*Wolsey and Cromwell, Dialogue between

WORDS SPELT IN THE SAME WAY, BUT USED IN

CONSTANTINE.-Dean Stanley.*

THE Emperor Constantine is one of the few to whom has been awarded the name of "Great.' Though this was deserved rather by what he did, than by what he was; though he was great, not among the first characters of the world, but among the second-great like Philip, not like Alexander; great like Augustus, not like Cæsar; great with the elevation of Charlemagne or Elizabeth, not with the genius or passion of Cromwell or of Luther; yet this gives us a stronger sense of what the position was which could of itself confer such undoubted grandeur on a character less than the highest.

To English students I cannot forbear recalling that he was, if not our fellow-countryman by birth, yet unquestionably proclaimed Emperor in the Prætorium at York. He probably never visited our shores again. Yet the remembrance of that early connection long continued. It shaped itself into the legend of his British birth, of which, within the walls of York, See "Fifth Reader," p. 42. B

the scene is still shown. His father's tomb was pointed out in York till the suppression of the monasteries. His mother's name lives still in the numerous British churches dedicated to her. London Wall was ascribed to him.

As he appeared in the council of Nicæa-handsome, tall, stout, broad-shouldered-he was a high specimen of one of the coarse military chiefs of the declining Empire. When Eusebius first saw him, as a young man, on a journey through Palestine before his accession, all were struck by the sturdy health and vigour of his frame; and Eusebius perpetually recurs to it, and maintains that it lasted till the end of his life. In his later days his red complexion and somewhat bloated appearance gave countenance to the belief that he had been affected with leprosy. His eye was remarkable for a brightness, almost a glare, which reminded his courtiers of that of a lion. He had a contemptuous habit of throwing back his head, which, by bringing out the full proportions of his thick neck, procured for him the nickname of Trachala. His voice was remarkable for its gentleness and softness. In dress and outward demeanour the military commander was almost lost in the variety and affectation of Oriental splendour. The spear of the soldier was almost always in his hand, and on his head he always wore a small helmet. But the helmet was studded with jewels, and it was bound round with the Oriental diadem, which he, first of the Emperors, made a practice of wearing on all occasions. His robe was remarked for its unusual magnificence. It was always of the Imperial purple or scarlet, and was made of silk, richly embroidered with pearls and flowers worked in gold. He was specially devoted to the care of his hair, ultimately adopting wigs of false hair of various colours, and in such profusion as to make a marked feature on his coins. First of the Emperors, since Hadrian, he wore a short beard.

He was not a great man, but he was by no means an ordinary man. Calculating and shrewd as he was, yet his worldly views were penetrated by a vein of religious sentiment, almost of Oriental superstition. He had a wide view of his difficult position as the ruler of a divided Empire and divided Church. He had a short dry humour which stamps his sayings with an unnistakable authenticity, and gives us an insight into the cynical contempt of mankind which he is said to have combined, by a curious yet not uncommon union, with an inordinate love of praise. He had the capacity of throwing himself, with almost fanatical energy, into whatever cause came before him