ill- 
 
 11 
 
 liiiil 
 
i¥W 
 
 A VIKING BOLD. 
 
EISTOEICAL SERIES— BOOK IV PART I 
 
 STORIES 
 
 OF THE OLDEN^ TIME 
 
 COMPILED AXD ARRANGED 
 
 By JAMES ^JOHONjS^OT 
 
 ^ 
 
 ■j-^ 
 
 •2- 
 
 XEW YORK 
 
 U . A P P L E T X A X D C il P A N Y 
 
 1889 
 

 THE LIBEAET 
 or CQNGEEM 
 
 WASHINGTOir 
 
 Copyright, 1889, 
 By D. APPI.ETON AND COMPANY. 
 
 V 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 When we go back to the early history of any people, 
 we find that fact and fiction are strangely blended, and 
 that the stories told are largely made up of traditions 
 distorted and exaggerated by imagination and time. The 
 myth, however, is valuable as representing the first steps 
 of a nation in the evolution of if s literature from a barbaric 
 state, and as indicating special national characteristics. 
 
 The myths of Greece, for example, are chiefly de- 
 rived from the traditions extant when the alphabet was 
 invented, and are preserved in the poetic stories of 
 Homer and Yirgil. Combined, they make that mytholo- 
 gy which grew up in Greece, and which now so largely 
 permeates the literature of every civilized language. 
 
 The first stories given in this book are myths. They 
 stand first in the order of precedence because they stand 
 first in the order of time. 
 
 The myths are followed by a few parables and fables, 
 forms of stories which from the earliest times have been 
 used to apply some well-established principle of morals 
 to practical conduct. 
 
 J^ext follow legends, where we are called upon to sep- 
 arate the probable from the improbable, the true from 
 the false. Herodotus, the father of history, wrote his 
 account of the '' Persian Empire " several hundred years 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 after the events took place wliicli he has recorded. The 
 stories had been preserved to his day by tradition. 
 
 In the traditional stories and in the truer records 
 which follow, the pupil will see the play of the same 
 emotions and passions which actuate men at the present 
 time, and the careers of the great conquerors, Frederic 
 and Napoleon, differ little essentially from those of Alex- 
 ander and Csesar. Tyranny remains the same forever, 
 encroaching upon human liberty and limiting the field of 
 human conduct. It will be seen also that from the state 
 of barbarism there has been a gradual evolution which 
 more and more places men under the protection of equal 
 laws. 
 
 These books are to be used mainly for the stories they 
 contain. By a simple reproduction in speech or in writ- 
 ing, we have the best possible language lesson. The value 
 of the books may be entirely lost by catechisms which 
 demand the literal reproduction of the text. 
 
CONTEXTS. 
 
 MYTHS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Arion 7 
 
 II. Aracbne 12 
 
 III. Polyphemus 15 
 
 IV. Ulysses's Return 17 
 
 V. Thor's Visit to Jotunheim 20 
 
 PARABLES AND FABLES. 
 
 VI. The Wolf and the Dog 24 
 
 VII. Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard . 26 
 
 VIII. Parable of the Sower and the Seed 28 
 
 IX. Pairing-Time anticipated 30 
 
 LEGENDS. 
 
 X. The Gift of Tritemius 33 
 
 XI. Damon and Pythias 36 
 
 XIL King Canute 40 
 
 XIII. A Norseman's Sword 43 
 
 XIV. The Story of King Alfred and St. Cuthbert 46 
 
 XV. A Roland for an Oliver 49 
 
 XVI. The Legend of Macbeth 52 
 
 OLD BALLADS. 
 
 XVn. Chevy-Chase 59 
 
 XVIII. Valentine and Ursine 65 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XIX. Sennacherib 71 
 
 XX. Glaucon 75 
 
 XXI. Cyrus and his Grandfather 80 
 
 XXII. Cyrus and the Armenians 83 
 
 XXIII. The Macedonian Empire 90 
 
 XXIV. Alexander's Conquests 98 
 
 XXV. Judas Maccabseus, the Hebrew William Tell 106 
 
 ROMAN RECORD. 
 
 XXVI. Tarquin the Wicked 117 
 
 XXVII. The Roman Republic 127 
 
 XXVIII. Cincinnatus 137 
 
 XXIX. The Roman Father 141 
 
 XXX. Archimedes 150 
 
 XXXI. The Death of Caesar 154 
 
 XXXII. How Romans lived 161 
 
 MEDIEVAL RECORD. 
 
 XXXIII. Conversion of the English 169 
 
 XXXIV. Leo the Slave 173 
 
 XXXV. The Moors in Spain 179 
 
 XXXVI. Charlemagne 183 
 
 WESTERN RECORD. 
 
 XXXVIL The Norsemen 191 
 
 XXXVIIL Rolf the Ganger 200 
 
 XXXIX. The True Story of Macbeth 206 
 
 XL. Duke William of Normandy 211 
 
 XLI. The Norman Conquest 217 
 
 XLIL King Richard Cceur de Lion in the Holy Land 224 
 
 XLIII. King John and the Charter 230 
 
 XLIV. An Early Election to Parliament 237 
 
 XLV. The Battle of Cressy 245 
 
 XLVI. The Battle of Agincourt 251 
 

 "'&^M 
 
 I.-ARIOJV. 
 
 1. Aeion was a famous 
 musician, and dwelt at the 
 court of Periander, King of 
 Corinth, with whom he was 
 a great favorite. There was a 
 musical contest in Sicily, and 
 Arion longed to compete for the 
 prize. He told his wish to Periander, who besought him 
 like a brother to give up the thought. " Pray stay with 
 me," he said, " and be contented. He who strives to win 
 may lose." Arion answered : " A wandering life best suits 
 the free heart of a poet. A talent which a god bestowed 
 upon me I would fain make a source of pleasure to others ; 
 and if I win the prize, how will the enjoyment of it be 
 increased by the consciousness of my wide-spread fame ! " 
 2. He went, won the prize, and embarked mth his 
 wealth in a Corinthian vessel for home. On the second 
 morning after setting sail, the wind breathed mild and 
 fair. " O Periander ! " he exclaimed, " dismiss your 
 fears. Soon shall you forget them in my embrace. With 
 what lavish offerings mil we display our gratitude to the 
 
8 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 gods, and how merry will we be at the festal board ! " 
 The wind and sea continued favorable, not a cloud 
 dimmed the firmament. He had not trusted too much to 
 the ocean, but to man he had. He overheard the seamen 
 plotting to get possession of his treasure. Presently they 
 surrounded him, loud and mutinous, and said : " Arion, 
 you must die ! If you would have a grave on the shore, 
 yield yourself to die on this spot ; but if otherwise, cast 
 yourself into the sea." 
 
 3. " Will nothing satisfy you but my life ? " said he ; 
 " take my gold in welcome. I willingly buy my life at 
 that price." "No, no ; we can not spare you. Your life 
 would be too dangerous to us. Where could we go to 
 escape Periander if he should know that you had been 
 robbed by us ? Your gold would be of little use to us, if, 
 on returning home, we could never more be free from 
 fear." " Grant me, then," said he, " a last request, since 
 naught will prevail to save my life, that I may die as I 
 have lived, as becomes a bard. When I shall have sung 
 my death-song, and my harp-strings cease to vibrate, then 
 I will bid farewell to life, and yield to my fate." This 
 prayer, like the others, would have been unheeded — they 
 thought only of their booty — but to hear so famous a 
 musician moved their hearts. " Suffer me," he added, 
 " to arrange my dress. Apollo will not favor me unless 
 I am clad in my minstrel garb." 
 
 4. He clothed himself in gold and purple, fair to see, 
 his tunic fell around him in graceful folds, jewels adorned 
 his arms, his brow was crowned w^ith a golden wreath, and 
 over his neck and shoulders flowed his hair, perfumed 
 with odors. His left hand held the lyre, his right the 
 ivory wand with which he struck the chords. Like one 
 inspired he seemed to drink the morning air and glitter 
 in the morning ray. The seamen gazed in admiration. 
 
MYTHS. 9 
 
 He strode forward to the vessel's side, and looked down 
 into the blue sea. 
 
 5. Addressing his Ijre, he sang: "Companion of my 
 voice, come with me to the realm of shades ! Though 
 Cerberus may growl, we know the powder of song can 
 tame his rage. Ye heroes of Elysium, who have passed 
 the darkling flood — ye happy souls, soon shall I join your 
 band. Yet can ye relieve my grief ? Alas ! I leave my 
 friend behind me. Thou, who didst find thy Eurydice, 
 and lose her again as soon as found, when she had van- 
 ished like a dream, how thou didst hate the cheerful 
 light ! I must away, but I will not fear. The gods look 
 down upon us. Ye who slay me unoffending, when I 
 am no more your time of trembling shall come! Ye 
 Nereids, receive your guest, who throws himself upon 
 your mercy ! " So saying, he sprang into the deep sea. 
 The weaves covered him, and the seamen held their way, 
 fancying themselves safe from all danger of detection. 
 
 6. But the strains of his music had drawn around him 
 the inhabitants of the deep to listen, and dolphins fol- 
 low^ed the ship as if charmed by a spell. While he strug- 
 gled in the waves a dolphin offered him its back, and 
 carried him mounted thereon safe to shore. At the 
 spot where he landed, a monument of brass was afterward 
 erected upon the rocky shore to preserve the memory of 
 the event. 
 
 7. When Arion and the dolphin parted, each returning 
 to his own element, Arion thus poured forth his thanks : 
 "Earewell, thou faithful, friendly fish ! Would that I 
 could rew^ard tliee ! but thou canst not wend w^ith me, nor I 
 with thee ; companionship we may not have. May Gala- 
 tea, queen of the deep, accord thee her favor, and thou, 
 proud of the burden, draw her chariot over the smooth 
 mirror of the deep ! " 
 
10 
 
 STORILS OF THE OLDEN TIME, 
 
 
MYTHS. II 
 
 8. Arion hastened from the shore, and soon saw before 
 him the towers of Corinth. He journeyed on, harp in 
 hand, singing as he went, full of love and happiness, for- 
 getting his losses, and mindful only of what remained, his 
 friend and his lyre. He entered the hospitable halls, and 
 was soon clasped in the embrace of Periander. " I come 
 back to thee, my friend," he said. " The talent which a 
 god bestowed has been the delight of thousands, but false 
 knaves have stripped me of my well-earned treasure." 
 Then he told all the wonderful events that had befallen 
 him. Periander, who heard him in amazement, said : 
 '' Shall such wickedness triumph ? Then in vain is 
 power lodged in my hands. That we may discover the 
 criminals you must lie here concealed, so that they come 
 without suspicion." 
 
 9. When the ship arrived in the harbor, he summoned 
 the mariners before him. " Have you heard anything 
 of Arion ? " he inqui4'ed. " I anxiously look for his re- 
 turn." They replied, " We left him well and prosperous 
 in Tarentum." As they said these words, Arion stepped 
 forth and faced them. He was clad in all his glory as 
 when he leaped into the sea. They fell prostrate at his 
 feet, as if a lightning-bolt had struck them. " We meant 
 to murder him, and he has become a god ! O earth, open 
 and receive us ! " Then Periander spoke : " He lives, 
 the master of the lay ! kind Heaven protects the poet's 
 life. As for you, I invoke not the spirit of vengeance ; 
 Arion wishes not your blood. Ye slaves of avarice, be- 
 gone ! Seek some barbarous land, and never may aught 
 beautiful delight your souls ! " 
 
12 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 II-ABACEME. 
 
 1. In the old mythology it was considered a great 
 sin for any mortal to enter into a contest with a god, and 
 whenever one did so he incurred a fearful penalty. The 
 maiden Arachne early showed marvelous skill in em- 
 broidery and all kinds of needle-work. So beautiful 
 were her designs that the nymphs themselves would leave 
 their groves and fountains, and come and gaze delighted 
 upon her work. It was not only beautiful when it was 
 done, but was beautiful in the doing. As they watched 
 the delicate touch of her fingers they declared that the 
 goddess Minerva must have been her teacher. This 
 Arachne denied, and, grown very vain of her many com- 
 pliments, she said : " Let Minerva try her skill with 
 mine, and if beaten I will pay the penalty ! " 
 
 2. Minerva heard this, and was greatly displeased at 
 the vanity and presumption of tha maiden. Assuming 
 the form of an old woman she went to Arachne and 
 gave her some friendly advice. " I have much expe- 
 rience," she said, " and I hope you will not despise my 
 counsel. Challenge mortals as much as you like, but do 
 not try and compete with a goddess ! " Arachne stopped 
 her spinning, and angrily replied : " keep your counsel 
 for your daughters and handmaids ; for my part, I know 
 what I say, and I stand to it. I am not afraid of the 
 goddess." 
 
 3. Minerva then dropped her disguise, and stood be- 
 fore the company in her proper person. The nymphs 
 at once paid her homage. Arachne alone had no fear. 
 She stood by her resolve, and the contest proceeded. Each 
 took her station, and attached the web to the beam. Both 
 worked with speed ; their skillful hands moved rapidly, 
 and the excitement of the contest made the labor light. 
 
-^^ 
 "'^&^ 
 
 ...p^ 
 
 mwr^^^^^ 
 
 4. Minerva wrought into 
 I her web the scene of her 
 contest with ^N'eptune. The 
 
14 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 gods are all represented in their most august forms, and 
 the picture is noble in its perfect simplicity and chaste 
 beauty. In the four corners she wrought scenes where 
 mortals entered into contest with gods and were punished 
 for their presumption. These were meant as warnings 
 to her rival to give up the contest before it was too late. 
 
 5. Arachne filled her web with subjects designedly 
 chosen to exhibit the failings and errors of the gods. 
 Every story to their discredit she appears to have treas- 
 ured up. The last scene she represented w^as that of 
 Jupiter in the form of a bull carrying oif Europa across 
 the sea, leaving the heart-broken mother to wander in 
 search of her child until she died. 
 
 6. Minerva examined the work of her rival, and 
 doubly angry at the presumption and the sacrilege mani- 
 fested in her choice of subjects, struck her web with a 
 shuttle and tore it from the loom. She then touched the 
 forehead of Arachne and made her feel her guilt and 
 shame. This she could not endure, and went out and 
 hanged herself. Minerva pitied her, as she saw her 
 hanging by a rope. " Live, guilty woman," said she ; 
 " and that you may preserve the memory of this lesson, 
 continue to hang, you and your descendants, to all future 
 times." She sprinkled her with the juice of aconite, and 
 immediately her form shrunk up, her head grew small, 
 and her fingers grew to her sides and served as legs. All 
 the rest of her is body, out of which she spins her 
 thread, often hanging suspended by it in the same atti- 
 tude as w^hen Minerva touched her and transformed her 
 into a spider. 
 
MYTHS. 15 
 
 I I I. -POL YPHEMUS. 
 
 1. When Troy was captured, Ulysses, the King of Itha- 
 ca, set sail for his native country. With favorable winds he 
 should have reached home in a few months, but he met 
 with so many adventures that it was ten years before he 
 saw the shores of his beloved Ithaca. At one time he 
 and his companions landed upon an unknown shore in 
 search of food. Ulysses took with him a jar of wine as 
 a present should he meet with any inhabitants. Presently 
 they came to a large cave, and entered it. There they 
 found lambs and kids in their pens, and a table spread 
 with cheese, fruits, and bowls of milk. But soon the 
 master of the cave, Polyphemus, returned, and Ulysses 
 saw that they were in the land of the Cyclops, a race of 
 immense giants. The name means ''round eye," and 
 these giants w^ere so called because they had but one eye, 
 and that was placed in the middle of the forehead. 
 
 2. Polyphemus drove into the cave the sheep and the 
 goats to be milked, and then placed a huge rock at the 
 mouth of the cave to serve as a door. While attending 
 to his supper he chanced to spy the Greeks, who were 
 hidden in one corner. He growled out to them, de- 
 manding to know who they were, and where from. Ulysses 
 replied, stating that they were returning from the siege 
 of Troy, and that they had landed in search of provisions. 
 At this Polyphemus gave no answer, but seizing a couple 
 of Greeks, he killed and ate them up on the spot. He 
 then went to sleep, and his snoring sounded like thunder 
 in the ears of the terrified Greeks all the livelong night. 
 In the morning the giant arose, ate two more men, and 
 went out with his flocks, having carefully secured the 
 door so that the remainder could not get away. 
 
 3. Then Ulysses contrived a plan to punish the giant, 
 
16 
 
 STOEIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 and get away from his clutches. He foimd a great bar 
 of wood which the giant had cut for a staff. This his 
 men sharpened at one end and hardened at the lire. 
 Then a number were selected to use it, and they awaited 
 events. In the evening Polyphemus returned, and hav- 
 ing eaten his two men he lay down to sleep. But Ulysses 
 presented him with some of the wine from the jar w^hich 
 the giant eagerly drank, and called for more. In a short 
 time he was quite drunk, and then he asked Ulysses his 
 name, and he replied : '' My name is Noman." 
 
 Polyphemus. 
 
 4. When the giant was fairly asleep, the sailors seized 
 the sharpened stick, and, aiming it directly at his single 
 eye, they rushed forward with all their might. The eye 
 was put out, and the giant was left blind. He felt around 
 the cave trying to catch his tormentors, but they con- 
 trived to get out of his way. He then howled so loud 
 
MYTHS, 17 
 
 that his neighbors came to see what was the matter, when 
 he said, "I am hurt, Noman did it ! " Then they said, 
 " If no man did it, we can not help you." So they went 
 home, leaving him groaning. 
 
 5. In the morning Polyphemus rolled away the stone 
 to let out his sheep and goats, and the Greeks contrived 
 to get out with them without being discovered. Once 
 out, they lost no time in driving the flocks down to the 
 shore, and then with their vessels wxll provisioned they 
 set sail once more for their native land. 
 
 IV.-ULYSSES'S RETURJT. 
 
 1. Ulysses, the lord of Ithaca, went to assist the 
 Greeks in the siege of Troy. For ten long years the war 
 lasted, and when Troy fell, Ulysses was ten more years 
 in reaching his home. He met with so many accidents 
 and adventures that delayed him, that even his stout heart 
 almost gave out as he thought of the wife and children 
 waiting for him through all these weary years. In the 
 mean time his son Telemachus had grown to manhood, 
 and had gone in search of his father. 
 
 2. During all this time his wife, Queen Penelope, 
 never lost hope, but lived daily looking for her husband 
 to come sailing over the sea. But while the master was 
 away, more than a hundred young lords laid claim to the 
 hand of Penelope, so as to obtain the power and riches of 
 Ulysses. They lorded it over the palace and people as 
 if they were the owners of both, and they paid no atten- 
 tion to the wishes of Penelope, as she was but a woman, 
 and could not protect herseK. Her only safety lay in 
 
18 
 
 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 the fact that the suitors were jealous of each other, and 
 no one could make any advance until Penelope had made 
 her selection. 
 
 3. At last Ulysses returned in the disguise of a beg- 
 gar. No one knew him except his old dog Argus, who, 
 in his excess of joy, died while lick- 
 ing his hands. He made himself 
 known to Eumseus, a faithful serv- 
 ant, and by him was presented to 
 Telemachus, who had just returned. 
 Great was the joy of father and son 
 at thus meeting each other. Then 
 the three laid a plan to punish the 
 suitors and to rid Ithaca of their 
 presence. In carrying out this plan, 
 Telemachus went to his mother's 
 palace publicly, and the suitors bade 
 
 and his Dog. 
 
 him welcome, though they secretly hated him, and had 
 tried to take his life. Here he found feasting going on, 
 and, at his request, the supposed beggar was admitted to 
 the foot of the table. 
 
 4. Penelope had put off her decision on various pre- 
 texts until now, when there appeared no other reason for 
 delay. So she announced that she would accept the one 
 who would shoot an arrow through twelve rings arranged 
 in a line. A bow formerly used by Ulysses was brought 
 
MYTHS. 
 
 19 
 
 in and all other arms removed. All things being ready, 
 the first thing to be done was to attach the string to the 
 bow, which required the bow to be bent. Telemachus 
 tried and failed. Then each of the suitors tried in turn, 
 and all failed. They even rubbed the bow with tallow, 
 but it would not bend. 
 
 5. Here Ulysses spoke and said : " Beggar as I am, I 
 once was a soldier, and there is some strength in these 
 old limbs of mine yet. Let me try." The suitors hooted 
 at him, and would have turned him out of the hall ; but 
 Telemachus said it was best to gratify the old man, and 
 so put the bow in his hand. Ulysses took it and easily 
 adjusted the cord. Then he selected an arrow and sent 
 
 Penelope and Ulysses's Boio. 
 
 it through the twelve rings at the first shot. Before the 
 suitors recovered from their astonishment he sent another 
 through the heart of the most insolent of them. Telema- 
 chus, Eumaeus, and another faithful servant sprang to 
 theii' aid. The suitors looked around for arms, but, there 
 
20 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 were none. Ulysses did not let them remain long in 
 doubt ; lie announced himself as the long-lost chief whose 
 house they had invaded, whose substance they had squan- 
 dered, and whose wife and son they had persecuted for 
 ten long years, and told them he meant to have ample 
 vengeance. All the suitors were slain but two, and Ulys- 
 ses was left master of his own palace and the possessor 
 of his kingdom and wife. 
 
 V--THOR'S VISIT TO JOTUJ^HEIM. 
 
 1. Thor, the god of the E'orthmen, who always car- 
 ried a hammer to make his' way or obtain his wishes, 
 heard of the giant's country, Jotunheim, of which Utgard 
 was the capital, and he resolved on a visit to that region 
 to try his strength with any one whom he might find. 
 So, accompanied by his servants, Thiolfi and Loki, he set 
 out. Thiolfi was of all men the swiftest on foot. At 
 nightfall they took refuge from a storm in a very large 
 building which they imperfectly saw in the dim light, 
 but were kept awake by loud thunder which shook their 
 abode like an earthquake. In the morning it was found 
 that the thunder was the snoring of a huge giant sleeping 
 near by, and that the building in which they had taken 
 shelter was the giant's glove. 
 
 2. The giant, whose name was Skrymer, knew Thor, 
 and proposed that they should travel together, to which 
 the god consented. At night they encamped, and soon 
 the giant was asleep. Thor, finding that he could not 
 untie the provision-bag which the giant had carried all 
 day, went into a rage and struck the sleeper a mighty 
 
MYTHS. 21 
 
 blow with his hammer. Skrymer awoke and said, " The 
 leaves are falling, for one just now fell upon my breast." 
 They lay down again, and soon the giant began to snore 
 so loud that Thor could get no sleep, so he grasped 
 the hammer in both hands and dealt him another blow. 
 Skrymer awoke and called out, " How fares it with thee, 
 Thor ? A bird must be overhead — a bunch of moss has just 
 now fallen upon me." Just before dayhght Thor thought 
 that he would end this matter then, so he seized his ham- 
 mer and threw it with all his might. Skrymer awoke, 
 and stroking his cheek said, " An acorn fell upon my head. 
 But let us be stirring, as we have a long day before us." 
 
 3. When within sight of the city Skrymer turned off, 
 as his route lay in another direction, and soon Thor and 
 his companions were in presence of the giant king. Ad- 
 dressing Thor, the king asked if he or his companions 
 could do anything better than others, for he said that no 
 one was permitted to remain in the city unless he excelled 
 in something. 
 
 4. Loki, who was a great eater, proposed a feast, and 
 the king called Logi to come out and compete with him. 
 A trough filled with meat was placed in the midst of the 
 hall, and Loki beginning at one end soon ate all the flesh 
 to the middle of the trough ; but it was found that Logi 
 had devoured both flesh and bones and the trough to 
 boot. So the company adjudged Loki vanquished. 
 
 5. Next Thiolfi presented himself to run a race, and 
 the king brought out a young man named Hugi to run 
 with him. Hugi ran over the course and turning back 
 met Thiolfi but just started. Then the king remarked 
 that if Thor could not do better than his servants, it were 
 well that he stay at home. Then a drinking-match was 
 proposed, and a drinking-horn was brought in. It was 
 not very large, but was of great length, and the king 
 
22 STORIES OF T3E OLDEN TIME. 
 
 remarked that any one of his subjects ought to empty 
 it at a single draught, but none would fail to do so in 
 three draughts. Thor drank long and deep, but the horn 
 was as fall as before ; a second trial met with a similar 
 failure. Then Thor straightened himself for a mighty 
 effort and drank as the thirsty earth drinks of the rains 
 from heaven. The liquor was diminished, but still the 
 horn was nearly full. " I perceive," said the king, " that 
 thou canst not be very thirsty, or thou wouldst drink 
 more." 
 
 6. "What new trial do you propose?" said Thor. 
 " We have a trifling game here," said the king, " in which 
 we exercise none but children. It consists in merely Hft- 
 ing my cat from the ground, and I should not have men- 
 tioned it to the great Thor if I had not observed that 
 thou art by no means what we took thee for." As he 
 finished speaking, a large gray cat sprang into the hall. 
 Thor put forth all his mighty strength three times with- 
 out lifting her, though on the third trial one foot was 
 raised from the floor. 
 
 7. "Well." said the king, "only one trial remains for 
 thee. Thou must w^restle with somebody, and after thy 
 failures to-day none of our men will wrestle with thee." 
 So saying, the king called upon his old nurse, a toothless 
 crone, shaking and trembling on the edge of the grave. 
 Thor grasped her and put forth a mighty effort, but the 
 old woman stood fast. At last she grasped him in turn, 
 and he was thrown upon his knee. The king here inter- 
 fered, and the contests came to an end. The travelers, 
 however, were royally entertained, and after a good 
 night's rest, and a bountiful breakfast, they bade the king 
 good-by, and set out on their return. 
 
 8. Toward night they overtook a traveler, who proved 
 to be Skrymer, their former companion and guide, and 
 
MYTHS. 23 
 
 they encamped together in the very wood where they 
 passed then- first night together. The giant, perceiving 
 the dejected looks of Thor, said, " Something appears to 
 trouble thee ; has thy journey gone amiss ? " Thereupon 
 Thor related the whole story of his failures. "Then," 
 said the giant, "take heart, for thou hast performed 
 great wonders, but hast been the victim of delusions. 
 Observe me closely ! " Thor looked, and saw that 
 Skrymer and the king were one and the same person. 
 
 9. " IS^ow," said the king, " Loki devoured all that 
 was set before him, but Logi was Fire, and consumed 
 trough and all. Hugi, with whom Thiolfi was running, 
 was Thought, and not the swiftest runner can keep pace 
 with that. The horn that thou failedst to empty had its 
 lower end in the sea, and thou wilt see how the very 
 ocean is lowered by thy draught. The cat is the animal 
 that bears up the world, and thy last mighty effort caused 
 the solid earth to shake as with an earthquake. The old 
 woman with whom thou wrestledst was old age, and she 
 throws everybody." The king then pointed out the place 
 where Thor dealt his blows on the night of their first 
 meeting, and lo ! three mighty chasms showed where the 
 solid mountains had been rent asunder. 
 
PARABLES AND FABLES. 
 
 VI.-THE WOLF AMD THE BOG. 
 
 LEAIM, hungry wolf, fell in one 
 moonlight night with a jolly, plum|3, 
 well-fed mastiff, and after the first 
 greetings were passed, the wolf ac- 
 costed him : " You look extremely 
 well," said he, "I think I never saw a more graceful, 
 comely personage ; but how comes it about, I beseech 
 you, til at you should live so much better than I ? I may 
 say, without vanity, that I venture fifty times more than 
 you do, and yet I am almost ready to perish with hun- 
 ger." The dog answered very bluntly ; '' Why, you 
 
PARABLES AND FABLES. 25 
 
 may live as well as I if you will do the same services for 
 it." The wolf pricked up his ears at the proposal, and 
 requested to be informed what he must do to earn such 
 plentiful meals. " Very little," answered the dog ; " only 
 to guard the house at night, and keep it from thieves and 
 beggars." " With all my heart," rejoined the woK, " for 
 at present I have but a sorry time of it ; and, I think, to 
 change my hard lodging in the woods, where I endure 
 rain, frost, and snow, for a warm roof over my head and 
 plenty of food, will be no bad bargain." " True," said 
 the dog, " therefore, you have nothing more to do than 
 to follow me." 
 
 2. As they were jogging along together, the wolf 
 spied a circle, worn round his friend's neck, and, being 
 almost as curious as some of a higher species, he could 
 not forbear asking what it meant. " Pooh ! nothing," 
 said the dog, "or at most a mere trifle." "Nay, but 
 pray," urged the wolf, " inform me." " Why, then," said 
 the dog, " perhaps it is the collar to which my chain is 
 fastened ; for I am sometimes tied up in the day-time, 
 because I am a little fierce, and might bite people, and 
 am only let loose at night. But this is done with design 
 to make me sleep in the day, more than anything else, 
 that I may watch the better in the night-time. As soon 
 as the twilight appears, I am turned loose, and may go 
 where I please. Then my master brings me plates of 
 bones from the table with his own hands ; and whatever 
 scraps are left by the family fall to my share, for you 
 must know I am a favorite with everybody. So, seeing 
 how you are to live, come along ! Why, what is the matter 
 with you ? " "I beg your pardon," replied the wolf, " but 
 you may keep your happiness to yourself. I am resolved 
 to have no share in your dinners. Half a meal, with hb- 
 erty, is, in my estimation, worth a full one without it." 
 
26 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 VII-PABABLE OF THE LABORERS IJ^ THE 
 VIJ^EYARD. 
 
 1. FoK tlie kingdom of heaven is like unto a man 
 that is a householder, which went out early in the morn- 
 ing to hire laborers into his vineyard. 
 
 2. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a 
 penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 
 
 3. And he went out about the third hour, and saw 
 others standing idle in the market-place, 
 
 4. And said unto them ; go ye also into the vine- 
 yard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they 
 went their way. 
 
 5. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, 
 and did likewise. 
 
 6. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and 
 found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why 
 stand ye here all the day idle ? 
 
 7. They say unto him, because no man hath hired us. 
 He saith unto them, go ye also into the vineyard ; and 
 whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 
 
 8. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard 
 saith unto his steward, call the laborers, and give them 
 their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 
 
 9. And when they came that were hired about the 
 eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 
 
 10. But when the first came, they supposed that they 
 should have received more ; and they likewise received 
 every man a penny. 
 
 11. And when they had received it, they murmured 
 against the good man of the house, 
 
 12. Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, 
 and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have 
 borne the burden and heat of the day. 
 
PARABLES AND FABLES. 
 
 27 
 
 13. But be answered one of them, and said, Friend, 
 I do thee no wrong : didst not thou agree with me for a 
 
 penny 
 
28 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 14. Take that thine is, and go thy way : I will give 
 unto this last, even as unto thee. 
 
 15. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with 
 mine own ? Is thine eye evil, because I am good ? 
 
 16. . So the last shall be first, and the first last : for 
 many be called, but few chosen. 
 
 {St. Matthew^ xx. 1-16. 
 
 VIIL-P ARABLE OF THE SO WEB AJfD THE SEED. 
 
 1. The same day went Jesus out of the house, and 
 sat by the sea side. 
 
 2. And great multitudes were gathered together unto 
 him, so that he went into a ship, and sat ; and the whole 
 multitude stood on the shore. 
 
 3. And he spake many things unto them in parables, 
 saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow ; 
 
 4. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way- 
 side, and the fowls came and devoured them up : 
 
 5. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not 
 much earth : and forthwith they sprung up, because they 
 had no deepness of earth : 
 
 6. Arid when the sun was up, they were scorched; 
 and because they had no root, they withered away. 
 
 7. And some fell among thorns ; and the thorns 
 sprung up, and choked them : 
 
 8. But other fell into good ground, and brought- 
 forth fruit, some a hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some 
 thirty-fold. 
 
 9. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 
 
 10. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why 
 speakest thou unto them in parables ? 
 
PARABLES AND FABLES. 
 
 29 
 
 11. He answered and said unto tliem, Because it is 
 given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of 
 heaven, but to them it is not given. 
 
 A Sower went forth to Sow. 
 
30 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 12o For whosoever hath, to him shall be given , and 
 he shall have more abundance : but whosoever hath not, 
 from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 
 
 13. Therefore speak I to them in parables : because 
 
 they seeing see not ; and hearing they hear not, neither 
 
 do they understand. 
 
 {St. Matthew xiii, 1-13.) 
 
 IX.-FAIRIXG-TIME AJYTICIPATED. 
 
 1. I SHALL not ask Jean Jacques Rousseau 
 If birds confabulate or no ; 
 
 'Tis clear that they were always able 
 
 To hold discourse, — at least in fable ; 
 
 And even the child, who knows no better 
 
 Than to interpret by the letter 
 
 A story of a cock and bull, 
 
 Must have a most uncommon skull. 
 
 2. It chanced then on a winter's day, 
 
 But warm and bright and calm as May, 
 
 The birds, conceiving a design 
 
 To forestall sweet Saint Valentine, 
 
 In many an orchard, copse, and grove. 
 
 Assembled on affairs of love. 
 
 And with much twitter and much chatter, 
 
 Began to agitate the matter. 
 
 3. At length a bull-finch, who could boast 
 More years and wisdom than the most, 
 Entreated, opening wide his beak 
 
 A moment's liberty to speak. 
 And silence publicly enjoined, 
 
PAEABLES AND FABLES. 31 
 
 Briefly delivered thus his mind : 
 " My friends ! be cautious how ye treat 
 The subject upon which we meet ; 
 I fear we shall have winter yet." 
 
 4. A Unch, whose tongue knew no control. 
 With golden wings and satin poll, 
 A last year's bird, who ne'er had tried 
 What marriage means, thus pert, replied : 
 " Methinks the gentleman," quoth she, 
 " Opposite in the apple-tree, 
 Bj his good will, would keep us single 
 'Till yonder heaven and earth shall mingloj 
 Or, what is likelier to befall, 
 'Till death exterminate us all. 
 I marry without more ado ! 
 My dear Dick Redcap, what say you ? " 
 
 6. Dick heard, and tweedling, ogling, bridling, 
 Turning short round, strutting and sidling. 
 Attested glad his approbation 
 Of an immediate conjugation. 
 Their sentiments so well expressed. 
 Mightily influenced all the rest. 
 All paired and each pair built a nest. 
 
 6. But though the birds were thus in haste, 
 The leaves came out not quite so fast. 
 And destiny, that sometimes bears 
 An aspect stern on men's affairs, 
 Not altogether smiled on their's. 
 The wind of late breathed gently forth, 
 Now shifted east and east by north. 
 Bare trees and shrubs, but ill, you know, 
 Could shelter them from rain or snow. 
 
32 
 
 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 Wi 
 
 r^ 
 
 Cr^ 
 
 ^k; 
 
 - ^ ^'^ 
 
 - 
 
 ' --- "= 
 
 ^^1 'm 
 
 J /- 
 
 ^^^.>=-i-L ^-^ 
 
 ''^^ " z:!^ 
 
 y 
 
 
 
 %f 
 
 
 ^c 
 
 r 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 jaI 
 
 i ^f 
 
 "4 -^i'^^k 
 
 ^ X_-^^ 
 
 ^" 
 
 
 
 -J^m 
 
 Uf 
 
 ^'^mml 
 
 Ifc^^^W 
 
 '^ ^. 
 
 
 
 in 
 
 iSi 
 
 l^^^w^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 / 
 
 -' 
 
 />^ 
 
 .^ 
 
 -^^i*5 
 
 7. Stepping into their nests they paddled ; 
 Themselves were chilled, their eggs were addled ; 
 Soon every father bird and mother, 
 
 Grew quarrelsome and pecked each other, 
 Parted without the least regret — 
 Except that they had ever met — 
 And learned in future to be wiser 
 Than to neglect a good adviser. 
 
 8. Moral: 
 
 Misses, the tale that I relate. 
 
 This moral seems to carry — 
 Choose not alone a proper mate, 
 
 But proper time to marry. 
 
 CowjpeT. 
 
LEGEI^DS. 
 
 X-THE GIFT OF TBITEMIUS. 
 
 1. Teitemiqs, of Herbipolis, one day, 
 
 While kneeling at the altar's foot to pray, 
 Alone with God, as was his pious choice, 
 Heard from Tvithout a miserable voice, 
 A sound which seemed of all sad things to tell, 
 As of a lost soul crying out of hell. 
 
 \ 2. Thereat the abbot paused ; the chain whereby 
 His thoughts went upward broken by that cry ; 
 And, looking from the casement, saw below 
 A wretched woman, with gray hair a-flow. 
 And withered hands held up to him, who cried 
 For alms as one who might not be denied. 
 
 She cried, " For the dear love of Him who gave 
 His life for ours, my child from bondage save, — 
 My beautiful, brave first-born, chained with slaves 
 In the Moor's galley, where the sun-smit waves 
 Lap the white walls of Tunis ! " " What I can 
 " I give," Tritemius said : " my prayers." ^' O man 
 Of God," she cried, for grief had made her bold, 
 '^ Mock me not thus ; I ask not prayers, but gold. 
 
LEGENDS. 35 
 
 Words will not serve me, alms alone suffice ; 
 Even while I speak, perchance, my first-born dies." 
 
 4. " Woman," Tritemius answered, " from our door 
 l!^one go unfed ; hence are we always poor ; 
 
 A single soldo is our only store. 
 
 Thou hast our prayers ; what can we give thee more ? '' 
 
 5. " Give me," she said, " the silver candlesticks 
 On either side of the great crucifix ; 
 
 God may well spare them on his errands sped, 
 Or he can give you golden ones instead." 
 
 6. Then spake Tritemius : " Even as thy word, 
 Woman, so be it ! (Our most gracious Lord, 
 Who loveth mercy more than sacrifice. 
 Pardon me if a human soul I prize 
 Above the gifts upon his altar piled !) 
 
 Take what thou askest, and redeem thy child," 
 
 7. But his hand trembled as the holy alms 
 
 He placed within the beggar's eager palms ; 
 And as she vanished down the linden shade. 
 He bowed his head, and for forgiveness prayed. 
 
 8. So the day passed, and when the twilight came 
 He woke to find the chapel all aflame, 
 
 And, dumb with grateful wonder, to behold 
 Upon the altar candlesticks of gold ! 
 
 Whittier. 
 
36 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 XL-BAMOJV AXB PYTHIAS. 
 
 1. About four hundred years before the Christian 
 era, the government of Syracuse fell into the hands of 
 Dionysius, a successful general of the army. He dispos- 
 sessed the magistrates whom the people elected, and was 
 therefore a usurper. While ruling justly in the main, 
 he had a capricious temper, and often in his rage per- 
 formed actions which he sincerely regretted in his sober 
 moments. He was a good scholar, and very fond of phi- 
 losophy and poetry, and he delighted to have learned 
 men around him, and he had naturally a generous spirit; 
 but the sense that he was in a position that did not belong 
 to him, and that every one hated him for assuming it, 
 made him very harsh and suspicious. It is of him that 
 the story is told, that he had a chamber hollowed in the 
 rock near his state prison, and constructed with galleries 
 to conduct sounds like an ear, so that he might overhear 
 the conversation of his captives ; and of him, too, is told 
 that famous anecdote which has become a j)roverb, that 
 on hearing a friend, named Damocles, express a wish to 
 be in his situation for a single day, he took him at his 
 word, and Damocles found himself at a banquet with 
 everything that could delight his senses, delicious food, 
 costly wine, flowers, perfumes, music, but with a sword 
 with the point almost touching his head, and hanging by 
 a single horse-hair ! This was to show the condition in 
 which a usurper lived. 
 
 2. Thus Dionysius was in constant dread. He had a 
 wide trench round his bedroom, with a drawbridge that 
 he drew up and put down with his own hands ; and he 
 put one barber to death for boasting that he held a razor 
 to the tyrant's throat every morning. After this he 
 made his young daughters shave him ; and by-and-by he 
 
Damon and I'l/thius. 
 
38 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 would not trust them with a razor, and caused them to 
 singe off his beard with hot nut-shells. 
 
 3. One philosopher, named Philoxenus, he sent to a 
 dungeon for finding fault with his poetrj, but he after- 
 ward composed another piece, which he thought so supe- 
 rior that he could not be content without sending for this 
 adverse critic to hear it. When he had finished reading 
 it, he looked to Philoxenus for a compliment; but the 
 philosopher only turned round to the guards, and said 
 dryly, " Carry me back to prison." This time Dionysius 
 had the sense to laugh, and forgive his honesty. 
 
 4. All these stories may not be true ; but that they 
 should have been current in the ancient world, shows 
 what was the character of the man of whom they were 
 told, how stern and terrible was his anger, and how easily 
 it was incurred. Among those who came under it was a 
 Pythagorean called Pythias, who was sentenced to death, 
 according to the usual fate of those who fell under his 
 suspicion. 
 
 5. Pythias had lands and relations in Greece, and he 
 entreated as a favor to be allowed to return thither and 
 arrange his affairs, engaging to return within a specified 
 time and suffer death. The tyrant laughed his request to 
 scorn. Once safe out of Sicily, who would answer for 
 his return? Pythias made reply tliat he had a friend 
 who would become security for his return ; and while 
 Dionysius, the miserable man who trusted nobody, was 
 ready to scoff at his simplicity, another Pythagorean, by 
 name Damon, came forward and offered to become surety 
 for his friend, engaging that, if Pythias did not return 
 according to promise, to suffer death in his stead, 
 
 6. Dionysius, much astonished, consented to let Pyth- 
 ias go, marveling what would be the issue of the affair. 
 Time went on, and Pythias did not appear. The Syra- 
 
LEGENDS. 39 
 
 cusans watched Damon, but he showed no uneasiness. 
 He said he was secure of his friend's truth and honor, and 
 that if any accident had caused his delay, he should re- 
 joice in dying to save the life of one so dear to him. 
 
 7. Even to the last day Damon continued serene and 
 content, however it might fall out ; nay, even when the 
 very hour drew nigh and still no Pythias. His trust was 
 so perfect that he did not even grieve at having to die for 
 a faithless friend who left him to the fate to which he 
 had unwarily pledged himself. It was not Pythias's own 
 will, but the winds and waves, so he still declared, when 
 the decree was brought and the instruments of death 
 made ready. The hour had come, and a few moments 
 more would have ended Damon's life, when Pythias duly 
 presented himself, embraced his friend, and stood forward 
 himself to receive his sentence, calm, resolute, and re- 
 joiced that he had come in time. 
 
 8. Even the dim hope they owned of a future state 
 was enough to make these two brave men keep their 
 word, and confront death for one another without quail- 
 ing. Dionysius looked on more struck than ever. He 
 felt that neither of such men must die. He reversed the 
 sentence of Pythias, and calling the two to his judgment- 
 seat, he entreated them to admit him as a third in their 
 friendship. 
 
 Charlotte M. Yonge. 
 
 I 
 
40 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 XIL-KIKG CAJfUTE. 
 
 1. Upon his royal throne he sat 
 
 In a monarch's thoughtful mood ; 
 Attendants on his regal state, 
 
 His servile courtiers stood, 
 With foolish flatteries, false and vain, 
 To win his smile, his favor gain. 
 
 2. They told him e'en the mighty deep 
 
 His kingly sway confessed ; 
 "^ That he could bid its billows leap. 
 
 Or still its stormy breast ! 
 He smiled contemptuously and cried, 
 " Be then my boasted empire tried ! " 
 
 3. Down to the ocean's sounding shore 
 
 The proud procession came, 
 To see its billows' wild uproar 
 
 King Canute's power proclaim, 
 Or, at his high and dread command. 
 In gentle murmurs kiss the strand. 
 
 4. Kot so thought he, their noble king, 
 
 As his course he seaward sped ; 
 And each base slave, like a guilty thing, 
 
 Hung down his conscious head : 
 He knew the ocean's Lord on high ! 
 They, that he scorned their senseless lie. 
 
 5. His throne was placed by ocean's side, 
 
 He lifted his scepter there, 
 Bidding, with tones of kingly pride, 
 
 The waves their strife forbear ; 
 And while he spoke his royal will, 
 All but the winds and waves were still. 
 
LEGENDS. 
 
 41 
 
 Canute and his Courtiers. 
 
42 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 6. Louder the stormj blast swept bj, 
 
 In scorn of idle word ; 
 The brinj deep its waves tossed bigh, 
 
 Bj his mandate undeterred, 
 As threatening, in their angrj play. 
 To sweep both king and court away. 
 
 T. Tbe monarch, with upbraiding look. 
 
 Turned to the courtly ring ; 
 But none the kindling eye could brook 
 
 Even of his eartlily king ; 
 For in that wrathful glance they see 
 A mightier monarch wronged than he ! 
 
 8. Canute, thy regal race is run ; 
 
 Thy name had passed away. 
 But for the meed this tale hath won, 
 
 Which never sball decay : 
 Its meek, unperishing renown 
 Outlasts thy scepter and tby crown. 
 
 9. The Persian, in his migbty pride. 
 
 Forged fetters for the main. 
 And, when its floods bis power defied, 
 
 Inflicted stripes as vain ; 
 But it was worthier far of thee 
 To know thyself tban rule the sea ! 
 
 Bernard Barton. 
 
LEGENDS. 43 
 
 XIII-A J^OBSEMAJ^'S SWOED. 
 
 1. The smelting of iron in the north of Europe is 
 beheved to have commenced with the Finns or Lapland- 
 ers, the original inhabitants of Scandinavia, who then oc- 
 cupied the localities where the best ores are still found. 
 The diminutive stature of these people compared with 
 that of their Gothic invaders, their skill in penetrat- 
 ing the bowels of the earth in search of ores, the smoke 
 of their collieries, the flame and thunder of their fur- 
 naces and forges, and, above all, the excellent temper 
 of the weapons wrought by them — all these conspired 
 to render them objects of superstitious wonder to the 
 Goths. 
 
 2. The legendary stories of that people are filled with 
 strange tales of the northern dwarfs, who lived in the 
 solid rock, and possessed magic skill in all the various 
 arts of the smith. One of these legends may be worth 
 citing, and the rather, because it relates to Yanlander, the 
 Scandinavian Yulcan, of whom many traditions are extant, 
 even in England, wiiere he is styled Wayland Smith. At 
 the age of thirteen Yanlander was apprenticed by his 
 father, the giant Yade, to two of the dwarfs who dwelt in 
 the interior of the mountain, and he applied himself so 
 faithfully to their instructions, that in two years he 
 equaled his masters in knowledge of all the arts of smith- 
 ery, both black and white. 
 
 3. Being at the court of King Nidung, where his dex- 
 terity as a smith became known, a rivalship arose between 
 him and Amilias, principal smith to the king. Amilias 
 challenged Yanlander to a trial of skill, upon condition 
 that the life of the vanquished should be at the disposal 
 of the victor. The terms proposed were that Yanlander 
 should forge a sword, and Amilias a helmet, cuirass, and 
 
44: 
 
 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 other defensive armor, and a twelvemontli was allowed 
 preparation. If the sword of Yanlander penetrated 
 armor of Amilias, the former 
 was to be declared the victor, 
 if otherwise, his life was for- 
 feited to his rival. 
 
 for 
 the II 
 
 A Norseman'' s Sword. 
 
 4. Amilias spent the whole year at his task, but Van- 
 lander did not commence his labors until two months 
 
LEGENDS. 45 
 
 before the trial. He now, after seven days' labor, exhib- 
 ited to the king a sword of great beauty and excellent 
 temper, but too heavy for use. By way of testing its 
 edge, he took a cushion stuffed with wool a foot in 
 thickness, threw it into the river, and let it float with 
 the current against the edge of the sword, which cut it 
 fairly in two. The king thought this a suflScient proof, 
 but Yanlander was not satisfied. 
 
 5. He took the sword to his smithy, filed it quite to 
 dust, and after subjecting the filings to an odd process of 
 animal chemistry, he forged from them another sword of 
 somewhat smaller size than the first, though still rather 
 heavy. Upon testing this sword in the same manner as 
 before, it readily divided a cushion two feet in thickness, 
 and the king thought it the finest weapon in the world, 
 but Yanlander said he would have it half as good again 
 before he was done with it. 
 
 6. It was now reduced to filings, which were treated 
 as in the former instance, and in three weeks Yanlander 
 produced a sword of convenient size, inlaid with gold, 
 and with an ornamental hilt, all of the highest finish and 
 beauty. The king and the smith w^ent again to the river 
 with a cushion three feet in thickness, which was thrown 
 into the water and driven against the blade as before. 
 The sword divided the cushion as easily as the water, and 
 without even checking its progress as it floated with the 
 current, and King Nidung declared its fellow could not 
 be found on earth. 
 
 7. At the appointed day Amilias put on his armor, 
 all of which was of double plates, and, declaring himself 
 ready for the trial, seated himself in a chair, and defied 
 his rival to do his worst. Yanlander stepped behind him, 
 gave him a blow upon the helmet, and asked him if he 
 felt the edge. ^'I felt as if cold water were running 
 
46 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 through me," replied Amilias. " Shake yourself," said 
 Yanlander. His rival did so, and fell asunder, the sword 
 having cleft him to the chine. 
 
 George P. Marsh. 
 
 XIV.-THE STORY OF KIMG ALFRED AJ^B ST. 
 CUTHBERT. 
 
 1. Now King Alfred was driven from his kingdom 
 by the Danes, and he lay hid three years in the Isle of 
 Glastonbury. And it came to pass on a day that all his 
 folk were gone out to fish, save only Alfred himself and 
 his wife and one servant whom he loved. And there 
 came a pilgrim to the king and begged for food. And 
 the king said to his servant, " What food have we in the 
 house ? " And his servant answered, '^ My lord, we have 
 but one loaf and a little wine." Then the king gave 
 thanks to God, and said, " Give half of the loaf and half 
 of the wine to this poor pilgrim." So the servant did as 
 his lord commanded him, and gave to the pilgrim half of 
 the loaf and half of the w^ine, and the pilgrim gave great 
 thanks to the king. 
 
 2. And when the servant returned he found the loaf 
 whole, and the wine as much as there had been aforetime. 
 And he greatly wondered, and he wondered also how the 
 pilgrim had come into the isle, for that no man could 
 come there save by water, and the pilgrim had no boat. 
 And the king greatly wondered also. And at the ninth 
 hour came back the folk who had gone to fish. And they 
 had three boats full of fish, and they said, " Lo, we have 
 caught more fish this day than in all the three years that 
 we have tarried in this island ! " And the king was glad, 
 
LEGENDS. 47 
 
 and he and his folk were merry ; yet he pondered much 
 upon that which had come to pass. 
 
 3. And when night came the king went to his bed, 
 and the king lay awake and thought of all that had come 
 to pass by day. And presently he saw a great light, like 
 the brightness of the sun, and he saw an old man with 
 black hair, clothed in priest's garments, and with a miter 
 on his head, and holding in his right hand a book of the 
 Gospels adorned with gold and gems. And the old man 
 blessed the king, and the king said unto him, '' Who art 
 thou ? " And he answered : " Alfred, my son, rejoice ; 
 for I am he to whom thou didst this day give thine alms, 
 and I am called Cuthbert the Soldier of Christ. 
 
 4. " ^ow be strong and very courageous, and be of 
 joyful heart, and hearken diligently to the things wliicli I 
 say unto thee ; for henceforth I will be thy shield and 
 thy friend, and I will watch over thee and over thy sons 
 after thee. And now I will tell thee what thou must do : 
 Rise up early in the morning and blow thine horn thrice, 
 that thine enemies may hear it and fear, and by the ninth 
 hour thou shalt have around thee five hundred men har- 
 nessed for the battle. And this shall be a sign imto thee 
 that thou mayst believe. And after seven days thou 
 shalt have, by God's gift and m}^ help, all the folk of 
 this land gathered unto thee upon the mount that is 
 called Assaudun. And thus shalt thou fight against 
 thine enemies, and doubt not that thou shalt overcome 
 them. 
 
 5. " Be thou, therefore, glad of heart, and be strong 
 and very courageous, and fear not, for God hath given 
 thine enemies into thine hand. And he hath given thee 
 also all this land and the kingdom of thy fathers, to thee 
 and to thy sons and to thy sons' sons after thee. Be thou 
 faithful to me and to my folk, because that unto thee is 
 
 3 
 
48 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 given all the land of Albion. Be thou righteous, because 
 thou art chosen to be the king of all Britain. So may 
 God be merciful unto thee, and I will be thy friend, and 
 none of thine enemies shall ever be able to overcome 
 thee." 
 
 6. Then was King Alfred glad at heart, and he was 
 strong and very courageous, for that he knew that he 
 would overcome his enemies by the help of God and St. 
 Cuthbert his patron. So in the morning he arose and 
 sailed to the land, and blew his horn three times, and 
 when his friends heard it they rejoiced, and when his 
 enemies heard it they feared. And by the ninth hour, 
 according to the word of the Lord, there were gathered 
 unto him hve hundred men of the bravest and dearest of 
 his friends. 
 
 7. And he spake unto them and told them all that 
 God had said unto them by the mouth of his servant 
 Cuthbert, and he told them that, by the gift of God and 
 by the help of St. Cuthbert, they would overcome their^ 
 enemies and win back their own land. And he bad( 
 them, as St. Cuthbert had taught him, to be pious to- 
 ward God and righteous toward men. And he bade his 
 son Edward, who was by him, to be faithful to God 
 and St. Cuthbert, and so he should always have victory 
 over his enemies. So they went forth to battle and 
 smote their enemies and overcame them, and King Al- 
 fred took the kingdom of all Britain, and he ruled well 
 and wisely over the just and the unjust for the rest of 
 
 his days. 
 
 E. A. Freeman. 
 
LEGENDS. 49 
 
 XV.-A ROLAKB FOR AK OLIVER. 
 
 1. MiLOx, or Mil one, a knight of great family, and 
 distantly related to Charlemagne, having secretly married 
 Bertha, the emperors sister, was banished from France. 
 After a long and miserable wandering on foot as mendi- 
 cants, Milon and his wife arrived at Sutri, in Italy, where 
 they took refuge in a cave, and in that cave Orlando was 
 born. There his mother continued, drawing a scanty 
 support from the compassion of the neighboring peasants, 
 while Milon, in quest of honor and fortune, went into 
 foreign lands. Orlando grew up among the children of 
 the peasantry, surpassing them all in strength and manly 
 graces. 
 
 2. Among his companions in age, though in station 
 far more elevated, w^as Oliver, son of the governor of the 
 town. Between the two boys a feud arose, that led to a 
 fight, in which Orlando thrashed his rival ; but this did 
 not prevent a friendship springing up between the two 
 which lasted through life. 
 
 3. Orlando was so poor that he was sometimes half 
 naked. As he was a favorite of the boys, one day four 
 of them brought some cloth to make him clothes. Tw^o 
 brought white and two red ; and from this circumstance 
 Orlando took his coat of -arms, or quarterings. 
 
 4. When Charlemagne was on his way to Rome, to 
 receive the imperial crown, he dined in public in Sutri. 
 Orlando and his mother that day had nothing to eat, and 
 Orlando, coming suddenly upon the royal party, and see- 
 ing abundance of provisions, seized from the attendants 
 as much as he could carry off, and made good his retreat 
 in spite of their resistance. 
 
 5. The emperor, being told of this incident, was re- 
 minded of an intimation he had received in a dream, and 
 
50 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 ordered the boy to be followed. This was done by three 
 of the knights, whom Orlando would have encountered 
 with a cudgel on their entering the grotto, had not his 
 mother restrained him. When they heard from her who 
 she was, they threw themselves at her feet, and promised 
 to obtain her pardon from the emperor. This was easily 
 effected. Orlando was received into favor by the em- 
 peror, returned with him to France, and so distinguished 
 himself that he became the most powerful support of the 
 throne and of Christianity. 
 
 6. On another occasion, Orlando encountered a puis- 
 sant Saracen warrior, and took from him, as the prize of 
 victory, the sword Durindana. This famous weapon had 
 once belonged to the illustrious prince Hector of Troy. It 
 was of the finest workmanship, and of such strength and 
 temper that no armor in the world could stand against it. 
 
 Y. Guerin de Montglave held the lordship of Yienne, 
 subject to Charlemagne. He had quarreled with his sov- /| 
 ereign, and Charles laid siege to his city, having ravaged i \ 
 the neighboring country. Guerin was an aged warrior, j 
 but relied for his defense upon his four sons and two 
 grandsons, who were among the bravest knights of the 
 age. After the siege had continued two months, Charle- 
 magne received tidings that Marsilius, King of Spain, had 
 invaded France, and, finding himself unopposed, was ad- 
 vancing rapidly in the southern provinces. At this in- 
 telHgence, Charles listened to the counsel of his peers, 
 and consented to put the quarrel with Guerin to the de- 
 cision of Heaven, by single combat between two knights, 
 one of each party, selected by lot. 
 
 8. The proposal was acce]3table to Guerin and his sons. 
 The name of the four, together with Guerin's own, who 
 would not be excused, and of the two grandsons, who 
 claimed their lot, being put into a helmet, Oliver's was 
 
LEGENDS. 61 
 
 drawn forth, and to him, the youngest of the grandsons, 
 was assigned the honor and the peril of the combat. He 
 accepted the award with dehght, exulting in being thought 
 worthy to maintain the cause of his family. On Charle- 
 magne's side Roland was designated champion, and 
 neither he nor Oliver knew who his antagonist was to be. 
 
 9. They met on an island in the Ehone, and the war- 
 riors of both camps were ranged on either shore, spec- 
 tators of the battle. At the first encounter both lances 
 were shivered, but both riders kept their seats immov- 
 able. They dismounted and drew their swords. Then 
 ensued a combat which seemed so equal, that the spec- 
 tators could not form an opinion as to the probable issue. 
 Two hours and more the knights continued to strike and 
 parry, to thrust and ward, neither showing any sign of 
 weariness, nor ever being taken at unawares. 
 
 10. At length Orlando struck furiously upon Oliver's 
 shield, burying Durindana in its edge so deeply that he 
 could not draw it back, and Oliver, almost at the same 
 moment, thrust so vigorously upon Orlando's breastplace 
 that his sword snapped oU at the handle. Thus were the 
 two warriors left weaponless. Scarcely pausing a moment, 
 they rushed upon one another, each striving to throw his 
 adversary to the ground, and, failing in that, each snatched 
 at the other's helmet to tear it away. Both succeeded, 
 and at the same moment they stood bareheaded face to 
 face, and Roland recognized Oliver, and Oliver Roland. 
 For a moment they stood still ; and the next, with open 
 arms, rushed into one another's embrace. "I am con- 
 quered," said Orlando. "I yield me," said Oliver. 
 
 11. The people on the shore knew not what to make 
 of all this. Presently they saw the two late antagonists 
 standing hand-in-hand, and it was evident the battle was 
 at an end. The knights crowded around them, and with 
 
52 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 one voice hailed them as equal in glory. If there were 
 any who felt disposed to murmur that the battle was left 
 undecided, they were silenced by the voice of Ogier the 
 Dane, who proclaimed aloud that all had been done that 
 honor required, and declared that he would maintain that 
 award against all gainsay ers. 
 
 12. The quarrel with Guerin and his sons being left 
 undecided, a truce was made for four days, and in that 
 time, by the efforts of Duke N"amo on the one side, and of 
 Oliver on the other, a reconciliation was effected. Char- 
 lemagne, accompanied by Guerin and his valiant family, 
 marched to meet Marsilius, who hastened to retreat across 
 the frontier. 
 
 Bullfinch. 
 
 XVI. -THE LEGEJs^B OF MACBETH. 
 
 1. Soon after the Scots and Picts had become one 
 people, there was a king of Scotland called Duncan, a very 
 good old man. He had two sons, Malcolm and Donald- 
 bane. But King Duncan was to old to lead out his army 
 to battle, and his sons were too young to help him. E^ow 
 it happened that a great fleet of Danes came to Scotland 
 and landed their men in Fife and threatened to take pos- 
 session of that province. So a numerous Scottish army 
 was levied to go out to fight with them. The king in- 
 trusted the command to Macbeth, a near kinsman. 
 
 2. This Macbeth, who was a brave soldier, put him- 
 self at the head of the Scottish army and marched against 
 the Danes. And he took with him a near relative of his 
 own called Banquo, a brave and successful soldier. There 
 was a great battle fought between the Danes and the 
 Scots, and Macbeth and Banquo defeated the Danes and 
 
LEGENDS. 53 
 
 drove them back to tlieir ships, lea\dng a great many of 
 their soldiers killed and womided. Then Macbeth and 
 his army marched back to Forres in the north of Scot- 
 land, rejoicing on account of their victory. 
 
 3. Xow, at this time, there lived in the town of Forres 
 three old women, whom people thought were witches, 
 and supposed they could tell what was to come to pass. 
 These old women went and stood by the way-side, in a 
 great moor near Forres, and waited until Macbeth came 
 up. And then stepping before him as he was marching 
 at the head of his soldiers the first woman said, " All hail 
 Macbeth ! hail to the Thane of Glamis ! " The second said, 
 " All hail to the Thane of Cawdor ! " Then the third 
 wishing to pay him a higher compliment, said : " All 
 hail Macbeth, that shall be King of Scotland ! " While 
 Macbeth stood wondering what they could mean, Banquo 
 stepped forward and asked if they had not something 
 good to say to him. And they said he should not be so 
 great as Macbeth, yet his children should succeed to the 
 throne of Scotland and reign for a great number of years. 
 
 4. Before Macbeth had recovered from his surprise, 
 there came a messenger to tell him that his father was 
 dead ; so that, he was Thane of Glamis ; and then came 
 a second messenger from the king to thank Macbeth for 
 the great victory over the Danes, and to tell him that the 
 Thane of Cawdor had rebelled against the king, and that 
 the king had taken his office from him, and had sent to 
 make Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth, seeing that 
 a part of their words came true, began to think how he 
 might become king as the three old women had predicted. 
 Now Lady Macbeth was a very wicked woman, and she 
 showed Macbeth that the only way to become king was 
 to kill good King Duncan. At first Macbeth would not 
 listen to her, but at last his ambition to be king became 
 
54 
 
 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 SO great that lie re- 
 solved to murder his kins- 
 man and best friend. 
 
 5. To accomplish his 
 pm-pose he invited King 
 Duncan to visit him in his 
 own castle near Inverness, 
 and the king accepted the 
 invitation. Macbeth and his 
 lady received their distin- 
 guished guests with great 
 seeming joy and made for 
 them a great feast. At the 
 close of the feast the kino^ 
 
 retired to rest, and all the other guests followed his ex- 
 ample. The two personal attendants of the king whose 
 duty it was to watch over him while asleep, were pur- 
 posely made drunk by Lady Macbeth, and they fell upon 
 their couch in a profound slumber. 
 
 6. Then Macbeth came into King Duncan's room 
 about two o'clock in the morning. It was a terrible 
 stormy night, but the noise of the wind and the thunder 
 could not awaken the king, as he was old and weary with 
 
 Macbeth. 
 
LEGENDS. 55 
 
 his journey ; neither could it awaken the two sentinels. 
 They all slept soundly. So Macbeth stepped gently over 
 the floor and took the two dirks which belonged to the 
 sentinels and stabbed poor old King Duncan to the heart, 
 so he died without a groan. Then Macbeth put the bloody 
 daggers into the hands of the sleeping sentinels and daubed 
 their hands and faces with blood. Macbeth was fright- 
 ened at what he had done, but his wife made him wash 
 his hands and go to bed. 
 
 7. Early in the morning the nobles and gentlemen 
 who attended on the king assembled in the great hall of 
 the castle, and then they began to talk of what a dreadful 
 storm there had been the night before. They waited for 
 some time, but finding the king did not come out, one of 
 the noblemen went to see whether he was well or not. 
 But when he came into the room he found King Dun- 
 can dead, and went back and spread the alarm. The 
 Scottish nobles were greatly enraged at the sight, and 
 Macbeth made believe he was more enraged than any of 
 them, and drawing his sword he killed the two attend- 
 ants of the king, still heavy with sleep in consequence 
 of the drink furnished by Lady Macbeth the night be- 
 fore. 
 
 8. Malcolm and Donaldbane, the two sons of Duncan, 
 when they saw their father dead, iied from the castle, as 
 they believed that Macbeth had committed the murder. 
 Malcolm, the eldest son, made his way to the English court, 
 and solicited aid to get possession of his father's throne. 
 In the mean time Macbeth took possession of the kingdom 
 of Scotland. The remembrance of his great crime con- 
 tinually haunted him, and he became so sleepless as to be 
 nearly insane. He remembered that the witches had 
 said that the children of Banquo should reign as kings in 
 Scotland, and he became terribly jealous of his old friend 
 
56 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 and companion. At last he hired ruffians to waylay 
 Eanquo and his sons and murder them. The scheme was 
 partially successful — Ban quo was killed but the sons es- 
 caped, and from him descended a long line of the early 
 Scottish kings. 
 
 9. But Macbeth was not more happy after he had 
 slain his friend and cousin Banquo. He knew that peo- 
 ple began to suspect him of his evil deeds, and he was 
 constantly afraid that some of his nobles would treat him 
 as he treated King Duncan. In his perplexity he sought 
 the three witches he had met before, to ask them what 
 was to happen to him in the future. They answered 
 him that he should not be conquered or lose the crown of 
 Scotland until a great forest, called Birnam Wood should 
 come to attack him in his strong castle on Dunsinane 
 hill. As the distance between the two was twelve miles 
 apart, Macbeth thought it was impossible that the trees 
 should ever come to assault him in his castle. He imme- 
 diately summoned all his nobles to assist him in strength- 
 ening his castle at Dunsinane. All the nobles were 
 obliged to furnish oxen and horses to drag the heavy 
 stones and logs used on the fortification up the steep 
 hill. 
 
 10. One day Macbeth noticed a pair of oxen so tired 
 with their burden that they fell down under their load. 
 Upon inquiry he learned that they belonged to Macduff, 
 the Thane of Fife. The king, who was jealous of Mac- 
 duff, flew into a great rage and declared that '^ since the 
 Thane of Fife sends such worthless cattle as these to do 
 my labor, I will put his own neck into the yoke, and 
 make him drag the burden himself." A friend of Mac- 
 duff who heard this speech hastened to the king's castle 
 and informed Macduff who was walking about while the 
 dinner was preparing. 
 
LEGENDS. 57 
 
 11. Macduff snatched a loaf of bread from the table, 
 called for his horses and servants, and galloped off toward 
 his own castle of Kennoway in Fife. When Macbeth re- 
 turned he first asked what had become of Macduff, and 
 being informed that he had fled from Dunsinane, Mac- 
 beth put himself at the head of a large force of his guards, 
 and immediately pursued. Macduff reached his castle 
 which is built upon the shore of the sea, a little in ad- 
 vance of the king. He ordered his wife to shut the gates 
 of the castle and pull up the drawbridge, and on no ac- 
 count permit the king or any of his soldiers to enter. In 
 the mean time he went aboard a small ship and put out to 
 sea. 
 
 12. Macbeth then summoned the lady to open the 
 gates and deliver up her husband. " Do you see," said 
 she, " yon white sail upon the sea ? Yonder goes Macduff* 
 to the court of England. You will never see him again 
 until he comes with young Prince Malcolm to pull you 
 down from the throne and put you to death. You will 
 never be able to put your yoke upon the neck of the 
 Thane of Fife." 
 
 ■ 13. Some say that Macbeth was so enraged at the es- 
 cape of Macduff that he stormed and took the castle, and 
 put to death the wife and children of Macduff. But 
 others say that Macbeth turned back from the strong cas- 
 tle and its brave defenders, and returned to his own home 
 at Dunsinane. Macduff readily found Prince Malcolm 
 and the English king, fitted them out with an army. 
 Upon entering Scotland a large share of the nobles de- 
 serted Macbeth and joined the forces of Malcolm. The 
 army marched as far as Birnam Wood where they en- 
 camped to rest and recuperate. 
 
 14. Macbeth, in the mean time, shut himself up in 
 his castle, where he thought himself safe according to 
 
68 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 the old woman's prophecy, "until Birnam Wood should 
 advance against him, and this he never expected to see. 
 Malcolm's army having entirely recovered their strength 
 and vigor, at length were ready to march. As they were 
 about to start, Macduff advised each soldier to cut down 
 the bough of a tree and carry it so as to conceal the 
 strength of the army as they crossed the valley. The 
 sentinel on the castle walls saw all these green boughs ad- 
 vancing, ran to Macbeth and informed him that the wood 
 of Birnam was moving toward the castle of Dunsinane. 
 The king at first called him a liar and threatened to put 
 him to death ; but when he looked from the walls him- 
 self, and saw the appearance of a forest approaching from 
 Birnam, he remembered the prediction, and felt that the 
 hour of his destruction had come. 
 
 15. His followers were also superstitious and began 
 to desert him. But Macbeth, at the head of those who 
 remained true to him sallied out, and was killed in a 
 hand-to-hand conflict with Macduff. This story, a tradi- 
 tion, is told by Sir Walter Scott, and forms the founda- 
 tion of Shakespeare's tragedy of '' Macbeth." 
 
OLD BALLADS. 
 
 ■XriL-CHE VY-CHASE, 
 
 1. God prosper long our noble king, 
 
 Our lives and safeties all ; 
 A woful hunting once there did 
 In Chevy- Chase befall. 
 
 2. The stout Earl of Northumberland 
 
 A vow to God did make, 
 His pleasure in the Scottish woods 
 Three summer days to take — 
 
 3. The chief est harts in Chevj-Chase 
 
 To kill and bear away. 
 These tidings to Earl Douglas came. 
 In Scotland where he lay ; 
 
 4. Who sent Eai-1 Percy present word 
 
 He would prevent his sport. 
 The English earl, not fearing that, 
 Did to the woods resort, 
 
 5. With fifteen hundred bowmen bold, 
 
 All chosen men of might, 
 Who knew full well in time of need 
 To aim their shafts aright. 
 
60 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 6. The gallant greyhounds swiftly ran 
 To chase the fallow deer ; 
 On Monday they began to hunt 
 When daylight did appear ; 
 
 1. And long before high noon they had 
 A hundred fat bucks slain ; 
 Then, having dined, the drovers went 
 To rouse the deer again. 
 
 8. Lord Percy to the quarry went, 
 
 To view the slaughtered deer ; 
 Quoth he, " Earl Douglas promised 
 This day to meet me here ; 
 
 9. '^ But if I thought he w^ould not come — 
 
 Ko longer would I stay " ; 
 With that a brave young gentleman 
 Thus to the earl did say : 
 
 10. " Lo, yonder doth Earl Douglas come — 
 
 His men in armor bright. 
 Full twenty hundred Scottish spears 
 All marching in our sight." 
 
 11. Earl Douglas on his milk-white steed, 
 
 Most like a baron bold, 
 Rode foremost of his company. 
 Whose armor shone like gold. 
 
 12. " Show me," said he, " whose men you be, 
 
 That hunt so boldly here, 
 That, without my consent, do chase 
 And kill my fallow-deer." 
 
 13. The first man that did answer make 
 
 Was noble Percy he— 
 Who said : " We list not to declare, 
 ]^or show whose men we be : 
 
OLD BALLADS, 61 
 
 14. "Yet will we spend our dearest blood 
 
 Thy chief est harts to slay." 
 Then Douglas swore a solemn oath, 
 And thus in rage did say : 
 
 15. " Ere thus I will out-braved be, 
 
 One of us two shall die ! 
 I know thee well, an earl thou art — 
 Lord Percy, so am I. 
 
 16. " Let you and me the battle try. 
 
 And set our men aside." 
 " Accursed be he," Earl Percy said, 
 " By whom this is denied ! " 
 
 17. Then stepped a gallant squire forth, 
 
 Witherington was his name. 
 Who said : "I would not have it told 
 To Henry, our king, for shame, 
 
 18. " That e'er my captain fought on foot, 
 
 And I stood looking on. 
 You two be earls," said Witherington, 
 " And I a scpire alone. 
 
 19. '' ril do the best that do I may. 
 
 While I have power to stand ; 
 While I have power to wield my sword 
 ril fight with heart and hand." 
 
 20. Our English archers bent their bows — 
 
 Their hearts were good and true ; 
 At the first flight of arrows sent. 
 Full fourscore Scots they slew, 
 
 21. Yet stays Earl Douglas on the bent, 
 
 As chieftain stout and good ; 
 As valiant captain, all unmoved. 
 The shock he firmly stood. 
 
62 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 22. His host he parted had in three, 
 
 As leaders ware and tried ; 
 And soon his spearmen on their foes 
 Bore down on every side. 
 
 23. At last these two stoat earls did meet ; 
 
 Like captains of great might, 
 Like lions wode, they laid on lode, 
 And made a cruel fight. 
 
 24. " Yield thee. Lord Percy," Douglas said, 
 
 " In faith I will thee bring 
 Where thou shalt high advanced be 
 By James, our Scottish king. 
 
 25. " Thy ransom I will freely give, 
 
 And this report of thee — 
 Thou art the most courageous knight 
 That ever I did see." 
 
 26. " Ko, Douglas," saith Earl Percy then, 
 
 " Thy proffer I do scorn ; 
 
 I will not yield to any Scot 
 
 That ever yet was born." 
 
 27. With that there came an arrow keen 
 
 Out of an English bow. 
 Which struck Earl Douglas to the heart — 
 A deep and deadly blow ; 
 
 28. Who never spake more words than these i 
 
 " Fight on, my merry men all ; 
 For why, my life is at an end ; 
 Lord Percy sees my fall." 
 
 29. Then leaving life. Earl Percy took 
 
 The dead man by the hand. 
 And said : " Earl Douglas, for thy life 
 Would I had lost my land ! 
 
OLD BALLADS. 
 
 30. " In truth, my very becart doth bleed 
 
 AVith sori'ow for thy sake ; 
 For sure a more redoubted knight 
 Mischance did never make." 
 
 31. A kniglit amongst the Scots there was 
 
 Who saw Earl Doughis die, 
 Who straight in wrath did vow revenge 
 Upon the Earl Percy. 
 
 32. Sir Ilugli Mountgomery was he called, 
 
 Who with a spear full bright, 
 Well mounted on a gallant steed, 
 Ran fiercely through the fight ; 
 
 33. And past the English archers all. 
 
 Without a dread or fear. 
 And through Earl Percy's body then 
 He thrust his hateful spear. 
 
 34. So thus did both these nobles die. 
 
 Whose courage none could stain. 
 An English archer then perceived 
 The noble earl was slain. 
 
 35. Against Sir Hugh Mountgomery 
 
 To right a shaft he set ; 
 The gray goose-wing that was thereon 
 In his heart's blood was wet. 
 
 36. This fight did last from break of day 
 
 Till setting of the sun ; 
 For when they rung the evening-bell 
 
 The battle scarce was done. 
 3Y. Of fifteen hundred Englishmen 
 
 Went home but fifty-three ; 
 The rest in Chevy-Chase were slain, 
 
 Under the greenwood-tree. 
 
64 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. \ 
 
 38. The news was brought to Eclinburg, 
 
 Where Scotland's king did reign, :. 
 
 That brave Earl Douglas suddenly i| 
 
 Was with an arrow slain. 
 
 39. " Oh, heavy news ! " King James did say ; 
 
 " Scotland can witness be, 
 I have not any captain more 
 Of such account as he." 
 
 40. Like tidings to King Henry came 
 
 Within as short a Sj^ace, 
 That Percy of Northumberland 
 Was slain in Chevy-Chase : 
 
 41. "E"ow God be with him," said our king, 
 
 ^' Since 'twill no better be ; 
 I trust I have within my realm 
 Five hundred as good as he : 
 
 42. " Yet shall not Scot or Scotland say 
 
 But I will vengeance take ; 
 I'll be revenged on them all 
 For brave Earl Percy's sake ! " 
 
 43. This vow full well the king performed 
 
 After at Humbledown : 
 In one day fifty knights were slain. 
 With lords of high renown ; 
 
 44. And of the rest, of small account, 
 
 Did many hundreds die : 
 Thus endeth the hunting of Chevy-Chase, 
 Made by the Earl Percy. 
 
 45. God save the king and bless this land 
 
 With plenty, joy, and peace ; 
 And grant, henceforth, that foul debate 
 ^Twixt noblemen may cease ! 
 
 Old Ballad. 
 
OLD BALLADS. 66 
 
 XVIII -VALEJ^TIJ^E AJYD UESIJVK 
 
 1. When Flora 'gins to deck the fields 
 
 AVitli colors fresli and line, 
 Then holy clerks their matins sing 
 To good St. Valentine. 
 
 2. The King of France, that morning fair, 
 
 lie would a-hunting ride, 
 To Artois Forest prancing forth 
 In all his princely pride. 
 
 3. To grace his sports a courtly train 
 
 Of gallant peers attend, 
 And with their loud and cheerful cries 
 The hills and valleys rend. 
 
 4. Through the deep forest swift they pass, 
 
 Through woods and thickets wild, 
 "When down within a lonely dell 
 They found a new-born child. 
 
 5. All in a scarlet kerchief laid, 
 
 Of silk so line and thin, 
 A golden mantle wrapt him round. 
 Pinned with a silver pin. 
 
 6. The sudden sight surprised them all. 
 
 The courtiers gathered round ; 
 They look, they call, the mother seek — 
 No mother could be found. 
 
 7. At length the king himself drew near, 
 
 And, as he gazing stands. 
 The pretty babe looked up and smiled. 
 And stretched his little hands. 
 
ee STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 8. "Now, bj the rood," King Pepin says, 
 
 " This child is passing fair ; 
 I wot he is of gentle blood. 
 Perhaps some prince's heir. 
 
 9. " Go, bear him home unto my court, 
 
 With all the care you may, 
 Let him be christened Valentine, 
 In honor of this day. 
 
 10. " And look me out some cunning nurse, 
 
 Well nurtured let him be ; 
 Nor aught be wanting that becomes 
 A bairn of high degree." 
 
 11. They looked him out a cunning nurse, 
 
 And nurtured well was he ; 
 ISTor aught was wanting that became 
 A bairn of high degree. 
 
 12. Thus grew the little Yalentine, 
 
 Beloved of king and peers. 
 And showed in all he spake or did 
 A wit beyond his years. 
 
 13. But chief in gallant feats of arms 
 
 He did himself advance, 
 That, ere he grew to man's estate, 
 He had no peer in France. 
 
 14. And now the early down began 
 
 To shade his youthful chin, 
 When Valentine was dubbed a knight. 
 That he might glory win. 
 
 15. " A boon, a boon, my gracious liege, 
 
 I beg a boon of thee : 
 The first adventure that befalls 
 May be reserved for me." 
 
OLD BALLADS. 67 
 
 16. " The first adventure shall be thine," 
 
 The king did smiling say. 
 Not many days, when lo ! there came 
 Three palmers clad in gray. 
 
 17. " Help, gracious lord," they weeping said, 
 
 And knelt, as it was meet ; 
 " From Artois Forest we are come, 
 With weak and weary feet. 
 
 18. " Within those deep and dreary woods 
 
 There dwells a savage boy, 
 Whose fierce and mortal rage doth yield 
 Thy subjects dire annoy. 
 
 19. " To more than savage strength he joins 
 
 A more than human skill ; 
 For arms no cunning may suffice 
 His cruel rage to still." 
 
 20. Up then rose Sir Valentine 
 
 And claimed that arduous deed. 
 " Go forth and conquer," said the king, 
 " And great shall be thy meed." 
 
 21. Well mounted on a milk-white steed, 
 
 His armor white as snow, 
 As well beseemed a virgin knight. 
 Who ne'er had fought a foe — 
 
 22. To Artois Forest he repairs. 
 
 With all the liaste he may, 
 And soon he spies the savage youth 
 A-rending of his prey ! 
 
 23. His unkempt hair all matted hung 
 
 His shaggy shoulders round ; 
 His eager eye all fiery glowed. 
 His face with fury frowned. 
 
68 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 24. Like eagle's talons grew liis nails, 
 
 His limbs were thick and strong, 
 And dreadful was the knotted oak 
 He bare with him along. 
 
 25. Soon as Sir Valentine approached, 
 
 He starts with sudden spring, 
 And yelling forth a hideous howl, 
 He made the forest ring. 
 
 26. As when a tiger fierce and fell 
 
 Hath spied a passing roe, 
 And leaps at once upon liis throat. 
 So sprang the savage foe. 
 
 27. So lightly leaped with furious force^ 
 
 Tiie gentle knight to seize. 
 But met his tall uplifted spear, 
 Which sank him on his knees. 
 
 28. A second stroke, so stiff and stern, 
 
 Had laid the savage low ; 
 But, springing up, he raised his club, 
 And aimed a dreadful blow. 
 
 29. The watchful warrior bent his head, 
 
 And shunned the coming stroke ; 
 Upon his taper spear it fell. 
 And all to shivers broke. 
 
 30. Then, lighting nimbly from his steeds 
 
 He drew his burnished brand ; 
 The savage quick as lightning flew 
 To wrest it from his hand. 
 
 31. Three times he grasped the silver hilt, 
 
 Three times he felt the blade ; 
 Three times it fell with furious force. 
 Three ghastly cuts it made. 
 
OLD BALLADS. 
 
 " To court his hairy captive soon 
 Sir Valentine doth bring, 
 And, hieeling down upon his knee, 
 Preseiits him to the king^ 
 
TO STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 32. ]N^ow with redoubled rage he roared, 
 
 His eyeballs flashed with lire, 
 Each hairy limb with fury shook, 
 And all his heart was ire. 
 
 33. But soon the knight, with active spring, 
 
 O'erturned his hairy foe. 
 And now between their sturdy fists 
 Passed many a bruising blow. 
 
 34. Bat brutal force and savage strength 
 
 To art and skill must yield; 
 Sir Valentine at length prevailed. 
 And won the well-fought field. 
 
 35. Then binding straight his conquered foe 
 
 Fast with an iron chain, 
 He ties him to his horse's tail. 
 And leads him o'er the plain. 
 
 36. To court his hairy captive soon 
 
 Sir Valentine doth bring. 
 And, kneeling down upon his knee. 
 Presents him to the king. 
 
 37. With loss of blood and loss of strength. 
 
 The savage tamer grew, 
 
 And to Sir Valentine became 
 
 A servant tried and true. 
 
 38. And, 'cause with bears he first was bred, 
 
 Ursine they called his name — 
 A name which unto future times 
 The Muses shall proclaim. 
 
 Old Ballad. 
 
>>^5/^>^2>^5/2/^>^/^5/^/2/3>^9>^S/^/S/a/e/2/$/e/^^ 
 
 EAELY EASTERN EEOORD. 
 
 XIX-SEMJfACHERIB. 
 
 1. Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, 
 saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, that which 
 thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of As- 
 syria I have heard. 
 
 2. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken con- 
 cerning him ; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath de- 
 spised thee, and laughed thee to scorn ; the daughter of 
 Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 
 
 3. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and 
 against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up 
 thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. 
 
 4. By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, 
 and hast said. With the multitude of my chariots, I am 
 come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of 
 Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar-trees thereof, 
 and the choice -fir-trees thereof : and I will enter into the 
 lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel. 
 
 4 
 
72 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 5. I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with 
 the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of be- 
 sieged places. 
 
 6. Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, 
 and of ancient times that I have formed it ? now have I 
 brought it to pass, that thou shonldest be to lay waste 
 fenced cities into ruinous heaps. 
 
 7. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, 
 they were dismayed and confounded ; they were as the 
 grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on 
 the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. 
 
 8. But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy 
 coming in, and thy rage against me. 
 
 9. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come 
 up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy 
 nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back 
 by the way by which thou camest. 
 
 10. And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat 
 this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the 
 second year that which springeth of the same ; and in the 
 third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat 
 the fruits thereof. 
 
 11. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of 
 Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit 
 upward. 
 
 12. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, 
 and they that escape out of Mount Zion : the zeal of the 
 Lord of hosts shall do this. 
 
 13. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the 
 king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor 
 shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, 
 nor cast a bank against it. 
 
 14. By the way that he came, by the same shall he 
 return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. 
 
EAELY EASTERN RECORD. 73 
 
 15. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine 
 own sake, and for my servant David's sake. 
 
 16. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of 
 the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyr- 
 ians a hundred fourscore and five thousand ; and when 
 they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all 
 dead corpses, 
 
 17. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and 
 went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 
 
 II Kings, xix,20-36. 
 
 THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB. 
 
 1. The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, 
 And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold ; 
 And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, 
 When the blue wave rolls niglitly on deep Galilee. 
 
 2. Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, 
 That host with its banners at sunset was seen ; 
 
 Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, 
 That host on the morrow lay withered and strown. 
 
 3. For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast^ 
 And breathed on the face of the foe as he passed ; 
 And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill. 
 And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew 
 
 still. 
 
 4. And there lay the steed, with his nostrils all wide, 
 But through them there rolled not the breath of his 
 
 pride ; 
 And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, 
 And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf. 
 
74 
 
 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 5, And there lay the rider, distorted and pale, 
 
 With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail ; 
 And the tents were all silent, the banners alone. 
 The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown. 
 
 And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail, 
 And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal ; 
 And the might of the Gentile, unsmote bj the sword, 
 Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord. 
 
 Byron. 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 
 
 75 
 
 XX^-GLAUCOJ^. 
 
 1. When Glaiicon, tlie son of Ariston, attempted to 
 harangue the people, from a desire, tlioiigh he was not 
 yet twenty years of age, to have a share in the govern- 
 ment of the state, no one of his relatives, or other friends, 
 could prevent him from getting himself dragged down 
 from the tribunal and making himself ridiculous ; but 
 Socrates, who had a friendly feeling toward him on ac- 
 count of Charmides, the son of Glaucon, as well as on 
 account of Plato, succeeded in prevailing on him, by his 
 sole dissuasion, to relinquish his purpose. 
 
 2. Meeting him by chance, he first stopped him by 
 addressing him as follows, that he might be wnlling to 
 listen to him : '* Glaucon," said he, " have you formed an 
 intention to govern the state for 
 
 us ? " "I have, Socrates," replied 
 Glaucon. " By Jupiter," rejoined 
 Socrates, '' it is an honorable office, 
 if any other among men be so ; 
 for it is certain that, if yon at- 
 tain your object, you will be able 
 yourself to secure whatever you 
 may desire, and will be in a con- 
 dition to benefit your friends; 
 you will raise your father's house, 
 and increase the power of your 
 country ; you will be celebrated 
 first of all in your own city, and 
 afterward throughout Greece, and 
 perhaps, also, like Themistocles, 
 among the barbarians, and, wher- 
 ever you may be, you will be an object of general admira- 
 tion." Glaucon, hearing this, was highly elated, and 
 
 Socrates. 
 
76 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 clieerfuUy stayed to listen. Socrates next proceeded to 
 say : " But it is plain, Glaucon, tliat if yon wish to be 
 honored, you must bene tit the state." '' Certainly," an- 
 swered Glaucon. " Then, in the name of the gods," said 
 Socrates, '^ do not hide from us how you intend to act, 
 but inform us with what proceeding you will begin to 
 benefit the state." But as Glaucon was- silent, as if just 
 considering how he should begin, Socrates said: "As, if 
 you wished to aggrandize the family of a friend, you 
 would endeavor to make it richer, tell me whether you 
 will in like manner also endeavor to make the state 
 richer?" "Assuredly," said he. "Would it then be 
 richer, if its revenues were increased ? " " That is at least 
 probable," said Glaucon. " Tell me then," proceeded 
 Socrates, " from what the revenues of the state arise, 
 and what is their amount ; for you have doubtless con- 
 sidered, in order that if any of them fall short, you 
 may make up the deficiency, and that if any of them 
 fail, you may procure fresh supplies." " These matters, 
 by Jupiter," replied Glaucon, " I have not considered." 
 
 3. " Well, then," said Socrates, " if you have omitted 
 to consider this point, tell me at least the annual expendi- 
 ture of the state ; for you undoubtedly mean to retrench 
 whatever is superfluous in it." " Indeed," replied Glau- 
 con, " I have not yet had time to turn my attention to 
 that subject," "We will therefore," said Socrates, "put 
 off making our state richer for the present ; for how is it 
 possible for him who is ignorant of its expenditure and 
 its income to manage those matters?" 
 
 4. " But Socrates," observed Glaucon, " it is possible 
 to enrich the state at the expense of our enemies." " Ex- 
 tremely possible, indeed," replied Socrates, " if we be 
 stronger than they ; but if we be weaker, we may lose all 
 that we have." " What you say is true," said Glaucon. 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 
 
 77 
 
 5. "Accordingly," said Socrates, "he who deliber- 
 ates with whom he shall go to war, ought to know the 
 force both of his own country and of the ene- 
 my, so that, if that of his own country be su- 
 ^^^ perior to that of the enemy, he may 
 
 ^<^^" advise it to enter upon the war, but if 
 
 -V 
 
 ilx V 
 
 Socrates and Glaucon. 
 
 inferior, may persuade it to be cautious of doing so." 
 " You say rightly," said Glaucon. 
 
 6. " In the first place, then," proceeded Socrates, " tell 
 
78 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 us the strength of the country by land and sea, and next 
 that of the enemy." " But, by Jupiter," exclaimed Glau- 
 con, " I should not be able to tell you on the moment, and 
 at a word." " Well, then, if you have it written down," 
 said Socrates, " bring it, for I should be extremely glad 
 to hear what it is." " But, to say the truth," replied 
 Glaucon, " I liave not yet written it down." 
 
 7. " We will therefore put off considering about war 
 for the present," said Socrates, " for it is very likely that 
 on account of the magnitude of these subjects, and as you 
 are just commencing your administration, you have not 
 yet examined into them. But to the defense of the coun- 
 try, I am quite sure that you have directed your atten- 
 tion, and that you know how many garrisons are in ad- 
 vantageous positions, and how many not so, what number 
 of men would be sufficient to maintain them, and what 
 number would be insufficient, and that you will advise 
 your countrymen to make the garrisons in advantageous 
 positions stronger, and to remove the useless ones," 
 
 8. " By Jove," replied Glaucon, '^ I shall recommend 
 them to remove them all, as they keep guard so negli- 
 gently, that the property is secretly carried off out of the 
 country." " Yet, if we remove the garrisons," said So- 
 crates, " do you not think that liberty will be given to 
 anybody that pleases to pillage ? But," added he, " have 
 you gone personally and examined as to this fact, or 
 how do you know that the garrisons conduct themselves 
 with such negligence ? " "I form my conjectures," 
 said he. " Well, then," inquired Socrates, " shall we 
 settle about these matters also, when we no longer rest 
 upon conjecture, but have obtained certain knowl- 
 edge ? " '^ Perhaps that," said Glaucon, " will be the better 
 course." 
 
 9. " To the silver-mines, however," continued Socrates, 
 
 { 
 
EAELT EASTERN RECORD. 79 
 
 " I know that you have not gone, so as to have the means 
 of telling us why a smaller revenue is derived from them 
 than came in some time ago." " I have not gone thither," 
 said he. " Indeed, the place," said Socrates, " is said to 
 be unhealthy, so that when it is necessary to bring it un- 
 der consideration, this will be a sufficient excuse for you." 
 '' You jest with me," said Glaucon. " I am sure, how- 
 ever," proceeded Socrates, " that you have not neglected 
 to consider, but have calculated, how long the corn which 
 is produced in the country, will suffice to maintain the 
 city, and how much it requires for the year, in order that 
 the city may not suffer from scarcity unknown to you, 
 but that, from your own knowledge, you may be able, by 
 giving your advice concerning the necessaries of life, to 
 support the city and preserve it." ''You propose a vast 
 field for me," observed Glaucon, " if it will be necessary 
 for me to attend to such subjects." 
 
 10. " Nevertheless," proceeded Socrates, " a man can 
 not order his house properly, unless he ascertains all that 
 it requires, and takes care to supply it with everything 
 necessary ; but since the city consists of more than ten 
 thousand houses, and since it is difficult to provide for so 
 many at once, how is it that you have not tried to aid one 
 first of all, suppose that of your imcle, for it stands in 
 need of help ? If you be able to assist that one, you may 
 proceed to assist more ; but if you be unable to benefit 
 one, how will you be able to benefit many ? Just as it is 
 plain that, if a man can not carry the weight of a talent, 
 he need not attempt to carry a greater weight ? " 
 
 11. "But I would improve my uncle's house," said 
 Glaucon, " if he would but be persuaded by me." " And 
 then," resumed Socrates, " when you can not persuade 
 your uncle, do you expect to make all the Athenians, to- 
 gether with your uncle, yield to your arguments ? 
 
80 STORIES OF THE OLDER TIME. 
 
 12. " Take care, Glaucon, lest, while you are eager to 
 acquire glory, you meet with the reverse of it. Do you 
 not see how dangerous it is for a person to speak of, or 
 undertake, what he does not understand ? Contemplate, 
 among other men, such as you know to be characters that 
 plainly talk of, and attempt to do, what they do not know, 
 and consider whether they appear to you, by such con- 
 duct, to obtain more applause or censure, whether they 
 seem to be more admired or despised 1 
 
 13. " Contemplate, again, those who have some under- 
 standing of what they say and do, and you will find, I 
 think, in all transactions, that such as are praised and ad- 
 mired are of the number of those who have most knowl- 
 edge, and that those who incur censure and neglect are 
 among those that have least. 
 
 14. "If, therefore, you desire to gain esteem and repu- 
 tation in your country, endeavor to succeed in gaining a 
 knowledge of what you wish to do ; for if, when you ex- 
 cel others in this qualification, you proceed to manage the 
 affairs of the state, I shall not wonder if you very easily 
 obtain what you desire." 
 
 Xenophon. 
 
 XXI -CYRUS AJVD HIS GBAJ^DFATHER. 
 
 1. When Cyrus was twelve years old, his mother 
 Mandana took him with her into Media to his grand- 
 father Astyages, who, from the many things he had 
 heard in favor of the young prince, had a great desire to 
 see him. In this court young Cyrus found very different 
 manners from those of his own country : pride, luxury, 
 and magnificence reigned here universally. Astyages 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 81 
 
 LimseK was richly clothed, had his eyes colored, his face 
 painted, and his hair embellished with artificial locks ; 
 for the Medes affected an effeminate life — to be dressed 
 in scarlet and to wear necklaces and bracelets — whereas 
 the habits of the Persians were very plain and coarse. 
 
 2. All this finery had no effect upon Cyras, who, 
 without criticising or condemning what he saw, was con- 
 tent to live as he had been brought up, and adhered to 
 the principles he had imbibed from his infancy. He 
 charmed his grandfather with his sprightliness and wit, 
 and gained the favor of all by his noble and engaging be- 
 liavior. I shall only mention one instance, whereby we 
 may judge of the rest. A sty ages, to make his grandson 
 unwilling to return home, made a sumptuous entertain- 
 ment, in which there was a vast plenty and profusion of 
 everything that was nice and delicate. Cyrus looked 
 upon all this exquisite cheer and magnificent preparation 
 with great indifference, and, observing that it excited the 
 surprise of Astyages, "The Persians," says he to the 
 king, " instead of going such a roundabout way to appease 
 their hunger, have a much shoi-ter one to the same end : 
 a little bread and cresses with them answer the purpose." 
 
 3. Astyages desiring Cyrus to dispose of all the meats 
 as he thought fit, the latter immediately distributed them 
 to the king's officers-in-waiting : to one, because he taught 
 him to ride ; to another, because he waited well upon his 
 grandfather ; and to a third, because he took great care 
 of his mother. Sacas, the king's cup-bearer, was the only 
 person to whom he gave nothing. This officer, besides 
 the post of cup-bearer, had that likewise of introducing 
 those who were to have audience with the king ; and, as 
 he could not possibly grant that favor to C}tus as often 
 as he desired it, he had the misfortune to displease the 
 prince, who took this occasion to show his resentment. 
 
82 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 4. Astyages, manifesting some concern at the neglect 
 of this officer, for whom he had a particular regard, and 
 who deserved it, as he said, on account of the w^onderful 
 dexterity with which he served him — " Is that all, 
 father ? " replied Cyrus ; " if that be sufficient to merit 
 your favor, you shall see 1 will quickly obtain it ; for I 
 will take upon me to serve you better than he." Cyrus 
 immediately equipped as a cup-bearer, and advancing 
 gravely with a serious countenance, a napkin upon his 
 shoulder, and holding the cup nicely with three of his 
 fingers, presented it to the king with a dexterity and a 
 grace that charmed both Astyages and Mandana. When 
 he had done he threw himself upon his grandfather's 
 neck, and, kissing him, cried out with great joy : " O 
 Sacas ! poor Sacas ! thou art undone ; I shall have thy 
 place ! " 
 
 5. Astyages embraced him with great fondness, and 
 said : " I am highly pleased, my dear child ; nobody can 
 serve me with a better grace ; but you have forgot one 
 essential ceremony, which is that of tasting '' ; and, in- 
 deed, the cup-bearer was used to pour some of the liquor 
 into his left hand, and to taste it, before he presented it 
 to the king. ''IN'o," replied Cyrus, "it was not through 
 forgetfulness that I omitted that ceremony." "Why, 
 then," says Astyages, "for what reason did you not do 
 it ? " " Because I apprehended there was poison in the 
 liquor." "Poison, child! How could you think so?" 
 " Yes, poison, father, for not long ago, at an entertain- 
 ment you gave to the lords of yonr court, after the guests 
 had drunk a little of that liquor, I perceived all their 
 heads were turned. They sang, made a noise, and talked 
 they did not know what ; you yourself seemed to have 
 forgotten that you were king, and they that they were 
 subjects ; and when you would have danced you could 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 83 
 
 not stand upon your legs." ^' Why," said Astyages, 
 '' have you never seen the same thing happen to your 
 father ? " " No, never," says Cyrus. " What, then ? 
 How is it with him when he drinks 1 " '' Why, when he 
 has drunk, his thirst is quenched, and that is all." 
 
 6. Mandana being upon the point of returning to 
 Persia, Cyrus joyfully complied with the repeated re- 
 quests his grandfather had made to him to stay in Media ; 
 being desirous, as he said, to perfect himself in the art of 
 riding, which he was not yet master of, and which was 
 not known in Persia, where the barrenness of the coun- 
 try and its craggy, mountainous situation rendered it 
 unfit for the breeding of horses. 
 
 7. During the time of his residence at this court his 
 behavior procured him infinite love and esteem. He was 
 gentle, aifable, beneficent, and generous. Whenever the 
 young lords had any favor to ask of the king, Cyrus was 
 their solicitor. If the king had any subject of complaint 
 against them, Cyrus was their mediator ; their affairs be- 
 came his, and he always managed them so well that he 
 
 obtained whatever he desired. 
 
 Rollin. 
 
 XXIL-CYRUS A,YD THE ARMEJ^IAJfS. 
 
 1. The King of Armenia who was vassal to the 
 Medes, looking upon them as ready to be swallowed up 
 by a formidable league formed against them, thought fit 
 to lay hold of this occasion to shake off their yoke. Ac- 
 cordingly he refused to pay them the ordinary tribute, 
 and to send them the number of troops he was obliged to 
 furnish in time of war. This highly embarrassed Cyax- 
 
84 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 ares, who was afraid at this juncture of bringing new 
 enemies upon his hands if he undertook to compel the 
 Armenians to execute their treaty. 
 
 2. But Cyrus, having informed himself exactly of the 
 strength and situation of the country, undertook the affair. 
 The important point was to keep his design secret, with- 
 out which it was not likely to succeed. He therefore ap- 
 pointed a great hunting-match on that side of the coun- 
 try ; for it was his custom to ride out that way, and fre- 
 quently to hunt with the king's son and the young no- 
 blemen of Armenia. On the appointed day, he set out 
 with a numerous retinue. The troops followed at a dis- 
 tance, and were not to appear till a signal was given. 
 After some days' hunting, when they had nearly reached 
 the palace where the court resided, Cyrus communicated 
 his design to his officers ; and sent Chrysanthes with a 
 detachment, ordering them to make themselves master of 
 a certain steep eminence, where he knew the king used 
 to retire in case of an alarm, with his family and his 
 treasures. 
 
 3. This being done, he sent a herald to the king of 
 Armenia, to summon him to perform the treaty, and in 
 the mean time ordered his troops to advance. Never was 
 a court in greater surprise and perplexity. The king 
 was conscious of the wrong he had done, and was not in 
 a condition to support it. However, he did what he 
 could to assemble his forces together from all quarters ; 
 and in the mean time dispatched his youngest son, called 
 Stabaris, into the mountains^ with his wives, his daugh- 
 ters, and whatever was most precious and valuable. But 
 when he was informed by his scouts that Cyrus was close- 
 ly pursuing, he entirely lost all courage, and all thoughts 
 of making a defense. 
 
 4. The Armenians, following his example, ran away, 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 85 
 
 every one where be could, to secure what was dearest to 
 him. Cyrus, seeing the country covered with people 
 that were endeavoring to make their escape, sent them 
 word that no harm should be done to them if they stayed 
 in their houses ; but that as many as were taken running 
 away should be treated as enemies. This made them all 
 retire to tbeir habitations, excepting a few that followed 
 the king. 
 
 5. On the other hand, they that were conducting the 
 princesses to the mountains fell into the ambush Chi-ys- 
 anthes had laid for them, and were most of them taken 
 prisoners. The queen, the king's son, his daughters, his 
 eldest son's wife, and his treasures, all fell into the hands 
 of the Persians. 
 
 6. The king, hearing this melancholy news, and not 
 knowing what would become of him, retired to a little 
 eminence, where he was presently invested by the Per- 
 sian army, and obliged to surrender. Cyrus ordered him 
 with all his faniilv to be broug-ht to the midst of the 
 army. At that very instant arrived Tigranes, the king's 
 eldest son, who was just returned from a journey. At so 
 moving a scene he could not forbear weeping. Cyrus, 
 addressing himself to him, said : " Prince, you are come 
 very seasonably to be present at the trial of your father." 
 And immediately he assembled the captains of the Per- 
 sians and Medes, and called in also the great men of Ar- 
 menia, ^or did he so much as exclude the ladies from 
 this assembly, who were there in their chariots, but gave 
 them full liberty to hear and see all that passed. 
 
 7. When all was ready and Cyrus had commanded 
 silence, he began with requiring of the king, that in all 
 the questions he was about to propose to him, he would 
 answer sincerely, because nothing could be more un- 
 worthy a person of his rank than to use dissimulation or 
 
86 STORIES OF THE OLDEN' TIME. 
 
 falsehood. The king promised he would. Then Cjrus 
 asked him, but at different times, proposing each article 
 separately, and in oi'der, whether it was not true, that he 
 had made war ujDon Astyages, King of the Medes, his 
 grandfather ; whether he had not been overcome in that 
 war, and in consequence of his defeat had concluded a 
 treaty with Astyages ; whether by virtue of that treaty 
 he was not obliged to pay a certain tribute, to furnish a 
 certain number of troops, and not to keep any fortified 
 place in his country. 
 
 8. It was impossible for the king to deny any of 
 these facts, which were all public and notorious. " For 
 what reason, then," continued Cyrus, '' have you violated 
 the treaty in every article 'I " " For no other," replied 
 the king, " than because I thought it a glorious thing to 
 shake off the yoke, to live free, and to leave my children 
 in the same condition." " It is really glorious," answered 
 Cyrus, "to fight in defense of liberty, but if any one, 
 after he is reduced to servitude, should attempt to run 
 away from his master, what would you do with him ? " 
 " I must confess," said the king, " I would punish him." 
 " And if you had given a government to one of your sub- 
 jects, and he should be found to misbehave, would you 
 continue him in his post?" "No, certainly; I would 
 put another in his place." " And if he had amassed great 
 riches by his unjust practices ? " "I would strip him of 
 them." " But, which is still worse, if he had held intelli- 
 gence with your enemies, how would you treat him ? " 
 " Though I should pass sentence upon myself," replied 
 the king, " I must declare the truth ; I would put him 
 to death." At these words Tigranes tore his tiara from 
 his head, and rent his garments ; the women burst out 
 into lamentations and outcries, as if the sentence had 
 actually passed upon him. 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 87 
 
 9. Cjrus, having again commanded silence, Tigranes 
 addressed himself to the prince to this effect : " Great 
 prince, can you think it consistent with your wisdom, to 
 put my father to death, even against your own interest ? " 
 " How against my interest ? " replied Cyrus. " Because 
 he was never so capable of doing you service." How 
 do you make that appear ? Do the faults we commit en- 
 hance our merit, and give us a new title to consideration 
 and favor ? " " They certainly do, provided they serve 
 to make us wiser ; for wisdom is of inestimable value. 
 Are either riches, courage, or address to be compared to 
 it ? Xow it is evident, this single day's experience has 
 infinitely improved my father's wisdom. He knows how 
 dear the violation of his word has cost him. He has 
 proved and felt how much you are superior to him in all 
 respects. He has not been able to succeed in any of his 
 designs; but you have happily accomplished all yours; 
 and with such expedition and secrecy that he has found 
 himself surrounded and taken before he expected to be 
 attacked, and the very place of his retreat has served only 
 to ensnare him." 
 
 10. "But your father," replied Cyrus, "has yet un- 
 dergone no sufferings that can have taught him wisdom." 
 " The fear of evils," answered Tigranes, " when it is so 
 well founded as this is, has a much sharper sting, and is 
 more capable of piercing the soul, than the evil itself. 
 Besides, permit me to say, that gratitude is a stronger and 
 more prevailing motive than any whatever; and there 
 can be no obligations in the world of a higher nature 
 than those you will lay upon my father — ^his fortune, 
 liberty, scepter, life, wives, and children, all restored to 
 him with such a generosity. Where can you find, illustri- 
 ous prince, in one single person, so many strong and pow- 
 erful ties to attach him to your service ? " 
 
88 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 11. " Well, then," replied Cyrus, turning to the king, 
 "if I should yield to your son's entreaties, with what 
 number of men, and what sum of money, will you assist 
 us in the war against the Babylonians ? " " My troops 
 and treasures," says the Armenian king, '•' are no longer 
 mine; they are entirely yours. I can raise forty thousand 
 foot and eight thousand horse ; and as for money, I 
 reckon, including the treasure whicli my father left me, 
 there are about three thousand talents ready money. All 
 these are wholly at your disposal." Cyrus accepted half 
 the number of the troops, and left the king the other 
 half, for the defense of the country against the Chaldeans, 
 with whom he was at war. 
 
 12. The annual tribute which was due to the Medes 
 he doubled, and instead of fifty talents exacted a hundred, 
 and borrowed the like sum over and above in his own 
 name. "But what would you give me," added Cyrus, 
 " for the ransom of your wives ? " " All that I have in 
 the world," replied the king. " And for the ransom of 
 your children ? " " The same thing." " From this time, 
 then, you are indebted to me the double of all your pos- 
 sessions. And you, Tigranes, at what price would you 
 redeem the liberty of your lady ? " E'ow he had lately 
 married her, and was passionately fond of her. " At the 
 price," said he, "of a thousand lives if I had them." 
 Cyrus then conducted them all to his tent, and enter- 
 tained them at supper. It is easy to imagine what trans- 
 ports of joy there must have been upon this occasion. 
 
 13. After supper, as they were discoursing upon vari- 
 ous subjects, Cyrus asked Tigranes what was become of 
 a governor whom he had often seen hunting with him, 
 and for whom he had a particular esteem. " Alas ! " 
 said Tigranes, "' he is no more ; and I dare not tell you by 
 what accident I lost him." Cyrus pressed him to tell 
 
EARLY E ASTER JSr RECORD. 89 
 
 him. " My father," continued Tigranes, " seeing I had a 
 very tender affection for this governor, and that I was 
 extremely attached to him, suspected it might be of some 
 ill consequence and put him to death. But he was so 
 honest a man, that as he was ready to expire, he sent for 
 me and spoke to me in these words : ' Tigranes, let not 
 my death occasion any dissatisfaction in you toward the 
 king your father. What he has done to me did not pro- 
 ceed from malice, but only from prejudice, and a false 
 notion w^herewith he was unhappily blinded.' " " Oh, the 
 excellent man ! " cried Cyrus, " never forget the last ad- 
 vice he gave you." 
 
 14, When the conversation was ended, Cyrus, before 
 they parted, embraced them all, as in token of a perfect 
 reconciliation. This done, they got into their chariots, 
 with their wives, and went home full of gratitude and ad- 
 miration. Nothing but Cyrus was mentioned the whole 
 way ; some extolling his wisdom, others his valor ; some 
 admiring the sweetness of his temper, others praising the 
 beauty of his person and the majesty of his mien. " And 
 you," said Tigranes, addressing himself to his lady, "what 
 do you think of Cyrus's aspect and deportment ? " "I 
 do not know," replied the lady, " I did not observe him." 
 "Upon what object, then, did you fix your eyes?" 
 " Upon him that said he would give a thousand lives to 
 ransom my liberty." 
 
 The next day the King of Armenia sent presents to 
 Cyrus, and refreshments for his whole army, and brought 
 him double the sum of money he was required to furnish. 
 But Cyrus took only what had been stipulated, and re- 
 stored him the rest. The Armenian troops were ordered 
 to be ready in three days' time, and Tigranes desired to 
 command them. 
 
 Rollin, 
 
90 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 XXIII -THE MACEDOJflAJ^ EMPIRE. 
 
 1. After the battle of Platsea, in wliich the army of 
 the Persian king Xerxes was defeated and destroyed, the 
 Greek states became the dominant power in the civilized 
 world, and the Greek cities became centers of influence 
 and art Under Pericles, the successor of Themistocles, 
 Athens, in richness and beauty of her palaces and tem- 
 ples, arrived at a point of excellence which far surpassed 
 anything the world had before seen. But jealousies be- 
 tween different states led to civil wars that desolated the 
 whole land, and in the next one hundred and flfty years 
 scarcely any progress was made in adding to the national 
 strength. While these bloody wars were going on prin- 
 cipally between Sparta and Athens, the tribes of Mace- 
 don, a region lying immediately north of Greece, were 
 rapidly becoming civilized and consolidated. In 359 b. c. 
 Philip became the reigning monarch. 
 
 2. He was very desirous of being considered as a 
 Greek, invited distinguished men to his court, and ordered 
 public rejoicings in his kingdom when his chariots had 
 won the prize at the Olympic games. He was very 
 clever, and cared little ahout the justice and honor of the 
 means by which he attained his ends, which were, to hold 
 in subjection all the rest of Greece, and to conquer Per- 
 sia. In the first design he succeeded, for the latter he 
 only prepared the way for his son. He had both to form 
 his officers and his army. The first he attempted by 
 bringing the young nobles to his court, and there instruct- 
 ing them ; and in the last he succeeded in a remarkable 
 manner, 
 
 3. The chief strength of the army, as he constituted 
 it, was in the phalanx, a body of sixteen thousand foot 
 soldiers, fully armed in the Greek fashion, with spears 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 91 
 
 twenty-four feet long. When drawn up in order of bat- 
 tle, the four front ranks held their spears pointing out- 
 ward, and stood at such a space apart, that the foremost 
 line had four spear-points between each man and the 
 enemy, or on occasion they marched with their shields 
 touching, so as to form an almost impenetrable wall. 
 
 4. As soon as Philip's designs against Greece were 
 apparent, a strong spirit of resistance showed itself, and 
 chiefly at Athens, where the great orator, Demosthenes, 
 never ceased to rouse his countrymen to maintain their 
 freedom. Demosthenes had trained himseK in eloquence 
 under great difficulties ; he naturally either stammered, 
 or had an indistinct pronunciation — a defect which he 
 cured by speaking with pebbles in his mouth, and he 
 used to rehearse his speeches to the roaring sea, in order 
 to nerve himself against the clamors of a tumultuous as- 
 sembly. He so far succeeded, that he often swayed the 
 minds of the Athenians ; his name stands as the flrst of 
 orators, and his Philippics, as his discourses against Philip 
 are called, are considered as models of rhetoric. 
 
 5. At Cheroneea, in 338, a battle was fought by 
 Philip against the allied forces of the Athenians and The- 
 bans. At one time the Athenians gained some advan- 
 tage, but they used it so ill, that Philip, calling out to his 
 troops, " They do not know how to conquer," made a 
 sudden charge, and routed them with great slaughter. 
 The battle of Cherongea was the end of the independence 
 of Greece, which from that time forward became subject 
 to Macedon, in spite of its many struggles to shake off 
 the yoke, and recover the liberty which had been lost for 
 want of a firm, united, settled government. 
 
 6. The King of Macedon next commenced his ar- 
 rangements for his other favorite scheme — the invasion 
 of Asia ; but in the year 336, in the midst of the feasts in 
 
92 STOKIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 honor of his daughter's marriage, he was murdered hj a 
 young Macedonian noble, who was slain in the first anger 
 of the surrounding guards, without having time to dis- 
 close the motive of his crime. 
 
 7. Alexander, son of Philip and his Epirot queen 
 Oljmpias, was twenty years of age when he came to 
 the throne. On the night of his birth the temple of 
 Diana, at Ephesus, was burned to the ground by a 
 man named Erostratus, in the foolish desire of mak- 
 ing himself notorious, and this Alexander liked to con- 
 sider as an omen that he should himself kindle a flame 
 in Asia. 
 
 8. He traced his descent from his father's side from 
 Hercules, and by his mother's from Achilles, and through- 
 out his boyhood he seems to have lived in a world of the 
 old Greek poetry, sleeping with Homer's works under 
 his pillow, and dreaming of deeds in which he should 
 rival the fame of the victors of Troy. He was placed 
 under the care of Aristotle, the great philosopher of Sta- 
 gira, to whom, when Philip had written to announce Al- 
 exander's birth, he had said that he knew not whether 
 most to rejoice at having a son, or that his son would 
 have such a teacher as Aristotle. 
 
 9. From him the young Alexander learned to think 
 deeply, to resolve firmly, and devise plans of government ; 
 by others he was instructed in all the graceful accom- 
 plishments of the Greeks, and under his father he was 
 trained to act promptly. At fourteen he tamed the noble 
 horse Bucephalus, which no one else dared to mount ; 
 two years later he rescued his father in a battle with the 
 Scythians, and he commanded the cavalry at Cheronsea, 
 but he was so young at the time of his accession, that 
 the Greeks thought they had nothing to fear from him. 
 
 10. There were very ungenerous rejoicings at Athens 
 
94 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 at the murder of Philip. Demosthenes, though he had 
 just lost a daughter, crowned himself with a wreath of 
 flowers, and came with great tokens of joy to announce it 
 to the Athenians so soon after the event, as almost to ex- 
 cite a suspicion that he must have been concerned in the 
 crime. But they found that their joy was nnf onnded, for 
 no sooner did Thebes take up arms, than Alexander 
 marched against it, destroyed the walls, killed many of the 
 citizens, and blotted it out from the number of Greek 
 cities. The other states did not dare to make any further 
 opposition, and he was thus at leisure to prepare for the 
 invasion of Persia. 
 
 11. Leaving Antipater as governor of Macedon, he 
 set out in the spring of 334, at the head of thirty thousand 
 infantry and four thousand five hundred cavalry, and bade 
 farewell to his native land, which he was never to see 
 again. He crossed the Hellespont, and was the first man 
 to leap on Asiatic ground ; then, while his forces were 
 landing, he went to visit the spot which had so long been 
 the object of his dreams — the village which marked the 
 site of Troy. He offered a sacrifice at the tomb of 
 Achilles, hung up his own shield in the temple, and took 
 down one which was said to be a relic of the Greek con- 
 querors, intending to have it always borne before him in 
 battle. 
 
 12. His march was at first toward the east, along the 
 shore of the Hellespont, until at the river Granicus he 
 met the Persians drawn up on the other bank of the river, 
 under the command of the satrap Memnon. Alexander 
 himself, at the head of his cavalry, charged through the 
 midst of the rapid stream, won the landing-place, and fol- 
 lowed by the phalanx, quickly gained a complete victory. 
 
 13. All the neighboring country fell into his hands, 
 and after taking possession of it, he changed his course, 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 95 
 
 marcliiDg along the shores of the ^gean, and taking all 
 the towns. It was his first object to cut the Persians off 
 from their seaports, and thus deprive them of the use of 
 their fleet, which was so superior to his own, that he never 
 ventured on one sea-fight. 
 
 14. This march round the western and southern coasts 
 of Asia Minor, together with an expedition into the inte- 
 rior, occupied a year, and in the early part of the sum- 
 mer, he arrived at Tarsus, in Cilicia. Here, on entering 
 the city, overwhelmed with heat and fatigue, he bathed 
 in the cold waters of the Cydnus, and the chill brought 
 on a violent fever, which nearly cost him his life. A 
 letter was sent to warn him that his physician, Philip, 
 had been bribed by tlie Persian king to poison him. 
 While he was reading it the physician himself brought 
 him a draught of medicine ; the king put the letter into 
 his hand, took the cup and drank it off, even before 
 Philip could profess his innocence. In three days' time 
 he w^as again able to appear at the head of his troops, and 
 not before he w^as needed, for the enemy-s army was near 
 at hand, under King Darius Codomanus himself. 
 
 15. The Persians advanced in great state. First came 
 a number of persons bearing silver altars, on which burned 
 the sacred fire ; then followed the Magi, and three hun- 
 dred and sixty-five youths robed in scarlet, in honor of 
 the days of the year. ISText came the chariot and horses 
 of the Sun, with their attendants, and afterward the army 
 itself, the Immortal Band, with gold-handled lances, white 
 robes, and jeweled corslets, and a host of others of less 
 note, all far more fit for show than for battle. Darius 
 himself, arrayed in purple robes and glittering with jew- 
 els, was in the midst, in a chariot covered with gold orna- 
 ments, and with him came his mother, Sisygambis, his 
 principal wife, his daughters, a number of other ladies, 
 
96 STORIES OF TEE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 and a multitude of slaves. This unwieldy and useless 
 host took up their position on the hilly ground above the 
 city of Issus, wliere they were so entangled among the 
 rocks, that their numbers were of little profit to them, 
 and it was an easy victory for the Macedonians, ^o 
 sooner did Darius see that the day was against him, than 
 he tamed his chariot and fled, leaving his family to fall 
 into the hands of the conqueror, while he himseK has- 
 tened to Babylon to collect another army. 
 
 16. Alexander treated the mother, wife, and children 
 of Darius with great kindness and courtesy, sending an 
 ofiicer to assure them of his protection, and going the 
 next morning to visit them, accompanied by his friend 
 Hephsestion, a young man of his own age. Alexander, 
 though of beautiful and noble countenance, and well 
 formed for strength and activity, was rather short in stat- 
 ure, and as his dress was very simple, Sisygambis mistook 
 Hephsestion for the King of Macedon, and threw herself 
 on the ground before him ; and she was greatly confused 
 and distressed when she discovered her error ; but Alex- 
 ander said, as he raised her, '' You were not deceived, for 
 he is Alexander's other self." He gave her the name of 
 mother, never sat down in her presence except at her re- 
 quest, and showed in every point a respect and courtesy 
 such as she had probably never before received from the 
 Asiatic princes, who always held women in contempt. 
 
 17. Pursuing his intention of first destroying the 
 naval power of the Persian empire, Alexander next en- 
 tered Phoenicia, and readily received the submission of 
 Zidon, but Tyre refused to admit him within the walls. 
 ISTew Tyre, which was built after the seventy years' deso- 
 lation which followed the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar, 
 stood upon an island about half a mile from the shore, 
 and was inhabited by a numerous and brave people, who 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 97 
 
 thought themselves secure from an enemy who had no 
 fleet to bring against them. 
 
 18. Alexander was, however, not to be daunted by 
 any difficulty. He at first attempted to build a causeway 
 from the shore to the island, and when the Tyrians de- 
 stroyed his works he went to Zidon and there obtained a 
 fleet, by means of which he at length took the city after 
 a seven months' siege. He stained his victory by a cruel 
 slaughter, and made slaves of all whose lives were spared, 
 excepting a few whom the Zidonians contrived to con- 
 ceal in their ships. This was the flnal fall of the great 
 merchant city, so often predicted by Isaiah and Ezekiel. 
 
 19. He then marched through the rest of Palestine, 
 intending to punish Jerusalem, which had stood loyal to 
 Darius, and refused to send him supplies. The Jews, on 
 his approach, prayed for guidance and protection, and it 
 was revealed to Jaddua, the high-priest, that he should 
 open the gates and go forth in his sacred robes to receive 
 the Grecian conqueror. It was accordingly done ; and 
 Jaddua, in the vestments of Aaron, came forth at the 
 head of the choir of priests in white garments as Alexan- 
 der and the Greeks mounted the hill toward the city. 
 No sooner did the king meet the procession than he bent 
 down to the ground in adoration, and walked in the midst of 
 the priests to the temple, where a sacritice was offered ; and 
 he not only spared the Jews, but showed them much favor. 
 
 20. He told his generals that before he left Macedon 
 he had seen in a dream a figure exactly resembling that 
 of the high-priest, which had foretold all his conquests. 
 And surely there is little reason to doubt that such a reve- 
 lation might be made to a conqueror marked out as clear- 
 ly by prophecy as Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus, before he 
 set out on the work appointed for him. Both his prede- 
 cessors in conquest, as soon as they came in contact with 
 
98 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 the chosen people, were taught that they were the sub- 
 jects of prophecy ; and Alexander, in his turn, was shown 
 by Jaddua the prediction of Daniel, which spoke of him 
 as a he-goat (the actual ensign of Macedon), " Who came 
 from the West, and smote the ram, and brake his two 
 horns, and cast him down and trampled on him." " And 
 the rough goat is the King of Grecia." 
 
 21. He then proceeded southward, besieged and took 
 Gaza, after a brave resistance, which he cruelly requited, 
 and entered Egypt, subduing it with little difficulty. On 
 one of the peninsulas formed by the mouth of the Nile, 
 he founded a city, called after his name Alexandria, 
 which became the capital of Egypt under its Greek rulers, 
 and one of the most famous cities in the world. He 
 made an expedition to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, on 
 an oasis in the Libyan desert, and consulted the oracle 
 there, and then after appointing a Macedonian satrap in 
 Egypt, retraced his steps toward the Holy Land, and 
 marched toward Babylonia, where Darius was again col- 
 lecting his forces to oppose him. 
 
 Charlotte M. Yonge. 
 
 XXir--ALEXJJ^DEB'S COJVQUESTS. 
 
 1. Alexander crossed the Euphrates and Tigris without 
 opposition, and the decisive battle did not take place till 
 he reached the plain of Arbela, where the Persians were 
 drawn up to receive him. The Macedonians wished to 
 make a night attack, but Alexander would not permit 
 it, saying that he disdained to steal a victory, and the 
 combat took place the next day. 
 
 2. The present army of Persians was drawn from the 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 99 
 
 more remote regions of Bactria and Parthia, where the 
 men were more warlike, and thej fought better than 
 any whom the Macedonians had before encountered ; but 
 Darius himself fled early in the day, leaving behind 
 him his bow and shield ; his men lost courage, and fol- 
 lowed him, and Alexander was left master of the field of 
 Arbela. 
 
 3. This battle placed in his power all the western part 
 of the Persian empire, and he had ouly to march to the 
 great cities of Babylon, Snsa, Ecbatana, and Persepolis, 
 to take possession of the huge stores of treasures there 
 heaped up by the Persian kings, which he now distrib- 
 uted among his followers with royal bounty. The unfor- 
 tunate Darius escaped into Bactria, where two satraps, in 
 whom he had confided, treacherously seized him and made 
 him prisoner, carrying him along with them as they fled 
 before Alexander, until at length, being closely pressed 
 by the Greeks, they threw their darts at him, and left 
 him lying on the ground mortally wounded. 
 
 4. He was still alive when some of the Greeks came 
 up, but died before the arrival of Alexander. The con- 
 queror wept as he beheld the corpse of the last of a line 
 of such great princes ; he threw his own cloak over it, 
 and sent it to Babylon, where it was buried with great 
 magnificence. 
 
 5. The wife of Darius had died a prisoner, but Sisy- 
 gambis still remained with her grandchildren at Babylon. 
 Only once does Alexander seem to have hurt her feelings, 
 and this was through ignorance of Persian customs. He 
 show^ed her some robes of his sister's own weaving and 
 embroidery, and offered to have her grand-daughters in- 
 structed in the same art, at which she wept, since Persian 
 ladies deemed such employments work fit only for slaves 
 and captives, and Alexander was obliged to explain how 
 
Alexander at the Dead Body of Darius. 
 
EARLY EASTEBN RECORD. 101 
 
 honorably the loom and needle were esteemed by his own 
 countrywomen. 
 
 G. Alexander was much attached to his own mother, 
 Olympias, and portions of his letters to her have come 
 down to our time. She was a proud and violent woman, 
 who often interfered with Antipater, governor of Mace- 
 don, and caused him to send many complaints to the 
 king : " Ah ! " said Alexander, '' Antipater does not know 
 that one tear of a mother will blot out ten thousand of 
 his letters." 
 
 7. Alexander had indeed an open and affectionate 
 heart, but he was fast becoming too much uplifted by his 
 successes. On Darius's death, he took the state as well 
 as the title of a king of Persia, wore the tiara and robes, 
 and claimed from the Macedonians the same servile tokens 
 of homage as were paid by the eastern nations, thus caus- 
 ing perpetual heart-burnings among them, since they could 
 neither endure to see their king exalted so much further 
 above them, nor to be placed on the same level with the 
 barbarians whom they despised. 
 
 8. Their jealousies troubled Alexander from the time 
 he assumed the tiara of Persia. He found it impossible 
 to raise the condition of the Persians, and treat them with 
 favor, without offending the Macedonians, and his temper 
 did not always endure these provocations. The worst 
 action of his hfe was the sentencing to death, on a false 
 accusation, the w^ise old General Parmenio, and his son ; 
 and in a fit of passion at a riotous banquet, he slew, with 
 his own hand, his friend Clitus, his nurse's son, who had 
 saved his life at the battle of Granicus. It was the deed 
 of a moment of drunken violence, and he bitterly lament- 
 ed it, shutting himself up for several days without allow- 
 ing any one to approach him, and paying all honors to 
 the memory of his murdered friend. 
 
102 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 9. His pride and vain-glory went so far, that lie de- 
 clared that the oracle of Jupiter Ammon had announced 
 that he was the son of Jupiter, and sent to Greece to de- 
 sire to be enrolled among the gods in his life-time. Some 
 of the Greeks were shocked at his profanity, others 
 laughed at him ; but all the Spartans said was, " If Alex- 
 ander will be a god, let him.-' 
 
 10. The four next years were the most laborious of 
 Alexander's life. He pursued the murderers of Darius 
 into Bactria and Sogdiana, avenged his death, and re- 
 duced the numerous hill-forts as far as the frontier of 
 Scythia. Fierce insurrections broke out among the wild 
 tribes of Sogdiana, which it required all his activity and 
 judgment to quell, and more than once provoked him 
 into cruelty, though in general, conqueror as he was, 
 he was no spoiler, but wherever he went founded cit- 
 ies, and tried to teach the Persians the civilized arts of 
 Greece. 
 
 11. In 326 he set out for India, as the region was 
 called round the river Indus. Here the inhabitants were 
 warlike, and Porus, kiug of a portion of the country, 
 made a brave resistance, but was at length defeated and 
 taken prisoner. On being brought before Alexander he 
 said he had nothing to ask, save to be treated as a king. 
 " That I shall do for my own sake," said Alexander, and 
 accordingly not only set him at liberty, but enlarged his 
 territory. 
 
 12. All these Indian nations brought a tribute of ele- 
 phants, which the Macedonians now for the first time 
 learned to employ in war. Alexander wished to proceed 
 into Hindostan, a country hitherto entirely unknown, but 
 his soldiers grew so discontented at the prospect of being 
 led so much farther from home, into the utmost parts of 
 the earth, that he was obliged to give up his attempt, and 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 103 
 
 verj unwillingly turned back from the banks of the Sut- 
 lej. 
 
 13. While returning, he besieged a little town belong- 
 ing to a tribe called the JVIalli, and believed to be the 
 present city of Mooltan. He was the first to scale the 
 wall, and after four others had mounted, the ladder broke, 
 and he was left standing on the wall, a mark for the darts 
 of the enemy. He instantly leaped down within the wall 
 into the midst of the Malli, and there setting his back 
 against a fig-tree, defended himself until a barbed arrow 
 deeply pierced his breast, and, after trying to keep up a 
 little longer, he sunk, fainting, on his shield. His four 
 companions sprung down after him — two were slain, but 
 the others held their shields over him till the rest of the 
 army succeeded in breaking into the town and coming to 
 the rescue. 
 
 14. His wound was severe and dangerous, but he at 
 length recovered, sailed down to the mouth of the Indus, 
 and sent a fleet to survey the Persian Gulf, while he him- 
 self marched along the shore. The country was bare and 
 desert, and his army suffered dreadfully from heat, thirst, 
 and hunger, while he readily shared all their privations. 
 A little water was once brought him on a parching day, 
 as a great prize, but since there was not enough for all, 
 he poured it out on the sand, lest his faithful followers 
 should feel themselves more thirsty when they saw him 
 drink alone. 
 
 15. At last he safely arrived at Caramania, whence 
 he retui'ned to the more inhabited and wealthy parts of 
 Persia, held his court with great magnificence at Susa, 
 and then went to Babylon. Here embassies met him 
 from every part of tlie known world, bringing gifts and 
 homage, and above all, there arrived from the Greek 
 states the much desired promise that he should be hon- 
 
104 
 
 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 ored as a god. He was at the highest pitch of worldly 
 greatness to which mortal man had yet attained, and his 
 
 Alexander the Great. 
 
 designs were reaching yet further ; but his hour was come, 
 and at Babylon, the home of pride, " the great horn " was 
 to be broken. 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 105 
 
 16. In the marshes into which the Euphrates had 
 spread since its channel was altered by Cyrus, there 
 breathed a noxious air, and a few weeks after Alexander's 
 arrival, he was attacked by a fever, perhaps increased by 
 intemperance. He bore up against it as long as possible, 
 continued to offer sacrifices daily, though with increasing 
 difficulty, and summoned his officers to arrange plans for 
 his intended expedition ; but his strength failed him on 
 the ninth day, and though he called them together as 
 usual, he could not address them. Perhaps he thought 
 in that hour of the prophecy he had seen at Jerusalem, 
 that the empire he had toiled to raise should be divided, 
 for he is reported to have said that there would be a 
 mighty contest at his funeral games. He made no at- 
 tempt to name a successor, but he took off his signet-ring, 
 placed it on the finger of Perdiccas, one of his generals, 
 and a short time after expired, in the thirty-third year of 
 his age, and the twelfth of his reign. 
 
 17. There was a voice of wailing throughout the city 
 that night. The Babylonians shut up their houses, and 
 trembled at the neighborhood of the fierce Greek sol- 
 diery, now that their protector w^as dead ; the Macedo- 
 nians stood to arms all night, as if in presence of the 
 enemy ; and when in the morning the officers assembled 
 in the palace council chamber, bitter and irrepressible was 
 the burst of lamentation that broke out at the sight of 
 the vacant throne, where lay the crown, scepter, and royal 
 robes, and where Perdiccas now placed the signet-ring. 
 More deeply than all mourned the prisoner, the aged 
 Sisygambis, who covered her face with a black veil, sat 
 down in a corner of her room, refused all entreaties to 
 speak or to eat, and expired five days after Alexander. 
 
 18. E"or did the Persians soon cease to lament the con- 
 queror, who had ruled them more beneficently than their 
 
106 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 owD monarchs had done ; their traditions made Alexan- 
 der a prince of their own, and adorned him with every 
 virtue vahied in the East. That he had many great faults 
 has already been shown, and, of course, by the rules of 
 justice, his conquests were but reckless gratiti cations of 
 his own ambition ; but he was a high-minded, generous 
 man, open of heart, free of hand, and for the most part 
 acting up to his knowledge of right ; and if unbridled 
 power, talent of the highest order, and glory such as none 
 before or since has ever attained, inflamed his passions, 
 and elated him with pride, still it is not for us to judge 
 severely of one who had such great temptations, and so 
 little to guide him aright. 
 
 Charlotte 31. Yonge. 
 
 XXV -JUDAS MACCABMUS, THE HEBREW 
 WILLIAM TELL. 
 
 1. The kingdom of Judah escaped destruction at the 
 hands of Sennacherib, but its respite was short. Soon 
 afterward Babylon, closely related to Assyria, and the 
 heir of its dominion, swept into captivity in distant 
 Mesopotamia nearly all that were left of Hebrew stock. 
 For a time, the nation seemed to have been wiped from 
 the face of the earth. The ten tribes of Israel that had 
 been first dragged forth never returned to Judea, and 
 their ultimate fate, after the destruction of l^ineveh, 
 whose splendor they had in their servitude done so much 
 to enhance, was that of homeless wanderers. The harp 
 of Judah, silent upon the devastated banks of the Jordan, 
 was hung upon the Babylonian willows, for how could 
 the exiles sing the Lord's song in a strange land ! But 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 107 
 
 the cry went forth at length that Babylon had fallen in 
 her turn, just as destruction had before overtaken Nine- 
 veh. In the middle of the sixth century b. c, Cyrus the 
 Mede made a beginning of restoring the exiles, who 
 straightway built anew the Temj)le walls. 
 
 2. In David's time, the population of Palestine must 
 have numbered several millions, and it largely increased 
 during the succeeding reigns. Multitudes, however, had 
 perished by the sword, and other multitudes were re- 
 tained in strange lands. Scarcely fifty thousand found 
 their way back in the time of Cyrus to the desolate site 
 of Jerusalem, but, one hundred years later, the number 
 was increased by a re-enforcement under Ezra. From 
 this nucleus, with astonishing vitality, a new Israel was 
 presently developed. With weapons always at hand to 
 repel the freebooters of the desert, they constructed once 
 more the walls of Jerusalem. Through all their harsh 
 experience their feelings of nationality had not been at 
 all abated ; their blood was untouched by foreign admixt- 
 ure, though some Gentile ideas had entered into the sub- 
 stance of their faith. The conviction that they were the 
 chosen people of Grod was as unshaken as in the ancient 
 time. With pride as indomitable as ever, intrenched 
 within their little corner of Syria, they confronted the 
 hostile world. 
 
 3. But a new contact was at hand, far more memo- 
 rable even than that with the nations of Mesopotamia — 
 a contact whose consequences affect at the present hour 
 the condition of the greater part of the human race. In 
 the year 332 b. c, the high-priest, Jaddua, at Jerusalem, 
 was in an agony, not knowing how he should meet cer- 
 tain new invaders of the land, before whom Tyre, and 
 Gaza, the old Philistine stronghold, had fallen, and who 
 were now marching upon the city of David. But God 
 
108 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 warned him in a dream that he should take courage, 
 adorn the citj, and open the gates ; that the people should 
 appear in white garments of peace, but that he and the 
 priests should meet the strangers in the robes of their 
 office. At length, at the head of a sumptuous train of 
 generals and tributary princes, a young man of twenty- 
 four, upon a beautiful steed, rode forward from the way 
 going down to the sea to the spot which may still be seen, 
 called, anciently, Scopus, the prospect, because from that 
 point one approaching could behold, for the first time, 
 Jerusalem crowned by the Temple rising fair upon the 
 heights of Zion and Moriali. 
 
 4. The youth possessed a beauty of a type in those 
 regions hitherto little known. As compared with the 
 swarthy Syrians in his suite, his skin was white ; his feat- 
 ures were stamped with the impress of command, his 
 eyes filled with an intellectual hght. With perfect horse- 
 manship he guided the motions of his charger. A fine 
 grace marked his figure, set off with a cloak, helmet, and 
 gleandng arms, as he expressed with animated gestures 
 his exultation over the spectacle before him. But now, 
 down from the heights came the procession of the priests 
 and the people. The multitude proceeded in their robes 
 of white ; the priests stood clothed in fine linen ; while 
 the high-priest, in attire of purple and scarlet, upon his 
 breast the great breastplate of judgment with its jewels, 
 upon his head the mitre marked with the plate of gold 
 whereon was engraved the name of God, led the train 
 wdth venerable dignity. 
 
 5. Now, says the historian, when the Phoenicians and 
 Chaldeans that followed Alexander thought that they 
 should have liberty to plunder the city, and torment the 
 high-priest to death, the very reverse happened ; for the 
 young leader, when he saw the multitude in the distance, 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 109 
 
 and the figure of the high-priest before, approached him 
 bj himself, saluted him, and adored the name, which was 
 graven upon the plate of the mitre. Then a captain, 
 named Parmino, asked him how it came to pass that, 
 when all others adored him, he should adore the high- 
 priest of the Jews. To whom the leader replied : '^ I do 
 not adore him, but that God who hath honored him with 
 his high-priesthood; for I saw this very person in a 
 dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios in Mace- 
 donia, who, when I was considering how I might obtain 
 the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but 
 boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he would 
 conduct my army, and could give me the dominion over 
 the Persians." Then, when Alexander had given the 
 high-priest his right hand, the priests ran along by him 
 and he came into the city, and he offered sacrifice to God 
 in the Temple, according to the high-priest's direction, 
 and magnificently treated both the high-priest and the 
 priests. He granted all the multitude desired ; and when 
 he said to them that if any of them would enlist them- 
 selves in his army on this condition, that they should con- 
 tinue under the laws of their forefathers, he w^as willing 
 to take them with him, many were ready to accompany 
 him in his wars. 
 
 6. But this Aryan troop that went southward is less 
 interesting to us than companies that departed westward, 
 for in these westward marching bands went the primeval 
 forefathers from whose venerable loins we ourselves have 
 proceeded. They passed into Western Asia, and from 
 Asia into Europe — each migrating multitude impelled 
 by a new swarm sent forth from the parent hive behind. 
 At the head of the Adriatic Sea an Aryan troop had 
 divided, sending down into the eastern peninsula the an- 
 cestors of the Greeks, and into the western peninsula 
 
110 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 the train destined to establish, upon the seven hills the 
 power of Rome. Already the Aryan pioneers, the Celts, 
 on the outmost rocks of the western coast of Europe, 
 were fretting against the barrier of storm and sea, across 
 which they were not to find their way for many ages. 
 Already Phoenician merchants, trading for amber in the 
 far-oft" Baltic, had become aware of the wild Aryan tribes 
 pressing to the northwest — the Teutons and Goths. Al- 
 ready, perhaps, upon the outlying spur of the Ural range, 
 still other Aryans had fixed their hold, the progenitors of 
 the Sclav. The aboriginal savage of Europe was already 
 nearly extinct. His lance of flint had fallen harmless 
 from the Aryan buckler ; his rude altars had become dis- 
 placed by the shrines of the new gods. In the Mediter- 
 ranean Sea each sunny isle and pleasant promontory had 
 long been in Aryan hands, and now in the wintry forests 
 to the northward the resistless multitudes had more re- 
 cently fixed their seats. 
 
 Y. In the Macedonians, the Aryans, having established 
 their dominion in Europe, march back upon the track 
 which their forefathers long before had followed west- 
 ward ; and now it is that the Hebrews become involved 
 with the race that from that day to this has been the mas- 
 ter-race of the world. It was a contact taking place under 
 circumstances, it would seem, the most auspicious — the 
 venerable old man and the beautiful Greek youth clasping 
 hands, the ruthless followers of the conqueror bafiied in 
 their hopes of booty, the multitudes of Jerusalem, in 
 their robes of peace, filling the air with acclamations, as 
 Alexander rode from the place of prospect, upon the 
 heights of Zion, into the solemn precincts of the Temple. 
 
 8. The successors of Alexander the Great made the 
 Jews a link between the Hellenic populations that had 
 become widely scattered throughout the East by the 
 
EARLY EASTERN- RECORD. HI 
 
 Macedonian conquests, and the great barbarian races 
 among whom the Greeks had placed themselves. The dis- 
 persion of the Jews, which had already taken place to such 
 an extent through the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests, 
 went forward now more vigorously. Throughout West- 
 ern Asia they were found everywhere, but it was in 
 Egypt that they attained the highest prosperity and hon- 
 or. The one city, Alexandria alone, is said to have con- 
 tained at length a million Jews, whom the Greek kings 
 of Egypt, the Ptolemies, preferred in every way to the 
 native population. Elsewhere, too, they were favored, 
 and hence they were everywhere hated ; and the hatred 
 assumed a deeper bitterness from the fact that the Jew 
 always remained a Jew, marked in garb, in feature, in 
 religious faith, always scornfully asserting the claim that 
 he was the chosen of the Lord. Palestine became incor- 
 porated with the emi^ire of the Seleucidse, the Macedo- 
 nian princes to whom had fallen Western Asia. Oppres- 
 sion at last succeeded the earlier favor, the defenses of 
 Jerusalem were demolished, and the Temple defiled wdth 
 pagan ceremonies ; and now it is that we reach some of 
 the finest figures in Hebrew history, the great high- 
 priests, the Maccabees. 
 
 9. There dwelt at the town of Modin a priest, Matta- 
 thias, the descendant of Asmongeus, to whom had been 
 born five sons — John, Simon, Judas Maccabreus, or the 
 Hammer, Eleazar, and Jonathan. Mattathias lamented 
 the ravaging of the land and the plunder of the Temple 
 by Antiochus Epiphanes, and when, in the year 167 b. c, 
 the Macedonian king sent to Modin to have sacrifices 
 offered, the Asmonsean returned a spirited reply. " Thou 
 art a ruler," said the king's officers, " and an honorable 
 and great man in this city, and strengthened wdth sons 
 and brethren. Now, therefore, come thou first : so shalt 
 
112 STORIES OF TEE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 thou and thy house be in number of the king's friends, 
 and thou and thy children shall be honored with silver 
 and gold aad many rewards." But Mattathias replied 
 with a loud voice : " Though all the nations that are under 
 the king's dominions obey him, and fall away every one 
 from the religion of their fathers, yet will I and my sons 
 and my brethren, walk in the covenant of our fathers. 
 God forbid that we should forsake the law and the ordi- 
 nances ! We will not hearken to the king's words to go 
 from our religion, either on the right hand or the left." 
 
 10, An heroic struggle for freedom at once began, 
 which opened for the Jews full of sadness. An apostate 
 Jew, approaching to oifer sacritice in compliance with the 
 command of Antiochus, was at once slain by Mattathias, 
 who struck down also Apelles, the king's general, with 
 some of his soldiers. As he fled with his sons into the 
 desert, leaving his substance behind him, many of the 
 faithful Israelites followed, pursued by the Macedonians 
 seeking revenge. The oppressors knew^ well how to choose 
 their time. Attacking on the Sabbath-day, when, accord- 
 ing to old tradition, it was a transgression even to defend 
 one's life, a thousand with their wives and children were 
 burned and smothered in the caves in which they had 
 taken refuge. But Mattathias, rallying those that re- 
 mained, taught them to flght on the Sabbath, and at all 
 times. The heathen altars were overthrown, the breakers 
 of the law were slain, the uncircumcised boys were every- 
 where circumcised. But the fullness of time approached 
 for Mattathias ; after a year his day of death had come, 
 and these were his parting words to his sons : " I know 
 that your brother Simon is a man of counsel ; give ear 
 unto him always ; he shall be a father unto you. As for 
 Judas Maccabseus, he hath been mighty and strong even 
 from his youth up ; let him be your captain and fight 
 
EARLY EASTERN RECORD. 113 
 
 the battles of the people. Admit among you the right- 
 eous." 
 
 11. E'o sooner had the father departed, than it ap- 
 peared that the captain whom he had designated was a 
 man as mighty as the great champions of old, Joshua and 
 Grideon and Samson. He forthwith smote with defeat 
 ApoUonius, the general in the Samaritan country, and 
 when he had slain the Greek he took his sword for his 
 own. Seron, general of the army in Coele-Syria, came 
 against him with a host of Macedonians strengthened by 
 apostate Jews. The men of Judas Maceabseus were few 
 in number, without food, and faint-hearted, but he in- 
 spired them with his own zeal, and overthrew the new 
 foes at Bethoron. King Antiochus, being now called 
 eastward to Persia, committed military matters in Pales- 
 tine to the viceroy, Lysias, with orders to take an army 
 with elephants and conquer Judea, enslave its people, 
 destroy Jerusalem, and abolish the nation. At once the 
 new invaders were upon the land ; of foot-soldiers there 
 were forty thousand, of horsemen seven thousand, and as 
 they advanced many Syrians and renegade Jews joined 
 them. Merchants marched with the army, with money 
 to buy the captives as slaves, and chains with which to 
 bind those whom they purchased. But Judas Maccabaeus 
 was no whit dismayed. Causing his soldiers to array 
 themselves in sackcloth, he made them pray to Jehovah. 
 He dismissed those lately married, and those who had 
 newly come into great possessions, as likely to be faint- 
 hearted. After addressing those that remained, he set 
 them in the ancient order of battle, and waited the oppor- 
 tunity to strike. 
 
 12. The hostile general, fancying he saw an opportu- 
 nity to surprise the little band of Hebrews, sent a por- 
 tion of his host against them, by secret ways at night. 
 
114 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 But the spies of Jiidas were out. Leaving the fires burn- 
 ing brightly in his camp, to lure forward those who were 
 commissioned to attack him, he rushed forth under the 
 shadows against the main body, weakened by the absence 
 of the detachment. He forced their position, though 
 strongly defended, overcame the army ; then turned back 
 to scatter utterly the other party who were seeking him 
 in the abandoned camp. He took great booty of gold 
 and silver, and of raiment purple and blue. He marched 
 home in great joy to the villages of Judea, singing hymns 
 to God, as was done in the days of Miriam, long before, 
 because they had triumphed gloriously. 
 
 13. The next year Lysias advanced from Antioch, the 
 Syrian capital, with a force of sixty-five thousand. Judas 
 Maccabseus, with ten thousand, overthrew his vanguard, 
 upon which the viceroy, terrified at the desperate fighting, 
 retired to assemble a still greater army. For a time there 
 was a respite from war, during which Judas counseled 
 the people to purify the Temple. The Israelites, over- 
 joyed at the revival of their ancient customs, the restora- 
 tion of the old worship in all its purity, and the relief from 
 foreign oppressors, celebrated for eight days a magnifi- 
 cent festival. The lamps in the Temple porches were re- 
 kindled to the sound of instruments and the chant of the 
 Levites. But one vial of oil could be found, when, lo, a 
 miracle ! the one vial sufiiced for the supply of the seven- 
 branched golden candlestick for a week. This ancient 
 Maccabgean festival faithful Jews still celebrate under the 
 name of the Hanoukhah, the Feast of Lights. 
 
 14. Judas subdues also the Idumeans of the south- 
 ward, and the Ammonites. His brethren, too, have be- 
 come mighty men of valor. Jonathan crosses the Jordan 
 with him and campaigns against the tribes to the east- 
 ward. Eleazar is a valiant soldier, and Simon carries 
 
EARLY EASTEEN EECORD, 115 
 
 succor to the Jews in Galilee. But at length the Mace- 
 donian is again at hand, more terrible than before. The 
 foot are a hundred thousand, the horse twenty thousand ; 
 and as ralljing-points, thirty-two elephants tower among 
 the ranks. About each one of the huge beasts is collected 
 a troop of a thousand foot and five hundi-ed horse; 
 high turrets upon their backs are occupied by archers ; 
 their great Hanks and limbs are cased in plates of steel. 
 The host show their golden and brazen shields, making 
 in the sun a glorious splendor, and shout in exultation so 
 that the mountains echo. In the battle that follows For- 
 tune does not altogether favor the Jews. In particular, 
 the champion Eleazar lays down his Hfe. He had at- 
 tacked the largest elephant, a creature covered with plated 
 armor, and carrying upon his back a whole troop of com- 
 batants, among whom it was believed that the king him- 
 seK fought. Eleazar had slain those in the neighborhood, 
 then, creeping beneath the belly of the elephant, had 
 pierced him. As the brute fell, Eleazar was crashed in 
 the fall. Judas was forced to retire within the defenses 
 of Jerusalem, where still further disaster seemed likely to 
 overcome him. Dissensions among themselves, however, 
 weakened the Macedonians. Peace was offered the Jews, 
 and permission to live according to the law of their fa- 
 thers — proposals which were gladly accepted, although the 
 invaders razed the defenses of the Temple. 
 
 15. The peace was not enduring. Xew Macedonian 
 invasions followed ; new Hebrew successes, the Maccabees 
 and their partisans making up, by their fierce zeal, their 
 military skill, and dauntless valor, for their want of num- 
 bers. But a sad day came at last. Judas, twenty times 
 outnumbered, confronts the leader Bacchides in Galilee. 
 The Greek sets horsemen on both wings, his light troops 
 and archers before the heavier phalanx, and takes his own 
 
116 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 station on the right. The Jewish hero is valiant as ever ; 
 the right wing of the enemy tarns to flee. The left and 
 center, however, encompass him, and he falls, fighting 
 gloriously, having earned a name of the most skillful and 
 valorous of the world's great vindicators of freedom. 
 James K. Ilosmer. " The Story of the Jeics^ 
 
 Putnam's " Stories of the Nations " Series. ^\ 
 
 
EOMAJN' EEOORD. 
 
 XXVI.-TABQUIJf THE WICKED. 
 
 1. Foe his tyranny King Tarquin was banished from 
 Rome about 500 b. c, and after his expulsion he sent 
 messengers to Rome to ask that his property should be 
 given np to him, and the senate decreed that his prayer 
 should be granted. But the king's ambassadors, while 
 they were in Rome, stirred up the minds of the young 
 men and others who had been favored by Tarquin, so 
 that a plot was made to bring him back. Among those 
 who plotted were Titus and Tiberius, the sons of the 
 consul Brutus ; and they gave letters to the messengers 
 of the king. But it chanced that a certain slave hid him- 
 self in the place where they met, and overheard them 
 plotting ; and he came and told the thing to the consuls, 
 who seized the messengers of the king with the letters 
 upon their persons, authenticated by the seals of the 
 young men. The culprits were immediately arrested ; 
 
118 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 but the ambassadors were let go, because their persons 
 were regarded as sacred. And the goods of King Tar- 
 quin were given up for plunder to the people. 
 
 2. Then the traitors were brought up before the con- 
 suls, and the sight was such as to move all beholders to 
 pity ; for among them were the sons of Lucius Junius 
 Brutus himself, the hrst consul, the liberator of the Ro- 
 man people. And now all men saw how Brutus loved 
 his country ; for he bade the lictors put all the traitors to 
 death, and his own sons first ; and men could mark in his 
 face the struggle between his duty as a chief magistrate 
 of Rome and his feelings as a father. And while they 
 praised and admired him they pitied him yet more. This 
 was the first attempt to restore Tarquin the Proud. 
 
 3. When Tarquin saw that the plot at home had failed, 
 he prevailed on the people of Tarquin ii and Yeii to make 
 war with him against the Romans. But the consuls came 
 out against them ; Valerius commanding the main army, 
 and Brutus the cavalry. And it chanced that Aruns, the 
 king's son, led the cavalry of the enemy. When he saw 
 Brutus, he spurred his horse against him, and Brutus did 
 not decline the combat. They rode straight at each other 
 with leveled spears; and so fierce was the shock, that 
 they pierced each other through from breast to back, and 
 both fell dead. 
 
 4. Then, also, the armies fought, but the battle was 
 neither won nor lost. But in the night a voice was heard 
 by the Etruscans, saying that the Romans were the con- 
 querers. So the enemy fled by night ; and when the Ro- 
 mans arose in the morning, there was no man to oppose 
 them. Then they took up the body of Brutus, and de- 
 parted home, and buried him in public with great pomp. 
 
 5. And thus the second attempt to restore King Tar- 
 quin was frustrated. After the death of Brutus, Yalerius, 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 119 
 
 tlie remaining consul, ruled the people for awhile by him- 
 self, and began to build himself a house upon the ridge 
 called Yelia, which looks down upon the forum. So the 
 people thought that he was going to make himself king ; 
 but when he heard this, he called an assembly of the 
 people, and appeared before them with his fasces low- 
 ered, and with no axes in them, whence the custom re- 
 mained ever after, that no consular lictors wore axes 
 within the city, and no consul had power of life and 
 death except when he was in command of his legions 
 abroad. And he pulled down the beginning of his house 
 upon the Yelia, and built it below that hill. Also, he 
 passed laws that every Roman citizen might apjDcal to the 
 people against the judgment of the chief magistrates. 
 Wherefore he was greatly honored among the people, and 
 was called Poplicola, or Friend of the People. 
 
 6. After this Valerius called together the great as- 
 sembly of the centuries, and they chose Spurius Lucretius, 
 father of Lucretius, to succeed Brutus. But he was an 
 old man, and not many days afterward he died, and 
 Marcus Horatius was chosen in his stead. 
 
 7. The temple on the Capitol which King Tarquin 
 began had never yet been consecrated. Then Valerius 
 and Horatius drew^ lots which should be the consecrator, 
 and the lot fell on Horatius. But the friends of Vale- 
 rius murmured, and they wished to prevent Horatius 
 from having the honor ; so, when he was now saying the 
 prayer of consecration, with his hand upon the door-post 
 of the temple, there came a messenger who told him that 
 his son was just dead, and that one mourning for a son 
 could not rightly consecrate the temple. But Horatius 
 kept his hand upon the door-post, and told them to see to 
 the burial of his son, and finished the rite of consecration. 
 Thus did he honor the gods even above his own son. 
 
120 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 8. In the next year Yalerins was again made consul, 
 with Titus Lucretius ; and Tarquin, despairing now of 
 aid from his friends at Yeii and Tarquinii, went to Lars 
 Porsena of Chisium, a city on the river Clanis, which falls 
 into the Tiber. Porsena was, at this time, acknowledged 
 as chief of the twelve Etruscan cities ; and he assembled 
 a powerful army and came to Pome. He came so quickly 
 that he reached the Tiber, and was near the Sublician 
 Bridge before there was time to destroy it : and if he had 
 crossed it the city would have been lost. 
 
 9. Then, a noble Poman, called Horatius Codes, of 
 the Lucerian tribe, with two friends — Spurius Lartius, a 
 Pamnian, and Titus Herminius, a Titian — posted them- 
 selves at the far end of the bridge, and defended the pass- 
 age against all the Etruscan host, while the Pomans were 
 cutting it off behind them. When it was all but de- 
 stroyed, his two friends retreated across the bridge, and 
 Horatius was left alone to bear the whole attack of the 
 enemy. He kept his ground, standing unmoved amid 
 the darts which were showered upon his shield, till the 
 last beams of the bridge fell crashing into the river. 
 Then he prayed, saying, " Father Tiber, receive me, and 
 bear me up I pray thee." He then plunged in, and 
 reached the other side safely ; and the Pomans honored 
 him greatly : they put up his statue in the Comitium, and 
 gave him as much land as he could plow round in a day, 
 and every man at Pome subscribed the cost of one day's 
 
 food to reward him. 
 
 Liddell. 
 
 10. This story is told in very spirited verse by Ma- 
 eaulay, in his poem of Horatius : 
 
nOMAN RECORD. 121 
 
 HORATIUS. 
 
 1. Fast by the royal standard, 
 
 Overlooking all the war, 
 Lars Porsena of Clusium 
 
 Sate in his ivory car. 
 By the right wheel rode Mamilius, 
 
 Prince of the Latian name ; 
 And by the left false Sextus, 
 
 That wrought the deed of shame. 
 
 2. But when the face of Sextus 
 
 Was seen among the foes, 
 A yell that rent the firmament 
 
 From all the town arose. 
 On the house-tops was no woman 
 
 But spate toward hira and hissed ; 
 No child but screamed out curses. 
 
 And shook its little fist. 
 
 3. But the consul's brow was sad. 
 
 And the consul's speech was low ; 
 And darkly looked he at the wall, 
 
 And darkly at the foe. 
 " Their van will be upon us 
 
 Before the bridge goes down ; 
 And if they once may win the bridge, 
 
 What hope to save the town ? " 
 
 4. Then out spoke brave Horatius, 
 
 The captain of the gate : 
 " To every man upon this earth 
 
 Death cometh soon or late. 
 And how can man die better 
 
 Than facing fearful odds 
 For the ashes of his fathers, 
 
 And the temples of his gods ! 
 
122 
 
 STOmES OF THE OLDEN TIME, 
 
 Horalius. 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 128 
 
 5. " Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul 
 
 With all the speed ye may ; 
 I, witli two more to help me, 
 
 Will hold the foe in play. 
 In yon straight path a thousand 
 
 May well be stopped by three. 
 Now, who will stand on either hand, 
 
 And keep the bridge with me ? " 
 
 6. Then out spoke Spurius Lartius, 
 
 A Ramnian proud was he : 
 " Lo, I will stand on thy right hand, 
 
 And keep the bridge with thee." 
 And out spoke strong Herminius, 
 
 Of Titian blood was he : 
 " I will abide on thy left side. 
 
 And keep the bridge with thee." 
 
 7. The three stood calm and silent. 
 
 And looked upon the foes. 
 And a great shout of laughter 
 
 From all the vanguard rose : 
 And forth three chiefs came spurring 
 
 Before that mighty mass ; 
 To earth they sprang, their swords they drew 
 And lifted high their shields, and flew 
 
 To win the narrow pass. 
 
 8. Annus from green Tifernum, 
 
 Lord of the Hill of Yines ; 
 And Seius, whose eight hundred slaves 
 
 Sicken in Ilva's mines ; 
 And Picus, long to Clusium 
 
 Vassal in peace and war. 
 
124 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME, 
 
 Who led to fight his Umbrian powers 
 From that gray crag where, girt with towers, 
 The fortress of J^equiniim lowers 
 O'er the pale waves of ]^ar. 
 
 9. Stout Lartins hurled down Annus 
 
 Into the stream beneath ; 
 Herminius struck at Seius, 
 
 And clove him to the teeth ; 
 At Picus brave Horatius 
 
 Darted one fiery thrust. 
 And the proud Umbrian's gilded arms 
 
 Clashed in the bloody dust. 
 
 10. But meanwhile axe and lever 
 
 Have manfully been plied. 
 And now the bridge hangs tottering 
 
 Above the boiling tide. 
 " Come back, come back, Horatius," 
 
 Loud cried the Fathers all. 
 " Back, Lartius ! back, Herminius ! 
 
 Back, ere the ruin fall ! " 
 
 11. Back darted Spurius Lartius ; 
 
 Herminius darted back : 
 And as they passed, beneath their feet 
 
 They felt the timbers crack. 
 But when they turned their faces, 
 
 And on the further shore 
 Saw brave Horatius stand alone. 
 
 They would have crossed once more. 
 
 12. But with a crash like thunder 
 
 Fell every loosened beam, 
 And, like a dam, the mighty wreck 
 Lay right athwart the stream ; 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 125 
 
 And a long shout of triumph 
 
 Rose from the walls of Rome, 
 As to the highest turret tops 
 
 Was splashed the yellow foam. 
 
 13. Alone stood brave Horatius, 
 
 But constant still in mind ; 
 Thrice thirty thousand foes before, 
 
 And the broad flood behind. 
 '^ Down with him ! " cried false Sextus, 
 
 With a smile on his pale face. 
 " E^ow yield thee," cried Lars Porsena, 
 
 " I^ow yield thee to our grace." 
 
 14. Round turned he, as not deigning 
 
 Those craven ranks to see ; 
 Naught spake he to Lars Porsena, 
 
 To Sextus naught spake he ; 
 But he saw on Palatinus 
 
 The white porch of his home. 
 And he spake to the noble river 
 
 That rolls by the towers of Rome. 
 
 15. " Oh, Tiber ! Father Tiber ! 
 
 To whom the Romans pray, 
 A Roman's life, a Roman's arms. 
 
 Take thou in charge this day ! " 
 So he spoke, and speaking sheathed 
 
 The good sword by his side, 
 And with his harness on his back 
 
 Plunged headlong in the tide. 
 
 16. But fiercely ran the current. 
 
 Swollen high by months of rain : 
 And fast his blood was flowing ; 
 And he was sore in pain, 
 
126 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 And heavy with his armor, 
 
 And spent with changing blows : 
 And oft they thought him sinking, 
 
 But still again he rose. 
 
 17. And now he feels the bottom ; 
 
 E^ow on dry earth he stands ; 
 Now round him throng the fathers. 
 
 To press his gory hands ; 
 And now with shouts and clapping, I 
 
 And noise of weeping loud. 
 He enters through the Eiver-gate, ^ 
 
 Borne by the joyous crowd. 
 
 18. And still his name sounds stirring 
 
 LTnto the men of Rome, 
 As the trumpet-blast that cries to them 
 
 To charge the Yolscian home ; 
 And wives still pray to Juno 
 
 For boys with hearts as bold 
 As his who kept the bridge so well 
 
 In the brave days of old. 
 
 19. And in the nights of winter, ^ 
 
 Wlien the cold north winds blow, ^ 
 
 And the long howling of the wolves 
 
 Is heard amidst the snow ; 
 When round the lonely cottage 
 
 Roars loud the tempest's din, 
 And the good logs of Algidus 
 
 Roar louder yet within. 
 
 20. When the oldest cask is opened. 
 
 And the largest lamp is lit. 
 When the chestnuts glow in the embers, 
 And the kid turns on the spit ; 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 
 
 "When young and old in circle 
 Around the firebrands close ; 
 
 When the girls are weaving baskets, 
 And the lads are shaping bows. 
 
 21. When the goodman mends his armor, 
 
 And trims his helmet's plume ; 
 When the goodwife's shuttle merrily 
 
 Goes flashing through the loom ; 
 With weeping and with laughter 
 
 Still is the story told, 
 How well Horatius kept the bridge 
 
 In the brave days of old. 
 
 127 
 
 Macaulay. 
 
 XXVIL-THE R0MA:K REPUBLIC. 
 
 1. The establishment of the republic marked an era 
 in the history of Eome. The people had decreed, that 
 for them there never should be a king, and the law was 
 kept to the letter ; though, if they meant that supreme 
 authority should never be held among them by one man, 
 it was violated many times. The story of Rome is unique 
 in the history of the world, for it is not the record of the 
 life of one great country, but of a city that grew to be 
 
128 STORIES OF TEE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 strong, and successfully established its authority over many 
 countries. 
 
 2. The most ancient and the most remote from the 
 sea of the cities of Latium, Rome soon became the most 
 influential, and began to combine in itself the traits of 
 the peoples near it ; but owing to the singular strength 
 and rare impressiveness of the national character, these 
 were assimilated, and the inhabitant of the capital re- 
 mained distinctively a Roman in spite of his intimate as- 
 sociation with men of difl:erent origin and training. 
 
 3. The citizen of Rome was practical, patriotic, and 
 faithful to obligation ; he loved to be governed by inflex- 
 ible law ; and it was a fundamental principle with him 
 that the individual should be subordinate to the state. 
 His kings were either organizers, like Numa and Ancus- 
 Marcius, or warriors like Romulus and Tullus HostiHus ; 
 they either made laws, like Servius, or they enforced 
 them with the despotism of Tarquinius Superbus. It is 
 diflScult for us to conceive of such majestic power emanat- 
 ing from a territory so insignificant. 
 
 4. We hardly realize that Latium did not comprise a 
 territory quite fifty miles by one hundred in extent, and 
 that it was but a hundred miles from the Mediterranean 
 to the Adriatic. It w^as but a short walk from Rome to 
 the territory of the Etruscans, and when Tarquin found 
 an asylum at Caere, he did not separate himself by twenty 
 miles from the scene of his tyranny. Ostia was scarcely 
 more distant, and one might have ridden before the first 
 meal of the day to Lavinium, or Alba, or Yeii, or to Ar- 
 dea, the ancient city of the Rutuli. It is important to 
 keep these facts in mind as we read the story of the re- 
 markable city. 
 
 5. All towns were built on hills in these early days, 
 for safety in case of war, as well as because the valleys 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 
 
 129 
 
 were insalubrious, but this was not a peculiarity of the 
 Romans, for in New England in the late ages of our own 
 ancestors, they were obliged to follow the same custom. 
 On the tops and slopes of seven hills, as tliey liked to re- 
 mind themselves, the Romans built their city. They were 
 not impressive elevations, though their sides were sharp 
 and rocky, for the loftiest rose less than three hundred 
 
 Ancient Roman Monument. 
 
 feet above the sea-level. Their summits were crowned 
 with groves of beech trees and oaks, and in the lower 
 lands grew osiers and other smaller varieties. 
 
 6. The earlier occupations of the Roman people were 
 war and agriculture, or the pasturage of flocks and herds. 
 They raised grapes and made whines ; they cultivated the 
 oil-olive, and knew the use of its fruit. They found cop- 
 per in their soil, and made a pound of it their unit of 
 value, but it was so cheap that ten thousand pounds of it 
 were required to buy a war-horse, though cattle and sheep 
 
130 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 were much lower. They yoked their oxen and called the 
 path they occupied a jugermn {jugum — a cross-beam or 
 a yoke), and this in time came to be their familiar stand- 
 ard of square measure, containing about two-thirds of an 
 acre. Two of these were assigned to a citizen, and seven 
 were the narrow limit to which only one's landed posses- 
 sions were for a long time allowed to extend. In time 
 commerce was added to the pursuits of the men, and with 
 it came fortunes and improved dwellings, and public 
 buildings. Laziness and luxury were frowned upon by 
 the early Romans. Mistress and maid worked together 
 in the affairs of the household, like Lucretia and other 
 noble women of whom history tells, and the man did not 
 hesitate to hold the plow, as the example of Cincinnatus 
 will show us. Time was precious, and thrift and economy 
 were necessary to success. The father was the autocrat in 
 the household, and exercised his power with stern rigidity. 
 
 7. Art was backward, and came from abroad ; of litera- 
 ture there was none, long after Greece had passed its pe- 
 riod of heroic poetry. The dwellings of the citizens were 
 low and insignificant, though, as time passed on, they 
 became more massive and important. The vast public 
 structures of the later kings were comparable to the task- 
 work of the builders of the Egyptian pyramids, and they 
 still strike us with astonishment, and surprise. 
 
 8. The religion of these strong conquerors was nar- 
 row, severe, and dreary. The early fathers worshiped 
 native deities only. They recognized gods everywhere — 
 in the home, in the grove, and on the mountain. They 
 erected their altars on the hills ; they had their lares and 
 penates to watch over their hearth-stones, and their vestal 
 virgins kept everlasting vigil near the never-dying fires in 
 the temples. With the art of Grreece that made itself felt 
 through Etruria, came also the influence of the Grecian 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 131 
 
 mythology, and Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva found a shrine 
 on the top of the CapitoHne, where the first statue of a 
 deity was erected. The mysterious sibylhne books are 
 also a mark of the Grecian influence, coming from Cumse, 
 a colony of Magna Grsecia. 
 
 9. During the period we have considered, the city 
 passed through five distinct stages of political organiza- 
 tion. The government at first was an elective monarchy, 
 the electors being a patriarchal aristocracy. After the 
 invasion of the Sabines there was a union with that people, 
 the sovereignty being held by rulers chosen from each, but 
 it was not long before Kome became the head of a federal 
 state. The Tarquins established a monarchy, which rap- 
 idly degenerated into an offensive tyranny, which aroused 
 rebellion and at last led to the republic. 
 
 10. During all these changes, the original aristocrats 
 and their descendants held their position as the Populus 
 Romanus, the Roman people, insisting that every one 
 else must belong to an inferior order, and, as no body of 
 men is willing to be condemned to a hopelessly subordi- 
 nate position in a state, there was a perpetual antagonism 
 between the patricians and the plebeians, between the 
 aristocracy and the commonalty. This led to a tempo- 
 rary change under Servius Tullius, when property took 
 the place of pedigree in establishing a man's rank and in- 
 fluence ; but owing to the peculiar method of voting 
 adopted, the power of the commons was not greatly in- 
 creased. However, they had made their influence felt, and 
 were encouraged. 
 
 11. The overturning of the scheme by Tarquin favored a 
 union of the two orders for the punishment of that tyrant, 
 and they combined ; but it was only for a time. When 
 the danger had been removed, the tie was found broken 
 and the antagonism rather increased, so that the subse- 
 
132 
 
 8T0RIE8 OF TEE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 quent history for tive generations, though exceedingly 
 interesting, is largely a record of the struggles of the 
 commons for relief from the burdens laid upon them by 
 the aristocrats. 
 
 12. The father passed down to his son the story of 
 the oppression of the patricians, and the son told the same 
 
 Roman Private Life, 
 
 sad narrative to his offspring. The mother mourned 
 with her daughter over the sufferings brought upon them 
 by the rich, for whom their poor father and brothers were 
 
ROMAN' RECORD. 133 
 
 obliged to fight the battles, while they were not allowed 
 to share the spoil, nor to divide the lands gained by their 
 own prowess. The struggle was not so much between 
 patrician and plebeian as between the rich and the poor. 
 It was intimately connected with the uses of money in 
 those times. What could the rich Roman do with his 
 accumulations? He might buy land or slaves, or he 
 migiit become a lender ; to a certain extent he could use 
 his surplus in commerce ; but of these its most remunera- 
 tive employment was found in usury. As there were no 
 laws regulating the rates of interest, they became exorbi- 
 tant, and as it was customary to compound it, debts rap- 
 idly grew beyond the possibility of payment. As the 
 rich made the laws they naturally exerted their ingenuity 
 to frame them in such a way as to enable the lender to 
 collect his dues with promptness and with little regard 
 for the feelings or interests of the debtor. 
 
 13. It is difiicult, if not impossible, for us to form a 
 proper conception of tlie magnitude of the wrongs in- 
 volved in the system of money-lending at Rome during 
 the period of the republic. The small farmers were ever 
 needy, and came to their wealthy neighbors for accommo- 
 dation loans. If these were not paid when due, the 
 debtor was liable to be locked up in prison, to be sold 
 into slavery, with his children, wife, and grandchildren ; 
 and the heartless law reads, that in case the estate should 
 prove insufficient to satisfy all claims, tlie creditors were 
 actually authorized to cut the body to pieces, that each 
 Shylock might take the pound of flesh that he claimed. 
 
 14. At last the severity of the lenders overreached it- 
 self. It was in the year 495 b. c, that a poor but brave debt- 
 or, one who had been at the very front in the wars, broke 
 out of his prison, and while the wind flaunted his rags in 
 the face of the populace, clanked his chains and told the 
 
134 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 story of his calamities so effectually in words of natural 
 eloquence, that the commons were aroused to madness, 
 and resolved at last to make a vigorous effort, and seek 
 redress for their wrongs in a way that could not be resisted. 
 
 15. The form of this man stands out forever on the 
 pages of Roman history, as he entered the forum with all 
 the badges of his misery upon him. His pale and eiiiaci- 
 ated body was but partially covered by his wretched tat- 
 ters ; his long hair played about his shoulders, and his 
 glaring eyes and the grizzled beard hanging down before 
 him added to his savage wildness. As he passed along 
 he uncovered the scars of near two score battles that re- 
 mained upon his breast, and explained to inquirers that 
 while he had been serving in the Sabine war, his house 
 had been pillaged and burned by the enemy ; that when 
 he had returned to enjoy the sweets of the peace he had 
 helped to win, he had found that his cattle had been 
 driven off, and a tax imposed. 
 
 16. To meet the debts that thronged upon him and 
 the interest by which they were aggravated, he had 
 stripped himself of his ancestral farms. Finally, pesti- 
 lence had overtaken him, and as he was not able to work, 
 his creditor had placed him in a house of detention, the 
 savage treatment in which was shown by the fresh stripes 
 upon his bleeding back. 
 
 17. At the moment a war was imminent, and the 
 forum — the entire city, in fact — already excited, was 
 filled with the uproar of the angry plebeians. Many con- 
 fined for debt broke from their prison-houses and ran 
 from all quarters into the crowds to claim protection. 
 The majesty of the consuls was insufficient to preserve 
 order, and while the discord was rapidly increasing horse- 
 men rushed into the gates announcing that an enemy was 
 actually upon them, marching to besiege the city. The 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 135 
 
 plebeians saw that their opportunity had arrived, and 
 when proud Appius Claudius called upon them to enroll 
 their names for the war, they refused the summons, say- 
 ing that the patricians might fight their own battles ; that 
 for themselves it was better to perish together at home 
 rather than to go to the field and die separated. 
 
 18. Threatened with war beyond the gates, and with 
 riot at home, the patricians were forced to promise to re- 
 dress the civil grievances. It was ordered that no one 
 could seize or sell the goods of a soldier while he was in 
 camp, or arrest his children, and that no one should de- 
 tain a citizen in prison or in chains, so as to hinder him 
 from enlisting in the army. When this was known, the 
 released prisoners volunteered in numbers, and entered 
 upon the war with enthusiasm. The legions were victori- 
 ous, and when peace was declared, the plebeians anxiously 
 looked for the ratification of the promises made to them. 
 
 19. Their expectations were disappointed. They had, 
 however, seen their power, and were determined to cat 
 upon their new knowledge. Without undue haste they 
 protected their homes on the Aventine, and retreated the 
 next year to a mountain across the Anio, about three 
 miles from the city, to a spot which afterward held a 
 place in the memories of the Romans similar to that 
 which the green meadow on the Thames called Runny- 
 mede has held in British history since the June day when 
 King John met his commons there, and gave them the 
 great charter of their liberties. 
 
 20. The plebeians said calmly that they would no 
 longer be imposed upon ; that not one of them would 
 thereafter enhst for a war until the public faith was made 
 good. They reiterated the declaration that the lords 
 might fight their own battles, so that the perils of con- 
 flict should lie where its advantages were. When the 
 
136 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 situation of affairs was thoroughly understood, Rome was 
 on fire with anxiety, and the enforced suspense filled the 
 citizens with fear lest an external enemy should take the 
 opportunity for a successful onset upon the city. 
 
 21. Meanwhile the poor secessionists fortified their 
 camp, but carefully refrained from actual war. The peo- 
 ple left in the city feared the senators, and the senators 
 in turn dreaded the citizens lest they should do them vio- 
 lence. It was a time of panic and suspense. After con- 
 sultation, good counsels prevailed in the senate, and it 
 was resolved to send an embassy to the despised and down- 
 trodden plebeians, who now seemed to hold the balance of 
 power, and to treat for peace, for there could be no secur- 
 ity until the secessionists had returned to their homes. 
 
 22. The sjDokesman on the occasion was Menenius 
 Agrippa Lanatus who was popular with the people and 
 had a reputation for eloquence. The address of this 
 good man had its desired effect, and the people were at 
 last willing to listen to a proposition for their return. It 
 was settled that there should be a general release of all 
 those who had been handed over to their creditors, and 
 a cancelling of debts, and that two of the plebeians should 
 be selected as their protectors, with power to veto objec- 
 tionable laws, their persons being as inviolable at all times 
 as were those of the sacred messengers of the gods. 
 These demands, showing that the plebeians did not seek 
 political power, were agreed to, the Valerian laws were 
 reaffirmed, and a solemn treaty was concluded, each party 
 swearing for itself and its posterity, with all the formal- 
 ity of representatives of foreign nations. 
 
 23. The two leaders of the commons, Caius Licinius 
 and Lucius Albinus, were elected the first tribunes of 
 the people, as the new officers were called, with two 
 sediles to aid them. They were not to leave the city 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 137 
 
 during their term of office, their doors being open 
 night and day, that all who needed their protection might 
 have acccess to them. The hill upon which this treaty 
 had been concluded was ever after known as the Sacred 
 Mount; its top was enclosed and consecrated, an altar 
 being built upon it, on which sacrifices were offered to 
 Jupiter, the god of terror and deliverance, who had al- 
 lowed the commons to return home in safety, though 
 they had gone out in trepidation. Henceforth the com- 
 mons were to be protected ; they were better fitted to 
 share the honors as well as the benefits of their country, 
 and the threatened dissolution of the nation was averted. 
 Arthur Gilman^ M. A. " The Story of Rome.'''' 
 
 Putnam's " Stories of the Nations Series.'''' 
 
 XXYIII.-CIJ^CIJ^JfATUS. 
 
 1. In tlie course of the early Roman wars, Minucius, 
 one of the consuls suffered himself to be cut off from 
 Eome, in a narrow valley of Mount Algidus, and it 
 seemed as if hope of delivery there was none. How- 
 ever, five horsemen found means to escape and rej)ort at 
 Rome the perilous condition of the consul and his army. 
 Then the other consul consulted the senate, and it was 
 agreed that the only man who could deliver the army 
 was Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. He was thereupon 
 named dictator, and deputies were sent to acquaint him 
 with his high dignity. 
 
 2. He was called Cincinnatus, because he wore his 
 hair in long curling locks, cincinni^ and, though he was a 
 patrician he lived on his own small farm, like any plebeian 
 
138 STOEIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 yeoman. This farm was beyond tlie Tiber, and here he 
 lived contentedly with his wife Racilia. 
 
 3. Two years before he had been consul, and had 
 been brought into great distress by the conduct of his 
 son, Kseso. This Kseso was a wild and insolent young 
 man, who despised the plebeians and hated their tribunes. 
 One Yolscius Fictor alleged that he and his brother, an 
 old and sickly man, had been attacked by Kseso and a 
 party of young patricians by night, and that his brother 
 had died of the treatment then received. The indigna- 
 tion of the people rose high ; and Kseso was forced to go 
 into exile. After this the young patricians became more 
 insolent than ever, but they courted the poorest of the 
 people, hoping to engage them on their side against the 
 more respectable plebeians. 
 
 4. ISText year all Rome was alarmed by finding that 
 the Capitol had been seized by an enemy during the 
 night. This enemy was Appius Herdonius, a Sabine, 
 and with him was associated a band of desperate men, 
 exiles and runaway slaves. The first demand he made 
 was that all Roman exiles should be restored. The con- 
 sul, P. Valerius, collected a force and took the Capitol, 
 but was killed in the assault, and Cincinnatus, father of 
 the banished Kseso, was chosen to succeed him. When 
 he heard the news of his elevation, he turned to his wife, 
 and said : " I fear, Racilia, our little field must remain 
 this year unsown." Then he assumed the robe of state, 
 and went to Rome. It was believed that Kseso had been 
 concerned in the desperate enterprise that had just been 
 defeated. What had become of him was unknown ; but 
 that he was already dead was pretty certain ; and his father 
 was very bitter against the tribunes and their party, to 
 whom he attributed his son's disgrace and death. 
 
 5. P. Valerius, the consul, had persuaded the plebeians 
 
ROMAN EEGORD. 139 
 
 to join in the assault of the Capitol, by promising to gain 
 them further privileges ; this promise Cincianatus refused 
 to keep, and used all his power to frustrate the attempts 
 of the tribunes to gain its fulfillment. At the end of his 
 year of office, however, when the patricians wished to 
 continue him in the consulship, he positively declined the 
 ofler, and returned to his rustic life as if he had never 
 left it. 
 
 6. It was two years after these events that the depu- 
 ties of the senate, who came to invest him with the en- 
 signs of dictatorial power, found him working on his 
 little farm. He was clad in his tunic only, and as the 
 deputies advanced they bade him put on his toga, that he 
 might receive the commands of the senate in seemly 
 guise. So he wiped off the dust and sweat, and bade his 
 wife fetch his toga, and asked anxiously whether all was 
 right or no. Then the deputies told him how the army 
 was beset by the JEqiiian foe, and how the Senate looked 
 to him as the savior of the state. A boat was provided 
 to carry him over the Tiber ; and when he reached the 
 other bank, he was greeted by his family and friends, 
 and the greater part of the senate, who followed him to 
 the city, while he himself walked in state, with his four 
 and twenty lictors. 
 
 7. That same day the dictator and his master of horse 
 came down into the forum, ordered all shops to be shut, 
 and all business to be suspended. All men of the mili- 
 tary age were to meet in the Field of Mars before sun- 
 set, each man with five days' provisions and twelve stakes ; 
 the older men were to get the provisions ready, while the 
 soldiers were preparing the stakes. Thus all was got ready 
 in time : the dictator led them forth ; and they marched 
 so rapidly, that by midnight they had reached Mount 
 Algidns, where the army of the consul was hemmed in. 
 
140 STORIES OF TBE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 8. Then the dictator, when he had discovered the 
 place of the enemy's army, ordered his men to put all 
 their baggage down in one place, and then to surround 
 the enemy's camp. They obeyed, and each one raising 
 a shout, began digging the trench and fixing his stakes, so 
 as to form a palisade round the enemy. The consul's 
 army, w^hich was hemmed in, heard the shout of their 
 brethren, and flew to arms ; and so hotly did they fight 
 all night, that the ^quians had no time to attend to the 
 new foe, and next morning found themselves hemmed in 
 on all sides by the trench and palisade, so that they were 
 now between two Eoman armies. They were thus forced 
 to surrender. The dictator required them to give up 
 their chiefs, and made their whole army pass under the 
 yoke, which was formed by two spears fixed upright in 
 the ground, and a third bound across them at the top. 
 
 9. Cincinnatus returned to Rome amid the shouts and 
 
 exultation of his soldiers : they gave him a golden crown, 
 
 in token that he had saved the lives of many citizens ; 
 
 and the senate decreed that he should enter the city in 
 
 triumph. So Cincinnatus accomplished the purpose for 
 
 which he had been made dictator in twenty-four hours. 
 
 One evening he marched forth to deliver the consul, and 
 
 the next evening he returned victorious. But he would 
 
 not lay down his high ofiice till he had avenged his son. 
 
 Accordingly, he summoned Yolscius Fictor, the accuser, 
 
 and had him tried for perjury. The man was condemned 
 
 and banished ; and then Cincinnatus once more returned 
 
 to his wife and farm. 
 
 Liddell. 
 
BOMAN RECORD. 
 
 141 
 
 XXIX -THE BOMAJV FATHER. 
 
 1. Among the most interesting of the early legends of 
 Rome is that of Yirginiiis, a soldier of the army belong- 
 ing to the plebeian or- 
 der. While performing 
 his duty in the army 
 which was encamped 
 about twenty miles from 
 Rome, his young daus^h- 
 ter, Virginia, about fif- - 
 
 
 '■> i '% 
 
 The Seizure of Virginia, 
 
142 8T0BIE8 OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 teen years of age found her home with her near relatives 
 in the city. Her beauty attracted the attention of Appius 
 Claudius, one of the ten governors of Rome. With the 
 view of getting possession of her person, he ordered one 
 of his clients, M. Claudius by name, to lay hands upon her 
 as she was going to her school in the Forum, and to claim 
 her as his slave. The man did so ; and when the cries of 
 her nurse brought a crowd round them, M. Claudius in- 
 sisted on taking her before the decemvir, in order (as he 
 said) to have the case fairly tried. Her friends consent- 
 ed, and no sooner had Appius heard the matter, than he 
 gave judgment that the maiden should be delivered up to 
 the claimant, who should be bound to produce her in case 
 her alleged father appeared to gainsay the claim. 
 
 2. Now this judgment was directly against one of the 
 laws of the Twelve Tables, which Appius himself had 
 framed : for therein it was provided, that any person be- 
 ing at freedom should continue free, till it was proved 
 that such person was a slave. Icilius her betrothed, 
 therefore, with Numitorius, the uncle of the maiden, 
 boldly argued against the legality of the judgment ; and 
 at length, Appius, fearing a tumult, agreed to leave the 
 girl in their hands, on condition of their giving bail to 
 bring her before hira next morning ; and then, if Yir- 
 ginius did not appear, he would at once, he said, give her 
 up to her pretended master. 
 
 3. To this Icilius consented ; but he delayed giving 
 bail, pretending that he could not procure it readily, and 
 in the mean time he sent off a secret message to the camp 
 on Algid us to inform Yirginius of what had happened. 
 As soon as the bail was given, Appius also sent a message 
 to the decemvirs in command of that army, ordering 
 them to refuse leave of absence to Yirginius. But when 
 this last message arrived, Yirginius was already half-way 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 143 
 
 on his road to Rome ; for the distance was not more than 
 twenty miles, and he had started at nightfall. 
 
 4. Next morning early, Yirginius entered the forum 
 leading his daughter by the hand, both clad in mean at- 
 tire. A great number of friends and matrons attended 
 him ; and he went about among the people entreating 
 them to support him against the tyranny of Appius. So, 
 when Appius came to take his place on the judgment- 
 seat, he found the forum full of people, all friendly to 
 Yirginius and his cause. But he inherited the boldness 
 as well as the vices of his sires, and though he saw Yir- 
 ginius standing there, ready to jDrove that he was the maid- 
 en's father, he at once gave judgment against his own 
 law, that Yirginia should be given up to M. Claudius, 
 till it should be proved that she was free. The wretch 
 came up to seize her, and the lictors kept the people from 
 him. Yirginius now despairing of deliverance, begged 
 Appius to allow him to ask the maiden whether she were 
 indeed his daughter or no. " If," said he, '' I find I am 
 not her father, I shall bear her loss the lighter." Under 
 this pretense, he drew her aside to a spot upon the northern 
 side of the forum (afterward called the Novae Tabernae), 
 and here, snatching up a knife from a butcher's stall, he 
 cried : " In this way only can I keep thee free ! " and, 
 so saying, stabbed her to the heart. 
 
 5. Then he turned to the tribunal, and said : " On 
 thee, Appius, and on thy head be this blood." Appius 
 cried out to sieze '^ the murderer " ; but the crowd made 
 way for Yirginius, and he passed through them holding 
 up the bloody knife, and went out at the gate, and made 
 straight for the army. There, when the soldiers had 
 heard his tale, they at once abandoned their decem viral 
 generals, and marched to Rome. They were soon fol- 
 lowed by the other army from the Sabine frontier ; for 
 
144 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 to them Icilius had gone, and Numitorius ; and thej 
 found willing ears among the men. So the two armies 
 joined their banners, elected new generals, and encamped 
 upon the Aventine hill, the quarter of the plebeians. 
 
 6. Meantime, the people at home had risen against Ap- 
 pius ; and after driving him from the forum, they joined 
 their armed fellow-citizens upon the Aventine. There the 
 whole body of the commons, armed and unarmed, hung 
 like a dark cloud ready to burst upon the city. 
 
 Liddell. 
 
 VIRCINIUS. 
 
 1. When Appius Claudius saw that deed he shuddered 
 
 and sank down. 
 And hid his face some little space with the corner of 
 
 his gown, 
 Till with white lips and blood-shot eyes Virginius 
 
 tottered nigh. 
 And stood before the judgment-seat, and held the 
 
 knife on high. 
 " Oh ! dwellers in the nether gloom, avengers of the 
 
 slain. 
 By this dear blood, I cry to you, do right between us 
 
 twain ; 
 And even as Appius Claudius hath dealt with me and 
 
 mine. 
 Deal you by Appius Claudius and all the Claudian 
 
 line ! " 
 So spake the slayer of his child, and turned, and went 
 
 his way ; 
 But first he cast one haggard glance to where the body 
 
 lay, 
 And writhed, and groaned a fearful groan ; and then 
 with steadfast feet. 
 
ROMAN BECORD, 145 
 
 Strode right across the market-place into the sacred 
 
 street. 
 
 2. Then up sprang Appius Claudius : " Stop him ; alive 
 
 or dead ! 
 Ten thousand pounds of copper to the man who brings 
 
 his head." 
 He looked upon his clients, but none would work his 
 
 will. 
 He looked upon his lictors, but they trembled and 
 
 stood still. 
 And as Yirginius, through the press, his way in silence 
 
 cleft, 
 Ever the mighty multitude fell back to right and left. 
 And he hatl^ passed in safety unto his woful home. 
 And there ta'en horse to tell the camp what deeds are 
 
 done in Rome. 
 
 3. By this the flood of people was swollen from every side. 
 And streets and porches round were filled with that 
 
 o'erflowing tide, 
 And close around the body gathered a little train 
 Of them that were the nearest and dearest to the slain. 
 They brought a bier, and hung it with many a cypress 
 
 crown, 
 And gently they uplifted her, and gently laid her down. 
 The face of Appius Claudius wore the Claudian scowl 
 
 and sneer. 
 And in the Claudian note he cried, " What doth this 
 
 rabble here? 
 Have they no crafts to mind at home, that hitherward 
 
 they stray ? 
 Ho ! lictors, clear the market-place, and fetch the 
 
 corpse away ! " 
 
146 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME, 
 
 4. Till then the voice of pity and fury was not 
 
 loud, 
 But a deep, sullen murmur, wandered among the 
 
 crowd. 
 Like the moaning noise that goes before the whirl- 
 wind on the deep, 
 Or the growl of a fierce watch-dog but half-aroused 
 
 from sleep. 
 But when the lictors at that word, tall yeomen all, and 
 
 strong. 
 Each with his axe and sheaf of twigs, went down into 
 
 the throng. 
 Those old men say, who saw that day of sorrow and 
 
 of sin. 
 That in the Koman Forum was never such a 
 
 din. 
 The wailing, hooting, cursing, the how^ls of grief and 
 
 hate. 
 Were heard beyond the Pincian hill, beyond the Latin 
 
 gate. 
 
 5. But close around the body, where stood the little 
 
 train 
 Of them that were the nearest and dearest to the 
 
 slain. 
 No cries were there, but teeth set fast, low whispers, 
 
 and black frowns. 
 And breaking up of benches, and girding np of 
 
 gowns. 
 'Twas w^ell the lictors might not pierce to where the 
 
 maiden lay. 
 Else surely had they been all twelve torn limb from 
 
 limb that day. 
 
ROMAIC RECORD, 
 
 147 
 
 The Dead Virainia. 
 
 Eight glad they were to struggle back, blood stream- 
 ing from their heads, 
 
 With axes all in splinters, and raiment all in 
 shreds. 
 
 6. Then Appins Claudius gnawed his lip, and the blood 
 left his cheek ; 
 
148 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 And thrice he beckoned with his hand, and thrice he 
 
 strove to speak ; 
 And thrice the tossing forum sent up a frightful 
 
 yell- 
 " See, see, thou dog ! what thou hast done ; and hide 
 
 thy shame in hell, 
 Thou that wouldst make our maidens slaves, must first 
 
 make slaves of men. 
 Tribunes ! — Hurrah for tribunes ! Down with the 
 
 wicked Ten ! " 
 And straightway, thick as hailstones, came whizzing 
 
 through the air 
 Pebbles, and bricks, and potsherds, all round the curule 
 
 chair ; 
 And upon Appius Claudius great fear and trembling 
 
 came ; 
 For never was a Claudius yet brave against aught but 
 
 shame. 
 
 7. So now 'twas seen of Appius. When stones began 
 
 to fly, 
 He shook, and crouched, and wrung his hands, and 
 
 smote upon his thigh. 
 '' Kind clients, honest lictors, stand by me in this fray! 
 Must I be torn to pieces ? Home, home the nearest 
 
 way." 
 While yet he spake, and looked around with a bewil- 
 dered stare, 
 Four sturdy lictors put their necks beneath the curule 
 
 chair ; 
 And fourscore clients on the left, and forescore on the 
 
 right. 
 Arrayed themselves with swords and staves, and loins 
 
 girt up for fight. 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 149 
 
 8, But, though without or staff or sword, so furious was 
 
 the throng. 
 That scarce the train, with might and main, could bring 
 
 their lord along. 
 Twelve times the crowd made at him ; five times they 
 
 seized his gown ; 
 Small chance was his to rise again, if once they got 
 
 him down : 
 And sharper came the pelting ; and evermore the 
 
 yell- 
 " Tribunes ! we will have tribunes ! " rose with a 
 
 louder swell : 
 And the chair tossed as tosses a bark with tattered 
 
 sail, 
 When raves the Adriatic beneath an eastern 
 
 gale. 
 When the Calabrian sea-marks are lost in clouds of 
 
 spume. 
 And the great Thunder-Cape has donned his veil of 
 
 inky gloom. 
 One stone hit Appius in the mouth, and one beneath 
 
 the ear ; 
 And ere he reached Mount Palatine, he swooned with 
 
 pain and fear. 
 His cursed head, that he was wont to liold so high 
 
 with pride, 
 Now, like a drunken man's, hung down, and swayed 
 
 from side to side ; 
 And when his stout retainers had brought him to his 
 
 door, 
 His neck and face were all one cake of filth and clotted 
 
 gore. 
 
150 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 XXX.-ABCHIMEDES. 
 
 1. This extraordinary man was a native of Syracuse, a 
 city of Sicily. He was born two hnndred and eighty- 
 eight years before the Christian era, and from fifty to one 
 hundred years after the appearance of the far-famed Eu- 
 clid. Who his parents were, and what was their rank in 
 life are not known, though it is claimed that he was in 
 some way related to Hiero the king of Syracuse. It is said 
 that Hiero considered himself greatly honored by such a 
 relation, and well he might be, for science and genius com- 
 bined are much higher than royalty. Besides it is proba- 
 ble that the name of the monarch would never have been 
 preserved except in connection with the great philosopher. 
 
 2. By whom he was instructed in the elements of 
 education, history fails to inform us, but it tells us of the 
 progress he made in mechanics and geometry, and for the 
 sake of the quiet necessary to pursue these branches he 
 gave up all the advantages of a political life derived from 
 his connection with the king. His favorite studies had 
 more charms for him than the glitter of events or the 
 plunder of conquered cities. 
 
 3. After studying at home until he could learn noth- 
 ing more in the city of his birth, he repaired to Alexan- 
 dria in Egypt, at that time the educational center that 
 had inherited the philosophy and culture of Athens. 
 Here he studied for some years and became acquainted 
 with the most distinguished scholars of his day. Among 
 his most intimate friends was Conon, a famous mathe- 
 matician from Samos, who often exchanged problems with 
 him for solution. While staying at Alexandria he began 
 his work of practical invention which he afterward turned 
 to such good account. 
 
 4. Some of his ardent admirers have maintained that 
 
ROMAR RECORD. 
 
 151 
 
 Archimedes. 
 
152 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 Archimedes taught the Egyptians more than they taught 
 him ; that while he imbibed philosophy and book learn- 
 ing, he more than repaid the New Athens by inventions 
 which were of the greatest use in the ordinary work of 
 the home and the shop. Although we do not know ex- 
 actly what he turned his hand to, we are quite sure that 
 in many ways he performed feats that have scarcely been 
 surpassed in modern times. 
 
 5. After his return to his native city, Archimedes 
 continued his studies with unabated vigor, often neglect- 
 ing his food and the care of his person when a new prob- 
 lem was to be solved or a new invention perfected. The 
 method of determining the relative amount of gold and 
 base metal in Hiero's crown occurred to him while in his 
 bath, and without stopping to put on his clothes, he is said 
 to have rushed through the streets exclaiming " Eureka I 
 Eureka!" 
 
 6. To prevent the ruin of his health his servants were 
 sometimes obliged to take him by main force to the table 
 and bath, and to take his daily exercise. Hiero at one 
 time expressed an admiration of some of his inventions 
 when Archimedes replied that had he a place to ^^ 
 his machines upon he could move the earth itself. His 
 days were passed in study and retirement until the safe- 
 ty of his native city called him out to take part in its 
 defense. 
 
 7. During the wars between the Komans and Cartha- 
 ginians, the people of Sicily, and especially the Syracu- 
 sans, had for a long time remained neutral or been in alli- 
 ance with the Romans. But a Carthaginian interest 
 sprung up which mastered and sought to extend itself 
 over the whole island. As soon as the news of this po- 
 litical movement and rebellion reached Marcellus, the 
 Roman general, he hastened with a strong force into 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 153 
 
 Sicily, and after the capture of the principalities he laid 
 siege to Syracuse. 
 
 8. Here he met with an unexpected check. The in- 
 ventive genius of Archimedes enabled the Syracusans to 
 successfully defend their city for three years. He so im- 
 proved the warlike instruments for the discharge of mis- 
 siles, that he repeatedly beat back the most determined 
 assault, and the Romans were more than once on the 
 point of abandoning the siege, believing that the city was 
 defended by the gods. By means of long and powerful 
 levers, together with grappling irons, he is said to have de- 
 stroyed many of the Roman galleys when they ap- 
 proached the walls of the city ; and when they retired for 
 safety he set them on fire by a combination of immense 
 burning-glasses. 
 
 9. The story of these exploits is told by the Romans 
 themselves, and there can be no doubt but here Science 
 gained one of her greatest triumphs. The success of the 
 new engine was evidently so great, that an element of 
 superstition entered into the record. But the triumph of 
 genius was not complete. During a festival in honor of 
 Diana when wine flowed freely, the guards neglected to 
 man some particular part of the walls. The Romans ob- 
 serving this scaled the walls and made themselves mas- 
 ters of the city. 
 
 10. Amid the plunder and carnage which followed, 
 Archimedes w^as killed. Marcellus had given orders for 
 his special protection, but the deed was done by a Roman 
 soldier. One account says that he was slain in his labora- 
 tory where he was found studying a problem, and he re- 
 fused to move until he had completed the solution. An- 
 other account says that he was put to death on the street 
 while drawing a geometrical figure in the sand. The 
 third and most rational account is that while bearing some 
 
154 
 
 STORIES OF TEE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 boxes of mathematical instruments to Marcellus he was 
 killed by a soldier who supposed that the boxes contained 
 treasure. His death happened about 210 b. c. at the age 
 of seventy-six. 
 
 XXXI-THE DEATH OF CMSAR. 
 
 1. The greatest of Eome's generals, and one of the 
 greatest of military chieftains of all ages, was Julius 
 
 Csesar. Of a patrician 
 family, he was one of the 
 most accomplished men 
 of Kome. He was great 
 in civil as well as mili- 
 tary life. He became 
 the most popular of the 
 greatest men of Rome's 
 most brilliant days. His 
 military feats rivaled 
 those of Alexander, and 
 he extended the rule of 
 Rome through all cen- 
 tral Europe, completely 
 subduing all of the tribes 
 with which he came in 
 contact. From his north- 
 ern victories he turned 
 his victorious army south, 
 crossed the Rubicon, 
 
 which marked the border of his own province, and seized 
 
 the control of Rome. 
 
 2. In the management of civil affairs he was as suc- 
 
 Ccesar {enlarged from a Roman Coin). 
 
ROMAN EEGORD. 155 
 
 cessful as in the field. He corrected abuses that had 
 crept into the pohtical management of affairs, and placed 
 new safeguards around the rights of the people. 
 
 3. His administration was almost as brilliant as that 
 of Pericles in Athens ; yet the principal nobles did not 
 love him, and with the people at large he suffered still 
 more, from a belief that he wished to be made king. On 
 his return from Spain he had been named dictator and 
 imperator for life. His head had for some time been 
 placed on the money of the republic, a regal honor con- 
 ceded to none before him. Quintilis, the fifth month of 
 the old calendar, received from him the name which it 
 still bears. The senate took an oath to guard the safety 
 of his person. 
 
 4. He was honored with sacrifices, and honors hitherto 
 reserved for the gods. But Cgesar was not satisfied. He 
 was often heard to quote the sentiment of Euripides, that, 
 '^ if any violation of law is excusable, it is excusable for 
 the sake of gaining sovereign power." It was no doubt 
 to ascertain the popular sentiments that various proposi- 
 tions were made toward an assumption of the title of 
 king. His statues in the forum were found crowned with 
 a diadem ; but two of the tribunes tore it off, and the mob 
 applauded. 
 
 5. On the 26th of January, at the great Latin festival 
 on the Alban Mount, voices in the crowd saluted him as 
 king ; but mutterings of discontent reached his ears, and 
 he promptly said : " I am no king, but Csesar." The final 
 attempt was made at the Lupercalia on the 15th of Feb- 
 ruary. Antony, in the character of one of the priests of 
 Pan, approached the dictator as he sat presiding in his 
 golden chair, and offered him an embroidered band, like 
 the diadem of Oriental sovereigns. The applause which 
 followed was partial, and the dictator put the offered gift 
 
156 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 aside. Then a burst of genuine cheering greeted him, 
 which waxed louder still when he rejected it a second 
 time. Old traditional feeling was too strong at Rome 
 even for Caesar's daring temper to brave it. The peoj)le 
 would submit to the despotic rule of a dictator, but would 
 not have a king. 
 
 6. Other causes of discontent had been agitating vari- 
 ous classes at Rome. The more fierj partisans of Caesar 
 disapproved of his clemency ; the more prodigal sort 
 were angry at his regulations for securing the provincials 
 from oppression. The populace of the city complained 
 — the genuine Romans, at seeing favor extended to pro- 
 vincials, those of foreign origin because they had been 
 excluded from the corn bounty. Caesar, no doubt, was 
 eager to return to his army, and escape from the in- 
 creas ing difficulties which beset his civil government. 
 But as soon as he joined the army, he would assume 
 monarchical power in virtue of the late decree ; and this 
 consideration urged the discontented to a plot against his 
 hfe. 
 
 Y. The difficulty w^as to find a leader. At length 
 Marcus Junius Brutus accepted the post of danger. This 
 young man, a nephew of Cato, had taken his uncle as an 
 example for his public life. But he was fonder of specu- 
 lation than of action. His habits were reserved, rather 
 those of a student than a statesman. He had reluctantly 
 joined the cause of Pompey, for he could ill forget that 
 it was by Pompey that his father had been put to death 
 in cold blood. After the battle of Pharsalia he was treat- 
 ed by Caesar almost like a son. In the present year he 
 had been proclaimed praetor of the city, with the prom- 
 ise of the consulship. But the discontented remnants of 
 the senatorial party assailed him with constant reproaches. 
 The name of Brutus, dear to all Roman patriots, was made 
 
ROMAN- RECORD. 157 
 
 a rebuke to him. " His ancestors expelled the Tarquins ; 
 could he sit quietly under a king's rule 'V At the foot 
 of the statue of that ancestor, or on his own prsetorian 
 tribunal, notes were placed, containing phrases such as 
 these : " Thou art not Brutus : would thou wert." " Bru- 
 tus, thou sleepest." " Awake, Brutus." Gradually he was 
 brought to think that it was his duty as a patriot to put an 
 end to Csesar's rule even by taking his life. 
 
 8. The most notable of those who arrayed themselves 
 under him was Cassius. This man's motive is unknown. 
 He had never taken much part in politics ; he had made 
 submission to the conquerer, and had been received with 
 marked favor. Some personal reason probably actuated 
 his unquiet spirit. More than sixty persons were in the 
 secret, most of them, like Brutus and Cassius, under per- 
 sonal obligations to the dictator. Publius Servilius Casca 
 was by his grace tribune of the plebs. Lucius Tullius 
 Cimber was promised the government of Bithynia. De- 
 cius Brutus, one of his old Gallic officers, was prgetor 
 elect, and was to be gratified with the rich province of 
 Cisalpine Gaul. Caius Trebonius, another trusted officer, 
 had received every favor which the dictator could bestow ; 
 he had just laid down the consulship, and was on the eve 
 of departure for the government of Asia. Quintius Liga- 
 rius had lately accepted a pardon from the dictator, and 
 rose from a sick bed to join the conspirators. 
 
 9. A meeting of the senate was called for the Ides of 
 March, at which Caesar was to be present. This was the 
 day appointed for the murder. The secret had oozed out. 
 Many persons warned Csesar that some danger was im- 
 pending. A Greek soothsayer told him of the very day. 
 On the morning of the Ides his wife arose so disturbed by 
 dreams, that she persuaded him to relinquish his purpose 
 of presiding in the senate, and he sent Antony in his stead. 
 
158 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 10. This change of purpose was reported after the 
 House was formed. The conspirators were in despair. 
 Decius Brutus at once went to Caesar, told him that the 
 Fathers were only waiting to confer upon him the sover- 
 eign power which he desired, and begged him not to listen 
 to auguries and dreams. Cresar was persuaded to change 
 his purpose, and was carried forth in his litter. On his 
 way, a slave who had discovered the conspiracy tried to 
 attract his notice, but was unable to reach him for the 
 crowd. A Greek philosopher, named Artemidorus, suc- 
 ceeded in putting a roll of ^^aper into his hand, contain- 
 ing full information of the conspiracy ; but Caesar, sup- 
 posing it to be a petition, laid it by his side for a more 
 convenient season. Meanwhile, the conspirators had rea- 
 son to think that their plot had been discovered. A friend 
 came up to Casca and said, " Ah, Casca, Brutus has told 
 me your secret ! " The conspirator started, but was re- 
 lieved by the next sentence : " Where will you find money 
 for the expenses of the aedileship ? " More serious alarm 
 was felt when Popillius Laenas remarked to Brutus and 
 Cassius : " You have my good wishes ; but what you do, 
 do quickly " — especially when the same senator stepped 
 up to Caesar on his entering the house, and began whis- 
 pering in his ear. So terrified was Cassius, that he thought 
 of stabbing himself instead of Caesar, till Brutus .quietly 
 observed, that the gestures of Popillius indicated that he 
 was asking a favor, not revealing a fatal secret. Caesar 
 took his seat without further delay. 
 
 11. As was agreed, Cimber presented a petition pray- 
 ing for his brother's recall from banishment ; and all the 
 conspirators pressed round the dictator, urging his fa- 
 vorable answer. Displeased at their importunity, Caesar 
 attempted to rise. At that moment Cimber seized the 
 lappet of his robe, and pulled him down ; and immedi- 
 
160 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 ately Casca struck liim from the side, but inflicted only a 
 slight wound. Then all drew their daggers and assailed 
 him. Caesar for a time defended himself with the gown 
 folded over his left arm, and the sharp-pointed style which 
 he held in his right hand for writing on the wax of his 
 tablets. But when he saw Brutus among the assassins, he 
 exclaimed, " You, too, Brutus ! " and covering his face with 
 his gown, offered no further resistance. In their eagerness, 
 some blows intended for their victim fell upon themselves. 
 But enough reached Csesar to do the bloody work. Pierced 
 by twenty-three wounds, he fell at the base of Pompey's 
 statue, which had been removed after Pharsalia by Antony, 
 but had been restored by the magnanimity of Caesar. 
 
 12. Thus died " the foremost man of all the world," 
 a man who failed in nothing that he attempted. He 
 might, Cicero thought, have been a great orator ; his " Com- 
 mentaries" remain to prove that he was a great writer. 
 As a general he had few superiors, as a statesman and 
 politician no equal. That which stamps him as a man of 
 true greatness, is the entire absence of vanity and self- 
 conceit from his character. He paid, indeed, great at- 
 tention to his personal appearance, even when his hard 
 life and unremitting activity had brought on fits of an 
 epileptic nature, and left him with that meager visage 
 which is familiar to us from his coins. Even then he was 
 sedulous in arranging his robes, and was pleased to have 
 the privilege of wearing a laurel crown to hide the scanti- 
 ness of his hair. But these were foibles too trifling to be 
 taken as symptoms of real vanity. His successes in war, 
 achieved by a man who in his forty-ninth year had hardly 
 seen a camp, add to our conviction of his real genius. 
 These successes were due not so much to scientific ma- 
 noeuvres, as to rapid audacity of movement, and mastery 
 over the wills of men. 
 
EOMAN RECORD. 161 
 
 13. The effect of Caesar's fall was to cause a renewal 
 of bloodshed for another half generation ; and then his 
 work was finished by a far less general ruler. Those who 
 slew Caesar were guilty of a great crime, and a still greater 
 
 blunder. 
 
 Liddell, 
 
 XXXII-HOW BOMAJiS LIVED. 
 
 1. The Roman house at first was extremely simple, 
 being of but one room, called the atrium or darkened 
 chamber, because its walls were stained by the smoke 
 that rose from the fire upon the hearth, and with diffi- 
 culty found its way. through a hole in the roof. The 
 aperture also admitted light and rain, the water that 
 dripped from the roof being caught in a cistern that was 
 formed in the middle of the room. The atrium was en- 
 tered by way of a vestibule open to the sky, in which the 
 gentleman of the house put on his toga as he went out. 
 Double doors admitted the visitor to the entrance-hall, or 
 ostium. 
 
 2. There was a tlireshold upon which it was unlucky 
 to place the left foot ; a knocker afl:orded means of an- 
 nouncing one's approach, and a porter, who had a small 
 room at the side, opened the door, showing the caller the 
 words Cave canem (beware of the dog), or Salve (welcome), 
 or perchance the dog himself reached out toward the vis- 
 itor as far as his chain would allow. Sometimes, too, there 
 would be noticed in the mosaic of the pavement the repre- 
 sentation of the faithful domestic animal which has so long 
 been the companion as well as the protector of his human 
 friend. Perha^DS myrtle or laurel might be seen on a door, 
 indicating that a marriage was in process of celebration, 
 
162 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME, 
 
 or a chaplet annoiiucmg tlie happy birth of an heir. Cy- 
 press, probably set in pots in the vestibule, indicated a 
 death, as a crape festoon does upon our own door-handles, 
 while torches, lamps, wreaths, garlands, branches of trees, 
 showed that there w^as joy from some cause in the house. 
 
 3. In the " black room " the bed stood ; there the 
 meals were cooked and eaten, there the goodman re- 
 ceived his friends, and there the goodwife sat in the 
 midst of her maidens spinning. The original house grew 
 larger in the course of time : wdngs were built on the 
 sides — and the Romans called them wings as well as we 
 {cila, a wing). Beyond the black room a recess was built 
 in which the family records and archives were preserved, 
 but with it for a long period the Roman house stopped 
 its growth. 
 
 4. Before the empire came, however, there had been 
 great progress in making the dwelling convenient as well 
 as luxurious. Another hall had been built out from the 
 room of archives, leading to an open court, surrounded by 
 columns, known as the peristylum {peri, about, stidos, a 
 pillar), which was sometimes of great magnificence. Bed- 
 chambers were made separate from the atrium, but they 
 were small, and would not seem very convenient to mod- 
 ern eyes. 
 
 5. The dining-room, called the triclinumi (Greek, 
 liline, a bed) from its three couches, was a very impor- 
 tant apartment. In it were three lounges surrounding a 
 table, on each of which three guests might be accommo- 
 dated. The couches were elevated above the table, and 
 each man lay almost flat on his breast, resting on his left 
 elbow, and having his right hand free to use, thus putting 
 the head of one near the breast of the man behind him, 
 and making natural the expression that he lay in the 
 bosom of the other. As the guests were thus arranged 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 
 
 163 
 
 by threes, it was natural that the rule should have been 
 made that a party at dinner should not be less in number 
 than the Graces, nor more than the Muses, though it has 
 remained a useful one ever since. 
 
 6. Before the republic came to an end, it was so fash- 
 ionable to have a book-room that ignorant persons who 
 might not be able to read even the titles of their own 
 books endeavored to give themselves the appearance of 
 erudition by building book-rooms in their houses, and fur- 
 nishing them with elegance. The books were in cases ar- 
 
 Intcrior of a Roman Bath-Room^ Ruins of Pompeii. 
 
 ranged around the walls in convenient manner, and busts 
 and statues of the Muses, of Minerva, and of men of note 
 were used then as they are now for ornaments. House- 
 philosophers were often employed to open to the unin- 
 structed the stores of wisdom contained in the libraries. 
 T. As wealth and luxury increased, the Romans added 
 
164 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 the bath-rooin to tlieir other apartments. In the early 
 ages the J had bathed for comfort and cleanliness once a 
 week, but the warm bath was apparently unknown to 
 them. In time this became very common, and in the 
 days of Cicero there were hot and cold baths, both public 
 and private, which were well patronized. Some were 
 heated by fires in flues, directly under the floors, which 
 produced a vapor-bath. The bath was, however, consid- 
 ered a luxury, and at a later date it was held a capital 
 0"ffense to indulge in one on a religious holiday, and the 
 public baths were closed when any misfortune happened 
 to the republic. 
 
 8. Comfort and convenience united to take the cook- 
 ing out of the atrium into a separate apartment known as 
 the culina, or kitchen, in w^hich was a raised platform on 
 which coals might be burned, and the processes of broil- 
 ing, boiling, and roasting might be carried on in a primi- 
 tive manner, much like the arrangement stiU to be seen 
 at Rome. On the tops of the houses, after a while, ter- 
 races were planned for the purpose of basking in the sun, 
 and sometimes they were furnished with shrubs, fruit- 
 trees, and even fish-ponds. Often there were upward of 
 fifty rooms in a house on a single floor ; but in the course 
 of time land became so valuable that other stories were 
 added, and many lived in flats. A flat was sometimes 
 called an insula, which meant, properly, a house not 
 joined to another, and afterward was applied to hired 
 lodgings. Domus, a house, meant a dwelling occupied 
 by one family, whether it were an insula or not. 
 
 9. The floors of these rooms were sometimes, but not 
 often, laid with boards, and generally were formed of 
 stones, tiles, bricks, or some sort of cement. In the 
 richer dwellings they were often inlaid with mosaics of 
 elegant patterns. The walls were often faced with mar- 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 
 
 165 
 
 ble, but they were usually adorned with paintings ; the 
 ceilings were left uncovered, the beams supporting the 
 
 Lares and Fenates. 
 
 floor or the roof above being visible, though it was fre- 
 quently arched over. The means of lighting either by 
 day or night, were defective. The atrium was, as we 
 have seen, lighted from above, and the same was true of 
 other apartments, those at the side being illuminated from 
 
166 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME, 
 
 tlie larger ones in the middle of the house. There were 
 windows, however, in the upper stories, though they were 
 not protected by glass, but covered with shutters or lat- 
 tice-work, and, at a later period, were glazed with sheets 
 of mica. Smoking lamps, hanging from the ceiling or 
 supported by candelabra, or candles gave a gloomy light 
 by night in the houses, and torches without. 
 
 10. The sun was chiefly depended upon for heat, for 
 there were no proper stoves, though braziers were used to 
 burn coals upon, the smoke escaping through the aper- 
 ture in the ceiling, and, in rare cases, hot-air furnaces 
 were constructed below, the heat being conveyed to the 
 upper rooms through pipes. There has been a dispute re- 
 garding chimneys, but it seems almost certain that the 
 Eomans had none in their dwellings, and indeed, there 
 was little need of them for purposes of artificial warmth 
 in so moderate a climate as theirs. 
 
 11. Such were some of the chief traits of the city- 
 houses of the Romans. Besides these there were villas in 
 the country, some of which were simply farm-houses, and 
 others places of rest and luxury supported by the resi- 
 dents of cities. The farm-villa was placed, if possible, in 
 a spot secluded from visitors, protected from the severest 
 winds, and from the malaria of marshes, in a well-watered 
 place, near the foot of a well-wooded mountain. It had 
 accommodations for the kitchen, the wine-press, the farm 
 superintendent, the slaves, the animals, the crops, and the 
 other products of the farm. There were baths, and cel- 
 lars for the wine and for the confinement of the slaves 
 who might have to be chained. 
 
 12. Yarro thus describes life at a rural household : " Ma- 
 nius summons his people to rise with the sun, and in per- 
 son conducts them to the scene of their daily work. The 
 youths make their own bed, which labor renders soft to 
 
ROMAN RECORD. 167 
 
 them, and supply themselves with water-pot, and lamp. 
 Their drink is the clear fresh spring ; their fare bread, 
 with onions as a relish. Everything prospers in house 
 and field. The house is no work of art, but an architect 
 
 Roman Villa. 
 
 might learn symmetry from it. Care is taken of the 
 field that it shall not be left disorderly, and waste or go 
 to ruin through slovenliness or neglect ; and in return, 
 grateful Ceres wards off damage from the produce, that 
 the high-piled sheaves may gladden the heart of the hus- 
 bandman. Here hospitality still holds good, the bread- 
 pantry, the wine-vat, and the store of sausages on the 
 rafter, lock and key are at the service of the traveler, and 
 piles of food are set before him ; contented, the sated 
 guest sits, looking neither before him, nor behind, dozing 
 by the hearth in the kitchen. The warmest double wool 
 sheepskin is spread as a couch for him. Here people 
 
168 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 still, as good burgesses, obey the righteous law which 
 neither out of envy injures the innocent, nor out of favor 
 pardons the guilty. Here they speak no evil against their 
 neighbors. Here they trespass not with their feet on the 
 sacred hearth, but honor the gods with devotion and with 
 sacrifices ; throw to the familiar spirit his little bit of 
 flesh into his appointed little dish, and when the master 
 of the household dies accompany the bier with the same 
 prayer with which those of his father and of his grandfa- 
 ther were borne forth." 
 
 Arthur Gilman, M. A. " The Story of Rome y 
 
 Putnam's " Stories of the Nations Series.''' 
 
MEDI^A^AL RECOED. 
 
 XXXIII -CO J^VERSIOJ^ OF THE EJYGLISH. 
 
 1. Some time before Gregory became Pope, perhaps 
 about the year 574, he went one day through the market 
 at Rome, where, among other things, there were still 
 men, women, and children to be sold as slaves. He saw 
 there some beautiful boys who had just been brought by 
 a slave-merchant, boys with a fair skin and long fair hair, 
 as English boys then would have. 
 
 2. He was told that they were heathen boys from the 
 Isle of Britain. Gregory was sorry to think that forms 
 which were so fair without should have no light within, 
 and he asked again what was the name of their nation. 
 " Angles^'''' he was told. " Angles^^^ said Gregory ; " they 
 have the faces of angels^ and they ought to be made 
 fellow -heirs of the angels in heaven. But of what 
 province or tribe of the Angles are they ? " "Of Deira^^ 
 said the merchant. " De ira ! " said Gregory ; " then 
 they must be delivered from the wrath of God. And 
 
170 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 what is the name of their king?" '^ jEllaP '^ jElla ; 
 then Alleluia shall be sung in his land." 
 
 3. Gregory then went to the Pope, and asked him to 
 send missionaries into Britain, of whom he himself would 
 be one, to convert the English. The Pope was willing, 
 but the people of Kome, among whom Gregory was a 
 priest and was much beloved, w^ould not let him go. So 
 nothing came of the matter for some time. 
 
 4. We do not know whether Gregory was able to do 
 anything for the poor English boys whom he saw in the 
 market, but he certainly never forgot his plan for con- 
 verting the English people. After a w^hile he became 
 Pope himself. Of course, he now no longer thought of 
 going into Britain himself, as he had enough to do in 
 Kome. But he now had power to send others. He 
 therefore presently sent a company of monks, with one 
 called Augustine at their head, who became the first 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and is called the Apostle of 
 the English. 
 
 5. This was in 597. The most powerful king in 
 Britain at this time was J^thelbert, of Kent, who is said 
 to have been lord over all the kings south of the Humber. 
 This ^thelbert had done what was very seldom done by 
 English kings then or for a long time after ; he had mar- 
 ried a foreign wife, the daughter of Chariberth, one of 
 the kings of the Franks, in Gaul. 
 
 6. Now, the Franks had become Christians ; so when 
 the Prankish queen came over to Kent, ^thelbert prom- 
 ised that she should be allowed to keep to her own re- 
 hgion without let or hindrance. She brought with her, 
 therefore, a Prankish bishop named Lindhard, and the 
 queen and her bishop used to w^orship God in a little 
 church near Canterbury, called Saint Martin's, which had 
 been built in the Roman times. So you see that both 
 
MEDIEVAL RECORD. 171 
 
 ^thelbert and his people must have known something 
 about the Christian faith before Augustine came. 
 
 7. It does not, however, seem that either the king or 
 any of his people had at all thought of turning Christians. 
 This seems strange when one reads how easily they were 
 converted afterward. One would have thought that 
 Bishop Lindhard would have been more likely to convert 
 them than Augustine, for, being a Frank, he would speak 
 a tongue not very different from English, while Augustine 
 spoke Latin, and, if he ever knew English at all, he must 
 have learned it after he came into the island. 1 can not 
 tell you for certain why this was. Perhaps they did not 
 think that a man who had merely come in the queen's 
 train was so well worth listening to as one who had come 
 on purpose all the way from the great city of Rome, to 
 which all the West still looked up as the capital of the 
 world. 
 
 8. So xiugustine and his companions set out from 
 Rome, and passed through Gaul, and came into Britain, 
 even as Caesar had done ages before. But this time Rome 
 had sent forth men not to conquer lands, but to win souls. 
 They landed first in the Isle of Thanet, which joins close 
 to the east part of Kent, and thence they sent a message 
 to King ^thelbert, saying why they had come into his 
 land. The king sent word back to them to stay in the 
 isle till he had fully made up his mind how to treat them ; 
 and he gave orders that they should be well taken care of 
 meanwhile. 
 
 9. After a little while he came himself into the isle, 
 and bade them come and tell him what they had to say. 
 He met them in the open air, for he would not meet them 
 in a house, as he thought they might be wizards, and that 
 they might use some charm or spell, which he thought 
 would have less power out-of-doors. So they came, car- 
 
172 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 rying an image of our Lord on the cross, wrought in sil- 
 ver, and singing litanies as they came. And when they 
 came before the king, they preached the gospel to him 
 and to those who were with him. 
 
 10. So King ^thelbert hearkened to them, and he 
 made answer like a good and wise man. " Your words 
 and promises," said he, "sound very good unto me; but 
 they are new and strange, and I can not believe them all 
 at once, nor can I leave all that I and my fathers, and the 
 whole English folk, have believed so long. But I see that 
 ye have come from a far country to tell us that which ye 
 yourselves hold for truth ; so ye may stay in the land, 
 and I will give you a house to dwell in and food to eat ; 
 and ye may preach to my folk, and if any man of them 
 will believe as ye believe, I hinder him not." 
 
 11. So he gave them a house to dwell in in the royal 
 city of Canterbury, and he let them preach to the people. 
 And, as they drew near to the city, they carried their 
 silver image of the Lord Jesus, and sang litanies, saying, 
 "We pray Thee, O Lord, let thy anger and thy wrath 
 be turned away from this city, and from thy holy house, 
 because we have sinned. Alleluia ! " 
 
 12. Thus Augustine and his companions dwelt at Can- 
 terbury, and worshiped in the old charch where the 
 queen worshiped, and preached to the men of the land. 
 And many men hearkened to them and were baptized, 
 and before long King ^thelbert himself believed and 
 was baptized ; and before the year was out there were 
 added to the Church more than ten thousand souls. 
 
 FreemaUo 
 
MEDIu^VAL RECORD. 173 
 
 XXXIV -LEO THE SLAVE. 
 
 1. In a. d. 533, the Franks had fully gained posses- 
 sion of all the north of Gaul, except Brittany. Clo- 
 vis had made them Christians in name, but they still 
 remained horribly savage, and the life of the Gauls 
 under them was wretched. The Burgundians and Visi- 
 goths, who had peopled the southern and eastern prov- 
 inces, were far from being equally violent. They had 
 entered on their settlements on friendly terms, and even 
 showed considerable respect for the Roman-Gallic sen- 
 ators, magistrates, and higher clergy, who all remained 
 unmolested in their dignity and riches. Thus it was that 
 Gregory, Bishop of Langres, was a man of high rank and 
 consideration in the Burgundian kingdom, wdience the 
 Christian Queen Clotilda had come ; and even after the 
 Burgundians had been subdued by the four sons of Clo- 
 vis, he continued a rich and prosperous man. 
 
 2. After one of the many quarrels and reconciliations 
 between these fierce brethren, there was an exchange of 
 hostages for the observance of the terms of the treaty. 
 These were not taken from among the Franks, who were 
 too proud to submit to captivity, but from among the 
 Gaulish nobles, a mncli more convenient arrangement for 
 the Frankish kings, wdio cared for the life of a "Roman" 
 infinitely less than even for the life of a Frank. Thus 
 many young men of senatorial families were exchanged 
 between the domains of Theodoric to the south, and of 
 Hildebert to the northward, and quartered among Frank- 
 ish chiefs, with whom at first they had nothing more to 
 endure than the discomfort of living as guests with such 
 rude and coarse barbarians. 
 
 3. But ere long fresh quarrels arose between Theodoric 
 and Hildebert, and the unfortunate hostages were at once 
 
174 STORIES OF TEE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 turned into slaves. Some of them ran away, if they were 
 near the frontier ; but Bishop Gregory was in the utmost 
 anxiety about his nephew Attains, who had been last 
 heard of as being placed under the charge of a Frank 
 who lived between Treves and Metz. The bishop sent 
 emissaries to make secret inquiries, and they brought back 
 the word that the unfortunate youth had been reduced to 
 slavery, and was made to keep his master's herds of horses. 
 Upon this the uncle again sent off his messengers with 
 presents for the ransom of Attains ; but the Frank rejected 
 them, saying, " One of such high race can only be re- 
 deemed for ten pounds weight of gold." 
 
 4. This was beyond the bishop's means, and, while he 
 was considering how to raise the sum, the slaves were all 
 lamenting for their young lord, to whom they were much 
 attached, till one of them, named Leo, the cook to the 
 household, came to the bishop, saying to him, " If thou 
 wilt give me leave to go, I will deliver him from cap- 
 tivity." The bishop rejDlied that he gave free permission, 
 and the slave set off for Treves, and there watched anx- 
 iously for an opportunity of gaining access to Attains ; 
 but, though the poor young man, no longer daintily 
 dressed, bathed, and perfumed, but ragged and squalid, 
 might be seen following his herds of horses, he was too 
 well watched for any communication to be held with him. 
 
 5. Then Leo went to a person, probably of Gallic 
 birth, and said : " Come with me to this barbarian's house, 
 and there sell me for a slave. Thou shalt have the money ; 
 I only ask thee to help me thus far." Both repaired to 
 the Frank's abode, the chief among a confused collection 
 of clay and timber huts, intended for shelter during eating 
 and sleeping. The Frank looked at the slave, and asked 
 him what he could do. " I can dress whatever is eaten 
 at lordly tables," replied Leo. " I am afraid of no rival ; 
 
medijEval record. 175 
 
 I only tell thee the truth when I say that, if thou wouldst 
 give a feast to the king, I could send it up in the neatest 
 manner." " Ha ! " said the barbarian, " the Sun's day is 
 coming. I shall invite my kinsmen and friends. Cook 
 me such a dinner as may amaze them, and make them 
 say, 'We saw nothing better in the king's house.'" 
 " Let me have plenty of poultry, and I will do according 
 to my master's bidding," returned Leo. 
 
 6. Accordingly, he was purchased for twelve gold- 
 pieces, and on the Sunday, as Bishop Gregory of Tours, 
 who tells the story, explains, that the barbarians called the 
 Lord's day, he produced a banquet after the most ap- 
 proved Roman fashion, much to the surprise and delight 
 of the Franks, who had never tasted such delicacies be- 
 fore, and complimented their host upon them all the 
 evening. Leo gradually became a great favorite, and was 
 placed in authority over the other slaves, to whom he 
 gave out their portions of broth and meat. But from the 
 first he liad not shown any recognition of Attains, and had 
 signed to him that they must be strangers to one another. 
 
 7. A whole year passed away in this manner, when 
 one day Leo wandered, as if for pastime, into the plain 
 where Attains was watching the horses, and sitting down 
 on the ground at some paces off, and with his back toward 
 his young master so that they might not be seen talking 
 together, he said : *•' This is the time for thoughts of home ! 
 When thou hast led the horses to the stable to-night, sleep 
 not. Be ready at the first call ! " 
 
 8. That day the Frank lord was entertaining a large 
 number of guests, among them his daughter's husband, a 
 jovial young man, given to jesting. On going to rest he 
 fancied he should be thirsty at night, and called Leo to 
 place a pitcher of hydromel by his bedside. As the slave 
 was setting it down, the Frank looked slyly from under 
 
176 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 his eyelids and said in joke, " Tell me, my father-in-law's 
 trusty man, wilt thou not some night take one of his 
 horses and run away to thine own home ? " 
 
 9. "Please God, it is what I mean to do this very 
 night," answered the Gaul, so undauntedly that the Frank 
 took it as a jest, and answered, " I shall look out, then, 
 that thou dost not carry off anything of mine," and then 
 Leo left him, both laughing. 
 
 10. All were soon asleep, and the cook crept out to the 
 stable, where Attains usually slept among the horses. He 
 was broad awake now, and ready to saddle the two swift- 
 est ; but he had no weapon, except a small lance, so Leo 
 boldly went back to his master's sleeping hut, and took 
 down his sword and shield, but not without awakening 
 him enough to ask who was moving. " It is I, Leo," was 
 the answer ; " I have been to call Attalus to take out the 
 horses early. He sleeps as hard as a drunkard." The 
 Frank went to sleep again, quite satisfied, and Leo, carry- 
 ing out the weapons, soon made Attalus feel like a free 
 man and a noble once more. 
 
 11. They passed unseen out of the inclosure, mounted 
 their horses and rode along the great Koman road from 
 Treves as far as the Meuse, but they found the bridge 
 guarded, and were obliged to wait till night, when they 
 cast their horses loose, and swam tlie river, supporting 
 themselves on boards that they had found on the bank. 
 They had as yet had no food since the supper at their 
 master's, and were thankful to find a plum-tree in the 
 wood, with fruit, to refresh them in small degree, before 
 they lay down for the night. The next morning they 
 went on in the direction of Rheims, carefully listening 
 whether there were any sounds behind, until, on the 
 broad, hard-paved causeway, they heard the trampling of 
 horses. Happily a bush was near, behind which they 
 
medijEVAL record. 177 
 
 crept, and here the riders actually halted for a few mo- 
 ments to arrange their harness. Men and horses were 
 both those they feared, and they trembled at hearing one 
 say : " Woe is me that those rogues have made off, and 
 have not been cauglit ! On my salvation, if I catch them, I 
 will have one hung, and the other chopped into little bits ! " 
 
 12. It was no small comfort to hear the trot of the 
 horses resumed, and soon dying away in the distance. 
 That same night, the two faint, hungry, weary travelers, 
 foot-sore and exhausted, came stumbling into Rheims, 
 looking about for some person still awake, to tell them the 
 way to the house of the priest Paul, a friend of Attalus's 
 uncle. They found it just as the church-bell was ringing 
 for matins, a sound that must have seemed very like home 
 to these members of an episcopal household. They 
 knocked, and in the morning twilight met the priest go- 
 ing to his earliest Sunday-morning service. Leo told his 
 young master's name, and how they had escaped, and the 
 priest's first exclamation was a strange one : " My dream 
 is true ! This very night I saw two doves, one white 
 and one black, who came and perched on my hand." 
 
 13. The good man Avas overjoyed, but he scrupled to 
 give them any food, as it was contrary to the Church's 
 rules for the fast to be broken before mass ; but the trav- 
 elers were half-dead with hunger, and could only say, 
 " The good Lord pardon us, for, saving the respect due to 
 his day, we must eat something, since this is the fourth 
 day since we have touched bread or meat." The priest, 
 upon this, gave them some bread and wine, and after hid- 
 ing them carefully, went to church, hoping to avert sus- 
 picion. But their master was already at Rheims, making 
 strict search for them, and learning that Paul the priest 
 was a friend of the Bishop of Langres, he went to the 
 church, and there questioned him closely. But the priest 
 
178 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 succeeded in guarding his secret, and though he incurred 
 much danger — as the Salic law is verj severe against 
 concealers of runaway slaves — he kept Attains and Leo 
 for two days, till the search was over, and their strength 
 restored, so that they could proceed to Langres. There 
 they were welcomed like men risen from the dead ; the 
 bishop wept on the neck of Attains, and was ready to re- 
 ceive Leo as a slave no more, but a friend and deliverer. 
 
 14. A few days after, Leo was solemnly led to the 
 church. Every door was set open as a sign that he might 
 henceforth go whithersoever he would. Bishop Gregorius 
 took him by the hand, and, standing, before the arch- 
 deacon, declared that for the sake of the good services 
 rendered by his slave Leo, he set him free, and created 
 him a Eoman citizen. Then the archbishop read a writ- 
 ing of manumission. " Whatever is done according to the 
 Roman law is irrevocable. According to the constitution 
 of the Emperor Constantine, of happy memory, and the 
 edict that declares that whosoever is manumitted in 
 church, in the presence of the bishops, priests, and dea- 
 cons, shall become a Roman citizen under protection of 
 the Church ; from this day Leo becomes a member of the 
 city, free to go and come where he will, as if he had 
 been born of free parents. From this day forward he is 
 exempt from all subjection of servitude, of all duty of a 
 freedman, all bond of clientship. He is and shall be 
 free, with full and entire freedom, and shall never cease 
 to belong to the body of Roman citizens." 
 
 15. At the same time Leo was endowed with lands, 
 which raised him to the rank of what the Franks called 
 a Roman proprietor, the highest reward in the bishop's 
 power, for the faithful devotion that had incurred such 
 dangers in order to rescue the young Attains from his 
 
 miserable bondage. Charlotte M. Yonge. 
 
MEDIEVAL RECORD. 179 
 
 XXXY-THE MOORS IJV SPAIJY. 
 
 1. Scarcely had the Arabs become firmly settled in 
 Spain before thej commenced a brilliant career. Adopt- 
 ing what had now become the established policy of the 
 commanders of the Faithful in Asia, the caliphs of Cor- 
 dova distinguislied themselves as patrons of learning, and 
 set an example of refinement strongly contrasting with 
 the condition of the native European j)rinces. Cordova, 
 under their administration, at its highest point of pros- 
 perity, boasted of more than two hundred thousand houses, 
 and more than a million inhabitants. After sunset a 
 man might walk through it in a straight line for ten miles 
 by the light of the public lamps. Seven hundred years 
 after this time there was not so much as one public lamp 
 in London. Its streets were solidly paved. In Paris, 
 centuries subsequently, who ever stepped over his thresh- 
 old on a rainy day stepped up to his ankles in mud. 
 
 2. Other cities, as Granada, Seville, Toledo, considered 
 themselves rivals of Cordova. The palaces of the caliphs 
 were magnificently decorated. Those sovereigns might 
 well look down with supercilious contempt on the dwell- 
 ings of the rulers of Germany, France, and England, 
 which were scarcely better than stables — chimneyless, 
 windowless, and with a hole in the roof for the smoke to 
 escape, like the wigwams of certain Indians. 
 
 3. The Spanish Mohammedans had brought with 
 them all the luxuries and prodigalities of Asia. Their 
 residences stood forth against the clear blue sky, or were 
 embosomed in woods. They had polished marble balco- 
 nies, overhanging orange-gardens, courts with cascades of 
 water, shady retreats provocative of slumber in the heat 
 of the day, retiring-rooms, vaulted with stained glass, 
 speckled with gold, over which streams of water were 
 
180 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 made to gush; the floors and walls were of exquisite 
 mosaic. Here a fountain of quicksilver shot up in a glis- 
 tening spray, the glittering particles falling with a tranquil 
 sound like fairy bells ; there, apartments into which cool 
 air was drawn from flower-gardens, in summer, by means 
 of ventilating towers, and in the winter through earthen 
 pipes, or caleducts, imbedded in the walls — the hypocaust, 
 in the vaults below, breathing forth volumes of warm and 
 perfumed air through these hidden passages. 
 
 4. The walls were not covered with wainscot, but 
 adorned with arabesques and paintings of agricultural 
 scenes and views of paradise. From the ceilings, cor- 
 niced with fretted gold, great chandeliers hung, one of 
 which, it is said, was so large that it contained one thou- 
 sand and eighty-four lamps. Clusters of frail marble col- 
 umns surprised the beholder with the vast weights they 
 bore. In the boudoirs of the sultanas they were some- 
 times of verd-antique, and incrusted with lapis - lazuli. 
 The furniture was of sandal and citron wood inlaid with 
 mother-of-pearl, ivory, silver, or relieved with gold and 
 precious malachite. In orderly confusion were arranged 
 vases of rock-crystal, Chinese porcelain, and tables of ex- 
 quisite mosaic. The winter apartments were hung with 
 rich tapestry ; the floors were covered with embroidered 
 Persian carpets. Pillows and couches of elegant forms 
 were scattered about the rooms, which were perfumed 
 with frankincense. 
 
 5. It was the intention of the Saracen architect, by 
 excluding the view of the external landscape, to concen- 
 trate attention on his work, and since the representation 
 of the human form was religiously forbidden, and that 
 source of decoration denied, his imagination ran riot with 
 the complicated arabesques he introduced, and sought 
 every opportunity of replacing the prohibited work of art 
 
MEDIyEVAL RECORD. 181 
 
 by the trophies and rarities of the garden. For this rea- 
 son the Arabs never produced artists ; religion turned 
 them from the beautiful, and made them soldiers, philoso- 
 phers, and men of affairs. Splendid flowers and rare 
 exotics ornamented the court-yards and even the inner 
 chambers. 
 
 6. Great care was taken to make due provision for the 
 cleanliness, occupation, and amusement of the inmates. 
 Through pipes of metal, water, both warm and cold, to 
 suit the season of the year, ran into baths of marble ; in 
 niches, where the current of air could be artificially 
 directed, hung dripping alcarazzas. There were whisper- 
 ing-galleries for the amusement of the women ; labyrinths 
 and marble play-courts for the children ; for the master 
 himself, grand hbraries. The Caliph Alhakem's was so 
 large that the catalogue alone fllled forty volumes. He 
 had also apartments for the transcribing, binding, and 
 ornamenting of books. A taste for caligraphy and the 
 possession of splendidly illuminated manuscripts seems to 
 have anticipated in the caliphs, both of Asia and Spain, 
 the taste for statuary and painting among the later popes 
 of Eome. 
 
 7. Such were the palace and gardens of Zehra, in which 
 Abderrahman III honored his favorite sultana. The edi- 
 fice had twelve hundred columns of Greek, Italian, Span- 
 ish, and African marble. The body-guard of the sover- 
 eign was composed of twelve thousand horsemen, whose 
 cimeters and belts were studded with gold. This was 
 that Abderrahman who, after a glorious reign of fifty 
 years, sat down to count the number of days of unalloyed 
 happiness he had experienced, and could only enumerate 
 fourteen. " O man ! " exclaimed the plaintive calij^h, 
 " put not your trust in this present world." 
 
 8. No nation has ever excelled the Spanish Arabs in 
 
182 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME, 
 
 the beauty and costliness of their pleasure-gardens. To 
 them also we owe the introduction of very many of our 
 most valuable cultivated fruits, such as the peach. Re- 
 taining the love of their ancestors for the cooling effect 
 of water in a hot climate, they spared no pains in the 
 superfluity of fountains, hydraulic works, and artificial 
 lakes in which fish were raised for the table. Into such 
 a lake, attaclied to the palace of Cordova, many loaves 
 were cast each day to feed the fish. 
 
 0. There were also menageries of foreign animals, 
 aviaries of rare birds, manufactories in which skilled work- 
 men, obtained from foreign countries, displayed their art 
 in textures of silk, cotton, linen, and all the miracles of 
 the loom ; in jewelry and filigree-work, with which tbey 
 ministered to the female pride. Under the shade of cy- 
 presses cascades disappeared ; among flowering shrubs 
 there were winding walks, bowers of roses, seats cut 
 out of rock, and cryj3t-like grottoes hewn in the living 
 stone. E^owhere was ornamental gardening better under- 
 stood ; for not only did the artist try to please the eye as 
 it wandered over the pleasant gradation of vegetable 
 color and form — he also boasted his success in the grati- 
 fication of the sense of smell by the studied succession of 
 perfumes from beds of flowers. 
 
 10. In the midst of all this luxury, which can not be 
 regarded by the historian with disdain, since in the end it 
 produced a most important result in the south of France, 
 the Spanish caliphs, emulating the example of their Asiatic 
 compeers, were not only the patrons but the personal cul- 
 tivators of human learning. One of them was himself 
 the author of a work on polite literature in not less than 
 fifty volumes ; another wrote a treatise on algebra. When 
 Taryak, the musician, came from the East to Spain, the 
 Caliph Abderrahman rode forth to meet him with honor. 
 
MEDIEVAL RECORD, 183 
 
 The College of Music in Cordova was sustained by ample 
 
 government patronage, and is said to have produced many 
 
 illustrious professors. 
 
 John W. Draper. 
 
 XXXVI -CHARLEMAOJfE. 
 
 1. We come now to one of the greatest men of all 
 times, Charles the Great, son of Pepin the Short, a man 
 who has left his mark on history for all time. Charles 
 (called by the French Charlemagne) was great in many 
 ways, whereas most great men are great in one or two. 
 He was a great warrior, a great political genius, an ener- 
 getic legislator, a lover of learning, and a lover also of his 
 natural language and poetry at a time when it was the 
 fashion to despise them. And he united and displayed 
 all these merits in a time of general and monotonous bar- 
 barism, when, save in the church, the minds of men were 
 dull and barren. 
 
 2. From 769 to 813, in Germany and Western and 
 E'orthern Europe, Charlemagne conducted thirty-two 
 campaigns against the Saxons, Frisians, Bavarians, Avars, 
 Slavs, and Danes ; in Italy, ^lvq against the Lombards ; in 
 Spain, Corsica, and Sardinia, twelve against the Arabs, 
 two against the Greeks, and three in Gaul itself, against 
 the Aquitanians and Bretons — in all, fifty-three expedi- 
 tions in forty-five years, among which those he undertook 
 against the Saxons, the Lombards, and the Arabs were 
 long and difficult wars. 
 
 3. The kingdom of Charles was vast; it comprised 
 nearly all Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and 
 the north of Italy and of Spain. He had, in ruling this 
 
184: STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 mighty realm, to deal with dj-fferent nations, without co- 
 hesion, and to grapple with their various institutions and 
 bring them into system. 
 
 4. The first great undertaking of Charles was against 
 the Saxons. They were still heathen, and were a constant 
 source of annoyance to the Franks, for they made frequent 
 inroads to pillage and destroy their towns and harvests. 
 
 5. In the line of mountains which forms the step 
 from lower into upper Germany, above the "Westphalian 
 plains, is one point at which the river Weser breaks 
 through and flows down into the level land about three 
 miles above the town of Minden. This rent in the mount- 
 ain is called the Westphalian Gate. The hills stand on 
 each side like red sandstone door-posts, and one is crowned 
 by some crumbling fragments of a castle ; it is called the 
 Wittekindsberg, and takes its name from Wittekind, a 
 Saxon king, who had his castle there. Wittekind was a 
 stubborn heathen, and a very determined man. 
 
 6. In 772 Charles convoked a great assembly at 
 Worms, at which it was unanimously resolved to march 
 against the Saxons and chastise them for their incursions. 
 Charles advanced along the Weser, through the gate, de- 
 stroyed Wittekind's castle, pushed on to Paderborn, w^here 
 he threw down an idol adored by the Saxons, and then 
 was obliged to return and hurry to Italy to fight the Lom- 
 bards, who had revolted. Next year he invaded Saxony 
 again. He built himself a palace at Paderborn, and sum- 
 moned the Saxon chiefs to come and do homage. Witte- 
 kind alone refused, and fled to Denmark. 
 
 7. No sooner had Charles gone to fight the Moors in 
 Spain than Wittekind returned, and the Saxons rose at 
 his summons, and, bursting into Franconia, devastated the 
 land up to the walls of Cologne. Charles returned and 
 fought them in two great battles, defeated them, erected 
 
MBDI^VAL RECORD. 
 
 185 
 
 Charlcmacjnc. 
 
186 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 fortresses in their midst, and carried off hostages. Affairs 
 seemed to prosper, and Charles deemed himself as securely 
 master of Saxony as Yarns had formerly in the same 
 country, and under precisely the same circumstances. 
 Charles then quitted the country, leaving orders for a 
 body of Saxons to join his Franks and march together 
 against the Slavs. The Saxons obeyed the call with alac- 
 rity, and soon outnumbered the Franks. One day, as the 
 army was crossing the mountains from the Weser, at a 
 given signal the Saxons fell on their companions and 
 butchered them. 
 
 8. When the news of this disaster reached Charles he 
 resolved to teach the Saxons a terrible lesson. Crossing 
 the Rhine, he laid waste their country with lire and sword, 
 and forced the Saxons to submit to be baptized and ac- 
 cept Christian teachers. Those who refused he killed. 
 At Yerdun he had over four thousand of the rebels 
 beheaded. At Detmold, Wittekind led the Saxons 
 in a furious battle, in which neither gained the victory. 
 In another battle, on the Hase, they were completely 
 routed. 
 
 9. Then Wittekind submitted, came into the camp of 
 Charles, and asked to be baptized. A little ruined chapel 
 stands on the Wittekind sberg, above the Westphalian 
 Gate, and there, according to tradition, near the over- 
 turned walls of his own castle, the stubborn heathen 
 bowed the neck to receive the yoke of Christ. Charles's 
 two nephews, the sons of Karlomann, were with Deside- 
 rius, the Lombard king, and Desiderius tried to force the 
 Pope to anoint them kings of the Franks, to head a re- 
 volt against Charles. When the great king heard this he 
 came over the Alps into Italy, dethroned Desiderius, and 
 shut him up in a monastery. Then he crowned himself 
 with the iron crown of the Lombard kings, which was 
 
MEDIEVAL RECORD, 187 
 
 said to have been made out of one of the nails that 
 fastened Christ to the cross. 
 
 10. Duke Thassils of Bavaria had married a daughter 
 of Desiderius, and he refused to acknowledge the author- 
 ity of Charles. He also stirred up the Avars who lived 
 in Hungary to invade the Frankish realm. Charles 
 marched against Thassils, drove him out of Bavaria, sub- 
 dued the Avars, and converted the country between the 
 Ems and Raab — that is, Austria proper — into a province, 
 which was called the East March, and formed the begin- 
 ning of the East Realm (Oesterreich), or Austria. Charles 
 also fought the Danes, and took from them the country 
 up to the river Eider. 
 
 11. When we consider what continuous lighting 
 Charles had, it is a wonder to us that he had time to gov- 
 ern and make laws ; but he devoted as much thought to 
 arranging his realm and placing it under proper governors 
 as he did to extending its frontiers. 
 
 12. Charles constituted the various parts of his vast 
 empire — kingdoms, duchies, and counties. He was him- 
 self the sovereign of all these united, but he managed 
 them through counts and vice-counts. The frontier dis- 
 tricts were called marches, and were under march-counts, 
 or margraves. Count is not a German title ; the German 
 equivalent is Graf, and the English is earl. The counties 
 were divided into hundreds ; a hundred villages went to 
 a vice-count. He had also counts of the palace, who ruled 
 over the crown estates, and send-counts {missi)^ whom he 
 sent out yearly through the country to see that his other 
 counts did justice, and did not oppress the people. If 
 people felt themselves wronged by the counts, they ap- 
 pealed to these send-counts ; and if the send-counts did not 
 do them justice, they appealed to the palatine-counts. 
 
 13. Every year Charles summoned his counts four 
 
188 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 . times, when lie could, but always once, in May, to meet 
 him in council, and discuss the grievances of the people. 
 As the great dukes were troublesome, because so power- 
 ful, Charles tried to do without them, and to keep them 
 in check. He gave whole principalities to bishops, hop- 
 ing that they would become supporters of him and the 
 crown against the powerful dukes. 
 
 14. He was also very careful for the good government 
 of the Church. He endowed a number of monasteries to 
 serve as schools for boj^s and girls. He had also a collec- 
 tion of good, wholesome sermons made in German, and 
 sent copies about in all directions, requiring them to be 
 read to the people in church. He invited singers and 
 musicians from Italy to come and improve the perform- 
 ance of divine worship, and two song-schools were estab- 
 lished, one at Gall, another at Metz. His Franks, he com- 
 plained, had not much aptitude for music ; their singing 
 was like the howling of wild beasts or the noise made by 
 the squeaking, groaning wheels of a baggage-wagon over 
 a stony road ! 
 
 15. Charles was particularly interested in schools, and 
 delighted in going into them and listening to the boys at 
 their lessons. One day when he had paid such a visit he 
 was told that the noblemen's sons were much idler than 
 those of the common citizens. Then the great king grew 
 red in the face and frowned, and his eyes flashed. He 
 called the young nobles before him and said in thunder- 
 ing tones : " You grand gentlemen ! You young puppets ! 
 You puff yourselves up with the thoughts of your rank 
 and wealth, and suppose you have no need of letters ! I 
 tell you that your pretty faces and your high nobility are 
 accounted nothing by me. Beware ! beware ! Without 
 diligence and conscientiousness not one of you gets any- 
 thing from me." 
 
MEDIAEVAL RECORD. 189 
 
 16. Charles dearly loved the grand old German poems 
 of the heroes, and he had them collected and copied out. 
 Alas ! they have been lost. His stupid son, thinking them 
 rubbish, burned them all. The great king also sent to 
 Italy for builders, and set them to work to erect palaces 
 and churches. His favorite palaces were at Aix and at 
 Ingelheim. At the latter place he had a bridge built over 
 the Rhine. At Aix he built the cathedral with pillars 
 taken from Roman ruins. It was quite circular, with a 
 colonnade going round it ; inside it remains almost un- 
 altered to the present day. 
 
 IT. He was very eager to promote trade, and so far in 
 advance of the times was he that he resolved to cut a 
 canal so as to connect the Main with the Regnitz, and 
 thus make a water-way right across Germany from the 
 Rhine to the Danube, and so connect the German Ocean 
 with the Black Sea. The canal was begun, but wars in- 
 terfered with its completion, and the work was not carried 
 out till the present century by Louis I of Bavaria. 
 
 18. Charles was a tall, grand-looking man, nearly seven 
 feet high. He was so strong that he could take a horse- 
 shoe in his hands and snap it. He ate and drank in 
 moderation, and was grave and dignified in his conduct. 
 
 19. In the year 800, an insurrection broke out in Rome 
 against Pope Leo III. While he was riding in procession 
 his enemies fell on him, threw him from his horse, and an 
 awkward attempt was made to put out his eyes and cut 
 out his tongue. Thus, bleeding and insensible, he was 
 put into a monastery. The Duke of Spoleto, a Frank, 
 hearing of this, marched to Rome and removed the 
 wounded Pope to Spoleto, where he was well nursed and 
 recovered his eye-sight and power of speech. Charles was 
 very indignant when he heard of the outrage, and he left 
 the Saxons, whom he was fighting, and came to Italy to 
 
190 8T0EIE8 OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 investigate the circumstance. He assumed the office of 
 judge, and the guilty persons were sent to prison in 
 France. 
 
 20. Then came Christmas-daj, the Christmas of the 
 last year in the eighth century of Christ. Charles and all 
 his sumptuous court, the nobles and people of Rome, the 
 whole clergy of Rome, were present at the high services 
 of the birth of Christ. The Pope himself chanted the 
 mass ; the full assembly were rapt in profound devotion. 
 At the close the Pope rose, advanced toward Charles with 
 a splendid crown in his hands, placed it upon his brow, 
 and proclaimed him Caesar Augustus. " God grant life 
 and victory to the great emperor ! " His words were lost 
 in the acclamations of the soldiery, the people, and the 
 clergy. 
 
 21. Charles was taken completely by surprise. What 
 the consequences would be to Germany and to the papacy, 
 how fatal to both, neither he nor Leo could see. So 
 Charlemagne became King of Italy and Emperor of the 
 West — the successor of the Caesars of Rome. 
 
 22. When Charles felt that his end was approaching, 
 he summoned all his nobles to Aix into the church he had 
 there erected. There, on the altar, lay a golden crown. 
 Charles made his son Ludwig, or Louis, stand before him, 
 and, in the audience of his great men, gave him his last 
 exhortation : to fear God and to love his people as his 
 own children, to do right and to execute justice, and to 
 walk in integrity before God and man. With streaming 
 eyes Louis promised to fulfill his father's command. 
 " Then," said Charles, '' take this crown, and place it on 
 your own head, and never forget the promise you have 
 made this day." 
 
 Sabine^ Baring-Gould. " The Story of Germany.'''' 
 
 Putnarn's " Stories of the Nations " Series. 
 
WESTERN RECOED. 
 
 XXXVII-THE J^OBSEMFK. 
 
 1. The Gnlf Stream flows so near to the southern coast 
 of l^orway, and to tlie Orkneys and "Western Islands, that 
 their climate is much less severe than might be supposed. 
 Yet no one can help wondering why they were formerly 
 so mnch more populous than now, and why the people 
 who came westward even so long ago as the great Aryan 
 migration, did not persist in turning aside to the more 
 fertile countries that lay farther southward. In spite of 
 all their disadvantages, the Scandinavian peninsula, and 
 the sterile islands of the northern seas, were inhabitated 
 by men and women whose enterprise and intelligence 
 ranked tliem above their neighbors. 
 
 2. Now, with the modern ease of travel and transpor- 
 tation, these poorer countries can be supplied from other 
 parts of the world. And though the summers of Nor- 
 way are misty and dark and short, and it is difficult to 
 raise even a little hay on the bits of meadow among the 
 rocky mountain-slopes, commerce can make up for all de- 
 ficiencies. In early times there was no commerce, except 
 that carried on by the pirates, if we may dignify their 
 undertakings by such a respectable name, and it was hard- 
 
192 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 ly possible to make a living from the soil alone. But it 
 does not take lis long to discover that the ancient North- 
 men were not farmers, but hunters and iishermen. It 
 had grown more and more difficult to find food along the 
 rivers and broad grassy wastes of inland Europe, and 
 pushing westward they had at last reached the place where 
 they could live beside waters that swarmed with fish and 
 among hills that sheltered plenty of game. 
 
 3. The tribes that settled in the north grew in time 
 to have many peculiarities of their own, and as their 
 countries grew more and more populous, they needed 
 more things that could not easily be had, and a fashion 
 of plundering their neighbors began to prevail. Men 
 were still more or less beasts of prey. Invaders must be 
 kept out, and at last much of the industry of Scandinavia 
 was connected with the carrying on of an almost univer- 
 sal fighting and marauding. Ships must be built, and 
 there must be endless supph'es of armor and weapons. 
 Stones were easily collected for missiles or made fit for 
 arrows and spear-heads, and metals were worked with 
 great care. 
 
 4. In JS'orway and Sweden were the best places to 
 find all these, and if the Northmen planned to fight a 
 great battle, they had to transport a huge quantity of 
 stones, iron, and bronze. It is easy to see v/hy one day's 
 battle was almost always decisive in ancient times, for 
 suppHes could not be quickly forwarded from point to 
 point, and after the arrows were all shot and the con- 
 quered wei-e chased off the field, they had no further 
 means of offense except a hand-to-hand fight with those 
 who had won the right to pick up the fallen spears at 
 their leisure. So, too, an unexpected invasion was likely 
 to prove successful ; it was a work of time to get ready 
 for a battle, and when the Northmen swooped down upon 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 193 
 
 some shore town of Britain or Gaiil, the unlucky citizens 
 were at their mercj. And while the Northmen had Ush 
 and game, and were mighty hunters, and their rocks and 
 mines helped forward their warlike enterprises, so the 
 forests supplied them with ship-timber, and they gained 
 renown as sailors wherever their fame extended. 
 
 5. There was a great difference, however, between the 
 manner of life in Norway and that of England and 
 France. Tlie Norwegian stone, however useful for ar- 
 row-heads or axes, was not lit for building purposes. 
 There is hardly any clay there, either, to make bricks 
 with, so that wood has usually been the only material for 
 houses. In the southern countries there had always been 
 rude castles in which the people could shelter themselves, 
 but the Northmen could build no castles that a torch 
 could not destroy. They trusted much more to their 
 ships than to their houses, and some of their captains dis- 
 dained to live on shore at all. 
 
 6. There is something refreshing in the stories of old 
 Norse life ; of its simplicity and freedom and childish 
 zest. An old writer says that they had " a hankering 
 after pomp and pageantry," and by means of this they 
 came at last to doing things decently and in order, and to 
 setting the fashions for the rest of Europe. There was 
 considera1)le dignity in the manner of every-day life and 
 housekeeping. Their houses were often very large, even 
 two hundred feet long, with flaring fires on a pavement 
 in the middle of the floor, and the beds built next the 
 walls on three sides, sometimes hidden by wide tapestries 
 or foreign cloth that had been brought home in the viking 
 ships. In front of the beds were benches where each 
 man had his seat and footstool, with his armor and weap- 
 ons hung high on the wall above. 
 
 7. The master of the house had a high seat on the 
 
194 STORIES OF THE OLBEN TIME. 
 
 north side in the middle of a long bench ; opposite was 
 another bench for guests and strangers, while the women 
 sat on tlie third side. The roof was high ; there were a 
 few windows in it, and those were covered by skins, and 
 let in but little light. The smoke escaped through open- 
 ings in the carved, soot-blackened roof ; and though in 
 later times the rich men's houses were more like villages, 
 because they made groups of smaller buildings for store- 
 houses, for guest-rooms, or for work-shops all around 
 still, the idea of this primitive great hall or living-room 
 has not even yet been lost. The latest copies of it in 
 England and France that still remain are most interest- 
 ing; but what a hne sight it must have been at night 
 when the ffreat lires blazed and the warriors sat on their 
 benches in solemn order, and the skalds recited their long 
 sagas, of the host's own bravery or the valiant deeds of 
 his ancestors ! Hospitality was almost chief among the 
 virtues. 
 
 8. We must read what was written in their own lan- 
 guage, and then we shall have more respect for the vikings 
 and sea-kings, always distinguishing between these two ; 
 for, while any peasant who wished could be a viking — a 
 sea-robber — a sea-king was a king indeed, and must be 
 connected with the royal race of the country. He re- 
 ceived the title of king by right as soon as he took com- 
 mand of a ship's crew, though he need not have any land 
 or kingdom. Yikings were merely pirates ; they might 
 be peasants and vikings by turn, and won their names 
 from the inlets, the viks or wicks, where they harbored 
 their ships. A sea-king must be a viking, but naturally 
 very few of the vikings were sea-kings. 
 
 9. The viking had rights in his own country, and 
 knew what it was to enjoy those rights ; if he could win 
 more land, he would know how to govern it, and he knew 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 
 
 195 
 
 A Vihing''s Home. 
 
196 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 what he was fighting for, and meant to win. If we won- 
 der why all this energy was spent on the high seas and 
 in strange countries, there are two answers : first, that 
 fighting was the natural employment of the men, and 
 that no right could be held that could not be defended ; 
 but besides this, one form of their energy was showing 
 itself at home in rude attempts at literature. 
 
 10. The more that we know of the I^orthmen, the 
 more we are convinced how superior they were in their 
 knowledge of the useful arts to the people wiiom they 
 conquered. There is a legend that, when Charlemagne, 
 in the ninth century, saw some pirate ships cruising in the 
 Mediterranean, along the shores of which they had at last 
 found their way, he covered his face and burst into tears. 
 He was not so much afraid of their cruelty and barbarity 
 as of their civihzation. l!^obody knew better that none 
 of the Christian countries under his rule had ships or 
 men that could make such a daring voyage. He knew 
 that they were skillful workers in wood and iron, and 
 had learned to be rope-makers and weavers ; that they 
 could make casks for their supply of drinking-water, and 
 understood how to prepare food for their long cruises. 
 All their swords and spears and bow-strings had to be 
 made and kept in good condition, and sheltered from the 
 sea-spray. 
 
 11. When we picture the famous sea-kings' ships to 
 ourselves, we do not wonder that the Northmen were so 
 proud of them, or that the skalds were never tired of re- 
 counting their glories. There were two kinds of vessels : 
 the last-ships, that carried cargoes, and the long-ships, or 
 ships of war. Listen to the splendors of the " Long Ser- 
 pent," which was the largest ship ever built in Norway. 
 A dragon-ship, to begin with, because all the long-ships 
 had a dragon for a figure-head, except the smallest of 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 197 
 
 them, which were called cutters, and only carried ten 
 or tw^enty rowers on a side. The " Long Serpent " had 
 thirty-four rowers' benches on a side, and she was one 
 hundred and eleven feet long. Over the sides were hung 
 the shining red and white shields of the vikings, the gild- 
 ed dragon's head towered high at the prow, and at the 
 stern a gilded tail went curling off over the head of the 
 steersman. Then, from the long body, the heavy oars 
 swept forward and back through the w^ater, and as it 
 came down the fiord, tlie " Long Serpent" must have 
 looked like some enormous centipede creeping out of its 
 den on an awful errand, and heading out across the rough 
 water toward its prey. 
 
 12. The voyages were often disastrous in spite of 
 much clever seamanship. They knew nothing of the 
 mariner's compass, and found their way chiefly by the 
 aid of the stars — inconstant pilots enough on such foggy, 
 stormy seas. They carried birds, too, oftenest ravens, 
 and used to let them loose and follow them toward the 
 nearest land. The black raven w^as the vikings' favorite 
 symbol for their flags, and familiar enough it became in 
 other harbors than their own. They were bold, hardy 
 fellows, and held fast to a rude code of honor and rank 
 of knighthood. 
 
 13. The valleys of the Elbe and the Khine, of the 
 Seine and the Loire, made a famous hunting-ground for 
 the dragon-ships to seek. 
 
 14. The people wdio lived in France were of another 
 sort, but they often knew how to defend themselves as 
 well as the l^orthmen knew how to attack. There are 
 few early French records for us to read, for the literature 
 of that early day was almost wholly destroyed in the re- 
 ligious houses and public buildings of France. Here and 
 there a few pages of a poem or of a biography or chroni- 
 
198 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 cle have been kept, but from this very fact we can under- 
 stand the miserable condition of the country. 
 
 15. The whole second half of the ninth century is 
 taken up with the histories of these invasions. We must 
 follow for a while the progress of events in Gaul, or 
 France as we call it now, though it was made up then of 
 a number of smaller kingdoms. The result of the great 
 siege of Paris was only a settling of affairs with the 
 Northmen for the time being ; one part of the country 
 was delivered from them at the expense of another. 
 
 16. They could be bought off and bribed for a time, 
 but there was never to be any such thing as their going 
 back to their own country and letting France alone for 
 good and all. But as they gained at length whole tracts 
 of country, instead of the little w^ealth of a few men to 
 take away in their ships as at first, they began to settle 
 down in their new lands and to become conquerors and 
 colonists instead of mere plunderers. Instead of continu- 
 ally ravaging and attacking the kingdoms, they slowly 
 became the owners and occupiers of the conquered terri- 
 tory ; they pushed their way from point to point. 
 
 17. At first, as you Jiave seen already they trusted to 
 their ships, and always left their wives and children at 
 home in the north countries, but as time went on, they 
 brought their families with them and made new homes, 
 for which they would have to fight many a battle yet. 
 It would be no wonder if the women had become pos- 
 sessed by a love of adventure, too, and had insisted upon 
 seeing the lands from which the rich booty was brought 
 to them, and that they had been saying for a long tinie : 
 " Show us the places where the grapes grow and the fruit- 
 trees bloom, where men build great houses and live in 
 them splendidly. We are tired of seeing only the long 
 larchen beams of their high roofs, and the purple and 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 199 
 
 red and gold cloths, and the red wine and yellow wheat that 
 you bring away. Why should we not go to live in that 
 country, instead of your breaking it to pieces, and going 
 there so many of you, every year, only to be slain as its 
 enemies i "We are tired of our sterile ^N'orway and our 
 great Danish deserts of sand, of our cold winds and wet 
 weather, and our long winters that pass by so slowly while 
 the fleets are gone. We would rather see Seville and 
 Paris themselves, than only their gold and merchandise 
 and the rafters of their churches that you bring home for 
 ship timbers." 
 
 IS. The kingdoms of France had been divided and 
 subdivided, and, while we find a great many fine exam- 
 ples of resistance, and some great victories over the 
 JS^orthmen, they were not pushed out and checked alto- 
 gether. Instead, they gradually changed into Frenchmen 
 themselves, different from other Frenchmen only in being 
 more spirited, vigorous and alert. They inspired every 
 new growth of the religion, language, or manners, with 
 their own splendid vitality. They w^ere like plants that 
 have grown in dry, thin soil, transplanted to a richer spot 
 of ground, and sending out fresh shoots in the doubled 
 moisture and sunshine. And presently we shall find the 
 Northman becoming the Norman of history. As the 
 Northman, almost the first thing we admire about him is 
 his character, his glorious energy ; as the Norman, we see 
 that energy turned into better channels, and bringing a 
 new element into the progress of civilization. 
 
 Sarah 0. Jewett. " The Story of the Normans^ 
 
 Putnam'' s '-'■Stories of the Nations'''' Series. 
 
200 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 XXXVIIL-ROLF THE GAJYGER. 
 
 1. The ninth century was a sad time for both Eng- 
 land and France. The Gothic tribes, in their march to 
 the west had reached the sea in Denmark and Norway, 
 and had increased to such an extent as to take up all the 
 land tit for cultivation. The strength and courage which 
 they had shown in many a battle-held on the land was 
 now transferred to the sea, soldiers and knights becom- 
 ing vikings and pirates. Fierce worshipers were they of 
 the old gods Odin, Frey, and Thor. They plundered, they 
 burned, they slew ; they especially devastated churches and 
 monasteries, and no coast was safe from them from the 
 Adriatic to the farthest north — even Rome saw their long- 
 ships, and, " From the fnry of the Northmen, good Lord 
 dehver us ! " was the prayer in every litany of the West. 
 
 2. England had been well-nigh undone by them, when 
 the spirit of her greatest king awoke, and by Alfred they 
 were overcome. Some were permitted to settle down, and 
 were taught Christianity and civilization, and the fresh 
 invaders were driven from the coast. Alfred's gallant 
 son and grandson held the same course, guarded their 
 coasts, and made their faith and themselves respected 
 throughout the North. But in France, the much harassed 
 house of Charles the Great, and the ill-compacted bond of 
 different nations, were little able to oppose their fierce 
 assaults, and ravage and devastation reigned from one end 
 of the countrj^ to another. 
 
 3. However, the vikings, on returning to their native 
 homes sometimes found their place filled up, and the fam- 
 ily inheritance incapable of supporting so many. Thus 
 they began to think of winning not merely gold and cattle, 
 but lands and houses, on the coasts they pillaged. In 
 Scotland, the Hebrides, and Ireland, they settled by leave 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 201 
 
 of nothing bat their swords ; in England, by treaty with 
 Alfred ; and in France, half by conquest, half by treaty, 
 always, however, accepting Christianity as a needful obli- 
 gation when they took posession of southern lands. Prob- 
 ably they thought Thor was only the god of the north, 
 and that the "White Christ," as they called Him who 
 was made known to them in these new countries was to 
 be adored in what they deemed alone his territories. 
 
 4. Of all the sea-robbers who sailed from their rocky 
 dwelling-places by the fiords of JN'orway, none enjoyed 
 higher renown than Rolf, called the ganger, or w^alker, 
 as tradition relates, because his stature was so gigantic 
 that, when clad in full armor, no horse could support his 
 weight, and he therefore always fought on foot. 
 
 5. Rolfs lot had, however, fallen in what he doubt- 
 less considered as evil days. No such burnings and plun- 
 derings as had hitherto wasted England and enriched 
 Norway, fell to his share ; for Alfred had made the 
 bravest Northman feel that his fleet and army wei-e more 
 than a match for theirs. Ireland was exhausted by the 
 former depredations of the pirates, and, from a fertile 
 and flourishing country had become a scene of desolation. 
 Scotland and its isles were too barren to afford prey to 
 the spoiler. 
 
 6. Rolf, presuming on the favor shown to his family 
 while returning from an expedition on the Baltic, made 
 a descent on the coast of Yiken, a part of Norway, and 
 carried off the cattle wanted by his crew. The king, who 
 happened at that time to be in that district, was high- 
 ly displeased, and, assembling a council, declared Rolf 
 the Ganger an outlaw. 
 
 7. The banished Rolf found a great number of com- 
 panions, who, like himself, were unw^illing to submit to 
 the strict rule of Harald, and setting sail with them, he 
 
202 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 first plundered and devastated the coast of Flanders, and 
 afterward returned to France. In the spring of 896 the 
 citizens of Rouen, scarcely yet recovered from the mis- 
 eries inflicted upon them by the fierce Danish rover Hast- 
 ing, were dismayed by the sight of a fleet of long, low 
 vessels, with spreading sails, heads carved hke that of a 
 serpent, and sterns finished like the tail of a reptile, such 
 as they well knew to be the keels of the dreaded North- 
 men, the harbingers of destruction and desolation. Little 
 hope of succor or protection was there from King Charles 
 the Simple ; and, indeed, had the sovereign been ever so 
 warlike and energetic, it would little have availed Rouen, 
 which might have been destroyed twice over before a 
 messenger could reach Laon. 
 
 8. In this emergency. Franco, the archbishop, pro- 
 posed to go forth to meet the Northmen and attempt to 
 make terms for his flock. The offer was gladly accepted 
 by the trembling citizens, and the good archbishop went, 
 bearing the keys of the town, to visit the camp which 
 the Northmen had begun to erect upon the bank of the 
 river. They offered him no violence, and he performed 
 his errand safely. Rolf, the rude generosity of whose 
 character was touched by his fearless conduct, readily 
 agreed to spare the lives and property of the citizens, on 
 condition that Rouen was surrendered to him without 
 resistance. 
 
 9. Entering the town, he there established his head- 
 quarters, and spent a whole year in the adjacent parts of 
 the country, during which time the Northmen so faith- 
 fully observed their promise, that they were regarded by 
 the Rouennais rather as friends than as conquerors ; and 
 Rolf, or Rollo, as the French called him, was far more 
 popular among them than their real sovereign. Wherever 
 he met with resistance, he showed, indeed, th*e relentless 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 203 
 
 crueltj of the heathen pirate ; wherever he found submis- 
 sion, he was a kind master. 
 
 10. In the course of the following year, he advanced 
 along the banks of the Seine as far as its junction with 
 the Eure. On the opposite side of the river there were 
 visible a number of tents, where slept a numerous army, 
 which Charles had at length collected to oppose this for- 
 midable enemy. The Northmen also set up their camp, 
 in expectation of a battle, and darkness had just closed in 
 on them when a shout was heard on the opposite side of 
 the river, and to their surprise a voice was heard speak- 
 ing in their own language. " Brave warriors, why come 
 ye hither, and what do ye seek 1 " 
 
 11. "We are Northmen, come hither to conquer 
 France," replied Rollo. " But who art thou w^ho speak- 
 est our tongue so well i " •' Heard ye never of Hasting ? " 
 was the reply. " Yes," returned Rollo, " he began well, 
 but ended badly." " Will ye not, then," continued the 
 old pirate, " submit to my lord the king ? Will ye not 
 hold of him lands and honors?" "No," replied the 
 Northmen, disdainfully, " we will own no lord, we will 
 take no gift, but we will have what we ourselves can con- 
 quer by force." 
 
 12. Here Hasting took his departure, and returning 
 to the French camp, strongly advised the commander not 
 to hazard a battle. His counsel was overruled by a young 
 standard-bearer, who, significantly observing, "Wolves 
 make not war on w^olves," so offended the old sea-king, 
 that he quitted the army that night, and never again ap- 
 peared in France, The w^isdom of his advice was the 
 next morning made evident, by the total defeat of the 
 French, and the advance of the Northmen, w^ho in a short 
 space after appeared beneath the walls of Paris. Failing 
 in their attempt to take the city, they returned to Rouen, 
 
204 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 where they fortilied themselves, making it the capital of 
 the territory they had conquered. 
 
 13. Fifteen years passed away, the summers of which 
 were spent in ravaging the dominions of Charles the Sim- 
 ple, and the winters in the city of Rouen, and in the 
 meantime a change had come over the leader. He had 
 been insensibly softened and civilized by his intercourse 
 with the good Archbishop Franco, and finding, perhaps, 
 that it was not quite so easy as he had expected to con- 
 quer the whole kingdom of France, he declared himself 
 willing to follow the example which he once despised, and 
 to become a vassal of the French crown for the duchy of 
 Neustria. 
 
 14. Charles, greatly rejoiced to find himseK thus able 
 to put a stop to the dreadful devastations of the North- 
 men, readily agreed to the terms proposed by Rollo, ap- 
 pointing the village of St. Clair-sur-Epte, on the borders 
 of Neustria, as the place of meeting for the purpose of 
 receiving his homage and oath of fealty. 
 
 15. The greatest difficulty to be overcome in this con- 
 ference was the repugnance felt by the proud Northman 
 to perform the customary act of homage before any living 
 man, especially one whom he held so cheap as Charles 
 the Simple. He consented, indeed, to swear allegiance, 
 and declare himself the ''king's man," with his hands 
 clasped between those of Charles. The remaining part 
 of the ceremony, the kneeling to kiss the foot of the liege 
 lord, he absolutely refused, and was with difficulty per- 
 suaded to permit one of his followers to perform it in his 
 name. The proxy, as proud as his master, instead of 
 kneeling, took the king's foot in his hand, and lifted it 
 to his mouth while he stood upright, thus overturning 
 both monarch and throne, amid the rude laughter of his 
 companions, while the miserable Charles and his courtiers 
 
WESTERN- RECORD. 205 
 
 felt such a dread of these new vassals that they did not 
 dare resent the insult. 
 
 16. On his return to Ronen, Rollo was baptized, and, 
 on leaving the cathedral, celebrated his conversion by 
 large grants to the different churches and convents of his 
 duchy, making a fresh gift on each of the days during 
 which he wore the white robes of the newly baptized. 
 All of his warriors who chose to follow his example, and 
 embrace the Christian faith, received from him grants of 
 land, to be held of him on the same terms as those by 
 which he held the dukedom from the king. The country 
 thus peopled by the IS'^orthmen, gradually assumed the 
 name of Normandy. 
 
 IT. Applying themselves with all the ardor of their 
 temper to their new way of life, the l^orthmen quickly 
 adopted the manners, language, and habits which were 
 recommended to them as connected with the holy faith 
 which they had just embraced, but without losing their 
 own bold and vigorous spirit. Soon the gallant and ac- 
 complished Norman knight could scarcely have been rec- 
 ognized as the savage sea-robber, while, at the same time, 
 he bore as little resemblance to the cruel and voluptuous 
 French noble, at once violent and indolent. 
 
 18. There is no doubt, however, that the keen, unso- 
 phisticated vigor of Rollo, directed by his new religion 
 did great good in Normandy, and that his justice was 
 sharp, his discipline impartial, so that of him is told the 
 famous old story bestowed upon other just princes, that a 
 gold bracelet was left for three years untouched upon a tree 
 in a forest. He had been married, as part of the treaty, to 
 Gisele, a daughter of King Chai'les the Simple, but he was 
 an old grizzly warrior, and neither cared for the other. 
 A wife whom he had long before taken, had borne him a 
 son, named William, to whom he left his dukedom in 932. 
 
206 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 XXXIX -THE TRUE STORY OF MACBETH. 
 
 1. In the north of Scotland, where tlie cliffs border- 
 ing Moray Firth face the auroral heavens, are two an- 
 cient towns, Inverness and Forres, whose names are im- 
 mortalized in Shakespeare's great tragedy of Macbeth, 
 for it is in their vicinity that most of its scenes are laid. 
 
 2. It is a wild, lonely country, and nmst have been 
 wilder and lonelier still eight hundred years ago, when 
 from the neighboring Norway coast the black boats of 
 the vikings, or E^orth Sea rovers, used to come flocking 
 into the quiet harbors of Moray and Cromarty Firths, 
 like so many swift birds of prey swooping suddenly in 
 from the gray horizon, snatching their plunder and flit- 
 ting away on never-resting wings only to return in greater 
 numbers and depart with richer booty. 
 
 3. In 1033-1039, when the sons of Canute the Dane 
 were wearing the English crown, and not long after a few 
 of the roving Norsemen had drifted away to plant a little 
 history and a great mystery across the wide Atlantic, there 
 reigned in Scotland a king by the name of Dnncan Mac- 
 Crinan. Among his nobles was a certain Macbeth, Thane 
 of Glamis, about whom a great many stories are told, 
 some of w^hich w^ould no doubt have made their subject 
 open his eyes, for if we may credit the sober historians 
 he was rather respectable than otherwise, and probably 
 slept much better o' nights than Mr. Shakespeare would 
 have us believe. It is even said that he made a pilgrim- 
 age to Rome and saw the Pope, which certainly ought to 
 establish his virtue to anybody's satisfaction. 
 
 4. At all events he w\is a brave soldier and able gen- 
 eral, and Duncan naturally thought that he had the right 
 man in the right place when he gave him command of 
 the royal army and sent him off to drive out Thorflnn 
 
WESTERN^ RECORD. 207 
 
 and Thorkell, two Norse chiefs who had come over to 
 conquer Scotland. 
 
 5. Macbeth had wedded a lady named Grnoch Mac- 
 Boedhe, which made him cousin to the king, and very 
 likely put strange notions into his head, even if they never 
 were there before. He was what we call " a rising man," 
 and so, liaving gloriously defeated Thorlinn and Thorkell, 
 or, some say, making them allies, he gloriously turned 
 around and made war upon Duncan MacCrinan. In this 
 struggle Duncan was killed or mortally wounded near 
 Elgin, on Moray Firth, and Macbeth usurped the throne. 
 
 6. Others claim that Thorfinn had conquered that 
 part of Scotland, that Macbeth was his vassal and mere- 
 ly fulfilled his duty to his over-lord in repelling an inva- 
 sion by Duncan, in w^hich the latter deservedly met the 
 common fate of war. 
 
 7. It is very difficult to learn the real truth about peo- 
 ple who lived before history was anything more than oral 
 tradition, because, as in the case of Macbeth, a great many 
 legends gradually clustered about their names, which were 
 not committed to writing until many, many years alter 
 the events actually occurred. The very earliest Scotch 
 writing ever discovered is only a charter, and is dated 
 1095, more than fifty years after Duncan was ''in his 
 grave," and it was more than three hundred years later 
 that a Scotch prior, named Androwe of Wyntonne, wrote 
 a long historical poem which he called an Orygynale 
 Cronykil of Scotland. In it he relates the story of Mac- 
 beth and the three witches, and the murder of Duncan, 
 though he says that Macbeth afterward made a very wise 
 and just king, whose reign of seventeen years was marked 
 by great abundance, and by royal almsgiving and zeal for 
 ''holy kirk." 
 
 8. But a Latin history of Scotland, written about a 
 
208 S2 0RIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 huEdred years before Shakespeare by an Aberdeen pro- 
 fessor, and translated into English under the title of Hol- 
 inshed's Chronicle, supplied the great dramatist with his 
 plot, though it suited his purpose to combine the true 
 story of Macbeth with the murder of an earlier king. 
 Then, adding a great deal about ghosts and witches, and, 
 above all, breathing into these dry, long-dead mummies 
 the quickening breath of genius, the immortal playwright 
 recreated a Macbeth who seems a far more real and liv- 
 ing character than many of our contemporaries. 
 
 9. By whatever means Macbeth secured the throne, 
 history and iiction agree as to the manner of his losing it. 
 Duncan's sons, in reality mere infants at their father's 
 death, were hurried away by their friends, and Malcolm, 
 the elder, was committed to his mother's brother. Si ward, 
 Earl of Northumbria, who in good time aided his young 
 kinsman to recover his birthright. 
 
 10. Macbeth, notwithstanding his prosperous reign, was 
 regarded as a usurper, and was consequently very unpopu- 
 lar with the loyal Scotch, who, though proud and quar- 
 relsome, were always devotedly true where they recog- 
 nized an obligation of fealty. So when Malcolm returned 
 they flocked around the beloved young heir, and defeated 
 his enemy at Dmisinane, though Macbeth was not killed 
 at this place, as Shakespeare says, but fled across the 
 Grampians to rally at Lumphanan. Here he was slain 
 and the victorious Malcolm — called in history Malcolm 
 Canmore — now went to Scone and was crowned upon a 
 famous stone, believed by the Scotch to be the same that 
 Jacob used for his pillow. It is certainly the one that 
 Edward I of England afterward took away and made the 
 seat of the coronation chair at Westminster Abbey, where 
 it is still to be seen. 
 
 11. But, like many another evil that has been wrought 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 209 
 
 before now, Macbeth's treason resulted in the ultimate 
 good of bis country ; for Malcolm, during his long exile, 
 had become accustomed to the superior civiUzation of the 
 EngUsh, and now introduced many improvements among 
 his subjects. Having known, too, the sorrows of a fugi- 
 tive, he welcomed to his court the Saxon princes fleeing 
 from Gorman William, among whom was Margaret Athei- 
 ing, the gentle granddaughter of Ednmnd Ironsides, who 
 became his bride, and whose winning graces went far 
 toward refining the rude manners of the warlike Scots. 
 One of their sons was the saintly King David, who found- 
 ed Melrose Abbey, and who is said to have been to Scot- 
 land " all that Alfred was to England, and more than 
 Louis was to France." 
 
 12. Another noble, called Banquo, seems to have had 
 some part in Duncan's overthrow, but as the play of 
 Macbeth was written in the reign of James I, who was a 
 Scot and traced his descent back to Banquo, it was not 
 deemed prudent or polite to represent the character in an 
 unflattering light ; so he was pictured as noble and incor- 
 ruptible, and was so unfortunate, poor man, as to have to 
 be murdered to make the story end well. 
 
 13. Sir Walter Scott, in his " Tales of a Grandfather," 
 gives us a story differing little from the outline of Shake- 
 speare's drama, but then, who that has spent enraptured 
 hours over Rob Roy and the Black Dwarf could wish the 
 charming wizard to spoil a good story for the sake of 
 mere historical exactness ? not I, surely ! And the Mac- 
 beth of history, no matter how zealously we may try to 
 discover him, or how faithfully we may attempt, at this 
 late day, to reconstruct his damaged reputation, he can 
 never be to us anything better than a very misty tra- 
 dition. Whatever he may have been eight hundred 
 years ago, the Macbeth we know, the only real Macbeth 
 
210 STOEIES OF TEE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 there is or ever can be, is after all the one that met the 
 witches in the thunder-storm on Forres Heath and then 
 went home and murdered the gentle old king who " had 
 so much blood in him," and a moment later, startled bj 
 the knocking at the gate, exclaimed in bitterest remorse : 
 *' Wake Duncan wdth thy knocking! I would thou 
 could'st ! " 
 
 14. If you read this scene in the silent hours when 
 every one else in the house is sleeping, you will almost 
 believe that you murdered Duncan yourself, and that you 
 hear Lady Macbeth's hoarse whisper in your ear : " To 
 bed, to bed, there's knocking at the gate. Come, come, 
 come, come, give me your hand. What's done can not 
 be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed." 
 
 15. Then you will shut the book in sudden terror of 
 the lonely midnight, and scramble into bed wdth the 
 blood curdling in your veins, and presently, aided by the 
 darkness, your imagination will bridge the gulf of cent- 
 uries, and you will seem to see a long vaulted hall in a 
 mediseval palace, and in the hall a banquet spread, around 
 which gather lords of high degree, while on the canopied 
 dais at the upper end sit King Macbeth and his white- 
 haired, pitiless, guilty queen. And from the rainy outer 
 darkness you may catch the faint echo of a mortal cry : 
 " Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly ! " And then as you pict- 
 ure the king stepping down from his royal seat to meet 
 a blood-stained murderer at the door, you will have a mo- 
 mentary glimpse of Banquo lying in the roadside ditch 
 '' with twenty trenched gashes in his head," and of Fle- 
 ance speeding away alone through the stormy night. 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 211 
 
 XL.- DUKE WILLIAM OF JYORMAJ^DY^ 
 
 1. Now Duke William was in his park at Ronen, 
 and in liis bands he held a bow ready strung, for he was 
 going hunting, and many knights and squires with him. 
 And behold, there came to the gate a messenger from 
 England ; and he went straight to the duke and drew 
 him aside, and told him secretly how King Edward's life 
 had come to an end, and Harold had been made king in 
 his stead. And when the duke had heard the tidings, 
 and understood all that was come to pass, those that 
 looked upon him perceived that he was greatly enraged, 
 for he forsook the chase, and went in silence, speaking no 
 word to any man, clasping and unclasping his cloak, 
 neither dared any man speak to him ; bnt he crossed 
 over the Seine in a boat, and went to his hall, and sat 
 down on a bench ; and he covered his face with his mantle, 
 and leaned down his head, and there he abode, turning 
 about restlessly for one hour after another in gloomy 
 thought. And none dared speak a word to him, but they 
 spake to one another, saying: "What ails the duke? 
 Why bears he such a mien ? " 
 
 2. " That is it that troubles me," said the duke. " I 
 grieve because Edward is dead, and that Harold has done 
 me a wrong; for he has taken my kingdom who was 
 bound to me by oath and promise." To these words an- 
 swered Fitz-Osbern the bold : " Sir, tarry not, but make 
 ready with speed to avenge yourself on Harold, who has 
 been disloyal to you ; for if you lack not courage, there 
 will be left no land to Harold. Summon all whom you 
 ma}' summon, cross the sea and seize his lands ; for no 
 brave man should begin a matter and not carry it on to 
 the end." 
 
 3. Then William sent messengers to Harold to call 
 
212 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 upon him to keep the oath that he had sworn ; but Har- 
 old replied in scorn that he would not marry his 
 daughter, nor give up his land to him. And William 
 sent to him his defiance ; but Harold answered that he 
 feared him not, and he drove all the Xormans out of the 
 land, with their wives and children, for King Edward had 
 given them lands and castles, but Harold chased them out 
 of the country ; neither would he let one remain. And 
 at Christmas he took the crown, but it would have been 
 w^ell for himself and his land if he had not been crowned, 
 since for the kingdom he perjured himself, and his reign 
 lasted but a short space. 
 
 4. Then Duke William called together his barons, 
 and told them all his will, and how Harold had wronged 
 him, and that he would cross the sea and revenge himself ; 
 but without their aid he could not gather men enough, 
 nor a large navy ; therefore, he would know of each one 
 of them how many men and ships he would bring. And 
 they prayed for leave to take counsel together, and the 
 duke granted their request. And their deliberations 
 lasted long, for many complained that their burdens were 
 heavy, and some said that they would bring ships and 
 cross the sea wdth the duke, and others said they w^ould 
 not go, for they were in debt and poor. Thus some 
 would and some would not, and there ^vas great conten- 
 tion between them. 
 
 5. Then Fitz-Osbern came to them and said: "Where- 
 fore dispute you, sirs ? Ye should not fail your natural 
 lord when he goes seeking honors. Ye owe him service 
 for your fiefs, and where ye owe service ye should serve 
 with all your power. Ask not delay, nor wait until he 
 prays you ; but go before, and offer him more than you 
 can do. Let him not lament that his enterprise failed 
 for your remissness." But they answ^ered : " Sir, we fear 
 
WESTERN RECORD, 213 
 
 tlie sea, and we owe no service across the sea. Speak for 
 us, we pray you, and answer in our stead. Say what you 
 will, and we will abide by your words." " Will ye all 
 leave yourselves to me ? " he said. And each one an- 
 swered : '' Yes. Let us go to tlie duke, and you shall 
 speak for us." 
 
 C. And Fitz-Osbern turned himself about and went 
 before him to the duke, and spoke for them, and he said : 
 " Sir, no lord has such men as you have, and who will 
 do so much for their lord's honor, and you ought to love 
 and keep them well. For you they say tbey would be 
 drowned in the sea or thrown into the fire. You may 
 trust them well, for tliey have served you long and fol- 
 lowed you at great cost. And if they have done well, 
 they will do better ; for they will pass the sea with j ou, 
 and will double their service. For he who should bring 
 twenty knights will gladly bring forty, and lie who should 
 serve you thirty will bring sixty, and he from whom one 
 hundred is due will willingly bring two hundred. And 
 I, in loving loyalty, will bring in my lord's business sixty 
 ships, well arrayed and laden with fighting men." 
 
 7. But the barons marveled at him, and murmured 
 aloud at the words that he spake and the promises he 
 made, for which they had given him no warrant. And 
 many contradicted him, and there arose a noise and loud 
 disturbance among them; for they feared that if they 
 doubled their service it would become a custom, and be 
 turned into a feudal right. And the noise and outcry 
 became so great that a man could not hear what his fel- 
 low said. Then the duke went aside, for the noise dis- 
 pleased him, and sent for the barons one by one, and 
 spoke to each one of the greatness of the enterprise, and 
 that if they would double their service, and do freely 
 more than their due, it should be well for them, and that 
 
214: STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 he would, never make it a custom, nor require of tliem 
 any service more than was the usage of the country, and 
 such as their ancestors had paid to their lord. Then each 
 one said he would do it, and he told how many ships he 
 would bring, and the duke had them all written down in 
 brief. Bishop Odo, his brother, brought him forty ships, 
 and the Bishop of Le Mans prepared thirty, witli their 
 mariners and pilots. And the duke prayed his neighbors 
 of Brittany, Anjou, and Maine, Ponthieu, and Boulogne, 
 to aid him in this business ; and he promised them lands 
 if England were conquered, and rich gifts and large pay. 
 Thus from all sides came soldiers to him. 
 
 8. Then he showed the matter to his lord the King of 
 France, and he sought him at St. Germer, and found him 
 there ; and he said that he would aid him, so that by his 
 aid he won his right, he would hold England from him 
 and serve him for it. But the king answered that he 
 would not aid him, neither with his will should he pass 
 the sea ; for the French prayed him not to aid him, say- 
 ing he was too strong already, and that if he let him add 
 riches from over the sea to his lands of Normandy and all 
 his good kniglits, there would never be peace. "And 
 when England shall be conquered," said they, '' you will 
 hear no more of his service. He pays little service now, 
 but then it will be less. The more he has, the less he 
 will do." 
 
 9. So the duke took leave of the king, and came away 
 in a rage, saying : " Sir, I go to do the best I can, and if 
 God will that I gain my right you shall see me no more 
 but for evil. And if I fail, and the English can defend 
 themselves, my children shall inherit my lands, and thou 
 shalt not conquer them. Living or dead, I fear no men- 
 ace ! " 
 
 10. Then the duke sent to Rome clerks that were 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 215 
 
 skilled in speech, and they told the Pope how Harold had 
 sworn falsely, and that Duke William promised that if he 
 conquered England he would hold it of St. Peter. And 
 the Pope sent him a standard and a very precious ring, 
 and underneath the stone there was, it is said, a hair of 
 St. Peter's. And about that time there appeared a great 
 star shining in the south with very long rays, such a star 
 as is seen when a kingdom is about to have a new king. 
 I have spoken with many men who saw it, and those who 
 are cunning in the stars call it a comet. 
 
 11. Then the duke called together carpenters and 
 ship-builders, and in all the ports of J^ormandy there was 
 sawing of planks and carrying of wood, spreading of sails 
 and setting up of masts, with great labor and industry. 
 Thus all the summer long and through the month of 
 August they made ready the fleet and assembled the men ; 
 for there w^as no knight in all the land, nor any good 
 sergeant, nor archer, nor any peasant of good courage, of 
 age to fight, whom the duke did not summon to go with 
 him to England. 
 
 12. When the ships were ready, they were anchored 
 in the Somme at St. Yalery. And as the renown of the 
 duke went abroad there came to him soldiers one by one 
 or two by tw^o, and the duke kept them with him, and 
 promised them much. And some asked for lands in 
 England, and others pay and large gifts. But I will not 
 write down what barons, knights, and soldiers the duke 
 had in his company ; but I have heard my father say (I 
 remember it well, though I was but a boy) that there 
 were seven hundred ships, save four, when they left St. 
 Yalery — ships, and boats, and little skiffs. But I found 
 it written (I know not the truth) that there were three 
 thousand ships carrying sails and masts. 
 
 13. And at St. Yalery they tarried long for a favor- 
 
 10 
 
216 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 able wind, and the barons grew weary with waiting ; and 
 they prayed those of the convent to bring out to the camp 
 the shrine of St. Yalery, and they came to it and prayed 
 they might cross the sea, and they offered money till all 
 the holy body was covered with it, and the same day 
 there sprang up a favorable wind. Then the duke put a 
 lantern on the mast of his ship, that the other ships might 
 see it and keep their course near, and an ensign of gilded 
 copper on the top ; and at the head of the ships, wliich 
 mariners call the prow, there was a child made of copper 
 holding a bow and arrow, and he had his face toward 
 England, and seemed about to shoot. 
 
 14. Thus the ships came to port, and they all arrived 
 together and anchored together on the beach, and together 
 they all disembarked. And it was near Hastings, and the 
 ships lay side by side. And the good sailors and ser- 
 geants and esquires sprang out, and cast anchor, and fast- 
 ened the ships with ropes; and they brought out their 
 shields and saddles, and led forth the horses. 
 
 15. The archers were the first to come to land, every 
 one with his bow and his quiver and arrows by his side, 
 all shaven and dressed in short tunics, ready for battle 
 and of good courage ; and they searched all the beach, 
 but no armed man could they find. When they were 
 issued forth, then came the knights in armor, with helmet 
 laced and shield on neck, and together they came to the 
 sand and mounted their war-horses ; and they had their 
 swords at their sides, and rode with lances raised. The 
 barons had their standards and the knights their pennons. 
 After them came the carpenters, witli their axes in their 
 hands and their tools hanging by their side. And when 
 they came to the archers and to the knights they took 
 counsel together, and brought wood from the ships and 
 fastened it together with bolts and bars, and before the 
 
WESTERN' RECORD. 217 
 
 evening was well come they had made themselves a strong 
 fort. And they hghted fires and cooked food, and the 
 duke and his barons and knights sat down to eat ; and 
 they all ate and drank plentifully and rejoiced that they 
 were come to land. 
 
 16. When the duke came forth of his ship he fell on 
 his hands to the ground, and there rose a great cry, for all 
 said it was an evil sign ; but he cried aloud : '' Lords, I 
 have seized the land with my two hands, and will never 
 yield it. All is ours." Then a man ran to land and laid 
 his hand upon a cottage, and took a handful of the thatch, 
 and returned to the duke. " Sir," said he, '' take seizin 
 of the land ; yours is the land without doubt." Then the 
 duke commanded the mariners to draw all the ships to 
 land and pierce holes in them and break them to pieces, 
 for they should never return by the way they had come, 
 " Belt and Spu?%'"' Stories of the Old Knights. 
 
 XLL-THE J^ORMAJf COJVQUEST^ 
 
 1. Poor old Edward the Confessor, holy, weak, and 
 sad, lay in his new choir of Westminster — where the 
 wicked cease from troubling and tlie weary are at rest. 
 The crowned ascetic had left no heir behind. England 
 seemed as a corpse, to which all the eagles might gather 
 together ; and the South-English, in their utter need, had 
 chosen for their king the ablest, and it may be the just- 
 est, man in Britain — Earl Harold Godwinson : himself, 
 like half the upper classes of England then, of all-domi- 
 nant I^orse blood ; for his mother was a Danish princess. 
 
 2. Then out of Norway, with a mighty host, came 
 
S18 
 
 STORIES OF TEE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 Edward the Confessor's Tomk 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 219 
 
 Harold Hardraade, taller than all men, the ideal Viking 
 of his time. He had been away to Russia to King Jaro- 
 slaf ; he had been in the Emperor's Yaranger guard at 
 Constantinople — and, it was whispered, had slain a lion 
 there with his bare hands ; he had carved his name and 
 his comrades' in Runic characters — if you go to Venice 
 you may see them at this day — on the loins of the great 
 marble lion, which stood in his time not in Venice but in 
 Athens. And now. King of I^orway and conqueror, for 
 the time, of Denmark, why should he not take England, 
 as Sweyn and Canute took it sixty years before, when 
 the flower of the English gentry perished at the fatal bat- 
 tle of Assingdune 'i If he and his half -barbarous host had 
 conquered, the civilization of Britain would have been 
 thrown back, perhaps, for centuries. But it was not to be. 
 3. England was to be conquered by the Normans ; 
 but by the civilized, not the barbaric ; by the Norse who 
 had settled, but four generations before, in the northeast 
 of France under Rou, Rollo, Rolf the Ganger, so called, 
 they say, because his legs w^ere so long that, when on 
 horseback, he touched the ground and seemed to gang, or 
 walk. He and his Norsemen had taken their share of 
 France, and called it Normandy to this day ; and mean- 
 while, with that docility and adaptability w^hich marks so 
 often truly great spirits, they changed their creed, their 
 language, their habits, and had become, from heathen 
 and murderous Berserkers, the most truly civilized peo- 
 ple in Europe, and — as was most natural then — the most 
 faithful allies and servants of the Pope of Rome. So 
 greatly had they changed, and so fast, that William Duke 
 of Normandy, the great-great-grandson of Rolf the wild 
 Viking, was perhaps the finest gentleman, as well as the 
 most cultivated sovereign and the greatest statesman and 
 warrior in Europe. 
 
220 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 4. So Harold of Norway canie with all his Yikings to 
 Stamford Bridge by York ; and took, by coming, only 
 that which Harold of England promised him, namely, 
 "forasmuch as he was taller than any other man, seven 
 feet of English gromid." 
 
 5. The story of that great battle, told with a few in- 
 accuracies, but as only great poets tell, yon should read, if 
 you have not read it already, in the " Heimskringla " of 
 Snorri Sturluson, the Homer of the IN'orth : 
 
 High feast that day held the birds of the air 
 and the beasts of the field, 
 
 White-tailed erm and sallow glede. 
 
 Dusky raven, with homy neb. 
 
 And the gray deer the wolf of the wood. 
 The bones of the slain, men say, whitened the place for 
 fifty years to come. 
 
 6. And remember that on the same day on which 
 that fight befell— September 27, 1066— Wilham, Duke of 
 N^ormandy, with all his French-speaking Norsemen, was 
 sailing across the British Channel, under the protection 
 of a banner consecrated by the Pope, to conquer that 
 England which the Norse-speaking Normans could not 
 conquer. 
 
 7. And now King Harold showed himself a man. 
 He turned at once from the north of England to the 
 south. He raised the folk of the southern, as he had 
 raised those of the central and northern shires ; and in 
 sixteen days — after a march which in those times was a 
 prodigious feat — he was intrenched upon the fatal down 
 which men called Heathfield then, and Senlac, but Battle 
 to this day — with William and his French Normans op- 
 posite him on Telham Hill. 
 
 8. Tlien came the battle of Hastings. You all know 
 what befell upon that day, and how the old weapon was 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 221 
 
 matclied against the new — the Enghsh axe against the 
 lN"orman lance — and beaten only because the English 
 broke their ranks. 
 
 9. It was a fearful time which followed. I can not 
 but believe that our forefathers had been, in some way or 
 other, great sinners, or two such conquests as Canute's 
 and William's would not have fallen on them within the 
 short space of sixty years. They did not want for cour- 
 age, as Stamford Brigg and Hastings showed full well. 
 English swine, their Norman conquerors called them often 
 enough, but never English cowards. 
 
 10. Their ruinous vice, if we trust the records of the 
 time, was what the old monks called accidia, and ranked 
 it as one of the seven deadly sins : a general careless, 
 sleepy, comfortable habit of mind, which lets all go its 
 way for good or evil — a habit of mind too often accom- 
 panied, as in the case of the Anglo-Danes, with self-in- 
 dulgence, often coarse enough. Huge eaters and huger 
 drinkers, f tiddled with ale, were the men w^ho went down 
 at Hastings — though they went down like heroes — before 
 the staid and sober E^orman out of France. 
 
 11. But these were fearful times. As long as William 
 lived, ruthless as he was to all rebels, he kept order and 
 did justice with a strong and steady hand ; for he brought 
 with him from Normandy the instincts of a truly great 
 statesman. And in his sons' time matters grew worse and 
 worse. After that, in the troubles of Stephen's reign, 
 anarchy let loose tyranny in its most fearful form, and 
 things were done which recall the cruelties of the old 
 Spanish conquistador es in America. Scott's charming 
 romance of " Ivanhoe " must be taken, I fear, as a too true 
 picture of English society in the time of Bichard I. 
 
 12. And what came of it all ? What was the result 
 of all this misery and wrong ? This, paradoxical as it 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 223 
 
 may seem : that the Korman conquest was the making of 
 the English people ; of the free commons of England. 
 
 13. Paradoxical, but true. First, you must dismiss 
 from your minds the too common notion that there is 
 now in England a governing J^orman aristocracy, or that 
 there has been one, at least since the year 1215, when the 
 Magna Charta was won from the Norman John by Nor- 
 mans and by English alike. For the first victors at Hast- 
 ings, like the first conquistador es in America, perished, as 
 the monk chronicles point out, rapidly by their own 
 crimes ; and very few of our nobility can trace their names 
 back to the authentic Battle Abbey roll. 
 
 14. The cause is plain : The conquest of England by 
 the Normans was not one of those conquests of a savage 
 by a civilized race, or of a cowardly race by a brave race, 
 which results in the slavery of the conquered, and leaves 
 the gulf of caste between two races — master and slave. 
 The vast majority, all but the whole population of Eng- 
 land, have always been free, and free as they are not 
 when caste exists to change their occupations. They 
 could intermarry, if they were able men, into the rank 
 above them ; as they could sink, if they were unable men, 
 into the rank below them. 
 
 15. Nay, so utterly made up now is the old blood- 
 feud between Norman and Englishman, between the de- 
 scendants of those who conquered and those who were 
 conquered, that, in the children of the Prince of Wales, 
 after eight hundred years, the blood of William of Nor- 
 mandy is mingled w^ith the blood of Harold, who fell at 
 Hastings. And so, by the bitter woes which followed the 
 Norman conquest was the whole population, Dane, Angle, 
 and Saxon, earl and churl, freeman and slave, crushed 
 and welded together into one homogeneous mass, made 
 just and merciful toward each other by the most whole- 
 
224 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 some of all teachings, a community of sufiering ; and if 
 
 tbej had been, as 1 fear they were, a lazy and a sensual 
 
 people, were taught — 
 
 That life is not as idle ore, 
 
 But heated hot with burning fears, 
 
 And bathed in baths of hissing tears, 
 
 And battered with the strokes of doom 
 
 To shape and use. 
 
 Charles Ki 
 
 XLIL-KIJVG RICHARD CCEUR BE LIOJV IJ^ 
 THE HOLY LAJYD. 
 
 1. At the end of August, 1191, Richard led his cru- 
 sading troops from Acre into the midst of the wilderness 
 of Mount Carmel, where their sufferings were terrible ; 
 the rocky, sandy, and uneven ground was covered with 
 bushes full of long, sharp ]3rickles, and swarms of noxious 
 insects buzzed in the air, fevering the Europeans with 
 their stings ; and in addition to these natural obstacles, 
 multitudes of Arab horsemen harrassed them on every 
 side, slaughtering every straggler who dropped behind 
 from fatigue, and attacking them so unceasingly that it 
 was remarked, that throughout their day's track there 
 was not one space of four feet without an arrow sticking 
 in the ground. Richard fought indefatigably, always in 
 the van, and ready to reward the gallant exploits of his 
 knights. A young knight who bore a white shield, in 
 hopes of gaining some honorable bearing, so distinguished 
 himself that Richard thus greeted him at the close of the 
 day : " Maiden knight, you have borne yourself as a lion, 
 and done the deed of six crusaders." 
 
 2. At Arsaaf, on the 7th of September, a great battle 
 
226 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 was fought. Saladin and his brother had ahnost defeated 
 the two religious orders (the Templars and the Hospital- 
 lers), and the gallant French knight Jacques d'Avesne, 
 after losing his leg by a stroke from a cimeter, fought 
 bravely on, calling on the English king until he fell over- 
 powered by numbers. Coeur de Lion and Guillaume des 
 Barres retrieved the day, hewed down the enemy on all 
 sides, and remained masters of the held. It is even said 
 that Richard and Saladin met hand to hand, but this is 
 uncertain. This victory opened the way to Joppa, where 
 the crusaders spent the next month in the repair of the 
 fortifications, while the Saracen forces lay at Ascalon. 
 
 3. While here, Eichard often amused himself with 
 hawking, and one day was asleep under a tree when he 
 was aroused by the approach of a party of Saracens, and 
 springing on his horse Frannelle, which had been taken 
 at Cyprus, he rashly pursued them and fell into ao am- 
 bush. Four knights were slain, and he would have been 
 seized had not a Gascon knight named Guillaume des 
 Parcelets called out that he himself was the Malak E,ik 
 (great king), and allowed himself to be taken. Richard 
 offered ten noble Saracens in exchange for this generous 
 knight, whom Saladin restored together with a valuable 
 horse that had been captured at the same time. A present 
 of another Arab steed accompanied them ; but Richard's 
 half-brother, William Longs word, insisted on trying the 
 animal before the king should mount it. JN'o sooner was 
 he on its back, than it dashed at once across the country, 
 and before he could stop it he found himself in the midst 
 of the enemy's camp. The two Saracen princes were ex- 
 tremely shocked and distressed lest this should be sup- 
 posed a trick, and instantly escorted Longsword back 
 with a gift of three chargers, which proved to be more 
 manageable. 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 227 
 
 4. From Joppa the crusaders matched to Ramla, and 
 thence, on New Year's Day, 1192, set out for Jerusalem 
 through a country full of greater obstacles than they had 
 yet encountered. They were too full of spirit to be dis- 
 couraged until they came to Bethany, where the two 
 Grand Masters represented to Richard the imprudence of 
 laying siege to such fortifications as those of Jerusalem at 
 such a season of the year, while Ascalon was ready in his 
 rear for a post whence the enemy would attack him. 
 
 5. He yielded, and retreated to Ascalon, which Saladin 
 had ruined and abandoned, and began eagerly to repair 
 the fortifications so as to be able to leave a garrison there. 
 The soldiers grumbled, saying they had not come to Pal- 
 estine to build Ascalon, but to conquer Jerusalem ; where- 
 upon Eichard set the examj^le of himself carrying stones, 
 and called on Leopold, the Duke of Austria, to do the 
 same. The sulky reply, " He was not the son of a ma- 
 son," so irritated Richard, that he struck him a blow; 
 Leopold straightway quitted the army, and retui-ned to 
 Austria. 
 
 6. It was not without great grief and many struggles 
 that Coeur de Lion finally gave up his hopes of taking 
 Jerusalem. He again advanced as far as Bethany ; but a 
 quarrel with Hugh of Burgundy, and the defection of 
 the Austrians made it impossible for him to proceed, and 
 he turned back to Ramla. While riding out with a party 
 of knights, one of them called out, " Tiiis way, my lord, 
 and you will see Jerusalem." " Alas ! " said Richard, 
 hiding his face with his mantle, " those who are not 
 worthy to win the Holy City are not worthy to behold 
 it." He returned to Acre ; but there hearing that Sal- 
 adin was besieging Joppa, he embarked his troops and 
 sailed to its aid. 
 
 7. The crescent (the standard of the Saracens) shone 
 
228 STORIES OF THE OLDEN- TIME. 
 
 on its walls as he entered the harbor ; but while he looked 
 on in dismay, he was hailed by a priest who had leaped 
 into the sea and swum out to inform him that there was 
 yet time to rescue the garrison, though the town was in 
 the hands of the enemy. He hurried his vessel forward, 
 leaped into the water breast-high, dashed upward on the 
 shore, ordered his immediate followers to raise a bulwark 
 of casks and beams to protect the landing of the rest, 
 and rushing up a flight of steps, entered the city alone. 
 '' St. George ! St. George ! " That cry dismayed the infi- 
 dels, and those in the town to the number of three thou- 
 sand fled in the utmost confusion, and were pursued for 
 two miles by three knights who had been fortunate enough 
 to find him. 
 
 8. Richard pitched his tent outside the walls, and re- 
 mained there with so few troops that all were contained 
 in ten tents. Very early one morning, before the king 
 was out of bed, a man rushed into his tent, crying out : 
 "O king! we are all dead men!" Springing up, Rich- 
 ard fiercely silenced him : " Peace ! or thou diest by my 
 hand ! " Then, while hastily donning his suit of mail, he 
 heard that the glitter of arms had been seen in the dis- 
 tance, and in another moment the enemy were upon them, 
 seven thousand in number. Richard had neither helmet 
 nor shield, and only seventeen of his knights had horses ; 
 but undaunted he drew up his little force in a compact 
 body, the knights kneeling on one knee covered by their 
 shields, their lances pointing outward, and between each 
 pair an archer with an assistant to load his cross-bow ; and 
 he stood in the midst encouraging them with his voice, and 
 threatening to cut off the head of the first who turned to 
 fly. In vain did the Saracens charge that mass of brave 
 men, not one seventh of their number ; the shields and 
 lances were impenetrable ; and without one forward step 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 229 
 
 or one bolt from tlie cross-bows, their passive steadiness 
 turned back wave after wave of the enemy. 
 
 9. At last the king gave the word for the cross-bowmen 
 to advance, while he, with the seventeen mounted knights 
 charged, lance in rest. His curtal axe bore down all be- 
 fore it, and he dashed like lightning from one part of the 
 plain to another, with not a moment to smile at the op- 
 portune gift from the polite Malek-el-Afdal, who, in the 
 hottest of the fight, sent him two line horses, desiring him 
 to use them in escaping from this dreadful peril. Little 
 did the Saracen princes imagine that they would find him 
 victorious, and that they would mount two more pursuers ! 
 
 10. ^ext came a terrified fugitive with news that 
 three thousand Saracens had entered Joppa! Richard 
 summoned a few knights, and without a word to the rest 
 galloped back into the city. The panic inspired by his 
 presence instantly cleared the streets, and riding back, he 
 again led his troops to the charge ; but such were the 
 swarms of Saracens, that it was not till evening that the 
 Christians could give themselves a moment's rest, or look 
 round and feel that they had gained one of the most won- 
 derful of victories. Since daybreak Richard had not laid 
 aside his sword or axe, and his hand was all over blistered. 
 No wonder that the terror of his name endured for centu- 
 ries in Palestine, and that the Arab chided his starting 
 horse with, " Dost think that yonder is the Malek Rik? " 
 while the mother stilled her crying child by threats that 
 the Malek Rik should take it. 
 
 11. These violent exertions seriously injured Richard's 
 health, and a low fever placed him in great danger, as 
 well as several of his best knights. No command or per- 
 suasion could induce the rest to commence any enterprise 
 without him, and the tidings from Europe induced him 
 to conclude a peace and return home. Malek-el-Afdal 
 
230 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 came to visit him, and a truce was signed for three years, 
 three months, three weeks, three days, three hours, and 
 three minutes, thus so quaintly arranged in accordance with 
 some astrological views of the Saracens. Ascalon was to 
 be demolished on condition that free access to Jerusalem 
 was to be allowed to the pilgrims ; but Saladin would not 
 restore the piece of the True Cross, as he was resolved 
 not to conduce to what he considered idolatry. 
 
 12. Richard sent notice that he was coming back with 
 double his present force to effect the conquest, and the 
 Sultan answered, that if the Holy City was to pass into 
 Frank hands, none could be nobler than those of the 
 Malek Rik. Fever and debility detained Richard a month 
 longer at Joppa, during which time he sent the Bishop of 
 Salisbury to carry his offerings to Jerusalem. The prelate 
 was invited to the presence of Saladin, who spoke in high 
 terms of Richard's courage, but censured his rash expo- 
 sure of his own life. On October 9, 1193, Coeur de Lion 
 took leave of Palestine, watching with tears its receding 
 shores, as he exclaimed, " O, Holy Land, I commend thee 
 and thy people unto God. May He grant me yet to re- 
 turn to aid thee ! " 
 
 Charlotte M. Yonge. 
 
 XLIII-KIJfG JOHJ^ AJ^B THE CHARTER. 
 
 1. On his return from the crusade Richard was taken 
 prisoner by the Duke of Austria. He bought his release 
 only to find King Philip attacking his French dominions, 
 and to plunge into wearisome and indecisive wars, in the 
 midst of which he was slain at the Castle of Chaluz. His 
 brother John, who followed him on the throne, was a vile 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 231 
 
 and weak ruler, under whom the great sovereignty built 
 up by Henry II broke utterly down. Normandy, Maine, 
 and Anjou were reft from him by Philip of France, and 
 only Aquitaine remained to him on that side of the sea. 
 In England his lust and oppression drove people and no- 
 bles to join in resistance to him ; and their resistance 
 found a great leader in the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 Stephen Langton. 
 
 2. From the moment of his landing in England, Ste- 
 phen Langton had taken up the constitutional position of 
 the primate in upholding the old customs and rights of 
 the realm against the personal despotism of the kings. 
 As Anselm had withstood William the Ked, as Theobald 
 had withstood Stephen, so Langton prepared to with- 
 stand and rescue his country from the tyranny of John. 
 He had already forced him to swear to observe the laws 
 of Edward the Confessor, in other words the traditional 
 liberties of the realm. AVhen the baronage refused to 
 sail for Poitou, saying that they owed service to him in 
 England, but not in foreign lands, he compelled the king 
 to deal with them not by arms, but by process of law. 
 But the work which he now undertook was far greater and 
 weightier than this. The pledges of Henry the First had 
 long been forgotten when the justiciar brought them to 
 light, but Langton saw the vast importance of such a pre- 
 cedent. At the close of the month he produced Henry's 
 charter in a fresh gathering of barons at St. Paul's, and it 
 was at once welcomed as a base for the needed reforms. 
 From London Langton hastened to the king, whom he 
 reached at ^Northampton on his way to attack the nobles 
 of the north, and wrested from him a promise to bring 
 his strife with them to legal judgment before assailing 
 them in arms. 
 
 3. With his enemies gathering abroad, John had 
 
232 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME, 
 
 doubtless no wish to be entangled in a long quarrel at 
 home, and the archbishop's mediation allowed him to 
 withdraw with seeming dignity. After a demonstration 
 therefore at Durham John marched hastily south again, 
 and reached London in October. His justiciar Geoffry 
 Fitz-Peter at once laid before him the claims of the Coun- 
 cil of St. Alban's and St. Paul's, but the death of Geof- 
 fry at this juncture freed him from the pressure which 
 his minister was putting upon him. " Now, by God's feet," 
 cried John, " I am for the first time king and lord of 
 England," and he intrusted the vacant justiciarship to a 
 Poitevin, Peter des Poches, the Bishop of Winchester, 
 whose temper was in harmony with his own. But the 
 death of GeofEry only called the archbishop to the front, 
 and Langton at once demanded the king's assent to the 
 charter of Henry the First. 
 
 4. In seizing on this charter as a basis for national 
 action, Langton showed a political ability of the highest 
 order. The enthusiasm with which its recital was wel- 
 comed showed the sagacity with which the archbishop 
 had chosen his ground. From that moment the baronage 
 was no longer drawn together in secret conspiracies by a 
 sense of common wrong or a vague longing for common 
 deliverance ; they were openly united in a definite claim 
 of national freedom and national law. Secretly, and on 
 the pretext of pilgrimage, the nobles met at St. Edmunds- 
 bury, resolute to bear no longer with John's delays. If 
 he refused to restore their liberties they swore to make 
 war on him till he confirmed them by charter under the 
 king's seal, and they parted to raise forces with the pur- 
 pose of presenting their demands at Christmas. John, 
 knowing nothing of the coming storm, pursued his policy 
 of winning over the Church by granting it freedom of 
 election, while he imbittered still more the strife with 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 233 
 
 his nobles by demanding scutage '^ from tbe northern no- 
 bles who had refused to follow him to Poitoii. But the 
 barons were now ready to act, and early in January, in 
 the memorable year 1215, they appeared in arms to lay, 
 as they had planned, their demands before the king. 
 
 5. John was taken by surprise. He asked for a truce 
 till Easter-tide, and spent the interval in fevered efforts to 
 avoid the blow. Again he offered freedom to the Church, 
 and took vows as a crusader against whom war was a sac- 
 rilege, while he called for a general oath of allegiance 
 and fealty from the whole body of his subjects. But 
 month after month only showed the king the uselessness 
 of further resistance. Though Pandulf, the Pope's legate, 
 was with him, his vassalage had as yet brought little fruit 
 in the way of aid from Pome ; the commissioners whom 
 he sent to plead his cause at the si lire courts brought back 
 news that no man would help him against the charter 
 that the barons claimed ; and his efforts to detach the 
 clergy from the league of his opponents utterly failed. 
 The nation was against the king. He was far indeed 
 from being utterly deserted. His ministers still clung to 
 him, men such as Geoffry de Lucy, Geoffry de Furnival, 
 Thomas Basset, and William Briwere, statesmen trained 
 in the administrative school of his father, and who, dis- 
 sent as they might from John's mere oppression, still 
 looked on the power of the crown as the one barrier 
 against feudal anarchy ; and beside them stood some of 
 the great nobles of royal blood. Earl William of Salisbury, 
 his cousin Earl William of Warenne, and Henry, Earl of 
 Cornwall, a grandson of Henry the First. With him too re- 
 mained Ranulf, Earl of Chester, and the wisest and noblest 
 of the barons, William Marshal, the elder Earl of Pem- 
 
 * Scutage, or shield-money, was the commutation paid in lieu of mili- 
 tary service by all who owed service to the king. 
 
234 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 broke. William Marshal had shared in the rising of the 
 younger Henry against Henry II, and stood by him as he 
 died ; he had shared in the overthrow of WilHam Long- 
 champ, and in the outlawry of John. He was now an 
 old man^ firm, as we shall see in his aftercourse, to recall 
 the government to the path of freedom and law, but 
 shrinking from a strife which might bring back the an- 
 archy of Stephen's day, and looking for reforms rather in 
 the bringing constitutional pressure to bear upon the king 
 than in forcing them from him by arms. 
 
 6. But cling as such men might to John, they clung 
 to him rather as mediators than adherents. Their sym- 
 pathies went with the demands of the barons when the 
 delay which had been granted was over and the nobles 
 again gathered in arms at Brackley in Northamptonshire 
 to lay their claims before the king. Nothing marks more 
 strongly the absolutely despotic idea of his sovereignty 
 which John had formed than the passionate surprise 
 which breaks out in his reply. " Why do they not ask 
 for my kingdom ? " he cried. " I will never grant such 
 liberties as wiU make me a slave I " The imperialist theo- 
 ries of the lawyers of his father's court had done their 
 work. Held at bay by the practical sense of Henry, they 
 had told on the more headstrong nature of his sons. 
 Richard and John both held with Glanvill that the will 
 of the prince was the law of the land ; and to fetter that 
 will by the customs and franchises which were embodied 
 in the baron's claims seemed to John a monstrous usurpa- 
 tion of his rights. 
 
 7. But no imperialist theories had touched the minds 
 of his people. The country rose as one man at his refusal. 
 At the close of May, London threw open her gates to the 
 forces of the barons, now arrayed under Robert Fitz Wal- 
 ter as " Marshal of the Army of God and Holy Church." 
 
King John and the Charter. 
 
236 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 Exeter and Lincoln followed the example of the capital ; 
 promises of aid came from Scotland and Wales, the north- 
 ern barons marched hastily under Eustace de Yesci to 
 join their comrades in London. Even the nobles who had 
 as yet clung to the king, but whose hopes of conciliation 
 were blasted by his obstinacy, yielded at last to the sum- 
 mons of the " Army of God." Pandulf, indeed, and Arch- 
 bishop Langton still remained with John, but they coun- 
 seled as Earl Ranulf and William Marshal counseled his 
 acceptance of the charter. None, in fact, counseled its 
 rejection save his new justiciar, the Poitevin Peter des 
 Poches and other foreigners who knew the barons pur- 
 posed driving them from the land. But even the num- 
 ber of these was small ; there was a moment when John 
 found himself with but seven knights at his back and be- 
 fore him a nation in arms. Quick as he was, he had 
 been taken utterly by surprise. It was in vain that in 
 the short respite he had gained from Christmas to Easter, 
 he had summoned mercenaries to his aid and appealed to 
 his new suzerain, the Pope. Summons and appeal were 
 alike too late, l^ursing wrath in his heart, John bowed 
 to necessity, and called the barons to a conference on an 
 island in the Thauies between Windsor and Staines, near 
 a marshy meadow by the river-side, the meadow of Run- 
 nymede. 
 
 8. The king encamped on one bank of the river, the 
 barons covered the flat of Punnymede on the other. 
 Their delegates met on the 15th of July in the island be- 
 tween them, but the negotiations were a mere cloak to 
 cover John's purpose of unconditional submission. The 
 Great Charter was discussed and agreed to in a single 
 day. 
 
 John Richard Green. 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 237 
 
 XLIV^-AJT EARLY ELECTION TO PARLIAMEJYT. 
 
 The following preliminary sketch by J. R. Green, the historian, 
 serves as an introduction to Palgrave's picture of an election under 
 Edward I : 
 
 "It was Edward the First, who first made laws in what has ever 
 since been called Parliament. For this purpose he called on the 
 shires and larger towns to choose men to ' represent ' them, or ap- 
 pear in their stead in the Great Council ; the shires sending knights 
 of the shire, the towns burgesses. These, added to the peers or high 
 nobles and to the bishops, made up Parhament. 
 
 "The business of Parliament was not only to make good laws for 
 the realm, but to grant money to the king for the needs of the state 
 in peace and war, and to authorize him to raise this money by taxes 
 or subsidies from his subjects. So at first people saw little of the 
 great good of such Parliaments, but dreaded their calling together, 
 because they brought taxes with them. Nor did men seek, as they 
 do now, to be chosen members of Parliament, for the way thither 
 was long and travel costly, and so they did their best not to be 
 chosen, and when chosen had to be bound over under pain of heavy 
 fines to serve in Parliament." 
 
 1. During tlie last half -hour the suitors had been gath- 
 ering round the shire-oak awaiting the arrival of the high 
 officer whose duty it was to preside. ]^ot withstanding 
 the size of the meeting, there was an evident system in the 
 crowd. A considerable proportion of the throng consisted 
 of little knots of husbandmen or churls, four or five of 
 whom were generally standing together, each company 
 seeming to compose a deputation. The churls might be 
 easily distinguished by their dress, a long frock of coarse 
 yet snow-white linen hanging down to the same length 
 before and behind, and ornamented round the neck with 
 broidery rudely executed in blue thread. They wore, in 
 fact, the attire of the carter and plowman, a garb which 
 was common enough in country parts about five-and- 
 twenty years ago, but which will probably soon be recol- 
 
238 
 
 STOBIES OF THE OLDEN TIME, 
 
 lected only as an ancient costume, cast away with all the 
 other obsolete characteristics of merry old England. 
 
 .A-S^C^X^-- 
 
 An Earhj Eleetion to Parliament. 
 
 2. These groups of peasantry w^re the representatives 
 of their respective townships, the rural communes into 
 which the whole realm was divided : and each had a 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 239 
 
 species of chieftain or head-man in the person of an indi- 
 vidual who, though it was evident that he belonged to the 
 same rank in society, gave directions to the rest. Inter- 
 spersed among the churls, though not confounded with 
 them, were also very many well- clad persons, possessing 
 an appearance of rustic respectability, who were also sub- 
 jected to some kind of organization, being collected into 
 sets of twelve men each, wlio were busily employed in 
 confabulation among themselves. These were " the sworn 
 centenary deputies" or jurors, the sworn men who an- 
 swered for or represented the several hundreds. 
 
 3. A third class of members of the shire court could 
 be equally distinguished, proudly known by their gilt 
 spurs and blazoned tabards as the provincial knighthood, 
 and who, though thus honored, appeared to mix freely 
 and affably in converse with the rest of the commons of 
 the shire. 
 
 4. A flourish of trumpets announced the approach of 
 the high-sheriff', Sir Giles de Argentein, surrounded by 
 his escort of javelin- men, tall yeomen, all arrayed in a 
 uniform suit of livery, and accompanied, among others, 
 by four knights, the coroners, who took cognizance of all 
 pleas that concerned the king's rights within the county, 
 and who, though they yielded precedence to the sheriff, 
 were evidently considered to be almost of equal impor- 
 tance with him. " My masters," said the sheriff to the 
 assembled crowd, "even now hath the port-joye"^ of the 
 chancery delivered to me certain most important writs of 
 our sovereign lord the king, containing his Grace's high 
 commands." At this time the chancellor, who might be 
 designated as principal secretary of state for all depart- 
 ments, was the great medium of communication between 
 king and subject : whatever the sovereign had to ask or 
 
 * The port-joye was the messenger of the chancellor. 
 11 
 
240 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. ■ 
 
 tell was usually asked or told by, or under, the directions 
 of this high functionary. 
 
 5. Now, although the gracious declarations which the 
 chancellor was charged to deliver were much diversified 
 in their form, yet, somehow or other, they all conveyed 
 the same intent. Whether directing the preservation of 
 peace or preparing for the prosecution of a war, whether 
 announcing a royal birth or a royai death, the knighthood 
 of the king's son or the marriage of the king's daughter, 
 the mandates of our ancient kings invariably conclude 
 with a request or a demand for money's worth or money. 
 
 6. The present instance offered no exception to the 
 general rule. King Edward, greeting his loving subjects, 
 expatiated upon the miseries which the realm was likely 
 to sustain by the invasion of the wicked, barbarous, and 
 perfidious Scots. Chm-ch and state, he alleged, were in 
 equal danger, and "inasmuch as that which concerneth all 
 ought to be determined by the advice of all concerned, 
 we have determined," continued the writ, " to hold our 
 Parliament at Westminster in eight days from the feast 
 of St. Hilary." The effect of the announcement was 
 magical. Parliament ! Even before the second syllable 
 of the word had been uttered, visions of aids and subsidies 
 rose before the appalled multitude, grim shadows of as- 
 sessors and collectors floated in the ambient air. 
 
 7. Sir Gilbert Hastings instinctively plucked his purse 
 out of his sleeve ; drawing the strings together, he twisted, 
 and tied them in the course of half a minute of nervous 
 agitation into a Gordian knot, which apparently defied any 
 attempt to undo it, except by means practiced by the son 
 of Ammon. The Abbot of Oseney forthwith guided his 
 steed to the right about, and rode away from the meet- 
 ing as fast as his horse could trot, turning the deafest of 
 all deaf ears to the monitions which he received to stay. 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 241 
 
 8. The slierifi and the other functionaries alone pre- 
 served a tranquil but not a cheerful gravity, as Sir Giles 
 commanded his clerk to read the whole of the writ, by 
 which he was commanded '' to cause two knights to be 
 elected for the shire ; and from every city within his 
 bailiwick two citizens; and from every borough two bur- 
 gesses — all of them of the more discreet and wiser sort ; 
 and to cause them to come before the king in this Par- 
 liament at the before-mentioned day and place, with full 
 powers from their respective communities to perform and 
 consent to such matters as by common counsel shall then 
 and there be ordained ; and this you will in no wise omit, 
 as you will answer at your peril." 
 
 9. A momentary pause ensued. The main body of 
 the suitors retreated from the high-sheriff, as though he 
 had been a center of repulsion. After a short but vehe- 
 ment conversation among themselves, one of the bettermost 
 sort of yeomen, a gentleman farmer, if we may use the 
 modern term, stepped forward and addressed Sir Giles : 
 " Your worship well knows that we, your commons, are 
 not bound to proceed to the election. You have no right 
 to call upon us to interfere. So many of the earls and 
 barons of the shire, the great men, who ought to take the 
 main trouble, burthen, and business of the choice of the 
 knights upon themselves, are absent now in the king's 
 service, that we neither can nor dare proceed to nominate 
 those who are to represent the county. Such slender folks 
 as we have no concern in these weighty matters. How 
 can we tell who are best qualilied to serve ? " 
 
 10. "What of that, John Trafford?" said the sheriff. 
 '^ Do you think that his Grace will allow his affairs to 
 be delayed by excuses such as these? You suitors of 
 the shire are as much bound and obliged to concur in 
 the choice of the county members as any baron of the 
 
242 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 realm. Do your duty ; I command you in the king's 
 name!" 
 
 11. John Trafford had no help. Like a wise debater, 
 he yielded to the pinch of the argument without confess- 
 ing that he felt it ; and, having nmttered a few words to 
 the sheriff, which might be considered as an assent, a long 
 conference took place between him and some of his brother 
 stewards, as well as with other suitors. During this con- 
 fabulation several nods and winks of intelligence passed 
 between Trafford and a well-mounted knight ; and while 
 the former appeared to be settling the business with the 
 suitors, the latter, who had been close to Sir Giles, con- 
 tinued gradually backing and sidling away through the 
 groups of shiresmen, and, just as he had got clear out of 
 the ring, John Trafford declared, in a most sonorous voice, 
 that the suitors had chosen Sir Richard de Fogeys as one 
 of their representatives. 
 
 12. The sheriff, who, keeping his eye fixed upon Sir 
 Richard as he receded, had evidently suspected some 
 manoeuvre, instantly ordered his bailiffs to secure the 
 body of the member. " And," continued he with much 
 vehemence, " Sir Richard must be forthwith committed 
 to custody, unless he gives good bail — two substantial 
 freeholders — that he will duly attend in his place among 
 the commons on the first day of the session, according to 
 the law and usage of Parliament." 
 
 13. All tills, however, was more easily said than done. 
 Before the verbal precept had proceeded from the lips of 
 the sheriff, Sir Richard was galloping away at full speed 
 across the fields. Off dashed the bailiffs after the mem- 
 ber, ainid the shouts of the surrounding crowd, who forgot 
 all their grievances in the stimulus of the chase, which 
 they contemplated with the perfect certainty of receiving 
 some satisfaction by its termination ; whether by the es- 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 243 
 
 cape of the fugitive, in which case their common enemy, 
 the sheriff, would be hable to a heavy amercement ; * or 
 by the capture of the knight, a result which would give 
 them almost equal delight, by imposing a disagreeable 
 and irksome duty upon an individual who was universally 
 disliked, in consequence of his overbearing harshness and 
 domestic tyranny. 
 
 14. One of the two above-mentioned gratifications 
 might be considered as certain. But, besides these, there 
 was a third contingent amusement, by no means to be 
 overlooked, namely, the chance that in the contest those 
 respectable and intelligent functionaries, the sheriffs 
 bailiffs, might somehow or another come to some kind of 
 harm. In this charitable expectation the good men of the 
 shii-e were not entirely disappointed. Bounding along 
 the open fields, while the welkin resounded with the 
 cheers of the spectators, the fleet courser of Sir Richard 
 sliddered on the grass, then stumbled and fell down the 
 sloping side of one of the many ancient British intrench- 
 ments by which the plain was crossed, and, horse and 
 rider rolling over, the latter was deposited quite at the 
 bottom of the foss, unhurt, but much discomposed. 
 
 15. Horse and rider were immediately on their re- 
 spective legs again : the horse shook himseK, snorted, and 
 was quite ready to start ; but Sir Richard had to regird 
 his sword, and before he could remount, the bailiffs were 
 close at him. Dick-o'-the-Gyves attempted to trip him 
 up, John Catchpole seized him by the collar of his pour- 
 point, t A scuffle ensued, during which the nags of the 
 bailiffs slyly took the opportunity of emancipating them- 
 selves from control. Distinctly seen from the moot-hill, 
 the strife began and ended in a moment ; in what manner 
 it had ended was declared without any further explana- 
 
 * Fine. f Overcoat, or doublet. 
 
244 STORIES OF THE OLDEN- TIME. 
 
 tion, when the officers rejoined the assembly, by Dick's 
 limping gait and the closed eye of his companion. 
 
 16. In the mean time Sir Eichard bad wholly disap- 
 peared, and the special return made by the sheriff to the 
 writ, which I translate from the original, will best eluci- 
 date the bearing of the transaction : 
 
 " Sir Richard de Fogeys, kniglit, duly elected by the 
 shire, refused to find bail for his appearance in Parliament 
 at the day and place within mentioned, and having griev- 
 ously assaulted my bailiffs in contempt of the king, his 
 crown, and dignity, and absconded to the Chiltern Hun- 
 dreds *, into which liberty, not being shire-land or guild- 
 able, I can not enter, I am unable to make any other exe- 
 cution of the writ as far as he is concerned." 
 
 17. At the j^resent day a nominal stewardship con- 
 nected with the Chiltern Hundreds, called an office of 
 profit under the crown, enables the member, by a species 
 of juggle, to resign his seat. But it is not generally 
 known that this ancient domain, which now affords the 
 means of retreating out of the House of Commons, was in 
 the fourteenth century employed as a sanctuary in which 
 the knight of the shire took refuge in order to avoid be- 
 ing dragged into Parliament against his will. Being a 
 distinct jurisdiction, in which the sheriff had no control, 
 and where he could not capture the county member, it 
 enabled the recusant to baffle the process, at least until 
 
 the short session had closed. 
 
 Palgrave. 
 
 * The district of the Chilterns, or line of chalk-hills to the east of Buck- 
 inghamshire. 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 245 
 
 XLV-THE BATTLE OF CEESST. 
 
 1. Froirsart was a brilliant historian of the middle 
 ages. His writings are in quaint old French. At the 
 request of Henry YIII of England, a translation of his 
 '' Battle of Cressy " was made into the English of that daj. 
 We insert this as a most lively description of the battle 
 itself, and as a specimen of old literature in which pupils 
 can not fail to take great interest : 
 
 2. Thenglysshmen who were in three batayls, lyeing 
 on the grounde to rest them, assone as they saw the 
 frenchmen approche, they rose upon their fete, fayre and 
 easily, without any haste, and arranged their batayls : the 
 first, which was the prince's batell, the archers then strode 
 in the manner of a harrow, and the naen at armes in the 
 botome of the batayle. 
 
 3. Therle of ]^orthapton and therle of Arundell, 
 with the second batell, were on a wyng in good order, 
 redy to comfort the princes batayle, if nede w^ere. The 
 lordes and knyghtes of France, cae not to the assemble 
 togyder iu good order, for some came before, and some 
 cae after, in such haste and yvell order, y* one of the dyd 
 trouble another : when the french kyng sawe the englyssh- 
 men, his blode chaunged, and sayde to his marshals, make 
 the genowayes go on before, and begynne the batayle in 
 the name of god and saynt Denyse ; ther were of the 
 genowayse crosbowes, about a fiftene thousand, but they 
 were so w^ery of goyng a fote that day, a six leages, 
 armed with their crosl)Owes, that they sayde to their con- 
 stables, we be not well ordered to fyght this day, for we 
 be not in the case to do any great dede of armes, we have 
 more nede of rest. These wordes came to the erle of 
 Alanson, who sayd, a man is well at ease to be charged 
 w* suche a sorte of rascalles, to be faynt and fayle now at 
 
246 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 moost nede. Also tlie same season there fell a great 
 rayne, and a cljps, with a terryble thunder, and before 
 the rayne, ther came fleying over both batayls, a great 
 nombre of crowes, for feare of the tempest comynge. 
 
 4. Than anone the eyre beganne to wax clere, and the 
 Sonne to shyne fayre and bright, the which was right in 
 the frenchmens eyen and on thenglysshmens backes. 
 Whan the genowayes were assembled to-guyder, and be- 
 gan to aproche, they made a great leape and crye, to 
 abasshe thenglysshmen, but they stode styll, and styredde 
 not for all that ; thans the genowayes agayue the seconde 
 tyme made another leape, and a fell crye, and stepped for- 
 ward a lytell, and thenglysshmen remeued not one fote ; 
 thirdly agayne they leaj^t and cryed, and went forthe tyll 
 they come within shotte ; thane they shotte feersly with 
 their crosbowes; thun thenglysshe archers stept forthe 
 one pase, and lette fly their arowes so hotly, and so thycke, 
 that it semed snowe ; when the genowayes felte the 
 arowes persynge through heeds, armes, and brestes, many 
 of them cast downe their ci'osbowes, and dyde cutte their 
 strynges, and retourned dysconfited. 
 
 5. Whun the frenche kynge sawe them flye away, he 
 sayd, slee these rascalles, for they shall lette and trouble 
 us without reason : then ye shulde have sene the men of 
 armes dasshe in among them, and kylled a great nombre 
 of them ; and ever styll the englysshmen shot where as 
 they sawe thyckest preace ; the sharpe arowes ranne into 
 the men of armes, and into their horses, and many fell, 
 horse and men, amoge the genowayes ; and when they 
 were downe, they coude not relyve agayne, the preace 
 was so thycke, that one overthrewe another. And also 
 amonge the englysshmen there were certayne rascalles 
 that went a fote, with great knyves, and they went in 
 among the men of armes, and slewe and murdredde many 
 
WESTERN RECORD, 247 
 
 as they lay on the grounde, both erles, baronnes, knjghtes 
 and squjers, whereof the kynge of Englande was after 
 dyspleased, for he had rather they had bene taken pris- 
 oners. 
 
 6. The valyant kyng of Behaygne, called Charles of 
 Luzenbomge, sonne to the noble emperour Henry of 
 Luzenbomge, for all that he was nyghe blynde, whun he 
 understode the order of the batayle, he sayde to them 
 about hyni, where is the lorde Charles my son 'i his men 
 sayde, sir, we can not tell, we thynke he be fyghtjmge ; 
 thun he sayde, sirs, ye ar my men, my companyons, and 
 frendes in this journey. I requyre you bring me so farre 
 forwarde, that I may stryke one stroke with my swerde ; 
 they sayde they wolde do his commandement, and to the 
 intent that they shulde not lese him in the prease, they 
 tyed all their raynes of their bridelles eche to other, and 
 sette the kynge before to accomplysshe his desyre, and so 
 thei went on their ennemyes ; the lorde Charles of Be- 
 haygne, his Sonne, who wrote hymselfe kyng of Behaygne, 
 and bare the armes, he came in good order to the batayle, 
 but whane he sawe that the matter went awrie on their 
 partie, he departed, I can not tell yon whiche waye, the 
 kynge his father was so farre forwarde that he strake a 
 stroke with his swerde, ye and mo thnn foure, and fought 
 valyuntly, and so dyde his compuny, and they advetured 
 themselfe so forwarde, that they were ther all slayne, and 
 the next day they were founde in the place about the 
 kyng, and all their horses tyed eche to other. 
 
 T. The erle of Alansone came to the batayle right ordy 
 notlye, and fought with thenglysshmen ; and the erle of 
 Flaunders also on his parte ; these two lordes with their 
 copanyes wosted the englysshe archers, and came to the 
 princes batayle, and there fought valiantly longe. The 
 frenche kynge wolde fayne have come thyder whanne he 
 
248 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 saw their baners, but there was a great hedge of archers 
 before hjin. The same day the frenche kynge hadde 
 gyYen a great blacke courser to Sir John of Hejnault, 
 and he made the lorde Johan of Fussels to ryde on hym, 
 and to here his banerre ; the same horse tooke the bridell 
 in the tethe, and brought hym through all the curronrs of 
 the 'glysshmen, and as he wolde have retourned agayne, he 
 fell in a great dyke, and was sore hurt, and had been ther 
 deed, and his page had not ben, who followed him through 
 all the batayls, and sawe where his maister lay in the dyke, 
 and had none other lette but for his horse, far thenglyssh- 
 men wolde uot yssue out of their batayle, for takyng of 
 any prisiner; thane the page alyghted and relyved his 
 maister, thun he went not backe agayn y® same way that 
 they came, there was to many in his way. 
 
 8. This batyle bytwene Broy and Cressy, this Satur- 
 day was right cruell and fell, and many a feat of armes 
 done, that came not to my knowledge ; in the night, dy- 
 verse knyghtes and sqyers lost their maisters, and some- 
 tyme came on thenglysshmen, who receyved them in such 
 wyse, that they were ever iiighe slayne ; for there was 
 none taken to mercy nor to raunsome, for so thenglyssh- 
 men were determyned : in the mornyng the day of the ba- 
 tayle, certayne frenchmen and almaygnes perforce opyned 
 the archers of the princes batayle, and came and fought 
 with the men of armes hande to hande : than the seconde 
 batayle of thenglysshmen came to sucour the princes ba- 
 tayle, the whiche was tyme, for they had as than moche ado ; 
 and they with y^ prince sent a messanger to the kynge, 
 who was on a lytell wyndmyll hyll ; thun the knyght sayd 
 to tlie kyng, sir, therle of Warwyke, and tlierle of Cafort, 
 Sir Reynolde Cobham, and other, suche as be about the 
 prince your sonne, as feersly fought with all, and ar sore 
 handled, wherefore they desyre you, that you and your ba- 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 249 
 
 tajle wolle come and ayde them, for if the frenchmen en- 
 crease, as they dout they woll, yonr sonne and they shall 
 have much ado. 
 
 9. Thun the kynge sayde, is my sonne deed or hurt, 
 or on the yerthe felled ? no sir, quoth the knyght, but he 
 is hardely matched, wherefore he hath nede of your ayde. 
 Well, sayde the king, returne to him, and to thrm that 
 sent you hyther, and say to them, that they sende no more 
 to me for an adventure that falleth, as long as my son is 
 alyve, and also say to the, that they sutfre hym this day 
 to Wynne his spurres, for if god he pleased, 1 woll this 
 journey be his, and the honoure therof, and to them that 
 be aboute him. Thun the knyght returned agayn to the, 
 and shewed the kynges wordes, the which gretly en- 
 couraged them, and repoyned in that they had sende to 
 the kynge as they dyd. Sir Godfray of Harecourt, wolde 
 gladly that the erle of Harcourt, his brother, myghte have 
 been saved, for he hurd say by the that he sawe his baner, 
 howe that he was ther in the felde on the french partie, 
 but Sir Godfray coude not come to hym betymes for he 
 was slayne or he coude coe at hym, and so also was tlierle 
 of Almare, his nephue. 
 
 10. In another place the erle of A^leuson, and therle 
 of Flaunders, fought valyantly, every lorde under his owne 
 banere ; but finally they coude not resyst agaynt the 
 payssance of thenglysshmen, and so ther they were also 
 slayne, and dyvers knyghtes and sqyers, also therle of 
 Lewes of Bloyes, nephue to the frenche kyng, and the 
 duke of Lorayne, fought under their baners, but at last 
 they were closed in among a copany of englysshmen and 
 Welshmen, and were there slayed, for all their powers. 
 Also there was slayne the erle of Ausser, therle of Saynt 
 Poule, and many others. 
 
 11. In the evenynge, the frenche kynge, who had lefte 
 
250 STORIES OF THE OLDER TIME. 
 
 about hym no more than a tlirescore persons, one and 
 other, whereof Sir John of Heynalt was one, who had 
 remounted ones the kjnge, for his horse was slayne with 
 an arowe, tha sayde to the kynge, sir, departe hense, for 
 it is tyme, lese not yourselfe wylfuUy, if ye have losse at 
 this tyme, ye shall recover it agaynt another season, and 
 soo he took the kynge's horse by the brydell, and ledde 
 hym away in a maner perforce ; than the kyng rode tyll 
 he came to the castell of Eroy. The gate was closed, be- 
 cause it was by that tyme darke ; than the kynge called 
 the captayne, who came to the walles, and sayd. Who is 
 that calleth there this tyme of night? than the kjmge 
 sayde, open your gate quickly, for this is the fortune of 
 Fraunce ; the captayne knewe than it was the kyng, and 
 opyned the gate, and let downe the bridge ; than the 
 kyng entred, and he had with hym but fyve baronnes. 
 Sir Johan of Heynault, Sir Charles of Monmorency, the 
 lorde of Beaureive, the lorde Dobegny, and the lorde of 
 Mountfort ; the kynge wolde not tary there, but drake 
 and departed thense about mydnyght, and so rode by 
 suche guydes as knewe the country, tyll he came in the 
 mornynge to Anyeuse, and then he rested. This Satur- 
 day the englysshmen never departed for their batayls for 
 chasynge of any man, but kept styll their felde, and ever 
 defended themselfe agaynst all such as came to assay le 
 them ; the batayle ended about evynsonge tyme. 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 251 
 
 XLVI-THE BATTLE OF AGIXCOVRT^ 
 
 1. Fair stood the wind for France 
 When we our sails advance, 
 Nor now to prove our cliance 
 
 Longer will tarry ; 
 ^w\^ putting to the main, 
 At Kaux, the mouth of Seine, 
 With all his martial train. 
 
 Landed King Harry. 
 
 2. And taking many a fort, 
 Furnish' d in warlike sort, 
 March'd toward Agincourt 
 
 In happy hour ; 
 Skirmishing day by day 
 With those that stop'd the way, 
 Where the French gen'ral lay 
 
 With all his power. 
 
 3. Which in his height of pride, 
 King Henry to deride, 
 
 His ransom to provide 
 
 To the king sending ; 
 Which he neglects the while. 
 As from a nation vile. 
 Yet with an angry smile. 
 
 Their fall portending. 
 
 4. And turning to his men, 
 Quoth our brave Henry then, 
 Though they be one to ten. 
 
 Be not amazed. 
 Yet, have we well begun. 
 
252 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME, 
 
 Battles so bravely won 
 Have ever to the sun 
 By fame been raised. 
 
 5. And for myself, quoth he. 
 This my full rest shall be, 
 England ne'er mourn for me, 
 
 iSlor more esteem me. 
 Victor 1 will remain. 
 Or on this earth lie slain, 
 Never shall she sustain 
 
 Loss to redeem me. 
 
 6. Poictiers and Cressy tell, 
 When most their pride did swell, 
 Under our swords they fell, 
 
 Ko less our skill is, 
 Than when our grandsire great, 
 Claiming the regal seat, 
 By many a warlike feat, 
 
 Lop'd the French lilies. 
 
 7. The Duke of York so dread 
 The eager vanward led ; 
 With the main Henry sped 
 
 Amongst his henchmen. 
 Excester had the rear, 
 A braver man not there ; 
 O Lord, how hot they were 
 
 On the false Frenchmen ! 
 
 8. They now to hght are gone. 
 Armor on armor shone. 
 Drum now to drum did groan, 
 
 To hear was wonder ; 
 
WESTERN RECORD. 253 
 
 That with the cries they make, 
 The very earth did shake, 
 Trumpet to trumpet spake, 
 Thunder to thunder. 
 
 9. Well it thine age became, 
 O noble Erpingham, 
 Which did the signal aim 
 
 To our hid forces ; 
 When from a meadow by, 
 Like a storm suddenly. 
 The Enghsh archery 
 
 Struck the French horses. 
 
 10. With Spanish yew so strong, 
 Arrows a cloth- yard long. 
 That like to serpents stung, 
 
 Piercing the weather ; 
 ITone from his fellow starts. 
 But playing manly parts. 
 And, like true English hearts, 
 
 Stuck close together. 
 
 11. When down their bows they threw 
 And forth their bilbows drew. 
 And on the French they flew ; 
 
 Not one was tardy. 
 Arms from their shoulders sent. 
 Scalps to the teeth were rent, 
 Down the French peasants went, 
 
 Our men were hardy. 
 
 12. This while our noble king. 
 His broadsword brandishing, 
 Down the French host did ding. 
 As to o'erwhehn it ; 
 
254 STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 And many a deep wound lent, 
 His arms with blood besprent, 
 And many a cruel dent 
 Bruised his helmet. 
 
 13. Glo'ster, that duke so good, 
 ^ext of the royal blood, 
 For famous English stood. 
 
 With his brave brother, 
 Clarence, in steel so bright, 
 Though but a maiden knight. 
 Yet in that furious fight 
 
 Scarce such another. 
 
 14. Warwick in blood did wade, 
 Oxford the foe invade. 
 And crnel slaughter made, 
 
 Still as they ran np ; 
 Suffolk bis axe did ply, 
 Beaumont and Willoughby ; 
 Bore them right doughtily, 
 
 Ferrers and Fanhope. 
 
 15. Upon Saint Crispin's day 
 Fought was this noble fray. 
 Which fame did not delay 
 
 To England to carry. 
 O when shall Englishmen 
 With snch acts fill a pen. 
 Or England breed again 
 
 Such a King Harry ? 
 
 Michael Drayton. 
 
 THE END. 
 
JOHONNOT'S WORKS. 
 
 The Sentence and Word Book. 
 
 A GUIDE TO WRITING, SPELLING, AND COMPOSITION BY 
 
 THE WORD AND SENTENCE METHODS. By James JohOxNNOt. 
 
 12mo. 184 pages. 
 
 In teaching reading, those who practice tiie word and sentence methods have 
 met with a serious difficulty. They can not find, In sufficient number, simple 
 lessons with words expressing the" ideas of home and of youthful experience. 
 The ordinary reading-lessons do not contain these words, and the teacher has 
 not time to search them out and arrange them in proper sentences. Johonnot'e 
 '• Sentence and Word Book" has been prepared wilh special reference to the dif- 
 ficulty here encountered. It selects and arranges words. It deals with familiar 
 topics. It groups words that express ideas upon the same topic. It uses new 
 words in such combinations that their meanings are understood. It is designed 
 to help the teacher in all elementary language-instruction, and especially in 
 spelling-lessons. 
 
 A Geographical Reader. 
 
 A COLLECTION OF GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTIONS AND 
 EXPLANATIONS FROM THE BEST WRITERS IN ENGLISH 
 LITERATURE. Classified and arranged to meet the wants of Geo- 
 graphical Students, and the higher grades of reading classes. By 
 James Johonnot. 
 
 It is original and unique in conception and execution. 
 
 It is varied in style, and treats of every variety of geographical topic. 
 
 It supplements the geographical text-books, and, by giving additional interest 
 to the study, it leads the pupil to more extensive geographical reading and 
 research. 
 
 It is not simply a collection of dry statistics and outline descriptions, but vivid 
 nan^ations of great literary merit, that convey useful information and promote 
 general culture. 
 
 It conforms to Wxa philosophic ideas upon which the new education is based. 
 
 Its selections are from the best standard autho7ities. 
 
 It is embellished with thirty-one beautiful and instructive illustrations. 
 
 Principles and Practice of Teaching. 
 
 By James Johonnot. 
 
 Contents: T. Whnt is Education ; II. The Mental Powers: their Order of De- 
 velopment, and the Methods most conducive to Normal Growth; III. Objective 
 Teaching: its Methods, Aims, and Principles: IV. Subjective Teaching: its 
 Aims and Place in the Course of Instruction; V. Ohject-Lessons : their Value 
 and Limitations; VI. Relative Value of the Different Studies in a Course ot In- 
 struction ; VIT. Pestalozzi, and his Cor.tributions to Educational Science; VIII. 
 Froebel and the Kindergarten; IX. Agassiz; and Scienc3 in its Relation to 
 Teaching; X. Contrasted Systems of Education; XI. Physical Culture; XII. 
 Esthetic Culture; XIII. Moral Culture ; XIV. A Course of Study ; XV. Country 
 Schools. 
 
 D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 
 Boston, Chicago, NEW YORK, Atlanta, San Francisco> 
 
APPLETONS' INSTRUCTIVE READING-BOOKS. 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY SERIES. 
 
 No. 1. Book of Cats and Do^^s, and Other Friends. For 
 
 Little Folks. Introductory price, lY cents. 
 
 No. 2. Friends in Feathers and Fur, and Other Neighbors. 
 
 For Young Folks. Introductory price, 30 cents. 
 
 f Neighbors with Wings and Fins, and Some 
 Others. 
 
 No. 3. ■{ ^^^ Boys and Girls. Introductory price, 40 cents. 
 
 Some Curious Flyers, Creepers, and Swimmers. 
 
 For Boys and Girls. Introductory price, 40 cents. 
 
 No. 4. Neighbors with Claws and Hoofs, and their Kin. 
 
 For Young People. Introductory price, 54 cents. 
 
 No. 5. Glimpses of the Animate World : Science and 
 Literature of Natural History. 
 
 For School or Home. Introductory price, $1.00. 
 
 By Professor JAMES JOHONNOT, 
 
 Author of " History Series," '' Principles and Practice of Teaching," 
 
 " Geographical Reader," •' How We Live," " Sentence 
 
 and Word Book," etc. 
 
 The Natural History Series contains a full course of graded lessons 
 for reading upon topics and in a style that are of the most fascinating 
 interest to children and young people, while training them to habits of 
 observation, and storing their minds with useful information. 
 
 Sample copies, for examination, ivill be forwarded, post-paid, on receipt 
 of the introductory pt'ice. 
 
 New York : D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
HISTORICAL SERIES 
 
 OF 
 
 APPLETONS' INSTRUCTIVE READING-BOOKS. 
 
 Book I.— GRANDFATHER'S STORIES. 
 
 For Little Folks. 
 
 Book IL— STORIES OF HEROIC DEEDS. 
 
 For Boys and Girls. 
 Introduction price, 30 cents. 
 
 Book III, Part L— STORIES OF OUR COUNTRY. 
 
 Introduction price, 40 cents. 
 
 Part IL— STORIES OF OTHER LANDS* 
 Book IV, Part L— STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 Part IL— TEN GREAT EVENTS IN HISTORY* 
 
 Introduction price, 54 cents. 
 
 Book V.— HOW NATIONS GROW AND DECAY. 
 
 By Professor JAMES JOHONNOT, 
 
 Author of "•Natural History Series," "Geographical Eeader," "How We Live," 
 " Sentence and Word Book," " Principles and Practice of Teaching," etc. 
 
 The Historical Series has been prepared on the same plan as the suc- 
 cessful Natural History Series by the same author, and will be found 
 equally interesting and attractive. For supplementary reading these 
 books are unexcelled. 
 
 Specimen copies, for examination, will be forwarded, post-paid, to 
 teachers or school-officers at the introduction prices. 
 
 Send for full descriptive circulars. 
 
 New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
APPLETONS' SCHOOL READERS, 
 
 WM. T. HARRIS, LL. D., SupH of Schools, St. Louis, Mo. 
 A. J. mCKOFF, A.M.., Sup't of Instruction, Cleveland, Ohio. 
 MARK BAILEY, A.M.., Instructor in Elocution, Yale College. 
 
 CONSISTING OF FIVE BOOKS, SUPERBLY ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 A.ppletons' First Reader. Child's Quarto. 90 pages. 
 
 In the First Reader the combined word and phonic methods are ad- 
 mirably developed and carefully graded. In the first 52 pages (Part I), 
 in connection with beautiful and child-life reading-lessons, are taught the 
 names of all the letters, the short sounds of the vowels, and the sounds 
 of the consonants and diphthongs. In Part II are found a systematic 
 marking of silent letters and the more easily distinguished sounds of 
 vowels, and a continued drill in the sounds of consonants. The aim is 
 to make the pupil acquainted with the forms and powers of letters, and 
 the sound, construction, and meaning of words. The pictorial illustra- 
 tions have been made a feature not only of unusual attractiveness, but 
 are instructive and interesting adjuncts to the text, as subjects for study 
 and oral exercises. 
 
 Appletons' Second Reader. 12mo. 143 pages. 
 
 This continues the plan of the First, and gives a complete table of all 
 the vowel and consonant sounds with their markings according to Webster 
 — "A Key to Pronunciation." Preceding each reading-lesson the new 
 words of that lesson are carefully marked for a spelling-exercise. This 
 Reader gives prominence to the phonic analysis and the noting of silent 
 letters, to the placing of diacritical marks, which must be learned by 
 practice in marking words ; also, to the spelhng of words and to sentence- 
 making, using the words occurring in the reading-lessons. 
 
 Appletons' Third Reader. 12mo. 214 pages. 
 
 In this Reader the plan of the second is continued, with the addition 
 of some important features, notably the lessons " How to read," placed 
 at intervals through the book. They form the preliminary instruction in 
 elocution which Professor Bailey has developed in this and the succeed- 
 ing volumes in a masterly and unique manner. 
 
 The selection of "comparatively common words," yet such as are 
 easily and usually misspelled, numbering about five hundred, given at 
 the close, is a feature of very great practical value, and answers beyond 
 cavil the question sometimes asked, "Ought not a speller to accompany 
 or precede the series ? " 
 
 [see next page.] 
 
APPLETONS' SCHOOL READERS.— {Corxi\mxQ±) 
 
 Introductory Fourth Reader. 12rao. 
 
 Designed for those pupils who have finished the Third Reader, and 
 are yet too young or too immature to take up the Fourth. 
 
 Appletons' Fourth Reader. 12mo. 248 pages. 
 
 It is here that the student enters the domain of Hteratnre proper, and 
 makes the acquaintance of the standard writers of " English undefiled " 
 in their best style. Having received adequate preparation in the previous 
 books, he is now ablo to appreciate as well as to assimilate the higher 
 classics now before him. 
 
 A new and invaluable feature in the editorship of this and the next 
 volume is the " Pi-eparatory Notes " appended to each selection, for the 
 aid of both teacher and pupil. 
 
 The elocutionary work commenced in the Third Reader is continued 
 and gradually advanced to the higher phases of the subject. Spelling- 
 exercises are also appended, introducing " Words difficult to spell," with 
 both phonic and what arc usually known as orthographic principles for- 
 mulated into rules. Beautifully engraved full-page illustrations embellish 
 the interior of the book, and render it artistically chaste and attractive. 
 
 Appletons' Fifth Reader. 12mo. 471 pages. 
 
 This Reader is the one to which the editors have given their choicest 
 efforts. The elementary principles of the earlier volumes are not forgot- 
 ten in this, but are subordinated to matters germane to more advanced 
 teaching. The " Preparatory Notes " are more advanced than those of 
 the preceding Reader, and seek to direct the mind more to style and the 
 literary character, and lastly to the logical element of the thought. Liter- 
 ary histor'^ and criticism are woven into the work in such way as to evoke 
 thought -.nd inquiry in the mind of the young. Extracts are given from 
 Webster, Jefferson, Irving, Audubon, Cooper, Emerson, Wirt, and Wash- 
 ington, along witl others from De Quincey, Goethe, Victor Hugo, Byron, 
 Shelley, Milton, Coleridge, and Shakespeare ; and with these is a vast 
 amount of valuable information of every kind. It is, indeed, a text-book 
 of bcUes-ktires, as well as of reading and spelling. Professor Bailey's 
 lessons in elocution are fuller than in ] (receding volumes, and can probably 
 not be equaled in the language for perspicuous brevity and completeness. 
 All the departments f^'' recitation — the earnest and plain, the noble, the 
 joyous, the sad — sarcasm, scorn, humor, passion, poetry — are given clearly 
 and practically. The collection of " Unusual and Difficult Words " at the 
 close comprises fifty-four lists of words which should always be kept iu 
 mind by the student. 
 
 D. APPLETON & GO., Publishers, 
 
 HE.\N YORK, BOSTON, CHICAGO, ATLANTA, SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
APPLETONS' 
 
 STANDARD GEOGRAPHIES. 
 
 Comprehensive, Attractive, up to Date. 
 
 THE SERIES: 
 
 Appletons' Elementary Geography. 
 
 This book treats the subject objectively, makes knowledge precede 
 definitions, and presents facts in their logical connections, taking 
 gradual steps from the known to the unknown. The work is designed 
 to be elementary, not only in name and size, but also in the style 
 and quality of its matter and development of the subject. The illus- 
 trations have been selected with great care, and the maps are distinct, 
 unencumbered with names, accurate, and attractive. 
 
 Introduction price, 55 cents. 
 
 Appletons' Higher Geography. 
 
 This volume is not a repetition of the Elementary, either in its mat- 
 ter or mode of developing the subject. In it the earth is viewed as a 
 whole, and the great facts of political as depending on the physical 
 geography are fully explained. Great prominence is given to com- 
 merce and leading industries as the result of physical conditions. The 
 maps challenge comparison in point of correctness, distinctness, and 
 artistic finish. Special State editions, with large, beautiful maps and 
 descriptive matter, supplied without additional expense. 
 
 Introduction price, $1.25. 
 
 Appletons* Physical Geography. 
 
 The new Physical Geography stands unrivaled among text-books on 
 the subject. Its list of authors includes such eminent scientific 
 specialists as Quackenbos, Newberry, Hitchcock, Stevens, Gannett, 
 Dall, Merriam, Britton, Lieutenant Stoney, George F. Kunz, and 
 others, presenting an array of talent never before united in the mak- 
 ing of a single text-book. 
 
 Introduction price, $1.60. 
 
 Specimen copies, for examination, will be sent, post-paid, to teachers and school- 
 officers, on receipt of the introduction prices. 
 
 Liberal terms made to schools for introduction and exchange. 
 
 D. APPLETON & CO., PUBLISHEES, 
 New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco. 
 
PRACTICAL AND PROGRESSIVE. 
 
 APPLETONS' 
 STAND ARD COPY -BOOKS. 
 
 THE series: 
 
 LEAD-PENCIL TRACING, three numbers, i, 2, and 3. 
 (Writing taught three grades lower than in any other books.) 
 INK TRACING, two numbers, i and 2. 
 
 SHORT COURSE (without Tracing), seven numbers, i, 2, 
 
 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. 
 GRAMMAR COURSE, ten numbers, i, 2, 3, 4, 4^, 5, 
 
 6, and Exercise Books A, B, and C. 
 BUSINESS FORMS, i, 2, and 3. 
 
 SPECLiL FEATURES, 
 
 The Lead-Pencil, Short, and Grammar Courses are independent 
 of each other, and each is complete in itself. But progressive 
 grading is maintained througliout, so that the Short Course is an 
 advance upon the Lead- Pencil Course, and the Grammar upon the 
 Short Course. 
 
 Exercise-Books A, B, and C , make Movement practicable for public 
 schools. Graded Exercise-Books A (pi'imary drill-book), B, and C 
 (grammar grades, high-schools, and business colleges), contain a 
 series of exercises calculated to train the muscles of the arm and 
 hand, producing the true writing movement. Practical drills upon 
 all possible combinations of letters. They are designed to supple- 
 ment the regular writing-book. 
 
 Business Forms, i, 2, and 3. contain all kinds of business and social 
 forms, blank checks, receiots, etc., etc. Business forms and let- 
 ters contained in these books are the joint product of some of the 
 leading educators and business meu of this country. Designed 
 for the upper grades, high-schools, and business colleges, these 
 books are a valuable addition to our popular system, and a long 
 step in the right direction. 
 
 Teachers will find it to their interest to examine these books, and they are 
 accordingly invited to correspond with the publishers. 
 
 D. APPLETON & CO., PUBLISHERS, 
 New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco. 
 
A HISTOET OE THE 
 IIHTED STATES AID ITS PEOPLE. 
 
 FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS. 
 
 BY EDWARD EGGLESTON. 
 
 Dr. Eggleston's new History of the United States is 
 one of the most interesting and attractive school-books 
 ever published. The author has used his art as a story- 
 teller, and his experience as a writer, to make American 
 history something living, human, and real, and therefore 
 delightful. The illustrations have been secured from 
 original sources, and the artists engaged upon the work 
 include some of the most noted and expert in this country. 
 
 CHICAGO TRIBUNE, Sept. 22, 1888. 
 
 "Dr. Egg:leston has prepared not only a new American text-book, "but 
 he has prepared it on a plan combining so many advantages that Americans 
 many years out of school will find it delightful "reading, although primarily 
 designed for school use. There is compacted in it a narrative of our develop- 
 ment from the earliest times to the present. . . . Adorning and enlivening 
 it are maps which keep pace with the story and make familiar by colors 
 and drawings, specially contrived for episodes and epochs, all the surround- 
 ings which fasten not merely events but their full significance on the mind. 
 These maps are to be cordially commended. . . . The literary style of the 
 book is worthy of its scholastic character. Edward Egdeston has long 
 loved the function of the teacher. He has long pi-acticed the art of writing 
 good English. Combining that spirit and this art, he ofibrs what will 
 probably not be challenged a-^ the most pleasing, the most convenient, and 
 the most fascinating popular text yet produced upon the subject that ought 
 to be dearest to American youth." 
 
 Introduction price, $1.05. 
 
 Copies for examination mailed to teachers at the introduction price. 
 Send jor specimen pages. 
 
 D. APPLETON & CO., PUBLISHERS, 
 New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco. 
 
 (olM^y 
 
Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: mhx, 
 
 s^AV 200? 
 
 PreservafionTechnoloqies 
 
 A WORLD LEADER ,N PAPER PRESERVAT.ON 
 
 111 Thomson Park Drive