When at Belled, which is the site of the ancient city of Sinjar, he wished to examine the northern side of the mountain, and to put an end, if possible, to the bloodshed which had been occasioned by their refusing to submit to the governor. Mirkan, the first town they approached, was in open rebellion, having refused to pay the taxes and declining to receive the officer sent by the Pasha of Mosul. Mr. Layard was very doubtful of the reception he would meet with; but the chief came out to meet him, and led the party to his house, where they were soon surrounded by the principal men of the place. These Yezidis were not only at war with the Turkish Government, but among themselves and with the tribes of the "Shomal," and had fought them only a few days before:

"Seconded by Cawal Yusuf, I endeavoured to make them feel that peace amongst themselves was not only essential to their own welfare, but to that of the Yezidis of Kurdistan and Armenia, who had, at length, received a promise of protection from the Turkish Government, and who would suffer for their misdeeds. After a lengthened discussion, the chief consented to accompany me to the neighbouring village of Bukra, with whose inhabitants his people had been for some time at war" (251).

They succeeded in composing these petty and suicidal hostilities among the Yezidis; and finding that Suttum, a Bedouin chief, was expecting him on the southern side of the Sinjar, Mr. Layard struck across the mountain to join him:-

"Our encampment was full of Yezidis of the Kherraniyah tribe, who had ridden from the tents to see me, bringing presents of sheep, flour, and figs. They were at war both with the Bedouins and the inhabitants of the northern side of the mountain. My large tent was soon crowded with guests. They squatted down on the ground in double ranks. For the last time, I spoke on the advantages of peace and union amongst themselves, and I exacted a solemn promise that they would meet the assembled tribes at the next great festival in the valley of Sheikh Adi, referring their differences in future to the decision of Hussein Bey, Sheikh Nasr, and the Cawals, instead of appealing to arms. I also reconciled them to the Bedouins, Suttum entering into an engagement for his tribe, and both parties agreeing to abstain from lifting each other's flocks when they should again meet in the pastures at the foot of the hills. The inhabitants of the Sinjar are too powerful and independent to pay kowee or blackmail to the Shammar, who indeed stand in much awe of their Yezidi enemies. They frequently raise their annual revenues, and enrich themselves almost entirely at the expense of the Arabs. They watch their opportunity when the tribes are migrating in the spring and autumn, and, falling by night on their encampments, plunder their tents and drive

off their cattle. Returning to the hills, they can defy in their fastnesses the revenge of the Bedouins.

"The Yezidis returned to their encampment late at night, but about a hundred of their horsemen were again with me before the tents were struck in the morning. They promised to fulfil the engagements entered into on the previous evening, and accompanied me for some miles on our day's journey. Cawal Yusuf returned with them on his way back to Mosul. It was agreed that he should buy, at the annual auction, the Mokhatta, or revenues of the Sinjar, and save the inhabitants from the tyranny and exactions of the Turkish tax-gatherer. I wrote letters for him to the authorities of Mosul, recommending such an arrangement as equally beneficial to the tranquillity of the mountain and the treasury of the Pasha"* (267).

Nor was Mr. Layard indifferent to the jealousy and consequent bickerings among the different denominations of Christians he met with; but who, instead of rejoicing with St. Paul whensoever Christ was preached by any party, would rather leave people in a state of heathenism than have them converted by missionaries not connected with that sect or party to which themselves belong. Mr. Layard speaks in very high terms of the zeal and success of the American missionaries with whom he met; but he found that prejudices had been raised to their disadvantage, not only among the Yezidis and Mahommedans, but among the Nestorian and other Christian denominations. Not far from Ararat he met with Mar Shamoun the Patriarch of the Nestorians, or, as he proudly terms himself, "of the Chaldeans of the East;" and thus describes his state of mind:

"Old influences, which I could not but deeply deplore, and to which I do not in Christian charity wish further to allude, had been at work; and I found him even more bitter in his speech against the American missionaries than against his Turkish or Kurdish oppressors. He had been taught, and it is to be regretted that his teachers were of the Church of England, that those who were endeavouring to civilize and instruct his flock were seceders from the orthodox community of Christians, heretical in doctrine, rejecting all the sacraments and ordinances of the true faith, and intent upon reducing the Nestorians to their own hopeless condition of infidelity. His fears were worked on by the assurance that, ere long, through their means and teaching, his spiritual as well as his temporal authority

*Cawal Yusuf actually became farmer of the revenues for a sum scarcely exceeding 3501. The inhabitants of the Sinjar were greatly pleased by this concession to one of their own faith, and were encouraged to cultivate the soil and to abstain from mutual aggressions.

would be wholly destroyed. I found him bent on deeds of violence and intolerant persecution, which might have endangered, for the second time, the safety of his people as well as his own. I strove, and not without success, to calm his unreasonable violence. I pointed out to him his true position with regard to the American missions, trying to remove the calumnies that had been heaped upon them, and to show in what respects they could benefit and improve the condition of the Nestorians" (425).

And, again, in the valley of Jelu, meeting with another bishop, it is said:

"It was difficult to determine whom the poor bishop feared most, the Turk or the American missionaries: the first he declared threatened his temporal, the others his spiritual, authority. I gave him the best advice I was able on both subjects, and urged him not to reject the offer that had been made to instruct his people; but to identify himself with a progress on which might be founded the only reasonable hope for the regeneration of his creed and race. Unfortunately, as in the case of Mar Shamoun, strange influences had been at work to prejudice the mind of the bishop" (434).

In former times the Church of England was honourably distinguished as being the most liberal and tolerant of all the reformed communities, and as making charitable allowance for difference of forms when men were agreed in recognising no other standard than the word of God, as the rule of faith. But a degenerate and mongrel race has arisen in these days. who belong to neither the Roman nor the Reformed faithwho stickle for trivial observances, neglecting spiritual realities, just as the Pharisees tithed mint and cummin and neglected all the weightier matters of the law-and who have no more right to dub themselves Catholic than a pedant has to call himself scholar. A true Catholic is one who follows the example of St. Paul, and is willing to become all things to all men that he may gain the more; and who remembers that, although he should speak with the tongue of men and of angels, yet, if he have not charity, he is only as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And charity thinketh no evil and rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. It requires no little exercise of charity to avoid speaking uncharitably of such underhand and slanderous conduct; but it is to be hoped that, as most of the offenders were young men, they have grown wiser as they have grown older, and would not now act as they did on the occasions to which Mr, Layard refers.

27

ART. II.-Histoire de la Lutte des Papes et des Empereurs de la Maison de Souabe, de ses Causes et de ses Effects ou, Tableau de la Domination des Princes de Hohenstauffen, dans le Royaume des Deux Siciles, Jusq' a la Mort de Conradin. Par C. DE CHERRIER. Tomes I. and II. Paris.

IF the magnitude of the stake, and the greatness, viewed historically, of the contenders for it, constitute the substance of a theme capable of drawing forth the best powers of a writer, then has M. de Cherrier made a judicious choice; for the period over which his history ranges, though limited, stands for ever marked in the annals of time by the advent of events which stirred to the profoundest depths the passions of the human soul, bringing forward all their goodness and vileness, all their strength and their weakness, and conveying therefore inexhaustible lessons of wisdom to the politician, the moralist, the Christian, and even the Infidel and the Atheist, The very dates which appear on the pages of these volumes cannot fail of suggesting to the historical student the names of men who, born to achieve greatness which was moulded into its actual appearance by the demands of their age, must have risen to distinction, though, perhaps, by other paths, in any age; for the doctrine is true only in one sense that great men are made by their times. It is true only that the Peninsular wars showed the world what would have been equally true if they had never been fought. The true statement of this doctrine, therefore, is that which the Christian philosopher maintains-that great men are made first for, and then fashioned by, their age. And this is the consolatory view of the maddening scenes of history, that a presiding Master-Power not only permits all, but controuls all. The wild elements of nature, which might sweep man and his works into ruin, do not. If there is the startling wrong which for a time shakes faith to its foundation, yet as shadow follows substance, so surely do there follow, however slowly, "Time the Avenger" and the Right. What may be called the superficial mystery of history is thus explained. Its profounder mysteries lie far beyond the possible boundaries of man's limited intellect. In other scenes we may be permitted to see them laid bare; but, until this new revelation comes, we must be content to learn such homely prac

tical wisdom as the narratives of deeds of blood and their agents plentifully supply.

One of the peculiar uses of the history to which we propose to introduce our readers is that it will throw light upon the progress of the Papacy and upon the development of its principles; and we are persuaded that, as the generality of readers are incompetent judges of the falsehood of principles and doctrines, regarded abstractly, the proper mode of presenting them is in their natural development in the facts of history. Hence the evidence in favour of Protestant principles, which is indirectly conveyed in such a history as M. de Cherrier's, is particularly valuable, and for this reason we are desirous of directing attention to it.

The object proposed by M. de Cherrier is to paint-(it is his chosen word, peindre)-the struggles for temporal supremacy between the Papacy and those particular kingly or imperial powers whose local position tempted them to the conflict.

The object of this history (says M. de Cherrier) "is not to paint in its full extent the struggles of the Popes with that military power which for so long a period either ruled over, or at least menaced, Italy-a struggle whose origin goes back so far as the establishment of the Germans in the Peninsula. We only propose to ourselves to offer a detailed picture, from the point when the military power gained accession by the vast enterprises of Frederic Barbarossa, till the time of its dissolution, by the tragical death of the last descendant of this prince."

The real heroes of these volumes are the descendants of a private gentleman, Baron Frederic de Buren, who lived in the eleventh century, during the reign of Henry the Fourth of Germany. His possessions were situated in Franconia and Suabia, amidst which stood his residence, in the manor of Hohenstauffen, from which his house took its celebrated designation. Henry bestowed upon this Frederic, for his bravery and exceeding loyalty during his sovereign's misfortunes, the hand of his daughter Agnes, together with the forfeited Duchy of Suabia. He died full of honours at an extreme old age (about A.D. 1106), leaving behind two sons, Frederic and Conrad; of whom Frederic received from Henry the Fifth the investiture of his paternal fiefs; and Conrad, that of Franconia; and from this epoch the house of Hohenstauffen was reckoned amongst the most powerful families in Germany. Of these two brothers, Conrad was ultimately chosen to succeed his uncle as emperor; and,