The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1901-07-05
LITTLE Gig HEROES.
THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF
SOME GREAT PERSONAGES.


that curiosity which all feel regarding
the personal appearance OF those per-
sons who have stood mentally high above
their fellows. Whenever we read or hear
of a great man, and especially when WE
are familiar with his history, we uncon-
sciously form picture of his looks and
stature to which the contrast of the
actual man is often very disappointing.
Often we refuse to substitute the strange,
unsatisfying reality for our own fond Gre
alton, especially il the great man is found
to be a small One-the intellectual giant
a physical dwarf. AS rule we overes-
innate the height and bulk Of our heroes
and endow them, if attractive, with SUI
perhuman beauty or, if hateful, with
ugly and repulsive looks. 1t was this
feeling which made the people at Var
mouth, England, when Nelson, delicate
in body and insignificant in appearance.
was passing over the quay to take COM
mand of his first ship, exclaim, why
make that little fellow captain"
During Napoleon's first campaign in
Italy, in 1896, the Italians were greatly
surprised at his personal appearance
His short stature, his pale face, the sick
" thinness of his frail body, which SEEM
ed consumed by the fires Of his genius,
but was in reality made Of muscles of
steel. seized the imagination of the peo-
pie by the contrast they presented to his
dazzling feats of arms. 1t was novel
and startling experience to find that di-
rect and penetrating glance, that abrupt.
imperious gesture, that laconic speech ami
percmptory and absolute tonc-all which
bespoke the man born to command-asso,
ciated with such a dwarfish and attenu
ated frame.
1t is a singular fact that while nothing
| would seem to be easier than to ascertain
| the exact size of great men yet it is real
| ~ difficult and often impossible to do So
| How long did the grand monarch.
Louis XIV. pass for n large man, being
| described as such by courticrs and histo
rians! Yet the measurement of his skrlr
ton some years after his death revealed
| that he was under the average size. Napo
| leon Ill, while on the throne, was de
pictcd as majestic in figure. We now
| know that he was very short, little more
| than five feet high.
Indeed, far the larger part of the men
| who have ruled the world either intellec
| tually or with the sword have been men
| of small stature. Aristotle, the Greek
philosopher who for 1000 years main
tanned despotic sway over the world of
thought, was a slender man with spindle
shanks, small eyes and shrill. stammcr
ing speech. In the great council of Nice.
consisting of 1000 delegates, the most
potent spirit. who, after long and fierce
disputes carried the council with him,
was Athanasius, man Of very small
stature. "a dwarf rather than a man."
says Dean Stanley, but of almost an
gelic beauty of face and expression" In
his little body dwelt a mighty soul. Com
bining subtlety of thought and power of
eloquence with resoluteness of will, intrn-
sity of conviction and intrepidity of spir-
it, he fought single handed and for half
a century the great battle of orthodoxy
having "no friend but God and death"
and today the creed of Athanasus is sub.
stantialy the creed of Christendom.
Gregory VII, the mighticst and haugh
tiest of the Roman pontiffs, who de-
throned sovereigns at his will. was a
diminutive man. and SO were Canute the
Great and the great Condo. Voltaire. the
literary autocrat of the eighteenth cen
fury and the most brilliant wit of the
ages. was one of the thinnest and most
spectral Of human beings. Two of the
most potent spirits that directed the storm
Of the French revolution. Robespierre and
Marat. were far below the average stat
ure. The former. an incarnation of will.
who by the sheer force of his intellect
swayed the multitude and the national
assembly at his pleasure. was hut five
feet two or three inches high. and the lat
ter was less than FIVE feet. Many of the
| most eminent Frenchmen of the nine
teenth century-La Place. Poisson. Fou
| rier. Theirs. G"iZ9t-were small, spa e.
spiritualizrd beings, who could distinctly
feel their own ribs.
Montaigne. the father Of essayists; DIR
Watts. the hymnist: the sickly Scarron.
who. in reference to his i'll health and in
significant stature. called himself IAN
abridgment of human miseries;" Alex
ander Pope. who wore three pairs of
stockings to plump out his legs to de
| cent size and also wore stays; Campbell.
the author of "Hohenlinden," "a pretty.
little, delicate, ladylike. tinical gentle
man." Thomas De Quincy. the ''opium
eater" were all dwarfish men.
Suwarrow. the greatest Of Russian gen
erals: Frederick the Great, David Gar
rick. the wonderful actor. and Alexander
Hamilton. whom Talleyrand pronounced
one Of the three greatest men he had ever
known, were slender and below the MD
die height. The brave General Marion
twas in stature of the smallest size. thin
as well as low" and DR. Kane. who sur
passed all his arctic companions in BRAY
ing torrid heat and polar cold. was bu,
five feet six in height and weighed at hr
best but 1875 pounds
But more dwarfish than any of thast
ghostly beings was that phenomenon at
the eighteenth century, the Able Galian'
Of Naples. "Persnnaly." says Marmnn
tel. "the ahbe-who was but four feet and
six inches in stature-was the prctt,csr
little harlequin that Italy ever produced
but upon the shoulders of that harlequin
was the head Of Machiavclli" Refer
ring to the frequent and sudden atprna
tions in his conversation. of great. lofty
sublime thoughts. which, Sante Bpuvc
says, were worthy of Vico, il not Of
Plato. with pleasantries jests and huf
fOoneries. the ahbe said of himself. "You
see that ! am two different men knca,lrd
together. who. nevertheless. do not IN
tirely occupy the room Of ONE William
hn,r, -,