to be passive spectators of the scene. But they remained undetermined--and the utmost that he could obtain, was a promise of remaining quiet. If they did nothing to favour the Revolution, they certainly did nothing to prevent it ;—and the citizens of Stockholm themselves mounted guard at the Bank, and provided for the security of the town, and preservation of peace. In the mean time, the King contrived to escape from the room. where he was confined; and the following singular account is given of the Baron's pursuit of him.

The King, through the door which the guards had demolished, saw the Baron advancing, and immediately escaped through the opposite door, which had been left unguarded, and locked it on the outside. The danger which might arise from the King's escape, animated the exertions of the Baron, who leaped against the door, burst it open, and ran in pursuit of the King. In the next room, there is a spiral staircase open all round, which ascends to the floor above. The Baron, when he entered the room, perceived, on the last step, the King, who threw in the Baron's face a large bunch of keys, and immediately disappeared. The King had so much the advantage, that when the Baron arrived at the top of the spiral stairs, the King was no where to be seen. But, by accident, he took the same road as the King; and, meeting some servants in his way, he was directed by them in his pursuit: but he reached the court of the palace without having seen his Majesty. The King, in the mean time, had been so precipitate in his endeavour to escape, that he fell in the stair, and hurt his arm severely.

When the King's escape was discovered, the greatest confusion and dismay prevailed among the authors of the Revolution; and the most terrible consequences were apprehended. Every stair was crowded with people descending to the court of the palace, to endeavour to intercept his Majesty's flight. Greiff, keeper of the King's game, had precipitately descended the great stair, and was the first who reached the court, and perceived the King, with his sword in his hand, making towards the only gate which had been left open. As soon as Greiff overtook him, the King made a violent push at him; but with so tremulous and unsteady an aim, that the sword passed up the sleeve of Greiff's coat, only slightly wounding him. His sword being thus entangled, his breath gone, and his strength exhausted, the King was easily overpowered. Many had now come to Greiff's assistance; and the King, either unwilling to walk, or unable to support himself, was carried up stairs, and, by his own desire, taken into the white room. He was there set down upon the chair nearest the door, and exactly opposite to the portrait of the late unfortunate Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. The King, exhausted with his exertions, and disordered with indignation and disappointment, remained quiet the whole day.' p. 223-25.

So little disposition did the people whom he had misgoverned testify in his behalf, even under circumstances of affliction, which are wont to appease resentment, and to excite pity towards our oppressors themselves, that not the slightest displeasure was shown, and the play was attended by an unusual number of spectators. The King was removed to another palace in the night. He there quietly signed an instrument of abdication, drawn up, it is said, by himself. Liberal provisions were made for him and his family.-They were safely conducted to a foreign country;--and they now reside, it is said, in Switzerland, to the infinite relief of Sweden, and to the remarkable confutation of the ancient saying, that there is but a short step from the prison to the grave of him who has lost a Crown.

We cannot close this subject without adverting to a charge which we doubt not will be brought against us by the creatures of the Court. It will be said that we have dealt rudely with fallen Majesty and have not been disarmed, as we ought to have been, by the present unhappy state of the subject of this narrative. Why have we gone through our task without betraying any such emotions? Not surely because we felt less for the exiled monarch than those who would now insult him with their canting pity, but because we felt more for the people whom his misrule had for so many years afflicted. Let others confine their lamentations to the guilty, and forget, in a sort of animal sensibility, excited by the punishment, the more rational feeling of satisfaction at the performance of substantial justice. They whose pity lies in the right place will reserve it for the thousands whom his pernicious career has sacrificed to want and wounds and misery; and, without shutting their ears to what may be urged in favour of the man, now that he is disarmed of his sceptre, they will rejoice that an instrument of such mischievous power in its abuse, has been torn, or rather gently taken, from hands incapable of holding it harmless.

ART. VIII. Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon, to the Death of Charles III. in 1788. By W. Coxe, M. A. Archdeacon of Wilts. 3 vols. 4to. London. Longman & Co. 1813.

THE last age abounded more than the present in a valuable class of writers, who employed themselves in collecting, and arranging, and abridging the materials of history; an employment to which mere industry was very inadequate, and which required much more understanding than is often possessed by the pre

tenders to greater things. At their head may perhaps be placed Dr Campbell, the Conductor of the Biographia Britannica, and Dr Birch, who, under the name of Tindal, was the continuator of Rapin. Pretensions to philosophy and eloquence in our times are so general, that few men of sufficient talents now confine themselves to these useful labours. Scarcely any individual has deserved better of modern English History than Mr Coxe. The publication of the Walpole Papers, and the abridgement of them under the title of a Life of Sir Robert Walpole, was the first tolerable account of any part of our history, after the accession of the House of Hanover. The value of his Austrian history very much depended on English materials;-the extracts from the correspondence of British ministers at the Imperial court being the most interesting, and the only new part of the work. In another respect, however, it deserves commendation. It was the first English historical work which showed an acquaintance with the materials of European history extant in other languages, besides French and Latin. It is true that, even in that work, German authorities are by no means so much examined as they evidently ought to have been: But a reasonable example was set, which has not yet been followed. The present publication is nearly of the same character with the preceding; but as Mr Mitford suffered the last volume of his respectable history of Greece almost to degenerate into an Antijacobin pamphlet, it was not to be expected that Mr Coxe should have preserved his narrative wholly uninfluenced by contemporary events. The thought of Napoleon has obviously pointed some of his sentences against Louis XIV.; and the present Peninsular war has given a bolder and more popular tone to some passages of the history. Of this we of course do not much complain; but as all admonition must be commonplace, we shall perhaps be excused for reminding every candidate for the reputation of an historian, that the tincture of our own times, which is a characteristic excellence of a memoir-writer, is, in a literary as well as in a moral point of view, of all qualities the most repugnant to the historical mind; and that the factious spirit, and temporary allusions, which so much amuse the public, or gratify a party for a few years, are the very circumstances most sure to disgust and weary the readers of after times.

Mr Coxe's book is, generally speaking, composed of two parts. The first consists of ample selections from the French memoirs of the war of the Succession, from St Simon, Duclos, St Philippe, Irvailles, Berwick, &c.; and this part of it, though not new to those who are much conversant with the history of that eventful period, will probably convey considerable informa

tion to the generality of English readers. The second is composed of extracts from the correspondence of the successive British ministers at Madrid, and forms the peculiar and characteristic merit of this work. The author has, with the most commendable industry, endeavoured to procure access to all the collections of papers which are spread over the kingdom; and his success has been such as to do honour to the gold sense and liberality of the proprietors of these great collections. It affords a singular contrast to the splenetic complaint in the preface to the State Papers of Macpherson, who, according to his own account, was refused access to every private collection in Great Britain which he was desirous to examine :-though whether this refusal arose from the age being less liberal, or from the Editor being less respectable, may perhaps be made a question. At the head of Mr Coxe's benefactors, he places the Earl of Hardwicke, whose family, for more than half a century, by judicious collection and liberal communication, have contributed more to authenticate our modern history, than perhaps any other in Britain. The correspondence of Bubb Doddington, who was minister at Madrid, soon after the succession of the House of Hanover, contains some interesting passages; and when connected with the disclosures of his 'Diary,' may suggest some speculation on the causes which have rendered us inferior to some other nations in diplomatic dexterity, and on the inconsistency of the character naturally formed in the intrigues of a despotic court with the administration of free governments. The letters of Mr (afterwards Sir Benjamin) Keene, who resided at Madrid as Consul, Agent of the South Sea Company, Envoy and Ambassador from 1723 to 1757, are the most able, and relate to that part of recent Spanish history which is the least known.

The late Earl of Hardwicke, who was an accurate judge of diplo matic merit, once purposed to publish an analysis of so valuable a portion of our diplomatic treasures, and thus spoke of Sir Benjamin Keene and his correspondence, in his intended preface:

"Sir Benjamin Keene was remarkable for a thorough knowledge of the secret springs of the Spanish cabinet. The portraits he has drawn are singularly striking and descriptive: And the sketch he has left of Ferdinand the Sixth and his queen Barbara; of the discordant characters of Carvajal and Ensenada; of the means which he employed to procure the disgrace of Ensenada, and the appointment of Wall, is the most interesting narrative of secret history that ever was given in the despatches of any ambassador. He was a perfect master of the forms of business in Spain, and always negotiated with temper, firmness, and address. He never miscarried for want of laying his stress on the proper argument, or misapplying the mode of enforcing it.

VOL. XXI. NO. 41.

M

"His skill in the Spanish language contributed greatly to the success of his negotiations. He knew how to accommodate himself to the circumstances of the times, and to adapt his conduct to the temper of the court in which he resided, and of the ministers with whom he negotiated. Such justice is now done to the memory of Sir Benjamin Keene, that a comparison with him carries with it the eulogium of any foreign minister. "

To the kindness of my friend Benjamin Keene, Esq., nephew of the ambassador, I owe the advantage of being able to present to the public the information contained in this interesting correspondence. Indeed it was this advantage which first encouraged me to undertake the composition of these Memoirs.' Pref. p. xvi, xvii.

The collections of Lord Grantham and Mr Roseau, have opened part of the secret history of Spain, after the peace of Paris, and during the preparations for the American war. Lord Malmesbury and Lord Auckland are entitled to peculiar praise, for having conquered some of the most obstinate preja dices of diplomacy, by the communication, during their ows lives, of important circumstances discovered by them in the course of their negociations. If they had even ventured farther, they would have been justified by the example of the most accomplished of English public ministers. The whole negociations of Sir William Temple were published within thirty years of the time in which they occurred. A longer period has already passed since the residence of Lord Malmesbury at Madrid, and almost as long since that of Lord Auckland. It is needless to add, that suchi communications only are here meant, as are accompanied by every reserve which the most scrupulous notions of public duty could suggest. The Marquis of Lansdowne has contributed valuable materials relating to the peace of 1782; and among the documents collected by Lord Holland, in his journey through Spain, there is one of such importance, that Mr Coxe has published it at full length-the representation of the Count de Florida Blanca to Charles III., containing an account of his own administration from 1777 to 1788,-the latest narrative by a prime minister, hitherto laid before the public, of the affairs which he had himself conducted.

It is indeed surprising, on many accounts, that so few papers relating to modern English history have been published. If there were no other reason for publication, it is evidently the only means by which such documents can be preserved. They naturally decay-they fall into the hands of ignorant or negligent owners;they are dispersed by marriage, and by the extinction of families; and, as long as they are confined to private custody, they are perpetually liable to destruction by accident. The well known destruction of the Somers papers at Mr Yorke's chambers, in