* * * * * * * * Of all the holy men whose fame so fresh remains,
To whom the Britons built so many sumptuous fanes,
This Saint before the rest their patron still they hold,
Whose birth their ancient Bards to Cambria long foretold;
And seated here a see, his bishopric of yore,
Upon the farthest point of this unfruitful shore,
Selected by himself, that, far from all resort,
With contemplation seemed most fitly to comport;
That, void of all delight, cold, barren, bleak, and dry,
No pleasure might allure, nor steal the wandering eye.
Drayton.
“A.D. 462. It happened on a day, as Gildas was in a sermon (Reader, whether smiling or frowning, forgive the digression), a nunne big with child came into the congregation; whereat the preacher presently was struck dumb, (would not a maid’s child amaze any man?) and could proceed no farther. Afterwards he gave this reason for his silence, because that virgin bare in her body an infant of such signal sanctity as far transcended him. Thus, as lesser loadstones are reported to lose their virtue in the presence of those that are bigger, so Gildas was silenced at the approach of the Welsh St. David (being then but Hanse in Kelder); though afterwards, like Zachary, he recovered his speech again.” — Fuller’s Church History of Great Britain.
“David one day was preaching in an open field to the multitude, and could not be well seen because of the concourse (though they make him four cubits high, a man and a half in stature), when behold the earth whereon he stood, officiously heaving itself up, mounted him up to a competent visibility above all his audience. Whereas our Saviour himself, when he taught the people, was pleased to choose a mountain, making use of the advantage of nature without improving his miraculous power.” — Fuller.
David is indebted to the romancers for his fame as a champion of Christendom: how he came by his leek is a question which the antiquarians have not determined. I am bound to make grateful mention of St. David, having in my younger days been benefited by his merits at Westminster, where the 1st of March is an early play.
But I too here upon this barbarous land,
Like Elmur and like Aronan of old,
Must lift the ruddy spear. — IX. p. 39.
Elmur, Cynhaval, and Avaon the son of Taliesin, all deserted the Bardic principles to bear arms, and were called the three Chiefs like Bulls in conflict. Avaon, Aronan, and Dygynnelw are the three Bards of the ruddy spear.
— for this the day,
When to his favoured city he vouchsafes
His annual presence. — IX. p. 41.
The Feast of the Arrival of the Gods is minutely described by Torquemada, L. 10, c. 24. Tezcalipoca was believed to arrive first, because he was the youngest of the gods, and never waxed old: Telpuctli, the Youth, was one of his titles. On the night of his arrival, a general carousal took place, in which it was the custom, particularly for old people, men and women alike, to drink immoderately; for they said the liquor which they drank would go to wash the feet of the God, after his journey. And I, says the Franciscan provincial, — who, if he had been a philosopher, would perhaps have not written a book at all, or certainly not so interesting a one, — I say that this is a great mistake; and the truth is, that they washed their own stripes, and filled them with liquor, which made them merry; and the fumes got up into their heads, and overset them with which fall it is not to be wondered at that they fell into such errors and foolishness.
It was thought that this God often visited the Mexicans; but, except on this occasion, he always came incognito. A stone seat was placed at every crossing, or division, of a street, called Momoztli or Ichialoca, where he is expected; and this was continually hung with fresh garlands and green boughs, that he might rest there. Torquemada, L. 6, c. 20.
Mexitli, woman-born. — IX. p. 41.
The history of Mexitli’s birth is related in the Poem, Part 2. Sect. XXI. Though the Mexicans took their name from him, he is more usually called Huitzilupuchtli; or, corruptly, Vitzliputzli. In consequence of the vengeance which he exercised as soon as born, he was styled Tetzahuitl, Terror, and Tetzauhteotl, the Terrible God. — Clavigero. Torquemada, L. 6, c. 21.
Quetzalcoatl. — IX. p. 42.
God of the Winds. His temple was circular; “for even as the ayre goeth rounde about the heavens, even for that consideration they made his temple round. The entrance of that temple had a dore made lyke unto the mouth of a serpent, and was paynted with foule and divilish gestures, with great teeth and gummes wrought; which was a thing to feare those that should enter thereat, and especially the Christians, unto whom it represented very hell with that ougly face and monsterous teeth.” — Gomara.
Some history is blended with fable in the legend of Quetzalcoatl; for such is the uglyography of his name. He was chief of a band of strangers who landed at Panuco, coming from the North. Their dress was black, long, and loose, like the Turkish dress, or the cassock, says Torquemada, open before, without hood or cape; the sleeves full, but not reaching quite to the elbow: such dresses were, even in his time, used by the natives, in some of their dances, in memory of this event. Their leader was a white man, florid, and having a large beard. At first he settled in Tullan, but left that province in consequence of the vices of its lords, Huemac and Tezcalipoca, and removed to Cholullan. He taught the natives to cut the green stones called chalchihuites, which were so. highly valued, and to work silver and gold. Every thing flourished in his reign: the head of maize was a man’s load, and the cotton grew of all colors. He had one palace of emeralds, another of silver, another of shells, one of all kinds of wood, one of turkoises, and one of feathers. His commands were proclaimed by a crier from the Sierra of Tzatzitepec, near the city of Tulla. and were heard as far as the sea-coast, and for more than a hundred leagues round. Fr. Bernardino de Sahagun heard such a voice once in the dead of the night, far exceeding the: power of any human voice. He was told that it was to summon the laborer to the maizes-fields; but both he and Torquemada believed it was the Devil’s doing. Notwithstanding his power, Quetzalcoatl was driven out by Tezcalipoca and Huemac. Before he departed, he burnt or buried all his treasures, converted the cocoa-trees into others of less worth, and sent off all the sweet singing-birds, who had before abounded, to go before him to Tlapallan, the Land of the Sun, whither he himself had been summoned. The Indians always thought he would return, and, when first they saw the Spanish ships, thought he was come in these moving temples. They worshipped him for the useful arts which he had taught, for the tranquillity they had enjoyed under his government, and because he never suffered blood to be shed in sacrifice, but ordered bread and flowers and incense to be offered up instead. — Torquemada, L. 3, c. 7; L. 6, c. 24.
Some authors have supposed that these strangers came from Ireland, because they scarred their faces, and eat human flesh (this is no compliment to the Irish, and certainly does not accord with the legend); others, that they were Carthaginians, because New Spain was called Anahuace, and the Phoenicians were children of Anak. That the Carthaginians peopled America is the more likely, say they, because they bored their ears, and so did the Incas of Peru. One of these princes, in process of time,” says Garcilasso, “being willing to enlarge the privileges of his people, gave them permission to bore their ears also, but not so wide as the Incas.
This much may legitimately be deduced from the legend, that New Spain, as well as Peru, was civilized by a foreign adventurer, who, it seems, attempted to destroy the sanguinary superstition of the country, but was himself driven out by the Priests. Tlaloc. — IX. p. 42.
God of the Waters: he is mentioned more particularly in Section XII. Tlalocatecuhtli, the Lord of Paradise, as lie is also called, was the oldest of the country gods. His image was that of a man sitting on a square seat, with a vessel before him, in which a specimen of all the different grains and fruitseeds in the country was to be offered: it was a sort of pumicestone, and, according to traditi
on, had been found upon the mountains.’ One of the kings of Tetzcuco ordered a better idol to be made, which was destroyed by lightning, and the original one, in consequence, replaced with fear and trembling. Ah one of the arms had been broken in removing, it was fastened with three large golden nails; but, in the time of the first Bishop Zumarraga, the golden nails were taken away, and the idol destroyed.
Tlaloc dwelt among the mountains, where he collected the vapours, and dispensed them in rain and dew. A number of inferior deities were under his command.
Tlalala. - IX. p. 42.
Some of my readers will stumble at this name; but, to those who would accuse me of designing to Hottentotify the language by introducing one of the barbarous clacks, I must reply, that the sound is Grecian. The writers who have supposed that America was peopled from Plato’s Island, observe that the tl, a combination so remarkably frequent in the Mexican tongue, has probably a reference to Atlantis and the Atlantic, Atl being the Mexican word for water, and Tlaloc the God of the waters. An argument quite worthy of the hypothesis. — Fr. Gregorio Garcia. Origen de los Indios, Lib. 4, c. 8, sec. 2. The quaintest opinion ever started upon this obscure subject is that of Fr. Pedro Simon, who argued that the Indians were of the tribe of Issachar, because he was “a strong ass in a pleasant land, who bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.” If the Hebrew word, which is rendered tribute, may mean taxes as well, I humbly submit it to consideration, whether Issachar doth not typify John Bull.
Tiger of the War. — IX. p. 44.
This was one of the four most honourable titles among the Mexicans: the others were, Shedder of Blood, Destroyer of Men, and Lord of the Dark House. Great Slayer of Men was also a title among the Natchez; but, to obtain this, it was necessary that the warrior should have made ten prisoners, or brought home twenty scalps.
The Chinese have certain soldiers whom they call Tygers of war. On their large round shields of basket-work are painted monstrous faces of some imaginary animal, intended to frighten the enemy. Barrow’s Travels in China.
Whose conquered Gods lie idle in their chains,
And with tame weakness brook captivity. — IX. p. 47.
The Gods of the conquered nations were kept fastened and caged in the Mexican temples. They who argued for the Phoenician origin of the Indians might have compared this with the triumph of the Philistines. over the ark, when they placed it in the Temple of Dagon — peace-offerings of repentance, fill
The temple courts. — IX. p. 44.
Before the Mexican temples were large courts, kept well cleansed, and planted with the trees which they call Ahuchuetl, which are green throughout the year, and give a pleasant shade; wherefore they are much esteemed by the Indians: they are our savin (sabines de Espana). In the comfort of their shade the priests sit, and await those who come to make offerings or sacrifice to the Idol. — Historia de la Fundacion y Discurso de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico de la orden de Predicadores; por el Maestro Fray Augustin Davila Padilla. Brusseles, 1625.
Ten painful months,
Immured amid the forest had he dwelt,
In abstinence and solitary prayer
Passing his nights and days. — X. p. 47.
Torquemada, L. 9, c. 25. Clavigero.
The most painful penance to which any of these priests were subjected was that which the Chololtecas performed, every four years, in honor of Quetzalcoatl. All the priests sat round the walls in the temple, holding a censer in their hands. From this posture they were not permitted to move, except when they went out for the necessary calls of nature: two hours they might sleep at the beginning of the night, and one after sunrise; at midnight, they bathed, smeared themselves with a black unction, and pricked their ears to offer the blood. The twenty-one remaining hours they sat in the same posture, incensing the idol, and in that same posture took the little sleep permitted them: this continued sixty days. If any one slept out of his time, his companions pricked him. The ceremony continued twenty days longer; but they were then permitted more rest. Torquemada, L. 10, c. 32.
Folly and madness have had as much to do as knavery in priestcraft. The knaves, in general, have made the fools their instruments; but they not unfrequently have suffered in their turn.
Coatlantona. — X. p. 50.
The mother of Mexitli, who, being a mortal woman, was made immortal for her son’s sake, and appointed goddess of all herbs, flowers, and trees. Clavigero.
Mammuth. — X. p. 54.
Mr. Jefferson informs us, that a late governor of Virginia, having asked some delegates of the Delawares what they knew or had heard respecting this animal; the chief speaker immediately put himself into an oratorical attitude, and, with a pomp suited to the elevation of his subject, informed him, that it was a tradition handed down from their fathers, that in ancient times a herd of them came to the Big-bone-licks, and began an universal destruction of the bear, deer, elks, buffaloes, and other animals which had been created for the use of the Indians: that the Great Man above, looking down and seeing this, was so enraged, that he seized his lightning, descended to the earth, and seated himself upon a neighbouring mountain of rock, on which his seat and the print of his feet are still to be seen, and hurled his bolts among them till the whole were slaughtered, except the Big Bull, who, presenting his forehead to the shafts, shook them off as they fell; but at length, missing one, it wounded him on the side, whereon, springing round, he bounded over the Ohio, the Wabash, the Illinois, and, finally, over the great lakes, where he is living at this day.
Colonel G. Morgan, in a note to Mr. Moore, says, “these bones are found only at the Salt Licks in Ohio; some few scattered grinders have, indeed, been found in other places; but it has bee supposed these have been brought from the above mentioned deposit, by Indian warriors and others who have passed it, as we know many have been spread in this manner. When I first visited the salt licks,” says the Colonel, “in 1766, I met here a large party of the Iroquois and Wyandot Indians, who were then on a war expedition against the Chicasaw tribe. The head chief was a very old man to be engaged in war; he told me he was eighty-four years old; he was probably as much as eighty. I fixed on this venerable Chief, as a person from whom some knowledge might be obtained. After making some acceptable presents of tobacco, paint, ammunition, &c. and complimenting him on the wisdom of his nation, their prowess in war, and prudence in peace, I intimated my ignorance respecting the great bones before us, which nothing but his superior knowledge could remove, and accordingly requested him to inform me what he knew concerning them. Agreeably to the customs of his nation he informed me in substance as follows:
“Whilst I was yet a boy, I passed this road several times to war against the Catawbas; and the wise old chiefs, among whom was my grandfather, then gave me the tradition, handed down to us respecting these bones, the like to which are found in no other part of the country; it is as follows: After the Great Spirit first formed the world, he made the various birds and beasts which now inhabit it. He also made man; but having formed him white, and very imperfect and ill-tempered, he placed him on one side of it, where he now inhabits, and from whence he has lately found a passage across the great water, to be a plague to us. As the Great Spirit was not pleased with this his work, he took of black clay, and made what you call a negro, with a woolly head. This black man was much better than the white man; but still he did not answer the wish of the Great Spirit: that is, he was imperfect. At last the Great Spirit having procured a piece of pure, fine red clay, formed from it the red man, perfectly to his mind; and he was so well pleased with him, that he placed him on this great island, separate from the white and black man, and gave him rules for his conduct, promising happiness in proportion as they should observed. He increased exceedingly, and was perfectly happy for ages; but the foolish young people, at length forgetting his rules, became exceedingly ill-tempered and wicked. In consequence of this, the Great Spirit created the great buffalo, the bones of which you now see before us; these made
war upon the human species alone, and destroyed all but a few, who repented, and promised the Great Spirit to live according to his laws, if he would restrain the devouring enemy: whereupon he sent lightning and thunder, and destroyed the whole race, in this spot, two excepted, a male and female, which he shut up in yonder mountain, ready to let loose again should occasion require.”
The following tradition, existing among the natives, we give in the very terms of a Shawanee Indian, to shew that the impression made on their minds by it must have been forcible. “Ten thousand moons ago, when nought but gloomy forests covered this land of the sleeping sun, long before the pale men, with thunder and fire at their command, rushed on the wings of the wind to ruin this garden of nature; when nought but the untamed wanderers of the woods, and men as unrestrained as they, were the lords of the soil; a race of animals were in being, huge as the frowning precipice, cruel as the bloody panther, swift as the descending eagle, and terrible as the angel of night. The pines crashed beneath their feet, and the lake shrunk when they slaked their thirst; the forceful javelin in vain was hurled, and the barbed arrow fell harmless from their side. Forests were laid waste at a meal; the groans of expiring animals were every where heard; and whole villages inhabited by men were destroyed in a moment. The cry of universal distress extended even to the region of peace in the west, and the Good Spirit interposed to save the unhappy. The forked lightnings gleamed all around, and loudest thunder rocked the globe. The bolts of heaven were hurled upon the cruel destroyers alone, and the mountains echoed with the bellowings of death. All were killed except one male, the fiercest of the race, and him even the artillery of the skies assailed in vain. He ascended the bluest summit which shades the source of the Monongahela, and, roaring aloud, bid defiance to every vengeance. The red lightning scorched the lofty firs, and rived the knotty oaks, but only glanced upon the enraged monster. At length, maddened with fury, he leaped over the waves of the west at a bound, and this moment reigns the uncontrolled monarch of the wilderness, in despite of even Omnipotence itself.” — Winterbotham. The tradition probably is Indian, but certainly not the bombast.
Complete Poetical Works of Robert Southey Page 93