historical lectures and essays(查尔斯金斯利历史讲座)






thinks that he had salt…water tanks likewise; and thus he may have been 

the father of all 〃Aquariums。〃            He had a large and handsome house in the 

city   itself;  a  large   practice    as   physician    in   the  country   round;      money 

flowed in fast to him; and flowed out fast likewise。                 He spent much upon 

building; pulling down; rebuilding; and sent the bills in seemingly to his 

wife and to his guardian angel Catharine。                He himself had never a penny 

in   his   purse:     but   earned   the   money;   and   let   his   ladies   spend   it;   an 

equitable and pleasant division of labour which most married men would 

do well to imitate。        A generous; affectionate; careless little man; he gave 

away;   says   his   pupil   and   biographer;   Joubert;   his   valuable   specimens   to 

any savant who begged for them; or left them about to be stolen by visitors; 

who;   like   too   many   collectors   in   all   ages;   possessed   light   fingers   and 



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lighter consciences。         So   pacific   was he   meanwhile;   and so   brave   withal 

that   even   in   the   fearful   years   of   〃The   Troubles;〃   he   would   never   carry 

sword; nor even tuck or dagger:                but went about on the most lonesome 

journeys as one who wore a charmed life; secure in God and in his calling; 

which was to heal; and not to kill。 

     These were the golden years of Rondelet’s life; but trouble was ing 

on him; and a stormy sunset after a brilliant day。               He lost his sister…in…law; 

to whom he owed all his fortunes; and who had watched ever since over 

him and his wife like a mother; then he lost his wife herself under most 

painful circumstances; then his best… beloved daughter。                   Then he married 

again; and lost the son who was born to him; and then came; as to many of 

the best in those days; even sorer trials; trials of the conscience; trials of 

faith。 

     For in the meantime Rondelet had bee a Protestant; like many of 

the   wisest   men   round   him;   like;   so   it   would   seem   from   the   event;   the 

majority of the university and the burghers of Montpellier。                    It is not to be 

wondered        at。   Montpellier      was    a   sort  of   halfway     resting…    place   for 

Protestant      preachers;    whether     fugitive    or  not;   who    were   passing     from 

Basle; Geneva; or Lyons; to Marguerite of Navarre’s little Protestant court 

at Pan or at Nerac; where all wise and good men; and now and then some 

foolish and fanatical ones; found shelter and hospitality。                   Thither Calvin 

himself   had   been;   passing   probably  through   Montpellier   and   leavingas 

such   a   man   was   sure   to   leave   the   mark   of   his   foot   behind   him。    At 

Lyons; no great distance up the Rhone; Marguerite had helped to establish 

an   organised   Protestant   munity;   and   when   in   1536   she   herself   had 

passed      through      Montpellier;      to   visit   her   brother     at   Valence;     and 

Montmorency’s camp at Avignon; she took with her doubtless Protestant 

chaplains   of   her   own;   who   spoke   wise   wordsit   may   be   that   she   spoke 

wise   words   herselfto   the   ardent   and   inquiring   students   of   Montpellier。 

Moreover; Rondelet and his disciples had been for years past in constant 

munication with the Protestant savants of Switzerland and Germany; 

among   whom   the   knowledge   of   nature   was   progressing   as   it   never   had 



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progressed before。         Forit is a fact always to be rememberedit was only 

in the free air of Protestant countries the natural sciences could grow and 

thrive。     They   sprung   up;   indeed;   in   Italy   after   the   restoration   of   Greek 

literature in the fifteenth century; but they withered there again only too 

soon under the blighting upas shade of superstition。                    Transplanted to the 

free air of Switzerland; of Germany; of Britain; and of Montpellier; then 

half Protestant; they developed rapidly and surely; simply because the air 

was free; to be checked again in France by the return of superstition with 

despotism super…added; until the eve of the great French Revolution。 

     So Rondelet had been   for some   years   Protestant。                He had hidden   in 

his house for a long while a monk who had left his monastery。                          He had 

himself written theological treatises:              but when his Bishop Pellicier was 

imprisoned   on   a   charge   of   heresy;   Rondelet   burnt   his   manuscripts;   and 

kept   his   opinions   to   himself。      Still   he   was   a   suspected   heretic;   at   last 

seemingly   a   notorious   one;   for   only   the   year   before   his   death;   going   to 

visit patients at Perpignan; he was waylaid by the Spaniards; and had to 

get home through bypasses of the Pyrenees; to avoid being thrown into the 

Inquisition。 

     And   those   were   times   in   which   it   was   necessary   for   a   man   to   be 

careful;   unless   he   had   made   up   his   mind   to   be   burned。     For   more   than 

thirty     years    of   Rondelet’s      life   the   burning      had    gone     on    in   his 

neighbourhood; intermittently it is true:               the spasms of superstitious fury 

being succeeded; one may charitably hope; by pity and remorse; but still 

the   burnings   had   gone   on。       The   Benedictine   monk   of   St。   Maur;         who 

writes the history of Languedoc; says; quite en passant; how someone was 

burnt   at   Toulouse   in   1553;   luckily   only  in   effigy;   for   he   had   escaped   to 

Geneva:         but he adds; 〃next year they burned several heretics;〃 it being 

not   worth   while   to   mention   their   names。       In   1556   they   burned   alive   at 

Toulouse Jean Escalle; a poor Franciscan monk; who had found his order 

intolerable;   while   one   Pierre   de   Lavaur;   who   dared   preach   Calvinism   in 

the streets of Nismes; was hanged and burnt。                 So had the score of judicial 

murders been increasing year by  year; till it had to be; as all evil scores 



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have   to   be   in   this   world;   paid   off   with   interest;   and   paid   off   especially 

against   the   ignorant   and   fanatic   monks   who   for   a   whole   generation;   in 

every   university   and   school   in   France;   had   been   howling   down   sound 

science;   as   well   as   sound   religion;   and   at   Montpellier   in   1560…61;   their 

debt   was   paid   them   in   a   very   ugly   way。   News   came   down   to   the   hot 

southerners of Languedoc of the so…called conspiracy of Amboise。How 

the   Duc   de   Guise   and   the   Cardinal   de   Lorraine   had   butchered   the   best 

blood in France under the pretence of a treasonable plot; how the King of 

Navarre and the Prince de Conde had been arrested; then how Conde and 

Coligny were ready to take up arms at the head of all the Huguenots of 

France; and try to stop this life…long torturing; by sharp shot and cold steel; 

then how in six months’ time the king would assemble a general council to 

settle   the   question   between   Catholics   and   Huguenots。           The   Huguenots; 

guessing      how     that   would     end;    resolved     to   settle   the   question     for 

themselves。        They   rose   in   one   city   after   another;   sacked   the   churches; 

destroyed   the   images;   put   down   by   main   force   superstitious   processions 

and dances; and did many things only to be excused by the exasperation 

caused by thirty years of cruelty。           At Montpellier there was hard fighting; 

murdersso say the Catholic historiansof priests and monks; sack of the 

new cathedral; destruction of the noble convents which lay in a ring round 

Montpellier。       The     city   and   the   university     were    in  the   hands    of  the 

Huguenots; and Montpellier became Protestant on the spot。 

     Next year came the counter…blow。               There were heavy battles with the 

Catholics      all   round    the   neighbourhood;         destruction     of   the   suburbs; 

threatened siege and sack; and years of misery and poverty for Montpellier 

and all who were therein。 

     Horrible was the state of France in those times of the wars of religion 

which   began   in   1562;   the   times   which   are   spoke