smaller ones. An Professional hunters and with thorns as sharp as razors. slayers of oxen, swine, etc., will be Among the other hells are the excrementitious hells where the damned, as they float about, are bitten by worms as large as elephants; the hell of swords, in which the condemned are always being cut with swords; the hell of hooks, where lungs, livers, and bowels are torn out by hooks. There is also a hell where the occupants are compelled to pass the time climbing up, and descending from, a tree, which is covered there. Gautama himself did not know when the first world existed or which would be the last one, and the general belief among the Burmese Buddhists is that there never was a first world or beginning, and that there will never be an end, but that as one world is destroyed another one exactly resembling it is formed. The present world will exist for another sixteen million years. When a world has run its allotted course, it is destroyed by fire, water, or wind. If luxury is prevalent among the people at the time, the world is consumed by fire; if anger and strife prevail, it is dissolved in water; but when gross ignorance is predominant it is blown to atoms by the wind. The sun, moon, and stars, according to the Burmese writings, revolve round Mount Meru in a circle, the plane of which is parallel to the earth. There are also eight planets, one of which, named Rahu, is invisible and has the reputation of being the cause of eclipses. He is a huge monster, and occasionally amuses himself by taking the sun or moon into his mouth or tucking it under his chin, thereby causing a total or partial eclipse. HENRY CHARLES MOORE. From Macmillan's Magazine. THE STORY OF A FREE LANCE. IN 1886 the Royal Institute of Science, Art, and Letters of Venice issued an invitation to the literary men of the world to write a life of Carmagnola that should worthily supersede all previous biographies. The prize they offered was three thousand lire, or £120; the time they allowed about two years. There were but two candidates (which is not perhaps very surprising); and the winner, while certainly furnishing much new information about the celebrated Italian free lance, who was "as terrible in war as he was benign in peace," has, whether designedly or not, shown also not a little of the wisdom of the serpent in his work. Rumor has, during four centuries and a half, cast many stones of reproach at Venice for cutting off Carmagnola's head. This literary contest was a Venetian one; and the author of the prize biography has admirably contrived to make the most of Carmagnola's virtues and good qualities, while at the same time he applauds the Venetian Senate for putting a sharp and summary end to his hero. Perhaps the unsuccessful candidate was a critic of another order. If he found fault with the Venetian judges in State affairs of 1432, the Venetian judges in art, science and literature of 1888 might be tempted to be hypercritical. It is a sly world, and the man who means to live well in it must consider well what he does. Carmagnola's early days were not of a very romantic or happy cast. It is doubtful when he was born, 1385 being substituted by Battistella, the new biographer, for the year 1390, which has hitherto been the orthodox date. His father was a swineherd. Of his mother we know nothing, and therefore it is impossible to say if he, like other great men, owed his strong characteristics to her. When he became famous, and estates were given to him as retaining fees, the lawyers, in making up his titledeeds, could say nothing more stately of his father than that he was vir respectabilis. By that time, however, the swineherd's son was a man to be addressed as "your Magnificence. pedigree was then of the less consequence to him since Visconti, Duke of Milan, had given him leave to use his own heraldic bearings. But the taint of mean blood clung to him; and in the height of his glory, not the possession of a palace in Venice, one countship in Piedmont and another in the Venetian State, many square miles of territories here and there, and an incredible store of golden ducats, could make his contemporaries forgetful of his father's pigs. A Venetian gentleman to whom he offered one of his daughters as a bride refused her point-blank because of her mean origin; and this, although her mother was a Visconti. While yet a boy (but twelve years old according to some) Carmagnola was snatched away from his peaceful work among the swine, and enrolled as a soldier in a troop of Facino Cane the condottiere. He was a stout, handsome lad, and for his good fortune he won the affections of young Filippo Visconti, several years his junior, who was by and by besieged in Pavia and aided in his defence by Facino and his men. They were rough times. Filippo's father, Gian Galeazzo, had, at his death in 1402, left two little sons as his heirs. But might was right in those days; the boys could do nothing in opposition to the burly, mailed captains-at-arms who had helped Gian Galeazzo to establish and maintain his realm. These, therefore, without scruple, took of the duchy each what he could get and defend. One captain became lord of Brescia, another of Cremona, another of Parma, and so on. Facino Cane, as the strongest of these roving blades, not only laid hands on a territory, but also put himself in the position of guardian to the two young Visconti. He was no disinterested trustee; he had but secured the desirable privilege of assassinating his wards at will. But their death was not in fact to be imputed to him. Giovanni, the elder, was in 1412 murdered by others at the age of twenty-four, and Facino himself died the same day in Pavia, leaving to Filippo his advice to he marry his (Facino's) widow, and to of peace (which meant dismissal), make young Carmagnola captain in his straightway shook hands with the capstead. Filippo was a shrewd fellow. tive general, and set him and his army He married the widow, thereby recov- at liberty, so that the campaign might ering such of his father's possessions as be continued. This was the light in Facino had appropriated, and he put which the condottieri viewed their rehimself in the hands of Carmagnola, sponsibilities. Nor was it difficult to upon whose valor he knew he could live through a career of battles without rely, and for whose other sterling quali- a wound, at a time when such counsel ties he may, at that time, have had as the following was esteemed sage some respect. But, the opportunity enough to offer to the stripling soldier: presenting itself, his evil nature now "You must know that to secure yourbegan to declare itself. He wanted his self against artillery, you must be either wife's dowry much, but her not at all. out of its reach, or behind a wall, or And so, having relieved her even of behind a rampart. And, moreover, see her jewels and clothes, he bade Car- that the wall be thick enough,” etc., magnola take her away and decapitate etc. But when a Swiss army was in her, which was duly done in a certain castle half-way between Pavia and Milan. The poor woman was twenty years the senior of Filippo, but even that does not palliate this, his first open act of barbarity. the field there was likely to be bloodshed. And so here by Bellinzona not fewer than a thousand men lay dead in the evening. Compared to Lutzen and Gravelotte this is trivial enough; but it was terrible in the extreme to an Italian of the fifteenth century. The ensuing decade was, thanks to Carmagnola, full of triumph for Filippo. Carmagnola of course shared his young Piece by piece his father's kingdom was master's triumphs. Filippo gave him a wrested away from each of the usurp- Visconti to wife, and also a coat-of-arms. ing lordlings. His general was always Further, he assured him that he held successful; it mattered not whom he both the keys of his heart, so dear was was pitted against; even the Swiss had he to him. "We rejoice," he said in to confess him conqueror in the field. 1419, "to have always by us so worthy Their sturdy pikemen, who inspired the a hero, and one who is so dear and welItalians with such reverence, were ut- come to us. Upon occasions of State terly discomfited near Bellinzona in he was "Our beloved counsellor," and 1422. 66 This was one of the few bloody in times of war the magnificent lord battles of that day. As a rule, the art the Count Carmagnola," leader of the of war was then practised with a little forces. The swincherd's son was made too much regard for rule; it was hide count of Castelnuovo; and when Pope and seek behind specific bulwarks Martin V. visited Milan, he had the rather than warfare. As Voltaire says, honor of leading his Holiness's mule by the soldiers of the land were distributed the bridle at his entry into the city. between such and such condottieri as if ""Tis a waste of soap to wash an ass's they were professional harvesters. The head," said Carlo Malatesta, in alludcaptain of mercenaries upon one side ing to the exaltation of this base-born tried his best to out-manœuvre the cap-leader of men by making him a count. tain of mercenaries on the other side. But such verbal abuse seldom does If he succeeded in getting the enemy much harm; and Malatesta might have into a corner from which they could not been better employed in tracing his own escape, except by a desperate engage- origin. ment absurd to think of, he sent off a Carmagnola had by this grown into a bombastic tale of victory to his employ- strong, square-shouldered man of miders, and asked for an increase of pay. dle height, both accustomed and able to And to make sure that his success hold the reins of command. His early should furnish no excuse for a cessation bloom of face still characterized him, of hostilities and the signing of treaties but he was now rubicund rather than ruddy like a youthful David. Not that | subtleties." He lived a life of seclusion in Milan, suspecting all men, loving to hear evil of those he knew. The few courtiers with whom he was intimate had characters that did not put him out of humor with himself. Certain astrologers were chief among them, and their influence over him was such that after a time his life was wholly regu stars. When the moon was in conjunction, he shut himself up in his chamber from everybody. This was the nature of the man for whom Carmagnola fought and won his battles. he was intemperate, or indeed had the common vices of men like himself in that epoch. Though nature had seemed to mark him as a sensualist, he was neither glutton, nor drunkard, nor "light of love." Reprobates and idlers were not admitted to his ranks. He was a strict disciplinarian, and the love his soldiers bore him was another rea-lated by their advice and that of the son why he was reckoned the mightiest captain of his day. He was not cruel by nature, but the needs of his situation made him act brutally more than once as when, in 1416, he set a delinquent to stand naked in the open throughout a winter's night; or at the hanging of the two Arcelli, by Piacenza in 1418; or when, by Brescia in 1420, he buried alive, nose deep, four miserable prisoners, and cut off the hands of two archers, whom he then sent back into the city with their dead fists slung from their belts. Later, when the twist in his life had made him the Visconti's foe, he was charged with crucifying a man for talking falsely about the results of one of his battles; and also with shoeing an unhappy farrier who had omitted to perform that operation on the horse of one of his knights. This is certainly a sorry list of misdeeds. But it is the list of a lifetime, and the actions were wrought in moments of passion. In that bad age, very few men would have come off better, after exercising a sway of life and death like his for a score of years. The battle of Bellinzona is a dividing mark in Carmagnola's history. He had worked well for Filippo. The shy young prince who ten years before had, at Pavia, accepted him for a champion, was now as substantial a duke of Milan as his father before him. It was all Carmagnola's doing; and the war of consolidation being finished, the great condottiere was sent to Genoa (the latest of his acquisitions) to act as viceregent. a mean man. Filippo Visconti, Duke of Milan, was Muratori called him "a prince who breaks on the morrow his promises of to-day, vindictive and ambitious, and a master in plots and With such material to work upon, it was easy for Carmagnola's enemies at Milan to bring him into disrepute with his master. The astrologers were against him, and so were the courtiers who had readiest access to Filippo. They warned the duke that the son of the swineherd had become formidable to the State. Thus, while Carmagnola was at Genoa, governing the city with remarkable ability, his credit was being undermined. All this was not to be wondered at, but it would have been odd indeed had Carmagnola borne it without complaint. He knew his own importance, and yet he was loyal to Filippo; but he would not endure that others should stand between him and his master's trust in him. Accordingly, after writing several letters to Visconti on the subject, and receiving no reply, he travelled to Milan to seek a personal explanation with him, and when he was refused admission to the palace, openly jeered by the courtiers, and beheld the sardonic face of Filippo himself at an upper window, enjoying the spectacle of his general's anger and surprise, then he fully realized how he stood towards the man whom he had served like a right hand. "Perhaps the duke will be sorry that he has not listened to me," he exclaimed, and away he rode, to return to his native town in Piedmont. Here he spent a grim month or two of meditation. He was on his guard. Well he knew that, at any moment, he might hear word of this or that plot against his life. restoring a church of the town during He spent money in this interval, as if thereby to secure | war; but clearly this was an excellent heavenly support in this crisis of his opportunity. career. At length, however, he came to a decision about the future. He was out of employ, like a hundred other condottieri; the world was again before him; but his was a stout reputation, and his sword was not likely to rust in its scabbard. He wished to avenge himself for the wrong Filippo had done him; he also wished to sell his sword to the best bidder. What Italian State had the richest coffers, and at the same time was in a position to challenge the Duke of Milan to a campaign on the smallest possible pretext? It was clear to Carmagnola that Venice, in an especial manner, answered all his requirements; and so, after a brief interview with the Duke of Savoy, whom he hoped further to incite against Filippo, he sped east to the city of the lagoons. Filippo, who knew what was revolving in his mind (whether assisted in his knowledge by the stars or his own power of prescience), tried to catch him by the way, but failed. He solaced himself by confiscating all Carmagnola's estates, and taking possession of his late captaingeneral's wife and children. Five years ere this Carmagnola had chanced to become a bondholder of the Venetian State, so that he did not stand towards them as an entire stranger. There had been some opposition in the Senate when he applied for this privilege. Visconti was almost a natural enemy to Venice; he was then the most potent man in Visconti's duchy ; and "the honor and favor of being a creditor of the State was in those days not granted to every one." But in the end he was inscribed in the register of the great council as licensed to advance to Venice any sum not exceeding thirty thousand ducats, at the interest of five per cent. per annum. Perhaps Carmagnola had had forebodings of dissension with Visconti, whose nature he was likely to know to the core. At any rate, he made it a condition of this investment that the money should be secure against any hazard of fortune whatsoever, and be imperilled by no action on his part. We may be sure that Venice did not esteem him the less that he had put himself thus unreservedly in her hands, his ducats in the Carmagnola arrived in Venice on Feb-consols being viewed in the light of a ruary 23rd, 1425. One can imagine guarantee for his good conduct towards with what discreet respect he was wel- her. comed. Rumor whispered many tales about the reason of his coming, but this excellent city of shopkeepers was more concerned with knowing how his pres-between them was completed. The ence could be turned to the most profitable business account. "It appears that he has plenty of money with him," writes Sanudo in his diary of that day. Nothing more need have been known to assure him a pleasant reception in Venice. But when it was also discov-a year in an inferior capacity." ered that he was at liberty to enter into magnola asked for an advance of sixty an engagement to lead an army that ducats a lance upon the five hundred might annex new lands to the State, lances he hoped he would be allowed and open new markets for the mer- to enlist. "No," said the Senate; chants of the Rialto, then he was "you may have two hundred lances, greeted with enthusiasm, not loud but deep. He was lodged in the Palace of the Patriarch, and the Senate discussed many important matters with him. It was notoriously difficult to persuade the Venetians to engage in There was some obstinate wrestling over details between Carmagnola and the Senate ere the contract of service 66 condottiere wished to be made captaingeneral, with full powers. "But," demurred the Senate, we thank God we are not at war, and so we do not require a captain-general at present. We will, however, if you please, engage you for Car perhaps, indeed, by and by, three hundred; and we can only advance you fifty ducats a lance, or at least if we advance sixty, it is on the distinct understanding that each soldier puts half his monthly pay in the savings bank." |