FAMOUS VOWS AND HOW THEY WERE KEPT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 132, 5 June 1937, Page 27

FAMOUS VOWS AND HOW THEY WERE KEPT

Before the siege of Ostend in 1601 Isabella, daughter of Philip 11, vowed never to change any of the garments she then wore until the place surrendered, says a writer in the "Daily Mail." The siege lasted for three years and seventy-eight days, during which time she religiously adhered to her promise. In that long period her linen, of course, became changed from white to yellow, and although the latter colour; was before held in great contempt, it was, from the circumstance, immediately introduced, and became very fashionable under the name of "Isabella."

'. At the bombardment of Belgrade, In 1862, some Serbian patriots vowed never to let a razor touch their faces until they could shave in the fortress on the day on which the Turkish troops abandoned it. For five years they eschewed the services of a barber until the hour of triumph came, and then, in 1867, they marched through the streets of Belgrade with long beards escorted by a number of barbers, razors in hand. In this way they entered the fortress, when the barbers at once proceeded to strip them of their beards. Vienna owes its Church of St. Charles to a vow by the Emperor Charles II during an epidemic. Notre Dame became the. richer by a golden lamp in payment of an Empress's vow. Roger Tichborne vowed to build a church if he married his cousin within a certain time, impelled thereto, apparently, by the- success attending a similar promise by Sir Edward Doughty when his child lay dangerously ill.

In 1867 a Spanish lady, attired in the garb of a pilgrim of the olden time, appeared in the streets of Toulon. She went '/i her way home to Madrid, having footed it from that city to Rome in fulfilment of a vow made when she fancied herself at death's door. In the like/extremity 'an Italian princess vowed to undertake a journey to the Holy Sepulchre. Some regard a vow as a restraining bond of a very elastic character, especially when it interferes with their desires. Colonel Edgeworth, who served under "William 111, was an inveterate gamester. Having lost all his money,

he went to his wife and asked her to lend him her diamond earrings. She took them from her ears without demur, and he returned to the card table. The stake returned to the colonel all his losings. In gratitude to his wife he solemnly vowed never to touch cards or dice again, but a few days afterwards he was observed drawing straws from a rick, and betting heavily upon which should prove the longest. Pepys pledged himself to abstain from the juice of the grape, and shortly afterwards took to drinking "hippoeras," which, he said, was only a mixed compound. .. He J.so registered a vow against "going to the theatre,' but professed to believe he was committing no breach of his oath when he went at a friend's expense. There is a good story of a jovial waiter whom some kind friends sought to frighten into a vow of sobriety. They told him a shocking tale of one who drank not wisely but too well, and was killed by blowing out a candle, the flames of which ignited the alcoholic fumes of his breath! He listened, believed, and was horrified. Calling for a Bible, he kissed the Book, and solemnly swore that never again would he—try to blow out a candle. Shrewder far was the Pittsburg man who swore never to touch another drop as long as he had a hair on his head. The same evening he had his head shaved, and got drunk with the proud consciousness of having faithfully kept his vow. He might have been paired "with the Portuguese dame who pledged herself to go farebooted to a certain shrine. In vain her friends assured her the fatigue would kill her; she was resolute. She had made the vow and would keep.it, and keep it she did. She went to the shrine stockingless— in a sedan chair!

Vows of perpetual silence are numerous, the only trouble being that those who need the vow most do not take it! In 1840 Miss Caroline Brewer, of Portland, Maine, U.S.A., vowed she would, never speak another word to any human being, because she had had a quarrel with her lover. For 32 years —until the day of her death—she was never known to have uttered a word.