Hardy's "Catalogue of the Lord Chancellors," and "Materials relating to the History of Great Britain," in which are hints and facts not only curious, but of inestimable value to the readers as well as the writers of history. Dr. Brewer's "History of Henry VIII.,” and many other publications, come under this head.

Another way of understanding a particular period or reign is afforded by taking the contemporary historians of that period, although these are almost always sure to be partisans-many of them indeed tediously dry and wearisome-and this plan would perhaps consume much valuable time with but small results. Lord Clarendon's "History of the Great Rebellion" is a work which everybody must read who desires to understand the personal feelings which were elicited, and the men who occupied prominent positions, in that stormy period; and the student, if possible, should endeavour to obtain an edition of it later than the year 1825, as all editions published previous to that date are more or less corrupt. This great work, which was first printed in six volumes, has none of the polish of Hume, nor of the brilliancy of Macaulay, but it is written in an easy, familiar, and flowing style, and is enlivened by descriptions of the chief personages in the history, many of whom were the author's familiar friends. These are painted with a freshness and a minuteness which only personal knowledge and direct intimacy can give. The author (b. 1608, d. 1674), although he should have well known of what stuff kings are made, and had experienced the foolish hauteur of one Charles, and the ingratitude and neglect of the other, is yet an uncompromising Royalist; and therefore certain deductions must be made. Thus, in speaking of

CLARENDON.

33

Hampden, he says that "he was a man of much greater cunning, or it may be" (he says sneeringly) "of the most discerning spirit, and of the greatest address and insinuation, to bring anything to pass which he desired, and who laid the design the deepest." Again: "He made a show of civility, and modesty, and humility, but afterwards appeared to be everybody when he cared less to keep on the mask.". Clarendon's characters of Lord Falkland, and of Charles I., which are both celebrated portraits, are drawn in a much more favourable way. Cromwell stands out as one guilty of many crimes, against which damnation is denounced, and for which hell-fire is prepared; and, while great credit is given to him for his ability, the best that Clarendon can say of him is, that "he was a brave, wicked man." Read, however, with a knowledge of this bias, the History is valuable and exceedingly entertaining. Its faults are verbosity, want of arrangement, prolixity, and involution. The pages also are encumbered with a great quantity of matter which should be incorporated with the notes. Here is Clarendon's estimate of

Charles the First :*.

"To speak first of his private qualifications as a man, before the mention of his princely and royal vir

* I confine myself, in this part of the volume, to giving one specimen; and that is from Clarendon. My reasons for this are the following. The nature of historical writing renders it unsuitable for brief extraction, and, were an excerpt properly given, it would need to embrace some complete episode, which in its entirety would require more space than could fairly be allotted to it. In addition to this, extracts from the old historians would be to little purpose. Their individual style is of minor consideration; and the leading facts they have chronicled have been discriminately incorporated by our modern historians, Finally, to quote from these latter would in many cases be invidious, and, as has been already stated, attended with more or less difficulty,

D

tues: he was, if ever any, the most worthy of the title of an honest man; so great a lover of justice that no temptation could dispose him to a wrongful action, except it was so disguised to him that he believed it to be just. He had a tenderness and compassion of nature which restrained him from ever doing a hardhearted thing; and therefore he was so apt to grant pardon to malefactors, that the judges of the land represented to him the damage and insecurity to the public that flowed from such his indulgence. And then he restrained himself from pardoning either murders or highway robberies, and quickly discerned the fruits of his severity by a wonderful reformation of these enormities. He was very punctual and regular in his devotions; he was never known to enter upon his recreations or sports, though never so early in the morning, before he had been at public prayers; so that on hunting days his chaplains were bound to a very early attendance. He was likewise very strict in observing the hours of his private cabinet devotions, and was so severe an exactor of gravity and reverence in all mention of religion, that he could never endure any light or profane word, with what sharpness of wit soever it was covered; and, though he was well pleased and delighted with reading verses made upon any occasion, no man durst bring before him anything that was profane or unclean. That kind of wit had never any countenance then. He was so great an example of conjugal affection that they who did not imitate him in that particular did not brag of their liberty; and he did not only permit, but direct his bishops to prosecute those scandalous vices in the ecclesiastical courts against persons of eminence and near relation to his service.

CHARACTER OF CHARLES I. 35

"His kingly virtues had some mixture and alloy that hindered them from shining in full lustre, and from producing those fruits they should have been attended with. He was not in his nature very bountiful, though he gave very much. This appeared more after the Duke of Buckingham's death, after which those showers fell very rarely; and he paused too long in giving, which made those to whom he gave less sensible of the benefit. He kept state to the full, which made his court very orderly; no man presuming to be seen in a place where he had no pretence to be. saw and observed men long before he received them about his person; and did not love strangers, nor very confident men. He was a patient hearer of causes, which he frequently accustomed himself to at the council-board; and judged very well, and was dexterous in the mediating part: so that he often put an end to causes by persuasion, which the stubbornness of men's humours made dilatory in courts of justice.

He

"He was very fearless in his person, but not very enterprising. He had an excellent understanding, but was not confident enough of it; which made him oftentimes change his own opinion for a worse, and follow the advice of men that did not judge so well as himself. This made him more irresolute than the conjuncture of his affairs would admit: if he had been of a rougher and more imperious nature, he would have found more respect and duty. And his not applying some severe cures to approaching evils proceeded from the lenity of his nature, and the tenderness of his conscience, which in all cases of blood made him choose the softer way, and not hearken to severe counsels, how reasonably soever urged. This only restrained him from pursuing his advantage in the first Scottish ex.

and Mr. G. P. R. James, better known as a novelist, has also written a picturesque "History of Chivalry," a "History of Charlemagne," which may be studied. side by side with the History of England at the same period, and a "History of Richard Coeur-de-lion." Although these last-named works hardly reach, perhaps, the dignity of fine historical productions, there is a realization of the temporal and local truth, a picturesqueness of narrative, a vigour and vividness, which will especially interest the student; nor is Mr. James at all deficient in industry or research. Among picturesque histories may be mentioned Miss Agnes Strickland's "Lives of the Queens of England," and those of her imitator, Mrs. Green. Miss Strickland is picturesque, clear, and always interesting. She has not much mental grasp, and always writes like a woman, which is no more than was to be expected; but she has this merit, that she realizes the home feelings, the costume, and the domestic life of the period. To draw a simile from the stage, she dresses her characters extremely well; and the reader does grasp a certain amount of suggestive information from her pages.

Of a much higher standard, calm and clear, yet brilliant and logical, is Mr. John Forster, the historian of "Statesmen of the Commonwealth," "The Arrest of the Five Members by Charles the First," and various historical and biographical essays, all of which are profound and careful studies, elaborated and most conscientiously finished, so that of Pym, Hampden, Vane, and the great statesmen who surrounded the Protector, one manages to get a very clear and sufficient view, hardly indeed to be obtained elsewhere. But the most valuable contribution of its kind to historical biography