Part 28 (1/2)
Wild glory of the weltering sh.o.r.e, The clouds dark portent hangeth o'er, The rus.h.i.+ng billows m.u.f.fled roar.
Like storm-drenched bird, from out the west The labouring bark by strong winds pressed, Beats to the haven of her rest.
The seaman views the turmoil grim, And be his vessel tight and trim, The tempest wears no fears for him.
Starboard the helm, friend, for we have now fetched nearly a mile _plus_ the bridge, and prepare to set thy foot for the first time on old Cornubia's sh.o.r.e, and make acquaintance with its inhabiters, a generous, independent liberty-loving race, who through the past centuries have ”one and all” vigorously a.s.serted their right to social and religious freedom. Yonder is Landulph church-tower peering up among the undulations of the sh.o.r.e,--this will be our first port of call, to visit the sanctuary nestling among the dwellings at its foot, and make note of sundry interesting a.s.sociations--one specially unique--connected with it. We pull in our little craft, and having made fast to a place of safety among the seaweed-clad slaty ledges of rock, set off for our destination, and a few minutes' walk brings us to the door of the little edifice.
On entering, the first thing that arrests attention, is the large number of carved bench-ends with which the nave and south aisle are furnished. Although under any conditions these architectural features are most attractive to the antiquary, as displaying in their sculptured imagery, direct witness of the art of past existences, the examples here found, for quality of workmans.h.i.+p, reflect not the purer glory of the Plantagenet workman, nor the lavish wealth of the earlier Tudor. Their shallower and comparatively unstudied work, points to the era just before that crowned Dowsing,--who in relation to the church was dubbed Defender of her Faith, but whose truer and more congenial t.i.tle should have been Destructor of her Works,--by his ravages among the religious establishments, gave the final quietus to the fast-dying spirit of ecclesiastical art. But even apart from his relentless savagery, its chief incentive had almost disappeared, for men were then fast learning the easier faith of word-service alone, unallied with the older self-denying, and more tangible offering of deeds. The real and the painstaking had given place to the less troublesome and quicker wrought,--rich deep-cut cusp, vine-leaf, rose, and blazoned s.h.i.+eld were succeeded by coa.r.s.e rustic allegory, ill-shaped animals and birds, tasteless initials and dates, and confused heraldry, interspersed with heathen masks and grotesques, elbowing the cross and sacred monogram--the last dying speech and confession of the expiring Gothic. Here the symbolism of the Pa.s.sion seems to have been the old carvers' favourite subject, occurring in the greatest profusion, variety, and minuteness of detail,--a pertinent example of the lowest form of religious teaching, the objective (even now a favourite with some), designed by its pictured symbolism to impress, and in its way instruct the unlettered mind, a poor apology for the n.o.bler and more comprehensive study of the sacred text. One or two of the panels are however more noteworthy, as preserving a flickering of the antient beauty of design, and these find record in our sketch-book.
A sprinkling of curiously imperfect and jumbled heraldry, apparently allusive to afore-time settlers in Landulph and important families located near, occupies many; on these we recognize the _roses_ of Lower, the _rudders_ of Willoughby de Broke, the _saltires_ of Glanville, and the _bells_ of Porter of Trematon, while on others occur the insignia of the See, and specially noticeable, those of the princely Courtenay,--_the eagle on the bundle of sticks, feathers_, and s.h.i.+elds charged with the _three torteaux_, badges and arms of the last descendants of the first house of that ill.u.s.trious descent,--armories almost ubiquitous, both within and without the church door in these western parts.
Here in Landulph this n.o.ble race owned considerable possessions, inherited through the marriage of Emmeline, daughter of Sir John Dauney (or De Alneto), with Sir Edward Courtenay, who died 1372, of whom Cleaveland records,--”he had sixteen manors, and died before his father the Earl, and had by his lady two sons, Edward who came to be Earl after his grandfather, and Sir Hugh of Haccombe, whose grandson Edward was restored to the Earldom of Devons.h.i.+re upon the failure of the elder brother's issue.” The effigies of Sir John Dauney, his daughter Emmeline and her husband Sir Edward Courtenay are found in the neighbouring church of Sheviocke. The property continued in the owners.h.i.+p of the Courtenays, until the cruel execution of Henry, Marquis of Exeter, by Henry VIII., when it was annexed to the Duchy of Cornwall.
And here an interesting circ.u.mstance may be noted, concerning the carved array of the symbolism of the Pa.s.sion on the old seats before us, as we remember that these emblems appear to have been general favourites in Cornwall, and occur largely displayed in similar situations within many other churches in the county.
Cornwall has ever been distinguished for the earnest religious views of its inhabitants, and from the earliest times, its material record has survived. The large number of old Crosses strewn thickly over the wild moorlands or by the solitary wayside, in churchyard or village street, were set up as reminders to the pa.s.sing foot, of the way to eternal life, and contemporary with them Holy Wells covered the bright springs in the valleys, and appealed with their simple imagery to those who came thither to draw, not to forget to thirst also for the living water that refreshes the soul; while Sainted Names numberless, the stories of whose devoted lives are lost in the mist of antiquity; all attest that olden deep spirit of religious influence and observance, not to be found in other regions of the west, and which continues almost undiminished down to the present hour.
It was this feeling which brought the hardy miners, and their half-brethren the Dartmoor peasantry, with their clubs and bows up to the gates of Exeter in st.u.r.dy remonstrance, and to leave their mangled bodies afterward on Clyst Heath, when the Ma.s.s they were accustomed to reverence was abolished from their sight in the rural sanctuaries where they wors.h.i.+pped, during the days of the sixth Edward. It was this that stirred their hearts, and sent their war-cry aloft, when their countryman Trelawney stood in peril of liberty and life at the hands of the sinister James. It was this unsatisfied yearning, stifled while under the religious torpor which had settled over the mid-Georgian era, that welcomed the evangelic cry of Wesley, when he breathed over their valley of dry bones, and devoted disciples by myriads sprang into new and spiritual existence, followed subsequently by the kindred and scarcely less-fruitful mission of O'Brien, the apostle of the north Devon hills; and later still with equal earnestness, their recognition and steadfast adhesion to the beneficent discipline of Father Matthew. The same earnest receptive spirit has continued in them through all the centuries. In emotive warmth of heart,--not altogether wanting in touch of chivalry,--home-loving clans.h.i.+p of nationality, and kins.h.i.+p of antient tongue, the Cornish hold much in common with the Welsh, Irish, and Scotch; qualities on crossing the Cheviots, Wrekin, or Dartmoor, lost altogether in the common-place, flavourless compromise called English character.
Slowly we wend our way through the nave, and observe in addition to the numerous carved bench-ends, the lower compartments of the antient rood-screen (its stair-turret still exists in the wall of the south aisle), all the upper portion having disappeared. The design of its tracery is similar, and from this we a.s.sume that the edifice was entirely refitted within, if not wholly rebuilt at the same era. But the majority of the benches have suffered curious treatment at the ingenious hands of the parish joiner, a generation or so since, when these old solid structures were transformed into pews, by grafting on them above slender deal continuations, furnished with doors. Then unfortunately the carved edging around their ends was nearly all cleared away, so as to form a panel at the base, and finished afterward by the whole being ”neatly painted and grained” to acquire uniformity. The north aisle has a fine open-timbered waggon roof, the dividing arches between the nave and aisles are composed of granite--moor-stone as Polwhele delighted to designate it--ponderous and strong, and these, coupled with the old st.u.r.dy oak praying-benches beneath, convey a sense of reality and abidingness in work that contrasts strongly with our modern flimsy imitations.
”See now, along that pillared aisle The graven arches firm and fair; They bend their shoulders to the toil, And lift the hollow roof in air.
Huge, mighty, ma.s.sive, hard, and strong, Were the choice stones they lifted then; The vision of their hope was long, They knew their G.o.d, those faithful men.”
Having lingered a moment in the south aisle to note the badges of the royally descended Courtenay, our steps tend eastward to the memento that records an even more ill.u.s.trious name than theirs, and that forms the unique a.s.sociation connected with this country church. But ere we reach it they are arrested a moment to observe the two large and singularly representative squires' pews of the Jacobean knight Sir Nicholas Lower, an olden resident of Clifton in Landulph, and of whom we shall have something further to say by and by. One was evidently intended for the use of the family, the other on the opposite side of the aisle, larger, raised and arranged as a sort of gallery, evidently intended to be occupied by his wors.h.i.+p's servants and retainers. Both are elaborately decorated in their upper portions with carved panels displaying the armories of his descent and alliance, below they exhibit the linen pattern, and on the corners appears his crest sculptured in full relief. Immediately beyond is a large high-tomb, whose ma.s.sive black marble table records that the bodies of the old knight and his dame repose below, while on the aisle wall immediately above the gallery-pew are two further inscribed bra.s.ses to their memories.
Now stay thy foot, and hearken! for we are standing not on princely, nay, nor royal, but even over imperial dust. Give thy thoughts wing, from these leaden skies and mist-hung coasts,--nor stay them until they have reached the sunny sh.o.r.es of the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, the cla.s.sic precincts and immortal traditions of that superlatively beautiful city that holds the keys of the two continents in her hands, and to the ill.u.s.trious dynasty that erstwhile ruled her, and by whose name she is still designated. Then learn that a direct descendant of this distinguished race, an exile from his native clime, and almost an outcast on the face of the earth, found his last refuge in this life, under a friendly roof close by, and lies at rest,--not in marble sarcophagus under vaulted dome near the home of his royal ancestors,--but, equally well, beneath the simple pavement of this rustic sanctuary.
Resolve thy parable, you say. Read the inscription recorded on yonder unpretending bra.s.s plate:--
HERE LYETH THE BODY OF THEODORO PALEOLOGVS OF PESARO IN ITALYE; DESCENDED FROM YE IMPERYAIL LYNE OF YE LAST CHRISTIAN EMPERORS OF GREECE; BEING THE SONNE OF CAMILIO, YE SON'E OF PROSPER, THE SONNE OF THEODORO, THE SONNE OF IOHN, YE SONNE OF THOMAS, SECOND BROTHER TO CONSTANTINE PALEOLOGVS, THE 8TH OF THAT NAME, AND LAST OF YE LYNE YT RAYGNED IN CONSTANTINOPLE, VNTILL SVBDVED BY THE TVRKES; WHO MARRIED W'TH MARY, YE DAVGHTER OF WILLIAM b.a.l.l.s OF HADLYE IN SOVFFOLKE, GENT: AND HAD ISSVE 5 CHILDREN THEODORO, IOHN, FERDINANDO, MARIA AND DOROTHY, AND DEPARTED THIS LIFE AT CLYFTON, YE 21TH OF IANVARY, 1636.
Over is the proud achievement of his race,--_Per fess, a double-headed eagle displayed, collared, and with an imperial crown between the heads, standing on the castles of Europe and Asia_, being the imperial arms of Greece, _with crescent for difference_.
Proceed we now to give such few particulars of the dynasty and life of this imperially descended exile as s.p.a.ce permits. Thomas Paleologus, as the inscription informs us, was second brother to Constantine, last of the Christian Emperors of Greece. He succeeded his brother the Emperor John in 1448, and bravely defended his beautiful metropolis from the unclean foot of the invader, when Mahomet II. laid siege to it with an immense army; but being abandoned by the reigning princes of Christendom,--then too busy quarrelling among themselves to help him,--was unable to repel them, and died fighting like a hero in the breach 29 May, 1453. His death was followed by the capture of the royal city, which was forthwith handed over to all the horrors of pillage and outrage by the Moslem host. Thenceforward the unspeakable Turk, with his fanatic courage, his slavery, cruelty, and sensual sloth, settled himself within its delightful precincts, as the future capital of his dominions, and brought his unsavoury presence into the community of Christian nationalities, remaining only to become an unceasing source of sanguinary contention among them, his wretched and effete government being from time to time saved from summary extinction, only by the jealousy of his protectors. A notable and salutary change of circ.u.mstances and opinion notwithstanding, and in strong contrast to the apathy or fear with which the European potentates viewed the original triumphant entry and settlement of the disciples of Mahomet into the beautiful city of Constantine four centuries previously.
In the terrible conflict that resulted in the downfall of Constantinople, the carnage on both sides was immense. The Greeks fought with great determination, ”the Turks lay dead by heaps upon the ground, yet other fresh men pressed on still in their places,” so that at last the beleaguered defenders appear to have been borne down by their force of numbers. Together with this,
”it chanced _Joannes Justinia.n.u.s_ the Generall to lie wounded in the arme; who losing much blood, cowardly withdrew himselfe from the place of his charge, not leaving any to supplie his roome, and so got into the cittie by the gate called ROMANA, which hee had caused to be opened in the inner wall, pretending the cause of his departure to be for the binding up of his wound, but being indeed a man altogether discouraged. The souldiours there present dismayed with the departure of their Generall, and sore charged by the Janizaries, forsooke their stations, and in haste fled to the same gate, whereby _Justinia.n.u.s_ was entered, with the sight whereof, the other souldiours dismayed, ran thither by heapes also. But whilest they valiantly strive, all together to get in at once, they so wedged one another in the entrance of the gate, that few of so great a mult.i.tude, got in; in which, so great a presse and confusion of minds, eight hundred persons were there by them that followed, troden underfoot, or thrust to death. The emperor himselfe, for safegarde of his life flying with the rest, in that presse, as a man not regarded, miserably ended his dayes, together with the Greek empire. His dead bodie was shortly after found by the Turkes amongst the slaine, and knowne by his rich apparell; whose head being cut off, was forthwith presented to the Turkish tyrant; by whose commaundment it was afterwards thrust upon the point of a launce, and in great derision caried about as a trophee of his victorie, first in the campe, and afterwards up and downe the citie.”[47]
[47] ”_Generall Historie of the Turkes_,” by RICHARD KNOLLES, ed.
1603.
Thus fell Constantinople, and thus perished Constantinus, the eighth of that name, its last Emperor,
”a prince of a mild and soft spirit fitter for the church than for the field, who hearing of the great preparation made by the Turkish king, first made such preparation as his owne small abilitie would extend unto, and then sent his emba.s.sadours unto other Christian princes earnestly craving their aid, and a.s.sistance in that his dangerous estate. But that labour was lost, and all his sute vaine; for they being at variance one with another, and having more care of private revenge, than how to repulse the common enemie of Christianitie, could not, or would not afoord him any helpe at all.”
All the a.s.sistance the poor Emperor had, to resist the cloud of a.s.sailants then fast closing around the doomed city, was from ”certaine s.h.i.+ps and gallies” of the Levantine coast then by chance at Constantinople, among whom was
”_Joannes Justinia.n.u.s_ an adventurer of Genua, who had been scouring those seas, with two tall s.h.i.+ps, and four hundred souldiours, where he was entertained by the emperour. And forasmuch as he was a man honourably descended and supposed to be of great courage and direction, was by the emperour appointed Generall of all his forces next unto himselfe. He also entertained six thousand Greekes; which with three thousand Venetians, Genowais, and others whom he made stay of, joined unto the cittizens, was all the weake strength he had to relie upon for the defence of his state and empire.”
The appointment of the Venetian as chief commander was an unfortunate one, and he exhibited the usual cowardice and treachery when put to the test, which adventurers usually display, although nothing the besieged could have done would probably have eventually saved the city from the host of invaders surrounding it, it being a hopeless conflict with superior numbers. Those of the citizens whose patriotism inspired them to confront the enemy, fought with great heroism, but numbers of others appear to have held aloof, denying their emperor not only their personal a.s.sistance, but also of their substance to pay the mercenaries to fight for them, and ”whoe in their turn refused any longer to goe to the walls than they were sure of their dayly pay!”