Part 27

The common notion that the impostor’s tomb is suspended by means of a loadstone is well known. Labat, in his Afrique Occidentale (T. ii. p. 143.) mentions the lie of a Marabout, who, on his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, affirmed, “_que le tombeau de Mahomet etoit porté en l’air par le moyen de certains Anges qui se relayent d’heure en heures pour soutenir ce fardeau_.” These fables, however, are modest in comparison with those which the Franciscans and Dominicans have invented to magnify their founders.

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_Hast thou not heard How when our clay is leaven’d first with life, The ministering Angel brings it from that spot Whereon ’tis written in the eternal book That soul and body must their parting take, And earth to earth return?_—XXIII. p. 217.

The Persians in their creed have a pleasant imagination concerning the death of men. They say, that every one must come and die in the place where the Angel took the earth of which he hath been made, thinking that one of these spirits has the care of forming the human creature, which he doth by mingling a little earth with the seed.—_Thevenot._

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_They perish, all their thousands perish there._—XXIII. p. 220.

The battle of Covadonga is one of the great miracles of Spanish history. It was asserted for many centuries without contradiction, and is still believed by the people, that when the Moors attacked Pelayo in the cave, their weapons were turned back upon themselves; that the Virgin Mary appeared in the clouds, and that part of a mountain fell upon the Infidels, and crushed those who were flying from the destruction. In what manner that destruction might have been effected, was exemplified upon a smaller scale in the Tyrol in the memorable war of 1809.

Barret sums up the story briefly, and in the true strain of Mine Ancient.

The Sarr’cen hearing that th’ Asturianites Had king created, and stood on their guard, Sends multitudes of Mohametized knights To rouse them out their rocks, and force their ward. Pelagius, hearing of this enterprize, Prepares his petty power on Auseve mount; Alchameh comes with Zarzen multiplies, Meaning Pelagius’ forces to dismount. To blows they come: but lo; a stroke divine. The Iber, few, beats numbrous Sarracene, Two myriads with Mahomet went to dine In Parca’s park.

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_The Bread of Life._—XXIV. p. 229.

It is now admitted by the best informed of the Romish writers themselves, that, for a thousand years, no other but common or leavened bread was used in the Eucharist. The wafer was introduced about the eleventh century. And as far down as the twelfth century the people were admitted to communicate in both kinds.

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_And let no shame be offer’d his remains._—XXV. p. 234.

According to the Comendador Fernan Nunez, in his Commentary upon the _Trezientas_, the tomb of Count Julian was shown in his days about four leagues from Huesca at a castle called Loarri, on the outside of a church which was in the castle.

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_His wonted leathern gipion._—XXV. p. 236.

The Musical Pilgrim in Purchas thus describes the Leonese:—

Wymmen in that land use no vullen, But alle in lether be the wounden: And her hevedez wonderly ben trust, Standing in her forheved as a crest, In rould clouthez lappet alle be forn Like to the prikke of a N’unicorn. And men have doubelettez full schert, Bare legget and light to stert.—P. 1231.

Purchas supposes this very curious poem to have been written about 200 years before he published it, _i. e._ about 1425. It is probably much older. In entering Castille from Elvas, the author says,

Now into Castell schall we fare Over the river, the land is bare. Full of heath and hunger also, And Sarasynez Governouriz thereto.

Now Badajoz and that part of the country was finally recovered from the Moors in the early part of the thirteenth century. Purchas perhaps judged from the age of the manuscript, which may have been written about the time on which he fixes, and the language modernised by the transcriber.

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_The light which o’er the fields of Bethlehem shone, Irradiated whole Spain._—XXV. p. 238.

“_Fallamos en las estorias que aquella ora que nuestro Señor Jesu Christo nascio, seyendo media noche, aparesçio una nuve sobre España que dio tan gran claridad, e tan gran resplandor, e tan gran calor, como el sol en medio del dia quando va mas apoderado sobre la tierra. E departen los sabios e dizen que se entiende por aquella que despues de Jesu Christo vernie su mandadero a España a predicar a los gentiles la ceguedad en que estavan, e que los alumbrarie con la fee de Jesu Chrysto, e aquesto fue San Pablo. Otros departen que en España avie de nasçer un prinçipe chrystiano que serie señor de todo el mundo, e valdrie mas por el todo el linaje de los omes, bien como esclarescio toda la tierra por la claridad de aquella nuve en quanto ella duro._”—Coronica General, ff. 71.

A more extraordinary example of the divine favour towards Spain is triumphantly brought forward by Francisco de Pisa. “Our Lord God,” says he, “has been pleased to preserve these kingdoms in the purity of the Faith, like a terrestrial Paradise, by means of the Cherubim of the Holy Office, which with its sword of fire has defended the entrance, through the merits and patronage of the most serene Virgin Mary the Mother of God.” “_Ha sido servido nuestro Señor Dios conservar estos reynos de España en la entereza de la Fe, como a un Parayso terrenal, mediante el Cherubin del Santo Officio, que con su espada de fuego les ha defendido la entrada por los meritos y patrocinio de la serenissima Virgen Maria Madre de Dios._”—Desc. de Toledo, L. 1. C. 25.

This passage is truly and lamentably characteristic.

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_The Oaken Cross._—XXV. p. 241.

The oaken cross which Pelayo bore in battle is said to have been preserved at Oviedo in the Camara Santa in company with that which the angels made for Alfonso the Great, concerning which Morales delivers a careful opinion, how much of it was made by the angels, and how much has been human workmanship. The people of Cangas, not willing that Pelayo’s cross should be in any thing inferior to his successors’, insist that it fell from Heaven. Morales however says, it is more certain that the king had it made to go out with it to battle at Covadonga. It was covered with gold and enamel in the year 908; when Morales wrote, it was in fine preservation, and doubtless so continued till the present generation. Upon the top branch of the cross there was this inscription: _Susceptum placide maneat hoc in honore Dei, quod offerunt famuli Christi Adefonsus Princeps et Scemena Regina._ On the right arm, _Quisquis auferre hæc donaria nostra presumpserit, fulmine divino intereat ipse._ On the left, _Hoc opus perfectum est, concessum est Sancto Salvatori Ovetensis Sedis. Hoc signo tuetur pius, hoc signo vincitur inimicus._ On the foot, _Et operatum est in Castello Gauzon anno Regni nostri XVII discurrente Era DCCCCXLVI._

“There is no other testimony,” says Morales, “that this is the cross of King Don Pelayo, than tradition handed down from one age to another. I wish the king had stated that it was so in his inscription, and I even think he would not have been silent upon this point, unless he had wished to imitate Alonso el Casto, who, in like manner, says nothing concerning the Angels upon his cross.” This passage is very characteristic of good old Ambrosio.

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_Like a mirror sparkling to the sun._—XXV. p. 247.

The Damascus blades are so highly polished, that when any one wants to arrange his turban, he uses his scymetar for a looking-glass.—_Le Brocquière_, p. 138.

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_Oh who could tell what deeds were wrought that day, Or who endure to hear._—XXV. p. 248.

I have nowhere seen a more curious description of a battle between Christians and Saracens than in Barret’s manuscript:

The forlorn Christian troops Moon’d troops encharge, The Mooned troops requite them with the like; Whilst Grecian lance cracks (thundering) Parthian targe, Parth’s flame-flash arrow Grecian through doth prick: And whilst that Median scymetar unlimbs The Christian knight, doth Christian curtle-axe, Unhead the Median horsemen; whilst here dims The Pagan’s goggling-eyes by Greekish axe, The Greek unhorsed lies by Persian push, And both all rageful grapple on the ground. And whilst the Saracen with furious rush The Syrian shocks, the Syrian as round Down shouldreth Saracen: whilst Babel blade Sends soul Byzantine to the starred cell, Byzantine pike with like-employed trade, Packs Babel’s spirit posting down to hell.

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_Who from their thirsty sands Pray that the locusts on the peopled plain May settle and prepare their way._—XXV. p. 249.

The Saharawans, or Arabs of the Desert, rejoice to see the clouds of locusts proceeding towards the north, anticipating therefrom a general mortality, which they call _elkhere_, the good or the benediction; for, after depopulating the rich plains of Barbary, it affords to them an opportunity of emanating from their arid recesses, in the desert, to pitch their tents in the desolated plains, or along the banks of some river.—_Jackson’s Morocco_, p. 106.

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_But where was he whose hand Had wielded it so well that glorious day?_—XXV. p. 250.

The account which the Romantic Chronicle gives of Roderick after his disappearance, is in so singular a strain of fiction, that I have been tempted to translate it. It strikingly exemplifies the doctrine of penance, of which monastic history supplies many instances almost as extraordinary as this fable.

Chap. 238.—_How the King Don Rodrigo left the battle and arrived at a hermitage, and of that which befell him._

“Now when the King Don Rodrigo had escaped from the battle, he began to go as fast as he could upon his horse along the banks of the Guadalete, and night came on, and the horse began to fail by reason of the many wounds which he had received; and as he went thus by the river side deploring the great ruin which had come upon him, he knew not where he was, and the horse got into a quagmire, and when he was in he could not get out. And when the king saw this he alighted, and stript off all his rich arms and the furniture thereof, and took off his crown from his head, and threw them all into the quagmire, saying, Of earth was I made, and even so are all my deeds like unto mud and mire. Therefore my pomp and vanity shall be buried in this mud till it has all returned again to earth, as I myself must do. And the vile end which I have deserved will beseem me well, seeing that I have been the principal cause of this great cruelty. And as he thus stript off all his rich apparel, he cast the shoes from his feet, and went his way, and wandered on towards Portugal; and he travelled so far that night and the day following, that he came to a hermitage near the sea, where there was a good man who had dwelt there serving God for full forty years; and now he was of great age, for he was well nigh a hundred years old. And he entered into the hermitage, and found a crucifix therein, being the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, even as he was crucified, and for the remembrance of Him, he bent both his knees to the ground, and claspt his hands, weeping and confessing his sins before God, for he weened not that any man in the world saw or heard him. And he said thus, O very Lord who by thy word hast made all the world from nothing which it was, and hast created all things, those which are visible to men, and those which are invisible, the heavenly as well as the earthly, and who didst incarnate thyself that thou mightest undergo thy passion and death, to save those who firmly put their trust in thee, giving up thy holy ghost from thy glorified body upon the tree of the true cross,—and who didst descend into Hell, and deliveredst thy friends from thence, and didst regale them with the glory of Heaven; And afterwards thy holy spirit came again into that most holy body, which thou wast pleased to take upon thee in this world; and, manifesting thyself for the true God which thou wert, thou didst deign to abide in this dark world forty days with their nights, and then thou didst ascend into thy heavenly glory, and didst enlighten with the grace of the Holy Ghost thy beloved disciples. I beseech thee, O Lord, that thou wouldst enlighten me, a king in tribulation, wretched and full of many sins, and deserving all evils; let not the soul which is thine, and which cost thee so dear, receive the evil and the desert of this abominable flesh; and may it please thee, O Lord, after the downfall, destruction, perdition, and desolation, which I, a miserable king, have suffered in this world, that my disconsolate soul may not be forgotten by thee, and that all this misery may be in satisfaction for my errors. And I earnestly beseech thee, O Lord, that thy grace may breathe upon me, that in this world I may make satisfaction for my sins, so that at the Great Day of Judgement I may not be condemned to the torments of hell.

“Having said these words, weeping as though he would burst, he remained there a long hour. And when the Hermit heard him say all this, he was greatly astonished, and he went unto him. And when the King saw him he was little pleased; howbeit after he had talked with him, he would rather have found him there than have been restored again to the great honour which he had lost; for the Hermit comforted him in such wise in this his tribulation, that he was right well contented; and he confessed unto him, and told him all that concerned him. And the Hermit said to him, King, thou shalt remain in this hermitage, which is a remote place, and where thou mayest lead thy life as long as it shall please God. And for me, on the third day from hence, I shall pass away out of this world; and thou shalt bury me, and thou shalt take my garments, and fulfil the time of a year in this hermitage. Take no thought as to provision for thy support, for every Friday thou shalt have it after the same manner as I, and thou shalt so husband it, that it may suffice thee for the whole week; That flesh which hath been fostered in great delight shall suffer abstinence, lest it should grow proud; and thou shalt endure hunger and cold and thirst in the love of our Lord, that he may have compassion upon thee. Thy station till the hour of sleep must always be upon that rock, where there is an oratory facing the east; and thou shalt continue the service of God in such manner as God will direct thee to do. And take heed that thy soul fall not into temptation. And since thou hast spoken this day of penitence, to-morrow thou shalt communicate and receive the true body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will be thy protection and support against the enemy and the persecutor. And put thou thy firm trust in the sign of the Cross; and thus shalt thou please thy Saviour.

“Many other things the holy Hermit said, which made the King right joyful to hear them; and there they continued till it was the hour for sleep. And the holy Hermit shewed him his bed, and said, When I shall have left the company, thou wilt follow the ways which I have followed, for which our Lord will have mercy upon thee, and will extend his hand over thee, that thou mayest persevere in good, and in his holy service. And then they laid down and slept till it was the hour of matins, when they should both arise. And the Hermit awoke him, for as the King had not slept for a long time, and was moreover full weary, he would not have awaked so soon, if the Hermit had not roused him; and they said their hours. And when it was time the Hermit said mass, and the King heard it with great devotion, and communicated with great contrition, and remained in prayer for the space of two hours. And the hour for taking food came, and the Hermit took a loaf which was made of pannick and of rye, and gave half thereof to the King, and took for himself the other half: And they ate little of it, as men who could not eat more, the one by reason of age, and the other because he was not used to such fare. And thus they continued till the third day, when the holy Hermit departed this life.”

Ch. 239.—_How the Hermit died, and the King found a writing in his hand._

“On the third day, the pious Hermit expired at the same hour which he had said to the King, whereat the King was full sorrowful, as one who took great consolation in the lessons which he gave. And when he had thus deceased, the King by himself, with his hands, and with an oaken stick which was there, made his grave. And when he was about to bury him, he found a writing in his hand; and he took it and opened it, and found that it contained these words.

Ch. 240.—_Of the rule of life which the Hermit left written for King Don Rodrigo._

“O King, who through thy sins hast lost the great honour in which thou wert placed, take heed that thy soul also come not into the same judgement which hath fallen upon thy flesh. And receive into thy heart the instructions that I shall give thee now, and see that thou swerve not from them, nor abatest them a jot; for if thou observest them not, or departest in ought from them, thou wilt bring damnation upon thy soul; for all that thou shalt find in this writing is given thee for penance, and thou must learn with great contrition of repentance, and with humbleness of patience, to be content with that which God hath given thee to suffer in this world. And that thou mayest not be deceived in case any company should come unto thee, mark and observe this and pass in it thy life. Thou shalt arise two hours after midnight, and say thy matins within the hermitage. When the day breaks thou shalt go to the oratory, and kneeling upon the ground, say the whole hours by the breviary, and when thou hast finished them thou shalt say certain prayers of our Lord, which thou wilt find therein. And when thou hast done this, contemplate then upon the great power of our Lord, and upon his mercy, and also upon the most holy passion which he suffered for mankind upon the cross, being himself very God, and maker of all things; and how with great humility he chose to be incarnate in a poor virgin, and not to come as a king, but as a mediator among the nations. And contemplate also upon the poor life which he always led in this world, to give us an example; and that he will come at the day of judgement to judge the quick and the dead, and give to every one the meed which he hath deserved. Then shalt thou give sustenance to thy flesh of that bread of pannick and rye, which shall be brought to thee every Friday in the manner that I have said; and of other food thou shalt not eat, although it should be given or sent thee; neither shalt thou change thy bread. And when thou hast eaten give thanks to God, because he has let thee come to repentance; and then thou shalt go to the oratory, and there give praise to the Virgin our Lady holy Mary, mother of God, in such manner as shall come to thee in devotion. If when, thou hast finished, heaviness should come upon thee, thou mayest sleep, and when thou shalt have rested as long as is reasonable, return thou to thy oratory, and there remain, making thy prayers always upon thy knees, and for nothing which may befall thee depart thou from thence, till thou hast made an end of thy prayers, whether it rain or snow, or if a tempest should blow. And for as much as the flesh could sustain so many mundane pleasures, so must it suffer also celestial abstinences; two masses thou hast heard in this hermitage, and in it, it is God’s will that thou shalt hear no more, for more would not be to his service. And if thou observest these things, God will have compassion upon thy deserts. And when the King had read this, he laid it upon the altar, in a place where it would be well preserved.”

Ch. 241.—_How the Devil came in the form of a Hermit to deceive the King Don Rodrigo._