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have not done anything, nor ever had the smallest hostile intentions against you, that should justify your advancing hitherward with a large army, to deprive us of the small inheritance which it has pleased God to give us. But as you are the most powerful and most fortunate prince of the age, we flatter ourselves and hope that you glorify yourself in it. Since we have received certain intelligence that you seek us in order to offer us battle, if you will have the goodness to inform us by what road your intentions are to enter Castile, we will advance to meet you, in order to guard and defend our realm.-Given," &c., &c.

his small garrison having been reduced to extremity by the close blockade. Then, accompanied only by twelve trusty followers, he sallied forth, under cover of the darkness, hoping to make his way unobserved through the beleaguering host. A tradition has survived, which informs us that the King's spirits were greatly damped by observing, as he left the castle, a motto, carved in stone, over the portal," This is the Tower of La Estrella." Where this tower of La Estrella was situated, Pedro, actuated by superstitious terrors, had long endeavored to discover, for an astrologer

had foretold to him that from the tower of La Estrella he should go forth to die.

This letter was courteously received by the Black Prince. "This bastard is a gallant knight," he said, "and of good prowess; for he must be a valiant gentleman to write me such a letter." His reply, how-was made prisoner in the act of escaping, and ever, was less civilly couched :

"Edward, by the grace of God, Prince of Wales and of Aquitaine, to the renowned Henry, Earl of Trastamare, who at this present time calls himself King of Castile.

"Whereas you have sent to us a letter by your herald, in which, among other things, mention is made of your desire to know why we have admitted to our friendship your enemy, our cousin, the King Don Pedro, and upon what pretext we are carrying on a war against you, and have entered Castile with a large army. In answer to this, we inform you, that it is to maintain justice and in support of reason, as it behoveth all kings to do, and also to preserve the firm alliances made by our Lord the King of England with the King Don Pedro in former times. But as you are much renowned among all good knights, we would wish, if it were possible, to make up these differences between you both, and we would use such earnest entreaties with our cousin, the King Don Pedro, that you should have a large portion of the kingdom of Castile, but you must give up all pretensions to the crown of that realm, as well as to its inheritance. Consider well this proposition; and know further, that we shall enter the kingdom of Castile by whatever place shall be most agreeable to us. Written at Logrono, the 30th day of March, 1367."

The prediction was verified at last. Pedro

was stabbed to the heart by his rival, who ascended the throne made vacant by a brother's death. We shall close our brief gleanings from Spanish history, with the account which Froissart gives of the capture of the hapless Sovereign of Castile :

"At midnight,

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Don Pedro

set out. It was very dark. At this hour the Bègue de Villaines had the command of the watch, with upwards of three hundred men. Don Pedro had quitted the castle with his companions, and was descending by an upper path, but so quietly that it did not appear as if any one was moving. However the Bègue de Villaines, who had many suspicions, and was afraid of losing the object of his watch, imagined he heard the sound of horses' feet upon the causeway; he therefore said to those near him: Gentlemen, keep quiet, make no movement, for I hear the steps of some people. We must know who they are, and what they seek at such an hour. I suspect they are victuallers, who are bringing provision to the castle, for I know it is in this respect very scantily provided.' The Begue then advanced, his dagger on his wrist, towards a man who was close to Don Pedro, and demanded, Who art thou? Speak, or thou art a dead man.' The man to whom the Bègue had spoken was an Englishman, and refused to answer; he bent himself over his saddle, and dashed forwards. The Bègue suffered him to pass; when The leaders did not confine their exertions addressing himself to Don Pedro, and examining to letter-writing. The opposing armies met him earnestly, he fancied it was the King, notat Najara, and fortune favored Don Pedro, withstanding the darkness of the night, from his who found himself once more King of Cas-likeness to King Henry, his brother, for they very much resembled each other. He demanded from tile. Pedro did not requite the services of his English allies as he had promised; they were not even reimbursed the outlay they had expended on arms and accoutrements, and returned, much dissatisfied, to Aquitaine. Meantime Henry of Trastamare was not inactive. He re-assembled his forces, and defeated Pedro at Montiel. The King took refuge within the castle, which still held out; nor did he leave it until impelled by hunger,

him, on placing his dagger on his breast, And you, who are you? Name yourself, and surrender this moment, or you are a dead man.' In thus saying, he caught hold of the bridle of his horse, and would not suffer him to escape as the former

had done.

"King Don Pedro, who saw a large body of men-at-arms before him, and found that he could

not by any means escape, said to the Bègue de Villaines, whom he recognized: "Bègue, Bègue, I am Don Pedro, King of Castile, to whom much

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wrong has been imputed, through evil counsellors. | free he privately married her, but carefully I surrender myself, and beseech thee, in concealed the fact from his father, King the name of thy gentility, that thou put me in a Alfonso of Portugal. Years elapsed, and place of safety. I will pay for my ransom whatever sum thou shalt please to ask; for, thank God, Pedro, urged in vain to form a second suitI have yet a sufficiency to do that; but thou must able matrimonial alliance, persisted in deprevent me from falling into the hands of the Bas-clining the hands of princesses proposed for tard.'"-Chronicles of Sir John Froissart, vol. i. p. 388.

The Bègue de Villaines was, unhappily, powerless to fulfil Pedro's last request. Henry of Trastamare entered the tent where the King lay; and the brothers, with the fury of wild beasts, joined in a death struggle, which proved fatal to the rightful heir of Castile. "Thus died Don Pedro, who had formerly reigned in great prosperity. Those who had slain him left him three days unburied, which was a pity, for the sake of humanity, and the Spaniards made their jokes upon him.”

his acceptance. Alfonso's suspicions were aroused, and he determined to separate his son from his mistress, as he deemed Inez de Castro to be. His ruthless resolve was barbarously executed. He took advantage of the Prince's absence on a hunting expedition, and repaired to the abode of the doomed lady. Alfonso found her at her beautiful villa on the Mondego, surrounded by her children. Apprehensive of evil, she deprecated his anger, and her trembling little ones clung to the King's knees entreating for mercy. Moved by their infantine beauty, Alfonso half relented from his cruel purpose. His counsellors, however, urged the accomplishment Pedro's character has been variously reof the deed of blood, as a necessary piece of presented by historians. Some depict him state policy. The beautiful Inez knelt in as a monster, guilty of the most appalling vain-she was barbarously murdered; and crimes; others, as an enlightened and philo- her blood dyed the pure waters of the Monsophic prince, solicitous for the well-being of dego, "cold and clear." Miss Pardoe, in a his meanest subject. It is not easy to recon-note, describes the scene of this horrid tracile these conflicting opinions. We should remember, however, that the writers who have chronicled his actions flourished under the shadow of that House of Trastamare which supplanted him on the throne; and, also, that his inquiring and speculative mind, and frequent intercourse with the Jews and Moors of Spain, made him an object of dislike to the ecclesiastical authorities. Above all, the evil passions of his nature were early developed by his weak and jealous mother. Maria of Portugal sowed the seeds of suspicion, distrust, and cruelty in the breast of her son. He reaped a powerful host of enemies, whose designs against him were made successful by the aversion or indifference of his subjects for the cause of their unloved though rightful monarch.

gedy :

"At the moment of their arrival she was seated with her children on the margin of a fountain, fed by a spring in the rock which overhung the grounds, and under the shade of two lofty cedar trees. As their errand was announced to her, when she was instantly struck down by the assasshe eagerly sprang up to demand their tidings, sins, who left her with her head lying across the marble border of the basin, where she was discovered by her attendants, with her long hair floating upon the surface of the water, which was dyed with her blood. Until the late revolution, this spot, rendered historical by the fatal tragedy of which it had been the theatre, remained precisely in the same condition as at the period of her murder; the piety of her life, the gentle urbanity of her bearing, and her exhaustless charity, having so deeply endeared her to all ranks, that any change effected in the place would have been considered a sacrilege."

Pedro, animated by a just and natural indignation against the murderers of his wife, vowed an undying vengeance. He waged war on his father, but Alfonso's death speed

Before we close the instructive volumes of the Senora George, we shall follow her in a digression which she makes to the affairs of Portugal, by recounting the fate of Costanza Manuel, the intended bride of Alfonso of Castile, whom he rejected for Maria de Portugal. We have already mentioned that the slighted maid was wooed by Pedro, Crownily followed that of his victim, having been Prince of Portugal; but the union was one of state policy, not of affection; and Costanza, wounded by the indifference and infidelity of her husband, died of a broken heart.

Inez de Castro was the object of Pedro's tenderest regards. As soon as his hand was

accelerated by remorse. The tortures which Pedro, thus become king, inflicted on the murderers of Inez, were fiend-like in their imaginative cruelty. The corse of the beloved one was exhumed, clad in royal attire,. and crowned in the Cathedral of Coimbra,

then re-interred with great pomp in the monastery of Alcobaça.

Pedro directed, on his death-bed, that his body should rest by the side of his adored Inez. For nearly five centuries they lay, unmolested, in the peaceful slumbers of the grave. Their mortal remains, after this long interval, were disinterred; and the body of Inez, preserving, it is alleged, the same miraculous exemption from decay that had been remarked on its first exhumation, was once again exposed to the gaze of intruders on the tomb:

"The two magnificent sarcophagi, containing the bodies of Inez and her royal consort, occupied a small chapel, inclosed by a screen of richly wrought and gilded iron, in the right aisle of the splendid chapel. The gates were forced by the French during the Peninsular war, and the tombs rifled; during which sacrilegious process the illustrious dead were torn from their resting-place and flung upon the pavement. Three of the community, (of whom the prior was one,) instead of flying, had concealed themselves within the sacred edifice, and were enabled to witness, from the place of their retreat, the brutal violence of the invaders. On my visit to Alcobaça, in 1827, I made the acquaintance of the prior, whose community had once more rallied about him, and who solemnly assured me that although the body of the prince had entirely perished, leaving nothing but a mere skeleton clad in its royal robes, that of Inez remained perfect; her beautiful face entirely unchanged, and her magnificent hair. of a light, lustrous auburn, which had been the marvel of the whole nation during her life, so enriched in length and volume, that it covered her whole figure, even to her feet, and excited the wonder and admiration of the very spoilers who tore away the rich jewels by which her death-garments were clasped."Editor's note " Queens of Spain," vol. i. p.

243.

The story of Inez de Castro has been charmingly narrated by Camoens, in his great national poem of the Lusiad. The romantic incident of the homage rendered to her after death forms the theme of one of Mrs Hemans's spirited ballads. With her touching representation of the scene, and of the feelings of the principal living actor in it, we shall conclude our brief notice of the beautiful and unfortunate Inez :--

"It was a strange and fearful sight, The crown upon that head,

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How different a picture do the times of these princesses present from that which surrounds the writer, living under the peaceful way of Victoria! Violence and vice, war, pillage, and insecurity, are the characteristics of the one period;-peace, virtue, and contentment of the other. One of these petty states whose jars and animosities have made the lives of thousands unhappy, and the labor of thousands unproductive, would not in wealth and intelligence equal one of the counties which now owns the gracious sovereignty of our Queen. The spectacle of a power so vast conducted with so much gentleness, and of a gentleness, and of a position so splendid filled with so much humility and virtue, is one on which the writers of after ages will long love to look back as the most delightful of historical contrasts; and we cannot take leave, even for a season, of the troublesome times of these princesses of bygone days, without congratulating ourselves and our readers that we live in the age and under the government of the greatest and best Queen who has ever reigned over a grateful nation.

From Bentley's Miscellany.

UNSUCCESSFUL GREAT MEN.

BY PROFESSOR CREASY.

Τὸ μὲν γὰρ Πέρας ὡς ἂν ὁ δαίμων βουληθῆ πάντων γίγνεται· ἡ δὲ Προαίρεσις αὐτὴ τὴν τοῦ Jupboúdo diavolav dnλoi.-DEMOSTHENES, De Corona.

Careat successibus opto
Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putat.

No. III.-VERCINGETORIX.

Ar the foot of Mount Auxois, in the Côted'Or, between Semur and Dijon, a little village still bears the name of Alise, and preserves the memory of the great city Alesia, which once occupied the hill; and of the final struggle for independence, which the ancient Gauls, under their hero Vercingetorix, made in this spot against the veteran legions of Rome, and the irresistible genius of Cæsar.

History has justly hallowed the renown of Arminius, who rescued Germany from Roman bondage; but how few are there, even of those who lay claim to the rank of classical scholars, who are familiar with the name of the general and the statesman who strove to liberate Gaul from the same doom. Yet, in military genius, in purity of purpose, in sustained energy, and in generous self-devotion, Vercingetorix may challenge comparison with any other of the ancient champions of liberty. That he was also one of its martyrs that he died for a land which he could not save-was due to no deficiency of his own, either in intellect or courage. His country's fall and his own were caused partly by the fault of those whom he led, but principally by the transcendent ability of his great adversary-by his having to encounter a Cæsar, and not a Varus.

Vercingetorix was the son of Celtillus, a chief of high birth and great wealth among the Arverni, the inhabitants of the country now called Auvergne. Celtillus had, at one time, succeeded in inducing all the Gauls to lay aside their jealousies and feuds with each other, and to unite in electing him as their president. His political enemies in his own state spread a report that he intended to

OVID., Heroid.

make himself an arbitrary king; and they caused him to be put to death. Vercingetorix, disgusted and disheartened at the ingratitude which his father met with, seems to have lived in retirement for some years, and to have taken no part in the political movements which were occasioned by the presence of Cæsar and his legions in Gaul, and by the rapid progress which that commander made in reducing the native tribes to subjection to Rome.

The hereditary influence which the young Arvernian chief could exercise over his countrymen, was not unknown by Cæsar; and the ever vigilant Roman had caused strict watch to be kept over the conduct of Vercingetorix. He had endeavored to win him over to the Roman interest by flattering titles, and held out to him, as a lure, the promise of making him king over his countrymen. Vercingetorix calmly declined the gifts and avoided the friendship of the Romans; while, at the same time, by the retired life which he led, he gave them no pretext for cutting him off as one of their foes.

Cæsar had followed the usual Roman policy of mingled craft and violence. He had not openly assailed any of the Gallic states with the avowed purpose of despoiling and enslaving them; but by artfully taking part in their quarrels and in the internal factions of single cities, by pretending to protect the friends of Rome from the injustice of their fellow-citizens, and by claiming to be the protector of the Gauls generally from the invasions of the Germans, he had broken the power of many of their states, and had acquired a preponderating influence in others. It was always easy for him to find a pretext

for acts of rapacity and severity, whenever the convenient moment seemed to have arrived for crushing the independence of each Gallic nation; and while he thes enslaved the Gauls in detail, he formed, during seven years of warfare in Gaul, in Germany, and in Britain, a veteran army of unparalleled bravery and discipline, of implicit confidence in their leader's skill, and unbounded devotion to his person.

During the last years of Caesar's command in Gaul, the necessity of keeping up his political interest at Rome (which could only be done by lavishing enormous bribes among the leading orators and statesmen) had caused him to pillage and oppress the Gauls far more severely, and more undisguisedly, than had been the case when he first entered their country. Cities and shrines were plundered by him;* and whole populations were sold as slaves, to gain him the wealth which he required for maintaining his influence in Italy, and for carrying on the civil war, which he had long foreseen, and for which he early trained his army, and replenished his coffers at the expense of Gallic blood and gold. Tumults and risings of the oppressed natives grew more and more frequent, and were repressed with more and more ruthless severity. At last, in the year 52 B. C., the cruel devastation of the country of the Eburones by his legions, and the execution of Acco, one of the noblest chieftains of the Senones, by his orders, completed the wide-spread indignation of the Gauls, and excited them to attempt a general rising against the tyranny which had grown so grievous.

When this national spirit was roused, it was felt that a national leader was required, and men's minds naturally turned to the mountains of Auvergne, and the son of Celtillus. They reflected that if they had not sacrificed the father to party jealousy, Gaul would have been united under him against the attacks of Cæsar, and might have safely defied them. It might be yet open to them to redeem their baseness towards the sire, by generous confidence in the son; and Vercingetorix might, as the free chief of an united nation, recover the independence which Celtillus was not allowed to guard.

Vercingetorix himself shared in the national enthusiasm, and felt that any further inaction on his part would be treason to his native land. Like Philip Van Artevelde in after times, he must have been conscious

* See Suetonius, Vit. Jul. Cæs., 54.

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that the career, on which he was about to enter, would be environed with perils, not only from the foreign foe, but from his own followers. His father's fate haunted him as an omen of his own. But also, like the medieval chief of Ghent,* Vercingetorix forgave all, confided all, and devoted all to his country. Personally popular among a large circle of friends, surrounded at the first summons by a powerful body of the hereditary retainers of his house, gifted with remarkable powers of eloquence, and all the advantages of youth, high birth, and outward accomplishments, ready and fertile in designs, and resolute in execution, he stept forward at once from obscurity into the principal part of the great drama of the Gallic War.

mans.

The winter of the year 52 B. c. seemed to have brought an eminently favorable opportunity for a successful rising against the RoAfter the campaign of that year, Cæsar had placed his ten legions in winterquarters in the northern and eastern parts of Gaul; and he had himself crossed the Alps, on account of the political tumults caused by the death of Clodius in Rome, where the party opposed to him appeared to have gained the ascendency. It was absolutely essential for him to appear on the southern side of the Alps, and to be near enough to the capital to watch the movements of his political foes, and inspirit and direct his own adherents.

All this was known by the Gauls, who hoped that a civil war would actually break out in Rome, and render it impossible for Cæsar to return to the province. At any rate they thought themselves sure of gaining the important advantage of separating him from his army. As his legions were in the parts of Gaul that were distant from the Alps and Narbonne and Provence, they thought that if the intermediate states revolted simultaneously, he would find it impossible to traverse them to join his troops; while, if, on the other hand, the legions were to move southward to seek their commander, the Gallic army would gain the inestimable advantage of attacking them on the march, and bringing them to action without Cæsar being present to command them. Lastly, as Cæsar himself relates, they resolved that it would be better for themselves to perish fighting, than to abandon their ancient military renown, and the freedom which their fathers had bequeathed them.

Such were the plans and resolutions which

* See Taylor's Philip Van Artevelde.

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