Why, out upon my weakness,
To let such coward thoughts steal from my heart!
To let such coward thoughts steal from my heart!
Warner - World's Best Literature - v10 - Emp to Fro
Mr.
Way has made a daring
venture, and the result is at least very interesting. His rhymes are
copious and resounding; in metre he is an avowed and advanced
student of Swinburne. All the resources of English poetry are richly
lavished on the work. There is a splendor in the general effect,—
to which the classical pedant naturally objects, that it is not always
Euripidean splendor. But the present essayist is inclined to agree
that there is no secure middle ground between these two methods in
translation.
Notable English versions of single plays are the 'Cyclops' by
Shelley, the 'Hercules by Browning, the 'Medea' by Mrs. Augusta
Webster, the 'Baccha' by H. H. Milman, etc. The essayist's 'Three
Dramas of Euripides' was an attempt to combine close metrical ver-
sions of the Alcestis,' 'Medea,' and 'Hippolytus' with such literary
comment as the modern reader might feel he needed in so remote a
theatre. The transcript of 'Alcestis' in Browning's 'Balaustion' is
hardly a translation, but is incrusted with the most inspiring illustra-
tion any classical drama has yet received.
?
William Cranston Lawton.
## p. 5577 (#147) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
CHORAL SONG FROM THE BACCHÆ›
Ο
N THE mountains wild 'tis sweet
When faint with rapid dance our feet,
Our limbs on earth all careless thrown
With the sacred fawn-skins strown,
To quaff the goat's delicious blood,
A strange, a rich, a savage food.
Then off again the revel goes
O'er Phrygian, Lydian mountain brows;
Evoë! Evoë! leads the road,
Bacchus's self the maddening god!
And flows with milk the plain, and flows with wine,
Flows with the wild bees' nectar-dews divine;
And soars, like smoke, the Syrian incense pale -
The while the frantic Bacchanal
The beaconing pine torch on her wand
Whirls around with rapid hand,
And drives the wandering dance about,
Beating time with joyous shout,
And casts upon the breezy air
All her rich luxuriant hair;
Ever the burthen of her song:-
"Raging, maddening, haste along,
Bacchus's daughters, ye the pride
Of golden Tmolus's fabled side;
While your heavy cymbals ring,
Still your 'Evoë! Evoë! ' sing! "
Evoë! the Evian god rejoices
-
In Phrygian tones and Phrygian voices,
When the soft holy pipe is breathing sweet,
In notes harmonious to her feet,
5577
Who to the mountain, to the mountain speeds;
Like some young colt that by its mother feeds,
Gladsome with many a frisking bound,
The Bacchanal goes forth and treads the echoing ground.
Translation of H. H. Milman.
## p. 5578 (#148) ###########################################
5578
EURIPIDES
ION'S SONG
[The boy Ion is in charge of the temple at Delphi, and his duties include
driving away the birds. ]
B
EHOLD! behold!
Now they come, they quit the nest
On Parnassus's topmost crest.
Hence! away! I warn ye all!
Light not on our hallowed wall!
From eave and cornice keep aloof,
And from the golden gleaming roof!
Herald of Jove! of birds the king!
Fierce of talon, strong of wing. -
Hence! begone! or thou shalt know
The terrors of this deadly bow.
Lo! where rich the altar fumes,
Soars yon swan on oary plumes.
Hence, and quiver in thy flight
Thy foot that gleams with purple light,
Even though Phoebus's harp rejoice.
To mingle with thy tuneful voice;
Far away thy white wings shake
O'er the silver Delian lake.
Hence! obey! or end in blood
The music of thy sweet-voiced ode.
Away! away! another stoops!
Down his flagging pinion droops;
Shall our marble eaves be hung
With straw nests for your callow young?
Hence, or dread this twanging bow,
Hence, where Alpheus's waters flow;
Or the Isthmian groves among
Go and rear your nestling young.
Hence, nor dare pollute or stain
Phoebus's offerings, Phoebus's fane.
Yet I feel a sacred dread,
Lest your scattered plumes I shed;
Holy birds! 'tis yours to show
Heaven's auguries to men below.
Translation of H. H. Milman.
## p. 5579 (#149) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
SONGS FROM THE HIPPOLYTUS ›
From Three Dramas of Euripides: copyright 1889, by W. C. Lawton, and
reprinted by permission of the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
I
E
ROS, Eros, thou whose eyes with longing
Overflow; who sweet delight
Bringest to the soul thou stormest,
Come not, prithee, sorrow-laden,
Nor too mighty, unto me!
Neither flaming fire is stronger,
Nor the splendor of the stars,
Than the shaft of Aphrodite,
Darting from the hands of Eros,
Who is child of Zeus supreme.
Vainly, vainly, by the stream Alpheios,
Or in Phoibos's Pythian fane,
Hellas heaps the slaughtered oxen!
Eros, of mankind the tyrant,
Holder of the key that locks
Aphrodite's dearest chambers,
Is not honored in our prayers,
Though he comes as the destroyer,
Bringing uttermost disaster
Unto mortals, when he comes.
II
Oh, for some retreat afar sequestered!
May some god into a bird
Flitting 'mid the wingèd throng transform me!
Where the Adriatic's wave
Breaks upon the shore I fain would hasten;
Or to the Eridanos,
Where into the purple tide,
Mourning over Phaeton,
Evermore the wretched maidens
Drop their amber-gleaming tears.
5579
Gladly would I seek the fertile shore-land
Of Hesperian minstrelsy,
Where the sea lord over purple waters
Bars the way of mariners;
## p. 5580 (#150) ###########################################
5580
EURIPIDES
Setting there, to be upheld by Atlas,
Heaven's holy boundary.
There ambrosial fountains flow
From the place where Zeus abides,
And the sacred land of plenty
Gives delight unto the gods.
O thou white-winged Cretan vessel,
That across the ever-smiting
Briny billow of the ocean
Hither hast conveyed my queen,
From her home of royal splendor,
Wretched in her wedded bliss!
For to both of evil omen
Surely, or at least for Crete,
Thou to glorious Athens flitted,
Where in the Munychian harbor
They unbound their twisted cables
And set foot upon the shore.
Therefore is she broken-hearted,
Cursed with an unholy passion
By the might of Aphrodite;
Wholly overwhelmed by woe;
In the chamber of her nuptials,
Fitted to her snowy neck,
She will hang the cord suspended,
Showing thus her reverence
For the god by men detested,
Eager most for reputation,
And releasing so her spirit
From the love that brought her pain.
III
Truly, the anxious attention bestowed by the gods upon mortals,
When it recurs to my mind, greatly assuages my grief:
Yet am I quickly bereft of the hope and conviction I cherished,
Pondering over the deeds, over the fortunes of men.
Change is but followed by change, in our erring mortal existence.
Oh that Heavenly Fate, responding to prayer, would accord us
Fortune to happiness joined, courage undaunted by pain!
May my repute be neither exceedingly great nor ignoble!
Still with the changing day easily changing my ways,
May I forever enjoy a life of prosperous fortune.
## p. 5581 (#151) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5581
Clear no more are my thoughts, when I see this trouble unhoped-for,
See the illustrious star of Athena
Driven before the paternal wrath to a far habitation!
O ye sands on the shore of the city!
O ye glades in which, attendant on holy Dictynna,
Once with his hounds fleet-footed he hunted!
Never again shalt thou yoke and guide thy coursers Venetian
Over the track that encircles Limna.
Sleepless once was the Muse by the lyre in the halls of thy fathers;
Now is she silent; and stript of their garlands
Lie in the long deep grass the retreats of the daughter of Leto:
Maidens contend not for thee in thy exile.
I with my tears for thy sorrows will share in thy destiny hapless.
Ah, thy mother, how wretched! in vain were the pangs of her travail!
Frenzied am I of the gods! Ye close-linked Graces, ah, wherefore
Forth from this his home and out of the land of his fathers,
Send ye a youth ill-fated, who nowise of crime has been guilty?
IV
Restive hearts of god and mortal,
Thou, O Kypris, captive leadest,
While upon his shimmering pinions
Round them swift-winged Eros flits.
Over earth he hovers ever,
And the salt resounding sea.
Eros charms the heart to madness,
Smitten by his golden arrow;
Charms the hounds upon the mountain,
Creatures of the land and wave,
Wheresoever Helios gazes;
Even man, and royal honors
Thou alone, O Kypris, hast from all!
HIPPOLYTUS RAILS AT WOMANKIND
From Three Dramas of Euripides': copyright 1889, by W. C. Lawton, and
reprinted by permission of the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
O
ZEUS, pray why-a specious curse for men
Hast thou set women in the light of day?
For if thou wouldst engender humankind,
Through women thou shouldst not have furnished them,
But in thy fanes depositing as pay
Or gold or iron or the weighty bronze,
Men ought to buy the race of children, each
## p. 5582 (#152) ###########################################
5582
EURIPIDES
According to his worth; but in their homes
To dwell in liberty, from women free.
That woman is a grievous curse is clear;
He who begets and breeds her adds a dower
And sends her forth, to rid himself of ill;
And he who takes the bane into his house
Delights to put fair ornaments upon
This basest idol, decks it out with robes,
And squanders — wretched man! - his household joy!
It must be that, delighted to have gained
Good kinsmen, he endures a hateful wife,
Or, winning happy wedlock, useless kin,
He finds the evil overborne by good.
-
Most blest his lot within whose home is set
As wife a harmless, silly nobody!
I hate a clever woman: in my house
Be no one sager than befits her sex.
For Kypris oftener stirs up villainy
Within the clever; but the guileless wife
Is saved from folly by her slender wit!
No servant should approach the wife's abode,
But speechless animals should dwell with her,
That she may have not one to whom to speak,
Nor ever hear from them an answering voice.
But now the wicked weave their plots within
For mischief, and their servants bear them forth;
Even as thou, O evil one, hast come
To proffer me my father's sacred rights!
This I will purge away with running brooks,
Cleansing my ears. Could I be evil, then,
Who hold myself defiled to hear such words?
And woman, know, my reverence saves thy life.
Were I not, unawares, so bound by oaths,
I would have straightway told my father this:
But now, while Theseus is in other lands,
I leave his halls, and we will hold our peace;
But coming with my father, I'll behold
How thou wilt face him,—and thy mistress too!
Thy insolence I shall know, who tasted it.
Perish your sex! Nor will I ever tire
Of hating women, though men say I speak
Of nothing else: for base they always are.
Either let some one teach them self-restraint,—
Or else let me attack them evermore!
——
## p. 5583 (#153) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5583
HIPPOLYTUS'S DISASTER
From Three Dramas of Euripides: copyright 1889, by W. C. Lawton, and re-
printed by permission of the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
WE
E, NEAR the sea-shore, where it greets the waves,
Were currying with combs our horses' manes,
Lamenting; for the message came to us
That in this land Hippolytus should set foot
No more, to wretched exile sent by thee.
He also, with the selfsame tale of tears,
Came to us on the beach, and following him,
A myriad throng of comrades marched along.
After a time he ceased to weep, and said:-
"Why am I frenzied thus? I must obey
My father: harness to the car my steeds,
O slaves; for now this city is mine no more:
And thereupon did every man make haste.
Quicker than one could speak, we set the steeds,
All fully harnessed, at their master's side.
Then from the chariot rail he seized the reins,
Upon the footboard set his booted feet;
And first, with hands upraised to heaven, he said:
"Zeus, may I live no more, if I am base!
But may my sire know how he does me wrong,
Whether I lie in death, or see the light. "
With that he took the goad in hand, and urged
The colts; and we attendants by his car
Followed, beside our lord, along the road
Toward Argos and to Epidauria.
When we had entered the deserted land,
There was a coast that lies beside this realm,
Bordering already the Saronic gulf.
There, like Zeus's thunder, from the earth a roar
Resounded deep,—a fearful thing to hear!
The horses pricked their ears, and raised their heads
Aloft; and on us boyish terror fell,
Wondering whence came the sound; but then we glanced
Toward the sea-beaten shore, and saw a wave
Divine, that rose to heaven, so that mine eye
Beheld no longer the Skironian crags;
The isthmus and Asclepios's rock were hid.
Swelling aloft, and white with bubbling foam,
With roaring sound the billow neared the spot
Where on the beach the four-horse chariot stood.
And from the mighty breaker as it fell,
-
>>>>
## p. 5584 (#154) ###########################################
5584
EURIPIDES
A bull, a furious monster, issued forth.
The land, that with his bellowings was filled,
Re-echoed fearfully, and we who gazed
Found it too grim a sight to look upon.
A dreadful panic seized at once the steeds.
Their master, fully trained in all the arts
Of horsemanship, laid hold upon the reins,
And pulled as does a sailor at the oar,
Back-leaning, all his weight upon the thongs.
But champing with their jaws the fire-wrought bit,
They burst away; nor could the pilot hand,
Nor curb, nor massive chariot hold them in.
And now, if toward a softer spot of earth
The helmsman strove to turn and guide their course,
The bull appeared in front, and drove them back,
Maddening with affright the four-horse team.
Or if with frenzied mind they neared the rocks,
He followed silent at the chariot's rim,
Until he overthrew and cast it down,
Dashing the wheel against a stone. Then all
Lay wildly mingled. High aloft were tossed
The naves, and linchpins from the axletrees.
While he, poor wretch, entangled in the reins,
Was dragged along, inextricably bound.
His gentle head was dashed upon the rock,
His flesh was bruised; and piteous were his words:
"Stand! ye who at my mangers took your food,
And crush me not! Alas! my father's curse!
Who is there here will save an upright man? »
And many would; but we were come too late,
With tardy feet. So he, released from thongs
And well-cut reins,- but how I do not know,-
Is fallen, breathing yet a little life.
The steeds and cursed bull were hid from sight,
But where I know not, in the rocky land.
[And then the messenger lifts his head defiantly to face the unrelenting
King, and adds: -]
I am a slave within thy house, O King,
But this at least I never will believe,
That he, thy son, was guilty: not although
The whole of womankind go hang themselves,
And with their letters fill the pines that grow
On Ida. For that he was noble I know!
## p. 5585 (#155) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5585
HECUBA HEARS THE STORY OF HER DAUGHTER'S DEATH
Translation of J. A. Symonds: published by Harper & Brothers
THE
HE whole vast concourse of the Achaian host
Stood round the tomb to see your daughter die.
Achilleus's son, taking her by the hand,
Placed her upon the mound, and I stayed near;
And youths, the flower of Greece, a chosen few,
With hands to check thy heifer, should she bound,
Attended. From a cup of carven gold,
Raised full of wine, Achilleus's son poured forth
Libation to his sire, and bade me sound
Silence throughout the whole Achaian host.
I, standing there, cried in the midst these words:
"Silence, Achaians! let the host be still!
Hush, hold your voices! " Breathless stayed the crowd;
But he:-"O son of Peleus, father mine,
Take these libations pleasant to thy soul,
Draughts that allure the dead: come, drink the black
Pure maiden's blood wherewith the host and I
Sue thee: be kindly to us; loose our prows,
And let our barks go free; give safe return
Homeward from Troy to all, and happy voyage. "
Such words he spake, and the crowd prayed assent.
Then from the scabbard, by its golden hilt,
He drew the sword, and to the chosen youths
Signaled that they should bring the maid; but she,
Knowing her hour was come, spake thus, and said:--
"O men of Argos, who have sacked my town,
Lo, of free will I die! Let no man touch
My body: boldly will I stretch my throat.
Nay, but I pray you set me free, then slay;
That free I thus may perish: 'mong the dead,
Being a queen, I blush to be called slave. "
The people shouted, and King Agamemnon
Bade the youths loose the maid, and set her free:
She, when she heard the order of the chiefs,
Seizing her mantle, from the shoulder down
To the soft centre of her snowy waist
Tore it, and showed her breasts and bosom fair
As in a statue. Bending then with knee
On earth, she spake a speech most piteous:
"See you this breast, O youth? If breast you will,
X-350
## p. 5586 (#156) ###########################################
5586
EURIPIDES
Strike it; take heart: or if beneath my neck,
Lo! here my throat is ready for your sword! "
He, willing not, yet willing,- pity-stirred
In sorrow for the maiden,- with his blade
Severed the channels of her breath: blood flowed;
And she, though dying, still had thought to fall
In seemly wise, hiding what eyes should see not.
But when she breathed her life out from the blow,
Then was the Argive host in divers way
Of service parted; for some, bringing leaves,
Strewed them upon the corpse; some piled a pyre,
Dragging pine trunks and boughs; and he who bore none,
Heard from the bearers many a bitter word:-
:-
"Standest thou, villain? hast thou then no robe,
No funeral honors for the maid to bring?
Wilt thou not go and get for her who died
Most nobly, bravest-souled, some gift? " Thus they
Spake of thy child in death:-"O thou most blessed
Of women in thy daughter, most undone! "
MEDEA RESOLVING TO SLAY HER CHILDREN
SONS, my sons, for you there is a home
And city where, forsaking wretched me,
Ye shall still dwell and have no mother more:
But I, an exile, seek another land,
Ere I have joyed in you and seen you glad,
Ere I have decked for you the nuptial pomp,
The bride, the bed, and held the torch aloft.
Oh me! forlorn by my untempered moods!
In vain then have I nurtured ye, my sons,
In vain have toiled and been worn down by cares,
And felt the hard child-bearing agonies.
There was a time when I, unhappy one,
Had many hopes in you, that both of you
Would cherish me in age; and that your hands,
When I am dead, would fitly lay me out-
That wish of all men: but now lost indeed
Is that sweet thought, for I must, reft of you,
Live on a piteous life and full of pain:
And ye, your dear eyes will no more behold
Your mother, gone into your new strange life.
Alas! Why do ye fix your eyes on me,
O
-
## p. 5587 (#157) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5587
My sons? Why smile ye on me that last smile?
Alas! What must I do? for my heart faints,
Thus looking on my children's happy eyes.
Women, I cannot. Farewell my past resolves:
My boys go forth with me. What boots it me
To wring their father with their cruel fates,
And earn myself a doubled misery?
It shall not be, shall not. Farewell resolves! -
And yet what mood is this? Am I content
To spare my foes and be a laughing-stock?
It must be dared.
Why, out upon my weakness,
To let such coward thoughts steal from my heart!
Go, children, to the house: and he who lacks
Right now to stand by sacrifice of mine,
Let him look to it. I'll not stay my hand.
Alas! Alas!
No, surely. O my heart, thou canst not do it!
Racked heart, let them go safely; spare the boys:
Living far hence with me they'll make thee joy.
No; by the avenging demon gods in hell,
Never shall be that I should yield my boys
To the despitings of mine enemies!
For all ways they must die, and since 'tis so,
Better I slay them, I who gave them birth.
All ways 'tis fated; there is no escape.
For now, in the robes, the wealth upon her head,
The royal bride is perishing; I know it.
But, since I go on so forlorn a journey
And them too send on one yet more forlorn,
I'd fain speak with my sons. Give me, my children,
Give your mother your right hands to clasp to her.
O darling hands! O dearest lips to me!
O forms and noble faces of my boys!
Be happy but there. For of all part here
Your father has bereft you. O sweet kiss!
O grateful breath and soft skin of my boys!
Go, go; I can no longer look on you,
But by my sufferings am overborne.
Oh, I do know what sorrows I shall make;
But anger keeps the mastery of my thoughts,
Which is the chiefest cause of human woes.
Translation of Mrs. Augusta Webster.
## p. 5588 (#158) ###########################################
5588
EURIPIDES
ACCOUNT OF ALCESTIS'S FAREWELL TO HER HOME
From Robert Browning's 'Balaustion'
HAT kind of creature should the woman prove
That has surpassed Alcestis? surelier shown
WHA
Preference for her husband to herself
Than by determining to die for him?
But so much all our city knows indeed:
Hear what she did indoors, and wonder then!
For when she felt the crowning day was come,
She washed with river waters her white skin,
And taking from the cedar closets forth
Vesture and ornament, bedecked herself
Nobly, and stood before the hearth, and prayed:-
"Mistress, because I now depart the world,
Falling before thee the last time, I ask
Be mother to my orphans! wed the one
To a kind wife, and make the other's mate
Some princely person: nor, as I who bore
My children perish, suffer that they too
Die all untimely, but live, happy pair,
Their full glad life out in the fatherland! "
And every altar through Admetos's house
She visited, and crowned, and prayed before,
Stripping the myrtle foliage from the boughs,
Without a tear, without a groan,- no change
At all to that skin's nature, fair to see,
Caused by the imminent evil. But this done,-
Reaching her chamber, falling on her bed,
There, truly, burst she into tears and spoke:
"O bride-bed! where I loosened from my life
Virginity for that same husband's sake
Because of whom I die now-fare thee well!
Since nowise do I hate thee: me alone
―――
Hast thou destroyed; for, shrinking to betray
Thee and my spouse, I die: but thee, O bed!
Some other woman shall possess as wife
Truer, no! but of better fortune, say! ".
So falls on, kisses it, till all the couch
Is moistened with the eye's sad overflow.
But when of many tears she had her fill,
She flings from off the couch, goes headlong forth,
Yet forth the chamber-still keeps turning back
―――
-
## p. 5589 (#159) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5589
And casts her on the couch again once more.
Her children, clinging to their mother's robe,
Wept meanwhile: but she took them in her arms,
And as a dying woman might, embraced
Now one and now the other: 'neath the roof,
All of the household servants wept as well,
Moved to compassion for their mistress; she
Extended her right hand to all and each,
And there was no one of such low degree
She spoke not to nor had no answer from.
Such are the evils in Admetos's house.
FRAGMENTS FROM LOST PLAYS
PROFESSIONAL ATHLETICS
Ο
F ALL the thousand ills that prey on Hellas,
Not one is greater than the tribe of athletes;
For, first, they never learn how to live well,-
Nor indeed could they; seeing that a man
Slave to his jaws and belly, cannot hope
To heap up wealth superior to his sire's.
How to be poor and row in fortune's boat
They know no better; for they have not learned
Manners that make men proof against ill luck.
Lustrous in youth, they lounge like living statues
Decking the streets; but when sad old age comes,
They fall and perish like a threadbare coat.
I've often blamed the customs of us Hellenes,
Who for the sake of such men meet together
To honor idle sport and feed our fill;
For who, I pray you, by his skill in wrestling,
Swiftness of foot, good boxing, strength at quoits,
Has served his city by the crown he gains?
Will they meet men in fight with quoits in hand,
Or in the press of shields drive forth the foeman
By force of fisticuffs from hearth and home?
Such follies are forgotten face to face
With steel. We therefore ought to crown with wreaths
Men wise and good, and him who guides the State,
A man well-tempered, just, and sound in counsel,
Or one who by his words averts ill deeds,
Warding off strife and warfare; for such things
Bring honor on the city and all Hellenes.
## p. 5590 (#160) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5590
CHILDREN A BLESSING
LADY, the sun's light to our eyes is dear,
And fair the tranquil reaches of the sea,
And flowery earth in May, and bounding waters;
And so right many fair things I might praise;
Yet nothing is so radiant and so fair
As for souls childless, with desire sore smitten,
To see the light of babes about the house.
RESIGNATION
THINK'ST thou that Death will heed thy tears at all,
Or send thy son back if thou wilt but groan ?
Nay, cease; and gazing at thy neighbor's grief,
Grow calm if thou wilt take the pains to reckon
How many have toiled out their lives in bonds,
How many wear to old age, robbed of children,
And all who from the tyrant's height of glory
Have sunk to nothing. These things shouldst thou heed.
-
No man was ever born who did not suffer:
He buries children, then begets new sons,
Then dies himself; and men forsooth are grieved,
Consigning dust to dust. Yet needs must be
Lives should be garnered like ripe harvest sheaves,
And one man live, another perish. Why
Mourn over that which nature puts upon us?
Naught that must be is terrible to mortals.
"CAPTIVE GOOD ATTENDING CAPTAIN ILL"
DOTH Some one say that there be gods above?
There are not; no, there are not. Let no fool,
Led by the old false fable, thus deceive you.
Look at the facts themselves, yielding my words
No undue credence; for I say that kings
Kill, rob, break oaths, lay cities waste by fraud,
And doing thus are happier than those
Who live calm pious lives day after day.
How many little States that serve the gods
Are subject to the godless but more strong,
Made slaves by might of a superior army!
Translation of J. A. Symonds.
## p. 5591 (#161) ###########################################
5591
JOHN EVELYN
(1620-1706)
VELYN is known to us first as a diarist, and then as the author
of 'Sylva'; but his cultivated tastes, his publications upon
art subjects, and his devotion to Tory ideals brought him
before his contemporaries mainly as a virtuoso and a royalist. A
descendant of George Evelyn, who was the first to introduce the
manufacture of gunpowder into England, he was born in 1620 at
Wotton in Surrey, a home "large and ancient, suitable to those
hospitable times," he wrote, "and so sweetely environed with those
delicious streams and venerable woods as in
the judgement of Strangers as well as Eng-
lishmen it may be compared to one of the
most tempting and pleasant Seates in the
Nation. "
"I was not initiated into any rudiments
till neere four yeares of age," he says in
the early part of his Diary, "and then one
Frier taught us at the church porch of
Wotton. " The rudiments were continued
at "the Free schole at Southover neere the
town, of which one Agnes Morley had been
the foundresse, and now Edward Snatt was
the master, under whom I remained till I
was sent to the University.
1637,
3 April, I left schole, where, till about the last yeare, I had been
extreamly remisse in my studies, so as I went to the Universitie
rather out of shame of abiding longer at schole than for any fitnesse;
as by sad experience I found, which put me to re-learne all that I
had neglected, or but perfunctorily gain'd. 10 May, I was admitted
a fellow com'uner of Baliol College, Oxford. "
JOHN EVELYN
After three years' diligent study Evelyn removed to the Middle
Temple in London to study law; and in 1641, having repeated his
oath of allegiance, he absented himself, he says, from the ill face of
things at home. Civil war was beginning. He traveled in Holland
and France, and remained long in Italy, studying the fine arts.
The better part of ten years he was absent from England, marry-
ing in the mean time the daughter of Sir Richard Browne, the
King's minister at the French Court. His bride was barely twelve,
.
## p. 5592 (#162) ###########################################
5592
JOHN EVELYN
and Evelyn returned to England in 1647, leaving Mrs. Evelyn in the
care of her "excellent and prudent" mother. While waiting for the
maturing of his domestic plans he "commenced another," one of his
biographers quaintly says, translating from the French the 'Liberty
and Servitude of Le Vayer, and inserting a royalist preface, for
which he was "threatened"; and writing 'A Character of England. '
In 1652 he established himself with his wife at Sayes Court, Dept-
ford, of which she was the heiress. Here he busied himself with
beautifying the place, where he entertained men like-minded to him-
self, and composed a long list of works. Some of these pertained to
landscape gardening and to architecture, subjects upon which he was
an authority, some to politics or archæology. He was on friendly
terms with the virtuosi of his time, and he sought the acquaintance
of men who formed and ruled affairs. Much of his claim on our
attention comes from his having rubbed up against greatness.
was a follower of men, never a leader, and his life was filled with
usefulness. As his Diary shows, he welcomed the Restoration, and
took some part in it.
He
The marks of esteem shown by the new King caused him to leave
his retirement, and sharpen his pen for such brochures as 'Panegyric
at his Majesty King Charles the Second's Coronation,' 1661, while he
was preparing his History and Art of Chalcography and Engraving
in Copper. ' He was one of the commission to take care of the sick
and wounded in the war with the Dutch in 1664, the year in which
'Sylva: or a Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of Tim-
ber in his Majesty's Dominions,' his magnum opus in the eyes of his
contemporaries, was published.
Evelyn undertook the work at the wish of the Royal Society.
Among the devastations of the civil war and of the Parliamentary
party was the cutting down of the ancient trees. The oaks especially
were said to have incurred the wrath of the revolutionists, perhaps
because of the service of the Royal Oak at Boscobel; perhaps because
the landed gentry took pride in comparing the durance of their order
with the great age of the trees. Be that as it may, the oaks were
gone, and Charles Stuart lacked timber to build a royal navy. Men
of Evelyn's stamp were set to thinking and planting, and Evelyn him-
self, with his great knowledge and taste, was set to writing. Thus
came about the 'Sylva,' to which he annexed 'Pomona: or an Ap-
pendix Concerning Fruit Trees in Relation to Cyder; the Making and
Several Ways of Ordering it. ' His 'Parallel of the Ancient Archi-
tecture with the Modern' appeared also in 1664.
Evelyn's royalist ardor cooled under the domestic and foreign pol-
icy of the Stuarts; and while a commissioner of the Privy Seal he
refused, at the risk of offending James II. , to sign an illegal license
## p. 5593 (#163) ###########################################
JOHN EVELYN
5593
for the sale of certain books treating of the King's religion. It was
about this time that, having helped to collect them, Evelyn persuaded
Lord Henry Howard to give to the University of Oxford the famous
Arundelian marbles, brought together from Italy, Greece, and Asia
Minor. On inheritance of the ancestral Wotton by the death of his
brother, he left Sayes Court in 1694. This court was afterwards sub-
let to Peter the Great, the Czar desiring to be near the King's dock-
yard at Deptford, where he proposed to learn the art of shipbuilding.
"There is a house full of people, and right nasty," wrote a servant
to Evelyn, while the imperial Cæsar was dwelling therein. "The
Czar lies next your library and dines in the parlor next your study.
He dines at 10 o'clock and 6 at night, is very seldom at home a
whole day, very often in the King's Yard, or by water, dressed in
several dresses. The King is expected here this day; the best parlor
is pretty clean for him to be entertained in. The King pays for
all he has. " During Peter's stay - from some time in January till
towards the end of April, 1698 his favorite recreation was to break
down the holly hedges which were the pride of Sayes Court, by rid-
ing through them in a wheelbarrow. This, with other amiable eccen-
tricities of the "great civilizer," proved so costly that in the final
settlement the owner received £150 in recognition of damages.
Weighted with age and honorable action, Evelyn died in 1706 at
his ancestral home, and was buried in Wotton church in a tomb
which recorded, at his desire, that "Living in an age of extraor-
dinary events and revolutions, he had learned from thence this truth,
which he desired might be thus communicated to posterity: That all
is vanity which is not honest; and that there is no solid wisdom but
in real piety. "
Evelyn's friend Bishop Burnet referred to him as "a most ingen-
ious and virtuous gentleman. " He was devoted to his Church, and
when he had an endurable King, to that King. In his Diary the
sweetness and purity of his life and his love of home are not less
visible than his deep religious feeling.
By nature Evelyn was conservative. He had no sympathy with
the reformers who were trying to bring about a new order, or with
those uncomfortable disturbers of the peace who wished to correct
the abuses that had crept into the Church, or to oppose the assump-
tions of Charles I. He preferred to sup and dine and compare
intaglios with easy-going and well-mannered gentlemen.
A complete list of Evelyn's works would be long. A quarto vol-
ume edited by William Upcott, first published in 1825, contains his
'Literary Remains. ' 'Sylva' has been edited at various times in the
interests of tree-planting and forestry commissions, the most com-
mendable edition being that of Dr. Alexander Hunter, first published
## p. 5594 (#164) ###########################################
5594
JOHN EVELYN
in 1776. The Memoirs of John Evelyn, Esq. , F. R. S. ,' comprising his
diary from 1641 to 1705-6, and a selection of his familiar letters, was
edited from the original manuscript by William Bray in 1818, and
since then has been several times republished.
FROM EVELYN'S DIARY
1654. 3 Dec. Advent Sunday. There being no office at the
church but extempore prayers after ye Presbyterian way,- for
now all forms are prohibited and most of the preachers were
usurpers,—I seldome went to church upon solemn feasts, but
either went to London, where some of the orthodox sequestred
Divines did privately use ye Common Prayer, administer sacra-
ment, etc. , or else I procur'd one to officiate in my house.
Christmas Day. No public offices in churches, but pen-
alties on observers, so as I was constrain'd to celebrate it at
home.
25.
-
1655, 9 April. —I went to see ye greate ship newly built by
the Usurper Oliver, carrying ninety-six brasse guns and one
thousand tons burthen. In ye prow was Oliver on horseback,
trampling six nations under foote, a Scott, Irishman, Dutchman,
Frenchman, Spaniard, and English, as was easily made out by
their several habits. A Faun held a laurel over his insulting
head; ye word, God with us.
-―
15. I went to London with my family to celebrate ye feast
of Easter. Dr. Wild preach'd at St. Gregorie's, the ruling
powers conniving at ye use of the Liturgy, etc. , in this church.
alone.
27 Nov. To London
to visit honest and learned
Mr. Hartlib [Milton's acquaintance, to whom he addressed his
( Tractate on Education'], a public-spirited and ingenious person,
who had propagated many usefull things and arts. He told me
of the castles which they set for ornament on their stoves in
Germany (he himselfe being a Lithuanian as I remember), which
are furnish'd with small ordinance of silver on the battlements,
out of which they discharge excellent perfumes about the roomes,
charging them with a little powder to set them on fire and dis-
perse the smoke; and in truth no
more than neede, for their
stoves are sufficiently nasty.
1
I
## p. 5595 (#165) ###########################################
JOHN EVELYN
5595
This day came forth the Protector's edict or proclamation,
prohibiting all ministers of the Church of England from preach-
ing or teaching any scholes, in which he imitated the apostate
Julian; with ye decimation of all ye royal parties' revenues
throughout England.
14 Dec. I visited Mr. Hobbes, ye famous philosopher of
Malmesbury, with whom I had been long acquainted in France.
There was no more notice taken of Christmas Day in
25.
churches.
-
-
I went to London, where Dr. Wild preach'd the funeral
sermon of Preaching, this being the last day; after which Crom-
well's proclamation was to take place: that none of the Church
of England should dare either to preach or administer Sacra-
ments, teach schoole, etc. , on paine of imprisonment or exile.
So this was ye mournfullest day that in my life I had seene, or
ye Church of England herselfe, since ye Reformation.
1657. 25th Dec. I went with my Wife to celebrate Christ-
mas Day.
The chapel was surrounded with souldiers,
and all the communicants and assembly surpriz'd and kept pris-
oners by them, some in the house, others carried away. It fell
to my share to be confin'd to a roome in the house, where yet I
was permitted to dine with the master of it, ye Countesse of
Dorset, Lady Hatton, and some others of quality who invited
me. In the afternoon came Col. Whaley, Goffe, and others, from
White-hall, to examine us one by one; some they committed to
ye Marshall, some to prison. When I came before them they
tooke my name and abode, examin'd me why-contrary to an
ordinance made that none should any longer observe ye supersti-
tious time of the Nativity (so esteem'd by them) - I durst
offend, and particularly be at Common Prayers, which they told me
was but ye masse in English, and particularly pray for Charles
Stuart, for which we had no Scripture. I told them we did not
pray for Cha. Stuart, but for all Christian Kings, Princes, and
Governors. They replied in so doing we praied for the K. of
Spaine too, who was their enemie and a papist, with other friv-
olous and insnaring questions and much threatning; and finding
no colour to detaine me, they dismiss'd me with much pitty of
my ignorance. These were men of high flight and above ordi-
nances, and spake spiteful things of our Lord's Nativity. As we
went up to receive the Sacrament the miscreants held their
muskets against us as if they would have shot us at the altar.
## p. 5596 (#166) ###########################################
5596
JOHN EVELYN
1660. 3 May. Came the most happy tidings of his Majesty's
gracious declaration and applications to the Parliament, Generall,
and People, and their dutiful acceptance and acknowledgement,
after a most bloudy and unreasonable rebellion of neere 20 yeares.
Praised be forever the Lord of Heaven, who onely doeth won-
drous things, because His mercy endureth for ever!
8. This day was his Majestie proclaim'd in London, etc.
29. —This day his Majestie Charles the Second came to Lon-
don, after a sad and long exile and calamitous suffering both
of the King and Church, being 17 yeares. This was also his
birth-day, and with a triumph of above 20,000 horse and foote,
brandishing their swords and shouting with inexpressible joy; the
wayes strew'd with flowers, the bells ringing, the streetes hung
with tapissry, fountains running with wine; the Maior, Aldermen,
and all the Companies in their liveries, chaines of gold and ban-
ners; Lords and Nobles clad in cloth of silver, gold, and velvet;
the windowes and balconies all set with ladies; trumpets, music,
and myriads of people flocking, even so far as from Rochester,
so as they were seven houres in passing the citty, even from 2
in ye afternoone till 9 at night.
I stood in the Strand and beheld it, and bless'd God. And all
this was done without one drop of bloud shed, and by that very
army which rebell'd against him; but it was ye Lord's doing, for
such a restauration was never mention'd in any history antient
or modern, since the return of the Jews from the Babylonish
captivity; nor so joyfull a day and so bright ever seene in this
nation, this hapning when to expect or effect it was past all
human policy.
4 June. I receiv'd letter of Sir Richard Browne's [his father-
in-law] landing at Dover, and also letters from the Queene, which
I was to deliver at White-hall, not as yet presenting myselfe to
his Majesty by reason of the infinite concourse of people. The
eagerness of men, women, and children to see his Majesty, and
kisse his hands, was so greate that he had scarce leisure to eate
for some dayes, coming as they did from all parts of the nation;
and the King being so willing to give them that satisfaction,
would have none kept out, but gave free accesse to all sorts of
people.
6 July. —His Majestie began first to touch for ye evil, accord-
ing to custome, thus: his Majestie sitting under his state in the
Banquetting House, the chirurgeons cause the sick to be brought
## p. 5597 (#167) ###########################################
JOHN EVELYN
5597
or led up to the throne, where, they kneeling, ye King strokes
their faces or cheekes with both his hands at once, at which
instant a chaplaine in his formalities says, "He put his hands
upon them and he healed them. " This is sayd to every one in
particular. When they have ben all touch'd they come up again
in the same order, and the other chaplaine kneeling, and having
angel gold strung on white ribbon on his arme, delivers them.
one by one to his Majestie, who puts them about the necks of
the touched, as they passe, whilst the first chaplaine repeats,
"That is ye true light who came into ye world. " Then follows
an Epistle (as at first a Gospell) with the Liturgy, prayers for
the sick, with some alteration, lastly ye blessing; and then the
Lo. Chamberlaine and the Comptroller of the Household bring a
basin, ewer, and towell, for his Majestie to wash.
THE GREAT FIRE IN LONDON
1666, 2 Sept.
venture, and the result is at least very interesting. His rhymes are
copious and resounding; in metre he is an avowed and advanced
student of Swinburne. All the resources of English poetry are richly
lavished on the work. There is a splendor in the general effect,—
to which the classical pedant naturally objects, that it is not always
Euripidean splendor. But the present essayist is inclined to agree
that there is no secure middle ground between these two methods in
translation.
Notable English versions of single plays are the 'Cyclops' by
Shelley, the 'Hercules by Browning, the 'Medea' by Mrs. Augusta
Webster, the 'Baccha' by H. H. Milman, etc. The essayist's 'Three
Dramas of Euripides' was an attempt to combine close metrical ver-
sions of the Alcestis,' 'Medea,' and 'Hippolytus' with such literary
comment as the modern reader might feel he needed in so remote a
theatre. The transcript of 'Alcestis' in Browning's 'Balaustion' is
hardly a translation, but is incrusted with the most inspiring illustra-
tion any classical drama has yet received.
?
William Cranston Lawton.
## p. 5577 (#147) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
CHORAL SONG FROM THE BACCHÆ›
Ο
N THE mountains wild 'tis sweet
When faint with rapid dance our feet,
Our limbs on earth all careless thrown
With the sacred fawn-skins strown,
To quaff the goat's delicious blood,
A strange, a rich, a savage food.
Then off again the revel goes
O'er Phrygian, Lydian mountain brows;
Evoë! Evoë! leads the road,
Bacchus's self the maddening god!
And flows with milk the plain, and flows with wine,
Flows with the wild bees' nectar-dews divine;
And soars, like smoke, the Syrian incense pale -
The while the frantic Bacchanal
The beaconing pine torch on her wand
Whirls around with rapid hand,
And drives the wandering dance about,
Beating time with joyous shout,
And casts upon the breezy air
All her rich luxuriant hair;
Ever the burthen of her song:-
"Raging, maddening, haste along,
Bacchus's daughters, ye the pride
Of golden Tmolus's fabled side;
While your heavy cymbals ring,
Still your 'Evoë! Evoë! ' sing! "
Evoë! the Evian god rejoices
-
In Phrygian tones and Phrygian voices,
When the soft holy pipe is breathing sweet,
In notes harmonious to her feet,
5577
Who to the mountain, to the mountain speeds;
Like some young colt that by its mother feeds,
Gladsome with many a frisking bound,
The Bacchanal goes forth and treads the echoing ground.
Translation of H. H. Milman.
## p. 5578 (#148) ###########################################
5578
EURIPIDES
ION'S SONG
[The boy Ion is in charge of the temple at Delphi, and his duties include
driving away the birds. ]
B
EHOLD! behold!
Now they come, they quit the nest
On Parnassus's topmost crest.
Hence! away! I warn ye all!
Light not on our hallowed wall!
From eave and cornice keep aloof,
And from the golden gleaming roof!
Herald of Jove! of birds the king!
Fierce of talon, strong of wing. -
Hence! begone! or thou shalt know
The terrors of this deadly bow.
Lo! where rich the altar fumes,
Soars yon swan on oary plumes.
Hence, and quiver in thy flight
Thy foot that gleams with purple light,
Even though Phoebus's harp rejoice.
To mingle with thy tuneful voice;
Far away thy white wings shake
O'er the silver Delian lake.
Hence! obey! or end in blood
The music of thy sweet-voiced ode.
Away! away! another stoops!
Down his flagging pinion droops;
Shall our marble eaves be hung
With straw nests for your callow young?
Hence, or dread this twanging bow,
Hence, where Alpheus's waters flow;
Or the Isthmian groves among
Go and rear your nestling young.
Hence, nor dare pollute or stain
Phoebus's offerings, Phoebus's fane.
Yet I feel a sacred dread,
Lest your scattered plumes I shed;
Holy birds! 'tis yours to show
Heaven's auguries to men below.
Translation of H. H. Milman.
## p. 5579 (#149) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
SONGS FROM THE HIPPOLYTUS ›
From Three Dramas of Euripides: copyright 1889, by W. C. Lawton, and
reprinted by permission of the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
I
E
ROS, Eros, thou whose eyes with longing
Overflow; who sweet delight
Bringest to the soul thou stormest,
Come not, prithee, sorrow-laden,
Nor too mighty, unto me!
Neither flaming fire is stronger,
Nor the splendor of the stars,
Than the shaft of Aphrodite,
Darting from the hands of Eros,
Who is child of Zeus supreme.
Vainly, vainly, by the stream Alpheios,
Or in Phoibos's Pythian fane,
Hellas heaps the slaughtered oxen!
Eros, of mankind the tyrant,
Holder of the key that locks
Aphrodite's dearest chambers,
Is not honored in our prayers,
Though he comes as the destroyer,
Bringing uttermost disaster
Unto mortals, when he comes.
II
Oh, for some retreat afar sequestered!
May some god into a bird
Flitting 'mid the wingèd throng transform me!
Where the Adriatic's wave
Breaks upon the shore I fain would hasten;
Or to the Eridanos,
Where into the purple tide,
Mourning over Phaeton,
Evermore the wretched maidens
Drop their amber-gleaming tears.
5579
Gladly would I seek the fertile shore-land
Of Hesperian minstrelsy,
Where the sea lord over purple waters
Bars the way of mariners;
## p. 5580 (#150) ###########################################
5580
EURIPIDES
Setting there, to be upheld by Atlas,
Heaven's holy boundary.
There ambrosial fountains flow
From the place where Zeus abides,
And the sacred land of plenty
Gives delight unto the gods.
O thou white-winged Cretan vessel,
That across the ever-smiting
Briny billow of the ocean
Hither hast conveyed my queen,
From her home of royal splendor,
Wretched in her wedded bliss!
For to both of evil omen
Surely, or at least for Crete,
Thou to glorious Athens flitted,
Where in the Munychian harbor
They unbound their twisted cables
And set foot upon the shore.
Therefore is she broken-hearted,
Cursed with an unholy passion
By the might of Aphrodite;
Wholly overwhelmed by woe;
In the chamber of her nuptials,
Fitted to her snowy neck,
She will hang the cord suspended,
Showing thus her reverence
For the god by men detested,
Eager most for reputation,
And releasing so her spirit
From the love that brought her pain.
III
Truly, the anxious attention bestowed by the gods upon mortals,
When it recurs to my mind, greatly assuages my grief:
Yet am I quickly bereft of the hope and conviction I cherished,
Pondering over the deeds, over the fortunes of men.
Change is but followed by change, in our erring mortal existence.
Oh that Heavenly Fate, responding to prayer, would accord us
Fortune to happiness joined, courage undaunted by pain!
May my repute be neither exceedingly great nor ignoble!
Still with the changing day easily changing my ways,
May I forever enjoy a life of prosperous fortune.
## p. 5581 (#151) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5581
Clear no more are my thoughts, when I see this trouble unhoped-for,
See the illustrious star of Athena
Driven before the paternal wrath to a far habitation!
O ye sands on the shore of the city!
O ye glades in which, attendant on holy Dictynna,
Once with his hounds fleet-footed he hunted!
Never again shalt thou yoke and guide thy coursers Venetian
Over the track that encircles Limna.
Sleepless once was the Muse by the lyre in the halls of thy fathers;
Now is she silent; and stript of their garlands
Lie in the long deep grass the retreats of the daughter of Leto:
Maidens contend not for thee in thy exile.
I with my tears for thy sorrows will share in thy destiny hapless.
Ah, thy mother, how wretched! in vain were the pangs of her travail!
Frenzied am I of the gods! Ye close-linked Graces, ah, wherefore
Forth from this his home and out of the land of his fathers,
Send ye a youth ill-fated, who nowise of crime has been guilty?
IV
Restive hearts of god and mortal,
Thou, O Kypris, captive leadest,
While upon his shimmering pinions
Round them swift-winged Eros flits.
Over earth he hovers ever,
And the salt resounding sea.
Eros charms the heart to madness,
Smitten by his golden arrow;
Charms the hounds upon the mountain,
Creatures of the land and wave,
Wheresoever Helios gazes;
Even man, and royal honors
Thou alone, O Kypris, hast from all!
HIPPOLYTUS RAILS AT WOMANKIND
From Three Dramas of Euripides': copyright 1889, by W. C. Lawton, and
reprinted by permission of the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
O
ZEUS, pray why-a specious curse for men
Hast thou set women in the light of day?
For if thou wouldst engender humankind,
Through women thou shouldst not have furnished them,
But in thy fanes depositing as pay
Or gold or iron or the weighty bronze,
Men ought to buy the race of children, each
## p. 5582 (#152) ###########################################
5582
EURIPIDES
According to his worth; but in their homes
To dwell in liberty, from women free.
That woman is a grievous curse is clear;
He who begets and breeds her adds a dower
And sends her forth, to rid himself of ill;
And he who takes the bane into his house
Delights to put fair ornaments upon
This basest idol, decks it out with robes,
And squanders — wretched man! - his household joy!
It must be that, delighted to have gained
Good kinsmen, he endures a hateful wife,
Or, winning happy wedlock, useless kin,
He finds the evil overborne by good.
-
Most blest his lot within whose home is set
As wife a harmless, silly nobody!
I hate a clever woman: in my house
Be no one sager than befits her sex.
For Kypris oftener stirs up villainy
Within the clever; but the guileless wife
Is saved from folly by her slender wit!
No servant should approach the wife's abode,
But speechless animals should dwell with her,
That she may have not one to whom to speak,
Nor ever hear from them an answering voice.
But now the wicked weave their plots within
For mischief, and their servants bear them forth;
Even as thou, O evil one, hast come
To proffer me my father's sacred rights!
This I will purge away with running brooks,
Cleansing my ears. Could I be evil, then,
Who hold myself defiled to hear such words?
And woman, know, my reverence saves thy life.
Were I not, unawares, so bound by oaths,
I would have straightway told my father this:
But now, while Theseus is in other lands,
I leave his halls, and we will hold our peace;
But coming with my father, I'll behold
How thou wilt face him,—and thy mistress too!
Thy insolence I shall know, who tasted it.
Perish your sex! Nor will I ever tire
Of hating women, though men say I speak
Of nothing else: for base they always are.
Either let some one teach them self-restraint,—
Or else let me attack them evermore!
——
## p. 5583 (#153) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5583
HIPPOLYTUS'S DISASTER
From Three Dramas of Euripides: copyright 1889, by W. C. Lawton, and re-
printed by permission of the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
WE
E, NEAR the sea-shore, where it greets the waves,
Were currying with combs our horses' manes,
Lamenting; for the message came to us
That in this land Hippolytus should set foot
No more, to wretched exile sent by thee.
He also, with the selfsame tale of tears,
Came to us on the beach, and following him,
A myriad throng of comrades marched along.
After a time he ceased to weep, and said:-
"Why am I frenzied thus? I must obey
My father: harness to the car my steeds,
O slaves; for now this city is mine no more:
And thereupon did every man make haste.
Quicker than one could speak, we set the steeds,
All fully harnessed, at their master's side.
Then from the chariot rail he seized the reins,
Upon the footboard set his booted feet;
And first, with hands upraised to heaven, he said:
"Zeus, may I live no more, if I am base!
But may my sire know how he does me wrong,
Whether I lie in death, or see the light. "
With that he took the goad in hand, and urged
The colts; and we attendants by his car
Followed, beside our lord, along the road
Toward Argos and to Epidauria.
When we had entered the deserted land,
There was a coast that lies beside this realm,
Bordering already the Saronic gulf.
There, like Zeus's thunder, from the earth a roar
Resounded deep,—a fearful thing to hear!
The horses pricked their ears, and raised their heads
Aloft; and on us boyish terror fell,
Wondering whence came the sound; but then we glanced
Toward the sea-beaten shore, and saw a wave
Divine, that rose to heaven, so that mine eye
Beheld no longer the Skironian crags;
The isthmus and Asclepios's rock were hid.
Swelling aloft, and white with bubbling foam,
With roaring sound the billow neared the spot
Where on the beach the four-horse chariot stood.
And from the mighty breaker as it fell,
-
>>>>
## p. 5584 (#154) ###########################################
5584
EURIPIDES
A bull, a furious monster, issued forth.
The land, that with his bellowings was filled,
Re-echoed fearfully, and we who gazed
Found it too grim a sight to look upon.
A dreadful panic seized at once the steeds.
Their master, fully trained in all the arts
Of horsemanship, laid hold upon the reins,
And pulled as does a sailor at the oar,
Back-leaning, all his weight upon the thongs.
But champing with their jaws the fire-wrought bit,
They burst away; nor could the pilot hand,
Nor curb, nor massive chariot hold them in.
And now, if toward a softer spot of earth
The helmsman strove to turn and guide their course,
The bull appeared in front, and drove them back,
Maddening with affright the four-horse team.
Or if with frenzied mind they neared the rocks,
He followed silent at the chariot's rim,
Until he overthrew and cast it down,
Dashing the wheel against a stone. Then all
Lay wildly mingled. High aloft were tossed
The naves, and linchpins from the axletrees.
While he, poor wretch, entangled in the reins,
Was dragged along, inextricably bound.
His gentle head was dashed upon the rock,
His flesh was bruised; and piteous were his words:
"Stand! ye who at my mangers took your food,
And crush me not! Alas! my father's curse!
Who is there here will save an upright man? »
And many would; but we were come too late,
With tardy feet. So he, released from thongs
And well-cut reins,- but how I do not know,-
Is fallen, breathing yet a little life.
The steeds and cursed bull were hid from sight,
But where I know not, in the rocky land.
[And then the messenger lifts his head defiantly to face the unrelenting
King, and adds: -]
I am a slave within thy house, O King,
But this at least I never will believe,
That he, thy son, was guilty: not although
The whole of womankind go hang themselves,
And with their letters fill the pines that grow
On Ida. For that he was noble I know!
## p. 5585 (#155) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5585
HECUBA HEARS THE STORY OF HER DAUGHTER'S DEATH
Translation of J. A. Symonds: published by Harper & Brothers
THE
HE whole vast concourse of the Achaian host
Stood round the tomb to see your daughter die.
Achilleus's son, taking her by the hand,
Placed her upon the mound, and I stayed near;
And youths, the flower of Greece, a chosen few,
With hands to check thy heifer, should she bound,
Attended. From a cup of carven gold,
Raised full of wine, Achilleus's son poured forth
Libation to his sire, and bade me sound
Silence throughout the whole Achaian host.
I, standing there, cried in the midst these words:
"Silence, Achaians! let the host be still!
Hush, hold your voices! " Breathless stayed the crowd;
But he:-"O son of Peleus, father mine,
Take these libations pleasant to thy soul,
Draughts that allure the dead: come, drink the black
Pure maiden's blood wherewith the host and I
Sue thee: be kindly to us; loose our prows,
And let our barks go free; give safe return
Homeward from Troy to all, and happy voyage. "
Such words he spake, and the crowd prayed assent.
Then from the scabbard, by its golden hilt,
He drew the sword, and to the chosen youths
Signaled that they should bring the maid; but she,
Knowing her hour was come, spake thus, and said:--
"O men of Argos, who have sacked my town,
Lo, of free will I die! Let no man touch
My body: boldly will I stretch my throat.
Nay, but I pray you set me free, then slay;
That free I thus may perish: 'mong the dead,
Being a queen, I blush to be called slave. "
The people shouted, and King Agamemnon
Bade the youths loose the maid, and set her free:
She, when she heard the order of the chiefs,
Seizing her mantle, from the shoulder down
To the soft centre of her snowy waist
Tore it, and showed her breasts and bosom fair
As in a statue. Bending then with knee
On earth, she spake a speech most piteous:
"See you this breast, O youth? If breast you will,
X-350
## p. 5586 (#156) ###########################################
5586
EURIPIDES
Strike it; take heart: or if beneath my neck,
Lo! here my throat is ready for your sword! "
He, willing not, yet willing,- pity-stirred
In sorrow for the maiden,- with his blade
Severed the channels of her breath: blood flowed;
And she, though dying, still had thought to fall
In seemly wise, hiding what eyes should see not.
But when she breathed her life out from the blow,
Then was the Argive host in divers way
Of service parted; for some, bringing leaves,
Strewed them upon the corpse; some piled a pyre,
Dragging pine trunks and boughs; and he who bore none,
Heard from the bearers many a bitter word:-
:-
"Standest thou, villain? hast thou then no robe,
No funeral honors for the maid to bring?
Wilt thou not go and get for her who died
Most nobly, bravest-souled, some gift? " Thus they
Spake of thy child in death:-"O thou most blessed
Of women in thy daughter, most undone! "
MEDEA RESOLVING TO SLAY HER CHILDREN
SONS, my sons, for you there is a home
And city where, forsaking wretched me,
Ye shall still dwell and have no mother more:
But I, an exile, seek another land,
Ere I have joyed in you and seen you glad,
Ere I have decked for you the nuptial pomp,
The bride, the bed, and held the torch aloft.
Oh me! forlorn by my untempered moods!
In vain then have I nurtured ye, my sons,
In vain have toiled and been worn down by cares,
And felt the hard child-bearing agonies.
There was a time when I, unhappy one,
Had many hopes in you, that both of you
Would cherish me in age; and that your hands,
When I am dead, would fitly lay me out-
That wish of all men: but now lost indeed
Is that sweet thought, for I must, reft of you,
Live on a piteous life and full of pain:
And ye, your dear eyes will no more behold
Your mother, gone into your new strange life.
Alas! Why do ye fix your eyes on me,
O
-
## p. 5587 (#157) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5587
My sons? Why smile ye on me that last smile?
Alas! What must I do? for my heart faints,
Thus looking on my children's happy eyes.
Women, I cannot. Farewell my past resolves:
My boys go forth with me. What boots it me
To wring their father with their cruel fates,
And earn myself a doubled misery?
It shall not be, shall not. Farewell resolves! -
And yet what mood is this? Am I content
To spare my foes and be a laughing-stock?
It must be dared.
Why, out upon my weakness,
To let such coward thoughts steal from my heart!
Go, children, to the house: and he who lacks
Right now to stand by sacrifice of mine,
Let him look to it. I'll not stay my hand.
Alas! Alas!
No, surely. O my heart, thou canst not do it!
Racked heart, let them go safely; spare the boys:
Living far hence with me they'll make thee joy.
No; by the avenging demon gods in hell,
Never shall be that I should yield my boys
To the despitings of mine enemies!
For all ways they must die, and since 'tis so,
Better I slay them, I who gave them birth.
All ways 'tis fated; there is no escape.
For now, in the robes, the wealth upon her head,
The royal bride is perishing; I know it.
But, since I go on so forlorn a journey
And them too send on one yet more forlorn,
I'd fain speak with my sons. Give me, my children,
Give your mother your right hands to clasp to her.
O darling hands! O dearest lips to me!
O forms and noble faces of my boys!
Be happy but there. For of all part here
Your father has bereft you. O sweet kiss!
O grateful breath and soft skin of my boys!
Go, go; I can no longer look on you,
But by my sufferings am overborne.
Oh, I do know what sorrows I shall make;
But anger keeps the mastery of my thoughts,
Which is the chiefest cause of human woes.
Translation of Mrs. Augusta Webster.
## p. 5588 (#158) ###########################################
5588
EURIPIDES
ACCOUNT OF ALCESTIS'S FAREWELL TO HER HOME
From Robert Browning's 'Balaustion'
HAT kind of creature should the woman prove
That has surpassed Alcestis? surelier shown
WHA
Preference for her husband to herself
Than by determining to die for him?
But so much all our city knows indeed:
Hear what she did indoors, and wonder then!
For when she felt the crowning day was come,
She washed with river waters her white skin,
And taking from the cedar closets forth
Vesture and ornament, bedecked herself
Nobly, and stood before the hearth, and prayed:-
"Mistress, because I now depart the world,
Falling before thee the last time, I ask
Be mother to my orphans! wed the one
To a kind wife, and make the other's mate
Some princely person: nor, as I who bore
My children perish, suffer that they too
Die all untimely, but live, happy pair,
Their full glad life out in the fatherland! "
And every altar through Admetos's house
She visited, and crowned, and prayed before,
Stripping the myrtle foliage from the boughs,
Without a tear, without a groan,- no change
At all to that skin's nature, fair to see,
Caused by the imminent evil. But this done,-
Reaching her chamber, falling on her bed,
There, truly, burst she into tears and spoke:
"O bride-bed! where I loosened from my life
Virginity for that same husband's sake
Because of whom I die now-fare thee well!
Since nowise do I hate thee: me alone
―――
Hast thou destroyed; for, shrinking to betray
Thee and my spouse, I die: but thee, O bed!
Some other woman shall possess as wife
Truer, no! but of better fortune, say! ".
So falls on, kisses it, till all the couch
Is moistened with the eye's sad overflow.
But when of many tears she had her fill,
She flings from off the couch, goes headlong forth,
Yet forth the chamber-still keeps turning back
―――
-
## p. 5589 (#159) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5589
And casts her on the couch again once more.
Her children, clinging to their mother's robe,
Wept meanwhile: but she took them in her arms,
And as a dying woman might, embraced
Now one and now the other: 'neath the roof,
All of the household servants wept as well,
Moved to compassion for their mistress; she
Extended her right hand to all and each,
And there was no one of such low degree
She spoke not to nor had no answer from.
Such are the evils in Admetos's house.
FRAGMENTS FROM LOST PLAYS
PROFESSIONAL ATHLETICS
Ο
F ALL the thousand ills that prey on Hellas,
Not one is greater than the tribe of athletes;
For, first, they never learn how to live well,-
Nor indeed could they; seeing that a man
Slave to his jaws and belly, cannot hope
To heap up wealth superior to his sire's.
How to be poor and row in fortune's boat
They know no better; for they have not learned
Manners that make men proof against ill luck.
Lustrous in youth, they lounge like living statues
Decking the streets; but when sad old age comes,
They fall and perish like a threadbare coat.
I've often blamed the customs of us Hellenes,
Who for the sake of such men meet together
To honor idle sport and feed our fill;
For who, I pray you, by his skill in wrestling,
Swiftness of foot, good boxing, strength at quoits,
Has served his city by the crown he gains?
Will they meet men in fight with quoits in hand,
Or in the press of shields drive forth the foeman
By force of fisticuffs from hearth and home?
Such follies are forgotten face to face
With steel. We therefore ought to crown with wreaths
Men wise and good, and him who guides the State,
A man well-tempered, just, and sound in counsel,
Or one who by his words averts ill deeds,
Warding off strife and warfare; for such things
Bring honor on the city and all Hellenes.
## p. 5590 (#160) ###########################################
EURIPIDES
5590
CHILDREN A BLESSING
LADY, the sun's light to our eyes is dear,
And fair the tranquil reaches of the sea,
And flowery earth in May, and bounding waters;
And so right many fair things I might praise;
Yet nothing is so radiant and so fair
As for souls childless, with desire sore smitten,
To see the light of babes about the house.
RESIGNATION
THINK'ST thou that Death will heed thy tears at all,
Or send thy son back if thou wilt but groan ?
Nay, cease; and gazing at thy neighbor's grief,
Grow calm if thou wilt take the pains to reckon
How many have toiled out their lives in bonds,
How many wear to old age, robbed of children,
And all who from the tyrant's height of glory
Have sunk to nothing. These things shouldst thou heed.
-
No man was ever born who did not suffer:
He buries children, then begets new sons,
Then dies himself; and men forsooth are grieved,
Consigning dust to dust. Yet needs must be
Lives should be garnered like ripe harvest sheaves,
And one man live, another perish. Why
Mourn over that which nature puts upon us?
Naught that must be is terrible to mortals.
"CAPTIVE GOOD ATTENDING CAPTAIN ILL"
DOTH Some one say that there be gods above?
There are not; no, there are not. Let no fool,
Led by the old false fable, thus deceive you.
Look at the facts themselves, yielding my words
No undue credence; for I say that kings
Kill, rob, break oaths, lay cities waste by fraud,
And doing thus are happier than those
Who live calm pious lives day after day.
How many little States that serve the gods
Are subject to the godless but more strong,
Made slaves by might of a superior army!
Translation of J. A. Symonds.
## p. 5591 (#161) ###########################################
5591
JOHN EVELYN
(1620-1706)
VELYN is known to us first as a diarist, and then as the author
of 'Sylva'; but his cultivated tastes, his publications upon
art subjects, and his devotion to Tory ideals brought him
before his contemporaries mainly as a virtuoso and a royalist. A
descendant of George Evelyn, who was the first to introduce the
manufacture of gunpowder into England, he was born in 1620 at
Wotton in Surrey, a home "large and ancient, suitable to those
hospitable times," he wrote, "and so sweetely environed with those
delicious streams and venerable woods as in
the judgement of Strangers as well as Eng-
lishmen it may be compared to one of the
most tempting and pleasant Seates in the
Nation. "
"I was not initiated into any rudiments
till neere four yeares of age," he says in
the early part of his Diary, "and then one
Frier taught us at the church porch of
Wotton. " The rudiments were continued
at "the Free schole at Southover neere the
town, of which one Agnes Morley had been
the foundresse, and now Edward Snatt was
the master, under whom I remained till I
was sent to the University.
1637,
3 April, I left schole, where, till about the last yeare, I had been
extreamly remisse in my studies, so as I went to the Universitie
rather out of shame of abiding longer at schole than for any fitnesse;
as by sad experience I found, which put me to re-learne all that I
had neglected, or but perfunctorily gain'd. 10 May, I was admitted
a fellow com'uner of Baliol College, Oxford. "
JOHN EVELYN
After three years' diligent study Evelyn removed to the Middle
Temple in London to study law; and in 1641, having repeated his
oath of allegiance, he absented himself, he says, from the ill face of
things at home. Civil war was beginning. He traveled in Holland
and France, and remained long in Italy, studying the fine arts.
The better part of ten years he was absent from England, marry-
ing in the mean time the daughter of Sir Richard Browne, the
King's minister at the French Court. His bride was barely twelve,
.
## p. 5592 (#162) ###########################################
5592
JOHN EVELYN
and Evelyn returned to England in 1647, leaving Mrs. Evelyn in the
care of her "excellent and prudent" mother. While waiting for the
maturing of his domestic plans he "commenced another," one of his
biographers quaintly says, translating from the French the 'Liberty
and Servitude of Le Vayer, and inserting a royalist preface, for
which he was "threatened"; and writing 'A Character of England. '
In 1652 he established himself with his wife at Sayes Court, Dept-
ford, of which she was the heiress. Here he busied himself with
beautifying the place, where he entertained men like-minded to him-
self, and composed a long list of works. Some of these pertained to
landscape gardening and to architecture, subjects upon which he was
an authority, some to politics or archæology. He was on friendly
terms with the virtuosi of his time, and he sought the acquaintance
of men who formed and ruled affairs. Much of his claim on our
attention comes from his having rubbed up against greatness.
was a follower of men, never a leader, and his life was filled with
usefulness. As his Diary shows, he welcomed the Restoration, and
took some part in it.
He
The marks of esteem shown by the new King caused him to leave
his retirement, and sharpen his pen for such brochures as 'Panegyric
at his Majesty King Charles the Second's Coronation,' 1661, while he
was preparing his History and Art of Chalcography and Engraving
in Copper. ' He was one of the commission to take care of the sick
and wounded in the war with the Dutch in 1664, the year in which
'Sylva: or a Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of Tim-
ber in his Majesty's Dominions,' his magnum opus in the eyes of his
contemporaries, was published.
Evelyn undertook the work at the wish of the Royal Society.
Among the devastations of the civil war and of the Parliamentary
party was the cutting down of the ancient trees. The oaks especially
were said to have incurred the wrath of the revolutionists, perhaps
because of the service of the Royal Oak at Boscobel; perhaps because
the landed gentry took pride in comparing the durance of their order
with the great age of the trees. Be that as it may, the oaks were
gone, and Charles Stuart lacked timber to build a royal navy. Men
of Evelyn's stamp were set to thinking and planting, and Evelyn him-
self, with his great knowledge and taste, was set to writing. Thus
came about the 'Sylva,' to which he annexed 'Pomona: or an Ap-
pendix Concerning Fruit Trees in Relation to Cyder; the Making and
Several Ways of Ordering it. ' His 'Parallel of the Ancient Archi-
tecture with the Modern' appeared also in 1664.
Evelyn's royalist ardor cooled under the domestic and foreign pol-
icy of the Stuarts; and while a commissioner of the Privy Seal he
refused, at the risk of offending James II. , to sign an illegal license
## p. 5593 (#163) ###########################################
JOHN EVELYN
5593
for the sale of certain books treating of the King's religion. It was
about this time that, having helped to collect them, Evelyn persuaded
Lord Henry Howard to give to the University of Oxford the famous
Arundelian marbles, brought together from Italy, Greece, and Asia
Minor. On inheritance of the ancestral Wotton by the death of his
brother, he left Sayes Court in 1694. This court was afterwards sub-
let to Peter the Great, the Czar desiring to be near the King's dock-
yard at Deptford, where he proposed to learn the art of shipbuilding.
"There is a house full of people, and right nasty," wrote a servant
to Evelyn, while the imperial Cæsar was dwelling therein. "The
Czar lies next your library and dines in the parlor next your study.
He dines at 10 o'clock and 6 at night, is very seldom at home a
whole day, very often in the King's Yard, or by water, dressed in
several dresses. The King is expected here this day; the best parlor
is pretty clean for him to be entertained in. The King pays for
all he has. " During Peter's stay - from some time in January till
towards the end of April, 1698 his favorite recreation was to break
down the holly hedges which were the pride of Sayes Court, by rid-
ing through them in a wheelbarrow. This, with other amiable eccen-
tricities of the "great civilizer," proved so costly that in the final
settlement the owner received £150 in recognition of damages.
Weighted with age and honorable action, Evelyn died in 1706 at
his ancestral home, and was buried in Wotton church in a tomb
which recorded, at his desire, that "Living in an age of extraor-
dinary events and revolutions, he had learned from thence this truth,
which he desired might be thus communicated to posterity: That all
is vanity which is not honest; and that there is no solid wisdom but
in real piety. "
Evelyn's friend Bishop Burnet referred to him as "a most ingen-
ious and virtuous gentleman. " He was devoted to his Church, and
when he had an endurable King, to that King. In his Diary the
sweetness and purity of his life and his love of home are not less
visible than his deep religious feeling.
By nature Evelyn was conservative. He had no sympathy with
the reformers who were trying to bring about a new order, or with
those uncomfortable disturbers of the peace who wished to correct
the abuses that had crept into the Church, or to oppose the assump-
tions of Charles I. He preferred to sup and dine and compare
intaglios with easy-going and well-mannered gentlemen.
A complete list of Evelyn's works would be long. A quarto vol-
ume edited by William Upcott, first published in 1825, contains his
'Literary Remains. ' 'Sylva' has been edited at various times in the
interests of tree-planting and forestry commissions, the most com-
mendable edition being that of Dr. Alexander Hunter, first published
## p. 5594 (#164) ###########################################
5594
JOHN EVELYN
in 1776. The Memoirs of John Evelyn, Esq. , F. R. S. ,' comprising his
diary from 1641 to 1705-6, and a selection of his familiar letters, was
edited from the original manuscript by William Bray in 1818, and
since then has been several times republished.
FROM EVELYN'S DIARY
1654. 3 Dec. Advent Sunday. There being no office at the
church but extempore prayers after ye Presbyterian way,- for
now all forms are prohibited and most of the preachers were
usurpers,—I seldome went to church upon solemn feasts, but
either went to London, where some of the orthodox sequestred
Divines did privately use ye Common Prayer, administer sacra-
ment, etc. , or else I procur'd one to officiate in my house.
Christmas Day. No public offices in churches, but pen-
alties on observers, so as I was constrain'd to celebrate it at
home.
25.
-
1655, 9 April. —I went to see ye greate ship newly built by
the Usurper Oliver, carrying ninety-six brasse guns and one
thousand tons burthen. In ye prow was Oliver on horseback,
trampling six nations under foote, a Scott, Irishman, Dutchman,
Frenchman, Spaniard, and English, as was easily made out by
their several habits. A Faun held a laurel over his insulting
head; ye word, God with us.
-―
15. I went to London with my family to celebrate ye feast
of Easter. Dr. Wild preach'd at St. Gregorie's, the ruling
powers conniving at ye use of the Liturgy, etc. , in this church.
alone.
27 Nov. To London
to visit honest and learned
Mr. Hartlib [Milton's acquaintance, to whom he addressed his
( Tractate on Education'], a public-spirited and ingenious person,
who had propagated many usefull things and arts. He told me
of the castles which they set for ornament on their stoves in
Germany (he himselfe being a Lithuanian as I remember), which
are furnish'd with small ordinance of silver on the battlements,
out of which they discharge excellent perfumes about the roomes,
charging them with a little powder to set them on fire and dis-
perse the smoke; and in truth no
more than neede, for their
stoves are sufficiently nasty.
1
I
## p. 5595 (#165) ###########################################
JOHN EVELYN
5595
This day came forth the Protector's edict or proclamation,
prohibiting all ministers of the Church of England from preach-
ing or teaching any scholes, in which he imitated the apostate
Julian; with ye decimation of all ye royal parties' revenues
throughout England.
14 Dec. I visited Mr. Hobbes, ye famous philosopher of
Malmesbury, with whom I had been long acquainted in France.
There was no more notice taken of Christmas Day in
25.
churches.
-
-
I went to London, where Dr. Wild preach'd the funeral
sermon of Preaching, this being the last day; after which Crom-
well's proclamation was to take place: that none of the Church
of England should dare either to preach or administer Sacra-
ments, teach schoole, etc. , on paine of imprisonment or exile.
So this was ye mournfullest day that in my life I had seene, or
ye Church of England herselfe, since ye Reformation.
1657. 25th Dec. I went with my Wife to celebrate Christ-
mas Day.
The chapel was surrounded with souldiers,
and all the communicants and assembly surpriz'd and kept pris-
oners by them, some in the house, others carried away. It fell
to my share to be confin'd to a roome in the house, where yet I
was permitted to dine with the master of it, ye Countesse of
Dorset, Lady Hatton, and some others of quality who invited
me. In the afternoon came Col. Whaley, Goffe, and others, from
White-hall, to examine us one by one; some they committed to
ye Marshall, some to prison. When I came before them they
tooke my name and abode, examin'd me why-contrary to an
ordinance made that none should any longer observe ye supersti-
tious time of the Nativity (so esteem'd by them) - I durst
offend, and particularly be at Common Prayers, which they told me
was but ye masse in English, and particularly pray for Charles
Stuart, for which we had no Scripture. I told them we did not
pray for Cha. Stuart, but for all Christian Kings, Princes, and
Governors. They replied in so doing we praied for the K. of
Spaine too, who was their enemie and a papist, with other friv-
olous and insnaring questions and much threatning; and finding
no colour to detaine me, they dismiss'd me with much pitty of
my ignorance. These were men of high flight and above ordi-
nances, and spake spiteful things of our Lord's Nativity. As we
went up to receive the Sacrament the miscreants held their
muskets against us as if they would have shot us at the altar.
## p. 5596 (#166) ###########################################
5596
JOHN EVELYN
1660. 3 May. Came the most happy tidings of his Majesty's
gracious declaration and applications to the Parliament, Generall,
and People, and their dutiful acceptance and acknowledgement,
after a most bloudy and unreasonable rebellion of neere 20 yeares.
Praised be forever the Lord of Heaven, who onely doeth won-
drous things, because His mercy endureth for ever!
8. This day was his Majestie proclaim'd in London, etc.
29. —This day his Majestie Charles the Second came to Lon-
don, after a sad and long exile and calamitous suffering both
of the King and Church, being 17 yeares. This was also his
birth-day, and with a triumph of above 20,000 horse and foote,
brandishing their swords and shouting with inexpressible joy; the
wayes strew'd with flowers, the bells ringing, the streetes hung
with tapissry, fountains running with wine; the Maior, Aldermen,
and all the Companies in their liveries, chaines of gold and ban-
ners; Lords and Nobles clad in cloth of silver, gold, and velvet;
the windowes and balconies all set with ladies; trumpets, music,
and myriads of people flocking, even so far as from Rochester,
so as they were seven houres in passing the citty, even from 2
in ye afternoone till 9 at night.
I stood in the Strand and beheld it, and bless'd God. And all
this was done without one drop of bloud shed, and by that very
army which rebell'd against him; but it was ye Lord's doing, for
such a restauration was never mention'd in any history antient
or modern, since the return of the Jews from the Babylonish
captivity; nor so joyfull a day and so bright ever seene in this
nation, this hapning when to expect or effect it was past all
human policy.
4 June. I receiv'd letter of Sir Richard Browne's [his father-
in-law] landing at Dover, and also letters from the Queene, which
I was to deliver at White-hall, not as yet presenting myselfe to
his Majesty by reason of the infinite concourse of people. The
eagerness of men, women, and children to see his Majesty, and
kisse his hands, was so greate that he had scarce leisure to eate
for some dayes, coming as they did from all parts of the nation;
and the King being so willing to give them that satisfaction,
would have none kept out, but gave free accesse to all sorts of
people.
6 July. —His Majestie began first to touch for ye evil, accord-
ing to custome, thus: his Majestie sitting under his state in the
Banquetting House, the chirurgeons cause the sick to be brought
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JOHN EVELYN
5597
or led up to the throne, where, they kneeling, ye King strokes
their faces or cheekes with both his hands at once, at which
instant a chaplaine in his formalities says, "He put his hands
upon them and he healed them. " This is sayd to every one in
particular. When they have ben all touch'd they come up again
in the same order, and the other chaplaine kneeling, and having
angel gold strung on white ribbon on his arme, delivers them.
one by one to his Majestie, who puts them about the necks of
the touched, as they passe, whilst the first chaplaine repeats,
"That is ye true light who came into ye world. " Then follows
an Epistle (as at first a Gospell) with the Liturgy, prayers for
the sick, with some alteration, lastly ye blessing; and then the
Lo. Chamberlaine and the Comptroller of the Household bring a
basin, ewer, and towell, for his Majestie to wash.
THE GREAT FIRE IN LONDON
1666, 2 Sept.
