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'NEATH THE HOOF OF THE TARTAR
Portrait of JA cubedsika]
'Neath the Hoof of the Tartar
OR
_THE SCOURGE OF GOD_
BY BARON NICOLAS JA"SIKA
ABRIDGED FROM THE HUNGARIAN BY SELINA GAYE
_WITH PREFACE BY R. NISBET BAIN_
SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHESECOND EDITION
_And Photogravure Portrait of the Author_
LONDONJARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.
[_All Rights Reserved_]
1904
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION 7 I. RUMOURS 15 II. GOOD NEWS OR BAD? 35 III. MASTER STEPHEN'S PAGE 50 IV. MISTAKE THE FIRST 69 V. AS THE KING WILLS 89 VI. MISTAKE THE SECOND 104 VII. AT THE VERY DOORS 120 VIII. THE BETTER PART OF VALOUR 133 IX. "I WASH MY HANDS" 146 X. LIBOR CLIMBS THE CUCUMBER-TREE 167 XI. "NEXT TIME WE MEET" 181 XII. DEFENDING THE CASTLE 199 XIII. CAMP FIRES 216 XIV. A FATAL DAY 228 XV. DORA'S RESOLVE 240 XVI. THROUGH THE SNOW 253 XVII. A STAMPEDE 274 XVIII. AUNT ORSOLYA'S CAVERN 288 XIX. FATHER ROGER'S STORY 297 XX. LIKE THE PHA'NIX 312
INTRODUCTION.
Baron MiklA cubeds JA cubedsika, the Walter Scott of Hungary, was born at Torda, inTransylvania, on April 28th, 1796. While quite a child, he lost both hisparents, and was brought up at the house and under the care of hisgrandmother, Anna Bornemissza, a descendant of JA cubedkai's heroine of thesame name in "'Midst the Wild Carpathians." Of the young nobleman's manyinstructors, the most remarkable seems to have been an _emigrA(C)_ FrenchColonel, who gave him a liking for the literature of France, which wasnot without influence on his future development. After studying law fora time at Klausenberg to please his friends, he became a soldier toplease himself, and in his seventeenth year accompanied the Savoydragoon regiment to Italy. During the campaign of the Mincio in 1814, heso distinguished himself by his valour that he was created a firstlieutenant on the field of battle, and was already a captain when heentered Paris with the allies in the following year. In 1818, at thevery beginning of his career, he ruined his happiness by hisunfortunate marriage with Elizabeth KallAiy. According to JA cubedsika'sbiographer, Luiza SzaAik,[1] young JA cubedsika was inveigled into this unionby a designing mother-in-law, and any chance of happiness the youngcouple might have had, if left to themselves, was speedily dashed by theinterference of the father of the bride, who defended all his daughter'scaprices against the much-suffering husband. Even the coming of childrencould not cement this woeful wedding, which terminated in the practicalseparation of spouses who were never meant to be consorts.
[Footnote 1: BarA cubed JA cubedsika MiklA cubeds A(C)lete A(C)s munkai.]
JA cubedsika further offended his noble kinsmen by devoting himself toliterature. It may seem a paradox to say so, yet it is perfectly true,that in the early part of the present century, with some very fewhonourable exceptions, the upper classes in Hungary addressed only their_servants_ in Hungarian. Latin was the official language of the Diet,while polite circles conversed in barbarous French. These were the dayswhen, as JA cubedkai has reminded us, the greatest insult you could offer toan Hungarian lady was to address her in her native tongue. It requiredsome courage, therefore, in the young Baron to break away from thefeudal traditions of his privileged caste and use the plebeian Magyardialect as a literary vehicle. His first published book, "Abafi"(1836), an historical romance written under the direct influence of SirWalter Scott, whom JA cubedsika notoriously took for his model, made a greatstir in the literary world of Hungary. "Hats off, gentlemen," was howSzontagh, the editor of the _FigyelmezA?_, the leading Hungariannewspaper of the day, began his review of this noble romance. JA cubedsika wasover forty when he first seriously began to write, but the grace andelegance of his style, the maturity of his judgment, the skilfulness ofhis characterization--all pointed to a long apprenticeship in letters.Absolute originality cannot indeed be claimed for him. Unlike JA cubedkai, heowed very much to his contemporaries. He began as an imitator of Scott,as we have seen, and he was to end as an imitator of Dickens, as weshall see presently. But he was no slavish copyist. He gave nearly asmuch as he took. Moreover, he was the first to naturalize the historicalromance in Hungary, and if, as a novelist, he is inferior to WalterScott, he is inferior to him alone.
In Hungary, at any rate, his rare merits were instantly recognised andrewarded.
Two years after the publication of "Abafi," he was elected a member ofthe Hungarian Academy, four years later he became the President of theKisfaludy TAirsasAig, the leading Magyar literary society. All classes,without exception, were attracted and delighted by the books of thisnew novelist, which followed one another with bewildering rapidity."Zolyomi," written two years before "Abafi," was published a few monthslater, together with "KA?nnyelmA1/4ek." Shortly afterwards came the twogreat books which are generally regarded as his masterpieces, "Az utolsA cubedBAitory" and "Csehek MagyarorszAigon," and a delightful volume of fairytales, "A%let A(C)s tA1/4ndA(C)rhA cubedn," in three volumes. In 1843 was published"Zrinyi a KA?ltA?," in which some critics saw a declension, but whichJA cubedkai regards as by far the greatest of JA cubedsika's historical romances.Finally may be mentioned as also belonging to the pre-revolutionaryperiod, "JA cubedsika IstvAin," an historical romance in five volumes, largelybased upon the family archives; "Egy kA(C)temeletes hAiz," a social romancein six volumes; and "Ifju BA(C)kesi Ferencz kalandjai," a very close andmost clever imitation of the "Pickwick Papers," both in style andmatter, written under the pseudonym of Moric Alt. It is a clever skit ofthe peccadilloes and absurdities of the good folks of Budapest of allclasses, full of genuine humour, and was welcomed with enthusiasm.
On the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1848, Baron JA cubedsikamagnanimously took the popular side, though he was now an elderly man,and had much to lose and little to gain from the Revolution. He waselected a member of the HonvA(C)d Government; countenanced all its acts;followed it from place to place till the final collapse, and then fledto Poland. Ultimately he settled at Brussels, where for the next twelveyears he lived entirely by his pen, for his estates were confiscated,and he himself was condemned to death by the triumphant and vindictiveAustrian Government, which had to be satisfied, however, with burninghim in effigy.
JA cubedsika was to die an exile from his beloved country, but the bitternessof banishment was somewhat tempered by the touching devotion of hissecond wife, the Baroness Julia Podmaniczky, who also became hisamanuensis and translator. The first novel of the exilic period was"Eszter," written anonymously for fear his works might be prohibited inHungary, in which case the unhappy author would have run the risk ofactual want. For the same reason all the novels written between 1850 and1860 (when he resumed his own name on his title-pages) are "by theauthor of 'Eszter.'" In 1864, by the docto
r's advice, JA cubedsika moved toDresden, and there, on February 27th, 1865, he died, worn out by labourand sorrow. He seems, at times, to have had a hard struggle for anhonourable subsistence, and critics, latterly, seem to have beenneglectful or unkind. Ultimately his ashes were brought home to hisnative land and deposited reverently in the family vault at Klausenberg;statues were raised in his honour at the Hungarian capital, and thegreatest of Hungarian novelists, Maurus JA cubedkai, delivered an impassionedfuneral oration over the remains of the man who did yeoman's service forthe Magyar literature, and created and popularized the historical novelin Hungary.
For it is as the Hungarian historical romancer _par excellence_ thatJA cubedsika will always be remembered, and inasmuch as the history of noother European country is so stirring and so dramatic as that ofHungary, and JA cubedsika was always at infinite pains to go direct tooriginal documents for his facts and local colouring, he will always besure of an audience in an age, like our own, when the historical novelgenerally (witness the immense success of Sienkiewicz) is once more thefavourite form of fiction. Among the numerous romances "by the author of'Eszter,'" the work, entitled "JA? a TatAir" ("The Tartar is coming"), nowpresented to the English public under the title of "'Neath the Hoof ofthe Tartar," has long been recognised by Hungarian critics as "the mostpathetic" of JA cubedsika's historical romances. The groundwork of the tale isthe terrible Tartar invasion of Hungary during the reign of BA(C)la IV.(1235-1270), when the Mongol hordes devastated Magyarland from end toend. Two love episodes, however, relieve the gloom of this terrificpicture, "and the historical imagination" of the great Hungarianromancer has painted the heroism and the horrors of those far distanttimes every whit as vividly as Sienkiewicz has painted the secularstruggle between the Red Cross Knights and the semi-barbarous heroes ofold Lithuania.
R. NISBET BAIN.