CHAPTER XXV

At nightfall on Tuesday, the 16th of September, 1578, D. John suddenly felt the intense cold of fever and general lassitude. The fever lasted all night, and the next day, although still unwell, and with a bad headache, he got up at his usual time, heard Mass, did his business, held a council, and visited several quarters. This was at the camp of Tirlemont, where D. John had moved the royal troops after the famous battle of Mechlin, the last at which he commanded, and at which he did such valiant deeds. The plague was decimating the camp of the rebels, and although the infection had not penetrated to that of D. John, his soldiers suffered from diarrhæa, especially the Germans, who were intemperate in what they ate, and not careful about what they drank. This, with reason, worried D. John, and he took infinite precautions to avoid the contagion, inspecting everything himself, making daily rounds, visiting the sick in their huts, helping and cheering them, and striving, above all, that none died without receiving the Viaticum, which he usually accompanied. This matter of the Sacraments, as being transcendental and eternal, he had committed to his then confessor, the Franciscan Fr. Francisco de Orantes, in order that he might urge and watch over the many ecclesiastics in the camp, because D. John, who always had taken much care of the spiritual welfare of his troops, had in these latter days, according to Vander Hammen and Cabrera de Córdoba, made his camp into a real convent of monks.

It was feared, therefore, that this sudden illness of D. John was the forerunner of the plague, and this fear was strengthened when the same symptoms showed themselvesin three or four gentlemen of his household, of those who attended him most closely, among them the venerable Gabrio Cervelloni, who was already seventy, and was then, by D. John's orders, making a fort on the heights of Bouges, in front of the camp at Tirlemont, and scarcely a league from Namur. Alarm was ended on the fourth day, seeing that the fever and other ills left D. John. But the next day, which was a Saturday, he suddenly grew worse, and while the other invalids went on getting better and became convalescent, he showed other symptoms of a strange illness, palpitations which made him get up in bed, tremblings of the hands, arms, tongue and eyes, and red spots showed themselves, others livid and almost blue, with black, rough heads.

Then another suspicion spread through the camp, which historians of old have transmitted to us, and which the fresh facts and discoveries of modern ones make probable. They said that D. John had been poisoned during his recovery, and Vander Hammen goes so far as to point to the hand which was the instrument of the crime. "This made his household suspect," he says, "that he was poisoned, and that Doctor Ramirez had given him something in his broth." And in the diary of D. John's illness, kept by his doctor, the original of which Porreño inserts in his life of the hero of Lepanto, these words are to be read: "With some suspicion, the antidote for poison was used, sometimes externally, sometimes internally."

Public opinion, not only in the camp, but wherever the news reached, at once pointed to the Queen of England or the Prince of Orange as authors of the suspected crime. Ratcliffe's recent attempt and the various defeated ones of Orange justified this bad opinion, and the application of the judicial principle "cui prodest" fits like a glove either the heretic Queen or the apostate Prince.

But nobody could then suspect that the sinister "cui prodest" suits the Secretary Antonio Pérez better than anyone else, because nobody yet knew that he, more than anyone, was interested in the disappearance from the world's stage of D. John. It must have been a nightmarefor Antonio Pérez, even to dream that D. John might return to Spain, knowing, or at least suspecting, the crimes, infamies and artifices of which he had been the victim. And once put on the scent, investigating, proving, becoming certain, with his right and terrible thirst for justice, in a single interview with the King, his brother, he could bring everything to light, and sink Antonio Pérez in that abyss of infamy and iniquity in which the hand of God buried him later. It is, therefore, very probable that Antonio Pérez, believing at last that D. John of Austria would return to Spain, would try to keep him away for ever with "the broth of Doctor Ramirez," or by some similar means; and it is the general opinion at present that if D. John's death were caused by crime (although it is not sufficiently proved), it might be as justly attributed to the Queen of England, or the Prince of Orange as to the secretary Antonio Pérez; all three were capable of it, and for divers reasons all three gained great advantages by the death of the conqueror of Lepanto.

But be this as it may, it is certain that from the first moment of his relapse D. John understood that he was dying, and that his hoped-for end was coming to him—

... que non ha dolorDel home que sea grande ni cuytado.[18]

... que non ha dolor

Del home que sea grande ni cuytado.[18]

He therefore made ready to receive death with perfect, manly courage, with the dignity of a Prince and the humility of a Christian, and his first arrangement was that he should be conveyed to the fort which Gabrio Cervelloni was then making a league away. He ordered himself to be carried on a stretcher by his servants, without order or arrangement, to prevent the soldiers having the grief of saying good-bye to him, and to cause no one alarm or trouble. There remained inside the surrounding wall of the fort the only part yet finished, a hut, or rather a pigeon house, where D. Bernardino de Zúñiga, D. John's Captain of Infantry, lodged, and there he ordered himself to be takento disturb no one. "There was only," says Vander Hammen, "a pigeon house to make him a chamber." They cleared out the young pigeons, cleaned it, hung a few coverings on the ceilings and wall to exclude the light, and over them some pieces of cloth, which they sprinkled with perfumed waters, and made a wooden staircase for mounting to it. The father confessor Fr. Francisco de Orantes writes to Philip II: "He died in a hut, as poorly as a soldier. I assure Y.M. there was nothing but a cock-loft over a farm-yard, in order that in this he should imitate the poverty of Christ."

All this took place on Saturday, the 20th, and on Sunday, the 21st, very early in the morning, D. John ordered his confessor, Fray Francisco de Orantes, to be called, and with great humility and with much sorrow for his sins he made a general confession of his life, with the eagerness and fervour of one who is preparing to die; and although the doctors still held out hopes of saving his life, and tried to dissuade him, he asked for the Viaticum, and received it with great devotion and fervour, at a mass celebrated in his room by the Jesuit Juan Fernández. Then he sent for all his Field-Marshals to his miserable retreat, also the Councillors of State and other personages attached to the army, and before them solemnly resigned the command and gave the baton to Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, who was present, kneeling at the foot of the bed, and so overcome and afflicted because of his great love for D. John, that he buried his forehead in the bed-clothes, and the Count de Mansfeld had to lift him up and comfort him. It was an extraordinary thing, which moved and brought tears to the eyes of all those veterans, to see that thunderbolt of war, Alexander Farnese, daring and brave and of indomitable courage, afflicted and overcome like a weak woman on receiving the supreme command from the hands of his dying friend and kinsman.

Then he directed his confessor Fr. Francisco de Orantes to declare before them all what D. John had already told him privately. That he left no will, because he possessed nothing which was not his Lord and Master the King's.That he commended his body and soul to the King; his soul in order that the King should order suffrages to be made for the great need there was; his body that it might be buried near that of his Lord and father the Emperor, by which he should consider his services were repaid. But if this were not so, then that they should give him burial in the monastery of Our Lady of Montserrat. Item, he begged the King to look after his mother and brother. Item, to look after his servants, pay them and reward them, because he died so poor that he could not do so. "As to my personal debts and bills," he said at the end, "they are very few and are very clear."

He said this with great firmness, taking leave of them all with his hand, and himself taking leave of the things of earth to think and speak of nothing beyond those of heaven.

He, however, retained Father Juan Fernández, and showing him a little manuscript book which he kept under his pillow, said these were the prayers which he recited every day, without ever missing one in his life, and as the dreadful pain in his head troubled his sight, so that he could not read, begged the father, for the love of God and for the love of him, to do him the favour of reciting them in his name. Much moved, the father promised, and, according to his own testimony, it took him a good hour to recite those prayers which the devout Prince said "every day of his life," in the midst of the fatigues of war, the occupations of Governor, and, most difficult of all, in the midst of the dissipations of worldly pleasures. The little book was all in D. John's writing. It began with the baby prayers he had learnt in his childhood from Doña Magdalena de Ulloa; then followed various pious exercises, and it ended with several prayers composed by D. John himself, according as he had been inspired in the course of his life, by his difficulties, his sorrows, hopes and joys, and his warm effusions of thanksgiving. In short, it was an index, showing his attitude towards God in all the events of his life, which the grateful heart of D. John daily remembered, and which only the holy Father Juan Fernández had the happiness of knowing.

It was this father who, a few months later, under the command of Alexander Farnese, performed the extraordinary deed of heroism, at the same time an act of incredible charity, in the trench of Maestricht, which we have told in another place. D. John had known him in Luxemburg, on his first arrival, and astonished at his holiness, prudence and learning, and profoundly struck by his untiring zeal for the welfare of the soldiers, attached him at once to the army, and took him everywhere; and although he was not D. John's official confessor, he confessed to him often, and consulted him privately in all difficult matters. During D. John's short last illness, together with Fr. Francisco de Orantes, he assisted him all the time, and when D. John's dreadful headache and delirium left him, the father sustained him with spiritual talks which maintained the sick man in his peace and resignation, and gave the Jesuit the ineffable comfort that the just experience before the marvels of Divine Grace.

In one of these conversations D. John told P. Juan Fernández of his firm determination, taken four months beforehand, if God spared his life in Flanders, to retire for ever from the world to the hermitage of Montserrat, there to serve "that Lord who could and would do much more for him than his brother D. Philip." A bitter phrase this, which without, as some have thought, censuring Philip (because there would be none in supposing greater power and love in the King of heaven than in the most powerful and saintly King on earth), still reveals the profound disillusionment which had taken hold of the victor of Lepanto, for the last four months, that is to say since the death of Escovedo.

Photo AndersonD. JOHN OF AUSTRIA'S PLACE OF BURIALEscorial and surrounding country, present day

The illness gained ground rapidly; each day, even each hour, produced some new, strange and painful symptom. At times he was seized with fainting fits, in which he appeared to have drawn his last breath, at others with delirium of wild things and of war, in which he always imagined himself commanding in a battle, and from which he was only drawn by the names of Jesus and Mary, which Fathers Orantes and Fernández invoked in his hearing. On the 30th D. John felt so weak that he again desired to receive the Viaticum, and charged Fr. Francisco de Orantes to give him extreme unction in time, whenever he judged that the moment had come. At nightfall that day the confessor thought that the time had arrived, and administered the last Sacrament to him, which D. John received with great devotion and perfect consciousness, in the presence of all the Field-Marshals and other personages who were crowded into the narrow precincts.

No one slept that night in fort or camp, and continually messengers went to and fro, bearers of sad news. At dawn Father Juan Fernández said mass at the bedside, thinking D. John unconscious, as his eyes were already closed; but being told by the confessor that the Host was being raised, he quickly took off his cap and did reverence. At nine o'clock he seemed somewhat to revive, and then he was taken with a fresh delirium, in which, with extraordinary strength, he began to get angry with the soldiers, commanding in a battle, giving orders to the battalions, calling the captains by name, sending horses flying, reproving them at times because they allowed themselves to be cut off by the enemy, calling others to victory with eyes, hands and voice, always clamouring for the Marqués de Santa Cruz, whom he called "D. Álvaro, my friend," his guide, master, and his right hand.

"Jesus! Jesus! Mary!" implored the confessor. "Jesus! Jesus! Mary!" at last repeated D. John of Austria, and, repeating these holy names, became gradually calmer, until he sank into a profound lethargy, forerunner, doubtless, of death, with his eyes shut, his body inert, with the Crucifix of the Moors on his breast, where P. Juan Fernández had placed it, the only sign of life being his difficult, uneven breathing.

They all knelt, believing that the supreme moment had come, and the two priests began to recite by turns the prayers for the dying. Suddenly, about eleven o'clock, D. John gave a great sigh, and they heard him distinctly articulate in a weak but clear, sweet, plaintive voice, like a child calling to its mother, "Aunt! Aunt! My lady Aunt!"

And this was all. For two hours the lethargy lasted, and at half-past one, without effort, trouble, or any violence, he gasped twice, and the soul of "That John sent by God" fled to His bosom to render account of the mission which had been confided to him.

Had he really fulfilled it? Was the mission of D. John of Austria to drown in the waters of Lepanto the great power of the Turk, threat to the faith of Christ and to the liberty of Europe, or did the mission also extend to conquering the kingdom of England, and bringing back that great people to the fold of the Catholic Church, as Christ's two Vicars Pius V and Gregory XIII wished and thought?

If it were so, D. John of Austria can well liquidate his debt before the Divine Tribunal, giving for only answer those words of Christ to St. Theresa, which so alarmingly show the fearful reach of human free will: "Theresa! I wished it, but men did not wish it."

Eusebio Nieremberg, in his life of the P. Juan Fernández, relates this strange circumstance relative to D. John of Austria:

"A few days later (after D. John's death) he appeared to the father, who was at one of the colleges, and said, 'Father Juan Fernández, why have you forgotten friends?' 'I have not forgotten, my lord, but what have I got to do?' Then he told him that he must help him with his suffrages and do certain things. The servant of God did all he asked with much celerity and earnestness, saying masses and prayers and doing penances for him, and making others do the same. At the end of a few days he appeared again, shining and glorious, saying that he was in heaven and was very grateful for the good works they had done for him."

Don John was buried first in the Cathedral at Namur, but the following spring his body (except his intestines) was conveyed to Spain by orders of Philip II and buried with much pomp in the Escorial. The story of the body being cut in pieces at the joints and placed in three leather bags on the pack saddle of a horse for the journey, is too well known not to be mentioned here. Sir William Stirling Maxwell says that it was to avoid "expense and the troublesome questions which were in those days likely to arise between the clergy and magistracy of the towns through which a royal corpse was publicly carried." (Translator.)

The End.

A Page FromTHE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE

It has long been a reproach to England that only one volume by ANATOLE FRANCE has been adequately rendered into English; yet outside this country he shares with TOLSTOI the distinction of being the greatest and most daring student of humanity living.

¶ There have been many difficulties to encounter in completing arrangements for a uniform edition, though perhaps the chief barrier to publication here has been the fact that his writings are not for babes—but for men and the mothers of men. Indeed, some of his Eastern romances are written with biblical candour. "I have sought truth strenuously," he tells us, "I have met her boldly. I have never turned from her even when she wore anunexpected aspect." Still, it is believed that the day has come for giving English versions of all his imaginative works, as well as of his monumental study JOAN OF ARC, which is undoubtedly the most discussed book in the world of letters to-day.

¶ Mr. John Lane has pleasure in announcing that the following volumes are either already published or are passing through the press.

THE RED LILYMOTHER OF PEARLTHE GARDEN OF EPICURUSTHE CRIME OF SYLVESTRE BONNARDBALTHASARTHE WELL OF ST. CLARETHAÏSTHE WHITE STONEPENGUIN ISLANDTHE MERRIE TALES OF JACQUES TOURNE BROCHEJOCASTA AND THE FAMISHED CATTHE ELM TREE ON THE MALLTHE WICKER-WORK WOMANAT THE SIGN OF THE REINE PEDAUQUETHE OPINIONS OF JEROME COIGNARDMY FRIEND'S BOOKTHE ASPIRATIONS OF JEAN SERVIENLIFE AND LETTERS (4 vols.)JOAN OF ARC (2 vols.)

THE RED LILY

MOTHER OF PEARL

THE GARDEN OF EPICURUS

THE CRIME OF SYLVESTRE BONNARD

BALTHASAR

THE WELL OF ST. CLARE

THAÏS

THE WHITE STONE

PENGUIN ISLAND

THE MERRIE TALES OF JACQUES TOURNE BROCHE

JOCASTA AND THE FAMISHED CAT

THE ELM TREE ON THE MALL

THE WICKER-WORK WOMAN

AT THE SIGN OF THE REINE PEDAUQUE

THE OPINIONS OF JEROME COIGNARD

MY FRIEND'S BOOK

THE ASPIRATIONS OF JEAN SERVIEN

LIFE AND LETTERS (4 vols.)

JOAN OF ARC (2 vols.)

¶ All the books will be published at 6/- each with the exception of JOAN OF ARC, which will be 25/- net the two volumes, with eight Illustrations.

¶ The format of the volumes leaves little to be desired. The size is Demy 8vo (9 × 5-3/4), and they are printed from Caslon type upon a paper light in weight and strong of texture, with a cover design in crimson and gold, a gilt top, end-papers from designs by Aubrey Beardsley and initials by Henry Ospovat. In short, these are volumes for the bibliophile as well as the lover of fiction, and form perhaps the cheapest library edition of copyright novels ever published, for the price is only that of an ordinary novel.

¶ The translation of these books has been entrusted to such competent French scholars asMR. ALFRED ALLINSON,MR. FREDERIC CHAPMAN,MR. ROBERT B. DOUGLAS,MR. A. W. EVANS,MRS. FARLEY,MR. LAFCADIO HEARN,MRS. W. S. JACKSON,MRS. JOHN LANE,MRS. NEWMARCH,MR. C. E. ROCHE,MISS WINIFRED STEPHENS, ANDMISS M. P. WILLCOCKS.

¶ As Anatole Thibault,ditAnatole France, is to most English readers merely a name, it will be well to state that he was born in 1844 in the picturesque and inspiring surroundings of an old bookshop on the Quai Voltaire, Paris, kept by his father, Monsieur Thibault, an authority on eighteenth-century history, from whom the boy caught the passion for the principles of the Revolution, while from his mother he was learning to love the ascetic ideals chronicled in the Lives of the Saints. He was schooled with the lovers of old books, missals and manuscript; he matriculated on the Quais with the old Jewish dealers of curios andobjets d'art; he graduated in the great university of life and experience. It will be recognised that all his work is permeated by his youthful impressions; he is, in fact, a virtuoso at large.

¶ He has written about thirty volumes of fiction. His first novel was JOCASTA & THE FAMISHED CAT (1879). THE CRIME OF SYLVESTRE BONNARD appeared in 1881, and had the distinction of being crowned by the French Academy, into which he was received in 1896.

¶ His work is illuminated with style, scholarship, and psychology; but its outstanding features are the lambent wit, the gay mockery, the genial irony with which he touches every subject he treats. But the wit is never malicious, the mockery never derisive, the irony never barbed. To quote from his own GARDEN OF EPICURUS: "Irony and Pity are both of good counsel; the first with her smiles makes life agreeable, the other sanctifies it to us with her tears. The Irony I invoke is no cruel deity. She mocks neither love nor beauty. She is gentle and kindly disposed. Her mirth disarms anger and it is she teaches us to laugh at rogues and fools whom but for her we might be so weak as to hate."

¶ Often he shows how divine humanity triumphs over mere asceticism, and with entire reverence; indeed, he might be described as an ascetic overflowing with humanity, just as he has been termed a "pagan, but a pagan constantly haunted by the pre-occupation of Christ." He is in turn—like his own Choulette in THE RED LILY—saintly and Rabelaisian, yet without incongruity.At all times he is the unrelenting foe of superstition and hypocrisy. Of himself he once modestly said: "You will find in my writings perfect sincerity (lying demands a talent I do not possess), much indulgence, and some natural affection for the beautiful and good."

¶ The mere extent of an author's popularity is perhaps a poor argument, yet it is significant that two books by this author are in their HUNDRED AND TENTH THOUSAND, and numbers of them well into their SEVENTIETH THOUSAND, whilst the one which a Frenchman recently described as "Monsieur France's most arid book" is in its FIFTY-EIGHTH-THOUSAND.

¶ Inasmuch as M. FRANCE'S ONLY contribution to an English periodical appeared in THE YELLOW BOOK, vol. v., April 1895, together with the first important English appreciation of his work from the pen of the Hon. Maurice Baring, it is peculiarly appropriate that the English edition of his works should be issued from the Bodley Head.

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MOTHER OF PEARL

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THE WELL OF ST. CLARE

THE MERRIE TALES OF JACQUES TOURNEBROCHE

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LIVING MASTERS OF MUSIC.An Illustrated Series of Monographs dealing withContemporary Musical Life, and includingRepresentatives of all Branches of the Art.Edited by ROSA NEWMARCH.Crown 8vo. Cloth. Price 2/6 net.

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NAPOLEON IN CARICATURE: 1795-1821.

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THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

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THE SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

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This interesting contribution to Nelson literature is drawn from the journals and correspondence of the Rev. Edmund Nelson. Rector of Burnham Thorpe and his youngest daughter, the father and sister of Lord Nelson. The Rector was evidently a man of broad views and sympathies, for we find him maintaining friendly relations with his son and daughter-in-law after their separation. What is even more strange, he felt perfectly at liberty to go direct from the house of Mrs. Horatio Nelson in Norfolk to that of Sir. William and Lady Hamilton in London, where his son was staying. This book shows how completely and without reserve the family received Lady Hamilton.

A QUEEN OF SHREDS AND PATCHES:

The Life of Madame Tallien Notre Dame de Thermidor. From the last days of the French Revolution, until her death as Princess Chimay in 1835. ByL. Gastine. Translated from the French byJ. Lewis May. With a Photogravure Frontispiece and 16 other Illustrations.

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Among the many queens of France, queens by right of marriage with the reigning sovereign, queens of beauty or of intrigue, the name of Sophie Dawes, the daughter of humble fisherfolk in the Isle of Wight, better known as "the notorious Mme. de Feucheres," "The Queen of Chantilly" and "The Montespan de Saint Leu" in the land which she chose as a suitable sphere in which to exercise her talents for money-making and for getting on in the world, stand forth as a proof of what a women's will can accomplish when that will is accompanied with an uncommon share of intelligence.

MARGARET OF FRANCE DUCHESS OF SAVOY. 1523-1574.

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Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 12s.6d.net.

A time when the Italians are celebrating the Jubilee of the Italian Kingdom is perhaps no unfitting moment in which to glance back over the annals of that royal House of Savoy which has rendered Italian unity possible. Margaret of France may without exaggeration be counted among the builders of modern Italy. She married Emanuel Philibert, the founder of Savoyard greatness: and from the day of her marriage until the day of her death she laboured to advance the interests of her adopted land.

MADAME DE BRINVILLIERS AND HER TIMES. 1630-1676.

ByHugh Stokes. With a Photogravure Frontispiece and 16 other Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 12s.6d.net.

The name of Marie Marguerite d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, is famous in the annals of crime, but the true history of her career is little known. A woman of birth and rank, she was also a remorseless poisoner, and her trial was one of the most sensational episodes of the early reign of Louis XIV. The author was attracted to this curious subject by Charles le Brun's realistic sketch of the unhappy Marquise as she appeared on her way to execution. Thischef d'oeuvreof misery and agony forms the frontispiece to the volume, and strikes a fitting keynote to an absorbing story of human passion and wrong-doing.

THE VICISSITUDES OF A LADY-IN-WAITING. 1735-1821.

ByEugene Welvert. Translated from the French byLilian O'Neill. With a Photogravure Frontispiece and 16 other Illustrations

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 12s.6d.net.

The Duchesse de Narbonne-Lara was Lady-in-Waiting to Madame Adelaide, the eldest daughter of Louis XV. Around the stately figure of this Princess are gathered the most remarkable characters of the days of the Old Regime, the Revolution and the first Empire. The great charm of the work is that it takes us over so much and varied ground. Here, in the gay crowd of ladies and courtiers, in the rustle of flowery silken paniers, in the clatter of high-heeled shoes, move the figures of Louis XV., Louis XVI., Du Barri and Marie-Antoinette. We catch picturesque glimpses of the great wits, diplomatists and soldiers of the time, until, finally we encounter Napoleon Bonaparte.

ANNALS OF A YORKSHIRE HOUSE.

From the Papers of a Macaroni and his Kindred. ByA. M. W. Stirling, author of "Coke of Norfolk and his Friends." With 33 Illustrations, including 3 in Colour and 3 in Photogravure.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 2 vols. 32s.net.

MINIATURES:

A Series of Reproductions in Photogravure of Eighty-Five Miniatures of Distinguished Personages, including Queen Alexandra, the Queen of Norway, the Princess Royal, and the Princess Victoria. Painted byCharles Turrell. (Folio.) The Edition is limited to One Hundred Copies for sale in England and America, and Twenty-Five Copies for Presentation, Review, and the Museums. Each will be Numbered and Signed by the Artist.

15 guineas net.

THE LAST JOURNALS OF HORACE WALPOLE.

During the Reign of George III. from 1771-1783. With Notes by Dr.Doran. Edited with an Introduction byA. Francis Steuart, and containing numerous Portraits reproduced from contemporary Pictures, Engravings, etc. 2 vols.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 25s.net.

THE WAR IN WEXFORD.

ByH. F. B. Wheeler and A. M. Broadley. An Account of The Rebellion in South of Ireland in 1798, told from Original Documents. With numerous Reproductions of contemporary Portraits and Engravings.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 12s.6d.net.

RECOLLECTIONS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT.

By His ValetFrançois.

Translated from the French byMaurice Reynold.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 7s.6d.net.

FAMOUS AMERICANS IN PARIS.

ByJohn Joseph Conway, M.A. With 32 Full-page Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 10s.6d.net.

LIFE AND MEMOIRS OF JOHN CHURTON COLLINS.

Written and Compiled by his son,L. C. Collins.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 7s.6d.net.

THE WIFE OF GENERAL BONAPARTE.

ByJoseph Turquan. Author of "The Love Affairs of Napoleon," etc. Translated from the French by MissViolette Montagu. With a Photogravure Frontispiece and 16 other Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 12s.6d.net.

Although much has been written concerning the Empress Josephine, we know comparatively little about theveuveBeauharnais and thecitoyenneBonaparte, whose inconsiderate conduct during her husband's absence caused him so much anguish. We are so accustomed to consider Josephine as the innocent victim of a cold and calculating tyrant who allowed nothing, neither human lives nor natural affections, to stand in the way of his all-conquering will, that this volume will come to us rather as a surprise. Modern historians are over-fond of blaming Napoleon for having divorced the companion of his early years; but after having read the above work, the reader will be constrained to admire General Bonaparte's forbearance and will wonder how he ever came to allow her to play the Queen at the Tuileries.

A SISTER OF PRINCE RUPERT.

ELIZABETH PRINCESS PALATINE,

ABBESS OF HERFORD.

ByElizabeth Godfrey. With numerous Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 12s.6d.net.

AUGUSTUS SAINT GAUDENS: an Appreciation.

ByC. Lewis Hind. Illustrated with 47 full-page Reproductions from his most famous works. With a portrait of Keynon Cox.

Large 4to. 12s.6d.net.

JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY AND HIS FAMILY:

By Mrs.Herbert St. John Mildmay. Further Letters and Records, edited by his Daughter and Herbert St. John Mildmay, with numerous Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 16s.net.

SIMON BOLIVAR: El Libertador.

A Life of the Leader of the Venezuelan Revolt against Spain.

ByF. Loraine Petre. With a Map and Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 12s.6d.net.

A LIFE OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS,

PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY:

With Some Notices of His Friends and Contemporaries.

ByEdward Smith, F.R.H.S., Author of "William Cobbett: a Biography," "England and America after the Independence," etc. With a Portrait in Photogravure and 16 other Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 12s.6d.net.

"The greatest living Englishman" was the tribute of his Continental contemporaries to Sir. Joseph Banks. The author of his "Life" has, with some enthusiasm, sketched the record of a man who for a period of half a century filled a very prominent place in society, but whose name is almost forgotten by the present generation.

NAPOLEON & THE INVASION OF ENGLAND:

The Story of the Great Terror, 1797-1805. ByH. F. B. WheelerandA. M. Broadley. With upwards of 100 Full-page Illustrations reproduced from Contemporary Portraits, Prints, etc.; eight in Colour. 2 Volumes.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 32s.net.

Outlook.—"The book is not merely one to be ordered from the library; it should be purchased, kept on an accessible shelf, and constantly studied by all Englishmen who love England."

DUMOURIEZ AND THE DEFENCE OF

ENGLAND AGAINST NAPOLEON.

ByJ. Holland Rose, Litt.D. (Cantab.), Author of "The Life of Napoleon," andA. M. Broadley, joint-author of "Napoleon and the Invasion of England." Illustrated with numerous Portraits, Maps, and Facsimiles.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 21s.net.

THE FALL OF NAPOLEON.

ByOscar Browning, M.A., Author of "The Boyhood and Youth of Napoleon." With numerous Full-page Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches). 12s.6d.net.

Spectator.—"Without doubt Mr. Oscar Browning has produced a book which should have its place in any library of Napoleonic literature."

Truth.—"Mr. Oscar Browning has made not the least, but the most of the romantic material at his command for the story of the fall of the greatest figure in history."

THE BOYHOOD & YOUTH OF NAPOLEON, 1769-1793.

Some Chapters on the early life of Bonaparte.

By Oscar Browning,M.A.With numerous Illustrations, Portraits etc.

Crown 8vo. 5s.net.

Daily News.—"Mr. Browning has with patience, labour, careful study, and excellent taste given us a very valuable work, which will add materially to the literature on this most fascinating of human personalities.

THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NAPOLEON.

ByJoseph Turquan. Translated from the French byJames L. May. With 32 Full-page Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches). 12s.6d.net.

THE DUKE OF REICHSTADT (NAPOLEON II.)

ByEdward de Wertheimer.Translated from the German. With numerous Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 21s.net. (Second Edition.)

Times.—"A most careful and interesting work which presents the first complete and authoritative account of this unfortunate Prince."

Westminster Gazette.—"This book, admirably produced, reinforced by many additional portraits, is a solid contribution to history and a monument of patient, well-applied research."

NAPOLEON'S CONQUEST OF PRUSSIA, 1806.

ByF. Loraine Petre. With an Introduction byField-Marshal Earl Roberts, V.C., K.G., etc. With Maps, Battle Plans, Portraits, and 16 Full-page Illustrations. Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches). 12s.6d.net.

Scotsman.—"Neither too concise, nor too diffuse, the book is eminently readable. It is the best work in English on a somewhat circumscribed subject."

Outlook.—"Mr. Petre has visited the battlefields and read everything, and his monograph is a model of what military history, handled with enthusiasm and literary ability, can be."

NAPOLEON'S CAMPAIGN IN POLAND, 1806-1807.

A Military History of Napoleon's First War with Russia, verified from unpublished official documents.

ByF. Lorain Petre. With 16 Full-page Illustrations, Maps, and Plans. New Edition.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches). 12s.6d.net.

Army and Navy Chronicle.—"We welcome a second edition of this valuable work.... Mr. Loraine Petre is an authority on the wars of the great Napoleon, and has brought the greatest care and energy into his studies of the subject."

NAPOLEON AND THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES.

A History of the Franco-Austrian Campaign in the Valley of the Danube in 1809.

ByF. Loraine Petre. With 8 Illustrations and 6 sheets of Maps and Plans.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches). 12s.6d.net.

RALPH HEATHCOTE. Letters of a Diplomatist

During the Time of Napoleon, Giving an Account of the Dispute between the Emperor and the Elector of Hesse.

ByCountess Gunther Gröben. With Numerous Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches). 12s.6d.net.

MEMOIRS OF THE COUNT DE CARTRIE.

A record of the extraordinary events in the life of a French Royalist during the war in La Vendée, and of his flight to Southampton, where he followed the humble occupation of gardener.

With an introduction byFrédéric Masson, Appendices and Notes byPierre Amédée Pichot, and other hands, and numerous Illustrations, including a Photogravure Portrait of the Author.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 12s.6d.net.

Daily News.—"We have seldom met with a human document which has interested us so much."

THE JOURNAL OF JOHN MAYNE DURING

A TOUR ON THE CONTINENT UPON ITS RE-OPENING

AFTER THE FALL OF NAPOLEON, 1814.

Edited by his Grandson,John Mayne Colles. With 16 Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches). 12s.6d.net.

WOMEN OF THE SECOND EMPIRE.

Chronicles of the Court of Napoleon III.

ByFrédéric Loliée. With an Introduction byRichard Whiteing, and 53 full-page Illustrations, 3 in Photogravure.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 21s.net.

Standard.—"M. Frederic Loliée has written a remarkable book, vivid and pitiless in its description of the intrigue and dare-devil spirit which flourished unchecked at the French Court.... Mr. Richard Whiteing's introduction is written with restraint and dignity."

MEMOIRS OF MADEMOISELLE DES ECHEROLLES.

Translated from the French byMarie Clothilde Balfour. With an introduction byG. K. Fortescue, Portraits, etc. 5s.net.

Liverpool Mercury.—"... this absorbing book.... The work has a very decided historical value. The translation is excellent, and quite notable in the preservation of idiom."

GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO: A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY.

ByEdward Hutton. With a Photogravure Frontispiece and numerous other Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 16s.net.

THE LIFE OF PETER ILICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893).

By his Brother,Modeste Tchaikovsky. Edited and abridged from the Russian and German Editions byRosa Newmarch. With Numerous Illustrations and Facsimiles and an Introduction by the Editor.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 7s.6d.net. Second edition.

The Times.—"A most illuminating commentary on Tchaikovsky's music."

World.—"One of the most fascinating self-revelations by an artist which has been given to the world. The translation is excellent, and worth reading for its own sake."

Contemporary Review.—"The book's appeal is, of course, primarily to the music-lover; but there is so much of human and literary interest in it, such intimate revelation of a singularly interesting personality, that many who have never come under the spell of the Pathetic Symphony will be strongly attracted by what is virtually the spiritual autobiography of its composer. High praise is due to the translator and editor for the literary skill with which she has prepared the English version of this fascinating work.... There have been few collections of letters published within recent years that give so vivid a portrait of the writer as that presented to us in these pages."

THE LIFE OF SIR HALLIDAY MACARTNEY, K.C.M.G.,

Commander of Li Hung Chang's trained force in the Taeping Rebellion, founder of the first Chinese Arsenal, Secretary to the first Chinese Embassy to Europe. Secretary and Councillor to the Chinese Legation in London for thirty years. ByDemetrius C. Boulger, Author of the "History of China," the "Life of Gordon," etc. With Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) Price 21s.net.

DEVONSHIRE CHARACTERS AND STRANGE EVENTS.

ByS. Baring-Gould, M.A., Author of "Yorkshire Oddities," etc. With 58 Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 21s.net.

Daily News.—"A fascinating series ... the whole book is rich in human interest. It is by personal touches, drawn from traditions and memories, that the dead men surrounded by the curious panoply of their time, are made to live again in Mr. Baring-Gould's pages."

THE HEART OF GAMBETTA.

Translated from the French ofFrancis LaurbyViolette Montagu. With an Introduction byJohn Macdonald, Portraits and other Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 7s.6d.net.

Daily Telegraph.—"It is Gambetta pouring out his soul to Léonie Leon, the strange, passionate, masterful demagogue, who wielded the most persuasive oratory of modern times, acknowledging his idol, his inspiration, his Egeria."

THE LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC.

ByAnatole France. A Translation byWinifred Stephens. With 8 Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) 2 vols. Price 25s.net.

THE DAUGHTER OF LOUIS XVI.

Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France, Duchesse D'Angoulême.

ByG. Lenotre. With 13 Full-page Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches.) Price 10s.6d.net.

WITS, BEAUX, AND BEAUTIES OF THE GEORGIAN ERA.

ByJohn Fyvie, author of "Some Famous Women of Wit and Beauty," "Comedy Queens of the Georgian Era," etc. With a Photogravure Portrait and numerous other Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches). 12s.6d.net.

MADAME DE MAINTENON:

Her Life and Times, 1655-1719.

ByC. C. Dyson. With 1 Photogravure Plate and 16 other Illustrations.

Demy 8vo. (9 × 5-3/4 inches). 12s.6d.net.

DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE.

ByA. M. Broadley. With an Introductory Chapter byThomas Seccombe. With 24 Illustrations from rare originals, including a reproduction in colours of the Fellowes Miniature of Mrs. Piozzi by Roche, and a Photogravure of Harding's sepia drawing of Dr. Johnson.

Demy 8vo (9 × 5-3/4 inches). 16s.net.

THE DAYS OF THE DIRECTOIRE.

ByAlfred Allinson, M.A. With 48 Full-page Illustrations, including many illustrating the dress of the time.

Demy 8vo (9 × 5-3/4 inches). 16s.net.

HUBERT AND JOHN VAN EYCK:

Their Life and Work.

ByW. H. James Weale. With 41 Photogravure and 95 Black and White Reproductions.

Royal 4to. £5 5s.net.

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