Pompey, "an army will appear." At the voice of Peter the Hermit, as described by the historian, Europe arose and precipitated itself upon Asia. It was said of the caliph Omar that his walking-stick struck more terror than another man's sword. The very names of some men are like the sound of a trumpet. When the Douglas lay mortally wounded on the field of Otterburu, he ordered his name to be shouted still louder than before, saying there was a tradition in his family that a dead Douglas should win a battle. His followers, inspired by the sound, gathered fresh courage, rallied and conquered, and thus, in the words of Walter Scott, "The Douglas dead, his name hath won the field!" 7. In fine, stability of institutions must depend upon stability of character. Any number of depraved units cannot form a great nation. The people may seem to be highly civilized, and yet be ready to fall to pieces at the first touch of adversity. Without integrity of individual character they can have no real strength, cohesion or soundness. They may be rich, polite and artistic, and yet hovering on the brink of ruin. If living for themselves only, and with no end but pleasure each little self his own little god-such a nation is doomed, and its decay is inevitable. 8. Where national character ceases to be upheld, a nation may be regarded as next to lost. Where it ceases to esteem and to practice the virtues of truthfulness, honesty, integrity and justice, it does not deserve to live. And when the time arrives in any country when wealth has so corrupted, or pleasure so depraved, or faction so infatuated, the people that honor, order, obedience, virtue and loyalty have seemingly become things of the past, then, amid the darkness, when honest men, if such there be, are groping about and feeling for each other's hands, their only remaining hope will be in the restoration and elevation of individual character, for by that alone can a nation be saved; and if character be irrecoverably lost, then, indeed, there will be nothing left worth saving. 9. "In the supremacy of self-control," says Herbert Spencer, "consists one of the perfections of the ideal man. Not to be impulsive, not to be spurred hither and thither by each desire that in turn comes uppermost, but to be self-restrained, self-balanced, governed by the joint decision of the feelings in council assembled, before whom every action shall have been fully debated and calmly determined—that it is which education, moral education at least, strives to produce." ... ... ... ... ... SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.—Affair: F. affaire, business; fr. L. ad and să'cio, I make: v. FACT. Architect: Gr. prefix ar'chi- (allied to ar'chos, chief) and těk'tōn, a workman. . . . Assure: L. ad and secu'rus, sure; h., in-sure, secure, surety. . . . Bible: Gr. bib'lion, a book; h., biblical, bibliomania, etc. Caliph Arabic kha'lif, a successor; the title assumed by the successors of Mohammed. . . . Correspond: L. con and respon'deo, I respond; fr. re, back, and spon'deo, spon'sum, to promise solemnly; h., despond (lit., to promise away, to give up), e-spouse, ir-re-sponsible, re-sponsible, sponsor, sponsal, spouse. Deprave: L. depra'vus; fr. depra'vo, deprava'tum, to pervert; fr. de and pra'vus, crooked; h., de-pravity, pravity (deviation from right), etc. . . . Edifice: fr. L. œ'des, a house, fă'cio, I make; h., edify (L. ædifico, I build). . . . Esteem: L. æs'timo, æstima'tum, to set a price upon; fr. æs, metal, money; h., aim, estimate, in-estimable. ... Fix: L. fi'go, fix'um; h., af-fix (af = ad, to), cruci-fix (crux, crù'cis, a cross), fixture, post-fix, pre-fix, suf-fix, trans-fix, etc. . . . Hero: Gr. hē'rōs, a brave man; h., heroine, heroism. Infatuate: fr. in and fat'uus, foolish; h., futuous, ig'nis-fat'uus (ig'nis, fire). . . . Judge: L. ju'dico, judica'tum; fr. jus, law, dic'o, I proclaim, ju'dex, a judge; h., ad-judge, in-judicious, judgment, judicial, pre-judge, pre-judice. . . . Loyal: F. loi, law; L. legalis, legal; fr. lex, le'gis, law; h., il-legal (il = in-, not), lawful, lawyer, legalize, legis-late (v. RELATE), privi-lege (pri'vus, private), sacri-lege (să'cer, sacred), etc. . . . Mortar: L. morta'rium, a large basin or trough in which mortar was made. Organ: L. or'ganum; Gr. or'ganon, an instrument; h., in-organic, organize. . . . Origin: L. ori'go, orig'inis; fr. or'ior, or'tus, to rise, to become visible; h., ab-ortive (brought forth in an immature state), orient (rising as the sun), original (preceding all others of its class). Plastic: Gr. plas'tikos, suitable for being formed; fr. plas'sō, I form or mould. Practice: Gr. praktikos, fit for doing; fr. pras'sō, I do; h., im-practicable, practical, pragmatic (active; h., meddling; fr. prag'ma, a thing done). . Prime: L. pri'mus, first; h., im-primis (in the first place), premier (chief), primary, primate (chief in a church), primer (first book), primeval, primitive, primo-geniture, primordial, prim-rose, prince, principal, principle, prior, pristine. . . Private: L. pri'vus, single, one's own; h., de-prive, privacy, privateer (an armed private vessel), privation (a taking away), privative (denoting privation, negative), privi-lege (lex, le'gis, law), privy, etc. . . . Rally: F. rallier, to re-assemble; L. re-ligo, I re-bind. Recover: F. recouvrer (rě-koo'vrā); fr. L. re, again, cap'io, I take.... Regard: F. regarder (rěgar'dā); It. riguardare, to look upon; It. guardare, to look; F. garder (to keep); h., guard. Talent: L. talen'tum; Gr. talan'ton, a thing weighed; anciently a weight, a sum of money. Talisman: fr. the Arabic til'sam, a magical image. Vacillate: L. vacil'lo, vacilla'lum, to sway to and fro. ... ... ... LXIII. THE BOY CRUSADERS. Pronounce Marseilles, Mar-sălz'; Vendôme, Vang-dome' (a as in far); St. Denis, Săng-děn-e. 1. THAT spirit of enthusiasm which gave rise to the Crusades showed itself, in the year 1212, in a form as strange as it was unlooked for. While the nations and warriors of Christendom were busied with various crusading projects, a number of boys in France and Germany formed the wild scheme of marching to rescue the Holy City from infidel hands. Incredible as it may seem that such a plan could be carried out, its rise and subsequent history are so well attested by historians, that no doubt can be thrown upon its truth. 2. The originator of this juvenile band was a peasant-boy, named Stephen, of a village of Vendôme, in France. Like Joan of Arc in after years, he gave out that he had seen heavenly visions, that the Saviour himself had appeared to him in the guise of a poor pilgrim and given him authority to preach the Cross. In a short time he was surrounded by a large number of young followers. Soon afterward he removed from his native village to St. Denis, where the credulous populace honored him as a worker of miracles and his companions daily increased. When his fame got bruited abroad, several other young enthusiasts started up in various parts of France, and drew after them many followers; but all honored the shepherd-boy of Vendôme as their superior, and were fully persuaded that, under his command, they should obtain a glorious victory over the Saracenic arms. They reverenced him as a saint, and that one was thought happy who could obtain a fragment of the garments worn by the holy youth. 3. It might naturally be supposed that immediate and adequate measures would be taken to suppress such a movement, but nothing shows more strongly the spirit of the age, than that King Philip Augustus thought it necessary to summon the professors of the University of Paris, and consult them on the propriety of interfering with the young crusaders. After serious deliberation, they pronounced it expedient to put a stop to the movement. The greater part of the ecclesiastics deemed it to be the effect of witchcraft. A royal edict was accordingly issued, commanding the boys to return to their homes and useful employments. 4. This mandate was obeyed by some, but, as no steps were taken to enforce it, the greater number held together as firmly as before. They formed processions through the towns and hamlets, bearing banners, censers and tapers, and singing hymns suitable to their enterprise, and, so far from being molested, were followed by admiring crowds, even laborers leaving their work to join the train. They were abundantly supplied with provisions and money, and when asked whither they were going, they would reply, "We go to seek the Holy Cross beyond the seas." 5. The same spirit spread rapidly through Germany, where the standard of the cross was followed, not only by boys of humble rank, but by some of noble families, who resisted all the efforts of their friends to restrain them. The German boys, several thousands in number, clad in long pilgrim robes marked with a cross, and bearing scrips and staves in their hands, commenced their march toward Italy, across the Alps. But their illusions were destined soon to give place to hardships and sufferings of the most pitiable description. Many perished in traversing the rugged and desert mountains, some from excessive fatigue, others from hunger and privation. 6. The expedition of Stephen of Vendôme and his young crusaders was destined to meet with a termination still more deplorable than that of their German imitators. About thirty thousand in number, they marched toward Marseilles, to embark for Palestine, headed by Stephen, who rode in a chariot adorned with tapestry, attended by armed satellites. Their dreams of glory faded very quickly. A more atrocious plot is not recorded in history than that which was laid for these simple-minded children, on their arrival in Marseilles, by two slave-merchants of that city. These traders offered them the use of their ships to convey them to Syria, without remunera tion, pretending to rejoice in such an opportunity of aiding a pious enterprise. The unsuspicious boys accepted the offer with joy. 7. Convinced that Providence had favored them, and would soon crown all their hopes, they embarked in seven vessels. After two days' sail a violent storm swept the Mediterranean; two of the vessels were wrecked on the west coast of Sardinia, and all on board perished. In after years a church was built upon the coast, in memory of the New Innocents, as they were termed, and the bones of those washed on shore were shown as sacred relics. The other five ships escaped the storm; but, instead of landing in Syria, the ruthless merchants, who accompanied their prey, sailed for Egypt and sold every one of their helpless victims in the slave-market of Alexandria. The merchants took care that not one should remain to return to Europe with the tale of their base treachery. After eighteen years had passed away, one poor captive escaped to his native land. He related the sad story, and told that several hundred boys had been purchased by the governor of Alexandria, and were passing their days in servitude; eighteen had been tortured to death at Bagdad for refusing to embrace the Mohammedan faith, while four hundred had been bought by the calif and humanely treated. 8. While wondering at the ignorance which for a moment tolerated so wild and calamitous an enterprise as the crusade of the children, we might reflect with profit on the energies put forth in that chivalrous age in pursuit of the imaginary and unattainable. If we consider the romantic spirit of those times, we may perceive that the recital of the wrongs endured by pilgrims to the holy land, joined to the appeals of Christian preachers, the processions and ceremonies in furtherance of the object, may all have so worked on youthful imaginations as to incite them to deem it practicable to execute a work which had fallen unaccomplished from the hands of kings. The first crusade was decreed by Pope Urban II., in 1095. turies the religious wars that grew out of it were carried on between Christians and Mohammedans. At first the former demanded only a free pilgrimage to the holy sepulchre; but For two cen |