And are all these, then, heroes? One would think not, with the permission of the hero-worshippers. Truly does the Duke of Wellington, who ought to know something of the matter, say-" Believe me, that every man you see in a military uniform is not a hero."* The There is a remarkable parallel between an expression of the Duke of Wellington, in a letter to the Earl of Liverpool, dated "Sta. Marinha, 23rd March, 1811," and the sentiment (though no one would accuse the illustrious Duke of being in the ordinary sense of the term a "man of sentiment") put by Homer into the mouth of Hector. Duke says: "I shall be sorry if Government should think themselves under the necessity of withdrawing from this country, on account of the expense of the contest. From what I have seen of the objects of the French Government and the sacrifices they make to accomplish them, I have no doubt that if the British army were for any reason to withdraw from the Peninsula, and the French Government were relieved from the pressure of military operations on the Continent, they would incur all risks to land an army in his Majesty's dominions. Then indeed would commence an expensive contest; then would his Majesty's subjects discover what are the miseries of war, of which, by the blessing of God, * Gurwood's Selections from the Despatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, p. 887, No. 986. they have hitherto had no knowledge; and the cultivation, the beauty, and prosperity of the country, and the virtue and happiness of its inhabitants, would be destroyed, whatever might be the result of the military operations. God forbid that I should be a witness, much less an actor in the scene."* Hector, after alluding to the miseries to be inflicted by the Greeks on Troy when it falls, adds :— ̓Αλλά με τεθνειῶτα χυτὴ κατὰ γαῖα καλύπτοι, Πρίν γ' ἔτι σῆς τε βοῆς σου θ' ἑλκηθμοῖο πυθέσθαι. *Gurwood's Selections from the Despatches of the Duke of Wellington, No. 515, p. 457. And in his memorable letter to Sir John Burgoyne in 1847, the Duke says, "I am bordering on seventyseven years, passed in honour. I hope that the Almighty may protect me from being the witness of the tragedy which I cannot persuade my contemporaries to take measures to avert." 125 CHAPTER VII. THE NORMANS. WHEN the world was some fifteen hundred years older since the Latian shepherds founded their city, which was to become in time the imperial city, there arose in another part of Europe a race of men animated at first with the same passion for conquest which marked the Romans. The march of these men too, like that of the Romans, was always onward, and they met with no obstacles which they did not finally overcome. But, as elements both of humanity and wisdom unknown to the Romans have entered into their policy, it may be concluded that, though their beginning somewhat resembled the beginning of the shepherds who founded the city of the Seven Hills, their end, which is not yet-and which I hope may be far distant-will not be like theirs. At a time when the ancient civilization, such as it was, might be said to have reached its highest point the point from which it began rapidly to declineHorace extolled the courage, which appeared to him miraculous, of the first man who committed himself in a frail bark to the merciless sea. This expression of Horace's is only an exponent of the fact that the ancients never attained to that skill and confidence in navigation which made the lines of a modern poet no empty boast, when applied to the Norsemen and their descendants "Their march is o'er the mountain waves, In the fact of this difference, lies, I apprehend, the The whole coast of Norway is surrounded by a fringe of islands, in some places two or three deep, which are separated from the mainland and from each other by channels more or less broad, but always deep. The outer range of these islands is seldom inhabited at all; never on the seaward sides, which, exposed to the first sweep of the south-wester, are bold rocks, either quite bare or nourishing a scanty growth of stunted fir or ragged juniper, but affording neither food nor shelter, and rarely fresh water. At the present day, the whole of the coasting trade of Norway is carried on within this barrier, and the houses and villages lie hidden on the sheltered shores of the numerous channels, or fiords, so as to be altogether unseen from the outside. As a swimmer learns his art first in comparatively smooth and safe water, so the old Norsemen first learnt skill and confidence in the management of their barks, which were in time to change the face of the world, in navigating the deep, but smooth channels within this rocky island barrier that encircled their ironbound coast. In a country like Norway, which (though, in the way above indicated, it may be termed the cradle of modern civilization) has not altered its customs for centuries, may be still found the unmistakeable indications of those qualities of seamanship which were the characteristics of the ancient Norsemen, and are those of their English descendants. The genius of the Norsemen for naval affairs is still manifest even in their smallest boats: for example, in the Norwegian skiff, the peculiarity of the construction of which consists in the lower part of its bows projecting some distance above the surface of the water, and in its bottom being flat like that of a coble, so as to enable it to rise over the most stormy waves. It is manifest in their larger vessels, built after the model of a whale's body; in their jagts (the originals |