COSSACK CONQUEST OF SIBERIA
1(return)Translated by Chauncey C. Starkweather.
ASSASSINATION OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE
DIVISION OF THE NETHERLANDS
1(return)Francis, Duke of Anjou, the French accomplice of Catherine de' Medici in persecution of the Protestants, is elsewhere described by Motley as "the most despicable personage who had ever entered the Netherlands."
NAMING OF VIRGINIA: FIRST DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIANS
THE LOST COLONY
1(return)Middle.
2(return)Either way.
3(return)The site of the colony established in the following year, 1585.
DRAKE CAPTURES CARTAGENA
HE "SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN'S BEARD" AT CADIZ
1(return)In the official report the Spaniards admit the loss of twenty-four ships valued at one hundred seventy-two thousand ducats. This, it would seem, was all they dared tell the King.
DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA
1(return)Ranke.
2(return)Strype, cited in Southey:Naval History.
3(return)Copy of contemporary letter in the Harleian Collection, quoted by Southey.
4(return)Hakluyt:Voyages.
5(return)Strype, and the notes to the Life of Drake, in theBiographia Britannica.
HENRY OF NAVARRE ACCEPTS CATHOLICISM
HE IS ACKNOWLEDGED KING OF FRANCE
1(return)The Marchioness de Monceaux, who, D'Aubigné says, acted this part in the hope of becoming queen herself if Henry should be declared king.
2(return)Henry IV was always sensible that his abjuration would expose him to great dangers, which made him write in this manner to Mademoiselle d'Estrées: "On Sunday I shall take a dangerous leap. While I am writing to you I have a hundred troublesome people about me, which makes me detest St. Denis as much as you do Mantes," etc.
3(return)Another act of equal validity, by which Henry IV acknowledged the pope's authority, is the declaration which he made after his conversion, that it was necessity and the confusion of affairs which obliged him to receive absolution from the prelates of France rather than from those of the Holy Father.
4(return)It was Renauld, or Beaune de Samblançai, Archbishop of Bourges, who received the King's abjuration; the Cardinal of Bourbon, who was not a priest, and nine other bishops assisted at the ceremony. Henry IV entering the Chapel of St. Denis, the Archbishop said to him, "Who are you?" Henry replied, "I am the King." "What is your request?" said the Archbishop. "To be received," said the King, "into the pale of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church." "Do you desire it?" added the prelate. "Yes, I do desire it," replied the King. Then, kneeling, he said: "I protest and swear, in the presence of Almighty God, to live and die in the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion; to protect and defend it against all its enemies, at the hazard of my blood and life, renouncing all heresies contrary to this Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church." He afterward put this same confession in writing into the hands of the Archbishop, who presented him his ring to kiss, giving him absolution with a loud voice, during whichTe Deumwas sung, etc.
5(return)The King, on the 12th of December this year, held an assembly of the Protestants at Mantes, in which he publicly declared that his changing his religion should make no alteration in the affairs of the Protestants. And, the Calvinists having asked many things of him, he told them he could not comply with their requests, but that he would tolerate them.
6(return)The King had a mind to see them march out, and viewed them from a window over St. Denis' gate. They all saluted him with their hats off, bowing profoundly low. The King, with great politeness, returned the salute to the principal officers, adding these words: "Remember me to your master; go, I permit you, but return no more." This anecdote agrees with that in theMemoirs for the History of France, but is contradicted by theJournalwritten by the same author.
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT
1(return)January, 1897, p. 192.
2(return)This is a mistake. The fine of three thousand pounds was imposed for his part in the Essex rebellion.
3(return)Off and on, a fortnight at the end of January and beginning of February, and then again probably for a very short time in March.
4(return)Fawkes was absent part of the time.
5(return)The words between brackets are inserted in another hand.
6(return)Inserted in the same hand as that in which the words about the cellar were written. It will be observed that the insertion cannot serve anyone's purpose.
7(return)Gracechurch Street.
8(return)On July 20-30, 1605, Father Creswell writes to Paul V that Nottingham showed him every civility "that could be expected from one who does not profess our holy religion."
9(return)The "cellar" was not really hired till a little before Easter, March 31st.
10(return)Properly "John."
11(return)InThe King's Bookit is stated that Fawkes was shown the rack, but never racked. Probably the torture used on the 9th was that of the manacles, or hanging up by the wrists or thumbs.
12(return)The principal ones were either killed or taken at Holbeche on that very day.
13(return)Thomas Winter.
14(return)Catesby, Percy, and John Wright.
15(return)I.e., Catesby. In a copy forwarded to Edmondes by Salisbury (Stowe MSS. 168, fol. 223) the copyist had originally written "three or four more," which is altered to "three."
16(return)Christopher Wright.
17(return)Robert Winter.
18(return)This is an obvious mistake, as the widow Skinner was not at this time married to Bright, but one just as likely to be made by Fawkes himself as by his examiners.
19(return)Percy.
20(return)The words in Italics are marked by pen-strokes across them for omission.
21(return)G.P.B., No. 49. In the Stowe copy the names of the commissioners are omitted, and a list of fifteen plotters added. As the paper was enclosed in a letter to Edmondes of the 14th, these might easily be added at any date preceding that.
22(return)Probably, as Father Gerard suggests, what would now be known as a coursing-match.
23(return)Proclamation Book, R.O., p. 117.
24(return)A late postscript added to the letter to the ambassadors sent off on the 9th (Winwood, ii. 173) shows that before the end of the day Salisbury had learned even more of the details than were comprised in the sheriff's letter.
25(return)November 5th.
26(return)November 6th.
27(return)November 7th.
28(return)November 8th.
CERVANTES' "DON QUIXOTE" REFORMS LITERATURE
1(return)The phrase was probably used by Cervantes in irony. It had been used by others before, and was a common form.
2(return)Fr. Sepulveda, quoted by Navarrete.
3(return)And "employed in various agencies and businesses," says Navarrete, vaguely.
4(return)ThatDon Quixotecould not have been written before 1591 is proved by the mention in chapter vi of a book published in that year. That it must have been written subsequently to 1596 is proved by the reference in chapter xix to an incident which was not ended till September, 1596 (see Navarrete). There are other hints and allusions in the story which, I think, show that it could scarcely have been begun while Philip II was alive.
5(return)FromWilhelm Meister, Lehrjahre, chapter xii, thus Englished by Thomas Carlyle:
"Who never ate his bread in sorrow,Who never spent the darksome hoursWeeping and watching for the morrow,He knew you not, ye unseen Powers."
"Who never ate his bread in sorrow,Who never spent the darksome hoursWeeping and watching for the morrow,He knew you not, ye unseen Powers."
"Who never ate his bread in sorrow,
Who never spent the darksome hours
Weeping and watching for the morrow,
He knew you not, ye unseen Powers."
6(return)There are two curious pieces of evidence in proof thatDon Quixotewas known before it was printed. In the first edition of thePicara Justina, composed by Francisco de Ubeda—the license to print which is dated August, 1604—there are some truncated verses, like those in the beginning ofDon Quixote, in whichDon Quixoteis mentioned by name as already famous (Catalogo de Salva, vol. ii, p. 157). Also in a private letter from Lope de Vega to his patron, the Duke of Sessa, there is a malignant allusion to Cervantes, speaking of poets. "There is none so bad as Cervantes, and none so foolish as to praiseDon Quixote." The letter is dated August 4, 1604.
7(return)That seems to have been the usual period for which a book was licensed in that age. The sum which Cervantes received for his copyright is not recorded.
8(return)The Third Part ofDon Florisel de Niqueawas dedicated to a former Duque de Bejar. See Salva'sCatalogo, vol. ii, p. 14.
9(return)Cervantes is supposed to reflect on this meddlesome ecclesiastic in Part II, chap, xxxi, ofDon Quixote, where there is a passage against those of the religious profession who "govern the houses of princes," written with a bitterness most unusual in our author.
10(return)Those who are fond of dwelling on coincidences may find one here of singular interest. The year during whichDon Quixotewas being printed was also the year in which, according to the best authorities, Shakespeare was producing his perfectedHamlet. The two noblest works of human wit, their subjects bearing a curious affinity one to another, each the story of a mind disordered by the burden of setting the world right, were thus born in the same year.
11(return)Con general aplauso de las gentes—he says in the Second Part ofDon Quixote, speaking through the mouth of the Duchess. The legend, revived in the present age, thatDon Quixotehung fire on the first publication, and that the author wrote anonymously a tract calledEl Buscapie(The Search-foot), in order to explain his story and its object, rests only upon the evidence of one Ruidiaz, and is contradicted by all the facts of the case. No such aid was necessary to push the sale of the book, whose purpose had been sufficiently explained by the author in his preface. The so-calledBuscapie, published in 1848 by Adolfo de Castro, is an impudent forgery, which has imposed upon no one. It is the composition of Señor de Castro himself, who is afarceur, of some wit and more effrontery. Ticknor is even too serious in the attention which he bestows on Señor de Castro and his work, which an English publisher has thought worthy of a translation.
12(return)Señor Gayangos is of opinion that there were other editions of 1605 which have wholly perished; one probably at Barcelona, the press of which city was very active in that year; one at Pamplona, and probably one at Saragossa, which were capitals of old kingdoms. See also Señor Asensio's letter to theAteneo, No. 23, p. 296; and the Bibliography ofDon Quixoteat the end of this volume.
13(return)The ordinaryobrada, or impression, of a book at this period, I am told by Señor Gayangos—and there can be no better authority—was 250 copies. But in the case of a popular book likeDon Quixotethe impression would be larger—probably 500 copies. Supposing 8 editions to have been issued in 1605, there would thus have been printed 4,000 copies in the first year—a number unprecedently large in an age when readers were few and books a luxury.
14(return)The last book of the kind written beforeDon Quixote, according to Clemencin, wasPolicisne de Boecia, published in 1602; butLa Toledana Discreta, which is a romantic poem inottava rima, was published in 1604, and a few chap-books and religious romances, of the slighter kind, afterward.
15(return)The question is reopened in theEspaña Moderna(1894), by my good friend Asensio, who quotes from one of the histories of Charles V how that as a youth he would draw his sword and lay about him at the figures in the tapestry, and how once he was discovered teasing a caged lion with a stick. This is slender material on which to base the theory of Charles V being the original of Don Quixote.
16(return)See the eloquent and judicious prologue to hisRomancero Generalby Don Agustin Duran.
17(return)
"Caballeros granadinos,Aunque Moros, hijos d'algo."
"Caballeros granadinos,Aunque Moros, hijos d'algo."
"Caballeros granadinos,
Aunque Moros, hijos d'algo."
18(return)See the account of the Paso Honroso, held at the instance of Suero de Quiñones, before Juan II, in 1434, at the bridge of Orbigo, near Leon, which is contained in Appendix D, vol. i, of my translation ofDon Quixote.
19(return)See theViaje del Parnaso, chapter iv:
"Y he dado enDon QuixotepasatiempoAl pecho melancolico y mohinoEn cualquiera sazon, en todo tiempo."("And I am he inQuixotewho has givenA pastime for the melancholy soulIn every age, and all time and season.")
"Y he dado enDon QuixotepasatiempoAl pecho melancolico y mohinoEn cualquiera sazon, en todo tiempo."
"Y he dado enDon Quixotepasatiempo
Al pecho melancolico y mohino
En cualquiera sazon, en todo tiempo."
("And I am he inQuixotewho has givenA pastime for the melancholy soulIn every age, and all time and season.")
("And I am he inQuixotewho has given
A pastime for the melancholy soul
In every age, and all time and season.")
Why cannot we believe the author, when he thus plainly and candidly avows his purpose?
20(return)See the essay of Salva's in Ochoa,Apuntes para una Biblioteca, vol. ii, pp. 723-740. I know one great Spanish scholar who has never forgiven Cervantes for destroying the books of chivalries. But his anger is rather that of the bibliographer than of the critic or patriot. He has the best collection of those evil books in Europe.
FOUNDING OF QUEBEC
CHAMPLAIN ESTABLISHES FRENCH POWER IN CANADA
1(return)About the end of 1610 or early in 1611 Champlain, in Paris, espoused a very youthful lady, named Hélène Boullé, daughter of the King's private secretary. She was a Huguenot, though subsequently converted by her husband. She visited Canada in 1620, and remained about four years.
2(return)This nomination of Champlain as lieutenant of the Viceroy of New France was dated October 15, 1612; hence, in lists of official functionaries of Canada, this date is frequently put as that on which the rule of governors commenced, Champlain being set down as the first.
3(return)Henceforward the history of the colony, as well as that of the gradual extension of discovery westward, is inseparably associated with the proceedings of the religious missionaries, who were the real pioneers of French influence among the tribes of the interior.
4(return)According to the custom of the ladies of that time, Madame Champlain wore a small mirror suspended from her girdle. The untutored natives who approached her were astonished at perceiving themselves reflected from the glass, and circulated among themselves the innocent conceit that she cherished in her heart the recollection of each one of them.
5(return)He died in the course of this season. Champlain, in his memoirs, mentions him with approbation and respect.
6(return)When Champlain, accompanied by Pontegravé, went on board Louis Kirke's vessel, on the 20th, he demanded to be shown the commission from the King of England in virtue of which the seizure of the country was made. The two, as being persons whose reputation had spread throughout Europe, were received with profound respect; and after Champlain's request relative to the commission had been complied with, it was stipulated that the inhabitants should leave with their arms and baggage, and be supplied with provisions and means of transport to France. About four days were needed to procure the sanction of the admiral, David Kirke, at Tadoussac, and then Champlain, with a heavy heart, attended by his followers, embarked in the English ship. He says in his memoirs—"Since the surrender every day seems to me a month." On the way down the St. Lawrence, Emery de Caën was met, above Tadoussac, in a vessel with supplies for Quebec. Kirke is said to have desired Champlain to use his influence with De Caën to induce him to surrender without resistance, which, however, the noble-minded man declined. Bazilli was reported to be in the gulf with a French fleet, but nevertheless De Caën felt obliged to surrender, as the Kirkes had two ships to oppose his one. De Caën told Champlain that he believed peace was already signed between the two crowns.
7(return)A few, by Champlain's advice, accepted the offers of the English to remain under their protection in the possession of their habitations and clearings. They were to enjoy the same privileges as the English themselves. A number of the French traders also remained, but betook themselves to the west and into the Huron country, where they lived with the Indians until the country was restored to France, about three years subsequently. Louis Kirke was left in command at Quebec.
CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
1(return)See 1552.