West-Jersey pioneer., 1875-06-03
LITTLE GREAT MEN.

mental faculties. The chances seem to be
that smallness of size, in fact, at times a
little lameness, is advantageous. The rea-
son for this is tolerably plain. Tall and ro-
bust men are apt to devote themselves, or
at least to derive so much enjoyment from
boisterous pursuits, as to be rather indiffer-
ent to any specially in mental culture
Men of small stature, and perhaps weak
health, are, on the contrary, driven to men
tai occupation. Studying hard in their
several vocations, they rise to distinction.
A comforting reflection this for young men
who have the misfortune to labor under
personal infirmities. We propose to give
few notable examples of '1ittle great
men,"
William of Malmesbury has preserved the
tradition that one of the greatest of our
early English kings Edgar the Pacific, was
Extremely small both in stature and in
bulk" William declared it to be an opin-
ion among the English in his own day
(that is, two centuries later than Edgar's
reign, that "nc king either of his own or
earlier times in England could be justly and
fairly compared to Edgar
The next King of the English whose
might can be at all compared with Edgar's
was the Danish Cnut; his kingdom, indeed,
had far wider range. 1t is curious that
this great warrior and legislator was also a
singularly small man. William of Malmes-
bury reports that when Edmund Ironside
and Cnut were facing each other in arms at
Gloucester, and everything was ready for
battle, the Englishman asked the Dane to
settle the contest by a single combat, and
try their fortune without the destruction of
so many faithful adherents. Cnut replied
that his courage was great enough, but
that he was apprehensive of trusting his
diminutive person against so bulky an an
tagonist. He proposed that they should
neither fight each other, nor let their ar
mics come to blows, but to divide the king
dom, Edmund taking Wessex and Cnut
taking Mercia. l have some suspicion that
the monk of Malmcsbury must himself
have been rather dwarfsh, for he is not
only careful to take note of the smallness of
size of great kings, but he has an admira-
tion for every appearance of a mighty mind
in little body; he tells at length the story
of Mormon knight named Balso, ''of
small size, but incredible courage" who, in
a fight outside Pavia, in which more than
thousand men were engaged, was the
only survivor on either side. This terrible
little warrior 'hovered alone around the
city, and by his single sword frightened the
citizens as long as he thought proper"
| William tells US that St. Neot was so dwarf
| ish that he had a step made of iron bars to
stand upon while saying mass, in order to
be able to reach the altar. 1t was kept at
also been careful to notice that the might
lest of all the popes, Gregory VII. (Hilder-
| brand) was quite diminutive man. An
other great King of England, who, like
Cnut, was of foreign, although kindred
race, William III. was of notoriously low
stature. At the joint coronation of Will
liam and Mary, on Saturday, April II, 1889,
the short king and tall queen walked side
by side, not as sovereign and consort, but as
| joint sovereigns, with the sword between
them; and the queer contrast between the
! figures of the imposing Stuart lady and the
meager little Dutch gentleman, did not es-
cape the satirical observation of the vexed
Jacobites.
| Of the three great world wide conquerers
whom Napoleon classed together-himself,
Alexander of Macedon, and Cesar-he
alone was a little man. His predecessors
were both of them men of a truly majestic
presence, tall of stature. Alexander, in
deed, if his portraits are exact, was re-
markable for his handsome and manly as
pect. Bonaparte was always presented in
the English caricatures of him, both pic
toral and verbal as kind of pygmy.-
When the vulgar English crowded to hi:
leeves as First Consel at the Tuileries il
1902, after the peace of the preceding Oc
tober, to the disgust of the high-mindec
Sir Samuel Romilly, they were probably
disappointed at not finding him to be E
dwarf. ''Bonaparte," says Miss Berry, il
her lively description of one of his recep
tions, by no means struck me as SO little az
had heard him represented, and as indeed
he appeared on horseback. His shoulders
are broad, which gives his figure import
ance' Allusions to his stature were no
always received by him with complaisance
but there is some humor in correction
| which be once administered to one of hi
Imperial Grand Chamberlains. The EN-
peror had made several fruitless attempts
upon tiptoe to reach book placed on {
high shelf in his cabinet. The official hur
rying eagerly to his assistance, said awk
wardly: Permit me, sire; 1 am create
than your Majesty (Je suis pies grand gu
Uotre majcste). please to say you arr
longer (Diees, dane, 1ong,) said Napoleon
with scornful smile.
An earlier victorious French soldier
whose name is invariably cited as the 'grea
Conde,' was little man; so was his admir-
ing pupil, the Duke of Luxembourg, o
whom William of Orange once angrily said
81 can never beat that little hunchback"
Chow does he know l am hunchback?'
said Luxembourg, on hearing the exclama
ton. 81 have often seen his back, but h,
has never yet seen NINE" The most cele
brated of English naval heroes, Nelson, wa
none the less dear for his small size. Ih
first of Russian warriors, the strange Su
warrow, was another of those leaders who's
shortness of physical stature seems to b
reflected in the short decisiveness of thei
actions, according to the proverb, ''Littl
and quick" Suwarrow, said that all hi
victorious tactics could be compressed int
two words, Advance, strike" He wa
famous, also, for the laconism of his des
patches, like many earlier and later com