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ruins. The church of Our Lady of the Pillar, under whose especial protection the city was supposed to exist, was nearly effaced by the bombardment; and the six mines under the Cosso, loaded with many thousand pounds of powder, were ready for a simultaneous explosion, which would have laid a quarter of the remaining houses in the dust. In fine, war had done its work, and the misery of Zaragoza could no longer be endured.

"The bombardment, which had never ceased from the tenth of January, had forced the women and children to take refuge in the vaults, with which the city abounded. There, the constant combustion of oil, the closeness of the atmosphere, unusual diet, and fear and restlessness of mind, had combined to produce a pestilence, which soon spread to the garrison. The strong and weak, the daring soldier and the timid child, alike fell before it; and such was the state of the atmosphere, and the disposition to disease, that the slightest wound gangrened, and became incurable. In the beginning of February, the deaths were from four to five hundred, daily; the living were unable to bury the dead; and thousands of carcasses, scattered about the streets and court-yards, or piled in heaps, at the doors of the churches, were left to dissolve, in their own corruption, or to be licked up by the flames of the burning houses, as the defence became contracted.

"The suburb, the greatest portion of the walls, and one-fourth of the houses, were in the hands of the French. Sixteen thousand shells, thrown during the bombardment, and the explosion of forty-five thousand pounds of powder, in the mines, had shaken the city to its foundations; and the bones of more than forty thousand persons, of every age and sex, bore dreadful testimony to the constancy of the besieged.

"Palafox was sick; and, of the plebeian chiefs, the most distinguished having been slain in battle, or swept away by the pestilence, the obdurate violence of the remaining leaders was so abated, that a fresh Junta was formed; and, after a stormy consultation, the majority

being for a surrender, a deputation waited on Marshal Lasnes on the twentieth of February, to negotiate a capitulation."*

Some doubt exists, as to the terms obtained. The French writers assert, that the place surrendered at discretion; the Spaniards say, the following conditions were obtained that the garrison should march out with the honors of war, to be constituted prisoners, and marched to France; the peasants to be sent home, and property and religion to be guarantied. On the twenty-first, from twelve to fifteen thousand sickly men laid down the arms which they could scarcely support, and this memorable Siege was terminated.

* Napier, History of Peninsular War, Book V. chap. iii.

GLOSSARY

OF WORDS AND PHRASES NOT EASILY TO BE UNDERSTOOD BY THE YOUNG READER.

[Many names of persons and places, terms of art, &c., which occur in this Volume, will be found explained in one of the places where they occur. For these, see INDEX.]

Aarau, (or Arau,) the capital of Aargau, one of the cantons (or districts) of Switzerland.

Aarberg, (or Arberg,) a town of Switzerland, in the canton of Berne, on the River Aar.

Aargau, (or Argau,) one of the cantons (or districts) of Switzerland, formerly a part of the cantons of Berne and Zurich.

Academy, the French, a literary society, in Paris, formed A. D. 1629. consisting of forty members, styled academicians. Its object is the

cultivation of literature and criticism. The Memoirs of the Academy are collections of papers, on various subjects, contributed by its members, and published from time to time.

Acarnania, (now called Carnia,) a country in the northwestern part of ancient Greece, west of Ætolia, and bordering on the Ionian Sea. Accessor, (or, in Latin, accensus,) an officer, whose business it was to attend upon the judicial magistrates in ancient Rome; a messenger, pursuivant, or beadle.

Achaia, properly, a narrow district of the Peloponnesus, (now called the Morea,) lying south of the Gulf of Corinth, (now the Gulf of Lepanto.) The term was sometimes applied to the whole of Greece, and sometimes, as by Herodotus, (page 11,) to the southern part of Thessaly, called Phthiotis.

Achilles, one of the Grecian heroes, who fought at the siege of Troy, and who is celebrated in the Iliad of Homer. He was remarkable for his courage, and also for having been the bravest of all the Greeks in the Trojan war. He is said to have been, while an infant, dipped by his mother in the River Styx, which rendered him invulnerable, (or incapable of being hurt,) in every part except the heel, by which she held him. At the siege of Troy he received a wound in the heel, which caused his death. He severely wounded Telephus, King of Mysia, in battle, and it being declared, by an Oracle, that "the weapon alone, which had inflicted the wound, could cure it," Achilles applied the rust from the point of his spear to the sore, which is said to have given it immediate relief, and effected a cure. It is to this circumstance, that Pope Clement alluded, when, as mentioned on page 263, he compared Cardinal Colonna to "the lance of Achilles."

Actium, (now called Azio,) a promontory on the western coast of

Greese, famous as the scene of a naval battle between Octavius and Antony, B. C. 31. Cleopatra was on the side of Antony, but fled, with her sixty ships, shortly after the action commenced, and was followed by Antony; leaving the victory to Octavius.

gean Sea, the ancient name of the sea lying between the coasts of Greece and Asia Minor. From a corruption of the word Egaopelago, the modern Greek pronunciation of Alyatov IIthayos, (the Egean Sea,) comes the word Archipelago, which is applied to any sea abounding in small islands, or to the groups of islands themselves. It is more particularly applied, however, to those of the Egean Sea. Egina, (now called Engia,) an island in the Saronic gulf, (now gulf of Engia,) lying west of the southern point of Attica. Eschylus, the most ancient of the tragic poets of Greece, was born B. C. 525, and lived to the age of seventy years. His works are marked by a stern and simple grandeur. Of as many as seventy tragedies, written by him, only seven are now extant. In the earlier part of his life, Eschylus was a soldier, and fought in the battles of Marathon and Salamis.

Esculapius, in the ancient mythology, was the god of medicine, and a son of Apollo. He is usually represented as holding a staff, round which is entwined a serpent, the emblem of convalescence; and near him stands a cock, the emblem of watchfulness. Afrasiab, an ancient Tartar prince, son of Pushung, King of Turan. He invaded Persia, and became King of that country, which he ruled for twelve years; after which, he suffered many reverses, being driven from Persia, defeated in several battles, and finally captured, and put to death by order of the Persian monarch, Kai Khoosroo. He is supposed to have flourished between B. C. 600 and

700.

Aga, the title of a Turkish military officer, a captain.

Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica, and the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Alba, (or alb,) a white linen vestment, resembling a surplice, anciently worn by the clergy in the administration of the Holy Communion. Alpnach, a town of Switzerland, in the canton of Berne.

Altdorff, (or Altorf,) the chief town in the canton of Uri, in Switzerland.

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Amphyction, an ancient Grecian king, the founder of the Council of the Amphyctions, an assembly composed of deputies from the states of Greece, who had their seats,' or place of assembly, first at Delphi, and afterwards at the village of Anthela, near Thermopylæ. This Council took cognizance of public dissensions between states and cities, and of various civil and criminal offences.

Analecta Veterum Poetarum Græcorum, Fragments from the Ancient Greek Poets.

Anatolia, (or Natolia,) anciently called Asia Minor, a country lying between the Grecian Archipelago on the west, the Black Sea on the north, Armenia and Syria on the east, and the Mediterranean on the south.

Antias, (Latin,) an inhabitant of Antium, a city of ancient Italy, on the Mediterranean. Valerius Antias, or Valerius of Antium, was

an ancient historian, frequently cited by Livy, but none of his works have come down to us.

Anticyra, a city in Thessaly, the situation of which is described on page 11.

Antiochus (the Great) became King of Syria, B. C. 244. Having been victorious against various other nations, he made war against the Romans, but was unsuccessful, and was obliged to conclude a humiliating peace.

Apollodorus, a friend of Socrates.

Apology, a defence of one who is accused.

'Plato's Apology' is a

defence of Socrates from the unjust charges brought against him, and Socrates is introduced in it, speaking in his own person. Apparitor, a general name, applied to any attendant upon, or public servant of, a Roman magistrate.

Apropos, (French,) opportunely; to the purpose.

Apulia, a country of ancient Italy, lying upon the Adriatic Sea, (now Gulf of Venice.)

Arcadia, a mountainous country of ancient Greece, in the central part of the Peloponnesus.

Archipelago, see Egean Sea.

Argau, see Aargau.

Arginuse, the name of some islands in the Ægean Sea, near the coast of Asia Minor, near which a naval battle was fought between the Athenians and Lacedæmonians, B. C. 405, in which the former were victorious. But the Athenian generals, being prevented by a storm from taking up the dead bodies in order to their interment, drew upon themselves the resentment of their countrymen, and were accused of wilfully neglecting what was considered a sacred duty to the dead. They were recalled from their command, and the six generals who returned to Athens, were tried before the people, on this unjust charge, and were condemned, and executed. Ariosto, a celebrated Italian poet, born in 1474. His great work is the Orlando Furioso,' an epic poem, in forty-six cantos, written with great liveliness of narration and richness of invention, and which is ranked by the Italians among the masterpieces of their literature. He died at the age of fifty-eight.

Aristides, an Athenian, who was one of the generals at the battle of Marathon, B. C. 490, and commanded at the battle of Platææ, B. C. 479. He was remarkable for his strict integrity, in which his fellow-citizens, on various occasions,. manifested their entire confidence, and he bore, in Athens, the surname of the Just.' Aristophanes, a comic poet, of Athens, who flourished in the fifth century before Christ. His comedies (eleven of which, out of fifty-four, now remain) were greatly admired by the Athenians, for the richness of their wit, and the polished grace of the style in which they were composed. To modern taste, they appear gross and immoral. Agreeably to the freedom of ancient comedy, persons living at the time were brought upon the stage by name, and made the subjects of the most unbridled sarcasm. Thus Socrates was one of the 'persons of the drama' in the comedy of the Clouds,' which is devoted to the ridicule of himself and his school.

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