still sung in the Netherlands.
+Burghers now opened their purses to give money, for they felt that
+victories must surely follow the capture of Brill and Flushing.
+William took the field with hired soldiers, and was met by the news of
+the terrible massacre of Protestants in France in 1572 on the Eve of St
+Bartholomew.  All his hopes of help from France {93} were dashed to the
+ground at once, and for the moment he was daunted.  Louis of Nassau was
+besieged at Mons by Alva.  He tried to relieve his brother, but was
+ignominiously prevented by the _Camisaders_ who made their way to his
+camp at night, wearing white shirts over their armour, and killed eight
+hundred of his soldiers.
+
+William threw in his lot, once for all, with the Northern provinces,
+receiving a hearty welcome from Holland and Zealand, states both
+maintaining a gallant struggle.  He was recognized as Stadtholder by a
+meeting of the States in 1572, and liberty of worship was established
+for Protestants and Catholics.  His authority was absolute in this
+region of the Low Countries.
+
+Alva revenged himself for the resistance of Mons by the brutal sack of
+Malines and of Zutphen.  The outrages of his soldiers were almost
+inhuman, and immense booty was captured, to the satisfaction of the
+leader.
+
+Amsterdam was loyal to Philip, but Haarlem was in the hands of
+Calvinists.  The Spanish army advanced on this town expecting to take
+it at the first assault, but they met with a stubborn resistance.  The
+citizens had in their minds the horror of the sack of Zutphen.  They
+repulsed one assault after another and the siege, begun in December
+1572, was turned into a blockade, and still the Spaniards could not
+enter.  The heads of the leaders of relief armies which had been
+defeated were flung into Haarlem with insulting gibes.  The reply to
+this was a barrel which was sent rolling out carrying eleven heads, ten
+in payment of the tax of one-tenth hitherto refused to Alva and the
+eleventh as interest on the sum which had not been paid quite promptly!
+It was in July 1573, when the citizens had been reduced by famine to
+the consumption of {94} weeds, shoe-leather, and vermin, that the
+Spanish army entered Haarlem.
+
+The loss on both sides was enormous, and William had reason to despair.
+Only 1600 were left of a garrison of 4000.  It seemed as if the courage
+of Haarlem had been unavailing, for gibbets rose on all sides to
+exhibit the leaders of the desperate resistance.
+
+But the fleets of the Beggars rode the sea in triumph, and the example
+of Haarlem had given spirit to other towns unwilling to be beaten in
+endurance.  Alva was disappointed to find that immediate submission did
+not follow.  He left the country in 1573, declaring that his health and
+strength were gone, and he was unwilling to lose his reputation.
+
+Don Luis Requesens, his successor, would have made terms, but William
+of Orange adhered to certain resolutions.  There must be freedom of
+worship throughout the Netherlands, where all the ancient charters of
+liberty must be restored and every Spaniard must resign his office.
+William then declared himself a Calvinist, probably for patriotic
+reasons.
+
+The hope of assistance from France and England rose again inevitably.
+Louis of Nassau obtained a large sum of French money and intended to
+raise troops for the relief of Leyden, which was invested by the
+Spaniards in 1574.  He gathered a force of mixed nationality and no
+cohesion, and was surprised and killed with his gallant brother Henry.
+Their loss was a great blow to William, who felt that the
+responsibilities of the war henceforward rested solely on his shoulders.
+
+Leyden was relieved by the desperate device of cutting the dykes and
+opening the sluices to flood the land around it.  A fleet was thus
+enabled to sail in amidst fields and farmhouses to attack the besieging
+{95} Spanish.  The Sea-Beggars were driven by the wind to the outskirts
+of Leyden, where they engaged in mortal conflict.  The forts fell into
+their hands, some being deserted by the Spanish who fled from the
+rising waters.  William of Orange received the news at Delft, where he
+had taken up his residence.  He founded the University of Leyden as a
+memorial of the citizens' endurance.  The victory, however, was
+modified some months later by the capture of Zierickzee, which gave the
+Spaniards an outlet on the sea and also cut off Walcheren from Holland.
+
+In sheer desperation William made overtures to Queen Elizabeth,
+offering her the sovereignty of Holland and Zealand if she would engage
+in the struggle against Spain.  Elizabeth dared not refuse, lest France
+should step into the breach, but she was unwilling to declare herself
+publicly on the side of rebels.
+
+In April 1576 an Act of Federation was signed which formally united the
+two States of Zealand and Holland and conferred the supreme authority
+on the Prince of Orange, commander in war and governor in peace.
+Requesens was dead; a general patriotic rising was imminent.  On
+September 26th the States-General met at Brussels to discuss the
+question of uniting all the provinces.
+
+The Spanish Fury at Antwerp caused general consternation in the
+Netherlands.  The ancient town was attacked quite suddenly, all its
+wealth falling into the hands of rapacious soldiers.  No less than 7000
+citizens met their death at the hands of men who carried the standard
+of Christ on the Cross and knelt to ask God's blessing before they
+entered on the massacre!  Greed for gold had come upon the Spaniards,
+who hastened to secure the treasures accumulated at Antwerp.  Jewels
+{96} and velvets and laces were coveted as much as the contents of the
+strong boxes of the merchants, and torture was employed to discover the
+plate and money that were hidden.  A wedding-party was interrupted, and
+the clothes of the bride stripped from her.  Many palaces fell by fire
+and the splendid Town House perished.  For two whole days the city was
+the scene of indescribable horrors.
+
+The Pacification of Ghent had been signed when the news of the Spanish
+Fury reached the States-General.  The members of this united with the
+Prince of Orange, as ruler of Holland and Zealand, to drive the
+foreigner from their country.  The Union of Brussels confirmed this
+treaty in January 1577, for the South were anxious to rid themselves of
+the Spaniards though they desired to maintain the Catholic religion.
+Don John of Austria, Philip II's half-brother, was accepted as
+Governor-General after he had given a general promise to observe the
+wishes of the people.
+
+Don John made a state entry into Brussels, but he soon found that the
+Prince of Orange had gained complete ascendancy over the Netherlands
+and that he was by no means free to govern as he chose.  Don John soon
+grew weary of a position of dependence; he seized Namur and took up his
+residence there, afterwards defying the States-General.  A universal
+cry for Orange was raised in the confusion that followed, and William
+returned in triumph to the palace of Nassau.  Both North and South
+demanded that he should be their leader; both Protestant and Catholic
+promised to regard his government as legal.
+
+In January 1578, the Archduke Matthias, brother of the Emperor, was
+invited by the Catholic party to enter Brussels as its governor.
+William welcomed {97} the intruder, knowing that the supreme power was
+still vested in himself, but he was dismayed to see Alexander of Parma
+join Don John, realizing that their combined armies would be more than
+a match for his.  Confusion returned after a victory of Parma, who was
+an able and brilliant general.  The Catholic Duke of Anjou took Mons,
+and John Casimir, brother of the Elector-Palatine, entered the
+Netherlands from the east as the champion of the extreme Calvinists.
+
+The old religious antagonism was destroying the union of the provinces.
+William made immense exertions and succeeded in securing the alliance
+of Queen Elizabeth, Henry of Navarre, and John Casimir, while the Duke
+of Anjou accepted the title of Defender of the Liberties of the
+Netherlands.  His work seemed undone on the death of Don John in 1578
+and the succession of Alexander, Duke of Parma.  This Prince sowed the
+seeds of discord very skilfully, separating the Walloon provinces from
+the Reformers.  A party of Catholic Malcontents was formed in protest
+against the excesses of the Calvinists.  Religious tolerance was to be
+found nowhere, save in the heart of William of Orange.  North and South
+separated in January 1579, and made treaties which bound them
+respectively to protect their own form of religion.
+
+Attempts were made to induce Orange to leave the Netherlands that Spain
+might recover her lost sovereignty.  He was surrounded by foes, and
+many plots were formed against him.  In March 1581, King Philip
+denounced him as the enemy of the human race, a traitor and a
+miscreant, and offered a heavy bribe to anyone who would take the life
+of "this pest" or deliver him dead or alive.
+
+William's defence, known to the authorities as his {98} Apology, was
+issued in every court of Europe.  In it he dwelt on the different
+actions of his long career, and pointed out Philip's crimes and
+misdemeanours.  His own Imperial descent was contrasted with the King
+of Spain's less illustrious ancestry, and an eloquent appeal to the
+people for whom he had made heroic sacrifices was signed by the motto
+_Je le maintiendrai_.  ("I will maintain.")
+
+The Duke of Anjou accepted the proffered sovereignty of the United
+Netherlands in September 1580, but Holland and Zealand refused to
+acknowledge any other ruler than William of Orange, who received the
+title of Count, and joined with the other States in casting off their
+allegiance to Philip.  The French Prince was invested with the ducal
+mantle by Orange when he entered Antwerp as Duke of Brabant, and was,
+in reality, subject to the idol of the Netherlands.  The French
+protectorate came to an end with the disgraceful scenes of the French
+Fury, when the Duke's followers attempted to seize the chief towns,
+crying at Antwerp, "Long live the Mass!  Long live the Duke of Anjou!
+Kill!  Kill!"
+
+Orange would still have held to the French in preference to the
+Spanish, but the people did not share his views, and were suspicious of
+his motives when he married a daughter of that famous Huguenot leader,
+Admiral de Coligny.
+
+Orange retired to Delft, sorely troubled by the distrust of the nation,
+and the Catholic nobles were gradually lured back by Parma to the
+Spanish party.  In 1584 a young Burgundian managed to elude the
+vigilance of William's retainers; he made his way into the _Prinsenhof_
+and fired at the Prince as he came from dinner with his family.
+
+{99}
+
+The Prince of Orange fell, crying "My God, have pity on my soul and on
+this poor people."  He had now forfeited his life as well as his
+worldly fortunes, but the struggle he had waged for nearly twenty years
+had a truly glorious ending.  The genius of one man had given freedom
+to the far-famed Dutch Republic, founded on the States acknowledging
+William their Father.
+
+
+
+
+{100}
+
+Chapter IX
+
+Henry of Navarre
+
+Throughout France the followers of John Calvin of Geneva organized
+themselves into a powerful Protestant party.  The Reformation in
+Germany had been aristocratic in tendency, since it was mainly upheld
+by princes whose politics led them to oppose the Papacy.  The teaching
+of Calvin appealed more directly to the ignorant, for his creed was
+stern and simple.  The Calvinists even declared Luther an agent of the
+devil, in striking contrast to their own leader, who was regarded as
+the messenger of God.  For such men there were no different degrees of
+sinfulness--some were held to be elect or "chosen of the Lord" at their
+birth, while others were predestined for everlasting punishment.  It
+was characteristic of Calvin that he called vehemently for toleration
+from the Emperor, Charles V, and yet caused the death of a Spanish
+physician, Servetus, whose views happened to be at variance with his
+own!
+
+The Calvinists generally held meetings in the open air where they could
+escape the restrictions that were placed on services held in any place
+of worship.  The middle and lower classes attended them in large
+numbers, and the new faith spread rapidly through the enlightened world
+of Western Europe.  John Knox, the renowned Scotch preacher, was a firm
+friend of Calvin, and {101} thundered denunciations from his Scotch
+pulpit at the young Queen Mary, who had come from France with all the
+levity of French court-training in her manners.  The people of Southern
+France were eager to hear the fiery speech that somehow captured their
+imagination.  As they increased in numbers and began to have political
+importance they became known as Huguenots or Confederates.  To
+Catherine de Medici, the Catholic Regent of France, they were a
+formidable body, and in Navarre their leaders were drawn mainly from
+the nobles.
+
+Relentless persecution would probably have crushed the Huguenots of
+France eventually if it had been equally severe in all cases.  As a
+rule, men of the highest rank could evade punishment, and a few of the
+higher clergy preached religious toleration.  Thousands marched
+cheerfully to death from among the ranks of humble citizens, for it was
+part of Calvin's creed that men ought to suffer martyrdom for their
+faith without offering resistance.  Judges were known to die, stricken
+by remorse, and marvelling at their victims' fortitude.  At Dijon, the
+executioner himself proclaimed at the foot of the scaffold that he had
+been converted.
+
+The Calvinist preachers could gain no audience in Paris, where the
+University of the Sorbonne opposed their doctrines and declared that
+these were contrary to all the philosophy of ancient times.  The
+capital of France constantly proclaimed loyalty to Rome by the pompous
+processions which filed out of its magnificent churches and paraded the
+streets to awe the mob, always swayed by the violence of fanatic
+priests.  The Huguenots did not attempt to capture a stronghold, where
+it was boasted that "the novices of the convents and the priests'
+housekeepers could have driven them out with broomsticks."
+
+{102}
+
+Such rude weapons would have been ineffectual in the South-East of
+France, where all the most flourishing towns had embraced the reformed
+religion.  The majority of the Huguenots were drawn from the most
+warlike, intelligent, and industrious of the population of these towns,
+but princes also adopted Calvinism, and the Bourbons of Navarre made
+their court a refuge for believers in the new religion.
+
+Navarre was at this time a narrow strip of land on the French side of
+the Pyrenees, but her ruler was still a sovereign monarch and owed
+allegiance to no overlord.  Henry, Prince of Bourbon and King of
+Navarre, was born in 1555 at Béarns, in the mountains.  His mother was
+a Calvinist, and his early discipline was rigid.  He ran barefoot with
+the village lads, learnt to climb like a chamois, and knew nothing more
+luxurious than the habits of a court which had become enamoured of
+simplicity.  He was bewildered on his introduction to the shameless,
+intriguing circle of Catherine de Medici.
+
+The Queen-Mother did not allow King Charles IX to have much share in
+the government of France at that period.  She had an Italian love of
+dissimulation, and followed the methods of the rulers of petty Italian
+states in her policy, which was to play off one rival faction against
+another.  Henry of Guise led the Catholic party against the Huguenots,
+whose leaders were Prince Louis de Bourbon and his uncle, the noble
+Admiral de Coligny.  Guise was so determined to gain power that he
+actually asked the help of Spain in his attempt to crush the "heretics"
+of his own nation.
+
+The Huguenots at that time had won many notable concessions from the
+Crown, which increased the bitter hostility of the Catholics.  The
+Queen-Mother, however, {103} concealed her annoyance when she saw the
+ladies of the court reading the New Testament instead of pagan poetry,
+or heard their voices chanting godly psalms rather than the old
+love-ballads.  She did not object openly to the pious form of speech
+which was known as the "language of Canaan."  She was a passionless
+woman, self-seeking but not revengeful, and adopted a certain degree of
+tolerance, no doubt, from her patriotic counsellor, L'Hôpital, who
+resembled the Prince of Orange in his character.
+
+The Edict of January in 1562 gave countenance to Huguenot meetings
+throughout France, and was, therefore, detested by the Catholic party.
+The Duke of Guise went to dine one Sunday in the little town of Vassy,
+near his residence of Joinville.  A band of armed retainers accompanied
+him and pushed their way into a barn where the Huguenots were holding
+service.  A riot ensued, in which the Duke was struck, and his
+followers killed no less than sixty of the worshippers.
+
+This outrage led to civil war, for the Protestants remembered bitterly
+that Guise had sworn never to take life in the cause of religion.  They
+demanded the punishment of the offenders, and then took the field most
+valiantly.  Gentlemen served at their own expense, but they were, in
+general, "better armed with courage than with corselets."  They were
+overpowered by the numbers of the Catholic League, which had all the
+wealth of Church and State at its back, and also had control of the
+King and capital.  One by one the heroic leaders fell.  Louis de
+Bourbon was taken prisoner at Dreux, and Anthony of Bourbon died before
+the town of Rouen.
+
+The Queen of Navarre was very anxious for the safety of her son, for
+she heard that he was accompanying {104} Catherine and Charles IX on a
+long progress through the kingdom.  She herself was the object of
+Catholic animosity, and the King of Spain destined her for a grand
+_Auto-da-fé_, longing to make an example of so proud a heretic.  She
+believed that her son had received the root of piety in his heart while
+he was under her care, but she doubted whether that goodly root would
+grow in the corrupt atmosphere which surrounded the youthful Valois
+princes.  Henry of Navarre disliked learning, and was fond of active
+exercise.  His education was varied after he came to court, and he
+learnt to read men well.  In later life he was able to enjoy the most
+frivolous pastimes and yet could endure the privations of camp life
+without experiencing discomfort.
+
+Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, was killed at the battle of Jarnac,
+and Henry de Bourbon became the recognized head of the Huguenot party.
+He took an oath never to abandon the cause, and was hailed by the
+soldiers in camp as their future leader.  The Queen of Navarre clad him
+in his armour, delighted that her son should defend the reformed
+religion.  She saw that he was brave and manly, if he were not a truly
+religious prince, and she agreed with the loudly expressed opinion of
+the populace that he was more royal in bearing than the dissolute and
+effeminate youths who spent their idle days within the palaces of the
+Louvre and the Tuileries.
+
+The country was growing so weary of the struggle that the scheme for a
+marriage between Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Valois was hailed
+with enthusiasm.  If Catholic and Huguenot were united there might be
+peace in France that would add to the prosperity of the nation.
+Catherine de Medici had intended originally that her daughter should
+marry the {105} Catholic King of Portugal, and was angry with Philip II
+of Spain because he had done nothing to assist her in making this
+alliance.  Charles IX longed to humble Philip, who was indignant that
+the "heretics" had been offered freedom of worship in 1570, and had
+expressed his opinion rather freely.  Therefore the Valois family did
+not hesitate to receive the leader of the Protestants, Henry de
+Bourbon, whose territory extended from the Pyrenees to far beyond the
+Garonne.
+
+The Queen of Navarre disliked the match and was suspicious of the
+Queen-Mother's motives.  She feared that Catherine and Catherine's
+daughter would entice Henry into a gay, dissolute course of life which
+would destroy the results of her early training, and she could not
+respond very cordially to the effusive welcome which greeted her at the
+court when she came sadly to the wedding.
+
+The marriage contract was signed in 1571, neither bride nor bridegroom
+having much choice in the matter.  Henry was probably dazzled by the
+brilliant prospects that opened out to one who was mated with a Valois,
+but he was only nineteen and never quite at ease in the shifting,
+tortuous maze of diplomacy as conceived by the mind of Catherine de
+Medici.  Margaret was a talented, lively girl, and pleased with the
+fine jewels that were given her.  She did not understand the reasons
+which urged her brother Charles to press on the match.  He insisted
+that it should take place in Paris in order that he might show his
+subjects how much he longed to settle the religious strife that had
+lately rent the kingdom.  It was a question, of course, on which
+neither of the contracting parties had to be more than formally
+consulted.
+
+The Queen of Navarre died suddenly on the eve of {106} the wedding, and
+her son, with 800 attendants, entered the city in a mourning garb that
+had soon to be discarded.  Gorgeous costumes of ceremony were donned
+for the great day, August 18th, 1572, when Margaret met her bridegroom
+on a great stage erected before the church of Notre Dame.
+
+Henry of Navarre could not attend the Mass, but walked in the nave with
+his Huguenot friends, while Margaret knelt in the choir, surrounded by
+the Catholics of the party.  Admiral Coligny was present, the stalwart
+Huguenot who appealed to all the finest instincts of his people.  He
+had tried to arrange a marriage between Elizabeth of England and Henry
+of Anjou, the brother of the French King, but had not been successful,
+owing to Elizabeth's politic vacillation.  He was detested by Catherine
+de Medici because he had great power over her son, the reigning
+monarch, whom she tried to dominate completely.  A dark design had
+inspired the Guise faction of late in consequence of the Queen's enmity
+to the influence of Coligny.  It was hinted that the Huguenot party
+would be very weak if their strongest partisan were suddenly taken from
+them.  All the great Protestant nobles were assembled in Paris for the
+marriage of Navarre and Margaret of Valois.  They were royally
+entertained by the Catholic courtiers and lodged at night in fine
+apartments of the Louvre and other palaces.  They had no idea that they
+had any danger to fear as they slept, and would have disdained to guard
+themselves against the possible treachery of their hosts.  They might
+have been warned by the attempted assassination of Admiral Coligny, who
+was wounded by a pistol-shot, had not the King expressed such concern
+at the attempt on the life of his favourite counsellor.  "My father,"
+Charles IX declared when {107} he came to the Admiral's bedside, "the
+pain of the wound is yours, but the insult and the wrong are mine."
+
+The King had the gates of Paris shut, and sent his own guard to protect
+Coligny.  He was weak, and subject to violent gusts of passion which
+made him easy to guide, if he were in the hands of an unscrupulous
+person.  His mother, who had plotted with Guise for the death of
+Coligny, pointed out that there was grave danger to be feared from the
+Protestants.  She made Charles declare in a frenzy of violence that
+every Huguenot in France should perish if the Admiral died, for he
+would not be reproached with such a crime by the Admiral's followers.
+
+The bells of the church nearest to the Louvre rang out on the Eve of St
+Bartholomew--they gave the signal for a cruel massacre.  After the
+devout Protestant, Coligny, was slain in the presence of the Duke of
+Guise, there was little resistance from the other defenceless Huguenot
+nobles.  They were roused from sleep, surprised by treacherous foes,
+and relentlessly murdered.  It was impossible to combine in their
+perilous position.  Two thousand were put to death in Paris, where the
+very women and children acted like monsters of cruelty to the heretics
+for three days, and proved themselves as cunning as the Swiss guards
+who had slain the King's guests on the night of Saint Bartholomew.  A
+Huguenot noble escaped from his assailants and rushed into Henry's very
+bridal chamber.  He cried, "Navarre!  Navarre!" and hoped for
+protection from the Protestant prince against four archers who were
+following him.  Henry had risen early and gone out to the tennis-court,
+and Margaret was powerless to offer any help.  She fled from the room
+in terror, having heard nothing previously of the Guises' secret
+conspiracy.
+
+{108}
+
+Charles IX sent for Navarre and disclosed the fact that he had been
+privy to the massacre.  He showed plainly that the Protestants were to
+find no toleration henceforth.  Henry felt that his life was in great
+jeopardy, for most of the noblemen he had brought to Paris had fallen
+in the massacre, and he stood practically alone at a Catholic court.
+Henry understood that if he were to be spared it was only at the price
+of his conversion, and with the alternatives of death or the Mass
+before him, it is little wonder that he yielded, at least in
+appearance, to the latter.  There were spies and traitors to be feared
+in the circle of the Medici.  Even Margaret was not safe since her
+marriage to a Protestant, but she gave wise counsel to her husband and
+guided him skilfully through the perils of court life.
+
+Catherine disarmed the general indignation of Europe by spreading an
+ingeniously concocted story to the effect that the Huguenots had been
+sacrificed because they plotted a foul attack on the Crown of France.
+She had been hostile to Coligny rather than to his policy, and
+continued to follow his scheme of thwarting Spain by alliances with
+Elizabeth and the Prince of Orange.
+
+Henry of Guise met the charge of excessive zeal in defending his King
+with perfect equanimity.  He was a splendid figure at the court,
+winning popularity by his affable manners and managing to conceal his
+arrogant, ambitious nature.
+
+After 1572 the Huguenots relied mainly on the wealthy citizens of the
+towns for support in the struggle against the Guise faction.  In
+addition to religious toleration they now demanded the redress of
+political grievances.  A republican spirit rose in the Protestant
+party, who read eagerly the various books and pamphlets declaring that
+a monarchy should not continue if it {109} proved incapable of
+maintaining order even by despotic powers.  More and more a new idea
+gained ground that the sovereignty of France was not hereditary but
+elective.
+
+Charles IX, distracted by the confusion in his kingdom and the caprices
+of his own ill-balanced temper, clung to Henry of Navarre because he
+recognized real strength in him such as was wanting in the Valois.
+Henry III, his successor, was contemptibly vain and feminine in all his
+tastes, wearing pearls in his hair and rouging his face in order that
+he might be admired by the foolish, empty courtiers who were his
+favourite companions.  He succeeded to the throne in 1575, and made
+some display of Catholic zeal by organizing fantastic processions of
+repentant sinners through the streets of Paris.  He insisted on Navarre
+taking part in this mummery, for it was to his interest to prevent the
+Protestant party from claiming a noble leader.
+
+Navarre had learnt to play his part well, but he chafed at his
+inglorious position.  He saw with a fierce disgust the worthless
+prince, Alençon, become the head of the Protestant party.  Then he
+discovered that he was to have a chance of escape from the toils of the
+Medici.  In January, 1576, he received an offer from some officers--who
+had been disappointed of the royal favour--that they would put him in
+possession of certain towns if he would leave the court.  He rode off
+at once to the Protestant camp, leaving his wife behind him.
+
+The Peace of Monsieur, signed in February 1576, granted very favourable
+conditions to the Protestants, who had stoutly resisted an attack on
+their stronghold of La Rochelle.  Catherine and Henry III became
+alarmed by the increasing numbers of their enemies, for a Catholic
+League was formed by Henry of Guise and {110} other discontented
+subjects in order to ally Paris with the fanatics of the provinces.
+This League was by no means favourable to the King and Catherine, for
+its openly avowed leader was Henry of Guise, who was greatly beloved by
+the people.  Henry III was foolish enough to become a member, thereby
+incurring some loss of prestige by placing himself practically under
+the authority of his rival.  Bitterly hostile to the Protestants as
+were the aims of the League, it was nevertheless largely used by the
+Duke of Guise as a cloak to cover his designs for the usurpation of the
+royal power.  The hope of Henry III and his mother was that the rival
+Catholics and Protestants would fight out their own quarrel and leave
+the Crown to watch the battles unmolested.
+
+The last of the Valois was closely watched by the bold preachers of
+political emancipation.  These were determined to snatch the royal
+prerogatives from him if he were unworthy of respect and squandered too
+much public money on his follies.  It enraged them to hear that he
+spent hours on his own toilette, and starched his wife's fine ruffs as
+if he were her tire-woman.  They were angry when they were told that
+their King regarded his functions so lightly that he gave audiences to
+ambassadors with a basketful of puppies round his neck, and did not
+trouble to read the reports his ministers sent to him.  They decided
+secretly to proclaim Henry III's kinsman, the King of Navarre, who was
+a fine soldier and a kindly, humane gentleman.
+
+Navarre was openly welcomed as the leader of the Reformed Church party.
+He was readmitted to Calvinist communion, and abjured the Mass.  He
+took the field gladly, being delighted to remove the mask he had been
+obliged to wear.  His brilliant feats of arms made him more popular
+than ever.
+
+{111}
+
+When Anjou died, Navarre was heir presumptive to the throne, and had to
+meet the furious hostility of the Guise faction.  These said that
+Navarre's uncle, Cardinal de Bourbon, "wine-tun rather than a man,"
+should be their king when Valois died.  They secured the help of Spain
+before publishing their famous Manifesto.  This document avowed the
+intentions of those forming the Catholic League to restore the dignity
+of the Church by drawing the sword, if necessary, and to settle for
+themselves the question of Henry III's successor.  He bribed the people
+by releasing them from taxation and promised regular meetings of the
+States-General.
+
+The King hesitated to grant the League's demands, which were definitely
+formulated in 1585.  He did not wish to revoke the Edicts of Toleration
+that had recently been passed, and might have refused, if his mother
+had not advised him to make every concession that was possible to avoid
+the enmity of the Guise faction.  He consented, and was lost, for the
+Huguenots sprang to arms, and he found that he was to be driven from
+his capital by the Guises.
+
+The King was accused of sympathy with the Protestant cause, which made
+his name odious to the Catholic University of Paris.  He had personal
+enemies too, such as the Duchess of Montpensier, sister to Henry of
+Guise, who was fond of saying that she would give him another crown by
+using the gold scissors at her waist.  There was some talk of his
+entering a monastery where he would have had to adopt the tonsure.
+
+One-half of Navarre's beard had turned white when he heard that Henry
+III was revoking the Edicts of Toleration.  Yet he was happiest in
+camp, and leapt to the saddle with a light heart in May 1588 when the
+{112} King fled from Paris and Guise entered the capital as the
+deliverer of the people.  He looked the model of a Gascon knight, with
+hooked nose and bold, black eyes under ironical arched eyebrows.  He
+was a clever judge of character, and knew how to win adherents to his
+cause.  His homely garb attracted many who were tired of the weak
+Valois kings, for there was no artificial grace in the scarlet cloak,
+brown velvet doublet and white-plumed hat which distinguished him from
+his fellows.
+
+Henry III plotted desperately to regain his prestige, and showed some
+of the Medici guile in a plot for Guise's assassination.  When this
+succeeded he went to boast to Catherine that he had killed the King of
+Paris.  "You have cut boldly into the stuff, my son," she answered him,
+"but will you know how to sew it together?"
+
+Paris was filled by lamentations for the death of Guise, and the
+festivities of Christmas Eve gave way to funeral dirges.  The
+University of Sorbonne declared that they would not receive Henry of
+Valois again as king.  His only hope was to reconcile himself with
+Navarre and the Protestant party.  Paris was tumultuous with resistance
+when the news came that Royalists and Huguenots had raised their
+standards in the same camp and massed two armies.  The Catholic League
+was beloved by the poorer citizens because it released them from
+rent-dues.  The spirit of the people was shown by processions of
+children, who threw lighted torches to the ground before the churches,
+stamped on them, and cried, "Thus may God quench the House of Valois!"
+
+The capital welcomed Spanish troops to aid them in keeping Henry III
+from the gates.  He was assassinated {113} by a Burgundian monk as he
+approached the city "he had loved more than his wife," and Henry of
+Navarre, though a heretic, now claimed the right of entrance.
+
+Navarre was the lineal descendant of Saint Louis of France, but for ten
+generations no ancestor of his in the male line had ruled the French
+kingdom.  He was the grandson of Margaret, sister of Francis I, and
+Henry d'Albret, who had borne captivity with that monarch.  Many were
+pledged to him by vows made to the dying King, who had come to look on
+him as a doughty champion; many swore that they would die a thousand
+deaths rather than be the servants of a heretic master.
+
+In February 1590, Henry laid siege to Dreux in order to place himself
+between his enemies and Paris.  Mayenne, the leader of the opposite
+camp, drew him to Ivry, where a battle was fought on March 14th,
+resulting in the complete discomfiture of the Catholic Leaguers.  The
+white plume of Navarre floated victorious on the field, and the black
+lilies of Mayenne were trampled.  The road to Paris lay open to the
+heretic King, who invested the city on the northern side, but did not
+attack the inhabitants.  The blockade would have reduced the hungry
+citizens to submission at the end of a month if the Duke of Parma had
+not come to their relief at the command of the Spanish sovereign.
+
+Philip II wished his daughter to marry the young Duke of Guise and to
+ascend the French throne with her husband.  For that reason he
+supported Paris in its refusal to accept the Protestant King of
+Navarre.  It was not till March 1594, that the King, known as Henri
+Quatre, was able to lead his troops into Paris.
+
+Navarre had been compelled to attend Mass in public and to ask
+absolution from the Archbishop of Bourges, {114} who received him into
+the fold of the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church before the
+coronation.  He was now the "most Christian King," welcomed with blaze
+of bonfires and the blare of trumpets.  He was crowned at Chartres
+because the Catholic League held Rheims, and he entered Paris by the
+Porte Neuve, through which Henry III had fled from the Guises some six
+years previously.  The Spaniards had to withdraw from his capital,
+being told that their services would be required no longer.
+
+Henry IV waged successful wars against Spain and the Catholic League,
+gradually recovering the whole of his dominions by his energy and
+courage.  He settled the status of the Protestants on a satisfactory
+basis by the Edict of Nantes, which was signed in April 1598, to
+consolidate the privileges which had been previously granted to the
+Calvinists.  Full civil rights and full civil protection were granted
+to all Protestants, and the King assigned a sum of money for the use of
+Protestant schools and colleges.
+
+Henry introduced the silk industry into France, and his famous
+minister, Sully, did much to improve the condition of French
+agriculture.  By 1598 order had been restored in the kingdom, but
+industry and commerce had been crippled by nearly forty years of civil
+war.  When France's first Bourbon King, Henry IV, was assassinated in
+April 1610, he had only begun the great work of social and economical
+reform which proved his genuine sense of public duty.
+
+
+
+
+{115}
+
+Chapter X
+
+Under the Red Robe
+
+Never was king more beloved by his subjects than Henry of Navarre, who
+had so many of the frank and genial qualities which his nation valued.
+There was mourning as for a father when the fanatic, Ravaillac, struck
+him to the ground.  It seemed strange that death should come in the
+same guise to the first of the Bourbon line and the last of the Valois.
+
+Henry had studied the welfare of the peasantry and the middle class,
+striving to crush the power of the nobles whose hands were perpetually
+raised one against the other.  Therefore he intrusted affairs of State
+to men of inferior rank, and determined that he would form in France a
+nobility of the robe that should equal the old nobility of the sword.
+The _paulette_ gave to all those who held the higher judicial functions
+of the State the right to transmit their offices by will to their
+descendants, or even to sell them as so much hereditary property.
+
+In foreign affairs Henry had attempted to check the ambitious schemes
+of the Spanish Hapsburg line and to restore the ancient prestige of
+France in Europe, but he had to leave his country in a critical stage
+and hope that a man would be found to carry on his great work.
+Cardinal Richelieu was to have the supreme {116} honour of fulfilling
+Henry IV's designs, with the energy of a nature that had otherwise very
+little in common with that of the first King of the Bourbons.
+
+Armand Jean Duplessis, born in 1585, was the youngest son of François
+Duplessis, knight of Richelieu, who fought for Navarre upon the
+battle-fields of Arques and Ivry.  He was naturally destined for a
+military career, and had seen, when he was a little child, some of the
+terrible scenes of the religious wars.  Peering from the window of the
+château in the sad, desolate land of Poitou, he caught glimpses of
+ragged regiments of French troops, or saw foreign soldiers in their
+unfamiliar garb, intent on pillaging the mean huts of the peasantry.
+Armand was sent to Paris at an early age that he might study at the
+famous College of Navarre, where the youths of the day were well
+equipped for court life.  He learned Spanish in addition to Latin and
+Greek, and became an adept in riding, dancing and fencing.  When he
+left the humble student quarter of the capital and began to mingle with
+the crowd who formed the court, he soon put off the manners of a rustic
+and acquired the polished elegance of a courtier of the period.  He
+spent much time in studying the drama of Parisian daily life, a
+brilliant, shifting series of gay scenes, with the revelation now and
+then of a cruel and sordid background.
+
+The very sounds of active life must at first have startled the dreamy
+youth who had come from the seclusion of a château in the marsh land.
+Cavaliers in velvet and satin rallied to the roll of a drum which the
+soldiers beat in martial-wise, and engaged in fierce conflicts with
+each other.  Acts were constantly passed to forbid duelling, but there
+were many wounded every year in the streets, and the nobility would
+have thought {117} themselves disgraced if they had not drawn their
+swords readily in answer to an insult.  Class distinctions were
+observed rigidly, and the merchant clad in hodden grey and the lawyer
+robed in black were pushed aside with some contempt when there was any
+conflict between the aristocrats.  The busy Pont Neuf seemed to be the
+bridge which joined two different worlds.  Here monks rubbed shoulders
+with yellow-garbed Jews, and ladies of the court tripped side by side
+with the gay _filles_ of the town.  Anyone strolling near the river
+Seine could watch, if he chose, the multicoloured throng and amuse
+himself by the contrast between the different phases of society in
+Paris.
+
+Richelieu, who held the proud title of Marquis de Chillon, handled a
+sword skilfully and dreamed of glory won upon battle-fields.  He was
+dismayed when he first heard that his widowed mother had changed her
+plans for his career.  A brother, who was to have been consecrated
+Bishop of Luçon, had decided to turn monk, and as the preferment to the
+See was in the hands of the family, it had been decided that Armand
+Jean should have the benefit.
+
+Soon a fresh vision had formed before the eyes of the handsome Bishop,
+who visited Rome and made friends among the highest dignitaries.  He
+was tall and slender, with an oval face and the keenest of grey eyes;
+rich black hair fell to his shoulders and a pointed beard lent
+distinction to his face.  The Louvre and the Vatican approved him, and
+many protesting voices were heard when Richelieu went down to his
+country diocese.
+
+Poitou was one of the poorest districts of France, the peasants being
+glad enough to get bread and chestnuts for their main food.  The
+cathedral was battered by warfare and the palace very wretched.  Orders
+to {118} Parisian merchants made the last habitable, Richelieu
+declaring that, although a beggar, he had need of silver plates and
+such luxuries to "enhance his nobility."  The first work he had found
+to do was done very thoroughly.  He set the place in order and
+conciliated the Huguenots.  Then he demanded relief from taxation for
+his overburdened flock, writing urgently to headquarters on this
+subject.  He had much vexation to overcome whenever he came into
+contact with the priests drawn from the peasantry.  These were far too
+fond of gambling and drinking in the ale-houses, and had to be
+prohibited from celebrating marriages by night, a custom that led to
+many scandals.
+
+But Luçon was soon too narrow a sphere for the energy and ambition of a
+Richelieu.  The Bishop longed to establish himself in a palace "near to
+that of God and that of the King," for he combined worldly wisdom with
+a zeal for religious purity.  He happened to welcome the royal
+procession that was setting out for Spain on the occasion of Louis
+XIII's marriage to Anne of Austria, a daughter of Philip II.  He made
+so noble an impression of hospitality that he was rewarded by the post
+of Almoner to the new Queen and was placed upon the Regent's Council.
+
+Richelieu had watched the coronation of the quiet boy of fourteen in
+the cathedral of Notre Dame, for he had walked in the state procession.
+He knew that Louis XIII was a mere cipher, fond of hunting and loth to
+appear in public.  Marie de Medici, the Regent, was the prime mover of
+intrigues.  It was wise to gain her favour and the friendship of her
+real rulers, the Italian Concini.
+
+Concini himself was noble by birth, whereas his wife, the sallow,
+deformed Leonora, was the daughter of a {119} laundress who had nursed
+the Queen in illness.  Both were extravagant, costing the Crown
+enormous sums of money--Leonora had a pretty taste in jewels as well as
+clothes, and Marie de Medici even plundered the Bastille of her
+husband's hoards because she could deny her favourites nothing.
+
+Richelieu rose to eminence in the gay, luxurious court where the weak,
+vain Florentine presided.  He had ousted other men, and feared for his
+own safety when the Concini were attacked by their exasperated
+opponents.  Concini himself was shot, and his wife was lodged in the
+Bastille on a charge of sorcery.  Paris rejoiced in the fall of these
+Italian parasites, and Marie de Medici shed no tears for them.  She
+turned to her secretary, Richelieu, when she was driven from the court
+and implored him to mediate for her with Louis XIII and his favourite
+sportsman-adventurer, de Luynes, who had originally been employed to
+teach the young King falconry.
+
+Richelieu went to the château of Blois where Marie de Medici had fled,
+a royal exile, but he received orders from Luynes, who was in power, to
+proceed to Luçon and guide his flock "to observe the commandments of
+God and the King."  The Bishop was exceedingly provoked by the taunt,
+but he was obliged to wait for better fortunes.  Marie was plotting
+after the manner of the Florentines, but her plans were generally
+fruitless.  She managed to escape from Blois with Epérnon, the general
+of Henry IV, and despite a solemn oath that she would live "in entire
+resignation to the King's will," she would have had civil war against
+the King and his adviser.
+
+Richelieu managed to make peace and brought about the marriage of his
+beautiful young kinswoman {120} to the Marquis of Cambalet, who was de
+Luynes' nephew.  He did not, however, receive the Cardinal's Hat, which
+had become the chief object of his personal ambition.
+
+The minister, de Luynes, became so unpopular, at length, that his
+enemies found it possible to retaliate.  He favoured the Spanish
+alliance, whereas many wished to help the Protestants of Germany in
+their struggle to uphold Frederick, the Elector Palatine, against
+Ferdinand of Bohemia.  The Huguenots rose in the south, and Luynes took
+the field desperately, for he knew that anything but victory would be
+fatal to his own fortunes.  Songs were shouted in the Paris taverns,
+satirizing his weak government.  Richelieu had bought the service of a
+host of scribblers in the mean streets near the Place Royale, and these
+were virulent in verse and pamphlet, according to the dictates of their
+master.
+
+Fever carried off de Luynes, and the valets who played cards on his
+coffin were hardly more indecent in their callousness than de Luynes'
+enemies.  The Cardinal's Hat arrived with many gracious compliments to
+the Bishop of Luçon, who then gave up his diocese.  Soon he rustled in
+flame-coloured taffeta at fêtes and receptions, for wealth and all the
+rewards of office came to him.  As a Prince of the Church, he claimed
+precedence of princes of the blood, and was hardly astonished when the
+King requested him to form a ministry.  In that ministry the power of
+the Cardinal was supreme, and he had friends in all posts of
+importance.  With a show of reluctance he entered on his life-work.  It
+was a great and patriotic task--no less than the aggrandisement of
+France in Europe.
+
+France must be united if she were to present a solid front against the
+Spanish vengeance that would threaten any change of policy.  The
+Queen-Regent had intended {121} to support Rome, Austria and Spain
+against the Protestant forces of the northern countries.  Richelieu
+determined to change that plan, but he knew that the time was not yet
+ripe, since he had neither a fleet nor an army to defeat such
+adversaries.
+
+The Huguenot faction must be ruined in order that France might not be
+torn by internal struggles.  The new French army was sent to surround
+La Rochelle, the Protestant fort, which expected help from England.
+The English fleet tried for fourteen days to relieve the garrison, but
+had to sail away defeated.  The sailors of the town elected one of
+their number to be Mayor, a rough pirate who was unwilling to assume
+the office.  "I don't want to be Mayor," he cried, flinging his knife
+upon the Council-Table, "but, since you want it, there is my knife for
+the first man who talks of surrender."  The spirit of resistance within
+the walls of La Rochelle rose after this declaration.  The citizens
+continued to defy the besiegers until a bushel of corn cost 1,000
+livres and an ordinary household cat could be sold for forty-five!
+
+It was Richelieu's intention to starve the inhabitants of La Rochelle
+into surrender.  He had his will, being a man of iron, and held Mass in
+the Protestant stronghold.  He treated the people well, allowing them
+freedom of religion, but he razed both the fort and the walls to the
+ground and took away all their political privileges.  The Huguenots
+were too grateful for the liberty that was left to them to menace the
+French Government any longer.  Most of them were loyal citizens and
+helped the Cardinal to maintain peace.  In any case they did not exist
+as a separate political party.
+
+Richelieu reduced the power of the nobles by relentless {122} measures
+that struck at their feudal independence.  No fortresses were to be
+held by them unless they lived on the frontiers of France, where some
+defence was necessary against a foreign enemy.  When their strong
+castles were pulled down, the great lords seemed to have lost much of
+their ancient dignity.  They were forbidden to duel, and dared not
+disobey the law after they had seen the guilty brought relentlessly to
+the scaffold.  The first families of France had to acknowledge a
+superior in the mighty Cardinal Richelieu.  Intendants were sent out to
+govern provinces and diminish the local influence of the landlords.
+Most of these were men of inferior rank to the nobility, who found
+themselves compelled to go to the wars if they wished to earn
+distinction.  The result was good, for it added many recruits to the
+land and sea forces.
+
+In 1629, the Cardinal donned sword and cuirass and led out the royal
+army to the support of the Duke of Mantua, a French nobleman who had
+inherited an Italian duchy and found his rights disputed by both Spain
+and Savoy.  Louis XIII accompanied Richelieu and showed himself a brave
+soldier.  Their road to Italy was by the Pass of Susa, thick with snow
+in the early spring and dangerous from the presence of Savoy's hostile
+troups.  They forced their way into Italy, and there Richelieu remained
+to make terms with the enemy, while Louis returned to his kingdom.
+
+Richelieu induced both Spain and Savoy to acknowledge the rights of the
+Duke of Mantua, and then turned his attention to the resistance which
+had been organized in Southern France by the Protestants under the Duke
+of Rohan.  The latter had obtained promises of aid from Charles I of
+England and Philip IV of Spain, but found that his allies deserted him
+at a critical {123} moment and left him to face the formidable army of
+the Cardinal.  The Huguenots submitted to their fate in the summer of
+1629, finding themselves in a worse plight than they had been when they
+surrendered La Rochelle, for Richelieu treated with them no longer as
+with a foreign power.  He expected them to offer him the servile
+obedience of conquered rebels.  Henceforth he exerted himself to
+restore the full supremacy of the Catholic faith in France by making as
+many converts as was possible and by opening Jesuit and Capuchin
+missions in the Protestant places.  "Some were brought to see the truth
+by fear and some by favour."  Yet Richelieu did not play the part of a
+persecutor in the State, for he was afraid of weakening France by
+driving away heretics who might help to increase her strength in
+foreign warfare.  He was pleased to find so many of the Huguenots loyal
+to their King, and rejoiced that there would never be the possibility
+of some discontented nobleman rising against his rule with a Protestant
+force in the background.  The Huguenots devoted their time to peaceful
+worship after their own mind, and waxed very prosperous through their
+steady pursuit of commerce.
+
+Richelieu returned to France in triumph, having won amazing success in
+his three years' struggle.  He had personal enemies on every side, but
+for the moment these were silenced.  "In the eyes of the world, he was
+the foremost man in France."  For nineteen years he was to be the
+King's chief minister, although he was many times in peril of losing
+credit, and even life itself, through the jealous envy of his superiors
+and fellow-subjects.
+
+Mary de Medici forsook the man she had raised to some degree of
+eminence, and declared that he had {124} shown himself ungrateful.  The
+nobility in general felt his power tyrannical, and the clergy thought
+that he sacrificed the Church to the interests of the State in
+politics.  Louis XIII was restive sometimes under the heavy hand of the
+Cardinal, who dared to point out the royal weaknesses and to insist
+that he should try to overcome them.
+
+Richelieu was very skilful in avoiding the pitfalls that beset his path
+as statesman.  He had many spies in his service, paid to bring him
+reports of his enemies' speech and actions.  Great ladies of the court
+did not disdain to betray their friends, and priests even advised
+penitents in the Confessional to act as the Cardinal wished them.  When
+any treachery was discovered, it was punished swiftly.  The Cardinal
+refused to spare men of the highest rank who plotted against the King
+or his ministers, for he had seen the dangers of revolt and decided to
+stamp it out relentlessly.  Some strain of chivalry forbade him to
+treat women with the same severity he showed to male conspirators.  He
+had a cunning adversary in one Madame de Chevreuse, who would ride with
+the fearless speed of a man to outwit any scheme of Richelieu.
+
+[Illustration: An Application to the Cardinal for his Favour (Walter
+Gay)]
+
+The life of a king in feeble health was all that stood between the
+Cardinal and ruin, and several times it seemed impossible that he
+should outwit his enemies.  Louis XIII fell ill in 1630.  At the end of
+September he was not expected to survive, and the physicians bade him
+attend to his soul's welfare.
+
+The Cardinal's enemies exulted, openly declaring that the King's
+adviser should die with the King.  The heir to the throne was Louis'
+brother Gaston, a weak and cowardly prince, who detested the minister
+in office and hoped to overthrow him.  When the sufferer {125}
+recovered there was much disappointment to be concealed.  The
+Queen-Mother had set her heart on Marillac being made head of the army
+in Richelieu's place, and had secret designs to make Marillac's
+brother, then the guard of the seals, the chief minister.
+
+Louis was induced to say that he would dismiss the Cardinal when he was
+completely recovered from his illness, but he did not feel himself
+bound by the promise when he had rid himself of Marie de Medici and
+felt once again the influence of Richelieu.  He went to Versailles to
+hunt on November 11th, 1630, and there met the Cardinal, who was able
+to convince him that it would be best for the interests of France to
+have a strong and dauntless minister dominating all the petty offices
+in the State instead of a number of incapable, greedy intriguers such
+as would be appointed by Marie de Medici.  On this Day of Dupes the
+court was over-confident of success, believing that the Cardinal had
+fled from the disgrace that would shortly overtake him.  The joy of the
+courtiers was banished by a message that Marillac was to be dismissed.
+The Queen-Mother knew at once that her schemes had failed, and that her
+son had extricated himself from her toils that he might retain
+Richelieu.
+
+Marshal Marillac and his brother were both condemned to death.  Another
+noble, Bassompierre, was arrested and put in the Bastille because he
+was known to have sympathized with the Cardinal's enemies.  Richelieu
+did not rid himself so easily of Marie de Medici, who was his deadliest
+enemy.  She went into banishment voluntarily, but continued to devise
+many plots with the Spanish enemies of France, for she had no scruples
+in availing herself of foreign help against the hated minister.
+
+{126}
+
+After the Day of Dupes, Richelieu grasped the reins of government more
+firmly.  He asked no advice, and feared no opposition to his rule.  His
+foreign policy differed from that pursued by Marie de Medici, because
+he realized that France could never lead the continental powers until
+she had checked the arrogance of Spanish claims to supremacy.  It seems
+strange that he should support the Protestant princes of Germany
+against their Catholic Emperor when the Thirty Years' War broke out,
+but it must be remembered that the Emperor, Ferdinand II, was closely
+allied to the King of Spain, and that the success of the former would
+mean a second powerful Catholic State in Europe.  The House of Austria
+was already strong and menaced France in her struggle for ascendancy.
+
+In 1635, war was formally declared by France against the Emperor
+Ferdinand and Spain.  Richelieu did not live to see the conclusion of
+this war, but he had the satisfaction of knowing that, at its close,
+France would be established as the foremost of European nations, and he
+felt that the result would be worth a lavish expenditure of men and
+money.  In 1636, France was threatened by a Spanish invasion, which
+alarmed the people of the capital so terribly that they attacked the
+minister who had plunged them into warfare.  Richelieu displayed great
+courage and inspired a patriotic rising, the syndics of the various
+trades waiting on the King to offer lavish contributions in aid of the
+defence of Paris.  Louis took the field at the head of a fine army
+which was largely composed of eager volunteers, and the national danger
+was averted.
+
+Harassed by the cares of war, the Cardinal delighted in the gratitude
+of men of letters whom he took under his protection.  He founded the
+famous Academy of {127} France and had his own plays performed at Ruel,
+the century-old château, where he gave fêtes of great magnificence.
+His niece, Mme. de Cambalet, was made Duchesse D'Aiguillon that she
+might adorn the sphere in which the Cardinal moved so royally.  She was
+a beautiful woman of simple tastes, and yearned for a life of
+conventual seclusion as she received the homage of Corneille or visited
+the salon of the brilliant wit, Julie de Rambouillet.
+
+Richelieu had a dozen estates in different parts of France and spent
+vast sums on their splendid maintenance.  He adorned the home of his
+ancestors with art treasures--pictures by Poussin, bronzes from Greece
+and Italy, and the statuary of Michael Angelo.  His own equestrian
+statue was placed side by side with that of Louis XIII because they had
+ridden together to great victory.  The King survived his minister only
+a few months; Richelieu died on December 4th, 1642, and Louis XIII in
+the following May.  They left the people of France submissive to an
+absolute monarchy.
+
+
+
+
+{128}
+
+Chapter XI
+
+The Grand Monarch
+
+Richelieu bequeathed his famous Palais Cardinal to the royal family of
+France.  He left the reins of tyranny in the hands of Mazarin, a
+Spaniard, who had complete ascendancy over the so-called Regent, Anne
+of Austria.
+
+There was not much state in the magnificent palace of little Louis XIV
+during his long minority, and he chafed against the restrictions of a
+parsimonious household.  Mazarin was bent on amassing riches for
+himself and would not untie the purse-strings even for those gala-days
+on which the court was expected to be gorgeous.  He stinted the
+education of the heir to the Crown, fearing that a well-equipped youth
+would demand the right to govern for himself.  His system was so
+successful in the end that the mightiest of the Bourbon kings could
+barely read and write.
+
+Yet Louis XIV grew strong and handsome, with a superb bearing that was
+not concealed by his shabby clothes, and a dauntless arrogance that
+resented all slights on the royal prerogative.  He refused to drive in
+the dilapidated equipage which had been provided for his use, and made
+such a firm stand against Mazarin's avarice in this case that five new
+carriages were ordered.
+
+The populace rose, too, against the first minister of the State, whose
+wealth had increased enormously {129} through his exactions from the
+poorer classes.  France was full of abuses that Richelieu himself had
+scarcely tried to sweep away.  The peasants laboured under heavy
+burdens, the roads were dangerous for all travellers, and the streets
+of cities were infested after nightfall by dangerous pickpockets and
+assassins.  There had been a great victory won at Rocroy by the Due
+d'Enghien, who routed the Spanish and sent two hundred and sixty
+standards to the church of Notre Dame; but this glorious feat of arms
+brought neither food nor clothing to the poor, and the fierce internal
+strife, known as La Fronde, broke out.  The very name was undignified,
+being derived from a kind of sling used by the urchins of the Paris
+streets.  It was a mere series of brawls between Frondeurs and
+Mazarins, and brought much humiliation to the State.
+
+In 1649, civil war began which withdrew France somewhat from European
+broils.  Enghien (Condé) returned to Paris to range himself against the
+unruly Parlement as leader of the court party, and to try to reduce
+Paris by a military force.  When the capital was besieged Anne of
+Austria had to retire to Saint-Germains with her son, who suffered the
+indignity of sleeping on a bed of straw in those troubled times.  She
+concluded peace rather thankfully in March when the besieged citizens
+had suffered severely from want of food.  The young King showed himself
+in Paris in August when the tumult was at its worst, for the troubles
+of King Charles I of England incited the Frondeurs to persevere in
+their desire for a French Republic, where no minister should exercise
+the royal prerogatives.
+
+Mazarin played a losing game, and went into exile when Louis XIV was
+declared of age.  The young King was only thirteen but had the dignity
+of manhood in his air and carriage, and showed no fear in accepting
+{130} absolute power.  But it was not until ten years later that he was
+finally freed from Mazarin.  When the cardinal was dead he proclaimed
+his future policy to the state of France--"Gentlemen," said he, "I
+shall be my own prime minister."
+
+In November 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees had restored peace to
+France and Spain.  In the following year Louis XIV wedded the Infanta,
+daughter of Philip IV, who renounced all her prospective rights to the
+Spanish crown.  Mazarin had done well for France in these last
+diplomatic efforts for the crown, but he had forced the people to
+contribute to the enormous fortune which he made over to the King.
+
+Colbert was the indefatigable minister who aided the new monarch to
+restore the dignity of court life in France.  He revealed vast hoards
+which the crafty Mazarin had concealed, and formed schemes of splendour
+that should be worthy of a splendid king.
+
+Louis XIV was one of the richest monarchs of Christendom, with a taste
+for royal pomp that could be gratified only by an enormous display of
+wealth.  He wished the distasteful scenes of his early life to be
+forgotten by his subjects, and decided to build himself a residence
+that would form a fitting background for his own magnificence.  He
+would no longer live within the walls of Paris, a capital which had
+shown disrespect to monarchy.
+
+The ancient palace of the Louvre was not fine enough for Louis, and
+Versailles was built at a cost of twenty millions, and at a sacrifice
+of many humble lives, for the labourers died at their work and were
+borne from the beautiful park with some attempt at secrecy.  It was a
+stately place, and thither every courtier must hasten if he wished for
+the favour of the King.  It became {131} the centre of the gayest world
+of Europe, for there were ambassadors there from every foreign court.
+
+Etiquette, so wearisome to many monarchs, was the delight of the
+punctilious Louis XIV; every detail of his life was carried out with
+due regard to the dignity that he held to be the fitting appendage of a
+king.  When he rose and dressed, when he dined or gave audience, there
+were fixed rules to be observed.  He was never alone though he built
+Marly, expressing some wish that he might retire occasionally from the
+weariness of the court routine.  His brothers stood in the royal
+presence, and there was no real family life.  He was the grand monarch,
+and represented the majesty of France most worthily on the occasions of
+ceremony, when velvet and diamonds increased his stately grace.  "The
+State--it is Myself," he was fond of declaring, and by this remark
+satisfied his conscience when he levied exorbitant taxes to support the
+lavish magnificence of his court.
+
+Ignorant as the king was through the device of Mazarin, he was proud of
+the genius that shed lustre on the French nation.  Corneille and Racine
+wrote tragedies of classic fame, and Molière, the greatest of all
+comedians, could amuse the wit of every visitor to the court.  Louis
+gave banquets at Versailles in honour of the dramatists he patronized,
+and had their plays performed in a setting so brilliant that ambition
+might well be satisfied.  Tales of royal bounty spread afar and
+attracted the needy genius of other lands.  Louis' heart swelled with
+pride when he received the homage of the learned and beheld the
+deference of messengers from less splendid courts.  He sat on a silver
+throne amid a throng of nobles he had stripped of power.  It was part
+of his policy to bring every landowner to Versailles, where fortunes
+vanished {132} rapidly.  It was useless to hope for office it the
+suitor did not come to make a personal appeal.
+
+Parisians grumbled that the capital should be deserted by the King, but
+they were appeased on holidays by free admission to the sights of
+sumptuous Versailles.  The King himself would occasionally appear in
+ballets performed by some exclusive company of the court.  There was
+always feasting toward and sweet music composed by Lulli, and they were
+amazed and interested by the dazzling jets of water from the fountains
+that had cost such fabulous sums.  Court beauties were admired together
+with the Guards surrounding the King's person in such fine array.
+Rumours of the countless servants attached to the service of the court
+gave an impression that the power of France could never fail.
+Patriotic spirit was aroused by the fine spectacle of the hunting-train
+as it rode toward the forests which lay between Versailles and the
+capital.  The Grand Huntsman of France was a nobleman, and had a
+splendid retinue.  "_Hallali, valets!  Hallali!_" was echoed by many
+humble sportsmen when the stag was torn to pieces by the pack.
+
+A special stud of horses was reserved for Louis' use in time of war.
+He had shown himself a bold youth on the battlefield in Mazarin's time,
+fighting in the trenches like a common soldier that his equipment might
+not be too heavy an expense.  He chose, however, to be magnificent
+enough as a warrior when he disturbed the peace of Europe by his
+arrogant pride.
+
+Philip IV of Spain died in 1665, leaving his dominions to Charles II,
+half-brother of France's Queen.  Louis declared that Maria Theresa had
+not been of age when she renounced her claims and that, moreover, the
+dowry of 500,000 golden crowns promised in consideration {133} of this
+renunciation had not been paid.  He wished to secure to his consort the
+Flemish provinces of Brabant, Mechlin, Antwerp, etc., and to this end
+made a treaty with the Dutch.  He was compelled to postpone his attack
+on the Spanish possessions by a war with England which broke out
+through his alliance with Holland, her great commercial rival at that
+date.
+
+Louis XIV showed himself perfidious in his relationship with the Dutch
+when he concluded a secret peace with Charles II of England in 1667.
+He marched into the Netherlands, supported by a new alliance with
+Portugal, and intended to claim the whole Spanish monarchy at some
+future date.  Many towns surrendered, for he had a well-disciplined
+army and no lack of personal courage.  Turenne and Condé, his brave
+generals, made rapid conquests which filled all Europe with alarm.
+
+But Louis' campaigns involved him in disastrous warfare with too many
+foes.  He was a bigoted persecutor of the Protestant, and made a secret
+treaty with England's treacherous ruler, Charles II, who, to his
+lasting shame, became a pensioner of the French King, agreeing, in
+return for French subsidies, to second Louis' designs on Spain.  France
+herself was torn by wars of religion in 1698 when the Edict of Nantes
+was revoked and the real intentions of the King were revealed to
+subjects who had striven, in the face of persecution, to be loyal.
+
+Louis XIV was under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, whom he
+married privately after the death of his neglected Queen.  This
+favourite, once the royal governess and widow of the poet Scarron, was
+strictly pious, and desired to see the Protestants conform.  She
+founded the convent of Saint-Cyr, a place of education for beautiful
+young orphan girls, and placed at the head {134} of it Fénélon, the
+priest and writer.  She urged the King continually to suppress heresy
+in his dominions, and was gratified by the sudden and deadly
+persecution that took place as the seventeenth century closed.
+
+Torture and death were excused as acts necessary for the establishment
+of the true faith, and soon all France was hideous with scenes of
+martyrdom.  Children were dragged from their parents and placed in
+Catholic households, where their treatment was most cruel unless they
+promised to embrace the Catholic religion.  Women suffered every kind
+of indignity at the hands of the soldiers who were sent to live in the
+houses and at the cost of heretics.  These _Dragonnades_ were carried
+on with great brutality, shameful carousals being held in homes once
+distinguished for elegance and refinement.  Nuns had instructions to
+convert the novices under their rule by any means they liked to employ.
+Some did not hesitate to obtain followers of the Catholic Church by the
+use of the scourge, and fasting and imprisonment in noisome dungeons.
+
+There was fierce resistance in the country districts, and armed men
+sprang up to defend their homes, welcoming even civil war if by that
+means they could attain protection.  The contest was unequal, for the
+peasants had been weakened by centuries of oppression, and there were
+strange seignorial rights which the weak dared not refuse when they
+were opposing the government in their obstinate choice of a religion.
+
+The reign of the Grand Monarch was losing radiance, though Louis was
+far from acknowledging that all was not well in that broad realm which
+owned him master.  He had discarded the frivolities of his youth and
+kept a dreary solemn state at Versailles, where decorous Madame de
+Maintenon was all-powerful.  He did not lament {135} his Spanish wife
+nor Colbert the minister, who died in the same year, for strict
+integrity was not valued too highly by the King of France.  Yet
+Colbert's work remained in the mighty palaces his constructive energy
+had planned, the bridges and fortresses and factories which he had held
+necessary for France's future greatness as a nation.  Louis paid scant
+tribute of regret to the memory of one who had toiled indefatigably in
+his service; but he looked complacently on Versailles and reflected
+that it would survive, even if the laurels of glory should be wrested
+from his brow.
+
+In 1700, Louis' prestige had dwindled in Europe, where he had once been
+feared as a sovereign ambitious for universal monarchy.  William the
+Stadtholder, now ruler of England with his Stuart wife, had been
+disgusted by the persecution of the French Protestants and had resolved
+to avenge Louis' seizure of his principality of Orange.  Chance enabled
+this man to ally the greater part of Europe against the ambition of the
+Grand Monarch.  War had been declared by England against France in
+1689, and prosecuted most vigorously till Louis XIV was gradually
+deprived of his finest conquests.  Though this was concluded in 1697 by
+the Peace of Ryswick, the French King's attempt to win the crown of
+Spain for his grandson, the Duke of Anjou, caused a renewal of
+hostilities.
+
+William III was in failing health, but a mighty general had arisen to
+defeat the projects of the French King.  The news of the Duke of
+Marlborough's victories in Flanders made it evident that the power of
+Louis XIV in the battlefield was waning.  Yet the French monarch did
+not reflect the terror on the faces of his courtiers when the great
+defeat of Lille was announced in his royal palace.  He observed all the
+usual duties of his daily {136} life and affected a serenity that other
+men might envy when they bewailed the passing of the Old Order, or
+repeated the prophecy once made by an astrologer that the end of Louis
+XIV's reign should not be glorious as the beginning.
+
+The King retained his marvellous composure to the last, too haughty to
+bend before misfortune or to retire even if the enemy came to the very
+gates of Paris.  At seventy-six he still went out to hunt the stag; he
+held Councils of State long after his health was really broken.  He
+said farewell to the officers of the crown in a voice as strong as ever
+when he was banished to the sick-room in 1715, and upbraided the
+weeping attendants, asking them if they had indeed come to consider him
+immortal.
+
+The reign of seventy-two years, so memorable in the annals of France,
+drew to a close with the life that had embodied all its royalty.  Louis
+XIV died "as a candle that goes out"--deserted even by Madame de
+Maintenon, who determined to secure herself against adversity by
+retirement to the convent of Saint-Cyr.  There was no loud mourning as
+the King's corpse was driven to the tomb on a car of black and silver,
+for the new century knew not the old reverence for kings.  It was the
+age of Voltaire and the mocking sceptic.
+
+
+
+
+{137}
+
+Chapter XII
+
+Peter the Great
+
+On the very day when the Grand Monarch watched his army cross the Rhine
+under the generals--Turenne and Condé--a man was born possessed of the
+same strong individuality as Louis XIV, a man whose rule was destined
+to work vast changes in the mighty realms to the extreme east of Europe.
+
+On 30th May, 1672, Peter, son of Alexis, was born in the palace of the
+Kreml at Moscow.  He was reared at first in strict seclusion behind the
+silken curtains that guarded the windows of the _Térem_, where the
+women lived.  Then rebellion broke out after his father's death; for
+Alexis had children by two marriages, and the offspring of his first
+wife, Mary Miloslavski, were jealous of the influence acquired by the
+relatives of Nathalie Naryshkin, Peter's mother.
+
+Peter found a strange new freedom in the village near Moscow which gave
+him shelter when the Miloslavski were predominant in the State.  He
+grew up wild and boisterous, the antithesis in all things of the
+polished courtier of the western world, for he despised fine clothing
+and hated the external pomp of state.  He ruled at first with his
+half-brother Ivan, and had reason to dread the power of Ivan's sister,
+Sophia Miloslavski, who was Regent, and gave lavish emoluments to
+Galitzin, {138} her favourite minister.  There was even an attempt upon
+Peter's life, which made him something of a coward in later times,
+since he was taken unawares by a terrible rising that Sophia inspired
+and escaped her only by a hurried flight.
+
+The rising was put down, however; Sophia was sent to a convent, and
+Galitzin banished before Peter could be said to rule.  He did not care
+at first for State affairs, being absorbed by youthful pleasures which
+he shared with companions from the stables and the streets.  He drilled
+soldiers, forming pleasure regiments, and had hours of delight sailing
+an old boat which he found one day, for this aroused a new enthusiasm.
+There were Dutch skippers at Archangel who were glad to teach him all
+they knew of navigation and the duties of their various crafts.  The
+Tsar insisted on working his way upward from a cabin-boy--he was
+democratic, and intended to level classes in his Empire in this way.
+
+Russian subjects complained bitterly of the Tsar's strange foreign
+tastes as soon as they heard that he was fond of visiting the
+_Sloboda_, that German quarter of his capital where so many foreigners
+lived.  There were rumours that he was not Alexis' son but the
+offspring perhaps of Lefort, the Genevese favourite, who helped him to
+reform.  When it was reported that he was about to visit foreign lands,
+discontent was louder, for the rulers of the east did not travel far
+from their own dominions if they followed the customs of their fathers,
+and observed their people's will.  The _Streltsy_, a privileged class
+of soldiers, rose on the eve of the departure for the west.  Their
+punishment did not descend on them at once, but Peter planned a dark
+vengeance in his mind.
+
+The monarch visited many countries in disguise, intent on learning the
+civilized arts of western Europe, {139} that he might introduce them to
+"barbarous Muscovy," which clung to the obsolete practices of a former
+age.  He spent some time at Zaandem, a village in Holland, where he was
+busily engaged in boat-building.  Then he was entertained at Amsterdam,
+and passed on to England as the guest of William III.  He occupied
+Sayes Court, near Deptford, the residence of John Evelyn, the great
+diarist, and wrought much havoc in that pleasant place; for his manners
+were still rude and barbarous, and he had no respect for the property
+of his host.  Sir Godfrey Kneller painted him--a handsome giant, six
+feet eight inches high, with full lips, dark skin, and curly hair that
+always showed beneath his wig.  The Tsar disdained to adorn his person,
+and was often meanly clad, wearing coarse darned stockings, thick
+shoes, and studying economy in dress.
+
+Peter continued his study of ship-building at Deptford, but the chief
+object of his visit was fulfilled when he had induced workmen of all
+kinds to return with him to Russia to teach their different trades.
+The Tsar was intent on securing a fleet, and hoped to gain a sea-board
+for his empire by driving back the Poles and Swedes from their Baltic
+ports.  He would then be able to trade with Europe and have intercourse
+with countries that were previously unknown.  But only war could
+accomplish this high ambition, and he had, as yet, no real skill in
+arms.  An attempt on Azov, then in Turkish hands, had led to
+ignominious defeat.
+
+Peter returned home to find that the _Streltsy_ had broken out again.
+His vengeance was terrible, for he had a barbarous strain and wielded
+the axe and knout with his own hands.  The rebellious soldiers were
+deprived of the privileges that had long been theirs, and those who
+were fortunate enough to escape a cruel death were {140} banished.  In
+future the army was to know the discipline that such soldiers as
+Patrick Gordon, a Scotch officer, had learned in their campaigns in
+foreign lands.  This soldier did much good work in the organization and
+control of Peter's army.  Their dress was to be modelled on the western
+uniforms that Peter had admired.  He was ashamed of the cumbersome
+skirts that Russians wore after the Asiatic style, and insisted that
+they should be cut off, together with the beards that were almost
+sacred in the eyes of priests.
+
+Favourites of humble origin were useful to Peter in his innovations,
+which were rigorously carried out.  Menshikof, once a pastry-cook's
+boy, aided the Tsar to crush any discontent that might break out, and
+himself shaved many wrathful nobles who were afraid to resist.  It was
+Peter's whim to give such lavish presents to this minister that he
+could live in splendid luxury and entertain the Tsar's own guests.
+Peter himself preferred simplicity, and despised the magnificence of
+fine palaces.  He married a serving-maid named Catherine for his second
+wife, and loved her homely household ways and the cheerful spirit with
+which she rode out with him to camp.  His first wife was shut up in a
+convent because she had a sincere distrust of all the changes that
+began with Peter's reign.
+
+Charles XII of Sweden was the monarch who had chief reason to beware of
+the impatient spirit of the Tsar, ever desirous of that "window open
+upon Europe," which his father too had craved.  The Swede was warlike
+and fearless, for he was happy only in the field.  He scorned Peter's
+claims at first, and inflicted shameful defeat on him.  The Tsar fled
+from Narva in Livonia, and all Europe branded him as coward.  By 1700,
+peace with Turkey had been signed in order that the {141} Russians
+might march westward to the Baltic sea.  Their repulse showed the
+determination of the Tsar, who had learnt a lesson from the humiliation
+he had endured.  He began to train soldiers and sailors again, and sent
+for more foreigners to teach the art of war.  The very church-bells
+were melted into cannon-balls that he might conquer the all-conquering
+Swedes.
+
+Moscow, which consisted largely of wooden buildings, caught fire and
+was burnt in 1701, both palace and state offices falling to the ground.
+The capital had dreadful memories for the Tsar, who wished to build a
+new fort looking out upon the Baltic Sea.  Its ancient churches and
+convents did not attract him, for religion was strongly associated in
+his mind with the stubborn opposition of the priesthood, which
+invariably met his plans for reform.
+
+Petersburg rose in triumph on an island of the Neva when the estuary
+had been seized by a superb effort of the Tsar.  It was on a damp
+unhealthy site and contained only wooden huts in its first period of
+occupation, but inhabitants were quickly found.  The Tsar was
+autocratic enough to bid his _boyards_, or nobles, move there despite
+all their complaints.  He built the church of St Peter and St Paul, and
+drew merchants thither by promises of trade.  "Let him build towns,"
+his adversary said with scorn, "there will be all the more for us to
+take."
+
+The King of Poland had allied himself with Russia against Sweden, but
+proved faithless and unscrupulous as the contest waxed keen.  Augustus
+had found some qualities in the Tsar which appealed to him, for he was
+boisterous in mirth himself and a hard drinker, but his principal
+concern was for the safety of his own throne and the security of his
+own dominions.  After two {142} decisive defeats, he was expelled from
+the throne of Poland by Charles XII, who placed Stanislaus Leszczynski
+in his place.  This alarmed Peter, who had relied on Poland's help.
+The winter and cold proved a better ally of Russia in the end than any
+service which Augustus paid.  The Tsar wisely drew the Swedish army
+into the desert-lands, where many thousands died of cold and hunger.
+He met the forlorn remnants of a glorious band at Poltava in 1709, and
+routed them with ease.  Narva was avenged, for the Swedish King had to
+be led from the battlefield by devoted comrades and placed in retreat
+in Turkey, where he was the Sultan's guest.  Charles' lucky star had
+set when he received a wound the night before Poltava, for he could not
+fight on foot and his men lost heart, missing the stern heroic figure
+and the commanding voice that bade them gain either victory or death.
+
+Peter might well order an annual celebration of his victory over
+Sweden, writing exultantly to Admiral Apraxin at Petersburg some few
+hours after battle, "Our enemy has encountered the fate of Phaethon,
+and the foundation-stone of our city on the Neva is at length grimly
+laid."  The Swedish army had been crushed, and the Swedish hero-king
+was a mere knight-errant unable to return to his own land.  The
+Cossacks who had tried to assert their independence of Russia under the
+Hetman Mazeppa, an ally of Charles XII, failed in their opposition to
+the mighty Tsar.  Augustus was recognized as King of Poland again after
+the defeat of the Swedish King at Poltava, as Stanislaus retired,
+knowing that he could expect no further support from Sweden.  Peter
+renewed his alliance at Thorn with the Polish sovereign.
+
+The new order began for Russia as soon as the Baltic coast fell into
+the possession of Peter, who was {143} overjoyed by the new link with
+the west.  He was despotic in his sweeping changes, but he desired the
+civilization of his barbarous land.  He visited foreign courts,
+disliking their ceremony and half-ashamed of his homely faithful wife.
+He gathered new knowledge everywhere, learning many trades and
+acquiring treasures that were the gifts of kings.  It was long before
+his ambassadors were respected, longer still before he received the
+ungrudging acknowledgment of his claims as Emperor.  He had resolved to
+form great alliances through his daughters, who were educated and
+dressed after the manner of the French.
+
+Peter did much for the emancipation of women in Russia, though his
+personal treatment of them was brutal, and he threatened even Catherine
+with death it she hesitated to obey his slightest whim.  They had been
+reared in monotonous retirement hitherto, and never saw their
+bridegrooms till the marriage-day.  Their wrongs were seldom redressed
+if they ventured to complain, and the convent was the only refuge from
+unhappy married life.  The royal princesses were not allowed to appear
+in public nor drive unveiled through the streets.  Suitors did not
+release them from the dreary empty routine of their life, because their
+religion was a barrier to alliance with princes of the west.  Sophia
+had dared greatly in demanding a position in the State.
+
+Peter altered the betrothal customs, insisting that the bridal couple
+should meet before the actual ceremonies took place.  He gave
+assemblies to which his subjects were obliged by _ukase_ or edict to
+bring the women of their families, and he endeavoured to promote that
+social life which had been unknown in Russia when she was cut off from
+the west.  He approved of dancing and music, and took part in revels of
+a more boisterous {144} kind.  He drank very heavily in his later days,
+and was peremptory in bidding both men and women share the convivial
+pleasures of his court.  National feeling was suspicious of all
+feminine influence till the affable Catherine entered public life.  She
+interceded for culprits, and could often calm her husband in his most
+violent moods.  Gradually the attitude changed which had made proverbs
+expressing such sentiments as "A woman's hair is long, but her
+understanding is short."
+
+Peter's fierce impetuous nature bore the nation along the new channel
+in which he chose that it should flow.  He played at being a servant,
+but he made use of the supreme authority of an Emperor.  All men became
+absorbed in his strong imperious personality which differed from the
+general character of the Russian of his day.  Relentless severity
+marked his displeasure when any disaffection was likely to thwart his
+favourite plans.  He sacrificed his eldest son Alexis to this theory
+that every man must share his tastes.  "The knout is not an angel, but
+it teaches men to tell the truth," he said grimly, as he examined the
+guilty by torture and drew confession with the lash.
+
+St Petersburg became the residence of the nobles.  They had to desert
+their old estates and follow the dictates of a Tsar whose object it was
+to push continually toward the west.  Labourers died in thousands while
+the city was built and destroyed again by winter floods, but the past
+for Russia was divided from the future utterly at Peter's death in 1725.
+
+
+
+
+{145}
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+The Royal Robber
+
+Peter the Great had paid a famous visit to the Prussian court, hoping
+to conclude an alliance with Frederick William I against Charles XII,
+his northern adversary.  Queen Catherine and her ladies had been
+sharply criticized when they arrived at Berlin, and Peter's own bearing
+did not escape much adverse comment and secret ridicule; nevertheless
+he received many splendid presents, and these, no doubt, atoned to him
+for anything which seemed lacking in his reception.
+
+A splendid yacht sailed toward Petersburg as the gift of Frederick, who
+was anxious to conciliate the uncouth ruler of the East.  In return,
+men of gigantic stature were sent annually from Russia to enter the
+splendid Potsdam Guards, so dear to the monarch, who was a stern
+soldier and loved the martial life.  Prussia was a new kingdom obtained
+for his descendants by the Elector of Brandenburg.  It was necessary
+that the rulers should devote themselves to recruiting a goodly force,
+since their land might be easily attacked by foreign foes and divided
+among the greater powers, if they did not protect it well.
+
+Frederick William sent recruiting sergeants far and wide, and suffered
+these even to enter churches during service and to carry off by force
+the stalwart young men {146} of the congregation.  Yet he was a pious
+man, an enemy to vice, and a ruler of enormous diligence.  He rid
+himself of useless attendants as soon as his father died, and exercised
+the strictest economy in his private life.  He kept the purse-strings
+and was also his own general.  He was ever about the streets, accosting
+idlers roughly, and bidding the very apple-women knit at their stalls
+while they were awaiting custom.  He preached industry everywhere, and
+drilled his regiments with zealous assiduity.
+
+Of tall stature and florid complexion, the King struck terror into the
+hearts of the coward and miscreant.  He despised extravagance in dress.
+French foppery was so hateful to him that he clothed the prison gaolers
+in Parisian style, trusting that this would bring contempt on foreign
+fashions.
+
+The Potsdam Guards were under the strictest discipline, and the
+Prussian soldiers won battles by sheer mechanical obedience to orders
+when they took the field.  Death punished any resistance to a superior
+officer, and merciless flogging was inflicted on the rank and file.
+Boys were often reluctant to enter on such a course of training, and
+parents were compelled to give up their sons by means of
+_Dragonnades_--soldiers quartered upon subjects who were not
+sufficiently patriotic to furnish recruits for the State.  Every man of
+noble birth had to be an officer, and must serve until his strength was
+broken.  The King fraternized only with soldiers because these were
+above other classes and belonged more or less to his own order.  The
+army had been raised to 80,000 men when Frederick William I died,
+holding the fond belief that his successor had it in his power to
+enlarge the little kingdom which the old Elector had handed down with
+pride.
+
+{147}
+
+The Crown Prince, Frederick of Brandenburg and Hohenzollern, was born
+in the royal palace of Berlin on January 24th of 1712.  He was
+christened Friedrich "rich in peace"--a name strangely ironical since
+he was trained from his earliest years to adopt a martial life.  From
+the child's eighth year he was educated by military tutors, and bred in
+simple habits that would make him able to endure the hardships of a
+camp.
+
+The martinet, Frederick William I, laid down strict rules for his son's
+training, for he longed to be followed by a lad of military tastes.  He
+was to learn no Latin but to study Arithmetic, Mathematics and
+Artillery and to be thoroughly instructed in Economy.  The fear of God
+was to be impressed on the pupil, and prayers and Church services
+played an important part in the prince's day, of which every hour had
+its allotted task.  Haste and cleanliness were inculcated in the simple
+royal toilette, for Frederick I had, for those days, a quite
+exaggerated idea of cleanliness, but he particularly impressed upon
+attendants that "Prayer with washing, breakfast and the rest" were to
+be performed within fifteen minutes.  It was a hard life, destined to
+bring the boy a "true love for the soldier business."  He was commanded
+to love it and seek in it his sole glory.  The father returned from war
+with the Swedes in January 1716, victorious, and delighted to see the
+little Fritz, then of the tender age of three, beating a toy drum, and
+his sister Wilhelmina, aged seven, in a martial attitude.
+
+But the Crown Prince began to disappoint his father by playing the
+flute and reading French romances.  He liked fine clothes too, and was
+caught wearing a richly embroidered dressing-gown, to the rage of the
+King, who put it in the fire.  Frederick liked to arrange his hair in
+flowing locks instead of in a club after the {148} military fashion.
+"A _Querpfeifer und Poet_, not a soldier," the indignant father
+growled, believing the _Querpfeif_, or Cross-Pipe, was only fit for a
+player in the regimental band.  Augustus William, another son, ten
+years younger than Fritz, began to be the hope of parental ambition.
+He took more kindly to a Spartan life than his elder brother.  There
+were violent scenes at court when Frederick the younger was asked to
+give up his right to the succession.  He refused to be superseded, and
+had to endure much bullying and privation.  The King was ever ready
+with his stick, and punished his son by omitting to serve him at his
+rather scanty table!
+
+There was much talk of a double marriage between the English and the
+Prussian courts, which were then related.  Frederick was to marry
+Amelia, daughter of George I while his sister, pretty pert Wilhelmina,
+was destined for Frederick, Prince of Wales.  The King of Prussia set
+his heart on the plan, and was furious that George I did not forward
+it.  The whole household went in fear of him; he was stricken by gout
+at the time, an affliction that made him particularly ill-tempered, and
+Wilhelmina and Fritz were the objects of his wrath.  They fled from his
+presence together; the Prince was accused of a dissolute life, and
+insulted by a beating in public.
+
+He decided on flight to England.  It was a desperate measure, and was
+discovered and frustrated at the last moment.  The King of Prussia laid
+the blame on English diplomats, though they had done nothing to help
+the Prince.  There was talk of an Austro-English war at that time.  "I
+shall not desert the Emperor even if everything goes to the dogs,"
+wrote the irate father.  "I will joyfully use my army, my country, my
+money and my blood for the downfall of England."  He was so {149}
+enraged by the attempted flight that he might have gone to the extreme
+of putting his son to death, but an old general, hearing of the
+probable fate of the Crown Prince, offered his own life for that of
+Frederick, and raised so vehement a protest that the runaway was merely
+put in prison.
+
+His confinement was not as strict as it would have been, had the
+gaolers followed the King's orders.  He had to wear prison dress and
+sit on a hard stool, but books and writing materials were brought to
+him, and he saw his friends occasionally.  Lieutenant von Katte, who
+fled with him, was executed before the fortress, and the Prince was
+compelled to witness the punishment of the companion with whom he had
+practised music and other forbidden occupations.
+
+By degrees, the animosity of Frederick William toward his eldest son
+softened.  He was allowed to visit Berlin when his sister Wilhelmina
+was married to the Margrave of Baireuth, after four kings had applied
+for her hand, among them the elderly Augustus of Poland and Charles XII
+of Sweden.  The Castle of Rheinsburg, near Neu-Ruppin, was given to the
+Prince for his residence.  He spent happy hours there with famous men
+of letters in his circle, for he was actually free now to give time to
+literature and science.  He corresponded frequently with Voltaire and
+became an atheist.  He cared nothing for religion when he was king, and
+was remarkable for the religious toleration which he extended to his
+subjects.  But the harsh treatment of youth had spoilt his pleasant
+nature, and his want of faith made him unscrupulous and hard-hearted.
+He grasped at all he could win, and had every intention of fulfilling
+the commands laid upon him by the Testament which his father wrote in
+1722 when he believed himself {150} to be dying;--"Never relinquish
+what is justly yours."
+
+It was far from his intention to relinquish any part of his dominions,
+and, moreover, he set early about the business of conquering Silesia to
+add to his little kingdom.  Saxony should fall to him if he could in
+any wise win it.  There was hope in that fine stalwart body of men his
+father had so well disciplined.  There was courage in his own heart,
+and he had been reared in too stern a school to fear hardships.
+
+In 1740, Frederick received his dying father's blessing, and in the
+same year the Emperor, Charles VI, left his daughter, Maria Theresa, to
+struggle with an aggressive European neighbour.  She was a splendid
+figure, this empress of twenty-three, beautiful and virtuous, with the
+spirit of a man, and an unconquerable determination to fight for what
+was justly hers.  She held not Austria alone but many neighbouring
+kingdoms--Styria, Bohemia, the Tyrol, Hungary, and Carpathia.
+
+Charles VI had endeavoured to secure his daughter's kingdom by means of
+a "Pragmatic Sanction," which declared the indivisibility of the
+Austrian dominions, and the right of Maria Theresa to inherit them in
+default of a male heir.  This was signed by all the powers of Europe
+save Bavaria, but Frederick broke it ruthlessly as soon as the Emperor
+died.
+
+In high spirits Frederick II entered on the bold enterprise of seizing
+from Maria Theresa some part of those possessions which her father had
+striven to secure to her.
+
+Allies gathered round Prussia quickly, admiring the 80,000 men that the
+obscure sovereignty had raised from the subjects of a little kingdom.
+France, Spain, Poland, and Bavaria allied themselves with the spoiler
+against Maria Theresa, who sought the aid of England.  She {151} seemed
+in desperate straits, the victim of treachery, for Frederick had
+promised to support her.  The Battle of Molwitz went against Austria,
+and the Empress was fain to offer three duchies of Silesia, but the
+King refused them scornfully, saying, "Before the war, they might have
+contented me.  Now I want more.  What do I care about peace?  Let those
+who want it give me what I want; if not, let them fight me and be
+beaten again."
+
+The Elector of Bavaria was within three days' march of Vienna,
+proclaiming himself Archduke of Austria.  Maria Theresa had neither men
+nor money.  Quite suddenly she took a resolution and convoked the
+Hungarian magnates at Pressburg, where she had fled from her capital.
+She stood before them, most beautiful and patriotic in her youth and
+helplessness.  Raising her baby in her arms, she appealed to the whole
+assembly.  She had put on the crown of St Stephen and held his sword at
+her side.  The appeal was quickly answered.  Swords leapt from their
+scabbards; there came the roar of many voices, "_Moriamur pro rege
+nostro, Maria Theresa!_"  ("Let us die for our King, Maria Theresa.")
+
+But Friedrich defeated the Austrians again and again in battle.  No
+armies could resist those wonderful compact regiments, perfectly
+drilled and disciplined, afraid of nothing save of losing credit.
+Maria had to submit to the humiliation of giving up part of Silesia to
+her enemy, while the Elector had himself crowned as Emperor Charles VII
+at Frankfort.  The English King, George II, fought for her against the
+French at Dettingen and won a victory.  She entered her capital in
+triumph, apparently confirmed in her possessions.  But Frederick was
+active in military operations and {152} attempted to detach the English
+from her.  He invaded Bohemia and defeated the imperial generals.  He
+received the much-disputed territory of Silesia in 1745 by the Treaty
+of Dresden, which concluded the second war.
+
+The national spirit was rising in Prussia through this all-powerful
+army, which drained the country of its men and horses.  The powers of
+Europe saw with astonishment that a new force was arraying itself in
+youthful glory.  The Seven Years' War began in 1756, one of the most
+fateful wars in the whole of European history.
+
+France, Russia, and Saxony were allied with Maria Theresa, but the
+Prussians had the help of England.  Frederick II proved himself a
+splendid general, worthy of the father whose only war had wrested the
+coveted province of Pomerania from the doughty Charles XII of Sweden.
+He defeated the Austrians and invaded Saxony, mindful of the wealth and
+prosperity of that country which, if added to his own, would greatly
+increase the value of his dominions.  He was almost always victorious
+though he had half Europe against him.  He defeated the Austrians at
+Prague and Leuthen, the Russian army at Zorndorf.  One of his most
+brilliant triumphs was won over the united French and Imperial armies
+at Rossbach.
+
+[Illustration: Frederick the Great receiving his People's Homage (A.
+Menzel)]
+
+The French anticipated an easy victory in 1757, for the army of the
+allies was vastly superior to that which Frederick William had encamped
+at Rossbach, a village in Prussian Saxony.  The King watched the
+movements of the enemy from a castle, and was delighted when he managed
+to bring them to a decisive action.  He had partaken of a substantial
+meal with his soldiers in the camp, although he was certainly in a most
+precarious {153} position.  He was too cunning a strategist to give the
+signal to his troops till the French were advancing up the hill toward
+his tents.  The battle lasted only one hour and a half and resulted in
+a complete victory for Prussia.  The total loss of the King's army was
+under 550 officers and men compared with 7700 on the side of the enemy.
+
+The "Army of Cut-and-Run" was the contemptuous name earned by the
+retreating regiments.
+
+Gradually, allies withdrew on either side, France becoming involved
+with England in India and the Colonies.  Frederick II and Maria Theresa
+made terms at Hubertsburg.  Silesia was still in the hands of the
+Prussian King, but he had failed in the prime object of the war, which
+was the conquest of Saxony.
+
+There was work for a king at home when the long, disastrous war was
+over.  Harvests went unreaped for want of men, and there were no strong
+horses left for farm-labour.  Starvation had rendered many parts of the
+kingdom desolate, but the introduction of the potato saved some of
+those remaining.  The King had forthwith to rebuild villages and bring
+horses from foreign countries.  He was anxious to follow his father's
+exhortations and make the population industrious and thriving.  He saw
+to it that schools rose everywhere and churches also, in which there
+was as little bickering as possible.  The clergy were kept down and
+prevented from "becoming popes," as seemed to be the case in some
+countries.  The King had no piety, but revered his father's
+Protestantism.
+
+When the war was over, Frederick looked an old man though he was but
+fifty-one.  He was a shabby figure, this "old Fritz," in threadbare
+blue uniform with red facings.  His three-cornered hat, black breeches
+and {154} long boots showed signs of an economical spirit, inculcated
+in his youth when he had only eighteen pence a week to spend.  He
+walked about among the country people talking familiarly with the
+farmers.  He made it a rule to go round the country once a year to see
+how things had prospered.
+
+The King hated idleness, and, like the first Frederick, scolded his
+subjects if they were not industrious.  "It is not necessary that I
+should live, but it is necessary that whilst I live I be busy," he
+would remark severely.  Frugality won praise from him and he always
+noted it among his subjects.  One day he asked the time of an officer
+he met in the streets and was startled to see a leaden bullet pulled up
+by a golden chain.  "My watch points to but one hour, that in which I
+am ready to die for your Majesty," was the patriotic answer to his
+question.  He rewarded the officer with his own gold watch, and
+reflected that his methods had been as successful as those of his
+father.  That prudent monarch put loose sleeves over his uniform
+whenever he wrote that he might not spoil the expensive cloth which was
+then the fashion.
+
+In 1786, Frederick II died, leaving Germany to mourn him.  The
+best-disciplined army in Europe and a treasury full of gold were the
+good gifts he left to his successor.  The population of the realm
+numbered six million souls, in itself another fortune.  "If the country
+is thickly populated, that is true wealth" had been a wise maxim of the
+first Frederick.
+
+Father and son cut homely figures on the stage of eighteenth-century
+Europe.  The brilliant Louis XIV, and his stately Versailles, seemed to
+far outshine them.  But Germany owed to Frederick I and Frederick II,
+known as the Great, her unity and national spirit.  {155} They built on
+solid ground and their work remained to bring power to their
+successors, while the Grand Monarch left misery behind, which was to
+find expression in that crying of the oppressed, known throughout
+history as the French Revolution.
+
+
+
+
+{156}
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+Spirits of the Age
+
+It was the aim of Frederick the Great to shake down the old political
+order in Europe, which had been Catholic and unenlightened.  To that
+end he exalted Prussia, which was a Protestant and progressive State,
+and fought against Austria, an empire clinging to obsolete ideas of
+feudal military government.  He brought upon himself much condemnation
+for his unjust partition of Poland with Russia.  He argued, however,
+that Poland had hitherto been a barbaric feudal State, and must benefit
+by association with countries of commercial and intellectual activity.
+Galicia fell to Maria Theresa at the end of the war, and was likely to
+remain in religious bondage.
+
+Frederick II dealt many hard blows at the Holy Catholic Church, but he
+did not intend to wage a religious war in Europe.  He insisted on
+toleration in Prussia though he was not himself a religious man, and
+invited to his court that enemy of the old faith of France--François
+Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, a title he derived from the
+name of an estate in the possession of his family.
+
+The French scholar came to Frederick after he had suffered every
+persecution that inevitably assailed a fearless writer in an age of
+narrow bigotry.  Very soon after his appearance in Paris, Voltaire was
+accused {157} of writing verses which recounted the evils of a country
+where magistrates used their power to levy unjust taxes, and loyal
+subjects were too often put in prison.  As a consequence, he was thrown
+into the Bastille.  It was quite useless to protest that he was not the
+author of _Je l'ai vu_ ("I have seen it").  His opinions were suspected
+although he was but twenty-one and was under the protection of his
+godfather, the Abbé Chateauneuf.  Voltaire was philosopher enough to
+use his year in the Bastille very profitably--he finished his first
+great tragedy, _Oedipe_, and produced it in 1716, winning the
+admiration of French critics.
+
+Although Voltaire was now embarked on a brilliant career as a
+dramatist, he was unjustly treated by his superiors in social rank.  He
+was the son of a notary of some repute, and was too rich to sue for
+patronage, but nobles were offended by the freedom of the young wit,
+who declared that a poet might claim equality with princes.  "Who is
+the young man who talks so loud?" the Chevalier Rohan inquired at an
+intellectual gathering.  "My lord," was Voltaire's quick reply, "he is
+one who does not bear a great name but wins respect for the name he
+has."
+
+This apt retort did not please the Chevalier, who instructed his lackey
+to give the poet a beating.  Voltaire would have answered the insult
+with his sword, but his enemy disdained a duel with a man of inferior
+station.  The Rohan family was influential, and preferred to maintain
+their dignity by putting the despised poet in prison.
+
+Voltaire was ordered to leave Paris and decided to visit England, where
+he knew that learned Frenchmen found a welcome.  He was amazed at the
+high honour paid to genius and the social and political consequence
+which could be obtained by writers.  Jonathan Swift, {158} the famous
+Irish satirist, was a dignitary of the State Church and yet never
+hesitated to heap scorn on State abuses.  Addison, the classical
+scholar, was Secretary of State, and Prior and Gay went on important
+diplomatic missions.  Philosophers, such as Newton and Locke, had
+wealth as well as much respect, and were entrusted with a share in the
+administration of their country.  With his late experience of French
+injustice, Voltaire may have been inclined to exaggerate the absolute
+freedom of an English subject to handle public events and public
+personages in print.  "One must disguise at Paris what I could not say
+too strongly at London," he wrote, and the hatred quickened in him of
+all forms of class prejudice and intellectual obstinacy.
+
+His _Lettres anglaises_, which moved many social writers of his time,
+were burnt in public by the decree of the Parlement of Paris in 1734.
+The Parlement, composed of men of the robe (lawyers), was closely
+allied to the court in narrow-minded bigotry.  It was always to the
+fore to prevent any manifestation of free thought from reaching the
+people.  The old order, clinging to wealth and favour, judged it best
+that the people--known as the Third Estate--should remain in ignorance
+of the enormous oppressions put upon them.  It had been something of a
+shock to Voltaire to discover that in England both nobles and clergy
+paid taxes, while in France the saying of feudal times held good--"The
+nobles fight, the clergy pray, the people pay."
+
+Sadly wanting in respect to those in high places was that Voltaire who
+had not long ago been beaten by a noble's lackeys.  He did not cease to
+write, and continued to give offence, though the sun of the court shone
+on him once through Madame de Pompadour, the King's favourite.  She
+caused him to write a play {159} in 1745 to celebrate the marriage of
+the Dauphin.  The _Princesse de Navarre_ brought him more honour than
+had been accorded to his finest poems and tragedies.  He was admitted
+to the Academy of Letters which Richelieu had founded, made Gentleman
+of the Chamber, and Historiographer of France.
+
+It was well in those times to write for royal favour, though the
+subjects of the drama must be limited to those which would add glory to
+the Church or State.  Yet Voltaire did not need the patronage which was
+essential for poor men of genius like the playwrights of the famous
+generation preceding his own.  He had private means which he invested
+profitably, being little anxious to endure the insults commonly
+directed at poverty and learning.  He lived in a quiet château at
+Cirey, industrious and independent, though he looked toward the
+Marquise du Châtelet for that admiration which a literary man craves.
+It was the Marquise who shared with Frederick the Great the tribute
+paid by the witty man of letters, _i.e._ that there were but two great
+men in his time and one of them wore petticoats.  She differed from the
+frivolous women of court life in her earnest pursuit of intellectual
+pleasures.  Her whole day was given up to the study of writers such as
+Leibnitz and Newton, the philosopher.  She rarely wasted time, and
+could certainly claim originality in that her working hours were never
+broken by social interruptions.  She was unamiable, but had no love for
+slander, though she was herself the object of much spiteful gossip from
+women who passed as wits in the corrupt court life of Versailles.
+
+Voltaire came and went, moving up and down Europe, often the object of
+virulent attacks which made flight a necessity, but for fifteen years
+he returned regularly {160} to the solitary château of Cirey, where he
+could depend upon seclusion for the active prosecution of his studies.
+He was a man with a wide range of interests, dabbling in science and
+performing experiments for his own profit.  He wrote history, in
+addition to plays and poetry, and later, in his attacks upon the
+Church, proved himself a skilful and unscrupulous controversialist.
+
+In 1750, Madame du Châtelet being dead, Voltaire accepted the
+invitation which had been sent to him from Berlin by the King of
+Prussia.  He was installed sumptuously at Potsdam, where the court of
+Frederick the Great was situated.  There he could live in familiar
+intercourse with "the king who had won five battles."  He loved to take
+an active part in life, and moved from one place to another, showing a
+keen interest in novelty, although his movements might also be inspired
+by fear of the merciless actions of the government.
+
+At Potsdam he found activity, but not activity of intellect.  Frederick
+the Great was drilling soldiers and received him into a stern barracks.
+There was a commendable toleration for free speech in the country, but
+there was constant bickering.  At court, Voltaire found his life
+troubled by the intrigues of the envious courtiers, by the unreasonable
+vanity of the King, and the almost mediaeval state of manners.  There
+were quarrels soon between the King and his guest, which led to
+exhibitions of paltriness and parsimony common to their characters.
+The King stopped Voltaire's supply of chocolate and sugar, while
+Voltaire pocketed candle-ends to show his contempt for this meanness!
+The saying of Frederick that the Frenchman was only an orange, of
+which, having squeezed the juice, he {161} should throw away the skin,
+very naturally rankled in the poet to whom it was repeated.
+
+There was jealousy and tale-bearing at Potsdam which went far to
+destroy the mutual admiration of those two strong personalities who had
+thought to dwell so happily together.  Voltaire spoke disparagingly of
+Frederick's literary achievements, and compared the task of correcting
+his host's French verses with that of washing dirty linen.  Politeness
+had worn very thin when the writer described the monarch as an ape who
+ought to be flogged for his tricks, and gave him the nickname of _Luc_,
+a pet monkey which was noted for a vicious habit of biting!
+
+In March 1753, Voltaire left the court, thoroughly weary of life in a
+place where there was so little interest in letters.  He had a _fracas_
+at Frankfort, where he was required to give up the court decorations he
+had worn with childlike enjoyment, and also a volume of royal verses
+which Frederick did not wish to be made public.  For five weeks he lay
+in prison with his niece, Madame Denis, complaining of frightful
+indignities.  He boxed the ears of a bookseller to whom he owed money,
+attempted to shoot a clerk, and in general committed many strange
+follies which were quite opposed to his claims to philosophy.  There
+was an end of close friendship with Prussia, but he still drew his
+pension and corresponded with the cynical Frederick, only occasionally
+referring to their notorious differences.  In dispraise of the niece
+Madame Denis, the King abandoned the toleration he had professedly
+extended.  "Consider all that as done with," he wrote on the subject of
+the imprisonment, "and never let me hear again of that wearisome niece,
+who has not as much merit as her uncle with which to cover her {162}
+defects.  People talk of the servant of Molière, but nobody will ever
+speak of the niece of Voltaire."
+
+The poet resented this contempt of his niece, for he was indulgently
+fond of the homely coquette who was without either wit or the good
+sense to win pardon for the frivolity of her tastes and extravagances.
+Living in a learned circle, she talked, like a parrot, of literature
+and wrote plays for the theatre of Ferney.  "She wrote a comedy; but
+the players, out of respect to Voltaire, declined to act in it.  She
+wrote a tragedy; but the one favour, which the repeated entreaties of
+years could never wring from Voltaire, was that he would read it."
+
+In spite of his quarrels, Voltaire spoke favourably of the German
+freedom which allowed writings to be published reflecting on the Great
+Elector.  He could not endure the hostile temper of his own land and
+deserted Paris to settle at Geneva, that free republic which extended
+hospitality to refugees from all countries.  He built two hermitages,
+one for summer and one for winter, both commanding beautiful scenes,
+which he enjoyed for twenty years to come, though he was not content
+with one shelter.  He bought a life-interest in Tournay and the
+lordship of Ferney in 1758, declaring that "philosophers ought to have
+two or three holes underground against the hounds who chase them."
+From Ferney he denounced the religion of the time, accusing the Church
+of hatred of truth and real knowledge, with which was coupled a
+terrible cruelty and lack of toleration.
+
+To make superstition ridiculous was one of the objects of Voltaire's
+satire, for, in this way, he hoped to secure due respect for reason.
+All abuses were to be torn away, and such traditions as made slaves of
+the {163} people.  The shameful struggles between Jesuits and
+Jansenists were at their height.  How could religion exist when one
+party believing in works denied the creed of a second believing grace
+better than deeds, and when both sides were eager to devote themselves
+to persecution?
+
+In Voltaire's day, the condemnation of free writing came chiefly from
+the clergy.  They would shackle the mind and bring it in subjection to
+the priesthood.  Here was a man sneering at the power claimed by
+members of a holy body.  The narrow bigotry of priests demanded that he
+should be held in bondage.  Yet he did not mock at men who held good
+lives but at the corrupt who shamed their calling.  The horrors of the
+Inquisition were being revived by zealous Jesuits who were losing
+authority through the increasing strength of another party of the
+Catholic Church, then known as Jansenists.
+
+The Jansenists followed the doctrines of Calvin in their belief in
+predestination and the necessity for conversion, but they differed
+widely from the Protestants on many points, holding that a man's soul
+was not saved directly he was converted although conversion might be
+instantaneous.  They were firmly convinced that each human soul should
+have personal relation with its Maker, but held that this was only
+possible through the Roman Church.  Their chief cause of quarrel with
+the Jesuits was the accusation brought against the priests of that
+order that they granted absolution for sins much too readily and
+without being certain of the sinners' real repentance.
+
+Voltaire's blood boiled when he heard that three young Protestants had
+been killed because they took {164} up arms at the sound of the tocsin,
+thinking it was the signal for rebellion.  He received under his
+protection at Geneva the widow and children of the Protestant Calas,
+who had been broken on the wheel in 1762 because he was falsely
+declared to have killed his son in order to prevent his turning
+Catholic.  A youth, named La Barre, was sentenced, at the instance of a
+bishop, to have his tongue and right hand cut off because he was
+suspected of having tampered with a crucifix.  He was condemned to
+death afterwards on the most flimsy evidence.
+
+Voltaire was all aflame at the ignorance of such fanatics.  There was
+laughter in the writings of the unbelievers of the time, but it was
+laughter inspired by the miserable belief that jesting was the only
+means of enduring that which might come.  "Witty things do not go well
+with massacres," Voltaire commented.  There was force in him to
+destroy, and he set about destruction.
+
+The clergy had refused in 1750 to bear their share of taxation, though
+one-fifth of France was in their hands.  Superstition inevitably tends
+to make bad citizens, the philosopher observed, and set forth the evils
+to society that resulted from the idle lives which were supported by
+the labour of more industrious subjects.  But in his praiseworthy
+attack upon the spirit of the Catholicism of his day which stooped to
+basest cruelty, Voltaire appealed always to intelligence rather than to
+feeling.  He wanted to free the understanding and extend knowledge.  He
+set up reason as a goddess, and left it to another man to point the way
+to a social revolution.
+
+Jean-Jacques Rousseau it was who led men to consider the possibility of
+a State in which all citizens {165} should be free and equal.  He
+suffered banishment and much hardship for the bold schemes he
+presented.  The Parlement of Paris was ruthless when the two
+books--_Émile_ and the _Social Contract_--were published in 1762.
+
+Rousseau, a writer of humble origin, had been the close student of
+Voltaire since his mind had first formed into a definite individuality.
+He had been poor and almost starving many times, had followed the
+occupations of engraver and music-copier, and had treated with
+ingratitude several kindly patrons.  Like Voltaire, too, he journeyed
+over Europe, finding refuge in Geneva, whence came his father's family.
+He was a man of sordid life and without morality; but he was true to
+his life's purpose, and toiled at uncongenial tasks rather than write
+at other bidding than that of his own soul.
+
+Rousseau's play _Le Devin du Village_ had a court success that brought
+him into favour with gay ladies.  Many a beauty found it difficult to
+tear herself away from the perusal of his strangely romantic novel _La
+Nouvelle Héloïse_, which preached a return to Nature, so long neglected
+by the artificial age of Paris.  All conventions should be thrown off
+that man might attain the purity which God had originally intended.
+Kings there should not be to deprive their subjects of all liberty, nor
+nobles who claimed the earth, which was the inheritance of God's
+creatures.
+
+At first, this theory of return to Nature pleased the ruling classes.
+The young King and Queen were well-meaning and kindly to the people.
+Louis XVI went among the poor and did something to alleviate the misery
+that he saw.  Marie Antoinette gave up {166} the extravagant career of
+fashion and spent happy hours in the rustic village of Trianon.  Nobles
+and maids of honour played at rusticity, unconscious of the deadly
+blows that Jean-Jacques had aimed at them in the writings which
+appealed so strongly to their sentiment.  There was a new belief in
+humanity which sent the Duchess out early in the morning to give bread
+to the poor, even if at evening she danced at a court which was
+supported in luxury by their miseries.  The poet might congratulate
+himself on the sensation caused by ideas which sent him through an
+edict of Parlement into miserable banishment.  He did not aim at
+destruction of the old order, but he depicted an ideal State and to
+attain that ideal State men butchered their fellows without mercy.  The
+_Social Contract_ became the textbook of the first revolutionary party,
+and none admired Rousseau more ardently than the ruthless wielder of
+tyranny who followed out the theorist's idea that in a republic it was
+necessary sometimes to have a dictator.
+
+There were rival schools of thought during the lifetime of Voltaire and
+Rousseau.  The latter was King of the Markets, destined in years to
+come to inspire the Convention and the Commune.  Voltaire, companion of
+kings and eager recipient of the favours of Madame de Pompadour, had
+little sympathy with the author of a book in which the humble
+watchmaker's son flouted sovereignty and showed no skill in his
+handling of religion.  The elder man offered the younger shelter when
+abuse was rained upon him; but Jean-Jacques would have none of it, and
+thought Geneva should have cast out the unbeliever, for Jean-Jacques
+was a pious man in theory and shocked by the worship {167} of pure
+reason.  The mad acclamations which greeted the return of Voltaire to
+Paris after thirty years of banishment must have echoed rather bitterly
+in the ears of Rousseau, who had despised salons and chosen to live
+apart from all society.
+
+
+
+
+{168}
+
+Chapter XV
+
+The Man from Corsica
+
+Born on August 15th, 1769, Napoleon Buonaparte found himself surrounded
+from his first hours by all the tumult and the clash of war.  Ajaccio,
+on the rocky island of Corsica, was his birthplace, though his family
+had Florentine blood.  Letitia Ramolino, the mother of Napoleon, was of
+aristocratic Italian descent.
+
+Corsica was no sunny dwelling-place during the infancy of this young
+hero, who learned to brood over the wrongs of his island-home.  The
+Corsicans revolted fiercely against the sovereignty of Genoa, and were
+able to resist all efforts to subdue them until France interfered in
+the struggle and gained by diplomatic cunning what could not be gained
+by mere force of arms.  This conquest was resented the more bitterly by
+the Corsicans because they had enjoyed thirteen years of independence
+in all but name under Paoli, a well-loved patriot.  It was after Paoli
+was driven to England that the young Napoleon wrote, "I was born when
+my country was perishing, thirty thousand Frenchmen vomited upon our
+coasts, drowning the throne of Liberty in waves of blood; such was the
+sight which struck my eyes."
+
+Corsican Napoleon declared himself in the youth of poverty and
+discontent, when he had dreams of {169} rising to power by such
+patriotism as had ennobled Paoli.  Charles Buonaparte, his father, went
+over to the winning side, and was eager to secure the friendship of
+Marboeuf, the French governor of Corsica.
+
+Napoleon, the second of thirteen children, owed assistance in his early
+education to Marboeuf for it was impossible for his own family to do
+more than provide the barest necessities of life.  Charles Buonaparte
+was an idle, careless man and the family poverty bore hardly on his
+wife Letitia, who had been married at fifteen and compelled to perform
+much drudgery.
+
+Napoleon entered the military school at Brienne in April 1779, and from
+there sent letters which might well have warned his parents that they
+had hatched a prodigy.  All the bitterness of a proud humiliated spirit
+inspired them, whether the boy, despised by richer students, begged his
+father to remove him, or urged, with utter disregard of filial piety,
+the repayment by some means of a sum of money he had borrowed.
+
+"If I am not to be allowed the means, either by you or my protector, to
+keep up a more honourable appearance at the school I am in, send for me
+home and that immediately.  I am quite disgusted with being looked upon
+as a pauper by my insolent companions, who have only fortune to
+recommend them, and smile at my poverty; there is not one here, but who
+is far inferior to me in those noble sentiments which animate my soul.
+. . .  If my condition cannot be ameliorated, remove me from Brienne;
+put me to some mechanical trade, if it must be so; let me but find
+myself among my equals and I will answer for it, I will soon be their
+superior.  You may judge {170} of my despair by my proposal; once more
+I repeat it; I would sooner be foreman in a workshop than be sneered at
+in a first-rate academy."
+
+In the academy Napoleon remained, however, censured by his parents for
+his ambitious, haughty spirit.  He was gloomy and reserved and had few
+companions, feeling even at this early age that he was superior to
+those around him.  He admired Cromwell, though he thought the English
+general incomplete in his conquests.  He read Plutarch and the
+_Commentaries_ of Caesar and determined that his own career should be
+that of a soldier, though he wrote again to the straitened household in
+Corsica, declaring, "He who cannot afford to make a lawyer of his son,
+makes him a carpenter."
+
+He chose for the moment to disregard the family ties which were
+especially strong among the island community.  "Let my brothers'
+education be less expensive," he urged, "let my sisters work to
+maintain themselves."  There was a touch of ruthless egotism in this
+spirit, yet the Corsican had real love for his own kindred as he showed
+in later life.  But at this period he panted for fame and glory so
+ardently that he would readily sacrifice those nearest to him.  He
+could not bear to feel that his unusual abilities might never find full
+scope; he was certain that one day he would be able to repay any
+generosity that was shown to him.
+
+The French Revolution broke out and Napoleon saw his first chance of
+distinction.  He was well recommended by his college for a position in
+the artillery, despite the strange report of the young student's
+character and manners which was written for the private perusal of
+those making the appointment.  {171} "Napoleon Buonaparte, a Corsican
+by birth, reserved and studious, neglectful of all pleasures for study;
+delights in important and judicious readings; extremely attentive to
+methodical sciences, moderately so as to others; well versed in
+mathematics and geography; silent, a lover of solitude, whimsical,
+haughty, excessively prone to egotism, speaking but little, pithy in
+his answers, quick and severe in repartee, possessed of much self-love,
+ambitious, and high in expectation."
+
+Soon after the fall of the Bastille, Napoleon placed himself at the
+head of the revolutionary party in Ajaccio, hoping to become the La
+Fayette of a National Guard which he tried to establish on the isle of
+Corsica.  He aspired to be the commander of a paid native guard if such
+could be created, and was not unreasonable in his ambition since he was
+the only Corsican officer trained at a royal military school.  But
+France rejected the proposal for such a force to be established, and
+Napoleon had to act on his own initiative.  He forfeited his French
+commission by outstaying his furlough in 1792.  Declared a deserter, he
+saw slight chance of promotion to military glory.  Indeed he would
+probably have been tried by court-martial and shot, had not Paris been
+in confusion owing to the outbreak of the French war against European
+allies.  He decided to lead the rebels of Corsica, and tried to get
+possession of Ajaccio at the Easter Festival.
+
+This second attempt to raise an insurrection ended in the entire
+Buonaparte family being driven by the wrathful Corsicans to France,
+which henceforth was their adopted country.  The Revolution blazed
+forth and King and Queen went to the scaffold, while treason that
+might, in time of peace, have served to send an {172} officer to death,
+proved a stepping-stone to high rank and promotion.  It was a civil
+war, and in it Napoleon was first to show his extraordinary skill in
+military tactics.  He had command of the artillery besieging Toulon in
+1793 and was marked as a man of merit, receiving the command of a
+brigade and passing as a general of artillery into the foreign war
+which Republican France waged against all Europe.
+
+The command of the army of Italy was offered Napoleon by Barras, who
+was one of the new Directory formed to rule the Republic.  A rich wife
+seemed essential for a poor young man with boundless ambitions just
+unfolding.  Barras had taken up the Corsican, and arranged an
+introduction for him to Josephine Beauharnais, the beautiful widow of a
+noble who had been a victim of the Reign of Terror.  He had previously
+made the acquaintance of Josephine's young son Eugene, when the boy
+came to ask that his father's sword might be restored to him.
+
+Josephine pleased the suitor by her amiability, and was attracted in
+turn by his ardent nature.  She was in a position to advance his
+interests through her intimacy with Barras, who promised that Napoleon
+should hold a great position in the army if she became his wife.  She
+married Napoleon in March 1796, undaunted by the prediction: "You will
+be a queen and yet you will not sit on a throne."  Napoleon's career
+may then be said to have begun in earnest.  It was the dawn of a new
+age in Europe, where France stood forth as a predominant power.
+Austria was against her as the avenger of Marie Antoinette, France's
+ill-fated Queen, who had been Maria Theresa's daughter.  England and
+Russia were in alliance, though Russia was an uncertain and disloyal
+ally.
+
+{173}
+
+Want of money might have daunted one less eager for success than the
+young Napoleon.  He was, however, planning a campaign in Italy as an
+indirect means of attacking Austria.  He addressed his soldiers boldly,
+promising to lead them into the most fruitful plains in the world.
+"Rich provinces, great cities will be in your power," he assured them.
+"There you will find honour, fame, and wealth."  His first success was
+notable, but it did not satisfy the inordinate craving of his nature.
+"In our days," he told Marmont, "no one has conceived anything great;
+it falls to me to give the example."
+
+From the outset he looked upon himself as a general independent of the
+Republic.  He was rich in booty, and could pay his men without
+appealing to the well-nigh exhausted public funds.  Silently, he
+pursued his own policy in war, and that was very different from the
+policy of any general who had gone before him.  He treated with the
+Pope as a great prince might have treated, offering protection to
+persecuted priests who were marked out by the Directory as their
+enemies.  He seized property everywhere, scorning to observe
+neutrality.  Forgetting his Italian blood, he carried off many pictures
+and statues from the Italian galleries that they might be sent to
+France.  He showed now his audacity and the amazing energy of his plans
+of conquest.  The effect of the horror and disorders of Revolutionary
+wars had been to deprive him of all scruples.  He despised a Republic,
+and despised the French nation as unfit for Republicanism.  "A republic
+of thirty millions of people!" he exclaimed as he conquered Italy,
+"with our morals, our vices!  How is such a thing possible?  The nation
+wants a chief, a chief covered with glory, not theories of {174}
+government, phrases, ideological essays, that the French do not
+understand.  They want some playthings; that will be enough; they will
+play with them and let themselves be led, always supposing they are
+cleverly prevented from seeing the goal toward which they are moving."
+But the wily Corsican did not often speak so plainly!  Aiming at
+imperial power, he was careful to dissimulate his intentions since the
+army supporting him was Republican in sympathy.
+
+Napoleon had achieved the conquest of Italy when only twenty-seven.  In
+1796 he entered Milan amid the acclamations of the people, his troops
+passing beneath a triumphal arch.  The Italians from that day adopted
+his tricolour ensign.
+
+The Directory gave the conqueror the command of the army which was to
+be used against England.  The old desperate rivalry had broken out
+again now that the French saw a chance of regaining power in India.  It
+was Napoleon's purpose to wage war in Egypt, and he needed much money
+for his campaign in a distant country.  During the conquest of Italy he
+had managed to secure money from the Papal chests and he could rely,
+too, on the vast spoil taken from Berne when the old constitution of
+the Swiss was overthrown and a new Republic founded.  He took Malta,
+"the strongest place in Europe," and proceeded to occupy Alexandria in
+1798.  In the following February he marched on Cairo.
+
+England's supremacy at sea destroyed the complete success of the plans
+which Napoleon was forming.  He had never thought seriously of the
+English admiral Nelson till his own fleet was shattered by him in a
+naval engagement at Aboukir.  After that, he understood that he had to
+reckon with a powerful enemy.
+
+{175}
+
+The Turks had decided to anticipate Napoleon's plan for securing Greece
+her freedom by preparing a vast army in Syria.  The French took the
+town of Jaffa by assault, but had to retire from the siege of Acre.
+The expedition was not therefore a success, though Napoleon won a
+victory over the Turkish army at Aboukir.  The English triumphed in
+Egypt and were fortunate enough to win back Malta, which excluded
+France from the Mediterranean.  Napoleon eluded with difficulty the
+English cruisers and returned to France, where he rapidly rose to
+power, receiving, after a kind of revolution, the title of First
+Consul.  He was to hold office for ten years and receive a salary of
+half a million francs.  In reality, a strong monarchy had been created.
+The people of France, however, still fancied themselves a free Republic.
+
+War was declared on France by Austria and England in 1800, and the
+First Consul saw himself raised to the pinnacle of military glory.  He
+defeated the Austrians at Marengo, while his only rival, Moreau, won
+the great battle of Hohenlinden.  At Marengo, the general whom Napoleon
+praised above all others fell dead on the field of battle.  The
+conqueror himself mourned Desaix most bitterly, since "he loved glory
+for glory's sake and France above everything."  But "Alas! it is not
+permitted to weep," Napoleon said, overcoming the weakness as he judged
+it.  He had done now with wars waged on a small scale, and would give
+Europe a time of peace before venturing on vaster enterprises.  The
+victory of Marengo on June 14th, 1800, wrested Italy again from
+Austria, who had regained possession and power in the peninsula.  It
+also saved France from invasion.  Austria was obliged to accept an
+armistice, a humiliation she had not {176} foreseen when she arrayed
+her mighty armies against the First Consul.  Napoleon gloried in this
+success, proposing to Rouget de Lisle, the writer of the
+_Marseillaise_, that a battle-hymn should commemorate the coming of
+peace with victory.
+
+The Treaty of Luneville, 1801, settled Continental strife so
+effectually that Napoleon was free to attend to the internal affairs of
+the French Republic.  The Catholic Church was restored by the
+_Concordat_, but made to depend on the new ruler instead of the Bourbon
+party.  The Treaty of Amiens in 1802 provided for a truce to the
+hostilities of France and England.
+
+With the world at peace, the Consulate had leisured to reconstruct the
+constitution.  The capability of Napoleon ensured the successful
+performance of this mighty task.  He was bent on giving a firm
+government to France since this would help him to reach the height of
+his ambitions.  He drew up the famous Civil Code on which the future
+laws were based, and restored the ancient University of France.
+Financial reforms led to the establishment of the Bank of France, and
+Napoleon's belief that merit should be recognized publicly to the
+enrolment of distinguished men in a Legion of Honour.
+
+The remarkable vigour and intelligence of this military leader was
+displayed in the reforms he made where all had been confusion.  France
+was weary of the republican government which had brought her to the
+verge of bankruptcy and ruin, and inclined to look favourably on the
+idea of a monarchy.
+
+Napoleon determined that this should be the monarchy of a Buonaparte,
+not that of a Bourbon.  The Church had ceased to support the claims of
+Louis XVI's brother.  Napoleon had won the _noblesse_, too, {177} by
+his feats of arms, and the peacemaker's decrees had reconciled the
+foreign cabinets.  It ended, as the prudent had foreseen, in the First
+Consul choosing for himself the old military title of Emperor.
+
+His coronation on December 2nd, 1804, was a ceremony of magnificence,
+unequalled since the fall of the majestic Bourbons.  Napoleon placed
+the sacred diadem on his own head and then on the head of Josephine,
+who knelt to receive it.  His aspect was gloomy as he received this
+symbol of successful ambition, for the mass of the people was silent
+and he was uneasy at the usurpation of a privilege which was not his
+birthright.  The authority of the Pope had confirmed his audacious
+action, but he was afraid of the attitude of his army.  "The greatest
+man in the world" Kléber had proclaimed him, after the crushing of the
+Turks at Aboukir in Egypt.  There was work to do before he reached the
+summit whence he might justly claim such admiration.  He found court
+life at St Cloud very wearisome after the peace of his residence at
+Malmaison.
+
+"I have not a moment to myself, I ought to have been the wife of a
+humble cottager," Josephine wrote in a fit of impatience at the
+restraints imposed upon an Empress.  But she clung to the title
+desperately when she knew that it would be taken from her.  She had
+been Napoleon's wife for fourteen years, but no heir had been born to
+inherit the power and to continue the dynasty which he hoped to found.
+She was divorced in 1809, when he married Marie Louise of Austria.
+
+Peace could not last with Napoleon upon the throne of France,
+determined as he was in his resolution to break the supremacy of the
+foe across the Channel.  {178} He had not forgotten Egypt and his
+failure in the Mediterranean.  He resolved to crush the English fleet
+by a union of the fleets of Europe.  He was busied with daring projects
+to invade England from Boulogne.  The distance by sea was so short that
+panic seized the island-folk, who had listened to wild stories about
+the "Corsican ogre."  Nelson was the hope of the nation in the year of
+danger, 1805, when the English fleet gained the glorious victory of
+Trafalgar and saved England from the dreaded invasion.  But the hero of
+Trafalgar met his death in the hour of success, and, before the year
+closed, Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz destroyed the coalition led by
+the Austrian Emperor and the Tsar and caused a whole continent to
+tremble before the conqueror.  The news of this battle, indeed,
+hastened the death of Pitt, the English minister, who had struggled
+nobly against the aggrandisement of France.  He knew that the French
+Empire would rise to the height of fame, and that the coalition of
+Russia, Prussia, and Austria would fall disastrously.
+
+"The Prussians wish to receive a lesson," Napoleon declared, flushed by
+the magnificence of his late efforts.  He defeated them at Jena and
+Auerstadt, and entered Berlin to take the sword and sash of Frederick
+the Great as well as the Prussian standards.  He did honour to that
+illustrious Emperor by forbidding the passage of the colours and eagles
+over the place where Frederick reposed, and he declared himself
+satisfied with Frederick's personal belongings as conferring more
+honour than any other treasures.
+
+By the Treaty of Tilsit, concluded with Alexander of Russia on a raft
+upon the River Niemen, Prussia suffered new humiliations.  The proud
+creation of Frederick's military genius had vanished.  There was {179}
+even undue haste to give up fortresses to the conqueror.  The country
+was partitioned between Russia, Saxony, and Westphalia, created for the
+rule of Jerome Buonaparte, Napoleon's younger brother.  He set up kings
+now with the ease of a born autocrat.  His brother Joseph became King
+of Naples, and his brother Louis King of Holland.
+
+A new nobility sprang up, for honours must be equally showered on the
+great generals who had helped to win his victories.  The new Emperor
+was profuse in favour, not believing in disinterested affection.  He
+paid handsomely for the exercise of the humours, known as his
+"vivacités," entering in a private book such items as "Fifteen
+napoleons to Menneval for a box on the ear, a war-horse to my
+aide-de-camp Mouton for a kick, fifteen hundred _arpens_ in the
+imperial forests to Bassano for having dragged him round my room by the
+hair."
+
+These rewards drained the empire and provided a grievance against the
+Corsican adventurer who had dared to place all Europe under the rule of
+Buonaparte.  The family did not bear their elevation humbly, but
+demanded ever higher rank and office.  Joseph was raised to the exalted
+state of King of Spain after the lawful king had been expelled by
+violence.  The patriotism of the Spanish awoke and found an echo in the
+neighbouring kingdom of Portugal.  Napoleon was obliged to send his
+best armies to the Peninsula where the English hero, Sir Arthur
+Wellesley, was pushing his way steadily toward the Pyrenees and the
+French frontier.
+
+The expedition to Russia had been partly provoked by the Emperor's
+marriage with Marie Louise of Austria.  There had been talk of a
+marriage between Napoleon and the Tsar's sister.  Then the {180}
+arrangement of Tilsit had become no longer necessary after the humbling
+of Austria.  Napoleon wished to throw off his ally, Alexander, and was
+ready to use as a pretext for war Russia's refusal to adopt his
+"continental system" fully.  This system, designed to crush the
+commercial supremacy of England by forbidding other countries to trade
+with her, was thus, as events were to prove, the cause of Napoleon's
+own downfall.
+
+The enormous French army made its way to Russia and entered Moscow, the
+ancient capital, which the inhabitants burned and deserted.  In the
+army's retreat from the city in the depth of winter, thousands died of
+cold and hunger, and 30,000 men had already fallen in the fruitless
+victory at Borodino.
+
+Napoleon was nearing his downfall as he struggled across the continent
+in the dreadful march which reduced an army of a quarter of a million
+men to not more than twelve thousand.  He had to meet another failure
+and the results of a destructive imperial policy in 1814, when he was
+defeated at Leipzig by Austria, Russia, and Prussia, who combined most
+desperately against him.  The Allies issued at Frankfort their famous
+manifesto "Peace with France but war against the Empire."  They
+compelled Napoleon to abdicate, and restored the Bourbon line.  A court
+was formed for Louis XVIII at the Tuileries, while Napoleon was sent to
+Elba.
+
+Louis XVI's brother, the Count of Artois, came back, still admired by
+the faded beauties of the Restoration.  The pathetic figure of Louis
+XVI's daughter, the Duchess of Angoulême, was seen amid the forced
+gaieties of the new régime, and Madame de Stäel haunted the court of
+Louis XVIII, forgetting her late revolutionary sentiments.
+
+{181}
+
+Napoleon grew very weary of his inaction on the isle of Elba.  He had
+spent all his life in military pursuits and missed the companionship of
+soldiers.  He thought with regret of his old veterans when he welcomed
+the guards sent to him.  Perhaps he hoped for the arrival of his wife,
+too, as he paced up and down the narrow walk by the sea where he took
+exercise daily.  But Marie Louise returned to her own country.
+
+Napoleon found some scope for his activity in the government of the
+island, and gave audiences regularly to the people.  He might seem to
+have lost ambition as he read in his library or played with a tame
+monkey of which he made a pet, but a scheme of great audacity was
+forming in his mind.  He resolved to go back to France once more and
+appeal to the armies to restore him.
+
+The Bourbons had never become popular again with the nation which was
+inspired with the lust for military successes.  The life in the
+Tuileries seemed empty and frivolous, wanting in great figures.  There
+was little resistance when the news came that Napoleon had landed and
+put himself at the head of the troops at Grenoble.
+
+He had appealed to the ancient spirit of the South which had risen
+before in the cause of liberty.  Feudalism and the oppression of the
+peasants would return under the rule of the Bourbons, he assured them.
+They began to look upon the abdicated Emperor as the Angel of
+Deliverance.  The people of Lyons were equally enthusiastic, winning
+warmer words than generally fell from the lips of Napoleon.  "I love
+you," he cried, and bore them with him to the capital.  He entered the
+Tuileries at night, and again the eagle of the Empire flew from steeple
+to steeple on every church of Paris.
+
+{182}
+
+The Hundred Days elapsed between the liberation from the Bourbons and
+Napoleon's last struggle for supremacy.  The King made a feeble effort
+against the Emperor.  It was, however, the united armies of England and
+Prussia that met the French on the field of Waterloo in 1815.  From
+March 13th to June 22nd Napoleon had had time to realize the might of
+Wellesley, now Duke of Wellington.  The splendid powers of the once
+indefatigable French general were declining.  Napoleon, who had not
+been wont to take advice, now asked the opinions of others.  The
+dictator, so rapid in coming to a decision, hesitated in the hour of
+peril.  He was defeated at Waterloo on June 18th, 1815, by Blücher and
+Wellington together.  The battle raged from the middle of morning to
+eight o'clock in the evening and ended in the rout of the French
+troops.  The Emperor performed a second time the ceremony of
+abdication, and, his terrible will being broken, surrendered on board
+the _Bellerophon_ to the English.
+
+The English Government feared a second return like the triumphant
+flight from Elba.  No enemy had ever been so terrible to England as
+Napoleon.  He must be removed altogether from the continent of Europe.
+St Helena was chosen as the place of imprisonment, and Sir Hudson Lowe
+put over him as, in some sort, a gaoler.  A certain amount of personal
+freedom was accorded, but the captive on the lonely rock did not live
+to regain liberty.  He died in 1821 on a day of stormy weather,
+uttering _tête d'armée_ in the last moments of delirium.
+
+
+
+
+{183}
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+"God and the People"
+
+The diplomatists who assembled at the Congress of Vienna to settle the
+affairs of Europe, so strangely disturbed by the vehement career of
+that soldier-genius, Napoleon, had it in their minds to restore as far
+as possible the older forms of government.
+
+Italy was restless, unwilling to give up the patriotic dreams inspired
+by the conqueror.  The people saw with dismay that the hope of unity
+was over since the peninsula, divided into four states, was parcelled
+out again and placed under the hated yoke of Austria.  Soldiers from
+Piedmont and Lombardy, from Venice and Naples, Parma and Modena, had
+fought side by side, sharing the glory of a military despot and willing
+to endure a tyranny that gave them a firm administration and a share of
+justice.  They saw that prosperity for their land would follow the more
+regular taxation and the abolition of the social privileges oppressive
+to the peasants.  They looked forward to increase of trade as roads
+were made and bridges built, and they welcomed the chance of education
+and the preparation for a national life.  Napoleon had always held
+before them the picture of a great Italian State, freed from foreign
+princes and realizing the promise of the famous Middle Ages.
+
+{184}
+
+Yet Napoleon had done nothing to forward the cause of Italian freedom
+before his final exile.  The Italians would have made Eugene
+Beauharnais king, of a united Italy, but Eugene was loyal to the
+stepfather who had placed under his power the territory lying between
+the Alps and the centre of the peninsula.  Murat, Napoleon's
+brother-in-law, would have grasped the sceptre, for he was devoured by
+overwhelming ambition.  He owed his rapid advance from obscurity to the
+position of a general to the Corsican, whose own career had led him to
+help men to rise by force of merit.  Murat bore a part in the struggle
+for Italy when the cry was ever Liberty.  A new spirit had come upon
+the indolent inheritors of an ancient name.  They were burning to
+achieve the freedom of Italy, and hearkened only to the voice that
+offered independence.
+
+Prince Metternich, the absolute ruler of Austria, set aside the
+conflicting claims, and parcelled out the states among petty rulers all
+looking to him for political guidance.  Italy was "only a geographical
+expression," he remarked with satisfaction.  Cadets of the Austrian
+house held Tuscany and Modena, and Marie Louise, the ex-empress, was
+installed at Parma.  Pius VII took up the papal domain in Central Italy
+with firmer grasp.  Francis II, Emperor of Austria, seized Venice and
+Lombardy, while a Bourbon, in the person of Ferdinand I, received
+Naples and Sicily, a much disputed heritage.  Victor Emmanuel, King of
+Sardinia, received also the Duchies of Savoy and Piedmont.  San Marino
+was a republic still, standing solitary and mournful upon the waters of
+the Adriatic.  Italy was divided state from state, as in the medieval
+times, but now, alas! each state could not boast free government.
+
+{185}
+
+Italians, eating the bread of slaves, felt that they were in bondage to
+Vienna.  Metternich had determined they should know no master but
+himself, and all attempts to rebel were closely watched by spies.  The
+police force allowed nothing to be printed or spoken against the
+government that was strong to condemn disorder.  There were ardent
+souls longing to fight for the cause of Italy and Liberty.  There were
+secret societies resolving desperate measures.  There was discontent
+everywhere to war with Metternich's distrust of social progress.
+
+The sufferings of rebel leaders moved the compassion of Giuseppe
+Mazzini, the son of a clever physician in the town of Genoa.  He was
+only a boy when he was accosted by a refugee, whose wild countenance
+told a story of cruelty and oppression.  From that moment, he realized
+the degradation of Italy and chose the colour of mourning for his
+clothes; he began to study the heroic struggles which had made martyrs
+of his countrymen in late years, and he began to form visionary
+projects which led him from the study of literature--his first
+sacrifice.  He had aspired to a literary career, and renounced it to
+throw himself into the duties he owed to countrymen and country.
+
+In 1827, Mazzini joined the Carbonari, or Charcoalmen, a society which
+worked in different countries with one aim--opposition to the despot
+and the legitimist.  The young man of twenty-two was impressed, no
+doubt, by the solemn oath of initiation which he had to take over a
+bared dagger, but he soon had to acknowledge that the efforts of the
+Carbonari were doomed to dismal failure.  Membership was confined too
+much to the professional class, and there were too few appeals to the
+youth of Italy.  Treachery was {186} rife among the different sections
+of the wide-spreading organization.  It was easy for a man to be
+condemned on vague suspicions.  When Mazzini was arrested, he had to be
+acquitted of the charge of conspiracy because it was impossible to find
+two witnesses, but general disapproval was expressed of his mode of
+life.  The governor of Genoa spoke very harshly of the student's habit
+of walking about at night in thoughtful silence.  "What on earth has
+he, at his age, to think about?" he demanded angrily.  "We don't like
+young people thinking without our knowing the subjects of their
+thoughts."
+
+The "glorious days of July," 1830, freed the French from a monarchy
+which threatened liberal principles, and roused the discontented in
+other countries to make fresh efforts for freedom.  Certain ordinances,
+published on July 25th by the French Ministry, suspended the freedom of
+the press, altered the law of election to the Chambers of Deputies, and
+suppressed a number of Liberal journals.  Paris rose to resist, and on
+July 28th, men of the Faubourg St Antoine took possession of the Hotel
+de Ville, hoisting the tricolour flag again.  Charles X was deposed in
+favour of Louis Philippe, the Citizen-King, who was a son of that Duke
+of Orleans once known as Philippe Equality.  "A popular throne with
+republican institutions" thus replaced the absolute monarchy of the
+Bourbons.  There was an eager belief in other lands that the new King
+of France would support attempts to abolish tyranny, but Louis Philippe
+was afraid of losing power, and in Italy an insurrection in favour of
+the new freedom was overawed by an army sent from Austria.  The time
+was not yet come for the blow to be struck which would fulfil the
+object of the {187} Carbonari by driving every Austrian from their
+country.
+
+Mazzini passed into exile, realizing that there had been some fatal
+defect in the organization of a society whose attempts met with such
+failure.  He was confirmed in his belief that the youth of Italy must
+be roused and educated to win their own emancipation.  "Youth lives on
+freedom," he said, "grows great in enthusiasm and faith."  Then he made
+his appeal for the enrolment of these untried heroes.  "Consecrate them
+with a lofty mission; influence them with emulation and praise; spread
+through their ranks the word of fire, the word of inspiration; speak to
+them of country, of glory, of power, of great memories."  So he
+recalled the past to them, and the genius which had dazzled the world
+as it rose from the land of strange passion and strange beauty.  Dante
+was more than a poet to him.  He had felt the same love of unity, had
+looked to the future and seen the day when the bond-slave should shake
+off the yoke and declare a national unity.
+
+The young Italians rallied round the standard of the patriot, whose
+words lit in them the spark of sacrifice.  They received his
+adjurations gladly, promising to obey them.  He pointed out a thorny
+road, but the reward was at the end, the illumination of the soul which
+crowns each great endeavour.  Self had to be forgotten and family ties
+broken if they held back from the claims of country.  Mazzini thought
+the family sacred, but he bade parents give up their sons in time of
+national danger.  It was the duty of every father to fit his children
+to be citizens.  Humanity made demands which some could only satisfy by
+submitting to long martyrdom.
+
+{188}
+
+Mazzini himself had parted from the Genoese home, which was very
+desolate without the beautiful son of such brilliant promise.  He dwelt
+in miserable solitude, unable to marry the woman he loved because an
+exile could not offer to share his hearth with any.  He felt every pang
+of desolation, but he would never return to easy acceptance of an evil
+system.  He asked all from his followers and he gave all, declaring
+that it was necessary to make the choice between good and evil.
+
+The work that was to create a mighty revolution began in a small room
+at Marseilles.  Austria would not give up her hold on Italy unless
+force expelled her from the country.  There must be war and there must
+be soldiers trained to fight together.  It seemed a hopeless enterprise
+for a few young men of very moderate means and ability, but young Italy
+grew and the past acquiescence could never be recovered.  Mazzini was
+light of heart as he wrote and printed, infecting his companions with
+the vivacity of his spirit.  He wore black still, but his cloak was of
+rich Genoese velvet.  The wide "Republican" hat did not conceal the
+long black curling hair that shaded features of almost perfect
+regularity.  His dark eyes, gaily flashing, drew the doubting toward
+confidence and strengthened those who already shared a like ideal.  He
+was a leader by nature and would work indefatigably, sharing generously
+the portion that was never plenteous.
+
+Political pamphlets, written by an unwearied pen, were sent throughout
+Italy by very strange devices.  State was barred from state by many
+trade hindrances that prevented literature from circulating, and
+freedom of the press had been refused by Napoleon.  It was necessary
+for conspirators to have their own printing {189} press, and conceal
+their contraband goods in barrels of pitch and in packets of sausages!
+
+At Genoa, all classes were represented in the Young Italy which
+displaced the worn-out Carbonari.  There were seamen and artisans on
+the list, and Garibaldi, the gallant captain of the mercantile marine,
+swore devotion to the cause of freedom.  He had already won the hearts
+of every sailor in his crew, and made a name by writing excellent
+verses.
+
+Mazzini looked to Piedmont, the State of military traditions, for aid
+in the struggle that should make the Alps the boundary of a new Italian
+nation.  He wrote to Charles Albert, who professed liberal opinions,
+beseeching him to place himself at the head of the new party.  "Unite
+on your flag, Union, Liberty, and Independence!" he entreated.  "Free
+Italy from the barbarian, build up the future, be the Napoleon of
+Italian freedom.  Your safety lies in the sword's point; draw it, and
+throw away the scabbard.  But remember if you do it not, others will do
+it without you and against you."
+
+Thousands flocked to join the new association, which began to rouse the
+fears of mighty governments.  A military conspiracy was discovered,
+into which many non-commissioned officers had entered.  Humble
+sergeants were tried by court-martial, tortured to betray their
+confederates, and sentenced to death, giving the glory of martyrdom to
+the cause of Young Italy.
+
+Mazzini lost the friend of his youth, Jacopo Ruffini, and the loss
+bowed him with a sense of calamity too heavy to be borne.  He had to
+remind himself that sacrifice was needful, and advance the preparations
+for a new attack under General Ramolino, who had {190} served Napoleon.
+He was in exile at Geneva, and chose Savoy as the base of operations.
+The whole attempt failed miserably, and hardly a shot was fired.
+
+Even the refuge in Switzerland was lost after this rising.  He fled
+from house to house, hunted and despairing with the curses of former
+allies in his ears now that he had brought distress upon them.  He
+could not even get books as a solace for his weary mind, and clothes
+and money were difficult to obtain since his friends knew how
+importunate was Young Italy in demands, and how easily he yielded to
+the beggar.  Bitterness came to him, threatening to mar his fine nature
+and depriving him of courage.  Italy had sunk into apathy again, and he
+knew not how to rouse her.  He bowed his head and asked pardon of God
+because he had dared to sacrifice in that last effort the lives of many
+others.
+
+Mazzini rose again, resolved to do without friends and kindred, if duty
+should forbid those consolations.  He thought of the lives of Juvenal,
+urging the Roman to ask for "the soul that has no fear of death and
+that endures life's pain and labour calmly."  He gave up dreams of love
+and ambition for himself, feeling that the only way for Italy to
+succeed was to place religion before politics.  The eighteenth century
+had rebelled for rights and selfish interests, and the nineteenth
+century was preparing to follow the same teaching.  Rights would not
+help to create the ideal government of Mazzini.  Men fought for the
+right to worship, and sometimes cared not to use the privilege when
+they had obtained it.  Men demanded votes and sold them, after making
+an heroic struggle.
+
+In 1837, London received the exiles who could find no welcome
+elsewhere.  The fog and squalor of the {191} city offered a dreary
+prospect to patriots from a land of sun and colour.  Poverty cut them
+off from companionship with their equals.  Mazzini was content to live
+on rice and potatoes, but the brothers Ruffini had moments of reaction.
+The joint household suffered from an invasion of needy exiles.  There
+were quarrels and visits to the pawnshops.  Debt and the difficulty of
+earning money added a sordid element.
+
+Mazzini made some friends when the Ruffinis left England.  He knew
+Carlyle, the great historian, and visited his house frequently.  The
+two men differed on many points, but "served the same god" in
+essentials.  Carlyle had an admiration for the despot, while the
+Italian loathed tyranny.  There was hot debate in the drawing-room
+where the exile talked of freedom, blissfully unconscious that his wet
+boots were spoiling his host's carpet!  There were sublime discussions
+of the seer Dante, after which Carlyle would dismiss his guest in haste
+because he longed to return to his own study.
+
+The prophet had lost his vision but it came back to him, working among
+the wretched little peasants, brought from Italy to be exploited by the
+organ-grinders.  He taught the boys himself and found friends to tend
+them.  Grisi, the famed singer, would help to earn money for the school
+in Hatton Garden.
+
+To reach the working classes had become the great aspiration of
+Mazzini.  "Italy of the People" was the phrase he loved henceforward.
+He roused popular sympathy by a new paper which he edited, the
+_Apostolato Popolare_.  It served a definite end in rousing the spirit
+that was abroad, clamouring for nationalism.
+
+Revolution broke out in 1847 when Sicily threw off the Bourbon yoke,
+and Naples obtained a constitution {192} from King Ferdinand.  The
+Romans followed their lead, and Piedmont and Tuscany were not
+behindhand.  Joyful news came from Vienna, announcing Metternich driven
+from his seat of power.  One by one this minister's Italian puppets
+fell, surrendering weakly to the will of a triumphant people, and Italy
+could wave the flag "God and the People" everywhere save in the
+Austrian provinces and their dependent duchies.
+
+Mazzini returned to learn that he was regarded as the noble teacher of
+the patriotism which inspired the peninsula.  The years of loneliness
+and sorrow receded from his memory in that glad and glorious moment
+when he entered liberated Milan, borne in a victorious procession.
+Armies were gathering for the final tussle which should conclude the
+triumph of the first revolt.  Class prejudices were forgotten in the
+great crusade to free a nation.  Charles Albert led them, having taken
+his side at last; but he had no power to withstand the force of
+Austria, and he was forced to his knees while Northern Italy endured
+the humiliation of surrender.
+
+Mazzini carried the flag for Garibaldi in the vain hope that the
+victory of the people might atone for the conquest of the princes.  He
+went to Rome to witness her building of a new Republic.  It had long
+been in his mind that the Eternal City might become the centre of
+united Italy.  He felt a deep sense of awe as he received the honour of
+being made a Triumvir.  No party-spirit should guide the Republic while
+he held power as a ruler, no war of classes should divide the city.
+Long cherished ideals found him true, and inspired those who shared the
+government.  Priests were glad to be acquitted from the tyrannous power
+{193} of a Pope who had now been driven from the city.  Some of the
+more zealous would have given up the observances of the Roman Catholic
+religion, but Mazzini was in favour of continuing the services.  He
+would not have confessional-boxes burnt, since confession had relieved
+the souls of believers.
+
+In private life, the Triumvir clung to simplicity that he might set an
+example in refusing to be separated from the working classes.  He dined
+very frugally, and chose the smallest room in the Quirinal for his
+dwelling.  He gave audience to any who sought him, and gave away
+strength and energy with the same generous spirit that inspired him to
+spend the modest salary attached to his office on his poorer brethren.
+He was bent on showing the strength of a Republic to all European
+cities that strove for the same freedom.
+
+The Pope tried to regain his authority, and found an ally in Louis
+Napoleon, a nephew of the great Emperor, who became president of the
+Republic which expelled the Citizen-King of France.  Louis was anxious
+to conciliate the French army and clergy.  He besieged Rome with an
+army of 85,000 men, and met with a brave resistance.
+
+There were famous names in the list of Roman defenders--Mameli, the
+war-poet, and Ugo Bassi, the great preacher, fought under Garibaldi,
+the leader of the future.  Mazzini cried out on them that surrender was
+not for them.  "Monarchies may capitulate, republics die and bear their
+testimony even to martyrdom."
+
+On July 3rd, 1849, Rome fell before overwhelming numbers, though the
+conquerors were afraid to face the sullen foes who opposed them at the
+very gates of the doomed Republican stronghold.  The prophet lingered
+{194} in the streets where he would have kept the flag flying which had
+been lowered by the Assembly.  He was grey with the fierce endurance of
+the two months' siege, but his heart bade him not desert his post from
+any fear of death.  Secretly he longed for the assassin's knife, for
+then he would have shed the blood of sacrifice for the cause of
+patriotism.
+
+
+
+
+{195}
+
+Chapter XVII
+
+"For Italy and Victor Emmanuel!"
+
+The year of Revolution, beginning with most glorious hopes, ended
+disastrously for the Italian patriots.  Princes had allied with
+peasants in eager furtherance of the cause of freedom but defeat took
+away their faith.  The soldiers lost belief in the leaders of the
+movement and belief, alas! in the ideals for which they had been
+fighting.
+
+Charles Albert, the King of Sardinia, continued to struggle on alone
+when adversities had deprived his most faithful partisans of their zeal
+for fighting.  He had once been uncertain and vacillating in mind, but
+he became staunch in his later days and able to reply courageously to
+the charges which his enemies brought against him.  He mustered some
+80,000 men and put them under Polish leaders--a grave mistake, since
+the soldiers were prejudiced by the strange foreign aspect of their
+officers and began the war without enthusiasm for their generals.
+
+Field-Marshal Radetsky, a redoubtable enemy, only brought the same
+numbers to the field, but he had the advantage of being known as a
+conquering hero.  His cry was "To Turin!" but the bold Piedmontese
+rallied to defend their town and spread the news of joyful victory
+throughout the Italian peninsula.  Other {196} defenders of liberty
+dared to raise their heads now, thought once more of Italy free and
+united.
+
+At the battle of Novara, fought on an April morning of 1849, the King
+of Sardinia gave up his throne, and longed for death that he might make
+some tardy recompense for the failure of his attempt to withstand the
+power of Austria.  "Let me die, this is my last day," he said when
+officers and men would have saved him from the fate of the 4000
+Sardinians who lay dead and wounded.  He was not suffered to meet death
+but rode away, pointing to his son Victor Emmanuel II as he left his
+army.  "There is your King!" he said, resigning all claim to royalty
+now that he had met defeat.  He promised that he would serve in the
+ranks as a private soldier if Italian troops made war again on Austria.
+
+After the disgrace of Novara and the flight from Rome it seemed that
+Mazzini could do nothing more for the cause of patriotism he had served
+so nobly.  He had given up hope of a great Italian Republic, and saw
+that men's hearts were turned toward the young King Victor and the
+monarchy.
+
+Yet Garibaldi, the soldier of fortune, had not renounced the
+aspirations of Mazzini, a leader to whom he had always been devoted.
+"When I was young I had only aspirations," he said.  "I sought out a
+man who could give me counsel and guide my youthful years; I sought him
+as the thirsty man seeks water.  This man I found; he alone kept alive
+the sacred fire; he alone watched while all the world slept; he has
+always remained my friend, full of love for his country, full of
+devotion for the cause of freedom: this man is Joseph Mazzini."
+
+The worship of the prophet had led the gallant, {197} daring sailor
+into hairbreadth escapes and strange vicissitudes of fortune.  He had
+been sentenced to death as "an enemy of the State and liable to all the
+penalties of a brigand of the first category."  He had fled to South
+America and ridden over the untrodden pampas, tasting the wild life of
+Nature with a keen enjoyment.  He had been a commander in the navy, and
+had defended Monte Video.  He had been imprisoned and tortured, and had
+taken Anita, daughter of Don Benito Riverio de Silva of Laguna to be
+his wife and the companion of his adventures.
+
+Garibaldi could not afford even the priest's marriage fees for his life
+was always one of penury, so he gave him an old silver watch.  When he
+was Head of the Italian Legion he was content to sit in the dark,
+because he discovered that candles were not served out to the common
+soldiers.  The red shirts of his following had been bought originally
+for their cheapness, being intended for the use of men employed in the
+great cattle-markets of the Argentine.  The sordid origin of the
+_Camicia Rossa_ was soon forgotten as it became the badge of honour.
+Its fame was sung in many foreign lands, and it generally figured in
+pictures of Garibaldi.
+
+The Legion created some alarm in Rome as they appeared--men with their
+dark faces surmounted by peaked hats and waving plumes.  Garibaldi
+himself rode on a white horse and attracted favourable notice, for he
+was a gallant horseman and his red shirt became him no less than the
+jaunty cap with its golden ornaments.  Three thousand men accepted the
+offer which the chief made when there was news that the French were
+advancing to the city.  He did not promise them gold nor distinction,
+but a chance of meeting {198} their ancient enemy of Austria.  Cold and
+hunger would be theirs, and the weariness of constant marches.  Death
+would be the lot of many in their ranks, the cruel tortures of their
+gaolers.  All men were outlaws who had defended Rome, the Republic, to
+the last, and bread and water might be refused to them within the
+confines of their country.
+
+The cry for war sounded, and Garibaldi led three thousand men,
+including Ugo Bassi and the noblest of knight-errants.  The attempt to
+reach Venice was frustrated by a storm, and Anita died miserably in a
+peasant's cottage, where she was dragged for shelter.  Garibaldi fled
+to the United States, and never saw again many of his bold companions.
+Venice was left of dire necessity to defend herself from Austria.  She
+had sworn to resist to the last, and President Manin refused to
+surrender even when cholera came upon the town and the citizens were
+famished.  He appealed to England, but only got advice to make terms
+with the besiegers.  He capitulated in the end because the town was
+bombarded by the Austrian army, and he feared that the conquerors would
+exercise a fell vengeance if the city still resisted.  There was
+nothing left to eat after the eighteen months' siege of Venice.  Manin
+left for Marseilles, mourned bitterly by the Venetians.  His very
+door-step was broken by the Austrians, who found his name upon it.  Ugo
+Bassi had kissed it, voicing the sentiment of many.  "Next to God and
+Italy--before the Pope--Manin!"
+
+Victor Emmanuel, the young King of Sardinia, had won no such
+popularity, suffering from the prejudice against his family, the House
+of Savoy, and against his wife, an Austrian by birth.  He came to the
+throne at a dark time, succeeding to a royal inheritance of {199} ruin
+and misery.  The army had been disgraced, and the exchequer was empty.
+He had the dignity of a king and remarkable boldness, but it would have
+been hard for him to have guided Italy without his adviser and friend,
+the Count Cavour.
+
+Mazzini, the prophet, and Garibaldi, the soldier, had won the hearts of
+Italians devoted to the cause of Italy.  Cavour suffered the same
+distrust as Victor Emmanuel, but he knew his task and performed it.  He
+was the statesman who made the government and created the present
+stable monarchy.  He had to be satisfied with less than the Republican
+enthusiasts.  He had few illusions, and believed that in politics it
+was possible to choose the end but rarely possible to choose the means.
+
+Born in Piedmont in 1810, the statesman was of noble birth and
+sufficient wealth, being a godson of Pauline, sister of the great
+Napoleon.  He joined the army as an engineer in 1828, but found the
+life little to his taste since he was not allowed to express his
+opinions freely.  He resigned in 1831 and retired to the country, where
+he was successful as a farmer.  He travelled extensively for those
+days, and visited England, where he studied social problems.
+
+Of all foreigners, Cavour, perhaps, benefited most largely by a study
+of the English Parliament from the outside.  He was present at debates,
+and wrote articles on Free Trade and the English Poor Law.  He had
+enlightened views, and wished to promote the interests of Italy by
+raising her to the position of a power in Europe.  He set to work to
+bring order into the finances of Sardinia, but the King recognized his
+minister's unpopularity by the nickname _bestia neira_.  He had a seat
+in 1848 in the first Parliament of {200} Piedmont, and was Minister of
+Commerce and Agriculture later.  He pushed on reforms to benefit the
+trade and industries of Italy without troubling to consult the
+democrats, his enemies.  His policy was liberal, but he intended to go
+slowly.  "Piedmont must begin by raising herself, by re-establishing in
+Europe as well as in Italy, a position and a credit equal to her
+ambition.  Hence there must be a policy unswerving in its aims but
+flexible and various as to the means employed."  Cavour's character was
+summed up in these words.  He distrusted violent measures, and yet
+could act with seeming rashness in a crisis when prudence would mean
+failure.
+
+Prime Minister in 1852, he saw an opportunity two years later of
+winning fame for Piedmont.  The Russians were resisting the western
+powers which defended the dominions of the Porte.  Ministers resigned
+and the country marvelled, but Cavour signed a pledge to send forces of
+15,000 men to the Crimea to help Turkey against Russia.  It would be
+well to prove that Italy retained the military virtues of her history
+after the defeat of Novara, he said in reply to all expostulations.
+The result showed the statesman's wisdom and justified his daring.  The
+Sardinians distinguished themselves in the Crimea, and Italy was able
+to enter into negotiations with the great European powers who arranged
+the Peace of Paris.
+
+The Congress of Paris was the time for Cavour to gain sympathy for the
+woes of Italian states, still subject to the tyrannous sway of Austria.
+He denounced the enslavement of Naples also, and brought odium upon
+King Ferdinand, but "Austria," he said, "is the arch-enemy of Italian
+independence; the {201} permanent danger to the only free nation in
+Italy, the nation I have the honour to represent."
+
+England confined herself to expressions of sympathy, but Louis
+Napoleon, now Emperor of France, seemed likely to become an ally.  He
+met Cavour at Plombières, a watering place in the Vosges, in July 1858,
+and entered into a formal compact to expel the Austrians from Italy.
+The final arrangements were made in the following spring in Paris.  "It
+is done," said Cavour, the minister triumphant.  "We have made some
+history, and now to dinner."
+
+Mazzini, in England, read of the alliance with gloomy misgivings, for,
+as a Republican, he distrusted the President of France who had made
+himself an Emperor.  He said that Napoleon III would work now for his
+own ends.  He protested in vain.  Garibaldi rejoiced and returned from
+Caprera, where he had been trying to plant a garden on a barren island.
+
+Cavour fought against some prejudice when he offered to enrol Garibaldi
+and his followers in the army of Sardinia.  Charles Albert had refused
+the hero's sword in the days of his bitter struggle, and the regular
+officers still looked askance on the Revolutionary captain.
+
+But the Austrian troops were countless, numbering recruits from the
+Tyrol and Bohemia, from the valleys of Styria and the Hungarian
+steppes.  There was need of a vast army to oppose them.  The French
+soldiers fought gallantly, yet they were inferior to the Austrians in
+discipline.  When the allies had won the hard contested fight of
+Montebello it was good to think of that band of 3000, singing as they
+marched, "_Addio mia bella, addio_," like the knights of legend.  They
+crossed Lake Maggiore into the enemy's own {202} country, and took all
+the district of the Lowland Lakes.
+
+In June, the allies won the victory of Magenta, and on the 8th of that
+month, King and Emperor entered Milan flushed with victory.  The
+Austrians had fled, and the keys of the city were in the possession of
+Victor Emmanuel.
+
+The Emperor of Austria, Francis Joseph, had assumed command of the army
+when the great battle of Solferino was fought amidst the wondrous
+beauty of Italian scenery in an Italian summer.  It was June 24th, and
+the peasant reaped the harvest of Lombardy, wondering if he should reap
+for the conqueror the next day.  The French officers won great glory as
+they charged up the hills, which must be taken before they could
+succeed in storming Solferino.  After a fierce struggle of six hours,
+the streets of the little town were filled with the bodies of the dead
+and dying.  By the evening, the victory of the allies over Austria was
+certain.
+
+Napoleon III had kept his promise to the Italian people, who were
+encouraged by a success of the Piedmontese army under Victor Emmanuel
+at San Martino.  But he disappointed them cruelly by stopping short in
+his victorious career and sending General Fleury to the Austrian camp
+to demand an armistice.  Europe was amazed when the preliminaries of
+peace were signed, for it was generally expected that Austria would be
+brought to submission.  Italy was in despair, for Venetia had not yet
+been won for them.
+
+Cavour raged with fury, regretting that he had trusted Napoleon and
+trusted his King, Victor Emmanuel, who agreed to the proposals for an
+armistice.  Now he heaped them with reproaches because they had {203}
+given up the Italian cause.  He resigned office in bitterness for it
+was he who had concluded the alliance of France and Italy.
+
+Napoleon returned to France, pursued by the indignation of the country
+he had come to deliver.  He complained of their ingratitude, though he
+might have known that Lombardy would not accept freedom at the cost of
+Venice.  He was execrated when the price of his assistance was
+demanded.  France claimed Nice and Savoy as French provinces
+henceforth.  Savoy was the country of Victor Emmanuel, and Nice the
+honoured birthplace of the idolized Garibaldi!
+
+Garibaldi was chosen by the people of Nice for the new Chamber of 1860,
+for they hoped that he would make an effort to save his native town.
+He had some idea of raising a revolution against French rule, but
+decided to free Sicily as a mightier enterprise.  Victor Emmanuel
+completed the sacrifice which gave "the cradle of his race" to the
+foreigner.  He was reconciled to the cession at length because he
+believed that Italy had gained much already.
+
+Cavour did not openly approve of the attack which Garibaldi was
+preparing to make upon the Bourbon's sovereignty.  Many said that he
+did his best to frustrate the plans of the soldier because there was
+hostility between them.  Garibaldi could not forgive the cession of
+Nice to which the statesmen had, ere this, assented.  He was bitter in
+his feeling toward Victor Emmanuel's minister, but he was loyal to
+Victor Emmanuel.  His band of volunteers, known as the Thousand,
+marched in the King's name, and the chief refused to enrol those whose
+Republican sentiments made them dislike the idea of Italian unity.
+"Italy and Victor Emmanuel," {204} the cry of the Hunters of the Alps,
+was the avowed object of his enterprise.
+
+Garibaldi sailed amid intense excitement, proudly promising "a new and
+glorious jewel" to the King of Sardinia, if the venture were
+successful.  The standard of revolt had already been raised by Rosaline
+Pilo, the handsome Sicilian noble, whose whole life had been devoted to
+the cause of country.  The insurgents awaited Garibaldi with a feverish
+desire for success against the Neapolitan army, which numbered 150,000
+men.  They knew that the leader brought only few soldiers but that they
+were picked men.  Strange stories had been told of Garibaldi's success
+in warfare, being due to supernatural intervention.  The prayers of his
+beautiful old peasant-mother were said to have prevailed till her
+death, when her spirit came to hold converse with the hero before
+battle.
+
+[Illustration: The Meeting of Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi (Pietro
+Aldi)]
+
+The Red-shirts landed at Marsala, a thousand strong, packed into
+merchant vessels by a patriotic owner.  Garibaldi led them to the
+mountain city of Salemi, which had opposed the Bourbon dynasty warmly.
+There he proclaimed himself dictator of Sicily in the name of Victor
+Emmanuel, soon to be ruler of all Italy.  Peasants joined the Thousand,
+armed with rusty pistols and clad in picturesque goat-skins.  They were
+received with honour by the chief, who was pleased to see that Sicily
+was bent on freedom.  A Franciscan friar threw himself upon his knees
+before the mighty leader and asked to join the expedition.  "Come with
+us, you will be our Ugo Bassi," Garibaldi said, remembering with a pang
+the defence of Rome and the fate of the defenders.
+
+At Palermo, the capital of Sicily, the Neapolitan soldiers were
+awaiting the arrival of the Thousand.  They ventured to attack first,
+being very strong in {205} numbers.  The bravest might have feared to
+oppose the royal troops with such a disadvantage, but Garibaldi held
+firm when there were murmurs of surrender.  "Here we _die_," he said,
+and the great miracle was accomplished.  "Yesterday we fought and
+conquered," the chief wrote to the almost despairing Pilo.  The two
+forces joined and Pilo fell, struck by a bullet.  It was May 27th when
+Garibaldi entered the gates of Palermo.
+
+The bells were hammered by the inhabitants, delighted to welcome the
+brave Thousand to their city.  There was still a fierce struggle within
+the walls, and the Neapolitan fleet bombarded the town.  An armistice
+was granted on May 30th, for the Royalists needed food and did not
+realize that Garibaldi's ammunition was exhausted.  He refused to
+submit to any humiliating terms that might be offered to Palermo.  He
+threatened to renew hostilities if the enemy still thought of them.
+All declared for war, though they knew how such a war must have ended.
+It was by the Royalists' act that the evacuation of the city was
+concluded.
+
+The Revolution had succeeded elsewhere, and for the last time the
+Bourbon flag was hoisted in Sicilian waters.  The conquest of Sicily
+had occupied but a few days.  The Dictator proceeded thence to the
+south of Italy and advanced on the Neapolitan kingdom.
+
+Victor Emmanuel would have checked the hero of Palermo, and Cavour was
+thoroughly uneasy.  No official consent had been given for this daring
+act of aggression, and foreign powers wrote letters of protest, while
+King Francis II, the successor of Ferdinand, held out such bribes as
+fifty million francs and the Neapolitan navy to aid in liberating
+Venice.  France induced the King of Sardinia to make an effort to
+restrain the {206} popular soldier.  Garibaldi promised Victor Emmanuel
+to obey him when he had made him King of Italy.
+
+At Volturno the decisive battle was fought on the first day of October
+1860, the birthday of King Francis.  "Victory all along the line" was
+the message sent by Garibaldi to Naples after ten hours' fighting.
+There had been grave fears expressed by Cavour that the army would
+march on Rome and expel the French after this conclusion.  But the King
+was advancing toward the south of Italy to prevent any move which would
+provoke France, and Garibaldi, marching north, dismounted from his
+horse when he met the Piedmontese, and walking up to Victor Emmanuel,
+hailed him King of Italy.  Naples and Sicily, with Umbria and the
+Marches, decided in favour of a united sceptre under the House of
+Savoy.  It was Garibaldi's proclamation to the people which urged them
+to receive the new King with peace and affection.  "No more political
+colours, no more parties, no more discords," he hoped there would be
+from the 7th of November, 1860.  It was on that day that the king-maker
+and the King together entered Naples.  Garibaldi refused all the
+honours which his sword had won, and left for his island-home at
+Caprera, a poor man still, but one whose name could stir all Europe.
+
+The Italian kingdom was proclaimed by the new Parliament which met in
+February 1861, at Turin.  All parts of Italy were represented save Rome
+and Venice, and King Victor Emmanuel II entered on his reign as ruler
+of Italy "by the Grace of God and the will of the nation."
+
+
+
+
+{207}
+
+Chapter XVIII
+
+The Third Napoleon
+
+Italy was free, but Italy was not yet united as patriots such as
+Garibaldi had hoped that it might be.  Venice and Rome must be added to
+the possessions of Victor Emmanuel before he could boast that he held
+beneath his sway all Italy between the Alps and Adriatic.
+
+Rome, the dream of heroes, was in the power of a Pope who had to be
+maintained in his authority by a garrison of the French.  Napoleon III
+clung to his alliance with the Catholic Church, and refused to withdraw
+his troops and leave his Papal ally defenceless, for he cared nothing
+about the views of Italian dreamers who longed that the Eternal City
+should be free.
+
+There was romance in the life-story of this French Emperor upon whose
+support so many allies had come to depend.  He was the son of Louis
+Buonaparte and Hortense Beauharnais, who was the daughter of the
+Empress Josephine.  During the reign of Louis Philippe, this nephew of
+the great usurper had spent his time in dreary exile, living in London
+for the most part, and concealing a character of much ambition beneath
+a moody silent manner.  He visited France in 1840 and tried to gain the
+throne, but was unsuccessful, for he was committed to the fortress of
+Ham, a state prison.  He escaped in the disguise of a workman, and made
+a second {208} attempt to stir the mob of Paris to revolution in the
+year 1848, when Europe was restless with fierce discontent.  The King
+fled for his life, and a Republic was formed again with Louis Napoleon
+as President, but this did not satisfy a descendant of the great
+Buonaparte.  He managed by the help of the army to gain the Imperial
+crown, never worn by the second Napoleon, who died when he was still
+too young to show whether he possessed the characteristics of his
+family.  Henceforth Napoleon III of France could no longer be regarded
+as a mere adventurer.  The Pope had come to depend on French troops for
+his authority, and the Italians had to pay a heavy price for French
+arms in their struggle against Austria.
+
+Paris renewed its gaiety when Napoleon married his beautiful Spanish
+wife, Eugénie, who had royal pride though she was not of royal birth.
+There were hunting parties again, when the huntsmen wore brave green
+and scarlet instead of the Bourbon blue and silver; there were court
+fêtes, which made the entertainments of Louis Philippe, the honest
+Citizen-King, seem very dull in retrospect.  The Spanish Empress longed
+to rival the fame of Marie Antoinette, the Austrian wife of Louis XVI
+who had followed that King to the scaffold.  Like Marie Antoinette, she
+was censured for extravagances, the marriage being unpopular with all
+classes.  The bourgeoisie or middle class refused to accept the
+Emperor's plea that it was better to mate with a foreigner of ordinary
+rank than to attempt to aggrandize the new empire by union with the
+daughter of some despotic king.
+
+Yet France amused herself eagerly at the famous fêtes and hunts of
+Compiègne, while the third Napoleon craftily began to develop his
+scheme for obtaining {209} influence in Europe that should make him as
+great a man as the Corsican whom all had dreaded.  The Emperor's
+insignificant appearance deceived many of his compeers, who were
+inclined to look on him as a ruler who would be content to take a
+subordinate place in international affairs.  He dressed in odd,
+startling colours, and moved awkwardly; his eyes were strangely
+impenetrable, and he seemed listless and indifferent, even when he was
+meditating some subtle plan with which to startle Europe.
+
+Dark stories were told of the part Napoleon played in the Crimean War,
+when Turkey demanded help against Russia, which was crippling her army
+and her fleet.  Many suspected that the French Emperor used England as
+his catspaw, and saw that the English troops bore the brunt of all the
+terrible disasters which befell the invaders of the south of Russia.
+Alma, Balaclava, and Inkerman were victories ever memorable, because
+the heroes of those battles had to fight against more sinister foes
+than the Russian troops they defeated in the field.  Stores of food and
+clothes were delayed too long before they reached the exhausted
+soldiers, and there was suspicion of unjust favour shown to the French
+soldiers when their English allies sought a healthy camping-ground.
+The war ended in 1855 with the fall of Sebastopol, and it was notable
+afterwards that the Napoleonic splendour increased vastly, that the
+sham royalty seemed resolved to entertain the royal visitors who had
+once looked askance at him.
+
+France began to believe that no further Revolution could disturb the
+Second Empire, which was secure in pride at least.  Yet Austria was
+crushed by Prussia at the great battle of Sadowa in 1866, and the
+Prussian state was advancing rapidly under the government of {210} a
+capable minister and king.  There were few Frenchmen who had realized
+the importance of King Wilhelm's act when he summoned Herr Otto von
+Bismarck from his Pomeranian estates to be his chief political adviser.
+The fast increasing strength of the Prussian forces did not
+sufficiently impress Napoleon, who had embarked on a foolish expedition
+to Mexico to place an Austrian archduke on the throne, once held by the
+ancient Montezumas.  The news of Sadowa wrung "a cry of agony" from his
+court of the Tuileries, where everyone had confidently expected the
+victory of Austria.  Napoleon might have arbitrated between the two
+countries, but he let the golden opportunity slip by in one of those
+half-sullen passive moods which came upon him when he felt the
+depression of his bodily weakness.  Prussia began to lay the foundation
+of German unity, excluding Austria from her territory.
+
+Napoleon handed over Venice to Italy when it was ceded to him at the
+close of the Austrian war, and Garibaldi followed up this cession by an
+attempt on Rome, which he resolved should be the capital of Italy.  He
+defeated the Papal troops at Monte Rotondo, which commanded Rome on the
+north, but he was defeated by French troops at the battle of Mentana.
+The repulse of the Italian hero increased the national dislike of
+French interference, but Napoleon only consented to evacuate Rome in
+1870 when he had need of all his soldiers to carry out his boast that
+he would "chastise the insolence of the King of Prussia."
+
+The Franco-Prussian War arose nominally from the quarrel about the
+throne of Spain, to which a prince of the Hohenzollern house had put in
+a claim, first obtaining permission from Wilhelm I to accept the
+dignity.  This prince, Leopold, was not a member of the Prussian {211}
+royal family, but he was a Prussian subject and a distant kinsman of
+the Kaiser.  It was quite natural, therefore, that he should ask the
+royal sanction for his act and quite natural that Wilhelm should give
+it his approval if Spain made the offer of the crown.
+
+Napoleon sought some cause of difference with Prussia, because Bismarck
+had refused to help him to win Belgium and Luxemburg in 1869.  He was
+jealous of this new military power, for his own fame was far
+outstripped by the feats of arms accomplished by the forces of General
+von Moltke, the Prussian general.  He thought that war against his
+rival might help him to regain the admiration of the French.  They were
+humiliated by the failure of the Mexican design and saw fresh danger
+for their country in Italian unity and the new confederation of North
+Germany.
+
+Napoleon, racked by disease, might have checked his own ambition if his
+Empress had not been too eager for a war.  He was misled by Marshal
+Leboeuf into fancying that his own army was efficient enough to
+undertake any military campaign.  He allowed his Cabinet to demand from
+Wilhelm I that Prince Leopold's claim to the Spanish crown, which had
+been withdrawn, should never be renewed by the sanction of Prussia at
+least.  The unreasonable demand was refused, and France declared war in
+July 1870, eighteen years after the new empire had risen on the ruins
+of the Republic of the French.
+
+The other European powers would not enter this war, though England
+offered to mediate between the rival powers.  France and Prussia had to
+test the strength of their armies without allies, and neither thought
+how terrible the cost would be of that long national jealousy.
+Napoleon took the field himself, leaving Eugénie as {212} Regent of the
+French, and the King of Prussia led his own army with General Von
+Moltke and General Von Roon in command.
+
+The French army invaded South Germany, but had to retreat in disorder
+after the battle of Worth.  The battle of Sedan on September 1st, 1870,
+brought the war to a conclusion, the French being routed and forced to
+lay down their arms.  Napoleon had fought with courage, but was obliged
+to surrender his sword to Wilhelm I upon the battlefield.  He declared
+that he gave up his person only, but France herself was forced to yield
+after the capitulation of Metz, which had resisted Prussia stoutly.
+The Empress had fled to England and the Emperor had been deposed.
+France was once more a Republic when the siege of Paris was begun.
+
+The citizens showed strange insensibility to the danger that they ran,
+for they asserted that the Germans dared not invest the town.
+Nevertheless, Parisians drilled and armed with vigour as Prussian
+shells burst outside the walls and the clang of bells replaced the
+sounds of mirth that were habitual to Paris.  Theatres were closed, to
+the dismay of the frivolous, whom no alarm of war would turn from their
+ordinary pursuits.  The Opera House became a barracks, for the camps
+could not hold the crowds that flocked there from the provinces.
+
+Still many ridiculed the idea of investment by the Prussian troops, and
+householders did not prepare for the famine that came on them unawares.
+People supped in gaily-lighted cafés and took their substantial meals
+without thought of the morrow.  There were fewer women in the streets
+and the workmen carried rifles, but the shops were still attractive in
+their wares.  The fear of spies occupied men's thoughts rather than
+{213} the fear of hunger--a foreign accent was suspicious enough to
+cause arrest!  There were few Englishmen in the capital, but those few
+ran the risk of being mistaken for Prussians, since the lower classes
+did not distinguish between foreigners.
+
+Paris was invested on September 19th, 1870, and the citizens had
+experienced terrible want.  In October Wilhelm established his
+headquarters at Versailles, part of the French Government going to
+Tours.  Gambetta, the new minister, made every effort to secure help
+for France.  He departed from Paris in a balloon, and carrier pigeons
+were sent in the same way to take news to the provinces and bring back
+offers of assistance.  Strange expedients for food had been proposed
+already, and all supplies were very dear.  Horseflesh was declared to
+be nutritious, and scientists demonstrated the valuable properties of
+gelatine.  Housewives pored over cookery-books to seek for ways of
+using what material they had when beef and butter failed.  A learned
+professor taught them how to grow salads and asparagus on the balconies
+in front of windows.  The seed-shops were stormed by enthusiasts who
+took kindly to this new idea.
+
+Gambetta's ascent in the balloon relieved anxiety for a time, because
+every Parisian expected that help would come.  But soon gas could not
+be spared to inflate balloons and sturdy messengers were in request who
+dared brave the Prussian lines.  Sheep-dogs were sent out as carriers
+after several attempts had been frustrated, but the Prussian sentries
+seized the animals, and pigeons were soon the only means of
+communication with the provinces.
+
+The Parisians clamoured for the theatres to be opened, though they felt
+the pangs of hunger now.  They {214} retorted readily when there was
+some speech of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.  Their city was not yet
+on fire, they said, and Napoleon, the Nero of the catastrophe, could
+not fiddle because he had no ear for music!  The Cirque National was
+opened on October 23rd, though fuel was running short and the cold
+weather would soon come.
+
+In winter prices rose for food that the fastidious had rejected earlier
+in the siege.  A rat cost a franc, and eggs were sold at 80 francs the
+dozen.  Beef and mutton had disappeared entirely from the stalls, and
+butter reached the price of fifty francs the demi-kilogramme.  The poor
+suffered horrible privations, and many children died from the effect of
+bread soaked in wine, for milk was a ridiculous price.  Nevertheless,
+four hundred marriages were celebrated, and Paris did not talk of
+surrender to their Prussian foes.
+
+Through October and November poultry shops displayed an occasional
+goose or pigeon, but the sight of a turkey caused a crowd to collect,
+and everyone envied those who could afford to purchase rabbits even
+though they paid no less than 50 francs.  Soon dogs and cats were
+rarely seen in Paris, and bear's flesh was sold and eaten with avidity.
+At Christmas and New Year very few shops displayed the usual gifts, for
+German toys were not popular at the festive season and the children of
+the siege talked mournfully of their "New Year's Day without the New
+Year's gifts."
+
+Shells crashed into houses in January of 1871, an event most startling
+to Parisians, who had expected a formal summons to surrender before
+such acts took place.  After the first shock of surprise there was no
+shriek of fear.  Capitulation was negotiated on January 26th, not on
+account of this new danger, but {215} because there was no longer bread
+for the citizens to buy.
+
+Gambetta resisted to the last, but his dictatorship was ended, and a
+National Assembly at Bordeaux elected M. Thiers their president.  By
+the treaty of Frankfort, signed in May 1871, France ceded Alsace and
+Lorraine to Prussia, together with the forts of Metz, Longwy and
+Thionville.  She had also to pay a war indemnity of 200,000,000 pounds
+sterling.  By the exertions of Bismarck, the imperial crown was placed
+upon the head of Wilhelm I, and the conqueror of France was hailed as
+Emperor of United Germany in the Great Hall of Mirrors at Versailles by
+representatives of the leading European states.  The German troops were
+withdrawn from Paris, where civil war raged for some six weeks, the
+great buildings of the city being burned to the ground.
+
+Europe was satisfied that united Germany should take the place of
+Imperial France, whose policy had been purely personal and selfish
+since its first foundation in 1852.  The fall of Napoleon III caused
+little regret at any court, for he had all the unscrupulous ambition of
+his mighty predecessor, without the genius of the First Napoleon.
+
+
+
+
+{216}
+
+Chapter XIX
+
+The Reformer of the East
+
+Italy had won unity after a gallant struggle, and Greece some fifty
+years before revolted from the barbarous Turks and became an
+independent kingdom.  The traditions of the past had helped these,
+since volunteers remembered times when art and beauty had dwelt upon
+the shores of the tideless Mediterranean.  Song and romance haloed the
+name of Kossuth's race when the patriot rose to free Hungary from the
+harsh tyranny of Austria.  General sympathy with the revolutionary
+spirit was abroad in 1848, when the tyrant Metternich resigned and
+acknowledged that the day of absolutism was over.
+
+It was otherwise with the revolting Poles, who dwelt too far from the
+nations of the West to rouse their passionate sympathies.  France
+promised to help their cause, but failed them in the hour of peril.
+Poland made a desperate struggle to assert her independence in 1830,
+when Nicholas the Autocrat was reigning over Russia.  The Poles entered
+Lithuania, which they would have reunited with their ancient kingdom,
+but were completely defeated, losing Warsaw, their capital, and their
+Church and language, as well as their own administration.
+
+Under Nicholas I, a ruler devoted to the military power of his Empire,
+there was little chance of freedom.  He had himself no love of the West
+and the bold reforms {217} which might bring him enlightened and
+discontented subjects.  He crushed into abject submission all opposed
+to his authority.  The blunt soldier would cling obstinately to the
+ancient Muscovy of Peter.  He shut his eyes to the passing of
+absolutism in Europe and died, as he had reigned, the protector of the
+Orthodox Church of Russia, the sworn foe of revolutionaries.
+
+Alexander II succeeded his father while the Crimean war was distracting
+the East by new problems and new warfare.  Christian allies fought for
+the Infidel, and France and England declared themselves to be on the
+side of Turkey.
+
+At the famous siege of Sebastopol, a young Russian officer was fighting
+for promotion.  He wrote vivid descriptions of the battle-fields and
+armies.  He wrote satirical verses on the part played by his own
+country.  Count Leo Tolstoy was only a sub-lieutenant who had lived
+gaily at the University of Kazan and shared most of the views of his
+own class when he petitioned to be sent to the Crimea.  The brave
+conduct of the private soldiers fighting steadfastly, without thought
+of reward or fear of death, impressed the Count, with his knowledge of
+the self-seeking, ambitious nobles.  He began to love the peasantry he
+had seen as dim, remote shadows about his father's estate in the
+country.  There he had learnt not to treat them brutally, after the
+fashion of most landowners, but it was not till he was exposed to the
+rough life of the bastion with Alexis, a serf presented to him when he
+went to the University, that Tolstoy acquired that peculiar affection
+for the People which was not then characteristic of the Russian.
+
+After the war the young writer found that, if he had not attained any
+great rank in the army, high honours were awarded him in literature.
+Turgeniev, the veteran {218} novelist, was ready to welcome him as an
+equal.  The gifted officer was flattered and fêted to his heart's
+content before a passionate love of truth withdrew him from society.
+
+After the death of Nicholas reaction set in, as was inevitable, and
+Alexander II was eager to adopt the progress of the West.  The German
+writers began to describe the lives of humble people, and their books
+were read in other lands.  Russia followed with descriptions of life
+under natural conditions, the silence of the steppes and the solitude
+of the forest where hunter and trapper followed their pursuits far from
+society.
+
+Tolstoy set out for Germany in 1857, anxious to study social conditions
+that he might learn how to raise the hapless serfs of Russia, bound,
+patient and inarticulate, at the feet of landowners, longing for
+independence, perhaps, when they suffered any terrible act of
+injustice, but patient in the better times when there was food and
+warmth and a master of comparatively unexacting temper.
+
+Tolstoy had already written _Polikoushka_, a peasant story which
+attracted some attention.  He was in love with the words People and
+Progress, and spoke them continually, trampling upon conventions.  A
+desire to be original had been strong within him when he followed the
+usual pursuits of Russians of fashion.  He delighted in this wandering
+in unknown tracks where none had preceded him.  He was sincere, but he
+had not yet taken up his life-work.
+
+At Lucerne he was filled with bitterness against the rich visitors at a
+hotel who refused to give alms to a wandering musician.  He took the
+man to his table and offered wine for his refreshment.  The indignation
+of the other guests made him dwell still more fiercely upon {219} the
+callousness of those who neglect their poorer neighbours.  Yet the
+quixotic noble was still sumptuous in his dress and spent much time on
+the sports which had been the pastimes of his boyhood.  He nearly lost
+his life attempting to shoot a she-bear in the forest.  The beast drew
+his face into her mouth and got her teeth in the flesh near the left
+eye.  The intrepid sportsman escaped, but he bore the marks for long
+afterwards.
+
+In 1861 a new era began in Russia, and a new period in Tolstoy's life,
+which was henceforward bound up with the history of the country folk.
+Alexander II issued a decree of emancipation for the serf, and Tolstoy
+was one of the arbitrators appointed to supervise the distribution of
+the land, to arrange the taxes and decide conditions of purchase.  For
+each peasant received an allotment of land, subject for sixty years to
+a special land-tax.  In their ignorance, the serfs were likely to sell
+themselves into new slavery where the proprietors felt disposed to
+drive hard bargains.  Many landlords tried to allot land with no
+pasture, so that the rearer of cattle had to hire at an exorbitant
+rate.  There had been two ways of holding serfs before--the more
+primitive method of obliging them to work so many days a week for the
+master before they could provide for their own wants, and the more
+enlightened manner of exacting only _obrók_, or yearly tribute.
+Tolstoy had already allowed his serf to "go on _obrók_," but, according
+to himself, he did nothing very generous when the new act was passed
+providing for emancipation.
+
+He defended the freed men as far as possible, however, from the tyranny
+of other landowners, who began to dislike him very thoroughly.  He had
+won the poor from their distrust by an experiment in education which he
+tried at his native place of Yasnaya Polyana.
+
+{220}
+
+The school opened by Count Tolstoy was a "free"; school in every sense
+of the word, which was then becoming popular.  The children paid no
+fees and were not obliged to attend regularly.  They ran in and out as
+they pleased and had no fear of punishments.  It was a firm belief of
+the master that compulsory learning was quite useless.  He taught in
+the way that the pupils wished to learn, humbly accepting their views
+on the matter.  Vivid narration delighted the eager peasant boys in
+their rough sheepskins and woollen scarves.  They would cry "Go on, go
+on," when the lesson should have ended.  Any who showed weariness were
+bidden to "go to the little ones."  At first, the peasants were afraid
+of the school, hearing wonderful stories of what happened there.  They
+gained confidence at length, and then the government became suspicious.
+
+Tolstoy had given up his work with a feeling of dissatisfaction and
+retired to a wild life with the Bashkirs in the steppes, where he hoped
+to recover bodily health, when news came that the schools had been
+searched and the teachers arrested.  The effect on the ignorant was to
+make Tolstoy seem a criminal.
+
+Hatred of a government, where such a search could be conducted with
+impunity, was not much modified by the Emperor's expression of regret
+for what had happened.  The pond on Tolstoy's estate had been dragged,
+and cupboards and boxes in his own house opened, while the floor of the
+stables was broken up with crowbars.  Even the diary and letters of an
+intimate character which had been kept secret from the Count's own
+family were read aloud by gendarmes.  In a fit of rage, the reformer
+wrote of giving up his house and leaving Russia "where one cannot know
+from moment to moment what awaits one."
+
+{221}
+
+In 1862 Tolstoy married Sophia Behrs, the daughter of a Russian
+physician.  He began to write again, feeling less zeal for social work
+and the need to earn money for his family.  The _Cossacks_ described
+the wild pleasures of existence away from civilization, where all joys
+arise from physical exertion.  Tolstoy had known such a life during a
+sojourn in the Caucasus.  It attracted him especially, for he was an
+admiring follower of Rousseau in the glorification of a return to
+Nature.
+
+On the estate of Yasnaya there was work to be done, for agricultural
+labour meant well-cultivated land, and that meant prosperity.  A large
+family was sheltered beneath the roof where simplicity ruled, and yet
+much comfort was enjoyed.  Tolstoy wore the rough garments of a
+peasant, and delighted in the idea that he was often taken for a
+peasant though he had once been sorely troubled by his blunt features
+and lack of physical beauty.  Family cares absorbed him, and the books
+he now gave to the world in constant succession.  His name was spoken
+everywhere, and many visitors disturbed his seclusion.  _War and
+Peace_, a description of Napoleonic times in Russia, found scant favour
+with Liberals or Conservatives in the East, but it ranked as a great
+work of fiction.  _Anna Karenina_ gave descriptions of society in town
+and country that were unequalled even by Turgeniev, the writer whose
+friendship with Tolstoy was often broken by fierce quarrels.  The
+reformer's nature suffered nothing artificial.  He sneered at formal
+charity and a pretence of labour.  Hearing that Turgeniev's young
+daughter sat dressed in silks to mend the torn and ragged garments of
+poverty, as part of her education, he commented with his usual
+harshness.  The comment was not forgiven, and strife separated men who
+had, nevertheless, a {222} curious attraction for each other.  Fet, the
+Russian poet was, indeed, the only friend in the literary world
+fortunate enough always to win the great novelist's approbation.
+
+As the sons grew up, the family had to spend part of the year in Moscow
+that the lads might attend the University.  It was necessary to live
+with the hospitality of Russians of the higher class, and division
+crept into the household where father and mother had been remarkable
+for their strong affection.  Tolstoy wore the sheepskin of the labourer
+and the felt cap and boots, and he ate his simple meal of porridge at a
+table where others dined with less frugality.  He had given up the
+habits of his class when he was fifty and adopted those of the
+peasantry.  In the country he rose early, going out to the fields to
+work for the widow and orphan who might need his service.  He hoped to
+find the mental ease of the manual labourer by entering on these
+duties, but his mind was often troubled by religious questions.  He was
+serving God, as he deemed it, after a period of unbelief natural to
+young men of his station.
+
+He had learnt to make boots and shoes and was proud of his skill as a
+cobbler.  He gave up field sports because they were cruel, and
+renounced tobacco, the one luxury of Mazzini, because he held it
+unhealthy and self-indulgent.  Money was so evil a thing in his sight
+that he would not use it and did not carry it with him.  "What makes a
+man good is having but few wants," he said wisely.  There were
+difficulties in the way of getting rid of all his property, for the
+children of the family could not be entirely despoiled of their
+inheritance.  There were thirteen of them, and they did not all share
+the great reformer's ideas.
+
+In 1888, Tolstoy eased his mind by an act of formal {223} renunciation.
+The Countess was to have charge of the estates in trust for her
+children.  The Count was still to live in the same house, but resolved
+to bind himself more closely to the people.  He had volunteered to
+assist when the census was taken in 1880 and had seen the homes of
+poverty near his little village.  He had been the champion of the
+neighbourhood since he defended a young soldier who had been unjustly
+sentenced.  There was always a knot of suppliants under the "poor
+people's tree," ready to waylay him when he came out of the porch.
+They asked the impossible sometimes, but he was always kindly.
+
+Love for the serf had been hereditary.  Tolstoy's father was a
+kindly-natured man, and those who brought up the dreamy boy at Yasnaya
+had insisted on gentle dealings with both men and animals.  There was a
+story which he loved of an orderly, once a serf on the family estate,
+who had been taken prisoner with his father after the siege of Erfurt.
+The faithful servant had such love for his master that he had concealed
+all his money in a boot which he did not remove for several months,
+though a sore was formed.  Such stories tallied with the reformer's own
+experiences of soldiers' fighting at Sebastopol.
+
+His mind was ever seeking new ways to reach the people.  He believed
+that they would read if there were simple books written to appeal to
+them.  He put his other labours on one side and wrote a series of
+charming narratives to touch the unlettered and draw them from their
+passion for _vodka_, or Russian brandy, and their harmful dissipations.
+_Ivan the Fool_ was one of the first of these.  The _Power of Darkness_
+had an enormous popularity.  The ABC books and simple versions of the
+Scriptures did much to dispel sloth of mind in the {224} peasant, but
+the Government did not look kindly on these efforts.  To them the
+progressive Count was dangerous, though he held apart from those
+fanatics of the upper classes who had begun to move among the people in
+the disguise of workers, that they might spread disturbing doctrines.
+
+The police system of Russia involved a severe censorship of literature.
+Yet only one allusion did Tolstoy make in his _Confessions_ to the
+revolutionary movement which led young men and women to sacrifice their
+homes and freedom from a belief that the section of society which they
+represented had no right to prey upon the lower.  Religion, he says,
+had not been to them an inspiration, for, like the majority of the
+educated class in Russia, they were unbelievers.  Different in his
+service toward God and toward Mankind was the man who had begun life by
+declaring that happiness came from self-worship.  He prayed, as age
+came upon him, that he might find truth in that humanity which believed
+very simply as others had believed of old time, but he could not be
+satisfied by the practises of piety.  He was tortured until he built up
+that religion for himself which placed him apart from his fellows who
+loved progress.
+
+The days of persecution in the East were as terrible as in the bygone
+days of western mediaeval tortures.  For their social aims, men and
+women were condemned to death or banishment.  The dreary wastes of
+Siberia absorbed lives once bright and beautiful.  Known by numbers,
+not by names, these dragged out a weary existence in the bitter cold of
+an Arctic winter.  "By order of the Tsar" they were flogged, tormented,
+put in chains, and reduced to the level of animals, bereft of reason.
+Fast as the spirit of freedom raised its head, it was cowed by
+absolutism and the powerful machinery {225} of a Government that used
+the wild Cossacks to overawe the hot theories of defenceless students.
+Educated men were becoming more common among the peasants, thanks to
+Tolstoy's guidance.  He had shown the way to them and could not repent
+when they took it, for it is the duty of the reformer to secure a
+following.  Anarchy he had not foreseen, and was troubled by its
+manifestations.  The gentle mind of an old man, resting peacefully in
+the country, could not penetrate the dark corners of cities where the
+rebellious gathered together and hatched plots against the tyrant.  In
+spite of Alexander's liberal measures, the Nihilists were not satisfied
+with a Government so despotic.  Many attempts had been made to
+assassinate him before he was killed by a hand-bomb on March 13th, 1881.
+
+Alexander III abandoned reforms and the discontent increased in Russia,
+where the plots of conspirators called forth all the atrocities of the
+spy-system which still existed.  Enmity to the Government was further
+roused in a time of famine, wherein thousands of peasants perished
+miserably.  Tolstoy was active in his attempts to relieve the sick and
+starving in the year 1891, when the condition of the people was
+heartrending.  He received thanks which were grateful to one very
+easily discouraged.  The peasants turned to him for support quite
+naturally in their hour of need.
+
+Trouble came upon the aged leader through a sect of the Caucasian
+provinces who had adopted his new views with ardour.  The Doukhobors
+held all their goods in common and made moral laws for themselves,
+based on Tolstoy's form of religion.  They refused to serve as
+soldiers, which was said to be a defiance of their governor.  The
+leaders were exiled and some hundreds enrolled in "a disciplinary
+regiment" as a punishment.  {226} Tolstoy managed to rouse sympathy for
+them in England, and they were allowed to emigrate instead of suffering
+persecution.  He wrote _Resurrection_, a novel dealing with the
+terrible life of Russian prisons, to get money for their relief.  He
+was excommunicated formally for attacking the Orthodox Church of Russia
+in 1901.  The sentence caused him to feel yet more bitterly toward the
+Russian government.  He longed to see peace in the eastern land whence
+tales of cruelty and oppression startled the more humane provinces of
+Europe.  He would fain have stayed the outrages of bomb-throwing which
+the Nihilist societies perpetrated.  He could feel for the unrest of
+youth, but he knew from his long experience of life that violence would
+not bring them to the attainment of their objects.
+
+The tragedy of the Moujik-garbed aristocrat, striving for
+self-perfection and cast down by compromise made necessary by love for
+others, drew to a close as he neared his eightieth year.  He would have
+given everything, and he had kept something.  Worldly possessions had
+been stripped from his dwelling, with its air of honest kindly comfort.
+More and more the descendant of Peter the Great's ambitious minister
+began to feel the need of entire renunciation.  It was long since he
+had known the riotous life of cities, but even the peace of his country
+retreat was broken by discords since all did not share that longing for
+utter self-abnegation which possessed the soul of Leo Tolstoy, now
+troubled by remorse.
+
+In the winter of 1910 the old man left the home where he had lived in
+domestic security since the first years of his happy marriage.  It was
+severe weather, and his fragile frame was too weak for the long
+difficult journey he planned in order to reach a place of retreat in
+the {227} Caucasus Mountains.  He had resolved to spend his last days
+in complete seclusion, and to give up the intercourse with the world
+which made too many claims upon him.  He died on this last quest for
+ideal purity, and never reached the abode where he had hoped to end his
+days.  The news of his death at a remote railway station spread through
+Europe before he actually succumbed to the severity of his exposure to
+the cold of winter.  There was universal sorrow, when Tolstoy passed,
+among those who reckoned him the greatest of modern reformers.
+
+
+
+
+{228}
+
+Chapter XX
+
+The Hero in History
+
+Across the spaces of the centuries flit the figures known as heroes,
+some not heroic in aspect but great through the very power which has
+forbidden them to vanish utterly from the scenes of struggle.  Poets
+who wrote immortal lines and philosophers who mocked the baseness of
+the age which set up shams for worship, reformers with a fierce belief
+in the cause that men as good as they abhorred to the point of
+merciless persecution--these rank with the soldier, rank higher than
+the monarch whose name must be placed upon the roll because his
+personality was strong to mould events that made the history of his
+country.  High and low, prince or peasant--all knew the throes of
+struggle with opposing forces, since without effort none have attained
+to heroism.
+
+Back into the Middle Ages Dante and Savonarola draw us, marvelling at
+the narrow limits which bound the vision of such free unfettered minds.
+The little grey town of Tuscany lives chiefly on the fame of the poet
+and preacher who loved her so passionately though she proved a cruel
+and ungrateful mother.  The Italian state has ceased to assert its
+independence, and the brawling of party-strife no longer draws the
+mediator to make peace and, if possible, secure to himself some of the
+rich treasures of the Florentines whose work was {229} coveted afar.
+Pictures of wondrous beauty have been defaced and stolen, statuary has
+crumbled into the dust that lies thick upon the tombs of great men who
+have fallen.  But the words of the _Divine Comedy_ will never be
+forgotten, and the glory of an epic rests always with Italian
+literature.  All the cold and passionless intellect of the Renaissance
+can be personified in Lorenzo the Magnificent, who encouraged the pagan
+creeds that the Prior of San Marco yearned to overthrow.  Enemies in
+life, they serve as opposing types of the fifteenth century Italian,
+one earnest, ardent, filled with zeal for self-sacrifice, the other an
+epicure, gratifying each whim, yet deserving praise because in every
+form he encouraged beauty.  There is something fine in the magnanimity
+of the Medicean tyrant when he tried to conciliate the honest monk;
+there is something infinitely noble in the very weakness of the martyr,
+whose death disappointed so many of his followers because it proved
+that he had not miraculous powers.
+
+The charm of Southern cities makes the background for the drama between
+man and the devil seem dingy in comparison, but even Central Europe has
+romantic figures in the Reformation times.  No sensuous Italian mind
+could have defied Pope and Emperor so stoutly and changed the religion
+of many European nations without the world being drenched in blood.
+Luther is a less gallant champion than William of Orange who fought for
+toleration and lost life and wealth in the cause, but his words were
+powerful as weapons to reform the ancient abuses of the Church.  He is
+singularly steadfast among the ranks of men struggling for freedom of
+the soul, but hardly daring to war against the cramping dogmas of the
+past.
+
+{230}
+
+The soldiers of the Catholic Church have all the glamour of tradition
+to render them immortal--they are the saints now whose lot was humblest
+upon earth.  The Crusader has clashed through the ages with the noise
+of sword and armour, attracting the lover of romance, though he
+performed less doughty deeds than the monk of stern asceticism, whose
+rule forbade him to break peace.  He enjoys glory still as he enjoyed
+the hour of victories, and the battle that might bring death but could
+not result in shame.  The Brethren of St Dominic and St Francis shrank
+in life, at least, from the reverence paid to the sacrifice of worldly
+pleasures.  They were marvellously simple, and believed that only some
+stray picture on their convent walls would remain to tell their story.
+They judged themselves unworthy to be praised, and their creed of
+cheerful resignation would have forbidden them to accept the adulation
+of the hero-worshipper which was lavished in their age upon more
+brilliant warriors of the Church.
+
+Time has had revenge upon the Grand Monarch and the usurping tyrant,
+yet their names must be upon the roll of heroes, since they played a
+mighty part in the events that make history and cannot suffer oblivion
+though they have ceased to tower above the subjects they despised.
+Louis XIV's personality needs the mantle of magnificence which fell
+from France after the predominance of years.  Napoleon can be watched
+in obscurity and exile till the price of countless victories is
+estimated more truly now than was possible for his contemporaries.  His
+successor has become a mere tinsel figure meddling with strange
+impunity with the destinies of Europe, and possessing qualities so
+little heroic that only his audacious visions and his last great
+failure make the memory of France's last despotic ruler {231} one that
+must abide with the memory of those other Revolutionaries of 1848.
+
+Mazzini and Garibaldi receive once more the respect that poverty
+stripped from them when they led a forlorn cause and gave up home and
+country.  Earthly admiration came too late to console them for the ills
+of exile and the loss of their beloved, but they both knew that a
+struggle had not been vain which would leave Italy free.  Romance
+forgets these sons of the South and their brief taste of popular glory.
+Youth looks further back for idols placed on pinnacles of tradition,
+despising shabby modern garb and loving the blood-stained suit of
+armour.
+
+Rousseau has risen triumphant above the strife of tongues that would
+dispute his claims to the heroic because his life was marred and
+incomplete.  He has credit now for a fierce impersonal love of truth
+and purity.  He is a great teacher and a great philosopher, though none
+ever placed him among the heroic in action or in character.  His
+cynical contemporary, Voltaire, still has some veil of vague obscurity
+which hides his brilliance from the world apt to reckon him a mere
+scoffer and destroyer of beliefs.  He has more profound faith perhaps
+than many who took up the sword to defend religion, but he covered his
+spirit of tolerance with many cloaks of mockery, ashamed to be a hero
+in conventional trappings, eager to win recognition for his wit rather
+than immortality for the courage of the convictions he so firmly held.
+
+Not of equal stature are the heroes looming through the curtain Fate
+drops before each scene of the world's drama when another play begins.
+There were selfish aims sometimes in the breasts of the patriotic,
+worldly ambitions in the Reformers, the lust of persecution {232} in
+the Saints.  Yet these great protagonists of history are easy to
+distinguish among the crowd of actors who have played their parts.
+Their words grip the attention, their actions are fraught with real
+significance, and it is they who win applause when the play is at an
+end.
+
+
+
+
+{233}
+
+  Index
+
+  Aboukir, 175, 177
+  Aboukir Bay, 174
+  Acre, 175, 177
+  Addison, 158
+  Ajaccio, 168, 171
+  Albizzi, Rinaldo degli, 31
+  Albizzi, the, 30, 31
+  Aldgonde, Sainte, 92
+  Alençon, Prince, 109
+  Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, 217, 218, 219, 220, 225
+  Alexander III, Emperor of Russia, 225
+  Alexander, Emperor of Russia, 178
+  Alexander of Parma, 97
+  Alexandria, 174
+  Alexis, 137, 138, 144
+  Alfonso of Naples, 32
+  Alighieri, Durante, 21
+  Alma, Battle of, 209
+  Alps, the, 207
+  Alsace, Province of, 215
+  Alva, Duke of, 82, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 93
+  Amelia, Daughter of George I, 148
+  America, discovery of, 40
+  Amiens, Treaty of, 176
+  Amsterdam, 93, 139
+  _Anna Karenina_, 221
+  Angelico, Fra, 31
+  Angelo, Michael, 127
+  Angoulême, Duchess of, 180
+  Anita, wife of Garibaldi, 197
+  Anjou, 18, 45, 106, 111
+  Anjou, Duke of, 97, 98
+  Anna of Saxony, Princess, 80
+  Anne of Austria, 91, 118, 139
+  Anthony of Bourbon, 103
+  Antwerp, 86, 91, 95, 98
+  _Apostolato, Popolare_, the, 191
+  Apraxin, Admiral, 142
+  Aragon, Prince of, 18
+  Archangel, 138
+  Arezzo, 22
+  Aristotle, 16
+  Armand Jean Duplessis, 116, 117
+  Arouet, Francois Marie (see Voltaire)
+  Arques, Battlefield, 116
+  _Arrabiati_, the, 49
+  Artois, Count of, 180
+  Assisi, 14
+  Athens, Duke of, 30
+  Auerstädt, Battle of, 178
+  Augsburg, 56, 61, 71
+  Augustine, Saint, 53
+  Augustus, King of Poland, 142, 149
+  Augustus, William, 149
+  Austerlitz, Battle of, 178
+  Austria, 64, 70, 91, 96, 118, 121, 129, 151, 156,
+  172, 173, 175, 179, 180, 183, 186, 188, 192, 198,
+  202, 208, 209, 210
+  Austria, Emperor of, 202
+  Azov, 139
+
+  Balaclava, Battle of, 209
+  Bassi, Ugo, 193, 198, 204
+  Barras, 172
+  Bartholomew, Saint, Massacre of, 92, 107
+  Bassompierre, 125
+  Bastile, the, 125, 157, 171
+  Bavaria, 150
+  Bavaria, Dukes of, 14
+  Bayard, Knight, 67, 68
+  Béarns, 102
+  Beatrice, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28
+  Beauharnais, Eugene, 172, 184
+  Beauharnais, Hortense, 207
+  Beauharnais, Josephine, 172, 177, 207
+  "Beggars, The," 84, 85, 86, 90, 92, 94, 95
+  Beghards, the, 13
+  Bègue, Lambert Le, 13
+  Bèguines, 13
+  Behrs, Sophia, 221
+  Belgium, 211
+  _Bellerophon_, the, 182
+  Berlaymont, 83, 84
+  Berlin, 145, 160, 178
+  Berne, 174
+  Biagrasse, La, 67
+  Bianchi, the, 24
+  Bismarck, Herr Otto von, 210, 215
+  Blücher, 182
+  Bohemia, 152, 201
+  Bologna, 20, 26, 42, 69
+  Bonaparte, Charles, 169
+  Bora, Catherine von, 60
+  Bordeaux, 215
+  Borodino, Battle of, 180
+  Borsi, Marquis, 41
+  Botticelli, 38, 39
+  Boulogne, 178
+  Bourbon, 102
+  Bourbon, Constable of, 67, 68
+  Bourges, Archbishop of, 13
+  Brabant, Duke of, 86, 98
+  Brandenburg, Elector of, 145
+  Brederode, noble, 83, 84
+  Brienne, 169
+  Brill, 92
+  Brussels, 71, 83, 84, 88, 96
+  Buonaparte, Jerome, 179
+  Buonaparte, Joseph, 179
+  Buonaparte, Louis, 179
+  Burgundy, 64, 65
+
+  Cairo, 174
+  Cajetan, Papal Legate, 56
+  Calais, 73
+  Calas, 164
+  Calvin, John, 100, 163
+  Cambalet, Marquis of, 126
+  _Camicia Rossa_, the, 197
+  _Camisaders_, the, 93
+  _Campanile_, the, 32
+  Cambalet, Madame de, 127
+  Cane della Scala, 28, 29
+  Canossa, 14
+  Caprera, 201
+  Carbonari, the, 185, 186, 187, 188
+  Carlyle, 191
+  Casimir, John, 97
+  Cateau Cambrésis, 75
+  Catherine de Medici, 101, 102, 104, 105, 106, 108, 109, 110
+  Catherine of Aragon, 64, 66
+  Catherine, Queen, 140, 143
+  Catholic League, the, 112, 114
+  Cavalcanti, Guido, 23
+  Cavour, Count, 199, 200, 201, 202, 205, 206
+  Cencio, 15
+  Cerchi, the, 21, 24
+  Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, 192, 194, 196, 201
+  Charles I of England, 122, 129
+  Charles II of England, 133
+  Charles II of Spain, 132
+  Charles V, 57, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71,
+  72, 73, 74, 75, 78, 80, 100
+  Charles VI of Austria, 150
+  Charles VII, 67
+  Charles VII, Emperor, 151
+  Charles VIII of France, 45, 46, 47
+  Charles IX, 101, 104, 105, 106, 108, 109
+  Charles X, 186
+  Charles XII of Sweden, 140, 142, 145, 149, 152
+  Charles, Count of Anjou, 18, 45
+  Chartres, 114
+  Châtelet, Marquis du, 159, 160
+  Chevreuse, Madame de, 124
+  Chièvres, Flemish Councillor, 66
+  Chillon, Marquis de (see Richelieu), 117
+  Christ, 10, 38, 54, 58
+  Christianity, 11
+  _Ciompi_, the, 30
+  Cirey, 159, 160
+  Civil Code, the, 176
+  Cloth of Gold, Field of the, 65
+  Colbert, 130, 135
+  Coligny, Admiral de, 98, 99, 106, 107, 108
+  Columbus, Christopher, 64
+  Commune, the, 166
+  Compiègne, 208
+  Concini, 118, 119
+  _Concordat_, the, 176
+  Condé (Enghien), General, 129, 133, 137
+  Condé, Prince de, 106
+  _Confessions_, Tolstoy's, 224
+  Conrad, 18
+  Conradin, 18
+  Constantinople, 12, 32
+  "Continental System," the, 180
+  Corneille, 131
+  Corsica, island, 168, 170, 171
+  Cosimo dei Medici, 31, 33, 33, 34
+  _Cossacks_, the, 221
+  "Council of Trouble" (Blood), 89, 91
+  Crimea, the, 200, 209
+  Cromwell, Protector, 170
+  Crusades, the, 11
+
+  D'Aiguillon (see Madame de Cambalet)
+  D'Albert of Navarre, 65
+  Dante Alighieri, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28,
+  29, 30, 32, 187, 228
+  Delft, 95, 98
+  De Luynes, 119, 120
+  Denis, Madame, 161, 162
+  Deptford, 139
+  Desaix, General, 175
+  Dettingen, Battle of, 151
+  _Devin du Village, Le_, play, 165
+  Diet of Spires, 61
+  Diet of Worms, 57, 58
+  Dijon, 101
+  Directory, the, 173, 174
+  _Divine Comedy_, the, 28, 29, 229
+  Domenico, Fra, 49, 50, 51
+  Dominic, Saint, 13, 42, 230
+  Dominicans, 13, 43
+  Donati, Lucrezia, 34
+  Donati, the, 21, 23, 24, 26
+  Don John, 96, 97
+  Doukhobors, the, 225
+  Dresden, Treaty of, 152
+  Dreux, 113
+  Duc d'Enghien, 129
+  Duplessis, Armand Jean, 116
+
+  Egmont, Count, 79, 80, 81, 85, 87, 88, 89
+  Egypt, 174, 175, 177
+  Eisenach, 57
+  Eisleben, 52, 62
+  Elba, 180, 181, 182
+  Elizabeth, Queen of England, 90, 95, 97, 106, 108
+  _Émile_, 165
+  Enghien (Condé) (see Condé, General)
+  England, 63, 65, 69, 122, 135, 150, 152, 153, 157,
+  168, 172, 175, 176, 180, 182, 209, 211
+  Epérnon, General, 119
+  Erasmus, 55, 60
+  Erfurt, 52, 56, 223
+  Eric, Duke of Brunswick, 58
+  Eugénie, Empress, 208, 211, 212
+  Evelyn, John, 139
+
+  Faesulae, 20
+  Farinata degli Uberti, 19
+  Fénélon, Priest, 134
+  Ferdinand, 63
+  Ferdinand I, 184, 192, 200, 205
+  Ferdinand II, Emperor, 126
+  Ferdinand of Bohemia, 120
+  Ferney, 162
+  Ferrara, 41
+  Fet, Poet, 222
+  Flanders, 81, 135
+  Fleury, General, 202
+  Florence, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30,
+  31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44, 46, 47,
+  48, 49, 51
+  Flushing, 92
+  France, 17, 25, 27, 45, 63, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 74,
+  75, 85, 92, 95, 103, 109, 120, 121, 122, 123, 125,
+  126, 129, 130, 131, 135, 150, 152, 153, 168, 172,
+  175, 176, 201, 203, 207, 216
+  Francis I of France, 57, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 113
+  Francis II of Austria, 184, 202, 205
+  Francis Joseph II, Emperor, 202, 205
+  Francis, Saint, 13, 230
+  Franciscans, 13
+  Frankfort, 54, 61, 151, 180
+  Frankfort, Treaty of, 215
+  Frate, the, 27
+  Frederick II, 15, 17, 18
+  Frederick II, of Brandenburg and Hohenzollern, 147, 148, 149, 150,
+  151, 152, 153, 154, 156, 160, 161, 178
+  Frederick, Elector of Saxony, 53, 55, 64
+  Frederick, Elector Palatine, 120
+  Frederick, Prince  of Wales, 148
+  Frederick William I, 145, 146, 147, 148, 154, 156
+  Fronde, La, 129
+  Frondeurs, the, 129
+
+  Galitzin, 137, 138
+  Gambetta, 213, 215
+  Gaston, brother of Louis XIII, 124
+  Garibaldi, 193, 196, 197, 198, 199, 201, 203, 204,
+  205, 206, 207, 210, 230
+  Gay, 158
+  Gemma, 23
+  Geneva, 162, 164, 165, 166, 190
+  Genoa, 12, 168, 186, 189
+  George I of England, 148
+  George II of England, 151
+  Germany, 61, 62, 69, 70, 74, 85, 100, 154, 218
+  Ghent, Pacification of, 96
+  Ghibellines, 14, 16, 19, 22, 25
+  Giotto, 32
+  Giuliano, 38, 39
+  Gordon, Patrick, 140
+  Granvelle, Cardinal, 78, 79, 81
+  Greece, 175
+  Grenoble, 181
+  Grisi, 191
+  Guelfs, the, 14, 15, 16, 19, 22
+  Guise, Duke of, 103, 107
+  Guise, Henry of, 102, 108, 109, 112
+
+  Haarlem, 93, 94
+  Hamburg, 61
+  Henry II of France, 71, 75, 109
+  Henry III of France, 110, 112, 114
+  Henry IV of Germany, 14
+  Henry IV of France, 114, 116
+  Henry VI, 15
+  Henry VIII, 59, 63, 64, 65, 70
+  Henry of Anjou, 106, 111
+  Henry d'Albret, 113
+  Henry de Bourbon, 105
+  Henry of Guise, 102, 108, 111
+  Henry of Luxemburg, Emperor, 27, 28
+  Henry of Navarre, 97, 104, 106, 108, 109, 110,
+  111, 112, 113, 115
+  Henry, Prince of Bourbon, 102, 104
+  Henry of Valois, 112
+  Hohenlinden, Battle of, 175
+  Hohenstaufen, House of, 15, 17
+  Hohenzollern, House of, 210
+  Holland, 83, 85, 93, 95, 96, 98, 133, 179
+  Holy Land, 12
+  Holy Wars, 12
+  Homer, 28
+  Hoorn, Admiral, 85, 86, 89
+  Hubertsburg, 153
+  Huguenots  (Confederates), 101, 102, 108, 118, 120, 123
+  Hungary, 65
+
+  Imola, Tower of, 37
+  India, 153, 174
+  "Indulgences," 54
+  _Inferno_, the, 26, 27, 29
+  Inkerman, Battle of, 209
+  Inquisition, the, 70, 76, 82, 83
+  Isabella, 63
+  Isabella of Portugal, 67
+  Italy, 12, 15, 17, 20, 27, 42, 45, 64, 67, 69, 122,
+  127, 173, 174, 175, 183, 184, 185, 186, 188, 189,
+  191, 192, 200, 201, 202, 203, 206, 207, 210
+  Ivan, half-brother of Peter the Great, 137
+  _Ivan the Fool_, 223
+  Ivry, Battlefield, 116
+
+  Jaffa, 175
+  Jansenists, the, 163
+  Jarnac, Battle of, 104
+  _Je l'ai vu_, play, 157
+  Jena, 59, 178
+  Jerusalem, 12, 15
+  Jesuits, the, 163
+  Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, 63
+  John of Austria, 96
+
+  Katte, Lieutenant von, 149
+  Kléber, 177
+  Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 139
+  Knox, John, 100
+
+  La Barre, 164
+  Ladies' Peace, The, 68
+  Lambert Le Bègue, 13
+  Landgrave of Hesse, 70
+  "League of the Compromise," 82, 83
+  Leboeuf, Marshal, 211
+  Lefort, 138
+  Legion of Honour, the, 176
+  Leibnitz, 159
+  Leipzig, Battle of, 180
+  Leo X, Pope, 54, 55
+  Leonora, wife of Concini, 118, 119
+  Leopold, Prince, 210, 211
+  Lesser Brothers, 14
+  Leszczynski, Stanislaus, 142
+  _Lettres anglaises_, 158
+  Leuthen, 152
+  Leyden, 94
+  Lille, Battle of, 135
+  Lisle, Rouget de, 176
+  Livonia, 140
+  Livy, 32
+  Locke, 158
+  Lombardy, 43, 68, 184, 202, 203
+  Longwy, Fortress of, 215
+  Lorenzo, Church of San, 32
+  Lorenzo the Magnificent, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38-41, 43, 229
+  Lorraine, Province of, 215
+  Louis XI, 65
+  Louis XIII, 118, 119, 122, 124, 127
+  Louis XIV, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 154, 230
+  Louis XVI, 165, 176, 180, 208
+  Louis XVIII, 180
+  Louis, Count of Nassau, 82, 90, 92, 93, 94, 96
+  Louis de Bourbon, 103, 104
+  Louis Philippe, King, 86, 207, 208
+  Louis, Saint, of France, 113
+  Louvain, 89
+  Louvre, the, 104, 117, 130
+  Low Countries, the, 63, 74, 75, 78, 80, 82, 87, 89, 90, 93
+  Lowe, Sir Hudson, 182
+  Lucerne, 218
+  Luçon, Bishop of, 117, 118, 119, 120
+  Ludovico, 37
+  Lulli, 132
+  Lunéville, Treaty of, 176
+  Luther, Johnny, 60
+  Luther, Martin, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59
+  60, 61, 62, 69, 70, 100, 229
+  Luxemburg, 211
+  Luxemburg, Henry of, 27
+  Lyons, 17, 181
+
+  Madrid, 67
+  Madrid, Treaty of, 68
+  Magenta, Battle of, 202
+  Maggiore, Lake, 201
+  Magyars, 10
+  Mahomet, 9
+  Maintenon, Madame de, 133, 134, 136
+  Malines, 93
+  Malta, 69, 174, 175
+  Mameli, poet, 193
+  Manfred, 18
+  Manin, President of Venice, 198
+  Mantua, Duke of, 122
+  Marboeuf, 169
+  Marches, the, 206
+  Marco, San, 39, 41, 43, 48, 49, 50, 229
+  Marengo, Battle of, 175
+  Margaret of Parma, 78, 80, 83, 84, 86, 88, 89
+  Margaret of Valois, 104, 105, 106, 108
+  Margrave of Baireuth, 149
+  Maria Theresa, 132, 150, 151, 152, 153, 156, 172
+  Marie Antoinette, 166, 172, 208
+  Marie de Medici, 119, 123, 125, 126, 127
+  Marie Louise, 177, 179, 180, 184
+  Marillac, Marshal, 125
+  Marino, San, 184
+  Marlborough, Duke of, 135
+  Marly, 131
+  Marmont, 173
+  Marsala, 204
+  _Marseillaise_, the, 176
+  Marseilles, 188
+  Martino, San, 21, 202
+  Mary, Queen of Scots, 101
+  Mary, Princess, 66
+  Matthias, Archduke, 96
+  Maurice, Duke of Saxony, 70, 71, 80
+  Maximilian, Emperor, 20
+  Mayenne, 113
+  Mazarin, 129, 131, 132
+  Mazarins, the, 129, 130
+  Mazeppa, Hetman, 142
+  Mazzini, Guiseppe, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190,
+  191, 192, 193, 196, 199, 201, 222, 231
+  Medici, Cosimo dei, 31, 32, 33, 34
+  Medici, Lorenzo dei, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 48
+  Medici, Piero, dei, 44, 45, 47
+  Medici, the, 30, 32, 34, 35, 37, 38, 45, 66, 109
+  Menshikof, 140
+  Mentana, Battle of, 210
+  Metternich, Prince, 184, 185
+  Metz, 212, 215
+  Mexico, 210
+  Middelburg, 92
+  Milan, 20, 35, 36, 37, 64, 65, 66, 67, 174, 192, 202
+  Milan, Duchess of, 35, 37
+  Milan, Duke of, 35, 36
+  Miloslavski, Mary, 137
+  Miloslavski, Sophia, 137, 138, 143
+  Mirandola, Pico della, 42, 43
+  Modena, 184
+  Molière, 131, 162
+  Moltke, General von, 211, 212
+  Molwitz, Battle of, 151
+  Mons, 93, 97
+  Monsieur, Peace of, 109
+  Montebello, Battle of, 201
+  Monte Video, 197
+  Montigny, son of Hoorn, 91, 92
+  Montpensier, Duchess of, 111
+  Moreau, General, 175
+  Moscow, 137, 141, 180, 222
+  Muhlberg, 70
+  Murat, General, 184
+
+  Namur, 96
+  Nantes, Edict of, 114, 133
+  Naples, 16, 18, 32, 36, 39, 45, 63, 65, 66, 184, 191, 200
+  Napoleon Buonaparte, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172,
+  173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182,
+  183, 188, 189, 196, 230
+  Napoleon, Louis, 193, 201, 207, 208
+  Napoleon III, 201, 202, 203, 207, 208, 209, 210,
+  211, 212, 213, 215
+  Narva, 140
+  Naryshkin, Nathalie, 137
+  Nassau, 82
+  Navarre, 97, 102, 103, 104, 105, 108, 109, 110,
+  112, 113, 115, 116
+  Navarre, d'Albert of, 65
+  _Navarre, Princesse de_, 159
+  Nelson, 174, 178
+  _Neri_, the, 24
+  Netherlands, the, 66, 70, 71, 74, 75, 77, 78,
+  82, 83, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91, 94, 95, 97, 98, 133
+  Neva, river, 141, 142
+  New Learning, 63
+  Newton, 158, 159
+  New World, 64
+  Nice, 203
+  Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia, 216, 218
+  Niemen, 178
+  Nihilists, the, 225
+  Notre Dame, Cathedral of, 118, 129
+  _Nouvelle Héloïse, La_, play, 165
+  Novara, Battle of, 196, 200
+  Nuremburg, 61
+
+  _Oepide_, tragedy, 157
+  Orange, Prince of (see William)
+  Orleans, Duke of, 186
+  Orsini, Clarice, 34
+
+  Palermo, 16, 204, 205
+  Paoli, 168, 169
+  Papacy, the, 14, 15, 18, 52, 56, 66, 70
+  _Paradiso_, the, 28
+  Paris, 27, 59, 101, 105, 107, 112, 113, 114, 119,
+  157, 158, 162, 167, 171, 181, 186, 208, 212, 213
+  Paris, the Congress of, 200
+  Parma, Duchess of, 79, 85
+  Parma, Duke of, 113
+  Pauline, sister of Napoleon, 199
+  Pavia, 67
+  _Pazzi, Carro dei_, 37
+  Pazzi, banking-house of, 37, 38, 39, 40
+  Pazzi Conspiracy, 36
+  Pazzi, Francesco dei, 37
+  Peter, Prince of Aragon, 18
+  Petersburg, Saint, 141, 142, 144, 145
+  Peter the Great, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142,
+  143, 144, 145, 226
+  Philip, Archduke of Austria, 64
+  Philip II, Emperor of Spain, 71, 75, 76, 77, 81, 84, 87,
+  88, 89, 92, 93, 97, 98, 105, 113, 118
+  Philip IV of Spain, 122
+  Philip, King of France, 25
+  "Piagnoni" (Snivellers), 47, 49, 50
+  Piedmont, 184, 189, 193, 199, 200
+  Pilo, Rosalino, 204, 205
+  Pisa, 12
+  Pisa, Archbishop of, 30, 39
+  Pisa, Lord of, 28
+  Pistoia, 24
+  Pitt, William, 178
+  Pius IV, 41
+  Pius VII, 184
+  Plasencia, city of, 72
+  Plato, 32
+  Plautus, 53
+  Poitou, 117
+  Poland, 150, 216
+  Poland, King of, 141, 142
+  _Polikoushka_, 218
+  Poltava, Battle of, 142
+  Pomerania, province, 152
+  Pompadour, Madame de, 158, 166
+  Pont Neuf, 117
+  Pope Alexander VI, 45, 48
+  Pope Boniface, 25
+  Pope Clement VII, 68
+  Pope Gregory VII, 14
+  Pope Gregory IX, 15, 16
+  Pope Innocent IV, 16, 43, 44
+  Pope Julius, 68
+  Pope Leo X, 54, 66
+  Pope Sixtus IV, 36, 42
+  Pope, the, 14, 16, 37, 41, 47, 48, 53, 62, 64, 69, 173, 208
+  Portinari, the, 21
+  Portinari, Beatrice, 22
+  Portugal, 67, 105, 133, 179
+  Portugal, King of, 105
+  Potsdam, 160, 161
+  Potsdam Guards, 145, 146
+  Poussin, 127
+  _Power of Darkness_, the 223
+  "Pragmatic Sanction", the, 150
+  Prague, 152
+  Preaching Brothers, 14
+  Pressburg, 151
+  Prior, 158
+  Protestants, 61, 78, 86, 92, 93, 109, 114, 122
+  Prussia, 145, 148, 150, 152, 153, 156, 160, 180,
+  209, 210, 211, 215
+  Puglia, Francesco da, 49, 50
+  _Purgatorio_, the, 28
+  Pyrenees, Treaty of, 130
+
+  Quatre, Henri, 113
+
+  Racine, 131
+  Radetsky, Field-Marshal, 195
+  Ramboullet, Julie de, 127
+  Ramolino, 189
+  Ramolino, Letitia, 168
+  Ravaillac, 115
+  Ravenna, 29
+  Requesens, Don Luis, 94, 95
+  _Resurrection_, Tolstoy's, 226
+  Revival of Letters, 55
+  Revolution, French, 155, 170
+  Rheims, 114
+  Rheinsburg, Castle of, 149
+  Rhodes, 69
+  Riario, 37, 38
+  Richelieu, Cardinal, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120,
+  121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 129
+  Rochelle, La, 109, 121
+  Rocroy, Battle of, 129
+  Rohan, Chevalier, 157
+  Rohan, Duke of, 122
+  Roman Emperor, the Holy, 64
+  Roman Empire, 68
+  Rome, 13, 15, 20, 24, 35, 38, 47, 54, 55, 56,
+  61, 101, 117, 121, 195, 196, 197, 198, 204, 207, 210
+  Roon, General von, 212
+  Rossbach, Battle of, 152
+  Rotondo, Monte, Battle of, 210
+  Rouen, 103
+  Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 164, 165, 166, 167, 230
+  Ruel, 127
+  Ruffini, Jacopo, 189, 191
+  Russia, 139, 141, 142, 152, 156, 172, 179, 180,
+  200, 209, 217, 219, 224
+  Ryssel, 79
+  Ryswick, Peace of, 135
+
+  Sadowa, Battle of, 209, 210
+  Saint Augustine, Order of, 53
+  Saint-Cyr, Convent of, 133
+  Saint Dominic, 13, 42, 230
+  Saint Francis, 13, 230
+  Salemi, city of, 204
+  Salviati, Archbishop, 38
+  Sansoni, Cardinal Raffaelle, 38
+  San Yuste, Monastery of, 71, 72
+  Sardinia, 184, 198, 199, 201, 204, 205
+  Sardinia, King of, 184, 194, 196, 204, 205
+  Savonarola, Girolamo, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 57, 228
+  Savoy, 69, 122, 190, 203
+  Savoy, Duchy of, 184, 198, 206
+  Saxony, 59, 70, 80, 150, 152, 179
+  Saxony, Elector of, 53, 58, 61, 70, 87
+  Sayes Court, 139
+  Scala, Cane della, 28
+  Scarron, Poet, 133
+  Sebastopol, Siege of, 217, 223
+  Sedan, Battle of, 212
+  Segovia, Castle of, 91
+  Seine, river, 9
+  Selim, 65
+  Sepulchre, the Holy, 11
+  Servetus, 100
+  Sforza, Galeazzo, 35, 37
+  Sicily, 63, 184, 191, 204, 205, 206
+  Silent, William the (see William)
+  Silesia, 150, 151, 152, 153
+  Simone de Bardi, 22
+  _Social Contract_, the, 165
+  Solferino, Battle of, 202
+  Soliman the Magnificent, 69
+  Sorbonne, the, 101, 112
+  Spain, 63, 64, 67, 70, 76, 78, 81, 86, 87, 90,
+  91, 97, 105, 118, 122, 126, 130, 133, 150, 179, 210
+  Spain, King of, 86, 104
+  Speyer, Diet of, 61
+  Stäel, Madame de, 180
+  States-General, the, 81, 95, 96
+  Staupnitz, 53
+  St Bartholomew, Massacre of, 92, 107
+  St Helena, 182
+  St Jerome, brothers of, 72
+  St John, Knights of, 69
+  St Peter's, 16, 53, 54
+  _Streltsy_, the, 138, 139
+  Sully, 114
+  Susa, Pass of, 123
+  Swabia, 14, 18
+  Swarte, John de, 79
+  Sweden, 141, 142
+  Swift, Jonathan, 157
+  Switzerland, 190
+  Syria, 175
+
+  Tetzel, 54, 55
+  Thiers, Monsieur, 215
+  Thionville, Fortress of, 215
+  Third Estate, the, 158
+  Thirty Years' War, 126
+  Tilsit, Treaty of, 178, 180
+  Titelmann, Peter, 78
+  Titian, 72
+  Toledo, Duke of Alva, 88
+  Toleration, Edicts of, 111
+  Tolstoy, Countess, 223
+  Tolstoy, Count Leo, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222,
+  223, 224, 225, 226, 227
+  Torriano, 73
+  Toulon, 172
+  Tours, 213
+  Trafalgar, Battle of, 178
+  Trianon, village, 166
+  "Troubles, Council of," 89
+  Tuileries, the, 104, 180, 181, 210
+  Turenne, General 133, 137
+  Turgeniev, novelist, 217, 221
+  Turin, 206
+  Turkey, 140, 142, 200, 208, 217
+  Tuscany, 19, 184, 192
+  Tyrol, the, 201
+
+  Uguccione, Lord of Pisa, 28
+  Umbria, 206
+  United States, 198
+  Urbino, Duke of, 37
+
+  Valladolid, 76
+  Valois, Henry of, 112
+  Vassy, 103
+  Vatican, the, 117
+  Venetia, 202
+  Venice, 12, 20, 36, 184, 198, 203, 205, 206, 210
+  Vergil, 27, 28, 53
+  Verona, 28
+  Versailles, 130, 131, 132, 134, 154, 159, 213, 215
+  Victor Emmanuel II, 196, 198, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207
+  Victor Emmanuel, King, 184
+  Vienna, 183, 185, 192, 198
+  Voltaire, 136, 156, 157, 159, 160, 161, 162,
+  163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 231
+  Volterra, town of, 36, 38, 40
+  Volturno, Battle of, 206
+
+  Waiblingen (Ghibellines), 14
+  Walcheren, 92, 95
+  _War and Peace_, 221
+  Warsaw, 216
+  Waterloo, Battle of, 182
+  Weaving Brothers, 13
+  Weimar, 57
+  _Welf_, 14
+  Wellesley, Sir Arthur, 179, 182
+  Wellington, Duke of (see Wellesley)
+  Westphalia, 179
+  Wilhelm I, Emperor, 210, 211, 212, 213, 215
+  Wilhelmina, 147, 148, 149
+  _Wilhelmus van Nassouwen_, 92
+  William III of England, 135, 139
+  William, Prince of Orange, 75, 79, 80, 81, 83, 85, 86, 87, 89,
+  90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 103, 108, 229
+  William the Stadtholder, 135
+  Wittenburg, 53, 55, 56, 58, 59, 62
+  Wolsey, Cardinal, 65
+  Worms, 57, 58, 61, 69
+  Wörth, Battle of, 212
+
+  Yasnaya Polyana, 219, 221, 223
+
+  Zaandem, 139
+  Zealand, 93, 95, 96, 98
+  Zierickzee, 95
+  Zorndorf, Battle of, 152
+  Zutphen, 93
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Heroes of Modern Europe, by Alice Birkhead
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Heroes of Modern Europe, by Alice Birkhead
+
+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: Heroes of Modern Europe
+
+Author: Alice Birkhead
+
+Release Date: April 16, 2007 [EBook #21114]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEROES OF MODERN EUROPE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<A NAME="img-front"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Leo Tolstoy in his bare Apartments at Yasnaya Polyana (Repin)" BORDER="2" WIDTH="615" HEIGHT="448">
+<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 615px">
+Leo Tolstoy in his bare Apartments at Yasnaya Polyana (Repin)
+</H3>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H1 ALIGN="center">
+HEROES OF MODERN EUROPE
+</H1>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BY
+</H3>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+ALICE BIRKHEAD B.A.
+</H2>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+AUTHOR OF<BR>
+'THE STORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION' <BR>
+'MARIE ANTOINETTE' 'PETER THE GREAT' ETC.
+</H4>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS
+</H4>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+GEORGE G. HARRAP &amp; CO. LTD.
+<BR>
+LONDON &mdash;&mdash; CALCUTTA &mdash;&mdash; SYDNEY
+</H4>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+[Transcriber's note: Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers
+enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}.  They have been located where page
+breaks occurred in the original book, in accordance with Project
+Gutenberg's FAQ-V-99.  For its Index, a page number has been placed
+only at the start of that section.  In the HTML version of this book,
+page numbers are placed in the left margin.]
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H5 ALIGN="center">
+First published July 1913
+<BR>
+by GEORGE G. HARRAP &amp; Co.
+<BR>
+39-41 Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W.C.2
+<BR><BR>
+Reprinted in the present series:
+<BR>
+February 1914; August 1917; May 1921; January 1924; July 1926
+</H5>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+Contents
+</H2>
+
+<BR>
+
+<CENTER>
+
+<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">CHAP.</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="80%">&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">&nbsp;</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap01">THE TWO SWORDS </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  9</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap02">DANTE, THE DIVINE POET </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  19</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap03">LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT</A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  30</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap04">THE PRIOR OF SAN MARCO </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  41</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap05">MARTIN LUTHER, REFORMER OF THE CHURCH</A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  52</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap06">CHARLES V, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR</A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  63</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap07">THE BEGGARS OF THE SEA</A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  74</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap08">WILLIAM THE SILENT, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  86</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap09">HENRY OF NAVARRE </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  100</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap10">UNDER THE RED ROBE</A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  115</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap11">THE GRAND MONARCH</A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 128</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap12">PETER THE GREAT</A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">   137</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap13">THE ROYAL ROBBER </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">   145</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap14">SPIRITS OF THE AGE</A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  156</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap15">THE MAN FROM CORSICA </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  168</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap16">"GOD AND THE PEOPLE" </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  183</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap17">"FOR ITALY AND VICTOR EMMANUEL!" </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  195</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap18">THE THIRD NAPOLEON </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  207</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap19">THE REFORMER OF THE EAST </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  216</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap20">THE HERO IN HISTORY </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">  228</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap21">INDEX </A></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">   233</TD>
+</TR>
+
+</TABLE>
+
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+Illustrations
+</H2>
+
+<BR>
+
+<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%">
+<A HREF="#img-front">
+LEO TOLSTOY IN HIS BARE APARTMENTS AT YASNAYA POLYANA</A>  (<I>Repin</I>)
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">
+<I>Frontispiece</I>
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#img-022">
+DANTE IN THE STREETS OF FLORENCE</A> (<I>Evelyn Paul</I>)
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">
+  22
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#img-050">
+THE LAST SLEEP OF SAVONAROLA</A> (<I>Sir George Reid, P.R.S.A.</I>)
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">
+ 60
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#img-076">
+PHILIP II PRESENT AT AN AUTO-DA-FÉ</A> (<I>D. Valdivieso</I>)
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">
+ 78
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#img-090">
+LAST MOMENTS OF COUNT EGMONT</A> (<I>Louis Gallait</I>)
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">
+  90
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#img-124">
+AN APPLICATION TO THE CARDINAL FOR HIS FAVOUR</A> (<I>Walter Gay</I>)
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">
+  124
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#img-152">
+FREDERICK THE GREAT RECEIVING HIS PEOPLE'S HOMAGE</A> (<I>A. Menzel</I>)
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">
+ 152
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#img-204">
+THE MEETING OF VICTOR EMMANUEL AND GARIBALDI</A> (<I>Pietro Aldi</I>)
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">
+  204
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+</TABLE>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap01"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P9"></A>9}</SPAN>
+
+<H1 ALIGN="center">
+Heroes of Modern Europe
+</H1>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter I
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Two Swords
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In the fourth century after Christ began that decay of the Roman Empire
+which had been the pride of the then civilized world.  Warriors of
+Teutonic race invaded its splendid cities, destroyed without remorse
+the costliest and most beautiful of its antique treasures.  Temples and
+images of the gods fell before barbarians whose only fear was lest they
+should die "upon the straw," while marble fountains and luxurious
+bath-houses were despoiled as signs of a most inglorious state of
+civilization.  Theatres perished and, with them, the plays of Greek
+dramatists, who have found no true successors.  Pictures and statues
+and buildings were defaced where they were not utterly destroyed.  The
+Latin race survived, forlornly conscious of its vanished culture.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Teutons had hardly begun to impose upon the Empire the rude customs
+of their own race when Saracens, bent upon spreading the religion of
+Mahomet, bore down upon Italy, where resistance from watchtowers and
+castles was powerless to check their cruel depredations.  Norman
+pirates plundered the shores of the Mediterranean and sailed up the
+River Seine,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P10"></A>10}</SPAN>
+always winning easy victories.  Magyars, a strange,
+wandering race, came from the East and wrought much evil among the
+newly-settled Germans.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From the third to the tenth century there were incredible changes among
+the European nations.  Gone were the gleaming cities of the South and
+the worship of art and science and the exquisite refinements of the
+life of scholarly leisure.  Gone were the flourishing manufactures
+since the warrior had no time to devote to trading.  Gone was the love
+of letters and the philosopher's prestige now that men looked to the
+battle-field alone to give them the awards of glory.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Outwardly, Europe of the Middle Ages presented a sad contrast to the
+magnificence of an Empire which was fading to remoteness year by year.
+The ugly towns did not attempt to hide their squalor, when dirt was
+such a natural condition of life that a knight would dwell boastfully
+upon his contempt for cleanliness, and a beauty display hands innocent
+of all proper tending.  The dress of the people was ill-made and
+scanty, lacking the severe grace of the Roman toga.  Furniture was
+rudely hewn from wood and placed on floors which were generally uneven
+and covered with straw instead of being paved with tessellated marble.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Yet the inward life of Europe was purer since it sought to follow the
+teaching of Christ, and preached universal love and a toleration that
+placed on the same level a mighty ruler and the lowest in his realm.
+Fierce spirits, unfortunately, sometimes forgot the truth and gave
+themselves up to a cruel lust for persecution which was at variance
+with their creed, but the holiest now condemned warfare and praised the
+virtues of obedience and self-sacrifice.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P11"></A>11}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+Whereas pagan Greek and Rome had searched for beauty upon earth, it was
+the dreary belief of the Middle Ages that the world was a place where
+only misery could be the portion of mankind, who were bidden to look to
+another life for happiness and pleasure.  Sinners hurried from
+temptation into monasteries, which were founded for the purpose of
+enabling men to prepare for eternity.  Family life was broken up and
+all the pleasant intercourse of social habits.  Marriage was a snare,
+and even the love of parents might prove dangerous to the devoted monk.
+Strange was the isolation of the hermit who refused to cleanse himself
+or change his clothes, desiring above all other things to attain to
+that blessed state when his soul should be oblivious of his body.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Women also despised the claims of kindred and retired to convents where
+the elect were granted visions after long prayer and fasting.  The nun
+knelt on the bare stone floor of her cell, awaiting the ecstasy that
+would descend on her.  When it had gone again she was nigh to death,
+faint and weary, yet compelled to struggle onward till her earthly life
+came to an end.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Crusades, or Wars of the Cross, had roused Europe from a state of
+most distressful bondage.  Ignorance and barbarism were shot with
+gleams of spiritual light even after the vast armies were sent forth to
+wrest the possession of Jerusalem from the infidels.  Shameful stories
+of the treatment of pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre had moved the hearts
+of kings and princes to a passionate indignation.  Valour became the
+highest, and all men were eager to be ranked with Crusaders&mdash;those
+soldiers of heroic courage whose cause was Christianity and its
+defence.  At the close of the tenth century there were innumerable
+pilgrims travelling
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P12"></A>12}</SPAN>
+toward the Holy Land, for it had been
+prophesied that in the year A.D. 1000 the end of the world would come,
+when it would be well for those within Jerusalem, the City of the
+Saviour.  The inhuman conduct of the Turk was resented violently,
+because it would keep many a sinner from salvation; and the dangerous
+journey to the East was held to atone for the gravest crimes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After the first disasters in which so many Crusaders fell before they
+reached their destination, Italy especially began to benefit by these
+wars.  It was considered safer to reach Jerusalem by sea, boarding the
+vessels in Italian ports, which were owned and equipped by Italian
+merchants.  Venice, Pisa, and Genoa gradually assumed the trade of
+ancient Constantinople, once without rival on the southern sea.
+Constantinople was a city of wonder to the ignorant fighting men from
+other lands, who had never dreamed of a civilization so complete as
+that which she possessed.  Awed by elegance and luxury, they returned
+to their homes with a sense of inferiority.  They had met and fought
+side by side with warriors of such polished manners that they felt
+ashamed of their own brutal ways.  They had seen strange costumes and
+listened to strange tongues.  Henceforth no nation of Europe could be
+entirely indifferent to the fact that there was a world without.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The widowed and desolate were not comforted by the knowledge which the
+returned Crusader delighted to impart.  They had been sacrificed to the
+pride which led husbands and fathers to sell their estates and squander
+vast sums of money, that they might equip a band of followers to lead
+in triumph to the Holy Wars.  The complaints of starving women led to
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P13"></A>13}</SPAN>
+the collection of much gold and silver by Lambert Le Bègue, "the
+stammering priest."  He built a number of small houses to be inhabited
+by the Order of Bèguines, a new sisterhood who did not sever themselves
+entirely from the world, but lived in peaceful retirement, occupied by
+spinning and weaving all day long.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Beghards, or Weaving Brothers, took pattern by this busy guild of
+workers and followed the same rules of simple piety.  They were fond of
+religious discussion, and were mystics.  They enjoyed the approval of
+Rome until the new orders were established of Saint Francis and Saint
+Dominic.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the twelfth century religion was drawing nearer to humanity and the
+needs of earth.  The new orders, therefore, tried to bridge the gulf
+between the erring and the saintly, forbidding their brethren to
+seclude themselves from other men.  A healthy reaction was taking place
+from the old idea that the religious life meant a withdrawal from the
+temptations of the world.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+St Dominic, born in Spain in 1170, was the founder of "the Order of
+Preaching Monks for the conversion of heretics."  The first aim of the
+"Domini canes" (Dominicans), or Hounds of the Lord, was to attack
+anyone who denied their faith.  Cruelty could be practised under the
+rule of Dominic, who bade his followers lead men by any path to their
+ultimate salvation.  Tolerance of free thought and progress was
+discouraged, and rigid discipline corrected any disciple of compassion.
+The dress of the order was severely plain, consisting of a long black
+mantle over a white robe.  The brethren practised poverty, and fared
+humbly on bread and water.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The brown-frocked Franciscans, rivals in later times of the monks of
+Dominic, were always taught to love
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P14"></A>14}</SPAN>
+mankind and be merciful to
+transgressors.  It was the duty of the Preaching Brothers to warn and
+threaten; it was the joy of the <I>Frati Minori</I>, or Lesser Brothers, to
+tend the sick and protect the helpless, taking thought for the very
+birds and fishes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+St Francis was born at Assisi in 1182, the son of a prosperous
+householder and cloth merchant.  He drank and was merry, like any other
+youth of the period, till a serious illness purged him of follies.
+After dedicating his life to God, he put down in the market-place of
+Assisi all he possessed save the shirt on his body.  The bitter
+reproaches of kinsfolk pursued him vainly as he set out in beggarly
+state to give service to the poor and despised.  He loved Nature and
+her creatures, speaking of the birds as "noble" and holding close
+communion with them.  The saintly Italian was opposed to the warlike
+doctrines of St Dominic; he made peace very frequently between the two
+parties known as Guelfs and Ghibellines.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+<I>Welf</I> was a common name among the dukes of Bavaria, and the Guelfs
+were, in general, supporters of the Papacy and this ducal house,
+whereas the Waiblingen (Ghibellines) received their name from a castle
+in Swabia, a fief of the Hohenstaufen enemies of the Pope.  It was
+under a famous emperor of the House of Swabia that the struggle between
+Papacy and Empire, "the two swords," gained attention from the rest of
+Europe.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII had won many notable
+victories in support of his claims to temporal power.  He had brought
+Henry IV, the proud Emperor, before whose name men trembled, to sue for
+his pardon at Canossa, and had kept the suppliant in the snow, with
+bare head and bare feet, that he might
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P15"></A>15}</SPAN>
+endure the last
+humiliations.  Then the fortune of war changed, and the Pope was seized
+in the Church of St Peter at Rome by Cencio, a fiery noble, who held
+him in close confinement.  It was easier to lord it over princes who
+were hated by many of their own subjects than to quell the animosity
+which was roused by attempted domination in the Eternal City.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Pope was able sometimes to elect a partisan of the Guelf party as
+emperor.  On the other hand, an emperor had been heard to lament the
+election of a staunch friend to the Papacy because he believed that no
+pope could ever be a true Ghibelline.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Certain princes of the House of Hohenstaufen were too proud to
+acknowledge an authority that threatened to crush their power in Italy.
+Henry VI was a ruler dreaded by contemporaries as merciless to the last
+degree.  He burned men alive if they offended him, and had no
+compunction in ordering the guilty to be tarred and blinded.  He was of
+such a temper that the Pope had not the courage to demand from him the
+homage of a vassal.  It was Frederick II, Henry's son, who came into
+conflict with the Papacy so violently that all his neighbours watched
+in terror.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Pope Gregory IX would give no quarter, and excommunicated the Emperor
+because he had been unable to go on a crusade owing to pestilence in
+his army.  The clergy were bidden to assemble in the Church of St Peter
+and to fling down their lighted candles as the Pope cursed the Emperor
+for his broken promise, a sin against religion.  The news of this
+ceremony spread through the world, the two parties appealing to the
+princes of Europe for aid in fighting out this quarrel.  Frederick
+defied the papal decree, and went to win back Jerusalem from the
+infidels as soon as his soldiers had
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P16"></A>16}</SPAN>
+recovered.  He took the city,
+but had to crown himself as king since none other would perform the
+service for a man outside the Church.  Frederick bade the pious
+Mussulmans continue the prayers they would have ceased through
+deference to a Christian ruler.  He had thrown off all the
+superstitions of the age except the study of astrology, and was a
+scholar of wide repute, delighting in correspondence with the learned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Arabs did not admire Frederick's person, describing him as unlikely
+to fetch a high price if he had been a slave!  He was bald-headed and
+had weak eyesight, though generally held graceful and attractive.  In
+mental powers he surpassed the greatest at his house, which had always
+been famous for its intellect.  He had been born at Palermo, "the city
+of three tongues"; therefore Greek, Latin, and Arabic were equally
+familiar.  He was daring in speech, broad in views, and cosmopolitan in
+habit.  He founded the University of Naples and encouraged the study of
+medicine; he had the Greek of Aristotle translated, and himself set the
+fashion in verse-making, which was soon to be the pastime of every
+court in Italy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Pope was more successful in a contest waged with tongues than he
+had proved on battle-fields, which were strewn with bodies of both
+Guelf and Ghibelline factions.  He dined in 1230 at the same table as
+his foe, but the peace between them did not long continue.  In turn
+they triumphed, bringing against each other two armies of the Cross,
+the followers of the Pope fighting under the standard of St Peter's
+Keys as the champion of the true Christian Church against its
+oppressors.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Pope Innocent IV, who succeeded Gregory, proved himself a very cunning
+adversary.  He might have
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P17"></A>17}</SPAN>
+won an easy victory over Frederick II if
+the exactions of the Papacy had not angered the countries where he
+sought refuge after his first failures.  It was futile to declare at
+Lyons that the Emperor was deposed when all France was crying out upon
+the greed of prelates.  The wearisome strife went on till the very
+peasants had to be guarded at their work by knights, sent out from
+towns to see that they were not taken captive.  It was the day of the
+robber, and all things lay to his hand if he were bold enough to grasp
+them.  Prisoners of war suffered horrible tortures, being hung up by
+their feet and hands in the hope that their friends would ransom them
+the sooner.  Villages were burned down, and wolves howled near the
+haunts of men, seeking food to appease their ravening hunger.  It was
+said that fierce beasts gnawed through the walls of houses and devoured
+little children in their cradles.  Italy was rent by a conflict which
+divided one province from another, and even placed inhabitants of the
+same town on opposite sides and caused dissension in the noblest
+families.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Flagellants marched in procession through the land, calling for
+peace but bringing tumult.  The Emperor's party made haste to shut them
+out of the territory they ruled, but they could not rid the people of
+the terrible fear inspired by the barefooted, black-robed figures, with
+branches and candles in their hands and the holy Cross flaming red
+before them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One defeat after another brought the House of Hohenstaufen under the
+control of the Church they had defied so boldly.  Frederick's own son
+rebelled against him, and Frederick's camp was destroyed by a Guelf
+army.  The Emperor had lived splendidly, making more impression on
+world-history than any other prince of that
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P18"></A>18}</SPAN>
+illustrious family,
+but he died in an hour of failure, feeling bitterly how great a triumph
+his death would be to the Pope who had conquered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was late in the year 1250 when the tidings of Frederick II's death
+travelled slowly through his Empire.  Many refused to believe them, and
+declared long years afterwards that the Emperor was still living,
+beneath a mighty mountain.  The world seemed to be shaking yet with the
+vibration of that deadly struggle.  Conrad and Conradin were left, and
+Manfred, the favourite son of Frederick, but their reigns were short
+and desperate, and when they, too, had passed the Middle Ages were
+merging into another era.  The "two swords" of Papacy and Empire were
+still to pierce and wound, but the struggle between them would never
+seem so mighty after the spirit had fled which inspired Conradin, last
+of the House of Swabia.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This young prince was led to the scaffold, where he asserted stoutly
+his claim to Naples above the claim of Charles, the Count of Anjou, who
+held it as fief of the Papacy.  Then Conradin dared to throw his glove
+among the people, bidding them to carry it to Peter, Prince of Aragon,
+as the symbol by which he conveyed the rights of which death alone had
+been able to despoil him.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap02"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P19"></A>19}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter II
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Dante, the Divine Poet
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+There were still Guelfs and Ghibellines in 1265, but the old names had
+partially lost their meaning in the Republic of Florence, where the
+citizens brawled daily, one faction against the other.  The nobles had,
+nevertheless, a bond with the emperor, being of the same Teutonic
+stock, and the burghers often sought the patronage of a very powerful
+pope, hoping in this way to maintain their well-loved independence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But often Guelf and Ghibelline had no interest in anything outside the
+walls of Florence.  The Florentine blood was hot and rose quickly to
+avenge insult.  Family feuds were passionately upheld in a community so
+narrow and so zealous.  If a man jostled another in the street, it was
+an excuse for a fight which might end in terrible bloodshed.  Fear of
+banishment was no restraint to the combatants.  The Guelf party would
+send away the Ghibelline after there had been some shameful tumult.
+Then the <I>fuori</I> (outside) were recalled because their own faction was
+in power again, and, in turn, the Guelfs were banished by the
+Ghibellines.  In 1260 there had even been some talk of destroying the
+famous town in Tuscany.  Florence would have been razed to the ground
+had not a party leader, Farinata degli Uberti, showed unexpected
+patriotism which saved her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Florence had waxed mighty through her commerce,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P20"></A>20}</SPAN>
+holding a high
+place among the Italian cities which had thrown off the feudal yoke and
+become republics.  Wealth gave the citizens leisure to study art and
+literature, and to attain to the highest civilization of a thriving
+state.  The Italians of that time were the carriers of Europe, and as
+such had intercourse with every nation of importance.  They were
+especially successful as bankers, Florentine citizens of middle rank
+acquiring such vast fortunes by finance that they outstripped the
+nobles who dwelt outside the gates and spent all their time in
+fighting.  The guilds of Florence united men of the same trade and also
+encouraged perfection in the various branches.  Goldsmiths offered
+marvellous wares for the purchase of the affluent dilettante.  Silk was
+a natural manufacture, and paper had to be produced in a place where
+the School of Law attracted foreign scholars.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Rome had the renown of past splendour and the purple of imperial pride.
+Venice was the depôt of the world's trade, and sent fleets east and
+west laden with precious cargoes, which gave her a unique position
+among the five Republics.  Bologna drew students from every capital in
+Europe to her ancient Universities.  Milan had been a centre of
+learning even in the days of Roman rule, and the Emperor Maximilian had
+made it the capital of Northern Italy.  Florence, somewhat overshadowed
+by such fame, could yet boast the most ancient origin.  Was not
+Faesulae, lying close to her, the first city built when the Flood had
+washed away the abodes of men and left the earth quite desolate?  <I>Fia
+sola</I>&mdash;"Let her be alone"&mdash;the words re-echoed through the whole
+neighbourhood and were the pride of Florence, which lay in a smiling
+fertile plain where all things flourished.  The Florentines were coming
+to their own as the Middle Ages
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P21"></A>21}</SPAN>
+passed; they were people of
+cunning hand and brain, always eager to make money and spend it to
+procure the luxury and beauty their natures craved.  The "florin" owed
+its popularity to the soundness of trade within the very streets where
+the bell, known as "the great cow," rang so lustily to summon the
+citizens to combat.  The golden coins carried the repute of the fair
+Italian town to other lands, and changed owners so often that her
+prosperity was obvious.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Florence looked very fair when Durante Alighieri came into the world,
+for he was born on a May morning, and the Florentines were making
+holiday.  There was mirth and jesting within the tall grey houses round
+the little church of San Martino.  The Alighieri dwelt in that quarter,
+but more humbly than their fine neighbours, the Portinari, the Donati,
+and the Cerci.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Portinari celebrated May royally in 1275, inviting all their
+friends to a blithe gathering.  At this <I>festa</I> Dante Alighieri met
+Beatrice, the little daughter of his host, and the long dream of his
+life began, for he idealized her loveliness from that first youthful
+meeting.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Her dress on that day was of a most noble colour, a subdued and goodly
+crimson, girdled and adorned in such sort as best suited with her very
+tender age.  At that moment I say most truly that the spirit of life,
+which hath its dwelling in the secretest chamber of the heart, began to
+tremble so violently that the least pulses of my body shook therewith;
+and in trembling it said these words&mdash;'<I>Ecce Deus fortior me, qui
+veniens dominabitur mihi.</I>'  From that time Love ruled my soul.&#8230;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Henceforth, Dante watched for the vision of Beatrice, weaving about her
+all the poetic fancies of his youth.  He must have seen her many times,
+but no words passed
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P22"></A>22}</SPAN>
+between them till nine years had sped and he
+chanced to come upon her in all the radiance of her womanhood.  She was
+"between two gentle ladies who were older than she; and passing by in
+the street, she turned her eyes towards that place where I stood very
+timidly, and in her ineffable courtesy saluted me so graciously that I
+seemed then to see the heights of all blessedness.  And because this
+was the first time her words came to my ears, it was so sweet to me
+that, like one intoxicated, I left all my companions, and retiring to
+the solitary refuge of my chamber I set myself to think of that most
+courteous one, and thinking of her, there fell upon me a sweet sleep,
+in which a marvellous vision appeared to me."  The poet described the
+vision in verse&mdash;it was Love carrying a sleeping lady in one arm and in
+the other the burning heart of Dante.  He wished that the sonnet he
+wrote should be answered by "all the faithful followers of love," and
+was gratified by the prompt reply of Guido Cavalcanti, who had won
+renown as a knight and minstrel.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dante became the friend of this elder poet, and was encouraged to
+pursue his visionary history of the earlier years of his life and his
+fantastic adoration for Beatrice Portinari.  The <I>Vita Nuova</I> was read
+by the poet's circle, who had a sympathetic interest in the details of
+the drama.  The young lover did not confess his love to "the youngest
+of the angels," but he continued to worship her long after she had
+married Simone de Bardi.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-022"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-022.jpg" ALT="Dante in the Streets of Florence (Evelyn Paul)" BORDER="2" WIDTH="444" HEIGHT="645">
+<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 444px">
+Dante in the Streets of Florence (Evelyn Paul)
+</H3>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+Yet Dante entered into the ruder life of Florence, and took up arms for
+the Guelf faction, to which his family belonged.  He fought in 1289 at
+the battle of Campaldino against the city of Arezzo and the Ghibellines
+who had taken possession of that city.  Florence had been strangely
+peaceful in his childhood because the Guelfs were her unquestioned
+masters at the time.  It must have
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P23"></A>23}</SPAN>
+been a relief to Florentines to
+go forth to external warfare!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dante played his part valiantly on the battle-field, then returned to
+wonderful aloofness from the strife of factions.  He was stricken with
+grave fears that Beatrice must die, and mourned sublimely when the sad
+event took place on the ninth day of one of the summer months of 1290.
+"In their ninth year they had met, nine years after, they had spoken;
+she died on the ninth day of the month and the ninetieth year of the
+century."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Real life began with the poet's marriage when he was twenty-eight, for
+he allied himself to the noble Donati by marrying Gemma of that house.
+Little is known of the wife, but she bore seven children and seems to
+have been devoted.  Dante still had his spiritual love for Beatrice in
+his heart, and planned a wonderful poem in which she should be
+celebrated worthily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dante began to take up the active duties of a citizen in 1293 when the
+people of Florence rose against the nobles and took all their political
+powers from them.  The aristocratic party had henceforth to submit to
+the humiliation of enrolling themselves as members of some guild or art
+if they wished to have political rights in the Republic.  The poet was
+not too proud to adopt this course, and was duly entered in the
+register of the art of doctors and apothecaries.  It was not necessary
+that he should study medicine, the regulation being a mere form,
+probably to carry out the idea that every citizen possessing the
+franchise should have a trade of some kind.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The prosperity of the Republic was not destroyed by this petty
+revolution.  Churches were built and stones laid for the new walls of
+Florence.  Relations with other states demanded the services of a
+gracious and tactful
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P24"></A>24}</SPAN>
+embassy.  Dante became an ambassador, and was
+successful in arranging the business of diplomacy and in promoting the
+welfare of his city.  He was too much engaged in important affairs to
+pay attention to every miserable quarrel of the Florentines.  The
+powerful Donati showed dangerous hostility now to the wealthy Cerchi,
+their near neighbours.  Dante acted as a mediator when he could spare
+the time to hear complaints.  He was probably more in sympathy with the
+popular cause which was espoused by the Cerchi than with the arrogance
+of his wife's family.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The feud of the Donati and Cerchi was fostered by the irruption of a
+family from Pistoia, who had separated into two distinct branches&mdash;the
+Bianchi and the Neri (the Whites and the Blacks)&mdash;and drawn their
+swords upon each other.  The Cerchi chose to believe that the Bianchi
+were in the right, and, of course, the Donati took up the cause of the
+Neri.  The original dispute had long been forgotten, but any excuse
+would serve two factions anxious to fight.  Brawling took place at a
+May <I>festa</I>, in which several persons were wounded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dante was glad to divert his mind from all his discords when the last
+year of the thirteenth century came and he set out to Rome on
+pilgrimage.  At Easter all the world seemed to be flocking to that
+solemn festival of the Catholic Church, where the erring could obtain
+indulgence by fifteen days of devotion.  Yet the very break in the
+usual life of audiences and journeys must have been grateful to the
+tired ambassador.  He began to muse on the poetic aims of his first
+youth and the work which was to make Beatrice's name immortal.  Some
+lines of the new poem were written in the Latin tongue, then held the
+finest language for expressing a great subject.  The poet had to
+abandon his scheme for
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P25"></A>25}</SPAN>
+a time at least, when he was made one of
+the Priors, or supreme rulers, of Florence in June 1300.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was some attempt during Dante's brief term of office to settle
+the vexed question of the rival parties.  Both deserved punishment,
+without doubt, and received it in the form of banishment for the heads
+of the factions.  "Dante applied all his genius and every act and
+thought to bring back unity to the republic, demonstrating to the wiser
+citizens how even the great are destroyed by discord, while the small
+grow and increase infinitely when at peace.&#8230;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Apparently Dante was not always successful in his attempts to unite his
+fellow-citizens.  He talked of resignation sometimes and retirement
+into private life, a proposal which was opposed by his friends in
+office.  When the losing side decided to ask Pope Boniface for an
+arbitrator to settle their disputes, all Dante's spirit rose against
+their lack of patriotism.  He went willingly on an embassy to desire
+that Charles, the brother or cousin of King Philip of France, who had
+been selected to regulate the state of Florence, should come with a
+friendly feeling to his party, if his arrival could not be averted.  He
+remained at Rome with other ambassadors for some unknown cause, while
+his party at Florence was defeated and sentence of banishment was
+passed on him as on the other leaders.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dante loved the city of his birth and was determined to return from
+exile.  He joined the band of <I>fuor-usciti</I>, or "turned-out," who were
+at that time plotting to reverse their fortunes.  He cared not whether
+they were Guelf or Ghibelline in his passionate eagerness to win them
+to decisive action that would restore him to his rights as a Florentine
+citizen.  He had no scruples in seeking foreign aid against the unjust
+Florentines.  An
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P26"></A>26}</SPAN>
+armed attempt was made against Florence through
+his fierce endeavours, but it failed, as also a second conspiracy
+within three years, and by 1304 the poet had been seized with disgust
+of his companions outside the gates.  He turned from them and went to
+the University of Bologna.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dante's wife had remained in Florence, escaping from dangers, perhaps,
+because she belonged to the powerful family of Donati.  Now she sent
+her eldest son, Pietro, to his father, with the idea that he should
+begin his studies at the ancient seat of learning.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After two years of a quiet life, spent in writing his <I>Essay on
+Eloquence</I> and reading philosophy, the exile was driven away from
+Bologna and had to take refuge with a noble of the Malespina family.
+He hated to receive patronage, and was thankful to set to work on his
+incomplete poem of the <I>Inferno</I>, which was sent to him from Florence.
+The weariness of exile was forgotten as he wrote the great lines that
+were to ring through the centuries and prove what manner of man his
+fellow-citizens had cast forth through petty wish for revenge and
+jealous hatred.  He had written beautiful poems in his youth, telling
+of love and chivalry and fair women.  Now he took the next world for
+his theme and the sufferings of those whose bodies have passed from
+earth and whose souls await redemption.  "Where I am sailing none has
+tracked the sea" were his words, avowing an intention to forsake the
+narrower limits of all poets before him.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="poem">
+"In the midway of this our mortal life,<BR>
+I found one in a gloomy wood, astray<BR>
+Gone from the path direct; and e'en to tell<BR>
+It were no easy task, how savage wild<BR>
+That forest, how robust and rough its growth,<BR>
+Which to remember only, my dismay<BR>
+Renews, in bitterness not far from death."<BR>
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P27"></A>27}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+So the poet descended in imagination to the underworld, which he
+pictured reaching in wide circles from a vortex of sin and misery to a
+point of godlike ecstasy.  With Vergil as a guide, he passed through
+the dark portals with their solemn warning.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="poem">
+"Through me men pass to city of great woe,<BR>
+Through me men pass to endless misery,<BR>
+Through me men pass where all the lost ones go."<BR>
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+In 1305 the <I>Inferno</I> was complete, and Dante left it with the monks of
+a certain convent while he wandered into a far-distant country.  The
+Frate questioned him eagerly, asking why he had chosen to write the
+poem in Italian since the vulgar tongue seemed to clothe such a
+wonderful theme unbecomingly.  "When I considered the condition of the
+present age," the poet replied, "I saw that the songs of the most
+illustrious poets were neglected of all, and for this reason
+high-minded men who once wrote on such themes now left (oh! pity) the
+liberal arts to the crowd.  For this I laid down the pure lyre with
+which I was provided and prepared for myself another more adapted to
+the understanding of the moderns.  For it is vain to give sucklings
+solid food."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dante fled Italy and again sat on the student's "bundle of straw,"
+choosing Paris as his next refuge.  There he discussed learned
+questions with the wise men of France, and endured much privation as
+well as the pangs of yearning for Florence, his beloved city, which
+seemed to forget him.  Hope rose within his breast when the
+newly-elected Emperor, Henry of Luxemburg, resolved to invade Italy and
+pacify the rebellious spirit of the proud republics.  Orders were given
+that Florence should settle her feuds once for all,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P28"></A>28}</SPAN>
+but the
+Florentines angrily refused to acknowledge the imperial authority over
+their affairs and, while recalling a certain number of the exiled,
+refused to include the name of Dante.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dante, in his fierce resentment, urged the Emperor to besiege the city
+which resisted his imperial mandates.  The assault was unsuccessful,
+and Henry of Luxemburg died without accomplishing his laudable
+intention of making Italy more peaceful.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dante lived under the protection of the powerful Uguccione, lord of
+Pisa, while he wrote the <I>Purgatorio</I>.  The second part of his epic
+dealt with the region lying between the under-world of torment and the
+heavenly heights of Paradise itself.  Here the souls of men were to be
+cleansed of their sins that they might be pure in their final ecstasy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A revolt against his patron led the poet to follow him to Verona, where
+they both dwelt in friendship with the young prince, Cane della Scala.
+The later cantos of the great poem, the <I>Divine Comedy</I>, were sent to
+this ruler as they were written.  Cane loved letters, and appreciated
+Dante so generously that the exile, for a time, was moved to forget his
+bitterness.  He dedicated the <I>Paradiso</I> to della Scala, but he had to
+give up the arduous task of glorifying Beatrice worthily and devote
+himself to some humble office at Verona.  The inferiority of his
+position galled one who claimed Vergil and Homer as his equals in the
+world of letters.  He lost all his serene tranquillity of soul, and his
+face betrayed the haughty impatience of his spirit.  Truly he was not
+the fitting companion for the buffoons and jesters among whom he was
+too often compelled to sit in the palaces where he accepted bounty.  He
+could not always win respect by the power of his dark and
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P29"></A>29}</SPAN>
+piercing
+eyes, for he had few advantages of person and disdained to be genial in
+manners.  Brooding over neglect and injustice, he grew so repellant
+that Cane was secretly relieved when thoughtless, cruel levity drove
+the poet from his court.  He never cared, perhaps, that Dante, writing
+the concluding cantos of his poem, decided sadly not to send them to
+his former benefactor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The last goal of Dante's wanderings was the ancient city of Ravenna,
+where his genius was honoured by the great, and he derived a melancholy
+pleasure from the wonder of the people, who would draw aside from his
+path and whisper one to another: "Do you see him who goes to hell and
+comes back again when he pleases?"  The fame of the <I>Divine Comedy</I> was
+known to all, and men were amazed by the splendid audacity of the
+<I>Inferno</I>.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Yet Dante was still an exile when death took him in 1321, and Florence
+had stubbornly refused to pay him tribute.  He was buried at Ravenna,
+and over his tomb in the little chapel an inscription reproached his
+own city with indifference.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="poem">
+"<I>Hic claudor Dantes patriis extorris ab oris,</I><BR>
+<I>Quem genuit parvi Florentia mater amoris.</I>"<BR>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="poem">
+"Here I am enclosed, Dante, exiled from my native country,<BR>
+Whom Florence bore, the mother that little did love him."<BR>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap03"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P30"></A>30}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter III
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Lorenzo the Magnificent
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The struggle in which Dante had played a leading part did not cease for
+many years after the poet had died in exile.  The Florentines proved
+themselves so unable to rule their own city that they had to admit
+foreign control and bow before the Lords Paramount who came from
+Naples.  The last of these died in 1328 and was succeeded by the Duke
+of Athens.  This tyrant roused the old spirit of the people which had
+asserted its independence in former days.  He was driven out of
+Florence on Saint Anne's Day, July 26th of 1343, and the anniversary of
+that brave fight for liberty was celebrated henceforth with loud
+rejoicing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The <I>Ciompi</I>, or working-classes, rose in 1378 and demanded higher
+wages.  They had been grievously oppressed by the nobles, and were
+encouraged by a general spirit of revolt which affected the peasantry
+of Europe.  They were strong enough in Florence to set up a new
+government with one of their own rank as chief magistrate.  But
+democracy did not enjoy a lengthy rule and the rich merchant-class came
+into power.  Such families as the Albizzi and Medici were well able to
+buy the favour of the people.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There had been a tradition that the Florentine banking-house of Medici
+were on the popular side in those struggles which rent Florence.  They
+were certainly born leaders
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P31"></A>31}</SPAN>
+and understood very thoroughly the
+nature of their turbulent fellow-citizens.  They gained influence
+steadily during the sway of their rivals, the illustrious Albizzi.
+When Cosimo dei Medici had been banished, it was significant that the
+same convention of the people which recalled him should send Rinaldo
+degli Albizzi into exile.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Cosimo dei Medici rid himself of enemies by the unscrupulous method of
+his predecessors, driving outside the walls the followers of any party
+that opposed him.  He had determined to control the Florentines so
+cleverly that they should not realize his tyranny.  He was quite
+willing to spend the hoards of his ancestors on the adornment of the
+state he governed, and, among other things, he built the famous convent
+of St Mark.  Fra Angelico, the painter-monk, was given the work of
+covering its white walls with the frescoes in which the monks delighted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Cosimo gained thereby the reputation of liberality and gracious
+interest in the development of genius.  The monk had devoted his time
+before this to the illuminations of manuscripts, and was delighted to
+work for the glory of God in such a way that all the convent might
+behold it.  He wished for neither profit not praise for himself, but he
+knew that his beautiful vision would be inherited by his Church, and
+that they might inspire others of his brethren.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Golden Age of Italian art was in its heyday under Cosimo dei
+Medici.  Painters and architects had not been disturbed by the tumults
+that drew the rival factions from their daily labours.  They had been
+constructing marvellous edifices in Florence even during the time when
+party feeling ran so high that it would have sacrificed the very
+existence of the city to its rancours.
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P32"></A>32}</SPAN>
+The noble Cathedral had
+begun to rise before Dante had been banished, but there was no belfry
+till 1334 when Giotto laid the foundation-stone of the <I>Campanile</I>,
+whence the bells would ring through many centuries.  The artist had
+completed his masterpiece in 1387, two years before the birth of
+Cosimo.  It was an incentive to patriotic Florentines to add to the
+noble buildings of their city.  The Church of San Lorenzo owed its
+existence to the House of Medici, which appealed to the people by
+lavish appreciation of all genius.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Cosimo was a scholar and welcomed the learned Greeks who fled from
+Constantinople when that city was taken by the Turks in 1453.  He
+founded a Platonic Academy in Florence so that his guests were able to
+discuss philosophy at leisure.  He professed to find consolation for
+all the misfortunes of his life in the writings of the Greek Plato, and
+read them rather ostentatiously in hours of bereavement.  He collected
+as many classical manuscripts as his agents could discover on their
+journeys throughout Europe, and had these translated for the benefit of
+scholars.  He had been in the habit of conciliating Alfonso of Naples
+by a present of gold and jewels, but as soon as a copy of Livy, the
+Latin historian, came to his hand, he sent the priceless treasure to
+his ally, knowing that the Neapolitan prince had an enormous reverence
+for learning.  Cosimo, in truth, never coveted such finds for his own
+private use, but was always generous in exhibiting them at public
+libraries.  He bought works of art to encourage the ingenuity of
+Florentine craftsmen, and would pay a high price for any new design,
+because he liked to think that his benevolence added to the welfare of
+the city.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Cosimo protected the commercial interests of Florence, identifying them
+with his own.  He knew that peace
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P33"></A>33}</SPAN>
+was essential to the foreign
+trade, and tried to keep on friendly terms with the neighbours whose
+hostility would have destroyed it.  He lived with simplicity in private
+life, but he needed wealth to maintain his position as patron of art
+and the New Learning; nor did he grudge the money which was scattered
+profusely to provide the gorgeous spectacles, beloved by the unlearned.
+He knew that nothing would rob the Florentines so easily of their
+ancient love of liberty as the experience of sensuous delights, in
+which all southern races find some satisfaction.  He entertained the
+guests of the Republic with magnificence, that they might be impressed
+by the security of his unlawful government.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Lorenzo, the grandson of Cosimo dei Medici, carried on his policy.  It
+had been successful, for the Florentines of their own accord put
+themselves beneath the sway of a second tyrant.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Poets of every kind, gentle and simple, with golden cithern and with
+rustic lute, came from every quarter to animate the suppers of the
+Magnifico; whosoever sang of arms, of love, of saints, of fools, was
+welcome, or he who, drinking and joking, kept the company amused.&#8230;
+And in order that the people might not be excluded from this new
+beatitude (a thing which was important to the Magnifico), he composed
+and set in order many mythological representations, triumphal cars,
+dances, and every kind of festal celebration, to solace and delight
+them; and thus he succeeded in banishing from their souls any
+recollection of their ancient greatness, in making them insensible to
+the ills of the country, in disfranchising and debasing them by means
+of temporal ease and intoxication of the senses."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Lorenzo the Magnificent was endowed with charms
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P34"></A>34}</SPAN>
+that were naturally potent with a beauty-loving people.  He had
+been very carefully trained by the prudent Cosimo, so that he excelled
+in physical exercises and could also claim a place among the most
+intellectual in Florence.  Although singularly ill-favoured, he had
+personal qualities which attracted men and women.  He spared no pains
+to array himself with splendour whenever he appeared in public.  At
+tournaments he wore a costume ornamented with gold and silver thread,
+and displayed the great Medicean diamond&mdash;<I>Il Libro</I>&mdash;on his shield,
+which bore the <I>fleur-de-lis</I> of France in token of the friendship
+between the Medici and that nation.  The sound of drums and fifes
+heralded the approach of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and cheers acclaimed
+him victor when he left the field bearing the coveted silver helmet as
+a trophy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Lorenzo worshipped a lady who had given him a bunch of violets as a
+token, according to the laws of chivalry.  He wrote sonnets in honour
+of Lucrezia Donati, but he was not free to marry her, the great house
+of Medici looking higher than her family.  The bride, chosen for the
+honour of mating with the ruler of Florence, was a Roman lady of such
+noble birth that it was not considered essential that she should bring
+a substantial dowry.  Clarice Orsini was dazzled at her wedding-feast
+by the voluptuous splendour of the family which she entered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The ceremony took place at Florence in 1469 and afforded an excuse for
+lavish hospitality.  The bride received her own guests in the garden of
+the villa where she was to reign as mistress.  Young married women
+surrounded her, admiring the costliness of her clothing and preening
+themselves in the rich attire which they had assumed for this great
+occasion.  In an upper
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P35"></A>35}</SPAN>
+room of the villa the bridegroom's mother
+welcomed her own friends of mature years, and listened indulgently to
+the sounds of mirth that floated upward from the cloisters of the
+courtyard.  Lorenzo sat there with the great Florentines who had
+assembled to honour his betrothal.  The feast was served with solemnity
+at variance with the wit and laughter that were characteristic of the
+gallant company.  The blare of trumpets heralded the arrival of dishes,
+which were generally simple.  The stewards and carvers bowed low as
+they served the meats; their task was far from light since abundance
+was the rule of the house of Medici.  No less than five thousand pounds
+of sweetmeats had been provided for the wedding, but it must be
+remembered that the banquets went on continuously for several days, and
+the humblest citizen could present himself at the hospitable boards of
+the bridegroom and his kinsfolk.  The country-folk had sent the usual
+gifts, of fat hens and capons, and were greeted with a welcome as
+gracious as that bestowed on the guests whose offerings were rings or
+brocades or costly illuminated manuscripts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After his marriage, Lorenzo was called upon to undertake a foreign
+mission.  He travelled to Milan and there stood sponsor to the child of
+the reigning Duke, Galeazzo Sforza, in order to cement an alliance.  He
+gave a gold collar, studded with diamonds, to the Duchess of Milan, and
+answered as became him when she was led to express the hope that he
+would be godfather to all her children!  It was Lorenzo's duty to act
+as host when the Duke of Milan came to visit Florence.  He was not
+dismayed by the long train of attendants which followed the Duke, for
+he knew that these richly-dressed warriors might be bribed to
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P36"></A>36}</SPAN>
+fight for his State if he conciliated their master.  There were
+citizens in Florence, however, who shrank from the barbaric ostentation
+of their ally.  They looked upon a fire which broke out in a church as
+a divine denunciation of the mystery play performed in honour of their
+guests, and were openly relieved to shut their gates upon the Duke of
+Milan and his proud forces.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Lorenzo betrayed no weakness when the town of Volterra revolted against
+Florence, which exercised the rights of a protector.  He punished the
+inhabitants very cruelly, banishing all the leaders of the revolt and
+taking away the Volterran privilege of self-government.  His enemies
+hinted that he behaved despotically in order to secure certain mineral
+rights in this territory, and held him responsible for the sack of
+Volterra, though he asserted that he had gone to offer help to such of
+the inhabitants as had lost everything.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the war of the Pazzi conspiracy was the true test of the strength
+of Medicean government.  It succeeded a time of high prosperity in
+Florence, when her ruler was honoured by the recognition of many
+foreign powers, and felt his position so secure that he might safely
+devote much leisure to the congenial study of poetry and philosophy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Between the years 1474-8 Lorenzo had managed to incur the jealous
+hatred of Pope Sixtus IV, who was determined to become the greatest
+power in Christendom.  This Pontiff skilfully detached Naples from her
+alliance with Florence and Milan by promising to be content with a
+nominal tribute of two white horses every year instead of the handsome
+annual sum she had usually exacted from this vassal.  He congratulated
+himself especially on this stroke of policy, because he believed Venice
+to be too selfish as a commercial State
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P37"></A>37}</SPAN>
+to combine with her
+Italian neighbours and so form another Triple Alliance.  He then
+proceeded to win over the Duke of Urbino, who had been the leader of
+the Florentine army.  He also thwarted the ambition of Florentine trade
+by purchasing the tower of Imola from Milan.  The Medici, coveting the
+bargain for their traffic with the East, were too indignant to advance
+the money which, as bankers to the Papacy, they should have supplied.
+They preferred to see their rivals, the great Roman banking-house of
+the Pazzi, accommodating the Pope, even though this might mean a fatal
+blow to their supremacy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Lorenzo's hopes of a strong coalition against his foe were destroyed by
+the assassination of Sforza of Milan in 1474.  The Duke was murdered in
+the church of St Stephen by three young nobles who had personal
+injuries to avenge and were also inspired by an ardent desire for
+republican liberty.  The Pope exclaimed, when he heard the news, that
+the peace of Italy was banished by this act of lawlessness.  Lorenzo,
+disapproving of all outbreaks against tyranny, promised to support the
+widowed Duchess of Milan.  The control he exercised during her brief
+régime came to an end in 1479 with the usurpation of Ludovico, her
+Moorish brother-in-law.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then Riario, the Pope's nephew, saw that the time was ripe for a
+conspiracy against the Medici which might deprive them of their power
+in Italy.  He allied himself closely with Francesco dei Pazzi, who was
+anxious for the aggrandisement of his own family.  His name had long
+been famous in Florence, every good citizen watching the ancient <I>Carro
+dei Pazzi</I> which was borne in procession at Easter-tide.  The car was
+stored with fireworks set alight by means
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P38"></A>38}</SPAN>
+of the Colombina (Dove)
+bringing a spark struck from a stone fragment of Christ's tomb.  The
+citizens could not forget the origin of the sacred flame, for they had
+all heard in youth the story of the return of a crusading member of the
+Pazzi house with that precious relic.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The two conspirators hoped to bring a foreign army against Florence
+and, therefore, gained the aid of Salviati, Archbishop of Pisa.  The
+Pope bade them do as they wished, "provided that there be no killing."
+In reality, he was aware that a plot to assassinate both Lorenzo dei
+Medici and his brother, Giuliano, was on foot, but considered that it
+would degrade his holy office if he spoke of it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was necessary for their first plan that Lorenzo should be lured to
+Rome where the conspirators had assembled, but he refused an invitation
+to confer with the Pope about their differences and a new plan had to
+be substituted.  Accordingly the nephew of Riario, Cardinal Raffaelle
+Sansoni, expressed a keen desire to view the treasures of the Medici
+household, and was welcomed as a guest by Florence.  He attended mass
+in the Cathedral which was to be the scene of the assassination, since
+Lorenzo and his brother were certain to attend it.  Two priests offered
+to perform the deed of sacrilege from which the original assassin
+recoiled.  They hated Lorenzo for his treatment of Volterra, and drove
+him behind the gates of the new sacristy.  Giuliano was slain at the
+very altar, his body being pierced with no less than nineteen wounds,
+but Lorenzo escaped to mourn the fate of the handsome noble brother who
+had been a model for Botticelli's famous "Primavera."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He heard the citizens cry, "Down with traitors!  The Medici!  The
+Medici!" and resolved to move
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P39"></A>39}</SPAN>
+them to a desperate vengeance on the
+Pazzi.  The Archbishop of Pisa was hanged from the window of a palace,
+while a fellow-conspirator was hurled to the ground from the same
+building.  This gruesome scene was painted to gratify the avengers of
+Giuliano.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Florence was enthusiastic in defence of her remaining tyrant.  He was
+depicted by Botticelli in an attitude of triumph over the triple forces
+of anarchy, warfare and sedition.  All the family of Pazzi were
+condemned as traitors.  Their coat of arms was erased by Lorenzo's
+adherents wherever it was discovered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Henceforth, Lorenzo exercised supreme control over his native city.  He
+won Naples to a new alliance by a diplomatic visit that proved his
+skill in foreign negotiations.  The gifts that came to him from strange
+lands were presented, in reality, to the master of the Florentine
+"republic."  Egypt sent a lion and a giraffe, which were welcomed as
+wonders of the East even by those who did not appreciate the fact that
+they showed a desire to trade.  It was easy soon to find new markets
+for the rich burghers whose class was in complete ascendancy over the
+ancient nobles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Lorenzo was seized with mortal sickness in the early spring of 1492,
+and found no comfort in philosophy.  He drank from a golden cup which
+was supposed to revive the dying when it held a draught, strangely
+concocted from precious pearls according to some Eastern fancy.  But
+the sick man found nothing of avail in his hour of death except a visit
+from an honest monk he had seen many times in the cloisters of San
+Marco.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Savonarola came to the bedside of the magnificent pagan and demanded
+three things as the price of absolution.  Lorenzo was to believe in the
+mercy of God, to
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P40"></A>40}</SPAN>
+restore all that he had wrongfully acquired, and
+to agree to popular government being restored to Florence.  The third
+condition was too hard, for Lorenzo would not own himself a tyrant.  He
+turned his face to the wall in bitterness of spirit, and the monk
+withdrew leaving him unshriven.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The sack of Volterra, and the murder of innocent kinsfolk of the Pazzi
+who had been involved in the great conspiracy haunted Lorenzo as he
+passed from life in the prime of manhood and glorious achievements.  He
+would have mourned for the commerce of his city if he had known that in
+the same year of 1492 the discovery of America would be made, through
+which the Atlantic Ocean was to become the highway of commerce,
+reducing to sad inferiority the ports of the Mediterranean.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap04"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P41"></A>41}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter IV
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Prior of San Marco
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Long before Lorenzo's death, Girolamo Savonarola had made the
+corruption of Florence the subject of sermons which drew vast crowds to
+San Marco.  The city might pride herself on splendid buildings
+decorated by the greatest of Italian painters; she might rouse envy in
+the foreign princes who were weary of listening to the praises of
+Lorenzo; but the preacher lamented the sins of Florentines as one of
+old had lamented the wickedness of Nineveh, and prophesied her downfall
+if the pagan lust for enjoyment did not yield to the sternest
+Christianity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Savonarola had witnessed many scenes which showed the real attitude of
+the Pope toward religion.  He had been born at Ferrara, where the
+extravagant and sumptuous court had extended a flattering welcome to
+Pius IV as he passed from town to town to preach a Crusade against the
+Turks.  The Pope was sheltered by a golden canopy and greeted by sweet
+music, and statues of heathen gods were placed on the river-banks as an
+honour to the Vicar of Christ!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Savonarola shrank from court-life and the patronage of Borsi, the
+reigning Marquis of Ferrara.  That prince, famed for his banquets, his
+falcons, and his robes of gold brocade, would have appointed him the
+court physician it he would have agreed to study medicine.
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P42"></A>42}</SPAN>
+The
+study of the Scriptures appealed more to the recluse, whose only
+recreation was to play the lute and write verses of a haunting
+melancholy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Against the wishes of his family Savonarola entered the Order of Saint
+Dominic.  He gave up the world for a life of the hardest service in the
+monastery by day, and took his rest upon a coarse sack at night.  He
+was conscious of a secret wish for pre-eminence, no doubt, even when he
+took the lowest place and put on the shabbiest clothing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The avarice of Pope Sextus roused the monk to burning indignation.  The
+new Pope lavished gifts on his own family, who squandered on luxury of
+every kind the money that should have relieved the poor.  The Church
+seemed to have entered zealously into that contest for wealth and power
+which was devastating all the free states of Italy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Savonarola had come from his monastery at Bologna to the Convent of San
+Marco when he first lifted up his voice in denunciation.  He was not
+well received because he used the Bible&mdash;distrusted by the Florentines,
+who expressed doubts of the correctness of its Latin!  Pico della
+Mirandola, the brilliant young scholar, was attracted, however, by the
+friar's eloquence.  A close friendship was formed between these two
+men, whose appearance was as much in contrast as their characters.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Savonarola was dark in complexion, with thick lips and an aquiline
+nose&mdash;only the flashing grey eyes set under overhanging brows redeemed
+his face from harshness.  Mirandola, on the other hand, was gifted with
+remarkable personal beauty.  Long fair curls hung to his shoulders and
+surrounded a face that was both gentle and gracious.  He had an
+extraordinary knowledge of languages and a wonderful memory.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P43"></A>43}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+Fastidious Florentines were converted to Mirandola's strange taste in
+sermons, so that the convent garden with its rose-trees became the
+haunt of an ever-increasing crowd, eager to hear doctrines which were
+new enough to tickle their palates pleasantly.  On the 1st of August
+1489, the friar consented to preach in the Convent Church to the
+Dominican brothers and the laymen who continued to assemble in the
+cloisters.  He took a passage of Revelations for his text.  "Three
+things he suggested to the people.  That the Church of God required
+renewal, and that immediately; second, that all Italy should be
+chastised; third, that this should come to pass soon."  This was the
+first of Savonarola's prophecies, and caused great excitement among the
+Florentines who heard it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At Siena, the preacher pronounced sentence on the Church, which was now
+under the rule of Innocent IV, a pope more openly depraved than any of
+his predecessors.  Through Lombardy the echo of that sermon sounded and
+the name of Girolamo Savonarola.  The monk was banished, and only
+recalled to Florence by the favour of Lorenzo dei Medici, who was
+undisturbed by a series of sermons against tyranny.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Savonarola was elected Prior of San Marco in July 1491, but he refused
+to pay his respects to Lorenzo as the patron of the convent.  "Who
+elected me to be Prior&mdash;God or Lorenzo?" he asked sternly when the
+elder Dominicans entreated him to perform this duty.  "God," was the
+answer they were compelled to make.  They were sadly disappointed when
+the new Prior decided, "Then I will thank my Lord God, not mortal man."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the Lent season of this same year Savonarola preached for the first
+time in the cathedral or Duomo
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P44"></A>44}</SPAN>
+of Florence.  "The people got up in
+the middle of the night to get places for the sermon, and came to the
+door of the cathedral, waiting outside till it should be opened, making
+no account of any inconvenience, neither of the cold nor the wind, nor
+of standing in the winter with their feet on the marble; and among them
+were young and old, women and children of every sort, who came with
+such jubilee and rejoicing that it was bewildering to hear them, going
+to the sermon as to a wedding.&#8230;  And though many thousand people
+were thus collected together no sound was to be heard, not even a
+'hush,' until the arrival of the children, who sang hymns with so much
+sweetness that heaven seemed to have opened."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Magnificent often came to San Marco, piqued by the indifference of
+the Prior and interested in the personality of the man who had
+succeeded in impressing cultured Florentines by simple language.  He
+gave gold pieces lavishly to the convent, but the gold was always sent
+to the good people of St Martin, who ministered to the needs of those
+who were too proud to acknowledge their decaying fortunes.  "The silver
+and copper are enough for us," were the words that met the
+remonstrances of the other brethren.  "We do not want so much money."
+No wonder that Lorenzo remembered the invincible honesty of this Prior
+when he was convinced of the hollowness of the life he had led among a
+court of flatterers!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Prior's warnings were heard in Florence with an uneasy feeling that
+their fulfilment might be nearer after Lorenzo died and was succeeded
+by his son.  Piero dei Medici sent the preacher away from the city, for
+he knew that men whispered among themselves that the Dominican had
+foretold truly the death of Innocent and the parlous state of Florence
+under the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P45"></A>45}</SPAN>
+new Pope, Alexander VI (Alexander Borgia).  He did not
+like the predictions of evil for his own house of Medici, which had now
+wielded supreme power in Florence for over sixty years.  It would go
+hardly with him if the people were to rise against the tyranny his
+fathers had established.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Piero's downfall was hastened by the news that a French army had
+crossed the Alps under Charles VIII of France, who intended to take
+Naples.  This invasion of Italy terrified the Florentines, for they had
+become unwarlike since they gave themselves up to luxury and pleasure.
+They dreaded the arrival of the French troops, which were famous
+throughout Europe.  On these Charles relied to intimidate the citizens
+of the rich states he visited on his way to enforce a claim transmitted
+to him through Charles of Anjou.  Piero de Medici made concessions to
+the invader without the knowledge of the people.  The Florentines
+rebelled against the admission of soldiers within their walls as soon
+as the advance guard arrived to mark with chalk the houses they would
+choose for their quarters.  There were frantic cries of "<I>Abbasso le
+palle</I>," "Down with the balls," in allusion to the three balls on the
+Medici coat of arms.  Piero himself was disowned and driven from the
+city.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All the enemies of the Medici were recalled, and the populace entreated
+Savonarola to return and protect them in their hour of peril.  They had
+heard him foretell the coming of one who should punish the wicked and
+purge Italy of her sins.  Now their belief in the Prior's utterances
+was confirmed.  They hastened to greet him as the saviour of their city.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Savonarola went on an embassy to Charles' camp and made better terms
+than the Florentines had
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P46"></A>46}</SPAN>
+expected.  Nevertheless, they had to
+endure the procession of French troops through their town, and found it
+difficult to get rid of Charles VIII, whose cupidity was aroused when
+he beheld the wealth of Florence.  There was tumult in the streets,
+where soldiers brawled with citizens and enraged their hosts by
+insults.  The Italian blood was greatly roused when the invading
+monarch threatened "to sound his trumpets" if his demands were not
+granted.  "Then we will ring our bells," a bold citizen replied.  The
+French King knew how quickly the town could change to a stronghold of
+barricaded streets if such an alarm were given, and wisely refrained
+from further provocation.  He passed on his way after "looting" the
+palace in which he had been lodged.  The Medicean treasures were the
+trophies of his visit.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In spite of himself, the monk had to turn politician after the French
+army had gone southward.  He was said to have saved the State, and was
+implored to assume control now that the tyranny was at an end.  There
+was a vision before him of Florence as a free Republic in the truest
+sense.  He took up his work gladly for the cause of liberty.  The
+<I>Parliamento</I>, a foolish assembly of the people which was summoned
+hastily to do the will of any faction that could overawe it, was
+replaced by the Great Council formed on a Venetian model.  In this sat
+the <I>benefiziati</I>&mdash;those who had held some civic office, and the
+immediate descendants of officials.  Florence was not to have a really
+democratic government.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After the cares of government, Savonarola felt weary in mind and body;
+he had never failed to preach incessantly in the cathedral, where he
+expounded his schemes for reform without abandoning his work as
+prophet.  He broke down, but again took up his burden
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P47"></A>47}</SPAN>
+bravely.
+Florence was a changed city under his rule.  Women clothed themselves
+in the simplest garb and forsook such vanities as wigs and rouge-pots.
+Bankers, repenting of greed, hastened to restore the wealth they had
+wrongly appropriated.  Tradesmen read their Bibles in their shops in
+the intervals of business, and were no longer to be found rioting in
+the streets.  The Florentine youths, once mischievous to the last
+degree, attended the friar daily, and actually gave up their
+stone-throwing.  "<I>Piagnoni</I>" (Snivellers) was the name given to these
+enthusiasts, for the godly were not without opponents.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Savonarola had to meet the danger of an attempt to restore the
+authority of Piero dei Medici.  He mustered eleven thousand men and
+boys, when a report came that the tyrant had sought the help of Charles
+VIII against Florence.  The Pope, also, wished to restore Piero for his
+own ends.  In haste the citizens barred their gates and then assembled
+in the cathedral to hearken to their leader.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Savonarola passed a stern resolution that any man should be put to
+death who endeavoured to destroy the hard-won freedom of his city.
+"One must treat these men," he declared, "as the Romans treated those
+who sought the recall of Tarquinius."  His fiery spirit inflamed the
+Florentines with such zeal that they offered four thousand gold florins
+for the head of Piero dei Medici.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The attempt to force the gates of Florence proved a failure.  Piero had
+to fly to Rome and the Prior's enemies were obliged to seek a fresh
+excuse for attacking his position.  The Pope was persuaded to send for
+him that he might answer a charge of disseminating false doctrines.
+The preacher defended himself vigorously,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P48"></A>48}</SPAN>
+and seemed to satisfy
+Alexander Borgia, whose aim was to crush a reformer of the Catholic
+Church likely to attack his evil practices.  He was, however, forbidden
+to preach, and had to be silent at the time when Florence held her
+carnival.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The extraordinary change in the nature of this festival was a tribute
+to the influence of Savonarola.  Children went about the streets,
+chanting hymns instead of the licentious songs which Lorenzo dei Medici
+had written for the purpose.  They begged alms for the poor, and their
+only amusement was the <I>capannucci</I>, or Bonfire of Vanities, for which
+they collected the materials.  Books and pictures, clothes and jewels,
+false hair and ointments were piled in great heaps round a kind of
+pyramid some sixty feet in height.  Old King Carnival, in effigy, was
+placed at the apex of the pyramid, and the interior was filled with
+comestibles that would set the whole erection in a blaze as soon as a
+taper was applied.  When the signal was given, bells pealed and
+trumpets sounded glad farewell to the customs of the ancient carnival.
+The procession set forth from San Marco on Palm Sunday (led by
+white-robed children with garlands on their heads), and went round the
+city till it came to the cathedral.  "And so much joy was there in all
+hearts that the glory of Paradise seemed to have descended on earth and
+many tears of tenderness and devotion were shed."  So readily did
+Florentines confess that the new spirit of Christianity brought more
+satisfaction than the noisy licence of a pagan festival.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1496 the Pope not only allowed Savonarola to preach, but even
+offered him a Cardinal's Hat on condition that he would utter no more
+predictions.  "I want no other red hat but that of martyrdom, reddened
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P49"></A>49}</SPAN>
+by my own blood," was the firm response of the incorruptible
+preacher.  He was greeted by joyful shouts when he mounted to the
+pulpit of the Duomo, and had reached the height of his popularity in
+Florence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When a year had passed, Savonarola faced a different world, where
+friends were fain to conceal their devotion and enemies became loud in
+their constant menaces.  The <I>Arrabiati</I> (enraged) had overcome the
+<I>Piagnoni</I> and induced the Pope to pronounce excommunication against
+the leader of this party.  The sermons continued, the Papal decree was
+ignored, but a new doubt had entered the mind of Florentines.  A
+Franciscan monk, Francesco da Puglia, had attacked the Dominican,
+calling him a false prophet and challenging him to prove the truth of
+his doctrines by the "ordeal by fire."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Savonarola hesitated to accept the challenge, knowing that he would be
+destroyed by it, whatever might be the actual issue.  The <I>Piagnoni</I>
+showed some chagrin when he allowed a disciple, Fra Domenico, to step
+into his place as a proof of devotion.  On all sides there were murmurs
+at the Prior's strange shrinking and obvious reluctance to meet with a
+miracle the charges of his opponents.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A great crowd assembled on the day appointed for the "ordeal" in the
+early spring of 1498.  Balconies and roofs were black with human
+figures, children clung to columns and statues in order that they might
+not lose a glimpse of this rare spectacle.  Only a few followers of
+Savonarola prayed and wept in the Piazza of San Marco as the chanting
+procession of Domenicans appeared.  Fra Domenico walked last of all,
+arrayed in a cope of red velvet to symbolize the martyr's flames.  He
+did not fear to prove the strength of his belief, but walked erect and
+bore the cross in triumph.  It was the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P50"></A>50}</SPAN>
+Franciscan brother whose
+courage failed for he had never thought, perhaps, that any man would be
+brave enough to reply to his awful challenge.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The crowd watched, feverishly expectant, but the hours passed and there
+was no sign of Francesco da Puglia.  His brethren found fault with
+Domenico's red cope and bade him change it.  They consulted, and came
+at last to the conclusion that their own champion had found himself
+unable to meet martyrdom.  At length it was announced that there would
+be no ordeal&mdash;a thunderstorm had not caused one spectator to leave his
+place in the Piazza, where there should be wrought a miracle.  It was
+clear that the Prior's enemies had sought his death, for they showed a
+furious passion of resentment.  Even the <I>Piagnoni</I> were troubled by
+doubts of their prophet, who had refused to show his supernatural
+powers and silence the Franciscans.  The monks were protected with
+difficulty from the violence of the mob as they returned in the April
+twilight to the Convent of San Marco.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-050"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-050.jpg" ALT="The Last Sleep of Savonarola.  (Sir George Reid, P.R.S.A.)" BORDER="2" WIDTH="611" HEIGHT="406">
+<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 611px">
+The Last Sleep of Savonarola.  (Sir George Reid, P.R.S.A.)
+</H3>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+There was the sound of vespers in the church when a noise of tramping
+feet was heard and the fierce cry, "To San Marco!"  The monks rose from
+their knees to shut the doors through which assailants were fast
+pouring.  These soldiers of the Cross fought dauntlessly with any
+weapon they could seize when they saw that their sacred dwelling was in
+danger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Savonarola called the Dominicans round him and led them to the altar,
+where he knelt in prayer, commanding them to do likewise.  But some of
+the white-robed brethren had youthful spirits and would not refrain
+from fighting.  They rose and struggled to meet death, waving lighted
+torches about the heads of their assailants.  A novice met naked swords
+with a great
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P51"></A>51}</SPAN>
+wooden cross he took to defend the choir from
+sacrilege.  "Save Thy people, O God"; it was the refrain of the very
+psalm they had been singing.  The place was dense with smoke, and the
+noise of the strife was deafening.  A young monk died on the very altar
+steps, and received the last Sacrament from Fra Domenico amid this
+strange turmoil.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As soon as a pause came in the attack, Savonarola led the brethren to
+the library.  He told them quietly that he was resolved to give himself
+up to his enemies that there might be no further bloodshed.  He bade
+them farewell with tenderness and walked forth into the dangerous crowd
+about the convent.  His hands were tied and he was beaten and buffeted
+on his way to prison.  The first taste of martyrdom was bitter in his
+mouth, and he regretted that he had not answered the Franciscan's
+challenge.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The prophet was put on trial on a charge of heresy and sedition.  He
+was tortured so cruelly that he was led to recant and to "confess," as
+his judges said.  They had already come to a decision that he was
+guilty.  Sentence of death was pronounced, and he mounted the scaffold
+on May 23rd, 1498.  He looked upon the multitude gathered in the great
+Piazza, but he did not speak to them; he did not save himself, as some
+of them were hoping.  It was many years before Florence paid him due
+honour as the founder of her liberties and the greatest of her
+reformers.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap05"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P52"></A>52}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter V
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Martin Luther, Reformer of the Church
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The martyrdom of Savonarola gave courage to reformers and renewed the
+faith of the people.  It had been his aim to progress steadily toward
+the truth and to draw the whole world after him.  Unconsciously he
+prepared the way for the German monk who destroyed the unity of the
+Catholic Church.  Though he was merciless to papal abuses, it had not
+been in the mind of the zealous Dominican to protest against the
+doctrines of the Papacy, nor did he ever doubt the faith which had
+drawn him to the convent.  He had no wish to destroy&mdash;his work was to
+purify.  But his death proved that purification was impossible.  Rome
+had gone too far on the downward path to be checked by a Reformer.  She
+had come at last to the parting of the ways.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Martin Luther knew nothing of the pomp of Italian cities.  He was born
+in very humble circumstances at Eisleben, a little town in Germany, on
+St Martin's Eve, 1483.  Harsh discipline made his childhood unhappy,
+for the age of educational reformers had not yet come.  The little
+Martin was beaten and tormented, and had to sing in the streets for
+bread.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Ambition roused his parents to send him to the University of Erfurt
+that he might study law.  He took his degree as Doctor of Philosophy in
+1505&mdash;the event
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P53"></A>53}</SPAN>
+was celebrated by a torchlight procession and
+rejoicing, after the student-custom of those parts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then Martin Luther, appalled by the sudden death of a comrade in a
+thunderstorm, resolved to devote himself to God.  Luther was a genial
+youth, and gave a supper to his friends before he left them; there were
+feasting and laughter and a burst of song.  That same evening the door
+of a convent opened to receive a novice with two books, Vergil and
+Plautus, in his hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The novice had to perform the meanest tasks, sweeping floors and
+begging in the street on behalf of his brethren of the Augustinian
+Order.  "Go through the street with a sack and get food for us," they
+clamoured, driving him out that they might resume their idleness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Staupnitz, the head of the Order, visited the convent and was
+interested in the young man to whom fasting and penance did not bring
+the peace he craved.  Oppressed by his sins, Luther lived a life of
+misery.  He read the Bible constantly, having discovered the Holy Book
+by chance within the convent walls.  At last, the words of the creed
+brought comfort to him "<I>I believe</I> in the forgiveness of sins."  He
+despaired of his soul no longer.  "It was as if I had found the door of
+Paradise wide open," he said joyfully, and devoted himself more closely
+to the study of the Scriptures.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The fame of Luther's learning spread beyond the convent of his Order.
+He was summoned to teach philosophy and theology at Wittenberg, a new
+university, founded by Frederick, the Elector of Saxony.  The boldness
+of the lecturer's spirit was first shown in his sermons against
+"indulgences," one of the worst abuses of the Roman Church.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Pope claimed to inherit the keys of St Peter,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P54"></A>54}</SPAN>
+which opened the
+treasury containing the good works of the saints and the boundless
+merits of Jesus Christ.  He professed to be able to transfer a portion
+of this merit to any person who gave a sum of money to purchase pardon
+for sins.  "Indulgences" had been first granted to pilgrims and
+Crusaders.  They were further extended to those who aided pious works,
+such as the building of St Peter's.  The Pope, Leo X, had found the
+papal treasury exhausted by his predecessors.  He had to raise money,
+and therefore allowed agents to sell pardons throughout Germany.
+Tetzel, a Dominican friar, was employed in Saxony.  He was noisy and
+dishonest, and spent on his own evil pleasures sums that were given by
+the ignorant creatures upon whom he traded to secure their eternal
+happiness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Luther inveighed against such practices from the pulpit of the church
+at Wittenberg.  He was particularly angry to hear Tetzel's wicked
+proclamation that "when one dropped a penny into the box for a soul in
+purgatory, so soon as the money chinked in the chest, the soul flew up
+to heaven."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The papal red cross hung above Tetzel's money-counter, and he sat there
+and called on all to buy.  Luther decided on an action that should stop
+the shameful traffic, declaring, "God willing, I will beat a hole in
+his drum."  On the eve of All Saints' Day a crowd assembled to gaze at
+the relics displayed at the Castle church of Wittenberg.  Their
+attention was drawn to a paper nailed on the church gate, which set
+forth reasons why indulgences were harmful and should be immediately
+discontinued.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were other abuses in the Church of Rome which Luther now openly
+deplored.  Hot discussion followed this bold step.  Tetzel retired to
+Frankfort,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P55"></A>55}</SPAN>
+but from there he wrote to contradict the new teaching
+of the Augustine monk.  He burnt Luther's theses publicly, and then
+heard that his own had been consigned to the flames in the market-place
+of Wittenberg, where a host of sympathisers had watched the bonfire
+with satisfaction.  Luther did not stand alone in his struggle to free
+the Church from vice and superstition.  He lived in an age when men had
+learning enough to despise the trickery of worldly monks.  The spirit
+of inquiry had lived through the Revival of Letters and Erasmus, the
+famous scholar, had discovered many errors in the Roman Church.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Erasmus joined Luther in an attempt to show men that the Holy
+Scriptures alone would offer guidance in spiritual matters.  He knew
+that a reform of the Western Church was urgently needed, and was
+willing to use his subtle brains to confute the arguments of ignorant
+opponents.  But soon he found that Luther's temper was too ardent, that
+there was no middle course for this impetuous spirit.  He dreaded for
+himself the loss of wealth and honour, and refused to make war on those
+in high stations, whose patronage had helped him to the rewards of
+knowledge.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Alarmed by the spread of Luther's books and doctrines, the cardinals
+entreated the Pope to summon him to Rome.  Printing had been invented,
+and poor as well as rich could easily be roused to inquire into the
+truth of the doctrines taught by Rome.  Leo X had been disposed to
+ignore the sermons of the obscure German monk, for he had many schemes
+to further his own ambition.  He yielded, at last, and sent the
+necessary summons.  Luther was loth to go to Rome, where he was sure of
+condemnation.  The Elector Frederick of Saxony came forward as his
+champion, not from religious
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P56"></A>56}</SPAN>
+motives, but because he was pleased
+to see some prospect of the exactions of the court of Rome being
+diminished.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Cajetan, the Papal Legate, came to preside over a Diet, summoned
+specially to Augsburg.  He urged the monk to retract his dangerous
+doctrine that the authority of the Bible was above that of the Pope of
+Rome.  "Retract, my son, retract," he urged; "it is hard for thee to
+kick against the pricks."  But the conference ended where it had
+begun&mdash;Luther fled back to Wittenberg.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He began to see now that the whole system of Romish government was
+wrong, and that there were countless abuses to be swept away before the
+Church could truly claim to point the way to Christianity.  Conscience
+or authority, the Scriptures or the Church, Germany or Rome?  A choice
+had to be made, each man ranging himself on one side or the other.  The
+independence of Germany was dear to Luther's heart.  He wrote an
+address to the nobles and summoned the Christian princes of Germany to
+his aid.  He declared that all Christians were priests, and that the
+Church and nation ought to be freed from the interference of the
+Papacy.  He was becoming an avowed enemy of the Pope, losing his former
+reluctance to attack authority.  A Bull was, of course, issued against
+him, but the students of Erfurt threw the paper on which it was written
+into the river, saying contemptuously&mdash;"It is a bubble, let it swim!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In December, 1520, Luther himself burnt the Bull on a fire kindled for
+the purpose at the Elster Gate of Wittenberg.  He said, as he committed
+the document to the flames, "As thou hast vexed the saints of God, so
+mayest thou be consumed in eternal fire."  The act cut him off from the
+Papacy for ever.  He had defied the Pope in the presence of many
+witnesses.
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P57"></A>57}</SPAN>
+Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, was not in a
+position to take up the cause of Luther against his powerful enemies.
+He maintained an alliance with the Pope so that he would oppose the
+vast schemes which his rival, Francis I of France, was maturing.  At
+the same time, he owed a debt of gratitude to the Elector Frederick,
+who was one of the seven German princes possessing the right to "elect"
+a new emperor.  He decided, after a brief struggle, to yield to the
+demands of the Papal Legates.  He ordered Martin Luther to come to
+Worms and appear before the great Diet, or Assembly of German rulers,
+which met in 1521.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Luther obeyed at once, making a triumphant journey through many towns
+and villages.  Music fell on his ears pleasantly, a portrait of
+Savonarola was sent to him that he might feel his courage strengthened.
+Had not his resolve been fixed, he would have turned back at Weimar,
+where he found an edict posted on the walls ordering all his writings
+to be burnt.  "I am lawfully called to appear in that city," he said,
+"and thither will I go in the name of the Lord, though as many devils
+as there are tiles on the houses were there combined against me."  He
+was stricken with illness at Eisenach, but went on as soon as he
+recovered.  When he caught sight of the old towers of Worms, his spirit
+leapt with joy, and he began to sing his famous hymn, "<I>Ein feste Burg
+ist unser Gott.</I>"  ("A mighty fortress is our God.")
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The crowded streets testified to the fame that had gone before him.
+Not even the Emperor had met with such a flattering reception.  Saxon
+noblemen welcomed him, and friendly speech cheered him to meet the
+ordeal of the next day.  The Diet was an impressive assembly, with the
+Emperor on his throne and the great dignitaries
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P58"></A>58}</SPAN>
+of State around
+him, clad in all the majesty of red and purple.  Not the chivalry of
+Germany only had flocked to hear the defence of Martin Luther for
+Spanish warriors sat there in yellow cloaks and added lustre to the
+splendid gathering.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Luther's courageous stand against his adversaries won many to his
+cause.  He would not withdraw one word he had written or spoken, nor
+did he consent to his opinions being tried by any other rule than the
+word of God.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Eric, the aged Duke of Brunswick, sent him a silver can of Einbech beer
+as a token of sympathy.  Weary of strife, Luther drank it, saying, "As
+Duke Eric has remembered me this day, so may our Lord Christ remember
+him in his last struggle."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The reformer called in vain on the Emperor and States, assembled at
+Worms, to consider the parlous case of the Church, lest God should
+visit the German nation with His judgment.  A severe edict was
+published against him by the authority of the Diet, and he was deprived
+of all the privileges he enjoyed as a subject of the Empire.
+Furthermore, it was forbidden for any prince to harbour or protect him,
+and his person was to be seized as soon as the safe-conduct for the
+journey had expired.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As Luther returned to Wittenberg, a band of horsemen took him and
+carried him off to the strong castle of Wartburg, where he was lodged
+in the disguise of a knight.  It was a ruse of the Elector of Saxony to
+save him from the storm he had roused by his behaviour at the Diet.
+Imprisonment was not irksome, and the retreat was pleasant enough after
+the strife of years.  He hunted in his character of gallant cavalier,
+and always wore a sword.  Much of his time was spent in
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P59"></A>59}</SPAN>
+translating the Scriptures into German, that knowledge might not be
+denied even to the unlettered.  Constant study made his imagination
+very vivid, and the devil seemed to be constantly before him.  He had
+long conversations with Satan in person, as he believed, and decided
+that the best way to get rid of him was by gibes and mockery.  One
+night his bed shook with the violent agitation caused by the rattling
+of some hazel nuts against each other after they had felt the
+inspiration of the Evil One!  On another occasion a diabolical moth
+buzzed round him, preventing close attention to his labours.  He hurled
+an inkstand at the intruder, staining the wall of the chamber with a
+mark that remained there through centuries.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+During this confinement, Luther's opinions gained ground in Saxony.
+The University of Wittenberg made several alterations in the form of
+Church worship, abolishing, in particular, the celebration of private
+masses for the souls of the dead.  Two events counteracted the pleasure
+of the reformer when the news came to him.  He was told that the
+ancient University of Paris had condemned his doctrines, and that Henry
+VIII of England had written a reply to one of his books, so ably that
+the Pope had been delighted to confer on him the title of Defender of
+the Faith.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1522, Luther returned to Wittenberg, enjoying a harmless jest at
+Jena by the way.  There his disguise of red mantle and doublet so
+deceived fellow-travellers that they told him their intention of going
+to see Martin Luther return, without realizing that they were speaking
+to the great reformer!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His next sermons were not fortunate in their results, since the
+peasants failed to understand them.  A class war followed, in which
+Luther took the part of mediator,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P60"></A>60}</SPAN>
+trying to show his poorer
+neighbours the evils their violence would bring on themselves, and
+reproaching the nobles with their oppressive customs.  He was angry
+that the new religious spirit should be discredited by social disorder,
+and spoke bitterly of all who refused to heed his remonstrances.
+Erasmus was shocked by Luther's roughness of speech, and withdrew more
+and more from the reforming party.  He hated the old monkish teaching
+and desired literary freedom, but he could not forgive the excesses of
+this thorough-going reformer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1523, Luther gave grave offence to many of his own followers by
+marrying Catherine von Bora, a nun who had left her convent.  He had
+cast off the Roman belief that a priest should never marry, but public
+feeling could not approve of a change which was in conflict with so
+many centuries of tradition.  The Reformer's home life was happy,
+nevertheless, and six children were born of the marriage.  As a father,
+Luther showed much tenderness.  He wrote with a marvellous simplicity
+to his eldest son: "I know a very pretty, pleasant garden and in it
+there are a great many children, all dressed in little golden coats,
+picking up nice apples and pears and cherries and plums, under the
+trees.  And they sing and jump about and are very merry; and besides,
+they have got beautiful little horses with golden bridles and silver
+saddles.  Then I asked the man to whom the garden belonged, whose
+children they were, and he said, 'These are children who love to pray
+and learn their lessons, and do as they are bid'; then I said, 'Dear
+sir, I have a little son called Johnny Luther; may he come into this
+garden too?'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Luther's translation of the Bible was read with wonderful attention by
+people of every rank.  Other
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P61"></A>61}</SPAN>
+countries of Europe also were
+influenced by his doctrines, with the result of a diminution of the
+blind faith in priestcraft.  Nuremburg, Frankfort, Hamburg, and other
+imperial free cities in Germany openly embraced the reformed religion,
+abolishing the mass and other "superstitious rites of popery."  The
+secular princes drew up a list of one hundred grievances, enumerating
+the grievous burdens laid upon them by the Holy See.  In 1526 a Diet
+assembled at Speyer to consider the state of religion!  The Diet
+enjoined all those who had obeyed the decree issued against Luther at
+Worms to continue to observe it, and to prohibit other States from
+attempting any further innovation in religion till the meeting of a
+general council.  The Elector of Saxony, with the heads of other
+principalities and free cities, entered a solemn "protest" against this
+decree, as unjust and impious.  On that account they were distinguished
+by the name of Protestants.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At Augsburg, where priests and statesmen met together in 1530, the
+Protestant form of religion was established.  The reformers issued
+there a "confession" of their faith, known as the Augsburg Confession,
+and which placed them for ever apart from the old Roman Catholic
+Church.  A zeal for religion had seized on men excited by their own
+freedom to find the truth for themselves.  Luther lamented the strife
+that of necessity followed, often wondering whether he had not been too
+bold in opposing the ancient traditions of Rome.  For he had aimed at
+purification rather than separation, and would have preferred to keep
+the old Church rather than to set up a new one in its place.  "He was
+never for throwing away old shoes till he had got new ones."  Naturally
+reformers of less moderate nature did not love him.  He detested
+argument for
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P62"></A>62}</SPAN>
+argument's sake.  There was nothing crafty or subtle
+in his nature.  He poured out the honest convictions of his heart
+without regard to the form in which he might express them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1546, Luther had promised to settle a dispute between two nobles,
+and set out on his journey, feeling a presentiment that the end of
+worldly strife was come for him.  On the way, he visited Eisleben,
+where he had been born, and there died.  His body was taken to
+Wittenberg, the scene of his real life-work.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Germany had been restless before the reforms of Martin Luther,
+disinclined to believe all that was taught by monks and inculcated by
+tradition.  The authority of the Pope had kept men's souls in bondage.
+They hardly dared to judge for themselves what was right and what was
+wrong.  If money could free them from the burden of sins, they paid it
+gladly, acquitting themselves of all responsibility.  Now conscience
+had stirred and the mind been slowly awakened.  Luther declared his
+belief that each was responsible to God for his own soul, and there was
+a universal echo.  "I <I>believe</I> in the forgiveness of sins."  The truth
+which had shone on the troubled monk was the truth to abide for ever
+with his followers.  "No priest can save you! no masses or indulgences
+can help you!  But God has saved you!"  The voice of the preacher came
+to the weary, crying out from ancient cathedrals and passionately
+swaying the whole nation of Germany.  Europe was in need of the same
+moral freedom.  Other countries took up the new creed and examined it,
+finding that which would work like a leaven in the corruptness of the
+age.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap06"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P63"></A>63}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter VI
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The sixteenth century was an age of splendid monarchs, who vied with
+each other in the luxury of their courts, the chivalry of their
+bearing, and the extent of their possessions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Francis I was a patron of the New Learning, the pride of France, ever
+devoted to a monarch with some dash of the heroic in his composition.
+He was dark and handsome, and excelled in the tournaments, where he
+tried to recapture the romance of the Middle Ages by his knightly
+equipment and gallant feats of arms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Henry VIII, the King of England, was eager to spend the wealth he had
+inherited on the glittering pageants which made the people forget the
+tyranny of the Tudor monarchs.  He was four years the senior of
+Francis, but still under thirty when Charles the Fifth succeeded, in
+1516, to the wide realms of the Spanish Crown.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This king was likely to eclipse the pleasure-loving rivals of France
+and England, for he had vast power in Europe through inheritance of the
+great possessions of his house.  Castile and Aragon came to Charles
+through his mother, Joanna, who was the daughter of Ferdinand and
+Isabella.  Naples and Sicily went with Aragon, though, as a matter of
+fact, they had been appropriated in violation of a treaty.  The Low
+Countries were part of the dominions of Charles' grandmother, Mary of
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P64"></A>64}</SPAN>
+Burgundy, who had married Philip, the Archduke of Austria.  When
+Maximilian of Austria died in 1519, he desired that his grandson should
+succeed not only to his dominions in Europe, but also to the proud
+title of Holy Roman Emperor, which was not hereditary.  With the
+treasures of the New World at his disposal, through the discoveries of
+Christopher Columbus, Charles V had little doubt that he could obtain
+anything he coveted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was soon evident that Charles' claim to the Empire would be disputed
+by Francis I, who declared, "An he spent three millions of gold he
+would be Emperor."  The French King had a fine army, and money enough
+to bribe the German princes, in whose hands the power of "electing"
+lay.  Francis' ambassadors travelled from one to another with a train
+of horses, heavily laden with sumptuous offerings, but these found it
+quite impossible to bribe Frederick the Wise of Saxony.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Charles did not scruple to use bribery, and he hoped to win Henry of
+England by flattery and by appealing to him as a kinsman; for his aunt,
+Catherine of Aragon, was Henry's Queen at that time.  The Tudor King
+had boldly taken for his motto, "Whom I defend is master," but he had
+secret designs on the Imperial throne himself, and thought either
+Francis I or Charles V would become far too powerful in Europe if the
+German electors appointed one of them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Pope entered into the struggle because he knew that Charles of
+Spain would be likely to destroy the peace of Italy by demanding the
+Duchy of Milan, which was then under French rule.  He gave secret
+advice, therefore, to the German electors to choose one of their own
+number, and induced them to offer the Imperial rank to Frederick the
+Wise of Saxony.
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P65"></A>65}</SPAN>
+This prince did not feel strong enough to beat
+off the attacks of Selim, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, then
+threatening the land of Hungary.  He refused to become Emperor and
+suggested that the natural resistance to the East should come from
+Austria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Charles, undoubtedly, had Spanish gold that would assist him in this
+struggle.  In 1519 he was invested with the imperial crown and began to
+dream of further conquests.  A quarrel with France followed, both sides
+having grievances that made friendship impossible at that period.
+Charles had offended Francis I by promising to aid d'Albert of Navarre
+to regain his kingdom.  He also wished to claim the Duchy of Milan as
+the Pope had predicted, and was indignant that Burgundy, which had been
+filched from his grandmother by Louis XI, had never been restored to
+his family.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Francis renewed an ancient struggle in reclaiming Naples.  He was
+determined not to yield to imperial pride, and sought every means of
+conciliating Henry VIII of England, who seemed eager to assert himself
+in Europe.  The two monarchs met at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in
+1513 and made a great display of friendship.  They were both skilled
+horsemen and showed to advantage in a tournament, having youth and some
+pretensions to manly beauty in their favour.  The meeting between them
+was costly and did not result as Francis had anticipated, since Charles
+V had been recently winning a new ally in the person of Cardinal
+Wolsey, the chief adviser of the young King of England.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Wolsey was ambitious and longed for the supreme honour of the Catholic
+Church.  He believed that he might possibly attain this through the
+nephew of
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P66"></A>66}</SPAN>
+Catherine of Aragon.  He commended Charles to his
+master, and in the end gained for him an Austrian alliance.  There was
+even some talk of a marriage between the Emperor and the little
+Princess Mary.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A treaty with the Pope made Charles V more sanguine of success than
+ever.  Leo X belonged to the family of the Medici and hoped to restore
+the ancient prestige of that house.  He was overjoyed to receive Parma
+and Placentia as a result of his friendship with the ambitious Emperor,
+and now agreed to the expulsion of the French from Milan on condition
+that Naples paid a higher tribute to the Papal See.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These arrangements were concluded without reference to Chièvres, the
+Flemish councillor, whose influence with Charles had once been
+paramount.  Henceforward, the Emperor ruled his scattered empire,
+relying only upon his own strength and capability.  He naturally met
+with disaffection among his subjects, for the Spaniards were jealous of
+his preference for the Netherlands, where he had been educated, and the
+people of Germany resented his long sojourn in Spain, thinking that
+they were thereby neglected.  It would have been impossible for Charles
+to have led a more active life or to have striven more courageously to
+retain his hold over far distant countries.  He was constantly
+travelling to the different parts of his empire, and made eleven
+sea-voyages during his reign&mdash;an admirable record in days when voyages
+were comparatively dangerous.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Charles changed his motto from <I>Nondum</I> to <I>Plus ultra</I> as he proceeded
+to send fleets across the ocean that the banner of Castile might float
+proudly on the distant shores of the Pacific.  But the war with France
+was the real interest of the Emperor's life and he pursued it
+vigorously, obtaining supplies from the Spanish
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P67"></A>67}</SPAN>
+<I>Cortes</I> or
+legislative authority of Spain.  He gained the sympathy of that nation
+during his residence at Madrid from 1522-9 and pacified the rebellious
+spirit of the <I>Communes</I> which administered local affairs.  His
+marriage with Isabella of Portugal proved, too, that he would maintain
+the traditions of the Spanish monarchy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1521 the French were driven from the Duchy of Milan and in 1522 they
+were compelled to retire from Italy.  In the following year the
+Constable of Bourbon deserted Francis to espouse the Emperor's cause,
+because he had received many insults from court favourites.  He had
+been removed from the government of Milan, and was fond of quoting the
+words of an old Gascon knight first spoken in the reign of Charles VII:
+"Not three kingdoms like yours could make me forsake you, but one
+insult might."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Bourbon was rebuked for his faithlessness to his King at the battle of
+La Biagrasse where Bayard, that perfect knight, <I>sans peur et sans
+reproche</I>, fell with so many other French nobles.  The Constable had
+compassion on the wounded man as he lay at the foot of a tree with his
+face still turned to the enemy.  "Sir, you need have no pity for me,"
+the knight answered bravely, "for I die an honest man; but I have pity
+on you, seeing you serve against your prince, your country, and your
+oath."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Bourbon may have blushed at the rebuke, but he took the field gallantly
+at Pavia on behalf of the Emperor.  Francis I had invaded Italy and
+occupied Milan, but he was not quick to follow up his success and met
+defeat at the hands of his vassal on February 24th, 1525, which was
+Charles V's twenty-fifth birthday.  The flower of France fell on the
+battle-field, while the King himself
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P68"></A>68}</SPAN>
+was taken prisoner.  He would
+not give up his sword to the traitor Bourbon, but continued to fight on
+foot after his horse had been shot under him.  He proved that he was as
+punctilious a knight as Bayard, and wrote to his mother on the evening
+of this battle, "All is lost but honour."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Emperor's army now had both France and Italy at their mercy.
+Bourbon decided to march on Rome, to the joy of his needy, avaricious
+soldiers.  He took the ancient capital where the riches of centuries
+had accumulated; both Spaniards and Germans rioted on its treasures
+without restraint.  They spared neither church nor palace, but defiled
+the most sacred places.  The very ring was removed from the hand of
+Pope Julius as he lay within his tomb.  Clement VII, the reigning Pope,
+was too feeble and vacillating to save himself, though it would have
+been quite possible.  He was made a prisoner of war, for political
+motives inspired the Emperor to demand a heavy ransom.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Ladies' Peace concluded the long war between Charles V and Francis
+I.  It was so called because it was arranged through Louise, the French
+King's mother, and Margaret, the aunt who had taken charge of the
+Emperor in his childhood.  These two ladies occupied adjoining houses
+in the town of Cambrai, and held consultations at any hour in the
+narrow passage between the two dwellings.  The peace, finally drawn up
+in August 1529, was very shameful to Francis I, since he agreed to
+desert all his partisans in Italy and the Netherlands.  He had
+purchased his own freedom by the treaty of Madrid in 1526.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1530, the Emperor, who had made a separate treaty with the Italian
+states, received the crown of Lombardy and crown of the Holy Roman
+Empire from
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P69"></A>69}</SPAN>
+the hands of the Pope at Bologna.  On this occasion he
+was invested with a mantle studded with jewels and some ancient
+sandals.  Ill-health and increasing melancholy clouded his delight in
+these honours.  His aquiline features and dark colouring had formerly
+given him some claim to beauty, but now the heavy "Hapsburg" jaw began
+to show the settled obstinacy of a narrow nature.  The iron crown of
+Italy weighed on him heavily, for he was stricken by remorse that he
+had disregarded the entreaties of the Pope for the rescue of the
+Knights of St John, whose settlement of Rhodes had been attacked by the
+Turkish infidels.  He gave them Malta in order that he might appease
+his conscience.  Religion claimed much of his attention after the long
+conflict with France was ended.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Heresy was spreading in Germany, where Luther gained a vast number of
+adherents.  Charles issued an edict against the monk, but there was
+national resistance for him to face as a consequence.  In 1530 he
+renewed the Edict of Worms and was opposed by a League of Protestant
+princes, who applied for help from England, France, and Denmark against
+the oppressive Emperor.  He would have set himself to crush them if his
+dominions had not been menaced by Soliman the Magnificent, a Turkish
+Sultan with an immense army.  He was obliged to secure the co-operation
+of the Protestants against the Turks that he might drive the latter
+from his eastern frontier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Italians, Flemings, Hungarians, Bohemians, and Burgundians fought side
+by side with the German troops and drove the invader back to his own
+territory.  When this danger was averted, France suddenly attacked
+Savoy, and the Emperor found that he must postpone his struggle with
+the Lutherans.  A joint invasion of
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P70"></A>70}</SPAN>
+France by Charles V and Henry
+VIII of England forced Francis to conclude humiliating peace at Crespy
+1544.  Three years later the death of the French King left his
+adversary free to crush the religious liberty of his German subjects.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Emperor, who had declared himself on the side of the Papacy in
+1521, now united with the Pope and Charles' brother Ferdinand, who had
+been given the government of all the Austrian lands.  All three were
+determined to compel Germany to return to the old faith and the old
+subjection to the Empire.  Their resolve seemed to be fulfilled when
+Maurice, Duke of Saxony, betrayed the Protestant cause, the allies of
+the German princes proved faithless, and the Elector of Saxony and the
+Landgrave of Hesse were taken prisoners at Muhlberg in April 1547.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The star of Austria was still in the ascendant, and Charles V could
+still quote his favourite phrase, "Myself and the lucky moment."  He
+put Maurice in the place of the venerable Elector of Saxony, who had
+refused long ago to take a bribe, and let the Landgrave of Hesse lie in
+prison.  He imagined that he had Germany at his feet, and exulted over
+the defenders of her freedom.  There had been a faint hope in their
+hearts once that the Emperor would champion Luther's cause from
+political interest, but he did not need a weapon against the Pope since
+the Holy See was entirely subservient to his wishes.  Bigotry,
+inherited from Spanish ancestors, showed itself in the Emperor now.  In
+Spain and the Netherlands he used the terrible Inquisition to stamp out
+heresy.  The Grand Inquisitors, who charged themselves with the
+religious welfare of these countries, claimed control over lay and
+clerical subjects in the name of their ruler.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P71"></A>71}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+Maurice was unscrupulous and intrigued with Henry II of France against
+the Emperor, who professed himself the Protector of the Princes of the
+Empire.  A formidable army was raised, which took Charles at a
+disadvantage and drove him from Germany.  The Peace of Augsburg, 1555,
+formally established Protestantism over a great part of the empire.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Emperor felt uneasily that the star of the House of Austria was
+setting.  After his failure to crush the heretics, he was troubled by
+ill-health and the gloomy spirit which he inherited from his mother
+Joanna.  He was weary of travelling from one part of his dominions to
+another, and knew that he could never win more fame and riches than he
+had enjoyed.  His son Philip was old enough to reign in his stead if he
+decided to cede the sovereignty.  The old Roman Catholic faith drew him
+apart from the noise and strife of the world by its promise of rest and
+all the solaces of retirement.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1555 the Emperor held the solemn ceremony of abdication at Brussels,
+for he paid especial honour to his subjects of the Netherlands.  He sat
+in a chair of state surrounded by a splendid retinue and recounted the
+famous deeds of his administration with a natural pride, dwelling on
+the hardships of constant journeying because he had been unwilling to
+trust the affairs of government to any other.  Turning to Philip he
+bade him hold the laws of his country sacred and to maintain the
+Catholic faith in all its purity.  As he spoke, all his hearers melted
+into tears, for the people of the Netherlands owed much gratitude to
+their ruler.  And the ceremony which attended the transference of the
+Spanish crown to Philip was no less moving.  Charles had chosen the
+monastery of San Yuste as his last dwelling on account of its warm, dry
+climate.  After
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P72"></A>72}</SPAN>
+a tender farewell to his family he set out there
+in some state, many attendants going into retreat with him.  Yuste was
+a pleasant peaceful village near the Spanish city of Plasencia.  Deep
+silence brooded over it, and was only broken by the bells of the
+convent the Emperor was entering.  He found that a building had been
+erected for his "palace" in a garden planted with orange trees and
+myrtles.  This was sumptuously furnished according to the monks' ideas,
+for Charles did not intend to adopt the simplicity of these brothers of
+St Jerome.  Velvet canopies, rich tapestries, and Turkey carpets had
+been brought for the rooms which were prepared for a royal inmate.  The
+walls of the Emperor's bedchamber were hung in black in token of his
+deep mourning for his mother, but many pictures from the brush of
+Titian were hung in that apartment.  As Charles lay in bed he could see
+the famous "Gloria," which represented the emperor and empress of a
+bygone age in the midst of a throng of angels.  He could also join in
+the chants of the monks without rising, if he were suffering from gout,
+for a window opened directly from his room into the chapel of the
+monastery.  Sixty attendants were still in the service of the recluse,
+and those in the culinary office found it hard to satisfy the appetite
+of a monarch who, if he had given up his throne, had not by any means
+renounced the pleasures of the table.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A Keeper of the Wardrobe had been brought to Yuste, although Charles
+was plain in his attire and had somewhat disdained the personal vanity
+of his great rivals.  He was parsimonious in such matters and hated to
+see good clothes spoilt, as he showed when he removed a new velvet cap
+in a sudden storm and sent to his palace for an old one!  He observed
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P73"></A>73}</SPAN>
+fast-days, though he did not dine with the monks, and he lived the
+regular life of the monastery.  The monks grew restive under the
+constant supervision which he exercised, and one of them is said to
+have remonstrated with the royal inmate, saying, "Cannot you be
+contented with having so long turned the world upside down, without
+coming here to disturb the quiet of a convent?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Charles amused many hours of leisure by mechanical employments in which
+he was assisted by one Torriano, who constructed a sundial in the
+convent-garden.  He had a great fancy for clocks, and had a number of
+these in his royal apartments.  The special triumphs of Torriano were
+some tin soldiers, so constructed that they could go through military
+exercises, and little wooden birds which flew in and out of the window
+and excited the admiring wonder of the monks walking in the convent
+garden.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Many visitors were received by the Emperor in his retirement.  He still
+took an interest in the events of Europe, and received with the deepest
+sorrow the news that Calais had been lost by Philip's English wife.  He
+was always ready to give his successor advice, and became more and more
+intolerant in religious questions.  "Tell the Grand Inquisitor from
+me," he wrote, "to be at his post and lay the axe to the root of the
+tree before it spreads further.  I rely on your zeal for bringing the
+guilty to punishment and for having them punished without favour to
+anyone, with all the severity which their crimes demand."  After this
+impressive exhortation to Philip, he added a codicil to his will,
+conjuring him earnestly to bring to justice every heretic in his
+dominions.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap07"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P74"></A>74}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter VII
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Beggars of the Sea
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The Netherlands, lying like a kind of debateable land between France
+and Germany, were apt to be influenced by the different forms of
+Protestantism which were established in those countries.  The
+inhabitants were remarkably quick-witted and attracted by anything
+which appealed to their reason.  Their breadth of mind and cosmopolitan
+outlook was, no doubt, largely due to the extensive trade they carried
+on with eastern and western nations.  The citizens of the well-built
+towns studding the Low Countries, had become very wealthy.  They could
+send out fine soldiers, as Charles V had seen, but their chief pursuit
+was commerce.  Education rendered them far superior to many other
+Europeans, who were scarcely delivered from the ignorance and
+superstition of the Middle Ages.  Having proved themselves strong
+enough to be independent, they formed a Confederacy of Republics on the
+death of Charles V in 1558.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Emperor was sincerely mourned because he had possessed Flemish
+tastes, yet he had always failed in his attempts to unite the whole of
+the Low Countries into one kingdom.  There were no less than seventeen
+provinces in the Netherlands, with seventeen petty princes over them.
+Each province disdained the other as quite alien and foreign.  Both
+French and a dialect
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P75"></A>75}</SPAN>
+of German were spoken by the natives.  It was
+a great drawback to Philip II, their new ruler, that he could only
+speak Castilian.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Philip had been unpopular from the time of his first visit to the
+Netherlands, before the French war was settled by the treaty of Cateau
+Cambresis.  The credit of the settlement was chiefly due to the subtle
+diplomacy of William, Prince of Orange, the trusted councillor of
+Charles V, on whose shoulder the Emperor leant during the ceremony of
+abdication.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+William of Orange yielded to none in pride of birth, being descended
+from one of the most illustrious houses of the Low Countries.  He was
+young, gallant, and fond of splendour when he negotiated on the
+Emperor's behalf with Henry II of France.  He managed matters so
+successfully that the Emperor was able to withdraw without loss of
+prestige from a war he was anxious to end at any cost.  William
+received his nickname of the Silent during his residence as a hostage
+at the French court.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One day, at a hunting party, Henry II uncautiously told Orange of a
+plan he had made with Philip to stamp out every heretic in their
+dominions of France and the Netherlands by a sudden deadly onslaught
+that would allow the Protestants no time for resistance.  It was
+assumed that William, being a powerful Catholic noble, would rejoice in
+this scheme.  He held his peace very wisely but, in reality, he was
+full of indignation.  He cared nothing for the reformed religion in
+itself, but he was a humane generous man, and from that hour determined
+that he would defend the helpless, persecuted Protestants of the Low
+Countries.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Philip II was not long in showing himself zealous to observe his
+father's instructions to preserve the Catholic
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P76"></A>76}</SPAN>
+faith in all its
+purity.  He renewed the edict or "placard" against heresy which had
+been first issued in 1550.  This provided for the punishment of anyone
+who should "print, write, copy, keep, conceal, sell, buy, or give in
+churches, streets, or other places" any book of the Reformers, anyone
+who should hold conventicles, or anyone who should converse or dispute
+concerning the Holy Scriptures, to say nothing of those venturing to
+entertain the opinions of heretics.  The men were to be executed with
+the sword and the women buried alive, if they should persist in their
+errors.  If they were firm in holding to their beliefs, such deaths
+were held too merciful.  Execution by fire was a punishment that was
+universal in the days of the Spanish Inquisition.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-076"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-076.jpg" ALT="Philip II present at an Auto-da-Fé.  (D. Valdivieso)" BORDER="2" WIDTH="498" HEIGHT="456">
+<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 498px">
+Philip II present at an Auto-da-Fé.  (D. Valdivieso)
+</H3>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+Philip watched the burning of his heretic subjects with apparent
+satisfaction.  The first ceremony that greeted him on his return to
+Spain was an <I>Auto da fé</I>, or Act of Faith, in which many victims were
+led to the stake.  The scene was the great square of Valladolid in
+front of the Church of Saint Francis, and the hour of six was the
+signal for the bells to toll which brought forth that dismal train from
+the fortress of the Inquisition.  Troops marched before the hapless men
+and women, who were clad in the hideous garb known as the San Benito&mdash;a
+loose sack of yellow cloth which was embroidered with figures of flames
+and devils feeding on them, in token of the destiny that would attend
+the heretics, soul and body.  A pasteboard cap bore similar devices,
+and added grotesque pathos to the suffering faces of the martyrs.
+Judges and magistrates followed them, and nobles of the land were there
+on horseback, while members of the dread tribunal came after these,
+bearing aloft the arms of the Inquisition.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Philip occupied a seat upon the platform erected
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P77"></A>77}</SPAN>
+opposite to the
+scaffold.  It was his duty to draw his sword from the scabbard and to
+repeat an oath that he would maintain the purity of the Catholic faith
+before he witnessed the execution of "the enemies of God," as he
+thought all those who laid down their lives for the sake of heretical
+scruples.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A few who recanted were pardoned, but for the majority recantation only
+meant long imprisonment in cells where many hearts broke after years of
+solitude.  The property of the accused was confiscated in any case; and
+this rule was a sore temptation to informers, who received a certain
+share of their neighbour's goods if they denounced him.  When the
+"reconciled" had been sent back to prison under a strong guard, all
+eyes were fixed on the unrepentant.  These wore cards round their necks
+and carried in their hands either a cross, or an inverted torch, which
+was a sign that their own life would shortly be extinguished.  Few of
+these showed weakness, since they had already triumphed over
+long-protracted torture.  They walked with head erect to the <I>quemada</I>
+or place of execution.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dominican monks, by whose fanatic zeal the Holy Office gained a hold on
+every Spaniard, often walked among the doomed, stripped of their former
+vestments.  Once a noble Florentine appealed to Philip as he was led by
+the royal gallery.  "Is it thus that you allow your innocent subjects
+to be persecuted?"  The King's face hardened, and his reply came
+sharply.  "If it were my own son, I would fetch the wood to burn him,
+were he such a wretch as thou art."  And there is no doubt that Philip
+spoke truth when he uttered words so merciless.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Under the royal sanction the persecution was continued in the
+Netherlands.  It had closed the domains
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P78"></A>78}</SPAN>
+of science and speculation
+for Spain.  It must break the free republican spirit of the Low
+Countries.  Charles V had been afraid of injuring the trade which
+enabled him to pay a vast, all-conquering army.  His son was less
+tolerant, and thought religion of greater importance even than military
+successes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The terror of that formidable band of Inquisitors came upon the
+Protestant Flemings like the shadow on some sunny hill-side.  They had
+lived in comfort and independence, resisting every attempt at royal
+tyranny.  Now a worse tyranny was ruling in their midst&mdash;secret,
+relentless, inhuman&mdash;demanding toll of lives for sacrifice.  Philip was
+zealous in appointing new bishops, each of whom should have inquisitors
+to aid in the work of hunting down the Protestants.  "There are but few
+of us left in the world who care for religion," he wrote, "'tis
+necessary therefore for us to take the greater heed for Christianity."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Granvelle, a cardinal of the Catholic Church, was the ruler of the Low
+Countries, terrorizing Margaret of Parma, whom Philip had appointed to
+act there as his Regent.  Margaret was a worthy woman of masculine
+tastes and habits; she was the daughter of Charles V and therefore a
+half-sister of Philip.  She would have won some concessions for the
+Protestants, knowing the temper of the Flemish, to whom she was allied
+by birth, but Granvelle was artful in his policy and managed by
+frequent correspondence with Spain to baffle the efforts of the whole
+party, which looked with indignation on the work of the Inquisitors.
+Peter Titelmann, the chief instrument of the Holy Office in the
+Netherlands, alarmed Margaret as well as her subjects, who were at the
+mercy of this monster.  He rode through the country on horseback,
+dragging suspected persons
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P79"></A>79}</SPAN>
+from their very beds, and glorying in
+the knowledge that none dared resist him.  He burst into a house at
+Ryssel one day, seized John de Swarte, his wife and four children,
+together with two newly-married couples and two other persons,
+convicted them of reading the Bible, of praying within their own
+dwellings, and had them all immediately burned.  No wonder that the
+Duchess of Parma trembled when the same man clamoured at the doors of
+her chamber for admittance.  High and low were equally in danger.  Even
+the royal family were at the mercy of the Holy Office.  Spies might be
+found in any household, and both men and women disappeared to answer
+"inquiries" made with torture of the rack, without knowing their
+accusers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Granvelle had enemies, who bent themselves to accomplish the downfall
+of the minister.  He was of humble origin, though he had amassed great
+wealth and possessed a remarkable capacity for administration.  Egmont,
+the fierce, quarrelsome soldier, was his chief adversary among the
+nobles.  There was a lively scene when Egmont drew his sword on the
+Cardinal in the presence of the Regent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+William of Orange was, perhaps, the one man whom all respected for his
+true courage and strength of character.  Granvelle wrote of him to
+Philip as highly dangerous, knowing that in the Silent he had met his
+match in cunning; for William's qualities were strangely mingled&mdash;he
+had vast ambition and yet took up a cause later that broke his splendid
+fortunes.  He was upright, yet he had few scruples in dealing with
+opponents.  He would employ spies to acquaint him with secret papers
+and use every possible means of gaining an advantage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Egmont and Orange vied with each other in the state they kept, their
+wives being bitterly jealous of each
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P80"></A>80}</SPAN>
+other.  William's second
+marriage had been arranged for worldly motives.  His bride was Princess
+Anna of Saxony, daughter of the Elector Maurice who had worked such
+evil for the Emperor Charles and had embraced the new religion.  The
+Princess was only sixteen; she limped, and was by no means handsome.
+It was hinted, too, that her temper was stormy and her mind narrow.
+The advantages of the match consisted in her high rank, which was above
+that of Orange.  Philip disliked the wedding of a Reformer with one of
+his most powerful subjects.  He disliked the bride's family, as was
+natural, and the bride's family did not approve of her wedding with a
+"Papist."  The ceremony took place on St Bartholomew's Day, 1561.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After his second marriage the Prince of Orange continued to exercise a
+lordly hospitality, for his staff of cooks was famous.  His wife
+quarrelled for precedence with the Countess Egmont, till the two were
+obliged to walk about the streets arm-in-arm because neither would
+acknowledge an inferior station.  Being magnificently dressed, they
+suffered much inconvenience from narrow doorways, which were not built
+to admit more than one dame in the costume of the period.  The times
+were not yet too serious to forbid such petty bickering, and there was
+a certain section of society quite frivolous enough to enjoy the
+ridiculous side of it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Margaret of Parma openly showed her delight when Granvelle was
+banished, for she felt herself relieved from a tyrant.  She now gave
+her confidence to Orange, who was very popular with the people.  There
+seemed to be some hope of inducing Philip to withdraw some of the
+edicts against his Protestant subjects.  Their cries were daily
+becoming louder, and there was an uneasy spirit abroad in the Low
+Countries which greeted with
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P81"></A>81}</SPAN>
+delight the device of Count Egmont
+for a new livery for his servants that should condemn the ostentation
+of such ministers as Granvelle.  His retainers appeared in doublet and
+hose of the coarsest grey material, with long hanging sleeves and no
+embroideries.  They wore an emblem of a fool's cap and bells, or a
+monk's cowl, which was supposed to mock the Cardinal's contemptuous
+allusion to the nobles as buffoons.  The King was furious at the
+fashion which soon spread among the courtiers.  They changed the device
+then to a bundle of arrows or a wheat-sheaf which, they asserted,
+denoted the union of all their hearts in the King's service.
+Schoolboys could not have betrayed more joy in the absence of their
+pedagogue than the whole court showed when Granvelle left the country
+in 1564 on a pretended visit to his mother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Orange had now three aims in life, to convoke the States-General, to
+moderate or abolish the edicts, and to suppress both council of finance
+and privy council, leaving only the one council of state, which he
+could make the body of reform.  By this time the persecutions were
+rousing the horror of Catholic as well as Calvinist.  The prisons were
+crowded with victims, and through the streets went continual
+processions to the stake.  The four estates of Flanders were united in
+an appeal to Philip.  Egmont was to visit Spain and point out the
+uselessness of forcing the Netherlands to accept religious decrees
+which reduced them to abject slavery.  Before he set out, William of
+Orange made a notable speech, declaring the provinces free and
+determined to vindicate their freedom.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Egmont's visit was a failure, since he suffered himself to be won by
+the flattery of Philip II.  He was reproached with having forgotten the
+interests of the State when
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P82"></A>82}</SPAN>
+he returned, and was consumed by
+regrets that were unavailing.  The wrath of the people was increasing
+daily as the cruel persecution devastated the Low Countries.  All other
+subjects were forgotten in the time of agony and expectation.  There
+was talk of resistance that would win death on the battlefield, more
+merciful than that proceeding from slow torture.  In streets, shops,
+and taverns men gathered to whisper of the dark deeds done in the name
+of the Inquisition.  Philip had vowed "never to allow myself either to
+become or to be called the lord of those who reject Thee for their
+Lord," as he prostrated his body before a crucifix.  The doom of the
+Protestants had been sealed by that oath.  Henceforth, those who feared
+death were known to favour freedom of religion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Duke of Alva was firm in his support of Philip's measures.  The
+Inquisition was formally proclaimed in the market-place of every town
+and village in the Netherlands.  Resistance was certain.  All knew that
+contending armies would take the field soon.  Commerce ceased to engage
+the attention of the people.  Those merchants and artisans who were
+able left the cities.  Patriots spoke what was in their hearts at last,
+and pamphlets "snowed in the streets."  The "League of the Compromise"
+was formed in 1566, with Count Louis of Nassau as the leader; it
+declared the Inquisition "iniquitous, contrary to all laws, human and
+divine, surpassing the greatest barbarism which was ever practised by
+tyrants, and as redounding to the dishonour of God and to the total
+desolation of the country."  The members of the League might be good
+Catholics though they were pledged to resist the Inquisition.  They
+always promised to attempt nothing "to the diminution of the King's
+grandeur, majesty, or dominion."
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P83"></A>83}</SPAN>
+All who signed the Compromise
+were to be mutually protected by an oath which permitted none to be
+persecuted.  It was a League, in fact, against the foreign government
+of the Netherlands, signed by nobles whose spirit was roused to protest
+against the influence of such men as Alva.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Compromise did not gain the support of William of Orange because he
+was distrustful of its objects.  The members were young and imprudent,
+and many of them were not at all disinterested in their desire to
+secure the broad lands belonging to the Catholic Church.  Their wild
+banquets were dangerous to the whole country, since spies sat at the
+board and took note of all extravagant phrases that might be construed
+into disloyalty.  Orange himself held meetings of a very different sort
+in his sincere endeavour to avert the catastrophe he feared.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Troops rode into Brussels, avowing their intention to free the country
+from Spanish tyranny.  Brederode was among them&mdash;a handsome reckless
+noble, descended from one of the oldest families of Holland.  The
+citizens welcomed the soldiers with applause and betrayed the same
+enthusiasm on the following day when a procession of noble cavaliers
+went to present a petition to Margaret of Parma, urging that she should
+suspend the powers of the Inquisition while a messenger was sent to
+Spain to demand its abolition.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the petitioners left the hall, they heard with furious resentment
+the remark of one Berlaymont to the troubled Regent.  "What, Madam! is
+it possible that your highness can entertain fears of these beggars?
+(<I>gueux</I>).  Is it not obvious what manner of men they are?  They have
+not had wisdom enough to manage their own estates, and are they now to
+teach the King
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P84"></A>84}</SPAN>
+and Your Highness how to govern the country?  By
+the living God, if my advice were taken, their petition should have a
+cudgel for a commentary, and we would make them go down the steps of
+the palace a great deal faster than they mounted them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Confederates received an answer from the Duchess not altogether to
+their satisfaction, though she promised to make a special application
+to the King for the modification of edicts and ordered the Inquisitors
+to proceed "moderately and discreetly" with their office.  Three
+hundred guests met at Brederode's banquet on the 8th of April, and
+there and then, amid the noise of revelry and the clink of wine-cups,
+they adopted the name of "Beggars," flung at them in scorn by
+Berlaymont.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Brederode was the first to call for a wallet, which he hung round his
+neck after the manner of those who begged their bread.  He filled a
+large wooden bowl as part of his equipment, lifted it with both hands
+and drained it, crying, "Long live the Beggars!"  The cry was taken up
+as each guest donned the wallet in turn and drank from the bowl to the
+Beggars' health.  The symbols of the brotherhood were hung up in the
+hall so that all might stand underneath to repeat certain words as he
+flung salt into a goblet:
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="poem">
+"By this salt, by this head, by this wallet still,<BR>
+These beggars change not, fret who will."<BR>
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+A costume was adopted in accordance with the fantastic humour of the
+nobles.  Soon Brussels stared at quaint figures in coarse grey
+garments, wearing felt hats, and carrying the beggar's bowl and wallet.
+The badges which adorned their hats protested fidelity to Philip.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P85"></A>85}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+Twelve of the Beggars sought an interview with the Duchess of Parma to
+demand that Orange, Egmont, and Admiral Hoorn should be appointed to
+guard the interests of the States, and they even threatened to form
+foreign alliances if Margaret refused to grant what they wanted.  They
+knew that they could count now on assistance from the Huguenot leaders
+in France and from the Protestant princes in Germany.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The war was imminent in which the Beggars would avenge the insult
+uttered by the haughty lips of Berlaymont.  The sea-power of Holland
+had its origin in the first fleet which the Sea-Beggars equipped in
+1569.  These corsairs who cruised in the narrow waters and descended
+upon the seaport towns were of many different nationalities, but were
+one and all inspired by a fanatic hatred of the Spaniard and the Papist.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap08"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P86"></A>86}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter VIII
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+William the Silent, Father of his Country
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The confusion which reigned in the Netherlands sorely troubled Margaret
+of Parma, who wrote to Philip for men and money that she might put down
+the rising.  She received nothing beyond vague promises that he would
+come one day to visit his dominions overseas.  It was still the belief
+of the King of Spain that he held supreme authority in a country where
+many a Flemish noble claimed a higher rank, declaring that the
+so-called sovereign was only Duke of Brabant and Count of Flanders.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In despair, the Regent called on Orange, Hoorn, and Egmont to help her
+in restoring order.  Refugees had come back from foreign countries and
+were holding religious services openly, troops of Protestants marched
+about the streets singing Psalms and shouting "Long live the Beggars!"
+It seemed to Margaret of Parma, a devout Catholic, that for the people
+there was "neither faith nor King."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+William, as Burgrave of Antwerp, was able to restore order in that
+city, promising the citizens that they should have the right to
+assemble for worship outside the walls.  A change had come over this
+once worldly noble&mdash;henceforth he cared nothing for the pomps and
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P87"></A>87}</SPAN>
+vanities of life.  He had decided to devote himself to the cause of the
+persecuted, however dear it cost him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Prince of Orange hoped that Egmont would join him in resistance to
+the Spanish tyranny.  Egmont was beloved by the people of the
+Netherlands as a soldier who had proved his valour; his high rank and
+proud nature might have been expected to make him resentful of
+authority that would place him in subjection.  But William parted from
+his friend, recognizing sadly that they were inspired by different
+motives.  "Alas!  Egmont," he said, embracing the noble who would not
+desert the cause of Philip, "the King's clemency, of which you boast,
+will destroy you.  Would that I might be deceived, but I foresee too
+clearly that you are to be the bridge which the Spaniards will destroy
+so soon as they have passed over it to invade our country."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+William found himself soon in a state of isolation.  He refused to take
+a new oath of fidelity to the King, which bound him to "act for or
+against whomsoever his Majesty might order without restriction or
+limitation."  His own wife was a Lutheran, and by such a promise it
+might become his duty to destroy her!  An alliance with foreign princes
+was the only safeguard against the force which Spain was preparing.
+The Elector of Saxony was willing to enter into a League to defend the
+reformed faith of the Netherlands.  Meantime, after resigning all his
+offices, the Prince of Orange went into exile with his entire household.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1567 Philip ceased his vacillation.  He sent the Duke of Alva to
+stamp out heresy at any cost in the Low Countries.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Alva was the foremost general of his time, a soldier whose life had
+been one long campaign in Europe.  He
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P88"></A>88}</SPAN>
+had a kind of fierce
+fanatical religion which led him to revenge his father's death at the
+hands of the Moors on many a hapless Christian.  He was avaricious, and
+the lust for booty determined him to sack the rich cities of the
+Netherlands without regard for honour.  He was in his sixtieth year,
+but time had not weakened his strong inflexible courage.  Tall, thin,
+and erect, he carried himself as a Spaniard of noble blood, and yielded
+to none in the superb arrogance of his manners.  His long beard gave
+him the dignity of age, and his bearing stamped him always as a
+conqueror who knew nothing of compassion.  It was hopeless to appeal to
+the humanity of Toledo, Duke of Alva.  A stern disciplinarian, he could
+control his troops better than any general Philip had, yet he did not
+wish to check their excesses, and seemed to look with pleasure upon the
+awful scenes of a war in which no quarter was given.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Alva led a picked army of 10,000 men&mdash;Italian foot soldiers for the
+most part, with some musketeers among them&mdash;who would astonish the
+simple northern people he held in such contempt.  "I have trained
+people of iron in my day," was his boast.  "Shall I not easily crush
+these people of butter?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At first the people of the Netherlands seemed likely to be cowed into
+complete submission.  Egmont came out to meet Alva, bringing him two
+beautiful horses as a present.  The Spaniard had already doomed this
+man to the block, but he pretended great pleasure at the welcome gift
+and put his arms round the neck which he knew would not rest long on
+Egmont's shoulders.  He spoke very graciously to the escort who led him
+into Brussels.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Margaret of Parma was still Regent in name, but in reality she had been
+superseded by the Captain-General
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P89"></A>89}</SPAN>
+of the Spanish forces.  She was
+furious at the slight, and showed her displeasure by greeting the Duke
+of Alva coldly.  After writing to Philip to expostulate, she discovered
+that her position would not be restored, and therefore retired to Parma.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Egmont and Hoorn were the first victims of Alva's treachery.  They died
+on the same day, displaying such fortitude at the last that the people
+mourned them passionately, and a storm of indignation burst forth
+against Philip II and the agent he had sent to shed the noblest blood
+of the Low Countries.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Alva set up a "Council of Troubles" so that he could dispatch other
+victims with the same celerity.  This became known as "the Council of
+Blood" from the merciless nature of its transactions.  Anyone who chose
+to give evidence against his friends was assured that he would have a
+generous reward for such betrayals.  The Duke of Alva was President of
+the Council and had the right of final decision in all cases.  Few were
+saved from the sword or the stake, since by blood alone the rebel and
+the heretic were to be crushed and Philip's sovereignty established
+firmly in the Netherlands.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1568 William of Orange was ordered to appear before the court and,
+on his refusal, was declared an outlaw.  His eldest son was captured at
+the University of Louvain and sent to the Spanish court that he might
+unlearn the principles in which he had been educated.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Orange issued a justification of his conduct, but even this was held to
+be an act of defiance against the authority of Philip.  The once loyal
+subject determined to expel the King's troops from the Low Countries,
+believing himself chosen by God to save the reformers from the pitiless
+oppression of the Spanish.  He had
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P90"></A>90}</SPAN>
+already changed his views on
+religion.  Prudence seemed to have forsaken the astute Prince of
+Orange.  He proceeded to raise an army, though he had not enough money
+to pay his mercenaries.  He was preparing for a struggle against a
+general, second to none in Europe, a general, moreover, who had
+veterans at his command and the authority of Spain behind him.  Yet the
+first disaster did not daunt either William of Orange or his brother
+Louis of Nassau, who was also a chivalrous leader of the people.  "With
+God's help I am determined to go on," were the words inspired by Alva's
+triumph.  There were Reformers in other countries ready to send help to
+their brethren in religion.  Elizabeth of England had extended a
+welcome to thousands of Flemish traders.  It was William's constant
+hope that she would send a force openly to his assistance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Elizabeth, however, did not like rebels and was not minded to show
+sympathy with the enemies of Philip, who kept his troops from an attack
+on England.  She would secretly encourage the Beggars to take Spanish
+ships, but she would not send an army of sufficient strength to ensure
+a decisive victory for the Reformers of the Netherlands.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-090"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-090.jpg" ALT="Last Moments of Count Egmont (Louis Gallait)" BORDER="2" WIDTH="571" HEIGHT="454">
+<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 571px">
+Last Moments of Count Egmont (Louis Gallait)
+</H3>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+Alva exulted in the loss of prestige which attended his enemy's flight
+from the Huguenot camp in the garb of a German peasant.  He regarded
+William as a dead man, since he was driven to wander about the country,
+suffering from the condemnation of his allies because he had not been
+successful.  Alva's victory would have seemed too easy if there had not
+been a terrible lack of funds among the Spanish, owing to the plunder
+which was carried off from Spain by Elizabethan seamen.  The Spanish
+general demanded taxes suddenly
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P91"></A>91}</SPAN>
+from the people of the
+Netherlands, and expected that they would be paid without a murmur.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But he had mistaken the spirit of a trading country which was not
+subservient in its loyalty to any ruler.  These prosperous merchants
+had always been accustomed to dispose of the money they earned
+according to their own wishes.  Enemies of the Spanish sprang up among
+their former allies.  Catholics as well as Protestants were angry at
+Alva's demand of a tax of the "hundredth penny" to be levied on all
+property.  Alva's name had been detested even before he marched into
+the Low Countries with the army which was notorious for deeds of blood
+and outrage.  Now it roused such violent hatred that men who had been
+ready to support his measures for their own interests gradually forsook
+him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In July 1570, an amnesty was declared by the Duke of Alva in the great
+square of Antwerp.  Philip's approaching marriage with Anne of Austria
+ought to have been celebrated with some appearance of goodwill to all
+men, but it was at this time that the blackest treachery stained
+Philip's name, already associated with stern cruelty.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Montigny, the son of the Dowager Countess of Hoorn, was one of the
+envoys sent to Philip's court before the war had actually opened.  He
+had been detained in Spain and feared death, for he was a prisoner in
+the castle of Segovia.  Philip had intended from the beginning to
+destroy Montigny, but he did not choose to order his execution openly.
+The knight had been sentenced by the Council of Blood after three years
+imprisonment, but still lingered on, hoping for release through the
+exertions of his family.  The King was busied with wedding
+preparations, but not too busy to
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P92"></A>92}</SPAN>
+carry out a crafty scheme by
+which Montigny seemed to have died of fever, whereas he was strangled
+in the Castle.  The hypocrisy of the Spanish monarch was so complete
+that he actually ordered suits of mourning for Montigny's servants.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1572 the Beggars, always restlessly cruising against their foes on
+the high seas, took Brill in the absence of a Spanish garrison.  Their
+action was so successful that they hoisted the rebel flag over the
+little fort and took an oath with the inhabitants to acknowledge the
+Prince of Orange as their Stadtholder.  Brill was an unexpected triumph
+which the brilliant, impetuous Louis of Nassau followed up by the
+seizure of Flushing, the key of Zealand, which was the approach to
+Antwerp.  The Sea-Beggars then swarmed over the whole of Walcheren,
+receiving many recruits in their ranks and pillaging churches
+recklessly.  Middelburg alone remained to the Spanish troops, while the
+provinces of the North began to look to the Prince of Orange as their
+legitimate ruler.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+William looked askance at the disorderly feats of the Beggars, but the
+capture of important towns inspired him to fresh efforts.  He
+corresponded with many foreign countries and had his agents everywhere.
+Sainte Aldgonde was one of the prime movers in these negotiations.  He
+was a poet as well as a soldier, and wrote the stirring national anthem
+of <I>Wilhelmus van Nassouwen</I>, which is still sung in the Netherlands.
+Burghers now opened their purses to give money, for they felt that
+victories must surely follow the capture of Brill and Flushing.
+William took the field with hired soldiers, and was met by the news of
+the terrible massacre of Protestants in France in 1572 on the Eve of St
+Bartholomew.  All his hopes of help from France
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P93"></A>93}</SPAN>
+were dashed to the
+ground at once, and for the moment he was daunted.  Louis of Nassau was
+besieged at Mons by Alva.  He tried to relieve his brother, but was
+ignominiously prevented by the <I>Camisaders</I> who made their way to his
+camp at night, wearing white shirts over their armour, and killed eight
+hundred of his soldiers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+William threw in his lot, once for all, with the Northern provinces,
+receiving a hearty welcome from Holland and Zealand, states both
+maintaining a gallant struggle.  He was recognized as Stadtholder by a
+meeting of the States in 1572, and liberty of worship was established
+for Protestants and Catholics.  His authority was absolute in this
+region of the Low Countries.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Alva revenged himself for the resistance of Mons by the brutal sack of
+Malines and of Zutphen.  The outrages of his soldiers were almost
+inhuman, and immense booty was captured, to the satisfaction of the
+leader.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Amsterdam was loyal to Philip, but Haarlem was in the hands of
+Calvinists.  The Spanish army advanced on this town expecting to take
+it at the first assault, but they met with a stubborn resistance.  The
+citizens had in their minds the horror of the sack of Zutphen.  They
+repulsed one assault after another and the siege, begun in December
+1572, was turned into a blockade, and still the Spaniards could not
+enter.  The heads of the leaders of relief armies which had been
+defeated were flung into Haarlem with insulting gibes.  The reply to
+this was a barrel which was sent rolling out carrying eleven heads, ten
+in payment of the tax of one-tenth hitherto refused to Alva and the
+eleventh as interest on the sum which had not been paid quite promptly!
+It was in July 1573, when the citizens had been reduced by famine to
+the consumption of
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P94"></A>94}</SPAN>
+weeds, shoe-leather, and vermin, that the
+Spanish army entered Haarlem.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The loss on both sides was enormous, and William had reason to despair.
+Only 1600 were left of a garrison of 4000.  It seemed as if the courage
+of Haarlem had been unavailing, for gibbets rose on all sides to
+exhibit the leaders of the desperate resistance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the fleets of the Beggars rode the sea in triumph, and the example
+of Haarlem had given spirit to other towns unwilling to be beaten in
+endurance.  Alva was disappointed to find that immediate submission did
+not follow.  He left the country in 1573, declaring that his health and
+strength were gone, and he was unwilling to lose his reputation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Don Luis Requesens, his successor, would have made terms, but William
+of Orange adhered to certain resolutions.  There must be freedom of
+worship throughout the Netherlands, where all the ancient charters of
+liberty must be restored and every Spaniard must resign his office.
+William then declared himself a Calvinist, probably for patriotic
+reasons.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The hope of assistance from France and England rose again inevitably.
+Louis of Nassau obtained a large sum of French money and intended to
+raise troops for the relief of Leyden, which was invested by the
+Spaniards in 1574.  He gathered a force of mixed nationality and no
+cohesion, and was surprised and killed with his gallant brother Henry.
+Their loss was a great blow to William, who felt that the
+responsibilities of the war henceforward rested solely on his shoulders.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Leyden was relieved by the desperate device of cutting the dykes and
+opening the sluices to flood the land around it.  A fleet was thus
+enabled to sail in amidst fields and farmhouses to attack the besieging
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P95"></A>95}</SPAN>
+Spanish.  The Sea-Beggars were driven by the wind to the outskirts
+of Leyden, where they engaged in mortal conflict.  The forts fell into
+their hands, some being deserted by the Spanish who fled from the
+rising waters.  William of Orange received the news at Delft, where he
+had taken up his residence.  He founded the University of Leyden as a
+memorial of the citizens' endurance.  The victory, however, was
+modified some months later by the capture of Zierickzee, which gave the
+Spaniards an outlet on the sea and also cut off Walcheren from Holland.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In sheer desperation William made overtures to Queen Elizabeth,
+offering her the sovereignty of Holland and Zealand if she would engage
+in the struggle against Spain.  Elizabeth dared not refuse, lest France
+should step into the breach, but she was unwilling to declare herself
+publicly on the side of rebels.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In April 1576 an Act of Federation was signed which formally united the
+two States of Zealand and Holland and conferred the supreme authority
+on the Prince of Orange, commander in war and governor in peace.
+Requesens was dead; a general patriotic rising was imminent.  On
+September 26th the States-General met at Brussels to discuss the
+question of uniting all the provinces.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Spanish Fury at Antwerp caused general consternation in the
+Netherlands.  The ancient town was attacked quite suddenly, all its
+wealth falling into the hands of rapacious soldiers.  No less than 7000
+citizens met their death at the hands of men who carried the standard
+of Christ on the Cross and knelt to ask God's blessing before they
+entered on the massacre!  Greed for gold had come upon the Spaniards,
+who hastened to secure the treasures accumulated at Antwerp.  Jewels
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P96"></A>96}</SPAN>
+and velvets and laces were coveted as much as the contents of the
+strong boxes of the merchants, and torture was employed to discover the
+plate and money that were hidden.  A wedding-party was interrupted, and
+the clothes of the bride stripped from her.  Many palaces fell by fire
+and the splendid Town House perished.  For two whole days the city was
+the scene of indescribable horrors.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Pacification of Ghent had been signed when the news of the Spanish
+Fury reached the States-General.  The members of this united with the
+Prince of Orange, as ruler of Holland and Zealand, to drive the
+foreigner from their country.  The Union of Brussels confirmed this
+treaty in January 1577, for the South were anxious to rid themselves of
+the Spaniards though they desired to maintain the Catholic religion.
+Don John of Austria, Philip II's half-brother, was accepted as
+Governor-General after he had given a general promise to observe the
+wishes of the people.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Don John made a state entry into Brussels, but he soon found that the
+Prince of Orange had gained complete ascendancy over the Netherlands
+and that he was by no means free to govern as he chose.  Don John soon
+grew weary of a position of dependence; he seized Namur and took up his
+residence there, afterwards defying the States-General.  A universal
+cry for Orange was raised in the confusion that followed, and William
+returned in triumph to the palace of Nassau.  Both North and South
+demanded that he should be their leader; both Protestant and Catholic
+promised to regard his government as legal.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In January 1578, the Archduke Matthias, brother of the Emperor, was
+invited by the Catholic party to enter Brussels as its governor.
+William welcomed
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P97"></A>97}</SPAN>
+the intruder, knowing that the supreme power was
+still vested in himself, but he was dismayed to see Alexander of Parma
+join Don John, realizing that their combined armies would be more than
+a match for his.  Confusion returned after a victory of Parma, who was
+an able and brilliant general.  The Catholic Duke of Anjou took Mons,
+and John Casimir, brother of the Elector-Palatine, entered the
+Netherlands from the east as the champion of the extreme Calvinists.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The old religious antagonism was destroying the union of the provinces.
+William made immense exertions and succeeded in securing the alliance
+of Queen Elizabeth, Henry of Navarre, and John Casimir, while the Duke
+of Anjou accepted the title of Defender of the Liberties of the
+Netherlands.  His work seemed undone on the death of Don John in 1578
+and the succession of Alexander, Duke of Parma.  This Prince sowed the
+seeds of discord very skilfully, separating the Walloon provinces from
+the Reformers.  A party of Catholic Malcontents was formed in protest
+against the excesses of the Calvinists.  Religious tolerance was to be
+found nowhere, save in the heart of William of Orange.  North and South
+separated in January 1579, and made treaties which bound them
+respectively to protect their own form of religion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Attempts were made to induce Orange to leave the Netherlands that Spain
+might recover her lost sovereignty.  He was surrounded by foes, and
+many plots were formed against him.  In March 1581, King Philip
+denounced him as the enemy of the human race, a traitor and a
+miscreant, and offered a heavy bribe to anyone who would take the life
+of "this pest" or deliver him dead or alive.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+William's defence, known to the authorities as his
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P98"></A>98}</SPAN>
+Apology, was
+issued in every court of Europe.  In it he dwelt on the different
+actions of his long career, and pointed out Philip's crimes and
+misdemeanours.  His own Imperial descent was contrasted with the King
+of Spain's less illustrious ancestry, and an eloquent appeal to the
+people for whom he had made heroic sacrifices was signed by the motto
+<I>Je le maintiendrai</I>.  ("I will maintain.")
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Duke of Anjou accepted the proffered sovereignty of the United
+Netherlands in September 1580, but Holland and Zealand refused to
+acknowledge any other ruler than William of Orange, who received the
+title of Count, and joined with the other States in casting off their
+allegiance to Philip.  The French Prince was invested with the ducal
+mantle by Orange when he entered Antwerp as Duke of Brabant, and was,
+in reality, subject to the idol of the Netherlands.  The French
+protectorate came to an end with the disgraceful scenes of the French
+Fury, when the Duke's followers attempted to seize the chief towns,
+crying at Antwerp, "Long live the Mass!  Long live the Duke of Anjou!
+Kill!  Kill!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Orange would still have held to the French in preference to the
+Spanish, but the people did not share his views, and were suspicious of
+his motives when he married a daughter of that famous Huguenot leader,
+Admiral de Coligny.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Orange retired to Delft, sorely troubled by the distrust of the nation,
+and the Catholic nobles were gradually lured back by Parma to the
+Spanish party.  In 1584 a young Burgundian managed to elude the
+vigilance of William's retainers; he made his way into the <I>Prinsenhof</I>
+and fired at the Prince as he came from dinner with his family.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P99"></A>99}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+The Prince of Orange fell, crying "My God, have pity on my soul and on
+this poor people."  He had now forfeited his life as well as his
+worldly fortunes, but the struggle he had waged for nearly twenty years
+had a truly glorious ending.  The genius of one man had given freedom
+to the far-famed Dutch Republic, founded on the States acknowledging
+William their Father.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap09"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P100"></A>100}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter IX
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Henry of Navarre
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Throughout France the followers of John Calvin of Geneva organized
+themselves into a powerful Protestant party.  The Reformation in
+Germany had been aristocratic in tendency, since it was mainly upheld
+by princes whose politics led them to oppose the Papacy.  The teaching
+of Calvin appealed more directly to the ignorant, for his creed was
+stern and simple.  The Calvinists even declared Luther an agent of the
+devil, in striking contrast to their own leader, who was regarded as
+the messenger of God.  For such men there were no different degrees of
+sinfulness&mdash;some were held to be elect or "chosen of the Lord" at their
+birth, while others were predestined for everlasting punishment.  It
+was characteristic of Calvin that he called vehemently for toleration
+from the Emperor, Charles V, and yet caused the death of a Spanish
+physician, Servetus, whose views happened to be at variance with his
+own!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Calvinists generally held meetings in the open air where they could
+escape the restrictions that were placed on services held in any place
+of worship.  The middle and lower classes attended them in large
+numbers, and the new faith spread rapidly through the enlightened world
+of Western Europe.  John Knox, the renowned Scotch preacher, was a firm
+friend of Calvin, and
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P101"></A>101}</SPAN>
+thundered denunciations from his Scotch
+pulpit at the young Queen Mary, who had come from France with all the
+levity of French court-training in her manners.  The people of Southern
+France were eager to hear the fiery speech that somehow captured their
+imagination.  As they increased in numbers and began to have political
+importance they became known as Huguenots or Confederates.  To
+Catherine de Medici, the Catholic Regent of France, they were a
+formidable body, and in Navarre their leaders were drawn mainly from
+the nobles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Relentless persecution would probably have crushed the Huguenots of
+France eventually if it had been equally severe in all cases.  As a
+rule, men of the highest rank could evade punishment, and a few of the
+higher clergy preached religious toleration.  Thousands marched
+cheerfully to death from among the ranks of humble citizens, for it was
+part of Calvin's creed that men ought to suffer martyrdom for their
+faith without offering resistance.  Judges were known to die, stricken
+by remorse, and marvelling at their victims' fortitude.  At Dijon, the
+executioner himself proclaimed at the foot of the scaffold that he had
+been converted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Calvinist preachers could gain no audience in Paris, where the
+University of the Sorbonne opposed their doctrines and declared that
+these were contrary to all the philosophy of ancient times.  The
+capital of France constantly proclaimed loyalty to Rome by the pompous
+processions which filed out of its magnificent churches and paraded the
+streets to awe the mob, always swayed by the violence of fanatic
+priests.  The Huguenots did not attempt to capture a stronghold, where
+it was boasted that "the novices of the convents and the priests'
+housekeepers could have driven them out with broomsticks."
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P102"></A>102}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+Such rude weapons would have been ineffectual in the South-East of
+France, where all the most flourishing towns had embraced the reformed
+religion.  The majority of the Huguenots were drawn from the most
+warlike, intelligent, and industrious of the population of these towns,
+but princes also adopted Calvinism, and the Bourbons of Navarre made
+their court a refuge for believers in the new religion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Navarre was at this time a narrow strip of land on the French side of
+the Pyrenees, but her ruler was still a sovereign monarch and owed
+allegiance to no overlord.  Henry, Prince of Bourbon and King of
+Navarre, was born in 1555 at Béarns, in the mountains.  His mother was
+a Calvinist, and his early discipline was rigid.  He ran barefoot with
+the village lads, learnt to climb like a chamois, and knew nothing more
+luxurious than the habits of a court which had become enamoured of
+simplicity.  He was bewildered on his introduction to the shameless,
+intriguing circle of Catherine de Medici.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Queen-Mother did not allow King Charles IX to have much share in
+the government of France at that period.  She had an Italian love of
+dissimulation, and followed the methods of the rulers of petty Italian
+states in her policy, which was to play off one rival faction against
+another.  Henry of Guise led the Catholic party against the Huguenots,
+whose leaders were Prince Louis de Bourbon and his uncle, the noble
+Admiral de Coligny.  Guise was so determined to gain power that he
+actually asked the help of Spain in his attempt to crush the "heretics"
+of his own nation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Huguenots at that time had won many notable concessions from the
+Crown, which increased the bitter hostility of the Catholics.  The
+Queen-Mother, however,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P103"></A>103}</SPAN>
+concealed her annoyance when she saw the
+ladies of the court reading the New Testament instead of pagan poetry,
+or heard their voices chanting godly psalms rather than the old
+love-ballads.  She did not object openly to the pious form of speech
+which was known as the "language of Canaan."  She was a passionless
+woman, self-seeking but not revengeful, and adopted a certain degree of
+tolerance, no doubt, from her patriotic counsellor, L'Hôpital, who
+resembled the Prince of Orange in his character.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Edict of January in 1562 gave countenance to Huguenot meetings
+throughout France, and was, therefore, detested by the Catholic party.
+The Duke of Guise went to dine one Sunday in the little town of Vassy,
+near his residence of Joinville.  A band of armed retainers accompanied
+him and pushed their way into a barn where the Huguenots were holding
+service.  A riot ensued, in which the Duke was struck, and his
+followers killed no less than sixty of the worshippers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This outrage led to civil war, for the Protestants remembered bitterly
+that Guise had sworn never to take life in the cause of religion.  They
+demanded the punishment of the offenders, and then took the field most
+valiantly.  Gentlemen served at their own expense, but they were, in
+general, "better armed with courage than with corselets."  They were
+overpowered by the numbers of the Catholic League, which had all the
+wealth of Church and State at its back, and also had control of the
+King and capital.  One by one the heroic leaders fell.  Louis de
+Bourbon was taken prisoner at Dreux, and Anthony of Bourbon died before
+the town of Rouen.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Queen of Navarre was very anxious for the safety of her son, for
+she heard that he was accompanying
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P104"></A>104}</SPAN>
+Catherine and Charles IX on a
+long progress through the kingdom.  She herself was the object of
+Catholic animosity, and the King of Spain destined her for a grand
+<I>Auto-da-fé</I>, longing to make an example of so proud a heretic.  She
+believed that her son had received the root of piety in his heart while
+he was under her care, but she doubted whether that goodly root would
+grow in the corrupt atmosphere which surrounded the youthful Valois
+princes.  Henry of Navarre disliked learning, and was fond of active
+exercise.  His education was varied after he came to court, and he
+learnt to read men well.  In later life he was able to enjoy the most
+frivolous pastimes and yet could endure the privations of camp life
+without experiencing discomfort.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, was killed at the battle of Jarnac,
+and Henry de Bourbon became the recognized head of the Huguenot party.
+He took an oath never to abandon the cause, and was hailed by the
+soldiers in camp as their future leader.  The Queen of Navarre clad him
+in his armour, delighted that her son should defend the reformed
+religion.  She saw that he was brave and manly, if he were not a truly
+religious prince, and she agreed with the loudly expressed opinion of
+the populace that he was more royal in bearing than the dissolute and
+effeminate youths who spent their idle days within the palaces of the
+Louvre and the Tuileries.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The country was growing so weary of the struggle that the scheme for a
+marriage between Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Valois was hailed
+with enthusiasm.  If Catholic and Huguenot were united there might be
+peace in France that would add to the prosperity of the nation.
+Catherine de Medici had intended originally that her daughter should
+marry the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P105"></A>105}</SPAN>
+Catholic King of Portugal, and was angry with Philip II
+of Spain because he had done nothing to assist her in making this
+alliance.  Charles IX longed to humble Philip, who was indignant that
+the "heretics" had been offered freedom of worship in 1570, and had
+expressed his opinion rather freely.  Therefore the Valois family did
+not hesitate to receive the leader of the Protestants, Henry de
+Bourbon, whose territory extended from the Pyrenees to far beyond the
+Garonne.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Queen of Navarre disliked the match and was suspicious of the
+Queen-Mother's motives.  She feared that Catherine and Catherine's
+daughter would entice Henry into a gay, dissolute course of life which
+would destroy the results of her early training, and she could not
+respond very cordially to the effusive welcome which greeted her at the
+court when she came sadly to the wedding.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The marriage contract was signed in 1571, neither bride nor bridegroom
+having much choice in the matter.  Henry was probably dazzled by the
+brilliant prospects that opened out to one who was mated with a Valois,
+but he was only nineteen and never quite at ease in the shifting,
+tortuous maze of diplomacy as conceived by the mind of Catherine de
+Medici.  Margaret was a talented, lively girl, and pleased with the
+fine jewels that were given her.  She did not understand the reasons
+which urged her brother Charles to press on the match.  He insisted
+that it should take place in Paris in order that he might show his
+subjects how much he longed to settle the religious strife that had
+lately rent the kingdom.  It was a question, of course, on which
+neither of the contracting parties had to be more than formally
+consulted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Queen of Navarre died suddenly on the eve of
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P106"></A>106}</SPAN>
+the wedding, and
+her son, with 800 attendants, entered the city in a mourning garb that
+had soon to be discarded.  Gorgeous costumes of ceremony were donned
+for the great day, August 18th, 1572, when Margaret met her bridegroom
+on a great stage erected before the church of Notre Dame.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Henry of Navarre could not attend the Mass, but walked in the nave with
+his Huguenot friends, while Margaret knelt in the choir, surrounded by
+the Catholics of the party.  Admiral Coligny was present, the stalwart
+Huguenot who appealed to all the finest instincts of his people.  He
+had tried to arrange a marriage between Elizabeth of England and Henry
+of Anjou, the brother of the French King, but had not been successful,
+owing to Elizabeth's politic vacillation.  He was detested by Catherine
+de Medici because he had great power over her son, the reigning
+monarch, whom she tried to dominate completely.  A dark design had
+inspired the Guise faction of late in consequence of the Queen's enmity
+to the influence of Coligny.  It was hinted that the Huguenot party
+would be very weak if their strongest partisan were suddenly taken from
+them.  All the great Protestant nobles were assembled in Paris for the
+marriage of Navarre and Margaret of Valois.  They were royally
+entertained by the Catholic courtiers and lodged at night in fine
+apartments of the Louvre and other palaces.  They had no idea that they
+had any danger to fear as they slept, and would have disdained to guard
+themselves against the possible treachery of their hosts.  They might
+have been warned by the attempted assassination of Admiral Coligny, who
+was wounded by a pistol-shot, had not the King expressed such concern
+at the attempt on the life of his favourite counsellor.  "My father,"
+Charles IX declared when
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P107"></A>107}</SPAN>
+he came to the Admiral's bedside, "the
+pain of the wound is yours, but the insult and the wrong are mine."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The King had the gates of Paris shut, and sent his own guard to protect
+Coligny.  He was weak, and subject to violent gusts of passion which
+made him easy to guide, if he were in the hands of an unscrupulous
+person.  His mother, who had plotted with Guise for the death of
+Coligny, pointed out that there was grave danger to be feared from the
+Protestants.  She made Charles declare in a frenzy of violence that
+every Huguenot in France should perish if the Admiral died, for he
+would not be reproached with such a crime by the Admiral's followers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The bells of the church nearest to the Louvre rang out on the Eve of St
+Bartholomew&mdash;they gave the signal for a cruel massacre.  After the
+devout Protestant, Coligny, was slain in the presence of the Duke of
+Guise, there was little resistance from the other defenceless Huguenot
+nobles.  They were roused from sleep, surprised by treacherous foes,
+and relentlessly murdered.  It was impossible to combine in their
+perilous position.  Two thousand were put to death in Paris, where the
+very women and children acted like monsters of cruelty to the heretics
+for three days, and proved themselves as cunning as the Swiss guards
+who had slain the King's guests on the night of Saint Bartholomew.  A
+Huguenot noble escaped from his assailants and rushed into Henry's very
+bridal chamber.  He cried, "Navarre!  Navarre!" and hoped for
+protection from the Protestant prince against four archers who were
+following him.  Henry had risen early and gone out to the tennis-court,
+and Margaret was powerless to offer any help.  She fled from the room
+in terror, having heard nothing previously of the Guises' secret
+conspiracy.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P108"></A>108}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+Charles IX sent for Navarre and disclosed the fact that he had been
+privy to the massacre.  He showed plainly that the Protestants were to
+find no toleration henceforth.  Henry felt that his life was in great
+jeopardy, for most of the noblemen he had brought to Paris had fallen
+in the massacre, and he stood practically alone at a Catholic court.
+Henry understood that if he were to be spared it was only at the price
+of his conversion, and with the alternatives of death or the Mass
+before him, it is little wonder that he yielded, at least in
+appearance, to the latter.  There were spies and traitors to be feared
+in the circle of the Medici.  Even Margaret was not safe since her
+marriage to a Protestant, but she gave wise counsel to her husband and
+guided him skilfully through the perils of court life.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Catherine disarmed the general indignation of Europe by spreading an
+ingeniously concocted story to the effect that the Huguenots had been
+sacrificed because they plotted a foul attack on the Crown of France.
+She had been hostile to Coligny rather than to his policy, and
+continued to follow his scheme of thwarting Spain by alliances with
+Elizabeth and the Prince of Orange.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Henry of Guise met the charge of excessive zeal in defending his King
+with perfect equanimity.  He was a splendid figure at the court,
+winning popularity by his affable manners and managing to conceal his
+arrogant, ambitious nature.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After 1572 the Huguenots relied mainly on the wealthy citizens of the
+towns for support in the struggle against the Guise faction.  In
+addition to religious toleration they now demanded the redress of
+political grievances.  A republican spirit rose in the Protestant
+party, who read eagerly the various books and pamphlets declaring that
+a monarchy should not continue if it
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P109"></A>109}</SPAN>
+proved incapable of
+maintaining order even by despotic powers.  More and more a new idea
+gained ground that the sovereignty of France was not hereditary but
+elective.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Charles IX, distracted by the confusion in his kingdom and the caprices
+of his own ill-balanced temper, clung to Henry of Navarre because he
+recognized real strength in him such as was wanting in the Valois.
+Henry III, his successor, was contemptibly vain and feminine in all his
+tastes, wearing pearls in his hair and rouging his face in order that
+he might be admired by the foolish, empty courtiers who were his
+favourite companions.  He succeeded to the throne in 1575, and made
+some display of Catholic zeal by organizing fantastic processions of
+repentant sinners through the streets of Paris.  He insisted on Navarre
+taking part in this mummery, for it was to his interest to prevent the
+Protestant party from claiming a noble leader.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Navarre had learnt to play his part well, but he chafed at his
+inglorious position.  He saw with a fierce disgust the worthless
+prince, Alençon, become the head of the Protestant party.  Then he
+discovered that he was to have a chance of escape from the toils of the
+Medici.  In January, 1576, he received an offer from some officers&mdash;who
+had been disappointed of the royal favour&mdash;that they would put him in
+possession of certain towns if he would leave the court.  He rode off
+at once to the Protestant camp, leaving his wife behind him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Peace of Monsieur, signed in February 1576, granted very favourable
+conditions to the Protestants, who had stoutly resisted an attack on
+their stronghold of La Rochelle.  Catherine and Henry III became
+alarmed by the increasing numbers of their enemies, for a Catholic
+League was formed by Henry of Guise and
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P110"></A>110}</SPAN>
+other discontented
+subjects in order to ally Paris with the fanatics of the provinces.
+This League was by no means favourable to the King and Catherine, for
+its openly avowed leader was Henry of Guise, who was greatly beloved by
+the people.  Henry III was foolish enough to become a member, thereby
+incurring some loss of prestige by placing himself practically under
+the authority of his rival.  Bitterly hostile to the Protestants as
+were the aims of the League, it was nevertheless largely used by the
+Duke of Guise as a cloak to cover his designs for the usurpation of the
+royal power.  The hope of Henry III and his mother was that the rival
+Catholics and Protestants would fight out their own quarrel and leave
+the Crown to watch the battles unmolested.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The last of the Valois was closely watched by the bold preachers of
+political emancipation.  These were determined to snatch the royal
+prerogatives from him if he were unworthy of respect and squandered too
+much public money on his follies.  It enraged them to hear that he
+spent hours on his own toilette, and starched his wife's fine ruffs as
+if he were her tire-woman.  They were angry when they were told that
+their King regarded his functions so lightly that he gave audiences to
+ambassadors with a basketful of puppies round his neck, and did not
+trouble to read the reports his ministers sent to him.  They decided
+secretly to proclaim Henry III's kinsman, the King of Navarre, who was
+a fine soldier and a kindly, humane gentleman.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Navarre was openly welcomed as the leader of the Reformed Church party.
+He was readmitted to Calvinist communion, and abjured the Mass.  He
+took the field gladly, being delighted to remove the mask he had been
+obliged to wear.  His brilliant feats of arms made him more popular
+than ever.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P111"></A>111}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+When Anjou died, Navarre was heir presumptive to the throne, and had to
+meet the furious hostility of the Guise faction.  These said that
+Navarre's uncle, Cardinal de Bourbon, "wine-tun rather than a man,"
+should be their king when Valois died.  They secured the help of Spain
+before publishing their famous Manifesto.  This document avowed the
+intentions of those forming the Catholic League to restore the dignity
+of the Church by drawing the sword, if necessary, and to settle for
+themselves the question of Henry III's successor.  He bribed the people
+by releasing them from taxation and promised regular meetings of the
+States-General.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The King hesitated to grant the League's demands, which were definitely
+formulated in 1585.  He did not wish to revoke the Edicts of Toleration
+that had recently been passed, and might have refused, if his mother
+had not advised him to make every concession that was possible to avoid
+the enmity of the Guise faction.  He consented, and was lost, for the
+Huguenots sprang to arms, and he found that he was to be driven from
+his capital by the Guises.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The King was accused of sympathy with the Protestant cause, which made
+his name odious to the Catholic University of Paris.  He had personal
+enemies too, such as the Duchess of Montpensier, sister to Henry of
+Guise, who was fond of saying that she would give him another crown by
+using the gold scissors at her waist.  There was some talk of his
+entering a monastery where he would have had to adopt the tonsure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One-half of Navarre's beard had turned white when he heard that Henry
+III was revoking the Edicts of Toleration.  Yet he was happiest in
+camp, and leapt to the saddle with a light heart in May 1588 when the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P112"></A>112}</SPAN>
+King fled from Paris and Guise entered the capital as the
+deliverer of the people.  He looked the model of a Gascon knight, with
+hooked nose and bold, black eyes under ironical arched eyebrows.  He
+was a clever judge of character, and knew how to win adherents to his
+cause.  His homely garb attracted many who were tired of the weak
+Valois kings, for there was no artificial grace in the scarlet cloak,
+brown velvet doublet and white-plumed hat which distinguished him from
+his fellows.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Henry III plotted desperately to regain his prestige, and showed some
+of the Medici guile in a plot for Guise's assassination.  When this
+succeeded he went to boast to Catherine that he had killed the King of
+Paris.  "You have cut boldly into the stuff, my son," she answered him,
+"but will you know how to sew it together?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Paris was filled by lamentations for the death of Guise, and the
+festivities of Christmas Eve gave way to funeral dirges.  The
+University of Sorbonne declared that they would not receive Henry of
+Valois again as king.  His only hope was to reconcile himself with
+Navarre and the Protestant party.  Paris was tumultuous with resistance
+when the news came that Royalists and Huguenots had raised their
+standards in the same camp and massed two armies.  The Catholic League
+was beloved by the poorer citizens because it released them from
+rent-dues.  The spirit of the people was shown by processions of
+children, who threw lighted torches to the ground before the churches,
+stamped on them, and cried, "Thus may God quench the House of Valois!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The capital welcomed Spanish troops to aid them in keeping Henry III
+from the gates.  He was assassinated
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P113"></A>113}</SPAN>
+by a Burgundian monk as he
+approached the city "he had loved more than his wife," and Henry of
+Navarre, though a heretic, now claimed the right of entrance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Navarre was the lineal descendant of Saint Louis of France, but for ten
+generations no ancestor of his in the male line had ruled the French
+kingdom.  He was the grandson of Margaret, sister of Francis I, and
+Henry d'Albret, who had borne captivity with that monarch.  Many were
+pledged to him by vows made to the dying King, who had come to look on
+him as a doughty champion; many swore that they would die a thousand
+deaths rather than be the servants of a heretic master.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In February 1590, Henry laid siege to Dreux in order to place himself
+between his enemies and Paris.  Mayenne, the leader of the opposite
+camp, drew him to Ivry, where a battle was fought on March 14th,
+resulting in the complete discomfiture of the Catholic Leaguers.  The
+white plume of Navarre floated victorious on the field, and the black
+lilies of Mayenne were trampled.  The road to Paris lay open to the
+heretic King, who invested the city on the northern side, but did not
+attack the inhabitants.  The blockade would have reduced the hungry
+citizens to submission at the end of a month if the Duke of Parma had
+not come to their relief at the command of the Spanish sovereign.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Philip II wished his daughter to marry the young Duke of Guise and to
+ascend the French throne with her husband.  For that reason he
+supported Paris in its refusal to accept the Protestant King of
+Navarre.  It was not till March 1594, that the King, known as Henri
+Quatre, was able to lead his troops into Paris.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Navarre had been compelled to attend Mass in public and to ask
+absolution from the Archbishop of Bourges,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P114"></A>114}</SPAN>
+who received him into
+the fold of the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church before the
+coronation.  He was now the "most Christian King," welcomed with blaze
+of bonfires and the blare of trumpets.  He was crowned at Chartres
+because the Catholic League held Rheims, and he entered Paris by the
+Porte Neuve, through which Henry III had fled from the Guises some six
+years previously.  The Spaniards had to withdraw from his capital,
+being told that their services would be required no longer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Henry IV waged successful wars against Spain and the Catholic League,
+gradually recovering the whole of his dominions by his energy and
+courage.  He settled the status of the Protestants on a satisfactory
+basis by the Edict of Nantes, which was signed in April 1598, to
+consolidate the privileges which had been previously granted to the
+Calvinists.  Full civil rights and full civil protection were granted
+to all Protestants, and the King assigned a sum of money for the use of
+Protestant schools and colleges.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Henry introduced the silk industry into France, and his famous
+minister, Sully, did much to improve the condition of French
+agriculture.  By 1598 order had been restored in the kingdom, but
+industry and commerce had been crippled by nearly forty years of civil
+war.  When France's first Bourbon King, Henry IV, was assassinated in
+April 1610, he had only begun the great work of social and economical
+reform which proved his genuine sense of public duty.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap10"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P115"></A>115}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter X
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Under the Red Robe
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Never was king more beloved by his subjects than Henry of Navarre, who
+had so many of the frank and genial qualities which his nation valued.
+There was mourning as for a father when the fanatic, Ravaillac, struck
+him to the ground.  It seemed strange that death should come in the
+same guise to the first of the Bourbon line and the last of the Valois.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Henry had studied the welfare of the peasantry and the middle class,
+striving to crush the power of the nobles whose hands were perpetually
+raised one against the other.  Therefore he intrusted affairs of State
+to men of inferior rank, and determined that he would form in France a
+nobility of the robe that should equal the old nobility of the sword.
+The <I>paulette</I> gave to all those who held the higher judicial functions
+of the State the right to transmit their offices by will to their
+descendants, or even to sell them as so much hereditary property.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In foreign affairs Henry had attempted to check the ambitious schemes
+of the Spanish Hapsburg line and to restore the ancient prestige of
+France in Europe, but he had to leave his country in a critical stage
+and hope that a man would be found to carry on his great work.
+Cardinal Richelieu was to have the supreme
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P116"></A>116}</SPAN>
+honour of fulfilling
+Henry IV's designs, with the energy of a nature that had otherwise very
+little in common with that of the first King of the Bourbons.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Armand Jean Duplessis, born in 1585, was the youngest son of François
+Duplessis, knight of Richelieu, who fought for Navarre upon the
+battle-fields of Arques and Ivry.  He was naturally destined for a
+military career, and had seen, when he was a little child, some of the
+terrible scenes of the religious wars.  Peering from the window of the
+château in the sad, desolate land of Poitou, he caught glimpses of
+ragged regiments of French troops, or saw foreign soldiers in their
+unfamiliar garb, intent on pillaging the mean huts of the peasantry.
+Armand was sent to Paris at an early age that he might study at the
+famous College of Navarre, where the youths of the day were well
+equipped for court life.  He learned Spanish in addition to Latin and
+Greek, and became an adept in riding, dancing and fencing.  When he
+left the humble student quarter of the capital and began to mingle with
+the crowd who formed the court, he soon put off the manners of a rustic
+and acquired the polished elegance of a courtier of the period.  He
+spent much time in studying the drama of Parisian daily life, a
+brilliant, shifting series of gay scenes, with the revelation now and
+then of a cruel and sordid background.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The very sounds of active life must at first have startled the dreamy
+youth who had come from the seclusion of a château in the marsh land.
+Cavaliers in velvet and satin rallied to the roll of a drum which the
+soldiers beat in martial-wise, and engaged in fierce conflicts with
+each other.  Acts were constantly passed to forbid duelling, but there
+were many wounded every year in the streets, and the nobility would
+have thought
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P117"></A>117}</SPAN>
+themselves disgraced if they had not drawn their
+swords readily in answer to an insult.  Class distinctions were
+observed rigidly, and the merchant clad in hodden grey and the lawyer
+robed in black were pushed aside with some contempt when there was any
+conflict between the aristocrats.  The busy Pont Neuf seemed to be the
+bridge which joined two different worlds.  Here monks rubbed shoulders
+with yellow-garbed Jews, and ladies of the court tripped side by side
+with the gay <I>filles</I> of the town.  Anyone strolling near the river
+Seine could watch, if he chose, the multicoloured throng and amuse
+himself by the contrast between the different phases of society in
+Paris.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Richelieu, who held the proud title of Marquis de Chillon, handled a
+sword skilfully and dreamed of glory won upon battle-fields.  He was
+dismayed when he first heard that his widowed mother had changed her
+plans for his career.  A brother, who was to have been consecrated
+Bishop of Luçon, had decided to turn monk, and as the preferment to the
+See was in the hands of the family, it had been decided that Armand
+Jean should have the benefit.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Soon a fresh vision had formed before the eyes of the handsome Bishop,
+who visited Rome and made friends among the highest dignitaries.  He
+was tall and slender, with an oval face and the keenest of grey eyes;
+rich black hair fell to his shoulders and a pointed beard lent
+distinction to his face.  The Louvre and the Vatican approved him, and
+many protesting voices were heard when Richelieu went down to his
+country diocese.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Poitou was one of the poorest districts of France, the peasants being
+glad enough to get bread and chestnuts for their main food.  The
+cathedral was battered by warfare and the palace very wretched.  Orders
+to
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P118"></A>118}</SPAN>
+Parisian merchants made the last habitable, Richelieu
+declaring that, although a beggar, he had need of silver plates and
+such luxuries to "enhance his nobility."  The first work he had found
+to do was done very thoroughly.  He set the place in order and
+conciliated the Huguenots.  Then he demanded relief from taxation for
+his overburdened flock, writing urgently to headquarters on this
+subject.  He had much vexation to overcome whenever he came into
+contact with the priests drawn from the peasantry.  These were far too
+fond of gambling and drinking in the ale-houses, and had to be
+prohibited from celebrating marriages by night, a custom that led to
+many scandals.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But Luçon was soon too narrow a sphere for the energy and ambition of a
+Richelieu.  The Bishop longed to establish himself in a palace "near to
+that of God and that of the King," for he combined worldly wisdom with
+a zeal for religious purity.  He happened to welcome the royal
+procession that was setting out for Spain on the occasion of Louis
+XIII's marriage to Anne of Austria, a daughter of Philip II.  He made
+so noble an impression of hospitality that he was rewarded by the post
+of Almoner to the new Queen and was placed upon the Regent's Council.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Richelieu had watched the coronation of the quiet boy of fourteen in
+the cathedral of Notre Dame, for he had walked in the state procession.
+He knew that Louis XIII was a mere cipher, fond of hunting and loth to
+appear in public.  Marie de Medici, the Regent, was the prime mover of
+intrigues.  It was wise to gain her favour and the friendship of her
+real rulers, the Italian Concini.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Concini himself was noble by birth, whereas his wife, the sallow,
+deformed Leonora, was the daughter of a
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P119"></A>119}</SPAN>
+laundress who had nursed
+the Queen in illness.  Both were extravagant, costing the Crown
+enormous sums of money&mdash;Leonora had a pretty taste in jewels as well as
+clothes, and Marie de Medici even plundered the Bastille of her
+husband's hoards because she could deny her favourites nothing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Richelieu rose to eminence in the gay, luxurious court where the weak,
+vain Florentine presided.  He had ousted other men, and feared for his
+own safety when the Concini were attacked by their exasperated
+opponents.  Concini himself was shot, and his wife was lodged in the
+Bastille on a charge of sorcery.  Paris rejoiced in the fall of these
+Italian parasites, and Marie de Medici shed no tears for them.  She
+turned to her secretary, Richelieu, when she was driven from the court
+and implored him to mediate for her with Louis XIII and his favourite
+sportsman-adventurer, de Luynes, who had originally been employed to
+teach the young King falconry.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Richelieu went to the château of Blois where Marie de Medici had fled,
+a royal exile, but he received orders from Luynes, who was in power, to
+proceed to Luçon and guide his flock "to observe the commandments of
+God and the King."  The Bishop was exceedingly provoked by the taunt,
+but he was obliged to wait for better fortunes.  Marie was plotting
+after the manner of the Florentines, but her plans were generally
+fruitless.  She managed to escape from Blois with Epérnon, the general
+of Henry IV, and despite a solemn oath that she would live "in entire
+resignation to the King's will," she would have had civil war against
+the King and his adviser.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Richelieu managed to make peace and brought about the marriage of his
+beautiful young kinswoman
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P120"></A>120}</SPAN>
+to the Marquis of Cambalet, who was de
+Luynes' nephew.  He did not, however, receive the Cardinal's Hat, which
+had become the chief object of his personal ambition.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The minister, de Luynes, became so unpopular, at length, that his
+enemies found it possible to retaliate.  He favoured the Spanish
+alliance, whereas many wished to help the Protestants of Germany in
+their struggle to uphold Frederick, the Elector Palatine, against
+Ferdinand of Bohemia.  The Huguenots rose in the south, and Luynes took
+the field desperately, for he knew that anything but victory would be
+fatal to his own fortunes.  Songs were shouted in the Paris taverns,
+satirizing his weak government.  Richelieu had bought the service of a
+host of scribblers in the mean streets near the Place Royale, and these
+were virulent in verse and pamphlet, according to the dictates of their
+master.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Fever carried off de Luynes, and the valets who played cards on his
+coffin were hardly more indecent in their callousness than de Luynes'
+enemies.  The Cardinal's Hat arrived with many gracious compliments to
+the Bishop of Luçon, who then gave up his diocese.  Soon he rustled in
+flame-coloured taffeta at fêtes and receptions, for wealth and all the
+rewards of office came to him.  As a Prince of the Church, he claimed
+precedence of princes of the blood, and was hardly astonished when the
+King requested him to form a ministry.  In that ministry the power of
+the Cardinal was supreme, and he had friends in all posts of
+importance.  With a show of reluctance he entered on his life-work.  It
+was a great and patriotic task&mdash;no less than the aggrandisement of
+France in Europe.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+France must be united if she were to present a solid front against the
+Spanish vengeance that would threaten any change of policy.  The
+Queen-Regent had intended
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P121"></A>121}</SPAN>
+to support Rome, Austria and Spain
+against the Protestant forces of the northern countries.  Richelieu
+determined to change that plan, but he knew that the time was not yet
+ripe, since he had neither a fleet nor an army to defeat such
+adversaries.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Huguenot faction must be ruined in order that France might not be
+torn by internal struggles.  The new French army was sent to surround
+La Rochelle, the Protestant fort, which expected help from England.
+The English fleet tried for fourteen days to relieve the garrison, but
+had to sail away defeated.  The sailors of the town elected one of
+their number to be Mayor, a rough pirate who was unwilling to assume
+the office.  "I don't want to be Mayor," he cried, flinging his knife
+upon the Council-Table, "but, since you want it, there is my knife for
+the first man who talks of surrender."  The spirit of resistance within
+the walls of La Rochelle rose after this declaration.  The citizens
+continued to defy the besiegers until a bushel of corn cost 1,000
+livres and an ordinary household cat could be sold for forty-five!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was Richelieu's intention to starve the inhabitants of La Rochelle
+into surrender.  He had his will, being a man of iron, and held Mass in
+the Protestant stronghold.  He treated the people well, allowing them
+freedom of religion, but he razed both the fort and the walls to the
+ground and took away all their political privileges.  The Huguenots
+were too grateful for the liberty that was left to them to menace the
+French Government any longer.  Most of them were loyal citizens and
+helped the Cardinal to maintain peace.  In any case they did not exist
+as a separate political party.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Richelieu reduced the power of the nobles by relentless
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P122"></A>122}</SPAN>
+measures
+that struck at their feudal independence.  No fortresses were to be
+held by them unless they lived on the frontiers of France, where some
+defence was necessary against a foreign enemy.  When their strong
+castles were pulled down, the great lords seemed to have lost much of
+their ancient dignity.  They were forbidden to duel, and dared not
+disobey the law after they had seen the guilty brought relentlessly to
+the scaffold.  The first families of France had to acknowledge a
+superior in the mighty Cardinal Richelieu.  Intendants were sent out to
+govern provinces and diminish the local influence of the landlords.
+Most of these were men of inferior rank to the nobility, who found
+themselves compelled to go to the wars if they wished to earn
+distinction.  The result was good, for it added many recruits to the
+land and sea forces.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1629, the Cardinal donned sword and cuirass and led out the royal
+army to the support of the Duke of Mantua, a French nobleman who had
+inherited an Italian duchy and found his rights disputed by both Spain
+and Savoy.  Louis XIII accompanied Richelieu and showed himself a brave
+soldier.  Their road to Italy was by the Pass of Susa, thick with snow
+in the early spring and dangerous from the presence of Savoy's hostile
+troups.  They forced their way into Italy, and there Richelieu remained
+to make terms with the enemy, while Louis returned to his kingdom.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Richelieu induced both Spain and Savoy to acknowledge the rights of the
+Duke of Mantua, and then turned his attention to the resistance which
+had been organized in Southern France by the Protestants under the Duke
+of Rohan.  The latter had obtained promises of aid from Charles I of
+England and Philip IV of Spain, but found that his allies deserted him
+at a critical
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P123"></A>123}</SPAN>
+moment and left him to face the formidable army of
+the Cardinal.  The Huguenots submitted to their fate in the summer of
+1629, finding themselves in a worse plight than they had been when they
+surrendered La Rochelle, for Richelieu treated with them no longer as
+with a foreign power.  He expected them to offer him the servile
+obedience of conquered rebels.  Henceforth he exerted himself to
+restore the full supremacy of the Catholic faith in France by making as
+many converts as was possible and by opening Jesuit and Capuchin
+missions in the Protestant places.  "Some were brought to see the truth
+by fear and some by favour."  Yet Richelieu did not play the part of a
+persecutor in the State, for he was afraid of weakening France by
+driving away heretics who might help to increase her strength in
+foreign warfare.  He was pleased to find so many of the Huguenots loyal
+to their King, and rejoiced that there would never be the possibility
+of some discontented nobleman rising against his rule with a Protestant
+force in the background.  The Huguenots devoted their time to peaceful
+worship after their own mind, and waxed very prosperous through their
+steady pursuit of commerce.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Richelieu returned to France in triumph, having won amazing success in
+his three years' struggle.  He had personal enemies on every side, but
+for the moment these were silenced.  "In the eyes of the world, he was
+the foremost man in France."  For nineteen years he was to be the
+King's chief minister, although he was many times in peril of losing
+credit, and even life itself, through the jealous envy of his superiors
+and fellow-subjects.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mary de Medici forsook the man she had raised to some degree of
+eminence, and declared that he had
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P124"></A>124}</SPAN>
+shown himself ungrateful.  The
+nobility in general felt his power tyrannical, and the clergy thought
+that he sacrificed the Church to the interests of the State in
+politics.  Louis XIII was restive sometimes under the heavy hand of the
+Cardinal, who dared to point out the royal weaknesses and to insist
+that he should try to overcome them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Richelieu was very skilful in avoiding the pitfalls that beset his path
+as statesman.  He had many spies in his service, paid to bring him
+reports of his enemies' speech and actions.  Great ladies of the court
+did not disdain to betray their friends, and priests even advised
+penitents in the Confessional to act as the Cardinal wished them.  When
+any treachery was discovered, it was punished swiftly.  The Cardinal
+refused to spare men of the highest rank who plotted against the King
+or his ministers, for he had seen the dangers of revolt and decided to
+stamp it out relentlessly.  Some strain of chivalry forbade him to
+treat women with the same severity he showed to male conspirators.  He
+had a cunning adversary in one Madame de Chevreuse, who would ride with
+the fearless speed of a man to outwit any scheme of Richelieu.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-124"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-124.jpg" ALT="An Application to the Cardinal for his Favour (Walter Gay)" BORDER="2" WIDTH="615" HEIGHT="460">
+<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 615px">
+An Application to the Cardinal for his Favour (Walter Gay)
+</H3>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+The life of a king in feeble health was all that stood between the
+Cardinal and ruin, and several times it seemed impossible that he
+should outwit his enemies.  Louis XIII fell ill in 1630.  At the end of
+September he was not expected to survive, and the physicians bade him
+attend to his soul's welfare.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Cardinal's enemies exulted, openly declaring that the King's
+adviser should die with the King.  The heir to the throne was Louis'
+brother Gaston, a weak and cowardly prince, who detested the minister
+in office and hoped to overthrow him.  When the sufferer
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P125"></A>125}</SPAN>
+recovered there was much disappointment to be concealed.  The
+Queen-Mother had set her heart on Marillac being made head of the army
+in Richelieu's place, and had secret designs to make Marillac's
+brother, then the guard of the seals, the chief minister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Louis was induced to say that he would dismiss the Cardinal when he was
+completely recovered from his illness, but he did not feel himself
+bound by the promise when he had rid himself of Marie de Medici and
+felt once again the influence of Richelieu.  He went to Versailles to
+hunt on November 11th, 1630, and there met the Cardinal, who was able
+to convince him that it would be best for the interests of France to
+have a strong and dauntless minister dominating all the petty offices
+in the State instead of a number of incapable, greedy intriguers such
+as would be appointed by Marie de Medici.  On this Day of Dupes the
+court was over-confident of success, believing that the Cardinal had
+fled from the disgrace that would shortly overtake him.  The joy of the
+courtiers was banished by a message that Marillac was to be dismissed.
+The Queen-Mother knew at once that her schemes had failed, and that her
+son had extricated himself from her toils that he might retain
+Richelieu.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Marshal Marillac and his brother were both condemned to death.  Another
+noble, Bassompierre, was arrested and put in the Bastille because he
+was known to have sympathized with the Cardinal's enemies.  Richelieu
+did not rid himself so easily of Marie de Medici, who was his deadliest
+enemy.  She went into banishment voluntarily, but continued to devise
+many plots with the Spanish enemies of France, for she had no scruples
+in availing herself of foreign help against the hated minister.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P126"></A>126}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+After the Day of Dupes, Richelieu grasped the reins of government more
+firmly.  He asked no advice, and feared no opposition to his rule.  His
+foreign policy differed from that pursued by Marie de Medici, because
+he realized that France could never lead the continental powers until
+she had checked the arrogance of Spanish claims to supremacy.  It seems
+strange that he should support the Protestant princes of Germany
+against their Catholic Emperor when the Thirty Years' War broke out,
+but it must be remembered that the Emperor, Ferdinand II, was closely
+allied to the King of Spain, and that the success of the former would
+mean a second powerful Catholic State in Europe.  The House of Austria
+was already strong and menaced France in her struggle for ascendancy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1635, war was formally declared by France against the Emperor
+Ferdinand and Spain.  Richelieu did not live to see the conclusion of
+this war, but he had the satisfaction of knowing that, at its close,
+France would be established as the foremost of European nations, and he
+felt that the result would be worth a lavish expenditure of men and
+money.  In 1636, France was threatened by a Spanish invasion, which
+alarmed the people of the capital so terribly that they attacked the
+minister who had plunged them into warfare.  Richelieu displayed great
+courage and inspired a patriotic rising, the syndics of the various
+trades waiting on the King to offer lavish contributions in aid of the
+defence of Paris.  Louis took the field at the head of a fine army
+which was largely composed of eager volunteers, and the national danger
+was averted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Harassed by the cares of war, the Cardinal delighted in the gratitude
+of men of letters whom he took under his protection.  He founded the
+famous Academy of
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P127"></A>127}</SPAN>
+France and had his own plays performed at Ruel,
+the century-old château, where he gave fêtes of great magnificence.
+His niece, Mme. de Cambalet, was made Duchesse D'Aiguillon that she
+might adorn the sphere in which the Cardinal moved so royally.  She was
+a beautiful woman of simple tastes, and yearned for a life of
+conventual seclusion as she received the homage of Corneille or visited
+the salon of the brilliant wit, Julie de Rambouillet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Richelieu had a dozen estates in different parts of France and spent
+vast sums on their splendid maintenance.  He adorned the home of his
+ancestors with art treasures&mdash;pictures by Poussin, bronzes from Greece
+and Italy, and the statuary of Michael Angelo.  His own equestrian
+statue was placed side by side with that of Louis XIII because they had
+ridden together to great victory.  The King survived his minister only
+a few months; Richelieu died on December 4th, 1642, and Louis XIII in
+the following May.  They left the people of France submissive to an
+absolute monarchy.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap11"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P128"></A>128}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter XI
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Grand Monarch
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Richelieu bequeathed his famous Palais Cardinal to the royal family of
+France.  He left the reins of tyranny in the hands of Mazarin, a
+Spaniard, who had complete ascendancy over the so-called Regent, Anne
+of Austria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was not much state in the magnificent palace of little Louis XIV
+during his long minority, and he chafed against the restrictions of a
+parsimonious household.  Mazarin was bent on amassing riches for
+himself and would not untie the purse-strings even for those gala-days
+on which the court was expected to be gorgeous.  He stinted the
+education of the heir to the Crown, fearing that a well-equipped youth
+would demand the right to govern for himself.  His system was so
+successful in the end that the mightiest of the Bourbon kings could
+barely read and write.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Yet Louis XIV grew strong and handsome, with a superb bearing that was
+not concealed by his shabby clothes, and a dauntless arrogance that
+resented all slights on the royal prerogative.  He refused to drive in
+the dilapidated equipage which had been provided for his use, and made
+such a firm stand against Mazarin's avarice in this case that five new
+carriages were ordered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The populace rose, too, against the first minister of the State, whose
+wealth had increased enormously
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P129"></A>129}</SPAN>
+through his exactions from the
+poorer classes.  France was full of abuses that Richelieu himself had
+scarcely tried to sweep away.  The peasants laboured under heavy
+burdens, the roads were dangerous for all travellers, and the streets
+of cities were infested after nightfall by dangerous pickpockets and
+assassins.  There had been a great victory won at Rocroy by the Due
+d'Enghien, who routed the Spanish and sent two hundred and sixty
+standards to the church of Notre Dame; but this glorious feat of arms
+brought neither food nor clothing to the poor, and the fierce internal
+strife, known as La Fronde, broke out.  The very name was undignified,
+being derived from a kind of sling used by the urchins of the Paris
+streets.  It was a mere series of brawls between Frondeurs and
+Mazarins, and brought much humiliation to the State.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1649, civil war began which withdrew France somewhat from European
+broils.  Enghien (Condé) returned to Paris to range himself against the
+unruly Parlement as leader of the court party, and to try to reduce
+Paris by a military force.  When the capital was besieged Anne of
+Austria had to retire to Saint-Germains with her son, who suffered the
+indignity of sleeping on a bed of straw in those troubled times.  She
+concluded peace rather thankfully in March when the besieged citizens
+had suffered severely from want of food.  The young King showed himself
+in Paris in August when the tumult was at its worst, for the troubles
+of King Charles I of England incited the Frondeurs to persevere in
+their desire for a French Republic, where no minister should exercise
+the royal prerogatives.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mazarin played a losing game, and went into exile when Louis XIV was
+declared of age.  The young King was only thirteen but had the dignity
+of manhood in his air and carriage, and showed no fear in accepting
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P130"></A>130}</SPAN>
+absolute power.  But it was not until ten years later that he was
+finally freed from Mazarin.  When the cardinal was dead he proclaimed
+his future policy to the state of France&mdash;"Gentlemen," said he, "I
+shall be my own prime minister."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In November 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees had restored peace to
+France and Spain.  In the following year Louis XIV wedded the Infanta,
+daughter of Philip IV, who renounced all her prospective rights to the
+Spanish crown.  Mazarin had done well for France in these last
+diplomatic efforts for the crown, but he had forced the people to
+contribute to the enormous fortune which he made over to the King.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Colbert was the indefatigable minister who aided the new monarch to
+restore the dignity of court life in France.  He revealed vast hoards
+which the crafty Mazarin had concealed, and formed schemes of splendour
+that should be worthy of a splendid king.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Louis XIV was one of the richest monarchs of Christendom, with a taste
+for royal pomp that could be gratified only by an enormous display of
+wealth.  He wished the distasteful scenes of his early life to be
+forgotten by his subjects, and decided to build himself a residence
+that would form a fitting background for his own magnificence.  He
+would no longer live within the walls of Paris, a capital which had
+shown disrespect to monarchy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The ancient palace of the Louvre was not fine enough for Louis, and
+Versailles was built at a cost of twenty millions, and at a sacrifice
+of many humble lives, for the labourers died at their work and were
+borne from the beautiful park with some attempt at secrecy.  It was a
+stately place, and thither every courtier must hasten if he wished for
+the favour of the King.  It became
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P131"></A>131}</SPAN>
+the centre of the gayest world
+of Europe, for there were ambassadors there from every foreign court.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Etiquette, so wearisome to many monarchs, was the delight of the
+punctilious Louis XIV; every detail of his life was carried out with
+due regard to the dignity that he held to be the fitting appendage of a
+king.  When he rose and dressed, when he dined or gave audience, there
+were fixed rules to be observed.  He was never alone though he built
+Marly, expressing some wish that he might retire occasionally from the
+weariness of the court routine.  His brothers stood in the royal
+presence, and there was no real family life.  He was the grand monarch,
+and represented the majesty of France most worthily on the occasions of
+ceremony, when velvet and diamonds increased his stately grace.  "The
+State&mdash;it is Myself," he was fond of declaring, and by this remark
+satisfied his conscience when he levied exorbitant taxes to support the
+lavish magnificence of his court.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Ignorant as the king was through the device of Mazarin, he was proud of
+the genius that shed lustre on the French nation.  Corneille and Racine
+wrote tragedies of classic fame, and Molière, the greatest of all
+comedians, could amuse the wit of every visitor to the court.  Louis
+gave banquets at Versailles in honour of the dramatists he patronized,
+and had their plays performed in a setting so brilliant that ambition
+might well be satisfied.  Tales of royal bounty spread afar and
+attracted the needy genius of other lands.  Louis' heart swelled with
+pride when he received the homage of the learned and beheld the
+deference of messengers from less splendid courts.  He sat on a silver
+throne amid a throng of nobles he had stripped of power.  It was part
+of his policy to bring every landowner to Versailles, where fortunes
+vanished
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P132"></A>132}</SPAN>
+rapidly.  It was useless to hope for office it the
+suitor did not come to make a personal appeal.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Parisians grumbled that the capital should be deserted by the King, but
+they were appeased on holidays by free admission to the sights of
+sumptuous Versailles.  The King himself would occasionally appear in
+ballets performed by some exclusive company of the court.  There was
+always feasting toward and sweet music composed by Lulli, and they were
+amazed and interested by the dazzling jets of water from the fountains
+that had cost such fabulous sums.  Court beauties were admired together
+with the Guards surrounding the King's person in such fine array.
+Rumours of the countless servants attached to the service of the court
+gave an impression that the power of France could never fail.
+Patriotic spirit was aroused by the fine spectacle of the hunting-train
+as it rode toward the forests which lay between Versailles and the
+capital.  The Grand Huntsman of France was a nobleman, and had a
+splendid retinue.  "<I>Hallali, valets!  Hallali!</I>" was echoed by many
+humble sportsmen when the stag was torn to pieces by the pack.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A special stud of horses was reserved for Louis' use in time of war.
+He had shown himself a bold youth on the battlefield in Mazarin's time,
+fighting in the trenches like a common soldier that his equipment might
+not be too heavy an expense.  He chose, however, to be magnificent
+enough as a warrior when he disturbed the peace of Europe by his
+arrogant pride.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Philip IV of Spain died in 1665, leaving his dominions to Charles II,
+half-brother of France's Queen.  Louis declared that Maria Theresa had
+not been of age when she renounced her claims and that, moreover, the
+dowry of 500,000 golden crowns promised in consideration
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P133"></A>133}</SPAN>
+of this
+renunciation had not been paid.  He wished to secure to his consort the
+Flemish provinces of Brabant, Mechlin, Antwerp, etc., and to this end
+made a treaty with the Dutch.  He was compelled to postpone his attack
+on the Spanish possessions by a war with England which broke out
+through his alliance with Holland, her great commercial rival at that
+date.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Louis XIV showed himself perfidious in his relationship with the Dutch
+when he concluded a secret peace with Charles II of England in 1667.
+He marched into the Netherlands, supported by a new alliance with
+Portugal, and intended to claim the whole Spanish monarchy at some
+future date.  Many towns surrendered, for he had a well-disciplined
+army and no lack of personal courage.  Turenne and Condé, his brave
+generals, made rapid conquests which filled all Europe with alarm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But Louis' campaigns involved him in disastrous warfare with too many
+foes.  He was a bigoted persecutor of the Protestant, and made a secret
+treaty with England's treacherous ruler, Charles II, who, to his
+lasting shame, became a pensioner of the French King, agreeing, in
+return for French subsidies, to second Louis' designs on Spain.  France
+herself was torn by wars of religion in 1698 when the Edict of Nantes
+was revoked and the real intentions of the King were revealed to
+subjects who had striven, in the face of persecution, to be loyal.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Louis XIV was under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, whom he
+married privately after the death of his neglected Queen.  This
+favourite, once the royal governess and widow of the poet Scarron, was
+strictly pious, and desired to see the Protestants conform.  She
+founded the convent of Saint-Cyr, a place of education for beautiful
+young orphan girls, and placed at the head
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P134"></A>134}</SPAN>
+of it Fénélon, the
+priest and writer.  She urged the King continually to suppress heresy
+in his dominions, and was gratified by the sudden and deadly
+persecution that took place as the seventeenth century closed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Torture and death were excused as acts necessary for the establishment
+of the true faith, and soon all France was hideous with scenes of
+martyrdom.  Children were dragged from their parents and placed in
+Catholic households, where their treatment was most cruel unless they
+promised to embrace the Catholic religion.  Women suffered every kind
+of indignity at the hands of the soldiers who were sent to live in the
+houses and at the cost of heretics.  These <I>Dragonnades</I> were carried
+on with great brutality, shameful carousals being held in homes once
+distinguished for elegance and refinement.  Nuns had instructions to
+convert the novices under their rule by any means they liked to employ.
+Some did not hesitate to obtain followers of the Catholic Church by the
+use of the scourge, and fasting and imprisonment in noisome dungeons.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was fierce resistance in the country districts, and armed men
+sprang up to defend their homes, welcoming even civil war if by that
+means they could attain protection.  The contest was unequal, for the
+peasants had been weakened by centuries of oppression, and there were
+strange seignorial rights which the weak dared not refuse when they
+were opposing the government in their obstinate choice of a religion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The reign of the Grand Monarch was losing radiance, though Louis was
+far from acknowledging that all was not well in that broad realm which
+owned him master.  He had discarded the frivolities of his youth and
+kept a dreary solemn state at Versailles, where decorous Madame de
+Maintenon was all-powerful.  He did not lament
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P135"></A>135}</SPAN>
+his Spanish wife
+nor Colbert the minister, who died in the same year, for strict
+integrity was not valued too highly by the King of France.  Yet
+Colbert's work remained in the mighty palaces his constructive energy
+had planned, the bridges and fortresses and factories which he had held
+necessary for France's future greatness as a nation.  Louis paid scant
+tribute of regret to the memory of one who had toiled indefatigably in
+his service; but he looked complacently on Versailles and reflected
+that it would survive, even if the laurels of glory should be wrested
+from his brow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1700, Louis' prestige had dwindled in Europe, where he had once been
+feared as a sovereign ambitious for universal monarchy.  William the
+Stadtholder, now ruler of England with his Stuart wife, had been
+disgusted by the persecution of the French Protestants and had resolved
+to avenge Louis' seizure of his principality of Orange.  Chance enabled
+this man to ally the greater part of Europe against the ambition of the
+Grand Monarch.  War had been declared by England against France in
+1689, and prosecuted most vigorously till Louis XIV was gradually
+deprived of his finest conquests.  Though this was concluded in 1697 by
+the Peace of Ryswick, the French King's attempt to win the crown of
+Spain for his grandson, the Duke of Anjou, caused a renewal of
+hostilities.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+William III was in failing health, but a mighty general had arisen to
+defeat the projects of the French King.  The news of the Duke of
+Marlborough's victories in Flanders made it evident that the power of
+Louis XIV in the battlefield was waning.  Yet the French monarch did
+not reflect the terror on the faces of his courtiers when the great
+defeat of Lille was announced in his royal palace.  He observed all the
+usual duties of his daily
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P136"></A>136}</SPAN>
+life and affected a serenity that other
+men might envy when they bewailed the passing of the Old Order, or
+repeated the prophecy once made by an astrologer that the end of Louis
+XIV's reign should not be glorious as the beginning.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The King retained his marvellous composure to the last, too haughty to
+bend before misfortune or to retire even if the enemy came to the very
+gates of Paris.  At seventy-six he still went out to hunt the stag; he
+held Councils of State long after his health was really broken.  He
+said farewell to the officers of the crown in a voice as strong as ever
+when he was banished to the sick-room in 1715, and upbraided the
+weeping attendants, asking them if they had indeed come to consider him
+immortal.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The reign of seventy-two years, so memorable in the annals of France,
+drew to a close with the life that had embodied all its royalty.  Louis
+XIV died "as a candle that goes out"&mdash;deserted even by Madame de
+Maintenon, who determined to secure herself against adversity by
+retirement to the convent of Saint-Cyr.  There was no loud mourning as
+the King's corpse was driven to the tomb on a car of black and silver,
+for the new century knew not the old reverence for kings.  It was the
+age of Voltaire and the mocking sceptic.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap12"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P137"></A>137}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter XII
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Peter the Great
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+On the very day when the Grand Monarch watched his army cross the Rhine
+under the generals&mdash;Turenne and Condé&mdash;a man was born possessed of the
+same strong individuality as Louis XIV, a man whose rule was destined
+to work vast changes in the mighty realms to the extreme east of Europe.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+On 30th May, 1672, Peter, son of Alexis, was born in the palace of the
+Kreml at Moscow.  He was reared at first in strict seclusion behind the
+silken curtains that guarded the windows of the <I>Térem</I>, where the
+women lived.  Then rebellion broke out after his father's death; for
+Alexis had children by two marriages, and the offspring of his first
+wife, Mary Miloslavski, were jealous of the influence acquired by the
+relatives of Nathalie Naryshkin, Peter's mother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Peter found a strange new freedom in the village near Moscow which gave
+him shelter when the Miloslavski were predominant in the State.  He
+grew up wild and boisterous, the antithesis in all things of the
+polished courtier of the western world, for he despised fine clothing
+and hated the external pomp of state.  He ruled at first with his
+half-brother Ivan, and had reason to dread the power of Ivan's sister,
+Sophia Miloslavski, who was Regent, and gave lavish emoluments to
+Galitzin,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P138"></A>138}</SPAN>
+her favourite minister.  There was even an attempt upon
+Peter's life, which made him something of a coward in later times,
+since he was taken unawares by a terrible rising that Sophia inspired
+and escaped her only by a hurried flight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The rising was put down, however; Sophia was sent to a convent, and
+Galitzin banished before Peter could be said to rule.  He did not care
+at first for State affairs, being absorbed by youthful pleasures which
+he shared with companions from the stables and the streets.  He drilled
+soldiers, forming pleasure regiments, and had hours of delight sailing
+an old boat which he found one day, for this aroused a new enthusiasm.
+There were Dutch skippers at Archangel who were glad to teach him all
+they knew of navigation and the duties of their various crafts.  The
+Tsar insisted on working his way upward from a cabin-boy&mdash;he was
+democratic, and intended to level classes in his Empire in this way.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Russian subjects complained bitterly of the Tsar's strange foreign
+tastes as soon as they heard that he was fond of visiting the
+<I>Sloboda</I>, that German quarter of his capital where so many foreigners
+lived.  There were rumours that he was not Alexis' son but the
+offspring perhaps of Lefort, the Genevese favourite, who helped him to
+reform.  When it was reported that he was about to visit foreign lands,
+discontent was louder, for the rulers of the east did not travel far
+from their own dominions if they followed the customs of their fathers,
+and observed their people's will.  The <I>Streltsy</I>, a privileged class
+of soldiers, rose on the eve of the departure for the west.  Their
+punishment did not descend on them at once, but Peter planned a dark
+vengeance in his mind.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The monarch visited many countries in disguise, intent on learning the
+civilized arts of western Europe,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P139"></A>139}</SPAN>
+that he might introduce them to
+"barbarous Muscovy," which clung to the obsolete practices of a former
+age.  He spent some time at Zaandem, a village in Holland, where he was
+busily engaged in boat-building.  Then he was entertained at Amsterdam,
+and passed on to England as the guest of William III.  He occupied
+Sayes Court, near Deptford, the residence of John Evelyn, the great
+diarist, and wrought much havoc in that pleasant place; for his manners
+were still rude and barbarous, and he had no respect for the property
+of his host.  Sir Godfrey Kneller painted him&mdash;a handsome giant, six
+feet eight inches high, with full lips, dark skin, and curly hair that
+always showed beneath his wig.  The Tsar disdained to adorn his person,
+and was often meanly clad, wearing coarse darned stockings, thick
+shoes, and studying economy in dress.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Peter continued his study of ship-building at Deptford, but the chief
+object of his visit was fulfilled when he had induced workmen of all
+kinds to return with him to Russia to teach their different trades.
+The Tsar was intent on securing a fleet, and hoped to gain a sea-board
+for his empire by driving back the Poles and Swedes from their Baltic
+ports.  He would then be able to trade with Europe and have intercourse
+with countries that were previously unknown.  But only war could
+accomplish this high ambition, and he had, as yet, no real skill in
+arms.  An attempt on Azov, then in Turkish hands, had led to
+ignominious defeat.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Peter returned home to find that the <I>Streltsy</I> had broken out again.
+His vengeance was terrible, for he had a barbarous strain and wielded
+the axe and knout with his own hands.  The rebellious soldiers were
+deprived of the privileges that had long been theirs, and those who
+were fortunate enough to escape a cruel death were
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P140"></A>140}</SPAN>
+banished.  In
+future the army was to know the discipline that such soldiers as
+Patrick Gordon, a Scotch officer, had learned in their campaigns in
+foreign lands.  This soldier did much good work in the organization and
+control of Peter's army.  Their dress was to be modelled on the western
+uniforms that Peter had admired.  He was ashamed of the cumbersome
+skirts that Russians wore after the Asiatic style, and insisted that
+they should be cut off, together with the beards that were almost
+sacred in the eyes of priests.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Favourites of humble origin were useful to Peter in his innovations,
+which were rigorously carried out.  Menshikof, once a pastry-cook's
+boy, aided the Tsar to crush any discontent that might break out, and
+himself shaved many wrathful nobles who were afraid to resist.  It was
+Peter's whim to give such lavish presents to this minister that he
+could live in splendid luxury and entertain the Tsar's own guests.
+Peter himself preferred simplicity, and despised the magnificence of
+fine palaces.  He married a serving-maid named Catherine for his second
+wife, and loved her homely household ways and the cheerful spirit with
+which she rode out with him to camp.  His first wife was shut up in a
+convent because she had a sincere distrust of all the changes that
+began with Peter's reign.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Charles XII of Sweden was the monarch who had chief reason to beware of
+the impatient spirit of the Tsar, ever desirous of that "window open
+upon Europe," which his father too had craved.  The Swede was warlike
+and fearless, for he was happy only in the field.  He scorned Peter's
+claims at first, and inflicted shameful defeat on him.  The Tsar fled
+from Narva in Livonia, and all Europe branded him as coward.  By 1700,
+peace with Turkey had been signed in order that the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P141"></A>141}</SPAN>
+Russians
+might march westward to the Baltic sea.  Their repulse showed the
+determination of the Tsar, who had learnt a lesson from the humiliation
+he had endured.  He began to train soldiers and sailors again, and sent
+for more foreigners to teach the art of war.  The very church-bells
+were melted into cannon-balls that he might conquer the all-conquering
+Swedes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Moscow, which consisted largely of wooden buildings, caught fire and
+was burnt in 1701, both palace and state offices falling to the ground.
+The capital had dreadful memories for the Tsar, who wished to build a
+new fort looking out upon the Baltic Sea.  Its ancient churches and
+convents did not attract him, for religion was strongly associated in
+his mind with the stubborn opposition of the priesthood, which
+invariably met his plans for reform.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Petersburg rose in triumph on an island of the Neva when the estuary
+had been seized by a superb effort of the Tsar.  It was on a damp
+unhealthy site and contained only wooden huts in its first period of
+occupation, but inhabitants were quickly found.  The Tsar was
+autocratic enough to bid his <I>boyards</I>, or nobles, move there despite
+all their complaints.  He built the church of St Peter and St Paul, and
+drew merchants thither by promises of trade.  "Let him build towns,"
+his adversary said with scorn, "there will be all the more for us to
+take."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The King of Poland had allied himself with Russia against Sweden, but
+proved faithless and unscrupulous as the contest waxed keen.  Augustus
+had found some qualities in the Tsar which appealed to him, for he was
+boisterous in mirth himself and a hard drinker, but his principal
+concern was for the safety of his own throne and the security of his
+own dominions.  After two
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P142"></A>142}</SPAN>
+decisive defeats, he was expelled from
+the throne of Poland by Charles XII, who placed Stanislaus Leszczynski
+in his place.  This alarmed Peter, who had relied on Poland's help.
+The winter and cold proved a better ally of Russia in the end than any
+service which Augustus paid.  The Tsar wisely drew the Swedish army
+into the desert-lands, where many thousands died of cold and hunger.
+He met the forlorn remnants of a glorious band at Poltava in 1709, and
+routed them with ease.  Narva was avenged, for the Swedish King had to
+be led from the battlefield by devoted comrades and placed in retreat
+in Turkey, where he was the Sultan's guest.  Charles' lucky star had
+set when he received a wound the night before Poltava, for he could not
+fight on foot and his men lost heart, missing the stern heroic figure
+and the commanding voice that bade them gain either victory or death.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Peter might well order an annual celebration of his victory over
+Sweden, writing exultantly to Admiral Apraxin at Petersburg some few
+hours after battle, "Our enemy has encountered the fate of Phaethon,
+and the foundation-stone of our city on the Neva is at length grimly
+laid."  The Swedish army had been crushed, and the Swedish hero-king
+was a mere knight-errant unable to return to his own land.  The
+Cossacks who had tried to assert their independence of Russia under the
+Hetman Mazeppa, an ally of Charles XII, failed in their opposition to
+the mighty Tsar.  Augustus was recognized as King of Poland again after
+the defeat of the Swedish King at Poltava, as Stanislaus retired,
+knowing that he could expect no further support from Sweden.  Peter
+renewed his alliance at Thorn with the Polish sovereign.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The new order began for Russia as soon as the Baltic coast fell into
+the possession of Peter, who was
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P143"></A>143}</SPAN>
+overjoyed by the new link with
+the west.  He was despotic in his sweeping changes, but he desired the
+civilization of his barbarous land.  He visited foreign courts,
+disliking their ceremony and half-ashamed of his homely faithful wife.
+He gathered new knowledge everywhere, learning many trades and
+acquiring treasures that were the gifts of kings.  It was long before
+his ambassadors were respected, longer still before he received the
+ungrudging acknowledgment of his claims as Emperor.  He had resolved to
+form great alliances through his daughters, who were educated and
+dressed after the manner of the French.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Peter did much for the emancipation of women in Russia, though his
+personal treatment of them was brutal, and he threatened even Catherine
+with death it she hesitated to obey his slightest whim.  They had been
+reared in monotonous retirement hitherto, and never saw their
+bridegrooms till the marriage-day.  Their wrongs were seldom redressed
+if they ventured to complain, and the convent was the only refuge from
+unhappy married life.  The royal princesses were not allowed to appear
+in public nor drive unveiled through the streets.  Suitors did not
+release them from the dreary empty routine of their life, because their
+religion was a barrier to alliance with princes of the west.  Sophia
+had dared greatly in demanding a position in the State.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Peter altered the betrothal customs, insisting that the bridal couple
+should meet before the actual ceremonies took place.  He gave
+assemblies to which his subjects were obliged by <I>ukase</I> or edict to
+bring the women of their families, and he endeavoured to promote that
+social life which had been unknown in Russia when she was cut off from
+the west.  He approved of dancing and music, and took part in revels of
+a more boisterous
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P144"></A>144}</SPAN>
+kind.  He drank very heavily in his later days,
+and was peremptory in bidding both men and women share the convivial
+pleasures of his court.  National feeling was suspicious of all
+feminine influence till the affable Catherine entered public life.  She
+interceded for culprits, and could often calm her husband in his most
+violent moods.  Gradually the attitude changed which had made proverbs
+expressing such sentiments as "A woman's hair is long, but her
+understanding is short."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Peter's fierce impetuous nature bore the nation along the new channel
+in which he chose that it should flow.  He played at being a servant,
+but he made use of the supreme authority of an Emperor.  All men became
+absorbed in his strong imperious personality which differed from the
+general character of the Russian of his day.  Relentless severity
+marked his displeasure when any disaffection was likely to thwart his
+favourite plans.  He sacrificed his eldest son Alexis to this theory
+that every man must share his tastes.  "The knout is not an angel, but
+it teaches men to tell the truth," he said grimly, as he examined the
+guilty by torture and drew confession with the lash.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+St Petersburg became the residence of the nobles.  They had to desert
+their old estates and follow the dictates of a Tsar whose object it was
+to push continually toward the west.  Labourers died in thousands while
+the city was built and destroyed again by winter floods, but the past
+for Russia was divided from the future utterly at Peter's death in 1725.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap13"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P145"></A>145}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter XIII
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Royal Robber
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Peter the Great had paid a famous visit to the Prussian court, hoping
+to conclude an alliance with Frederick William I against Charles XII,
+his northern adversary.  Queen Catherine and her ladies had been
+sharply criticized when they arrived at Berlin, and Peter's own bearing
+did not escape much adverse comment and secret ridicule; nevertheless
+he received many splendid presents, and these, no doubt, atoned to him
+for anything which seemed lacking in his reception.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A splendid yacht sailed toward Petersburg as the gift of Frederick, who
+was anxious to conciliate the uncouth ruler of the East.  In return,
+men of gigantic stature were sent annually from Russia to enter the
+splendid Potsdam Guards, so dear to the monarch, who was a stern
+soldier and loved the martial life.  Prussia was a new kingdom obtained
+for his descendants by the Elector of Brandenburg.  It was necessary
+that the rulers should devote themselves to recruiting a goodly force,
+since their land might be easily attacked by foreign foes and divided
+among the greater powers, if they did not protect it well.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Frederick William sent recruiting sergeants far and wide, and suffered
+these even to enter churches during service and to carry off by force
+the stalwart young men
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P146"></A>146}</SPAN>
+of the congregation.  Yet he was a pious
+man, an enemy to vice, and a ruler of enormous diligence.  He rid
+himself of useless attendants as soon as his father died, and exercised
+the strictest economy in his private life.  He kept the purse-strings
+and was also his own general.  He was ever about the streets, accosting
+idlers roughly, and bidding the very apple-women knit at their stalls
+while they were awaiting custom.  He preached industry everywhere, and
+drilled his regiments with zealous assiduity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Of tall stature and florid complexion, the King struck terror into the
+hearts of the coward and miscreant.  He despised extravagance in dress.
+French foppery was so hateful to him that he clothed the prison gaolers
+in Parisian style, trusting that this would bring contempt on foreign
+fashions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Potsdam Guards were under the strictest discipline, and the
+Prussian soldiers won battles by sheer mechanical obedience to orders
+when they took the field.  Death punished any resistance to a superior
+officer, and merciless flogging was inflicted on the rank and file.
+Boys were often reluctant to enter on such a course of training, and
+parents were compelled to give up their sons by means of
+<I>Dragonnades</I>&mdash;soldiers quartered upon subjects who were not
+sufficiently patriotic to furnish recruits for the State.  Every man of
+noble birth had to be an officer, and must serve until his strength was
+broken.  The King fraternized only with soldiers because these were
+above other classes and belonged more or less to his own order.  The
+army had been raised to 80,000 men when Frederick William I died,
+holding the fond belief that his successor had it in his power to
+enlarge the little kingdom which the old Elector had handed down with
+pride.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P147"></A>147}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+The Crown Prince, Frederick of Brandenburg and Hohenzollern, was born
+in the royal palace of Berlin on January 24th of 1712.  He was
+christened Friedrich "rich in peace"&mdash;a name strangely ironical since
+he was trained from his earliest years to adopt a martial life.  From
+the child's eighth year he was educated by military tutors, and bred in
+simple habits that would make him able to endure the hardships of a
+camp.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The martinet, Frederick William I, laid down strict rules for his son's
+training, for he longed to be followed by a lad of military tastes.  He
+was to learn no Latin but to study Arithmetic, Mathematics and
+Artillery and to be thoroughly instructed in Economy.  The fear of God
+was to be impressed on the pupil, and prayers and Church services
+played an important part in the prince's day, of which every hour had
+its allotted task.  Haste and cleanliness were inculcated in the simple
+royal toilette, for Frederick I had, for those days, a quite
+exaggerated idea of cleanliness, but he particularly impressed upon
+attendants that "Prayer with washing, breakfast and the rest" were to
+be performed within fifteen minutes.  It was a hard life, destined to
+bring the boy a "true love for the soldier business."  He was commanded
+to love it and seek in it his sole glory.  The father returned from war
+with the Swedes in January 1716, victorious, and delighted to see the
+little Fritz, then of the tender age of three, beating a toy drum, and
+his sister Wilhelmina, aged seven, in a martial attitude.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the Crown Prince began to disappoint his father by playing the
+flute and reading French romances.  He liked fine clothes too, and was
+caught wearing a richly embroidered dressing-gown, to the rage of the
+King, who put it in the fire.  Frederick liked to arrange his hair in
+flowing locks instead of in a club after the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P148"></A>148}</SPAN>
+military fashion.
+"A <I>Querpfeifer und Poet</I>, not a soldier," the indignant father
+growled, believing the <I>Querpfeif</I>, or Cross-Pipe, was only fit for a
+player in the regimental band.  Augustus William, another son, ten
+years younger than Fritz, began to be the hope of parental ambition.
+He took more kindly to a Spartan life than his elder brother.  There
+were violent scenes at court when Frederick the younger was asked to
+give up his right to the succession.  He refused to be superseded, and
+had to endure much bullying and privation.  The King was ever ready
+with his stick, and punished his son by omitting to serve him at his
+rather scanty table!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was much talk of a double marriage between the English and the
+Prussian courts, which were then related.  Frederick was to marry
+Amelia, daughter of George I while his sister, pretty pert Wilhelmina,
+was destined for Frederick, Prince of Wales.  The King of Prussia set
+his heart on the plan, and was furious that George I did not forward
+it.  The whole household went in fear of him; he was stricken by gout
+at the time, an affliction that made him particularly ill-tempered, and
+Wilhelmina and Fritz were the objects of his wrath.  They fled from his
+presence together; the Prince was accused of a dissolute life, and
+insulted by a beating in public.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He decided on flight to England.  It was a desperate measure, and was
+discovered and frustrated at the last moment.  The King of Prussia laid
+the blame on English diplomats, though they had done nothing to help
+the Prince.  There was talk of an Austro-English war at that time.  "I
+shall not desert the Emperor even if everything goes to the dogs,"
+wrote the irate father.  "I will joyfully use my army, my country, my
+money and my blood for the downfall of England."  He was so
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P149"></A>149}</SPAN>
+enraged by the attempted flight that he might have gone to the extreme
+of putting his son to death, but an old general, hearing of the
+probable fate of the Crown Prince, offered his own life for that of
+Frederick, and raised so vehement a protest that the runaway was merely
+put in prison.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His confinement was not as strict as it would have been, had the
+gaolers followed the King's orders.  He had to wear prison dress and
+sit on a hard stool, but books and writing materials were brought to
+him, and he saw his friends occasionally.  Lieutenant von Katte, who
+fled with him, was executed before the fortress, and the Prince was
+compelled to witness the punishment of the companion with whom he had
+practised music and other forbidden occupations.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By degrees, the animosity of Frederick William toward his eldest son
+softened.  He was allowed to visit Berlin when his sister Wilhelmina
+was married to the Margrave of Baireuth, after four kings had applied
+for her hand, among them the elderly Augustus of Poland and Charles XII
+of Sweden.  The Castle of Rheinsburg, near Neu-Ruppin, was given to the
+Prince for his residence.  He spent happy hours there with famous men
+of letters in his circle, for he was actually free now to give time to
+literature and science.  He corresponded frequently with Voltaire and
+became an atheist.  He cared nothing for religion when he was king, and
+was remarkable for the religious toleration which he extended to his
+subjects.  But the harsh treatment of youth had spoilt his pleasant
+nature, and his want of faith made him unscrupulous and hard-hearted.
+He grasped at all he could win, and had every intention of fulfilling
+the commands laid upon him by the Testament which his father wrote in
+1722 when he believed himself
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P150"></A>150}</SPAN>
+to be dying;&mdash;"Never relinquish
+what is justly yours."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was far from his intention to relinquish any part of his dominions,
+and, moreover, he set early about the business of conquering Silesia to
+add to his little kingdom.  Saxony should fall to him if he could in
+any wise win it.  There was hope in that fine stalwart body of men his
+father had so well disciplined.  There was courage in his own heart,
+and he had been reared in too stern a school to fear hardships.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1740, Frederick received his dying father's blessing, and in the
+same year the Emperor, Charles VI, left his daughter, Maria Theresa, to
+struggle with an aggressive European neighbour.  She was a splendid
+figure, this empress of twenty-three, beautiful and virtuous, with the
+spirit of a man, and an unconquerable determination to fight for what
+was justly hers.  She held not Austria alone but many neighbouring
+kingdoms&mdash;Styria, Bohemia, the Tyrol, Hungary, and Carpathia.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Charles VI had endeavoured to secure his daughter's kingdom by means of
+a "Pragmatic Sanction," which declared the indivisibility of the
+Austrian dominions, and the right of Maria Theresa to inherit them in
+default of a male heir.  This was signed by all the powers of Europe
+save Bavaria, but Frederick broke it ruthlessly as soon as the Emperor
+died.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In high spirits Frederick II entered on the bold enterprise of seizing
+from Maria Theresa some part of those possessions which her father had
+striven to secure to her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Allies gathered round Prussia quickly, admiring the 80,000 men that the
+obscure sovereignty had raised from the subjects of a little kingdom.
+France, Spain, Poland, and Bavaria allied themselves with the spoiler
+against Maria Theresa, who sought the aid of England.  She
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P151"></A>151}</SPAN>
+seemed
+in desperate straits, the victim of treachery, for Frederick had
+promised to support her.  The Battle of Molwitz went against Austria,
+and the Empress was fain to offer three duchies of Silesia, but the
+King refused them scornfully, saying, "Before the war, they might have
+contented me.  Now I want more.  What do I care about peace?  Let those
+who want it give me what I want; if not, let them fight me and be
+beaten again."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Elector of Bavaria was within three days' march of Vienna,
+proclaiming himself Archduke of Austria.  Maria Theresa had neither men
+nor money.  Quite suddenly she took a resolution and convoked the
+Hungarian magnates at Pressburg, where she had fled from her capital.
+She stood before them, most beautiful and patriotic in her youth and
+helplessness.  Raising her baby in her arms, she appealed to the whole
+assembly.  She had put on the crown of St Stephen and held his sword at
+her side.  The appeal was quickly answered.  Swords leapt from their
+scabbards; there came the roar of many voices, "<I>Moriamur pro rege
+nostro, Maria Theresa!</I>"  ("Let us die for our King, Maria Theresa.")
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But Friedrich defeated the Austrians again and again in battle.  No
+armies could resist those wonderful compact regiments, perfectly
+drilled and disciplined, afraid of nothing save of losing credit.
+Maria had to submit to the humiliation of giving up part of Silesia to
+her enemy, while the Elector had himself crowned as Emperor Charles VII
+at Frankfort.  The English King, George II, fought for her against the
+French at Dettingen and won a victory.  She entered her capital in
+triumph, apparently confirmed in her possessions.  But Frederick was
+active in military operations and
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P152"></A>152}</SPAN>
+attempted to detach the English
+from her.  He invaded Bohemia and defeated the imperial generals.  He
+received the much-disputed territory of Silesia in 1745 by the Treaty
+of Dresden, which concluded the second war.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The national spirit was rising in Prussia through this all-powerful
+army, which drained the country of its men and horses.  The powers of
+Europe saw with astonishment that a new force was arraying itself in
+youthful glory.  The Seven Years' War began in 1756, one of the most
+fateful wars in the whole of European history.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+France, Russia, and Saxony were allied with Maria Theresa, but the
+Prussians had the help of England.  Frederick II proved himself a
+splendid general, worthy of the father whose only war had wrested the
+coveted province of Pomerania from the doughty Charles XII of Sweden.
+He defeated the Austrians and invaded Saxony, mindful of the wealth and
+prosperity of that country which, if added to his own, would greatly
+increase the value of his dominions.  He was almost always victorious
+though he had half Europe against him.  He defeated the Austrians at
+Prague and Leuthen, the Russian army at Zorndorf.  One of his most
+brilliant triumphs was won over the united French and Imperial armies
+at Rossbach.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-152"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-152.jpg" ALT="Frederick the Great receiving his People's Homage (A. Menzel)" BORDER="2" WIDTH="590" HEIGHT="459">
+<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 590px">
+Frederick the Great receiving his People's Homage (A. Menzel)
+</H3>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+The French anticipated an easy victory in 1757, for the army of the
+allies was vastly superior to that which Frederick William had encamped
+at Rossbach, a village in Prussian Saxony.  The King watched the
+movements of the enemy from a castle, and was delighted when he managed
+to bring them to a decisive action.  He had partaken of a substantial
+meal with his soldiers in the camp, although he was certainly in a most
+precarious
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P153"></A>153}</SPAN>
+position.  He was too cunning a strategist to give the
+signal to his troops till the French were advancing up the hill toward
+his tents.  The battle lasted only one hour and a half and resulted in
+a complete victory for Prussia.  The total loss of the King's army was
+under 550 officers and men compared with 7700 on the side of the enemy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The "Army of Cut-and-Run" was the contemptuous name earned by the
+retreating regiments.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Gradually, allies withdrew on either side, France becoming involved
+with England in India and the Colonies.  Frederick II and Maria Theresa
+made terms at Hubertsburg.  Silesia was still in the hands of the
+Prussian King, but he had failed in the prime object of the war, which
+was the conquest of Saxony.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was work for a king at home when the long, disastrous war was
+over.  Harvests went unreaped for want of men, and there were no strong
+horses left for farm-labour.  Starvation had rendered many parts of the
+kingdom desolate, but the introduction of the potato saved some of
+those remaining.  The King had forthwith to rebuild villages and bring
+horses from foreign countries.  He was anxious to follow his father's
+exhortations and make the population industrious and thriving.  He saw
+to it that schools rose everywhere and churches also, in which there
+was as little bickering as possible.  The clergy were kept down and
+prevented from "becoming popes," as seemed to be the case in some
+countries.  The King had no piety, but revered his father's
+Protestantism.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When the war was over, Frederick looked an old man though he was but
+fifty-one.  He was a shabby figure, this "old Fritz," in threadbare
+blue uniform with red facings.  His three-cornered hat, black breeches
+and
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P154"></A>154}</SPAN>
+long boots showed signs of an economical spirit, inculcated
+in his youth when he had only eighteen pence a week to spend.  He
+walked about among the country people talking familiarly with the
+farmers.  He made it a rule to go round the country once a year to see
+how things had prospered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The King hated idleness, and, like the first Frederick, scolded his
+subjects if they were not industrious.  "It is not necessary that I
+should live, but it is necessary that whilst I live I be busy," he
+would remark severely.  Frugality won praise from him and he always
+noted it among his subjects.  One day he asked the time of an officer
+he met in the streets and was startled to see a leaden bullet pulled up
+by a golden chain.  "My watch points to but one hour, that in which I
+am ready to die for your Majesty," was the patriotic answer to his
+question.  He rewarded the officer with his own gold watch, and
+reflected that his methods had been as successful as those of his
+father.  That prudent monarch put loose sleeves over his uniform
+whenever he wrote that he might not spoil the expensive cloth which was
+then the fashion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1786, Frederick II died, leaving Germany to mourn him.  The
+best-disciplined army in Europe and a treasury full of gold were the
+good gifts he left to his successor.  The population of the realm
+numbered six million souls, in itself another fortune.  "If the country
+is thickly populated, that is true wealth" had been a wise maxim of the
+first Frederick.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Father and son cut homely figures on the stage of eighteenth-century
+Europe.  The brilliant Louis XIV, and his stately Versailles, seemed to
+far outshine them.  But Germany owed to Frederick I and Frederick II,
+known as the Great, her unity and national spirit.
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P155"></A>155}</SPAN>
+They built on
+solid ground and their work remained to bring power to their
+successors, while the Grand Monarch left misery behind, which was to
+find expression in that crying of the oppressed, known throughout
+history as the French Revolution.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap14"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P156"></A>156}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter XIV
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Spirits of the Age
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+It was the aim of Frederick the Great to shake down the old political
+order in Europe, which had been Catholic and unenlightened.  To that
+end he exalted Prussia, which was a Protestant and progressive State,
+and fought against Austria, an empire clinging to obsolete ideas of
+feudal military government.  He brought upon himself much condemnation
+for his unjust partition of Poland with Russia.  He argued, however,
+that Poland had hitherto been a barbaric feudal State, and must benefit
+by association with countries of commercial and intellectual activity.
+Galicia fell to Maria Theresa at the end of the war, and was likely to
+remain in religious bondage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Frederick II dealt many hard blows at the Holy Catholic Church, but he
+did not intend to wage a religious war in Europe.  He insisted on
+toleration in Prussia though he was not himself a religious man, and
+invited to his court that enemy of the old faith of France&mdash;François
+Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, a title he derived from the
+name of an estate in the possession of his family.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The French scholar came to Frederick after he had suffered every
+persecution that inevitably assailed a fearless writer in an age of
+narrow bigotry.  Very soon after his appearance in Paris, Voltaire was
+accused
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P157"></A>157}</SPAN>
+of writing verses which recounted the evils of a country
+where magistrates used their power to levy unjust taxes, and loyal
+subjects were too often put in prison.  As a consequence, he was thrown
+into the Bastille.  It was quite useless to protest that he was not the
+author of <I>Je l'ai vu</I> ("I have seen it").  His opinions were suspected
+although he was but twenty-one and was under the protection of his
+godfather, the Abbé Chateauneuf.  Voltaire was philosopher enough to
+use his year in the Bastille very profitably&mdash;he finished his first
+great tragedy, <I>Oedipe</I>, and produced it in 1716, winning the
+admiration of French critics.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Although Voltaire was now embarked on a brilliant career as a
+dramatist, he was unjustly treated by his superiors in social rank.  He
+was the son of a notary of some repute, and was too rich to sue for
+patronage, but nobles were offended by the freedom of the young wit,
+who declared that a poet might claim equality with princes.  "Who is
+the young man who talks so loud?" the Chevalier Rohan inquired at an
+intellectual gathering.  "My lord," was Voltaire's quick reply, "he is
+one who does not bear a great name but wins respect for the name he
+has."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This apt retort did not please the Chevalier, who instructed his lackey
+to give the poet a beating.  Voltaire would have answered the insult
+with his sword, but his enemy disdained a duel with a man of inferior
+station.  The Rohan family was influential, and preferred to maintain
+their dignity by putting the despised poet in prison.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Voltaire was ordered to leave Paris and decided to visit England, where
+he knew that learned Frenchmen found a welcome.  He was amazed at the
+high honour paid to genius and the social and political consequence
+which could be obtained by writers.  Jonathan Swift,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P158"></A>158}</SPAN>
+the famous
+Irish satirist, was a dignitary of the State Church and yet never
+hesitated to heap scorn on State abuses.  Addison, the classical
+scholar, was Secretary of State, and Prior and Gay went on important
+diplomatic missions.  Philosophers, such as Newton and Locke, had
+wealth as well as much respect, and were entrusted with a share in the
+administration of their country.  With his late experience of French
+injustice, Voltaire may have been inclined to exaggerate the absolute
+freedom of an English subject to handle public events and public
+personages in print.  "One must disguise at Paris what I could not say
+too strongly at London," he wrote, and the hatred quickened in him of
+all forms of class prejudice and intellectual obstinacy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His <I>Lettres anglaises</I>, which moved many social writers of his time,
+were burnt in public by the decree of the Parlement of Paris in 1734.
+The Parlement, composed of men of the robe (lawyers), was closely
+allied to the court in narrow-minded bigotry.  It was always to the
+fore to prevent any manifestation of free thought from reaching the
+people.  The old order, clinging to wealth and favour, judged it best
+that the people&mdash;known as the Third Estate&mdash;should remain in ignorance
+of the enormous oppressions put upon them.  It had been something of a
+shock to Voltaire to discover that in England both nobles and clergy
+paid taxes, while in France the saying of feudal times held good&mdash;"The
+nobles fight, the clergy pray, the people pay."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Sadly wanting in respect to those in high places was that Voltaire who
+had not long ago been beaten by a noble's lackeys.  He did not cease to
+write, and continued to give offence, though the sun of the court shone
+on him once through Madame de Pompadour, the King's favourite.  She
+caused him to write a play
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P159"></A>159}</SPAN>
+in 1745 to celebrate the marriage of
+the Dauphin.  The <I>Princesse de Navarre</I> brought him more honour than
+had been accorded to his finest poems and tragedies.  He was admitted
+to the Academy of Letters which Richelieu had founded, made Gentleman
+of the Chamber, and Historiographer of France.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was well in those times to write for royal favour, though the
+subjects of the drama must be limited to those which would add glory to
+the Church or State.  Yet Voltaire did not need the patronage which was
+essential for poor men of genius like the playwrights of the famous
+generation preceding his own.  He had private means which he invested
+profitably, being little anxious to endure the insults commonly
+directed at poverty and learning.  He lived in a quiet château at
+Cirey, industrious and independent, though he looked toward the
+Marquise du Châtelet for that admiration which a literary man craves.
+It was the Marquise who shared with Frederick the Great the tribute
+paid by the witty man of letters, <I>i.e.</I> that there were but two great
+men in his time and one of them wore petticoats.  She differed from the
+frivolous women of court life in her earnest pursuit of intellectual
+pleasures.  Her whole day was given up to the study of writers such as
+Leibnitz and Newton, the philosopher.  She rarely wasted time, and
+could certainly claim originality in that her working hours were never
+broken by social interruptions.  She was unamiable, but had no love for
+slander, though she was herself the object of much spiteful gossip from
+women who passed as wits in the corrupt court life of Versailles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Voltaire came and went, moving up and down Europe, often the object of
+virulent attacks which made flight a necessity, but for fifteen years
+he returned regularly
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P160"></A>160}</SPAN>
+to the solitary château of Cirey, where he
+could depend upon seclusion for the active prosecution of his studies.
+He was a man with a wide range of interests, dabbling in science and
+performing experiments for his own profit.  He wrote history, in
+addition to plays and poetry, and later, in his attacks upon the
+Church, proved himself a skilful and unscrupulous controversialist.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1750, Madame du Châtelet being dead, Voltaire accepted the
+invitation which had been sent to him from Berlin by the King of
+Prussia.  He was installed sumptuously at Potsdam, where the court of
+Frederick the Great was situated.  There he could live in familiar
+intercourse with "the king who had won five battles."  He loved to take
+an active part in life, and moved from one place to another, showing a
+keen interest in novelty, although his movements might also be inspired
+by fear of the merciless actions of the government.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At Potsdam he found activity, but not activity of intellect.  Frederick
+the Great was drilling soldiers and received him into a stern barracks.
+There was a commendable toleration for free speech in the country, but
+there was constant bickering.  At court, Voltaire found his life
+troubled by the intrigues of the envious courtiers, by the unreasonable
+vanity of the King, and the almost mediaeval state of manners.  There
+were quarrels soon between the King and his guest, which led to
+exhibitions of paltriness and parsimony common to their characters.
+The King stopped Voltaire's supply of chocolate and sugar, while
+Voltaire pocketed candle-ends to show his contempt for this meanness!
+The saying of Frederick that the Frenchman was only an orange, of
+which, having squeezed the juice, he
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P161"></A>161}</SPAN>
+should throw away the skin,
+very naturally rankled in the poet to whom it was repeated.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was jealousy and tale-bearing at Potsdam which went far to
+destroy the mutual admiration of those two strong personalities who had
+thought to dwell so happily together.  Voltaire spoke disparagingly of
+Frederick's literary achievements, and compared the task of correcting
+his host's French verses with that of washing dirty linen.  Politeness
+had worn very thin when the writer described the monarch as an ape who
+ought to be flogged for his tricks, and gave him the nickname of <I>Luc</I>,
+a pet monkey which was noted for a vicious habit of biting!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In March 1753, Voltaire left the court, thoroughly weary of life in a
+place where there was so little interest in letters.  He had a <I>fracas</I>
+at Frankfort, where he was required to give up the court decorations he
+had worn with childlike enjoyment, and also a volume of royal verses
+which Frederick did not wish to be made public.  For five weeks he lay
+in prison with his niece, Madame Denis, complaining of frightful
+indignities.  He boxed the ears of a bookseller to whom he owed money,
+attempted to shoot a clerk, and in general committed many strange
+follies which were quite opposed to his claims to philosophy.  There
+was an end of close friendship with Prussia, but he still drew his
+pension and corresponded with the cynical Frederick, only occasionally
+referring to their notorious differences.  In dispraise of the niece
+Madame Denis, the King abandoned the toleration he had professedly
+extended.  "Consider all that as done with," he wrote on the subject of
+the imprisonment, "and never let me hear again of that wearisome niece,
+who has not as much merit as her uncle with which to cover her
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P162"></A>162}</SPAN>
+defects.  People talk of the servant of Molière, but nobody will ever
+speak of the niece of Voltaire."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The poet resented this contempt of his niece, for he was indulgently
+fond of the homely coquette who was without either wit or the good
+sense to win pardon for the frivolity of her tastes and extravagances.
+Living in a learned circle, she talked, like a parrot, of literature
+and wrote plays for the theatre of Ferney.  "She wrote a comedy; but
+the players, out of respect to Voltaire, declined to act in it.  She
+wrote a tragedy; but the one favour, which the repeated entreaties of
+years could never wring from Voltaire, was that he would read it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In spite of his quarrels, Voltaire spoke favourably of the German
+freedom which allowed writings to be published reflecting on the Great
+Elector.  He could not endure the hostile temper of his own land and
+deserted Paris to settle at Geneva, that free republic which extended
+hospitality to refugees from all countries.  He built two hermitages,
+one for summer and one for winter, both commanding beautiful scenes,
+which he enjoyed for twenty years to come, though he was not content
+with one shelter.  He bought a life-interest in Tournay and the
+lordship of Ferney in 1758, declaring that "philosophers ought to have
+two or three holes underground against the hounds who chase them."
+From Ferney he denounced the religion of the time, accusing the Church
+of hatred of truth and real knowledge, with which was coupled a
+terrible cruelty and lack of toleration.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To make superstition ridiculous was one of the objects of Voltaire's
+satire, for, in this way, he hoped to secure due respect for reason.
+All abuses were to be torn away, and such traditions as made slaves of
+the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P163"></A>163}</SPAN>
+people.  The shameful struggles between Jesuits and
+Jansenists were at their height.  How could religion exist when one
+party believing in works denied the creed of a second believing grace
+better than deeds, and when both sides were eager to devote themselves
+to persecution?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In Voltaire's day, the condemnation of free writing came chiefly from
+the clergy.  They would shackle the mind and bring it in subjection to
+the priesthood.  Here was a man sneering at the power claimed by
+members of a holy body.  The narrow bigotry of priests demanded that he
+should be held in bondage.  Yet he did not mock at men who held good
+lives but at the corrupt who shamed their calling.  The horrors of the
+Inquisition were being revived by zealous Jesuits who were losing
+authority through the increasing strength of another party of the
+Catholic Church, then known as Jansenists.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Jansenists followed the doctrines of Calvin in their belief in
+predestination and the necessity for conversion, but they differed
+widely from the Protestants on many points, holding that a man's soul
+was not saved directly he was converted although conversion might be
+instantaneous.  They were firmly convinced that each human soul should
+have personal relation with its Maker, but held that this was only
+possible through the Roman Church.  Their chief cause of quarrel with
+the Jesuits was the accusation brought against the priests of that
+order that they granted absolution for sins much too readily and
+without being certain of the sinners' real repentance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Voltaire's blood boiled when he heard that three young Protestants had
+been killed because they took
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P164"></A>164}</SPAN>
+up arms at the sound of the tocsin,
+thinking it was the signal for rebellion.  He received under his
+protection at Geneva the widow and children of the Protestant Calas,
+who had been broken on the wheel in 1762 because he was falsely
+declared to have killed his son in order to prevent his turning
+Catholic.  A youth, named La Barre, was sentenced, at the instance of a
+bishop, to have his tongue and right hand cut off because he was
+suspected of having tampered with a crucifix.  He was condemned to
+death afterwards on the most flimsy evidence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Voltaire was all aflame at the ignorance of such fanatics.  There was
+laughter in the writings of the unbelievers of the time, but it was
+laughter inspired by the miserable belief that jesting was the only
+means of enduring that which might come.  "Witty things do not go well
+with massacres," Voltaire commented.  There was force in him to
+destroy, and he set about destruction.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The clergy had refused in 1750 to bear their share of taxation, though
+one-fifth of France was in their hands.  Superstition inevitably tends
+to make bad citizens, the philosopher observed, and set forth the evils
+to society that resulted from the idle lives which were supported by
+the labour of more industrious subjects.  But in his praiseworthy
+attack upon the spirit of the Catholicism of his day which stooped to
+basest cruelty, Voltaire appealed always to intelligence rather than to
+feeling.  He wanted to free the understanding and extend knowledge.  He
+set up reason as a goddess, and left it to another man to point the way
+to a social revolution.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Jean-Jacques Rousseau it was who led men to consider the possibility of
+a State in which all citizens
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P165"></A>165}</SPAN>
+should be free and equal.  He
+suffered banishment and much hardship for the bold schemes he
+presented.  The Parlement of Paris was ruthless when the two
+books&mdash;<I>Émile</I> and the <I>Social Contract</I>&mdash;were published in 1762.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Rousseau, a writer of humble origin, had been the close student of
+Voltaire since his mind had first formed into a definite individuality.
+He had been poor and almost starving many times, had followed the
+occupations of engraver and music-copier, and had treated with
+ingratitude several kindly patrons.  Like Voltaire, too, he journeyed
+over Europe, finding refuge in Geneva, whence came his father's family.
+He was a man of sordid life and without morality; but he was true to
+his life's purpose, and toiled at uncongenial tasks rather than write
+at other bidding than that of his own soul.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Rousseau's play <I>Le Devin du Village</I> had a court success that brought
+him into favour with gay ladies.  Many a beauty found it difficult to
+tear herself away from the perusal of his strangely romantic novel <I>La
+Nouvelle Héloïse</I>, which preached a return to Nature, so long neglected
+by the artificial age of Paris.  All conventions should be thrown off
+that man might attain the purity which God had originally intended.
+Kings there should not be to deprive their subjects of all liberty, nor
+nobles who claimed the earth, which was the inheritance of God's
+creatures.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At first, this theory of return to Nature pleased the ruling classes.
+The young King and Queen were well-meaning and kindly to the people.
+Louis XVI went among the poor and did something to alleviate the misery
+that he saw.  Marie Antoinette gave up
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P166"></A>166}</SPAN>
+the extravagant career of
+fashion and spent happy hours in the rustic village of Trianon.  Nobles
+and maids of honour played at rusticity, unconscious of the deadly
+blows that Jean-Jacques had aimed at them in the writings which
+appealed so strongly to their sentiment.  There was a new belief in
+humanity which sent the Duchess out early in the morning to give bread
+to the poor, even if at evening she danced at a court which was
+supported in luxury by their miseries.  The poet might congratulate
+himself on the sensation caused by ideas which sent him through an
+edict of Parlement into miserable banishment.  He did not aim at
+destruction of the old order, but he depicted an ideal State and to
+attain that ideal State men butchered their fellows without mercy.  The
+<I>Social Contract</I> became the textbook of the first revolutionary party,
+and none admired Rousseau more ardently than the ruthless wielder of
+tyranny who followed out the theorist's idea that in a republic it was
+necessary sometimes to have a dictator.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were rival schools of thought during the lifetime of Voltaire and
+Rousseau.  The latter was King of the Markets, destined in years to
+come to inspire the Convention and the Commune.  Voltaire, companion of
+kings and eager recipient of the favours of Madame de Pompadour, had
+little sympathy with the author of a book in which the humble
+watchmaker's son flouted sovereignty and showed no skill in his
+handling of religion.  The elder man offered the younger shelter when
+abuse was rained upon him; but Jean-Jacques would have none of it, and
+thought Geneva should have cast out the unbeliever, for Jean-Jacques
+was a pious man in theory and shocked by the worship
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P167"></A>167}</SPAN>
+of pure
+reason.  The mad acclamations which greeted the return of Voltaire to
+Paris after thirty years of banishment must have echoed rather bitterly
+in the ears of Rousseau, who had despised salons and chosen to live
+apart from all society.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap15"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P168"></A>168}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter XV
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Man from Corsica
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Born on August 15th, 1769, Napoleon Buonaparte found himself surrounded
+from his first hours by all the tumult and the clash of war.  Ajaccio,
+on the rocky island of Corsica, was his birthplace, though his family
+had Florentine blood.  Letitia Ramolino, the mother of Napoleon, was of
+aristocratic Italian descent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Corsica was no sunny dwelling-place during the infancy of this young
+hero, who learned to brood over the wrongs of his island-home.  The
+Corsicans revolted fiercely against the sovereignty of Genoa, and were
+able to resist all efforts to subdue them until France interfered in
+the struggle and gained by diplomatic cunning what could not be gained
+by mere force of arms.  This conquest was resented the more bitterly by
+the Corsicans because they had enjoyed thirteen years of independence
+in all but name under Paoli, a well-loved patriot.  It was after Paoli
+was driven to England that the young Napoleon wrote, "I was born when
+my country was perishing, thirty thousand Frenchmen vomited upon our
+coasts, drowning the throne of Liberty in waves of blood; such was the
+sight which struck my eyes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Corsican Napoleon declared himself in the youth of poverty and
+discontent, when he had dreams of
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P169"></A>169}</SPAN>
+rising to power by such
+patriotism as had ennobled Paoli.  Charles Buonaparte, his father, went
+over to the winning side, and was eager to secure the friendship of
+Marboeuf, the French governor of Corsica.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon, the second of thirteen children, owed assistance in his early
+education to Marboeuf for it was impossible for his own family to do
+more than provide the barest necessities of life.  Charles Buonaparte
+was an idle, careless man and the family poverty bore hardly on his
+wife Letitia, who had been married at fifteen and compelled to perform
+much drudgery.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon entered the military school at Brienne in April 1779, and from
+there sent letters which might well have warned his parents that they
+had hatched a prodigy.  All the bitterness of a proud humiliated spirit
+inspired them, whether the boy, despised by richer students, begged his
+father to remove him, or urged, with utter disregard of filial piety,
+the repayment by some means of a sum of money he had borrowed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I am not to be allowed the means, either by you or my protector, to
+keep up a more honourable appearance at the school I am in, send for me
+home and that immediately.  I am quite disgusted with being looked upon
+as a pauper by my insolent companions, who have only fortune to
+recommend them, and smile at my poverty; there is not one here, but who
+is far inferior to me in those noble sentiments which animate my
+soul.&#8230;  If my condition cannot be ameliorated, remove me from Brienne;
+put me to some mechanical trade, if it must be so; let me but find
+myself among my equals and I will answer for it, I will soon be their
+superior.  You may judge
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P170"></A>170}</SPAN>
+of my despair by my proposal; once more
+I repeat it; I would sooner be foreman in a workshop than be sneered at
+in a first-rate academy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the academy Napoleon remained, however, censured by his parents for
+his ambitious, haughty spirit.  He was gloomy and reserved and had few
+companions, feeling even at this early age that he was superior to
+those around him.  He admired Cromwell, though he thought the English
+general incomplete in his conquests.  He read Plutarch and the
+<I>Commentaries</I> of Caesar and determined that his own career should be
+that of a soldier, though he wrote again to the straitened household in
+Corsica, declaring, "He who cannot afford to make a lawyer of his son,
+makes him a carpenter."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He chose for the moment to disregard the family ties which were
+especially strong among the island community.  "Let my brothers'
+education be less expensive," he urged, "let my sisters work to
+maintain themselves."  There was a touch of ruthless egotism in this
+spirit, yet the Corsican had real love for his own kindred as he showed
+in later life.  But at this period he panted for fame and glory so
+ardently that he would readily sacrifice those nearest to him.  He
+could not bear to feel that his unusual abilities might never find full
+scope; he was certain that one day he would be able to repay any
+generosity that was shown to him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The French Revolution broke out and Napoleon saw his first chance of
+distinction.  He was well recommended by his college for a position in
+the artillery, despite the strange report of the young student's
+character and manners which was written for the private perusal of
+those making the appointment.
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P171"></A>171}</SPAN>
+"Napoleon Buonaparte, a Corsican
+by birth, reserved and studious, neglectful of all pleasures for study;
+delights in important and judicious readings; extremely attentive to
+methodical sciences, moderately so as to others; well versed in
+mathematics and geography; silent, a lover of solitude, whimsical,
+haughty, excessively prone to egotism, speaking but little, pithy in
+his answers, quick and severe in repartee, possessed of much self-love,
+ambitious, and high in expectation."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Soon after the fall of the Bastille, Napoleon placed himself at the
+head of the revolutionary party in Ajaccio, hoping to become the La
+Fayette of a National Guard which he tried to establish on the isle of
+Corsica.  He aspired to be the commander of a paid native guard if such
+could be created, and was not unreasonable in his ambition since he was
+the only Corsican officer trained at a royal military school.  But
+France rejected the proposal for such a force to be established, and
+Napoleon had to act on his own initiative.  He forfeited his French
+commission by outstaying his furlough in 1792.  Declared a deserter, he
+saw slight chance of promotion to military glory.  Indeed he would
+probably have been tried by court-martial and shot, had not Paris been
+in confusion owing to the outbreak of the French war against European
+allies.  He decided to lead the rebels of Corsica, and tried to get
+possession of Ajaccio at the Easter Festival.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This second attempt to raise an insurrection ended in the entire
+Buonaparte family being driven by the wrathful Corsicans to France,
+which henceforth was their adopted country.  The Revolution blazed
+forth and King and Queen went to the scaffold, while treason that
+might, in time of peace, have served to send an
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P172"></A>172}</SPAN>
+officer to death,
+proved a stepping-stone to high rank and promotion.  It was a civil
+war, and in it Napoleon was first to show his extraordinary skill in
+military tactics.  He had command of the artillery besieging Toulon in
+1793 and was marked as a man of merit, receiving the command of a
+brigade and passing as a general of artillery into the foreign war
+which Republican France waged against all Europe.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The command of the army of Italy was offered Napoleon by Barras, who
+was one of the new Directory formed to rule the Republic.  A rich wife
+seemed essential for a poor young man with boundless ambitions just
+unfolding.  Barras had taken up the Corsican, and arranged an
+introduction for him to Josephine Beauharnais, the beautiful widow of a
+noble who had been a victim of the Reign of Terror.  He had previously
+made the acquaintance of Josephine's young son Eugene, when the boy
+came to ask that his father's sword might be restored to him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Josephine pleased the suitor by her amiability, and was attracted in
+turn by his ardent nature.  She was in a position to advance his
+interests through her intimacy with Barras, who promised that Napoleon
+should hold a great position in the army if she became his wife.  She
+married Napoleon in March 1796, undaunted by the prediction: "You will
+be a queen and yet you will not sit on a throne."  Napoleon's career
+may then be said to have begun in earnest.  It was the dawn of a new
+age in Europe, where France stood forth as a predominant power.
+Austria was against her as the avenger of Marie Antoinette, France's
+ill-fated Queen, who had been Maria Theresa's daughter.  England and
+Russia were in alliance, though Russia was an uncertain and disloyal
+ally.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P173"></A>173}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+Want of money might have daunted one less eager for success than the
+young Napoleon.  He was, however, planning a campaign in Italy as an
+indirect means of attacking Austria.  He addressed his soldiers boldly,
+promising to lead them into the most fruitful plains in the world.
+"Rich provinces, great cities will be in your power," he assured them.
+"There you will find honour, fame, and wealth."  His first success was
+notable, but it did not satisfy the inordinate craving of his nature.
+"In our days," he told Marmont, "no one has conceived anything great;
+it falls to me to give the example."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From the outset he looked upon himself as a general independent of the
+Republic.  He was rich in booty, and could pay his men without
+appealing to the well-nigh exhausted public funds.  Silently, he
+pursued his own policy in war, and that was very different from the
+policy of any general who had gone before him.  He treated with the
+Pope as a great prince might have treated, offering protection to
+persecuted priests who were marked out by the Directory as their
+enemies.  He seized property everywhere, scorning to observe
+neutrality.  Forgetting his Italian blood, he carried off many pictures
+and statues from the Italian galleries that they might be sent to
+France.  He showed now his audacity and the amazing energy of his plans
+of conquest.  The effect of the horror and disorders of Revolutionary
+wars had been to deprive him of all scruples.  He despised a Republic,
+and despised the French nation as unfit for Republicanism.  "A republic
+of thirty millions of people!" he exclaimed as he conquered Italy,
+"with our morals, our vices!  How is such a thing possible?  The nation
+wants a chief, a chief covered with glory, not theories of
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P174"></A>174}</SPAN>
+government, phrases, ideological essays, that the French do not
+understand.  They want some playthings; that will be enough; they will
+play with them and let themselves be led, always supposing they are
+cleverly prevented from seeing the goal toward which they are moving."
+But the wily Corsican did not often speak so plainly!  Aiming at
+imperial power, he was careful to dissimulate his intentions since the
+army supporting him was Republican in sympathy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon had achieved the conquest of Italy when only twenty-seven.  In
+1796 he entered Milan amid the acclamations of the people, his troops
+passing beneath a triumphal arch.  The Italians from that day adopted
+his tricolour ensign.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Directory gave the conqueror the command of the army which was to
+be used against England.  The old desperate rivalry had broken out
+again now that the French saw a chance of regaining power in India.  It
+was Napoleon's purpose to wage war in Egypt, and he needed much money
+for his campaign in a distant country.  During the conquest of Italy he
+had managed to secure money from the Papal chests and he could rely,
+too, on the vast spoil taken from Berne when the old constitution of
+the Swiss was overthrown and a new Republic founded.  He took Malta,
+"the strongest place in Europe," and proceeded to occupy Alexandria in
+1798.  In the following February he marched on Cairo.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+England's supremacy at sea destroyed the complete success of the plans
+which Napoleon was forming.  He had never thought seriously of the
+English admiral Nelson till his own fleet was shattered by him in a
+naval engagement at Aboukir.  After that, he understood that he had to
+reckon with a powerful enemy.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P175"></A>175}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+The Turks had decided to anticipate Napoleon's plan for securing Greece
+her freedom by preparing a vast army in Syria.  The French took the
+town of Jaffa by assault, but had to retire from the siege of Acre.
+The expedition was not therefore a success, though Napoleon won a
+victory over the Turkish army at Aboukir.  The English triumphed in
+Egypt and were fortunate enough to win back Malta, which excluded
+France from the Mediterranean.  Napoleon eluded with difficulty the
+English cruisers and returned to France, where he rapidly rose to
+power, receiving, after a kind of revolution, the title of First
+Consul.  He was to hold office for ten years and receive a salary of
+half a million francs.  In reality, a strong monarchy had been created.
+The people of France, however, still fancied themselves a free Republic.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+War was declared on France by Austria and England in 1800, and the
+First Consul saw himself raised to the pinnacle of military glory.  He
+defeated the Austrians at Marengo, while his only rival, Moreau, won
+the great battle of Hohenlinden.  At Marengo, the general whom Napoleon
+praised above all others fell dead on the field of battle.  The
+conqueror himself mourned Desaix most bitterly, since "he loved glory
+for glory's sake and France above everything."  But "Alas! it is not
+permitted to weep," Napoleon said, overcoming the weakness as he judged
+it.  He had done now with wars waged on a small scale, and would give
+Europe a time of peace before venturing on vaster enterprises.  The
+victory of Marengo on June 14th, 1800, wrested Italy again from
+Austria, who had regained possession and power in the peninsula.  It
+also saved France from invasion.  Austria was obliged to accept an
+armistice, a humiliation she had not
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P176"></A>176}</SPAN>
+foreseen when she arrayed
+her mighty armies against the First Consul.  Napoleon gloried in this
+success, proposing to Rouget de Lisle, the writer of the
+<I>Marseillaise</I>, that a battle-hymn should commemorate the coming of
+peace with victory.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Treaty of Luneville, 1801, settled Continental strife so
+effectually that Napoleon was free to attend to the internal affairs of
+the French Republic.  The Catholic Church was restored by the
+<I>Concordat</I>, but made to depend on the new ruler instead of the Bourbon
+party.  The Treaty of Amiens in 1802 provided for a truce to the
+hostilities of France and England.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With the world at peace, the Consulate had leisured to reconstruct the
+constitution.  The capability of Napoleon ensured the successful
+performance of this mighty task.  He was bent on giving a firm
+government to France since this would help him to reach the height of
+his ambitions.  He drew up the famous Civil Code on which the future
+laws were based, and restored the ancient University of France.
+Financial reforms led to the establishment of the Bank of France, and
+Napoleon's belief that merit should be recognized publicly to the
+enrolment of distinguished men in a Legion of Honour.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The remarkable vigour and intelligence of this military leader was
+displayed in the reforms he made where all had been confusion.  France
+was weary of the republican government which had brought her to the
+verge of bankruptcy and ruin, and inclined to look favourably on the
+idea of a monarchy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon determined that this should be the monarchy of a Buonaparte,
+not that of a Bourbon.  The Church had ceased to support the claims of
+Louis XVI's brother.  Napoleon had won the <I>noblesse</I>, too,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P177"></A>177}</SPAN>
+by
+his feats of arms, and the peacemaker's decrees had reconciled the
+foreign cabinets.  It ended, as the prudent had foreseen, in the First
+Consul choosing for himself the old military title of Emperor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His coronation on December 2nd, 1804, was a ceremony of magnificence,
+unequalled since the fall of the majestic Bourbons.  Napoleon placed
+the sacred diadem on his own head and then on the head of Josephine,
+who knelt to receive it.  His aspect was gloomy as he received this
+symbol of successful ambition, for the mass of the people was silent
+and he was uneasy at the usurpation of a privilege which was not his
+birthright.  The authority of the Pope had confirmed his audacious
+action, but he was afraid of the attitude of his army.  "The greatest
+man in the world" Kléber had proclaimed him, after the crushing of the
+Turks at Aboukir in Egypt.  There was work to do before he reached the
+summit whence he might justly claim such admiration.  He found court
+life at St Cloud very wearisome after the peace of his residence at
+Malmaison.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have not a moment to myself, I ought to have been the wife of a
+humble cottager," Josephine wrote in a fit of impatience at the
+restraints imposed upon an Empress.  But she clung to the title
+desperately when she knew that it would be taken from her.  She had
+been Napoleon's wife for fourteen years, but no heir had been born to
+inherit the power and to continue the dynasty which he hoped to found.
+She was divorced in 1809, when he married Marie Louise of Austria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Peace could not last with Napoleon upon the throne of France,
+determined as he was in his resolution to break the supremacy of the
+foe across the Channel.
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P178"></A>178}</SPAN>
+He had not forgotten Egypt and his
+failure in the Mediterranean.  He resolved to crush the English fleet
+by a union of the fleets of Europe.  He was busied with daring projects
+to invade England from Boulogne.  The distance by sea was so short that
+panic seized the island-folk, who had listened to wild stories about
+the "Corsican ogre."  Nelson was the hope of the nation in the year of
+danger, 1805, when the English fleet gained the glorious victory of
+Trafalgar and saved England from the dreaded invasion.  But the hero of
+Trafalgar met his death in the hour of success, and, before the year
+closed, Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz destroyed the coalition led by
+the Austrian Emperor and the Tsar and caused a whole continent to
+tremble before the conqueror.  The news of this battle, indeed,
+hastened the death of Pitt, the English minister, who had struggled
+nobly against the aggrandisement of France.  He knew that the French
+Empire would rise to the height of fame, and that the coalition of
+Russia, Prussia, and Austria would fall disastrously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Prussians wish to receive a lesson," Napoleon declared, flushed by
+the magnificence of his late efforts.  He defeated them at Jena and
+Auerstadt, and entered Berlin to take the sword and sash of Frederick
+the Great as well as the Prussian standards.  He did honour to that
+illustrious Emperor by forbidding the passage of the colours and eagles
+over the place where Frederick reposed, and he declared himself
+satisfied with Frederick's personal belongings as conferring more
+honour than any other treasures.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By the Treaty of Tilsit, concluded with Alexander of Russia on a raft
+upon the River Niemen, Prussia suffered new humiliations.  The proud
+creation of Frederick's military genius had vanished.  There was
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P179"></A>179}</SPAN>
+even undue haste to give up fortresses to the conqueror.  The country
+was partitioned between Russia, Saxony, and Westphalia, created for the
+rule of Jerome Buonaparte, Napoleon's younger brother.  He set up kings
+now with the ease of a born autocrat.  His brother Joseph became King
+of Naples, and his brother Louis King of Holland.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A new nobility sprang up, for honours must be equally showered on the
+great generals who had helped to win his victories.  The new Emperor
+was profuse in favour, not believing in disinterested affection.  He
+paid handsomely for the exercise of the humours, known as his
+"vivacités," entering in a private book such items as "Fifteen
+napoleons to Menneval for a box on the ear, a war-horse to my
+aide-de-camp Mouton for a kick, fifteen hundred <I>arpens</I> in the
+imperial forests to Bassano for having dragged him round my room by the
+hair."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These rewards drained the empire and provided a grievance against the
+Corsican adventurer who had dared to place all Europe under the rule of
+Buonaparte.  The family did not bear their elevation humbly, but
+demanded ever higher rank and office.  Joseph was raised to the exalted
+state of King of Spain after the lawful king had been expelled by
+violence.  The patriotism of the Spanish awoke and found an echo in the
+neighbouring kingdom of Portugal.  Napoleon was obliged to send his
+best armies to the Peninsula where the English hero, Sir Arthur
+Wellesley, was pushing his way steadily toward the Pyrenees and the
+French frontier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The expedition to Russia had been partly provoked by the Emperor's
+marriage with Marie Louise of Austria.  There had been talk of a
+marriage between Napoleon and the Tsar's sister.  Then the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P180"></A>180}</SPAN>
+arrangement of Tilsit had become no longer necessary after the humbling
+of Austria.  Napoleon wished to throw off his ally, Alexander, and was
+ready to use as a pretext for war Russia's refusal to adopt his
+"continental system" fully.  This system, designed to crush the
+commercial supremacy of England by forbidding other countries to trade
+with her, was thus, as events were to prove, the cause of Napoleon's
+own downfall.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The enormous French army made its way to Russia and entered Moscow, the
+ancient capital, which the inhabitants burned and deserted.  In the
+army's retreat from the city in the depth of winter, thousands died of
+cold and hunger, and 30,000 men had already fallen in the fruitless
+victory at Borodino.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon was nearing his downfall as he struggled across the continent
+in the dreadful march which reduced an army of a quarter of a million
+men to not more than twelve thousand.  He had to meet another failure
+and the results of a destructive imperial policy in 1814, when he was
+defeated at Leipzig by Austria, Russia, and Prussia, who combined most
+desperately against him.  The Allies issued at Frankfort their famous
+manifesto "Peace with France but war against the Empire."  They
+compelled Napoleon to abdicate, and restored the Bourbon line.  A court
+was formed for Louis XVIII at the Tuileries, while Napoleon was sent to
+Elba.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Louis XVI's brother, the Count of Artois, came back, still admired by
+the faded beauties of the Restoration.  The pathetic figure of Louis
+XVI's daughter, the Duchess of Angoulême, was seen amid the forced
+gaieties of the new régime, and Madame de Stäel haunted the court of
+Louis XVIII, forgetting her late revolutionary sentiments.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P181"></A>181}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon grew very weary of his inaction on the isle of Elba.  He had
+spent all his life in military pursuits and missed the companionship of
+soldiers.  He thought with regret of his old veterans when he welcomed
+the guards sent to him.  Perhaps he hoped for the arrival of his wife,
+too, as he paced up and down the narrow walk by the sea where he took
+exercise daily.  But Marie Louise returned to her own country.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon found some scope for his activity in the government of the
+island, and gave audiences regularly to the people.  He might seem to
+have lost ambition as he read in his library or played with a tame
+monkey of which he made a pet, but a scheme of great audacity was
+forming in his mind.  He resolved to go back to France once more and
+appeal to the armies to restore him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Bourbons had never become popular again with the nation which was
+inspired with the lust for military successes.  The life in the
+Tuileries seemed empty and frivolous, wanting in great figures.  There
+was little resistance when the news came that Napoleon had landed and
+put himself at the head of the troops at Grenoble.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had appealed to the ancient spirit of the South which had risen
+before in the cause of liberty.  Feudalism and the oppression of the
+peasants would return under the rule of the Bourbons, he assured them.
+They began to look upon the abdicated Emperor as the Angel of
+Deliverance.  The people of Lyons were equally enthusiastic, winning
+warmer words than generally fell from the lips of Napoleon.  "I love
+you," he cried, and bore them with him to the capital.  He entered the
+Tuileries at night, and again the eagle of the Empire flew from steeple
+to steeple on every church of Paris.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P182"></A>182}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+The Hundred Days elapsed between the liberation from the Bourbons and
+Napoleon's last struggle for supremacy.  The King made a feeble effort
+against the Emperor.  It was, however, the united armies of England and
+Prussia that met the French on the field of Waterloo in 1815.  From
+March 13th to June 22nd Napoleon had had time to realize the might of
+Wellesley, now Duke of Wellington.  The splendid powers of the once
+indefatigable French general were declining.  Napoleon, who had not
+been wont to take advice, now asked the opinions of others.  The
+dictator, so rapid in coming to a decision, hesitated in the hour of
+peril.  He was defeated at Waterloo on June 18th, 1815, by Blücher and
+Wellington together.  The battle raged from the middle of morning to
+eight o'clock in the evening and ended in the rout of the French
+troops.  The Emperor performed a second time the ceremony of
+abdication, and, his terrible will being broken, surrendered on board
+the <I>Bellerophon</I> to the English.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The English Government feared a second return like the triumphant
+flight from Elba.  No enemy had ever been so terrible to England as
+Napoleon.  He must be removed altogether from the continent of Europe.
+St Helena was chosen as the place of imprisonment, and Sir Hudson Lowe
+put over him as, in some sort, a gaoler.  A certain amount of personal
+freedom was accorded, but the captive on the lonely rock did not live
+to regain liberty.  He died in 1821 on a day of stormy weather,
+uttering <I>tête d'armée</I> in the last moments of delirium.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap16"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P183"></A>183}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter XVI
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+"God and the People"
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The diplomatists who assembled at the Congress of Vienna to settle the
+affairs of Europe, so strangely disturbed by the vehement career of
+that soldier-genius, Napoleon, had it in their minds to restore as far
+as possible the older forms of government.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Italy was restless, unwilling to give up the patriotic dreams inspired
+by the conqueror.  The people saw with dismay that the hope of unity
+was over since the peninsula, divided into four states, was parcelled
+out again and placed under the hated yoke of Austria.  Soldiers from
+Piedmont and Lombardy, from Venice and Naples, Parma and Modena, had
+fought side by side, sharing the glory of a military despot and willing
+to endure a tyranny that gave them a firm administration and a share of
+justice.  They saw that prosperity for their land would follow the more
+regular taxation and the abolition of the social privileges oppressive
+to the peasants.  They looked forward to increase of trade as roads
+were made and bridges built, and they welcomed the chance of education
+and the preparation for a national life.  Napoleon had always held
+before them the picture of a great Italian State, freed from foreign
+princes and realizing the promise of the famous Middle Ages.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P184"></A>184}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+Yet Napoleon had done nothing to forward the cause of Italian freedom
+before his final exile.  The Italians would have made Eugene
+Beauharnais king, of a united Italy, but Eugene was loyal to the
+stepfather who had placed under his power the territory lying between
+the Alps and the centre of the peninsula.  Murat, Napoleon's
+brother-in-law, would have grasped the sceptre, for he was devoured by
+overwhelming ambition.  He owed his rapid advance from obscurity to the
+position of a general to the Corsican, whose own career had led him to
+help men to rise by force of merit.  Murat bore a part in the struggle
+for Italy when the cry was ever Liberty.  A new spirit had come upon
+the indolent inheritors of an ancient name.  They were burning to
+achieve the freedom of Italy, and hearkened only to the voice that
+offered independence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Prince Metternich, the absolute ruler of Austria, set aside the
+conflicting claims, and parcelled out the states among petty rulers all
+looking to him for political guidance.  Italy was "only a geographical
+expression," he remarked with satisfaction.  Cadets of the Austrian
+house held Tuscany and Modena, and Marie Louise, the ex-empress, was
+installed at Parma.  Pius VII took up the papal domain in Central Italy
+with firmer grasp.  Francis II, Emperor of Austria, seized Venice and
+Lombardy, while a Bourbon, in the person of Ferdinand I, received
+Naples and Sicily, a much disputed heritage.  Victor Emmanuel, King of
+Sardinia, received also the Duchies of Savoy and Piedmont.  San Marino
+was a republic still, standing solitary and mournful upon the waters of
+the Adriatic.  Italy was divided state from state, as in the medieval
+times, but now, alas! each state could not boast free government.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P185"></A>185}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+Italians, eating the bread of slaves, felt that they were in bondage to
+Vienna.  Metternich had determined they should know no master but
+himself, and all attempts to rebel were closely watched by spies.  The
+police force allowed nothing to be printed or spoken against the
+government that was strong to condemn disorder.  There were ardent
+souls longing to fight for the cause of Italy and Liberty.  There were
+secret societies resolving desperate measures.  There was discontent
+everywhere to war with Metternich's distrust of social progress.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The sufferings of rebel leaders moved the compassion of Giuseppe
+Mazzini, the son of a clever physician in the town of Genoa.  He was
+only a boy when he was accosted by a refugee, whose wild countenance
+told a story of cruelty and oppression.  From that moment, he realized
+the degradation of Italy and chose the colour of mourning for his
+clothes; he began to study the heroic struggles which had made martyrs
+of his countrymen in late years, and he began to form visionary
+projects which led him from the study of literature&mdash;his first
+sacrifice.  He had aspired to a literary career, and renounced it to
+throw himself into the duties he owed to countrymen and country.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1827, Mazzini joined the Carbonari, or Charcoalmen, a society which
+worked in different countries with one aim&mdash;opposition to the despot
+and the legitimist.  The young man of twenty-two was impressed, no
+doubt, by the solemn oath of initiation which he had to take over a
+bared dagger, but he soon had to acknowledge that the efforts of the
+Carbonari were doomed to dismal failure.  Membership was confined too
+much to the professional class, and there were too few appeals to the
+youth of Italy.  Treachery was
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P186"></A>186}</SPAN>
+rife among the different sections
+of the wide-spreading organization.  It was easy for a man to be
+condemned on vague suspicions.  When Mazzini was arrested, he had to be
+acquitted of the charge of conspiracy because it was impossible to find
+two witnesses, but general disapproval was expressed of his mode of
+life.  The governor of Genoa spoke very harshly of the student's habit
+of walking about at night in thoughtful silence.  "What on earth has
+he, at his age, to think about?" he demanded angrily.  "We don't like
+young people thinking without our knowing the subjects of their
+thoughts."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The "glorious days of July," 1830, freed the French from a monarchy
+which threatened liberal principles, and roused the discontented in
+other countries to make fresh efforts for freedom.  Certain ordinances,
+published on July 25th by the French Ministry, suspended the freedom of
+the press, altered the law of election to the Chambers of Deputies, and
+suppressed a number of Liberal journals.  Paris rose to resist, and on
+July 28th, men of the Faubourg St Antoine took possession of the Hotel
+de Ville, hoisting the tricolour flag again.  Charles X was deposed in
+favour of Louis Philippe, the Citizen-King, who was a son of that Duke
+of Orleans once known as Philippe Equality.  "A popular throne with
+republican institutions" thus replaced the absolute monarchy of the
+Bourbons.  There was an eager belief in other lands that the new King
+of France would support attempts to abolish tyranny, but Louis Philippe
+was afraid of losing power, and in Italy an insurrection in favour of
+the new freedom was overawed by an army sent from Austria.  The time
+was not yet come for the blow to be struck which would fulfil the
+object of the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P187"></A>187}</SPAN>
+Carbonari by driving every Austrian from their
+country.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mazzini passed into exile, realizing that there had been some fatal
+defect in the organization of a society whose attempts met with such
+failure.  He was confirmed in his belief that the youth of Italy must
+be roused and educated to win their own emancipation.  "Youth lives on
+freedom," he said, "grows great in enthusiasm and faith."  Then he made
+his appeal for the enrolment of these untried heroes.  "Consecrate them
+with a lofty mission; influence them with emulation and praise; spread
+through their ranks the word of fire, the word of inspiration; speak to
+them of country, of glory, of power, of great memories."  So he
+recalled the past to them, and the genius which had dazzled the world
+as it rose from the land of strange passion and strange beauty.  Dante
+was more than a poet to him.  He had felt the same love of unity, had
+looked to the future and seen the day when the bond-slave should shake
+off the yoke and declare a national unity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The young Italians rallied round the standard of the patriot, whose
+words lit in them the spark of sacrifice.  They received his
+adjurations gladly, promising to obey them.  He pointed out a thorny
+road, but the reward was at the end, the illumination of the soul which
+crowns each great endeavour.  Self had to be forgotten and family ties
+broken if they held back from the claims of country.  Mazzini thought
+the family sacred, but he bade parents give up their sons in time of
+national danger.  It was the duty of every father to fit his children
+to be citizens.  Humanity made demands which some could only satisfy by
+submitting to long martyrdom.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P188"></A>188}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+Mazzini himself had parted from the Genoese home, which was very
+desolate without the beautiful son of such brilliant promise.  He dwelt
+in miserable solitude, unable to marry the woman he loved because an
+exile could not offer to share his hearth with any.  He felt every pang
+of desolation, but he would never return to easy acceptance of an evil
+system.  He asked all from his followers and he gave all, declaring
+that it was necessary to make the choice between good and evil.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The work that was to create a mighty revolution began in a small room
+at Marseilles.  Austria would not give up her hold on Italy unless
+force expelled her from the country.  There must be war and there must
+be soldiers trained to fight together.  It seemed a hopeless enterprise
+for a few young men of very moderate means and ability, but young Italy
+grew and the past acquiescence could never be recovered.  Mazzini was
+light of heart as he wrote and printed, infecting his companions with
+the vivacity of his spirit.  He wore black still, but his cloak was of
+rich Genoese velvet.  The wide "Republican" hat did not conceal the
+long black curling hair that shaded features of almost perfect
+regularity.  His dark eyes, gaily flashing, drew the doubting toward
+confidence and strengthened those who already shared a like ideal.  He
+was a leader by nature and would work indefatigably, sharing generously
+the portion that was never plenteous.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Political pamphlets, written by an unwearied pen, were sent throughout
+Italy by very strange devices.  State was barred from state by many
+trade hindrances that prevented literature from circulating, and
+freedom of the press had been refused by Napoleon.  It was necessary
+for conspirators to have their own printing
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P189"></A>189}</SPAN>
+press, and conceal
+their contraband goods in barrels of pitch and in packets of sausages!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At Genoa, all classes were represented in the Young Italy which
+displaced the worn-out Carbonari.  There were seamen and artisans on
+the list, and Garibaldi, the gallant captain of the mercantile marine,
+swore devotion to the cause of freedom.  He had already won the hearts
+of every sailor in his crew, and made a name by writing excellent
+verses.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mazzini looked to Piedmont, the State of military traditions, for aid
+in the struggle that should make the Alps the boundary of a new Italian
+nation.  He wrote to Charles Albert, who professed liberal opinions,
+beseeching him to place himself at the head of the new party.  "Unite
+on your flag, Union, Liberty, and Independence!" he entreated.  "Free
+Italy from the barbarian, build up the future, be the Napoleon of
+Italian freedom.  Your safety lies in the sword's point; draw it, and
+throw away the scabbard.  But remember if you do it not, others will do
+it without you and against you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Thousands flocked to join the new association, which began to rouse the
+fears of mighty governments.  A military conspiracy was discovered,
+into which many non-commissioned officers had entered.  Humble
+sergeants were tried by court-martial, tortured to betray their
+confederates, and sentenced to death, giving the glory of martyrdom to
+the cause of Young Italy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mazzini lost the friend of his youth, Jacopo Ruffini, and the loss
+bowed him with a sense of calamity too heavy to be borne.  He had to
+remind himself that sacrifice was needful, and advance the preparations
+for a new attack under General Ramolino, who had
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P190"></A>190}</SPAN>
+served Napoleon.
+He was in exile at Geneva, and chose Savoy as the base of operations.
+The whole attempt failed miserably, and hardly a shot was fired.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Even the refuge in Switzerland was lost after this rising.  He fled
+from house to house, hunted and despairing with the curses of former
+allies in his ears now that he had brought distress upon them.  He
+could not even get books as a solace for his weary mind, and clothes
+and money were difficult to obtain since his friends knew how
+importunate was Young Italy in demands, and how easily he yielded to
+the beggar.  Bitterness came to him, threatening to mar his fine nature
+and depriving him of courage.  Italy had sunk into apathy again, and he
+knew not how to rouse her.  He bowed his head and asked pardon of God
+because he had dared to sacrifice in that last effort the lives of many
+others.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mazzini rose again, resolved to do without friends and kindred, if duty
+should forbid those consolations.  He thought of the lives of Juvenal,
+urging the Roman to ask for "the soul that has no fear of death and
+that endures life's pain and labour calmly."  He gave up dreams of love
+and ambition for himself, feeling that the only way for Italy to
+succeed was to place religion before politics.  The eighteenth century
+had rebelled for rights and selfish interests, and the nineteenth
+century was preparing to follow the same teaching.  Rights would not
+help to create the ideal government of Mazzini.  Men fought for the
+right to worship, and sometimes cared not to use the privilege when
+they had obtained it.  Men demanded votes and sold them, after making
+an heroic struggle.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1837, London received the exiles who could find no welcome
+elsewhere.  The fog and squalor of the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P191"></A>191}</SPAN>
+city offered a dreary
+prospect to patriots from a land of sun and colour.  Poverty cut them
+off from companionship with their equals.  Mazzini was content to live
+on rice and potatoes, but the brothers Ruffini had moments of reaction.
+The joint household suffered from an invasion of needy exiles.  There
+were quarrels and visits to the pawnshops.  Debt and the difficulty of
+earning money added a sordid element.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mazzini made some friends when the Ruffinis left England.  He knew
+Carlyle, the great historian, and visited his house frequently.  The
+two men differed on many points, but "served the same god" in
+essentials.  Carlyle had an admiration for the despot, while the
+Italian loathed tyranny.  There was hot debate in the drawing-room
+where the exile talked of freedom, blissfully unconscious that his wet
+boots were spoiling his host's carpet!  There were sublime discussions
+of the seer Dante, after which Carlyle would dismiss his guest in haste
+because he longed to return to his own study.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The prophet had lost his vision but it came back to him, working among
+the wretched little peasants, brought from Italy to be exploited by the
+organ-grinders.  He taught the boys himself and found friends to tend
+them.  Grisi, the famed singer, would help to earn money for the school
+in Hatton Garden.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To reach the working classes had become the great aspiration of
+Mazzini.  "Italy of the People" was the phrase he loved henceforward.
+He roused popular sympathy by a new paper which he edited, the
+<I>Apostolato Popolare</I>.  It served a definite end in rousing the spirit
+that was abroad, clamouring for nationalism.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Revolution broke out in 1847 when Sicily threw off the Bourbon yoke,
+and Naples obtained a constitution
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P192"></A>192}</SPAN>
+from King Ferdinand.  The
+Romans followed their lead, and Piedmont and Tuscany were not
+behindhand.  Joyful news came from Vienna, announcing Metternich driven
+from his seat of power.  One by one this minister's Italian puppets
+fell, surrendering weakly to the will of a triumphant people, and Italy
+could wave the flag "God and the People" everywhere save in the
+Austrian provinces and their dependent duchies.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mazzini returned to learn that he was regarded as the noble teacher of
+the patriotism which inspired the peninsula.  The years of loneliness
+and sorrow receded from his memory in that glad and glorious moment
+when he entered liberated Milan, borne in a victorious procession.
+Armies were gathering for the final tussle which should conclude the
+triumph of the first revolt.  Class prejudices were forgotten in the
+great crusade to free a nation.  Charles Albert led them, having taken
+his side at last; but he had no power to withstand the force of
+Austria, and he was forced to his knees while Northern Italy endured
+the humiliation of surrender.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mazzini carried the flag for Garibaldi in the vain hope that the
+victory of the people might atone for the conquest of the princes.  He
+went to Rome to witness her building of a new Republic.  It had long
+been in his mind that the Eternal City might become the centre of
+united Italy.  He felt a deep sense of awe as he received the honour of
+being made a Triumvir.  No party-spirit should guide the Republic while
+he held power as a ruler, no war of classes should divide the city.
+Long cherished ideals found him true, and inspired those who shared the
+government.  Priests were glad to be acquitted from the tyrannous power
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P193"></A>193}</SPAN>
+of a Pope who had now been driven from the city.  Some of the
+more zealous would have given up the observances of the Roman Catholic
+religion, but Mazzini was in favour of continuing the services.  He
+would not have confessional-boxes burnt, since confession had relieved
+the souls of believers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In private life, the Triumvir clung to simplicity that he might set an
+example in refusing to be separated from the working classes.  He dined
+very frugally, and chose the smallest room in the Quirinal for his
+dwelling.  He gave audience to any who sought him, and gave away
+strength and energy with the same generous spirit that inspired him to
+spend the modest salary attached to his office on his poorer brethren.
+He was bent on showing the strength of a Republic to all European
+cities that strove for the same freedom.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Pope tried to regain his authority, and found an ally in Louis
+Napoleon, a nephew of the great Emperor, who became president of the
+Republic which expelled the Citizen-King of France.  Louis was anxious
+to conciliate the French army and clergy.  He besieged Rome with an
+army of 85,000 men, and met with a brave resistance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were famous names in the list of Roman defenders&mdash;Mameli, the
+war-poet, and Ugo Bassi, the great preacher, fought under Garibaldi,
+the leader of the future.  Mazzini cried out on them that surrender was
+not for them.  "Monarchies may capitulate, republics die and bear their
+testimony even to martyrdom."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+On July 3rd, 1849, Rome fell before overwhelming numbers, though the
+conquerors were afraid to face the sullen foes who opposed them at the
+very gates of the doomed Republican stronghold.  The prophet lingered
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P194"></A>194}</SPAN>
+in the streets where he would have kept the flag flying which had
+been lowered by the Assembly.  He was grey with the fierce endurance of
+the two months' siege, but his heart bade him not desert his post from
+any fear of death.  Secretly he longed for the assassin's knife, for
+then he would have shed the blood of sacrifice for the cause of
+patriotism.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap17"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P195"></A>195}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter XVII
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+"For Italy and Victor Emmanuel!"
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The year of Revolution, beginning with most glorious hopes, ended
+disastrously for the Italian patriots.  Princes had allied with
+peasants in eager furtherance of the cause of freedom but defeat took
+away their faith.  The soldiers lost belief in the leaders of the
+movement and belief, alas! in the ideals for which they had been
+fighting.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Charles Albert, the King of Sardinia, continued to struggle on alone
+when adversities had deprived his most faithful partisans of their zeal
+for fighting.  He had once been uncertain and vacillating in mind, but
+he became staunch in his later days and able to reply courageously to
+the charges which his enemies brought against him.  He mustered some
+80,000 men and put them under Polish leaders&mdash;a grave mistake, since
+the soldiers were prejudiced by the strange foreign aspect of their
+officers and began the war without enthusiasm for their generals.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Field-Marshal Radetsky, a redoubtable enemy, only brought the same
+numbers to the field, but he had the advantage of being known as a
+conquering hero.  His cry was "To Turin!" but the bold Piedmontese
+rallied to defend their town and spread the news of joyful victory
+throughout the Italian peninsula.  Other
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P196"></A>196}</SPAN>
+defenders of liberty
+dared to raise their heads now, thought once more of Italy free and
+united.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the battle of Novara, fought on an April morning of 1849, the King
+of Sardinia gave up his throne, and longed for death that he might make
+some tardy recompense for the failure of his attempt to withstand the
+power of Austria.  "Let me die, this is my last day," he said when
+officers and men would have saved him from the fate of the 4000
+Sardinians who lay dead and wounded.  He was not suffered to meet death
+but rode away, pointing to his son Victor Emmanuel II as he left his
+army.  "There is your King!" he said, resigning all claim to royalty
+now that he had met defeat.  He promised that he would serve in the
+ranks as a private soldier if Italian troops made war again on Austria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After the disgrace of Novara and the flight from Rome it seemed that
+Mazzini could do nothing more for the cause of patriotism he had served
+so nobly.  He had given up hope of a great Italian Republic, and saw
+that men's hearts were turned toward the young King Victor and the
+monarchy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Yet Garibaldi, the soldier of fortune, had not renounced the
+aspirations of Mazzini, a leader to whom he had always been devoted.
+"When I was young I had only aspirations," he said.  "I sought out a
+man who could give me counsel and guide my youthful years; I sought him
+as the thirsty man seeks water.  This man I found; he alone kept alive
+the sacred fire; he alone watched while all the world slept; he has
+always remained my friend, full of love for his country, full of
+devotion for the cause of freedom: this man is Joseph Mazzini."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The worship of the prophet had led the gallant,
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P197"></A>197}</SPAN>
+daring sailor
+into hairbreadth escapes and strange vicissitudes of fortune.  He had
+been sentenced to death as "an enemy of the State and liable to all the
+penalties of a brigand of the first category."  He had fled to South
+America and ridden over the untrodden pampas, tasting the wild life of
+Nature with a keen enjoyment.  He had been a commander in the navy, and
+had defended Monte Video.  He had been imprisoned and tortured, and had
+taken Anita, daughter of Don Benito Riverio de Silva of Laguna to be
+his wife and the companion of his adventures.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Garibaldi could not afford even the priest's marriage fees for his life
+was always one of penury, so he gave him an old silver watch.  When he
+was Head of the Italian Legion he was content to sit in the dark,
+because he discovered that candles were not served out to the common
+soldiers.  The red shirts of his following had been bought originally
+for their cheapness, being intended for the use of men employed in the
+great cattle-markets of the Argentine.  The sordid origin of the
+<I>Camicia Rossa</I> was soon forgotten as it became the badge of honour.
+Its fame was sung in many foreign lands, and it generally figured in
+pictures of Garibaldi.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Legion created some alarm in Rome as they appeared&mdash;men with their
+dark faces surmounted by peaked hats and waving plumes.  Garibaldi
+himself rode on a white horse and attracted favourable notice, for he
+was a gallant horseman and his red shirt became him no less than the
+jaunty cap with its golden ornaments.  Three thousand men accepted the
+offer which the chief made when there was news that the French were
+advancing to the city.  He did not promise them gold nor distinction,
+but a chance of meeting
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P198"></A>198}</SPAN>
+their ancient enemy of Austria.  Cold and
+hunger would be theirs, and the weariness of constant marches.  Death
+would be the lot of many in their ranks, the cruel tortures of their
+gaolers.  All men were outlaws who had defended Rome, the Republic, to
+the last, and bread and water might be refused to them within the
+confines of their country.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The cry for war sounded, and Garibaldi led three thousand men,
+including Ugo Bassi and the noblest of knight-errants.  The attempt to
+reach Venice was frustrated by a storm, and Anita died miserably in a
+peasant's cottage, where she was dragged for shelter.  Garibaldi fled
+to the United States, and never saw again many of his bold companions.
+Venice was left of dire necessity to defend herself from Austria.  She
+had sworn to resist to the last, and President Manin refused to
+surrender even when cholera came upon the town and the citizens were
+famished.  He appealed to England, but only got advice to make terms
+with the besiegers.  He capitulated in the end because the town was
+bombarded by the Austrian army, and he feared that the conquerors would
+exercise a fell vengeance if the city still resisted.  There was
+nothing left to eat after the eighteen months' siege of Venice.  Manin
+left for Marseilles, mourned bitterly by the Venetians.  His very
+door-step was broken by the Austrians, who found his name upon it.  Ugo
+Bassi had kissed it, voicing the sentiment of many.  "Next to God and
+Italy&mdash;before the Pope&mdash;Manin!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Victor Emmanuel, the young King of Sardinia, had won no such
+popularity, suffering from the prejudice against his family, the House
+of Savoy, and against his wife, an Austrian by birth.  He came to the
+throne at a dark time, succeeding to a royal inheritance of
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P199"></A>199}</SPAN>
+ruin
+and misery.  The army had been disgraced, and the exchequer was empty.
+He had the dignity of a king and remarkable boldness, but it would have
+been hard for him to have guided Italy without his adviser and friend,
+the Count Cavour.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mazzini, the prophet, and Garibaldi, the soldier, had won the hearts of
+Italians devoted to the cause of Italy.  Cavour suffered the same
+distrust as Victor Emmanuel, but he knew his task and performed it.  He
+was the statesman who made the government and created the present
+stable monarchy.  He had to be satisfied with less than the Republican
+enthusiasts.  He had few illusions, and believed that in politics it
+was possible to choose the end but rarely possible to choose the means.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Born in Piedmont in 1810, the statesman was of noble birth and
+sufficient wealth, being a godson of Pauline, sister of the great
+Napoleon.  He joined the army as an engineer in 1828, but found the
+life little to his taste since he was not allowed to express his
+opinions freely.  He resigned in 1831 and retired to the country, where
+he was successful as a farmer.  He travelled extensively for those
+days, and visited England, where he studied social problems.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Of all foreigners, Cavour, perhaps, benefited most largely by a study
+of the English Parliament from the outside.  He was present at debates,
+and wrote articles on Free Trade and the English Poor Law.  He had
+enlightened views, and wished to promote the interests of Italy by
+raising her to the position of a power in Europe.  He set to work to
+bring order into the finances of Sardinia, but the King recognized his
+minister's unpopularity by the nickname <I>bestia neira</I>.  He had a seat
+in 1848 in the first Parliament of
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P200"></A>200}</SPAN>
+Piedmont, and was Minister of
+Commerce and Agriculture later.  He pushed on reforms to benefit the
+trade and industries of Italy without troubling to consult the
+democrats, his enemies.  His policy was liberal, but he intended to go
+slowly.  "Piedmont must begin by raising herself, by re-establishing in
+Europe as well as in Italy, a position and a credit equal to her
+ambition.  Hence there must be a policy unswerving in its aims but
+flexible and various as to the means employed."  Cavour's character was
+summed up in these words.  He distrusted violent measures, and yet
+could act with seeming rashness in a crisis when prudence would mean
+failure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Prime Minister in 1852, he saw an opportunity two years later of
+winning fame for Piedmont.  The Russians were resisting the western
+powers which defended the dominions of the Porte.  Ministers resigned
+and the country marvelled, but Cavour signed a pledge to send forces of
+15,000 men to the Crimea to help Turkey against Russia.  It would be
+well to prove that Italy retained the military virtues of her history
+after the defeat of Novara, he said in reply to all expostulations.
+The result showed the statesman's wisdom and justified his daring.  The
+Sardinians distinguished themselves in the Crimea, and Italy was able
+to enter into negotiations with the great European powers who arranged
+the Peace of Paris.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Congress of Paris was the time for Cavour to gain sympathy for the
+woes of Italian states, still subject to the tyrannous sway of Austria.
+He denounced the enslavement of Naples also, and brought odium upon
+King Ferdinand, but "Austria," he said, "is the arch-enemy of Italian
+independence; the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P201"></A>201}</SPAN>
+permanent danger to the only free nation in
+Italy, the nation I have the honour to represent."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+England confined herself to expressions of sympathy, but Louis
+Napoleon, now Emperor of France, seemed likely to become an ally.  He
+met Cavour at Plombières, a watering place in the Vosges, in July 1858,
+and entered into a formal compact to expel the Austrians from Italy.
+The final arrangements were made in the following spring in Paris.  "It
+is done," said Cavour, the minister triumphant.  "We have made some
+history, and now to dinner."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mazzini, in England, read of the alliance with gloomy misgivings, for,
+as a Republican, he distrusted the President of France who had made
+himself an Emperor.  He said that Napoleon III would work now for his
+own ends.  He protested in vain.  Garibaldi rejoiced and returned from
+Caprera, where he had been trying to plant a garden on a barren island.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Cavour fought against some prejudice when he offered to enrol Garibaldi
+and his followers in the army of Sardinia.  Charles Albert had refused
+the hero's sword in the days of his bitter struggle, and the regular
+officers still looked askance on the Revolutionary captain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the Austrian troops were countless, numbering recruits from the
+Tyrol and Bohemia, from the valleys of Styria and the Hungarian
+steppes.  There was need of a vast army to oppose them.  The French
+soldiers fought gallantly, yet they were inferior to the Austrians in
+discipline.  When the allies had won the hard contested fight of
+Montebello it was good to think of that band of 3000, singing as they
+marched, "<I>Addio mia bella, addio</I>," like the knights of legend.  They
+crossed Lake Maggiore into the enemy's own
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P202"></A>202}</SPAN>
+country, and took all
+the district of the Lowland Lakes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In June, the allies won the victory of Magenta, and on the 8th of that
+month, King and Emperor entered Milan flushed with victory.  The
+Austrians had fled, and the keys of the city were in the possession of
+Victor Emmanuel.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Emperor of Austria, Francis Joseph, had assumed command of the army
+when the great battle of Solferino was fought amidst the wondrous
+beauty of Italian scenery in an Italian summer.  It was June 24th, and
+the peasant reaped the harvest of Lombardy, wondering if he should reap
+for the conqueror the next day.  The French officers won great glory as
+they charged up the hills, which must be taken before they could
+succeed in storming Solferino.  After a fierce struggle of six hours,
+the streets of the little town were filled with the bodies of the dead
+and dying.  By the evening, the victory of the allies over Austria was
+certain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon III had kept his promise to the Italian people, who were
+encouraged by a success of the Piedmontese army under Victor Emmanuel
+at San Martino.  But he disappointed them cruelly by stopping short in
+his victorious career and sending General Fleury to the Austrian camp
+to demand an armistice.  Europe was amazed when the preliminaries of
+peace were signed, for it was generally expected that Austria would be
+brought to submission.  Italy was in despair, for Venetia had not yet
+been won for them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Cavour raged with fury, regretting that he had trusted Napoleon and
+trusted his King, Victor Emmanuel, who agreed to the proposals for an
+armistice.  Now he heaped them with reproaches because they had
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P203"></A>203}</SPAN>
+given up the Italian cause.  He resigned office in bitterness for it
+was he who had concluded the alliance of France and Italy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon returned to France, pursued by the indignation of the country
+he had come to deliver.  He complained of their ingratitude, though he
+might have known that Lombardy would not accept freedom at the cost of
+Venice.  He was execrated when the price of his assistance was
+demanded.  France claimed Nice and Savoy as French provinces
+henceforth.  Savoy was the country of Victor Emmanuel, and Nice the
+honoured birthplace of the idolized Garibaldi!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Garibaldi was chosen by the people of Nice for the new Chamber of 1860,
+for they hoped that he would make an effort to save his native town.
+He had some idea of raising a revolution against French rule, but
+decided to free Sicily as a mightier enterprise.  Victor Emmanuel
+completed the sacrifice which gave "the cradle of his race" to the
+foreigner.  He was reconciled to the cession at length because he
+believed that Italy had gained much already.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Cavour did not openly approve of the attack which Garibaldi was
+preparing to make upon the Bourbon's sovereignty.  Many said that he
+did his best to frustrate the plans of the soldier because there was
+hostility between them.  Garibaldi could not forgive the cession of
+Nice to which the statesmen had, ere this, assented.  He was bitter in
+his feeling toward Victor Emmanuel's minister, but he was loyal to
+Victor Emmanuel.  His band of volunteers, known as the Thousand,
+marched in the King's name, and the chief refused to enrol those whose
+Republican sentiments made them dislike the idea of Italian unity.
+"Italy and Victor Emmanuel,"
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P204"></A>204}</SPAN>
+the cry of the Hunters of the Alps,
+was the avowed object of his enterprise.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Garibaldi sailed amid intense excitement, proudly promising "a new and
+glorious jewel" to the King of Sardinia, if the venture were
+successful.  The standard of revolt had already been raised by Rosaline
+Pilo, the handsome Sicilian noble, whose whole life had been devoted to
+the cause of country.  The insurgents awaited Garibaldi with a feverish
+desire for success against the Neapolitan army, which numbered 150,000
+men.  They knew that the leader brought only few soldiers but that they
+were picked men.  Strange stories had been told of Garibaldi's success
+in warfare, being due to supernatural intervention.  The prayers of his
+beautiful old peasant-mother were said to have prevailed till her
+death, when her spirit came to hold converse with the hero before
+battle.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-204"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-204.jpg" ALT="The Meeting of Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi (Pietro Aldi)" BORDER="2" WIDTH="585" HEIGHT="466">
+<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 585px">
+The Meeting of Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi (Pietro Aldi)
+</H3>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+The Red-shirts landed at Marsala, a thousand strong, packed into
+merchant vessels by a patriotic owner.  Garibaldi led them to the
+mountain city of Salemi, which had opposed the Bourbon dynasty warmly.
+There he proclaimed himself dictator of Sicily in the name of Victor
+Emmanuel, soon to be ruler of all Italy.  Peasants joined the Thousand,
+armed with rusty pistols and clad in picturesque goat-skins.  They were
+received with honour by the chief, who was pleased to see that Sicily
+was bent on freedom.  A Franciscan friar threw himself upon his knees
+before the mighty leader and asked to join the expedition.  "Come with
+us, you will be our Ugo Bassi," Garibaldi said, remembering with a pang
+the defence of Rome and the fate of the defenders.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At Palermo, the capital of Sicily, the Neapolitan soldiers were
+awaiting the arrival of the Thousand.  They ventured to attack first,
+being very strong in
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P205"></A>205}</SPAN>
+numbers.  The bravest might have feared to
+oppose the royal troops with such a disadvantage, but Garibaldi held
+firm when there were murmurs of surrender.  "Here we <I>die</I>," he said,
+and the great miracle was accomplished.  "Yesterday we fought and
+conquered," the chief wrote to the almost despairing Pilo.  The two
+forces joined and Pilo fell, struck by a bullet.  It was May 27th when
+Garibaldi entered the gates of Palermo.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The bells were hammered by the inhabitants, delighted to welcome the
+brave Thousand to their city.  There was still a fierce struggle within
+the walls, and the Neapolitan fleet bombarded the town.  An armistice
+was granted on May 30th, for the Royalists needed food and did not
+realize that Garibaldi's ammunition was exhausted.  He refused to
+submit to any humiliating terms that might be offered to Palermo.  He
+threatened to renew hostilities if the enemy still thought of them.
+All declared for war, though they knew how such a war must have ended.
+It was by the Royalists' act that the evacuation of the city was
+concluded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Revolution had succeeded elsewhere, and for the last time the
+Bourbon flag was hoisted in Sicilian waters.  The conquest of Sicily
+had occupied but a few days.  The Dictator proceeded thence to the
+south of Italy and advanced on the Neapolitan kingdom.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Victor Emmanuel would have checked the hero of Palermo, and Cavour was
+thoroughly uneasy.  No official consent had been given for this daring
+act of aggression, and foreign powers wrote letters of protest, while
+King Francis II, the successor of Ferdinand, held out such bribes as
+fifty million francs and the Neapolitan navy to aid in liberating
+Venice.  France induced the King of Sardinia to make an effort to
+restrain the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P206"></A>206}</SPAN>
+popular soldier.  Garibaldi promised Victor Emmanuel
+to obey him when he had made him King of Italy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At Volturno the decisive battle was fought on the first day of October
+1860, the birthday of King Francis.  "Victory all along the line" was
+the message sent by Garibaldi to Naples after ten hours' fighting.
+There had been grave fears expressed by Cavour that the army would
+march on Rome and expel the French after this conclusion.  But the King
+was advancing toward the south of Italy to prevent any move which would
+provoke France, and Garibaldi, marching north, dismounted from his
+horse when he met the Piedmontese, and walking up to Victor Emmanuel,
+hailed him King of Italy.  Naples and Sicily, with Umbria and the
+Marches, decided in favour of a united sceptre under the House of
+Savoy.  It was Garibaldi's proclamation to the people which urged them
+to receive the new King with peace and affection.  "No more political
+colours, no more parties, no more discords," he hoped there would be
+from the 7th of November, 1860.  It was on that day that the king-maker
+and the King together entered Naples.  Garibaldi refused all the
+honours which his sword had won, and left for his island-home at
+Caprera, a poor man still, but one whose name could stir all Europe.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Italian kingdom was proclaimed by the new Parliament which met in
+February 1861, at Turin.  All parts of Italy were represented save Rome
+and Venice, and King Victor Emmanuel II entered on his reign as ruler
+of Italy "by the Grace of God and the will of the nation."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap18"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P207"></A>207}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter XVIII
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Third Napoleon
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Italy was free, but Italy was not yet united as patriots such as
+Garibaldi had hoped that it might be.  Venice and Rome must be added to
+the possessions of Victor Emmanuel before he could boast that he held
+beneath his sway all Italy between the Alps and Adriatic.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Rome, the dream of heroes, was in the power of a Pope who had to be
+maintained in his authority by a garrison of the French.  Napoleon III
+clung to his alliance with the Catholic Church, and refused to withdraw
+his troops and leave his Papal ally defenceless, for he cared nothing
+about the views of Italian dreamers who longed that the Eternal City
+should be free.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was romance in the life-story of this French Emperor upon whose
+support so many allies had come to depend.  He was the son of Louis
+Buonaparte and Hortense Beauharnais, who was the daughter of the
+Empress Josephine.  During the reign of Louis Philippe, this nephew of
+the great usurper had spent his time in dreary exile, living in London
+for the most part, and concealing a character of much ambition beneath
+a moody silent manner.  He visited France in 1840 and tried to gain the
+throne, but was unsuccessful, for he was committed to the fortress of
+Ham, a state prison.  He escaped in the disguise of a workman, and made
+a second
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P208"></A>208}</SPAN>
+attempt to stir the mob of Paris to revolution in the
+year 1848, when Europe was restless with fierce discontent.  The King
+fled for his life, and a Republic was formed again with Louis Napoleon
+as President, but this did not satisfy a descendant of the great
+Buonaparte.  He managed by the help of the army to gain the Imperial
+crown, never worn by the second Napoleon, who died when he was still
+too young to show whether he possessed the characteristics of his
+family.  Henceforth Napoleon III of France could no longer be regarded
+as a mere adventurer.  The Pope had come to depend on French troops for
+his authority, and the Italians had to pay a heavy price for French
+arms in their struggle against Austria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Paris renewed its gaiety when Napoleon married his beautiful Spanish
+wife, Eugénie, who had royal pride though she was not of royal birth.
+There were hunting parties again, when the huntsmen wore brave green
+and scarlet instead of the Bourbon blue and silver; there were court
+fêtes, which made the entertainments of Louis Philippe, the honest
+Citizen-King, seem very dull in retrospect.  The Spanish Empress longed
+to rival the fame of Marie Antoinette, the Austrian wife of Louis XVI
+who had followed that King to the scaffold.  Like Marie Antoinette, she
+was censured for extravagances, the marriage being unpopular with all
+classes.  The bourgeoisie or middle class refused to accept the
+Emperor's plea that it was better to mate with a foreigner of ordinary
+rank than to attempt to aggrandize the new empire by union with the
+daughter of some despotic king.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Yet France amused herself eagerly at the famous fêtes and hunts of
+Compiègne, while the third Napoleon craftily began to develop his
+scheme for obtaining
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P209"></A>209}</SPAN>
+influence in Europe that should make him as
+great a man as the Corsican whom all had dreaded.  The Emperor's
+insignificant appearance deceived many of his compeers, who were
+inclined to look on him as a ruler who would be content to take a
+subordinate place in international affairs.  He dressed in odd,
+startling colours, and moved awkwardly; his eyes were strangely
+impenetrable, and he seemed listless and indifferent, even when he was
+meditating some subtle plan with which to startle Europe.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dark stories were told of the part Napoleon played in the Crimean War,
+when Turkey demanded help against Russia, which was crippling her army
+and her fleet.  Many suspected that the French Emperor used England as
+his catspaw, and saw that the English troops bore the brunt of all the
+terrible disasters which befell the invaders of the south of Russia.
+Alma, Balaclava, and Inkerman were victories ever memorable, because
+the heroes of those battles had to fight against more sinister foes
+than the Russian troops they defeated in the field.  Stores of food and
+clothes were delayed too long before they reached the exhausted
+soldiers, and there was suspicion of unjust favour shown to the French
+soldiers when their English allies sought a healthy camping-ground.
+The war ended in 1855 with the fall of Sebastopol, and it was notable
+afterwards that the Napoleonic splendour increased vastly, that the
+sham royalty seemed resolved to entertain the royal visitors who had
+once looked askance at him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+France began to believe that no further Revolution could disturb the
+Second Empire, which was secure in pride at least.  Yet Austria was
+crushed by Prussia at the great battle of Sadowa in 1866, and the
+Prussian state was advancing rapidly under the government of
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P210"></A>210}</SPAN>
+a
+capable minister and king.  There were few Frenchmen who had realized
+the importance of King Wilhelm's act when he summoned Herr Otto von
+Bismarck from his Pomeranian estates to be his chief political adviser.
+The fast increasing strength of the Prussian forces did not
+sufficiently impress Napoleon, who had embarked on a foolish expedition
+to Mexico to place an Austrian archduke on the throne, once held by the
+ancient Montezumas.  The news of Sadowa wrung "a cry of agony" from his
+court of the Tuileries, where everyone had confidently expected the
+victory of Austria.  Napoleon might have arbitrated between the two
+countries, but he let the golden opportunity slip by in one of those
+half-sullen passive moods which came upon him when he felt the
+depression of his bodily weakness.  Prussia began to lay the foundation
+of German unity, excluding Austria from her territory.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon handed over Venice to Italy when it was ceded to him at the
+close of the Austrian war, and Garibaldi followed up this cession by an
+attempt on Rome, which he resolved should be the capital of Italy.  He
+defeated the Papal troops at Monte Rotondo, which commanded Rome on the
+north, but he was defeated by French troops at the battle of Mentana.
+The repulse of the Italian hero increased the national dislike of
+French interference, but Napoleon only consented to evacuate Rome in
+1870 when he had need of all his soldiers to carry out his boast that
+he would "chastise the insolence of the King of Prussia."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Franco-Prussian War arose nominally from the quarrel about the
+throne of Spain, to which a prince of the Hohenzollern house had put in
+a claim, first obtaining permission from Wilhelm I to accept the
+dignity.  This prince, Leopold, was not a member of the Prussian
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P211"></A>211}</SPAN>
+royal family, but he was a Prussian subject and a distant kinsman of
+the Kaiser.  It was quite natural, therefore, that he should ask the
+royal sanction for his act and quite natural that Wilhelm should give
+it his approval if Spain made the offer of the crown.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon sought some cause of difference with Prussia, because Bismarck
+had refused to help him to win Belgium and Luxemburg in 1869.  He was
+jealous of this new military power, for his own fame was far
+outstripped by the feats of arms accomplished by the forces of General
+von Moltke, the Prussian general.  He thought that war against his
+rival might help him to regain the admiration of the French.  They were
+humiliated by the failure of the Mexican design and saw fresh danger
+for their country in Italian unity and the new confederation of North
+Germany.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Napoleon, racked by disease, might have checked his own ambition if his
+Empress had not been too eager for a war.  He was misled by Marshal
+Leboeuf into fancying that his own army was efficient enough to
+undertake any military campaign.  He allowed his Cabinet to demand from
+Wilhelm I that Prince Leopold's claim to the Spanish crown, which had
+been withdrawn, should never be renewed by the sanction of Prussia at
+least.  The unreasonable demand was refused, and France declared war in
+July 1870, eighteen years after the new empire had risen on the ruins
+of the Republic of the French.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The other European powers would not enter this war, though England
+offered to mediate between the rival powers.  France and Prussia had to
+test the strength of their armies without allies, and neither thought
+how terrible the cost would be of that long national jealousy.
+Napoleon took the field himself, leaving Eugénie as
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P212"></A>212}</SPAN>
+Regent of the
+French, and the King of Prussia led his own army with General Von
+Moltke and General Von Roon in command.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The French army invaded South Germany, but had to retreat in disorder
+after the battle of Worth.  The battle of Sedan on September 1st, 1870,
+brought the war to a conclusion, the French being routed and forced to
+lay down their arms.  Napoleon had fought with courage, but was obliged
+to surrender his sword to Wilhelm I upon the battlefield.  He declared
+that he gave up his person only, but France herself was forced to yield
+after the capitulation of Metz, which had resisted Prussia stoutly.
+The Empress had fled to England and the Emperor had been deposed.
+France was once more a Republic when the siege of Paris was begun.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The citizens showed strange insensibility to the danger that they ran,
+for they asserted that the Germans dared not invest the town.
+Nevertheless, Parisians drilled and armed with vigour as Prussian
+shells burst outside the walls and the clang of bells replaced the
+sounds of mirth that were habitual to Paris.  Theatres were closed, to
+the dismay of the frivolous, whom no alarm of war would turn from their
+ordinary pursuits.  The Opera House became a barracks, for the camps
+could not hold the crowds that flocked there from the provinces.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Still many ridiculed the idea of investment by the Prussian troops, and
+householders did not prepare for the famine that came on them unawares.
+People supped in gaily-lighted cafés and took their substantial meals
+without thought of the morrow.  There were fewer women in the streets
+and the workmen carried rifles, but the shops were still attractive in
+their wares.  The fear of spies occupied men's thoughts rather than
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P213"></A>213}</SPAN>
+the fear of hunger&mdash;a foreign accent was suspicious enough to
+cause arrest!  There were few Englishmen in the capital, but those few
+ran the risk of being mistaken for Prussians, since the lower classes
+did not distinguish between foreigners.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Paris was invested on September 19th, 1870, and the citizens had
+experienced terrible want.  In October Wilhelm established his
+headquarters at Versailles, part of the French Government going to
+Tours.  Gambetta, the new minister, made every effort to secure help
+for France.  He departed from Paris in a balloon, and carrier pigeons
+were sent in the same way to take news to the provinces and bring back
+offers of assistance.  Strange expedients for food had been proposed
+already, and all supplies were very dear.  Horseflesh was declared to
+be nutritious, and scientists demonstrated the valuable properties of
+gelatine.  Housewives pored over cookery-books to seek for ways of
+using what material they had when beef and butter failed.  A learned
+professor taught them how to grow salads and asparagus on the balconies
+in front of windows.  The seed-shops were stormed by enthusiasts who
+took kindly to this new idea.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Gambetta's ascent in the balloon relieved anxiety for a time, because
+every Parisian expected that help would come.  But soon gas could not
+be spared to inflate balloons and sturdy messengers were in request who
+dared brave the Prussian lines.  Sheep-dogs were sent out as carriers
+after several attempts had been frustrated, but the Prussian sentries
+seized the animals, and pigeons were soon the only means of
+communication with the provinces.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Parisians clamoured for the theatres to be opened, though they felt
+the pangs of hunger now.  They
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P214"></A>214}</SPAN>
+retorted readily when there was
+some speech of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.  Their city was not yet
+on fire, they said, and Napoleon, the Nero of the catastrophe, could
+not fiddle because he had no ear for music!  The Cirque National was
+opened on October 23rd, though fuel was running short and the cold
+weather would soon come.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In winter prices rose for food that the fastidious had rejected earlier
+in the siege.  A rat cost a franc, and eggs were sold at 80 francs the
+dozen.  Beef and mutton had disappeared entirely from the stalls, and
+butter reached the price of fifty francs the demi-kilogramme.  The poor
+suffered horrible privations, and many children died from the effect of
+bread soaked in wine, for milk was a ridiculous price.  Nevertheless,
+four hundred marriages were celebrated, and Paris did not talk of
+surrender to their Prussian foes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Through October and November poultry shops displayed an occasional
+goose or pigeon, but the sight of a turkey caused a crowd to collect,
+and everyone envied those who could afford to purchase rabbits even
+though they paid no less than 50 francs.  Soon dogs and cats were
+rarely seen in Paris, and bear's flesh was sold and eaten with avidity.
+At Christmas and New Year very few shops displayed the usual gifts, for
+German toys were not popular at the festive season and the children of
+the siege talked mournfully of their "New Year's Day without the New
+Year's gifts."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Shells crashed into houses in January of 1871, an event most startling
+to Parisians, who had expected a formal summons to surrender before
+such acts took place.  After the first shock of surprise there was no
+shriek of fear.  Capitulation was negotiated on January 26th, not on
+account of this new danger, but
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P215"></A>215}</SPAN>
+because there was no longer bread
+for the citizens to buy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Gambetta resisted to the last, but his dictatorship was ended, and a
+National Assembly at Bordeaux elected M. Thiers their president.  By
+the treaty of Frankfort, signed in May 1871, France ceded Alsace and
+Lorraine to Prussia, together with the forts of Metz, Longwy and
+Thionville.  She had also to pay a war indemnity of 200,000,000 pounds
+sterling.  By the exertions of Bismarck, the imperial crown was placed
+upon the head of Wilhelm I, and the conqueror of France was hailed as
+Emperor of United Germany in the Great Hall of Mirrors at Versailles by
+representatives of the leading European states.  The German troops were
+withdrawn from Paris, where civil war raged for some six weeks, the
+great buildings of the city being burned to the ground.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Europe was satisfied that united Germany should take the place of
+Imperial France, whose policy had been purely personal and selfish
+since its first foundation in 1852.  The fall of Napoleon III caused
+little regret at any court, for he had all the unscrupulous ambition of
+his mighty predecessor, without the genius of the First Napoleon.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap19"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P216"></A>216}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter XIX
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Reformer of the East
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Italy had won unity after a gallant struggle, and Greece some fifty
+years before revolted from the barbarous Turks and became an
+independent kingdom.  The traditions of the past had helped these,
+since volunteers remembered times when art and beauty had dwelt upon
+the shores of the tideless Mediterranean.  Song and romance haloed the
+name of Kossuth's race when the patriot rose to free Hungary from the
+harsh tyranny of Austria.  General sympathy with the revolutionary
+spirit was abroad in 1848, when the tyrant Metternich resigned and
+acknowledged that the day of absolutism was over.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was otherwise with the revolting Poles, who dwelt too far from the
+nations of the West to rouse their passionate sympathies.  France
+promised to help their cause, but failed them in the hour of peril.
+Poland made a desperate struggle to assert her independence in 1830,
+when Nicholas the Autocrat was reigning over Russia.  The Poles entered
+Lithuania, which they would have reunited with their ancient kingdom,
+but were completely defeated, losing Warsaw, their capital, and their
+Church and language, as well as their own administration.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Under Nicholas I, a ruler devoted to the military power of his Empire,
+there was little chance of freedom.  He had himself no love of the West
+and the bold reforms
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P217"></A>217}</SPAN>
+which might bring him enlightened and
+discontented subjects.  He crushed into abject submission all opposed
+to his authority.  The blunt soldier would cling obstinately to the
+ancient Muscovy of Peter.  He shut his eyes to the passing of
+absolutism in Europe and died, as he had reigned, the protector of the
+Orthodox Church of Russia, the sworn foe of revolutionaries.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Alexander II succeeded his father while the Crimean war was distracting
+the East by new problems and new warfare.  Christian allies fought for
+the Infidel, and France and England declared themselves to be on the
+side of Turkey.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the famous siege of Sebastopol, a young Russian officer was fighting
+for promotion.  He wrote vivid descriptions of the battle-fields and
+armies.  He wrote satirical verses on the part played by his own
+country.  Count Leo Tolstoy was only a sub-lieutenant who had lived
+gaily at the University of Kazan and shared most of the views of his
+own class when he petitioned to be sent to the Crimea.  The brave
+conduct of the private soldiers fighting steadfastly, without thought
+of reward or fear of death, impressed the Count, with his knowledge of
+the self-seeking, ambitious nobles.  He began to love the peasantry he
+had seen as dim, remote shadows about his father's estate in the
+country.  There he had learnt not to treat them brutally, after the
+fashion of most landowners, but it was not till he was exposed to the
+rough life of the bastion with Alexis, a serf presented to him when he
+went to the University, that Tolstoy acquired that peculiar affection
+for the People which was not then characteristic of the Russian.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After the war the young writer found that, if he had not attained any
+great rank in the army, high honours were awarded him in literature.
+Turgeniev, the veteran
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P218"></A>218}</SPAN>
+novelist, was ready to welcome him as an
+equal.  The gifted officer was flattered and fêted to his heart's
+content before a passionate love of truth withdrew him from society.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After the death of Nicholas reaction set in, as was inevitable, and
+Alexander II was eager to adopt the progress of the West.  The German
+writers began to describe the lives of humble people, and their books
+were read in other lands.  Russia followed with descriptions of life
+under natural conditions, the silence of the steppes and the solitude
+of the forest where hunter and trapper followed their pursuits far from
+society.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Tolstoy set out for Germany in 1857, anxious to study social conditions
+that he might learn how to raise the hapless serfs of Russia, bound,
+patient and inarticulate, at the feet of landowners, longing for
+independence, perhaps, when they suffered any terrible act of
+injustice, but patient in the better times when there was food and
+warmth and a master of comparatively unexacting temper.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Tolstoy had already written <I>Polikoushka</I>, a peasant story which
+attracted some attention.  He was in love with the words People and
+Progress, and spoke them continually, trampling upon conventions.  A
+desire to be original had been strong within him when he followed the
+usual pursuits of Russians of fashion.  He delighted in this wandering
+in unknown tracks where none had preceded him.  He was sincere, but he
+had not yet taken up his life-work.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At Lucerne he was filled with bitterness against the rich visitors at a
+hotel who refused to give alms to a wandering musician.  He took the
+man to his table and offered wine for his refreshment.  The indignation
+of the other guests made him dwell still more fiercely upon
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P219"></A>219}</SPAN>
+the
+callousness of those who neglect their poorer neighbours.  Yet the
+quixotic noble was still sumptuous in his dress and spent much time on
+the sports which had been the pastimes of his boyhood.  He nearly lost
+his life attempting to shoot a she-bear in the forest.  The beast drew
+his face into her mouth and got her teeth in the flesh near the left
+eye.  The intrepid sportsman escaped, but he bore the marks for long
+afterwards.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1861 a new era began in Russia, and a new period in Tolstoy's life,
+which was henceforward bound up with the history of the country folk.
+Alexander II issued a decree of emancipation for the serf, and Tolstoy
+was one of the arbitrators appointed to supervise the distribution of
+the land, to arrange the taxes and decide conditions of purchase.  For
+each peasant received an allotment of land, subject for sixty years to
+a special land-tax.  In their ignorance, the serfs were likely to sell
+themselves into new slavery where the proprietors felt disposed to
+drive hard bargains.  Many landlords tried to allot land with no
+pasture, so that the rearer of cattle had to hire at an exorbitant
+rate.  There had been two ways of holding serfs before&mdash;the more
+primitive method of obliging them to work so many days a week for the
+master before they could provide for their own wants, and the more
+enlightened manner of exacting only <I>obrók</I>, or yearly tribute.
+Tolstoy had already allowed his serf to "go on <I>obrók</I>," but, according
+to himself, he did nothing very generous when the new act was passed
+providing for emancipation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He defended the freed men as far as possible, however, from the tyranny
+of other landowners, who began to dislike him very thoroughly.  He had
+won the poor from their distrust by an experiment in education which he
+tried at his native place of Yasnaya Polyana.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P220"></A>220}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+The school opened by Count Tolstoy was a "free"; school in every sense
+of the word, which was then becoming popular.  The children paid no
+fees and were not obliged to attend regularly.  They ran in and out as
+they pleased and had no fear of punishments.  It was a firm belief of
+the master that compulsory learning was quite useless.  He taught in
+the way that the pupils wished to learn, humbly accepting their views
+on the matter.  Vivid narration delighted the eager peasant boys in
+their rough sheepskins and woollen scarves.  They would cry "Go on, go
+on," when the lesson should have ended.  Any who showed weariness were
+bidden to "go to the little ones."  At first, the peasants were afraid
+of the school, hearing wonderful stories of what happened there.  They
+gained confidence at length, and then the government became suspicious.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Tolstoy had given up his work with a feeling of dissatisfaction and
+retired to a wild life with the Bashkirs in the steppes, where he hoped
+to recover bodily health, when news came that the schools had been
+searched and the teachers arrested.  The effect on the ignorant was to
+make Tolstoy seem a criminal.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Hatred of a government, where such a search could be conducted with
+impunity, was not much modified by the Emperor's expression of regret
+for what had happened.  The pond on Tolstoy's estate had been dragged,
+and cupboards and boxes in his own house opened, while the floor of the
+stables was broken up with crowbars.  Even the diary and letters of an
+intimate character which had been kept secret from the Count's own
+family were read aloud by gendarmes.  In a fit of rage, the reformer
+wrote of giving up his house and leaving Russia "where one cannot know
+from moment to moment what awaits one."
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P221"></A>221}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+In 1862 Tolstoy married Sophia Behrs, the daughter of a Russian
+physician.  He began to write again, feeling less zeal for social work
+and the need to earn money for his family.  The <I>Cossacks</I> described
+the wild pleasures of existence away from civilization, where all joys
+arise from physical exertion.  Tolstoy had known such a life during a
+sojourn in the Caucasus.  It attracted him especially, for he was an
+admiring follower of Rousseau in the glorification of a return to
+Nature.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+On the estate of Yasnaya there was work to be done, for agricultural
+labour meant well-cultivated land, and that meant prosperity.  A large
+family was sheltered beneath the roof where simplicity ruled, and yet
+much comfort was enjoyed.  Tolstoy wore the rough garments of a
+peasant, and delighted in the idea that he was often taken for a
+peasant though he had once been sorely troubled by his blunt features
+and lack of physical beauty.  Family cares absorbed him, and the books
+he now gave to the world in constant succession.  His name was spoken
+everywhere, and many visitors disturbed his seclusion.  <I>War and
+Peace</I>, a description of Napoleonic times in Russia, found scant favour
+with Liberals or Conservatives in the East, but it ranked as a great
+work of fiction.  <I>Anna Karenina</I> gave descriptions of society in town
+and country that were unequalled even by Turgeniev, the writer whose
+friendship with Tolstoy was often broken by fierce quarrels.  The
+reformer's nature suffered nothing artificial.  He sneered at formal
+charity and a pretence of labour.  Hearing that Turgeniev's young
+daughter sat dressed in silks to mend the torn and ragged garments of
+poverty, as part of her education, he commented with his usual
+harshness.  The comment was not forgiven, and strife separated men who
+had, nevertheless, a
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P222"></A>222}</SPAN>
+curious attraction for each other.  Fet, the
+Russian poet was, indeed, the only friend in the literary world
+fortunate enough always to win the great novelist's approbation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the sons grew up, the family had to spend part of the year in Moscow
+that the lads might attend the University.  It was necessary to live
+with the hospitality of Russians of the higher class, and division
+crept into the household where father and mother had been remarkable
+for their strong affection.  Tolstoy wore the sheepskin of the labourer
+and the felt cap and boots, and he ate his simple meal of porridge at a
+table where others dined with less frugality.  He had given up the
+habits of his class when he was fifty and adopted those of the
+peasantry.  In the country he rose early, going out to the fields to
+work for the widow and orphan who might need his service.  He hoped to
+find the mental ease of the manual labourer by entering on these
+duties, but his mind was often troubled by religious questions.  He was
+serving God, as he deemed it, after a period of unbelief natural to
+young men of his station.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had learnt to make boots and shoes and was proud of his skill as a
+cobbler.  He gave up field sports because they were cruel, and
+renounced tobacco, the one luxury of Mazzini, because he held it
+unhealthy and self-indulgent.  Money was so evil a thing in his sight
+that he would not use it and did not carry it with him.  "What makes a
+man good is having but few wants," he said wisely.  There were
+difficulties in the way of getting rid of all his property, for the
+children of the family could not be entirely despoiled of their
+inheritance.  There were thirteen of them, and they did not all share
+the great reformer's ideas.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1888, Tolstoy eased his mind by an act of formal
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P223"></A>223}</SPAN>
+renunciation.
+The Countess was to have charge of the estates in trust for her
+children.  The Count was still to live in the same house, but resolved
+to bind himself more closely to the people.  He had volunteered to
+assist when the census was taken in 1880 and had seen the homes of
+poverty near his little village.  He had been the champion of the
+neighbourhood since he defended a young soldier who had been unjustly
+sentenced.  There was always a knot of suppliants under the "poor
+people's tree," ready to waylay him when he came out of the porch.
+They asked the impossible sometimes, but he was always kindly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Love for the serf had been hereditary.  Tolstoy's father was a
+kindly-natured man, and those who brought up the dreamy boy at Yasnaya
+had insisted on gentle dealings with both men and animals.  There was a
+story which he loved of an orderly, once a serf on the family estate,
+who had been taken prisoner with his father after the siege of Erfurt.
+The faithful servant had such love for his master that he had concealed
+all his money in a boot which he did not remove for several months,
+though a sore was formed.  Such stories tallied with the reformer's own
+experiences of soldiers' fighting at Sebastopol.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His mind was ever seeking new ways to reach the people.  He believed
+that they would read if there were simple books written to appeal to
+them.  He put his other labours on one side and wrote a series of
+charming narratives to touch the unlettered and draw them from their
+passion for <I>vodka</I>, or Russian brandy, and their harmful dissipations.
+<I>Ivan the Fool</I> was one of the first of these.  The <I>Power of Darkness</I>
+had an enormous popularity.  The ABC books and simple versions of the
+Scriptures did much to dispel sloth of mind in the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P224"></A>224}</SPAN>
+peasant, but
+the Government did not look kindly on these efforts.  To them the
+progressive Count was dangerous, though he held apart from those
+fanatics of the upper classes who had begun to move among the people in
+the disguise of workers, that they might spread disturbing doctrines.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The police system of Russia involved a severe censorship of literature.
+Yet only one allusion did Tolstoy make in his <I>Confessions</I> to the
+revolutionary movement which led young men and women to sacrifice their
+homes and freedom from a belief that the section of society which they
+represented had no right to prey upon the lower.  Religion, he says,
+had not been to them an inspiration, for, like the majority of the
+educated class in Russia, they were unbelievers.  Different in his
+service toward God and toward Mankind was the man who had begun life by
+declaring that happiness came from self-worship.  He prayed, as age
+came upon him, that he might find truth in that humanity which believed
+very simply as others had believed of old time, but he could not be
+satisfied by the practises of piety.  He was tortured until he built up
+that religion for himself which placed him apart from his fellows who
+loved progress.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The days of persecution in the East were as terrible as in the bygone
+days of western mediaeval tortures.  For their social aims, men and
+women were condemned to death or banishment.  The dreary wastes of
+Siberia absorbed lives once bright and beautiful.  Known by numbers,
+not by names, these dragged out a weary existence in the bitter cold of
+an Arctic winter.  "By order of the Tsar" they were flogged, tormented,
+put in chains, and reduced to the level of animals, bereft of reason.
+Fast as the spirit of freedom raised its head, it was cowed by
+absolutism and the powerful machinery
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P225"></A>225}</SPAN>
+of a Government that used
+the wild Cossacks to overawe the hot theories of defenceless students.
+Educated men were becoming more common among the peasants, thanks to
+Tolstoy's guidance.  He had shown the way to them and could not repent
+when they took it, for it is the duty of the reformer to secure a
+following.  Anarchy he had not foreseen, and was troubled by its
+manifestations.  The gentle mind of an old man, resting peacefully in
+the country, could not penetrate the dark corners of cities where the
+rebellious gathered together and hatched plots against the tyrant.  In
+spite of Alexander's liberal measures, the Nihilists were not satisfied
+with a Government so despotic.  Many attempts had been made to
+assassinate him before he was killed by a hand-bomb on March 13th, 1881.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Alexander III abandoned reforms and the discontent increased in Russia,
+where the plots of conspirators called forth all the atrocities of the
+spy-system which still existed.  Enmity to the Government was further
+roused in a time of famine, wherein thousands of peasants perished
+miserably.  Tolstoy was active in his attempts to relieve the sick and
+starving in the year 1891, when the condition of the people was
+heartrending.  He received thanks which were grateful to one very
+easily discouraged.  The peasants turned to him for support quite
+naturally in their hour of need.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Trouble came upon the aged leader through a sect of the Caucasian
+provinces who had adopted his new views with ardour.  The Doukhobors
+held all their goods in common and made moral laws for themselves,
+based on Tolstoy's form of religion.  They refused to serve as
+soldiers, which was said to be a defiance of their governor.  The
+leaders were exiled and some hundreds enrolled in "a disciplinary
+regiment" as a punishment.
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P226"></A>226}</SPAN>
+Tolstoy managed to rouse sympathy for
+them in England, and they were allowed to emigrate instead of suffering
+persecution.  He wrote <I>Resurrection</I>, a novel dealing with the
+terrible life of Russian prisons, to get money for their relief.  He
+was excommunicated formally for attacking the Orthodox Church of Russia
+in 1901.  The sentence caused him to feel yet more bitterly toward the
+Russian government.  He longed to see peace in the eastern land whence
+tales of cruelty and oppression startled the more humane provinces of
+Europe.  He would fain have stayed the outrages of bomb-throwing which
+the Nihilist societies perpetrated.  He could feel for the unrest of
+youth, but he knew from his long experience of life that violence would
+not bring them to the attainment of their objects.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tragedy of the Moujik-garbed aristocrat, striving for
+self-perfection and cast down by compromise made necessary by love for
+others, drew to a close as he neared his eightieth year.  He would have
+given everything, and he had kept something.  Worldly possessions had
+been stripped from his dwelling, with its air of honest kindly comfort.
+More and more the descendant of Peter the Great's ambitious minister
+began to feel the need of entire renunciation.  It was long since he
+had known the riotous life of cities, but even the peace of his country
+retreat was broken by discords since all did not share that longing for
+utter self-abnegation which possessed the soul of Leo Tolstoy, now
+troubled by remorse.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the winter of 1910 the old man left the home where he had lived in
+domestic security since the first years of his happy marriage.  It was
+severe weather, and his fragile frame was too weak for the long
+difficult journey he planned in order to reach a place of retreat in
+the
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P227"></A>227}</SPAN>
+Caucasus Mountains.  He had resolved to spend his last days
+in complete seclusion, and to give up the intercourse with the world
+which made too many claims upon him.  He died on this last quest for
+ideal purity, and never reached the abode where he had hoped to end his
+days.  The news of his death at a remote railway station spread through
+Europe before he actually succumbed to the severity of his exposure to
+the cold of winter.  There was universal sorrow, when Tolstoy passed,
+among those who reckoned him the greatest of modern reformers.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap20"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P228"></A>228}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter XX
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Hero in History
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Across the spaces of the centuries flit the figures known as heroes,
+some not heroic in aspect but great through the very power which has
+forbidden them to vanish utterly from the scenes of struggle.  Poets
+who wrote immortal lines and philosophers who mocked the baseness of
+the age which set up shams for worship, reformers with a fierce belief
+in the cause that men as good as they abhorred to the point of
+merciless persecution&mdash;these rank with the soldier, rank higher than
+the monarch whose name must be placed upon the roll because his
+personality was strong to mould events that made the history of his
+country.  High and low, prince or peasant&mdash;all knew the throes of
+struggle with opposing forces, since without effort none have attained
+to heroism.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Back into the Middle Ages Dante and Savonarola draw us, marvelling at
+the narrow limits which bound the vision of such free unfettered minds.
+The little grey town of Tuscany lives chiefly on the fame of the poet
+and preacher who loved her so passionately though she proved a cruel
+and ungrateful mother.  The Italian state has ceased to assert its
+independence, and the brawling of party-strife no longer draws the
+mediator to make peace and, if possible, secure to himself some of the
+rich treasures of the Florentines whose work was
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P229"></A>229}</SPAN>
+coveted afar.
+Pictures of wondrous beauty have been defaced and stolen, statuary has
+crumbled into the dust that lies thick upon the tombs of great men who
+have fallen.  But the words of the <I>Divine Comedy</I> will never be
+forgotten, and the glory of an epic rests always with Italian
+literature.  All the cold and passionless intellect of the Renaissance
+can be personified in Lorenzo the Magnificent, who encouraged the pagan
+creeds that the Prior of San Marco yearned to overthrow.  Enemies in
+life, they serve as opposing types of the fifteenth century Italian,
+one earnest, ardent, filled with zeal for self-sacrifice, the other an
+epicure, gratifying each whim, yet deserving praise because in every
+form he encouraged beauty.  There is something fine in the magnanimity
+of the Medicean tyrant when he tried to conciliate the honest monk;
+there is something infinitely noble in the very weakness of the martyr,
+whose death disappointed so many of his followers because it proved
+that he had not miraculous powers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The charm of Southern cities makes the background for the drama between
+man and the devil seem dingy in comparison, but even Central Europe has
+romantic figures in the Reformation times.  No sensuous Italian mind
+could have defied Pope and Emperor so stoutly and changed the religion
+of many European nations without the world being drenched in blood.
+Luther is a less gallant champion than William of Orange who fought for
+toleration and lost life and wealth in the cause, but his words were
+powerful as weapons to reform the ancient abuses of the Church.  He is
+singularly steadfast among the ranks of men struggling for freedom of
+the soul, but hardly daring to war against the cramping dogmas of the
+past.
+</P>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P230"></A>230}</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+The soldiers of the Catholic Church have all the glamour of tradition
+to render them immortal&mdash;they are the saints now whose lot was humblest
+upon earth.  The Crusader has clashed through the ages with the noise
+of sword and armour, attracting the lover of romance, though he
+performed less doughty deeds than the monk of stern asceticism, whose
+rule forbade him to break peace.  He enjoys glory still as he enjoyed
+the hour of victories, and the battle that might bring death but could
+not result in shame.  The Brethren of St Dominic and St Francis shrank
+in life, at least, from the reverence paid to the sacrifice of worldly
+pleasures.  They were marvellously simple, and believed that only some
+stray picture on their convent walls would remain to tell their story.
+They judged themselves unworthy to be praised, and their creed of
+cheerful resignation would have forbidden them to accept the adulation
+of the hero-worshipper which was lavished in their age upon more
+brilliant warriors of the Church.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Time has had revenge upon the Grand Monarch and the usurping tyrant,
+yet their names must be upon the roll of heroes, since they played a
+mighty part in the events that make history and cannot suffer oblivion
+though they have ceased to tower above the subjects they despised.
+Louis XIV's personality needs the mantle of magnificence which fell
+from France after the predominance of years.  Napoleon can be watched
+in obscurity and exile till the price of countless victories is
+estimated more truly now than was possible for his contemporaries.  His
+successor has become a mere tinsel figure meddling with strange
+impunity with the destinies of Europe, and possessing qualities so
+little heroic that only his audacious visions and his last great
+failure make the memory of France's last despotic ruler
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P231"></A>231}</SPAN>
+one that
+must abide with the memory of those other Revolutionaries of 1848.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mazzini and Garibaldi receive once more the respect that poverty
+stripped from them when they led a forlorn cause and gave up home and
+country.  Earthly admiration came too late to console them for the ills
+of exile and the loss of their beloved, but they both knew that a
+struggle had not been vain which would leave Italy free.  Romance
+forgets these sons of the South and their brief taste of popular glory.
+Youth looks further back for idols placed on pinnacles of tradition,
+despising shabby modern garb and loving the blood-stained suit of
+armour.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Rousseau has risen triumphant above the strife of tongues that would
+dispute his claims to the heroic because his life was marred and
+incomplete.  He has credit now for a fierce impersonal love of truth
+and purity.  He is a great teacher and a great philosopher, though none
+ever placed him among the heroic in action or in character.  His
+cynical contemporary, Voltaire, still has some veil of vague obscurity
+which hides his brilliance from the world apt to reckon him a mere
+scoffer and destroyer of beliefs.  He has more profound faith perhaps
+than many who took up the sword to defend religion, but he covered his
+spirit of tolerance with many cloaks of mockery, ashamed to be a hero
+in conventional trappings, eager to win recognition for his wit rather
+than immortality for the courage of the convictions he so firmly held.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Not of equal stature are the heroes looming through the curtain Fate
+drops before each scene of the world's drama when another play begins.
+There were selfish aims sometimes in the breasts of the patriotic,
+worldly ambitions in the Reformers, the lust of persecution
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P232"></A>232}</SPAN>
+in
+the Saints.  Yet these great protagonists of history are easy to
+distinguish among the crowd of actors who have played their parts.
+Their words grip the attention, their actions are fraught with real
+significance, and it is they who win applause when the play is at an
+end.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap21"></A>
+
+<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P233"></A>233}</SPAN>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Index
+</H3>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Aboukir, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>, <A HREF="#P177">177</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Aboukir Bay, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Acre, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>, <A HREF="#P177">177</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Addison, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ajaccio, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>, <A HREF="#P171">171</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Albizzi, Rinaldo degli, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Albizzi, the, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Aldgonde, Sainte, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alençon, Prince, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, <A HREF="#P217">217</A>, <A HREF="#P218">218</A>, <A HREF="#P219">219</A>, <A HREF="#P220">220</A>, <A HREF="#P225">225</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alexander III, Emperor of Russia, <A HREF="#P225">225</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alexander, Emperor of Russia, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alexander of Parma, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alexandria, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alexis, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alfonso of Naples, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alighieri, Durante, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alma, Battle of, <A HREF="#P209">209</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alps, the, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alsace, Province of, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Alva, Duke of, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A>, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Amelia, Daughter of George I, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+America, discovery of, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Amiens, Treaty of, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Amsterdam, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Anna Karenina</I>, <A HREF="#P221">221</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Angelico, Fra, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Angelo, Michael, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Angoulême, Duchess of, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Anita, wife of Garibaldi, <A HREF="#P197">197</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Anjou, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Anjou, Duke of, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Anna of Saxony, Princess, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Anne of Austria, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Anthony of Bourbon, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Antwerp, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Apostolato, Popolare</I>, the, <A HREF="#P191">191</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Apraxin, Admiral, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Aragon, Prince of, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Archangel, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Arezzo, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Aristotle, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Armand Jean Duplessis, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Arouet, Francois Marie (see Voltaire)
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Arques, Battlefield, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Arrabiati</I>, the, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Artois, Count of, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Assisi, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Athens, Duke of, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Auerstädt, Battle of, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Augsburg, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Augustine, Saint, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Augustus, King of Poland, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Augustus, William, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Austerlitz, Battle of, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Austria, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P121">121</A>, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>,
+<A HREF="#P172">172</A>, <A HREF="#P173">173</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P183">183</A>, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>, <A HREF="#P188">188</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>,
+<A HREF="#P202">202</A>, <A HREF="#P208">208</A>, <A HREF="#P209">209</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Austria, Emperor of, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Azov, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Balaclava, Battle of, <A HREF="#P209">209</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bassi, Ugo, <A HREF="#P193">193</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Barras, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bartholomew, Saint, Massacre of, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bassompierre, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bastile, the, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>, <A HREF="#P171">171</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bavaria, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bavaria, Dukes of, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bayard, Knight, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Béarns, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Beatrice, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Beauharnais, Eugene, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Beauharnais, Hortense, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Beauharnais, Josephine, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>, <A HREF="#P177">177</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+"Beggars, The," <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Beghards, the, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bègue, Lambert Le, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bèguines, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Behrs, Sophia, <A HREF="#P221">221</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Belgium, <A HREF="#P211">211</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Bellerophon</I>, the, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Berlaymont, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Berlin, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Berne, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Biagrasse, La, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bianchi, the, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bismarck, Herr Otto von, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Blücher, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bohemia, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bologna, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bonaparte, Charles, <A HREF="#P169">169</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bora, Catherine von, <A HREF="#P60">60</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bordeaux, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Borodino, Battle of, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Borsi, Marquis, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Botticelli, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Boulogne, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bourbon, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bourbon, Constable of, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Bourges, Archbishop of, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Brabant, Duke of, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Brandenburg, Elector of, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Brederode, noble, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Brienne, <A HREF="#P169">169</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Brill, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Brussels, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Buonaparte, Jerome, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Buonaparte, Joseph, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Buonaparte, Louis, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Burgundy, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cairo, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cajetan, Papal Legate, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Calais, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Calas, <A HREF="#P164">164</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Calvin, John, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>, <A HREF="#P163">163</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cambalet, Marquis of, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Camicia Rossa</I>, the, <A HREF="#P197">197</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Camisaders</I>, the, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Campanile</I>, the, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cambalet, Madame de, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cane della Scala, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>, <A HREF="#P29">29</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Canossa, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Caprera, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Carbonari, the, <A HREF="#P185">185</A>, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>, <A HREF="#P187">187</A>, <A HREF="#P188">188</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Carlyle, <A HREF="#P191">191</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Casimir, John, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cateau Cambrésis, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Catherine de Medici, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Catherine of Aragon, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Catherine, Queen, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Catholic League, the, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cavalcanti, Guido, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cavour, Count, <A HREF="#P199">199</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cencio, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cerchi, the, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>, <A HREF="#P194">194</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles I of England, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles II of England, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles II of Spain, <A HREF="#P132">132</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles V, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>,
+<A HREF="#P72">72</A>, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles VI of Austria, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles VII, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles VII, Emperor, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles VIII of France, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles IX, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles X, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles XII of Sweden, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Charles, Count of Anjou, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Chartres, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Châtelet, Marquis du, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Chevreuse, Madame de, <A HREF="#P124">124</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Chièvres, Flemish Councillor, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Chillon, Marquis de (see Richelieu), <A HREF="#P117">117</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Christ, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Christianity, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Ciompi</I>, the, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cirey, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Civil Code, the, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cloth of Gold, Field of the, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Colbert, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Coligny, Admiral de, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Columbus, Christopher, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Commune, the, <A HREF="#P166">166</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Compiègne, <A HREF="#P208">208</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Concini, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Concordat</I>, the, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Condé (Enghien), General, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Condé, Prince de, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Confessions</I>, Tolstoy's, <A HREF="#P224">224</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Conrad, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Conradin, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Constantinople, <A HREF="#P12">12</A>, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+"Continental System," the, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Corneille, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Corsica, island, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>, <A HREF="#P170">170</A>, <A HREF="#P171">171</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cosimo dei Medici, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Cossacks</I>, the, <A HREF="#P221">221</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+"Council of Trouble" (Blood), <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Crimea, the, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>, <A HREF="#P209">209</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Cromwell, Protector, <A HREF="#P170">170</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Crusades, the, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+D'Aiguillon (see Madame de Cambalet)
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+D'Albert of Navarre, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Dante Alighieri, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>,
+<A HREF="#P29">29</A>, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>, <A HREF="#P187">187</A>, <A HREF="#P228">228</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Delft, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+De Luynes, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Denis, Madame, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Deptford, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Desaix, General, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Dettingen, Battle of, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Devin du Village, Le</I>, play, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Diet of Spires, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Diet of Worms, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Dijon, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Directory, the, <A HREF="#P173">173</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Divine Comedy</I>, the, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>, <A HREF="#P29">29</A>, <A HREF="#P229">229</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Domenico, Fra, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Dominic, Saint, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P230">230</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Dominicans, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Donati, Lucrezia, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Donati, the, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Don John, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Doukhobors, the, <A HREF="#P225">225</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Dresden, Treaty of, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Dreux, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Duc d'Enghien, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Duplessis, Armand Jean, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Egmont, Count, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A>, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Egypt, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>, <A HREF="#P177">177</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Eisenach, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Eisleben, <A HREF="#P52">52</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Elba, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Elizabeth, Queen of England, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Émile</I>, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Enghien (Condé) (see Condé, General)
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+England, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>,
+<A HREF="#P168">168</A>, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>, <A HREF="#P209">209</A>, <A HREF="#P211">211</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Epérnon, General, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Erasmus, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P60">60</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Erfurt, <A HREF="#P52">52</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P223">223</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Eric, Duke of Brunswick, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Eugénie, Empress, <A HREF="#P208">208</A>, <A HREF="#P211">211</A>, <A HREF="#P212">212</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Evelyn, John, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Faesulae, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Farinata degli Uberti, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Fénélon, Priest, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ferdinand, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ferdinand I, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ferdinand II, Emperor, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ferdinand of Bohemia, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ferney, <A HREF="#P162">162</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ferrara, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Fet, Poet, <A HREF="#P222">222</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Flanders, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Fleury, General, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Florence, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P29">29</A>, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>,
+<A HREF="#P31">31</A>, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>,
+<A HREF="#P48">48</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Flushing, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+France, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>,
+<A HREF="#P75">75</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>, <A HREF="#P121">121</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P123">123</A>, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>,
+<A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>,
+<A HREF="#P175">175</A>, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>, <A HREF="#P216">216</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Francis I of France, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Francis II of Austria, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Francis Joseph II, Emperor, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Francis, Saint, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P230">230</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Franciscans, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Frankfort, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Frankfort, Treaty of, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Frate, the, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Frederick II, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Frederick II, of Brandenburg and Hohenzollern, <A HREF="#P147">147</A>, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>,
+<A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Frederick, Elector of Saxony, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Frederick, Elector Palatine, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Frederick, Prince
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Frederick William I, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>, <A HREF="#P147">147</A>, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Fronde, La, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Frondeurs, the, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Galitzin, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Gambetta, <A HREF="#P213">213</A>, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Gaston, brother of Louis XIII, <A HREF="#P124">124</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Garibaldi, <A HREF="#P193">193</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A>, <A HREF="#P197">197</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>, <A HREF="#P199">199</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>,
+<A HREF="#P205">205</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>, <A HREF="#P230">230</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Gay, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Gemma, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Geneva, <A HREF="#P162">162</A>, <A HREF="#P164">164</A>, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>, <A HREF="#P166">166</A>, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Genoa, <A HREF="#P12">12</A>, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+George I of England, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+George II of England, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Germany, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>, <A HREF="#P218">218</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ghent, Pacification of, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ghibellines, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Giotto, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Giuliano, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Gordon, Patrick, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Granvelle, Cardinal, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Greece, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Grenoble, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Grisi, <A HREF="#P191">191</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Guelfs, the, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Guise, Duke of, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Guise, Henry of, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Haarlem, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Hamburg, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry II of France, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry III of France, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry IV of Germany, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry IV of France, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry VI, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry VIII, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry of Anjou, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry d'Albret, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry de Bourbon, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry of Guise, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry of Luxemburg, Emperor, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry of Navarre, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>,
+<A HREF="#P111">111</A>, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry, Prince of Bourbon, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Henry of Valois, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Hohenlinden, Battle of, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Hohenstaufen, House of, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Hohenzollern, House of, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Holland, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Holy Land, <A HREF="#P12">12</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Holy Wars, <A HREF="#P12">12</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Homer, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Hoorn, Admiral, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Hubertsburg, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Huguenots
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Hungary, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Imola, Tower of, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+India, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+"Indulgences," <A HREF="#P54">54</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Inferno</I>, the, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P29">29</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Inkerman, Battle of, <A HREF="#P209">209</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Inquisition, the, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Isabella, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Isabella of Portugal, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Italy, <A HREF="#P12">12</A>, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>,
+<A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P173">173</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>, <A HREF="#P183">183</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P185">185</A>, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>, <A HREF="#P188">188</A>, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>,
+<A HREF="#P191">191</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ivan, half-brother of Peter the Great, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Ivan the Fool</I>, <A HREF="#P223">223</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ivry, Battlefield, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Jaffa, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Jansenists, the, <A HREF="#P163">163</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Jarnac, Battle of, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Je l'ai vu</I>, play, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Jena, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Jerusalem, <A HREF="#P12">12</A>, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Jesuits, the, <A HREF="#P163">163</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+John of Austria, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Katte, Lieutenant von, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Kléber, <A HREF="#P177">177</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Kneller, Sir Godfrey, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Knox, John, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+La Barre, <A HREF="#P164">164</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ladies' Peace, The, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lambert Le Bègue, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Landgrave of Hesse, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+"League of the Compromise," <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Leboeuf, Marshal, <A HREF="#P211">211</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lefort, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Legion of Honour, the, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Leibnitz, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Leipzig, Battle of, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Leo X, Pope, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Leonora, wife of Concini, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Leopold, Prince, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>, <A HREF="#P211">211</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lesser Brothers, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Leszczynski, Stanislaus, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Lettres anglaises</I>, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Leuthen, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Leyden, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lille, Battle of, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lisle, Rouget de, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Livonia, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Livy, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Locke, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lombardy, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Longwy, Fortress of, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lorenzo, Church of San, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lorenzo the Magnificent, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38-41</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P229">229</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lorraine, Province of, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Louis XI, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Louis XIII, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P124">124</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Louis XIV, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>, <A HREF="#P230">230</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Louis XVI, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P208">208</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Louis XVIII, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Louis, Count of Nassau, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Louis de Bourbon, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Louis Philippe, King, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>, <A HREF="#P208">208</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Louis, Saint, of France, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Louvain, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Louvre, the, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Low Countries, the, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lowe, Sir Hudson, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lucerne, <A HREF="#P218">218</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Luçon, Bishop of, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ludovico, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lulli, <A HREF="#P132">132</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lunéville, Treaty of, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Luther, Johnny, <A HREF="#P60">60</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Luther, Martin, <A HREF="#P52">52</A>, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>
+<A HREF="#P60">60</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>, <A HREF="#P229">229</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Luxemburg, <A HREF="#P211">211</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Luxemburg, Henry of, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Lyons, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Madrid, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Madrid, Treaty of, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Magenta, Battle of, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Maggiore, Lake, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Magyars, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mahomet, <A HREF="#P9">9</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Maintenon, Madame de, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>, <A HREF="#P136">136</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Malines, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Malta, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mameli, poet, <A HREF="#P193">193</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Manfred, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Manin, President of Venice, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mantua, Duke of, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marboeuf, <A HREF="#P169">169</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marches, the, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marco, San, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>, <A HREF="#P229">229</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marengo, Battle of, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Margaret of Parma, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Margaret of Valois, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Margrave of Baireuth, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Maria Theresa, <A HREF="#P132">132</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marie Antoinette, <A HREF="#P166">166</A>, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>, <A HREF="#P208">208</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marie de Medici, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P123">123</A>, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marie Louise, <A HREF="#P177">177</A>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marillac, Marshal, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marino, San, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marlborough, Duke of, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marly, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marmont, <A HREF="#P173">173</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marsala, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Marseillaise</I>, the, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Marseilles, <A HREF="#P188">188</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Martino, San, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mary, Queen of Scots, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mary, Princess, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Matthias, Archduke, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Maurice, Duke of Saxony, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Maximilian, Emperor, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mayenne, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mazarin, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mazarins, the, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mazeppa, Hetman, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mazzini, Guiseppe, <A HREF="#P185">185</A>, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>, <A HREF="#P187">187</A>, <A HREF="#P188">188</A>, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>,
+<A HREF="#P191">191</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>, <A HREF="#P193">193</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A>, <A HREF="#P199">199</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>, <A HREF="#P222">222</A>, <A HREF="#P231">231</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Medici, Cosimo dei, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Medici, Lorenzo dei, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Medici, Piero, dei, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Medici, the, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Menshikof, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mentana, Battle of, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Metternich, Prince, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P185">185</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Metz, <A HREF="#P212">212</A>, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mexico, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Middelburg, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Milan, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Milan, Duchess of, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Milan, Duke of, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Miloslavski, Mary, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Miloslavski, Sophia, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mirandola, Pico della, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Modena, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Molière, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Moltke, General von, <A HREF="#P211">211</A>, <A HREF="#P212">212</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Molwitz, Battle of, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Mons, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Monsieur, Peace of, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Montebello, Battle of, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Monte Video, <A HREF="#P197">197</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Montigny, son of Hoorn, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Montpensier, Duchess of, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Moreau, General, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Moscow, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P222">222</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Muhlberg, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Murat, General, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Namur, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Nantes, Edict of, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Naples, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P191">191</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Napoleon Buonaparte, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>, <A HREF="#P169">169</A>, <A HREF="#P170">170</A>, <A HREF="#P171">171</A>, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>,
+<A HREF="#P173">173</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>, <A HREF="#P177">177</A>, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>,
+<A HREF="#P183">183</A>, <A HREF="#P188">188</A>, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A>, <A HREF="#P230">230</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Napoleon, Louis, <A HREF="#P193">193</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>, <A HREF="#P208">208</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Napoleon III, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>, <A HREF="#P208">208</A>, <A HREF="#P209">209</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>,
+<A HREF="#P211">211</A>, <A HREF="#P212">212</A>, <A HREF="#P213">213</A>, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Narva, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Naryshkin, Nathalie, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Nassau, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Navarre, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>,
+<A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Navarre, d'Albert of, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Navarre, Princesse de</I>, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Nelson, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Neri</I>, the, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Netherlands, the, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>,
+<A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A>, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Neva, river, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+New Learning, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Newton, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+New World, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Nice, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia, <A HREF="#P216">216</A>, <A HREF="#P218">218</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Niemen, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Nihilists, the, <A HREF="#P225">225</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Notre Dame, Cathedral of, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Nouvelle Héloïse, La</I>, play, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Novara, Battle of, <A HREF="#P196">196</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Nuremburg, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Oepide</I>, tragedy, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Orange, Prince of (see William)
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Orleans, Duke of, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Orsini, Clarice, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Palermo, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Paoli, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>, <A HREF="#P169">169</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Papacy, the, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P52">52</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Paradiso</I>, the, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Paris, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>,
+<A HREF="#P157">157</A>, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A>, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>, <A HREF="#P171">171</A>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>, <A HREF="#P208">208</A>, <A HREF="#P212">212</A>, <A HREF="#P213">213</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Paris, the Congress of, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Parma, Duchess of, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Parma, Duke of, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pauline, sister of Napoleon, <A HREF="#P199">199</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pavia, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Pazzi, Carro dei</I>, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pazzi, banking-house of, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pazzi Conspiracy, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pazzi, Francesco dei, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Peter, Prince of Aragon, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Petersburg, Saint, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Peter the Great, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>,
+<A HREF="#P143">143</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P226">226</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Philip, Archduke of Austria, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Philip II, Emperor of Spain, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A>,
+<A HREF="#P88">88</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Philip IV of Spain, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Philip, King of France, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+"Piagnoni" (Snivellers), <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Piedmont, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>, <A HREF="#P193">193</A>, <A HREF="#P199">199</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pilo, Rosalino, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pisa, <A HREF="#P12">12</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pisa, Archbishop of, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pisa, Lord of, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pistoia, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pitt, William, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pius IV, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pius VII, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Plasencia, city of, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Plato, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Plautus, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Poitou, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Poland, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>, <A HREF="#P216">216</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Poland, King of, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Polikoushka</I>, <A HREF="#P218">218</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Poltava, Battle of, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pomerania, province, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pompadour, Madame de, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>, <A HREF="#P166">166</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pont Neuf, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pope Alexander VI, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pope Boniface, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pope Clement VII, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pope Gregory VII, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pope Gregory IX, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pope Innocent IV, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pope Julius, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pope Leo X, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pope Sixtus IV, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pope, the, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A>, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P173">173</A>, <A HREF="#P208">208</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Portinari, the, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Portinari, Beatrice, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Portugal, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Portugal, King of, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Potsdam, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Potsdam Guards, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Poussin, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Power of Darkness</I>, the <A HREF="#P223">223</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+"Pragmatic Sanction", the, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Prague, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Preaching Brothers, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pressburg, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Prior, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Protestants, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Prussia, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>,
+<A HREF="#P209">209</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>, <A HREF="#P211">211</A>, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Puglia, Francesco da, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Purgatorio</I>, the, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Pyrenees, Treaty of, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Quatre, Henri, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Racine, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Radetsky, Field-Marshal, <A HREF="#P195">195</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ramboullet, Julie de, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ramolino, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ramolino, Letitia, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ravaillac, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ravenna, <A HREF="#P29">29</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Requesens, Don Luis, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Resurrection</I>, Tolstoy's, <A HREF="#P226">226</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Revival of Letters, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Revolution, French, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>, <A HREF="#P170">170</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rheims, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rheinsburg, Castle of, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rhodes, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Riario, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Richelieu, Cardinal, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>,
+<A HREF="#P121">121</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P123">123</A>, <A HREF="#P124">124</A>, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rochelle, La, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P121">121</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rocroy, Battle of, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rohan, Chevalier, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rohan, Duke of, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Roman Emperor, the Holy, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Roman Empire, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rome, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>,
+<A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P121">121</A>, <A HREF="#P195">195</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A>, <A HREF="#P197">197</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Roon, General von, <A HREF="#P212">212</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rossbach, Battle of, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rotondo, Monte, Battle of, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rouen, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, <A HREF="#P164">164</A>, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>, <A HREF="#P166">166</A>, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>, <A HREF="#P230">230</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ruel, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ruffini, Jacopo, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>, <A HREF="#P191">191</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Russia, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>,
+<A HREF="#P200">200</A>, <A HREF="#P209">209</A>, <A HREF="#P217">217</A>, <A HREF="#P219">219</A>, <A HREF="#P224">224</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ryssel, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Ryswick, Peace of, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sadowa, Battle of, <A HREF="#P209">209</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Saint Augustine, Order of, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Saint-Cyr, Convent of, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Saint Dominic, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P230">230</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Saint Francis, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P230">230</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Salemi, city of, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Salviati, Archbishop, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sansoni, Cardinal Raffaelle, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+San Yuste, Monastery of, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sardinia, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>, <A HREF="#P199">199</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sardinia, King of, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P194">194</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A>, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Savonarola, Girolamo, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>, <A HREF="#P52">52</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P228">228</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Savoy, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Savoy, Duchy of, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Saxony, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Saxony, Elector of, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sayes Court, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Scala, Cane della, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Scarron, Poet, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sebastopol, Siege of, <A HREF="#P217">217</A>, <A HREF="#P223">223</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sedan, Battle of, <A HREF="#P212">212</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Segovia, Castle of, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Seine, river, <A HREF="#P9">9</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Selim, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sepulchre, the Holy, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Servetus, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sforza, Galeazzo, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sicily, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P191">191</A>, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Silent, William the (see William)
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Silesia, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Simone de Bardi, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Social Contract</I>, the, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Solferino, Battle of, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Soliman the Magnificent, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sorbonne, the, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Spain, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>,
+<A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Spain, King of, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Speyer, Diet of, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Stäel, Madame de, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+States-General, the, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Staupnitz, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+St Bartholomew, Massacre of, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+St Helena, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+St Jerome, brothers of, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+St John, Knights of, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+St Peter's, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Streltsy</I>, the, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sully, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Susa, Pass of, <A HREF="#P123">123</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Swabia, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Swarte, John de, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Sweden, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Swift, Jonathan, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Switzerland, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Syria, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Tetzel, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Thiers, Monsieur, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Thionville, Fortress of, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Third Estate, the, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Thirty Years' War, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Tilsit, Treaty of, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Titelmann, Peter, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Titian, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Toledo, Duke of Alva, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Toleration, Edicts of, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Tolstoy, Countess, <A HREF="#P223">223</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Tolstoy, Count Leo, <A HREF="#P217">217</A>, <A HREF="#P218">218</A>, <A HREF="#P219">219</A>, <A HREF="#P220">220</A>, <A HREF="#P221">221</A>, <A HREF="#P222">222</A>,
+<A HREF="#P223">223</A>, <A HREF="#P224">224</A>, <A HREF="#P225">225</A>, <A HREF="#P226">226</A>, <A HREF="#P227">227</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Torriano, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Toulon, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Tours, <A HREF="#P213">213</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Trafalgar, Battle of, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Trianon, village, <A HREF="#P166">166</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+"Troubles, Council of," <A HREF="#P89">89</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Tuileries, the, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Turenne, General <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Turgeniev, novelist, <A HREF="#P217">217</A>, <A HREF="#P221">221</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Turin, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Turkey, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>, <A HREF="#P208">208</A>, <A HREF="#P217">217</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Tuscany, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Tyrol, the, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Uguccione, Lord of Pisa, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Umbria, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+United States, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Urbino, Duke of, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Valladolid, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Valois, Henry of, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Vassy, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Vatican, the, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Venetia, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Venice, <A HREF="#P12">12</A>, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Vergil, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Verona, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Versailles, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132</A>, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>, <A HREF="#P213">213</A>, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Victor Emmanuel II, <A HREF="#P196">196</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Victor Emmanuel, King, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Vienna, <A HREF="#P183">183</A>, <A HREF="#P185">185</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Voltaire, <A HREF="#P136">136</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A>,
+<A HREF="#P163">163</A>, <A HREF="#P164">164</A>, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>, <A HREF="#P166">166</A>, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>, <A HREF="#P231">231</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Volterra, town of, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Volturno, Battle of, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Waiblingen (Ghibellines), <A HREF="#P14">14</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Walcheren, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>War and Peace</I>, <A HREF="#P221">221</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Warsaw, <A HREF="#P216">216</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Waterloo, Battle of, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Weaving Brothers, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Weimar, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Welf</I>, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Wellesley, Sir Arthur, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Wellington, Duke of (see Wellesley)
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Westphalia, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Wilhelm I, Emperor, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>, <A HREF="#P211">211</A>, <A HREF="#P212">212</A>, <A HREF="#P213">213</A>, <A HREF="#P215">215</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Wilhelmina, <A HREF="#P147">147</A>, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+<I>Wilhelmus van Nassouwen</I>, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+William III of England, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+William, Prince of Orange, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>,
+<A HREF="#P90">90</A>, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P229">229</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+William the Stadtholder, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Wittenburg, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Wolsey, Cardinal, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Worms, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Wörth, Battle of, <A HREF="#P212">212</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Yasnaya Polyana, <A HREF="#P219">219</A>, <A HREF="#P221">221</A>, <A HREF="#P223">223</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Zaandem, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Zealand, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Zierickzee, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Zorndorf, Battle of, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="index">
+Zutphen, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> </P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR><BR>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Heroes of Modern Europe, by Alice Birkhead
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Heroes of Modern Europe, by Alice Birkhead
+
+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: Heroes of Modern Europe
+
+Author: Alice Birkhead
+
+Release Date: April 16, 2007 [EBook #21114]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEROES OF MODERN EUROPE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: Leo Tolstoy in his bare Apartments at Yasnaya Polyana
+(Repin)]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+HEROES OF MODERN EUROPE
+
+
+BY
+
+ALICE BIRKHEAD B.A.
+
+
+AUTHOR OF
+
+'THE STORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION' 'MARIE ANTOINETTE' 'PETER THE
+GREAT' ETC.
+
+
+
+WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+
+
+GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. LTD.
+
+LONDON ---- CALCUTTA ---- SYDNEY
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers
+enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}.  They have been located where page
+breaks occurred in the original book, in accordance with Project
+Gutenberg's FAQ-V-99.  For its Index, a page number has been placed
+only at the start of that section.  In the HTML version of this book,
+page numbers are placed in the left margin.]
+
+
+
+
+First published July 1913
+
+by GEORGE G. HARRAP & Co.
+
+39-41 Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W.C.2
+
+
+Reprinted in the present series:
+
+February 1914; August 1917; May 1921; January 1924; July 1926
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+CHAP.
+
+     I.  THE TWO SWORDS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
+    II.  DANTE, THE DIVINE POET  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
+   III.  LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
+    IV.  THE PRIOR OF SAN MARCO  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41
+     V.  MARTIN LUTHER, REFORMER OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . .  52
+    VI.  CHARLES V, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR . . . . . . . . . . . .  63
+   VII.  THE BEGGARS OF THE SEA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  74
+  VIII.  WILLIAM THE SILENT, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY . . . . . .  86
+    IX.  HENRY OF NAVARRE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
+     X.  UNDER THE RED ROBE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
+    XI.  THE GRAND MONARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
+   XII.  PETER THE GREAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
+  XIII.  THE ROYAL ROBBER  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
+   XIV.  SPIRITS OF THE AGE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
+    XV.  THE MAN FROM CORSICA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
+   XVI.  "GOD AND THE PEOPLE"  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
+  XVII.  "FOR ITALY AND VICTOR EMMANUEL!"  . . . . . . . . . . 195
+ XVIII.  THE THIRD NAPOLEON  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
+   XIX.  THE REFORMER OF THE EAST  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
+    XX.  THE HERO IN HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
+         INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations
+
+
+LEO TOLSTOY IN HIS BARE APARTMENTS
+  AT YASNAYA POLYANA  (_Repin_). . . . . . . . . .  _Frontispiece_
+
+DANTE IN THE STREETS OF FLORENCE (_Evelyn Paul_) . . . . . . .  22
+
+THE LAST SLEEP OF SAVONAROLA (_Sir George Reid, P.R.S.A._) . .  60
+
+PHILIP II PRESENT AT AN AUTO-DA-FE (_D. Valdivieso_) . . . . .  78
+
+LAST MOMENTS OF COUNT EGMONT (_Louis Gallait_) . . . . . . . .  90
+
+AN APPLICATION TO THE CARDINAL FOR HIS FAVOUR (_Walter Gay_)   124
+
+FREDERICK THE GREAT RECEIVING HIS PEOPLE'S HOMAGE
+  (_A. Menzel_)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
+
+THE MEETING OF VICTOR EMMANUEL AND GARIBALDI (_Pietro Aldi_)   204
+
+
+
+
+
+{9}
+
+Heroes of Modern Europe
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Two Swords
+
+In the fourth century after Christ began that decay of the Roman Empire
+which had been the pride of the then civilized world.  Warriors of
+Teutonic race invaded its splendid cities, destroyed without remorse
+the costliest and most beautiful of its antique treasures.  Temples and
+images of the gods fell before barbarians whose only fear was lest they
+should die "upon the straw," while marble fountains and luxurious
+bath-houses were despoiled as signs of a most inglorious state of
+civilization.  Theatres perished and, with them, the plays of Greek
+dramatists, who have found no true successors.  Pictures and statues
+and buildings were defaced where they were not utterly destroyed.  The
+Latin race survived, forlornly conscious of its vanished culture.
+
+The Teutons had hardly begun to impose upon the Empire the rude customs
+of their own race when Saracens, bent upon spreading the religion of
+Mahomet, bore down upon Italy, where resistance from watchtowers and
+castles was powerless to check their cruel depredations.  Norman
+pirates plundered the shores of the Mediterranean and sailed up the
+River Seine, {10} always winning easy victories.  Magyars, a strange,
+wandering race, came from the East and wrought much evil among the
+newly-settled Germans.
+
+From the third to the tenth century there were incredible changes among
+the European nations.  Gone were the gleaming cities of the South and
+the worship of art and science and the exquisite refinements of the
+life of scholarly leisure.  Gone were the flourishing manufactures
+since the warrior had no time to devote to trading.  Gone was the love
+of letters and the philosopher's prestige now that men looked to the
+battle-field alone to give them the awards of glory.
+
+Outwardly, Europe of the Middle Ages presented a sad contrast to the
+magnificence of an Empire which was fading to remoteness year by year.
+The ugly towns did not attempt to hide their squalor, when dirt was
+such a natural condition of life that a knight would dwell boastfully
+upon his contempt for cleanliness, and a beauty display hands innocent
+of all proper tending.  The dress of the people was ill-made and
+scanty, lacking the severe grace of the Roman toga.  Furniture was
+rudely hewn from wood and placed on floors which were generally uneven
+and covered with straw instead of being paved with tessellated marble.
+
+Yet the inward life of Europe was purer since it sought to follow the
+teaching of Christ, and preached universal love and a toleration that
+placed on the same level a mighty ruler and the lowest in his realm.
+Fierce spirits, unfortunately, sometimes forgot the truth and gave
+themselves up to a cruel lust for persecution which was at variance
+with their creed, but the holiest now condemned warfare and praised the
+virtues of obedience and self-sacrifice.
+
+{11}
+
+Whereas pagan Greek and Rome had searched for beauty upon earth, it was
+the dreary belief of the Middle Ages that the world was a place where
+only misery could be the portion of mankind, who were bidden to look to
+another life for happiness and pleasure.  Sinners hurried from
+temptation into monasteries, which were founded for the purpose of
+enabling men to prepare for eternity.  Family life was broken up and
+all the pleasant intercourse of social habits.  Marriage was a snare,
+and even the love of parents might prove dangerous to the devoted monk.
+Strange was the isolation of the hermit who refused to cleanse himself
+or change his clothes, desiring above all other things to attain to
+that blessed state when his soul should be oblivious of his body.
+
+Women also despised the claims of kindred and retired to convents where
+the elect were granted visions after long prayer and fasting.  The nun
+knelt on the bare stone floor of her cell, awaiting the ecstasy that
+would descend on her.  When it had gone again she was nigh to death,
+faint and weary, yet compelled to struggle onward till her earthly life
+came to an end.
+
+The Crusades, or Wars of the Cross, had roused Europe from a state of
+most distressful bondage.  Ignorance and barbarism were shot with
+gleams of spiritual light even after the vast armies were sent forth to
+wrest the possession of Jerusalem from the infidels.  Shameful stories
+of the treatment of pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre had moved the hearts
+of kings and princes to a passionate indignation.  Valour became the
+highest, and all men were eager to be ranked with Crusaders--those
+soldiers of heroic courage whose cause was Christianity and its
+defence.  At the close of the tenth century there were innumerable
+pilgrims travelling {12} toward the Holy Land, for it had been
+prophesied that in the year A.D. 1000 the end of the world would come,
+when it would be well for those within Jerusalem, the City of the
+Saviour.  The inhuman conduct of the Turk was resented violently,
+because it would keep many a sinner from salvation; and the dangerous
+journey to the East was held to atone for the gravest crimes.
+
+After the first disasters in which so many Crusaders fell before they
+reached their destination, Italy especially began to benefit by these
+wars.  It was considered safer to reach Jerusalem by sea, boarding the
+vessels in Italian ports, which were owned and equipped by Italian
+merchants.  Venice, Pisa, and Genoa gradually assumed the trade of
+ancient Constantinople, once without rival on the southern sea.
+Constantinople was a city of wonder to the ignorant fighting men from
+other lands, who had never dreamed of a civilization so complete as
+that which she possessed.  Awed by elegance and luxury, they returned
+to their homes with a sense of inferiority.  They had met and fought
+side by side with warriors of such polished manners that they felt
+ashamed of their own brutal ways.  They had seen strange costumes and
+listened to strange tongues.  Henceforth no nation of Europe could be
+entirely indifferent to the fact that there was a world without.
+
+The widowed and desolate were not comforted by the knowledge which the
+returned Crusader delighted to impart.  They had been sacrificed to the
+pride which led husbands and fathers to sell their estates and squander
+vast sums of money, that they might equip a band of followers to lead
+in triumph to the Holy Wars.  The complaints of starving women led to
+{13} the collection of much gold and silver by Lambert Le Begue, "the
+stammering priest."  He built a number of small houses to be inhabited
+by the Order of Beguines, a new sisterhood who did not sever themselves
+entirely from the world, but lived in peaceful retirement, occupied by
+spinning and weaving all day long.
+
+The Beghards, or Weaving Brothers, took pattern by this busy guild of
+workers and followed the same rules of simple piety.  They were fond of
+religious discussion, and were mystics.  They enjoyed the approval of
+Rome until the new orders were established of Saint Francis and Saint
+Dominic.
+
+In the twelfth century religion was drawing nearer to humanity and the
+needs of earth.  The new orders, therefore, tried to bridge the gulf
+between the erring and the saintly, forbidding their brethren to
+seclude themselves from other men.  A healthy reaction was taking place
+from the old idea that the religious life meant a withdrawal from the
+temptations of the world.
+
+St Dominic, born in Spain in 1170, was the founder of "the Order of
+Preaching Monks for the conversion of heretics."  The first aim of the
+"Domini canes" (Dominicans), or Hounds of the Lord, was to attack
+anyone who denied their faith.  Cruelty could be practised under the
+rule of Dominic, who bade his followers lead men by any path to their
+ultimate salvation.  Tolerance of free thought and progress was
+discouraged, and rigid discipline corrected any disciple of compassion.
+The dress of the order was severely plain, consisting of a long black
+mantle over a white robe.  The brethren practised poverty, and fared
+humbly on bread and water.
+
+The brown-frocked Franciscans, rivals in later times of the monks of
+Dominic, were always taught to love {14} mankind and be merciful to
+transgressors.  It was the duty of the Preaching Brothers to warn and
+threaten; it was the joy of the _Frati Minori_, or Lesser Brothers, to
+tend the sick and protect the helpless, taking thought for the very
+birds and fishes.
+
+St Francis was born at Assisi in 1182, the son of a prosperous
+householder and cloth merchant.  He drank and was merry, like any other
+youth of the period, till a serious illness purged him of follies.
+After dedicating his life to God, he put down in the market-place of
+Assisi all he possessed save the shirt on his body.  The bitter
+reproaches of kinsfolk pursued him vainly as he set out in beggarly
+state to give service to the poor and despised.  He loved Nature and
+her creatures, speaking of the birds as "noble" and holding close
+communion with them.  The saintly Italian was opposed to the warlike
+doctrines of St Dominic; he made peace very frequently between the two
+parties known as Guelfs and Ghibellines.
+
+_Welf_ was a common name among the dukes of Bavaria, and the Guelfs
+were, in general, supporters of the Papacy and this ducal house,
+whereas the Waiblingen (Ghibellines) received their name from a castle
+in Swabia, a fief of the Hohenstaufen enemies of the Pope.  It was
+under a famous emperor of the House of Swabia that the struggle between
+Papacy and Empire, "the two swords," gained attention from the rest of
+Europe.
+
+In the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII had won many notable
+victories in support of his claims to temporal power.  He had brought
+Henry IV, the proud Emperor, before whose name men trembled, to sue for
+his pardon at Canossa, and had kept the suppliant in the snow, with
+bare head and bare feet, that he might {15} endure the last
+humiliations.  Then the fortune of war changed, and the Pope was seized
+in the Church of St Peter at Rome by Cencio, a fiery noble, who held
+him in close confinement.  It was easier to lord it over princes who
+were hated by many of their own subjects than to quell the animosity
+which was roused by attempted domination in the Eternal City.
+
+The Pope was able sometimes to elect a partisan of the Guelf party as
+emperor.  On the other hand, an emperor had been heard to lament the
+election of a staunch friend to the Papacy because he believed that no
+pope could ever be a true Ghibelline.
+
+Certain princes of the House of Hohenstaufen were too proud to
+acknowledge an authority that threatened to crush their power in Italy.
+Henry VI was a ruler dreaded by contemporaries as merciless to the last
+degree.  He burned men alive if they offended him, and had no
+compunction in ordering the guilty to be tarred and blinded.  He was of
+such a temper that the Pope had not the courage to demand from him the
+homage of a vassal.  It was Frederick II, Henry's son, who came into
+conflict with the Papacy so violently that all his neighbours watched
+in terror.
+
+Pope Gregory IX would give no quarter, and excommunicated the Emperor
+because he had been unable to go on a crusade owing to pestilence in
+his army.  The clergy were bidden to assemble in the Church of St Peter
+and to fling down their lighted candles as the Pope cursed the Emperor
+for his broken promise, a sin against religion.  The news of this
+ceremony spread through the world, the two parties appealing to the
+princes of Europe for aid in fighting out this quarrel.  Frederick
+defied the papal decree, and went to win back Jerusalem from the
+infidels as soon as his soldiers had {16} recovered.  He took the city,
+but had to crown himself as king since none other would perform the
+service for a man outside the Church.  Frederick bade the pious
+Mussulmans continue the prayers they would have ceased through
+deference to a Christian ruler.  He had thrown off all the
+superstitions of the age except the study of astrology, and was a
+scholar of wide repute, delighting in correspondence with the learned.
+
+The Arabs did not admire Frederick's person, describing him as unlikely
+to fetch a high price if he had been a slave!  He was bald-headed and
+had weak eyesight, though generally held graceful and attractive.  In
+mental powers he surpassed the greatest at his house, which had always
+been famous for its intellect.  He had been born at Palermo, "the city
+of three tongues"; therefore Greek, Latin, and Arabic were equally
+familiar.  He was daring in speech, broad in views, and cosmopolitan in
+habit.  He founded the University of Naples and encouraged the study of
+medicine; he had the Greek of Aristotle translated, and himself set the
+fashion in verse-making, which was soon to be the pastime of every
+court in Italy.
+
+The Pope was more successful in a contest waged with tongues than he
+had proved on battle-fields, which were strewn with bodies of both
+Guelf and Ghibelline factions.  He dined in 1230 at the same table as
+his foe, but the peace between them did not long continue.  In turn
+they triumphed, bringing against each other two armies of the Cross,
+the followers of the Pope fighting under the standard of St Peter's
+Keys as the champion of the true Christian Church against its
+oppressors.
+
+Pope Innocent IV, who succeeded Gregory, proved himself a very cunning
+adversary.  He might have {17} won an easy victory over Frederick II if
+the exactions of the Papacy had not angered the countries where he
+sought refuge after his first failures.  It was futile to declare at
+Lyons that the Emperor was deposed when all France was crying out upon
+the greed of prelates.  The wearisome strife went on till the very
+peasants had to be guarded at their work by knights, sent out from
+towns to see that they were not taken captive.  It was the day of the
+robber, and all things lay to his hand if he were bold enough to grasp
+them.  Prisoners of war suffered horrible tortures, being hung up by
+their feet and hands in the hope that their friends would ransom them
+the sooner.  Villages were burned down, and wolves howled near the
+haunts of men, seeking food to appease their ravening hunger.  It was
+said that fierce beasts gnawed through the walls of houses and devoured
+little children in their cradles.  Italy was rent by a conflict which
+divided one province from another, and even placed inhabitants of the
+same town on opposite sides and caused dissension in the noblest
+families.
+
+The Flagellants marched in procession through the land, calling for
+peace but bringing tumult.  The Emperor's party made haste to shut them
+out of the territory they ruled, but they could not rid the people of
+the terrible fear inspired by the barefooted, black-robed figures, with
+branches and candles in their hands and the holy Cross flaming red
+before them.
+
+One defeat after another brought the House of Hohenstaufen under the
+control of the Church they had defied so boldly.  Frederick's own son
+rebelled against him, and Frederick's camp was destroyed by a Guelf
+army.  The Emperor had lived splendidly, making more impression on
+world-history than any other prince of that {18} illustrious family,
+but he died in an hour of failure, feeling bitterly how great a triumph
+his death would be to the Pope who had conquered.
+
+It was late in the year 1250 when the tidings of Frederick II's death
+travelled slowly through his Empire.  Many refused to believe them, and
+declared long years afterwards that the Emperor was still living,
+beneath a mighty mountain.  The world seemed to be shaking yet with the
+vibration of that deadly struggle.  Conrad and Conradin were left, and
+Manfred, the favourite son of Frederick, but their reigns were short
+and desperate, and when they, too, had passed the Middle Ages were
+merging into another era.  The "two swords" of Papacy and Empire were
+still to pierce and wound, but the struggle between them would never
+seem so mighty after the spirit had fled which inspired Conradin, last
+of the House of Swabia.
+
+This young prince was led to the scaffold, where he asserted stoutly
+his claim to Naples above the claim of Charles, the Count of Anjou, who
+held it as fief of the Papacy.  Then Conradin dared to throw his glove
+among the people, bidding them to carry it to Peter, Prince of Aragon,
+as the symbol by which he conveyed the rights of which death alone had
+been able to despoil him.
+
+
+
+
+{19}
+
+Chapter II
+
+Dante, the Divine Poet
+
+There were still Guelfs and Ghibellines in 1265, but the old names had
+partially lost their meaning in the Republic of Florence, where the
+citizens brawled daily, one faction against the other.  The nobles had,
+nevertheless, a bond with the emperor, being of the same Teutonic
+stock, and the burghers often sought the patronage of a very powerful
+pope, hoping in this way to maintain their well-loved independence.
+
+But often Guelf and Ghibelline had no interest in anything outside the
+walls of Florence.  The Florentine blood was hot and rose quickly to
+avenge insult.  Family feuds were passionately upheld in a community so
+narrow and so zealous.  If a man jostled another in the street, it was
+an excuse for a fight which might end in terrible bloodshed.  Fear of
+banishment was no restraint to the combatants.  The Guelf party would
+send away the Ghibelline after there had been some shameful tumult.
+Then the _fuori_ (outside) were recalled because their own faction was
+in power again, and, in turn, the Guelfs were banished by the
+Ghibellines.  In 1260 there had even been some talk of destroying the
+famous town in Tuscany.  Florence would have been razed to the ground
+had not a party leader, Farinata degli Uberti, showed unexpected
+patriotism which saved her.
+
+Florence had waxed mighty through her commerce, {20} holding a high
+place among the Italian cities which had thrown off the feudal yoke and
+become republics.  Wealth gave the citizens leisure to study art and
+literature, and to attain to the highest civilization of a thriving
+state.  The Italians of that time were the carriers of Europe, and as
+such had intercourse with every nation of importance.  They were
+especially successful as bankers, Florentine citizens of middle rank
+acquiring such vast fortunes by finance that they outstripped the
+nobles who dwelt outside the gates and spent all their time in
+fighting.  The guilds of Florence united men of the same trade and also
+encouraged perfection in the various branches.  Goldsmiths offered
+marvellous wares for the purchase of the affluent dilettante.  Silk was
+a natural manufacture, and paper had to be produced in a place where
+the School of Law attracted foreign scholars.
+
+Rome had the renown of past splendour and the purple of imperial pride.
+Venice was the depot of the world's trade, and sent fleets east and
+west laden with precious cargoes, which gave her a unique position
+among the five Republics.  Bologna drew students from every capital in
+Europe to her ancient Universities.  Milan had been a centre of
+learning even in the days of Roman rule, and the Emperor Maximilian had
+made it the capital of Northern Italy.  Florence, somewhat overshadowed
+by such fame, could yet boast the most ancient origin.  Was not
+Faesulae, lying close to her, the first city built when the Flood had
+washed away the abodes of men and left the earth quite desolate?  _Fia
+sola_--"Let her be alone"--the words re-echoed through the whole
+neighbourhood and were the pride of Florence, which lay in a smiling
+fertile plain where all things flourished.  The Florentines were coming
+to their own as the Middle Ages {21} passed; they were people of
+cunning hand and brain, always eager to make money and spend it to
+procure the luxury and beauty their natures craved.  The "florin" owed
+its popularity to the soundness of trade within the very streets where
+the bell, known as "the great cow," rang so lustily to summon the
+citizens to combat.  The golden coins carried the repute of the fair
+Italian town to other lands, and changed owners so often that her
+prosperity was obvious.
+
+Florence looked very fair when Durante Alighieri came into the world,
+for he was born on a May morning, and the Florentines were making
+holiday.  There was mirth and jesting within the tall grey houses round
+the little church of San Martino.  The Alighieri dwelt in that quarter,
+but more humbly than their fine neighbours, the Portinari, the Donati,
+and the Cerci.
+
+The Portinari celebrated May royally in 1275, inviting all their
+friends to a blithe gathering.  At this _festa_ Dante Alighieri met
+Beatrice, the little daughter of his host, and the long dream of his
+life began, for he idealized her loveliness from that first youthful
+meeting.
+
+"Her dress on that day was of a most noble colour, a subdued and goodly
+crimson, girdled and adorned in such sort as best suited with her very
+tender age.  At that moment I say most truly that the spirit of life,
+which hath its dwelling in the secretest chamber of the heart, began to
+tremble so violently that the least pulses of my body shook therewith;
+and in trembling it said these words--'_Ecce Deus fortior me, qui
+veniens dominabitur mihi._'  From that time Love ruled my soul. . . ."
+
+Henceforth, Dante watched for the vision of Beatrice, weaving about her
+all the poetic fancies of his youth.  He must have seen her many times,
+but no words passed {22} between them till nine years had sped and he
+chanced to come upon her in all the radiance of her womanhood.  She was
+"between two gentle ladies who were older than she; and passing by in
+the street, she turned her eyes towards that place where I stood very
+timidly, and in her ineffable courtesy saluted me so graciously that I
+seemed then to see the heights of all blessedness.  And because this
+was the first time her words came to my ears, it was so sweet to me
+that, like one intoxicated, I left all my companions, and retiring to
+the solitary refuge of my chamber I set myself to think of that most
+courteous one, and thinking of her, there fell upon me a sweet sleep,
+in which a marvellous vision appeared to me."  The poet described the
+vision in verse--it was Love carrying a sleeping lady in one arm and in
+the other the burning heart of Dante.  He wished that the sonnet he
+wrote should be answered by "all the faithful followers of love," and
+was gratified by the prompt reply of Guido Cavalcanti, who had won
+renown as a knight and minstrel.
+
+Dante became the friend of this elder poet, and was encouraged to
+pursue his visionary history of the earlier years of his life and his
+fantastic adoration for Beatrice Portinari.  The _Vita Nuova_ was read
+by the poet's circle, who had a sympathetic interest in the details of
+the drama.  The young lover did not confess his love to "the youngest
+of the angels," but he continued to worship her long after she had
+married Simone de Bardi.
+
+[Illustration: Dante in the Streets of Florence (Evelyn Paul)]
+
+Yet Dante entered into the ruder life of Florence, and took up arms for
+the Guelf faction, to which his family belonged.  He fought in 1289 at
+the battle of Campaldino against the city of Arezzo and the Ghibellines
+who had taken possession of that city.  Florence had been strangely
+peaceful in his childhood because the Guelfs were her unquestioned
+masters at the time.  It must have {23} been a relief to Florentines to
+go forth to external warfare!
+
+Dante played his part valiantly on the battle-field, then returned to
+wonderful aloofness from the strife of factions.  He was stricken with
+grave fears that Beatrice must die, and mourned sublimely when the sad
+event took place on the ninth day of one of the summer months of 1290.
+"In their ninth year they had met, nine years after, they had spoken;
+she died on the ninth day of the month and the ninetieth year of the
+century."
+
+Real life began with the poet's marriage when he was twenty-eight, for
+he allied himself to the noble Donati by marrying Gemma of that house.
+Little is known of the wife, but she bore seven children and seems to
+have been devoted.  Dante still had his spiritual love for Beatrice in
+his heart, and planned a wonderful poem in which she should be
+celebrated worthily.
+
+Dante began to take up the active duties of a citizen in 1293 when the
+people of Florence rose against the nobles and took all their political
+powers from them.  The aristocratic party had henceforth to submit to
+the humiliation of enrolling themselves as members of some guild or art
+if they wished to have political rights in the Republic.  The poet was
+not too proud to adopt this course, and was duly entered in the
+register of the art of doctors and apothecaries.  It was not necessary
+that he should study medicine, the regulation being a mere form,
+probably to carry out the idea that every citizen possessing the
+franchise should have a trade of some kind.
+
+The prosperity of the Republic was not destroyed by this petty
+revolution.  Churches were built and stones laid for the new walls of
+Florence.  Relations with other states demanded the services of a
+gracious and tactful {24} embassy.  Dante became an ambassador, and was
+successful in arranging the business of diplomacy and in promoting the
+welfare of his city.  He was too much engaged in important affairs to
+pay attention to every miserable quarrel of the Florentines.  The
+powerful Donati showed dangerous hostility now to the wealthy Cerchi,
+their near neighbours.  Dante acted as a mediator when he could spare
+the time to hear complaints.  He was probably more in sympathy with the
+popular cause which was espoused by the Cerchi than with the arrogance
+of his wife's family.
+
+The feud of the Donati and Cerchi was fostered by the irruption of a
+family from Pistoia, who had separated into two distinct branches--the
+Bianchi and the Neri (the Whites and the Blacks)--and drawn their
+swords upon each other.  The Cerchi chose to believe that the Bianchi
+were in the right, and, of course, the Donati took up the cause of the
+Neri.  The original dispute had long been forgotten, but any excuse
+would serve two factions anxious to fight.  Brawling took place at a
+May _festa_, in which several persons were wounded.
+
+Dante was glad to divert his mind from all his discords when the last
+year of the thirteenth century came and he set out to Rome on
+pilgrimage.  At Easter all the world seemed to be flocking to that
+solemn festival of the Catholic Church, where the erring could obtain
+indulgence by fifteen days of devotion.  Yet the very break in the
+usual life of audiences and journeys must have been grateful to the
+tired ambassador.  He began to muse on the poetic aims of his first
+youth and the work which was to make Beatrice's name immortal.  Some
+lines of the new poem were written in the Latin tongue, then held the
+finest language for expressing a great subject.  The poet had to
+abandon his scheme for {25} a time at least, when he was made one of
+the Priors, or supreme rulers, of Florence in June 1300.
+
+There was some attempt during Dante's brief term of office to settle
+the vexed question of the rival parties.  Both deserved punishment,
+without doubt, and received it in the form of banishment for the heads
+of the factions.  "Dante applied all his genius and every act and
+thought to bring back unity to the republic, demonstrating to the wiser
+citizens how even the great are destroyed by discord, while the small
+grow and increase infinitely when at peace. . . ."
+
+Apparently Dante was not always successful in his attempts to unite his
+fellow-citizens.  He talked of resignation sometimes and retirement
+into private life, a proposal which was opposed by his friends in
+office.  When the losing side decided to ask Pope Boniface for an
+arbitrator to settle their disputes, all Dante's spirit rose against
+their lack of patriotism.  He went willingly on an embassy to desire
+that Charles, the brother or cousin of King Philip of France, who had
+been selected to regulate the state of Florence, should come with a
+friendly feeling to his party, if his arrival could not be averted.  He
+remained at Rome with other ambassadors for some unknown cause, while
+his party at Florence was defeated and sentence of banishment was
+passed on him as on the other leaders.
+
+Dante loved the city of his birth and was determined to return from
+exile.  He joined the band of _fuor-usciti_, or "turned-out," who were
+at that time plotting to reverse their fortunes.  He cared not whether
+they were Guelf or Ghibelline in his passionate eagerness to win them
+to decisive action that would restore him to his rights as a Florentine
+citizen.  He had no scruples in seeking foreign aid against the unjust
+Florentines.  An {26} armed attempt was made against Florence through
+his fierce endeavours, but it failed, as also a second conspiracy
+within three years, and by 1304 the poet had been seized with disgust
+of his companions outside the gates.  He turned from them and went to
+the University of Bologna.
+
+Dante's wife had remained in Florence, escaping from dangers, perhaps,
+because she belonged to the powerful family of Donati.  Now she sent
+her eldest son, Pietro, to his father, with the idea that he should
+begin his studies at the ancient seat of learning.
+
+After two years of a quiet life, spent in writing his _Essay on
+Eloquence_ and reading philosophy, the exile was driven away from
+Bologna and had to take refuge with a noble of the Malespina family.
+He hated to receive patronage, and was thankful to set to work on his
+incomplete poem of the _Inferno_, which was sent to him from Florence.
+The weariness of exile was forgotten as he wrote the great lines that
+were to ring through the centuries and prove what manner of man his
+fellow-citizens had cast forth through petty wish for revenge and
+jealous hatred.  He had written beautiful poems in his youth, telling
+of love and chivalry and fair women.  Now he took the next world for
+his theme and the sufferings of those whose bodies have passed from
+earth and whose souls await redemption.  "Where I am sailing none has
+tracked the sea" were his words, avowing an intention to forsake the
+narrower limits of all poets before him.
+
+  "In the midway of this our mortal life,
+  I found one in a gloomy wood, astray
+  Gone from the path direct; and e'en to tell
+  It were no easy task, how savage wild
+  That forest, how robust and rough its growth,
+  Which to remember only, my dismay
+  Renews, in bitterness not far from death."
+
+{27}
+
+So the poet descended in imagination to the underworld, which he
+pictured reaching in wide circles from a vortex of sin and misery to a
+point of godlike ecstasy.  With Vergil as a guide, he passed through
+the dark portals with their solemn warning.
+
+  "Through me men pass to city of great woe,
+  Through me men pass to endless misery,
+  Through me men pass where all the lost ones go."
+
+
+In 1305 the _Inferno_ was complete, and Dante left it with the monks of
+a certain convent while he wandered into a far-distant country.  The
+Frate questioned him eagerly, asking why he had chosen to write the
+poem in Italian since the vulgar tongue seemed to clothe such a
+wonderful theme unbecomingly.  "When I considered the condition of the
+present age," the poet replied, "I saw that the songs of the most
+illustrious poets were neglected of all, and for this reason
+high-minded men who once wrote on such themes now left (oh! pity) the
+liberal arts to the crowd.  For this I laid down the pure lyre with
+which I was provided and prepared for myself another more adapted to
+the understanding of the moderns.  For it is vain to give sucklings
+solid food."
+
+Dante fled Italy and again sat on the student's "bundle of straw,"
+choosing Paris as his next refuge.  There he discussed learned
+questions with the wise men of France, and endured much privation as
+well as the pangs of yearning for Florence, his beloved city, which
+seemed to forget him.  Hope rose within his breast when the
+newly-elected Emperor, Henry of Luxemburg, resolved to invade Italy and
+pacify the rebellious spirit of the proud republics.  Orders were given
+that Florence should settle her feuds once for all, {28} but the
+Florentines angrily refused to acknowledge the imperial authority over
+their affairs and, while recalling a certain number of the exiled,
+refused to include the name of Dante.
+
+Dante, in his fierce resentment, urged the Emperor to besiege the city
+which resisted his imperial mandates.  The assault was unsuccessful,
+and Henry of Luxemburg died without accomplishing his laudable
+intention of making Italy more peaceful.
+
+Dante lived under the protection of the powerful Uguccione, lord of
+Pisa, while he wrote the _Purgatorio_.  The second part of his epic
+dealt with the region lying between the under-world of torment and the
+heavenly heights of Paradise itself.  Here the souls of men were to be
+cleansed of their sins that they might be pure in their final ecstasy.
+
+A revolt against his patron led the poet to follow him to Verona, where
+they both dwelt in friendship with the young prince, Cane della Scala.
+The later cantos of the great poem, the _Divine Comedy_, were sent to
+this ruler as they were written.  Cane loved letters, and appreciated
+Dante so generously that the exile, for a time, was moved to forget his
+bitterness.  He dedicated the _Paradiso_ to della Scala, but he had to
+give up the arduous task of glorifying Beatrice worthily and devote
+himself to some humble office at Verona.  The inferiority of his
+position galled one who claimed Vergil and Homer as his equals in the
+world of letters.  He lost all his serene tranquillity of soul, and his
+face betrayed the haughty impatience of his spirit.  Truly he was not
+the fitting companion for the buffoons and jesters among whom he was
+too often compelled to sit in the palaces where he accepted bounty.  He
+could not always win respect by the power of his dark and {29} piercing
+eyes, for he had few advantages of person and disdained to be genial in
+manners.  Brooding over neglect and injustice, he grew so repellant
+that Cane was secretly relieved when thoughtless, cruel levity drove
+the poet from his court.  He never cared, perhaps, that Dante, writing
+the concluding cantos of his poem, decided sadly not to send them to
+his former benefactor.
+
+The last goal of Dante's wanderings was the ancient city of Ravenna,
+where his genius was honoured by the great, and he derived a melancholy
+pleasure from the wonder of the people, who would draw aside from his
+path and whisper one to another: "Do you see him who goes to hell and
+comes back again when he pleases?"  The fame of the _Divine Comedy_ was
+known to all, and men were amazed by the splendid audacity of the
+_Inferno_.
+
+Yet Dante was still an exile when death took him in 1321, and Florence
+had stubbornly refused to pay him tribute.  He was buried at Ravenna,
+and over his tomb in the little chapel an inscription reproached his
+own city with indifference.
+
+  "_Hic claudor Dantes patriis extorris ab oris,_
+  _Quem genuit parvi Florentia mater amoris._"
+
+  "Here I am enclosed, Dante, exiled from my native country,
+  Whom Florence bore, the mother that little did love him."
+
+
+
+
+{30}
+
+Chapter III
+
+Lorenzo the Magnificent
+
+The struggle in which Dante had played a leading part did not cease for
+many years after the poet had died in exile.  The Florentines proved
+themselves so unable to rule their own city that they had to admit
+foreign control and bow before the Lords Paramount who came from
+Naples.  The last of these died in 1328 and was succeeded by the Duke
+of Athens.  This tyrant roused the old spirit of the people which had
+asserted its independence in former days.  He was driven out of
+Florence on Saint Anne's Day, July 26th of 1343, and the anniversary of
+that brave fight for liberty was celebrated henceforth with loud
+rejoicing.
+
+The _Ciompi_, or working-classes, rose in 1378 and demanded higher
+wages.  They had been grievously oppressed by the nobles, and were
+encouraged by a general spirit of revolt which affected the peasantry
+of Europe.  They were strong enough in Florence to set up a new
+government with one of their own rank as chief magistrate.  But
+democracy did not enjoy a lengthy rule and the rich merchant-class came
+into power.  Such families as the Albizzi and Medici were well able to
+buy the favour of the people.
+
+There had been a tradition that the Florentine banking-house of Medici
+were on the popular side in those struggles which rent Florence.  They
+were certainly born leaders {31} and understood very thoroughly the
+nature of their turbulent fellow-citizens.  They gained influence
+steadily during the sway of their rivals, the illustrious Albizzi.
+When Cosimo dei Medici had been banished, it was significant that the
+same convention of the people which recalled him should send Rinaldo
+degli Albizzi into exile.
+
+Cosimo dei Medici rid himself of enemies by the unscrupulous method of
+his predecessors, driving outside the walls the followers of any party
+that opposed him.  He had determined to control the Florentines so
+cleverly that they should not realize his tyranny.  He was quite
+willing to spend the hoards of his ancestors on the adornment of the
+state he governed, and, among other things, he built the famous convent
+of St Mark.  Fra Angelico, the painter-monk, was given the work of
+covering its white walls with the frescoes in which the monks delighted.
+
+Cosimo gained thereby the reputation of liberality and gracious
+interest in the development of genius.  The monk had devoted his time
+before this to the illuminations of manuscripts, and was delighted to
+work for the glory of God in such a way that all the convent might
+behold it.  He wished for neither profit not praise for himself, but he
+knew that his beautiful vision would be inherited by his Church, and
+that they might inspire others of his brethren.
+
+The Golden Age of Italian art was in its heyday under Cosimo dei
+Medici.  Painters and architects had not been disturbed by the tumults
+that drew the rival factions from their daily labours.  They had been
+constructing marvellous edifices in Florence even during the time when
+party feeling ran so high that it would have sacrificed the very
+existence of the city to its rancours.  {32} The noble Cathedral had
+begun to rise before Dante had been banished, but there was no belfry
+till 1334 when Giotto laid the foundation-stone of the _Campanile_,
+whence the bells would ring through many centuries.  The artist had
+completed his masterpiece in 1387, two years before the birth of
+Cosimo.  It was an incentive to patriotic Florentines to add to the
+noble buildings of their city.  The Church of San Lorenzo owed its
+existence to the House of Medici, which appealed to the people by
+lavish appreciation of all genius.
+
+Cosimo was a scholar and welcomed the learned Greeks who fled from
+Constantinople when that city was taken by the Turks in 1453.  He
+founded a Platonic Academy in Florence so that his guests were able to
+discuss philosophy at leisure.  He professed to find consolation for
+all the misfortunes of his life in the writings of the Greek Plato, and
+read them rather ostentatiously in hours of bereavement.  He collected
+as many classical manuscripts as his agents could discover on their
+journeys throughout Europe, and had these translated for the benefit of
+scholars.  He had been in the habit of conciliating Alfonso of Naples
+by a present of gold and jewels, but as soon as a copy of Livy, the
+Latin historian, came to his hand, he sent the priceless treasure to
+his ally, knowing that the Neapolitan prince had an enormous reverence
+for learning.  Cosimo, in truth, never coveted such finds for his own
+private use, but was always generous in exhibiting them at public
+libraries.  He bought works of art to encourage the ingenuity of
+Florentine craftsmen, and would pay a high price for any new design,
+because he liked to think that his benevolence added to the welfare of
+the city.
+
+Cosimo protected the commercial interests of Florence, identifying them
+with his own.  He knew that peace {33} was essential to the foreign
+trade, and tried to keep on friendly terms with the neighbours whose
+hostility would have destroyed it.  He lived with simplicity in private
+life, but he needed wealth to maintain his position as patron of art
+and the New Learning; nor did he grudge the money which was scattered
+profusely to provide the gorgeous spectacles, beloved by the unlearned.
+He knew that nothing would rob the Florentines so easily of their
+ancient love of liberty as the experience of sensuous delights, in
+which all southern races find some satisfaction.  He entertained the
+guests of the Republic with magnificence, that they might be impressed
+by the security of his unlawful government.
+
+Lorenzo, the grandson of Cosimo dei Medici, carried on his policy.  It
+had been successful, for the Florentines of their own accord put
+themselves beneath the sway of a second tyrant.
+
+"Poets of every kind, gentle and simple, with golden cithern and with
+rustic lute, came from every quarter to animate the suppers of the
+Magnifico; whosoever sang of arms, of love, of saints, of fools, was
+welcome, or he who, drinking and joking, kept the company amused. . . .
+And in order that the people might not be excluded from this new
+beatitude (a thing which was important to the Magnifico), he composed
+and set in order many mythological representations, triumphal cars,
+dances, and every kind of festal celebration, to solace and delight
+them; and thus he succeeded in banishing from their souls any
+recollection of their ancient greatness, in making them insensible to
+the ills of the country, in disfranchising and debasing them by means
+of temporal ease and intoxication of the senses."
+
+Lorenzo the Magnificent was endowed with charms {34} that were
+naturally potent with a beauty-loving people.  He had been very
+carefully trained by the prudent Cosimo, so that he excelled in
+physical exercises and could also claim a place among the most
+intellectual in Florence.  Although singularly ill-favoured, he had
+personal qualities which attracted men and women.  He spared no pains
+to array himself with splendour whenever he appeared in public.  At
+tournaments he wore a costume ornamented with gold and silver thread,
+and displayed the great Medicean diamond--_Il Libro_--on his shield,
+which bore the _fleur-de-lis_ of France in token of the friendship
+between the Medici and that nation.  The sound of drums and fifes
+heralded the approach of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and cheers acclaimed
+him victor when he left the field bearing the coveted silver helmet as
+a trophy.
+
+Lorenzo worshipped a lady who had given him a bunch of violets as a
+token, according to the laws of chivalry.  He wrote sonnets in honour
+of Lucrezia Donati, but he was not free to marry her, the great house
+of Medici looking higher than her family.  The bride, chosen for the
+honour of mating with the ruler of Florence, was a Roman lady of such
+noble birth that it was not considered essential that she should bring
+a substantial dowry.  Clarice Orsini was dazzled at her wedding-feast
+by the voluptuous splendour of the family which she entered.
+
+The ceremony took place at Florence in 1469 and afforded an excuse for
+lavish hospitality.  The bride received her own guests in the garden of
+the villa where she was to reign as mistress.  Young married women
+surrounded her, admiring the costliness of her clothing and preening
+themselves in the rich attire which they had assumed for this great
+occasion.  In an upper {35} room of the villa the bridegroom's mother
+welcomed her own friends of mature years, and listened indulgently to
+the sounds of mirth that floated upward from the cloisters of the
+courtyard.  Lorenzo sat there with the great Florentines who had
+assembled to honour his betrothal.  The feast was served with solemnity
+at variance with the wit and laughter that were characteristic of the
+gallant company.  The blare of trumpets heralded the arrival of dishes,
+which were generally simple.  The stewards and carvers bowed low as
+they served the meats; their task was far from light since abundance
+was the rule of the house of Medici.  No less than five thousand pounds
+of sweetmeats had been provided for the wedding, but it must be
+remembered that the banquets went on continuously for several days, and
+the humblest citizen could present himself at the hospitable boards of
+the bridegroom and his kinsfolk.  The country-folk had sent the usual
+gifts, of fat hens and capons, and were greeted with a welcome as
+gracious as that bestowed on the guests whose offerings were rings or
+brocades or costly illuminated manuscripts.
+
+After his marriage, Lorenzo was called upon to undertake a foreign
+mission.  He travelled to Milan and there stood sponsor to the child of
+the reigning Duke, Galeazzo Sforza, in order to cement an alliance.  He
+gave a gold collar, studded with diamonds, to the Duchess of Milan, and
+answered as became him when she was led to express the hope that he
+would be godfather to all her children!  It was Lorenzo's duty to act
+as host when the Duke of Milan came to visit Florence.  He was not
+dismayed by the long train of attendants which followed the Duke, for
+he knew that these richly-dressed warriors might be bribed to {36}
+fight for his State if he conciliated their master.  There were
+citizens in Florence, however, who shrank from the barbaric ostentation
+of their ally.  They looked upon a fire which broke out in a church as
+a divine denunciation of the mystery play performed in honour of their
+guests, and were openly relieved to shut their gates upon the Duke of
+Milan and his proud forces.
+
+Lorenzo betrayed no weakness when the town of Volterra revolted against
+Florence, which exercised the rights of a protector.  He punished the
+inhabitants very cruelly, banishing all the leaders of the revolt and
+taking away the Volterran privilege of self-government.  His enemies
+hinted that he behaved despotically in order to secure certain mineral
+rights in this territory, and held him responsible for the sack of
+Volterra, though he asserted that he had gone to offer help to such of
+the inhabitants as had lost everything.
+
+But the war of the Pazzi conspiracy was the true test of the strength
+of Medicean government.  It succeeded a time of high prosperity in
+Florence, when her ruler was honoured by the recognition of many
+foreign powers, and felt his position so secure that he might safely
+devote much leisure to the congenial study of poetry and philosophy.
+
+Between the years 1474-8 Lorenzo had managed to incur the jealous
+hatred of Pope Sixtus IV, who was determined to become the greatest
+power in Christendom.  This Pontiff skilfully detached Naples from her
+alliance with Florence and Milan by promising to be content with a
+nominal tribute of two white horses every year instead of the handsome
+annual sum she had usually exacted from this vassal.  He congratulated
+himself especially on this stroke of policy, because he believed Venice
+to be too selfish as a commercial State {37} to combine with her
+Italian neighbours and so form another Triple Alliance.  He then
+proceeded to win over the Duke of Urbino, who had been the leader of
+the Florentine army.  He also thwarted the ambition of Florentine trade
+by purchasing the tower of Imola from Milan.  The Medici, coveting the
+bargain for their traffic with the East, were too indignant to advance
+the money which, as bankers to the Papacy, they should have supplied.
+They preferred to see their rivals, the great Roman banking-house of
+the Pazzi, accommodating the Pope, even though this might mean a fatal
+blow to their supremacy.
+
+Lorenzo's hopes of a strong coalition against his foe were destroyed by
+the assassination of Sforza of Milan in 1474.  The Duke was murdered in
+the church of St Stephen by three young nobles who had personal
+injuries to avenge and were also inspired by an ardent desire for
+republican liberty.  The Pope exclaimed, when he heard the news, that
+the peace of Italy was banished by this act of lawlessness.  Lorenzo,
+disapproving of all outbreaks against tyranny, promised to support the
+widowed Duchess of Milan.  The control he exercised during her brief
+regime came to an end in 1479 with the usurpation of Ludovico, her
+Moorish brother-in-law.
+
+Then Riario, the Pope's nephew, saw that the time was ripe for a
+conspiracy against the Medici which might deprive them of their power
+in Italy.  He allied himself closely with Francesco dei Pazzi, who was
+anxious for the aggrandisement of his own family.  His name had long
+been famous in Florence, every good citizen watching the ancient _Carro
+dei Pazzi_ which was borne in procession at Easter-tide.  The car was
+stored with fireworks set alight by means {38} of the Colombina (Dove)
+bringing a spark struck from a stone fragment of Christ's tomb.  The
+citizens could not forget the origin of the sacred flame, for they had
+all heard in youth the story of the return of a crusading member of the
+Pazzi house with that precious relic.
+
+The two conspirators hoped to bring a foreign army against Florence
+and, therefore, gained the aid of Salviati, Archbishop of Pisa.  The
+Pope bade them do as they wished, "provided that there be no killing."
+In reality, he was aware that a plot to assassinate both Lorenzo dei
+Medici and his brother, Giuliano, was on foot, but considered that it
+would degrade his holy office if he spoke of it.
+
+It was necessary for their first plan that Lorenzo should be lured to
+Rome where the conspirators had assembled, but he refused an invitation
+to confer with the Pope about their differences and a new plan had to
+be substituted.  Accordingly the nephew of Riario, Cardinal Raffaelle
+Sansoni, expressed a keen desire to view the treasures of the Medici
+household, and was welcomed as a guest by Florence.  He attended mass
+in the Cathedral which was to be the scene of the assassination, since
+Lorenzo and his brother were certain to attend it.  Two priests offered
+to perform the deed of sacrilege from which the original assassin
+recoiled.  They hated Lorenzo for his treatment of Volterra, and drove
+him behind the gates of the new sacristy.  Giuliano was slain at the
+very altar, his body being pierced with no less than nineteen wounds,
+but Lorenzo escaped to mourn the fate of the handsome noble brother who
+had been a model for Botticelli's famous "Primavera."
+
+He heard the citizens cry, "Down with traitors!  The Medici!  The
+Medici!" and resolved to move {39} them to a desperate vengeance on the
+Pazzi.  The Archbishop of Pisa was hanged from the window of a palace,
+while a fellow-conspirator was hurled to the ground from the same
+building.  This gruesome scene was painted to gratify the avengers of
+Giuliano.
+
+Florence was enthusiastic in defence of her remaining tyrant.  He was
+depicted by Botticelli in an attitude of triumph over the triple forces
+of anarchy, warfare and sedition.  All the family of Pazzi were
+condemned as traitors.  Their coat of arms was erased by Lorenzo's
+adherents wherever it was discovered.
+
+Henceforth, Lorenzo exercised supreme control over his native city.  He
+won Naples to a new alliance by a diplomatic visit that proved his
+skill in foreign negotiations.  The gifts that came to him from strange
+lands were presented, in reality, to the master of the Florentine
+"republic."  Egypt sent a lion and a giraffe, which were welcomed as
+wonders of the East even by those who did not appreciate the fact that
+they showed a desire to trade.  It was easy soon to find new markets
+for the rich burghers whose class was in complete ascendancy over the
+ancient nobles.
+
+Lorenzo was seized with mortal sickness in the early spring of 1492,
+and found no comfort in philosophy.  He drank from a golden cup which
+was supposed to revive the dying when it held a draught, strangely
+concocted from precious pearls according to some Eastern fancy.  But
+the sick man found nothing of avail in his hour of death except a visit
+from an honest monk he had seen many times in the cloisters of San
+Marco.
+
+Savonarola came to the bedside of the magnificent pagan and demanded
+three things as the price of absolution.  Lorenzo was to believe in the
+mercy of God, to {40} restore all that he had wrongfully acquired, and
+to agree to popular government being restored to Florence.  The third
+condition was too hard, for Lorenzo would not own himself a tyrant.  He
+turned his face to the wall in bitterness of spirit, and the monk
+withdrew leaving him unshriven.
+
+The sack of Volterra, and the murder of innocent kinsfolk of the Pazzi
+who had been involved in the great conspiracy haunted Lorenzo as he
+passed from life in the prime of manhood and glorious achievements.  He
+would have mourned for the commerce of his city if he had known that in
+the same year of 1492 the discovery of America would be made, through
+which the Atlantic Ocean was to become the highway of commerce,
+reducing to sad inferiority the ports of the Mediterranean.
+
+
+
+
+{41}
+
+Chapter IV
+
+The Prior of San Marco
+
+Long before Lorenzo's death, Girolamo Savonarola had made the
+corruption of Florence the subject of sermons which drew vast crowds to
+San Marco.  The city might pride herself on splendid buildings
+decorated by the greatest of Italian painters; she might rouse envy in
+the foreign princes who were weary of listening to the praises of
+Lorenzo; but the preacher lamented the sins of Florentines as one of
+old had lamented the wickedness of Nineveh, and prophesied her downfall
+if the pagan lust for enjoyment did not yield to the sternest
+Christianity.
+
+Savonarola had witnessed many scenes which showed the real attitude of
+the Pope toward religion.  He had been born at Ferrara, where the
+extravagant and sumptuous court had extended a flattering welcome to
+Pius IV as he passed from town to town to preach a Crusade against the
+Turks.  The Pope was sheltered by a golden canopy and greeted by sweet
+music, and statues of heathen gods were placed on the river-banks as an
+honour to the Vicar of Christ!
+
+Savonarola shrank from court-life and the patronage of Borsi, the
+reigning Marquis of Ferrara.  That prince, famed for his banquets, his
+falcons, and his robes of gold brocade, would have appointed him the
+court physician it he would have agreed to study medicine.  {42} The
+study of the Scriptures appealed more to the recluse, whose only
+recreation was to play the lute and write verses of a haunting
+melancholy.
+
+Against the wishes of his family Savonarola entered the Order of Saint
+Dominic.  He gave up the world for a life of the hardest service in the
+monastery by day, and took his rest upon a coarse sack at night.  He
+was conscious of a secret wish for pre-eminence, no doubt, even when he
+took the lowest place and put on the shabbiest clothing.
+
+The avarice of Pope Sextus roused the monk to burning indignation.  The
+new Pope lavished gifts on his own family, who squandered on luxury of
+every kind the money that should have relieved the poor.  The Church
+seemed to have entered zealously into that contest for wealth and power
+which was devastating all the free states of Italy.
+
+Savonarola had come from his monastery at Bologna to the Convent of San
+Marco when he first lifted up his voice in denunciation.  He was not
+well received because he used the Bible--distrusted by the Florentines,
+who expressed doubts of the correctness of its Latin!  Pico della
+Mirandola, the brilliant young scholar, was attracted, however, by the
+friar's eloquence.  A close friendship was formed between these two
+men, whose appearance was as much in contrast as their characters.
+
+Savonarola was dark in complexion, with thick lips and an aquiline
+nose--only the flashing grey eyes set under overhanging brows redeemed
+his face from harshness.  Mirandola, on the other hand, was gifted with
+remarkable personal beauty.  Long fair curls hung to his shoulders and
+surrounded a face that was both gentle and gracious.  He had an
+extraordinary knowledge of languages and a wonderful memory.
+
+{43}
+
+Fastidious Florentines were converted to Mirandola's strange taste in
+sermons, so that the convent garden with its rose-trees became the
+haunt of an ever-increasing crowd, eager to hear doctrines which were
+new enough to tickle their palates pleasantly.  On the 1st of August
+1489, the friar consented to preach in the Convent Church to the
+Dominican brothers and the laymen who continued to assemble in the
+cloisters.  He took a passage of Revelations for his text.  "Three
+things he suggested to the people.  That the Church of God required
+renewal, and that immediately; second, that all Italy should be
+chastised; third, that this should come to pass soon."  This was the
+first of Savonarola's prophecies, and caused great excitement among the
+Florentines who heard it.
+
+At Siena, the preacher pronounced sentence on the Church, which was now
+under the rule of Innocent IV, a pope more openly depraved than any of
+his predecessors.  Through Lombardy the echo of that sermon sounded and
+the name of Girolamo Savonarola.  The monk was banished, and only
+recalled to Florence by the favour of Lorenzo dei Medici, who was
+undisturbed by a series of sermons against tyranny.
+
+Savonarola was elected Prior of San Marco in July 1491, but he refused
+to pay his respects to Lorenzo as the patron of the convent.  "Who
+elected me to be Prior--God or Lorenzo?" he asked sternly when the
+elder Dominicans entreated him to perform this duty.  "God," was the
+answer they were compelled to make.  They were sadly disappointed when
+the new Prior decided, "Then I will thank my Lord God, not mortal man."
+
+In the Lent season of this same year Savonarola preached for the first
+time in the cathedral or Duomo {44} of Florence.  "The people got up in
+the middle of the night to get places for the sermon, and came to the
+door of the cathedral, waiting outside till it should be opened, making
+no account of any inconvenience, neither of the cold nor the wind, nor
+of standing in the winter with their feet on the marble; and among them
+were young and old, women and children of every sort, who came with
+such jubilee and rejoicing that it was bewildering to hear them, going
+to the sermon as to a wedding. . . .  And though many thousand people
+were thus collected together no sound was to be heard, not even a
+'hush,' until the arrival of the children, who sang hymns with so much
+sweetness that heaven seemed to have opened."
+
+The Magnificent often came to San Marco, piqued by the indifference of
+the Prior and interested in the personality of the man who had
+succeeded in impressing cultured Florentines by simple language.  He
+gave gold pieces lavishly to the convent, but the gold was always sent
+to the good people of St Martin, who ministered to the needs of those
+who were too proud to acknowledge their decaying fortunes.  "The silver
+and copper are enough for us," were the words that met the
+remonstrances of the other brethren.  "We do not want so much money."
+No wonder that Lorenzo remembered the invincible honesty of this Prior
+when he was convinced of the hollowness of the life he had led among a
+court of flatterers!
+
+The Prior's warnings were heard in Florence with an uneasy feeling that
+their fulfilment might be nearer after Lorenzo died and was succeeded
+by his son.  Piero dei Medici sent the preacher away from the city, for
+he knew that men whispered among themselves that the Dominican had
+foretold truly the death of Innocent and the parlous state of Florence
+under the {45} new Pope, Alexander VI (Alexander Borgia).  He did not
+like the predictions of evil for his own house of Medici, which had now
+wielded supreme power in Florence for over sixty years.  It would go
+hardly with him if the people were to rise against the tyranny his
+fathers had established.
+
+Piero's downfall was hastened by the news that a French army had
+crossed the Alps under Charles VIII of France, who intended to take
+Naples.  This invasion of Italy terrified the Florentines, for they had
+become unwarlike since they gave themselves up to luxury and pleasure.
+They dreaded the arrival of the French troops, which were famous
+throughout Europe.  On these Charles relied to intimidate the citizens
+of the rich states he visited on his way to enforce a claim transmitted
+to him through Charles of Anjou.  Piero de Medici made concessions to
+the invader without the knowledge of the people.  The Florentines
+rebelled against the admission of soldiers within their walls as soon
+as the advance guard arrived to mark with chalk the houses they would
+choose for their quarters.  There were frantic cries of "_Abbasso le
+palle_," "Down with the balls," in allusion to the three balls on the
+Medici coat of arms.  Piero himself was disowned and driven from the
+city.
+
+All the enemies of the Medici were recalled, and the populace entreated
+Savonarola to return and protect them in their hour of peril.  They had
+heard him foretell the coming of one who should punish the wicked and
+purge Italy of her sins.  Now their belief in the Prior's utterances
+was confirmed.  They hastened to greet him as the saviour of their city.
+
+Savonarola went on an embassy to Charles' camp and made better terms
+than the Florentines had {46} expected.  Nevertheless, they had to
+endure the procession of French troops through their town, and found it
+difficult to get rid of Charles VIII, whose cupidity was aroused when
+he beheld the wealth of Florence.  There was tumult in the streets,
+where soldiers brawled with citizens and enraged their hosts by
+insults.  The Italian blood was greatly roused when the invading
+monarch threatened "to sound his trumpets" if his demands were not
+granted.  "Then we will ring our bells," a bold citizen replied.  The
+French King knew how quickly the town could change to a stronghold of
+barricaded streets if such an alarm were given, and wisely refrained
+from further provocation.  He passed on his way after "looting" the
+palace in which he had been lodged.  The Medicean treasures were the
+trophies of his visit.
+
+In spite of himself, the monk had to turn politician after the French
+army had gone southward.  He was said to have saved the State, and was
+implored to assume control now that the tyranny was at an end.  There
+was a vision before him of Florence as a free Republic in the truest
+sense.  He took up his work gladly for the cause of liberty.  The
+_Parliamento_, a foolish assembly of the people which was summoned
+hastily to do the will of any faction that could overawe it, was
+replaced by the Great Council formed on a Venetian model.  In this sat
+the _benefiziati_--those who had held some civic office, and the
+immediate descendants of officials.  Florence was not to have a really
+democratic government.
+
+After the cares of government, Savonarola felt weary in mind and body;
+he had never failed to preach incessantly in the cathedral, where he
+expounded his schemes for reform without abandoning his work as
+prophet.  He broke down, but again took up his burden {47} bravely.
+Florence was a changed city under his rule.  Women clothed themselves
+in the simplest garb and forsook such vanities as wigs and rouge-pots.
+Bankers, repenting of greed, hastened to restore the wealth they had
+wrongly appropriated.  Tradesmen read their Bibles in their shops in
+the intervals of business, and were no longer to be found rioting in
+the streets.  The Florentine youths, once mischievous to the last
+degree, attended the friar daily, and actually gave up their
+stone-throwing.  "_Piagnoni_" (Snivellers) was the name given to these
+enthusiasts, for the godly were not without opponents.
+
+Savonarola had to meet the danger of an attempt to restore the
+authority of Piero dei Medici.  He mustered eleven thousand men and
+boys, when a report came that the tyrant had sought the help of Charles
+VIII against Florence.  The Pope, also, wished to restore Piero for his
+own ends.  In haste the citizens barred their gates and then assembled
+in the cathedral to hearken to their leader.
+
+Savonarola passed a stern resolution that any man should be put to
+death who endeavoured to destroy the hard-won freedom of his city.
+"One must treat these men," he declared, "as the Romans treated those
+who sought the recall of Tarquinius."  His fiery spirit inflamed the
+Florentines with such zeal that they offered four thousand gold florins
+for the head of Piero dei Medici.
+
+The attempt to force the gates of Florence proved a failure.  Piero had
+to fly to Rome and the Prior's enemies were obliged to seek a fresh
+excuse for attacking his position.  The Pope was persuaded to send for
+him that he might answer a charge of disseminating false doctrines.
+The preacher defended himself vigorously, {48} and seemed to satisfy
+Alexander Borgia, whose aim was to crush a reformer of the Catholic
+Church likely to attack his evil practices.  He was, however, forbidden
+to preach, and had to be silent at the time when Florence held her
+carnival.
+
+The extraordinary change in the nature of this festival was a tribute
+to the influence of Savonarola.  Children went about the streets,
+chanting hymns instead of the licentious songs which Lorenzo dei Medici
+had written for the purpose.  They begged alms for the poor, and their
+only amusement was the _capannucci_, or Bonfire of Vanities, for which
+they collected the materials.  Books and pictures, clothes and jewels,
+false hair and ointments were piled in great heaps round a kind of
+pyramid some sixty feet in height.  Old King Carnival, in effigy, was
+placed at the apex of the pyramid, and the interior was filled with
+comestibles that would set the whole erection in a blaze as soon as a
+taper was applied.  When the signal was given, bells pealed and
+trumpets sounded glad farewell to the customs of the ancient carnival.
+The procession set forth from San Marco on Palm Sunday (led by
+white-robed children with garlands on their heads), and went round the
+city till it came to the cathedral.  "And so much joy was there in all
+hearts that the glory of Paradise seemed to have descended on earth and
+many tears of tenderness and devotion were shed."  So readily did
+Florentines confess that the new spirit of Christianity brought more
+satisfaction than the noisy licence of a pagan festival.
+
+In 1496 the Pope not only allowed Savonarola to preach, but even
+offered him a Cardinal's Hat on condition that he would utter no more
+predictions.  "I want no other red hat but that of martyrdom, reddened
+{49} by my own blood," was the firm response of the incorruptible
+preacher.  He was greeted by joyful shouts when he mounted to the
+pulpit of the Duomo, and had reached the height of his popularity in
+Florence.
+
+When a year had passed, Savonarola faced a different world, where
+friends were fain to conceal their devotion and enemies became loud in
+their constant menaces.  The _Arrabiati_ (enraged) had overcome the
+_Piagnoni_ and induced the Pope to pronounce excommunication against
+the leader of this party.  The sermons continued, the Papal decree was
+ignored, but a new doubt had entered the mind of Florentines.  A
+Franciscan monk, Francesco da Puglia, had attacked the Dominican,
+calling him a false prophet and challenging him to prove the truth of
+his doctrines by the "ordeal by fire."
+
+Savonarola hesitated to accept the challenge, knowing that he would be
+destroyed by it, whatever might be the actual issue.  The _Piagnoni_
+showed some chagrin when he allowed a disciple, Fra Domenico, to step
+into his place as a proof of devotion.  On all sides there were murmurs
+at the Prior's strange shrinking and obvious reluctance to meet with a
+miracle the charges of his opponents.
+
+A great crowd assembled on the day appointed for the "ordeal" in the
+early spring of 1498.  Balconies and roofs were black with human
+figures, children clung to columns and statues in order that they might
+not lose a glimpse of this rare spectacle.  Only a few followers of
+Savonarola prayed and wept in the Piazza of San Marco as the chanting
+procession of Domenicans appeared.  Fra Domenico walked last of all,
+arrayed in a cope of red velvet to symbolize the martyr's flames.  He
+did not fear to prove the strength of his belief, but walked erect and
+bore the cross in triumph.  It was the {50} Franciscan brother whose
+courage failed for he had never thought, perhaps, that any man would be
+brave enough to reply to his awful challenge.
+
+The crowd watched, feverishly expectant, but the hours passed and there
+was no sign of Francesco da Puglia.  His brethren found fault with
+Domenico's red cope and bade him change it.  They consulted, and came
+at last to the conclusion that their own champion had found himself
+unable to meet martyrdom.  At length it was announced that there would
+be no ordeal--a thunderstorm had not caused one spectator to leave his
+place in the Piazza, where there should be wrought a miracle.  It was
+clear that the Prior's enemies had sought his death, for they showed a
+furious passion of resentment.  Even the _Piagnoni_ were troubled by
+doubts of their prophet, who had refused to show his supernatural
+powers and silence the Franciscans.  The monks were protected with
+difficulty from the violence of the mob as they returned in the April
+twilight to the Convent of San Marco.
+
+[Illustration: The Last Sleep of Savonarola.  (Sir George Reid,
+P.R.S.A.)]
+
+There was the sound of vespers in the church when a noise of tramping
+feet was heard and the fierce cry, "To San Marco!"  The monks rose from
+their knees to shut the doors through which assailants were fast
+pouring.  These soldiers of the Cross fought dauntlessly with any
+weapon they could seize when they saw that their sacred dwelling was in
+danger.
+
+Savonarola called the Dominicans round him and led them to the altar,
+where he knelt in prayer, commanding them to do likewise.  But some of
+the white-robed brethren had youthful spirits and would not refrain
+from fighting.  They rose and struggled to meet death, waving lighted
+torches about the heads of their assailants.  A novice met naked swords
+with a great {51} wooden cross he took to defend the choir from
+sacrilege.  "Save Thy people, O God"; it was the refrain of the very
+psalm they had been singing.  The place was dense with smoke, and the
+noise of the strife was deafening.  A young monk died on the very altar
+steps, and received the last Sacrament from Fra Domenico amid this
+strange turmoil.
+
+As soon as a pause came in the attack, Savonarola led the brethren to
+the library.  He told them quietly that he was resolved to give himself
+up to his enemies that there might be no further bloodshed.  He bade
+them farewell with tenderness and walked forth into the dangerous crowd
+about the convent.  His hands were tied and he was beaten and buffeted
+on his way to prison.  The first taste of martyrdom was bitter in his
+mouth, and he regretted that he had not answered the Franciscan's
+challenge.
+
+The prophet was put on trial on a charge of heresy and sedition.  He
+was tortured so cruelly that he was led to recant and to "confess," as
+his judges said.  They had already come to a decision that he was
+guilty.  Sentence of death was pronounced, and he mounted the scaffold
+on May 23rd, 1498.  He looked upon the multitude gathered in the great
+Piazza, but he did not speak to them; he did not save himself, as some
+of them were hoping.  It was many years before Florence paid him due
+honour as the founder of her liberties and the greatest of her
+reformers.
+
+
+
+
+{52}
+
+Chapter V
+
+Martin Luther, Reformer of the Church
+
+The martyrdom of Savonarola gave courage to reformers and renewed the
+faith of the people.  It had been his aim to progress steadily toward
+the truth and to draw the whole world after him.  Unconsciously he
+prepared the way for the German monk who destroyed the unity of the
+Catholic Church.  Though he was merciless to papal abuses, it had not
+been in the mind of the zealous Dominican to protest against the
+doctrines of the Papacy, nor did he ever doubt the faith which had
+drawn him to the convent.  He had no wish to destroy--his work was to
+purify.  But his death proved that purification was impossible.  Rome
+had gone too far on the downward path to be checked by a Reformer.  She
+had come at last to the parting of the ways.
+
+Martin Luther knew nothing of the pomp of Italian cities.  He was born
+in very humble circumstances at Eisleben, a little town in Germany, on
+St Martin's Eve, 1483.  Harsh discipline made his childhood unhappy,
+for the age of educational reformers had not yet come.  The little
+Martin was beaten and tormented, and had to sing in the streets for
+bread.
+
+Ambition roused his parents to send him to the University of Erfurt
+that he might study law.  He took his degree as Doctor of Philosophy in
+1505--the event {53} was celebrated by a torchlight procession and
+rejoicing, after the student-custom of those parts.
+
+Then Martin Luther, appalled by the sudden death of a comrade in a
+thunderstorm, resolved to devote himself to God.  Luther was a genial
+youth, and gave a supper to his friends before he left them; there were
+feasting and laughter and a burst of song.  That same evening the door
+of a convent opened to receive a novice with two books, Vergil and
+Plautus, in his hand.
+
+The novice had to perform the meanest tasks, sweeping floors and
+begging in the street on behalf of his brethren of the Augustinian
+Order.  "Go through the street with a sack and get food for us," they
+clamoured, driving him out that they might resume their idleness.
+
+Staupnitz, the head of the Order, visited the convent and was
+interested in the young man to whom fasting and penance did not bring
+the peace he craved.  Oppressed by his sins, Luther lived a life of
+misery.  He read the Bible constantly, having discovered the Holy Book
+by chance within the convent walls.  At last, the words of the creed
+brought comfort to him "_I believe_ in the forgiveness of sins."  He
+despaired of his soul no longer.  "It was as if I had found the door of
+Paradise wide open," he said joyfully, and devoted himself more closely
+to the study of the Scriptures.
+
+The fame of Luther's learning spread beyond the convent of his Order.
+He was summoned to teach philosophy and theology at Wittenberg, a new
+university, founded by Frederick, the Elector of Saxony.  The boldness
+of the lecturer's spirit was first shown in his sermons against
+"indulgences," one of the worst abuses of the Roman Church.
+
+The Pope claimed to inherit the keys of St Peter, {54} which opened the
+treasury containing the good works of the saints and the boundless
+merits of Jesus Christ.  He professed to be able to transfer a portion
+of this merit to any person who gave a sum of money to purchase pardon
+for sins.  "Indulgences" had been first granted to pilgrims and
+Crusaders.  They were further extended to those who aided pious works,
+such as the building of St Peter's.  The Pope, Leo X, had found the
+papal treasury exhausted by his predecessors.  He had to raise money,
+and therefore allowed agents to sell pardons throughout Germany.
+Tetzel, a Dominican friar, was employed in Saxony.  He was noisy and
+dishonest, and spent on his own evil pleasures sums that were given by
+the ignorant creatures upon whom he traded to secure their eternal
+happiness.
+
+Luther inveighed against such practices from the pulpit of the church
+at Wittenberg.  He was particularly angry to hear Tetzel's wicked
+proclamation that "when one dropped a penny into the box for a soul in
+purgatory, so soon as the money chinked in the chest, the soul flew up
+to heaven."
+
+The papal red cross hung above Tetzel's money-counter, and he sat there
+and called on all to buy.  Luther decided on an action that should stop
+the shameful traffic, declaring, "God willing, I will beat a hole in
+his drum."  On the eve of All Saints' Day a crowd assembled to gaze at
+the relics displayed at the Castle church of Wittenberg.  Their
+attention was drawn to a paper nailed on the church gate, which set
+forth reasons why indulgences were harmful and should be immediately
+discontinued.
+
+There were other abuses in the Church of Rome which Luther now openly
+deplored.  Hot discussion followed this bold step.  Tetzel retired to
+Frankfort, {55} but from there he wrote to contradict the new teaching
+of the Augustine monk.  He burnt Luther's theses publicly, and then
+heard that his own had been consigned to the flames in the market-place
+of Wittenberg, where a host of sympathisers had watched the bonfire
+with satisfaction.  Luther did not stand alone in his struggle to free
+the Church from vice and superstition.  He lived in an age when men had
+learning enough to despise the trickery of worldly monks.  The spirit
+of inquiry had lived through the Revival of Letters and Erasmus, the
+famous scholar, had discovered many errors in the Roman Church.
+
+Erasmus joined Luther in an attempt to show men that the Holy
+Scriptures alone would offer guidance in spiritual matters.  He knew
+that a reform of the Western Church was urgently needed, and was
+willing to use his subtle brains to confute the arguments of ignorant
+opponents.  But soon he found that Luther's temper was too ardent, that
+there was no middle course for this impetuous spirit.  He dreaded for
+himself the loss of wealth and honour, and refused to make war on those
+in high stations, whose patronage had helped him to the rewards of
+knowledge.
+
+Alarmed by the spread of Luther's books and doctrines, the cardinals
+entreated the Pope to summon him to Rome.  Printing had been invented,
+and poor as well as rich could easily be roused to inquire into the
+truth of the doctrines taught by Rome.  Leo X had been disposed to
+ignore the sermons of the obscure German monk, for he had many schemes
+to further his own ambition.  He yielded, at last, and sent the
+necessary summons.  Luther was loth to go to Rome, where he was sure of
+condemnation.  The Elector Frederick of Saxony came forward as his
+champion, not from religious {56} motives, but because he was pleased
+to see some prospect of the exactions of the court of Rome being
+diminished.
+
+Cajetan, the Papal Legate, came to preside over a Diet, summoned
+specially to Augsburg.  He urged the monk to retract his dangerous
+doctrine that the authority of the Bible was above that of the Pope of
+Rome.  "Retract, my son, retract," he urged; "it is hard for thee to
+kick against the pricks."  But the conference ended where it had
+begun--Luther fled back to Wittenberg.
+
+He began to see now that the whole system of Romish government was
+wrong, and that there were countless abuses to be swept away before the
+Church could truly claim to point the way to Christianity.  Conscience
+or authority, the Scriptures or the Church, Germany or Rome?  A choice
+had to be made, each man ranging himself on one side or the other.  The
+independence of Germany was dear to Luther's heart.  He wrote an
+address to the nobles and summoned the Christian princes of Germany to
+his aid.  He declared that all Christians were priests, and that the
+Church and nation ought to be freed from the interference of the
+Papacy.  He was becoming an avowed enemy of the Pope, losing his former
+reluctance to attack authority.  A Bull was, of course, issued against
+him, but the students of Erfurt threw the paper on which it was written
+into the river, saying contemptuously--"It is a bubble, let it swim!"
+
+In December, 1520, Luther himself burnt the Bull on a fire kindled for
+the purpose at the Elster Gate of Wittenberg.  He said, as he committed
+the document to the flames, "As thou hast vexed the saints of God, so
+mayest thou be consumed in eternal fire."  The act cut him off from the
+Papacy for ever.  He had defied the Pope in the presence of many
+witnesses.  {57} Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, was not in a
+position to take up the cause of Luther against his powerful enemies.
+He maintained an alliance with the Pope so that he would oppose the
+vast schemes which his rival, Francis I of France, was maturing.  At
+the same time, he owed a debt of gratitude to the Elector Frederick,
+who was one of the seven German princes possessing the right to "elect"
+a new emperor.  He decided, after a brief struggle, to yield to the
+demands of the Papal Legates.  He ordered Martin Luther to come to
+Worms and appear before the great Diet, or Assembly of German rulers,
+which met in 1521.
+
+Luther obeyed at once, making a triumphant journey through many towns
+and villages.  Music fell on his ears pleasantly, a portrait of
+Savonarola was sent to him that he might feel his courage strengthened.
+Had not his resolve been fixed, he would have turned back at Weimar,
+where he found an edict posted on the walls ordering all his writings
+to be burnt.  "I am lawfully called to appear in that city," he said,
+"and thither will I go in the name of the Lord, though as many devils
+as there are tiles on the houses were there combined against me."  He
+was stricken with illness at Eisenach, but went on as soon as he
+recovered.  When he caught sight of the old towers of Worms, his spirit
+leapt with joy, and he began to sing his famous hymn, "_Ein feste Burg
+ist unser Gott._"  ("A mighty fortress is our God.")
+
+The crowded streets testified to the fame that had gone before him.
+Not even the Emperor had met with such a flattering reception.  Saxon
+noblemen welcomed him, and friendly speech cheered him to meet the
+ordeal of the next day.  The Diet was an impressive assembly, with the
+Emperor on his throne and the great dignitaries {58} of State around
+him, clad in all the majesty of red and purple.  Not the chivalry of
+Germany only had flocked to hear the defence of Martin Luther for
+Spanish warriors sat there in yellow cloaks and added lustre to the
+splendid gathering.
+
+Luther's courageous stand against his adversaries won many to his
+cause.  He would not withdraw one word he had written or spoken, nor
+did he consent to his opinions being tried by any other rule than the
+word of God.
+
+Eric, the aged Duke of Brunswick, sent him a silver can of Einbech beer
+as a token of sympathy.  Weary of strife, Luther drank it, saying, "As
+Duke Eric has remembered me this day, so may our Lord Christ remember
+him in his last struggle."
+
+The reformer called in vain on the Emperor and States, assembled at
+Worms, to consider the parlous case of the Church, lest God should
+visit the German nation with His judgment.  A severe edict was
+published against him by the authority of the Diet, and he was deprived
+of all the privileges he enjoyed as a subject of the Empire.
+Furthermore, it was forbidden for any prince to harbour or protect him,
+and his person was to be seized as soon as the safe-conduct for the
+journey had expired.
+
+As Luther returned to Wittenberg, a band of horsemen took him and
+carried him off to the strong castle of Wartburg, where he was lodged
+in the disguise of a knight.  It was a ruse of the Elector of Saxony to
+save him from the storm he had roused by his behaviour at the Diet.
+Imprisonment was not irksome, and the retreat was pleasant enough after
+the strife of years.  He hunted in his character of gallant cavalier,
+and always wore a sword.  Much of his time was spent in {59}
+translating the Scriptures into German, that knowledge might not be
+denied even to the unlettered.  Constant study made his imagination
+very vivid, and the devil seemed to be constantly before him.  He had
+long conversations with Satan in person, as he believed, and decided
+that the best way to get rid of him was by gibes and mockery.  One
+night his bed shook with the violent agitation caused by the rattling
+of some hazel nuts against each other after they had felt the
+inspiration of the Evil One!  On another occasion a diabolical moth
+buzzed round him, preventing close attention to his labours.  He hurled
+an inkstand at the intruder, staining the wall of the chamber with a
+mark that remained there through centuries.
+
+During this confinement, Luther's opinions gained ground in Saxony.
+The University of Wittenberg made several alterations in the form of
+Church worship, abolishing, in particular, the celebration of private
+masses for the souls of the dead.  Two events counteracted the pleasure
+of the reformer when the news came to him.  He was told that the
+ancient University of Paris had condemned his doctrines, and that Henry
+VIII of England had written a reply to one of his books, so ably that
+the Pope had been delighted to confer on him the title of Defender of
+the Faith.
+
+In 1522, Luther returned to Wittenberg, enjoying a harmless jest at
+Jena by the way.  There his disguise of red mantle and doublet so
+deceived fellow-travellers that they told him their intention of going
+to see Martin Luther return, without realizing that they were speaking
+to the great reformer!
+
+His next sermons were not fortunate in their results, since the
+peasants failed to understand them.  A class war followed, in which
+Luther took the part of mediator, {60} trying to show his poorer
+neighbours the evils their violence would bring on themselves, and
+reproaching the nobles with their oppressive customs.  He was angry
+that the new religious spirit should be discredited by social disorder,
+and spoke bitterly of all who refused to heed his remonstrances.
+Erasmus was shocked by Luther's roughness of speech, and withdrew more
+and more from the reforming party.  He hated the old monkish teaching
+and desired literary freedom, but he could not forgive the excesses of
+this thorough-going reformer.
+
+In 1523, Luther gave grave offence to many of his own followers by
+marrying Catherine von Bora, a nun who had left her convent.  He had
+cast off the Roman belief that a priest should never marry, but public
+feeling could not approve of a change which was in conflict with so
+many centuries of tradition.  The Reformer's home life was happy,
+nevertheless, and six children were born of the marriage.  As a father,
+Luther showed much tenderness.  He wrote with a marvellous simplicity
+to his eldest son: "I know a very pretty, pleasant garden and in it
+there are a great many children, all dressed in little golden coats,
+picking up nice apples and pears and cherries and plums, under the
+trees.  And they sing and jump about and are very merry; and besides,
+they have got beautiful little horses with golden bridles and silver
+saddles.  Then I asked the man to whom the garden belonged, whose
+children they were, and he said, 'These are children who love to pray
+and learn their lessons, and do as they are bid'; then I said, 'Dear
+sir, I have a little son called Johnny Luther; may he come into this
+garden too?'"
+
+Luther's translation of the Bible was read with wonderful attention by
+people of every rank.  Other {61} countries of Europe also were
+influenced by his doctrines, with the result of a diminution of the
+blind faith in priestcraft.  Nuremburg, Frankfort, Hamburg, and other
+imperial free cities in Germany openly embraced the reformed religion,
+abolishing the mass and other "superstitious rites of popery."  The
+secular princes drew up a list of one hundred grievances, enumerating
+the grievous burdens laid upon them by the Holy See.  In 1526 a Diet
+assembled at Speyer to consider the state of religion!  The Diet
+enjoined all those who had obeyed the decree issued against Luther at
+Worms to continue to observe it, and to prohibit other States from
+attempting any further innovation in religion till the meeting of a
+general council.  The Elector of Saxony, with the heads of other
+principalities and free cities, entered a solemn "protest" against this
+decree, as unjust and impious.  On that account they were distinguished
+by the name of Protestants.
+
+At Augsburg, where priests and statesmen met together in 1530, the
+Protestant form of religion was established.  The reformers issued
+there a "confession" of their faith, known as the Augsburg Confession,
+and which placed them for ever apart from the old Roman Catholic
+Church.  A zeal for religion had seized on men excited by their own
+freedom to find the truth for themselves.  Luther lamented the strife
+that of necessity followed, often wondering whether he had not been too
+bold in opposing the ancient traditions of Rome.  For he had aimed at
+purification rather than separation, and would have preferred to keep
+the old Church rather than to set up a new one in its place.  "He was
+never for throwing away old shoes till he had got new ones."  Naturally
+reformers of less moderate nature did not love him.  He detested
+argument for {62} argument's sake.  There was nothing crafty or subtle
+in his nature.  He poured out the honest convictions of his heart
+without regard to the form in which he might express them.
+
+In 1546, Luther had promised to settle a dispute between two nobles,
+and set out on his journey, feeling a presentiment that the end of
+worldly strife was come for him.  On the way, he visited Eisleben,
+where he had been born, and there died.  His body was taken to
+Wittenberg, the scene of his real life-work.
+
+Germany had been restless before the reforms of Martin Luther,
+disinclined to believe all that was taught by monks and inculcated by
+tradition.  The authority of the Pope had kept men's souls in bondage.
+They hardly dared to judge for themselves what was right and what was
+wrong.  If money could free them from the burden of sins, they paid it
+gladly, acquitting themselves of all responsibility.  Now conscience
+had stirred and the mind been slowly awakened.  Luther declared his
+belief that each was responsible to God for his own soul, and there was
+a universal echo.  "I _believe_ in the forgiveness of sins."  The truth
+which had shone on the troubled monk was the truth to abide for ever
+with his followers.  "No priest can save you! no masses or indulgences
+can help you!  But God has saved you!"  The voice of the preacher came
+to the weary, crying out from ancient cathedrals and passionately
+swaying the whole nation of Germany.  Europe was in need of the same
+moral freedom.  Other countries took up the new creed and examined it,
+finding that which would work like a leaven in the corruptness of the
+age.
+
+
+
+
+{63}
+
+Chapter VI
+
+Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
+
+The sixteenth century was an age of splendid monarchs, who vied with
+each other in the luxury of their courts, the chivalry of their
+bearing, and the extent of their possessions.
+
+Francis I was a patron of the New Learning, the pride of France, ever
+devoted to a monarch with some dash of the heroic in his composition.
+He was dark and handsome, and excelled in the tournaments, where he
+tried to recapture the romance of the Middle Ages by his knightly
+equipment and gallant feats of arms.
+
+Henry VIII, the King of England, was eager to spend the wealth he had
+inherited on the glittering pageants which made the people forget the
+tyranny of the Tudor monarchs.  He was four years the senior of
+Francis, but still under thirty when Charles the Fifth succeeded, in
+1516, to the wide realms of the Spanish Crown.
+
+This king was likely to eclipse the pleasure-loving rivals of France
+and England, for he had vast power in Europe through inheritance of the
+great possessions of his house.  Castile and Aragon came to Charles
+through his mother, Joanna, who was the daughter of Ferdinand and
+Isabella.  Naples and Sicily went with Aragon, though, as a matter of
+fact, they had been appropriated in violation of a treaty.  The Low
+Countries were part of the dominions of Charles' grandmother, Mary of
+{64} Burgundy, who had married Philip, the Archduke of Austria.  When
+Maximilian of Austria died in 1519, he desired that his grandson should
+succeed not only to his dominions in Europe, but also to the proud
+title of Holy Roman Emperor, which was not hereditary.  With the
+treasures of the New World at his disposal, through the discoveries of
+Christopher Columbus, Charles V had little doubt that he could obtain
+anything he coveted.
+
+It was soon evident that Charles' claim to the Empire would be disputed
+by Francis I, who declared, "An he spent three millions of gold he
+would be Emperor."  The French King had a fine army, and money enough
+to bribe the German princes, in whose hands the power of "electing"
+lay.  Francis' ambassadors travelled from one to another with a train
+of horses, heavily laden with sumptuous offerings, but these found it
+quite impossible to bribe Frederick the Wise of Saxony.
+
+Charles did not scruple to use bribery, and he hoped to win Henry of
+England by flattery and by appealing to him as a kinsman; for his aunt,
+Catherine of Aragon, was Henry's Queen at that time.  The Tudor King
+had boldly taken for his motto, "Whom I defend is master," but he had
+secret designs on the Imperial throne himself, and thought either
+Francis I or Charles V would become far too powerful in Europe if the
+German electors appointed one of them.
+
+The Pope entered into the struggle because he knew that Charles of
+Spain would be likely to destroy the peace of Italy by demanding the
+Duchy of Milan, which was then under French rule.  He gave secret
+advice, therefore, to the German electors to choose one of their own
+number, and induced them to offer the Imperial rank to Frederick the
+Wise of Saxony.  {65} This prince did not feel strong enough to beat
+off the attacks of Selim, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, then
+threatening the land of Hungary.  He refused to become Emperor and
+suggested that the natural resistance to the East should come from
+Austria.
+
+Charles, undoubtedly, had Spanish gold that would assist him in this
+struggle.  In 1519 he was invested with the imperial crown and began to
+dream of further conquests.  A quarrel with France followed, both sides
+having grievances that made friendship impossible at that period.
+Charles had offended Francis I by promising to aid d'Albert of Navarre
+to regain his kingdom.  He also wished to claim the Duchy of Milan as
+the Pope had predicted, and was indignant that Burgundy, which had been
+filched from his grandmother by Louis XI, had never been restored to
+his family.
+
+Francis renewed an ancient struggle in reclaiming Naples.  He was
+determined not to yield to imperial pride, and sought every means of
+conciliating Henry VIII of England, who seemed eager to assert himself
+in Europe.  The two monarchs met at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in
+1513 and made a great display of friendship.  They were both skilled
+horsemen and showed to advantage in a tournament, having youth and some
+pretensions to manly beauty in their favour.  The meeting between them
+was costly and did not result as Francis had anticipated, since Charles
+V had been recently winning a new ally in the person of Cardinal
+Wolsey, the chief adviser of the young King of England.
+
+Wolsey was ambitious and longed for the supreme honour of the Catholic
+Church.  He believed that he might possibly attain this through the
+nephew of {66} Catherine of Aragon.  He commended Charles to his
+master, and in the end gained for him an Austrian alliance.  There was
+even some talk of a marriage between the Emperor and the little
+Princess Mary.
+
+A treaty with the Pope made Charles V more sanguine of success than
+ever.  Leo X belonged to the family of the Medici and hoped to restore
+the ancient prestige of that house.  He was overjoyed to receive Parma
+and Placentia as a result of his friendship with the ambitious Emperor,
+and now agreed to the expulsion of the French from Milan on condition
+that Naples paid a higher tribute to the Papal See.
+
+These arrangements were concluded without reference to Chievres, the
+Flemish councillor, whose influence with Charles had once been
+paramount.  Henceforward, the Emperor ruled his scattered empire,
+relying only upon his own strength and capability.  He naturally met
+with disaffection among his subjects, for the Spaniards were jealous of
+his preference for the Netherlands, where he had been educated, and the
+people of Germany resented his long sojourn in Spain, thinking that
+they were thereby neglected.  It would have been impossible for Charles
+to have led a more active life or to have striven more courageously to
+retain his hold over far distant countries.  He was constantly
+travelling to the different parts of his empire, and made eleven
+sea-voyages during his reign--an admirable record in days when voyages
+were comparatively dangerous.
+
+Charles changed his motto from _Nondum_ to _Plus ultra_ as he proceeded
+to send fleets across the ocean that the banner of Castile might float
+proudly on the distant shores of the Pacific.  But the war with France
+was the real interest of the Emperor's life and he pursued it
+vigorously, obtaining supplies from the Spanish {67} _Cortes_ or
+legislative authority of Spain.  He gained the sympathy of that nation
+during his residence at Madrid from 1522-9 and pacified the rebellious
+spirit of the _Communes_ which administered local affairs.  His
+marriage with Isabella of Portugal proved, too, that he would maintain
+the traditions of the Spanish monarchy.
+
+In 1521 the French were driven from the Duchy of Milan and in 1522 they
+were compelled to retire from Italy.  In the following year the
+Constable of Bourbon deserted Francis to espouse the Emperor's cause,
+because he had received many insults from court favourites.  He had
+been removed from the government of Milan, and was fond of quoting the
+words of an old Gascon knight first spoken in the reign of Charles VII:
+"Not three kingdoms like yours could make me forsake you, but one
+insult might."
+
+Bourbon was rebuked for his faithlessness to his King at the battle of
+La Biagrasse where Bayard, that perfect knight, _sans peur et sans
+reproche_, fell with so many other French nobles.  The Constable had
+compassion on the wounded man as he lay at the foot of a tree with his
+face still turned to the enemy.  "Sir, you need have no pity for me,"
+the knight answered bravely, "for I die an honest man; but I have pity
+on you, seeing you serve against your prince, your country, and your
+oath."
+
+Bourbon may have blushed at the rebuke, but he took the field gallantly
+at Pavia on behalf of the Emperor.  Francis I had invaded Italy and
+occupied Milan, but he was not quick to follow up his success and met
+defeat at the hands of his vassal on February 24th, 1525, which was
+Charles V's twenty-fifth birthday.  The flower of France fell on the
+battle-field, while the King himself {68} was taken prisoner.  He would
+not give up his sword to the traitor Bourbon, but continued to fight on
+foot after his horse had been shot under him.  He proved that he was as
+punctilious a knight as Bayard, and wrote to his mother on the evening
+of this battle, "All is lost but honour."
+
+The Emperor's army now had both France and Italy at their mercy.
+Bourbon decided to march on Rome, to the joy of his needy, avaricious
+soldiers.  He took the ancient capital where the riches of centuries
+had accumulated; both Spaniards and Germans rioted on its treasures
+without restraint.  They spared neither church nor palace, but defiled
+the most sacred places.  The very ring was removed from the hand of
+Pope Julius as he lay within his tomb.  Clement VII, the reigning Pope,
+was too feeble and vacillating to save himself, though it would have
+been quite possible.  He was made a prisoner of war, for political
+motives inspired the Emperor to demand a heavy ransom.
+
+The Ladies' Peace concluded the long war between Charles V and Francis
+I.  It was so called because it was arranged through Louise, the French
+King's mother, and Margaret, the aunt who had taken charge of the
+Emperor in his childhood.  These two ladies occupied adjoining houses
+in the town of Cambrai, and held consultations at any hour in the
+narrow passage between the two dwellings.  The peace, finally drawn up
+in August 1529, was very shameful to Francis I, since he agreed to
+desert all his partisans in Italy and the Netherlands.  He had
+purchased his own freedom by the treaty of Madrid in 1526.
+
+In 1530, the Emperor, who had made a separate treaty with the Italian
+states, received the crown of Lombardy and crown of the Holy Roman
+Empire from {69} the hands of the Pope at Bologna.  On this occasion he
+was invested with a mantle studded with jewels and some ancient
+sandals.  Ill-health and increasing melancholy clouded his delight in
+these honours.  His aquiline features and dark colouring had formerly
+given him some claim to beauty, but now the heavy "Hapsburg" jaw began
+to show the settled obstinacy of a narrow nature.  The iron crown of
+Italy weighed on him heavily, for he was stricken by remorse that he
+had disregarded the entreaties of the Pope for the rescue of the
+Knights of St John, whose settlement of Rhodes had been attacked by the
+Turkish infidels.  He gave them Malta in order that he might appease
+his conscience.  Religion claimed much of his attention after the long
+conflict with France was ended.
+
+Heresy was spreading in Germany, where Luther gained a vast number of
+adherents.  Charles issued an edict against the monk, but there was
+national resistance for him to face as a consequence.  In 1530 he
+renewed the Edict of Worms and was opposed by a League of Protestant
+princes, who applied for help from England, France, and Denmark against
+the oppressive Emperor.  He would have set himself to crush them if his
+dominions had not been menaced by Soliman the Magnificent, a Turkish
+Sultan with an immense army.  He was obliged to secure the co-operation
+of the Protestants against the Turks that he might drive the latter
+from his eastern frontier.
+
+Italians, Flemings, Hungarians, Bohemians, and Burgundians fought side
+by side with the German troops and drove the invader back to his own
+territory.  When this danger was averted, France suddenly attacked
+Savoy, and the Emperor found that he must postpone his struggle with
+the Lutherans.  A joint invasion of {70} France by Charles V and Henry
+VIII of England forced Francis to conclude humiliating peace at Crespy
+1544.  Three years later the death of the French King left his
+adversary free to crush the religious liberty of his German subjects.
+
+The Emperor, who had declared himself on the side of the Papacy in
+1521, now united with the Pope and Charles' brother Ferdinand, who had
+been given the government of all the Austrian lands.  All three were
+determined to compel Germany to return to the old faith and the old
+subjection to the Empire.  Their resolve seemed to be fulfilled when
+Maurice, Duke of Saxony, betrayed the Protestant cause, the allies of
+the German princes proved faithless, and the Elector of Saxony and the
+Landgrave of Hesse were taken prisoners at Muhlberg in April 1547.
+
+The star of Austria was still in the ascendant, and Charles V could
+still quote his favourite phrase, "Myself and the lucky moment."  He
+put Maurice in the place of the venerable Elector of Saxony, who had
+refused long ago to take a bribe, and let the Landgrave of Hesse lie in
+prison.  He imagined that he had Germany at his feet, and exulted over
+the defenders of her freedom.  There had been a faint hope in their
+hearts once that the Emperor would champion Luther's cause from
+political interest, but he did not need a weapon against the Pope since
+the Holy See was entirely subservient to his wishes.  Bigotry,
+inherited from Spanish ancestors, showed itself in the Emperor now.  In
+Spain and the Netherlands he used the terrible Inquisition to stamp out
+heresy.  The Grand Inquisitors, who charged themselves with the
+religious welfare of these countries, claimed control over lay and
+clerical subjects in the name of their ruler.
+
+{71}
+
+Maurice was unscrupulous and intrigued with Henry II of France against
+the Emperor, who professed himself the Protector of the Princes of the
+Empire.  A formidable army was raised, which took Charles at a
+disadvantage and drove him from Germany.  The Peace of Augsburg, 1555,
+formally established Protestantism over a great part of the empire.
+
+The Emperor felt uneasily that the star of the House of Austria was
+setting.  After his failure to crush the heretics, he was troubled by
+ill-health and the gloomy spirit which he inherited from his mother
+Joanna.  He was weary of travelling from one part of his dominions to
+another, and knew that he could never win more fame and riches than he
+had enjoyed.  His son Philip was old enough to reign in his stead if he
+decided to cede the sovereignty.  The old Roman Catholic faith drew him
+apart from the noise and strife of the world by its promise of rest and
+all the solaces of retirement.
+
+In 1555 the Emperor held the solemn ceremony of abdication at Brussels,
+for he paid especial honour to his subjects of the Netherlands.  He sat
+in a chair of state surrounded by a splendid retinue and recounted the
+famous deeds of his administration with a natural pride, dwelling on
+the hardships of constant journeying because he had been unwilling to
+trust the affairs of government to any other.  Turning to Philip he
+bade him hold the laws of his country sacred and to maintain the
+Catholic faith in all its purity.  As he spoke, all his hearers melted
+into tears, for the people of the Netherlands owed much gratitude to
+their ruler.  And the ceremony which attended the transference of the
+Spanish crown to Philip was no less moving.  Charles had chosen the
+monastery of San Yuste as his last dwelling on account of its warm, dry
+climate.  After {72} a tender farewell to his family he set out there
+in some state, many attendants going into retreat with him.  Yuste was
+a pleasant peaceful village near the Spanish city of Plasencia.  Deep
+silence brooded over it, and was only broken by the bells of the
+convent the Emperor was entering.  He found that a building had been
+erected for his "palace" in a garden planted with orange trees and
+myrtles.  This was sumptuously furnished according to the monks' ideas,
+for Charles did not intend to adopt the simplicity of these brothers of
+St Jerome.  Velvet canopies, rich tapestries, and Turkey carpets had
+been brought for the rooms which were prepared for a royal inmate.  The
+walls of the Emperor's bedchamber were hung in black in token of his
+deep mourning for his mother, but many pictures from the brush of
+Titian were hung in that apartment.  As Charles lay in bed he could see
+the famous "Gloria," which represented the emperor and empress of a
+bygone age in the midst of a throng of angels.  He could also join in
+the chants of the monks without rising, if he were suffering from gout,
+for a window opened directly from his room into the chapel of the
+monastery.  Sixty attendants were still in the service of the recluse,
+and those in the culinary office found it hard to satisfy the appetite
+of a monarch who, if he had given up his throne, had not by any means
+renounced the pleasures of the table.
+
+A Keeper of the Wardrobe had been brought to Yuste, although Charles
+was plain in his attire and had somewhat disdained the personal vanity
+of his great rivals.  He was parsimonious in such matters and hated to
+see good clothes spoilt, as he showed when he removed a new velvet cap
+in a sudden storm and sent to his palace for an old one!  He observed
+{73} fast-days, though he did not dine with the monks, and he lived the
+regular life of the monastery.  The monks grew restive under the
+constant supervision which he exercised, and one of them is said to
+have remonstrated with the royal inmate, saying, "Cannot you be
+contented with having so long turned the world upside down, without
+coming here to disturb the quiet of a convent?"
+
+Charles amused many hours of leisure by mechanical employments in which
+he was assisted by one Torriano, who constructed a sundial in the
+convent-garden.  He had a great fancy for clocks, and had a number of
+these in his royal apartments.  The special triumphs of Torriano were
+some tin soldiers, so constructed that they could go through military
+exercises, and little wooden birds which flew in and out of the window
+and excited the admiring wonder of the monks walking in the convent
+garden.
+
+Many visitors were received by the Emperor in his retirement.  He still
+took an interest in the events of Europe, and received with the deepest
+sorrow the news that Calais had been lost by Philip's English wife.  He
+was always ready to give his successor advice, and became more and more
+intolerant in religious questions.  "Tell the Grand Inquisitor from
+me," he wrote, "to be at his post and lay the axe to the root of the
+tree before it spreads further.  I rely on your zeal for bringing the
+guilty to punishment and for having them punished without favour to
+anyone, with all the severity which their crimes demand."  After this
+impressive exhortation to Philip, he added a codicil to his will,
+conjuring him earnestly to bring to justice every heretic in his
+dominions.
+
+
+
+
+{74}
+
+Chapter VII
+
+The Beggars of the Sea
+
+The Netherlands, lying like a kind of debateable land between France
+and Germany, were apt to be influenced by the different forms of
+Protestantism which were established in those countries.  The
+inhabitants were remarkably quick-witted and attracted by anything
+which appealed to their reason.  Their breadth of mind and cosmopolitan
+outlook was, no doubt, largely due to the extensive trade they carried
+on with eastern and western nations.  The citizens of the well-built
+towns studding the Low Countries, had become very wealthy.  They could
+send out fine soldiers, as Charles V had seen, but their chief pursuit
+was commerce.  Education rendered them far superior to many other
+Europeans, who were scarcely delivered from the ignorance and
+superstition of the Middle Ages.  Having proved themselves strong
+enough to be independent, they formed a Confederacy of Republics on the
+death of Charles V in 1558.
+
+The Emperor was sincerely mourned because he had possessed Flemish
+tastes, yet he had always failed in his attempts to unite the whole of
+the Low Countries into one kingdom.  There were no less than seventeen
+provinces in the Netherlands, with seventeen petty princes over them.
+Each province disdained the other as quite alien and foreign.  Both
+French and a dialect {75} of German were spoken by the natives.  It was
+a great drawback to Philip II, their new ruler, that he could only
+speak Castilian.
+
+Philip had been unpopular from the time of his first visit to the
+Netherlands, before the French war was settled by the treaty of Cateau
+Cambresis.  The credit of the settlement was chiefly due to the subtle
+diplomacy of William, Prince of Orange, the trusted councillor of
+Charles V, on whose shoulder the Emperor leant during the ceremony of
+abdication.
+
+William of Orange yielded to none in pride of birth, being descended
+from one of the most illustrious houses of the Low Countries.  He was
+young, gallant, and fond of splendour when he negotiated on the
+Emperor's behalf with Henry II of France.  He managed matters so
+successfully that the Emperor was able to withdraw without loss of
+prestige from a war he was anxious to end at any cost.  William
+received his nickname of the Silent during his residence as a hostage
+at the French court.
+
+One day, at a hunting party, Henry II uncautiously told Orange of a
+plan he had made with Philip to stamp out every heretic in their
+dominions of France and the Netherlands by a sudden deadly onslaught
+that would allow the Protestants no time for resistance.  It was
+assumed that William, being a powerful Catholic noble, would rejoice in
+this scheme.  He held his peace very wisely but, in reality, he was
+full of indignation.  He cared nothing for the reformed religion in
+itself, but he was a humane generous man, and from that hour determined
+that he would defend the helpless, persecuted Protestants of the Low
+Countries.
+
+Philip II was not long in showing himself zealous to observe his
+father's instructions to preserve the Catholic {76} faith in all its
+purity.  He renewed the edict or "placard" against heresy which had
+been first issued in 1550.  This provided for the punishment of anyone
+who should "print, write, copy, keep, conceal, sell, buy, or give in
+churches, streets, or other places" any book of the Reformers, anyone
+who should hold conventicles, or anyone who should converse or dispute
+concerning the Holy Scriptures, to say nothing of those venturing to
+entertain the opinions of heretics.  The men were to be executed with
+the sword and the women buried alive, if they should persist in their
+errors.  If they were firm in holding to their beliefs, such deaths
+were held too merciful.  Execution by fire was a punishment that was
+universal in the days of the Spanish Inquisition.
+
+[Illustration: Philip II present at an Auto-da-Fe.  (D. Valdivieso)]
+
+Philip watched the burning of his heretic subjects with apparent
+satisfaction.  The first ceremony that greeted him on his return to
+Spain was an _Auto da fe_, or Act of Faith, in which many victims were
+led to the stake.  The scene was the great square of Valladolid in
+front of the Church of Saint Francis, and the hour of six was the
+signal for the bells to toll which brought forth that dismal train from
+the fortress of the Inquisition.  Troops marched before the hapless men
+and women, who were clad in the hideous garb known as the San Benito--a
+loose sack of yellow cloth which was embroidered with figures of flames
+and devils feeding on them, in token of the destiny that would attend
+the heretics, soul and body.  A pasteboard cap bore similar devices,
+and added grotesque pathos to the suffering faces of the martyrs.
+Judges and magistrates followed them, and nobles of the land were there
+on horseback, while members of the dread tribunal came after these,
+bearing aloft the arms of the Inquisition.
+
+Philip occupied a seat upon the platform erected {77} opposite to the
+scaffold.  It was his duty to draw his sword from the scabbard and to
+repeat an oath that he would maintain the purity of the Catholic faith
+before he witnessed the execution of "the enemies of God," as he
+thought all those who laid down their lives for the sake of heretical
+scruples.
+
+A few who recanted were pardoned, but for the majority recantation only
+meant long imprisonment in cells where many hearts broke after years of
+solitude.  The property of the accused was confiscated in any case; and
+this rule was a sore temptation to informers, who received a certain
+share of their neighbour's goods if they denounced him.  When the
+"reconciled" had been sent back to prison under a strong guard, all
+eyes were fixed on the unrepentant.  These wore cards round their necks
+and carried in their hands either a cross, or an inverted torch, which
+was a sign that their own life would shortly be extinguished.  Few of
+these showed weakness, since they had already triumphed over
+long-protracted torture.  They walked with head erect to the _quemada_
+or place of execution.
+
+Dominican monks, by whose fanatic zeal the Holy Office gained a hold on
+every Spaniard, often walked among the doomed, stripped of their former
+vestments.  Once a noble Florentine appealed to Philip as he was led by
+the royal gallery.  "Is it thus that you allow your innocent subjects
+to be persecuted?"  The King's face hardened, and his reply came
+sharply.  "If it were my own son, I would fetch the wood to burn him,
+were he such a wretch as thou art."  And there is no doubt that Philip
+spoke truth when he uttered words so merciless.
+
+Under the royal sanction the persecution was continued in the
+Netherlands.  It had closed the domains {78} of science and speculation
+for Spain.  It must break the free republican spirit of the Low
+Countries.  Charles V had been afraid of injuring the trade which
+enabled him to pay a vast, all-conquering army.  His son was less
+tolerant, and thought religion of greater importance even than military
+successes.
+
+The terror of that formidable band of Inquisitors came upon the
+Protestant Flemings like the shadow on some sunny hill-side.  They had
+lived in comfort and independence, resisting every attempt at royal
+tyranny.  Now a worse tyranny was ruling in their midst--secret,
+relentless, inhuman--demanding toll of lives for sacrifice.  Philip was
+zealous in appointing new bishops, each of whom should have inquisitors
+to aid in the work of hunting down the Protestants.  "There are but few
+of us left in the world who care for religion," he wrote, "'tis
+necessary therefore for us to take the greater heed for Christianity."
+
+Granvelle, a cardinal of the Catholic Church, was the ruler of the Low
+Countries, terrorizing Margaret of Parma, whom Philip had appointed to
+act there as his Regent.  Margaret was a worthy woman of masculine
+tastes and habits; she was the daughter of Charles V and therefore a
+half-sister of Philip.  She would have won some concessions for the
+Protestants, knowing the temper of the Flemish, to whom she was allied
+by birth, but Granvelle was artful in his policy and managed by
+frequent correspondence with Spain to baffle the efforts of the whole
+party, which looked with indignation on the work of the Inquisitors.
+Peter Titelmann, the chief instrument of the Holy Office in the
+Netherlands, alarmed Margaret as well as her subjects, who were at the
+mercy of this monster.  He rode through the country on horseback,
+dragging suspected persons {79} from their very beds, and glorying in
+the knowledge that none dared resist him.  He burst into a house at
+Ryssel one day, seized John de Swarte, his wife and four children,
+together with two newly-married couples and two other persons,
+convicted them of reading the Bible, of praying within their own
+dwellings, and had them all immediately burned.  No wonder that the
+Duchess of Parma trembled when the same man clamoured at the doors of
+her chamber for admittance.  High and low were equally in danger.  Even
+the royal family were at the mercy of the Holy Office.  Spies might be
+found in any household, and both men and women disappeared to answer
+"inquiries" made with torture of the rack, without knowing their
+accusers.
+
+Granvelle had enemies, who bent themselves to accomplish the downfall
+of the minister.  He was of humble origin, though he had amassed great
+wealth and possessed a remarkable capacity for administration.  Egmont,
+the fierce, quarrelsome soldier, was his chief adversary among the
+nobles.  There was a lively scene when Egmont drew his sword on the
+Cardinal in the presence of the Regent.
+
+William of Orange was, perhaps, the one man whom all respected for his
+true courage and strength of character.  Granvelle wrote of him to
+Philip as highly dangerous, knowing that in the Silent he had met his
+match in cunning; for William's qualities were strangely mingled--he
+had vast ambition and yet took up a cause later that broke his splendid
+fortunes.  He was upright, yet he had few scruples in dealing with
+opponents.  He would employ spies to acquaint him with secret papers
+and use every possible means of gaining an advantage.
+
+Egmont and Orange vied with each other in the state they kept, their
+wives being bitterly jealous of each {80} other.  William's second
+marriage had been arranged for worldly motives.  His bride was Princess
+Anna of Saxony, daughter of the Elector Maurice who had worked such
+evil for the Emperor Charles and had embraced the new religion.  The
+Princess was only sixteen; she limped, and was by no means handsome.
+It was hinted, too, that her temper was stormy and her mind narrow.
+The advantages of the match consisted in her high rank, which was above
+that of Orange.  Philip disliked the wedding of a Reformer with one of
+his most powerful subjects.  He disliked the bride's family, as was
+natural, and the bride's family did not approve of her wedding with a
+"Papist."  The ceremony took place on St Bartholomew's Day, 1561.
+
+After his second marriage the Prince of Orange continued to exercise a
+lordly hospitality, for his staff of cooks was famous.  His wife
+quarrelled for precedence with the Countess Egmont, till the two were
+obliged to walk about the streets arm-in-arm because neither would
+acknowledge an inferior station.  Being magnificently dressed, they
+suffered much inconvenience from narrow doorways, which were not built
+to admit more than one dame in the costume of the period.  The times
+were not yet too serious to forbid such petty bickering, and there was
+a certain section of society quite frivolous enough to enjoy the
+ridiculous side of it.
+
+Margaret of Parma openly showed her delight when Granvelle was
+banished, for she felt herself relieved from a tyrant.  She now gave
+her confidence to Orange, who was very popular with the people.  There
+seemed to be some hope of inducing Philip to withdraw some of the
+edicts against his Protestant subjects.  Their cries were daily
+becoming louder, and there was an uneasy spirit abroad in the Low
+Countries which greeted with {81} delight the device of Count Egmont
+for a new livery for his servants that should condemn the ostentation
+of such ministers as Granvelle.  His retainers appeared in doublet and
+hose of the coarsest grey material, with long hanging sleeves and no
+embroideries.  They wore an emblem of a fool's cap and bells, or a
+monk's cowl, which was supposed to mock the Cardinal's contemptuous
+allusion to the nobles as buffoons.  The King was furious at the
+fashion which soon spread among the courtiers.  They changed the device
+then to a bundle of arrows or a wheat-sheaf which, they asserted,
+denoted the union of all their hearts in the King's service.
+Schoolboys could not have betrayed more joy in the absence of their
+pedagogue than the whole court showed when Granvelle left the country
+in 1564 on a pretended visit to his mother.
+
+Orange had now three aims in life, to convoke the States-General, to
+moderate or abolish the edicts, and to suppress both council of finance
+and privy council, leaving only the one council of state, which he
+could make the body of reform.  By this time the persecutions were
+rousing the horror of Catholic as well as Calvinist.  The prisons were
+crowded with victims, and through the streets went continual
+processions to the stake.  The four estates of Flanders were united in
+an appeal to Philip.  Egmont was to visit Spain and point out the
+uselessness of forcing the Netherlands to accept religious decrees
+which reduced them to abject slavery.  Before he set out, William of
+Orange made a notable speech, declaring the provinces free and
+determined to vindicate their freedom.
+
+Egmont's visit was a failure, since he suffered himself to be won by
+the flattery of Philip II.  He was reproached with having forgotten the
+interests of the State when {82} he returned, and was consumed by
+regrets that were unavailing.  The wrath of the people was increasing
+daily as the cruel persecution devastated the Low Countries.  All other
+subjects were forgotten in the time of agony and expectation.  There
+was talk of resistance that would win death on the battlefield, more
+merciful than that proceeding from slow torture.  In streets, shops,
+and taverns men gathered to whisper of the dark deeds done in the name
+of the Inquisition.  Philip had vowed "never to allow myself either to
+become or to be called the lord of those who reject Thee for their
+Lord," as he prostrated his body before a crucifix.  The doom of the
+Protestants had been sealed by that oath.  Henceforth, those who feared
+death were known to favour freedom of religion.
+
+The Duke of Alva was firm in his support of Philip's measures.  The
+Inquisition was formally proclaimed in the market-place of every town
+and village in the Netherlands.  Resistance was certain.  All knew that
+contending armies would take the field soon.  Commerce ceased to engage
+the attention of the people.  Those merchants and artisans who were
+able left the cities.  Patriots spoke what was in their hearts at last,
+and pamphlets "snowed in the streets."  The "League of the Compromise"
+was formed in 1566, with Count Louis of Nassau as the leader; it
+declared the Inquisition "iniquitous, contrary to all laws, human and
+divine, surpassing the greatest barbarism which was ever practised by
+tyrants, and as redounding to the dishonour of God and to the total
+desolation of the country."  The members of the League might be good
+Catholics though they were pledged to resist the Inquisition.  They
+always promised to attempt nothing "to the diminution of the King's
+grandeur, majesty, or dominion." {83} All who signed the Compromise
+were to be mutually protected by an oath which permitted none to be
+persecuted.  It was a League, in fact, against the foreign government
+of the Netherlands, signed by nobles whose spirit was roused to protest
+against the influence of such men as Alva.
+
+The Compromise did not gain the support of William of Orange because he
+was distrustful of its objects.  The members were young and imprudent,
+and many of them were not at all disinterested in their desire to
+secure the broad lands belonging to the Catholic Church.  Their wild
+banquets were dangerous to the whole country, since spies sat at the
+board and took note of all extravagant phrases that might be construed
+into disloyalty.  Orange himself held meetings of a very different sort
+in his sincere endeavour to avert the catastrophe he feared.
+
+Troops rode into Brussels, avowing their intention to free the country
+from Spanish tyranny.  Brederode was among them--a handsome reckless
+noble, descended from one of the oldest families of Holland.  The
+citizens welcomed the soldiers with applause and betrayed the same
+enthusiasm on the following day when a procession of noble cavaliers
+went to present a petition to Margaret of Parma, urging that she should
+suspend the powers of the Inquisition while a messenger was sent to
+Spain to demand its abolition.
+
+As the petitioners left the hall, they heard with furious resentment
+the remark of one Berlaymont to the troubled Regent.  "What, Madam! is
+it possible that your highness can entertain fears of these beggars?
+(_gueux_).  Is it not obvious what manner of men they are?  They have
+not had wisdom enough to manage their own estates, and are they now to
+teach the King {84} and Your Highness how to govern the country?  By
+the living God, if my advice were taken, their petition should have a
+cudgel for a commentary, and we would make them go down the steps of
+the palace a great deal faster than they mounted them."
+
+The Confederates received an answer from the Duchess not altogether to
+their satisfaction, though she promised to make a special application
+to the King for the modification of edicts and ordered the Inquisitors
+to proceed "moderately and discreetly" with their office.  Three
+hundred guests met at Brederode's banquet on the 8th of April, and
+there and then, amid the noise of revelry and the clink of wine-cups,
+they adopted the name of "Beggars," flung at them in scorn by
+Berlaymont.
+
+Brederode was the first to call for a wallet, which he hung round his
+neck after the manner of those who begged their bread.  He filled a
+large wooden bowl as part of his equipment, lifted it with both hands
+and drained it, crying, "Long live the Beggars!"  The cry was taken up
+as each guest donned the wallet in turn and drank from the bowl to the
+Beggars' health.  The symbols of the brotherhood were hung up in the
+hall so that all might stand underneath to repeat certain words as he
+flung salt into a goblet:
+
+  "By this salt, by this head, by this wallet still,
+  These beggars change not, fret who will."
+
+
+A costume was adopted in accordance with the fantastic humour of the
+nobles.  Soon Brussels stared at quaint figures in coarse grey
+garments, wearing felt hats, and carrying the beggar's bowl and wallet.
+The badges which adorned their hats protested fidelity to Philip.
+
+{85}
+
+Twelve of the Beggars sought an interview with the Duchess of Parma to
+demand that Orange, Egmont, and Admiral Hoorn should be appointed to
+guard the interests of the States, and they even threatened to form
+foreign alliances if Margaret refused to grant what they wanted.  They
+knew that they could count now on assistance from the Huguenot leaders
+in France and from the Protestant princes in Germany.
+
+The war was imminent in which the Beggars would avenge the insult
+uttered by the haughty lips of Berlaymont.  The sea-power of Holland
+had its origin in the first fleet which the Sea-Beggars equipped in
+1569.  These corsairs who cruised in the narrow waters and descended
+upon the seaport towns were of many different nationalities, but were
+one and all inspired by a fanatic hatred of the Spaniard and the Papist.
+
+
+
+
+{86}
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+William the Silent, Father of his Country
+
+The confusion which reigned in the Netherlands sorely troubled Margaret
+of Parma, who wrote to Philip for men and money that she might put down
+the rising.  She received nothing beyond vague promises that he would
+come one day to visit his dominions overseas.  It was still the belief
+of the King of Spain that he held supreme authority in a country where
+many a Flemish noble claimed a higher rank, declaring that the
+so-called sovereign was only Duke of Brabant and Count of Flanders.
+
+In despair, the Regent called on Orange, Hoorn, and Egmont to help her
+in restoring order.  Refugees had come back from foreign countries and
+were holding religious services openly, troops of Protestants marched
+about the streets singing Psalms and shouting "Long live the Beggars!"
+It seemed to Margaret of Parma, a devout Catholic, that for the people
+there was "neither faith nor King."
+
+William, as Burgrave of Antwerp, was able to restore order in that
+city, promising the citizens that they should have the right to
+assemble for worship outside the walls.  A change had come over this
+once worldly noble--henceforth he cared nothing for the pomps and {87}
+vanities of life.  He had decided to devote himself to the cause of the
+persecuted, however dear it cost him.
+
+The Prince of Orange hoped that Egmont would join him in resistance to
+the Spanish tyranny.  Egmont was beloved by the people of the
+Netherlands as a soldier who had proved his valour; his high rank and
+proud nature might have been expected to make him resentful of
+authority that would place him in subjection.  But William parted from
+his friend, recognizing sadly that they were inspired by different
+motives.  "Alas!  Egmont," he said, embracing the noble who would not
+desert the cause of Philip, "the King's clemency, of which you boast,
+will destroy you.  Would that I might be deceived, but I foresee too
+clearly that you are to be the bridge which the Spaniards will destroy
+so soon as they have passed over it to invade our country."
+
+William found himself soon in a state of isolation.  He refused to take
+a new oath of fidelity to the King, which bound him to "act for or
+against whomsoever his Majesty might order without restriction or
+limitation."  His own wife was a Lutheran, and by such a promise it
+might become his duty to destroy her!  An alliance with foreign princes
+was the only safeguard against the force which Spain was preparing.
+The Elector of Saxony was willing to enter into a League to defend the
+reformed faith of the Netherlands.  Meantime, after resigning all his
+offices, the Prince of Orange went into exile with his entire household.
+
+In 1567 Philip ceased his vacillation.  He sent the Duke of Alva to
+stamp out heresy at any cost in the Low Countries.
+
+Alva was the foremost general of his time, a soldier whose life had
+been one long campaign in Europe.  He {88} had a kind of fierce
+fanatical religion which led him to revenge his father's death at the
+hands of the Moors on many a hapless Christian.  He was avaricious, and
+the lust for booty determined him to sack the rich cities of the
+Netherlands without regard for honour.  He was in his sixtieth year,
+but time had not weakened his strong inflexible courage.  Tall, thin,
+and erect, he carried himself as a Spaniard of noble blood, and yielded
+to none in the superb arrogance of his manners.  His long beard gave
+him the dignity of age, and his bearing stamped him always as a
+conqueror who knew nothing of compassion.  It was hopeless to appeal to
+the humanity of Toledo, Duke of Alva.  A stern disciplinarian, he could
+control his troops better than any general Philip had, yet he did not
+wish to check their excesses, and seemed to look with pleasure upon the
+awful scenes of a war in which no quarter was given.
+
+Alva led a picked army of 10,000 men--Italian foot soldiers for the
+most part, with some musketeers among them--who would astonish the
+simple northern people he held in such contempt.  "I have trained
+people of iron in my day," was his boast.  "Shall I not easily crush
+these people of butter?"
+
+At first the people of the Netherlands seemed likely to be cowed into
+complete submission.  Egmont came out to meet Alva, bringing him two
+beautiful horses as a present.  The Spaniard had already doomed this
+man to the block, but he pretended great pleasure at the welcome gift
+and put his arms round the neck which he knew would not rest long on
+Egmont's shoulders.  He spoke very graciously to the escort who led him
+into Brussels.
+
+Margaret of Parma was still Regent in name, but in reality she had been
+superseded by the Captain-General {89} of the Spanish forces.  She was
+furious at the slight, and showed her displeasure by greeting the Duke
+of Alva coldly.  After writing to Philip to expostulate, she discovered
+that her position would not be restored, and therefore retired to Parma.
+
+Egmont and Hoorn were the first victims of Alva's treachery.  They died
+on the same day, displaying such fortitude at the last that the people
+mourned them passionately, and a storm of indignation burst forth
+against Philip II and the agent he had sent to shed the noblest blood
+of the Low Countries.
+
+Alva set up a "Council of Troubles" so that he could dispatch other
+victims with the same celerity.  This became known as "the Council of
+Blood" from the merciless nature of its transactions.  Anyone who chose
+to give evidence against his friends was assured that he would have a
+generous reward for such betrayals.  The Duke of Alva was President of
+the Council and had the right of final decision in all cases.  Few were
+saved from the sword or the stake, since by blood alone the rebel and
+the heretic were to be crushed and Philip's sovereignty established
+firmly in the Netherlands.
+
+In 1568 William of Orange was ordered to appear before the court and,
+on his refusal, was declared an outlaw.  His eldest son was captured at
+the University of Louvain and sent to the Spanish court that he might
+unlearn the principles in which he had been educated.
+
+Orange issued a justification of his conduct, but even this was held to
+be an act of defiance against the authority of Philip.  The once loyal
+subject determined to expel the King's troops from the Low Countries,
+believing himself chosen by God to save the reformers from the pitiless
+oppression of the Spanish.  He had {90} already changed his views on
+religion.  Prudence seemed to have forsaken the astute Prince of
+Orange.  He proceeded to raise an army, though he had not enough money
+to pay his mercenaries.  He was preparing for a struggle against a
+general, second to none in Europe, a general, moreover, who had
+veterans at his command and the authority of Spain behind him.  Yet the
+first disaster did not daunt either William of Orange or his brother
+Louis of Nassau, who was also a chivalrous leader of the people.  "With
+God's help I am determined to go on," were the words inspired by Alva's
+triumph.  There were Reformers in other countries ready to send help to
+their brethren in religion.  Elizabeth of England had extended a
+welcome to thousands of Flemish traders.  It was William's constant
+hope that she would send a force openly to his assistance.
+
+Elizabeth, however, did not like rebels and was not minded to show
+sympathy with the enemies of Philip, who kept his troops from an attack
+on England.  She would secretly encourage the Beggars to take Spanish
+ships, but she would not send an army of sufficient strength to ensure
+a decisive victory for the Reformers of the Netherlands.
+
+[Illustration: Last Moments of Count Egmont (Louis Gallait)]
+
+Alva exulted in the loss of prestige which attended his enemy's flight
+from the Huguenot camp in the garb of a German peasant.  He regarded
+William as a dead man, since he was driven to wander about the country,
+suffering from the condemnation of his allies because he had not been
+successful.  Alva's victory would have seemed too easy if there had not
+been a terrible lack of funds among the Spanish, owing to the plunder
+which was carried off from Spain by Elizabethan seamen.  The Spanish
+general demanded taxes suddenly {91} from the people of the
+Netherlands, and expected that they would be paid without a murmur.
+
+But he had mistaken the spirit of a trading country which was not
+subservient in its loyalty to any ruler.  These prosperous merchants
+had always been accustomed to dispose of the money they earned
+according to their own wishes.  Enemies of the Spanish sprang up among
+their former allies.  Catholics as well as Protestants were angry at
+Alva's demand of a tax of the "hundredth penny" to be levied on all
+property.  Alva's name had been detested even before he marched into
+the Low Countries with the army which was notorious for deeds of blood
+and outrage.  Now it roused such violent hatred that men who had been
+ready to support his measures for their own interests gradually forsook
+him.
+
+In July 1570, an amnesty was declared by the Duke of Alva in the great
+square of Antwerp.  Philip's approaching marriage with Anne of Austria
+ought to have been celebrated with some appearance of goodwill to all
+men, but it was at this time that the blackest treachery stained
+Philip's name, already associated with stern cruelty.
+
+Montigny, the son of the Dowager Countess of Hoorn, was one of the
+envoys sent to Philip's court before the war had actually opened.  He
+had been detained in Spain and feared death, for he was a prisoner in
+the castle of Segovia.  Philip had intended from the beginning to
+destroy Montigny, but he did not choose to order his execution openly.
+The knight had been sentenced by the Council of Blood after three years
+imprisonment, but still lingered on, hoping for release through the
+exertions of his family.  The King was busied with wedding
+preparations, but not too busy to {92} carry out a crafty scheme by
+which Montigny seemed to have died of fever, whereas he was strangled
+in the Castle.  The hypocrisy of the Spanish monarch was so complete
+that he actually ordered suits of mourning for Montigny's servants.
+
+In 1572 the Beggars, always restlessly cruising against their foes on
+the high seas, took Brill in the absence of a Spanish garrison.  Their
+action was so successful that they hoisted the rebel flag over the
+little fort and took an oath with the inhabitants to acknowledge the
+Prince of Orange as their Stadtholder.  Brill was an unexpected triumph
+which the brilliant, impetuous Louis of Nassau followed up by the
+seizure of Flushing, the key of Zealand, which was the approach to
+Antwerp.  The Sea-Beggars then swarmed over the whole of Walcheren,
+receiving many recruits in their ranks and pillaging churches
+recklessly.  Middelburg alone remained to the Spanish troops, while the
+provinces of the North began to look to the Prince of Orange as their
+legitimate ruler.
+
+William looked askance at the disorderly feats of the Beggars, but the
+capture of important towns inspired him to fresh efforts.  He
+corresponded with many foreign countries and had his agents everywhere.
+Sainte Aldgonde was one of the prime movers in these negotiations.  He
+was a poet as well as a soldier, and wrote the stirring national anthem
+of _Wilhelmus van Nassouwen_, which is still sung in the Netherlands.
+Burghers now opened their purses to give money, for they felt that
+victories must surely follow the capture of Brill and Flushing.
+William took the field with hired soldiers, and was met by the news of
+the terrible massacre of Protestants in France in 1572 on the Eve of St
+Bartholomew.  All his hopes of help from France {93} were dashed to the
+ground at once, and for the moment he was daunted.  Louis of Nassau was
+besieged at Mons by Alva.  He tried to relieve his brother, but was
+ignominiously prevented by the _Camisaders_ who made their way to his
+camp at night, wearing white shirts over their armour, and killed eight
+hundred of his soldiers.
+
+William threw in his lot, once for all, with the Northern provinces,
+receiving a hearty welcome from Holland and Zealand, states both
+maintaining a gallant struggle.  He was recognized as Stadtholder by a
+meeting of the States in 1572, and liberty of worship was established
+for Protestants and Catholics.  His authority was absolute in this
+region of the Low Countries.
+
+Alva revenged himself for the resistance of Mons by the brutal sack of
+Malines and of Zutphen.  The outrages of his soldiers were almost
+inhuman, and immense booty was captured, to the satisfaction of the
+leader.
+
+Amsterdam was loyal to Philip, but Haarlem was in the hands of
+Calvinists.  The Spanish army advanced on this town expecting to take
+it at the first assault, but they met with a stubborn resistance.  The
+citizens had in their minds the horror of the sack of Zutphen.  They
+repulsed one assault after another and the siege, begun in December
+1572, was turned into a blockade, and still the Spaniards could not
+enter.  The heads of the leaders of relief armies which had been
+defeated were flung into Haarlem with insulting gibes.  The reply to
+this was a barrel which was sent rolling out carrying eleven heads, ten
+in payment of the tax of one-tenth hitherto refused to Alva and the
+eleventh as interest on the sum which had not been paid quite promptly!
+It was in July 1573, when the citizens had been reduced by famine to
+the consumption of {94} weeds, shoe-leather, and vermin, that the
+Spanish army entered Haarlem.
+
+The loss on both sides was enormous, and William had reason to despair.
+Only 1600 were left of a garrison of 4000.  It seemed as if the courage
+of Haarlem had been unavailing, for gibbets rose on all sides to
+exhibit the leaders of the desperate resistance.
+
+But the fleets of the Beggars rode the sea in triumph, and the example
+of Haarlem had given spirit to other towns unwilling to be beaten in
+endurance.  Alva was disappointed to find that immediate submission did
+not follow.  He left the country in 1573, declaring that his health and
+strength were gone, and he was unwilling to lose his reputation.
+
+Don Luis Requesens, his successor, would have made terms, but William
+of Orange adhered to certain resolutions.  There must be freedom of
+worship throughout the Netherlands, where all the ancient charters of
+liberty must be restored and every Spaniard must resign his office.
+William then declared himself a Calvinist, probably for patriotic
+reasons.
+
+The hope of assistance from France and England rose again inevitably.
+Louis of Nassau obtained a large sum of French money and intended to
+raise troops for the relief of Leyden, which was invested by the
+Spaniards in 1574.  He gathered a force of mixed nationality and no
+cohesion, and was surprised and killed with his gallant brother Henry.
+Their loss was a great blow to William, who felt that the
+responsibilities of the war henceforward rested solely on his shoulders.
+
+Leyden was relieved by the desperate device of cutting the dykes and
+opening the sluices to flood the land around it.  A fleet was thus
+enabled to sail in amidst fields and farmhouses to attack the besieging
+{95} Spanish.  The Sea-Beggars were driven by the wind to the outskirts
+of Leyden, where they engaged in mortal conflict.  The forts fell into
+their hands, some being deserted by the Spanish who fled from the
+rising waters.  William of Orange received the news at Delft, where he
+had taken up his residence.  He founded the University of Leyden as a
+memorial of the citizens' endurance.  The victory, however, was
+modified some months later by the capture of Zierickzee, which gave the
+Spaniards an outlet on the sea and also cut off Walcheren from Holland.
+
+In sheer desperation William made overtures to Queen Elizabeth,
+offering her the sovereignty of Holland and Zealand if she would engage
+in the struggle against Spain.  Elizabeth dared not refuse, lest France
+should step into the breach, but she was unwilling to declare herself
+publicly on the side of rebels.
+
+In April 1576 an Act of Federation was signed which formally united the
+two States of Zealand and Holland and conferred the supreme authority
+on the Prince of Orange, commander in war and governor in peace.
+Requesens was dead; a general patriotic rising was imminent.  On
+September 26th the States-General met at Brussels to discuss the
+question of uniting all the provinces.
+
+The Spanish Fury at Antwerp caused general consternation in the
+Netherlands.  The ancient town was attacked quite suddenly, all its
+wealth falling into the hands of rapacious soldiers.  No less than 7000
+citizens met their death at the hands of men who carried the standard
+of Christ on the Cross and knelt to ask God's blessing before they
+entered on the massacre!  Greed for gold had come upon the Spaniards,
+who hastened to secure the treasures accumulated at Antwerp.  Jewels
+{96} and velvets and laces were coveted as much as the contents of the
+strong boxes of the merchants, and torture was employed to discover the
+plate and money that were hidden.  A wedding-party was interrupted, and
+the clothes of the bride stripped from her.  Many palaces fell by fire
+and the splendid Town House perished.  For two whole days the city was
+the scene of indescribable horrors.
+
+The Pacification of Ghent had been signed when the news of the Spanish
+Fury reached the States-General.  The members of this united with the
+Prince of Orange, as ruler of Holland and Zealand, to drive the
+foreigner from their country.  The Union of Brussels confirmed this
+treaty in January 1577, for the South were anxious to rid themselves of
+the Spaniards though they desired to maintain the Catholic religion.
+Don John of Austria, Philip II's half-brother, was accepted as
+Governor-General after he had given a general promise to observe the
+wishes of the people.
+
+Don John made a state entry into Brussels, but he soon found that the
+Prince of Orange had gained complete ascendancy over the Netherlands
+and that he was by no means free to govern as he chose.  Don John soon
+grew weary of a position of dependence; he seized Namur and took up his
+residence there, afterwards defying the States-General.  A universal
+cry for Orange was raised in the confusion that followed, and William
+returned in triumph to the palace of Nassau.  Both North and South
+demanded that he should be their leader; both Protestant and Catholic
+promised to regard his government as legal.
+
+In January 1578, the Archduke Matthias, brother of the Emperor, was
+invited by the Catholic party to enter Brussels as its governor.
+William welcomed {97} the intruder, knowing that the supreme power was
+still vested in himself, but he was dismayed to see Alexander of Parma
+join Don John, realizing that their combined armies would be more than
+a match for his.  Confusion returned after a victory of Parma, who was
+an able and brilliant general.  The Catholic Duke of Anjou took Mons,
+and John Casimir, brother of the Elector-Palatine, entered the
+Netherlands from the east as the champion of the extreme Calvinists.
+
+The old religious antagonism was destroying the union of the provinces.
+William made immense exertions and succeeded in securing the alliance
+of Queen Elizabeth, Henry of Navarre, and John Casimir, while the Duke
+of Anjou accepted the title of Defender of the Liberties of the
+Netherlands.  His work seemed undone on the death of Don John in 1578
+and the succession of Alexander, Duke of Parma.  This Prince sowed the
+seeds of discord very skilfully, separating the Walloon provinces from
+the Reformers.  A party of Catholic Malcontents was formed in protest
+against the excesses of the Calvinists.  Religious tolerance was to be
+found nowhere, save in the heart of William of Orange.  North and South
+separated in January 1579, and made treaties which bound them
+respectively to protect their own form of religion.
+
+Attempts were made to induce Orange to leave the Netherlands that Spain
+might recover her lost sovereignty.  He was surrounded by foes, and
+many plots were formed against him.  In March 1581, King Philip
+denounced him as the enemy of the human race, a traitor and a
+miscreant, and offered a heavy bribe to anyone who would take the life
+of "this pest" or deliver him dead or alive.
+
+William's defence, known to the authorities as his {98} Apology, was
+issued in every court of Europe.  In it he dwelt on the different
+actions of his long career, and pointed out Philip's crimes and
+misdemeanours.  His own Imperial descent was contrasted with the King
+of Spain's less illustrious ancestry, and an eloquent appeal to the
+people for whom he had made heroic sacrifices was signed by the motto
+_Je le maintiendrai_.  ("I will maintain.")
+
+The Duke of Anjou accepted the proffered sovereignty of the United
+Netherlands in September 1580, but Holland and Zealand refused to
+acknowledge any other ruler than William of Orange, who received the
+title of Count, and joined with the other States in casting off their
+allegiance to Philip.  The French Prince was invested with the ducal
+mantle by Orange when he entered Antwerp as Duke of Brabant, and was,
+in reality, subject to the idol of the Netherlands.  The French
+protectorate came to an end with the disgraceful scenes of the French
+Fury, when the Duke's followers attempted to seize the chief towns,
+crying at Antwerp, "Long live the Mass!  Long live the Duke of Anjou!
+Kill!  Kill!"
+
+Orange would still have held to the French in preference to the
+Spanish, but the people did not share his views, and were suspicious of
+his motives when he married a daughter of that famous Huguenot leader,
+Admiral de Coligny.
+
+Orange retired to Delft, sorely troubled by the distrust of the nation,
+and the Catholic nobles were gradually lured back by Parma to the
+Spanish party.  In 1584 a young Burgundian managed to elude the
+vigilance of William's retainers; he made his way into the _Prinsenhof_
+and fired at the Prince as he came from dinner with his family.
+
+{99}
+
+The Prince of Orange fell, crying "My God, have pity on my soul and on
+this poor people."  He had now forfeited his life as well as his
+worldly fortunes, but the struggle he had waged for nearly twenty years
+had a truly glorious ending.  The genius of one man had given freedom
+to the far-famed Dutch Republic, founded on the States acknowledging
+William their Father.
+
+
+
+
+{100}
+
+Chapter IX
+
+Henry of Navarre
+
+Throughout France the followers of John Calvin of Geneva organized
+themselves into a powerful Protestant party.  The Reformation in
+Germany had been aristocratic in tendency, since it was mainly upheld
+by princes whose politics led them to oppose the Papacy.  The teaching
+of Calvin appealed more directly to the ignorant, for his creed was
+stern and simple.  The Calvinists even declared Luther an agent of the
+devil, in striking contrast to their own leader, who was regarded as
+the messenger of God.  For such men there were no different degrees of
+sinfulness--some were held to be elect or "chosen of the Lord" at their
+birth, while others were predestined for everlasting punishment.  It
+was characteristic of Calvin that he called vehemently for toleration
+from the Emperor, Charles V, and yet caused the death of a Spanish
+physician, Servetus, whose views happened to be at variance with his
+own!
+
+The Calvinists generally held meetings in the open air where they could
+escape the restrictions that were placed on services held in any place
+of worship.  The middle and lower classes attended them in large
+numbers, and the new faith spread rapidly through the enlightened world
+of Western Europe.  John Knox, the renowned Scotch preacher, was a firm
+friend of Calvin, and {101} thundered denunciations from his Scotch
+pulpit at the young Queen Mary, who had come from France with all the
+levity of French court-training in her manners.  The people of Southern
+France were eager to hear the fiery speech that somehow captured their
+imagination.  As they increased in numbers and began to have political
+importance they became known as Huguenots or Confederates.  To
+Catherine de Medici, the Catholic Regent of France, they were a
+formidable body, and in Navarre their leaders were drawn mainly from
+the nobles.
+
+Relentless persecution would probably have crushed the Huguenots of
+France eventually if it had been equally severe in all cases.  As a
+rule, men of the highest rank could evade punishment, and a few of the
+higher clergy preached religious toleration.  Thousands marched
+cheerfully to death from among the ranks of humble citizens, for it was
+part of Calvin's creed that men ought to suffer martyrdom for their
+faith without offering resistance.  Judges were known to die, stricken
+by remorse, and marvelling at their victims' fortitude.  At Dijon, the
+executioner himself proclaimed at the foot of the scaffold that he had
+been converted.
+
+The Calvinist preachers could gain no audience in Paris, where the
+University of the Sorbonne opposed their doctrines and declared that
+these were contrary to all the philosophy of ancient times.  The
+capital of France constantly proclaimed loyalty to Rome by the pompous
+processions which filed out of its magnificent churches and paraded the
+streets to awe the mob, always swayed by the violence of fanatic
+priests.  The Huguenots did not attempt to capture a stronghold, where
+it was boasted that "the novices of the convents and the priests'
+housekeepers could have driven them out with broomsticks."
+
+{102}
+
+Such rude weapons would have been ineffectual in the South-East of
+France, where all the most flourishing towns had embraced the reformed
+religion.  The majority of the Huguenots were drawn from the most
+warlike, intelligent, and industrious of the population of these towns,
+but princes also adopted Calvinism, and the Bourbons of Navarre made
+their court a refuge for believers in the new religion.
+
+Navarre was at this time a narrow strip of land on the French side of
+the Pyrenees, but her ruler was still a sovereign monarch and owed
+allegiance to no overlord.  Henry, Prince of Bourbon and King of
+Navarre, was born in 1555 at Bearns, in the mountains.  His mother was
+a Calvinist, and his early discipline was rigid.  He ran barefoot with
+the village lads, learnt to climb like a chamois, and knew nothing more
+luxurious than the habits of a court which had become enamoured of
+simplicity.  He was bewildered on his introduction to the shameless,
+intriguing circle of Catherine de Medici.
+
+The Queen-Mother did not allow King Charles IX to have much share in
+the government of France at that period.  She had an Italian love of
+dissimulation, and followed the methods of the rulers of petty Italian
+states in her policy, which was to play off one rival faction against
+another.  Henry of Guise led the Catholic party against the Huguenots,
+whose leaders were Prince Louis de Bourbon and his uncle, the noble
+Admiral de Coligny.  Guise was so determined to gain power that he
+actually asked the help of Spain in his attempt to crush the "heretics"
+of his own nation.
+
+The Huguenots at that time had won many notable concessions from the
+Crown, which increased the bitter hostility of the Catholics.  The
+Queen-Mother, however, {103} concealed her annoyance when she saw the
+ladies of the court reading the New Testament instead of pagan poetry,
+or heard their voices chanting godly psalms rather than the old
+love-ballads.  She did not object openly to the pious form of speech
+which was known as the "language of Canaan."  She was a passionless
+woman, self-seeking but not revengeful, and adopted a certain degree of
+tolerance, no doubt, from her patriotic counsellor, L'Hopital, who
+resembled the Prince of Orange in his character.
+
+The Edict of January in 1562 gave countenance to Huguenot meetings
+throughout France, and was, therefore, detested by the Catholic party.
+The Duke of Guise went to dine one Sunday in the little town of Vassy,
+near his residence of Joinville.  A band of armed retainers accompanied
+him and pushed their way into a barn where the Huguenots were holding
+service.  A riot ensued, in which the Duke was struck, and his
+followers killed no less than sixty of the worshippers.
+
+This outrage led to civil war, for the Protestants remembered bitterly
+that Guise had sworn never to take life in the cause of religion.  They
+demanded the punishment of the offenders, and then took the field most
+valiantly.  Gentlemen served at their own expense, but they were, in
+general, "better armed with courage than with corselets."  They were
+overpowered by the numbers of the Catholic League, which had all the
+wealth of Church and State at its back, and also had control of the
+King and capital.  One by one the heroic leaders fell.  Louis de
+Bourbon was taken prisoner at Dreux, and Anthony of Bourbon died before
+the town of Rouen.
+
+The Queen of Navarre was very anxious for the safety of her son, for
+she heard that he was accompanying {104} Catherine and Charles IX on a
+long progress through the kingdom.  She herself was the object of
+Catholic animosity, and the King of Spain destined her for a grand
+_Auto-da-fe_, longing to make an example of so proud a heretic.  She
+believed that her son had received the root of piety in his heart while
+he was under her care, but she doubted whether that goodly root would
+grow in the corrupt atmosphere which surrounded the youthful Valois
+princes.  Henry of Navarre disliked learning, and was fond of active
+exercise.  His education was varied after he came to court, and he
+learnt to read men well.  In later life he was able to enjoy the most
+frivolous pastimes and yet could endure the privations of camp life
+without experiencing discomfort.
+
+Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Conde, was killed at the battle of Jarnac,
+and Henry de Bourbon became the recognized head of the Huguenot party.
+He took an oath never to abandon the cause, and was hailed by the
+soldiers in camp as their future leader.  The Queen of Navarre clad him
+in his armour, delighted that her son should defend the reformed
+religion.  She saw that he was brave and manly, if he were not a truly
+religious prince, and she agreed with the loudly expressed opinion of
+the populace that he was more royal in bearing than the dissolute and
+effeminate youths who spent their idle days within the palaces of the
+Louvre and the Tuileries.
+
+The country was growing so weary of the struggle that the scheme for a
+marriage between Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Valois was hailed
+with enthusiasm.  If Catholic and Huguenot were united there might be
+peace in France that would add to the prosperity of the nation.
+Catherine de Medici had intended originally that her daughter should
+marry the {105} Catholic King of Portugal, and was angry with Philip II
+of Spain because he had done nothing to assist her in making this
+alliance.  Charles IX longed to humble Philip, who was indignant that
+the "heretics" had been offered freedom of worship in 1570, and had
+expressed his opinion rather freely.  Therefore the Valois family did
+not hesitate to receive the leader of the Protestants, Henry de
+Bourbon, whose territory extended from the Pyrenees to far beyond the
+Garonne.
+
+The Queen of Navarre disliked the match and was suspicious of the
+Queen-Mother's motives.  She feared that Catherine and Catherine's
+daughter would entice Henry into a gay, dissolute course of life which
+would destroy the results of her early training, and she could not
+respond very cordially to the effusive welcome which greeted her at the
+court when she came sadly to the wedding.
+
+The marriage contract was signed in 1571, neither bride nor bridegroom
+having much choice in the matter.  Henry was probably dazzled by the
+brilliant prospects that opened out to one who was mated with a Valois,
+but he was only nineteen and never quite at ease in the shifting,
+tortuous maze of diplomacy as conceived by the mind of Catherine de
+Medici.  Margaret was a talented, lively girl, and pleased with the
+fine jewels that were given her.  She did not understand the reasons
+which urged her brother Charles to press on the match.  He insisted
+that it should take place in Paris in order that he might show his
+subjects how much he longed to settle the religious strife that had
+lately rent the kingdom.  It was a question, of course, on which
+neither of the contracting parties had to be more than formally
+consulted.
+
+The Queen of Navarre died suddenly on the eve of {106} the wedding, and
+her son, with 800 attendants, entered the city in a mourning garb that
+had soon to be discarded.  Gorgeous costumes of ceremony were donned
+for the great day, August 18th, 1572, when Margaret met her bridegroom
+on a great stage erected before the church of Notre Dame.
+
+Henry of Navarre could not attend the Mass, but walked in the nave with
+his Huguenot friends, while Margaret knelt in the choir, surrounded by
+the Catholics of the party.  Admiral Coligny was present, the stalwart
+Huguenot who appealed to all the finest instincts of his people.  He
+had tried to arrange a marriage between Elizabeth of England and Henry
+of Anjou, the brother of the French King, but had not been successful,
+owing to Elizabeth's politic vacillation.  He was detested by Catherine
+de Medici because he had great power over her son, the reigning
+monarch, whom she tried to dominate completely.  A dark design had
+inspired the Guise faction of late in consequence of the Queen's enmity
+to the influence of Coligny.  It was hinted that the Huguenot party
+would be very weak if their strongest partisan were suddenly taken from
+them.  All the great Protestant nobles were assembled in Paris for the
+marriage of Navarre and Margaret of Valois.  They were royally
+entertained by the Catholic courtiers and lodged at night in fine
+apartments of the Louvre and other palaces.  They had no idea that they
+had any danger to fear as they slept, and would have disdained to guard
+themselves against the possible treachery of their hosts.  They might
+have been warned by the attempted assassination of Admiral Coligny, who
+was wounded by a pistol-shot, had not the King expressed such concern
+at the attempt on the life of his favourite counsellor.  "My father,"
+Charles IX declared when {107} he came to the Admiral's bedside, "the
+pain of the wound is yours, but the insult and the wrong are mine."
+
+The King had the gates of Paris shut, and sent his own guard to protect
+Coligny.  He was weak, and subject to violent gusts of passion which
+made him easy to guide, if he were in the hands of an unscrupulous
+person.  His mother, who had plotted with Guise for the death of
+Coligny, pointed out that there was grave danger to be feared from the
+Protestants.  She made Charles declare in a frenzy of violence that
+every Huguenot in France should perish if the Admiral died, for he
+would not be reproached with such a crime by the Admiral's followers.
+
+The bells of the church nearest to the Louvre rang out on the Eve of St
+Bartholomew--they gave the signal for a cruel massacre.  After the
+devout Protestant, Coligny, was slain in the presence of the Duke of
+Guise, there was little resistance from the other defenceless Huguenot
+nobles.  They were roused from sleep, surprised by treacherous foes,
+and relentlessly murdered.  It was impossible to combine in their
+perilous position.  Two thousand were put to death in Paris, where the
+very women and children acted like monsters of cruelty to the heretics
+for three days, and proved themselves as cunning as the Swiss guards
+who had slain the King's guests on the night of Saint Bartholomew.  A
+Huguenot noble escaped from his assailants and rushed into Henry's very
+bridal chamber.  He cried, "Navarre!  Navarre!" and hoped for
+protection from the Protestant prince against four archers who were
+following him.  Henry had risen early and gone out to the tennis-court,
+and Margaret was powerless to offer any help.  She fled from the room
+in terror, having heard nothing previously of the Guises' secret
+conspiracy.
+
+{108}
+
+Charles IX sent for Navarre and disclosed the fact that he had been
+privy to the massacre.  He showed plainly that the Protestants were to
+find no toleration henceforth.  Henry felt that his life was in great
+jeopardy, for most of the noblemen he had brought to Paris had fallen
+in the massacre, and he stood practically alone at a Catholic court.
+Henry understood that if he were to be spared it was only at the price
+of his conversion, and with the alternatives of death or the Mass
+before him, it is little wonder that he yielded, at least in
+appearance, to the latter.  There were spies and traitors to be feared
+in the circle of the Medici.  Even Margaret was not safe since her
+marriage to a Protestant, but she gave wise counsel to her husband and
+guided him skilfully through the perils of court life.
+
+Catherine disarmed the general indignation of Europe by spreading an
+ingeniously concocted story to the effect that the Huguenots had been
+sacrificed because they plotted a foul attack on the Crown of France.
+She had been hostile to Coligny rather than to his policy, and
+continued to follow his scheme of thwarting Spain by alliances with
+Elizabeth and the Prince of Orange.
+
+Henry of Guise met the charge of excessive zeal in defending his King
+with perfect equanimity.  He was a splendid figure at the court,
+winning popularity by his affable manners and managing to conceal his
+arrogant, ambitious nature.
+
+After 1572 the Huguenots relied mainly on the wealthy citizens of the
+towns for support in the struggle against the Guise faction.  In
+addition to religious toleration they now demanded the redress of
+political grievances.  A republican spirit rose in the Protestant
+party, who read eagerly the various books and pamphlets declaring that
+a monarchy should not continue if it {109} proved incapable of
+maintaining order even by despotic powers.  More and more a new idea
+gained ground that the sovereignty of France was not hereditary but
+elective.
+
+Charles IX, distracted by the confusion in his kingdom and the caprices
+of his own ill-balanced temper, clung to Henry of Navarre because he
+recognized real strength in him such as was wanting in the Valois.
+Henry III, his successor, was contemptibly vain and feminine in all his
+tastes, wearing pearls in his hair and rouging his face in order that
+he might be admired by the foolish, empty courtiers who were his
+favourite companions.  He succeeded to the throne in 1575, and made
+some display of Catholic zeal by organizing fantastic processions of
+repentant sinners through the streets of Paris.  He insisted on Navarre
+taking part in this mummery, for it was to his interest to prevent the
+Protestant party from claiming a noble leader.
+
+Navarre had learnt to play his part well, but he chafed at his
+inglorious position.  He saw with a fierce disgust the worthless
+prince, Alencon, become the head of the Protestant party.  Then he
+discovered that he was to have a chance of escape from the toils of the
+Medici.  In January, 1576, he received an offer from some officers--who
+had been disappointed of the royal favour--that they would put him in
+possession of certain towns if he would leave the court.  He rode off
+at once to the Protestant camp, leaving his wife behind him.
+
+The Peace of Monsieur, signed in February 1576, granted very favourable
+conditions to the Protestants, who had stoutly resisted an attack on
+their stronghold of La Rochelle.  Catherine and Henry III became
+alarmed by the increasing numbers of their enemies, for a Catholic
+League was formed by Henry of Guise and {110} other discontented
+subjects in order to ally Paris with the fanatics of the provinces.
+This League was by no means favourable to the King and Catherine, for
+its openly avowed leader was Henry of Guise, who was greatly beloved by
+the people.  Henry III was foolish enough to become a member, thereby
+incurring some loss of prestige by placing himself practically under
+the authority of his rival.  Bitterly hostile to the Protestants as
+were the aims of the League, it was nevertheless largely used by the
+Duke of Guise as a cloak to cover his designs for the usurpation of the
+royal power.  The hope of Henry III and his mother was that the rival
+Catholics and Protestants would fight out their own quarrel and leave
+the Crown to watch the battles unmolested.
+
+The last of the Valois was closely watched by the bold preachers of
+political emancipation.  These were determined to snatch the royal
+prerogatives from him if he were unworthy of respect and squandered too
+much public money on his follies.  It enraged them to hear that he
+spent hours on his own toilette, and starched his wife's fine ruffs as
+if he were her tire-woman.  They were angry when they were told that
+their King regarded his functions so lightly that he gave audiences to
+ambassadors with a basketful of puppies round his neck, and did not
+trouble to read the reports his ministers sent to him.  They decided
+secretly to proclaim Henry III's kinsman, the King of Navarre, who was
+a fine soldier and a kindly, humane gentleman.
+
+Navarre was openly welcomed as the leader of the Reformed Church party.
+He was readmitted to Calvinist communion, and abjured the Mass.  He
+took the field gladly, being delighted to remove the mask he had been
+obliged to wear.  His brilliant feats of arms made him more popular
+than ever.
+
+{111}
+
+When Anjou died, Navarre was heir presumptive to the throne, and had to
+meet the furious hostility of the Guise faction.  These said that
+Navarre's uncle, Cardinal de Bourbon, "wine-tun rather than a man,"
+should be their king when Valois died.  They secured the help of Spain
+before publishing their famous Manifesto.  This document avowed the
+intentions of those forming the Catholic League to restore the dignity
+of the Church by drawing the sword, if necessary, and to settle for
+themselves the question of Henry III's successor.  He bribed the people
+by releasing them from taxation and promised regular meetings of the
+States-General.
+
+The King hesitated to grant the League's demands, which were definitely
+formulated in 1585.  He did not wish to revoke the Edicts of Toleration
+that had recently been passed, and might have refused, if his mother
+had not advised him to make every concession that was possible to avoid
+the enmity of the Guise faction.  He consented, and was lost, for the
+Huguenots sprang to arms, and he found that he was to be driven from
+his capital by the Guises.
+
+The King was accused of sympathy with the Protestant cause, which made
+his name odious to the Catholic University of Paris.  He had personal
+enemies too, such as the Duchess of Montpensier, sister to Henry of
+Guise, who was fond of saying that she would give him another crown by
+using the gold scissors at her waist.  There was some talk of his
+entering a monastery where he would have had to adopt the tonsure.
+
+One-half of Navarre's beard had turned white when he heard that Henry
+III was revoking the Edicts of Toleration.  Yet he was happiest in
+camp, and leapt to the saddle with a light heart in May 1588 when the
+{112} King fled from Paris and Guise entered the capital as the
+deliverer of the people.  He looked the model of a Gascon knight, with
+hooked nose and bold, black eyes under ironical arched eyebrows.  He
+was a clever judge of character, and knew how to win adherents to his
+cause.  His homely garb attracted many who were tired of the weak
+Valois kings, for there was no artificial grace in the scarlet cloak,
+brown velvet doublet and white-plumed hat which distinguished him from
+his fellows.
+
+Henry III plotted desperately to regain his prestige, and showed some
+of the Medici guile in a plot for Guise's assassination.  When this
+succeeded he went to boast to Catherine that he had killed the King of
+Paris.  "You have cut boldly into the stuff, my son," she answered him,
+"but will you know how to sew it together?"
+
+Paris was filled by lamentations for the death of Guise, and the
+festivities of Christmas Eve gave way to funeral dirges.  The
+University of Sorbonne declared that they would not receive Henry of
+Valois again as king.  His only hope was to reconcile himself with
+Navarre and the Protestant party.  Paris was tumultuous with resistance
+when the news came that Royalists and Huguenots had raised their
+standards in the same camp and massed two armies.  The Catholic League
+was beloved by the poorer citizens because it released them from
+rent-dues.  The spirit of the people was shown by processions of
+children, who threw lighted torches to the ground before the churches,
+stamped on them, and cried, "Thus may God quench the House of Valois!"
+
+The capital welcomed Spanish troops to aid them in keeping Henry III
+from the gates.  He was assassinated {113} by a Burgundian monk as he
+approached the city "he had loved more than his wife," and Henry of
+Navarre, though a heretic, now claimed the right of entrance.
+
+Navarre was the lineal descendant of Saint Louis of France, but for ten
+generations no ancestor of his in the male line had ruled the French
+kingdom.  He was the grandson of Margaret, sister of Francis I, and
+Henry d'Albret, who had borne captivity with that monarch.  Many were
+pledged to him by vows made to the dying King, who had come to look on
+him as a doughty champion; many swore that they would die a thousand
+deaths rather than be the servants of a heretic master.
+
+In February 1590, Henry laid siege to Dreux in order to place himself
+between his enemies and Paris.  Mayenne, the leader of the opposite
+camp, drew him to Ivry, where a battle was fought on March 14th,
+resulting in the complete discomfiture of the Catholic Leaguers.  The
+white plume of Navarre floated victorious on the field, and the black
+lilies of Mayenne were trampled.  The road to Paris lay open to the
+heretic King, who invested the city on the northern side, but did not
+attack the inhabitants.  The blockade would have reduced the hungry
+citizens to submission at the end of a month if the Duke of Parma had
+not come to their relief at the command of the Spanish sovereign.
+
+Philip II wished his daughter to marry the young Duke of Guise and to
+ascend the French throne with her husband.  For that reason he
+supported Paris in its refusal to accept the Protestant King of
+Navarre.  It was not till March 1594, that the King, known as Henri
+Quatre, was able to lead his troops into Paris.
+
+Navarre had been compelled to attend Mass in public and to ask
+absolution from the Archbishop of Bourges, {114} who received him into
+the fold of the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church before the
+coronation.  He was now the "most Christian King," welcomed with blaze
+of bonfires and the blare of trumpets.  He was crowned at Chartres
+because the Catholic League held Rheims, and he entered Paris by the
+Porte Neuve, through which Henry III had fled from the Guises some six
+years previously.  The Spaniards had to withdraw from his capital,
+being told that their services would be required no longer.
+
+Henry IV waged successful wars against Spain and the Catholic League,
+gradually recovering the whole of his dominions by his energy and
+courage.  He settled the status of the Protestants on a satisfactory
+basis by the Edict of Nantes, which was signed in April 1598, to
+consolidate the privileges which had been previously granted to the
+Calvinists.  Full civil rights and full civil protection were granted
+to all Protestants, and the King assigned a sum of money for the use of
+Protestant schools and colleges.
+
+Henry introduced the silk industry into France, and his famous
+minister, Sully, did much to improve the condition of French
+agriculture.  By 1598 order had been restored in the kingdom, but
+industry and commerce had been crippled by nearly forty years of civil
+war.  When France's first Bourbon King, Henry IV, was assassinated in
+April 1610, he had only begun the great work of social and economical
+reform which proved his genuine sense of public duty.
+
+
+
+
+{115}
+
+Chapter X
+
+Under the Red Robe
+
+Never was king more beloved by his subjects than Henry of Navarre, who
+had so many of the frank and genial qualities which his nation valued.
+There was mourning as for a father when the fanatic, Ravaillac, struck
+him to the ground.  It seemed strange that death should come in the
+same guise to the first of the Bourbon line and the last of the Valois.
+
+Henry had studied the welfare of the peasantry and the middle class,
+striving to crush the power of the nobles whose hands were perpetually
+raised one against the other.  Therefore he intrusted affairs of State
+to men of inferior rank, and determined that he would form in France a
+nobility of the robe that should equal the old nobility of the sword.
+The _paulette_ gave to all those who held the higher judicial functions
+of the State the right to transmit their offices by will to their
+descendants, or even to sell them as so much hereditary property.
+
+In foreign affairs Henry had attempted to check the ambitious schemes
+of the Spanish Hapsburg line and to restore the ancient prestige of
+France in Europe, but he had to leave his country in a critical stage
+and hope that a man would be found to carry on his great work.
+Cardinal Richelieu was to have the supreme {116} honour of fulfilling
+Henry IV's designs, with the energy of a nature that had otherwise very
+little in common with that of the first King of the Bourbons.
+
+Armand Jean Duplessis, born in 1585, was the youngest son of Francois
+Duplessis, knight of Richelieu, who fought for Navarre upon the
+battle-fields of Arques and Ivry.  He was naturally destined for a
+military career, and had seen, when he was a little child, some of the
+terrible scenes of the religious wars.  Peering from the window of the
+chateau in the sad, desolate land of Poitou, he caught glimpses of
+ragged regiments of French troops, or saw foreign soldiers in their
+unfamiliar garb, intent on pillaging the mean huts of the peasantry.
+Armand was sent to Paris at an early age that he might study at the
+famous College of Navarre, where the youths of the day were well
+equipped for court life.  He learned Spanish in addition to Latin and
+Greek, and became an adept in riding, dancing and fencing.  When he
+left the humble student quarter of the capital and began to mingle with
+the crowd who formed the court, he soon put off the manners of a rustic
+and acquired the polished elegance of a courtier of the period.  He
+spent much time in studying the drama of Parisian daily life, a
+brilliant, shifting series of gay scenes, with the revelation now and
+then of a cruel and sordid background.
+
+The very sounds of active life must at first have startled the dreamy
+youth who had come from the seclusion of a chateau in the marsh land.
+Cavaliers in velvet and satin rallied to the roll of a drum which the
+soldiers beat in martial-wise, and engaged in fierce conflicts with
+each other.  Acts were constantly passed to forbid duelling, but there
+were many wounded every year in the streets, and the nobility would
+have thought {117} themselves disgraced if they had not drawn their
+swords readily in answer to an insult.  Class distinctions were
+observed rigidly, and the merchant clad in hodden grey and the lawyer
+robed in black were pushed aside with some contempt when there was any
+conflict between the aristocrats.  The busy Pont Neuf seemed to be the
+bridge which joined two different worlds.  Here monks rubbed shoulders
+with yellow-garbed Jews, and ladies of the court tripped side by side
+with the gay _filles_ of the town.  Anyone strolling near the river
+Seine could watch, if he chose, the multicoloured throng and amuse
+himself by the contrast between the different phases of society in
+Paris.
+
+Richelieu, who held the proud title of Marquis de Chillon, handled a
+sword skilfully and dreamed of glory won upon battle-fields.  He was
+dismayed when he first heard that his widowed mother had changed her
+plans for his career.  A brother, who was to have been consecrated
+Bishop of Lucon, had decided to turn monk, and as the preferment to the
+See was in the hands of the family, it had been decided that Armand
+Jean should have the benefit.
+
+Soon a fresh vision had formed before the eyes of the handsome Bishop,
+who visited Rome and made friends among the highest dignitaries.  He
+was tall and slender, with an oval face and the keenest of grey eyes;
+rich black hair fell to his shoulders and a pointed beard lent
+distinction to his face.  The Louvre and the Vatican approved him, and
+many protesting voices were heard when Richelieu went down to his
+country diocese.
+
+Poitou was one of the poorest districts of France, the peasants being
+glad enough to get bread and chestnuts for their main food.  The
+cathedral was battered by warfare and the palace very wretched.  Orders
+to {118} Parisian merchants made the last habitable, Richelieu
+declaring that, although a beggar, he had need of silver plates and
+such luxuries to "enhance his nobility."  The first work he had found
+to do was done very thoroughly.  He set the place in order and
+conciliated the Huguenots.  Then he demanded relief from taxation for
+his overburdened flock, writing urgently to headquarters on this
+subject.  He had much vexation to overcome whenever he came into
+contact with the priests drawn from the peasantry.  These were far too
+fond of gambling and drinking in the ale-houses, and had to be
+prohibited from celebrating marriages by night, a custom that led to
+many scandals.
+
+But Lucon was soon too narrow a sphere for the energy and ambition of a
+Richelieu.  The Bishop longed to establish himself in a palace "near to
+that of God and that of the King," for he combined worldly wisdom with
+a zeal for religious purity.  He happened to welcome the royal
+procession that was setting out for Spain on the occasion of Louis
+XIII's marriage to Anne of Austria, a daughter of Philip II.  He made
+so noble an impression of hospitality that he was rewarded by the post
+of Almoner to the new Queen and was placed upon the Regent's Council.
+
+Richelieu had watched the coronation of the quiet boy of fourteen in
+the cathedral of Notre Dame, for he had walked in the state procession.
+He knew that Louis XIII was a mere cipher, fond of hunting and loth to
+appear in public.  Marie de Medici, the Regent, was the prime mover of
+intrigues.  It was wise to gain her favour and the friendship of her
+real rulers, the Italian Concini.
+
+Concini himself was noble by birth, whereas his wife, the sallow,
+deformed Leonora, was the daughter of a {119} laundress who had nursed
+the Queen in illness.  Both were extravagant, costing the Crown
+enormous sums of money--Leonora had a pretty taste in jewels as well as
+clothes, and Marie de Medici even plundered the Bastille of her
+husband's hoards because she could deny her favourites nothing.
+
+Richelieu rose to eminence in the gay, luxurious court where the weak,
+vain Florentine presided.  He had ousted other men, and feared for his
+own safety when the Concini were attacked by their exasperated
+opponents.  Concini himself was shot, and his wife was lodged in the
+Bastille on a charge of sorcery.  Paris rejoiced in the fall of these
+Italian parasites, and Marie de Medici shed no tears for them.  She
+turned to her secretary, Richelieu, when she was driven from the court
+and implored him to mediate for her with Louis XIII and his favourite
+sportsman-adventurer, de Luynes, who had originally been employed to
+teach the young King falconry.
+
+Richelieu went to the chateau of Blois where Marie de Medici had fled,
+a royal exile, but he received orders from Luynes, who was in power, to
+proceed to Lucon and guide his flock "to observe the commandments of
+God and the King."  The Bishop was exceedingly provoked by the taunt,
+but he was obliged to wait for better fortunes.  Marie was plotting
+after the manner of the Florentines, but her plans were generally
+fruitless.  She managed to escape from Blois with Epernon, the general
+of Henry IV, and despite a solemn oath that she would live "in entire
+resignation to the King's will," she would have had civil war against
+the King and his adviser.
+
+Richelieu managed to make peace and brought about the marriage of his
+beautiful young kinswoman {120} to the Marquis of Cambalet, who was de
+Luynes' nephew.  He did not, however, receive the Cardinal's Hat, which
+had become the chief object of his personal ambition.
+
+The minister, de Luynes, became so unpopular, at length, that his
+enemies found it possible to retaliate.  He favoured the Spanish
+alliance, whereas many wished to help the Protestants of Germany in
+their struggle to uphold Frederick, the Elector Palatine, against
+Ferdinand of Bohemia.  The Huguenots rose in the south, and Luynes took
+the field desperately, for he knew that anything but victory would be
+fatal to his own fortunes.  Songs were shouted in the Paris taverns,
+satirizing his weak government.  Richelieu had bought the service of a
+host of scribblers in the mean streets near the Place Royale, and these
+were virulent in verse and pamphlet, according to the dictates of their
+master.
+
+Fever carried off de Luynes, and the valets who played cards on his
+coffin were hardly more indecent in their callousness than de Luynes'
+enemies.  The Cardinal's Hat arrived with many gracious compliments to
+the Bishop of Lucon, who then gave up his diocese.  Soon he rustled in
+flame-coloured taffeta at fetes and receptions, for wealth and all the
+rewards of office came to him.  As a Prince of the Church, he claimed
+precedence of princes of the blood, and was hardly astonished when the
+King requested him to form a ministry.  In that ministry the power of
+the Cardinal was supreme, and he had friends in all posts of
+importance.  With a show of reluctance he entered on his life-work.  It
+was a great and patriotic task--no less than the aggrandisement of
+France in Europe.
+
+France must be united if she were to present a solid front against the
+Spanish vengeance that would threaten any change of policy.  The
+Queen-Regent had intended {121} to support Rome, Austria and Spain
+against the Protestant forces of the northern countries.  Richelieu
+determined to change that plan, but he knew that the time was not yet
+ripe, since he had neither a fleet nor an army to defeat such
+adversaries.
+
+The Huguenot faction must be ruined in order that France might not be
+torn by internal struggles.  The new French army was sent to surround
+La Rochelle, the Protestant fort, which expected help from England.
+The English fleet tried for fourteen days to relieve the garrison, but
+had to sail away defeated.  The sailors of the town elected one of
+their number to be Mayor, a rough pirate who was unwilling to assume
+the office.  "I don't want to be Mayor," he cried, flinging his knife
+upon the Council-Table, "but, since you want it, there is my knife for
+the first man who talks of surrender."  The spirit of resistance within
+the walls of La Rochelle rose after this declaration.  The citizens
+continued to defy the besiegers until a bushel of corn cost 1,000
+livres and an ordinary household cat could be sold for forty-five!
+
+It was Richelieu's intention to starve the inhabitants of La Rochelle
+into surrender.  He had his will, being a man of iron, and held Mass in
+the Protestant stronghold.  He treated the people well, allowing them
+freedom of religion, but he razed both the fort and the walls to the
+ground and took away all their political privileges.  The Huguenots
+were too grateful for the liberty that was left to them to menace the
+French Government any longer.  Most of them were loyal citizens and
+helped the Cardinal to maintain peace.  In any case they did not exist
+as a separate political party.
+
+Richelieu reduced the power of the nobles by relentless {122} measures
+that struck at their feudal independence.  No fortresses were to be
+held by them unless they lived on the frontiers of France, where some
+defence was necessary against a foreign enemy.  When their strong
+castles were pulled down, the great lords seemed to have lost much of
+their ancient dignity.  They were forbidden to duel, and dared not
+disobey the law after they had seen the guilty brought relentlessly to
+the scaffold.  The first families of France had to acknowledge a
+superior in the mighty Cardinal Richelieu.  Intendants were sent out to
+govern provinces and diminish the local influence of the landlords.
+Most of these were men of inferior rank to the nobility, who found
+themselves compelled to go to the wars if they wished to earn
+distinction.  The result was good, for it added many recruits to the
+land and sea forces.
+
+In 1629, the Cardinal donned sword and cuirass and led out the royal
+army to the support of the Duke of Mantua, a French nobleman who had
+inherited an Italian duchy and found his rights disputed by both Spain
+and Savoy.  Louis XIII accompanied Richelieu and showed himself a brave
+soldier.  Their road to Italy was by the Pass of Susa, thick with snow
+in the early spring and dangerous from the presence of Savoy's hostile
+troups.  They forced their way into Italy, and there Richelieu remained
+to make terms with the enemy, while Louis returned to his kingdom.
+
+Richelieu induced both Spain and Savoy to acknowledge the rights of the
+Duke of Mantua, and then turned his attention to the resistance which
+had been organized in Southern France by the Protestants under the Duke
+of Rohan.  The latter had obtained promises of aid from Charles I of
+England and Philip IV of Spain, but found that his allies deserted him
+at a critical {123} moment and left him to face the formidable army of
+the Cardinal.  The Huguenots submitted to their fate in the summer of
+1629, finding themselves in a worse plight than they had been when they
+surrendered La Rochelle, for Richelieu treated with them no longer as
+with a foreign power.  He expected them to offer him the servile
+obedience of conquered rebels.  Henceforth he exerted himself to
+restore the full supremacy of the Catholic faith in France by making as
+many converts as was possible and by opening Jesuit and Capuchin
+missions in the Protestant places.  "Some were brought to see the truth
+by fear and some by favour."  Yet Richelieu did not play the part of a
+persecutor in the State, for he was afraid of weakening France by
+driving away heretics who might help to increase her strength in
+foreign warfare.  He was pleased to find so many of the Huguenots loyal
+to their King, and rejoiced that there would never be the possibility
+of some discontented nobleman rising against his rule with a Protestant
+force in the background.  The Huguenots devoted their time to peaceful
+worship after their own mind, and waxed very prosperous through their
+steady pursuit of commerce.
+
+Richelieu returned to France in triumph, having won amazing success in
+his three years' struggle.  He had personal enemies on every side, but
+for the moment these were silenced.  "In the eyes of the world, he was
+the foremost man in France."  For nineteen years he was to be the
+King's chief minister, although he was many times in peril of losing
+credit, and even life itself, through the jealous envy of his superiors
+and fellow-subjects.
+
+Mary de Medici forsook the man she had raised to some degree of
+eminence, and declared that he had {124} shown himself ungrateful.  The
+nobility in general felt his power tyrannical, and the clergy thought
+that he sacrificed the Church to the interests of the State in
+politics.  Louis XIII was restive sometimes under the heavy hand of the
+Cardinal, who dared to point out the royal weaknesses and to insist
+that he should try to overcome them.
+
+Richelieu was very skilful in avoiding the pitfalls that beset his path
+as statesman.  He had many spies in his service, paid to bring him
+reports of his enemies' speech and actions.  Great ladies of the court
+did not disdain to betray their friends, and priests even advised
+penitents in the Confessional to act as the Cardinal wished them.  When
+any treachery was discovered, it was punished swiftly.  The Cardinal
+refused to spare men of the highest rank who plotted against the King
+or his ministers, for he had seen the dangers of revolt and decided to
+stamp it out relentlessly.  Some strain of chivalry forbade him to
+treat women with the same severity he showed to male conspirators.  He
+had a cunning adversary in one Madame de Chevreuse, who would ride with
+the fearless speed of a man to outwit any scheme of Richelieu.
+
+[Illustration: An Application to the Cardinal for his Favour (Walter
+Gay)]
+
+The life of a king in feeble health was all that stood between the
+Cardinal and ruin, and several times it seemed impossible that he
+should outwit his enemies.  Louis XIII fell ill in 1630.  At the end of
+September he was not expected to survive, and the physicians bade him
+attend to his soul's welfare.
+
+The Cardinal's enemies exulted, openly declaring that the King's
+adviser should die with the King.  The heir to the throne was Louis'
+brother Gaston, a weak and cowardly prince, who detested the minister
+in office and hoped to overthrow him.  When the sufferer {125}
+recovered there was much disappointment to be concealed.  The
+Queen-Mother had set her heart on Marillac being made head of the army
+in Richelieu's place, and had secret designs to make Marillac's
+brother, then the guard of the seals, the chief minister.
+
+Louis was induced to say that he would dismiss the Cardinal when he was
+completely recovered from his illness, but he did not feel himself
+bound by the promise when he had rid himself of Marie de Medici and
+felt once again the influence of Richelieu.  He went to Versailles to
+hunt on November 11th, 1630, and there met the Cardinal, who was able
+to convince him that it would be best for the interests of France to
+have a strong and dauntless minister dominating all the petty offices
+in the State instead of a number of incapable, greedy intriguers such
+as would be appointed by Marie de Medici.  On this Day of Dupes the
+court was over-confident of success, believing that the Cardinal had
+fled from the disgrace that would shortly overtake him.  The joy of the
+courtiers was banished by a message that Marillac was to be dismissed.
+The Queen-Mother knew at once that her schemes had failed, and that her
+son had extricated himself from her toils that he might retain
+Richelieu.
+
+Marshal Marillac and his brother were both condemned to death.  Another
+noble, Bassompierre, was arrested and put in the Bastille because he
+was known to have sympathized with the Cardinal's enemies.  Richelieu
+did not rid himself so easily of Marie de Medici, who was his deadliest
+enemy.  She went into banishment voluntarily, but continued to devise
+many plots with the Spanish enemies of France, for she had no scruples
+in availing herself of foreign help against the hated minister.
+
+{126}
+
+After the Day of Dupes, Richelieu grasped the reins of government more
+firmly.  He asked no advice, and feared no opposition to his rule.  His
+foreign policy differed from that pursued by Marie de Medici, because
+he realized that France could never lead the continental powers until
+she had checked the arrogance of Spanish claims to supremacy.  It seems
+strange that he should support the Protestant princes of Germany
+against their Catholic Emperor when the Thirty Years' War broke out,
+but it must be remembered that the Emperor, Ferdinand II, was closely
+allied to the King of Spain, and that the success of the former would
+mean a second powerful Catholic State in Europe.  The House of Austria
+was already strong and menaced France in her struggle for ascendancy.
+
+In 1635, war was formally declared by France against the Emperor
+Ferdinand and Spain.  Richelieu did not live to see the conclusion of
+this war, but he had the satisfaction of knowing that, at its close,
+France would be established as the foremost of European nations, and he
+felt that the result would be worth a lavish expenditure of men and
+money.  In 1636, France was threatened by a Spanish invasion, which
+alarmed the people of the capital so terribly that they attacked the
+minister who had plunged them into warfare.  Richelieu displayed great
+courage and inspired a patriotic rising, the syndics of the various
+trades waiting on the King to offer lavish contributions in aid of the
+defence of Paris.  Louis took the field at the head of a fine army
+which was largely composed of eager volunteers, and the national danger
+was averted.
+
+Harassed by the cares of war, the Cardinal delighted in the gratitude
+of men of letters whom he took under his protection.  He founded the
+famous Academy of {127} France and had his own plays performed at Ruel,
+the century-old chateau, where he gave fetes of great magnificence.
+His niece, Mme. de Cambalet, was made Duchesse D'Aiguillon that she
+might adorn the sphere in which the Cardinal moved so royally.  She was
+a beautiful woman of simple tastes, and yearned for a life of
+conventual seclusion as she received the homage of Corneille or visited
+the salon of the brilliant wit, Julie de Rambouillet.
+
+Richelieu had a dozen estates in different parts of France and spent
+vast sums on their splendid maintenance.  He adorned the home of his
+ancestors with art treasures--pictures by Poussin, bronzes from Greece
+and Italy, and the statuary of Michael Angelo.  His own equestrian
+statue was placed side by side with that of Louis XIII because they had
+ridden together to great victory.  The King survived his minister only
+a few months; Richelieu died on December 4th, 1642, and Louis XIII in
+the following May.  They left the people of France submissive to an
+absolute monarchy.
+
+
+
+
+{128}
+
+Chapter XI
+
+The Grand Monarch
+
+Richelieu bequeathed his famous Palais Cardinal to the royal family of
+France.  He left the reins of tyranny in the hands of Mazarin, a
+Spaniard, who had complete ascendancy over the so-called Regent, Anne
+of Austria.
+
+There was not much state in the magnificent palace of little Louis XIV
+during his long minority, and he chafed against the restrictions of a
+parsimonious household.  Mazarin was bent on amassing riches for
+himself and would not untie the purse-strings even for those gala-days
+on which the court was expected to be gorgeous.  He stinted the
+education of the heir to the Crown, fearing that a well-equipped youth
+would demand the right to govern for himself.  His system was so
+successful in the end that the mightiest of the Bourbon kings could
+barely read and write.
+
+Yet Louis XIV grew strong and handsome, with a superb bearing that was
+not concealed by his shabby clothes, and a dauntless arrogance that
+resented all slights on the royal prerogative.  He refused to drive in
+the dilapidated equipage which had been provided for his use, and made
+such a firm stand against Mazarin's avarice in this case that five new
+carriages were ordered.
+
+The populace rose, too, against the first minister of the State, whose
+wealth had increased enormously {129} through his exactions from the
+poorer classes.  France was full of abuses that Richelieu himself had
+scarcely tried to sweep away.  The peasants laboured under heavy
+burdens, the roads were dangerous for all travellers, and the streets
+of cities were infested after nightfall by dangerous pickpockets and
+assassins.  There had been a great victory won at Rocroy by the Due
+d'Enghien, who routed the Spanish and sent two hundred and sixty
+standards to the church of Notre Dame; but this glorious feat of arms
+brought neither food nor clothing to the poor, and the fierce internal
+strife, known as La Fronde, broke out.  The very name was undignified,
+being derived from a kind of sling used by the urchins of the Paris
+streets.  It was a mere series of brawls between Frondeurs and
+Mazarins, and brought much humiliation to the State.
+
+In 1649, civil war began which withdrew France somewhat from European
+broils.  Enghien (Conde) returned to Paris to range himself against the
+unruly Parlement as leader of the court party, and to try to reduce
+Paris by a military force.  When the capital was besieged Anne of
+Austria had to retire to Saint-Germains with her son, who suffered the
+indignity of sleeping on a bed of straw in those troubled times.  She
+concluded peace rather thankfully in March when the besieged citizens
+had suffered severely from want of food.  The young King showed himself
+in Paris in August when the tumult was at its worst, for the troubles
+of King Charles I of England incited the Frondeurs to persevere in
+their desire for a French Republic, where no minister should exercise
+the royal prerogatives.
+
+Mazarin played a losing game, and went into exile when Louis XIV was
+declared of age.  The young King was only thirteen but had the dignity
+of manhood in his air and carriage, and showed no fear in accepting
+{130} absolute power.  But it was not until ten years later that he was
+finally freed from Mazarin.  When the cardinal was dead he proclaimed
+his future policy to the state of France--"Gentlemen," said he, "I
+shall be my own prime minister."
+
+In November 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees had restored peace to
+France and Spain.  In the following year Louis XIV wedded the Infanta,
+daughter of Philip IV, who renounced all her prospective rights to the
+Spanish crown.  Mazarin had done well for France in these last
+diplomatic efforts for the crown, but he had forced the people to
+contribute to the enormous fortune which he made over to the King.
+
+Colbert was the indefatigable minister who aided the new monarch to
+restore the dignity of court life in France.  He revealed vast hoards
+which the crafty Mazarin had concealed, and formed schemes of splendour
+that should be worthy of a splendid king.
+
+Louis XIV was one of the richest monarchs of Christendom, with a taste
+for royal pomp that could be gratified only by an enormous display of
+wealth.  He wished the distasteful scenes of his early life to be
+forgotten by his subjects, and decided to build himself a residence
+that would form a fitting background for his own magnificence.  He
+would no longer live within the walls of Paris, a capital which had
+shown disrespect to monarchy.
+
+The ancient palace of the Louvre was not fine enough for Louis, and
+Versailles was built at a cost of twenty millions, and at a sacrifice
+of many humble lives, for the labourers died at their work and were
+borne from the beautiful park with some attempt at secrecy.  It was a
+stately place, and thither every courtier must hasten if he wished for
+the favour of the King.  It became {131} the centre of the gayest world
+of Europe, for there were ambassadors there from every foreign court.
+
+Etiquette, so wearisome to many monarchs, was the delight of the
+punctilious Louis XIV; every detail of his life was carried out with
+due regard to the dignity that he held to be the fitting appendage of a
+king.  When he rose and dressed, when he dined or gave audience, there
+were fixed rules to be observed.  He was never alone though he built
+Marly, expressing some wish that he might retire occasionally from the
+weariness of the court routine.  His brothers stood in the royal
+presence, and there was no real family life.  He was the grand monarch,
+and represented the majesty of France most worthily on the occasions of
+ceremony, when velvet and diamonds increased his stately grace.  "The
+State--it is Myself," he was fond of declaring, and by this remark
+satisfied his conscience when he levied exorbitant taxes to support the
+lavish magnificence of his court.
+
+Ignorant as the king was through the device of Mazarin, he was proud of
+the genius that shed lustre on the French nation.  Corneille and Racine
+wrote tragedies of classic fame, and Moliere, the greatest of all
+comedians, could amuse the wit of every visitor to the court.  Louis
+gave banquets at Versailles in honour of the dramatists he patronized,
+and had their plays performed in a setting so brilliant that ambition
+might well be satisfied.  Tales of royal bounty spread afar and
+attracted the needy genius of other lands.  Louis' heart swelled with
+pride when he received the homage of the learned and beheld the
+deference of messengers from less splendid courts.  He sat on a silver
+throne amid a throng of nobles he had stripped of power.  It was part
+of his policy to bring every landowner to Versailles, where fortunes
+vanished {132} rapidly.  It was useless to hope for office it the
+suitor did not come to make a personal appeal.
+
+Parisians grumbled that the capital should be deserted by the King, but
+they were appeased on holidays by free admission to the sights of
+sumptuous Versailles.  The King himself would occasionally appear in
+ballets performed by some exclusive company of the court.  There was
+always feasting toward and sweet music composed by Lulli, and they were
+amazed and interested by the dazzling jets of water from the fountains
+that had cost such fabulous sums.  Court beauties were admired together
+with the Guards surrounding the King's person in such fine array.
+Rumours of the countless servants attached to the service of the court
+gave an impression that the power of France could never fail.
+Patriotic spirit was aroused by the fine spectacle of the hunting-train
+as it rode toward the forests which lay between Versailles and the
+capital.  The Grand Huntsman of France was a nobleman, and had a
+splendid retinue.  "_Hallali, valets!  Hallali!_" was echoed by many
+humble sportsmen when the stag was torn to pieces by the pack.
+
+A special stud of horses was reserved for Louis' use in time of war.
+He had shown himself a bold youth on the battlefield in Mazarin's time,
+fighting in the trenches like a common soldier that his equipment might
+not be too heavy an expense.  He chose, however, to be magnificent
+enough as a warrior when he disturbed the peace of Europe by his
+arrogant pride.
+
+Philip IV of Spain died in 1665, leaving his dominions to Charles II,
+half-brother of France's Queen.  Louis declared that Maria Theresa had
+not been of age when she renounced her claims and that, moreover, the
+dowry of 500,000 golden crowns promised in consideration {133} of this
+renunciation had not been paid.  He wished to secure to his consort the
+Flemish provinces of Brabant, Mechlin, Antwerp, etc., and to this end
+made a treaty with the Dutch.  He was compelled to postpone his attack
+on the Spanish possessions by a war with England which broke out
+through his alliance with Holland, her great commercial rival at that
+date.
+
+Louis XIV showed himself perfidious in his relationship with the Dutch
+when he concluded a secret peace with Charles II of England in 1667.
+He marched into the Netherlands, supported by a new alliance with
+Portugal, and intended to claim the whole Spanish monarchy at some
+future date.  Many towns surrendered, for he had a well-disciplined
+army and no lack of personal courage.  Turenne and Conde, his brave
+generals, made rapid conquests which filled all Europe with alarm.
+
+But Louis' campaigns involved him in disastrous warfare with too many
+foes.  He was a bigoted persecutor of the Protestant, and made a secret
+treaty with England's treacherous ruler, Charles II, who, to his
+lasting shame, became a pensioner of the French King, agreeing, in
+return for French subsidies, to second Louis' designs on Spain.  France
+herself was torn by wars of religion in 1698 when the Edict of Nantes
+was revoked and the real intentions of the King were revealed to
+subjects who had striven, in the face of persecution, to be loyal.
+
+Louis XIV was under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, whom he
+married privately after the death of his neglected Queen.  This
+favourite, once the royal governess and widow of the poet Scarron, was
+strictly pious, and desired to see the Protestants conform.  She
+founded the convent of Saint-Cyr, a place of education for beautiful
+young orphan girls, and placed at the head {134} of it Fenelon, the
+priest and writer.  She urged the King continually to suppress heresy
+in his dominions, and was gratified by the sudden and deadly
+persecution that took place as the seventeenth century closed.
+
+Torture and death were excused as acts necessary for the establishment
+of the true faith, and soon all France was hideous with scenes of
+martyrdom.  Children were dragged from their parents and placed in
+Catholic households, where their treatment was most cruel unless they
+promised to embrace the Catholic religion.  Women suffered every kind
+of indignity at the hands of the soldiers who were sent to live in the
+houses and at the cost of heretics.  These _Dragonnades_ were carried
+on with great brutality, shameful carousals being held in homes once
+distinguished for elegance and refinement.  Nuns had instructions to
+convert the novices under their rule by any means they liked to employ.
+Some did not hesitate to obtain followers of the Catholic Church by the
+use of the scourge, and fasting and imprisonment in noisome dungeons.
+
+There was fierce resistance in the country districts, and armed men
+sprang up to defend their homes, welcoming even civil war if by that
+means they could attain protection.  The contest was unequal, for the
+peasants had been weakened by centuries of oppression, and there were
+strange seignorial rights which the weak dared not refuse when they
+were opposing the government in their obstinate choice of a religion.
+
+The reign of the Grand Monarch was losing radiance, though Louis was
+far from acknowledging that all was not well in that broad realm which
+owned him master.  He had discarded the frivolities of his youth and
+kept a dreary solemn state at Versailles, where decorous Madame de
+Maintenon was all-powerful.  He did not lament {135} his Spanish wife
+nor Colbert the minister, who died in the same year, for strict
+integrity was not valued too highly by the King of France.  Yet
+Colbert's work remained in the mighty palaces his constructive energy
+had planned, the bridges and fortresses and factories which he had held
+necessary for France's future greatness as a nation.  Louis paid scant
+tribute of regret to the memory of one who had toiled indefatigably in
+his service; but he looked complacently on Versailles and reflected
+that it would survive, even if the laurels of glory should be wrested
+from his brow.
+
+In 1700, Louis' prestige had dwindled in Europe, where he had once been
+feared as a sovereign ambitious for universal monarchy.  William the
+Stadtholder, now ruler of England with his Stuart wife, had been
+disgusted by the persecution of the French Protestants and had resolved
+to avenge Louis' seizure of his principality of Orange.  Chance enabled
+this man to ally the greater part of Europe against the ambition of the
+Grand Monarch.  War had been declared by England against France in
+1689, and prosecuted most vigorously till Louis XIV was gradually
+deprived of his finest conquests.  Though this was concluded in 1697 by
+the Peace of Ryswick, the French King's attempt to win the crown of
+Spain for his grandson, the Duke of Anjou, caused a renewal of
+hostilities.
+
+William III was in failing health, but a mighty general had arisen to
+defeat the projects of the French King.  The news of the Duke of
+Marlborough's victories in Flanders made it evident that the power of
+Louis XIV in the battlefield was waning.  Yet the French monarch did
+not reflect the terror on the faces of his courtiers when the great
+defeat of Lille was announced in his royal palace.  He observed all the
+usual duties of his daily {136} life and affected a serenity that other
+men might envy when they bewailed the passing of the Old Order, or
+repeated the prophecy once made by an astrologer that the end of Louis
+XIV's reign should not be glorious as the beginning.
+
+The King retained his marvellous composure to the last, too haughty to
+bend before misfortune or to retire even if the enemy came to the very
+gates of Paris.  At seventy-six he still went out to hunt the stag; he
+held Councils of State long after his health was really broken.  He
+said farewell to the officers of the crown in a voice as strong as ever
+when he was banished to the sick-room in 1715, and upbraided the
+weeping attendants, asking them if they had indeed come to consider him
+immortal.
+
+The reign of seventy-two years, so memorable in the annals of France,
+drew to a close with the life that had embodied all its royalty.  Louis
+XIV died "as a candle that goes out"--deserted even by Madame de
+Maintenon, who determined to secure herself against adversity by
+retirement to the convent of Saint-Cyr.  There was no loud mourning as
+the King's corpse was driven to the tomb on a car of black and silver,
+for the new century knew not the old reverence for kings.  It was the
+age of Voltaire and the mocking sceptic.
+
+
+
+
+{137}
+
+Chapter XII
+
+Peter the Great
+
+On the very day when the Grand Monarch watched his army cross the Rhine
+under the generals--Turenne and Conde--a man was born possessed of the
+same strong individuality as Louis XIV, a man whose rule was destined
+to work vast changes in the mighty realms to the extreme east of Europe.
+
+On 30th May, 1672, Peter, son of Alexis, was born in the palace of the
+Kreml at Moscow.  He was reared at first in strict seclusion behind the
+silken curtains that guarded the windows of the _Terem_, where the
+women lived.  Then rebellion broke out after his father's death; for
+Alexis had children by two marriages, and the offspring of his first
+wife, Mary Miloslavski, were jealous of the influence acquired by the
+relatives of Nathalie Naryshkin, Peter's mother.
+
+Peter found a strange new freedom in the village near Moscow which gave
+him shelter when the Miloslavski were predominant in the State.  He
+grew up wild and boisterous, the antithesis in all things of the
+polished courtier of the western world, for he despised fine clothing
+and hated the external pomp of state.  He ruled at first with his
+half-brother Ivan, and had reason to dread the power of Ivan's sister,
+Sophia Miloslavski, who was Regent, and gave lavish emoluments to
+Galitzin, {138} her favourite minister.  There was even an attempt upon
+Peter's life, which made him something of a coward in later times,
+since he was taken unawares by a terrible rising that Sophia inspired
+and escaped her only by a hurried flight.
+
+The rising was put down, however; Sophia was sent to a convent, and
+Galitzin banished before Peter could be said to rule.  He did not care
+at first for State affairs, being absorbed by youthful pleasures which
+he shared with companions from the stables and the streets.  He drilled
+soldiers, forming pleasure regiments, and had hours of delight sailing
+an old boat which he found one day, for this aroused a new enthusiasm.
+There were Dutch skippers at Archangel who were glad to teach him all
+they knew of navigation and the duties of their various crafts.  The
+Tsar insisted on working his way upward from a cabin-boy--he was
+democratic, and intended to level classes in his Empire in this way.
+
+Russian subjects complained bitterly of the Tsar's strange foreign
+tastes as soon as they heard that he was fond of visiting the
+_Sloboda_, that German quarter of his capital where so many foreigners
+lived.  There were rumours that he was not Alexis' son but the
+offspring perhaps of Lefort, the Genevese favourite, who helped him to
+reform.  When it was reported that he was about to visit foreign lands,
+discontent was louder, for the rulers of the east did not travel far
+from their own dominions if they followed the customs of their fathers,
+and observed their people's will.  The _Streltsy_, a privileged class
+of soldiers, rose on the eve of the departure for the west.  Their
+punishment did not descend on them at once, but Peter planned a dark
+vengeance in his mind.
+
+The monarch visited many countries in disguise, intent on learning the
+civilized arts of western Europe, {139} that he might introduce them to
+"barbarous Muscovy," which clung to the obsolete practices of a former
+age.  He spent some time at Zaandem, a village in Holland, where he was
+busily engaged in boat-building.  Then he was entertained at Amsterdam,
+and passed on to England as the guest of William III.  He occupied
+Sayes Court, near Deptford, the residence of John Evelyn, the great
+diarist, and wrought much havoc in that pleasant place; for his manners
+were still rude and barbarous, and he had no respect for the property
+of his host.  Sir Godfrey Kneller painted him--a handsome giant, six
+feet eight inches high, with full lips, dark skin, and curly hair that
+always showed beneath his wig.  The Tsar disdained to adorn his person,
+and was often meanly clad, wearing coarse darned stockings, thick
+shoes, and studying economy in dress.
+
+Peter continued his study of ship-building at Deptford, but the chief
+object of his visit was fulfilled when he had induced workmen of all
+kinds to return with him to Russia to teach their different trades.
+The Tsar was intent on securing a fleet, and hoped to gain a sea-board
+for his empire by driving back the Poles and Swedes from their Baltic
+ports.  He would then be able to trade with Europe and have intercourse
+with countries that were previously unknown.  But only war could
+accomplish this high ambition, and he had, as yet, no real skill in
+arms.  An attempt on Azov, then in Turkish hands, had led to
+ignominious defeat.
+
+Peter returned home to find that the _Streltsy_ had broken out again.
+His vengeance was terrible, for he had a barbarous strain and wielded
+the axe and knout with his own hands.  The rebellious soldiers were
+deprived of the privileges that had long been theirs, and those who
+were fortunate enough to escape a cruel death were {140} banished.  In
+future the army was to know the discipline that such soldiers as
+Patrick Gordon, a Scotch officer, had learned in their campaigns in
+foreign lands.  This soldier did much good work in the organization and
+control of Peter's army.  Their dress was to be modelled on the western
+uniforms that Peter had admired.  He was ashamed of the cumbersome
+skirts that Russians wore after the Asiatic style, and insisted that
+they should be cut off, together with the beards that were almost
+sacred in the eyes of priests.
+
+Favourites of humble origin were useful to Peter in his innovations,
+which were rigorously carried out.  Menshikof, once a pastry-cook's
+boy, aided the Tsar to crush any discontent that might break out, and
+himself shaved many wrathful nobles who were afraid to resist.  It was
+Peter's whim to give such lavish presents to this minister that he
+could live in splendid luxury and entertain the Tsar's own guests.
+Peter himself preferred simplicity, and despised the magnificence of
+fine palaces.  He married a serving-maid named Catherine for his second
+wife, and loved her homely household ways and the cheerful spirit with
+which she rode out with him to camp.  His first wife was shut up in a
+convent because she had a sincere distrust of all the changes that
+began with Peter's reign.
+
+Charles XII of Sweden was the monarch who had chief reason to beware of
+the impatient spirit of the Tsar, ever desirous of that "window open
+upon Europe," which his father too had craved.  The Swede was warlike
+and fearless, for he was happy only in the field.  He scorned Peter's
+claims at first, and inflicted shameful defeat on him.  The Tsar fled
+from Narva in Livonia, and all Europe branded him as coward.  By 1700,
+peace with Turkey had been signed in order that the {141} Russians
+might march westward to the Baltic sea.  Their repulse showed the
+determination of the Tsar, who had learnt a lesson from the humiliation
+he had endured.  He began to train soldiers and sailors again, and sent
+for more foreigners to teach the art of war.  The very church-bells
+were melted into cannon-balls that he might conquer the all-conquering
+Swedes.
+
+Moscow, which consisted largely of wooden buildings, caught fire and
+was burnt in 1701, both palace and state offices falling to the ground.
+The capital had dreadful memories for the Tsar, who wished to build a
+new fort looking out upon the Baltic Sea.  Its ancient churches and
+convents did not attract him, for religion was strongly associated in
+his mind with the stubborn opposition of the priesthood, which
+invariably met his plans for reform.
+
+Petersburg rose in triumph on an island of the Neva when the estuary
+had been seized by a superb effort of the Tsar.  It was on a damp
+unhealthy site and contained only wooden huts in its first period of
+occupation, but inhabitants were quickly found.  The Tsar was
+autocratic enough to bid his _boyards_, or nobles, move there despite
+all their complaints.  He built the church of St Peter and St Paul, and
+drew merchants thither by promises of trade.  "Let him build towns,"
+his adversary said with scorn, "there will be all the more for us to
+take."
+
+The King of Poland had allied himself with Russia against Sweden, but
+proved faithless and unscrupulous as the contest waxed keen.  Augustus
+had found some qualities in the Tsar which appealed to him, for he was
+boisterous in mirth himself and a hard drinker, but his principal
+concern was for the safety of his own throne and the security of his
+own dominions.  After two {142} decisive defeats, he was expelled from
+the throne of Poland by Charles XII, who placed Stanislaus Leszczynski
+in his place.  This alarmed Peter, who had relied on Poland's help.
+The winter and cold proved a better ally of Russia in the end than any
+service which Augustus paid.  The Tsar wisely drew the Swedish army
+into the desert-lands, where many thousands died of cold and hunger.
+He met the forlorn remnants of a glorious band at Poltava in 1709, and
+routed them with ease.  Narva was avenged, for the Swedish King had to
+be led from the battlefield by devoted comrades and placed in retreat
+in Turkey, where he was the Sultan's guest.  Charles' lucky star had
+set when he received a wound the night before Poltava, for he could not
+fight on foot and his men lost heart, missing the stern heroic figure
+and the commanding voice that bade them gain either victory or death.
+
+Peter might well order an annual celebration of his victory over
+Sweden, writing exultantly to Admiral Apraxin at Petersburg some few
+hours after battle, "Our enemy has encountered the fate of Phaethon,
+and the foundation-stone of our city on the Neva is at length grimly
+laid."  The Swedish army had been crushed, and the Swedish hero-king
+was a mere knight-errant unable to return to his own land.  The
+Cossacks who had tried to assert their independence of Russia under the
+Hetman Mazeppa, an ally of Charles XII, failed in their opposition to
+the mighty Tsar.  Augustus was recognized as King of Poland again after
+the defeat of the Swedish King at Poltava, as Stanislaus retired,
+knowing that he could expect no further support from Sweden.  Peter
+renewed his alliance at Thorn with the Polish sovereign.
+
+The new order began for Russia as soon as the Baltic coast fell into
+the possession of Peter, who was {143} overjoyed by the new link with
+the west.  He was despotic in his sweeping changes, but he desired the
+civilization of his barbarous land.  He visited foreign courts,
+disliking their ceremony and half-ashamed of his homely faithful wife.
+He gathered new knowledge everywhere, learning many trades and
+acquiring treasures that were the gifts of kings.  It was long before
+his ambassadors were respected, longer still before he received the
+ungrudging acknowledgment of his claims as Emperor.  He had resolved to
+form great alliances through his daughters, who were educated and
+dressed after the manner of the French.
+
+Peter did much for the emancipation of women in Russia, though his
+personal treatment of them was brutal, and he threatened even Catherine
+with death it she hesitated to obey his slightest whim.  They had been
+reared in monotonous retirement hitherto, and never saw their
+bridegrooms till the marriage-day.  Their wrongs were seldom redressed
+if they ventured to complain, and the convent was the only refuge from
+unhappy married life.  The royal princesses were not allowed to appear
+in public nor drive unveiled through the streets.  Suitors did not
+release them from the dreary empty routine of their life, because their
+religion was a barrier to alliance with princes of the west.  Sophia
+had dared greatly in demanding a position in the State.
+
+Peter altered the betrothal customs, insisting that the bridal couple
+should meet before the actual ceremonies took place.  He gave
+assemblies to which his subjects were obliged by _ukase_ or edict to
+bring the women of their families, and he endeavoured to promote that
+social life which had been unknown in Russia when she was cut off from
+the west.  He approved of dancing and music, and took part in revels of
+a more boisterous {144} kind.  He drank very heavily in his later days,
+and was peremptory in bidding both men and women share the convivial
+pleasures of his court.  National feeling was suspicious of all
+feminine influence till the affable Catherine entered public life.  She
+interceded for culprits, and could often calm her husband in his most
+violent moods.  Gradually the attitude changed which had made proverbs
+expressing such sentiments as "A woman's hair is long, but her
+understanding is short."
+
+Peter's fierce impetuous nature bore the nation along the new channel
+in which he chose that it should flow.  He played at being a servant,
+but he made use of the supreme authority of an Emperor.  All men became
+absorbed in his strong imperious personality which differed from the
+general character of the Russian of his day.  Relentless severity
+marked his displeasure when any disaffection was likely to thwart his
+favourite plans.  He sacrificed his eldest son Alexis to this theory
+that every man must share his tastes.  "The knout is not an angel, but
+it teaches men to tell the truth," he said grimly, as he examined the
+guilty by torture and drew confession with the lash.
+
+St Petersburg became the residence of the nobles.  They had to desert
+their old estates and follow the dictates of a Tsar whose object it was
+to push continually toward the west.  Labourers died in thousands while
+the city was built and destroyed again by winter floods, but the past
+for Russia was divided from the future utterly at Peter's death in 1725.
+
+
+
+
+{145}
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+The Royal Robber
+
+Peter the Great had paid a famous visit to the Prussian court, hoping
+to conclude an alliance with Frederick William I against Charles XII,
+his northern adversary.  Queen Catherine and her ladies had been
+sharply criticized when they arrived at Berlin, and Peter's own bearing
+did not escape much adverse comment and secret ridicule; nevertheless
+he received many splendid presents, and these, no doubt, atoned to him
+for anything which seemed lacking in his reception.
+
+A splendid yacht sailed toward Petersburg as the gift of Frederick, who
+was anxious to conciliate the uncouth ruler of the East.  In return,
+men of gigantic stature were sent annually from Russia to enter the
+splendid Potsdam Guards, so dear to the monarch, who was a stern
+soldier and loved the martial life.  Prussia was a new kingdom obtained
+for his descendants by the Elector of Brandenburg.  It was necessary
+that the rulers should devote themselves to recruiting a goodly force,
+since their land might be easily attacked by foreign foes and divided
+among the greater powers, if they did not protect it well.
+
+Frederick William sent recruiting sergeants far and wide, and suffered
+these even to enter churches during service and to carry off by force
+the stalwart young men {146} of the congregation.  Yet he was a pious
+man, an enemy to vice, and a ruler of enormous diligence.  He rid
+himself of useless attendants as soon as his father died, and exercised
+the strictest economy in his private life.  He kept the purse-strings
+and was also his own general.  He was ever about the streets, accosting
+idlers roughly, and bidding the very apple-women knit at their stalls
+while they were awaiting custom.  He preached industry everywhere, and
+drilled his regiments with zealous assiduity.
+
+Of tall stature and florid complexion, the King struck terror into the
+hearts of the coward and miscreant.  He despised extravagance in dress.
+French foppery was so hateful to him that he clothed the prison gaolers
+in Parisian style, trusting that this would bring contempt on foreign
+fashions.
+
+The Potsdam Guards were under the strictest discipline, and the
+Prussian soldiers won battles by sheer mechanical obedience to orders
+when they took the field.  Death punished any resistance to a superior
+officer, and merciless flogging was inflicted on the rank and file.
+Boys were often reluctant to enter on such a course of training, and
+parents were compelled to give up their sons by means of
+_Dragonnades_--soldiers quartered upon subjects who were not
+sufficiently patriotic to furnish recruits for the State.  Every man of
+noble birth had to be an officer, and must serve until his strength was
+broken.  The King fraternized only with soldiers because these were
+above other classes and belonged more or less to his own order.  The
+army had been raised to 80,000 men when Frederick William I died,
+holding the fond belief that his successor had it in his power to
+enlarge the little kingdom which the old Elector had handed down with
+pride.
+
+{147}
+
+The Crown Prince, Frederick of Brandenburg and Hohenzollern, was born
+in the royal palace of Berlin on January 24th of 1712.  He was
+christened Friedrich "rich in peace"--a name strangely ironical since
+he was trained from his earliest years to adopt a martial life.  From
+the child's eighth year he was educated by military tutors, and bred in
+simple habits that would make him able to endure the hardships of a
+camp.
+
+The martinet, Frederick William I, laid down strict rules for his son's
+training, for he longed to be followed by a lad of military tastes.  He
+was to learn no Latin but to study Arithmetic, Mathematics and
+Artillery and to be thoroughly instructed in Economy.  The fear of God
+was to be impressed on the pupil, and prayers and Church services
+played an important part in the prince's day, of which every hour had
+its allotted task.  Haste and cleanliness were inculcated in the simple
+royal toilette, for Frederick I had, for those days, a quite
+exaggerated idea of cleanliness, but he particularly impressed upon
+attendants that "Prayer with washing, breakfast and the rest" were to
+be performed within fifteen minutes.  It was a hard life, destined to
+bring the boy a "true love for the soldier business."  He was commanded
+to love it and seek in it his sole glory.  The father returned from war
+with the Swedes in January 1716, victorious, and delighted to see the
+little Fritz, then of the tender age of three, beating a toy drum, and
+his sister Wilhelmina, aged seven, in a martial attitude.
+
+But the Crown Prince began to disappoint his father by playing the
+flute and reading French romances.  He liked fine clothes too, and was
+caught wearing a richly embroidered dressing-gown, to the rage of the
+King, who put it in the fire.  Frederick liked to arrange his hair in
+flowing locks instead of in a club after the {148} military fashion.
+"A _Querpfeifer und Poet_, not a soldier," the indignant father
+growled, believing the _Querpfeif_, or Cross-Pipe, was only fit for a
+player in the regimental band.  Augustus William, another son, ten
+years younger than Fritz, began to be the hope of parental ambition.
+He took more kindly to a Spartan life than his elder brother.  There
+were violent scenes at court when Frederick the younger was asked to
+give up his right to the succession.  He refused to be superseded, and
+had to endure much bullying and privation.  The King was ever ready
+with his stick, and punished his son by omitting to serve him at his
+rather scanty table!
+
+There was much talk of a double marriage between the English and the
+Prussian courts, which were then related.  Frederick was to marry
+Amelia, daughter of George I while his sister, pretty pert Wilhelmina,
+was destined for Frederick, Prince of Wales.  The King of Prussia set
+his heart on the plan, and was furious that George I did not forward
+it.  The whole household went in fear of him; he was stricken by gout
+at the time, an affliction that made him particularly ill-tempered, and
+Wilhelmina and Fritz were the objects of his wrath.  They fled from his
+presence together; the Prince was accused of a dissolute life, and
+insulted by a beating in public.
+
+He decided on flight to England.  It was a desperate measure, and was
+discovered and frustrated at the last moment.  The King of Prussia laid
+the blame on English diplomats, though they had done nothing to help
+the Prince.  There was talk of an Austro-English war at that time.  "I
+shall not desert the Emperor even if everything goes to the dogs,"
+wrote the irate father.  "I will joyfully use my army, my country, my
+money and my blood for the downfall of England."  He was so {149}
+enraged by the attempted flight that he might have gone to the extreme
+of putting his son to death, but an old general, hearing of the
+probable fate of the Crown Prince, offered his own life for that of
+Frederick, and raised so vehement a protest that the runaway was merely
+put in prison.
+
+His confinement was not as strict as it would have been, had the
+gaolers followed the King's orders.  He had to wear prison dress and
+sit on a hard stool, but books and writing materials were brought to
+him, and he saw his friends occasionally.  Lieutenant von Katte, who
+fled with him, was executed before the fortress, and the Prince was
+compelled to witness the punishment of the companion with whom he had
+practised music and other forbidden occupations.
+
+By degrees, the animosity of Frederick William toward his eldest son
+softened.  He was allowed to visit Berlin when his sister Wilhelmina
+was married to the Margrave of Baireuth, after four kings had applied
+for her hand, among them the elderly Augustus of Poland and Charles XII
+of Sweden.  The Castle of Rheinsburg, near Neu-Ruppin, was given to the
+Prince for his residence.  He spent happy hours there with famous men
+of letters in his circle, for he was actually free now to give time to
+literature and science.  He corresponded frequently with Voltaire and
+became an atheist.  He cared nothing for religion when he was king, and
+was remarkable for the religious toleration which he extended to his
+subjects.  But the harsh treatment of youth had spoilt his pleasant
+nature, and his want of faith made him unscrupulous and hard-hearted.
+He grasped at all he could win, and had every intention of fulfilling
+the commands laid upon him by the Testament which his father wrote in
+1722 when he believed himself {150} to be dying;--"Never relinquish
+what is justly yours."
+
+It was far from his intention to relinquish any part of his dominions,
+and, moreover, he set early about the business of conquering Silesia to
+add to his little kingdom.  Saxony should fall to him if he could in
+any wise win it.  There was hope in that fine stalwart body of men his
+father had so well disciplined.  There was courage in his own heart,
+and he had been reared in too stern a school to fear hardships.
+
+In 1740, Frederick received his dying father's blessing, and in the
+same year the Emperor, Charles VI, left his daughter, Maria Theresa, to
+struggle with an aggressive European neighbour.  She was a splendid
+figure, this empress of twenty-three, beautiful and virtuous, with the
+spirit of a man, and an unconquerable determination to fight for what
+was justly hers.  She held not Austria alone but many neighbouring
+kingdoms--Styria, Bohemia, the Tyrol, Hungary, and Carpathia.
+
+Charles VI had endeavoured to secure his daughter's kingdom by means of
+a "Pragmatic Sanction," which declared the indivisibility of the
+Austrian dominions, and the right of Maria Theresa to inherit them in
+default of a male heir.  This was signed by all the powers of Europe
+save Bavaria, but Frederick broke it ruthlessly as soon as the Emperor
+died.
+
+In high spirits Frederick II entered on the bold enterprise of seizing
+from Maria Theresa some part of those possessions which her father had
+striven to secure to her.
+
+Allies gathered round Prussia quickly, admiring the 80,000 men that the
+obscure sovereignty had raised from the subjects of a little kingdom.
+France, Spain, Poland, and Bavaria allied themselves with the spoiler
+against Maria Theresa, who sought the aid of England.  She {151} seemed
+in desperate straits, the victim of treachery, for Frederick had
+promised to support her.  The Battle of Molwitz went against Austria,
+and the Empress was fain to offer three duchies of Silesia, but the
+King refused them scornfully, saying, "Before the war, they might have
+contented me.  Now I want more.  What do I care about peace?  Let those
+who want it give me what I want; if not, let them fight me and be
+beaten again."
+
+The Elector of Bavaria was within three days' march of Vienna,
+proclaiming himself Archduke of Austria.  Maria Theresa had neither men
+nor money.  Quite suddenly she took a resolution and convoked the
+Hungarian magnates at Pressburg, where she had fled from her capital.
+She stood before them, most beautiful and patriotic in her youth and
+helplessness.  Raising her baby in her arms, she appealed to the whole
+assembly.  She had put on the crown of St Stephen and held his sword at
+her side.  The appeal was quickly answered.  Swords leapt from their
+scabbards; there came the roar of many voices, "_Moriamur pro rege
+nostro, Maria Theresa!_"  ("Let us die for our King, Maria Theresa.")
+
+But Friedrich defeated the Austrians again and again in battle.  No
+armies could resist those wonderful compact regiments, perfectly
+drilled and disciplined, afraid of nothing save of losing credit.
+Maria had to submit to the humiliation of giving up part of Silesia to
+her enemy, while the Elector had himself crowned as Emperor Charles VII
+at Frankfort.  The English King, George II, fought for her against the
+French at Dettingen and won a victory.  She entered her capital in
+triumph, apparently confirmed in her possessions.  But Frederick was
+active in military operations and {152} attempted to detach the English
+from her.  He invaded Bohemia and defeated the imperial generals.  He
+received the much-disputed territory of Silesia in 1745 by the Treaty
+of Dresden, which concluded the second war.
+
+The national spirit was rising in Prussia through this all-powerful
+army, which drained the country of its men and horses.  The powers of
+Europe saw with astonishment that a new force was arraying itself in
+youthful glory.  The Seven Years' War began in 1756, one of the most
+fateful wars in the whole of European history.
+
+France, Russia, and Saxony were allied with Maria Theresa, but the
+Prussians had the help of England.  Frederick II proved himself a
+splendid general, worthy of the father whose only war had wrested the
+coveted province of Pomerania from the doughty Charles XII of Sweden.
+He defeated the Austrians and invaded Saxony, mindful of the wealth and
+prosperity of that country which, if added to his own, would greatly
+increase the value of his dominions.  He was almost always victorious
+though he had half Europe against him.  He defeated the Austrians at
+Prague and Leuthen, the Russian army at Zorndorf.  One of his most
+brilliant triumphs was won over the united French and Imperial armies
+at Rossbach.
+
+[Illustration: Frederick the Great receiving his People's Homage (A.
+Menzel)]
+
+The French anticipated an easy victory in 1757, for the army of the
+allies was vastly superior to that which Frederick William had encamped
+at Rossbach, a village in Prussian Saxony.  The King watched the
+movements of the enemy from a castle, and was delighted when he managed
+to bring them to a decisive action.  He had partaken of a substantial
+meal with his soldiers in the camp, although he was certainly in a most
+precarious {153} position.  He was too cunning a strategist to give the
+signal to his troops till the French were advancing up the hill toward
+his tents.  The battle lasted only one hour and a half and resulted in
+a complete victory for Prussia.  The total loss of the King's army was
+under 550 officers and men compared with 7700 on the side of the enemy.
+
+The "Army of Cut-and-Run" was the contemptuous name earned by the
+retreating regiments.
+
+Gradually, allies withdrew on either side, France becoming involved
+with England in India and the Colonies.  Frederick II and Maria Theresa
+made terms at Hubertsburg.  Silesia was still in the hands of the
+Prussian King, but he had failed in the prime object of the war, which
+was the conquest of Saxony.
+
+There was work for a king at home when the long, disastrous war was
+over.  Harvests went unreaped for want of men, and there were no strong
+horses left for farm-labour.  Starvation had rendered many parts of the
+kingdom desolate, but the introduction of the potato saved some of
+those remaining.  The King had forthwith to rebuild villages and bring
+horses from foreign countries.  He was anxious to follow his father's
+exhortations and make the population industrious and thriving.  He saw
+to it that schools rose everywhere and churches also, in which there
+was as little bickering as possible.  The clergy were kept down and
+prevented from "becoming popes," as seemed to be the case in some
+countries.  The King had no piety, but revered his father's
+Protestantism.
+
+When the war was over, Frederick looked an old man though he was but
+fifty-one.  He was a shabby figure, this "old Fritz," in threadbare
+blue uniform with red facings.  His three-cornered hat, black breeches
+and {154} long boots showed signs of an economical spirit, inculcated
+in his youth when he had only eighteen pence a week to spend.  He
+walked about among the country people talking familiarly with the
+farmers.  He made it a rule to go round the country once a year to see
+how things had prospered.
+
+The King hated idleness, and, like the first Frederick, scolded his
+subjects if they were not industrious.  "It is not necessary that I
+should live, but it is necessary that whilst I live I be busy," he
+would remark severely.  Frugality won praise from him and he always
+noted it among his subjects.  One day he asked the time of an officer
+he met in the streets and was startled to see a leaden bullet pulled up
+by a golden chain.  "My watch points to but one hour, that in which I
+am ready to die for your Majesty," was the patriotic answer to his
+question.  He rewarded the officer with his own gold watch, and
+reflected that his methods had been as successful as those of his
+father.  That prudent monarch put loose sleeves over his uniform
+whenever he wrote that he might not spoil the expensive cloth which was
+then the fashion.
+
+In 1786, Frederick II died, leaving Germany to mourn him.  The
+best-disciplined army in Europe and a treasury full of gold were the
+good gifts he left to his successor.  The population of the realm
+numbered six million souls, in itself another fortune.  "If the country
+is thickly populated, that is true wealth" had been a wise maxim of the
+first Frederick.
+
+Father and son cut homely figures on the stage of eighteenth-century
+Europe.  The brilliant Louis XIV, and his stately Versailles, seemed to
+far outshine them.  But Germany owed to Frederick I and Frederick II,
+known as the Great, her unity and national spirit.  {155} They built on
+solid ground and their work remained to bring power to their
+successors, while the Grand Monarch left misery behind, which was to
+find expression in that crying of the oppressed, known throughout
+history as the French Revolution.
+
+
+
+
+{156}
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+Spirits of the Age
+
+It was the aim of Frederick the Great to shake down the old political
+order in Europe, which had been Catholic and unenlightened.  To that
+end he exalted Prussia, which was a Protestant and progressive State,
+and fought against Austria, an empire clinging to obsolete ideas of
+feudal military government.  He brought upon himself much condemnation
+for his unjust partition of Poland with Russia.  He argued, however,
+that Poland had hitherto been a barbaric feudal State, and must benefit
+by association with countries of commercial and intellectual activity.
+Galicia fell to Maria Theresa at the end of the war, and was likely to
+remain in religious bondage.
+
+Frederick II dealt many hard blows at the Holy Catholic Church, but he
+did not intend to wage a religious war in Europe.  He insisted on
+toleration in Prussia though he was not himself a religious man, and
+invited to his court that enemy of the old faith of France--Francois
+Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, a title he derived from the
+name of an estate in the possession of his family.
+
+The French scholar came to Frederick after he had suffered every
+persecution that inevitably assailed a fearless writer in an age of
+narrow bigotry.  Very soon after his appearance in Paris, Voltaire was
+accused {157} of writing verses which recounted the evils of a country
+where magistrates used their power to levy unjust taxes, and loyal
+subjects were too often put in prison.  As a consequence, he was thrown
+into the Bastille.  It was quite useless to protest that he was not the
+author of _Je l'ai vu_ ("I have seen it").  His opinions were suspected
+although he was but twenty-one and was under the protection of his
+godfather, the Abbe Chateauneuf.  Voltaire was philosopher enough to
+use his year in the Bastille very profitably--he finished his first
+great tragedy, _Oedipe_, and produced it in 1716, winning the
+admiration of French critics.
+
+Although Voltaire was now embarked on a brilliant career as a
+dramatist, he was unjustly treated by his superiors in social rank.  He
+was the son of a notary of some repute, and was too rich to sue for
+patronage, but nobles were offended by the freedom of the young wit,
+who declared that a poet might claim equality with princes.  "Who is
+the young man who talks so loud?" the Chevalier Rohan inquired at an
+intellectual gathering.  "My lord," was Voltaire's quick reply, "he is
+one who does not bear a great name but wins respect for the name he
+has."
+
+This apt retort did not please the Chevalier, who instructed his lackey
+to give the poet a beating.  Voltaire would have answered the insult
+with his sword, but his enemy disdained a duel with a man of inferior
+station.  The Rohan family was influential, and preferred to maintain
+their dignity by putting the despised poet in prison.
+
+Voltaire was ordered to leave Paris and decided to visit England, where
+he knew that learned Frenchmen found a welcome.  He was amazed at the
+high honour paid to genius and the social and political consequence
+which could be obtained by writers.  Jonathan Swift, {158} the famous
+Irish satirist, was a dignitary of the State Church and yet never
+hesitated to heap scorn on State abuses.  Addison, the classical
+scholar, was Secretary of State, and Prior and Gay went on important
+diplomatic missions.  Philosophers, such as Newton and Locke, had
+wealth as well as much respect, and were entrusted with a share in the
+administration of their country.  With his late experience of French
+injustice, Voltaire may have been inclined to exaggerate the absolute
+freedom of an English subject to handle public events and public
+personages in print.  "One must disguise at Paris what I could not say
+too strongly at London," he wrote, and the hatred quickened in him of
+all forms of class prejudice and intellectual obstinacy.
+
+His _Lettres anglaises_, which moved many social writers of his time,
+were burnt in public by the decree of the Parlement of Paris in 1734.
+The Parlement, composed of men of the robe (lawyers), was closely
+allied to the court in narrow-minded bigotry.  It was always to the
+fore to prevent any manifestation of free thought from reaching the
+people.  The old order, clinging to wealth and favour, judged it best
+that the people--known as the Third Estate--should remain in ignorance
+of the enormous oppressions put upon them.  It had been something of a
+shock to Voltaire to discover that in England both nobles and clergy
+paid taxes, while in France the saying of feudal times held good--"The
+nobles fight, the clergy pray, the people pay."
+
+Sadly wanting in respect to those in high places was that Voltaire who
+had not long ago been beaten by a noble's lackeys.  He did not cease to
+write, and continued to give offence, though the sun of the court shone
+on him once through Madame de Pompadour, the King's favourite.  She
+caused him to write a play {159} in 1745 to celebrate the marriage of
+the Dauphin.  The _Princesse de Navarre_ brought him more honour than
+had been accorded to his finest poems and tragedies.  He was admitted
+to the Academy of Letters which Richelieu had founded, made Gentleman
+of the Chamber, and Historiographer of France.
+
+It was well in those times to write for royal favour, though the
+subjects of the drama must be limited to those which would add glory to
+the Church or State.  Yet Voltaire did not need the patronage which was
+essential for poor men of genius like the playwrights of the famous
+generation preceding his own.  He had private means which he invested
+profitably, being little anxious to endure the insults commonly
+directed at poverty and learning.  He lived in a quiet chateau at
+Cirey, industrious and independent, though he looked toward the
+Marquise du Chatelet for that admiration which a literary man craves.
+It was the Marquise who shared with Frederick the Great the tribute
+paid by the witty man of letters, _i.e._ that there were but two great
+men in his time and one of them wore petticoats.  She differed from the
+frivolous women of court life in her earnest pursuit of intellectual
+pleasures.  Her whole day was given up to the study of writers such as
+Leibnitz and Newton, the philosopher.  She rarely wasted time, and
+could certainly claim originality in that her working hours were never
+broken by social interruptions.  She was unamiable, but had no love for
+slander, though she was herself the object of much spiteful gossip from
+women who passed as wits in the corrupt court life of Versailles.
+
+Voltaire came and went, moving up and down Europe, often the object of
+virulent attacks which made flight a necessity, but for fifteen years
+he returned regularly {160} to the solitary chateau of Cirey, where he
+could depend upon seclusion for the active prosecution of his studies.
+He was a man with a wide range of interests, dabbling in science and
+performing experiments for his own profit.  He wrote history, in
+addition to plays and poetry, and later, in his attacks upon the
+Church, proved himself a skilful and unscrupulous controversialist.
+
+In 1750, Madame du Chatelet being dead, Voltaire accepted the
+invitation which had been sent to him from Berlin by the King of
+Prussia.  He was installed sumptuously at Potsdam, where the court of
+Frederick the Great was situated.  There he could live in familiar
+intercourse with "the king who had won five battles."  He loved to take
+an active part in life, and moved from one place to another, showing a
+keen interest in novelty, although his movements might also be inspired
+by fear of the merciless actions of the government.
+
+At Potsdam he found activity, but not activity of intellect.  Frederick
+the Great was drilling soldiers and received him into a stern barracks.
+There was a commendable toleration for free speech in the country, but
+there was constant bickering.  At court, Voltaire found his life
+troubled by the intrigues of the envious courtiers, by the unreasonable
+vanity of the King, and the almost mediaeval state of manners.  There
+were quarrels soon between the King and his guest, which led to
+exhibitions of paltriness and parsimony common to their characters.
+The King stopped Voltaire's supply of chocolate and sugar, while
+Voltaire pocketed candle-ends to show his contempt for this meanness!
+The saying of Frederick that the Frenchman was only an orange, of
+which, having squeezed the juice, he {161} should throw away the skin,
+very naturally rankled in the poet to whom it was repeated.
+
+There was jealousy and tale-bearing at Potsdam which went far to
+destroy the mutual admiration of those two strong personalities who had
+thought to dwell so happily together.  Voltaire spoke disparagingly of
+Frederick's literary achievements, and compared the task of correcting
+his host's French verses with that of washing dirty linen.  Politeness
+had worn very thin when the writer described the monarch as an ape who
+ought to be flogged for his tricks, and gave him the nickname of _Luc_,
+a pet monkey which was noted for a vicious habit of biting!
+
+In March 1753, Voltaire left the court, thoroughly weary of life in a
+place where there was so little interest in letters.  He had a _fracas_
+at Frankfort, where he was required to give up the court decorations he
+had worn with childlike enjoyment, and also a volume of royal verses
+which Frederick did not wish to be made public.  For five weeks he lay
+in prison with his niece, Madame Denis, complaining of frightful
+indignities.  He boxed the ears of a bookseller to whom he owed money,
+attempted to shoot a clerk, and in general committed many strange
+follies which were quite opposed to his claims to philosophy.  There
+was an end of close friendship with Prussia, but he still drew his
+pension and corresponded with the cynical Frederick, only occasionally
+referring to their notorious differences.  In dispraise of the niece
+Madame Denis, the King abandoned the toleration he had professedly
+extended.  "Consider all that as done with," he wrote on the subject of
+the imprisonment, "and never let me hear again of that wearisome niece,
+who has not as much merit as her uncle with which to cover her {162}
+defects.  People talk of the servant of Moliere, but nobody will ever
+speak of the niece of Voltaire."
+
+The poet resented this contempt of his niece, for he was indulgently
+fond of the homely coquette who was without either wit or the good
+sense to win pardon for the frivolity of her tastes and extravagances.
+Living in a learned circle, she talked, like a parrot, of literature
+and wrote plays for the theatre of Ferney.  "She wrote a comedy; but
+the players, out of respect to Voltaire, declined to act in it.  She
+wrote a tragedy; but the one favour, which the repeated entreaties of
+years could never wring from Voltaire, was that he would read it."
+
+In spite of his quarrels, Voltaire spoke favourably of the German
+freedom which allowed writings to be published reflecting on the Great
+Elector.  He could not endure the hostile temper of his own land and
+deserted Paris to settle at Geneva, that free republic which extended
+hospitality to refugees from all countries.  He built two hermitages,
+one for summer and one for winter, both commanding beautiful scenes,
+which he enjoyed for twenty years to come, though he was not content
+with one shelter.  He bought a life-interest in Tournay and the
+lordship of Ferney in 1758, declaring that "philosophers ought to have
+two or three holes underground against the hounds who chase them."
+From Ferney he denounced the religion of the time, accusing the Church
+of hatred of truth and real knowledge, with which was coupled a
+terrible cruelty and lack of toleration.
+
+To make superstition ridiculous was one of the objects of Voltaire's
+satire, for, in this way, he hoped to secure due respect for reason.
+All abuses were to be torn away, and such traditions as made slaves of
+the {163} people.  The shameful struggles between Jesuits and
+Jansenists were at their height.  How could religion exist when one
+party believing in works denied the creed of a second believing grace
+better than deeds, and when both sides were eager to devote themselves
+to persecution?
+
+In Voltaire's day, the condemnation of free writing came chiefly from
+the clergy.  They would shackle the mind and bring it in subjection to
+the priesthood.  Here was a man sneering at the power claimed by
+members of a holy body.  The narrow bigotry of priests demanded that he
+should be held in bondage.  Yet he did not mock at men who held good
+lives but at the corrupt who shamed their calling.  The horrors of the
+Inquisition were being revived by zealous Jesuits who were losing
+authority through the increasing strength of another party of the
+Catholic Church, then known as Jansenists.
+
+The Jansenists followed the doctrines of Calvin in their belief in
+predestination and the necessity for conversion, but they differed
+widely from the Protestants on many points, holding that a man's soul
+was not saved directly he was converted although conversion might be
+instantaneous.  They were firmly convinced that each human soul should
+have personal relation with its Maker, but held that this was only
+possible through the Roman Church.  Their chief cause of quarrel with
+the Jesuits was the accusation brought against the priests of that
+order that they granted absolution for sins much too readily and
+without being certain of the sinners' real repentance.
+
+Voltaire's blood boiled when he heard that three young Protestants had
+been killed because they took {164} up arms at the sound of the tocsin,
+thinking it was the signal for rebellion.  He received under his
+protection at Geneva the widow and children of the Protestant Calas,
+who had been broken on the wheel in 1762 because he was falsely
+declared to have killed his son in order to prevent his turning
+Catholic.  A youth, named La Barre, was sentenced, at the instance of a
+bishop, to have his tongue and right hand cut off because he was
+suspected of having tampered with a crucifix.  He was condemned to
+death afterwards on the most flimsy evidence.
+
+Voltaire was all aflame at the ignorance of such fanatics.  There was
+laughter in the writings of the unbelievers of the time, but it was
+laughter inspired by the miserable belief that jesting was the only
+means of enduring that which might come.  "Witty things do not go well
+with massacres," Voltaire commented.  There was force in him to
+destroy, and he set about destruction.
+
+The clergy had refused in 1750 to bear their share of taxation, though
+one-fifth of France was in their hands.  Superstition inevitably tends
+to make bad citizens, the philosopher observed, and set forth the evils
+to society that resulted from the idle lives which were supported by
+the labour of more industrious subjects.  But in his praiseworthy
+attack upon the spirit of the Catholicism of his day which stooped to
+basest cruelty, Voltaire appealed always to intelligence rather than to
+feeling.  He wanted to free the understanding and extend knowledge.  He
+set up reason as a goddess, and left it to another man to point the way
+to a social revolution.
+
+Jean-Jacques Rousseau it was who led men to consider the possibility of
+a State in which all citizens {165} should be free and equal.  He
+suffered banishment and much hardship for the bold schemes he
+presented.  The Parlement of Paris was ruthless when the two
+books--_Emile_ and the _Social Contract_--were published in 1762.
+
+Rousseau, a writer of humble origin, had been the close student of
+Voltaire since his mind had first formed into a definite individuality.
+He had been poor and almost starving many times, had followed the
+occupations of engraver and music-copier, and had treated with
+ingratitude several kindly patrons.  Like Voltaire, too, he journeyed
+over Europe, finding refuge in Geneva, whence came his father's family.
+He was a man of sordid life and without morality; but he was true to
+his life's purpose, and toiled at uncongenial tasks rather than write
+at other bidding than that of his own soul.
+
+Rousseau's play _Le Devin du Village_ had a court success that brought
+him into favour with gay ladies.  Many a beauty found it difficult to
+tear herself away from the perusal of his strangely romantic novel _La
+Nouvelle Heloise_, which preached a return to Nature, so long neglected
+by the artificial age of Paris.  All conventions should be thrown off
+that man might attain the purity which God had originally intended.
+Kings there should not be to deprive their subjects of all liberty, nor
+nobles who claimed the earth, which was the inheritance of God's
+creatures.
+
+At first, this theory of return to Nature pleased the ruling classes.
+The young King and Queen were well-meaning and kindly to the people.
+Louis XVI went among the poor and did something to alleviate the misery
+that he saw.  Marie Antoinette gave up {166} the extravagant career of
+fashion and spent happy hours in the rustic village of Trianon.  Nobles
+and maids of honour played at rusticity, unconscious of the deadly
+blows that Jean-Jacques had aimed at them in the writings which
+appealed so strongly to their sentiment.  There was a new belief in
+humanity which sent the Duchess out early in the morning to give bread
+to the poor, even if at evening she danced at a court which was
+supported in luxury by their miseries.  The poet might congratulate
+himself on the sensation caused by ideas which sent him through an
+edict of Parlement into miserable banishment.  He did not aim at
+destruction of the old order, but he depicted an ideal State and to
+attain that ideal State men butchered their fellows without mercy.  The
+_Social Contract_ became the textbook of the first revolutionary party,
+and none admired Rousseau more ardently than the ruthless wielder of
+tyranny who followed out the theorist's idea that in a republic it was
+necessary sometimes to have a dictator.
+
+There were rival schools of thought during the lifetime of Voltaire and
+Rousseau.  The latter was King of the Markets, destined in years to
+come to inspire the Convention and the Commune.  Voltaire, companion of
+kings and eager recipient of the favours of Madame de Pompadour, had
+little sympathy with the author of a book in which the humble
+watchmaker's son flouted sovereignty and showed no skill in his
+handling of religion.  The elder man offered the younger shelter when
+abuse was rained upon him; but Jean-Jacques would have none of it, and
+thought Geneva should have cast out the unbeliever, for Jean-Jacques
+was a pious man in theory and shocked by the worship {167} of pure
+reason.  The mad acclamations which greeted the return of Voltaire to
+Paris after thirty years of banishment must have echoed rather bitterly
+in the ears of Rousseau, who had despised salons and chosen to live
+apart from all society.
+
+
+
+
+{168}
+
+Chapter XV
+
+The Man from Corsica
+
+Born on August 15th, 1769, Napoleon Buonaparte found himself surrounded
+from his first hours by all the tumult and the clash of war.  Ajaccio,
+on the rocky island of Corsica, was his birthplace, though his family
+had Florentine blood.  Letitia Ramolino, the mother of Napoleon, was of
+aristocratic Italian descent.
+
+Corsica was no sunny dwelling-place during the infancy of this young
+hero, who learned to brood over the wrongs of his island-home.  The
+Corsicans revolted fiercely against the sovereignty of Genoa, and were
+able to resist all efforts to subdue them until France interfered in
+the struggle and gained by diplomatic cunning what could not be gained
+by mere force of arms.  This conquest was resented the more bitterly by
+the Corsicans because they had enjoyed thirteen years of independence
+in all but name under Paoli, a well-loved patriot.  It was after Paoli
+was driven to England that the young Napoleon wrote, "I was born when
+my country was perishing, thirty thousand Frenchmen vomited upon our
+coasts, drowning the throne of Liberty in waves of blood; such was the
+sight which struck my eyes."
+
+Corsican Napoleon declared himself in the youth of poverty and
+discontent, when he had dreams of {169} rising to power by such
+patriotism as had ennobled Paoli.  Charles Buonaparte, his father, went
+over to the winning side, and was eager to secure the friendship of
+Marboeuf, the French governor of Corsica.
+
+Napoleon, the second of thirteen children, owed assistance in his early
+education to Marboeuf for it was impossible for his own family to do
+more than provide the barest necessities of life.  Charles Buonaparte
+was an idle, careless man and the family poverty bore hardly on his
+wife Letitia, who had been married at fifteen and compelled to perform
+much drudgery.
+
+Napoleon entered the military school at Brienne in April 1779, and from
+there sent letters which might well have warned his parents that they
+had hatched a prodigy.  All the bitterness of a proud humiliated spirit
+inspired them, whether the boy, despised by richer students, begged his
+father to remove him, or urged, with utter disregard of filial piety,
+the repayment by some means of a sum of money he had borrowed.
+
+"If I am not to be allowed the means, either by you or my protector, to
+keep up a more honourable appearance at the school I am in, send for me
+home and that immediately.  I am quite disgusted with being looked upon
+as a pauper by my insolent companions, who have only fortune to
+recommend them, and smile at my poverty; there is not one here, but who
+is far inferior to me in those noble sentiments which animate my soul.
+. . .  If my condition cannot be ameliorated, remove me from Brienne;
+put me to some mechanical trade, if it must be so; let me but find
+myself among my equals and I will answer for it, I will soon be their
+superior.  You may judge {170} of my despair by my proposal; once more
+I repeat it; I would sooner be foreman in a workshop than be sneered at
+in a first-rate academy."
+
+In the academy Napoleon remained, however, censured by his parents for
+his ambitious, haughty spirit.  He was gloomy and reserved and had few
+companions, feeling even at this early age that he was superior to
+those around him.  He admired Cromwell, though he thought the English
+general incomplete in his conquests.  He read Plutarch and the
+_Commentaries_ of Caesar and determined that his own career should be
+that of a soldier, though he wrote again to the straitened household in
+Corsica, declaring, "He who cannot afford to make a lawyer of his son,
+makes him a carpenter."
+
+He chose for the moment to disregard the family ties which were
+especially strong among the island community.  "Let my brothers'
+education be less expensive," he urged, "let my sisters work to
+maintain themselves."  There was a touch of ruthless egotism in this
+spirit, yet the Corsican had real love for his own kindred as he showed
+in later life.  But at this period he panted for fame and glory so
+ardently that he would readily sacrifice those nearest to him.  He
+could not bear to feel that his unusual abilities might never find full
+scope; he was certain that one day he would be able to repay any
+generosity that was shown to him.
+
+The French Revolution broke out and Napoleon saw his first chance of
+distinction.  He was well recommended by his college for a position in
+the artillery, despite the strange report of the young student's
+character and manners which was written for the private perusal of
+those making the appointment.  {171} "Napoleon Buonaparte, a Corsican
+by birth, reserved and studious, neglectful of all pleasures for study;
+delights in important and judicious readings; extremely attentive to
+methodical sciences, moderately so as to others; well versed in
+mathematics and geography; silent, a lover of solitude, whimsical,
+haughty, excessively prone to egotism, speaking but little, pithy in
+his answers, quick and severe in repartee, possessed of much self-love,
+ambitious, and high in expectation."
+
+Soon after the fall of the Bastille, Napoleon placed himself at the
+head of the revolutionary party in Ajaccio, hoping to become the La
+Fayette of a National Guard which he tried to establish on the isle of
+Corsica.  He aspired to be the commander of a paid native guard if such
+could be created, and was not unreasonable in his ambition since he was
+the only Corsican officer trained at a royal military school.  But
+France rejected the proposal for such a force to be established, and
+Napoleon had to act on his own initiative.  He forfeited his French
+commission by outstaying his furlough in 1792.  Declared a deserter, he
+saw slight chance of promotion to military glory.  Indeed he would
+probably have been tried by court-martial and shot, had not Paris been
+in confusion owing to the outbreak of the French war against European
+allies.  He decided to lead the rebels of Corsica, and tried to get
+possession of Ajaccio at the Easter Festival.
+
+This second attempt to raise an insurrection ended in the entire
+Buonaparte family being driven by the wrathful Corsicans to France,
+which henceforth was their adopted country.  The Revolution blazed
+forth and King and Queen went to the scaffold, while treason that
+might, in time of peace, have served to send an {172} officer to death,
+proved a stepping-stone to high rank and promotion.  It was a civil
+war, and in it Napoleon was first to show his extraordinary skill in
+military tactics.  He had command of the artillery besieging Toulon in
+1793 and was marked as a man of merit, receiving the command of a
+brigade and passing as a general of artillery into the foreign war
+which Republican France waged against all Europe.
+
+The command of the army of Italy was offered Napoleon by Barras, who
+was one of the new Directory formed to rule the Republic.  A rich wife
+seemed essential for a poor young man with boundless ambitions just
+unfolding.  Barras had taken up the Corsican, and arranged an
+introduction for him to Josephine Beauharnais, the beautiful widow of a
+noble who had been a victim of the Reign of Terror.  He had previously
+made the acquaintance of Josephine's young son Eugene, when the boy
+came to ask that his father's sword might be restored to him.
+
+Josephine pleased the suitor by her amiability, and was attracted in
+turn by his ardent nature.  She was in a position to advance his
+interests through her intimacy with Barras, who promised that Napoleon
+should hold a great position in the army if she became his wife.  She
+married Napoleon in March 1796, undaunted by the prediction: "You will
+be a queen and yet you will not sit on a throne."  Napoleon's career
+may then be said to have begun in earnest.  It was the dawn of a new
+age in Europe, where France stood forth as a predominant power.
+Austria was against her as the avenger of Marie Antoinette, France's
+ill-fated Queen, who had been Maria Theresa's daughter.  England and
+Russia were in alliance, though Russia was an uncertain and disloyal
+ally.
+
+{173}
+
+Want of money might have daunted one less eager for success than the
+young Napoleon.  He was, however, planning a campaign in Italy as an
+indirect means of attacking Austria.  He addressed his soldiers boldly,
+promising to lead them into the most fruitful plains in the world.
+"Rich provinces, great cities will be in your power," he assured them.
+"There you will find honour, fame, and wealth."  His first success was
+notable, but it did not satisfy the inordinate craving of his nature.
+"In our days," he told Marmont, "no one has conceived anything great;
+it falls to me to give the example."
+
+From the outset he looked upon himself as a general independent of the
+Republic.  He was rich in booty, and could pay his men without
+appealing to the well-nigh exhausted public funds.  Silently, he
+pursued his own policy in war, and that was very different from the
+policy of any general who had gone before him.  He treated with the
+Pope as a great prince might have treated, offering protection to
+persecuted priests who were marked out by the Directory as their
+enemies.  He seized property everywhere, scorning to observe
+neutrality.  Forgetting his Italian blood, he carried off many pictures
+and statues from the Italian galleries that they might be sent to
+France.  He showed now his audacity and the amazing energy of his plans
+of conquest.  The effect of the horror and disorders of Revolutionary
+wars had been to deprive him of all scruples.  He despised a Republic,
+and despised the French nation as unfit for Republicanism.  "A republic
+of thirty millions of people!" he exclaimed as he conquered Italy,
+"with our morals, our vices!  How is such a thing possible?  The nation
+wants a chief, a chief covered with glory, not theories of {174}
+government, phrases, ideological essays, that the French do not
+understand.  They want some playthings; that will be enough; they will
+play with them and let themselves be led, always supposing they are
+cleverly prevented from seeing the goal toward which they are moving."
+But the wily Corsican did not often speak so plainly!  Aiming at
+imperial power, he was careful to dissimulate his intentions since the
+army supporting him was Republican in sympathy.
+
+Napoleon had achieved the conquest of Italy when only twenty-seven.  In
+1796 he entered Milan amid the acclamations of the people, his troops
+passing beneath a triumphal arch.  The Italians from that day adopted
+his tricolour ensign.
+
+The Directory gave the conqueror the command of the army which was to
+be used against England.  The old desperate rivalry had broken out
+again now that the French saw a chance of regaining power in India.  It
+was Napoleon's purpose to wage war in Egypt, and he needed much money
+for his campaign in a distant country.  During the conquest of Italy he
+had managed to secure money from the Papal chests and he could rely,
+too, on the vast spoil taken from Berne when the old constitution of
+the Swiss was overthrown and a new Republic founded.  He took Malta,
+"the strongest place in Europe," and proceeded to occupy Alexandria in
+1798.  In the following February he marched on Cairo.
+
+England's supremacy at sea destroyed the complete success of the plans
+which Napoleon was forming.  He had never thought seriously of the
+English admiral Nelson till his own fleet was shattered by him in a
+naval engagement at Aboukir.  After that, he understood that he had to
+reckon with a powerful enemy.
+
+{175}
+
+The Turks had decided to anticipate Napoleon's plan for securing Greece
+her freedom by preparing a vast army in Syria.  The French took the
+town of Jaffa by assault, but had to retire from the siege of Acre.
+The expedition was not therefore a success, though Napoleon won a
+victory over the Turkish army at Aboukir.  The English triumphed in
+Egypt and were fortunate enough to win back Malta, which excluded
+France from the Mediterranean.  Napoleon eluded with difficulty the
+English cruisers and returned to France, where he rapidly rose to
+power, receiving, after a kind of revolution, the title of First
+Consul.  He was to hold office for ten years and receive a salary of
+half a million francs.  In reality, a strong monarchy had been created.
+The people of France, however, still fancied themselves a free Republic.
+
+War was declared on France by Austria and England in 1800, and the
+First Consul saw himself raised to the pinnacle of military glory.  He
+defeated the Austrians at Marengo, while his only rival, Moreau, won
+the great battle of Hohenlinden.  At Marengo, the general whom Napoleon
+praised above all others fell dead on the field of battle.  The
+conqueror himself mourned Desaix most bitterly, since "he loved glory
+for glory's sake and France above everything."  But "Alas! it is not
+permitted to weep," Napoleon said, overcoming the weakness as he judged
+it.  He had done now with wars waged on a small scale, and would give
+Europe a time of peace before venturing on vaster enterprises.  The
+victory of Marengo on June 14th, 1800, wrested Italy again from
+Austria, who had regained possession and power in the peninsula.  It
+also saved France from invasion.  Austria was obliged to accept an
+armistice, a humiliation she had not {176} foreseen when she arrayed
+her mighty armies against the First Consul.  Napoleon gloried in this
+success, proposing to Rouget de Lisle, the writer of the
+_Marseillaise_, that a battle-hymn should commemorate the coming of
+peace with victory.
+
+The Treaty of Luneville, 1801, settled Continental strife so
+effectually that Napoleon was free to attend to the internal affairs of
+the French Republic.  The Catholic Church was restored by the
+_Concordat_, but made to depend on the new ruler instead of the Bourbon
+party.  The Treaty of Amiens in 1802 provided for a truce to the
+hostilities of France and England.
+
+With the world at peace, the Consulate had leisured to reconstruct the
+constitution.  The capability of Napoleon ensured the successful
+performance of this mighty task.  He was bent on giving a firm
+government to France since this would help him to reach the height of
+his ambitions.  He drew up the famous Civil Code on which the future
+laws were based, and restored the ancient University of France.
+Financial reforms led to the establishment of the Bank of France, and
+Napoleon's belief that merit should be recognized publicly to the
+enrolment of distinguished men in a Legion of Honour.
+
+The remarkable vigour and intelligence of this military leader was
+displayed in the reforms he made where all had been confusion.  France
+was weary of the republican government which had brought her to the
+verge of bankruptcy and ruin, and inclined to look favourably on the
+idea of a monarchy.
+
+Napoleon determined that this should be the monarchy of a Buonaparte,
+not that of a Bourbon.  The Church had ceased to support the claims of
+Louis XVI's brother.  Napoleon had won the _noblesse_, too, {177} by
+his feats of arms, and the peacemaker's decrees had reconciled the
+foreign cabinets.  It ended, as the prudent had foreseen, in the First
+Consul choosing for himself the old military title of Emperor.
+
+His coronation on December 2nd, 1804, was a ceremony of magnificence,
+unequalled since the fall of the majestic Bourbons.  Napoleon placed
+the sacred diadem on his own head and then on the head of Josephine,
+who knelt to receive it.  His aspect was gloomy as he received this
+symbol of successful ambition, for the mass of the people was silent
+and he was uneasy at the usurpation of a privilege which was not his
+birthright.  The authority of the Pope had confirmed his audacious
+action, but he was afraid of the attitude of his army.  "The greatest
+man in the world" Kleber had proclaimed him, after the crushing of the
+Turks at Aboukir in Egypt.  There was work to do before he reached the
+summit whence he might justly claim such admiration.  He found court
+life at St Cloud very wearisome after the peace of his residence at
+Malmaison.
+
+"I have not a moment to myself, I ought to have been the wife of a
+humble cottager," Josephine wrote in a fit of impatience at the
+restraints imposed upon an Empress.  But she clung to the title
+desperately when she knew that it would be taken from her.  She had
+been Napoleon's wife for fourteen years, but no heir had been born to
+inherit the power and to continue the dynasty which he hoped to found.
+She was divorced in 1809, when he married Marie Louise of Austria.
+
+Peace could not last with Napoleon upon the throne of France,
+determined as he was in his resolution to break the supremacy of the
+foe across the Channel.  {178} He had not forgotten Egypt and his
+failure in the Mediterranean.  He resolved to crush the English fleet
+by a union of the fleets of Europe.  He was busied with daring projects
+to invade England from Boulogne.  The distance by sea was so short that
+panic seized the island-folk, who had listened to wild stories about
+the "Corsican ogre."  Nelson was the hope of the nation in the year of
+danger, 1805, when the English fleet gained the glorious victory of
+Trafalgar and saved England from the dreaded invasion.  But the hero of
+Trafalgar met his death in the hour of success, and, before the year
+closed, Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz destroyed the coalition led by
+the Austrian Emperor and the Tsar and caused a whole continent to
+tremble before the conqueror.  The news of this battle, indeed,
+hastened the death of Pitt, the English minister, who had struggled
+nobly against the aggrandisement of France.  He knew that the French
+Empire would rise to the height of fame, and that the coalition of
+Russia, Prussia, and Austria would fall disastrously.
+
+"The Prussians wish to receive a lesson," Napoleon declared, flushed by
+the magnificence of his late efforts.  He defeated them at Jena and
+Auerstadt, and entered Berlin to take the sword and sash of Frederick
+the Great as well as the Prussian standards.  He did honour to that
+illustrious Emperor by forbidding the passage of the colours and eagles
+over the place where Frederick reposed, and he declared himself
+satisfied with Frederick's personal belongings as conferring more
+honour than any other treasures.
+
+By the Treaty of Tilsit, concluded with Alexander of Russia on a raft
+upon the River Niemen, Prussia suffered new humiliations.  The proud
+creation of Frederick's military genius had vanished.  There was {179}
+even undue haste to give up fortresses to the conqueror.  The country
+was partitioned between Russia, Saxony, and Westphalia, created for the
+rule of Jerome Buonaparte, Napoleon's younger brother.  He set up kings
+now with the ease of a born autocrat.  His brother Joseph became King
+of Naples, and his brother Louis King of Holland.
+
+A new nobility sprang up, for honours must be equally showered on the
+great generals who had helped to win his victories.  The new Emperor
+was profuse in favour, not believing in disinterested affection.  He
+paid handsomely for the exercise of the humours, known as his
+"vivacites," entering in a private book such items as "Fifteen
+napoleons to Menneval for a box on the ear, a war-horse to my
+aide-de-camp Mouton for a kick, fifteen hundred _arpens_ in the
+imperial forests to Bassano for having dragged him round my room by the
+hair."
+
+These rewards drained the empire and provided a grievance against the
+Corsican adventurer who had dared to place all Europe under the rule of
+Buonaparte.  The family did not bear their elevation humbly, but
+demanded ever higher rank and office.  Joseph was raised to the exalted
+state of King of Spain after the lawful king had been expelled by
+violence.  The patriotism of the Spanish awoke and found an echo in the
+neighbouring kingdom of Portugal.  Napoleon was obliged to send his
+best armies to the Peninsula where the English hero, Sir Arthur
+Wellesley, was pushing his way steadily toward the Pyrenees and the
+French frontier.
+
+The expedition to Russia had been partly provoked by the Emperor's
+marriage with Marie Louise of Austria.  There had been talk of a
+marriage between Napoleon and the Tsar's sister.  Then the {180}
+arrangement of Tilsit had become no longer necessary after the humbling
+of Austria.  Napoleon wished to throw off his ally, Alexander, and was
+ready to use as a pretext for war Russia's refusal to adopt his
+"continental system" fully.  This system, designed to crush the
+commercial supremacy of England by forbidding other countries to trade
+with her, was thus, as events were to prove, the cause of Napoleon's
+own downfall.
+
+The enormous French army made its way to Russia and entered Moscow, the
+ancient capital, which the inhabitants burned and deserted.  In the
+army's retreat from the city in the depth of winter, thousands died of
+cold and hunger, and 30,000 men had already fallen in the fruitless
+victory at Borodino.
+
+Napoleon was nearing his downfall as he struggled across the continent
+in the dreadful march which reduced an army of a quarter of a million
+men to not more than twelve thousand.  He had to meet another failure
+and the results of a destructive imperial policy in 1814, when he was
+defeated at Leipzig by Austria, Russia, and Prussia, who combined most
+desperately against him.  The Allies issued at Frankfort their famous
+manifesto "Peace with France but war against the Empire."  They
+compelled Napoleon to abdicate, and restored the Bourbon line.  A court
+was formed for Louis XVIII at the Tuileries, while Napoleon was sent to
+Elba.
+
+Louis XVI's brother, the Count of Artois, came back, still admired by
+the faded beauties of the Restoration.  The pathetic figure of Louis
+XVI's daughter, the Duchess of Angouleme, was seen amid the forced
+gaieties of the new regime, and Madame de Staeel haunted the court of
+Louis XVIII, forgetting her late revolutionary sentiments.
+
+{181}
+
+Napoleon grew very weary of his inaction on the isle of Elba.  He had
+spent all his life in military pursuits and missed the companionship of
+soldiers.  He thought with regret of his old veterans when he welcomed
+the guards sent to him.  Perhaps he hoped for the arrival of his wife,
+too, as he paced up and down the narrow walk by the sea where he took
+exercise daily.  But Marie Louise returned to her own country.
+
+Napoleon found some scope for his activity in the government of the
+island, and gave audiences regularly to the people.  He might seem to
+have lost ambition as he read in his library or played with a tame
+monkey of which he made a pet, but a scheme of great audacity was
+forming in his mind.  He resolved to go back to France once more and
+appeal to the armies to restore him.
+
+The Bourbons had never become popular again with the nation which was
+inspired with the lust for military successes.  The life in the
+Tuileries seemed empty and frivolous, wanting in great figures.  There
+was little resistance when the news came that Napoleon had landed and
+put himself at the head of the troops at Grenoble.
+
+He had appealed to the ancient spirit of the South which had risen
+before in the cause of liberty.  Feudalism and the oppression of the
+peasants would return under the rule of the Bourbons, he assured them.
+They began to look upon the abdicated Emperor as the Angel of
+Deliverance.  The people of Lyons were equally enthusiastic, winning
+warmer words than generally fell from the lips of Napoleon.  "I love
+you," he cried, and bore them with him to the capital.  He entered the
+Tuileries at night, and again the eagle of the Empire flew from steeple
+to steeple on every church of Paris.
+
+{182}
+
+The Hundred Days elapsed between the liberation from the Bourbons and
+Napoleon's last struggle for supremacy.  The King made a feeble effort
+against the Emperor.  It was, however, the united armies of England and
+Prussia that met the French on the field of Waterloo in 1815.  From
+March 13th to June 22nd Napoleon had had time to realize the might of
+Wellesley, now Duke of Wellington.  The splendid powers of the once
+indefatigable French general were declining.  Napoleon, who had not
+been wont to take advice, now asked the opinions of others.  The
+dictator, so rapid in coming to a decision, hesitated in the hour of
+peril.  He was defeated at Waterloo on June 18th, 1815, by Bluecher and
+Wellington together.  The battle raged from the middle of morning to
+eight o'clock in the evening and ended in the rout of the French
+troops.  The Emperor performed a second time the ceremony of
+abdication, and, his terrible will being broken, surrendered on board
+the _Bellerophon_ to the English.
+
+The English Government feared a second return like the triumphant
+flight from Elba.  No enemy had ever been so terrible to England as
+Napoleon.  He must be removed altogether from the continent of Europe.
+St Helena was chosen as the place of imprisonment, and Sir Hudson Lowe
+put over him as, in some sort, a gaoler.  A certain amount of personal
+freedom was accorded, but the captive on the lonely rock did not live
+to regain liberty.  He died in 1821 on a day of stormy weather,
+uttering _tete d'armee_ in the last moments of delirium.
+
+
+
+
+{183}
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+"God and the People"
+
+The diplomatists who assembled at the Congress of Vienna to settle the
+affairs of Europe, so strangely disturbed by the vehement career of
+that soldier-genius, Napoleon, had it in their minds to restore as far
+as possible the older forms of government.
+
+Italy was restless, unwilling to give up the patriotic dreams inspired
+by the conqueror.  The people saw with dismay that the hope of unity
+was over since the peninsula, divided into four states, was parcelled
+out again and placed under the hated yoke of Austria.  Soldiers from
+Piedmont and Lombardy, from Venice and Naples, Parma and Modena, had
+fought side by side, sharing the glory of a military despot and willing
+to endure a tyranny that gave them a firm administration and a share of
+justice.  They saw that prosperity for their land would follow the more
+regular taxation and the abolition of the social privileges oppressive
+to the peasants.  They looked forward to increase of trade as roads
+were made and bridges built, and they welcomed the chance of education
+and the preparation for a national life.  Napoleon had always held
+before them the picture of a great Italian State, freed from foreign
+princes and realizing the promise of the famous Middle Ages.
+
+{184}
+
+Yet Napoleon had done nothing to forward the cause of Italian freedom
+before his final exile.  The Italians would have made Eugene
+Beauharnais king, of a united Italy, but Eugene was loyal to the
+stepfather who had placed under his power the territory lying between
+the Alps and the centre of the peninsula.  Murat, Napoleon's
+brother-in-law, would have grasped the sceptre, for he was devoured by
+overwhelming ambition.  He owed his rapid advance from obscurity to the
+position of a general to the Corsican, whose own career had led him to
+help men to rise by force of merit.  Murat bore a part in the struggle
+for Italy when the cry was ever Liberty.  A new spirit had come upon
+the indolent inheritors of an ancient name.  They were burning to
+achieve the freedom of Italy, and hearkened only to the voice that
+offered independence.
+
+Prince Metternich, the absolute ruler of Austria, set aside the
+conflicting claims, and parcelled out the states among petty rulers all
+looking to him for political guidance.  Italy was "only a geographical
+expression," he remarked with satisfaction.  Cadets of the Austrian
+house held Tuscany and Modena, and Marie Louise, the ex-empress, was
+installed at Parma.  Pius VII took up the papal domain in Central Italy
+with firmer grasp.  Francis II, Emperor of Austria, seized Venice and
+Lombardy, while a Bourbon, in the person of Ferdinand I, received
+Naples and Sicily, a much disputed heritage.  Victor Emmanuel, King of
+Sardinia, received also the Duchies of Savoy and Piedmont.  San Marino
+was a republic still, standing solitary and mournful upon the waters of
+the Adriatic.  Italy was divided state from state, as in the medieval
+times, but now, alas! each state could not boast free government.
+
+{185}
+
+Italians, eating the bread of slaves, felt that they were in bondage to
+Vienna.  Metternich had determined they should know no master but
+himself, and all attempts to rebel were closely watched by spies.  The
+police force allowed nothing to be printed or spoken against the
+government that was strong to condemn disorder.  There were ardent
+souls longing to fight for the cause of Italy and Liberty.  There were
+secret societies resolving desperate measures.  There was discontent
+everywhere to war with Metternich's distrust of social progress.
+
+The sufferings of rebel leaders moved the compassion of Giuseppe
+Mazzini, the son of a clever physician in the town of Genoa.  He was
+only a boy when he was accosted by a refugee, whose wild countenance
+told a story of cruelty and oppression.  From that moment, he realized
+the degradation of Italy and chose the colour of mourning for his
+clothes; he began to study the heroic struggles which had made martyrs
+of his countrymen in late years, and he began to form visionary
+projects which led him from the study of literature--his first
+sacrifice.  He had aspired to a literary career, and renounced it to
+throw himself into the duties he owed to countrymen and country.
+
+In 1827, Mazzini joined the Carbonari, or Charcoalmen, a society which
+worked in different countries with one aim--opposition to the despot
+and the legitimist.  The young man of twenty-two was impressed, no
+doubt, by the solemn oath of initiation which he had to take over a
+bared dagger, but he soon had to acknowledge that the efforts of the
+Carbonari were doomed to dismal failure.  Membership was confined too
+much to the professional class, and there were too few appeals to the
+youth of Italy.  Treachery was {186} rife among the different sections
+of the wide-spreading organization.  It was easy for a man to be
+condemned on vague suspicions.  When Mazzini was arrested, he had to be
+acquitted of the charge of conspiracy because it was impossible to find
+two witnesses, but general disapproval was expressed of his mode of
+life.  The governor of Genoa spoke very harshly of the student's habit
+of walking about at night in thoughtful silence.  "What on earth has
+he, at his age, to think about?" he demanded angrily.  "We don't like
+young people thinking without our knowing the subjects of their
+thoughts."
+
+The "glorious days of July," 1830, freed the French from a monarchy
+which threatened liberal principles, and roused the discontented in
+other countries to make fresh efforts for freedom.  Certain ordinances,
+published on July 25th by the French Ministry, suspended the freedom of
+the press, altered the law of election to the Chambers of Deputies, and
+suppressed a number of Liberal journals.  Paris rose to resist, and on
+July 28th, men of the Faubourg St Antoine took possession of the Hotel
+de Ville, hoisting the tricolour flag again.  Charles X was deposed in
+favour of Louis Philippe, the Citizen-King, who was a son of that Duke
+of Orleans once known as Philippe Equality.  "A popular throne with
+republican institutions" thus replaced the absolute monarchy of the
+Bourbons.  There was an eager belief in other lands that the new King
+of France would support attempts to abolish tyranny, but Louis Philippe
+was afraid of losing power, and in Italy an insurrection in favour of
+the new freedom was overawed by an army sent from Austria.  The time
+was not yet come for the blow to be struck which would fulfil the
+object of the {187} Carbonari by driving every Austrian from their
+country.
+
+Mazzini passed into exile, realizing that there had been some fatal
+defect in the organization of a society whose attempts met with such
+failure.  He was confirmed in his belief that the youth of Italy must
+be roused and educated to win their own emancipation.  "Youth lives on
+freedom," he said, "grows great in enthusiasm and faith."  Then he made
+his appeal for the enrolment of these untried heroes.  "Consecrate them
+with a lofty mission; influence them with emulation and praise; spread
+through their ranks the word of fire, the word of inspiration; speak to
+them of country, of glory, of power, of great memories."  So he
+recalled the past to them, and the genius which had dazzled the world
+as it rose from the land of strange passion and strange beauty.  Dante
+was more than a poet to him.  He had felt the same love of unity, had
+looked to the future and seen the day when the bond-slave should shake
+off the yoke and declare a national unity.
+
+The young Italians rallied round the standard of the patriot, whose
+words lit in them the spark of sacrifice.  They received his
+adjurations gladly, promising to obey them.  He pointed out a thorny
+road, but the reward was at the end, the illumination of the soul which
+crowns each great endeavour.  Self had to be forgotten and family ties
+broken if they held back from the claims of country.  Mazzini thought
+the family sacred, but he bade parents give up their sons in time of
+national danger.  It was the duty of every father to fit his children
+to be citizens.  Humanity made demands which some could only satisfy by
+submitting to long martyrdom.
+
+{188}
+
+Mazzini himself had parted from the Genoese home, which was very
+desolate without the beautiful son of such brilliant promise.  He dwelt
+in miserable solitude, unable to marry the woman he loved because an
+exile could not offer to share his hearth with any.  He felt every pang
+of desolation, but he would never return to easy acceptance of an evil
+system.  He asked all from his followers and he gave all, declaring
+that it was necessary to make the choice between good and evil.
+
+The work that was to create a mighty revolution began in a small room
+at Marseilles.  Austria would not give up her hold on Italy unless
+force expelled her from the country.  There must be war and there must
+be soldiers trained to fight together.  It seemed a hopeless enterprise
+for a few young men of very moderate means and ability, but young Italy
+grew and the past acquiescence could never be recovered.  Mazzini was
+light of heart as he wrote and printed, infecting his companions with
+the vivacity of his spirit.  He wore black still, but his cloak was of
+rich Genoese velvet.  The wide "Republican" hat did not conceal the
+long black curling hair that shaded features of almost perfect
+regularity.  His dark eyes, gaily flashing, drew the doubting toward
+confidence and strengthened those who already shared a like ideal.  He
+was a leader by nature and would work indefatigably, sharing generously
+the portion that was never plenteous.
+
+Political pamphlets, written by an unwearied pen, were sent throughout
+Italy by very strange devices.  State was barred from state by many
+trade hindrances that prevented literature from circulating, and
+freedom of the press had been refused by Napoleon.  It was necessary
+for conspirators to have their own printing {189} press, and conceal
+their contraband goods in barrels of pitch and in packets of sausages!
+
+At Genoa, all classes were represented in the Young Italy which
+displaced the worn-out Carbonari.  There were seamen and artisans on
+the list, and Garibaldi, the gallant captain of the mercantile marine,
+swore devotion to the cause of freedom.  He had already won the hearts
+of every sailor in his crew, and made a name by writing excellent
+verses.
+
+Mazzini looked to Piedmont, the State of military traditions, for aid
+in the struggle that should make the Alps the boundary of a new Italian
+nation.  He wrote to Charles Albert, who professed liberal opinions,
+beseeching him to place himself at the head of the new party.  "Unite
+on your flag, Union, Liberty, and Independence!" he entreated.  "Free
+Italy from the barbarian, build up the future, be the Napoleon of
+Italian freedom.  Your safety lies in the sword's point; draw it, and
+throw away the scabbard.  But remember if you do it not, others will do
+it without you and against you."
+
+Thousands flocked to join the new association, which began to rouse the
+fears of mighty governments.  A military conspiracy was discovered,
+into which many non-commissioned officers had entered.  Humble
+sergeants were tried by court-martial, tortured to betray their
+confederates, and sentenced to death, giving the glory of martyrdom to
+the cause of Young Italy.
+
+Mazzini lost the friend of his youth, Jacopo Ruffini, and the loss
+bowed him with a sense of calamity too heavy to be borne.  He had to
+remind himself that sacrifice was needful, and advance the preparations
+for a new attack under General Ramolino, who had {190} served Napoleon.
+He was in exile at Geneva, and chose Savoy as the base of operations.
+The whole attempt failed miserably, and hardly a shot was fired.
+
+Even the refuge in Switzerland was lost after this rising.  He fled
+from house to house, hunted and despairing with the curses of former
+allies in his ears now that he had brought distress upon them.  He
+could not even get books as a solace for his weary mind, and clothes
+and money were difficult to obtain since his friends knew how
+importunate was Young Italy in demands, and how easily he yielded to
+the beggar.  Bitterness came to him, threatening to mar his fine nature
+and depriving him of courage.  Italy had sunk into apathy again, and he
+knew not how to rouse her.  He bowed his head and asked pardon of God
+because he had dared to sacrifice in that last effort the lives of many
+others.
+
+Mazzini rose again, resolved to do without friends and kindred, if duty
+should forbid those consolations.  He thought of the lives of Juvenal,
+urging the Roman to ask for "the soul that has no fear of death and
+that endures life's pain and labour calmly."  He gave up dreams of love
+and ambition for himself, feeling that the only way for Italy to
+succeed was to place religion before politics.  The eighteenth century
+had rebelled for rights and selfish interests, and the nineteenth
+century was preparing to follow the same teaching.  Rights would not
+help to create the ideal government of Mazzini.  Men fought for the
+right to worship, and sometimes cared not to use the privilege when
+they had obtained it.  Men demanded votes and sold them, after making
+an heroic struggle.
+
+In 1837, London received the exiles who could find no welcome
+elsewhere.  The fog and squalor of the {191} city offered a dreary
+prospect to patriots from a land of sun and colour.  Poverty cut them
+off from companionship with their equals.  Mazzini was content to live
+on rice and potatoes, but the brothers Ruffini had moments of reaction.
+The joint household suffered from an invasion of needy exiles.  There
+were quarrels and visits to the pawnshops.  Debt and the difficulty of
+earning money added a sordid element.
+
+Mazzini made some friends when the Ruffinis left England.  He knew
+Carlyle, the great historian, and visited his house frequently.  The
+two men differed on many points, but "served the same god" in
+essentials.  Carlyle had an admiration for the despot, while the
+Italian loathed tyranny.  There was hot debate in the drawing-room
+where the exile talked of freedom, blissfully unconscious that his wet
+boots were spoiling his host's carpet!  There were sublime discussions
+of the seer Dante, after which Carlyle would dismiss his guest in haste
+because he longed to return to his own study.
+
+The prophet had lost his vision but it came back to him, working among
+the wretched little peasants, brought from Italy to be exploited by the
+organ-grinders.  He taught the boys himself and found friends to tend
+them.  Grisi, the famed singer, would help to earn money for the school
+in Hatton Garden.
+
+To reach the working classes had become the great aspiration of
+Mazzini.  "Italy of the People" was the phrase he loved henceforward.
+He roused popular sympathy by a new paper which he edited, the
+_Apostolato Popolare_.  It served a definite end in rousing the spirit
+that was abroad, clamouring for nationalism.
+
+Revolution broke out in 1847 when Sicily threw off the Bourbon yoke,
+and Naples obtained a constitution {192} from King Ferdinand.  The
+Romans followed their lead, and Piedmont and Tuscany were not
+behindhand.  Joyful news came from Vienna, announcing Metternich driven
+from his seat of power.  One by one this minister's Italian puppets
+fell, surrendering weakly to the will of a triumphant people, and Italy
+could wave the flag "God and the People" everywhere save in the
+Austrian provinces and their dependent duchies.
+
+Mazzini returned to learn that he was regarded as the noble teacher of
+the patriotism which inspired the peninsula.  The years of loneliness
+and sorrow receded from his memory in that glad and glorious moment
+when he entered liberated Milan, borne in a victorious procession.
+Armies were gathering for the final tussle which should conclude the
+triumph of the first revolt.  Class prejudices were forgotten in the
+great crusade to free a nation.  Charles Albert led them, having taken
+his side at last; but he had no power to withstand the force of
+Austria, and he was forced to his knees while Northern Italy endured
+the humiliation of surrender.
+
+Mazzini carried the flag for Garibaldi in the vain hope that the
+victory of the people might atone for the conquest of the princes.  He
+went to Rome to witness her building of a new Republic.  It had long
+been in his mind that the Eternal City might become the centre of
+united Italy.  He felt a deep sense of awe as he received the honour of
+being made a Triumvir.  No party-spirit should guide the Republic while
+he held power as a ruler, no war of classes should divide the city.
+Long cherished ideals found him true, and inspired those who shared the
+government.  Priests were glad to be acquitted from the tyrannous power
+{193} of a Pope who had now been driven from the city.  Some of the
+more zealous would have given up the observances of the Roman Catholic
+religion, but Mazzini was in favour of continuing the services.  He
+would not have confessional-boxes burnt, since confession had relieved
+the souls of believers.
+
+In private life, the Triumvir clung to simplicity that he might set an
+example in refusing to be separated from the working classes.  He dined
+very frugally, and chose the smallest room in the Quirinal for his
+dwelling.  He gave audience to any who sought him, and gave away
+strength and energy with the same generous spirit that inspired him to
+spend the modest salary attached to his office on his poorer brethren.
+He was bent on showing the strength of a Republic to all European
+cities that strove for the same freedom.
+
+The Pope tried to regain his authority, and found an ally in Louis
+Napoleon, a nephew of the great Emperor, who became president of the
+Republic which expelled the Citizen-King of France.  Louis was anxious
+to conciliate the French army and clergy.  He besieged Rome with an
+army of 85,000 men, and met with a brave resistance.
+
+There were famous names in the list of Roman defenders--Mameli, the
+war-poet, and Ugo Bassi, the great preacher, fought under Garibaldi,
+the leader of the future.  Mazzini cried out on them that surrender was
+not for them.  "Monarchies may capitulate, republics die and bear their
+testimony even to martyrdom."
+
+On July 3rd, 1849, Rome fell before overwhelming numbers, though the
+conquerors were afraid to face the sullen foes who opposed them at the
+very gates of the doomed Republican stronghold.  The prophet lingered
+{194} in the streets where he would have kept the flag flying which had
+been lowered by the Assembly.  He was grey with the fierce endurance of
+the two months' siege, but his heart bade him not desert his post from
+any fear of death.  Secretly he longed for the assassin's knife, for
+then he would have shed the blood of sacrifice for the cause of
+patriotism.
+
+
+
+
+{195}
+
+Chapter XVII
+
+"For Italy and Victor Emmanuel!"
+
+The year of Revolution, beginning with most glorious hopes, ended
+disastrously for the Italian patriots.  Princes had allied with
+peasants in eager furtherance of the cause of freedom but defeat took
+away their faith.  The soldiers lost belief in the leaders of the
+movement and belief, alas! in the ideals for which they had been
+fighting.
+
+Charles Albert, the King of Sardinia, continued to struggle on alone
+when adversities had deprived his most faithful partisans of their zeal
+for fighting.  He had once been uncertain and vacillating in mind, but
+he became staunch in his later days and able to reply courageously to
+the charges which his enemies brought against him.  He mustered some
+80,000 men and put them under Polish leaders--a grave mistake, since
+the soldiers were prejudiced by the strange foreign aspect of their
+officers and began the war without enthusiasm for their generals.
+
+Field-Marshal Radetsky, a redoubtable enemy, only brought the same
+numbers to the field, but he had the advantage of being known as a
+conquering hero.  His cry was "To Turin!" but the bold Piedmontese
+rallied to defend their town and spread the news of joyful victory
+throughout the Italian peninsula.  Other {196} defenders of liberty
+dared to raise their heads now, thought once more of Italy free and
+united.
+
+At the battle of Novara, fought on an April morning of 1849, the King
+of Sardinia gave up his throne, and longed for death that he might make
+some tardy recompense for the failure of his attempt to withstand the
+power of Austria.  "Let me die, this is my last day," he said when
+officers and men would have saved him from the fate of the 4000
+Sardinians who lay dead and wounded.  He was not suffered to meet death
+but rode away, pointing to his son Victor Emmanuel II as he left his
+army.  "There is your King!" he said, resigning all claim to royalty
+now that he had met defeat.  He promised that he would serve in the
+ranks as a private soldier if Italian troops made war again on Austria.
+
+After the disgrace of Novara and the flight from Rome it seemed that
+Mazzini could do nothing more for the cause of patriotism he had served
+so nobly.  He had given up hope of a great Italian Republic, and saw
+that men's hearts were turned toward the young King Victor and the
+monarchy.
+
+Yet Garibaldi, the soldier of fortune, had not renounced the
+aspirations of Mazzini, a leader to whom he had always been devoted.
+"When I was young I had only aspirations," he said.  "I sought out a
+man who could give me counsel and guide my youthful years; I sought him
+as the thirsty man seeks water.  This man I found; he alone kept alive
+the sacred fire; he alone watched while all the world slept; he has
+always remained my friend, full of love for his country, full of
+devotion for the cause of freedom: this man is Joseph Mazzini."
+
+The worship of the prophet had led the gallant, {197} daring sailor
+into hairbreadth escapes and strange vicissitudes of fortune.  He had
+been sentenced to death as "an enemy of the State and liable to all the
+penalties of a brigand of the first category."  He had fled to South
+America and ridden over the untrodden pampas, tasting the wild life of
+Nature with a keen enjoyment.  He had been a commander in the navy, and
+had defended Monte Video.  He had been imprisoned and tortured, and had
+taken Anita, daughter of Don Benito Riverio de Silva of Laguna to be
+his wife and the companion of his adventures.
+
+Garibaldi could not afford even the priest's marriage fees for his life
+was always one of penury, so he gave him an old silver watch.  When he
+was Head of the Italian Legion he was content to sit in the dark,
+because he discovered that candles were not served out to the common
+soldiers.  The red shirts of his following had been bought originally
+for their cheapness, being intended for the use of men employed in the
+great cattle-markets of the Argentine.  The sordid origin of the
+_Camicia Rossa_ was soon forgotten as it became the badge of honour.
+Its fame was sung in many foreign lands, and it generally figured in
+pictures of Garibaldi.
+
+The Legion created some alarm in Rome as they appeared--men with their
+dark faces surmounted by peaked hats and waving plumes.  Garibaldi
+himself rode on a white horse and attracted favourable notice, for he
+was a gallant horseman and his red shirt became him no less than the
+jaunty cap with its golden ornaments.  Three thousand men accepted the
+offer which the chief made when there was news that the French were
+advancing to the city.  He did not promise them gold nor distinction,
+but a chance of meeting {198} their ancient enemy of Austria.  Cold and
+hunger would be theirs, and the weariness of constant marches.  Death
+would be the lot of many in their ranks, the cruel tortures of their
+gaolers.  All men were outlaws who had defended Rome, the Republic, to
+the last, and bread and water might be refused to them within the
+confines of their country.
+
+The cry for war sounded, and Garibaldi led three thousand men,
+including Ugo Bassi and the noblest of knight-errants.  The attempt to
+reach Venice was frustrated by a storm, and Anita died miserably in a
+peasant's cottage, where she was dragged for shelter.  Garibaldi fled
+to the United States, and never saw again many of his bold companions.
+Venice was left of dire necessity to defend herself from Austria.  She
+had sworn to resist to the last, and President Manin refused to
+surrender even when cholera came upon the town and the citizens were
+famished.  He appealed to England, but only got advice to make terms
+with the besiegers.  He capitulated in the end because the town was
+bombarded by the Austrian army, and he feared that the conquerors would
+exercise a fell vengeance if the city still resisted.  There was
+nothing left to eat after the eighteen months' siege of Venice.  Manin
+left for Marseilles, mourned bitterly by the Venetians.  His very
+door-step was broken by the Austrians, who found his name upon it.  Ugo
+Bassi had kissed it, voicing the sentiment of many.  "Next to God and
+Italy--before the Pope--Manin!"
+
+Victor Emmanuel, the young King of Sardinia, had won no such
+popularity, suffering from the prejudice against his family, the House
+of Savoy, and against his wife, an Austrian by birth.  He came to the
+throne at a dark time, succeeding to a royal inheritance of {199} ruin
+and misery.  The army had been disgraced, and the exchequer was empty.
+He had the dignity of a king and remarkable boldness, but it would have
+been hard for him to have guided Italy without his adviser and friend,
+the Count Cavour.
+
+Mazzini, the prophet, and Garibaldi, the soldier, had won the hearts of
+Italians devoted to the cause of Italy.  Cavour suffered the same
+distrust as Victor Emmanuel, but he knew his task and performed it.  He
+was the statesman who made the government and created the present
+stable monarchy.  He had to be satisfied with less than the Republican
+enthusiasts.  He had few illusions, and believed that in politics it
+was possible to choose the end but rarely possible to choose the means.
+
+Born in Piedmont in 1810, the statesman was of noble birth and
+sufficient wealth, being a godson of Pauline, sister of the great
+Napoleon.  He joined the army as an engineer in 1828, but found the
+life little to his taste since he was not allowed to express his
+opinions freely.  He resigned in 1831 and retired to the country, where
+he was successful as a farmer.  He travelled extensively for those
+days, and visited England, where he studied social problems.
+
+Of all foreigners, Cavour, perhaps, benefited most largely by a study
+of the English Parliament from the outside.  He was present at debates,
+and wrote articles on Free Trade and the English Poor Law.  He had
+enlightened views, and wished to promote the interests of Italy by
+raising her to the position of a power in Europe.  He set to work to
+bring order into the finances of Sardinia, but the King recognized his
+minister's unpopularity by the nickname _bestia neira_.  He had a seat
+in 1848 in the first Parliament of {200} Piedmont, and was Minister of
+Commerce and Agriculture later.  He pushed on reforms to benefit the
+trade and industries of Italy without troubling to consult the
+democrats, his enemies.  His policy was liberal, but he intended to go
+slowly.  "Piedmont must begin by raising herself, by re-establishing in
+Europe as well as in Italy, a position and a credit equal to her
+ambition.  Hence there must be a policy unswerving in its aims but
+flexible and various as to the means employed."  Cavour's character was
+summed up in these words.  He distrusted violent measures, and yet
+could act with seeming rashness in a crisis when prudence would mean
+failure.
+
+Prime Minister in 1852, he saw an opportunity two years later of
+winning fame for Piedmont.  The Russians were resisting the western
+powers which defended the dominions of the Porte.  Ministers resigned
+and the country marvelled, but Cavour signed a pledge to send forces of
+15,000 men to the Crimea to help Turkey against Russia.  It would be
+well to prove that Italy retained the military virtues of her history
+after the defeat of Novara, he said in reply to all expostulations.
+The result showed the statesman's wisdom and justified his daring.  The
+Sardinians distinguished themselves in the Crimea, and Italy was able
+to enter into negotiations with the great European powers who arranged
+the Peace of Paris.
+
+The Congress of Paris was the time for Cavour to gain sympathy for the
+woes of Italian states, still subject to the tyrannous sway of Austria.
+He denounced the enslavement of Naples also, and brought odium upon
+King Ferdinand, but "Austria," he said, "is the arch-enemy of Italian
+independence; the {201} permanent danger to the only free nation in
+Italy, the nation I have the honour to represent."
+
+England confined herself to expressions of sympathy, but Louis
+Napoleon, now Emperor of France, seemed likely to become an ally.  He
+met Cavour at Plombieres, a watering place in the Vosges, in July 1858,
+and entered into a formal compact to expel the Austrians from Italy.
+The final arrangements were made in the following spring in Paris.  "It
+is done," said Cavour, the minister triumphant.  "We have made some
+history, and now to dinner."
+
+Mazzini, in England, read of the alliance with gloomy misgivings, for,
+as a Republican, he distrusted the President of France who had made
+himself an Emperor.  He said that Napoleon III would work now for his
+own ends.  He protested in vain.  Garibaldi rejoiced and returned from
+Caprera, where he had been trying to plant a garden on a barren island.
+
+Cavour fought against some prejudice when he offered to enrol Garibaldi
+and his followers in the army of Sardinia.  Charles Albert had refused
+the hero's sword in the days of his bitter struggle, and the regular
+officers still looked askance on the Revolutionary captain.
+
+But the Austrian troops were countless, numbering recruits from the
+Tyrol and Bohemia, from the valleys of Styria and the Hungarian
+steppes.  There was need of a vast army to oppose them.  The French
+soldiers fought gallantly, yet they were inferior to the Austrians in
+discipline.  When the allies had won the hard contested fight of
+Montebello it was good to think of that band of 3000, singing as they
+marched, "_Addio mia bella, addio_," like the knights of legend.  They
+crossed Lake Maggiore into the enemy's own {202} country, and took all
+the district of the Lowland Lakes.
+
+In June, the allies won the victory of Magenta, and on the 8th of that
+month, King and Emperor entered Milan flushed with victory.  The
+Austrians had fled, and the keys of the city were in the possession of
+Victor Emmanuel.
+
+The Emperor of Austria, Francis Joseph, had assumed command of the army
+when the great battle of Solferino was fought amidst the wondrous
+beauty of Italian scenery in an Italian summer.  It was June 24th, and
+the peasant reaped the harvest of Lombardy, wondering if he should reap
+for the conqueror the next day.  The French officers won great glory as
+they charged up the hills, which must be taken before they could
+succeed in storming Solferino.  After a fierce struggle of six hours,
+the streets of the little town were filled with the bodies of the dead
+and dying.  By the evening, the victory of the allies over Austria was
+certain.
+
+Napoleon III had kept his promise to the Italian people, who were
+encouraged by a success of the Piedmontese army under Victor Emmanuel
+at San Martino.  But he disappointed them cruelly by stopping short in
+his victorious career and sending General Fleury to the Austrian camp
+to demand an armistice.  Europe was amazed when the preliminaries of
+peace were signed, for it was generally expected that Austria would be
+brought to submission.  Italy was in despair, for Venetia had not yet
+been won for them.
+
+Cavour raged with fury, regretting that he had trusted Napoleon and
+trusted his King, Victor Emmanuel, who agreed to the proposals for an
+armistice.  Now he heaped them with reproaches because they had {203}
+given up the Italian cause.  He resigned office in bitterness for it
+was he who had concluded the alliance of France and Italy.
+
+Napoleon returned to France, pursued by the indignation of the country
+he had come to deliver.  He complained of their ingratitude, though he
+might have known that Lombardy would not accept freedom at the cost of
+Venice.  He was execrated when the price of his assistance was
+demanded.  France claimed Nice and Savoy as French provinces
+henceforth.  Savoy was the country of Victor Emmanuel, and Nice the
+honoured birthplace of the idolized Garibaldi!
+
+Garibaldi was chosen by the people of Nice for the new Chamber of 1860,
+for they hoped that he would make an effort to save his native town.
+He had some idea of raising a revolution against French rule, but
+decided to free Sicily as a mightier enterprise.  Victor Emmanuel
+completed the sacrifice which gave "the cradle of his race" to the
+foreigner.  He was reconciled to the cession at length because he
+believed that Italy had gained much already.
+
+Cavour did not openly approve of the attack which Garibaldi was
+preparing to make upon the Bourbon's sovereignty.  Many said that he
+did his best to frustrate the plans of the soldier because there was
+hostility between them.  Garibaldi could not forgive the cession of
+Nice to which the statesmen had, ere this, assented.  He was bitter in
+his feeling toward Victor Emmanuel's minister, but he was loyal to
+Victor Emmanuel.  His band of volunteers, known as the Thousand,
+marched in the King's name, and the chief refused to enrol those whose
+Republican sentiments made them dislike the idea of Italian unity.
+"Italy and Victor Emmanuel," {204} the cry of the Hunters of the Alps,
+was the avowed object of his enterprise.
+
+Garibaldi sailed amid intense excitement, proudly promising "a new and
+glorious jewel" to the King of Sardinia, if the venture were
+successful.  The standard of revolt had already been raised by Rosaline
+Pilo, the handsome Sicilian noble, whose whole life had been devoted to
+the cause of country.  The insurgents awaited Garibaldi with a feverish
+desire for success against the Neapolitan army, which numbered 150,000
+men.  They knew that the leader brought only few soldiers but that they
+were picked men.  Strange stories had been told of Garibaldi's success
+in warfare, being due to supernatural intervention.  The prayers of his
+beautiful old peasant-mother were said to have prevailed till her
+death, when her spirit came to hold converse with the hero before
+battle.
+
+[Illustration: The Meeting of Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi (Pietro
+Aldi)]
+
+The Red-shirts landed at Marsala, a thousand strong, packed into
+merchant vessels by a patriotic owner.  Garibaldi led them to the
+mountain city of Salemi, which had opposed the Bourbon dynasty warmly.
+There he proclaimed himself dictator of Sicily in the name of Victor
+Emmanuel, soon to be ruler of all Italy.  Peasants joined the Thousand,
+armed with rusty pistols and clad in picturesque goat-skins.  They were
+received with honour by the chief, who was pleased to see that Sicily
+was bent on freedom.  A Franciscan friar threw himself upon his knees
+before the mighty leader and asked to join the expedition.  "Come with
+us, you will be our Ugo Bassi," Garibaldi said, remembering with a pang
+the defence of Rome and the fate of the defenders.
+
+At Palermo, the capital of Sicily, the Neapolitan soldiers were
+awaiting the arrival of the Thousand.  They ventured to attack first,
+being very strong in {205} numbers.  The bravest might have feared to
+oppose the royal troops with such a disadvantage, but Garibaldi held
+firm when there were murmurs of surrender.  "Here we _die_," he said,
+and the great miracle was accomplished.  "Yesterday we fought and
+conquered," the chief wrote to the almost despairing Pilo.  The two
+forces joined and Pilo fell, struck by a bullet.  It was May 27th when
+Garibaldi entered the gates of Palermo.
+
+The bells were hammered by the inhabitants, delighted to welcome the
+brave Thousand to their city.  There was still a fierce struggle within
+the walls, and the Neapolitan fleet bombarded the town.  An armistice
+was granted on May 30th, for the Royalists needed food and did not
+realize that Garibaldi's ammunition was exhausted.  He refused to
+submit to any humiliating terms that might be offered to Palermo.  He
+threatened to renew hostilities if the enemy still thought of them.
+All declared for war, though they knew how such a war must have ended.
+It was by the Royalists' act that the evacuation of the city was
+concluded.
+
+The Revolution had succeeded elsewhere, and for the last time the
+Bourbon flag was hoisted in Sicilian waters.  The conquest of Sicily
+had occupied but a few days.  The Dictator proceeded thence to the
+south of Italy and advanced on the Neapolitan kingdom.
+
+Victor Emmanuel would have checked the hero of Palermo, and Cavour was
+thoroughly uneasy.  No official consent had been given for this daring
+act of aggression, and foreign powers wrote letters of protest, while
+King Francis II, the successor of Ferdinand, held out such bribes as
+fifty million francs and the Neapolitan navy to aid in liberating
+Venice.  France induced the King of Sardinia to make an effort to
+restrain the {206} popular soldier.  Garibaldi promised Victor Emmanuel
+to obey him when he had made him King of Italy.
+
+At Volturno the decisive battle was fought on the first day of October
+1860, the birthday of King Francis.  "Victory all along the line" was
+the message sent by Garibaldi to Naples after ten hours' fighting.
+There had been grave fears expressed by Cavour that the army would
+march on Rome and expel the French after this conclusion.  But the King
+was advancing toward the south of Italy to prevent any move which would
+provoke France, and Garibaldi, marching north, dismounted from his
+horse when he met the Piedmontese, and walking up to Victor Emmanuel,
+hailed him King of Italy.  Naples and Sicily, with Umbria and the
+Marches, decided in favour of a united sceptre under the House of
+Savoy.  It was Garibaldi's proclamation to the people which urged them
+to receive the new King with peace and affection.  "No more political
+colours, no more parties, no more discords," he hoped there would be
+from the 7th of November, 1860.  It was on that day that the king-maker
+and the King together entered Naples.  Garibaldi refused all the
+honours which his sword had won, and left for his island-home at
+Caprera, a poor man still, but one whose name could stir all Europe.
+
+The Italian kingdom was proclaimed by the new Parliament which met in
+February 1861, at Turin.  All parts of Italy were represented save Rome
+and Venice, and King Victor Emmanuel II entered on his reign as ruler
+of Italy "by the Grace of God and the will of the nation."
+
+
+
+
+{207}
+
+Chapter XVIII
+
+The Third Napoleon
+
+Italy was free, but Italy was not yet united as patriots such as
+Garibaldi had hoped that it might be.  Venice and Rome must be added to
+the possessions of Victor Emmanuel before he could boast that he held
+beneath his sway all Italy between the Alps and Adriatic.
+
+Rome, the dream of heroes, was in the power of a Pope who had to be
+maintained in his authority by a garrison of the French.  Napoleon III
+clung to his alliance with the Catholic Church, and refused to withdraw
+his troops and leave his Papal ally defenceless, for he cared nothing
+about the views of Italian dreamers who longed that the Eternal City
+should be free.
+
+There was romance in the life-story of this French Emperor upon whose
+support so many allies had come to depend.  He was the son of Louis
+Buonaparte and Hortense Beauharnais, who was the daughter of the
+Empress Josephine.  During the reign of Louis Philippe, this nephew of
+the great usurper had spent his time in dreary exile, living in London
+for the most part, and concealing a character of much ambition beneath
+a moody silent manner.  He visited France in 1840 and tried to gain the
+throne, but was unsuccessful, for he was committed to the fortress of
+Ham, a state prison.  He escaped in the disguise of a workman, and made
+a second {208} attempt to stir the mob of Paris to revolution in the
+year 1848, when Europe was restless with fierce discontent.  The King
+fled for his life, and a Republic was formed again with Louis Napoleon
+as President, but this did not satisfy a descendant of the great
+Buonaparte.  He managed by the help of the army to gain the Imperial
+crown, never worn by the second Napoleon, who died when he was still
+too young to show whether he possessed the characteristics of his
+family.  Henceforth Napoleon III of France could no longer be regarded
+as a mere adventurer.  The Pope had come to depend on French troops for
+his authority, and the Italians had to pay a heavy price for French
+arms in their struggle against Austria.
+
+Paris renewed its gaiety when Napoleon married his beautiful Spanish
+wife, Eugenie, who had royal pride though she was not of royal birth.
+There were hunting parties again, when the huntsmen wore brave green
+and scarlet instead of the Bourbon blue and silver; there were court
+fetes, which made the entertainments of Louis Philippe, the honest
+Citizen-King, seem very dull in retrospect.  The Spanish Empress longed
+to rival the fame of Marie Antoinette, the Austrian wife of Louis XVI
+who had followed that King to the scaffold.  Like Marie Antoinette, she
+was censured for extravagances, the marriage being unpopular with all
+classes.  The bourgeoisie or middle class refused to accept the
+Emperor's plea that it was better to mate with a foreigner of ordinary
+rank than to attempt to aggrandize the new empire by union with the
+daughter of some despotic king.
+
+Yet France amused herself eagerly at the famous fetes and hunts of
+Compiegne, while the third Napoleon craftily began to develop his
+scheme for obtaining {209} influence in Europe that should make him as
+great a man as the Corsican whom all had dreaded.  The Emperor's
+insignificant appearance deceived many of his compeers, who were
+inclined to look on him as a ruler who would be content to take a
+subordinate place in international affairs.  He dressed in odd,
+startling colours, and moved awkwardly; his eyes were strangely
+impenetrable, and he seemed listless and indifferent, even when he was
+meditating some subtle plan with which to startle Europe.
+
+Dark stories were told of the part Napoleon played in the Crimean War,
+when Turkey demanded help against Russia, which was crippling her army
+and her fleet.  Many suspected that the French Emperor used England as
+his catspaw, and saw that the English troops bore the brunt of all the
+terrible disasters which befell the invaders of the south of Russia.
+Alma, Balaclava, and Inkerman were victories ever memorable, because
+the heroes of those battles had to fight against more sinister foes
+than the Russian troops they defeated in the field.  Stores of food and
+clothes were delayed too long before they reached the exhausted
+soldiers, and there was suspicion of unjust favour shown to the French
+soldiers when their English allies sought a healthy camping-ground.
+The war ended in 1855 with the fall of Sebastopol, and it was notable
+afterwards that the Napoleonic splendour increased vastly, that the
+sham royalty seemed resolved to entertain the royal visitors who had
+once looked askance at him.
+
+France began to believe that no further Revolution could disturb the
+Second Empire, which was secure in pride at least.  Yet Austria was
+crushed by Prussia at the great battle of Sadowa in 1866, and the
+Prussian state was advancing rapidly under the government of {210} a
+capable minister and king.  There were few Frenchmen who had realized
+the importance of King Wilhelm's act when he summoned Herr Otto von
+Bismarck from his Pomeranian estates to be his chief political adviser.
+The fast increasing strength of the Prussian forces did not
+sufficiently impress Napoleon, who had embarked on a foolish expedition
+to Mexico to place an Austrian archduke on the throne, once held by the
+ancient Montezumas.  The news of Sadowa wrung "a cry of agony" from his
+court of the Tuileries, where everyone had confidently expected the
+victory of Austria.  Napoleon might have arbitrated between the two
+countries, but he let the golden opportunity slip by in one of those
+half-sullen passive moods which came upon him when he felt the
+depression of his bodily weakness.  Prussia began to lay the foundation
+of German unity, excluding Austria from her territory.
+
+Napoleon handed over Venice to Italy when it was ceded to him at the
+close of the Austrian war, and Garibaldi followed up this cession by an
+attempt on Rome, which he resolved should be the capital of Italy.  He
+defeated the Papal troops at Monte Rotondo, which commanded Rome on the
+north, but he was defeated by French troops at the battle of Mentana.
+The repulse of the Italian hero increased the national dislike of
+French interference, but Napoleon only consented to evacuate Rome in
+1870 when he had need of all his soldiers to carry out his boast that
+he would "chastise the insolence of the King of Prussia."
+
+The Franco-Prussian War arose nominally from the quarrel about the
+throne of Spain, to which a prince of the Hohenzollern house had put in
+a claim, first obtaining permission from Wilhelm I to accept the
+dignity.  This prince, Leopold, was not a member of the Prussian {211}
+royal family, but he was a Prussian subject and a distant kinsman of
+the Kaiser.  It was quite natural, therefore, that he should ask the
+royal sanction for his act and quite natural that Wilhelm should give
+it his approval if Spain made the offer of the crown.
+
+Napoleon sought some cause of difference with Prussia, because Bismarck
+had refused to help him to win Belgium and Luxemburg in 1869.  He was
+jealous of this new military power, for his own fame was far
+outstripped by the feats of arms accomplished by the forces of General
+von Moltke, the Prussian general.  He thought that war against his
+rival might help him to regain the admiration of the French.  They were
+humiliated by the failure of the Mexican design and saw fresh danger
+for their country in Italian unity and the new confederation of North
+Germany.
+
+Napoleon, racked by disease, might have checked his own ambition if his
+Empress had not been too eager for a war.  He was misled by Marshal
+Leboeuf into fancying that his own army was efficient enough to
+undertake any military campaign.  He allowed his Cabinet to demand from
+Wilhelm I that Prince Leopold's claim to the Spanish crown, which had
+been withdrawn, should never be renewed by the sanction of Prussia at
+least.  The unreasonable demand was refused, and France declared war in
+July 1870, eighteen years after the new empire had risen on the ruins
+of the Republic of the French.
+
+The other European powers would not enter this war, though England
+offered to mediate between the rival powers.  France and Prussia had to
+test the strength of their armies without allies, and neither thought
+how terrible the cost would be of that long national jealousy.
+Napoleon took the field himself, leaving Eugenie as {212} Regent of the
+French, and the King of Prussia led his own army with General Von
+Moltke and General Von Roon in command.
+
+The French army invaded South Germany, but had to retreat in disorder
+after the battle of Worth.  The battle of Sedan on September 1st, 1870,
+brought the war to a conclusion, the French being routed and forced to
+lay down their arms.  Napoleon had fought with courage, but was obliged
+to surrender his sword to Wilhelm I upon the battlefield.  He declared
+that he gave up his person only, but France herself was forced to yield
+after the capitulation of Metz, which had resisted Prussia stoutly.
+The Empress had fled to England and the Emperor had been deposed.
+France was once more a Republic when the siege of Paris was begun.
+
+The citizens showed strange insensibility to the danger that they ran,
+for they asserted that the Germans dared not invest the town.
+Nevertheless, Parisians drilled and armed with vigour as Prussian
+shells burst outside the walls and the clang of bells replaced the
+sounds of mirth that were habitual to Paris.  Theatres were closed, to
+the dismay of the frivolous, whom no alarm of war would turn from their
+ordinary pursuits.  The Opera House became a barracks, for the camps
+could not hold the crowds that flocked there from the provinces.
+
+Still many ridiculed the idea of investment by the Prussian troops, and
+householders did not prepare for the famine that came on them unawares.
+People supped in gaily-lighted cafes and took their substantial meals
+without thought of the morrow.  There were fewer women in the streets
+and the workmen carried rifles, but the shops were still attractive in
+their wares.  The fear of spies occupied men's thoughts rather than
+{213} the fear of hunger--a foreign accent was suspicious enough to
+cause arrest!  There were few Englishmen in the capital, but those few
+ran the risk of being mistaken for Prussians, since the lower classes
+did not distinguish between foreigners.
+
+Paris was invested on September 19th, 1870, and the citizens had
+experienced terrible want.  In October Wilhelm established his
+headquarters at Versailles, part of the French Government going to
+Tours.  Gambetta, the new minister, made every effort to secure help
+for France.  He departed from Paris in a balloon, and carrier pigeons
+were sent in the same way to take news to the provinces and bring back
+offers of assistance.  Strange expedients for food had been proposed
+already, and all supplies were very dear.  Horseflesh was declared to
+be nutritious, and scientists demonstrated the valuable properties of
+gelatine.  Housewives pored over cookery-books to seek for ways of
+using what material they had when beef and butter failed.  A learned
+professor taught them how to grow salads and asparagus on the balconies
+in front of windows.  The seed-shops were stormed by enthusiasts who
+took kindly to this new idea.
+
+Gambetta's ascent in the balloon relieved anxiety for a time, because
+every Parisian expected that help would come.  But soon gas could not
+be spared to inflate balloons and sturdy messengers were in request who
+dared brave the Prussian lines.  Sheep-dogs were sent out as carriers
+after several attempts had been frustrated, but the Prussian sentries
+seized the animals, and pigeons were soon the only means of
+communication with the provinces.
+
+The Parisians clamoured for the theatres to be opened, though they felt
+the pangs of hunger now.  They {214} retorted readily when there was
+some speech of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.  Their city was not yet
+on fire, they said, and Napoleon, the Nero of the catastrophe, could
+not fiddle because he had no ear for music!  The Cirque National was
+opened on October 23rd, though fuel was running short and the cold
+weather would soon come.
+
+In winter prices rose for food that the fastidious had rejected earlier
+in the siege.  A rat cost a franc, and eggs were sold at 80 francs the
+dozen.  Beef and mutton had disappeared entirely from the stalls, and
+butter reached the price of fifty francs the demi-kilogramme.  The poor
+suffered horrible privations, and many children died from the effect of
+bread soaked in wine, for milk was a ridiculous price.  Nevertheless,
+four hundred marriages were celebrated, and Paris did not talk of
+surrender to their Prussian foes.
+
+Through October and November poultry shops displayed an occasional
+goose or pigeon, but the sight of a turkey caused a crowd to collect,
+and everyone envied those who could afford to purchase rabbits even
+though they paid no less than 50 francs.  Soon dogs and cats were
+rarely seen in Paris, and bear's flesh was sold and eaten with avidity.
+At Christmas and New Year very few shops displayed the usual gifts, for
+German toys were not popular at the festive season and the children of
+the siege talked mournfully of their "New Year's Day without the New
+Year's gifts."
+
+Shells crashed into houses in January of 1871, an event most startling
+to Parisians, who had expected a formal summons to surrender before
+such acts took place.  After the first shock of surprise there was no
+shriek of fear.  Capitulation was negotiated on January 26th, not on
+account of this new danger, but {215} because there was no longer bread
+for the citizens to buy.
+
+Gambetta resisted to the last, but his dictatorship was ended, and a
+National Assembly at Bordeaux elected M. Thiers their president.  By
+the treaty of Frankfort, signed in May 1871, France ceded Alsace and
+Lorraine to Prussia, together with the forts of Metz, Longwy and
+Thionville.  She had also to pay a war indemnity of 200,000,000 pounds
+sterling.  By the exertions of Bismarck, the imperial crown was placed
+upon the head of Wilhelm I, and the conqueror of France was hailed as
+Emperor of United Germany in the Great Hall of Mirrors at Versailles by
+representatives of the leading European states.  The German troops were
+withdrawn from Paris, where civil war raged for some six weeks, the
+great buildings of the city being burned to the ground.
+
+Europe was satisfied that united Germany should take the place of
+Imperial France, whose policy had been purely personal and selfish
+since its first foundation in 1852.  The fall of Napoleon III caused
+little regret at any court, for he had all the unscrupulous ambition of
+his mighty predecessor, without the genius of the First Napoleon.
+
+
+
+
+{216}
+
+Chapter XIX
+
+The Reformer of the East
+
+Italy had won unity after a gallant struggle, and Greece some fifty
+years before revolted from the barbarous Turks and became an
+independent kingdom.  The traditions of the past had helped these,
+since volunteers remembered times when art and beauty had dwelt upon
+the shores of the tideless Mediterranean.  Song and romance haloed the
+name of Kossuth's race when the patriot rose to free Hungary from the
+harsh tyranny of Austria.  General sympathy with the revolutionary
+spirit was abroad in 1848, when the tyrant Metternich resigned and
+acknowledged that the day of absolutism was over.
+
+It was otherwise with the revolting Poles, who dwelt too far from the
+nations of the West to rouse their passionate sympathies.  France
+promised to help their cause, but failed them in the hour of peril.
+Poland made a desperate struggle to assert her independence in 1830,
+when Nicholas the Autocrat was reigning over Russia.  The Poles entered
+Lithuania, which they would have reunited with their ancient kingdom,
+but were completely defeated, losing Warsaw, their capital, and their
+Church and language, as well as their own administration.
+
+Under Nicholas I, a ruler devoted to the military power of his Empire,
+there was little chance of freedom.  He had himself no love of the West
+and the bold reforms {217} which might bring him enlightened and
+discontented subjects.  He crushed into abject submission all opposed
+to his authority.  The blunt soldier would cling obstinately to the
+ancient Muscovy of Peter.  He shut his eyes to the passing of
+absolutism in Europe and died, as he had reigned, the protector of the
+Orthodox Church of Russia, the sworn foe of revolutionaries.
+
+Alexander II succeeded his father while the Crimean war was distracting
+the East by new problems and new warfare.  Christian allies fought for
+the Infidel, and France and England declared themselves to be on the
+side of Turkey.
+
+At the famous siege of Sebastopol, a young Russian officer was fighting
+for promotion.  He wrote vivid descriptions of the battle-fields and
+armies.  He wrote satirical verses on the part played by his own
+country.  Count Leo Tolstoy was only a sub-lieutenant who had lived
+gaily at the University of Kazan and shared most of the views of his
+own class when he petitioned to be sent to the Crimea.  The brave
+conduct of the private soldiers fighting steadfastly, without thought
+of reward or fear of death, impressed the Count, with his knowledge of
+the self-seeking, ambitious nobles.  He began to love the peasantry he
+had seen as dim, remote shadows about his father's estate in the
+country.  There he had learnt not to treat them brutally, after the
+fashion of most landowners, but it was not till he was exposed to the
+rough life of the bastion with Alexis, a serf presented to him when he
+went to the University, that Tolstoy acquired that peculiar affection
+for the People which was not then characteristic of the Russian.
+
+After the war the young writer found that, if he had not attained any
+great rank in the army, high honours were awarded him in literature.
+Turgeniev, the veteran {218} novelist, was ready to welcome him as an
+equal.  The gifted officer was flattered and feted to his heart's
+content before a passionate love of truth withdrew him from society.
+
+After the death of Nicholas reaction set in, as was inevitable, and
+Alexander II was eager to adopt the progress of the West.  The German
+writers began to describe the lives of humble people, and their books
+were read in other lands.  Russia followed with descriptions of life
+under natural conditions, the silence of the steppes and the solitude
+of the forest where hunter and trapper followed their pursuits far from
+society.
+
+Tolstoy set out for Germany in 1857, anxious to study social conditions
+that he might learn how to raise the hapless serfs of Russia, bound,
+patient and inarticulate, at the feet of landowners, longing for
+independence, perhaps, when they suffered any terrible act of
+injustice, but patient in the better times when there was food and
+warmth and a master of comparatively unexacting temper.
+
+Tolstoy had already written _Polikoushka_, a peasant story which
+attracted some attention.  He was in love with the words People and
+Progress, and spoke them continually, trampling upon conventions.  A
+desire to be original had been strong within him when he followed the
+usual pursuits of Russians of fashion.  He delighted in this wandering
+in unknown tracks where none had preceded him.  He was sincere, but he
+had not yet taken up his life-work.
+
+At Lucerne he was filled with bitterness against the rich visitors at a
+hotel who refused to give alms to a wandering musician.  He took the
+man to his table and offered wine for his refreshment.  The indignation
+of the other guests made him dwell still more fiercely upon {219} the
+callousness of those who neglect their poorer neighbours.  Yet the
+quixotic noble was still sumptuous in his dress and spent much time on
+the sports which had been the pastimes of his boyhood.  He nearly lost
+his life attempting to shoot a she-bear in the forest.  The beast drew
+his face into her mouth and got her teeth in the flesh near the left
+eye.  The intrepid sportsman escaped, but he bore the marks for long
+afterwards.
+
+In 1861 a new era began in Russia, and a new period in Tolstoy's life,
+which was henceforward bound up with the history of the country folk.
+Alexander II issued a decree of emancipation for the serf, and Tolstoy
+was one of the arbitrators appointed to supervise the distribution of
+the land, to arrange the taxes and decide conditions of purchase.  For
+each peasant received an allotment of land, subject for sixty years to
+a special land-tax.  In their ignorance, the serfs were likely to sell
+themselves into new slavery where the proprietors felt disposed to
+drive hard bargains.  Many landlords tried to allot land with no
+pasture, so that the rearer of cattle had to hire at an exorbitant
+rate.  There had been two ways of holding serfs before--the more
+primitive method of obliging them to work so many days a week for the
+master before they could provide for their own wants, and the more
+enlightened manner of exacting only _obrok_, or yearly tribute.
+Tolstoy had already allowed his serf to "go on _obrok_," but, according
+to himself, he did nothing very generous when the new act was passed
+providing for emancipation.
+
+He defended the freed men as far as possible, however, from the tyranny
+of other landowners, who began to dislike him very thoroughly.  He had
+won the poor from their distrust by an experiment in education which he
+tried at his native place of Yasnaya Polyana.
+
+{220}
+
+The school opened by Count Tolstoy was a "free"; school in every sense
+of the word, which was then becoming popular.  The children paid no
+fees and were not obliged to attend regularly.  They ran in and out as
+they pleased and had no fear of punishments.  It was a firm belief of
+the master that compulsory learning was quite useless.  He taught in
+the way that the pupils wished to learn, humbly accepting their views
+on the matter.  Vivid narration delighted the eager peasant boys in
+their rough sheepskins and woollen scarves.  They would cry "Go on, go
+on," when the lesson should have ended.  Any who showed weariness were
+bidden to "go to the little ones."  At first, the peasants were afraid
+of the school, hearing wonderful stories of what happened there.  They
+gained confidence at length, and then the government became suspicious.
+
+Tolstoy had given up his work with a feeling of dissatisfaction and
+retired to a wild life with the Bashkirs in the steppes, where he hoped
+to recover bodily health, when news came that the schools had been
+searched and the teachers arrested.  The effect on the ignorant was to
+make Tolstoy seem a criminal.
+
+Hatred of a government, where such a search could be conducted with
+impunity, was not much modified by the Emperor's expression of regret
+for what had happened.  The pond on Tolstoy's estate had been dragged,
+and cupboards and boxes in his own house opened, while the floor of the
+stables was broken up with crowbars.  Even the diary and letters of an
+intimate character which had been kept secret from the Count's own
+family were read aloud by gendarmes.  In a fit of rage, the reformer
+wrote of giving up his house and leaving Russia "where one cannot know
+from moment to moment what awaits one."
+
+{221}
+
+In 1862 Tolstoy married Sophia Behrs, the daughter of a Russian
+physician.  He began to write again, feeling less zeal for social work
+and the need to earn money for his family.  The _Cossacks_ described
+the wild pleasures of existence away from civilization, where all joys
+arise from physical exertion.  Tolstoy had known such a life during a
+sojourn in the Caucasus.  It attracted him especially, for he was an
+admiring follower of Rousseau in the glorification of a return to
+Nature.
+
+On the estate of Yasnaya there was work to be done, for agricultural
+labour meant well-cultivated land, and that meant prosperity.  A large
+family was sheltered beneath the roof where simplicity ruled, and yet
+much comfort was enjoyed.  Tolstoy wore the rough garments of a
+peasant, and delighted in the idea that he was often taken for a
+peasant though he had once been sorely troubled by his blunt features
+and lack of physical beauty.  Family cares absorbed him, and the books
+he now gave to the world in constant succession.  His name was spoken
+everywhere, and many visitors disturbed his seclusion.  _War and
+Peace_, a description of Napoleonic times in Russia, found scant favour
+with Liberals or Conservatives in the East, but it ranked as a great
+work of fiction.  _Anna Karenina_ gave descriptions of society in town
+and country that were unequalled even by Turgeniev, the writer whose
+friendship with Tolstoy was often broken by fierce quarrels.  The
+reformer's nature suffered nothing artificial.  He sneered at formal
+charity and a pretence of labour.  Hearing that Turgeniev's young
+daughter sat dressed in silks to mend the torn and ragged garments of
+poverty, as part of her education, he commented with his usual
+harshness.  The comment was not forgiven, and strife separated men who
+had, nevertheless, a {222} curious attraction for each other.  Fet, the
+Russian poet was, indeed, the only friend in the literary world
+fortunate enough always to win the great novelist's approbation.
+
+As the sons grew up, the family had to spend part of the year in Moscow
+that the lads might attend the University.  It was necessary to live
+with the hospitality of Russians of the higher class, and division
+crept into the household where father and mother had been remarkable
+for their strong affection.  Tolstoy wore the sheepskin of the labourer
+and the felt cap and boots, and he ate his simple meal of porridge at a
+table where others dined with less frugality.  He had given up the
+habits of his class when he was fifty and adopted those of the
+peasantry.  In the country he rose early, going out to the fields to
+work for the widow and orphan who might need his service.  He hoped to
+find the mental ease of the manual labourer by entering on these
+duties, but his mind was often troubled by religious questions.  He was
+serving God, as he deemed it, after a period of unbelief natural to
+young men of his station.
+
+He had learnt to make boots and shoes and was proud of his skill as a
+cobbler.  He gave up field sports because they were cruel, and
+renounced tobacco, the one luxury of Mazzini, because he held it
+unhealthy and self-indulgent.  Money was so evil a thing in his sight
+that he would not use it and did not carry it with him.  "What makes a
+man good is having but few wants," he said wisely.  There were
+difficulties in the way of getting rid of all his property, for the
+children of the family could not be entirely despoiled of their
+inheritance.  There were thirteen of them, and they did not all share
+the great reformer's ideas.
+
+In 1888, Tolstoy eased his mind by an act of formal {223} renunciation.
+The Countess was to have charge of the estates in trust for her
+children.  The Count was still to live in the same house, but resolved
+to bind himself more closely to the people.  He had volunteered to
+assist when the census was taken in 1880 and had seen the homes of
+poverty near his little village.  He had been the champion of the
+neighbourhood since he defended a young soldier who had been unjustly
+sentenced.  There was always a knot of suppliants under the "poor
+people's tree," ready to waylay him when he came out of the porch.
+They asked the impossible sometimes, but he was always kindly.
+
+Love for the serf had been hereditary.  Tolstoy's father was a
+kindly-natured man, and those who brought up the dreamy boy at Yasnaya
+had insisted on gentle dealings with both men and animals.  There was a
+story which he loved of an orderly, once a serf on the family estate,
+who had been taken prisoner with his father after the siege of Erfurt.
+The faithful servant had such love for his master that he had concealed
+all his money in a boot which he did not remove for several months,
+though a sore was formed.  Such stories tallied with the reformer's own
+experiences of soldiers' fighting at Sebastopol.
+
+His mind was ever seeking new ways to reach the people.  He believed
+that they would read if there were simple books written to appeal to
+them.  He put his other labours on one side and wrote a series of
+charming narratives to touch the unlettered and draw them from their
+passion for _vodka_, or Russian brandy, and their harmful dissipations.
+_Ivan the Fool_ was one of the first of these.  The _Power of Darkness_
+had an enormous popularity.  The ABC books and simple versions of the
+Scriptures did much to dispel sloth of mind in the {224} peasant, but
+the Government did not look kindly on these efforts.  To them the
+progressive Count was dangerous, though he held apart from those
+fanatics of the upper classes who had begun to move among the people in
+the disguise of workers, that they might spread disturbing doctrines.
+
+The police system of Russia involved a severe censorship of literature.
+Yet only one allusion did Tolstoy make in his _Confessions_ to the
+revolutionary movement which led young men and women to sacrifice their
+homes and freedom from a belief that the section of society which they
+represented had no right to prey upon the lower.  Religion, he says,
+had not been to them an inspiration, for, like the majority of the
+educated class in Russia, they were unbelievers.  Different in his
+service toward God and toward Mankind was the man who had begun life by
+declaring that happiness came from self-worship.  He prayed, as age
+came upon him, that he might find truth in that humanity which believed
+very simply as others had believed of old time, but he could not be
+satisfied by the practises of piety.  He was tortured until he built up
+that religion for himself which placed him apart from his fellows who
+loved progress.
+
+The days of persecution in the East were as terrible as in the bygone
+days of western mediaeval tortures.  For their social aims, men and
+women were condemned to death or banishment.  The dreary wastes of
+Siberia absorbed lives once bright and beautiful.  Known by numbers,
+not by names, these dragged out a weary existence in the bitter cold of
+an Arctic winter.  "By order of the Tsar" they were flogged, tormented,
+put in chains, and reduced to the level of animals, bereft of reason.
+Fast as the spirit of freedom raised its head, it was cowed by
+absolutism and the powerful machinery {225} of a Government that used
+the wild Cossacks to overawe the hot theories of defenceless students.
+Educated men were becoming more common among the peasants, thanks to
+Tolstoy's guidance.  He had shown the way to them and could not repent
+when they took it, for it is the duty of the reformer to secure a
+following.  Anarchy he had not foreseen, and was troubled by its
+manifestations.  The gentle mind of an old man, resting peacefully in
+the country, could not penetrate the dark corners of cities where the
+rebellious gathered together and hatched plots against the tyrant.  In
+spite of Alexander's liberal measures, the Nihilists were not satisfied
+with a Government so despotic.  Many attempts had been made to
+assassinate him before he was killed by a hand-bomb on March 13th, 1881.
+
+Alexander III abandoned reforms and the discontent increased in Russia,
+where the plots of conspirators called forth all the atrocities of the
+spy-system which still existed.  Enmity to the Government was further
+roused in a time of famine, wherein thousands of peasants perished
+miserably.  Tolstoy was active in his attempts to relieve the sick and
+starving in the year 1891, when the condition of the people was
+heartrending.  He received thanks which were grateful to one very
+easily discouraged.  The peasants turned to him for support quite
+naturally in their hour of need.
+
+Trouble came upon the aged leader through a sect of the Caucasian
+provinces who had adopted his new views with ardour.  The Doukhobors
+held all their goods in common and made moral laws for themselves,
+based on Tolstoy's form of religion.  They refused to serve as
+soldiers, which was said to be a defiance of their governor.  The
+leaders were exiled and some hundreds enrolled in "a disciplinary
+regiment" as a punishment.  {226} Tolstoy managed to rouse sympathy for
+them in England, and they were allowed to emigrate instead of suffering
+persecution.  He wrote _Resurrection_, a novel dealing with the
+terrible life of Russian prisons, to get money for their relief.  He
+was excommunicated formally for attacking the Orthodox Church of Russia
+in 1901.  The sentence caused him to feel yet more bitterly toward the
+Russian government.  He longed to see peace in the eastern land whence
+tales of cruelty and oppression startled the more humane provinces of
+Europe.  He would fain have stayed the outrages of bomb-throwing which
+the Nihilist societies perpetrated.  He could feel for the unrest of
+youth, but he knew from his long experience of life that violence would
+not bring them to the attainment of their objects.
+
+The tragedy of the Moujik-garbed aristocrat, striving for
+self-perfection and cast down by compromise made necessary by love for
+others, drew to a close as he neared his eightieth year.  He would have
+given everything, and he had kept something.  Worldly possessions had
+been stripped from his dwelling, with its air of honest kindly comfort.
+More and more the descendant of Peter the Great's ambitious minister
+began to feel the need of entire renunciation.  It was long since he
+had known the riotous life of cities, but even the peace of his country
+retreat was broken by discords since all did not share that longing for
+utter self-abnegation which possessed the soul of Leo Tolstoy, now
+troubled by remorse.
+
+In the winter of 1910 the old man left the home where he had lived in
+domestic security since the first years of his happy marriage.  It was
+severe weather, and his fragile frame was too weak for the long
+difficult journey he planned in order to reach a place of retreat in
+the {227} Caucasus Mountains.  He had resolved to spend his last days
+in complete seclusion, and to give up the intercourse with the world
+which made too many claims upon him.  He died on this last quest for
+ideal purity, and never reached the abode where he had hoped to end his
+days.  The news of his death at a remote railway station spread through
+Europe before he actually succumbed to the severity of his exposure to
+the cold of winter.  There was universal sorrow, when Tolstoy passed,
+among those who reckoned him the greatest of modern reformers.
+
+
+
+
+{228}
+
+Chapter XX
+
+The Hero in History
+
+Across the spaces of the centuries flit the figures known as heroes,
+some not heroic in aspect but great through the very power which has
+forbidden them to vanish utterly from the scenes of struggle.  Poets
+who wrote immortal lines and philosophers who mocked the baseness of
+the age which set up shams for worship, reformers with a fierce belief
+in the cause that men as good as they abhorred to the point of
+merciless persecution--these rank with the soldier, rank higher than
+the monarch whose name must be placed upon the roll because his
+personality was strong to mould events that made the history of his
+country.  High and low, prince or peasant--all knew the throes of
+struggle with opposing forces, since without effort none have attained
+to heroism.
+
+Back into the Middle Ages Dante and Savonarola draw us, marvelling at
+the narrow limits which bound the vision of such free unfettered minds.
+The little grey town of Tuscany lives chiefly on the fame of the poet
+and preacher who loved her so passionately though she proved a cruel
+and ungrateful mother.  The Italian state has ceased to assert its
+independence, and the brawling of party-strife no longer draws the
+mediator to make peace and, if possible, secure to himself some of the
+rich treasures of the Florentines whose work was {229} coveted afar.
+Pictures of wondrous beauty have been defaced and stolen, statuary has
+crumbled into the dust that lies thick upon the tombs of great men who
+have fallen.  But the words of the _Divine Comedy_ will never be
+forgotten, and the glory of an epic rests always with Italian
+literature.  All the cold and passionless intellect of the Renaissance
+can be personified in Lorenzo the Magnificent, who encouraged the pagan
+creeds that the Prior of San Marco yearned to overthrow.  Enemies in
+life, they serve as opposing types of the fifteenth century Italian,
+one earnest, ardent, filled with zeal for self-sacrifice, the other an
+epicure, gratifying each whim, yet deserving praise because in every
+form he encouraged beauty.  There is something fine in the magnanimity
+of the Medicean tyrant when he tried to conciliate the honest monk;
+there is something infinitely noble in the very weakness of the martyr,
+whose death disappointed so many of his followers because it proved
+that he had not miraculous powers.
+
+The charm of Southern cities makes the background for the drama between
+man and the devil seem dingy in comparison, but even Central Europe has
+romantic figures in the Reformation times.  No sensuous Italian mind
+could have defied Pope and Emperor so stoutly and changed the religion
+of many European nations without the world being drenched in blood.
+Luther is a less gallant champion than William of Orange who fought for
+toleration and lost life and wealth in the cause, but his words were
+powerful as weapons to reform the ancient abuses of the Church.  He is
+singularly steadfast among the ranks of men struggling for freedom of
+the soul, but hardly daring to war against the cramping dogmas of the
+past.
+
+{230}
+
+The soldiers of the Catholic Church have all the glamour of tradition
+to render them immortal--they are the saints now whose lot was humblest
+upon earth.  The Crusader has clashed through the ages with the noise
+of sword and armour, attracting the lover of romance, though he
+performed less doughty deeds than the monk of stern asceticism, whose
+rule forbade him to break peace.  He enjoys glory still as he enjoyed
+the hour of victories, and the battle that might bring death but could
+not result in shame.  The Brethren of St Dominic and St Francis shrank
+in life, at least, from the reverence paid to the sacrifice of worldly
+pleasures.  They were marvellously simple, and believed that only some
+stray picture on their convent walls would remain to tell their story.
+They judged themselves unworthy to be praised, and their creed of
+cheerful resignation would have forbidden them to accept the adulation
+of the hero-worshipper which was lavished in their age upon more
+brilliant warriors of the Church.
+
+Time has had revenge upon the Grand Monarch and the usurping tyrant,
+yet their names must be upon the roll of heroes, since they played a
+mighty part in the events that make history and cannot suffer oblivion
+though they have ceased to tower above the subjects they despised.
+Louis XIV's personality needs the mantle of magnificence which fell
+from France after the predominance of years.  Napoleon can be watched
+in obscurity and exile till the price of countless victories is
+estimated more truly now than was possible for his contemporaries.  His
+successor has become a mere tinsel figure meddling with strange
+impunity with the destinies of Europe, and possessing qualities so
+little heroic that only his audacious visions and his last great
+failure make the memory of France's last despotic ruler {231} one that
+must abide with the memory of those other Revolutionaries of 1848.
+
+Mazzini and Garibaldi receive once more the respect that poverty
+stripped from them when they led a forlorn cause and gave up home and
+country.  Earthly admiration came too late to console them for the ills
+of exile and the loss of their beloved, but they both knew that a
+struggle had not been vain which would leave Italy free.  Romance
+forgets these sons of the South and their brief taste of popular glory.
+Youth looks further back for idols placed on pinnacles of tradition,
+despising shabby modern garb and loving the blood-stained suit of
+armour.
+
+Rousseau has risen triumphant above the strife of tongues that would
+dispute his claims to the heroic because his life was marred and
+incomplete.  He has credit now for a fierce impersonal love of truth
+and purity.  He is a great teacher and a great philosopher, though none
+ever placed him among the heroic in action or in character.  His
+cynical contemporary, Voltaire, still has some veil of vague obscurity
+which hides his brilliance from the world apt to reckon him a mere
+scoffer and destroyer of beliefs.  He has more profound faith perhaps
+than many who took up the sword to defend religion, but he covered his
+spirit of tolerance with many cloaks of mockery, ashamed to be a hero
+in conventional trappings, eager to win recognition for his wit rather
+than immortality for the courage of the convictions he so firmly held.
+
+Not of equal stature are the heroes looming through the curtain Fate
+drops before each scene of the world's drama when another play begins.
+There were selfish aims sometimes in the breasts of the patriotic,
+worldly ambitions in the Reformers, the lust of persecution {232} in
+the Saints.  Yet these great protagonists of history are easy to
+distinguish among the crowd of actors who have played their parts.
+Their words grip the attention, their actions are fraught with real
+significance, and it is they who win applause when the play is at an
+end.
+
+
+
+
+{233}
+
+  Index
+
+  Aboukir, 175, 177
+  Aboukir Bay, 174
+  Acre, 175, 177
+  Addison, 158
+  Ajaccio, 168, 171
+  Albizzi, Rinaldo degli, 31
+  Albizzi, the, 30, 31
+  Aldgonde, Sainte, 92
+  Alencon, Prince, 109
+  Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, 217, 218, 219, 220, 225
+  Alexander III, Emperor of Russia, 225
+  Alexander, Emperor of Russia, 178
+  Alexander of Parma, 97
+  Alexandria, 174
+  Alexis, 137, 138, 144
+  Alfonso of Naples, 32
+  Alighieri, Durante, 21
+  Alma, Battle of, 209
+  Alps, the, 207
+  Alsace, Province of, 215
+  Alva, Duke of, 82, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 93
+  Amelia, Daughter of George I, 148
+  America, discovery of, 40
+  Amiens, Treaty of, 176
+  Amsterdam, 93, 139
+  _Anna Karenina_, 221
+  Angelico, Fra, 31
+  Angelo, Michael, 127
+  Angouleme, Duchess of, 180
+  Anita, wife of Garibaldi, 197
+  Anjou, 18, 45, 106, 111
+  Anjou, Duke of, 97, 98
+  Anna of Saxony, Princess, 80
+  Anne of Austria, 91, 118, 139
+  Anthony of Bourbon, 103
+  Antwerp, 86, 91, 95, 98
+  _Apostolato, Popolare_, the, 191
+  Apraxin, Admiral, 142
+  Aragon, Prince of, 18
+  Archangel, 138
+  Arezzo, 22
+  Aristotle, 16
+  Armand Jean Duplessis, 116, 117
+  Arouet, Francois Marie (see Voltaire)
+  Arques, Battlefield, 116
+  _Arrabiati_, the, 49
+  Artois, Count of, 180
+  Assisi, 14
+  Athens, Duke of, 30
+  Auerstaedt, Battle of, 178
+  Augsburg, 56, 61, 71
+  Augustine, Saint, 53
+  Augustus, King of Poland, 142, 149
+  Augustus, William, 149
+  Austerlitz, Battle of, 178
+  Austria, 64, 70, 91, 96, 118, 121, 129, 151, 156,
+  172, 173, 175, 179, 180, 183, 186, 188, 192, 198,
+  202, 208, 209, 210
+  Austria, Emperor of, 202
+  Azov, 139
+
+  Balaclava, Battle of, 209
+  Bassi, Ugo, 193, 198, 204
+  Barras, 172
+  Bartholomew, Saint, Massacre of, 92, 107
+  Bassompierre, 125
+  Bastile, the, 125, 157, 171
+  Bavaria, 150
+  Bavaria, Dukes of, 14
+  Bayard, Knight, 67, 68
+  Bearns, 102
+  Beatrice, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28
+  Beauharnais, Eugene, 172, 184
+  Beauharnais, Hortense, 207
+  Beauharnais, Josephine, 172, 177, 207
+  "Beggars, The," 84, 85, 86, 90, 92, 94, 95
+  Beghards, the, 13
+  Begue, Lambert Le, 13
+  Beguines, 13
+  Behrs, Sophia, 221
+  Belgium, 211
+  _Bellerophon_, the, 182
+  Berlaymont, 83, 84
+  Berlin, 145, 160, 178
+  Berne, 174
+  Biagrasse, La, 67
+  Bianchi, the, 24
+  Bismarck, Herr Otto von, 210, 215
+  Bluecher, 182
+  Bohemia, 152, 201
+  Bologna, 20, 26, 42, 69
+  Bonaparte, Charles, 169
+  Bora, Catherine von, 60
+  Bordeaux, 215
+  Borodino, Battle of, 180
+  Borsi, Marquis, 41
+  Botticelli, 38, 39
+  Boulogne, 178
+  Bourbon, 102
+  Bourbon, Constable of, 67, 68
+  Bourges, Archbishop of, 13
+  Brabant, Duke of, 86, 98
+  Brandenburg, Elector of, 145
+  Brederode, noble, 83, 84
+  Brienne, 169
+  Brill, 92
+  Brussels, 71, 83, 84, 88, 96
+  Buonaparte, Jerome, 179
+  Buonaparte, Joseph, 179
+  Buonaparte, Louis, 179
+  Burgundy, 64, 65
+
+  Cairo, 174
+  Cajetan, Papal Legate, 56
+  Calais, 73
+  Calas, 164
+  Calvin, John, 100, 163
+  Cambalet, Marquis of, 126
+  _Camicia Rossa_, the, 197
+  _Camisaders_, the, 93
+  _Campanile_, the, 32
+  Cambalet, Madame de, 127
+  Cane della Scala, 28, 29
+  Canossa, 14
+  Caprera, 201
+  Carbonari, the, 185, 186, 187, 188
+  Carlyle, 191
+  Casimir, John, 97
+  Cateau Cambresis, 75
+  Catherine de Medici, 101, 102, 104, 105, 106, 108, 109, 110
+  Catherine of Aragon, 64, 66
+  Catherine, Queen, 140, 143
+  Catholic League, the, 112, 114
+  Cavalcanti, Guido, 23
+  Cavour, Count, 199, 200, 201, 202, 205, 206
+  Cencio, 15
+  Cerchi, the, 21, 24
+  Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, 192, 194, 196, 201
+  Charles I of England, 122, 129
+  Charles II of England, 133
+  Charles II of Spain, 132
+  Charles V, 57, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71,
+  72, 73, 74, 75, 78, 80, 100
+  Charles VI of Austria, 150
+  Charles VII, 67
+  Charles VII, Emperor, 151
+  Charles VIII of France, 45, 46, 47
+  Charles IX, 101, 104, 105, 106, 108, 109
+  Charles X, 186
+  Charles XII of Sweden, 140, 142, 145, 149, 152
+  Charles, Count of Anjou, 18, 45
+  Chartres, 114
+  Chatelet, Marquis du, 159, 160
+  Chevreuse, Madame de, 124
+  Chievres, Flemish Councillor, 66
+  Chillon, Marquis de (see Richelieu), 117
+  Christ, 10, 38, 54, 58
+  Christianity, 11
+  _Ciompi_, the, 30
+  Cirey, 159, 160
+  Civil Code, the, 176
+  Cloth of Gold, Field of the, 65
+  Colbert, 130, 135
+  Coligny, Admiral de, 98, 99, 106, 107, 108
+  Columbus, Christopher, 64
+  Commune, the, 166
+  Compiegne, 208
+  Concini, 118, 119
+  _Concordat_, the, 176
+  Conde (Enghien), General, 129, 133, 137
+  Conde, Prince de, 106
+  _Confessions_, Tolstoy's, 224
+  Conrad, 18
+  Conradin, 18
+  Constantinople, 12, 32
+  "Continental System," the, 180
+  Corneille, 131
+  Corsica, island, 168, 170, 171
+  Cosimo dei Medici, 31, 33, 33, 34
+  _Cossacks_, the, 221
+  "Council of Trouble" (Blood), 89, 91
+  Crimea, the, 200, 209
+  Cromwell, Protector, 170
+  Crusades, the, 11
+
+  D'Aiguillon (see Madame de Cambalet)
+  D'Albert of Navarre, 65
+  Dante Alighieri, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28,
+  29, 30, 32, 187, 228
+  Delft, 95, 98
+  De Luynes, 119, 120
+  Denis, Madame, 161, 162
+  Deptford, 139
+  Desaix, General, 175
+  Dettingen, Battle of, 151
+  _Devin du Village, Le_, play, 165
+  Diet of Spires, 61
+  Diet of Worms, 57, 58
+  Dijon, 101
+  Directory, the, 173, 174
+  _Divine Comedy_, the, 28, 29, 229
+  Domenico, Fra, 49, 50, 51
+  Dominic, Saint, 13, 42, 230
+  Dominicans, 13, 43
+  Donati, Lucrezia, 34
+  Donati, the, 21, 23, 24, 26
+  Don John, 96, 97
+  Doukhobors, the, 225
+  Dresden, Treaty of, 152
+  Dreux, 113
+  Duc d'Enghien, 129
+  Duplessis, Armand Jean, 116
+
+  Egmont, Count, 79, 80, 81, 85, 87, 88, 89
+  Egypt, 174, 175, 177
+  Eisenach, 57
+  Eisleben, 52, 62
+  Elba, 180, 181, 182
+  Elizabeth, Queen of England, 90, 95, 97, 106, 108
+  _Emile_, 165
+  Enghien (Conde) (see Conde, General)
+  England, 63, 65, 69, 122, 135, 150, 152, 153, 157,
+  168, 172, 175, 176, 180, 182, 209, 211
+  Epernon, General, 119
+  Erasmus, 55, 60
+  Erfurt, 52, 56, 223
+  Eric, Duke of Brunswick, 58
+  Eugenie, Empress, 208, 211, 212
+  Evelyn, John, 139
+
+  Faesulae, 20
+  Farinata degli Uberti, 19
+  Fenelon, Priest, 134
+  Ferdinand, 63
+  Ferdinand I, 184, 192, 200, 205
+  Ferdinand II, Emperor, 126
+  Ferdinand of Bohemia, 120
+  Ferney, 162
+  Ferrara, 41
+  Fet, Poet, 222
+  Flanders, 81, 135
+  Fleury, General, 202
+  Florence, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30,
+  31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44, 46, 47,
+  48, 49, 51
+  Flushing, 92
+  France, 17, 25, 27, 45, 63, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 74,
+  75, 85, 92, 95, 103, 109, 120, 121, 122, 123, 125,
+  126, 129, 130, 131, 135, 150, 152, 153, 168, 172,
+  175, 176, 201, 203, 207, 216
+  Francis I of France, 57, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 113
+  Francis II of Austria, 184, 202, 205
+  Francis Joseph II, Emperor, 202, 205
+  Francis, Saint, 13, 230
+  Franciscans, 13
+  Frankfort, 54, 61, 151, 180
+  Frankfort, Treaty of, 215
+  Frate, the, 27
+  Frederick II, 15, 17, 18
+  Frederick II, of Brandenburg and Hohenzollern, 147, 148, 149, 150,
+  151, 152, 153, 154, 156, 160, 161, 178
+  Frederick, Elector of Saxony, 53, 55, 64
+  Frederick, Elector Palatine, 120
+  Frederick, Prince  of Wales, 148
+  Frederick William I, 145, 146, 147, 148, 154, 156
+  Fronde, La, 129
+  Frondeurs, the, 129
+
+  Galitzin, 137, 138
+  Gambetta, 213, 215
+  Gaston, brother of Louis XIII, 124
+  Garibaldi, 193, 196, 197, 198, 199, 201, 203, 204,
+  205, 206, 207, 210, 230
+  Gay, 158
+  Gemma, 23
+  Geneva, 162, 164, 165, 166, 190
+  Genoa, 12, 168, 186, 189
+  George I of England, 148
+  George II of England, 151
+  Germany, 61, 62, 69, 70, 74, 85, 100, 154, 218
+  Ghent, Pacification of, 96
+  Ghibellines, 14, 16, 19, 22, 25
+  Giotto, 32
+  Giuliano, 38, 39
+  Gordon, Patrick, 140
+  Granvelle, Cardinal, 78, 79, 81
+  Greece, 175
+  Grenoble, 181
+  Grisi, 191
+  Guelfs, the, 14, 15, 16, 19, 22
+  Guise, Duke of, 103, 107
+  Guise, Henry of, 102, 108, 109, 112
+
+  Haarlem, 93, 94
+  Hamburg, 61
+  Henry II of France, 71, 75, 109
+  Henry III of France, 110, 112, 114
+  Henry IV of Germany, 14
+  Henry IV of France, 114, 116
+  Henry VI, 15
+  Henry VIII, 59, 63, 64, 65, 70
+  Henry of Anjou, 106, 111
+  Henry d'Albret, 113
+  Henry de Bourbon, 105
+  Henry of Guise, 102, 108, 111
+  Henry of Luxemburg, Emperor, 27, 28
+  Henry of Navarre, 97, 104, 106, 108, 109, 110,
+  111, 112, 113, 115
+  Henry, Prince of Bourbon, 102, 104
+  Henry of Valois, 112
+  Hohenlinden, Battle of, 175
+  Hohenstaufen, House of, 15, 17
+  Hohenzollern, House of, 210
+  Holland, 83, 85, 93, 95, 96, 98, 133, 179
+  Holy Land, 12
+  Holy Wars, 12
+  Homer, 28
+  Hoorn, Admiral, 85, 86, 89
+  Hubertsburg, 153
+  Huguenots  (Confederates), 101, 102, 108, 118, 120, 123
+  Hungary, 65
+
+  Imola, Tower of, 37
+  India, 153, 174
+  "Indulgences," 54
+  _Inferno_, the, 26, 27, 29
+  Inkerman, Battle of, 209
+  Inquisition, the, 70, 76, 82, 83
+  Isabella, 63
+  Isabella of Portugal, 67
+  Italy, 12, 15, 17, 20, 27, 42, 45, 64, 67, 69, 122,
+  127, 173, 174, 175, 183, 184, 185, 186, 188, 189,
+  191, 192, 200, 201, 202, 203, 206, 207, 210
+  Ivan, half-brother of Peter the Great, 137
+  _Ivan the Fool_, 223
+  Ivry, Battlefield, 116
+
+  Jaffa, 175
+  Jansenists, the, 163
+  Jarnac, Battle of, 104
+  _Je l'ai vu_, play, 157
+  Jena, 59, 178
+  Jerusalem, 12, 15
+  Jesuits, the, 163
+  Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, 63
+  John of Austria, 96
+
+  Katte, Lieutenant von, 149
+  Kleber, 177
+  Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 139
+  Knox, John, 100
+
+  La Barre, 164
+  Ladies' Peace, The, 68
+  Lambert Le Begue, 13
+  Landgrave of Hesse, 70
+  "League of the Compromise," 82, 83
+  Leboeuf, Marshal, 211
+  Lefort, 138
+  Legion of Honour, the, 176
+  Leibnitz, 159
+  Leipzig, Battle of, 180
+  Leo X, Pope, 54, 55
+  Leonora, wife of Concini, 118, 119
+  Leopold, Prince, 210, 211
+  Lesser Brothers, 14
+  Leszczynski, Stanislaus, 142
+  _Lettres anglaises_, 158
+  Leuthen, 152
+  Leyden, 94
+  Lille, Battle of, 135
+  Lisle, Rouget de, 176
+  Livonia, 140
+  Livy, 32
+  Locke, 158
+  Lombardy, 43, 68, 184, 202, 203
+  Longwy, Fortress of, 215
+  Lorenzo, Church of San, 32
+  Lorenzo the Magnificent, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38-41, 43, 229
+  Lorraine, Province of, 215
+  Louis XI, 65
+  Louis XIII, 118, 119, 122, 124, 127
+  Louis XIV, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 154, 230
+  Louis XVI, 165, 176, 180, 208
+  Louis XVIII, 180
+  Louis, Count of Nassau, 82, 90, 92, 93, 94, 96
+  Louis de Bourbon, 103, 104
+  Louis Philippe, King, 86, 207, 208
+  Louis, Saint, of France, 113
+  Louvain, 89
+  Louvre, the, 104, 117, 130
+  Low Countries, the, 63, 74, 75, 78, 80, 82, 87, 89, 90, 93
+  Lowe, Sir Hudson, 182
+  Lucerne, 218
+  Lucon, Bishop of, 117, 118, 119, 120
+  Ludovico, 37
+  Lulli, 132
+  Luneville, Treaty of, 176
+  Luther, Johnny, 60
+  Luther, Martin, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59
+  60, 61, 62, 69, 70, 100, 229
+  Luxemburg, 211
+  Luxemburg, Henry of, 27
+  Lyons, 17, 181
+
+  Madrid, 67
+  Madrid, Treaty of, 68
+  Magenta, Battle of, 202
+  Maggiore, Lake, 201
+  Magyars, 10
+  Mahomet, 9
+  Maintenon, Madame de, 133, 134, 136
+  Malines, 93
+  Malta, 69, 174, 175
+  Mameli, poet, 193
+  Manfred, 18
+  Manin, President of Venice, 198
+  Mantua, Duke of, 122
+  Marboeuf, 169
+  Marches, the, 206
+  Marco, San, 39, 41, 43, 48, 49, 50, 229
+  Marengo, Battle of, 175
+  Margaret of Parma, 78, 80, 83, 84, 86, 88, 89
+  Margaret of Valois, 104, 105, 106, 108
+  Margrave of Baireuth, 149
+  Maria Theresa, 132, 150, 151, 152, 153, 156, 172
+  Marie Antoinette, 166, 172, 208
+  Marie de Medici, 119, 123, 125, 126, 127
+  Marie Louise, 177, 179, 180, 184
+  Marillac, Marshal, 125
+  Marino, San, 184
+  Marlborough, Duke of, 135
+  Marly, 131
+  Marmont, 173
+  Marsala, 204
+  _Marseillaise_, the, 176
+  Marseilles, 188
+  Martino, San, 21, 202
+  Mary, Queen of Scots, 101
+  Mary, Princess, 66
+  Matthias, Archduke, 96
+  Maurice, Duke of Saxony, 70, 71, 80
+  Maximilian, Emperor, 20
+  Mayenne, 113
+  Mazarin, 129, 131, 132
+  Mazarins, the, 129, 130
+  Mazeppa, Hetman, 142
+  Mazzini, Guiseppe, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190,
+  191, 192, 193, 196, 199, 201, 222, 231
+  Medici, Cosimo dei, 31, 32, 33, 34
+  Medici, Lorenzo dei, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 48
+  Medici, Piero, dei, 44, 45, 47
+  Medici, the, 30, 32, 34, 35, 37, 38, 45, 66, 109
+  Menshikof, 140
+  Mentana, Battle of, 210
+  Metternich, Prince, 184, 185
+  Metz, 212, 215
+  Mexico, 210
+  Middelburg, 92
+  Milan, 20, 35, 36, 37, 64, 65, 66, 67, 174, 192, 202
+  Milan, Duchess of, 35, 37
+  Milan, Duke of, 35, 36
+  Miloslavski, Mary, 137
+  Miloslavski, Sophia, 137, 138, 143
+  Mirandola, Pico della, 42, 43
+  Modena, 184
+  Moliere, 131, 162
+  Moltke, General von, 211, 212
+  Molwitz, Battle of, 151
+  Mons, 93, 97
+  Monsieur, Peace of, 109
+  Montebello, Battle of, 201
+  Monte Video, 197
+  Montigny, son of Hoorn, 91, 92
+  Montpensier, Duchess of, 111
+  Moreau, General, 175
+  Moscow, 137, 141, 180, 222
+  Muhlberg, 70
+  Murat, General, 184
+
+  Namur, 96
+  Nantes, Edict of, 114, 133
+  Naples, 16, 18, 32, 36, 39, 45, 63, 65, 66, 184, 191, 200
+  Napoleon Buonaparte, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172,
+  173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182,
+  183, 188, 189, 196, 230
+  Napoleon, Louis, 193, 201, 207, 208
+  Napoleon III, 201, 202, 203, 207, 208, 209, 210,
+  211, 212, 213, 215
+  Narva, 140
+  Naryshkin, Nathalie, 137
+  Nassau, 82
+  Navarre, 97, 102, 103, 104, 105, 108, 109, 110,
+  112, 113, 115, 116
+  Navarre, d'Albert of, 65
+  _Navarre, Princesse de_, 159
+  Nelson, 174, 178
+  _Neri_, the, 24
+  Netherlands, the, 66, 70, 71, 74, 75, 77, 78,
+  82, 83, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91, 94, 95, 97, 98, 133
+  Neva, river, 141, 142
+  New Learning, 63
+  Newton, 158, 159
+  New World, 64
+  Nice, 203
+  Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia, 216, 218
+  Niemen, 178
+  Nihilists, the, 225
+  Notre Dame, Cathedral of, 118, 129
+  _Nouvelle Heloise, La_, play, 165
+  Novara, Battle of, 196, 200
+  Nuremburg, 61
+
+  _Oepide_, tragedy, 157
+  Orange, Prince of (see William)
+  Orleans, Duke of, 186
+  Orsini, Clarice, 34
+
+  Palermo, 16, 204, 205
+  Paoli, 168, 169
+  Papacy, the, 14, 15, 18, 52, 56, 66, 70
+  _Paradiso_, the, 28
+  Paris, 27, 59, 101, 105, 107, 112, 113, 114, 119,
+  157, 158, 162, 167, 171, 181, 186, 208, 212, 213
+  Paris, the Congress of, 200
+  Parma, Duchess of, 79, 85
+  Parma, Duke of, 113
+  Pauline, sister of Napoleon, 199
+  Pavia, 67
+  _Pazzi, Carro dei_, 37
+  Pazzi, banking-house of, 37, 38, 39, 40
+  Pazzi Conspiracy, 36
+  Pazzi, Francesco dei, 37
+  Peter, Prince of Aragon, 18
+  Petersburg, Saint, 141, 142, 144, 145
+  Peter the Great, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142,
+  143, 144, 145, 226
+  Philip, Archduke of Austria, 64
+  Philip II, Emperor of Spain, 71, 75, 76, 77, 81, 84, 87,
+  88, 89, 92, 93, 97, 98, 105, 113, 118
+  Philip IV of Spain, 122
+  Philip, King of France, 25
+  "Piagnoni" (Snivellers), 47, 49, 50
+  Piedmont, 184, 189, 193, 199, 200
+  Pilo, Rosalino, 204, 205
+  Pisa, 12
+  Pisa, Archbishop of, 30, 39
+  Pisa, Lord of, 28
+  Pistoia, 24
+  Pitt, William, 178
+  Pius IV, 41
+  Pius VII, 184
+  Plasencia, city of, 72
+  Plato, 32
+  Plautus, 53
+  Poitou, 117
+  Poland, 150, 216
+  Poland, King of, 141, 142
+  _Polikoushka_, 218
+  Poltava, Battle of, 142
+  Pomerania, province, 152
+  Pompadour, Madame de, 158, 166
+  Pont Neuf, 117
+  Pope Alexander VI, 45, 48
+  Pope Boniface, 25
+  Pope Clement VII, 68
+  Pope Gregory VII, 14
+  Pope Gregory IX, 15, 16
+  Pope Innocent IV, 16, 43, 44
+  Pope Julius, 68
+  Pope Leo X, 54, 66
+  Pope Sixtus IV, 36, 42
+  Pope, the, 14, 16, 37, 41, 47, 48, 53, 62, 64, 69, 173, 208
+  Portinari, the, 21
+  Portinari, Beatrice, 22
+  Portugal, 67, 105, 133, 179
+  Portugal, King of, 105
+  Potsdam, 160, 161
+  Potsdam Guards, 145, 146
+  Poussin, 127
+  _Power of Darkness_, the 223
+  "Pragmatic Sanction", the, 150
+  Prague, 152
+  Preaching Brothers, 14
+  Pressburg, 151
+  Prior, 158
+  Protestants, 61, 78, 86, 92, 93, 109, 114, 122
+  Prussia, 145, 148, 150, 152, 153, 156, 160, 180,
+  209, 210, 211, 215
+  Puglia, Francesco da, 49, 50
+  _Purgatorio_, the, 28
+  Pyrenees, Treaty of, 130
+
+  Quatre, Henri, 113
+
+  Racine, 131
+  Radetsky, Field-Marshal, 195
+  Ramboullet, Julie de, 127
+  Ramolino, 189
+  Ramolino, Letitia, 168
+  Ravaillac, 115
+  Ravenna, 29
+  Requesens, Don Luis, 94, 95
+  _Resurrection_, Tolstoy's, 226
+  Revival of Letters, 55
+  Revolution, French, 155, 170
+  Rheims, 114
+  Rheinsburg, Castle of, 149
+  Rhodes, 69
+  Riario, 37, 38
+  Richelieu, Cardinal, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120,
+  121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 129
+  Rochelle, La, 109, 121
+  Rocroy, Battle of, 129
+  Rohan, Chevalier, 157
+  Rohan, Duke of, 122
+  Roman Emperor, the Holy, 64
+  Roman Empire, 68
+  Rome, 13, 15, 20, 24, 35, 38, 47, 54, 55, 56,
+  61, 101, 117, 121, 195, 196, 197, 198, 204, 207, 210
+  Roon, General von, 212
+  Rossbach, Battle of, 152
+  Rotondo, Monte, Battle of, 210
+  Rouen, 103
+  Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 164, 165, 166, 167, 230
+  Ruel, 127
+  Ruffini, Jacopo, 189, 191
+  Russia, 139, 141, 142, 152, 156, 172, 179, 180,
+  200, 209, 217, 219, 224
+  Ryssel, 79
+  Ryswick, Peace of, 135
+
+  Sadowa, Battle of, 209, 210
+  Saint Augustine, Order of, 53
+  Saint-Cyr, Convent of, 133
+  Saint Dominic, 13, 42, 230
+  Saint Francis, 13, 230
+  Salemi, city of, 204
+  Salviati, Archbishop, 38
+  Sansoni, Cardinal Raffaelle, 38
+  San Yuste, Monastery of, 71, 72
+  Sardinia, 184, 198, 199, 201, 204, 205
+  Sardinia, King of, 184, 194, 196, 204, 205
+  Savonarola, Girolamo, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 57, 228
+  Savoy, 69, 122, 190, 203
+  Savoy, Duchy of, 184, 198, 206
+  Saxony, 59, 70, 80, 150, 152, 179
+  Saxony, Elector of, 53, 58, 61, 70, 87
+  Sayes Court, 139
+  Scala, Cane della, 28
+  Scarron, Poet, 133
+  Sebastopol, Siege of, 217, 223
+  Sedan, Battle of, 212
+  Segovia, Castle of, 91
+  Seine, river, 9
+  Selim, 65
+  Sepulchre, the Holy, 11
+  Servetus, 100
+  Sforza, Galeazzo, 35, 37
+  Sicily, 63, 184, 191, 204, 205, 206
+  Silent, William the (see William)
+  Silesia, 150, 151, 152, 153
+  Simone de Bardi, 22
+  _Social Contract_, the, 165
+  Solferino, Battle of, 202
+  Soliman the Magnificent, 69
+  Sorbonne, the, 101, 112
+  Spain, 63, 64, 67, 70, 76, 78, 81, 86, 87, 90,
+  91, 97, 105, 118, 122, 126, 130, 133, 150, 179, 210
+  Spain, King of, 86, 104
+  Speyer, Diet of, 61
+  Staeel, Madame de, 180
+  States-General, the, 81, 95, 96
+  Staupnitz, 53
+  St Bartholomew, Massacre of, 92, 107
+  St Helena, 182
+  St Jerome, brothers of, 72
+  St John, Knights of, 69
+  St Peter's, 16, 53, 54
+  _Streltsy_, the, 138, 139
+  Sully, 114
+  Susa, Pass of, 123
+  Swabia, 14, 18
+  Swarte, John de, 79
+  Sweden, 141, 142
+  Swift, Jonathan, 157
+  Switzerland, 190
+  Syria, 175
+
+  Tetzel, 54, 55
+  Thiers, Monsieur, 215
+  Thionville, Fortress of, 215
+  Third Estate, the, 158
+  Thirty Years' War, 126
+  Tilsit, Treaty of, 178, 180
+  Titelmann, Peter, 78
+  Titian, 72
+  Toledo, Duke of Alva, 88
+  Toleration, Edicts of, 111
+  Tolstoy, Countess, 223
+  Tolstoy, Count Leo, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222,
+  223, 224, 225, 226, 227
+  Torriano, 73
+  Toulon, 172
+  Tours, 213
+  Trafalgar, Battle of, 178
+  Trianon, village, 166
+  "Troubles, Council of," 89
+  Tuileries, the, 104, 180, 181, 210
+  Turenne, General 133, 137
+  Turgeniev, novelist, 217, 221
+  Turin, 206
+  Turkey, 140, 142, 200, 208, 217
+  Tuscany, 19, 184, 192
+  Tyrol, the, 201
+
+  Uguccione, Lord of Pisa, 28
+  Umbria, 206
+  United States, 198
+  Urbino, Duke of, 37
+
+  Valladolid, 76
+  Valois, Henry of, 112
+  Vassy, 103
+  Vatican, the, 117
+  Venetia, 202
+  Venice, 12, 20, 36, 184, 198, 203, 205, 206, 210
+  Vergil, 27, 28, 53
+  Verona, 28
+  Versailles, 130, 131, 132, 134, 154, 159, 213, 215
+  Victor Emmanuel II, 196, 198, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207
+  Victor Emmanuel, King, 184
+  Vienna, 183, 185, 192, 198
+  Voltaire, 136, 156, 157, 159, 160, 161, 162,
+  163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 231
+  Volterra, town of, 36, 38, 40
+  Volturno, Battle of, 206
+
+  Waiblingen (Ghibellines), 14
+  Walcheren, 92, 95
+  _War and Peace_, 221
+  Warsaw, 216
+  Waterloo, Battle of, 182
+  Weaving Brothers, 13
+  Weimar, 57
+  _Welf_, 14
+  Wellesley, Sir Arthur, 179, 182
+  Wellington, Duke of (see Wellesley)
+  Westphalia, 179
+  Wilhelm I, Emperor, 210, 211, 212, 213, 215
+  Wilhelmina, 147, 148, 149
+  _Wilhelmus van Nassouwen_, 92
+  William III of England, 135, 139
+  William, Prince of Orange, 75, 79, 80, 81, 83, 85, 86, 87, 89,
+  90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 103, 108, 229
+  William the Stadtholder, 135
+  Wittenburg, 53, 55, 56, 58, 59, 62
+  Wolsey, Cardinal, 65
+  Worms, 57, 58, 61, 69
+  Woerth, Battle of, 212
+
+  Yasnaya Polyana, 219, 221, 223
+
+  Zaandem, 139
+  Zealand, 93, 95, 96, 98
+  Zierickzee, 95
+  Zorndorf, Battle of, 152
+  Zutphen, 93
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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