The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-10 00:00:00

LITERATURE,

Lives of the Queens of Scotland. Vol. 111. By
Agnes Strickland. Black wood and Sons.
Although the present volume of thin very charming
and remarkable series contains merely the first por-
tion of the life of the illustrious rival of Elizabeth, it
reveals on the part of the historian a minuteness of
research, a subtelty of appreciation, and an exquisite
delicacy of treatment, such as cannot but justify us,
we conceive, in auguring confidently for the excel-
lence of its completion. If the subsequent volume,
bringing the narrative to a close, be in any way com-
parable to the one just published,—the biography of
Mary Stuart must undoubtedly be regarded as the
masterpiece of Agnes Strickland. Enough has
already been rendered apparent in the twelve chapters
of this most romantic and enthralling memoir here
submitted to our criticism—enough has already been
rendered apparent of those eminent qualities which
have hitherto distinguished the writings of our
authoress, to assure the judgment of the least san-
guine reviewer, that her celebration of Mary, will
constitute a noble companion picture to her long-
famous celebration of Elizabeth. It cannot be ob-
jected that we are here deciding ex pede Rerculem.
It is not as though we were praising the symmetry of
the glass slipper, and surmising merely from its out-
lines the proportions of the yet undiscovered Cinde-
rella. Sufficient materials are before us in the com-
mencement of the composition to enable us to judge
with considerable accuracy of the probable merits of
its termination. Added to which, it must be remem-
bered, that, in commenting upon the latest of the
literary productions of Agnes Strickland, we are
pronouncing our opinions upon the effusion of one
with whose extraordinary qualities as an annalist, the
student of British History is by this time, we rejoice
to think, tolerably well familiarized. Experience has
told in her instance beyond the reach of hesitation,
that she is invariably as painstaking in the accumu-
lation of her facts, as she is lucid in the manner of
their arrangement—that her conscientious adherence
to truth (however much that truth is occasionally
opposed to her most cherished sympathies) may be re-
garded as altogether not less conspicuous among her
more distinguishing characteristics than the eloquent
picturesqueness of her descriptions, or the nervous
energy of her style, or the attractive novelty of her re-
velations. As an historical writer, Miss Strickland pos-
sesses indeed two qualities, in regard to which she
stands almost alone amongst her contemporaries.
Her indefatigable industry, and her serene impartiality,
have in this manner invested her volumes with the
most enviable of all kinds of popularity : that which
commands an almost implicit reliance, while it extorts
a genuine and unaffected admiration. Her volumes
having reference to the Queens of England, first
secured to her that meed of approbation, which has
been simultaneously confirmed and justified by the
subsequent and companion serial relating to the
Queens of Scotland. And as in the former work the
crown of her labours became visible when she ar-
rived at length at the period enabling her to treat of the
career and character of Elizabeth, the greatest of the
Queens of England—so unquestionably, in the latter
work, it has become manifest in a very surprising
manner, at that juncture when she finds herself em-
powered to weigh in the balance of Clio, the crimes
and the virtues, the glory and the shame, the resolution
and the weakness, the happiness and the misfortunes
of Mary, the greatest of the Queens of Scotland, of
Mary, the beautiful and unfortunate, the bride suc-
cessively of Francis, of Darnley, and of Bothwell, the
pride of Paris and the suspicion of Edinburgh—the
loveliest woman who ever ascended the scaffold, with
the heroism of martyrdom, and closed, by a death of
sublime resignation, a life of startling and unpre-
cedented vicissitudes.
As the biographer of Mary Stuart, known through-
out Christendom, as par excellence THE Queen of
Scots—Miss Strickland must have found herself at
the outset of her very difficult enterprize, embarrassed
by a multiplicity of rather bewildering considerations.
She must have remembered that there is perhaps no
personage mentioned in the annals of the now United
Kingdom whose character is regarded even now-
adays under aspects more astonishingly antagonistic.
Considered by some as guilty, and by others as in-
nocent of the various charges of a sinister nature,
directed against her by a considerable portion of her
contemporaries, Mary is viewed indiscriminately by
all with sentiments of profound and tender considera-
tion. Her calamities, her beauty, her genius, her
courage—the imprisonment in which she displayed
such noble endurance and the disastrous execution
under the sorrows of which she revealed such gentle
but lofty magnanimity—have been celebrated nearly
three centuries after the close of her tragic existence,
by the most resplendent intellects, not only of
her native land but of France, of Italy, and
of Germany. Has not Schiller portrayed with
his pencil of light those features of haunting
loveliness ? has he not enshrined in one of the
grandest of his majestic dramas, the story of her loves
and her disasters ? Alfieri has told that same pensive
tale in the melodious language of Tuscany. Be ranger,
the Tyiemus of France, has sung in his matchless num-
bers the " adieux" addressed to her adopted country
by the widowed Dauphiness. Robert Burns, in one
of his tenderest songs, sang for her the " Lament" of
her incarceration—her temporary escape from which
Walter Scott commemorated in one of the most be-
witching romances penned by his hand of magic fas-
cination. Historians, not less than poets and novelists,
have seemed to rejoice in reverting to that strange
narrative of misfortune : but to attempt anything like
an acurate enumeration of the novelists or of the bio-
graphers who have written upon this enthralling sub-
ject would, in all respects, be as tedious as it would
be unnecessary. Besides the sedate Lingard, and the
unimpassioned Hume, there have been latterly other
distinguished authors who have endeavoured to throw
light upon that chequered epoch, and to dissipate
some of the many doubts by which the memory of it
has been so long obscured. Connaeo has penned his
" Vita di Maria Stuarta," given in Jebb's Collection.
Dargaud has written his " Histoire de Marie Stuart."
Brantome has treated upon the same theme in his
" Vies des Dames Illustres." Then there are like-
wise the voluminous " Recueil des Lettres de Marie
Stuart," compiled under the editorship of Prince
Labanoff, and the " Life of Mary Stuart," by Miss
Benger, and the " Illustrations of the Reign of Queen
Mary," by Stevenson, and the " History of Mary,"
by Lesley, and the reference to that unfortunate
heroine in the " Female Sovereigns" of Mrs. Jamie-
son, and the " Life of Mary Stuart " by Bell, and by
a multiplicity of other authors, some of eminent, and
some of indifferent, reputation. Not satisfied with the
abundant materials collected by her very numerous
predecessors, Miss Strickland, it appears, has herself
visited every locality associated with the more re-
markable incidents described in her biography, besides
collecting an extraordinary variety of traditions relating
to the period at which she has arrived, and collecting
a marvellous store of original manuscripts hitherto
overlooked altogether, or the value of which has re-
mained until now unappreciated. M. Mignet, in
our own time, has undertaken to argue the case
against Mary Stuart in a manner austerely logical,
and with a spirit of cold antagonism, such as must
have proved acceptable even to John Knox and the
Lords of the Congregation. Happily the interests
of justice seem to be now secured to the luckless
rival of Elizabeth—now that the duty of recording
her career has devolved upon a writer as calm, as
intelligent, as lucid, as accurate, and as eloquent, as
the laborious and gifted Agnes Strickland. Begin-
ing her narrative with the birth of Mary Stuart on
the 11th of December, 1542, in Linlithgow Palace,
Miss Strickland carries it down as far as the June of
1563, and we doubt not that the same impartial
tone as is here observable will be recognised in the
subsequent chapters of the memoir, conducting us at
last to the mournful Bth of February, 1587, when
the beautiful and ill-fated " lady of the land" was
beheaded to appease the rivalry of her ruthless and
implacable antagonist. Although sympathizing, as her
generous and most womanly heart could not fail to
do in the misfortunes of the " Queen of Scots,"
Miss Strickland, it must be especially remarked,
mentions the circumstance of Mary's persecution of
the Gordons in the severest language of reprehension.
This persecution of an illustrious house is mentioned,
indeed, by our authoress as the most indelible blot
upon the records of the reign she has chosen to com-
memorate thus luminously. Alluding,in general
terms, to the celebrity of her heroine, she has penned
the following noble observations :
" Mary Stuart is exclusively the Queen of Scots—
Queen not only of the realm, but of the people; and
with all her faults, real or imputed, she remains to this
day the peculiar object of national enthusiasm in Scot.
land. Her memory haunts the desolate palaces, whore
every peasant is eager to recount traditionary lore con-
nected with her personal history. Not a castellated
mansion of the sixteenth century but boasts some
quaint-looking room, which is emphatically pointed
out as Queen Mary's chamber. Every old family
possesses a painting, for which the distirction of
an original portrait of Queen Mary is claimed.
Tresses of every shade of golden, auburn, and
chestnut, are preserved, and fondly exhibited as
well-attested portions of her hair. Persons who de-
nounce the relic veneration of the Romish Church as
idolatrous, enshrine a glove, a fan, a superannuated
watch, or any other trinket supposed to have belonged
to Queen Mary, among their choicest treasures, to be
handed down as heirlooms in their families. The variety
of articles thus preserved and hallowed for her sake
is almost incredible. Queen Mary's mirrors and cabi-
nets appear interminable ; and as to the antique chairs
of carved oak and ebony with which their possessors
have endowed her, they are numerous enough to supply
seats for all her descendants, who, be it remembered, are
to be found on almost every throne throughout Europe-
The name of Stuart, it is true, exists no longer in the
regal line,—but the lineage of Mary Stuart, through the
posterity of her grand-daughter, Elizabeth,
Queen of
Bohemia, still reigns in Great Britain, Prussis, Den:
mark, Hanover, and other Protestant States ; and
through that of Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, the
youngest daughter of Charles 1., in SPalot

While of Mary's character, generally, the latest and
most accurate of her biographers speaks thus by way
of appropriate introduction :
"If the favourable opinions of her own sex could be
allowed to decide the question, then may we say that a
verdict of not guilty has bee❑ pronounced by an over-
powering majority of female readers of all nations,
irrespective of creed or party. Is, then, the moral
standard erected by women for one another lower than
that which is required of them by men? Are they less
acute in their perceptions of right and wrong, or more
disposed to tolerate frailties? The contrary has gene-
rally been asserted. Yet, with the notorious exceptions
of Queen Elizabeth, Catherine de Medicis, and the
Countess of Shrewsbury, Mary had no female enemies.
No female witnesses from her household came forward
to bear testimony against her, when it was out of her
power to purchase secresy if they had bee❑ cognisant
of her guilt. None of the ladies of her court, whether
f the reformed religion or the old faith—not even Lady
Bothwell herself—lifted up her voice to impute blame to
her. Mary was attended by noble Scotch gentlewomen
in the days of her royal splendour; they slave to her in
adversity, through good report and evil report; they
shared her prisons, they waited upon her o❑ the scaff.)ld,
and forsook not her mangled remains till they had seen them
consigned to a long denied tomb. Are such friendships
usual among the wicked ? Is the companionship of
virtuous wome❑ acceptable to the dissolute 2—or that of
the dissolute to the virtuous 2

The description of Mary Stuart's marriage with
the Dauphin of France, when the bride and bride-
groom were respectively about 15 years of age, is
accompanied in the volume before us with an enter-
taining account of the young Princess's lovely
appearance, of her gorgeous apparel, and of her sur-
prising combination of accomplishments. Although
*ware, while so doing, that we are only dallying as it
were with the trappings of history, we linger with
pleasure—we confess it—over the minute enumera-
tion of the jewels and the robes worn on the bridal
day by the dauphiness, according to Miss Strick-
land's picturesque and elaborate narrative. The
mantle of "blueish grey cut velvet, richly embroidered
with white silk and pearls," the " matchless jewel "
' suspended round the neck by a chain of precious
stones, the diadem composed of the " finest gold,"
and fashioned by the most " exquisite workmanship,"
and covered with " diamonds, and pearls, and rubies,
and emeralds," may appear matters of indifference
to those who care little for the ornate particularities
indulged in by the chronicler : but for all who regard
with emotion the history of the noble, the beautiful,
and the unfortunate, even these apparently frivolous
rninutice will prove fraught, as for ourselves, with a
peculiar and graceful fascination. We are grateful for
the opportunity of perusing even these lesser memorials
presented to the world by the untiring industry and
eclectic taste of Agnes Strickland. Still more are
we grateful to our distinguished authoress for
the evident caution with which she has collated
upon loftier topics the contradictory evidence adduced
by preceding, and most of them prejudiced, anno-
tators. We await with eager expectation the next
volume, in which Agnes Strickland will bring to a
conclusion the most attractive of her many brilliant
biographies. We look forward with intense curiosity
to her account of the tragedy glooming most darkly
over the career of Mary Stuart—her marriage with
the handsome but besotted Darnley; her passionate
affection for him; her disappointment at his profli-
gacy ; their gradual estrangement; Bothwell's appear-
ance on the scene at the close of his prolonged banish-
ment ;Mary's infatuation ; the murder of Darnley ; the
abdication of his Royal widow, and her ultimate unioc
with the assassin. We repose such implicit confi-
dence in the impartiality of Agnes Strickland, that
we look to her next volume for the clearing up of
whatever doubts still remain capable of being cleared
up in reference to Mary's share in these foul and
execrable proceedings. Her present volume justifies
us to the full, we conceive, in these bold but unexag-
gerated anticipations; for the twelve chapters here
given of the Life of Mary Stuart, are assuredly as
honourable to the industry, as creditable to the judg-
ment, and as worthy of the reputation of Agnes
Strickland, as they are eminently enthralling in
themselves, or as they constitute the augury of a
splendid addition to the treasures of our national lite-
rature.

Popular History of British Zoophytes: By Rev.
D. Landsborough, D.D. Reeve.
We have repeatedly had occasion to notice Messrs.
Reeve's very admirable illustrated volumes of natural
history. A series of very interesting explanations,
elucidated by most beautifully coloured engravings,
have already brought before us in a most attractive
manner many of the mysteries of the animal and vege-
table kingdoms. Of these was Moore's " History of
British Ferns," Robert's " Woodlands," White's
" History of the Mammalia," Reeve's " Concho-
logy," Gosse's " British Ornithology," and various
other works on mineralogy, entymology,&,c.,&c.,includ-
ing some admirable sermons in stones in the famous
analysis of a pebble, and some curious matters for
consideration in Catlow's " Drops of Water." These
excellent works have been recalled to our notice by
the appearance of a new number of the same col-
lection, Dr. Landsborough's " History of British
Zoophytes, or Corallines"—one of the most curious
subjects which engage the attention of the naturalist ;
those " animal-plants" which form the connecting
link between animate and inanimate nature. Dr.
Landsborough was the author of the book on "British
Seaweeds," which recently appeared in the same
series ; but the present volume has been to him more
attractive, he tells us, because, according to
the definition of Linnaeus, " Stones grow, vege-
tables grow and live ; animals grow, live, and
feel," and the weeds were only of the class that
grow and live, while the zoophytes are also endued
with a sentient power—a fact to many quite incre-
dible, but which will perhaps render this volume more
interesting, as it will undoubtedly, to such sceptics,
enhance its value. It is unnecessary to observe that
the coloured engravings, and the various minutia of
' the publication, are all excellent—such being the
characteristic of the whole of the above series.

Short Short-hand. By Laming Warren Tear. Lon-
don : Whittaker and Co.
This little work displays considerable ingenuity on
the part of the author, and as it contains much that
is both new and useful, it may be fairly treated as a
valuable addition to our stenographic authorities.
It simplifies and improves the characters of Gurney's
system, and renders the " line" theory far more intel-
ligible and less difficult of acquisition than it has
hitherto appeared. It furthermore gives a series
of lucid instructions by which—paradoxical as it
may seem short-hand may be made shorter,
Mr. Tears plan, however, is more complicated in its
detail and more encumbered with rule than that
of Harding or Taylor, and the learner who de-
termines to adopt it must be prepared to make
a corresponding sacrifice of both time and patience.
But, under any circumstances, there is very little
intellectual difficulty in the study of Short-hand,
it is merely a trial of patience and determination ;
and this we can promise to the student, that directly
he becomes thoroughly master of Mr. Tear's method,
in theory as well as practice, he will be able to follow
the quickest speaker with certainty, and afterwards
to transcribe his " notes" with ease and rapidity.
Neither Gurney's, nor the " line" system, is popular
in the Reporters' Gellery; indeed, it is doubtful
whether either is used there, but that fact ought
not to detract from the merit of the present
work which has been prepared with much care, and
is evidently the result of long study and experience.
Those, therefore, who wish to learn short-hand, and
who can afford to bring to its study more assiduity
and a greater sacrifice of time than the systems gene-
rally in use demand, would do well to make Mr.
Tear's " Short Short land" their standard ; but
at the same time that this advice is offered, it should
be stated that, besides a thorough grammatical
knowledge of the English language, the system
i
requires some slight insight nto,the principles of mu-
sical notation. Fortified with these auxiliaries, the
student need have no apprehensions as to his future
success ; and again we recommend him to turn his
attention to this little book, which is neatly got up,
being printed in very handsome type, upon fine
paper, and illustrated with numerous plates, showing
the various changes and situations of the characters.

Bleak House. No. IX. By Charles Dickens.
Although a rather inelegant phrase, and one more
applicable to a ',cub than a story, we may observe
somewhat expressively, that the eight precedinge 3
in-
stalments of Bleak House have been
e üblished
" licked into shape" by the number
judsetrPstand the
for November. We begin at last to L 1
f inndividuals
connexion of of the various groups °,, e ~ideas of the
troduced; we comprehend at length the
n conjecture how
tale in their concatination." if ctii lly
in society how
personages of different
gradesl t meshes together the
it is that there are entangled wllftle3 can
other so many
the same webwork of the
aYttorney of Lincoln's-inn-
and Mr. Tulkinghorne, the
I:, the spouse of the reverend
crossing sweeper, and Lad PLedlock, the fine lady,
Fields, and Mrs. Chaid
l amanufactory, together with
and Nemo the lawproprietor of the.
master, and
and Snagsbv
and Krook
and Guppy the clerk, and good,
the law.stationer, a
Gwreiotregr,e the fencit)ogg
Esther Su o
Proves, as we had
terious hitherto has b
gentle, womanly, loveablemm_rson. Much
It been now ren-
deredpected, that Esther is the
thathcasiebareieyn
comprehensible.nYB
daughter of Lady
suspected
and of the unfortunate Nemo in his true
character as Captain Hawdon. Lady Dedlock only
discovers the existence of her child through the
ill-requited love of " the young man of the name
of Guppy." Anxious to serve Esther, and in
doing so to find access to her affections, Mr.
been latterly busying himself
in Guppy,tracing
appears
out
the
identityhas of her father in the opium
eater, and of her mother in the haughty lady of Sir
"(Mt"' the cloliDEC chip* of the numb* before