No More Learning

The choicest
morsels of Massillon, Bossuet, or the rhetorical Thomas, would
savor marvelously of bombast; and how could we in degree
keep pace with the magnificent march of the Castilian! Yet
surely we are not to impugn the taste of all these nations, who
attach much more importance, and have paid (at least this is
true of the French and Italian) much greater attention to the
mere beauties of literary finish than English writers.
Whatever may be the sins of the Arabians on this head, they
are certainly not those of negligence. The Spanish Arabs, in
particular, were noted for the purity and elegance of their idiom;
insomuch that Casiri affects to determine the locality of an
author by the superior refinement of his style. Their copious
philological and rhetorical treatises, their arts of poetry, gram-
mars, and rhyming dictionaries, show to what
an excessive
refinement they elaborated the art of composition. Academies,
far more numerous than those of Italy, to which they subse-
quently served for a model, invited by their premiums frequent
competitions in poetry and eloquence. To poetry, indeed, espe-
cially of the tender kind, the Spanish Arabs seem to have been
as indiscriminately addicted as the Italians in the time of
Petrarch; and there was scarcely a doctor in Church or State but
at some time or other offered up his amorous incense on the
altar of the Muse.
-
With all this poetic feeling, however, the Arabs never availed
themselves of the treasures of Grecian eloquence which lay open
before them. Not a poet or orator of any eminence in that lan-
guage seems to have been translated by them. The temperate
tone of Attic composition appeared tame to the fervid conceptions
of the East. Neither did they venture upon what in Europe are
considered the higher walks of the art, the drama, and the epic.
None of their writers in prose or verse show much attention
to the development or dissection of character. Their inspiration


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WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
11785
exhaled in lyrical effusions, in elegies, epigrams, and idyls. They
sometimes, moreover, like the Italians, employed verse as the
vehicle of instruction in the grave and recondite sciences. The
general character of their poetry is bold, florid, impassioned,
richly colored with imagery, sparkling with conceits and meta-
phors, and occasionally breathing a deep tone of moral sensibility,
as in some of the plaintive effusions ascribed by Condé to the
royal poets of Cordova. The compositions of the golden age of
the Abassides, and of the preceding period, do not seem to have
been infected with the taint of exaggeration, so offensive to a
European, which distinguishes the later productions in the decay
of the empire.
In
Whatever be thought of the influence of the Arabic on Euro-
pean literature in general, there can be no reasonable doubt that
it has been considerable on the Provençal and the Castilian.
the latter especially, so far from being confined to the vocabu-
lary, or to external forms of composition, it seems to have pen-
etrated deep into its spirit, and is plainly discernible in that
affectation of stateliness and Oriental hyperbole which charac-
terizes Spanish writers even at the present day; in the subtilties
and conceits with which the ancient Castilian verse is so liberally
bespangled; and in the relish for proverbs and prudential maxims,
which is so general that it may be considered national.
A decided effect has been produced on the romantic literature
of Europe by those tales of fairy enchantment so characteristic
of Oriental genius, and in which it seems to have reveled with
uncontrolled delight. These tales, which furnished the principal
diversion of the East, were imported by the Saracens into Spain;
and we find the monarchs of Cordova solacing their leisure hours
with listening to their rawis, or novelists, who sang to them
"Of ladye-love and war, romance, and knightly worth. »
The same spirit, penetrating into France, stimulated the more
sluggish inventions of the trouvère; and at a later and more pol-
ished period called forth the imperishable creations of the Italian
Muse.
It is unfortunate for the Arabians, that their literature should
be locked up in a character and idiom so difficult of access to
European scholars. Their wild, imaginative poetry, scarcely capa-
ble of transfusion into a foreign tongue, is made known to us
only through the medium of bald prose translation; while their
scientific treatises have been done into Latin with an inaccuracy


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11786
WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
which, to make use of a pun of Casiri's, merits the name of per-
versions rather than versions of the originals. How obviously
inadequate, then, are our means of forming any just estimate
of their merits! It is unfortunate for them, moreover, that the
Turks, the only nation which, from an identity of religion and
government with the Arabs, as well as from its political conse-
quence, would seem to represent them on the theatre of modern
Europe, should be a race so degraded; one which, during the
five centuries that it has been in possession of the finest climate
and monuments of antiquity, has so seldom been quickened into
a display of genius, or added so little of positive value to the
literary treasures descended from its ancient masters. Yet this
people, so sensual and sluggish, we are apt to confound in imagi-
nation with the sprightly, intellectual Arab. Both indeed have
been subjected to the influence of the same degrading political
and religious institutions, which on the Turks have produced the
results naturally to have been expected; while the Arabians, on
the other hand, exhibit the extraordinary phenomenon of a nation,
under all these embarrassments, rising to a high degree of ele-
gance and intellectual culture.
The empire which once embraced more than half of the
ancient world has now shrunk within its original limits; and the
Bedouin wanders over his native desert as free, and almost as
uncivilized, as before the coming of his apostle. The language
which was once spoken along the southern shores of the Mediter-
ranean, and the whole extent of the Indian Ocean, is broken up
into a variety of discordant dialects. Darkness has again settled
over those regions of Africa which were illumined by the light
of learning. The elegant dialect of the Koran is studied as a
dead language, even in the birthplace of the prophet. Not a
printing-press at this day is to be found throughout the whole
Arabian peninsula. Even in Spain, in Christian Spain, alas! the
contrast is scarcely less degrading. A death-like torpor has suc-
ceeded to her former intellectual activity. Her cities are emptied
of the population with which they teemed in the days of the
Saracens. Her climate is as fair, but her fields no longer bloom
with the same rich and variegated husbandry. Her most inter-
esting monuments are those constructed by the Arabs; and the
traveler, as he wanders amid their desolate but beautiful ruins,
ponders on the destinies of a people whose very existence seems
now to have been almost as fanciful as the magical creations in
one of their own fairy tales.


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WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
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THE CAPTURE OF THE INCA
From the Conquest of Peru'
―
HE clouds of the evening had passed away, and the sun rose
bright on the following morning, the most memorable
――――
epoch in the annals of Peru. It was Saturday, the six-
teenth of November, 1532. The loud cry of the trumpet called
the Spaniards to arms with the first streak of dawn; and Pizarro,
briefly acquainting them with the plan of the assault, made the
necessary dispositions.
The plaza, as mentioned in the preceding chapter, was de-
fended on its three sides by low ranges of buildings, consisting
of spacious halls with wide doors or vomitories opening into the
square. In these halls he stationed his cavalry in two divisions;
one under his brother Hernando, the other under De Soto. The
infantry he placed in another of the buildings, reserving twenty
chosen men to act with himself as occasion might require. Pedro
de Candia, with a few soldiers and the artillery,-comprehending
under this imposing name two small pieces of ordnance, called
falconets, he established in the fortress. All received orders to
wait at their posts till the arrival of the Inca. After his entrance
into the great square, they were still to remain under cover,
withdrawn from observation, till the signal was given by the dis-
charge of a gun, when they were to cry their war-cries, to rush
out in a body from their covert, and putting the Peruvians to the
sword, bear off the person of the Inca. The arrangement of the
immense halls, opening on a level with the plaza, seemed to be
contrived on purpose for a coup de théâtre. Pizarro particularly
inculcated order and implicit obedience, that in the hurry of the
moment there should be no confusion. Everything depended on
their acting with concert, coolness, and celerity.
The chief next saw that their arms were in good order, and
that the breastplates of their horses were garnished with bells, to
add by their noise to the consternation of the Indians. Refresh-
ments were also liberally provided, that the troops should be in
condition for the conflict. These arrangements being completed,
mass was performed with great solemnity by the ecclesiastics
who attended the expedition; the God of battles was invoked to
spread his shield over the soldiers who were fighting to extend the
empire of the Cross; and all joined with enthusiasm in the chant,
"Exsurge, Domine," "Rise, O Lord! and judge thine own cause. "


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11788
WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
One might have supposed them a company of martyrs about to
lay down their lives in defense of their faith, instead of a licen-
tious band of adventurers meditating one of the most atrocious
acts of perfidy on the record of history! Yet, whatever were the
vices of the Castilian cavalier, hypocrisy was not among the num-
ber. He felt that he was battling for the Cross; and under this
conviction, exalted as it was at such a moment as this into the
predominant impulse, he was blind to the baser motives which
mingled with the enterprise. With feelings thus kindled to a
flame of religious ardor, the soldiers of Pizarro looked forward
with renovated spirits to the coming conflict; and the chieftain
saw with satisfaction that in the hour of trial his men would be
true to their leader and themselves.
It was late in the day before any movement was visible in
the Peruvian camp, where much preparation was making to ap-
proach the Christian quarters with due state and ceremony. A
message was received from Atahuallpa, informing the Spanish
commander that he should come with his warriors fully armed,
in the same manner as the Spaniards had come to his quarters
the night preceding. This was not an agreeable intimation to
Pizarro, though he had no reason, probably, to expect the con-
trary. But to object might imply distrust, or perhaps disclose in
some measure his own designs. He expressed his satisfaction,
therefore, at the intelligence, assuring the Inca that, come as he
would, he would be received by him as a friend and brother.
It was noon before the Indian procession was on its march,
when it was seen occupying the great causeway for a long extent.
In front came a large body of attendants, whose office seemed
to be to sweep away every particle of rubbish from the road.
High above the crowd appeared the Inca, borne on the shoulders
of his principal nobles, while others of the same rank marched
by the sides of his litter, displaying such a dazzling show of
ornaments on their persons, that, in the language of one of the
Conquerors, "they blazed like the sun. " But the greater part of
the Inca's forces mustered along the fields that lined the road,
and were spread over the broad meadows as far as the eye could
reach.
When the royal procession had arrived within half a mile of
the city, it came to a halt; and Pizarro saw with surprise that
Atahuallpa was preparing to pitch his tents, as if to encamp
there. A messenger soon after arrived, informing the Spaniards


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WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
11789
that the Inca would occupy his present station the ensuing night,
and enter the city on the following morning.
This intelligence greatly disturbed Pizarro, who had shared
in the general impatience of his men at the tardy movements of
the Peruvians. The troops had been under arms since daylight,
the cavalry mounted, and the infantry at their post, waiting in
silence the coming of the Inca. A profound stillness reigned
throughout the town, broken only at intervals by the cry of the
sentinel from the summit of the fortress, as he proclaimed the
movements of the Indian army. Nothing, Pizarro well knew, was
so trying to the soldier as prolonged suspense, in a critical situ-
ation like the present; and he feared lest his ardor might evapo-
rate, and be succeeded by that nervous feeling natural to the
bravest soul at such a crisis, and which, if not fear, is near akin
to it. He returned an answer, therefore, to Atahuallpa, depre-
cating his change of purpose, and adding that he had provided
everything for his entertainment, and expected him that night to
sup with him.
This message turned the Inca from his purpose; and striking
his tents again, he resumed his march, first advising the general
that he should leave the greater part of his warriors behind, and
enter the place with only a few of them, and without arms, as
he preferred to pass the night at Caxamalca. At the same time
he ordered accommodations to be provided for himself and his
retinue in one of the large stone buildings, called, from a serpent
sculptured on the walls, the "House of the Serpent. " No tid-
ings could have been more grateful to the Spaniards. It seemed
as if the Indian monarch was eager to rush into the snare that
had been spread for him! The fanatical cavalier could not fail
to discern in it the immediate finger of Providence.
It is difficult to account for this wavering conduct of Ata-
huallpa, so different from the bold and decided character which
history ascribes to him. There is no doubt that he made his
visit to the white men in perfect good faith; though Pizarro was
probably right in conjecturing that this amiable disposition stood
on a very precarious footing. There is as little reason to suppose
that he distrusted the sincerity of the strangers; or he would not
thus unnecessarily have proposed to visit them unarmed. His ori-
ginal purpose of coming with all his force was doubtless to dis-
play his royal state, and perhaps also to show greater respect for
the Spaniards; but when he consented to accept their hospitality


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11790
WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
and pass the night in their quarters, he was willing to dispense
with a great part of his armed soldiery, and visit them in a man-
ner that implied entire confidence in their good faith. He was
too absolute in his own empire easily to suspect; and he probably
could not comprehend the audacity with which a few men, like
those now assembled in Caxamalca, meditated an assault on a
powerful monarch in the midst of his victorious army. He did
not know the character of the Spaniard.
It was not long before sunset when the van of the royal pro-
cession entered the gates of the city. First came some hundreds
of the menials employed to clear the path of every obstacle, and
singing songs of triumph as they came, "which in our ears,”
says one of the Conquerors, "sounded like the songs of hell! "
Then followed other bodies of different ranks, and dressed in
different liveries. Some wore a showy stuff, checkered white and
red, like the squares of a chess-board. Others were clad in pure
white, bearing hammers or maces of silver or copper; and the
guards, together with those in immediate attendance on
prince, were distinguished by a rich azure livery and a profusion
of gay ornaments, while the large pendants attached to the ears
indicated the Peruvian noble.
Elevated high above his vassals came the Inca Atahuallpa,
borne on a sedan or open litter, on which was a sort of throne
made of massive gold of inestimable value. The palanquin was
lined with the richly colored plumes of tropical birds, and studded
with shining plates of gold and silver. The monarch's attire was
much richer than on the preceding evening. Round his neck was
suspended a collar of emeralds of uncommon size and brilliancy.
His short hair was decorated with golden ornaments, and the
imperial borla encircled his temples. The bearing of the Inca
was sedate and dignified; and from his lofty station he looked
down on the multitudes below with an air of composure, like one
accustomed to command.
As the leading files of the procession entered the great square,
-larger, says an old chronicler, than any square in Spain - they
opened to the right and left for the royal retinue to pass. Every-
thing was conducted with admirable order. The monarch was
permitted to traverse the plaza in silence, and not a Spaniard
was to be seen. When some five or six thousand of his people
had entered the place, Atahuallpa halted, and turning round with
an inquiring look, demanded, "Where are the strangers? "


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WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
11791
At this moment Fray Vicente de Valverde, a Dominican friar,
- Pizarro's chaplain, and afterward Bishop of Cuzco,- came for-
ward with his breviary, or as other accounts say, a Bible, in one
hand, and a crucifix in the other; and approaching the Inca, told
him that he came by order of his commander to expound to him
the doctrines of the true faith, for which purpose the Spaniards
had come from a great distance to his country. The friar then
explained, as clearly as he could, the mysterious doctrine of the
Trinity; and ascending high in his account, began with the cre-
ation of man, thence passed to his fall, to his subsequent redemp-
tion by Jesus Christ, to the crucifixion, and the ascension, when
the Savior left the Apostle Peter as his vicegerent upon earth.
This power had been transmitted to the successors of the apos-
tles, good and wise men, who, under the title of Popes, held
authority over all powers and potentates on earth. One of the
last of these Popes had commissioned the Spanish Emperor, the
most mighty monarch in the world, to conquer and convert
the natives in this western hemisphere; and his general, Fran-
cisco Pizarro, had now come to execute this important mission.
The friar concluded with beseeching the Peruvian monarch to
receive him kindly, to abjure the errors of his own faith, and
embrace that of the Christians now proffered to him, the only
one by which he could hope for salvation,-and furthermore,
to acknowledge himself a tributary of the Emperor Charles the
Fifth, who, in that event, would aid and protect him as his loyal
vassal.
Whether Atahuallpa possessed himself of every link in the
curious chain of argument by which the monk connected Pizarro
with St. Peter, may be doubted. It is certain, however, that he
must have had very incorrect notions of the Trinity, if, as Gar-
cilasso states, the interpreter Felipillo explained it by saying that
"the Christians believed in three Gods and one God, and that
made four. " But there is no doubt he perfectly comprehended
that the drift of the discourse was to persuade him to resign his
sceptre, and acknowledge the supremacy of another.
The eyes of the Indian monarch flashed fire, and his dark
brow grew darker as he replied, "I will be no man's tributary.
I am greater than any prince upon earth. Your Emperor may
be a great prince; I do not doubt it, when I see that he has
sent his subjects so far across the waters: and I am willing to
hold him as a brother. As for the Pope of whom you speak, he


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11792
WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
must be crazy to talk of giving away countries which do not
belong to him. For my faith," he continued, "I will not change
it. Your own God, as you say, was put to death by the very
men whom he created. But mine," he concluded, pointing to
his deity, then, alas! sinking in glory behind the mountains,-
"my God still lives in the heavens and looks down on his child-
ren. »
He then demanded of Valverde by what authority he had
said these things. The friar pointed to the book which he held,
as his authority. Atahuallpa, taking it, turned over the pages
a moment; then, as the insult he had received probably flashed
across his mind, he threw it down with vehemence, and ex-
claimed, "Tell your comrades that they shall give me an account
of their doings in my land. I will not go from here till they
have made me full satisfaction for all the wrongs they have com-
mitted. "
The friar, greatly scandalized by the indignity offered to the
sacred volume, stayed only to pick it up, and hastening to
Pizarro, informed him of what had been done; exclaiming at the
same time, "Do you not see that while we stand here wasting
our breath in talking with this dog, full of pride as he is, the
fields are filling with Indians? Set on, at once: I absolve you. "
Pizarro saw that the hour had come. He waved a white scarf in
the air, the appointed signal. The fatal gun was fired from the
fortress. Then, springing into the square, the Spanish captain
and his followers shouted the old war-cry of "St. Jago and at
them. " It was answered by the battle-cry of every Spaniard
in the city, as rushing from the avenues of the great halls in
which they were concealed, they poured into the plaza, horse
and foot, each in his own dark column, and threw themselves
into the midst of the Indian crowd. The latter, taken by sur-
prise, stunned by the report of artillery and muskets, the echoes
of which reverberated like thunder from the surrounding build-
ings, and blinded by the smoke which rolled in sulphurous vol-
umes along the square, were seized with a panic. They knew
not whither to fly for refuge from the coming ruin. Nobles and
commoners, all were trampled down under the fierce charge of
the cavalry, who dealt their blows right and left without spar-
ing; while their swords, flashing through the thick gloom, car-
ried dismay into the hearts of the wretched natives, who now for
the first time saw the horse and rider in all their terrors. They


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WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
11793
made no resistance, -as indeed they had no weapons with which
to make it. Every avenue to escape was closed, for the entrance
to the square was choked up with the dead bodies of men who
had perished in vain efforts to fly; and such was the agony of
the survivors under the terrible pressure of their assailants that
a large body of Indians, by their convulsive struggles, burst
through the wall of stone and dried clay which formed part of
the boundary of the plaza! It fell, leaving an opening of more
than a hundred paces, through which multitudes now found their
way into the country, still hotly pursued by the cavalry, who,
leaping the fallen rubbish, hung on the rear of the fugitives,
striking them down in all directions.
Meanwhile the fight, or rather massacre, continued hot around
the Inca, whose person was the great object of the assault. His
faithful nobles, rallying about him, threw themselves in the way
of the assailants, and strove, by tearing them from their saddles,
or at least by offering their own bosoms as a mark for their
vengeance, to shield their beloved master. It is said some
authorities that they carried weapons concealed under their
clothes. If so, it availed them little, as it is not pretended that
they used them. But the most timid animal will defend itself
when at bay. That the Indians did not do so in the present in-
stance is proof that they had no weapons to use. Yet they still
continued to force back the cavaliers, clinging to their horses
with dying grasp, and as one was cut down, another taking the
place of his fallen comrade with a loyalty truly affecting.
The Indian monarch, stunned and bewildered, saw his faithful
subjects falling around him, without fully comprehending his
situation. The litter on which he rode heaved to and fro, as the
mighty press swayed backward and forward; and he gazed on
the overwhelming ruin like some forlorn mariner, who, tossed
about in his bark by the furious elements, sees the lightning's
flash and hears the thunder bursting around him, with the con-
sciousness that he can do nothing to avert his fate. At length,
weary with the work of destruction, the Spaniards, as the shades
of evening grew deeper, felt afraid that the royal prize might
after all elude them; and some of the cavaliers made a desper-
ate attempt to end the affray at once by taking Atahuallpa's life.
But Pizarro, who was nearest his person, called out with stento-
rian voice, "Let no one who values his life strike at the Inca;"
and stretching out his arm to shield him, received a wound on
XX-738


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WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
11794
the hand from one of his own men,- the only wound received
by a Spaniard in the action.
The struggle now became fiercer than ever round the royal
litter. It reeled more and more; and at length, several of the
nobles who supported it having been slain, it was overturned,
and the Indian prince would have come with violence to the
ground, had not his fall been broken by the efforts of Pizarro
and some other of the cavaliers, who caught him in their arms.
The imperial borla was instantly snatched from his temples by a
soldier named Estete; and the unhappy monarch, strongly secured,
was removed to a neighboring building, where he was carefully
guarded.
THE PERSONAL HABITS OF PHILIP II.
From the History of Philip II. ›
PHIL
Ρ
HILIP, unlike most of his predecessors, rarely took his seat in
the council of State. It was his maxim that his ministers
would more freely discuss measures in the absence of their
master than when he was there to overawe them. The course
he adopted was for a consulta, or a committee of two or three
members, to wait on him in his cabinet, and report to him the
proceedings of the council. He more commonly, especially in
the later years of his reign, preferred to receive a full report
of the discussion, written so as to leave an ample margin for his
own commentaries. These were eminently characteristic of the
man, and were so minute as usually to cover several sheets of
paper. Philip had a reserved and unsocial temper.
He pre-
ferred to work alone in the seclusion of his closet rather than
in the presence of others. This may explain the reason, in part,
why he seemed so much to prefer writing to talking. Even with
his private secretaries, who were always near at hand, he chose
to communicate by writing; and they had as large a mass of
his autograph notes in their possession as if the correspondence
had been carried on from different parts of the kingdom. His
thoughts too-at any rate his words-came slowly; and by
writing he gained time for the utterance of them.
Philip has been accused of indolence. As far as the body
was concerned, such an accusation was well founded. Even when
young he had no fondness, as we have seen, for the robust and


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WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
11795
chivalrous sports of the age. He never, like his father, con-
ducted military expeditions in person. He thought it wiser to
follow the example of his great-grandfather, Ferdinand the Cath-
olic, who stayed at home and sent his generals to command his
armies. As little did he like to travel,- forming too in this
respect a great contrast to the Emperor. He had been on the
throne before he made a visit to his great southern capital,
Seville. It was a matter of complaint in Cortes that he thus
withdrew himself from the eyes of his subjects. The only sport
he cared for-not by any means to excess— was shooting with
his gun or his crossbow such game as he could find in his own
grounds at the Wood of Segovia, or Aranjuez, or some other of
his pleasant country-seats, none of them at a great distance from
Madrid. On a visit to such places, he would take with him as
large a heap of papers as if he were a poor clerk earning his
bread; and after the fatigues of the chase, he would retire to his
cabinet and refresh himself with his dispatches.
It would indeed be a great mistake to charge him with slug-
gishness of mind. He was content to toil for hours, and long
into the night, at his solitary labors. No expression of weari-
ness or of impatience was known to escape him. A characteristic
anecdote is told of him in regard to this. Having written a
dispatch, late at night, to be sent on the following morning, he
handed it to his secretary to throw some sand over it. This
functionary, who happened to be dozing, suddenly roused himself,
and snatching up the inkstand, emptied it on the paper. The
King, coolly remarking that "it would have been better to use the
sand," set himself down, without any complaint, to rewrite the
whole of the letter. A prince so much addicted to the pen, we
may well believe, must have left a large amount of autograph
materials behind him. Few monarchs, in point of fact, have done
so much in this way to illustrate the history of their reigns.
Fortunate would it have been for the historian who was to profit
by it, if the royal composition had been somewhat less diffuse,
and the handwriting somewhat more legible.
Philip was an economist of time, and regulated the distribu-
tion of it with great precision. In the morning he gave audience
to foreign ambassadors. He afterwards heard mass. After mass
came dinner, in his father's fashion. But dinner was not an
affair with Philip of so much moment as it was with Charles.
He was exceedingly temperate both in eating and drinking; and


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11796
WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
not unfrequently had his physician at his side to warn him
against any provocative of the gout,-the hereditary disease.
which at a very early period had begun to affect his health.
After a light repast he gave audience to such of his subjects as
desired to present their memorials. He received the petitioners
graciously, and listened to all they had to say with patience,—
for that was his virtue. But his countenance was exceedingly
grave, which in truth was its natural expression; and there was
a reserve in his deportment which made the boldest feel ill at
ease in his presence. On such occasions he would say, "Com-
pose yourself; "a recommendation that had not always the
tranquillizing effect intended. Once when a papal nuncio forgot,
in his confusion, the address he had prepared, the King coolly
remarked: "If you will bring it in writing, I will read it myself,
and expedite your business. " It was natural that men of even
the highest rank should be overawed in the presence of a mon-
arch who held the destinies of so many millions in his hands,
and who surrounded himself with a veil of mystery which the
most cunning politician could not penetrate.
The reserve, so noticeable in his youth, increased with age.
He became more difficult of access. His public audiences were
much less frequent. In the summer he would escape from them
altogether, by taking refuge in some one of his country places.
His favorite retreat was his palace monastery of the Escurial,-
then slowly rising under his patronage, and affording him an
occupation congenial with his taste. He seems, however, to have
sought the country not so much from the love of its beauties as
for the retreat it afforded him from the town. When in the
latter he rarely showed himself to the public eye, going abroad
chiefly in a close carriage, and driving late so as to return to
the city after dark.
Thus he lived in solitude even in the heart of his capital,
knowing much less of men from his own observation than from
the reports that were made to him. In availing himself of
these sources of information he was indefatigable. He caused a
statistical survey of Spain to be prepared for his own use. It
was a work of immense labor, embracing a vast amount of curi-
ous details, such as were rarely brought together in those days.
He kept his spies at the principal European courts, who furnished
him with intelligence; and he was as well acquainted with what
was passing in England and in France as if he had resided on
-


## p. 11797 (#427) ##########################################

WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
11797
the spot. We have seen how well he knew the smallest details
of the proceedings in the Netherlands, sometimes even better
than Margaret herself. He employed similar means to procure
information that might be of service in making appointments to
ecclesiastical and civil offices.
In his eagerness for information, his ear was ever open to
accusations against his ministers; which, as they were sure to
be locked up in his own bosom, were not slow in coming to him.
This filled his mind with suspicions. He waited till time had
proved their truth, treating the object of them with particular
favor till the hour of vengeance had arrived. The reader will
not have forgotten the terrible saying of Philip's own historian,
"His dagger followed close upon his smile. "
Even to the ministers in whom Philip appeared most to con-
fide, he often gave but half his confidence. Instead of frankly
furnishing them with a full statement of facts, he sometimes
made so imperfect a disclosure that when his measures came to
be taken, his counselors were surprised to find of how much
they had been kept in ignorance. When he communicated to
them any foreign dispatches, he would not scruple to alter the
original, striking out some passages and inserting others, so as
best to serve his purpose. The copy, in this garbled form, was
given to the council. Such was the case with a letter of Don
John of Austria, containing an account of the troubles of Genoa,
the original of which, with its numerous alterations in the royal
handwriting, still exists in the archives of Simancas.
But though Philip's suspicious nature prevented him from
entirely trusting his ministers,- though with chilling reserve he
kept at a distance even those who approached him nearest,― he
was kind, even liberal, to his servants, was not capricious in his
humors, and seldom if ever gave way to those sallies of passion
so common in princes clothed with absolute power. He was
patient to the last degree, and rarely changed his ministers
without good cause. Ruy Gomez was not the only courtier
who continued in the royal service to the end of his days.
Philip was of a careful, or to say truth, of a frugal disposi-
tion, which he may well have inherited from his father; though
this did not, as with his father in later life, degenerate into par-
simony. The beginning of his reign, indeed, was distinguished
by some acts of uncommon liberality. One of these occurred at
the close of Alva's campaigns in Italy, when the King presented


## p. 11798 (#428) ##########################################

11798
WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
that commander with a hundred and fifty thousand ducats,
greatly to the discontent of the Emperor. This was contrary to
his usual policy. As he grew older, and the expenses of govern-
ment pressed more heavily on him, he became more economical.
Yet those who served him had no reason, like the Emperor's
servants, to complain of their master's meanness.
It was
observed, however, that he was slow to recompense those who
served him until they had proved themselves worthy of it. Still
it was
a man's own fault, says a contemporary, if he was not
well paid for his services in the end.
one particular he indulged in a most lavish expenditure.
This was his household. It was formed on the Burgundian
model, the most stately and magnificent in Europe. Its pecul-
iarity consisted in the number and quality of the members who
composed it. The principal officers were nobles of the highest
rank, who frequently held posts of great consideration in the
State. Thus the Duke of Alva was chief major-domo; the Prince
of Eboli was first gentleman of the bedchamber; the Duke of
Feria was Captain of the Spanish Guard. There was the grand
equerry, the grand huntsman, the chief muleteer, and a host of
officers, some of whom were designated by menial titles, though
nobles and cavaliers of family. There were forty pages, sons
of the most illustrious houses in Castile. The whole household
amounted to no less than fifteen hundred persons. The King's
guard consisted of three hundred men; one-third of whom were
Spaniards, one-third Flemings, and the remainder Germans.
The Queen had also her establishment on the same scale.
She had twenty-six ladies-in-waiting, and among other function-
aries, no less than four physicians to watch over her health.
The annual cost of the royal establishment amounted to full
two hundred thousand florins. The Cortes earnestly remonstrated
against this useless prodigality, beseeching the King to place
his household on the modest scale to which the monarchs of Cas-
tile had been accustomed. And it seems singular that one usually
so averse to extravagance and pomp should have so recklessly
indulged in them here. It was one of those inconsistencies which
we sometimes meet with in private life, when a man habitually
careful of his expenses indulges himself in some whim which
taste, or as in this case, early habits, have made him regard
as indispensable. The Emperor had been careful to form the
household of his son, when very young, on the Burgundian model;


## p. 11799 (#429) ##########################################

WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
11799
and Philip, thus early trained, probably regarded it as essential
to the royal dignity.
It was a capital defect in Philip's administration that his love
of power and his distrust of others made him desire to do every-
thing himself,-even those things which could be done much
better by his ministers. As he was slow in making up his own
opinions, and seldom acted without first ascertaining those of his
council, we may well understand the mischievous consequences
of such delay. Loud were the complaints of private suitors, who
saw month after month pass away without an answer to their
petitions. The State suffered no less, as the wheels of govern-
ment seemed actually to stand still under the accumulated press-
ure of the public business. Even when a decision did come, it
often came too late to be of service; for the circumstances which
led to it had wholly changed. Of this the reader has seen more
than one example in the Netherlands. The favorite saying of
Philip, that "time and he were a match for any other two," was
a sad mistake. The time he demanded was his ruin. It was in
vain that Granvelle, who at a later day came to Castile to assume
the direction of affairs, endeavored in his courtly language to
convince the King of his error; telling him that no man could
bear up under such a load of business, which sooner or later must
destroy his health, perhaps his life.
THE SPANISH MOORS PERSECUTED INTO REBELLION
From the History of Philip II. )
THE
HESE impolitic edicts [forbidding the importation of African
slaves by the Moors, and the possession of arms except
under license] were but preludes to an ordinance of so
astounding a character as to throw the whole country into a
state of revolution. The apostasy of the Moriscoes,- or to speak
more correctly, the constancy with which they adhered to the
faith of their fathers,-gave great scandal to the old Christians,
especially to the clergy; and above all to its head, Don Pedro
Guerrero, archbishop of Granada. This prelate seems to have
been a man of an uneasy, meddlesome spirit, and possessed of a
full share of the bigotry of his time. . While in Rome, shortly
before this period, he had made such a representation to Pope
Pius the Fourth as drew from that pontiff a remonstrance, ad-
dressed to the Spanish government, on the spiritual condition of


## p. 11800 (#430) ##########################################

11800
WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
the Moriscoes. Soon after, in the year 1567, a memorial was
presented to the government, by Guerrero and the clergy of his
diocese, in which, after insisting on the manifold backslidings of
the "New Christians," as the Moriscoes were termed, they loudly
called for some efficacious measures to arrest the evil. These
people, they said, whatever show of conformity they might make
to the requisitions of the Church, were infidels at heart. When
their children were baptized, they were careful, on returning
home, to wash away the traces of baptism; and after circumcis-
ing them, to give them Moorish names. In like manner, when
their marriages had been solemnized with Christian rites, they
were sure to confirm them afterwards by their own ceremonies,
accompanied with the national songs and dances. They con-
tinued to observe Friday as a holy day; and what was of graver
moment, they were known to kidnap the children of the Christ-
ians and sell them to their brethren on the coast of Barbary,
where they were circumcised, and nurtured in the Mahometan
religion. This last accusation, however improbable, found credit
with the Spaniards, and sharpened the feelings of jealousy and
hatred with which they regarded the unhappy race of Ishmael.
The memorial of the clergy received prompt attention from
the government, at whose suggestion, very possibly, it had been
prepared. A commission was at once appointed to examine into
the matter; and their report was laid before a junta consisting
of both ecclesiastics and laymen, and embracing names of the
highest consideration for talent and learning in the kingdom.
Among its members we find the Duke of Alva, who had not yet
set out on his ominous mission to the Netherlands. At its head
was Diego de Espinosa, at that time the favorite minister of
Philip.
The man who was qualified for the place of grand inquisitor
was not likely to feel much sympathy for the race of unbelievers.
It was unfortunate for the Moriscoes that their destinies should
be placed in the hands of such a minister as Espinosa. After
due deliberation, the junta came to the decision that the only
remedy for the present evil was to lay the axe to the root of it;
to cut off all those associations which connected the Moriscoes
with their earlier history, and which were so many obstacles in
the way of their present conversion. It was recommended that
they should be interdicted from employing the Arabic either in
speaking or writing, for which they were to use only the Cas-
tilian. They were not even to be allowed to retain their family


## p. 11801 (#431) ##########################################

WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
11801
names, but were to exchange them for Spanish ones. All writ-
ten instruments and legal documents, of whatever kind, were
declared to be void and of no effect unless in the Castilian. As
time must be allowed for a whole people to change its language,
three years were assigned as the period at the end of which this.
provision should take effect.
They were to be required to exchange their national dress for
that of the Spaniards; and as the Oriental costume was highly
ornamented, and often very expensive, they were to be allowed
to wear their present clothes one year longer if of silk, and two
years if of cotton, the latter being the usual apparel of the
poorer classes.
The women, moreover, both old and young, were
to be required, from the passage of the law, to go abroad with
their faces uncovered, a scandalous thing among Mahometans.
Their weddings were to be conducted in public, after the
Christian forms; and the doors of their houses were to be left
open during the day of the ceremony, that any one might enter
and see that they did not have recourse to unhallowed rites.
They were further to be interdicted from the national songs and
dances with which they were wont to celebrate their domestic
festivities. Finally, as rumors - most absurd ones had got
abroad that the warm baths which the natives were in the habit
of using in their houses were perverted to licentious indulgences,
they were to be required to destroy the vessels in which they
bathed, and to use nothing of the kind thereafter.
These several provisions were to be enforced by penalties of
the sternest kind.
Such were the principal provisions of a law, which for cruelty
and absurdity has scarcely a parallel in history. For what could
be more absurd than the attempt by an act of legislation to
work such a change in the long-established habits of a nation,—
to efface those recollections of the past to which men ever cling
most closely under the pressure of misfortune,- to blot out by
a single stroke of the pen, as it were, not only the creed but
the nationality of a people,-to convert the Moslem at once both
into a Christian and into a Castilian? It would be difficult to im-
agine any greater outrage offered to a people than the provision.
compelling women to lay aside their veils,-associated as these.
were in every Eastern mind with the obligations of modesty;
or that in regard to opening the doors of the houses, and expos-
ing those within to the insolent gaze of every passer; or that in
-


## p. 11802 (#432) ##########################################

11802
WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
relation to the baths, so indispensable to cleanliness and com-
fort, especially in the warm climate of the south.
But the masterpiece of absurdity, undoubtedly, is the stipula-
tion in regard to the Arabic language; as if by any human art
a whole population, in the space of three years, could be made
to substitute a foreign tongue for its own; and that too under
circumstances of peculiar difficulty, partly arising from the
total want of affinity between the Semitic and the European lan-
guages, and partly from the insulated position of the Moriscoes,
who in the cities had separate quarters assigned to them in the
same manner as the Jews, which cut them off from intimate
intercourse with the Christians. We may well doubt, from the
character of this provision, whether the government had so much
at heart the conversion of the Moslems as the desire to entangle
them in such violations of the law as should afford a plausible.
pretext for driving them from the country altogether. One is
strengthened in this view of the subject by the significant reply
of Otadin, professor of theology at Alcalá, who, when consulted
by Philip on the expediency of the ordinance, gave his hearty
approbation of it by quoting the appalling Spanish proverb,
"The fewer enemies the better. " It was reserved for the imbe-
cile Philip the Third to crown the disasters of his reign by the
expulsion of the Moriscoes. Yet no one can doubt that it was a
consummation earnestly desired by the great body of the Span-
iards; who looked, as we have seen, with longing eyes to the
fair territory which they possessed, and who regarded them with
the feelings of distrust and aversion with which men regard
those on whom they have inflicted injuries too great to be for-
given.
•
―――
On the appointed day the magistrates of the principal tribu-
nals, with the corregidor of Granada at their head, went in
solemn procession to the Albaicin, the quarter occupied by the
Moriscoes. They marched to the sound of kettle-drums, trumpets,
and other instruments; and the inhabitants, attracted by the noise.
and fond of novelty, came running from their houses to swell
the ranks of the procession on its way to the great square of
Bab el Bonat. This was an open space of large extent, where
the people of Granada in ancient times used to assemble to cele-
brate the coronation of a new sovereign; and the towers were
still standing from which the Moslem banners waved, on those
days, over the heads of the shouting multitude.
As the people


## p. 11803 (#433) ##########################################

WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
11803
now gathered tumultuously around these ancient buildings, the
public crier from an elevated place read, in audible tones and in
the Arabic language, the royal ordinance.
one.
Some of the weaker sort gave way to piteous and passionate
exclamations, wringing their hands in an agony of grief. Oth-
ers, of sterner temper, broke forth into menaces and fierce invect-
ive, accompanied with the most furious gesticulations. Others
again listened with that dogged, determined air which showed
that the mood was not the less dangerous that it was a silent
The whole multitude was in a state of such agitation that
an accident might have readily produced an explosion which
would have shaken Granada to its foundations. Fortunately there
were a few discreet persons in the assembly, older and more
temperate than the rest, who had sufficient authority over their
countrymen to prevent a tumult. They reminded them that in
their fathers' time the Emperor Charles the Fifth had consented
to suspend the execution of a similar ordinance.
At all events,
it was better to try first what could be done by argument and
persuasion. When these failed, it would be time enough to think
of vengeance.
One of the older Moriscoes, a man of much consideration
among his countrymen, was accordingly chosen to wait on the
president and explain their views in regard to the edict. This he
did at great length, and in a manner which must have satisfied
any fair mind of the groundlessness of the charges brought
against the Moslems, and the cruelty and impracticability of the
measures proposed by the government. The president, having
granted to the envoy a patient and courteous hearing, made a
short and not very successful attempt to vindicate the course of
the administration. He finally disposed of the whole question
by declaring that "the law was too just and holy, and had been
made with too much consideration, ever to be repealed; and that
in fine, regarded as a question of interest, his Majesty estimated
the salvation of a single soul as of greater price than all the rev-
enues he drew from the Moriscoes. " An answer like this must
have effectually dispelled all thoughts of a composition such as
had formerly been made with the Emperor.
Defeated in this quarter, the Moriscoes determined to lay
their remonstrance before the throne. They were fortunate in
obtaining for this purpose the services of Don Juan Henriquez,
a nobleman of the highest rank and consideration, who had large


## p. 11804 (#434) ##########################################

11804
WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
estates at Beza, in the heart of Granada, and who felt a strong
sympathy for the unfortunate natives. Having consented, though
with much reluctance, to undertake the mission, he repaired to
Madrid, obtained an audience of the King, and presented to him
a memorial on behalf of his unfortunate subjects. Philip received
him graciously, and promised to give all attention to the paper.
"What I have done in this matter," said the King, "has been
done by the advice of wise and conscientious men, who have
given me to understand that it was my duty. "
Shortly afterwards, Henriquez received an intimation that he
was to look for his answer to the president of Castile. Espinosa,
after listening to the memorial, expressed his surprise that a per-
son of the high condition of Don Juan Henriquez should have
consented to take charge of such a mission. "It was for that
very reason I undertook it," replied the nobleman, "as affording
me a better opportunity to be of service to the King. " "It can
be of no use," said the minister: "religious men have repre-
sented to his Majesty that at his door lies the salvation of these
Moors; and the ordinance which has been decreed, he has deter-
mined shall be carried into effect. "
Baffled in this direction, the persevering envoy laid his memo-
rial before the councilors of State, and endeavored to interest
them in behalf of his clients. In this he met with more success;
and several of that body, among whom may be mentioned the
Duke of Alva, and Luis de Avila the grand commander of Al-
cántara, whom Charles the Fifth had honored with his friend-
ship, entered heartily into his views. But it availed little with
the minister, who would not even consent to delay the execution
of the ordinance until time should have been given for further
inquiry; or to confine the operation of it at the outset to one or
two of the provisions, in order to ascertain what would probably
be the temper of the Moriscoes. Nothing would suit the peremp-
tory humor of Espinosa but the instant execution of the law in
all its details.
It was clear that no door was left open to further discussion,
and that under the present government no chance remained to
the unfortunate Moriscoes of buying off the law by the payment
of a round sum, as in the time of Charles the Fifth. All nego-
tiations were at an end. They had only to choose between im-
plicit obedience and open rebellion. It was not strange that they
chose the latter.


## p. 11805 (#435) ##########################################

11805
ANTOINE FRANÇOIS PRÉVOST D'EXILES
(1697-1763)
T IS difficult to regard the brilliant personality and erratic,
checkered career of the Abbé Prévost with respect or admi-
ration, even with allowance for the free spirit of the social
epoch in which he lived. Now praying and preaching as a fashion-
able ecclesiastic, now bearing arms as a soldier, now a professor of
theology or man of letters, and again wavering between the seclusion
of a monastery and the frivolities of a drawing-room, the Abbé's
personality seems a bundle of impulses and retractions. He is not
ill described by Dryden's characterization of
Buckingham as "everything by turns, and
nothing long. "

Prévost was born in Hesdin on the Ist
of April, 1697. A mere lad, he was sent
to Paris to study at the well-known Jesuit
school known as the Harcourt. He did not
persevere in it: he suddenly turned his
back upon classics and theology to turn sol-
dier in a royal regiment. He gave himself
up to the beginnings of a military life with.
a full measure of the youthful vivacity
hitherto repressed by ecclesiastical
roundings. But again was he unstable. The
war ended; and the soldier hastened back
sur-
ABBÉ PRÉVOST
to the amiable priests, who welcomed him as a prodigal son. He
resumed his courses of study, and a certain degree of enthusiasm
carried him this time as far as holy orders. This might surely be
taken as a final self-commitment. Not so with Prévost: he acknowl-
edged soon enough the error of even so formal a surrender of himself
to the religious vocation - for which indeed his gift was more than
doubtful. He returned to the army, to serve with activity and dis-
tinction. He had ample opportunity for being a gentleman of fash-
ion and elegance; and at this period of his life the charms of person
and manner which never left him were specially seductive, and in
whatever society he saw fit to amuse himself, a host of friends male
and female received his regard, enjoyed his gifts, and flattered his
vanity. He became perhaps as complete a type of the nominal clergy


## p. 11806 (#436) ##########################################

11806
ANTOINE FRANÇOIS PRÉVOST D'EXILES
of the period as the tableau of his day presents. It need hardly be
said that gallantry à la mode was no small fraction of his diversion.
It brought about another shifting of his environment. An unhappy
love affair disturbed him, drove him to renounce the world once
more; and he entered the Church of the Benedictines of St. Maur.
There was a more becoming semblance of permanence in this renun-
ciation; for the following five or six years kept him absorbed in reli-
gion, an esteemed professor and a brilliant preacher. But in the
course of a few summers and winters, Prévost's everlasting hesitation
between secular and religious life urged him to a new abandonment
of the religious profession. A tangled affair with his ecclesiastical
superiors decided him. He fled to Holland to take up-as seriously
as he could take up anything-a new career, with which he had
already trifled effectively; the career of a man of letters.
Prévost was thirty-one years old when during this self-exile, in
Holland, England, and elsewhere, he fairly gave himself to writing;
pouring forth that mass of literary work, grave or frivolous, long
or short, now as author and now as translator, the products of which
are forgotten- with a single exception. He was still young; he
was blessed with a profound self-confidence; he was rich in the most
diverse experiences of human nature, and in the study of various
phases of society, French and foreign. He was a systematic student
with a retentive memory, an accomplished linguist, and having an
acquaintance with all forms of literature of a singularly practical sort.
So qualified, he makes letters his third or fourth profession. It has
been said of the abbé that the series of publications from his pen
which now followed was a kind of flood,- hitherto repressed to the
limit of any man's repression,-giving to the world at large every
sort of souvenir, adventure, and sketch of mankind and womankind,
in his brain during his vacillations and wanderings. It is unnecessary
to speak at this date of his compilations; to discuss his romances,
translations, polemics, his editorial labors, and his studies of special
topics, more or less clever or thorough. After doing much literary
work abroad, he returned in 1734 to Paris. Once more he renounced,
at least in name and garb, the world: he took the habit of a secular
priest, and became the almoner of the Prince de Conti for a time.
It can be easily understood that whatever advantages his roving
career had brought to him, they had not been permanent or substan-
tial. He had sufficient money, however, to buy a small property in
Saint Firmin, near Chantilly. There he spent what were to be the
last years of his life, in incessant literary composition and publica-
tion. There death came to him in 1763; came in a manner as curious
and dramatic as any he might have described in one of his fictions.
He was struck by a fit of apoplexy one day while walking in the
―――


## p. 11807 (#437) ##########################################

ANTOINE FRANÇOIS PRÉVOST D'EXILES
11807
forest of Chantilly. Ignorant peasants found him stretched at the
foot of a tree; a rural surgeon, whose ignorance was more than cul-
pable, under the impression that a crime had been committed, pro-
ceeded to an immediate autopsy, instead of merely bleeding the
unfortunate patient; and the luckless abbé died under the examina-
tion.
Of the two hundred works that Prévost left behind him, the
novelette 'Manon Lescaut' has alone survived. But it is enough to
perpetuate his name. It has taken a classical place in French liter-
ature; more than that, it has passed into the emotional literature of
the world, perhaps for as nearly all time as can be predicted for any
story. Not by virtue of great literary art in it, much less by any
ethical charm in its material, has the story lived. 'Manon Lescaut'
morally is always as repulsive a love story (though told with a grace
and skill that disguises offense) as it is pathetic. For the persons
in its drama no reader can have a sentiment of admiration. Their
history is the narrative of a young woman in whom frivolity is the
least of her shortcomings. The hero, her infatuated lover, is a young
man perverted by temperament and by a master-passion to the career
of a professional blackguard and debauchee. But through the tale
shines the light of such sincerity of feeling and of delineation, such
truth to human nature, and above all, such a glow of a love becom-
ing strangely disinterested and even purifying, that the characters
of the protagonists seem to us redeemed, and even glorified, by it.
Complete, tragic too, is their expiation.