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CHAP. IX. civilisations are everywhere seen united. A Fief was an organically complete brotherhood of associates whose proprietary and personal rights were inextricably blended together. It had much in common with an Indian Village Community and much in common with a Highland clan. But still it presents some phenomena which we never find in the associations which are spontaneously formed by beginners in civilisation. True archaic communities are held together not by express rules, but by sentiment, or, we should perhaps say, by instinct; and new comers into the brotherhood are brought within the range of this instinct by falsely pretending to share in the blood-relationship from which it naturally springs. But the earliest feudal communities were neither bound together by mere sentiment nor recruited by a fiction. The tie which united them was Contract, and they obtained new associates by contracting with them. The relation of the lord to the vassals had originally been settled by express engagement, and a person wishing to engraft himself on the brotherhood by commendation or infeudation came to a distinct understanding as to the conditions on which he was to be admitted. It is therefore the sphere occupied in them by Contract which principally distinguishes the feudal institutions from the unadulterated usages of primitive races. The lord had many of the characteristics of a patriarchal chieftain, but his

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366 was limited by a variety of settled customs traceable to the express conditions which had been agreed upon when the infeudation took place. Hence flow the chief differences which forbid us to class the feudal societies with true archaic communities. They were much more durable and much more various; more durable, because express rules art less destructible than instinctive habits, and more various, because the contracts on which they were founded were adjusted to the minutest circumstances and wishes of the persons who surrendered or granted away their lands. This last consideration may serve to indicate how greatly the vulgar opinions current among us as to the origin of modern society stand in need of revision. It is often said that the irregular and various contour of modern civilisation is due to the exuberant and erratic genius of the Germanic races, and it is often contrasted with the dull routine of the Roman Empire. The truth is that the Empire bequeathed to modern society the legal conception to which all this irregularity is attributable; if the customs and institutions of barbarians have one characteristic more striking than another, it is their extreme uniformity.

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CHAP. X.

Teutonic Codes, including those of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, are the only bodies of archaic secular law which have come down to us in such a state that we can form an exact notion of their original dimensions. Although the extant fragments of Roman and Hellenic codes suffice to prove to us their general character, there does not remain enough of them for us to be quite sure of their precise magnitude or of the proportion of their parts to each other. But still on the whole all the known collections of ancient law are characterised by a feature which broadly distinguishes them from systems of mature jurisprudence. The proportion of criminal to civil law is exceedingly different. In the German codes, the civil part of the law has trifling dimensions as compared with the criminal. The traditions which speak of the sanguinary penalties inflicted by the code of Draco seem to indicate that it had the same characteristic. In the Twelve Tables alone, produced by a society of greater legal genius and at first of gentler manners, the civil law has something like its modern precedence; but the relative amount of space given

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368 to the modes of redressing wrong, though not enormous, appears to have been large. It may be laid down, I think, that the more archaic the code, the fuller and the minuter is its penal legislation. The phenomenon has often been observed, and has been explained, no doubt to a great extent correctly, by the violence habitual to the communities which for the first time reduced their laws to writing. The legislator, it is said, proportioned the divisions of his work to the frequency of a certain class of incidents in barbarian life. I imagine, however, that this account is not quite complete. It should be recollected that the comparative barrenness of civil law in archaic collections is consistent with those other characteristics of ancient jurisprudence which have been discussed in this treatise. Nine-tenths of the civil part of the law practised by civilised societies are made up of the Law of Persons, of the Law of Property and of Inheritance, and of the Law of Contract. But it is plain that all these provinces of jurisprudence must shrink within narrower boundaries, the nearer we make our approaches to the infancy of social brotherhood. The Law of Persons, which is nothing else than the Law of Status, will be restricted to the scantiest limits as long as all forms of Status are merged in common subjection to Paternal Power, as long as the Wife has no rights against her Husband, the Son none against his

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CHAP. X. Father, and the infant Ward none against the Agnates who are his Guardians. Similarly, the rules relating to Property and Succession can never be plentiful, so long as land and goods devolve within the family, and, if distributed at all, are distributed inside its circle. But the greatest gap in ancient civil law will always be caused by the absence of Contract, which some archaic codes do not mention at all, while others significantly attest the immaturity of the moral notions on which Contract depends by supplying its place with an elaborate jurisprudence of Oaths. There are no corresponding reasons for the poverty of penal law, and accordingly, even if it be hazardous to pronounce that the childhood of nations is always a period of ungoverned violence, we shall still be able to understand why the modern relation of criminal law to civil should be inverted in ancient codes.

I have spoken of primitive jurisprudence as giving to criminal law a priority unknown in a later age. The expression has been used for convenience' sake, but in fact the inspection of ancient codes shows that the law which they exhibit in unusual quantities is not true criminal law. All civilised systems agree in drawing a distinction between offences against the State or Community and offences against the Individual, and the two classes of injuries, thus kept apart, I may here, without pretending that the terms

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370 have always been employed consistently in jurisprudence, call Crimes and Wrongs, crimina and delicta. Now the penal law of ancient communities is not the law of Crimes; it is the law of Wrongs, or, to use the English technical word, of Torts. The person injured proceeds against the wrong-doer by an ordinary civil action, and recovers compensation in the shape of money-damages if he succeeds. If the Commentaries of Gaius be opened at the place where the writer treats of the penal jurisprudence founded on the Twelve Tables, it will be seen that at the head of the civil wrongs recognised by the Roman law stood Furtum or Theft. Offences which we are accustomed to regard exclusively as crimes are exclusively treated as torts, and not theft only, but assault and violent robbery, are associated by the jurisconsult with trespass, libel and slander. All alike gave rise to an Obligation or vinculum juris, and were all requited by a payment of money. This peculiarity, however, is most strongly brought out in the consolidated Laws of the Germanic tribes. Without an exception, they describe an immense system of money compensations for homicide, and with few exceptions, as large a scheme of compensations for minor injuries. "Under Anglo-Saxon law," writes Mr. Kemble (Anglo-Saxons, i. 177), "a sum was placed on the life of every free man, according to his rank, and a corresponding sum on every wound

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CHAP. X. that could be inflicted on his person, for nearly every injury that could be done to his civil rights, honour or peace; the sum being aggravated according to adventitious circumstances." These compositions are evidently regarded as a valuable source of income; highly complex rules regulate the title to them and the responsibility for them; and, as I have already had occasion to state, they often follow a very peculiar line of devolution, if they have not been acquitted at the decease of the person to whom they belong. If therefore the criterion of a delict, wrong, or tort be that the person who suffers it, and not the State, is conceived to be wronged, it may be asserted that in the infancy of jurisprudence the citizen depends for protection against violence or fraud not on the Law of Crime but on the Law of Tort.

Torts then are copiously enlarged upon in primitive jurisprudence. It must be added that Sins are known to it also. Of the Teutonic codes it is almost unnecessary to make this assertion, because those codes, in the form in which we have received them, were compiled or recast by Christian legislators. But it is also true that non-Christian bodies of archaic law entail penal consequences on certain classes of acts and on certain classes of omissions, as being violations of divine prescriptions and commands. The law administered at Athens by the Senate of

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372 was probably a special religious code, and at Rome, apparently from a very early period, the Pontifical jurisprudence punished adultery, sacrilege and perhaps murder. There were therefore in the Athenian and in the Roman States laws punishing sins. There were also laws punishing torts. The conception of offence against God produced the first class of ordinances; the conception of offence against one's neighbour produced the second; but the idea of offence against the State or aggregate community did not at first produce a true criminal jurisprudence.

Yet it is not to be supposed that a conception so simple and elementary as that of wrong done to the State was wanting in any primitive society. It seems rather that the very distinctness with which this conception is realised is the true cause which at first prevents the growth of a criminal law. At all events, when the Roman community conceived itself to be injured, the analogy of a personal wrong received was carried out to its consequences with absolute literalness, and the State avenged itself by a single act on the individual wrong-doer. The result was that, in the infancy of the commonwealth, every offence vitally touching its security or its interests was punished by a separate enactment of the legislature. And this is the earliest conception of a crimen or Crime—an act involving such high issues that the State, instead of leaving its cognisance

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CHAP. X. to the civil tribunal or the religious court, directed a special law or privilegium against the perpetrator. Every indictment therefore took the form of a bill of pains and penalties, and the trial of a criminal was a proceeding wholly extraordinary, wholly irregular, wholly independent of settled rules and fixed conditions. Consequently, both for the reason that the tribunal dispensing justice was the sovereign state itself and also for the reason that no classification of the acts prescribed or forbidden was possible, there was not at this epoch any Law of crimes, any criminal jurisprudence. The procedure was identical with the forms of passing an ordinary statute; it was set in motion by the same persons and conducted with precisely the same solemnities. And it is to be observed that, when a regular criminal law with an apparatus of Courts and officers for its administration had afterwards come into being, the old procedure, as might be supposed from its conformity with theory, still in strictness remained practicable; and, much as resort to such an expedient was discredited, the people of Rome always retained the power of punishing by a special law offences against its majesty. The classical scholar does not require to be reminded that in exactly the same manner the Athenian Bill of Pains and Penalties, or εἰσαγγελία, survived the establishment of regular tribunals. It is known too

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374 that when the freemen of the Teutonic races assembled for legislation, they also claimed authority to punish offences of peculiar blackness or perpetrated by criminals of exalted station. Of this nature was the criminal jurisdiction of the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot.

It may be thought that the difference which I have asserted to exist between the ancient and modern view of penal law has only a verbal existence. The community, it may be said, besides interposing to punish crimes legislatively, has from the earliest times interfered by its tribunals to compel the wrong-doer to compound for his wrong, and, if it does this, it must always have supposed that in some way it was injured through his offence. But, however rigorous this inference may seem to us now-a-days, it is very doubtful whether it was actually drawn by the men of primitive antiquity. How little the notion of injury to the community had to do with the earliest interferences of the State through its tribunals, is shown by the curious circumstances that in the original administration of justice, the proceedings were a close imitation of the series of acts which were likely to be gone through in private life by persons who were disputing, but who afterwards suffered their quarrel to be appeased. The magistrate carefully simulated the demeanour of a private arbitrator casually called in.

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CHAP. X. In order to show that this statement is not a mere fanciful conceit, I will produce the evidence on which it rests. Very far the most ancient judicial proceeding known to us is the Legis Actio Sacramenti of the Romans, out of which all the later Roman Law of Actions may be proved to have grown. Gaius carefully describes its ceremonial. Unmeaning and grotesque as it appears at first sight, a little attention enables us to decipher and interpret it.

The subject of litigation is supposed to be in Court. If it is moveable, it is actually there. If it be immoveable, a fragment or sample of it is brought in its place; land, for instance, is represented by a clod, a house by a single brick. In the example selected by Gaius, the suit is for a slave. The proceeding begins by the plaintiff's advancing with a rod, which, as Gaius expressly tells, symbolised a spear. He lays hold of the slave and asserts a right to him with the words, "Hunc ego hominem ex Jure Quiritium meum esse dico secundum suam causam sicut dixi;" and then saying, "Ecce tibi Vindictam imposui," he touches him with the spear. The defendant goes through the same series of acts and gestures. On this the Prætor intervenes, and bids the litigants relax their hold, "Mittite ambo hominem." They obey, and the plaintiff demands from the defendant the reason of his interference, "

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376 anne dicas quâ ex causâ vindicaveris." a question which is replied to by a fresh assertion of right, "Jus peregi sicut vindictam imposui." On this, the first claimant offers to stake a sum of money, called a Sacramentum, on the justice of his own case, "Quando tu injuriâ provocasti, D æris Sacramento te provoco," and the defendant, in the phrase "Similiter ego te," accepts the wager. The subsequent proceedings were no longer of a formal kind, but it is to be observed that the Prætor took security for the Sacramentum, which always went into the coffers of the State.

Such was the necessary preface of every ancient Roman suit. It is impossible, I think, to refuse assent to the suggestion of those who see in it a dramatization of the Origin of Justice. Two armed men are wrangling about some disputed property. The Prætor, vir pietate gravis, happens to be going by, and interposes to stop the contest. The disputants state their case to him, and agree that he shall arbitrate between them, it being arranged that the loser, besides resigning the subject of the quarrel, shall pay a sum of money to the umpire as remuneration for his trouble and loss of time. This interpretation would be less plausible than it is, were it not that, by a surprising coincidence, the ceremony described by Gaius as the imperative course of proceeding in a Legis Actio is substantially

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CHAP. X. the same with one of the two subjects which the God Hephæstus is described by Homer as moulding into the First Compartment of the Shield of Achilles. In the Homeric trial-scene, the dispute, as if expressly intended to bring out the characteristics of primitive society, is not about property but about the composition for a homicide. One person asserts that he has paid it, the other that he has never received it. The point of detail, however, which stamps the picture as the counterpart of the archaic Roman practice is the reward designed for the judges. Two talents of gold lie in the middle, to be given to him who shall explain the grounds of the decision most to the satisfaction of the audience. The magnitude of this sum as compared with the trifling amount of the Sacramentum seems to me indicative of the indifference between fluctuating usage and usage consolidated into law. The scene introduced by the poet as a striking and characteristic, but still only occasional, feature of city-life in the heroic age has stiffened, at the opening of the history. of civil process, into the regular, ordinary formalities of a lawsuit. It is natural therefore that in the Legis Actio the remuneration of the Judge should be reduced to a reasonable sum, and that, instead of being adjudged to one of a number of arbitrators by popular acclamation, it should be paid as a matter of course to the State which the Prætor

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378 represents. But that the incidents described so vividly by homer, and by Gaius with even more than the usual crudity of technical language, have substantially the same meaning, I cannot doubt; and, in confirmation of this view, it may be added that many observers of the earliest judicial usages of modern Europe have remarked that the fines inflicted by Courts on offenders were originally sacramenta. The State did not take from the defendant a composition for any wrong supposed to be done to itself, but claimed a share in the compensation awarded to the plaintiff simply as the fair price of its time and trouble. Mr. Kemble expressly assigns this character to the Anglo-Saxon bannum or fredum.

Ancient law furnishes other proofs that the earliest administrators of justice simulated the probable acts of persons engaged in a private quarrel. In settling the damages to be awarded, they took as their guide the measure of vengeance likely to be exacted by an aggrieved person under the circumstances of the case. This is the true explanation of the very different penalties imposed by ancient law on offenders caught in the act or soon after it and on offenders detected after considerable delay some strange exemplifications of this peculiarity are supplied by the old Roman law of Theft. The Laws of the Twelve Tables seem to have divided Thefts into Manifest and

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CHAP. X. Non-Manifest, and to have allotted extraordinarily different penalties to the offence according as it fell under one head or the other. The Manifest Thief was he who was caught within the house in which he had been pilfering, or who was taken while making off to a place of safety with the stolen goods; the Twelve Tables condemned him to be put to death if he were already a slave, and, if he was a freeman, they made him the bondsman of the owner of the property. The Non-Manifest Thief was he who was detected under any other circumstances than those described; and the old code simply directed that an offender of this sort should refund double the value of what he had stolen. In Gaius's day the excessive severity of the Twelve Tables to the Manifest Thief had naturally been much mitigated, but the law still maintained the old principle by mulcting him in fourfold the value of the stolen goods, while the Non-Manifest Thief still continued to pay merely the double. The ancient lawgiver doubtless considered that the injured proprietor, if left to himself, would inflict a very different punishment when his blood was hot from that with which he would be satisfied when the Thief was detected after a considerable interval; and to this calculation the legal scale of penalties was adjusted. The principle is precisely the same as that followed in the Anglo-Saxon and other Germanic codes, when they suffer a thief chased

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380 down and caught with the booty to be hanged or decapitated on the spot, while they exact the full penalties of homicide from anybody who kills him after the pursuit has been intermitted. These archaic distinctions bring home to us very forcibly the distance of a refined from a rude jurisprudence. The modern administrator of justice has confessedly one of the hardest tasks before him when he undertakes to discriminate between the degrees of criminality which belong to offences falling within the same technical description. It is always easy to say that a man is guilty of manslaughter, larceny, or bigamy, but it is often most difficult to pronounce what extent of moral guilt he has incurred, and consequently what measure of punishment he has deserved. There is hardly any perplexity in casuistry, or in the analysis of motive, which we may not be called upon to confront, if we attempt to settle such a point with precision; and accordingly the law of our day shows an increasing tendency to abstain as much as possible from laying down positive rules on the subject. In France, the jury is left to decide whether the offence which it finds committed has been attended by extenuating circumstances; in England, a nearly unbounded latitude in the selection of punishments is now allowed to the judge; while all States have in reserve an ultimate remedy for the miscarriages of law in the Prerogative of Pardon, universally lodged with

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CHAP. X. the Chief Magistrate. It is curious to observe how little the men of primitive times were troubled with these scruples, how completely they were persuaded that the impulses of the injured person were the proper measure of the vengeance he was entitled to exact, and how literally they imitated the probable rise and fall of his passions in fixing their scale of punishment. I wish it could be said that their method of legislation is quite extinct. There are, however, several modern systems of law which, in cases of graver wrong, admit the fact of the wrong doer leaving been taken in the act to be pleaded in justification of inordinate punishment inflicted on them by the sufferer—an indulgence which, though superficially regarded it may seem intelligible, is based, as it seems to me, on a very low morality.

Nothing, I have said, can be simpler than the considerations which ultimately led ancient societies to the formation of a true criminal jurisprudence. The State conceived itself to be wronged, and the Popular Assembly struck straight at the offender with the same movement which accompanied its legislative action. It is further true of the ancient world—though not precisely of the modern, as I shall have occasion to point out—that the earliest criminal tribunals were merely subdivisions, or committees, of the legislature. This, at all events, is the conclusion pointed at by the legal history of the two great

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382 states of antiquity, with tolerable clearness in one case, and with absolute distinctness in the other. The primitive penal law of Athens entrusted the castigation of offences partly to the Archons, who seem to have punished them as torts, and partly to the Senate of Areopagus, which punished them as sins. Both jurisdictions were substantially transferred in the end to the Heliæa, the High Court of Popular Justice, and the functions of the Archons and of the Areopagus became either merely ministerial or quite insignificant. But "Heliæa" is only an old word for Assembly; the Heliæa of classical times was simply the Popular Assembly convened for judicial purposes, and the famous Dikasteries of Athens were only its subdivisions or panels. The corresponding changes which occurred at Rome are still more easily interpreted, because the Romans confined their experiments to the penal law, and did not, like the Athenians, construct popular courts with a civil as well as a criminal jurisdiction. The history of Roman criminal jurisprudence begins with the old Judicia Populi, at which the Kings are said to have presided. These were simply solemn trials of great offenders under legislative forms. It seems, however that from an early period the Comitia had occasionally delegated its criminal jurisdiction to a Quæstio or Commission, which bore much the same relation to the Assembly as a Committee of the

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CHAP. X. House of Commons bears to the House itself, except that the Roman Commissioners or Quæstores did not merely report to the Comitia, but exercised all powers which that body was itself in the habit of exercising, even to the passing sentence on the Accused. A Quæstio of this sort was only appointed to try a particular offender, but there was nothing to prevent two or three Quæstiones sitting at the same time; and it is probable that several of them were appointed simultaneously, when several grave cases of wrong to the community had occurred together. There are also indications that now and then these Quæstiones approached the character of our Standing Committees, in that they were appointed periodically, and without waiting for occasion to arise in the commission of some serious crime. The old Quæstores Parricidii, who are mentioned in connection with transactions of very ancient date, as being deputed to try (or, as some take it, to search out and try) all cases of paricide and murder, seem to have been appointed regularly every year; and the Duumviri Perduellionis, or Commission of Two for trial of violent injury to the Commonwealth, are also believed by most writers to have been named periodically. The delegations of power to these latter functionaries bring us some way forwards. Instead of being appointed when and as state-offences were committed, they had a general, though a temporary

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384 jurisdiction over such as might be perpetrated. Our proximity to a regular criminal jurisprudence is also indicated by the general terms "Parricidium" and "Perduellio," which mark the approach to something like a classification of crimes.

The true criminal law did not however come into existence till the year B.C. 149, when L. Calpurnius Piso carried the statute known as the Lex Calpurnia de Repetundis. The law applied to cases Repetundarum Pecuniarum, that is, claims by Provincials to recover monies improperly received by a Governor-General, but the great and permanent importance of this statute arose from its establishing the first Quæstio Perpetua. A Quaestio Perpetua was a Permanent Commission as opposed to those which were occasional and to those which were temporary. It was a regular criminal tribunal, whose existence dated from the passing of the statute creating it and continued till another statute should pass abolishing it. Its members were not specially nominated, as were the members of the older Quæstiones, but provision was made in the law constituting it for selecting from particular classes the judges who were to officiate, and for renewing them in conformity with definite rules. The offences of which it took cognisance were also expressly named and defined in this statute, and the new Quæstio had authority to try and sentence all persons in future whose acts

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CHAP. X. should fall under the definitions of crime supplied by the law. It was therefore a regular criminal judicature, administering a true criminal jurisprudence.

The primitive history of criminal law divides itself therefore into four stages. Understanding that the conception of Crime, as distinguished from that of Wrong or Tort and from that of Sin, involves the idea of injury to the State or collective community, we first find that the commonwealth, in literal conformity with the conception, itself interposed directly, and by isolated acts, to avenge itself on the author of the evil which it had suffered. This is the point from which we start; each indictment is now a bill of pains and penalties, a special law naming the criminal and prescribing his punishment. A second step is accomplished, when the multiplicity of crimes compels the legislature to delegate its powers to particular Quæstiones or Commissions, each of which is deputed to investigate a particular accusation, and if it be proved, to punish the particular offender. Yet another movement is made when the Legislature, instead of waiting for the alleged commission of a crime as the occasion of appointing a Quæstio, periodically nominates Commissioners like the Quæstores Parricidii and the Duumviri Perduellionis, on the chance of certain classes of crimes being committed, and in the expectation that they will be perpetrated. The last stage is reached when the Quæstiones

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386 from being periodical or occasional become permanent Benches or Chambers—when the judges, instead of being named in the particular law nominating the Commission, are directed to be chosen through all future time in a particular way and from a particular class—and when certain acts are described in general language and declared to be crimes, to be visited, in the event of their perpetration, with specified penalties appropriated to each description.

If the Quæstiones Perpetuæ had had a longer history, they would doubtless have come to be regarded as a distinct institution, and their relation to the Comitia would have seemed no closer than the connection of our own Courts of Law with the Sovereign, who is theoretically the fountain of justice. But the imperial despotism destroyed them before their origin had been completely forgotten, and, so long as they lasted, these Permanent Commissions were looked upon by the Romans as the mere depositaries of a delegated power. The cognisance of crimes was considered a natural attribute of the legislature, and the mind of the citizen never ceased to be carried back from the Quæstiones, to the Comitia which had deputed them to put into exercise some of its own inalienable functions. The view which regarded the Quæstiones, even when they became permanent, as mere Committees of the Popular Assembly—as bodies which only ministered to a higher authority

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CHAP. X. —had some important legal consequences which left their mark on the criminal law to the very latest period. One immediate result was that the Comitia continued to exercise criminal jurisdiction by way of bill of pains and penalties, long after the Quæstiones had been established. Though the legislature had consented to delegate its powers for the sake of convenience to bodies external to itself, it did not follow that it surrendered them. The Comitia and the Quæstiones went on trying and punishing offenders side by side; and, any unusual outburst of popular indignation was sure, until the extinction of the Republic, to call down upon its object an indictment before the Assembly of the Tribes.

One of the most remarkable peculiarities of the institutions of the Republic is also traceable to this dependance of the Quæstiones on the Comitia. The disappearance of the punishment of Death from the penal system of Republican Rome used to be a very favourite topic with the writers of the last century, who were perpetually using it to point some theory of the Roman character or of modern social economy. The reason which can be confidently assigned for it stamps it as purely fortuitous. Of the three forms which the Roman legislature successively assumed, one, it is well known—the Comitia Centuriata—was exclusively taken to represent the State as embodied for military operations. The Assembly of the

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388 therefore, had all powers which may be supposed to be properly lodged with a General commanding an army, and, among them, it had authority to subject all offenders to the same correction to which a soldier rendered himself liable by breaches of discipline. The Comitia Centuriata could therefore inflict capital punishment. Not so, however, the Comitia Curiata or Comitia Tributa, They were fettered on this point by the sacredness with which the person of a Roman citizen, inside the walls of the city, was invested by religion and law; and, with respect to the last of them, the Comitia Tributa, we know for certain that it became a fixed principle that the Assembly of the Tribes could at most impose a fine. So long as criminal jurisdiction was confined to the legislature, and so long as the assemblies of the centuries and of the Tribes continued to exercise co-ordinate powers, it was easy to prefer indictments for graver crimes before the legislative body which dispensed the heavier penalties; but then it happened that the more democratic assembly, that of the Tribes, almost entirely superseded the others, and became the ordinary legislature of the later Republic. Now the decline of the Republic was exactly the period during which the Quæstiones Perpetuæ were established, so that the statutes creating them were all passed by a legislative assembly which itself could not, at its ordinary sittings, punish a criminal with

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CHAP. X. death. It followed that the Permanent Judicial Commissions, holding a delegated authority, were circumscribed in their attributes and capacities by the limits of the powers residing with the body which deputed them. They could do nothing which the Assembly of the Tribes could not have done; and, as the Assembly could not sentence to death, the Quæstiones were equally incompetent to award capital punishment. The anomaly thus resulting was not viewed in ancient times with anything like the favour which it has attracted among the moderns, and indeed, while it is questionable whether the Roman character was at all the better for it, it is certain that the Roman Constitution was a great deal the worse. Like every other institution which has accompanied the human race down the current of its history, the punishment of death is a necessity of society in certain stages of the civilising process. There is a time when the attempt to dispense with it baulks both of the two great instincts which lie at the root of all penal law. Without it, the community neither feels that it is sufficiently revenged on the criminal, nor thinks that the example of his punishment is adequate to deter others from imitating him. The incompetence of the Roman Tribunals to pass sentence of death led distinctly and directly to those frightful Revolutionary intervals, known as the Proscriptions, during which all law was

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390 formally suspended simply because party violence could find no other avenue to the vengeance for which it was thirsting. No cause contributed so powerfully to the decay of political capacity in the Roman people as this periodical abeyance of the laws; and, when it had once been resorted to, we need not hesitate to assert that the ruin of Roman liberty became merely a question of time. If the practice of the Tribunals had afforded an adequate vent for popular passion, the forms of judicial procedure would no doubt have been as flagrantly perverted as with us in the reigns of the later Stuarts, but national character would not have suffered as deeply as it did, nor would the stability of Roman institutions have been as seriously enfeebled.

I will mention two more singularities of the Roman Criminal System which were produced by the same theory of judicial authority. They are, the extreme multiplicity of the Roman criminal tribunals, and the capricious and anomalous classification of crimes which characterised Roman penal jurisprudence throughout its entire history. Every Quæstio, it has been said, whether Perpetual or otherwise, had its origin in a distinct statute. From the law which created it, it derived its authority; it rigorously observed the limits which its charter prescribed to it, and touched no form of criminality which that charter did not expressly define. As

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CH. X. then the statutes which constituted the various Quæstiones were all called forth by particular emergencies, each of them being in fact passed to punish a class of acts which the circumstances of the time rendered particularly odious or particularly dangerous, these enactments made not the slightest reference to each other, and were connected by no common principle. Twenty or thirty different criminal laws were in existence together, with exactly the same number of Quæstiones to administer them; nor was any attempt made during the Republic to fuse these distinct judicial bodies into one, or to give symmetry to the provisions of the statutes which appointed them and defined their duties. The state of the Roman criminal jurisdiction at this period, exhibited some resemblances to the administration of civil remedies in England at the time when the English Courts of Common Law had not as yet introduced those fictitious averments into their writs which enabled them to trespass on each other's peculiar province. Like the Quæstiones, the Courts of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, were all theoretical emanations from a higher authority, and each entertained a special class of cases supposed to be committed to it by the fountain of its jurisdiction; but then the Roman Quæstiones were many more than three in number, and it was infinitely less easy to discriminate the acts which fell under

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392 the cognisance of each Quæstio, than to distinguish between the provinces of the three Courts in Westminster Hall. The difficulty of drawing exact lines between the spheres of the different Quæstiones made the multiplicity of Roman tribunals something more than a mere inconvenience; for we read with astonishment that when it was not immediately clear under what general description a man's alleged offences ranged themselves, he might be indicted at once or successively before several different Commissions, on the chance of some one of them declaring itself competent to convict him; and, although conviction by one Quæstio ousted the jurisdiction of the rest, acquittal by one of them could not be pleaded to an accusation before another. This was directly contrary to the rule of the Roman civil law; and we may be sure that a people so sensitive as the Romans to anomalies (or, as their significant phrase was, to inelegancies) in jurisprudence, would not long have tolerated it, had not the melancholy history of the Quæstiones caused them to be regarded much more as temporary weapons in the hands of factions than as permanent institutions for the correction of crime. The Emperors soon abolished this multiplicity and conflict of jurisdiction; but it is remarkable that they did not remove another singularity of the criminal law which stands in close connection with the number of the Courts. The classifications of crimes which

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 father returned, those epithets could ill apply to the father himself, for there is abundant evidence that he was a man of no ordinary character one who, in spite of constant suffering of a most distressing kind, persisted in hard work to the very end, and who set his children a noble example of patience, unselfishness, and self-denial. To the last, as his daughter records,—

"Copying music employed every vacant moment, even sometimes throughout half the night, and the pen was not suffered to rest even when smoking a pipe, which habit he indulged in rather on account of his asthmatical constitution than as a luxury; for, without all exception, he was the most abstemious liver I ever have known; and in every instance, even in the article of clothing, the utmost frugality was observed, and yet he never was seen otherwise than very neat. . . . With my brother [Dietrich] now a little engaging creature of between four and five years old he was very much pleased, and [on the first evening of his arrival at home] before he went to rest, the Adempken (a little violin) was taken from the lumbering shelf and newly strung and the daily lessons immediately commenced. . . . I do not recollect that he ever desired any other society than what he had opportunities of enjoying in many of the parties where he was introduced by his profession; though far from being of a morose disposition; he would frequently encourage my mother in keeping up a social intercourse among a few acquaintances, whilst his afternoon hours generally were taken up in giving lessons to some scholars at home, who gladly saved him the troublesome exertion of walking. . . . He also found great pleasure in seeing Dietrich's improvement, who, young as he was, and of the most lively temper imaginable, was always ready


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CHAP. X. are contained even in the Corpus Juris of Justinian are remarkably capricious. Each Quæstio had, in fact, confined itself to the crimes committed to its cognisance by its charter. These crimes, however, were only classed together in the original statute because they happened to call simultaneously for castigation at the moment of passing it. They had not therefore anything necessarily in common; but the fact of their constituting the particular subject-matter of trials before a particular Quæstio impressed itself naturally on the public attention, and so inveterate did the association become between the offences mentioned in the same statute that, even when formal attempts were made by Sylla and by the Emperor Augustus to consolidate the Roman criminal law, the legislator preserved the old grouping. The Statutes of Sylla and Augustus were the foundation of the penal jurisprudence of the Empire, and nothing can be more extraordinary than some of the classifications which they bequeathed to it. I need only give a single example in the fact that perjury was always classed with cutting and wounding and with poisoning, no doubt because a law of Sylla, the Lex Cornelia de Sicariis et Veneficis, had given jurisdiction over all these three forms of crime to the same Permanent Commission. It seems too that this capricious grouping of crimes affected the vernacular speech of the Romans. People naturally

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394 fell into the habit of designating all the offences enumerated in one law by the first name on the list, which doubtless gave its style to the Law Court deputed to try them all. All the offences tried by the Quæstio De Adulteriis would thus be called Adultery.

I have dwelt on the history and characteristics of the Roman Quæstiones because the formation of a criminal jurisprudence is nowhere else so instructively exemplified. The last Quæstiones were added by the Emperor Augustus, and from that time the Romans may be said to have had a tolerably complete criminal law. Concurrently with its growth, the analogous process had gone on, which I have called the conversion of Wrongs into Crimes, for though the Roman legislature did not extinguish the civil remedy for the more heinous offences, it offered the sufferer a redress which he was sure to prefer. Still, even after Augustus had completed his legislation, several offences continued to be regarded as Wrongs, which modern societies look upon exclusively as Crimes; nor did they become criminally punishable till some late but uncertain date, at which the law began to take notice of a new description of offences called in the Digest crimina extraordinaria. These were doubtless a class of acts which the theory of Roman jurisprudence treated merely as wrongs; but the growing sense of the

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CHAP. X. majesty of society revolted from their entailing nothing worse on their perpetrator than the payment of money damages, and accordingly the injured person seems to have been permitted, if he pleased, to pursue them as crimes extra ordinem, that is by a mode of redress departing in some respect or other from the ordinary procedure. From this period at which these crimina extraordinaria were first recognised, the list of crimes in the Roman State must have been as long as in any community of the modern world.

It is unnecessary to describe with any minuteness the mode of administering criminal justice under the Roman Empire, but it is to be noted that both its theory and practice have had powerful effect on modern society. The Emperors did not immediately abolish the Quæstiones, and at first they committed an extensive criminal jurisdiction to the Senate, in which, however servile it might show itself in fact, the Emperor was no more nominally than a Senator like the rest. But some sort of collateral criminal jurisdiction had been claimed by the Prince from the first; and this, as recollections of the free commonwealth decayed, tended steadily to gain at the expense of the old tribunals. Gradually the punishment of crimes was transferred to magistrates directly nominated by the Emperor and the privileges of the Senate passed to the Imperial Privy

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396 Council, which also became a Court of ultimate criminal appeal. Under these influences the doctrine, familiar to the moderns, insensibly shaped itself that the Sovereign is the fountain of all Justice and the depositary of all Grace. It was not so much the fruit of increasing adulation and servility as of the centralisation of the Empire which had by this time perfected itself. The theory of criminal justice had, in fact, worked round almost to the point from which it started. It had begun in the belief that it was the business of the collective community to avenge its own wrongs by its own hand; and it ended in the doctrine that the chastisement of crimes belonged in an especial manner to the Sovereign as representative and mandatary of his people. The new view differed from the old one chiefly in the air of awfulness and majesty which the guardianship of justice appeared to throw around the person of the Sovereign.

This later Roman view of the Sovereign's relation to justice certainly assisted in saving modern societies from the necessity of travelling through the series of changes which I have illustrated by the history of the Quæstiones. In the primitive law of almost all the races which have peopled Western Europe there are vestiges of the archaic notion that the punishment of crimes belongs to the general assembly of freemen; and there are some States—Scotland is

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CHAP. X. said to be one of them—in which the parentage of the existing judicature can be traced up to a Committee of the legislative body. But the development of the criminal law was universally hastened by two causes, the memory of the Roman Empire and the influence of the Church. On the one hand traditions of the majesty of the Cæsars, perpetuated by the temporary ascendency of the House of Charlemagne, were surrounding Sovereigns with a prestige which a mere barbarous chieftain could never otherwise have acquired and were communicating to the pettiest feudal potentate the character of guardian of society and representative of the State. On the other hand, the Church, in its anxiety to put a curb on sanguinary ferocity, sought about for authority to punish the graver misdeeds, and found it in those passages of Scripture which speak with approval of the powers of punishment committed to the civil magistrate. The New Testament was appealed to as proving that secular rulers exist for the terror of evildoers; the Old Testament, as laying down that "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." There can be no doubt, I imagine, that modern ideas on the subject of crime are based upon two assumptions contended for by the Church in the Dark Ages—first, that each feudal ruler, in his degree, might be assimilated to the Roman Magistrates spoken of by Saint Paul; and next, that the offences

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398 which he was to chastise were those selected for prohibition in the Mosaic Commandments, or rather such of them as the Church did not reserve to her own cognisance. Heresy, supposed to be included in the First and Second Commandments, Adultery and Perjury were ecclesiastical offences, and the Church only admitted the co-operation of the secular arm for the purpose of inflicting severer punishment in cases of extraordinary aggravation. At the same time, she taught that murder and robbery with their various modifications were under the jurisdiction of civil rulers, not as an accident of their position but by the express ordinance of God.

There is a passage in the writings of King Alfred (Kemble, ii. 209) which brings out into remarkable clearness the struggle of the various ideas that prevailed in his day as to the origin of criminal jurisdiction. It will be seen that Alfred attributes it partly to the authority of the Church and partly to that of the Witan, while he expressly claims for treason against the lord the same immunity from ordinary rules which the Roman Law of Majestas had assigned to treason against the Cæsar. "After this it happened," he writes, "that many nations received the faith of Christ, and there were many synods assembled throughout the earth, and among the English race also after they had received the faith of Christ, both of holy bishops and of their exalted

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CH. X. Witan. They then ordained that, out of that mercy which Christ had taught, secular lords, with their leave, might without sin take for every misdeed the bot in money which they ordained; except in cases of treason against a lord, to which they dared not assign any mercy because Almighty God adjudged none to them that despised Him, nor did Christ adjudge any to them which sold Him to death; and He commanded that a lord should be loved like Himself."

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 to receive his lessons, leaving his little companions (with whom our neighbourhood abounded) with the greatest cheerfulness to go to his father, who was so pleased with his performances that—I think it must have been in October or November—he made him play a solo on the Adempken in Rake's concert, being placed on a table before a crowded company, for which he was very much applauded and caressed, particularly by an English lady, who put a gold coin in his little pocket.

"It was not long before my father had as many scholars as he could find time to attend, for some of those he had left behind returned to him again, and several families who had sons of about the age of my little brother, became his pupils and proved in time very good performers. And when they assembled at my father's to make little concerts, I was frequently called to join the second violin in an overture, for my father found pleasure in giving me sometimes a lesson before the instruments were laid by after practising with Dietrich, for I never was missing at those hours, sitting in a corner with my knitting and listening all the while."

A serious interruption of this and all other occupations was caused by a severe attack of typhus fever which in the summer of 1761 threatened to be fatal, and

In spite of her strong objections to learning, the


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ⅹⅽⅱ Qurʼân to convulse nature they would not believe. Further threats against misbelievers. God notes the deeds of every soul. Stratagem unavailing against Him. Paradise and Hell. Mohammed bidden to persevere in asserting the unity of God. Had he not followed the Qurʼân God would have forsaken him. Other apostles have had wives and children: none could bring a sign without God’s permission: for every period there is a revelation. God can annul or confirm any part of his revelation which He pleases: he has the 'Mother of the Book' (i.e. the Eternal Original). Whether Mohammed live to see his predictions fulfilled or not, God only knows: his duty is only to preach the message. The conquests of Islâm pointed to. God will support the prophet against misbelievers.

ⅩⅣ. (Mecca.)

The Qurʼân revealed to bring men from darkness into light. God is Lord of all. No apostle sent except with the language of his own people. Moses sent to Pharaoh. The people of Noah, ʿÂd, and Thamûd objected that their prophets were mortals like themselves. The prophets relied on God who vindicated them. Frightful description of hell. Misbelievers are like ashes blown away by a stormy wind. Helplessness of the damned: Satan will desert them. But believers are in Paradise. A good word is like a good tree whose root is in the earth and whose branches are in the sky, and which gives fruit in all seasons. A bad word is as a tree that is felled. God’s word is sure. Idolaters are threatened with hell-fire. God is the creator of all: He subjects all things to man’s use. Abraham prayed that the territory of Mecca might be a sanctuary. The unjust are only respited till the judgment day. The ruins of the dwellings of those who have perished for denying the mission of their apostles are a proof of the truth of Mohammed’s mission. The Lord will take vengeance at the last day, when sinners shall burn in hell with shirts of pitch to cover them. The Qurʼân is a warning and an admonition.

ⅩⅤ. (Mecca.)

Misbelievers will one day regret their misbelief. No city was ever destroyed without warning. The infidels mockingly ask Mohammed to bring down angels to punish them. So did the sinners of old act towards their apostles. There are signs enough


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Rh in the zodiac, guarded as they are from the devils who are pelted with shooting-stars if they attempt to listen. All nature is under God’s control. Man created from clay, and the ginn from smokeless fire. The angels bidden to adore Adam. Iblîs refuses; is cursed and expelled; but respited until the day of judgment. Is allowed to seduce mankind. Hell, with its seven doors, promised to misbelievers, and Paradise to believers. Story of Abraham’s angelic guests: they announce to him the birth of a son: they proceed to Lot’s family. The crime and punishment of the people of Sodom. The ruined cities still remain to tell the tale. Similar fate of the people of the Grove and of El ʿHagr. The Hour draws nigh. The Lord the Omniscient Creator has sent the Qurʼân and the 'seven verses of repetition' (the Opening Chapter). Mohammed is not to grieve at the worldly success of unbelievers. Those who 'dismember the Qurʼân ' are threatened with punishment. Mohammed is encouraged against the misbelievers.

ⅩⅥ. (Mecca.)

God’s decree will come to pass. He sends the angels to instruct his servants to give warning that there is no other God. The creation and ordering of all natural objects are signs of His power. The false gods are inanimate and powerless. God is but one. The unbelievers who call the revelation old folks’ tales must bear the burden of their own sins. On the resurrection day their 'associates' will disown them. Reception by the angels of the wicked and the good in Hell and in Paradise. The infidels strenuously deny the resurrection. The Muhâgerîn are promised a good reward. The Jews and Christians to be asked to confirm the Qurʼân. All nature adores God. Unity of God affirmed. When in distress men turn to God, but forget Him and become idolaters when deliverance comes. The practice of setting aside part of their produce for the idols reproved. The practice of female infanticide, while they ascribe daughters to God, is reproved, and disbelief in the future life also rebuked. Satan is the patron of the infidels. The Qurʼân sent down as a guidance and mercy. The rain which quickens the dead earth, and the cattle which give milk, and the vines which give fruit and wine are signs. The bee is inspired from the Lord to build hives and to use those made first by men. Its honey is lawful. The rich Arabs are reproved for


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 worthy mother had too correct a view of her duties to stand in the way of the necessary preparation for her daughter's confirmation, who was accordingly, but not without complaints at the loss of time, released from her household avocations for this purpose. Alexander, who had been taken as a sort of apprentice by Griesbach, was now of an age to turn his great musical talents to profitable account, and returned to Hanover, where he obtained the somewhat mysterious situation of Stadtmusicus (Town Musician), the duties of which office involved

Although the absent brother William kept up regular correspondence with Hanover, many of his letters were written in English and addressed to Jacob, on such subjects as the Theory of Music, in which the family in general could not participate. Year after year went by, and William showed no inclination to leave England, to which country he was becoming more and more attached; the poor father, who felt his strength steadily declining, became painfully eager for his return. On the 2nd April, 1764, they were thrown into "a tumult of joy" by his


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156 paucity of water at those parts, the parasite taking much of that which reaches the injured place, and the impoverished wood allowing less to pass than it would normally have done.

Among the fungi there are several enemies to the oak-tree. The leaves are attacked by Phyllactinia, one

41.—Loranthus europœus. A. Lower part of stem attached to branch of oak, both denuded of cortex. B. Longitudinal section through one of the haustorial strands, showing its progress year by year, as the branch thickens. C. Transverse section, through a branch which has long been badly infested with the Loranthus; a a, dead remains of old haustorial strands; b b, young Loranthus plants developed as buds from the older ones. The asterisks mark still younger specimens. (Hartig.)

of the mildews, which forms white networks, like spiders' webs, on their surfaces. Numerous small ascomycetous fungi are found on the dying and dead leaves, but these do not directly injure the living tree.

Other fungi are found in the cortex, and one of the most interesting of these is a red Nectria, the spores of

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 appearance among them. The visit was a very brief one, offering no hope of any intention to settle in Hanover; the father was well aware that he at least could not look forward to another meeting on earth, while to the poor little unnoticed girl, this visit and its attendant circumstances stood out in her memory as fraught with anguish, which even her unskilled pen succeeds in representing as a grief almost too deep for words.

Not only was she disappointed in her fervent hope that the longed-for brother would not come at the very time when she was obliged to be much from


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ⅹⅽⅳ their treatment of their slaves. Helplessness of the false gods illustrated by the parable of the slave and of the dumb man. Goodness of God in providing food and shelter for men. Idolaters shall be disowned by the false gods at the resurrection. Every nation shall have a witness against it. on that day. Justice and good faith inculcated, especially the duty of keeping to a treaty once made. Satan has no power over believers. Verses of the Qurʼân abrogated: the Holy Spirit (Gabriel) is the instrument of the revelation. Suggestion that Mohammed is helped by some mortal to compose the Qurʼân: this cannot be, as the person hinted at speaks a foreign language and the Qurʼân is in Arabic. Denunciation of misbelievers. Warning of the fate Mecca is to expect if its inhabitants continue to disbelieve. Unlawful foods. God will forgive wrong done through ignorance. Abraham was a ʿHanîf. The ordinance of the Sabbath. Mohammed is to dispute with his opponents kindly. The believers are not to take too savage revenge. They are exhorted to patience and trust in God.

ⅩⅦ. (Mecca.)

Allusion to the 'Night Journey' from the Sacred Mosque (at Mecca) to the Remote Mosque (at Jerusalem). Moses received the Book. Noah was a faithful servant. Israel’s two sins and their punishment. The Qurʼân a guide and glad tidings. Man prays for evil and is hasty. Night and day are two signs. Every man’s augury is round his neck. Each one shall have a book on the resurrection day with an account of his deeds. Each is to bear the burden of his own sins. No city is destroyed till warned by an apostle. Choice of good in this world or the next. Mohammed is not to associate others with God. Kindness to parents enjoined. Moderation to be practised. Infanticide and fornication are sins. Homicide is to be avenged except for just cause. Honesty and humility inculcated. The angels are not the daughters of God. If there were other gods they would rebel against God: all in the heavens praise Him. Unbelievers cannot understand the Qurʼân. The unity of God unacceptable to the Meccans. The resurrection. Idolaters not to be provoked. Some prophets preferred over others. False, gods themselves have recourse to God. All cities to be destroyed before the judgment day. Had Mohammed been sent with signs, the Meccans would have disbelieved them like Thamûd. The Vision (of the Night Journey) and the


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 home, but several of the precious days of his stay were spent in a visit to the Griesbachs at Coppenbrügge, and the Sunday fixed for his departure was the very day on which she was to receive her first communion.

From the state of hopeless lethargy in which the poor sister describes herself as going mechanically about her daily tasks after that memorable day, she was roused by a calamity which affected all alike. The father had a paralytic seizure the August following, by which he lost the use of his right side almost entirely, and although he so far recovered as to be able still to receive pupils in his own house, he never


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Rh Zaqqûm Tree of Hell are causes of contention. Iblîs’ disobedience and fall: he is given permission to delude men. Safety by land and sea a special mercy from God. All shall have justice at the last day. The aqîf tribe at Tâʼif nearly seduced Mohammed into promulgating an unauthorised sentence. Injunction to pray. Man is ungrateful. Departure of the Spirit. Mankind and ginns together could not produce the like of the Qurʼân. Signs demanded of Mohammed: he is only a mortal. Fate of those who disbelieve in the resurrection. Moses brought nine signs, but Pharaoh disbelieved in them: his fate: the children of Israel succeeded him in his possessions. The Qurʼân was revealed as occasion required: those who believe the Scriptures recognise it. God and the Merciful One are not two gods, for God has no partner.

ⅩⅧ. (Mecca.)

The Qurʼân is a warning especially to those who say God has begotten a son. Mohammed is not to grieve if they refuse to believe. Story of the Fellows of the Cave. Their number known only to God. Mohammed rebuked for promising a revelation on the subject. He is enjoined to obey God in all things, and not to be induced to give up his poorer followers. Hell-fire threatened for the unbeliever and Paradise promised to the good. Parable of the proud man’s garden which was destroyed while that of the humble man flourished. This life is like the herb that springs up and perishes. Good works are more lasting than wealth and children. The last day. Iblîs refuses to adore Adam: the men are not to take him for a patron. They shall be forsaken by their patrons at the last day. Men would believe but that the example of those of yore must be repeated. Misbelievers are unjust and shall not be allowed to understand, or be guided. But God is merciful. Story of Moses and his servant in search of El ʿHidhr: they lose their fish at the confluence of the two seas: they meet a strange prophet, who bids Moses not question anything he may do: he scuttles a ship, kills a boy, and builds up a tottering wall: Moses desires an explanation, which the stranger gives and leaves him. Story of u ʼl Qarnâin: he travels to the ocean of the setting sun: builds a rampart to keep in Gog and Magog: these are to be let loose again before the judgment day: reward and punishment on that day. Were the sea ink it would not suffice for the words of the Lord. The prophet is only a mortal.


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 regained his former skill on the violin, and was reduced to a sad state of suffering and infirmity; a few months later he was pronounced to be in a confirmed dropsy. Changes of abode, not always for the better; anxieties, on account of Alexander's prospects and Jacob's vagaries; disappointment, at seeing his daughter grow up without the education he had hoped to give her; were the circumstances under which the worn-out sufferer struggled through the last three years of his life, copying music at every spare moment, assisting at a Concert only a few weeks before his death, and giving lessons until he was obliged to keep wholly to his bed. He was released from his sufferings at the comparatively early age of sixty-one on the 22nd March, 1767, leaving to his children little more than the heritage of his good example, unblemished character, and those musical talents which he had so carefully educated, and by which he probably hoped the more gifted of his sons would attain to eminence.

Miss Herschel describes herself as having fallen into "a kind of stupefaction," which lasted for many weeks after the loss of her father, and the awakening to life had little of hope in the present or promise for the future, so far as she could see then. At the age of seventeen she had learned little beyond the first elements of education, and she was now deprived of the one friend who encouraged and sympathised with


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ⅹⅽⅳ ⅩⅨ. (Mecca.)

Zachariah prays for an heir: he is promised a son, who is to be called John: is struck dumb for three days as a sign. John is born and given the Book, judgment, grace, and purity. Story of Mary: the annunciation: her delivery beneath a palm tree: the infant Jesus in the cradle testifies to her innocence and to his own mission. Warning of the day of judgment. Story of Abraham: he reproves his father, who threatens to stone him: Abraham prays for him: Isaac and Jacob are born to him. Moses communes with God and has Aaron for a help. Ishmael and Idrîs mentioned as prophets. Their seed when the signs of the Merciful are read fall down adoring. The Meccans, their successors, are promised reward in Paradise if they repent and believe. The angels only descend at the bidding of the Lord. Certainty of the resurrection: punishment of those who have rebelled against the Merciful. Reproof to one who said he should have wealth and children on the judgment day. The false gods shall deny their worshippers then. The devils sent to tempt unbelievers. The gathering of the judgment day. All nature is convulsed at the imputation that the Merciful has begotten a son. This revelation is only to warn mankind by the example of the generations who have passed away.

ⅩⅩ. (Mecca.)

The Qur'ân a reminder from the Merciful, who owns all things and knows all things. There is no god but He. His are the excellent names. Story of Moses: he perceives the fire and is addressed from it by God in the holy valley Tuvâ: God shows him the miracle of the staff turned to a snake and of the white hand: sends him to Pharaoh: Moses excuses himself because of the impediment in his speech. Aaron is given him as a minister. Moses’ mother throws him in the sea: his sister watches him: he is restored to his mother. Slays an Egyptian and flees to Midian. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and call on him to believe: Pharaoh charges them with being magicians: their contest with the Egyptian magicians, who believe and are threatened with punishment by Pharaoh. Moses leads the children of Israel across the sea by a dry road: Pharaoh and his people are overwhelmed: the covenant on Mount Sinai: the miracle of the manna and quails. Es Sâmarîy makes the calf in Moses’ absence. Moses seizes his


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 her desire for better instruction. The parents had never agreed on the subject. " When I had left school," she writes, "My father wished to give me something like a polished education, but my mother was particularly determined that it should be a rough, but at the same time a useful one; and nothing farther she thought was necessary but to send me two or three months to a sempstress to be taught to make household linen. Having added this accomplishment to my former ingenuities, I never afterwards could find leisure for thinking of anything but to contrive and make for the family in all imaginable forms whatever was wanting, and thus I learned to make bags and sword-knots long before I knew how to make caps and furbelows. . . . . .My mother would not consent to my being taught French, and my brother Dietrich was even denied a dancing-master, because she would not permit my learning along with him, though the entrance had been paid for us both; so all my father could do for me was to indulge me (and please himself) sometimes with a short lesson on the violin, when my mother was either in good humour or out of the way. Though I have often felt myself exceedingly at a loss for the want of those few accomplishments of which I was thus, by an erroneous though well-meant opinion of my mother, deprived, I could not help thinking but that she had cause for wishing me not to know more than was necessary for being useful in the family; for it was her certain belief that my brother William would have returned to his country, and my eldest brother not have looked so high, if they had had a little less learning.

But sometimes I found it scarcely possible to get through with the work required, and felt very unhappy that


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Rh brother angrily by the beard and destroys the calf. Misbelievers threatened with the terrors of the resurrection day: fate of the mountains on that day: all men shall be summoned to judgment: no intercession shall avail except from such as the Merciful permits. The Qurʼân is in Arabic that people may fear and remember. Mohammed is not to hasten on its revelation. Adam broke his covenant with God. Angels bidden to adore Adam: Iblîs refuses: tempts Adam: Adam, Eve, and Iblîs expelled from Paradise. Misbelievers shall be gathered together blind on the resurrection day. The Meccans pass by the ruined dwellings of the generations who have been aforetime destroyed for unbelief: but for the Lord's word being passed they would have perished too. Mohammed is exhorted to bear their insults patiently and to praise God throughout the day. Prayer enjoined. The fate of those of yore a sufficient sign. Let them wait and see the issue.

ⅩⅪ. (Mecca.)

Men mock at the revelation: they say it is a 'jumble of dreams,' and that Mohammed is a poet, and they ask for a sign. The prophets of old were but mortal: the people who rejected them perished. Heaven and earth were not created in sport. Truth shall crush falsehood. All things praise God. If there were other gods than He heaven and earth would be corrupted. All former prophets were taught that there is no god but God. The Merciful has not begotten children: the angels are only his servants. The separation of earth from heaven, the creation of living things from water, the steadying of the earth by mountains and placing the sky as a roof over it, and the creation of the night and day and of the sun and moon are signs. No one was ever granted immortality: every soul must taste of death. The unbelievers mock at Mohammed and disbelieve in the Merciful. Man is hasty. The infidels are threatened with punishment in the next world. Those who mocked at the prophets of old perished. No one shall be wronged at the last day. Moses and Aaron received a scripture. Abraham destroys the images which his people worshipped: he tells them that it was the largest idol which did it: he is condemned to be burnt alive; but the fire is miraculously made cool and safe. Abraham, Lot, Isaac, and Jacob all inspired. Lot was brought safely out of a city of wrong-doers. Noah also was saved. David and Solomon give judgment about a field. The mountains and [6]


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158 wood by excreting soluble ferments which dissolve the substance of their walls, and feed on the products of solution. Hence they damage the timber in two ways—they riddle it through and through by myriads of minute apertures, and thus ruin its structure, and they

reduce its substance by dissolving it and converting it to their own uses. The wood, therefore, loses in strength and in weight, and becomes "rotten." There are differences in detail as to the mode of destroying the elements of the wood, but the final result is much the same in all

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 birds are made subject to David: he is taught the art of making coats of mail. The wind and the demons are subjected to Solomon. Job was saved. Ishmael, Idrîs, and u ʼl Kifl were patient and entered into the mercy of the Lord. u ʼnnûn (Jonah) was saved in the fish’s belly. Zachariah had his prayer granted and a son (John) given him. The Spirit was breathed into the Virgin Mary. But their followers have divided into sects. A city once destroyed for unbelief shall not be restored till Gog and Magog are let loose. The promise draws nigh. Idolaters shall be the pebbles of hell. But the elect shall be spared the terror of that day; when the heavens shall be rolled up as Es-Sigill rolls up books. As is written in the Psalms, 'The righteous shall inherit the earth.' Mohammed sent as a mercy to the worlds. God is one God: He knows all: He is the Merciful.

ⅩⅫ. (Mecca.)

Terrors of the last day; yet men dispute about God and follow devils. The conception, birth, growth, and death of men, and the growth of herbs in the ground are proofs of the resurrection. But some dispute, others waver between two opinions. The most desperate means cannot thwart the divine decrees. God will decide between the Jews, Christians, Sabæans, Magians, and Idolaters on the judgment day. All nature adores God. The misbelievers are threatened with hell-fire, and the believers promised Paradise. Punishment threatened to those who prohibit men from visiting the Sacred Mosque. Abraham when bidden to cleanse the Kaabah was told to proclaim the pilgrimage. The rules of the ʿHagg enjoined. Cattle are lawful food. Warning against idolatry and exhortation to become ʿHanîfs. Sacrifices at the Kaabah are enjoined. All men have their appointed rite. The name of God is to be mentioned over cattle when slaughtered. Camels may be sacrificed and eaten. God will defend believers, but loves not misbelieving traitors. Those who have been driven from their homes for acknowledging God’s unity are allowed to fight. If men did not fight for such a cause, all places of worship would be destroyed. The people of Noah, ʿÂd, Thamûd, Abraham, and Lot called their prophets liars and were allowed to range at large, but at last they were punished. Their cities were destroyed and the ruins are visible to travellers still. Mohammed is only sent to warn the Meccans


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Rh of a like fate. Satan contrives to suggest a wrong reading to the prophet while reading the Qurʼân. The kingdom shall be God’s upon the judgment day. Those who flee or are slain in the cause shall be provided for and rewarded. Believers who take revenge and are again attacked will be helped. All nature is subject to God. Every nation has its rites to observe. The idolaters treat the revelation with scorn. The false gods could not even create a fly. Exhortation to worship God and fight for the faith of Abraham, whose religion the Muslims profess. God is the sovereign and helper.

ⅩⅩⅢ. . (Mecca.)

The humble, chaste, and honest shall prosper. The creation, birth, death, and resurrection of man: God’s goodness in providing for men’s sustenance. Noah sent to his people, who reject him because he is a mere mortal: they are drowned, and he is saved in the ark. Moses and Aaron were also called liars. Mary and her son the cause of their followers’ division into sects. The God-fearing encouraged. The Qurâis rebuked for their pride, and for denying Mohammed, and calling him possessed. They are reminded of the famine and defeat they have already experienced. Doctrine of the resurrection. The unity of God: He has no offspring: is omniscient. Mohammed is encouraged not to care for the false accusations of the Meccans, but to seek refuge in God. Punishment, on the day of resurrection, of those who mocked at the little party of believers.

ⅩⅩⅣ. . (Medînah.)

(This chapter deals with the accusation of unchastity against Ayesha.)

Punishment of the whore and the whoremonger. Witnesses required in the case of an imputation of unchastity to a wife. Vindication of Ayesha’s character and denunciation of the accusers. Scandalmongers rebuked and threatened with punishment at the last day. Believers are not to enter other persons’ houses without permission or in the absence of the owners. Chastity and modest deportment enjoined particularly upon women. Those by whom women may

g 2


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Rh cases: some of the fungi destroy the vessels, fibers, etc., by dissolving their walls from inside, while others destroy the part common to contiguous cells, etc., and thus first isolate the elements and then complete the destruction. A series of very interesting researches by

Hartig has demonstrated that the presence of these timber-destroying fungi can be detected from the markings and discolorations they produce in the wood; those due to Hydnum diversidens, Thelephora Perdix, Polyporus sulphureus, P. igniarius, P. dryadeus, and Stereum

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ⅽ be seen unveiled. Slaves to be allowed to purchase their freedom. Slave girls not to be compelled to prostitute themselves. God the Light of the Heavens. Nothing keeps the believer from the service of God; but the unbeliever’s works are like the mirage on a plain or like darkness on a deep sea. All nature is subject to God’s control. Reproof to a sect who would not accept the prophet’s arbitration. Actual obedience required rather than an oath that they will be obedient Belief in the unity of God, steadfastness in prayer, and the giving of alms enjoined. Slaves and children not to be admitted into an apartment without asking permission, when the occupant is likely to be undressed. Rules for the social intercourse of women past child-bearing, and of the blind, lame, or sick. Persons in whose houses it is lawful to eat food. Salutations to be exchanged on entering houses. Behaviour of the Muslims towards the Apostle. He is to be more respectfully addressed than other people.

ⅩⅩⅤ. (Mecca.)

The 'Discrimination' sent down as a warning that God is one, the creator and governor of all; yet the Meccans call it 'old folks’ tales:' they object that the prophet acts and lives as a mere mortal, or is crazy. Hell-fire shall be the punishment of those who disbelieve in the resurrection. Description of the judgment day. The Qurâis object that the Qurʼân was revealed piecemeal. Moses and Aaron and Noah were treated like Mohammed, but those who called them liars were punished: ʿÂd and Thamûd perished for the same sin: the ruins of the cities of the plain are existing examples: yet they will not accept the prophet. God controls the shadow; gives night for a repose; quickens the dead earth with rain. He lets loose the two seas, but places a barrier between them. He has created man. He is the loving and merciful God. The Qurâis object to the 'Merciful' as a new God. The lowly and moderate are His servants: they abstain from idolatry, murder, false witness, and frivolous discourse. These shall be rewarded. God cares nothing for the rejection of his message by the infidels: their punishment shall be lasting.

ⅩⅩⅥ. (Mecca.)

Mohammed is not to be vexed by the people’s unbelief. Though called a liar now, his cause shall triumph in the end. Moses sent


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160 hirsutum being all different, and in some cases so characteristic that the merest glance suffices to diagnose the disease (cf. Figs. 42 to 45).

There is yet another disease of oak timber to be noticed, and one which causes great havoc in buildings

where the ventilation is bad and the air damp. This is the too well known dry-rot, due to the destructive action of the fungus Merulius lacrymans, a hymenomycete allied to the preceding, but differing from them in not attacking the standing timber. The spores of this

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Rh to Pharaoh: he fears lest he may be killed for slaying the Egyptian. Pharaoh charges him with ingratitude. Their dispute about God. Pharaoh claims godhead himself. The miracles of the rod and the 'white hand.' Moses’ contest with the magicians: the magicians are conquered and believe: Pharaoh threatens them with condign punishment. The Israelites leave Egypt and are pursued. The passing of the Red Sea and destruction of Pharaoh and his hosts. The story of Abraham: he preaches against idolatry. Noah is called a liar and vindicated. Hûd preaches to the people of ʿÂd, and Zâliʿh to Thamûd: the latter hamstring the she-camel and perish. The crime and punishment of the people of Sodom. The people of the Grove and the prophet Shoʼhâib. The Qurʼân revealed through the instrumentality of the Faithful Spirit (Gabriel), in plain Arabic. The learned Jews recognise its truth from the prophecies in their own Scriptures. The devils could not have brought it. Mohammed is to be meek towards believers and to warn his clansmen. Those upon whom the devils do descend, namely, the poets who 'wander distraught in every vale.'

ⅩⅩⅦ. (Mecca.)

The Qurʼân a guidance to believers. God appears to Moses in the fire: Moses is sent to Pharaoh with signs, but is called a 'sorcerer.' David and Solomon endowed with knowledge. Solomon taught the speech of birds. His army of men, ginns, and birds marches through the valley of the ant. One ant bids the rest retire to their holes lest Solomon and his hosts crush them. Solomon smiles and answers her; He reviews the birds and misses the hoopoe, who, returning, brings news of the magnificence of the queen of Sheba. Solomon sends him back with a letter to the queen. A demon brings him her throne. She comes to Solomon; recognises her throne; marvels at the palace with a glass floor, which she mistakes for water: becomes a Muslim. Thamûd reject Zâliʿh and perish. Lot is saved, while the people of Sodom are destroyed. The Lord the God of nature; the only God and creator. Certainty of the resurrection. The ruins of ancient cities an example. The Qurʼân decides disputed points for the Jews. Mohammed bidden to trust in God, for he cannot make the deaf to hear his message. The beast that shall appear at the resurrection. Terrors of the last day. The prophet bidden to worship 'the Lord of this land,' to recite the Qurʼân, and to become a Muslim.


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ⅽⅱ ⅩⅩⅧ. (Mecca.)

The history of Moses and Pharaoh: the latter and his vizier Hâmân oppress the children of Israel. Moses is exposed on the river by his mother: he is adopted by Pharaoh: his sister watches him, and his mother is engaged to nurse him. He grows up and slays the Egyptian: flees to Midian: helps the two maidens to draw water: serves their father Shoʼhâib for ten years and then marries his daughter. God appears to him in the fire in the holy valley of Tuvâ, in Sinai. Is sent with his brother Aaron to Pharaoh. Hâmân builds Pharaoh a high tower to ascend to the God of Moses. His punishment. Moses gives the law. These stories are proofs of Mohammed’s mission. The Arabs reject the book of Moses and the Qurʼân as two impostures. Those who have the Scriptures recognise the truth of the Qurʼân. The Meccans warned by the example of the cities of old that have perished. Disappointment of the idolaters at the day of judgment. Helplessness of the idols before God. Qarûn’s great wealth: the earth opens and swallows him up for his pride and his insolence to Moses. Mohammed encouraged in his faith and purpose.

ⅩⅩⅨ. (Mecca.)

Believers must be proved. Kindness to be shown to parents; but they are not to be obeyed if they endeavour to lead their children to idolatry. The hypocrites stand by the Muslims only in success. The unbelievers try to seduce the believers by offering to bear their sins. Noah delivered from the deluge. Abraham preaches against idolatry. Is cast into the fire, but saved: flees from his native land: Isaac and Jacob born to him. Lot and the fate of the inhabitants of Sodom. Midian and their prophet Shoʼhâib. ʿÂd and Thamûd. Fate of Qarûn, Pharaoh, and Hâmân. Similitude of the spider. Mohammed bidden to rehearse the Qurʼân. Prayer enjoined. Those who have the Scriptures are to be mildly dealt with in disputation. They believe in the Qurʼân. Mohammed unable to read. Signs are only in the power of God. The idolaters reproved, and threatened with punishment. The believers promised reward. God provides for all. This world is but a sport. God saves men in dangers by sea, yet they are ungrateful. The territory of Mecca inviolable. Exhortation to strive for the faith.


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Rh fungus are able to infect oak planks, beams, etc.; and the mycelium rapidly spreads on and in the wood, destroying the cell-walls, and causing the wood to shrink and crack and warp, and finally to fall to pieces. Thorough ventilation is fatal to the fungus and stops the rot.

A series of enemies to the oak-tree not yet referred to are various gall-insects, so called because they pierce the young leaves or buds, etc., and lay their eggs in the wound; the irritation set up suffices to induce a flow of food materials to the stimulated spot, and the overfed

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90 sunlight is larger each successive summer than it was the previous one. Several very important consequences follow from this. In the first place, the larger area of leaf-surface evaporates more water than before, and as this water is derived from the soil the absorbing surface of the roots has to increase, or the larger supplies needed could not be obtained. In the second place, these larger and larger quantities of water require corresponding increase in the sectional area of the pipes or water conduits—i.e., the vessels of the wood—through which they have to pass in order to reach the leaves. This is insured by the increase in diameter of the stem and main root and their chief branches, a larger number of vessels, etc., being added each season. In the third place, as the leaf-crown enlarges its weight increases, and the surface it exposes to the swaying action of the wind is correspondingly greater; consequently the necessity arises for more strength and rigidity in the supporting stem, and for a larger hold on the soil on the part of the root-system, which has to withstand the lever action of the swaying tree. These needs, again, are met by the thickening of the woody parts of the shoot-axis and roots, and by the greater spread and increased number of points of contact in the soil of the latter.

Correlated with these phenomena we have the increased leaf-surface playing the part of an enlarging manufactory, which turns out increased supplies of constructive materials each summer; for it is in the leaves

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Rh that the substances for making new roots and shoots, new wood, and new leaves, etc., are constructed. It is in the increased area of this leaf laboratory that the larger supplies of salts, dissolved in the larger quantities of water from the soil, are brought into relations with the increased quantities of carbonaceous substance obtained from the air in the chlorophyll corpuscles, and consequently a larger yield of plant-forming materials is possible to meet the demands of the ever-growing organs.

My present purpose is to describe how the thickening process occurs in the older roots, for it is evident at a glance that the strong woody roots of a large tree have undergone many changes since they were the thin filiform rootlets we met with in the young plant (see Fig.7). Not only have they increased in diameter, but they now consist almost entirely of wood, protected by a relatively thin, brown, corky covering, reminding one of certain kinds of bark.

The first changes which take place when the young, thin roots begin to thicken are—first the piliferous layer dies away and the outer cells of the cortex turn brown; then a cylindrical layer of cork is developed in the pericycle, and as this cork is impervious to water it cuts off the cortex from communication with the axis-cylinder, and consequently the cortex gradually shrivels up and is thrown off.

Meanwhile active divisions have been going on in the cells immediately inside the phloëm groups of the

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 the prayers of men, through fear of threats which it is inconceivable to us that any intelligence but that of idiots should have believed. There are many aspects of this religion, and some of them are extremely ridiculous. The very impulse, however, which prompts us to laugh at the religion of our fellow-men, ought to suggest a doubt whether we have really caught their meaning.

Simplification of the List.

We are tempted, in our bewilderment at the number of the gods, to ask whether the process of reduction is not applicable to them as well as that of multiplication. And we discover to our relief that such a process is actually suggested to us by documents of indisputable authority, which show that the same god is often known under many names. In the Litanies of the god Rā, which are inscribed on the walls of the royal tombs at Bibān-el-molūk, the god is invoked under seventy-five different names. A monument published in Burton's Excerpta Hieroglyphica gives the names, or rather a selection of the names, of Ptah, the principal god of Memphis. The Book of the Dead has a chapter entirely consisting of the names of Osiris. The inscriptions of the temple of Dendera give a long list of the names of the goddess Hathor. She is identified not only with Isis, but with Sechet at Memphis, Neith at Sais, Saosis at Heliopolis, Nehemauit at Hermopolis,


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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chesney, Robert de


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chessar, Jane Agnes


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chessher, Robert


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chesshyre, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chester, Roger of


text: Page:The Oak.djvu/181

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chester, William


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chesterfield, Thomas


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164 cells multiply and form the gall. This is a mere outline sketch of the matter, however, for the differences in behavior are enormous. Each insect causes the formation

of a specific kind of gall, differing in shape, size, color, and other characters from those caused by other gall-insects. There are many kinds, and only a few can be mentioned here. Each species of oak may have its

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chestre, Thomas


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chetham, Humphrey


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Rh own galls also, those on the American oaks differing from those on the European species, but some are common to more than one species. The insects which produce

the commonest English oak-galls are nearly all members of the Cynipideæ, a group of hymenoptera which lay their eggs in the young tissues of various plants, especially oaks and roses. 12

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text: Page:Stories by Foreign Authors (Italian).djvu/96


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chetham, James


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chettle, Henry


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chetwood, Knightly


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chetwood, William Rufus


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chetwynd, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chetwynd, Walter


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chetwynd, William Richard Chetwynd


text: Ancient Law/Chapter I

title: Ancient Law/Chapter I


text: Ancient Law/Chapter II

title: Ancient Law/Chapter II


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chevalier, John


text: Ancient Law/Chapter III

title: Ancient Law/Chapter III


text: Ancient Law/Chapter IV

title: Ancient Law/Chapter IV


text: Ancient Law/Chapter V

title: Ancient Law/Chapter V


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chevalier, Thomas


text: Ancient Law/Chapter VII

title: Ancient Law/Chapter VII


text: Ancient Law/Chapter VIII

title: Ancient Law/Chapter VIII


text: Ancient Law/Chapter IX

title: Ancient Law/Chapter IX


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text: Page:Ancient Law.djvu/414

title: Page:Ancient Law.djvu/414


text: Ancient Law/Chapter X

title: Ancient Law/Chapter X


text: Page:Ancient Law.djvu/415

title: Page:Ancient Law.djvu/415


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chevallier, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chevallier, Temple


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cheyne, Charles


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cheyne, George


text:
Category:Piracy

Works about or related to pirates and piracy.

title: Category:Piracy


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Page:Memoir and correspondence of Caroline Herschel (1876).djvu/41

 no time at all was left for improving myself in music or fancy-work, in which I had an opportunity of receiving some instruction from an ingenious young woman whose parents lived in the same house with us. But the time wanted for spending a few hours together could only be obtained by our meeting at daybreak, because by the time of the family's rising at seven, I was obliged to be at my daily business. But during the summer months of 1766 very few mornings passed without our spending a few hours together, to which I was called by my friend's loud cough at her window by way of notice that she was ready for me [she could not sleep, and was glad of my company. I lost her soon after, for she died of consumption]. Though I had neither time nor means for producing anything immediately either for show or use, I was content with keeping samples of all possible patterns in needlework, beads, bugles, horsehair, &c., for I could not help feeling troubled sometimes about my future destiny; yet I could not bear the idea of being turned into an Abigail or housemaid, and thought that with the above and such like acquirements with a little notion of Music, I might obtain a place as governess in some family where the want of a knowledge of French would be no objection."

It was with the same object of fitting herself to earn her bread that, after her father's death, she obtained permission to go for a month or two to learn millinery and dress-making; her eldest brother Jacob, before leaving them to join William at Bath, having graciously given his consent, "if it was only meant to learn to make my own things, but positively forbidding it for any other purpose." The following


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cheyne, Henry


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is high time that we return to Tom and Sam, and learn how the two Rover boys were faring in their unequal contest with Dan Baxter and his followers.

As we know, it was Baxter himself who attacked Sam, while big Bill Harney threw Tom to the ground. Jasper Grinder went to Baxter's assistance, while Lemuel Husty ran to aid Harney.

"Let go of him!" cried Sam, and managed to hit Baxter a glancing blow on the cheek.

"I'll not let go yet," answered Baxter, and bore the youngest Rover to the earth. Over and over they rolled in the snow, until Grinder caught Sam by the legs and held him still.

"That's right, Grinder, hold him!" panted Dan Baxter. "Don't let him get up!"

But Sam was not yet subdued, and getting one foot clear at last, he kicked Jasper Grinder in the ear.

"Oh! oh! my ear!" screamed the former