CHAPTER VIII.

THE TRANSMIGRATIONS OF A PEASANT.

NE of the most interesting pages of biography is the review of the lives of men who have exalted themselves from the lowest spheres of life to take part in the great affairs of the world; and this list is made up of names from every class of humble employment, mounting to the places of statesmen, generals, and even kings. Of this fact the Papacy furnishes a number of instances, but none more remarkable than the case of Pope Sixtus V., who wore the tiara of Rome during one of the most troublous periods of European history. This remarkable man was the son of an Italian exile, Zanetto Peretti, a man not without some importance in his own country, but compelled by Turkish cruelty to escape to the marshes of Ancona, where, in the district of Montalto, he followed the occupation of a gardener in the village of La Grotte; and here he continued for some time pursuing his occupation, until, by good behaviour, his master conferred upon him two gifts; first, a favourite servant- maid, named Gabana, whom he made his wife; and, second, what perhaps was of equal importance, a sufficient sum of money to take a garden on his own account. Thus the struggles of life fairly came around Peretti, and in the midst of them was born a boy whom he named Felix. As the wife of Peretti had been a favourite servant, she still continued after her marriage high in esteem in the household of her husband's master, and both she and her child received

many tokens of kindness from those who were proud enough, in after years, to remember that the child they had so favoured was one of the most powerful princes of Europe.

Felix Peretti was born December 13th, 1521, but he was accustomed to date his existence from the year 1525, because in that year he recovered from a severe attack of smallpox. It has been frequently remarked that a special providence seems to guard and shield the lives of the men who become great in the pages of history. Felix was no exception to this observation; not only did he escape in infancy from dangerous disease, but when about six years of age, some officers of justice came in search of his father, on account of a debt, or other trifling offence, and the frightened boy, taking shelter in the garret of an old ruined house, fell through the rotten flooring twenty feet on the pavement below. When he was taken up it was found that he had broken both his arms and both his legs the bones were, however, carefully set, and the pain of the affliction was, perhaps, the only evil resulting from it to Felix. Years afterwards, when he became pope, he, who always was wont to indulge in a grim sort of humour, was in the habit of saying, "If Clement VII. could have taken such a leap as I did in the year that he was imprisoned, he would not have had occasion to pay such a heavy ransom to his enemies."

Keeper of sheep and swineherd, tender of fruit and birdcaller, these have not been thought usually employments likely to make a very noble character; but such, at nine years of age, were the employments of Felix. He was a true child of knowledge, and his biographers tell us how, at this time, he was wont to waylay the children on their way to and from the village school, to get them to repeat to him the lessons they had themselves learned; and so began his first attempts in the field of knowledge. But it happened, in 1531, our young swineherd being then eleven years of age, that a somewhat celebrated friar, Michael

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Angelo Selleri, a Franciscan, going to preach at Ascali, lost his way near La Grotte; he saw Felix tending his hogs, and applied for assistance; he was charmed with the boy's wit, his ready answers, his thirst for education; impressed too, the more by these, from the evidently extreme poverty of the boy and his parents, and he procured his admission into a school attached to the Franciscan Monastery at Ascali. This may be called his first transmigration. Here he exhibited the most genuine ardour in pursuit of the knowledge which books can give, and without which the noblest acquirements of mind must fail in coming out into contact with men and with the world. The Franciscan brothers were pleased with the resolution of their young disciple, who denied himself cheerfully of sleep, willingly preferred a crust of coarse bread and a draught of water, that he might be the better fitted for his mental pursuits; and before he had attained his thirteenth year he took the habit of the order of St. Francis. Slight speeches, in themselves no more than jokes, when unexpectedly verified assumed the appearance of prophecies. On the day that Felix took the habit of his order, Clement VII. died; the warden of the monastery said to him, "You were born to religion on the same day in which the pope is dead to the world." Felix answered, "I had rather wear the habit of St. Francis than that of the sovereign Pontiff;" the warder replied, "Perhaps you may live to wear both." It was about this time that he escaped another dangerous accident. Engaged in fastening tapestry to the chapel of his monastery, he fell from the top of a very high ladder to the ground without sustaining any injury.

His progress seems to have been rapid: he united the two important elements of success, he was an expert dialectician, and a very eloquent orator. We find him very early appointed to preach before a synod of Italian bishops, and he soon took an opportunity of visiting his native place of La Grotte, and preached there in his own parish church. It does not enhance our estimate of his piety

to find that he took a text which rather, as used by him, was a contribution to his personal vanity than a declaration of the great truth: "God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and the weak to confound the mighty;" but the magistrates were so pleased with the sermon that they voted him twenty crowns, which he bestowed on his sister Camilla.

Our readers need not to be told that this was the period of the Reformation, and no way was so certain to ensure success in the Romish Church as to become the bold antagonist of the Lutheran teachings and the reformed doctrines thus Peretti became acquainted with Michael Ghislierithen, a chief inquisitor, afterwards Pope Pius V. It is a very amiable trait in his character to notice that, through all the stages of advancement, he never forgot his family; he was not merely sufficiently interested to send them occasional gratuities, but he appears to have watched over them; and many letters are still extant which passed between him and different members of his family, and others in relation to them: for instance, he corresponded with the curate of La Grotte, and the following is an extract from a letter of the worthy curate, in reply to Peretti's inquiries.

Your brother, who is a mason, gets a good livelihood, and is in a manner engaged to Mary, daughter of John Tabotto, the tailor, who has a good house with a pretty garden, and no other children to leave them to; so that I think it a good match for him, and only wait for your consent and approbation, which they confidently expect. Your sister is courted by Andrew Botero, a carpenter, who is at least twenty years older than she is, but is highly esteemed, both by her and your parents, as he is a very honest man, and in good business. The love and respect which she has, and always had, for so worthy a brother will not suffer her to make any promise (though nothing else is wanting) until she is assured that the match is not disagreeable to you. Her lover is often with me, and expresses the utmost impatience to hear his doom.

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We have cited this letter principally for the opportunity it gives us to present our readers with Peretti's reply:

Sir, I received a double pleasure from your letter, as it gave me at the same time an account of my poor family, and an affectionate proof of the continuance of your friendship. The kind concern you express for the welfare of my relations, and the high opinion I have of your prudence, justly demand my ready consent to whatever you advise or think will be for their advantage. Nothing further remains to be done, on my part, but to return you hearty thanks for the favours you have already bestowed upon us, and to desire a continuance of your good offices until the affairs you mention are brought to a conclusion. I could wish fortune, or, more properly speaking, a Divine Providence, had put it in my power to show the affection I ever had for my family in a better manner, and to convince you, by something more substantial than thanks, of the grateful sense I entertain of your kindness; but what can I do? "Wherewith shall I save Israel? My family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house;" yet I have great reason to be thankful, and admire the goodness of Almighty God, in raising me out of the dust to serve at His Altar. I here send you enclosed three letters; one for my dear parents, another for my brother Anthony, and a third for my sister, which I desire you to peruse, as they will serve, in some measure, to show that I rejoice with them in the approaching marriage, and how much we are all obliged to you. With this letter you will receive seventy crowns, ten of which you will please to give to my poor mother, to make some little entertainment on the occasion, and the other sixty to my sister, as an addition to her fortune, with which she ought to think herself not a little honoured, as it is chiefly derived from the generosity of the cardinal protector of our order. In my letter to her I have made use of a quotation out of the Acts of the Apostles: "Silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give unto thee," which I beg you will be so kind as to explain to her. Perhaps Heaven may enable me hereafter to do a more material service to both them and you; in the meantime, believe me your affectionate servant, FELIX PERETTI.-Rome, May 20, 1554.

Of course, a man like this could not rise in life without