A book of golden deeds of all times and all lands / gathered and narrated by the author of "The heir of Redclyffe" ; illustrated by L. Frölich.

  • Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary), 1823-1901.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A book of golden deeds of all times and all lands / gathered and narrated by the author of "The heir of Redclyffe" ; illustrated by L. Frölich. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    nourished her father ; and in Scotland, in 1401, when the unhappy heir of the kingdom, David, Duke of Rothsay, had been thrown into the dungeon of Falkland Castle by his barbarous uncle, the Duke of Albany, there to be starved to death, his only helper was one poor peasant woman, who, undeterred by fear of the savage men that guarded the castle, crept, at every safe opportunity, to the ' grated window on a level with the ground, and dropped cakes through it to the prisoner, while she allayed his thirst from her own breast through a pipe. Alas ! the visits were detected, and the Christian prince had less mercy than the heathen senate. Another woman, in 1450, when Sir Gilles of Brittany was savagely imprisoned and starved in much the same manner by his brother, Duke Franpois, sustained him for several days by bringing wheat in her veil, and dropping it through the grated window, and when poison had been used to hasten his death, she brought a priest to the grating to enable him to make his peace with Heaven. Tender pity made these women venture all things ; and surely their doings were full of the gold of love. So again two Swiss lads, whose father was dangerously ill, found that they could by no means procure the needful medicine, except at a price far beyond their means, and heard that an English traveller had offered a large price for a couple of eaglets. The only eyrie was on a crag supposed to be so inaccessible, that no one ventured to attempt it, till these boys, in their intense anxiety for their father, dared the fearful danger, scaled the precipice, captured the birds, and safely conveyed them to the traveller. Truly this was a deed of gold. Such was the action of the Russian servant whose master’s carriage was pursued by wolves, and who sprang out among the beasts, sacrificing his own life willingly to slake their fury for a few minutes in order that the horses