text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/330

GUIDOTT, THOMAS (fl. 1698), physician, born at Lymington, Hampshire, in September 1638, was the eldest son of Francis Guidott, and a great-great-grandson of Sir Anthony Guidotti. He was sent to school at Dorchester, and became a commoner of Wadham College, Oxford, at the end of October 1656. He graduated B.A. on 16 Jan. 1659, and M.A. on 16 Oct. 1662 (, Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 218, 262;, Reg. Wadham College, 216). He took to medical studies, and about 1664 declined an offer to go to Copenhagen to study anatomy under Thomas Bartholine. After being admitted M.B. on 14 July 1666 he practised about Oxford (ib. ii. 290). In the following year he removed to Bath, where Dr. John Maplet, 'a noted physician of that place,' helped him to attain extensive practice, most of which he had lost in 1679 by his 'impudence, lampooning, and libelling.' He therefore retired to London, in the summer visiting Bath. In 1671 he performed his exercise at Oxford for the degree of M.D., but does not appear to have taken it. On 21 Nov. 1690 he was offered by Berencloa, the chief professor at Venice, the professorship of medicine at either Venice or Leyden. He preferred, however, to remain in England. Wood, who seems to have known Guidott well, describes him as a 'person of good parts, well vers'd in Greek and Latin learning, and intelligent in his profession; but so much overwhelm'd with self-conceit and pride as to be in a manner sometimes crazed, especially when his blood was heated by too much bibbing' (Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iv. 733-5). Hearne calls him 'an ingenious, but vain, conceited, whimsical physician' (Collections, i. 123, Oxf. Hist. Soc.)

He edited the third edition of Dr. Edward Jorden's ‘Discourse of Natural Bathes and Mineral Waters,’ to which he added some particulars of the Authors Life,' and an ‘Appendix concerning Bathe … with a Brief Account of the Nature and the Virtues of the Hot Waters there,’ 8vo, London, 1669, dedicated to John Maplet. He saw through the press Maplet's posthumous ‘Epistolarum Medicarum Specimen de Thermarum Bathoniensium Effectis,’ 4to, London, 1694.

He also published an edition, with prolegomena, later translation, and notes, of ‘ΘεοΦίλου περί οṽρων βιβλίον … cui accessit ejusdem Theophili de Excrementis Tractatus,’ 8vo, Leyden, 1703, having collated the text with manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. Besides some lampoons, circulated probably as broadsheets, Guidott was author of: 1. ‘A Quære concerning drinking Bathawter at Bathe, resolved,’ 8vo, London, 1673, by 'Eugenius Philander.' 2. ‘A Letter concerning some Observations lately made at Bathe. Written to his much honoured Friend Sir E[dward]G[reaves], Knight and Baronet, M.D., in London,’ 4to, London, 1674 (reprinted in both quarto editions of the 'Harleian Miscellany'). 3. ‘A Discourse of Bathe, and the Hot Waters there. Also some Enquiries into the nature of the Water of St. Vincent's Rock, near Bristol, and that of Castle Gary. To which is added, A Century of Observations, more fully declaring the nature, property, and distinction of the Baths. With an Account of the Lives and Character of the Physicians of Bathe,’ 8vo, London, 1676-7. the ‘Century of Observations’ had been published separately in 1676. 4. ‘A True and Exact Account of Sadlers Well; or the new Mineral-Waters lately found out at Islington; treating of its nature and virtues. … Published for publick good by T. G., Doctor of Physick,’ 4to, London, 1684. 5. ‘Gideon's Fleece; or the Sieur de Frisk. An Heroick Poem. Written on the cursory perusal of a late Book [by Gideon Harvey], call'd The Conclave of Physicians. By (Philo-Musus), a Friend to the Muses,’ 4to, London, 1684. 6. ‘The New-Year's Gift; being a Paraphrase on a Fable in Æsop,’ s. sh. fol., London, 1690. 7. ‘Thomæ Guidotti … de Thermis Britannicis Tractatus …’ 2 pts. 4to, London, 1691 (chiefly from the English tracts). 8. ‘The Register of Bath, or Two Hundred Observations. Containing an Account of Cures performed and Benefit received by the use of the famous Hot Waters of Bath,’ &c., 8vo, London, 1694. A translation of part of the foregoing. It was reprinted in vol. ii. of John Quinton's ‘Treatise of Warm Bath Water,’ 4to, Oxford, 1733-4. 9. ‘An Apology for the Bath. Being an Answer to a late Enquiry into the Right Use and Abuses of the Baths in England … With some Reflections on Fresh Cold-Bathing, Bathing in Sea-Water, and Dipping in Baptism. In a Letter to a Friend. By the Author of the Latin Tract, "De Thermis Britannicis,"' 8vo, London, 1705; another edition, 8vo, London. 1708. Many of Guidott's Bath tracts were published in ‘A Collection of Treatises relating to the City and Waters of Bath,’ &c., 8vo, London, 1725. He left in manuscript: (1) ‘Historia Æsculapii cum Figuris,’ 4to, now in the British Museum, Sloane MS. 2038; (2) ‘De Balneis Bathoniensibus Tractatus amplus,’ 4to; (3) ‘Exercitationum Medico-physicarum Decas,’ 4to; (4) ‘Tabulæ Medicæ XXIV,’ 8vo; (5) ‘Annotata in Loca difficiliora utriusque Fœderis;’ (6) ‘Virgilius Theocriticωn, Hesiodicωn, Homericωn,’


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/160

124 bishop in his room. This was the best possible medicine for Projectus. He tumbled out of bed, pulled on his clothes, and in a screaming rage wrote a letter to the Pope. Thereupon Leo wrote sharply to Hilary to bid him mind his own business in future, and not meddle out of his diocese. And then the Pope wrung from the feeble Emperor Valentinian an edict denouncing the contumacy of Hilary against the apostolic throne, and requiring him and all the bishops of Gaul to submit as docile children to the bishop of the Eternal City. Hilary died in 449, comparatively young. Sieyès was born at Fréjus in 1748, and was trained for orders at S. Sulpice. In 1788 he was sent as member for the clerical order to the Provincial Assembly at Orléans. He saw what was the trend of opinion and what must inevitably happen, and he wrote his trenchant pamphlets, Essai sur les Privilèges and Qu'est-ce que le tiers-état, 1789, that acted as firebrands through France. He was elected by Paris as representative at the General Assembly that met at Versailles. There, looking at the nobles in their sumptuous attire, the curés in their soutannes) and the representatives of the Third Estate in their humble cloth, he said, "One people!—We are three nations," and he it was who, on July 2Oth, on entering the Assembly, exclaimed, "It is time now to cut the cords," and sent an imperious message to the other two Houses to enter and sit along with the Tiers État. He strove hard against the abolition of tithe without some compensation to the clergy, but was overborne. The general feeling was against this. As he saw that anarchy was resulting from the conduct of the Assembly he withdrew from taking any further active part; but

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/160


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/161

Rh he was elected by the Department of Sarthe to sit as deputy in the Convention.

At the trial of Louis XIV. he voted for his death "La mort—sans phrases." When in 1798 he was commissioned by the Directory as Ambassador to Berlin, he sent an invitation to a German prince to dine with him. The prince wrote across it, "Non—sans phrases." He was elected into the Council of the Five Hundred. At this time it was that the half-crazy fanatical Cordelier Poule attempted to shoot him. Sieyes struck the pistol aside, but was wounded in the hand and shoulder. Poule was sentenced for this for twenty years to the galleys, and died on them. Sièyes was a member of the Directory. He was a great man for drawing up schemes for a Constitution. The Directory had lost all credit; France was sick of its constituent Assemblies, Legislative Assemblies, Conventions, and Directory. This latter, at one moment feeble, at the next violent, seemed to be able to govern only by successive coups d'état, always a token of weakness. It had brought France to the verge of bankruptcy. In its foreign policy it had committed gross imprudences, and now a new coalition had been formed against France, and the armies had met with reverses in Italy and Germany. At this juncture Napoleon landed at S. Raphael. As he travelled to Paris he was everywhere greeted with enthusiasm as the expected saviour of the country. But on reaching Paris he behaved with caution; he seemed only to live for his sister, and for his wife, Josephine, and for his colleagues of the Institut. But he was watching events. Everyone was then conspiring; Sieyès in the Directory, Fouché and Talleyrand in the ministry, a hundred others in the Conseils,

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/161


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/92

Rh forty-five degrees, and striking one corner with a piece of wood, it will advance several feet and return to the spot from whence it proceeded. I find, however, that this form is not essential to produce a similar effect, although the most convenient to throw from the hand. Any thin flat body of a semicircular or rectilinear figure will return in the same manner if a rotative motion be communicated to it in conjunction with the projectile force at a considerable angle of elevation.

Next in order comes the spear a weapon made more or less thick and heavy according to the strength or taste of the owner, and in general measuring from ten to twelve feet. There are several varieties of spear. The spear proper, which is about to be described, and which seems to be the most common and universal weapon among the blacks, appears to be the pike or lance of European nations, consisting of a shaft and a head; the latter is sometimes formed of a piece of hard wood, sometimes of a piece of shell, flint, or glass. The common spear is never barbed; it is commonly thrown by the hand, with or without the aid of the wommera, although sometimes made so heavy among certain tribes as to lead to the belief that it is used in the same manner as the lance or pike. Another description of spear, somewhat smaller than the former, is always thrown by the wommera; this differs from the last only in its size, and is cast a distance of one hundred yards with unerring precision. A third, the jagged spear,


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/162

126 Sieyès said, "What is wanting for France is a head," tapping his own brow, "and a sword," looking significantly at Napoleon. He was to learn very soon that head and sword would go together.

The 18th Brumaire was contrived by Sieyès; but he was in his coach, outside S. Cloud, when Napoleon entered to dissolve the Council of the Five Hundred. In face of the tumult within Bonaparte lost his confidence and was thrust forth by the Deputies. He found Sieyès in his carriage, to which were harnessed six horses, ready to start at full gallop should the coup fail. "Do they seek to outlaw you?" asked Sieyès. "Man, outlaw them yourself." Napoleon recovered himself and re-entered the hall at the head of his soldiery. The situation was saved. Bonaparte, Sieyès, and Roger-Ducros were nominated Consuls. The Revolution had abdicated into the hands of the military. That same evening Sieyès said to his intimates, "We have given ourselves a master."

Afterwards, Bonaparte, as first Consul, took him into the Senate, and granted to him the domains of Crosne. Later, it was said— Under the empire Sieyès was created a count. During the Hundred Days, Sieyès took his place in the Chamber of Peers, but at the second restoration he was banished as one of the regicides. He went to Brussels, but after the Revolution of 1830 returned to Paris, where he died in 1836.

To finish with one more worthy, of a character very different from the rest; Marc Antoine Désaugiers. Born

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/162


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/93

80 formed like the former, is about eight feet long and the thickness of a finger. This weapon is rendered terrible by the formation of its point or head, which is always barbed, for six or eight inches, with fish-teeth, glass, or pieces of bone. This is sometimes called by Europeans the "death-spear," from the fact that, owing to the peculiar construction of its head, death is the almost inevitable result of a serious wound inflicted by it. In the use of the spear the aborigines employ the foot as well as the arm. When hard pressed in battle they will avoid the necessity of stooping for their arms by raising them with the toes of the feet. This practice renders caution very necessary on the part of Europeans in their first intercourse with them, as several instances are on record of parties of aborigines, apparently unarmed, having invited Europeans to peaceful interviews, when they were subsequently found trailing their spears between their toes on the ground. Governor Phillip, the Æneas of New South Wales, very nearly sacrificed his life to this then unknown artifice. Approaching an aboriginal in the midst of his tribe, on whom he wished to bestow some mark of favour, the savage, mistaking the movement of the Governor for a hostile demonstration, with the speed of thought raised a spear, before unobserved, with his foot, and hurling it with unerring aim, inflicted a dangerous wound. The wommera the instrument by the aid of which the spear is projected, is, in general, like the spear, formed of a piece of wood, about three feet


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/94

long and three inches broad, being formed flat towards one of its ends; at the other end is a hook. The principle on which the wommera is used has been compared to that of the lever, but the sling appears a more familiar and more correct comparison. The mode of using this projectile is as follows : — The hook at the end is fixed into a hollow at the butt-end of the spear formed for the purpose, and being thus held in a line with the spear, the latter at the top, it projects it in precisely the same manner as the sling projects a stone. In addition, however, to the projectile powers of the wommera, another apparent advantage by which its use is accompanied is that it balances or levels the spear, ensuring a direct flight, and enabling the thrower to take aim with more certain precision. This instrument is made to serve another purpose besides that of a throwing-stick, viz., that of a knife. At the end held in the hand, in projecting the spear, and which is formed, as before remarked, flat and broad, a piece of sharpened shell, flint, or quartz is fastened by means of gum, and is made to answer all the purposes of a knife and chisel; the wommera being thus employed to shape the spears which it afterwards assists to despatch on their errand of death. Another weapon never wanting in the armoury of the aboriginal is the fishing spear. This instrument is in general about twelve to fifteen feet in length, and is armed with four prongs; sometimes it has three, and is then occasionally a rude imitation of the trident of


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/95

82 Neptune. These prongs are for the most part pointed with a fish-bone, this being the sharpest and most suitable material within the reach of the aborigines. The fishing-spear, as the name implies, is used for the purpose of spearing fish, a use for which it is admirably adapted. This weapon is employed by the aboriginal either in canoes, on the banks of the rivers, or standing in the water watching for his finny prey. When the fish appear the spear is noiselessly approached to within a few inches of the intended victim, and then darted with a precision and force which seldom fail to result in lifting the fish out of its native element. This weapon, as well as the former ones, is always ornamented more or less elaborately, according to the taste or skill of the owner, by having rings or projections left at regular intervals along the shaft, and by various other carvings and figures. Of clubs or waddies the aborigines construct several descriptions. One kind common among them appears to be merely a sapling or branch with a natural knob, hardened by some process, and slightly cut or notched, so as to give it some degree of proportion and ornament. Another sort of waddy is formed of a very hard description of wood, more elaborately worked than the former, with an elongated quadrangular head, terminating in a very sharp point, which would lead to the belief that it is used as a rapier as well as a truncheon. A third waddy is made somewhat shorter than the last, of a similar species of wood; the head of this, however, is


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/163

Rh at Féjus in 1772, he died in 1827. He was the soul of the Caveau Moderne.

The old Caveau had been founded by Piron, Collé, and others. They met twice a month at the wine-shop of Landelle, where they produced songs, stories, and epigrams they had composed, dined and drank together. This reunion began in 1737, and lasted over ten years. After the 9th Thermidor, and the fall of Robespierre, the Terror was at an end. Men began to breathe freely, lift up their heads, and look about for amusements to indemnify themselves for the reign of horrors they had passed through. Then some choice spirits renewed the reminiscences of the old Caveau, and met near the Theatre of the Vaudeville, opened in 1792. The songs that were sung, the stories there told, flew about. The public desired to share in the merriment, and in Vendémiaire of the year V. (September, 1796) appeared the first number of the Caveau Moderne. The tavern at which the company met was " Le Rocher de Cancalle." A complete edition of the songs was published in 1807. The tunes to which the songs were set were either well-known folk-melodies, or opera-house airs. Désaugiers was a large contributor. As a specimen of his style I give some stanzas of his "Carnaval."

"Momus agite ses grelots, Comus allume ses fourneaux,  Bacchus s'enivre sur sa tonne,      Palas déraisonne, Apollon détonne,  Trouble divin, bruit infernal—  V’là c'que c'est que 1'Carnaval.

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/163


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/96

Rh of a diamond shape, having eight sides or surfaces, and four sharp angles, with which to inflict a blow. The handle of the waddy is always ornamented by a knob, and is marked by a number of notches, which serve the double purpose of ornament and use, by enabling the combatant to take a more secure hold of his weapon. A sword is also found among the weapons of the New Hollander. This instrument, which, like the others, is formed of wood, bears no affinity to that formidable weapon the barbed sword of the South Sea Islands, partaking more of the nature of a club. In shape it bears a striking resemblance to the semicircular Turkish scimitar, representations of which are to be met with in the illustrated editions of the "Arabian Nights," the point being formed by cutting off lengthwise a segment of a broad end. The shield or, as it is called in aboriginal parlance, the "eleman," is an important article in the armour of the New Hollander. It is formed of wood, sometimes of bark, and is for the most part of an oval shape. The shield varies as to size, being found from a foot in length to an extent sufficiently capacious to conceal the whole person, and, so far as construction and ornament are concerned, might have belonged to a knight-errant or crusader of the twelfth century instead of a savage of the Australian wilds. The mark which more particularly calls to mind the similarity mentioned, is a cross formed by two parallel lines drawn from top to bottom, and two more from side to side, on the face


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/97

84 of the shield. Sometimes the eleman is decorated with a representation of a hand, formed by placing that member on its surface while the paint or gum with which it is coated is yet moist. A handle, formed of thongs of hide, is fastened on the inner side, and a layer of soft bark, fixed to the shield, saves the knuckles from the effects of friction. Besides the implements above enumerated, and which comprise the principal weapons of war and hunting among the aborigines, numerous other articles of a similar though inferior description are met with, varying in design and construction among different tribes. Of these may be mentioned a small spear, formed of reed, and used as a javelin in offensive operations.

When a tribe of aborigines encamp in any locality an armoury is formed, in which the whole of the weapons belonging to the warriors are deposited. The site chosen is generally in the shade of some gigantic gum-tree, or other towering lord of the forest, round the trunk of which, in a standing position, and with a due regard to regularity, are placed the spears, while the boomerangs, clubs, shields, and other smaller weapons are arranged with equal care on the turf at the base of the tree.

Among the utensils of the New Holland tribes may be mentioned a vessel resembling a calabash, used for carrying water; this is formed out of a globular-shaped substance, composed of an excrescence of the gum- tree, and which, when hollowed out, forms a vessel well adapted to the use for which it is intended.


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/164

128

"Un char pompeusement orné Présente à notre œil étonné  Quinze poissardes qu'avec peine      Une rosse traine: Jupiter les mène;  Un Cul-de-jatte est à cheval;  V’là c'que c'est que l'Carnaval.

"Arlequin courtise Junon, Columbine poursuit Pluton,  Mars Madame Angot qu'il embrasse,       Crispin une Grace, Venus un Paillasse;  Ciel, terre, enfers, tout est égal;  V’là c'que c'est que l'Carnaval.

"Mercure veut rosser Jeannot, On crie à la garde aussitôt;  Et chacun voit de 1'aventure       Le pauvre Mercure à la préfecture, Couché,—sur un procès verbal; V’là c'que c'est que l’Carnaval.

"Profitant aussi des jours gras, Le traiteur déguise ses plats,  Nous offre vinaigre en bouteille,      Ragût de la vieille, Daube encore plus vieille:  Nous payons bien, nous soupons mal;  V’là c'que c'est que 1'Carnaval.

"Carosses pleins sont par milliers Regorgeant dans tous les quartiers;  Dedans, dessus, devout, dernière,      Jusqu'à la portière, quelle fourmilière!  Des fous on croit voire l'hôpital;  V’là c'que c'est que l'Carnaval.

"Quand on a bien ri, bien couru, Bien chanté, bien mangé et bu,  Mars d'un frippier reprend l’enseigne,      Pluton son empeigne, Jupiter son peigne:  Tout rentre en place; et, bien ou mal,  V’là c'que c'est que l'Carnaval,"

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/164


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/98

Rh Baskets are formed from long pieces of bark brought together at the ends, and tied by cords formed from strings of bark, the handle being formed of similar material. Another description of basket, called a "migit," is formed of rushes, woven with a degree of taste and skill which have excited the admiration of Europeans. The rushes used in the construction of these baskets are of various colours — green, white, and pink predominating — arranged so as to produce by the various figures, and by the contrast of colours, a highly ornamental effect. The hatchet, or tomahawk, is an implement of universal necessity among the aborigines. Since the commencement of intercourse with Europeans iron tomahawks are much sought after, and have become plentiful among the aborigines throughout the greater part of the territory. The tomahawk of the aboriginal is, however, altogether a different article; this latter is formed of a piece of stone or flint, ground to an edge at one end. A handle is formed by two pieces of wood of a flat shape, between which, towards one end, the head is placed; the strips of wood are then bound firmly together by ligatures of bark or other description of twine on each side of the stone and at intervals along the handle, and the head is secured more firmly by means of gum, which is melted into the interstices where the stone and wood are joined. Besides the fizgig before described, the aborigines use hooks and lines in catching fish. The hooks are formed of mother-of-pearl, and are not barbed, but are curved to


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/99

a greater extent than those used by Europeans, which is, no doubt, intended to supply the place of the barb by rendering the hold on the fish, once obtained, more secure. The hook has a knob at the end, to which the line is fastened, to render the fastening more secure and less difficult. The line is in general of two strands, made from a peculiar kind of bark, and twisted with considerable neatness and skill. Fishing with hooks and lines is altogether confined to the females, who sometimes relieve the dulness of the employment by singing, in chorus or singly. Nothing, perhaps, illustrates the industry and patience of which the New Hollander appears to be capable more fully than the formation of the fishing-hook just described. The material of which it is formed, as is well known, is only to be found in a state and in a shape the most unfavourable to being transformed into a hook, and nothing but a most wearisome and tedious course of grinding and cutting could succeed in producing the perfect instrument with which aboriginal anglers hook their prey.


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/100

One of the most striking instances in which a similarity is to be traced between the customs of the aborigines of New Holland and those of civilized nations, particularly those of Oriental countries, is to be seen in the manner in which they dispose of their dead. One of their customs in this respect — that of burning the body, with considerable ceremony, on a pile of wood — at once suggests a comparison with the practices of many of those nations which occupy the first position in the pages of history. This rite is at present apparently less frequent among the blacks in the settled portions of the territory — if at all practised in those parts — than formerly. That, however, it was a general custom in former days is attested by several authorities. Collins, in his "Account of the Colony" in the days of its first settlement, gives a minute description of the burning, within the bounds of the present city of Sydney, of the remains of the wife of the celebrated Binnelong, the aboriginal who accompanied Governor Phillip to Europe, the ashes of the deceased being afterwards collected by the husband, and buried with considerable care beneath a mound of earth. Several other similar ceremonies are detailed by the same writer. It appears, however, that only the


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/101

88 bodies of such as had passed the middle age were privileged to be disposed of in the manner referred to, and which is hence to be esteemed the more honourable mode of sepulture. The bodies of young people were buried in the ordinary way, or otherwise disposed of, according to the custom of the tribe, such as by placing the corpse, enveloped in folds of bark, on a raised hurdle, or across the limbs of a tree. Sometimes a portion of the weapons or utensils of the deceased, as a basket, spear, and fizgig, were buried along with the corpse. In connection with this branch of aboriginal customs one of the worst features in the character of the New Hollander is brought to light. This is the crime of child-murder, accompanied with the extreme of barbarity. When an infant happens to be deprived of its mother by death, it appears that it is no uncommon thing to bury the living infant in the same grave with its deceased parent; the reason alleged by the perpetrators for the cruel act is that the infant being bereaved of its natural nurse, and other females being adverse to take it under their guardianship, its life would be a course of lingering misery worse than death itself. The existence of this species of infanticide was first made known in the early days of colonization by a party of officers who witnessed the interment of a female, whose surviving infant was thus interred by the father, the work of death being gone through ere the Europeans, who were previously unacquainted with the intent, had time to interpose their influence to save the little victim.


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/102

Rh

While, however, it is ascertained that very young infants are, or have been, immolated in the manner described, another custom is known to prevail among the aborigines, which proves that they are not by any means indifferent to the fate of their offspring. This custom bears an affinity to the system of sponsorship practised in the Christian church — the difference being that, in the latter case, the duties imposed generally end with the ceremony, while in the former case the duties are generally strictly exacted and scrupulously performed. Thus, when the father of a family dies, his children are invariably taken under protection by some relative or other member of the tribe, on whom the title of the deceased "Bianna," signifying father or chief, is conferred. On this new guardian devolves the self-imposed duties of hunting and fishing for the sustenance of his wards, directing their movements, protecting them from outrage, training them in the exercises of their people, and in every respect providing for their well-being and safety, until such time as they become capable of depending on their own resources. This custom, the existence of which, in some tribes at least, is established beyond doubt, would imply a knowledge and practice of the social duties among the New Hollanders for which few would be disposed to give them credit who have not attentively considered their character, and observed therein the gleamings of the better traits of humanity.

Among the articles of faith of the aborigines, in


text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gula

title: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gula


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/103

connection with their ideas of a future state, they hold the belief that for a certain period after death, and previous to migration to their final abode, the manes of the departed hover about the country in the neighbourhood of their mortal haunts, in the shape of little children. During the preparatory stage of spiritual existence they inhabit, according to the myth, the luxuriant foliage of the tallest trees, disporting themselves amongst the leaves and branches in their vernal and sunny retreats. Little fishes, with which they are plentifully supplied, are said to form the food of the youthful spirits while sojourning in their intermediate home — a rather strange description of provision for the inabitants of such a peculiarly sylvan abode as theirs! The seeming inconsistency can only be accounted for by the absence on Australian trees of almost every description of fruit.

Many circumstances and anecdotes tend to show that bravery is among the most prominent qualities of the aboriginal race. Although sometimes cautious and watchful in their first interviews with Europeans, they have uniformly on those occasions manifested a coolness and courage which have excited the admiration of the whites. Sometimes indviduals among them, who have never before seen a white man, have walked into the midst of a party of armed Europeans with a confidence and frankness which amounted almost to a reckless indifference. Among the numerous instances in which individual bravery has


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/104

Rh been displayed by aborigines, one is particularly deserving of notice. A traveller, while pursuing an equestrian tour in the earlier days of the settlement, suddenly came upon a solitary aboriginal who had strayed from his tribe on a hunting expedition. The black, who had never before, in all probability, seen a white man, and certainly had never seen such an animal as a horse with a rider on its back, having partially recovered from the first effects of surprise and wonder, and probably terror, which the sudden appearance of so strange an apparition produced, retreated a few paces, and then, turning round and throwing himself into an attitude of defence, poised a formidable spear which he held in his hand, evidently resolved to hurl it with effect should the horseman, who in the meantime had halted his steed, advance. This first scene of a romantic little drama — which scene is submitted for the consideration of all and several of our Australian artists — continued for a few minutes, during which the aboriginal, from the expression of amaze and terror which commingled with that of determination and ferocity in his countenance, regarded the horse and rider as one being. In order to put an end to this involuntary representation of statuary, and probably dreading that the spear which his confronter held poised in air might receive an impulse anything but favourable to his own personal safety, the European slowly and cautiously dismounted, and, standing a few paces from his horse, made friendly


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/165

Rh Désaugiers was one day invited to preside at the annual dinner of the pork butchers. After the table was cleared he rose, and all expected the oration or song of the evening. Looking round with a twinkle in his eye, he began— The pork butchers bridled up, grew red with wrath, thinking that this was intended as an insult, when Désaugiers proceeded with his song—

A French author has said of him:— "Désaugiers is song personified;—all gaiety, fun, laughter. He has in him something of the spirit of Rabelais. His inherent wit breaks out like the effervescence of champagne. Thought and rhyme are born in him along with song. Every refrain in his compositions is full of joyous sparkle."

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/165


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/105

90 gestures towards his new acquaintance. The latter, now somewhat reassured by finding that he had to deal with a being bearing a close affinity to himself in shape and proportions, having hesitated for a moment, at last drove his spear upright into the ground, and slowly approached the stranger, keeping, however, at a respectful distance from the horse, towards which he occasionally cast a glance of suspicion and scrutiny. After a time, the parties having become mutually confiding, entered into a conversation by means of signs and gestures, which terminated by the New Hollander pointing out to the other a spot in which he would be able to procure water, of which he was in quest, stepping aside out of the way of the horse when his rider had remounted, and bidding good-bye with a movement of considerable dignity and politeness.

Among tribes of so very unsettled and migratory habits as the aborigines, who seldom reside in the same locality for more than a day or two, the preserving or procuring sufficient fire to ignite the wood with which they cook their food, or warm the air around their couches at night, must form an important part of their everyday economy. Very generally, when they remove from one locality to another, the females carry burning sticks in their hands to serve the necessary purpose at the next camping-place. As fire cannot always be preserved in this way, however, owing to the length of their marches and the various vicissitudes to which the travellers are subjected in


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/106

their wanderings, it is necessary that some method of producing fire should have been discovered. Necessity has pointed out to the aboriginal a simple and ever- available means of attaining this end by the friction of two pieces of a peculiar description of dried wood very plentiful in the bush. Ignition is produced by making a hole in one of the pieces, into which the sharpened end of the other piece is introduced; this is turned round with both hands with as much rapidity as possible, until the desired object is attained. As it often happens that it requires a considerable amount of friction to produce the fire, several blacks generally take part in the operation, seating themselves in a circle round the fire-stick and taking part in the work of friction by turns.

It would appear as though Providence had implanted in the breasts of all mankind certain particular instincts, feelings, and emotions, by which the kindred of the entire race may be incontrovertibly fixed, in anticipation of the false theories of those who would divide mankind into distinct classes, the one enjoying higher attributes, and, as a consequence, entitled to hold unlimited sway over the other. "One touch of nature makes the whole world akin" is a maxim as true as it is trite; but it is not only the manifestations of a common feeling which prove the kindred of the world. There are certain customs and certain symbols practised and understood by all the races of mankind which prove a common origin and common kindred none the less. That with which we have to do in the


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/167

Rh it when the young folk come up there for examination for professions, and from the military who are quartered there, and from the prisons which accommodate the criminals of the department. Draguignan is supposed to have been a Greek town called Antea. But there must have been people living here in prehistoric times, for near the town is a dolmen as fine as any in Brittany or Wales. It is composed of four upright stones supporting a quoit eighteen feet long and fifteen wide, and the height above the ground is seven feet. In the Middle Ages the place was called Drachcenum, and it was fabled that the old town stood on the heights above, as the plain was ravaged by a dragon. St. Armentarius, Bishop of Antibes (A.D. 451) slew the monster, whereupon the people came down from the heights and settled where is the present town. The town really began to flourish in the thirteenth century, when, owing to the silting up of the port of Fréjus, that city declined in prosperity. Then it was surrounded by a wall pierced by three gates, of which two remain. Within the old walls the streets are scarce six feet wide, and the houses run up to a great height. The sun never penetrates to their pavement. The town was also defended by a castle on rising ground. In 1535 Draguignan was one of the principal Sénéchaussées of Provence. She rapidly spread beyond the walls, and then a second circuit of walls was erected where is now the boulevard; but portions of the ramparts to the east and north-east still remain. In 1650 Draguignan was the scene of bloody fights on account of the troubles of the Fronde. During the minority of Louis XIV., the Regent, Anne of Austria, committed all authority to Cardinal Mazarin. He

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/167


text:
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/107

92 present instance is the significance attached to a green bough, when carried as a propitiatory symbol, by the New Hollanders in common with the natives of nearly all parts of the world. That the carrying or bearing of a branch by a stranger in his first interviews with the aborigines is understood to be a sign of friendly intentions is a fact proved by the experience of more than one explorer and traveller. Captain Sturt, in the journal of his expeditions in South Australia, mentions the efficacy of the symbol in disarming, on more than one occasion, the hostility of strange tribes, securing a peaceable interview when all other means had failed. Travellers among the Indians of South and North America also mention that the carrying of a green bough by strangers is understood by the former as a token that their intentions are of a peaceful and amicable nature.


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/168

132 loaded the country with taxes, took away the privileges from the towns, and from the nobles, and strove to centralise the Government and establish the despotism of the Crown. This roused the fiercest opposition, and the country was divided into factions; one for the Court and centralization, the other for the maintenance of local self-government. This latter party was the Fronde. In Draguignan some Frondists attempted to get hold of the castle; the people rose, armed with spits and clubs, and drove them away. The parties distinguished themselves by wearing ribbons, white or blue. Two years later civil war broke out again between the Sabreurs, the Fronde party, and the Canifets, the favourers of Royal prerogative; each was headed by a young peasantess armed with a scythe. Frightful violence ensued. The mayor and many officers of the town were killed. Men, women, and children were massacred indiscriminately as this or that faction got the upper hand. The king sent troops to Draguignan, and ordered the demolition of the castle, which was the bone of contention between the parties, and most of the Sabreurs fled into Piedmont The story goes that a cavalry regiment called La Cornette blanche was quartered in the town, and having behaved with great insolence, the people rose in the night and massacred every man in the regiment, But in the municipal records there is nothing to be found to confirm the tradition.

Les Tourettes by Fayence, easily accessible from Draguignan, is a most extraordinary pile, like no other castle known. In the time of the religious wars it was held by the Carcists, and they, being short of provisions, at night raided the neighbourhood. The people of

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/168


text:
Page:Sophocles - Seven Plays, 1900.djvu/27

Rh

The horror and the pity of it are both enhanced by the character of Oedipus—his essential innocence, his affectionateness, his uncalculating benevolence and public spirit;—while his impetuosity and passionateness make the sequel less incredible.

The essential innocence of Oedipus, which survives the ruin of his hopes in this world, supplies the chief motive of the Oedipus at Colonos. This drama, which Sophocles is said to have written late in life, is in many ways contrasted with the former Oedipus. It begins with pity and horror, and ends with peace. It is only in part founded on Epic tradition, the main incident belonging apparently to the local mythology of the poet’s birthplace. It also implies a later stage of ethical reflection, and in this respect resembles the Philoctetes; it depends more on lyrical and melodramatic effects, and allows more room for collateral and subsidiary motives than any other of the seven. Yet in its principal theme, the vindication or redemption of an essentially noble spirit from the consequences of error, it repeats a note which had been struck much earlier in the Aias with great force, although with some crudities of treatment which are absent from the later drama.

5. In one of the Epic poems which narrated the fall of Troy, the figure of Aias was more prominent than in the Iliad. He alone and unassisted was there said to have repulsed Hector from the ships, and he had the chief share, although in this he was aided by Odysseus, in rescuing the dead body of Achilles. Yet Achilles’ arms were awarded by the votes of the chieftains, as the prize of valour, not to Aias, but to Odysseus. This, no doubt, meant that wisdom is better than strength. But


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/169

Rh Fayence complained to the Governor of Provence, and he authorised them to take what measures they liked to free themselves of the inconvenience. Accordingly they sent for a cannon from Antibes and proceeded to batter the castle down; and by keeping up an incessant fire they made the castle too hot for the Carcists, who fled, and then the good folk of Fayence proceeded to gut and unroof the castle, so as to save themselves from further annoyance from that quarter.

Draguignan was supplied with water by a canal cut, so it is asserted, by Queen Jeanne I. of Sicily, and she is also credited with having built the church at Salernes at the confluence of the Bresgne and the Brague, and to have resided at Draguignan. It is remarkable that only two names of their former rulers have any hold on the imagination and hearts of the Provencals of to-day, and these the names of two totally different characters—la reino Jeanno and good King Réné. It was through Queen Joanna or Jeanne of Sicily that King Réné acquired his empty royal titles. At Grasse a flight of stone steps built into a vaulted passage is all that remains of her palace. Houses said to have been occupied by her are pointed out in many places, but in some instances, as in that of the pretty Renaissance palace of Queen Jeanne at Les Baux, there is confusion made between her and Jeanne de Laval, the wife of King Réné. It may be asked, How in the name of Wonder did Joanna obtain the title of Queen of Jerusalem, so as to transmit the Crown of the Holy City to Réné through her grandniece, Joanna II.?

The bitter and implacable hostility borne by the Popes to the German Imperial House of Hohenstauffen

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/169


text:
Page:Sophocles - Seven Plays, 1900.djvu/28

xxii the wisdom of Odysseus in these later Epics was often less nobly esteemed than in the Iliad and Odyssey, and was represented as alloyed with cunning.

Aias has withdrawn with his Salaminians, in a rage, from the fight, and after long brooding by the ships his wrath has broken forth into a blaze which would have endangered the lives of Odysseus and the Atridae, had not Athena in her care for them changed his anger into madness. Hence, instead of slaying the generals, he makes havoc amongst the flocks and herds, which as the result of various forays were the common property of the whole army. The truth is discovered by Odysseus with the help of Athena, and from being next to Achilles in renown, Aias becomes the object of universal scorn and hatred. The sequel of this hour of his downfall is the subject of the Aias of Sophocles. After lamenting his fate, the hero eludes the vigilance of his captive bride Tecmessa, and of his Salaminian mariners, and, in complete solitude, falls upon his sword. He is found by Tecmessa and by his half-brother Teucer, who has returned too late from a raid in the Mysian highlands. The Atridae would prohibit Aias’ funeral; but Odysseus, who has been specially enlightened by Athena, advises generous forbearance, and his counsel prevails. The part representing the disgrace and death of Aias is more affecting to modern readers than the remainder of the drama. But we should bear in mind that the vindication of Aias after death, and his burial with undiminished honours, had an absorbing interest for the Athenian and Salaminian spectator.

Philoctetes also is rejected by man and accepted by Destiny. The Argives in his case, as the Thebans in the case of Oedipus, are blind to the real intentions of the Gods.

The Philoctetes, like the Oedipus at Colonos, was a work of Sophocles’ old age; and while it can hardly be said that the fire of tragic feeling is abated in either of these plays, dramatic effect is modified in both of them by the influence of the poet’s contemplative mood. The interest of the action in the Philoctetes is more inward


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/170

134 led Urban IV. to invite S. Louis, King of France, to assume the title of King of Sicily and Naples. But the delicate conscience of Louis revolted from such an usurpation. If the Crown were hereditary, it belonged to Conradin, grandson of Frederick II., the Great Redbeard, Emperor, King of Germany and of Sicily. But Charles of Anjou, the brother of S. Louis, was less scrupulous. He accepted the invitation. On the death of Urban, Clement IV. pursued the same policy. Manfred, the uncle of Conradin, then wore the Crown of the Sicilies. He was defeated by Charles and fell in battle, 1266, before the army of the Pope and of Charles of Anjou, marching as crusaders. Manfred left an only child, Constance, married to Peter III., King of Aragon. Conradin, at the head of an army, advanced to claim the Crown that was now his by right, regardless of the excommunication and curses hurled at him by the Pope. He was defeated and taken prisoner. Clement, fearful lest Charles should deal leniently towards the last of the Hohenstaufens, wrote to urge him to smother all feelings of pity. "The life of Conradin," he wrote, "is the death of Charles; the death of Conradin is the life of Charles"; and the Anjou prince had the last male of this noble race executed publicly. As Conradin stood on the scaffold, he flung his glove among the people, crying out that he constituted the King of Aragon his heir.

Charles was now King of the Two Sicilies. But he was ambitious of a more splendid title, and he bought that of Jerusalem from Mary of Antioch, daughter of Bohimund V, who inherited the title of King of Jerusalem from his mother, Melusina, daughter of Amaury de Lusignan, twelfth sovereign of the Christian

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/170


text:
Page:Sophocles - Seven Plays, 1900.djvu/29

Rh and psychological than in any other ancient drama. The change of mind in Neoptolemus, the stubborn fixity of will in Philoctetes, contrasted with the confiding tenderness of his nature, form the elements of a dramatic movement at once extremely simple and wonderfully sustained. No purer ideal of virtuous youth has been imagined than the son of Achilles, who in this play, though sorely tempted, sets faithfulness before ambition.

6. In the Electra, which, though much earlier than the Philoctetes, is still a work of his mature genius, our poet appears at first sight to be in unequal competition with Aeschylus. If the Theban trilogy of the elder poet had remained entire, a similar impression might have been produced by the Oedipus Tyrannus. It is best to lay such comparisons aside, and to consider the work of Sophocles simply on its own merits. The subject, as he has chosen to treat it, is the heroic endurance of a woman who devotes her life to the vindication of intolerable wrongs done to her father, and the restoration of her young brother to his hereditary rights. Hers is the human agency which for this purpose works together with Apollo. But the divine intention is concealed from her. She suffers countless indignities from her father's enemies, of whom her own mother is the chief. And, at length, all her hopes are shattered by the false tidings that Orestes is no more. Even then she does not relinquish her resolve. And the revulsion from her deep sorrow to extremity of joy, when she finds Orestes at her side and ready to perform the act of vengeance in his own person, is irresistably affecting, even when the play is only read.

Sophocles is especially great in the delineation of ideal female characters. The heroic ardour of Antigone, and the no less heroic persistence and endurance of Electra, are both founded on the strength of their affection. And the affection in both cases is what some moderns too have called the purest of human feelings, the love of a sister for a brother. Another aspect of that world-old marvel, 'the love of women,' was presented in Aias' captive bride, Tecmessa. This softer type also attains


text:
Author:George Jamieson

Works

 * (Finance)

title: Author:George Jamieson


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/171

Rh kingdom of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem itself had fallen into the hands of the Saracens in 1244. To return now to Jeanne de Naples. Joanna I. of Naples was born in 1327, and was the daughter of Charles, Duke of Calabria, and of Marie de Valois, his second wife. Charles was the only son of Robert the Good, King of Naples, who was the grandson of Charles of Anjou, brother of S. Louis, to whom had been given the Crown of Naples by Pope Urban IV., determined at any cost to destroy the Hohenstauffen dynasty. Charles, Duke of Calabria, died before his father, and Joanna succeeded to the throne at the age of sixteen. She had been badly brought up. Philippine Cabane, a washerwoman, wife of a fisherman, had been nurse to Charles, and she became later the nurse and confidante of Joanna. She was a very beautiful and a thoroughly unprincipled woman. On the death of her husband she married a young Saracen slave in the service of Raymond de Cabane, maître d’hôtel to the King. Raymond fell under the influence of this Saracen, and he introduced him to King Robert, who created him Grand Seneschal, to the indignation of the Sicilian nobility, and himself armed the Saracen knight. Soon after marrying this man, we find "a Cabanaise," as she was called, installed as lady of honour to Catherine of Austria, first wife of Charles of Calabria. Soon she induced Raymond to adopt her husband, and to give him his title and bequeath his fortune to him. Catherine of Austria died, and then Charles married Marie de Valois; and when

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/171


text:
Page:Sophocles - Seven Plays, 1900.djvu/30

xxiv to heroic grandeur in Dêanira, the wronged wife of Heracles, whose fatal error is caused by the innocent working of her wounded love.

It is strange that so acute a critic as A. W. Schlegel should have doubted the Sophoclean authorship of the Trachiniae. If its religious and moral lessons are even less obtrusive than those of either Oedipus and of the Antigone, there is no play which more directly pierces to the very heart of humanity. And it is a superficial judgement which complains that here at all events our sympathies are distracted between the two chief persons, Dêanira and Heracles. To one passion of his, to one fond mistake of hers, the ruin of them both is due. Her love has made their fates inseparable. And the spectator, in sharing Hyllus' grief, is afflicted for them both at once. We may well recognize in this treatment of the death of Heracles the hand of him who wrote—

7. It is unnecessary to expatiate here on the merit of construction in which these seven plays are generally acknowledged to be unrivalled; the natural way in which the main situation is explained, the suddenness and inevitableness of the complications, the steadily sustained climax of emotion until the action culminates, the preservation of the fitting mood until the end, the subtlety and effectiveness of the minor contrasts of situation and character

But it may not be irrelevant to observe that the acting qualities of Sophocles, as of Shakespeare, are


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/172

136 Jeanne or Joanna was born, Charles entrusted his child to this infamous woman. King Robert had been younger brother of Charles Martel, King of Hungary, and the Crown of Naples was liable to be disputed between the branches. It was therefore deemed advisable to marry Joanna to Andrew, son of Caroly I., and grandson of Charles Martel, King of Hungary. Joanna and Andrew were married when mere children—she, in fact, was only seven when affianced to him. She and Andrew never liked each other, and when they occupied one throne, dislike ripened into aversion; two factions rent the Court with their rivalries, one favoured by the King, the other by the Queen. At last Philippine Cabane induced Joanna to acquiesce in a plot to murder Andrew. One evening in September, 1345, when the Court was at Averso, the chamberlain of the King entered the bedroom, where were Andrew and Joanna, and announced to him that he had despatches of importance to communicate. Andrew rose from bed and went into the adjoining apartment, where he was set upon, and hung from the bars of the window with a rope into which gold thread had been twisted by the hands of Joanna, for as Andrew was a king, "Let him be strangled royally," she had said. The body of Andrew was left hanging from the window for two days. Joanna at the time was aged eighteen, but she was utterly corrupt in mind. At quite an early age she had had a liaison with the son of la Cabanaise. Pope Clement VI. deemed it incumbent on him as suzerain to order the murderers to be punished; but only accessories suffered. Philippine was tortured and died under torture. Her son, Robert de

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/172


text:
Author:James Hopwood Jeans

Works

 * 1904. The Dynamical Theory of Gases
 * 1906. Theoretical Mechanics
 * 1908. Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism
 * 1947. The Growth of Physical Science

title: Author:James Hopwood Jeans


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/173

Rh Cabane, was also made to suffer in like manner; but a wad was put in his mouth to prevent him from betraying the part the Queen had in the murder, and those publicly executed were also so gagged that they might not reveal her complicity in the crime. In less than two years after, on August 2Oth, 1347, Joanna married Louis of Tarentum, her cousin, who had been one of the prime investigators of the murder. But Louis, King of Hungary, was determined to avenge the death of his brother, and he marched an army against Naples, under a black flag, on which was embroidered a representation of the murder of Andrew. Louis of Tarentum headed an army of Neapolitans against the invader, but it dispersed of itself, and Joanna fled with him to Provence in January, 1348, leaving behind her, in heartless indifference, her son, the child of the murdered Andrew. On reaching Provence she found the barons there byno means disposed to receive her with cordiality. The atrocity of the crime revolted them, and for a whole year they held her in prison. She was arraigned before the world as an adulteress and a murderess. At length, thanks to the intervention of Pope Clement VI., she was allowed to take refuge in Avignon, where she arranged terms with Clement, that he should declare her innocent and sanction her marriage with her cousin, in exchange for which favour she was to make over to him, for a nominal sum, the city of Avignon without the Venaissin previously acquired. The stipulated sum was 80,000 gold florins, amounting to about £128,000 in modern money. The sale was in direct contravention to the terms of the will of King Robert, who constituted her heiress with the proviso that she was not to dissipate

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/173


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/174

138 the Crown lands and rights in the Two Sicilies and in Provence. It was further a breach of a solemn oath she had taken to the barons "that she would never alienate or wrong her royal and loyal estates of Provence." But Joanna was in need of money to prosecute the war against Louis of Hungary. For this purpose she sold rights and domains wherever she could find a purchaser. She disposed of the forests of the Montagnes des Maures to the town of Hyères, and the fishing in the lake of Hyères as well. The rights of the Crown to the harvest of the kermes or cochineal insect that lived on the oaks, were also sold. Parts of the Esterel were alienated. Marseilles and other towns bought of her valuable privileges. Meanwhile, Louis of Hungary had lost much of his army about Naples, swept off by plague. He himself returned to Hungary, carrying with him the son of Joanna, born two months after the death of Andrew, deserted by her at Naples; the child, however, died soon after. Joanna, whitewashed by the Pope, returned to Naples in 1348, in August, whereupon Louis again appeared in Italy at the head of an army, but met with small success, and a truce was arranged; whereupon Joanna returned to Avignon, there to have her guilt or innocence formally tried before three cardinals nominated by the Pope. Louis accused Joanna of being more than accessory to the murder of her husband, and Louis of Tarentum of being an instigator of the crime, and Cardinal Talleyrand Perigord as having also been in the plot.

Joanna appeared before the Papal Commission. She pleaded guilty only to having disliked her husband, and claimed that this was due to witchcraft. She was

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/174


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/175

 Rh acquitted as innocent of all charges brought against her; and as the Pope was regarded as infallible judge, in morals as in matters of faith, the world was constrained to acquiesce in the judgment. Joanna returned to Naples, where she held a gay, voluptuous court, frequented by the wits and artists of Italy. Boccaccio wrote for her his filthy tales, which he afterwards grouped together in the Decameron. Petrarch corresponded with her. Leonardo da Vinci painted her portrait; pupils of Giotto painted for her; Troubadours sang before her, and were fulsome in their praise. But her rule was no rule at all. The country suffered from misgovernment. Companies of adventurers ravaged the kingdom, and carried their depredations to the very gates of Naples. Joanna cared for none of these things; did not give over her revelries and carnival entertainments. Her husband Louis was offended at her shameless gallantries, and beat her with his fists. He died in May, 1362; and she at once offered her hand to James of the House of Aragon, claimant to the throne of Majorca, a young and chivalrous prince. He accepted, and they were married in 1363; but she would not allow him any further title than that of Duke of Calabria. He was disgusted with the frivolity of her Court, and with her conduct, and fearing lest the same fate should befall him that had come on her first husband Andrew, he quitted Naples and fled to Spain. James of Aragon died, and in 1376 Joanna married Otto of Brunswick. This fourth marriage offended Charles of Durazzo, grandson of John de Gravia, younger brother of Robert, King of the Two Sicilies, who calculated on succeeding to the

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/175


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/176

140 throne and the county of Provence should Joanna die childless. His father Louis had been poisoned by Queen Joanna. Now ensued the great schism.

For seventy years the papal court had been at Avignon, and the Romans were sore that the money accruing from the influx of pilgrims, litigants, and suitors to the Pope should flow into the pockets of the Avignonese instead of their own. Gregory IX. had come to Rome, urged thereto by S. Catherine of Siena; and there he died in 1378. Thereupon the Romans, armed and furious, surrounded the conclave of the Cardinals, shouting for a Roman Pope. At the time there were in Rome sixteen Cardinals; eleven were French, four Italian, and one Spanish. Intimidated by the menaces of the populace, quaking for their lives, the Cardinals elected the Archbishop of Bari, a narrow-minded man, of low birth, coarse manners, no tact, and, as proved eventually, of remorseless cruelty. He showed at once of what stuff he was made by insulting the Cardinals, and by threats of swamping the college with Italian creations. The Cardinals fled to Anagni, where they issued a declaration that the election was void, as it had been made under compulsion, and that their lives had been threatened. However, the newly-elected Pope assumed the name of Urban VI. As Archbishop of Bari he had been the subject of Joanna, and she hailed his elevation, and sent him shiploads of fruit and wines, and the more solid gift of 20,000 florins. Her husband, Otho of Brunswick, went to Rome to pay his personal homage. But his reception was cold and repellent, and he retired in disgust. Only four Cardinals adhered to Pope Urban. The Cardinals at Anagni proceeded to elect Robert, Bishop

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/176


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/177

Rh of Geneva, to the papal throne, and he assumed the title of Clement VII. Joanna had sent a deputation to Urban, headed by her grand chancellor, Spinelli. In public, Urban treated the deputation with a torrent of abuse, saying that he would eject the queen from her throne, and shut her up in a cloister; aye, and would put in her place a man capable of governing well. Spinelli replied that the people were content with their legitimate sovereign; that she was not fit for a cloister; and that if force were used she would find arms ready to defend her. Urban had thrown down the gauntlet. Joanna, furious at the insult, at once acknowledged Clement as Pope.

At first the rival Popes hurled ecclesiastical thunders at each other; each denounced his rival as Antichrist, and each excommunicated his rival's adherents. France, Spain, Scotland, the Two Sicilies, acknowledged Clement; Germany, Hungary, and England, and the major part of Italy, recognised Urban.

All the fury of this latter was now turned against Joanna, and he sent a deputation to Hungary to incite Charles of Durazzo to take up arms against her. Charles was not willing to do so. He knew that now Joanna was an old woman, and most unlikely to have children, and that in a few years inevitably the crown would fall to him. But at this juncture, Joanna made a fatal mistake. Hearing of what the Pope had done, and supposing that Charles would at once comply with his urgency, she declared that she disinherited Charles, and bequeathed all her rights to the Two Sicilies and to Provence to Louis of Anjou, second son of King John of France. Thereupon Charles hesitated no longer. He raised

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/177


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/178

142 an army in Hungary, and prepared to invade Neapolitan territories. Pope Urban hired the services of a ruffian captain of a Free Company, Alberic Barbiano, to assist. Urban was not, however, prepared to support Charles without getting some advantage out of him, and he bargained with him that the Principality of Capua should be given to his nephew, Butillo Prignano: When Charles arrived in Rome, Urban decreed the deposition of Joanna, and invested Charles with the sovereignty, and himself crowned him. In the meantime Urban was busy in forming a party in Naples against the Queen, to whom Clement had fled. Among the twenty-six Cardinals whom he created in one day were several Neapolitans of the highest families and dignities in the kingdom. He degraded the Archbishop of Naples, and appointed in his room Bozzato, a man of influence and of powerful connexions in the city. By this means he secured a faction in Naples, opposed to Joanna and to her Pope. The new Archbishop set himself at the head of the opposition. Clement was so alarmed for his safety that he embarked, escaped to Provence, and retreated to Avignon. The Hungarian and Papal forces marched into the kingdom of Naples, and met with no organised resistance. Joanna was besieged in the Castel Nuovo, and Otho of Brunswick was captured in a sortie. Joanna in vain awaited help from the Duke of Anjou, and was forced by famine to surrender. She was confined in Muro, and at first was well treated, as Charles hoped that she would revoke her will in his favour. But when he saw that she was resolved not to do this, he sent to ask the King of Hungary what was to be done with her. The answer was that the same measure was to be meted

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/178


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/179

Rh out to her that had been measured to Andrew; and she was either strangled whilst at her prayers, or smothered under a feather bed, on May I2th, 1382.

She was buried first at Muro, and then her body was transferred to Naples. Opinions were divided as to her character. Angelo de Perugia qualified her as "santissima," and spoke of her as "l'onore del mundo, la luce deli Italia"; Petrarch greatly admired her; and recently, Mistral has composed a poem in which she is painted as a blameless and misrepresented personage. Her sister Maria was almost as bad as herself. She also had her husband, Robert des Baux, murdered. It is true that she had been married to him against her will. When she got the power in her hands she flung him into prison, and, entering the dungeon, along with four armed men, had him assassinated before her eyes, and the body cast out of a window and left without burial, till Joanna heard of her sister's action, when she sent and had the body decently interred.

After that Joanna had been put to death, Marie, natural daughter of Robert of Naples, and aunt of Joanna, was tried and executed as having been privy to the plot to murder Andrew. This Marie had carried on an intrigue with Boccaccio, and is believed to be the Fiammetta of the Decameron; but according toothers, Fiammetta was intended for Joanna herself. The Pope's nephew, who was to be invested with the

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/179


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/180

144 Principality of Capua as the price of Urban's assistance, soon after this broke into a convent and ravished a nun of high birth and great beauty. Complaints were made to the Pope. He laughed it off as a venial outburst of youth; but Butillo was forty years old. The new king's justice would not, however, endure the crime. A capital sentence was passed on Butillo. Pope Urban annulled the sentence, and Butillo was, if not rewarded, bought off by being given a wife, the daughter of the justiciary, and of the king's kindred, with a dowry of 70,000 florins a year, and a noble castle at Nocera. Thus satisfied, Urban excommunicated Louis of Anjou, declared him accursed, preached a crusade against him, and offered plenary indulgence to all who should take up arms against him.

The War of Inheritance ensued after the death of Joanna, devastating alike Naples and Provence.

Charles of Durazzo, whom Urban had crowned, had married his cousin Margaret, daughter of his uncle Charles, who had been executed in 1348 by Louis of Hungary, for having counselled the murder of his cousin Andrew. The father of Charles had been, as already intimated, poisoned by Joanna. Louis, King of Hungary, died in 1382; whereupon Charles claimed that kingdom, but was taken by Elizabeth, widow of Louis, thrown into prison, and murdered there by her orders. Charles left a son, Ladislas, and a daughter, Joanna. Ladislas was poisoned in 1414, as was supposed, and then Joanna II. became Queen of the Two Sicilies. Although twice married, she had no family, and she adopted Réné of Anjou and Provence as her heir, and died in 1435.

The whole pedigree is such a tangle, and the place of

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/180


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/181

145 each actor in the historic drama so difficult to fix without having a genealogical table before the eye, that I have appended one, omitting all such entries as do not specially concern the story. I may merely add that Joanna's second husband was her cousin, descended from Philip of Tarentum, brother of her grandfather, Robert of the Sicilies. Also, that the county of Provence descended to Joanna I. and Joanna II., through their common ancestor, Charles II. of Anjou, son of Charles I. and Beatrix, the heiress of that county. About her I shall have something to say later on.

Joanna II. was not much better as a woman than Joanna I. She was enamoured of her handsome seneschal, Gian Caracciolo, who did not respond to her advances. One day she inquired of her courtiers what animal each mainly disliked. One said a toad, another a spider: Caracciolo declared his utter loathing for a rat. Next day, when he was on his way to his room, he met a servant of the Queen with a cage full of rats. As he was attempting to pass by, the domestic opened the cage door, and out rushed the rats. Caracciolo fled, and, trying every door in the passage, found all locked save one, that into the Queen's apartment. She created him Duke of Avellino and Lord of Capua. One day, in 1432, relying on the favour he enjoyed, he asked to be created Prince of Capua. When she refused, he boxed her ears. This was an outrage she could not forgive, and by her orders he was assassinated in his room.

The Queen died two years later.

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/181


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/186

148 trap, basalt, and blue quartzite porphyry. Beside this is the new red sandstone and the Bunter sandstone. Variety of soil gives variety of vegetation; plantations of mimosa, not over a quarter of a century old, thrive on the primitive rocks, and are mixed with cork trees, umbrella pines, oaks, bushes of cistus, laurestinas, myrtle, rosemary, heath, broom, and in the spring gleam the white spears of the asphodel. It is a district in which geologist, botanist, and artist will revel alike.

"The group of the Estérel," says Lenthéric, "differs in form, in colour, in origin, from all the littoral mountains of the Provengal coast. It is entirely composed of primitive eruptive rocks; its highest summits may not reach above 1’800 feet; but all its ridges are pointed, and of a redness of fire. The crests of the mountains are bald and savage. The cliffs are abrupt, torn into projecting and retreating angles, and form on the sea-face an inaccessible fortification, defended by an archipelago of islets and reefs of almost polished porphyry, over which the waves have broken during many centuries without having been able to produce upon them any appreciable marks of geological erosion. The outline, the denticulation, the anfractuosities of the shore, the fiords and the rocky caverns into which the sea plunges, are little different to-day from what they were at the opening of historic times, even, one may say, at the beginning of our own geologic period."

This wild and wondrous region was occupied by a Ligurian tribe of Suelteri, who have left their name, much corrupted, to the district. The Romans found it difficult to conquer them, but they carried the Aurelian Road along the coast, where runs now the New Corniche Way.

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/186


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/315

 groundless fit of jealousy about one Molly Francis, and for some weeks, while accompanying Wesley on his journeys, was on and off with Bennet. Wesley, learning this, and assured by Grace that she loved him best, would neither give her up nor consent to an immediate marriage. On 7 Sept. he wrote to Bennet, claiming Grace as his own. He sent a copy of the letter to Charles Wesley, who at once interfered, calling in the aid of Whitefield, who seems to have acted against his own judgment, as expressed to Wesley. In their presence Mrs. Murray (though ‘at her request’ the Dublin contract with Wesley had been renewed before witnesses on 20 Sept.) was married to Bennet at St. Andrew's, Newcastle, on 3 Oct. 1749. Wesley met the pair at Leeds on 6 Oct.; he did not again see Mrs. Bennet till 1788, in company with Henry Moore (1751–1844) [q. v.], who was very favourably impressed by her (Addit. MS. 7119, with Wesley's autograph corrections; printed in Narrative of a Remarkable Transaction in the Early Life of John Wesley, 1848; 2nd edit., with  Review, 1862;, Journal, i. 225; , ii. 171; , Memoirs of Mrs. Grace Bennet, 1803). Wesley's keen smart of disappointment was also embodied in verses, written on 8 Oct., and first printed by Moore (the copy in Addit. MS. 7119 has four additional stanzas).

He received sympathy from Vincent Perronet [q. v.], and it was Perronet who convinced him that he ought to marry. Having reached this conviction on 2 Feb. 1750–1, he lost no time in acting upon it. His choice was Mary Vazeille, a lady seven years his junior, originally a domestic servant, now the widow of Anthony Vazeille (d. 1747), a London merchant, with a fortune of 3,000l., in half of which she had only a life interest.

She had four children, the youngest (Noah) under five years old. Charles Wesley had made her acquaintance through Edward Perronet, and had been her guest; of the match he ‘never had the least suspicion’ (, Journal, ii. 78). On 9 Feb. a marriage settlement was executed, securing Mrs. Vazeille's property to her own exclusive use. On Sunday, 10 Feb., Wesley sprained his ankle, and ‘spent the remainder of the week’ under Mrs. Vazeille's roof in Threadneedle Street, ‘partly in writing a Hebrew grammar.’ By 4 March he was still unable to walk (he preached on his knees), but on 18 or 19 Feb. he was married to Mrs. Vazeille (it is said, by Charles Manning, vicar of Hayes, Middlesex), his brother Charles being ‘one of the last that heard of his unhappy marriage’ (ib. ii. 79). Moore speaks of Mrs. Wesley as ‘well qualified’ for her position; she agreed that her husband should relax none of his labours, and for four years usually accompanied him on his journeys, travelling with him on his second visit to Scotland in 1753. She was tart of temper, and Wesley's ways were trying. Conscious of purity of intent, he corresponded with his women helpers with a familiarity which his wife deeply resented. This has been set down to jealousy, but may be construed as reasonable distrust of women whom she knew much better than he. When Wesley made Sarah Ryan (1724–1768) his housekeeper at Kingswood, and confided to her (writing as her ‘affectionate brother’) his domestic sorrows, his wife, finding Mrs. Ryan presiding at the preachers' dining-table, referred to the fact of her having ‘three husbands living’ (of three different nationalities) in terms inelegant but exact. The serious breach began in September 1755, when Mrs. Wesley opened a packet of her husband's letters, sent for delivery not through her, but through Charles Perronet. That she used violence, dragging her husband by the hair, rests on Hampson's testimony (, ii. 127;, ii. 110). Charles Wesley proved a most ineffective intermediary; Mrs. Wesley was zealous for her husband's position, and contrasted his labours with Charles's comparative ease (, p. 260). Wesley's letters to her are full of excellent sense, but show a fatal failure of sympathy. In his will of 1768 he made her his residuary legatee. His well-known ‘non revocabo’ (23 Jan. 1771), when she left him for her married daughter at Newcastle, was not the end of their connection. In July 1772 she returned, took part in his mission work, and did not finally desert him till 1776. She is then accused of publishing garbled extracts from his letters to damage his character (, iii. 233). The manuscript account of the Grace Murray episode (see above) came through her son Noah to Naphtaly Hart, who owned it in 1788, and bequeathed it (1829) to the British Museum. She died on 8 Oct. 1781, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Giles, Camberwell; her tombstone has disappeared, the widened roadway now passes over her grave. By her will (dated 4 Sept. 1779) she left Wesley a ‘mourning gold ring, in token that I die in love and friendship towards him.’ His last reference to her (in a letter of 25 July 1788) is not unkindly. The children of her married daughter are mentioned in his will as ‘my dear granddaughters.’

His marriage involved the resignation (1 June 1751) of his fellowship; from his society he never received more than 30l. a year and part of his


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/316

 travelling expenses (, iii. 615), but his income from his publications was by this time considerable, and was all spent on purposes of religion and charity. By the sale of cheap books and tracts for the people, he says (1789), ‘I unawares became rich.’ When he thought himself dying in 1753, and wrote his own epitaph, he made a point of his ‘not leaving, after his debts are paid, ten pounds behind him.’ To the commissioners of excise in 1776 he gravely returned the amount of his plate as ‘two silver teaspoons at London, and two at Bristol.’ His charities often exceeded 1,000l. a year (, iii. 616).

His journal of missionary travel would serve as a guide-book to the British Isles, and is replete with romantic incident and graphic pictures of life and manners. Forty-two times (from 1747) he crossed the Irish Sea (the first Irish conference was held at Limerick on 14 Aug. 1752). A mission tour in Holland was a recreation of his eightieth year. In Scotland, which he constantly visited (from 1751), his religious apart from his theological influence was greater than is generally allowed; in 1772 he received the freedom of the city of Perth (28 April) and the town of Arbroath (6 May). He was several times in the Isle of Man, and rejoiced to find there neither papist nor dissenter, but would have made an end of the Manx language. That he encountered much rough and even violent usage was a consequence of his determination to reach the lowest stratum of the population and compel a hearing. His perception that his ‘building materials’ (, iii. 325) were to be found in the neglected classes was justified by results. More has been made of his exclusion from churches than the facts warrant. As the real nature of his movement became apparent, prejudice declined (see the instructive story regarding Richard Cordeux, of St. Saviour's, York,, ii. 571).

Secker admirably describes Wesley's aim as ‘labouring to bring all the world to solid, inward, vital religion’ (, ii. 475). Throughout his work he was the educator and the social reformer as well as the evangelist. His brother Charles said of him that he was ‘naturally and habitually a tutor, and would be so to the end of the chapter’ (, iii. 37). He found ‘more profit in sermons on either good tempers, or good works, than in what are vulgarly called gospel sermons’ (Works, xiii. 34). His ‘Christian Library’ (1749–55) in fifty handy volumes (‘if angels were to write books, we should have very few folios,’ Arminian Magazine, 1781, pref.) gave the cream of English practical divinity. With amazing industry and versatility he provided his followers with manuals of history, civil and religious, physics, medicine, philology (including ‘the best English Dictionary in the world’), abridging Milton to suit their capacity, and condensing for their use a novel, ‘The Fool of Quality’ (1766), by Henry Brooke (1703?–1783) [q. v.] (see anecdote in, Adam Clarke, 1844, ii. 83). The marriages, dress, diet, and sanitary arrangements of his community were matters of his constant vigilance, along with the care of the poor, a system of loans for the struggling, provision for orphans, institution of Sunday schools (in which he was one of the first followers of Robert Raikes [q. v.]). It must be owned that, with the exception of Thomas Tryon [q. v.], no educator had a worse system with children; they were neither to ‘play nor cry’ (, Christian Developments, 1853, p. 110); Tryon would not let them even laugh. Wesley's treatise on medicine, ‘Primitive Physic,’ was published in 1747, reached its twentieth edition in 1781, and its thirty-sixth in 1840. It contains definitions of diseases, followed by prescriptions for their cure, many of which are taken from the writings of Sydenham, Dover, Mead, Cheyne, Lind, and Boerhaave. The only efficient remedy for ague, chinchona bark, is omitted as ‘extremely dangerous,’ while onions, groundsel, frankincense, yarrow, and cobwebs are prescribed. In the edition of 1760 and thenceforward the use of electricity is recommended in several diseases.

By 1763 Wesley was practically the only itinerating clergyman, and the need of clerical provision for his societies began to be acutely felt. His lay preachers were ready for separation as early as the conference of 1755. The celebration of the eucharist by lay preachers had already begun at Norwich in 1760, while Wesley was in Ireland [see ]. Earlier than this he said to Charles (19 Oct. 1754) ‘We have in effect ordained already,’ and ‘was inclined to lay on hands’ (, ii. 202). Maxfield, who quitted Wesley in 1763, had been ordained by William Barnard [q. v.], bishop of Derry, ‘to assist that good man, that he may not work himself to death’ (Journal, 23 April 1763). His place as Wesley's London assistant was taken by John Richardson, a curate from Sussex. In April 1764 Wesley projected in vain a union of methodist clergy; the Calvinists held aloof. In and about November 1764, Wesley obtained ordination for several of his preachers from a certain Erasmus, bishop


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/187

Rh When Charles V. penetrated into Provence, with intention to annex it, and Francis I. retreated before him, he was so harassed by the natives of the Estérel swooping down on his convoys and capturing them, or cutting to pieces detached regiments, that he set the forests on fire, and for a week or ten days flames raged about the ruddy cliffs, making them look as if they had been heated red hot, and either burning the gallant defenders or driving them in desperation to break forth from this vast raging kiln to fall on the pikes of his men-at-arms.

Men, women, children, cattle, all perished in this horrible pyre; and when the conflagration died out for lack of fuel, nothing was left but the ashes of the burnt forest, mixed with the calcined bones of those who had perished in it, above which stood the gaunt red spires of rock, like petrified flames. Such conduct provoked reprisals, and not a soldier of the invaders was spared who fell into the hands of the exasperated Provençals. At the little village of Le Muy stood, and stands still, a solitary tower by the side of the road, along which the Emperor was marching. It was old and in decay, a ruin in the midst of ruins; and so little did it excite suspicion that the Imperialists did not trouble to examine it. But five gentlemen, witnesses of the atrocities committed by Charles V., bound themselves to revenge them. Accompanied by fifteen soldiers and about thirty peasants well armed, all as devoted and intrepid as themselves, they shut themselves into the old tower. There each planted his arquebus in a loophole or a crack in the walls, resolved to shoot down the Emperor as he passed. Clouds of dust announced the approach

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/187


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/317

 of Arcadia in Crete, of whose episcopal character he had ‘abundant unexceptionable credentials’ (Works, x. 432). Erasmus knew no English, and his candidates knew no Greek ({sc|Hampson}}, iii. 188). It is not stated whether Erasmus ordained them to the priesthood; it is certain that two of them, John Jones and Lawrence Coughlan, on leaving Wesley, were again ordained by the bishop of London. Toplady and Rowland Hill (1744–1833) [q. v.] affirmed that Wesley had asked Erasmus to consecrate him bishop and been refused, a statement denied by Wesley in both its parts (Olivers's Letter to Toplady, 1771, p. 50). Much later (20 Sept. 1788) he writes ‘men may call me a knave or a fool, a rascal, a scoundrel, and I am content; but they shall never, by my consent, call me a bishop’ (Works, xiii. 71). Yet he considered (8 June 1780) that he had ‘as good a right to ordain as to administer the Lord's Supper’ (Works, xii. 137). However in August 1780 he made a second application to Robert Lowth or Louth [q. v.] for the ordination of a preacher for America, and was refused because the candidate was no classical scholar. Two of Lady Huntingdon's clergy (Wills and Taylor), having been prosecuted for irregularity, seceded from the Anglican church, and held a public ordination on 9 March 1783. Wesley must have strongly felt the pressure of this example.

On 28 Feb. 1784 he executed the ‘deed of declaration,’ which was enrolled in the court of chancery, and constitutes the charter of Wesleyan methodism and the beginning of its modern history. Its object was to settle the uses of the methodist chapels (359 in number) after the deaths of Wesley and his brother; and for this purpose to create a legal ‘conference,’ limiting its number to a hundred preachers (selected out of 192), and defining its powers and procedure. In this measure, Wesley's chief adviser was Thomas Coke [q. v.], whom he first met in 1776; the limitation and selection of the ‘legal hundred’ was Wesley's own act, overriding Coke's judgment. Coke was destined, with Francis Asbury [q. v.], to act as joint superintendents of the methodists in America (a chapel had been opened in New York in 1767). At Bristol, on 1 Sept. 1784, Wesley in conjunction with Coke and James Creighton, an Anglican clergyman [see ], ordained Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey as presbyters for the American mission. On 2 Sept. Coke, in presence of Creighton and others, was ‘set apart as a superintendent’ by the imposition of Wesley's hands (certificate in Life of Coke, 1817, p. 66). Next Christmas, Coke and his coadjutors exercised their ordaining powers on Asbury; Wesley severely rebuked Coke's assumption of the title of bishop. On 1 Aug. 1785 Wesley ‘set apart’ John Pawson, Thomas Hanby, and Joseph Taylor for Scotland. At the conference of 1786 Joshua Keighley and Charles Atmore were ‘set apart’ for Scotland, William Warrener for Antigua, and William Hammet for Newfoundland. In 1787 five were ‘set apart.’ In 1788 John Barber and Joseph Cownley were ‘set apart’ in Scotland; and, at the conference of that year, seven others, Alexander Mather being set apart as a superintendent. On Ash Wednesday (27 Feb.) 1789 Wesley, with Creighton and Peard Dickenson, an Anglican clergyman (1759–1802), set apart Henry Moore (1751–1844) [q. v.] and Thomas Rankin as presbyters (certificate in Life of Moore, 1844, p. 121). These were the last ordained. Entitled to administer sacraments and transmit this right, they were to exercise it as Wesley's deputies, within a defined sphere of labour. ‘Whatever is done in America and Scotland,’ wrote Wesley in 1786, ‘is no separation from the church of England’ (, iii. 442), an argument inapplicable to the last three cases. Creighton affirms that Wesley repented of his action (, ii. 216;, iii. 441). His sermon on ‘the ministerial office’ (Cork, 4 May 1789) denies that the unordained may administer sacraments, and was regarded, somewhat unreasonably, as receding from his earlier position (see criticism in, ii. 339). As early as 1760 methodists at Norwich had taken the benefit of the Toleration Act. On 3 Nov. 1787 Wesley, under legal advice, decided to license all his chapels and travelling preachers ‘not as dissenters but simply “preachers of the gospel”’ (Journal). Owning that he ‘varied’ from the church (Cork sermon) he would never allow that this amounted to separation; he laid stress on the fact that he was under no ecclesiastical censure. His position was not unlike that of Richard Baxter [q. v.], whose spirit he contrasts (Journal, 1 May 1755) with the bitterness of Michaijah Towgood [q. v.] With few exceptions (e.g. Doddridge) he had no personal relations with dissenters, though be expresses high admiration of the ejected nonconformists of 1662, as known to him through Neal.

Wesley writes (26 June 1785), ‘I am become, I know not how, an honourable man.’ His attitude (from 1775) towards the revolt of the American colonies (earlier he had somewhat favoured their cause) contributed to his popularity, and severed him from the


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/188

150 of the hostile army. None of the devoted men knew Charles by sight, but they hoped to recognize him by the superior splendour of his armour, and the state that surrounded him. But one of the first to go by, in gorgeous panoply, was the Spaniard Garcia Luzzio, mounted on a noble courser, and accompanied by picked soldiers. Thinking that this must be the Emperor, the Provençal gentlemen poured upon the Spaniard a hail of bullets, and he fell from his horse, dead. Such an unexpected assault staggered the soldiers of Luzzio for a moment. But they speedily rallied and rushed to the tower bravely to revenge the death of their leader. The Provençals replied by a fresh discharge, which overthrew several of the soldiers. Knowing that they must expect death, they were resolved to sell their lives dearly; and they were able to kill a number of their assailants when they came on, without order and discipline.

To sacrifice as few as possible, the officers ordered the soldiers to withdraw and await the commands of the Emperor. Charles V. came up and had cannon levelled at the tower, and the gallant defenders either perished in its ruins, or fell into the hands of the Imperialists, who hung them from the trees round about.

In time the Estérel was again clothed in forest, and then became the haunt of all the outlaws and gaol-birds who had broken loose. These were organised into a body by one Gaspard de Besse, the Robin Hood of the district. He with his band became the terror of Provence, waylaying merchants on the high roads, and retreating to various caves still shown in several places, after having plundered unfortunate travellers. When pursuit was hottest, he escaped to the Estérel.

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/188


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/318

 politics of dissent. Johnson, the arguments of whose ‘Taxation no Tyranny’ he embodied in his own ‘A Calm Address to our American Colonies’ (1775, 4to), wrote to express his satisfaction at having ‘gained such a mind as yours’ (6 Feb. 1776). On the same subject Wesley added ‘A Calm Address to the Inhabitants of England’ (1777) and ‘A Serious Address’ (1778). In this connection it should be noted that he was the earliest religious leader of the first rank to join the protest against slavery. He lost no popularity by his protest (21 Jan. 1780) against toleration of Roman catholics; this brought him into controversy with Arthur O'Leary [q. v.], whom he met on friendly terms in 1787. At the same time he denounced the mischievous folly of the Irish penal laws against Roman catholics.

After 1787 he published nothing except in the ‘Arminian Magazine,’ but to the last continued to travel. He is said to have preached forty thousand sermons and travelled 250,000 miles. He suffered from various ailments, including hereditary gout (of which his mother died), had undergone a surgical operation (1774), and was attacked by diabetes in 1789. His last entry in his account-book is dated 16 July 1790; his last sermon (at Leatherhead) was preached on 23 Feb. 1791; his last letter (to Wilberforce) was written the following day. John Whitehead (1740?–1804) [q. v.] attended him from 25 Feb.; he declined further medical advice. On 2 March 1791 he died at the chapel-house in City Road. His body was visited by vast crowds, both at the house and (8 March) in the chapel. At the early hour of five on the morning of 9 March he was buried in a vault to the rear of the chapel, Richardson, his assistant, reading the burial service (substituting ‘father’ for ‘brother’). Whitehead preached the funeral sermon. The body was recoffined in 1828. In addition to the inscribed tomb, there is a marble tablet within the chapel, and a statue in front of the building. Of other monumental memorials the most notable is the tablet (1871) in Westminster Abbey with profile likenesses of John and Charles Wesley. His will (dated 20 Feb. 1789; codicil 25 Feb.) is printed by Whitehead and other biographers.

Like all the Wesleys, he was of short stature; his person was slim and his countenance fresh-coloured. His eye was ‘the brightest and most piercing that can be conceived’ (, iii. 167). From early life he wore his (originally auburn) hair in long locks reaching to his shoulders. For a story of the cropping of his hair by a virago at Savannah, see ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ 1792, i. 24; on the question whether he ever wore a wig, see ‘Notes and Queries,’ 28 Dec. 1867 p. 519, 18 Jan. 1868 p. 65; on his very numerous portraits, see ‘Notes and Queries,’ 4 Feb. 1865 p. 103, 1 April 1865 p. 256. He himself preferred the paintings by J. Williams (1741; engraved 1742) and by Romney (1789; engraved 1790). The National Portrait Gallery has his portrait by Nathaniel Hone (1766), and another by William Hamilton (1789); also a marble bust, of unknown date. In January 1774 he sat for his effigy in wax for Mrs. Wright's museum in New York. No likeness gives a better idea of his person than the etching (1790) by John Kay (1742–1826) [q. v.], which shows him walking between James Hamilton, M.D. (1740–1827), and Joseph Cole (d. 1826). A very impressive profile sketch, taken after death, was engraved in 1791. His punctual habits and even temper gave him happiness in a life severely laborious. ‘It was impossible to be long in his company without partaking his hilarity’ (, iii. 178). He was a good swimmer, in early life a great walker; on horseback he read as he rode, holding up the book to his eyes owing to near sight; only in late life did he take to a chaise. He early learned to sleep on the floor. In 1742 he left off tea. At seventy-one he thought preaching at five in the morning ‘one of the most healthy exercises in the world;’ at seventy-seven he recommended fasting on Fridays as a remedy for nervous disorders, and affirmed that he had not ‘felt lowness of spirits for one quarter of an hour’ since he was born; at eighty-five he had ‘never once lost a night's sleep.’ Of his preaching there are interesting notices by Horace Walpole (10 Oct. 1766), who thought him ‘as evidently an actor as Garrick;’ by Sir Walter Scott, who heard him in 1782, and speaks of his sermons as ‘vastly too colloquial,’ but with ‘many excellent stories;’ and by Henry Crabb Robinson [q. v.], who draws an impressive picture of his preaching at Colchester (October 1790), held up in the pulpit by two ministers. In his ordinary services he rarely preached more than twenty minutes, taking his text from the gospel or epistle for the day; his matter, according to Henry Moore's personal testimony, was very unequal (unpublished letter;, iii. 169). To his conversational powers Johnson (who introduced him to Boswell, thinking ‘worthy and religious men should be acquainted’) bears testimony, lamenting that he was ‘never at leisure.’ He said himself, ‘though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry’ (10 Dec. 1777), in this resembling Priestley, with whom he


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/189

Rh Several murders that he had committed were the occasion of a price being put on his head, and he was eventually captured and broken on the wheel at Aix in 1776. He is the hero of a charming story by Mme. Charles Reybaud, published in 1859, but now out of print and very scarce. A drama called L’Auberge des Adrets had its scene laid in the Esterel, in 1823. In 1787 the celebrated Saussure visited the Estérel as geologist and botanist; but his enthusiasm for the semi-tropical flora he met with in his excursions was somewhat tempered by uneasiness about his safety. He says:—

"The main road is entirely exposed, and is dominated by salient rocks, on which the brigands plant their sentinels. They suffer travellers to advance to some open space between these points of vantage. Then, from their ambushes in the woods, they swoop down on them and plunder them, whilst the sentinels keep a good look-out, lest the guards should come and surprise them. In the event of any of these appearing, a whistle suffices to warn the robbers, and they dive out of sight into the forest. It is absolutely impossible to reach them. Not only is the undergrowth very dense, but it is encumbered with huge blocks of stone. There are neither by-roads nor paths; and unless one knows the intricacies of the woods as well as do the brigands themselves, no one can penetrate into them, except very slowly. The forest extends to the sea, and the whole district, entirely uncultivated, is a place of refuge for the convicts who have escaped from the galleys of Toulon, the nursery of all the robbers of the country."

Millin, who wrote in 1807, says:—

"In general it is not possible to rely on the peasants in this region. If you ask of them your way, they will either not answer you at all or will misdirect you. Be careful that

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/189