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MARCUS ANNIUS VERUS,

AFTERWARD THE EMPEROR MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS.

(From a bust in the Capitoline Museum.)

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HISTORIC BOYS

THEIR ENDEAVOURS, THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS,AND THEIR TIMES.

BY

E. S. BROOKS.

ILLUSTRATEDBY R. B. BIRCH AND JOHN SCHÖNBERG.

LONDON:

BLACKIE & SON, 49 & 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C.

GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND DUBLIN.

1886.

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PREFACE.

The world's historic boys and girls have been many.In every age and clime may be found notable examples ofyoung people who, even before they reached manhood orwomanhood, have—for good or evil—left their impress ontheir time.

From these the author of this volume has selected thecareers of a dozen young fellows of different lands andepochs, who, even had they not lived out their "teens,"could have rightly claimed a place in the world's annalsas Historic Boys. They are such also as show that, fromthe earliest ages, manliness and self-reliance have everbeen the chief groundwork of character, and that in thisrespect the boy of the nineteenth century in no way differsfrom his brother of the second or the ninth. Tobravely front danger, difficulty, or death, if need be,for principle or right, is as commendable and as heroic inthe boy brought up amid the surging and restless life ofLondon to-day, as in the lads who trod the narrow streetsof Jerusalem, or Rouen, of Florence, or old Rome centuriesago.[Pg vi]

These stories of boy life, in the stirring days of old,have been based upon historic facts and prepared with adue regard to historic and chronologic accuracy. Nine ofthe twelve stories have already appeared in St. Nicholasmagazine, but these have been revised and amplified fortheir present use, while the remaining three were speciallyprepared for this volume.

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CONTENTS.