without his opera-glass, which he will thrust into lady's face, and then simper, and be "pruddigisly enteerteen'd with her confusion." After all, it is by no means improbable that the macaronis, eccentric fops as they certainly were, added somewhat to the progress of national refinement. Living in the days of six-bottle men, one grave charge brought against them was that they hated all drinking, except tea, capillaire, and posset. In a very successful five-act drama of the day, entitled The Macaroni, the hero of the piece -the macaroni par excellence-is held up to ridicule, principally because he respects female virtue, and swears by such mild and milk-and-water oaths as, May I be deaf at the opera!' We now know how to appreciate these distinctions. JULY 8. St Procopius, martyr, about 303. Saints Kilian, Colman, and Totnan, martyrs, 688. St Withburge, virgin, of Norfolk, 743. St Grimbald, abbot of New Minstre, 903. Blessed Theobald, abbot of Vaux de Cernay, 1247. St Elizabeth, queen of Portugal, 1336. Born-John de la Fontaine, French writer of tales and fables, 1621, Château-Thierry. Died.-Peter the Hermit, preacher of the first Crusade, 1115; Pope Gregory XV., 1623; Dr Robert South, eminent English preacher, 1716; Second Marshal Villeroi, 1730; Jean Pierre Niceron, useful writer, 1738, Paris; Jean Baseillac (Frere Côme), eminent French lithotomist, 1781; Torbern Bergmann, Swedish chemist and naturalist, 1784, Medevi, near Upsala; Edmund Burke, statesman, orator, and miscellaneous writer, 1797, Beaconsfield, Bucks; Sir Edward Parry, arctic voyager, 1855, Ете. PETER THE HERMIT. There is no more extraordinary episode in the annals of the world, than the History of the Crusades. To understand it, we must previously have some sense of the leading form which had been given to religion in the eleventh and twelfth centuries-an intense contemplation of the sufferings and merits of Christ, with a boundless feeling of gratitude and affection towards his name. Already had this feeling caused multitudes to pilgrimise through barbarous countries to pay their devotions on the scene of his passion. It needed but an accident to make the universal European sentiment take the form of some wild and wonderful series of acts. In the north of France, there lived a man of low origin, named Peter, naturally active and restless, but who by various causes was drawn at last into a religious and anchoritic life, in which he became liable to visions and spiritual impulses, all thought by him to be divine. It was impressed upon him that the Deity had constituted him one of His special instruments on earth, and, as usual, others Boon came to view him in that character, to thrill under his preachings, and to believe in his mira culous gifts. The rage for pilgrimages to the East drew the hermit Peter from his retreat, and, like the rest, he went to Jerusalem, where his indignation was moved by the manner in which the Christians were treated by the infidels. He heard the relation of their sufferings from the lips of the patriarch PETER THE HERMIT. Simeon, and with him in private lamented over them, and talked of the possibility of rescuing the sufferers. It was in these conversations that the project was formed of exciting the warriors of the West to unite together for the recovery of the Holy Land from the power of the infidels. Peter's enthusiasm now led him to believe that he was himself the man destined for this great work, and on one occasion, when he was kneeling before the holy sepulchre, he believed that he had a vision, in which Jesus Christ appeared to him, announced to him his mission, and ordered him to lose no time in setting about it. Impressed with this idea, he left Palestine, and proceeded to Rome, where Urban II. was then pope. Urban embraced the project with ardour, treated Peter the Hermit as a prophet, and enjoined him to go abroad and announce the approaching deliverance of Jerusalem. Peter thereupon set out on his new pilgrimage. He rode on a mule, bare-headed and bare-foot, clothed in a long frock and a hermit's mantle of coarse woollen cloth, girded with a rope. In this manner he proceeded through Italy, crossed the Alps, and wandered through France and the greater part of Europe, everywhere received as a saint, and spreading among all classes an amazing amount of zeal for the Crusade, which he was now openly preaching. The enthusiasm which followed his steps was wonderful; people crowded to obtain the favour of touching his garments, and even the hairs of his mule were preserved as holy relics. His miracles were a subject of general conversation, and nobody doubted for a moment the truth of his mission. It was at this moment that the ambassadors of the Emperor Alexis Comnenus arrived in Rome, to represent to the pope the danger to which Constantinople was exposed from the invasions of the Turks, and to implore the assistance of the Western Christians. Pope Urban called a council, which met at Placenza, in Lombardy, at the beginning of March 1095. So great had been the effect of Peter's preaching, that no less than 200 archbishops and bishops, 4000 other ecclesiastics, and 30,000 laymen attended this council, which was held in the open air, in a plain near the city; but various subjects divided its attention, and it came to no decision relative to the war against the infidels. The pope found that the Italians, who were, even at this early period, less bigoted Catholics than the other peoples of Western Europe, were not very enthusiastic in the cause, and he resolved on calling another council, for the especial object of deliberating on the holy war, and in a country where he was likely to find more zeal. Accordingly, this council assembled in the November of the same year, at Clermont, in Auvergne; it was equally numerous with that of Placenza, and, which was of most importance, Peter the Hermit attended in person, seated on his mule, and in the costume in which he had preached the Crusade through so many countries. After some preliminary business had been transacted, Peter was brought forward, and he described the sufferings of the Christians in the East in such moving language, and was so well seconded by the eloquence of the pope, that the whole assembly was seized with a fit of wild enthusiasm, and burst into shouts of, 'God wills it! God wills it!' 'It is true,' exclaimed the pope, God wills it, indeed, and you here see fulfilled the words of our Saviour, who promised to be present in the midst of the faithful when assembled in his name; it is he who puts into your mouths the words I have just heard; let them be your war-cry, and may they announce everywhere the presence of the God of armies!' The pope then held forth a cross, and told them all to take that as their sign, and wear it upon their breasts, and the proposal was adopted amid a scene of the most violent agitation. Ademar de Monteil, bishop of Puy, advanced, and was the first to assume the cross, and multitudes hastened to follow his example. They called upon Urban to take the command of the expedition, but he excused himself personally, and appointed to the command, as his delegate, the zealous bishop of Puy, who is said to have been distinguished as a warrior before he became an ecclesiastic. Thus began the first Crusade. Armies-or rather crowds of men in arms-began now to assemble in various parts, in order to direct their march towards Constantinople. Among the first of these was the multitude who followed the preaching of Peter the Hermit, and who, impatient of delay, chose him for their leader, and were clamorous to commence their march. Peter, blinded by his zeal, accepted a position for which he was totally without capacity, and placed himself at their head, mounted on the same mule and in the same costume in which he had preached. His troop, starting from the banks of the Maas and the Moselle, and consisting originally of people of Champagne and Burgundy, was soon increased by recruits from the adjacent districts, until he numbered under his command from 80,000 to 100,000 men. They came chiefly from the simpler and more ignorant classes of society, and they had been told so much of God's direct interference, that they were led to believe that he would feed and protect them on the road, and they did not even take the precaution to carry provisions or money with them. They expected to be supported by alms, and they begged on the way. Peter's army was divided into two bodies, of which the first, commanded by a man whose mean social position may be conjectured by his name of Walter the Penniless (Gaultier sans Avoir), marched in advance. They were received with enthusiasm by the Germans, who crowded to the same standard, and all went well until they came to the banks of the Morava and the Danube, and encountered the Hungarians and Bulgarians, both which peoples were nominally Christians; but the former took no interest in the Crusades, and the latter were not much better than savages. Walter's band of Crusaders passed through Hungary without any serious accident, and reached the country of the Bulgarians, where, finding themselves entirely destitute of provisions, they spread over the country, plundering, murdering, and destroying, until the population, flying to arms, fell upon them, and made a great slaughter. Those who escaped, fled with their leader towards Greece, and reached Nissa, the governor of which place administered to their pressing necessities; and, having learned by misfortune the advantage of observing something like discipline, they proceeded with more order till at length they reached Constantinople, where they were treated well, and allowed to encamp and await the other division, which was approaching under the command of Peter the Hermit. PETER THE HERMIT. The zeal and incapacity of the latter led him into still greater disasters. In their passage through Hungary, the spots where some of the followers of Walter the Moneyless had been slaughtered, were pointed out to the Crusaders, and they were told that the Hungarians had entered into a plot for their destruction. Instead of enforcing the necessity of caution and discipline, Peter talked of vengeance, and sought only to inflame the passions of his followers. On their arrival at Semlin, they beheld the arms of some of the first band of Crusaders, who had been slain, suspended as a trophy over the gates, and Peter himself encouraged them to revenge their comrades. The inhabitants abandoned the town, fled, were overtaken, and 4000 of them slain, and their bodies thrown into the Danube, the waters of which carried them down to Belgrade. The Crusaders returned to Semlin, which was given up to plunder, and they lived there in the most licentious manner, until news came that the Hungarians had assembled a great army to attack them, and then they abandoned the town, and hastened their march across Bulgaria. Everywhere the violence and licentiousness of the Crusaders had spread terror, and they now found the country abandoned, and suffered fearfully from the want of provisions. The people of Nissa had armed and fortified themselves, so that the Crusaders did not venture to attack them, but, having obtained a supply of provisions, had continued their march, when the ill-behaviour of their rear-guard provoked a collision, in which a considerable number of the Crusaders were slaughtered. Peter, informed of this affair, instead of hastening his march, returned to obtain satisfaction, and the irritating behaviour of his troops provoked a still greater conflict, in which 10,000 of the Crusaders were slaughtered, and the rest fled and took refuge in the woods and marshes of the surrounding country. That night, Peter the Hermit, who had taken refuge on a hill, had only 500 men about him, but next day his band numbered 7000, and a few days afterwards the number had been increased to 30,000. With these he continued his march, and, as their disasters had rendered them more prudent, they reached Constantinople without further misfortunes, and rejoined their companions. As the Emperor Alexis rather despised this undisciplined horde than otherwise, he received them with favour, and treated Peter the Hermit with the greatest distinction; but he lost no time in ridding himself of such troublesome visitors by transporting them to the other side of the Bosphorus. Those who had marched under the banner of Peter the Hermit, had now been joined by the remains of other similar hordes who had followed them, and who had experienced still greater disasters in passing through Hungary and Bulgaria; and, in addition to the other causes of disorder, they now experienced that of jealousy among themselves. They not only laid waste the country, and committed every sort of atrocity, but they quarrelled about the plunder; and, Peter himself having lost his authority, various individuals sought to be their leaders. The Italians and Germans, under the conduct of a chieftain named Renaud, separated from the rest of the army, left the camp which was established in the fertile country bordering on the Gulf of Nicomedia, and penetrated into the mountains in the neighbourhood of Nicæa, where they were destroyed by the Turks. The main army of the Crusaders, who now acknowledged the nominal authority of Walter, but who paid little attention to the orders of their chieftains, hastened imprudently to revenge the Italians and Germans, and had reached the plain of Nicæa, when they found themselves unexpectedly surrounded by the numerous and better disciplined army of the Turks, and, after a useless resistance, the whole army was put to the sword, or carried into captivity, and a vast mound of their bones was raised in the midst of the plain. BURKE'S ESTATE. At length, when several years past thirty, merging Thus disastrously ended the expedition of Peter the Hermit. Of 300,000 men who had marched from Europe in the belief that they were going to conquer the Holy Land, all had perished, either in the disasters of the route, or in the battle of Nicaea. Peter had left them before this great battle, disgusted with their vices and One theory on the subject, set forth so lately as disorders, and had returned to Constantinople, 1853, by an ingenious though anonymous writer,* to declaim against them as a horde of brigands, was that Burke was mainly indebted for the ability whose enormous sins had caused God to desert to purchase his estate to successful speculations in them. From this time the Hermit became a second- Indian stock. In Macknight's able work, The Life rate actor in the events of the Crusade. When the and Times of Edward Burke, published in 1858, an more noble army of the Crusaders, under the account of the transaction is given in tolerably princes and great warriors of the West, arrived at explicit terms, but without leaving the character Constantinople, he joined them, and accompanied of Burke in the position which his admirers might them in their march, performing merely the part wish. In 1767,' says this writer, when Lord of an eloquent and zealous preacher; but at the Rockingham refused to return again to office, and siege of Antioch, he attempted to escape the Burke, though in very straitened circumstances, sufferings of the Christian camp by flight, and adhered faithfully to his noble leader, it then was pursued and overtaken by Tancred, brought occurred to the marquis that it was incumbent on back, and compelled to take an oath to remain him to do something for the fortune of his devoted faithful to the army. This disgrace appears to friend. He advanced £10,000 to Burke, on a bond have been wiped out by his subsequent conduct; that it was understood would never be reclaimed. and he was among the first ranks of the Crusaders With those £10,000, £5000 raised on mortgage from who came in sight of Jerusalem. The wearied a Dr Saunders in Spring Gardens, and other £8000, warriors were cheered by the enthusiastic eloquence doubtless obtained from the successful speculations of with which he addressed them on the summit of William and Richard Burke [his brothers] in Indian the Mount of Olives; and in the midst of the stock, Burke purchased the estate of Gregories. slaughter, when the holy city was taken, the After the reverses of his relatives in the year 1769, Christian soldiers crowded round him, as people all the money they had advanced to him was had crowded round him when he first proclaimed required. Lord Rockingham again came forward. the Crusade, and congratulated him on the fulfil- From that time through many years of opposition, ment of his prophecies. as Burke's fortune, so far from increasing, actually diminished under his unvarying generosity and the requirements of his position, this noble friend was his constant and unfailing resource. The loss of the agency for New York [by which Burke had £1000 a year for a short time] the marquis endeavoured to compensate by frequent loans. At the time of Lord Rockingham's death [1782], he may, on different occasions extending over fourteen years, have perhaps advanced on bonds, which though never formally required, Burke insisted on giving, the sum of about thirty thousand pounds. It appears, in short, that this brilliant statesman and orator maintained his high historical place for BURKE'S ESTATE HIS DAGGER-SCENE IN THE thirty years, wholly through pecuniary means Peter remained in the Holy Land until 1102, when he returned to Europe, with the Count of Montaign, a baron of the territory of Liege. On their way they were overtaken by a dreadful tempest, in which the Hermit made a vow to found a monastery if they escaped shipwreck. It was in fulfilment of this vow, that he founded the abbey of Neufmoutier, at Huy, on the Maas, in honour of the holy sepulchre. Here he passed the latter years of his life, and died in 1115. the last century, his tomb was still preserved there, with a monumental inscription. HOUSE OF COMMONS. In It is very clear from the authentic biographies of Burke, that he entered upon literary and political life in London with little or no endowment beyond that which nature and a good education had given him. He wrote for his bread for several years, as many able but penniless Irishmen have since done and continue to do. drawn by him from a generous friend. The splendid mansion, the vineries and statuary, the fourhorsed carriage, even the kind-hearted patronage to such men of genius as Barry and Crabbe, were all supported in a way that implies the entire sacrifice of Burke's independence. It is very sad to think of in one whom there was so much reason *See Athenæum, Nos. 1363 and 1364. THE BOOK OF DAYS. wather and hereto- Medence. House of Commons no one at the time On this matter also me new light. The was carried by the power of sober judgmight be said, to all at the height of the the second reading of 25, 1792, he called, in Charles M. Lamb, underonly three months from England was in high apposed existence of a party were disposed to fraternise reformers of France, and Some agent for that party had Birmingham manufacturer, with an male AA quantity after the same el made weapon, a foot in the best to serve equally as khead. The Birmingham the commission, had come stacy's office, to exhibit the Advice He had left the was thus enabled to see. With the under-secretary's | manufactu up to the pattern daga WILLIAM HUNTINGTON'S EPITAPH. permission, took it along with him to the House, and, in the course of a flaming tirade about French atrocities, and probable imitations of them in England, he drew the dagger from his bosom, and threw it down on the floor, as an illustration of what every man might shortly expect to see levelled at his own throat. There were of course sentiments of alarm raised by this scene; but probably the more general feeling was one of derision. In this way the matter was taken up by Gillray, whose caricature on the subject we here reproduce in miniature, as a curious memorial of a crisis in our history, and also as giving a characteristic portrait of one of our greatest men. WILLIAM HUNTINGTON'S EPITAPH. When a man's epitaph is written by himself in anticipation of his death, there may generally be found in it some indication of his character, such as probably would not otherwise have transpired. Such was certainly the case in reference to William or the Rev. William Huntington, who loved to couple the designations' coal-heaver' and 'sinner saved' with his name. On the 8th of July 1813, the remains of this eccentric man were transferred from a temporary grave at Tonbridge Wells to a permanent one at Lewes. The stone at the head of the grave was inscribed with an epitaph which he himself had written a few days before his death-leaving a space, of course, for the exact date. Here lies the Coal-heaver, who departed this life (July 1, 1813), in the (69th) year of his age; beloved of his God, but abhorred by men The Omniscient Judge, at the Great Assize, shall ratify and confirm this, to the confusion of many thousands; for England and its metropolis shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. W. H. S. S.-This S. S. meant sinner saved.' The career of the man affords a clue to the state of mind which could lead to the production of such an epitaph. William Hunt was born in the Weald of Kent, of very poor parents. He complained, in later life, that 'unsanctified critics' laughed at him for his ignorance; and certain it is that he never could get over the defects of his education. He struggled for a living as an errandboy, then as a labourer, then as a cobbler. While engaged in the last-named trade, he took up the business of a preacher. He would place his work on his lap, and a Bible on a chair beside him; and, while working for his family, he collected materials for his next sermon. At what time, or for what reason, he changed his name from Hunt to Huntington, is not clear; but we find him coming up from Thames-Ditton to London, bringing two large carts with furniture and other necessaries, besides a post-chaise well filled with children and cats.' He became a preacher at Margaret Street Chapel, and attached à considerable number of persons to him by his peculiar denunciatory style. In 1788, his admirers built him a chapel in Gray's Inn Road, which he named 'Providence Chapel. When a person attributes to Providence the good that comes to him, his sentiment is at all events worthy of respect; but the peculiarity in Huntington's case was the whimsical way in which everyday matters were thus treated. When £9000 had been spent on the chapel, various gifts of chairs, a tea-caddy full of tea, a looking-glass, a bed and bedstead for the vestry, that I might not be under the necessity of walking home in the cold winter nights' -are spoken of by him as things that Providence had sent him. He had a keen appreciation of worldly goods, however; for he refused to officiate in the chapel until the freehold had been made over absolutely to himself. Wishing afterwards to enlarge his chapel a little, he applied for a bit of ground near it from the Duke of Portland, but demurred at the ground-rent asked. Therefore, says he, finding nothing could be done with the earth-holders, I turned my eyes another way, and determined to build my stories in the heavens, where I should find more room and less cost'-in plain English, he raised the building another story. His manner towards his hearers was dogmatic and arrogant. Having once taken the designation of 'Sinner Saved,' he observed no bounds in addressing others. His pulpit-oratory, always vigorous, was not unfrequently interlarded with such expressions as-Take care of your pockets!''Wake that snoring sinner!'-'Silence that noisy numbskull-Turn out that drunken dog!' With a certain class of minds, however, Huntington had great influence. Some time after the death of his first wife, he married the widow of Sir James Sanderson, at one time lord mayor of London: by which alliance he became possessed of much property. On one occasion, a sale of some of his effects took place at his residence at Pentonville, when sixty guineas were given for an old arm-chair by one of his many admirers. Two or three books which he published were quite in character with the epitaph he afterwards wrote an intense personal vanity pervading all else that might be good in him. A KING AND HIS DUMB FAVOURITES. King James I., although a remorseless destroyer of animals in the chase, had, like many modern sportsmen, an intense fondness for seeing them around him, happy and well cared for, in a state of domesticity. In 1623, John Bannal obtained a grant of the king's interest in the leases of two gardens and a tenement in the Minories, on the condition of building and maintaining a house, wherein to keep and rear his majesty's newly imported silkworms. Sir Thomas Dale, one of the settlers of the then newly formed colony of Virginia, returning to Europe on leave, brought with him many living specimens of American zoology; amongst them, some flying squirrels. This DUMB FAVOURITES. sables from the czar, James made special inquiries if such were really the case. Henry Wriothesley, fourth Earl of Southampton, one of the council, and governor and treasurer of the Virginia Company, better known to us as the friend and patron of Shakspeare, wrote as follows to the state secretary, the Earl of Salisbury : Talking with the king by chance, I told him of the Virginian squirrels, which they say will fly, whereof there are now divers brought into England, and he presently and very earnestly asked me if none of them was provided for him, and whether your lordship had none for him-saying he was sure Salisbury would get him one of them. I would not have troubled you with this, but that you know full well how he is affected to these toys; and with a little inquiry of any of your folks, you may furnish yourself to present him at his coming to London, which will not be before Wednesday next-the Monday before to Theobald's, and the Saturday before to Royston.' Some one of his loving subjects, desirous of ministering to his favourite hobby, had presented him with a cream-coloured fawn. A nurse was immediately hired for it, and the Earl of Shrewsbury commissioned to write as follows to Miles Whytakers, signifying the royal pleasure as to future procedure: The king's majesty hath commissioned me to send this rare beast, a white hind calf, unto you, together with a woman, his nurse, that hath kept it, and bred it up. His majesty would have you see it be kept in every respect as this good woman doth desire, and that the woman may be lodged and boarded by you, until his majesty come to Theobald's on Monday next, and then you shall know further of his pleasure. What account his majesty maketh of this fine beast you may guess, and no man can suppose it to be more rare than it is, therefore I know that your care of it will be accordingly. So in haste I bid you very heartily farewell. At Whitehall, this 6th Nov. 1611. 'P.S. The wagon and the men are to be sent home; only the woman is to stay with you, until his majesty's coming hither, and as long after as it shall please his majesty?' About the year 1629, the king of Spain effected an important diversion in his own favour, by sending the king priceless gift!-an elephant and five camels. 'Going through London, after midnight,' says a state-paper letter, they could not pass unseen,' and the clamour and outery raised by some street-loiterers at sight of their ponderous bulk and ungainly step, roused the sleepers from district through which they passed. News of coming to his majesty's ears, he was seized with their beds in evehis unlooked-for addition to the a boyish impatience to add them to the private menagerie in St James's Park. At the counciltable, and in the circle of his courtiers, he recurs again and again to the subject, wondering that Sir Thomas had not given him the 'first pick' of his cargo of curiosities. He reminded them how the recently arrived Muscovite ambassador had brought him live sables, and, what he loved even better, splendid white gyrfalcons of Iceland; and when Buckingham suggested that, in the whole of her reign, Queen Elizabeth had never received live Royal Zoological Garden in St James' Park, is con- |