Peregrinus

“ In 1269, we find him engaged in a military expedition undertaken by Charles Duke of Anjou, for the purpose of bringing back to his allegiance as King of the Two Sicilies the revolted city of Lucera in Southern Italy. He served in what might be called the engineering corps of the army, and was engaged in fortifying the camp and constructing engines of defense and attack. Unlike his companions in arms, Peregrinus does not allow himself to be wholly absorbed with military duties, nor does he waste his leisure hours in frivolous amusements; his mind is on higher things ”

“ It was not only the collective work of generations of gifted men, who were fortunately not professing lawyers, but it was the outcome of an adjustment of Roman law first with that of Italy and then with that of the provinces. The beginnings of a recognition of a “law of the civilised world” (jus gentium) must be older than the institution of the praetor peregrinus, since for more than a century the praetor urbanus had been issuing edicts not merely for cives but also for peregrini ”

“ Perchten, maskers in Salzburg and the Tyrol, ix. 240, 242 sqq.
Percival, R., on the fear of demons in Ceylon, ix. 94 sq.
Perdoytus, the Lithuanian wind-god (reported) , i. 326 n. 5
Peregrinus, his death by fire at Olympia, iv. 42, v. 181
Perforating arms and legs of young men, girls, and dogs as a ceremony, x. 58
Perga in Pamphylia, Artemis at, v. 35
Pergamus, Aesculapius and Telephus at, iii. 85
Pergine, in the Tyrol, fern-seed on St. John's Night at, xi. 288 n. 6
Pergrubius, a Lithuanian god of the spring, ii. ”

“ Peregrine, God has bestowed on her a mind capable of great things—a wonderful voice. Place her in my charge for two years—I am solitary and very rich—she shall see the world and its wonders; I will have her educated, bestow on her all the refinements that great wealth can command. Nature has given her a glorious voice, Art shall make her a great singer. Forego your present happiness for her future good and your gipsy maid shall become a great lady and a peerless woman. Do this, Peregrine, and here, truly, shall be love indeed. ”

“ Peregrine, exceeding open to influences, sucked up the mental atmosphere around him as a sponge sucks up water. He had no notion of his own tendency. An’ he had, he might have been the better on his guard, though here a man’s own skill is of little avail, he needs truly to put on the armour of light, as the Scriptures have it.
Being permeated, then, with the atmosphere, he lost his distaste, found interest awakening. This latter was small wonder: an’ you had conquered dislike there is little doubt that attraction would follow. ”

“ The ordinary, impassioned youth, under such unpleasantly frequent circumstances, Peregrine, would seek oblivion in bottles or fly instantly to all manner of riot and dissipation and be cured sooner or later—but you? ”

“ Peregrine's way of life, though somewhat too harsh perhaps in his expressions. He too,--that is, Master Flea,--would really advise Mr. Peregrine henceforth to go abroad in the world.
"Believe me," he said, "it will bring you many advantages to leave your solitude. You need no longer fear seeming shy and confused, as, with the mysterious glass in your eye, you command the thoughts of men, and it is, therefore, impossible that you should not always maintain the right tact. How firmly and calmly may you stand before the highest, while their inward souls lie open to your eyes. ”

“ These are truly God's angels, I think, since they are the inspiration to all great and good works."
"It is in the silent places I am happiest, Peregrine."
"Because you have a soul, thank God!"
"What do you mean by a 'soul,' Peregrine?"
"I mean that part of us which cannot perish because it is part of God Himself. I mean that part of us whereby, in spite of this fleshly body, we may rise above fleshly desires and gain some perception of the Infinite Truth—which is God. Do you understand, Diana?" ”

“ Peregrine looked up and saw close before him the old woman, whom his father had taken into his service chiefly because she could get no other place, on account of her outrageous ugliness: she had been Peregrine's nurse in his early childhood, and had not left the house since. For a long time he stared at the woman, and at last began with a strange smile, "Is it you, Alina? The old people live still, do they not?" ”

“ Peregrine was silent.
“Yet, perchance,” said the Count musing, “the injury I did you was not so great as at first sight might appear.”
“I find it a benefit,” said Peregrine very dryly.
“Ha!”
“An’ a man pitch his tent on a vile bog believing it fair earth ’twere a benefit to drag him from it, even though the handling be somewhat rough.” ”

“ The Cambio, Perugia
PORTRAIT OF PERUGINO, 1500
There are no angels in this picture, which, for Perugino, is most unusual; but Moses and Elias, fine, well-drawn, powerful figures, take the place of the usual singing angels who float in the sky. The half-startled look of the disciples is very cleverly presented, and the glow of the ethereal light upon their faces, partially warded off by St. John with his upraised hand, is beautifully depicted.
The transfigured Christ is an imposing figure, full of dignity and peace, and demanding reverence from those around. ”

“ He had pressed hard on Peregrine. You see him very different from the love-bathed youth, who had sat by the sundial in the flower-scented garden; the joyous youth, who had wandered the fields with Pippo; the wounded youth, who had lain in the wood, his cheek pressed to Mother Earth; the egoist, who had held his Council of Arts in Castle Syrtes; who, dauntless, had fought his way through the forest. He was a man soul-sick, weary, desperate, pursuer of a forlorn hope, so men would term it. ”

“ Rose, who could not conceive what dark spirit had come over Peregrine, sank down to him, embraced him, and murmured with tears, "For God's sake, my dear Peregrine, what is the matter with you? What evil enemy has placed himself between us? Oh, come--come, and sit down quietly by me."
Incapable of any voluntary motion, Peregrine suffered himself to be raised by Rose in silence. It was well that the frail old sofa was loaded, as usual, with books and the tools for binding, so that Rose had many things to clear away to make room for Mr. Tyss. ”

“ The foliage was too thick to allow of Peregrine being perceived, perched as he was aloft, one arm entwining a bough, the other clutching the hare, which for the moment lay panting, too frightened for struggle. It is not in the nature of things for hares to climb trees; nor was the actual occurrence one likely to dawn on the unaided imagination. Baffled, perplexed, the huntsmen stood among the baying harriers, scratching their heads, flicking their boots with their riding crops, swearing meanwhile each after his own particular form and fancy. ”

“ For Peregrine, you loved me then so very much, so truly and with such wonderful unselfishness that I am afraid you may not love the Diana of to-day quite so well as the Diana of two years ago. But dear Peregrine, know that my heart is quite—quite unchanged; you will always be the one man of all others, the Peregrine whose generous love lifted me high above my girlish dreams but never oh, never any higher than his own heart. So Peregrine, love me when I come back to you or these long two years will have been lived in vain and I shall run away back to the Silent Places and die an old maid. ”

“ But the spirit of the age was at work in them as in so many other families in the dale villages. Peregrine's six sons had long since left him alone in his steading on the moors: some had gone down to the manufacturing towns of the West Riding and had prospered in trade; others had fought, and more than one had fallen, in the Napoleonic wars. Peregrine, therefore, although seventy-six years of age and a widower, had no one to share roof and board with him in his shepherd's cottage a thousand feet above the sea. ”

“ Peregrine shivered, and drew his cloak closer around him the while he gazed, his eyes rivetted upon the pillar and the four figures. While fully aware of their actual presence, he was yet imbued with a sense of unreality, and more especially a sensation of unsafety. He felt somewhat as a man might feel, who sees poisoned arrows falling round him, and knows himself vulnerable at every point. An’ he be not wounded, it will be by some good chance, rather than by any protection he can afford himself. ”

“ Early the following morning we turned our faces northward on Perugia, but took a last long look at Perugino’s altar-piece in the church of the Disciplinati. Faint golds, faint greens, a quiet landscape, with low hills falling peacefully on a low stretch of valley. No harsh shadows, no high lights, the shepherds crossing down the paths behind their browsing sheep. The Virgin, a type of purest girlhood with just enough of the woman in the way she holds the Child to show it is her own; young men, for kings, with angel faces, and the smile of saints ”

“ Upon a mossy stone, the lower half of which lay in a bright brook, Peregrine sate down with a firm resolution to reflect on his strange adventures, and, if possible, find the Ariadne clue which might show the way out of this labyrinth of mysteries. The murmurs of the leaves, returning at equal intervals, the monotonous babbling of the waters, the constant clap, clap of a distant mill, soon formed a ground which regulated the thoughts so that they no longer rushed wildly together without time or rhythmus, but became an intelligible melody. ”

“ In some ten minutes they found themselves on their outskirts. Here Peregrine paused.
“Farewell, lad,” he said. “Put not your trust in princes, as the Psalmist hath it. Pray to Christ and Our Lady, and live clean.” Smiling grimly at the words himself he had to give them to the lad. A child’s faith must be left unshaken. Peregrine having this thought in mind doubtless the Recording Angel made tally of the speech to his balance.
He kissed the boy twice, and without more ado turned back among the trees, mistrusting himself for further words. Pippo went sorrowfully enough down the hill. ”

“ Those who eat bread must needs earn it after some fashion, save those who are born, as the saying is, with a silver spoon in the mouth. Peregrine after a while found his hours of roaming curtailed. Armourer, falconer, grooms, alike pressed him into service. No special calling allotted him in view of the one rôle he should later play—though if the truth be known he looked to it with but little favour—he became the server of many. This, as may be imagined, irked him somewhat. He had no mind to await any man’s behest, yet mind or not he found it must needs be done. ”

“ Then while I was considering about running off from Peregrine and where I should go, Peregrine goes for to run off from me, so then I followed him, of course—and here we are!"
"Lord!" exclaimed the Tinker. "Lord love my eyes an' limbs—here's a pretty kettle o' fish!"
"It is!" nodded Diana. "For now Peregrine wants to marry me according to the ways o' the Church!"
"Hum!" said the Tinker, staring very hard at a piece of pork impaled upon his knife-point. "Ha—marriage, hey, friend Peregrine? Marriage is an oncommon serious business and you are a—leetle young for it, ain't you?" ”

“ Above the table was a slit of a window set far forward in a deep embrasure.
Peregrine crossed to the table, mounted it, and peered through the slit. The storm had spent itself. The world lay in still whiteness without. Overhead the sky was star-sprinkled, powdered with myriads of waking eyes. Peregrine felt strange comfort in their watchfulness.
CHAPTER XX
VIBRATIONS TIME being the panacea for most ills as we are told, so we may well regard custom as the panacea for most distastes. ”

“ He has a cave, and at the entrance of the cave there is a stone pillar, and he sees every one that enters, and none see him; and from behind the pillar he slays every one with a poisonous dart. And if thou wouldst pledge me thy faith to love me above all women, I would give thee a stone, by which thou shouldst see him when thou goest in, and he should not see thee.” “I will, by my troth,” said Peredur, “for when first I beheld thee I loved thee; and where shall I seek thee?” “When thou seekest me, seek towards India.” And the maiden vanished, after placing the stone in Peredur’s hand. ”

“ And the maiden gazed sorrowfully upon Peredur, and Peredur asked the maiden wherefore she was sad. “For thee, my soul; for, from when I first beheld thee, I have loved thee above all men. And it pains me to know that so gentle a youth as thou should have such a doom as awaits thee to-morrow. Sawest thou the numerous black houses in the bosom of the wood? All these belong to the vassals of the grey man yonder, who is my father. And they are all giants. And to-morrow they will rise up against thee, and will slay thee. And the Round Valley is this valley called.” ”

“ This fact, an’ I were so minded, might lead me to inscribe sage reflections on the decay of life, and the passing of time. But I am by no means disposed so to weary you, for which mercy you will doubtless cry Deo gratias, or some such pious thanks. My business is merely to chronicle Peregrine’s wanderings on his quest, and to leave sage reflections to those more apt to deal with them.
Winter lay over the valley at this time. Snow massed upon the roads making them well-nigh impassable. ”

“ Peregrine Tyss was at times a little cracked. The numerous retailers of this opinion belonged chiefly to those who are firmly convinced that on the great high way of life, which is to be kept according to reason and prudence, the nose is the best guide; and who would rather put on blinkers than be led aside by any odorous shrub or blooming meadow that grows by the way. It was, however, true that Peregrine had many things about him which people could not comprehend. ”