Nor were the fruits of his exertions confined to his native country. It is certain that his works found their way, at a very early period, into Bohemia, and kindled there the first sparks of resistance to the established despotism. The venerable Huss proclaimed his adherence to the principles, and his reverence for the person, of the English Reformer; and he was wont in his public discourses to pray, that “on his departure from this life, he might be received into those regions whither the soul of Wiclif had gone; since he doubted not that he was a good and holy man, and worthy of a heavenly habitation.” The memory of Huss is associated by another incident with that of his master. The same savage Council which consigned the former to the flames, offered to the other that empty insult, which we may receive as an expression of malignant regret that he had been permitted to die in peace. It published an edict, “That the bones and body of Wiclif should be taken from the ground, and thrown far away from the burial of any church.” After a long interval of hesitation, this edict was obeyed. Thirty years after his death, his grave was violated, and his ashes contemptuously cast into a neighbouring brook. On this indignity, Fuller makes the following memorable reflection:—“The brook did convey his ashes in Avon; Avon into Severn; Severn into the narrow seas; they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wiclif are the emblems of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over.”
The date of Wiclif’s death renders the authenticity of his portraits in some degree uncertain, and we are not able to trace the history of any which exist. But that some memorials were preserved in his features, in illuminations or otherwise, we may conclude from the general resemblance which is to be traced in two different pictures of him—that from which our print is engraved, and that at King’s College, Cambridge, engraved in ‘Rolt’s Lives of the Reformers,’ and Verheiden, ‘Præstantium Theologorum Effigies, &c.,’ 1602.
[Lutterworth Church.]
CORTEZ.
Perhaps no great revolution has ever been effected by means apparently so inadequate to the end proposed, as in the first establishment of the Spanish monarchy on the continent of America. The immense importance of that revolution, and its intimate connexion with the history of geographical discovery, warrant us in assigning a place in our Gallery to a representative of the rude and daring men by whom the mighty conquest was effected. Of these, Fernando Cortez claims the first place. It is proper to mention, in explanation of what might seem a capital omission in our work, that no authentic likeness is known to exist of Columbus: a man raised above those who followed him across the Atlantic, no less by the purity of his motives, than by the originality of his daring career.
Columbus, however, did not colonize the American continent: his settlement was in Hispaniola. But the Spaniards soon took possession of other islands in the group of the Antilles. In 1511 Diego Velasquez annexed the most important of them, Cuba, to the Spanish crown, and was rewarded with the appointment of Governor. Eager to gain fresh wealth and honour, he equipped a squadron of discovery, in 1518, which tracked the southern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and brought home so inviting a report, that he determined to attempt the conquest of the country. But he was greatly embarrassed in the choice of a commanding officer. To conduct the enterprise himself was no part of his scheme: at the same time he was very desirous to appropriate to himself the advantages likely to accrue from its successful issue. It was no easy matter to find a person qualified by talent and courage to assume the command of such an enterprise; yet so humble in rank, or so devoid of ambition, as to give no umbrage to the governor’s jealousy. After much hesitation, he invested Cortez with the chief command as his lieutenant. The early history and character of this remarkable man are clearly and concisely told by Dr. Robertson.
Engraved by W. Holl.
CORTEZ.
From a Picture in the Florence Gallery.
Under the Superintendence of the Society for Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
London, Published by Charles Knight, Ludgate Street.