LIV.

Mary Stewart at the Point of Death.

Thousands of people were collected outside the walls. About three hundred knights and gentlemen of the county1 had been admitted to witness the execution 2. The tables and forms had been removed 3, and a great wood fire was blazing in the chimney 4. At the upper end of the hall, above the fireplace, but near it, stood the scaffold, twelve feet square, and two feet and a half high. It was covered with black cloth; a low rail ran round it covered with black cloth also, and the Sheriff's 5 guard of halberdiers were ranged on the floor below on the four sides to keep off the crowd. On the scaffold was the block, black like the rest; a square black cushion was placed behind it, and behind the cushion a black chair; on the right were two other chairs for the Earls. The axe leant against the rail, and two masked figures stood like mutes on either side at the back. The Queen of Scots as she swept in seemed as if coming to take Not a muscles of her face

a part in some solemn pageant 7. could be seen to quiver; she ascended the scaffold with absolute composure, looked round her smiling, and sat down.

I γεώμορος. 2 Id. 166. 3 ἀνασκευάζω. 5. Cf. & πроσετúxon, Xen. I. vi. 10.

πομπεύειν. 8 Id. 167.

J. A. FROUDE.

6

4 "On the hearth." νεκροπομπός. 7 σεμνῶς

LV.

System.

To attempt a definite system or synthesis, before we have fully analysed and accumulated the facts to be arranged, would be preposterous, and necessarily futile'; and system is only valuable when it is not arbitrarily 3 devised, but arises naturally out of an observation of the facts, and of the whole facts, themselves ; τῆς πολλῆς πείρας τελευταῖον ἐπιγέννημα. On the other hand, to despise system, is to despise philosophy; for the end of philosophy is the detection of unity. Even in the progress of a science, and long prior to its consummation, it is indeed better to assort the materials we have accumulated 4, even though the arrangement be only temporary, only provisional, than to leave them in confusion. For without such arrangement, we are unable to overlook our possessions; and as experiment results from the experiment it supersedes, so system is destined to generate system in a progress never attaining, but ever approximating to, perfection.-SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON.

* Cf. Arist. Eth, Nic. I. 2, i., “ ὥστ ̓ εἶναι κενὴν καὶ ματαίαν τὴν ὄρεξιν. 2 λυσιτελέω. 3 Thuc. uses avтокράтwр for arbitrary (iv. 108), but cf. Id. 167. ? “ κατὰ τὸ τῷ ἐπιτείλαντι ἰδίᾳ δόκουν.” 4 τὰ ἐπιγιγνόμενα εἰς τὴν ὑποκειμένην ὕλην. Cf. Arist. Eth. N. I. 3, i.

G

LVI.

Beauty.

La beauté est une pièce de grande recommendation au commerce des hommes 1; c'est le premier moyen de conciliation des uns aux autres, et n'est homme si barbare et si rechigné2 qui ne se sente alcunement frappé de sa doulceur. Le corps a une grande part a nostre estre, il y tient un grand reng; ainsi sa structure et composition 3 sont de bien juste consideration. Ceulx qui veulent desprendre nos deux pièces principales, et les sequestrer l'une de l'aultre, ils ont tort: au rebours 5, il les fault r'accoupler et reioindre; il fault ordonner à l'ame non de se tirer à quartier, de s'entretenir à part, de mespriser et abandonner le corps (aussi ne le sçauroit elle faire que par quelque singerie contrefaicte) mais de se r'allier à luy, de l'embrasser, le cherir, luy assister, le contreroler, le conseiller, le redresser, et ramener quand il fourvoye, l'espouser en somme, et luy servir de mary, à ce que leurs effets ne paroissent pas divers et contraires, ains accordants et uniformes. Les chrestiens ont une particulière instruction de cette liaison : car ils sçavent que la iustice divine embrasse cette société et ioincture du corps et de l'ame, jusques à rendre le corps capable des recompenses eternelles ; et que Dieu regarde agir tout l'homme, et veult qu'entier il receoive le chastiement, ou le loyer?, selon ses demerites.-MONTAIGNE.

· συνδιατρίβω.

2

πικρός.

3 διάθεσις, σύστασις. 4 διαζευγ 5 μᾶλλον δέ. ὁ ὑποπιθηκίζω, Αr. 7 ἁμαρτάνειν τῆς ὁδοῦ. 8 τὸ ἀΐδιον ἀγαθόν. 9 ἐπαινέω.

νυμι.

LVII.

Badajos.

Still, swarming1 round the remaining ladders, these undaunted veterans strove who should first climb, until all being overturned, the French shouted victory2, and the British baffled, but untamed, fell back a few paces and took shelter under the rugged edge of the hill. Here when the broken ranks were somewhat reformed 3, the heroic Colonel Ridge, springing forward, called, with a stentorian4 voice, on his men to follow, and seizing a ladder, once more raised it against the castle, yet to the right of the former attack, where the wall was lower, and an embrasure 5 offered some facility. A second ladder was soon placed alongside of the first, by the grenadier officer, Couch, and the next instant he and Ridge were on the ramparts; the shouting troops pressed after them, the garrison amazed, and in a manner surprised, were driven fighting through the double gate into the town, and the castle was won. A reinforcement, sent from the French reserve, then came up; a sharp action followed, both sides fired through the gate, and the enemy retired, but Ridge fell, and no man died that night with more glory-yet many died, and there was much glory.-SIR CHARLES Napier.

· Id. 88, συναγείρομαι, 43. σμηνηδόν. 2 νίκην ἀλαλάζω. 3 ἐς τάξιν ἀνάγειν. 4 Id. 88, say "great voice." 5 Gen. abs.

χάσμα.

LVIII.

Robert Sanderson.

And as he was inclined to this by that native goodness, with which the wise Disposer of all hearts had endowed his; so this calm, this quiet and happy temper of mind—his being mild, and averse to oppositions -made the whole course of his life easy and grateful both to himself and others; and this blessed temper was maintained and improved by his prudent father's good example; and by frequent conversing with him, and scattering short apophthegms with little pleasant stories2, and making useful applications of them 3, his son was in his infancy taught to abhor vanity and vice as monsters4, and to discern 5 the loveliness of wisdom and virtue; and by these means, and God's concurring grace, his knowledge was so augmented, and his native goodness so confirmed, that all became so habitual, as it was not easy to determine whether Nature or Education were his teachers.-IZAAK WALTON.

5

1 Id. 22. 2 λογίδια εὐτράπελα. 3 Id. 168. 4 ἀπότροπα. perceive. 6 σὺν τῷ Θεῷ.

=