gods; and on the altar they murdered twenty-four prisoners, whose blood they gathered in charmed cups; they then retired from Diewin, and perished arms in hand. Such is the Poet's tale, and it amazed us to perceive that it was taken up so seriously by the author of the article dedicated to Vlasta in the Biographie de Michaud, an article from which we have in part borrowed the details just given. Dalémile had certainly done no more than collect some old traditions, which he, perhaps, embellished, if this task had not been already accomplished. This legend, however, was popular in Bohemia; as there is mention of these Amazons in a chronicle of the eleventh century, that of Cosmus of Prague. We here subjoin a relation very different from that of Dalémile. The original is in Latin prose, diversified and filled with poetical illusions. Itmight be said on reading it, that it was a fragment of some poem, written in barbarous Latin. Like "At this period (under Prémislas) the young girls spread over the land, free from all species of restraint. Amazons they bore military arms, and, under self-government, fought like young soldiers, and gave themselves up with ardour to the chase. It was not the men who at that time enjoyed the privilege of selecting their spouses, it was the young girls who chose them for their husbands. There was no perceptible difference between the dress of men and women; their audacity increased to such a degree that they constructed a fortress on a rock not far from Prague,possessing merely natural defences; to this fort they gave the virginal name of Diewin. The young men, on their part, indignant at such womanly boldness, assembled in much larger numbers on an adjacent rock, and built in the middle of the wood a town, which the moderns have called Wissegrad, but which, at that time, derived its name, Nurasten, from the trees with which it was surrounded. Sometimes peace, at other times war, reigned between the two parties: theyoung girls were more cunning, the young men more brave. On one occasion, peace having been concluded between them, they determined on celebrating the truce by a series of festivities, which were to continue during three days; they, consequently, abandoned their arms, and relinquished themselves to all manner of riot and dissipation; at the termination of these orgies, the young men set fire to the fortress, and thus Diewin was consumed. From that period, the women were content to dwell in peace under the sway of the men.* During the middle ages, female warriors were not uncommon. We here furnish a few examples, the greater number of which are of French origin. At the battle gained by Robert Guiscard over the Greek Emperor Alexis Comnenus near Dyrrachium, Gaëte, wife of the Norman Prince, "who according to Anne Comnenus followed to the war and fought like a Pallas," she rallied spear in hand, and led to combat the troops of her husband who had been dispersed by the Greeks.† Orderic Vital, in book 8th, spoke thus of Isabel, daughter of Simon de Montford and wife of Raoul de Conches. "She was," wrote he, "generous, enterprising, gay, amiable, and courteous. to all who approached her. During the war she mounted on horseback, armed as a knight amongst the other knights, and like to the young Camille, the pride of Italy in the troops of Turnus, she yielded in intrepidity neither to knights covered in mail, nor to soldiers armed with javelins." After the death of her husband she retired into the convent of Haute-Bruyère. In the 12th book of the same chronicler, we find the history of Juliana wife of Eustatius of Breteuil and illegitimate daughter of Henry I. King of England. Having been sent with the troops by her husband to defend the castle of Breteuil, she was there besieged by her father, whom the inhabitants had admitted into the city. Seeing the impossibility of a long resistance she demanded an interview with her father. "The king, who never dreamed of treachery in a woman, and one so nearly allied to him, granted the interview, during which his unfortunate daughter sought his life. She bent a balista and hurled a shaft at her father, whom, by God's protection, it failed to strike. Henry on perceiving her unnatural design, ordered the draw-bridge leading to the castle to be destroyed, in order to intercept all communication with the exterior. Juliana, seeing herself thus encompassed on all sides, and without hope of succour, surrendered the castle to Henry, but could not obtain from him her liberty. After his prohibition. she was obliged to let herself slide from the top of the highest • Cosma Pragensis Decani Chronica Bohemorum, inserted in Freher's Compilation, Rerum Bohemicarum Scriptores 1002, in folio, p. 6. † Alexiade, book iv. ch. 5. wall of the castle, and without the assistance of a bridge, or indeed of almost any support, creep ignominiously to the bottom of the ditch and expose her naked person to the army. This incident occurred at the commencement of Lent, in the third week of February, when the water in the dyke being frozen pierced the delicate flesh of the princess as she was plunged into it on her fall. This unfortunate warrior retreated thus ignobly, and hastened with speed to rejoin her husband at Paci (sur Eure.)* Amongst the number of women who contributed to the defence of castles and towns we must not omit to mention Jane Hachette, the sister of Duguesclin, and another heroine less known, Jane Maillotte, who distinguished herself at Lisle, during the revolt of the Hurlus. We refer to Froissart for an account of the adventures of the two Countesses of Montfort and de Blois, who, during the captivity of their husbands, kept up a bloody war against each other, the termination of which was the possession of the Duchy of Brittany. We must not omit the mention of an attempt at a crusade made by the Genoese ladies in 1301-or the defence of the castle of Benegon by Marie de Barbançon in 1569. As to Joan of Arc, and other adventurers who, after her death, aspired to play the same part as she had done, their history is too well known to need recital here. The celebrated female poet, Louise Labé,* had scarcely attained the age of sixteen, when having accompanied her father to the seige of Perpignan, in 1542, she was seized with an ardent desire of becoming a warrior, and so distinguished herself by her bravery as to earn for herself the surname of le Capitaine Loys. Her exploits have been celebrated by an anonymous author in a very long and laudatory piece. We here transcribe a sample of these very indifferent lines. Louize ainsi furieuse, En laissant les habits mols. Orderic Vital, t. xii. collection Guizot, t. xxviii. p. 289. Quand la jeunesse françoise Que d'un chevalier vaillant. After raising the siege she returned and married at Lyons, from which time she resigned herself unrestrainedly to her taste for literature, and her passion, which was not less lively, for the beaux-esprits of her time; she entered on a life nearly similar to that pursued by Ninon d'Enclos in the following century. In forming her society the bourgeois or traders were not admitted, no matter what wealth they were possessed of. She admired men of learning above all, patronising them by her marked favour, and holding them in far more esteem than the highest nobles, preferring to admit them free to her coteries, than the others for a large premium. Much about the same period a Spanish religious, nained Catherine d'Erauso, escaped from her convent, and assuming the dress of a man, served as cabin-boy on the ships trading to America; then deserted, and after various adventures by sea, entered the army, where she signalized herself in the engagements against the Indians. She attained the rank of officer, and quitted the service in consequence of a wound. received in a duel, by which her sex was discovered; she then returned to Europe, where she received a pension from Philip III. Such, at least, are the facts which have been recorded in the memoirs written it is said by the heroine herself, and published for the first time at Paris, with some justificatory articles, in 1829, in octavo, under the title of Historia de la Monja-alferez (the History of the Religious Officer.)"* "It was about the year 1638, if I do not deceive myself," wrote the Abbé Arnauld, "that I had the honor of becoming acquainted with the Amazon of our day, Madame the Countess of Saint Balmont,† whose life has been a real prodigy of valour See on this work, which is after all perhaps only a romance, an article inserted in the xliii volume of the Revue Encyclopédique, p. 742, and following. + Barbara D'Ernecourt, Countess of Saint-Balmont, was born at Neuville, between Bar and Verdun, in 1608. and virtue, having united in her person all the courage of a determined soldier, and all the modesty of a truly Christian woman. Part of this testimony was given in my presence, by some Spanish soldiers whom she had taken in the war, and whom she had dispatched to M. De Feuquières at Verdun: he having asked jokingly of them, if they had in their country women equally brave, one of them replied with the greatest seriousness, that he never could have supposed she was a woman, having seen her perform feats which would be daring for a reckless soldier. To those who wish to read these memoirs, it may not be uninteresting to learn further particulars of so extraordinary a woman. She was descended from a very high family at Lorraine, and born with ideas worthy of her birth. The beauty of her countenance corresponded with that of her mind, but her height did not correspond with her beauty, she was small and rather fat. God who designed for her a more laborious life than ordinary women, rendered her thus robust, in order that she might be better enabled to endure bodily fatigue; he also bestowed on her a supreme contempt for beauty, so that having had the small pox she rejoiced as much at being marked as others felt sorry at a like misfortune, saying that it gave her more the appearance of a man. She married the Count de Saint Balmont, who yielded nothing to her either in birth or merit. They lived together in perfect unity; but the commotions which broke out at Lorraine obliged them to separate. "Madame de Saint Balmont dwelt on her estate in order to preserve it. Up to that period she had never indulged her warlike tendencies but for the chase, which is, after all a kind of mimic war, but the occasion soon presented itself of exercising it in reality; it was this. A cavalry officer having come to reside on her estate, lived in a very disorderly manner. Madame de Saint Balmont with much courtesy expressed her disaproval of his conduct, which he received very ungraciously; this piqued her, and she resolved to bring him to reason herself, and without any consultation, but the promptings of her own heart, she wrote him a note to which she affixed the signature of the Chevalier de Saint Balmont. In this billet, she pointed out to him that the bad treatment experienced at his hands by the Chevalier's sister-in-law demanded some expiation, and that he desired to meet him sword in hand. The captain accepted the challenge, and repaired to the appointed place Here Madame |