The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-28 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Cardinal Pole, or the days of Philip and Mary.
An Historical Romance by William Harrison
Ainsworth. Three vols. Chapman and Hall.
Harrison Ainsworth is especially the Genius of
Historical Romance. Prospero's wand did not ex-
ercise a more potent sway over the Calibans an'
Ariels of the enchanted island, than does Mr. Ains-
worth's pen over the buried kings and heroes of our
history. Not the kings and heroes only, but the
men and manners of the times revive again at that
puissant bidding, the material as well Old he
London
Bridge" spans the Thames, " Old 5,. Paul's" tolls
its memorable bell, again " Windsor Forest"—
" Neath whose trees the wild deer bounded
Ages long e'er we were born,
And our great-forefathers sounded
Many a jovial hunting born,"
is restored to its pristine magnificence. We know
no writer of the present age—an age peculiarly rich
in imaginative literature—no writer who can more
powerfully cast a spell over his reader and more
vividly conjure before him the scenes of which he
tells. If he describes to us in rapid nervous sen-
tences the ride of Turpin toYork ; if he follow with
suspended breath the escape of Jack Sheppard from
his prison ; if he takes us with the chivalrous Crich
ite
ton into the revels of the gay courtiers of Margu er
de Valois; if he lures us to the midnight horror
ts on
Lancashire Witches, like the Wedding Gues, i
"The Ancient Mariner," we cannot choose but follow
at his call, and become a charmed and sympathising
witness to the scene. In alluding to the vivid lights
and shadows which flicker across his pages, and to
the occasional gloom and horror which be delights
to excite, we have before now spoken of M.
Ains-
worth as the Salvator Rosa of the Pen.
His later
works, however, partake rather of the character of
historical paintings, and, metaphorically speaking,
they are not unworthy to be preserved as such, as
truthful memorials of great events that have passed
away. Of this class is the work now before us,
" Cardinal Pole ; a Romance of the Days of Philip
and Mary." No royal photographer of that age,
had such an artist then by possibility existed, could
have transmitted to us more vivid and accurate por-
traits of the Queen end the Prince, and the
great
men of their day, than Mr. Ainsworth has given us
in this glowingly. coloured romance. Here is his
portraiture of

QUEEN MARY.
Mary was small of stature, witbeautiful
and her car-
hands and
feet. Her personwas well made but too thin,
land
though majestic, was exceedingly stiff, and lacked
the grace which ease alone can imookingpart. In
but she her younger
days she had been accounted good-1,
scarcely be considered so now. Her eyes were large and
grey, and her glances keen and steady. Her face was
round, her tresses inclining to red, if they did not even ac-
tually attain that hue, and the nose too flat and large.
Her lips, too, were thin and compressed. Altogether,
there was a hardness and severity about her face
that destroyed its pleasing character, while prema-
ture wrinkles about the eyes and brow gave her age.
If Mary did not inherit the beauty either of her father or
mother, she had many of the qualities by which both were
characterised. She had the courage, firmness, and obsti-
nacy of Henry VIII, and she had all the virues belonging
to the unfortunate Katherine of Arragon. Her conduct,
under the trials to which she was exposed, was most exam,
plary, and even her enemies could find
Catholi no fauc
religion,
lt with it.
Firmly attached to the principles
in which she had been brought up, she never wavered for a
moment in her adherence to her faith, but would have suf-
fered martyrdom rather than renounce it. W hen cemmanded
by the council under Edward VI. to desist from the per-
formance of mass, she still continued to celebrate it in private.
Mary spoke well in public, and possessed a voice so sonorous
that she could be distinctly heard by a large assemblage.
Her stirring address to the citizens at Guildhall gave the
osup de grace to Wyat's formidable rebellion.
She arose at daybreak, performed her religious duties, heard
mass, and thenceforward devoted herself to public business
being easy of access to all who desired to approach he;
Bigoted Mary was intolerant and severe towards those who
differed with her on points of faith; but she had many re-
deeming qualities, which should have ,aved her from the
obloquy to which she has been subjected.
And here is a lifelike sketch of