Part 10 (2/2)

Oh, en Before the day was done; But victory blessed the Suabianof the sun

CHAPTER V

THE SECOND MEETING OF THE CLUB

CONSTANCE--THE STORY OF HUSS--BISMARCK AND THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT--THE STORY OF THE HEART OF STONE--POEM--SEVEN NIGHTS ON THE RHINE: NIGHT FIRST

The secondof the Club was opened by Mr Beal with an account of Constance, and of the great Council that convened there in 1414

”_Via Mala!_ So the old Romans called the road near the source of the Rhine It passed over and through dark and awful chasms, that the river, as it ca for thousands of years

”The Rhine is the gift of the Alps, as Egypt is the gift of the Nile

Froreat reservoir, the Lake of Constance, it passes through one of the wildest and e that the Romans should have called their old Swiss road _Via Mala_

”Lake Constance! How our heads bent and our feelings kindled and gloe beheld it! It is the most beautiful lake that Germany possesses It is walled by snow-capped mountains, whose tops seem like islands in the blue lakes of the skies Quaint towns are nestled a soft and melodious in the still air The water is like e sails flap mechanically in the almost pulseless air

”There is color everywhere, of all hues: high, rich tones of color; low tones Piles of geroves; a deep cerulean sky above, that the sunlight fills like a golden sea At sunset the lake seelass, led with fire'

[Illustration: BRIDGE IN THE VIA MALA]

”The town of Constance, once a great city, is as old as the period of Constantine When Charlene went to Ro line of Gerreat festivities; here those kings passed their Christal assemblies

Here the ambassadors froolden key of the Italian states

”But these events are of comparatively small importance in comparison with the so-called Holy Council of Constance, in 1414 It was a tioverned the Church, and immorality flourished in it There were three popes, each at ith the others,--John XXIII, Benedict XII, and Gregory XII

”The Council was called to choose a pope, and to reform the Church

The town for four years becas and princes; the court of the world was here

”The town filled, and filled It was like a great fair Delegates came from the North and the South, the East and the West There were splendid fetes; luxury and vainglory At one time there were present a hundred thousandby way of reform, except to induce the three rival popes to relinquish their clailory with a criotten

”When ere in Florence,--beautiful Florence!--the tragedy of Savonarola rose before us like a spectre in the history of the past

Savonarola tried to refory and to maintain the purity of the Church, but failed He made the republic of Florence a a was prohibited, the licentious factions of the tined Roainst him and accused him of heresy, the punishment of which was death He declared his innocence, and desired to test it with his accusers by walking through a field of living fire He believed God would protect him from the flao with him into the fiery ordeal He was condemned and executed The martyr of Florence in after years becaedy haunted us Constance has been called 'the city of Huss'

”Ahty ones ended their way to the city of the lake, to attend the great Council, was a pale, thin man, in mean attire He had been invited to the Council by the Eismund, who promised to protect his person and his life He was a Boheraciously received, but was soon after thrown into prison on the charge of heresy

”They led him in chains before the Council, which assembled in an old hall, which is still shown The emperor sat upon the throne as president