Chapter 1

LORD'S LECTURES

BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME VII

GREAT WOMEN.

BY JOHN LORD, LL.D.,

AUTHOR OF "THE OLD ROMAN WORLD," "MODERN EUROPE," ETC., ETC.

CONTENTS.

HÉLOÏSE.

LOVE.

Love, the flower of Eden The two Venuses of Socrates The Venus Urania The memory of Héloïse cherished Her birth and education Her extraordinary gifts Her aspirations Peter Abélard His wonderful genius His early scholastic triumphs Abélard at Paris His wit and flippancy His scepticism His successes His love for Héloïse His mad infatuation Scandal of the intimacy Disinterestedness of Héloïse Secret marriage of Abélard and Héloïse Marriage discovered Retirement of Héloïse and Abélard to separate convents His renewed labors His brilliant success Persecution of Abélard Letters to Héloïse Héloïse cannot conquer her love Her high social position Her blameless life Loves of Héloïse and Abélard analyzed Greatness of sentiment Last days of Abélard His retreat to Cluny Peter the Venerable Grief of Héloïse

JOAN OF ARC.

HEROIC WOMEN.

Heroic qualities of women in the Middle Ages Extraordinary appearance of Joan of Arc Her early days Her visions Critical state of France at this period Appreciated by Joan Who resolves to come to the rescue of her king and country Difficulties which surrounded her Her services finally accepted Her faith in her mission Her pure and religious life Joan sets out for the deliverance of Orleans Succeeds in entering the city Joan raises the siege of Orleans Admiration of the people for her Veneration for women among the Germanic nations Joan marches to the siege of Rheims Difficulty of the enterprise Hesitation of the king Rheims and other cities taken Coronation of Charles Mission of the Maid fulfilled Successive military mistakes Capture of Joan Indifference and ingratitude of the King Trial of Joan for heresy and witchcraft Cruelty of the English to her The diabolical persecution Martyrdom of Joan Tardy justice to her memory Effects of the martyrdom

SAINT THERESA.

RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASM.

Pleasures of the body the aim of Paganism Aim of Christianity to elevate the soul Mistakes of monastic life The age of Saint Theresa Her birth and early training Mediaeval piety Theresa sent to a convent to be educated Her poor health Religious despotism of the Middle Ages Their gloom and repulsiveness Faith and repentance divorced Catholic theology Theresa becomes a nun Her serious illness Her religious experience The Confessions of Saint Augustine The religious emancipation of Theresa Her canticles Her religious rhapsodies Theresa seeks to found a convent Opposition to her Her discouragements Her final success Reformation of the Carmelite order Convent of St. Joseph Death of Saint Theresa Writings of Saint Theresa Her submission to authority Her independence Compared with Madame Guyon Her posthumous influence

MADAME DE MAINTENON.

THE POLITICAL WOMAN.

Birth of Madame de Maintenon Her early life Marriage with Scarron Governess of Montespan's children Introduction to the King Her incipient influence over him Contrast of Maintenon with Montespan Friendship of the King for Madame de Maintenon Made mistress of the robes to the Dauphiness Private marriage with Louis XIV Reasons for its concealment Unbounded power of Madame de Maintenon Grandeur of Versailles Great men of the court The King's love of pomp and ceremony Sources of his power His great mistakes The penalties he reaped Secret of Madame de Maintenon's influence Her mistakes Religious intolerance Revocation of the Edict of Nantes Persecution of the Protestants Influence of Bossuet Foundation of the school of St. Cyr Influence of Madame de Maintenon on education Influence of Madame de Maintenon on morals Influence of Madame de Maintenon on the court Her reign a usurpation Her greatness of character

SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH.

THE WOMAN OF THE WORLD.

The Duchess of Marlborough compared with Madame de Maintenon Birth and early influence John Churchill Marriage of Churchill and Sarah Jennings Colonel Churchill made a peer The Princess Anne Lady Churchill Their friendship Coronation of William and Mary Character of William III Treason of the Earl of Marlborough Energy and sagacity of the Queen Naval victory of La Hogue Temporary retirement of Marlborough Death of the Duke of Gloucester Marlborough, Captain-General. Death of William III Accession of Anne Power of Marlborough Lord Godolphin Ascendency of Lady Marlborough Her ambition Her pride Renewal of war with Louis XIV Marlborough created a duke Whigs and Tories Harley, Earl of Oxford His intrigues Abigail Hill Supplants the Duchess of Marlborough Coolness between the Queen and Duchess Battle of Ramillies Miss Hill marries Mr. Masham Declining influence of the Duchess Her anger and revenge Power of Harley Disgrace of the Duchess The Tories in power Dismissal of Marlborough Bolingbroke Swift His persecution of the Duchess Addison Voluntary exile of Marlborough Unhappiness of the Duchess Death of Queen Anne Return of Marlborough to power Attacked by paralysis Death of Marlborough His vast wealth Declining days of the Duchess Her character Her death Reflections on her career

MADAME RÉCAMIER.

THE WOMAN OF SOCIETY.

Queens of society first seen in Italy Provençal poetry in its connection with chivalrous sentiments Chivalry the origin of society Society in Paris in the 17th Century Marquise de Rambouillet Her _salons_ Mademoiselle de Scudéri Early days of Madame Récamier Her marriage Her remarkable beauty and grace Her _salons_ Her popularity Courted by Napoleon Loss of property Friendship with Madame de Staël Incurs the hatred of Napoleon Friendship with Ballanche Madame Récamier in Italy Return to Paris Duke of Montmorency Seclusion of Madame Récamier Her intimate friends Friendship with Châteaubriand His gifts and high social position His retirement from political life His old age soothed by Récamier Her lovely disposition Her beautiful old age Her death Her character Remarks on society Sources of its fascinations

MADAME DE STAËL.

WOMAN IN LITERATURE.

Literature in the 18th Century Rise of Madame de Staël Her precocity Her powers of conversation Her love of society Her marriage Hatred of Napoleon Her banishment Her residence in Switzerland Travels in Germany Her work on literature Her book on Germany Its great merits German philosophy Visit to Italy Sismondi "Corinne" Its popularity A description of Italy Marriage with Rocca Madame de Staël in England Her honors Return to Paris Incense offered to her Her amazing éclat Her death Her merits as an author Inaugurated a new style in literature Her followers Her influence Literary women Their future

HANNAH MORE.

EDUCATION OF WOMAN.

Progress of female education Youth of Hannah More Her accomplishments Teaches school Intimacy with great men Shines in society Wearied of it Her ridicule of fashionable gatherings called society Retirement to Cowslip Green Her patrons and friends Labors in behalf of the poor Foundation of schools Works on female education Their good influence Their leading ideas Christian education Removal to Barley Wood Views of society Her distinguished visitors "Coelebs in Search of a Wife" "Christian Morals" Her laboring at the age of eighty The quiet elegance of her life Removal to Clifton Happy old age Death Exalted character Remarks on female education The sphere of woman What is woman to do?

GEORGE ELIOT.

WOMAN AS NOVELIST.

Notable eras of modern civilization Nineteenth Century, the age of novelists Scott, Fielding, Dickens, Thackeray Bulwer; women novelists Charlotte Brontë, Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Eliot Early life of Marian Evans Appearance, education, and acquirements Change in religious views; German translations; Continental travel Westminster Review; literary and scientific men Her alliance with George Henry Lewes Her life with him Literary labors First work of fiction, "Amos Barton," with criticism upon her qualities as a novelist, illustrated by the story "Mr. Gilfils Love Story" "Adam Bede" "The Mill on the Floss" "Silas Marner" "Romola" "Felix Holt" "Middlemarch" "Daniel Deronda" "Theophrastus Such" General characteristics of George Eliot Death of Mr. Lewes; her marriage with Mr. Cross Lofty position of George Eliot in literature Religious views and philosophical opinions Her failure as a teacher of morals Regret at her abandonment of Christianity

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME VII.

Madame de Récamier _After the painting by Baron François Pascal Gérard_.

Abélard Teaching in the Paraclete _After the painting by A. Steinheil_.

Joan of Arc Hears the Voices _After the painting by Eugene Thirion_.

The Vision of St. Therese _After the painting by Jean Brunet_.

Reception of the Great Condé by Louis XIV _After the painting by J. L. Gérôme_.

Ministerial Conference of Louis XIV. at the Salon of Madam de Maintenon _After the painting by John Gilbert_.

John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough _After the painting by Pieter van der Werff, Pitti Palace, Florence_.

Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough _After the painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller_.

Mme. de Récamier _After the painting by Mlle. Morin_

Madame de Staël _After the painting by Mlle. de Godefroid, Versailles_.

Garrick and His Wife _After the painting by William Hogarth_.

Hannah More _After the painting by H.W. Pickersgill, A.R.A._.

BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY

HÉLOÏSE.

* * * * *

A.D. 1101-1164.

LOVE.

When Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise, they yet found one flower, wherever they wandered, blooming in perpetual beauty. This flower represents a great certitude, without which few would be happy,--subtile, mysterious, inexplicable,--a great boon recognized alike by poets and moralists, Pagan and Christian; yea, identified not only with happiness, but human existence, and pertaining to the soul in its highest aspirations. Allied with the transient and the mortal, even with the weak and corrupt, it is yet immortal in its nature and lofty in its aims,--at once a passion, a sentiment, and an inspiration.

To attempt to describe woman without this element of our complex nature, which constitutes her peculiar fascination, is like trying to act the tragedy of Hamlet without Hamlet himself,--an absurdity; a picture without a central figure, a novel without a heroine, a religion without a sacrifice. My subject is not without its difficulties. The passion or sentiment I describe is degrading when perverted, as it is exalting when pure. Yet it is not vice I would paint, but virtue; not weakness, but strength; not the transient, but the permanent; not the mortal, but the immortal,--all that is ennobling in the aspiring soul.

"Socrates," says Legouvé, "who caught glimpses of everything that he did not clearly define, uttered one day to his disciples these beautiful words: 'There are two Venuses: one celestial, called Urania, the heavenly, who presides over all pure and spiritual affections; and the other Polyhymnia, the terrestrial, who excites sensual and gross desires.'" The history of love is the eternal struggle between these two divinities,--the one seeking to elevate and the other to degrade. Plato, for the first time, in his beautiful hymn to the Venus Urania, displayed to men the unknown image of love,--the educator and the moralist,--so that grateful ages have consecrated it by his name. Centuries rolled away, and among the descendants of Teutonic barbarians a still lovelier and more ideal sentiment burst out from the lips of the Christian Dante, kindled by the adoration of his departed Beatrice. And as she courses from star to star, explaining to him the mysteries, the transported poet exclaims:--

"Ah, all the tongues which the Muses have inspired could not tell the thousandth part of the beauty of the smile of Beatrice as she presented me to the celestial group, exclaiming, 'Thou art redeemed!' O woman, in whom lives all my hope, who hast deigned to leave for my salvation thy footsteps on the throne of the Eternal, thou hast redeemed me from slavery to liberty; now earth has no more dangers for me. I cherish the image of thy purity in my bosom, that in my last hour, acceptable in thine eyes, my soul may leave my body."

Thus did Dante impersonate the worship of Venus Urania,--spiritual tenderness overcoming sensual desire. Thus faithful to the traditions of this great poet did the austere Michael Angelo do reverence to the virtues of Vittoria Colonna. Thus did the lofty Corneille present in his Pauline a divine model of the love which inspires great deeds and accompanies great virtues. Thus did Shakspeare, in his portrait of Portia, show the blended generosity and simplicity of a woman's soul:--

"For you [my Lord Bassanio] I would be trebled twenty times myself; A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times more rich;"

or, in his still more beautiful delineation of Juliet, paint an absorbing devotion:--

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite."

Thus did Milton, in his transcendent epic, show how a Paradise was regained when woman gave her generous sympathy to man, and reproduced for all coming ages the image of Spiritual Love,--the inamorata of Dante and Petrarch, the inspired and consoling guide.

But the muse of the poets, even when sanctified by Christianity, never sang such an immortal love as the Middle Ages in sober prose have handed down in the history of Héloïse,--the struggle between the two Venuses of Socrates, and the final victory of Urania, though not till after the temporary triumph of Polyhymnia,--the inamorata of earth clad in the vestments of a sanctified recluse, and purified by the chastisements of Heaven. "Saint Theresa dies longing to join her divine spouse; but Saint Theresa is only a Héloïse looking towards heaven." Héloïse has an earthly idol; but her devotion has in it all the elements of a supernatural fervor,--the crucifixion of self in the glory of him she adored. He was not worthy of her idolatry; but she thought that he was. Admiration for genius exalted sentiment into adoration, and imagination invested the object of love with qualities superhuman.

Nations do not spontaneously keep alive the memory of those who have disgraced them. It is their heroes and heroines whose praises they sing,--those only who have shone in the radiance of genius and virtue. They forget defects, if these are counterbalanced by grand services or great deeds,--if their sons and daughters have shed lustre on the land which gave them birth. But no lustre survives egotism or vice; it only lasts when it gilds a noble life. There is no glory in the name of Jezebel, or Cleopatra, or Catherine de' Medici, brilliant and fascinating as were those queens; but there is glory in the memory of Héloïse. There is no woman in French history of whom the nation is prouder; revered, in spite of early follies, by the most austere and venerated saints of her beclouded age, and hallowed by the tributes of succeeding centuries for those sentiments which the fires of passion were scarcely able to tarnish, for an exalted soul which eclipsed the brightness of uncommon intellectual faculties, for a depth of sympathy and affection which have become embalmed in the heart of the world, and for a living piety which blazes all the more conspicuously from the sins which she expiated by such bitter combats. She was human in her impulses, but divine in her graces; one of those characters for whom we cannot help feeling the deepest sympathy and the profoundest admiration,--a character that has its contradictions, like that warrior-bard who was after God's own heart, in spite of his crimes, because his soul thirsted for the beatitudes of heaven, and was bound in loving loyalty to his Maker, against whom he occasionally sinned by force of mortal passions, but whom he never ignored or forgot, and against whom he never persistently rebelled.

As a semi-warlike but religious age produced a David, with his strikingly double nature perpetually at war with itself and looking for aid to God,--his "sun," his "shield," his hope, and joy,--so an equally unenlightened but devout age produced a Héloïse, the impersonation of sympathy, disinterestedness, suffering, forgiveness, and resignation. I have already described this dark, sad, turbulent, superstitious, ignorant period of strife and suffering, yet not without its poetic charms and religious aspirations; when the convent and the castle were its chief external features, and when a life of meditation was as marked as a life of bodily activity, as if old age and youth were battling for supremacy,--a very peculiar state of society, in which we see the loftiest speculations of the intellect and the highest triumphs of faith blended with puerile enterprises and misdirected physical forces.

In this semi-barbaric age Héloïse was born, about the year 1101. Nobody knew who was her father, although it was surmised that he belonged to the illustrious family of the Montmorencies, which traced an unbroken lineage to Pharimond, before the time of Clovis. She lived with her uncle Fulbert, an ignorant, worldly-wise old canon of the Cathedral Church of Notre Dame in Paris. He called her his niece; but whether niece, or daughter, or adopted child, was a mystery. She was of extraordinary beauty, though remarkable for expression rather than for regularity of feature. In intellect she was precocious and brilliant; but the qualities of a great soul shone above the radiance of her wit. She was bright, amiable, affectionate, and sympathetic,--the type of an interesting woman. The ecclesiastic was justly proud of her, and gave to her all the education the age afforded. Although not meaning to be a nun, she was educated in a neighboring convent,--for convents, even in those times, were female seminaries, containing many inmates who never intended to take the veil. But the convent then, as since, was a living grave to all who took its vows, and was hated by brilliant women who were not religious. The convent necessarily and logically, according to the theology of the Middle Ages, was a retreat from the world,--a cell of expiation; and yet it was the only place where a woman could be educated.

Héloïse, it would seem, made extraordinary attainments, and spoke Latin as well as her native tongue. She won universal admiration, and in due time, at the age of eighteen, returned to her uncle's house, on the banks of the Seine, on the island called the Cité, where the majestic cathedral and the castle of the king towered above the rude houses of the people. Adjoining the church were the cloisters of the monks and the Episcopal School, the infant university of Paris, over which the Archdeacon of Paris, William of Champeaux, presided in scholastic dignity and pride,--next to the bishop the most influential man in Paris. The teachers of this school, or masters and doctors as they were called, and the priests of the cathedral formed the intellectual aristocracy of the city, and they were frequent visitors at the house of Fulbert the canon. His niece, as she was presumed to be, was the great object of attraction. There never was a time when intellectual Frenchmen have not bowed down to cultivated women. Héloïse, though only a girl, was a queen of such society as existed in the city, albeit more admired by men than women,--poetical, imaginative, witty, ready, frank, with a singular appreciation of intellectual excellence, dazzled by literary fame, and looking up to those brilliant men who worshipped her.

In truth, Héloïse was a prodigy. She was vastly superior to the men who surrounded her, most of whom were pedants, or sophists, or bigots; dignitaries indeed, but men who exalted the accidental and the external over the real and the permanent; men who were fond of quibbles and sophistries, jealous of each other and of their own reputation, dogmatic and positive as priests are apt to be, and most positive on points which either are of no consequence or cannot be solved. The soul of Héloïse panted for a greater intellectual freedom and a deeper sympathy than these priests could give. She pined in society. She was isolated by her own superiority,--superior not merely in the radiance of the soul, but in the treasures of the mind. Nor could her companions comprehend her greatness, even while they were fascinated by her presence. She dazzled them by her personal beauty perhaps more than by her wit; for even mediaeval priests could admire an expansive brow, a deep blue eye, _doux et penétrant,_ a mouth varying with unconscious sarcasms, teeth strong and regular, a neck long and flexible, and shoulders sloping and gracefully moulded, over which fell ample and golden locks; while the attitude, the complexion, the blush, the thrilling accent, and the gracious smile, languor, and passion depicted on a face both pale and animated, seduced the imagination and commanded homage. Venus Polyhymnia stood confessed in all her charms, for the time triumphant over that Venus Urania who made the convent of the Paraclete in after times a blessed comforter to all who sought its consolations.

Among the distinguished visitors at the house of her uncle the canon, attracted by her beauty and accomplishments, was a man thirty-eight years of age, of noble birth, but by profession an ecclesiastic; whose large forehead, fiery eye, proud air, plain, negligent dress, and aristocratic manners, by turns affable and haughty, stamped him as an extraordinary man. The people in the streets stopped to gaze at him as he passed, or rushed to the doors and windows for a glimpse; for he was as famous for genius and learning as he was distinguished by manners and aspect. He was the eldest son of a Breton nobleman, who had abandoned his inheritance and birthright for the fascinations of literature and philosophy. His name was Peter Abélard, on the whole the most brilliant and interesting man whom the Middle Ages produced,--not so profound as Anselm, or learned as Peter Lombard, or logical as Thomas Aquinas, or acute as Albertus Magnus, but the most eloquent expounder of philosophy of whom I have read. He made the dullest subjects interesting; he clothed the dry bones of metaphysics with flesh and blood; he invested the most abstruse speculations with life and charm; he filled the minds of old men with envy, and of young men with admiration; he thrilled admirers with his wit, sarcasm, and ridicule,--a sort of Galileo, mocking yet amusing, with a superlative contempt of dulness and pretension. He early devoted himself to dialectics, to all the arts of intellectual gladiatorship, to all the sports of logical tournaments which were held in such value by the awakened spirits of the new civilization.