CURSE OF ISHMAEL

Evening Star, Issue 20032, 24 November 1928, Page 11

CURSE OF ISHMAEL

THE HANDICAP &F BIRTH FAMOUS MEN WHO OVERCAME IT Since Islunael was cast out into the wilderness with Hagar, those born out of wedlock have been severely handicapped in life’s race; yet in the pages of history’s book of fame their names arc legion. “ Brought into the world with a disregard for cstablishd law, custom, or etiquette,” Dr A. S. Rappoport, in ‘ Splendid Sons of Sin,’ “ these, sons of sin seem to have disregarded in their turn the ordinary laws of life, to have walked new paths and paved new Ways. In a'raost every instance Nature seems to _ have showered her gifts upon such children of sin and to have endowed them with courage, intelligence, and even genius.” Greatly struck by this phenomenon, the author seeks some explanation. “History offers us,” he says, “many examples, especially in dynastic families, where the legitimate children are miles behind the illegitimate offspring in energy and intelligence. Now, are there any physiological and psychological reasons for the facts I have enumerated? Could they not be adduced as an additional proof that the crossing of races is advantageous for the human species?” Leaving the reader to ponder over this curious problem, he proceeds to illustration. FOUNDERS OF DYNASTIES. Illustrious indeed are the' names uponthe roll Themistocles, Ptolemv Sotcr, Jugurtha (King of Numidia), Tneodoric (King of the Ostrogoths), Heliogabalus (Emperor of Rome), Charles Martel (the famous mayor of the palace, who saved Europe from the Saracens at the Battle of Tours), Arnoul (Emperor of Germany)—all were natural sons. Dynasties have been founded by them —in England by William the Conqueror, in Portugal by John L, in Naples by Frederick 1., and in Castile by Henry of Trastamara; whilst preNorman England had two such kings in Edmund the Martyr and Harold Harefoot.

Almost every walk of life is represented. The Church of Edmund Bonner and Stephen Gardiner; science and arts by Boccaccio, Leonardo da Vinci, Erasmus (probably the greatest scholar the world has ever known), Cardanns, Richard Savage (the poet), and D’Alembert, who was found abandoned as a babe on the steps of a Parisian church. Luckily for the great philosopher and posterity, ho was forthwith adopted by a kindly couple who cherished him as their own son. The Duke of Berwick, natural eon of James 11. and Arabella Churchill, won fame as a Marshal of Franco during his father’s exile. A VERSATILE RULER. Manfred, King of Sicily, was the natural son of the Emperor Frederick 11., who is said to have kept a regular harem, recruiting its inmates from Saracen countries. In courage, ability, and intellectual attainments ho far outshone his father’s legitimate offspring. Having won the kingdom of Sicily by force of arms, ho held it by virtu© of his wise and popular rule until killed on the battlefield of Beneventum. An enlightened ruler, he was anxious _to educate his subjects, himself studying philosophy and mathematics to that end. Ho was, moreover, a poet and musician of no mean order; it is said that his delight was to venture put into the city streets at night singing songs. Francisco Pizzaro, conqueror of Peru, was the offspring of a casual union between a Spanish officer and a peasant girl. His father disclaiming paternity and his mother being povertystricken, Pizarro was employed from a tender ago as a swineherd until rosy tales of a distant El Dorado lured him to join an expedition to Darien. There he entered into a “ partnership ” with two other adventurers to share the proceeds of their swashbuckling. Not one could sign his name, so the agreement had to be signed on their behalf by strangers. Even when famous as the conqueror of Peru, Pizarro could neither read nor write. There was nothing noble in bis nature, nothing noble in Ms end-—he was assassinated by his associates in the house which ho occupied as Governor of tlio new Spanish dominion. THE SAVIOUR OF EUROPE. Don Juan of Austria, victor ol Lepanto, was the illegitimate son of the Emperor Charles V. and a washerwoman named Barbara Blomberg,. Entrusted by the Emperor first to a fiddler and his wife, he was transferred into the keeping of the Court Chamberlain until such time as his half-brother, Philip 11. of Spain, decided to recognise him. For the purpose of this formal recognition the King arranged a hunting party. Don Juan, ignorant of his parentage, was confronted with his Sovereign in the forest, and thenceforth treated as one of the Royal Family. “ I have never caught better game,” remarked King Philip as the hunting party broke up. Despite the enmity of the Infante Carlos, whose temper was so cruel thai he forced his shoemaker to cook and eat a faulty pair of boots, Don Juan rose over higher in Royal favour. His military prowess so impressed the Pope th&t he W3-S appointed commander of the Holy League forces against the Turks. At Lepanto he won a decisive victory; thus for the second time a bastard saved Europe from the Saracen menace. Appointed Governor of the Netherlands, he had to journey to his post disguised as a Moorish servant. There he saw for the first—and last — time Mb mother, who was leading so profligate a life that he was ©reed to throw her into prison. She revenged herself by spreading a report that M was not the son of the great Emperor, but the child of her armour with an obscure furrier. Soon afterwards Don I Juan died of fever in a hovel which | had been a pigeon house.

IMPOSING NAMES. Jean, Count Dunois, known as the Bastard of Orleans, was tbo natural son of Louis Duke of Orleans by Mariette D’Enghieu. Having, with Joan of Arc, freed France from the English yoke, he was buried with honour, Louis XL attending the funeral in person. Dr Rappoport might have made his list of famous Ishmaels even more imposing, for Alexander the Great, Homer, the infamous Cmsar Borgia, and Maurice of Saxony all belonged to the class of which he writes.

inland, carrying with them their speech and industries, until the Mediterranean west was reached. There he inferred that a process of peaceful penetration ultimately took place, the Celtic tongue, Celtic industries, and Celtic manners passing into Wales and replacing those which were of Mediterranean origin. He regarded the people of Wales as mainly of Mediterranean or south-west European origin, who entered into their heritage by the western portal of Britain, but the language they spoke was acquired from the Cel-tic-speaking people who entered eastern Britain in the hve centuries which preceded the coming of the Romans. The Saxon invaders followed on the tracks of their Celtic-speaking predecessors until the Mediterranean west was reached. Against the Saxon colonisation only Wales had stood firm and maintained her frontier intact. Western and Highland Scotland had slowly capitulated to the seductive wiles of peaceful penetration; Cornwall, too. had fallen. The eastern frontier of Wales was the only part of the ancient racial divide of Britain which still persisted as a sharply marked line.