The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE COURT AND TIMES OF ✓AMES I.

Edited by the Author of "Memoirs of Sophia Doro-
thea." 2 Vols.
THE COURT AND TIMES OF CHARLES I.
Edited by the same Author. 2 Vols.
These volumes serve to illustrate the Court and
Times of James I. and Charles 1., in a very effective
and interesting manner. They contain a collection of
" authentic and confidential letters," having refer-
ence to many of the most interesting and important
events which transpired during the reign of the first
Stuart kings. These volumes, as we are informed by
the preface to the first volume of the series, were col-
lected by Dr. Thomas Birch, an industrious historical
scholar, who died in 1766. " This Dr. Birch," adds the
preface, " having access to almost every
.important
public and private collection of manuscripts in the
kingdom, entertained the idea of putting together a
consecutive series of the most interesting correspon-
dence of the seventeenth century. With this object he
selected the entertaining correspondence of the pro-
fessed writers of news, or intelligencers, as they were
then called,
who were employed by ambas
sadors in foreign countries and great men
at home to furnish them with a continual account of
•
every event that came under their observation. To
these he added the private letters of men of eminence,
holding distinguished employments abroad, as well as
those of a few eminent characters about the Court
likely to be well informed of what was going on
around them." Dr. Birch's death prevented the pub-
lication of this interesting collection. The doctor's
papers, containing transcripts of these letters, copied
from the originals, were by his bequest transferred
to the British Museum, and to this collection we are
indebted for the present volumes. These volumes
are edited by the author of " Memoirs of Sophia Doro-
thea," and enriched by numerous interesting and ex-
planatory, but not lengthy notes. Perhaps the best
epitome of their contents is a quotation from the
editor's introductory remarks. In these epistles,
he says, the slightest gossip of the Court
mingles with the important details of transactions of
state ; a piquant anecdote is contrasted with a grave
conspiracy, and a momentous discussion in the House
of Commons is relieved by an interesting recollection
of Shakspere's theatre, or a lively account of Ben
Jonson's masque. By so many observers of various
humorous writings of the same time, not only is the
reader secure against any omission of facts it is de-
sirable he should know, but he is presented with the
minutest details of every occurrence that transpired,
at a period wonderfully fruitful in strange events.
Here the reader may hold companionship with the
estimable Prince Henry, the worthiest example of
regal heirship since the heroic Black Prince ; accom-
pany his unfortunate yet true-hearted sister from
her wooing by the Prince Palatine of the Rhine
to the end of her fruitless struggle for the Bohemian
crown ; or share with another royal adventurer,
Prince Charles, the dangers of his romantic journey
from England to make fruitless love to the Infanta of
Spain. If incidents of a more touching character are
likely to attract him, he will find ample materials for
sympathy in the fatal marriage of the Lady Ara-
bella, or the affecting tragedy of the gallant Raleigh.
Should he seek scenes of more terrible interest, they
are to be found in the ample details of the Gunpowder
Plot, in the thrilling memorials of Sir Thomas
Overbury's murder in the Tower, or of the myste-
rious trials in the Star Chamber of Lady Roos and
Sir Thomas and Lady Lake. After this enumera-
tion of its attractions, is it necesrary for us to add
one word in recommendation of this work—of a
work so admirably well calculated to clear up much
that is indistinct, and to fill out much that
remains unfinished in the historical records
of the period to which it refers ? The
" Court and Times of Charles I." may be either
regarded as a work per se, or as a conclusion
to the series of letters already mentioned. These
last published volumes are in some respects more
valuable and more interesting than their predecessors,
inasmuch as the reign of Charles I. is invested with
a higher historical interest than that of James. These
letters, many of which tend to throw light on the
various incidents of that momentous period, are im-
portant as matters of history and interesting as mat-
ters of detail. As an appendix to these revelations of
the secret history of the Court of Charles I. is added
a translation of the memoirs of the mission of the
Capuchin Friars in England, by Father Cyprian de
Gomache, the Capuchin preacher to Queen Henrietta
Maria. This narrative, making due allowance for the
strong religions tendencies of its author, is sufficiently
attractive. It gives, among other interesting details,
some particulars of the escape of the Countess
of Morton and the infant daughter of Charles, on the
first breaking out of the revolution. The student of
history anxious to make himself well acquainted
with the chronicles of the past, should not pass over
without perusal these memoirs of the times of James
I. and Charles I. ; they constitute a not unimportant
chapter of the history of England, while to the lover
of romance, or to the diversified taste of the " general
reader," their very miscellaneous, and, in some cases,
most romantic contents will render these volumes
peculiarly attractive. The third volume of the series
is embellished with a very beautiful engraving of
Vandyke's portrait of Charles I.

BI?ADSHAIT'S MONTHLY RAILWAY AND
STEAM NAVIGATION GUIDE FOR JUNE.
Messrs. Bradshaw and Blacklock have introduced
several improvements into the Railway Guide for
June, which will be continued in the future numbers
of this very useful publication. The index has beer,
considerably extended, a table of the through routes
has been added, and a new complete full map of
Great Britain is now given, which not only shows the
railways in operation and those in progress, or for
which Acts have been obtained, but also distinguishes
the principal and intermediate stations, the distances
of large towns from London, the lines on which the
electric telegraph is in operation, the tracks of the
steamers, and distance in miles to all the principal
ports, &c. This map, which is on a large scale, is
beautifully executed, and is not more remarkable for
its elegance than for its accuracy. The map with
which this edition of the Guide was formerly illus-
trated, now illustrates the cheaper edition of the work.

BRADSHA W'S CUATINENTAL RAILWAY

GUIDE FOR JUNE.
This month's Continental Guide is as distinguished
as its predecessors for the accuracy and variety of its
information, and for the lucid manner in which that
information is arranged. The nwp of Central Europe,
showing all the lines of rail way at present existing in
central Europe, is a beautiful specimen of map en-
graving.

MIL_

THE POETICAL WORKS OF JORN
TON. A New Edition. One Volume, pp. 767:
Various and almost innumerable as were the editions
already published of the Poetical Works of our sub-
lime and immortal Milton, there was yet a necessity
for precisely such a reprint as the present. A hand-
some volume, compact and yet copious, massive and
yet portable, of excellent type and substantial paper,
scrupulous in typography and simple in appearance—
the book is calculated to be—not a valuable, but an
invaluable addition to any man's and every man's
library. What materially enhances the interest of
the volume, beyond the circumstance of its contain-
ing all the poetical compositions of the great epic poet
of England, whose masterpiece was preferred by Ad.
dison to the masterpieces of Homer and Virgil—is,
that it is elaborately edited by Sir Egerton Brydges,
and lavishly embellished by the pencil of J. M. W.
Turner.

BRITISH POET; OF THE PRESENT CENTURY.
By Alfred Dixox Toovey. Onc Volume, pp. 288.
Mr. A. D. Toovey is a bit of a poet himself, and
has been doubtless induced to carry out the idea of
the present volume, partly because the idea was in
itself good, and partly because he might enhance his
reputation in some sort by associating his own name
with the more memorable names of his contempo- _
raries. In the conjecture, supposing it ever entered
TLoifoevae
his imagination, he has been marvellously mistaken,
for whatever little glimmering of repute Mr. A. D.
nYdinoaythheravPoeegmaisned a
s
"
musliteacdeyrtabiynlyhite for ever " Modern
extingushed by the blunder of his present brochure.
So much self-sufficiency, so much pertness, and
such incorrigible coxcombry in the way of
criticism we never saw
__crammed into so
small a compass before. one merit, however,
the book has—Ostz. It is a merit, neverthe-
less, not loftier than might be claimed by Poor
Richard's Almanac, or by the annual posters in the
shape of illuminated calendars given awa—
y periodically
to the subscribers to the illustrated newspapers. We
mean the abreviated biographies of the different poets
of the present century given at the. heading of each
division in the shape of two lueot dates—the alpha
and omega of each career. _ As thus :--.ii George
Crabbe. I3orn 1754.—Died 1832." Or thus-
4, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Born 1792—Died 1822."
Or thus—" Thomas Hood. Bi orn 1798—Died 1845."
This solitary merit in a ye uhme otherwise so abor-
tively pretentious, appears. to e worthy of some dis-
tinguishing memento in connexion with the signature
of Mr. Toovey, whom we. shall therefore call, not
Mr. A. D. Toovey, but—in commemoration of his
success as a chronologist—Mr. Anno Domini
Toovey. With Mr. .A.Hno Domini Toovey,
however, we must in fairness.. be somewhat more
explicit by explaining the. direct tendency of our re-
marks as to his self-sufficiency, his; pertness, and his
literary coxcombry. What we quarrel with him for
is this, that he is such an. ehgregionA and
gratuitous
dogmatist in criticism, without proving himself by a
single circumstance to
literature. be capable of expressing an
authoritative opinion in Listen to him
discoursing, for instance, upon one Thomas Babing
ton Macaulay—" Mr. Macaulay is one
of the best
prose writers of the present century, hut his imagi.
nation appears to be in ,
The Lays
e _ays of fetters when he writes in
verse. • • • - • Ancient Rome'
have but few attractions for the lovers of poetry, &0.,'