{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36127/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36127","id":"gutenberg_36127","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36127","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Medieval/Middle Ages","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore","Legends -- History and criticism","Tales, Medieval"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Sam W. and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nIllustration captions in {brackets} have been added by the transcriber\nfor the convenience of the reader.\n\n\n\n\n               CURIOUS MYTHS\n                     OF\n              THE MIDDLE AGES.\n\n\n                     BY\n           S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.\n\n\n                  BOSTON:\n             ROBERTS BROTHERS.\n                   1867.\n\n\n             STEREOTYPED AT THE\n         BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,\n             No. 4 Spring Lane.\n\n\n  University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co.,\n                 Cambridge.\n\n\n\n\n  [Illustration: POPE JOAN.\n    From Joh. Wolfii Lect. Memorab. (LavingA|, 1600.)]\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                            PAGE\n\n    The Wandering Jew                                          1\n\n    Prester John                                              30\n\n    The Divining Rod                                          54\n\n    The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus                             92\n\n    William Tell                                             110\n\n    The Dog Gellert                                          132\n\n    Tailed Men                                               144\n\n    Antichrist and Pope Joan                                 160\n\n    The Man in the Moon                                      189\n\n    The Mountain of Venus                                    207\n\n    Fatality of Numbers                                      221\n\n    The Terrestrial Paradise                                 242\n\n\n\n\nMEDIA\u0086VAL MYTHS.\n\n\n\n\nThe Wandering Jew.\n\n\nWho, that has looked on Gustave DorA(C)'s marvellous illustrations to\nthis wild legend, can forget the impression they made upon his\nimagination?\n\nI do not refer to the first illustration as striking, where the Jewish\nshoemaker is refusing to suffer the cross-laden Savior to rest a\nmoment on his door-step, and is receiving with scornful lip the\njudgment to wander restless till the Second Coming of that same\nRedeemer. But I refer rather to the second, which represents the Jew,\nafter the lapse of ages, bowed beneath the burden of the curse, worn\nwith unrelieved toil, wearied with ceaseless travelling, trudging\nonward at the last lights of evening, when a rayless night of\nunabating rain is creeping on, along a sloppy path between dripping\nbushes; and suddenly he comes over against a wayside crucifix, on\nwhich the white glare of departing daylight falls, to throw it into\nghastly relief against the pitch-black rain-clouds. For a moment we\nsee the working of the miserable shoemaker's mind. We feel that he is\nrecalling the tragedy of the first Good Friday, and his head hangs\nheavier on his breast, as he recalls the part he had taken in that\nawful catastrophe.\n\nOr, is that other illustration more remarkable, where the wanderer is\namongst the Alps, at the brink of a hideous chasm; and seeing in the\ncontorted pine-branches the ever-haunting scene of the Via Dolorosa,\nhe is lured to cast himself into that black gulf in quest of\nrest,--when an angel flashes out of the gloom with the sword of flame\nturning every way, keeping him back from what would be to him a\nParadise indeed, the repose of Death?\n\nOr, that last scene, when the trumpet sounds and earth is shivering to\nits foundations, the fire is bubbling forth through the rents in its\nsurface, and the dead are coming together flesh to flesh, and bone to\nbone, and muscle to muscle--then the weary man sits down and casts off\nhis shoes! Strange sights are around him, he sees them not; strange\nsounds assail his ears, he hears but one--the trumpet-note which gives\nthe signal for him to stay his wanderings and rest his weary feet.\n\nI can linger over those noble woodcuts, and learn from them something\nnew each time that I study them; they are picture-poems full of latent\ndepths of thought. And now let us to the history of this most\nthrilling of all mediA|val myths, if a myth.\n\nIf a myth, I say, for who can say for certain that it is not true?\n\"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not\ntaste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom,\"[1]\nare our Lord's words, which I can hardly think apply to the\ndestruction of Jerusalem, as commentators explain it to escape the\ndifficulty. That some should live to see Jerusalem destroyed was not\nvery surprising, and hardly needed the emphatic Verily which Christ\nonly used when speaking something of peculiarly solemn or mysterious\nimport.\n\nBesides, St. Luke's account manifestly refers the coming in the\nkingdom to the Judgment, for the saying stands as follows: \"Whosoever\nshall be ashamed of Me, and of My words, of him shall the Son of Man\nbe ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's,\nand of the holy angels. But I tell you of a truth, there be some\nstanding here, which shall not taste of death till they see the\nkingdom of God.\"[2]\n\nThere can, I think, be no doubt in the mind of an unprejudiced person\nthat the words of our Lord do imply that some one or more of those\nthen living should not die till He came again. I do not mean to insist\non the literal signification, but I plead that there is no\nimprobability in our Lord's words being fulfilled to the letter. That\nthe circumstance is unrecorded in the Gospels is no evidence that it\ndid not take place, for we are expressly told, \"Many other signs truly\ndid Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in\nthis book;\"[3] and again, \"There are also many other things which\nJesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose\nthat even the world itself could not contain the books that should be\nwritten.\"[4]\n\nWe may remember also the mysterious witnesses who are to appear in the\nlast eventful days of the world's history and bear testimony to the\nGospel truth before the antichristian world. One of these has been\noften conjectured to be St. John the Evangelist, of whom Christ said\nto Peter, \"If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?\"\n\nThe historical evidence on which the tale rests is, however, too\nslender for us to admit for it more than the barest claim to be more\nthan myth. The names and the circumstances connected with the Jew and\nhis doom vary in every account, and the only point upon which all\ncoincide is, that such an individual exists in an undying condition,\nwandering over the face of the earth, seeking rest and finding none.\n\nThe earliest extant mention of the Wandering Jew is to be found in the\nbook of the chronicles of the Abbey of St. Albans, which was copied\nand continued by Matthew Paris. He records that in the year 1228, \"a\ncertain Archbishop of Armenia the Greater came on a pilgrimage to\nEngland to see the relics of the saints, and visit the sacred places\nin the kingdom, as he had done in others; he also produced letters of\nrecommendation from his Holiness the Pope, to the religious and the\nprelates of the churches, in which they were enjoined to receive and\nentertain him with due reverence and honor. On his arrival, he came to\nSt. Albans, where he was received with all respect by the abbot and\nthe monks; and at this place, being fatigued with his journey, he\nremained some days to rest himself and his followers, and a\nconversation took place between him and the inhabitants of the\nconvent, by means of their interpreters, during which he made many\ninquiries relating to the religion and religious observances of this\ncountry, and told many strange things concerning the countries of the\nEast. In the course of conversation he was asked whether he had ever\nseen or heard any thing of Joseph, a man of whom there was much talk\nin the world, who, when our Lord suffered, was present and spoke to\nHim, and who is still alive, in evidence of the Christian faith; in\nreply to which, a knight in his retinue, who was his interpreter,\nreplied, speaking in French, 'My lord well knows that man, and a\nlittle before he took his way to the western countries, the said\nJoseph ate at the table of my lord the Archbishop of Armenia, and he\nhas often seen and conversed with him.'\n\n\"He was then asked about what had passed between Christ and the said\nJoseph; to which he replied, 'At the time of the passion of Jesus\nChrist, He was seized by the Jews, and led into the hall of judgment\nbefore Pilate, the governor, that He might be judged by him on the\naccusation of the Jews; and Pilate, finding no fault for which he\nmight sentence Him to death, said unto them, \"Take Him and judge Him\naccording to your law;\" the shouts of the Jews, however, increasing,\nhe, at their request, released unto them Barabbas, and delivered Jesus\nto them to be crucified. When, therefore, the Jews were dragging Jesus\nforth, and had reached the door, Cartaphilus, a porter of the hall in\nPilate's service, as Jesus was going out of the door, impiously struck\nHim on the back with his hand, and said in mockery, \"Go quicker,\nJesus, go quicker; why do you loiter?\" and Jesus, looking back on him\nwith a severe countenance, said to him, \"I am going, and you shall\nwait till I return.\" And according as our Lord said, this Cartaphilus\nis still awaiting His return. At the time of our Lord's suffering he\nwas thirty years old, and when he attains the age of a hundred years,\nhe always returns to the same age as he was when our Lord suffered.\nAfter Christ's death, when the Catholic faith gained ground, this\nCartaphilus was baptized by Ananias (who also baptized the Apostle\nPaul), and was called Joseph. He dwells in one or other divisions of\nArmenia, and in divers Eastern countries, passing his time amongst the\nbishops and other prelates of the Church; he is a man of holy\nconversation, and religious; a man of few words, and very circumspect\nin his behavior; for he does not speak at all unless when questioned\nby the bishops and religious; and then he relates the events of olden\ntimes, and speaks of things which occurred at the suffering and\nresurrection of our Lord, and of the witnesses of the resurrection,\nnamely, of those who rose with Christ, and went into the holy city,\nand appeared unto men. He also tells of the creed of the Apostles,\nand of their separation and preaching. And all this he relates without\nsmiling, or levity of conversation, as one who is well practised in\nsorrow and the fear of God, always looking forward with dread to the\ncoming of Jesus Christ, lest at the Last Judgment he should find him\nin anger whom, when on his way to death, he had provoked to just\nvengeance. Numbers came to him from different parts of the world,\nenjoying his society and conversation; and to them, if they are men of\nauthority, he explains all doubts on the matters on which he is\nquestioned. He refuses all gifts that are offered him, being content\nwith slight food and clothing.'\"\n\nMuch about the same date, Philip Mouskes, afterwards Bishop of\nTournay, wrote his rhymed chronicle (1242), which contains a similar\naccount of the Jew, derived from the same Armenian prelate:--\n\n    \"Adonques vint un arceveskes\n    De ASec.A  mer, plains de bonnes tA\"ques\n    Par samblant, et fut d'Armenie,\"\n\nand this man, having visited the shrine of \"St. Tumas de Kantorbire,\"\nand then having paid his devotions at \"Monsigour St. Jake,\" he went on\nto Cologne to see the heads of the three kings. The version told in\nthe Netherlands much resembled that related at St. Albans, only that\nthe Jew, seeing the people dragging Christ to his death, exclaims,--\n\n    \"AtendA(C)s moi! g'i vois,\n    S'iert mis le faus profA\"te en crois.\"\n\nThen\n\n    \"Le vrais Dieux se regarda,\n    Et li a dit qu'e n'i tarda,\n    Icist ne t'atenderont pas,\n    Mais saces, tu m'atenderas.\"\n\nWe hear no more of the wandering Jew till the sixteenth century, when\nwe hear first of him in a casual manner, as assisting a weaver, Kokot,\nat the royal palace in Bohemia (1505), to find a treasure which had\nbeen secreted by the great-grandfather of Kokot, sixty years before,\nat which time the Jew was present. He then had the appearance of being\na man of seventy years.[5]\n\nCuriously enough, we next hear of him in the East, where he is\nconfounded with the prophet Elijah. Early in the century he appeared\nto Fadhilah, under peculiar circumstances.\n\nAfter the Arabs had captured the city of Elvan, Fadhilah, at the head\nof three hundred horsemen, pitched his tents, late in the evening,\nbetween two mountains. Fadhilah, having begun his evening prayer with\na loud voice, heard the words \"Allah akbar\" (God is great) repeated\ndistinctly, and each word of his prayer was followed in a similar\nmanner. Fadhilah, not believing this to be the result of an echo, was\nmuch astonished, and cried out, \"O thou! whether thou art of the angel\nranks, or whether thou art of some other order of spirits, it is well;\nthe power of God be with thee; but if thou art a man, then let mine\neyes light upon thee, that I may rejoice in thy presence and society.\"\nScarcely had he spoken these words, before an aged man, with bald\nhead, stood before him, holding a staff in his hand, and much\nresembling a dervish in appearance. After having courteously saluted\nhim, Fadhilah asked the old man who he was. Thereupon the stranger\nanswered, \"Bassi Hadhret Issa, I am here by command of the Lord Jesus,\nwho has left me in this world, that I may live therein until he comes\na second time to earth. I wait for this Lord, who is the Fountain of\nHappiness, and in obedience to his command I dwell behind yon\nmountain.\" When Fadhilah heard these words, he asked when the Lord\nJesus would appear; and the old man replied that his appearing would\nbe at the end of the world, at the Last Judgment. But this only\nincreased Fadhilah's curiosity, so that he inquired the signs of the\napproach of the end of all things, whereupon Zerib Bar Elia gave him\nan account of general, social, and moral dissolution, which would be\nthe climax of this world's history.[6]\n\nIn 1547 he was seen in Europe, if we are to believe the following\nnarration:--\n\n\"Paul von Eitzen, doctor of the Holy Scriptures, and Bishop of\nSchleswig,[7] related as true for some years past, that when he was\nyoung, having studied at Wittemberg, he returned home to his parents\nin Hamburg in the winter of the year 1547, and that on the following\nSunday, in church, he observed a tall man, with his hair hanging over\nhis shoulders, standing barefoot, during the sermon, over against the\npulpit, listening with deepest attention to the discourse, and,\nwhenever the name of Jesus was mentioned, bowing himself profoundly\nand humbly, with sighs and beating of the breast. He had no other\nclothing, in the bitter cold of the winter, except a pair of hose\nwhich were in tatters about his feet, and a coat with a girdle which\nreached to his feet; and his general appearance was that of a man of\nfifty years. And many people, some of high degree and title, have seen\nthis same man in England, France, Italy, Hungary, Persia, Spain,\nPoland, Moscow, Lapland, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, and other places.\n\n\"Every one wondered over the man. Now, after the sermon, the said\nDoctor inquired diligently where the stranger was to be found; and when\nhe had sought him out, he inquired of him privately whence he came, and\nhow long that winter he had been in the place. Thereupon he replied,\nmodestly, that he was a Jew by birth, a native of Jerusalem, by name\nAhasverus, by trade a shoemaker; he had been present at the crucifixion\nof Christ, and had lived ever since, travelling through various lands\nand cities, the which he substantiated by accounts he gave; he related\nalso the circumstances of Christ's transference from Pilate to Herod,\nand the final crucifixion, together with other details not recorded in\nthe Evangelists and historians; he gave accounts of the changes of\ngovernment in many countries, especially of the East, through several\ncenturies; and moreover he detailed the labors and deaths of the holy\nApostles of Christ most circumstantially.\n\n\"Now when Doctor Paul v. Eitzen heard this with profound astonishment,\non account of its incredible novelty, he inquired further, in order\nthat he might obtain more accurate information. Then the man answered,\nthat he had lived in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion of\nChrist, whom he had regarded as a deceiver of the people, and a\nheretic; he had seen Him with his own eyes, and had done his best,\nalong with others, to bring this deceiver, as he regarded Him, to\njustice, and to have Him put out of the way. When the sentence had\nbeen pronounced by Pilate, Christ was about to be dragged past his\nhouse; then he ran home, and called together his household to have a\nlook at Christ, and see what sort of a person He was.\n\n\"This having been done, he had his little child on his arm, and was\nstanding in his doorway, to have a sight of the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n\"As, then, Christ was led by, bowed under the weight of the heavy\ncross, He tried to rest a little, and stood still a moment; but the\nshoemaker, in zeal and rage, and for the sake of obtaining credit\namong the other Jews, drove the Lord Christ forward, and told Him to\nhasten on His way. Jesus, obeying, looked at him, and said, 'I shall\nstand and rest, but thou shalt go till the last day.' At these words\nthe man set down the child; and, unable to remain where he was, he\nfollowed Christ, and saw how cruelly He was crucified, how He\nsuffered, how He died. As soon as this had taken place, it came upon\nhim suddenly that he could no more return to Jerusalem, nor see again\nhis wife and child, but must go forth into foreign lands, one after\nanother, like a mournful pilgrim. Now, when, years after, he returned\nto Jerusalem, he found it ruined and utterly razed, so that not one\nstone was left standing on another; and he could not recognize former\nlocalities.\n\n\"He believes that it is God's purpose, in thus driving him about in\nmiserable life, and preserving him undying, to present him before the\nJews at the end, as a living token, so that the godless and\nunbelieving may remember the death of Christ, and be turned to\nrepentance. For his part he would well rejoice were God in heaven to\nrelease him from this vale of tears. After this conversation, Doctor\nPaul v. Eitzen, along with the rector of the school of Hamburg, who\nwas well read in history, and a traveller, questioned him about events\nwhich had taken place in the East since the death of Christ, and he\nwas able to give them much information on many ancient matters; so\nthat it was impossible not to be convinced of the truth of his story,\nand to see that what seems impossible with men is, after all, possible\nwith God.\n\n\"Since the Jew has had his life extended, he has become silent and\nreserved, and only answers direct questions. When invited to become\nany one's guest, he eats little, and drinks in great moderation; then\nhurries on, never remaining long in one place. When at Hamburg,\nDantzig, and elsewhere, money has been offered him, he never took more\nthan two skillings (fourpence, one farthing), and at once distributed\nit to the poor, as token that he needed no money, for God would\nprovide for him, as he rued the sins he had committed in ignorance.\n\n\"During the period of his stay in Hamburg and Dantzig he was never\nseen to laugh. In whatever land he travelled he spoke its language,\nand when he spoke Saxon, it was like a native Saxon. Many people came\nfrom different places to Hamburg and Dantzig in order to see and hear\nthis man, and were convinced that the providence of God was exercised\nin this individual in a very remarkable manner. He gladly listened to\nGod's word, or heard it spoken of always with great gravity and\ncompunction, and he ever reverenced with sighs the pronunciation of\nthe name of God, or of Jesus Christ, and could not endure to hear\ncurses; but whenever he heard any one swear by God's death or pains,\nhe waxed indignant, and exclaimed, with vehemence and with sighs,\n'Wretched man and miserable creature, thus to misuse the name of thy\nLord and God, and His bitter sufferings and passion. Hadst thou seen,\nas I have, how heavy and bitter were the pangs and wounds of thy Lord,\nendured for thee and for me, thou wouldst rather undergo great pain\nthyself than thus take His sacred name in vain!'\n\n\"Such is the account given to me by Doctor Paul von Eitzen, with many\ncircumstantial proofs, and corroborated by certain of my own old\nacquaintances who saw this same individual with their own eyes in\nHamburg.\n\n\"In the year 1575 the Secretary Christopher Krause, and Master Jacob\nvon Holstein, legates to the Court of Spain, and afterwards sent into\nthe Netherlands to pay the soldiers serving his Majesty in that\ncountry, related on their return home to Schleswig, and confirmed with\nsolemn oaths, that they had come across the same mysterious individual\nat Madrid in Spain, in appearance, manner of life, habits, clothing,\njust the same as he had appeared in Hamburg. They said that they had\nspoken with him, and that many people of all classes had conversed\nwith him, and found him to speak good Spanish. In the year 1599, in\nDecember, a reliable person wrote from Brunswick to Strasburg that the\nsame mentioned strange person had been seen alive at Vienna in\nAustria, and that he had started for Poland and Dantzig; and that he\npurposed going on to Moscow. This Ahasverus was at Lubeck in 1601,\nalso about the same date in Revel in Livonia, and in Cracow in Poland.\nIn Moscow he was seen of many and spoken to by many.\n\n\"What thoughtful, God-fearing persons are to think of the said\nperson, is at their option. God's works are wondrous and past finding\nout, and are manifested day by day, only to be revealed in full at the\nlast great day of account.\n\n                              \"Dated, Revel, August 1st, 1613.\n                                  \"D. W.\n                                  \"D.\n                                  \"Chrysostomus DudulA\"us,\n                                        \"Westphalus.\"\n\nThe statement that the Wandering Jew appeared in Lubeck in 1601, does\nnot tally with the more precise chronicle of Henricus Bangert, which\ngives: \"Die 14 Januarii Anno MDCIII., adnotatum reliquit LubecA| fuisse\nJudA|um illum immortalem, qui se Christi crucifixioni interfuisse\naffirmavit.\"[8]\n\nIn 1604 he seems to have appeared in Paris. Rudolph Botoreus says,\nunder this date, \"I fear lest I be accused of giving ear to old wives'\nfables, if I insert in these pages what is reported all over Europe of\nthe Jew, coeval with the Savior Christ; however, nothing is more\ncommon, and our popular histories have not scrupled to assert it.\nFollowing the lead of those who wrote our annals, I may say that he\nwho appeared not in one century only, in Spain, Italy, and Germany,\nwas also in this year seen and recognized as the same individual who\nhad appeared in Hamburg, anno MDLXVI. The common people, bold in\nspreading reports, relate many things of him; and this I allude to,\nlest anything should be left unsaid.\"[9]\n\nJ. C. Bulenger puts the date of the Hamburg visit earlier. \"It was\nreported at this time that a Jew of the time of Christ was wandering\nwithout food and drink, having for a thousand and odd years been a\nvagabond and outcast, condemned by God to rove, because he, of that\ngeneration of vipers, was the first to cry out for the crucifixion of\nChrist and the release of Barabbas; and also because soon after, when\nChrist, panting under the burden of the rood, sought to rest before\nhis workshop (he was a cobbler), the fellow ordered Him off with\nacerbity. Thereupon Christ replied, 'Because thou grudgest Me such a\nmoment of rest, I shall enter into My rest, but thou shalt wander\nrestless.' At once, frantic and agitated, he fled through the whole\nearth, and on the same account to this day he journeys through the\nworld. It was this person who was seen in Hamburg in MDLXIV. Credat\nJudA|us Apella! _I_ did not see him, or hear anything authentic\nconcerning him, at that time when I was in Paris.\"[10]\n\nA curious little book,[11] written against the quackery of Paracelsus,\nby Leonard Doldius, a NA1/4rnberg physician, and translated into Latin\nand augmented, by Andreas Libavius, doctor and physician of Rotenburg,\nalludes to the same story, and gives the Jew a new name nowhere else\nmet with. After having referred to a report that Paracelsus was not\ndead, but was seated alive, asleep or napping, in his sepulchre at\nStrasburg, preserved from death by some of his specifics, Libavius\ndeclares that he would sooner believe in the old man, the Jew,\nAhasverus, wandering over the world, called by some ButtadA|us, and\notherwise, again, by others.\n\nHe is said to have appeared in Naumburg, but the date is not given; he\nwas noticed in church, listening to the sermon. After the service he\nwas questioned, and he related his story. On this occasion he\nreceived presents from the burgers.[12] In 1633 he was again in\nHamburg.[13] In the year 1640, two citizens, living in the\nGerberstrasse, in Brussels, were walking in the Sonian wood, when they\nencountered an aged man, whose clothes were in tatters and of an\nantiquated appearance. They invited him to go with them to a house of\nrefreshment, and he went with them, but would not seat himself,\nremaining on foot to drink. When he came before the doors with the two\nburgers, he told them a great deal; but they were mostly stories of\nevents which had happened many hundred years before. Hence the burgers\ngathered that their companion was Isaac Laquedem, the Jew who had\nrefused to permit our Blessed Lord to rest for a moment at his\ndoor-step, and they left him full of terror. In 1642 he is reported to\nhave visited Leipzig. On the 22d July, 1721, he appeared at the gates\nof the city of Munich.[14] About the end of the seventeenth century or\nthe beginning of the eighteenth, an impostor, calling himself the\nWandering Jew, attracted attention in England, and was listened to by\nthe ignorant, and despised by the educated. He, however, managed to\nthrust himself into the notice of the nobility, who, half in jest,\nhalf in curiosity, questioned him, and paid him as they might a\njuggler. He declared that he had been an officer of the Sanhedrim, and\nthat he had struck Christ as he left the judgment hall of Pilate. He\nremembered all the Apostles, and described their personal appearance,\ntheir clothes, and their peculiarities. He spoke many languages,\nclaimed the power of healing the sick, and asserted that he had\ntravelled nearly all over the world. Those who heard him were\nperplexed by his familiarity with foreign tongues and places. Oxford\nand Cambridge sent professors to question him, and to discover the\nimposition, if any. An English nobleman conversed with him in Arabic.\nThe mysterious stranger told his questioner in that language that\nhistorical works were not to be relied upon. And on being asked his\nopinion of Mahomet, he replied that he had been acquainted with the\nfather of the prophet, and that he dwelt at Ormuz. As for Mahomet, he\nbelieved him to have been a man of intelligence; once when he heard\nthe prophet deny that Christ was crucified, he answered abruptly by\ntelling him he was a witness to the truth of that event. He related\nalso that he was in Rome when Nero set it on fire; he had known\nSaladin, Tamerlane, Bajazeth, Eterlane, and could give minute details\nof the history of the Crusades.[15]\n\nWhether this wandering Jew was found out in London or not, we cannot\ntell, but he shortly after appeared in Denmark, thence travelled into\nSweden, and vanished.\n\nSuch are the principal notices of the Wandering Jew which have\nappeared. It will be seen at once how wanting they are in all\nsubstantial evidence which could make us regard the story in any other\nlight than myth.\n\nBut no myth is wholly without foundation, and there must be some\nsubstantial verity upon which this vast superstructure of legend has\nbeen raised. What that is I am unable to discover.\n\nIt has been suggested by some that the Jew Ahasverus is an\nimpersonation of that race which wanders, Cain-like, over the earth\nwith the brand of a brother's blood upon it, and one which is not to\npass away till all be fulfilled, not to be reconciled to its angered\nGod till the times of the Gentiles are accomplished. And yet, probable\nas this supposition may seem at first sight, it is not to be\nharmonized with some of the leading features of the story. The\nshoemaker becomes a penitent, and earnest Christian, whilst the Jewish\nnation has still the veil upon its heart; the wretched wanderer\neschews money, and the avarice of the Israelite is proverbial.\n\nAccording to local legend, he is identified with the Gypsies, or\nrather that strange people are supposed to be living under a curse\nsomewhat similar to that inflicted on Ahasverus, because they refused\nshelter to the Virgin and Child on their flight into Egypt.[16]\nAnother tradition connects the Jew with the wild huntsman, and there\nis a forest at Bretten, in Swabia, which he is said to haunt. Popular\nsuperstition attributes to him there a purse containing a groschen,\nwhich, as often as it is expended, returns to the spender.[17]\n\nIn the Harz one form of the Wild Huntsman myth is to this effect:\nthat he was a Jew who had refused to suffer our Blessed Lord to drink\nout of a river, or out of a horse-trough, but had contemptuously\npointed out to Him the hoof-print of a horse, in which a little water\nhad collected, and had bid Him quench His thirst thence.[18]\n\nAs the Wild Huntsman is the personification of the storm, it is\ncurious to find in parts of France that the sudden roar of a gale at\nnight is attributed by the vulgar to the passing of the Everlasting\nJew.\n\nA Swiss story is, that he was seen one day standing upon the\nMatterberg, which is below the Matterhorn, contemplating the scene\nwith mingled sorrow and wonder. Once before he stood on that spot, and\nthen it was the site of a flourishing city; now it is covered with\ngentian and wild pinks. Once again will he revisit the hill, and that\nwill be on the eve of Judgment.\n\nPerhaps, of all the myths which originated in the middle ages, none is\nmore striking than that we have been considering; indeed, there is\nsomething so calculated to arrest the attention and to excite the\nimagination in the outline of the story, that it is remarkable that\nwe should find an interval of three centuries elapse between its first\nintroduction into Europe by Matthew Paris and Philip Mouskes, and its\ngeneral acceptance in the sixteenth century. As a myth, its roots lie\nin that great mystery of human life which is an enigma never solved,\nand ever originating speculation.\n\nWhat was life? Was it of necessity limited to fourscore years, or\ncould it be extended indefinitely? were questions curious minds never\nwearied of asking. And so the mythology of the past teemed with\nlegends of favored or accursed mortals, who had reached beyond the\nterm of days set to most men. Some had discovered the water of life,\nthe fountain of perpetual youth, and were ever renewing their\nstrength. Others had dared the power of God, and were therefore\nsentenced to feel the weight of His displeasure, without tasting the\nrepose of death.\n\nJohn the Divine slept at Ephesus, untouched by corruption, with the\nground heaving over his breast as he breathed, waiting the summons to\ncome forth and witness against Antichrist. The seven sleepers reposed\nin a cave, and centuries glided by like a watch in the night. The\nmonk of Hildesheim, doubting how with God a thousand years could be as\nyesterday, listened to the melody of a bird in the green wood during\nthree minutes, and found that in three minutes three hundred years had\nflown. Joseph of ArimathA|a, in the blessed city of Sarras, draws\nperpetual life from the Saint Graal; Merlin sleeps and sighs in an old\ntree, spell-bound of Vivien. Charlemagne and Barbarossa wait, crowned\nand armed, in the heart of the mountain, till the time comes for the\nrelease of Fatherland from despotism. And, on the other hand, the\ncurse of a deathless life has passed on the Wild Huntsman, because he\ndesired to chase the red-deer for evermore; on the Captain of the\nPhantom Ship, because he vowed he would double the Cape whether God\nwilled it or not; on the Man in the Moon, because he gathered sticks\nduring the Sabbath rest; on the dancers of Kolbeck, because they\ndesired to spend eternity in their mad gambols.\n\nI began this article intending to conclude it with a bibliographical\naccount of the tracts, letters, essays, and books, written upon the\nWandering Jew; but I relinquish my intention at the sight of the\nmultitude of works which have issued from the press upon the subject;\nand this I do with less compunction as the bibliographer may at little\ntrouble and expense satisfy himself, by perusing the lists given by\nGrA\u00a4sse in his essay on the myth, and those to be found in \"Notice\nhistorique et bibliographique sur les Juifs-errants: par O. B.\"\n(Gustave Brunet), Paris, TA(C)chener, 1845; also in the article by M.\nMangin, in \"Causeries et MA(C)ditations historiques et littA(C)raires,\"\nParis, Duprat, 1843; and, lastly, in the essay by Jacob le Bibliophile\n(M. Lacroix) in his \"CuriositA(C)s de l'Histoire des Croyances\npopulaires,\" Paris, Delahays, 1859.\n\nOf the romances of EugA\"ne Sue and Dr. Croly, founded upon the legend,\nthe less said the better. The original legend is so noble in its\nsevere simplicity, that none but a master mind could develop it with\nany chance of success. Nor have the poetical attempts upon the story\nfared better. It was reserved for the pencil of Gustave DorA(C) to treat\nit with the originality it merited, and in a series of woodcuts to\nproduce at once a poem, a romance, and a chef-d'A\"uvre of art.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Matt. xvi. 28. Mark ix. 1.\n\n[2] Luke ix.\n\n[3] John xx. 30.\n\n[4] John xxi. 25.\n\n[5] Gubitz, Gesellsch. 1845, No. 18.\n\n[6] Herbelot, Bibl. Orient, iii. p. 607.\n\n[7] Paul v. Eitzen was born January 25, 1522, at Hamburg; in 1562 he\nwas appointed chief preacher for Schleswig, and died February 25,\n1598. (Greve, Memor. P. ab. Eitzen. Hamb. 1844.)\n\n[8] Henr. Bangert, Comment. de Ortu, Vita, et Excessu Coleri, I. Cti.\nLubec.\n\n[9] R. Botoreus, Comm. Histor. lii. p. 305.\n\n[10] J. C. Bulenger, Historia sui Temporis, p. 357.\n\n[11] Praxis AlchymiA|. Francfurti, MDCIV. 8vo.\n\n[12] Mitternacht, Diss. in Johann. xxi. 19.\n\n[13] Mitternacht, ut supra.\n\n[14] Hormayr, Taschenbuch, 1834, p. 216.\n\n[15] Calmet, Dictionn. de la Bible, t. ii. p. 472.\n\n[16] Aventinus, Bayr. Chronik, viii.\n\n[17] Meier, SchwA\u00a4bischen Sagen, i. 116.\n\n[18] Kuhn u. Schwarz Nordd. Sagen, p. 499.\n\n\n\n\nPrester John.\n\n  [Illustration: Arms of the See of Chichester.]\n\n\nAbout the middle of the twelfth century, a rumor circulated through\nEurope that there reigned in Asia a powerful Christian Emperor,\nPresbyter Johannes. In a bloody fight he had broken the power of the\nMussulmans, and was ready to come to the assistance of the Crusaders.\nGreat was the exultation in Europe, for of late the news from the East\nhad been gloomy and depressing, the power of the infidel had\nincreased, overwhelming masses of men had been brought into the field\nagainst the chivalry of Christendom, and it was felt that the cross\nmust yield before the odious crescent.\n\nThe news of the success of the Priest-King opened a door of hope to\nthe desponding Christian world. Pope Alexander III. determined at\nonce to effect a union with this mysterious personage, and on the 27th\nof September, 1177, wrote him a letter, which he intrusted to his\nphysician, Philip, to deliver in person.\n\nPhilip started on his embassy, but never returned. The conquests of\nTschengis-Khan again attracted the eyes of Christian Europe to the\nEast. The Mongol hordes were rushing in upon the west with devastating\nferocity; Russia, Poland, Hungary, and the eastern provinces of\nGermany, had succumbed, or suffered grievously; and the fears of other\nnations were roused lest they too should taste the misery of a\nMongolian invasion. It was Gog and Magog come to slaughter, and the\ntimes of Antichrist were dawning. But the battle of Liegnitz stayed\nthem in their onward career, and Europe was saved.\n\nPope Innocent IV. determined to convert these wild hordes of\nbarbarians, and subject them to the cross of Christ; he therefore sent\namong them a number of Dominican and Franciscan missioners, and\nembassies of peace passed between the Pope, the King of France, and\nthe Mogul Khan.\n\nThe result of these communications with the East was, that the\ntravellers learned how false were the prevalent notions of a mighty\nChristian empire existing in Central Asia. Vulgar superstition or\nconviction is not, however, to be upset by evidence, and the locality\nof the monarchy was merely transferred by the people to Africa, and\nthey fixed upon Abyssinia, with a show of truth, as the seat of the\nfamous Priest-King. However, still some doubted. John de Plano Carpini\nand Marco Polo, though they acknowledged the existence of a Christian\nmonarch in Abyssinia, yet stoutly maintained as well that the Prester\nJohn of popular belief reigned in splendor somewhere in the dim\nOrient.\n\nBut before proceeding with the history of this strange fable, it will\nbe well to extract the different accounts given of the Priest-King and\nhis realm by early writers; and we shall then be better able to judge\nof the influence the myth obtained in Europe.\n\nOtto of Freisingen is the first author to mention the monarchy of\nPrester John with whom we are acquainted. Otto wrote a chronicle up to\nthe date 1156, and he relates that in 1145 the Catholic Bishop of\nCabala visited Europe to lay certain complaints before the Pope. He\nmentioned the fall of Edessa, and also \"he stated that a few years ago\na certain King and Priest called John, who lives on the farther side\nof Persia and Armenia, in the remote East, and who, with all his\npeople, were Christians, though belonging to the Nestorian Church, had\novercome the royal brothers Samiardi, kings of the Medes and Persians,\nand had captured Ecbatana, their capital and residence. The said kings\nhad met with their Persian, Median, and Assyrian troops, and had\nfought for three consecutive days, each side having determined to die\nrather than take to flight. Prester John, for so they are wont to call\nhim, at length routed the Persians, and after a bloody battle,\nremained victorious. After which victory the said John was hastening\nto the assistance of the Church at Jerusalem, but his host, on\nreaching the Tigris, was hindered from passing, through a deficiency\nin boats, and he directed his march North, since he had heard that the\nriver was there covered with ice. In that place he had waited many\nyears, expecting severe cold; but the winters having proved\nunpropitious, and the severity of the climate having carried off many\nsoldiers, he had been forced to retreat to his own land. This king\nbelongs to the family of the Magi, mentioned in the Gospel, and he\nrules over the very people formerly governed by the Magi; moreover,\nhis fame and his wealth are so great, that he uses an emerald sceptre\nonly.\n\n\"Excited by the example of his ancestors, who came to worship Christ\nin his cradle, he had proposed to go to Jerusalem, but had been\nimpeded by the above-mentioned causes.\"[19]\n\nAt the same time the story crops up in other quarters; so that we\ncannot look upon Otto as the inventor of the myth. The celebrated\nMaimonides alludes to it in a passage quoted by Joshua Lorki, a Jewish\nphysician to Benedict XIII. Maimonides lived from 1135 to 1204. The\npassage is as follows: \"It is evident both from the letters of Rambam\n(Maimonides), whose memory be blessed, and from the narration of\nmerchants who have visited the ends of the earth, that at this time\nthe root of our faith is to be found in the lands of Babel and Teman,\nwhere long ago Jerusalem was an exile; not reckoning those who live in\nthe land of Paras[20] and Madai,[21] of the exiles of Schomrom, the\nnumber of which people is as the sand: of these some are still under\nthe yoke of Paras, who is called the Great-Chief Sultan by the Arabs;\nothers live in a place under the yoke of a strange people ... governed\nby a Christian chief, Preste-Cuan by name. With him they have made a\ncompact, and he with them; and this is a matter concerning which there\ncan be no manner of doubt.\"\n\nBenjamin of Tudela, another Jew, travelled in the East between the\nyears 1159 and 1173, the last being the date of his death. He wrote an\naccount of his travels, and gives in it some information with regard\nto a mythical Jew king, who reigned in the utmost splendor over a\nrealm inhabited by Jews alone, situate somewhere in the midst of a\ndesert of vast extent. About this period there appeared a document\nwhich produced intense excitement throughout Europe--a letter, yes! a\nletter from the mysterious personage himself to Manuel Comnenus,\nEmperor of Constantinople (1143-1180). The exact date of this\nextraordinary epistle cannot be fixed with any certainty, but it\ncertainly appeared before 1241, the date of the conclusion of the\nchronicle of Albericus Trium Fontium. This Albericus relates that in\nthe year 1165 \"Presbyter Joannes, the Indian king, sent his wonderful\nletter to various Christian princes, and especially to Manuel of\nConstantinople, and Frederic the Roman Emperor.\" Similar letters were\nsent to Alexander III., to Louis VII. of France, and to the King of\nPortugal, which are alluded to in chronicles and romances, and which\nwere indeed turned into rhyme, and sung all over Europe by minstrels\nand trouvA\"res. The letter is as follows:--\n\n\"John, Priest by the Almighty power of God and the Might of our Lord\nJesus Christ, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, to his friend Emanuel,\nPrince of Constantinople, greeting, wishing him health, prosperity,\nand the continuance of Divine favor.\n\n\"Our Majesty has been informed that you hold our Excellency in love,\nand that the report of our greatness has reached you. Moreover, we\nhave heard through our treasurer that you have been pleased to send to\nus some objects of art and interest, that our Exaltedness might be\ngratified thereby.\n\n\"Being human, I receive it in good part, and we have ordered our\ntreasurer to send you some of our articles in return.\n\n\"Now we desire to be made certain that you hold the right faith, and\nin all things cleave to Jesus Christ, our Lord, for we have heard that\nyour court regard you as a god, though we know that you are mortal,\nand subject to human infirmities.... Should you desire to learn the\ngreatness and excellency of our Exaltedness and of the land subject to\nour sceptre, then hear and believe:--I, Presbyter Johannes, the Lord\nof Lords, surpass all under heaven in virtue, in riches, and in power;\nseventy-two kings pay us tribute.... In the three Indies our\nMagnificence rules, and our land extends beyond India, where rests the\nbody of the holy Apostle Thomas; it reaches towards the sunrise over\nthe wastes, and it trends towards deserted Babylon near the tower of\nBabel. Seventy-two provinces, of which only a few are Christian, serve\nus. Each has its own king, but all are tributary to us.\n\n\"Our land is the home of elephants, dromedaries, camels, crocodiles,\nmeta-collinarum, cametennus, tensevetes, wild asses, white and red\nlions, white bears, white merules, crickets, griffins, tigers, lamias,\nhyenas, wild horses, wild oxen and wild men, men with horns, one-eyed,\nmen with eyes before and behind, centaurs, fauns, satyrs, pygmies,\nforty-ell-high giants, Cyclopses, and similar women; it is the home,\ntoo, of the phA\"nix, and of nearly all living animals. We have some\npeople subject to us who feed on the flesh of men and of prematurely\nborn animals, and who never fear death. When any of these people die,\ntheir friends and relations eat him ravenously, for they regard it as\na main duty to munch human flesh. Their names are Gog and Magog, Anie,\nAgit, Azenach, Fommeperi, Befari, Conei-Samante, Agrimandri,\nVintefolei, Casbei, Alanei. These and similar nations were shut in\nbehind lofty mountains by Alexander the Great, towards the North. We\nlead them at our pleasure against our foes, and neither man nor beast\nis left undevoured, if our Majesty gives the requisite permission. And\nwhen all our foes are eaten, then we return with our hosts home again.\nThese accursed fifteen nations will burst forth from the four quarters\nof the earth at the end of the world, in the times of Antichrist, and\noverrun all the abodes of the Saints as well as the great city Rome,\nwhich, by the way, we are prepared to give to our son who will be\nborn, along with all Italy, Germany, the two Gauls, Britain and\nScotland. We shall also give him Spain and all the land as far as the\nicy sea. The nations to which I have alluded, according to the words\nof the prophet, shall not stand in the judgment, on account of their\noffensive practices, but will be consumed to ashes by a fire which\nwill fall on them from heaven.\n\n\"Our land streams with honey, and is overflowing with milk. In one\nregion grows no poisonous herb, nor does a querulous frog ever quack\nin it; no scorpion exists, nor does the serpent glide amongst the\ngrass, nor can any poisonous animals exist in it, or injure any one.\n\n\"Among the heathen, flows through a certain province the River Indus;\nencircling Paradise, it spreads its arms in manifold windings through\nthe entire province. Here are found the emeralds, sapphires,\ncarbuncles, topazes, chrysolites, onyxes, beryls, sardius, and other\ncostly stones. Here grows the plant Assidos, which, when worn by any\none, protects him from the evil spirit, forcing it to state its\nbusiness and name; consequently the foul spirits keep out of the way\nthere. In a certain land subject to us, all kinds of pepper is\ngathered, and is exchanged for corn and bread, leather and cloth....\nAt the foot of Mount Olympus bubbles up a spring which changes its\nflavor hour by hour, night and day, and the spring is scarcely three\ndays' journey from Paradise, out of which Adam was driven. If any one\nhas tasted thrice of the fountain, from that day he will feel no\nfatigue, but will, as long as he lives, be as a man of thirty years.\nHere are found the small stones called Nudiosi, which, if borne about\nthe body, prevent the sight from waxing feeble, and restore it where\nit is lost. The more the stone is looked at, the keener becomes the\nsight. In our territory is a certain waterless sea, consisting of\ntumbling billows of sand never at rest. None have crossed this sea; it\nlacks water altogether, yet fish are cast up upon the beach of various\nkinds, very tasty, and the like are nowhere else to be seen. Three\ndays' journey from this sea are mountains from which rolls down a\nstony, waterless river, which opens into the sandy sea. As soon as the\nstream reaches the sea, its stones vanish in it, and are never seen\nagain. As long as the river is in motion, it cannot be crossed; only\nfour days a week is it possible to traverse it. Between the sandy sea\nand the said mountains, in a certain plain is a fountain of singular\nvirtue, which purges Christians and would-be Christians from all\ntransgressions. The water stands four inches high in a hollow stone\nshaped like a mussel-shell. Two saintly old men watch by it, and ask\nthe comers whether they are Christians, or are about to become\nChristians, then whether they desire healing with all their hearts. If\nthey have answered well, they are bidden to lay aside their clothes,\nand to step into the mussel. If what they said be true, then the water\nbegins to rise and gush over their heads; thrice does the water thus\nlift itself, and every one who has entered the mussel leaves it cured\nof every complaint.\n\n\"Near the wilderness trickles between barren mountains a subterranean\nrill, which can only by chance be reached, for only occasionally the\nearth gapes, and he who would descend must do it with precipitation,\nere the earth closes again. All that is gathered under the ground\nthere is gem and precious stone. The brook pours into another river,\nand the inhabitants of the neighborhood obtain thence abundance of\nprecious stones. Yet they never venture to sell them without having\nfirst offered them to us for our private use: should we decline them,\nthey are at liberty to dispose of them to strangers. Boys there are\ntrained to remain three or four days under water, diving after the\nstones.\n\n\"Beyond the stone river are the ten tribes of the Jews, which, though\nsubject to their own kings, are, for all that, our slaves and\ntributary to our Majesty. In one of our lands, hight Zone, are worms\ncalled in our tongue Salamanders. These worms can only live in fire,\nand they build cocoons like silk-worms, which are unwound by the\nladies of our palace, and spun into cloth and dresses, which are worn\nby our Exaltedness. These dresses, in order to be cleaned and washed,\nare cast into flames.... When we go to war, we have fourteen golden\nand bejewelled crosses borne before us instead of banners; each of\nthese crosses is followed by 10,000 horsemen, and 100,000 foot\nsoldiers fully armed, without reckoning those in charge of the luggage\nand provision.\n\n\"When we ride abroad plainly, we have a wooden, unadorned cross,\nwithout gold or gem about it, borne before us, in order that we may\nmeditate on the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ; also a golden\nbowl filled with earth, to remind us of that whence we sprung, and\nthat to which we must return; but besides these there is borne a\nsilver bowl full of gold, as a token to all that we are the Lord of\nLords.\n\n\"All riches, such as are upon the world, our Magnificence possesses in\nsuperabundance. With us no one lies, for he who speaks a lie is\nthenceforth regarded as dead; he is no more thought of, or honored by\nus. No vice is tolerated by us. Every year we undertake a pilgrimage,\nwith retinue of war, to the body of the holy prophet Daniel, which is\nnear the desolated site of Babylon. In our realm fishes are caught,\nthe blood of which dyes purple. The Amazons and the Brahmins are\nsubject to us. The palace in which our Supereminency resides, is built\nafter the pattern of the castle built by the Apostle Thomas for the\nIndian king Gundoforus. Ceilings, joists, and architrave are of Sethym\nwood, the roof of ebony, which can never catch fire. Over the gable of\nthe palace are, at the extremities, two golden apples, in each of\nwhich are two carbuncles, so that the gold may shine by day, and the\ncarbuncles by night. The greater gates of the palace are of sardius,\nwith the horn of the horned snake inwrought, so that no one can bring\npoison within.\n\n\"The other portals are of ebony. The windows are of crystal; the\ntables are partly of gold, partly of amethyst, and the columns\nsupporting the tables are partly of ivory, partly of amethyst. The\ncourt in which we watch the jousting is floored with onyx in order to\nincrease the courage of the combatants. In the palace, at night,\nnothing is burned for light but wicks supplied with balsam.... Before\nour palace stands a mirror, the ascent to which consists of five and\ntwenty steps of porphyry and serpentine.\" After a description of the\ngems adorning this mirror, which is guarded night and day by three\nthousand armed men, he explains its use: \"We look therein and behold\nall that is taking place in every province and region subject to our\nsceptre.\n\n\"Seven kings wait upon us monthly, in turn, with sixty-two dukes, two\nhundred and fifty-six counts and marquises: and twelve archbishops\nsit at table with us on our right, and twenty bishops on the left,\nbesides the patriarch of St. Thomas, the Sarmatian Protopope, and the\nArchpope of Susa.... Our lord high steward is a primate and king, our\ncup-bearer is an archbishop and king, our chamberlain a bishop and\nking, our marshal a king and abbot.\"\n\nI may be spared further extracts from this extraordinary letter, which\nproceeds to describe the church in which Prester John worships, by\nenumerating the precious stones of which it is constructed, and their\nspecial virtues.\n\nWhether this letter was in circulation before Pope Alexander wrote\nhis, it is not easy to decide. Alexander does not allude to it, but\nspeaks of the reports which have reached him of the piety and the\nmagnificence of the Priest-King. At the same time, there runs a tone\nof bitterness through the letter, as though the Pope had been galled\nat the pretensions of this mysterious personage, and perhaps winced\nunder the prospect of the man-eaters overrunning Italy, as suggested\nby John the Priest. The papal epistle is an assertion of the claims of\nthe See of Rome to universal dominion, and it assures the Eastern\nPrince-Pope that his Christian professions are worthless, unless he\nsubmits to the successor of Peter. \"Not every one that saith unto me,\nLord, Lord,\" &c., quotes the Pope, and then explains that the will of\nGod is that every monarch and prelate should eat humble pie to the\nSovereign Pontiff.\n\nSir John Maundevil gives the origin of the priestly title of the\nEastern despot, in his curious book of travels.\n\n\"So it befelle, that this emperour cam, with a Cristene knyght with\nhim, into a chirche in Egypt: and it was Saterday in Wyttson woke. And\nthe bishop made orders. And he beheld and listened the servyse fulle\ntentyfly: and he asked the Cristene knyght, what men of degree thei\nscholden ben, that the prelate had before him. And the knyght\nanswerede and seyde, that thei scholde ben prestes. And then the\nemperour seyde, that he wolde no longer ben clept kyng ne emperour,\nbut preest: and that he wolde have the name of the first preest, that\nwente out of the chirche; and his name was John. And so evere more\nsittiens, he is clept Prestre John.\"\n\nIt is probable that the foundation of the whole Prester-John myth lay\nin the report which reached Europe of the wonderful successes of\nNestorianism in the East, and there seems reason to believe that the\nfamous letter given above was a Nestorian fabrication. It certainly\nlooks un-European; the gorgeous imagery is thoroughly Eastern, and the\ndisparaging tone in which Rome is spoken of could hardly have been the\nexpression of Western feelings. The letter has the object in view of\nexalting the East in religion and arts to an undue eminence at the\nexpense of the West, and it manifests some ignorance of European\ngeography, when it speaks of the land extending from Spain to the\nPolar Sea. Moreover, the sites of the patriarchates, and the dignity\nconferred on that of St. Thomas, are indications of a Nestorian bias.\n\nA brief glance at the history of this heretical Church may be of value\nhere, as showing that there really was a foundation for the wild\nlegends concerning a Christian empire in the East, so prevalent in\nEurope. Nestorius, a priest of Antioch and a disciple of St.\nChrysostom, was elevated by the emperor to the patriarchate of\nConstantinople, and in the year 428 began to propagate his heresy,\ndenying the hypostatic union. The Council of Ephesus denounced him,\nand, in spite of the emperor and court, Nestorius was anathematized\nand driven into exile. His sect spread through the East, and became a\nflourishing church. It reached to China, where the emperor was all but\nconverted; its missionaries traversed the frozen tundras of Siberia,\npreaching their maimed Gospel to the wild hordes which haunted those\ndreary wastes; it faced Buddhism, and wrestled with it for the\nreligious supremacy in Thibet; it established churches in Persia and\nin Bokhara; it penetrated India; it formed colonies in Ceylon, in\nSiam, and in Sumatra; so that the Catholicos or Pope of Bagdad\nexercised sway more extensive than that ever obtained by the successor\nof St. Peter. The number of Christians belonging to that communion\nprobably exceeded that of the members of the true Catholic Church in\nEast and West. But the Nestorian Church was not founded on the Rock;\nit rested on Nestorius; and when the rain descended, and the winds\nblew, and the floods came, and beat upon that house, it fell, leaving\nscarce a fragment behind.\n\nRubruquis the Franciscan, who in 1253 was sent on a mission into\nTartary, was the first to let in a little light on the fable. He\nwrites, \"The Catai dwelt beyond certain mountains across which I\nwandered, and in a plain in the midst of the mountains lived once an\nimportant Nestorian shepherd, who ruled over the Nestorian people,\ncalled Nayman. When Coir-Khan died, the Nestorian people raised this\nman to be king, and called him King Johannes, and related of him ten\ntimes as much as the truth. The Nestorians thereabouts have this way\nwith them, that about nothing they make a great fuss, and thus they\nhave got it noised abroad that Sartach, Mangu-Khan, and Ken-Khan were\nChristians, simply because they treated Christians well, and showed\nthem more honor than other people. Yet, in fact, they were not\nChristians at all. And in like manner the story got about that there\nwas a great King John. However, I traversed his pastures, and no one\nknew anything about him, except a few Nestorians. In his pastures\nlives Ken-Khan, at whose court was Brother Andrew, whom I met on my\nway back. This Johannes had a brother, a famous shepherd, named Unc,\nwho lived three weeks' journey beyond the mountains of Caracatais.\"\n\nThis Unk-Khan was a real individual; he lost his life in the year\n1203. Kuschhik, prince of the Nayman, and follower of Kor-Khan, fell\nin 1218.\n\nMarco Polo, the Venetian traveller (1254-1324), identifies Unk-Khan\nwith Prester John; he says, \"I will now tell you of the deeds of the\nTartars, how they gained the mastery, and spread over the whole earth.\nThe Tartars dwelt between Georgia and Bargu, where there is a vast\nplain and level country, on which are neither cities nor forts, but\ncapital pasturage and water. They had no chief of their own, but paid\nto Prester Johannes tribute. Of the greatness of this Prester\nJohannes, who was properly called Un-Khan, the whole world spake; the\nTartars gave him one of every ten head of cattle. When Prester John\nnoticed that they were increasing, he feared them, and planned how he\ncould injure them. He determined therefore to scatter them, and he\nsent barons to do this. But the Tartars guessed what Prester John\npurposed ... and they went away into the wide wastes of the North,\nwhere they might be beyond his reach.\" He then goes on to relate how\nTschengis-(Jenghiz-)Khan became the head of the Tartars, and how he\nfought against Prester John, and, after a desperate fight, overcame\nand slew him.\n\nThe Syriac Chronicle of the Jacobite Primate, Gregory Bar-HebrA|us\n(born 1226, died 1286), also identifies Unk-Khan with Prester John.\n\"In the year of the Greeks 1514, of the Arabs 599 (A. D. 1202), when\nUnk-Khan, who is the Christian King John, ruled over a stock of the\nbarbarian Hunns, called Kergt, Tschingys-Khan served him with great\nzeal. When John observed the superiority and serviceableness of the\nother, he envied him, and plotted to seize and murder him. But two\nsons of Unk-Khan, having heard this, told it to Tschingys; whereupon\nhe and his comrades fled by night, and secreted themselves. Next\nmorning Unk-Khan took possession of the Tartar tents, but found them\nempty. Then the party of Tschingys fell upon him, and they met by the\nspring called Balschunah, and the side of Tschingys won the day; and\nthe followers of Unk-Khan were compelled to yield. They met again\nseveral times, till Unk-Khan was utterly discomfited, and was slain\nhimself, and his wives, sons, and daughters carried into captivity.\nYet we must consider that King John the Kergtajer was not cast down\nfor nought; nay, rather, because he had turned his heart from the fear\nof Christ his Lord, who had exalted him, and had taken a wife of the\nZinish nation, called Quarakhata. Because he forsook the religion of\nhis ancestors and followed strange gods, therefore God took the\ngovernment from him, and gave it to one better than he, and whose\nheart was right before God.\"\n\nSome of the early travellers, such as John de Plano Carpini and Marco\nPolo, in disabusing the popular mind of the belief in Prester John as\na mighty Asiatic Christian monarch, unintentionally turned the popular\nfaith in that individual into a new direction. They spoke of the black\npeople of Abascia in Ethiopia, which, by the way, they called Middle\nIndia, as a great people subject to a Christian monarch.\n\nMarco Polo says that the true monarch of Abyssinia is Christ; but that\nit is governed by six kings, three of whom are Christians and three\nSaracens, and that they are in league with the Soudan of Aden.\n\nBishop Jordanus, in his description of the world, accordingly sets\ndown Abyssinia as the kingdom of Prester John; and such was the\npopular impression, which was confirmed by the appearance at intervals\nof ambassadors at European courts from the King of Abyssinia. The\ndiscovery of the Cape of Good Hope was due partly to a desire\nmanifested in Portugal to open communications with this monarch,[22]\nand King John II. sent two men learned in Oriental languages through\nEgypt to the court of Abyssinia. The might and dominion of this\nprince, who had replaced the Tartar chief in the popular creed as\nPrester John, was of course greatly exaggerated, and was supposed to\nextend across Arabia and Asia to the wall of China. The spread of\ngeographical knowledge has contracted the area of his dominions, and a\ncritical acquaintance with history has exploded the myth which\ninvested Unk-Khan, the nomad chief, with all the attributes of a\ndemigod, uniting in one the utmost pretensions of a Pope and the\nproudest claims of a monarch.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[19] Otto, Ep. Frising., lib. vii. c. 33.\n\n[20] Persia.\n\n[21] Media.\n\n[22] Ludolfi Hist. A\u0086thiopica, lib. ii. cap. 1, 2. Petrus, Petri filius\nLusitaniA| princeps, M. Pauli Veneti librum (qui de Indorum rebus\nmulta: speciatim vero de Presbytero Johanne aliqua magnifice scripsit)\nVenetiis secum in patriam detulerat, qui (Chronologicis Lusitanorum\ntestantibus) prA|cipuam Johanni Regi ansam dedit IndicA| navigationis,\nquam Henricus Johannis I. filius, patruus ejus, tentaverat,\nprosequendA|, &c.\n\n\n\n\nThe Divining Rod.\n\n\nFrom the remotest period a rod has been regarded as the symbol of\npower and authority, and Holy Scripture employs it in the popular\nsense. Thus David speaks of \"Thy rod and Thy staff comforting me;\" and\nMoses works his miracles before Pharaoh with the rod as emblem of\nDivine commission. It was his rod which became a serpent, which turned\nthe water of Egypt into blood, which opened the waves of the Red Sea\nand restored them to their former level, which \"smote the rock of\nstone so that the water gushed out abundantly.\" The rod of Aaron acted\nan oracular part in the contest with the princes; laid up before the\nark, it budded and brought forth almonds. In this instance we have it\nno longer as a symbol of authority, but as a means of divining the\nwill of God. And as such it became liable to abuse; thus Hosea rebukes\nthe chosen people for practising similar divinations. \"My people ask\ncounsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them.\"[23]\n\nLong before this, Jacob had made a different use of rods, employing\nthem as a charm to make his father-in-law's sheep bear pied and\nspotted lambs.\n\nWe find rhabdomancy a popular form of divination among the Greeks, and\nalso among the Romans. Cicero in his \"De Officiis\" alludes to it. \"If\nall that is needful for our nourishment and support arrives to us by\nmeans of some divine rod, as people say, then each of us, free from\nall care and trouble, may give himself up to the exclusive pursuit of\nstudy and science.\"\n\nProbably it is to this rod that the allusion of Ennius, as the agent\nin discovering hidden treasures, quoted in the first book of his \"De\nDivinatione,\" refers.\n\nAccording to Vetranius Maurus, Varro left a satire on the \"Virgula\ndivina,\" which has not been preserved. Tacitus tells us that the\nGermans practised some sort of divination by means of rods. \"For the\npurpose their method is simple. They cut a rod off some fruit-tree\ninto bits, and after having distinguished them by various marks, they\ncast them into a white cloth.... Then the priest thrice draws each\npiece, and explains the oracle according to the marks.\" Ammianus\nMarcellinus says that the Alains employed an osier rod.\n\nThe fourteenth law of the Frisons ordered that the discovery of\nmurders should be made by means of divining rods used in Church. These\nrods should be laid before the altar, and on the sacred relics, after\nwhich God was to be supplicated to indicate the culprit. This was\ncalled the Lot of Rods, or Tan-teen, the Rod of Rods.\n\nBut the middle ages was the date of the full development of the\nsuperstition, and the divining rod was believed to have efficacy in\ndiscovering hidden treasures, veins of precious metal, springs of\nwater, thefts, and murders. The first notice of its general use among\nlate writers is in the \"Testamentum Novum,\" lib. i. cap. 25, of Basil\nValentine, a Benedictine monk of the fifteenth century. Basil speaks\nof the general faith in and adoption of this valuable instrument for\nthe discovery of metals, which is carried by workmen in mines, either\nin their belts or in their caps. He says that there are seven names by\nwhich this rod is known, and to its excellences under each title he\ndevotes a chapter of his book. The names are: Divine Rod, Shining Rod,\nLeaping Rod, Transcendent Rod, Trembling Rod, Dipping Rod, Superior\nRod. In his admirable treatise on metals, Agricola speaks of the rod\nin terms of disparagement; he considers its use as a relic of ancient\nmagical forms, and he says that it is only irreligious workmen who\nemploy it in their search after metals. Goclenius, however, in his\ntreatise on the virtue of plants, stoutly does battle for the\nproperties of the hazel rod. Whereupon Roberti, a Flemish Jesuit,\nfalls upon him tooth and nail, disputes his facts, overwhelms him with\nabuse, and gibbets him for popular ridicule. Andreas Libavius, a\nwriter I have already quoted in my article on the Wandering Jew,\nundertook a series of experiments upon the hazel divining rod, and\nconcluded that there was truth in the popular belief. The Jesuit\nKircher also \"experimentalized several times on wooden rods which were\ndeclared to be sympathetic with regard to certain metals, by placing\nthem on delicate pivots in equilibrium; but they never turned on the\napproach of metal.\" (De Arte Magnetica.) However, a similar course of\nexperiments over water led him to attribute to the rod the power of\nindicating subterranean springs and water-courses; \"I would not affirm\nit,\" he says, \"unless I had established the fact by my own\nexperience.\"\n\nDechales, another Jesuit, author of a treatise on natural springs, and\nof a huge tome entitled \"Mundus Mathematicus,\" declared in the latter\nwork, that no means of discovering sources is equal to the divining\nrod; and he quotes a friend of his who, with a hazel rod in his hand,\ncould discover springs with the utmost precision and facility, and\ncould trace on the surface of the ground the course of a subterranean\nconduit. Another writer, Saint-Romain, in his \"Science dA(C)gagA(C)e des\nChimA\"res de l'A%cole,\" exclaims, \"Is it not astonishing to see a rod,\nwhich is held firmly in the hands, bow itself and turn visibly in the\ndirection of water or metal, with more or less promptitude, according\nas the metal or the water are near or remote from the surface!\"\n\nIn 1659 the Jesuit Gaspard Schott writes that the rod is used in every\ntown of Germany, and that he had frequent opportunity of seeing it\nused in the discovery of hidden treasures. \"I searched with the\ngreatest care,\" he adds, \"into the question whether the hazel rod had\nany sympathy with gold and silver, and whether any natural property\nset it in motion. In like manner I tried whether a ring of metal, held\nsuspended by a thread in the midst of a tumbler, and which strikes the\nhours, is moved by any similar force. I ascertained that these effects\ncould only have rise from the deception of those holding the rod or\nthe pendulum, or, may be, from some diabolic impulsion, or, more\nlikely still, because imagination sets the hand in motion.\"\n\nThe Sieur le Royer, a lawyer of Rouen, in 1674, published his \"TraitA(C)\ndu BActon universel,\" in which he gives an account of a trial made with\nthe rod in the presence of Father Jean FranASec.ois, who had ridiculed the\noperation in his treatise on the science of waters, published at\nRennes in 1655, and which succeeded in convincing the blasphemer of\nthe divine Rod. Le Royer denies to it the power of picking out\ncriminals, which had been popularly attributed to it, and as had been\nunhesitatingly claimed for it by Debrio in his \"Disquisitio Magica.\"\n\nAnd now I am brought to the extraordinary story of Jacques Aymar,\nwhich attracted the attention of Europe to the marvellous properties\nof the divining rod. I shall give the history of this man in full, as\nsuch an account is rendered necessary by the mutilated versions I have\nseen current in English magazine articles, which follow the lead of\nMrs. Crowe, who narrates the earlier portion of this impostor's\ncareer, but says nothing of his _exposA(C)_ and downfall.\n\nOn the 5th July, 1692, at about ten o'clock in the evening, a\nwine-seller of Lyons and his wife were assassinated in their cellar,\nand their money carried off. On the morrow, the officers of justice\narrived, and examined the premises. Beside the corpses, lay a large\nbottle wrapped in straw, and a bloody hedging bill, which undoubtedly\nhad been the instrument used to accomplish the murder. Not a trace of\nthose who had committed the horrible deed was to be found, and the\nmagistrates were quite at fault as to the direction in which they\nshould turn for a clew to the murderer or murderers.\n\nAt this juncture a neighbor reminded the magistrates of an incident\nwhich had taken place four years previous. It was this. In 1688 a\ntheft of clothes had been made in Grenoble. In the parish of CrA'le\nlived a man named Jacques Aymar, supposed to be endowed with the\nfaculty of using the divining rod. This man was sent for. On reaching\nthe spot where the theft had been committed, his rod moved in his\nhand. He followed the track indicated by the rod, and it continued to\nrotate between his fingers as long as he followed a certain direction,\nbut ceased to turn if he diverged from it in the smallest degree.\nGuided by his rod, Aymar went from street to street, till he was\nbrought to a standstill before the prison gates. These could not be\nopened without leave of the magistrate, who hastened to witness the\nexperiment. The gates were unlocked, and Aymar, under the same\nguidance, directed his steps towards four prisoners lately\nincarcerated. He ordered the four to be stood in a line, and then he\nplaced his foot on that of the first. The rod remained immovable. He\npassed to the second, and the rod turned at once. Before the third\nprisoner there were no signs; the fourth trembled, and begged to be\nheard. He owned himself the thief, along with the second, who also\nacknowledged the theft, and mentioned the name of the receiver of the\nstolen goods. This was a farmer in the neighborhood of Grenoble. The\nmagistrate and officers visited him and demanded the articles he had\nobtained. The farmer denied all knowledge of the theft and all\nparticipation in the booty. Aymar, however, by means of his rod,\ndiscovered the secreted property, and restored it to the persons from\nwhom it had been stolen.\n\nOn another occasion Aymar had been in quest of a spring of water, when\nhe felt his rod turn sharply in his hand. On digging at the spot,\nexpecting to discover an abundant source, the body of a murdered woman\nwas found in a barrel, with a rope twisted round her neck. The poor\ncreature was recognized as a woman of the neighborhood who had\nvanished four months before. Aymar went to the house which the victim\nhad inhabited, and presented his rod to each member of the household.\nIt turned upon the husband of the deceased, who at once took to\nflight.\n\nThe magistrates of Lyons, at their wits' ends how to discover the\nperpetrators of the double murder in the wine shop, urged the\nProcureur du Roi to make experiment of the powers of Jacques Aymar.\nThe fellow was sent for, and he boldly asserted his capacity for\ndetecting criminals, if he were first brought to the spot of the\nmurder, so as to be put _en rapport_ with the murderers.\n\nHe was at once conducted to the scene of the outrage, with the rod in\nhis hand. This remained stationary as he traversed the cellar, till he\nreached the spot where the body of the wine seller had lain; then the\nstick became violently agitated, and the man's pulse rose as though he\nwere in an access of fever. The same motions and symptoms manifested\nthemselves when he reached the place where the second victim had lain.\n\nHaving thus received his _impression_, Aymar left the cellar, and,\nguided by his rod, or rather by an internal instinct, he ascended into\nthe shop, and then stepping into the street, he followed from one to\nanother, like a hound upon the scent, the track of the murderers. It\nconducted him into the court of the archiepiscopal palace, across it,\nand down to the gate of the Rhone. It was now evening, and the city\ngates being all closed, the quest of blood was relinquished for the\nnight.\n\nNext morning Aymar returned to the scent. Accompanied by three\nofficers, he left the gate, and descended the right bank of the Rhone.\nThe rod gave indications of there having been three involved in the\nmurder, and he pursued the traces till two of them led to a gardener's\ncottage. Into this he entered, and there he asserted with warmth,\nagainst the asseverations of the proprietor to the contrary, that the\nfugitives had entered his room, had seated themselves at his table,\nand had drunk wine out of one of the bottles which he indicated. Aymar\ntested each of the household with his rod, to see if they had been in\ncontact with the murderers. The rod moved over the two children only,\naged respectively ten and nine years. These little things, on being\nquestioned, answered, with reluctance, that during their father's\nabsence on Sunday morning, against his express commands, they had left\nthe door open, and that two men, whom they described, had come in\nsuddenly upon them, and had seated themselves and made free with the\nwine in the bottle pointed out by the man with the rod. This first\nverification of the talents of Jacques Aymar convinced some of the\nsceptical, but the Procurateur GA(C)nA(C)ral forbade the prosecution of the\nexperiment till the man had been further tested.\n\nAs already stated, a hedging bill had been discovered, on the scene of\nthe murder, smeared with blood, and unquestionably the weapon with\nwhich the crime had been committed. Three bills from the same maker,\nand of precisely the same description, were obtained, and the four\nwere taken into a garden, and secretly buried at intervals. Aymar was\nthen brought, staff in hand, into the garden, and conducted over the\nspots where lay the bills. The rod began to vibrate as his feet stood\nupon the place where was concealed the bill which had been used by the\nassassins, but was motionless elsewhere. Still unsatisfied, the four\nbills were exhumed and concealed anew. The comptroller of the province\nhimself bandaged the sorcerer's eyes, and led him by the hand from\nplace to place. The divining rod showed no signs of movement till it\napproached the blood-stained weapon, when it began to oscillate.\n\nThe magistrates were now so far satisfied as to agree that Jacques\nAymar should be authorized to follow the trail of the murderers, and\nhave a company of archers to follow him.\n\nGuided by his rod, Aymar now recommenced his pursuit. He continued\ntracing down the right bank of the Rhone till he came to half a league\nfrom the bridge of Lyons. Here the footprints of three men were\nobserved in the sand, as though engaged in entering a boat. A rowing\nboat was obtained, and Aymar, with his escort, descended the river; he\nfound some difficulty in following the trail upon water; still he was\nable, with a little care, to detect it. It brought him under an arch\nof the bridge of Vienne, which boats rarely passed beneath. This\nproved that the fugitives were without a guide. The way in which this\ncurious journey was made was singular. At intervals Aymar was put\nashore to test the banks with his rod, and ascertain whether the\nmurderers had landed. He discovered the places where they had slept,\nand indicated the chairs or benches on which they had sat. In this\nmanner, by slow degrees, he arrived at the military camp of Sablon,\nbetween Vienne and Saint-Valier. There Aymar felt violent agitation,\nhis cheeks flushed, and his pulse beat with rapidity. He penetrated\nthe crowds of soldiers, but did not venture to use his rod, lest the\nmen should take it ill, and fall upon him. He could not do more\nwithout special authority, and was constrained to return to Lyons. The\nmagistrates then provided him with the requisite powers, and he went\nback to the camp. Now he declared that the murderers were not there.\nHe recommenced his pursuit, and descended the Rhone again as far as\nBeaucaire.\n\nOn entering the town he ascertained by means of his rod that those\nwhom he was pursuing had parted company. He traversed several streets,\nthen crowded on account of the annual fair, and was brought to a\nstandstill before the prison doors. One of the murderers was within,\nhe declared; he would track the others afterwards. Having obtained\npermission to enter, he was brought into the presence of fourteen or\nfifteen prisoners. Amongst these was a hunchback, who had only an hour\npreviously been incarcerated on account of a theft he had committed at\nthe fair. Aymar applied his rod to each of the prisoners in\nsuccession: it turned upon the hunchback. The sorcerer ascertained\nthat the other two had left the town by a little path leading into the\nNismes road. Instead of following this track, he returned to Lyons\nwith the hunchback and the guard. At Lyons a triumph awaited him. The\nhunchback had hitherto protested his innocence, and declared that he\nhad never set foot in Lyons. But as he was brought to that town by the\nway along which Aymar had ascertained that he had left it, the fellow\nwas recognized at the different houses where he had lodged the night,\nor stopped for food. At the little town of Bagnols, he was confronted\nwith the host and hostess of a tavern where he and his comrades had\nslept, and they swore to his identity, and accurately described his\ncompanions: their description tallied with that given by the children\nof the gardener. The wretched man was so confounded by this\nrecognition, that he avowed having staid there, a few days before,\nalong with two ProvenASec.als. These men, he said, were the criminals; he\nhad been their servant, and had only kept guard in the upper room\nwhilst they committed the murders in the cellar.\n\nOn his arrival in Lyons he was committed to prison, and his trial was\ndecided on. At his first interrogation he told his tale precisely as\nhe had related it before, with these additions: the murderers spoke\npatois, and had purchased two bills. At ten o'clock in the evening all\nthree had entered the wine shop. The ProvenASec.als had a large bottle\nwrapped in straw, and they persuaded the publican and his wife to\ndescend with them into the cellar to fill it, whilst he, the\nhunchback, acted as watch in the shop. The two men murdered the\nwine-seller and his wife with their bills, and then mounted to the\nshop, where they opened the coffer, and stole from it one hundred and\nthirty crowns, eight louis-d'ors, and a silver belt. The crime\naccomplished, they took refuge in the court of a large house,--this\nwas the archbishop's palace, indicated by Aymar,--and passed the night\nin it. Next day, early, they left Lyons, and only stopped for a moment\nat a gardener's cottage. Some way down the river, they found a boat\nmoored to the bank. This they loosed from its mooring and entered.\nThey came ashore at the spot pointed out by the man with the stick.\nThey staid some days in the camp at Sablon, and then went on to\nBeaucaire.\n\nAymar was now sent in quest of the other murderers. He resumed their\ntrail at the gate of Beaucaire, and that of one of them, after\nconsiderable _dA(C)tours_, led him to the prison doors of Beaucaire, and\nhe asked to be allowed to search among the prisoners for his man. This\ntime he was mistaken. The second fugitive was not within; but the\njailer affirmed that a man whom he described--and his description\ntallied with the known appearance of one of the ProvenASec.als--had called\nat the gate shortly after the removal of the hunchback to inquire\nafter him, and on learning of his removal to Lyons, had hurried off\nprecipitately. Aymar now followed his track from the prison, and this\nbrought him to that of the third criminal. He pursued the double scent\nfor some days. But it became evident that the two culprits had been\nalarmed at what had transpired in Beaucaire, and were flying from\nFrance. Aymar traced them to the frontier, and then returned to Lyons.\n\nOn the 30th of August, 1692, the poor hunchback was, according to\nsentence, broken on the wheel, in the Place des Terreaux. On his way\nto execution he had to pass the wine shop. There the recorder publicly\nread his sentence, which had been delivered by thirty judges. The\ncriminal knelt and asked pardon of the poor wretches in whose murder\nhe was involved, after which he continued his course to the place\nfixed for his execution.\n\nIt may be well here to give an account of the authorities for this\nextraordinary story. There are three circumstantial accounts, and\nnumerous letters written by the magistrate who sat during the trial,\nand by an eye-witness of the whole transaction, men honorable and\ndisinterested, upon whose veracity not a shadow of doubt was supposed\nto rest by their contemporaries.\n\nM. Chauvin, Doctor of Medicine, published a \"_Lettre A  Mme. la\nMarquise de Senozan, sur les moyens dont on s'est servi pour dA(C)couvrir\nles complices d'un assassinat commis A  Lyon, le 5 Juillet, 1692_.\"\nLyons, 1692. The _procA\"s-verbal_ of the Procureur du Roi, M. de\nVanini, is also extant, and published in the _Physique occulte_ of the\nAbbA(C) de Vallemont.\n\nPierre Gamier, Doctor of Medicine of the University of Montpellier,\nwrote a _Dissertation physique en forme de lettre, A  M. de SA\"ve,\nseigneur de FlA(C)chA\"res_, on Jacques Aymar, printed the same year at\nLyons, and republished in the _Histoire critique des pratiques\nsuperstitieuses du PA\"re Lebrun_.\n\nDoctor Chauvin was witness of nearly all the circumstances related, as\nwas also the AbbA(C) Lagarde, who has written a careful account of the\nwhole transaction as far as to the execution of the hunchback.\n\nAnother eye-witness writes to the AbbA(C) Bignon a letter printed by\nLebrun in his _Histoire critique_ cited above. \"The following\ncircumstance happened to me yesterday evening,\" he says: \"M. le\nProcureur du Roi here, who, by the way, is one of the wisest and\ncleverest men in the country, sent for me at six o'clock, and had me\nconducted to the scene of the murder. We found there M. Grimaut,\ndirector of the customs, whom I knew to be a very upright man, and a\nyoung attorney named Besson, with whom I am not acquainted, but who M.\nle Procureur du Roi told me had the power of using the rod as well as\nM. Grimaut. We descended into the cellar where the murder had been\ncommitted, and where there were still traces of blood. Each time that\nM. Grimaut and the attorney passed the spot where the murder had been\nperpetrated, the rods they held in their hands began to turn, but\nceased when they stepped beyond the spot. We tried experiments for\nmore than an hour, as also with the bill, which M. le Procureur had\nbrought along with him, and they were satisfactory. I observed several\ncurious facts in the attorney. The rod in his hands was more violently\nmoved than in those of M. Grimaut, and when I placed one of my fingers\nin each of his hands, whilst the rod turned, I felt the most\nextraordinary throbbings of the arteries in his palms. His pulse was\nat fever heat. He sweated profusely, and at intervals he was compelled\nto go into the court to obtain fresh air.\"\n\nThe Sieur Pauthot, Dean of the College of Medicine at Lyons, gave his\nobservations to the public as well. Some of them are as follows: \"We\nbegan at the cellar in which the murder had been committed; into this\nthe man with the rod (Aymar) shrank from entering, because he felt\nviolent agitations which overcame him when he used the stick over the\nplace where the corpses of those who had been assassinated had lain.\nOn entering the cellar, the rod was put in my hands, and arranged by\nthe master as most suitable for operation; I passed and repassed over\nthe spot where the bodies had been found, but it remained immovable,\nand I felt no agitation. A lady of rank and merit, who was with us,\ntook the rod after me; she felt it begin to move, and was internally\nagitated. Then the owner of the rod resumed it, and, passing over the\nsame places, the stick rotated with such violence that it seemed\neasier to break than to stop it. The peasant then quitted our company\nto faint away, as was his wont after similar experiments. I followed\nhim. He turned very pale and broke into a profuse perspiration, whilst\nfor a quarter of an hour his pulse was violently troubled; indeed, the\nfaintness was so considerable, that they were obliged to dash water in\nhis face and give him water to drink in order to bring him round.\" He\nthen describes experiments made over the bloody bill and others\nsimilar, which succeeded in the hands of Aymar and the lady, but\nfailed when he attempted them himself. Pierre Garnier, physician of\nthe medical college of Montpellier, appointed to that of Lyons, has\nalso written an account of what he saw, as mentioned above. He gives a\ncurious proof of Aymar's powers.\n\n\"M. le Lieutenant-GA(C)nA(C)ral having been robbed by one of his lackeys,\nseven or eight months ago, and having lost by him twenty-five crowns\nwhich had been taken out of one of the cabinets behind his library,\nsent for Aymar, and asked him to discover the circumstances. Aymar\nwent several times round the chamber, rod in hand, placing one foot on\nthe chairs, on the various articles of furniture, and on two bureaux\nwhich are in the apartment, each of which contains several drawers. He\nfixed on the very bureau and the identical drawer out of which the\nmoney had been stolen. M. le Lieutenant-GA(C)nA(C)ral bade him follow the\ntrack of the robber. He did so. With his rod he went out on a new\nterrace, upon which the cabinet opens, thence back into the cabinet\nand up to the fire, then into the library, and from thence he went\ndirect up stairs to the lackeys' sleeping apartment, when the rod\nguided him to one of the beds, and turned over one side of the bed,\nremaining motionless over the other. The lackeys then present cried\nout that the thief had slept on the side indicated by the rod, the bed\nhaving been shared with another footman, who occupied the further\nside.\" Garnier gives a lengthy account of various experiments he made\nalong with the Lieutenant-GA(C)nA(C)ral, the uncle of the same, the AbbA(C) de\nSt. Remain, and M. de Puget, to detect whether there was imposture in\nthe man. But all their attempts failed to discover a trace of\ndeception. He gives a report of a verbal examination of Aymar which is\ninteresting. The man always replied with candor.\n\nThe report of the extraordinary discovery of murder made by the\ndivining rod at Lyons attracted the attention of Paris, and Aymar was\nordered up to the capital. There, however, his powers left him. The\nPrince de CondA(C) submitted him to various tests, and he broke down\nunder every one. Five holes were dug in the garden. In one was\nsecreted gold, in another silver, in a third silver and gold, in the\nfourth copper, and in the fifth stones. The rod made no signs in\npresence of the metals, and at last actually began to move over the\nburied pebbles. He was sent to Chantilly to discover the perpetrators\nof a theft of trout made in the ponds of the park. He went round the\nwater, rod in hand, and it turned at spots where he said the fish had\nbeen drawn out. Then, following the track of the thief, it led him to\nthe cottage of one of the keepers, but did not move over any of the\nindividuals then in the house. The keeper himself was absent, but\narrived late at night, and, on hearing what was said, he roused Aymar\nfrom his bed, insisting on having his innocence vindicated. The\ndivining rod, however, pronounced him guilty, and the poor fellow took\nto his heels, much upon the principle recommended by Montesquieu a\nwhile after. Said he, \"If you are accused of having stolen the towers\nof Notre-Dame, bolt at once.\"\n\nA peasant, taken at haphazard from the street, was brought to the\nsorcerer as one suspected. The rod turned slightly, and Aymar declared\nthat the man did not steal the fish, but ate of them. A boy was then\nintroduced, who was said to be the keeper's son. The rod rotated\nviolently at once. This was the finishing stroke, and Aymar was sent\naway by the Prince in disgrace. It now transpired that the theft of\nfish had taken place seven years before, and the lad was no relation\nof the keeper, but a country boy who had only been in Chantilly eight\nor ten months. M. Goyonnot, Recorder of the King's Council, broke a\nwindow in his house, and sent for the diviner, to whom he related a\nstory of his having been robbed of valuables during the night. Aymar\nindicated the broken window as the means whereby the thief had entered\nthe house, and pointed out the window by which he had left it with the\nbooty. As no such robbery had been committed, Aymar was turned out of\nthe house as an impostor. A few similar cases brought him into such\ndisrepute that he was obliged to leave Paris, and return to Grenoble.\n\nSome years after, he was made use of by the MarA(C)chal Montrevel, in his\ncruel pursuit of the Camisards.\n\nWas Aymar an impostor from first to last, or did his powers fail him\nin Paris? and was it only then that he had recourse to fraud?\n\nMuch may be said in favor of either supposition. His _exposA(C)_ at Paris\ntells heavily against him, but need not be regarded as conclusive\nevidence of imposture throughout his career. If he really did possess\nthe powers he claimed, it is not to be supposed that these existed in\nfull vigor under all conditions; and Paris is a place most unsuitable\nfor testing them, built on artificial soil, and full of disturbing\ninfluences of every description. It has been remarked with others who\nused the rod, that their powers languished under excitement, and that\nthe faculties had to be in repose, the attention to be concentrated on\nthe subject of inquiry, or the action--nervous, magnetic, or\nelectrical, or what you will--was impeded.\n\nNow, Paris, visited for the first time by a poor peasant, its\n_salons_ open to him, dazzling him with their splendor, and the\nnovelty of finding himself in the midst of princes, dukes, marquises,\nand their families, not only may have agitated the countryman to such\nan extent as to deprive him of his peculiar faculty, but may have led\nhim into simulating what he felt had departed from him, at the moment\nwhen he was under the eyes of the grandees of the Court. We have\nanalogous cases in Bleton and Angelique Cottin. The former was a\nhydroscope, who fell into convulsions whenever he passed over running\nwater. This peculiarity was noticed in him when a child of seven years\nold. When brought to Paris, he failed signally to detect the presence\nof water conveyed underground by pipes and conduits, but he pretended\nto feel the influence of water where there certainly was none.\nAngelique Cottin was a poor girl, highly charged with electricity. Any\none touching her received a violent shock; one medical gentleman,\nhaving seated her on his knee, was knocked clean out of his chair by\nthe electric fluid, which thus exhibited its sense of propriety. But\nthe electric condition of Angelique became feebler as she approached\nParis, and failed her altogether in the capital.\n\nI believe that the imagination is the principal motive force in those\nwho use the divining rod; but whether it is so solely, I am unable to\ndecide. The powers of nature are so mysterious and inscrutable that we\nmust be cautious in limiting them, under abnormal conditions, to the\nordinary laws of experience.\n\n  [Illustration: {How to hold a divining rod.}]\n\nThe manner in which the rod was used by certain persons renders\nself-deception possible. The rod is generally of hazel, and is forked\nlike a Y; the forefingers are placed against the diverging arms of the\nrod, and the elbows are brought back against the side; thus the\nimplement is held in front of the operator, delicately balanced before\nthe pit of the stomach at a distance of about eight inches. Now, if\nthe pressure of the balls of the digits be in the least relaxed, the\nstalk of the rod will naturally fall. It has been assumed by some,\nthat a restoration of the pressure will bring the stem up again,\npointing towards the operator, and a little further pressure will\nelevate it into a perpendicular position. A relaxation of force will\nagain lower it, and thus the rotation observed in the rod be\nmaintained. I confess myself unable to accomplish this. The lowering\nof the leg of the rod is easy enough, but no efforts of mine to\nproduce a revolution on its axis have as yet succeeded. The muscles\nwhich would contract the fingers upon the arms of the stick, pass the\nshoulder; and it is worthy of remark that one of the medical men who\nwitnessed the experiments made on Bleton the hydroscope, expressly\nalludes to a slight rising of the shoulders during the rotation of the\ndivining rod.\n\nBut the manner of using the rod was by no means identical in all\ncases. If, in all cases, it had simply been balanced between the\nfingers, some probability might be given to the suggestion above made,\nthat the rotation was always effected by the involuntary action of the\nmuscles.\n\nThe usual manner of holding the rod, however, precluded such a\npossibility. The most ordinary use consisted in taking a forked stick\nin such a manner that the palms were turned upwards, and the fingers\nclosed upon the branching arms of the rod. Some required the normal\nposition of the rod to be horizontal, others elevated the point,\nothers again depressed it.\n\nIf the implement were straight, it was held in a similar manner, but\nthe hands were brought somewhat together, so as to produce a slight\narc in the rod. Some who practised rhabdomancy sustained this species\nof rod between their thumbs and forefingers; or else the thumb and\nforefingers were closed, and the rod rested on their points; or again\nit reposed on the flat of the hand, or on the back, the hand being\nheld vertically and the rod held in equilibrium.\n\nA third species of divining rod consisted in a straight staff cut in\ntwo: one extremity of the one half was hollowed out, the other half\nwas sharpened at the end, and this end was inserted in the hollow, and\nthe pointed stick rotated in the cavity.\n\n  [Illustration: POSITIONS OF THE HANDS.\n    From \"Lettres qui dA(C)couvrent l'Illusion des Philosophes sur la\n    Baguette.\" Paris, 1693.]\n\nThe way in which Bleton used his rod is thus minutely described: \"He\ndoes not grasp it, nor warm it in his hands, and he does not regard\nwith preference a hazel branch lately cut and full of sap. He\nplaces horizontally between his forefingers a rod of any kind given to\nhim, or picked up in the road, of any sort of wood except elder, fresh\nor dry, not always forked, but sometimes merely bent. If it is\nstraight, it rises slightly at the extremities by little jerks, but\ndoes not turn. If bent, it revolves on its axis with more or less\nrapidity, in more or less time, according to the quantity and current\nof the water. I counted from thirty to thirty-five revolutions in a\nminute, and afterwards as many as eighty. A curious phenomenon is,\nthat Bleton is able to make the rod turn between another person's\nfingers, even without seeing it or touching it, by approaching his\nbody towards it when his feet stand over a subterranean watercourse.\nIt is true, however, that the motion is much less strong and less\ndurable in other fingers than his own. If Bleton stood on his head,\nand placed the rod between his feet, though he felt strongly the\npeculiar sensations produced in him by flowing water, yet the rod\nremained stationary. If he were insulated on glass, silk, or wax, the\nsensations were less vivid, and the rotation of the stick ceased.\"\n\nBut this experiment failed in Paris, under circumstances which either\nproved that Bleton's imagination produced the movement, or that his\nintegrity was questionable. It is quite possible that in many\ninstances the action of the muscles is purely involuntary, and is\nattributable to the imagination, so that the operator deceives himself\nas well as others.\n\nThis is probably the explanation of the story of Mdlle. Olivet, a\nyoung lady of tender conscience, who was a skilful performer with the\ndivining rod, but shrank from putting her powers in operation, lest\nshe should be indulging in unlawful acts. She consulted the PA\"re\nLebrun, author of a work already referred to in this paper, and he\nadvised her to ask God to withdraw the power from her, if the exercise\nof it was harmful to her spiritual condition. She entered into retreat\nfor two days, and prayed with fervor. Then she made her communion,\nasking God what had been recommended to her at the moment when she\nreceived the Host. In the afternoon of the same day she made\nexperiment with her rod, and found that it would no longer operate.\nThe girl had strong faith in it before--a faith coupled with fear; and\nas long as that faith was strong in her, the rod moved; now she\nbelieved that the faculty was taken from her; and the power ceased\nwith the loss of her faith.\n\nIf the divining rod is put in motion by any other force except the\ninvoluntary action of the muscles, we must confine its powers to the\nproperty of indicating the presence of flowing water. There are\nnumerous instances of hydroscopes thus detecting the existence of a\nspring, or of a subterranean watercourse; the most remarkably endowed\nindividuals of this description are Jean-Jacques Parangue, born near\nMarseilles, in 1760, who experienced a horror when near water which no\none else perceived. He was endowed with the faculty of seeing water\nthrough the ground, says l'AbbA(C) Sauri, who gives his history. Jenny\nLeslie, a Scotch girl, about the same date claimed similar powers. In\n1790, Pennet, a native of DauphinA(C), attracted attention in Italy, but\nwhen carefully tested by scientific men in Padua, his attempts to\ndiscover buried metals failed; at Florence he was detected in an\nendeavor to find out by night what had been secreted to test his\npowers on the morrow. Vincent Amoretti was an Italian, who underwent\npeculiar sensations when brought in proximity to water, coal, and\nsalt; he was skilful in the use of the rod, but made no public\nexhibition of his powers.\n\nThe rod is still employed, I have heard it asserted, by Cornish\nminers; but I have never been able to ascertain that such is really\nthe case. The mining captains whom I have questioned invariably\nrepudiated all knowledge of its use.\n\nIn Wiltshire, however, it is still employed for the purpose of\ndetecting water; and the following extract from a letter I have just\nreceived will show that it is still in vogue on the Continent:--\n\n\"I believe the use of the divining rod for discovering springs of\nwater has by no means been confined to mediA|val times; for I was\npersonally acquainted with a lady, now deceased, who has successfully\npractised with it in this way. She was a very clever and accomplished\nwoman; Scotch by birth and education; by no means credulous; possibly\na little imaginative, for she wrote not unsuccessfully; and of a\nremarkably open and straightforward disposition. Captain C----, her\nhusband, had a large estate in Holstein, near Lubeck, supporting a\nconsiderable population; and whether for the wants of the people or\nfor the improvement of the land, it now and then happened that an\nadditional well was needed.\n\n\"On one of these occasions a man was sent for who made a regular\nprofession of finding water by the divining rod; there happened to be\na large party staying at the house, and the whole company turned out\nto see the fun. The rod gave indications in the usual way, and water\nwas ultimately found at the spot. Mrs. C----, utterly sceptical, took\nthe rod into her own hands to make experiment, believing that she\nwould prove the man an impostor; and she said afterwards she was never\nmore frightened in her life than when it began to move, on her walking\nover the spring. Several other gentlemen and ladies tried it, but it\nwas quite inactive in their hands. 'Well,' said the host to his wife,\n'we shall have no occasion to send for the man again, as you are such\nan adept.'\n\n\"Some months after this, water was wanted in another part of the\nestate, and it occurred to Mrs. C---- that she would use the rod\nagain. After some trials, it again gave decided indications, and a\nwell was begun and carried down a very considerable depth. At last she\nbegan to shrink from incurring more expense, but the laborers had\nimplicit faith; and begged to be allowed to persevere. Very soon the\nwater burst up with such force that the men escaped with difficulty;\nand this proved afterwards the most unfailing spring for miles round.\n\n\"You will take the above for what it is worth; the facts I have given\nare undoubtedly true, whatever conclusions may be drawn from them. I\ndo not propose that you should print my narrative, but I think in\nthese cases personal testimony, even indirect, is more useful in\nforming one's opinion than a hundred old volumes. I did not hear it\nfrom Mrs. C----'s own lips, but I was sufficiently acquainted with her\nto form a very tolerable estimate of her character; and my wife, who\nhas known her intimately from her own childhood, was in her younger\ndays often staying with her for months together.\"\n\nI remember having been much perplexed by reading a series of\nexperiments made with a pendulous ring over metals, by a Mr. Mayo: he\nascertained that it oscillated in various directions under peculiar\ncircumstances, when suspended by a thread over the ball of the thumb.\nI instituted a series of experiments, and was surprised to find the\nring vibrate in an unaccountable manner in opposite directions over\ndifferent metals. On consideration, I closed my eyes whilst the ring\nwas oscillating over gold, and on opening them I found that it had\nbecome stationary. I got a friend to change the metals whilst I was\nblindfolded--the ring no longer vibrated. I was thus enabled to judge\nof the involuntary action of muscles, quite sufficient to have\ndeceived an eminent medical man like Mr. Mayo, and to have perplexed\nme till I succeeded in solving the mystery.[24]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[23] Hos. iv. 12.\n\n[24] A similar series of experiments was undertaken, as I learned\nafterwards, by M. Chevreuil in Paris, with similar results.\n\n\n\n\nThe Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.\n\n\nOne of the most picturesque myths of ancient days is that which forms\nthe subject of this article. It is thus told by Jacques de Voragine,\nin his \"Legenda Aurea:\"--\n\n    \"The seven sleepers were natives of Ephesus. The Emperor\n    Decius, who persecuted the Christians, having come to\n    Ephesus, ordered the erection of temples in the city, that\n    all might come and sacrifice before him; and he commanded\n    that the Christians should be sought out and given their\n    choice, either to worship the idols, or to die. So great was\n    the consternation in the city, that the friend denounced his\n    friend, the father his son, and the son his father.\n\n    \"Now there were in Ephesus seven Christians, Maximian,\n    Malchus, Marcian, Dionysius, John, Serapion, and Constantine\n    by name. These refused to sacrifice to the idols, and\n    remained in their houses praying and fasting. They were\n    accused before Decius, and they confessed themselves to be\n    Christians. However, the emperor gave them a little time to\n    consider what line they would adopt. They took advantage of\n    this reprieve to dispense their goods among the poor, and\n    then they retired, all seven, to Mount Celion, where they\n    determined to conceal themselves.\n\n    \"One of their number, Malchus, in the disguise of a\n    physician, went to the town to obtain victuals. Decius, who\n    had been absent from Ephesus for a little while, returned,\n    and gave orders for the seven to be sought. Malchus, having\n    escaped from the town, fled, full of fear, to his comrades,\n    and told them of the emperor's fury. They were much alarmed;\n    and Malchus handed them the loaves he had bought, bidding\n    them eat, that, fortified by the food, they might have\n    courage in the time of trial. They ate, and then, as they sat\n    weeping and speaking to one another, by the will of God they\n    fell asleep.\n\n    \"The pagans sought everywhere, but could not find them, and\n    Decius was greatly irritated at their escape. He had their\n    parents brought before him, and threatened them with death\n    if they did not reveal the place of concealment; but they\n    could only answer that the seven young men had distributed\n    their goods to the poor, and that they were quite ignorant as\n    to their whereabouts.\n\n    \"Decius, thinking it possible that they might be hiding in a\n    cavern, blocked up the mouth with stones, that they might\n    perish of hunger.\n\n    \"Three hundred and sixty years passed, and in the thirtieth\n    year of the reign of Theodosius, there broke forth a heresy\n    denying the resurrection of the dead....\n\n    \"Now, it happened that an Ephesian was building a stable on\n    the side of Mount Celion, and finding a pile of stones handy,\n    he took them for his edifice, and thus opened the mouth of\n    the cave. Then the seven sleepers awoke, and it was to them\n    as if they had slept but a single night. They began to ask\n    Malchus what decision Decius had given concerning them.\n\n    \"'He is going to hunt us down, so as to force us to sacrifice\n    to the idols,' was his reply. 'God knows,' replied Maximian,\n    'we shall never do that.' Then exhorting his companions, he\n    urged Malchus to go back to the town to buy some more bread,\n    and at the same time to obtain fresh information. Malchus\n    took five coins and left the cavern. On seeing the stones he\n    was filled with astonishment; however, he went on towards the\n    city; but what was his bewilderment, on approaching the gate,\n    to see over it a cross! He went to another gate, and there he\n    beheld the same sacred sign; and so he observed it over each\n    gate of the city. He believed that he was suffering from the\n    effects of a dream. Then he entered Ephesus, rubbing his\n    eyes, and he walked to a baker's shop. He heard people using\n    our Lord's name, and he was the more perplexed. 'Yesterday,\n    no one dared pronounce the name of Jesus, and now it is on\n    every one's lips. Wonderful! I can hardly believe myself to\n    be in Ephesus.' He asked a passer-by the name of the city,\n    and on being told it was Ephesus, he was thunderstruck. Now\n    he entered a baker's shop, and laid down his money. The\n    baker, examining the coin, inquired whether he had found a\n    treasure, and began to whisper to some others in the shop.\n    The youth, thinking that he was discovered, and that they\n    were about to conduct him to the emperor, implored them to\n    let him alone, offering to leave loaves and money if he might\n    only be suffered to escape. But the shop-men, seizing him,\n    said, 'Whoever you are, you have found a treasure; show us\n    where it is, that we may share it with you, and then we will\n    hide you.' Malchus was too frightened to answer. So they put\n    a rope round his neck, and drew him through the streets into\n    the market-place. The news soon spread that the young man had\n    discovered a great treasure, and there was presently a vast\n    crowd about him. He stoutly protested his innocence. No one\n    recognized him, and his eyes, ranging over the faces which\n    surrounded him, could not see one which he had known, or\n    which was in the slightest degree familiar to him.\n\n    \"St. Martin, the bishop, and Antipater, the governor, having\n    heard of the excitement, ordered the young man to be brought\n    before them, along with the bakers.\n\n    \"The bishop and the governor asked him where he had found the\n    treasure, and he replied that he had found none, but that the\n    few coins were from his own purse. He was next asked whence\n    he came. He replied that he was a native of Ephesus, 'if this\n    be Ephesus.'\n\n    \"'Send for your relations--your parents, if they live here,'\n    ordered the governor.\n\n    \"'They live here, certainly,' replied the youth; and he\n    mentioned their names. No such names were known in the town.\n    Then the governor exclaimed, 'How dare you say that this\n    money belonged to your parents when it dates back three\n    hundred and seventy-seven years,[25] and is as old as the\n    beginning of the reign of Decius, and it is utterly unlike\n    our modern coinage? Do you think to impose on the old men and\n    sages of Ephesus? Believe me, I shall make you suffer the\n    severities of the law till you show where you made the\n    discovery.'\n\n    \"'I implore you,' cried Malchus, 'in the name of God, answer\n    me a few questions, and then I will answer yours. Where is\n    the Emperor Decius gone to?'\n\n    \"The bishop answered, 'My son, there is no emperor of that\n    name; he who was thus called died long ago.'\n\n    \"Malchus replied, 'All I hear perplexes me more and more.\n    Follow me, and I will show you my comrades, who fled with me\n    into a cave of Mount Celion, only yesterday, to escape the\n    cruelty of Decius. I will lead you to them.'\n\n    \"The bishop turned to the governor. 'The hand of God is\n    here,' he said. Then they followed, and a great crowd after\n    them. And Malchus entered first into the cavern to his\n    companions, and the bishop after him.... And there they saw\n    the martyrs seated in the cave, with their faces fresh and\n    blooming as roses; so all fell down and glorified God. The\n    bishop and the governor sent notice to Theodosius, and he\n    hurried to Ephesus. All the inhabitants met him and conducted\n    him to the cavern. As soon as the saints beheld the emperor,\n    their faces shone like the sun, and the emperor gave thanks\n    unto God, and embraced them, and said, 'I see you, as though\n    I saw the Savior restoring Lazarus.' Maximian replied,\n    'Believe us! for the faith's sake, God has resuscitated us\n    before the great resurrection day, in order that you may\n    believe firmly in the resurrection of the dead. For as the\n    child is in its mother's womb living and not suffering, so\n    have we lived without suffering, fast asleep.' And having\n    thus spoken, they bowed their heads, and their souls\n    returned to their Maker. The emperor, rising, bent over them\n    and embraced them weeping. He gave them orders for golden\n    reliquaries to be made, but that night they appeared to him\n    in a dream, and said that hitherto they had slept in the\n    earth, and that in the earth they desired to sleep on till\n    God should raise them again.\"\n\nSuch is the beautiful story. It seems to have travelled to us from the\nEast. Jacobus Sarugiensis, a Mesopotamian bishop, in the fifth or\nsixth century, is said to have been the first to commit it to writing.\nGregory of Tours (De Glor. Mart. i. 9) was perhaps the first to\nintroduce it to Europe. Dionysius of Antioch (ninth century) told the\nstory in Syrian, and Photius of Constantinople reproduced it, with the\nremark that Mahomet had adopted it into the Koran. Metaphrastus\nalludes to it as well; in the tenth century Eutychius inserted it in\nhis annals of Arabia; it is found in the Coptic and the Maronite\nbooks, and several early historians, as Paulus Diaconus, Nicephorus,\n&c., have inserted it in their works.\n\nA poem on the Seven Sleepers was composed by a trouvA\"re named\nChardri, and is mentioned by M. Fr. Michel in his \"Rapports Ministre\nde l'Instruction Public;\" a German poem on the same subject, of the\nthirteenth century, in 935 verses, has been published by M. Karajan;\nand the Spanish poet, Augustin Morreto, composed a drama on it,\nentitled \"Los Siete Durmientes,\" which is inserted in the 19th volume\nof the rare work, \"Comedias Nuevas Escogidas de los Mejores Ingenios.\"\n\nMahomet has somewhat improved on the story. He has made the Sleepers\nprophesy his coming, and he has given them a dog named Kratim, or\nKratimir, which sleeps with them, and which is endowed with the gift\nof prophecy.\n\nAs a special favor this dog is to be one of the ten animals to be\nadmitted into his paradise, the others being Jonah's whale, Solomon's\nant, Ishmael's ram, Abraham's calf, the Queen of Sheba's ass, the\nprophet Salech's camel, Moses' ox, Belkis' cuckoo, and Mahomet's ass.\n\nIt was perhaps too much for the Seven Sleepers to ask, that their\nbodies should be left to rest in earth. In ages when saintly relics\nwere valued above gold and precious stones, their request was sure to\nbe shelved; and so we find that their remains were conveyed to\nMarseilles in a large stone sarcophagus, which is still exhibited in\nSt. Victor's Church. In the MusA|um Victorium at Rome is a curious and\nancient representation of them in a cement of sulphur and plaster.\nTheir names are engraved beside them, together with certain\nattributes. Near Constantine and John are two clubs, near Maximian a\nknotty club, near Malchus and Martinian two axes, near Serapion a\nburning torch, and near Danesius or Dionysius a great nail, such as\nthose spoken of by Horace (Lib. 1, Od. 3) and St. Paulinus (Nat. 9, or\nCarm. 24) as having been used for torture.\n\nIn this group of figures, the seven are represented as young, without\nbeards, and indeed in ancient martyrologies they are frequently called\nboys.\n\nIt has been inferred from this curious plaster representation, that\nthe seven may have suffered under Decius, A. D. 250, and have been\nburied in the afore-mentioned cave; whilst the discovery and\ntranslation of their relics under Theodosius, in 479, may have given\nrise to the fable. And this I think probable enough. The story of\nlong sleepers and the number seven connected with it is ancient\nenough, and dates from heathen mythology.\n\nLike many another ancient myth, it was laid hold of by Christian hands\nand baptized.\n\nPliny relates the story of Epimenides the epic poet, who, when tending\nhis sheep one hot day, wearied and oppressed with slumber, retreated\ninto a cave, where he fell asleep. After fifty-seven years he awoke,\nand found every thing changed. His brother, whom he had left a\nstripling, was now a hoary man.\n\nEpimenides was reckoned one of the seven sages by those who exclude\nPeriander. He flourished in the time of Solon. After his death, at the\nage of two hundred and eighty-nine, he was revered as a god, and\nhonored especially by the Athenians.\n\nThis story is a version of the older legend of the perpetual sleep of\nthe shepherd Endymion, who was thus preserved in unfading youth and\nbeauty by Jupiter.\n\nAccording to an Arabic legend, St. George thrice rose from his grave,\nand was thrice slain.\n\nIn Scandinavian mythology we have Siegfrid or Sigurd thus resting,\nand awaiting his call to come forth and fight. Charlemagne sleeps in\nthe Odenberg in Hess, or in the Untersberg near Salzburg, seated on\nhis throne, with his crown on his head and his sword at his side,\nwaiting till the times of Antichrist are fulfilled, when he will wake\nand burst forth to avenge the blood of the saints. Ogier the Dane, or\nOlger Dansk, will in like manner shake off his slumber and come forth\nfrom the dream-land of Avallon to avenge the right--O that he had\nshown himself in the Schleswig-Holstein war!\n\nWell do I remember, as a child, contemplating with wondering awe the\ngreat KyffhA\u00a4userberg in Thuringia, for therein, I was told, slept\nFrederic Barbarossa and his six knights. A shepherd once penetrated\ninto the heart of the mountain by a cave, and discovered therein a\nhall where sat the emperor at a stone table, and his red beard had\ngrown through the slab. At the tread of the shepherd Frederic awoke\nfrom his slumber, and asked, \"Do the ravens still fly over the\nmountains?\"\n\n\"Sire, they do.\"\n\n\"Then we must sleep another hundred years.\"\n\nBut when his beard has wound itself thrice round the table, then will\nthe emperor awake with his knights, and rush forth to release Germany\nfrom its bondage, and exalt it to the first place among the kingdoms\nof Europe.\n\nIn Switzerland slumber three Tells at Rutli, near the\nVierwaldstA\u00a4tter-see, waiting for the hour of their country's direst\nneed. A shepherd crept into the cave where they rest. The third Tell\nrose and asked the time. \"Noon,\" replied the shepherd lad. \"The time\nis not yet come,\" said Tell, and lay down again.\n\nIn Scotland, beneath the Eilden hills, sleeps Thomas of Erceldoune;\nthe murdered French who fell in the Sicilian Vespers at Palermo are\nalso slumbering till the time is come when they may wake to avenge\nthemselves. When Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks, a\npriest was celebrating the sacred mysteries at the great silver altar\nof St. Sophia. The celebrant cried to God to protect the sacred host\nfrom profanation. Then the wall opened, and he entered, bearing the\nBlessed Sacrament. It closed on him, and there he is sleeping with\nhis head bowed before the Body of Our Lord, waiting till the Turk is\ncast out of Constantinople, and St. Sophia is released from its\nprofanation. God speed the time!\n\nIn Bohemia sleep three miners deep in the heart of the Kuttenberg. In\nNorth America Rip Van Winkle passed twenty years slumbering in the\nKatskill mountains. In Portugal it is believed that Sebastian, the\nchivalrous young monarch who did his best to ruin his country by his\nrash invasion of Morocco, is sleeping somewhere; but he will wake\nagain to be his country's deliverer in the hour of need. Olaf\nTryggvason is waiting a similar occasion in Norway. Even Napoleon\nBonaparte is believed among some of the French peasantry to be\nsleeping on in a like manner.\n\nSt. Hippolytus relates that St. John the Divine is slumbering at\nEphesus, and Sir John Mandeville relates the circumstances as follows:\n\"From Pathmos men gone unto Ephesim a fair citee and nyghe to the see.\nAnd there dyede Seynte Johne, and was buryed behynde the highe\nAwtiere, in a toumbe. And there is a faire chirche. For Christene mene\nweren wont to holden that place alweyes. And in the tombe of Seynt\nJohn is noughte but manna, that is clept Aungeles mete. For his body\nwas translated into Paradys. And Turkes holden now alle that place and\nthe citee and the Chirche. And all Asie the lesse is yclept Turkye.\nAnd ye shalle undrestond, that Seynt Johne bid make his grave there in\nhis Lyf, and leyd himself there-inne all quyk. And therefore somme men\nseyn, that he dyed noughte, but that he resteth there till the Day of\nDoom. And forsoothe there is a gret marveule: For men may see there\nthe erthe of the tombe apertly many tymes steren and moven, as there\nweren quykke thinges undre.\" The connection of this legend of St. John\nwith Ephesus may have had something to do with turning the seven\nmartyrs of that city into seven sleepers.\n\nThe annals of Iceland relate that, in 1403, a Finn of the name of\nFethmingr, living in Halogaland, in the North of Norway, happening to\nenter a cave, fell asleep, and woke not for three whole years, lying\nwith his bow and arrows at his side, untouched by bird or beast.\n\nThere certainly are authentic accounts of persons having slept for an\nextraordinary length of time, but I shall not mention any, as I\nbelieve the legend we are considering, not to have been an\nexaggeration of facts, but a Christianized myth of paganism. The fact\nof the number seven being so prominent in many of the tales, seems to\nlead to this conclusion. Barbarossa changes his position every seven\nyears. Charlemagne starts in his chair at similar intervals. Olger\nDansk stamps his iron mace on the floor once every seven years. Olaf\nRedbeard in Sweden uncloses his eyes at precisely the same distances\nof time.\n\nI believe that the mythological core of this picturesque legend is the\nrepose of the earth through the seven winter months. In the North,\nFrederic and Charlemagne certainly replace Odin.\n\nThe German and Scandinavian still heathen legends represent the heroes\nas about to issue forth for the defence of Fatherland in the hour of\ndirest need. The converted and Christianized tale brings the martyr\nyouths forth in the hour when a heresy is afflicting the Church, that\nthey may destroy the heresy by their witness to the truth of the\nResurrection.\n\nIf there is something majestic in the heathen myth, there are\nsingular grace and beauty in the Christian tale, teaching, as it does,\nsuch a glorious doctrine; but it is surpassed in delicacy by the\nmodern form which the same myth has assumed--a form which is a real\ntransformation, leaving the doctrine taught the same. It has been made\ninto a romance by Hoffman, and is versified by Trinius. I may perhaps\nbe allowed to translate with some freedom the poem of the latter:--\n\n    In an ancient shaft of Falun\n      Year by year a body lay,\n    God-preserved, as though a treasure,\n      Kept unto the waking day.\n\n    Not the turmoil, nor the passions,\n      Of the busy world o'erhead,\n    Sounds of war, or peace rejoicings,\n      Could disturb the placid dead.\n\n    Once a youthful miner, whistling,\n      Hewed the chamber, now his tomb:\n    Crash! the rocky fragments tumbled,\n      Closed him in abysmal gloom.\n\n    Sixty years passed by, ere miners\n      Toiling, hundred fathoms deep,\n    Broke upon the shaft where rested\n      That poor miner in his sleep.\n\n    As the gold-grains lie untarnished\n      In the dingy soil and sand,\n    Till they gleam and flicker, stainless,\n      In the digger's sifting hand;--\n\n    As the gem in virgin brilliance\n      Rests, till ushered into day;--\n    So uninjured, uncorrupted,\n      Fresh and fair the body lay.\n\n    And the miners bore it upward,\n      Laid it in the yellow sun;\n    Up, from out the neighboring houses,\n      Fast the curious peasants run.\n\n    \"Who is he?\" with eyes they question;\n      \"Who is he?\" they ask aloud;\n    Hush! a wizened hag comes hobbling,\n      Panting, through the wondering crowd.\n\n    O! the cry,--half joy, half sorrow,--\n      As she flings her at his side:\n    \"John! the sweetheart of my girlhood,\n      Here am I, am I, thy bride.\n\n    \"Time on thee has left no traces,\n      Death from wear has shielded thee;\n    I am agA(C)d, worn, and wasted,\n      O! what life has done to me!\"\n\n    Then his smooth, unfurrowed forehead\n      Kissed that ancient withered crone;\n    And the Death which had divided\n      Now united them in one.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[25] This calculation is sadly inaccurate.\n\n\n\n\nWilliam Tell.\n\n\nI suppose that most people regard William Tell, the hero of\nSwitzerland, as an historical character, and visit the scenes made\nmemorable by his exploits, with corresponding interest, when they\nundertake the regular Swiss round.\n\nIt is one of the painful duties of the antiquarian to dispel many a\npopular belief, and to probe the groundlessness of many an historical\nstatement. The antiquarian is sometimes disposed to ask with Pilate,\n\"What is truth?\" when he finds historical facts crumbling beneath his\ntouch into mythological fables; and he soon learns to doubt and\nquestion the most emphatic declarations of, and claims to,\nreliability.\n\nSir Walter Raleigh, in his prison, was composing the second volume of\nhis History of the World. Leaning on the sill of his window, he\nmeditated on the duties of the historian to mankind, when suddenly\nhis attention was attracted by a disturbance in the court-yard before\nhis cell. He saw one man strike another whom he supposed by his dress\nto be an officer; the latter at once drew his sword, and ran the\nformer through the body. The wounded man felled his adversary with a\nstick, and then sank upon the pavement. At this juncture the guard\ncame up, and carried off the officer insensible, and then the corpse\nof the man who had been run through.\n\nNext day Raleigh was visited by an intimate friend, to whom he related\nthe circumstances of the quarrel and its issue. To his astonishment,\nhis friend unhesitatingly declared that the prisoner had mistaken the\nwhole series of incidents which had passed before his eyes.\n\nThe supposed officer was not an officer at all, but the servant of a\nforeign ambassador; it was he who had dealt the first blow; he had not\ndrawn his sword, but the other had snatched it from his side, and had\nrun _him_ through the body before any one could interfere; whereupon a\nstranger from among the crowd knocked the murderer down with his\nstick, and some of the foreigners belonging to the ambassador's\nretinue carried off the corpse. The friend of Raleigh added that\ngovernment had ordered the arrest and immediate trial of the murderer,\nas the man assassinated was one of the principal servants of the\nSpanish ambassador.\n\n\"Excuse me,\" said Raleigh, \"but I cannot have been deceived as you\nsuppose, for I was eye-witness to the events which took place under my\nown window, and the man fell there on that spot where you see a\npaving-stone standing up above the rest.\"\n\n\"My dear Raleigh,\" replied his friend, \"I was sitting on that stone\nwhen the fray took place, and I received this slight scratch on my\ncheek in snatching the sword from the murderer; and upon my word of\nhonor, you have been deceived upon every particular.\"\n\nSir Walter, when alone, took up the second volume of his History,\nwhich was in MS., and contemplating it, thought--\"If I cannot believe\nmy own eyes, how can I be assured of the truth of a tithe of the\nevents which happened ages before I was born?\" and he flung the\nmanuscript into the fire.[26]\n\nNow, I think that I can show that the story of William Tell is as\nfabulous as--what shall I say? any other historical event.\n\nIt is almost too well known to need repetition.\n\nIn the year 1307, Gessler, Vogt of the Emperor Albert of Hapsburg, set\na hat on a pole, as symbol of imperial power, and ordered every one\nwho passed by to do obeisance towards it. A mountaineer of the name of\nTell boldly traversed the space before it without saluting the\nabhorred symbol. By Gessler's command he was at once seized and\nbrought before him. As Tell was known to be an expert archer, he was\nordered, by way of punishment, to shoot an apple off the head of his\nown son. Finding remonstrance vain, he submitted. The apple was placed\non the child's head, Tell bent his bow, the arrow sped, and apple and\narrow fell together to the ground. But the Vogt noticed that Tell,\nbefore shooting, had stuck another arrow into his belt, and he\ninquired the reason.\n\n\"It was for you,\" replied the sturdy archer. \"Had I shot my child,\nknow that it would not have missed your heart.\"\n\nThis event, observe, took place in the beginning of the fourteenth\ncentury. But Saxo Grammaticus, a Danish writer of the twelfth century,\ntells the story of a hero of his own country, who lived in the tenth\ncentury. He relates the incident in horrible style as follows:--\n\n\"Nor ought what follows to be enveloped in silence. Toki, who had for\nsome time been in the king's service, had, by his deeds, surpassing\nthose of his comrades, made enemies of his virtues. One day, when he\nhad drunk too much, he boasted to those who sat at table with him,\nthat his skill in archery was such, that with the first shot of an\narrow he could hit the smallest apple set on the top of a stick at a\nconsiderable distance. His detractors, hearing this, lost no time in\nconveying what he had said to the king (Harald Bluetooth). But the\nwickedness of this monarch soon transformed the confidence of the\nfather to the jeopardy of the son, for he ordered the dearest pledge\nof his life to stand in place of the stick, from whom, if the utterer\nof the boast did not at his first shot strike down the apple, he\nshould with his head pay the penalty of having made an idle boast. The\ncommand of the king urged the soldier to do this, which was so much\nmore than he had undertaken, the detracting artifices of the others\nhaving taken advantage of words spoken when he was hardly sober. As\nsoon as the boy was led forth, Toki carefully admonished him to\nreceive the whir of the arrow as calmly as possible, with attentive\nears, and without moving his head, lest by a slight motion of the body\nhe should frustrate the experience of his well-tried skill. He also\nmade him stand with his back towards him, lest he should be frightened\nat the sight of the arrow. Then he drew three arrows from his quiver,\nand the very first he shot struck the proposed mark. Toki being asked\nby the king why he had taken so many more arrows out of his quiver,\nwhen he was to make but one trial with his bow, 'That I might avenge\non thee,' he replied, 'the error of the first, by the points of the\nothers, lest my innocence might happen to be afflicted, and thy\ninjustice go unpunished.'\"\n\nThe same incident is told of Egil, brother of the mythical Velundr,\nin the Saga of Thidrik.\n\nIn Norwegian history also it appears with variations again and again.\nIt is told of King Olaf the Saint (d. 1030), that, desiring the\nconversion of a brave heathen named Eindridi, he competed with him in\nvarious athletic sports; he swam with him, wrestled, and then shot\nwith him. The king dared Eindridi to strike a writing-tablet from off\nhis son's head with an arrow. Eindridi prepared to attempt the\ndifficult shot. The king bade two men bind the eyes of the child and\nhold the napkin, so that he might not move when he heard the whistle\nof the arrow. The king aimed first, and the arrow grazed the lad's\nhead. Eindridi then prepared to shoot; but the mother of the boy\ninterfered, and persuaded the king to abandon this dangerous test of\nskill. In this version, also, Eindridi is prepared to revenge himself\non the king, should the child be injured.\n\nBut a closer approximation still to the Tell myth is found in the life\nof Hemingr, another Norse archer, who was challenged by King Harald,\nSigurd's son (d. 1066). The story is thus told:--\n\n\"The island was densely overgrown with wood, and the people went into\nthe forest. The king took a spear and set it with its point in the\nsoil, then he laid an arrow on the string and shot up into the air.\nThe arrow turned in the air and came down upon the spear-shaft and\nstood up in it. Hemingr took another arrow and shot up; his was lost\nto sight for some while, but it came back and pierced the nick of the\nking's arrow.... Then the king took a knife and stuck it into an oak;\nhe next drew his bow and planted an arrow in the haft of the knife.\nThereupon Hemingr took his arrows. The king stood by him and said,\n'They are all inlaid with gold; you are a capital workman.' Hemingr\nanswered, 'They are not my manufacture, but are presents.' He shot,\nand his arrow cleft the haft, and the point entered the socket of the\nblade.\n\n\"'We must have a keener contest,' said the king, taking an arrow and\nflushing with anger; then he laid the arrow on the string and drew his\nbow to the farthest, so that the horns were nearly brought to meet.\nAway flashed the arrow, and pierced a tender twig. All said that this\nwas a most astonishing feat of dexterity. But Hemingr shot from a\ngreater distance, and split a hazel nut. All were astonished to see\nthis. Then said the king, 'Take a nut and set it on the head of your\nbrother Bjorn, and aim at it from precisely the same distance. If you\nmiss the mark, then your life goes.'\n\n\"Hemingr answered, 'Sire, my life is at your disposal, but I will not\nadventure that shot.' Then out spake Bjorn--'Shoot, brother, rather\nthan die yourself.' Hemingr said, 'Have you the pluck to stand quite\nstill without shrinking?' 'I will do my best,' said Bjorn. 'Then let\nthe king stand by,' said Hemingr, 'and let him see whether I touch the\nnut.'\n\n\"The king agreed, and bade Oddr Ufeigs' son stand by Bjorn, and see\nthat the shot was fair. Hemingr then went to the spot fixed for him by\nthe king, and signed himself with the cross, saying, 'God be my\nwitness that I had rather die myself than injure my brother Bjorn; let\nall the blame rest on King Harald.'\n\n\"Then Hemingr flung his spear. The spear went straight to the mark,\nand passed between the nut and the crown of the lad, who was not in\nthe least injured. It flew farther, and stopped not till it fell.\n\n\"Then the king came up and asked Oddr what he thought about the\nshot.\"\n\nYears after, this risk was revenged upon the hard-hearted monarch. In\nthe battle of Stamfordbridge an arrow from a skilled archer penetrated\nthe windpipe of the king, and it is supposed to have sped, observes\nthe Saga writer, from the bow of Hemingr, then in the service of the\nEnglish monarch.\n\nThe story is related somewhat differently in the Faroe Isles, and is\ntold of Geyti, Aslak's son. The same Harald asks his men if they know\nwho is his match in strength. \"Yes,\" they reply; \"there is a peasant's\nson in the uplands, Geyti, son of Aslak, who is the strongest of men.\"\nForth goes the king, and at last rides up to the house of Aslak. \"And\nwhere is your youngest son?\"\n\n\"Alas! alas! he lies under the green sod of Kolrin kirkgarth.\" \"Come,\nthen, and show me his corpse, old man, that I may judge whether he was\nas stout of limb as men say.\"\n\nThe father puts the king off with the excuse that among so many dead\nit would be hard to find his boy. So the king rides away over the\nheath. He meets a stately man returning from the chase, with a bow\nover his shoulder. \"And who art thou, friend?\" \"Geyti, Aslak's son.\"\nThe dead man, in short, alive and well. The king tells him he has\nheard of his prowess, and is come to match his strength with him. So\nGeyti and the king try a swimming-match.\n\nThe king swims well; but Geyti swims better, and in the end gives the\nmonarch such a ducking, that he is borne to his house devoid of sense\nand motion. Harald swallows his anger, as he had swallowed the water,\nand bids Geyti shoot a hazel nut from off his brother's head. Aslak's\nson consents, and invites the king into the forest to witness his\ndexterity.\n\n    \"On the string the shaft he laid,\n      And God hath heard his prayer;\n    He shot the little nut away,\n      Nor hurt the lad a hair.\"\n\nNext day the king sends for the skilful bowman:--\n\n    \"List thee, Geyti, Aslak's son,\n      And truly tell to me,\n    Wherefore hadst thou arrows twain\n      In the wood yestreen with thee?\"\n\nThe bowman replies,--\n\n    \"Therefore had I arrows twain\n      Yestreen in the wood with me,\n    Had I but hurt my brother dear,\n      The other had piercA(C)d thee.\"\n\nA very similar tale is told also in the celebrated Malleus Maleficarum\nof a man named Puncher, with this difference, that a coin is placed on\nthe lad's head instead of an apple or a nut. The person who had dared\nPuncher to the test of skill, inquires the use of the second arrow in\nhis belt, and receives the usual answer, that if the first arrow had\nmissed the coin, the second would have transfixed a certain heart\nwhich was destitute of natural feeling.\n\nWe have, moreover, our English version of the same story in the\nvenerable ballad of William of Cloudsley.\n\nThe Finn ethnologist CastrA(C)n obtained the following tale in the\nFinnish village of Uhtuwa:--\n\nA fight took place between some freebooters and the inhabitants of the\nvillage of AlajA\u00a4wi. The robbers plundered every house, and carried off\namongst their captives an old man. As they proceeded with their spoils\nalong the strand of the lake, a lad of twelve years old appeared from\namong the reeds on the opposite bank, armed with a bow, and amply\nprovided with arrows; he threatened to shoot down the captors unless\nthe old man, his father, were restored to him. The robbers mockingly\nreplied that the aged man would be given to him if he could shoot an\napple off his head. The boy accepted the challenge, and on\nsuccessfully accomplishing it, the surrender of the venerable captive\nwas made.\n\nFarid-Uddin A,ttar was a Persian dealer in perfumes, born in the year\n1119. He one day was so impressed with the sight of a dervish, that he\nsold his possessions, and followed righteousness. He composed the poem\nMantic UttaA-r, or the language of birds. Observe, the Persian A,ttar\nlived at the same time as the Danish Saxo, and long before the birth\nof Tell. Curiously enough, we find a trace of the Tell myth in the\npages of his poem. According to him, however, the king shoots the\napple from the head of a beloved page, and the lad dies from sheer\nfright, though the arrow does not even graze his skin.\n\nThe coincidence of finding so many versions of the same story\nscattered through countries as remote as Persia and Iceland,\nSwitzerland and Denmark, proves, I think, that it can in no way be\nregarded as history, but is rather one of the numerous household myths\ncommon to the whole stock of Aryan nations. Probably, some one more\nacquainted with Sanskrit literature than myself, and with better\naccess to its unpublished stores of fable and legend, will some day\nlight on an early Indian tale corresponding to that so prevalent among\nother branches of the same family. The coincidence of the Tell myth\nbeing discovered among the Finns is attributable to Russian or Swedish\ninfluence. I do not regard it as a primeval Turanian, but as an Aryan\nstory, which, like an erratic block, is found deposited on foreign\nsoil far from the mountain whence it was torn.\n\nGerman mythologists, I suppose, consider the myth to represent the\nmanifestation of some natural phenomena, and the individuals of the\nstory to be impersonifications of natural forces. Most primeval\nstories were thus constructed, and their origin is traceable enough.\nIn Thorn-rose, for instance, who can fail to see the earth goddess\nrepresented by the sleeping beauty in her long winter slumber, only\nreturning to life when kissed by the golden-haired sun-god PhA\"bus\nor Baldur? But the Tell myth has not its signification thus painted\non the surface; and those who suppose Gessler or Harald to be the\npower of evil and darkness,--the bold archer to be the storm-cloud\nwith his arrow of lightning and his iris bow, bent against the sun,\nwhich is resting like a coin or a golden apple on the edge of the\nhorizon, are over-straining their theories, and exacting too much from\nour credulity.\n\nIn these pages and elsewhere I have shown how some of the ancient\nmyths related by the whole Aryan family of nations are reducible to\nallegorical explanations of certain well-known natural phenomena; but\nI must protest against the manner in which our German friends fasten\nrapaciously upon every atom of history, sacred and profane, and\ndemonstrate all heroes to represent the sun; all villains to be the\ndemons of night or winter; all sticks and spears and arrows to be the\nlightning; all cows and sheep and dragons and swans to be clouds.\n\nIn a work on the superstition of Werewolves, I have entered into this\nsubject with some fulness, and am quite prepared to admit the premises\nupon which mythologists construct their theories; at the same time I\nam not disposed to run to the extravagant lengths reached by some of\nthe most enthusiastic German scholars. A wholesome warning to these\ngentlemen was given some years ago by an ingenious French\necclesiastic, who wrote the following argument to prove that Napoleon\nBonaparte was a mythological character. Archbishop Whately's \"Historic\nDoubts\" was grounded on a totally different line of argument; I\nsubjoin the other, as a curiosity and as a caution.\n\nNapoleon is, says the writer, an impersonification of the sun.\n\n1. Between the name Napoleon and Apollo, or Apoleon, the god of the\nsun, there is but a trifling difference; indeed, the seeming\ndifference is lessened, if we take the spelling of his name from the\ncolumn of the Place VendA'me, where it stands NA(C)apoleA cubed. But this\nsyllable _Ne_ prefixed to the name of the sun-god is of importance;\nlike the rest of the name it is of Greek origin, and is I1/2I. or I1/2I+-I\u00b9,\na particle of affirmation, as though indicating Napoleon as the very\ntrue Apollo, or sun.\n\nHis other name, Bonaparte, makes this apparent connection between the\nFrench hero and the luminary of the firmament conclusively certain.\nThe day has its two parts, the good and luminous portion, and that\nwhich is bad and dark. To the sun belongs the good part, to the moon\nand stars belongs the bad portion. It is therefore natural that Apollo\nor NA(C)-ApoleA cubedn should receive the surname of _Bonaparte_.\n\n2. Apollo was born in Delos, a Mediterranean island; Napoleon in\nCorsica, an island in the same sea. According to Pausanias, Apollo was\nan Egyptian deity; and in the mythological history of the fabulous\nNapoleon we find the hero in Egypt, regarded by the inhabitants with\nveneration, and receiving their homage.\n\n3. The mother of Napoleon was said to be Letitia, which signifies joy,\nand is an impersonification of the dawn of light dispensing joy and\ngladness to all creation. Letitia is no other than the break of day,\nwhich in a manner brings the sun into the world, and \"with rosy\nfingers opes the gates of Day.\" It is significant that the Greek name\nfor the mother of Apollo was Leto. From this the Romans made the name\nLatona, which they gave to his mother. But _LA|to_ is the unused form\nof the verb _lA|tor_, and signified to inspire joy; it is from this\nunused form that the substantive _Letitia_ is derived. The identity,\nthen, of the mother of Napoleon with the Greek Leto and the Latin\nLatona, is established conclusively.\n\n4. According to the popular story, this son of Letitia had three\nsisters; and was it not the same with the Greek deity, who had the\nthree Graces?\n\n5. The modern Gallic Apollo had four brothers. It is impossible not to\ndiscern here the anthropomorphosis of the four seasons. But, it will\nbe objected, the seasons should be females. Here the French language\ninterposes; for in French the seasons are masculine, with the\nexception of autumn, upon the gender of which grammarians are\nundecided, whilst Autumnus in Latin is not more feminine than the\nother seasons. This difficulty is therefore trifling, and what follows\nremoves all shadow of doubt.\n\nOf the four brothers of Napoleon, three are said to have been kings,\nand these of course are, Spring reigning over the flowers, Summer\nreigning over the harvest, Autumn holding sway over the fruits. And as\nthese three seasons owe all to the powerful influence of the Sun, we\nare told in the popular myth that the three brothers of Napoleon drew\ntheir authority from him, and received from him their kingdoms. But if\nit be added that, of the four brothers of Napoleon, one was not a\nking, that was because he is the impersonification of Winter, which\nhas no reign over anything. If, however, it be asserted, in\ncontradiction, that the winter has an empire, he will be given the\nprincipality over snows and frosts, which, in the dreary season of the\nyear, whiten the face of the earth. Well, the fourth brother of\nNapoleon is thus invested by popular tradition, commonly called\nhistory, with a vain principality accorded to him _in the decline of\nthe power of Napoleon_. The principality was that of Canino, a name\nderived from _cani_, or the whitened hairs of a frozen old age,--true\nemblem of winter. To the eyes of poets, the forests covering the hills\nare their hair, and when winter frosts them, they represent the snowy\nlocks of a decrepit nature in the old age of the year:--\n\n    \"Cum gelidus crescit _canis_ in montibus humor.\"\n\nConsequently the Prince of Canino is an impersonification of\nwinter;--winter whose reign begins when the kingdoms of the three fine\nseasons are passed from them, and when the sun is driven from his\npower by the children of the North, as the poets call the boreal\nwinds. This is the origin of the fabulous invasion of France by the\nallied armies of the North. The story relates that these invaders--the\nnorthern gales--banished the many-colored flag, and replaced it by a\nwhite standard. This too is a graceful, but, at the same time, purely\nfabulous account of the Northern winds driving all the brilliant\ncolors from the face of the soil, to replace them by the snowy sheet.\n\n6. Napoleon is said to have had two wives. It is well known that the\nclassic fable gave two also to Apollo. These two were the moon and the\nearth. Plutarch asserts that the Greeks gave the moon to Apollo for\nwife, whilst the Egyptians attributed to him the earth. By the moon he\nhad no posterity, but by the other he had one son only, the little\nHorus. This is an Egyptian allegory, representing the fruits of\nagriculture produced by the earth fertilized by the Sun. The pretended\nson of the fabulous Napoleon is said to have been born on the 20th of\nMarch, the season of the spring equinox, when agriculture is assuming\nits greatest period of activity.\n\n7. Napoleon is said to have released France from the devastating\nscourge which terrorized over the country, the hydra of the\nrevolution, as it was popularly called. Who cannot see in this a\nGallic version of the Greek legend of Apollo releasing Hellas from the\nterrible Python? The very name _revolution_, derived from the Latin\nverb _revolvo_, is indicative of the coils of a serpent like the\nPython.\n\n8. The famous hero of the 19th century had, it is asserted, twelve\nMarshals at the head of his armies, and four who were stationary and\ninactive. The twelve first, as may be seen at once, are the signs of\nthe zodiac, marching under the orders of the sun Napoleon, and each\ncommanding a division of the innumerable host of stars, which are\nparted into twelve portions, corresponding to the twelve signs. As for\nthe four stationary officers, immovable in the midst of general\nmotion, they are the cardinal points.\n\n9. It is currently reported that the chief of these brilliant armies,\nafter having gloriously traversed the Southern kingdoms, penetrated\nNorth, and was there unable to maintain his sway. This too represents\nthe course of the Sun, which assumes its greatest power in the South,\nbut after the spring equinox seeks to reach the North; and after a\n_three months'_ march towards the boreal regions, is driven back upon\nhis traces following the sign of Cancer, a sign given to represent\nthe retrogression of the sun in that portion of the sphere. It is on\nthis that the story of the march of Napoleon towards Moscow, and his\nhumbling retreat, is founded.\n\n10. Finally, the sun rises in the East and sets in the Western sea.\nThe poets picture him rising out of the waters in the East, and\nsetting in the ocean after his twelve hours' reign in the sky. Such is\nthe history of Napoleon, coming from his Mediterranean isle, holding\nthe reins of government for twelve years, and finally disappearing in\nthe mysterious regions of the great Atlantic.\n\nTo those who see in Samson, the image of the sun, the correlative of\nthe classic Hercules, this clever skit of the accomplished French AbbA(C)\nmay prove of value as a caution.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[26] This anecdote is taken from the _Journal de Paris_, May, 1787;\nbut whence did the _Journal_ obtain it?\n\n\n\n\nThe Dog Gellert.\n\n\nHaving demolished William Tell, I proceed to the destruction of\nanother article of popular belief.\n\nWho that has visited Snowdon has not seen the grave of Llewellyn's\nfaithful hound Gellert, and been told by the guide the touching story\nof the death of the noble animal? How can we doubt the facts, seeing\nthat the place, Beth-Gellert, is named after the dog, and that the\ngrave is still visible? But unfortunately for the truth of the legend,\nits pedigree can be traced with the utmost precision.\n\nThe story is as follows:--\n\nThe Welsh Prince Llewellyn had a noble deerhound, Gellert, whom he\ntrusted to watch the cradle of his baby son whilst he himself was\nabsent.\n\nOne day, on his return, to his intense horror, he beheld the cradle\nempty and upset, the clothes dabbled with blood, and Gellert's mouth\ndripping with gore. Concluding hastily that the hound had proved\nunfaithful, had fallen on the child and devoured it,--in a paroxysm of\nrage the prince drew his sword and slew the dog. Next instant the cry\nof the babe from behind the cradle showed him that the child was\nuninjured; and, on looking farther, Llewellyn discovered the body of a\nhuge wolf, which had entered the house to seize and devour the child,\nbut which had been kept off and killed by the brave dog Gellert.\n\nIn his self-reproach and grief, the prince erected a stately monument\nto Gellert, and called the place where he was buried after the poor\nhound's name.\n\nNow, I find in Russia precisely the same story told, with just the\nsame appearance of truth, of a Czar Piras. In Germany it appears with\nconsiderable variations. A man determines on slaying his old dog\nSultan, and consults with his wife how this is to be effected. Sultan\noverhears the conversation, and complains bitterly to the wolf, who\nsuggests an ingenious plan by which the master may be induced to spare\nhis dog. Next day, when the man is going to his work, the wolf\nundertakes to carry off the child from its cradle. Sultan is to attack\nhim and rescue the infant. The plan succeeds admirably, and the dog\nspends his remaining years in comfort. (Grimm, K. M. 48.)\n\nBut there is a story in closer conformity to that of Gellert among the\nFrench collections of fabliaux made by Le Grand d'Aussy and EdA(C)lA(C)stand\ndu MA(C)ril. It became popular through the \"Gesta Romanorum,\" a\ncollection of tales made by the monks for harmless reading, in the\nfourteenth century.\n\nIn the \"Gesta\" the tale is told as follows:--\n\n\"Folliculus, a knight, was fond of hunting and tournaments. He had an\nonly son, for whom three nurses were provided. Next to this child, he\nloved his falcon and his greyhound. It happened one day that he was\ncalled to a tournament, whither his wife and domestics went also,\nleaving the child in the cradle, the greyhound lying by him, and the\nfalcon on his perch. A serpent that inhabited a hole near the castle,\ntaking advantage of the profound silence that reigned, crept from his\nhabitation, and advanced towards the cradle to devour the child. The\nfalcon, perceiving the danger, fluttered with his wings till he awoke\nthe dog, who instantly attacked the invader, and after a fierce\nconflict, in which he was sorely wounded, killed him. He then lay down\non the ground to lick and heal his wounds. When the nurses returned,\nthey found the cradle overturned, the child thrown out, and the ground\ncovered with blood, as was also the dog, who they immediately\nconcluded had killed the child.\n\n\"Terrified at the idea of meeting the anger of the parents, they\ndetermined to escape; but in their flight fell in with their mistress,\nto whom they were compelled to relate the supposed murder of the child\nby the greyhound. The knight soon arrived to hear the sad story, and,\nmaddened with fury, rushed forward to the spot. The poor wounded and\nfaithful animal made an effort to rise and welcome his master with his\naccustomed fondness; but the enraged knight received him on the point\nof his sword, and he fell lifeless to the ground. On examination of\nthe cradle, the infant was found alive and unhurt, with the dead\nserpent lying by him. The knight now perceived what had happened,\nlamented bitterly over his faithful dog, and blamed himself for having\ntoo hastily depended on the words of his wife. Abandoning the\nprofession of arms, he broke his lance in pieces, and vowed a\npilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he spent the rest of his days in\npeace.\"\n\nThe monkish hit at the wife is amusing, and might have been supposed\nto have originated with those determined misogynists, as the gallant\nWelshmen lay all the blame on the man. But the good compilers of the\n\"Gesta\" wrote little of their own, except moral applications of the\ntales they relate, and the story of Folliculus and his dog, like many\nothers in their collection, is drawn from a foreign source.\n\nIt occurs in the Seven Wise Masters, and in the \"Calumnia Novercalis\"\nas well, so that it must have been popular throughout mediA|val Europe.\nNow, the tales of the Seven Wise Masters are translations from a\nHebrew work, the Kalilah and Dimnah of Rabbi Joel, composed about\nA. D. 1250, or from Simeon Seth's Greek Kylile and Dimne, written in\n1080. These Greek and Hebrew works were derived from kindred sources.\nThat of Rabbi Joel was a translation from an Arabic version made by\nNasr-Allah in the twelfth century, whilst Simeon Seth's was a\ntranslation of the Persian Kalilah and Dimnah. But the Persian\nKalilah and Dimnah was not either an original work; it was in turn a\ntranslation from the Sanskrit Pantschatantra, made about A. D. 540.\n\nIn this ancient Indian book the story runs as follows:--\n\nA Brahmin named Devasaman had a wife, who gave birth to a son, and\nalso to an ichneumon. She loved both her children dearly, giving them\nalike the breast, and anointing them alike with salves. But she feared\nthe ichneumon might not love his brother.\n\nOne day, having laid her boy in bed, she took up the water jar, and\nsaid to her husband, \"Hear me, master! I am going to the tank to fetch\nwater. Whilst I am absent, watch the boy, lest he gets injured by the\nichneumon.\" After she had left the house, the Brahmin went forth\nbegging, leaving the house empty. In crept a black snake, and\nattempted to bite the child; but the ichneumon rushed at it, and tore\nit in pieces. Then, proud of its achievement, it sallied forth, all\nbloody, to meet its mother. She, seeing the creature stained with\nblood, concluded, with feminine precipitance, that it had fallen on\nthe baby and killed it, and she flung her water jar at it and slew it.\nOnly on her return home did she ascertain her mistake.\n\nThe same story is also told in the Hitopadesa (iv. 13), but the animal\nis an otter, not an ichneumon. In the Arabic version a weasel takes\nthe place of the ichneumon.\n\nThe Buddhist missionaries carried the story into Mongolia, and in the\nMongolian Uligerun, which is a translation of the Tibetian Dsanghen,\nthe story reappears with the pole-cat as the brave and suffering\ndefender of the child.\n\nStanislaus Julien, the great Chinese scholar, has discovered the same\ntale in the Chinese work entitled \"The Forest of Pearls from the\nGarden of the Law.\" This work dates from 668; and in it the creature\nis an ichneumon.\n\nIn the Persian Sindibad-nAcmeh is the same tale, but the faithful\nanimal is a cat. In Sandabar and Syntipas it has become a dog. Through\nthe influence of Sandabar on the Hebrew translation of the Kalilah and\nDimnah, the ichneumon is also replaced by a dog.\n\nSuch is the history of the Gellert legend; it is an introduction into\nEurope from India, every step of its transmission being clearly\ndemonstrable. From the Gesta Romanorum it passed into a popular tale\nthroughout Europe, and in different countries it was, like the Tell\nmyth, localized and individualized. Many a Welsh story, such as those\ncontained in the Mabinogion, are as easily traced to an Eastern\norigin.\n\nBut every story has its root. The root of the Gellert tale is this: A\nman forms an alliance of friendship with a beast or bird. The dumb\nanimal renders him a signal service. He misunderstands the act, and\nkills his preserver.\n\nWe have tracked this myth under the Gellert form from India to Wales;\nbut under another form it is the property of the whole Aryan family,\nand forms a portion of the traditional lore of all nations sprung from\nthat stock.\n\nThence arose the classic fable of the peasant, who, as he slept, was\nbitten by a fly. He awoke, and in a rage killed the insect. When too\nlate, he observed that the little creature had aroused him that he\nmight avoid a snake which lay coiled up near his pillow.\n\nIn the Anvar-i-Suhaili is the following kindred tale. A king had a\nfalcon. One day, whilst hunting, he filled a goblet with water\ndropping from a rock. As he put the vessel to his lips, his falcon\ndashed upon it, and upset it with its wings. The king, in a fury, slew\nthe bird, and then discovered that the water dripped from the jaws of\na serpent of the most poisonous description.\n\nThis story, with some variations, occurs in A\u0086sop, A\u0086lian, and\nApthonius. In the Greek fable, a peasant liberates an eagle from the\nclutches of a dragon. The dragon spirts poison into the water which\nthe peasant is about to drink, without observing what the monster had\ndone. The grateful eagle upsets the goblet with his wings.\n\nThe story appears in Egypt under a whimsical form. A Wali once smashed\na pot full of herbs which a cook had prepared. The exasperated cook\nthrashed the well-intentioned but unfortunate Wali within an inch of\nhis life, and when he returned, exhausted with his efforts at\nbelaboring the man, to examine the broken pot, he discovered amongst\nthe herbs a poisonous snake.\n\nHow many brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and cousins of all degrees\na little story has! And how few of the tales we listen to can lay any\nclaim to originality! There is scarcely a story which I hear which I\ncannot connect with some family of myths, and whose pedigree I cannot\nascertain with more or less precision. Shakespeare drew the plots of\nhis plays from Boccaccio or Straparola; but these Italians did not\ninvent the tales they lent to the English dramatist. King Lear does\nnot originate with Geofry of Monmouth, but comes from early Indian\nstores of fable, whence also are derived the Merchant of Venice and\nthe pound of flesh, ay, and the very incident of the three caskets.\n\nBut who would credit it, were it not proved by conclusive facts, that\nJohnny Sands is the inheritance of the whole Aryan family of nations,\nand that Peeping Tom of Coventry peeped in India and on the Tartar\nsteppes ages before Lady Godiva was born?\n\nIf you listen to Traviata at the opera, you have set before you a tale\nwhich has lasted for centuries, and which was perhaps born in India.\n\nIf you read in classic fable of Orpheus charming woods and meadows,\nbeasts and birds, with his magic lyre, you remember to have seen the\nsame fable related in the Kalewala of the Finnish Wainomainen, and in\nthe Kaleopoeg of the Esthonian Kalewa.\n\nIf you take up English history, and read of William the Conqueror\nslipping as he landed on British soil, and kissing the earth, saying\nhe had come to greet and claim his own, you remember that the same\nstory is told of Napoleon in Egypt, of King Olaf Harold's son in\nNorway, and in classic history of Junius Brutus on his return from the\noracle.\n\nA little while ago I cut out of a Sussex newspaper a story purporting\nto be the relation of a fact which had taken place at a fixed date in\nLewes. This was the story. A tyrannical husband locked the door\nagainst his wife, who was out having tea with a neighbor, gossiping\nand scandal-mongering; when she applied for admittance, he pretended\nnot to know her. She threatened to jump into the well unless he opened\nthe door.\n\nThe man, not supposing that she would carry her threat into execution,\ndeclined, alleging that he was in bed, and the night was chilly;\nbesides which he entirely disclaimed all acquaintance with the lady\nwho claimed admittance.\n\nThe wife then flung a log into a well, and secreted herself behind the\ndoor. The man, hearing the splash, fancied that his good lady was\nreally in the deeps, and forth he darted in his nocturnal costume,\nwhich was of the lightest, to ascertain whether his deliverance was\ncomplete. At once the lady darted into the house, locked the door,\nand, on the husband pleading for admittance, she declared most\nsolemnly from the window that she did not know _him_.\n\nNow, this story, I can positively assert, unless the events of this\nworld move in a circle, did not happen in Lewes, or any other Sussex\ntown.\n\nIt was told in the Gesta Romanorum six hundred years ago, and it was\ntold, may be, as many hundred years before in India, for it is still\nto be found in Sanskrit collections of tales.\n\n\n\n\nTailed Men.\n\n\nI well remember having it impressed upon me by a Devonshire nurse, as\na little child, that all Cornishmen were born with tails; and it was\nlong before I could overcome the prejudice thus early implanted in my\nbreast against my Cornubian neighbors. I looked upon those who dwelt\nacross the Tamar as \"uncanny,\" as being scarcely to be classed with\nChristian people, and certainly not to be freely associated with by\ntailless Devonians. I think my eyes were first opened to the fact that\nI had been deceived by a worthy bookseller of L----, with whom I had\ncontracted a warm friendship, he having at sundry times contributed\npictures to my scrapbook. I remember one day resolving to broach the\ndelicate subject with my tailed friend, whom I liked, notwithstanding\nhis caudal appendage.\n\n\"Mr. X----, is it true that you are a Cornishman?\"\n\n\"Yes, my little man; born and bred in the West country.\"\n\n\"I like you very much; but--have you really got a tail?\"\n\nWhen the bookseller had recovered from the astonishment which I had\nproduced by my question, he stoutly repudiated the charge.\n\n\"But you are a Cornishman?\"\n\n\"To be sure I am.\"\n\n\"And all Cornishmen have tails.\"\n\nI believe I satisfied my own mind that the good man had sat his off,\nand my nurse assured me that such was the case with those of sedentary\nhabits.\n\nIt is curious that Devonshire superstition should attribute the tail\nto Cornishmen, for it was asserted of certain men of Kent in olden\ntimes, and was referred to Divine vengeance upon them for having\ninsulted St. Thomas A  Becket, if we may believe Polydore Vergil.\n\"There were some,\" he says, \"to whom it seemed that the king's secret\nwish was, that Thomas should be got rid of. He, indeed, as one\naccounted to be an enemy of the king's person, was already regarded\nwith so little respect, nay, was treated with so much contempt, that\nwhen he came to Strood, which village is situated on the Medway, the\nriver that washes Rochester, the inhabitants of the place, being eager\nto show some mark of contumely to the prelate in his disgrace, did not\nscruple to cut off the tail of the horse on which he was riding; but\nby this profane and inhospitable act they covered themselves with\neternal reproach; for it so happened after this, by the will of God,\nthat all the offspring born from the men who had done this thing, were\nborn with tails, like brute animals. But this mark of infamy, which\nformerly was everywhere notorious, has disappeared with the extinction\nof the race whose fathers perpetrated this deed.\"\n\nJohn Bale, the zealous reformer, and Bishop of Ossory in Edward VI.'s\ntime, refers to this story, and also mentions a variation of the scene\nand cause of this ignoble punishment. He writes, quoting his\nauthorities, \"John Capgrave and Alexander of Esseby sayth, that for\ncastynge of fyshe tayles at thys Augustyne, Dorsettshyre men had\ntayles ever after. But Polydorus applieth it unto Kentish men at\nStroud, by Rochester, for cuttinge off Thomas Becket's horse's tail.\nThus hath England in all other land a perpetual infamy of tayles by\ntheye wrytten legendes of lyes, yet can they not well tell where to\nbestowe them truely.\" Bale, a fierce and unsparing reformer, and one\nwho stinted not hard words, applying to the inventors of these legends\nan epithet more strong than elegant, says, \"In the legends of their\nsanctified sorcerers they have diffamed the English posterity with\ntails, as has been showed afore. That an Englyshman now cannot\ntravayle in another land by way of marchandyse or any other honest\noccupyinge, but it is most contumeliously thrown in his tethe that all\nEnglyshmen have tails. That uncomely note and report have the nation\ngotten, without recover, by these laisy and idle lubbers, the monkes\nand the priestes, which could find no matters to advance their\ncanonized gains by, or their saintes, as they call them, but manifest\nlies and knaveries.\"[27]\n\nAndrew Marvel also makes mention of this strange judgment in his\n_Loyal Scot_:--\n\n    \"But who considers right will find, indeed,\n    'Tis Holy Island parts us, not the Tweed.\n    Nothing but clergy could us two seclude,\n    No Scotch was ever like a bishop's feud.\n    All Litanys in this have wanted faith,\n    There's no--_Deliver us from a Bishop's wrath._\n    Never shall Calvin pardoned be for sales,\n    Never, for Burnet's sake, the Lauderdales;\n    For Becket's sake, Kent always shall have tails.\"\n\nIt may be remembered that Lord Monboddo, a Scotch judge of last\ncentury, and a philosopher of some repute, though of great\neccentricity, stoutly maintained the theory that man ought to have a\ntail, that the tail is a _desideratum_, and that the abrupt\ntermination of the spine without caudal elongation is a sad blemish in\nthe origination of man. The tail, the point in which man is inferior\nto the brute, what a delicate index of the mind it is! how it\nexpresses the passions of love and hate! how nicely it gives token of\nthe feelings of joy or fear which animate the soul! But Lord Monboddo\ndid not consider that what the tail is to the brute, that the eye is\nto man; the lack of one member is supplied by the other. I can tell a\nproud man by his eye just as truly as if he stalked past one with\nerect tail; and anger is as plainly depicted in the human eye as in\nthe bottle-brush tail of a cat. I know a sneak by his cowering glance,\nthough he has not a tail between his legs; and pleasure is evident in\nthe laughing eye, without there being any necessity for a wagging\nbrush to express it.\n\nDr. Johnson paid a visit to the judge, and knocked on the head his\ntheory that men ought to have tails, and actually were born with them\noccasionally; for said he, \"Of a standing fact, sir, there ought to be\nno controversy; if there are men with tails, catch a _homo caudatus_.\"\nAnd, \"It is a pity to see Lord Monboddo publish such notions as he has\ndone--a man of sense, and of so much elegant learning. There would be\nlittle in a fool doing it; we should only laugh; but, when a wise man\ndoes it, we are sorry. Other people have strange notions, but they\nconceal them. If they have tails they hide them; but Monboddo is as\njealous of his tail as a squirrel.\" And yet Johnson seems to have been\ntickled with the idea, and to have been amused with the notion of an\nappendage like a tail being regarded as the complement of human\nperfection. It may be remembered how Johnson made the acquaintance of\nthe young Laird of Col, during his Highland tour, and how pleased he\nwas with him. \"Col,\" says he, \"is a noble animal. He is as complete an\nislander as the mind can figure. He is a farmer, a sailor, a hunter,\na fisher: he will run you down a dog; _if any man has a tail_, it is\nCol.\" And notwithstanding all his aversion to puns, the great Doctor\nwas fain to yield to human weakness on one occasion, under the\ninfluence of the mirth which Monboddo's name seems to have excited.\nJohnson writes to Mrs. Thrale of a party he had met one night, which\nhe thus enumerates: \"There were Smelt, and the Bishop of St. Asaph,\nwho comes to every place; and Sir Joshua, and Lord Monboddo, and\nladies _out of tale_.\"\n\nThere is a Polish story of a witch who made a girdle of human skin and\nlaid it across the threshold of a door where a marriage-feast was\nbeing held. On the bridal pair stepping across the girdle they were\ntransformed into wolves. Three years after the witch sought them out,\nand cast over them dresses of fur with the hair turned outward,\nwhereupon they recovered their human forms, but, unfortunately, the\ndress cast over the bridegroom was too scanty, and did not extend over\nhis tail, so that, when he was restored to his former condition, he\nretained his lupine caudal appendage, and this became hereditary in\nhis family; so that all Poles with tails are lineal descendants of\nthe ancestor to whom this little misfortune happened. John Struys, a\nDutch traveller, who visited the Isle of Formosa in 1677, gives a\ncurious story, which is worth transcribing.\n\n\"Before I visited this island,\" he writes, \"I had often heard tell\nthat there were men who had long tails, like brute beasts; but I had\nnever been able to believe it, and I regarded it as a thing so alien\nto our nature, that I should now have difficulty in accepting it, if\nmy own senses had not removed from me every pretence for doubting the\nfact, by the following strange adventure: The inhabitants of Formosa,\nbeing used to see us, were in the habit of receiving us on terms which\nleft nothing to apprehend on either side; so that, although mere\nforeigners, we always believed ourselves in safety, and had grown\nfamiliar enough to ramble at large without an escort, when grave\nexperience taught us that, in so doing, we were hazarding too much. As\nsome of our party were one day taking a stroll, one of them had\noccasion to withdraw about a stone's throw from the rest, who, being\nat the moment engaged in an eager conversation, proceeded without\nheeding the disappearance of their companion. After a while, however,\nhis absence was observed, and the party paused, thinking he would\nrejoin them. They waited some time; but at last, tired of the delay,\nthey returned in the direction of the spot where they remembered to\nhave seen him last. Arriving there, they were horrified to find his\nmangled body lying on the ground, though the nature of the lacerations\nshowed that he had not had to suffer long ere death released him.\nWhilst some remained to watch the dead body, others went off in search\nof the murderer; and these had not gone far, when they came upon a man\nof peculiar appearance, who, finding himself enclosed by the exploring\nparty, so as to make escape from them impossible, began to foam with\nrage, and by cries and wild gesticulations to intimate that he would\nmake any one repent the attempt who should venture to meddle with him.\nThe fierceness of his desperation for a time kept our people at bay;\nbut as his fury gradually subsided, they gathered more closely round\nhim, and at length seized him. He then soon made them understand that\nit was he who had killed their comrade, but they could not learn from\nhim any cause for this conduct. As the crime was so atrocious, and, if\nallowed to pass with impunity, might entail even more serious\nconsequences, it was determined to burn the man. He was tied up to a\nstake, where he was kept for some hours before the time of execution\narrived. It was then that I beheld what I had never thought to see. He\nhad a tail more than a foot long, covered with red hair, and very like\nthat of a cow. When he saw the surprise that this discovery created\namong the European spectators, he informed us that his tail was the\neffect of climate, for that all the inhabitants of the southern side\nof the island, where they then were, were provided with like\nappendages.\"[28]\n\nAfter Struys, Hornemann reported that, between the Gulf of Benin and\nAbyssinia, were tailed anthropophagi, named by the natives\n_Niam-niams_; and in 1849, M. Descouret, on his return from Mecca,\naffirmed that such was a common report, and added that they had long\narms, low and narrow foreheads, long and erect ears, and slim legs.\n\nMr. Harrison, in his \"Highlands of Ethiopia,\" alludes to the common\nbelief among the Abyssinians, in a pygmy race of this nature.\n\nMM. Arnault and VayssiA\"re, travellers in the same country, in 1850,\nbrought the subject before the Academy of Sciences.\n\nIn 1851, M. de Castelnau gave additional details relative to an\nexpedition against these tailed men. \"The Niam-niams,\" he says, \"were\nsleeping in the sun: the Haoussas approached, and, falling on them,\nmassacred them to the last man. They had all of them tails forty\ncentimetres long, and from two to three in diameter. This organ is\nsmooth. Among the corpses were those of several women, who were\ndeformed in the same manner. In all other particulars, the men were\nprecisely like all other negroes. They are of a deep black, their\nteeth are polished, their bodies not tattooed. They are armed with\nclubs and javelins; in war they utter piercing cries. They cultivate\nrice, maize, and other grain. They are fine looking men, and their\nhair is not frizzled.\"\n\nM. d'Abbadie, another Abyssinian traveller, writing in 1852, gives the\nfollowing account from the lips of an Abyssinian priest: \"At the\ndistance of fifteen days' journey south of Herrar is a place where all\nthe men have tails, the length of a palm, covered with hair, and\nsituated at the extremity of the spine. The females of that country\nare very beautiful and are tailless. I have seen some fifteen of these\npeople at Besberah, and I am positive that the tail is natural.\"\n\nIt will be observed that there is a discrepancy between the accounts\nof M. de Castelnau and M. d'Abbadie. The former accords tails to the\nladies, whilst the latter denies it. According to the former, the tail\nis smooth; according to the latter, it is covered with hair.\n\nDr. Wolf has improved on this in his \"Travels and Adventures,\" vol.\nii. 1861. \"There are men and women in Abyssinia with tails like dogs\nand horses.\" Wolf heard also from a great many Abyssinians and\nArmenians (and Wolf is convinced of the truth of it), that \"there are\nnear Narea, in Abyssinia, people--men and women--with large tails,\nwith which they are able to knock down a horse; and there are also\nsuch people near China.\" And in a note, \"In the College of Surgeons\nat Dublin may still be seen a human skeleton, with a tail seven inches\nlong! There are many known instances of this elongation of the caudal\nvertebra, as in the Poonangs in Borneo.\"\n\nBut the most interesting and circumstantial account of the Niam-niams\nis that given by Dr. Hubsch, physician to the hospitals of\nConstantinople. \"It was in 1852,\" says he, \"that I saw for the first\ntime a tailed negress. I was struck with this phenomenon, and I\nquestioned her master, a slave dealer. I learned from him that there\nexists a tribe called Niam-niam, occupying the interior of Africa. All\nthe members of this tribe bear the caudal appendage, and, as Oriental\nimagination is given to exaggeration, I was assured that the tails\nsometimes attained the length of two feet. That which I observed was\nsmooth and hairless. It was about two inches long, and terminated in a\npoint. This woman was as black as ebony, her hair was frizzled, her\nteeth white, large, and planted in sockets which inclined considerably\noutward; her four canine teeth were filed, her eyes bloodshot. She ate\nmeat raw, her clothes fidgeted her, her intellect was on a par with\nthat of others of her condition.\n\n\"Her master had been unable, during six months, to sell her,\nnotwithstanding the low figure at which he would have disposed of her;\nthe abhorrence with which she was regarded was not attributed to her\ntail, but to the partiality, which she was unable to conceal, for\nhuman flesh. Her tribe fed on the flesh of the prisoners taken from\nthe neighboring tribes, with whom they were constantly at war.\n\n\"As soon as one of the tribe dies, his relations, instead of burying\nhim, cut him up and regale themselves upon his remains; consequently\nthere are no cemeteries in this land. They do not all of them lead a\nwandering life, but many of them construct hovels of the branches of\ntrees. They make for themselves weapons of war and of agriculture;\nthey cultivate maize and wheat, and keep cattle. The Niam-niams have a\nlanguage of their own, of an entirely primitive character, though\ncontaining an infusion of Arabic words.\n\n\"They live in a state of complete nudity, and seek only to satisfy\ntheir brute appetites. There is among them an utter disregard for\nmorality, incest and adultery being common. The strongest among them\nbecomes the chief of the tribe; and it is he who apportions the shares\nof the booty obtained in war. It is hard to say whether they have any\nreligion; but in all probability they have none, as they readily adopt\nany one which they are taught.\n\n\"It is difficult to tame them altogether; their instinct impelling\nthem constantly to seek for human flesh; and instances are related of\nslaves who have massacred and eaten the children confided to their\ncharge.\n\n\"I have seen a man of the same race, who had a tail an inch and a half\nlong, covered with a few hairs. He appeared to be thirty-five years\nold; he was robust, well built, of an ebon blackness, and had the same\npeculiar formation of jaw noticed above; that is to say, the tooth\nsockets were inclined outwards. Their four canine teeth are filed\ndown, to diminish their power of mastication.\n\n\"I know also, at Constantinople, the son of a physician, aged two\nyears, who was born with a tail an inch long; he belonged to the white\nCaucasian race. One of his grandfathers possessed the same appendage.\nThis phenomenon is regarded generally in the East as a sign of great\nbrute force.\"\n\nAbout ten years ago, a newspaper paragraph recorded the birth of a\nboy at Newcastle-on-Tyne, provided with a tail about an inch and a\nquarter long. It was asserted that the child when sucking wagged this\nstump as token of pleasure.\n\nYet, notwithstanding all this testimony in favor of tailed men and\nwomen, it is simply a matter of impossibility for a human being to\nhave a tail, for the spinal vertebrA| in man do not admit of\nelongation, as in many animals; for the spine terminates in the os\nsacrum, a large and expanded bone of peculiar character, entirely\nprecluding all possibility of production to the spine as in caudate\nanimals.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[27] \"Actes of English Votaries.\"\n\n[28] \"Voyages de Jean Struys,\" An. 1650.\n\n\n\n\nAntichrist and Pope Joan.\n\n\nFrom the earliest ages of the Church, the advent of the Man of Sin has\nbeen looked forward to with terror, and the passages of Scripture\nrelating to him have been studied with solemn awe, lest that day of\nwrath should come upon the Church unawares. As events in the world's\nhistory took place which seemed to be indications of the approach of\nAntichrist, a great horror fell upon men's minds, and their\nimaginations conjured up myths which flew from mouth to mouth, and\nwhich were implicitly believed.\n\nBefore speaking of these strange tales which produced such an effect\non the minds of men in the middle ages, it will be well briefly to\nexamine the opinions of divines of the early ages on the passages of\nScripture connected with the coming of the last great persecutor of\nthe Church. Antichrist was believed by most ancient writers to be\ndestined to arise out of the tribe of Dan, a belief founded on the\nprediction of Jacob, \"Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in\nthe path\" (conf. Jeremiah viii. 16), and on the exclamation of the\ndying patriarch, when looking on his son Dan, \"I have waited for Thy\nSalvation, O Lord,\" as though the long-suffering of God had borne long\nwith that tribe, but in vain, and it was to be extinguished without\nhope. This, indeed, is implied in the sealing of the servants of God\nin their foreheads (Revelation vii.), when twelve thousand out of\nevery tribe, except Dan, were seen by St. John to receive the seal of\nadoption, whilst of the tribe of Dan _not one_ was sealed, as though\nit, to a man, had apostatized.\n\nOpinions as to the nature of Antichrist were divided. Some held that\nhe was to be a devil in phantom body, and of this number was\nHippolytus. Others, again, believed that he would be an incarnate\ndemon, true man and true devil; in fearful and diabolical parody of\nthe Incarnation of our Lord. A third view was, that he would be merely\na desperately wicked man, acting upon diabolical inspirations, just as\nthe saints act upon divine inspirations. St. John Damascene expressly\nasserts that he will not be an incarnate demon, but a devilish man;\nfor he says, \"Not as Christ assumed humanity, so will the devil become\nhuman, but the Man will receive all the inspiration of Satan, and will\nsuffer the devil to take up his abode within him.\" In this manner\nAntichrist could have many forerunners; and so St. Jerome and St.\nAugustine saw an Antichrist in Nero, not _the_ Antichrist, but one of\nthose of whom the Apostle speaks--\"Even now are there many\nAntichrists.\" Thus also every enemy of the faith, such as Diocletian,\nJulian, and Mahomet, has been regarded as a precursor of the\nArch-persecutor, who was expected to sum up in himself the cruelty of\na Nero or Diocletian, the show of virtue of a Julian, and the\nspiritual pride of a Mahomet.\n\nFrom infancy the evil one is to take possession of Antichrist, and to\ntrain him for his office, instilling into him cunning, cruelty, and\npride. His doctrine will be--not downright infidelity, but a \"show of\ngodliness,\" whilst \"denying the power thereof;\" i. e., the miraculous\norigin and divine authority of Christianity. He will sow doubts of our\nLord's manifestation \"in the flesh,\" he will allow Christ to be an\nexcellent Man, capable of teaching the most exalted truths, and\ninculcating the purest morality, yet Himself fallible and carried away\nby fanaticism.\n\nIn the end, however, Antichrist will \"exalt himself to sit as God in\nthe temple of God,\" and become \"the abomination of desolation standing\nin the holy place.\" At the same time there is to be an awful alliance\nstruck between himself, the impersonification of the world-power and\nthe Church of God; some high pontiff of which, or the episcopacy in\ngeneral, will enter into league with the unbelieving state to oppress\nthe very elect. It is a strange instance of religionary virulence\nwhich makes some detect the Pope of Rome in the Man of Sin, the\nHarlot, the Beast, and the Priest going before it. The Man of Sin and\nthe Beast are unmistakably identical, and refer to an Antichristian\nworld-power; whilst the Harlot and the Priest are symbols of an\napostasy in the Church. There is nothing Roman in this, but something\nvery much the opposite.\n\nHow the Abomination of Desolation can be considered as set up in a\nChurch where every sanctuary is adorned with all that can draw the\nheart to the Crucified, and raise the thoughts to the imposing ritual\nof Heaven, is a puzzle to me. To the man uninitiated in the law that\nRevelation is to be interpreted by contraries, it would seem more like\nthe Abomination of Desolation in the Holy Place if he entered a Scotch\nPresbyterian, or a Dutch Calvinist, place of worship. Rome does not\nfight against the Daily Sacrifice, and endeavor to abolish it; that\nhas been rather the labor of so-called Church Reformers, who with the\nsuppression of the doctrine of Eucharistic Sacrifice and Sacramental\nAdoration have well nigh obliterated all notion of worship to be\naddressed to the God-Man. Rome does not deny the power of the\ngodliness of which she makes show, but insists on that power with no\nbroken accents. It is rather in other communities, where authority is\nflung aside, and any man is permitted to believe or reject what he\nlikes, that we must look for the leaven of the Antichristian spirit at\nwork.\n\nIt is evident that this spirit will infect the Church, and especially\nthose in place of authority therein; so that the elect will have to\nwrestle against both \"principalities and powers\" in the state, and\nalso \"spiritual wickedness in the high places\" of the Church. Perhaps\nit will be this feeling of antagonism between the inferior orders and\nthe highest which will throw the Bishops into the arms of the state,\nand establish that unholy alliance which will be cemented for the\npurpose of oppressing all who hold the truth in sincerity, who are\ndefinite in their dogmatic statements of Christ's having been\nmanifested in the flesh, who labor to establish the Daily Sacrifice,\nand offer in every place the pure offering spoken of by Malachi.\nPerhaps it was in anticipation of this, that ancient mystical\ninterpreters explained the scene at the well in Midian as having\nreference to the last times.\n\nThe Church, like the daughters of Reuel, comes to the Well of living\nwaters to water her parched flock; whereupon the shepherds--her chief\npastors--arise and strive with her. \"Fear not, O flock, fear not, O\ndaughter!\" exclaims the commentator; \"thy true Moses is seated on the\nwell, and He will arise out of His resting-place, and will with His\nown hand smite the shepherds, and water the flock.\" Let the sheep be\nin barren and dry pastures,--so long the shepherds strive not; let the\nsheep pant and die,--so long the shepherds show no signs of\nirritation; but let the Church approach the limpid well of life, and\nat once her prelates will, in the latter days, combine \"to strive\"\nwith her, and keep back the flock from the reviving streams.\n\nIn the time of Antichrist the Church will be divided: one portion will\nhold to the world-power, the other will seek out the old paths, and\ncling to the only true Guide. The high places will be filled with\nunbelievers in the Incarnation, and the Church will be in a condition\nof the utmost spiritual degradation, but enjoying the highest State\npatronage. The religion in favor will be one of morality, but not of\ndogma; and the Man of Sin will be able to promulgate his doctrine,\naccording to St. Anselm, through his great eloquence and wisdom, his\nvast learning and mightiness in the Holy Scriptures, which he will\nwrest to the overthrowing of dogma. He will be liberal in bribes, for\nhe will be of unbounded wealth; he will be capable of performing great\n\"signs and wonders,\" so as \"to deceive--the very elect;\" and at the\nlast, he will tear the moral veil from his countenance, and a monster\nof impiety and cruelty, he will inaugurate that awful persecution,\nwhich is to last for three years and a half, and to excel in horror\nall the persecutions that have gone before.\n\nIn that terrible season of confusion faith will be all but\nextinguished. \"When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the\nearth?\" asks our Blessed Lord, as though expecting the answer, No; and\nthen, says Marchantius, the vessel of the Church will disappear in the\nfoam of that boiling deep of infidelity, and be hidden in the\nblackness of that storm of destruction which sweeps over the earth.\nThe sun shall \"be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and\nthe stars shall fall from heaven;\" the sun of faith shall have gone\nout; the moon, the Church, shall not give her light, being turned into\nblood, through stress of persecution; and the stars, the great\necclesiastical dignitaries, shall fall into apostasy. But still the\nChurch will remain unwrecked, she will weather the storm; still will\nshe come forth \"beautiful as the moon, terrible as an army with\nbanners;\" for after the lapse of those three and a half years, Christ\nwill descend to avenge the blood of the saints, by destroying\nAntichrist and the world-power.\n\nSuch is a brief sketch of the scriptural doctrine of Antichrist as\nheld by the early and mediA|val Church. Let us now see to what myths it\ngave rise among the vulgar and the imaginative. Rabanus Maurus, in his\nwork on the life of Antichrist, gives a full account of the miracles\nhe will perform; he tells us that the Man-fiend will heal the sick,\nraise the dead, restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf,\nspeech to the dumb; he will raise storms and calm them, will remove\nmountains, make trees flourish or wither at a word. He will rebuild\nthe temple at Jerusalem, and making the Holy City the great capital of\nthe world. Popular opinion added that his vast wealth would be\nobtained from hidden treasures, which are now being concealed by the\ndemons for his use. Various possessed persons, when interrogated,\nannounced that such was the case, and that the amount of buried gold\nwas vast.\n\n\"In the year 1599,\" says Canon Moreau, a contemporary historian, \"a\nrumor circulated with prodigious rapidity through Europe, that\nAntichrist had been born at Babylon, and that already the Jews of that\npart were hurrying to receive and recognize him as their Messiah. The\nnews came from Italy and Germany, and extended to Spain, England, and\nother Western kingdoms, troubling many people, even the most discreet;\nhowever, the learned gave it no credence, saying that the signs\npredicted in Scripture to precede that event were not yet\naccomplished, and among other that the Roman empire was not yet\nabolished.... Others said that, as for the signs, the majority had\nalready appeared to the best of their knowledge, and with regard to\nthe rest, they might have taken place in distant regions without their\nhaving been made known to them; that the Roman empire existed but in\nname, and that the interpretation of the passage on which its\ndestruction was predicted, might be incorrect; that for many\ncenturies, the most learned and pious had believed in the near\napproach of Antichrist, some believing that he had already come, on\naccount of the persecutions which had fallen on the Christians;\nothers, on account of fires, or eclipses, or earthquakes.... Every\none was in excitement; some declared that the news must be correct,\nothers believed nothing about it, and the agitation became so\nexcessive, that Henry IV., who was then on the throne, was compelled\nby edict to forbid any mention of the subject.\"\n\nThe report spoken of by Moreau gained additional confirmation from the\nannouncement made by an exorcised demoniac, that in 1600, the Man of\nSin had been born in the neighborhood of Paris, of a Jewess, named\nBlanchefleure, who had conceived by Satan. The child had been baptized\nat the Sabbath of Sorcerers; and a witch, under torture, acknowledged\nthat she had rocked the infant Antichrist on her knees, and she\naverred that he had claws on his feet, wore no shoes, and spoke all\nlanguages.\n\nIn 1623 appeared the following startling announcement, which obtained\nan immense circulation among the lower orders: \"We, brothers of the\nOrder of St. John of Jerusalem, in the Isle of Malta, have received\nletters from our spies, who are engaged in our service in the country\nof Babylon, now possessed by the Grand Turk; by the which letters we\nare advertised, that, on the 1st of May, in the year of our Lord\n1623, a child was born in the town of Bourydot, otherwise called\nCalka, near Babylon, of the which child the mother is a very aged\nwoman, of race unknown, called Fort-Juda: of the father nothing is\nknown. The child is dusky, has pleasant mouth and eyes, teeth pointed\nlike those of a cat, ears large, stature by no means exceeding that of\nother children; the said child, incontinent on his birth, walked and\ntalked perfectly well. His speech is comprehended by every one,\nadmonishing the people that he is the true Messiah, and the son of\nGod, and that in him all must believe. Our spies also swear and\nprotest that they have seen the said child with their own eyes; and\nthey add, that, on the occasion of his nativity, there appeared\nmarvellous signs in heaven, for at full noon the sun lost its\nbrightness, and was for some time obscured.\" This is followed by a\nlist of other signs appearing, the most remarkable being a swarm of\nflying serpents, and a shower of precious stones.\n\nAccording to Sebastian Michaeliz, in his history of the possessed of\nFlanders, on the authority of the exorcised demons, we learn that\nAntichrist is to be a son of Beelzebub, who will accompany his\noffspring under the form of a bird, with four feet and a bull's head;\nthat he will torture Christians with the same tortures with which the\nlost souls are racked; that he will be able to fly, speak all\nlanguages, and will have any number of names.\n\nWe find that Antichrist is known to the Mussulmans as well as to\nChristians. Lane, in his edition of the \"Arabian Nights,\" gives some\ncurious details on Moslem ideas regarding him. According to these,\nAntichrist will overrun the earth, mounted on an ass, and followed by\n40,000 Jews; his empire will last forty days, whereof the first day\nwill be a year long, the duration of the second will be a month, that\nof the third a week, the others being of their usual length. He will\ndevastate the whole world, leaving Mecca and Medina alone in security,\nas these holy cities will be guarded by angelic legions. Christ at\nlast will descend to earth, and in a great battle will destroy the\nMan-devil.\n\nSeveral writers, of different denominations, no less superstitious\nthan the common people, connected the apparition of Antichrist with\nthe fable of Pope Joan, which obtained such general credence at one\ntime, but which modern criticism has at length succeeded in excluding\nfrom history.\n\nPerhaps the earliest writer to mention Pope Joan is Marianus Scotus,\nwho in his chronicle inserts the following passage: \"A. D. 854,\nLotharii 14, Joanna, a woman, succeeded Leo, and reigned two years,\nfive months, and four days.\" Marianus Scotus died A. D. 1086. Sigebert\nde Gemblours (d. 5th Oct., 1112) inserts the same story in his\nvaluable chronicle, copying from an interpolated passage in the work\nof Anastasius the librarian. His words are, \"It is reported that this\nJohn was a female, and that she conceived by one of her servants. The\nPope, becoming pregnant, gave birth to a child; wherefore some do not\nnumber her among the Pontiffs.\" Hence the story spread among the\nmediA|val chroniclers, who were great plagiarists. Otto of Frisingen\nand Gotfrid of Viterbo mention the Lady-Pope in their histories, and\nMartin Polonus gives details as follows: \"After Leo IV., John Anglus,\na native of Metz, reigned two years, five months, and four days. And\nthe pontificate was vacant for a month. He died in Rome. He is related\nto have been a female, and, when a girl, to have accompanied her\nsweetheart in male costume to Athens; there she advanced in various\nsciences, and none could be found to equal her. So, after having\nstudied for three years in Rome, she had great masters for her pupils\nand hearers. And when there arose a high opinion in the city of her\nvirtue and knowledge, she was unanimously elected Pope. But during her\npapacy she became in the family way by a familiar. Not knowing the\ntime of birth, as she was on her way from St. Peter's to the Lateran\nshe had a painful delivery, between the Coliseum and St. Clement's\nChurch, in the street. Having died after, it is said that she was\nburied on the spot; and therefore the Lord Pope always turns aside\nfrom that way, and it is supposed by some out of detestation for what\nhappened there. Nor on that account is she placed in the catalogue of\nthe Holy Pontiffs, not only on account of her sex, but also because of\nthe horribleness of the circumstance.\"\n\nCertainly a story at all scandalous _crescit eundo_.\n\nWilliam Ocham alludes to the story, and John Huss, only too happy to\nbelieve it, provides the lady with a name, and asserts that she was\nbaptized Agnes, or, as he will have it with a strong aspirate, Hagnes.\nOthers, however, insist upon her name having been Gilberta; and some\nstout Germans, not relishing the notion of her being a daughter of\nFatherland, palm her off on England. As soon as we arrive at\nReformation times, the German and French Protestants fasten on the\nstory with the utmost avidity, and add sweet little touches of their\nown, and draw conclusions galling enough to the Roman See,\nillustrating their accounts with wood engravings vigorous and graphic,\nbut hardly decent. One of these represents the event in a peculiarly\nstartling manner. The procession of bishops, with the Host and tapers,\nis sweeping along, when suddenly the cross-bearer before the\ntriple-crowned and vested Pope starts aside to witness the unexpected\narrival. This engraving, which it is quite impossible for me to\nreproduce, is in a curious little book, entitled \"Puerperium Johannis\nPapA| 8, 1530.\"\n\nThe following jingling record of the event is from the Rhythmical VitA|\nPontificum of Gulielmus Jacobus of Egmonden, a work never printed.\nThis fragment is preserved in \"Wolfii Lectionum Memorabilium\ncentenarii, XVI.:\"--\n\n    \"PriusquA m reconditur Sergius, vocatur\n    Ad summam, qui dicitur Johannes, huic addatur\n    Anglicus, Moguntia iste procreatur.\n    Qui, ut dat sententia, fA\"minis aptatur\n    Sexu: quod sequentia monstrant, breviatur,\n    HA|c vox: nam prolixius chronica procedunt.\n    Ista, de qua brevius dicta minus lA|dunt.\n    Huic erat amasius, ut scriptores credunt.\n    Patria relinquitur Moguntia, GrA|corum\n    StudiosA\" petitur schola. PA squaredst doctorum\n    HA|c doctrix efficitur RomA| legens: horum\n    HA|c auditu fungitur loquens. Hinc prostrato\n    Summo hA|c eligitur: sexu exaltato\n    Quandoque negligitur. Fatur quA squaredd hA|c nato\n    Per servum conficitur. Tempore gignendi\n    Ad processum equus scanditur, vice flendi,\n    Papa cadit, panditur improbis ridendi\n    Norma, puer nascitur in vico Clementis,\n    ColossA\"um jungitur. Corpus parentis\n    In eodem traditur sepulturA| gentis,\n    Faturque scriptoribus, quA squaredd Papa prA|fato,\n    Vico senioribus transiens amato\n    Congruo ductoribus sequitur negato\n    Loco, quo Ecclesia partu denigratur,\n    Quamvis inter spacia Pontificum ponatur,\n    Propter sexum.\"\n\nStephen Blanch, in his \"Urbis RomA| Mirabilia,\" says that an angel of\nheaven appeared to Joan before the event, and asked her to choose\nwhether she would prefer burning eternally in hell, or having her\nconfinement in public; with sense which does her credit, she chose the\nlatter. The Protestant writers were not satisfied that the father of\nthe unhappy baby should have been a servant: some made him a\nCardinal, and others the devil himself. According to an eminent Dutch\nminister, it is immaterial whether the child be fathered on Satan or a\nmonk; at all events, the former took a lively interest in the youthful\nAntichrist, and, on the occasion of his birth, was seen and heard\nfluttering overhead, crowing and chanting in an unmusical voice the\nSibylline verses announcing the birth of the Arch-persecutor:--\n\n    \"Papa pater patrum, PapissA| pandito partum\n    Et tibi tunc eadem de corpore quando recedam!\"\n\nwhich lines, as being perhaps the only ones known to be of diabolic\ncomposition, are deserving of preservation.\n\nThe Reformers, in order to reconcile dates, were put to the somewhat\nperplexing necessity of moving Pope Joan to their own times, or else\nof giving to the youthful Antichrist an age of seven hundred years.\n\nIt must be allowed that the _accouchement_ of a Pope in full\npontificals, during a solemn procession, was a prodigy not likely to\noccur more than once in the world's history, and was certain to be of\nmomentous import.\n\nIt will be seen by the curious woodcut reproduced as frontispiece\nfrom Baptista Mantuanus, that he consigned Pope Joan to the jaws of\nhell, notwithstanding her choice. The verses accompanying this picture\nare:--\n\n    \"Hic pendebat adhuc sexum mentita virile\n    FA\"mina, cui triplici Phrygiam diademate mitram\n    Extollebat apex: et pontificalis adulter.\"\n\nIt need hardly be stated that the whole story of Pope Joan is\nfabulous, and rests on not the slightest historical foundation. It was\nprobably a Greek invention to throw discredit on the papal hierarchy,\nfirst circulated more than two hundred years after the date of the\nsupposed Pope. Even Martin Polonus (A. D. 1282), who is the first to\ngive the details, does so merely on popular report.\n\nThe great champions of the myth were the Protestants of the sixteenth\ncentury, who were thoroughly unscrupulous in distorting history and\nsuppressing facts, so long as they could make a point. A paper war was\nwaged upon the subject, and finally the whole story was proved\nconclusively to be utterly destitute of historical truth. A melancholy\nexample of the blindness of party feeling and prejudice is seen in\nMosheim, who assumes the truth of the ridiculous story, and gravely\ninserts it in his \"Ecclesiastical History.\" \"Between Leo IV., who died\n855, and Benedict III., a woman, who concealed her sex and assumed the\nname of John, it is said, opened her way to the Pontifical throne by\nher learning and genius, and governed the Church for a time. She is\ncommonly called the Papess Joan. During the five subsequent centuries\nthe witnesses to this extraordinary event are without number; nor did\nany one, prior to the Reformation by Luther, regard the thing as\neither incredible or disgraceful to the Church.\" Such are Mosheim's\nwords, and I give them as a specimen of the credit which is due to his\nopinion. The \"Ecclesiastical History\" he wrote is full of perversions\nof the plainest facts, and that under our notice is but one out of\nmany. \"During the five centuries after her reign,\" he says, \"the\nwitnesses to the story are innumerable.\" Now, for two centuries there\nis not an allusion to be found to the events. The only passage which\ncan be found is a universally acknowledged interpolation of the \"Lives\nof the Popes,\" by Anastasius Bibliothecarius; and this interpolation\nis stated in the first printed edition by BusA|us, Mogunt. 1602, to be\nonly found in two MS. copies.\n\nFrom Marianus Scotus or Sigebert de Gemblours the story passed into\nother chronicles _totidem verbis_, and generally with hesitation and\nan expression of doubt in its accuracy. Martin Polonus is the first to\ngive the particulars, some four hundred and twenty years after the\nreign of the fabulous Pope.\n\nMosheim is false again in asserting that no one prior to the\nReformation regarded the thing as either incredible or disgraceful.\nThis is but of a piece with his malignity and disregard for truth,\nwhenever he can hit the Catholic Church hard. Bart. Platina, in his\n\"Lives of the Popes,\" written before Luther was born, after relating\nthe story, says, \"These things which I relate are popular reports, but\nderived from uncertain and obscure authors, which I have therefore\ninserted briefly and baldly, lest I should seem to omit obstinately\nand pertinaciously what most people assert.\" Thus the facts were\njustly doubted by Platina on the legitimate grounds that they rested\non popular gossip, and not on reliable history. Marianus Scotus, the\nfirst to relate the story, died in 1086. He was a monk of St. Martin\nof Cologne, then of Fulda, and lastly of St. Alban's, at Metz. How\ncould he have obtained reliable information, or seen documents upon\nwhich to ground the assertion? Again, his chronicle has suffered\nseverely from interpolations in numerous places, and there is reason\nto believe that the Pope-Joan passage is itself a late interpolation.\n\nIf so, we are reduced to Sigebert de Gemblours (d. 1112), placing two\ncenturies and a half between him and the event he records, and his\nchronicle may have been tampered with.\n\nThe historical discrepancies are sufficiently glaring to make the\nstory more than questionable.\n\nLeo IV. died on the 17th July, 855; and Benedict III. was consecrated\non the 1st September in the same year; so that it is impossible to\ninsert between their pontificates a reign of two years, five months,\nand four days. It is, however, true that there was an antipope elected\nupon the death of Leo, at the instance of the Emperor Louis; but his\nname was Anastasius. This man possessed himself of the palace of the\nPopes, and obtained the incarceration of Benedict. However, his\nsupporters almost immediately deserted him, and Benedict assumed the\npontificate. The reign of Benedict was only for two years and a half,\nso that Anastasius cannot be the supposed Joan; nor do we hear of any\ncharge brought against him to the effect of his being a woman. But the\nstout partisans of the Pope-Joan tale assert, on the authority of the\n\"Annales Augustani,\"[29] and some other, but late authorities, that\nthe female Pope was John VIII., who consecrated Louis II. of France,\nand Ethelwolf of England. Here again is confusion. Ethelwolf sent\nAlfred to Rome in 853, and the youth received regal unction from the\nhands of Leo IV. In 855 Ethelwolf visited Rome, it is true, but was\nnot consecrated by the existing Pope, whilst Charles the Bald was\nanointed by John VIII. in 875. John VIII. was a Roman, son of Gundus,\nand an archdeacon of the Eternal City. He assumed the triple crown in\n872, and reigned till December 18, 882. John took an active part in\nthe troubles of the Church under the incursions of the Sarasins, and\n325 letters of his are extant, addressed to the princes and prelates\nof his day.\n\nAny one desirous of pursuing this examination into the untenable\nnature of the story may find an excellent summary of the arguments\nused on both sides in Gieseler, \"Lehrbuch,\" &c., Cunningham's trans.,\nvol. ii. pp. 20, 21, or in Bayle, \"Dictionnaire,\" tom. iii. art.\nPapesse.\n\nThe arguments in favor of the myth may be seen in Spanheim, \"Exercit.\nde Papa FA\"mina,\" Opp. tom. ii. p. 577, or in Lenfant, \"Histoire de\nla Papesse Jeanne,\" La Haye, 1736, 2 vols. 12mo.\n\nThe arguments on the other side may be had in \"Allatii Confutatio\nFabulA| de Johanna Papissa,\" Colon. 1645; in Le Quien, \"Oriens\nChristianus,\" tom. iii. p. 777; and in the pages of the Lutheran\nHuemann, \"Sylloge Diss. Sacras.,\" tom. i. par. ii. p. 352.\n\nThe final development of this extraordinary story, under the delicate\nfingers of the German and French Protestant controversialists, may not\nprove uninteresting.\n\nJoan was the daughter of an English missionary, who left England to\npreach the Gospel to the recently converted Saxons. She was born at\nEngelheim, and according to different authors she was christened\nAgnes, Gerberta, Joanna, Margaret, Isabel, Dorothy, or Jutt--the last\nmust have been a nickname surely! She early distinguished herself for\ngenius and love of letters. A young monk of Fulda having conceived for\nher a violent passion, which she returned with ardor, she deserted her\nparents, dressed herself in male attire, and in the sacred precincts\nof Fulda divided her affections between the youthful monk and the\nmusty books of the monastic library. Not satisfied with the restraints\nof conventual life, nor finding the library sufficiently well provided\nwith books of abstruse science, she eloped with her young man, and\nafter visiting England, France, and Italy, she brought him to Athens,\nwhere she addicted herself with unflagging devotion to her literary\npursuits. Wearied out by his journey, the monk expired in the arms of\nthe blue-stocking who had influenced his life for evil, and the young\nlady of so many aliases was for a while inconsolable. She left Athens\nand repaired to Rome. There she opened a school and acquired such a\nreputation for learning and feigned sanctity, that, on the death of\nLeo IV., she was unanimously elected Pope. For two years and five\nmonths, under the name of John VIII., she filled the papal chair with\nreputation, no one suspecting her sex. But having taken a fancy to one\nof the cardinals, by him she became pregnant. At length arrived the\ntime of Rogation processions. Whilst passing the street between the\namphitheatre and St. Clement's, she was seized with violent pains,\nfell to the ground amidst the crowd, and, whilst her attendants\nministered to her, was delivered of a son. Some say the child and\nmother died on the spot, some that she survived but was incarcerated,\nsome that the child was spirited away to be the Antichrist of the last\ndays. A marble monument representing the papess with her baby was\nerected on the spot, which was declared to be accursed to all ages.\n\nI have little doubt myself that Pope Joan is an impersonification of\nthe great whore of Revelation, seated on the seven hills, and is the\npopular expression of the idea prevalent from the twelfth to the\nsixteenth centuries, that the mystery of iniquity was somehow working\nin the papal court. The scandal of the Antipopes, the utter\nworldliness and pride of others, the spiritual fornication with the\nkings of the earth, along with the words of Revelation prophesying the\nadvent of an adulterous woman who should rule over the imperial city,\nand her connection with Antichrist, crystallized into this curious\nmyth, much as the floating uncertainty as to the signification of our\nLord's words, \"There be some standing here which shall not taste of\ndeath till they see the kingdom of God,\" condensed into the myth of\nthe Wandering Jew.\n\nThe literature connected with Antichrist is voluminous. I need only\nspecify some of the most curious works which have appeared on the\nsubject. St. Hippolytus and Rabanus Maurus have been already alluded\nto. Commodianus wrote \"Carmen Apologeticum adversus Gentes,\" which has\nbeen published by Dom Pitra in his \"Spicilegium Solesmense,\" with an\nintroduction containing Jewish and Christian traditions relating to\nAntichrist. \"De Turpissima Conceptione, Nativitate, et aliis PrA|sagiis\nDiaboliciis illius Turpissimi Hominis Antichristi,\" is the title of a\nstrange little volume published by Lenoir in A. D. 1500, containing\nrude yet characteristic woodcuts, representing the birth, life, and\ndeath of the Man of Sin, each picture accompanied by French verses in\nexplanation. An equally remarkable illustrated work on Antichrist is\nthe famous \"Liber de Antichristo,\" a blockbook of an early date. It is\nin twenty-seven folios, and is excessively rare. Dibdin has reproduced\nthree of the plates in his \"Bibliotheca Spenseriana,\" and Falckenstein\nhas given full details of the work in his \"Geschichte der\nBuchdruckerkunst.\"\n\nThere is an Easter miracle-play of the twelfth century, still extant,\nthe subject of which is the \"Life and Death of Antichrist.\" More\ncurious still is the \"Farce de l'AntA(C)christ et de Trois Femmes\"--a\ncomposition of the sixteenth century, when that mysterious personage\noccupied all brains. The farce consists in a scene at a fish-stall,\nwith three good ladies quarrelling over some fish. Antichrist steps\nin,--for no particular reason that one can see,--upsets fish and\nfish-women, sets them fighting, and skips off the stage. The best book\non Antichrist, and that most full of learning and judgment, is\nMalvenda's great work in two folio volumes, \"De Antichristo, libri\nxii.\" Lyons, 1647.\n\nFor the fable of the Pope Joan, see J. Lenfant, \"Histoire de la\nPapesse Jeanne.\" La Haye, 1736, 2 vols. 12mo. \"Allatii Confutatio\nFabulA| de Johanna Papissa.\" Colon. 1645.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[29] These Annals were written in 1135.\n\n\n\n\nThe Man in the Moon.\n\n  [Illustration: From L. Richter.]\n\n\nEvery one knows that the moon is inhabited by a man with a bundle of\nsticks on his back, who has been exiled thither for many centuries,\nand who is so far off that he is beyond the reach of death.\n\nHe has once visited this earth, if the nursery rhyme is to be\ncredited, when it asserts that--\n\n    \"The Man in the Moon\n    Came down too soon,\n    And asked his way to Norwich;\"\n\nbut whether he ever reached that city, the same authority does not\nstate.\n\nThe story as told by nurses is, that this man was found by Moses\ngathering sticks on a Sabbath, and that, for this crime, he was doomed\nto reside in the moon till the end of all things; and they refer to\nNumbers xv. 32-36:--\n\n\"And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a\nman that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him\ngathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the\ncongregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared\nwhat should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man\nshall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him\nwith stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him\nwithout the camp, and stoned him with stones till he died.\"\n\nOf course, in the sacred writings there is no allusion to the moon.\n\nThe German tale is as follows:--\n\nAges ago there went one Sunday morning an old man into the wood to hew\nsticks. He cut a fagot and slung it on a stout staff, cast it over his\nshoulder, and began to trudge home with his burden. On his way he met\na handsome man in Sunday suit, walking towards the Church; this man\nstopped and asked the fagot-bearer, \"Do you know that this is Sunday\non earth, when all must rest from their labors?\"\n\n\"Sunday on earth, or Monday in heaven, it is all one to me!\" laughed\nthe wood-cutter.\n\n\"Then bear your bundle forever,\" answered the stranger; \"and as you\nvalue not Sunday on earth, yours shall be a perpetual Moon-day in\nheaven; and you shall stand for eternity in the moon, a warning to all\nSabbath-breakers.\" Thereupon the stranger vanished, and the man was\ncaught up with his stock and his fagot into the moon, where he stands\nyet.\n\nThe superstition seems to be old in Germany, for the full moon is\nspoken of as _wadel_, or _wedel_, a fagot. Tobler relates the story\nthus: \"An arma mAe\u0081 ket alawel am Sonnti holz ufglesa. Do hedem der\nliebe Gott dwahl gloh, A\u00b6b er lieber wott ider sonn verbrenna oder im\nmo verfrura, do willer lieber inn mo ihi. Dromm siedma no jetz an ma\nim mo inna, wenns wedel ist. Er hed a pA1/4scheli uffem rogga.\"[30] That\nis to say, he was given the choice of burning in the sun, or of\nfreezing in the moon; he chose the latter; and now at full moon he is\nto be seen seated with his bundle of fagots on his back.\n\nIn Schaumburg-Lippe,[31] the story goes, that a man and a woman stand\nin the moon, the man because he strewed brambles and thorns on the\nchurch path, so as to hinder people from attending Mass on Sunday\nmorning; the woman because she made butter on that day. The man\ncarries his bundle of thorns, the woman her butter-tub. A similar tale\nis told in Swabia and in Marken. Fischart[32] says, that there \"is to\nbe seen in the moon a manikin who stole wood;\" and PrA|torius, in his\ndescription of the world,[33] that \"superstitious people assert that\nthe black flecks in the moon are a man who gathered wood on a Sabbath,\nand is therefore turned into stone.\"\n\nThe Dutch household myth is, that the unhappy man was caught stealing\nvegetables. Dante calls him Cain:--\n\n    \"... Now doth Cain with fork of thorns confine,\n    On either hemisphere, touching the wave\n    Beneath the towers of Seville. Yesternight\n    The moon was round.\"\n                              _Hell_, cant. xx.\n\nAnd again,--\n\n    \"... Tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spots\n    Upon this body, which below on earth\n    Give rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?\"\n                              _Paradise_, cant. ii.\n\nChaucer, in the \"Testament of Cresside,\" adverts to the man in the\nmoon, and attributes to him the same idea of theft. Of Lady Cynthia,\nor the moon, he says,--\n\n    \"Her gite was gray and full of spottis blake,\n    And on her brest a chorle painted ful even,\n    Bering a bush of thornis on his backe,\n    Whiche for his theft might clime so ner the heaven.\"\n\nRitson, among his \"Ancient Songs,\" gives one extracted from a\nmanuscript of the time of Edward II., on the Man in the Moon, but in\nvery obscure language. The first verse, altered into more modern\northography, runs as follows:--\n\n    \"Man in the Moon stand and stit,\n      On his bot-fork his burden he beareth,\n    It is much wonder that he do na doun slit,\n      For doubt lest he fall he shudd'reth and shivereth.\n\n    ...\n\n    \"When the frost freezes must chill he bide,\n      The thorns be keen his attire so teareth,\n    Nis no wight in the world there wot when he syt,\n      Ne bote it by the hedge what weeds he weareth.\"\n\nAlexander Necham, or Nequam, a writer of the twelfth century, in\ncommenting on the dispersed shadows in the moon, thus alludes to the\nvulgar belief: \"Nonne novisti quid vulgus vocet rusticum in luna\nportantem spinas? Unde quidam vulgariter loquens ait:--\n\n    \"Rusticus in Luna,\n    Quem sarcina deprimit una\n    Monstrat per opinas\n    Nulli prodesse rapinas,\"\n\nwhich may be translated thus: \"Do you know what they call the rustic\nin the moon, who carries the fagot of sticks?\" So that one vulgarly\nspeaking says,--\n\n    \"See the rustic in the Moon,\n    How his bundle weighs him down;\n    Thus his sticks the truth reveal,\n    It never profits man to steal.\"\n\nShakspeare refers to the same individual in his \"Midsummer Night's\nDream.\" Quince the carpenter, giving directions for the performance of\nthe play of \"Pyramus and Thisbe,\" orders: \"One must come in with a\nbush of thorns and a lantern, and say he comes in to disfigure, or to\npresent, the person of Moonshine.\" And the enacter of this part says,\n\"All I have to say is, to tell you that the lantern is the moon; I the\nman in the moon; this thorn-bush my thorn-bush; and this dog my dog.\"\n\nAlso \"Tempest,\" Act 2, Scene 2:--\n\n    \"_Cal._ Hast thou not dropt from heaven?\n\n    \"_Steph._ Out o' th' moon, I do assure thee. I was the man in\n    th' moon when time was.\n\n    \"_Cal._ I have seen thee in her; and I do adore thee. My\n    mistress showed me thee, and thy dog, and thy bush.\"\n\nThe dog I have myself had pointed out to me by an old Devonshire\ncrone. If popular superstition places a dog in the moon, it puts a\nlamb in the sun; for in the same county it is said that those who see\nthe sun rise on Easter-day, may behold in the orb the lamb and flag.\n\nI believe this idea of locating animals in the two great luminaries of\nheaven to be very ancient, and to be a relic of a primeval\nsuperstition of the Aryan race.\n\nThere is an ancient pictorial representation of our friend the\nSabbath-breaker in Gyffyn Church, near Conway. The roof of the\nchancel is divided into compartments, in four of which are the\nEvangelistic symbols, rudely, yet effectively painted. Besides these\nsymbols is delineated in each compartment an orb of heaven. The sun,\nthe moon, and two stars, are placed at the feet of the Angel, the\nBull, the Lion, and the Eagle. The representation of the moon is as\nbelow; in the disk is the conventional man with his bundle of sticks,\nbut without the dog. There is also a curious seal appended to a deed\npreserved in the Record Office, dated the 9th year of Edward the Third\n(1335), bearing the man in the moon as its device. The deed is one of\nconveyance of a messuage, barn, and four acres of ground, in the\nparish of Kingston-on-Thames, from Walter de Grendesse, clerk, to\nMargaret his mother. On the seal we see the man carrying his sticks,\nand the moon surrounds him. There are also a couple of stars added,\nperhaps to show that he is in the sky. The legend on the seal reads:--\n\n    \"Te Waltere docebo\n    cur spinas phebo\n          gero,\"\n\nwhich may be translated, \"I will teach thee, Walter, why I carry\nthorns in the moon.\"\n\n  [Illustration: {Representation of the moon in Gyffyn Church.}]\n\n  [Illustration: {The seal with the legend visible.}]\n\nThe general superstition with regard to the spots in the moon may\nbriefly be summed up thus: A man is located in the moon; he is a thief\nor Sabbath-breaker;[34] he has a pole over his shoulder, from which\nis suspended a bundle of sticks or thorns. In some places a woman is\nbelieved to accompany him, and she has a butter-tub with her; in other\nlocalities she is replaced by a dog.\n\nThe belief in the Moon-man seems to exist among the natives of British\nColumbia; for I read in one of Mr. Duncan's letters to the Church\nMissionary Society, \"One very dark night I was told that there was a\nmoon to see on the beach. On going to see, there was an illuminated\ndisk, with the figure of a man upon it. The water was then very low,\nand one of the conjuring parties had lit up this disk at the water's\nedge. They had made it of wax, with great exactness, and presently it\nwas at full. It was an imposing sight. Nothing could be seen around\nit; but the Indians suppose that the medicine party are then holding\nconverse with the man in the moon.... After a short time the moon\nwaned away, and the conjuring party returned whooping to their house.\"\n\nNow let us turn to Scandinavian mythology, and see what we learn from\nthat source.\n\nMAcni, the moon, stole two children from their parents, and carried\nthem up to heaven. Their names were Hjuki and Bil. They had been\ndrawing water from the well Byrgir, in the bucket SA\"gr, suspended\nfrom the pole Simul, which they bore upon their shoulders. These\nchildren, pole, and bucket were placed in heaven, \"where they could be\nseen from earth.\" This refers undoubtedly to the spots in the moon;\nand so the Swedish peasantry explain these spots to this day, as\nrepresenting a boy and a girl bearing a pail of water between them.\nAre we not reminded at once of our nursery rhyme--\n\n    \"Jack and Jill went up a hill\n      To fetch a pail of water;\n    Jack fell down, and broke his crown,\n      And Jill came tumbling after\"?\n\nThis verse, which to us seems at first sight nonsense, I have no\nhesitation in saying has a high antiquity, and refers to the Eddaic\nHjuki and Bil. The names indicate as much. Hjuki, in Norse, would be\npronounced Juki, which would readily become Jack; and Bil, for the\nsake of euphony, and in order to give a female name to one of the\nchildren, would become Jill.\n\nThe fall of Jack, and the subsequent fall of Jill, simply represent\nthe vanishing of one moon-spot after another, as the moon wanes.\n\nBut the old Norse myth had a deeper signification than merely an\nexplanation of the moon-spots.\n\nHjuki is derived from the verb jakka, to heap or pile together, to\nassemble and increase; and Bil from bila, to break up or dissolve.\nHjuki and Bil, therefore, signify nothing more than the waxing and\nwaning of the moon, and the water they are represented as bearing\nsignifies the fact that the rainfall depends on the phases of the\nmoon. Waxing and waning were individualized, and the meteorological\nfact of the connection of the rain with the moon was represented by\nthe children as water-bearers.\n\nBut though Jack and Jill became by degrees dissevered in the popular\nmind from the moon, the original myth went through a fresh phase, and\nexists still under a new form. The Norse superstition attributed\n_theft_ to the moon, and the vulgar soon began to believe that the\nfigure they saw in the moon was the thief. The lunar specks certainly\nmay be made to resemble one figure, and only a lively imagination can\ndiscern two. The girl soon dropped out of popular mythology, the boy\noldened into a venerable man, he retained his pole, and the bucket\nwas transformed into the thing he had stolen--sticks or vegetables.\nThe theft was in some places exchanged for Sabbath-breaking,\nespecially among those in Protestant countries who were acquainted\nwith the Bible story of the stick-gatherer.\n\nThe Indian superstition is worth examining, because of the connection\nexisting between Indian and European mythology, on account of our\nbelonging to the same Aryan stock.\n\nAccording to a Buddhist legend, SAckyamunni himself, in one of his\nearlier stages of existence, was a hare, and lived in friendship with\na fox and an ape. In order to test the virtue of the Bodhisattwa,\nIndra came to the friends, in the form of an old man, asking for food.\nHare, ape, and fox went forth in quest of victuals for their guest.\nThe two latter returned from their foraging expedition successful, but\nthe hare had found nothing. Then, rather than that he should treat the\nold man with inhospitality, the hare had a fire kindled, and cast\nhimself into the flames, that he might himself become food for his\nguest. In reward for this act of self-sacrifice, Indra carried the\nhare to heaven, and placed him in the moon.[35]\n\nHere we have an old man and a hare in connection with the lunar\nplanet, just as in Shakspeare we have a fagot-bearer and a dog.\n\nThe fable rests upon the name of the moon in Sanskrit, ASec.aASec.in, or \"that\nmarked with the hare;\" but whether the belief in the spots taking the\nshape of a hare gave the name ASec.aASec.in to the moon, or the lunar name\nASec.aASec.in originated the belief, it is impossible for us to say.\n\nGrounded upon this myth is the curious story of \"The Hare and the\nElephant,\" in the \"Pantschatantra,\" an ancient collection of Sanskrit\nfables. It will be found as the first tale in the third book. I have\nroom only for an outline of the story.\n\n\nTHE CRAFTY HARE.\n\nIn a certain forest lived a mighty elephant, king of a herd, Toothy by\nname. On a certain occasion there was a long drought, so that pools,\ntanks, swamps, and lakes were dried up. Then the elephants sent out\nexploring parties in search of water. A young one discovered an\nextensive lake surrounded with trees, and teeming with water-fowl. It\nwent by the name of the Moon-lake. The elephants, delighted at the\nprospect of having an inexhaustible supply of water, marched off to\nthe spot, and found their most sanguine hopes realized. Round about\nthe lake, in the sandy soil, were innumerable hare warrens; and as the\nherd of elephants trampled on the ground, the hares were severely\ninjured, their homes broken down, their heads, legs, and backs crushed\nbeneath the ponderous feet of the monsters of the forest. As soon as\nthe herd had withdrawn, the hares assembled, some halting, some\ndripping with blood, some bearing the corpses of their cherished\ninfants, some with piteous tales of ruination in their houses, all\nwith tears streaming from their eyes, and wailing forth, \"Alas, we are\nlost! The elephant-herd will return, for there is no water elsewhere,\nand that will be the death of all of us.\"\n\nBut the wise and prudent Longear volunteered to drive the herd away;\nand he succeeded in this manner: Longear went to the elephants, and\nhaving singled out their king, he addressed him as follows:--\n\n\"Ha, ha! bad elephant! what brings you with such thoughtless frivolity\nto this strange lake? Back with you at once!\"\n\nWhen the king of the elephants heard this, he asked in astonishment,\n\"Pray, who are you?\"\n\n\"I,\" replied Longear,--\"I am Vidschajadatta by name; the hare who\nresides in the Moon. Now am I sent by his Excellency the Moon as an\nambassador to you. I speak to you in the name of the Moon.\"\n\n\"Ahem! Hare,\" said the elephant, somewhat staggered; \"and what message\nhave you brought me from his Excellency the Moon?\"\n\n\"You have this day injured several hares. Are you not aware that they\nare the subjects of me? If you value your life, venture not near the\nlake again. Break my command, and I shall withdraw my beams from you\nat night, and your bodies will be consumed with perpetual sun.\"\n\nThe elephant, after a short meditation, said, \"Friend! it is true that\nI have acted against the rights of the excellent Majesty of the Moon.\nI should wish to make an apology; how can I do so?\"\n\nThe hare replied, \"Come along with me, and I will show you.\"\n\nThe elephant asked, \"Where is his Excellency at present?\"\n\nThe other replied, \"He is now in the lake, hearing the complaints of\nthe maimed hares.\"\n\n\"If that be the case,\" said the elephant, humbly, \"bring me to my\nlord, that I may tender him my submission.\"\n\nSo the hare conducted the king of the elephants to the edge of the\nlake, and showed him the reflection of the moon in the water, saying,\n\"There stands our lord in the midst of the water, plunged in\nmeditation; reverence him with devotion, and then depart with speed.\"\n\nThereupon the elephant poked his proboscis into the water, and\nmuttered a fervent prayer. By so doing he set the water in agitation,\nso that the reflection of the moon was all of a quiver.\n\n\"Look!\" exclaimed the hare; \"his Majesty is trembling with rage at\nyou!\"\n\n\"Why is his supreme Excellency enraged with me?\" asked the elephant.\n\n\"Because you have set the water in motion. Worship him, and then be\noff!\"\n\nThe elephant let his ears droop, bowed his great head to the earth,\nand after having expressed in suitable terms his regret for having\nannoyed the Moon, and the hare dwelling in it, he vowed never to\ntrouble the Moon-lake again. Then he departed, and the hares have ever\nsince lived there unmolested.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[30] Tobler, Appenz. Sprachsbuch, 20.\n\n[31] Wolf, Zeitschrift fA1/4r Deut. Myth. i. 168.\n\n[32] Fischart, Garg. 130.\n\n[33] PrA|torius, i. 447.\n\n[34] Hebel, in his charming poem on the Man in the Moon, in\n\"Allemanische Gedichte,\" makes him both thief and Sabbath-breaker.\n\n[35] \"MA(C)moires ... par Hjouen Thsang, traduits du Chinois par\nStanislas Julien,\" i. 375. Upham, \"Sacred Books of Ceylon,\" iii. 309.\n\n\n\n\nThe Mountain of Venus.\n\n\nRagged, bald, and desolate, as though a curse rested upon it, rises\nthe HA\u00b6rselberg out of the rich and populous land between Eisenach and\nGotha, looking, from a distance, like a huge stone sarcophagus--a\nsarcophagus in which rests in magical slumber, till the end of all\nthings, a mysterious world of wonders.\n\nHigh up on the north-west flank of the mountain, in a precipitous wall\nof rock, opens a cavern, called the HA\u00b6rselloch, from the depths of\nwhich issues a muffled roar of water, as though a subterraneous stream\nwere rushing over rapidly-whirling millwheels. \"When I have stood\nalone on the ridge of the mountain,\" says Bechstein, \"after having\nsought the chasm in vain, I have heard a mighty rush, like that of\nfalling water, beneath my feet, and after scrambling down the scarp,\nhave found myself--how, I never knew--in front of the cave.\"\n(\"Sagenschatz des ThA1/4ringes-landes,\" 1835.)\n\nIn ancient days, according to the ThA1/4ringian Chronicles, bitter cries\nand long-drawn moans were heard issuing from this cavern; and at\nnight, wild shrieks and the burst of diabolical laughter would ring\nfrom it over the vale, and fill the inhabitants with terror. It was\nsupposed that this hole gave admittance to Purgatory; and the popular\nbut faulty derivation of HA\u00b6rsel was _HA\u00b6re, die Seele_--Hark, the\nSouls!\n\nBut another popular belief respecting this mountain was, that in it\nVenus, the pagan Goddess of Love, held her court, in all the pomp and\nrevelry of heathendom; and there were not a few who declared that they\nhad seen fair forms of female beauty beckoning them from the mouth of\nthe chasm, and that they had heard dulcet strains of music well up\nfrom the abyss above the thunder of the falling, unseen torrent.\nCharmed by the music, and allured by the spectral forms, various\nindividuals had entered the cave, and none had returned, except the\nTanhA\u00a4user, of whom more anon. Still does the HA\u00b6rselberg go by the name\nof the Venusberg, a name frequently used in the middle ages, but\nwithout its locality being defined.\n\n\"In 1398, at midday, there appeared suddenly three great fires in the\nair, which presently ran together into one globe of flame, parted\nagain, and finally sank into the HA\u00b6rselberg,\" says the ThA1/4ringian\nChronicle.\n\nAnd now for the story of TanhA\u00a4user.\n\nA French knight was riding over the beauteous meadows in the HA\u00b6rsel\nvale on his way to Wartburg, where the Landgrave Hermann was holding a\ngathering of minstrels, who were to contend in song for a prize.\n\nTanhA\u00a4user was a famous minnesinger, and all his lays were of love and\nof women, for his heart was full of passion, and that not of the\npurest and noblest description.\n\nIt was towards dusk that he passed the cliff in which is the\nHA\u00b6rselloch, and as he rode by, he saw a white glimmering figure of\nmatchless beauty standing before him, and beckoning him to her. He\nknew her at once, by her attributes and by her superhuman perfection,\nto be none other than Venus. As she spake to him, the sweetest strains\nof music floated in the air, a soft roseate light glowed around her,\nand nymphs of exquisite loveliness scattered roses at her feet. A\nthrill of passion ran through the veins of the minnesinger; and,\nleaving his horse, he followed the apparition. It led him up the\nmountain to the cave, and as it went flowers bloomed upon the soil,\nand a radiant track was left for TanhA\u00a4user to follow. He entered the\ncavern, and descended to the palace of Venus in the heart of the\nmountain.\n\nSeven years of revelry and debauch were passed, and the minstrel's\nheart began to feel a strange void. The beauty, the magnificence, the\nvariety of the scenes in the pagan goddess's home, and all its\nheathenish pleasures, palled upon him, and he yearned for the pure\nfresh breezes of earth, one look up at the dark night sky spangled\nwith stars, one glimpse of simple mountain-flowers, one tinkle of\nsheep-bells. At the same time his conscience began to reproach him,\nand he longed to make his peace with God. In vain did he entreat Venus\nto permit him to depart, and it was only when, in the bitterness of\nhis grief, he called upon the Virgin-Mother, that a rift in the\nmountain-side appeared to him, and he stood again above ground.\n\nHow sweet was the morning air, balmy with the scent of hay, as it\nrolled up the mountain to him, and fanned his haggard cheek! How\ndelightful to him was the cushion of moss and scanty grass after the\ndowny couches of the palace of revelry below! He plucked the little\nheather-bells, and held them before him; the tears rolled from his\neyes, and moistened his thin and wasted hands. He looked up at the\nsoft blue sky and the newly-risen sun, and his heart overflowed. What\nwere the golden, jewel-incrusted, lamp-lit vaults beneath to that pure\ndome of God's building!\n\nThe chime of a village church struck sweetly on his ear, satiated with\nBacchanalian songs; and he hurried down the mountain to the church\nwhich called him. There he made his confession; but the priest,\nhorror-struck at his recital, dared not give him absolution, but\npassed him on to another. And so he went from one to another, till at\nlast he was referred to the Pope himself. To the Pope he went. Urban\nIV. then occupied the chair of St. Peter. To him TanhA\u00a4user related the\nsickening story of his guilt, and prayed for absolution. Urban was a\nhard and stern man, and shocked at the immensity of the sin, he thrust\nthe penitent indignantly from him, exclaiming, \"Guilt such as thine\ncan never, never be remitted. Sooner shall this staff in my hand grow\ngreen and blossom, than that God should pardon thee!\"\n\nThen TanhA\u00a4user, full of despair, and with his soul darkened, went\naway, and returned to the only asylum open to him, the Venusberg. But\nlo! three days after he had gone, Urban discovered that his pastoral\nstaff had put forth buds, and had burst into flower. Then he sent\nmessengers after TanhA\u00a4user, and they reached the HA\u00b6rsel vale to hear\nthat a wayworn man, with haggard brow and bowed head, had just entered\nthe HA\u00b6rselloch. Since then TanhA\u00a4user has not been seen.\n\nSuch is the sad yet beautiful story of TanhA\u00a4user. It is a very ancient\nmyth Christianized, a wide-spread tradition localized. Originally\nheathen, it has been transformed, and has acquired new beauty by an\ninfusion of Christianity. Scattered over Europe, it exists in various\nforms, but in none so graceful as that attached to the HA\u00b6rselberg.\nThere are, however, other Venusbergs in Germany; as, for instance, in\nSwabia, near Waldsee; another near Ufhausen, at no great distance from\nFreiburg (the same story is told of this Venusberg as of the\nHA\u00b6rselberg); in Saxony there is a Venusberg not far from Wolkenstein.\nParacelsus speaks of a Venusberg in Italy, referring to that in which\nA\u0086neas Sylvius (Ep. 16) says Venus or a Sibyl resides, occupying a\ncavern, and assuming once a week the form of a serpent. Geiler v.\nKeysersperg, a quaint old preacher of the fifteenth century, speaks of\nthe witches assembling on the Venusberg.\n\nThe story, either in prose or verse, has often been printed. Some of\nthe earliest editions are the following:--\n\n\"Das Lied von dem Danhewser.\" NA1/4rnberg, without date; the same,\nNA1/4rnberg, 1515.--\"Das Lyedt v. d. Thanheuser.\" Leyptzk, 1520.--\"Das\nLied v. d. DanheA1/4ser,\" reprinted by Bechstein, 1835.--\"Das Lied vom\nedlen Tanheuser, Mons Veneris.\" Frankfort, 1614; Leipzig, 1668.--\"Twe\nlede volgen Dat erste vain DanhA1/4sser.\" Without date.--\"Van heer\nDanielken.\" Tantwerpen, 1544.--A Danish version in \"Nyerup, Danske\nViser,\" No. VIII.\n\nLet us now see some of the forms which this remarkable myth assumed in\nother countries. Every popular tale has its root, a root which may be\ntraced among different countries, and though the accidents of the\nstory may vary, yet the substance remains unaltered. It has been said\nthat the common people never invent new story-radicals any more than\nwe invent new word-roots; and this is perfectly true. The same\nstory-root remains, but it is varied according to the temperament of\nthe narrator or the exigencies of localization. The story-root of the\nVenusberg is this:--\n\n    The underground folk seek union with human beings.\n\n        I+-. A man is enticed into their abode, where he unites\n            with a woman of the underground race.\n\n        I squared. He desires to revisit the earth, and escapes.\n\n        I cubed. He returns again to the region below.\n\nNow, there is scarcely a collection of folk-lore which does not\ncontain a story founded on this root. It appears in every branch of\nthe Aryan family, and examples might be quoted from Modern Greek,\nAlbanian, Neapolitan, French, German, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish,\nIcelandic, Scotch, Welsh, and other collections of popular tales. I\nhave only space to mention some.\n\nThere is a Norse ThAittr of a certain Helgi Thorir's son, which is, in\nits present form, a production of the fourteenth century. Helgi and\nhis brother Thorstein went on a cruise to Finnmark, or Lapland. They\nreached a ness, and found the land covered with forest. Helgi explored\nthis forest, and lighted suddenly on a party of red-dressed women\nriding upon red horses. These ladies were beautiful and of troll race.\nOne surpassed the others in beauty, and she was their mistress. They\nerected a tent and prepared a feast. Helgi observed that all their\nvessels were of silver and gold. The lady, who named herself\nIngibjorg, advanced towards the Norseman, and invited him to live with\nher. He feasted and lived with the trolls for three days, and then\nreturned to his ship, bringing with him two chests of silver and gold,\nwhich Ingibjorg had given him. He had been forbidden to mention where\nhe had been and with whom; so he told no one whence he had obtained\nthe chests. The ships sailed, and he returned home.\n\nOne winter's night Helgi was fetched away from home, in the midst of a\nfurious storm, by two mysterious horsemen, and no one was able to\nascertain for many years what had become of him, till the prayers of\nthe king, Olaf, obtained his release, and then he was restored to his\nfather and brother, but he was thenceforth blind. All the time of his\nabsence he had been with the red-vested lady in her mysterious abode\nof GlA\"sisvellir.\n\nThe Scotch story of Thomas of Ercildoune is the same story. Thomas met\nwith a strange lady, of elfin race, beneath Eildon Tree, who led him\ninto the underground land, where he remained with her for seven years.\nHe then returned to earth, still, however, remaining bound to come to\nhis royal mistress whenever she should summon him. Accordingly, while\nThomas was making merry with his friends in the Tower of Ercildoune, a\nperson came running in, and told, with marks of fear and astonishment,\nthat a hart and a hind had left the neighboring forest, and were\nparading the street of the village. Thomas instantly arose, left his\nhouse, and followed the animals into the forest, from which he never\nreturned. According to popular belief, he still \"drees his weird\" in\nFairy Land, and is one day expected to revisit earth. (Scott,\n\"Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.\") Compare with this the ancient\nballad of Tamlane.\n\nDebes relates that \"it happened a good while since, when the burghers\nof Bergen had the commerce of the Faroe Isles, that there was a man in\nSerraade, called Jonas Soideman, who was kept by the spirits in a\nmountain during the space of seven years, and at length came out, but\nlived afterwards in great distress and fear, lest they should again\ntake him away; wherefore people were obliged to watch him in the\nnight.\" The same author mentions another young man who had been\ncarried away, and after his return was removed a second time, upon the\neve of his marriage.\n\nGervase of Tilbury says that \"in Catalonia there is a lofty mountain,\nnamed Cavagum, at the foot of which runs a river with golden sands, in\nthe vicinity of which there are likewise silver mines. This mountain\nis steep, and almost inaccessible. On its top, which is always covered\nwith ice and snow, is a black and bottomless lake, into which if a\nstone be cast, a tempest suddenly arises; and near this lake is the\nportal of the palace of demons.\" He then tells how a young damsel was\nspirited in there, and spent seven years with the mountain spirits. On\nher return to earth she was thin and withered, with wandering eyes,\nand almost bereft of understanding.\n\nA Swedish story is to this effect. A young man was on his way to his\nbride, when he was allured into a mountain by a beautiful elfin woman.\nWith her he lived forty years, which passed as an hour; on his return\nto earth all his old friends and relations were dead, or had forgotten\nhim, and finding no rest there, he returned to his mountain elf-land.\n\nIn Pomerania, a laborer's son, Jacob Dietrich of Rambin, was enticed\naway in the same manner.\n\nThere is a curious story told by Fordun in his \"Scotichronicon,\" which\nhas some interest in connection with the legend of the TanhA\u00a4user. He\nrelates that in the year 1050, a youth of noble birth had been married\nin Rome, and during the nuptial feast, being engaged in a game of\nball, he took off his wedding-ring, and placed it on the finger of a\nstatue of Venus. When he wished to resume it, he found that the stony\nhand had become clinched, so that it was impossible to remove the\nring. Thenceforth he was haunted by the Goddess Venus, who constantly\nwhispered in his ear, \"Embrace me; I am Venus, whom you have wedded; I\nwill never restore your ring.\" However, by the assistance of a\npriest, she was at length forced to give it up to its rightful owner.\n\nThe classic legend of Ulysses, held captive for eight years by the\nnymph Calypso in the Island of Ogygia, and again for one year by the\nenchantress Circe, contains the root of the same story of the\nTanhA\u00a4user.\n\nWhat may have been the significance of the primeval story-radical it\nis impossible for us now to ascertain; but the legend, as it shaped\nitself in the middle ages, is certainly indicative of the struggle\nbetween the new and the old faith.\n\nWe see thinly veiled in TanhA\u00a4user the story of a man, Christian in\nname, but heathen at heart, allured by the attractions of paganism,\nwhich seems to satisfy his poetic instincts, and which gives full rein\nto his passions. But these excesses pall on him after a while, and the\nreligion of sensuality leaves a great void in his breast.\n\nHe turns to Christianity, and at first it seems to promise all that he\nrequires. But alas! he is repelled by its ministers. On all sides he\nis met by practice widely at variance with profession. Pride,\nworldliness, want of sympathy exist among those who should be the\nforemost to guide, sustain, and receive him. All the warm springs\nwhich gushed up in his broken heart are choked, his softened spirit is\nhardened again, and he returns in despair to bury his sorrows and\ndrown his anxieties in the debauchery of his former creed.\n\nA sad picture, but doubtless one very true.\n\n\n\n\nFatality of Numbers.\n\n\nThe laws governing numbers are so perplexing to the uncultivated mind,\nand the results arrived at by calculation are so astonishing, that it\ncannot be matter of surprise if superstition has attached itself to\nnumbers.\n\nBut even to those who are instructed in numeration, there is much that\nis mysterious and unaccountable, much that only an advanced\nmathematician can explain to his own satisfaction. The neophyte sees\nthe numbers obedient to certain laws; but _why_ they obey these laws\nhe cannot understand; and the fact of his not being able so to do,\ntends to give to numbers an atmosphere of mystery which impresses him\nwith awe.\n\nFor instance, the property of the number 9, discovered, I believe, by\nW. Green, who died in 1794, is inexplicable to any one but a\nmathematician. The property to which I allude is this, that when 9 is\nmultiplied by 2, by 3, by 4, by 5, by 6, &c., it will be found that\nthe digits composing the product, when added together, give 9. Thus:--\n\n     2 A-- 9 = 18, and  1 + 8 = 9\n     3 A-- 9 = 27,  \"   2 + 7 = 9\n     4 A-- 9 = 36,  \"   3 + 6 = 9\n     5 A-- 9 = 45,  \"   4 + 5 = 9\n     6 A-- 9 = 54,  \"   5 + 4 = 9\n     7 A-- 9 = 63,  \"   6 + 3 = 9\n     8 A-- 9 = 72,  \"   7 + 2 = 9\n     9 A-- 9 = 81,  \"   8 + 1 = 9\n    10 A-- 9 = 90,  \"   9 + 0 = 9\n\nIt will be noticed that 9 A-- 11 makes 99, the sum of the digits of\nwhich is 18 and not 9, but the sum of the digits 1 + 8 equals 9.\n\n    9 A-- 12 = 108, and  1 + 0 + 8 = 9\n    9 A-- 13 = 117,  \"   1 + 1 + 7 = 9\n    9 A-- 14 = 126,  \"   1 + 2 + 6 = 9\n\nAnd so on to any extent.\n\nM. de Maivan discovered another singular property of the same number.\nIf the order of the digits expressing a number be changed, and this\nnumber be subtracted from the former, the remainder will be 9 or a\nmultiple of 9, and, being a multiple, the sum of its digits will be 9.\n\nFor instance, take the number 21, reverse the digits, and you have\n12; subtract 12 from 21, and the remainder is 9. Take 63, reverse the\ndigits, and subtract 36 from 63; you have 27, a multiple of 9, and 2 +\n7 = 9. Once more, the number 13 is the reverse of 31; the difference\nbetween these numbers is 18, or twice 9.\n\nAgain, the same property found in two numbers thus changed, is\ndiscovered in the same numbers raised to any power.\n\nTake 21 and 12 again. The square of 21 is 441, and the square of 12 is\n144; subtract 144 from 441, and the remainder is 297, a multiple of 9;\nbesides, the digits expressing these powers added together give 9. The\ncube of 21 is 9261, and that of 12 is 1728; their difference is 7533,\nalso a multiple of 9.\n\nThe number 37 has also somewhat remarkable properties; when multiplied\nby 3 or a multiple of 3 up to 27, it gives in the product three digits\nexactly similar. From the knowledge of this the multiplication of 37\nis greatly facilitated, the method to be adopted being to multiply\nmerely the first cipher of the multiplicand by the first multiplier;\nit is then unnecessary to proceed with the multiplication, it being\nsufficient to write twice to the right hand the cipher obtained, so\nthat the same digit will stand in the unit, tens, and hundreds places.\n\nFor instance, take the results of the following table:--\n\n    37 multiplied by 3 gives 111, and 3 times 1 =  3\n    37      \"        6   \"   222,  \"  3   \"   2 =  6\n    37      \"        9   \"   333,  \"  3   \"   3 =  9\n    37      \"       12   \"   444,  \"  3   \"   4 = 12\n    37      \"       15   \"   555,  \"  3   \"   5 = 15\n    37      \"       18   \"   666,  \"  3   \"   6 = 18\n    37      \"       21   \"   777,  \"  3   \"   7 = 21\n    37      \"       24   \"   888,  \"  3   \"   8 = 24\n    37      \"       27   \"   999,  \"  3   \"   9 = 27\n\nThe singular property of numbers the most different, when added, to\nproduce the same sum, originated the use of magical squares for\ntalismans. Although the reason may be accounted for mathematically,\nyet numerous authors have written concerning them, as though there\nwere something \"uncanny\" about them. But the most remarkable and\nexhaustive treatise on the subject is that by a mathematician of\nDijon, which is entitled \"TraitA(C) complet des CarrA(C)s magiques, pairs et\nimpairs, simple et composA(C)s, A  Bordures, Compartiments, Croix,\nChassis, A%querres, Bandes dA(C)tachA(C)es, &c.; suivi d'un TraitA(C) des Cubes\nmagiques et d'un Essai sur les Cercles magiques; par M. Violle,\nGA(C)omA\"tre, Chevalier de St. Louis, avec Atlas de 54 grandes Feuilles,\ncomprenant 400 figures.\" Paris, 1837. 2 vols. 8vo., the first of 593\npages, the second of 616. Price 36 fr.\n\nI give three examples of magical squares:--\n\n    2   7   6\n    9   5   1\n    4   3   8\n\nThese nine ciphers are disposed in three horizontal lines; add the\nthree ciphers of each line, and the sum is 15; add the three ciphers\nin each column, the sum is 15; add the three ciphers forming\ndiagonals, and the sum is 15.\n\n    1   2   3   4        1   7   13   19   25\n    2   3   2   3       18  24    5    6   12\n    4   1   4   1       10  11   17   23    4\n    3   4   1   2       22   3    9   15   16\n                        14  20   21    2    8\n\n    The sum is 10.          The sum is 65.\n\nBut the connection of certain numbers with the dogmas of religion was\nsufficient, besides their marvellous properties, to make superstition\nattach itself to them. Because there were thirteen at the table when\nthe Last Supper was celebrated, and one of the number betrayed his\nMaster, and then hung himself, it is looked upon through Christendom\nas unlucky to sit down thirteen at table, the consequence being that\none of the number will die before the year is out. \"When I see,\" said\nVouvenargues, \"men of genius not daring to sit down thirteen at table,\nthere is no error, ancient or modern, which astonishes me.\"\n\nNine, having been consecrated by Buddhism, is regarded with great\nveneration by the Moguls and Chinese: the latter bow nine times on\nentering the presence of their Emperor.\n\nThree is sacred among Brahminical and Christian people, because of the\nTrinity of the Godhead.\n\nPythagoras taught that each number had its own peculiar character,\nvirtue, and properties.\n\n\"The unit, or the monad,\" he says, \"is the principle and the end of\nall; it is this sublime knot which binds together the chain of causes;\nit is the symbol of identity, of equality, of existence, of\nconservation, and of general harmony. Having no parts, the monad\nrepresents Divinity; it announces also order, peace, and tranquillity,\nwhich are founded on unity of sentiments; consequently ONE is a good\nprinciple.\n\n\"The number TWO, or the dyad, the origin of contrasts, is the symbol\nof diversity, or inequality, of division and of separation. TWO is\naccordingly an evil principle, a number of bad augury, characterizing\ndisorder, confusion, and change.\n\n\"THREE, or the triad, is the first of unequals; it is the number\ncontaining the most sublime mysteries, for everything is composed of\nthree substances; it represents God, the soul of the world, the spirit\nof man.\" This number, which plays so great a part in the traditions of\nAsia, and in the Platonic philosophy, is the image of the attributes\nof God.\n\n\"FOUR, or the tetrad, as the first mathematical power, is also one of\nthe chief elements; it represents the generating virtue, whence come\nall combinations; it is the most perfect of numbers; it is the root of\nall things. It is holy by nature, since it constitutes the Divine\nessence, by recalling His unity, His power, His goodness, and His\nwisdom, the four perfections which especially characterize God.\nConsequently, Pythagoricians swear by the quaternary number, which\ngives the human soul its eternal nature.\n\n\"The number FIVE, or the pentad, has a peculiar force in sacred\nexpiations; it is everything; it stops the power of poisons, and is\nredoubted by evil spirits.\n\n\"The number SIX, or the hexad, is a fortunate number, and it derives\nits merit from the first sculptors having divided the face into six\nportions; but, according to the Chaldeans, the reason is, because God\ncreated the world in six days.\n\n\"SEVEN, or the heptad, is a number very powerful for good or for evil.\nIt belongs especially to sacred things.\n\n\"The number EIGHT, or the octad, is the first cube, that is to say,\nsquared in all senses, as a die, proceeding from its base two, an even\nnumber; so is man four-square, or perfect.\n\n\"The number NINE, or the ennead, being the multiple of three, should\nbe regarded as sacred.\n\n\"Finally, TEN, or the decad, is the measure of all, since it contains\nall the numeric relations and harmonies. As the reunion of the four\nfirst numbers, it plays an eminent part, since all the branches of\nscience, all nomenclatures, emanate from, and retire into it.\"\n\nIt is hardly necessary for me here to do more than mention the\npeculiar character given to different numbers by Christianity. One is\nthe numeral indicating the Unity of the Godhead; Two points to the\nhypostatic union; Three to the Blessed Trinity; Four to the\nEvangelists; Five to the Sacred Wounds; Six is the number of sin;\nSeven that of the gifts of the Spirit; Eight, that of the Beatitudes;\nTen is the number of the commandments; Eleven speaks of the Apostles\nafter the loss of Judas; Twelve, of the complete apostolic college.\n\nI shall now point out certain numbers which have been regarded with\nsuperstition, and certain events connected with numbers which are of\ncurious interest.\n\nThe number 14 has often been observed as having singularly influenced\nthe life of Henry IV. and other French princes. Let us take the\nhistory of Henry.\n\nOn the 14th May, 1029, the first king of France named Henry was\nconsecrated, and on the 14th May, 1610, the last Henry was\nassassinated.\n\nFourteen letters enter into the composition of the name of Henri de\nBourbon, who was the 14th king bearing the titles of France and\nNavarre.\n\nThe 14th December, 1553, that is, 14 centuries, 14 decades, and 14\nyears after the birth of Christ, Henry IV. was born; the ciphers of\nthe date 1553, when added together, giving the number 14.\n\nThe 14th May, 1554, Henry II. ordered the enlargement of the Rue de la\nFerronnerie. The circumstance of this order not having been carried\nout, occasioned the murder of Henry IV. in that street, four times 14\nyears after.\n\nThe 14th May, 1552, was the date of the birth of MarguA(C)rite de Valois,\nfirst wife of Henry IV.\n\nOn the 14th May, 1588, the Parisians revolted against Henry III., at\nthe instigation of the Duke of Guise.\n\nOn the 14th March, 1590, Henry IV. gained the battle of Ivry.\n\nOn the 14th May, 1590, Henry was repulsed from the Fauxbourgs of\nParis.\n\nOn the 14th November, 1590, the Sixteen took oath to die rather than\nserve Henry.\n\nOn the 14th November, 1592, the Parliament registered the Papal Bull\ngiving power to the legate to nominate a king to the exclusion of\nHenry.\n\nOn the 14th December, 1599, the Duke of Savoy was reconciled to Henry\nIV.\n\nOn the 14th September, 1606, the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XIII., was\nbaptized.\n\nOn the 14th May, 1610, the king was stopped in the Rue de la\nFerronnerie, by his carriage becoming locked with a cart, on account\nof the narrowness of the street. Ravaillac took advantage of the\noccasion for stabbing him.\n\nHenry IV. lived four times 14 years, 14 weeks, and four times 14 days;\nthat is to say, 56 years and 5 months.\n\nOn the 14th May, 1643, died Louis XIII., son of Henry IV.; not only on\nthe same day of the same month as his father, but the date, 1643, when\nits ciphers are added together, gives the number 14, just as the\nciphers of the date of the birth of his father gave 14.\n\nLouis XIV. mounted the throne in 1643: 1 + 6 + 4 + 3 = 14.\n\nHe died in the year 1715: 1 + 7 + 1 + 5 = 14.\n\nHe lived 77 years, and 7 + 7 = 14.\n\nLouis XV. mounted the throne in the same year; he died in 1774, which\nalso bears the stamp of 14, the extremes being 14, and the sum of the\nmeans 7 + 7 making 14.\n\nLouis XVI. had reigned 14 years when he convoked the States General,\nwhich was to bring about the Revolution.\n\nThe number of years between the assassination of Henry IV. and the\ndethronement of Louis XVI. is divisible by 14.\n\nLouis XVII. died in 1794; the extreme digits of the date are 14, and\nthe first two give his number.\n\nThe restoration of the Bourbons took place in 1814, also marked by the\nextremes being 14; also by the sum of the ciphers making 14.\n\nThe following are other curious calculations made respecting certain\nFrench kings.\n\nAdd the ciphers composing the year of the birth or of the death of\nsome of the kings of the third race, and the result of each sum is\nthe titular number of each prince. Thus:--\n\nLouis IX. was born in 1215; add the four ciphers of this date, and you\nhave IX.\n\nCharles VII. was born in 1402; the sum of 1 + 4 + 2 gives VII.\n\nLouis XII. was born in 1461; and 1 + 4 + 6 + 1 = XII.\n\nHenry IV. died in 1610; and 1 + 6 + 1 = twice IV.\n\nLouis XIV. was crowned in 1643; and these four ciphers give XIV. The\nsame king died in 1715; and this date gives also XIV. He was aged 77\nyears, and again 7 + 7 = 14.\n\nLouis XVIII. was born in 1755; add the digits, and you have XVIII.\n\nWhat is remarkable is, that this number 18 is double the number of the\nking to whom the law first applies, and is triple the number of the\nkings to whom it has applied.\n\nHere is another curious calculation:--\n\nRobespierre fell in 1794;\n\nNapoleon in 1815, and Charles X. in 1830.\n\nNow, the remarkable fact in connection with these dates is, that the\nsum of the digits composing them, added to the dates, gives the date\nof the fall of the successor. Robespierre fell in 1794; 1 + 7 + 9 + 4\n= 21, 1794 + 21 = 1815, the date of the fall of Napoleon; 1 + 8 + 1 +\n5 = 15, and 1815 + 15 = 1830, the date of the fall of Charles X.\n\nThere is a singular rule which has been supposed to determine the\nlength of the reigning Pope's life, in the earlier half of a century.\nAdd his number to that of his predecessor, to that add ten, and the\nresult gives the year of his death.\n\nPius VII. succeeded Pius VI.; 6 + 7 = 13; add 10, and the sum is 23.\nPius VII. died in 1823.\n\nLeo XII. succeeded Pius VII.; 12 + 7 + 10 = 29; and Leo XII. died in\n1829.\n\nPius VIII. succeeded Leo XII.; 8 + 12 + 10 = 30; and Pius VIII. died\nin 1830.\n\nHowever, this calculation does not always apply.\n\nGregory XVI. ought to have died in 1834, but he did not actually\nvacate his see till 1846.\n\nIt is also well known that an ancient tradition forbids the hope of\nany of St. Peter's successors, _pervenire ad annos Petri_; i. e., to\nreign 25 years.\n\nThose who sat longest are\n\n                           Years.    Months.    Days.\n    Pius VI., who reigned    24         6        14\n    Hadrian I.       \"       23        10        17\n    Pius VII.        \"       23         5         6\n    Alexander III.   \"       21        11        23\n    St. Silvester I. \"       21         0         4\n\nThere is one numerical curiosity of a very remarkable character, which\nI must not omit.\n\nThe ancient Chamber of Deputies, such as it existed in 1830, was\ncomposed of 402 members, and was divided into two parties. The one,\nnumbering 221 members, declared itself strongly for the revolution of\nJuly; the other party, numbering 181, did not favor a change. The\nresult was the constitutional monarchy, which re-established order\nafter the three memorable days of July. The parties were known by the\nfollowing nicknames. The larger was commonly called _La queue de\nRobespierre_, and the smaller, _Les honnA\u00aates gens_. Now, the\nremarkable fact is, that if we give to the letters of the alphabet\ntheir numerical values as they stand in their order, as 1 for A, 2 for\nB, 3 for C, and so on to Z, which is valued at 25, and then write\nvertically on the left hand the words, _La queue de Robespierre_,\nwith the number equivalent to each letter opposite to it, and on the\nright hand, in like manner, _Les honnA\u00aates gens_, if each column of\nnumbers be summed up, the result is the number of members who formed\neach party.\n\n    1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13\n    A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M\n\n    14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25\n     N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   X   Y   Z\n\n    L--12      L--12\n    A-- 1      E-- 5\n               S--19\n    Q--17\n    U--21      H-- 8\n    E-- 5      O--15\n    U-- 5      N--14\n    E-- 5      N--14\n               E-- 5\n    D-- 4      T--20\n    E-- 5      E-- 5\n               S--19\n    R--18\n    O--15      G-- 7\n    B-- 2      E-- 5\n    E-- 5      N--14\n    S--19      S--19\n    P--16      -----\n    I-- 9        181\n    E-- 5\n    R--18\n    R--18\n    E-- 5\n    -----\n      221\n\n    Majority     221\n    Minority     181\n                ----\n    Total        402\n\nSome coincidences of dates are very remarkable.\n\nOn the 25th August, 1569, the Calvinists massacred the Catholic nobles\nand priests at BA(C)arn and Navarre.\n\nOn the same day of the same month, in 1572, the Calvinists were\nmassacred in Paris and elsewhere.\n\nOn the 25th October, 1615, Louis XIII. married Anne of Austria,\ninfanta of Spain, whereupon we may remark the following\ncoincidences:--\n\nThe name Loys[36] de Bourbon contains 13 letters; so does the name\nAnne d'Austriche.\n\nLouis was 13 years old when this marriage was decided on; Anne was the\nsame age.\n\nHe was the thirteenth king of France bearing the name of Louis, and\nshe was the thirteenth infanta of the name of Anne of Austria.\n\nOn the 23d April, 1616, died Shakspeare: on the same day of the same\nmonth, in the same year, died the great poet Cervantes.\n\nOn the 29th May, 1630, King Charles II. was born.\n\nOn the 29th May, 1660, he was restored.\n\nOn the 29th May, 1672, the fleet was beaten by the Dutch.\n\nOn the 29th May, 1679, the rebellion of the Covenanters broke out in\nScotland.\n\nThe Emperor Charles V. was born on February 24, 1500; on that day he\nwon the battle of Pavia, in 1525, and on the same day was crowned in\n1530.\n\nOn the 29th January, 1697, M. de Broquemar, president of the\nParliament of Paris, died suddenly in that city; next day his brother,\nan officer, died suddenly at Bergue, where he was governor. The lives\nof these brothers present remarkable coincidences. One day the\nofficer, being engaged in battle, was wounded in his leg by a\nsword-blow. On the same day, at the same moment, the president was\nafflicted with acute pain, which attacked him suddenly in the same leg\nas that of his brother which had been injured.\n\nJohn Aubrey mentions the case of a friend of his who was born on the\n15th November; his eldest son was born on the 15th November; and his\nsecond son's first son on the same day of the same month.\n\nAt the hour of prime, April 6, 1327, Petrarch first saw his mistress\nLaura, in the Church of St. Clara in Avignon. In the same city, same\nmonth, same hour, 1348, she died.\n\nThe deputation charged with offering the crown of Greece to Prince\nOtho, arrived in Munich on the 13th October, 1832; and it was on the\n13th October, 1862, that King Otho left Athens, to return to it no\nmore.\n\nOn the 21st April, 1770, Louis XVI. was married at Vienna, by the\nsending of the ring.\n\nOn the 21st June, in the same year, took place the fatal festivities\nof his marriage.\n\nOn the 21st January, 1781, was the _fA\u00aate_ at the HA'tel de Ville, for\nthe birth of the Dauphin.\n\nOn the 21st June, 1791, took place the flight to Varennes.\n\nOn the 21st January, 1793, he died on the scaffold.\n\nThere is said to be a tradition of Norman-monkish origin, that the\nnumber 3 is stamped on the Royal line of England, so that there shall\nnot be more than three princes in succession without a revolution.\n\nWilliam I., William II., Henry I.; then followed the revolution of\nStephen.\n\nHenry II., Richard I., John; invasion of Louis, Dauphin of France, who\nclaimed the throne.\n\nHenry III., Edward I., Edward II., who was dethroned and put to death.\n\nEdward III., Richard II., who was dethroned.\n\nHenry IV., Henry V., Henry VI.; the crown passed to the house of York.\n\nEdward IV., Edward V., Richard III.; the crown claimed and won by\nHenry Tudor.\n\nHenry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI.; usurpation of Lady Jane Grey.\n\nMary I., Elizabeth; the crown passed to the house of Stuart.\n\nJames I., Charles I.; Revolution.\n\nCharles II., James II.; invasion of William of Orange.\n\nWilliam of Orange and Mary II., Anne; arrival of the house of\nBrunswick.\n\nGeorge I., George II., George III., George IV., William IV., Victoria.\nThe law has proved faulty in the last case; but certainly there was a\ncrisis in the reign of George IV.\n\nAs I am on the subject of the English princes, I will add another\nsingular coincidence, though it has nothing to do with the fatality of\nnumbers.\n\nIt is that Saturday has been a day of ill omen to the later kings.\n\nWilliam of Orange died Saturday, 18th March, 1702.\n\nAnne died Saturday, 1st August, 1704.\n\nGeorge I. died Saturday, 10th June, 1727.\n\nGeorge II. died Saturday, 25th October, 1760.\n\nGeorge III. died Saturday, 30th January, 1820.\n\nGeorge IV. died Saturday, 26th June, 1830.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[36] Up to Louis XIII. all the kings of this name spelled Louis as\nLoys.\n\n\n\n\nThe Terrestrial Paradise.\n\n\nThe exact position of Eden, and its present condition, do not seem to\nhave occupied the minds of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, nor to have\ngiven rise among them to wild speculations.\n\nThe map of the tenth century in the British Museum, accompanying the\nPeriegesis of Priscian, is far more correct than the generality of\nmaps which we find in MSS. at a later period; and Paradise does not\noccupy the place of Cochin China, or the isles of Japan, as it did\nlater, after that the fabulous voyage of St. Brandan had become\npopular in the eleventh century.[37] The site, however, had been\nalready indicated by Cosmas, who wrote in the seventh century, and had\nbeen specified by him as occupying a continent east of China, beyond\nthe ocean, and still watered by the four great rivers Pison, Gihon,\nHiddekel, and Euphrates, which sprang from subterranean canals. In a\nmap of the ninth century, preserved in the Strasbourg library, the\nterrestrial Paradise is, however, on the Continent, placed at the\nextreme east of Asia; in fact, is situated in the Celestial Empire. It\noccupies the same position in a Turin MS., and also in a map\naccompanying a commentary on the Apocalypse in the British Museum.\n\nAccording to the fictitious letter of Prester John to the Emperor\nEmanuel Comnenus, Paradise was situated close to--within three days'\njourney of--his own territories, but where those territories were, is\nnot distinctly specified.\n\n\"The River Indus, which issues out of Paradise,\" writes the mythical\nking, \"flows among the plains, through a certain province, and it\nexpands, embracing the whole province with its various windings: there\nare found emeralds, sapphires, carbuncles, topazes, chrysolites, onyx,\nberyl, sardius, and many other precious stones. There too grows the\nplant called Asbetos.\" A wonderful fountain, moreover, breaks out at\nthe roots of Olympus, a mountain in Prester John's domain, and \"from\nhour to hour, and day by day, the taste of this fountain varies; and\nits source is hardly three days' journey from Paradise, from which\nAdam was expelled. If any man drinks thrice of this spring, he will\nfrom that day feel no infirmity, and he will, as long as he lives,\nappear of the age of thirty.\" This Olympus is a corruption of Alumbo,\nwhich is no other than Columbo in Ceylon, as is abundantly evident\nfrom Sir John Mandeville's Travels; though this important fountain has\nescaped the observation of Sir Emmerson Tennant.\n\n\"Toward the heed of that forest (he writes) is the cytee of Polombe,\nand above the cytee is a great mountayne, also clept Polombe. And of\nthat mount, the Cytee hathe his name. And at the foot of that Mount is\na fayr welle and a gret, that hathe odour and savour of all spices;\nand at every hour of the day, he chaungethe his odour and his savour\ndyversely. And whoso drynkethe 3 times fasting of that watre of that\nwelle, he is hool of alle maner sykenesse, that he hathe. And thei\nthat duellen there and drynken often of that welle, thei nevere han\nsykenesse, and thei semen alle weys yonge. I have dronken there of 3\nof 4 sithes; and zit, methinkethe, I fare the better. Some men clepen\nit the Welle of Youthe: for thei that often drynken thereat, semen\nalle weys yongly, and lyven withouten sykenesse. And men seyn, that\nthat welle comethe out of Paradys: and therefore it is so vertuous.\"\n\nGautier de Metz, in his poem on the \"Image du Monde,\" written in the\nthirteenth century, places the terrestrial Paradise in an\nunapproachable region of Asia, surrounded by flames, and having an\narmed angel to guard the only gate.\n\nLambertus Floridus, in a MS. of the twelfth century, preserved in the\nImperial Library in Paris, describes it as \"Paradisus insula in oceano\nin oriente:\" and in the map accompanying it, Paradise is represented\nas an island, a little south-east of Asia, surrounded by rays, and at\nsome distance from the main land; and in another MS. of the same\nlibrary,--a mediA|val encyclopA|dia,--under the word Paradisus is a\npassage which states that in the centre of Paradise is a fountain\nwhich waters the garden--that in fact described by Prester John, and\nthat of which story-telling Sir John Mandeville declared he had\n\"dronken 3 or 4 sithes.\" Close to this fountain is the Tree of Life.\nThe temperature of the country is equable; neither frosts nor burning\nheats destroy the vegetation. The four rivers already mentioned rise\nin it. Paradise is, however, inaccessible to the traveller on account\nof the wall of fire which surrounds it.\n\nPaludanus relates in his \"Thesaurus Novus,\" of course on\nincontrovertible authority, that Alexander the Great was full of\ndesire to see the terrestrial Paradise, and that he undertook his wars\nin the East for the express purpose of reaching it, and obtaining\nadmission into it. He states that on his nearing Eden an old man was\ncaptured in a ravine by some of Alexander's soldiers, and they were\nabout to conduct him to their monarch, when the venerable man said,\n\"Go and announce to Alexander that it is in vain he seeks Paradise;\nhis efforts will be perfectly fruitless; for the way of Paradise is\nthe way of humility, a way of which he knows nothing. Take this stone\nand give it to Alexander, and say to him, 'From this stone learn what\nyou must think of yourself.'\" Now, this stone was of great value and\nexcessively heavy, outweighing and excelling in value all other gems;\nbut when reduced to powder, it was as light as a tuft of hay, and as\nworthless. By which token the mysterious old man meant, that Alexander\nalive was the greatest of monarchs, but Alexander dead would be a\nthing of nought.\n\nThat strangest of mediA|val preachers, Meffreth, who got into trouble\nby denying the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, in his\nsecond sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent, discusses the locality\nof the terrestrial Paradise, and claims St. Basil and St. Ambrose as\nhis authorities for stating that it is situated on the top of a very\nlofty mountain in Eastern Asia; so lofty indeed is the mountain, that\nthe waters of the four rivers fall in cascade down to a lake at its\nfoot, with such a roar that the natives who live on the shores of the\nlake are stone-deaf. Meffreth also explains the escape of Paradise\nfrom submergence at the Deluge, on the same grounds as does the Master\nof Sentences (lib. 2, dist. 17, c. 5), by the mountain being so very\nhigh that the waters which rose over Ararat were only able to wash the\nbase of the mountain of Paradise.\n\nThe Hereford map of the thirteenth century represents the terrestrial\nParadise as a circular island near India, cut off from the continent\nnot only by the sea, but also by a battlemented wall, with a gateway\nto the west.\n\nRupert of Duytz regards it as having been situated in Armenia.\nRadulphus Highden, in the thirteenth century, relying on the authority\nof St. Basil and St. Isidore of Seville, places Eden in an\ninaccessible region of Oriental Asia; and this was also the opinion of\nPhilostorgus. Hugo de St. Victor, in his book \"De Situ Terrarum,\"\nexpresses himself thus: \"Paradise is a spot in the Orient productive\nof all kind of woods and pomiferous trees. It contains the Tree of\nLife: there is neither cold nor heat there, but perpetual equable\ntemperature. It contains a fountain which flows forth in four rivers.\"\n\nRabanus Maurus, with more discretion, says, \"Many folk want to make\nout that the site of Paradise is in the east of the earth, though cut\noff by the longest intervening space of ocean or earth from all\nregions which man now inhabits. Consequently, the waters of the\nDeluge, which covered the highest points of the surface of our orb,\nwere unable to reach it. However, whether it be there, or whether it\nbe anywhere else, God knows; but that there _was_ such a spot once,\nand that it was on earth, that is certain.\"\n\nJacques de Vitry (\"Historia Orientalis\"), Gervais of Tilbury, in his\n\"Otia Imperalia,\" and many others, hold the same views, as to the site\nof Paradise, that were entertained by Hugo de St. Victor.\n\nJourdain de SA\"verac, monk and traveller in the beginning of the\nfourteenth century, places the terrestrial Paradise in the \"Third\nIndia;\" that is to say, in trans-Gangic India.\n\nLeonardo Dati, a Florentine poet of the fifteenth century, composed a\ngeographical treatise in verse, entitled \"Della Sfera;\" and it is in\nAsia that he locates the garden:--\n\n    \"Asia e le prima parte dove l'huomo\n    Sendo innocente stava in Paradiso.\"\n\nBut perhaps the most remarkable account of the terrestrial Paradise\never furnished, is that of the \"Eireks Saga VA-dfA\u00b6rla,\" an Icelandic\nnarrative of the fourteenth century, giving the adventures of a\ncertain Norwegian, named Eirek, who had vowed, whilst a heathen, that\nhe would explore the fabulous Deathless Land of pagan Scandinavian\nmythology. The romance is possibly a Christian recension of an ancient\nheathen myth; and Paradise has taken the place in it of\nGlA\"sisvellir.\n\nAccording to the majority of the MSS. the story purports to be nothing\nmore than a religious novel; but one audacious copyist has ventured to\nassert that it is all fact, and that the details are taken down from\nthe lips of those who heard them from Eirek himself. The account is\nbriefly this:--\n\nEirek was a son of Thrand, king of Drontheim, and having taken upon\nhim a vow to explore the Deathless Land, he went to Denmark, where he\npicked up a friend of the same name as himself. They then went to\nConstantinople, and called upon the Emperor, who held a long\nconversation with them, which is duly reported, relative to the truths\nof Christianity and the site of the Deathless Land, which, he assures\nthem, is nothing more nor less than Paradise.\n\n\"The world,\" said the monarch, who had not forgotten his geography\nsince he left school, \"is precisely 180,000 stages round (about\n1,000,000 English miles), and it is not propped up on posts--not a\nbit!--it is supported by the power of God; and the distance between\nearth and heaven is 100,045 miles (another MS. reads 9382 miles--the\ndifference is immaterial); and round about the earth is a big sea\ncalled Ocean.\" \"And what's to the south of the earth?\" asked Eirek.\n\"O! there is the end of the world, and that is India.\" \"And pray where\nam I to find the Deathless Land?\" \"That lies--Paradise, I suppose, you\nmean--well, it lies slightly east of India.\"\n\nHaving obtained this information, the two Eireks started, furnished\nwith letters from the Greek Emperor.\n\nThey traversed Syria, and took ship--probably at Balsora; then,\nreaching India, they proceeded on their journey on horseback, till\nthey came to a dense forest, the gloom of which was so great, through\nthe interlacing of the boughs, that even by day the stars could be\nobserved twinkling, as though they were seen from the bottom of a\nwell.\n\nOn emerging from the forest, the two Eireks came upon a strait,\nseparating them from a beautiful land, which was unmistakably\nParadise; and the Danish Eirek, intent on displaying his scriptural\nknowledge, pronounced the strait to be the River Pison. This was\ncrossed by a stone bridge, guarded by a dragon.\n\nThe Danish Eirek, deterred by the prospect of an encounter with this\nmonster, refused to advance, and even endeavored to persuade his\nfriend to give up the attempt to enter Paradise as hopeless, after\nthat they had come within sight of the favored land. But the Norseman\ndeliberately walked, sword in hand, into the maw of the dragon, and\nnext moment, to his infinite surprise and delight, found himself\nliberated from the gloom of the monster's interior, and safely placed\nin Paradise.\n\n\"The land was most beautiful, and the grass as gorgeous as purple; it\nwas studded with flowers, and was traversed by honey rills. The land\nwas extensive and level, so that there was not to be seen mountain or\nhill, and the sun shone cloudless, without night and darkness; the\ncalm of the air was great, and there was but a feeble murmur of wind,\nand that which there was, breathed redolent with the odor of\nblossoms.\" After a short walk, Eirek observed what certainly must have\nbeen a remarkable object, namely, a tower or steeple self-suspended in\nthe air, without any support whatever, though access might be had to\nit by means of a slender ladder. By this Eirek ascended into a loft of\nthe tower, and found there an excellent cold collation prepared for\nhim. After having partaken of this he went to sleep, and in vision\nbeheld and conversed with his guardian angel, who promised to conduct\nhim back to his fatherland, but to come for him again and fetch him\naway from it forever at the expiration of the tenth year after his\nreturn to Dronheim.\n\nEirek then retraced his steps to India, unmolested by the dragon,\nwhich did not affect any surprise at having to disgorge him, and,\nindeed, which seems to have been, notwithstanding his looks, but a\nharmless and passive dragon.\n\nAfter a tedious journey of seven years, Eirek reached his native land,\nwhere he related his adventures, to the confusion of the heathen, and\nto the delight and edification of the faithful. \"And in the tenth\nyear, and at break of day, as Eirek went to prayer, God's Spirit\ncaught him away, and he was never seen again in this world: so here\nends all we have to say of him.\"[38]\n\nThe saga, of which I have given the merest outline, is certainly\nstriking, and contains some beautiful passages. It follows the\ncommonly-received opinion which identified Paradise with Ceylon; and,\nindeed, an earlier Icelandic work, the \"Rymbegla,\" indicates the\nlocality of the terrestrial Paradise as being near India, for it\nspeaks of the Ganges as taking its rise in the mountains of Eden. It\nis not unlikely that the curious history of Eirek, if not a\nChristianized version of a heathen myth, may contain the tradition of\na real expedition to India, by one of the hardy adventurers who\noverran Europe, explored the north of Russia, harrowed the shores of\nAfrica, and discovered America.\n\nLater than the fifteenth century, we find no theories propounded\nconcerning the terrestrial Paradise, though there are many treatises\non the presumed situation of the ancient Eden. At Madrid was published\na poem on the subject, entitled \"Patriana decas,\" in 1629. In 1662\nG. C. Kirchmayer, a Wittemberg professor, composed a thoughtful\ndissertation, \"De Paradiso,\" which he inserted in his \"DeliciA|\nA\u0086stivA|.\" Fr. Arnoulx wrote a work on Paradise in 1665, full of the\ngrossest absurdities. In 1666 appeared Carver's \"Discourse on the\nTerrestrian Paradise.\" Bochart composed a tract on the subject; Huet\nwrote on it also, and his work passed through seven editions, the last\ndated from Amsterdam, 1701. The PA\"re Hardouin composed a \"Nouveau\nTraitA(C) de la Situation du Paradis Terrestre,\" La Haye, 1730. An\nArmenian work on the rivers of Paradise was translated by M. Saint\nMarten in 1819; and in 1842 Sir W. Ouseley read a paper on the\nsituation of Eden, before the Literary Society in London.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[37] St. Brandan was an Irish monk, living at the close of the sixth\ncentury; he founded the Monastery of Clonfert, and is commemorated on\nMay 16. His voyage seems to be founded on that of Sinbad, and is full\nof absurdities. It has been republished by M. Jubinal from MSS. in the\nBibliothA\"que du Roi, Paris, 8vo. 1836; the earliest printed English\nedition is that of Wynkyn de Worde, London, 1516.\n\n[38] Compare with this the death of Sir Galahad in the \"Morte\nd'Arthur\" of Sir Thomas Malory.\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\n\n\n_The Genius of Solitude._\n\nTHE SOLITUDES OF NATURE AND OF MAN; OR, THE LONELINESS OF HUMAN LIFE.\nBy WM. ROUNSEVILLE ALGER.\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n    The Solitudes of Nature.\n\n    The Solitudes of Man.\n\n    The Morals of Solitude.\n\n    Sketches of Lonely Characters: or, Personal Illustrations\n    of the Good and Evil of Solitude.\n\n    Summary of the Subject.\n\n    In one handsome volume. 16mo. Cloth. Price $2.00.\n\n    \"This volume is the result of much investigation, much\n    meditation, and much experience; and is very comprehensive in\n    its scope.... The author has shown the influence of solitude\n    on every grade of mind and character, has discriminated its\n    beneficent form and its morbid action, and has shown how it\n    nurtures lofty thoughts as well as how it pampers self-will,\n    and, in the throng of his personal illustrations, has\n    indicated its effect on representative men of genius in\n    almost every department of human effort.\"--_Boston\n    Transcript._\n\n    \"We know of no work like it, and question whether any of its\n    size has appeared in this generation with an equal amount of\n    intellectual enrichment and stimulus, moral nutriment, and\n    invaluable ethical instruction.\"--_The Liberal Christian._\n\n    \"This book is a worthy mate to Burton's famous Anatomy of\n    Melancholy. The fortunate reader may learn from it how to win\n    the benefits and shun the evils of being alone.\"--_N. Y.\n    Express._\n\n    \"We envy the heart of no one who, unmoved, and with tearless\n    eye, can read them (The Solitude of the RUIN and the Solitude\n    of DEATH).\"--_West. Missionary._\n\nMailed, post paid, to any address, on receipt of the price, by the\nPublishers,\n\n    ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.\n\n\n_Memoirs and Correspondence of Madame RA(C)camier._\n\nTranslated and Edited by MISS LUYSTER. 1 vol., 16mo., with a finely\nengraved Portrait. Price $2.00.\n\n    \"The diversified contents of this volume can hardly fail to\n    gain for it a wide perusal. It has the interest, in a greater\n    or less degree, of history and romance; of truth stranger\n    than fiction; of personal sketches; of the curious phases of\n    an exceptional social life; of singular admixtures of piety\n    and folly, of greatness and profligacy, fidelity and\n    intrigue, all mingling or revealed in connection with the\n    prolonged career of one who was, in certain respects, the\n    most remarkable woman of her time.\"--_Boston Transcript._\n\n    \"With nothing like the talents which immortalized the author\n    of _Corinne_, Madame RA(C)camier won herself a place of not less\n    social influence among the men and women of her day. We must\n    clearly look elsewhere than either to intellect, wealth,\n    beauty, or all three combined, for the secret of that\n    witchery which was so distinctive of her. There was\n    something, we are led to infer, in her constitutional\n    temperament, which, even beyond her delicate and indefinable\n    tact, may afford the real clew to much of her mysterious\n    ascendency. Love seems to have existed in her as a yearning\n    of the soul almost entirely free from those elements of\n    passion which are grounded in the difference of the sexes.\n    There was in it not so much of the desire which centres in a\n    single object, as of the emotion which seeks to diffuse\n    itself over the very widest sphere of objects. It could thus\n    be warm and deep, while pure and inaccessible to evil.\n    Sainte-Beuve's remark, that she had carried the art of\n    friendship to perfection, helps us here to give the true key\n    to her character. A warm and constant friend, she never\n    admitted, never showed herself, a lover. Satisfied with the\n    arrangement which gave her from an early age nothing more\n    than the name and status of a wife, she could let her natural\n    affection range with freedom and security wherever it met\n    with a response that left intact her dignity and\n    self-respect. Such coquetry as she showed arose rather from\n    an instinctive desire to please and attract, than from\n    anything approaching to a vicious instinct, or a silly desire\n    to swell the list of her conquests. What seemed to begin in\n    flirtation never went to the point of danger, and men who at\n    first sight loved her passionately usually ended by becoming\n    her true friends.\"--_The London Saturday Review._\n\nMailed, post paid, to any address, by the Publishers,\n\n    ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nArchaic spelling is preserved as printed. Variable spelling is also\npreserved as printed, where both forms are recognised; for example,\nGervase/Gervais of Tilbury, Sir John Mandeville/Maundevil.\n\nUnk-Khan is given as another name for Prester John. There is one\ninstance of Un-Khan; however, this is in quoted material, and so is\npreserved as printed.\n\nPage 46 includes the phrase, \"it was Saterday in Wyttson woke\"; the\nword 'woke' may be a typographic error for 'weke', but as it cannot\nbe ascertained for certain, it is preserved as printed.\n\nAt page 118, Hemingr is described as throwing a spear rather than\nshooting an arrow as challenged. This is presumably an error in the\nstory, but is preserved as printed.\n\nPage 168 includes \"He will rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, and making\nthe Holy City the great capital of the world.\" The 'and making' may be\nan error for 'and make' or simply 'making'; as it is impossible to be\nsure, it is preserved as printed.\n\nMinor punctuation errors have been repaired. Hyphenation and accent\nusage have been made consistent.\n\nThe following amendments have been made:\n\n    Page 21--Labavius amended to Libavius--\"... Libavius declares\n    that he would sooner believe ...\"\n\n    Page 88--repeated 'a' deleted--\"... possibly a little\n    imaginative, for she wrote not unsuccessfully; ...\"\n\n    Page 118--it at amended to at it--\"... and aim at it from\n    precisely the same distance.\"\n\n    Page 175--Wolffii amended to Wolfii--\"This fragment is\n    preserved in \"Wolfii Lectionum Memorabilium centenarii, XVI.:\"\n    ...\"\n\n    Page 215--omitted word 'on' added--\"Helgi and his brother\n    Thorstein went on a cruise ...\"\n\n    Page 222--multiplication sign changed to plus--\"... but the\n    sum of the digits 1 + 8 = 9.\"\n\nThe frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the front\nmatter. Other illustrations have been moved where necessary so that\nthey are not in the middle of a paragraph.\n\nAdvertising material has been moved from the beginning of the book to\nthe end.\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Curious Myths of the Middle Ages","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":49847}